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McLaren & Me: Juan Pablo Montoya
Posted on Wednesday, 30 Nov 2016 16:00 (UTC)
In the next edition of McLaren & Me, we catch up with former McLaren driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, for an exclusive insight into his time at with the team. JPM was at Williams when he signed for McLaren long before he first raced for the team in 2005. He scored three wins in that first year, but in the middle of a frustrating ‘06 season he parted company with the team to pursue a new life in America.
I signed for McLaren in the summer of 2003. It’s like everything, timing is really important, and the timing was good at that point. So we got the deal done. It was done early, and I thought it was the right decision. McLaren, like Williams, had a lot of history. And to be able to be of that history was really nice.
In a way probably my most enjoyable year at Williams was ‘04. There was really no pressure, I still wanted to win races, I still wanted to do the best I could, so it was fun. And to finish that year with a win in Brazil, and especially beating Kimi in the McLaren, it was good!
To be honest when I first drove the McLaren, it was really different to drive – I was shocked how different it was. It was very difficult compared to what I was used to. It just snapped on the entry to corners, and I liked a car that turned a lot in the middle. The Williams did that, and the McLaren did the opposite. It just didn’t turn at all through the middle. Kimi liked it, and I hated it!
So we made a lot of changes to the suspension. I remember Pedro de la Rosa and Alex Wurz were the test drivers, and they struggled to drive the car too. It was really good, because we found a way to make it drive better, and when we did, the results started coming in.
I scored points in the first two races of 2005, but then I had to miss Bahrain and Imola. The injury was just something that happened. Everyone wanted to make a big deal out of it, like everyone does in F1! It was what it was, it happened and we moved on.
Monaco was really good, I was fifth from the back of the grid. In Canada I went through the red light, and was disqualified.
I had a lot of problems, but that’s racing. Nowadays when somebody breaks down, it’s ‘Oh my God, it’s a conspiracy!’ What people don’t understand is how much goes into one of these cars now. With simulations they can do a better job and it’s going to break less, but there’s still a chance. Everything is pushed so far.
I’m a big believer in as long as we win together and lose together, it’s all good. Lose together, and you win, it doesn’t work. it’s got to go both ways, some days it’s going to be me, some days it’s going to be the car, and it’s got to be treated the same way.
Silverstone was really good. We had good pace, and the start was really good fun, actually. I was starting fourth, I think behind Fernando, and the McLaren always used to have amazing starts. I told the guys I bet you if I get a good start Fernando is going to lift through the first corner, and I probably can get him around the outside. At the start I got a really good run on him, and as he turned in, he lifted! I thought what the hell, just go for it. Winning there was good.
Monza was funny, because we were so quick in practice. I’ve still got it in my head how we started, and I got a three second gap. We didn’t change tyres then, and the tyres started going off, and I backed off the pace. I remember Kimi came from behind, and he was pushing like crazy. I knew that if you pushed like that, you’d have to change tyres. And you couldn’t. And he had to come in and change. I did exactly what I needed to do, I opened up a gap and just managed the gap all day. I was never a big believer that you needed to win by a million seconds.
Monza and Brazil I won with both Williams and McLaren. For some reason Interlagos was a really good track for me. It was one of those tracks where you went there and you were really quick. There a few details that if you got right, you were there.
We finished the first year really strongly. The car handled a lot better in that second year, but I think Mercedes was a bit behind in power. It’s funny because in the first year we won races with a car that didn’t drive that well, and the second year was the opposite, but it was OK.
The team had an option on me in December 2005, for 2007, and they didn’t take it – they said they wanted to wait a little bit more. We knew Fernando was coming, and we knew Kimi was going. You have an option on me, and you’re saying you want to take a little bit more time? I was more of the theory you either want me, or you don’t. If I’m not worth enough to be there, then I might as well do something else. In my mind from that point on it didn’t really matter. You’re already looking into the future, where are you going to go, what are you going to do?
Ron still wanted to delay the decision about 2007, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay there as well. A lot of things came together, and the opportunity to race with Chip Ganassi in America came on board. I wanted to be in F1 for winning, I didn’t want to just fill the grid. There were no really good opportunities.
Also we always wanted to live in the States when I retired, so we thought we might as well do it. As I always say, everything happens for a reason. The year before we had just bought an apartment in Miami. So we didn’t even have to look for a house!
Do I have regrets about leaving F1? Think about it, I was going to be 31 that year, and everybody was retiring about 35. Whoever I was going to sign with, it was probably going to be my last contract. So to sign with somebody for your last contract, with a team that you don’t think is going to win – the atmosphere was tough enough to be in when you’re winning!
The way Verstappen’s been treated, I got treated like that a lot. I would pass people. I left and then people realised two years later, ‘We’re missing that.’ I got an award for overtaking move of the year, and I thought that’s my job, that’s what we’re all supposed to do!
Looking back on my F1 career I can say that I ran for McLaren and Williams, Mercedes and BMW, won races for them. In my mind I wasn’t going to have an opportunity to win a World Championship. I’d won all the races I wanted to win, I had one kid and another on the way. I have no regrets that I’m aware of.
I think I made so many friendships with the people I worked with that it’s nice to come around from time to time. The guys that I worked with were unbelievable. We had a really good working environment, we worked really hard, we developed the car. I think the last suspension we developed there stayed on the car for three years! I did a lot of really good things, and we took the team forward.
If you do a good job and you work with the people around you, everybody is invested. I think I always did a good job in getting people invested in what I do. I think I created very good friendships, and the result is what you see today. There’s a lot of people I worked with still around the F1 paddock, and people are always happy to see me. I’m just a guy. I told someone recently that I never fitted, because I was never a primadonna, I was just a guy!
To honest, it has actually worked out really well. NASCAR was fun, and I ran really well at the beginning, and then we had a couple of tough years. But it makes you a better person, it makes you stronger as a driver, you learn to appreciate things in a different way. Then getting the opportunity with Penske in Indycar was unbelievable, winning the Indy 500 again, winning races every year for them. You can’t complain!
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McLaren & Me: Derek Bell
McLaren & Me: Sergio Pérez
McLaren & Me: David Hobbs
McLaren & Me: Heikki Kovalainen
McLaren & Me: Jochen Mass
McLaren & Me: Gerhard Berger
McLaren & Me: Stefan Johansson
McLaren & Me: Alex Wurz
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Last day to spend your old Bank of England paper fivers
Have you got any paper fivers left?
Vicky Shaw
People have until midnight tonight (Friday) to spend their old paper Bank of England fivers before they lose their legal tender status.
Today is the last day that the banknote featuring prison reformer Elizabeth Fry will be legal tender.
People will be able to spend the “Fry fivers” in shops until the end of the day.
After that, the new polymer banknote featuring Sir Winston Churchill will be the only Bank of England £5 note with legal tender status.
Some banks and building societies may still accept paper £5 notes after May 5, but this is at their own discretion.
The Bank of England will continue to exchange the old £5 notes for all time, as it would for any other Bank note which no longer has legal tender status.
The old paper fiver and the new £5 note have co-existed since the polymer banknote was first issued by the Bank in September 2016.
The new Bank of England fiver is stronger than its predecessor and boasts new security features making it harder to counterfeit.
But it has been controversial as it emerged that traces of animal-derived additives were used in its production.
A public consultation has been launched by the Bank into how it produces new £20 polymer notes.
The Bank previously said it has held off signing supply contracts for the £20 polymer note, which is due to be released in 2020, in order to better understand “the range of public opinion” surrounding the use of tallow in banknote production and explore potential plant-based substitutes such as palm and coconut oil.
In September this year, the Bank will issue a new £10 polymer note featuring author Jane Austen, recognising “her universal appeal and enduring contribution to English literature”.
A spokesman for the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers, which represents Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland, said previously: “The paper Scottish fivers are not being withdrawn from circulation, they are just not being reissued.
North-east libraries to become testbeds for rural entrepreneurship
“They don’t have a withdrawal date as such similar to the English £5 notes.”
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Chávez recommends the study of Trotsky, praises The Transitional Programme
Jorge Martin
In his weekly TV programme Aló Presidente, broadcast on Sunday April 22 from Urachiche in Yaracuy, president Chávez advised all Venezuelans to read and study the writings of Leon Trotsky, and commented favourably on The Transitional Programme, which was written by Trotsky for the founding congress of the Fourth International in 1938.
In his weekly TV programme Aló Presidente, broadcast on Sunday April 22 from Urachiche in Yaracuy, president Chávez advised all Venezuelans to read and study the writings of Leon Trotsky, and commented favourably on The Transitional Programme , which was written by Trotsky for the founding congress of the Fourth International in 1938.
Responding to a call from a listener of the programme, Ramon Gonzalez, Chávez explained that he had recently read the pamphlet which had been given to him by the Minister of Popular Power for Labour and Social Security, José Ramón Rivero. The minister is a former trade unionist from Bolivar who had told Chávez he was a Trotskyist when hearing of his intention to nominate him as minister of Labour.
"I cannot be classified as a Trotskyist, no, but I tend towards that, because I respect very much the thoughts of Leon Trotsky, and the more I respect him the more I understand him better. The permanent revolution for instance, is an extremely important thesis. We must read, we must study, all of us, nobody here can think he already knows", he stressed.
Chávez underlined Trotsky's idea about the conditions for socialism being ripe and said that this is certainly the case in Venezuela. "Leon Trotsky, in a pamphlet which I did not bring, I wanted to bring it but I forgot it. Well, I was reading it early in the morning, is the theory of transition, it is a short booklet, no more than 30, 40 pages, but it is worth its weight in gold, an extremely enlightening writer, Leon Trotsky. Then he says, when you talk Ramón, Rafael Ramón González Ramírez, from Valera, he is telling us in his call that in Venezuela the conditions are given for us to be a country, but a socialist country, a prosperous socialist country, socialistically developed, because when we talk about development we must be careful. Venezuela is going to be a developed country! Well, we must be careful, because it is not a question of copying the model from the North, that model is destroying the world, my friend, that is why I use this term that has just occurred to me: socialistically developed, environmentally developed", he said.
President Chávez said he had been struck by Trotsky's statement that in Europe and other countries, the conditions for proletarian revolution were not only ripe but have started to rot.
"Trotsky in this pamphlet, written at that time, between the two wars, after the First World War and with the Second World War about to break out, in the 1930s, ... What year was Trotsky assassinated? Nobody remembers? Well, that's homework for all of you present. Then he says, Rafael, that the conditions, according to his criteria at that time, that in Europe and other developed countries in the North, the conditions for proletarian revolution were not only ripe, but had started to rot, because what matures can also rot, this happens, it can happen. This expression struck me in a powerful way, Maria Cristina [Minister of Popular Power for Light Industry and Commerce], because I had never read it before, what this means is that the conditions can be there, but if we do not see them, if we do not understand them, if we are not able to seize the moment they start to rot, like any other product of the Earth, a mango, etc."
And then Chávez referred also to the central thesis of Trotsky's Transitional Programme, when he explained that "the historical crisis of mankind is reduced to the crisis of the revolutionary leadership."
"Then", Chávez continued, "Trotsky points out something which is extremely important, and he says that [the conditions for proletarian revolution] are starting to rot, not because of the workers, but because of the leadership which did not see, which did not know, which was cowardly, which subordinated itself to the mandates of capitalism, of the great bourgeois democracies, the trade unions. Well, they became adapted to the system, the big Communist parties, the Communist International became adapted to the system, and then no one was able to take advantage, because of the lack of a leadership, of an intelligent, audacious and timely leadership to orient the popular offensive in those conditions. And then the Second World War came and we know what happened, and after the Second World War, and then the century ended with the fall of the Soviet Union and the fall of the so-called ‘real-existing' socialism".
This is a world apart from those who argue that there cannot be socialism in Venezuela because the level of consciousness of the workers "is not high enough". And, surprising though this might be, there are people even in Venezuela who argue precisely this. Chávez's words are also an attack against the leaders of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) who have refused to join the new United Socialist Party. The leaders of the PCV, a party that contains many honest and courageous working class militants, has played a lamentable role during the Bolivarian revolution. Instead of being a vanguard party, arguing from the beginning that socialism was the only way forward, they did precisely the opposite. They spent the first years of the revolution arguing strenuously that the Venezuelan revolution was just in its "anti-imperialist democratic phase" and that socialism was not on the agenda. Only when Chávez spoke about socialism did the PCV dare mention the S word. And even now, they are still insisting that the current "stage" is that of "national liberation", one which demands a "many sided alliance of classes and social layers, including the non-monopolistic bourgeoisie"!!! (from the Theses of the XIII Congress, 2007).
Since Chávez started talking about socialism in January 2005, this has become a major subject of debate in all corners of Venezuela. Chavez's statement that under capitalism there was no solution for the problems of the masses and that the road forward was socialism represented a major step forward in his political development. He had started trying to reform the system and to give the masses of the Venezuelan poor decent health and education services and land, and he had realised through his own experience and reading that this was not possible under capitalism.
But as soon as he mentioned socialism the reformists, bureaucrats and counter-revolutionary infiltrators within the Bolivarian movement panicked. They could not openly and publicly contradict the president because his words connected with the feelings and aspirations of the masses. Rather, they tried to water down the content of what he had said. Chief amongst these is Heinz Dieterich who has tried to develop a "theoretical" justification against socialism, but dressing it in the robes of "Socialism of the 21st century". Basically, he argues, socialism does not mean the expropriation of the means of production, but rather a mixed economy. That is to say, socialism, for Dieterich, really means .... capitalism. Like a magician, Dieterich thinks he can take Chávez's declaration in favour of socialism, put it in a hat, and pull out a capitalist rabbit.
However Chávez is very clear on what he thinks. In the last few months he has become increasingly impatient at the delaying tactics of the bureaucracy and the counter-revolution within the movement. He has made clear that when he talks of building socialism, he is talking about doing it now, not in the long distant future. In his comments about Trotsky he stressed the point:
"Well, here the conditions are given, I think that this thought or reflection of Trotsky is useful for the moment we are living through, here the conditions are given, in Venezuela and Latin America, I am not going to comment on Europe now, nor on Asia, there the reality is another, another rhythm, another dynamic, but in Latin America conditions are given, and in Venezuela this is a matter of course, to carry out a genuine revolution".
What a difference from the reformists and the Stalinists, who, even in present day Venezuela, still argue that the conditions are not ripe for revolution!
The December 2006 presidential elections marked yet another turn to the left in the Bolivarian revolution. The right wing of the Bolivarian movement is getting increasingly worried about the course events are taking, with Chávez talking of Trotskyism in the swearing in ceremony for the new Cabinet, and adopting an increasingly leftward course. The battle lines are drawn and the splits within the Bolivarian movement have become public and they have expressed themselves in the polemic about the founding of the new party.
Chávez is acutely aware of this and in the first meeting of promoters of the new United Socialist Party, on March 24th, he explained how "as the revolution deepens, as it expands, these contradictions will come out openly, even some that up until now had been covered up, they will intensify, because we are dealing here with economic issues, and there is nothing that hurts a capitalist more than his wallet".
Leading figures in some of the Bolivarian parties (particularly PODEMOS and the PPT, but also the PCV) have refused to join in the new United Socialist Party. The reason for this is clear, they fear this new party, they fear the breath of the revolutionary masses behind their neck, they fear all this talk of socialism. At a recent meeting on April 19th, where 16,000 promoters of the PSUV were sworn in, Chávez attacked a number of PODEMOS governors openly. "As far as I am concerned he has taken the mask off and joined the opposition" he said of Ramon Martinez, PODEMOS governor of Sucre. To Martinez's statement that he was in favour of a "democratic socialism", Chávez replied that the problem was that "I am a socialist and he is a social-democrat", and he added, "I am in favour of revolutionary socialism".
In talking about the need for a revolutionary leadership Chávez also quoted from Lenin:
"Now, the leadership, this is why I insist so much in the need for a party, because we have not had a revolutionary leadership up to the tasks of the moment we are living in, united, orientated as a result of a strategy, united, as Vladimir Illich Lenin said, a machinery able to articulate millions of wills into one single will[1], this is indispensable to carry out a revolution, otherwise it is lost, like the rivers that overflow, like the Yaracuy that when it reaches the Caribbean loses its riverbed and becomes a swamp".
The political thinking of Chavez is in tune and reflects the conclusions drawn by tens of thousands of revolutionary activists in Venezuela, in the factories, in the neighbourhoods, in the countryside. They are growing increasingly impatient and want to the revolution to be victorious once and for all.
Sanitarios Maracay
The recent events in which Sanitarios Maracay workers' were arrested and beaten up when they were on their way to a march in Caracas in defence of workers' control and expropriation exemplify in a nut-shell the contradictions and dangers facing the Venezuelan revolution. The workers have occupied the factory and have been producing under workers' control for nearly 5 months, and demand the expropriation under workers' control. They have organised a factory committee to run the company and organise the struggle. This is exactly the practical application of what Trotsky talks about in the Transitional Programme.
"Sit-down [occupation] strikes, ..., go beyond the limits of "normal" capitalist procedure. Independently of the demands of the strikers, the temporary seizure of factories deals a blow to the idol, capitalist property. Every sit-down strike poses in a practical manner the question of who is boss of the factory: the capitalist or the workers? If the sit-down strike raises this question episodically, the factory committee gives it organized expression. Elected by all the factory employees, the factory committee immediately creates a counterweight to the will of the administration."
This is precisely what happened at Sanitarios Maracay and it was the intervention of the comrades of the Revolutionary Marxist Current, through the Revolutionary Front of Occupied Factories (FRETECO) that help the workers draw the last conclusions of their own experience. Contrary to what some left wing trade union leaders are arguing in Venezuela, the role of trade unions in revolutionary times is not simply to conduct the day to day struggle for immediate demands on wages and conditions, but rather to elevate the workers to the idea of taking power. As Trotsky explains in the Transitional Programme: "Trade unions are not ends in themselves; they are but means along the road to proletarian revolution.", and he adds "during a period of exceptional upsurges in the labor movement ... it is necessary to create organizations ad hoc, embracing the whole fighting mass: strike committees, factory committees, and finally, soviets."
If the trade union leaders in Venezuela were to wage a serious campaign of factory occupations in which the workers demanded that the bosses "open up their books" (one of the demands raised by the Transitional Programme) and subsequently argue for expropriation under workers' control, the question of power would be posed automatically. This is precisely what the CMR has been arguing in Venezuela as opposed to those who put at the centre of their programme the question of elections within the UNT.
On the other hand, the arrest and repression against Sanitarios Maracay workers raises another very important issue, which Trotsky also raised in the Transitional Programme in the conditions of Europe in the 1930s: the question of arming the workers and peasants. In Venezuela we have a situation where the old state apparatus, though weakened, is still in place. The governor of Aragua (a counter-revolutionary disguised as a Bolivarian) is able to use the police to attack the workers, and the National Guard acted on the side of the police.
This serves to underline the point that the Marxists have always stressed: the workers cannot take the ready-made state machinery and use it for their own purposes. In Venezuela the question of the arming of the workers and peasants and setting up of peoples' militias (that the Transitional Programme talks about) is a crucial one, and one that could be carried out quite simply. If the workers were to join the reserve force and territorial guard, in an organised way factory by factory, this would go a long way in creating a peoples' militia under the control of the workers.
The tasks ahead
Above all, the Sanitarios Maracay incident shows how dangerous the situation is. The counter-revolution is becoming increasingly alarmed at the leftward course of the revolution. They are sabotaging any experience of workers' control (including using delaying tactics in order to bankrupt Inveval, which is also under workers' control, see Venezuela: Inveval Workers protest in front of the Miraflores Palace ). In the recent months they have also tried again to sabotage the economy by creating scarcity of basic foodstuffs, and now they are preparing to mobilise on the streets around May27th when the broadcasting licence for RCTV (the opposition TV channel which participated in the organisation of the coup) will not be renewed.
The way forward is to expropriate the oligarchy and build a new revolutionary state based on factory and neighbourhood committees. In order to carry this out a revolutionary party and a revolutionary leadership are needed. This is why all revolutionaries should be part of the new United Socialist Party, accompanying the masses in their experience and raising in it the ideas of Trotsky, the ideas of Marxism, which provide the most accurate guide for the victorious completion of the revolution. This is exactly what the comrades of the Revolutionary Marxist Current
are doing and we appeal to all genuine revolutionary socialists in
Venezuela to join them
[1] From Lenin's "The Tasks of the Youth Leagues" http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/oct/02.htm
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Carbon CHANGE TOPIC
Home » Carbon » News » NASA scientists produce first-ever carbon nanotube mirrors
NASA scientists produce first-ever carbon nanotube mirrors
John Kolasinski (left), Ted Kostiuk (center) and Tilak Hewagama (right) hold mirrors made of carbon nanotubes embedded in an epoxy resin. Photo: NASA/W. Hrybyk.
A lightweight telescope that a team of NASA scientists and engineers is developing specifically for a small satellite known as CubeSat could become the first to carry a mirror made from carbon nanotubes.
Led by Theodor Kostiuk, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the team is developing a compact, reproducible and relatively inexpensive telescope that would fit easily inside a CubeSat, which has sides that are just four inches long.
Small satellites such as CubeSats are playing an increasingly important role in exploration, technology demonstration, scientific research and educational investigations at NASA, providing a low-cost platform for many missions and projects. These include planetary space exploration, Earth observations, fundamental Earth and space science, and the development of precursor science instruments like cutting-edge laser communications, satellite-to-satellite communications and autonomous movement capabilities. Small satellites also offer an inexpensive way to engage students in all phases of satellite development, operation and exploitation.
Kostiuk's team is seeking to develop a CubeSat telescope that will be sensitive to ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelengths of light. Equipped with commercial-off-the-shelf spectrometers and imagers, it will be ideal as an "exploratory tool for quick looks that could lead to larger missions," Kostiuk explained. "We're trying to exploit commercially-available components."
With funding from Goddard's Internal Research and Development program, the team is currently testing the telescope's overall design by producing a laboratory optical bench containing three commercially-available, miniaturized spectrometers optimized for ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Fiber optic cables will connect these spectrometers to the focused beam produced by a three-inch diameter carbon nanotube mirror.
Unlike most telescope mirrors, which are made of glass or aluminum, this particular optic is made of carbon nanotubes embedded in an epoxy resin. Sub-micron in size and cylindrically shaped, carbon nanotubes exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat. Because of these unusual properties, carbon nanotubes are finding use in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science, and, as a consequence, are being used as additives in various structural materials.
"No one has been able to make a mirror using a carbon nanotube resin," said Peter Chen, a Goddard contractor and president of Lightweight Telescopes, a Columbia, Maryland-based company working with the team to create the CubeSat telescope.
"This is a unique technology currently available only at Goddard," he continued. "The technology is too new to fly in space, and first must go through the various levels of technological advancement. But this is what my Goddard colleagues are trying to accomplish through the CubeSat program."
The use of a carbon nanotube optic in a CubeSat telescope offers a number of advantages, said Goddard scientist Tilak Hewagama, who contacted Chen upon learning of a NASA Small Business Innovative Research program that was awarded to Chen's company to further advance the mirror technology. In addition to being lightweight, highly stable and easily reproducible, carbon nanotube mirrors do not require polishing – a time-consuming and often expensive process that is required to assure a smooth, perfectly shaped mirror, said John Kolasinski, a Goddard engineer and science collaborator on the project.
To make the mirror, technicians simply pour the mixture of epoxy and carbon nanotubes into a mandrel or mold fashioned to meet a particular optical prescription. They then heat the mold to cure and harden the epoxy. Once set, the mirror is coated with a reflective material made from aluminum and silicon dioxide.
"After making a specific mandrel or mold, many tens of identical low-mass, highly uniform replicas can be produced at low cost," Chen said. "Complete telescope assemblies can be made this way, which is the team's main interest. For the CubeSat program, this capability will enable many spacecraft to be equipped with identical optics and different detectors for a variety of experiments. They also can be flown in swarms and constellations."
A CubeSat telescope is just one possible application for the optics technology, Chen added. He believes that carbon nanotube mirrors could also work in larger telescopes, particularly those comprised of multiple mirror segments. For example, 18 hexagonal-shape mirrors form the James Webb Space Telescope's 21-foot primary mirror, while each of the twin telescopes at the Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea in Hawaii contain 36 segments that form a 32-foot mirror.
Many of the mirror segments in these telescopes are identical and could therefore be produced using a single mandrel. This approach would avoid the need to grind and polish many individual segments to the same shape and focal length, thus potentially leading to significant savings in time and cost.
Moreover, carbon nanotube mirrors can be made into 'smart optics'. To maintain a single perfect focus in the Keck telescopes, for example, each mirror segment has several externally mounted actuators that deform the mirrors into the specific shapes required at different telescope orientations.
In the case of carbon nanotube mirrors, however, the actuators can be incorporated into the optics at the time of fabrication. This is accomplished by applying electric fields to the resin mixture before curing, which causes the carbon nanotubes to form chains and networks. After curing, the shape of the optical surface can be altered by simply applying power to the mirror. This concept has already been proven in the laboratory.
"This technology can potentially enable very large-area technically active optics in space," Chen said. "Applications address everything from astronomy and Earth observing to deep-space communications."
This story is adapted from material from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier. Link to original source.
Smashing nanotubes could lead to impact-resistant materials
Nanodiamonds and other carbon-based materials can be produced by smashing carbon nanotubes against a target at high speeds.
Strong light-matter coupling could lead to carbon nanotube laser
The discovery of a strong interaction between light and matter in semiconducting carbon nanotubes could lead to their use in electrically-pumped lasers.
Air of success for CNT thin-film transistors
Aerosols could hold unique advantages for fabricating CNT layers for thin-film transistors.
13 March 2017Cordelia Sealy
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Kampen to present two Dead Sea Scrolls lectures in Cincinnati
Talks coincide with the major exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center
Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Kampen will present a lecture, "Modern Research on Ancient Texts: The Story of the Dead Sea Scrolls," at two Cincinnati locations in January.
Kampen will speak at 3 p.m. Jan. 13 at Anderson Hills United Methodist Church, 7515 Forest Road. He will speak at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 15 at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church, 1345 Grace Ave., where complimentary hors d'oeuvres will be served at 6 p.m. Both lectures are free and open to the public.
Kampen, MTSO's Van Bogard Dunn Professor of Biblical Interpretation, presents these lectures to add context to the major Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit currently on display at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
Kampen's lecture describes and illustrates briefly the archaeological context of the site of Qumran and the caves where the scrolls were first discovered in 1947. He outlines the different type of texts that are part of this collection, which includes fragments of almost 1,000 manuscripts, and outlines the significance of some of them for our understanding of the Jewish history of that time period.
This offers insights into our understanding of Christian origins and the development of Rabbinic Judaism. Kampen gives particular attention to those texts that became widely available only after 1991, including those that are part of the exhibit in Cincinnati.
Kampen is most recently the author of Wisdom Literature, a commentary on the remarkable collection of wisdom compositions that have been the subject of intense study in the past decade and a half. He served a six-year term as co-chair of the Qumran Studies section of the Society of Biblical Literature.
A graduate of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Kampen is engaged in continuing research on the relationship of the Qumran texts to the Gospel of Matthew.
Prior to his current appointment, he served as academic dean of Payne Theological Seminary, Bluffton University and MTSO. He has published articles in related areas of concern such as African-Americans and the Bible, the New Testament and anti-Semitism, non-violence, and issues of Mennonite identity.
The exhibit "Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times" is scheduled to run through mid-April at the Cincinnati Museum Center. It features the most comprehensive collection of ancient artifacts from Israel ever organized, including one of the largest collections of the priceless 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls.
Methodist Theological School in Ohio prepares transformational leaders of many faith traditions for service to the church and the world. MTSO offers master's degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies and practical theology, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree. For more information, visit www.mtso.edu.
drussell@mtso.edu, 740-362-3322
Professor John Kampen
jkampen@mtso.edu, 740-362-3364
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I Crushed My Tennis Lesson With Maria Sharapova
Men's Health had an exclusive opportunity to get on the court with the Russian tennis superstar
By EJ Dickson
Simon Russell for SPG
There's an adjective my friends use to describe celebrities they encounter on the street: they "glisten." Over the years, the phrase has been used to describe a wide range of famouses, from Tim Robbins to Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, and while it's most often used literally, it’s also figurative — certain celebrities are covered in a high gloss, a protective sheen that renders them impervious to the acne and sweat stains and inexplicable white mouth corners us mere mortals are prone to. Tennis star Maria Sharapova is one of them. Tennis star Maria Sharapova glistens.
I learned this firsthand last Saturday morning, when I played tennis with Sharapova hours before the US Open women's final. I was invited to get a lesson from Sharapova as part of the SPG Moments program, a program that allows Marriott's Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members to save up their points and bid to take a master class with an expert of a specific sport or activity. For the hour-long Sharapova clinic, an SPG spokesperson told me that the bidding had started at 30,000 points and ended at between 90,000 and 150,000, but because I am an ink-stained wretch who does not have SPG points, we were given the opportunity to take the court with Sharapova for free.
I was anxious about this opportunity, to say the least. As someone who is a) not a tennis fan, and b) seven months postpartum, and thus not in tip-top physical condition, the idea of running around a court with a bevy of taut-butted tennis players and a super-fit 6-foot, 2-inch Russian woman was anathema to me. But I had heard people tell me multiple times that tennis was a sport you could take up at any point in your life and continue well into your elderly years, so I figured it was worth a try — and who better to instruct me than five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova?
15 Agility Drills You Should Try:
Additionally, everyone fosters that tiny, curled-up inkling of hope that they harbor some profound native ability that will be spotted by an expert and catapult them to superstardom, Bruce-Springsteen-plucking-Courtney-Cox-out-of-an-audience-style. Perhaps Sharapova would spot an inkling of native ability in my flailings around the court and cultivate my ability. Maybe we'd get to have drinks with her entourage after Wimbledon and get kicked out of a London pub at closing time, and then we'd get an Uber home and blast some Keri Hilson and I'd make a hilarious break point pun and she'd laugh and laugh and laugh and tell me how hilarious I am.
I arrived at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens at 7:45 a.m. on the dot, and joined throngs of Sharapova fans at the court. Some were hardcore tennis fans who had also done similar clinics with Chris Evert and John McEnroe; others were 12-year-old kids whose parents had saved their Starwood points for months to get them a few minutes of court time with Sharapova.
After 15 months off the court, Sharapova had made her return to the US Open a few weeks earlier. Though initially hailed as her comeback, her performance at the U.S. Open was marred by controversy and her recovery from a shoulder injury; she made it to the fourth round of the women's finals before being felled by Anastasija Sevastova. I was told that had she made it further, she would likely have been replaced by another athlete at the clinic. When Sharapova strode onto the court in leggings and a simple navy blue sweatshirt, looking sunny and fresh-faced and, yes, glistening, everyone's excitement was palpable.
We started out doing warmup drills, with us serving and Sharapova returning the ball three times, then switching to another tennis pro on the court. It was probably the first time I’d held a racquet in 15 years, and from the get-go, it was clear that I wasn’t going to be catapulted to Courtney Cox-level superstardom anytime soon. At first, I was pleased that my shots had at least made it over the net, but judging by the reassuring, "That's OKs" and "good tries" from the tennis pro and Sharapova, clearly getting the ball over the net wasn't the only requirement for being good at tennis.
“High-five the ball,” another tennis pro told me patiently, as if she were a counselor and I was a 4-year-old at day camp. “Just tap it like you’re giving it a high-five.” When I tried to follow her advice, the ball bounced back up in my face, then careened wildly around the court.
When it was my turn to hit to Sharapova, I once again got the ball over the net, but nowhere near where she actually was. “Try to stay in place after you hit the ball,” she advised me. “Don’t move your feet forward.” Initially, I was confused by this feedback — stay in place after you hit? What was this, golf? — but I figured she probably knew what she was talking about just a little bit more than I did. To my delight, I found that when I took her advice, my swing was a little bit more controlled.
Eventually, I realized that while I was probably the worst player on the court by a long shot, there were other players who were tennis neophytes as well. One man told me that he had traveled all the way from Baltimore to get on the court with Sharapova, even though he had only played tennis twice before in his life. He said he was primarily there for his son, who was 10 months old and sitting courtside with his mother. Although I wasn't sure what, exactly, he hoped his son would glean from the experience of watching his dad play tennis with Sharapova — I'm the mother of a 7-month-old, and he can barely recognize his own feet, let alone willowy Russian bottled water spokesmodels — I appreciated his commitment to parenting by example nonetheless.
To her credit, Sharapova was unfailingly gracious to me and the other players. “That was a bad feed. That’s on me,” she said when I failed to return a shot over the net. (Thanks, but it most certainly was not, Maria.) She seemed to realize that I was not comfortable on the court, so she tried to put me at ease by complimenting me on my intense "focus," which I appreciated, because frankly, I was. Toward the end, I started to feel more comfortable with the racket, and we even managed to volley back and forth a few times. To a non-tennis player like myself, it was just casual fun, but to a tennis aficionado, I imagine it must've been what ballet dancers feel like when dancing with Barishynikov for the first time. When you're sparring with someone at the top of their game, it can feel like their sheen rubs off, like you're glistening, too, at least for a moment.
At the end of the clinic, Sharapova teamed up with another tennis pro and I teamed up with another player to play doubles. After I missed a few shots, I politely excused myself from the court and watched from the sidelines; while I didn't feel guilty forcing Maria Sharapova to watch me make a fool of myself, my doubles partner had paid good money for his experience, and he deserved to be spared from my tomfoolery.
I don't know if I will make it back onto a court (or into an Uber) with Sharapova anytime soon, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to put her tips into play. But I do know that I was surprised by how much fun I had playing tennis with her, even if my athletic ability was considerably inferior to that of others on the court. Also, I would like the number of her facialist, so I can catch some of that glisten too.
EJ Dickson Ej Dickson is the deputy digital editor of MensHealth.com.
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USDA Pushing Ahead With CoE Phase II, TMF
Oct 10, 2018 | 4:48 pm
Gary Washington is the chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agriculture Department CIO Gary Washington laid out his agency’s IT modernization journey today, beginning with USDA’s work as the lighthouse agency for the Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative, and continuing with the agency’s selection as one of the first three to receive an award under the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF).
USDA is now entering the second phase of the CoE journey, Washington said at an event organized by FCW. Phase I, which wrapped in September, consisted of a six-month assessment period during which the agency’s modernization needs were determined across the five CoE areas – cloud adoption, contact center, customer experience, data analytics, and infrastructure optimization.
Phase II, Washington explained, is the one to two-year implementation phase. “We are implementing the recommended solutions from the vendors,” Washington said, following the results of the CoE Phase I assessments. Contracts were just awarded to 15 vendors at the beginning of this month to support the CoE Phase II journey.
Some of the wins from Phase I include “tremendous strides in cybersecurity” and better determination of cost efficiencies through data center optimization, Washington said. USDA has been one of the few agencies to surpass its FY 2018 data center closure targets. He added that the work done thus far has led to improvements in the agency’s Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard and “laid a framework for moving forward.”
The agency is also getting much-needed visibility, Washington indicated, by consolidating more than 20 CIOs down to a single head CIO, something that both FITARA and a CIO executive order from the White House have made an imperative. “It took a lot to make it happen,” he said, adding that it has yielded a more direct line of sight across the entire agency, including alignment with the CFO and human resource shops.
As the CoE initiative expands to its second agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the work at USDA remains ongoing, but the time to act is finite.
“We have some very ambitious goals. This is not designed to be an infinite pool of resources or to last forever,” Washington said. “We have a lot to implement in the next 12 to 18 months.”
Technology Modernization Fund
Washington provided additional details on the modernization of the agency’s Farmers.gov portal, for which USDA won $10 million in TMF funding.
“Farmers.gov is kind of our front door to our farming community right now,” he said, calling it “an example of how USDA wants to improve our relationship, engage with, and provide services to our farmers and producers out there across America.”
It’s part of a broader push toward better citizen service that’s being led out of the customer experience CoE. Washington highlighted how focused the Department is on creating positive experiences for rural customers, but he was also keen to note that the Farmers.gov portal is just one of the initiatives the agency has in play.
“We’re not going to just concentrate on Farmers, there will be opportunities for some other areas of USDA as well,” he said.
To that point, Washington also relayed that USDA has even more projects in the TMF pipeline. He said the agency has submitted two more proposals to the TMF board on which it is still waiting to hear back. One is a cloud computing initiative, the other would support single-family housing and rural development.
Tags: Centers of Excellence, Gary Washington, Technology Modernization Fund, TMF, USDA
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Women and Health Initiative
Organization status:
The Women and Health Initiative draws on resources and expertise from across the Harvard Chan School and broader Harvard community to develop interdisciplinary perspectives and innovative solutions to the challenges women face in the public health arena.
Maternal and neonatal health
Minority populations
Humanitarian and conflict health
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
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The Women and Health Initiative (W&HI) was founded at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2010 by Dean Julio Frenk. As one of the Dean’s flagship initiatives, the W&HI draws on resources and expertise from across the Harvard Chan School and broader Harvard community to develop interdisciplinary perspectives and innovative solutions to the challenges women face in the public health arena. The W&HI brings together global partners including academic institutions, governments, foundations, private industry, multi-lateral agencies, non-governmental organizations, and committed individuals.
The W&HI recognizes that, due to persistent social and gender inequality around the world, girls and women experience increased risk of poor health and injustice within the health system, where they play dual roles as both recipients of health interventions and critical caregivers The W&HI is unprecedented in its balanced focus on improving women’s health throughout the life course and recognizing and nurturing women’s contributions to the health and wealth of societies.
A central tenet of the W&HI is that female-driven solutions rooted in gender equality and women’s empowerment will strengthen health systems to better address women’s needs. The W&HI supports women’s efforts to fulfill their potential as providers, decision-makers and leaders in health systems.
677 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115
whi@hsph.harvard.edu
Manizha Ashna
Thai Dam Minh
R G
Rhiannon George-Carey
Sarah Hodin
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The Grinch Debuts with 2.2 million Thursday Premieres, Hollywood Weekend Box Office Projections
The collaborative animation film of Universal and Illumination, The Grinch directed by Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier had a good start with its Thursday Premieres. The animated holiday picture collected $2.2 million at the domestic box office on Thursday night premiere which started from 6 p.m.
With a big start on Friday shows, the film is sure to top the weekend box office of North America by a mile difference. Projections stated more than $65 million at the domestic box office for its first weekend as a minimum number. Numbers might go beyond $70 million based on the review and word of mouth factors.
Bohemian Rhapsody is entering its second weekend after dominating its first weekend at the American and worldwide box office. It is heading to take the next place after the animation newcomer with $25 million at the domestic market. The film is doing pretty good at other global markets too, while more markets are yet to open for the film.
The Girl in the Spider's Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story (Claire Foy as Lisbeth Salander)
The Girl in the Spider�s web starring Claire Foy is opened this weekend and looked forward to taking the third spot with more than $10 million at the box office. It is the second film in the seven-part series starting from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by David Fincher. The movie is getting a mixed response over the audience but managing to attract the audience more. Action Mystery film Overlord would grab the next spot without much difference from the preceding film.
Overlord (Jovan Adepo and Mathilde Ollivier)
Tags : Bohemian Rhapsody box office, The Girl in the Spiders web film, The Grinch box office, movies this weekend, Hollywood weekend box office, Hollywood Weekend Box office estimates, The Grinch opening weekend, November releasing films, November Hollywood release calender, November 9 movie releases, Overlord movie
Animation Film The Grinch Set to Top the U.S. Box office with 60 million opening Weekend
Bohemian Rhapsody Opens Close to 4 million at Thursday Night Premieres
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Porsche will be rewarding itself with an excellent present for the 70th anniversary of the brand’s sports cars: the 911 Speedster Concept, a road-ready study of an exciting open-top sports car. The unique model forges a link between the very first Porsche 356 ‘No. 1’ Roadster, which received its operating permit on June 8, 1948, and the Porsche cars of today. With its pure concept and historically accurate execution, the 911 Speedster concept reflects the essence of the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer with precision. A pure driving experience is the main emphasis of the car, as such; the drive technology under the two-tone shell of the concept study is derived from the current GT models. It was developed at the Porsche Motorsport Centre, which is the birthplace of the 911 GT2 RS and the GT3 RS.
The 911 Speedster Concept celebrated its world premiere as part of the official ‘70 years Porsche sportscar’ anniversary celebrations in Zuffenhausen. The concept study offers a glimpse of a potential series-production version, although this model may not be presented until 2019. A decision on whether to move ahead will be made in the coming months.
The characteristics of the 911 Speedster Concept include the shorter window frame with a more inclined windscreen and correspondingly shortened side windows. These features give the sports car study an even stockier profile with a very low fly line, which is reminiscent of its predecessors such as the Porsche 356 1500 Speedster. A special rear cover made of carbon fibre connects behind the front seats, covering a roll-over protection structure and featuring a ‘double bubble’, a traditional element of this sports car design since the 911 Speedster from 1988. Two contrasting black slats between the ‘humps’ add an aerodynamic touch, and a transparent Plexiglas wind deflector features an engraved ‘70 years of Porsche’ logo.
As dictated by the historic original, the 911 Speedster Concept also features a lightweight tonneau cover instead of a convertible top. This cover protects the car interior from rain when parked, and is attached using eight Tenax fasteners. The lightweight principles of the Speedster philosophy continue through into the interior, where the navigation, radio and air conditioning systems have all been removed. The full bucket seats are made of carbon, and the light brown Aniline leather covers in Cognac 356 pick up on features from the car’s classic predecessors.
The broad body of the concept car has been borrowed from the 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet, although the wings, front bonnet and rear cover of the concept are made of lightweight carbon-fibre composite material. The paintwork in the traditional colours of GT Silver and White harks back to Porsche’s early racing cars – as do many of the other carefully crafted details, such as the 50s-style central fuel tank cap positioned in the middle of the front bonnet, the classic Talbot shape of the exterior mirrors or the unique design of the main headlights. Transparent and opaque surfaces on the headlight covers produce a cross-like effect and are nod to a practice prevalent in Porsche’s early years in motorsport. At the time, the original headlights were taped before races to protect them against stone chipping and to prevent the glass from shattering. The wide B-pillars and the rear are decorated with milled, gold-plated Speedster lettering.
Below the bodywork, the 911 Speedster Concept relies on state-of-the-art components. The chassis essentially comes from the 911 GT3, with contrasting high gloss polished clover-leaf details on the imposing 21-inch rims in Fuchs design. It is the first time that these wheels are presented with centre locks. The GT developers also contributed the exhaust system with titanium tailpipes and the powertrain, which includes a six-speed manual transmission. The six-cylinder flat engine in this minimalist concept study delivers over 500 hp and reaches speeds of up to 9,000 rpm.
The history of Porsche Speedster models begins in the USA
Speedster variants of sports car models, which combine open-top driving pleasure with incredibly distinctive driving dynamics, have been part of the Porsche company history since 1952. The forefather of Porsche Speedster models, the 356 1500 America Roadster, had an aluminium body manufactured entirely by hand. It weighed 60 kilograms less than the 356 Coupé and its top speed of 175 km/h with its 70-hp four-cylinder flat engine was an impressive feat at the time. Featuring slot-in windows for the doors, a folding rain-cover top and lightweight bucket seats, this car developed exclusively for the US market was built just 16 times and already embodied several key elements of the Speedster design.
By 2010, eight different series and special models had been created with the ‘Speedster’ byname. The 356 A 1500 GS Carrera GT Speedster represented a highlight in 1957, and the first 911 Speedster followed in 1988. The 356 units of the 911 Speedster produced for the 997 series in 2010 saw a temporary end to the production of Speedster variants.
‘70 years Porsche sportscar’ – special exhibition and numerous activities
In a special exhibition at the Porsche Museum, the company is now showcasing numerous stories and milestones with which Porsche has decisively influenced the development of the sports car since 1948 and continues to do so today. Its aim is to highlight outstanding Porsche developments over the past seven decades.
The sports car manufacturer is also celebrating this anniversary with numerous activities around the world throughout 2018. Tomorrow, June 9, Porsche will be inviting fans to its Sports Car Together Day at all of its sites around the world. On the weekend of June 16–17, the sports car manufacturer will host employees, residents of the Zuffenhausen district and prospective customers at a celebration in and around the plant in Stuttgart.
The Festival of Speed, held from July 12–15 at Goodwood in the UK, will also celebrate the anniversary, as will Rennsport Reunion in California from September 27–30. The celebrations will conclude with the “Sound Night” event which will be held for the first time in the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart on October 13.
Tags: Car, porsche, porsche speedster
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USNA Drug Ring Probe: LSD, Cocaine Allegedly Bought on Dark Web
This May 10, 2007 file photo shows the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. (Kathleen Lange, AP)
Fox News | By Lucas Tomlinson and Jennifer Griffin
The Navy is investigating allegations of a drug ring at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., involving roughly 10 midshipmen, according to a senior Naval Academy official with knowledge of the investigation.
Three midshipmen are accused of selling cocaine, ketamine (a powerful sedative) and LSD to their classmates purchased on the dark web using Bitcoin, according to three midshipmen currently enrolled at the school.
No formal charges have been brought against the midshipmen during the investigation, which began nearly three months ago after a midshipman reported the drug dealing to authorities.
Midshipmen sources estimated the number of students under investigation to be as high as roughly two-dozen, despite the lower official estimate.
In a sign of how seriously Naval Academy officials are taking the alleged drug use, the second in command of the school, Capt. Robert B. Chadwick II, ordered a surprise drug test for all the midshipmen at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. The entire Brigade of Midshipmen totals 4,500.
Normally, senior midshipmen leaders are given a heads up about drug tests the night before, and the tests are given only at the company level -- involving about 150 midshipmen at a time. Not so in this case, according to one of the midshipmen. Instead, all 4,500 were tested at the same time.
The drug investigation is centered on the 23rd company and its roughly 150 midshipmen, according to several students who agreed to speak to Fox News only on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.
Last week, drug-sniffing dogs from the DEA were brought in to search the rooms of the suspected drug users and discovered cocaine. The midshipman suspected of possessing the drug was at athletic practice at the time and she tried to escape but was apprehended and brought in for questioning, according to two midshipmen with knowledge of the incident.
Since charges have not been brought against any of the suspected midshipmen, Fox News is withholding the names of those implicated. Two are prior enlisted midshipmen who had spent time in the fleet before gaining appointment to the Naval Academy, which educates and trains young men and women to become officers in the Navy or Marine Corps. One of the midshipmen tested positive on a drug test in early January after returning from Christmas break, adding more urgency to the investigation, according to one midshipman.
Chadwick recently addressed the brigade at lunch, telling them that while the investigation is ongoing, there would be no more discussion about it, according to several midshipmen present that day.
"The Naval Academy and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service recently initiated a command-assisted investigation in Annapolis after receiving a midshipman report of alleged recreational drug use within the Brigade," said Cmdr. David Mckinney, a Naval Academy spokesman, in a statement to Fox News. "[T]he results of the investigation are still pending. We are continuing to work with NCIS on these reported allegations. The Navy has a zero tolerance for drug abuse and takes all allegations of misconduct very seriously."
The Navy investigation into alleged drug use at the Naval Academy was first mentioned in a report by Fox 45 in Baltimore on Tuesday.
The Annapolis Capital also reported that between 2010 and 2011, "NCIS conducted an 11-month investigation into the use of synthetic marijuana, or spice, by midshipmen. That investigation ended the careers of at least 27 midshipmen."
Naval Academy officials said seven midshipmen were kicked out for drugs between 2010 and 2017.
Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews
Military Headlines US Navy Topics US Naval Academy Drugs
© Copyright 2019 Fox News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Air Force JTAC Awarded Silver Star for Calling Airstrikes Under Fire
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Dana White misused her subordinates' time to run errands for her, according to a new investigation report.
'Top Gun: Maverick' Trailer Wows as Navy Goes All In
Today is a great day for the US Navy and for the United States of America: We've got the first trailer for "Top Gun: Maverick...
Fox News - Military & Technology
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Upcoming book, Hendrix On Hendrix, features dozens of rare interviews
By Joe Bosso 2012-09-04T12:55:00.247Z Guitars
In his last interview, Hendrix said he wanted to be remembered as "not just another guitar player."
Hendrix On Hendrix provides an intimate look into the groundbreaking guitarist's psyche
Nearly 42 years after his death at the age of 27, interest in Jimi Hendrix is as strong as ever. Next month, fans of the late guitarist will get an unprecedented look into the psyche of both the man and musician with the publication of Hendrix On Hendrix: Interviews And Encounters With Jimi Hendrix.
Edited by noted Hendrix historian Steven Roby, the book presents the stunning arc of the massively influential musician's career, in his own words, during the time he became a cultural icon, beginning with his first interview with the UK music press (Record Mirror, 10 December 1966) to his last Q&A, conducted on 11 September 1970, just one week before his untimely passing.
In all, over 50 interviews from print, radio and TV sources - and even court transcriptions - are represented, during which Hendrix shares his views on everything from his rough upbringing childhood to "Electric Church Music" to being thought of as a race deserter. In his last interview with writer Altham, the young musician discloses that he wants to be remembered as "not just another guitar player."
In the coming weeks, MusicRadar will present an excerpted interview from the book, along with a conversation with Steven Roby. For more information on Hendrix On Hendrix: Interviews And Encounters With Jimi Hendrix (Chicago Review Press), click right here.
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Gibson threatened dealers with legal action unless they stopped selling Dean guitars, alleges Dean
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Blog del Alumno Nuestros consejos
The Oscars are here!
Home \ Language In Action \
With the Oscars coming up on Sunday let’s have a look at some classic American movies that give insight into American culture.
Here is a list of four famous American movie quotes that everyone should know:
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Roy Scheider in Jaws (1975).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gciFoEbOA8
Da Dun. Da Dun. The movie JAWS might be most memorable for its theme song, but along with the dramatic score comes a slew of famous quotes. You might hear “you’re gonna need a bigger boat” when you’re up against an obstacle and find yourself underestimating your opponent (like a shark big enough to eat the small boat that has set out to catch it!).
“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeldwfOwuL8
The Godfather is a classic: Marlon Brando plays Don Corleone, a powerful businessman who will go to any length to protect his family. This quote refers to making an offer that won’t be turned down, either because it is that appealing or, as in Marlon Brando’s case, because you won’t take no for an answer!
Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAmsi05P9Uw
Perhaps one of the most quoted movie lines of all time, “Houston, we have a problem” fits into any situation where something is not going as planned. For example, you might say “Houston, we have a problem,” if you’re taking a road trip and the car won’t start!
Note: If you’re unfamiliar with the city, Houston is where NASA’s space center is located.
“Momma always said ‘Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.’’
Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWzrIX5l0vc
Forrest Gump is a simple character full of wise advice. “Life is like a box of chocolates” is a popular saying to describe how unpredictable life can be (and also often causes debate as to whether our paths in life are predetermined, but that’s a different discussion).
By Patrick McGloin | Language In Action
Patrick McGloin
Five Colour Idioms with the colour, Black
Difficult to pronounce
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En Languages21 somos especialistas en formación en idiomas con una amplia oferta de soluciones lingüísticas que incluyen clases telefónicas, presenciales y virtuales además del diseño y desarrollo de contenidos digitales.
4 Great Idioms to offer useful advice!
Winter Weather Expressions
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https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/Timeline-of-R-Kelly-s-life-and-career-14090267.php
Timeline of R. Kelly's life and career
Updated 1:18 pm CDT, Friday, July 12, 2019
CHICAGO (AP) — R&B singer R. Kelly, long trailed by lurid rumors, has been charged with aggravated sexual abuse involving multiple victims dating back two decades. A timeline of his life and career:
— Jan. 8, 1967: Robert Sylvester Kelly is born in Chicago to Joann Kelly, a school teacher. R. Kelly is third of four children and lives with his family in Chicago's housing projects. Little is known about his father.
— 1975: At age 8, Kelly begins singing in church. Around the same time, his mother teaches him how Stevie Wonder sings by putting a nickel on the record player needle to slow down the revolutions. "So the runs could go really slow and then you learn them," Kelly told ABC News in 2004.
— 1979: At age 12, Kelly said, he "experienced a lot of things at a very young age that I don't know if I was supposed to," including witnessing older youth rape one of his girlfriends.
— 1983: At age 16, his mother moves the family from the projects and enrolls her son at the prestigious Kenwood Academy, a Chicago public school. Kelly meets his mentor, Lena McLin, who chairs Kenwood's music faculty. "She was my second mother. She made me feel I could do anything," Kelly told People in 1994.
— 1984: At age 17, his music teacher places him in a local talent show to perform a version of "Ribbon in the Sky," a Stevie Wonder song. "That night it was like Spider-Man being bit. I discovered the power you get from being onstage," he told Newsweek in 1995. In the years that follow, he performs in Chicago's subway stations full time with his Casio keyboard, often pretending he's blind to avoid arrest.
— 1990: R. Kelly's R&B group MGM wins the $100,000 grand prize on the syndicated television talent show, "Big Break," hosted by Natalie Cole. Because of money disagreements, that was the last time the group performed. Music executive Wayne Williams of Jive Records discovers Kelly singing at a barbecue that summer.
— January 1992: R. Kelly & Public Announcement debut "Born Into The '90s." Released a year later, the album goes platinum.
— Fall 1992: R. Kelly tours on a 10-week nationwide run that includes billings with En Vogue, CC Penniston and High Five.
— November 1993: His album "12 Play" is released and eventually sells more than 5 million copies. Hit singles include "Sex Me" and "Bump N' Grind," which becomes the longest-running No. 1 R&B song in more than 30 years.
— Aug. 31, 1994: At age 27, R. Kelly marries 15-year-old R&B singer Aaliyah D. Haughton. The couple weds in a secret ceremony arranged by Kelly at a hotel in Chicago. The marriage is annulled months later because of Aaliyah's age.
— September 1994: Aaliyah's debut album, "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number," which Kelly produces, is certified platinum. (Aaliyah died in a plane crash seven years later, at age 22.)
— September 1995: Produces Michael Jackson's hit single "You Are Not Alone." Kelly also produces songs for Whitney Houston, Quincy Jones, Toni Braxton, and Janet Jackson.
— November 1996: R. Kelly releases his third album, "R. Kelly." A month later, he incorporates Rockland Records, where he can groom new artists, and his song "I Believe I Can Fly," from the "Space Jam" soundtrack, peaks at No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. The same year, he marries 22-year-old Andrea Lee, a dancer from his touring troupe. The couple goes on to have three children: Joanne, Jaya and Robert Jr.
— Feb. 18, 1997: Tiffany Hawkins files a complaint against Kelly alleging intentional sexual battery and sexual harassment while she was a minor, according to court records.
— January 1998: Hawkins' lawsuit is reportedly settled for $250,000, shortly after she gave a seven-hour deposition.
— February 1998: Kelly wins three Grammys for "I Believe I Can Fly," including best R&B song and best male R&B performance.
— November 1998: His album "R." hits stores. It has since sold 6 million copies.
— November 2000: His album "TP-2.com" debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.
— August 2001: Tracy Sampson files a lawsuit against Kelly, alleging their sex was illegal under Illinois law because he was in "a position of authority" over her. The case is reportedly settled out of court in the spring of 2002, for an undisclosed amount.
— Feb. 8, 2002: The Chicago Sun-Times reports that it received a 26-minute, 39-second videotape allegedly showing Kelly having sex with a minor. The paper reports Chicago police began investigating allegations about Kelly and the same girl three years earlier. At the time, the girl and her parents deny she was having sex with Kelly.
The same day the news breaks, Kelly performs at the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
— June 5, 2002: Kelly is indicted in Chicago on 21 counts of child pornography, stemming from the sex tape. He pleads not guilty and is released on $750,000 bail.
— January 2003: Kelly is arrested at a Miami Dade hotel in Florida on additional child pornography charges after investigators said they found photos of him having sex with a girl. Kelly is released from jail on $12,000 bond. Charges are later dropped after judge rules police didn't have a warrant to search Kelly's house.
— Feb. 18, 2003: Kelly's album "Chocolate Factory" is released, selling 538,000 copies in its first week.
— February 2004: In Chicago, Cook County prosecutors drop seven of the 21 child pornography charges against Kelly.
— November 2004: Kelly files a $90 million lawsuit against Jay-Z and a promoter, claiming breach of contract and sabotage. Jay-Z kicked Kelly off their 40 city tour, citing Kelly's "unpredictable behavior."
— July 2005: Kelly's seventh solo album, "TP.3 Reloaded," hits No. 1 spot on the Billboard chart.
— September 2005: Andrea Kelly asked for an order of protection from her husband, accusing the singer of hitting her when she said she wanted a divorce. The couple reconciles. She says later they live in different homes.
— February 2006: R. Kelly's brother, Carey Kelly, says his brother offered him $50,000 and a record deal to say he was the person on the sex video.
— May 29, 2007: Kelly releases his album "Double Up," which peaks at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart.
— August 2007: In Chicago, Judge Vincent Gaughan rules that jurors and the public will see the sex tape in open court, rejecting arguments from defense lawyers and prosecutors that it shouldn't be shown.
— September 2007: Following a five year delay, the trial is scheduled to start — but Gaughan postpones it until 2008. He doesn't explain why.
— Dec. 21, 2007: Gaughan decides not to revoke Kelly's bond after threatening to do so when the singer failed to show up at a hearing a few days earlier. Kelly was in the middle of a 45-city tour and said his bus had been held up by police for speeding in Utah.
— May 9, 2008: Kelly's child pornography trial finally begins.
— June 13, 2008: Kelly acquitted on all counts after less than a full day of deliberations.
— Jan 8, 2009: Kelly and his former wife, Andrea, confirm had divorced after 11 years of marriage.
— July 12, 2011: Crain's Chicago Business reported that a $2.9 million foreclosure was filed by JPMorgan Chase bank against Kelly's suburban Chicago mansion. A spokesman claims the singer was not having financial trouble.
— March 21, 2012: Kelly announced he was reviving his cult classic video series, "Trapped in the Closet." The project began as five videos for his dramatic cliffhanger songs in 2007, and eventually grew to several dozen musical chapters dealing with a web of sexual deceit. Kelly teamed with IFC to premiere the old and new series, and performed the rap opera at event such as a sing-along at Bonnaroo. There was talk of a Broadway show.
— Sept. 4, 2012: After successful romantic albums "Write Me Back" and 2010's "Love Letter," Kelly vowed not to abandon the explicit music that helped make him famous. "Make no mistake about it, R. Kelly is not going anywhere. It's just that R. Kelly has such a unique talent, and I've been blessed to be able to do all type of genres of music ... I'm exploring my gift right now," Kelly told The Associated Press.
— June 15, 2012: The Chicago Sun-Times reports Kelly owes the IRS more than $4.8 million in back taxes.
— June 27, 2012: Kelly publishes his autobiography, "Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me," focusing on his creative and family life rather than his legal troubles.
— Sept. 29, 2012: Kelly was nominated for two Soul Train Awards, making him the most nominated act ever at the awards show.
— March 18, 2013: Kelly's custom-built mansion, once valued at more than $5 million, sells for $950,000 in a foreclosure auction.
— July 17, 2017: BuzzFeed reports on parents' claims that Kelly brainwashed their daughters and was keeping them in an abusive "cult." One woman says she was with Kelly willingly. Following the BuzzFeed report, activists launched the #MuteRKelly movement, calling for boycotts of his music.
— Feb. 13, 2018: Kelly evicted from two Atlanta-area homes over more than $31,000 owed in unpaid back rent.
— April 30, 2018: The Time's Up campaign, devoted to helping women in the aftermath of sexual abuse, joined the #MuteRKelly social media campaign and issued a statement urging further investigation into Kelly's behavior, which had come under closer scrutiny over the last year as women came forward to accuse him of everything from sexual coercion to physical abuse. An appearance at a concert in his native Chicago was canceled after protests. Kelly's camp responded: "We will vigorously resist this attempted public lynching of a black man who has made extraordinary contributions to our culture."
— May 11, 2018: Spotify cuts R. Kelly's music from its playlists, citing its new policy on hate content and hateful conduct. Kelly's team says he has only promoted love in his music and that Spotify is acting on "false and unproven allegations." They note other artists on the service have been accused or convicted of crimes.
— May 21, 2018: News outlets report that Apple and Pandora are also not promoting Kelly's music, though both companies haven't officially made announcements.
— May 21, 2018: Faith Rodgers, 20, accuses R. Kelly of sexual battery, mental and verbal abuse, and knowingly inflicting her with herpes during a yearlong relationship, according to a lawsuit filed in New York.
— Aug. 15, 2018: An Atlanta-area property company sued Kelly for $203,400 over "extensive damage" to two homes he rented. An associate of Kelly's was previously accused of robbing the same homes in 2017. Kelly and the company settled for $170,000, but lawsuit says Kelly has only paid $20,000.
— Jan. 3, 2019: Lifetime airs the documentary "Surviving R. Kelly," which revisited old allegations against him and brought new ones into the spotlight. The series follows the BBC's "R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes," released the previous year, that alleged the singer was holding women against their will and running a "sex cult."
— Jan. 8, 2019: Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx holds press conference after her office is inundated with calls about the allegations in the documentary, some tied to Kelly's Chicago-area home. Foxx says there's no active investigation of Kelly and that launching one would require victims and witnesses.
— Jan. 9, 2019: Lady Gaga apologizes for her 2013 duet with R. Kelly in the wake of the sexual misconduct allegations against him, saying she intended to remove the song, "Do What U Want (With My Body)," from streaming services. The collaboration had been intensely criticized when it was released, in part because of the allegations against him and because of the sexually charged performances they did on "Saturday Night Live" and the American Music Awards in 2013.
— Jan. 10, 2019: Nielsen Music says streaming numbers for R. Kelly nearly doubled after the Lifetime documentary. Kelly averaged more than 955,600 streams in the last week of 2018. He averaged more than 1.5 million streams from Jan. 3-6.
— Jan. 14, 2019: Faith Rogers said Kelly had written a letter last October to one of her lawyers, threatening to reveal embarrassing details of her sexual history if she didn't drop her May 2018 lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse. The Chicago Tribune publishes a story detailing court records it obtained on a July lawsuit seeking payment of $174,000 in back rent and other costs for his Chicago recording studio. A signed eviction notice was put on hold for Kelly to pay by Jan. 21.
— Jan. 21, 2019: Multiple media outlets report Kelly and his label, Sony subsidiary RCA Records, had parted ways. Lady Gaga and Celine Dion recently removed their duets with Kelly from streaming services, and French rock band Phoenix apologized for collaborating with Kelly in 2013. Kelly continues to deny all allegations of sexual misconduct.
— Feb. 1, 2019: An estimated 25.8 million people had seen all or some of the six-part documentary series that brought together dozens of people who accused Kelly of sexual misconduct, primarily contact with underage girls, since the first episode aired Jan. 3, according to the Nielsen company.
— Feb. 6, 2019: Kelly announced by tweet a new tour outside the U.S., saying he'd be going to Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The tweet was later deleted following a backlash from Twitter users who urged fans not to buy concert tickets.
— Feb. 14, 2019: Attorney Michael Avenatti said he gave Chicago prosecutors new video evidence of Kelly having sex with an underage girl, and that it is not the same evidence used in Kelly's 2008 trial, when he was acquitted on child pornography charges.
— Feb. 22, 2019: Kelly is charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse. He is arrested after turning himself in to police.
— Feb. 23, 2019: A judge sets Kelly's bond at $1 million, saying it amounts to $250,000 for each of the four people he's charged with abusing.
— Feb. 25, 2019: Kelly's attorney enters not guilty pleas on the singer's behalf. Hours later, Kelly posts $100,000 bail — 10 percent of the $1 million bond set by the judge — and is released from jail in Chicago.
— March 6, 2019: CBS airs interview in which Kelly vehemently denies the sexual abuse charges against him. Later, authorities in Cook County take Kelly into custody after he tells a judge he couldn't pay $161,000 in back child support he owes his children's mother.
__ May 30, 2019: Kelly is charged with 11 new sex-related counts in Chicago. They involve one of the women who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.
__ July 11, 2019: Kelly is indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on 13 counts including child pornography, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice. He is again arrested in Chicago. The federal charges are in addition to the charges brought by Illinois prosecutors.
Compiled by News Researchers Jennifer Farrar and Randy Herschaft in New York.
See the AP's full coverage of the investigations into R. Kelly.
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| ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/trump-tower-condos-currently-for-sale\n8 NYC Trump Tower Condos Having Trouble Finding a Willing Buyer\nPolarizing politics and the increased security presence around the property have put a damper on the aspirational desirability of a Trump Tower address.\nBecky Bracken, provided by\nPublished 5:00 am CDT, Tuesday, June 25, 2019\nPhoto: Drew Angerer/Getty Images\nTrump Tower may be the only losing real estate bet in New York City.\nRecent reporting from Bloomberg shows that since President Donald Trump took office, most of the units in Trump Tower have sold at a loss—several for a loss of more than 20%. For comparison, Bloomberg's accounting showed that for all of Manhattan, only 0.23% of homes have sold for a loss over the past two years.\nPolarizing politics and an around-the-clock phalanx of security ringing the property have put a damper on the desirability of a Trump Tower address on Fifth Avenue.\nWe dove into the listings and found eight properties up for sale right now in the 58-story building. And we didn't even count the $3.66 million unit on the market recently seized from convicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.\nWhile these eight units are a small sample size, some of them have been on the market for years, and many of them have undergone a number of price reductions in the effort to find an elusive buyer. Let's survey the pricing carnage...\n721 Fifth Ave, Unit 61L, New York, NY\nUnit 61L: This three-bedroom condo sold to its current owner in September 2013 for $14.3 million, or $5,699 per square foot. It then popped back on the market in February 2018 for a rather ambitious $18 million. In January 2019, the price underwent a dramatic 30% cut, to $12.5 million. This month, the unit shed yet another $2.5 million—representing a $4.3 million loss from its original purchase price six years ago.\nTrump Tower Unit 61L\n721 Fifth Ave, Unit 32A, New York, NY\nUnit 32A: This two-bedroom, 1,500-square foot unit in Trump Tower was purchased by its current owner in 2006 for $2.3 million. It hit the market right after Trump's inauguration in February 2017 for $4.25 million, or $2,935 per square foot. By May 2017, the price was reduced to $4 million. Now, after a total of eight price changes, it's currently sitting on the market for $2.84 million, or $1,923 per square foot.\nTrump Tower Unit 32A\n721 Fifth Ave, Unit 37D, New York, NY\nUnit 37D: Initially listed in March 2016 for $3.25 million, this one-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom, 1,000-square-foot unit has lingered on the market for over three years. When it debuted, the price per square foot on the place was $4,976. Now, four price cuts later, the empty unit has lost more than half its value and sits at $2,105 per square foot.\nTrump Tower Unit 37D\n721 Fifth Ave, Unit 42BC, New York, NY\nUnit 42BC: These two units have been on the market since October 2016, right before the president's election. They're marketed as an opportunity to be combined into one grand residence and were originally listed for $8,500,000 and $3,132 per square foot. After 2.5 years on the market and four price cuts, the offering currently stands at $2,395 per square foot.\nTrump Tower Units 42BC\n721 Fifth Ave, Unit 58CD, New York, NY\nUnit 58CD: Renovated to combine two units into one, this 2,250-square-foot spread originally landed on the market for $11.5 million in October 2017. At that price, the oversized residence cost $5,442 per square foot. A year and a half later, the \"masterpiece of design and artful living\" has had its price cut by 1.5 million bucks.\nTrump Tower Unit 58CD\n721 Fifth Ave, Apt 33E, New York, NY\nUnit 33E: This 1,100-square-foot apartment is a relative newcomer to the market—it's only been up for sale since late October. The price hasn't budged from a relatively modest $2,422 per square foot.\nTrump Tower Unit 33E\n721 Fifth Ave, Apt. 32C, New York, NY\nUnit 32C: At only $1,996 per square foot, this is the most budget-friendly option on the market in the tower. Listed in December 2018, this one-bedroom unit is \"priced to move,\" according to the listing details.\nTrump Tower 32C\n721 Fifth Ave, Unit 57L, Manhattan, NY\nUnit 57L: This three-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot condo was designed by Juan Pablo Molyneux, offering it a little designer prestige. It initially came to market in 2015 for $18 million, or $7,171 per square foot. But that was then. Four years later, the condo is still on the market—now at half its original asking price.\nThe post 8 NYC Trump Tower Condos Having Trouble Finding a Willing Buyer appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.\nInside Real Estate\nPhotos: 10 renovated homes for sale in San Antonio\nBudget friendly San Antonio homes for sale with pools to help...\nGeorge Strait's hilltop castle in The Dominion listed for...\nLuxurious million-dollar homes listed for sale in San Antonio\nDeveloper plans 112-room boutique hotel for downtown S.A.\nList: 25 least livable cities for minimum wage earners\nUniversity of the Incarnate Word buying AT&T building on Broadway\nTerrell Hills ranked best neighborhood in Texas\nSpiking home prices a sign that San Antonio neighborhood among...\nTrending Real Estate\nMap: 2019 Spring Tour"
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Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, Volume 15
LEOPOLD B. FELSEN 1924-2005
National Academy of Engineering Memorial Tributes Volume 15
Dr. Leopold B. Felsen
ReleasedOctober 1, 2011
ISBN0-309-21306-1
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This is the Fifteenth volume in the series of Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and foreign members. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased.
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Results Found
WILLIAM D. ALEXANDER 1911-2003
LEW ALLEN, JR. 1925-2010
NEAL R. AMUNDSON 1926-2011
JOHN H. ARGYRIS 1913-2004
HOLT ASHLEY 1923-2006
KERMIT EARL BROWN 1923-2009
PRAVEEN CHAUDHARI 1937-2010
AARON COHEN 1931-2010
CHARLES CONCORDIA 1908-2003
ALFRED JOHN EGGERS, JR. 1922-2006
IAIN FINNIE 1928-2009
JOHN A. FOCHT, JR. 1923-2010
GEORGE A. FOX 1920-2001
FERDINAND FREUDENSTEIN 1926-2006
ROBERT A. FUHRMAN 1925-2009
HAREN S. GANDHI 1941-2010
JOSEPH G. GAVIN, JR. 1920-2010
LESLIE A. GEDDES 1921-2009
PAUL GERMAIN 1920-2009
ROBERT R. GILRUTH 1913-2000
LAWRENCE R. GLOSTEN 1918-2010
WALLACE D. HAYES 1918-2001
IRA GRANT HEDRICK 1913-2008
DAVID R. HEEBNER 1927-2003
ALLAN F. HENRY 1925-2001
GEORGE HERRMANN 1921-2007
WALTER HERRMANN 1930-2000
WALTER R. HIBBARD, JR. 1918-2010
JOHN HILL 19921-2008
DAVID CLARENCE HOGG 1921-2009
GEORGE W. HOUSNER 1910-2008
W.J. "JACK" HOWARD 1922-2010
FREDERICK JELINEK 1932-2010
AMOSE. JOEL, JR. 1918-2008
ROY G. JOHNSTON 1914-2008
JAMES C. KECK 1924-2010
EDWIN E. KINTNER 1920-2010
HERBERT J. C. KOUTS 1919-2008
THOMAS R. KUESEL 1926-2010
JOSEPH TALBOT KUMMER 1919-1997
(MICHAEL) JAMES LIGHTHILL 1924-199
HENRY R. LINDEN 1922-2009
A. L. LONDON 1913-2008
JOHN (JACK) P. LONGWELL 1918-2004
FRED E. LUBORSKY 1923-2010
ALAN G. MACDIARMID 1927-2007
JOHN H. MCELROY 1936-2007
HENRY L. MICHEL 1924-2001
WALTER SHEPARD OWEN 1920-2007
WILLIAM H. PHILIPS 1918-2009
THOMAS H. PIGFORD 1922-2010
BRIAN H. ROWE 1931-2007
RUSTUM ROY 1924-2010
GEORGE S. SCHAIRER 1913-2004
MANFRED ROBERT SCHROEDER 1926-2009
GLENN A. SCHURMAN 1922-2010
L. EDWARD SCRIVEN 1931-2007
JOANNE SIMPSON 1923-2010
ROBERT J. SPINRAD 1932-2009
H. GUYFORD STEVER 1916-2010
MARTIN SUMMERFIELD 1916-1996
MILTON D. VAN DYKE 1922-2010
WILLIAM L. WEARLY 1915-2010
JOHN V. WEHAUSEN 1913-2005
MAX T. WEISS 1922-2006
RICHARD T. WHITCOMB 1921-2009
MAURICE V. WILKES 1913-2010
Download Chapter 193KB, PDF
BY THEODOR TAMIR
SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY
LEOPOLD B. FELSEN, an internationally renowned authority on wave electrodynamics with applications to electrical engineering, optics, acoustics, and geophysics, died on September 24, 2005, at the age of 81.
Leo, as his close colleagues and friends generally knew him, was born in Munich, Germany, on May 7, 1924, to Jewish parents. Upon witnessing anti-Semitic persecutions that were initiated by the Nazis before World War II, his parents sent him in 1939 to England, after which he managed to reach New York in 1940. As a new American, he served in the Army for three years. He thereafter married his wife Sima in 1944 and they had two children, Michael and Judy.
Prompted by an early but keen mathematical insight and interest in science and engineering, Leo studied at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now Polytechnic Institute of New York University), where he received the degrees of B.E.E., M.E.E., and D.E.E. in 1948, 1949, and 1952, respectively. He then joined the faculty of that institute, where he became professor of electrophysics in 1961, dean of engineering in 1974, university professor in 1978, and university professor emeritus in 1994. In 1975 his wife Sima died, and a few years later Leo learned that he suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy that slowly wasted away his muscular system. To live closer to his family, he substantially reduced his activities at the Polytechnic in 1994 and joined Boston University as a professor in the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department.
Leo was granted top-rank membership as life fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA), and fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). He received many additional honors in his lifetime, which included a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973, IEEE/APS Distinguished Lecturer in 1974, the Van der Pol Gold Medal from the International Radio Science Union (URSI) in 1975, the Humboldt Foundation Senior Scientist Award from the Federal Republic of Germany in 1980, the IEEE Centennial Medal in 1984, the IEEE Heinrich Hertz Gold Medal in 1991, the Antennas and Propagation Society Distinguished Achievement Award in 1998, and the IEEE Electromagnetics Award in 2003. In addition, he was granted many awards for distinguished papers authored or coauthored by him; also, he was honored with special recognition awards by academic institutes and professional societies for his excellence in teaching and research.
Throughout his career, Leo held named visiting professorships and fellowships and was invited to visit and lecture at distinguished universities and research institutes in the Soviet Union, Japan, China, Brazil, Korea, Israel, Germany, Turkey, Italy, and other European countries. In that context, he received honorary doctoral degrees from the Technical University of Denmark (1979); the University of Sannio, Italy (2003); the Technical University of Munich, Germany (2004); the Polytechnic University, New York (2005); and the Dogus University of Istanbul, Turkey (2005).
Leo’s most significant early achievement was the book Radiation and Scattering of Waves (Prentice-Hall, 1973) on which he devoted a major portion of his time for five years with Nathan Marcuvitz as coauthor. This book was reprinted in 1996 by IEEE as a classical and invaluable resource for rigorously solving a multitude of analytical problems involving fields and waves in electromagnetics, optics, acoustics, geophysics, and other areas of applied physics. A main feature of the book is the twofold view in time and frequency domains, which is treated with the systematic rigor that characterizes all his work. An important and very useful aspect is the emphasis on alternative Green’s representations; these are subsequently treated in terms of spectral and asymptotic solutions that lend insight into physical interpretations of the relevant phenomena.
Leo’s professional papers span a period that started in 1952, and their impact has been continued posthumously by his many collaborators. He published over 350 articles on a wide variety of topics, a short list of which includes the classification and properties of basic (surface, leaky, lateral, creeping, etc.) waves that appear in actual propagation and scattering problems; the development of augmented ray-tracing techniques that connect typical sources to scattering objects; the construction of hybrid representations involving finite numbers of rays and modes that effectively describe field representations that otherwise require an infinite number of terms; the derivation of solutions to canonic problems involving realistic beams having bounded cross-sections; the extension of modal and ray techniques to the study of transient wave propagation in complex environments; and many other related topics as well as their application to typical configurations in electromagnetics, optics, acoustics, and geophysics.
Leo’s dedication to the study of wave phenomena motivated him to participate in every major national or international conference that addressed the latest progress on theoretical aspects in the above areas. His attendance was often by invitation and, during presentations by others as well as in subsequent technical discussions, his views usually provided the conclusive arguments on debates concerning the validity of a given approach to specific problems and their solutions.
While Leo’s most cherished activity was his academic research, he was also sought after and highly recognized for his teaching activities. In this context, he offered primarily graduate courses on basic aspects of propagation, scattering, and guiding of waves. In these courses, his approach was to deftly combine mathematical rigor with models of actual applications while at the same time emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses of various methods. He made a point of stressing the elegance and utility of canonic problems; he clearly presented the latest state-of-the-art techniques and indicated the principal as-yet-unsolved problems. Most importantly, his course assignments were actually mini-projects whose basic aspect and treatment often served as a prelude to M.S. and Ph.D. dissertations. Needless to say, those courses turned out to be an inspirational source to many of his students, as well as to colleagues with interest in wave phenomena.
Perhaps most impressive was Leo’s heroic achievement in living a full and productive life after being stricken by his unforgiving and progressive muscular illness. He did not just stoically accept a debilitating situation, but he adroitly accommodated his daily activities and scientific pursuits so as to continue taking full advantage of his brilliant intellectual capacity. It is simply amazing that he was able to continue until his death a distinguished professional career, both working on his own and in collaboration with many others. By adding to this a piquant humor and charming his friends with insightful verses that he composed for many odd occasions, Leo was an inspiration to all his professional peers as well as to his younger colleagues.
A few of Leo’s additional sides: In his earlier years, he was an avid hiker, and remained a lover of nature, and especially the mountains, throughout his life. He was a true humanist; he appreciated and respected the many cultures found around the globe and knew that he was fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience so many of them firsthand, through his wide professional travels and his diverse relationships with students and colleagues. He very much enjoyed following the exploits of his three growing grandsons, just as he relished offering the obligatory sage advice from “grumpy gramps.” And there were few family events at which he didn’t offer a topical poem or limeric—sometimes gently gibing, but just as often wittily self-mocking—to liven up the festivities.
Indeed, even though English was not his native tongue, he became a real admirer and master of the language. His prose was elegant, but his poetry—whether on scientific themes or philosophical musings or family matters—was his pastime and his real pride and joy. For years he authored the “Poet’s Corner” in the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, penning rhymes about waves and computers and conferences and the comradeship of colleagues. For a symposium luncheon honoring his birthday in 1990, he wrote about himself:
You’ve been a gadfly through critique
With questions often sharp, direct.
While this may not engender love
With those who’ve worked up close with you,
Heated debates have spurred the quest
To find the route that formulates
A controversial issue best.
And as you inch along that path,
Your sparring can become intense.
Yet close encounters of this kind
Have transformed colleagues into friends.
In his later years, as his body became increasingly feeble, his mind remained sharp, engaged, and intrigued by life’s mysteries. He appreciated each day, but also was well aware of his mortality, and was moved to comment on it from time to time. The following poem, written a few years before his death at 81, provides a small window into how he contemplated his passing from the stage:
Evanescent Professors
occasions like the recent one
remind those who have come of age
That surely there will be a time
When they will move from center stage.
Just how a person leaves the stage
Is often difficult to say
old soldiers, getting to that point,
They never die, they fade away.
Professors somehow do the same.
How it is done, you’ll hardly guess.
for those of us who deal with Waves,
We do not fade, we evanesce.
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News & Views | Published: 28 July 2010
Climate and intraplate shocks
Mark D. Zoback1
Nature volume 466, pages 568–569 (29 July 2010) | Download Citation
The heartland of the United States lies within a tectonic plate, certain regions of which have experienced large and geologically recent earthquakes. Explanations for those events are still being sought.
Over the past several decades, the earthquake cycle along tectonic-plate boundaries has become increasingly well understood. There is a consensus that geological, geodetic and palaeoseismic data can be combined to establish long-term earthquake probabilities, with a degree of certainty that improves as more and better data become available.
There is no such consensus when it comes to intraplate earthquakes. The reason is that there are no well accepted principles that account for why large earthquakes have occurred where they did in the recent past, where they are likely to occur in the future, or how large they might be. In this context, Calais et al.1 (page 608 of this issue) provide a valuable contribution. Their study region lies in the central United States, around New Madrid, Missouri, which in 1811–12 experienced a sequence of three earthquakes estimated to be of magnitude 7 or larger.
Much still needs to be done to reduce earthquake hazards for those living along active plate boundaries. To recognize that, one needs only to look at the devastating consequences of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra (230,000 dead in 14 countries), or the earthquake in Haiti earlier this year (approximately 200,000 dead and 2 million left homeless). But the situation is even worse in intraplate regions, especially in the developing world. In the past decade alone, tens of thousands of people have died in each of the earthquakes that hit Bhuj, India (2001), and Bam, Iran (2003), as well as in the magnitude 7.9 Wenchuan event that occurred in China in 2008 (Fig. 1). We know that intraplate earthquakes result from plate-driving forces transmitted through plate interiors2,3. But without a better understanding of why intraplate earthquakes occur where they do, the potential for future damaging earthquakes must be considered 'high impact but low probability'. In the developing world, it is unlikely that much will be done to prepare for such events.
Figure 1: Consequences of an intraplate earthquake.
Yingxiu town, Wenchuan county, seen in the wake of the seismic events of 2008. Image: N. LOH/REUTERS
The New Madrid seismic zone is the best studied of locations that have been affected by intraplate earthquakes. One of the enigmatic features of this zone is the rate at which large earthquakes occur. Palaeoseismic data4 indicate the occurrence of at least three, and possibly five, large earthquakes (or sequences of such earthquakes) in just the past few thousand years. However, faults seen on seismic reflection profiles show little cumulative deformation over the past few million years5, during which time the regional geological processes have been essentially identical. Hence, the long-term earthquake rate seems to be much lower than that of the past few thousand years.
Moreover, unlike at plate boundaries, where over time the average rate of seismic-strain release in big earthquakes matches the rate at which strain energy accumulates as a result of relative plate motion, analysis of data from the Global Positioning System (GPS) has shown that the rate of strain accumulation in the New Madrid region is quite low6. The occurrence of multiple large events in a relatively short period of time seems to be due to the release of strain energy that accumulated over a very long period of time.
In turning to the new paper by Calais et al.1, I should declare an interest in that the model used is conceptually similar to one proposed by Grollimund and myself a few years ago7. Both studies invoke the consequences of the retreat of glaciers from much of continental North America at the end of the last ice age. And both assume that the brittle crust is in a state of frictional failure equilibrium — that is, even in relatively stable plate interiors, stress levels are close to that at which slip could occur on faults that are appropriately oriented to the current stress field. This allows even a relatively small perturbation of stresses in the lithosphere to induce brittle faulting in the upper crust, and time-dependent flow in the viscous lower crust and upper mantle.
In Calais and colleagues' model1, the perturbation is caused by localized erosion of approximately 12 metres in the past 16,000 years, produced by river incision. This induces upward flexure of the lithosphere in the New Madrid area, 'unclamping' some of the critically stressed faults in the region. In our paper7 we argued that, consequent on the removal of ice-sheet load, seismicity is localized around New Madrid because of anomalously low viscosity in the upper mantle, the result of an ancient, failed rift in the region.
Importantly, both models produce crustal deformation rates that are consistent with the rates observed by GPS measurements in the region; and both predict that the rate of large earthquakes seen over the past few thousand years is likely to continue for thousands of years into the future, because of the long time it takes for the triggered viscous flow in the lower crust and upper mantle to diminish. In other words, seismic hazard in the region remains high. The paper by Calais et al. is valuable both in reinforcing that point and in providing a plausible mechanism that merits further investigation.
It has been argued8 that, as in the New Madrid region, several intraplate fault zones in Australia have exhibited episodes of relatively frequent earthquakes separated by long periods of quiescence. Similar behaviour may characterize earthquakes in the southeastern United States near Charleston, South Carolina9. These regions, as well as others that have been struck by intraplate earthquakes, deserve detailed study, with the aim of revealing what might have triggered the release of strain energy stored in Earth's crust for millions of years.
Calais, E., Freed, A. M., Van Arsdale, R. & Stein, S. Nature 466, 608–611 (2010).
Zoback, M. D. & Zoback, M. L. Science 213, 96–104 (1981).
Zoback, M. L. J. Geophys. Res. 97, 11761–11782 (1992).
Tuttle, M. P. et al. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 92, 2080–2089 (2002).
Hamilton, R. M. & Zoback, M. D. US Geol. Survey Prof. Pap. 1236-F (1981).
Calais, E. & Stein, S. Science 323, 1442 (2009).
Grollimund, B. R. & Zoback, M. D. Geology 29, 175–178 (2001).
Crone, A. J., De Martini, P. M., Machette, M. N., Okumura, K. & Prescott, J. R. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 93, 1913–1934 (2003).
Talwani, P. & Schaeffer, W. T. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 6621–6642 (2001).
Mark D. Zoback is in the Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. zoback@stanford.edu
Mark D. Zoback
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Seismogenic structures of the 2006 ML4.0 Dangan Island earthquake offshore Hong Kong
Shaohong Xia
, Jinghe Cao
, Jinlong Sun
, Jinshui Lv
, Huilong Xu
, Xiang Zhang
, Kuiyuan Wan
, Chaoyan Fan
& Pengxiang Zhou
Journal of Ocean University of China (2018)
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Nature | Letter
Triggering of New Madrid seismicity by late-Pleistocene erosion
E. Calais
, A. M. Freed
, R. Van Arsdale
& S. Stein
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Head West(wood), to Dublin, for a Free Bloomsday Bash
Join a music-filled, reading-strong celebration of James Joyce's "Ulysses."
Rattle the Knee
Rattle the Knee will deliver the Irish fiddle-based ditties to this annual celebration of "Ulysses," the classic work by James Joyce.
Sunday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Hammer Museum
Free, but ticket required
There are three months between the 17th day of March and the 16th day of June.
Less a day, of course, if you're keeping track of such things.
And if you're keeping track, you'll likely know that St. Patrick's Day and Bloomsday aren't the same day, at all, and yet you're bound to find traditional Irish fiddling, pints of Guinness, and a spirited affection for Ireland on both occasions.
And while the late-late-late winter holiday is more shamrock'd and Erin-Go-Bragh'd, the late-late-late spring holiday, which will be honored in song and story on June 16 at the Hammer Museum, is very much about James Joyce's "Ulysses," a Dublin-devoted book if there ever was one.
It's Bloomsday, and, as in years gone by, entry is free, though you'll need to get a ticket at the museum box office. Parking under the Westwood-based museum?
That's additional. Here's more.
Once again, the museum will pay heartfelt homage to "Ulysses" through a host of live readings of the most dramatic sort.
The actors on the 2019 line-up include Síle Bermingham, Sonya Macari, Johnny O'Callaghan, and several other people ready to step up to the mic and revisit the Dublin of yore.
In the Hammer of today, though, there shall be Guinness to sip at the Bloomsday bash, and live music to stomp your feet to, too. Rattle the Knee, a string-sweet Bloomsday favorite, will provide the cèilidh atmosphere.
The Sunday night literary to-do begins at 7:30 p.m., so perhaps you'll want to spend Sunday afternoon revisiting Jame Joyce's masterwork on the occasion of its annual holiday.
And how many great books get their own holiday? "Few," is the accurate answer. And, among those, Bloomsday continues to shine as brightly as a halfpenny.
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The Impacts of the Affordable Care Act: How Reasonable Are the Projections?
Jonathan Gruber
Issued in June 2011
NBER Program(s):Health Care, Health Economics, Public Economics
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most comprehensive reform of the U.S. medical system in at least 45 years. The ACA transforms the non-group insurance market in the United States, mandates that most residents have health insurance, significantly expands public insurance and subsidizes private insurance coverage, raises revenues from a variety of new taxes, and reduces and reorganizes spending under the nation's largest health insurance plan, Medicare. Projecting the impacts of such fundamental reform to the health care system is fraught with difficulty. But such projections were required for the legislative process, and were delivered by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This paper discusses the projected impact of the ACA in more detail, and describes the evidence that sheds light upon the accuracy of the projections. It begins by reviewing in broad details the structure of the ACA and then reviews evidence from a key case study that informs our understanding of the ACA's impacts: a comparable health reform that was carried out in Massachusetts four years earlier. The paper discusses the key results from that earlier reform and what they might imply for the impacts of the ACA. The paper ends with a discussion of the projected impact of the ACA and offers some observations on those estimates.
Published: “The Impacts of the Affordable Care Act: How Reasonable Are the Projections?,” National Tax Journal , 64, September 2011, 893 - 908.
Gruber w15766 The Tax Exclusion for Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance
Gruber w13758 Covering the Uninsured in the U.S.
Garthwaite w17070 The Doctor Might See You Now: The Supply Side Effects of Public Health Insurance Expansions
Brown, Duggan, Kuziemko, and Woolston w16977 How does Risk Selection Respond to Risk Adjustment? Evidence from the Medicare Advantage Program
Kolstad and Kowalski w16012 The Impact of Health Care Reform On Hospital and Preventive Care: Evidence from Massachusetts
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Tom Campbell
“Tom Campbell has more connections than a jigsaw puzzle.”
Raleigh N&O
For over 50 years Tom has observed and commented on North Carolina politics and public policy. He has owned and operated radio and television stations, performing every function from being a disc jockey to writing and delivering daily editorials.
Tom’s family founded Campbell University and WNCT-TV, the first TV station East of Raleigh. Tom worked in the family business for 24 years, later serving as Assistant Treasurer of North Carolina before purchasing WRAZ-TV “Fox 50” in the Raleigh Durham market.
In 1998 he created and became executive producer and moderator of NC SPIN, a weekly half-hour program designed to ensure people get in-depth, civil and balanced discussion on North Carolina issues. The program airs statewide on UNC-TV Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. It also airs on the North Carolina Channel Friday night at 10 p.m., Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. NC SPIN is the longest-running weekly TV/radio talk show in North Carolina history, with over 1050 programs spanning 20 years.
Tom also writes a weekly column “My Spin” that is published in newspapers across the state and appears on the ncspin.com website.
Among many honors received Tom is most proud of his induction into the NC Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. His Methodist Pastor wife Lib and he have two children and four grandchildren.
My Spin Articles by Tom Campbell >>
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Marzahn, April 2019, photo by Miguel Brusch
Stadtschreiber
No 1: Miguel Brusch
NBR Instagram
Stadtschreiber – Berlin in Pictures: photographers share their personal view of Berlin on Neue Berliner Räume's Instagram channel.
A writer in residence (Stadtschreiber) is a narrator of cities, someone who comments on the present and records it for posterity. Neue Berliner Räume now takes up this idea and presents its new long-term project Stadtschreiber on Instagram. For three month each, changing photographers will share their personal view of Berlin, its places, stories and people. Follow the Stadtschreiber here.
The first Stadtschreiber for the year 2019 is Miguel Brusch.
Miguel Brusch was born in 1983. After graduating in South Asian Studies and Media Science at the University of Hamburg, he started studying photography at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie in Berlin, from which he graduated in 2018. His work has been published by various German and international media outlets and exhibited at the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin, at the Triennial of Photography 2018 in Hamburg and at the Fotogalerie Friedrichshain in Berlin, among others. Besides editorial and commercial work, he focuses on long-term documentary projects, often playing with the border between realism and surrealism. He lives and works in Berlin.
Stadtschreiber No 1
Miguel Brusch
April – July 2019
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Somerset man charged in fatal crash indicted on additional charges of child pornography
See the latest indictments filed in Licking County Common Pleas Court.
Somerset man charged in fatal crash indicted on additional charges of child pornography See the latest indictments filed in Licking County Common Pleas Court. Check out this story on newarkadvocate.com: https://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/local/2019/07/13/man-charged-fatal-crash-indicted-more-charges-child-porn/1708248001/
Michaela Sumner, Newark Advocate Published 2:49 p.m. ET July 13, 2019
NEWARK - The following people were indicted for felony offenses in Licking County Common Pleas Court.
Alan W. Schubert, 49, last known address 219 N. Columbus St., Unit 205, Somerset, was charged with six counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor, five second-degree felonies and one fourth-degree felony; and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one a second-degree felony and the other a third.
Between Sept. 24, 2017 and June 20, 2018, Schubert was suspected of creating, reproducing, or publishing any obscene material that has a minor as one of its participants of portrayed observers, with knowledge of the material or performance involved; between Sept. 24, 2017 and June 20, 2018, Schubert was suspected of buying, procuring, possessing, or controlling any obscene material that has a minor as one of its participants, with knowledge of the character of the material or performance involved; and on June 20, 2018, Schubert was suspected of causing the death of a victim or the unlawful termination of victim's pregnancy while operating or participating in the operation of a motor vehicle, motorcycle, snowmobile, locomotive, watercraft, or aircraft, according to the indictment.
More: Investigators: Child porn found on 2018 Ohio 37 fatal crash suspect's phone
Jasmine M. Mason, 26, last known address 25 Waters Edge Dr., Hebron, was charged with one count each aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony; and illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
On July 1, Mason was suspected of having methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, according to the indictment.
Jerry L. Dreyfus, 62, last known address 186 W. Locust St., Apartment C, Newark, was charged with one count of assault, a fourth-degree felony.
On July 2, Dreyfus was suspected of knowingly causing or attempting to cause physical harm to a peace officer, while the officer was in the performance of his official duties, and the victim is a peace officer or an investigator of the bureau of criminal identification and investigation, a firefighter, or a person performing emergency medical service, while in the performance of their official duties, according to the indictment.
Ronald K. Wright, 50, last known address 160 Elliott Ave., Buckeye Lake, was charged with one count each having weapons while under disability, a third-degree felony; improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony; possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony; and trafficking in drugs, a fifth-degree felony.
On June 4, Wright was suspected of having a weapon while under disability, knowingly transporting or having a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle that is accessible to the operator or any passenger without leaving the vehicle, having cocaine, and distributing or preparing to distribute cocaine, according to the indictment.
Richard J. Stacy, 50, last known address 4887 Bixby Road, Groveport, was charged with two counts of aggravated possession of drugs, a second and third-degree felony; and one count of obstructing official business, a second-degree misdemeanor.
On Dec. 28 and May 25, Stacy was suspected of having methamphetamine, and on May 25, obstructing official business, according to the indictment.
Michael R. Doyle, 36, last known address 111 Claren Dr., Heath, was charged with one count of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony.
On June 27, Doyle was suspected of having methamphetamine, according to the indictment.
David L. Ferguson Jr., 29, last known address 2183 Hanna Dr., Columbus, was charged with one count each having weapons under disability, a third-degree felony; and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony.
On June 30, Ferguson was suspected of having a weapon while under disability and knowingly transporting or having a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle that is accessible to the operator or any passenger without leaving the vehicle, according to the indictment.
Jaclyn R. Denny, 39, last known address 4711 Walnut Road, Lot 13, Buckeye Lake, was charged with one count of aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony.
On Sept. 9, Denny was suspected of having methamphetamine, according to the indictment.
Read or Share this story: https://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/local/2019/07/13/man-charged-fatal-crash-indicted-more-charges-child-porn/1708248001/
Newark man accused of shooting at home
Woman charged, accused of having meth
Patrol says seven crashes closed I-70 near 310
Lawsuit alleging harassment by NPD to be refiled
LCSO: Retired sergeant dies after ALS battle
Crash shuts down I-70 westbound near Ohio 310
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SportNational Sport
sport, national-sport
Socceroos star Trent Sainsbury says the possibility of playing alongside Australian teammate Aziz Behich in a Champions League group stacked with some of European football's big name clubs is something special. World Cup squad members Sainsbury and Behich have both recently joined PSV Eindhoven, who have won the Dutch Eredivisie title in three out of the last four seasons. Central defender Sainsbury and left back Behich were among Australia's best performers at the World Cup in Russia. The two defenders obviously impressed then Socceroos assistant coach Marc von Bommel, who took over as PSV head coach after the World Cup. Sainsbury, who joined PSV from Chinese club Jiangsu Suning FC, made his first appearance for the 24-time Dutch champions off the bench last week. Behich, who only moved from Turkish club Bursaspor just over a week ago, has yet to make his debut for PSV.. "It's always nice to have friends at the club, especially ones that I've known for a long time now,' Sainsbury said. "It makes the transition a whole lot easier and we can always communicate with each other if we ever need help with anything." PSV have been drawn in a tough Champions League group alongside Spanish giants Barcelona, Italy's Inter Milan and England's Tottenham Hotspur. "It's a crazy group that we have been drawn in,' Sainsbury said. "But getting to walk out to that (UEFA Champions League) theme song, that's the stuff that you dream of as a kid. "Being able to do it alongside a fellow Aussie, that's going to be something special. "(We have) a long way to go, a lot of hard work to go, but we will get there in the end. The new clubmates are currently in Antalya, Turkey, where the Socceroos are having their first camp under new coach Graham Arnold. "A lot of new faces have come in which adds a different dynamic,' Sainsbury said. "There's a different energy about the group and it has everyone on their toes which is a nice feeling because no-one kind of feels safe, but at the same time you're relaxed and calm about it." Australian Associated Press
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/e6d4e05b-326d-42b4-8d9b-fd2d2c6f4d86.jpg/r0_74_800_526_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
Socceroos aim for Champions League chance
Adrian Warren
Trent Sainsbury is hopeful his Dutch move will pay significant dividends.
Socceroos star Trent Sainsbury says the possibility of playing alongside Australian teammate Aziz Behich in a Champions League group stacked with some of European football's big name clubs is something special.
World Cup squad members Sainsbury and Behich have both recently joined PSV Eindhoven, who have won the Dutch Eredivisie title in three out of the last four seasons.
Central defender Sainsbury and left back Behich were among Australia's best performers at the World Cup in Russia.
The two defenders obviously impressed then Socceroos assistant coach Marc von Bommel, who took over as PSV head coach after the World Cup.
Sainsbury, who joined PSV from Chinese club Jiangsu Suning FC, made his first appearance for the 24-time Dutch champions off the bench last week.
Behich, who only moved from Turkish club Bursaspor just over a week ago, has yet to make his debut for PSV..
"It's always nice to have friends at the club, especially ones that I've known for a long time now,' Sainsbury said.
"It makes the transition a whole lot easier and we can always communicate with each other if we ever need help with anything."
PSV have been drawn in a tough Champions League group alongside Spanish giants Barcelona, Italy's Inter Milan and England's Tottenham Hotspur.
"It's a crazy group that we have been drawn in,' Sainsbury said.
"But getting to walk out to that (UEFA Champions League) theme song, that's the stuff that you dream of as a kid.
"Being able to do it alongside a fellow Aussie, that's going to be something special.
"(We have) a long way to go, a lot of hard work to go, but we will get there in the end.
The new clubmates are currently in Antalya, Turkey, where the Socceroos are having their first camp under new coach Graham Arnold.
"A lot of new faces have come in which adds a different dynamic,' Sainsbury said.
"There's a different energy about the group and it has everyone on their toes which is a nice feeling because no-one kind of feels safe, but at the same time you're relaxed and calm about it."
Bus union slams Newcastle's driverless vehicle trial
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Total Eclipse Hits Chile, Home To Half Of World's Telescopes A lot of important astronomy is being done thanks to telescopes stationed in the mountains of Chile, where researchers are studying developments in space.
Total Eclipse Hits Chile, Home To Half Of World's Telescopes
Total Eclipse Hits Chile, Home To Half Of World's Telescopes 3:52
Joe Palca
A lot of important astronomy is being done thanks to telescopes stationed in the mountains of Chile, where researchers are studying developments in space.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Much of South America experienced a solar eclipse this week. NPR's Joe Palca went to Chile to see it in its totality. And because half of the world's major telescopes are in Chile, he decided to stick around and see what researchers are studying. And Joe Palca is with us now from 17,000 feet.
Hi, Joe.
JOE PALCA, BYLINE: Hey, Michel. How are you doing?
MARTIN: OK. So where are you right now, exactly?
PALCA: Well, yes. As you said, I'm at 17,000 feet in the Atacama Desert. And this place is wonderful for viewing because it's so high, so the - most of the atmosphere is - well, it's not most below us, but a lot of it is below us. And the air is very dry, and the wavelengths that people want to study, the stars and galaxies at - up here, there's very dry air, and the wavelengths are not - they're coming through clear because water vapor absorbs wavelengths that they're interested in, so they want to get as far away from water vapor as they can. So they're up high. And there's other places here besides the Atacama that are in the Andes - very high, very good viewing - or seeing, as they call it in astronomy.
MARTIN: And is that why, as you told us, that half of the world's major telescopes are in Chile? Is that why they're all there?
PALCA: Well, yeah. It's because it's a great location. And the one I'm at right now is not one of the major telescopes. It's a smaller one. It's called CLASS - the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor. And what it's doing is looking for signals, traces of the earliest moments of the universe that were laid down in something called gravitational waves. Those gravitational waves have a certain property known as a polarization, and it should be possible to see that polarization left behind in the wavelengths that they're studying at CLASS. That's what they're doing here.
MARTIN: So where else have you been on this trip?
PALCA: Yesterday, I was at a telescope which I can actually see from here. It's not a single telescope. It's actually 66 dishes - like, you know, large satellite antennas - scattered across the Atacama Desert. And it's called ALMA - the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. And that's an international collaboration involving several countries - Europe, Japan, the United States National Science Foundation. This array can image dust.
Now, why do you want to look at dust? Well, it turns out that dust is what makes planets form. And so if you can observe the dust that forms around a young star, you can actually see where the planets are forming around that star. And it's kind of cool.
MARTIN: It sounds pretty cool. You know, when people think of telescopes, they think of something that shows, like, a tiny part of the sky. Is there anything there that allows you to see the big-screen version (laughter)? Let's call it that.
PALCA: Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's where I was a couple days ago - at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. That's where I actually watched the eclipse from. But there's a telescope going up called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope - LSST. And that looks at the whole sky, and it looks for things that are changing from one night to the next. And so it's sort of looking for things that go bump in the night. You can see maybe some star exploded, or a planet swam into your field of view or something lit up. So it's things that are changing over the night sky, and you can see the whole sky because it takes two nights for this telescope to image the entire southern sky.
MARTIN: You know what? You're just having so much fun, I'm afraid you might not come back.
PALCA: (Laughter).
MARTIN: So before - so just in case that happens, you were there for the eclipse. How was it?
PALCA: The eclipse - you know, people say, how was the eclipse? It was fantastic. How did it compare to others? I have no idea. It was the first one I ever saw. But the scientists seemed pleased that were watching it with me both as a scientific event and as a spiritual event. So it was a really good example of a total solar eclipse.
MARTIN: That is NPR's science correspondent Joe Palca reporting from Chile.
Joe, come back.
PALCA: I'll try, Michel. It's really nice up here.
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Arming Ships and Repelling Pirates
It was widely reported this week that the Maersk Alabama -- the American-flagged ship that was captured by pirates last April -- came under attack for the second time in seven months as Somali pirates once again tried to hijack the ship early Wednesday morning off the Somalia coast.
In the April attack, pirates were successful in boarding the ship and taking captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five harrowing days. A Navy SEAL team was eventually able to free Phillips, killing three pirates and capturing a fourth in the process.
This time around, when the sea-thugs approached the ship and fired on it, they were met with return gunfire from the ship's security detail, and were repelled in their attack.
While the shipping industry has yet to endorse the use of armed security, as the number of violent attacks continues to increase, a few ship owners and operators have chosen common sense and a right to self-defense over appeasement and political correctness by hiring their own armed security personnel.
Piracy off the Somali coast continues to rise, with the pirates seeming to become more sophisticated and bold with every passing day. And, unfortunately, the pirates' success and boldness are bolstered by well-meaning but futile attempts to "negotiate" with them. On Tuesday, pirates released 36 crewmembers from a Spanish tuna trawler after holding them hostage for more than six weeks. The pirates reportedly received a $3.3 million ransom.
"Somali pirates understand one thing and only one thing, and that's force," said Captain Joseph Murphy, a maritime security professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and the father of a sailor who was on the Maersk Alabama during the first pirate attack in April. "They analyze risk very carefully, and when the risk is too high they are going to step back. They are not going to jeopardize themselves."
Vice Admiral Bill Gortney of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement that the Maersk Alabama had followed the maritime industry's "best practices" by having a security team on board the ship. "This is a great example of how merchant mariners can take proactive action to prevent being attacked and why we recommend that ships follow industry best practices if they're in high-risk areas," said Gortney.
However, when it comes to armed self-defense on the high seas, not all agree. Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said the international maritime community was still "solidly against" armed guards aboard vessels at sea, but that American ships have taken a different line than the rest of the international community.
"Shipping companies are still pretty much overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of armed guards," Middleton said. "Lots of private security companies employ people who don't have maritime experience. Also, there's the idea that it's the responsibility of states and navies to provide security. I would think it's a step backward if we start privatizing security of the shipping trade."
Clearly, merchant ships in known hostile waters need guns to fight pirates and repel their attacks. No general would think to send troops into a combat zone unarmed. In a hostile environment, unarmed ships, like unarmed people, are vulnerable. You know that, and so do the pirates. Criminals and predators of all types prefer an easy target.
The parallel between criminal and victim on the sea, or in your community is obvious. It is not practical to depend on the U.S. Navy to protect all merchant ships, in every circumstance, any more than it is practical to rely on the police to protect you, your home, and your family 24 hours a day. Navy ships and local police cannot be everywhere all of the time, and they generally arrive at "the scene of the crime" after the crime has already taken place.
It is far better to afford merchant ships and law-abiding citizens the opportunity to defend themselves. The best way to eliminate crime is to eliminate criminals, and to respect the innate right of self-defense.
South Carolina: “Second Amendment Weekend” to be Held November 27 and 28!
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Archives|Lee Sievan; Photographer, 82
https://nyti.ms/29wqS6q
Lee Sievan; Photographer, 82
May 3, 1990, Page 00013Buy Reprints The New York Times Archives
Lee Sievan, a photographer, died of a cerebral hemorrhage on Tuesday at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. She was 82 years old and lived in Manhattan.
Fifty years ago, Mrs. Sievan began taking pictures to record the career of her husband, the painter Maurice Sievan. She also photographed performers and other artists, including Paul Robeson, Milton Avery and Mark Rothko.
Some of her photographs of New York City in the 1940's were recently displayed at the International Center for Photography, on Fifth Avenue at 94th Street, where Mrs. Sievan had worked as a librarian and archivist for 15 years. The photographs are now on view at the Museum of the City of New York.
She is survived by a sister, Bertha Hirt, of Manhattan.
A version of this obituary appears in print on May 3, 1990, on Page B00013 of the National edition with the headline: Lee Sievan; Photographer, 82. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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White Sox notebook: Pierzynski's contract extended
Nathaniel Whalen
Love him or hate him, A.J. Pierzynski plans on being on the South Side for at least the next three years. That’s because the White Sox agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million contract extension with the catcher that will kick in after his $5.85 million contract for next year expires.
Love him or hate him, A.J. Pierzynski plans on being on the South Side for at least the next three years.
That’s because the White Sox agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million contract extension with the catcher that will kick in after his $5.85 million contract for next year expires.
It was a deal that had been in the making since chairman Jerry Reinsdorf approached Pierzynski about six weeks ago.
“The scarcity of catching out there obviously played into part of the decision,” general manager Ken Williams said. “I think more importantly he's a guy we won a championship with. He has proven to me he can handle a pitching staff in such a way he can get the most out of them.”
Pierzynski, 30, decided he’d rather remain with the Sox than test the free-agent market next winter.
“I consider this my home,” said Pierzynski, who will have a six-team no-trade clause for the life of the contract. “I've been here three years now, and I can be here longer now. It's a place I won a World Series, a place they welcomed me when there were some questions marks. So you want to reward them and I wasn’t out to break the bank. I just wanted a fair deal and they gave that to me.”
One of the big factors in Pierzynski’s decision to re-up is the commitment the Sox have shown by re-signing manager Ozzie Guillen, Mark Buehrle and Jermaine Dye this season.
“You look at Kenny and Jerry and Ozzie, they want to win, they don’t want to rebuild,” said Pierzynski, who has caught 130 games (116 starts) this year and batted .263 with 14 homers and 50 RBI. “They don’t want to have to go through anything. They want to win by keeping guys here and bringing guys back for the long term.”
What about Uribe?
One of the biggest decisions the Sox will have to make this winter is whether to pick up the $5 million option on shortstop Juan Uribe.
Guillen said Thursday that Uribe is the best option in a thin market, and on Saturday, Williams sounded like a man who wants to bring the defensive whiz back.
“Juan is a championship type shortstop,” Williams said. “I traded for him four years ago because we needed someone to catch the ball in the middle of the infield and not too many people do it better than Juan Uribe.
“Is he a little frustrating sometimes at the plate with some of the inconsistencies? Absolutely, but only because you see so much talent in there.
“Juan Uribe is not our problem. He’s not the reason we did not play very well this year. Can he be better? Absolutely.”
What about Podsednik?
It’s widely assumed the Sox will let Scott Podsednik go after this season mainly because he is, as Guillen said at one point, “unreliable” because of all his injuries.
“In his case I’m going to have to sit down with some of our medical people as well because it’s not a matter of Scotty Podsednik’s ability,” Williams said. “He’s a first-class leadoff guy. He’s gotten a lot better in left field this year. That’s not the issue.
“He’s proven he can play on a championship team. The issue is, can we afford to go into next year not knowing how health is going to play into it? And, as Jerry Owens has come on, that’s made that decision a little bit more difficult.”
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Institute Honors Exceptional Service during Annual Awards Ceremony
Each year, the National Institute of Building Sciences hosts an Awards Reception and Banquet to recognize individuals and organizations that have provided outstanding service to the Institute, the building community and the nation. Institute board, staff and members honored the 2018 award winners at an annual awards ceremony held on Wednesday, January 9, 2019, during Building Innovation 2019: The National Institute of Building Sciences Seventh Annual Conference and Expo, at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C.
The 2018 Institute Member Award Goes to…
Cheryl A. Smith, AIA, LEED-AP, (center) principal at Cope-Linder Architects in Philadelphia, accepts the Institute Member Award from Institute Board Chairman Joseph Donovan (right) and Institute President Lakisha A. Woods.
The Institute Member Award goes to a member of the Institute who has made a substantial contribution in support of the mission, goals and objectives of the Institute. Institute Board Chairman Joseph Donovan and Institute President Lakisha A. Woods presented the 2018 Member Award to Cheryl A. Smith, AIA, LEED-AP, principal at Cope-Linder Architects in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Smith received the award in recognition of her tireless work and dedicated leadership in planning the fifth triennial BEST Conference Building Enclosure Science & Technology™ (BEST5), hosted in Philadelphia in 2018. The event brought together the building community to share invaluable research, best practices, case studies and the latest technologies with the best and brightest leaders in building enclosure design. It was Smith’s idea to showcase the work of local firms and homegrown projects at BEST5, which brought a rich new dimension to the conference series.
“The blend of the national expertise, the authentic Philadelphia passion and the remarkable conversations and forged friendships during the conference inspired us to continue our journey and commitment to advocate for more building sciences in our design and construction,” said Smith, upon accepting the award.
The 2018 Institute Honor Award Goes to…
Sponsors of the Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2017 Interim Report accept the Institute Honor Award from Institute Board Chairman Joseph Donovan (left) and Institute President Lakisha A. Woods (right). Pictured from left: Donovan; Robert Ivy, chief executive officer of The American Institute of Architects; Whitford E. Remer, counsel and director, public policy, Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety; Seth Statler, director, government affairs, National Fire Protection Association; Dominic Sims, CBO, chief executive officer, International Code Council; and Woods.
The Institute Honor Award goes to individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the nation and the building community. Institute Board Chairman Joseph Donovan and President Lakisha A. Woods presented the 2018 Honor Award to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, International Code Council, Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, National Fire Protection Association and American Institute of Architects in recognition of their support of the development of the Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2017 Interim Report. The report highlighted the benefits of two mitigation strategies: federally funded mitigation grants and designing buildings to exceed the provisions of the model codes. This report and the subsequent 2018 Interim Report provide valuable data showing the positive impact of current mitigation efforts and offer information on potential mitigation strategies that communities can implement to reduce the impacts of natural hazards.
“These organizations…provided financial sponsorship, technical engagement and the dissemination of project results,” said Chairman Donovan, upon presenting the award to the sponsors. “Through their participation, the impact of the Institute’s work is greatly expanded.”
The 2018 President’s Award Goes to…
President Emeritus Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA presents the 2018 President’s Award to Executive Assistant to the President Holly A. Velez.
The Institute President's Award is given to an individual or organization in recognition of extraordinary efforts to assist in advancing the mission of the Institute. Institute President Emeritus Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA presented the 2018 President’s Award to Executive Assistant to the President Holly A. Velez, in recognition of her years of unparalleled support, insightful assistance and dedication to the National Institute of Building Sciences and for being a confidant to him during his role as president. The relationship forged over many years will long stand as a testament to her work ethic and commitment. “I will always cherish her assistance, friendship and unwavering support as this is the seal of my success at the Institute and throughout my career,” said Green, during his introduction.
“It’s been great. Thank you for taking a chance on me so many years ago,” responded Velez, upon accepting the award.” You’ve been a great mentor and friend and I’ve enjoyed every minute of our time together. I hope I can make my new president just as proud.”
The 2018 Mortimer M. Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award Goes to…
President Emeritus Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA accepts the Mortimer M. Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award while Marshall’s daughter, Joy Marshall Ortiz, AIA, NCARB, immediate past secretary of the Institute Board and president of The Marshall Group, looks on.
The Mortimer M. Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award, the Institute's highest honor, goes to someone who has demonstrated a lifetime of dedication to the mission and goals of the Institute. Established in 2011 and named after the organization's first member who passed away in 2018, this award is bestowed upon those who exhibit the passion upon which the Institute is founded. Chairman Donovan presented the 2018 Mortimer M. Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award to President Emeritus Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA, in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the Institute over his decade of service.
“Ten years ago, when I came to the Institute, I said, ‘Angela [my wife], it’s just like we’re going to go to college—we’ll be there four years—but we’ll have money…’,” said Green, upon accepting his award. “And now, 10 years later, it’s been an incredible run. It’s been exhilarating; it’s been challenging; it’s been the pinnacle of my career. So many of you are a part of it…I look across the expanse of this room and I can say that there are markers along the way. Every one of you have assisted and helped me to get where I am at today. As my dad said to me a long time ago, ‘Leave a mark, not a blot.’ I pray that I’ve left a mark.”
Earlier in 2018, the Institute issued a call to industry for nominations to identify potential award recipients. The Awards Committee reviewed the submissions and selected winners from the nominees, based on how their work meets the mission, objectives and goals of the Institute.
The Awards Committee will solicit nominations for 2019 awards in late spring of 2019, with nominations due in July.
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For Love Of Liberty, African-American Soldier; 1866 -1940, Part 1
This slide show has fascinating antique photos of Black American soldiers in the Civil War. Most of the written information included on the slides are very small, so the viewer may want to open the slide show to 'full screen'.
For Love Of Liberty; African-American Soldier, 1866-1940, Part 2
This slide show has antique photos of Black American soldiers in the Civil War. Most of the written information included on the slides are very small, so the viewer may want to open the slide show to 'full screen'.
How do you define 'love'? Chelsea does a good job of explaining it in this very short video and Grover agrees.
Michelle Obama: Meeting and Falling in Love with Future Husband: Barack Obama
Michelle Obama describes how she met and fell in love with Barack Obama.
T-Bone Walker- Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong
-bone Walker performs "Don't throw your love on me so strong" from The American Folk Blues Festival collection. He was a pioneer of electric guitar, and he has influenced a lot of blues guitar players like Chuck Berry, Albert King, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, BB King or SRV and many more...
If Ye Love Me (Tallis) - TJC A Cappella Choir
If Ye Love Me by Thomas Tallis performed by the Tyler Junior College A Cappella Choir. This video is from TJC's Fall 2008 Concert at First Presbyterian Church in Tyler, Texas. The choir is more than 50 voices strong and is the main vocal ensemble at TJC. Nathan A. Russell, conductor.
Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the b
I Love Charts -Song
In this episode of "Sid the Science Kid" the students sing and learn about charts. The song lyrics teach that charts are great science tools and that charts use pictures to give information. Several examples of charts, like the weather chart, are shown in the video. Find other videos on charts and graphis in the Probability and Statistics subcategory of Mathematics. Run time 02:52.
Barney's I Love you Song
The purple dinosaur, Barney, sings the "I love you" song at the end all the episodes. (:55)
Barney "I Love You" Remix
A mom originally made this version of Barney's I Love You song for her 2 year old who loved to hear a strong beat behind her kids music. Enjoy!! This is a fun, upbeat version of the original.
"I Love Apples"- Song
I love Apples! An apple song video that shows all kinds of different apples. Examples include Red Delicious, McIntosh, Granny Smith, Ida Red, Golden Delicious and many more. This would make a great teaching resource for a unit/lesson on healthy habits, harvesting, food pyramid, and/or Johnny Appleseed Day. Elementary students will enjoy watching this video. (2:36)
I Love Apples
A song that describes apples and tells you what you can find inside. The song also mentions an apple core, apple seeds, apple skin, and the uses for apples (apple sauce, apple juice, apple pie, apple butter etc). Run time 02:09.
Square One TV: The Mathematics Of Love: Roman Numerals I-X
Classic square one sketch/song about roman numerals. Teaches roman numerals 1-10, also 1000 (M). (6:17)
11. Goodnight My Love (Upper Intermediate)
Episode #11 of the "Upper-Intermediate Level Series" is entitled "Goodnight My Love". Italo is finally in his bedroom at the hotel in Venice, ready to go to bed. There's only one thing he needs to do right before falling asleep: calling his wife Lucia, ask her about her day, and wish her goodnight. Let's hear [...]
Author(s): LearnItalianPod.com
Your students will love getting creative with Pivot Stick Animator in the classroom
Pivot stick animator has been around for quite a while now and my kids have been using it for a number of years. At first it looks like a really boring animation application that involves stick figures as the key graphical element.
Lesson 134: Expressing Love
In this lesson you will learn to express yourself to your sweetheart.
Check out our website, brazilianportuguesepod.com and find out more how we can help you improving your Portuguese!
Author(s): contactus@brazilianportuguesepod.com (contactus@br
Lesson 11 - Love is in the Air
(Due to lack of interest in the enhanced version of the podcast I am going to stick with the audio only version. Below is the Valentine's Day enhanced show converted into .mp3 file)
Привет! Hey there, all you Russian language addicts and all those who have just subscribed. Welcome! (Добро пожаловать!)
Wings of Love
While in Istanbul, Charles Annenberg Weingarten has the unique opportunity to discuss Christianity with the Patriarch of the Armenian Orthodox Church. The Archbishop shares the story of his path to the priesthood and explains why "faith and hope are like the wings of love.
While in Istanbul, Charles Annenberg Weingarten has the unique opportunity to discuss Christianity with the Patriarch of the Armenian Orthodox Church. The Archbishop shares the story of his path to the priesthood and explains why "faith and hope are like the wings of love." Run time 03:48
Introduction to Rocks and Minerals
Examine the characteristics of common rocks and minerals and learn identification procedures. Find out all about the physical properties of minerals including hardness, luster and color as well as the chemical compositions of important rock-forming minerals. Information in the video is accurate, but narration is somewhat monotone. Run time 03:34.
Dr. Loopy's Blinding you with Science #9: Rocks and Minerals
This is another in the Blinding you with Science series I produced to help elementary students learn science concepts. In this episode Dr. Loopy and his friends use music, comedy and parody to teach students about different types of rocks and minerals. Run time 25:00.
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Park One Cares
Manage Parking
Citizens Insider: Allan Poe
If you park at Church Avenue Garage, you’ll quickly recognize Allan Poe. In case you haven't met him, let us introduce you.
Allan has been with PARK Roanoke for the past two and a half years and says he can’t imagine doing anything else. He comes to PARK Roanoke from a career in the military and police force. He served in the Vietnam War in the Navy where he worked out of the Far East, Hong Kong, Philippines, France, Italy, and Spain. Afterwards, he worked as a police officer in Norfolk, Radford, and in narcotics work, and was even once shot in the line of duty. Later, he became a Magistrate in the City of Roanoke—think ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’—and retired after 16 years in 2005.
When asked what he likes most about working for PARK Roanoke, Allan said, “I’ve made so many friends. The company is fair and has treated me well. I love meeting so many people. In this job you can be friendly, not like when you are an officer. It’s the first job I’ve ever had where I can be myself and meet & greet people on a one on one basis. I plan to work here indefinitely. It’s very rewarding.” When asked what is the number one thing he wants people to know, Allan answered, “Know that we now have video security. Cashiers and office personnel are trained in customer service. We like to maintain friendly and good disposition and we welcome anyone to tell us how they feel about their service. We always want the opportunity to improve our service and make you happy—that’s our goal.”
Allan also performs marriage ceremonies—at least 30 in the past four months. In August of this year, he performed six in one day! Allan has married people at the VT football field, Carvin’s Cove, Waffle House, Mill Mountain Star, the Parkway, and other venues. His off-duty activities include golf, reading, and fishing. Thank you, Allan, for your service!
Thank you to PARK Roanoke for this feature on Allan. To see Allan’s feature in the November newsletter, visit http://parkroanoke.com/wp-content/uploads/November-2018-newsletter.pdf.
Citizens Insider: Joseph Brown
REEF Technology Unveils Plan to Transform Parking Facilities
Citizens Insider: Sherwin Sterling
SNHU Scholarship Recipients
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Tweets by ParkOnePk1
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Toll Free: 866-PARK14U
A CITIZENS COMPANY
© 2019 Park One
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Member Supported Theater
Tiny Beautiful Things |
April 10 — May 5
Nia Vardalos reprises the role she originated in her stage adaptation of acclaimed author Cheryl Strayed’s New York Times Bestseller of the same name. Conceived by Vardalos (writer/actor of My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Thomas Kail (Director of Hamilton) and Marshall Heyman (Journalist, Wall Street Journal), this uniquely uplifting New York Times Critics’ Pick is about reaching when you’re stuck, healing when you’re broken and finding the courage to take on the questions which have no answers. The Playhouse brings you The Public Theater’s production of this touching new play.
“Vardalos Shines.”
-Broadway World
Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed
Adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos
Co-Conceived by Marshall Heyman, Thomas Kail and Nia Vardalos
Directed by Sherri Eden Barber from the original direction by Thomas Kail
The Public Theater Production
85 minutes, no intermission
TICKETS: $25+
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Nia Vardalos (Sugar)
Vardalos wrote and starred in the hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and an Independent Spirit Award and People’s Choice Award. Stage credits include originating the role of Sugar in The Public Theater’s Tiny Beautiful Things, directed by Thomas Kail, Jennie in Theatre20’s Company, directed by Gary Griffin, and writer and actor for twelve The Second City’s revues (Chicago’s Jeff Award winner, Best Actress.) Writing and acting film and television credits include My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Connie and Carla, I Hate Valentine’s Day, My Life in Ruins; For a Good Time, Call…; The Catch; Jane the Virgin; Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Law & Order SVU. Vardalos is the New York Times bestselling author of Instant Mom, the story of adopting her daughter via foster care, and all proceeds are donated to adoption groups.
Teddy Cañez (Letter Writer #1)
Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire. Off-Broadway: Tiny Beautiful Things, ToasT (The Public Theater), Chimichangas & Zoloft (The Atlantic Theater), Post No Bills (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). Regional: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Hartford Stage), Mister Roberts (The Kennedy Center), Our Lady of 121st Street (Woolly Mammoth Theater). Film: Ben is Back, Shelter, A Most Violent Year, Now You See Me, Frances Ha, Tracers, Sleepwalk with Me, Enduro. TV : Madam Secretary (NBC; recurring), New Amsterdam, Blindspot, The Blacklist, Conviction, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC), Tales of the City (Netflix; recurring), Dietland (AMC; recurring), The Good Fight, Elementary, Invisible, Person of Interest, and Blue Bloods (CBS), The Detour (TBS; recurring), Bar Karma (CurrentTV), Mob Doctor (FOX), How to Make it in America and The Wire (HBO; recurring). Video Games: Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar). HERO Theater Company Member. Social: @teddycanez | Online: teddycanez.com
Natalie Woolams-Torres (Letter Writer #2)
New York: Tiny Beautiful Things, The Mobile Unit’s Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theater); Julius Caesar, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare in the Park). Film: Farewell directed by Chris Chalk. TV: Difficult People. She attended SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Theater Arts and Film.
Giovanni Adams (Letter Writer #3)
Adams is thrilled to be making his Pasadena Playhouse debut. He recently played Waston in Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 and originated the role of Colis in Kemp Powers’ Little Black Shadows at South Coast Repertory Theatre. He played Neil in Donald Margulies’ The Model Apartment at Geffen Playhouse and was in the world premiere of Kemp Powers’ One Night in Miami (Rogue Machine Theatre; LA Drama Critics Circle Award and NAACP Theatre Award for Best Ensemble, 2013). He has participated in the Pacific Playwrights Festival, Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the Writer’s Workshop Retreat at Center Theatre Group to help develop new works. His other stage credits include Mount Misery (Cutting Ball Theater), The Recommendation and Bela Lugosi’s Dead (IAMA Theatre Company) and Miss Julie and King Lear (Yale Repertory Theatre). Recently, his solo show, Love Is A Dirty Word, developed in collaboration with Becca Wolff, premiered at VS Theatre and received Ovation and LA Drama Critics Circle awards recognition, 2016. His film and television credits include Nina, Criminal Minds, Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous, Grey’s Anatomy, and Gary Unmarried. Adams was born in Jackson, Mississippi and received his BA from Yale University.
Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris (Alternate, Sugar)
Off-Broadway: The Emperor Jones (Irish Repertory Theatre and Soho Playhouse), No Exit (The Pearl), Samuel Beckett’s Play and Act Without Words I (Irish Repertory Theatre), Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part I (The Public Theater), and ReEntry (Urban Stages). LA/NYC Credits: Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2, & 3 (Mark Taper Forum – West Coast Premiere; Ovation Featured Actress Nominee, 2017), Seven and Disgraced (L.A. Theatre Works), Sight Unseen (Lounge Theatre), Fefu and Her Friends (Culture Project), Come Back to Me (Cherry Lane Theatre), and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. Regional: Mary T. & Lizzy K. (Arena Stage – World Premiere), ReEntry (Actors Theatre of Louisville; Baltimore Centerstage; Two River Theatre – World Premiere), Doubt (Asolo Repertory Theatre and Cape May Stage), Equus and The Constant Wife (Asolo Repertory Theatre). TV/Film: Sharp Objects and Room 104 (HBO), The Good Wife, Advantageous (Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award, 2015), The Bravest, The Boldest (Sundance Film Festival, 2014; 6 Film Festival Best Actress Wins), City, Good Funk, Reagan, and The Outskirts. Online: sameerahluqmaanharris.com
Sarah Hollis (Alternate, Letter Writer #2)
Hollis couldn’t be happier to return to her “artistic home” at Pasadena Playhouse! She has previously appeared as Jess in King Charles III and Ensemble in Pygmalion at Pasadena Playhouse. Other regional theater credits include: Beneatha in A Raisin In The Sun (A Noise Within, LADCC Nominated for Best Featured Performance), Zoe in An Octoroon (Kinetic Theater Company at New Hazlett Theater), Viola in Twelfth Night (PCPA Pacific Conservatory Theatre), and Betty 5 Understudy in Collective Rage: A Play in Five Boops (Boston Court). TV: 24 (FOX; recurring), Lie to Me (FOX), The Unit (CBS). Film: Kill Your Darlings, The Russian Doll, Falling (Slamdance 2018), Madness (Charlie Watchell, Director). Next up: Hollis is playing Viola in Twelfth Night, Witch in Macbeth, and Elizabeth Condell/Ensemble in The Book of Will at Utah Shakespeare Festival. Thanks to my loving family (especially my nephew Julian) and incredible friends. I couldn’t do this without my team at KMR and manager, Will Levine. Most importantly, thank you to Paul for believing in me…and everything. I love you, squish. Follow my path on social media: @mssarahhollis
Adam J. Smith (Alternate, Letter Writer #1 and #3)
Pasadena Playhouse: 12 Angry Men, Intimate Apparel and Matter of Honor. Elsewhere: Nightwalk in the Chinese Garden (Center for New Performance/Huntington Gardens); As You Like It, Cloud 9, Henry IV Part 1 and Curse of Oedipus (Antaeus Theatre Company, Company Member); The Heir Apparent, Private Lives and How the Other Half Loves (International City Theatre); Three Sisters and Family Planning (Chalk Repertory); Beauty (La Jolla Playhouse); Mozart & Strauss (Disney Concert Hall with LA Philharmonic); In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) (Chautauqua Theater Company, NY); An Evening of Betrayal: Betrayal/Othello (The 6th Act Theater Company); Untethered (Mountain View Mausoleum). Ojai Playwrights Conference, South Coast Rep, Boston Court, East West Players, Black Dahlia, The Blank, Wilshire Ebell, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Tennessee Williams Festival and numerous Off- and Off-Off- Broadway. TV: The Good Doctor, Jane the Virgin, The Orville, Scandal, Castle, 90210, Medium, Without a Trace, Numb3rs, Victorious, Chemistry, As The World Turns, and When Things Get Small (regional Emmy Award Winner) among others. Film: Taken 3, Zombie Strippers, and Deceit. Voiceover: Discovery Channel, Grand Theft Auto V, Final Fantasy XIII, SFMOMA Audio Tour. Faculty member at CalArts School of Theater. MFA: UCSD/La Jolla Playhouse, BA: Duke (magna cum laude).
Cheryl Strayed (Original Book Author)
Strayed is the author of Tiny Beautiful Things, Torch, Brave Enough and the number one New York Times bestseller Wild. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages around the world. The Oscar nominated film adaptation of Wild was released in 2014. Strayed’s essays and stories have appeared in the Best American Essays, Vogue, The New York Times, The Washington Post and elsewhere. Strayed is the co-host of The New York Times’ podcast Dear Sugars which originated with her popular Dear Sugar column.
Sherri Eden Barber (Director)
Sherri Eden Barber is a New York based theater director and Artistic Director of Ricochet Collective. Recent: good friday (The Flea Theater), Only You Can Prevent Wild Fires (Ricochet Collective – Teatro Circulo), Happily After Ever (Ricochet Collective – 59E59, Edinburgh Fringe), Gordy Crashes (Ricochet Collective – IRT), Mr. Landing Takes A Fall (The Flea), Esperanza Spalding’s Emily’s D+Evolution (Development on European Tour), Herman Kline’s Midlife Crisis (The Beckett), Monstrosity, Polaroid Stories, and BENT (The New School for Drama), The Lightning Thief (Theatreworks USA), 24 Hour Plays on Broadway with Pablo Schreiber, Laverne Cox, and Melanie Griffith (American Airlines Theatre), Latrell: Live Tonight! (Joe’s Pub), Dance Lessons (winner of the Samuel French Short Play Festival), Men On Boats (Yale Drama). She has developed new work with Rattlestick, Orchard Project, The Flea, Culture Project, Chautauqua, and The Old Vic. Barber is a recipient of The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Directors Fellowship, the Core Company Director for The Orchard Project, a Drama League Directing Fellow, and recipient of the US/UK Exchange Award. RicochetCollective.com | SherriEdenBarber.com
Marshall Heyman (Co-Conceiver)
Heyman has written for the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, InStyle, W, Harper’s Bazaar, New York and many others. He is also a writer for the AMC show Dietland.
Thomas Kail (Co-Conceiver, Original Director)
Broadway directing credits include: Hamilton (Tony Award); In the Heights (Tony Nom); Lombardi and Magic/Bird. Other directing credits include the world premiere of Hamilton, Dry Powder, Tiny Beautiful Things, and Kings at the Public Theater; the world premiere of In the Heights; Broke-ology and the world premiere of When I Come to Die at Lincoln Center Theater; the world premiere of Daphne’s Dive at the Signature Theater. He is the co-creator and director of the hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme. He is a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honors Award, in addition to the Drama Desk Award, an Obie, a Callaway Award, the Lucille Lortel Award and the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University.
Rachel Hauck (Scenic Design)
Broadway: Hadestown, Heidi Schreck’s What The Constitution Means To Me, John Leguizamo’s Latin History For Morons. Recent work: Hadestown (National Theater, Citadel, New York Theater Workshop), Hurricane Diane (New York Theater Workshop), Othello, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), You’ll Still Call Me By Name (Sonya Tayeh/Jacob’s Pillow), Tiny Beautiful Things, Dry Powder (The Public Theater), Amy And The Orphans, On The Exhale (Roundabout Theatre Company), Antlia Pneumatica, Grand Concourse (Playwrights Horizons). Princess Grace, Lilly Awards, Drama Desk, Lortel nominations, Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.
Jennifer Moeller (Costume Design)
Recent: Tiny Beautiful Things (Public Theater), Sweat (Broadway, Public Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage), Mlima’s Tale (Public Theater), King Lear, Romeo & Juliet (Guthrie), Aubergine (Playwrights Horizons), Candide (LA Opera), The Last Goodbye (Old Globe), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare in the Park), Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tempest (Shakespeare Theatre Company), La Boheme (Kennedy Center), Dance and the Railroad (Signature Theatre), The How and the Why (McCarter Theatre Center), Winter’s Tale (Yale Repertory Theater), Six Degrees of Separation (Williamstown Theatre Festival).
Jeff Croiter (Lighting Design)
Broadway: Bandstand, Falsettos, Something Rotten, Newsies, Peter and the Starcatcher, Holiday Inn, Penn & Teller, Disaster, Mothers and Sons, A Time to Kill, Soul Doctor, Jekyll and Hyde, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Next Fall, Kiki and Herb. Off-Broadway: Freestyle Love Supreme, The True, Chick Flick, The Other Josh Cohen, Daniel’s Husband, Smokey Joe’s Café, Jerry Springer The Opera, Tiny Beautiful Things, Cost of Living, Sweet Charity, Head of Passes, Cam Jansen. Other: Big Apple Circus, Penn & Teller at the Rio in Las Vegas, Family Guy Sings. Jeff has received Tony, Hewes and Bass awards, and Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel nominations.
Jill BC Du Boff (Sound Design)
Broadway: Hand To God, The Heidi Chronicles, Disgraced, Picnic, Wit, Other Desert Cities, Good People, The Constant Wife, Children of a Lesser God, The Good Body, Bill Maher: Victory… Off-Broadway includes Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theater Club, Atlantic, Vineyard, MCC Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The Public, Second Stage, New York Theater Workshop, Women’s Project Theater, Signature, Clubbed Thumb (Affiliate Artist). Awards: Ruth Morley Design Award, OBIE, Lilly Award, Drama Desk and Henry Hewes nominations. Audio Producer for The New Yorker Magazine. Love to Adam, ilo and Mabel.
David Meyer (Associate Scenic Designer)
Pasadena Playhouse: Native Gardens, Belleville, King Charles III, Our Town. Off-Broadway: A Sucker Emcee, The Way West, Empanada Loca, and A Family for All Occasions (Labyrinth Theater). Regional: Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Merrily We Roll Along. Feature Film & TV Production Design: “Corporate Animals,” “John Wick 2” (reshoots), “Permission,” and “She’s Lost Control.” Art Direction: “Top Gun 2,” “Birdman,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” David studied Architecture and Theater at Syracuse University and received his MFA in Production Design for Stage and Film at NYU/Tisch. Online: davidmeyerdesign.com
Jennifer Slattery (Stage Manager)
Pasadena Playhouse: Our Town, King Charles III, Belleville, Bordertown Now, and Native Gardens (ASM). Broadway: Bullets Over Broadway, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Guys and Dolls, Oleanna, and Cry-Baby. Other NYC: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Heading East (The Asia Society), NY2022, Shir a Shalom (Guggenheim Works & Process). Regional: Next to Normal (East West Players), Restoration Comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titus Andronicus, Othello (The Old Globe), and work with La Jolla Playhouse, New Harmony/USI, the Rude Mechs, 7 Devils Playwrights Conference, and ZACH Theatre. Slattery is on the faculty at California Institute of the Arts. Education: MFA (UCSD), MA (UT Austin), and BA (University of Florida).
Bonnie McHeffey (Assistant Stage Manager)
New York: Thunderbodies (SoHo Rep), The Waiting Game (E2E 59E59), Exposure (Workshop, Joe’s Pub), Little Women (Reading, Primary Stages), Orchids (Reading, Theaterlab). Regional: Skeleton Crew, Pride & Prejudice, Ann (Dorset Theatre Festival); Bordertown Now (Pasadena Playhouse); Networks: The Sound of Music National Tour. All my love to Mom and Dad.
Nicole Arbusto (Los Angeles Casting)
Los Angeles theater includes King Charles III here at the Playhouse, The Golden Dragon and The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir For The Stage both at The Theatre @ Boston Court. Twelve years with the Ojai Playwrights Conference working on new work from Stephen Adly Guirgis, Terrence McNally, Jiehae Park, JC Lee, Robert Askins etc. Film includes The Lovers from A24 starring Debra Winger & Tracy Letts. TV includes: Room 104 and Animals both from Duplass Brothers Productions and airing on HBO.
Pasadena Playhouse does not offer advisories about the subject matter for this production, as sensitivities vary from patron to patron. If you have any inquiries regarding content, age-appropriateness or stage effects (such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that may affect patron comfort, please contact Patron Services during Box Office hours at 626-356-PLAY. Children under age 5 are not permitted in any performance at Pasadena Playhouse.
Please Note: Due to scheduling conflicts Nia Vardalos will not be appearing in the below performances of Tiny Beautiful Things.
Saturday, April 13 at 2 PM
Saturday April 20 at 2 PM
Sunday, April 21 at 2 PM
Saturday, April 27 at 2PM
Saturday, May 4 at 2 PM
Sunday, May 5 at 2 PM
To purchase tickets, select a date in the calendar above.
To get free tickets and access to the best seats for this show and the rest of the productions for a full year, become a member today.
Bring a group of 10 or more for discounts up to 35%. Book for a preview performance and pay in full to get our best discount. Call 626-356-PLAY or email boxoffice@pasadenaplayhouse.org
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© 2019 Pasadena Playhouse
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The video for this story is not available, but you can still read the transcript below.
Can Afghanistan Meet Karzai Goal of Handling Own Security by 2014?
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/can-afghanistan-meet-karzai-goal-of-handling-own-security-by-2014
Afghan President Hamid Karzai requested more global support at Tuesday's conference in Kabul on security and development. Jim Lehrer gets two views from veteran State Department official James Dobbins and an Afghan-American, Nazif Shahrani, who is a professor at Indiana University.
JIM LEHRER:
For more on this, we go to James Dobbins, a veteran State Department official who was special envoy to Afghanistan in the early Bush years. He now directs the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. And Nazif Shahrani, an Afghan-American, professor of anthropology at Indiana University. He travels frequently to Afghanistan.
Mr. Dobbins, how do you see the worth of this Kabul conference?
JAMES DOBBINS, director, International Security and Defense Policy Center Director at the RAND Corporation: Well, I think it set out several significant aspirations and goals. One is for the Afghan government to take the lead in providing security throughout the country by 2014; a second, for the international community to begin putting more aid through the Afghan government; and, thirdly, support for Karzai's effort to try eventually and over the longer term to negotiate a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Professor, do you agree that it — it set some goals that were worthy goals? Or what is your view of it?
NAZIF SHAHRANI, professor of Anthropology, Indiana University: Well, the goals are certainly worthy. This is not the first time international community and President Karzai have made promises to the people of Afghanistan and to the international community.
In fact, this year, this is the third time, the London conference, the peace jirga in Kabul, and now the Kabul international conference. The track that President Karzai has for keeping these promises, unfortunately, are not very good.
He has not, in fact, done much of what he has promised to the people of Afghanistan. And they are quite cynical about this conference and other conferences like this.
Well, let's be specific here for a few moments.
Mr. Dobbins, the president said, OK, Afghanistan can take over the national — the security of the country by 2014. Is that — is that a doable thing?
JAMES DOBBINS:
Well, I would say two things. First of all, it's an aspiration, not a commitment. Secondly, it's Afghanistan taking the lead, not taking over.
Like, as a point of reference, Iraq took over the lead for security in Iraq more than a year ago, and we kept 140,000 troops there throughout that year.
We're only now reducing down to 50,000. And we're going to keep 50,000 there for another 18 months. So, taking the lead isn't the same as taking over.
Well, can he take the lead?
I think it's a reasonable goal to — that, by 2014 — that's four years from now — they will be in the lead; we will be in a supporting position.
A goal, but is it a reasonable expectation?
I think it's a reasonable goal. I think, as aspirations go, they tend not to be met fully and on schedule more often than not. I wouldn't be surprised to see it slip, but it's not — but it is reasonable to strive for it and to hope it can be met.
What's your view of that, of the 2014 aspiration, Professor Shahrani?
NAZIF SHAHRANI:
I think, if it could be achieved, it would be a blessing for the people of Afghanistan.
But, unfortunately, President Karzai, in the last nine years, has consistently lost the confidence of the people of Afghanistan. He has the international support, but he has been losing the support of the people of Afghanistan. He has failed in his leadership, particularly amongst his own Pashtun tribesmen in the south.
And they — he was hoping that people would back him. But, unfortunately, given the corrupt nature of the government he has been running, the people in Afghanistan are not very confident that he could be able to achieve either the goal for 2014 or even for many years into the future if that was the case. The leadership deficit in Afghanistan is a very serious one from the perspective of the people of Afghanistan.
And you think the key to it is — is just corruption, just simple corruption? Or is it more complex than that?
It is more than that. It's also the system of governance.
I think President Karzai insisted, through the new constitution, to create a super-presidency and an extremely centralized government structure, which he has not been able to deliver. He has failed. And I think this is an inappropriate system of governance for a multiethnic society such as Afghanistan.
And I think he has not been able to also come up with any offer for the Taliban to be — to negotiate over. He wants to negotiate, but he hasn't said what he is going to offer them to negotiate for or over. And he needs to articulate what that might be.
And I think through a decentralization government structure in Afghanistan, which would be far more appropriate for the country, Taliban might have an incentive to negotiate with the government, that is, to be able to run their own local communities in areas where they have support.
Mr. Dobbins, do you see the same thing, that this is basic, that it goes back to just the way it's governed, as much as the way — as much as Karzai, the way he does it?
I think the problems the professor outlined are certainly serious problems. I do think they have to be kept in some perspective.
There is a serious problem of corruption in the country. On the other hand, this is a country that was at civil war for 30 years. And it's hard to expect people to have more loyalty to institutions than to their families, their tribes, and their extended relationships.
And, so, naturally, that's where their primary loyalties lie. And it leads to high degrees of patronage and what we would characterize as corruption. It's a serious problem. It needs to be combated.
Secondly, I don't think it's fair to blame President Karzai for the central — the nature of the centralized government. First of all, it's the only kind of government Afghanistan has ever been familiar with, is a weak unitary government, and only informal, no formal, structures at the local level.
Secondly, I was the U.S. representative at the Bonn conference, where this government was originally set up. Hamid Karzai wasn't even there. And it was clear that all of the Afghans there were unfamiliar with and uncomfortable with the concept of federalism.
Now, I do think the professor is right that, if there are serious negotiations that begin with the insurgents, with the Taliban and others, it will lead to demands for some degree of decentralization. And, on balance, that might not be a bad thing.
Do you have any reason, Professor Shahrani, just to go to the bottom line here, to be optimistic about whether all of this, not only the civil discussion and the aid discussions and all of that, corruption, but also what's happening militarily on the ground, is going to lead to a stability that will eventually result in a stable Afghanistan? Is this thing on a path toward hope, in your opinion?
I think, unless and until we have a truly honest government in Afghanistan as partner for our military efforts and economic and political efforts, we will not be able to succeed in this.
And I think our military leaders have the best knowledge about the conditions on the ground in Afghanistan. And they have been calling for community participation in policing and defense in Afghanistan. And I hope that General Petraeus would be able to as he has convince recently President Karzai to pursue building a governance system from the bottom up, where the people of Afghanistan have communities of trust that they believe in, and that we need to turn those informal institutions into formal ones and build a government truly that represents the people of Afghanistan and that they supported.
And when they support an honest government in Afghanistan, our efforts will bear fruit. Without that, there is no hope.
How do you — how do you — what's your level of optimism at this point long-term, Mr. Dobbins?
Well, all wars do end. I think Karzai continues to enjoy a really, almost unique degree of international support. There are obviously reservations, and there are concerns. And…
From the people on the ground, you mean?
Well, again — no, well, I'm saying international support.
OK. International support.
I mean, virtually every major power in the world supports Karzai, supports the NATO presence. The only country that has any real reservations is Pakistan, which is — which is indeed a serious problem. But, still, it's rather isolated in that regard.
I think, in terms of domestic support, again, his numbers are probably better than our own president's. So, we have to put this in some perspective. But they have fallen. He had 90 percent popularity ratings when he went into office. He's been in office now for a long time, since 2001, nine years, and — and has faced very large problems, some of his own making, as the professor has indicated.
And this has eroded his support. But it's still at quite respectable level. But, finally, I do agree that we do need to support a bottom-up strategy, as well as a top-down strategy, not just supporting and strengthening the regime in Kabul, but also trying to recreate more vibrant local institutions.
And the U.S. government was — was divided on this until recently. General Petraeus seems to have been able to secure agreement, first of all within his own government on that, and now from President Karzai, for a strategy that does focus more at building local — including local security capacity.
Along the lines that Professor Shahrani just outlined.
Very much so.
So, we will leave it there. Gentlemen, thank you both very much.
A pleasure.
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Peter C. Harvey, Partner
Civil Rights & Policy
Peter C. Harvey
pcharvey@pbwt.com
Download My Resume
On August 10, 2016, members of the Newark community gathered to meet Peter Harvey and members of monitoring team for the Newark Police Department. Click on the above video for the NJTV News coverage of the meeting.
Peter Harvey is a past Attorney General of New Jersey and a former federal prosecutor. As such, Peter has been a central player in civil and criminal trials, government investigations and consumer fraud matters for many years. A gifted trial lawyer, his nearly 30 years of courtroom experience includes significant commercial matters, frequently within the hospitality, pharmaceutical and entertainment/sports industries.
Mr. Harvey was nominated to serve as independent monitor for the Newark Police Department, responsible for overseeing the NPD's compliance with a Consent Decree issued by the U.S. Department of Justice. He also currently represents corporations and individuals in business disputes throughout the nation. He has tried several major civil and criminal jury and non-jury cases in federal and state courts. He also conducts internal investigations for senior executives seeking to learn facts about employee misconduct or inappropriate business practices. Mr. Harvey also assists clients in navigating Grand Jury Subpoenas and government Civil Investigative Demands. He works with clients to develop strategies to achieve the client’s desired result, whether through trial, court decision or settlement.
Some of the recent civil and criminal matters handled by Mr. Harvey include:
Representing the board of directors of a leading hospitality company in a shareholders’ derivative action in federal court over a series of security breaches;
Protecting a major energy company from “whistleblower” claims made under a false claims act;
Representing major pharmaceutical companies in Attorneys General investigations and suits brought under state consumer fraud statutes;
Extracting a target from a federal criminal tax fraud investigation;
Defending a commercial bank in contract litigation;
Shielding an Internet ticket company from an Attorney General’s consumer fraud suit;
Enforcing the rights of a management company in a contract dispute with a major recording artist;
Defending a corporation and individual against criminal Medicaid fraud charges;
Protecting the intellectual property rights of a major film director;
Assisting a major professional sports league and teams with employee conduct policies and related issues; and
Defending a major art dealer against breach of contract claims.
MEMBERSHIPS: Member, National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), Representative to the Executive Working Group on Prosecutorial Relations; Chairman, NAAG Subcommittee on Gang Violence; Chairman, NAAG Corporate Responsibility Securities Working Group; Member, NAAG Task Force on Youth Access to Alcohol; Member, Columbia Law School Public Interest/Public Service Council; National Bar Association; American Bar Association.
HONORS: “Distinguished Leader,” New Jersey Law Journal (2017); “Most Influential Black Lawyers,” Savoy Magazine (2015); “Private Practitioner of the Year” by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association of New York City (2012); “100 Most Influential Black Americans,” Ebony Magazine (2005); “Top Black Lawyers in America,” Black Enterprise Magazine (2004); New Jersey Law Journal’s “Lawyer of the Year” (2003); Recognized in Super Lawyers in the area of Business Litigation.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS: Presenter, “Diversity in Law Practice: Recent Legal Developments,” PLI Webcast (February 10, 2017); Presenter, “The ABC’s of AML: An Introduction to the Law of Anti-Money Laundering,” Association of Corporate Counsel Webcast (February 14, 2014)
White Collar Defense and Investigations
Media, Entertainment and Sports
Structured Finance Litigation
Privacy and Data Security
Insurance Coverage Practice
False Claims Act and Whistleblower Defense
Securities and Derivatives Litigation
Complex Commercial Actions
Columbia Law School (J.D., 1982)
Human Rights Law Review
Morgan State University (B.A., with honors, 1979)
Pi Sigma Alpha
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The New Horizons Spacecraft Is Closing in on Ultima Thule for a 'Historic' Flyby
Earlier this year, NASA announced that the next stop for the New Horizons spacecraft after Pluto would be Ultima Thule, a distant...
Friday, 26 October 2018 - 1:43PM
This Is Your Brain on Space — Study Shows Lasting Effects of Cosmonaut Life
Being an astronaut (or cosmonaut) is still considered one of the coolest jobs ever to kids of all ages, but there may be a negative...
Friday, 26 October 2018 - 11:17AM
Astronomers Still Puzzled by Blue Asteroid Causing the Geminid Meteor Showers
When we're not narrowly avoiding collisions with them or planning to blow them up with nuclear weapons, scientists are busy studying...
Thursday, 25 October 2018 - 12:26PM
NASA Shares Trippy Images of Gas Bubbles Forming in the Cat's Paw Nebula
Between 4,200 and 5,500 light years away from Earth in the constellation Scorpius lies a nebula with a familiar shape for those who...
Wednesday, 24 October 2018 - 1:41PM
It Works For Everything: NASA Fixes Hubble Telescope By Turning it Off and Back On
After checking to make sure that it is plugged in and receiving power, one of the first steps in electronics troubleshooting is to...
Wednesday, 24 October 2018 - 12:07PM
The United States Space Force Will Recruit From The Army, Air Force, And Navy – But Not The Marines
Disappointing news for all the fans of Starship Troopers, Doom, and Warhammer: according to a new, 13-page document created by...
Tuesday, 23 October 2018 - 1:41PM
NASA Goes Full Nerd, Names Constellations After The Hulk, Godzilla, and the TARDIS
The naming of constellations is serious business. The ones you're probably most familiar with like the Big Dipper, Sagittarius, and...
Monday, 22 October 2018 - 1:17PM
A Mission To Mercury Seeking To Answer Fundamental Questions About Our Solar System's Smallest Planet
When you're watching an Earth-sized mass hurtle into a supermassive black hole a billion light-years away, it's easy to forget...
NASA Is Building The Classic 'Claw' Arcade Game Into New Equipment Destined For Mars Aboard The InSight Lander
They're not exactly grabbing for three-eyed alien toys at Pizza Planet, but engineers at NASA are using the same arcade game from...
Physicists Created A 'Mysterious Waveform' Matter To Study Gravitational Waves
There was a time when physics experiments could be carried out with two weighted balls and a tower in Pisa (although Galileo's famous...
Friday, 19 October 2018 - 12:51PM
Russia Plays It Cool In The Wake Of Near-Devastating Rocket Failure, But Their Timeline Could Leave The ISS Understaffed
For a space agency that just experienced one of the biggest spacecraft failures in recent memory, Russia's Roscosmos is playing it...
Astronomers Have Discovered a Massive Proto-Supercluster of Galaxies in the Early Universe
Using the VIMOS instrument (VIsible Multi-Object Spectrograph) on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile, an international team of...
Former NASA Artist in Residence Laurie Anderson Creates an Immersive VR Moon Installation
Some lucky astronauts and a handful of very rich people will soon be traveling into space and around the moon, but what about the rest...
Wednesday, 17 October 2018 - 10:56AM
The Newly Discovered Star CI Tau Challenges Our Current Models for Star Systems
It must be hard to be an astronomer or astrophysicist--every week, a new discovery (like Swift J0243.6+6124) seems to challenge their...
A Dutch Artist/Engineer Is Using Giant Green Lasers to Track Space Junk Orbiting the Earth
We may think of space as a vast, untouched frontier, but the truth is that there's already about 18 million pounds of junk floating...
Coincidence or Sabotage? Another NASA Telescope Has Shut Down
It has not been a good few weeks for NASA. With the Hubble Space Telescope still asleep and adrift in safe mode due to instrument...
Monday, 15 October 2018 - 12:19PM
Virgin Galactic May Be In Space "Within Weeks" According to Richard Branson
Somewhere in the world, there is a big calendar on which someone has been closely tracking the space tourism race. With a very bold...
Friday, 12 October 2018 - 9:57AM
Two Astronauts Just Had to Make an Emergency Escape from a Malfunctioning Rocket Headed to the ISS
At around 4:40 AM today, two astronauts set out to the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Less than two minutes into that flight,...
Thursday, 11 October 2018 - 1:35PM
A Landmark Scientific Panel Just Published a New Guide to Finding Life in the Universe
Astrobiology has always been at the fringes of NASA's science programs, and the last time it tried to break into the big-time with the...
Collection of Lunar Rocks Called "The Moon Puzzle" Expected to Fetch $500,000 At Auction
If you're not rich enough to buy a trip around the Moon with SpaceX (like Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa), the next best thing is...
Thursday, 11 October 2018 - 11:57AM
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Paying The Penalty
Dan Waterfield
PENALTIES are a peculiar things; they bring out the best in some, while others struggle under the pressure.
Last year, former Argyle captain Simon Walton was the Pilgrim’s designated penalty taker and, it would be fair to say, he did a good job.
Walts scored six of his seven penalties last year - an 85% conversion rate.
With Simon no longer around, manager Carl Fletcher has a decision to make.
So far, Warren Feeney has scored one and Nick Chadwick has missed one. So who will Fletch call upon this season?
“It depends who’s playing,” he said.
“It’s really whoever wants it the most; who wants to score the most.
“Generally, that’s usually strikers really and I’m happy for them to take it.
“Players tend to sort it themselves.”
Fletch has been in plenty of dressing room’s down the years and admits that while it’s tough to decide who is going to take them, there’s an outcome to suit everybody.
He said: “When I was at West Ham, Marlon Harewood and Teddy Sheringham both wanted to take them.
“When they couldn’t decide, they did it alternatively.
“So that is definitely one way to do it.
“I’m happy to go with whoever wants it the most.”
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Strengthen what remains...
"Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die..." - Revelation 3:2
// About Us
Distributing Bibles and Christian Resources
Training Christians and Church Leaders
Brother Andrew
God's Smuggler
Secret Smuggler
Advocacy Assistant
HOW YOUR SUPPORT CHANGES LIVES
Open Doors works in over 60 countries, supplying Bibles, training church leaders, providing practical support and emergency relief, and supporting Christians who suffer for their faith. In the UK and Ireland Open Doors works to raise awareness of global persecution, mobilising prayer, support and action among Christians.
Download our Annual Review
...so that persecuted believers can be nourished with God's Word
Open Doors satisfies their hunger for God's Word through writing, translating, printing and distributing a wide range of children's Bibles, MP3 Bibles and discipleship literature. Last year, Open Doors distributed over 2 million Bibles, Christian books and other types of literature. READ MORE
...so that they can stand strong for Jesus.
Few leaders in the persecuted church have had any theological education. Open Doors offers leadership and discipleship training to help believers to grow in their faith. Open Doors trained over 570,000 Christians facing persecution and discrimination last year. READ MORE
SUPPORTING VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE AND DISASTER
...so that they can live independent, fulfilled lives.
Persecution often means that families lose their breadwinner to imprisonment or death; violence forces them to flee or lose their livelihoods; discrimination makes employment difficult. Last year, over 375,000 persecuted Christians received relief aid, livelihood support and community development projects. READ MORE
BRINGING HOPE TO THE MIDDLE EAST
...so that Christians in the Middle East can live with dignity and hope.
Your prayers and gifts are keeping hope alive for thousands of families in Iraq and Syria. Our local partners provided food, medicines and trauma care and helped to rebuild homes and create jobs. READ MORE
SUPPORTING THE SECRET CHILDREN
... to give them protection, provision and a Christian education.
Thanks to supporters who give and pray regularly for children, Open Doors continues to offer practical help and care to thousands of children who are bullied, displaced or even orphaned, just because they are Christian.
SPEAKING OUT IN ADVOCACY
...so that the voice of the persecuted church can be heard.
The UK Advocacy team takes every opportunity to highlight the persecution of Christians around the world. Around one-sixth of all MPs have attended the launch of the World Watch List every year for the last three years. READ MORE
MOBILISING THE CHURCH IN THE UK AND IRELAND
...so that persecuted Christians get the support they need.
Christian networks and Churches in the UK and Ireland are engaging with Open Doors' ministry more than ever before. Many churches chose to deepen their connections with their persecuted family by becoming Partner Churches.
RAISING AWARENESS AND ENCOURAGING PRAYER
...so that persecuted Christians know they are not forgotten.
Tens of thousands of new individuals engaged with the ministry last year. Over 63,000 people prayed regularly for the persecuted church. A recent digital survey showed that 80% of supporters pray daily or weekly for the persecuted church using Open Doors materials. The secular and Christian press also gave significant coverage to the rise of persecution. READ MORE
PREPARING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SUPPORTERS
...so that persecuted Christians can be hopeful about the future
Thousands of young people engaged with the Hope for the Middle East campaign at summer festivals last year. Hundreds of youth groups got involved in BLACKOUT, a 48-hour social media fast, raising prayer, awareness and money to support Christians silenced for their faith. READ MORE
It's the gifts of thousands of supporters that makes it possible to strengthen the persecuted church worldwide. Here's how money given to Open Doors was spent last year. READ MORE
"WE DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND HAVE NEVER SEEN YOUR FACES, BUT YOUR SUPPORT IS OUR STRENGTH AND ENCOURAGEMENT."
- NORTH KOREAN CHURCH LEADER
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Oregon's tiniest towns are barely there, but they make a quirky, indelible impact
By Douglas Perry | The Oregonian/OregonLive
-- Douglas Perry
Oregon is a small state -- and so are many of its cities. In fact, the 2016 certified population estimate lists a dozen Oregon burghs with fewer than 150 year-round residents, including one that barely makes single digits. But while these towns are small, they have big stories to tell. They’ve come through booms and busts, quirks and calamities. They’re all survivors. Here’s what you need to know about the Beaver State’s tiniest cities...
Don't Edit
Honorable mention: Dayville
Coming in at No. 11 on Oregon’s list of smallest cities is Dayville, with 150 residents. The Grant County town’s population has been rather steady through its 100-plus years, with the occasional dip here and there. In 2002, Dayville High School had only one senior. It was the first time that had ever happened at the school.
Find it on the map.
10: Idanha
“The new mountain resort is an ideal place for tourists,” boosters advertised in 1893, heralding the “gigantic fir trees” and the bounteous fishing and hunting opportunities. The ad noted that the town stood “at the east terminus of the Oregon Pacific railroad on the North Santiam river, 60 miles outside of Albany.” In the 1990s, the town lost its timber mill, a serious blow to the community. Once with a population exceeding 400, Idanha now has about 140 residents.
9. Summerville (tie)
The Union County outpost was a tough town in its early days; in 1908 a local correspondent informed Oregonian readers that a “drunken mob” had instituted “rough-house rules” in the burgh and “it is feared a serious outcome will result if the warring factions” don’t run out of whisky soon. A devastating fire swept through town the following year, sending it into decline. Summerville has had fewer than 200 residents since the 1920s. The population now stands at 135.
The Barlow House
9. Barlow (tie)
Oregon Trail veterans in the mid-19th century understood that getting to the Willamette Valley would be much easier, a Barlow city webpage points out, "if only they could somehow carve a shortcut across Mt. Hood," allowing pioneers to "shorten the journey and bypass the [treacherous] Columbia River passage altogether." Hence Barlow Road and Barlow itself, a city of 135 souls southwest of Canby. The 1885 home of city founder William Barlow still stands.
8. Monument (tie)
This town of 130 became known for a first-rate environmental-sciences program thanks to a dedicated local teacher. It also became known for its simple joys. "We don't have a lot of noise and smog, we have no shopping malls, no movie theater, no skating rink," a booster said in 2000. "What we do have is an abundance of outdoor recreation. Any day in the summer, you'll see every kid in town with a fishing pole heading down to the river. That river is full of kids every day."
Sen. Mitchell
8. Mitchell (tie)
Two hours from Bend, this 126-year-old burgh with 130 residents bills itself as the "Gateway to the Painted Hills." The city was named for 19th-century Senator John H. Mitchell, arguably the most charismatic and corrupt politician in the state's history. Mitchell's legal name was actually John M. Hipple, which he gave up when he abandoned his wife and children in his native Pennsylvania to make his fortune in the country's western hinterlands.
7. Unity
The Baker County town was created in 1891 when area ranchers needed a post office. It is proudly rural and remote -- and tiny. “You can zip through Unity in less than a minute,” The Oregonian wrote in 1994, and that is still the case. Unity lost about half its population when its lumber company left town more than 40 years ago, but ranching, farming and the Forest Service kept it alive and relevant. It now has 75 residents.
6. Prescott
The Columbia County city was founded as a mill town but later became known for the nearby Trojan Nuclear Plant, which faced regular protests and sit-ins. The controversial plant, wrote The Washington Post, "loomed in the region's imagination as a symbol of all that was sneaky, leaky and insanely expensive about nuclear power." It was demolished in 2006, more than a decade after being decommissioned. Prescott now boasts 55 residents.
Antelope's century-old abandoned schoolhouse in 1971.
5. Antelope
The little Wasco County town is best known as the one-time home base for the red-robed Rajneesh cultists, who arrived in the early 1980s and tried to take over the county by busing in homeless people to vote -- and by keeping hundreds of legitimate voters from the polls through a food-poisoning attack in The Dalles. Antelope survived, the cult didn’t. There are now about 50 people living there.
In 1982, the mountain hamlet made the news statewide when "Bud" Morrow," the town's beloved honorary marshal, was shot to death. A mother and daughter were convicted of the murder.
4. Granite
This former gold-mining town outside Baker City once had 5,000 residents. Then the boom went bust. By 1960, Granite was “the smallest incorporated town” in the U.S. That year’s census put the population at three, but within months the mayor had committed suicide and another town stalwart had pulled up stakes. That left a single resident -- 78-year-old Ote Ford. Ford refused to let Granite die, and the city’s population is now a seams-popping 40.
Shaniko in the 1960s.
3. Shaniko
This former wool town, east of the Warm Springs reservation, is "Where the West Still Lives." It's also "a place to do nothing," a shop owner reportedly acknowledged. Except in August -- that's when Shaniko Days takes place, complete with a parade and gun-fight show. Shaniko lost most of its population when train service was discontinued in the 1940s. It now has about 35 residents.
2. Lonerock
How do you get to bucolic Lonerock? Drive east of Condon, the Gilliam County website advises, and, after 20 miles, "look for the huge rock -- the town's namesake -- next to a sparkling [1898] Methodist church." Some people have made that drive recently and not come back. That is, population has almost doubled in the past two decades. The town now has 20 residents.
Greenhorn gets spruced up in 1987.
1. Greenhorn
The eastern Oregon city, the state' highest at 6,306 feet, is often called a ghost town. But it officially has two residents (a couple), making it very much alive. The former gold-mining HQ does also have some occasional denizens who use it as an alpine getaway or a hunting launch pad -- when the road leading into it is clear of snow. In its heyday 100 years ago, Greenhorn boasted 500 citizens and two hotels. By 2008, its mayor admitted: "We are a zero tax-base city."
Valerie Cornford, a descendent of Millican's founder, in the late 1980s.
Even smaller
No, Greenhorn isn’t a ghost town. But there are plenty such places in Oregon, outposts that lost their populations and were long ago left to nature and vandals. For example: Millican, east of Bend, is two-and-a-half acres of scrubland with a general-store building and a couple of cabins. It once had its own zip code, until it was reassigned to nearby Sunriver. The town has been empty for most of the past 30 years.
The elderly Hobbs returns to Copperfield in the 1950s, long after the town had been abandoned.
Still more
One of the best known ghost towns in the state is Copperfield, where the diminutive Fern Hobbs, Gov. Oswald West's private secretary, declared martial law in 1914. Read more about Hobbs' excellent adventure.
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Relevance of Finding Glyphosate and AMPA in Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
scientist lab coat microscope cc 1000x523.jpg
The question that these results naturally bring up is whether the observed levels of glyphosate have any relevance to health.
From the perspective of the EPA and European Food Standards Agency, the answer is no. From the perspective of more recent biomedical research, the answer is yes.
The highest level of glyphosate observed was 1.737 ng/ml in Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. That translates into 410 ng glyphosate in an 8-oz. serving.
According to the EPA, it is safe to consume 1.75 mg/kg body weight/day of glyphosate(1).
The EU is more conservative. The EU’s chronic reference dose (called the average daily intake or ADI in Europe) is 0.3 mg/kg body weight/day (2).
Based on these government thresholds, the levels found in Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream might seem totally irrelevant. But recent research provides another perspective (3).
Researchers in Europe fed rats low levels of glyphosate daily, and found that in just months, the rats began to show early signs of fatty liver disease, which continued to worsen as time progressed. The researchers achieved this result by administering only a tiny dose of glyphosate daily, 0.1 ng glyphosate per ml in the rats’ water.
The level of glyphosate exposure in this study is much lower than those that the EPA and EFSA claim to be safe. A 300 g rat drinks about 30 ml water per day, so the daily dose experienced by the rats in this study was 3 ng/300 g body weight/day, or 10 ng/kg body wt. Thus, while the EPA considers it safe to consume daily 1.75 mg of glyphosate for every kg of body weight, and the European Food Safety authority considers it safe to consume 0.3 mg glyphosate for every kg of body weight, this new research indicates that a much lower level, 1/175,000 th of the dose that EPA claims is safe, will trigger early symptoms of fatty liver disease in rats.
Assuming that humans respond to glyphosate at doses similar to rats, this new research indicates that a dose of only 340 ng/day would trigger early stages of fatty liver disease in a 75-lb. child and a 680 ng/day dose would do the same for a 150-lb. adult.
Since an 8-oz serving of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream contains 410 ng, just one serving is enough to give the 75-lb child 120% of the daily dose required to trigger fatty liver disease, and just a little more than one and one half servings, less than a pint, will do the same for an adult of 150-lb. Fatty liver disease has become a global epidemic during the last 20 years.
There are other studies that also relate glyphosate exposure, even at low doeses, to both kidney and liver disease.
For example, an important long-term feeding study in 2012, by G.-E. Séralini et al, indicates that levels of Roundup/glyphosate lower than those found in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream can cause liver and kidney damage as wells cancer tumors in laboratory animals. The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology forced the retraction of this paper. However, recently disclosed secret Monsanto documents provide strong evidence that this retraction was brought about by Monsanto in a massive, highly unethical multi-pronged attack. (4) The Séralini study was republished in 2014, by Environmental Sciences Europe. (5)
We can conclude two things from the above analysis: First, the levels of glyphosate present in at least some of the Ben and Jerry’s flavors may be a potential health risk. Additional research is needed to assess this more fully, but current evidence points to this concern. Second, the levels of glyphosate designated as safe by the EPA and even the EU authorities are unrealistically high. Such assurances do not serve the public, but create a false sense of security and thus are a public health hazard. There is growing evidence that regulators both in the US and Europe have been unduly influenced by Monsanto and more broadly by the chemical and ag-biotech industry.
The EPA and EU regulatory levels were set based on outmoded models of toxicology and biochemistry that fail to take into account the properties of endocrine/hormone disrupters like glyphosate, which can have health damaging effects at even the very low levels observed in Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. For glyphosate, scientists have published evidence for adverse effects from very low levels.
There is another core issue, in addition to health and safety: It is of great concern that glyphosate is present at any level in Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. It was found in 10 out of the 11 samples tested. The wide-spread presence of agrochemicals in Ben and Jerry’s ice cream indicates that this brand is not using “natural” methods, but is using, instead, industrial / chemical farming methods with all of their associated social, environmental and health impacts.
(1) This is called their Chronic Reference Dose or cRfD. Using the conversion factors 1 kg = 2.205 lbs, and 1 ml = 0.0338 fluid ounces, based on this cRfD, one can calculate that the EPA considers it safe for a child of 75 lb to consume 59.53 mg glyphosate per day, and for an adult of 150 lb to consume 119.07 mg glyphosate per day. That child would have to eat 145,000 8 oz servings of Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream to consume that much glyphosate, and the adult would have to consume 290,000 servings.
(2) Using the same conversion factors, we find that, according to EU standards, a child of 75 lb is supposedly safe to consume up to 10.21 mg per day and an adult of 150 lb is safe to consume up to 20.412 mg. The child would “only” have to eat 25,000 8 oz servings of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream, and the adult only 50,000 servings, to take in that much glyphosate.
(3) Mesnage R, et al, “Multiomics reveal non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats following chronic exposure to an ultra-low dose of Roundup herbicide.” Scientific Reports (a Nature publication). doi:10.1038/srep39328, Jan. 2017.
(4) Rowland, Henry, “Monsanto Secret Documents Show Massive Attack on Seralini Study.” Sustainable Pulse, August 1, 2017
(5) Séralini, Gilles-Eric, et al, “Long-term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize.” Environmental Sciences Europe, June 2014. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-014-0014-5
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Fishless Fish? Impossible Foods Is Developing Fake Seafood for Vegetarians
Americans Are Pressuring EPA to Ban Round-Up While City of San Diego Still Uses It on Beaches, Playgrounds and Parks
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U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA recognizes 3M Co. for safety and health excellence
Region 6 News Release: 07-1264-KAN
Contact: Diana Petterson Elizabeth Todd
Phone: (214) 767-4776, ext. 222 or 221
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The 3M Co. in Columbia has earned membership in the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) prestigious Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) at the highest, or "Star," level. A recognition ceremony will be held Wednesday, Aug. 29 at the plant.
"The 3M Co. has exhibited excellence in safety and health management," said Charles E. Adkins, OSHA's regional administrator in Kansas City, Mo. "The company's outstanding efforts include management commitment to safety and health, and employee involvement in safety and health programs."
Minnesota-based 3M has 570 full-time employees and three resident contractors at the Columbia facility, which manufactures flexible circuits and connectors for the electronics industry and houses shipping and receiving, production and maintenance operations, as well as offices.
Information kits about the VPP application and approval processes can be obtained by calling OSHA's Kansas City Regional Office at (816) 426 5861.
3M's Columbia facility joins an elite corps of more than 1,700 worksites in more than 270 industries nationwide that have earned entry into OSHA's VPP. Requirements include a high degree of management support and employee involvement; a high quality worksite hazard analysis; prevention and control programs; and comprehensive safety and health training for all employees. Each of these elements must be effective, in place and in operation for at least one year before a company can apply to join the VPP.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.
U.S. Labor Department releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call (202) 693-7765 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to providing America's employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.
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The Postman Always Rings Twice
By James M. Cain
Category: Noir Mysteries | Crime Mysteries
May 14, 1989 | 128 Pages
About The Postman Always Rings Twice
An amoral young tramp. A beautiful, sullen woman with an inconvenient husband. A problem that has only one grisly solution–a solution that only creates other problems that no one can ever solve.
First published in 1934 and banned in Boston for its explosive mixture of violence and eroticism, The Postman Always Rings Twice is a classic of the roman noir. It established James M. Cain as a major novelist with an unsparing vision of America’s bleak underside, and was acknowledged by Albert Camus as the model for The Stranger.
Also by James M. Cain
See all books by James M. Cain
About James M. Cain
James M. Cain was a first-rate writer of American hard-boiled crime fiction. Born in Baltimore in 1892, Cain began his career as a reporter, serving in the American Expeditionary Force in World War I and writing for the newspaper of… More about James M. Cain
Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
May 14, 1989 | 128 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679723257
Nov 03, 2010 | 128 Pages | ISBN 9780307772947
People Who Read The Postman Always Rings Twice Also Read
"A good, swift, violent story." –Dashiell Hammett
"A poet of the tabloid murder." –Edmund Wilson
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Home | Search | Phrase Dictionary | Let there be light
The meaning and origin of the expression: Let there be light
What's the origin of the phrase 'Let there be light'?
2011 sees the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible (or Authorized Version). The KJV is a strong contender for the accolade of 'the book that has had more influence on the development of English than any other'.
Many phrases that are now common currency in the language appeared first in the King James Bible. Likewise, a varied collection of everyday words also first saw the printer's ink in the work; for example, 'accurately', 'battering-ram', 'expansion', 'gopher', 'ingenuously', 'needleworker', 'phrasing', and so on...
The text of the KJV has been used in numerous important works; from the libretto of the best known of all choral oratorios, Handel's Messiah, 1741, which is taken almost verbatim from the Authorized Version, to Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech, which he delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1963 and in which he quoted directly from the KJV, Isaiah 40:4:
"[I have a dream that one day] every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."
However, the influential power of the book isn't based on the number of phrases and words that were coined for it; earlier versions of the Bible and luminaries like Shakespeare can claim many more. Its impact came because it brought clearly expressed, accessible and poetically beautiful English to the populace for the first time. The KJV was written to be spoken and, as James I's authorization states, it was 'appointed to be read in Churches'. Church services in England at that date consisted largely of readings from the Bible. By providing short verses in the plain colloquial English that the illiterate congregation could understand and remember, the verses became cemented into the spoken language. No verse exemplifies this power and simplicity better than one from the very beginning of the book "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light". This is one of the best-known phrases in English. It is a translation of the Latin 'dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux' (which hardly trips off the tongue) and appears in the opening lines of the Bible, in Genesis I. The English translation was first printed in Miles Coverdale's Bible, 1535, but the version of it that was known by every English speaker from the 17th century onward was that of the King James Version, 1611:
In the beginning God created the Heauen, and the Earth.
And the earth was without forme, and voyd, and darkenesse was vpon the face of the deepe: and the Spirit of God mooued vpon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
The tendency of US politicians towards over-wordiness was compared unfavourably to the beauty and clarity of the original text by the journalist and broadcaster Alistair Cooke. In his acceptance speech for the 'Best Speaker of English' award in 1998, he gave an imagined US Government representative's version of Genesis 1:3:
"The Supreme Being mandated the illumination of the Universe and this directive was enforced forthwith."
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Center for dermatovenereology and dermatological cosmetology
Dermatovenereology
General dermatology and venereolgy
Dermatological cosmetology
Sokol Clinic is center for dermatovenereology and dermatological cosmetology.
The Clinic was founded in February 2010. We provide medical services in dermatovenereology and new methods in dermatological cosmetology. Long experience and traditional treatments of Jadranka Sokol, MD, shape direction of practice at Sokol Clinic.
Jadranka Sokol, MD
Jadranka Sokol, MD, was born in Osijek, and in 1981 she graduated from the School of Medicine at University of Zagreb. Following her specialization in the field of dermatovenereology, she worked in Osijek Clinical Hospital Center from 1986 to 1993.
She gained her Master's degree with the study of Darier's follicular dyskeratosis. From 1993 to 1998 she worked at the Črnomerec Healthcare Center as a specialist in dermatology and venereology. In 1998 she started working in a private dermatological practice. In February 2010. dr. Sokol opened Sokol Clinic where she has been providing medical service in dermatovenereology and dermatological cosmetology
By sending an inquiry through this form, you acknowledge you are familiar with the Privacy policy of Poliklinika Sokol d.o.o. and agree with it. With this you also give consent (permission) for the collection and processing of personal data specified in the form, and which are necessary for us to be able to accommodate your request.
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Drop in EU migrant workers sounds alarm bells for UK construction, says FMB
The drop in EU net migration has sounded alarm bells for the UK construction industry, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said in response to figures published today.
Commenting on the Migration Statistics Quarterly Report for August 2018, published by the Office for National Statistics, Sarah McMonagle, Director of External Affairs at the FMB, said: “EU net migration is at its lowest level since 2012 and this is deeply worry for those sectors that rely on workers from the EU. Despite the fact that we are still operating under the free movement of people, we’re already seeing far fewer EU workers coming to the UK and a greater number leaving our shores. This could be due to financial reasons since the depreciation of sterling following the EU referendum, which means that if these workers are sending money home, or saving up, their UK wages are now worth less. It could also, quite simply, be that some EU workers no longer feel welcome.”
McMonagle concluded: “The drop in EU net migration is a particular problem for industries like construction. At present, 9 per cent of our construction workers are from the EU and therefore we are more reliant than most on EU workers. In London, this proportion rises to nearly one third. We can’t afford to lose any more EU workers as currently two-thirds of construction SMEs are struggling to hire bricklayers and 60 per cent are struggling to hire carpenters and joiners. If the Government wants its new homes and infrastructure projects built, it needs to do more to back up our industry’s message to all EU workers – they are welcome and they do have a bright future here in the UK.”
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is the UK’s largest trade association in the building industry, with national offices in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, supported by additional regional offices...
Quality, safety & the long-term legacy are at the heart of house building agenda - Housing Secretary
Speaking at the launch of the Construction Licensing Task Force, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said it was “...
Modular housing cannot fix the housing crisis, only planning reform can
Whether building modular, offsite or traditional, you cannot start building unless you have planning permission.
Three years of political uncertainty have taken their toll on the SME construction sector
A perfect storm of diminished consumer confidence, rising material prices and increases in wages and salaries has resulted in the construction SME...
Construction output rises despite Brexit uncertainty, says FMB
The Government must not be complacent about the damage a ‘no deal’ Brexit would cause amid positive signs of growth in the UK construction...
NFB: low-skilled does not mean low value
The new skills-based system will create an additional barrier to building. The NFB would like the Government to consider an exemption for those in...
Government needs to heed Migration Advisory Committee warning about skills shortages, warns FMB
The Government must include key construction roles in its Shortage Occupation List following the Migration Advisory Committee’s recognition of...
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04/14/18 04/19/18 with 0 Comments
Samsung Galaxy S9 Features You Can’t Live Without
Samsung Galaxy S9 and its larger counterpart S9+ came out one month ago and featured a great variety of features, some of them that we haven’t yet seen. If you’re still undecided whether you should invest in here are some Galaxy S9 features that may change your mind.
Samsung’s new flagship phone came out in March 2018 and features an improved design over Galaxy S8 measuring 5.81 x 2.70 x 0.33 in and weighing 5.75 oz (163g.) It sports enhanced camera system, with 12 MP on the rear cameras and 8 MP on front-facing one. Its performance is also quite impressive with both Samsung Exynos 9810 chipset and Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (USA and China.) The phone comes in three storage options (64,128 and 256GB) and 4GB of RAM. Here are some of its most notable features.
Super-Slow-Motion Recording Videos
Slow motion video is no stranger on other smartphones. On the other hand, Samsung’s implementation of this feature shows quite a difference. The camera of Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ is capable of slowing a video down to 960 frames per second at 720p resolution for 0.2 seconds in order to convert it into a 6-seconds long video clips you can after share on social media networks you use.
This is one of users’ favorite Galaxy S9 features, because the camera lens intelligently detects action being performed in the frame, and then it slows it down, without additional editing required. There is also a manual mode that allows user to control what’s happening in the slow-motion video, actions such as looping the clip, swinging it back and forth or reverse it.
Support for low light conditions
Have you ever wanted to take pictures of your friends in dark surroundings like bar, concert or a night walk? However, you couldn’t do so because you were confronted by dreadful, dark conditions. HDR mode in most of phones partially fixed it problem. However, Samsung’s camera takes a step forward.
One of the really useful Galaxy S9 features includes Samsung’s dual aperture camera which approaches its photos in order for them to look sharper and clearer. According to Samsung, its new flagship smartphones are capable of perceiving 28% more light as opposed to the camera of Samsung Galaxy S8. All of that, thanks to the apertures either at f/1.5 or f/2.4.
Animated Emoji with AR
Animated emoji or Animoji were introduced with iPhone X and were totally worth the hype. However, animated emoji on Galaxy S9 won our hearts. The camera will smartly use your facial expressions to make an animated character that will still sort of remind others of you. While iPhoneX’s animoji are designed to be witty and funny, the AR emoji work in a way to make your face look more realistic by utilizing the technology. It’s worth pointing that Samsung doesn’t use an depth sensor, so you will find resemblance with the extremely popular Bitmoji that are moving around.
In order to enhance security of its users, Samsung took several measures to make phones safe and private with the user. While Galaxy S8 offers three modes of authentication, Galaxy S9 features also come with the fourth authentication mode, known as Intelligent Scan. The method combines facial and iris scanning. Samsung played smart, so in case one of the methods failed to recognize you, you can use the other that won’t fail. Reason for this is because facial recognition can fail when it’s night. Nevertheless, Intelligent Scan security and accuracy can’t be compared to the one of a fingerprint sensor, which Galaxy S9 is also equipped with. Still, it doesn’t hurt to explore new authentication modes and see how they work.
New Location For Fingerprint Scanner
Dual lens camera is not the only new thing on the rear of Galaxy S9. It’s no secret that one of the only reasons that made Galaxy S8 a lackluster phone was the irritating location of the fingerprint scanner. This time, the company decided to please the community and ended up placing the sensor beneath the camera, instead of next to it. That way users don’t have to worry about messing up the lens while trying to unlock their phone but can precisely aim the fingerprint scanner beneath.
Those were some of the most notable Galaxy S9 features. If you already own Galaxy S9 check out most common issues that Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are facing. Also, if your charging plug became dusty and is slowing down the charging process, take a look at dust plugs from our Amazon shop.
What is your favorite Galaxy S9 feature? Let us know in the comments.
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Shoe/apparel offshoring lobby wants too "clarification"
The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) this week publicly announced its support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but the group is seeking clarifications from the administration on several aspects of the associated U.S.-Vietnam labor consistency plan before the agreement comes to a vote in Congress.
[Daily News| February, 07 2016 | Inside US Trade]
The group's problems relate to a provision in the consistency plan that allows the U.S. to unilaterally suspend future tariff phaseouts after year five of implementation if it determines that Vietnam has failed to allow independent unions to affiliate at the national level by that time. This could have an impact on the most sensitive apparel and footwear items, which are not eliminated until after year five.
If Vietnam disagrees with the U.S. determination, it can challenge that determination before a TPP dispute settlement panel. If it wins the case, or if the U.S. subsequently determines that Vietnam has complied with the cross-affiliation obligation, then the U.S. would resume the tariff phaseouts under their original schedule.
But AAFA is seeking more clarity on the process by which the U.S. government would make an initial determination on Vietnam's compliance and subsequently re-evaluate that determination, as well as on exactly what tariff rates would apply if the U.S. lifts its suspension of phaseouts, according to an industry source.
This source argued that, for example, if the U.S. suspended Vietnam's tariff phaseouts in year five but resumed them in year nine, the text leaves unclear whether the duties would kick in at the level originally foreseen at year nine, or pick up at the level at which they were frozen in year five.
This creates uncertainty for apparel companies who would have to make long-term investments in Vietnam, in light of the fact that tariffs on the most commercially important apparel items are not eliminated until the 10th or 12th year of implementation.
Read more at Inside US Trade
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purinaproclub | Home DPCA National Features Advances in Research of Genetic & Cardiac Diseases
DPCA National Features Advances in Research of Genetic & Cardiac Diseases
Among the most concerning health conditions to breeders and owners of Doberman Pinschers are genetic conditions, such as wobbler syndrome, and the complex heart disease, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Organizers of the Health Night Seminar, held Oct. 4 at the 87th annual Doberman Pinscher Club of America (DPCA) National Specialty in Fort Mitchell, Ky., invited prominent veterinary researchers to discuss their advances in better understanding these diseases plus others that affect Dobermans.
Mark Neff, Ph.D., the founding director of the Program for Canine Health and Performance at the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Luis Braz-Ruivo, D.V.M., D.V.Sc., DACVIM (Cardiology), of the Dogs & Cats Veterinary Referral in Bowie, Md., were the featured presenters at the Health Night Seminar. Additionally, a team of board-certified veterinary cardiologists provided a no-cost comprehensive cardiac screening clinic to identify Dobermans in the early asymptomatic or occult stage of DCM.
"We were delighted to bring in such distinguished veterinary experts to speak at the Health Night Seminar," says Kathy Davieds, D.V.M., chair of the DPCA National Specialty Health Seminars Committee. "The opportunity to provide the cardiac screenings at no cost and to have these esteemed veterinary cardiologists examine our Dobermans was a bonus. This is the first time we've offered such comprehensive screenings at no cost to owners."
Tapping into a Doberman Database
With a rich database of blood samples and pedigree information about Doberman Pinschers, the Van Andel Research Institute has made progress in learning about wobbler syndrome and other disorders that affect Dobermans.
"We have far more data on the Doberman breed than any other breed," Neff says. "The more data we have, the more power we have to understand the ramifications of the diseases and conditions affecting Dobermans, and for that matter, to learn how these findings may translate to other breeds and potentially humans."
Neff is seeking a genetic link to cervical spondylomyelopathy (CSM), commonly called wobbler syndrome. A disease that can lead to partial or complete paralysis, wobbler syndrome takes its name from the wobbly gait of affected dogs.
Doberman Pinschers are predisposed to slippage of the intervertebral disks in the narrow veterbral canal surrounding the spinal cord. The condition causes pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots, resulting in mild to severe instable walking that worsens over time. Dogs suffering from wobbler syndrome may have neck pain, general weakness and difficulty getting up from a lying position.
Chronic active hepatitis (CAH) also is being studied. "We believe this disease in Doberman Pinschers may involve the accumulation of copper in the liver," Neff explains.
Ongoing inflammation that results in progressive damage to the liver cells, CAH causes scar tissue that overtakes healthy liver issue and eventually leads to liver failure and death. Early signs, which include poor appetite, intermittent vomiting and lethargy, occur in other health conditions, so owners often do not learn their dog has CAH until the disease progresses to a severe condition. Dogs with advanced disease may suffer from fluid buildup in the abdomen, or liver encephalopathy, which is the inability of the liver to eliminate ammonia and other toxins, and ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract.
Though it is not known definitely whether CAH is an inherited disease, the higher incidence of this disease in Doberman Pinschers relative to other breeds suggests the involvement of genetic factors. These factors may interact with environmental influences.
"A benefit of identifying causal genes is that it increases the power for detecting nongenetic influences," Neff says. He hopes that while this disease in Dobermans is distinct from one in Standard Poodles, the genes involved may function in a common biochemical pathway. If so, progress in one project may benefit the other.
Neff's enthusiasm for working with the Doberman Pinscher community stems from their first success. Two years ago, Neff's laboratory at Van Andel began research that recently culminated in the discovery of a single-gene mutation responsible for an autosomal recessive disorder that causes bilateral congenital vestibular disease with juvenile deafness, referred to by breeders as "dings." In affected dogs, the vestibule, a cavity in the inner ear containing tiny bones and sensory cells, begins to deteriorate shortly after birth. Signs of the disorder include head tilting, lack of coordination and circling. Deafness occurs around 3 weeks of age.
"Discovery of the gene was a direct consequence of working with breeders who were enthusiastic about finding a gene," Neff says. "This is true of all successful studies in canine genetics. By partnering with the breed community, great progress can be made."
Other diseases that affect Dobermans that are being studied at Van Andel include: head bobbing syndrome, canine compulsive disorder and two cancers, osteosarcoma and melanoma. The wide range of genetic and health disorder research under way at Van Andel is possible because of the support the institute has received from Doberman Pinscher enthusiasts. As an example, a recent anonymous online health survey available for two weeks on the DPCA website (www.dpca.org) received 1,700 responses. Respondents could provide contact information if they were interested in submitting blood samples for further research. More than 1,400 people provided their contact information.
"The best dog biologists are not people in laboratories like me, but rather, the breeders and owners who have built up decades of insights through their experiences," Neff says. "That is why their participation in studies such as these is so critical. Developing genetic tests that can be used by breeders to guide their breeding decisions is the end game of our research."
Study Changes DCM Treatment Protocol
Dilated cardiomyopathy is an inherited, irreversible heart muscle disorder that affects 25 to 50 percent of Doberman Pinschers. It causes the heart muscle to become weak, leading to heart failure and ventricular arrhythmia, or abnormal, erratic heartbeats that fire too closely together. This can cause a dog to become weak or faint. Some dogs recover after fainting, yet others die suddenly.
About 50 percent of Dobermans with DCM die suddenly due to ventricular arrhythmias. In 33 percent of Doberman with DCM, sudden death is the first clue they had the disease. Ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death due to DCM can occur in Dobermans as young as 3 to 4 years of age.
Dobermans with DCM that do not die suddenly generally appear normal until they are 4 to 7 years old, when their heart muscle is no longer able to compensate for the disease and becomes significantly weakened and dilated. As the disease progresses, congestive heart failure occurs when the heart can no longer adequately pump blood to the body.
As the heart dilates to compensate for the weakened heart muscle, it holds a greater volume while the thinned walls continue to weaken. Fluid typically backs up into the dog's lungs causing pulmonary edema, but it also can back up into the abdomen causing ascites. During this symptomatic stage of the disease, owners often notice signs of heart failure, such as shortness of breath, rapid breathing, coughing, weakness, and lethargy. Symptomatic DCM usually is diagnosed in Dobermans around 7 ½ years of age, after many have already been bred.
Drug therapy offers palliative care for symptomatic DCM but does not cure the disease. Medications that strengthen the heart muscle make it easier for blood to flow forward and help remove the extra fluid accumulation in the lungs or abdomen. While medications can help dogs feel better and prolong life, the disease still is terminal. Dogs with congestive heart failure typically live less than a year.
Dilated cardiomyopathy generally is present for six to 18 months before a dog develops heart failure. The early stage of the disease, known as the asymptomatic or occult stage, is difficult to diagnose because affected dogs are apparently healthy, feel well and often have no outward signs of the disease even when evaluated by a veterinarian. Tests such as echocardiography, an ultrasound of the heart, and Holter monitoring, a 24-hour electrocardiogram (EKG), are required to definitively diagnose the disease during the asymptomatic stage.
A recent clinical study, called The PROTECT Study, showed that Dobermans with asymptomatic DCM that received pimobendan, which is marketed as Vetmedin® by Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, remained asymptomatic 63 percent, or nine months, longer than Dobermans that received a sugar pill placebo. About 1,000 apparently healthy Dobermans in the U.S., U.K. and Canada were screened to recruit the 76 dogs that took part in the five and a half year study.
In the study, the average time for Dobermans with asymptomatic DCM, characterized by a weak heart muscle documented with echocardiography, that received Vetmedin to develop heart failure or die suddenly was 24 months, compared to 15 months for the dogs in the placebo group. Historically, only one other class of medication, ACE (angiotensin-converting-enzyme) inhibitors, such as enalapril or benazepril, has been used to treat dogs in the asymptomatic stage.
As a result of the PROTECT study, cardiologists now are recommending Vetmedin with or without an ACE inhibitor and anti-arrhythmic medications, if appropriate, for Dobermans with asymptomatic DCM based on an echocardiogram. Vetmedin currently has not been proved effective in Dobermans with asymptomatic DCM characterized only by arrhythmias; thus, Vetmedin should not be used in dogs with normal echocardiograms.
Since the study showed a benefit to starting Vetmedin in Dobermans in the asymptomatic stage of DCM, the ability to identify those dogs has become increasingly important. The best screening tests, which also are the most definitive diagnostic tests, are an echocardiogram combined with a Holter monitor test. Since these tests are not available at all veterinary clinics, many Dobermans are not screened as often as they should be.
The DPCA recommends that Doberman Pinschers have a baseline echocardiogram and Holter monitor test when they are 1 to 2 years of age and that dogs being used in breeding programs should be tested every six months thereafter. This requires a significant financial commitment for owners and breeders over the lifetime of a dog.
The use of blood tests, called cardiac biomarker tests, to identify apparently healthy Doberman Pinschers that have a high risk of developing asymptomatic DCM and that would benefit from definitive testing was the focus of the veterinary cardiology specialists who performed the cardiac evaluations at the screening clinic held during the DPCA National. A promising cardiac biomarker in Doberman Pinschers is NT-proBNP, which the heart muscle releases in increasing amounts as it develops DCM. Preliminary studies of this biomarker will be published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Sonya G. Gordon, D.V.M., D.V.Sc., DACVIM (Cardiology), associate professor of cardiology at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in College Station, one of the investigators, says, "We are trying to find cost-effective ways for Doberman owners and breeders to screen annually for this disease. NT-proBNP will not replace an echocardiogram or Holter monitor test, as they are required to diagnose DCM, but screening could become more cost-effective if we have a blood test to identify Dobermans that would benefit most from these definitive tests.
"Early diagnosis can lead to early treatment with Vetmedin, which we now know will prolong the asymptomatic stage and life of the dog. In addition, an owner who knows his or her dog is predisposed to heart failure may be better able to identify subtle signs of a worsening condition in that individual dog."
Purina appreciates the support of the Doberman Pinscher Club of America and particularly Judith Brown, chair of the DPCA Health Research Evaluation Committee, in helping to identify topics for the Purina Pro Club Doberman Pinscher Update newsletter.
Next Article: Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency May Have Complex Inheritance Pattern
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American Honey's Perfect Soundtrack
Story from Movies
Breaking Down American Honey's Perfect Soundtrack
Morgan Baila
Photo: Courtesy of A24Films.
In the middle of American Honey, there's a stirring Mazzy Star moment. The dirty, rat-tailed, but still handsome Jake (Shia LaBeouf in his best role in recent memory) has just stolen a rich cowboy's fancy convertible after "rescuing" Star (break-out 20-year-old star Sasha Lane) at gunpoint from a group of rowdy men with handlebar mustaches who are trying to get her drunk off tequila in their backyard. His reckless actions at the house wouldn't be considered brave to anyone but Star, who is head-over-heels in lust with him.
The two lost souls, who first crossed paths in a Big K parking lot and now work together selling magazines on the road with a crew of tattooed and tipsy runaways, are driving to god knows where when Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" starts playing on the car's radio. The twangy rock song is a beautiful plea for attention, for understanding, and for total abandonment of anything but the person you're with. In the movie, this scene is charged with a mixture of illegal activity, intimacy, and innocence.
The singer's breathless lyrics hint at what's going to happen next — what the whole movie has been building up to: "I want to hold the hand inside you / I want to take a breath that's true / I look to you and I see nothing / I look to you to see the truth." Jake and Star exchange longing glances, letting the hot wind brush over them until they can't stand it anymore, pull off to the side of the road, and have sex in the stolen car surrounded by weeds and wildflowers, reflections of him and her.
That perfectly soundtracked cinematic moment is just one of 22. American Honey's music is never cheesy or distracting. Unlike in many movies, these songs aren't meant to be background music to Star's, Jake's, or the rest of the cast's actions. Instead, they're here to narrate the film, sometimes quite literally. What's more, every time a song plays, it is actually present in the scene: It's being played off of a cell phone, through the sound system in the van, or on the loudspeaker of a store. A song is never just thrown over a pre-taped scene — it's an intrinsic piece of the film's skeletal core.
Much of American Honey takes place in the four back rows of a van that's hauling a dozen teenagers across America to sell magazines. It's a fairly fruitless job, but it gives them something that they crave and never had before in their often poverty-stricken hometowns: freedom. Or, at least, the illusion of freedom. These young adults are still kids at heart, and all they want to do is — in the words of Notorious B.I.G — party and bullshit. (Heavy on the party, light on the bullshit.)
Nearly half the tunes are popular and explicit rap-trap songs with lyrics like "I like to make money, get turnt," "Everybody get choices / I choose to get money, I'm stuck to this bread," and "I'm figgity figgity fucked up / Girl you got me fucked up." Anyone who has listened to trending artists over the past year would recognize at least half of the songs, including Rihanna and Calvin Harris' "We Found Love" which reappears throughout the film. The plot of the movie pivots around this particular song a few times: The song is playing the first time Star meets Jake, and it's playing again the last time she really trusts him. It's the crew's favorite song, and they all have to dance when it comes on — tradition is important.
As exciting as this style of soundtracking a film is, it's also a risky move. Having the blaring (yes, blaring; the music powers entire scenes, and the bass may leave a lingering vibration in your eardrums) tracks dictate the tone of the entire movie — and repeating songs like Rae Sremmurd's 2014 single, "No Type" — could come off as abrasive, annoying, or cheesy.
But in American Honey, it just works. The songs feel essential in every scene and are magically elevated from trashy pop anthems (no offense, Ri-Ri and Carnage) to audible art. The movie is a rap-fueled, vodka-soaked, coming-of-age fever dream — and the variety of songs, ranging from country to trap to EDM, reflects that.
These kids' favorite songs, like those of so many American teenagers, are ones they can rap to, dance to, and fuck to. The soundtrack feels like it happened organically, as if director Andrea Arnold let the actors (many of whom had no professional acting experience) choose what they wanted to listen to in the van, and included that in the film. The recognizable songs are building blocks that dictate the mood of the scene, because they are so reflective of the cast's carefree and uninhibited attitudes.
Another great example is the final scene of the film. The whole mag crew is swigging liquor and dancing with abandon around a campfire. They're oozing with energy and blasting Raury's "God Whisper." The only things illuminating the screen are the leaping flames and the rising chorus of the song. The van's back door is open, and the sound is pouring out. You can feel the film coming to a close, even though Star's quest is far from over. That's why it works. The songs are a vehicle that instantly places the viewer inside the frame. You want to be drinking, dancing, and wild. You want to take over the AUX cord and choose the next song. It's not an impressive playlist; it's just realistic. By the end of the film, these are your friends, and this is your playlist, even if this isn't your story.
American Honey Soundtrack Best Songs From The Movie
Entertainment • Honey Guide • Movies
written by Morgan Baila
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> Pests
> Insects
Call us for a free quote at 1-800-837-5520 or Contact Us
Insect-borne diseases
Biting insects
The majority of insects have wings in the adult stage and move around mainly by flying. Some insects, such as cockroaches, have wings but are reluctant flyers, preferring to crawl to find food and shelter. Termites and ants are mainly wingless, so most of their behaviour involves crawling, and produce ‘reproductives’ that are temporarily winged during a short breeding season.
Other insects, such as the flea and louse, are wingless and can only crawl or jump to move around. Crawling insects here refers to insects that are perceived as pests mainly due to their crawling behaviour.
Insect characteristics
Insects are distinguished by having an exoskeleton with a three-part body, consisting of: a head with compound eyes, a pair of antennae and very variable mouthparts; a thorax with six legs and often one or two pairs of wings; and an abdomen.
Most insects go through a life cycle starting with eggs and a series of developmental stages or moults, before they reach their adult stage. This is typically egg, larva (eg caterpillar, maggot), pupa (often sealed in a cocoon) and adult, which often has wings.
Insects as pests
Crawling insects and arachnids are regarded as pests for a number of reasons:
bites cause pain and swelling from the body’s immune reaction to the ‘foreign material’ from the insect/arachnid mouth injected with the bite;
stings cause pain and an allergic reaction from the venom injected into the skin.
insect bites can transmit a large number of serious bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases to humans and domestic animals;
allergens produced by infestations in the home can cause asthma;
contamination of food, water and surfaces by mechanical transmission of diseases, in homes and businesses;
consumption of and damage to stored food products in homes and businesses;
damage to fabric products such as clothing and furniture;
damage to wooden structures and products.
Businesses, organisations and homeowners need to control insect pests to:
Prevent damage: insects can damage packaging and goods such as clothing and furniture.
Prevent and eliminate contamination: food in storage or processing is subject to insect attack or contamination.
Prevent disease: insects can carry a large number of diseases that affect humans and animals, both farm animals and pets.
Conform with the law: laws and regulations require control of insects in property, especially for food handling, and health and safety. Failure to comply can lead to prosecution.
Prevent financial loss: caused by damage to goods, compensation, litigation and loss of trade.
Prevent loss of reputation and goodwill: the presence of insects on commercial premises and damaged goods are unacceptable to other businesses and the public.
Ants are generally more of a nuisance than a danger, though they can sting and a can few bite. Different species of ant sting with a range of chemicals, including formic acid, alkaloids and piperidines.
Ants can invade homes, other buildings, and gardens to forage for food and build nests. They are not known to transmit diseases. Out of the thousands of species of ant worldwide, there are only a few ant species that are regarded as pests in each country.
Bed bugs bite to feed on blood, often producing an itchy bump on the skin. They tend to form colonies in small hidden places in bedrooms and furniture where humans are still for long periods. These include bed frames, carpets and underlay, drawers and cupboards. You are most likely to pick up bedbugs from a hotel where they can crawl into your luggage or clothing. However, they are not known to transmit diseases.
Cockroaches carry a large number of disease-causing organisms that can contaminate food and surfaces, including Salmonella. They also produce particles that produce allergic reactions, causing asthma. They are one of the most serious pests of homes, food processing factories, restaurants, and healthcare facilities worldwide.
Fleas are usually brought into contact with humans by pets and wild animals, including cats, dogs, rats, mice, foxes, birds, and rabbits. There are several species, each preferring a particular animal host, but will attempt to feed on other hosts, including humans before dropping off. Fleas can also transmit the serious bacterial diseases: murine typhus and plague.
There are three types of human louse, the head louse, body louse and crab louse. Head lice can be passed from person to person by close contact and infest anyone with hair. In developed countries they most commonly affect children.
The body louse is the same species as the head louse but lives mainly in clothing and is spread by close contact with someone infested, or infested clothing and bedding. These are generally more of an irritant than a danger, causing itching and distress.
Both can carry the serious diseases epidemic typhus, endemic/murine typhus, and relapsing fever, which tend to break out in poor living conditions such as caused by war and famine.
The crab louse is a distinct species from the other types and is spread by close contact. It is usually found in coarser body hair, such as pubic hair and eye lashes. This is also more of an irritant than a danger.
Processionary moth
The caterpillars of these moths can cause extensive defoliation of trees. They are also a public health hazard because their long hairs contain an irritating chemical that causes rashes and occasionally more severe allergic reactions. This can occur from touching the caterpillars and from loose hairs blown in the wind.
The Oak processionary moth is native to southern Europe but has migrated northwards to Germany and the UK. The Pine processionary moth is native to southern Europe and North Africa. Careful removal of caterpillars and pheromone traps to catch adults are used to prevent outbreaks.
Stored product insects
A wide variety of insect species can infest food in the journey from the field to the consumer:
farms,
silos,
food warehouses,
food processing plants,
bakeries,
in the home.
They reduce the quantity of saleable goods, causing economic losses to farmers and businesses, and cause reputational damage by affecting the quality of goods. Crawling insects that affect stored food include many species of weevil and other beetles (which have thousands of species), and a few species of mite (which are arachnids).
Silverfish are small wingless insects that feed on carbohydrates such as starch and sugars. They can damage products such as paper, glues, carpets, cotton and linen products, and starch-based treatments applied to other fabrics (wool and silk are protein-based fibres).
Termites can invade buildings through the ground with no obvious signs to the untrained eye and cause damage to the structure and fittings for years until it reaches a critical point. They can be hidden inside walls, floors, roofs or behind paint on woodwork.
In termite prone areas, regular termite inspections are important to detect them as early as possible and prevent further damage to property. There are signs to look for to detect the presence of termites and measures you can take to stop them coming onto your property.
Rentokil offers a range of treatment options to get rid of termites and technical solutions to protect property from termites.
Triatomine bug
The triatomine bug, also known as the assassin bug and kissing bug, is a pest in Central and South America, where it infests low quality housing. These large insects come out of hiding at night to seek a blood meal from the sleeping inhabitants. They carry the chagas disease parasite which infects millions of people and causes thousands of deaths.
Textile pests
Textile pests can be found in products of animal origin including wool, silk, animal hair, leather and feathers. They can damage products such as clothing, carpets, upholstered furniture and tapestries. The pests include moths and many beetle species that feed on the protein keratin that is found in animal products.
Woodworm is a general term used for many types of beetle whose larvae or adult forms bore into wood. The adults lay their eggs in cracks and crevices of timber and after hatching the larvae burrow into the timber.
A small number are pests of structural timber in buildings and can cause serious damage if left untreated. They can also infest wooden fittings and products, such as tool handles, toys and picture frames.
Other arthropods, the arachnids (spiders, ticks, mites, scorpions) and the Myriapods (centipedes) are all wingless so only move around by crawling. They are characterised by having two body sections, the cephalothorax (fused head and thorax) and abdomen with eight legs. Ticks and mites have a similar life cycle to insects, with egg, larva, nymph and adult stages. Spiders and scorpions produce eggs and progress through larval stages in the egg, hatching as small immature adults that have to go through several moults to grow to the adult size. These are included with the crawling insects for convenience.
Mites are a highly diverse group with many species that are parasites of plants and animals. A relatively small number are regarded as pests for causing diseases in humans and domestic animals — including bees — and for infesting food products.
Grain or flour mites are important pests of cereals, and dried fruits and vegetables. Diseases caused by mites include scabies and asthma — which is caused by particles produced by dust mites.
Scorpions are rarely a problem for homeowners and businesses as they prefer to stay in shelter during the day. All scorpions sting, which can be painful and cause swelling, but is usually harmless. Only a few species worldwide have toxic venom that could be fatal. They can enter buildings through gaps and cracks or are brought inside accidentally when they have sought shelter in, for example, firewood.
Of the many thousands of spider species worldwide very few cause problems for humans. The main problem is unsightly cobwebs that are considered unacceptable around homes and businesses, as well as people’s fear of spiders. In temperate countries they may seek shelter in houses in autumn as the temperature drops.
Ticks are picked up by pets and people from walking in infected areas outdoors, especially where there is long grass and vegetation. They carry several diseases, the most common of which is Lyme disease, which occurs across the northern hemisphere. There are also several other . Many small mammals and deer are hosts of ticks and maintain them and the diseases they carry in the environment.
There are several measures you can take to reduce the chance of picking up ticks. When you have a tick it is important to remove it properly, so that you don’t make it regurgitate into the bite or leave mouthparts behind, both of which can increase the chance of getting an infection.
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>ISIS in Perspective
ISIS in Perspective
Karen Elliott House, Brian Michael Jenkins, Dalia Dassa Kaye, James Dobbins, and Seth G. Jones at RAND's Politics Aside 2014
Photo by Alex Cohen/RAND Corporation
While ISIS poses a threat to the United States, violence from the group is not likely to be aimed directly at the American homeland any time soon, according to a panel of experts who discussed the Middle East on Nov. 14 at the RAND Corporation.
The biggest threat posed to the United States by ISIS would be if the group held territory and became a friendly host to a terrorist group, such as al Qaida, that is intent on attacking the U.S. homeland.
Just as al Qaida launched the 9/11 attacks from Afghanistan when it was controlled by the Taliban, an attack could be mounted against the United States if ISIS were to establish a nation from the territory it holds in Syria and Iraq.
“Denying ISIS and similar groups the capacity to take and hold territory is important,” said panel member James Dobbins, a RAND senior fellow and Distinguished Chair in Diplomacy and Security. Dobbins is former special U.S. representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This video is hosted by reuters.com. RAND is not responsible for any materials originating from this third-party server.
The discussion about shifting alliances in the Middle East was a part of Politics Aside, RAND's postelection event that brings together policymakers, philanthropists and RAND experts for a nonpartisan examination of pressing policy challenges.
The expert panelists said it is important for the United States to continue bombing missions against ISIS while maintaining advisors in the region to bolster local forces fighting the group.
But Seth G. Jones, director of the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center, cautioned that sending U.S. ground troops to the region would likely be unpopular at home and could spark a surge in radicalization in the region, just as the U.S. invasion of Iraq fostered radicalization across the region a decade ago.
Panel moderator Karen House noted that on a recent trip to Saudi Arabia she spoke with two acquaintances whose sons were attracted by the ISIS call to arms. One son left home to fight with the group and the other expressed interest in joining the fight. House, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, is author of the book On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines — and Future.
Brian Jenkins, special assistant to the president of RAND and a terrorism expert, said it is believed that fewer than 200 Americans have traveled to the Middle East to become ISIS fighters. But across Europe the problem is much larger, with more than 2,000 leaving to join the ranks of the group.
Should those fighters return home, they pose a much greater risk in many parts of Europe than they do to the United States, Jenkins said. Jenkins is the author of a new RAND publication called “When Jihadis Come Marching Home,” which explores the threats posed by Westerners who return home after fighting for ISIS or other terrorist groups.
Jones said the United States and other nations need to do a better job of pushing back against ISIS propaganda that attracts many young men to its cause. There are many who have gone to fight, only to return home disillusioned with what they have experienced, he said.
View from the Seats
Q&A with Ann Korologos, Chairman Emeritus of The Aspen Institute and Former U.S. Secretary of Labor
What did you find interesting in this panel discussion?
The discussion on the motivation of the Western Europeans, and some Americans, going over there to fight was extraordinarily interesting to me. Some of them have no family or they have personal issues. So it becomes a very personal motivation to go somewhere to do something. Or a second motivation of the idea of an Islamic state is very provocative. Those doing recruiting have at least the appearance of success, the way the news reports it.
Did you gain new insights into why westerners get recruited?
An issue I'm closer to, having lived in Belgium for a few years, is the make-up of key European countries, like Germany, France and Belgium. They have very large groups of Arabs, or Muslim-Arab residents who have been citizens of those countries for two or three generations, yet still they're sidelined. That creates fertile opportunity for recruitment. The sociological aspects of what's going on were interesting.
What were other thought-provoking aspects?
It gave me the flavor from three different viewpoints—four really, including the moderator. They are people with expertise, and historical knowledge that this has been going on for thousands of years. At the same time, the United States is much more vulnerable in the disagreements among these populations.
— Warren Robak
The Islamic State (Terrorist Organization)
When Jihadis Come Marching Home: The Terrorist Threat Posed by Westerners Returning from Syria and Iraq
What Could U.S. Boots on the Ground Do in Iraq and Syria?
Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins
Politics Aside
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28 LISTS Wonderful People We All LoveLists of our favorite celebrities and public figures who give just about everyone the warm fuzzies.
Celebrities You Trust the Most Men You'd Like as Drinking Buddies The Greatest Minds of All Time People We Wish Were Still Alive Women You Want to Have a Beer With Non-Hollywood Female Role Models The Coolest Actors of All Time Male Celebrity Role Models History's Greatest Entertainers The Perfect Voice for Reading the Phone Book American National Treasures Celebs Who Should Run for President Favorite American First Ladies Genuinely Nice People Female Celebrity Role Models Vintage Photos of Cool Cats So Humble Everyone with a Google Doodle Men You Want to Be Your Bro Heartwarming Acts of Charity
Photo: CBS Photo Archive
Popular Opinion Famous Role Models We'd Like to Meet In Person
474.4k votes 27k voters 828.2k views 541 items
List Rules Which public figure would you be most eager to meet in real life? Vote them up.
These are the famous folks it would be most exciting to meet in person, as ranked by the wisdom of the crowd. Some of the best people to ever live make great role models for people of all ages. Who doesn't love a good celebrity putting forth positive energy and only good in the world? Maybe you've dreamed of having tea with Mother Teresa, or just shaking the hand of Honest Abe. Maybe you just want to say "hey" to Taylor Swift. This list includes both modern day and historical role models, dead and alive - some of the most inspirational, creative, selfless, and intelligent people ever to have walked the earth. Throughout history, common people have sought to surround ourselves with popular folks who can inspire and influence others. Anyone can add their personal role models to this list, making it an accurate, real-time ranking of the most interesting and inspiring role models in the world. From idols to heroes, these are the people other people most aspire to meet. So, add your two cents and see how your personal heroes stack up against the crowd's.
kkk666 added Jesus Christ
Jesus, also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of Christianity, whom the teachings of most Christian denominations hold to be the Son of God. Christianity regards Jesus as ...more
Leonardo da Vinci Dec. at 67 (1452-1519)
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is ...more
AmandaForbes added Plato
Plato was a philosopher, as well as mathematician, in Classical Greece. He is considered an essential figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition, and he founded ...more
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Dec. at 35 (1756-1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Mozart showed prodigious ability from his ...more
William Shakespeare Dec. at 52 (1564-1616)
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's ...more
Albert Einstein Dec. at 76 (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He developed the general theory of relativity, one of the ...more
Abraham Lincoln Dec. at 56 (1809-1865)
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his life was taken in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States and its greatest moral, constitutional ...more
Alexander the Great Dec. at 33 (355 BC-322 BC)
Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a King of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander ...more
John F. Kennedy Dec. at 46 (1917-1963)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK, John Kennedy or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. He served from ...more
AmandaForbes added Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially ...more
Edgar Allan Poe Dec. at 40 (1809-1849)
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of ...more
Mahatma Gandhi Dec. at 79 (1869-1948)
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and ...more
Marie Curie Dec. at 67 (1867-1934)
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first ...more
Aristotle Dec. at 62 (383 BC-321 BC)
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the Macedonian city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in ...more
Homerus, best known as his anglicised name Homer, is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He was believed by the ancient Greeks to have been the first and greatest of the epic poets. Author ...more
Polar Bear added Isaac Newton Dec. at 84 (1643-1727)
Sir Isaac Newton PRS MP was an English physicist and mathematician who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific ...more
George Washington Dec. at 67 (1732-1799)
George Washington was the first President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He presided over the ...more
Polar Bear added J. R. R. Tolkien Dec. at 81 (1892-1973)
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE FRSL was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of ...more
Thomas Jefferson Dec. at 83 (1743-1826)
Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States. He was a spokesman for democracy, and ...more
Benjamin Franklin Dec. at 84 (1706-1790)
Benjamin Franklin FRS was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, ...more
Anne Frank Dec. at 16 (1929-1945)
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank was a diarist and writer. She is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Her diary The Diary of a Young Girl has been the basis for ...more
Martin Luther King, Jr. Dec. at 39 (1929-1968)
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr., January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for ...more
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and ...more
prostoemail97 added Charles Dickens Dec. at 58 (1812-1870)
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. ...more
Merker94 added Elsa Brändström Dec. at 60 (1888-1948)
Elsa Brändström was a Swedish nurse and philanthropist. She was known around the world as the "Angel of Siberia".
Filed Under: People Peoplepolltop 10Popular Opinion
The Greatest New Female Vocalists of the Past 10 Years The Hottest Men Over 40 The Most Trustworthy Celebrities in the World Celebrities Hollywood Forced on Us The Most Popular Female YouTubers Right Now The Best New Male Artists
smokey bones menu wood last name pamela anderson age famous deaths history best robot movies celebrities with hirsutism Government Cover Ups Hot News Women scary dinosaur pictures good looking comedians
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51 LISTS The Best and Worst of TVThese are the shows that you definitely should be watching, along with a few that you should avoid.
The Best Shows of the Last 20 Years History's Most Overrated TV Shows All-Time Greatest Sci-Fi Series The Greatest TV Dramas of All Time Ranking the Funniest Shows of All Time Best Premium Cable Series Top Animated Series Ever The Top Cult Shows of All Time The Greatest TV Theme Songs The Best Shows to Rewatch The Greatest Mystery Series Important Television Sitcoms Shows with the Best Writing The Greatest Reality Shows of All Time The Greatest TV Shows for Women Great Serial Cop Dramas The Scariest TV Shows Ever The Creepiest Shows Ever Networks with the Best Programming The Best TV Miniseries of All Time
Photo: Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Best TV The Greatest TV Shows Of All Time
1.3M votes 60.2k voters 780k views 1,047 items
List Rules Vote up and add all of your favorite TV shows of all time.
The Greatest TV Shows of All Time
Choosing the greatest TV shows of all time means taking into account the best TV dramas, the best TV comedies, the best cartoons, and even the best TV miniseries to try and come up with a list that answers the question of "what are the best TV shows ever?" If you're a fan of reality television - spoiler alert - it's not one of those shows. However, if you're looking for the top TV comedy series and the top TV dramas to fill the top slots on the list, you won't be disappointed. In addition to new favorites like Lost, classic TV sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld also fare well in the quest to answer the burning question of what are the top rated TV shows ever.
The best TV shows of all time also include the most popular TV shows with loyal fan bases like Sherlock and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even though some programs are not considered the most watched TV shows of all time, they later become cult classics and remain fan favorites. This list also includes critically acclaimed TV shows such as House of Cards and Breaking Bad, both outstanding programs that have won many Emmy awards. But could they be considered the best TV series of all time?
Newer shows are currently dominating the top television shows list, but classic television shows like M*A*S*H and Star Trek are hot as well, and it's up to you to vote for your favorite TV show of all time to get it closer to the top of the list of the greatest television shows of all-time. If your choice for the best TV series ever isn't on the list yet, make sure to add it so others can share in the bright glow of what you consider to be the best television show ever.
Breaking Bad Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn
Breaking Bad is an American drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. The show originally aired on the AMC network for five seasons, from January 20, 2008, to September 29, ...more
Game of Thrones Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke
Game of Thrones (HBO, 2011) is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, based on the series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin. Nine noble ...more
The Simpsons Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by the ...more
Friends Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow
Friends is an American television sitcom, created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which originally aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004. It lasted ten seasons and is now in ...more
Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally ran for nine seasons on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as ...more
Star Trek: The Original Series William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise and its crew. It later acquired the retronym of ...more
M*A*S*H Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, Loretta Swi
M*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH. The series, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ...more
The Sopranos James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco
The Sopranos is an American drama television series created by David Chase. Revolving around the fictional New Jersey-based Italian-American Tony Soprano, the show portrays the difficulties he ...more
The Twilight Zone Rod Serling, Robert McCord, Jay Overholts
The Twilight Zone is a 1959 American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. It is a series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, ...more
Sherlock Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs
Sherlock is a British television crime drama that presents a contemporary adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, it ...more
The X-Files David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi
The X-Files is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by Chris Carter. The program originally aired from September 10, 1993 to May 19, 2002 on Fox, spanning nine ...more
House Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard
House is an American television medical drama that originally ran on the Fox network for eight seasons, from November 16, 2004 to May 21, 2012. The show's main character is Dr. Gregory House, a ...more
Cheers Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger
Cheers is an American sitcom that ran for eleven seasons between 1982 and 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Network Television for ...more
Star Trek: The Next Generation Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry twenty-one years after the original Star Trek series debuted in 1966. Roddenberry, ...more
The Big Bang Theory Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head ...more
South Park Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mary Kay Bergman
South Park (Comedy Central, 1997) is an American adult animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. In the small town of South Park, four boys get caught up in all sorts of bizarre ...more
The Office Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer
The Office is an American television comedy series that aired on NBC from March 24, 2005 to May 16, 2013. It is an adaptation of the BBC series of the same name. The Office was adapted for ...more
I Love Lucy Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, ...more
Looney Tunes Mel Blanc, June Foray, Arthur Q. Bryan
Looney Tunes is an American animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. from 1930 to 1969 during the golden age of American animation, alongside its sister series Merrie ...more
Dexter Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas
Dexter is an American television drama series. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter pattern analyst for Miami Metro Police Department who also leads a secret life ...more
Saturday Night Live Darrell Hammond, Kenan Thompson, Seth Meyers
Saturday Night Live is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, ...more
TyroneArellano added Buffy the Vampire Slayer Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series which aired from March 10, 1997 until May 20, 2003. The series was created in 1997 by writer-director Joss Whedon under his production ...more
Lost Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia
Lost is an American television drama series that originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company from September 22, 2004, to May 23, 2010, over six seasons, comprising a total of 121 ...more
Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith
Doctor Who (BBC, 2005) is a British science-fiction television show created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber, and Donald Wilson. The further adventures in time and space of the alien adventurer ...more
not on the list? add item #1048
List Rules: Vote up and add all of your favorite TV shows of all time.
Filed Under: TV Programs TVEntertainmentSitcomspollBest TVPopular Opinion
The Greatest Sitcoms in Television History The Greatest TV Characters of All Time The Funniest TV Shows of All Time The Best TV Shows That Never Got a Real Finale The Best Nickelodeon Cartoons of All Time The Best NBC Comedies of All Time
romantic comedies 2009 graphic photos of 9 11 victims songs with lizzie in them fleetwood mac members adventurous boy names tommy lee spouse annoying instagram users wild wild wild thou all mattress brands veronica mars book 3
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51 LISTS Very Funny MoviesLists that rank the best, most hilarious films you'll ever see.
The Funniest Movies Ever Made The All-Time Best Comedy Movies The Greatest Teen Comedies Movies to Watch Again and Again Best New Comedies The Very Best Comedy-Dramas Top Comedy Movies of the 1960s History's Greatest Romantic Comedies French Comedies Hits That Have Aged Horribly History's Greatest Cult Comedies Hilarious Movies About Crime Funny Science Fiction Comedies Cop Comedies Fan Theories to Think About Screwball Comedies Hilarious Movies with Female Leads Horror Parodies Great & Brilliant Comedy Movies The Funniest Films About Drugs
Photo: New Line Cinema
2019 Movies The Best Comedy Movies of 2019
1.9k votes 434 voters 25.3k views 52 items
List Rules Vote up the best comedic movies of 2019.
Here are the best 2019 comedy movies. Featuring horror comedies, animated movies, and dark comedy films, this list of new comedies has it all. What are the funniest movies of 2019?
Good 2019 comedies include several sequels to successful film franchises such as Zombieland: Double Tap, Men in Black: International, Toy Story 4 and The Secret Life of Pets 2 among others. There are also original comedies such Isn't It Romantic, The Beach Bum, Yesterday, and Fighting with My Family. In short, there are plenty of new funny movies for you to check out.
Which of these 2019 comedy movies deserves to be at the top of the list? Vote up the comedies that made you laugh out loud, and vote down the movies that you didn't find funny at all. Your votes will determine the best comedy movie of this year.
You might also like this list of best 2019 musical movies.
Shazam! Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer
Shazam! is a 2019 superhero film directed by David F. Sandberg, based on the DC Comics character. A boy (Asher Angel) is given the ability to become an adult superhero (Zachary Levi) in times of ...more
Aladdin Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Will Smith
Aladdin is a 2019 American musical romantic fantasy adventure film directed by Guy Ritchie, based on the Arab-style folktale. Smitten with the free-spirited Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), an ...more
Always Be My Maybe Ali Wong, Randall Park, Keanu Reeves
Always Be My Maybe is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Nahnatchka Khan. Childhood friends Sasha (Ali Wong) and Marcus (Randall Park) find themselves in vastly different socioeconomic ...more
Detective Pikachu Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton
Detective Pikachu is a 2019 action mystery film directed by Rob Letterman, based on the video game. Despite not being as powerful and nimble as other Pikachu of his kind, a peculiar talking ...more
The Professor Johnny Depp, Zoey Deutch, Rosemarie DeWitt
The Professor is a 2019 American dark comedy film directed by Wayne Roberts. A buttoned-down college professor (Johnny Depp) decides to lead a crusade against authority and hypocrisy after he is ...more
Fighting with My Family Florence Pugh, Lena Headey, Nick Frost
Fighting with My Family is a 2019 comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Merchant, based on the the life of WWE wrestler Paige. The Bevis family, who all are professional wrestlers, try to work ...more
Stuber Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Iko Uwais
Stuber is a 2019 American action-comedy directed by Michael Dowse. A mild-mannered Uber driver named Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) picks up a grizzled detective (Dave Bautista) who is hot on the trail ...more
The Dead Don't Die Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton
The Dead Don't Die is a 2019 American zombie horror comedy film, written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. Three bespectacled police officers and a strange Scottish morgue expert must band together ...more
The Art of Self-Defense Jesse Eisenberg, Alessandro Nivola, Imogen Poots
The Art of Self-Defense is a 2019 American dark comedy film, written and directed by Riley Stearns. A young man, Casey Davies (Jesse Eisenberg), who after a rough encounter on the street, ...more
Changeland Seth Green, Randy Orton, Breckin Meyer
Changeland is a 2019 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Seth Green. While visiting Thailand, two estranged friends realize there's no rule book for finding purpose and meaning in
Late Night Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, Hugh Dancy
Late Night is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Nisha Ganatra. A Late-night talk show host, Katerine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is about to lose her show but teams up with a new female ...more
The Farewell Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin
The Farewell is a 2019 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Lulu Wang. Over the objections of her parents, a Chinese-American woman named Billi (Awkwafina) returns to China after ...more
Rim of the World Jack Gore, Miya Cech, Benjamin Flores Jr.
Rim of the World is a 2019 American science fiction, adventure film directed by McG. Four misfit teenagers get stranded at a summer camp, they must overcome their differences and go on an epic ...more
Diamantino Carloto Cotta, Cleo Tavares, Anabela Moreira
Diamantino is a 2018 Portuguese comedy-drama film directed by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt. After losing his special touch and ending his career in disgrace, the world's premier soccer ...more
Sword of Trust Marc Maron, Jon Bass, Michaela Watkins
Sword of Trust is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Lynn Shelton. Cynthia (Jillian Bell) and Mary (Michaela Watkins) show up to collect Cynthia's inheritance from her deceased grandfather, ...more
Wine Country Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch
Wine Country is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Amy Poehler. Tensions from the past come to the forefront for a group of friends celebrating a 50th birthday in Napa.
A Dog's Journey Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Henry Lau
A Dog's Journey is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Gail Mancuso and a sequel to the 2017 film A Dog's Purpose. A dog travels through several lifetimes to keep a promise made to a ...more
Toy Story 4 Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Kristen Schaal
Toy Story 4 is a 2019 American 3D computer-animated comedy-drama film directed by Josh Cooley. Woody (Tom Hanks) and the gang go on a search when Bo Peep (Annie Potts) goes missing.
Funny Story Matthew Glave, Emily Bett Rickards, Jana Winternitz
Funny Story is a 2019 American tragi-comedy directed by Michael J. Gallagher. Aging TV star Walter Campbell's (Matthew Glave) attempts to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter Nic ...more
The Dirt Douglas Booth, Machine Gun Kelly, Daniel Webber
The Dirt is a 2019 American biographical-drama directed by Jeff Tremaine. The story of how Mötley Crüe came to be one of the most notorious rock 'n roll groups in history.
Yesterday Himesh Patel, Lily James, Kate McKinnon
Yesterday is a 2019 British musical comedy film directed by Danny Boyle. A struggling musician, Jack Malik (Himesh Patel), discovers that the whole world has forgotten who the Beatles are and ...more
Under the Silver Lake Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace
Under the Silver Lake is a 2018 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by David Robert Mitchell. An affable but aimless young man (Andrew Garfield) investigates the mysterious ...more
The Last Summer KJ Apa, Maia Mitchell, Jacob Latimore
The Last Summer is a 2019 American romantic comedy film directed by William Bindley. A group of young people in Chicago comes together during the summer before they head off to college.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote Jonathan Pryce, Adam Driver, Olga Kurylenko
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a 2018 fantasy-adventure-comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam, loosely based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes. An advertising executive (Adam Driver) jumps ...more
The Upside Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, Nicole Kidman
The Upside is a 2017 American comedy drama film directed by Neil Burger, based on the 2011 French film The Intouchables. A paralyzed billionaire (Bryan Cranston) strikes up an unlikely ...more
List Rules: Vote up the best comedic movies of 2019.
Filed Under: Films FilmEntertainmentComedytop 50top 20Current Entertainmenttop 25Current20192019 MoviesWhat to Watch
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46 LISTS Everything HorrorLists of the greatest, worst, goriest, and scariest horror movies, series, characters, scenes, and more.
2019's Most Exciting Horror TV Series The Scariest Movies Ever Made The Best Newer Horror TV Shows The Goriest Films You'll Ever See History's Greatest Horror Films The Greatest Horror Film Franchises The Best Horror Movies of 2019 Horrifying Found Footage Movies Supernatural Horror The Greatest Horror TV Shows Horror Shows Too Scary for TV Quintessential to the Genre The Scariest Horror Novels Ever Written Nastiest Horror Ever Made The Scariest Asian Horror Movies Terrifying Female Horror Villains Horror for People Who Don't Like Scary Movies Animal Horror The Worst Horror Movie Remakes 2019's Smartest Horror Movies
Photo: MGM
Graveyard Shift The Scariest Shows on TV Right Now
Originally by Ranker TV
15k votes 1.9k voters 55.3k views 28 items
List Rules Vote up your favorite horror shows that are currently airing new episodes or are expected to return.
These are the best current horror series of 2016-2017 ranked from best to worst by user votes. There are some great current horror TV shows that are truly scary, and there are also some good current horror shows that have their fair share of scares but are more or less comedies.
What shows are featured on this best current horror TV shows list? The Walking Dead is such a good horror show that it even spawned its own spin-off. Fear The Walking Dead premiered in 2015 and features a talented cast led by Kim Dickens. The Vampire Diaries is another great horror show currently airing on television.
Supernatural is not only one of the best current horror shows but at 12 seasons, it's also one of the longest running. Other good shows that appear on this top current horror TV series list include American Horror Story, The Strain, and Bates Motel.
Which current horror show in 2017 do you like the best? Let your voice be heard by voting your favorite series to the top spot on this list.
Supernatural Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Jim Beaver
Supernatural (The CW, 2005) is an American fantasy horror television series created by Eric Kripke. Two brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), follow their father's ...more
American Horror Story Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, Evan Peters
Watch for Free with Amazon Prime Free Trial American Horror Story (FX, 2011) is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. An anthology series centering on different characters and locations, ...more
Stranger Things Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard
Stranger Things (Netflix, 2016) is an American science fiction-horror web television series created by The Duffer Brothers. When a young boy (Noah Schnapp) disappears, his mother (Winona Ryder), ...more
maria-tereza added The X-Files David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi
Watch for Free with Amazon Prime Free Trial The X-Files is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by Chris Carter. The program originally aired from September 10, 1993 to May 19, 2002 on Fox, spanning nine ...more
PatrickTK021 added Black Mirror Daniel Kaluuya, Toby Kebbell, Rory Kinnear
Black Mirror is a British television anthology series created by Charlie Brooker that features speculative fiction with dark and sometimes satirical themes that examine modern society, ...more
The Strain Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Kevin Durand
The Strain is an American horror drama television series that premiered on FX on July 13, 2014. It was created by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, based on their novel trilogy of the same ...more
Fear The Walking Dead Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane
This show is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series created by Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson. A dysfunctional, blended family must reinvent themselves by learning new ...more
Ash Vs. Evil Dead Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo
This show (Starz, 2015) is an American comedy horror television series developed by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, and Tom Spezialy. Thirty years after saving the world, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) ...more
enderwolf101 added The Haunting of Hill House Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas
The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix, 2018) is an American supernatural horror television series created by Mike Flanagan, based on the novel by Shirley Jackson. The story of five siblings who ...more
iZombie Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli
iZombie (The CW, 2015) is an American television series developed by Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright, loosely based on the comic books by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred. A medical ...more
maria-tereza added Z Nation Kellita Smith, Keith Allan, Russell Hodgkinson
Z Nation (Syfy, 2014) is an American action/horror/comedy-drama/post-apocalyptic television series created by Karl Schaefer and Craig Engler. Three years after the zombie virus has gutted the ...more
-1455153438673 added The 100 Eliza Taylor, Eli Goree, Thomas McDonell
The 100 (The CW, 2014) is an American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama television series developed by Jason Rothenberg, loosely based on the book by Kass Morgan. 97 years after a nuclear ...more
Channel Zero Paul Schneider, Fiona Shaw, Luisa D'Oliveira
Channel Zero (Syfy, 2017) is an American horror anthology television series created by Nick Antosca, who serves as writer, showrunner, and executive producer. Storylines for the series are based ...more
The Originals Joseph Morgan, Daniel Gillies, Claire Holt
The Originals (The CW, 2013) is an American television series created by Julie Plec, and is a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries. Vampire-werewolf hybrid Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan) and his ...more
maria-tereza added Scream Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, John Karna
Scream (MTV, 2015) is an American anthology slasher television series developed by Jill Blotevogel, Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie, based on the film series. After a cyber-bullying incident serves ...more
Teen Wolf Tyler Posey, Dylan O'Brien, Holland Roden
Watch for Free with Amazon Prime Free Trial Teen Wolf is an American television series developed by Jeff Davis for MTV. It is loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name, and stars Tyler Posey as a teenager named Scott, who is bitten ...more
Hannity Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, Dana Perino
Hannity is a television show on the Fox News network, a replacement to the long-running show Hannity & Colmes. It is hosted by conservative political pundit Sean Hannity. After Fox News' ...more
Tucker is an American television program on MSNBC that focused on politics, hosted by Tucker Carlson. The show aired from June 6, 2005–March 14, 2008.
Jesse Watters
Scream Queens Emma Roberts, Jamie Lee Curtis, Billie Lourd
Scream Queens (Fox, 2015) is an American comedy horror television series created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan. The semi-anthology series centers on characters being terrorized ...more
Tomi Lahren
MattSchwarck added The View Lisa Ling, Meredith Vieira, Debbie Matenopoulos
The View is an American talk show and entertainment/infotainment program that has aired on ABC since August 11, 1997, as part of its daytime programming block. The show's concept was conceived ...more
hcjones added MSNBC Live Al Sharpton, Keith Olbermann, Brian Williams
MSNBC Live is an American news-talk television program on MSNBC. Focusing on live news coverage, the program consists of guest analysis and interviews around the stories of the day, in addition ...more
List Rules: Vote up your favorite horror shows that are currently airing new episodes or are expected to return.
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READ Famous People Named Tatyana
Ever wondered how many famous people named Tatyana there are? This list of celebrities named Tatyana includes photos and information about each person when available. The famous Tatyanas on this list come in all shapes and sizes, but all ended up achieving some kind of fame in their respective fields. This includes singers and musicians named Tatyana, actors named Tatyana, and even athletes named Tatyana. Well-known Tatyanas like Tatyana Ali, Tatyana Chernova, and Tatyana Ledovskaya are just the start of this list.
Tatyana Ali Television producer, Model, Actor
Tatyana Marisol Ali is an American actress, model and R&B singer, best known for her childhood role as Ashley Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Since January 2010, she has ...more
Tatyana Chernova Track and field athlete
Tatyana Sergeyevna Chernova is a Russian heptathlete. She was the bronze medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, where she set ...more
Tatyana Ledovskaya
Tatyana Mikhailovna Ledovskaya is a retired athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres hurdles. She represented the Soviet Union and later, Belarus, training in Minsk.
Tatyana Kotova
Tatyana Vladimirovna Kotova is an athlete who competes for Russia in the long jump. Her personal best jump of 7.42 m at Annecy in 2002, is the best distance achieved by a female long jumper in ...more
Tatyana Firova Track and field athlete
Tatyana Pavlovna Firova is a Russian sprint athlete. Firova won the silver medal in the 4 x 400 m relay at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Two years later, at the 2010 World Indoor ...more
Tatyana Kazankina
Tatyana Vasilyevna Kazankina is a Soviet/Russian former runner who set seven world records and won a total of three gold medals at the Olympic Games. She was also awarded the Order of the Red ...more
Tatyana Lebedeva Track and field athlete
Tatyana Romanovna Lebedeva is a Russian athlete who competes in both the long jump and triple jump events. She is one of most successful athletes in the disciplines, having won gold medals at ...more
Tatyana Drubich Actor
Tatyana Drubich is a Russian film actress of Jewish origin. She has appeared in 20 films since 1972. She starred in the 1974 film Sto dney posle detstva, which was entered into the 25th Berlin ...more
Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova Athlete
Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova is a Russian runner. She is a former specialist in the 3000 metres steeplechase, finishing fourth at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She later moved up to marathon and won ...more
Tatyana Zhuk
Tatyana Alekseyevna Zhuk is a former Soviet/Russian pair skater. With partner Aleksandr Gorelik, she is the 1968 Winter Olympics silver medalist. They are also the 1965 World bronze medalists ...more
Tatyana Kosmacheva Actor
Tatyana Kosmacheva is an actress.
Tatyana Averina Speed Skater
Tatyana Borisovna Averina was a Soviet Russian speed skater. After getting married, her name would also appear as Tatyana Barabash.
Tatyana Tolstaya Essayist, Writer, Presenter
Tatyana Nikitichna Tolstaya is a Russian writer, TV host, publicist, novelist, and essayist from the Tolstoy family.
Tatyana McFadden Athlete
Tatyana McFadden is a Russian-born United States Paralympian athlete competing in the category T54. McFadden has won 10 Paralympic medals in multiple Summer Paralympic Games and is training for ...more
Tatyana Kot
Tatyana Lysenko Track and field athlete
Tatyana Viktorovna Lysenko is a Russian hammer thrower.
Tatyana Samolenko
Tetyana Volodymyrivna Dorovskikh is a retired middle distance runner who represented the USSR, the Unified Team, and later Ukraine. She was born in village Sekretarka, Severny District, Orenburg ...more
Tatyana Pelttser Actor
Tatyana Ivanovna Pelttser, was a Soviet theatre and film actress, People’s Artist of the RSFSR, and People's Artist of the USSR. Tatyana Ivanovna Pelttser born into the family of the well-known ...more
Tatyana Tomashova Track and field athlete
Tatyana Ivanovna Tomashova is a Russian middle distance runner. At the 2000 Summer Olympics she competed in 5000 metres, but she has participated in shorter races since, now competing mainly in ...more
Tatyana Dzhandzhgava
Tatyana Dzhandzhgava is a Kazakhstani and Russian former handball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1988 Summer Olympics, for the Unified Team in the 1992 Summer Olympics, and for ...more
Tatyana Ivanova Mime artist, Actor, Clown
Tatyana Ivanova is an actress, clown and mime artist.
Tatyana Kolganova Actor
Tatyana Kolganova is an actress.
Tatyana Vasileva Actor
Tatyana Vasileva is an actress.
Tatyana Kravchenko Actor
Tatyana Kravchenko is an actress.
Tatyana Barysheva Actor
Tatyana Semyonovna Barysheva was a Soviet stage and film actress.
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29 LISTS Super-Franchise MeLists that rank the best and worst film series, sequels, prequels, threequels, and other ways movie studios chew up and regurgitate good ideas to squeeze out every last dignity-free penny.
The Best Sequels Ever Made The Worst Remakes Ever Made The Greatest Movie Franchises, Ranked The Worst Sequels of All Time Sequels That Missed Their Window Movies That Need to Be Remake Sequels to '80s Movies Coming Any Day Now When Horror Franchises Lost Their Grooves The Dumbest Movie Sequel Titles Concessions Made for the Stars Franchises with Only One Great Movie The Funniest Comedy Franchises Greatest Action Film Franchises Sorta Sly Actor Replacements The Best Remakes Ever Remade Horror Sequels Way Better Than You Heard The Best Horror Movie Franchises Best Sequels to Comedy Movies Best Superhero Movie Sequels Best Third Films in a Series
Entertainment Movies That Need Sequels
Originally by Ranker Film
54.8k votes 3.3k voters 47.6k views 111 items
List Rules List includes movies that do not currently have sequels but should
Some of the greatest movies of all time do not have sequels. For many of these amazing movies, that's a good thing (we don't need a follow-up to the likes of The Shawshank Redemption or Schindler's List), but there exist some amazing movies that deserve sequels but have yet to receive them. Meanwhile some of the worst movies ever, like Twilight and Transformers, have had multiple sequels. In the hopes that something good comes out of the sequelverse, we've compiled this movies that deserve sequels list.
Films that need sequels are varied and include some cult classics (The Big Lebowski, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), some action favorites (True Lies, Independence Day), and some wild card movies (Dude, Where's My Car?, Kindergarten Cop). The common bond here, however, is these are all top movies that should have sequels and don't.
What are the best movies without sequels? What films should have sequels? What movies have sequels in the works? This list of movies that need sequels will get you all riled up that there's a Smurfs 2 and an Air Bud 7, but no follow-up to your favorite movie. If the film you think should have a sequel isn't on the list, make sure to add it to the movies that ought to have sequels list.
voting closed at #2 surag added Guardians of the Galaxy Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista
Nigoki1 added Alita - Battle Angel
Beetlejuice Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder, Geena Davis
Beetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy fantasy film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros. The plot revolves around a recently deceased young ...more
evilgrin32 added Spaceballs Joan Rivers, John Hurt, Mel Brooks
Spaceballs is a 1987 American parody film co-written and directed by Mel Brooks and starring Brooks, Bill Pullman, John Candy and Rick Moranis. It also features Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, ...more
The Goonies Corey Feldman, Josh Brolin, Sean Astin
The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The film's ...more
District 9 Sharlto Copley, Jed Brophy, Vanessa Haywood
District 9 is a 2009 science fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp, released August 13, 2009. It takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa. District 9 is based on Alive in Joburg, a short film ...more
evilgrin32 added Dredd Lena Headey, Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby
Dredd is a 2012 science fiction action film directed by Pete Travis and written and produced by Alex Garland. It is based on the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd and its eponymous character ...more
dca1983 added Hellboy II: The Golden Army John Hurt, Seth MacFarlane, Jimmy Kimmel
Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a 2008 American supernatural superhero film based on the fictional character Hellboy created by Mike Mignola. The movie was written and directed by Guillermo del ...more
Tron: Legacy Olivia Wilde, Jeff Bridges, Cillian Murphy
Tron: Legacy is a 2010 American science fiction film produced and released by Walt Disney Pictures. A sequel to the 1982 film Tron, it is directed by Joseph Kosinski, produced by Tron director ...more
voting closed at #9 Independence Day Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Vivica A. Fox
Independence Day is a 1996 American science fiction disaster film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. The film stars Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, ...more
voting closed at #12 JamesRLock added Pacific Rim Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman
Pacific Rim is a 2013 action sci-fi film directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Galaxy Quest Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tim Allen
Galaxy Quest is a 1999 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Dean Parisot and written by David Howard and Robert Gordon. The film follows the adventures of a troupe of actors ...more
voting closed at #8 Super Troopers Lynda Carter, Brian Cox, Jim Gaffigan
Super Troopers is a 2001 comedy film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, written by and starring the Broken Lizard comedy group. Marisa Coughlan, Daniel von Bargen and Brian Cox co-star while Lynda ...more
Diez Spurling added Hancock Charlize Theron, Will Smith, Jason Bateman
Hancock, formerly known as John Hancock and Tonight, He Comes, is an superhero film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron. Will Smith portrays an old ...more
Elise Hennigan added Hocus Pocus Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, Thora Birch
Hocus Pocus is a 1993 American comedy fantasy film directed by Kenny Ortega and starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as a trio of witches, the Sanderson Sisters, who are ...more
starwarssuperfan added Incredibles 2 Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell
Incredibles 2 is a 2018 American 3D computer-animated superhero film directed by Brad Bird. Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) is left to care for Jack-Jack while Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) is out ...more
Tom Islava added Inside Out Amy Poehler, Diane Lane, Mindy Kaling
Inside Out is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated comedy-drama film directed by Pete Docter. In the mind of a young girl, five personified emotions - Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), ...more
Office Space Jennifer Aniston, John C. McGinley, Mike Judge
Office Space is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. The film satirizes the everyday work life of a typical mid-to-late-1990s software company, it focuses on a handful ...more
wiabux added The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Zooey Deschanel, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a 2005 British-American comic science fiction film directed by Garth Jennings, based upon previous works in the media franchise of the same name, created ...more
JamesRLock added The Nightmare Before Christmas Paul Reubens, Catherine O'Hara, Danny Elfman
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D is a 2006 3D version of the 1993 film of the same title directed by Henry Selick and written by Caroline Thompson.
Edge of Tomorrow Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton
Edge of Tomorrow is a 2014 American military science fiction thriller film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Doug Liman directed the film. The film takes place in a future where Earth is ...more
KimberlyCase added Zootopia Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba
Zootopia is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated comedy film directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore. A rabbit police officer (Ginnifer Goodwin) and a red fox con artist (Jason Bateman) form an ...more
MatthewGill added Groundhog Day Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Michael Shannon
Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott. It was written by Ramis and Danny Rubin, based on a story ...more
List Rules: List includes movies that do not currently have sequels but should
Filed Under: Films FilmEntertainmenttop 50SequelspollEntertainment Franchises
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Mara Haight
The Future of the #MeToo Movement
2017 was a monumental year for the movement to end sexual violence. With countless individuals coming forward to share their experiences of survivorship and the #MeToo campaign going viral, individuals and institutions all over the world are taking a deeper look at their response to the full spectrum of sexual violence. At the Rape Recovery Center, we have seen the impact of this global conversation on a local level. During the last quarter of 2017, we provided 5,245 services to 498 survivors - an increase of over 40% in both services and survivors served from the same quarter in 2016.
As we move into 2018, the question "What is next for the #MeToo movement?" seems to be on all of our lips. A coalition of local organizations, including the Rape Recovery Center, will be hosting a town hall conversation on January 30, 2018 to address this question on a local level. This inquiry was also addressed in a recent interview with the website Okayplayer by the founder of the #MeToo movement, Tarana Burke. An excerpt from this interview can be found below.
Tarana Burke, Founder of #MeToo
When Burke talks about the future, she says that her focus will continue to be centering marginalized people and supporting survivors. She’s inspired by the #MeToo hashtag in places like Sweden who have taken it to another level, by adding other hashtags like #MeTooWaitresses or #MeTooClergy, or to bring attention to other industries besides politics and Hollywood.
“I never thought I’d see the day where there would be consequences for sexual abuse perpetrators against white women. It makes me hopeful that there’s the possibility for other people and for other industries,” says Burke. “We may not see a Harvey Weinstein level reckoning, but it could help shift the dialogue into low wage jobs or other areas with people that are not just celebrities and politicians.”
— http://www.okayplayer.com/originals/tarana-burke-future-metoo.html
What are your thoughts on the future of the #MeToo movement? How would you like to see organizations like the Rape Recovery Center respond in this vital moment? We would love to hear your comments, below. Don't forget to join us on January 30, 2018 at the Glendale Library in Salt Lake City for a community discussion on this topic.
Tagged: Me Too, Tarana Burke
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by Rianna Hidalgo | June 26th, 2013
Click to view larger
Karissa, left, sits near the entrance of the YWCA on Fifth Avenue and Seneca Street as her mother, April, smokes a cigarette. Both mother and daughter live on a nonsmoking floor at the YWCA. Low-income housing providers struggle to balance the rights of smokers and nonsmokers.
When Karen Cartagena steps out of the elevator onto the seventh floor of the YWCA on Fifth Avenue and Seneca Street, she sees a bulletin board with a notice warning her that air fresheners might cause respiratory problems.
Cartagena is more concerned about the scent of stale cigarette smoke that lingers in the hallway. She heads to her room, but the odor doesn’t stop at her door. Inside, the air is thick with the scent of tobacco, which also permeates her clothes.
For Cartagena, who quit smoking nearly a year ago and is now one of only a handful of nonsmokers on her floor, the cigarette smell is a daily frustration.
“It’s oppressive,” she said. “It’s always on my mind when I come in.”
She fears the stench of tobacco could keep her from getting work.
“I’m in the process of interviewing for jobs,” she said, “and I’m always self-conscious about my clothing.”
By now, residents of Washington are used to the statewide ban on smoking in public places. Things are more complicated when it comes to regulating smoking in subsidized, transitional and low-income, multi-unit housing. Residents there have fewer housing options and often face more pressing life challenges. They’re also more likely than the general population to be smokers.
As a result, there’s no consensus on how best to regulate smoking in low-income housing.
“From a tenants’ rights standpoint, you want folks to be living in healthy homes, but you don’t want to give property owners so much leverage that you’re creating insecurity in their housing,” said Jonathan Grant, executive director of the Tenants Union of Washington State. “It doesn’t do that smoker any good if they end up homeless.”
Toward smoke-free A 2006 Surgeon General’s report found that exposure to secondhand smoke significantly increases risk for cardiovascular and lung disease, causing nearly 50,000 premature deaths annually among adults. The conclusions fueled a nationwide push for smoke-free public spaces like restaurants, bars and workplaces.
The effort has since expanded to college campuses and, recently, multi-unit housing.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released a memo in 2012 that strongly encouraged affordable multifamily housing owners, managers and public housing authorities to adopt no-smoking policies.
Some cities and counties have taken matters into their own hands. In California, several jurisdictions have adopted ordinances that prohibit smoking in a certain percentage of units.
In 2010 a Tacoma group attempted to classify secondhand smoke in multi-unit housing as a “nuisance” in landlord-tenant law.
Currently, housing agencies in King County can determine their own smoking policies for private units, but Public Health-Seattle & King County offers funding and support for multi-unit housing agencies that want to go smoke-free.
“It’s been a priority of ours for a while now,” said Scott Neal, manager for the county’s tobacco prevention program. “Everyone deserves a right to clean air within their own home.”
Health isn’t the only reason landlords opt for nonsmoking units: Turning over a unit previously occupied by a smoker can be much more expensive.
Housing agencies in King County also faced complaints and even lawsuits from tenants with respiratory problems like asthma and allergies.
In 2011, nine King County housing providers went smoke-free, including Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) and King County Housing Authority. The change affected 9,000 units.
Housing first Not all agencies in King County have chosen to go smoke-free. Some agencies allow smoking but try to mitigate the smoke with various strategies, while some have designated smoking and nonsmoking floors or buildings.
Still others opt for a less restrictive stance on smoking in an effort to address more urgent concerns.
Agencies that are part of a safety net for disadvantaged populations fear that enforcing a strict nonsmoking policy could mean putting people on the street for something that isn’t the most looming threat to health or livelihood. For example, when someone who has just stopped using meth continues to smoke, health care providers often view it as the lesser of two evils.
Plymouth Housing Group, which provides permanent housing and support to the chronically homeless, employs a “housing first” approach that says people need a stable home before they can turn their attention to other areas of life, such as quitting smoking.
“We want to avoid potential barriers to getting people through the door. For this reason Plymouth allows smoking in tenants’ apartments,” said Andrea Owner, director of property management. “The people we serve have given up a lot in their lives.”
Cigarette smoking is also more common among those who live below the poverty level, which means managers of low-income units are sometimes working with a larger population of smokers.
“It’s a tough issue to tackle because you don’t want to put the property owner in a position to feel like every problem looks like a nail and all you have is a hammer,” Grant said.
Enforcing nonsmoking policies also presents practical challenges, said Julie Kettman, spokesperson for the YWCA.
In dense areas like downtown, the only place for people to smoke is city streets or sidewalks. Remaining 25 feet away from public entrances, as state law dictates, is not always easy and safety becomes an issue.
Managers must also take the needs of disabled tenants into account and accommodate situations where “stepping outside” to smoke might be more than an inconvenience.
An in-between approach The YWCA, which provides housing and services to women facing poverty, violence and discrimination, has two smoke-free housing locations, the Family Village at Issaquah and Passage Point in Maple Valley.
Its three downtown properties allow smoking, and the Seneca YWCA, where Cartagena lives, has smoking and nonsmoking floors.
On smoking floors, tenants are allowed to smoke in their rooms, with windows open and doors closed, and then must not allow secondhand smoke to drift into common areas or disrupt other residents’ “quiet enjoyment” of their homes.
But policy enforcement is not always smooth.
In February, YWCA management posted a notice to residents explaining that there had been an increasing number of secondhand smoke complaints, reminding them that disturbing other tenants is grounds for eviction and offering tips to “be a better neighbor.”
The advice included using smokeless alternatives, buying an air purifier or asking neighbors if they’ve been bothered by smoking.
All three downtown YWCA locations have received complaints from nonsmoking residents this year, Kettman said.
Cartagena said that she often sees tenants ignoring policies, despite management’s warning that violators will receive a 10-day notice.
According to the Seattle Fire Department, fire units have responded to the Seneca YWCA six times in the past six months because of smoke-triggered alarms.
“I’m not ungrateful — I’m glad I have a roof over my head,” Cartagena said. “But the smoke is just horrible.”
At the same time, Cartagena said she believes that as a nonsmoker, she is in the minority and that a smoke-free policy would displease many of her neighbors.
“Oh, people would be very angry,” she said. “Most feel they are entitled to smoke.”
Making it work While county agencies can legally prohibit residents from smoking in the building or on the grounds, they can’t deny housing to smokers or require tenants to quit smoking altogether.
Matthew Moore, a staff attorney for ChangeLab Solutions, a California-based nonprofit that works to create healthier communities through law and policy, said that any well-designed smoke-free policy will use eviction as a last resort and have built-in mechanisms to ease the conversion.
“Having nonsmoking multi-unit policies will go a long way toward bringing [secondhand smoking deaths] down,” he said. “That said, any policy does need to be enforced in a fair and humane manner that minimizes the risk of displacing people.”
Low-income housing providers should have a range of options available to respond to residents’ needs, including designated smoking areas, extended phase-in periods for those having difficulty with the change, cessation services and nicotine replacement therapy.
When SHA went smoke-free, staff buffered the policy with a transitional period to help educate residents and connect them with services if they chose to quit smoking, said Michelle Ackermann, spokesperson for SHA.
Management has recently moved toward enforcement and identification of those who continue to smoke, but Ackermann said that no tenants have been evicted for smoking since the change.
Moving forward This fall, the YWCA housing team plans to address smoking policies for its downtown locations with focus groups and resident discussions, Kettman said.
She added that they will not try to steer the policy in one direction or another before they have engaged with residents and heard their opinions.
“They’re the ones who know what it’s like to live here, and they need to be part of the conversation,” Kettman said.
Scott Neal, of King County’s public health department, said that because smoke-free housing tends to be available in affluent, higher rent areas, the county prioritizes low-income areas when affording funding.
“It didn’t seem fair to us that the lower income folks ... weren’t able to access the very same smoke-free units that people with higher incomes could,” he said.
With a chronic shortage of affordable housing, many agencies have extensive waitlists. On the management side, it isn’t as simple as just shuffling tenants around, considering the extremely limited space.
Cartagena requested to move to a smoke-free floor when there is a vacancy, but there’s no telling when that will happen.
Those applying to subsidized or low-income housing don’t have much choice, she said: “We just take whatever is available.”
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Department of Justice says White House can use 'lethal force' on American citizens on US soil
Reuters / U.S. Navy / Erik Hildebrandt / Northrop Grumman / Handout © Reuters
The US government has the right to use military force on American citizens, even at home - but only in "extraordinary circumstances," the attorney general has stated in a letter to Senator Rand Paul.
Paul had threatened to filibuster the nomination of John Brennan, US President Barack Obama's pick for CIA director, "until [Obama] answers the question of whether or not the President can kill American citizens through the drone strike program on US soil."
Brennan was confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, March 5, the same day Attorney General Eric Holder sent Paul the letter. Brennan now faces overall Senate approval.
The CIA boss nominee told Paul Tuesday that "the agency I have been nominated to lead does not conduct lethal operations inside the United States—nor does it have any authority to do so," advising the senator that the Justice Department would better suited to answer his inquiry regarding whether American citizens could be assassinated on home soil.
In Holder's Tuesday letter to Paul, he explains that as the country's leadership has never carried out a drone strike at home and has no plans to.
"The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront. It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States."
For example, Holder says, "the president could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland in the circumstances like a catastrophic attack like the ones suffered on December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001."
In a February Google+ Hangout, President Obama avoided the topic when asked to directly address whether he had the authority to assassinate Americans, leading observers to assume he did.
Pentagon creates special medal for drone pilots
Rand Paul threatens to hold nomination of CIA director over drone killings
Feds: No armed drones in US, but forget about privacy
FAA takes major step in expanding drone use in America
US drones killed more Afghan civilians in 2012 – UN
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Running Around the World ... Pnom Pehn, Cambodia
Exploring this Wild City of Western of Asia
By Gail Kislevitz
Running along Sisowath Quay and the Tonle River.
Phnom Penh, the capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a city re-awaking after countless years of war and the genocide of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge reign which decimated more than a third of the country. As the capital of Cambodia, it is quickly becoming a hot spot to visit. And hot it certainly is, with temperatures hovering well into the humid and sticky 90’s.
With a population of just over two million, Phnom Penh, which was once described as the Pearl of Asia, attracts the rugged traveler who uses it as a stop-over on the way to Siem Reap to take in the jungle temples of Angkor, or a midway point to Vietnam. But to sidestep this city is a mistake. It is fascinating not only for its recent history but for providing the opportunity to witness a city waking up to decide its future.
Runners have an ideal opportunity to see the city come alive as the dawning hours are the best (and coolest) time to run along the rivers. Phnom Penh is situated at the confluence of three rivers, the Tonlé Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers. Runners who get out early, between 5 a.m. and 7a.m., are rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over the river as the local street scene and river life starts to unfold. The river promenade, which parallels Sisowath Quay where most of the tourist hotels are located, is festooned with colorful flags of all nations flapping in the morning breeze and lined with trees abloom with paper-thin pink petals.
An elephant, out for a morning walk at 5am, too slow, unfortunately, to be a running partner.
Phnom Penh is also noted for its French-colonial architecture that is seen in the buildings along the Quay. It’s extremely charming, but not much more than a facade. A few blocks inland from the river one finds bombed out buildings, reminders of the not so distant past.
One of the three main tourist attractions in town is the Tuol Sleng Museum, a one-time school house where Pol Pot harbored and tortured his victims. The other two are the Royal Palace and the Killing Fields, where the victims were buried in mass graves.
The city is extremely poor and beggars and homeless are everywhere, especially along Sisowath Quay. The streets are extremely dangerous to runners or to just about anyone trying to cross to the other side. There are no stop signs, traffic lights or police to patrol the renegade traffic that seems to flow in every direction at once in the form of cars, bicycles, motorbikes and the omnipresent tuk tuks, the vehicle of choice for tourists which is basically a golf cart atop a motorbike. Driving, walking, or running in this part of the city is conceivably life-threatening.
Which is why runners should stick to the tried and true. There are a few places to run safely within the city limits. The early rising runner can be found running along the Quay or doing loops in the park in front of the Royal Palace on Samdach Sothearnos Blvd.
For a good five-mile loop start at the quay down by the public dock and run along the river past the Royal dock to the end of the quay. Stay on the sidewalks until you reach the Buddist Institute. After making sure all wills and legal paperwork at home has been completed, carefully take a right
Running past the Royal Palace on Samdech Sothearos Blvd..
and cross the intersection of Norodom Blvd and Preh Sihanouk Blvd. There is a long, grassy center island that runs in the middle of Preh Sihanouk Blvd perfect for running which ends at Independence Monument, built in 1958 as a monument to the Cambodian wars.
Runners share the path with the locals playing soccer and pick-up games of badminton. Circle the monument and repeat back to the public docks. For speed workouts, run the quay back and forth, but be careful of the vendors setting up their stalls and wares. Another option is to run at the Olympic Stadium, known as the National Sports Complex, near the intersection of Prea Sihanouk and Monireth Blvd. Built in 1966 for the Asian Games, it was never used for an Olympic event but houses facilities for track, boxing, swimming and gymnastics.
Phnom Penh also has a branch of the international running club, Hash House Harriers. They meet on Sundays at the train station at 2:45 and go for runs of various distances into the countryside. A $3 fee is charged to cover the refreshments served at the end of the run.
As far as race events in Phonm Penh and elsewhere in the country, there is the annual Angkor Wat International Half Marathon/10K in Siem Reap in December which attracts a total of just over 2,000 runners. There is one free race in Phnom Penh, a 5/10/21K sponsored by Vitamilk, a Thai product, and held also in December right before the half marathon.
Phnom Penh may no longer be the Pearl of Asia, but it certainly lives up to its new nickname, The Wild West of Asia. See it and run it before it gets tamed.
Running ... Around the World
Running Around the World: Milan, Italy
Running Around the World: Luxembourg
Running Around the World: The Appian Way
Around the World in 8 Marathons
Running Around the World: Istanbul, Turkey
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Ryan Hall's Pro Road Racing Career
Ryan Hall: North American Half Marathon Record
PhotoRun
After graduating from Stanford in 2005, Hall struggled as a track racer, and turned to the roads in the fall of 2006. In January 2007, he made his half marathon debut in Houston and nailed it, running 59:43, a North American record that still stands.
Ryan Hall: Marathon Debut Record
After his great half, Hall committed to that spring's London Marathon. His 2:08:24 in April 2007 remains the fastest debut in U.S. history.
Ryan Hall: U.S. Olympic Trials Record
Hall's next marathon was the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, run in Central Park in November 2007 the day before the New York City Marathon. After a slow opening half, Hall broke away with ease and ran the second half of the rolling course in 1:02:45. Hall won by almost two minutes; his 2:09:02 remains the Trials record.
Ryan Hall: Personal Record at London
In April 2008, Hall returned to the London Marathon and ran aggressively from the start, even taking the lead at 35K before finishing fifth. His time of 2:06:17 remains the second fastest marathon ever run on a record-eligible course by someone not born in Africa.
Ryan Hall: 10th Place in Olympic Marathon
After much pre-race speculation that Hall might medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he was never with the leaders in a fast-from-the-start race won in Olympic record time by Sammy Wanjiru. Hall finished 10th, one place behind teammate Dathan Ritzenhein. His time of 2:12:33 is his slowest completed marathon.
Ryan Hall: Fastest American Marathon
In the fall of 2010, Hall, citing overtraining, announced that he would not run the Chicago Marathon as planned. He subsequently left the Mammoth Track Club, which he'd been a member of since turning pro, and began what he calls "faith-based coaching." In his first marathon after, Hall was fourth at Boston in 2:04:58. The time is the fastest ever run by an American, but doesn't count as the American record because of Boston being a point-to-point course with too great of a net elevation drop.
Ryan Hall: DNF in Olympic Marathon
In October 2011, Hall ran 2:08:04 to place fifth at Chicago. Three months later, he finished second to Meb Keflezighi at the Olympic Marathon Trials. Hall later revealed he had been battling plantar fasciitis since before Chicago. That injury set off a series of compensatory injuries that Hall has dealt with ever since. He dropped out of the Olympic Marathon in August 2012 after about 10 miles with a hamstring strain.
Ryan Hall: What's Next?
On October 22, Hall withdrew from the 2013 New York City Marathon, citing a hip injury. It's the third marathon in a row Hall has missed with injury, and raises anew questions about Hall's future as a world-class marathoner. To learn more, read this feature on Hall from our November issue.
More From Races & Places
How One Woman Ran Across the Tennessee
Looking Back at Badwater 30 Years Ago
Your Local Shop Is Way Better Than Online
What You Need to Know About the Marathon Majors
Course Records Fall at Peachtree Road Race
Peachtree Offers Satellite Races on Military Bases
New Standards Don’t Seem to Slow Boston Qualifying
New York City’s Unsanctioned Footrace
How to Watch the 2019 Prefontaine Classic
What to Know About Western States 100-Mile Run
Ryan Hall's Travel Woes
Ole - Ryan Hall's Boston Workout
Behold, Ryan Hall's Left Quadriceps
Ryan Hall's NYC Marathon Workout
Running World Reacts to Ryan Hall’s Retirement Announcement
Watch: Replay of Ryan Hall's Video Chat
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RWJF Anthology: Looking Back
Addressing the Problem of Medical Malpractice
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Publication: To Improve Health and Health Care
Author(s): Cantor JC, Berenson RA, Howard JS, and Wadlington W
Editor(s): Isaacs SL, and Knickman JR
In the mid 1970s, physicians became concerned about the difficulty of obtaining medical malpractice liability insurance and, where coverage was available, the high premiums. The medical malpractice "crisis" of the 1970s led to legislative changes in many states and to reforms within the insurance industry. Although these reforms seemed to alleviate the situation for a time, it worsened again in the 1980s, raising concern about a new crisis. Although nobody was certain about the extent or the causes of the problem, various legislative and regulatory solutions involving tort reform were proposed. At the time, few funders were supporting research and demonstrations on medical malpractice insurance.
In 1985, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation began its support of a range of initiatives on the topic. The Foundation's efforts represent a sustained attempt to understand the problems associated with malpractice and to help foster innovations in the way insurance issues are handled at the state level. Two national programs were supported: the first focused on research to document and explain the situation, and the second supported demonstrations and evaluations of actual reform efforts.
More than a 100 journal articles and reports have been written based on the research undertaken under the two national programs. In many ways, the efforts of those involved in the various projects supported by the Foundation defined a field of research directed at addressing a long-standing problem. In this chapter, key people involved in the initiatives synthesize the findings and examine the implications of the Foundation's efforts.
To Improve Health and Health Care, 1997
1. Editors' Introduction
2. Reach Out
3. A Review of the National Access-to-Care Surveys
4. Improving the Health Care Workforce
5. Expertise Meets Politics
6. The Media and Change in Health Systems
7. Addressing the Problem of Medical Malpractice
8. Unexpected Returns
9. Developing Child Immunizations Registries
10. The Homeless Families Program
11. The National Health and Social Life Survey
Addressing the Problem of Medical Malpractice (PDF)
Grants in the Field of Malpractice Made by the Foundation, 1987-1993 (Web)
Grants Made Through Improving Malpractice Prevention and Compensation Systems, 1994 to Present (Web)
Health Care Quality and Value
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Home »Disabled Travel Newsletter »The 4 Most Impressive Accessible Museums in Europe
The 4 Most Impressive Accessible Museums in Europe
I’ve previously covered topics such as the most wheelchair accessible cities in Europe, the best accessible boat tours in Europe and the top 5 accessible must-see views in Europe. In this month’s newsletter, it is time to cover one of my most treasured things about Europe – the many old, historic, world-class museums. Whether you’re looking to discover the first fossils or contemporary art, each of these spectacular museums are a great contribution to the history of our civilization and provides a whole new dimension to exploring Europe firsthand.
I’ve had to opportunity to personally visit and inspect dozens of museums in Europe in my wheelchair. I feel confident that these “4 most impressive accessible museums in Europe” are among the most enjoyable, accessible worldwide. Do not make the mistake of leaving them out when planning your 2018 accessible European holiday!
1. The Louvre Museum, Paris
It is only right to start with the world’s largest and most visited museum, the Louvre! With close to 10 million visitors each year, this central Paris landmark located on the Right Bank of the Seine houses approximately 35.000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century. From the wheelchair friendly surrounding area with curb cuts in most places, to a flat main entrance and elevators to reach the exhibition levels, the Louvre provides great accessibility. Approximately 95% of the museum is fully accessible, using 18 elevators and 20 wheelchair lifts. The museum is housed in an old palace, and finding the most accessible routes without steps can be challenging.The best way to make the most of your time here, without getting exhausted and lost in the exhibition halls, is to book a private accessible tour with a guide specialized in navigating the museum with wheelchair users.
Disabled visitors can usually skip the long lines to enter, and will have priority access to get up close to the Mona Lisa (if escorted by a tour guide or museum staff member).
Learn more about Wheelchair Access at the Louvre Museum
2. The British National Museum, London
Not many museums can legitimately be described to be one of the best museums in the world… however, this is one of them! Greece, Egypt, the Middle East, the Far East, and the Americas…. It’s all here! Overall, the British Museum offers excellent accessibility features including easy access entrances, fully accessible restrooms and smooth and spacious display areas. The main entrance in the front (south of the building) has 12 steps but a wheelchair lift has conveniently been installed to the side of them. The entrance in the back (north of the building) is level access. Approximately 95% of the museum is wheelchair accessible using various elevators. Note that Galleries 6 and 33b have steps.
3. The Uffizi Gallery, Florence
With an immense artistic legacy, the Uffizi Gallery is one of the most recognized museums in the world – a true haven for anyone who loves art and history. The Museum is home to over 1600 paintings spread throughout more than 60 rooms and hallways, and features masterpieces such as Boticelli’s Primavera, Davinci’s Annunciation, and Michelangel’s DoniTondo. While the museum offers good accessibility including large open spaces with smooth surfaces and accessible restrooms, disabled tourists will need to have someone pickup their tickets on the west side of the courtyard (there are steps to get to it) and wait for them by the ramp on the northeast corner of the courtyard, closest end to the Palazzo Vecchio. Generally, the Uffizi Gallery offers free admission to disabled guests and one companion. When you make your reservation be sure to mention that you are disabled.
Ramp to enter the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
4.The Vatican Museums (Sistine Chapel), Rome
Founded by Pope Julius in the early 16th century, the Vatican Museums boast one of the world’s greatest art collections (approximately 7 km of exhibition halls and corridors). While you can find anything from Egyptian mummies to modern paintings here, the highlights of the museums include the spectacular collection of classical statuary in the Museo Pio-Clemtino, the Raphael Rooms and the breathtaking Michelangelo- painted Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museums site provides very good disabled access throughout, although the most direct path to Saint Peter’s Basilica involves a flight of stairs. There is step-free access in most areas, using elevators and wheelchair lifts to avoid the stairs. Additionally, the floors are generally smooth and easy to navigate, and the ramps have similar slope as those required by US and UK accessibility standards.
Accessible route from entrance through Vatican Museums and Raphael Rooms to Sistine Chapel (total route to the Sistine Chapel and back to the entrance is 1.0 mile or 1.6 km).
Want more? There are endless accessible museum opportunities all over Europe. Some of the best ones include:
The Vasa Museum, Stockholm – see the 1628 warship, Vasa and many of its historic artifacts.
The Swiss National Museum, Zurich – one of the most important museums of cultural history in Europe.
The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam – the Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. Located in walking/strolling distance from another must-visit museum, the Van Gogh.
The Prado Museum, Madrid – the Spanish national art museum, widely considered to have one of the world’s finest collections of European art, dating back to the 12th century!
The New Acropolis Museum, Athens – one of the most high profile museums built in Europe in the 21st century. It holds archaeological treasures of the Acropolis of Athens.
The Jewish Museum, Berlin – exhibits the social, political and cultural history of the Jews in Germany from the fourth century to the present, representing and integrating the repercussions of the Holocaust.
The Accademia Gallery, Florence – While the Uffizi Gallery generally has more to see, this museum is particularly popular as it is the home of Michelangelo’s sculpture David.
Contact us to learn more about how we can include any of these spectacular museums in your 2018 Accessible European Holiday!
Our 2018 Accessible Mediterranean Cruise is SOLD OUT! This Mediterranean cruise sold out more quickly than any previous year.
We only have 2 accessible cabins left for our 2018 Accessible Baltic Cruise! It visits Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Tallinn. Fully-accessible shore excursions are included in every port.
Book now to secure your spot!
Travel Wisely,
John Sage, Founder and President of Sage Traveling
Phone: US: 1-888-645-7920, UK: +44 20 3540 6155
Web: http://www.sagetraveling.com
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Is Obama a protectionist?
In Michigan, the candidate says we can't turn back the tide of globalization, but not all trade agreements make sense. Is he contradicting himself? Or just being nuanced?
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2008/06/16/the_scourge_of_free_trade/
At the close of a very standard defense of free trade in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, the usually excellent financial reporter Roger Lowenstein makes the remarkable claim that "all discussions of the victims of trade ignore the considerable benefits: the exports we sell and the lower prices for consumers at home."
Really? All discussions? That is a generalization so broad as to border on the utterly absurd. Has Lowenstein been paying any attention at all to the ongoing discussions about trade that have been raging in all corners of the econoblogosphere for months and even years? Only the most hardcore protectionists could be accused of completely "ignoring" the benefits of trade. For the rest of the participants in the debate, it's all a matter of degree. The vast majority of economists will acknowledge that there are winners and losers every time patterns of trade change. The policy questions that come into play, particularly when a bad economy and growing wealth inequality are factored in, is what to do about the losers? Out of work Ohioans are remarkably unassuaged when told how much they are saving at Wal-Mart. That is a political reality that one ignores at one's peril.
Furthermore, if Lowenstein thinks that the 12 bilateral deals signed by President Bush "with countries ranging from Chile to Morocco" really deserve to be classified under the rubric of "free trade," then he is displaying a surprising level of dogmatism for someone who normally sees pretty clearly on economic affairs. Most of those FTAs add up to little more than efforts by the U.S. government to win concessions for special corporate interests by dangling the lure of tariff-free access to the U.S. market. Securing restrictive intellectual property laws that will protect the foreign interests of American pharmaceutical companies is hardly "free trade" -- it should more accurately be labeled "managed trade" in which the U.S. government carries water on behalf of some of the biggest corporate campaign finance contributors in the United States.
Amusingly, although Lowenstein begins his piece by bashing Barack Obama for attacking "free trade as if it were a scourge," the Democratic candidate for president provided considerably more nuance in a speech he gave in Michigan Monday morning than does Lowenstein on Sunday. (Note, by the way, Obama's explicit reference to how trade benefits consumers and American exporters.)
There are some who believe that we must try to turn back the clock on this new world; that the only chance to maintain our living standards is to build a fortress around America; to stop trading with other countries, shut down immigration, and rely on old industries. I disagree. Not only is it impossible to turn back the tide of globalization, but efforts to do so can make us worse off...
But even as we welcome competition, we need to remember that our economic policies must be supported by strong and smart trade policies. I have said before, and will say again -- I believe in free trade. It can save money for our consumers, generate business for U.S. exporters, and expand global wealth. But unlike George Bush and John McCain, I do not think that any trade agreement is a good trade agreement. I don't think an agreement that allows South Korea to import hundreds of thousands of cars into the U.S., but continues to restrict U.S. car exports into South Korea to a few thousand, is a smart deal. I don't think that trade agreements without labor or environmental agreements are in our long term interests
If we continue to let our trade policy be dictated by special interests, then American workers will continue to be undermined, and public support for robust trade will continue to erode. That might make sense to the Washington lobbyists who run Senator McCain's campaign, but it won't help our nation compete. Allowing subsidized and unfairly traded products to flood our markets is not free trade and it's not fair to the people of Michigan. We cannot stand by while countries manipulate currencies to promote exports, creating huge imbalances in the global economy. We cannot let foreign regulatory policies exclude American products. We cannot let enforcement of existing trade agreements take a backseat to the negotiation of new ones. Put simply, we need tougher negotiators on our side of the table -- to strike bargains that are good not just for Wall Street, but also for Main Street. And when I am President, that's what we will do.
How the World Works believes that more can be achieved for American workers by boosting the safety net and investing in training and education than through "tough" negotiation of new trade agreements. We're also inclined to believe that technological progress and the ensuing improvements in American corporate "productivity" -- i.e., greater output from less labor -- is a bigger problem for the working class in the United States than is trade. And finally, it is painfully obvious that Obama's reference to the South Korean automotive market is an out-and-out pander to Michigan UAW members. But it is also exceedingly irksome to see opposition to free trade agreements that are largely crafted by and for special interests characterized as "protectionist" by people who should know better. Indeed, a number of economists believe the proliferation of such bilateral pacts actually makes it harder to achieve the kind of broad-based multilateral trade deals that contribute the most to global prosperity. Furthermore, it is possible to simultaneously condemn bilateral free trade agreements and criticize the various subsidies and tariffs that protect U.S. agricultural goods like sugar and cotton. What How the World Works wants from a candidate is someone who understands that you can't build a fortress America that cuts itself off from the rest of the world and that in general trade does contribute to economic growth, but that at the same time it also makes political and economic sense to pay as much attention to those who lose out from trade as it does to cater to, say, the pharmaceutical industry.
UPDATE: Felix Salmon has some additional thoughts to share on Lowenstein.
2008 Elections Barack Obama Globalization How The World Works
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reVolver Podcasts and The Cogills are a Perfect Pairing
reVolver Podcasts welcomes Gary and Hayley Cogill’s Wine & Film: A Perfect Pairing to their all-star lineup of podcasts.
DALLAS (July 13, 2016) – reVolver Podcasts welcomes Gary and Hayley Cogill’s Wine & Film: A Perfect Pairing to their all-star lineup of podcasts.
If the Cogill’s name sounds familiar, it’s because both Gary and Hayley have led extraordinary lives and careers. Gary Cogill is an Emmy award-winning journalist, speaker, producer, actor, host and consultant.
For 24 years, he served as the film critic for WFAA-TV in Dallas (ABC), reviewing more than 10,000 films and conducting more than 20,000 interviews with the most influential leaders in the industry. Gary has sat down with the biggest names in the business including Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Stephen Spielberg and Clint Eastwood. He is currently the film critic for KXAS-TV (NBC) in Dallas, and is the Co-Founder of Lascaux Films. His Lascaux Producing credits include, “Words And Pictures” starring Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche, and “Believe Me” starring Alex Russell and Nick Offerman.
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Clear skies. Low 58F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..
Clear skies. Low 58F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday. Trump declared Thursday that "Iran made a very big mistake" in shooting down a U.S. drone but suggested it was an accident rather than a strategic error.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
After calling off strikes on Iran, Trump suggests patience
Deb Riechmann, Lolita C. Baldor and Robert Burns Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday he abruptly called off the swiftly planned military strikes on Iran because the likely deaths of 150 Iranians would have been so out of proportion to the shootdown of an unmanned American surveillance drone. He also indicated he still hopes for talks with Iranian leaders rather than any escalation of military conflict.
"I am in no hurry," he wrote on Twitter, adding that increasingly severe sanctions meant to push Iran to the nuclear negotiating table are "biting" the Iranian economy.
The aborted attack was a stark reminder of the potential for the escalating tensions of the past year between the U.S. and Iran to lead to full-scale conflict, even as the president repeatedly insists he does not want war and wants to negotiate with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.
Iran on Friday showed no public inclination to negotiate, and it was unclear whether Trump, who said the U.S. military had been "cocked and loaded" to hit Iran, was considering new military options. After Iran downed a huge Navy surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz, Trump alternately denounced it as a "big mistake" and dismissed it as a "fly in the ointment."
Iran insisted the U.S. drone violated Iranian airspace; Washington said it had been flying over international waters when it was hit by an Iranian missile. Iran said it recovered debris in its waters. The U.S. military said Friday that although debris from the destroyed drone was spread across a wide area, none had yet been recovered by American forces, who were encountering high winds and heavy seas.
In a television interview, Trump said the U.S. was within 10 minutes of conducting strikes against Iran on Thursday when he canceled the operation. He told NBC News that he never gave a final order — planes were not yet in the air but would have been "pretty soon."
He said military officials came to him about 30 minutes before the strikes were to be launched and asked him for his final approval. Before signing off, he said he asked how many Iranians would be killed and was told approximately 150.
"I thought about it for a second and I said, 'You know what? They shot down an unmanned drone, plane — whatever you want to call it — and here we are sitting with 150 dead people. That would have taken place probably within a half an hour after I said go ahead. And I didn't like it. I didn't think it was proportionate."
Trump's assertion that he learned only at the last minute of his military advisers' casualty estimate does not align with the usual way a president is briefed on military attack options. An assessment of the likelihood of casualties, whether civilian or military, and a broad estimate of the number, normally are a major element of each option provided to the commander in chief.
Iran addressed the subject of casualties, too. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division, said Friday that a U.S. spy plane with around 35 crew members was flying close to the unmanned U.S. Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk that was shot down, but that Iran chose not to target the manned aircraft. He said Iran warned the drone several times before downing it with a missile.
The president's decision to call off the attack is a reminder that despite the escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran in recent weeks, there is a realization that military action, once under way, can quickly lead to unintended consequences, including large-scale war.
Asked how he was weighing his options, Trump said in a meeting with congressional leaders Thursday, "My gut," according to a person familiar with the exchange.
Trump has said repeatedly he does not want war with Iran, but he has offered little insight to his strategy, beyond inviting Iran's leaders to call him to reopen nuclear negotiations.
His administration last year pulled out of the 2015 international agreement intended to curb the Iranian nuclear program, an agreement he strongly criticized as ineffective during his presidential campaign. He demanded negotiations for a new agreement, but there have been none. Pressuring Iran, he launched a campaign of increasing economic pressure against the Islamic Republic, including cutting off its oil export revenues.
The current crisis comes at a tumultuous moment at the Pentagon, where the acting secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan, is stepping down this weekend. Mark Esper, the civilian head of the Army, will take over on an interim basis on Monday and will fly to NATO headquarters in Brussels for meetings this week to discuss the way ahead on Iran.
Katie Wheelbarger, a senior Pentagon policy adviser on international security, said Friday the administration wants to keep the allies informed, including on the intelligence information that prompted the U.S. to send an aircraft carrier and other military assets to the Gulf region in early May in response to what it called heightened Iranian threats.
"It's very important to the (defense) department and the U.S. government as a whole that we make sure our allies are as cognizant, and that we are as transparent on this issue as possible," she said.
Although top congressional leaders met with Trump at the White House on Thursday to discuss Iran, he apparently did not tell them an attack was imminent. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she and her colleagues were left with the impression that Trump was considering his options.
"I didn't receive any heads-up that there was that strike that was in the works," Pelosi said.
Democrats made the case for caution, for partnering with allies, and for taking a breath to de-escalate.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, chairman of the House intelligence committee and a frequent Trump critic, said, "I don't think that people should be jumping down the president's throat for wanting to think this through and make sure that neither side miscalculates and we don't inadvertently end up in a war with Iran."
"It is also very important for the administration to understand ... that there is no congressional authorization to go to war with Iran."
For some, like House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., Thursday was his first meeting with Trump.
Smith said he asked those around the table — who included all of Trump's top national security officials:
"You got a maximum pressure campaign on Iran, and what you want is you want Iran to say, 'OK, we give up.' OK, I get that, but that's unlikely. Iran is more likely to do what they've done, and what are you planning on doing when they do?"
They didn't have an answer, he said.
Smith's remarks reflect widespread skepticism at home and abroad over the administration's approach to Iran.
Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said, "The president appears to be making decisions by the seat of his pants, impulsively."
Trump, in his lengthy morning tweet, defended his stance on Iran. He said he pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, which gave Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for pledges to rein in its nuclear program, because the agreement only temporarily blocked Iran from having nuclear weapons. Trump said the deal also did not stop Iran's support of militant groups or restrain its ballistic missile program.
He said his exit from the deal and the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran has crippled its economy.
"Now they are Bust!"
"I am in no hurry," he said. "Sanctions are biting & more added last night."
Associated Press writers Susannah George, Lisa Mascaro and Matthew Lee in Washington, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and AP video producer Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.
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Tag: Statues
Broken noses, crosses on the forehead – the fate of statues at the end of antiquity
Posted on July 27, 2018 by Roger Pearse
I saw today a truly remarkable statement which I thought that I would share with you.
From the sixth century BC through the fourth century AD, sculpture had been created and destroyed, stolen and repositioned, but always prominently displayed and used in the context of Corinthian religion, economic activity, and urban life. Yet from about the fifth century, creation of new work dropped off rapidly, preceded by a decline in technical ability and availability of raw materials, and closely followed by the defacement and then destruction of most of what existed in public and private contexts. Between the fifth and tenth centuries, the only new sculpture created at Corinth was in the form of architectural members or Christian reliefs for church decoration, while ancient sculpture of “pagan” or “secular” significance alike was steadily marked with crosses, defaced, cut up, reused, or melted down. This new attitude to sculpture was a fundamental change of Late Antiquity, as individually and collectively people both ceased to create new sculpture, and undertook the actual physical destruction of most of what existed.
This late antique change in attitude to sculpture happened all across the Roman Empire, and led both individuals and groups to behave toward the sculpted environment in new and hostile ways.[1]
This astonished me. Suddenly statues were hardly erected, except perhaps for a few official ones. Even these might well have a Chi-Rho on the top of the head, out of sight but “making the statue safe”.
The destruction of statues by smashing the nose (or more) is well-known to us. Indeed it continued into early modern times, much to the mortification of excavators in 1901 where a workman, uncovering a small head of Aphrodite, promptly “battered the head”! This apparently happened “frequently” in early modern Greece.[2]
There is also the practice of “cross marking”. Greek crosses, with even sized members, tend to indicate post-Late Antiquity damage. But this is relatively rare, compared to the quantity of sculpture that survives.
I found a number of examples at an anti-Christian hate site here. Brown’s paper references a number of the items, which reinforces the point about rarity.
First a head of Aphrodite from the Agora at Athens, with crosses on forehead and chin.
Next, a statue of Germanicus:
A statue of Livia:
A statue of Augustus, from Ephesus, in the Ephesus Museum:
Also from Ephesus but unidentified:
A final one from “Turkey”:
All of these, note, are of people, not of deities.
Why smash the nose? I believe the answer to this may be found in hagiographical literature, where statues may be possessed by demons, or else talismans for magical purposes. There is a chain of references to follow, in order to get to the primary sources, but this is for another day.
But I incidentally came across a Jewish source, the Mishna, discussing how to nullify an idol:
“How does one nullify it?”
[If | he has cut off the tip of its ear, the tip of its nose, the tip of its finger, if he battered it, even though he did not break off [any part of] it—he has nullified it.
[If] he spit in its face, urinated in front of it, scraped it, threw excrement at it, lo, this does not constitute an act of nullification” (m. `Abod. Zar. 4:5 [Neusner 1988: 668]). [3]
No doubt this thinking was pretty general.
The chains of references are a bit long in the above volumes. We could use some better presentation of the evidence on this.
[1]Amelia R. Brown, “Crosses, noses, walls and wells: Christianity and the fate of sculpture in late antique Corinth”, in: Troels M Kristensen, Lea Stirling (eds),The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture: Late Antique Responses and Practices, Michigan 2016, 150 f.; p.151.↩
[2]Brown, p.168-169.↩
[3]Via William G. Dever, Confronting the Past: Archaeological and Historical Essays on Ancient Israel, 2006, p.11.↩
Posted in From my diaryTagged Statues13 Comments on Broken noses, crosses on the forehead – the fate of statues at the end of antiquity
The brass statue of Justinian in Constantinople
One of the sights of Constantinople before the Ottoman conquest was the colossal equestrian statue of Justinian, standing in the Forum Augusteum, atop a 100 foot-tall pillar outside the senate house. The statue faced east and was widely thought to have magical powers to repel invaders from that direction.
At Robert Bedrosian’s site I have found a treasure-trove of articles about Byzantium. One of these, on ancient statues in medieval Constantinople,[1] contains a fascinating portrait of the statue:
One of the oldest was the equestrian statue which Justinian set up of himself ; it is described by Codinos. The horse was on the top of a column, and the emperor held in his left hand the ball and cross, signifying his universal dominion over the earth by the power of the faith of the cross.[2]
“The right hand,” says Codinos, “he has stretched out towards the east, signifying that the Persians should halt and not come over to the land of the Greeks, crying by means of the repelling gesture of his uplifted hand,’Stay, ye Persians, and do not advance, for it will not be to your good ‘.”
The idea is as old as the time of Justinian himself, for it is found in the contemporary historian Procopios, who says that the statue, “was riding, as I think, against the Persians.” The gesture of his right hand was to forbid the advance of the eastern barbarians.[30]
The latest notice of this statue we owe to Bertrandon de la Broquiere who saw it in 1432 ; by his time the Persians had been superseded by the Saracen holders of Jerusalem, and he says that the figure has “le
bras droit tendu et la main ouverte devers la Turquie et le chemin de Jherusalem par terre, en segne que tout celluy pays jusques en Jherusalem luy souloit estre obeyssant.”[31]
It was destroyed about 1525, shortly before the visit to the city of Gyllius, who saw fragments of it of gigantic size “carried into the melting Houses where they cast their Ordnance.”[32]
[29] Codinos, 28.
[30] Procopios, De Aedificiis, 182, especially lines 14 and 20. The idea spread to Europe and is found in John of Hildesheim, edition quoted, p. 274, and also in Arabic authors: Qazwini in the thirteenth century says that there were two opinions, and some said that the hand held a talisman to keep off enemies, and others that on the ball was written, “I own the world as long as this ball is in my hand” (J. Marquart, Osteurop. und ostasiatische Streifzuge (1903), p. 221). Harun ibn Yahya in the ninth century thought that the right hand was beckoning people to come to Constantinople (ibid. p. 220). An old drawing of this statue connected with the name of Cyriac of Ancona was found by Dothier in the library of the Seraglio. It has often been reproduced, and may be seen in Rev. des etudes grecques, vol. ix. p. 84.
[31] Bertrandon de la Broquiere, Le Voyage d’Outremer, publie par Ch. Scheffer (1892), P. 159.
[32] Gyllius, The Antiquities of Constantinople (translated) (1729), p. 129.
I did try to locate that drawing. But this is harder than it might be. Thanks to AWOL, I learn that REG is online here. But this does not go back so far as vol. 9. Archive.org list the volumes here, and vol. 9 (1896) is here. Unfortunately page 84 is missing! The Gallica collection of microfilms is here; but the series is incomplete and does not include the relevant parts of vol. 9.
I did find a drawing at Wikimedia Commons, however, which looks like a modern redrawing. Note the inscription “THEODOSI”, suggesting – inevitably – reuse of an older statue by Justinian:
The volume of Gyllius – Pierre Gilles – is accessible online, however, and his description is worth hearing:
Chap. XVII. Of the forum called the Augustaeum, of the pillar of Theodosius, and Justinian, and the Senate-house.
Procopius writes that the forum which was formerly called the Augustaeum was surrounded with pillars and was situated before the imperial palace. Not only the forum is at present quite defaced, but the very name of it is lost, and the whole ground where it stood is built upon. The palace is entirely in ruins, yet I collect from the pedestal of a pillar of Justinian lately standing, but now removed by the Turks, which Procopius says was built by Justinian in the Augustaeum, and Zonaras in the court before the Church of Sophia, that the Augustaeum stood where there is now a fountain, at the west end of the Church of St. Sophia. Suidas says, that Justinian, after he had built the Church of St. Sophia, cleansed the court, and paved it with marble, and that it was formerly called the Forum Augustaeum; and adds, that he erected his own statue there. Procopius writes, “That there was a certain forum facing the Senate House, which was called by the citizens the Augustaeum; where are seven stones, so cemented together in a quadranglular manner, and are so contracted one within another, the upper within the lower stone, that a man may conveniently sit down upon every projecture of them.”
I was more induced to give this account from Procopius of the pedestal because I do not find it in his printed works. Upon the top of it, says he, there’s erected a large pillar, composed of many stones covered with brass, which did at once both strength and adorn them. The plates of brass did not reflect so strong a lustre as pure gold, yet was it, in value, little inferior to silver.
On the top of the pillar was set a large horse in brass, facing the east, which indeed afforded a noble prospect. He seemed to be in a marching posture, and struggling for speed. His near foot before was curvated, as though he would paw the ground; his off foot was fixed to the pedestal, and his hind feet were so contracted, as though he was prepared to be gone. Upon the horse was placed the statue of the emperor: it was made of brass, large like a colossus, dessed in a warlike habit like Achilles, with sandals on his feet, and armed with a coat of mail, and a shining helmet. He looked eastward, and seemed to be marching against the Persians. In his left hand he bore a globe, devised to signify his universal power over the whole world. On the top of it was fixed a cross, to which he attributed all his successes in war, and his accession to the imperial dignity. His right hand was stretched to the east, and by pointing his fingers, he seemed to forbid the barbarous nations to approach nearer, but to stand off at their peril.
Tzetzes, in his “Various History”, describes what kind of helmet he had upon his head. “The Persians,” says he, “generally wore a turban upon the head. When the Romans obtained any victory over them, they plundered them of their turbans, which they placed upon their own heads. These are,” says he, “of the same shape with that with which the statue of Justinian, erected upon a large pillar, is crowned.” Cedrenus relates that Justinian held the globe in his silver hand.
Zonaras writes that Justinian, in the seventeenth year of his reign, set up this pillar, in the same place where formerly had stood another pillar of Theodosius the Great, bearing his statue in Silver, made at the expense of his son Arcadius, which weighed 7,400 pounds. When Justinian had demolished the statue and the pillar, he stripped it of a vast quantity of lead, of which he made pipes for aqueducts, which brought the water into the city. This ill-treatment of Theodosius by Justinian was revenged upon him by the barbarians; for they used his pillar in the same manner, and stripped it of the statue, the horse, and the brass with which it was covered, so that it was only a bare column for some years.
About thirty years ago the whole shaft was taken down to the pedestal, and that, about a year since, was demolished down to the base, from whence I observed a spring to spout up with pipes, into a large cistern. At present there stands in the same place a water-house, and the pipes are enlarged.
I lately saw the equestrian statue of Justinian, erected upon the pillar which stood here, and which had been preserved a long time in the imperial precinct, carried into the melting houses where they cast their ordinance. Among the fragments were the leg of Justinian, which exceeded my height, and his nose, which was above 9 inches long. I dared not measure the horse’s legs, as they lay upon the ground, but privately measured one of the hoofs and found it to be 9 inches in height.
An article by J. Raby references Ottoman sources, to show that the statue was taken down by 1456.[2] This also gives a copy of the drawing, and indicates its present location: Ms. Budapest, University library 35, fol.144v, which is a miscellaneous manuscript.
[1]R. M. Dawkins, “Ancient Statues in Mediaeval Constantinople”, Folklore 35 (1924), pp. 209-248. Download here: Ancient Statues in Mediaeval Constantinople. File size: 3.6 MB.↩
[2]J. Raby, “Mehmed the Conqueror and the Equestrian Statue of the Augustaion”. Illinois Classical Studies 12 (1987), 305–313.↩
Posted in From my diaryTagged Constantinople, Justinian, Statues1 Comment on The brass statue of Justinian in Constantinople
Some ancient statues taken to Constantinople under Constantius and Theosodius II
Cyril Mango’s excellent article on the fate of ancient statues in Byzantium[1] tells us:
The importation of statues into Constantinople greatly diminished, but did not entirely cease, after the reign of Constantine. Individual statues were apparently brought in under Constantius II,[15] Valentinian,[16] and Theodosius II.[17]
The references given are to a publication, the Scriptores Originum Constantinopolitarum, published in two volumes in Leipzig, 1901 and 1907, ed. Preger. These are to be found at Archive.org, here and here, but … they are in Greek only. Not even a Latin translation is given.
Fortunately a shy mention in the preface indicates that a great deal of the material may be found in the Patrologia Graeca 157, col. 615 f. The volume has a useful list of contents on col. 1259, which helps with navigation.
The statues brought in under Constantius II are noted as follows (col. 720-1):
Of the statue of Zeus set up in the Hippodrome.
Many statues were sent from Iconium to Constantinople, one of which number was the Zeus which is in the Hippodrome.
Of the four gilded horses in the Hippodrome.
The four gilded horses, located on the upper side of the Hippdrome, were brought from the island of Chios when Theodosius the Younger was reigning.
Of the statues of Perseus and Andromeda.
From the city of Iconium mentioned earlier, a statue of Perseus and of princess Andromeda, who, as legend has it, and is also given by some as history, … (there follows a version of the legend of Perseus) … There (at Iconium) first Perseus and then Andromeda died, and their statues were erected above the gate of the city. In that place there were many sacrifices peformed by Decius, Diocletian and Maximian, and in the same place many saints received martyrdom. And so the statues of Perseus and Andromeda were brought, it is said, when Constantius was reigning, after the church of Antioch had been purified.
This includes the references to Constantius and Theodosius II. The four horses from Chios are those now in Venice on the roof of St. Mark’s.
However I have been unable to locate in the PG the reference give by Mango to a statue named Perichytes and one of a donkey, brought in under Valentinian:
A statue called Perichytes as well as one of a donkey, both in the Hippodrome: ibid., I, p. 64, # 64; II, p. 192f., # 82. The Perichytes was nude except for a loincloth, and wore a helmet; it was stolen by western merchants some time between 935 and 959: Vita S. Lucae Stylitae, ed. A. Vogt, Analecta Bollandiana, XXXVIII (1909), p. 39f.; ed. F. Vanderstuyf, Patrol. Orient., XI (1915), p. 1o7 ff. For other instances of the theft of statues, see Script. orig. CP. I, p. 50 (under Theodosius II); II. p. 253, # 112 (under Caesar Bardas)..
I don’t know how reliable this source is, tho, as a guide to the monuments of Constantinople. I have seen it attributed to a George Codinus, who may have lived in the 15th century, but drew on some 9th century inventory; but even this is doubtful. The text itself makes many references to earlier writers, used as sources. It might be interesting to find out!
UPDATE: I find a Bonn edition of Codinus, which contains a similar (but not identical) text here.
UPDATE: A correspondent has kindly alerted me that Averil Cameron has translated and commented on the text given in the PG, the Parastaseis syntomoi Chronikai (lit. Brief historical notes, = Scriptores originum Constantinopolitarum I, ed. Preger, p. 19-73). Cameron adds that Preger demonstrated that the text could not be by Codinus, but was 10th century. She adds that Bekker’s edition in the Bonn corpus (CSHB, 1843) and the reprint in the PG 157 are both unreliable and should be avoided.[2] Unfortunately Preger printed no translation of any sort, and Cameron’s translation is inaccessible, so, for the general public like myself, it is PG or nothing. So be a little wary of what I have given above.
There is a cluster of related texts, all giving descriptions of Constantinople and collectively known as the Patria. My correspondent also tells me that the main work in French on the Patria is Dagron, Constantinople imaginaire, Paris, 1984; and that, in the Parastaseis, the Perichytes (= one that pours round) may be found in the note at the foot of page 61 of Preger’s edition. My thanks to him for these useful details.
[1]Cyril Mango, “Antique Statuary and the Byzantine Beholder.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 17 (1963), pp. 53+55-75. Online here.↩
[2]Averil Cameron, Constantinople in the Early Eighth Century, Leiden:Brill, 1984. Google Preview. See p.4, n.15.↩
Posted in From my diaryTagged Codinus, Mango, Statues3 Comments on Some ancient statues taken to Constantinople under Constantius and Theosodius II
Melting down the statues in Constantinople in 1204
Looting the tombs of the emperors was one thing. Choniates goes on with yet more examples of cultural vandalism. The fate of statues, many obviously from ancient times, was the furnace, to be turned into coins.[1]
Because they were in want of money (for the barbarians are unable to sate their love of riches), they covetously eyed the bronze statues and consigned these to the flames. The brazen Hera standing in the Forum of Constantine was cast into a smelting furnace and minted into coins; her head could barely be carted off to the Great Palace by four yokes of oxen. Paris Alexander, standing with Aphrodite and handing to her the golden apple of Discord, was thrown down from his pedestal and cast on top of Hera.
Who, having laid his eyes on the four-sided bronze mechanical device rising up to a height nearly equal to that of the tallest columns which have been set up in many places throughout the City, did not wonder at the intricacy of its ornamentation? Every melodious bird, warbling its springtime tunes, was carved upon it; the tasks of husbandmen, the pipes and milk pails, and the bleating sheep and bounding lambs were depicted. The wide-spread sea and schools of fish were to be seen, some caught and others shown breaking out of the nets to swim free again in the deep. There were the Erotes, shown in pairs and groups of three; innocent of clothing but armed with apples, they shook with sweet laughter as they threw these or were pelted by them. This four-sided monument terminated in a point like a pyramid, and above was suspended a female figure which turned with the first blowings of the wind, whence it was called Anemodoulion [Wind Servant].
Nonetheless, they gave over this most beautiful work to the smelters, as well as an equestrian statue of heroic form and admirable size that stood on the trapezium-shaped base in the Forum of the Bull. Some maintained that it was of Joshua, son of Nave, conjecturing that his hand was pointed towards the sun as it sank in the west, commanding it to stand still upon Gabaon. The majority were of the opinion that it was Bellerophontes, born and bred in the Peloponnesos, mounted on Pegasos; the horse was unbridled, as was Pegasos, who, according to tradition, ran freely over the plains, spurning every rider, for he could both fly through the air and race over the land. But there was an ancient tradition which came down to us and which was in the mouths of all, that under this horse’s front left hoof there was buried the image of a man which, as it had been handed down to some, was of a certain Venetian; others claimed that it was of a member of some other Western nation not allied with the Romans, or that it was of a Bulgarian. As the attempt was often made to secure the hoof, the statue beneath was completely covered over and hidden from sight. When the horse was broken into pieces and committed to the flames, together with the rider, the statue was found buried beneath the horse’s hoof; it was dressed in the kind of cloak that is woven from sheep’s wool. Showing little concern over what was said about it, the Latins cast it also into the fire.
These barbarians, haters of the beautiful, did not allow the statues standing in the Hippodrome and other marvelous works of art to escape destruction, but all were made into coins. Thus great things were exchanged for small ones, those works fashioned at huge expense were converted into worthless copper coins.
Also overturned was Herakles, mighty in his mightiness, begotten in a triple night and placed in a basket for his crib; the lion’s skin which was thrown over him looked terrifying even in bronze, almost as though it might give out a roar and frighten the helpless populace standing nearby. Herakles sat without quiver on his back, or bow in his hands, or the club before him, but with his right foot as well as his right hand extended as far as possible. He rested his left elbow on his left leg bent at the knee; deeply despondent and bewailing his misfortunes, he held his inclined head at rest in his palm, vexed by the labors which Eurystheus had designated, not out of urgency, but from envy, puffed up by the excess of fate. He was thick in the chest and broad in the shoulders, with curly hair; fat in the buttocks, strong in the arms, he was an incomparable masterpiece fashioned from first to last by the hands of Lysimachos [2] and portrayed in the magnitude which the artist must have attributed to the real Herakles; the statue was so large that it took a cord the size of a man’s belt to go round the thumb, and the shin was the size of a man.
They who separated manliness from the correspondent virtues and claimed it for themselves did not allow this magnificent Herakles to remain intact, and they were responsible for much more destruction.
Together with Herakles they pulled down the ass, heavy-laden and braying as it moved along, and the ass driver following behind. These figures had been set up by Caesar Augustus at Actium (which is Nikopolis in Hellas) because when going out at night to reconnoiter Antony’s troops, he met up with a man driving an ass, and on inquiring who he was and where he was going, he was told, “I am Nikon and my ass is Nikan-dros, and I am proceeding to the camp of Caesar.”
Nor, of a truth, did they keep their hands off the hyena and the she-wolf which had suckled Romulus and Romos [Remus]; for a few copper coins they delivered over the nation’s ancient and venerable monuments and cast these into the smelting furnace. This was also the fate of the man wrestling with a lion, and of the Nile horse whose posterior terminated in a spiniferous and scaly tail, and of the elephant waving its proboscis. They did the same to the Sphinxes that are comely women in the front and horrible beasts in their hind parts, that move on foot in a most bizarre manner and are nimbly borne aloft on their wings, rivaling the great-winged birds; and [the same] to the unbridled, snorting horse with ears erect, playful and docile as it pranced; and to the ancient Skylla depicted leaning forward as she leaped into Odysseus’ ships and devoured many of his companions: in female form down to the waist, huge-breasted and full of savagery, and below the waist divided into beasts of prey.
There was set up in the Hippodrome a bronze eagle, the novel device of Apollonios of Tyana, a brilliant instrument of his magic. Once, while visiting among the Byzantines, he was entreated to bring them relief from the snake bites that plagued them. Resorting to those lewd rituals whose celebrants are the demons and all those who pay special honor to their secret rites, he set up on a column an eagle, the sight of which gave pleasure to onlookers and persuaded any who delighted in its aspect to stay on like those held spellbound by the sound of the Sirens’ song. His wings were aflap as though attempting flight, while a coiled snake clutched in his claws prevented its being carried aloft by striking out at the winged extremities of his body. But the venomous creature accomplished nothing, for, transfixed by the sharp claws, its attack was smothered, and it appeared to be drowsy rather than ready to give battle to the bird by clinging to his wings. While the snake breathed its last and expired with its venom unspent, the eagle exulted and, all but screeching out his victory song, hastened to lift up the serpent and bore it aloft to leave no doubt as to the outcome by the flashing of his eyes and the serpent’s mortification. It was said that the very sight of the snake uncoiled and incapable of delivering a deadly bite frightened away, by its example, the remaining serpents in Byzantion, convincing them to curl up and fill their holes. This eagle’s likeness was remarkable, not only because of what we have said but also because the twelve segments marked off in lines along the wings most clearly showed the hour of the day to those who looked upon it with understanding when the sun’s rays were not obscured by clouds.
What of the white-armed, beautiful-ankled, and long-necked Helen, who mustered the entire host of the Hellenes and overthrew Troy, whence she sailed to the Nile and, after a long absence, returned to the abodes of the Laconians? Was she able to placate the implacable? Was she able to soften those men whose hearts were made of iron? On the contrary! She who had enslaved every onlooker with her beauty was wholly unable to achieve this, even though she was appareled ornately; though fashioned of bronze, she appeared as fresh as the morning dew, anointed with the moistness of erotic love on her garment, veil, diadem, and braid of hair. Her vesture was finer than spider webs, and the veil was cunningly wrought in its place; the diadem of gold and precious stones which bound the forehead was radiant, and the braid of hair that extended down to her knees, flowing down and blowing in the breeze, was bound tightly in the back with a hair band. The lips were like flower cups, slightly parted as though she were about to speak; the graceful smile, at once greeting the spectator, filled him with delight; her flashing eyes, her arched eyebrows, and the shapeliness of the rest of her body were such that they cannot be described in words and depicted for future generations.
O Helen, Tyndareus’s daughter, the very essence of loveliness, offshoot of Erotes, ward of Aphrodite, nature’s most perfect gift, contested prize of Trojans and Hellenes, where is your drug granted you by Thon’s wife which banishes pain and sorrow and brings forgetfulness of every ill? Where are your irresistible love charms? Why did you not make use of these now as you did long ago? But I suspect that the Fates had foreordained that you should succumb to the flame’s fervor so that your image should no longer enflame spectators with sexual passions. It was said that these Aeneadae condemned you to the flames as retribution for Troy’s having been laid waste by the firebrand because of your scandalous amours. But the gold-madness of these men does not allow me to conceive and utter such a thing, for that madness was the reason why rare and excellent works of art everywhere were given over to total destruction. Nor can I speak of their frequent selling and sending away of their women for a few coins while they attended the gambling tables and were engrossed at draughts all day long, or, being eager to engage, not in acts of prudent courage, but in irrational and mad assaults against one another, they donned the arms of Ares and set up as the prize of victory all their belongings, even their wedded wives, because of whom they heard themselves called fathers of children, and even that great treasure which others find difficult to sacrifice—the soul, for whose salvation men are eager to do anything. After all, how could one expect to find among these unlettered barbarians who are wholly ignorant of their ABCs, the ability to read and knowledge of those epic verses sung of you:
“Small blame that Trojans and well-greaved Achaeans
should for such a woman long time suffer woes;
wondrously like is she to the immortal goddesses to look upon.”[3]
The following should also be recounted. There was set up on a pedestal a woman youthful in form and appearance and in the prime of life, her hair bound in the back and curled along both sides of the forehead; she was not raised up out of reach but could be touched by those who put out their hands. The right hand of this figure, with no underlying support, held in its palm a man mounted on a horse which was poised on one leg more easily than another would have clasped a wine cup. The rider was robust in body and encased in a coat of mail, with greaves on both legs, and he fiercely breathed out war; while the horse pricked up its ears as though in response to the war trumpet. With neck held high, it was fierce in countenance, the eyes betraying its eagerness to charge forth; the legs were raised high in the air, exhibiting warlike agitation.
Next to this figure, very close to the eastern turn of the four-horse chariot course called Rousion [Red], statues of charioteers were set up with inscriptions of their chariot-driving skill; by the mere disposition of their hands, they exhorted the charioteers, as they approached the turning post, not to relax the reins but to hold the horses in check and to use the goad continuously and more forcefully, so that, as they wheeled round the turning post in close quarters, they should compel their rival, even though his horses were faster and he a skilled competitor, to drive on the outside of the turn and come in last.
[1]Choniates, 648-654; translation, p.357-361.↩
[2]Actually Lysippos.↩
[3]Illiad 3, 156-8.↩
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When the emperor Constans looted Rome of all its statues in 663
Posted on December 4, 2013 December 4, 2013 by Roger Pearse
Cyril Mango’s article on the fate of ancient statues in the middle ages continues:
It is, however, recorded that Constans II, during his infamous residence in Rome (663), despoiled that city of its ancient bronze ornaments, including even the copper roof tiles of the Pantheon, with a view to having them transferred to Constantinople. The loot was conveyed to Syracuse, but never reached its destination: it fell instead into the hands of the Arabs.
He adds in the note that “We are not told specifically what the ancient ornaments of bronze were, but it is reasonable to assume that they included statues.”
The reference for these events is to Paul the Deacon’s History of the Lombards, book 5, chapters 11-13 (PL95, cols 602 and 604):
XI. But the emperor Constans, when he found that he could accomplish nothing against the Langobards, directed all the threats of his cruelty against his own followers, that is, the Romans. He left Naples and proceeded to Rome. At the sixth mile-stone from the city, pope Vitalian came to meet him with his priests and the Roman people. And when the emperor had come to the threshold of St. Peter he offered there a pallium woven with gold; and remaining at Rome twelve days he pulled down everything that in ancient times had been made of metal for the ornament of the city, to such an extent that he even stripped off the roof of the church of the blessed Mary which at one time was called the Pantheon, and had been founded in honor of all the gods and was now by the consent of the former rulers the place of all the martyrs; and he took away from there the bronze tiles and sent them with all the other ornaments to Constantinople. Then the emperor returned to Naples, and proceeded by the land route to the city of Regium (Reggio) ; and having entered Sicily during the seventh indiction he dwelt in Syracuse and put such afflictions upon the people—the inhabitants and land owners of Calabria, Sicily, Africa, and Sardinia – as were never heard of before, so that even wives were separated from their husbands and children from their parents. The people of these regions also endured many other and unheard of things so that the hope of life did not remain to any one. For even the sacred vessels and the treasures of the holy churches of God were carried away by the imperial command and by the avarice of the Greeks. And the emperor remained in Sicily from the seventh to the twelfth indiction, but at last he suffered the punishment of such great iniquities and while he was in the bath he was put to death by his own servants.
XII. When the emperor Constantine was killed at Syracuse, Mecetius (Mezezius) seized the sovereignty in Sicily, but without the consent of the army of the East. The soldiers of Italy, others throughout Istria, others through the territories of Campania and others from the regions of Africa and Sardinia came to Syracuse against him and deprived him of life. And many of his judges were brought to Constantinople beheaded and with them in like manner the head of the false emperor was also carried off.
XIII. The nation of the Saracens that had already spread through Alexandria and Egypt, hearing these things, came suddenly with many ships, invaded Sicily, entered Syracuse and made a great slaughter of the people – a few only escaping with difficulty who had fled to the strongest fortresses and the mountain ranges – and they carried off also great booty and all that art work in brass and different materials which the emperor Constantine had taken away from Rome; and thus they returned to Alexandria.
I had always understand that the loot had been lost in a shipwreck, so it is interesting to learn different. No doubt they were all melted down by the barbarous Arabs for their metal value.
The translator adds a note about the mention that wives were separated by the tax-gatherers from their families; to the effect that they were sold into slavery by the former, in order to pay the taxes demanded.
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More from Mango on ancient statues in Byzantium
Posted on November 26, 2013 by Roger Pearse
I’m still looking at Cyril Mango’s marvellous paper on the fate of ancient statues in medieval Byzantium[1], and looking up references from it. I learn something from every one of these.
The last few posts concerned references to Christians smashing pagan statues:
The deliberate assembling of ancient statues in Constantinople constitutes something of a paradox. We must not forget that paganism was very much of a live issue, not only in the fourth century, but until about the year 600. Statues of pagan divinities were, of course, an essential part in the celebration of pagan rites. The lives of the saints are full of references to the destruction of pagan statues. A few examples must suffice.
After which Mango (my first post is here) gives the three examples we have already looked at: the Life of S. Porphyry of Gaza, the Life of Severus of Antioch, the Acts of S. Abramius, and the Life of S. Symeon Stylites the Younger (on which I shall have more to say in a future post).
Mango then goes on to say:
These are a few examples chosen at random. We must also remember that, whereas some Christian thinkers rightly believed that the idols were inanimate, the general opinion prevalent at the time-as we have seen from the incident at Gaza-was that they were inhabited by maleficent demons.[7]
7. Conversely, in the eyes of fourth-century Neoplatonists, idols were animated with divine presence: see E. R. Dodds, “Theurgy and its Relationship to Neoplatonism,” Journal of Roman Studies, XXXVII (1947), p.63 f.
The Dodds article is in JSTOR and is itself a fascinating work, although full of untranslated Greek. I’m not quite certain that it entirely endorses Mango’s view: for, rather than the “general opinion”, Dodds discusses magical statues and statuettes. The context of this is theurgy — magic designed to compel the gods to grant favours by rituals — so some of the statues are indeed of pagan deities. But we’re not really discussing the same thing.
The details given about the infection of Neo-Platonism by theurgy are fascinating, all the same. Plotinus may have stoutly rejected all the hocus-pocus of magic and theurgy; but his disciple, Porphyry, admitted some of it, and Iamblichus far more, to the point of rejecting reason. Dodds quotes a fascinating passage from the latter’s De mysteriis, introducing it thus:
The de mysteriis is a manifesto of irrationalism, an assertion that the road to salvation is found not in reason but in ritual:
‘It is not thought that links the theurgists with the gods: else what should hinder theoretical philosophers from enjoying theurgic union with them? The case is not so. Theurgic union is attained only by the efficacy of the unspeakable acts performed in the appropriate manner, acts which are beyond all comprehension, and by the potency of the unutterable symbols which are comprehended only by the gods . . . Without intellectual effort on our part the tokens by their own virtue accomplish their proper work.’ (de myst. 96, 13 Parthey).
To the discouraged minds of fourth-century pagans such a message offered a seductive comfort. The ‘theoretical philosophers’ had now been arguing for some nine centuries, and what had come of it? Only a visibly declining culture, and the creeping growth of that Christian atheotes which was too plainly sucking the life-blood of Hellenism.
Such an attitude among such pagans would explain much of the fate of the later Neo-Platonists in Athens. In the 5th century Proclus himself saw ‘Hecatic’ visions and was “great at rain-making”. No wonder Justinian felt a strong urge to close down the philosophical schools, if they were training magicians!
But let’s return to what Dodds says about statues.
Of these two branches of theurgy, the first appears to have been known as telestikh/, and to have been concerned mainly with the consecrating (telei=n, Procl. in Tim. III, 6, 13), and animating of magic statues in order to obtain oracles from them.
Then follows a quote from Proclus’ commentary on the Timaeus III, 155, 18, referencing symbola; and further references given but not quoted from the Theol. Plat. I, 28, p.70; and In Tim. I, 51, 25; III, 6, 12 f.; In Crat. 19, 12.
Proclus gives a list of magical herbs, stones, animals and scents which are usable for various purposes. Each god has a “sympathetic” representative in the animal, vegetable and mineral world, which either is or contains a symbolon of its divine cause, and is therefore connected to it by sympatheia (references to Proclus in the CMAG VI, 148 f. and 151 f. is given). Indeed the same idea underlies the practice of making effigies of people as a way to cast spells upon them, or indeed to stick pins in them, in voodoo. The symbola were placed inside the hollow statue, so that they were known only to the spell-caster.
The 3rd century theurgists do not originate this idea, of course. The idea is instead based on Egyptian religion, diffusing ideas into the syncretic Graeco-Roman world.
This contained the idea of producing statues, inside which the souls of demons might be trapped by means of these kinds of gems, herbs, etc.
The late Hermetic dialogue, To Asclepius III, 24, may be referenced here:
Trismegistos: [I mean their] statues, O Asclepius, … statues, ensouled with sense, and filled with spirit, which work such mighty and such [strange] results,—statues which can foresee what is to come, and which perchance can prophesy, foretelling things by dreams and many other ways,—[statues] that take their strength away from men, or cure their sorrow, if they do so deserve.
And 37:
2. Since, then, our earliest progenitors were in great error,—seeing they had no rational faith about the Gods, and that they paid no heed unto their cult and holy worship,—they chanced upon an art whereby they made Gods [for themselves].
To this invention they conjoined a power that suited it, [derived] from cosmic nature; and blending these together, since souls they could not make, [they set about] evoking daimons’ souls or those of angels; [and thus] attached them to their sacred images and holy mysteries, so that the statues should, by means of these, possess the powers of doing good and the reverse.
Apparently receipes for constructing such statues are to be found among the magical papyri. They appear in the Roman world in the 1st century AD and onwards.
But the real promoter of the idea is Iamblichus, who perhaps saw a way to defuse the Christian argument that idols are merely lumps of wood and stone. He asserts ‘that idols are divine and filled with divine presence’. His disciples did more, so Dodds tells us:
His disciples habitually sought omens from the statues, and were not slow to contribute apithana of their own: Maximus makes a statue of Hecate laugh and causes the torches in her hands to light up automatically;[95] Heraiscus has so sensitive an intuition that he can at once distinguish the ‘animate’ from the ‘inanimate’ statue by the sensations it gives him.[96]
95. Eunapius, Vit. Soph. 475.
96. The Suda under that name.
All this degenerate paganism must have shaped the attitude of the Christians of the same period towards statuary. It is likely enough that a statue by Phidias or Praxiteles could be readily distinguished even by the simplest from a magical statue or talisman.
But then again you didn’t have to be a pagan to create a magical statue. Magic outlived paganism. Statues standing in the streets of Antioch and Constantinople in the middle ages were sometimes supposed to be talismans, protecting the city against snakes and the like. Often they were supposed to be the work of Apollonius of Tyana, or some other ancient magician, by then legendary.
It is in this way, perhaps, through the activities of the theurgists in late antiquity, that statues of the pagan gods can be thought of as containing demons; or of being magical in nature; and eventually of becoming protective talismans, rather than pagan idols.
[1]Cyril Mango, Antique statuary and the Byzantine beholder, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 17, 1963, p.53+55-75. Online here.↩
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Idols “subjected to popular derision” at Antioch?
Posted on November 23, 2013 November 23, 2013 by Roger Pearse
The next statement by Cyril Mango on the subject of the destruction of pagan statues in the lives of the saints is as follows:
At about the same time idols were subjected to popular derision by being hung in the streets of Antioch.
The reference is to the Vita S. Symeonis junioris, the Life of Simeon Stylites the Younger, d. 592, BHG 1689,[1] in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. 5, p.371B. The work is very long, in 259 chapters. Anyway, let’s have a look at this text in the Acta version also.
That item is online, and may be found here. It all concerns the actions of a certain Amantius, “judex severus” (=”a severe judge”), who was sent to the East by Justinian to administer punishment to various groups.
And so it was predicted by Symeon; they had not interceded for four months when a certain man named Amantius [b], greatly concerned in the rule of the East, came to Antioch. He was a literary man, capable in government, strong in reasoning, constant in mind, liberal in mind, and primarily most studious of justice. He acted as much on behalf of virtue as against iniquity, and in both cases with the utmost zeal. Previously when he came to Antioch, he both put down iniquity in the East as much as he could in a similar way, and also more acutely with an sharp sword among those who held positions of authority. So that fear and trembling invaded everyone, when he was approaching: not only men who were nothing and malevolent, but also those for whom life had conjoined probity and good morals might feel dread, so terrible was his presence.
174. Here he arrested and imprisoned many of the pagans and atheists and those dedicated to observing the aspects and conjunctions of the stars, and indeed many standing against the divine providence, and especially carefully sought out the most illustrious. Moreover he collected all their books, from which they drew out false wisdom and novel ideas contrary to the truth; nor those alone, but likewise all the idols, in which they trusted as in the gods. They had made for themselves idols of silver, obviously, and of gold, and they had worshipped those which they had made with their own fingers, as was spoken by Hosea and Isaiah the prophets (Hos. 8:4, Is.2:8). And from the books he started a not inconsiderable fire, throwing them in the flames in the middle of the forum. But he openly demonstrated the impotence and imbecillity of the idols, hanging them up at the cross-roads and in the main streets, proving that they were no more significant than they seemed to be, i.e. works of hand and art; nothing more than the artificers had wanted them to be, so again I shall make use of the words of the prophets. Also a man, whom some time previously had appeared to Simeon in a vision, was standing in the presence of the Governor, called in for investigation; but a certain monk, very like Simeon, seized him from the threat of a justice made mild, when the Governor was called away.
The events recounted belong to 555-6, when Justinian sent Amantius to suppress the Samaritan revolt in Palestine, and then to suppress non-conformists in Antioch, some of whom were labelled as “pagans”.[2]
Update: I have just discovered a long translation from the Life online! It’s somewhat different, but probably from a better text than that of the Latin translation in the Acta Sanctorum — I have no details on the transmission of the text. It may be found in A.D. Lee, Pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook, Routledge, 2013, 135-136:
7.2 Persecution of pagans in sixth-century Antioch: Life of the Younger St Symeon the Stylite 161, 164
The younger Symeon was a holy man who lived on one of the mountains near Antioch (521—92), and the modern editor of his biography considers it to have been written by one of Symeon’s disciples. Although this episode, probably from 555, is couched in high-flown language, the official at the centre of the investigations, Amantius, is known from an independent source which describes his involvement in the suppression of a Samaritan revolt (John Malalas Chronicle p. 487), and suppression of paganism is certainly a general feature of the emperor Justinian’s religious policies, as is book-burning (Maas 1992: ch. 5). Further reading: Trombley 1994: 182-95.
(161) Within a four month period of the holy man predicting all these events, that official arrived. His name was Amantius, and before coming to the city of Antioch, he destroyed many of the unrighteous found en route, so that men shuddered with fear at his countenance. For everywhere he suppressed all evil-doing whether in word or deed, inflicting punishment, including death, on those who had gone astray, so that from then on even those living a blameless life feared his presence. For he removed, as much as was possible throughout the east, all quarrelling, all injustice, all violence, and all wrongdoing. When this had happened, God showed his servant another vision, which he reported to us: ‘A decision has come from God against the pagans (Hellenes) and heretics (heterodoxoi), that this official will reveal the idolatrous errors of the atheists and gather together all their books and burn them.’ When he had foreseen these things and reported them, zeal for God took a hold of that official and after investigating, he found that the majority of the leaders of the city and many of its inhabitants were preoccupied with paganism (hellenismos), Manichaeism, astrological practices, automatism, and other hateful heresies. He arrested them and pur them in prison, and after gathering together all of their books — a huge number — he burned them in the middle of the stadium. He brought our their idols with their polluted accoutrements and hung them along the streets of the city, and their wealth was expended on numerous fines. … (164) … Then the judge took his seat on the tribunal and subjected to special punishments some of them, who had confessed to having committed many terrible crimes on account of their ungodliness; some he ordered to do service in the hospices, while others, who called themselves clerics, he sent to receive instruction in monasteries; still others he sent off into exile, while some he condemned to death. But by imperial command, the majority of them, who pleaded ignorance as an excuse and promised to repent, he released without further investigation. And so it came about that after being corrected, everyone was dispersed and none of them remained in prison, with the exception of one who had caused many disturbances during times of public unrest, on account of which he deserved punishment. So it was an appropriate time to recall the judgements of God and to sing the praises of his inexpressible benevolence towards us.
Few of us will read this account without a shudder. Such trials and punishments for wrong thinking are a sign of a decaying state. The fondness of the Byzantines for religious persecution was a feature of their state as long as they retained any vestige of power. Nothing in the account above is inconsistent with the policies of Justinian towards paganism or heresy.
I don’t know how historical this life is; but on the face of it, we do have clear evidence of Mango’s “derision”; although, if they were made of silver and gold, I suspect that they were not left unattended!
[1]A study exists of the Lives of this saint, but I have not seen it: Doran, Robert. The Lives of Simeon Stylites. Kalamazoo, Mich., 1992.↩
[2]Matthew Dal Santo, Debating the Saints’ Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great, Oxford, 2012, 201 and nn.191 and 192. The work discusses the political role of the saint, which provoked opposition to his foretellings in various quarters. “Indeed, Symeon’s hagiographer suggested that it was in response to the saints’ prayers that the emperor appointed a governor for the region who violently persecuted those who did not adhere to the empire’s official religion and its Providential economy.” A reference is given to “Van den Ven, La Vie ancienne de S. Symeon le jeune, II, 167-8 n.1.” and to the Life of St Symeon the Younger, cc. 78, 141, 158, 184, 188, 190, 221, 223, 231. See also Peter N. Bell, Social Conflict in the Age of Justinian: Its Nature, Management, and Mediation, Oxford, 2013, 240: “Such survivals help explain the ferocious activities throughout the East of Amantius, whose action against the Samaritans we know of independently.[=Malalas 487] He allegedly found on arrival in Antioch (around 555) the ‘majority of the leaders of the city’, including clerics, preoccupied with ‘”Hellenism”, Manichaeism, astrological practices, automatism and other hateful heresies’. The style of this Life is high-flown; the wrongdoers probably also included Miaphysites—heterodoxoi (heretics) are mentioned—and Christians who used magic in private. Yet the references to the burning of ‘idols with their polluted accoutrements’, recalling the purge of ‘Hellenes’ and the burning of their books and religious paraphernalia in Constantinople in 562, as at Alexandria earlier in the century, suggest that Amantius’ victims included many Pagans. No surprises here: the Life contains numerous further references to prominent Pagans in the city.”↩
Posted in From my diaryTagged Mango, Statues3 Comments on Idols “subjected to popular derision” at Antioch?
More idols overthrown, this time by St Abramius
The next reference in Mango’s article to idol-smashing is the following:
In the middle of the sixth century we hear of St. Abramius destroying pagan idols near Lampsacus on the Hellespont, in a village that was totally pagan.
The reference is to the Acta Sanctorum, the Acts SS, Abramii et Mariae, March, vol. 2, p.933. This is online here.
The reference appears to be to chapter 8. I’m afraid my Greek isn’t up to doing this in the brief time that I have available, but I see from the marginal Latin that he comes to a pagan village, builds a church, “idola evertiti” — overturns the idols, and… does something that the online text does not make clear, as I can’t read the text.
Anyone like to translate chapter 8 for us?
UPDATE: It is actually chapter 1 part 8. From the Latin (see comments below) it reads:
8. Where, when the blessed Abramius gathered them, he prayed in the way of the Lord, saying: “Most blessed and best Lord, have mercy on my imbecility, and send your grace to my help, so that it may glorify your holy name.” But coming to the town, he saw everyone there to be passionately held prisoner by the insanity of idolatry. So he wept bitterly, sighing, and raising his eyes to heaven said, “You, Lord, who alone are free from all sin, likewise alone are full of mercy, and alone are clement and benevolent, may you not despise the works of your hands.” And quickly he sent a proclamation to the city to some of his dearest friends, to send money to him from their remaining patrimony. When he had received it, within a few days he built a church, in which assiduously he offered prayer to God, and so prayed with many tears and said, “Gather, o Lord, your scattered people and lead them to this temple: illuminate their eyes and minds, let them know that you alone are God so that the worship of images may be repudiated. When he had finished this prayer, he immediately went out of the church, rushed to the pagan temple, where he destroyed their abominations and dragged down the images with his own hands and overthrew them. When those pagans found out, like so many wild beasts the bumpkins attacked him, and having been injured with many blows he fled from the town.
I don’t feel any great faith that this is a historical account. What part of it could not have been written by any monk at any time during the middle ages?
Posted in From my diaryTagged Abramius, Idol-smashing, Mango, Statues7 Comments on More idols overthrown, this time by St Abramius
Ancient Egyptian idols destroyed in the life of Severus of Antioch
Here is another statement from Mango’s article:
At the end of the fifth century a great number of idols, salvaged from the temple of Isis at Memphis, were concealed in a house behind a false wall. But their presence was detected by the Christians. The statues were loaded on twenty camels and taken to Alexandria where they were exposed to public ridicule and destroyed.
The reference is to the Life of Severus of Antioch, by Zacharias Rhetor (d. 553), published in the Patrologia Orientalis II (1903), p.27-37.[1] Originally composed in Greek, it survives only in Syriac. The last date in it is 512 AD, as it finishes before the events of the patriarchate of Severus. I’ve turned the French translation from the PO into English, and I have found that it is a very interesting read indeed.
Some introduction to the context is necessary.
The scene is set in Alexandria in the late 5th century. The emperor Zeno is on the throne, and Peter Mongus is the (monophysite) patriarch of Alexandria. The intellectual life of the city is lively, and the city is full of students. Many of the teachers are Christians, and there are plenty of zealous young men actively interested in the controversies of the day, and doing church work. These call themselves the Philoponoi — the “lovers of work”. But circles of pagan teachers such as Horapollon are still teaching in Alexandria, even though paganism is officially illegal and has been for a century. Some of these pagans are in touch with a temple and oracle of Isis at nearby Menouthis. Students come from all parts of the Eastern Roman Empire to study. There is also a (monophysite) monastery at Enaton, headed by a certain Salomon. The Pachomian monasteries are Chalcedonian, and there is one at Tabennesiote.
Paralios of Aphrodisias in Caria is one of these students who have come to Alexandria to get an education. He is a pagan, but has a brother who has gone into the Enaton monastery, and taken the name of “Athanasius”, where he works with a fellow monk and former sophist named Stephen. But Paralios has been instructed by his family to have no contact with Athanasius. He attends the lectures of Horapollon and Asclepiodotus; and then sneaks out to talk to Athanasius, and the shrewd Stephen. The latter plants doubts in his mind about paganism. For a while Paralios shuttles between the two camps. He visits Menouthis and listens to the oracle; and then hears criticism of the stupidity and superstition of paganism at Enaton.
He learns from Asclepiodotos of a pagan miracle; that the latter has had a child, even though his wife is too old. Stephen pointedly asks whether or not the sterile wife is also nursing the child. Paralios’ investigation suggests that the child is actually a fraud; the illegitimate son of one of the Isis priestesses. For his pains, he gets beaten up. The Christian students are outraged, and there are disturbances. The uproar is so great as to cause the monophysite monks at Enaton and the Chalcedonian Tabennesiote monks to make common cause against the pagans.
Now read on. The speaker is Zacharias himself.
At the news of these facts, the great Stephen called us to Enaton, at the Convent of Salomon. He asked Paralios, if he could reveal the pagan idols hidden at Menouthis. Paralios said that he would reveal them, that he would hand over the altar, and prove the sacrifices that they had dared do. Thereupon, we decided once again, with the most illustrious Salomon, to go and make known these things to the Bishop Peter. Once there, Paralios promised before Peter to reveal the idols, the altar and the sacrifices, and to make known the priest of the idolatrous error. The high priest of God, Peter, then gave us some members of the clergy and invited by letter those who lived in the convent called “of the Tabennesiotes”, located at Canopus, to help us eradicate and overturn the demonic gods of the heathen.
After praying, as was right, we went to Menouthis and came to a house which was totally covered with pagan inscriptions (hieroglyphics). In one corner the wall was double. Behind this wall, the idols were hidden. A narrow entrance in the form of a window led into it, and this is how the priest went in to conduct the sacrifices. Hoping that our search would lead to nothing, helpers of the priestess who lived in this house – they were indeed aware of the uprising that had taken place in the town – had filled up the mouth of the entrance with stones and lime. In addition, so that the recent nature of the masonry might not be observed, and so that we would not discover the ruse and the artifice, they placed a cabinet full of incense and popana (?) in front of the place, and above that they suspended a lamp which was kept burning until daylight. The result was that Paralios was initially a little troubled and embarassed, not knowing what had happened to the entrance, in the form of a window. However, not without difficulty, he discovered the ruse. He then made the sign of the cross, took down the lamp, moved the cabinet aside and revealed the entrance which was blocked at that moment with stones, by recent masonry work. He then asked the Tabennesiotes who were accompanying us to help, to bring an axe; then he ordered one of them to open what had been freshly constructed and to make the original aspect (of the opening) appear. The Tabennesiote then entered. When he saw the multitude of idols, and the altar covered with blood, he cried out in Egyptian, “There is only one God!”, meaning by this that the error of polytheism must be extirpated. First he handed us the idol of Kronos, which was entirely filled with blood; then all the other idols of the demons, then a varied collection of idols of every species, including dogs, cats, monkeys, crocodiles, and reptiles; because in the past the Egyptians worshipped also these animals. He also handed us the rebel dragon. His idol was of wood, and it seems to me that those who worshipped this serpent, or rather that the latter wanted to be worshipped in this way, recalled the rebellion of the first creatures, who did so by the wood (tree) on the advice of the serpent. It was said that these idols had been removed from the temple of Isis at Memphis by the priest of that period when it was realised that paganism had lost its strength and was abolished. They had been hidden, as we have said. It was hoped – a vain and futile hope – that they would not be discovered.
We gave to the flames, in Menouthis itself, those of the idols which, because of their high antiquity, were already largely deteriorated.
The inhabitants who lived in the town thought, under the influence of the demons who possessed them, that it was impossible for them to go on living if any outrage was inflicted on the idols; they believed that they would die on the spot. So we wanted to show them by the facts that all the power of the pagan gods and the demons was broken and abolished since the coming and incarnation of the Messiah, the Word of God, who voluntarily suffered for us on the cross, in order to destroy every adverse power; for He said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, and I have given you the power to trample underfoot serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy.” And it was for this reason that we gave one part of the idols to the flames. As for the other idols, we made an inventory of those that were of brass, and that were made with a certain ingenious art, as well as those which were of marble, of every form, without forgetting the brazen altar and the wooden dragon. Then we sent this description to the city, to Peter the patriarch of our Lord Jesus Christ, and asked him to tell us what to do.
Those who passed for Christians at Menouthis, and those who were part of the clergy of the church of the town, were, with the sole exception of their priest, quite weak in their faith, to the point that they were enslaved to the gold that the pagans gave them so that they would not prevent the latter offering sacrifices to idols. Evening arrived on the day on which we had done these things, and it was necessary to guard the idols, once the inventory had been made, so that they were not stolen, but they (the weak Christians) declared that they believed that they would suffer some kind of diabolical harassment in guarding them (the idols), and took the view that it was for us to guard them. On their side the pagans living at Menouthis thought and said that we would infallibly die during the night. The priest, seeing the fear of the Christians and the clergy – he was a good and faithful man, who adorned the virtues of the monastic life, as well as those of old age, and whose way of life was simple – led us, after he had given us a meal, into one of the chambers of the church, where the idols had been placed. He said to us, “At this point I despise the idols, and trample them underfoot, and inflict every outrage upon them, not thinking in any way that these are anything.” Then he prayed for us, and invited us to guard the idols throughout the night, without fear. “He himself,” he said, “would be, as usual, occupied with the service of God.”
We spent the whole night guarding the idols. We sang, “Let all those be ashamed who love the works of sculpture, and trust in their idols”, (Ps. 96:7) and then, “The gods of the nations are demons; but the Lord is the creator of the heavens,” (Ps. 95:5) and then, “The idols of the nations are of silver and gold, a work of the hands of men. They have a mouth and do not speak ….”,(Ps. 113:12-13) as well as the words that follow and are like them.
In the morning, when we got up, we found the pagans astonished to see us still alive. So greatly was the worship of certain demons and the error rooted in them! We then ran once more with our Tabennesiote monks to the house where the idols had been found and where the sacrifices had taken place and we demolished it from top to bottom. This was indeed the order of the archbishop.
Sunday arrived, the day when our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the tomb and broke the power of death. All the people of Alexandria, at the hour of the celebration of the office, made thousands of imprecations against Horapollon, and shouted that he should no longer be called Horapollon but Psychapollon, i.e. “He who loses souls”. Hesychios, who is admirable for his virtues (it was he that told me these things; at the time he was the leader of the Philoponoi, but now he is a priest), had stirred up everyone to zeal, with the help of Menas, who we mentioned earlier and whom it seemed right to leave in the town. The patriarch of God in his sermon made known to everyone the description of the idols which we had sent, in which were indicated the material of which they were made and the number of idols that had been found. Thereupon the people were inflamed, carried all the idols of the gods of the pagans, whether in the baths or in the houses, placed them in a heap and set fire to them.
A few days later we returned to the city (Alexandria). Together with the idols, we also brought their (the pagans’) priest with us. In fact it had been possible, with the help of God, to capture him also. Twenty camels were loaded by us with the various idols, although we had already burned some of them at Menouthis, as we have said. We brought them into the centre of the city, following the order which we had received from the great Peter. The latter immediately summoned around him, before the prefect of Egypt, the commanders of the regiments of soldiers, and all those who held senior office, as well as the senate, the important people, and the owners (= the “possessors”) of the city. When he sat down with them, he had the priest of the idols brought in, and ordered him to stand in a raised place. Then, after the idols had been uncovered, he began to question him. He asked him what this idolatry meant, which was exercised on a material without a soul, and ordered him to give the names of all the demons and say what was the cause of the form of each of them. At this time all the people had rushed in to see what was happening. He listened to what was said, and then laughed at the disgraceful deeds of the gods of the pagans whom the priest had made known. When the brazen altar and the wooden dragon had arrived, the priest confessed to the sacrifices which he had dared to carry out, and said that the wooden dragon was the one who deceived Eve. He believed this, he said, by tradition from the first priests. He said that the pagans worshipped the dragon. This was therefore given to the fire at the same time as the other idols. One could then hear, somehow, all the people shout, “Here is Dionysos, the hermaphrodite god! Here is Kronos who hates infants! Here is Zeus, the adulterer and seducer of young people! This one is Athena, the virgin who loves war; that one Artemis the huntress and enemy of strangers. Ares, that demon there, makes wars, and Apollo, that’s the one who kills lots of people. Aphrodite, she presides over prostitution. There are also some who have taken care to run away. As for Dionysus, he protects drunkenness. And see, among these idols the rebel dragon is also found! Among their number there are again dogs and monkeys, and, in addition, families of cats; for these too were gods of the Egyptians.” The people also laughed at the other idols.
If some of them had hands and feet, he [someone else is now speaking; presumably there is a lacuna] broke them and cried out jokingly in the language of the country, “Their gods don’t have any karoumtitin (?). Look at Isis, who has come to wash them!” Then he overwhelmed the pagans in a host of jokes of this kind, and praised Zeno, of pious end [this phrase seems out of place], who held at that period the sceptre of the empire, he praised Peter, the great patriarch, as well as the notables of the city who were sitting with him. Then everyone retired, praising God on the subject of the destruction of the error of the demons and the worship of idols. As for the priest of the pagan turpitude, it was ordered that he should be held for a more detailed investigation.
After these events, the great Stephen, remembering the fable of the sterile woman and the supposed child, and thinking what a great liar Asclepiodotos was, was worried in case the latter deceived people in Asia with his nonsense. Also the great Salomon secretly advised the archbishop to order that a court record of the depositions be drawn up by the defensor of the city, so that he could ask that the priest be interrogated on the subject of the child. This was done, and the priest confessed to all the things we have mentioned, because it is from him that we learned this. When the imposture of Asclepiotodos was known to everyone, the illustrious Stephen decided along with the great Peter to address a synodal letter to Nonnos, the bishop of Aphrodisias, in which he made known to him all the machinations of the pagans that the priest, during his interrogation, had put in writing (?) on the subject of the supposed child, and in which he was exhorted to reveal to all the history of this fable. But this synodal letter was never received. He who was charged to carry it, at been, on his arrival in Caria, corrupted by a bribe, as we learned later. In consequence the pagans of Aphrodisias believed for some time that the history of this fable was true, until the judge Adrastos took an interest – he was a pious man, who was the scholasticos of the country – and took care to bring from Alexandria to Caria, with the help of the prefect of Egypt at that time, a copy of the court record concerning this fable.
After he had offered an exploit of this kind to God, Paralios received the baptism of redemption, when Easter arrived, at the same time as many pagans, who had been full of zeal for idolatry until their old age, and had served the perverse demons for a long time. With them also was baptised the admirable Urbanus, who today in this imperial city is a teacher of Latin grammar, and Isidore of Lesbos, brother of Zenodotos whom I mentioned earlier, as well as many others. …
UPDATE: I find that Google Translate makes a very decent effort at translating the French text. Have a look at it here. You have to use your mind a bit, but you will still get a lot out of it.
UPDATE2: There is a complete English translation of this work available: The Life of Severus by Zachariah of Mytilene, tr. Lena Ambjörn, Gorgias (2008), 134p. Amazon here. It seems that the text itself was first published by J.Spanuth (ed.): Zacharias Rhetor: Das Leben des Severus von Antiochen in syrischer Uebersetzung, Gottingen (1893); and edited again and translated into French by F. Nau in ROC4 (1899), p.343-353, 544-571, and ROC 5 (1900), p.74-98. The text is preserved only in Ms. Sachau 321, no. 26 in the catalogue of the Berlin mss., p.94. The ms. dates from 741 AD, as a scribal note on fol. 173v tells us; the ms. was written by the priest and stylite Theudas (? Theodosius?) of the monastery of Psilta at the time when Stephanus was Abbot, i.e. A. Gr. 1052, which is 741 AD.
[1]Edited by M.-A. Kugener. The PO2 volume is online here; the French translation in it has been digitised by Marc Szwajcer at remacle.org here. There are emendations by E.W.Brooks in the JTS 5 (1904) p.369 f. An English translation of portions of the Life, with commentary, can be found in R. A. Darling Young, “Zacharias: The Life of Severus” in Ascetic behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: a sourcebook, ed. V. L. Wimbush, Fortress Press (1990), p.312-28. For an overview of the social context see Frank R. Trombley’s excellent work, Hellenic Religion and Christianization c.370-529, 2 vols, Brill (2001), Vol. 2, p.1 f. Preview here. Also Peter Brown, Power and persuasion in late antiquity: Towards a Christian empire, Wisconsin (1992), p.130. See also Christopher Haas, Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict, JHU (2006), p.187, who makes the interesting point (p.188) that, judging from the rise of biblical names in tax rolls, only 10% of the countryside remained pagan by 400 AD. There is an article, Elżbieta Szabat, The ‘great persecutions’ of pagans in 5th century Alexandria. Palamedes 7 (2012), 155-176. Here if you have a subscription.↩
Posted in From my diaryTagged Life, Paganism, Severus of Antioch, Statues3 Comments on Ancient Egyptian idols destroyed in the life of Severus of Antioch
Mark the Deacon on the destruction of the statue of Aphrodite
Following my last post, I find that the Life of Porphyry of Gaza, by Mark the Deacon, is online. Mango states (p.56):
At Gaza there stood in the center of town a nude statue of Aphrodite which was the object of great veneration, especially on the part of women. When, in 402, Bishop Porphyry, surrounded by Christians bearing crosses, approached this statue, “the demon who inhabited the statue, being unable to contemplate the terrible sign, departed from the marble with great tumult, and, as he did so, he threw the statue down and broke it into many pieces.” We may doubt that the collapse of the statue was altogether spontaneous.
The text is here and reads (slightly modernised):
59. But when we came into the city, in the place that is called the Four Ways, there was a statue of marble which they said was a statue of Aphrodite; and it was upon a base of stone, and the form of the statue was of a woman, naked, and having all her shame uncovered. And all they of the city did honour to the statue, especially the women, kindling lamps and burning incense. For they reported concerning it that it gave answers in dreams unto those who wished to make trial of marriage, but they deceived each other, speaking falsely. And often, being bidden by the demon to make a contract of marriage, they were so unfortunate that they ended up in divorce, or lived together in an evil way. These things we learned from those who turned aside from error and acknowledged the truth.
60. But some of the idolaters also, being unable to bear the calamity of the grievous marriages to which they had been led by the bidding of the demon of Aphrodite, were indignant and confessed the deceit. For that is what the demons do: deceive and say nothing at all that is true; for it is not in them to know for sure, but by guesses they delude and win over the people who are enslaved to them. For how can they speak truly who are fallen away from the truth? Even if they happen to prophesy something correctly, it is by chance that this happens, even as among men it often happens that one foretells concerning a matter and by chance it happens. When therefore they foretell the event correctly by accident, seeing that this is only seldom, we marvel; but though they continually get it wrong, of this we are silent. Thus much concerning demons and their error.
61. Now when we had come out of the ship into the city, as has been said, when we came to the place where was this idol of Aphrodite (but the Christians were carrying the precious wood of Christ, that is to say the figure of the Cross), the demon that dwelt in the statue beholding and being unable to suffer the sight of the sign which was being carried, came forth out of the marble with great confusion and cast down the statue itself and broke it into many pieces. And it happened that two men of the idolaters were standing beside the base on which the statue stood, and when it fell, it split the head of the one in two, and for the other it broke his shoulder and wrist. For they were both standing and mocking at the holy multitude.
62. And many of the Greeks when they beheld the sign which had come to pass, believed, and mingled with the layfolk and entered with them into the holy church which is called Peace. …
Mango’s suggestion that Porphyry and his followers actually vandalised the statue is a little odd; surely it defeats the point of the story?
Posted in From my diaryTagged Aphrodite, Mark the Deacon, Porphyry of Gaza, Statues8 Comments on Mark the Deacon on the destruction of the statue of Aphrodite
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February 13, 2017 2:52AM ET
Watch Katy Perry’s Politically Charged ‘Chained to the Rhythm’ at Grammys
Perry’s new single gets a live, primetime debut with Bob Marley’s grandson Skip
Elias Leight
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Rewatch time! Check out the Katy feat. @SkipMarley #ChainedToTheRhythm performance at the #grammys in high quality. #WeThePeople #Persist pic.twitter.com/60XAzKhljj — Katy Perry Lately! (@katyperrylately) February 13, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Katy Perry‘s new single “Chained to the Rhythm” enjoyed its live debut at the Grammys on Sunday. It’s a groove-heavy song with blatant nods to downtown 1980s New York – the title echoes Grace Jones’ 1985 classic “Slave to the Rhythm” – and the disco era from a few years before.
Perry’s performance was introduced by the country vocal group Little Big Town, who sang an a cappella snippet of “Teenage Dream.” The pop star then hit the stage in a white suit, dancing around the edge of an enclosure surrounded by a picket fence. Part of the fence eventually disappeared to reveal Perry collaborator and Bob Marley’s grandson Skip. After he delivered his verse, dancers rearranged the entire fence structure behind Perry and Marley to show a picture of the Constitution – in particular the phrase, “We the people.” “No hate!” shouted Perry.
Grammys 2017: The Complete Winners List
On Tuesday, Perry started to tease an unreleased track on Instagram with a video clip showing a foot chained to a disco ball. The next day, hardcore fans were able to hear the new single before it hit stores via special disco balls that Perry unveiled at several locations around the world. “Chained to the Rhythm” saw official release on Friday.
The single was co-written and co-produced by Max Martin, in attendance at the Grammys on Sunday, who has worked on 22 No. 1 hits – making him one of the most successful pop songwriters in history. Perry and Martin have a long history of successful collaboration: they also worked together on previous Perry hits like “I Kissed a Girl,” “Teenage Dream” and “California Gurls.”
Perry previously performed at the Grammys in 2015 and 2014. Though she has been nominated at the annual ceremony 13 times – four times in 2011 alone – Perry has never won an award.
In This Article: Katy Perry
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Tomaž Ilešič
ilesic@rppp.si
English, Serbian, Croatian, French
Tomaž specialises in competition law, M&A, corporate and commercial law and legal practice related to life sciences.
Tomaž has extensive experience in competition law and has advised in that field on several major corporate transactions undertaken by the firm. He has led defence teams in several attention-grabbing competition cases in front of national competition authority and European Commission.
He has developed a broad-based expertise through working with a range of major pharmaceutical companies. He focuses on representing clients in front of regulatory authorities and advises domestic and foreign clients.
Tomaž Ilešič has joined Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners in 2001 after his traineeship at Higher Court in Ljubljana.
One of the largest retailers in region with respect to drafting and filing the notification for merger clearance
A pharmaceutical client in the deference in alleged cartel case before European Commission and in the proceedings in front of the General Court of the European Union by challenging the decision of the EU Commission finding that the client had infringed Article 101 of the TFEU
A Client in the competition proceedings and when applying for leniency and obtainment of full immunity given by the Competition Protection Office of Slovenia
The international producer of construction aggregates on contractual agreements between one of the client’s subsidiaries and its main customer from the perspective of competition law
Company, specialising in ecology, transport and engineering, on the tendering process for construction of the new medical unit in Slovenia
Two pharmaceutical companies in the proceedings related to the alleged participation in a cartel with respect to price fixing and market sharing, when supplying medical products for human use to public pharmacies
A company specialising in international electricity trading on drafting and filing a notification for obtaining merger clearance in the acquisition of an energy company
One of the largest tobacco companies in Eastern Europe on the copyright infringement and a trademark cancellation claim
Master of Arts in European Studies, College of Europe, 1998
Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners, Associate and Senior Associate, 2001 – 2005
Higher Court in Ljubljana, Judicial Trainee, 2000 – 2001
Government of Slovenia, Office of Legislation, 1999 – 2000
Deloitte & Touche Ljubljana, 1998 – 1999
Co-author of the leading handbook on EU Law in Slovene language, Cankarjeva založba, 2002.
Co-author of the handbook “Legal aspects of association status of Slovenia”, Gospodarski vestnik, 2000.
Co-author of the Handbook on European Enlargement, T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague, 2003.
Co-author of the Lobbying in the European Union, Palgrave, 2002.
Co-author of the Guide to European Company Laws, 3rd edition, Sweet & Maxwell, 2007.
Numerous articles in the Slovenian law journals.
"The Best Young Lawyer of the year 2002 Award" awarded by the Slovene Lawyers’ Association
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Sarah Copus
Reviews - Sarah Copus "Moorland Winds"
Breathtakingly blissful – by Wouter Kellerman, Grammy® Winner 2015
The musical fabric of this magical masterpiece is interwoven from a wide range of styles and genres from traditional Irish, folk and alternative pop to harp-inspired favourites from England and the Hebrides. What struck me most is the creative production which includes very clever usage of various instrumentations and the unbelievable, unreal and angelic vocal performance from Sarah. Undeniably one of the voices of her generation!!! The breath-taking cover of Sting’s “Fields of Gold” is beautifully executed, as are the ethereal “Foggy Dew” and “Walking In the Air”.
By Bill Binkelman, Zone Music Reporter
In reviewing Sarah Copus’ breakthrough album Moorland Winds, I could be subtle and write “a budding artist emerges,” but instead, I think I’ll go full tilt fan-boy and scream “A STAR IS BORN!” This superb recording features an assortment of Celtic vocal and instrumental tunes would be an ace in the hole in any artist’s discography. However, when one realizes that Sarah isn’t even 18 years old, one can only be astonished. Of course, she has been performing and recording with her folks, Pamela and Randy Copus (as 2002) for seven years, which in and of itself is also remarkable). Mom Pamela sits in on the album on whistle and father Randy on guitar, and the other guest artists include Nathan Kennedy on fiddle, Rick Holt on bodhran, and James Song on violin (on one track). All of these fine musicians contribute mightily to the quality of music on the album. However, this is truly Sarah’s coming out party as she handles all the vocals and harp. The songs are a mixture of vocal pieces featuring Sarah’s haunting, delicate singing and both uptempo instrumentals, i.e. jigs, reels, hornpipes, as well as some serene ones, i.e. airs. Other than her cover of Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” (which is given a soft amber-glow tinted with tender regret), all the songs are decidedly Celtic, many being traditional pieces, such as the opening “Wind on the Moor” or the closing “She Moved Through the Fair.” Sarah also composed a song, “Buttercup Spree” which segues into two traditional jigs (if you are unfamiliar with Celtic/Irish music recordings, many tracks actually contain two or three songs separated in the track title by a slash, e.g. the one I just mentioned which is “Buttercup Spree/Garrett Barry’s Jig/Clare Jig.”
Instead of the variance between moods and tempos causing a lack of cohesion, the opposite is true (and this is frequently the case with Irish/Celtic music recordings, to be honest). Moorland Winds is an excellent addition to the genre and any fan of this music should fall in love with the album. Yes, Sarah’s voice is still “growing” of course, meaning that as she gets older, she will likely develop more “pipes,” meaning she will be able to have a fuller voice, but she already has wonderful pitch, nuance, tone, and she sings with a maturity that is way beyond her years. Her harp playing talent is also staggeringly accomplished for someone her age. Throw in that she adroitly sings in both English and Celtic/Gaelic and, well, can you see why I say a star is born?
I could go on and on and detail some of my favorite tracks but that would merely polish the diamond. Sarah Copus is shining brightly on Moorland Winds (as she did on the most recent 2002 recording, Celtic Fairy Lullaby) and I fully expect that her light will only grow brighter and more resplendent with time. Which leads me to stating with no small measure of confidence that Sarah may become the next “big thing” in Celtic music. After all, the grand dames (and you know of whom I speak) in that genre must eventually give way to younger, more vibrant talent, right? Who better to assume the pinnacle/throne than this ultra-talented budding beauty? Aye, lads and lassies, the future is indeed bright for this young woman. And we will all be the better for it.
By Tony Lawless, Tradconnect
The future is bright for Sarah Copus on her debut album Moorland Winds
Sarah Copus was just 10 years old when she performed solo for the first time, singing and playing harp. Now after hundreds of performances, at the age of 13, Sarah is releasing a solo album of her favourite music called Moorland Winds. When asked about the tracks she chose for the album, Sarah said: “Some of these pieces are simply classics. Some are very old, perhaps even ancient. I love performing them so much that I wanted to make sure they would be around for a long time to come.”
Sarah is an award-winning and Billboard charting singer/songwriter who lives in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. She has been performing and recording for over 7 years with her parent's platinum selling progressive new age band, 2002, and more recently as a solo artist. As an artist under the age of 18, she has had some extraordinary success: two albums hit the Billboard Charts that feature her as lead singer, radio airplay across hundreds of stations worldwide, and a Best Vocal Album award from the Zone Music Reporter Awards Show in 2015. Her most recent recording was with 2002 on Celtic Fairy Lullaby which we launched on Tradconnect in March 2016.
This is a track from Moorland Winds called 'Wind on the Moor', an ancient folk song from the Hebrides played on Celtic harp and sung in both English and Scottish Gaelic.
Sarah has been a student of the North Texas School of Irish Music for over 5 years and during that time has learned a lot, explored Irish and Scottish music and has travelled to Ireland as part of the school’s annual student exchange programme. North Texas School is very active when it comes to traditional music and has played a big part in Sarah’s early musical life. Combining this experience with her recording and performance work with 2002 has been a life-changing adventure.
In a recent discussion with Sarah’s mother Pamela Copus, she explained the background to this solo recording: “The reason for Moorland Winds, is that Sarah (being a harpist) gets lots of requests to perform, not just at weddings, but senior centers, libraries, restaurants, and of course, any Celtic-type festival or pub. She did 160 performances during the 2014 - 2016 period, not just solo harp, but with quite a few other bands. She was getting constant requests for a CD featuring the exact music from the performances. So she gathered up the set lists, picked out her favourites and invited some of the other musicians she had performed with to create the product that was in so much demand.”
“On a personal note, as parents, it’s a time-capsule for us. So was Celtic Fairy Lullaby. When we recorded Celtic Fairy Lullaby, Sarah had been singing in a Gaelic youth chorus for years. We knew those days would eventually end and we very much wanted to capture those songs. But it became more than just a memento for us of that magic time in Sarah’s life. It became a rather nice album and has been well-received.”
"Moorland Winds is a new time capsule. Sarah has grown immensely as a vocalist, musician and arranger. She has some serious skills in the recording studio. Her voice has matured. You know, most parents make 'scrapbooks' with all the photos and bits and pieces of memories and important events in their children’s lives. I guess we make albums instead. You know Sarah was only 5 years old when she recorded backing vocals on Yeshua. That song eventually wound up on our album Believe. As the years have passed, her contributions have grown considerably. The future of 2002 is very bright. We are all so excited with all of the things we can do now as 3 people. (Plus we are super-excited to have a violin/fiddle in the band!).”
By Gail Roberts – Céili Magazine July – August 2017
Sarah Copus is a local treasure, only 13 years old but with a resume many adult musicians would envy. She has had two albums hit the Billboard Charts and won Best Vocal Album Award from Zone Music Reporter Awards Show in 2015. Just this year, Sarah was a featured performer at the 2017 North Texas Irish Festival and has performed with internationally acclaimed groups such as Celtic Woman, The Irish Tenors and Celtic Thunder. Her musical skills include singing and playing the harp, violin, piano and ukulele.
Moorland Winds is her latest release and it is stunning in its beauty and polish. It’s a perfect showcase for both her talent as a harpist and her lovely singing voice. On several songs, she performs in both Gaelic and English, bringing an authenticity to traditional Irish tunes.
Beginning with the haunting Wind on the Moor, the ethereal melody of the harp transports the listener to a windswept moor, borne by her angelic rendition of Gaelic song of longing. The sweet sadness of remembering long ago love also comes through softly in her rendition of Fields of Gold.
Gleanntáin Ghlas’ Ghaoth Dobhair was made for Sarah’s haunting harp and delicate Gaelic voice. It really showcases her mastery of the instrument, conveying much emotion in her song. Lest you think this album is all delicacy and lightness, she captures the traditional spirit of festive dancing in Rights of Man/Off to California and Merrily Kiss the Quaker/The Mist Covered Mountain, as well as several other traditional songs.
Her arrangement of the classic Foggy Dew was not the usual aggressive almost martial sound one usually hears, but a thoughtful, melancholy lament of lost youth and lives given in search of freedom.
One of my favorites on this album was Walking in the Air. It’s mystical and magical and so exquisite. I could listen to this song over and over. Close your eyes, listen and you will be walking in the air and floating in the midnight sky along with Sarah.
For the ultimate enjoyment of the nuances and delicacy that a talented harpist can achieve, the haunting beauty of Dawning of the Day makes me appreciate the emotional impact of the instrument that is the ultimate symbol of Ireland – the harp.
The sound mixing in this album was pitch perfect and her arrangements suited both her voice and her instrument. It’s an excellent production and a pleasure to listen to.
Sarah’s skill at such a young age makes me excited to think of what a wonderful future she has ahead of herself making music. I look for her to be a Headliner at the North Texas Irish Festival in not too many years!
By Roman C. Guzman - KRVR, The River
Moorland Winds quickly became my family's favorite CD shortly after it's first play. My wife keeps taking my copy, my daughter listens to it when she goes to bed I will have it on just about all the time. Absolutely beautiful music from beginning to end. It's very nice that Sarah Copus is such a talented young lady but, for me, all that really matters is the music. Does it move me, does it get inside me, does it take me on a journey.... Moorland Winds does that and more. Sarah Copus was clearly born to play.
By R J Lannan, ZMR
Moorland Winds is the marriage of music and magic brought about by the creativity of talented harpist and extraordinary vocalist Sarah Copus. Celtic, Irish Traditional, and pop favorites are woven into a fabric of strong musical textures, ethereal vocals and masterful instrumentation. In no time at all, every one will be a favorite. Highly recommended.
By William MacArthur - Celtic Radio – May 2017
Sarah Copus is a talented award-winning performer. She sings and writes her own songs, but she is also an accomplished harpist. In her particular case, music is something that truly runs in the family. She has been making music for many years alongside her parents, who are in a new age prog bands. However, in 2016 Sarah took the next step forward and decided to try her hand at a solo career. Even under the young age of 18, she managed to hit the Billboard charts with not one, but two albums, which generated positive responses, airplay and rave reviews on a global scale.
Sarah also performs in Gaelic, and is heavily involved with the Texas Celtic music community, often performing with talented local musicians and attending events, festivals and venues on a regular basis.
Sarah is only 13, yet she already has a stunning debut album under her name and a recent recording called Moorland Winds. This record features powerful renditions of stunning classics, performed with a lot of passion, respect, and humility. The artist herself stated that she decided to record these songs out of her love for these timeless melodies, and her desire to help preserve them for new generations of listeners.
The result is a record featuring some well-known folk songs, but also some performances that have a deep, personal touch and a strong connection with the artist. Sarah managed to showcase her musicianship on this release, not only by highlighting her versatility as a harpist, but also by exposing her vocal chops, with great harmonies, a really nice range, and some amazing arrangements. On this record, other talented musicians also appear, including Sarah’s parents, Randy and Pamela (on guitar and whistle, respectively), as well as Rick Holt (Bodhran), Nathan Kennedy (Fiddle) and James Song (violin).
The album is currently available worldwide via iTunes, and you can learn more about this young talent directly on Sarah’s official website:
http://www.sarahcopus.com
5 Stars from Celtic Radio!
© 2019 Galactic Playground Music
Wind on the Moor 5:02
Fields of Gold 3:59
Away from the Roll of the Sea 3:27
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A Message from President Judd About the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Policy
Cristle Collins Judd
Dear Members of the Sarah Lawrence Community,
I write to you today to affirm unequivocally Sarah Lawrence College’s support for undocumented students who are pursuing higher education through the protections created by the policy known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). In 2012, President Obama moved to protect the educational and employment interests of undocumented young adults who entered the United States prior to June 2007. Specifically, the President formulated a policy memorandum known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that allowed undocumented students to apply for protected status to remain in the United States. As President Trump considers issuing a new policy memorandum this week, it appears likely that the administration will move to eliminate or curtail within a certain timeframe the protections afforded by DACA. If that is the case, hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers”—DACA students and workers engaged in meaningful, productive activities—will face heightened risk of deportation unless Congress acts swiftly to protect their interests.
I write today first to assure the Sarah Lawrence community that the College will not change its policies regarding the enrollment status of Dreamers and undocumented students at Sarah Lawrence if DACA is eliminated or diluted. As a private institution, the College does not take into account immigration status in its admission decisions, nor will it do so. As a matter of both practice and policy, the College does not record or track students’ DACA status. To reiterate principles articulated last year: Sarah Lawrence College will not voluntarily provide information about the documentation status of any student, nor will the College participate voluntarily in any effort by federal authorities to deport a student solely on the basis of citizenship status. The College is committed to using, to the maximum extent possible, its relationships with local, state, and federal authorities to protect the rights and interests of any student at immediate risk of deportation.
While the College does not record or share information about immigration status, we do know that there are Sarah Lawrence students who have chosen to publicly self-identify as DACA students. Let us all remember that DACA students were brought to this country as children. To reach Sarah Lawrence and other colleges and universities, they have shown themselves to be excellent students of excellent character. They have done so while enduring the extraordinary psychological pressure created by their status and without access to many of the resources of their peers. We strongly affirm the contribution that these students and their peers have made at Sarah Lawrence and at colleges and universities around the country. And we recognize and affirm the promise they hold of being vibrant members of American society. We also recognize that having accepted the promise of DACA status, these students now feel at increased risk. It is worth the reminder as well, that in addition to students who have publicly self-identified, there may be other DACA students in our community who have chosen not to make this information public, a decision that we as a community respect, understand, and support. It should go without saying that we affirm the value all of our students bring to our community.
Sarah Lawrence College has conveyed to members of the New York Congressional delegation its support of programs that protect the interests of undocumented students seeking advancement through college education. As a member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the American Council for Education, we stand with thousands of colleges and universities that support in principle and practice the right of individuals, whatever their documentation status, to seek advancement through higher education.
Sarah Lawrence will continue to advocate for students at risk through the potential elimination of DACA, and to recognize the benefit to our community and our society for a path to citizenship for these “dreamers”. Yet, at this moment in history, the most powerful advocacy for DACA students will come not from statements such as this by college and university presidents, but from the collective voices of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and families reaching out directly to their respective elected officials in Congress. If you feel strongly about the protections afforded students who may be undocumented, now is the time to convey your convictions to the Representatives from your home district. You can use the website house.gov/representatives/find/ to find your Representative and then send a message of your choosing on this issue. You can find and contact your home-state Senators at senate.gov/senators/contact/.
As your new president, I share the historic view of the leadership of Sarah Lawrence College, including the College’s Board of Trustees, regarding the paramount importance of the right of individuals of all backgrounds to enroll and succeed in college. As you know, across this inaugural year the College is addressing the theme of “Democracy and Education.” A panel on Immigration and Citizenship, the details of which are still being finalized, is among the scheduled events related to that theme and I look forward to sharing further information with you as it becomes available. More broadly, the College is part of a recently formed consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education with Bard, Bennington, and Vassar Colleges. The consortium received a planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the development of curriculum to involve students in civic engagement both locally and abroad in relation to this global issue and the larger immigration and refugee policy questions related to it. Through public forums and initiatives such as these, along with ongoing campus conversations and activities, my hope is that we as a College will lead on moving such issues forward.
Finally, even as I encourage you to join me in addressing pressing issues such as this one in the larger policy realm, let me return to a more personal note, to express again our support for our students, our respect for the variety of hardships and challenges they have endured and overcome on the path to college, and our reiteration of the promise of a Sarah Lawrence education and the productive life to which it leads. One of those students, Moises Serrano, has shared his own story with power and poignancy. With his permission, I recommend it to you: forbidden.logotv.com.
Cristle Collins Judd, President
president@sarahlawrence.edu
Men's Basketball Earns Team Academic Excellence Award For Stellar Classroom Performance
Writing Faculty Marek Fuchs, the RBG of Hot Dogs, Judges Annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island
Politics Faculty Member Samuel Abrams Discusses Regional Politics - Americans Are More Alike Than Not
Pioneering Photographer Susan Meiselas '70 Speaks to Vogue On The Power Of The Unretouched Woman
Interview with Heidi Diehl '03 About Her Debut Novel, Lifelines
In Conversation: Author Dani Shapiro ‘83, MFA ‘89 and President Cristle Collins Judd
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Hairstyles over the years
The smell of chemicals and hair dye fill the room. Pieces of cut hair are scattered across the tile floor. The ringing bell sounds as customers enter the salon. Magazines and products are in the front for people to grab and keep them busy. The loud sound of cutting hair enters my ears.
Hairstyles for women have changed tremendously over the past years, since 2010 to 2018. Many of these styles have made lots of women more confident and happy, and others not as much. A lot of these “trends” have made men more or less attracted to their girlfriend or wife, depending on the way they changed their hair.
“I think the best generation of women’s hairstyles was in 2017.” - Braeden Davis. In 2017, hairstyles ranged from space buns and stylish bobs to long, wavy hair. Ombré was also a big trend in this year, with girls dying their locks top to bottom shading from dark to light. This year, along with 2017, were the ones that started accepting women of color with natural hair. In the years before, natural hair wasn’t really accepted in society and black women were frequently pressured into perming, straightening, and blow drying their hair to make it “pretty.”
“2012 or 2011 were definitely the worst years of hairstyles.” - Naomi Boone. Back in this era, many young women would have a bang covering over one of their eyes. There was also many short, sort-of pixie cut looks. Lots of middle aged women cut their hair shorter, such as P!nk, Miley Cyrus, and Halle Berry.
“In my opinion, 2018 is going to be the year for a new, fresh look in women’s hair.”
Naomi Boone.
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Chemical in Many Consumer Plastics Linked to Heart Disease
A second study links BPA measured in human urine to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease
By David Biello on January 13, 2010
Higher concentrations of bisphenol A—a common ingredient in plastics found in products ranging from polyester to water bottles—have been linked to heart disease, according to a new follow-up study. A similar study was performed by the same team in 2008 using older data from a survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"Our analysis of the [earlier data] was rightly treated with caution; it was the first ever report of these links," says epidemiologist Richard Melzer of the Peninsula Medical School in England, an author of both studies, the latest one published Tuesday in PLoS ONE. "Associations with heart disease were clearly present again."
Analyzing urine results collected, also by the CDC, from 2,605 U.S. subjects of all ages, the researchers found that higher levels of bisphenol A (BPA) were associated with coronary heart disease, again. Roughly 10 percent of men aged 60 or older who were among the top third in BPA concentrations developed cardiovascular disease compared with roughly 7 percent of similarly aged men with the lowest BPA concentrations, a difference that was statistically significant. "Given the obvious concern that BPA might be driving these health effects, we now need to clarify the mechanism behind these associations," Melzer says.
One possibility is offered by a 2008 study in Environmental Health Perspectives, which found that human fat tissue exposed in culture to BPA showed suppressed levels of adiponectin, a human hormone excreted by fat cells that controls sugar levels in the blood. And another study that year found BPA stored in the fat tissue of women and children in Spain.
"Decreased adiponectin, if it happens in vivo, appears to be a bad thing and could result in increased heart disease," says environmental health scientist Richard Stahlhut of the University of Rochester Medical Center, who was not involved in the research. "So this could be real if [these studies] are right."
To determine that will require further research, such as testing BPA exposure and adiponectin levels, and whether high concentrations of BPA predict subsequent onset of new disease. And there are other candidates for the mechanism behind the link. "The animal and cell work suggest a number of possibilities, including disruption of sex hormone signaling, changes in adiponectin release, oxidative damage, and direct effects on muscle cells," Melzer says. But "this new analysis shows that the trends are present repeatedly. This greatly strengthens doubts about the safety of BPA and the case for research."
BPA is a ubiquitous component in many plastics, including the form of polycarbonate used to make products such as water and baby bottles, sports equipment, medical and dental devices, and eyeglass lenses. The compound is also used to make epoxy resins that coat the insides of food and beverage cans. More than one million metric tons of the polymer is made in the U.S. alone each year. Human exposure is thought to result from eating or drinking contaminated food and beverages that have picked up BPA from plastic containers or plastic container liners. It remains unclear how long BPA lingers in the body, a topic Stahlhut has researched, finding that it can still be detected in human urine even after 24 hours of fasting.
Already, both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration have undertaken new reviews of BPA safety, although the FDA has missed several deadlines for its new report. Countries such as Canada and states including Minnesota have banned BPA in products such as baby bottles because infant exposure could be more dangerous. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services's National Toxicology Program has classified BPA as of "some concern" for "development of toxicity in fetuses, infants and children—with effects on the brain, behavior and the prostate gland," warning in a report that "the possibility that bisphenol A may alter human development cannot be dismissed."
For now, U.S. scientists with concerns about BPA recommend that anyone sharing those worries avoid using products made from it: Polycarbonate plastic can be clear or colored, and is typically marked with a "number 7" on the bottom, and canned foods such as soups can be purchased in cartons instead.
But the data in this latest study also revealed something puzzling: falling levels of BPA in urine when 2006 measurements were compared with 2004; concentrations decreased from an average of 2.49 to 1.79 nanograms per milliliter. "There don't seem to have been any changes in assay methods used by the labs at CDC Atlanta," Melzer notes. "BPA in baby's bottles has been very controversial and we speculate that manufacturers may be switching to other plastics for use involving food and beverages."
And it may be that the link between BPA and heart disease is merely correlation and not causation. "Could there be a reason why heart disease patients or diabetics or even just obesity maybe would get exposed to higher levels of BPA than the rest of us?" Stahlhut asks. "Replication is not very sexy, but it is important…. It makes it more likely that we have a real association. It doesn't address whether or not the association is causal, just that it's not as likely due to chance."
David Biello
David Biello is a contributing editor at Scientific American.
China's Xi Outshines Trump as the World's Future Energy Leader
Cleaning the Air with Plastic [Excerpt]
Fact or Fiction?: Premium Gasoline Delivers Premium Benefits to Your Car
BPA study: Plastic chemical is unhealthy for children and other living things
September 16, 2008 — Jordan Lite
Like a Guest That Won't Leave, BPA Lingers in the Human Body
January 28, 2009 — David Biello
Consumer Alert: Plastics in Baby Bottles May Pose Health Risk
April 21, 2008 — David Biello
Are some chemicals more dangerous at low doses?
April 3, 2009 — David Biello
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ANDY LAFFAN
Enquire about works by Andy Laffan
Prices from £650 to £1950
"The Lewisian complex or Lewisian gneiss is a suite of Precambrian metamorphic rocks that outcrop in the north-western part of Scotland, forming part of the Hebridean Terrane. These rocks are of Archaean and Paleoproterozoic age, ranging from 3.0–1.7 Ga. Rocks of the Lewisian complex were caught up in the Caledonian orogeny, appearing in the hanging walls of many of the thrust faults formed during the late stages of this tectonic event."
Andy Laffan thinks in 3 dimensions, after a career in interior design, space planning, visualisation and technology he has now settled in the Outer Hebrides to develop his own sculptural practice. "The geology of these remote islands has always interested me, and the chance to explore sculptural ideas and work with some of the oldest rocks in the UK was a key part of my decision to relocate to the Isle of Lewis".
Standing Stone - 2017, Lewisian gneiss, hardwood and acrylic, 54 x 16 x 10 cm – 10 kg. £1300
Cornerstone I - 2018, Lewisian gneiss, 30 x 20 x 40 cm, 30 kg. £1950
Doorstop I - 2019, Lewisian gneiss, 20 x 15 x 10 cm, 8 kg. £650
Fragmented Earth II - 2017, Lewisian gneiss, hardwood and aluminium, 30 x 40 x 34 - 35kg. £1950
Fluid-Rock - 2017, Lewisian gneiss and acrylic, 23 x 38 x 24 cm - 15 kg. £1950
Doorstop II - 2019, Lewisian gneiss, 20 x 15 x 10 CM, 8 kg. (650
Metamorphism I - 2018, Lewisian gneiss, 18 x 36 x 28 cm, 25 kg. £1300
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I WANT TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START.
Learn from Chad Mureta...
That Moment When You Almost Die from a Car Crash but Get Inspired WIth a New Business Idea in the Hospital
Secret to Success – Chad Mureta
Entrepreneur Success Stories
Sometimes all it takes is one incident for people to wake up and change their ways. This was the case for Chad Mureta, a former real estate developer who was in the market during the housing bubble crash. As an overworked business owner, Chad took a night out with friends and was involved in a near fatal car accident when a deer jumped in front of his car. While laying in his hospital bed with hundreds of thousands in debt, a friend introduced him to the world of apps. That moment spurred Chad to borrow money from his family to develop his first app which turned out to be a success. Since then, Chad has launched over 65 apps and has become a self-made multi-millionaire in doing so.
Tell us a little about your background…
I always had a dream to get away from the rat race. I grew up in Vermont, which is an amazing state but it’s also sort of secluded. I grew up in a family where everyone is blue collar and both my parents made about $35,000 a year. No one really had this type of entrepreneurial mindset. I realized a lot of problems people had in relationships was due to money. I saw divorces all over the place and I said, “I cannot live my life like this” so I had to figure out a way to actually make money and enjoy life. I went to college thinking that if I jumped into business management it would give me the tools I needed. So I started that journey by basically running an eBay business out of my dorm room and doing different random things to make money.
Eventually, I got into real estate and started flipping houses. Everyone was in real estate and making money so I said, “Okay, this is my path to freedom.” I started reading Robert Kiyosaki’s books to learn as much as I can about real estate and cash flow. That really motivated me and inspired me. I was in my early 20s so I felt like I had the whole world ahead of me.
I started flipping properties and made some really good money and I thought, “How can I take this to the next level?” That’s always been kind of the question for me, how can I take what I’m doing now to the next level no matter what level I’m at. At that time, I thought I was opening up a real estate company down in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which was where I went to college.
How did your real estate company do?
In 2006 it was growing and really transient by nature so I took all the money that I had and invested it in this company. However, it was the worst possible time to invest and start a real estate company because the market was just about to crash. I watched all this money that I just made and all the effort that I put in basically go down the tubes. I was struggling to keep my team alive, keep things happy, and I was just working these crazy 18-hour days, seven days a week, and I was just consumed. I think most people were basically just giving up but I had a blue print in my mind. I was like, “I’m going to make this happen no matter what.” The problem was that I was sacrificing everything in my life – so relationships, my health, time to myself. I wasn’t really working out or doing anything because I was just completely consumed by work.
You went through a near life ending event. Tell us what happened.
I had this moment where I was like, “Okay, I have to do something. I have to actually take some time to relax a little bit and take a breath.” The Boston Celtics, my basketball team, were playing in Charlotte, North Carolina so I invited a friend with me to go and watch the game. I met Michael Jordan who was my biggest idol growing up. I was looking around and I was like, “Gosh this is amazing.” People actually do stuff at night. They relax, they get entertained.” I was like, “Okay I have to make a major shift because what I’m doing is not working.”
I was driving home on the interstate that night around 10:30. I was just in my head thinking, “I have to make a major shift. What can I do?” It’s amazing once you are dedicated to that, the universe has an interesting way to show up and it did. A deer ran out in front of me in the interstate and I hit the deer. I ended up swerving back and forth and smashing to a tree and my truck flipped over four times. Everything changed for me in that moment, everything.
Fortunately you made it out alive but what was the outcome of your accident?
I basically woke up in the hospital and they said that I’ll never use my arm again. They were going to amputate it or I wasn’t going to have any feeling basically. With all this uncertainty of my life, everything got put into perspective because business wasn’t that important now. My health was important, relationships are important because I wasn’t connecting with people, and also, the kind of business that I was doing. I was realizing this business that I started needed me around all the time so if was out of the picture then this thing was going to go down the tubes because everyone was listing their properties with me. I was like, “Geez, I totally messed up and I don’t even know what I was going to do.” I just spent all my money making this business survive. Seeing that I had hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills was a lot to take in. I didn’t know what I was going to do.
You had your ‘aha’ moment in the hospital and thus started your app career. How did it come to you?
This was in January of 2009 and I had just got an iPhone. I’m lying in my hospital bed looking to the left of me and had my clothes that were all cut up in a million pieces. I ended up getting in contact with a friend of mine who came and said, “Hey, I know you’re in a bad place and I know that things are really messed up for you right now. You have a business that’s going down the tubes.” He was like, “There’s a gold rush right now for apps.” I was like, “What the heck is an app? I’m not a developer. I’m not a coder. Why am I even wasting my time with this stuff? Look at me.”
He said, “Just think about it” and showed me this article. It was these two guys who had no tech experience at all but had started up this business and came up with a few app ideas. They made a tremendous amount of money and it was that moment that I saw and said, “Okay, well if these guys do it. I can do it too.” I can see that mobile is going to catch on. I can anticipate the change of the market. Internet is here. Online is pretty strong. It’s evidently going mobile.
As I lay in the hospital bed, it’s amazing what morphine can do because I got really creative and started drafting out this idea that I had for an app, which was based on people trying to grab my phone during the accident. I was like, “If I had all this information in my phone, I want some type of security in there so people can’t grab my pictures and stuff like that.”
I borrowed $1,800 from my step-dad. I basically said, “Look, I’m in a bad place. I don’t know if this going to work. I feel like I can make it work.” I think at that time, he didn’t have a lot of money either but he said, “You know what, I believe in you so here you go.” If I didn’t have that money to get going, I don’t know what I would have done but that was a great little jumpstart for me for sure. I started drafting the app and somehow wired money to India and hired this guy.
Long story short, I had my first app in the store two months later and it started generating revenue. It was absolutely incredible.
What was your first app?
It was basically a fingerprint security app. I understand the demographic and what they would want so I made it with good sounds and really good graphics. However, it didn’t actually read fingerprints. It did keep people out and worked as security because a lot of people at that time didn’t know really what an iPhone was. If you left the screen open and someone grabbed your phone and tried to scan their fingerprint, it was set up so only I could trigger it to unlock it for me. It looked real and had intent of going through the fingerprints. It had a secret unlock button on the top right that no one can see. The app had to be open and so you can basically close the screen. If they opened up, it would be in the fingerprint app.
You mentioned you outsourced your entire app to a programmer in India. How did you find them?
Someone from the hospital was actually from India so I didn’t have the idea of outsourcing to India at first. He basically said, “Hey, I’ve got this cousin that’s doing development and you can contact him.” Again, I’m in this weird state. I’m all messed up. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on. I was like, “Okay. That sounds great.” It was definitely a guided moment because that guy put me in touch with the team that actually was able to develop what I was looking for.
This was obviously during a time when apps were relatively new to consumers and developers. How were you able to ensure your development went smoothly?
There were tons of obstacles. It was brand new so there’s no education. There was no book resource so most of it was just falling on my face and kind of learning how to deal with it, but it was nothing like I expected. Actually, it didn’t go as bad as it could have. I was basically stuck basically trying to get my arm to work again so I was pretty present during the process which is key for an app. You have to make sure that you’re constantly there, laying things out the right way, getting back to them, etc.
Luckily, they had done apps before but it wasn’t their very first iPhone app. I think they didn’t really understand completely how to go back and forth with the customer that had no tech experience so I had to learn how to communicate. It was somewhat of a foreign language but I always looked at it from the perspective of “I can figure this out. As long as I communicate properly and I really give them the expectations, I should figure this out somehow.”
I wasn’t really able to use computers so I sketched everything out. I tried to make it as good as I possibly could and then I faxed it to myself, turned it to PDF and I just emailed it to them. I went over how I wanted to look in sequence and stuff like that.
They started sending me three different examples. I said, “Hey, this is what I want. Send me three different examples. Let’s talk about it. Let’s tweak it if we need to.” During the whole process, I basically was there when they would do a couple of screens or make a button or program something. “Send me this immediately so I can look at it and then I’ll get back to you with my comments.”
Do you still use the same programmers in India to this day?
I’ve done over probably 65 different apps so I learned a lot, worked with a lot of different teams. The first one, I was fortunate because it was an actual team that had designers and programmers but as I started doing more apps with them, I saw a hole. I saw that things were a lot more expensive. They started charging more because they had value. I also felt like talking between India was difficult because miscommunication was really easy since it wasn’t the native language. I did four or five apps with them and I moved on to a different team. I was constantly doing that – doing a few apps, learning, moving on to somebody else until I kind of found the sweet spot.
A lot of entrepreneurs like to wait until their product/app is ‘perfect’ before they release. What’s your take on that?
I hate the word perfect. I think that that’s probably the worst thing that people can have because nothing is ever perfect. The standards have changed for Apple so before you could basically throw a bunch of stuff out there and make quite a bit of money. Now, the user demands more and Apple actually demands more so they will reject the apps that don’t fit a certain quality. I think probably the best advice I could give is make sure you get something in the store and if it’s taking you a while, scale it back a little bit and get something in there that you’re proud of. It should be good quality as far as design, and I say good quality meaning it works and aesthetically as pleasing. Once you have kind of that base, I really believe in getting anything in the store because without that, you have nothing.
What revenue model did you choose between free, paid, or freemium?
It was the paid version for $0.99 before the whole freemium model was introduced. I started making quite a bit of money on it and I said, “Okay, this is a real business and I can really dedicate my energy this way” because it was amazing. Imagine waking up and you’re getting downloads from countries you didn’t even realize were countries. I was making $200-$400 a day and I wasn’t doing anything. The first time, I was like okay, finally, there’s a business out there that can actually pay you where you don’t have to trade time which to me was incredible because I’ve always been looking for that my whole life.
What was your game plan in terms of upkeep and tweaks?
It took off but then again I didn’t know what I was doing. I did tweaks but it lasted for about two months and then it slowly started going down. When it went down, I started again realizing, “Okay, there are certain things I’m not doing that I need to do” and it made me really be present in that business because I thought I was going to make $400 a day for the rest of my life for some reason. It made me realize there are certain clues of the business, certain things I needed to do. I started really tweaking my icon and my screenshots. I started making them more story based so they could understand all the features and benefits. I started playing around with colors. I tried different blues and different greens to see if that would convert more. I just started getting more systematized with it.
How did you expand your empire of apps?
My whole theory was if you spend all this time and effort to know a target demographic, why not keep giving them information, right? A customer is usually worth seven times what they originally paid for something, and I knew that. I was like, “Okay, if they liked security apps, I’m going to build more security apps.” So I did different security functions. I did different alarms like a chimpanzee screaming, a screaming voice, or weird noises.
I basically just started creating a network where people would come in through my funnel and thought, “Hey if you liked this security app, check out this one with all these different sounds.” They would buy that app and I started really understanding that it’s about the network. It’s about being able to target a demographic, give them what they want, and constantly give them new apps so you could increase your reach.
Being that your app isn’t a real fingerprint scanner, how did you handle bad ratings and reviews?
Initially, I was emotional about it. I was like, “Getting one-star review is horrible. People are mad.” And then I just got objective. I was like, “This isn’t a way to run a business. There is a lot of value here. Some people get it, some people don’t. If the person doesn’t read the description which I actually said in there, “This is for entertainment purposes only…” It’s only 99 cents so I wasn’t feeling too bad about that.
I was cognizant of making sure that the people that did love it and were pranking other people, that I was giving them as much value as possible. They would always rate 4-5 stars and the other people who didn’t like it obviously, they would crush it, but it evened out to at least be a relatively good rating so I wasn’t hurt too bad.
What was your first day of downloads like and then the forthcoming weeks?
My first day was about 90 downloads and then it went from 90 to 160 to 280 to 480 and it kept going up. It stayed right around I think like 500 downloads for a little while until it started coming back down and then I was really able to increase it at that point. I did a couple of things and just started growing my network. I was able to push traffic to it.
What kind of marketing did you do to get traffic and publicity?
I had no idea again what would work and I come from a traditional marketing background. I tried YouTube stuff. I tried some online PR articles and none of it actually worked, none of it at all. I realized that it’s a closed system so I really have to optimize what I have inside of the App Store and that’s when I started figuring out the process and figuring out keywords, and being good with categories. A lot of people do that. They spend time outside of the App Store but you have to first optimize what’s in the App Store. You have to know your keywords, your categories, your screen shots. If you’re not doing that properly, it’s always like 80-20, where is my time best spent. Time is best spent with optimizing what’s in the App Store first then going on outside of it. Then you can try to figure out, “Okay, would these little kids be viewing it on YouTube? I give them promo codes and it was getting thousands of hits but I did that after I felt like everything else was converting.
How did you utilize keywords properly with your apps?
I didn’t know about keywords in the beginning but figured it out and started naming my apps with long keywords. In fact, I did that with company names as well. I had little trick where I found out that if you named your company a certain name and actually was a keyword, that made your app higher. First app I had, it just shot straight up. I’m like, “Okay, I’m on to something here.” So there still is little tricks that they can do. Like any industry, there are holes that get filled and then doors open up, so that one is not as strong but it still does work a little bit.
Now if you did a flashlight app, there are a bunch of flashlight names already. It’s really first to market and first to really grab that keyword. So things have changed and you have to do things a little bit differently. You have to look at other keywords that people might want to use it for, so maybe it’s camping, maybe it’s friends. You can find other keywords that will be strong to throw your app up there.
It seems most of your apps are simple in design and functionality. Why not build something more in-depth and complicated?
In the beginning the way I worked was basically as simple as possible. I do want the demographics to keep coming back to it. I made three app companies and sold them off, and did a bunch of apps and I could continue to do that but a few things have changed. One thing is I’m not as excited to make those apps anymore. I want to work on bigger app projects.
The other thing is that Apple is looking for different apps and different standards. Games have obviously taken off dramatically. The revenue from games has taken off too. Because the market I’ve also changed my apps a little bit.
I still like entertainment and utility apps, but I also see the value of working with some higher level games and my strategy now is rather work on a few apps and keep making them better and better than having 50 or 70 apps to manage because there’s a lot of work with keywords, updating them, etc.
I think I had probably 25 apps in one company with everything from security apps to some picture apps to a couple racing games. We were doing $50,000 to $100,000 a month. We sold that company and the new owner has taken it and he has doubled that. He has done extremely well.
Back then you chose the paid route but what do you think works today?
You have to go free these days. You have to get them in the door. Consumers change dramatically. They realize that they don’t have to pay for a bunch of stuff. They want to get hooked first. There’s no barrier to entry with free so my strategy is give them a free app and sell them stuff once they are hooked. So give them either entertainment, fun, or value, and as soon as they get that value, give them an offer that says, “Hey you like this? Well check out this or get more coins” or give them any reason to purchase something. Again, we’re talking about pretty low transactions but you have to go free in the app space these days. That’s what the numbers tell you too.
It seems most of your apps are successes. Have you ever failed with an app?
I messed up a lot so make sure you understand that. It’s not like I nailed every single one of them. I fell on my face a tremendous amount but I just kept going. I was kind of awakened from my experience from the accident and I had an attitude where I don’t care if you put a brick wall in front of me, I was going to smash through it. I moved to San Francisco when my first fingerprint app got rejected. I didn’t even know what I was doing. I dressed up in a suit and tie in 95 degrees, hitched to Cupertino where Apple was. I tried walking into Apple saying, “Why is this thing rejected? What can I do?” I was just determined to make it work.
When I say every app has made money, it’s because it generates a certain amount of income over the course of its time so I’ve made my money back because it didn’t cost me a lot of money to actually make the app. I had an app called Harbor Madness as a competitor to Flight Control, which was at the top of the charts for a long time. I spent all this time making an app, then we launched it and it didn’t do anything. I understand marketing. I have a network. This is the best game that I have done. But I missed the mark on it. So, timing is everything and that market was already gone when I launched it. It still made money but it wasn’t at all what I thought it was.
What would you do differently?
As far as what would I do differently, I think what I would do differently is build the network pretty fast and instead of continuing to do another 20 or 30 apps, I would have pushed all my traffic and got them into consumers into one or two major apps that I would be proud of that I could be working on three or four years out. That’s what I would have done differently instead of constantly building all these apps or generating revenue and then selling everything off.
What are your top three tips for anyone that wants to make a mobile app?
The first one, which is mindset, is really understanding why you want to get into this because you’re going to have tons of things that basically tell you “You can’t do this” or “Apple is going to reject your app” or you’re going to miss the mark on something, and the difference between that being a multi-millionaire app or being a failure is that drive, basically the gasoline, the fuel for yourself. So figure out why you’re doing this and really make it juicy. Get it emotional. For me, I did a vision board and I wrote everything on my mirrors, all around my place and in my bathroom, and so whenever I wake up, I could see this guy with a fully functioning arm that was traveling all over the place, and I associated so much with that, so that psychology really was conditioned and ingrained in me. That to me is the first step before anything.
The second tip I would say is just really understanding the market place. Don’t look six months ago or three months ago, or Angry Bird-ish, but get really clear with what the market is right now. What is it telling you? It’s like the Matrix. You really have to spend time understanding it and understanding what you want to do with it. Some people might want to jump in and do photo apps. We had a student that’s killing it on photo apps. It’s his first one. Some people might want to do games. So figure out what’s going to really light you up and what the market is saying.
The third one is just getting clear with your team. If you’re a developer, typically, you’re spending all your time coding and not understanding the marketing. These rules are really important with your app business. Even if you are a developer, you have to be able to outsource some work and understand the marketing or you’re not going to get an app that’s going to do anything. I would say pick your team very wisely. Spend time vetting your team, vetting who you’re going to be working with, make sure that they are quality. Make sure that you don’t spend your last dime on them and you have a backup plan. Ask really good questions, see their work, and understand what they are good at working on. I think you can understand marketing and picking the right app idea but if you choose the wrong developer and you sink all your money into them or you don’t manage them properly, then you don’t have an app at the end of the day. It’s really important that you understand that process. Maybe talk to somebody that has worked with a successful developer, encoder, and designer, and you get their recommendation.
What apps do you have in the works now?
I think it’s important to be really clear with what you want. I don’t want to be an Angry Birds and Zynga, they are way different business model and I’m actually not good at running a huge team that’s working with 50 people and managing them. I like the process of what it’s making me grow into. For apps, I see myself building an app that is similar to a brand level of Angry Birds, as a household app.
An example of this would be like a camera app that people use and get a lot of value from but doesn’t have the cost associated with Zynga or something else because that’s a lot of work and that’s a lot of people. I love making apps that I can scale but on a low resource cost and people budget because you can still use that and that’s what’s fun about it.
We’ve got a bunch of apps in the works. One is basically a dueling off game. It’s like a social fighting game that you can play with your friends on, almost like a cool 007 type of app. We’ve got other couple of social games going on. I’ve got some picture apps that we’re working on that we’re about ready to launch. I’m trying to do less apps, higher quality, and getting more revenue from that.
For Duel Off, we just did a soft launch across Australia, New Zealand but we’re going to wait on that one until we get some analytics and then we’re going to tweak and do a full scale launch. It’s English speaking and for us, soft launch is important because you don’t want to throw an app in the store fully if there could be bugs of there could be something wrong with it. We want to get some data and basically optimize it. We want to make sure that everything converts and monetizes. Once it does that, we can throw all kinds of traffic in its direction, but it’s foolish to do that before. You basically could waste your shot at really getting it up there in the charts.
You also authored a book based on your app development experiences. What is it called?
Yeah, the book is called App Empire – Make Money Have a Life, and Let Technology Work for You. It has done really well. We’ve had a lot of success stories just from the book. Once I did the book, a lot of feedback was basically like, “This is amazing. I love it. I’m learning a lot,” but I also have all these questions and that made me think, “Okay, what can I do to answer these questions?”
In addition to your book you’ve created a course on app development. Tell us about that.
I got into the internet marketing world last year by creating a product that really held people’s hands through the whole app process. I was helping right around 10-15 people and they all became successful, and a lot of them became very, very wealthy. I was like, “Okay, I can’t scale myself that way so how can I scale my knowledge?” I took the book to the next level and created this whole course with all these different software programs that I created that was automated for people so they could figure out what their app ideas were, pick their keywords, and have all their infrastructure set up. We’ve had some very successful students. Some were making $100,000 a month. They were making faster money than I was back then because they are just grabbing information and they are plug and playing it. It’s incredible to see.
That has been really fulfilling. It has been a process that I’ve had to work at but it has really been fulfilling to see students making that much money and it changes your life. As you know, once you get cash flow coming in, it changes your life, your family’s life, your friends’ life. It’s a completely new you because you’re not stuck to this whole survival of having to work and eat and survive. I’m very grateful for that. I’m very thankful for it for sure. It has been awesome.
Right now, in our community, we have right around like 40,000 and then as far as like full-time entrepreneurs, we have right around 2,200 people that are developing apps that are active and making money. We really have a good reach. Like anything, you have people that are working hard together so the synergy of our group I think is what’s more powerful than even some of the training.
Lastly, what should someone do right now after reading this article if they’re motivated?
I would say take action in some way or another. Mobile is hot like we’re saying. I feel like there are two types of people. There are either people that are going nuts at this trying to make it work one way or another or there are people who are saying the gold rush is over, mobile is dead, it’s not going anywhere. It’s obviously not dead. It’s just like any business or industry, things change so as entrepreneurs, we have to change with the times. That’s our skill, that’s why we own our own businesses. That’s why we have cash flow to travel around the world and do what we want to do but I would say get educated. You don’t have to buy my book. There are plenty of books and information out there and blogs and stuff like that to take action and get educated, and take steps, even if it’s a baby step, going to a meet up group or an interview on somebody on oDesk or Elance. Take some step into that direction because mobile isn’t going anywhere. It’s making people very wealthy so you should be one of them.
We want to thank Chad Mureta for sharing his story and awesome mobile app development insights. You can find out more about him and his products at the following places:
App Empire – Chad’s Official Website
Twitter – Chad’s Twitter
Facebook – App Empire’s Facebook
App Empire Book – Buy Chad’s Book on Amazon
Secret Team
What Does it Take to Become
A Successful Entrepreneur?
Learn The 5 Most Valuable Lessons
I found in common Interviewing the
Top 200 Successful Millionaires
(including 2 BILLIONAIRES)
Watch the Report
Secret Academy Episode - Shawn Nelson
21 Signs You're an Entrepreneur
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Portland resident still rebuilding after ice jam
Nick Grifhorst @NotNicklas
PORTLAND — Rose Cyr's picturesque view of the Grand River became a nightmare this winter and spring when ice jams led to flooding, displacing her from her home from February to May.
Her first floor needed to be gutted following the ice jam that caused damage to several homes and businesses near the Grand River in Portland.
“It was like 6-8 inches of water throughout the first floor,” Cyr said. “There was ice, I mean we couldn’t even get in for the first month. They just gutted it."
On Wednesday, June 26, the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development team, Habitat for Humanity, Neighbor Works and the Cyr family continued the rebuilding effort of the home Rose shares with her daughter and grandson.
“(Wednesday) we are going to focus on yard and exterior and just give her the extra bit of help,” said Aileen Waldron, area specialist for the USDA Rural Development, which provided grants and loans to the Cyr family.
Cyr was put in touch with Rural Development after the city brought her papers with how to apply for the flood relief process.
“One of the ways Rural Development can help is in home repair,” said Jason Allen, state director for USDA Rural Development. “It’s important to be able to give back and be good stewards.”
The group also cleaned debris which ended up in Cyr’s yard during the flood. This included several large items that were swept away by the river and settled in the yard.
Travis Walton, owner of Looking Glass Mechanical and General Contracting, has been the contractor on the project since the start, and said the project has been one of the more difficult ones he has undertaken.
“It was quite a challenge being that it was in cased in water, the basement, essentially an ice cube, buckled the first floor,” Walton said.
The second floor was also buckling and sagging which required Walton to add a support beam. He said a lot of the work was unforeseen, but they have been able to work their way through it.
The rebuilding process is not yet complete for the Cyrs, but they are on their way to rebuilding what was damaged.
— Contact reporter Nick Grifhorst at ngrifhorst@sentinel-standard.com. Follow him on Twitter @NotNicklas.
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Canadian City Flags
by Edward B. Kaye, North American Vexillological Association
© 2011 North American Vexillological Association
ISBN 978-0-9747728-3-7 (paperback)
Subscriptions: Free to NAVA members, US$40 per year for non-NAVA members (includes a subscription to the quarterly NAVA News). Membership information is available by contacting the NAVA membership committee. Back issues are available through the NAVA Shopper at www.nava.org .
From the Back Cover --
As the Honorable Ian A. Mackenzie remarked during the contentious 1945 parliamentary debates about Canada’s flag, “In the life of every nation symbols are important, and perhaps the most important of these is the national flag.” So, too, Canada’s strong and vibrant tradition of civic flag use often provides meaningful symbolism to engage the allegiance of municipal citizenry. Their designs also often make clear connections to the nation, province, or territory, as well as to the shared history, geography, and values of the cities they represent. Unlike cities in the United States, a large number of Canadian municipalities have coats of arms, most granted by heraldic authorities in Canada, England, or Scotland—except in Québec, where there is a prevalent tradition of “assumed” arms. Those arms find their way onto flags in three primary ways: 1) placing the entire coat of arms onto the flag, or using the shield from the arms as a device, 2) spreading the main elements of the shield across the entire field of the flag (called here a “banner of arms”), or 3) using elements of the arms in other ways in the flag’s design. This heraldic tradition distinguishes Canadian municipal flags from those in the United States, where city seals are often used. Corporate style logos, however, represent a growing trend on Canadian municipal flags, and seals do appear on some.
Quote from back cover ---
“This important book, a first in its field, showcases the civic flag parade that began in the early 20th century and accelerated when Canada adopted her distinctive national flag in 1965. Bravo to the editor and researchers for documenting the beauty and wide acceptance of Canadian civic symbols!”
Kevin Harrington
President, Canadian Flag Association
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PS3 / VITA Japan
Monster Hunter Frontier G Headed To PlayStation Vita In 2014
By Sato . September 18, 2013 . 9:34pm
Capcom have announced Monster Hunter Frontier G for the PlayStation Vita at Tokyo Game Show. The game will be released in 2014, alongside Wii U and PlayStation 3 versions, and the PS3 version of the game will be able to cross-play with Vita.
In case you need to get caught up, Monster Hunter Frontier is a subscription-based online game that was released in 2007 for Windows PCs. In 2010, Capcom ported the game to Xbox 360 and stated their desire to bring the game to other platforms in the near future. Then, earlier this year, the company announced that the most recent version of the game, Monster Hunter Frontier G, was headed to the Wii U and PS3.
While PlayStation Vita players won’t be able to play in every world of Monster Hunter Frontier G, several PlayStation 3 worlds will be open for Vita players. Additionally, there will also be a data-transfer feature between the two consoles.
Monster Hunter Frontier G will begin service on PlayStation Vita in 2014. Similar to the PC, Wii U, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, a subscription will be required to play the game. You can watch a trailer for it above.
Read more stories about Monster Hunter Frontier G & PC & PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Vita & Videos & Wii U & Xbox 360 on Siliconera.
Virtual-On And Shining Force Cross Exlesia Costumes Headed To Phantasy Star Online 2
Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Coming To Vita On July 29th
Batman: Arkham Origins, Dragon’s Crown And More On Sale On PSN In U.S.
How Atlus Saved Citizens of Earth
Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation X Shinobi Master Senran Kagura: New Link Collab Starts
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Four marine areas have been defined
B.C., First Nations reveal marine plans
Great Bear Rainforest ecosystem management extended to oceans around B.C. coast, without federal participation
Tom Fletcher
The B.C. government has completed regional marine plans with 18 First Nations on the B.C. Coast, from northern Vancouver Island up to the Alaska border.
The marine plans are to be an extension of the 2007 coastal land use plan that has become known as the Great Bear Rainforest agreement. The four regions are Haida Gwaii, Central Coast, North Coast and North Vancouver Island, but they do not attempt to intrude on the key federal jurisdictions of shipping and fisheries management.
Aboriginal leaders said they were proceeding with B.C. and environmental organizations, but the federal government has not participated in what they call MaPP, the Marine Planning Partnership for the North Pacific Coast.
Haida Nation President Peter Lantin said the marine plan for the waters around Haida Gwaii sets aside 20 per cent as a marine reserve, and discussions with Ottawa are underway to add more area around Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. But with pipelines and oil and gas projects proposed for the region, the plans are far from completion.
“When we embarked on this journey a decade ago, the whole intent was to be comprehensive marine planning, which involves everything,” Lantin said. “So as the environment’s changed over the last 10 years around those federal jurisdictional issues, we’ve seen them not want to be part of this process.”
The Haida Nation remains opposed to crude oil tanker traffic through its marine territory, and is studying the issue of liquefied natural gas tankers in North Coast waters, he said.
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea’s office issued a statement in response to the announcement in Victoria.
“The Department of Fisheries and Oceans did not participate in MaPP as it is involved in similar initiatives with similar partners such as the Canada-B.C. Marine Protected Area network strategy, which achieves marine protection and conservation goals through a joint federal-provincial approach, collaborative decision-making and a participatory process,” the statement said.
Doug Neasloss, representative of the Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance, thanked Tides Canada and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a San Francisco-based environmental charity started by a co-founder of Intel Corp., for continuing to support the establishment of protected areas on the B.C. coast.
U.S. donors working through the Tides Foundation put up $60 million in 2007 to participate in the Great Bear Rainforest land use agreement. B.C. and the federal government put up $30 million each.
Time to enter B.C.’s amateur photographer contest
B.C.’s top doc counters feds on medical marijuana
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We are used to seeing the world from an urban perspective. For us, mega-cities are the centre of the world and, on the opposite side, rural areas are remote, far away, and difficult to reach. The farther away these rural areas are, the less they are connected. Because of a lack of infrastructure, the more difficult it seems to reach, understand, and interact with these regions and their populations.
Many rural areas worldwide, in particular Africa, Asia, and partly Latin America and the Middle East, are not connected to the electricity grid. Since they do not have electricity, they do not have light at night, mobile phones cannot be charged, beverages and food cannot be cooled, computers cannot be used, etc.
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Off-grid market place in rural Kenya with basic tables for display of goods.
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In reality, many areas in mega-cities are also off-grid, not connected to the grid and lack infrastructure, just like remote rural areas. Settlements like Kibera in Nairobi, Kali Baru in Jakarta, favelas in Rio de Janeiro, and countless more, where millions of people live, are struggling with the same challenges to be “connected.”
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E-HUBB operator selling a solar product to a client in Kenya
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Name Of Different Religions
The peoples of the Silk Road in its early decades followed many different religions. In the Middle East, many people worshiped the gods and goddesses of the.
Lists of deities. For deified individuals see List of people who have been considered deities, Apotheosis and Imperial cult. For epithets of gods of monotheistic religions, see Names of God. For deities whose cult is fictional see List of deities in fiction.
DEFINITION: This entry includes a rank ordering of religions by adherents starting with the largest group and sometimes includes the percent of total population.
One reason we have so many different religions is the deception imposed on the human race by the enemy of our souls, who seeks glory and worship for himself (2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Timothy 4:1). Another reason is man’s inherent desire to explain the unexplained and to make order out of chaos.
In recent years several different stories have been advanced claiming that the candy cane was designed to be fraught with Christian religious symbolism. form of a “J” to represent the precious name.
The Baha'i Faith began in Persia in 1844 with the declaration of a new religion, distinctive from the Shi'a Islam found there. Key beliefs include belief in one God;.
See where all of the Christian Denominations came from and how they inter-relate on a flow. primarily Greek and North African, spoke a different language, enjoyed a different culture, and eventually held to a different governance ecclesiology over time. It was a derisive term which meant "little Christs". The name given in derision was a.
Oct 6, 2006. This is according to Adherents, an independent, non-religiously affiliated organisation that monitors the number and size of the world's religions.
While religion is hard to define, one standard model of religion, used in religious studies courses, was proposed by Clifford Geertz, who defined it as a. […].
Aside from a couple of paint strokes and the spraying of his name, local graffiti artist Mario. university can still prioritize education, religion and fun, Guerrero said. “It’s something different.
Four teenagers from different religious traditions reflect on their experiences of religious belief and belonging.
ANGELS IN DEFERENT RELIGIONS. Angels in Zoroastrianism. The image of angels as we understand them in Western Christian society had probebly some of their origins in the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion during the Persian empires (559 BC to 651 AC) and was the most powerful world religion at the time of Jesus Christ. It is one of the oldest monotheist religions.
Faith Hope And Love Anchor Religious institutions that meet the requirements found in Section 1005.06(1)(f), Florida Statutes and Rule 6E-5.001, Florida Administrative Code are not under the jurisdiction or purview of the Commission for Independent Education and are not required to obtain licensure. Weekly sermon email Subscribe for free. Subscribe to the weekly sermon from Keep Believing Ministries. Sign up
The Dutch Reformed church in Heidelbergh. Religions in South Africa, South Africa religion overview. Nearly 40% of the black colored South Africans are members of the African Independent Churches, commonly known as the Zionist Christian Churches, which include no less than 4,000 congregations.
When He Comes Back Gospel Song No city has played a larger role in the emergence and nurturance of gospel music than Chicago. Marovich says he’s especially glad to see recordings that have been difficult to come by reappear here. He contrasts the music of a traditional gospel choir to that of smaller contemporary gospel. “For them to be able to
National Association Of Church Of God Cowboy’s Prayer 8 Seconds Jauan Jennings hauled in a 43-yard Hail Mary from Joshua Dobbs on the final play, giving No. 11 Tennessee a stunning 34-31 victory over No. 25 Georgia after the Bulldogs appeared to win it on a long. Extracts from: Recession Rocks Latinos 1/24/02 Conclusions from a report released in January by
Different Types Of Religion Religion Essay. 1602 words (6 pages) essay in Religion. 5/12/16 Religion Reference this. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain. Remember the day of Shabbat to keep it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder.
Corrections and clarifications: A prior version of this article misspelled the name. for the University of Chicago Divinity School describes its program as is “a tough-minded, sprawling, rigorous.
Corbett told the Republic that his quest was all in the name of religious freedom. “They shouldn’t be bullied because their beliefs are different from other people.” He added that “some may view.
Jan 5, 2017. Compare founding dates and details, religious holy texts, belief in the afterlife, in one table. who also predicted the End of the World would occur 4 different times, Theist, Christianity. I forgot its name, but it's medieval.
Central Church Of God Live Streaming SALT LAKE CITY — Jesus Christ named The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are meant to survive spiritually, and to live and grow in your faith and trust in God." Elder Shayne M. Nastold, S.J.; 1999-2000; St. Francis Xavier Church in Cincinnati; Deceased WATCH LIVE: Officials give update after the Midwest. “Similar
In treating all subjects, including death, Polynesian religions are based on experience rather than faith. Prominent among those experiences are encounters with many different types of gods and spirits.
Rather than dive into what makes a religion or how followers reconcile their inflammatory name with their mild tenets. Although the concept of Satan is millennia old and there have been different.
Who Founded Jehovah Witness Religion Jehovah’s Witnesses EXPOSED!. Compiled and Edited by David J. Stewart. The Jehovah Witnesses are a Satanic organization, based upon the occult of Freemasonry. Charles Taze Russell was a 33rd Degree Freemason; as was Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon cult. This stark mismatch between Mr. Putin’s words and the system’s actions was on display again
Hymn Dictionary The Hymnbooks app gives you the ability to search and browse hymnbooks on your mobile device. Features: – Search for words or by number. – Hymn display. The hymn, the portion of Scripture, and the prayer of Brother Buster. After about twenty minutes, he ceased, saying, "We will now sing a hymn." Now we know
Groups sometimes considered non-Islamic: These religious traditions are not recognized as parts of Islam by mainstream Islamic fiqh, but consider themselves.
Explore religious beliefs around the world through an interactive map produced. Next to each country name is the breakdown of the population with respect to.
The theme of violent terrorism in the name of religion was selected because a broader and deeper understanding of the root causes of various different types of pseudo-religious political terrorism might open the door to more constructive dialogues between religious and political leaders of all religious faiths on ways to reduce religiously.
They’re what we referred to as social gatherings, or celebrations and dances (that) were done for like the celebration of a marriage, the celebration of a birth, a name-giving ceremony. We were.
Its founder, Bahá'u'lláh, taught that all religions represent progressive stages in the. Roman Catholic Bibles follow a different order, use some different names.
Oct 24, 2008. The phrase "under God" can mean something different to members of the. Name of Religion (By # of. (Name of Deity), Members 18 and over
Mar 17, 2004. This page provides an index to our articles on religions from ancient faiths to new religious movements. It is not comprehensive, of course, and.
different human expressions of love; at it’s worst religion creates us versus them, over and over again. I pray and hope the day will come when religion will live up to its name and bring all people.
Forward-looking statements are based upon management’s beliefs, assumptions and current expectations and may include comments as to the company’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and.
The god of Islam is Allah. There is only one God. Allah has 99 names including The Gracious, The Merciful, The King, The Most Holy, The All Peaceful, The Granter of Security, The Protector, The Mighty, The Majestic, The Creator and The Light In Buddhism there is no God, but there
A – Z of religions Adi Granth First Book. The first. Allah, The Islamic name for God. Gabriel is one Angel that is named in the Scriptures of all three religions.
“No violence can be justified in the name of religion.” Francis said the world’s. in the region and said he looked forward to societies where "people of different beliefs have the same right of.
Muslims Adhere to Different Islamic Sects. Islam For Dummies Cheat Sheet. Koran For Dummies Cheat Sheet. Reviewing the Starting Points for Islamic Ethics. Sufis go beyond external requirements of the religion to seek a personal experience of God through forms of meditation and spiritual growth. A number of Sufi orders, comparable to.
Their names together – Ai Jiangsu — meant "to love Jiangsu," the province where they lived. Now, the sisters were turning heads for different. don’t talk about religion, and you don.
Had Godless European-Israeli socialists been running a secret policy of kidnapping the babies of religious Middle Eastern immigrants. In 1967 he still couldn’t write his name. This particular.
The list includes 37 priests, three deacons, six seminarians, nine clergy of other dioceses and 16 from other Catholic religious orders. He said the diocese’s list of names is different than the.
Esther had a decision to make: save herself and keep her religion hidden, or reveal herself in an attempt. Jews around the world have found different ways to celebrate. Though some customs are.
Angelic Visitations and Revelations. When one looks at history we find many major religion’s that have been started from angel’s. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Islam and.
The World’s Great Religions: an educational multi- media presentation offering a brief and unbiased introduction to the Great Faiths of the World and from History in visual art, essay, and word paintings.
Guru Gobind Singh was the last of the 10 human Gurus of the Sikh faith. He was born in 1666. Guru Gobind Singh is known for creating the Khalsa, historically a community of committed Sikhs who.
May 1, 2014. While many around the world choose not to believe in a god or gods, there are plenty who do. Here are the 12 most popular world religions and.
We all want to make it through life with success, some sense that we did it right. So what about the major world religions? Is there anything in them that might.
Jul 19, 2011 · Learn more about what Muslims believe. Muslims have six main beliefs, called the Articles of Faith. The primary Muslim belief is that there is only one God. The day when the life of every human.
The Catholic Church in Illinois withheld the names of at least 500 priests accused of sexual. at all if the accused priest was deceased or reassigned, or belonged to a religious order (such as the.
But college is supposed to be different. It isn’t actually different — but it. or get comped on the strength of their mama’s once-famous name. Olivia Jade is as smart as she’s likely to get. In.
World Religions for Children doing their homework. World Religions Homework Help. by Mandy Barrow. How many different religions are there in Britain?
It is true that in the world’s history of beliefs and practices, there have been many wars and cruel inhumanities conducted in the name of different religions and ideologies. Those notorious events stand rightly condemned.
The Yoga Vasishtha. By. Sri Swami Sivananda. Origin and Glory Its Division and Doctrine Moksha According to Yoga Vasishtha Qualifications of the Student
In cases where the claim involved clergy who were visiting from a religious order. Archdiocese may also not include a name if the priest was listed by a different Diocese.
List of featured articles about Religion / Spiritual Beings and Deities: Angels, Demons, and. Her name is the Greek form of an ancient Egyptian word for “ throne.
How many different gods in religion? | Religion Answers | FANDOM powered by Wikia FANDOM. Games Movies TV Video. Wikis. Explore Wikis. More Religion Answers. 1 What are names of all the gods in the world; Explore Wikis Sacred Lies Wiki. Universal Conquest Wiki. Flipline Fan Customers Wiki.
Jeff Anderson and Associates is holding a press conference in Chicago to announce the 185-page report that lists the names of every Catholic priest. The priest that abused me was moved to 8.
ACN released a report last November that highlights 38 nations with significant religious freedom violations. was to ask community members to explain the meaning behind their family name and its.
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Challenges facing Academic Librarians with Examples from Lebanon
Challenges and opportunities for ac... by Lorcan Dempsey 3985 views
Embedded Librarians: Diverse Initia... by davidshumaker 1265 views
Houeida Kammourié
, InfoCommons Librarian at Lebanese American University
This is a presentation given during Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar held on April 17, 2012 at Riyad Nassar Library, Lebanese American University, Beirut - Lebanon
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1. Challenges Facing Academic Librarians With Examples From Lebanon by Houeida Kammourié-Charara InfoCommons Librarian Lebanese American University Lebanese Academic Library Consortium Coordinator Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar RNL, Beirut, April 17, 2012
2. IntroductionThe invasion of digital information in our era is affecting and changing everysingle aspect of our lives; how we receive/provide information, teach/learn,interact with each other, and even how we communicate and play, etc.This tumultuous environment affected also libraries and librarians which cannotstay away from change.While change is inevitable, it is coupled with several challenges. Thispresentation discusses the challenges facing academic librarians in general withsome examples of Lebanese libraries’ experience in the digital world. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 2 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
3. Transformation of LibrariesThe "Great Age of Libraries,“ began in the late 19th century. This age wascharacterized by building huge collections and using scientific approaches tomanage them.In the last two decades, with the advent of Internet, there were expectations thatlibraries will die. They didn’t, instead they transformed from just being buildings; tobe “vast collections of online resources that users can access from campuses,offices, or coffee shops halfway around the world” (Strong, 2011).The digital information which was usually perceived as an additional format forresources, is currently evolving to be the only format.This shift is a response to the increasingly changing preferences of todays user tothe online form of resources. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 3 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
4. Collections“For many in the academic community, the phrase “transforming library collections”conjures visions of electronic access from anywhere to everything – books, journals,reference works, manuscripts, audio files, films” (Strong, 2011). Today all the attentiongoes to Electronic resources, which are relatively new compared to print publishinghistory.Exploring the change in collections deserve a thorough study, however it is worthnoting Ownership challenge: Libraries do own information (digital) that they purchase,but they no longer store it; Thus how to convince traditional librarians to spendmoney on materials that are not available physically in the library?Another aspect of libraries collections is the Open Access Resources which also needseparate discussion by itself. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 4 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
5. Librarians GenerationsLancaster identified four generations of library staff: – Traditionalists (born before 1946) – Baby Boomers (1946-1964) – Generation X (1965-1981), and – Millennials (1982-2000??) – all of who have distinctive motivations, professional expectations, and communication styles (Strothmann, & Ohler, 2010).Millennials are also known as Digital natives and this generation is apparentlygoing to be the majority in a decade or two.According to Lancaster Generation X are often characterized as technologicallysavvy, efficient at multi-tasking, they look for professional development and wantto have a voice in decision-making; they will leave organizations that fail to meetthose needs. X’s “generally show a marked dislike for organizational cultures basedon seniority and hierarchy and like to solve problems through teamwork andexperimentation” (Strothmann, & Ohler, 2010). Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 5 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
6. Top Issues for Academic Libraries as Reported byACRL “Focus on the Future Task Force”Hisle listed 7 top issues facing academic libraries (ACRL report, 2003);Today all the challenges are still current, with more emphasis on some topics: 1. Recruitment, education, and retention of librarians 2. Role of library in academic enterprise 3. Impact of information technology on library services 4. Creation, control, and preservation of digital resources 5. Chaos in scholarly communication 6. Support of new users 7. Higher education funding Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 6 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
7. Recruitment, Education, and Retention ofLibrariansACRL report stated that the need to find quality leadership for libraries is a coreissue. After recruitment, there is also the need to ensure education of newlyhired librarians and reeducating existing ones, by helping them acquiring skillsand knowledge that support their new roles in the digital information age,especially roles involving teaching and library promotion.Hiring librarians entails better understanding of their education; How relevant isa Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS) to academiclibrarianship?It is worth noting that low salaries and lack of diversity in the profession areproblems that have to be addressed collectively and need special attention. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 7 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
8. LIS Important DatesLibrary and Information Science (LIS) is becoming an increasingly technology-driven profession. It moves away from “simply redefining traditional library roles toa new and completely redesigned job profiles (Riley-Huff, & Rholes, 2011) 2000/ Kaliper report: High impact of technology in libraries 2000/ LIS programs to address more information problems 2004/ Markey: Improvements in the number of IT-related courses 2004/ Gorman: LIS faculty marginalized in favor of Information Science 2006/ Trend in filling librarian positions with professionals with no master’s degree in library science. 2006/ McKinney: Comparison between “ALA Core Competencies” and what is currently learned in ALA-accredited curricula 2007/ New areas of emphasis in LIS, including specializations such as Geographic Information Systems. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 8 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
9. LIS in LebanonWhile change in librarianship is obvious, “many LIS programs are still operating on atwo-track model by combining traditional librarians and information managers” (Riley-Huff, & Rholes, 2011).LIS is a major challenge for Lebanese Librarians at the national level. As far as we knowtwo MLIS programs are currently offered, one in the Lebanese University (LU) and theother one in Beirut Arab University; Assessment will be done in few years aftergraduates will join the labor market. One MLIS student graduated from LU and theother one is working on her thesis.In an email sent to Lebanese Academic Library Consortium (LALC) members RandaAlChidiac former LALC Chair sent a message notifying members about new MS andMA programs in Library Science at University of Balamand. Alchidiac, R., (personalcommunication, April 4, 2012). Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 9 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
10. Retention of Excellent Professional Staff While hiring good caliber librarians is hard, retaining them is harder. “Of all a library manager’s responsibilities, none are more important than attracting, developing, and retaining excellent professional staff” (Strothmann, & Ohler, 2010). In Lebanon few academic libraries are competing to attract the best candidates. Sometimes they target expatriates or foreigners to fill in high positions. By neglecting retaining good employees, academic libraries administrators may find themselves loosing good staff, which sometimes is hard to replace, in a very competitive environment. The ACRL Recruitment and Retention Wiki (2009) summarizes the key factors in retention as: – Effective hiring, Collegial workplaces, Mentoring programs, Support for professional development, Good workplace communication, Good benefits besides salary, and Deliberate retention planning (Strothmann, & Ohler, 2010). Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 10 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
11. Recognition of the LibraryProviding good benefits to librarians- thus helping their retention- is related to therecognition of the library and its important role in the university.Accordingly, it is important to increase the awareness among campus decision-makers, such as high administration, deans of schools, etc. of the libraries’ role inproviding valuable yet unique information.This can be done by promoting the library services, resources and facilities, and byproviding specialized, customized and personalized services, e.g., reports of usagestatistics for a particular discipline or across a certain timespan (Frumkin, & Reese,2011), or compilation of resources in a specific topic in a research guide, etc. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 11 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
12. Librarians RoleIn the digital age the librarians’ role as knowledge providers has become moresignificant than before; with the shift of libraries to online (both collections andservices), it become essential that librarians make a “conceptual shift byfocusing on their own skills and activities rather than on their libraries”(Plutchak, 2012) to cope with the digital change."Libraries are just buildings, or gatherings of objects, or an abstract diagram onan organization chart, but libraries dont do anything - people do” (Plutchak,2012). It is the librarians and their professional and paraprofessional colleagueswho get things done. Excellent Librarians made Great Library ReputationNowadays academic librarians don’t sit behind desks and wait for faculty,students and staff to approach them; they go to them instead. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 12 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
13. New Skills for LibrariansLibraries in the digital age need stronger technological type of librarianship.While professional positions in the past were monopolized by library schoolsgraduates, we are perceiving currently a trend in the academic libraries to hire ITpeople to fill in library positions that require advanced computer skills.Riley-Huff, & Rholes noted that not all librarians with technology roles start outin those positions, therefore a role transformation should be examined. Severallibrarians with more traditional roles have transformed their skills to be able toundertake new roles more technology centric.Plutchak stated that the easiest way currently used by libraries “in order toaddress the challenges of dealing with digital materials is to create one positionElectronic Resources Librarian (ERL) and get some smart and energetic librarianwho can handle everything associated with digital. And then the rest of us cancontinue doing the essential jobs that we are doing and not have to worry aboutall that weird stuff”. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 13 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
14. Role of Library in Academic EnterpriseLibrarians have to maintain the importance and relevance of the academiclibrary as the center of activities of the university. They also need to emphasizethe importance of their teaching role mainly in information literacy instruction.“We must find ways to promote the values, expertise, and leadership of theprofession throughout the campus to ensure appreciation for the roles librariansdo and can play. Librarians must demonstrate to the campus community that thelibrary remains central to academic effort” (Hisle, 2002).Librarians should market themselves as coordinators between all universitydepartments since they come from a wide range of academic backgrounds, andmany hold advanced degrees in disciplines in addition to a Master of LibraryScience. They are better placed “to recognize connections among disciplines,both in scholarship and in trends” (Pressley, & Gilbertson, 2011). Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 14 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
15. Impact of Information Technology onLibrary ServicesThere is no doubt that instructional and information technology departmentshave a impact on traditional library services and sometimes there is someoverlapping. The best example to describe the impact of IT is shown clearly inthe Reference work.In todays world the reference “librarian can visually walk a user through a searchin an online database while simultaneously using a text window to explain whathe or she is doing” (Strong, 2007). She/he communicates with users via e-mail,instant messaging, video conferencing, chatting, etc.Online reference allows us to offer assistance 24 hours a day seven days a week.Reference departments at LAU are covering the online chatting during thelibraries working hours, excluding night shift currently. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 15 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
16. ServicesServices offered by the library make its collections accessible and available tousers. Within the invasion and aggressive competition of some discoveryinitiatives such as Google Scholar, libraries need to have their holdingsdiscoverable and accessible mainly through their Catalogs; therefore catalogshould be user friendly and enhanced with catalog enrichment tools.Since Digital native users are in a hurry; and they want the information yesterdayin a “one stop shop”; Therefore we need to have a place where they can do andhave: Searching/browsing the net; research assistance; printing, technicalassistance, meeting point, ILL/DDS, group study, coffee vending machines,comfortable seats, friendly staff, etc.All of the above have an answer in one word & one place: INFOCOMMONS Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 16 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
17. Facilities:“Face-Lifting” of Library SpacesA major challenge facing libraries nowadays is providing library spaces that fulfill theneeds of the digital native users. In most of the times the libraries infrastructures donot accommodate new trends. The “increased emphasis on collaborative and grouplearning have created an increased demand for flexible learning spaces that provideaccess to the most up-to-date information technology and are “zoned” for sound andactivity” (Strong, 2007) .LAU RNL remodeled floor 8th in its new building (2006) to satisfy its users byproviding comfortable space where users can do research, meet, eat, and drink. Thisarea is called InfoCommons Area and a new position was created to manage this newspace.Lately RNL inaugurated three group study rooms in order to respond to an increaseddemand for study areas. A lot still to be done, but improving library facilities costmoney that is not available all the time. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 17 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
18. Creation, Control, and Preservation ofDigital ResourcesLibraries are challenged by “Methods to determine what should be digitized, tofind resources to do the work, and to develop appropriate bibliographic controlmechanisms for digital materials offer complex challenges” (Strong, 2007).The growth of digital information has simply exceeded libraries ability ofpreservation. There are a lot of valuable information currently published on blogs,wikis, and social networking media, some are not available in any other medium,such us the Arab Spring diaries. Strong stated that libraries should be allowed topreserve Web sites that are not commercially available, otherwise they wont beavailable for future generations if not preserved whether in institutionalrepositories are digital archives.We may add another challenge in this area of the world: Arabic script that is notfully OCR’d . Several attempts were carried out, but none, as far as we know, was100% successful. Al-Raida, which is a bilingual journal published by LAU issearchable in its English part but not in the Arabic one. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 18 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
19. Knowledge Management“Knowledge management is the process of capturing a company’s collectiveexpertise wherever it resides in databases, on papers, or in the people’s head anddistributing it to wherever it can help produce the biggest payoff” (Yaacob,Jamaluddin, & Jusoff, 2010).Many of the experience in the management of information knowledge and skillsof librarianship can be applied to knowledge management.The library’s challenge in managing and digitizing the knowledge can beundertaken by providing a repository of all of those knowledge resources, bothinternal and external. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 19 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
20. Knowledge Management ExamplesLAU Libraries started several digitization projectsthat cover unique knowledge, namely: – Tender Stitches - Ottoman Embroideries – Les Peintres du Liban: Collection containing selections from the works of three major Lebanese painters: Saliba Doueihy, Bibi Zoghbé, & Omar Onsi – Fuad Rifka: Collection of his personal papers donated to LAU, and – Lebanese American University (LAU)In addition to those collections the libraries aredigitizing all theses submitted after 2003 andmaking them available online. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 20 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
21. Chaos in Scholarly Communication“Librarians advocate the need for fair scholarly communication models ascopyright laws change or are reinterpreted and challenges to fair-use in a digitalcontext continue to be made ”(Hisle, 2002).Digital information is “regularized” via License agreements signed betweenlibraries and publishers. Very often those agreements are to the benefit of thepublishers. Few cases in the literature showed that librarians were able to imposetheir conditions through negotiations of the license terms.Mergers and acquisition between publishers/aggregators/vendors of theinformation industry is a substantial threat for libraries as it represents potentialfor monopolistic business practices.The last years witnessed significant acquisitions of small publishers by “big ones”. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 21 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
22. Support of New UsersThe rise of the Web as the first choice for student and faculty researchers, gavethem the feeling that they can find everything by using search engines such asGoogle, Bing and others.At the same time, libraries provide discovery tools, but literature and our dailyinteraction with students showed that discovery tools that we provide are notnecessarily where our “users start their discovery journey” (Frumkin, & Reese,2011).Here comes the role of librarians by providing appropriate services andresources to new users -so called cut-and-paste generation-; Hisle mentionedtheir lack of literacy; their flexible ethics regarding plagiarism and copyrightviolations. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 22 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
23. Support of New UsersThe multifaceted approach to helping students can be summarized by the title ofa course an undergraduate librarian offers: “How I Learned to Stop JustGoogling…Find the Really Good Stuff!” (Strong, 2011)Frumkin, & Reese noted that new users are bringing their own digital lifestyles totheir research workflows, which are not part of their academic library’s offerings.To attract those new users, libraries need to provide services and resourcescompatible with their expectations and digital lifestyles.Libraries need to bring all new technological devices to their users, and toprovide the information in the preferred medium. LAU Libraries are circulatingeBook readers such as AmazonKindle, Sony, etc. and mobile devices such asiPad’s in order to attract users. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 23 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
24. Support of New UsersMobile apps. are starting to pave their way in the majority of academic librariesin North America and we are seeing timid attempts in Lebanon.Several publishers are currently building application for mobile technology andsmart phones. We may discuss Mobile applications today with ScienceDirectdemo.It is worth mention the “Cloud-based technology” that is device independent.This cost saving system (while some challenges still remain), is here to stay. Thesignificance of this development to the academic librarian is a total shift tocomputers and the internet by everyone in the user community (Thomas,Satpathi,& Satpathi, 2010). Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 24 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
25. Web 2.0: Social MediaWeb 2.0, also known as Library 2.0, is the user-centred web, “where blogs, wikis,social networks, multimedia applications and dynamic programming scripts arebeing used for collection, contribution and collaboration on the web. Theprimary principle is share the resources collectively”(Thomas, Satpathi, &Satpathi, 2010).It is important for librarians to experience Web 2.0 tools from a user’sperspective and use these tools in modernizing library services.Libraries that didn’t apply Web 2.0 yet, are facing the challenge of the arrival ofthe Web 3.0 or Semantic Web which is an extension to the Web that adds newdata and metadata to existing Web documents, extending those documents intodata.Where Web 2.0 is focused on people, the Semantic Web is focused on machines.“Semantic Web is smarter and can understand what you want”(Thomas,Satpathi, & Satpathi, 2010). Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 25 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
26. Social Media Tools Libraries can use several social media to promote their services & resources:1. Twitter: To send tweets about library activities and news2. Facebook: To promote resources and announce activities and events; LAU Libraries page3. Picasa and Flickr: To share photos4. YouTube: To post videos about the Library, e.g. RNL YouTube video5. SlideShare: To share presentations (e.g. given in conferences), documents and professional videos6. Google Maps: To show conferences attended by librarians7. Pinterest is a pinboard-style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests (Wikipedia), and many more.Several academic libraries have their own twitter and Facebook accounts whereinformation about library resources and activities are posted, e.g., LAU LibrariesFacebook page was created on November 11, 2008 and has now 1,170 Likes. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 26 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
27. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAUApril 17, 2012 27 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
28. Higher Education FundingDue to global economic crisis libraries were also affected by lack of fundingmainly for library programs, salaries, and resources. “Creative thought andaction will be required to compensate for the already low pay of librarians, aswell as the rising costs of materials and technology” (Hisle, 2002).Here again Lebanon is not an exception, professional librarians’ salaries rarely (ifnever) bypass the 5 digits in USD. As for libraries collections budgets “it isimperative that libraries demonstrate their value in relation to the investment ofresources that their institutions provide them”(Frumkin, & Reese, 2011).This challenge needs further investigation and cannot be covered in one slide. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 28 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
29. Role of Library AssociationsLibrary associations are playing a primordial role in educating librarians andproviding professional development opportunities to them at both global andinternational levels. The International Federation of Library Associations andInstitutions (IFLA), the American Library Association (ALA), and the CharteredInstitute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), have a lot of initiatives inthis regards.At the national level the Lebanese Library Association (LLA) has a great challenge inkeeping the professionals and paraprofessionals exposed to new technologies andtrends in librarianship.However this is not an easy challenge, since there is no planned yet systematicapproach on the part of LLA in its development program. It all depends on theenthusiasm of a few enterprising people (Thomas, Satpathi,& Satpathi, 2010). Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 29 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
30. To Summarize• Library collections are changing, both in format and philosophy• Libraries buildings need to accommodate digital natives need• Academic libraries need to relate the value of their core services to their communities• Libraries are moving from collection-based organizations into service-based entities• Librarians need to acquire technical skills by increasing the number of technology courses in LIS• Libraries are in the first stages of understanding the importance of social media• The larger challenge is finding our way to our users in the electronic environment at their point of need (Strong, 2007). Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 30 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
31. ConclusionFinally academic libraries nowadays need to expect and embrace change, with all thechallenges and opportunities that come with it; they must be prepared to deal with it,if they want to keep pace with the university they serve.This will lead us to the following question: Can a library survive without maintainingtechnological currency? According to Estabrook “Librarianship without a strong linkageto technology (and it’s capacity to extend our work) will become a mastodon.Technology without reference to the core library principles of information organizationand access is deracinated” (Riley-Huff, & Rholes, 2011).I cannot by mention Plutchak who said: The great thing about this is that we canexperiment like crazy. We do not have to worry about getting it "right" -Undoubtedly,many of our experiments will go nowhere, will be seen to be dead ends and wrongturns, but: Qui ne risque rien, n’a rien!!!!! Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 31 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
32. Thank you Q&AA copy of this presentation will be available online on slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/houeidakam/ Please feel free to contact me @ houeida.charara@lau.edu.lb Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 32 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
33. ReferencesAlbanese, A. R. (2003, March 15). The top seven academic library issues. Library Journal, 128(5), 43. Retrieved March 20, 2012, from ProQuest database.Credo Reference Blog. (2010, March 16). Challenges facing libraries: Our Take. Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://blog.credoreference.com/2010/03/challenges-facing-libraries/Frumkin, J., & Reese, T. (2011). Provision Recognition: Increasing awareness of the library‘s value in delivering electronic information resources. Journal of Library Administration, 51(7/8), 810-819.Hisle, W. L. (2002). Top issues facing academic libraries: A report of the focus on the future task force. College & Research Libraries News, 63(10). Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://www.ala.org/acrl/proftools/recruiting/topissuesfacing.Plutchak, T. S. (2012, January). Breaking the barriers of time and space: The dawning of the great age of librarians. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 100(1). Retrieved April 2, 2012, from ProQuest database.Pressley, L., & Gilbertson, K. (2011, May). Librarians as experts: using the web to assert our value. Computers in Libraries, 31(4), 19-23. Retrieved April 2, 2012, from ProQuest database. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 33 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
34. ReferencesRiley-Huff, D. A., & Rholes, J. M. (2011). Librarians and technology skill acquisition: issues and perspectives. Information Technology and Libraries, 30(3), 129-140. Retrieved April 2, 2012, from ProQuest database.Strong, G. E. (2007). Challenges Facing California’s Academic Libraries. Retrieved March 29, 2012, from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3mn9c0w3Stronthmann, M., & Ohler, L. A. (2011). Retaining academic librarians: by chance or by design?. Library Management, 32(3), 191-208. Retrieved March 20, 2012, from Emerald database.Thomas, V. K., Satpathi, C., & Satpathi, J.N. (2010). Emerging challenges in academic librarianship and role of library associations in professional updating .Library management, 31(8/9), 594-609. Retrieved March 20, 2012, from Emerald database.Yaacob, R. A., Jamaluddin, A., & Jusoff, K. (2010). Knowledge management and challenging roles of academic librarians. Management Science and Engineering, 4(4), 14-23. Retrieved March 30, 2012, from Academic Search Complete.Website:Webopedia http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2007/Semantic_Web.aspAccessed April 15, 012. Elsevier LibraryConnect Seminar@LAU April 17, 2012 34 ©Houeida Kammourié-Charara
Learning the Basics of Branding
Gaining Skills with LinkedIn Learning
Challenges and opportunities for academic libraries
Embedded Librarians: Diverse Initiatives, Common Challenges.
davidshumaker
RNL: A library for the future
Marketing e-Resources: Adequate Tools to Increase Usage
Assessment of Information Literacy in Academic Libraries: LAU Libraries Case ...
Partners for success: A decade of cooperation and still on fire
Learning Spaces in Motion: LAU Libraries Case Study
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8 Teen-Friendly Webcomics Coming to Print This Year
by Brigid Alverson
Mar 13, 2018 | Filed in News & Features
Here’s a sneak peek at some webcomics that will be traditionally published soon, along with others that are worth keeping an eye on.
The webcomics medium continues to be a rich mine of material for traditional publishers, and this year they have picked up two of the most popular: Andrew Hussie’s Homestuck and Ngozi Ukazu’s Check Please! both of which were previously self-published and were supported by highly successful Kickstarter campaigns. These books come to the publisher with a built-in audience, and traditional publishing allows the creator to extend their reach to new audiences, too. That said, the experience of reading webcomics is very different from a graphic novel. Most webcomics are written to be read over a period of time, not all at once, so they move at a leisurely pace, bringing readers into the world of the protagonist with plenty of world-building and vignettes of everyday life. Some are quite long—On a Sunbeam is more than 500 pages, and most of the others are multivolume works. Finally, there is the format itself: webcomics allow creators to lay out their story in a long vertical scroll (Space Boy) or use motion and sound (Homestuck), so the print version may be more limited. However, the current trend seems to be to keep the webcomic online even after it is published in print, so readers will be able to experience the story in both formats. Here’s a look at some of the webcomics that will be coming out in print this year, along with others that are worth keeping an eye on. As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman. Iron Circus. Nov. 2017. ISBN 9781945820069. Gr 6 Up–Okay, technically this came out last year, but As the Crow Flies is too good not to mention. Pencil drawn with unusual colors, it’s a story about a queer girl of color who feels totally out of place at her all-white Christian summer camp. As she and her fellow campers make a backpacking trip up a mountain for a special women’s ceremony, she makes connections with some of her companions and chafes at the thoughtlessness of others. The narrative is engaging and offers much food for thought as well. It re ceived an SLJ starred review and was recently recognized with the Stonewall Award Honor at the 2018 Youth Media Awards. Here’s SLJ’s interview with Gillman. Check Please!: Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu. First Second. Sept. 2018. ISBN 9781250177957. Gr 9 Up–When Eric “Bitty” Bittle travels from his Georgia home to a Massachusetts college and switches from figure skating to the hockey team, he has a lot of new experiences—making friends on the team, coming out as gay, and dealing with the trauma of being checked (in the hockey sense of the term), which causes him to freeze up like a deer in the headlights. Much of the story is told in the first person as Eric updates his video blog with stories of his experiences. Homestuck by Andrew Hussie. Viz Media. Apr. 2018. ISBN 9781421599403. Gr 9 Up–Homestuck seems like the sort of comic that could only be found on the web. A complicated fantasy tale with multiple characters and all sorts of side plots, it uses limited animation, crude computer art, and a gamelike interface. (It was also, a few years ago, one of the most popular comics on the web, and Homestuck cosplayers were ubiquitous at comic and anime cons.) The manga publisher Viz has risen to the challenge and is publishing it as several fat hardcover volumes, each of which encompasses several parts of the story—and offers a slightly less chaotic experience for readers who may have been put off by the original. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: Little Women by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo. Gr 7 Up–This modern-day adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 150-year-old classic novel centers on the multi-racial March family who live in a Brooklyn brownstone. Their father is away at war, and their mother is working double shifts to make ends meet. The creators put a modern spin on the original story—Jo is teased for being queer, not being a tomboy, Beth struggles with her health and plays the guitar, and the girls must deal with racism as well as economic issues—but the underlying themes will remain the same. The print version will be published by Little, Brown in November 2018. On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden. First Second. Oct. 2018. ISBN 9781250178138. Gr 7 Up–Walden, whose memoir Spinning was published by First Second last year, turns her hand to science fiction in a story that is set in two time lines—the heroine’s boarding school years and her time working with a construction crew that travels around the universe rehabbing ancient properties. At school, Mia gradually falls in love with a fellow student, and in the later time line, she and her coworkers travel to the wildest spot in the known universe so they can be reunited. Walden creates a universe filled with elaborate structures and flowing landscapes, and she uses a limited palette to help readers keep track of space and time. This story has an all-female cast, with the exception of one character who is non-binary. The characters have a range of strong personalities, and this is as much a story of friendship as it is of romance and adventure. Space Boy by Stephen McCranie. Dark Horse. July 2018. ISBN 9781506706481. Gr 7 Up–Amy and her family move from the space colony, where she grew up, to an Earth she has never seen. She also goes out of sync with her best friend—who is cryogenically frozen for the 30-year journey. Amy quickly makes friends in her new high school, but much of their world is unfamiliar to her, and she keeps encountering this strange white-haired boy who carries with him a profound sense of loneliness. This story moves at a leisurely pace, immersing teens in Amy’s world, and McCranie has a deft, slightly retro style. It’s worth checking out the online version. He makes good use of the vertical scrolling format of the Line Webtoon site to create transitions as well as a sense of the vastness of space. Strong Female Protagonist. Vol. 2 by Brennan Lee Mulligan & Molly Ostertag. Top Shelf. June 2018. ISBN 9781506706481. Gr 10 Up–Ostertag is the creator of Witch Boy (Scholastic, 2017) and the artist for Shattered Warrior (First Second, 2017), so she’s been busy. Strong Female Protagonist centers on a former superhero who has put that life behind her to attend college—but keeps getting entangled in superhero-ish adventures. The first volume was published in 2014. The Wormworld Saga. Vol. 1: The Journey Begins by Daniel Lieske. Lion Forge. May 2018. ISBN 9781941302712. Gr 4-7–This beautifully painted fantasy adventure about a boy who travels to a strange world—and his journey back home again—is worth visiting on the original site because it uses the vertical scroll format to good effect—and because it is available in multiple languages through official and fan translations. Here are some webcomics to keep an eye on. Perhaps they'll be the next ones to be published traditionally: Eighty Days by Blueludebar/A. C. Esguerra Told for the most part in the terse style of an aviator’s log, Eighty Days is a comic about flying and freedom, set in an alternative version of the 1930s where the central aviation authority controls just about everything. The first book follows a pilot and a talented navigator (and thief) as they skirt the authoritarian regime—and their relationship slowly shifts from suspicion to friendship to something more. The black-and-white artwork is astounding, with figures drawn in a manga-based style and beautifully flowing backgrounds of clouds, planes, and landscape. This is the first installment of a longer story, and it won a PRISM Comics Queer Press Grant in 2016. Genderqueer by Maia Kobabe Kobabe’s short (one to three panels) cartoons build up to a portrait of life as an asexual, genderqueer person. Kobabe, who prefers the gender-neutral pronouns e/em/eir, covers the everyday details (such as choosing clothing) and the bigger questions of a life that may not fit the usual assumptions of others. (There is some frank discussion of sexual matters but no explicit images.) Kobabe recently announced that Genderqueer will be published as a graphic novel by Lion Forge in 2019. Lauren Purje’s short comics Purje draws short comics about creativity, inspiration, and the life of a freelance artist. Top Shelf published a collection of her comics last year—You Might Be an Artist If…—but she continues to post new material online. Reported Missing: A True Story of Family and Murder by Eleri Harris A seven-part comic tells the true story of Susan Neill-Fraser, who is serving 23 years in an Australian prison for the murder of her partner, Bob Chappell. Harris presents the story as told by Neill-Fraser’s daughter Sarah, and the light, colorful style of the art takes some of the darkness out of the story. The Sublimes by Kiku Hughes This is a sci-fi tale set in a mining town where the miners delve deep into an ancient machine, looking for valuable parts and alloys to melt down. Meanwhile, three sisters live on the outskirts of the town and of the economy, scavenging inside the mine. This story is currently on hiatus, as Hughes is working on her graphic novel Displacement, which will be published by First Second in 2019, but she says she intends to return to the webcomic and complete the narrative.
(FPO)
melanie gillman
SLJTeen
Tillie Walden
marjorie says
Dang, I put a library hold on As the Crow Flies so fast I think I sprained something. Thanks for this great list of titles (and webcomics) to watch for!
Posted : Mar 14, 2018 07:46
What A. S. King Means to Me, a guest post by The Teen
by Elizabeth Bird | Blogs
Cover Controversy: The Poet X
by Travis Jonker | Blogs
When Pride is Said and Done: Teen Contributor Elliott Shares Their Post Pride Thoughts
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
‘Write, and find out who you are’ – A Conversation with Meg Medina
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David Luiz wants to remain with Chelsea for the long-term
Thu, 01/03/2019 - 07:09 - content
Brazilian defender David Luiz has cited his ambition to remain with Chelsea for many years to come. The centre-back has been nearly ever-present for the Blues during their league campaign this term and he most recently starred against Manchester City by scoring the second goal of the stunning 2-0 triumph.
Shortly after the game, the central defender was asked about his future with the west London side to which he admitted that talks are progressing between the necessary parties, he said:“We are still talking, let’s see. Let’s see what the future brings. I love this club, everybody knows I want to stay.” Meanwhile, the Brazilian was further asked whether he is concerned by the current contract length but he remained relatively unperturbed saying: “I am just trying to enjoy, like every single day, Then, for sure, we will do the best thing for me, for Chelsea, for everybody.”
Luiz went out-of-favour under former boss Antonio Conte during the first half of the previous campaign and the Italian thereafter restricted himself from using the Brazilian on a regular basis, with a knee complaint given as the prime reason behind the defender’s absence during the backend of the season.
However, with the arrival of Maurizio Sarri at the helm, “Luiz has enjoyed a regular run at the heart of the defence alongside Antonio Rudiger“ and the manager has himself stressed that he would like to see the Brazilian stay put for the forthcoming seasons. Nonetheless, his contract has yet “to be extended beyond“ the current campaign with the Blues yet to bow to the player’s demands for a multi-year deal.
The west London giants have generally offered a maximum of a 12-month contract for players above the age of 30 and they appear reluctant to change the policy for Luiz despite the defender being one of the first names on Sarri’s teamsheet this season.
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Video: Busy volunteer receives award
Home News Council $125k fast-tracked to move building and keep community ‘goodwill’
$125k fast-tracked to move building and keep community ‘goodwill’
BUILDING: The transitional St Albans Community Centre is set to be moved to MacFarlane Park for further community use. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN
An additional $125,000 has been fast-tracked to move a community centre and maintain the goodwill of the St Albans and Shirley communities.
The money will go towards a shortfall in shifting the transitional St Albans Community Centre from Colombo St to MacFarlane Park where it will be used by Shirley residents. The shifting of the centre, which was donated by the Lions International Club, was approved by the city council at its meeting on Thursday.
A city council report said it was initially estimated $100,000 would be needed to move the building but more detailed planning has revealed it would cost $225,000.
The initial $100,000 was approved through the city council’s Annual Plan.
City council staff told councillors there would be time delays and a financial impact on the St Albans rebuild if the funding was not granted. “It’s a matter of urgency, it really needs to be moved.”
A staff report said there would be a “loss of goodwill” from the community, which has been waiting for the rebuild in St Albans and a new facility in Shirley.
Innes Ward city councillor Pauline Cotter said it was a “great win” for the communities. “St Albans and Shirley have been a little bit under the radar with how hard they’ve been hit by the earthquake. This is a very good deal for council.”
City councillors questioned the cost but were told moving a building is more expensive than it may sound. “It sounds easy taking a building from one park and putting it on another . . . but you’re talking about car parks, you’re talking about making the building accessible, plumbing, signage, power, foundations. It is expensive,” a staff member said.
Putting it at MacFarlane Park means the Lions “committed and generous” donation of the building will not go to waste.
It also enables the facility to continue being used after its original placement in St Albans.
Cr Cotter confirmed Lions intended to gift the building to the city council next year.
For the past four years, the Papanui-Innes Community Board and the Shirley Community Trust have been seeking a solution to the lack of a facility in the Shirley area.
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ASU technology team prepares for Shanghai
Lecturer Yinong Chen explains the construction and idea of a previously constructed robot similar to the one three ASU students will build in a competition in China this summer. (Photo by Jessie Wardarski)
By Michael Gordon | 01/30/12 1:19am
Three computer systems engineering seniors will represent ASU at the Intel Cup Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest in Shanghai in July.
Chris McBride, Chase Parenteau and Anthony Thau are the first students from ASU to be invited to compete in the contest.
The competition has been held every two years since 2002. It is hosted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and sponsored by the Intel Corporation.
The event acts as an opportunity for undergraduate students from all over the world to build a computer system based on an assigned Intel embedded platform.
Lecturer of computer science and engineering Yinong Chen will accompany the students.
“Ultimately, our team will create a robotic model that utilizes embedded engineering to solve a real world problem in the industrial market,” Chen said.
Thau said in an email that he is optimistic about his team’s chances of winning the competition.
“I'm very lucky to be able to work with some of the best students in my department and at this university,” Thau said. “I know that with time and determination, my team and I will be able to complete a successful project and learn many concepts along the way.”
At the competition, the teams will be allotted an hour to present the details of their system and its unique features before a panel of judges.
ASU and the Intel have been working together on different types of software development for many years, assistant professor of computer science and engineering Aviral Shrivastava said.
“We have had a very long relationship with the Intel community. Intel represents a very close partnership with ASU and they give us a lot of feedback,” Shrivastava said.
Reach the reporter at mjgordo1@asu.edu
Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
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National Basketball Association all-time scoring leaders 1946-2019
National Football League: Super Bowl wins by team 2019
Average ticket price for an NFL game by team
FIFA world ranking of men's national soccer teams 2019
Athletic footwear global market share by company
Health & Fitness Clubs - Statistics & Facts
Sporting Goods Industry - Statistics & Facts
Sports & Recreation›
Sports & Fitness›
World ranking of Finland's women's national football team 2003-2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Finnish women's national football team from 2003 to 2018
by M. Ridder, last edited Dec 14, 2018
This statistic shows the FIFA World Ranking of the Finnish women's national football team from 2003 to 2018. From 2004 to 2007, the team reached continuously position 16, which was the team's highest rank. Rank 28 was the lowest result of Finland's women's national team, which was reached in 2016 and remained the same in the two years that followed.
FIFA World Ranking* position
FIFA World Ranking
* Since 2003, the FIFA World Ranking is used to rank women's national teams, based on their game results. The most successful team is ranked highest (position 1).
Sweden: national football players with most goals scored of all time as of 2019
World ranking of Iceland's national football team 1993-2019
World ranking of Sweden's national football team 1993-2018
World ranking of Denmark's national football team 1993-2019
Statistics on "Professional football in the Nordic countries"
Number of Nordic FIFA World Cup participants from 1930 to 2018Nordic FIFA World Cup participations 1930-2018
Number of Nordic FIFA World Cup participants in the period from 1930 to 2018, by countyNordic FIFA World Cup participations 1930-2018, by country
FIFA World Ranking of the Swedish national football team from 1993 to 2018World ranking of Sweden's national football team 1993-2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Norwegian national football team from 1993 to 2018World ranking of Norway's national football team 1993-2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Finnish national football team from 1993 to 2018World ranking of Finland's national football team 1993-2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Icelandic national football team from 1993 to 2019World ranking of Iceland's national football team 1993-2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Danish national football team from 1993 to 2019World ranking of Denmark's national football team 1993-2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Faroese national football team from 1993 to 2019World ranking of Faroe Islands' national football team 1993-2019
Number of men's and women's football teams in Sweden in 1986 and 2016Number of men's and women's football team in Sweden 1986-2016
Number of registered football players in Sweden in 2017, by gender Number of registered football players in Sweden 2017, by gender
Annual number of attendees of Allsvenskan football matches from 2015 to 2017 Annual Allsvenskan football match attendance 2015-2017
Average number of attendees of Allsvenskan football matches from 2013 to 2017 Allsvenskan football match attendance 2013-2017
Average number of attendees of Allsvenskan football matches in 2017, by clubAllsvenskan football match attendance 2017, by club
Revenue of Allsvenskan football clubs from 2007 to 2017 (in million SEK)Revenue of Allsvenskan football clubs 2007-2017
Revenue of Allsvenskan football clubs 2017, by club (in million SEK)Revenue of Allsvenskan football clubs 2017, by club
Venues most played in by the national football team of Sweden as of 2018, by number of matchesSweden's national football team's most played in venues as of 2018
Number of football clubs in Norway from 2013 to 2017Number of football clubs in Norway 2013-2017
Number of football teams in Norway from 2013 to 2017Number of football teams in Norway 2013-2017
Number of football teams in Norway in 2017, by class and genderNumber of football teams in Norway 2017, by class and gender
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of Obos liga in Norway from 2010 to 2017Norway: Obos liga average stadium attendance 2010-2017
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of Eliteserien in Norway from 2010 to 2017Norway: Eliteserien average stadium attendance 2010-2017
Revenue of selected football leagues in Norway in 2017 (in million NOK)Revenue of selected football leagues in Norway 2017
Revenue of the Football Association of Norway (Norges Fotballforbund) from 2013 to 2017 (in million NOK)Revenue of the Football Association of Norway 2013-2017
Expenses of the Football Association of Norway (Norges Fotballforbund) from 2013 to 2017 (in million NOK)Expenses of the Football Association of Norway 2013-2017
Number of registered football players in Finland from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020Number of registered football players in Finland 2015-2020
Number of official football matches in Finland from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020Number of football matches in Finland 2015-2020
Number of football pitches in Finland from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020Number of football pitches in Finland 2015-2020
Number of football sports halls in Finland from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020Number of football sports halls in Finland 2015-2020
Revenue of the Finnish Football League 'Veikkausliiga' from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020 (in 1,000 euros)Finnish Football League revenue 2015-2020
Ticket revenue of the Finnish Football League 'Veikkausliiga' from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020 (in 1,000 euros)Finnish Football League ticket revenue 2015-2020
Leading players of the national football team of Finland as of July 2018, by market value (in 1,000 euros)Leading Finnish national football players 2018, by market value
Venues most played in by the national football team of Finland as of 2018, by number of matchesFinland's national football team's most played in venues as of 2018
Average number of registered football players in Iceland as of 2018, by genderNumber of registered football players in Iceland 2018, by gender
Number of football pitches in Iceland as of 2018, by typeNumber of football pitches in Iceland 2018, by type
Revenue of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 ISK)Revenue of the Football Association of Iceland 2013-2017
Revenue of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017, by type of income (in 1,000 ISK)Revenue of the Football Association of Iceland 2013-2017, by income type
Expenses of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 ISK)Expenses of the Football Association of Iceland 2013-2017
Expenses of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017, by type of costs (in 1,000 ISK)Expenses of the Football Association of Iceland 2013-2017, by type
Profit for the year of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 ISK)Annual profit of the Football Association of Iceland 2013-2017
Leading players of the national football team of Iceland at FIFA World Cup as of June 2018, by market value (in million euros)Leading Icelandic national football players at FIFA World Cup 2018, by market value
Number of football clubs in Denmark from 2007 to 2017Number of football clubs in Denmark 2007-2017
Number of registered football players in Denmark from 2007 to 2017, by genderNumber of registered football players in Denmark 2007-2017, by gender
Number of registered football players in Denmark from 2007 to 2017, by age groupNumber of registered football players in Denmark 2007-2017, by age group
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the 1 Division in Denmark from 2010 to 2017Denmark: 1 Division average stadium attendance 2010-2017
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the Alka Superliga in Denmark from 2010 to 2017Denmark: Alka Superliga average stadium attendance 2010-2017
Revenue of the Danish Football Association (Dansk Boldspil-Union) from 2013/14 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)Revenue of the Danish Football Association 2013-2017
Revenue of the Danish Football Association (Dansk Boldspil-Union) from tournaments from 2013/14 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)Tournament revenue of the Danish Football Association 2013-2017
Revenue of the Danish national football team from 2013/14 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)Revenue of the Danish national football team 2013-2017
Number of football clubs, teams and players in the Faroe Islands in 2016Number of football clubs, teams and players in the Faroe Islands 2016
Income of the Faroe Islands Football Association (Fótbóltssamband Føroya) from 2013 to 2018 (in 1,000 DKK)Income of the Faroe Islands Football Association 2013-2018
Expenses of the Faroe Islands Football Association (Fótbóltssamband Føroya) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)Expenses of the Faroe Islands Football Association 2013-2017
Net profit of the Faroe Islands Football Association (Fótbóltssamband Føroya) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)Net profit of the Faroe Islands Football Association 2013-2017
Revenue distribution of top division football clubs in Faroe Islands from 2015 to 2017, by sourceFaroe Islands: revenue breakdown of top tier football clubs 2015-2017, by source
Leading players of the national football team of Faroe Islands as of July 2018, by market value (in 1,000 euros)Leading Faroese national football players 2018, by market value
Venues most played in by the national football team of Faroe Islands as of 2018, by number of matchesFaroe Islands' national football team's most played in venues as of 2018
World ranking of Iceland's women's national football team 2003-2018
World ranking of Sweden's women's national football team 2003-2018
World ranking of Denmark's women's national football team 2003-2018
World ranking of Norway's women's national football team 2003-2018
World ranking of Faroe Islands' women's national football team 2003-2018
World ranking of Curaçao national football team 2011-2019
World ranking of Aruba national football team 1993-2019
World ranking of Belgian national football team 1993-2019
World ranking of Curaçao women's national football team 2011-2019
World ranking of Aruba women's national football team 2006-2019
World ranking of Dutch national football team 1993-2019
World ranking of Luxembourg women's national football team 2006-2019
World ranking of Luxembourg national football team 1993-2019
Cuba: world ranking of men's national soccer team 2009-2019
Bolivia: world ranking of men's national soccer team 2009-2019
Revenue of Damallsvenskan football clubs 2007-2017
Expenses of Damallsvenskan football clubs 2017, by club
Operating income of Damallsvenskan football clubs 2007-2017
Assets of Damallsvenskan football clubs 2017, by club
Operating income of Damallsvenskan football clubs 2017, by type
Football in the UK
National football teams in Western Europe
National football teams in Central and Eastern Europe
Soccer in Latin America
Soccer in Chile
Professional football in the Nordic countries
Soccer in Italy
German national football team
Football in France
Professional football in the Netherlands and Belgium
Soccer and media in Italy
Football sponsorship in Europe
Manchester United Annual Report 2015
Number of Nordic FIFA World Cup participants from 1930 to 2018
Number of Nordic FIFA World Cup participants in the period from 1930 to 2018, by county
FIFA World Ranking of the Swedish national football team from 1993 to 2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Norwegian national football team from 1993 to 2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Finnish national football team from 1993 to 2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Icelandic national football team from 1993 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Danish national football team from 1993 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Faroese national football team from 1993 to 2019
Number of football matches won, drawn and lost by the Nordic national teams as of July 2018
Number of men's and women's football teams in Sweden in 1986 and 2016
Number of registered football players in Sweden in 2017, by gender
Annual number of attendees of Allsvenskan football matches from 2015 to 2017
Average number of attendees of Allsvenskan football matches from 2013 to 2017
Average number of attendees of Allsvenskan football matches in 2017, by club
Revenue of Allsvenskan football clubs from 2007 to 2017 (in million SEK)
Revenue of Allsvenskan football clubs 2017, by club (in million SEK)
Venues most played in by the national football team of Sweden as of 2018, by number of matches
Leading players of the national football team of Sweden at FIFA World Cup as of June 2018, by market value (in million euros)
Number of FIFA World Cup games won, drawn and lost by Sweden in the period from 1934 to 2014
All time top goal scorers of the national football team of Sweden as of June 2019, by goals scored
Top ten matches of all time of the national football team of Sweden as of June 2019, by attendance
Number of football clubs in Norway from 2013 to 2017
Number of football teams in Norway from 2013 to 2017
Number of football teams in Norway in 2017, by class and gender
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of Obos liga in Norway from 2010 to 2017
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of Eliteserien in Norway from 2010 to 2017
Revenue of selected football leagues in Norway in 2017 (in million NOK)
Revenue of the Football Association of Norway (Norges Fotballforbund) from 2013 to 2017 (in million NOK)
Expenses of the Football Association of Norway (Norges Fotballforbund) from 2013 to 2017 (in million NOK)
Leading players of the national football team of Norway as of July 2018, by market value (in million euros)
Venues most played in by the national football team of Norway as of 2018, by number of matches
Top eleven matches of all time of the national football team of Norway as of 2018, by attendance
Number of registered football players in Finland from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020
Number of official football matches in Finland from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020
Number of football pitches in Finland from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020
Number of football sports halls in Finland from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020
Revenue of the Finnish Football League 'Veikkausliiga' from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020 (in 1,000 euros)
Ticket revenue of the Finnish Football League 'Veikkausliiga' from 2015 to 2018, with a forecast up to 2020 (in 1,000 euros)
Leading players of the national football team of Finland as of July 2018, by market value (in 1,000 euros)
Venues most played in by the national football team of Finland as of 2018, by number of matches
Number of matches played by the Finnish men's national football team in 2018, by game result
Ranking of clubs in the Finnish Football League ('Veikkausliiga') in season 2017, by score
Leading goal scorers of all time in the Finnish Football League ('Veikkausliiga') as of 2018, by number of scored goals
Average number of registered football players in Iceland as of 2018, by gender
Number of football pitches in Iceland as of 2018, by type
Revenue of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 ISK)
Revenue of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017, by type of income (in 1,000 ISK)
Expenses of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 ISK)
Expenses of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017, by type of costs (in 1,000 ISK)
Profit for the year of the Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 ISK)
Leading players of the national football team of Iceland at FIFA World Cup as of June 2018, by market value (in million euros)
All time top goal scorers of the national football team of Iceland as of June 2019, by goals scored
Venues most played in by the national football team of Iceland as of 2018, by number of matches
Leading matches of all time of the national football team of Iceland as of June 2019, by attendance
Number of football clubs in Denmark from 2007 to 2017
Number of registered football players in Denmark from 2007 to 2017, by gender
Number of registered football players in Denmark from 2007 to 2017, by age group
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the 1 Division in Denmark from 2010 to 2017
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the Alka Superliga in Denmark from 2010 to 2017
Revenue of the Danish Football Association (Dansk Boldspil-Union) from 2013/14 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)
Revenue of the Danish Football Association (Dansk Boldspil-Union) from tournaments from 2013/14 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)
Revenue of the Danish national football team from 2013/14 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)
Leading players of the national football team of Denmark at FIFA World Cup as of June 2018, by market value (in million euros)
Venues most played in by the national football team of Denmark as of September 2018, by number of matches
Number of FIFA World Cup games won, drawn and lost by Denmark in the period from 1986 to 2014
Leading matches of all time of the national football team of Denmark as of 2018, by attendance
Number of football clubs, teams and players in the Faroe Islands in 2016
Income of the Faroe Islands Football Association (Fótbóltssamband Føroya) from 2013 to 2018 (in 1,000 DKK)
Expenses of the Faroe Islands Football Association (Fótbóltssamband Føroya) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)
Net profit of the Faroe Islands Football Association (Fótbóltssamband Føroya) from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000 DKK)
Revenue distribution of top division football clubs in Faroe Islands from 2015 to 2017, by source
Leading players of the national football team of Faroe Islands as of July 2018, by market value (in 1,000 euros)
Venues most played in by the national football team of Faroe Islands as of 2018, by number of matches
FIFA World Ranking of the Icelandic women's national football team from 2003 to 2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Swedish women's national football team from 2003 to 2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Danish women's national football team from 2003 to 2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Norwegian women's national football team from 2003 to 2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Faroese women's national football team from 2003 to 2018
FIFA World Ranking of the Curaçao national football team from 2011 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Aruba national football team from 1993 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Belgian national football team from 1993 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Curaçao women's national football team from 2011 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Aruba women's national football team from 2006 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Dutch national football team from 1993 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Luxembourg women's national football team from 2006 to 2019
FIFA World Ranking of the Luxembourg national football team from 1993 to 2019
Position of the Cuban national men's soccer team in the FIFA World Ranking from 2009 to 2019
Position of the Bolivian national men's soccer team in the FIFA World Ranking from 2009 to 2019
Revenue of Damallsvenskan football clubs from 2007 to 2017 (in 1,000 SEK)
Expenses of Damallsvenskan football clubs in 2017, by club (in 1,000 SEK)
Operating income of Damallsvenskan football clubs from 2007 to 2017 (in 1,000 SEK)
Assets of Damallsvenskan football clubs as of 2017, by club (in 1,000 SEK)
Operating income of Damallsvenskan football clubs in 2017, by type of operation (in 1,000 SEK)
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Tag Archives: extortion
FOIA Litigation Produces Letter from Senators Feinstein and Cardin Urging President Obama to Directly Respond to Russian Cyberattacks
Washington, DC — Today, as a result of ongoing FOIA litigation, the US Department of State and Department of Homeland Security released four (4) documents to the newly formed transparency project Operation 45. Among the documents released Friday afternoon were records responsive to a November 1, 2016 letter from Senators Dianne Feinstein and Benjamin Cardin wherein the Senators call on then President Barack Obama to take immediate action against Russia for intrusions into the 2016 election, which was at the moment of their letter just over a week away.
Written by Sparrow in Operation 45 on Jun 23, 2017
Tagged 2016, Christopher Wray, CIA, DHS, donald trump, extortion, FBI, FOIA, freedom of information act, hacking, james comey, Jason Leopold, ODNI, OP45, operation 45, Robert Mueller, Russia, ryan shapiro, TER management, trump casinos, trump entertainment resorts, Trump FBI file.
Activists and Journalists Have Sued the FBI for Withholding Donald Trump’s File
Washington, DC — The nonprofit transparency organization Property of the People has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seeking the release of Donald J. Trump’s FBI file. The records requested, which cover a period from June 14, 1946 through June 15, 2015, will shed new light on already known investigations linking Trump to organized crime and will provide new information about Trump’s engagements with the bureau.
The effort is part of Property of the People’s Operation 45, a project dedicated to seeking transparency and accountability from the Trump administration. Ryan Shapiro, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) PhD candidate, and investigative reporter Jason Leopold, are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
It has been nearly three months since Property of the People first filed their request to the FBI seeking, among other things, as the request states: “[a]ny and all records mentioning or referring to the living person Donald John Trump.”
Though the FBI has previously released multiple documents with Trump’s name on them from the period stated to Shapiro and Leopold, they have improperly withheld records from this most recent request on the grounds that confirming the existence or non-existence of such records would infringe on Trump’s privacy. However, Operation 45 argues that the enormous public interest in obtaining this information clearly outweighs any embarrassment Trump might suffer. Additionally Trump’s own tweets acknowledging the FBI’s investigation of him negate any arguments that such records may not exist.
Moreover, the FBI has improperly withheld records from this request on the grounds that confirming the existence or non-existence of such records would “risk circumvention of Federal law enforcement efforts.” As stated in the complaint:
“Confirming that the FBI maintains files numbered 137-NY-19967 and 137-22152 would not disclose techniques, procedures, or guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions. Additionally, documents referencing file numbers 137-22152 and 137-NY-19967 in connection with the FBI’s contact with Mr. Trump are already available to the public. The disclosure of the mere existence or nonexistence of responsive records could not reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law. The FBI has not only unreasonably withheld the responsive records, but has unreasonably refused to even confirm the existence of responsive records.”
Plaintiff Shapiro asserts: “Given the profound gravity of the FBI’s past and ongoing investigations involving Donald J. Trump, the public interest in the release of the requested documents is immense. The American public absolutely deserves to know the full truth about the FBI’s historical and current operations involving the President.”
Property of the People vs. Department of Justice, was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The complaint can be read in it’s entirety HERE.
Property of the People is anew government transparency non-profit. Their project, Operation 45, dedicated to uncovering records relevant to the public interest concerning the current Presidential administration has been described by The Nation as “a ray of hope in these dark political times.” Operation 45 is on twitter @opfortyfive
Ryan Shapiro is the director of Operation 45 and the co-founder of Property of the People. Politico has called Shapiro “a FOIA guru at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” He is a historian of national security, the policing of dissent, and governmental transparency. Shapiro’s pathbreaking FOIA work has already led the FBI to declare his MIT dissertation research a threat to national security. Shapiro is on twitter @_rshapiro.
Jason Leopold is an award-winning Senior Investigative Reporter at Buzzfeed News, specializing in counterterrorism and human rights. Leopold has been called a “FOIA Terrorist” by federal employees for his aggressive use of the Freedom of Information Act, which includes successfully suing the FBI to force changes to Bureau FOIA practices. Leopold is on twitter @JasonLeopold.
The Plaintiffs are represented by Washington, DC based FOIA specialist, Jeffrey Light.
Tagged Christopher Wray, donald trump, extortion, FBI, FOIA, freedom of information act, Jason Leopold, OP45, operation 45, Robert Mueller, ryan shapiro, TER management, trump bankruptcy, trump casinos, trump entertainment resorts, Trump FBI file.
Lawyer Representing Investors Told to Quit ‘Fucking with Mr. Trump’
Newly released documents reveal that the FBI investigated an extortion threat related to a menacing phone call made to bankruptcy attorney Kristopher Hansen on February 18, 2009, wherein a Trump associate using the name “Carmine” threatened Hansen’s wife and children. Redactions within FBI documents initially indicated that the bureau’s extortion investigation was ongoing as of March 9, 2017. However, in an unusual step the FBI backtracked and claimed that the redaction marking was inadvertent.
According to the Holmdel Township Police the threat specifically stated:
“My name is ‘Carmine’ I don’t know why you are fucking with Mr. Trump but if you keep fucking with Mr. Trump, we know where you live and we’re going to your house for your wife and kids.”
The threat came as Donald Trump’s casino business went into bankruptcy and Trump Entertainment Resorts had defaulted on payments owed to investors in excess of $1.25 billion. Kristopher Hansen, whose law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan represented the investors, received the threatening call on his blackberry from 212-399-5686, a number the FBI later identifies as a pay phone on 54th Street diagonally across from the Ed Sullivan Theater. Donald Trump and his entourage were at the Ed Sullivan Theater that day for a taping of the Tonight Show with David Letterman.
The first set of FBI documents (1 & 2) were produced in March as a result of a FOIA lawsuit filed by BuzzFeed News Senior Investigative journalist Jason Leopold, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD candidate and Harvard Klein Center for Internet & Society research affiliate, Ryan Shapiro. Shapiro’s effort is part of #Operation45, a constellation of FOIA lawsuits demanding accountability and transparency from the Trump administration.
“Donald Trump has long been in bed with gangsters and thugs at home and abroad,” said Shapiro. “He has also long sought to intimidate and silence those who seek to hold him to his obligations and to account. As a private citizen, this contempt for basic decency is dangerous. As President of the United States, it could prove catastrophic.”
Additional investigation by Leopold and Buzzfeed News returned the Holmdel Township Police report detailing the content of the threatening call.
Read the complaint filed against the Department of Justice HERE
Read Trump Entertainment Resort’s Bankruptcy Filing HERE
Read the FBI’s case notes on ‘Carmine’ (part 1) HERE
Read the 2/18/2009 Holmdel Township Police Report HERE
Written by Sparrow in Operation 45 on May 01, 2017
Tagged donald trump, extortion, FBI, FOIA, freedom of information act, Jason Leopold, OP45, operation 45, ryan shapiro, Stormy Daniels, TER management, threat, trump bankruptcy, trump casinos, trump entertainment resorts.
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Conversion, and dreaming the impossible dream
by Pornchai Moontri
Editor's note: Pornchai Moontri was received into the Catholic Church on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2010. He has been frequently featured at the website of Fr. Gordon Macrae: TheseStoneWalls.
I can always tell when there’s something up, when the mind of my friend has been churning. All the signs were there. I was up on my top bunk doing homework for a course in Accounting. Father G leaned against the concrete wall of this prison cell. He folded his arms, and waited for me to put down my pencil to ask what’s up.
When other prisoners came to the cell door , like they do all day long, he held up a finger and looked all serious, the signal to come back in five minutes. It was funny watching them slink away as if they just interrupted the State of-the Union Address or something.
Whenever Father G. has a new idea, it always makes me squirm a little because it usually means my mind and spirit are about to be stretched again. “How would you like to write a guest post for These Stone Walls?” he asked. Since English is not my first language, writing is very difficult for me. At first, I was excited about this idea. Then I was given a deadline, and I got nervous. Then nervous turned into dread, and now I just feel very intimidated by the whole thing.
Once I saw an episode of “Family Guy,” a cartoon TV show. Peter, Chris’s dad, went back to school. During a math test, all the students reached into their desks to take out calculators, but Peter pulled out an Asian kid and poked him with his pencil saying, “Do math! Do math!” I thought it was pretty funny, and sometimes Father G. pokes me with a pencil when I’m doing math homework and says, “Do math!” Everyone laughs, especially me. He says he wishes he had my ability in math. He says he’s still trying to figure out how the calculator makers get all those answers into those little tiny batteries. I wish I could trade a little math skill for a little writing skill right now. G said not to worry, to just write whatever comes to my mind and he will put in some commas and fix my spelling. He also told me to write about me and not him, but it isn’t a true story if I leave him out. So here goes.
A PRISONER AT THE TRUE EXODUS
Please understand that there are no titles in prison so I know Father G as just G. We were friends for a long while before I found out he is a Catholic priest. I was not surprised at all. We were friends for four years when I became a Catholic. Like I wrote in “Pornchai’s Story,” G never asked me to become a Catholic. He never even mentioned it. It is the path he is on and I was pulled to it by grace like a meteor is pulled by gravity. It was not sudden. It was slow, like the Uncle Screwtape quote in G’s article, “Accommodations in the Garden of Good and Evil.” It was just in the opposite direction from what Uncle Screwtape described. It happened when the nightmare I was living was slowly changed into a dream.
It was just as G wrote about in “The Gravity of Grace: When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” I know today that my life was never what I once thought it was. It was never just a series of accidents and bad events driving me ever deeper to the despair I wrote about in “Pornchai’s Story.” Instead, I was led down a path to hope because I took the risk of finally trusting someone.
I used to really struggle with whether I dared to believe in God, or to even have faith and hope. These are risky for those of us who have known despair. Today, faith sometimes still feels like a dream, but like I wrote in “Pornchai’s story,” something that I read in Pope Benedict’s book, Jesus of Nazareth, had a great impact on me:
“Among all the paths of history, the path to God is the true direction that we must seek and find.” (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 4)
I didn’t read that whole book, of course. I tried to, but I’m not afraid to say the Holy Father’s wisdom is beyond my understanding. G was reading it one night, and as he sometimes does when I’m watching my favorite TV show, he handed the book up to me during a commercial with that line highlighted. I read it just to humor him, but I knew right away that what I read is the truth, and I did not forget it. A few nights later, he did it again. I was in the middle of watching a TV show when he handed up the book with this highlighted on the page:
“Purification of heart comes as a consequence of following Christ, of becoming one with him. ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.’ (Galatians 2:20).” (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 95).
That was also the truth, and it was then that I knew my own heart was being purified for some greater purpose I can so far only dream about. I’m glad Pope Benedict wrote that book. When he became Pope in April, 2005, I did not even know about it and never dreamed that it would matter to me some day. I was in a maximum security cell in a prison in another state. In an article published in Solitary Watch, I described my life in solitary confinement in a “Supermax” prison.
THE ROAD TO PERDITION
I was a teenager when I went to prison. Over the years, I was sent back to solitary confinement over and over, for up to three-and-a-half years at a time, because I was so hostile. The longer I was there each time, the more inhuman I felt and became. Living for years on end in solitary confinement joined with the guilt I felt for the life I took during a struggle when I was 18 years old. So I just gave up on myself as a human being. I sank to the very bottom of the prison I was in, and stayed there.
Then in the spring of 2005, after almost 14 years in and out of solitary confinement, I was told that I was to be shipped to another prison in another state. I sat for 10 months alone in my cell wondering about whatever hell was coming next, and I told myself I didn’t care what comes next. Then one day, guards in riot gear came and chained me up. They put me in a van, and drove off. I thought I was on my way to Boston, to be put on a chartered plane to take me to some prison in the lowest reaches of hell in a place I would never be heard from again. So I was surprised when we exited off the highway after a few hours and stopped at a building with a big blue sign, the New Hampshire State Prison. Then I was quickly taken to that old, familiar place, solitary confinement.
When G was writing last month about Skooter and Donald and me in “Bitter Herbs before the Exodus,” he came in from the Prison Library where he works one day and showed me a quote he found in the book, Dante’s Inferno. I heard of this book it but I never read it. I thought Dante knew of my past when he wrote this great quote that G used:
“Midway on our life’s journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself in a dark wood. How shall I say what wood that was? I never saw so drear, so rank, so arduous a wilderness! Its very memory gives a shape to fear! Death could scarcely be more bitter than that place! But since it came to good, I will recount all that I found revealed there by God’s grace.” (”The Dark Wood of Error,” The Inferno, Dante Aligheri).
I thought, “Who is this guy, Dante, and why has he been following me around? This one little quote seems to be the next chapter in my story. I was emerging from a dark wood. It was early 2006, six years ago, when I emerged from this new prison’s segregation unit. By that point, I had lost most of my teens, all of my twenties, and was well into my thirties when I met G. I had spent so much time in Dante’s Dark Wood of Error that I did not know any way out, and I pretended that I didn’t care.
I remember my very first conversation with G. My young Indonesian friend, JJ, introduced me to him in the prison chow hall one day. JJ thought G could help me. I was real hostile, and told G I just wanted him to help me get transferred to a prison in Bangkok, Thailand. “Be careful what you ask for,” he said. “I won’t help you pursue something that will only further destroy you.” I didn’t care, so why on Earth should he care?
Angry Prisoner
I was hostile to G for a long time. I had mastered the art of driving anyone who cared away from me, but in G I met my match. Over time I was able to see that under my anger was a lot of hurt and pain, and G saw it and helped me to see it too. Over the next few years, G and I discussed a lot about the life of Saint Maximilian Kolbe and about Saint Padre Pio. I drifted like an iceberg that was ever so slowly melting, and before I realized it, I was caught up in what happened to Saint Maximilian. I never had a hero, and he became one. I suddenly felt as though I was no longer just adrift at sea; the ice was all gone. Four years after my arrival in this new prison, on the day before Divine Mercy Sunday in 2010, G and I walked to the Prison Chapel where Fr. Anthony Kuzia, a nearby priest, Baptized and Confirmed me.
The next morning, Divine Mercy Sunday, I received my First Eucharist. I stepped that day out of the Dark Wood of Error into the light of day – the light of Christ. If anyone had told me of this just five years earlier, I would have thought them insane. Every demon that once controlled my life was expelled, and I was free.
In two or three years from now, after 23 years in prison, I might be able to petition for some commutation of the second half of my sentence. If the commutation petition is successful on the first or second try, then another nightmare becomes real. On the day I leave this prison, I will be brought to another prison to await deportation to where my life story began: Thailand.
After being taken from Thailand against my will at age 11, I will be forced to go back there at age 41, with most of the years in between spent in prison. I do not know how I will live or support myself, and I fear being stranded there. G and others have tried to find connections for me in Thailand, but G is in prison too. Every time something promising has surfaced and our hopes have risen, it just drifts into silence again. We had some contact awhile back with someone in the Thai Government, and with someone in the Catholic Church in Thailand, but it is a long time since they have responded to anything.
Now I am being asked to tell of my dreams, but do I dare to have dreams? The next chapter feels dark and empty, and trust is, like G has written, “a precious commodity in prison easily lost, and not very easily replaced.” In February, my Godfather, Pierre Matthews, whose childhood meeting with Padre Pio G wrote about just two weeks ago, sent me a letter with some questions. He wanted me to describe what my dreams are. He wrote that it is important that I put them into words, and he is right.
Five years ago, I didn’t have any dreams. I didn’t have any future either. I had only a past. Having dreams means risking some trust and hope that they might come true. Today, building on the trust that Divine Mercy began in me is my only hope. It’s also the best I can do right now.
But, Godfather, I do have dreams. I dream of having an opportunity to reach those who are lost like I was, and broken, and brokenhearted, and lead them to Christ. I dream that I will be able to help young people who have had all trust broken and taken away from them. I dream that I will be able to live my life in freedom and in service to others. I dream that I will have the chance to honor someone who sought only my good despite his own captivity. I dream that I will live this life as a Catholic. I dream that I will be led to where I am supposed to go and that I will not be all alone when I get there. What used to be just a nightmare is now my dream.
The people who reach into this prison through These Stone Walls have shown me a side of life in this world that before I met G I never knew existed. They have shown me what it means to be true believers. Someone sent me a prayer by Blessed John Henry Newman. It says God will send us “a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.” Father G says that trust in Divine Mercy means that somewhere in this world is a link in a chain for me, a bond of connection between me and Thailand so I am not sent alone into oblivion. I want with all my heart to trust in such grace.
Father G says that person is out there, and he and I now ask your help to find that link in a chain by sending my story everywhere you can. He says it is time to wake up the Catholic on-line world with a project. So please help me find some ties in Thailand. It’s not as funny as it sounds!
I have taken the Christian name, Maximilian, in honor of the great saint who gave his life in service to his neighbor in the horror of prison at Auschwitz. As Knights in Saint Maximilian’s Knights at the Foot of the Cross, Father G and I both sacrifice the dreams of today for a greater good. But we need your help with the dreams of tomorrow.
Don Quixote, the Man of LaMancha, says I must have dreams, even impossible dreams. He says it is the duty of a Knight to dream. I must listen to him. We should all listen to him.
Pornchai Moontri is incarcerated at a supermax prison in New Hampshire.
Copyright © 2019 Spero
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A Closer Look At Who Participates In Sport In Ireland
Recently the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released results from their sports module of the Household Budget Survey (here). John Considine wrote a short post which presented data on participation in sport and physical exercise (see here).
I decided to dig a little deeper into the wealth of data that has been made available. I present two bar charts which examine participation in specific sports and physical exercise by gender and by region. Some interesting patterns emerge.
The first considers participation in sport and physical exercise by gender. 13 sporting/exercise categories are identified by the CSO. The participation by gender breakdown is provided below.
As one would probably expect, participation in yoga/pilates and dance categories are dominated by females. For every 97 women that engage in yoga/pilates, just three men do it. Dance is almost as unbalanced, with around 7 participating men for every 92 women. The most balanced sport in terms of participation is athletics with an almost perfect 50:50 split.
At the other end of the yoga/pilates and dance spectrum lies soccer. This came as a surprise to me. Whilst I never doubted that men play more soccer than women, I was shocked by the size of the imbalance from the CSO figures, with around 4 female soccer players for every 96 males. There are two possible explanations for this. One is that men simply love to play soccer and drive the participation numbers way up. The other is that female soccer is not facilitated as it should be. Lack of teams, competitions and infrastructure may be discouraging/preventing women from playing the sport. This is all the more worrying in light of the wonderful press womens soccer in Ireland has received via Stephaine Roche's wonder strike - voted the second best goal in the world in 2014!.
The second figure illustrates participation in sport and physical exercise by region. Again, the data throws up some interesting findings.
Aerobics/Gym, Swimming and Cycling make up almost 50% of participation in sport and physical exercise across all eight Irish regions. Soccer is least popular in the West region when compared to percentage participation in the other seven. Gaelic Football is virtually non-existent in the South-East, with just 0.6% of those participating in sport and physical exercise playing the sport. Soccer on the other hand has a disproportionately large playing population in the region (12.3%). This is more than 4% more than its closest rival (8.2% of the Dublin participating population).
Hurling and camogie are non-existent in the Border region. The CSO don't even report a figure for participation! The native codes are most popular in the West and Mid-West. Gaelic Football is strongest in the Border region and is also prominent in the Midlands, West and South-West. Golf is strongest in the Mid-East, South-East and Dublin
Finally, a closer look at capital. While not dissimilar to the rest of the country, Dubs do Aerobics/Go to the gym more than any other region. Maybe this is because those in the capital are more health conscience and wish to stay fit more than those living in other regions. Or maybe it is down to access and facilities, and the reason those in Dublin go to the gym more is simply because there are more gyms...
Fifty Shades of Greece
Yesterday, the recently elected left-wing government in Greece suspended professional football indefinitely. This first sentence, like the way the information was first conveyed to me, suggested that it was typical of the response of a government that does not know what it is doing. Opinion is divided on how the Greek government is attempting to deal with the burden of debt that it carries. As I read the strikingly similar media reports, I soon found that the fact that the government was left-wing and recently elected was not really important. This is the third time this season that football has been suspended. Syriza can't be blamed for all of the suspensions.
The proximate cause of the suspension was violence off the pitch. The media reports talked about violence amongst fans and in the boardroom where the sport is governed. What I find difficult to understand is how the suspension of all professional games might solve the problem. A more usual solution is to get the offending entities to play games behind closed doors. This solution does not seemed to have worked. Is the suspension of all games a better approach? Two earlier suspensions in Greece do not seem to have done the trick.
Economists will have a particular perspective(s) on the issue. Most economists will usually suggest that the solution can be found in altering the incentives of the people who engage in this activity. However, there may be some disagreement as to whether economics should stick to financial incentives or not. And, there may be a few economists that argue that a rational choice model is not the way to go. Then there is the issue of evidence and how it is interpreted. Rather than discuss the issues involved I leave you look at the following picture from the Washington Post and refer you to the website Economists Do It With Models where Jodi Beggs discusses the issues in 'Causal Friday'. For those who do not wish to read Jodi's explanation it should be noted that 50 Shades of Grey may NOT be a public health risk. The exact causal relationship between violence and sport can be even harder to discern than that between 50 Shades of Grey and injuries from sex toys.
As the situation in Greece plays itself out we may be better informed about the relationship between sport and violence. We may even find a solution. Unlikely, but who knows for sure.
Those who have visited the Economists Do It With Models website will know that Jodi Beggs likes The Simpsons. A few of us here on Sportseconomics.org also enjoy the antics of Homer and company. Last summer, a number of posts on this blog examined the economics of sport using The Simpsons. It is possible to use The Simpsons to raise some issues about the events in Greece and about the relationship between violence and sport more broadly.
In 'The Cartridge Family' it is suggested that soccer encourages violence because it is not violent and has too few scores. A riot erupts at a soccer game because the fans seems to find it boring. (There is also a reference to a British football hooliganism in the form of Groundsman Willie.) The Simpsons also deals with the issue of banning sports. In 'The Great Wife Hope', Marge takes it on herself to stop mixed martial arts contests. Marge has to become a contestant to stop the sport!
Of course The Simpsons is a cartoon and not reality. Yet there can be similarities with reality. Last month, Senator Catherine Noone took to the Irish airwaves to propose the banning of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She subsequently backtracked after a cringing interview where she admitted to not having seen the sport (the Irish Independent account is here). Senator Noone is not from a left-wing political party like Syriza. She is a member of Fine Gael. Opponents attempt to link the party with a fascist past when they refer to its members as "the Blueshirts". When the debate involves labels like right-wing and left-wing then the real issues can become lost. Sometimes it is better and more informative to consider the issues in a more abstract and humorous form such as The Simpsons.
Where Have Seria A Clubs Gone?
The trouble in Seria A continued last weekend when Parma, a club I would have called my “Italian team”, had to postpone their league match with Udinese as they could not afford to pay for stewarding at the game. Being a child of the 1990s I fell in love with the unfashionable Italian club whose former players include the likes of Tomas Brolin, Fabio Cannavaro, Juan Veron, Gianfranco Zola, Faustino Asprilla and the evergreen Gigi Buffon. Parma’s problems have been on-going for over a decade since local diary giant Parmalat, who financed the club, went bankrupt.
In many ways the club are indicative of what is going on in Italian football at another level; European performance. The club won the European Cup Winners Cup and European Super Cup in 1993, and the UEFA Cup in 1995 and 1999. Italian football was in its pomp. This era wasn't short lived. As late as 2003 AC Milan and Juventus played out a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford in an all-Italian Champions League Final.
Despite a Seria A club winning the again in 2007 (AC Milan) and 2010 (Inter Milan), Italian clubs really aren’t competing the way they used to. In an economic sense, one could argue the league is now caught in a vicious circle, with no tendency towards equilibrium possible since the reduction of its Champions League qualification slots in 2012. This is primarily due to the performance of Italian clubs and the national league’s UEFA ranking.
Despite being clearly ahead of the German Bundesliga in 2010, Seria A is now ranked much lower than its German equivalent. Should the rapid improvement of French clubs continue, thanks to the inflow of foreign investment, it’s like Seria A will be ranked the 5th best league in the near future.
Champions League performance has also declined since the all-Italian final of May 2003. The illustration below graphs Italian club participation from the Group Stages of the Champions League to the Final from the 2003-2004 season to this season. The last time 4 Italian clubs made the Group Stages of the competition was 2009-2010. Since 2010 Sampdoria, Udinese (twice) and Napoli have all been beaten in the 3rd Qualifying Round. Inter Milan were the last Seria A club to reach the semi-final stage, and actually went on to lift the trophy, but that was in 2010.
With only Juventus left, it may be the case that we have no Italian representative left in Europe’s premier club competition by the end of this round. Watch this space.
The Winners Curse in Sport
The winner's curse is the tendency for individuals to overbid in common value auctions when information between buyers and sellers is not complete. If you are bidding in an auction with many others for an asset that you don’t know the value of, a winning bid can be overly optimistic and it can exceed the intrinsic value of the asset purchased. Simply put, if you win an auction when you don't really know what something is worth, there’s a chance you’ll be had! This curse has been shown to even affect experienced bidders.
This curse was originally conceptualized in light of auctions for oil reserves in the Mexican Gulf and famous experiments by William Samuelson and Max Bazerman during the 1980’s showed how buyers in the lab consistently fail to appreciate their information disadvantage when formulating a bid in bargaining games. When the best strategy to take is to opt out, the temptation to bid is too much for some.
Economists have since looked to sport as a means to test for the winner's curse in the field. The big advantage of sport is that it provides scope for productivity evaluations that other auctions do not. We can tell how well an asset has performed after they are purchased, in this case a sports star.
In particular, economists have looked toward baseball. The original study on the topic was by James Cassing and Richard Douglas. In 1980 the researchers analysed the bidding strategies of potential buyers of free agents in Major League Baseball, as naturally each franchise would place a different value on what a free agent is worth. The researchers found that from 1975 to 1980 free agents were overpaid relative to their productivity. A second study that cited the winner's curse was written in 1993 by Lawrence Kahn. While his research did not specifically set out to address the curse, Kahn ended up explaining his results in light of it. His study looked at salary and contract length for virtually all Major League Baseball players from 1987 to 1990. The winner's curse or 'super competitive' bidding was found again. The most recent study comes from 2008 by John Burger and Stephen Walters who revise downward the strength of Cassing and Douglas’ (1980) original findings. Using superior measures of productivity to gauge player performance, they argue that there was positive returns to free agency over the late 1970’s and also the 1990’s. They suggest a ‘weak-form’ version of the winner's curse exists as the full expectations of buyers may still not be met.
More information is often suggested as a solution to this curse but given that status and buying superstars for commercial purposes seems to be important across sports, it may always be the case that owners are not particularly concerned about efficiency or rational bids. Bounded rationality with a boosted ego may do just fine!
Sport – Live, in the Technicolor of Money
By Pádraig MacConsaidín
1946. Fifty minutes. Twenty in the first half, thirty in the second, the first live televised soccer match broadcast by the BBC, with coverage cut short due to fading light and limited technology.
2016. 168 live games at an average of £10.2 million per game. Saturday packages, Sunday packages and for the first time ever, Friday night fixtures. A record deal for live broadcasting rights to the English Premier League (EPL) with Sky and BT having agreed to pay £5.136bn for live TV coverage rights for three seasons from the beginning of the 2016/17 campaign. A deal on this scale may be new to the UK, but they have been getting progressively bigger over the years, and the EPL now joins the top table of sports broadcasting deals.
The new Sky and BT deal with the EPL represents the fourth largest broadcasting deal in history in terms of total amount paid for rights, behind the NFL (American Football), NBA (basketball) and MLS (baseball). In terms of cost per annum, the deal is tied with the NBA as the second most expensive agreement, as reflected in the table below.
In the US TV rating wars, the sports field is a key battleground. With 97% of all sports programming being watched live, in the world of megabucks TV deals, the gravy train that is the NFL rules supreme. The most recent TV rights deal began with the season just gone and will run through until 2022. The NFL’s broadcast packages with CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN reflects an increase of 60% on the previous deal, with ESPN committing to pay the greatest amount in order to secure the exclusive rights to the lucrative Monday Night Football slot. The slot, a weeknight in prime time, is the highest rated show on US cable television. In an environment where peoples’ consumption of broadcast content is changing, with the rise of online video services, sports broadcasting has become the last bastion for broadcasters in what may be argued is a stagnating television market. Governing sporting bodies hold the monopoly on power. Supply and demand in action, and in the US, working for the NFL.
While the EPL deal is relatively modest in comparison to that of the NFL, what the agreement does reflect is the upward trend in the revenue to the EPL from TV income since the league’s inception. From modest beginnings of £191m over a five year period in 1992, the new deal represents a 2,589% increase on the value of the TV agreement. With the EPL’s global appeal growing and coverage broadcast in over 212 territories across the world, the EPL’s claim to be the world’s most watched league holds some validity. The continued growth in popularity of the EPL’s rendering of the beautiful game, the now commonplace foreign preseason tours of the league’s biggest and best, and the mooted overseas regular season games - similar to the NFL’s arrangement with London; mean that the continued rise in popularity of the EPL could potentially lead to TV income to rival the NFL, given the nature of soccer’s global appeal.
In a previous post, reference was made to the fact that the arrival of the EPL, BSkyB and TV revenue heralded an influx of non-British players in search of lucrative financial rewards. Following the announcement of the new EPL deal, the President of La Liga, Javier Tebas, sounded a warning to Spanish clubs to have a more equitable distribution of TV revenue or face losing its stars to the EPL. This would no doubt only further increase the profitability and selling power of the EPL product for future TV deals. Time will tell, but would Messi, Rodríguez or Ronaldo really fancy it on a wet, blustery night in Stoke? For the right price, I venture they would.
Pádraig MacConsaidín holds a BSc Government degree from University College Cork and is the Department of Government, Richard Haslam - Graduate of the Year 2014.
Market Forces in the Europa League
I had some sympathy for my brother (and fellow blog contributor) David when we met at the gym this morning. I asked him had he watched his team (Tottenham) in the Europa League last night. He turned to me and said “No – market forces”.
Last Autumn, following Liverpool’s return to the Champions League I joked with him about Spurs’ European adventures compared to the bright lights of Madrid (where Liverpool were heading). We even spoke about whether Spurs would have been better off (in football terms) if they had finished below Manchester United last season and been absent from European competition. Each Thursday I would joke and ask questions such as “Who are you playing in the Thursday Cup tonight?” of “What part of the USSR are you visiting this week?”
The joke was on me come November. Liverpool’s draw with Basle in Match Day 6 sent the Merseyside club into the Europa League by virtue of finishing 3rd in their Champions’ League group. While I had enjoyed Tuesday and Wednesday night football, David and every other Spurs fan, had soldiered on Thursday nights watching Spurs play Partizan, Beşiktaş and Asteras Tripolid on 3e no less!
February arrives. Spurs played Fiorentina at White Hart Lane last night. 3e broadcasts from Anfield.. Even Setanta Ireland couldn’t save him. Celtic versus Inter Milan was shown live.
Why? The answer is simply market forces. Until Spurs fans outnumber Liverpool fans in Ireland it’s hard to see the day when the former will get precedence over the latter, ceteris paribus. Good news for me but you do have to feel sorry for all those Tottenham supporters who have followed their team this autumn and winter through lesser-known-Europe. Don’t worry though – we’ll make sure you’ll never walk alone.
Will Spurs and Liverpool be disrupted by the Europa League?
Not for the first time this year the media has considered the perverse effects of playing in the Europa League. Today, Sky Sports reported “there has been a remarkable improvement to Liverpool and Tottenham's results [in the EPL] since their last European ties on December 11 and 12”.
It's commonly insinuated that playing in the Europa League causes a ‘hangover’ and that juggling two competitions influences domestic performance. Taking account of all the data since the beginning of the Europa League competition in the 09-10 season, it becomes clear that English teams that reached the group stages of Europa League have actually won more domestic matches three days later following a Thursday night match.
While I don’t control for the standard of opposition here (as Europa Cup entrants are usually above average performers), the location of the EPL match, or compare post Thursday results to the rest of a teams results, the aggregate stats on an issue that has an important temporal component suggests that there’s not much in the 'hangover' idea. At best there may be some weak effect going on.
Two Interesting Findings From Penalty Shootouts
I came across two interesting papers published relatively recently when researching penalty kicks. Both consider psychological variables that influence one party, either the goalkeeper or the kicker in a penalty shoot-out.
1. The first finding comes from a paper published in Psychological Science in 2011 by Roskes, Sligte, Shalvi, and De Dreu. This one relates to goalkeepers. The researchers collected data from World Cup penalty shootouts and show that Goalkeepers are more likely to dive to the right when in a losing position in a penalty shoot-out. This is attributed to psychological bias towards choosing 'right' when forced to act quickly.
2. The second paper comes from 2009 and was published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise. This time the application is to the penalty taker. The researchers, Jordet, Hartman and Sigmundstad show that there is a link between a penalty takers success and the length of time taken between the referee’s whistle to signal a player can proceed and when the kick is actually taken. Taking a longer time to respond to a referee’s 'ready signal' was positively correlated to successful conversions. John Considine has since told me that the book Scorecasting (reviewed by John in the book section of this website) has a short chapter on the 'myth' that the opposition should delay (or ice) the kicker in American Football. The data does not support the strategy for soccer.
So, when it comes to penalties maybe goalkeepers should jump to the left more and kickers should try to leave nations hold their breath a little longer!
Cartels, Cricket & Ireland
Eoin Morgan: The Irish Cricketer who Captains England
Monday’s success at the Cricket World Cup by Ireland over the West Indies is fueling a debate about the development of cricket in Ireland and the opportunities for the non-Test Playing nations. The ICC displays elements of a sporting cartel, which makes it difficult for any team outside the test status nations to decide games, funding and even participation at the next world cup.
Ireland have history when it comes to upset victories, defeating Pakistan in 2007, England in 2011 and now West Indies. These results prove an ability to compete at the top level. Ireland is ranked 11th in the world and have associate nation status. Only ten countries have test status. Ireland have achieved these victories with just nine One Day Internationals (ODIs) against Test playing nations in the past four years. England have played 21 ODIs in 2014 alone against Test status nations. The top eight teams in particular have a clear advantage in that tours and schedules are very much geared to their needs. The victory has further muted the ICC's claim that cricket is only competitive among eight teams on which they are basing the restriction of the next World Cup to ten teams. Of course, one victory at a world cup does not warrant a change in rules, however if Ireland were to advance from their group by finishing in the top four of seven, the ICC would certainly have to reconsider its position.
A comparable situation perhaps is the Rugby World Cup, which facilitates 20 teams. It is comparable in the sense that there is a limited number of ‘top’ teams. Since 2000, rugby has increased the traditional tournaments in the Northern and Southern hemisphere to six and four teams respectively to promote the development of the game in Italy and Argentina. A veritable cartel approach in cricket means that the traditional nations (top 8) have a guaranteed income stream from tours and matches against each other. It suits these teams, as revenue does not have to be diluted among further nations. The ICC is off setting future development outside of these countries to maintain the status quo for existing test nations.
Further to this Ireland has the problem that players who stay with Ireland do not get the opportunity to play test cricket, which has meant some players have switched allegiance to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Most notably the current England ODI captain Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin. Virtuous and vicious cycles emerge under the current arrangement.
If the associate nations are to be competitive which is the excuse for reducing the world cup numbers, then Ireland , Scotland, UAE, Afghanistan and Netherlands have to be ,at the very least, given an opportunity to play against the test status nations, particularly against the top eight (Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies).
The term upset and giant killing has been used to describe Ireland’s most recent victory. This is perhaps a truism in the sense that our team has limited opportunities to beat a traditional cricketing powerhouse. However if Ireland continually defeat these nations which they have in world cups then perhaps it will become more expected of them.
Most sports have a top tier, however most sports incentivise the lower tier nations by offering a chance to promote themselves. The induction of many smaller states in international soccer is testament to this. In international soccer and rugby newer states may not drastically improve but it serves to develop the sports. This is currently not the case in cricket.
Latest Figures on Participation in Sport and Exercise
The Central Statistics Office have released the results of their sports module from the Household Budget Survey (here). There is a wealth of information provided for those interested in the numbers. Below is Figure 1 from the release. It shows that 37.9% of the population are engaged in sport. Another 27.5% are engaged in walking for recreational purposes or utility purposes.
I'm guessing that over the coming weeks there will be a number of blog posts that will drill down into the data.
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Gold inlaid carriage which may carry Prince William to wedding completed for the Queen
A gold inlaid State carriage, which may one day transport Prince William and Prince Harry to their weddings, has been completed for the Queen.
The carriage was designed and built in Sydney by Jim Frecklington Photo: SNAP
By Andrew Pierce
11:00PM GMT 02 Feb 2009
The state coach Britannia will be only the second carriage to join the Royal Family in the last 100 years.
The £620,000 carriage is a gift for the Queen from Australia whose new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Republican, wants a referendum on the monarchy. The designers claim that it has more gold than any other vehicle made in Britain for almost 200 years.
The carriage was commissioned by Mr Rudd's predecessor John Howard and has taken two years to complete. It was designed and built in Sydney by Jim Frecklington who learned his trade working in the Royal Mews. The project has been overseen by the Duke of Edinburgh, a renowned carriage driver.
In 1986, to commemorate Australia's bicentenary two years later, Mr Frecklington, 57, designed and built the Australian State Coach which was a gift from Australia to Britain. The coach is used regularly by the Queen for the State Opening of Parliament. Before that the last coach to be made was in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII.
It contains a time capsule containing elements of British history including material from a Lancaster bomber which once flew with the 617 Squadron -the Dambusters. There is metal from a musket ball from the Battle of Waterloo to symbolise the Army and wood from the Victory, representing the Royal Navy.'
There is also wood from cathedrals including St Paul's, Canterbury, Wells and York as well as segments from Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, the Mayflower, the Queen Mary and the former Royal Yacht Britannia.
The crystal for the coach's four lamps, each weighing 55lbs, was handblown and cut by Edinburgh Crystal. The two door handles, made by, a specialist jeweller in New Zealand, are individually decorated with 24 diamonds and 130 sapphires.
The coach weighs 2.75 tons and is more than 20ft long and 11ft high. If it is used by Prince William and his bride they will at least travel in relative comfort as the carriage has electric windows, hydraulic independent suspension and heating.
The interior is lined and upholstered with 22 yards of the silk brocade, incorporating the heraldic representations of the four home countries – the rose, the flax, the thistle and the leek.
The carriage is due to be transported from the workshop close to Sydney harbour to the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace in the next few weeks.
Mr Frecklington, who grew up on a farm near Sydney before working for the Royal Family in Windsor, worked with 50 craftsmen on the carriage but the expenditure has been criticised by some MPs in the Australian parliament.
Mr Frecklington said: "It is money well spent and good value – if we have a royal family for another 200 or 300 years, this is the coach that they would use."
In The Royal Family
Joining forces: Harry in the US
Surpassing Victoria: 33 fun facts
The Royal Family's war years
Playtime for Prince George at polo match
Princess Charlotte in pictures
Happy Birthday Your Majesty!
King Richard III reinterment
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Adobe Joins the Social Computing Revolution
The reborn Adobe Acrobat 8 lets users collaborate with the greatest of ease.
by Wade Roush
I have never been a fan of Adobe Systems’ Portable Document Format (PDF) or of Acrobat, Adobe’s family of applications for creating and reading PDF files. Adobe introduced the format back in 1993, when the World Wide Web was still an obscure physics project and “electronic publishing” meant designing print documents on a computer screen. At the time, Adobe was known mainly as a proprietor of digital fonts and image-editing software used by many publishing professionals to produce documents intended for printing. It invented PDF to preserve the design of such documents, regardless of which computer was used to create, view, or print them.
Fair enough. PDF is indeed useful when it’s important to capture the look and feel of a print document; in fact, I’m a loyal customer of Octavo, a company founded by Adobe’s former CEO John Warnock that scans rare books and publishes them in stunning, high-resolution PDF form. But working with print documents is no longer personal computing’s killer app. The Web is. And compared with most Web pages, PDFs feel sadly static and fossilized.
But now something has happened to make me take a fresh look at PDF and Acrobat. In a nutshell: Adobe Systems has discovered social computing.
Over the past few years, the Web has grown from a one-to-many medium, in which authors essentially published documents for the benefit of an unseen audience, into a tool for advanced one-to-one and group communication. Technologies such as social networking, media sharing, voice calling, and video conferencing have transformed the Internet into a locus for all things social, as exemplified by sites like MySpace, Flickr, Skype, Meetup, Upcoming.org, YouTube, and Dodgeball (see “Social Machines,” August 2005). With the Acrobat 8 suite, released in November, Adobe has moved decisively into the social-computing era.
I’ve spent the past few days testing Acrobat 8 and an associated Web service, Acrobat Connect. I’m pleasantly surprised by the number of new features Adobe has provided to help people work together on documents over the Internet–even if those documents aren’t PDFs. When combined, Acrobat 8 and Acrobat Connect form a powerful (and potentially cheaper) alternative to established collaboration and presentation systems such as WebEx and Microsoft’s Live Meeting and Office Groove 2007. They also show how Adobe is beginning to benefit from its 2005 acquisition of Macromedia, the company that founded the interactive-multimedia industry.
Veteran Acrobat users needn’t worry that they’ll lose anything. Acrobat 8 includes all of the core functions of Acrobat 7, including the ability to create, review, search, encrypt, and export PDF documents, and to convert other kinds of documents, such as e-mails, Web pages, and Word files, into PDFs. (I tested Acrobat 8 Professional, which retails at $449. Acrobat 8 Standard, at $299, leaves out a few specialized features, such as the ability to work with CAD documents and create fillable PDF forms. Adobe Reader 8.0, the latest version of the company’s stripped-down PDF viewer, is still a free download.)
It’s the new collaboration features, however, that have me rethinking my negative attitude toward Acrobat and PDF. The features change PDF files–which I’d always seen as the electronic equivalent of museum cases, preserving sacred, untouchable text–into living documents that any number of people can alter, either separately or in concert.
For instance, Acrobat 8 allows users to create blank PDFs and add text by typing, just the way one would with a new Word file. That’s a major shift in itself; it means PDF can be a document’s “native” format, not just a way to package material created using other applications.
The program also offers better tools for providing feedback about PDF documents–a key feature for professionals like lawyers, publishers, or journalists. Conveniently, all of Acrobat’s commenting tools now appear in a single floating toolbar. If you don’t like the way your boss rewrote your section of the company’s annual report, the toolbar provides a whole playground of tools for expressing yourself: beyond the traditional colored-highlighter tool, there are tools for creating deletions and insertions, sticky notes, boxes, circles, freehand drawings, pretty little thought bubbles or “clouds,” draggable “callouts” with arrows that point to a specific passage, and “rubber stamps” saying things like “Draft,” “Confidential,” and “Sign Here.” You can even attach an audio file downloaded from your dictation machine.
Even cooler, though, is a new collaboration feature called Shared Reviews. When it’s activated, comments and markups added to a PDF file by reviewers are no longer saved within the document itself, but are uploaded to a central location on an organization’s computer network, such as a network server or Web server. Every time a team member opens the document, Acrobat retrieves the latest changes from the server. Whenever a reviewer adds a new comment, the program notifies all of the other reviewers. In other words, team members no longer have to wait their turn for access to a document, or create separate edited versions that someone must eventually merge back into the “master copy.” With Shared Reviews, many people can work on the same document in parallel.
The most useful new feature of the Acrobat suite is also about collaboration, but it has little to do with PDF. It’s Acrobat Connect, which can be launched from a new “Start meeting” button in the main toolbar of Acrobat Professional, Acrobat Standard, and even Acrobat Reader. The system links up to 15 members of an organization to an online meeting room accessed via their Web browsers and a personalized URL (such as http://connect.acrobat.com/wroush). The rooms provide windows–Adobe calls them “pods”–for text chat, live webcam video, notes, and, most important, screen sharing, which gives meeting participants access to documents and applications stored on other participants’ computers.
Once a meeting is under way, the host can designate one or all attendees as presenters, allowing them to broadcast selected live content from their computer screens, whether that means a single open window, an application, or even the entire desktop. A user could give a presentation, for example, by screen-sharing his or her copy of a Microsoft Powerpoint file. But participants in an Acrobat Connect meeting needn’t remain passive, like the victims of most business presentations. With the presenter’s permission, they could work directly on the Powerpoint file (or PDF, Word, or Excel document).
In effect, Acrobat Connect gives meeting participants control over one another’s computers, somewhat like remote-control programs such as RealVNC do. That puts Acrobat Connect a step above other Internet-based presentation tools like WebEx or Live Meeting, which don’t allow remote control. This might sound like a scary security risk, but participants must request permission for screen-sharing control, and they can’t get into a meeting in the first place without a password sent to them by the host. Besides, remote control is the only practical approach to remote collaboration, short of putting entire office applications on the Web–and no one wants to imagine monstrosities like “Microsoft Word for Servers 2007.”
Adobe opened Acrobat Connect to the public on December 6. A free, Adobe-hosted trial version, including use of a dedicated teleconference line, will be available through the end of the year; in January, Adobe will start charging a subscription fee of $39 per month per room, or $395 per year. Also starting in 2007, companies will be able to buy and host their own copies of Acrobat Connect. Licenses will cost $15,000, which is $5,000 less than Microsoft charges for the professional version of Live Meeting.
There’s a slick, “Web 2.0” feeling to Acrobat Connect that’s uncharacteristic of Adobe. That’s because it’s actually a reworking of Breeze Meeting, Macromedia’s former Web conferencing system. It will be interesting to watch how Macromedia’s work is integrated into future releases of Adobe products; the Macromedia acquisition seems to be part of a larger course change at Adobe, one favoring groups, real-time collaboration, and the revision process over the lone creative and his or her precious, amber-encased designs.
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1 In 4 Drug Overdoses In The US Is Related To Heroin
26 February 2017, 9:40 pm EST By Allan Adamson Tech Times
New figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday highlight the severity of America's opioid epidemic and the dangers of the rising use of heroin in the country.
More Than 50,000 Overdose-Related Deaths
The number of overdose-related deaths in the U.S. in 2010 was 38,329. The figure climbed to 52,404 in 2015. Drug abuse in essence is more lethal than firearms, which killed a total of 36,252 in 2015.
Heroin Accounts For 25 Percent Of Drug Overdoses
The latest numbers also showed that in 2015, one in four drug overdoses was related to heroin, marking a dramatic increase from the numbers in 1999 when only 6 percent of all overdoses were related to the drug.
Deaths related to opioids, which include heroin, comprised majority of the overall cases of overdose representing 60 percent of overdose deaths. In 2010, the percentage was only about 50 percent.
"Rates of drug overdose deaths continued to increase. In 2015, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths (16.3 per 100,000) was more than 2.5 times the rate in 1999 (6.1). Increases were seen for both males (from 8.2 in 1999 to 20.8 in 2015) and females (from 3.9 in 1999 to 11.8 in 2015)," CDC said in its report.
Holly Hedegaard, from the National Center for Health Statistics, who is also one of the authors of the study, said that this is the first time that the number of overdose deaths in the U.S. exceeded 50,000.
Rising Number Of Heroin Users In The US
The U.S. has seen a significant increase in the number of heroin users, which can be attributed to the spike in heroin-related deaths in the country. Figures from the United Nation's World Drug Report 2016 showed that there were about 1 million heroin users in the U.S. in 2014, or nearly three times higher than the number in 2003.
Causes Of The Heroin Usage Trend
Many theories attempt to determine the cause of the heroin use spike in the U.S. but what appears to be the best explanation for the rising use of the drug is the crackdown on prescription drugs which include OxyContin and Vicodin, whose painkilling effects are comparable to heroin.
Opioid painkillers are legal prescription drugs while heroin is an illegal drug. As doctors slowed down the prescription of the legal drugs, users apparently opted to use heroin to avoid withdrawal.
Dangers Of Heroin Abuse
Heroin is a powerful opioid that can cause "pretty quick highs." Unfortunately, abuse poses dangers that can cause serious health problems or even death.
Overdosing on heroin can slow or even stop breathing, which can reduce the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain, a condition known as hypoxia, whose possible effects include coma and permanent brain damage.
Reversing Effects Of Drug Overdose
Authorities hope that making opioid and heroin overdose antidotes such as naloxone more widely available can help save lives.
"Allowing more basic emergency medical service (EMS) staff to administer naloxone could reduce drug overdose deaths that involve opioids," CDC said. "Naloxone is a prescription drug that can reverse the effects of prescription opioid and heroin overdose, and can be life-saving if administered in time."
Heroin, opioid, drug overdose, Naloxone
Doctors' Frequent Opioid Prescriptions Linked To Long-Term Use In Patients: Study
Kaleo Pharmaceuticals Questioned Over 550 Percent Price Hike Of Naloxone Injector Evzio For Opioid Overdose
FDA Approves Egalet Long-Acting Opioid Painkiller With Abuse-Deterrent Properties
Top 10 Health News Of 2016: Zika Virus, Opioid Crisis, Marijuana Legalization, And More
Deaths From Synthetic Opioid Overdose Up By 72 Percent: CDC
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Tom Chatfield
Details About the talk
I love video games. I'm also slightly in awe of them. I'm in awe of their power in terms of imagination, in terms of technology, in terms of concept. But I think, above all, I'm in awe at their power to motivate, to compel us, to transfix us, like really nothing else we've ever invented has quite done before. And I think that we can learn some pretty amazing things by looking at how we do this. And in particular, I think we can learn things about learning. Now the video games industry is far and away the fastest growing of all modern media. From about 10 billion in 1990, it's worth 50 billion dollars globally today, and it shows no sign of slowing down. In four years' time, it's estimated it'll be worth over 80 billion dollars. That's about three times the recorded music industry. This is pretty stunning, but I don't think it's the most telling statistic of all. The thing that really amazes me is that, today, people spend about eight billion real dollars a year buying virtual items that only exist inside video games. This is a screenshot from the virtual game world, Entropia Universe. Earlier this year, a virtual asteroid in it sold for 330,000 real dollars. And this is a Titan class ship in the space game, EVE Online. And this virtual object takes 200 real people about 56 days of real time to build, plus countless thousands of hours of effort before that. And yet, many of these get built. At the other end of the scale, the game Farmville that you may well have heard of, has 70 million players around the world and most of these players are playing it almost every day.
This may all sound really quite alarming to some people, an index of something worrying or wrong in society. But we're here for the good news, and the good news is that I think we can explore why this very real human effort, this very intense generation of value, is occurring. And by answering that question, I think we can take something extremely powerful away. And I think the most interesting way to think about how all this is going on is in terms of rewards. And specifically, it's in terms of the very intense emotional rewards that playing games offers to people both individually and collectively. Now if we look at what's going on in someone's head when they are being engaged, two quite different processes are occurring. On the one hand, there's the wanting processes. This is a bit like ambition and drive — I'm going to do that. I'm going to work hard. On the other hand, there's the liking processes, fun and affection and delight and an enormous flying beast with an orc on the back. It's a really great image. It's pretty cool. It's from the game World of Warcraft with more than 10 million players globally, one of whom is me, another of whom is my wife. And this kind of a world, this vast flying beast you can ride around, shows why games are so very good at doing both the wanting and the liking. Because it's very powerful. It's pretty awesome. It gives you great powers. Your ambition is satisfied, but it's very beautiful. It's a very great pleasure to fly around. And so these combine to form a very intense emotional engagement.
But this isn't the really interesting stuff. The really interesting stuff about virtuality is what you can measure with it. Because what you can measure in virtuality is everything. Every single thing that every single person who's ever played in a game has ever done can be measured. The biggest games in the world today are measuring more than one billion points of data about their players, about what everybody does — far more detail than you'd ever get from any website. And this allows something very special to happen in games. It's something called the reward schedule. And by this, I mean looking at what millions upon millions of people have done and carefully calibrating the rate, the nature, the type, the intensity of rewards in games to keep them engaged over staggering amounts of time and effort. Now, to try and explain this in sort of real terms, I want to talk about a kind of task that might fall to you in so many games. Go and get a certain amount of a certain little game-y item. Let's say, for the sake of argument, my mission is to get 15 pies and I can get 15 pies by killing these cute, little monsters. Simple game quest. Now you can think about this, if you like, as a problem about boxes. I've got to keep opening boxes. I don't know what's inside them until I open them. And I go around opening box after box until I've got 15 pies. Now, if you take a game like Warcraft, you can think about it, if you like, as a great box-opening effort. The game's just trying to get people to open about a million boxes, getting better and better stuff in them.
This sounds immensely boring but games are able to make this process incredibly compelling. And the way they do this is through a combination of probability and data. Let's think about probability. If we want to engage someone in the process of opening boxes to try and find pies, we want to make sure it's neither too easy, nor too difficult, to find a pie. So what do you do? Well, you look at a million people — no, 100 million people, 100 million box openers — and you work out, if you make the pie rate about 25 percent — that's neither too frustrating, nor too easy. It keeps people engaged. But of course, that's not all you do — there's 15 pies. Now, I could make a game called Piecraft, where all you had to do was get a million pies or a thousand pies. That would be very boring. Fifteen is a pretty optimal number. You find that — you know, between five and 20 is about the right number for keeping people going. But we don't just have pies in the boxes. There's 100 percent up here. And what we do is make sure that every time a box is opened, there's something in it, some little reward that keeps people progressing and engaged. In most adventure games, it's a little bit in-game currency, a little bit experience. But we don't just do that either.
We also say there's going to be loads of other items of varying qualities and levels of excitement. There's going to be a 10 percent chance you get a pretty good item. There's going to be a 0.1 percent chance you get an absolutely awesome item. And each of these rewards is carefully calibrated to the item. And also, we say, "Well, how many monsters? Should I have the entire world full of a billion monsters?" No, we want one or two monsters on the screen at any one time. So I'm drawn on. It's not too easy, not too difficult. So all this is very powerful. But we're in virtuality. These aren't real boxes. So we can do some rather amazing things. We notice, looking at all these people opening boxes, that when people get to about 13 out of 15 pies, their perception shifts, they start to get a bit bored, a bit testy. They're not rational about probability. They think this game is unfair. It's not giving me my last two pies. I'm going to give up. If they're real boxes, there's not much we can do, but in a game we can just say, "Right, well. When you get to 13 pies, you've got 75 percent chance of getting a pie now." Keep you engaged. Look at what people do — adjust the world to match their expectation. Our games don't always do this. And one thing they certainly do at the moment is if you got a 0.1 percent awesome item, they make very sure another one doesn't appear for a certain length of time to keep the value, to keep it special.
And the point is really that we evolved to be satisfied by the world in particular ways. Over tens and hundreds of thousands of years, we evolved to find certain things stimulating, and as very intelligent, civilized beings, we're enormously stimulated by problem solving and learning. But now, we can reverse engineer that and build worlds that expressly tick our evolutionary boxes. So what does all this mean in practice? Well, I've come up with seven things that, I think, show how you can take these lessons from games and use them outside of games. The first one is very simple: experience bars measuring progress — something that's been talked about brilliantly by people like Jesse Schell earlier this year. It's already been done at the University of Indiana in the States, among other places. It's the simple idea that instead of grading people incrementally in little bits and pieces, you give them one profile character avatar which is constantly progressing in tiny, tiny, tiny little increments which they feel are their own. And everything comes towards that, and they watch it creeping up, and they own that as it goes along.
Second, multiple long and short-term aims — 5,000 pies, boring, 15 pies, interesting. So, you give people lots and lots of different tasks. You say, it's about doing 10 of these questions, but another task is turning up to 20 classes on time, but another task is collaborating with other people, another task is showing you're working five times, another task is hitting this particular target. You break things down into these calibrated slices that people can choose and do in parallel to keep them engaged and that you can use to point them towards individually beneficial activities.
Third, you reward effort. It's your 100 percent factor. Games are brilliant at this. Every time you do something, you get credit; you get a credit for trying. You don't punish failure. You reward every little bit of effort — a little bit of gold, a little bit of credit. You've done 20 questions — tick. It all feeds in as minute reinforcement.
Fourth, feedback. This is absolutely crucial, and virtuality is dazzling at delivering this. If you look at some of the most intractable problems in the world today that we've been hearing amazing things about, it's very, very hard for people to learn if they cannot link consequences to actions. Pollution, global warming, these things — the consequences are distant in time and space. It's very hard to learn, to feel a lesson. But if you can model things for people, if you can give things to people that they can manipulate and play with and where the feedback comes, then they can learn a lesson, they can see, they can move on, they can understand.
And fifth, the element of uncertainty. Now this is the neurological goldmine, if you like, because a known reward excites people, but what really gets them going is the uncertain reward, the reward pitched at the right level of uncertainty, that they didn't quite know whether they were going to get it or not. The 25 percent. This lights the brain up. And if you think about using this in testing, in just introducing control elements of randomness in all forms of testing and training, you can transform the levels of people's engagement by tapping into this very powerful evolutionary mechanism. When we don't quite predict something perfectly, we get really excited about it. We just want to go back and find out more.
As you probably know, the neurotransmitter associated with learning is called dopamine. It's associated with reward-seeking behavior. And something very exciting is just beginning to happen in places like the University of Bristol in the U.K., where we are beginning to be able to model mathematically dopamine levels in the brain. And what this means is we can predict learning, we can predict enhanced engagement, these windows, these windows of time, in which the learning is taking place at an enhanced level. And two things really flow from this. The first has to do with memory, that we can find these moments. When someone is more likely to remember, we can give them a nugget in a window. And the second thing is confidence, that we can see how game-playing and reward structures make people braver, make them more willing to take risks, more willing to take on difficulty, harder to discourage. This can all seem very sinister. But you know, sort of "our brains have been manipulated; we're all addicts." The word "addiction" is thrown around. There are real concerns there. But the biggest neurological turn-on for people is other people. This is what really excites us. In reward terms, it's not money; it's not being given cash — that's nice — it's doing stuff with our peers, watching us, collaborating with us.
And I want to tell you a quick story about 1999 — a video game called EverQuest. And in this video game, there were two really big dragons, and you had to team up to kill them — 42 people, up to 42 to kill these big dragons. That's a problem because they dropped two or three decent items. So players addressed this problem by spontaneously coming up with a system to motivate each other, fairly and transparently. What happened was, they paid each other a virtual currency they called "dragon kill points." And every time you turned up to go on a mission, you got paid in dragon kill points. They tracked these on a separate website. So they tracked their own private currency, and then players could bid afterwards for cool items they wanted — all organized by the players themselves. Now the staggering system, not just that this worked in EverQuest, but that today, a decade on, every single video game in the world with this kind of task uses a version of this system — tens of millions of people. And the success rate is at close to 100 percent. This is a player-developed, self-enforcing, voluntary currency, and it's incredibly sophisticated player behavior.
And I just want to end by suggesting a few ways in which these principles could fan out into the world. Let's start with business. I mean, we're beginning to see some of the big problems around something like business are recycling and energy conservation. We're beginning to see the emergence of wonderful technologies like real-time energy meters. And I just look at this, and I think, yes, we could take that so much further by allowing people to set targets by setting calibrated targets, by using elements of uncertainty, by using these multiple targets, by using a grand, underlying reward and incentive system, by setting people up to collaborate in terms of groups, in terms of streets to collaborate and compete, to use these very sophisticated group and motivational mechanics we see. In terms of education, perhaps most obviously of all, we can transform how we engage people. We can offer people the grand continuity of experience and personal investment. We can break things down into highly calibrated small tasks. We can use calculated randomness. We can reward effort consistently as everything fields together. And we can use the kind of group behaviors that we see evolving when people are at play together, these really quite unprecedentedly complex cooperative mechanisms. Government, well, one thing that comes to mind is the U.S. government, among others, is literally starting to pay people to lose weight. So we're seeing financial reward being used to tackle the great issue of obesity. But again, those rewards could be calibrated so precisely if we were able to use the vast expertise of gaming systems to just jack up that appeal, to take the data, to take the observations, of millions of human hours and plow that feedback into increasing engagement.
And in the end, it's this word, "engagement," that I want to leave you with. It's about how individual engagement can be transformed by the psychological and the neurological lessons we can learn from watching people that are playing games. But it's also about collective engagement and about the unprecedented laboratory for observing what makes people tick and work and play and engage on a grand scale in games. And if we can look at these things and learn from them and see how to turn them outwards, then I really think we have something quite revolutionary on our hands.
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Iran’s Nazemi nominated for the world’s best referee
TEHRAN – Gelareh Nazemi from Iran has been nominated for the Best Referee in the World.
Gelareh Nazemi, Iran’s refereeing pioneer
Sitting in a lounge on the 24th floor of a hotel in central Buenos Aires, Gelareh Nazemi conveys a certain shyness, which stands in contrast to the confidence she demonstrates when dealing with matters on a futsal court.
Iran’s Youth Olympic Games team flag bearer announced
TEHRAN –Greco-Roman wrestler Mohammad Ghorbanali Nosrati has been announced as flag bearer for Iran at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Four girls to represent Iran at Asian Weightlifting Championships
TEHRAN – The four-member Iranian team traveled to Urgench, Uzbekistan to participate at the 25th Asian Junior Women Weightlifting Championships.
Iranian girls to participate at Asian Youth Championships
TEHRAN – Iran will send four girls weightlifters to the 2018 Asian Youth Championships.
Ahmadian first Iranian to feature in table tennis at Youth Olympic Games
Winner of the Junior Boys’ Singles title earlier in the week at the 2018 Tunisia Junior and Cadet Open; Iran’s Amin Ahmadian won the Men’s Singles title at the Road to Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games – Africa second qualification tournament on Sunday 25th March.
Rahimi named Iran’s Chef de Mission for 2018 Youth Olympic Games
Asghar Rahimi has been named as Iran’s Chef de Mission for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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The background to Platform was a nationwide research study into opportunities for girls in youth drama which Tonic conducted in 2012 in partnership with the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, Company of Angels, and Zendeh. It came in response to schools and youth theatres telling us they struggled to find scripts that gave girls enough to do on stage. The research findings are published in a report, Swimming in the Shallow End.
The research found that while the majority of young people taking part in youth drama are female, in the scripts being used, the majority of roles are male. Not only did this lead to a mismatch between who wants to take part and the opportunities available to them, Tonic found there were real concerns expressed by teachers, youth theatre directors, as well as young people themselves about the quality of much writing for girls. Too often, they said, female characters were pushed to the margins of the action, were less likely to have roles that were challenging, complex, funny, or aspirational. Rarely, they told us, did the depictions of females match the intelligent, questioning, powerful, dynamic young women they knew the members of their drama groups to be.
Tonic’s response is Platform; big cast, mainly or all-female scripts by top writers enthused about the brief of writing a play which gives girls just as much to get their teeth into as the boys. For Tonic, beyond the immediate benefits to young people, this work has a longer strategic goal – created to drive for greater gender equality in UK theatre, Tonic knows that change will come about quicker if we can increase the expectations that tomorrow’s generation of theatre professionals have of the role that women can play on stage.
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The Chicago Syndicate
Mafia News Archive Covering Both Current and Historic Mob Articles Focusing on Organized Crime, Mobsters, Gangs & Gangsters, Political Corruption, Clout and the Legal System.
4 Free Burgers & 4 Free Gourmet Franks from Omaha Steaks
Showing posts with label Salvatore Montanga. Show all posts
Mass Mafia Bust #ProjectClemenza
The RCMP is carrying out a series of arrests in the Montreal area in what the Mounties are calling the third and last phase of an investigation into the Mafia in Montreal that began several years ago.
Included among the people the RCMP arrested Wednesday is Liborio (Pancho) Cuntrera, 47, a man who police sources have described as a potential leader within what remain's of the Rizzuto organization.
Cuntrera is the son of Agostino Cuntrera, a member of the Rizzuto organization who was gunned down in St-Leonard in 2010 when the Mafia clan was under pressure from rivals. While the Rizzuto organization was under pressure to relinquish control of the mob in Montreal, the older Cuntrera remained loyal to the Rizzutos. Liborio Cuntrera also represents the second generation of a group of well known wealthy international drug smugglers known in many parts of the world as the Cuntrera-Caruana organization.
Cuntrera was not arrested on Wednesday because he is currently on vacation. According to sources familiar with the investigation, Cuntrera is currently in Italy, has been in contact with the RCMP and has agreed to turn himself in when he returns to Canada in a few days, one source said.
One man named as a target in the investigation is Martino Caputo, a 42-year-old man who is serving a 12-year prison term in Kingston for his role in a cocaine smuggling conspiracy to bring a tonne of the narcotic into Canada once a month. Caputo also faces charges in Ontario related to a murder carried out in that province back in 2012.
In February 2004, Crivello was sentenced to a three-year prison term for holding a person against their will and aggravated assault.
According to decisions made by the Parole Board of Canada, Crivello hired a group of men to collect $60,000 that he believed had been stolen from him. Three men were held against their will and beaten while Crivello watched and demanded to know what happened to his money. One of the victims suffered injuries that required surgery.
While he was before the parole board, in 2005, Crivello admitted that he had been involved in drug trafficking from the age of 17.
Another man who was arrested Wednesday, Frank Iaconetti, 48, has also done time in a federal penitentiary. In 1999, he pleaded guilty, in a U.S. District court in Massachusetts, to being part of a conspiracy to distribute cocaine. According to court documents filed in that case, on March 15, 1998, Iaconetti brought $250,000 in cash to undercover agents for what what supposed to be a down payment 100 kilograms of cocaine destined for Canada. When he was sentenced in 1999, a judge was told there was very little evidence that Iaconetti knew details about the actual drug transaction. At the time, Iaconetti said he agreed to deliver the money to deal with a serious addiction to gambling that caused him to ask that he be banned from the Montreal casino.
According to a statement issued by the RCMP Wednesday morning, the arrests are the third part of Project Clemenza, an investigation into the drug trafficking activities of various Mafia clans. Project Clemenza had to be put on hold because while it was underway the RCMP uncovered evidence related to the murder of Salvatore Montagna, a Mafia leader from New York who was one of the leaders in the attempt to wrestle power away from the Rizzuto organization about six years ago.
In a sign of how long Project Clemenza was delayed because of Montagna's murder, the charges filed at the Montreal courthouse against Liborio Cuntrera and Marco Pizzi, 46, of Montreal North, date back to 2011. Both men are alleged to have been involved in a conspiracy to traffick in cocaine between Sept. 28, 2011 and Oct. 6, 2011.
An RCMP spokesperson told reporters that 15 people were targeted in Wednesday's operation and that the investigation probed drug smuggling and drug trafficking.
"The network imported cocaine through the United States and used its contacts in the commercial ground transport industry," the spokesperson said. "The investigation demonstrated that this (network) transported large quantities of cocaine. The American and Canadian authorities have seized more than 220 kilos of cocaine and placed their hands on (more than $2 million). The impact of this operation on organized crime is significant and will have an affect on drug smuggling activities in the Greater Montreal region."
Another of the men arrested Wednesday was Hansley Joseph, 36, a wel-known member of a Montreal street gang who was often seen interacting with Mafia-tied drug traffickers during Project Colisee, a major investigation into the Mafia that had a huge impact on the Rizzuto organization a decade ago. In 2007, Joseph received a two-year prison term for his role in a drug trafficking network that operated in northern Montreal.
The case brought against Joseph and about two dozen other men in 2005, was significant because it represented one of the first times in Canada that gangsterism charges were brought against street gang members.
According to a decision made in the case in 2007, Joseph was part of a group known as the "Dope Squad" and frequently supplied cocaine to a group known as the Pelletier St. gang that sold crack on Pelletier St., near the corner of Henri Bourassa Blvd.
Thanks to Paul Cherry.
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Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire
Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire (Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files).
Dominick Cicale was born and raised in the Bronx, New York . From a young age he was closely associated with the Genovese crime family, considered the most powerful Mafia group in America. Fate intervened. In 1999 Cicale forged a tight alliance with Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, then an up-and-coming member of the Bronx faction of the Bonanno crime family. Under Basciano's tutelage, Dominick rode the fast track: he was inducted into the American Cosa Nostra and swiftly rose from soldier to capo, amassing great wealth and power. Cicale befriended and associated with numerous high-ranking figures within all of New York's Five Families as he plotted and schemed in a treacherous world where each day could be his last.
This installment views startling details surrounding the brutal gangland murder of Gerlando "George from Canada" Sciascia and its resulting impact on relations between the Bonanno family in New York and its Montreal -based "outpost" established by the Mafia Commission in 1931. The cast of characters further includes high-ranking Mafiosi such as Joseph Massino (The Last Don), Salvatore "Sal the Iron Worker" Montagna, Vito Rizzuto, Vinny Gorgeous (a nickname never used in his presence) and Cicale himself.
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Salvatore Montagna's Body Found in River North of Montreal, Reputed Boss of Bonanno Crime Family
The body of an alleged Mafia boss, who U.S. authorities said once led New York's notorious Bonanno crime family, was fished out from a river north of Montreal on Thursday.
Reports identified the body as Salvatore Montagna, although police wouldn't immediately confirm or deny the identity.
The FBI once called him the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family — prompting one of New York's tabloids to call him the "Bambino Boss" because of his rise to power in his mid-30s. Nicknamed "Sal The Iron Worker," he owned and operated a successful steel business in the U.S.
Montagna's death is the latest in a series of Mafia-related killings and disappearances over the last two years. He was considered a contender to take over the decimated Rizzuto family.
A provincial police spokesman said Thursday that a private citizen called after seeing a body along the shores of the L'Assomption River. The same person also reported that he heard gunshots, but Sgt. Benoit Richard said he couldn't confirm how the victim died. "When (police) arrived, they saw a man lying near the river, they took him out of the water and started doing CPR with the help of the emergency personnel," Richard said.
Richard said police will await the results of an autopsy, scheduled for Friday, to determine the cause of death.
Montagna was born in Montreal but raised in Sicily and, although he moved to the United States at 15, he never obtained U.S. citizenship.
The married father of three was deported to Canada from the United States in 2009 because of a conviction for refusing to testify before a grand jury on illegal gambling.
He pled guilty to the minor charge, but it made him ineligible to stay in the U.S. Montagna had no criminal record in Canada and re-entered without trouble.
His arrival in Montreal occurred just months before members of the Rizzuto family began being killed.
The FBI had called Montagna the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, an allegation his lawyer denied.
The Bonanno crime family is one of the five largest Mafia families in New York — one of the notorious criminal gangs that formed the original Commission, along with Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.
There had been speculation that Montagna had been part of the new Mafia leadership in Montreal and was trying to reorganize the leaderless group.
His death comes just two months after another man with Mafia ties, Raynald Desjardins, narrowly escaped death in a shooting in a suburb north of Montreal. Desjardins had close ties to Vito Rizzuto, the reputed head of the Montreal Mafia who is currently imprisoned in the United States.
A rash of killings and disappearances in late 2009 and early 2010 decimated the operation and have robbed him of many of his closest family members. Rizzuto's father and son were gunned down, as were other friends, while his brother-in-law simply vanished.
Montagna became the latest name on the list.
Thanks to Yahoo
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Mob Hit on Reputed Bonanno Crime Family Solider Anthony Seccafico?
A man identified by a law enforcement official as a soldier in the Bonanno crime family who was under federal investigation was shot to death early Thursday morning near a bus stop on Staten Island, the authorities said.
The man, Anthony Seccafico, was waiting for a bus near his town house on Ilyssa Way about 4:30 a.m. when an unknown number of attackers opened fire, law enforcement officials said.
Witnesses told the police that they heard seven shots and passers-by discovered Mr. Seccafico bleeding in the street about 100 feet from the bus stop, on Arthur Kill Road, the authorities said. Mr. Seccafico, 46, who was waiting for the X17 bus to take him to work in Manhattan, was shot several times and apparently tried to flee his attackers, investigators said. He was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, the police said.
On Thursday, detectives were trying to determine the motive behind the killing. A police official said it was possible that it was related to Mr. Seccafico’s criminal history, including a 1996 case in Coney Island in which he was charged with four counts of assault and illegal possession of a weapon.
The medical examiner’s office has scheduled an autopsy for Friday morning.
In November 2002, Mr. Seccafico was arrested with 19 others on charges of participating in a $2.5 million-a-year gambling ring as part of a Bonanno crew.
Mr. Seccafico pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, and received a three-month sentence. Also involved in that case was Salvatore Montagna, who had been elevated to the head of the Bonanno family and was recently deported.
A federal law enforcement official said Mr. Seccafico had been under federal investigation when he was killed, though the official would not describe the nature of the investigation. When Mr. Seccafico was arrested in 2002, he was in the mobster Patrick DeFilippo’s crew, the official said. Mr. DeFilippo, who lived in Manhattan, operated out of the Bronx, and Mr. Seccafico “spent a little time in the Bronx,” the official said. Mr. DeFilippo is serving 40 years in federal prison for racketeering conspiracy, gambling and loan sharking. Mr. Seccafico became a “made” member of the Bonanno crime family after 2003, the official said.
The official said that according to a list obtained by federal authorities, Mr. Seccafico was proposed for membership in the family by Mr. DeFilippo.
An investigator familiar with Mr. Seccafico said he had been a laborer and a member of Local 79 of the Construction and General Building Laborers’ Union. That investigator said Mr. Seccafico was “just a runner” for the 2002 gambling operation.
Before his arrest in connection with the organized crime ring, Mr. Seccafico had a criminal record dating to 1984, when he was arrested on drug and gun charges. He served less than a year for selling a controlled substance. After his 1996 arrest in Coney Island, Mr. Seccafico pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and served eight days in jail and three years’ probation.
In stark contrast to his life as a soldier for the New York mob, Mr. Seccafico was described by neighbors as a blue-collar family man who worked to support his wife and two young children. “They’re very, very nice people,” said Mona Gaber, a neighbor of the Seccafico family. Ms. Gaber said she would often see Mr. Seccafico come home still dirty from his job as a construction worker.
Thanks to Dominick Tao
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Youngest Boss of Any of the Five New York Mafia Families to Be Deported to Canada
When Salvatore Montagna, named as the boss of one of the notorious five Mafia families of New York City, was given a choice of where he wished to be deported -- Canada, where he was born, or Italy, where he is a citizen -- he quickly made plans for a return to Montreal.
That decision now leaves Canadian officials scrambling with what to do about a man they know little about. He returns to Canada free of any legal obligation and faces no charges.
Nicknamed "Sal the Ironworker" because of his trade in metal work, Mr. Montagna made headlines in New York when he was named as the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family at the improbably young age of 35. Mr. Montagna's youth led the tabloids to dub him the "bambino boss."
In the United States, officials are not shy about what they think Mr. Montagna has been up to. "He is a made member of the La Cosa Nostra, more specifically the Bonanno Italian organized crime family. Montagna is accused of making violent threats against a U. S. attorney from the Eastern District of New York," said Brandon A. Montgomery, spokesman for U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Mr. Montagna's New York lawyer, George Stavropoulos, said the allegations are "absolutely, categorically denied."
"He is not involved in the Mafia, he is not the boss of the Bonanno crime family or the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family. This is something that the FBI manufactured."
Mr. Stavropoulos said he was unaware of the threat allegation until told by the National Post. "If they had anything to prove what they are alleging they would be indicting him, not deporting him," he said.
Mr. Montagna was born on May 11, 1971, in Montreal, one of three sons born to Italian immigrants. When he was still an infant, the family moved to Sicily, and over the years shuttled back and forth. At the age of 15, Mr. Montagna moved with his family from Montreal to New York, driving through the Lacolle-Champlain border crossing.
Mr. Montagna followed in his father's footsteps, becoming an ironworker and starting his own company after high school. His company, Matrix Steel Co., of Brooklyn, has grown over 10 years into a multi-million dollar enterprise, according to Mr. Stavropoulos.
In New York, he married an American-born Italian woman and the couple has three daughters, all under the age of 10. His marriage also allowed him to become a legal permanent resident of the United States.
In 2001, just as he was thinking of applying for U. S. citizenship, he was subpoenaed to testify in a state gambling case. The prosecutor was unsatisfied with Mr. Montagna's testimony and charged him with criminal contempt.
On October 28, 2003, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years probation. "He plead as opposed to putting up a fight. He thought that was the easy way out," said Mr. Stavropoulos.
It was a decision he regrets. The conviction ended his citizenship plans and last week came back to haunt him.
In 2006, the New York Daily News named him as the acting boss. Several grand juries had been convened; colleagues and metal work competitors were subpoenaed to testify. As many as 30 federal cars were assigned to monitor him, Mr. Stavropoulos said.
No charges came.
Despite the tough talk from officials, the media attention and the investigations -- even at a time when the Bonanno organization was hard hit by senior members becoming police informants, including the long-time boss -- no indictment was filed against Mr. Montagna.
Instead, last week U. S. immigration officials scooped him up and placed him in detention.
Based on his conviction for contempt, deemed a civil violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act, he faced an immigration hearing on Tuesday.
He agreed to be removed to Canada.
"He will remain in ICE custody until his actual departure from the United States to Canada," said Mr. Montgomery of ICE. "Montagna is relinquishing his permanent residency and will be inadmissible if he attempts to request a visa in Canada."
He will not be alone here when he arrives next week. While one brother remains in New York, Mr. Montagna has a brother in Montreal and his parents still frequent the city. "As soon as his children finish school, his wife fully intends to move to Canada to join him," said Mr. Stavropoulos.
"He feels confident coming to Canada. He loves Canada. He said he was happy to be coming to Canada." He will likely sell his home and business and start fresh if he cannot win a reprieve.
Montreal is a city that also has long ties to the Bonanno crime family.
Montreal's Mafia boss, Vito Rizzuto, is currently in a U. S. prison for a gangland murder on behalf of the Bonanno leadership; and several New York gangsters alleged to have associated with Mr. Montagna also have strong links to the city, including Patrick "Patty From the Bronx" DeFillipo and Baldassare "Baldo" Amato.
In 2006, the FBI secretly recorded a conversation between gangsters in which Michael Cassese said that Mr. Montagna is the family's acting boss, according to court documents. "There's nobody in between. That's it," the gangster said of Mr. Montagna's position.
The RCMP is aware of Mr. Montagna's impending trip, said Sergeant Marc LaPorte, but declined to comment on whether there will be any special attention paid to him.
Said Patrizia Giolti, spokeswoman for CBSA: "While I will not comment on the specifics of a case, I can tell you that any Canadian citizen has the right to enter Canada."
Mr. Stavropoulos said Canadians have nothing to fear. "He fully intends to lead a lawful life there and raise his young family."
Thanks to Adrian Humphreys
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La Cosa No More?
In early 2004, mob veteran Vincent Basciano took over as head of the Bonanno crime family. The reign of the preening, pompadoured Mafioso known as Vinny Gorgeous lasted only slightly longer than a coloring dye job from his Bronx hair salon.
Within a year, the ex-beauty shop owner with the hair-trigger temper was behind bars betrayed by his predecessor, a stand-up guy now sitting down with the FBI.
It was a huge blow to Basciano and the once-mighty Bonannos, and similar scenarios are playing out from coast to coast. The Mafia, memorably described as "bigger than U.S. Steel" by mob financier Meyer Lansky, is more of an illicit mom-and-pop operation in the new millennium.
The mob's frailties were evident in recent months in Chicago, where three senior-citizen mobsters were locked up for murders committed a generation ago; in Florida, where a 97-year-old Mafioso with a rap sheet dating to the days of Lucky Luciano was imprisoned for racketeering; and in New York, where 80-something boss Matty "The Horse" Ianniello pleaded to charges linked to the garbage industry and union corruption.
Things are so bad that mob scion John A. "Junior" Gotti chose to quit the mob while serving five years in prison rather than return to his spot atop the Gambino family.
At the mob's peak in the late 1950s, more than two dozen families operated nationwide. Disputes were settled by the Commission, a sort of gangland Supreme Court. Corporate change came in a spray of gunfire. This was the mob of "The Godfather" celebrated in pop culture.
Today, Mafia families in former strongholds like Cleveland, Los Angeles and Tampa are gone. La Cosa Nostra our thing, as its initiates called the mob is in serious decline everywhere but New York City. And even there, things aren't so great: Two of New York's five crime families are run in absentia by bosses behind bars.
Mob executions are also a blast from the past. The last boss whacked was the Gambinos' "Big Paul" Castellano in 1985. New York's last mob shooting war occurred in 1991. And in Chicago, home to the 1929 St. Valentine's Day massacre, the last hit linked to the "Outfit" went down in the mid-1990s.
The Mafia's ruling Commission has not met in years. Membership in key cities is dwindling, while the number of mob turncoats is soaring.
"You arrest 10 people," says one New York FBI agent, "and you have eight of them almost immediately knocking on your door: `OK, I wanna cut a deal.'"
The oath of omerta silence has become a joke. Ditto for the old world "Family" values honor, loyalty, integrity that served as cornerstones for an organization brought to America by Italian immigrants during the era of Prohibition. "It's been several generations since they left Sicily," says Dave Shafer, head of the FBI organized crime division in New York. "It's all about money."
Which doesn't mean the Mafia is dead. But organized crime experts say the Italian mob is seriously wounded: shot in the foot by its own loudmouth members, bloodied by scores of convictions, and crippled by a loss of veteran leaders and a dearth of capable replacements.
The Bonannos, along with New York's four other borgatas (or families), emerged from a bloody mob war that ended in 1931. The Mafia then became one of the nation's biggest growth industries, extending its reach into legitimate businesses like concrete and garbage carting and illegal pursuits like gambling and loan-sharking. The mob always operated in the black.
Things began to change in the mid-1980s, when the Mafia was caught in a crossfire of RICO, rats and recorded conversations. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act handed mob prosecutors an unprecedented tool, making even minor crimes eligible for stiff prison terms.
The 20-year sentences gave authorities new leverage, and mobsters who once served four-year terms without flinching were soon helping prosecutors.
"A good RICO is virtually impossible to defend," insists Notre Dame law professor G. Robert Blakey, who drafted the law while serving as counsel to Sen. John McClellan in 1970. The results proved him right.
The first major RICO indictment came in 1985, with the heads of three New York families and five other top level Mafiosi eventually convicted. It took nearly two decades, but the heads of all five New York families were jailed simultaneously in 2003.
Authorities around the country were soon using Blakey's statute and informants against Italian organized crime in their cities.
In Philadelphia, where the mob was so widespread that Bruce Springsteen immortalized the 1981 killing of Philip "Chicken Man" Testa in his song "Atlantic City ," one mob expert estimates the Mafia presence is down to about a dozen hardcore "made" men. Their number was once about 80.
The New England mob claims barely two dozen remaining made members about half the number involved 25 years ago. The Boston underboss awaits trial.
In Chicago, home of Al Capone, the head of the local FBI office believes fewer than 30 made men remain. That figure stood at more than 100 in 1990. The city's biggest mob trial in decades ended recently with the convictions of three old-timers for murders from the 1970s and '80s.
In Los Angeles, there's still a Mafia problem "La Eme," the Mexican Mafia. An aging leadership in the Italian mob, along with successful prosecutions, left most of the local "gangsters" hanging out on movie sets.
The Florida family dominated by Santos Trafficante, the powerful boss linked to assassination plots targeting President John F. Kennedy and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, is gone. The beachfront Mafia of the 21st century is mostly transplanted New Yorkers, and money generated by the local rackets isn't kicked up the chain of command as in the past.
"You have guys running around doing their own thing," says Joe Cicini, supervisor of the FBI's South Florida mob investigations. "They don't have the work ethic or the discipline that the older generation had."
The decline of "Family values" is nothing new. Back in January 1990, a government bug caught no less an expert than Gambino boss John Gotti wondering if the next generation of mobsters was equal to their forebears. "Where are we gonna find them, these kind of guys?" Gotti asked. "I'm not being a pessimist. It's getting tougher, not easier!"
During the same conversation, Gotti questioned the resumes of a half-dozen candidates for made man: "I want guys that done more than killing."
Even harder, it would turn out, was finding guys who could keep their mouths shut.
"Mob informant" was once an oxymoron, but today the number of rats is enormous and growing with each indictment. And the mob's storied ability to exact retribution on informants is virtually nonexistent.
"There is no more secret society," says Matthew Heron, the FBI's Organized Crime Section Chief in Washington.
"In the past, you'd start out with the lowest level and try to work your way up," Heron continues. Now "it's like playing leapfrog. You go right over everybody else to the promised land."
Basciano, 48, the one-time owner of the "Hello Gorgeous" beauty parlor, faces an upcoming trial for plotting to kill a federal prosecutor. The case was brought after his old boss, "Big Joey" Massino, wore a wire into a jailhouse meeting where the alleged hit was discussed.
By the time Massino went public with his plea deal in June 2005, another 50 Bonanno associates had been convicted in three years. The number of colleagues who testified against them, going right up to Massino, was in double digits. Basciano now faces the rest of his life in prison.
The Bonanno family is now led by the inexperienced "Sal The Ironworker" Montagna, just 35 years old, according to the FBI. Montagna shares one trait with his family's founder: He, too, is a Sicilian immigrant.
The mob of the 21st century still makes money the old-fashioned way: gambling, loan-sharking, shakedowns. Three Genovese family associates were busted this month for extorting or robbing businessmen in New York and New Jersey, making off with $1 million.
There are other, more modern scams: The Gambino family collected $230 million in fraudulent credit card fees linked to pornographic Web sites. Another crooked plan grossed more than $420 million when calls made to "free" phone services triggered unauthorized monthly fees on victims' phone bills.
After getting busted, mobsters are quick to offer advice to the FBI about allocating the agency's investigative resources.
"I can't tell you how many times we've gone to arrest people, and the first thing a wiseguy says is, `You should be going after the terrorists," said Seamus McElearney, head of the FBI's Colombo crime family squad in New York. "They say it all the time: `You should be doing that.'
"And leaving them alone."
Thanks to Larry McShane
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Castellammare del Golfo Exports Mobsters to New York?
From the turquoise Mediterranean lapping its shore to the winding streets where old men soak up the sun on rickety chairs, a tourist would never know this one small town has produced many of New York's most notorious gangsters. Then again, the narrow-eyed suspicion with which outsiders are greeted might be a tipoff.
So it is fitting that New York's latest mob boss has roots in the same western Sicilian town that has exported some of the city's toughest mobsters for generations. His name is Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker) Montagna, 35, the reputed acting head of the Bonanno crime family.
Like the legendary Joseph Bonanno, model for "The Godfather ," Montagna was born in Castellammare del Golfo. His family immigrated first to Canada (he has cousins who run a gelato business there) and then to New York.
It was last week that the Daily News exclusively reported that law enforcement authorities determined the Bonanno family, its ranks decimated by prosecutions, has turned to the youthful Montagna to take the leadership reins.
A hardscrabble fishing village clinging to a mountain rising steeply out of the sea 40 miles west of Palermo, Castellammare has been a stronghold of the Mafia for centuries, its men known for their pride, clannishness and violence when crossed.
Now a town of 20,000, its name - translated as the Castle at the Sea - comes from a ruined but still forbidding Saracen fortress near the small marina. The marble mausoleums clustered in the town cemetery bear many family names that became famous in New York: Bonanno, Profaci and Galante chief among them.
Questions about the Montagna family are greeted with some hostility. There is one Montagna listed in town, but no one answered the phone and asking around in his neighborhood wasn't fruitful. "I know him, but he's dead," said one of the old men lounging over coffee at a cafe. "Sorry."
During Mussolini's brutal crackdown on the Mafia in the 1920s, scores of Castellammarese fled to America, many settling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The immigrants' ties to the land, each other and the Old World codes of honor gave rise to powerful, insular gangs that cornered the market on bootlegging, gambling and then-lucrative ice deliveries. Men from the town also went to Buffalo and Chicago, where they started their own mobs.
In the 1930s, New York was rocked by the Castellammarese War, which pitted immigrant mobsters from the town - led by Bonanno, Joseph Profaci and then-boss Salvatore Maranzano - against factions from Calabria and Naples, including Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. The bloody war ended when Maranzano set up an organizational structure for La Cosa Nostra and divided New York City into five families.
At 26, Bonanno was nearly a decade younger than Montagna when he came to head his own family. Then, as now, immigrants from Castellammare were prized soldiers.
Bonanno , in his autobiography, "A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno," wrote of their discipline and the importance of ancient family ties. He told a family legend about his Uncle Peppe ordering a younger man to strip off his shirt and take an undeserved lashing with a whip. "It's one thing to say you're never going to talk against your friends, but it's quite another not to talk when someone is beating you. I wanted to see how well you took a beating," Bonanno recalled his uncle saying.
His affection for his birthplace was evident: He spoke of playing in the fortress as a child, the taste of fresh mullet caught in the gulf nearby and the smell of lemons on the wind. When he died in 2002 at the age of 97 in Arizona, his funeral cards bore the image of Santa Maria del Soccorso, the patron saint of Castellammare del Golfo.
Another Castellammarese, Joseph Barbara, hosted the notorious Appalachian Mafia Conference of 1957, which was raided by the cops and began the mob's long slow decline.
In the past decade, Italian authorities have made a great effort to crack down on gangsters, and Castellammare is now thriving, with new six-story blocks of condos going up on the outskirts of town and fewer poor laborers leaving in search of a better life. But the port city is still a major center of Mafia activity in western Sicily.
The crew filming "Ocean's 12" in nearby Scopello in 2004 were caught up in it when 23 people - including a local police commander - were busted after a year-long probe of a sprawling Castellammarese extortion racket that included surveillance of the film set. Producer Jerry Weintraub later hotly denied widespread Italian news reports that the film crew was being shaken down with threats of arson on the set and that film's stars - George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones - might have been in danger.
The national daily newspaper Corriere della Sera said the local Mafia is known for targeting moviemakers and has a lock on the hiring of extras.
While the ancient codes still hold sway, the gangsters are keeping up with the times and enforcement has gone high-tech. When producers of a recent feature wouldn't cooperate, thugs broke into the production offices and erased the moviemakers' hard drive's to make their point.
There have been other signs of modernity. Two of the highest ranking Mafiosi arrested in a big 2004 Castellammare bust were women - the wives of the town's top Mafia chieftains. Italian authorities said it would have been unheard of even a few years ago for women to get involved in protection rackets, but bragged that their prosecutions have been so successful that most of the men are now behind bars.
In New York, parallel crackdowns on the mob have put half the Bonanno family soldiers behind bars. So once again, the family has looked to the tough men and closed mouths of Castellammare del Golfo's crooked streets.
Thanks to Helen Kennedy
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Bonanno's Name Bambino Godfather
Friends of ours: Bonanno Crime Family, Salvatore "Sal the Ironworker/Sal the Zip" Montanga, Joseph Massino, Baldassare "Baldo" Amato, Patrick "Patty from the Bronx" DeFilippo, Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, John "Dapper Don" Gotti, Vincent "the Chin" Gigante
The Bonanno crime family has tapped a man of steel to rebuild its crumbling empire, the Daily News has learned.
He's Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker) Montagna, the newly minted boss of the Mafia family, according to law enforcement sources - and he's practically a bambino at only 35 years of age.
The Sicilian-born Montagna and his wife, Francesca, own a small ironworks company in Brooklyn, but they show no signs of living the high-life of a Mafia don. The couple and their three daughters live in a modest ranch house in working-class Elmont, L.I., not far from the Queens border.
"Putting someone that young and relatively unknown in charge indicates that they're desperately seeking to salvage the remnants of the family from the recent prosecutions and convictions," said Mark Feldman, former chief of organized crime for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office.
Feldman said the move clearly "signals desperation" on the part of a mob family that has seen three bosses and acting dons bite the dust in three years. Most noteworthy was the conviction of longtime family boss Joseph Massino, who is now serving life in prison.
Last night, a teenage girl answered the door of Montagna's vinyl-sided home on Oakley Ave. and said the reputed crime kingpin was not at home. Two little sisters stood at her side. Outside, a small construction crew was wrapping up its day working on Montagna's brick driveway.
A short time later, Francesca Montagna drove up in a late-model Lexus SUV and turned angry when asked if her husband was the new head of the Bonanno family. "I don't know what you're talking about," said the dark- haired woman, dressed in a sweatsuit. "I have kids in here. It's not appropriate for you to be here."
Until now, Montagna has rarely appeared on the radar of the NYPD and the feds, and neighbors said they knew nothing about any reputed mob ties. Still, the Mafia talk didn't worry them. "Am I scared?" said one local. "Absolutely not. I come from Brooklyn. Believe me, when you live next to one of these people, there's nothing to be afraid of."
Another neighbor found the suggestion "ridiculous," but quickly added, "We'd be shocked and scared at the same time if that is true. Wow!"
The Montagnas run the family-owned Matrix Steel Co. on Bogart St. in Brooklyn. According to Dun & Bradstreet, the firm supplies structural material for builders and reported a modest $1.5 million in sales last year.
In 2003, Montagna pleaded guilty to criminal contempt charges and was sentenced to probation for refusing to answer questions before a Manhattan grand jury. He had been indicted a year earlier after a probe by the Manhattan district attorney's office as one of 20 wiseguys charged in a takedown of a Mafia crew allegedly involved in gambling, loansharking and weapons possession.
Whether the new Bonanno boss has any other arrests was unclear yesterday.
"He's well-liked by the rank and file," said an underworld source, adding that Montagna is also known as Sal the Zip, a reference to the name bestowed on members of the crime family's Sicilian wing.
Sources said Montagna was close to legendary Bonanno gangster Baldassare (Baldo) Amato, another immigrant from near Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily, and served in the crew of capo Patrick (Patty from the Bronx) DeFilippo. Those guys are largely history now, with Amato recently sentenced to life in prison and DeFilippo facing a retrial on murder charges.
Led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Andres, the feds have indicted and convicted more than 70 Bonanno gangsters since 2002, leaving behind about 75 shell-shocked members on the street. Sources said Montagna's promotion couldn't have happened without the blessing of Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano, who once operated Hello Gorgeous, a hair salon in the Bronx, and became the official boss of the crime family after Massino turned rat.
Thomas Reppetto, author of the just-published "Bringing Down The Mob: A War Against the American Mafia (Henry Holt)," said the new breed of boss pales in comparison to past godfathers like the late John Gotti or Vincent Gigante. "There may no longer be a boss in the sense that we understood the term, an all-powerful figure at the top, because naming an official boss provides the FBI with a clear target," Reppetto said.
Thanks to John Marzulli
Related Stories Baldassare Amato, Bonannos, John Gotti, Joseph Massino, Patrick DeFilippo, Salvatore Montanga, Vincent Basciano, Vincent Gigante No comments:
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Dr. 360 Comments
He Fucked My Girl, Part 10 3.4/5 (5)
My head spun, trying to process this. “Why didn’t she call me?” I finally asked.
“Because she’s all messed up. Thanks to you.” Claire’s eyes narrowed angrily at me. “Did you really call her a slut?”
I called Jen and we met for coffee the next day. She wore her hair down, no makeup. Jeans and a simple loose blouse. She’d lost weight. She’d always been slim, but now she looked frail and borderline unhealthy. She still looked gorgeous, but now so vulnerable. My heart went out to her, but I couldn’t say it with my feelings so raw and confused.
“Why didn’t you call me?” I asked.
She looked sad. “When I got home, you weren’t there.”
“I didn’t think you were coming back.”
We both sat there, first looking at each other, but that was too hard, so we both looked away. After a few moments I asked, “What happened Jen? Why did you go with him to California?”
She looked at me. “I needed to prove I was over him.”
“Are you?” I said, bitterness in my voice. “Did you prove that to yourself?”
“Mike …” she said looking imploring at me. “I needed to prove it to you.”
I shook my head. What was she talking about? Finally I voiced what I was thinking. “I don’t understand. You moved in with him …”
“I never moved in with him,” she said interrupting me. “I was already thinking about breaking up before Cancun. But then when I got home, you were so mean to me, and you threw out my rings …”
She forced herself to calm down. “Then he got transferred to California.” She paused. “You were making up things in your head … I was afraid if we made up then, you’d think it was just because he was moving. It would hang over us. But if I went to California and came back, you’d believe I was over him.”
“But then I got home and you weren’t there,” she added a tear falling down her cheek.
“I thought you’d left me.”
“I told you I was just helping him get settled.”
I shook my head. This made no sense. She’d given herself completely to him. I’d watched them, watched her respond to him, watched her kiss him, suck him, watched her orgasm again and again on his big cock. She’d let him do anything to her. Anything. “Did you fuck him in California?” I demanded cruelly.
“No, Mike, god!” she cried in despair. “I told you I broke up with him!” She pressed her palms against her eyes, as if reading the anger and bitterness in my head. “You can’t – it’s not – you can’t hold it against me, what I did!” she cried tears running down her cheeks. “You were part of it! I’m not a slut! You can’t call me that, it’s not fair!”
I wanted to comfort her, but it was too hard. “Your hurt me so much Jen.”
“You hurt me too!” she cried. “You were part of it Mike, all of it,” she insisted again. “I always asked you first, about everything.”
“You never asked me about Cancun!”
“Yes I did!” she insisted.
I thought back and realized she had asked, more than once. I just hadn’t believed her. “You bought all new clothes …”
“Mike … he bought those for me.”
“But you went to Cancun with him, you fucked him there,” I said skeptically.
“Because you wanted me to!” she insisted. “You wanted to be with Claire!”
“You know that was a fake!”
“I didn’t know then!”
God, had all of this just been a misunderstanding? But no, there was more, the most important thing. “You fell in love with him.”
“Mike … you wanted me to, a little, didn’t you?” she said looking pleadingly into my eyes. “I always told you it wasn’t like how I love you. I always told you that.” She hesitantly put her hand on mine.
Had I wanted her to fall in love with him? No, of course not! But … I wanted her to have feelings for him. Is that love?
A long silence. Then she said “What now Mike?” She still had that pleading look in her eyes.
I looked at her, still angry and hurt. There’d be a lot to sort out. But I wasn’t letting her get away.
I squeezed her hand. “It’s been a hard year.”
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Why Australia will never produce a Super Rugby dynasty like that of the Crusaders
The self-imposed salary cap has put Australian teams at a competitive disadvantage against their rivals
Bret Harris
Mon 8 Jul 2019 14.00 EDT Last modified on Mon 8 Jul 2019 14.01 EDT
The Crusaders won a 10th Super Rugby title on Saturday, and a third in succession. Photograph: Mark Baker/AP
The Crusaders won a record 10th Super Rugby title when they defeated the Jaguares in Christchurch on Saturday night, a mighty achievement which would be virtually impossible to accomplish in the AFL or the NRL.
Super Rugby started in 1996. Since that time AFL club Hawthorn has won the most premierships with just four, while in the NRL Melbourne Storm, with five, have won the most since 1998. Significantly, the Storm were stripped of two of their premierships because of salary cap breaches, something the Crusaders do not have to worry about.
Unlike the other football codes, Super Rugby does not have a uniform salary cap or, in the case of the AFL, a draft, which work to equalise those competitions and prevent one team from dominating over a long period of time.
Crusaders claim 10th Super Rugby title with victory over Jaguares
Australia is the only Super Rugby territory which has a salary cap, although this was waived for the Melbourne Rebels in the last couple of years to absorb ex-Western Force players into their squad.
At first, there was no official salary cap, but a gentleman’s agreement between the three original Australian franchises – the Brumbies, Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs – not to pay any more than $110,000 for a player. The rest of a player’s contract was topped up by Rugby Australia if the he was required for the Wallabies, which is still the case.
The reason for this arrangement was to protect the Brumbies from the financial strength of NSW and Queensland, but it was abandoned after teams became more aggressive in the player market. As a result, Rugby Australia introduced an official salary cap, which roughly equated to the grants the national governing body distributed to the Super franchises, which was around $5m each, but did not include Wallabies top-ups.
The self-imposed salary cap has put Australia’s Super Rugby teams at a competitive disadvantage against their rivals, particularly the New Zealand sides, because it spread talent thinly around the four teams at a time when there was a mass exodus of players overseas.
Conversely, New Zealand players are primarily contracted by the NZRU and then the Super franchises can offer whatever they like to lure players.
Australia could never produce a dynastic franchise like the Crusaders because the nation’s teams, which have won only four titles in 24 years between them, have been handicapped. If that is to change, Rugby Australia must lobby their Sanzaar partners to create a competition-wide salary cap to spread talent around all the teams or abolish the Australian cap.
It would be extremely difficult to introduce a uniform cap to a competition which includes teams from five different countries, although there will be only four nations represented after the Sunwolves’ impending exit in 2021, but if there was a will, it could be done. The New Zealand Warriors, for example, operate under the same salary cap as the rest of the Australia-based NRL teams.
But maybe Australia’s Super franchises would be better off without a salary cap, even with the financial implications that might have for the Brumbies, who won their two titles during the period of the gentleman’s agreement in 2001 and 2004.
It is difficult enough for Australian teams to beat any Kiwi sides, let alone one with as many All Blacks as the Crusaders boast. There is no point in thinning out the talent to create one decent Australian team and three mediocre sides, which we had this year. Australia needs one or two teams that are capable of winning the Super Rugby title or the competition will continue to lose relevance in the Australian sports market.
Of course, spending money on players does not necessarily guarantee success. The Crusaders may or may not spend more on players than other New Zealand sides, especially as the NZRU centrally contracts players, but it is unlikely they could have achieved their St George-like dynasty if a salary cap had been in place from the start.
The Crusaders are a great example of success breeding success. The club’s early achievements in Super Rugby have helped to create a culture of excellence in Christchurch, which is the envy not just of other club sides, but other sporting codes around the world.
In a Test against the Wallabies in 2002 the entire All Blacks starting line-up was made up of Crusaders. Can you imagine the Sydney Roosters fielding the entire NSW State of Origin team? It just could not happen in the NRL because of the salary cap.
Good luck to the Crusaders. They are a truly great sporting organisation and have played within the rules as they exist, but is it really in the game’s best interests if they win 10 or more of the next 24 Super Rugby titles?
If Sanzaaar does not introduce a salary cap to level the playing field, Australia should seriously consider scrapping its unilateral cap if it wants to produce a team good enough to compete with a side like the Crusaders year after year after year.
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'He pulled the wool over our eyes': workers blame Trump for moving jobs overseas
Trump pledged to stop ‘offshoring’ but manufacturing workers at GE and Carrier say Trump has broken his campaign promise
Michael Sainato
Wed 10 Jul 2019 02.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 10 Jul 2019 06.41 EDT
Donald Trump tours the Carrier factory in Indianapolis in December 2016. Trump promised to stop jobs being sent abroad to Mexico but hundreds of workers have since been let go. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Next Friday, Eddie Martin will work his last day at the General Electric plant in Salem, Virginia, after working there for seven years.
Trump denies 'ever threatening to demote’ Fed chairman Jerome Powell
GE announced in June last year it was shutting down the Salem plant, which opened in 1955. More than 250 employees were affected, as those jobs will be sent overseas to India. Martin is one such employee.
He says: “It’s horrible. You have over 200 people losing their jobs just so the company can build a $200m plant in India and pay those people $3.50 an hour.”
Martin plans to go back to school and work in marine mechanics. He says: “This has left a bad taste in my mouth. I will hopefully never work in manufacturing ever again.”
Promises to save US manufacturing and prevent American jobs moving abroad were a key part of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. But since Trump took office in January 2017, nearly 200,000 jobs have been moved overseas, based on Trade Adjustment Assistance certified petitions.
That includes firms doing business with the US government. According to research by Good Jobs Nation, 14,444 jobs were moved abroad by the top 100 federal contractors in the United States in Trump’s first two years in office. The rate of “offshoring” among the top 100 federal contractors actually exceeds rates throughout the Obama administration and the majority of the Bush administration, aside from 2008 when the economic recession hit.
Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at UC Berkeley, says: “There has been relatively little change since Trump took office. Plant closings are devastating. For the worker, it is damaging and it can create the kind of stresses that cause divorces, break up families, and disrupt the ability to care for parents or young children. This kind of disruption creates far-reaching anxiety and anger and we saw that politically expressed in 2016.”
That leaves workers like those at the Virginia GE plant with a feeling of being lied to as they watch their livelihoods disappear.
“It’s taking away a livable wage in the area,” says Darryl Castillo, who worked at the plant for six years and will be among the last wave of layoffsscheduled for early December.
Castillo was involved in union negotiations to try to prevent the plant from closing, but the union’s concession offerings to save GE money ended in failure. He says: “It really didn’t matter what the number in savings was. They were going to close it no matter what, and that was very disappointing. They gave us a general hope of ‘help us help you to keep it open’ – but it was a bold-faced lie.”
GE confirmed the Virginia jobs will be outsourced to India. “This action is difficult and does not reflect the performance, dedication, and hard work of our employees,” a spokesperson said in an email. “We remain committed to work with the union to support affected employees, nearly half of whom are eligible for retirement.”
I gave the best years of my life to that corporation that threw me out like I was a rag doll
Susan Cropper
For some of the tens of thousands of workers affected by plant closures and job offshoring across the United States, Trump’s 2016 promises to save their jobs and stop their plants from closing have left a sense of betrayal.
“I believed it. I thought he was going to save some jobs. He pulled the wool right over our eyes and he’s still doing it till this day,” says 58-year-old Susan Cropper, who worked at a Carrier plant in Huntington, Indiana, for 31 years before the plant closed and she was laid off along with over 700 employees in March last year.
After being laid off, it took her eight months to find another job, but it pays much less than what she was making at Carrier. “Not only did I lose my job, now I’m not going to work long enough to build another retirement somewhere else,” she says.
Trump had promised throughout his presidential campaign to save the nearby Carrier plant in Indianapolis, which has laid off hundreds of workers since he made a deal with the company in December 2016. The deal was supposed to prevent those jobs from being sent abroad to Carrier’s plant in Mexico.
“I gave the best years of my life to that corporation that threw me out like I was a rag doll,” Cropper adds. “Carrier was rewarded with more government contracts, tax breaks, and the executives get to keep their lifestyle and line their pockets. It’s been a really unfair process.”
Carrier did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
During a presidential campaign stop in Burlington, Iowa, Trump declared: “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.” But critics claim that when it came to stepping up to prevent a Siemens turbine plant from closing in Burlington in December, Trump was nowhere to be found.
Trump 'disrespectful and wrong' over UK ambassador, says Hunt
“I sent a letter to the White House and got a response that this is a state or local matter, so they brushed us off,” says 64-year-old Robert Morrison, one of 125 workers who were laid off when the Burlington plant closed. “We felt abandoned and betrayed not only by Siemens, but by our elected officials, from Trump down.”
According to Morrison, many workers either moved away or took jobs with pay cuts and long commutes. He was forced to retire early.
“This was my job of 31 years. I loved that job,” he says. “I was hoping my son or grandson and nephews could work there some day. We made a fantastic product used around the world. Now the turbines are going to be made in India and Czech Republic.”
A Siemens spokesperson said the plant closed because of market decline.
US manufacturing data
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