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Risnjak
Photo: Marko Vrdoljak
Photo: Luka Tambača
This mountain massif was named after the lynx, in Croatian ris, its most popular inhabitant. It covers the area of 64 km2 and being located where the Alps meet the Dinaric Range and where the Mediterranean gradually gives way to the Pannonia Plain, it combines almost all the forest types of the areas and contains numerous plant and animal species. Nature lovers come to Risnjak for the beauty of the mountains, forests, waters and karst. The most frequent visitors are mountaineers, who find the highest peak of the massif the most rewarding challenge. Risnjak’s summit is equally attractive in all seasons: in winter, when covered with snow; in spring, when the meadows around it transform into carpets of flowers; in summer, when it offers respite from the heat in the nearby littoral area, and in autumn, when the trees are bathed in a myriad of colours. In addition to lynx, the symbol of the mountain, there are also brown bears, martens and dormice. Risnjak is also famous for its fantastic views of the islands in the Kvarner Bay and the mountains in neighbouring Slovenia and further to the Alps.
https://www.parkovihrvatske.hr/national-park-risnjak
This mountain massif was named after the lynx, in Croatian ris, its most popular inhabitant.
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Nine Missing Doctor Who Episodes Recovered!
Nine previously missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s, which have not been seen for over 45 years, have been discovered and will launch exclusively on iTunes Today.
BBC Worldwide announced the find at a press event yesterday, which DWO attended, and we're delighted to announce that nine recordings from the 1960s featuring missing episodes of Doctor Who, were recovered in Nigeria, Africa, and subsequently returned to the BBC.
The episodes were discovered by Phillip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archive, by the tracking records of overseas shipments made by the BBC containing tapes for transmission. BBC Worldwide has re-mastered these episodes to restore them to the fantastic quality that audiences expect from Doctor Who.
The stories recovered are The Enemy of the World (1967) and The Web of Fear (1968) - both starring Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor.
The Enemy of the World, is the fourth six-part tale of Series 5 which first aired on the BBC in December 1967. Episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 had been missing from the BBC archives.
Alongside Patrick Troughton who plays both the Time Lord and his antagonist (Ramon Salamander) are his companions Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Deborah Watling (Victoria).
Also recovered is the 1968 six-part story, The Web of Fear. Episodes 2-6 were feared lost forever but now episodes 2, 4, 5, and 6 have been recovered. Unfortunately, episode three is still currently missing but a restoration team has reconstructed this part of the story using a selection of the 37 images that were available from the episode along with the original audio which has been restored.
Also starring Patrick Troughton alongside Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling, The Web of Fear introduces Nicholas Courtney for the first time as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (who later returns as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart).
All episodes are available to download exclusively from iTunes from today (links at the bottom of this article). The Enemy of the World will also be available to preorder exclusively on DVD from BBC Shop from 11th October for release on 22nd November. The Web of Fear will be available on DVD on 24th February 2013. DWO have been given the preview for the Limited Edition DVD cover which you can see in the right-hand image column.
Phillip Morris says:
“The tapes had been left gathering dust in a store room at a television relay station in Nigeria. I remember wiping the dust off the masking tape on the canisters and my heart missed a beat as I saw the words ‘Doctor Who’. When I read the story code I realised I’d found something pretty special.”
Fiona Eastwood, Director of Consumer Products, BBC Worldwide comments:
“We are thrilled with the recent discovery of The Web of Fear and The Enemy of the World and we’re very happy to be launching re-mastered versions of these treasured episodes to fans as we celebrate the 50th year of Doctor Who.”
The Press Event
The press event itself kicked off with a statement by Philip Morris, read out by TIEA archive coordinator, Roy Robinson, in which Morris thanked the BBC and Doctor Who fans for their support. This was then followed by a short video presentation by Philip Morris, explaining the story behind the recent finds, and conveying his own childhood memories of Doctor Who.
The room then went dark as Episode One of The Enemy Of The World was shown. It was a surreal experience - actually sitting down to watch brand new, yet old, Doctor Who - unseen for over 45 years! We were quite blown away by the opening scenes on the beach, with helicopters, hovercraft and long johns - and all in the first five minutes! Every moment was filled with joy as the episode unfolded and we got to see Patrick Troughton's dual performance as The Doctor and Salamander.
After the episode had aired, Mark Gatiss introduced Episode Two of The Web Of Fear, citing it perfectly as "the quintessential Doctor Who story that's also the most British thing you could imagine".
On a personal note, this was the story that we were *really* excited to see. To actually see the Yeti / Great Intelligence in action in the London Underground was really special. Interestingly, The Doctor only featured in the recap at the beginning of the episode, and doesn't show up at all in Episode Two - one of the first true examples of a Doctor-lite episode!
After a 10-minute break, we re-entered the screening room for a Q&A with Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling and Mark Gatiss. Below are some highlights:
Total TV Guide: (To Frazer and Deborah) Do you remember doing the scenes?
Deborah: Watching it just now, I knew the next lines!
Frazer: Yeh, but you didn't know them at the time on set, did you?!
Daily Telegraph: (To Frazer and Deborah) What made Patrick Troughton's performance so special?
Deborah: He had a wonderful sense of humour and a twinkle in the eye, but he was also a very, very good actor. We all got on so well and we were like a family. We had a chemistry, and I think it showed today.
Doctor Who Online: (To Frazer and Deborah) Did you keep any mementos from either of the two stories?
Deborah: I had one of the ornamental Yeti's but it broke in the middle, so Andrew Beech was kind enough to fix it for me.
Frazer: eBay! - I also had one of the Yeti's - and space glasses, but my mother told me to throw it all away, so I did.
BBC Worldwide have provided DWO with some trailers and clips from The Enemy Of The World and The Web Of Fear, which you can watch below.
The Enemy Of The World - iTunes Trailer
The Enemy Of The World - 'Long Johns' Clip
The Web Of Fear - iTunes Trailer
The Web Of Fear - 'Pyramid' Clip
As a final treat, DWO caught up with Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) and Deborah Watling (Victoria Waterfield) who recorded a special video greeting for our visitors:
+ Download The Enemy Of The World for £9.99 via iTunes in the UK.
+ Download The Enemy Of The World for $9.99 via iTunes in the USA.
+ Preorder The Enemy Of The World DVD on BBC Shop for just £13.99!
+ Download The Web Of Fear for £9.99 via iTunes in the UK.
+ Download The Web Of Fear for $9.99 via iTunes in the USA.
+ Preorder The Web Of Fear DVD on BBC Shop for just £13.99!
+ Follow Doctor Who Online on Twitter (@DrWhoOnline)!
[Many thanks to Chris, Phil, Emma and the rest of the BBC Worldwide Team]
[Sources: BBC Worldwide, Doctor Who Online]
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<< 'Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited' On Watch | The 50 Year Diary - Day 284 - Inferno, Episode Six >>
Two Lost Doctor Who Episodes Found!Two previously missing episodes of Doctor Who have been found, as announced at todays 'Missing Belie...The 50 Year Diary - Day 852 - Final OverviewWill Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... Day 852: F...Philip Morris Gives Update On Missing Doctor Who EpisodesPhilip Morris, the man behind the recent recovery of nine lost episodes of Doctor Who, and Director ...
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You are here: Home / Archives for Carter
President Obama Returns to Israel
February 11, 2013 by Steve Sheffey Leave a Comment
Barack Obama and Joe Biden welcome Shimon Peres in the Oval Office.
— by Steve Sheffey
President Obama will visit Israel in March, fulfilling a campaign promise and making him only the fifth sitting president to ever visit Israel. He previously visited in 2006 and 2008. Only Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton visited Israel during their first terms; Richard Nixon and George W. Bush visited Israel in the last year of their second terms.
The goal of the President’s trip is to reaffirm the strong friendship between the United States and Israel and to work with Israel on two key issues: Iran and Syria.
When it comes to the US-Israel relationship, we must stand together, regardless of partisan differences on other issues.
President Obama returns to Israel in March. He visited Israel in 2006 and 2008. This will be his first visit as President. Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East Colin Kahl told reporters in June 2012 that “we can expect [Obama] to visit Israel in a second term should he be elected.” And so he is.
Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren said “We’re delighted that he’s coming. President Obama was always welcome in Israel. He’ll be received enthusiastically by the government of Israel, by the prime minister of Israel, by the people of Israel.”
US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said “The visit will be a good opportunity to reaffirm the strong and enduring bonds of friendship between Israel and the US.” Shapiro emphasized that the most pressing issues facing the two countries are the Iranian nuclear program and the potential transfer of chemical weapons in Syria. Read more in the Jerusalem Post.
Only two presidents visited Israel in their first term: Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Richard Nixon and George W. Bush visited Israel in the last year of the their second terms. Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush never visited Israel as president.
During his first term, in 2003, George W. Bush did manage to participate in a summit at the Port of Aqaba in Jordan, just nine miles from Israel (closer to Israel than Cairo). But Bush didn’t visit Israel. Instead, Bush said that “we have a problem with Sharon” and was visibly irritated with the then-Prime Minister. Remember how the Democrats exploited this for political gain in the 2004 election? Me neither.
Only Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton visited Israel during their first term
During the 2012 campaign, President Obama was criticized by some people for not having visited Israel during his first term, as if US presidents routinely visited Israel. We were told how important it was for the President to visit Israel and what a shame it was that he hadn’t.
At the time, I said that I wished President Obama had visited Israel. Of course it’s good if the president visits Israel. It’s good if any politician visits Israel. The more times the better as far as I’m concerned. But the reality is that presidential visits to Israel are unusual. We in the pro-Israel community judge office holders on their policy positions, not their travel itineraries.
If the criticism from our Republican friends during the campaign was sincere, one would expect them to be praising President Obama for fulfilling a campaign promise and visiting Israel. Our Republican friends claimed last June that the reasons President Obama didn’t visit Israel were his personal distaste for Israel, his fear of being booed and rejected by Israelis, his desire to distance himself from Israel, and a desire to avoid drawing attention to the failed peace process.
And what do they say now? They say going to Israel is a mistake on President Obama’s part. Not the right time. I’m not making this up. If President Obama had visited Israel last year, do you think they would have praised President Obama for going or decried it as an election stunt? The President can’t win with this crew. If President Obama split the Sea of Reeds and walked through it dry-shod, they’d say he couldn’t swim.
It’s okay to disagree about policy. It’s okay to change your mind. But when you’ve excoriated President Obama for four years for not visiting Israel, and then he does exactly what you’ve said was so important, maybe it’s time to acknowledge that the President is doing something we should all be proud of and thankful for. The President of the United States is visiting the State of Israel. That’s good. And there is never a bad time to visit Israel.
Obama meets with Jewish organizations leaders, 2011
The reality is that prior to his re-election, President Obama eliminated Osama bin-Laden, did more than any other president to stop Iran’s illicit nuclear program, restored Israel’s qualitative military edge after years of erosion under the Bush administration, secretly sold Israel the bunker-busting bombs it requested but did not receive during the Bush administration, increased security assistance to Israel to record levels, boycotted Durban II and Durban III, took US-Israel military and intelligence cooperation to unprecedented levels, cast his only veto in the UN against a one-sided anti-Israel Security Council resolution, opposed the Goldstone Report, stood with Israel against the Gaza flotilla, and organized a successful diplomatic crusade against the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state in the UN Security Council.
After his re-election, freed from the need for Jewish votes, what did President Obama do? He spoke out against the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state at the UN, stated yet again that “we’re not going to let Iran get a nuclear weapon,” and forcefully condemned Hamas and unequivocally supported Israel’s right to defend itself in Gaza. And now he’s going to Israel.
When it comes to the US-Israel relationship, we must stand together. This is essential reading from Aaron Keyak. We can’t afford to let Israel become a partisan issue. There are major policy differences between Democrats and Republicans, but Israel is not one of them.
Please send Aaron’s op-ed to anyone who loves Israel and the values we cherish — even (or perhaps especially) disillusioned Republican moderates looking for a political home. Better yet, share this entire article by using the symbols at the top or the bottom to post it on Facebook or Twitter.
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Bush, Carter, Clinton, Israel, Netanyahu, Nixon, Obama, Sheffey
Hot Mike Moment: Mitt Romney and the 47%
September 19, 2012 by PJV Contributor Leave a Comment
Mitt Romney:
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what… These are people who pay no income tax…
“My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
Response by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Daily Show video after the jump.
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter:
“The fact that a candidate for President-in a closed door event with donors-said that 47% of Americans are “dependent on Government” and “believe they are victims” is beyond shocking. That he doubled down on those comments in public is unfathomable. But most deplorable about Mitt Romney’s comments is who he is insulting-an overwhelmingly majority or the 47% he is referring to are seniors, working families, students or people with disabilities. The vast majority of these Americans pay a significant percentage of their income in taxes, whether they are federal payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes or other state and local taxes. They often pay even a higher share of their income in these taxes than wealthier families, like Mitt Romney’s. How can Mitt Romney continue to run for President when he has categorically written off half of the American people?”
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Carter, In Their Words, Nutter, Obama, Romney, Video
Romney Backer Lobbied for Arab Bank
December 3, 2011 by PJV Contributor Leave a Comment
Arab Bank Investigated by Bush Treasury for Links to Terrorism
— by David Streeter
JTA’s Ron Kampeas provided additional reporting yesterday on the story of Patrick Cave-a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney-and the lobbying work that Cave did on behalf of the Arab Bank. The Arab Bank was investigated for links to Palestinian terrorism by the Bush Administration’s Treasury Department and paid a significant fine to settle with the Treasury.
Kampeas’ full article appears the jump.
Why did Romney fundraiser continue to lobby for Arab Bank?
— by Ron Kampeas, JTA
Ben Smith at Politico reported Monday that a fundraiser for Mitt Romney, Patrick Cave, lobbied for the Arab Bank, which has faced accusations that it was used as a conduit for funneling money for Palestinian terrorist groups. The allegations prompted a Treasury Department investigation several years ago.
Regarding his lobbying, Cave tells Politico:
We encouraged [Arab Bank] to settle with the Treasury Department and cooperate with the Treasury Department and we were successful in communicating to the Congress any concerns they may have about the business.
I followed up with Cave, who told me he had nothing to add, in part because the bank’s no longer a client. (He last reported lobbying for the Arab Bank in 2008.)
According to USA Today, the Jordanian-based Arab Bank settled with the Treasury in August 2005, paying a $24 million fine, without admitting wrongdoing. The Treasury, USA Today reports, alleged that there were ‘serious’ weaknesses in the bank’s controls to prevent money-laundering and terrorist financing. The USA Today article also reported that ‘Arab Bank agreed in February [2008] to virtually shut down its New York office.’
The bank has faced lawsuits from families of victims of terrorist attacks. Among other things, the suits alleged that the bank facilitated the transfer of Saudi money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
According to this Jerusalem Post story from September of this year, the lawsuits are still very much alive.
Citing lobbyist disclosure forms, Politico reported that Cave’s company, the Cypress Group, had been paid by the bank for ‘its help managing congressional inquiries about the lawsuits.’
I’ve seen the lobbying filings: Cave’s lobbying, according to the 2008 filing, was for ‘issues related to the Bank Secrecy Act.’ The Act ‘requires financial institutions to keep records of cash purchases of negotiable instruments, file reports of cash transactions exceeding $10,000 (daily aggregate amount), and to report suspicious activity that might signify money laundering, tax evasion, or other criminal activities.’ In total Cave’s company was paid $323,000 for its work for Arab Bank.
Cave is a co-host of a $500-per-person fundraising event for the Romney campaign taking place tomorrow morning in Washington.
I asked the Romney campaign for comment on Monday and have yet to hear from them.
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Arab Bank, Bush, Carter, Cave, JTA, Kampeas, Klein, McCain, NJDC, Obama, Politico, Romney, Smears, Streeter, Time
Time’s Klein: Romney “Wrong on Israel”
Time’s Joe Klein sharply criticized Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for continuing to perpetuate falsehoods about President Barack Obama’s strong record of support for Israel. Romney claimed today that “U.S.-Israeli relations have hit a low not seen since the Jimmy Carter years,” and repeated the false attack regarding Obama’s stance on Israel’s borders.
Klein wrote in response to Romney:
When he’s having a tough time-as he is this week-Mitt Romney’s first instinct is to attack President Obama. … But Romney’s execution is usually clunky. Last week, we had the Romney ad that pretended Barack Obama was saying something that John McCain had actually said-McCain wanted to avoid talking about the economy in 2008, a brilliant strategy. That was skeevy in the extreme, especially after it became clear that the Romney staff thought the controversy over their unscrupulousness would work in their favor (tone deaf politicians always assume the public is stupid enough to buy such stuff).
This week we have another example. Romney’s press office [put out a] statement about the President and Israel…
Actually, US-Israeli relations are better than they were when George H.W. Bush was President and Secretary of State Jim Baker threatened to cut off aid if Israel didn’t stop expanding its illegal settlements on the West Bank, and (then) in Gaza. And among the few good things Jimmy Carter accomplished overseas was the Camp David Accords, which has provided a generation of peace between Israel and Egypt, a peace now jeopardized by the Arab Spring.
The other inaccuracy-alluded to [in Romney’s statement] but expounded upon in Romney’s stump speeches-is the notion that Obama wants Israel to return to its 1967 borders. He doesn’t. He wants the 1967 borders, with mutually agreed upon land swaps, to be the basis for peace negotiations. Somehow, Romney neglects to mention the land swaps.
The fact is, Obama’s policy toward Israel has been in line with that of every US President since Nixon. No American President has favored the annexation of any Arab lands. The fact is that US-Israeli military and intelligence cooperation, especially when it comes to sabotaging Iran’s nuclear program, has never been greater….
One would hope that Romney, as one of the few plausible Republican candidates, would eschew such cheesy behavior…would not misrepresent Obama’s positions on foreign policy so gleefully. But, if this race continues to slip away from him, I suspect that’s exactly what we’ll continue to see.
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Mazarron News - January 2018
Change of temporary location of the bus stop from Monday, February 5 (31/01/2018)
Transfer to the usual points on La Vía Street for reasons of organizing the Carnival Festivities
The city council offers new free guided tours for the month of February (31/01/2018)
Cristina Dávila, Miriam Sáez and Miriam Sánchez add new successes for the Mazarrón Athletics Club (31/01/2018)
Two medals in the Absolute Regional Championship of Cartagena and first place in the sub12 category in the cross of Lorca
The Coca Cola Foundation deploys its "Women's Tour" project in Mazarrón. The initiative, in which the City Council of Mazarrón collaborates, consists of two free sessions focused on job counseling and female entrepreneurship in the muni (31/01/2018)
City Council and social services associations renew their agreement to serve people in need and dependent (30/01/2018)
The Consistory provides more than 30,000 euros for these organizations to improve the day to day of the people who receive or attend
Improvement of horizontal signage in the streets of the municipality (30/01/2018)
The action provides greater visibility and affects the safety of drivers and pedestrians in thirty routes
Registration for the second of Benito Rabal's film cycle workshops is open (29/01/2018)
Available 20 places until February 14.
Miriam Sánchez integrates the quartet that beats the absolute regional record of 4x200 ml (29/01/2018)
The young mazarronera athlete achieves this new sporting success together with her colleagues from the UCAM Cartagena, a team of which the Mazarrón Athletics Club is a subsidiary
The I Kids Series of Mazarrón brought together 150 promising cyclists from Valencia, Alicante and Murcia (29/01/2018)
The event, organized by the Club Ciclista 9 y Media with the collaboration of the Department of Sports, took place on the slopes of the Sports Complex of the Media Legua
The CEIP Manuela Romero and Miguel Delibes repeat victory in the "Playing Athletics" of School Sports (26/01/2018)
Patricio Sánchez handed the medals to the first classified in the youngest category of a competition that brought together a hundred students from the schools of the municipality
The city council launches a municipal book bank aimed at minors in a situation of social vulnerability (25/01/2018)
119 students from five primary schools and two secondary schools begin to benefit from a measure developed by the Department of Social Policy
The bases of the Carnival 2018 of Mazarrón collect 8,150 euros in prizes (25/01/2018)
On Friday, February 9, the Muse will be chosen and the parades will be on February 10, 11 and 18
530 runners will take the start in the V cross coves of Bolnuevo (25/01/2018)
The race that takes place this Sunday, January 28, includes two races of 21 and 11 kilometers and a non-competitive walking march
The regional volleyball league returns to Mazarrón in February (24/01/2018)
Fourth day of a competition to be held on the beach of Bahia on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 February.
City Council and CEIP Bahia renew the project "Traveling backpacks" (24/01/2018)
The Library of Puerto de Mazarrón and the Center's AMPA collaborate on an initiative that promotes the habit of reading among students and their families
The bars for the tent of the carnival festivities have been granted (23/01/2018)
The opening will take place on Avenida de la Constitución on February 10, 11, 17 and 18
The Phoenician gold pendant found on the beach of La Isla is shown for a month in the Archaeological Museum of Murcia (22/01/2018)
The piece of the sixth century BC, found by the students of the course of Underwater Archeology of the UMU, returns to Mazarrón in February to be exhibited permanently along with other findings
The Mediterranean Highway already shows on its link 601 the destination "Mazarrón" (22/01/2018)
Its inclusion in the signage, at the exit of Alhama, responds to a request made by the Department of Infrastructure
Mazarrón received the SICTED quality award in Fitur in national destinations (22/01/2018)
María Ã�ngeles Román, Councilor for Tourism, received the award, granted by the Secretary of State for Tourism, which distinguishes the six beaches that have the Q of Quality in the municipality
Fire Prevention Week brings awareness to more than 3,000 schoolchildren and adults in Mazarron on prevention (19/01/2018)
Counselor Pedro Rivera closes the Fire Prevention Week, organized by the Fire Extinction Consortium, the Professional Association of Technicians de Bomberos and the Mapfre Foundation
Alicia jJménez presents the app "Rutas por Mazarrón" in Fitur (19/01/2018)
The mayor highlights the potential of a municipality that bets, in this edition of the fair, for the economic impact offered by sports tourism
Tomorrow, Saturday, the artisan market returns to Puerto de Mazarrón (19/01/2018)
Services works on the replacement of public lighting on the path of the Corners after the theft of 1,500 meters of cable (19/01/2018)
More than a hundred students participate in the local phase of the "playing athletics" events of school sports (18/01/2018)
Patricio Sánchez delivers the medals to the first classified in the juvenile category.
The 3,000 students of the schools of the municipality receive this week talks from the firefighters of Murcia to prevent fires (16/01/2018)
IES Antonio Hellín and Domingo Valdivieso will be the scene on Wednesday of a simulation that belongs to an activity organized by Fundación Mapfre and APTB in collaboration with the General Directorate of Emergencies and the Town Hall of Mazarrón
The film workshop of Benito Rabal completes all its places (16/01/2018)
The activity, organized by the Department of Culture, will be held in Town Hall on January 26 and 27, 2018
A hundred beach volleyball fans gathered in Bahia to participate in the III Day of the Beach League (15/01/2018)
The app "routes through Mazarrón" will attract the attention of operators focused on sports tourism (15/01/2018)
The more than 20 routes offered by the municipality for cycling and hiking will be collected in a mobile application that takes advantage of the latest advances in geolocation
The week of fire prevention provides advice to schoolchildren to avoid accidents (15/01/2018)
The activity, which takes place in the municipality until next Friday, has been presented this Monday in Murcia by the General Director of Emergencies, José Ramón Carrasco, and by the Councilor for Education, Patricio Sánchez
600 students participate in a new school cross (12/01/2018)
Celebrations publishes the bases for the concession of three bars in the tent of the carnival celebrations (12/01/2018)
The deadline for the interested establishments to present the documentation ends on January 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Acoma distributes 1,000 euros among the clients who participated in the draw for the magic box (12/01/2018)
The campaign promoted by the Department of Commerce encouraged Christmas shopping in the township's establishments
A mobile application will show in Fitur the potential of the tourist routes that Mazarrón offers (11/01/2018)
The presentation of the municipality in the stand of the Region of Murcia will take place next Friday, January 19
López Pagán denounces the unjustifiable punishment of the PP with Mazarrón when rejecting the construction of the local hospital claimed by the PSOE (10/01/2018)
The socialist spokesman reproaches the abandonment of the regional government with Mazarrón, "selling promises in electoral periods that later never fulfills"
350 runners will participate in the V cross trail coves of Bolnuevo (10/01/2018)
The event organized by the Sports Club Bahía de Mazarrón, in collaboration with the Department of Sports, will take place on January 28 and includes two races of 21 and 11 kilometers and one non-competitive walkers march
Benito Rabal will give a new free cycle of film workshops (09/01/2018)
The writer and filmmaker repeats this activity in Mazarrón after the success in 2017 when all the places were sold out.
Cristóbal Pérez García offers a guided tour of his exhibition "Mazarrón, el mar y yo" (09/01/2018)
The artist will also carry out a pictorial demonstration.
Week of fire prevention in the educational centers of the municipality (08/01/2018)
From 15 to 19 January, talks and simulations will spread among the students the knowledge necessary to avoid risks
Bahia beach will host the third day of the regional beach volleyball league (03/01/2018)
The competition will be held on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 January.
The Magi arrive by boat on Friday to the fishing pier (03/01/2018)
Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar will begin their cavalcade at 16:00 in Puerto de Mazarrón and will continue in Mazarrón from 7:00 p.m.
75 children attend the Christmas Schools of Mazarrón and Puerto (02/01/2018)
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Conflict Minerals: Hands-Off Is Not a Solution
Click for more information on OECD Due Diligence Guidance and the text itself
Today’s post is contributed by Stephen P. Groff, Deputy Director of the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate
What do an artisanal miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo, computer companies, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris have in common? They all have a keen interest in ensuring that mining in Africa does not fuel conflict.
Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chaired a meeting celebrating the OECD’s 50th anniversary where ministers from OECD and developing economies agreed on a set of practical recommendations that will keep minerals from becoming “conflict minerals”.
And recently in Washington, there were an important series of events around conflict minerals bringing together 200 downstream companies to discuss approaches and take action to ensure responsible sourcing.
In fragile African states, illegal exploitation of natural resources has fueled conflict across the region for a decade. While data is scarce, it is estimated that up to 80% of minerals in some of the worst-affected areas may be smuggled out — bound for use by jewelers, the automotive and aerospace industries, producers of medical devices and other manufacturers around the world.
Trade and investment in natural mineral resources hold great potential for boosting growth and prosperity in the developing world. Too often though, misguided or illicit exploitation of these resources has contributed, directly or indirectly, to armed conflict, human rights violations, crime and corruption, and international terrorism, thereby impeding economic and social development. The story of “blood diamonds” is familiar to many — brought back into the spotlight recently by a controversial decision to allow diamond exports from Zimbabwe – but there are many other minerals that contribute to conflict across the continent.
In 2010 the US Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly referred to as the Dodd-Frank Act. This law has received a lot of attention because of its sweeping new regulation of the financial industry. Less known, however, is the fact that this same law (under Sec. 1502) imposes additional reporting requirements on publicly traded companies manufacturing products that could potentially be using “conflict minerals” (in particular tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold). The law obliges these companies to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing their tax, royalty and other payments on each project they operate. This provision will cover US and European companies as well as many from emerging markets that sell shares on US stock exchanges.
Until last month, companies did not have a set of government-backed recommendations on how to undertake supply-chain due diligence. The new OECD guidance clarifies how all involved — from local exporters and mineral processors to the manufacturing and brand-name companies that use these minerals in their products — can identify and better manage risks throughout the supply chain. The guidance is also designed to foster private sector engagement in sustainable sourcing practices that nurture revenue-generating trade in clean minerals, creating a peace dividend while supporting broader development goals.
The guidance seeks to avoid what all involved would consider an unhappy outcome: boycotting of mining in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). By incorporating the flexibility to allow trade to continue, it promotes responsible sourcing, bearing in mind that supply chains cannot become 100% conflict-free overnight. In this way, it avoids massive pull-outs that would have severe consequences for the poor populations that depend on mining for their bread and butter.
Responsible solutions are possible. For instance, “bag and tag” programs — a scheme to track the origin of tin and developed to implement to the OECD guidance — are now being used in the DRC and Rwanda by companies extracting and trading in minerals.
In a wide show of support, many have called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to refer to this guidance as providing reliable due diligence measures to meet the reporting obligations under section 1502. Such a reference to internationally agreed standards in the implementing rules being written now and anticipated to be issued in the coming months would ensure that companies will have one clear set of due diligence expectations throughout the entire supply chain, thereby avoiding multiple and potentially conflicting requirements for companies on how due diligence should be implemented.
Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act and a whole-of-government approach to the implementation of the new guidance offered by the OECD are excellent examples of how we can deliver on a “new paradigm for development” — one that looks beyond aid. In her speech last month in Paris, Secretary Clinton emphasized that we need a “new approach to development that will better prepare developing countries to move from aid to sustainable and inclusive growth.” This work moves us solidly in that direction.
Transcript of remarks by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the adoption ceremony of the Recommendation on Due Diligence Guidance on 25 May 2011
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
This article was also published in the Huffington Post
Tags:conflict minerals, Dodd-Frank Act, due diligence
Has one comment to “Conflict Minerals: Hands-Off Is Not a Solution”
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THE COURSE PROGRAM
THE COORDINATOR
The Leadership and Management Course for the Executives in Charge of Preparation and Implementation of the Projects, Funded by the European Union.
PBU2020 – Cross-border Cooperation Programme
Competent and effective management of the projects of local and regional development, implemented in urban-type settlements, villages, towns, cities, and regions, can significantly improve the efficiency of local government and municipality.
Leadership at the level of local self-government is the ability to identify problems in the social and economic development of one or another area, have a clear Vision, be able to develop a Concept, elaborate a Strategy, and a specific Plan of its implementation by involving all (or most of) the representatives of the local community in the project. Leadership is also a skilful project regulation and competent application of other public authority tools with the use of the system of knowledge of strategic planning and management, regulation of administrative and public services.
Our course is a training, specially developed for the group of representatives of local and regional authorities and local self-government, local deputies, public leaders and representatives of the business environment. The total number of participants is limited to 30 people (each of whom will be provided with all necessary materials and access to our e-science system).
The course consists of three interactive stages:
I stage
(duration — 5 days)
Introduction to strategic planning and management with the result-oriented goals. .
Identification of the goals.
Strategy map.
Monitoring the process of achieving the goals.
Strategic initiatives.
Strategic result.
The peculiarities of planning, elaboration and realization of European strategies, program, projects, and plans of regional and local development.
The budget process in the countries of the European Union.
The programs and projects of cross-border cooperation.
Basic concepts of management — project, program and project portfolio. Their goals and management features.
The life cycle of projects.
Classification and project stages.
Project selection criteria.
Types of projects.
The organizational structure of projects.
The duties of the project manager in different organizational structures..
Roles, powers and responsibilities of project participants.
Days 4-5:
The guidelines for the management of the project life cycle.
The standards of the European Union.
II stage
Conceptual note. Full application form. .
Preparation of the project schedule.
Estimation of the interrelations and duration of the operations and the events.
PERT method.
Estimation of the resources, needed for the project implementation.
Calculation of the critical path.
Estimation of time reserves.
Methods to shorten the duration of the project.
The development of the project budget.
Identification of the risks.
The register of the risks.
Qualitative and quantitative methods for assessing project risks: sensitivity and expected cash flow analysis, modelling and simulation.
Risk response strategies.
Days 9-10:
Calls for project proposals and applications in EU programs.
Calls for strategic and small projects: peculiarities of preparation, planning and development of the project.
Selection process and criteria.
III stage
Days 11-12:
Project implementation. The formation of the team.
Areas of expertise of project participants: leadership, focus, motivation, self-control, understanding of values and other characteristics.
Development of the team.
Motivation and encouragement of the staff.
Conflicts within the project and their management.
Communication and reporting within project implementation.
Management of the purchases.
Types of contracts and risks, associated with the use of different types of contracts.
Project monitoring. Control of the budget realization.
Balancing the project budget by content, terms, cost.
Completion of the project.
The project lessons. .
Project success criteria.
Recommendations for team building and elaboration of the project management system.
Practical work on the preparation of specific conceptual notes and complete application forms (supporting documents and annexes) for applying for real competitions of EU cross-border and international programs.
The application period for the course starts on May 1, 2018.
We invite you to fill in the application form.
The cost of a 15-day Leadership Course
is 1 000 €+900 PLN (a one-time fee)
We encourage you to fill in the application form and choose a convenient form of payment.
The course is realized with the support of
the University of Finance and Management / the University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw.
Author and coordinator of the course
Vasyl Baitsym
v.baitsym@gmail.com
Coordinator of the project of the European Union within Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland–Belarus–Ukraine 2013–2020. The title of the project: Cross-border Centers for Dialogue of Cultures Poland–Belarus–Ukraine.
Rector of Institute of Urban Studies at V.I. Vernadsky Taurida National University, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Coordinator of the project of the European Union within Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland–Belarus–Ukraine. The title of the project: Establishment of the Informational Complex in the Sphere of Cross-border Eco-Friendly Tourism at the Euroregion of Buh.
Coordinator of the project of the European Union within Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland–Belarus–Ukraine. The title of the project: Modernization of Zoos in Zamość and Lutsk, and the Elaboration of the Conceptual Foundation of Recreational Areas in Rzeszów for the Development of Cross-border Natural Tourism.
Prorector of Volyn Institute of Economics and Management.
PhD candidate at Scientific and Research Institute of Economics, Kyiv, Ukraine.
City mayor’s counsellor, Lutsk, Ukraine.
Deputy mayor, Lutsk, Ukraine.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the open joint-stock company "Kovelsilmash"; Director of the municipal enterprise "Airport-Lutsk".
Deputy head of Volyn Regional State Administration.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Volyn Regional Entrepreneurship Support Fund, founder of the regional business incubator in Volyn.
Associate Professor at the Department of Public Finances at Lesya Ukrainka East European National University, Senior Researcher at National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Expert of the European Union project Improving the environment for the development of small and medium business in Ukraine
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Manufacturers "Ukrspetslismash"
Chairman of the Board of the open joint-stock company "Kivertsispetslismash"
Head of the Information and Analytical Department of the investment company "Mast-Invest".
Technician at the Laboratory of the Research Institute of Automated Control Systems at Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics (Tomsk, Russia)
2010–2012 r
Leadership Academy of the Council of Europe
PhD in Economics, National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. The title of the dissertation: Efficiency of state regulation in regional economics.
Master in State Management, National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.
PhD Candidate in Economics, Kharkiv National University of Economics. The title of the dissertation: Entrepreneurial model of crisis management of enterprises.
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany, training.
Kharkiv National University of Economics, an engineer-economist.
The Research Institute of Automated Control Systems at Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics (Tomsk, Russia), a technician of the 1st category in microprocessor technology and automated control systems.
Lviv Technical College of Industrial Automation, a mechanical engineer in the field of control systems of industrial robots.
Awards and Distinctions:
Laureate of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Award "For Contribution of Youth to the State Building"
Person of the year of Volyn region in the nomination "Businessman of the year".
Acknowledgements of the Chairman of the Regional Council and the Chairman of the Regional State Administration "For Paying Taxes"
Acknowledgement of the President of Ukraine "For Creating a Dignified International Image of Ukraine".
Acknowledgement of the Prime Minister of Ukraine "For an Important Personal Contribution to the Development of Entrepreneurship and Significant Achievements in Professional Activity".
Acknowledgement of the Head of the Regional State Administration "For Development of Local Self-Government".
Implemented Projects:
Cross-border Centers for Dialogue of Cultures
The area of the project — Schuchyn municipality (PL), the city of Kovel (UA), and Schuchyn region (BY)— has enormous cultural diversity and many historical sites with valuable natural territories. Unfortunately, nowadays there is no sufficiently large infrastructure to promote a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multicultural structure of the area. At the same time, the young generations, under the strong influence of Western culture, lose interest in cultivating local traditions. The challenge, faced by the project partners, is to strengthen cultural connections and present the richness and diversity of the border territories for a wide group of customers, thus increasing the attractiveness of the image of the entire region. The project partners set the goal of creating the center of cultural promotion in the form of cross-border amphitheatres with a comprehensive cultural offer including art, folklore, science, literature, painting, theatre, crafts. The beneficiaries of the project will be thousands of visitors of Schuchyn municipality (PL), the city of Kovel (UA), and Schuchyn region (BY).The indirect beneficiaries will be the local population (over 130 thousand people) who find jobs in tourism (shops, catering, the sale of souvenirs and local products, creation of accommodation and other tourist attractions as the enrichment of the offer). Implementation of the project will have a cross-border nature, necessary to protect the valuable cultural heritage of the border area. Working with partners from Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine is a condition for project success in building a common strategy for cooperation, basing on newly created products that promote cultural heritage. The strong commitment of the three parties contributes to the raising of the attractiveness of the region which will result in the increased number of tourists and rapid economic development.
We cordially invite you to contact us:
Coordinator of the project Vasyl Baitsym:
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Military runs disaster control team to help contain Goseong fire
Published : Apr 5, 2019 - 11:26
Updated : Apr 5, 2019 - 11:26
It has provided 32 choppers, 26 military fire engines and 16,500 troops to help put out the fire. It also plans to offer 6,800 Meals Ready to Eat.
The ministry said that as of Friday morning, there had been no reports of military casualties at border Army units.
"Until now, there isn't any damage of military personnel, though we have found that the fire has impacted some military equipment and ammunition at a unit close to where the wildfire started," the ministry said in a text message sent to reporters.
"We are currently trying to ascertain the exact extent of the damage," it added.
Early in the morning, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo ordered the military to do everything it can to support national efforts to contain the fire and ensure the safety of military personnel posted near the scene of the fire.
The Army, Navy and Air Force vowed efforts to contain the fire and support the victims and displaced.
The Army sent 20 choppers and 3,500 soldiers to the scene to help extinguish the fire and restore the affected areas, while the Air Force sent four helicopters and nine fire trucks and put four transport aircraft on standby.
The Navy put on standby two amphibious landing ships and its 1,100-strong rapid maneuver unit, which includes Marine Corps personnel. (Yonhap)
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Brexit update
11 Dec, 2018 |
The Prime Minister is off to Brussels to see if she can secure some changes to the so-called backstop in the hope that more people will feel able vote for her deal. As things stand it has no chance of passing in the House of Commons and therefore it is right to go the extra mile to secure agreement.
What, I hear you ask, happens if it does not pass? I am not able to answer that as my crystal ball clouds over every time I consult it.
What MPs have to focus on is what people in the country want. As with so many issues where people differ, public opinion on Brexit is like a bell-shaped graph. At both ends you find a relatively small number of diehards. On one end are those who are irreconcilably grieving at the result of the referendum and will do anything they can to undo it. And the other end is where we find those for whom the cleanest of breaks with the EU is a theocracy and an ideology on which, as with the other end of the scale, compromise is impossible.
The largest part of public opinion is found in the middle. Here you find an understanding for what many of us want to achieve. We move from being a country inside the EU with some opt outs to one being outside the EU with some opt ins. For many of them this deal is fine. If it fails, they would see the virtue of an EEA/EFTA arrangement. I share that analysis.
What there is no majority for in this House is a no-deal Brexit. Because of an amendment passed last week, there now exists a Parliamentary mechanism for preventing that taking place.
For some in the House of Commons the word “compromise” is a pejorative term. A sign of weakness. A word which is too quickly followed by other words like “betrayal”.
For me compromise is almost always a virtue. I compromised as a soldier serving on operations. I compromised as a businessman in every negotiation I did. I compromised when negotiating for this country as a Minister in finding ways forward in EU institutions. I compromise almost daily in my dealings in Parliament to find a way to get as much of what I believe on to the statute book rather than holding belligerently to a position for which there is little agreement and getting nothing. And in perhaps the best analogy to this issue, I compromised when I got divorced – but that was from just one person, not 27.
As the lead Brexit campaigner Dan Hannan wrote recently, if a 52/48% referendum result is a mandate for anything it’s a mandate for compromise.
That said, like most in this House, I am a democrat and concede that my side lost. Like about 85% of this House I was re-elected last year on a manifesto that pledged to respect the result of the referendum.
A word to those of my colleagues who want a second referendum. If you are calling for it because you see it as the best way of reversing the result of the first, say so. Be honest with the public. Don’t dress it up as some higher purpose. In passing I would say you should be careful what you wish for. The further you get away from London the more you detect an anger and a belligerence towards this campaign. The Institute for Government has said it would take five months to hold a second referendum. In that period all bets are off. Anything could take hold. We could see a force of nationalism or extremism unleashed in this country that would be hard to contain. The Electoral Commission is the independent body that oversees such votes and it is likely to be typically scathing at the wording of the sometimes multiple choice questions being proposed by some in the second vote campaign.
Around 3% of my electorate has written to me on this issue (since the referendum in 2016 I have received about 2,500 letters and emails on Brexit) and many of them have polarised views. But if I was to summarise for the other 97%, there are two persistent threads: the first is for this House to settle this matter now, most frequently expressed as “Get on with it”; the second is an admiration for the tenacity and determination of the Prime Minister. The next few days will see whether she has been successful.
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Home › Images of America in Revolutionary France
Images of America in Revolutionary France
ISBN: 9780878404971 (087840497X)
LC: 90-3689
Michèle R. Morris, Editor
This bilingual collection of essays, the fruits of a conference held in 1989 to commemorate the join Bicentennials of Georgetown University and the French Revolution, illuminates the various ways in which the American Revolution and its aftermath directly and indirectly influenced France before and after the French Revolution. The essays cluster around several basic themes: the condition of Native Americans and African-Americans, French perceptions of political, religious, and economic issues in the new republic, and the ways in which French images of America were affected by travel literature and the performing and plastic arts. The intercultural and interdisciplinary approaches taken by the fifteen authors are equally various and include social and political history, literary history and criticism, and linguistics.
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Tag Archives: curling
The scoreboard from my first winning game as a skip on Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns.
The winter season of my third year of curling is winding down. We’re heading into the playoffs today, and I’m happy that I helped get our team on its best possible footing by winning my first game as a skip (or captain, if you prefer).
We’re heading into the playoffs with a 3-4 record, which is one reason why the other teammates were willing to let me hold the broom on Feb. 25. Heading into the last regular-season game at 2-4, we weren’t super effective during our prior game and let a close match turn into a rout.
I have to admit that I contributed to the loss — I strongly questioned some of the shot calling during a key point in the game. I did my best to shake it off and voice my support for the skip’s calls after that, but it was tough and I worried that I wasn’t doing my part to support the team effort.
After that tough end, all of us were off and the rest of the game didn’t end well. Afterward, Robert said I could skip the last game, in part, because it didn’t matter too much. I readily accepted because I was ready to try my hand again at skipping.
Heading into the last game, my all-time record as a skip could only be charitably described as abysmal. IIRC, I was 0 and 3. Two of those losses were relatively close — they came down to the last shot and my team just was on the losing end of those. My third loss was a blowout and I readily took the advice from my acting third/vice Thom to quit the game after it was clearly out of hand.
Although I’ve played around 60 games in my three years curling, I only skipped those four times. I’ve been happy to focus on contributing to the team in other ways, while leaving the skipping to others.
While I was excited to give being skip another shot, I quickly realized what our team strengths were. I agreed to be skip, but I announced that we would be keeping the same playing order — with me as lead, Andrew second, Carl third and Robert playing fourth. Traditionally, skips throw the last stones because those last two shots are generally considered the most important during each end of the game (and there’s a lot of pressure on the skip to make those shots).
As the sport of curling has evolved over the past 20 years, it’s become more common for skips to play out of order, e.g. not throwing fourth. A handful of the top teams in the world play with their skips in different positions.
I wasn’t necessarily thinking of the top teams when I set the playing order for Feb. 25. I was thinking about how our team played all season. Andrew and I had thrown first or second (aka, the front end), while Karl and Robert had thrown third or fourth (aka, the back end).
Each playing position has different roles to play as an end unfolds. While we obviously weren’t playing at our best during the season, I felt that we were in the positions that suited our strengths. Andrew and I could throw draws that would shape into guards in front of the house or settle down in the house. Karl and Robert often threw hits that we might need for takeouts or raises later in the end.
I opted to stay as lead while skipping because I wanted to help quickly get a read on the ice for the rest of the team (and Andrew is using a different delivery method that makes it difficult to get a time that works for the others on the team). I also was reluctant to throw third or fourth because I readily need more work on takeouts (I’ve been playing front end for most of my three years).
The order was set, but as game night neared, I began worrying more about the strategy — the other big component of being a skip. Throughout the season, I had been helping with reading the ice and occasionally offering some possible shot calls to the skip, but I hadn’t called an entire game, continuously thought about the ice or how my teammates were making shots.
I had been watching a decent amount of curling on TV this year. It’s been helpful to guess what shots the teams will take, see what shots they took and if it was effective. However, those are elite teams — they’ll be able to take shots that would be extremely difficult for less-experienced teams on less-than-perfect ice.
I went back through curling books on my Kindle for some curling strategy pointers heading into the game. There’s a lot of useful info in the books, but my eyes started to gloss over when the books started delving into shot strategy for specific setups (it’s useful, but I would require far more time than a couple days to really absorb such focused discussions).
Also, as Monday neared, it dawned on me that this game wouldn’t be as insignificant as we thought. Sure, we had a 2-4 record heading into the game, but most of the teams in the league were bunched together. Only one team had a 5-1 record — the rest had done a good job of beating up on each other. We were ranked seventh out of nine, but we could improve our postseason placement with a win.
I also saw the team we were playing — it was one that we nearly beat last season, but they won on a superb angle-raise to the button by Stefan. We had a chance of beating this team, but they weren’t going to be pushovers.
The basic strategies set forth in the curling books helped me formulate a straightforward plan that I thought we could follow to help score points when we had the hammer (the last-shot advantage) and to minimize giving up a big end when the opposing team had hammer.
When we gathered for the Monday game, I made sure we got together for a quick team meeting so that we would all be on the same page. The strategy would be pretty simple (it’s also fairly common, so I don’t feel I’m spilling secrets listing them here):
Try to get a read on the ice as quickly as possible. Use my lead stones to determine how the ice was acting.
Control the front of the house and stay above the tee line. It’s not the end of the world if a guard slips into the house, especially if it stays above the tee.
Let the ice work for us, especially for takeouts. Instead of throwing heat when it’s not necessary, ease up a bit and let the ice and the sweepers help the stone out.
Focus on draws, instead of takeouts.
Communicate. Make sure everyone is on the same page before each stone is delivered.
I also resolved to be very positive and encouraging with my teammates. While winning is nice, curling is a sport that is supposed to be fun.
How we deliver the first stones depended on if we had the hammer or not. I decided that we would start off with an aggressive style of play.
While that was our game plan, the outcome depended on execution. Things weren’t perfect, but we got off to a fast start.
We took advantage of starting with the hammer and put a decent number of rocks in the house. I did my best to split the house to set up multiple points and used guards to our advantage. In the first end, there was a port in front of the house that someone could use to put a rock into the house. We tried to block it, but our stone went a little deep to the tee line. The opposition team wasn’t able to get into the house and we took three to start.
In the second, we didn’t have the hammer, so we worked to force the opposing team to just one point. I got more aggressive when we were able to get several rocks in the house and ended up stealing two.
The opposition team held onto the hammer for the third end, which turned out to be fairly similar to the second. At the end, we had three in scoring position and the opposition had to take out one for a single point.
We had the hammer for the fourth end, which was probably the messiest end. After setting up a couple guards on the left side of the sheet, a stone went a little deep behind the button. I didn’t want to take it out right away, instead trying to stay in front of it. That started a series of draws to the button. We found the right line and did a decent job of freezing or coming close.
The opposing team tried to clean things up, but there were still a couple of rocks near the lid. The opposing team’s last shot was solid, but we could get out of trouble with another draw near the button. It was a little heavy, but it was close. We gave up one (after measuring to see who had the second shot).
Execution wasn’t perfect early in the game. I got a little frustrated (and loud) when the sweepers didn’t stop sweeping when I called “off.” Thankfully, it didn’t affect the outcome of the game and they got better on listening to the call. Communication was important — I wanted the sweepers to give me more clues about the speed of the rock and the sweepers wanted me to communicate more about if the shot was on line.
Making sure everyone was on the same page helped secure the win. In the fifth end, we had the hammer. I was happy to keep on drawing to the button, but the other teammates (particularly the third) wanted to do takeouts on two opposition rocks near the center of the house. It was a sound strategy — taking out opposition stones reduces their chances of stealing more than one point (although we would want to score with hammer).
Although I was worried that takeouts aren’t a strong suit for our team, my teammates were confident they could make the shots — especially because it was on ice that we were familiar with. I reminded them to throw with just a little less weight and use the ice and we were able to get several takeouts.
Once a skip makes a call, the rest of the team is supposed to go along. During what would turn out to be our last shot of the game, I could see that we weren’t settled on what the plan was so I held up my arms to stop everything. After hearing that Carl was confident he could make the takeout, I was convinced and set up for the takeout. We took out one of opposition stones (and we were sitting shot, IIRC). It left one of theirs near the button but it would be difficult for them to score more than one (and they needed three to tie and force a tiebreaker).
At that point, the opposition had two or three stones remaining, but they had seen enough and conceded. We were in the fifth end, but the scoreboard reflected the score through four ends.
After the game was won, I reflected that it was my first win skipping. It was something that didn’t cross my mind when we were playing the game. Afterward, I was happy for the accomplishment.
It may be a short-lived feeling, especially because we will need to win our last two games to finish with a winning record on the season. We’re heading into the playoffs tonight and our first opponent is a familiar one — the same team we faced on Feb. 25. It will be interesting to see how this game unfolds.
Posted in Sports and rec, Understanding Utah | Tagged competition, curling, skip, skipping, strategy, Utah Olympic Oval | Leave a reply
On the closest sheet, Team North America (skipped by Brad Gushue) sweeps a stone into the house against Team World, lead by Bruce Mouat, during the 2019 Continental Cup on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Today is the final day of the 2019 Continental Cup at the Orleans Arena. Judging by the first three days of competition between Team North America and Team World, the final day could be electric.
The final two sessions are at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. PT. Coverage streams online at ESPN3 and broadcast in Canada on TSN.
The World team has definitely had the better of the North Americans in the first three days. Team World has a commanding five-point lead in the race to 30.5 (17.5 to 12.5). Team North America had been further behind, but swept the final round of scramble play for a crucial six points.
Setting the points aside, the competition has had numerous highlights over the first nine rounds of games. There have been blowouts, close battles, barely missed shots at the absolute worst time and clutch shots to seal the win. Last night’s double by John Shuster of Team North America is a great example of a key shot.
I’ve said that curling is fun to watch, but it’s even more fun to play. The atmosphere at the Orleans Arena almost makes me want to change my position (although I may have different thoughts when I step into the hack for my Monday night league).
The level of competition has been outstanding. It’s thrilling to watch these world-class athletes perform and consistently make shots that would be daunting for the average club curler.
The fans are definitely a key contributor to the fun atmosphere at the Orleans. As a volunteer, I’ve been able to interact with many fans and they’re virtually all positive and upbeat about curling. When the fans are in the stands, the setting becomes dynamic.
The audience doesn’t cheer through the whole game. This is another area where curling is like golf — it can be a quiet as a mouse when a team is setting up a shot, However, the crowd definitely shows its appreciation for great shots and good wins.
At the end of Saturday night’s games, the applause was thunderous after Team North America swept the session. It was awesome to see thousands of cheering curling fans — it’s something that’s not too common at events in the United States (although more common in Canada).
Today, it comes down to the final two rounds of competition — the skins game. Continental Cup supporters like to compare this event to golf’s Ryder Cup and this is one area where the comparison is apt.
There’s a lot of points on the table — five per game. Each end (like a baseball inning) for the first six ends is worth 0.5 points. The last two ends are worth a whole point.
It’s not easy to win a skin. The team with the hammer scoring advantage has to score at least two points to claim their prize. The non-hammer team can steal the skin by scoring one point. If neither team reaches their objective, the skin carries over and the pot grows slightly larger.
WIth a total of 30 points on the table today, either team has a shot to win the Continental Cup. Last year, Team World had been behind, but finished with a strong skins performance — resulting in the first-ever tie at 30-30.
Team North America won the tiebreaker as North America’s Brad Gushue edged out World’s Thomas Ulsrud in a playoff to see which team could get a single stone to the center of the house.
We’ll see today whether the 2019 competition will be as close as last year. Will Team North America complete its comeback or will Team World hold them off and win its first cup in six years? I’m excited to find out.
Posted in Sports and rec, Travels, World at large | Tagged Continental Cup, curling, Las Vegas | Leave a reply
A pair of curling shoes purchased from Brooms Up Curling Supplies at the 2019 Continental Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A lot of people new to the sport of curling often ask if it’s expensive to participate in. Thankfully, the answer is no for the individual curler.
In a lot of ways, getting into curling is like going to the bowling alley. In bowling, you pay for a lane or a certain number of games. In curling, you pay for ice time.
The sport of bowling calls for bowling balls and shoes, but the alley often makes those available for casual participants.
It’s similar in curling — you need a broom to sweep and a special slider for the bottom of your shoe, but most clubs have some available for newer players to borrow.
(Also, the curling stones are owned by the club, just as a bowling alley owns the pins).
As I’ve gotten more involved in curling, I’ve slowly started acquiring personal equipment. Many curlers recommend getting shoes first because that would have the biggest impact on your game.
Unfortunately, shoes are a little pricey, so my first purchase was a curling broom (which was about 45 percent of the cost of shoes). I felt it was a good upgrade compared with the heavier house brooms. I certainly feel more effective with my own broom.
I’m now in a position to buy shoes, but there aren’t a lot of physical curling stores in much of the United States.
Thankfully, one of the American vendors, Brooms Up Curling Supplies, has a mobile showroom that travels to different curling events — including the 2019 Continental Cup.
While many supplies are available for purchase online, I enjoy being able to browse gear in person and try it on for size. The Brooms Up trailer is good for this, as the owner Gary carries a lot of the major manufacturers gear (but not all).
With the Brooms Up trailer parked between the Orleans Arena and the casino, a lot of curling fans drop by after draws. I was able to drop by Friday and buy my first pair of curling shoes.
As you can tell from the photo at the top of this post, they’re not the most glamorous but I’m hoping they will do the trick. The left shoe includes a built-in slider (currently covered by a rubber gripper) that will help me glide across the ice. With the gripper on the left shoe and a rubber sole on the right, I should be able to walk on the ice with confidence.
My next challenge will be actually using these shoes. Even a small change to my delivery can have a big impact on the game and these new shoes are a big shift.
Also, I’ve never previously moved around on the slider after delivering a stone. Instructors and anyone with common sense caution standing up on a slip-on slider and I’ve certainly fallen a couple times when I forget.
I imagine it will take me a while to used to shuffling around on a slider. I’ll certainly exercise caution, but I’m excited about this next step in my curling experience.
Posted in Sports and rec, Travels, World at large | Tagged brooms up, Continental Cup, curling, curling equipment, shoes | Leave a reply
Mixed doubles during Draw 5 of the 2019 Continental Cup in Las Vegas on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019.
Watching curling in person can be a unique experience, especially at this weekend’s Continental Cup in Las Vegas. Watching with several thousand enthusiastic fans who are knowledgeable about the game really takes it up the next level.
Watching curling in person offers fans a chance to watching multiple games at the same time (versus TV focusing on one game with highlights from the rest). That increases the likelihood of watching an interesting play develop.
At the same time, it can be a little daunting for a newer fan. The first international competition I attended was the 2018 World Men’s Curling Championships, also in Vegas. There were four sheets in play (as opposed to three here this weekend). It was easy to focus on a specific sheet and be a little late noticing something interesting happening elsewhere on the ice.
I had an easier time watching with the three sheets in play this weekend, but I still missed one or two key plays.
If you can’t make it to Vegas for the final two days of the competition, watching a curling competition on a screen does have its advantages especially if the broadcasting team clicks with the audience. Certainly the TSN crew airing the Continental Cup gets a lot of kudos. Fans in the U.S. can watching online on ESPN3 (or on Curling Canada’s YouTube channel about two days after each individual event airs).
Some fans in the audience get the best of both worlds — watching in person and listening in on the TSN broadcast team of Vic Rauter and former Olympians Cheryl Bernard and Russ Howard. Fans who purchased tickets to every event received a headset that allowed them to listen to the TSN feed.
Fans who bought tickets to the entire event received ear buds that allowed them to listen to the network broadcast in the arena.
Apparently, a lot of people bought this package. At some points during the competition, most of the audience erupted in what appeared to be spontaneous laughter. It wasn’t necessarily in response to something happening on the ice (although some of the athletes like to joke around and fans indulge them with laughs).
I quickly wondered if there was some joke that I was missing. That was literally the case — it appears everyone tuning into the TSN broadcast was able to hear some quip and reacted appropriately. (Sample joke after the camera spotted a couple dressed as characters from “The Flintstones” — There’s Fred and Wilma. And Pebbles is on the ice. That’s relatively funny and super corny if you’re a curling fan)..
I was a little sad that I missed the joke, but it definitely shows how many diehard curling fans are in the audience.
Posted in Sports and rec, TV, Film and Radio, World at large | Tagged Continental Cup, curling, TSN | Leave a reply
A decal stating Las Vegas Curling Rocks is posted on a door at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 3, 2018. The casino is hosting the 2019 Continental Cup.
Today is the first day of the 2019 Continental Cup of Curling at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. If you haven’t seen this event before, I would say it’s well worth your time if you’re a fan of the game. In the U.S., games stream on ESPN3 online (with replays shared on the Curling Canada YouTube channel about 48 hours later).
Six of the world’s best teams are competing this weekend in a format similar to the Ryder Cup. This time, it’s Team North America against Team World.
Teams include gold medalists from the 2018 Winter Olympics including women’s champion Team Hasselborg of Sweden and men’s champion Team Shuster of the United States. The rest of the roster is loaded with top athletes, including four Canadian teams, five additional European teams and Team Sinclair from the U.S.
One of the things that sets the Continental Cup apart from other international events is that it’s generally more fun and not just because it’s in Las Vegas. As far as I know, the stakes are little lower because the outcome of the event won’t affect any of the teams’ chances to qualify for a national championship or a spot at the Olympics.
Teams do play for pride and a share of a decent-sized jackpot, but it appears to be a chance for athletes to have a little fun in the middle of the season before going off to national championships (in the case of Canada and the United States).
The Continental Cup often shakes things up, on and off the ice. On the ice, the competition is arranged so individual squads are broken up and recombined in various ways — including setting up pairs to play on mixed doubles squads or assembling new teams for the new team scramble format.
The traditional teams of four will have regular matches, but even that’s mixed up over the course of the weekend as the final day features a skins format.
Off the ice, the teams have areas to cheer their teammates on. This is generally different from other competitions, where teams who aren’t playing usually don’t come the arena.
All of this adds up to something special. The athletes look like they’re having a lot of fun and the competition is a blast to watch. Last year’s event ended in a tie that had to be broken with curling’s equivalent of a shootout.
The Continental Cup is also a great opportunity to see different teams from around the world face off. Last year’s event preceded the Olympics and the games offered an excellent preview of what happened in South Korea, including the fact that John Shuster was ready to make a splash on the international stage.
There are three rounds a day today through Saturday. On Sunday, there are two rounds of skins games. Coverage from every round (or draw) airs live on TSN in Canada and is available on ESPN3 in the U.S.
It will be exciting to see how this year’s event unfolds.
Posted in Sports and rec, Travels, World at large | Tagged Continental Cup, curling | Leave a reply
Curling season 3 starts with ups and downs
Posted on 1 October 2018 by RTOlson
We started the fall season with a win, finishing with a score of 5-3.
Tonight is the fourth week of the new curling season at the Utah Olympic Oval. Things for my team on Monday have been going OK, although we’re struggling a bit during games. The first game went rather well (as evidenced by the scoreboard at the top of this post), but we didn’t fare well during weeks 2 and 3.
It was great to be back on the ice. I usually take the summer off because my schedule doesn’t fit with the league night during the spring and summer sessions. However, there was no curling at all because the ice had to be taken out of the Oval last spring for scheduled repairs to the ice equipment. The last event on the ice before the maintenance was USA Curling’s 2018 Arena National Championships.
There was an open curling practice the Thursday before the start of league. I usually wouldn’t be able to go, but I had the night off because of the Labor Day holiday. There were seven other people and it was wonderful just to get used to all things curling.
On the first Monday, I got to meet my new team. For whatever reason, I don’t particularly mind not sticking with a team from season to season. As a result, my team’s lineup changes often, although myself and Joe have been the most consistent elements over the past two years.
This season, we added Karl and Robert to the lineup, both players I hadn’t really interacted with before. Our game started with myself, Joe and Karl. Robert was a little late because he was coming from the dentist. I admired his dedication — I don’t know if I would try to get on the ice right after something like that (which was more than a routine visit). We started out with the three-person rotation with me throwing the first three rocks, Karl taking the second set of three stones and Joe taking the last two. When Robert arrived, he played the second pair while Karl, acting as vice skip, delivered rocks 5 and 6.
We, playing the yellow stones, got off to a slow start, as evidenced by the scoreboard above. I believe we started with the hammer, but wasn’t able to get on the board until the third end. It was nice that things were still close until the fifth end, when we were able to leap ahead with three points.
The fifth end was a lot of fun, especially because I threw a double takeout (removing two of the opposition’s stones from play). After the match, my old teammate Travis said the double takeout was a little cheap — the opposing stones were right next to each other in the back of the house, making it an easy target. I responded that I got the double while playing lead — it takes an extraordinary set of circumstances for me to be able to take out two rocks.
Adapting to the ice
As usual, we struggled with the ice. We play on a rink that primarily dedicated to figure skating and speedskating (there’s another sheet dedicated to hockey and both rinks are surrounded by a long oval used for public skating and speedskating).
In curling, it’s ideal that the ice is level. Unfortunately, in general arenas, that is difficult to accomplish unless there is a lot of dedicated work to make the ice level. There are some weeks where the ice plays pretty level, but we often have to deal with the ice “falling” a certain way. In these situations, the stones will drift toward a certain area regardless of the direction that we want the stones to go in.
Uneven ice makes the game challenging and the team that best adapts to it has a significant advantage. Also, it’s not an unfair situation — both teams have to play on the same ice and face the same conditions.
Because both teams play under the same conditions, observant players can watch how each team delivers their shots. Although every player is different, it provides important information on how the ice is reacting and offers insight on which shot to select.
In that fifth end, being observant helped us get that three points. We had been sitting three with two stones toward the outside of the rings under cover and one near the button. The red team took out the shot rock near the button and stayed to count shot.
Having the hammer, we had one last shot. As Joe got into the hack to take his shot, I noticed that our vice skip had positioned the broom differently than the red vice had (the broom is used to provide a target for the player delivering the stone). I called out an audible — if we positioned our broom identically to the red team, we had the best shot of duplicating their result and scoring three. The vice moved the broom and we easily landed the hit and stay for three.
Preparing the ice
During the first week, I was partly responsible for the ice conditions. For the first time, I helped “pebble” the surface by spraying water over the ice to create the running surface for the stones to slide over. I had learned how to pebble during the arena nationals, but it was my first time covering a full field of play.
If you ever see video of someone pebbling, it looks fairly effortless. I can tell you that that there are some challenges — you’re walking backward the entire time with a large water tank strapped on your back while waving a wand back and forth repeatedly. When you’re pebbling, you want to apply the water as consistently as possible so you’re trying to keep a steady walking pace while moving your arm at a steady, but brisk tempo.
I think I did an OK job, although there are several things I’d like to work to improve on. It was definitely a lot of work to do just before a match and I was pretty winded. My right arm was sore for days afterward.
Missing the right way
Our first week ended on a high note. Moving into the final end of the night, we were up by one, but the red team had the hammer and shot last. If they scored one and tied, we would go to a draw-to-the-button tiebreaker. Ecstatic after we scored three, I told my teammates that we should “steal away home” and win the match.
As the end developed, it appeared it was going to be challenge to get a steal. The red team had a rock sitting on the button, but there were two stones in the back of the 4-foot ring that could act as a backstop.
We tried various shots and couldn’t get near the button. In our last shot, Joe threw an inturn stone toward the left side of the sheet hoping it would drift around a yellow guard and hit the button.
Unfortunately, the line wasn’t wide enough and it started moving toward the guard. Robert and I were sweeping, but it was clear that the stone could crash on the guard. Seeing an opportunity, I shouted to Robert that we should play off the guard stone and I swept to hopefully get the best angle between the two stones.
The shot struck the guard and Robert swept the second yellow stone right toward the button, where it pushed the red stone into the backstop and we were sitting shot rock. The red team still had one stone, but they faced an incredibly difficult shot to try to push ours out of the way.
It was close, but we prevailed and escaped with the win.
We all congratulated Joe on his shot, and he replied that that wasn’t his shot. I didn’t mind — one thing that many expert curlers emphasize, including Russ Howard in his book “Curl to Win,” is missing the right way. That basically means to consider contingencies that will either help you or at least not hurt you.
Weeks 2 and 3
Our next two games didn’t go so well (which may be why I don’t have any photos of them). I missed our second match because of a work emergency (but got to sub on Thursday and had a lot of fun). Joe also curls on Thursday and told me that we got on the board early, but couldn’t slow down the team Game of Stones (which won Monday league last winter).
Last Monday, I was back but Karl wasn’t there. Joe, Robert and I faced off against Team Mischo. Mischo is skipped by Keith Mischo, who won bronze at the World Deaf Curling Championships in 2017. We had our work cut out for ourselves and it was a struggle all night.
We got on the board near the end, but Team Mischo pretty much romped over us.
I again threw lead and I realized that I needed to be doing a better job — most of my stones were short of the house, even when I was asked to throw draws closer to the button. When I tried to increase my delivery weight, I pushed a couple of stones through the house entirely and out of play. Thankfully, I haven’t yet thrown a stone this season that was so short it was out of play (called hogging). It’s been a silver lining so far and I hope that keeps up.
Our match ended a little early, so I had some extra time to practice my delivery. That is something that is very much a work in progress and another thing I would like to improve this season.
On to the next episode…
Posted in Sports and rec, Understanding Utah | Tagged curling, Monday league, Utah, Utah Olympic Oval | Leave a reply
Back in the hack for year 3 of curling
Posted on 25 September 2018 by RTOlson
That was the conclusion of the final end of my second year of curling (it’s not my shot). We were playing yellow, but an attempt to use the dial tool dislodged a stone so we called it a tie. Our skip, Joe, won the sudden-death draw to the button.
I started my third full year in curling two weeks ago at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns. It was great to get back to a sport that I’ve come to enjoy over the past two years.
Considering that my involvement in the sport has ramped up in the past few years (including attending the World Men’s Curling Championship in Las Vegas and volunteering for a national event in Salt Lake City), I thought it would be fun to share some of my experiences on the ice. I’m not a competitive curler by any stretch of the imagination, but I definitely hope to continue getting better and make a positive contribution to whatever team I’m playing on.
My team in Monday curling league (Team 20/20) ended the winter season on a high note. We fought from behind to tie the opposing team in the B bracket playoffs on March 26.
In the final end, I inadvertently set in motion what would eventually result in a tie (that’s the photo at the top of this post). The tie led to a sudden-death draw to the button that our skip, Joe, won.
In that final end, I was playing second on a three-person team (that means I threw the 4, 5 and 6 red stones out of eight). Thanks to the shooting of our lead, Andrew, we were sitting shot but there was a gap that someone could shoot to get closer to the button (as the team with the stone closest to the button scores).
My task was to put up a guard in that gap to prevent the opposing team (The Icemen) from taking advantage of the opening. My first couple attempts didn’t pan out.
My third and final shot also missed as a guard — it drew into the gap (or port, in curling lingo) and rested near the button. It was a nice shot that didn’t immediately hurt us, but it created an opening for the opposing yellow team (which had the advantage of throwing the final stone of the end).
The opposing vice skip (who shoots third out of four) threw a shot similar to mine and pushed my last rock out of the way.
From there, it was a back-and-forth effort between the two teams. Our skip, Joe, followed the same line and knocked the yellow stone out of the way. The yellow team skip delivered the same shot and pushed our red stone back slightly.
That led to a crucial moment in the end and the game — who has the shot? If it’s us on the red team, it would be prudent to put up a guard and end this bit of shooting practice. From my perspective as the vice skip, I thought it was close but the advantage was ours.
(As an aside, it didn’t make sense to try the draw shot again because our red stone was behind the tee line — it could’ve been used by the yellow team as a backstop, allowing them to sit fully on the center of the button and claim the win.)
Joe successfully put up a guard, clogging the port that we had all found success through. It forced the yellow team to make a difficult shot that they couldn’t convert. They would’ve basically had to run into two of their stones for a chance to push their stone closest to the button just a centimeter forward.
Here’s what team yellow faced:
In the last shot of the final end of the winter 2018 Monday league, the yellow team faced a difficult shot to try to get their stone closest to the button on March 26, 2018, at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns.
The photo doesn’t show the red stone sitting in the outer green circle (called the 12-foot) at roughly the 10 o’clock position.
After each team has thrown their eight stones, it’s up to the vice skips to agree on who actually scored. If it’s not possible from visual observation, there’s a measuring device that can be used. It was the star of the Winter Olympics whenever it was used on TV and it came into play that night in March.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of mixup in the measurement. Because the stones were so close to each other, the measurer tried to measure the outside of the stones. That doesn’t work for many reasons, particularly because the sensor doesn’t bend in that direction.
Trying to sweep the measuring dial past our red stone simply pushed the rock out of the way slightly. We were given the opportunity to reset our stone, but I noted that there was really no way to do it in a way that was fair especially because we were trying to measure its original position and that was no longer possible.
With measuring out of the question, both teams concluded that it was easiest to declare that it was a tie and that no team scored that end (called a blank).
(Another aside: We were uncertain about the rules when it came to measurements and it led to a Reddit discussion on the matter. The curling rules do address the situation, which will be helpful moving forward. We didn’t know it at the time and I was happy both teams agreed to call it a tie.)
The tie set up the draw to the button, where each team’s skip throws one stone to try to get closest to the center of the house.
Joe made the shot and we won our playoff. It was an exhilarating end to a great night of curling. Even before the yellow team took their last shot in the final full end, it was exciting that we had to come back from being down 3-0 after the first end and stole a point in the fifth end to tie everything up heading into that crucial sixth end.
Here’s the box score:
Our match was for the B bracket championship which was set up for the teams in the middle of the pack in our league. We entered the playoffs seeded eighth and I was more than happy to emerge as the “best of the rest” of our league night.
The members of Team 20/20 — from the left, Joe, Andrew and Ryan — pose after receiving medals for winning the “B” bracket during the winter 2018 Monday curling league at the Utah Olympic Oval.
This season, I’m on a changed up team. We started off with a win, but have since run into some trouble. Next time, I’ll recap how the year has started.
Posted in Sports and rec, Understanding Utah | Tagged curling, curling league, team 2020, Utah, Utah Olympic Oval | Leave a reply
10+1 images from my first year back in Utah
Posted on 5 June 2017 by RTOlson
At the end of May, I marked the first anniversary of my returning to Utah. To celebrate the occasion, I reviewed the photos I took from the past 365 days and picked ten that highlighted some of the fun activities from 2016-17. There’s also a bonus picture — the first photo I took upon my return.
Click any photo to embiggen…
A view of the Wasatch Front from downtown Provo. It’s the first picture I took on my first day of work at the Daily Herald on May 26, 2017.
Looking toward Ogden’s 25th Street from Ogden Union Station on June 28, 2016. It was part of a great day exploring the city and the former train station (now home to several museums).
The Daily Herald offices moved to downtown Provo just days before my arrival. One of the highlights is having a third-story view of University Avenue, particularly on days like the Fourth of July. Here’s a shot of the Freedom Festival Grand Parade on July 4, 2016.
Provo was among the cities that went crazy for the “Pokemon Go” craze last summer. It was fascinating to see the crowd outside the Provo City Library at 1:32 a.m. on July 10, 2016.
Provo lost two of its icons on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016. After watching the demolition of the Provo Power smokestacks, officials escorted the media around the site.
My first time inside the Vivint Smart Home Arena wasn’t for a Utah Jazz game, it was for the first day of Salt Lake Comic Con 2016 on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016. Thousands of “Star Wars” fans were on their feet for the arrival of actor Mark Hamill.
After seeing Mark Hamill at Salt Lake Comic Con, I booked it over to Pioneer Park for the Twilight Concert Series. I worked my way through the crowd to listen to Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. The concert was a lot of fun, but I was pretty tired by the time headliners Fitz and The Tantrums made their way on stage. By that point, the sun had set and I found my way to a grassy area to sit down.
Although I now work most nights, I still get out for karaoke nights. After trying a few places, I’ve settled in at The Tavernacle in downtown Salt Lake. The bar frequently features dueling piano players, but turns it over for karaoke on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays — including Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016.
One event I was excited to participate in was the Sundance Film Festival. It was two weeks long, but my schedule really only accommodated Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. I still made the most of it, including catching three screenings and walking around downtown Park City (after most of the places had closed for the evening).
Another highlight of the last year has been visiting venues used in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. It inspired me to make my way to Soldier Hollow for a day of cross-country skiing lessons on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017. It was far too easy for me to overexert myself (and I fell into a stream), but it was a lot of fun and very rewarding.
Another rewarding activity was curling at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns. After taking a couple of lessons, I joined the Monday league for the fall and winter sessions. I got a lot of practice in and really got to enjoy the sport. I even helped win a match with this shot on March 6, 2017.
Posted in Travels, Understanding Utah, World at large | Tagged cross-country skiing, curling, karaoke, Kearns, Pioneer Park, Pokemon, Provo, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Comic Con, SLCC, smokestacks, Soldier Hollow, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, Twilight Concert, Utah, Utah Olympic Oval, Wasatch Mountains | Leave a reply
The airing of Vancouver Olympic grievances – a list
I’m generally enjoying the Vancouver Games as it enters the seventh day of competition, but some things are sticking in my mind. Please share your “grievances” in the comments.
The fence around the Olympic Flame: I think the organizers were caught flatfooted by the fact that people may want to be close to the beautiful outdoor Olympic Cauldron. At the very least, the image of a chainlink fence in front of a symbol of peaceful competition is disconcerting.
Kudos for the organizers for making changes and creating more viewing opportunities (according to this CBC News article). However, I didn’t necessarily care for one of the organizers’ excuses:
Organizers said the cauldron is far closer to the public than Olympic flames of past Games, where they’ve usually been located in or atop stadiums.
The cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Games was outside Centennial Olympic Stadium and it was generally accessible to the public (at the very least it wasn’t blocked by a massive fence). I remember having lunch and taking photos mere yards from that Olympic Flame along with many spectators and families.
The Lack of Curling on NBC: This is a minor gripe at most, but it is sad when FOX has more curling on a 30-minute episode of “The Simpsons” than NBC will have in two weeks on its main network. Yes, curling is available on cable channels (that I don’t have) and is streaming live online (which I don’t have access to because I don’t have the right cable package). In recent years, curling almost always gets praised as a pleasant surprise of the Games. Maybe it’s not a primetime event, but it’s lame that NBC couldn’t find time to at least air the gold metal match on broadcast (like in the afternoon).
Shoddy online coverage: There’s a huge difference between the online coverage of the 2008 Beijing Games and in Vancouver. Just two years ago, many non-marquee events were streamed live and in their entirety. Now, it’s mostly hockey and curling aired live (with other events posted after NBC has aired them in primetime). Hockey and curling are both fine sports, but the offerings are like night and day.
Tape Delay: It’s a gripe as old as NBC’s coverage of the Games. It is certainly frustrating that NBC insists on starting its primetime program right at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. Central) even though there are live events taking place at 5 p.m. Vancouver time. And, of course, Vancouver time is the same time as Chico and the entire West Coast which just compounds the silliness.
NBC didn’t have to do this. It could have emulated a model from Canada that I thought could work fairly well here. In previous games, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation would air its primetime program live nationwide. After the end of that broadcast, the CBC would offer a special West Coast-only highlight package to help round out the night. I don’t know what the current Canadian broadcaster, CTV, is doing.
Media coverage of “the glitches”: I’m sure some of the criticism of the Vancouver organizing committee’s operation of the Games is justified, but the howling has seemed ferocious at times. The situation has drawn many comparisons to the Atlanta Games in 1996 when the media lambasted ACOG’s miscues, particularly regarding transportation (as this 1996 New York Times article details).
The disconcerting thing about the Atlanta criticism and the Vancouver gripes is that these woes somehow become part of the “legacy” of the Games. I was in Atlanta for the Games, and the woes weren’t my “highlight” of those Olympics. Yes, it wasn’t pleasant at times — I had to brave the crushing crowds on MARTA and I once had to give directions and a map to a bus driver so we could get to our destination. However, it pales in comparison to witnessing the opening ceremonies, watching track stars break world records and enjoying some of the finest art and music in my life.
Bruce Arthur of the National Post offers a nice perspective on the criticism. While acknowledging that Vancouver has been far from perfect, Arthur points out how there are at least three different views of the Games:
There is the Olympics that we in the media experience, the one the athletes experiences, and the one the public experiences. But only one of us write the verdict on the Olympics in question.
For another take on the Olympics’ legacy on host cities, The Independent looked at how cities capitalized on the infrastructure changes made for the Games. Atlanta seemed to fare much better on that score and I hope Vancouver does too.
Posted in Entertainment industry, Fame, Gadgets and technology, Sports and rec, TV, Film and Radio | Tagged Atlanta, Canada, curling, NBC Olympics, Olympics, streaming video, TV, Vancouver | 1 Reply
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A number is never just a number: Wal-Mart or Costco?
Hennessy's Index
Compensation Wal-Mart's CEO received in 2012. (Source)
Average hourly Wal-Mart pay for a full-time worker in the U.S. (Source)
Compensation Costco's CEO received in 2012. (Source)
Average hourly Costco wage in the U.S. In Canada, Costco's average hourly wage is $21. (Source and source)
Percentage of Costco employees who have health insurance coverage. Costco workers pay eight per cent of their health premiums. (Source)
Fewer than 50 per cent of Wal-Mart Sam's Club workers have health-care insurance coverage and Wal-Mart workers pay 33 per cent of their health premiums. (Source)
Percentage of Costco employees in the U.S. who are covered by retirement plans. The company contributes $1,330 on average for every employee each year. (Source)
Percentage of Wal-Mart Sam's Club employees in the U.S. who have retirement plans. The company contributes $747 on average for every employee each year. (Source)
Percentage of staff turnover at Costco in the U.S., which is very low. Costco's staff turnover rate is only six per cent for employees who have been there for more than a year. (Source)
Percentage of staff turnover at Wal-Mart in the U.S. each year. (Source)
The price tag Costco pays to replace workers due to staff turnover in the U.S. (Source)
The price tag Wal-Mart's Sam's Club pays to replace workers due to staff turnover in the U.S. (Source)
$37 billion
Total U.S. sales for Wal-Mart's Sam's Club in 2012. (Source)
Total U.S. sales for Costco in 2012 -- achieved with 38 per cent fewer employees. (Source)
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative's Trish Hennessy has long been a fan of Harper Magazine's one-page list of eye-popping statistics, Harper's Index. Instead of wishing for a Canadian version to magically appear, she's created her own index -- a monthly listing of numbers about Canada and its place in the world. Hennessy's Index -- A number is never just a number -- comes out at the beginning of each month.
Photo: Overpass Light Brigade
Wal-Mart's killer rollbacks: The human cost of lower prices
When given the chance, Wal-Mart directly refused to pay for a plan to make fire safety improvements in the factories that it gets its clothing from.
Why are Wal-Mart workers standing up to live better?
Wal-Mart workers are standing up and taking action for respect and dignity on the job.
From Wal-Mart to Chipotle: Workers fight for justice
Despite unemployment levels that remain high, and the anxiety caused by people living paycheck to paycheck, many workers in the United States are taking matters into their own hands.
fair wages
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Albert Pujols predicts he'll be everyday player at age 39
(AP Photo/Alex Gallardo, File)
By CARRIE MUSKAT
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) Albert Pujols has a bold if unrealistic prediction for his 2019 season.
"I'm expecting to play 162 games," the Los Angeles Angels first baseman said Sunday. "One hundred ninety games I'm going to play this year, including spring training."
A month past his 39th birthday, Pujols is an 18-year big league veteran, 10-time All-Star and three-time MVP.
"He will not be playing 190, I promise you that," new Angels manager Brad Ausmus said.
Pujols had knee surgery last August. He appeared in 117 games and had 465 at-bats, his fewest since 2013, while hitting .245 with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs.
Because the surgery was in the summer, he was able to have a normal offseason.
"If he's playing well, he's going to play, it's as simple as that," Ausmus said. "The important thing about spring training is making sure he's healthy going into the season. We certainly don't want to overload him here and have an issue in April and May. It's going to evolve as we go. We'll certainly be cautious out of the gate."
Pujols is expected to play first base and see time at designated hitter until two-way player Shohei Ohtani is given the go-ahead to hit in games following Tommy John surgery.
After batting .328 and hitting 445 home runs over 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, Pujols has a .260 average and 188 homers in seven years with the Angels.
"My job is to be healthy and help this ballclub to win a championship," Pujols said. "I don't think I need to show anybody. I know what I can do when I'm healthy and that's what I try to do. My main focus is to help this ballclub win a championship. This is not about me."
Pujols does know Ausmus well from his own playing days.
"I have a lot of respect for how Albert plays the game, not only the talent perspective but he played the game the right way - just how he carries himself on the field, the work ethic, all of that," Ausmus said. "He does a lot of things right."
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9 Fantastic Wiring A Switch, A Garbage Disposal Solutions
Wiring A Switch For A Garbage Disposal
9 Fantastic Wiring A Switch, A Garbage Disposal Solutions - Posts index: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 three four 5 6 7 8 9 pics index: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z zero 1 2 3 4 five 6 7 8 nine. So i figured i might replace the gfci duplex with a brand new one from the hardware save. After installing that, the brand new gfci could not turn on both, in spite of 120v electricity to the line terminals (as tested with my meter).
Posts index: a b c d e f g h i j ok l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z zero 1 2 three four five 6 7 eight nine photographs index: a b c d e f g h i j okay l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z zero 1 2 three 4 5 6 7 8 9. The ground twine have to be related to the container. The alternative cable ought to be checked for a ground wire, and that ought to be connected to the field if it exists. The container & grounds have to be related to the gfci and transfer/outlet ground terminals.
Article index : a b c d e f g h i j okay l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z - 0 1 2 3 four five 6 7 8 9 gallery index : a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z - zero 1 2 three four 5 6 7 eight 9. Article index : a b c d e f g h i j okay l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z - zero 1 2 3 four 5 6 7 8 nine gallery index : a b c d e f g h i j okay l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z - 0 1 2 three 4 five 6 7 8 nine.
I do not know your "switch/outlet" combination in element, but i would wager there is probably a connection by default (ie, the transfer is tied to the hole until you ruin a tab) it is getting upset with the aid of the switch being fed from the line facet and the opening being fed from the weight facet of the gfci. Anyhow, the disposal probably must be linked to the weight side of the gfci.
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International royals 22nd April 2019
Who is Japan’s Aiko, Princess Toshi?
A look at the only child of Japan’s soon-to-be new Emperor.
Who was Japan’s first emperor?
Japan’s Imperial couple return to Tokyo after last trip outside capital before Emperor’s abdication
独立行政法人水資源機構ホームページ [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)]
Aiko, Princess Toshi is the daughter and only child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako of Japan.
She was born on 1 December 2001 at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The Princess has two names, a personal one Aiko, and an official name, Toshi, and in a breach with tradition, these names were chosen by her parents and not the Emperor. The names are similar in meaning Aiko meaning “one who loves others” and Toshi meaning “one who respects others”.
With her father soon due to take on the Chrysanthemum Throne, we may have expected that Princess Toshi would become the heir apparent, but this is not the case. Though the Japanese do not have a problem with a female ruler and have had a number in the past, they are always seen as temporary rulers as they believe succession where possible should be through the father’s bloodline. This was most recently enshrined in law with the Imperial Household Law of 1947, although a committee did look at the issue in 2005. Before the committee could report, Crown Prince Naruhito’s younger brother and his wife, Prince and Princess Akishino gave birth to a son, Hisahito. This takes Princess Toshi outside the successors to the throne.
The Princess began her education at the Gakushuin Kindergarten between 2006 and 2008, before moving on to elementary school, where sadly she had disrupted education due to bullying from her classmates. In 2010, this was eventually resolved, and indeed the Princess was allowed to hold parties for her fellow school pupils at the Togu Palace. Shortly after this, this poor Princess came down with pneumonia in 2011. It is said when around eight the young princess loved writing Kanji characters, calligraphy, playing the piano and violin and writing poetry.
In 2014 she enrolled in Gakushuin Junior Girls High School, and now that she is older, she has joined her parents on some official engagements. No doubt once her father ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne we will see more of her.
Related ItemsCrown Prince Naruhitoprincess toshi
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Washington Week: What To Expect
Posted by Connor Pelton on July 15th, 2012
We’re most of the way through our weeklong look at the Huskies and have at least enough information to make some educated guesses about what the 2012-13 season has in store. With two players lost to the NBA Draft, a key player returning from injury and two promising newcomers, the Huskies have a lot of potential but even more question marks. Here is our attempt at answering some of them.
Washington’s Leading Scorer – C.J. Wilcox. Earlier in the week we said that Wilcox averaged a quiet 14.2 PPG, mainly because he was the “forgotten” third guard behind first round picks Tony Wroten, Jr., and Terrence Ross. This time around he’s behind no one, and will be first in a long list of talented shooting guards on the 2012-13 roster.
Wilcox Has No Problem Knocking Down Jumpers With Defenders On Him, But It’s Even Easier When No One Is Within A Five Foot Radius (credit: Dean Rutz)
Washington’s MVP – Scott Suggs. Suggs is more of a spot-up shooter, so even though you could make the argument that he is the deadliest on the team, he won’t shoot the ball and score as much as Wilcox. However, late in the game, the Huskies will definitely look to get him the ball. This is his fifth season on Montlake, so Suggs’ senior leadership combined with his lights out shooting ability make him the most important player in 2012-13.
Washington’s Most Improved Returnee – Abdul Gaddy. Some people would call Gaddy’s first three years with the Huskies a disappointment, and while we wouldn’t go that far, last season certainly was. Coming back from a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee in early 2011, Gaddy struggled to make plays behind first-round draftee Tony Wroten, Jr., at point guard. This season, no one is in front of him, and he should take advantage. He’s got numerous targets in Wilcox, Suggs, and Mark McLaughlin who will improve his assist statistics, and he’s not an awful shooter. The next step in his game is to become the type of player that Wroten was last season, one who can take over a game by driving into the lane and making a big bucket when the offense begins to stall. It’s safe to say, though, that if Gaddy doesn’t improve significantly, it could be a very rough year on Montlake.
Washington’s Most Impactful Newcomer – Andrew Andrews. Andrews is the type of quick and tough point guard that will remind fans more of Wroten than Gaddy will. Andrews is just a freshman, but after having a year already in the system, should earn some good minutes backing up Gaddy. If he can prove that he can score the ball as easily as he did in high school, Lorenzo Romar could use him in a combo-guard type of role.
Washington’s Conference Record/ Finish – 10-8, 5th Place. The Huskies are an incredibly tough team to project. On one hand, we can see Gaddy blossoming into a second-team All-Pac-12 point guard, Wilcox and Suggs shooting the lights out, and N’Diaye being one of the top centers in the league, but on the other, it’s tough to have too much faith in a team that loses so much of their offensive production from 2011-12. The difference between a top four finish (likely to result in an NCAA Tournament berth) and a bottom eight finish will be how the Huskies perform on the defensive end. In a conference known for its defensive footprint, the Huskies were mediocre last season, averaging 7.0 SPG and 4.0 BPG. Not counting Wroten, Terrence Ross, and Darnell Gant, none of whom will be back in 2012-13, the new totals come out to 3.4 SPG and 2.5 BPG. Andrews and McLaughlin have to step up on the defensive end, or the Dawgs might fins themselves on the wrong side of a few close games.
Connor Pelton (300 Posts)
I'm from Portland. College basketball and football is life.
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2012 at 6:53 pm by Connor Pelton and is filed under microsites, pac 12. Tagged: 10-8, 2012-13, 5th place, abdul gaddy, c.j. wilcox, educated guesses, huskies, information, Scott Suggs, season, store, washington, washington week, washington week: what to expect, week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Targeting the messenger: Investigative journalists under extreme pressure
TOPICS:attacks on journalistscensorshipinvestigative journalisminvestigative reporting
There is a distinct lack of awareness among decision makers about how bad the situation is for journalists reporting on corruption ~ report by Mapping Media Freedom of Index on Censorship.
The report ‘Targeting the messenger: Investigative journalists under extreme pressure’ is available online and as PDF publication.
What do criminals, corrupt corporations and crooked politicians have in common? They all fear investigative journalists, whose job is to expose wrongdoing and hypocrisy by holding the powerful to account.
From the groundbreaking UK-based Bellingcat and the well-regarded multi-national Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, to the uncovering of the Panama and Paradise Papers, the dogged reporting and dedication of investigative journalists is clear. Yet these success stories mask the encroaching pressures that threaten to undermine efforts to expose the corruption eating at the foundations of European democracy.
For their work, investigative reporters have come under threat from multiple sources with the shared aim of stopping information that’s in the public interest from coming to light. Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project, which monitors violations against media professionals throughout Europe, recorded 206 cases of investigative journalists in the 35 countries that are in or affiliated with the European Union (EU35) being targeted in their line of work between 1 May 2014 and 31 December 2018. An additional 77 reports from EU35 showed media workers other than investigative journalists being targeted for their role in reporting on corruption.
Under-financing and business models that don’t offer proper support are major problems for investigative journalism in general, but Mapping Media Freedom has also uncovered a litany of methods that have been employed as a direct means to censor journalists, including intimidation (96 instances), defamation (53), laws or court orders curtailing media outlets or workers (48), psychological abuse (35) and blocked access (48). Media workers were also physically attacked on 27 occasions and had their property attacked on 28. Civil lawsuits were taken against journalists on 27 occasions, and criminal charges were brought against journalists on 23.
The country with the largest share of reports was Italy (40), followed by Hungary (25), Serbia (24), France (19) and Turkey (18). “In these five years in Italy, investigative journalism has become increasingly risky, both for journalists themselves and for the media,” Alberto Spampinato, the director of Ossigeno per l’informazione, an Italian press freedom monitor, told Mapping Media Freedom.
Violations of media freedom regarding investigative journalists and those reporting on corruption reported to Mapping Media Freedom per annum went from a low in 2014 of 38, to a high of 75 in 2018 (2015: 51; 2016: 61; 2017: 58).
Mapping Media Freedom’s numbers reflect only what has been reported to the platform. They have found that journalists under-report incidents they consider minor, commonplace or part of the job, or where they fear reprisals. In some cases, Mapping Media Freedom correspondents have identified incidents retrospectively as a result of comments on social media or reports appearing only after similar incidents have come to light.
DATA: Incidents involving investigative journalism and reporting on corruption in EU member, candidate and potential candidate states. May 2014-December 2018.
New report shows rising harassment and threats against journalists in Council of Europe states
Hungary, Media developments, Poland, Serbia
Doing their masters’ bidding: Media smear campaigns in central and eastern Europe
Croatia, Media developments
Croatia, a thousand lawsuits against journalists
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Featured Publications, Kosovo*, Macedonia, Media developments, Montenegro, Serbia
Serbia – Balkans’ Black Champion of Journalists’ Safety: Reports on Western Balkan Countries
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Nakba Day, 2015
Today is Nakba Day, the day set aside to remember the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian Arabs in 1948 in connection with the creation of the “Jewish State” of Israel. Over 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and villages, and many massacred, in an ethnic-cleansing operation that should shock the conscience. Hundreds of villages were erased and replaced by Jewish towns. The Arabs who remained in the Israeli state that was imposed on them by the UN and Zionist military forces have been second-class citizens, at best, from that time.
Since 1967 the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, many of whom were refugees from the 1948 catastrophe, have lived under the boot of the Israeli government. Their day-to-day lives are under the arbitrary control of the Israeli government. Gaza is an open-air blockaded prison camp subject to periodic military onslaughts (the latest was last year), while the West Bank is relentlessly gobbled up by Jewish-only settlements and violated by a wall that surrounds Palestinian towns and cuts people’s homes off from their farms. For the Israeli ruling elite, the so-called peace process is a sham. Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now embarking on an unprecedented fourth term as prime minister, rejects any realistic plan to let the Palestinians go -- that is, have their own country on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He insists that they must recognize Israel as the Jewish state, that is, as the state of Jews everywhere, even though it sits largely on stolen property (PDF) -- which raises an interesting question: Is subjugation of the Palestinians an instantiation of Jewish values or is it not? If it is (as apparently most of its supporters believe), then what does that say for Jewish values? If it is not, then what does that say for Israel's purported status as the Jewish State?
Again, I note that the best short introduction to the catastrophe is Jeremy Hammond’s The Rejection of Palestinian Self-Determination: The Struggle for Palestine and the Roots of the Israeli-Arab Conflict. Further, Hammond debunks the myth that the United Nations created the state of Israel.
Additional reading: "Why the Inconvenient Truths of the Nakba Must Be Recognized," by Tom Pessah
Posted by Sheldon Richman at 9:07 AM
Labels: Israel, nakba, Palestine, Palestinians
Coincidentally it is also the day that the day Arab states launched their attack on Israel and Arab League Secretary General Azzam Pasha announced that "[t]his will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades."
Sheldon Richman said...
Of course, it was no coincidence. The Arab governments reluctantly came to the defense of the beleaguered Palestinians after public pressure overcame the rulers' lack of interest. The Zionist leadership had already cut a deal with the king of Transjordan to assure that no Palestinian state would emerge. (See Avi Shlaim's Collusion Across the Jordan.) Most of the fighting between the disorganized Arab forces and well-organized Zionist forces took place in what the UN had recommended become a Palestinian state.
"Palestinians were driven from their homes and villages, and many massacred, in an ethnic-cleansing operation..."
So, it was like the events described in the Book of Joshua.
It's by the way that two of the tribes, Rueben and Gad, were situated to the west of the Dead See and the Jordan. Another tribe, Manasseh, had territory on both sides of the Jordan. So it isn't difficult to predict what land will be grabbed for Israel in the future, perhaps even during our lifetimes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites#/media/File:12_Tribes_of_Israel_Map.svg
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/images/map-12tribes-2.jpg
https://the1balfour0century0.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/20121205-155305.jpg
Yj Draiman said...
The Arabs persecuted and expelled over a million Jewish families - YJ Draiman
The Arabs have Jordan, which was Jewish territory. The Arabs persecuted and expelled over a million Jewish families (who lived there for over 2500 years), from their countries and confiscated all their assets, businesses, homes and Real estate property 6 times the size of Israel - 120,440 sq. km. and valued in the trillions of dollars. Most of the expelled Jewish families from Arab countries were resettled in Israel, today over half the population in Israel are the families of the million Jewish families expelled from Arab countries. Let the Arab-Palestinians relocate to those lands and solve the Arab Israeli conflict and the Arab-Palestinian refugee problem.
YJ Draiman.
There's nothing inherently "Jewish" about taking land and killing the inhabitants. From the Mongols to the Nazis history is full of evil men who have coveted the lands of others.Jews do themselves a disservice by doing so themselves, unless they want others to think of them in that light.
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Freshers’ Week is finally over. Freshers’ fairs, usually hosted by student unions at most campuses between the middle of September and early October, allows a range of student societies to hand out promotional literature and sign up new members. It is also a perfect opportunity for extremists to target students.
This year was no different. Student Rights has discovered that student societies across London have distributed leaflets promoting organisations with concerning reputations. We also found numerous examples of leaflets promoting extreme individuals.
The SOAS Islamic Society advertised an event called ‘ILMFest’. This conference, which is being sponsored by the Al-Maghrib Institute and will take place next to the O2 arena on 4 November, will feature extreme speakers such as Omar Suleiman, Yasir Qadhi, Yayha Ibrahim, and Abu Eesa Niamutullah. The Al-Maghrib Institute has a shameful record of promoting speakers with intolerant and extreme views.
Omar Suleiman has previously called homosexuality a “disease” and a “repugnant shameless sin”. Yasir Qadhi has said that to “kill … the homosexual – this is also our religion”, and that “to make fun of Allah and his Messenger, the punishment is death”.
Yahya Ibrahim has said that “Allah gives us almost an advice by warning us of who our enemies are … never will the Christians and the Jews be satisfied or content or pleased with you until you follow them and their religion”. He has also stated that the mushrikeen and kuffar [polytheists and non-believers] “try to answer us and say verily we as humans were only created to follow our ambition, and to follow our lust, and to acquire as much wealth, and as much women and children as we can”.
Abu Eesa Niamutullah has said that the Ummah (Muslim community) “is our primary identity” and that “liberal people who call themselves Muslims are the biggest danger within our community at the moment”.
A leaflet promoting the upcoming Stand Up To Racism Conference, which will take place at Friends House on 21 October, was distributed at the City University Freshers’ Fair. This conference will feature Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and founder of the infamous lobby group CAGE, which has publicly defended individuals involved in terrorism.
Begg has interviewed deported extremist cleric Abu Qatada via Skype at a CAGE event – he later suggested that Al-Qaeda associated clerics such as Abu Qatada and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi were the “most credible voices” against ISIS.
Begg has also admitted travelling to Syria to train fighters with a view to defending civilians. He has since engaged in public defence of individuals convicted for travelling to the country.
The SOAS and UCL Kurdish Societies promoted literature written by Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the proscribed terrorist group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The titles included Öcalan’s theory of ‘Democratic Confederalism’ as well as ‘Democratic Nation’, ‘War and Peace in Kurdistan’ and ‘Liberating Life: Woman’s Revolution’.
Since 1984, the PKK has led an armed struggle against Turkey that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Öcalan is “alleged to have ordered the murder of large numbers of civilians, the kidnapping of Western tourists, and the murder of many comrades who challenged his beliefs”. He is currently serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison.
Some Pro-Palestine societies also distributed leaflets linked to an array of extreme organisations.
Queen Mary Friends of Palestine Society handed out Interpal leaflets. Interpal was ordered to disassociate from the US designated Hamas fundraising organisation Union of Good by the Charity Commission in 2009.
Ibrahim Hewitt, the Chair of Trustees at Interpal, was disinvited from an Oxfam event in January 2014, after comments he had made referring to the “so-called Holocaust” as well as his claim that homosexuals would be “severely punished” for their “great sin”.
Friends of Al-Aqsa is another disturbing organisation – their leaflets were promoted by the City University, Goldsmiths and SOAS Palestine societies.
Ismail Patel, the founder of Friends of Al-Aqsa, has supported Hamas whilst Shamiul Joarder, a Friends of Al-Aqsa speaker, has been linked to the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), a Muslim Brotherhood affiliated group.
Friends of Al-Aqsa’s bank account was closed by the Co-operative Bank in December 2015. The bank claimed this decision was due to their own “risk appetite” and had followed processes of due diligence.
Goldsmiths Palestine Society also shared leaflets from the Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association (CADFA). In 2009, Jon Benjamin, the then Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, wrote to Hampstead School to express his concern at a CADFA-organised event in which an activist warned pupils that he was being persecuted by “Jewish soldiers”. This incident was also condemned by the then London Mayor Boris Johnson.
In 2012, the then Chairman of CADFA, Munir Nusseibeh, appeared on Press TV, a television news channel controlled by the Iranian regime, about his and CADFA’s support for Khader Adnan – a ‘political prisoner’ from the proscribed terrorist organisation Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Student Rights is extremely disturbed by the appearance of these leaflets at university freshers’ fairs. There can be no place for extremism on university campuses. We strongly urge the relevant university authorities and student unions to look into these incidents in order to prevent this from happening again.
Posted in blog and tagged Abdullah Ocalan, Abu Eesa Niamatullah, Al-Maghrib Institute, CAGE, Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association, city university, City University Palestine Society, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Goldsmiths Palestine Society, goldsmiths university, Hamas, Ibrahim Hewitt, Ilm Events, Interpal, Ismail Patel, moazzam begg, Munir Nusseibeh, Omar Suleiman, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, PKK, Queen Mary University, Queen Mary University Friends of Palestine Society, Shamiul Joarder, soas, SOAS Islamic Society, SOAS Kurdish Society, SOAS Palestine Society, Stand up to Racism, UCL Kurdish Society, Yasir Qadhi, Yayha Ibrahim.
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The Submarine Force Library & Museum Association
SFLMA Executive Board
Originally established as "The Submarine Library" by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in 1955, the Library gained respect for its considerable archival and research value. In April 1964, Electric Boat Division donated the entirety of its historical submarine library holdings to the Navy and relocated it to the Submarine Base New London, in Groton, Connecticut. The name "Submarine Force Library and Museum" was formally adopted in 1969. The Submarine Force Library and Museum Association Inc. (SFLMA) was formed as a non-profit, tax-exempt, organization and incorporated in 1972 to achieve the educational and charitable purposes enumerated in its Certificate of Incorporation.
In the early 1980's, the idea of returning USS NAUTILUS SSN 571, the world's first nuclear propelled submarine, to Groton, Connecticut, began to take shape. The SFLMA Executive Board recognized the significant advantages that would accrue to co-locating the Library and Museum with this historic ship and in 1984, the CONNECTICUT NAUTILUS COMMITTEE was formed to raise funds to bring this idea to fruition. The committee was successful in achieving the design, construction and outfitting of a 14,000 square foot facility on the banks of the Thames River in Groton and received funding from the State of Connecticut and individual and corporate sources. This new facility opened in April 1986.
The banner that adorned the bow of NAUTILUS when she was launched on January 21, 1954 has been donated to the museum. The banner, which can be seen in the attached launch photo measures approximately four feet wide by thirty feet long and consists of a blue field containing thirteen stars and then five alternating red and white stripes. The banner will be displayed in the museum after it has been preserved.
In late 1997 the Association undertook the task of building a much needed 13,465 square foot addition to the current museum, which had not received any major improvements since its opening. In mid 1998 the Association launched Campaign 2000 to raise $4 million in funds to expand and improve the Submarine Force Library and Museum. Building of the new addition commenced in late 1998, was completed in early 2000 and was officially opened to the public on 28 April 2000 in conjunction with the Centennial Celebration of the United States Submarine Force.
The Library and Museum's current collection ranges from submarine pioneer John Holland's notes and calculations for the Navy's first submarine to the many one-of-a-kind artifacts from World War I and World War II, to the combined Navy and Electric Boat Corporation's private submarine library collection, to the story of the United States Submarine Force technical and operational developments throughout the Cold War.
Museum admission is free. All profits from Association membership and the Museum Store go to supporting the work of the Museum including new accessions, exhibit upgrades and Museum enhancements.
Support Us By Becoming a Member
Read our Mission Statement and Goals
©2006-2018 Submarine Force Library and Museum Association. Site Design CIWebDesign. All Rights Reserved.
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boutique hotel of the month
Lma Lodge Skoura
Written by Cristian
Published in boutique hotel of the month
Lma Lodge. In only a few years, this guest house in the palm grove of Skoura, has become a reference. Recently, previous guests have booked two years in advance, booking the whole place for them and their group of friends. The recipe for this success ? Instead of one single ingredient, there are a few: a dedicated, English speaking- team, always discreet but always on hand. A passionate owner, Vanessa, for whom nothing is too much when it comes to making her guests happy. An architecture that strays away from the kasbah/ Berber/ pise/ wood beans architecture and favours modern and the profusion of light, above all. A different Moroccan cuisine ( think chicken tagine with figues and almonds, goat cheese salads), using the local ingredients grown in the gardens. Very comfortable beds and bed linen, wall mounted radiators and wide windows inside. Vast gardens with private lounges for everyone, complemented by a heated pool, outside. And children are welcome - there's walks in the palm grove they can take with the resident horse and mule. We sat down with Vanessa one evening in June and talked about it.
Sun Trails: Why Morocco?
Vanessa: At the time I was a guide for Club Med. I started working in Morocco in 1998 in Tangier. Then I got transferred to Ouarzazate in 1999, and after that to Marrakesh. But it was in Ouarzazate that I had the crush. It seemed like the ideal place to organize day trips around. In just one hour, one could be in the Atlas mountains or next to an oasis, or even in Dades Gorges. At first it wasn't easy, since I did not speak Arabic and I was a young non-Muslim woman. It was the kindness of the locals and the drivers that coached me, that allowed me to go beyond all that and trully integrate. I then went back to Martinique, then to Miami but I always dreamt of returning to Ouarzazate some day. One day, I met Xavier, that was to later become my husband, and I told him I'd like to go back to Morocco, but to Ouarzazate and nowhere else.
ST: At the time, what was the most popular day trip from Ouarzazate?
Vanessa: Hmm. It was the loop of Telouet and Ait Benhaddou, at that time still an off road track. You must have known it. During those years, big travel agencies lost several of their 4x4's on this track. The valley of Ounila remains incredible by its beauty even today, after all the progress. But at the time I used my spare time to trek around these lost off- the- beaten track regions, spend time with the locals. If you had two days to spear for a tour, the trip to be done was to the dunes of Erg Chigaga. My first memory of Ouarzazate after arriving late at night: I woke up and saw the morning mist rise on the Kasbah of Taourirt. It had such an impact on me.
ST: So, Ouarzazate at all costs?
Vanessa: Yes. At first, for Xavier it was really a challenge. The climate here is very different from Toulouse in France. You know, Ouarzazate, there is nothing happening - it's a very quiet provincial town. But at the same time, it's a clean, secure, unpolluted city. Of course, if you're into exhibitions, theatre, cinema, that kind of social life, there is nothing, but me and my family, our priority is walking, cycling and hiking every day.
ST: How did you manage to become part of the community?
Vanessa: In the beginning, the locals feared that we were going to alter their lifestyle. The terrain here was a stopping place for caravans. Then it became the playground where the young people of the village came to play football, and climb in the trees. People in the village were scared at the thought that we might settle here and open a nightclub, there will be alcohol, loud music, etc. The fact that we arrived with just enough to purchase the land and that the construction took 5 years (and we put our hands into it) allowed the community to understand that we really wanted to belong here. We hadn't planned in the beginning to have a 7 bedroom bed and breakfast. The project sort of grew up on its own. The one thing I had clear in my head: I wanted a place with a lot of light.
ST: Jardins de Skoura is a reference.
Vanessa: Indeed, and I think there isn't a more typical and comfortable guest house in the palm grove of Skoura. But we had in mind something different, something modern. We did not want to build another kasbah or Berber- influenced structure.
ST: LMa Lodge reminds me a bit of Azalai Lodge in Zagora.
Vanessa: Indeed, Bouchaib ( the owner of AL) has come several times to stay with us and we adore Azalai Lodge.
ST: How did you go about recruiting and training the staff here?
Vanessa: The construction of the house took 4 and a half years so we had the time to recruit well. For example, at the beginning I wanted to have a man responsible for the household and cleaning. Given the structure of the house, I deemed that the household is a difficult task and not suitable for a woman. So one of the workers came to see us and offered to take on this task. It was someone who cared for both his parents who were old so I knew he was going to be someone conscientious. Abdelrani, who provides customer service during the day, I knew him from Club Med in Ouarzazate. Soufiane is really maktoub (destiny). All the way in the beginning, we hadn't anticipated the guest house would take off so fast. So, in no time, it had become my golden prison. One day I almost broke down, exhausted by the work that had taken up all my time and I could not see my children anymore. The same evening, Soufiane knocked on our gate and introduced himself and told me that he wanted to work for us. As he spoke very good English and had a very good experience, he fitted in right away. It allowed me to become a mother again and to have time for my family.
ST: There is a lot of talk today about sustainable tourism. Personally, I think Skoura is an example of how a region and its people can benefit from tourism, without losing its culture and identity. Do you agree with me that maybe due to tourism, people in the area do not need to migrate to the big cities to earn a living, which is sadly happening in other parts of Morocco?
Vanessa: Completely. At first, this was almost a ghost village. People have come back and they are now able to take care of their families while working in the area. They took up credits. Look how many new motobikes you see riding around ... Well, tourism is a big part of it. Besides, the negative aspects of tourism are not here. If you attend the souk ( market) of Skoura, you do not get harassed every 3 minutes , as you would in Marrakech. I would even say things are better than at the time when I first arrived in Ouarzazate, when tourists were followed on motorcycle by false guides.
ST: Milo and Charlie, your children, have spent their whole lives in Skoura. How do you find time for your children and also for LMa Lodge?
Vanessa: This is my challenge for the following year. To become a full-time mother again, to spend more time with them. Holding a guest house is an incredible job and I can't be more grateful: we meet people from all over the world. Every day is different and very rewarding. The downside is that we can not get off work.
ST: You could always consider adding more rooms. There is room enough and you got plenty of demand...
Vanessa: Maybe. But what I want to privilege is space and intimacy. As it is, the garden accommodates so many small corners that even with full occupancy and families with children in all suites, everyone will find space to have their own private corner in the garden. Our success is also due to the garden and implicitly to the space that comes with it. We would rather add a hammam - we also have an excellent masseuse, so that people who come back can say: oh look, they added a few new things.
ST: By the way, I think a challenge would also be to find the time. Since the clientele is used here to be cocooned and looked after, to have you come and talk to them at breakfast or dinner, etc.
Vanessa: I agree.
ST: What are some unique dishes that you offer in the kitchen?
Vanessa: First, the salads. 'LMa salad' with goat cheese that is sourced locally in the palm grove. Other salads include figs and pomegranates from our own garden - depending on the season. 'Carrot and chicken tagine in orange juice', 'Chicken tagine with almond and figs', Hamid's 'Kefta with rosemary'.
ST: That's a welcomed change, as visitors on a tour around Morocco often complain that they always eat the same tagines. It's a pitty knowing that Morocco boasts dozens and dozens of tagine recipes and carries one of the finest cuisines in the world.
Vanessa: Of course. Besides, if we have guests that stay 4-5 days, we will also offer them a couscous, which is one of the staples of Moroccan cuisine, you have no excuse visiting Morocco and not try it. Lait- citron for desert, also our ice creams are homemade. We have a whole bunch of homemade jams also at breakfast.
ST: What makes you stand out from other guest houses in Skoura?
Vanessa: Especially the brightness of the rooms and spaces. There are radiators in the rooms for the cold months. The gardens. The pool which is heated during the summer. Since we are at 1200 meters above sea level, it is necessary to heat it even in spring. The difference is also that we live on the spot too and we are always available. Our animals (horse, mule, goats) and gardens. Guests are invited to work the land or pick olives or dates with us and the team, when the season is right.
ST: I remember the first time I spent the night in the palm grove of Skoura and what surprised me the most was the variety of fruits and vegetables that grew: tomatoes, figs, oranges, dates, onions , pomegranates, watermelons. I couldn't believe it.
Vanessa: That's why some say the palm grove is a piece of paradise. But the root of it all is the water that comes from the mountain and is then distributed throughout the palm grove by an ingenious system that has lasted for centuries.
ST: What is your favorite place in Morocco, outside Skoura?
Vanessa: Chefchaouen - I love it. Amtoudi too. The White Beach. The dunes of Erg Chigaga.
ST: The dunes of Chigaga is a desert that one trully lives. Unlike the one next to Merzouga where the dunes are just a stone throw away from the village.
Vanessa: Yes, indeed. It's not like Merzouga. You have to deserve it. In Chigaga, the track leading to the dunes gives you time to get used to the desert. To its different shapes, its inhabitants, its creatures. And then when the sun is about to set and you start getting a little anxious, the dunes appear. And it was all worth it.
Accommodation at LMa Lodge is currently being offered on our tours with our Privilege range.
© Sun Trails 2018. All rights reserved. No part of this interview may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Last modified onMonday, 09 July 2018 11:55
With a passion for travel and particularly Morocco, I own and manage Sun Trails.
Website: www.sun-trails.com
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Home >> China
Warning party politics and religion don’t mix
HONG KONG (UCAN): An article by Wang Zuoan, the director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, published in Qiushi, a top level influential Chinese Communist Party journal under the title of Be politically minded while doing religious work, warns cadres that adopting religious beliefs is not a private matter.
Qiushi is published by the Central Committee of the Communist Party and specialises in the development of Communist theory.
Chinese media in and outside of China have picked up on his admonition and when specific warnings come from such a high authority, it is widely interpreted as reflecting high level concerns.
However, it is well known that some party officials have become religious followers.
There are an estimated 90 million members of the Communist Party in China, with many joining to enhance their career prospects, but there is no credible estimate of just how many of them have adopted a religious belief.
However, in his lengthy article, Wang notes that this has occurred with some senior Communist Party cadres, not only middle and low-level regime officials. He called for education to induce people to abandon their religious faith or, if they persist, disciplinary action.
Proposing that holding religious beliefs could create political problems, Wang pointedly reminded his comrades not to naively believe that religion is a private matter of an individual.
The upshot is that believers in religion within the Communist Party may face increased official interference in their lives, including problems in their career paths.
Zhu Weiqun, the director of the Committee for Religious and Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference, has on several occasions raised the issue of party members and officials embracing religious beliefs.
However, Wang’s 4,000-word article also details other aspects of official policy toward organised religion.
For example, he states that it is necessary for officials to be politically-minded in dealing with religious issues.
A recent example comes in news from Henan and Zhejiang provinces where local officials and schools warned parents not to take their children to Christian churches on Sundays, otherwise the children’s futures would be affected.
In recent years, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has announced that various officials had violated political rules in relation to religious practice.
Now Wang has warned his comrades not to make irresponsible remarks that stray from the official line or criticise Communist Party theory on religious issues.
Refraining from making irresponsible remarks about the party has been pushed since 2015 and outspoken cadres have been dismissed from their posts or otherwise punished.
In addition to officials, casualties include scholars on the government payroll.
Wang stresses that only the Central Committee has the right to make decisions and give explanations in relation to religious issues.
However, frontline officials are the ones who most often deal directly with the nation’s religious followers and they often seek to avoid conflict before they develop into political incidents.
In some cases, such officials simply pretend to be unaware of certain religious activities.
Wang, though, is clearly asking local officials to simply execute orders, leaving the over-all decision-making to the Central Committee.
An incident in Sichuan last November could be an example of this phenomena. Local Catholics did not welcome plans for Bishop Lei Shiyin, who was told by the Vatican that he had incurred automatic excommunication in 2012, to appear at the ordination of new bishops.
This put local officials in a dilemma, as Bishop Lei is the vice chairperson of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. But in the wash up, Bishop Fang Xingyao, the chairperson of the Patriotic Association and consequently with a higher status than Bishop Lei, was invited to preside over the ceremony.
The arrangement was reportedly decided by the central government.
In April 2016, the president, Xi Jinping, stressed that it is necessary to guide religious activities. This seems to reflect concerns that some lower level officials were getting too close to religious groups, to the point of being led by them rather than the party leadership.
That is why Wang’s article reminded officials of the Patriotic Association that their duty is to execute orders.
From this, we can expect a much stricter implementation of Communist Party religious policies in the future that pay little regard to the sentiments of religious followers.
Wong Yat-kwong
Previous: A Church in need of support
Next: Monks’ residence gets the ax
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Lake Tahoe Ski & Snow Cams
Enjoy a live look at Lake Tahoe & Sierra Nevada weather and snow conditions
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Sierra Nevada Info
The Sierra Nevada (/siˈɛrə nɨˈvɑːdə/ or /nɨˈvædə/, Spanish: [ˈsjera neˈβaða], snowy range) is a mountain range in the western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Basin and Range Province. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada.
The Sierra runs 400 miles (640 km) north-to-south, and is approximately 70 miles (110 km) across east-to-west. Notable Sierra features includeLake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at 14,505 ft (4,421 m), the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley sculpted by glaciers out of 100-million-year-old granite. The Sierra is home to three national parks, 20 wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; and Devils Postpile National Monument.
The character of the range is shaped by its geology and ecology. More than 100 million years ago during the Nevadan orogeny, granite formed deep underground. The range started to uplift 4 Ma (million years) ago, and erosion by glaciers exposed the granite and formed the light-colored mountains and cliffs that make up the range. The uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones. Uplift continues due to faulting caused by tectonic forces, creating spectacular fault block escarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra.
The Sierra Nevada has a significant history. The California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855. Due to inaccessibility, the range was not fully explored until 1912.
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MAG: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 2013 RETURN
From: Justin Timberlake
It's finally here, Justin Timberlake is ready to return as a recording artist. The new single featuring Jay-Z "Suit & Tie" was unveiled today and is already #1 on iTunes. It's unsurprising though, with new material being something on everyone's wishlist for an all-too-long 6 years now. The news gets better as he has since confirmed that a new album will follow later in the year, to be entitled "The 20/20 Experience". And it's an album I absolutely cannot wait for, this teaser song is an ok start, but it's very difficult to feel his new sound without hearing the whole lot. Having said that, you can already hear that swagger in his voice and a beat that can only be described as cool. I want more, and it's extremely satisfying to know that there will be.
Topics: Justin Timberlake, MAGAZINE, Music
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About Tenrikyology.com
Welcome to Tenrikyology.com, the first English website strictly dedicated to Tenrikyogaku — the study of Tenrikyo!
The ultimate aim of this site is to be a reservoir of information on Tenrikyo — a religious organization based on the revelations of Oyasama (Nakayama Miki) and the Honseki (Iburi Izo) — with the hope it will enrich the understanding of English-reading followers and non-followers alike.
About Roy Forbes (Self-Intro)
I am a third-generation follower originally from Honolulu. I went to the 691st session of Shuyoka (Spiritual Development Course in Jiba) between November 1998 and January 1999. I completed the first half of the Head Minister Qualification Course (Kentei Koshu-kai, Zenki) in March 2000 and completed the second half (Kentei Koshu-kai, Koki) in July 2005.
I currently live in Tenri with my wife and three children.
BA in East Asian Languages and Literature (Japanese), 1998 UH Manoa and MA in Religion (Asian), 2005 UH Manoa. (To anyone who is curious and bold enough: you’re more than free to take a peek at my masters thesis.)
About site content
This site is still in its early stage of development. Its main features at the moment include:
Mikagura-uta (The Songs for the Service) online (New! First offered in April 2010): This is a Tenrikyology.com exclusive! I’ve decided to be a bit bold and make available the words to The Songs for the Service, a Tenrikyo Scripture, online together with the official translations in six languages. I also ran a commentary series on the Twelve Songs between October 2014 and January 2015.
Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama: A series of commentaries on Anecdotes of Oyasama, a “supplemental text” to the Tenrikyo Scriptures, that ran between January 2009 and July 2011.
The Life of the Honseki Izo Iburi: This is an expanded version of the series that originally ran in the Hawaii Dendocho monthly Origins from June 2005 to May 2006.
Anecdotes of the Honseki Izo Iburi: A newer series of anecdotes on the Honseki, some are strictly translations, some are adapted from multiple sources.
The Footsteps of Our Predecessors: Translations of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” from the Tenrikyo Young Men’s Association monthly Taimo.
Omichi no joshiki: Translations of entries from Dr. Koji Sato’s book Omichi no joshiki (“Tenrikyo Fundamentals”) from Tenrikyo Doyusha publishing.
Cornerstone: A rough translation of Teruo Nishiyama’s Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara). Posted in June 2012 in commemoration of Myodo’s 120th anniversary.
I hope to eventually add future commentaries on The Life of Oyasama, Tenrikyo Scriptures, the Tenrikyo Story of Creation, and more.
Note: The site is undergoing maintenance that is long overdue — overdue even before the site was migrated to WordPress circa November 2011.
Disclaimer: The content of this site is the responsibility of mine alone and does not reflect or represent the opinions or stance of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters.
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GRITS’ soul food is food for the soul
July 23, 2012 By UMReporter Leave a Comment
By Kara Witherow, Special Contributor…
BRUNSWICK, Ga.—Just a few weeks ago, Adam Sturdivant was unemployed. Recently released from prison after being incarcerated for three years, Mr. Sturdivant found it nearly impossible to find a job. Divorced and living with his parents, the father of two needed help and hope.
Today he’s getting paid to do what he loves—converse with customers and cook.
GRITS, a new restaurant in Brunswick, aims to employ those like 29-year-old Mr. Sturdivant, former convicts who can’t find jobs. A ministry of FaithWorks ministry, GRITS stands for Grace, Redemption, Inspiration, Thankfulness and Sacredness.
“When people get out of jail they immediately need two things that they can’t find—housing and employment,” said the Rev. Wright Culpepper, executive director of FaithWorks and an extension minister in the Waycross District of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. “It’s hard to find them jobs, so we decided to hire them ourselves.”
GRITS employee Adam Sturdivant, left, serves the restaurant’s signature fried chicken to a customer. PHOTO COURTESY SOUTH GEORGIA CONFERENCE
The Waycross District Committee on Missions provided a significant amount of funding to open the restaurant, as did the United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church. Local Brunswick churches, including College Place UMC, donated money and volunteers.
Like Mr. Sturdivant, all but a few of the GRITS staff are former convicts and are participating in FaithWorks’ Open Doors employment, education, case management and mentoring program. Some are recovering alcoholics or drug addicts and need help getting their lives back on track. All expressed their appreciation for the opportunity.
“I love working with my hands and cooking,” Mr. Sturdivant said. “To be able to work hard and support my kids, there’s a sense of satisfaction that comes with that.”
Only a starting point
At the beginning of May, Dr. Culpepper hired 12 unemployed people to transform 3300 Norwich Street from a scarred, abandoned restaurant into a breakfast and lunch diner serving down-home, Southern-style food.
Within a month, two of the 12 had already gone on to better, higher-paying jobs.
That’s the plan, Dr. Culpepper says. “We don’t want people getting too comfortable with us.”
The hope is that GRITS will be a starting point, not a landing spot. The jobs all pay minimum wage for 20- to 30-hour workweeks.
“We want them to be out there trying to find a more permanent, better-paying job,” Dr. Culpepper said. “Once someone gets hired away we’ll bring someone else in and work with them. This is meant to be a place where someone can show up on time, have a good attitude, dress appropriately, and learn how to work as a part of a team. Our hope is that businesses will contact us and ask us to send them someone. We’re a conduit—not an ending or landing spot.”
Mr. Sturdivant hopes to one day own his own restaurant. He’s taken online classes in business management and hopes that his experience at GRITS and his past work experience—he used to work at his family’s restaurant, too—gives him the necessary skills and management experience.
“[Working at GRITS] keeps me positive,” he said. “It keeps me busy. I go to church, I go to meetings, I go to Bible study. It keeps me on the straight and narrow. It holds me accountable. We all have scars, we all have pasts, but I don’t live there anymore. Being positive is much better than being negative. We need to be positive and around good people. It makes me a better individual for my children too.”
At GRITS, Mr. Sturdivant helps cook up the restaurant’s signature fried chicken, which is served daily, and Southern-style sides, plus sandwiches and breakfast items. It’s open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. through lunch.
The restaurant is an extension of FaithWorks and its ministry to the community.
Begun in 1995 as a ministry of the United Methodist Church, FaithWorks was born out of Dr. Culpepper’s and the South Georgia Conference’s desire to “do ministry beyond the walls of the church.”
As the senior pastor of Wesley at Frederica UMC on St. Simons Island for seven years, Dr. Culpepper developed deep relationships with members of the church and people in the community. It was through those relationships that he realized that there were a lot of needs the Church wasn’t meeting.
Since its inception, FaithWorks has worked to meet those needs. In 2010, through its various ministries, FaithWorks offered pastoral care, case management, food, financial assistance, home maintenance, transportation, and a host of other services to almost 20,000 people in Glynn County and Southeast Georgia.
“I’ve enjoyed the last 17 years in this kind of ministry that’s allowed me to minister to people who live on Sea Island and in the bushes of Brunswick and everywhere in between,” Dr. Culpepper said. “They’re all God’s children, rich or poor.”
GRITS is a place of redemption, Dr. Culpepper said, and its success will depend on how mission minded people are.
“It’s not about needing a meal or needing the item, but because they need to be a part of the redemptive work being done in this community.”
Ms. Witherow is editor of the Advocate, the newspaper of the South Georgia Conference.
Tagged With: Brunswick, Georgia, GRITS
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Automotive Review
Suburu's 2017 Outback
With a starting MSRP of $25,645, the 2017 Subaru Outback is available in six different trims: 2.5i, 2.5i Premium, 2.5i Limited, 2.5i Touring, 3.6R Limited and 3.6R Touring.
Michele Brooke's archive
Toyota’s efficient Yaris designed, assembled in France
With a starting MSRP of $15,250, the Toyota Yaris offers both three-door and five-door models and features a fuel economy rating of 30 mpg in the city, 35 mpg on the highway and 32 mpg combined when equipped with its four-speed automatic transmission. With the five-speed manual transmission, Yaris averages 30 mpg in the city, 36 mpg on the highway and 33 mpg combined.
Buick’s stylish 2017 Encore
Introduced in 2013, the Encore quickly carved out a niche of its own and rose to the top of the fast-growing small SUV market, topping it in 2014 and 2015. Encore was Buick’s best-selling vehicle in North America in 2015, accounting for nearly a third of overall sales. Its sales were up 34 percent for the first two months of 2016, extending a year-over-year sales increase streak to 26 months.
For 2017, a new front-end appearance and a new premium interior highlight the visual refinements.
Toyota Corolla celebrates 50th anniversary
Forty-three million and counting — that’s the number of Corollas that Toyota has sold globally since it began building the model in the fall of 1966. The Toyota Corolla made its United States debut in 1968 and has evolved over the decades, becoming roomier and more efficient.
Ford updates the Fusion for 2017
The 2017 Ford Fusion brings significant updates including new front styling with new grille options, as well as a freshly redesigned rear end. Additionally, a new Platinum model provides a premium experience for Fusion buyers.
With a starting MSRP of $22,120, the Ford Fusion is available in 12 different models, including Sport and Hybrid models. For this review, we will focus on the S, SE, Titanium and the new Platinum model.
Ford’s largest utility vehicle, the 2017 Expedition
Ford Expedition, which debuted in 1996, is the company’s largest utility vehicle, with seating for up to eight. It’s powered by a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine, which is also featured in the Ford F-150 pickup.
Elegant luxury of the Lincoln MKX
The Lincoln MKX blends luxury, craftsmanship and style into its top-of-the-line, mid-size crossover utility vehicle. With seating for five, the MKX features a warm and tailored experience — with rich materials and exquisite detailing adding to the ambiance.
Ford's impressive F150
The Ford F-150, part of Ford’s F-Series, America’s best-selling truck for 38 years, continues to innovate in 2016. With a starting MSRP of $26,540, the 2016 F150 is available in six trims (XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch, Platinum and Limited) and four engines.
Volkswagen’s mid-size Passat new for 2016
The new 2016 Volkswagen Passat is a midsize sedan built in Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. For 2016, the Passat combines new interior and exterior design elements with a greater variety of available convenience features than ever before.
Honda’s 2016 CR-V
After a major refresh for 2015 that brought a new powertrain, significantly enhanced exterior and interior styling, and a long list of new standard and available features, the 2016 Honda CR-V returns with a new Special Edition (SE) trim and a lineup with a starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $23,845.
The new Special Edition CR-V is positioned above the LX trim by adding features such as larger 17-inch alloy wheels with an exclusive two-tone finish. The complete 2016 CR-V lineup is as follows: LX, SE, EX, EX-L and Touring.
Sudoku Oct. 18, 2018
Sudoku Solutions Oct. 18, 2018
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Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff and Vassilis Tsabropoulos’ Chants, Hymns and Dances
The name Gurdjieff calls up images of mysticism, esoteric spiritual doctrines, perhaps to some extent a certain wild-eyed fanaticism. Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff was, in point of fact, one of those restless wanderers in the realm of ideas who crop up from time to time in our history, seeking something a little more than most of us think about, and inspiring others to follow in his footsteps. A great part of Gurdjieff’s philosophy centered on what we would call “heightened consciousness” or “expanded awareness” of things outside the mundane, making him an early forerunner of today’s fixation on “personal realization.” To a large extent, Gurdjieff sought to reconcile the mundane and the spiritual, and among his tools in this endeavor was music.
Essayist Steve Lake provides this somewhat humorous glimpse, from J. G. Bennett’s “Witness,” of Gurdjieff at work: he would begin a musical composition by tapping out a rhythm on the top of the piano, at which sat his amanuensis, Thomas de Hartmann; Gurdjieff would then hum a melody, or tap it out on the piano and walk away. Hartmann would begin to develop the melody into a theme, which normally occasioned a shouting match between master and scribe, with all attendant gesticulations and a general air of chaos, until it was right. (Hartmann insisted in his memoirs, however, that the music was not his, it was Gurdjieff’s.)
Gurdjieff was subject to a wide variety of influences; born on the border between Turkey and Armenia, he drew upon the rich ethnic diversity of the region of the Caucasus. Hartmann, a Ukrainian who studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory when Rimsky-Korsakov was its director, was a composer who drew on many influences, as well. Sent by Gurdjieff to Armenia shortly after the end of World War I, he spent eleven years wandering around the Ottoman Empire and Central Asia. In the early 1950s he recorded a group of the compositions from the late 1920s; later, pianist Keith Jarrett, who had recorded another group, was asked to help in the restoration of Hartmann’s recordings, which were issued in 1985 and led to – well, not a flood, exactly, but a number of releases of Gurdjieff discs. It must be remembered however, in the context of Gurdjieff’s music, that Gurdjieff himself was firmly against the intrusion of “personality” into art: he felt that modern art was a series of postures of little value, while ancient (and usually anonymous) art had an “objective” quality that made it a legitimate transmitter of information.
That said, what does the music actually sound like? At first hearing, the overall impression is of quiet, a slight exoticism, strongly reminiscent in places of the piano music of Erik Satie. While there is a strong element of romanticism in these works, one gradually becomes aware that there is also an uncompromising modernism to this music (which must, after all, be Hartmann’s contribution, considering Gurdjieff’s opinions on such things). The Armenian influences are readily apparent, masterfully translated to a fully Western idiom without losing their character. It should be noted that most of the sources of this music are from non-text-based traditions: the “oral” tradition of traditional music, national epics, and folklore in general. All the same, it is very thoughtful music, very well suited to contemplation of things spiritual (although I can also see sections as accompaniment to a dance performance with little trouble).
Vassilis Tsabropoulos, five of whose compositions form a “middle movement” to this disc, has long been interested in and drawn inspiration from the early music of the Orthodox Church. The first, from “Trois morceaux après des hymnes byzantins,” displays, in what little melody there is, a very strong Eastern influence, but is more remarkable for the extended near-drone that provides both a foundation and a motive impulse. Others are not so blatantly non-Western in origin, but are characterized by sweetly appealing melodies that are kept from the saccharine by the austerity of the rendering.
Cellist Anja Lechter has also worked extensively with music from the Ukrainian-Armenian axis, and shares with Tsabropoulos an affinity for improvisation, which seems to stand them in good stead in apprehending Gurdjieff’s music: although not necessarily subject to improvisation itself, there does seem to be a connection between Gurdjieff’s compositions (not to mention Tabropoulos’) and the sort of free-form experimentation that characterizes much avant-garde music as well as jazz. Both performers are well equipped for the challenge: the performances are deft, understated, and yet sometimes of compelling intensity.
All told, this is another one of those collections in which it is nigh unto impossible to point at a track and say “Highlight!” Frankly, it would be ludicrous to try. The overall experience is seductive and intriguing, sometimes almost hypnotic, whether or not you are a follower of Gurdjieff, or even if you are not quite sure who he was.
(ECM, 2004)
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What Colin Kaepernick Learned From James Blake and Jesse Williams
I was standing there doing nothing — not running, not resisting, in fact smiling… the officer picked me up and body slammed me and put me on the ground and told me to turn over and shut my mouth, and put the cuffs on me.”
When Muhammad Ali died social media was full of sincere thoughts and prayers for his family. Yes, the usual internet trolls called him a coward for his stance on the Vietnam war, but for the most part America pretended like he was a beloved figure. Fast forward a few months and many of those same people are now calling for boycotts and violence against Colin Kaepernick. This duality is a symptom of America’s complex relationship with race, history, and social activism. I know people who hate Kanye West and Cam Newton for the same reasons they love Donald Trump. Being an outspoken Black man is one of the fastest ways to lose friends and influence in America. That’s why I admire what Colin Kaepernick is doing. He saw how Jesse Williams was treated after his passionate speech at the BET awards earlier this summer and wasn’t dissuaded from using his platform to highlight the plight of Black men who aren’t as financially secure as him. Maybe Colin learned the lesson from James Blake’s very public wrongful arrest at the hands of the NYPD almost a year ago: no amount of money or social standing can protect your black body from a society that views Black men as less worthy of life than Harambe the gorilla.
“There has been no war that we have not fought and died on the front lines of. There has been no job we haven’t done. There is no tax they haven’t leveed against us – and we’ve paid all of them. But freedom is somehow always conditional here. “You’re free,” they keep telling us. But she would have been alive if she hadn’t acted so… free.”
America has two preferences for Black activism. Activists who don’t disrupt the natural order of things and couch all of their critiques of White supremacy in the context of America being a great nation because we’ve come this far. These activists routinely get invited to sit on panels to explain (or soften) the positions people like Colin Kaepernick and Jesse Williams have taken. It’s too easy to call them Uncle Toms or to say they are cooning. I know some bourgeoisie black folks who sincerely want to make America a more united place, but they put all of the onus on Black people to accept a second class status instead of calling into question an American ideology that continues to place us there. The right-wing doesn’t have a monopoly on these voices; many left leaning and progressive groups are also fond of the kind of non-radical “blacksplanning” they offer. This form of activism can be very profitable. If you are a reliable Black ally doors can open for you. The other preference for a Black activist is dead. If you are dead, we will posthumously resurrect your legacy and make your courage an admirable quality. It doesn’t take a very smart person to see this hypocrisy. Either conduct your protest in a way that is acceptable or become an enemy.
If Colin Kaepernick’s goal was to further expose the hypocrisy of those who criticize movements for equality he couldn’t have done a better job. Many of the same people who have spent the last two years chastising Black Lives Matter for not being more like Dr. King are now condemning Colin Kaepernick for being more like Dr. King. When Blacks were sitting down at lunch counters we were called trouble makers, when we were boycotting businesses that discriminated against us we were called economic terrorists, when we throw bricks through windows were told we should express our anger in a more constructive way, when we write or talk about our plight we are called race hustlers, and when Colin doesn’t pledge his allegiance to a nation that hasn’t pledged its allegiance to him he’s called a nigger and burned in effigy. Any patriotism that calls for blind allegiance isn’t patriotism. If you are more bent out of shape about the way someone salutes (or doesn't) salute a flag than the systemic inequalities in our society, then you are part of the problem. This story, and our collective response to it, is symptomatic of the rampant nationalism and xenophobia pedaled by hate mongers on the right.
I would advise bourgeois Blacks to pay attention to how quickly America can turn on you. A few years ago people in Cleveland were burning LeBron James jerseys, Kevin Durant suffered that same fate a few weeks back when he decided to leave Oklahoma City, and now Colin Kaepernick is America’s newest villain. America’s love for you is conditional. If your desire is to be loved, you better be acceptable and keep your mouth shut about issues related to the Black community. America has very little patience for anyone who criticizes her.
Donald Trump: The King Who Could Be President?
French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Jacques Lacan wrote that, “A madman isn't just a beggar who thinks he's a king - he's also a king who thinks he's a king.” His point being that anyone who has bought into our artificially created social structures enough to believe that their birth or social standing makes them a king is living the illusion the beggar is trying to create. We enter into the world blank canvases that society paints on. None of us chose our first language, our parents, the economic circumstances we were born into, or the inherent biases and privileges associated with our gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. We all got here the same way, but societal hierarchies guarantee us different paths to death. Being born to a single mother in the Appalachian Mountains doesn’t necessarily mean one can’t attain a place among the “elite” of society, but that path is markedly different from someone born in Manhattan to a corporate lawyer and an investment banker.
When Jacques Lacan died in 1981 Donald Trump was a 35 years old real-estate developer getting his first taste of fame. 35 years is a long time to experience anything. Someone subjected to verbal and physical abuse daily for 35 years would have a different outlook on life than someone who has spent the last four decades on the VIP list. Donald Trump is a manifestation of the king who believes himself to be a king. He has spent so much time surrounded by people who have a vested interest in making him feel special that he has an altered view of himself and the world around him. When he makes grandiose statements about being the “smartest” or having the “best temperament” he believes it. Being surrounded by “Stans” for so long has convinced him that not only is he qualified to be president, but that he deserves to be the president.
If you look at pictures of the wealthiest Americans some of those faces might be familiar to you because of the media coverage they’ve received over the course of their lives, but there are a lot of faces that won’t be easily recognized by a large portion of our society. These fortunate people still have anonymity. Yes, they get the best tables at the hottest restaurants, but when they go out- more often than not- they are treated like everyone else. They can fully participate in the hospitality industry at all levels, but they have to pay for the VIP experience. This matters because they aren’t fully isolated from the American experience. Michael Jordan is nowhere near the wealthiest American, but he can’t go to the mall without a security detail; whereas, Steve Schwarzman can put on an old ball cap, a Yale sweatshirt, some faded Levi’s and buy the mall without being noticed.
Donald Trump is, in a warped way, a victim of the way our society idolizes wealth and fame; he, like the Affluenza twins Ethan Couch and Brock Turner exist in a society that places a disproportionately high value on their lives. Donald Trump like many advantaged kids of his generation avoided Vietnam because their lives were deemed more valuable. While his strongest base of supporters (white males over 60) were dealing with the existential crisis associated with being drafted or fighting in Vietnam he, George Bush, Mitt Romney, Dick Cheney, and a slew of conservative icons were partying in frat houses and “summering” in some of the most exclusive enclaves in the world.
America is attempting to come to grips with the reality that the entitlement culture we hear conservatives talk about actually works better for those who are connected. This election is taking place at a moment when working class whites, across the political spectrum, are looking for someone to champion their causes. Donald Trump has filled that void for many, but sadly he hasn’t demonstrated the actionable intelligence to understand or remedy what ails them. We live in a country that weaponizes black and brown skin while it ignores white skin attached to poverty. The socioeconomic strife many Americans call home is fertile soil for the rise of a Trump like figure. Donald Trump is the answer (for some) to Black Lives Matter. Bernie Sanders tried to be a voice for the economically disadvantaged, but he lacked the sufficient amount of demonization of the cultural other for his message to resonate with voters who feel their lot in life has been made worse by Blacks, Mexicans, and Muslims.
Donald Trump is the king who thinks he’s a king, but (at some level) we are guilty of crowning him. America has done a poor job of acknowledging the class structures that allowed an empty suit to get this far saying so little. Donald Trump’s current political standing says more about us than him. Too many Americans are looking for easy answers to complicated questions. This election has been part reality show, part bad joke, and part eye opening experience. This time last year we were all waiting for the serious season to start and guess what: we're still waiting.
What Colin Kaepernick Learned From James Blake and...
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U2 have produced 17 albums from the release of 'Boy' in 1980 to 'No Line On The Horizon' in 2009, including 2 mini-LPs and 2 'Best Of' collections. The following pages contain various details about their recording, from where and when it was made to inspiration behind some of the songs on them and guest appearances etc.
The links below will take you to a separate page about each LP.
Boy (Released October 1980)
October (Released October 1981)
War (Released March 1983)
Under a Blood Red Sky (Released November 1983)
The Unforgettable Fire (Released October 1984)
Wide Awake in America (Released May 1985)
The Joshua Tree (Released March 1987)
Rattle and Hum (Released October 1989)
Achtung Baby (Released November 1991)
Zooropa (Released July 1993)
Pop (Released March 1997)
Best of 1980-1990 (Released March 1998)
All That You Can't Leave Behind (Released October 2000)
Best of 1990-2000 (Released November 2002)
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Released November 22nd 2004)
U218 Singles (Released November 20th 2006)
No Line On The Horizon (Released February 27th 2009)
"In my dream I was drowning my sorrows but my sorrows, they learned to swim" - Until The End of The World
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England and Wales: Population tables 2
1891 Census of England and Wales, Area, Houses and Population: Registration Areas and Sanitary Districts, Table 2 : " Area and Population in Registration Districts and Sub-Districts and in Civil Parishes".
List for top level
Fisherton de la Mare
List for Wilton PLU/RegD
click on unit name for its home page
If appears click for more detailed statistics
Area in Statute Acres
Inhabited
Fisherton de la Mare AP/CP Total 2,834 63 9 0 56 8 0 295 291 147 151 148 140
No data for lower-level units are available.
1 The Registration Districts of this Division are co-extensive with Poor Law Unions, except ...
2 Where the name of a Registration County in which a Parish is situated differs from that of the Administrative County to which it belongs, the name of the latter is added in italics. [further information on special cases in the specific division.]
3 (W) or (W.S.) denotes that a Workhouse or Workhouse School belonging to the District is situated within the limits of the Parish; (w) or (w.s.) that one of these institutions not belonging to the District is situated therein. A statement of the number of persons enumerated in Public Institutions in each District will be found in Table 8.
4 The places named in footnotes as being included in Civil Parishes are Hamlets, Villages, etc, or localities having no defined boundaries.
5 Under the Divided Parishes Acts of 1876, 1879 and 1882 numerous detached parts of Civil Parishes have been amalgamated with other Civil Parishes, and a statement of such transferences is given in Table 14.
6 Revised areas of Civil Parishes and parts of Parishes have been furnished by the Ordnance Survey Department.
7 The areas marked thus (w) either include water or relate to Parishes to which a portion of the tidal water or foreshore of contiguous rivers or creeks has been allotted. Such tidal water or foreshore is, however, not included in the areas. For details see Table 11.
8 Persons who, on the night of 5th April, 1891, were on board barges or boats employed in inland navigation, and those who were on board sea-going and coastal vessels in harbours, rivers and creeks, are included in the general population. For details see Table 9.
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Senator Okerlund: “Medicaid Expansion Won’t Happen This Year.”
Posted on September 19, 2014 September 19, 2014 Author Michael Orton 2
Senator Ralph Okerlund (Republican – Monroe)
Senate Majority Leader, Senator Ralph Okerlund (Republican – Monroe), was at the Capitol with other lawmakers Wednesday during an interim session that was filled with committee hearings and discussions about what the legislature should take on next January.
One of the hottest topics on Arsenal Hill is what is occurring between Washington, D.C. and the Beehive State’s negotiations on the expansion of Medicaid, all through the federal Department of Health and Human Services and Utah’s Department of Health. Because the expenditures for any such addition to the state’s Healthy Utah program are above a nominal amount, Governor Gary Herbert must obtain approval from his state legislators before making a final health care program available to the 111,000 eligible Utahns.
In addition to leading the State Senate body, Okerlund has recently had his own body to be concerned about. Late in the session last year he collapsed from an excessively high potassium level in his bloodstream, and as a patient of previous coronary stress, he was administered CPR on his way to the hospital from Utah’s Capitol Hill. “I was given CPR and eventually able to recover and everything is fine now,” the Senator told Utah Politcal Capitol at the end of Wednesday’s Public Utilities and Technology Committee hearing. “It was a close call,” Okerlund admitted. Senator Brian Shiozawa (Republican – Salt Lake City), an emergency care physician for MountainStar, was able to attend to Okerlund before he left the Capitol campus during that emergency.
After acknowledging his caregivers in both pre-emergency care EMS and a local Emergency Department, Okerlund was asked about his views on the Medicaid Expansion that is such a tinder-dry topic among the state’s legislators. At stake is available healthcare for those individuals in Utah who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to pay for regular plans under the Affordable Care Act. Many of the lawmakers were briefed on specifics of the plan by Dr. David Patton, the head of the state’s Department of Health who addressed them on Thursday. It was a foreshadowing of the kind of “vigorous debate” that the Governor has said that he expects if he convenes a special session on the subject in October.
Okerlund was concerned that because some of the current legislators would not be returning after the elections in November, a “lame duck” session prior to January would be counter productive. “I don’t see how we can actually arrive at any conclusive results this year,” he said. Okerlund felt that the topic can be discussed and debated but any final vote would have to wait until the full body was ready to conduct business in both chambers of the legislature in January.
Though not necessarily a contradiction, this idea does run counter to the more rosy picture Governor Herbert’s office has been touting. Last week, Herbert announced that an agreement between the feds and the state was just two to three weeks away.
Additionally, Okerlund indicated that the Senate would only be interested in discussing those who are at or under the federal poverty level, and not the extra 38% as has been discussed by the Governor’s office and Washington. The Obama administration has indicated that those in the Medicaid “coverage gap” include more than those at the poverty level, which is why in recent discussions, the 138% of poverty figure is often mentioned – translating into more than 111,000 Utahns who currently fall into the so-called “donut hole” of coverage.
Other lawmakers in Utah’s House of Representatives have expressed similar concerns to Okerlund’s, including Representative Jim Dunnigan (Republican – Taylorsville) an insurance broker representing Utah’s most populated area in Salt Lake County. Dunnigan has publicly stated his general disgust with the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, and is a hardliner when it comes to the Medicaid expansion topic as well. “[The federal government’s] policy is incorrect,” Dunnigan claimed when the discussion tended to who could be included in the definition of the “medically frail,” and he was generally opposed to the idea of government benefits to the poor at all. At one point in Thursday’s discussions, Rep. Francis Gibson (Republican – Mapleton) was expressing his views and asking questions about the “work requirement” that the Department of Health has negotiated and became so visibly frustrated that he left the discussions.
Category: Legislative Branch, Local Politics Tag: affordable care act, Francis Gibson, gary herbert, HealthyUtah, Jim Dunnigan, medicaid expansion, Medicaid Gap, Ralph Okerlund 2 Comments
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2 Replies to “Senator Okerlund: “Medicaid Expansion Won’t Happen This Year.””
Mike Coons says:
Good for Senator Okerlund! For us in States with real Governor’s who fight the good fight against Obama, I do hope Utah says no thanks!
Gee, according to Nancy, we had to pass ACA before we could know what is in it. Now Obama, Harry and Nancy want States to take on massive spending for the people who were promised “subsidies” to offset cost of health care insurance. Gee, how is Obamacare working for those people now? How many times has Obama repealed his own “signature” legislation because it didn’t work?
Utah, like others needs to push back and push back hard! We are taking the Senate back, all Utah has to do is say no and soon Obamacare will be a bad piece of history!
Thanks for responding, Mike.
Many people feel as though the dollars involved have already been collected from Utah so it would be okay to get them back. They cite the belief that medical costs are driving some people to bankruptcy and few dispute that the cost of healthcare is keeping the nation from a complete economic recovery.
Leave a Reply to Mike Coons Cancel reply
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THOUGHTS ON IN RE COMMONWEALTH
[Posted June 12, 2009] I am overdue in composing some further musings on last weeks important ruling in the Darryl Atkins case. My readers will recall that a divided Supreme Court ruled that neither mandamus nor prohibition could be used to compel the trial court to conduct a mental retardation hearing that had previously been ordered by the Supreme Court. This case presents some very interesting and difficult issues.
By way of preface, I invite you to recall that the Commonwealth doesnt generally have a right of appeal in criminal cases. The foundation for that is in the Double Jeopardy Clause (nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb) of the Fifth Amendment. If such a right of appeal had existed, it would have been a simple matter for the Commonwealth to have appealed the trial courts decision to impose a life sentence instead of conducting the mandated hearing. In that hypothetical appeal, I think it would have been significantly more difficult for Atkinss lawyers to find four votes on the Supreme Court.
Thats enough speculating in the world of fantasy; back to reality, and what the majority has wrought here. I perceive two primary kinds of rulings in this decision. The first relates to the availability of these extraordinary writs; the second deals with a trial courts powers upon remand.
In the abstract, I would have thought before reading this decision that either mandamus or prohibition would lie to compel the convening of the mental retardation hearing. Mandamus is a writ that compels the performance of a ministerial duty (and the act of convening a hearing has been held to be ministerial, as contrasted with the thoroughly discretionary question of how, ultimately, to rule). Accordingly, the issuance of the mandate to the trial court, telling it to conduct the hearing, certainly seemed to me to require a ministerial act.
Similarly, prohibition seemed to be an appropriate vehicle with which to prevent the trial court from exceeding its jurisdiction (thats what such writs are for). The Commonwealth argued that, since this was a limited remand, the only thing the trial court had the authority to do was what was specified in the remand. (A general remand, in contrast, gives the whole case back to the trial court.) Indeed, the emergency statute, passed by the General Assembly in response to the US Supreme Courts 2002 ruling in this case, provides for a limited remand:
If the claim is before the Supreme Court on direct appeal and is remanded to the circuit court and the case wherein the sentence of death was imposed was tried by a jury, the circuit court shall empanel a new jury for the sole purpose of making a determination of mental retardation. (Emphasis supplied.)
In light of this language, the Attorney Generals Office has to be scratching its figurative head right now, asking, How could we possibly have lost this?
It lost based on the premise that neither mandamus nor prohibition operates retroactively. That much, at least, is fairly well-established in Virginia law. The majority rules that the trial judge had already made its ruling, and the requested writs would only have served to undo that order. Thus, the Commonwealth was trying to use these writs to pursue an indirect appeal (see above) of a ruling that had already been made.
This, on its face, is a plausible basis on which to refuse the writs. But once you look below the surface of this reasoning, you start to see problems. For example, the dissent cites (starting on page 69 of the slip opinion) several cases in which the court has previously issued writs of prohibition that would undo acts already done. In one of those, a Victorian Era justice of the peace awarded a judgment, and then four months later, at the request of the plaintiff, entered an order granting a new trial (presumably the plaintiff wanted to pad his recovery a bit). The Supreme Court approved the granting of a writ of prohibition, since due to the passage of time, the justice of the peace had lost jurisdiction. The undeniable effect of that writ was to vacate the order granting a new trial. Viewed in this light, the majoritys holding (that prohibition wasnt available because the challenged order had already been entered) looks a bit less plausible.
Theres more. As noted above, the function of a writ of prohibition is to prevent a lower tribunal from exceeding its jurisdiction. If the majority is right, then all the lower tribunal has to do in order to insulate itself from this writ is to hurry up and enter an order, thereby divesting the higher court of the power to issue the writ. Very seldom do courts announce in advance their intention to exceed their jurisdiction on a future date certain; far more often, the aggrieved party has to come to the appellate court after the order has been entered, asking it to correct things. (This, of course, is how we appellate lawyers earn a living.) The act of exceeding jurisdiction is often only revealed after the order has been entered.
The dissent sees this as a suitable place to draw a line, without opening up prohibition to the undoing of faits accomplis. Justice Kinser suggests that when the only thing that is to be undone is the entry of the order itself, then prohibition is still available. In contrast, when the order has been carried out and actual events have unfolded, its appropriate to back off; one example cited in both opinions is that of an allegedly void order directing the release of three inmates from prison. The two sides agree that it would be inappropriate to issue a writ of prohibition that would essentially cause the three men to be taken back into custody, since that would undo something already done.
The dissents suggested dichotomy makes sense to me I think theres a qualitative difference between just entering an order and the extrinsic effects of that order but as of June 4, that difference doesnt matter anymore. In re Commonwealth now provides that, henceforth, the Supreme Court wont issue a writ to undo the entry of an order, even if the lower court exceeded its jurisdiction in entering it. Keep in mind that this ruling applies in lower courts, too, as circuit courts can enter extraordinary writs directed to the district court level.
Theres a similar dispute in the mandamus discussion. The dissent cites several prior decisions in which the issuance of a writ of mandamus had the incidental effect of undoing an act already done although the writ itself did not directly compel such action. The majoritys only response to those citations is that they werent final adjudications in criminal proceedings. Perhaps there is a new-found distinction here for mandamus cases, where criminal petitions are viewed differently from civil ones, but I doubt it. Ill admit to feeling somewhat skeptical of this ground of distinction; why should a final order in a criminal case be viewed any differently from a civil one? And why should non-final orders, by which the lower court flatly refuses to perform a ministerial act, be immune from this kind of review and compulsion?
The second major ruling in this case deals with what a trial court may do on remand. As I mentioned above, this was a limited remand, in which the trial court was given a specific directive to conduct a hearing. When the trial judge got a motion from Atkinss lawyers, raising the specter of prosecutorial misconduct, he foresaw this very dispute, and even went to the trouble of asking the Supreme Court for guidance on whether he could entertain any issues other than those in the limited remand. The Supreme Court didnt give him that guidance, ruling instead that interlocutory appeals werent available in criminal cases.
That was obviously a correct ruling, based on the wording of the interlocutory appeal statute. But it left the trial judge to guess as to whether he had the right to do something other than what the Supreme Court had specifically and unambiguously directed him to do. He guessed that he could, and the Supreme Court has now backed him in this decision.
But what does this say for the future of limited remands? The majority seems to suggest that their day has passed: We hold that a circuit court presiding during remand of a capital murder proceeding retains authority and discretion to resolve legal issues that the litigants raise. While its true that this holding is limited by its terms to capital murder proceedings, there is no reason why a similar remand in a non-capital case, or even a civil case, should be viewed any differently. Indeed, the scope of capital remands is, by statute, even more limited than in other types of cases, based on the statute I quoted above (empowering remand for the sole purpose of making a determination of mental retardation). Im not aware of any other type of remand that is constrained in this way. If these remands are now to be regarded as general, I cannot envision the survival of limited remands in any context.
At a visceral level, there is something inherently troubling about the concept that a lower court can, in effect, disobey a mandate from an appellate court. I speak here not of the outcome for Atkins; I would not venture to offer an opinion on whether the ultimate outcome (life in prison without parole) is appropriate or not, since I didnt hear the evidence in the case. But my sense is that the concept of a mandate is supposed to be stronger than this (and the dissent agrees, forcefully, starting on page 29 of the slip opinion). The root words of mandate and mandatory are the same; they reflect the Roman custom of placing a directive or other order into the hand (from manus, hand, and datum, given) of the recipient, so there can be no mistake about his duty to obey. Command and even mandamus reflect this origin; the lower court has to obey.
Clearly, this lower court didnt obey; it was directed by the last mandate to proceed with this criminal case. Even more telling, that mandate went on to constrain the scope of the proceedings, consistent with what the statute requires: Such proceeding is confined to the terms of the mandate issued by the Court . . . remanding this case to the circuit court for a jury determination on whether Atkins is mentally retarded. Can it get any clearer than that? This seems to be a strong hint to the trial court, even though the Supreme Court couldnt give him a direct interlocutory answer, that he had to do exactly as he was told. (At least, thats the way I would have read these tea leaves incorrectly, as it turns out.)
This ruling isn’t the death of the extraordinary writ, but it is quite likely to make the issuance of such writs far more extraordinary.
← Analysis of June 30, 2009 CAV Opinions Analysis of July 14, 2009 CAV Opinions →
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In Bob We Trust
You Want To Bet?
I was recently directed toward an article by a gentleman by the name of David Wong (author of the novel, "John Dies At the End," which has been sitting on my reading list for quite a while) entitled "10 Things Christians and Atheists Can (And Must) Agree On." Mr. Wong seems like an agreeable enough chap. His message basically boils down to "can't we all just get along," and that's a message worthy of hearing from time to time. But occasionally, no we can't, and there are some things I resent being told to agree with.
So you can follow along with what I'm on about this time, you can read the original article here.
In his introduction, Wong begins by arguing that if you celebrate someone's death, you're pretty much a prick, and makes the case that just about all of us can agree on that one. Well, okay...he then talks about atheists celebrating the death of Jerry Falwell. Well...okay...actually celebrating his demise may be a bit of a dick move, and if so then I'm guilty as charged. But the fact of the matter is, Falwell had nothing but venomous bile to spew, and the world is better off without his hateful message clogging the minds of his followers (some of whom, no doubt, could easily be moved to commit actual acts of violence against homosexuals, abortion providers, atheists, pagans, or anyone else who doesn't fit into the neat little Christian box Falwell and his ilk want to force us all into). I don't so much celebrate his death as I do his being silenced. And I'll be perfectly clear, because there are still people like him around (**cough**patrobertson**cough**), I don't advocate violence, and I certainly wouldn't celebrate his death, say, at his funeral. He did have a family who, despite their obvious faults in not disowning that goon years ago, should be respected in their grief. But for pete's sake, don't tell me I can't be glad he can't shout his message anymore.
Now, on to his ten points (the introduction was just a little freebie).
1. You can do terrible things in the name of either one.
Okay, this is the point at which he tips his hand. This man is not an atheist. He's revealed a complete lack of understanding of what atheism actually is already, and he's only just begun to make his first point. Atheism is not a belief system. It's a lack of one. You can't do terrible things in the name of a LACK of a belief.
The larger point he's trying to make, that both Christians and atheists can and have done terrible things is certainly valid. On the one hand you've got the Crusades, the troubles in Northern Ireland, Hitler, the 9/11 terrorists, those who would bomb abortion clinics, and their ilk. On the other side...well...Stalin. So yeah, both sides have some bad apples. We're agreed that both Christians and atheists are mostly good people and that there are murderous fucks in both camps. But the point is not quite that simple.
We realize that a murderer who happens to be a Christian or a murderer who happens to be an atheist does not reflect on the entire belief system or lack thereof. The only question is whether or not the belief system (or lack thereof) actually leads someone to commit these acts. In the case of, say, the Crusades or the 9/11 attacks, it was a religious belief that caused these people to act as they did. One cannot say that about atheism, because it's impossible to do anything in the name of nothing. Atheism isn't even a thing at all. It shouldn't even be an -ism. It's just a lack of a belief in a god. And while you can kill in the name of a god, you can't kill in the name of no god. Can't be done.
He also postulates that it's impossible to calculate whether the volume of violent events would go up or down if either side were to "win" (meaning one or the other side completely goes away). Of course, if we're talking about absolute certainty, he's correct. But we don't need absolute certainty. We can look at prison statistics and find that Christians overwhelmingly outnumber the atheists in the prison population (even accounting for their larger representation in the population at large). We can look at the history books. But most importantly, we can just sit down and use our heads. Let's imagine Christianity away for a minute. What changes? No more killing in the name of the Christian god. Now let's imagine atheism away. What changes? Well, we don't lose any potential motives for violence as we do in the previous case. Instead, we gain however many atheists there are as potential "murderers for Jesus." So yes, we do have a pretty damn good idea which way that turn of events would swing.
2. Both sides really do believe what they're saying.
Mostly, I'll give him this one. He seems to take the Christians to task at least as much as we atheists (for which I give him much credit), because they seem to think that we're all just lying about our lack of a belief out of some stubborn sense of rebellion. Nonsense, and he's right in calling it so. And I generally do assume that the Christians believe what they're saying to...up to a point.
I do think that many simply parrot arguments they hear from the pulpit without actually bothering to think for themselves about what they really believe. It doesn't mean they don't really believe it, but it does mean they haven't thought about it. Generally speaking, I think if you put much thought to it, the god thing just sort of collapses under the weight of its own stupidity.
3. In everyday life, you're not that different.
He had me 100% (or at least 95%) until he actually started trying to explain it. Then he goes into talking about morality and thinking we live as if there were some magical skydaddy lawmaker deciding what is or is not justice. Bullshit! Biblical morality is barbaric and obscene. It's true, Christians and atheists have mostly the same morality, but it ain't from the Bible, it ain't from a God, and it sure as hell ain't Christian. We're mostly the same in everyday life because we're a product of the same culture(s). We share evolutionary and cultural history, and our morality comes from that. Not from a god.
4. There are good people on both sides.
Agreed. Just one thing to say. Atheists don't claim our own good people as being good because they're atheists. They're good people because they're good people and they happen to not believe in a god. Christians would do well to do the same. Martin Luther King, Jr. (mentioned in the article) was a great man. One of the best. And though he painted his speeches with a Christian brush, he was good because he was good, not because he was a Christian. Religious beliefs or lack thereof are largely incidental to whether or not someone is good. They only seem to play a role when some religious people (and I hasten to add that it's and extreme minority) kill in the name of some god.
5. Your point of view is legitimately offensive to them.
Well, I'll give it to him. People shouldn't be so damned easy to offend, but it is the case. He's very careful not to let this point intrude on the area of which side is factually correct, so it's pretty agreeable. Christians and atheists do piss each other off. And in day to day life, I think we can all do a lot better to get along. But there is definitely a place for ranting debate. Like in our books and blogs. This is a debate we need to have before the bombs start falling in another holy war.
6. We tend to exaggerate about the other guy.
Absolutely true. I do think the Christians tend to exaggerate more than the atheists do, which makes sense, since all the science and data are on our side--all they're left with is exaggeration. But yes, we all do exaggerate. I do it, too, but I attempt to make it clear in my own writings when I'm exaggerating, and when I'm using the more extreme examples of Christianity in order to make my point. I do realize that most Christians aren't as stupid as the Jerry Falwell types, but I tend to write more about that type because a) I want to make a point, so I use the extreme examples to illustrate what I'm talking about and b) I fear those types more than the average Christian you meet in day to day life.
7. We tend to exaggerate about ourselves, too.
Again, I agree. I think he takes his examples too far (I would think this was intentional, to further make his point, but I don't think, based on some of his other examples, that he's doing so). And again, I think the Christians are more guilty than the atheists. But whoever does it more or less, we all do exaggerate about ourselves and the other guy.
8. Focusing on negative examples makes you stupid.
Bullshit! Granted, it is asinine to focus on negative examples as if they were representative of everyone on the other side. But we're having a debate here. We're going to call the other side on their shit. It's part of the game. So yes, I'm going to talk about Fred Phelps. No, I'm not going to say all Christians are like that (that really would be stupid), but I will talk about him as one possible negative outcome of Christianity. And that's a fair point. I'd welcome Christians to come up with a negative outcome of atheism if they can find one, but so far they've been unable to do so.
9. Both sides have brought good to the table.
It depends. PEOPLE from both sides certainly have. But Christianity itself has never really done anything for us except "bad" things. Atheism, being nothing more than a lack of a belief, hasn't done anything good or bad. But Christians and atheists have both done lots of good, and some have done bad. Talk about people, you've got me on your side. Talk about beliefs, you're going to lose me.
He does go on to lose me by talking about religion making humanity sacred and giving us morality and other nonsense. And it is nonsense. Religion hasn't done jack or shit for humanity. Just because religious people have, doesn't mean the religion gets the credit.
10. You'll never harass the other side out of existence.
I agree, as long as the point is phrased precisely this way. Being vile and harassing people isn't going to win the war. Yes, there's a place for it. Yes, it's important to point out how silly those Christians are from time to time. But the real place we need to have this war is in the debate halls. We need to have an open dialogue. When exposed to the light of reason and open debate, religion withers and dies. It can only fester under a cloud of ignorance.
Wong's point is to lead by example. I agree with that too. We should all strive to be good people, to be rational people, and to make the most of our lives. Lead by example, debate the points, and try to be respectful rather than harassing. I do think that's one point we really can all get behind.
Labels: agree, argument, atheism, atheist, Christian, christianity, david wong, debate, faith, reason
On Censorship
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Midwest premiere of ‘Her Mind in Pieces’ at The Varsity
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Fresh off its award-winning world premiere at The Mann Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, “Her Mind in Pieces” will make its Midwest debut at The Varsity on Sunday, April 14. The film will be screened three times. Two Southern Illinois University alumni served as senior executive producers on the film: Casey Lambert (Cinema & Photography, 2012) and Randall Taylor (Speech & Theater, 1978).
“Her Mind in Pieces” is comprised of nine short films about complex women in various states of mental unrest. The project was orchestrated by writer, director and producer Dawn Fields.
“These talented filmmakers truly open the door to the internal struggles that some women face,” Fields said. “I am extremely proud to be a part of this anthology, and I feel it’s imperative that it reaches as wide an audience as possible. It’s my hope that it provides a platform to allow for open and honest discussions regarding mental health in our society today.”
Each of the April 14 screenings will be followed by a Q&A with Fields and SIU alum Taylor.
“The film is heartbreaking, humorous and, at times, a stunning look at women’s internal struggles,” said Taylor, whose father, John C. Taylor, wrote for The Southern Illinoisan and was on the Journalism faculty at SIU. “I found my artistic direction at SIU, and I hope this film will inspire all the aspiring artists at my alma mater and in my hometown of Carbondale.”
The short films in the cinematic anthology are directed by Fields, Rachel Feldman, Micky Levy, Chantelle James, Jeneffa Soldatic, Anastasia Basche, Caron Clancey, Amanda Hinkley, Jenessa Joffe, Lorena Lourenco. Among the actors featured are Amy Brenneman and Lance Henriksen.
“Her Mind in Pieces” will be screened at 2, 4:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday, April 14. Tickets are $10 in advance at www.thevarsitycenter.eventbrite.com. Tickets also will be available at the venue the day of the screening when doors open at 1:30. Tickets are not available in advance at the venue.
The Varsity is downtown Carbondale at 418 S. Illinois Ave. To keep up with all upcoming events, go to www.facebook.com/varsitycenter. Watch a trailer and get more info on the film at www.HerMindinPieces.com.
Arts, Cinema
www.thevarsitycenter.eventbrite.com
418 S. Illinois Ave.
Carbondale, IL 62901 United States
www.thevarsitycenter.org
varsitycenter@gmail.com
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Art, music, literature, sports & leisure
Politics and social sciences
Previous (Extradition)
Next (Eye)
Artist's impression of Gilese 581 c, the first extrasolar planet discovered in its star's habitable zone
Extraterrestrial life is the term used to define any form of life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth, the only place in the universe known to support life. Its existence is currently hypothetical; there is no evidence of extraterrestrial life that has been widely accepted by the scientific community. The putative study and theorization of ET life is known as astrobiology or exobiology, and the term "exopolitics" may be used to denote the study of political relations between humanity and extraterrestrial civilizations. Speculative forms of extraterrestrial life range from humanoid and monstrous beings to life at the much smaller scale of bacteria.
Extraterrestrial life forms, especially intelligent ones, are often referred to in popular culture as "aliens" or "ETs." The popular belief in extraterrestrial life has been fueled since the mid-twentieth century by numerous reports of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) and claims of abduction. On the other hand, Christian skeptics consider them to be merely apparitions of angels or demons from the spirit world.
1 Historical belief in extraterrestrial life
2 Extraterrestrials and the modern era
3 Popular belief in extraterrestrials
3.1 UFOs and alien abductions
3.2 Belief in extraterrestrials as a religious phenomenon
3.3 Alternative spiritual explanations
3.4 Exopolitics
4 Scientific approaches
4.1 Basis of life
4.2 Speculation
4.3 The search for extraterrestrials
4.3.1 The direct method
4.4 Indirect search
4.5 Arecibo message
Scientists have approached the effort to discover extraterrestrial life by looking to the stars—exploring the closest planets and moons for evidence of life; listening for radio or electromagnetic transmissions from life beyond Earth; and even sending a message into space. While evidence has not yet been discovered of any life currently existing outside of earth, many scientists remain hopeful and continue the search. Given that the existence of life beyond earth has ramifications of the greatest significance for humankind, there are serious questions and preparations that need to be made on earth before this endeavor succeeds.
Historical belief in extraterrestrial life
Astronomy played a significant role in ancient societies, the arrangement of heavenly bodies inspiring cultural beliefs and mythology. Beliefs in creatures and lifeforms that populated the sky became almost commonplace in the ancient world. The atomists of Greece took up the idea of an infinite universe, with an infinity of populated worlds. The Jewish Talmud states that there are at least 18,000 other worlds. The Babylonians, Egyptians, Sumerians, Chinese, and Aztecs all held somewhat similar ideas of multiple worlds that existed amongst the stars. However, these beliefs were often spiritually focused, as the sky and stars were often the domain of deities and supernatural powers. The notion of alien biological lifeforms as they are thought of today, did not take shape for centuries.
Giordano Bruno, De l'Infinito, Univirso e Mondi, 1584
This situation changed, however, with the dramatic shift in thinking initiated by the invention of the telescope and the Copernican assault on geocentric cosmology. Once it became clear that the earth was merely one planet amongst countless bodies in the universe the extraterrestrial idea moved towards the scientific mainstream.
The best known early-modern proponent of such ideas was Giordano Bruno, who argued in the sixteenth century for an infinite universe in which every star is surrounded by its own solar system; he was eventually burned at the stake for heretical ideas.[1] Dominican monk Tommaso Campanella wrote about a Solarian alien race in his Civitas Solis. The possibility of extraterrestrials remained a widespread speculation as scientific discovery accelerated. William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus, was one of many eighteenth and nineteenth century astronomers convinced that our solar system, and perhaps others, could very well be populated by alien life. Other luminaries of the period who championed "cosmic pluralism" included Immanuel Kant and Benjamin Franklin. At the height of the Enlightenment even the Sun and Moon were considered candidates for hosting aliens.
Extraterrestrials and the modern era
This enthusiasm towards the possibility of alien life continued into the twentieth century. As long as humankind was unable to travel into space, extraterrestrial life seemed as probable to scientists and the general public alike. However, a split in the belief in ET life forms occurred in the beginning of the twentieth century. With advancement in the areas of physics, astronomy, and evolutionary biology, scientists started to understand how complicated and fragile life on earth was, how unlikely it was that life even developed somewhere hospitable to it, let alone elsewhere in a largely dangerous and inhospitable universe.
Furthermore, the early explorations of space by probes showed no signs of life on the barren planet of Mars and exposed Venus to be a planet of such dramatic climate as to be not conducive to supporting any known forms of life. The major scientific argument against extraterrestrial life was formed: Earth was unique in its evolution, randomly composed of the exact conditions to support the fragile, and somewhat random itself, process that led to life. Most scientists believed that for such conditions to happen twice, even in a universe as big as this one, is unlikely.
Popular belief in extraterrestrials
UFOs and alien abductions
Artistic depiction of a grey alien
Yet, as science was dismissing the notion of extraterrestrial life, it was becoming more popular in public imagination. The connection between extraterrestrials, the sudden frequent reports of unidentifiable, un-Earthly aircraft known now as UFOs, and the anthropomorphizing of extraterrestrials into the common identity of aliens, as they are known today, happened in the time period between 1920 and 1950. The possibility of intelligent life forms became an alluring mystery to the public. Early science fiction of the period used aliens frequently in its stories. Even those who claimed not to believe in aliens shared a widespread fear of malevolent creatures from space, possibly best demonstrated by Orson Welles' infamous radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, in which hundreds of people in the New York and New Jersey area were led to believe an invasion by aliens was taking place.
Belief in aliens has become one of the most interesting and complicated aspects of pop culture and the new age movement in the later half of the twentieth century. Not only was it commonly believed that UFOs were in fact alien space craft, but reports of contact between humans and aliens have been prevalent since the 1950s. The development of the highly controversial alien abductions is perhaps the most bizarre phenomenon in the UFO culture. The incident in New Hampshire in 1961, involving Betty and Barney Hill was the first reported abduction of humans by extraterrestrials for the purpose of medical experiments and testing. The tenacity of the couple, their desire to keep the incident a secret, and the recognition of their psychologist that something traumatic had happened to them all lent a sense of credibility to their story when it was revealed some years later. Since then, thousands of people around the world have made similar claims.
"Contactees" (persons who claim to be in regular contact with extraterrestrials) have typically reported that they were given messages or profound wisdom by aliens, and that they were compelled to share these messages. As a cultural phenomenon, contactees perhaps had their greatest notoriety from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, but individuals have continued to make similar claims. Some shared their messages with small groups of followers, and many issued newsletters or spoke at UFO conventions.
Belief in extraterrestrials as a religious phenomenon
The contactee movement has been regarded by academics as a variety of religious belief, analogous to the new religions, and has thus been studied by sociologists of religion. The classic 1956 study, When Prophecy Fails by Leon Festinger, which included information about, and analysis of, contactee groups and was foundational in the development of the theory of cognitive dissonance.[2] Thus, astronomer J. Allen Hynek described contactees as asserting
…the visitation to the earth of generally benign beings whose ostensible purpose is to communicate (generally to a relatively few selected and favored persons—almost invariably without witnesses) messages of "cosmic importance." These chosen recipients generally have repeated contact experiences, involving additional messages. The transmission of such messages to willing and uncritical true believers frequently, in turn, leads to the formation of a flying saucer cult, with the "communicator" or "contactee" the willing and obvious cult leader. Although relatively few in number, such flying saucer advocates have by their irrational acts strongly influenced public opinion.[3]
These beliefs are fueled by the media, in which aliens are commonplace elements of science fiction in films and television shows, as well as books and documentaries. Conspiracy theorists have claimed that world governments have clandestine relationships with aliens or are otherwise covering up alien existence. Commonly, these aliens are seen as small, with grayish skin, large head, and black, lidless eyes. They are sometimes referred to as "greys." Other depictions perceive aliens as reptilian, insect-like, or even resembling people of Nordic descent.
Aliens are depicted with conflicting motivations: Some believe aliens exist to help humankind, while other times aliens are seen as hostile and using humankind for their own advancement. Either way, the notion that there are other life forms that possess similar intelligence and cognitive abilities as human beings seems to strike a chord in people. Perhaps it is an overactive imagination projecting onto the infinity of the cosmos, of which science still knows little, or perhaps the fear of the ultimate unknown, that which is "alien" to humankind, that helps fuel the belief.
Alternative spiritual explanations
On the other hand, some Christians theorize that purported aliens are in fact angels or demons—spiritual creatures rather than material beings from outer space. They point out that angels and demons can appear in any form, including "aliens" if that is what matches human beings' expectations. The mixed motivations of the so-called aliens also fits with the behavior of spiritual beings, who may either seek to help or create problems for the people they visit. Numerous traditions teach that the Earth is unique among the planets as the place of free choice and responsibility.
Exopolitics
A development at the end of the twentieth century in the field of extraterrestrial life is "exopolitics," or the political implications of extraterrestrial contact, a term that came into use by Alfred Webre in his groundbreaking work as a futurist at the Stanford Research Institute. His view is that humanity lives on an isolated planet in the midst of a populated, evolving, and highly organized universal society.
Scientific approaches
The stigma attached to the question of alien lifeforms from the more outlandish pop cultural ideas left many scientists in the latter half of the twentieth century unwilling to pursue the topic, either because they were afraid of ridicule within their discipline or they firmly believed that such endeavors were pointless. However, there have always been, and continue to be, serious scientists willing to examine these questions.
Astrobiology as a field of study has gained legitimacy and acceptance in the scientific community. Its main objectives include the search for extraterrestrial life, but in so doing seek to develop a better understanding of life on Earth.
Basis of life
A difficult term to define, life can be considered the characteristic state of living organisms and individual cells, or that quality or property that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate objects. Although universal consensus on a definition is lacking, biological properties common to the known organisms found on Earth (plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria) are that they are carbon-and-water-based, are cellular with complex organization, use energy and undergo metabolism, possess a capacity to grow, maintain homeostasis, respond to stimuli, reproduce, and have various adaptations to the environment. Beyond these biological manifestations of matter, some philosophical and religious perspectives argue that living organisms possess an inner aspect or character that confers the quality of life.[4]
Without concrete facts to analyze or direct phenomena to observe, most scientists studying extraterrestrial life have had to do so by speculation. Most speculation is, however, based on what is accepted knowledge of astronomy and biology, as well as careful scientific postulating. For example, scientists must first try to understand if the evolution of extraterrestrial life would have occurred independently in different places in the universe, or if, as a minority of scientists contend, life in the universe could have stemmed from a smaller number of points of origin, and then spread across the universe, from habitable planet to habitable planet, known as panspermia.
Another concern is the evolutionary state of extraterrestrial life. There seems to be a greater possibility in the mind of many scientists that simple life forms, such as basic proteins and microbes, are more probable than more radically evolved organisms. One reason for this is that these simpler lifeforms are easier to develop and maintain than a more complicated life form, such as the human being, and therefore can possibly exist in a wider variety of environments. The other reasoning for simpler life forms does not exclude the notion of complex lifeforms, but rather that humankind will never find any, because by the time a probe or spacecraft could reach other planets, the stars supporting the alien species would have died out and destroyed them. In this scenario, the most likely organisms humanity would discover are simple proteins in its own solar system.
The assumption of radical diversity amongst putative extraterrestrials is by no means settled. While many exobiologists stress that the enormously heterogeneous nature of Earth life foregrounds even greater variety in space, others point out that convergent evolution dictates substantial similarities between Earth and off-Earth life. These two schools of thought are called "divergionism" and "convergionism," respectively.[5]
The search for extraterrestrials
Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, scientists have been actively searching the universe for other lifeforms with all the different types of technology available. Yet, even if all of NASA and the European Space Agency's budgets were directed towards this one goal, the universe is still too large and the technological means inadequate to exhaustively search those areas in space that could possibly harbor life. Still, there are undaunted scientists who continue to search for possible life, whether it be bacteria or advanced civilizations. There are two different methods scientists use in this search: the direct and indirect method.
The direct method
Scientists are directly searching for evidence of unicellular life within the solar system, carrying out studies on the surface of Mars, Europa (one of Jupiter's natural satellites), and Titan (a moon of Saturn). The possibility of life on Mars has always been a matter of speculation, but became an even more heated issue in 1996, when structures resembling bacteria were reportedly discovered in a meteorite, ALH84001, thought to be formed of rock ejected from Mars. Such potentialities have helped to keep interest in alien life open to a number of prominent scientists. NASA's Mars Lander probes have surveyed the landscape of the red planet, analyzing the geological and chemical makeup of the environment, in order to determine, among other things, if the planet could have at some point supported life. There is circumstantial evidence that Mars was at one time supportive of life; the frozen water at the Martian poles most likely once flowed over the surface of the planet, and the levels of methane in the atmosphere, a gas that occurs in Earth's atmosphere as the result of biological processes.
Studies of Saturn's moon Titan have discovered high levels of methane and nitrogen in the atmosphere, along with other organic compounds that point to the possibility of life forms. Its extremely low temperatures (-289 °F) and hostile weather more than likely rule out current life, at least on the surface. Underground liquid reservoirs, coupled with recent discoveries on Earth of small life forms surviving in incredibly harsh environments, suggested that perhaps there are, or were, micro-sized organisms on Titan.[6]
Terrestrial Planet Finder – Infrared interferometer concept of finding Earth-like extrasolar planets
Astronomers are also searching for extrasolar planets that would be conducive to life, especially those like OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, which have been found to have Earth-like qualities. Radiodetection methods have been inadequate for such a search, as the resolution has been inadequate for detailed study of extrasolar planetary objects. Future telescopes should be able to image planets around nearby stars, which may reveal the presence of life (either directly or through atomic spectrography, which would reveal key information such as the presence of free oxygen in a planet's atmosphere). Darwin is an ESA mission designed to find Earth-like planets and analyze their atmosphere. It has been argued that one of the best candidates for the discovery of life-supporting planets may be Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to Earth, given that two of the three stars in the system are broadly sun-like.
Indirect search
Some scientists theorize that any technological society in space would be transmitting information, and that instruments on Earth could possibly pick up those transmissions. In 1960, Cornell University astronomer Frank Drake performed the first modern experiment, named "Project Ozma" after the Queen of Oz in L. Frank Baum's fantasy books. Drake used a 25-meter-diameter radio telescope at Green Bank, West Virginia, to examine the stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani near the 1.420 gigahertz marker frequency. Although nothing of great interest was discovered, the notion spawned other searches that continue to this day. Such searches had been categorized under the acronym SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). Using radio telescopes to scan for cosmic transmissions is an approach widely endorsed by the scientific community as hard science.
There are great challenges in searching across the sky to detect a first transmission that can be characterized as intelligent, since its direction, spectrum, and method of communication are all unknown beforehand. SETI projects necessarily make assumptions to narrow the search, and thus no exhaustive search has so far been conducted. A basic assumption of SETI is that of "Mediocrity": The idea that humanity is not exotic in the cosmos but in a sense "typical" or "medium" when compared with other intelligent species.[7] This would mean that humankind has sufficient similarities with other intelligent beings that communication would be mutually desirable and understandable. If this basic assumption of “Mediocrity” is correct, and other intelligent species are present in any number in the galaxy at humanity's technological level or above, then communication between the two worlds should be inevitable.
Another assumption is to focus on Sun-like stars. Very big stars have relatively short lifetimes, meaning that intelligent life would likely not have time to evolve on planets orbiting them. Very small stars provide so little heat and warmth that only planets in very close orbits around them would not be frozen solid, and in such close orbits these planets would be tidally locked to the star, with one side of the planet perpetually baked and the other perpetually frozen.
About 10 percent of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy are Sun-like, and there are about a thousand such stars within 100 light-years of the Sun, comprising the useful primary targets for interstellar listening. Finding an electromagnetic transmission from an alien civilization involves searching through most of the useful radio spectrum, as there is no way to know what frequencies aliens might be using. Trying to transmit a powerful signal over a wide range of wavelengths is impractical, and so it is likely that such a signal would be transmitted on a relatively narrow band. This means that a wide range of frequencies must be searched at every spatial coordinate of the sky.
There is also the problem of knowing what to listen for, as scientists have no idea how a signal sent by aliens might be modulated, and how the data transmitted by it might be encoded. Narrow-bandwidth signals that are stronger than background noise and constant in intensity are obviously interesting, and if they have a regular and complex pulse pattern are likely to be artificial.
The Arecibo message is a digital message sent to globular star cluster M13, and is a well-known symbol of human attempts to contact extraterrestrials
However, while studies have been performed on how to send a signal that could be easily deciphered, there is no way to know if the assumptions of those studies are valid, and deciphering the information from an alien signal could be very difficult.
Many different SETI projects have come and gone since the mid-twentieth century. The massive radio dish in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, once was distinguished in its SETI program, until the U.S. government cut its funding. Since then, most of the SETI work being done has been in the private sector, such as the Allen Telescope Array in California, the Phoenix Project in Australia, and Harvard University's Optical SETI project.
Arecibo message
In 1974, a largely symbolic attempt was made to send a message to other worlds. To celebrate a substantial upgrading of the 305 meter Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico, a coded message of 1,679 bits was transmitted towards the globular cluster M13, about 25,100 light years away.
The message contains a pattern of 0s and 1s, defining a 23 × 73 two dimensional grid which when plotted reveals some data about our location in the solar system, a stylized figure of a human being, chemical formulae, and an outline of the radio telescope itself. The 23 by 73 grid was chosen because both 23 and 73 are prime numbers, which makes it easier to decode the message.
Given the limitations of the speed of light for message transmission, no reply would be possible before the year 52,174 (approximately) and hence has been dismissed by many as a publicity stunt. It also generated controversy over the serious question of whether a small group should be allowed to speak for Earth.
↑ Al Van Helden, "Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)" (1995). Retrieved February 27, 2017.
↑ Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken, and Stanley Schachter, When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That Predicted the Destruction of the World (Harper-Torchbooks, 1956, ISBN 0061311324).
↑ J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry (Marlow & Company, 1998, ISBN 156924782X).
↑ S. H. Lee, Unification Thought (New York: Unification Thought Institute, 1981, ISBN 0960648003).
↑ David Darling, "Variety of extraterrestrial life," The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy and Spaceflight. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
↑ Ker Than, "Scientists Reconsider Habitability of Saturn's Moon," SPACE.com (September 13, 2005). Retrieved February 27, 2017.
↑ Jennifer Kahn, "Notes From Another Universe," Discover (April 2002). Retrieved February 27, 2017.
Baird, John C. The Inner Limits of Outer Space: A Psychologist Critiques Our Efforts to Communicate With Extraterrestrial Beings. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1987. ISBN 0874514061
Cohen, Jack and Ian Stewart. Evolving the Alien: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life. Ebury Press, 2002. ISBN 0091879272
Crowe, Michael J. The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750-1900. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.
Exers, Ronald, D. Cullers, J. Billingham, L. Scheffer (eds.). SETI 2020: A Roadmap for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. SETI Press, 2003. ISBN 0966633539
Festinger, Leon, Henry W. Riecken, and Stanley Schachter. When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That Predicted the Destruction of the World. Harper-Torchbooks, 1956. ISBN 0061311324
Goldsmith, Donald. The Hunt for Life on Mars. New York: Dutton Books, 1997. ISBN 0525943366
Grinspoon, David. The Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. ISBN 0060185406
Hynek, J. Allen. The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. Marlow & Company, 1998. ISBN 156924782X
Lee, Sang Hun. Unification Thought. New York: Unification Thought Institute, 1981. ISBN 0960648003
Lemnick, Michael T. Other Worlds: The Search for Life in the Universe. New York: Touchstone Books, 1998.
McConnell, Brian and Chuck Toporek. Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations. O'Reilly, 2001. ISBN 0596000375
Pickover, Cliff. The Science of Aliens. New York: Basic Books, 2003. ISBN 0465073158
Roth, Christopher F. "Ufology as Anthropology: Race, Extraterrestrials, and the Occult" in Debbora Battagilia, E.T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005.
Sagan, Carl, and I.S. Shklovskii. Intelligent Life in the Universe. New York: Random House, 1966.
Sagan, Carl. Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1973.
Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1996. chap. 4: "Aliens."
Webre, Alfred. Exopolitics: Politics, Government, and Law in the Universe. Universebooks, 2005. ISBN 0973766301
All links retrieved February 27, 2017.
PBS: Exploring Space - The Quest for Life by Scott Pearson
PBS: Life Beyond Earth a film by Timothy Ferris
SETI: Searching for Life – Sky & Telescope
"Flying Whales, Other Aliens Theorized by Scientists" from National Geographic Magazine
“Top stars picked in alien search” – BBC
Xenopsychology by Robert A. Freitas Jr.
“Galactic Gradients, Postbiological Evolution, and the Apparent Failure of SETI”
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Renewed Provincial Poverty Reduction Strategy
Today Deb Mathews, Deputy Premier, President of the Treasury Board, and Minister Responsible for the Poverty Reduction Strategy, announced the government’s renewal of Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.
The government has stated that their new, refocused strategy to reduce poverty “is built around and rooted in the determination of people struggling with poverty, those who are trying to get ahead and fully participate in the communities and the province that they call home”.
The Strategy is built around four key pillars:
a long-term goal to end homelessness in Ontario;
continuing to break the cycle of poverty, with a focus on children and youth;
moving toward employment and income security, as a critical means to reduce poverty; and,
investing in what works, by funding programs based on evidence–based policy making.
Government investments and initiatives include:
$42 million for the Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative (CHPI), which enables local governments to develop homelessness programs tailored to their community's unique needs, bringing the investment to a total of almost $294 million per year (as announced in the 2014 Budget).
Creating 1,000 new supportive housing spaces by allocating $16 million over three years to help Ontarians living with mental illness and addictions issues.
Raising the maximum annual benefit for the Ontario Child Benefit -- which supports about one million children in more than 500,000 low- to moderate-income families -- to $1,310 per child as of July 2014. In addition, the Province is indexing the benefit to inflation to help families keep up with the cost of living (as announced in the 2014 Budget).
Committing to provide health benefits for children and youth in low-income families to ensure they have access to services outside of publicly funded health care, such as prescription drugs, vision care, and mental health services.
$50 million over five years for a Local Poverty Reduction Fund designed to reward local solutions that demonstrate they are helping to lift people out of poverty (as announced in the 2014 Budget).
AMO looks forward to working with the government to help implement the renewed provincial poverty reduction strategy. Municipalities understand firsthand the effects of poverty. It is seen as people in our communities who struggle to earn a living wage, find and keep suitable housing, or visit a food bank. Municipalities are doing their part by investing in critical services such as transportation, community recreation, child care, and housing to name a few. Continued provincial investments in social and human services, transit, and infrastructure are needed over the long-term to adequately address poverty.
Reducing poverty is beyond the magnitude of any one order of government to address alone. It is a collaborative effort and there is an opportunity to build synergies. Municipal and provincial strategies can inform, guide, and complement each other.
Michael Jacek
Ontario Government News Release
Realizing Our Potential: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy
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Tom Platts
Tom Platts is the Head of Corporate for Southeast Asia at international law firm Stephenson Harwood. Based in Singapore, he also leads the firm’s Myanmar practice. In recent years, Tom has worked on transactions in every jurisdiction in ASEAN, with a specific expertise of advising on transactions in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. He is a legal adviser to the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Myanmar, and on the board of Inle Advisory Group. Tom is currently ranked in Myanmar as a leading individual by Chambers Asia Pacific and as a recommended lawyer by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific. He was also listed in ‘Singapore’s 40 Most Influential Lawyers aged 40 and under’ by the Singapore Business Review.
Alex Bescoby
Alex Bescoby is an international development practitioner based in London, with Myanmar being the main focus of his work. He was until recently based in Yangon, working for the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business. Prior to that, he worked as a sustainability advisor to the natural resource industry. He gained his degree in Social & Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge, where his focus was the modern political history of Myanmar.
Honey Deihimi
Honey Deihimi studied Law and European Law at the Universities of Hannover, Le Havre and Durham. She was admitted to the bar and began a career as a EU competition lawyer in Brussels, then moved to the European Parliament to work on EU-Middle Eastern relations. She is currently a Head of Division, dealing with integration issues, at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin.
Gavin Plumley
Gavin Plumley is a writer and broadcaster. He has written for The Independent on Sunday, The Guardian, The Hudson Review, BBC Music Magazine and GQ.com and edits publications for the Salzburg Festival and the Oxford Lieder Festival. Gavin's radio appearances include on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, and he has lectured at the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Royal Opera House, the Southbank Centre, and many more.
Jannike Taylor
Financial manager and entrepreneur Jannike Taylor was born in Sweden. She graduated from the University of Leeds and settled in Cumbria, initially working in property before joining the team under foreign affairs expert and Member of Parliament Rory Stewart. Jannike is an expert in small business accounting and has recently launched her own company, Lakes and Lambs. She runs a farm with her husband and has two small children.
Niki Roberts
Niki Roberts is a civil servant with one decade of experience working in public policy and managing the administration of a British parliamentarian. She brings to the Trust sound administrative and organisational expertise, and assists on financial planning. Niki lives on a smallholding in the Cumbrian Lake District.
Alice Clark-Platts
Alice is a former lawyer turned novelist. She has two daughters and lives in Singapore.
Anna Reeves
Anna is an award-winning film writer and director from Australia. She is the acclaimed director of The Oyster Farmer which went on to show at many international festivals including the Toronto Film Festival. A graduate of AFTRS, The National Film and Television School in Australia, and FEMIS, the French National Film School, Anna is currently developing a major television storyworld project for Copenhagen-based international producers Good Company.
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In Plain Sight The evolutionary instinct to disguise and deceive
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/plain-sight
Dazzled and Deceived
Mimicry and Camouflage
by Peter Forbes
Yale, 304 pp., $27.50
When I began Dazzled and Deceived I was disappointed to see that I’d have to read five chapters on mimicry in the natural world before I got to my particular interest, military camouflage in the First and Second World Wars. Five chapters on insects? What motivated me to pick up Dazzled was the question of why the world’s militaries rather suddenly developed an interest in disguising themselves around the time of World War I.
But I found myself caught up in British nature writer (and poetry editor) Peter Forbes’s account of the late 19th-century fascination with mimicry and the way it influenced Darwin’s theory of natural selection. The late 19th century was the golden age of mimicry, and some imitative species discovered in the early 19th century, like living stone plants, received more attention a hundred years later.
Are there reasons beyond biology why this might be so? I wish Forbes had pushed harder to tease out the intellectual history and cultural context in which interest in mimicry came to the fore. Perhaps part of the answer is the invention of photography and the divergence of painting from pure representation? But Forbes, the author of The Gecko’s Foot (2005), is more interested in nature. He explains how mimicry raised the ultimate philosophical questions in Victorian biology: What are variations, hybrids, and species? What is the role of warning coloration versus sexual selection in evolution? Occasional mutations of harmless butterflies that looked like neighboring toxic species were favored by natural selection, and eventually evolved into distinct mimic species. In some places, several different toxic species all looked alike.
In many cases, good explanations had to await the discovery of DNA. Some mysteries are still being unraveled. I never knew, for instance, that insects see beyond the color spectrum we can see, all the way to the ultraviolet. In ultraviolet light, the Australian white crab spider is highly visible to bees, and flowers where it perches seem more brilliant and enticing. But local bees are catching on to the game and avoiding super-white flowers. That’s evolution in action. Or consider that mimetic butterflies inherit a mating preference for others who look like them. The spinning-out of this particular story raises fundamental issues about what a species is.
Forbes has convinced me that, without a grounding in the natural origins of human-designed camouflage, I’d have a superficial understanding of the intellectual history of this aspect of warfare. Knowing that concealment strategies in nature were all the rage in late 19th-century biology, it’s not surprising to learn that several thinkers simultaneously came up with the idea of disguising ships from attack. More interesting still, the strategies these men advocated for ship camouflage often derived from their theories about how concealment worked in nature.
The most important camoufleur was a puritanical, obsessive New England painter, Abbott Handerson Thayer. The eponymous Thayer’s Law refers to countershading, “the gradation between the back and the belly of an animal.” Thayer saw countershading everywhere in nature, and warning coloration nowhere, which influenced his military ideas. When the Spanish-American War began in 1898, he advised the Navy on disguising ships (although it wasn’t done), and in 1902, he patented the idea of applying countershading—upward facing parts darker, downward facing parts white—to naval vessels. Thayer also identified what would come to be known as disruptive coloration, which was applied in World War I as “dazzle” painting.
As Forbes explains disruptive coloration:
By breaking the shape of the creature into large, seemingly random patches of colour, the characteristic outline of the creature can to some extent be obscured. As humans are large creatures, and their artifacts often larger still, this principle is more important in human camouflage than attempts at total invisibility.
The Scottish zoologist John Graham Kerr had noticed in 1895 that the then-standard battleship gray for ships “falls short of what is attained by nature” by way of disguise. In September 1914 he wrote to Winston Churchill, first lord of the Admiralty, about his method for disguising ships, and his ideas were considered—but eventually the navy decided that gray was still the best option given the varying times of day, degrees of light, and times of year with which ships must contend.
A third figure, an English marine painter named Norman Wilkinson, apparently without knowledge of camouflage in nature, also advocated breaking up the outline of ships by painting them in black and white stripes. A lifelong sailor, he’d joined the Royal Navy at the outbreak of World War I and, by 1917, was bitten by the “dazzle” bug as well.
Each had slightly different goals: Wilkinson hoped to make ships harder to hit by torpedos when sighted by submarines; Kerr thought in terms of avoiding gun attack; Thayer thought white made ships nearly invisible (or made icebergs invisible at night, as the Titanic crew discovered). These goals would be debated after the war, when Kerr and Wilkinson competed to be known as the originator of dazzle; but it was Norman Wilkinson, charismatic and socially skilled, who was tasked by the navy to set up a camo unit.
One of the painters Wilkinson recruited was Edward Wadsworth, a British vorticist. I happened to see two of his black-and-white World War I-era woodcuts of dazzle ships (“Dock Scene” and “Liverpool Shipping”) in an exhibit in Miami’s Wolfsonian Museum while reading Forbes’s book and was struck by the way dazzle seemed so dated, so of its time. Exuberant Vorticist evocations of what then was experienced as modernity, they are now as obviously picturesque as Canalettos.
Forbes is clear that dazzle was almost as much a cultural artifact as a useful military tactic. Ship camouflage didn’t turn out to be very effective: In a Royal Navy study of the 2,367 ships that were painted with dazzle, it was found that more were attacked and more lost or damaged, but slightly fewer of these were sunk. So the usefulness of dazzle was inconclusive, although an American study of 1,256 camouflaged ships showed slightly better results for dazzle. But then, as the Israeli military theorist Martin van Creveld puts it, “In any particular kind of war, the meaning of ‘victory’ is decided as much by convention—tacit or explicit—as it is by actual physical results.”
By the time of the Great War, camouflage was in the zeitgeist—whether or not it worked. Forbes points out the “connection between disruptive coloration and cubism’s breaking up of the outline into facets.” But Thayer, Wilkinson, and Kerr, at least in Forbes’s account, made nothing of it. It was Picasso, in Gertrude Stein’s famous testimony, who noted the link, reacting to a camouflaged truck in Paris at the start of the war by claiming, “Yes it is we who made it, that is cubism.”
Forbes also makes a novel point about cubism and camouflage:
The tendency towards colour for colour’s sake, so notable in many of these [avant-garde] movements, was reversed in cubism. The palette was, more or less entirely, muddy greens and browns—earth colours, camouflage colours.
Interestingly enough, while ships and gun emplacements were painted with camouflage or disruptive designs, only snipers wore camo in World War I
and the general run of combatants were not garbed in camo, even in World War II. (Part of the reason is that it was hard to mass-produce.) Abbott Thayer was an early proponent of disguising military uniforms, harassing the War Office on the subject; but the snipers’ uniforms worn after 1916 were derived from Scottish deerstalkers’ gillies!
Oddly enough, Forbes doesn’t cite a 2002 book by Roy Behrens, False Colors: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage. Behrens discusses the use of camo in the two World Wars, with profuse illustrations and some fascinating discussions of modern art that go beyond Forbes’s examples.
Mimicry in flora and fauna may be innately fascinating to humans because we are mimics from babyhood. And mimicry is related to mimesis, representation, the source of all human communication, art, and learning. Louis Menand wrote recently that “[Marcel] Duchamp eliminated the element of imitation in art, and [Andy] Warhol imitated him.” It’s an insight that resonates more fully after reading Dazzled and Deceived.
Posted in Music and Cultural Criticism | No Comments »
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Location : Phuket, Thailand
Website : http://www.acgphuket.com/
Organised cricket has been played on the island since 2005 under the newly formed Phuket Cricket Union, for recognition as a Demonstration Sport by the Cricket Authority of Thailand the name was changed to Phuket Cricket Group. For several years now the PCG and CAT have worked to develop Thai Youth Cricket in a number of Government Schools.
The concept of a dedicated cricket ground was conceived by Alan in early 2005, land was acquired, and an initial start made. Further progress beyond plot clearance was delayed until late 2010.
The ACG Project has been very much a community effort, project management, architectural fees, legal fees, QS, electrical, structural engineering services, all provided at NO COST.
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Blog: Barry Devlin
As one of the founders of data warehousing back in the mid-1980s, a question I increasingly ask myself over 25 years later is: Are our prior architectural and design decisions still relevant in the light of today's business needs and technological advances? I'll pose this and related questions in this blog as I see industry announcements and changes in way businesses make decisions. I'd love to hear your answers and, indeed, questions in the same vein.
Dr. Barry Devlin is among the foremost authorities in the world on business insight and data warehousing. He was responsible for the definition of IBM's data warehouse architecture in the mid '80s and authored the first paper on the topic in the IBM Systems Journal in 1988. He is a widely respected consultant and lecturer on this and related topics, and author of the comprehensive book Data Warehouse: From Architecture to Implementation.
Barry's interest today covers the wider field of a fully integrated business, covering informational, operational and collaborative environments and, in particular, how to present the end user with an holistic experience of the business through IT. These aims, and a growing conviction that the original data warehouse architecture struggles to meet modern business needs for near real-time business intelligence (BI) and support for big data, drove Barry’s latest book, Business unIntelligence: Insight and Innovation Beyond Analytics, now available in print and eBook editions.
Barry has worked in the IT industry for more than 30 years, mainly as a Distinguished Engineer for IBM in Dublin, Ireland. He is now founder and principal of 9sight Consulting, specializing in the human, organizational and IT implications and design of deep business insight solutions.
Editor's Note: Find more articles and resources in Barry's BeyeNETWORK Expert Channel and blog. Be sure to visit today!
September 2011 Archives
Big Data - Coming from a Pair of Jeans near You
Or, to be more precise, a pair of jeans on you!
Katia Moskvitch, writing for the BBC News website last week caught my attention with this question: "What if those new jeans you've just bought start tweeting about your location as you cross London Bridge?" Those of us who've been following the uptake of RFID technology and the big data surge know that she's stretching the point a bit--RFID devices don't yet tweet and the chances of meeting a wild RFID reader on London Bridge is still low probability. But we also know that she's close enough to the coming reality that many marketers and advertisers are beginning to envisage. And make lots of money from...
The Internet of Things (IoT) is already becoming a reality as far as machines goes. Smartphones, tablets and laptops lead the way, of course. But automobiles and buildings, fridges and washing machines are not far behind. And the ultimate vision is that every item of any value can be tagged with an RFID device and tracked wherever a reader exists. Moskvitch quotes Gerald Santucci, head of the networked enterprise and RFID unit at the European Commission: "The IoT challenge is likely to grow both in scale and complexity as seven billion humans are expected to coexist with 70 billion machines and perhaps 70,000 billion 'smart things'".
From a BI point of view, that adds up to big data--very big data. It also points to a type of data to which we've had only limited exposure in BI in the past. The data generated from the IoT can be classified as (potentially) high-volume, raw micro-event data keyed by location, time and device ID. Beyond its volume, such data poses interesting issues for traditional BI thinking.
While BI implementations have typically invested much time and effort in cleansing data on loading, this raw IoT data is likely to come largely directly from the machine sources to the (big data) BI environment, rather than through operational systems that create a context for data gathered in traditional business operations. And while current BI systems do deal with machine-generated data from devices such as ATMs, manufacturing machines and telephone exchanges, for example, these sources are highly controlled, internally managed, fixed and relatively few in number in comparison to IoT sources. IoT data will require very different modeling and analysis approaches to today's BI.
But perhaps the most interesting dilemma is presented by the fact that we will be dealing directly with devices rather than people, which is really what interests marketing. Yes, we will receive lots of information about where and when, but the question of who will be a matter of extrapolation. Apart from fraud and crime, of which there will be myriad opportunities, the fact is that, other than implanted devices, the relationship between a device and a person is loose and variable. To return to that RFID tag in the young lady's jeans above, linked via a credit card to a particular person at time of purchase, we can instantly see at least a dozen ways in which we could misidentify the person whose behavior we think we're tracking. Even working at a statistical level, there may be issues.
And then there are the privacy issues that arise. I'll return to that topic in another post.
Posted September 29, 2011 4:39 AM
Permalink | 1 Comment |
Lyza gets Collaborative
Lyzasoft's Scott Davis returned to the Boulder BI Brain Trust (BBBT) last Friday with Lyza version 3.0. Here's my key takeaway. Lyza is the first product I've seen that truly understands and delivers the type of collaborative environment needed for innovative and effective decision making.
Please read that last sentence again--the type of collaborative environment needed for innovative and effective decision making. Note that I didn't say "collaborative Business Intelligence". I believe that phrase can be a bit misleading, especially to BI people. And Lyzasoft gets that. Let me explain...
If you track back to the initial release of Lyza, the product focused on supporting the often iterative data analysis process that business analysts go through in order to reach conclusions and come to decisions. This is a process that typically happens in the spreadsheet environment, because of the ease of trying, sharing and redoing it offers. Lyza offered an environment that enabled better control and management of that environment. And, most importantly, they began to build around that BI tool a collaborative environment where analyses and results could be shared and reused. For more details, see "Playmarts: Agility with Control--Reconnecting Business Analysts to the Data Warehouse" and "Collaborative Analytics--Sharing and Harvesting Analytic Insights across the Business", two white papers I wrote in late 2008 and mid-2009.
Now fast-forward to last week and version 3. What Scott demonstrated at the BBBT was entirely about collaboration. The analytics tool that was Lyza version 1 was still there, but it had become simply one of any number of tools that a decision maker might use. The focus of the new release is now firmly, and perhaps entirely, on supporting the collaborative process around decision making. Rather than emphasizing the data, Lyza 3 seeks the intersection between people, their activities and the artifacts they create, use and share. This emphasis on people, activities and things is not new in itself; what is new is the intuitive linkage between them and the focus on decision making and action taking that comes from prior Lyza BI tooling. What we have here is what a decision support system really should look like--it's about supporting decision making, doh!
If we can look beyond the current hype on big data, the bling of tablets and the search for the holy grail of visualization, it becomes pretty clear that the only thing that finally matters in BI is the decision made and the action taken. And... by understanding how the decision makers got there to enable them to more easily and effectively repeat and refine that process in the future. This puts Lyza on the cusp of the next big emerging trend in IT--the "automation" of the human interactions that occur around the data and applications that IT already provides. I place quotes around "automation" because, of course, this will be a very different type of automation than we have been used to in the past. This is the integration of Web 2.0 concepts and tools into the enterprise. Facebook with a purpose. Twitter in context. Social networks with a goal.
With version 3, Lyza has stepped boldly beyond the safe and well-understood confines of what BI has mostly thought about so far. For some, it may pose the question: shouldn't this type of function come from another market with a different audience? My response, in the form of another question is: what other market and audience should be looking at supporting, really supporting, decision makers?
The new collaborative Lyza will be available for free use from October. I highly recommend giving it a test drive!
Posted September 14, 2011 10:53 AM
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Lake Tahoe Facts
All About Lake Tahoe {provided by Lake Tahoe Visitor's Authority}
Lake Tahoe's water is 99.9% pure. The water is so clear that a 10 inch white dinner plate would be visible at 75 feet below the surface.
Lake Tahoe is the highest lake of its size in the United States and the largest alpine lake in North America.
Lake Tahoe is as long as the English Channel is wide with the width of Tahoe being half again as wide as San Francisco Bay.
The Panama Canal (700 feet in width and 50 feet in depth) could be filled by Lake Tahoe's water and extend completely around the earth at the equator, with enough remaining in the lake to fill another channel of the same width and depth running from San Francisco to New York.
With one dispersion of Lake Tahoe's water, the State of California would be completely covered to a depth of 14.5 inches.
An average 1,400,000 tons of water evaporates from the surface of Lake Tahoe every 24 hours, yet this drops the lake level only one-tenth of an inch.
If the water that evaporates from the lake every 24 hours could be recovered, it would supply the daily requirements of a population of 3,500,000 people.
There are 63 tributaries draining into Lake Tahoe with only one outlet at the Truckee River.
Lake Tahoe never freezes due to the constant mass movement of water from the bottom to the surface. In February 1989, Emerald Bay froze over for the first time since 1952.
Lake Tahoe Facts & Statistics
Maximum Elevation: 6,229 feet
Length: 22 miles
Width: 12 miles
Maximum Depth: 1,645 feet
Average Depth: 989 feet
Shoreline: 72 miles
Surface Area: 193 sq. mi. or 122,200 acres
Volume: 39 trillion gallons or 122 million acre feet of water
Surface Water Temp: Maximum - 68 degrees F, Minimum - 41 degrees F
Temperatures at 200 feet: Maximum - 47 degrees F, Minimum - 41 degrees F
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Guyana surpasses 2012 rice production target
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Saturday December 29, 2012 – Guyana has produced 420,000 tonnes of rice so far this year, surpassing the target of 412,000 tonnes, according to official figures released here.
Last year production figures were 402,000- tonnes.
“The rice sector has also done exceptionally in export as well as the Ministry of Agriculture also reported that more than 300,000 tonnes of locally grown rice was sold to other countries. The rice export earning now stands at US$176 million and has the potential to increase by US$20 million by the end of December 2012,” the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.
It added that should the current export figures increase, this could be yet another significant milestone for the country; considering that in 1970, production stood at 145,000 tonnes of which only 59,000 tonnes was exported.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that to further appreciate the magnitude of the progress of the local rice industry, farmers, to date, have harvested more than 96 per cent of paddy sowed on 142,038 hectares of land.
“Harvesting could have been at 100 per cent for the year, however, the first crop of approximately 4,000 ha was affected by flooding in some rice cultivating areas,” the statement said, noting that “given the amount of rain that fell and the floods that resulted in the first crop, this is indeed a remarkable achievement by Guyana’s rice farmers”.
Over the last three years, Venezuela has been the major export market for Guyana’s paddy and rice, accounting for approximately 60 per cent of total export and the statement said “while this is a very good trade for the country, the Ministry of Agriculture intends to continue rice exports to traditional markets in Europe and CARICOM countries like, Jamaica and Trinidad”. (CMC) Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)
China provides multi-million dollar loan for Trinidad children’s hospital
CARICOM calls for end to hazardous waste shipments through Caribbean Sea
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Artisan Creamery
Established in 1999 to handcraft the finest fresh mozzarella in the United States.
Navigation Home About Where to Find Products FAQ Contact
Blue Ridge Dairy Co. was started in June of 1999 on a 10 acre farm in Lovettsville, VA by Paul Stephan. Paul is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and Florida International University's School of Hospitality Management. After college Paul began what he thought would be a long career in restaurant management, but after a few years realized his passion career would not be in cooking or managing restaurants. During a visit to Italy in early 1998, Paul realized that his favorite cheese, fresh mozzarella, was not being made in the U.S. to anywhere near the quality as it was in Italy. Upon his return, he and wife Alison promptly purchased the 10 acre farm in Lovettsville with no farming experience whatsoever! The cow, Betty, came next. With only one cow, Paul would have to milk a full week before having one chance at making cheese. The daily routine was to milk Betty in the morning, drive to a Leesburg restaurant to wait tables for lunch, then drive back to the farm to milk, and then drive all the way back to Leesburg for the dinner shift! By March of 2000, he finally had a sellable product, and began selling at The 32nd Street Farmers Market in Baltimore and The Dupont Circle Freshfarm Market in Washington, DC. It's been nothing but growth since then.
Betty is long gone, as is the farm in Lovettsville. Blue Ridge Dairy Co. is now strictly a cheese, yogurt, and butter maker in Sterling, VA. We're a small artisanal producer of handcrafted fresh and applewood smoked mozzarella, burrata, fresh ricotta, aged feta, cream cheese, whole and lowfat yogurt, and lowfat greek-style yogurt in various flavors. The dairy processes over 1,000 gallons of fresh Virginia Jersey breed cow's milk a week during peak Summer production.
The Milk
We use only one type of milk. That which comes from Jersey cow's. The Jersey breed gives milk with the highest butterfat and protein levels of all dairy cattle breeds. This helps create the base of the perfect fior di latte mozzarella. Our milk also only comes from one source, a family farm in Winchester, VA. It takes close to 3 hours of driving to procure this incredible milk every other day, but it is well worth the trip! The cow's are housed in a clean, caring environment, and rBST is never used.
Our process is authentic to the core. We make our fior di latte ( flower of the milk ) mozzarella in the very same manner as is done in Italy. It is known as lactic fermentation. The method utilizes a proprietary blend of live bacterial cultures to do the acidifying and flavor production in the milk and curd. This is a much more intense method of production, but one that creates fresh mozzarella with perfect flavor and texture! The fresh, raw milk is pasteurized at 145 degrees for 30 minutes then cooled to inoculation temperature for the culturing. After around 45 minutes vegetarian rennet is added. When the curd has been formed to the exact degree of coagulation, it is cut, rested, then stirred. The curd is then separated from the whey, and blocks of curd begin to form. After about three hours, the curd blocks are raised on to a maturing table for the final 30-45 minutes before stretching and molding. When the curd has reached the exact ph, and only then, does the curd get processed in very hot salted water to be stretched and molded in fresh mozzarella.
Blue Ridge Dairy Co. 1323 Shepard Drive, Unit B Sterling, VA 20164
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It's all about the arts!→
It's all about the arts!
Rebecca Beavis, Arts Director at the school, initially attended the original writing and consultancy stage of the programme last year, when the Royal Opera House were putting ideas for an outreach project together, which could provide schools with a new route into singing through engagement with operatic material. She is delighted with the finished pilot scheme and has been amazed by the results already with the children she has been working with.
Rebecca commented, “This project has managed to engage children who wouldn’t normally get involved with opera singing at all; the majority of children have really embraced the repertoire. Using drama alongside vocal work and linking voice and movement to telling a story has really increased confidence and engagement with singing. It has been a fantastic way to engage with a musical genre that we have previously not covered.”
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Vol 18 No 2 (2017): Special Issue /
Early Curricular Experiences with Nonnumeric Quantities, Evidence of an Enduring Perspective
Linda Venenciano University of Hawai'i, Mānoa
In this study we explore possible long-term effects of an adaptation of the El’konin–Davydov elementary grades curriculum, Measure Up or MU. The objectives for the study are to assess how students relate an equation of nonnumeric quantities to a length representation, and if former MU students develop and retain a perspective characteristic of the curriculum. Data were collected from thirteen former MU students and a group of fourteen peers who were instructed together with the MU students in identical middle and high school programs, but did not receive MU instruction. Findings show that former MU students reasoned about lengths as generalized quantities, applied a method for marking and labeling quantities, and justified a representation of relationships given by an equation. Implications are discussed for how a measurement context in elementary mathematics supports meaning making in the later study of algebra, particularly with regard to variables and multiple representations.
Linda Venenciano, University of Hawai'i, Mānoa
Linda Venenciano is an Assistant Professor with the Curriculum Research & Development Group at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Dr. Venenciano has a variety of experiences in K-12 mathematics education. She has taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, developed and researched mathematics curricula, and designed and delivered teacher professional development. Her current projects include the development of middle school instructional materials for struggling learners and professional development targeting the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice. Her current research interests are in mathematics curricula that support teachers’ professionalism and promote students’ problem solving processes.
Curriculum Research & Development Group. (2006, Draft). Measure Up Program, Teacher Notes & Masters and Student Materials. Honolulu, HI: Curriculum Research & Development Group.
Davydov, V.V. (1975). Logical and psychological problems of elementary mathematics as an academic subject. In L. P. Steffe (Ed.), Children's capacity for learning mathematics. Soviet Studies in the Psychology of Learning and Teaching Mathematics, Vol. VII (pp. 55-107). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago.
Davydov, V. V., Gorbov, S., Mukulina, T., Savelyeva, M. & Tabachnikova, N. (1999) Mathematics. Moscow, Russia: Moscow Press.
Dougherty, B. (2008). Measure Up: A quantitative view of early algebra. In J. J. Kaput, D. W. Carraher, & M. L. Blanton (Eds.), Algebra in the early grades (pp. 389–412). New York, NY: Erlbaum.
Dougherty, B., & Slovin, H. (2004). Generalized diagrams as a tool for young children’s problem solving. In M. J. Hoines, & A. B. Fuglestad (Eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Vol. 2. (pp. 295–302). Bergen, Norway: Bergen University College.
Eddy, C. M., Quebec Fuentes, S., Ward, E. K., Parker, Y. A., Cooper, S., Jasper, W. A., Mallam, W. A., Sorto, M. A., & Wilkerson, T. L. (2015). Unifying the algebra for all movement. Journal of Advanced Academics, 26(1), 59–92.
Filloy, E., Puig, L., & Rojano, R. (2010). Educational algebra, a theoretical and empirical approach. New York, NY: Springer.
Hein, V., Smerdon, B., & Sambolt, M. (2013). Predictors of postsecondary success. Washington, D.C.: American Institutes for Research.
Karp, K. S., Bush, S. B., Dougherty, B. J. (2014). 13 rules that expire. Teaching Children Mathematics, 12(1), 18–25.
Kieran, C. (1981). Concepts associated with the equality symbol. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 12, 317-326.
Knuth, E. J., Stephens, A. C., McNeil, N. M., & Alibali, M. W. (2006). Does understanding the equal sign matter? Evidence from solving equations. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 37(4), 297–312.
Linchevski, L. & Herscovics, N. (1996). Crossing the cognitive gap between arithmetic and algebra: Operating on the unknown in the context of equations. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 30, 39–65.
McNeil, N. M., & Alibali, M. W. (2005). Knowledge change as a function of mathematics experience: All contexts are not created equal. Journal of Cognition and Development, 6(2), 285-306.
Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research. San Francisco, CA: Wiley.
Minskaya, G. I. (1975). Developing the concept of number by means of the relationship of quantities. In L. P. Steffe (Ed.), Children's capacity for learning mathematics. Soviet Studies in the Psychology of Learning and Teaching Mathematics, Vol. VII (pp. 207–261) Chicago, IL: University of Chicago.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc.
Slovin, H., & Venenciano, L. (2008). Success in algebra. In O. Figueras, J. L. Cortina, S. Alatorre, T. Rojano, & A. Sepúlveda. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Joint Meeting of PME 32 and PME-NA XXX, Vol. 4. (pp. 273–280). Morelia, México: Cinvestau-UMSNH.
Stake, R. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Tharp, R. G., & Gallimore, R. (1995). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Wells, G. (1994, September). Learning and teaching “scientific concepts”: Vygotsky’s ideas revisited. Paper presented at the conference of Vygotsky and the Human Sciences, Moscow.
Venenciano, L., & Dougherty, B. (2014). Addressing priorities for elementary grades mathematics. For the Learning of Mathematics, 34(1), 18–23.
Venenciano, L., & Heck, R. (2015). Proposing and testing a model to explain algebra preparedness. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 92, 21–35.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. In M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman (Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
Vol 18 No 2 (2017): Special Issue
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.ORG Inserts DNSSEC Key Into The Root Zone
By PIR
.ORG, The Public Interest Registry (PIR) announced it has inserted its Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) key into the Internet root zone, joining the top of the Internet's "chain of trust." As the first generic top-level domain (TLD) to offer full DNSSEC deployment, the news dovetails .ORG's June announcement that the third largest top-level domain is now signing second-level delegations.
The protocol benefits top-level domain (TLD) managers and end-users alike by enabling the publication and location of trust anchors in the root zone and providing a consistent and convenient entry point to DNS security.
"Today is a historic day for DNSSEC and the Internet at large," said Alexa Raad, chief executive officer of .ORG, The Public Interest Registry. "Now, over 8 million .ORG users — as well as their Internet service providers — can sign their domains and increase protection with relative ease. In addition, with DNSSEC at the root zone, users and domain managers need only trust a single source in order to receive the highest level of Internet security available."
By deploying DNSSEC, domain name owners benefit from the ability to thwart cache poisoning and man-in-the-middle attacks and the assistance in mitigating attacks like pharming, phishing, DNS redirection and domain hijacking — all of which have been used to commit fraud, distribute malware, and identity theft. Additionally, DNSSEC upgrades the current Internet infrastructure by protecting Internet resolvers from forged DNS data.
On June 23 at ICANN 38 Brussels, PIR — the manager of the .ORG domain — announced that it had enabled the signing of second level domains. The move marked the final step in an extensive two-year process, placing .ORG at the helm of DNSSEC deployment.
Related topics: Cybersecurity, DNS, DNS Security, Domain Names, Registry Services, New TLDs
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Tucson: Who will be crowned Nacho King or Queen?
The Desert Diamond Casino Tailgate Festival raises the bar on tailgating.
Not only does the end of the year wrap up with the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl but the pre-game experience is filled with family-friendly fun, and a chip to chip challenge as to who will crowned the next Nacho King or Nacho Queen?
Wrapping up a national tour that made more than 100 stops this year alone, the Grammy-nominated Gin Blossoms will return to their native Arizona on December 30 to perform at the Desert Diamond Casino Tailgate Festival, the epic entertainment experience that will rally fans for the second NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl at Arizona Stadium.
“The Gin Blossoms got their start right here in Arizona, and we thought there was no better backdrop for their energy and talent than at one of college football’s most exciting post-season events right here in Tucson,” said Mike Feder, executive director of the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. “This will be a great and rare opportunity for our fans to celebrate the Gin Blossoms’ return to their roots.”
The concert is part of an afternoon of activities that will delight virtually every sense. The Desert Diamond Casino Tailgate Festival will also feature a Kids Zone with inflatables games, a convoy of food trucks and other food tents, a beer garden, team bands and cheerleaders, and a “Get Involved Village” showcasing the work of many of Tucson’s charities.
And in what might be the largest congregation of nacho purveyors at a single event, Modelo will present the Nacho Average Tailgate Festival featuring the work of more than 30 gourmet nacho craftspeople who will engage in a chip-to-chip challenge for the coveted title of Nacho King or Nacho Queen. Attendees will be able to sample each nacho entry and cast a vote for their favorite. The winner will be crowned at halftime of the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl later that afternoon.
The tailgate will take place on the University of Arizona Mall on December 30 from 11 am – 3 pm. A bowl game ticket is all that guests will need for entry to the event, with an additional $15 fee for access to the Nacho Average Tailgate Festival.
Tickets are available for purchase here .
About the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl
Owned and operated by TD4Tucson, a Tucson-based non-profit organization, the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl will kick off on December 30, 2016, at 3:30 pm MST at Arizona Stadium. In its debut last year, the Bowl raised more than $85,000 for local charities and contributed $16 million in local economic impact. This year’s game will feature teams from the Mountain West and Sun Belt Conferences, with partnership support from American Sports Network, Arizona Sports and Entertainment Commission, and Campus Insiders. For more information visit www.NOVAArizonaBowl.com.
Arizona Bowl, AZ Bowl, Desert Diamond Casino Tailgate FestivalNova Home Loans, Nacho Challenge, Nova Arizona Bowl
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Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, 1852-1929
"Les Bretonnes au Pardon" ("Breton Women at a Pardon"), 1887. Oil on Canvas. Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon.
Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret was a nineteenth century French painter. He was a gifted and favorite student of Jean Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Art, the preeminent art academy in Paris, where those who entered were selected to have an official career as a painter. He began his studies in April of 1869. In his youth, he and his brothers lived with his grandparents in Mulen, France, after his mother's death in 1858. Only a year before her death, Louise Bouveret moved her sons, Pascal-Adolphe-Jean and Emile Gabriel to Rio de Janeiro, joining their father, Bernard Dagnan, where he owned a prosperous clothing company. After his mother died, his father sent his children (including a third son, Victor), back to France to live with his father-in-law, Gabriel Bouveret. The young artist and his brothers grew up in a comfortable middle-class environment and it was there where he began to develop his artistic sense. He took art lessons as a child in Mulen and made many drawings of his family.
It was a turbulent time in France when Dagnan-Bouveret was a student at the École. The Franco Prussian War of 1870 had taken a devastating toll on the country and because of the fighting in the Paris Commune, large areas of Paris were destroyed. As a result, the supremacy of the arts in France began to falter. But by the end of the decade France began to see a return of the artistic spirit and young artists from all around Europe and the United States came to Paris to study at the Ecole. These students believed that they could receive the best education from the traditional academies in Paris and that academic training would position them for exposure through exhibiting in the Salons.
Dagnan-Bouveret enjoyed success as a young artist in Paris, winning numerous prizes at the Salon. He began to see the need to shift to the more modern and contemporary painting styles becoming fashionable during the late nineteenth century and he was capable of transforming his classical academic training into new methods so that his work was available to the public. In fact, Dagnan-Bouveret, like many other artists began to explore the use of photography and was interested in how the new medium could aide the artist in an academic naturalistic approach. His teacher, Jean Léon Gérôme used photography as well. “His insistence on using photography under the initial stimulus of Gérôme, reveals that he was among the most forward-looking members of the academic tradition; he recognized that the “old" classical system of planning a composition had to respond to the new technologies that were already being applied and assimilated by painters of the avant-garde."(1)
The images above represent a sampling of photos and sketches Dagnan-Bouveret made in preparation for “Les Bretonnes au Pardon" (“Breton Women at a Pardon") - shown above. He began to make this painting in the summer of 1887 while in Ormoy, France. He'd taken a photograph of a church in the distance and pictured in the foreground of the photo is a male figure with a handkerchief on his head - the same location where one of the Breton women sits in the final painting. Dagnan-Bouveret worked in an outdoor tent where he compiled numerous preliminary drawings on tracing paper, pastel drawings and oil sketches. He made drawings on tracing paper in order that they might be modified and enlarged for the final composition.
Photographer unknown, Dagnan-Bouveret Working on Tracing Drawings for “Breton Women at a Pardon." ca. 1887, Archives Départmentales de la Houte-Saône, Vesoul.
The Breton people come from Brittany, one of the most staunchly Roman Catholic regions of France. The Breton's are, along with the Welch and Cornish, one of the last vestiges of the ancient British. Dagnan-Bouveret's painting was completed in late 1888 or 1889, the same year it was exhibited at the Salon. It received the Medal of Honor at the Salon and the Grand Prize at the Exposition Universalle. The public reception of the painting was overwhelming. A very influential critic at the time, Albert Wolff, hailed the Breton Women as “a work of beauty, contemplation and peacefulness. It is great, honest art."(2)
During the early twentieth century, most traditionalist painters became obscure and outdated. Although he continued to paint actively into the second and third decades of the twentieth century, Dagnan-Bouveret's traditional work was considered passé and insignificant as compared to the new artists who were painting under the auspices of surrealism, dadaism, fauvism and the School of Paris. One year after the artist's death, in 1930, a retrospective of his work was held at the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts. By then avant-garde modernism had progressed and dominated the art scene in Paris and abroad and the French academic style of painting was effectively over - mainly due to the unilateral control of the academic professors of the Ecole who were resistent to change and modern approaches to painting.
From 1930 - 1980 little attention was paid to Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret. His work, along with other French academic painters, like Jean Léon Gérôme, William Bouguereau and Jules Breton were forgotten after their deaths. Dagnan-Bouveret worked as an advocate for the preservation of tradition and while he came against the avant-garde, he understood and even embraced modernism.
(1), (2)Gabriel P.Weisberg. Against the Modern: Dagnan-Bouveret and the Transformation of the Academic Tradition. New York: Dahesh Museum of Art, 2002. ISBN 0-8135-3156-X
Leslie Lienau is the founder and principal instructor at the Oklahoma Academy of Classical Art, formerly The Conservatory for Classical. Thanks for reading - hope you enjoy!
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The ICCPS Constitution
Connemara History
Denmark (DCPS)
Denmark (DKCPS)
Genetic Topics
ICCPS Minutes
Michael J. O’Malley Award
Performance Ponies
Studbook
International Committee of Connemara Pony Societies
Ireland’s sole native pony is named after its home region, a remote mountainous area of western Ireland known as Connemara. Although they have lived in the wild for centuries, these Connemara ponies exhibit a type of beauty and athleticism not seen in other mountain ponies. Their versatility makes Connemaras well suited for both labor and equestrian competition. For many centuries, the Connemara pony was the mainstay of life in the far west of Ireland. They were the means by which the land was tilled; the produce delivered, and the social life of this very remote area maintained. Fulfilling these varied tasks developed the amazingly versatile pony that we have today. The Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society was founded in Ireland in 1923 with the object of conserving and developing these native ponies. Inspections were started to select the best ponies from the existing population for entry into the first volume of the Stud Book which was published in 1926. This work is still carried out today with all stock being inspected before acceptance into the Stud Book. The Society purchases their own stallions who travel around Connemara for the service of mares at low fees.
A Connemara Pony Show was established in the West of Ireland in the town of Clifden, Co. Galway enabling the breeders to compete against one another as well as display their stock to the world. This show remains an important event: locally, nationally, and internationally. The Clifden Pony Show takes place in the town of Clifden on the third Thursday in August each year.
Over the years, the Connemara pony has been exported from Ireland to 16 countries around the world. Each country maintains a Breeders’ Society which strives to develop, promote, and preserve the Connemara pony as a distinctive breed, internationally. The Connemara pony has become extremely popular for both children and adults alike as they excel in many disciplines around the world.
LEARN MORE ABOUT IRELAND
Related listing not found
Danish News, spring 2010 April 24, 2010
Slideshow from CPBS Stallion Parade in Clifden March 27, 2011
French National Connemara Pony Show 2011 April 24, 2011
Denmark Report (DCPS) – October 2017 October 20, 2017
Sweden News ~ February 2017 February 7, 2017
President’s Report to AGM 2016 November 3, 2016
Tag not found
ICCPS
Susan McConnell, Secretary
© 2019 International Committee of Connemara Pony Societies.
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Cowboys Beat Up By Eastern Michigan
Posted on September 12, 2015 by Keith Kelley in FrontPage Slider, Sports // 0 Comments
by Staff–12 Sep ’15
What began as a promising start for Wyoming quickly turned into the second consecutive home loss of the season for the Cowboys as the Eastern Michigan Eagles captured a 48-29 victory in Laramie in the first meeting between the two schools.
The Cowboys would lose their starting quarterback for the second consecutive week when sophomore Josh Allen, making his first start for injured senior Cameron Coffman, would be forced from the game with an injury to his shoulder area on Wyoming’s second possession of the game. Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl said after the game that he thought Allen would be out at least 6-8 weeks.
Despite the key loss at quarterback, Wyoming’s rushing attack showed signs of what it can be as the Pokes rushed for 430 yards, marking the first time a Cowboy team had done that since rushing for 451 against San Diego State in 1988. Sophomore running back Brian Hill recorded the second 200-yard rushing performance of his career, ending the day with 242 yards on 21 carries and scoring two rushing touchdowns. Senior running back Shaun Wick ran for 76 yards and one TD, and moved into the No. 8 spot in career rushing at Wyoming. Wick has rushed for 2,173 yards during his Wyoming career. He moved past Dabby Dawson (2,124 yards), Alvester Alexander (2,127) and Walt Goffigan (2,167) on Saturday. Redshirt freshman quarterback Nick Smith added 65 rushing yards on 10 carries.
But the Cowboy defense was unable to stop EMU’s offense, giving up 506 total yards to the Eagles — 330 passing yards and 176 rushing.
Bohl had these comments following the game. “Eastern Michigan did a great job of adjusting,” said Bohl. “They didn’t have their starting quarterback in there either. They ran the ball extremely well and threw the ball well.
“I really was encouraged by our rushing attack. I think that can be a sign of the times. We had a true freshman tackle (Zach Wallace) in there. There are some positive things there. Not a ton of positive things, but I appreciate the effort by a lot of young guys in the second half. I thought they came out and continued to stay in the fight. The way we were running the football, we had a shot to flip it around.
“It’s a loss. It’s another one, but we have to move forward and lick our wounds and see who we have healthy to play this next week. Cam (Coffman) I think will be okay next week. He would have probably been okay in an emergency situation if we came back further today, but 2e thought Nick (Smith) could do some things the way we were running the football.”
Hill had this to say about his and his team’s performance on Saturday. ““It was encouraging to break a couple big runs. The offensive line really played well and made some big holes for
Shaun [Wick] and I,” said Hill. “We just have to see how we respond. We’ve been slapped in the mouth two times so far. We just have to find a way to win games. We have the talent, but we just have to find a way to put it together for a whole game. We have to put it together as an offense and take some pressure of the defense.”
Sophomore quarterback Allen proceeded to lead the Cowboys on an eight-play, 84-yard scoring drive on its first possession. Allen completed 3 of 3 passes for 32 yards on the drive. Sophomore running back Brian Hill carried the ball three times for 46 yards and freshman wide receiver Justice Murphy scored his first career touchdown on a rush for five yards to give Wyoming a 7-0 lead.
Eastern Michigan responded on its second possession of the game when its own sophomore backup quarterback Brogan Roback drove the Eagles 75 yards in three plays, keyed by a 57-yard pass completion to wide receiver Dustin Creel down to the Wyoming 15-yard line. Running back Shaq Vann ran the ball in from 15-yards out on the next play, and the game was tied at 7-7.
Things would start to go bad for the Pokes five plays later. After a run of 11 yards by Allen, EMU was called for a personal foul penalty on the next play. Allen then rushed for five yards followed by his first incompletion of the day. On a third and five from the EMU 44-yard line, Allen took off on a 24-yard run to the EMU 20, but Allen chose to take on the tackler and the result was an injury to Allen’s shoulder area that ended his day. Redshirt freshman QB Smith entered the game for the Cowboys, and after a one-yard run by UW senior Shaun Wick and a six-yard loss on a screen pass to Hill, Wyoming was forced into a 42-yard field-goal attempt that true freshman Tristan Bailey missed to the left.
Following the missed field goal, Eastern Michigan took over at its own 25-yard line and would proceed to drive the ball 75 yards in 11 plays to take a 14-7 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, EMU place-kicker Brendan Renius executed a perfect onside kick, tapping the ball straight down the middle of the field and recovering the ball himself. Eight plays later, Roback connected with running back Darius Jackson for a 17-yard TD pass and EMU went up 21-7.
The Cowboys put together a nice drive of their own going 49 yards in 10 plays for what looked like a successful 33-yard field goal by Bailey, which would have been the first field goal of his career, but a Wyoming holding penalty moved the ball back 10 yards and Bailey failed on his next attempt from 43 yards.
The very next play saw the Eagles’ Vann break a 74-yard touchdown run for EMU’s third touchdown in five minutes and 58 seconds, to build the lead to 28-7. Eastern Michigan would add another touchdown and a field goal to extend its lead to 38-7 in the second quarter.
Wyoming put together a nice sustained drive right before halftime, going 75 yards in 10 plays, including runs of 11 and 12 yards by quarterback Smith, a 14-yard run by Hill and a run of 16 yards from Wick that led up to Wick taking the ball into the end zone from one-yard out to narrow the lead to 38-14 with 17 seconds remaining in the half. For Wick it was the 20th rushing touchdown of his career, tying him for eighth place on the Wyoming career rushing TD list with former Cowboy Brett Smith.
Like the first half, the Cowboys started well on their first possession of the second half. Starting with a 10-yard run by Hill and a pass completion from Smith to tight end Jacob Hollister for no gain, Hill then broke a 65-yard TD run, the longest of the season for the Cowboys. Smith ran the ball in for a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 16 points at 38-22.
EMU followed that up with a quick strike of their own — a 64-yard TD pass from Roback to wide receiver Eddie Daugherty to expand their lead to 45-22, and roll to the win.
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Cowboy DC Looking For Defense to Step Up This Spring [AUDIO]
Shorthanded Cowboys Drop One to Boise State
Cowboys Dominate in Season Opener at New Mexico State
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US, 2017; 83 min.
Step chronicles the senior year of a girls’ high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore. As each one tries to become the first in their families to attend college, the girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in the troubled city. Called “Hoop Dreams for the social media generation” (Variety) and “emotionally involving” and “a great story of adversity, struggle and elevating achievement” (The Hollywood Reporter), Step received a Special Jury Award for Inspirational Filmmaking at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it was this year’s definitive crowd-pleaser. Courtesy of Fox Searchlight.
Amanda Lipitz is a Tony Award winning Broadway producer and documentary filmmaker. She is the director and producer of the award winning documentary STEP being released by Fox Searchlight in August 2017. She served as Executive producer and Creator of MTV’s groundbreaking series Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods. She Associate Produced 'A Broadway Celebration" for PBS as part of the White House music series. Her first foray into Broadway producing was at the age of 24 with DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, starring John Lithgow. Her other producing credits include LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL (Broadway), MODERN ORTHODOX starring Jason Biggs and Molly Ringwald THE PERFORMERS (Broadway) starring Cheyenne Jackson, Henry Winkler & Alicia Silverstone and A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE ( TONY AWARD) and the 2016 Tony Award winning best play THE HUMANS (Pulitzer Finalist).
In 2008, Ms. Lipitz was named by Jewish Women International as one of their "10 Women to Watch", Ms. Lipitz graduated with a BFA in Theatre from Tisch School of the Arts and now serves on the Board of the school . She also recently became a trustee of New York University and also serves on PONY (Playwrights of New York). In addition to producing, Ms. Lipitz is responsible for some of the most innovative sponsorships on Broadway, including partnerships with Tiffany & Co., PBTeen, Maybelline, and Apple. Amanda Lipitz is known nationally for her documentary films highlighting philanthropic organizations and their impact. Ms. Lipitz has created over 30 films for organizations including Young Women's Leadership Network, CityMeals on Wheels, College Bound Initiative, The Tory Burch Foundation, Barnard College, Turnaround for Children, The Gateway School and many more. She is currently working on several projects including the original musical Brooklynite (The Vineyard,- Off Broadway) with Music and Lyrics by Peter Lerman. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.
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EPIC ROAD'S SAFARI BLOG
Entries in Great Migration (2)
Top Natural Wonders of Africa
At Epic Road we’re privileged to have travelled through some of nature’s most breathtaking places and inspiring landscapes, and we’re often asked which would make it onto our bucket list of the world's most spectacular must-see natural wonders. It’s a tough choice, but here are our favorites for sub-Saharan Africa:
1.) Botswana – The Okavango Delta: In the middle of the arid Kalahari Desert lies a miracle of nature: a lush oasis of waterways and islands, teeming with birds, wildlife, and flowers. This remote, remarkable wetland known as The Okavango Delta is flooded each year with approximately 2.63 cubic miles of water, which eventually evaporates, transpires and drains into the adjacent Lake Ngami. The floods peak between June and August when the delta expands to three times its normal size, and the abundance of water attracts animals from surrounding territories, resulting in one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife. Visitors to the Delta can expect to see bush elephant and buffalo, hippopotamus, blue wildebeest, giraffe, lion, cheetah, leopard, brown hyena, spotted hyena, black rhinos and white rhinos, along with one of the Africa's richest pack densities of the endangered wild dog. Birders will also be kept busy trying to spot the more than 400 species of birds that inhabit the area.
We love the Okavango Delta because it is a place where conservation is prioritized and travelers have access not only to a place of great natural beauty and peaceful energy, but can also learn, explore and experience amazing adventures while on their luxury African safari.
Related Epic Road Luxury African Safaris:
Selinda & Okavango Delta - Botswana's Water Wonderland
Botswana Family Safari: The Lion King Experience
2.) Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda – The Virunga National Park: The Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo runs along the border between Uganda and Rwanda, and boasts a rich diversity that surpasses any other park in Africa. This UNESCO World Heritage site covers an area close to 2,000,000 acres, with multiple habitats that include swamps and steppes, the snowfields of Rwenzori, lava plains and grassy savannahs. The Virunga Mountain range also consists of eight, mostly dormant volcanoes, except for Mounts Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira (both in the Democratic Republic of Congo)—which also happen to be the most active volcanoes on the continent.
The park is also home to iconic African animal and plant species—many of which are red listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature—including the critically endangered mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas, African elephants, chimpanzees, owl-faced monkeys, and more than 20,000 hippos. We are in awe of the men and women who toil tirelessly in efforts to protect all wildlife in the park. It is one of the most incredible biomes in the world, definitely worth saving, and definitely worth a visit on your African safari !
Related Epic Road Luxury Safaris:
Gorilla Tracking in Rwanda
Rare and Endangered Wildlife in Uganda
3.) Kenya – the Rift Valley: If watching the Great Wildebeest Migration from a hot air balloon isn’t on your bucket-list, well, it should be, as the the experience is an unbeatable way in which to view one of nature’s most incredible shows. The Migration ends in Kenya's Maasai Mara region, situated in the Rift Valley, with the Serengeti Plains running along its southern end. The Mara covers 200 square miles of open plains, woodlands and riverine forests and is home to an enormous variety of wild life, including zebra, giraffe, gazelles, monkeys, buffalo, elephants, and hippos. It is a place where mighty herds congregate, where the cycle of life plays out daily, and Maasai warriors share their ancestral homeland with the fierce predators of Africa.
From July to October every year, the search for fertile grazing grounds and water draws more than 1.3 million Wildebeest who migrate in a single massive herd across the Serengeti over the border into Kenya—an amazing display of nature that stretches from one horizon to the other. The Mara River presents a formidable challenge for the Wildebeest, who plunge into the raging waters, fighting against swift currents and the constant threat of hungry crocodiles. The Wildebeest herds are then followed by predators, most especially lions, though cheetah, hyena and jackals are also commonly sighted.
The region is also home to the Maasi people, who value tradition and ritual, and who rarely hunt, preferring to live harmoniously alongside wildlife. It is this rare co-existence of man and wildlife that makes the Maasai one of the most unique natural habitats in the world, and one of the most unforgettable places you can visit on your luxury African safari.
Crossing the Mighty Mara River
Maasai Wilderness and Elephant Conservation Safari
Maasai Walking Safari: A Slow Safari Experience
Conserving Africa's Big Cats - Kenya
4.) Mozambique - Vamizi: There are times when it’s not only what you see on the surface that takes your breath away; sometimes you have to look a little deeper, like the beautiful landscapes of Vamizi, one of 32 tropical islands in the Quirimbas Archipelago. This narrow stretch of land is covered with thick forests of Acacia, Hibiscus and Casuarina trees, and edged by glittering white-sand beaches that give way to the pristine turquoise ocean. Vamizi is a sanctuary for humans and animals alike: a place where green turtles make arduous journies up the sands to lay their eggs, giant coconut crabs nestle within the coral, and rare samango monkeys and exotic birds make their homes within mangrove forests.
It is when you venture beneath the surface of the gentle waves, that you realise the true natural beauty of Vamizi. Here, the coral reefs have been protected from bleaching by cool rising currents from the deep, and are alive with vibrant colourful sponges, corals and a myriad of fish species. The huge laced gorgonian fan corals which cling to the sides of the drop offs and the whip corals swaying in the gentle currents are mesmirizing, and for experienced divers the opportunity to explore Neptune’s Arm—considered one of the top ten dive sites in the world—will be impossible to resist.
We love Vamizi for its exquisite tranquility above and below the surface, and because of the emphasis on sustainable luxury safaris, leaving the island refreshingly free of the damage that often results from tourism and development.
Vamizi Island, Mozambique: Castaway Chic
5.) Namibia – the Namib-Naukluft National Park and the Kunene Region: Namibia is known for its varied dramatic landscapes, and the strikingly beautiful dune fields of the Namib and the Sossusvlei, found in the Namib-Naukluft National Park in the southern part of the Namib Desert, are absolute must-sees. The Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan surrounded by massive dunes, many of which exceed 600 feet, and glow vivid shades of red, orange and pink, the result of high iron deposits in the sand. Vegetation grows on the higher dunes, drawing water from underground ephemeral rivers which occasionally flood the surface, and when dry the pans turn almost white from the resulting concentration of salt. While the Sossusvlei is not teeming with wildlife, there are many small animals in their area which can survive with little water, including small reptiles, rodents and jackals, as well as larger mammals such as oryxes and springboks and ostriches.
The Kunene region is one of even more contrasts. You wouldn’t expect it but the arid, lunar-like landscape is becoming a genuine wildlife destination where you’ll regularly see desert-adapted animals including elephants, black rhino, lions, Hartmanns Zebra, giraffe and gemsbok. We love that the government had the foresight to give local communities land management rights, resulting in more than 70 conservancies and wildlife sanctuaries, and successful conservation efforts that have led to an increase in the number of desert-adapted black rhinos, one of the largest and fastest-growing rhino populations on the continent.
Romance and Luxury in the Nambian Desert
6.) South Africa – the whole country: South Africa has so much to offer visitors that we’re declaring the entire country a natural wonder! This modern, cosmopolitan nation has an incredibly rich biodiversity, which plays out across some of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, along with rich forests, stunning coastlines and deserts. The Cape Floral Kingdom, found in the southwest portion of the Western Cape, contains 9600 plant species, 70% of which do not grow naturally anywhere else on earth. Table Mountain, in the heart of the Floral Kingdom, has more than 1,500 plant species alone, and the views from the 3,500 fot, flat-topped sandstone peak are spectacular.
Then there’s the incredible wildlife. While South Africa covers less than one percent of the earth’s land mass, it is home to six percent of the world’s mammal and reptile species, and ten percent of the world’s plant, fish and bird species. Sightings of Africa’s Big Five happen on a daily basis, particularly in the Kruger National Park. South Africa is also the custodian of 80 percent of the world’s rhino population, and the opportunity to catch sight of one of these prehistoric creatures during your South African safari is an experience that will linger for a lifetime.
Jet Set in Cape Town
Vintage Wine and Fantastic Food in Cape Winelands
Microchip a Rhino in the African Wild
South Africa Family Safari: Luxury, Wildlife and Adventure for All
7.) Tanzania - Kilimanjaro National Parks, Ngorongoro Crater: With Serengeti (shared with Kenya) and Kilimanjaro National Parks and Ngorongoro included on the list of winners of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, it’s easy to understand why we include it on our top ten. To begin with, the Great Wildebeest Migration, which occurs from July to October of every year, starts in the Serengeti, and is considered one of the most spectacular wildlife events in all of nature. Then there's the iconic Mount Kilimanjaro, one of Africa’s best known attractions and one of the the most accessible of the world's highest peaks. The landscapes of Kilimanjaro are diverse, with the cultivated lower slopes making way for lush forest, and encompassing habitats for elephants, leopard, buffalo and the endangered abbot’s duiker, along with other small antelope and primates. Higher up the slopes you’ll find the moorland zone. Higher still, the alpine desert which supports very little life, and gives way to the ice, snow and majestic views from atop the roof of continent.
In addition to these wonders, Tanzania contains the nearly three-million-year-old Ngorongoro Crater, a vast un-flooded volcanic caldera home to almost every species of wildlife in East Africa—an estimated 25,000 animals. And also not to be missed on your Tanzania safari: the fascinating, historical Zanzibar Archipelago, off the Tanzanian coast, which include the culturally significant islands of Unguja (known more commonly as Zanzibar) and Pemba. Zanibar's location in the Indian Ocean made it a natural regional trading center, famous for its spices, Stone Town (a UNESCO World Heritage site), and exquisite coastlines. Unguja especially is renowned for its powdery white sand beaches and fringing coral reefs, rich in marine biodiversity.
Safari in the Ngorongoro Crater
Serengeti Safari: Witness the Great Migration
Safari in Zanzibar: Low Key and Local
Tanzania Family Safari: A Classic African Experience
8.) Zambia and Zimbabwe - Victoria Falls: When it comes to understanding the incredible power of nature, there is nothing like an African adventure safari at Victoria Falls. Located on the Zambezi River at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, this awe inspiring curtain of water has columns of spray that can be seen from miles away. The falls are classified as the largest in the world based on their width of 5,604 feet and height of 354 feet, and at the peak of the rainy season more than 1.766 cubic feet of water per minute plunges into the river gorges below, transforming the generally placid Zambezi into a ferocious torrent of rolling rapids and rolicking waves.
The walls that encase Victoria Falls are capped by mist-soaked rainforest, and the surrounding area also contains two national parks: The UNESCO designated Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park which runs over 16,000 acres on the Zambian side, and the 5,683 acre Victoria Falls National Park in Zimbabwe. There are also a number of smaller parks—including the Zambezi National Park, Matetsi Safari Area, Kazuma Pan National Park and Hwange National Park—containing sizeable populations of elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, and a variety of antelope. Vervet monkeys and baboons are also common, and the portion of the Zambezi River above the falls is also home to large populations of hippos and crocodile.
Re-Imagining Victoria Falls
Zimbabwe Safari: Autheticity by Car, Boat and Foot
Victoria Falls Family Safari: A Water Wonderland
Posted on Thu, March 13, 2014 tagged Great Migration, Luxury African Safari, Mozambique, South Africa safaris, Tanzania, Victoria Falls, Zambia, Zimbabwe, cape town, okavango delta botswana, zanzibar
Best Documentaries on Africa
Epic Road (mg)
Here at Epic Road, we like to get ready for our epic journeys and African safaris by reading up on the natural history of the region. Another, faster way to prep is watching some of the best documentaries on Africa there are—and there are many. Here are a few great recommendations to get you excited and aware.
The Last Lions
A collaboration between National Geographic and Explorers-in-Residence Derek and Beverly Joubert, The Last Lions documents the rapid decline of Africa’s lion population due to poaching and a terrible lack of government protection. The film documentary focuses on a lioness named Ma di Tau ("Mother of Lions") as she battles to protect her cubs against the daunting onslaught of enemies to ensure their survival. This is the jumping-off point for a disturbing, well-researched and beautifully shot cri de coeur about our moral duty to save this majestic species and others like it.
BBC’s Planet Earth
There’s no one segment on Africa in this mind-boggling series about the world’s wealth of little-known natural wonders; rather, spectacular footage of the continent is sprinkled throughout. Look out for a lion pride’s elephant hunt, elephants migrating towards the Okavango Delta, a seasonal bloom of life in the otherwise arid Kalahari desert, huge families of gelada monkeys living on the steep precipices of Ethopian highlands, and the touching, uncannily human behavior of Chimpanzees in the Congo.
War Dance
In war-torn Uganda, the L. R. A. (Lord's Resistance Army) kidnaps young children, turning girls into sex slaves and boys into soldiers. Thousands of children seek refuge from the L. R. A. in the Patongo camp, and this film follows several of the camp's children as they compete in the National Music Competition. Despite the enormous odds against them, these children manage to find new life and hope in dance. A story of human resilience in the face of total brutality, War Dance was nominated for an Academy Award and heralded as one of the best documentaries about Africa.
BBC’s latest addition to its spectacular annals of nature documentaries is Africa, a beautifully shot, in-depth look at the elusive continent. Narrated by David Attenborough, the series travels across Africa region-by-region, capturing never-before-recorded natural phenomena and animal behaviors on film.
Posted on Wed, April 24, 2013 tagged BBC, Beverly and Derek Joubert, David Attenborough, Ethiopia, Great Migration, Namibia, Planet Earth, Uganda, War Dance, african safari trip, okavango delta, the last lions
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By Liam Twomey
Chelsea boss praises Kepa Arrizabalaga: 'Very young, but very, very good'
LONDON -- Maurizio Sarri admitted that he is in the dark about Thibaut Courtois and Kepa Arrizabalaga but reserved some praise for the young goalkeeper's play while also revealing he believes the "problem" of Eden Hazard's uncertain future at Chelsea is over.
Courtois was absent as Chelsea defeated Lyon on penalties after a goalless draw in their final preseason friendly at Stamford Bridge, having failed to report for training at Cobham this week after informing Sarri that he wants to join Real Madrid.
Hazard, however, did make his first Chelsea appearance since the World Cup to huge cheers, assuming the captain's armband from the bench and converting the winning penalty, while N'Golo Kante, Olivier Giroud and Gary Cahill were also introduced as second-half substitutes.
Asked if Courtois will leave Chelsea after the match, Sarri said: "I don't know. I think I am here just to talk about this match... I don't know at this moment. I want to speak with my club. Then, altogether, we'll decide about it."
He was more bullish on Hazard, whom Chelsea remain determined to keep despite interest from Madrid.
"I don't see this problem in this moment," he insisted. "I have spoken with Eden two or three times in the last two days. He has spoken of everything. I think this problem, the Hazard problem, is not present now."
Sources told ESPN FC earlier on Tuesday that Chelsea have told Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa that they are willing to pay the €80 million (£71.5m) buyout clause in his contract, leaving the final decision over whether to succeed Courtois as No. 1 at Stamford Bridge in the player's hands.
On the subject of Kepa, Sarri added with a smile: "If I don't know anything about Courtois, I don't know anything about Kepa."
Despite his reluctance to talk about transfers, Sarri did elaborate on the impression of Kepa that he formed while in charge of Napoli.
"I saw him one year ago [when I was at] Naples, and my first impression was he was a very good goalkeeper," the Chelsea head coach said. "Very young, but very, very good."
Chelsea's preseason has been complicated by Sarri's delayed appointment and the late return of key players like Hazard and Kante following the World Cup, but Sarri is excited by the potential of the players he has at his disposal.
"I think that we have to work," he warned. "We started to work [only] two days ago. But I think, potentially, we can become in two or three months a very good team."
Kepa Arrizabalaga
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The Heart of Stone: The Physical and Psychological Effects of 8th Day Circumcision
Home / Consciousness/Spirituality / The Heart of Stone: The Physical and Psychological Effects of 8th Day Circumcision
Article reposted from Renegade Tribune
June 18, 2017 Lore Ley
Throughout history, Jewish behavior has been criticized for selfishness and lack of compassion, especially towards non-Jews. Martin Luther was frustrated to find that Jewish hearts were “as hard as a stick, stone, iron, and the devil (“stock stein eisen teuffel hart”: Vom Schem Hamphoras, 1534). Adolf Hitler felt the Jewish people were among the “most unscrupulous and ruthless of peoples.” Harry S. Truman famously noted in his diary that Jews had no sense of proportion, being unusually selfish and cruel: “The Jews, I find are very, very selfish. They care not how many Estonians, Latvians, Finns, Poles, Yugoslavs or Greeks get murdered or mistreated as D[isplaced] P[ersons] as long as the Jews get special treatment. Yet when they have power, physical, financial or political neither Hitler nor Stalin has anything on them for cruelty or mistreatment to the under dog.”(link). Even the former president of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, pointed out to an Israeli that his nation displayed a lot of brain, but no heart: “You have nothing to be proud of, unless of course you take pride in being heartless, in being primitive brutes.” (link)
Film Poster of a 1950 GDR production of Wilhelm Hauff’s The Heart of Stone, directed by Paul Verhoeven.
The Heart of Stone
There is a German fairy tale about heartlessness and wealth, which has a Jewish character: in “The Heart of Stone” (Das kalte Herz by Wilhelm Hauff, literally: The Cold Heart), a Black Forest charburner, Peter, wants to become as rich as the wealthy wood-merchant Ezekiel, and trades his human heart for a heart of stone. After his deal with Dutch-Mike, who owns a whole collection of hearts including Ezekiel’s, Peter is no longer able to cry or laugh or love, and has no access to his emotions. He regrets having chosen Ezekiel as a role-model, applies a trick to get his heart back, and spends the rest of his life as a charburner with a real heart, working humbly, happily married with a son.
Currently, right-wing circles all over the world promote Jewish ethnocentrism and self-assertiveness as a trait to be emulated. What if Jewish/Israeli “heartlessness” is not actually a healthy condition, but rests on a rather serious mental dysfunction induced by 8th day circumcision?
The “Epicenter of the Jewish tragedy”?
At least, that is what was suggested by the late Roger Dommergue Polacco de Menasce (1923-2013), a French professor of English with a PhD in Endocrinology. Of Jewish origin but not circumcised on the 8th day, Dommergue observed that there was a set of characteristics that was common to Jews all over the world, regardless of the physical and genetic differences between Sephardis and Ashkenazis. Dommergue proposed that what determined Jewish behavior was neither race nor religion, but the ritual of circumcision, also known as “Brit Milah”. In Judaism, the surgery is performed on the 8th day after a male infant’s birth, which has its Scriptural basis in Genesis and Leviticus: “Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you” (Genesis 17:10-11); “And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.” (Lev. 12:3). The operation is done without narcosis. It is performed by a “mohel,” who also sucks the blood from the wound (“metzitzah b’peh”). Many babies withdraw in shock or nearly choke with mortal agony.
Drawing on the work of French endocrinologist Dr. Jean Gautier, Dommergue pointed out that the 8th day was a crucial stage in the hormonal development of a human being. Gautier had referred to it as “the first puberty”. Dommergue proposed that the operation had irreversible effects on the brain: causing a permanent hormonal imbalance, it led to hypertrophied thinking, lack of empathy and a predatorial attitude, which was also expressed in their physique, especially among Jews in the financial world. “Our face reflects our soul, hence those caricatural faces,” Dommergue points out:
What happens is when you perform this operation, you set free some hormones contained in the internal genital organ, which is THE human gland. The gland that basically runs everything deliberately. Deliberately, not automatically. Automatisms it would seem are from the pituitary. So, it’s the organ of free will. It will consequently become underdeveloped starting that day.
It will be underdeveloped and at the same time, it will liberate other organs, which will run without the brakes on. Because the role of the internal genital gland is precisely to orchestrate a balance in the whole hormonal system. It won’t be able to do it. Thus the pituitary and the thyroid, even the adrenal glands to a lesser extent, will become unhinged.
They will therefore be out of control, 7, 8, or 10 times more active than in most humans. And what’s going to happen? The internal genital gland, which is underdeveloped in the mentally ill, will be underdeveloped in the Jews. Which means they’ll only have enough interstitial capacity, to direct their speculations which will be dictated by their pituitary and their thyroid. Hence a sort of real illness: they can’t stop. (link)
According to Dommergue, this specific hormonal, mental disposition has led to a Jewish obsession with equations, an unhinged imagination, and an inability to produce synthetic thinking, which will result in “these monstrosities that are financial capitalism, Marxism, Freudianism.” True spirituality, art and philosophy are impossible to achieve with this mindset: “There is no Chopin, Beethoven, there’s no Jewish Bach, because these guys had a huge interstitial capacity, the Jews don’t. However, when it comes to minor artists, they’re everywhere. Just as in finance, pituitary medicine, chemistry and physics.” According to Dommergue, the “epicenter of the Jewish tragedy” was internal genital science.
Dommergue had earned a PhD in Endocrinology with a doctoral thesis on the temperament of male dandies in the Romantic era, looking at their behavioral characteristics, physical appearance and attitudes from the point of view of endocrinology, positing that these dandies had been suffering from a hyperthyroid condition.[1] Perhaps, it is important to remember that French academia allows for more philosophical approaches to scientific topics, and that Dommergue was also a professor of literature. An ardent critic of allopathy, he was sceptical about what he called the “Judaeo-Cartesian” scientific outlook, which he thought had been “overstimulated by the Jews, reigning supreme until the very destruction of the planet.”
Judaism and Saturn
The idea of connecting Judaism with a specific temperament is not entirely new, and there are some similarities, it seems, between the endocrinological approach and the traditional view of humoral pathology, the doctrine of the four temperaments, which used to be the foundation of medicine in the ancient world, dominating Western science for 2000 years until it was replaced by different paradigms in the 19th century. Although it is now considered a pseudo-science, the idea of bodily fluids in humoral pathology is somewhat comparable to the idea of hormonal fluids having an effect on our mental health and emotional stability. Both systems of thought hold that diet plays a crucial role in achieving physical and psychic balance.
Saturn as a Jew: woodcut from Nuremberg, Germany, 1492.
Throughout Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe, Jews were linked to the planetary influence of Saturn, because their holy day was the day of Saturn: Satur-day.[2]The Hebrew word for Saturn is Sabbatai, again referencing the Sabbath. Saturn corresponds to the Greek God Kronos, who was known for devouring his own children: Jews were thought to worship this God.
Church Fathers made a connection to Baal worship: Isidore of Seville “understood Saturn to have been originally a Babylonian God, Bel, later called Saturn.”[3] Saturn was moreover associated with the melancholy temperament, which had predominantly negative connotations in the ancient world and in the Middle Ages. Martin Luther still associated melancholy and sadness with Satan: “Satan is a spirit of sadness, that is why he cannot tolerate happiness, which is why he is very far away from music.” The Saturnine temperament was considered cold, and associated with avarice, idleness and anything black, such as black clothing, black magic etc., as a result of the predominance of black bile. In his Cosmographia, Bernardus Silvestris reads Saturn as a symbol of death, decay, and disharmony, and as the anti-thesis to nature. There is an interesting passage that sounds like an allusion to the Jewish practice of circumcision in alignment with a spirit that is hostile towards life, beauty and humanity:
Saturn is an old man everywhere condemned, savagely inclined to harsh and bloody acts of unfeeling and detestable malice. Whenever his most fertile wife had borne him sons, he cut them off at the first budding of life, devouring the newly born… whenever there was no one whom he (Saturn) might devour, he would mow down with a blow of his sickle whatever was beautiful, whatever was flourishing. Just as he would not accept childbirth, so he forbade roses, lilies, and the other kinds of sweet-scented flowers to flourish. By the spectacle he presented he prefigured the hostility with which he was to menace the race of men to come by the poisonous and deadly propensities of the planet.[4]
Detail from Peter Paul Rubens: Saturn devouring his own son (1636)
With the advent of the fraudulent “Christian Kabbalah” and the rise of humanism in the Renaissance, Jewry and their assigned temperament received a positive reinterpretation: Saturn and melancholy were now associated with genius and considered especially noble, the temperament of philosophical speculation, and closeness to God.[5]
The approach of humoral pathology may seem odd and overly associative to us today, but it was accepted by leading scholars and physicians in Europe for a very long time, dating back to Hippocrates (400 BC), with later adjustments by Galenus (2nd century AD) and Avicenna (11th century AD). Whether or not we are willing to ascribe any validity to it, it reminds us that scientific categories are subject to change depending on what a particular intellectual elite in a given epoch considers a valid paradigm. It also reminds us that a scientific theory will always remain a human attempt at rationally describing phenomena that are observable in the outside world.
Seeing circumcision trauma and hormonal imbalance at the heart of the Jewish condition rather than the planetary influence or worship of Saturn, Dommergue recommends the radical prohibition of 8th day circumcision, which he thinks would “deliver the Jews from their cosmic tragedy.” The theory does not seem to be widely known even in circles that are preoccupied with the JQ, but it might be worth investigating it further. A student of Dr. Gautier’s is continuing his work in France today, where it is known as “Endocrino-Psychology” (link). Elsewhere, this field of research goes by the name of “Psychoneuroendocrinology” (PNE) – a relatively recent discipline.
Current Debates in the US: Long-Term Effects of Neonatal Trauma
With circumcision becoming a more wide-spread practice in the US even among non-Jews, it has come under scrutiny of psychologists, psychiatrists and pediatrics, as well as lay persons affected by it. Even as grown-ups, many men have reported feelings of rage about having been circumcised without consent, and of feeling violated and abused. One of the leading critics, Ronald Goldman, is Jewish. He runs a non-for profit resource centre on circumcision in Boston circumcision.org. His book The Hidden Trauma: How an American Cultural Practice Affects Infants and Ultimately, Us All (1997) is advertised as the “first intensive exploration of the unrecognized psychological and social aspects of this increasingly controversial American cultural practice.” Reviewing the “surprising abilities of infants and their responses to circumcision pain”, the book examines the “long-term psychological effects of circumcision from the perspectives of both traditional and innovative psychological theories.” Goldman argues that circumcision has a major effect on emotional bonding and relationships, male attitudes towards women, sexuality and general emotional well-being. Studies suggest that “abnormal stimulation during the neonatal period,” such as circumcision pain, permanently alters the brain.[6]
A neurologist who saw the results postulated that the data indicated that circumcision affected most intensely the portions of the victim’s brain associated with reasoning, perception and emotions. Follow up tests on the infant one day, one week and one month after the surgery indicated that the child’s brain never returned to its baseline configuration. In other words, the evidence generated by this research indicated that the brain of the circumcised infant was permanently changed by the surgery (link).
Other studies have connected circumcision with a lack of empathy and an inability to verbalize emotions in adult life, also known as alexithymia.[7] While many women would see this as a common male trait, the condition appears to be intensified in circumcised men.
The traumatic experience of being genitally mutilated shortly after birth also has effects on the boy’s bond with the mother and his sense of trust towards her. Here is a report of a baby boy’s behavioural changes and sense of alienation after circumcision:
I shared a hospital room with a mother whose son was born within hours of my daughter. My roommate and I marveled at the identical personality traits exhibited by our newborn babies. Both were perfectly calm, never cried and gazed unwaveringly at our faces when we held them. We experienced that maternal closeness the mother feels when she realizes her baby knows her and accepts her as caretaker. . . Delight in our new-found joys of motherhood was shattered the following morning. My roommate’s baby had changed. He refused to nurse; he cried; he wouldn’t be held. “He doesn’t want me,” my roommate pitifully told the nurse. “It’s just the circumcision,” the nurse told her comfortingly. (R. Goldman, “How Circumcision Harms Women”, link)
The child, it seems, unconsciously blames the mother for neglecting her maternal duty to protect it in the most vulnerable phase of his life, which might have long-term effects on the circumcised male’s relationship with women. Interestingly, Freudian anthropologist John Wesley Mayhew Whiting interpreted the ritual as a symbol of civilizational progress: breaking the bond between mother and son via circumcision prevented incest. He fully acknowledged both the traumatizing character of the ritual, and its damaging effects on the mother-son relationship, pointing out that “the trauma was meant to break the incestuous bond between mother and son, easing the son’s transition into the male world without inciting parricidal revolt against the father.”[8]
Indeed, the experience is traumatic even for the mother. A Jewish mother of two sons, Miriam Pollack, reports how witnessing this surgery being done to her newly born baby boys traumatized her for life (link). After many years of internal conflict, she was “beyond devastated” when she finally did research on circumcision and admitted to herself that her trusted religious authorities had lied to her about the procedure on virtually every level: they had claimed the baby wouldn’t remember, it would not experience any pain, they would cut off only an unnecessary piece of dead tissue – none of which was true.
Jewish boys do seem to get pampered by their mothers more than children in other communities: we are all familiar with the J.A.P. phenomenon (Jewish American Prince). Are Jewish mothers bound to spoil their sons because they feel guilty about neglecting their new-born babies when they needed them most? Could this be another factor that contributes to heightened narcissism and a corresponding lack of empathy in Jewish men? One also wonders what the “compulsion to repeat the trauma” via re-enactment, re-victimization and masochism means for Jewish culture as a whole: “In behavioral re-enactment of the trauma, the self may play the role of either victim or victimizer.”[9] Is circumcision trauma at the heart of the Jewish victim mentality? It would also be interesting to look at Judaism’s curious obsession with vengeance in the context of repressed rage about circumcision. After all, their Scriptures abound with fantasies of revenge and destruction, and the fact that this is a unique phenomenon in the world of religious thinking cannot be emphasised enough. And finally, wouldn’t it make sense to read the Jewish involvement in pornography, where women are often degraded and violated, as a form of revenge on the sex that is subconsciously blamed for the Jewish male ur-trauma of being genitally violated? If Jews are so heavily involved in this industry, the ways in which their imagination has shaped the violent language of pornography might signal a major issue with women and their own sexuality — which unfortunately has affected the relationship between men and women in gentile societies in a major way now.
Questioning Circumcision: Taboo for Jews
In another book targeted at the Jewish community especially, Goldman is at pains to explain how pointing out the damaging effects of ritual circumcision is not anti-Semitic.[10] His language is hypersensitive, as if he was walking on egg-shells. Questioning circumcision in the Jewish community is a no-go. Goldman breaks a major taboo, and he should be lauded for doing so, given the detrimental effects this ritual might actually have on the Jewish community — with dire consequences for all of us.
Despite the massive propaganda that is pushing circumcision on gentile communities by spreading lies about its alleged benefits (link), there is growing awareness and resistance to this practice, even in the Jewish community. There are signs that Jews who have begun to question circumcision will end up questioning its effects on the historical behavior of Jews as a collective, which would be a major break-through with regards to Jewish self-reflection. A reviewer of Goldman’s book on amazon confesses:
As a Jewish mother of a circumcised son, I didn’t dare question the unquestionable. (…) However, the doubts were there, lurking under the surface but I was embarrassed to speak about them. I heard about Dr. Goldman’s book and after reading it, I had the courage to acknowledge that we as a people are being violated on many levels by this ritual.
Goldman suggests that confronting the damaging effects of this tradition on the mental health of individuals and society at large, and finally, abandoning the tradition, will lead Jews to “grow as a community.”
Today, the US has a circumcision rate of 50% among the general male population, while in Israel the rate is nearly 100%. Israeli parents are fined 150$ per delayed day if they do not circumcise their son on the 8th day. (link)
Despite the fact that the world has perceived Jews as unscrupulous and heartless, it is interesting to note that they see themselves as champions of compassion. In fact, it appears to be one of the cornerstones of Judaism as it is understood by observant Jews in the US today (see the statements by Miriam Pollack), which also explains major Jewish involvement in humanitarian projects. The idea of “repairing the world” (hebr.: tikkun olam) is central to much of Jewish activism, and most Jews seem to be completely unaware that they are doing the exact opposite of repairing. From their point of view, it is the non-Jewish world that is backward and lacks compassion. As we have seen in other instances, however, Jews have a unique proclivity for projecting their own issues onto non-Jews. Miriam Pollack’s realization that male genital mutilation in her own tradition was just as barbaric as female genital mutilation in Africa, and that she was using the same arguments to defend it as those who defended female genital mutilation, must have been a truly eye-opening experience.
Will the circumcision controversy finally lead Jews to look in the mirror as a community, and to acknowledge their destructive role in the history of mankind?
[1] Roger Dommergue, Le dandysme, hyperthyroïdie physiologique, Paris 1971.
[2] E.g. Eric Zafran, “Saturn and the Jews”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
Vol. 42 (1979), pp. 16-27. Irven M. Resnick, Marks of Distinction: Christian Perceptions of Jews in the High Middle Ages, Washington DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2012. Cf. esp. chapters 2, 5 and 6.
[3] Resnick, p. 216.
[5] Raymond Klibansky, Erwin Panofsky, Fritz Saxl. Saturn and Melancholy. Studies in the History of Natural Philosophy, Religion, and Art, London: Nelson, 1964. Frances Yates, The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, London: Routledge and Paul, 1979.
[6] Anand K. & Scalzo F. Can adverse neonatal experiences alter brain development and subsequent behavior? Biol Neonate 2000;77(2):69-82. http://www.cirp.org/library/pain/anand4/
[7] Dan Bollinger, Robert S. van Howe, “Alexithymia and Circumcision Trauma: A Preliminary Investigation,” International Journal of Men’s Health, Vol. 10 No. 2 (2011): http://www.mensstudies.info/OJS/index.php/IJMH/article/view/614/pdf_225
[8] David Gollaher, Circumcision: A History of the World’s Most Controversial Surgery, New York: Basic Books 2000, p. 67.
[9] van der Kolk B. “The compulsion to repeat the trauma: Re-enactment, revictimization, and masochism”. Psychiatr Clin North Am 1989; 12:389-411. http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/vanderkolk/
[10] Ronald Goldman, Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective, Vanguard Pub. 1997: http://www.jewishcircumcision.org/beyondas.htm
Anti White propaganda and “the mainstreaming…
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July 18, 2018 Willem Felderhof Posted in: Consciousness/Spirituality, Geopolitics & New World Order, God's Law / Natural Law, Judaism, Mind control/Health, White genocide Tagged: circumcision, Jewish messianism, Judaism, messianic tension, zionism
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‘We know little about the effect of diet on health. That’s why so much is written about it’. That is the title of a post in which I advocate the view put by John Ioannidis that remarkably little is known about the health effects if individual nutrients. That ignorance has given rise to a vast industry selling advice that has little evidence to support it.
The 2016 Conference of the so-called "College of Medicine" had the title "Food, the Forgotten Medicine". This post gives some background information about some of the speakers at this event. I’m sorry it appears to be too ad hominem, but the only way to judge the meeting is via the track record of the speakers.
Quite a lot has been written here about the "College of Medicine". It is the direct successor of the Prince of Wales’ late, unlamented, Foundation for Integrated Health. But unlike the latter, its name is disguises its promotion of quackery. Originally it was going to be called the “College of Integrated Health”, but that wasn’t sufficently deceptive so the name was dropped.
For the history of the organisation, see
The new “College of Medicine” arising from the ashes of the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health
Don’t be deceived. The new “College of Medicine” is a fraud and delusion
The College of Medicine is in the pocket of Crapita Capita. Is Graeme Catto selling out?
The conference programme (download pdf) is a masterpiece of bait and switch. It is a mixture of very respectable people, and outright quacks. The former are invited to give legitimacy to the latter. The names may not be familiar to those who don’t follow the antics of the magic medicine community, so here is a bit of information about some of them.
The introduction to the meeting was by Michael Dixon and Catherine Zollman, both veterans of the Prince of Wales Foundation, and both devoted enthusiasts for magic medicne. Zollman even believes in the battiest of all forms of magic medicine, homeopathy (download pdf), for which she totally misrepresents the evidence. Zollman works now at the Penny Brohn centre in Bristol. She’s also linked to the "Portland Centre for integrative medicine" which is run by Elizabeth Thompson, another advocate of homeopathy. It came into being after NHS Bristol shut down the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital, on the very good grounds that it doesn’t work.
Now, like most magic medicine it is privatised. The Penny Brohn shop will sell you a wide range of expensive and useless "supplements". For example, Biocare Antioxidant capsules at £37 for 90. Biocare make several unjustified claims for their benefits. Among other unnecessary ingredients, they contain a very small amount of green tea. That’s a favourite of "health food addicts", and it was the subject of a recent paper that contains one of the daftest statistical solecisms I’ve ever encountered
"To protect against type II errors, no corrections were applied for multiple comparisons".
If you don’t understand that, try this paper.
The results are almost certainly false positives, despite the fact that it appeared in Lancet Neurology. It’s yet another example of broken peer review.
It’s been know for decades now that “antioxidant” is no more than a marketing term, There is no evidence of benefit and large doses can be harmful. This obviously doesn’t worry the College of Medicine.
Margaret Rayman was the next speaker. She’s a real nutritionist. Mixing the real with the crackpots is a standard bait and switch tactic.
Eleni Tsiompanou, came next. She runs yet another private "wellness" clinic, which makes all the usual exaggerated claims. She seems to have an obsession with Hippocrates (hint: medicine has moved on since then). Dr Eleni’s Joy Biscuits may or may not taste good, but their health-giving properties are make-believe.
Andrew Weil, from the University of Arizona
gave the keynote address. He’s described as "one of the world’s leading authorities on Nutrition and Health". That description alone is sufficient to show the fantasy land in which the College of Medicine exists. He’s a typical supplement salesman, presumably very rich. There is no excuse for not knowing about him. It was 1988 when Arnold Relman (who was editor of the New England Journal of Medicine) wrote A Trip to Stonesville: Some Notes on Andrew Weil, M.D..
“Like so many of the other gurus of alternative medicine, Weil is not bothered by logical contradictions in his argument, or encumbered by a need to search for objective evidence.”
This blog has mentioned his more recent activities, many times.
Alex Richardson, of Oxford Food and Behaviour Research (a charity, not part of the university) is an enthusiast for omega-3, a favourite of the supplement industry, She has published several papers that show little evidence of effectiveness. That looks entirely honest. On the other hand, their News section contains many links to the notorious supplement industry lobby site, Nutraingredients, one of the least reliable sources of information on the web (I get their newsletter, a constant source of hilarity and raised eyebrows). I find this worrying for someone who claims to be evidence-based. I’m told that her charity is funded largely by the supplement industry (though I can’t find any mention of that on the web site).
Stephen Devries was a new name to me. You can infer what he’s like from the fact that he has been endorsed byt Andrew Weil, and that his address is "Institute for Integrative Cardiology" ("Integrative" is the latest euphemism for quackery). Never trust any talk with a title that contains "The truth about". His was called "The scientific truth about fats and sugars," In a video, he claims that diet has been shown to reduce heart disease by 70%. which gives you a good idea of his ability to assess evidence. But the claim doubtless helps to sell his books.
Prof Tim Spector, of Kings College London, was next. As far as I know he’s a perfectly respectable scientist, albeit one with books to sell, But his talk is now online, and it was a bit like a born-again microbiome enthusiast. He seemed to be too impressed by the PREDIMED study, despite it’s statistical unsoundness, which was pointed out by Ioannidis. Little evidence was presented, though at least he was more sensible than the audience about the uselessness of multivitamin tablets.
Simon Mills talked on “Herbs and spices. Using Mother Nature’s pharmacy to maintain health and cure illness”. He’s a herbalist who has featured here many times. I can recommend especially his video about Hot and Cold herbs as a superb example of fantasy science.
Annie Anderson, is Professor of Public Health Nutrition and
Founder of the Scottish Cancer Prevention Network. She’s a respectable nutritionist and public health person, albeit with their customary disregard of problems of causality.
Patrick Holden is chair of the Sustainable Food Trust. He promotes "organic farming". Much though I dislike the cruelty of factory farms, the "organic" industry is largely a way of making food more expensive with no health benefits.
The Michael Pittilo 2016 Student Essay Prize was awarded after lunch. Pittilo has featured frequently on this blog as a result of his execrable promotion of quackery -see, in particular, A very bad report: gamma minus for the vice-chancellor.
Nutritional advice for patients with cancer. This discussion involved three people.
Professor Robert Thomas, Consultant Oncologist, Addenbrookes and Bedford Hospitals, Dr Clare Shaw, Consultant Dietitian, Royal Marsden Hospital and Dr Catherine Zollman, GP and Clinical Lead, Penny Brohn UK.
Robert Thomas came to my attention when I noticed that he, as a regular cancer consultant had spoken at a meeting of the quack charity, “YestoLife”. When I saw he was scheduled tp speak at another quack conference. After I’d written to him to point out the track records of some of the people at the meeting, he withdrew from one of them. See The exploitation of cancer patients is wicked. Carrot juice for lunch, then die destitute. The influence seems to have been temporary though. He continues to lend respectability to many dodgy meetings. He edits the Cancernet web site. This site lends credence to bizarre treatments like homeopathy and crystal healing. It used to sell hair mineral analysis, a well-known phony diagnostic method the main purpose of which is to sell you expensive “supplements”. They still sell the “Cancer Risk Nutritional Profile”. for £295.00, despite the fact that it provides no proven benefits.
Robert Thomas designed a food "supplement", Pomi-T: capsules that contain Pomegranate, Green tea, Broccoli and Curcumin. Oddly, he seems still to subscribe to the antioxidant myth. Even the supplement industry admits that that’s a lost cause, but that doesn’t stop its use in marketing. The one randomised trial of these pills for prostate cancer was inconclusive. Prostate Cancer UK says "We would not encourage any man with prostate cancer to start taking Pomi-T food supplements on the basis of this research". Nevertheless it’s promoted on Cancernet.co.uk and widely sold. The Pomi-T site boasts about the (inconclusive) trial, but says "Pomi-T® is not a medicinal product".
There was a cookery demonstration by Dale Pinnock "The medicinal chef" The programme does not tell us whether he made is signature dish "the Famous Flu Fighting Soup". Needless to say, there isn’t the slightest reason to believe that his soup has the slightest effect on flu.
In summary, the whole meeting was devoted to exaggerating vastly the effect of particular foods. It also acted as advertising for people with something to sell. Much of it was outright quackery, with a leavening of more respectable people, a standard part of the bait-and-switch methods used by all quacks in their attempts to make themselves sound respectable. I find it impossible to tell how much the participants actually believe what they say, and how much it’s a simple commercial drive.
The thing that really worries me is why someone like Phil Hammond supports this sort of thing by chairing their meetings (as he did for the "College of Medicine’s" direct predecessor, the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health. His defence of the NHS has made him something of a hero to me. He assured me that he’d asked people to stick to evidence. In that he clearly failed. I guess they must pay well.
Tagged alternative medicine, Andrew Weil, Anti-science, antiscience, badscience, CAM, Cancernet, Catherine Zollman, College of medicine, evidence, Graeme Catto, herbal medicine, herbalism, Michael Dixon, Michael Pittilo, nutribabble, nutribollocks, nutrition, nutritional therapy, Robert Thomas, Simon Mills, Westminster university | 20 Comments
A curious letter from David Tredinnick MP, the government’s resident medical loon
It’s hard to know what to make of David Tredinnick MP (Cons, Bosworth). He is certainly an extreme example of the scientific ignorance of our parliamentary representatives, but he isn’t alone in that. Our present minister of Education, Michael Gove, memorably referred to Newton’s Laws of Thermodynamics, blissfully unaware that thermodynamics was a 19th century development. And our present Minister of Health seems to think that magic water cures diseases.
But Mr Treddinick breaks every record for anti-scientific nonsense. That, no doubt, is why he was upset by the recent revision of come NHS Choices web pages, so that they now give a good account of the evidence (that’s their job, of course). They did that despite two years of obstruction by the Department of Health. which seemed to think that it was appropriate to take advice from Michael Dixon of the Prince’s Foundation for integrated Health. That shocking example of policy based evidence was revealed on this blog, and caused something of a stir.
Treddinick’s latest letter
A copy of a letter from Mr Tredinnick to the Minister of Health, Jeremy Hunt, has some into my possession by a tortuous route [download the letter]. It’s a corker. Here are a few quotations.
"1. UKIP moving onto our ground
Attached is an extract from a recent UKIP policy statement. The position which UKIP has taken is one with which most of our Daily Mail reading supporters of complementary medicine would agree."
It seems that Treddinick’s preferred authority on medicine is now Nigel Farage, leader of the UK’s far right party. UKIP’s policy on health is appended to the letter, and it’s as barmy as most of the other things they say.
"2. Herbal Medicine
. . .there is very real concern that the Government will not regulate Herbal Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The current situation is unacceptable, because herbal practitioners need regulation and cannot function as herbal therapists, nor can they cannot obtain stocks of their herbal remedies, without it.
This refers to a saga that has been running for at least 10 years. Herbalists are desperate to get a government stamp of approval by getting statutory regulation, much like real doctors have, despite the fact that they make money by selling sick people "an unknown dose of an ill-defined drug, of unknown effectiveness and unknown safety" (as quoted recently in the House of Lords).
Even the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) doesn’t claim that a single herbal treatment is useful. The saga of herbal regulation is long and tedious. The short version is that a very bad report, The Pittilo report, recommended regulation of herbalists. After years of prevarication, Andrew Lansley ignored the impartial scientific advice and yielded to the pressure from the herbal industry to accept the Pittilo report. But still nothing has happened.
Could it be that even Jeremy Hunt realises, deep down, that the regulation of nonsense is a nonsense that would harm the public?
We can only hope that a letter from Mr Tredinnick is the kiss of death. Perhaps his continuous pestering will only reinforce the doubts that seem to exist at the Department of Health.
Then Tredinnick returns (yawn) to his obsession with magic water. He vents his rage at the now excellent NHS Choices page on homeopathy.
3. Homeopathy
"Recently this wording has been removed and instead a comment by the Chief Medical Officer that homeopathy is placebo inserted in its place, as well as links to external organisations which campaign against homeopathy. For instance, there is a link to the Sense About Science website, and Caroline Finucane, who is Editor of new content at NHS Choices, also writes for the Sense About Science website. This is an organisation which has no expertise in homeopathy and traces its roots back to the ultra-left Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP)."
"I respectfully suggest that the original wording be reinstated and these links to external organisations be removed or changed to ensure a balanced view.".
So it seems that he prefers the medical views of Nigel Farage and the Prince of Wales to those of the Chief Medical Officer and the government’s chief scientist. Disgracefully, Tredinnick picks out one particular employee of NHS Choices among many, and one who does an excellent job. And he raises the hoary old myth that Sense About Science is a communist organisation. Odd, since others accuse it of being neo-libertarian. The actual history is here. The organisation that is a bit too libertarian for my taste is Spiked Online. I haven’t agreed with every word that Sense about Science has printed, but they have a totally honest belief in evidence.
To drag in the name of one person out of many, and to justify it by a false history shows, once again, how very venomous and vindictive the advocates of delusional medicine can be when they feel cornered.
A bit more information about Mr Treddinick
This is what the BBC News profile says about him.
David Tredinnick is an old style Conservative MP, being an Eton-educated former Guards officer, who has sat in the Commons since 1987.
However, his ambition for high office was thwarted by his role in one of the sleaze stories which helped to sink the Major government. He accepted £1,000 from an undercover reporter to ask parliamentary questions about a fictitious drug. He was obliged to resign from his role as a PPS and was suspended from the Commons for 20 sitting days. He has not sat on the frontbench since.
He is an orthodox Conservative loyalist, though he is more supportive of the European Union than many of his colleagues.
He has, however, carved himself a niche as the Commons’ most enthusiastic supporter of complementary medicine. He has wearied successive health secretaries with his persistent advocacy of any and all homeopathic remedies. He has also supported their use in prisons and even suggested them as an aid in alleviating the foot and mouth crisis.
Tredinnick has also asserted that he was aware of a psychiatric hospital that doubled its staff at full moon (this is an old urban myth, and is, of course, quite untrue).
His advocacy of homeopathic borax as a way to control the 2001 epidemic of foot and mouth diease can be read here. Luckily it was ignored by the government. I hope his latest letter will be treated similarly.
Picture of David Tredinnick MP from the Conservative Party
Tagged alternative medicine, Anti-science, antiscience, CAM, David Tredinnick, Department of Health, herbal medicine, herbalism, Michael Dixon, Michael Pittilo, NHS Choices, Nigel Farage, Prince Charles, Prince's Foundation, UKIP, vice-chancellors | 5 Comments
Policy-based evidence. Department of Health and Prince’s Foundation censor accurate information about magic medicines
Jump to follow-up
“In causing NHS Choices to publish content that is less than completely frank about the evidence on homeopathy, the DH have compromised the editorial standards of a website that they themselves established”. . . “. . . they have failed the general public, by putting special interests, politics, and the path of least resistance (as they saw it) before the truth about health and healthcare.”
David Mattin, lately of NHS Choices
NHS Choices is usually a good source of information for the public. But there is one exception: the information they provide about alternative medicine is poor. A Freedom of Information Act request has revealed that the attempt of NHS Choices to rewrite their pages more accurately was censored by the Department of Health in conjunction with the late Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health. The Department of Health (DH) has misled the public.
The earliest version of the homeopathy information page recorded by the Wayback Machine was November 12 2007. It was still there on December 5 2010. The comments were mostly critical. One said, quite correctly,
I find it most regrettable that the way NHS has covered this subject is to give uncritical voice to the claims of homoeopathy without giving readers the information they need to evaluate those claims. To refer readers to the websites of the British Homeopathy Association is like settling the question of the shape of planet by a reference to the website of the Flat Earth Society
There were a lot of complaints, and to the credit of NHS Choices, the page vanished. Throughout 2011, and up to October 2012 the information page on homeopathy read
Content on homeopathy has been removed from the website pending a review by the Department of Health policy team responsible for complementary and alternative medicines.
Homeopathy is not part of mainstream medicine. Instead it is defined as a complementary or alternative medicine. If you are considering using homeopathy, talk to your GP first.
For more information about homeopathy see the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report on homeopathy published on 8 February 2010 and the Department of Health response to that report published in July 2010 (PDF, 69KB).
Then, at the end of 2012, the page reappeared. It was a bit better than the original, but not much. Many of the comments criticise the misleading nature of the information (as well as the usual “it worked for me” comments). The “useful links” still has six links to flat-earth organisations like the Society of Homeopaths, and only one to a sensible source, the excellent pamphlet from Sense about Science. They do link at the end to the 2010 Science and Technology Committee Report: Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy (PDF, 1.61Mb), and to the Government Response to the Science and Technology Committee Report, Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy (PDF, 69kb) but no comment is made on the findings.
Policy-based evidence
I wondered why the NHS Choices page, after an absence of almost two years, had returned in such an unsatisfactory form. So I asked them. After a reminder, I was told that my queries were being dealt with not by NHS Choices, but had been referred to Dr Sunjai Gupta “the DH official with responsibility for this area”. Dr Sunjai Gupta OBE is Deputy Director of Public Health Strategy and Social Marketing, Department of Health.
Dr Gupta is not obviously sympathetic to woo. It’s hard to tell since he doesn’t seem to have published much. But one is not reassured by an article that he wrote for the Journal of Holistic Healthcare. It appears straight after an article by fantasy herbalist, Simon Mills.
Despite assurances that I’d hear from Dr Gupta shortly, nothing happened. So I sent a request for the correspondence under the Freedom of Information Act (2000). Although the request was addressed to NHS Choices, a public body, strenuous efforts were made to divert it to the Department of Health. These were resisted. Nevertheless when, after a long delay, the material arrived, it came not from NHS Choices, but from DH, who had evidently vetted it,. The emails were rather shocking [download all].
A mail dated 1 December 2009 said
This is the most direct statement I’ve seen that, in the Department of Health, policy dictates evidence. NHS Choices is meant to provide evidence, but what they say has to be checked by DH to make sure they “don’t clash with any policy messages”.
The re-written page
The original version of the re-written page was sent to me by David Mattin, who worked for NHS Choices until September 2012. You can download the whole draft here. It is an enormous improvement on the original page. For example, it says
Many independent experts would respond to this question ‘no, homeopathy does not work’
There is no good quality clinical evidence to show that homeopathy is more successful than placebo in the treatment of any type of condition.
A placebo is the unusual but well-documented psychological effect that sometimes occurs when a person is given a ‘dummy’ medication, such as a sugar pill. They feel better after taking the pill because they think that they are being given real medication.
Furthermore, if the principles of homeopath were true it would violate all the existing theories of science that we make use of today; not just our theory of medicine, but also chemistry, biology and physics.
This original draft was sent to Mattin on 29 January 2010. After editing it for length Mattin sent it to DH for approval. Over the next two years, DH removed much of the accurate content. Mattin’s own comments on this evisceration are reproduced below.
The DH emails
All the names have been redacted. Needless to say, nobody is willing to take responsibility. But the number of people who support magic medicine is really quite small so the main players were easy to identify.
During the nearly 2 year absence of the homeopathy page, dozens of changes were made by DH. It seems that the policy message with which the NHS Choices draft failed to comply were those of the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, and its successor (after April 2010), the College of Integrated Health, now known as the College of Medicine.
NHS Choices sought advice about their redrafted pages from the right person, Sir Iain Chalmers, one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration. On 3 Nov 2009, Chalmers advised
The most reliable source in the country - and one of the most reliable in the world - is Professor Edzard Ernst, professor of Complementary Medicine at the Peninsular Medical School,
Ernst returned his suggestions in July 2010, but it seems that few of them survived the subsequent 18 months of revisions by DH.
On 2 December 2009, a mail from the NHS headquarters (Quarry House, Leeds) was sent to NHS Choices
This makes it perfectly clear that DH regards the Prince’s Foundation, and the equally flaky Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC: known on the web as Ofquack) as appropriate guides for public health policy. The fact of the matter is that regulation of magic medicine by the government has been a total disaster, because, it seems, DH regards the Prince of Wales as a reliable source.
On 29 December 2009, the Prince’s Foundation went on the attack.
On 10th January 2010, two more letters were sent to DH by the Prince’s Foundation. At 13.48 they wrote
And at 22.14 on the same day, it was followed up with
The references to Devon and to Thought Field Therapy, make it very obvious that these letters were written by Dr Michael Dixon OBE, who was medical director of the Prince’s Foundation, and who is now a director of the “College of Medicine”. And the object of Dixon’s bile is obviously Edzard Ernst (the quotation is from his book, Trick or Treatment).
I find it fascinating to see just how venomous quacks become when the evidence contradicts their views. The cuddly “holistic” veneer quickly vanishes.
It gets worse. On 21 January 2010, a mail from NHS Choices to DH said
The only person in the country who fits this description is the (in)famous George Lewith. It is simply mind-boggling that DH regards him as an appropriate person to advise on anything.
After that, NHS Choices kept asking DH to sign off the documents, and changes continued to be made. Almost two years later, DH were still stalling.
The admission that “We are a bit short of doctors within DH these days” is interesting.
A bit short of anyone capable of critical thinking would be more accurate.
The most interesting document that I got from DH was an intermediate draft of the rewritten page on homeopathy (undated). Download the document. Here are a couple of extracts.
It’s a story of two years of meddling and procrastination. The end result misinforms the public.
Right at the start, the NHS Choices draft says, reasonably enough
A House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report said that homeopathic remedies perform no better than placebos and that the principles on which homeopathv is based are “scientifically implausible”.
But a comment, added apparently by DH, says
Can we remove this statement? This report is really quite contentious and we may well be subject to quite a lot of challenge from the Homeopathic community if published.
What on earth? The DH seems to think that that its job is not to present the evidence, but to avoid challenges from the homeopathic community! And true enough, this piece is missing from the final version.
A bit later, the NHS Choices draft was censored again
“A 2010 Science and Technology Committee report said that scientific tests had shown that homeopathic treatments don’t work”
But again this doesn’t appear in the final version. The comment, apparently from DH, says
“The DH response to this report (point 24) doesn’t support this statement though”
That’s a gross distortion of point 24, which actually concludes
“The Government Chief Scientific Adviser cannot envisage scientifically credible proposals for funding for research into homeopathy in the future”
NHS Choices was not happy with the result
Shortly before the revised page was published, Paul Nuki, Editor in Chief of NHS Choicea, sent an email to DH.
Date: 7th September 2011
Time: 3:33:42 pm
I’ve been through the CAM articles and asked that we publish them asap as requested.
XYZ has asked that we get a couple of points checked ….
For the record, we will be publishing these pieces outside of the normal editorial process. Although originally signed off by a suitably qualified clinician, the time lapse and policy changes have been so substantial as to render that null and void. We also don’t have a formal
written policy sign off from XYZ and you should be aware that the process followed is unlikely to satisfy the of the Information Standard were the file to be audited.
It doesn’t need much reading between the lines to see that he was unhappy with the result. It will be interesting to see whether the Information Standard people at the Royal Society for Public Health do anything about it.
The Department of Health has not just ignored evidence but actively opposed it.
That’s the only possible conclusion from the documents that I was sent. And it’s pretty shocking that the DH has preferred advice from the Prince’s Foundation and its handful of acolytes (in particular Michael Dixon and George Lewith) to the findings of the Science and Technology Select Committee and the views of the Chief Scientific Advisor.
In January this year, the Chief medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, said, in a rare outburst of candour
‘I’m very concerned when homeopathic practitioners try to peddle this way of life to prevent malaria or other infectious disease,” she said.
“I am perpetually surprised that homeopathy is available on the NHS.”
Dame Sally, who is England’s most senior doctor, concluded by remarking that homeopathy “is rubbish”.
So one part of DH is working to contradict another part. the Chief Medical Officer. Perhaps Sally Davies should have a word with Dr Gupta.
This all predates the advent of Jeremy Hunt (and known defender of homeopathy) as health minister. But the sympathies of some DH people are made obvious by the presence on the DH web site of an article “Personal health budgets: A new way of accessing complementary therapies?”. This astonishing piece confirms the worst fears that quacks will see personal health budgets as a commercial opportunity to peddle their wares. The article is by Jim Rogers of Lincoln University. What his paper does not mention is Rogers’ conflict of interest. He’s a homeopath, and he has a paper in the International Journal of High Dilution Research (yes, there is a journal for every form of make-believe). You can download a reprint of this paper. It advocates more research into homeopathic provings, something that even George Lewith seems to have given up on.
It’s about time that the DH started to listen to the Chief Medical Officer. As it is, some people at DH seem to prefer the advice of the Prince’s Foundation, and to actively suppress employees who prefer evidence to anecdote.
One thing is clear. The DH is an unholy mess. Parts of it are intent on producing policy-based evidence.
Comment by David Mattin, who edited the first draft for NHS Choices
David Mattin left NHS Choices in September, 2012. He edited the new version and lived through the two years of wrangling with DH during which much of the best content was eviscerated. He sent me this statement about the affair.
As an editor at NHS Choices, I viewed it as my job to present evidence-based information to the public. The article we prepared on homeopathy stayed true to that central purpose: it made clear to readers that there is no good quality evidence that homeopathy is an effective treatment for any health condition, and also presented the broad scientific consensus that the supposed method of action of homeopathy is implausible.
What followed was a two year story of delay, and eventual suppression, of that article. My strong impression was of DH civil servants who lacked the courage, and, frankly, the energy to stand up to the criticism from special interest groups that they anticipated would arise because of the article; and that did indeed arise when a draft of the article and other draft content on complementary and alternative medicines fell into the hands of the Prince’s Foundation and other CAM groups.
The attitude of DH civil servants, broadly, was simply to tell us ‘we can’t say this about homeopathy, people will complain’. They seemed to have no interest in making an appraisal of the evidence on homeopathy themselves to see if what we were saying was actually true or not. We repeatedly pushed back with the message: ‘some people may very well complain, but if what we are saying about the evidence base is true – and it is – then we must simply weather those complaints, and stand by our content. Our duty is to supply our readers with the best information, not to please the homeopathy community.’ But these arguments were disregarded. The DH civil servants were almost entirely concerned with the politics of the situation – that is, the politics as they saw them – and the possibility that this article may create new work for them, and very little concerned with the evidence itself, or the presentation of this evidence to the public.
The whole episode is an insight into the way special interest groups can influence the workings of government and the public sector simply by making a lot of noise, and having a few powerful friends.
In causing NHS Choices to publish content that is less than completely frank about the evidence on homeopathy, the DH have compromised the editorial standards of a website that they themselves established, and that they fund. They have sold out the NHS Choices editorial team, who work tirelessly to fulfil their remit. And, most seriously, they have failed the general public, by putting special interests, politics, and the path of least resistance (as they saw it) before the truth about health and healthcare.
13 February 2013 The Guardian version of this story, written by Sarah Boseley, is Prince’s charity lobbied government to water down homeopathy criticism. It’s fine as far as it goes but it doesn’t name any names. There are some good comments though.
14 February 2013. The printed Guardian gave the story full 5 column-width coverage. [download print version]
And news has reached the USA: there’s an account of the affair on the Neurologica blog: Politics trumping science at the NHS.
On 14 February, the Guardian version was Editor’s Choice by lunchtime, and the Guardian web version already had 414 comments, mostly sensible (though this blog got far more referrals from twitter than from the Guardian)
15 February 2013. The Daily Mail had very fair coverage of the story.
The Guardian closed the comments on the story when it had got 642 comments, most of them very sensible. And this page got almost 6000 hits in 24 hours. The majority of the referrals came from Twitter rather than from the Guardian, despite the direct link to the page from the Guardian.
18 February 2013. The affair featured in BMJ News [download the reprint]. The item featured prominently on the BMJ news page.
19 February 2013 Only six days of this post, the NHS Choices page has been re-written again, in a much improved form. That looks like bloggers 1, DH 0. It is baffling that it’s left to bloggers, working for nothing, to extract a bit of sense from the highly-paid civil servants at the Department of Health. But at least they listened this time, which is a lot more than happens often. Paul Nuki, who runs NHS Choices, deserves congratulations. Of course the revised page still doesn’t call a spade a spade, but it gets close at times. I like the way it starts "Homeopathy is a ‘treatment’ based". Notice the quotation marks.
Reputation management?
Incidentally, NHS Choices is outsourced to the (in)famous company, Capita. And the moderation of the comments on their site is outsourced again to Tempero, which describes itself as a "reputation management" company. Each of them creams off money meant of patient care. This discovery might explain why I and others have had comments rejected by NHS Choices several times. "Reputation management" is the antithesis of evidence. It is public relations, i.e. paid lying. That is quite wrong for a site that is meant to provide dispassionate information.
21 February 2013. Sadly a step backwards. Part of the improved page was removed. This bit.
The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has said there is no scientifically plausible way that homeopathy can prevent or cure diseases. She has made it clear she is particularly concerned about the use of homeopathy in developing countries as a so-called cure for malaria.
We can only speculate why this was removed, because it was true. In fact she accurately described homeopathy as "rubbish". Why she should not be quoted beats me.
Tagged Academia, alternative medicine, badscience, CAM, College of medicine, David Mattin, Department of Health, George Lewith, Michael Dixon, Prince of Wales, Prince's Foundation, Sunjai Gupta | 36 Comments
Dr Michael Dixon of the “College of Medicine” seems to admit that alternative medicine is a placebo
Much has been written on this blog about Dr Michael Dixon, and about the "College of Medicine", which is the direct inheritor of the mantle of the late, unlamented, Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health. At the time of the foundation of the College it was stated that "The College represents a new strategy to take forward the vision of HRH Prince Charles".
Michael Dixon has also been chairman of the NHS Alliance since 1998. That was one of very few organisations to support Andrew Lansley’s Health Bill. No doubt he will be happy for Crapita Capita to supply alternative nonsense at public expense.
Dr Dixon took offence to a review in The Times of Mark Henderson’s new book, The Geek Manifesto.
The review, by David Aaronovitch, said, apropos of the 1023 campaign,
" . . .there was now, almost for the first time, a group of people who were not content to see claims made for discredited treatments without making everyone aware of the science that disproved those claims. And second, what they were doing had implications for public policy."
"The geeks represent, for me, one of the most encouraging recent developments in British public life."
This excellent review evidently upset Dr Dixon, because on 20th May, his letter appeared in the Times.
David Aaronovitch is right to argue for a robust scientific approach in medicine. However, he is not being logical or scientific when he says that if something is suspected to be placebo then it has no benefit and the NHS should not pay for it.
What about scientific research on remedies that many believe to be placebo? These frequently show that there is a benefit but this is confined to those who believe in the treatment given. Surely, in such cases, it would be logical to say that the treatment was beneficial albeit in a specific group of “believers”. From there, it would be good science to compare the safety costs of this supposed placebo remedy with its currently given alternative before deciding whether “believers” should be able to receive such a remedy on the NHS.
The problem here is that belief and mindset play an enormous part in healing – science needs to take account of this. Patients’ symptoms are frequently metaphors and effective treatment can often be symbolic and culturally dependent. The mind, in the right circumstances, can produce its own healing chemicals often mimicking those given in conventional medicine. Until science can explain healing in psychosocial as well as biomedical language, we must be cautious about “voting for the geeks” as Mr Aaronovitch suggests. It is far better surely that individual treatment should be tailored, within reason, to the patient and their beliefs and perspectives. Further more, might it not be wiser to direct NHS resources according to pragmatic trials of cost effectiveness and safety rather than a limited interpretation of science that excludes the effect of the mind?
Dr Michael Dixon
Chair of Council College of Medicine.
This letter seemed remarkable to me. It is very close to being an admission that alternative medicine is largely placebo. It called for a reply.
We have been here before. Many people have discussed the dubious ethics of deceiving patients by giving placebos while pretending they are no such thing. There is wide agreement that it is not only unethical, but also unnecessary. Kevin Smith has written a scholarly essay on the topic. Edzard Ernst wrote Mind over matter? Margaret McCartney, the Glasgow GP, and author of The Patient Paradox, has explained it. Some views of Dr Dixon’s approach are less flattering than mine. For example, from the USA, Steven Novella’s Dr. Michael Dixon – “A Pyromaniac In a Field of (Integrative) Straw Men”. And, from Majikthyse, Michael Dixon caught red-handed!, and Dr Aust’s Dr Michael Dixon is annoyed. The list is almost endless.
.Two replies were published in the Times on 26 May (and they were the lead letters -bold print). One from the excellent Evan Harris, and one from me.
Here they are as text.
Sir, Dr Michael Dixon’s letter (May 21) is fascinating. He is, of course, a well-known advocate of alternative medicine. Yet he seems now to believe that much alternative medicine is just a placebo. That’s something the geeks have been saying for years, and he appears, at last, to have accepted it.
That being the case, it follows that we have to ask whether placebos produce useful benefits, and whether it is ethical to prescribe them. Nobody denies the existence of placebo effects. But recent research has shown that they are usually both small and transient. Often they are not big enough to provide a useful degree of relief. For example, a recent paper on acupuncture in the British Journal of General Practice showed that it had a remarkably small placebo effect. And placebos have no effect at all on the course of cancer or infectious diseases.
There has been an admirable movement in medicine for doctors to be open and honest with patients. Prescribing of medicines that contain no active ingredient involves lying to patients. That is old-fashioned and unethical.
It is fair to ask why so many people seem to believe in alternative medicine, if even their placebo effects are small. The answer seems to lie in the “get better anyway” effect (known to geeks as regression to the mean). Most of the conditions for which placebos seem to work are things that wax and wane naturally. You take the “cure” when you are at your worst, and next day you are better. You would have been better anyway, but it’s hard to avoid attributing the improvement to whatever you took. That is why alternative medicine is advertised largely on the basis of anecdotal testimonials. And it is doubtless why Dr Dixon advocates “pragmatic” trials: that’s a euphemism for trials without a proper control group.
Psychosocial problems may indeed be very important for some patients. But deceiving such patients with dummy pills is not the proper way to deal with their problems.
D. Colquhoun, FRS Professor of Pharmacology, University College London
Sir, Dr Michael Dixon argues that the NHS should fund placebo treatments such as homeopathy (though he stops short of agreeing that homeopathy is a placebo) on the basis that they can offer limited help to those who “believe” in them. It is no part of modern ethical medical practice to deceive patients into thinking — or failing to disabuse them of the belief — that an inert substance or ineffective medicine has beneficial effects. This can not be justified by the hope — or even expectation — of deriving for that patient the limited psychologically based improvement in symptoms that may follow from the deployment of the placebo.
Pedlars of homeopathy for profit in the private sector will, alas, always seek to fool people into believing the hocus pocus of “memory of water” and the effects of infinite dilution and a lot of bottle-shaking. But doctors have responsibilities not to deceive their patients, even out of a paternalistic wish to assist them to manage their symptoms; and public policy demands that the NHS spends its resources only on treatments that work without deception in a cost-effective way.
Dr Evan Harris Oxford
Tagged alternative medicine, Anti-science, antiscience, badscience, CAM, College of medicine, herbalism, homeopathy, Michael Dixon, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince's Foundation | 20 Comments
The College of Medicine is well known to be the reincarnation of the late unlamented Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health. I labelled it as a Fraud and Delusion, but that was perhaps over-generous. It seems to be morphing into a major operator in the destruction of the National Health Service through its close associations with the private health industry.
Their 2012 Conference was held on 3rd May. It has a mixture of speakers, some quite sound, some outright quacks. It’s a typical bait and switch event. You can judge its quality by the fact that the picture at the top of the page that advertises the conference shows Christine Glover, a homeopathic pharmacist who makes a living by selling sugar pills to sick people (and a Trustee of the College of Medicine).
Her own company’s web site says
"Worried about beating colds and flu this winter? We have several approaches to help you build your immune system."
The approaches are, of course, based on sugar pills. The claim is untrue and dangerous. My name for that is fraud.
When the "College of Medicine" started it was a company, but on January 30th 2012, it was converted to being a charity. But the Trustees of the charity are the same people as the directors of the company. They are all advocates of ineffective quack medicine. The contact is named as Linda Leung, who was Operations Director of the Prince’s Foundation until it closed, and then became Company Secretary for the “College of Medicine”.
The trustees of the charity are the same people who were directors of the company
Dr Michael Dixon, general practitioner. Michael Dixon was Medical Director of the Prince’s Foundation until it closed down.
Professor George Lewith, is Professor of Health Research in the Complementary Medicine Research Unit, University of Southampton. He was a Foundation Fellow of the Prince’s Foundation until it closed down. Much has been written about him here.
Professor David Peters. is Professor of Integrated Healthcare and Clinical Director at the University of Westminster’s School of Integrated Health; He’s famous for allowing dowsing with a pendulum as a method of diagnosis for treatment with unproven herbal medicines,
He was a Foundation Fellow of the Prince’s Foundation until it closed down.
Mrs Christine Glover is a pharmacist who sells homeopathic pills. She was a Foundation Fellow of the Prince’s Foundation until it closed down.
The involvement of Capita
According to their web site
"A Founder of the College of Medicine is Capita."
Still more amazingly, the CEO of the College of Medicine is actually an employee of Capita too.
"Mark Ratnarajah is interim CEO of the College of Medicine as well as Business Director at Capita Health and Wellbeing."
That isn’t the end of it. The vice-president of the College of Medicine is Dr Harry Brunjes. There is an article about him in the May 2012 issue of Director Magazine.
It has to be said that he doesn’t sound like a man with much interest in the National Health Service..
Within 9 years of graduating he set up in private practice in Harley Street. Five years later he set up Premier Medical, which, after swallowing a couple of rivals, he sold to Capita for £60 million. He is now recorded in a Companies House document as Dr Henry Otto Brunjes, a director of Capita Health Holdings Limited. This company owns all the shares in Capita Health and Wellbeing Limited, and it is, in turn, owned by Capita Business Services Limited. And they are owned by Capita Holdings Limited. I do hope that this baroquely complicated array of companies with no employees has nothing to do with tax avoidance.
Capita is, of course, a company with a huge interest in the privatisation of health care. It also has a pretty appalling record for ripping off the taxpayer.
It has long been known in Private Eye, as “Crapita” and “the world’s worst outsourcing firm”.
Capita were responsible for of the multimillion pound failed/delayed IT project for the NHS and HMRC. They messed up on staff administration services at Leicester Hospitals NHS Trust and the BBC where staff details were lost. They failed to provide sufficient computing systems for the Criminal Records Bureau, which caused lengthy delays. Capita were also involved in the failure of the Individual Learning Accounts following a £60M over-spend. And most recently, they have caused the near collapse of court translation services after their acquisition of Applied Language Services.
With allies like that, perhaps the College of Medicine hardly needs enemies. No doubt Capita will be happy to provide the public with quackery for an enormous fee from the taxpayer.
One shouldn’t be surprised that the College is involved in Andrew Lansley’s attempts to privatise healthcare. Michael Dixon, Chair of the College of Medicine, also runs the "NHS Alliance", almost the only organisation that supported the NHS Bill. The quackery at his own practice defies belief (some it is described here).
One would have thought that such a close association with a company with huge vested interests would not be compatible with charitable status. I’ve asked the Charity Commission about that. The Charity commission, sadly, makes no judgements about the worthiness of the objects of the charities it endorses. All sorts of dangerous quack organisations are registered charities, like, for example, Yes to Life.
Secrecy at the College of Medicine
One of the big problems about the privatisation of medicine and education is that you can’t use the Freedom of Information Act to discover what they are up to. A few private companies try to abide by that act, despite not being obliged to do so. But the College of Medicine is not one of them.
Capita They refuse to disclose anything about their relationship with Capita. I asked I asked Graeme Catto, who is a friend (despite the fact that I think he’s wrong). I got nothing.
"Critical appraisal" I also asked Catto for the teaching materials used on a course that they ran about "critical appraisal". Any university is obliged, by the decision of the Information Tribunal, to produce such material on request. The College of Medicine refused, point blank. What, one wonders, have they got to hide? Their refusal strikes me as deeply unethical.
The course (costing £100) on Critical Appraisal, ran on February 2nd 2012. The aims are "To develop introductory skills in the critical appraisal of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews (SRs)". That sounds good. Have they had a change of heart about testing treatments?
But, as always, you have to look at who is running the course. Is it perhaps a statistician with expertise in clinical trials? Or is it a clinician with experience in running trials? There are plenty of people with this sort of expertise. But no, It is being run by a pharmacist, Karen Pilkington, from that hotbed of unscientific medicine, the University of Westminster.
Pilkington originally joined the University of Westminster as manager for a 4-year project to review the evidence on complementary therapies (funded by the Department of Health). All of her current activities centre round alternative medicine and most of her publications are in journals that are dedicated to alternative medicine. She teaches "Critical Appraisal" at Westminster too, so I should soon have the teaching materials, despite the College’s attempts to conceal them.
Three people who ought to know better
Ore has to admire, however grudgingly, the way that the quacks who run the College of Medicine have managed to enlist the support of several people who really should know better. I suppose they have been duped by that most irritating characteristic of quacks, the tendency to pretend they have the monopoly on empathetic treatment of patients. We all agree that empathy is good, but every good doctor has it. One problem seems to be that senior medical people are not very good at using Google. They don’t do their homework.
Professor Sir Graeme Catto MD DSc FRCP FMedSci FRSE is president of the College of Medicine. He’s Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. He was President of the General Medical Council from 2002 to 2009, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of London and Dean of Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ medical school between 2000 and 2005. He’s nice and well-meaning chap, but he doesn’t seem to know much about what’s going on in the College.
Professor Sir Ian Kennedy LLD, FBA, FKC, FUCL, Hon.DSc(Glasgow), Hon.FRCP is vice-president of the College. Among many other things he is Emeritus Professor of Health Law, Ethics and Policy at University College London. He was Chair of the Healthcare Commission until 2003, when it merged with other regulators to form the Care Quality Commission. No doubt he can’t be blamed for the recent parlous performence of the CQC.
Professor Aidan Halligan MA, MD, FRCOG, FFPHM, MRCPI Since March 200y he has been Director of Education at University College London Hospitals. From 2003 until 2005, he was Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, with responsibility for issues of clinical governance, patient safety and quality of care. He’s undoubtedly a well-meaning man, but so focussed on his (excellent) homelessness project that he seems immune to the company he keeps. Perhaps the clue lies in the fact that when I asked him what he thought of Lansely’s health bill, he seemed to quite like it.
It seems to me to be incomprehensible that these three people should be willing to sign a letter in the British Medical Journal in defence of the College, with co-signatories George Lewith (about whom much has been written here) and the homeopath Christine Glover. In so doing, they betray medicine, they betray reason, and most important of all, they betray patients. Perhaps they have spent too much time sitting on very important committees and not enough time with patients.
The stated aims of the College sound good.
"A force that combines scientific knowledge, clinical expertise and the patient’s own perspective. A force that will re-define what good medicine means − renewing the traditional values of service, commitment and compassion and creating a more holistic, patient-centred, preventative approach to healthcare."
But what they propose to do about it is, with a few exceptions, bad. They try to whip up panic by exaggerating the crisis in the NHS. There are problems of course, but they result largely from under-funding (we still spend less on healthcare than most developed countries), and from the progressive involvement of for-profit commercial companies, like Capita. The College has the wrong diagnosis and the wrong solution. How do they propose to take care of an aging population? Self-care and herbal medicines seem to be their solution.
The programme for the College’s workshop shows it was run by herbalist Simon Mills and by Dick Middleton an employee of the giant herbal company, Schwabe. You can see Middleton attempting to defend misleading labelling of herbal products on YouTube, opposed by me.
It seems that the College of Medicine are aiding and abetting the destruction of the National Health Service. That makes me angry.(here’s why)
I can end only with the most poignant tweet in the run up to the passing of the Health and Social Care Act. It was from someone known as @HeardInLondon, on March 15th
"For a brief period during 20th century, people gave a fuck & looked after each other. Unfortunately this proved unprofitable." #SaveOurNHS
— HeardinLondon (@HeardinLondon) March 13, 2012
"For a brief period during 20th century, people gave a fuck and looked after each other. Unfortunately this proved unprofitable."
Unprofitable for Crapita, that is.
5 May 2012. Well well, if there were any doubt about the endarkenment values of the College, I see that the Prince of Wales, the Quacktitioner Royal himself, gave a speech at the College’s conference.
"”I have been saying for what seems a very long time that until we develop truly integrated systems – not simply treating the symptoms of disease, but actively creating health, putting the patient at the heart of the process by incorporating our core human elements of mind, body and spirit – we shall always struggle, in my view, with an over-emphasis on mechanistic, technological approaches.”
Of course we all want empathy. The speech, as usual, contributes precisely nothing.
12 June 2012. Oh my, how did I manage to miss the fact the the College’s president, Professor Sir Graeme Catto, is also a Crapita eployee. It’s over a year since he was apponted to Capita’s clinical governance board he says " In a rapidly growing health and wellbeing marketplace, delivering best practice in clinical governance is of utmost importance. I look forward to working with the team at Capita to assist them with continuing to adopt a best in class approach.". The operative word is "marketplace".
Tagged Aidan Halligan, alternative medicine, CAM, Capita, Christine Glover, College of medicine, Crapita, George Lewith, Graeme Catto, herbal medicine, herbalism, Ian Kennedy, Karen Pilkington, Michael Dixon, quackery, Simon Mills | 20 Comments
The Health and Social Security Bill is an unholy mess. Drop it now.
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Andrew Lansley’s Health Bill (HASSB) aims to change the NHS into something more like the US system, which gives worse results at twice the cost.
The only possible reason for wanting to do that is simple far-right ideology. No wonder that no hint was given of its intentions before the election.
On the contrary, David Cameron stated repeatedly that there would be no top-down reorganisation of the NHS. That turned out to be a straight lie.
“First let me tell you what we are not going to do. There will be no more of those pointless reorganisations that aim for change, but instead bring chaos.” [David Cameron speaking to Royal College of Nursing in 2009, before election].
We all know that money must be saved. But the two major disasters of the coalition government don’t save any money.
On the contrary, both tuition fees and NHS-wrecking will cost taxpayers’ money. The tuition fees are done (for the time being) but there is still time to save the NHS.
The best simple explanation that I’ve found is by Dr Max Pemberton in the Telegraph: Read this – and prepare to fight for your NHS. The Bill is three times longer than the 1946 Bill that brought the NHS into existence.
“The power to determine the services that make up the NHS will be transferred from the Secretary of State to newly created Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which are unelected. Members will include GPs but also company chief executives who can, if they wish, outsource decisions about the appropriate level of services offered to companies with commercial interests. This is what the Government means when it says it is handing GPs £60 billion of NHS money. ”
“Monitor. This quango is composed of unelected and unaccountable individuals. It will not have overarching responsibility – which the Government does currently – to ensure that everyone’s health needs are met.” “It will have the power to decide, on purely financial grounds, if an area loses its existing range of hospital services, such as A&E departments, with no duty to consider alternative provision.
“With so many different providers of health care created under this Bill, those with complex health care needs may not receive the joined-up medical care that the NHS now works hard to provide.”
“Less profitable patients – those requiring complex levels of care from multiple individuals and areas of expertise, for example – may be sidelined by these private companies. ”
“the Bill allows CCGs to contract out commissioning functions to private accountancy, health insurance and management consultant firms, which will be able to decide what care is provided free at the point of use through the NHS and what is not. This means that profit-making companies will be able to provide your clinical care and also decide what you’re entitled to under the NHS and from which care providers.” “There is the potential for commercial conflicts when the needs of shareholders come between doctors and patients. ”
“Providers, too, can reduce levels of service provision and entitlement to NHS-funded care and there are no restrictions on charging for non-NHS care.”
“Now, up to 49 per cent of income can be generated from private income. This means that almost half the beds currently used for NHS care could be given over to private patients.” “This could create a two-tier system in hospitals” and “create a conflict of interest, with hospitals having a clear incentive to encourage as many patients as possible to use the private half of their facilities. Moreover, hospitals can decide when to discharge patients. The requirement for coordinated discharge and aftercare of patients between health and social care is abolished in the Bill. “
Why is the bill needed at all?
Most people believe that there is no need for a bill. The real aim appears to be in part 3, which proposes a vast increase in private providers. Oliver Huitson says
“A US report comparing the health services of 7 major economies ranked the NHS 1st in terms of efficiency, and 2nd overall. The US, which has vast private sector involvement and much greater use of GP commissioning, was ranked last despite spending more than twice as much per head as the UK”
” Despite being ranked as one of the most efficient and equitable health services in the developed world, the Conservatives are determined to remodel it in the image of one of the least efficient – all in the name of “improving efficiency”.”
Although most GPs are in favour of having more say in what happens, even the first parts of the bill are a mess. They are advertised as reducing bureaucracy and reducing costs. According to the Financial Times, they do exactly the opposite.
“Here was the original NHS bureaucracy in graphic form”
Here is the new NHS bureaucracy in graphic form
Ed Miliband pointed out that the number of NHS statutory organisations was growing from 163 to 521 – including “health and wellbeing committees,” “national commissioning boards”, “clinical networks”, “clinical senates” and so on.
So much for reduced bureaucracy.
Who thinks this is not a good idea?
Almost everyone. Not just the BMA which Lansley dismisses as a Trade Union, despite the fact that now (unlike in 1948) the BMA is voting against the financial interests of its members.
The Royal College of General Practitioners says Drop the Bill. So do Royal College of Nursing. Royal College of Midwives, Faculty of Public Health, Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, the Patients’ Association, among others. Almost the only support left is from the NHS Alliance, a tiny organisation run by Michael Dixon, friend of the Prince of Wales and advocate of quack medicine. The NHS alliance ran its own poll. A total of 100 people have voted so far, 99 of them against the Alliance’s policy. Some support. A rather good infographic shows how the balance lies.
The BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, which represents all GPs in the UK says [read full letter]
“1. Formally reaffirms its opposition to the NHS Health and Social Care Bill;
2. Believes that if passed the Bill will be irreversibly damaging to the NHS as a public service, converting it into a competitive marketplace that will widen health inequalities and be detrimental to patient care; . . . .”
In contrast, the e-petition to the government, started by Dr Kailash Chand OBE, states simply that it “Calls on the Government to drop its Health and Social Care Bill.”. It now has over 167,000 signatories. But despite the fact that petitions with over 100,000 signatures are meant to trigger a debate in the House of Commons, the backbench business committee of MPs has decided not to debate the e-petition.
So many people have rallied to oppose the daftness that it’s invidious to single out names. Nonetheless special mentions must go to Clare Gerada (@clarercgp on Twitter) (chair of the RCGP), and to Clive Peedell (@cpeedell) (oncologist and co-chair NHS Consultants’ Association) -read his Bevan’s Run blog. Among academics, Allyson Pollock and Martin McKee have done superb work on the details.
Most telling of all, some of the people who started by supporting Lansley have changed their minds. One concern about the “any qualified provider” idea is that it could open the door to quackery. Any “qualified” homeopath could bid for business at a competitive rate -sugar pills don’t cost much. Michael Dixon is one such.
Dr Sam Everington of Tower Hamlets is another. Services provided by his practice include “referrals to Inside Out Health and Wellbeing Ltd“. This private company will sell you fraudulent scams like homeopathy and kinesiology at £50 per session, among other nonsense (according to Companies House, it was wound up on 17 January 2012). He’s also associated with the “College of Medicine” (the reincarnation of the Prince of Wales’ Foundation). See also, Dr Margaret McCartney’s blog. As chair of the first Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) he was embraced by Cameron. His Bromley-by-Bow surgery was host for Andrew Lansley’s first speech as health secretary after the 2010 election, and also host to the Prince of Wales..
But now even Everington has turned against the Bill (read the full letter).
“Dear Prime Minister
The Board of NHS Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group ask you to reflect and to withdraw the Health and Social Care Bill.”
“We care deeply about the patients that we see every day and we believe the improvements we all want to see in the NHS can be achieved without the bureaucracy generated by the Bill.
Your government has interpreted our commitment to our patients as support for the bill. It is not.”
And, on 1st March, another request to drop the bill, from the East London Integrated Care (ELIC is a not-for-profit social enterprise which is owned and run by local people and health professionals”). Read the full letter.
“Thursday, 1 March 2012 N1 5LZ
Dear Prime Minister,
The Board of City & Hackney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) join Tower Hamlets
and most other GPs and nurses and ask you to withdraw the Health and Social Care Bill.”
Is it really privatisation?
If you feel reassured by Lansley’s assurances that his measures aren’t de facto privatisation, just watch this video. It reveals some of the network of lobby groups that are circling the NHS, eager to take your money. For example, the lobby group, Policy Exchange, “Cameron’s favourite”, co-founded by Francis Maude, a member of Cameron’s cabinet, and is lobbying for more private sector provision of NHS services. One of the companies that it’s taken money from is called Tribal, which wants to take over commissioning from GPs. One of the directors of Tribal has described Andrew Lansley’s reforms as being “denationalisation of health services in England”.
So you don’t need to listen to left-wingers. The industry itself is in no doubt that it’s privatisation, and it’s ready and waiting to grab our money..
And of all unlikely allies, the vice chair of the British Holistic Medical Association has written a powerful letter about how the bill really would result in privatisation.
The likely consequences have been put well by Ben Goldacre in his What will happen with the NHS bill, in 5 tweets. The following points are based partly on this.
GPs know they’re being set up to fail by being given commissioning powers, which they have neither the time nor the expertise to do properly.
After GPs fail, private commissioning expertise will be needed. Large private companies will be given the job and they will come to operate like health insurers.
These large bodies, like public/private insurance companies, will be able to pick and choose patients. They will naturally prefer the ones from whom they can make the most money (and not the sick or the old). Note that there is no geographical responsibility in the bill
Small differences will gradually emerge in what services they offer. Top up plans will become available. And that will be the end of the NHS in the form in which we know it.
The only way that the proposals make any sense at all is if the underlying aim is to destroy the NHS, in anything like its present form. I believe that Lansley’s aims are much more to do with his personal political ideologies than anything to do with health. Those ideologies are far to the right of anything envisaged by Margaret Thatcher.
The politics. Where are the Lib Dems?
I voted Lib Dem in 2010, and I said precisely why. Of course I didn’t expect they’d get a majority. They were just the party that I found least objectionable. Like so many others I watched with horror as the numbers came out. There was no other option but to form a coalition with Conservatives. Well, I’d have been happier with no coalition, but the danger of that producing an overall majority for Conservatives after a year or so made that a very risky option.
When the coalition formed I was alarmed by the prospects for both education and for the NHS. I was less alarmed by the latter, because Cameron had said so many times that he had no intention of messing with the NHS. That turned out to be a direct lie. I could scarcely believe it when Lansley produced a plan after the election for the biggest reorganisation ever in the NHS, something that had not been foreshadowed in any way in the Conservative manifesto. This was one of the most dishonest bits of political manoeuvring that I’ve ever encountered.
Clearly we were spending more than we could afford. What’s unforgivable is to do things that actually cost the taxpayer more than before. Such actions are quite the opposite of cuts. Yet they are being done in the two areas, than any others, that have got Lib Dem voters angry.
(a) The £9k tuition fees cost the taxpayer more than the £3k fees did, because of the financing arrangements. I can see no conceivable reason for spending more taxpayers’ money than before apart from (Conservative) political ideology. That’s done (for now) so back to the main topic of this post, the NHS.
(b) It seems inevitable that Lansley’s proposals will cost money, not save money. Presumably that was predicted in the risk register, the concealment of which is a disgrace. See Liberal Conspiracy and the Green Benches blogs. The Information Commissioner ordered the release of the risk register, but the coalition refused (so much for transparent government). They appealed so now it goes to an Information Tribunal.
An Early Day Motion in the House of Commons urged release. It was signed by only 16 Lib Dems.
The bill started to fall apart in a major way when, on February 6th, The Times reported that
“Andrew Lansley should be taken out and shot,” says a Downing Street source. “He’s messed up both the communication and the substance of the policy.”
But Cameron, instead of grasping the chance, decided to back a loser.
Some Lib Dems have stuck to their principles. For example
John Pugh MP, Co-Chair of the Lib Dem Parliamentary Health Committee, re-established the Beveridge group, and wrote a letter to parliamentarians to explain why.
Andrew George MP wrote Health Bill has no friends. Dignified withdrawal would be best.
On 13 February, hearts soared when Lib Dem peer Shirley Williams spoke out at last. She urged Lansley to drop part 3 of the bill, the part that deals with privatisation. The elation didn’t last long though. Nick Clegg told the BBC: “Andrew Lansley is the architect of the NHS bill. He cares passionately about the NHS. He’s the right man for the job and he must see it through.”. Yes, I know about Cabinet solidarity, but it’s hard to think of any surer way to lose elections than to make statements like that. Even many Conservatives don’t believe it: see, for example, Dr Rachel Joyce on Conservative Home.
On 24th February, the Lib Dem president, Tim Farron MP, spoke up at last. “Mr Farron told ITV the bill should have been “massively changed” or dropped earlier and he wanted plans for more competition in the NHS to be dropped”.
On 26 February, Nigel Crisp, described the bill as a confusing mess that risks setting the NHS back. Crisp was formerly NHS chief executive and the permanent secretary at the Department of Health from 2000 to 2006, and is now a crossbench peer. Like everyone else, he was ignored.
The elation about Shirley Williams intervention didn’t last long. On 27th February a joint letter from Williams and Clegg claimed that they’d fixed the bill. The letter was quickly subjected to a bullshitometer analysis, by Health Policy Insight. Bafflingly, Lansley declared in public that he’d “changed his mind” about the privatisation, while at the same time Lansley and Cameron claimed that nothing much had changed: see Downing Street in knots as it plays down Nick Clegg’s NHS concessions, and Paul Corrigan’s blog.
March 1st saw two more blows for Clegg and Lansley. First, as reported thus in the Independent.
“Graham Winyard, the former deputy Chief Medical Officer, resigned from the party in protest at the leadership’s backing for the Bill. Dr Winyard, who was chairman of Winchester Liberal Democrats until last year, told Mr Clegg in a letter: “It is just not sensible to impose this top-down reorganisation on an NHS struggling to meet the biggest financial challenge in its history. To continue to do so in the face of near unanimous opposition from patient, staff and professional organisations simply invites slow motion disaster both for the NHS and for the party.” He said that he had no option but to resign “with great sadness”. “
Then, also on 1st March, Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs committee, wrote to 22,000 GPs. [full letter]
Believes the bill will compromise the role of GPs, and could cause irreparable damage to the relationship between GPs and their patients.
Believes the bill to be complex, incoherent and not fit for purpose, and almost impossible to implement successfully, given widespread opposition across the NHS workforce.
Believes that passing the bill will be an irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money, which will be spent on unnecessary reorganisation rather than on patient care, as well as increasing the running costs of the NHS from the processes of competition, and transaction costs
The chaos that the Lib Dems now find themselves in is illustrated clearly by a post on Liberal Democrat Voice by Andrew Tennant. He’s apparently an unreconstructed 19th century Whig, masquerading as a 21st century liberal. The comments on the post reveal the mess the party has got itself into by refusing to drop the bill.
More to the point, look at the proper detailed analyses done by people who are a lot more knowledgeable than Andrew Tennant, or Andrew Lansley.
RCGP Report Stage Briefing – Health and Social Care Bill February 2012
Allyson Pollock explains, line by line, a lot of problems that “Recent amendments put forward by the Liberal Democrats do not address”.
Statement on Liberal Democrat amendments
Prof Allyson Pollock, David Price, Peter Roderick, and Tim Treuherz
Royal College of Physicians, in The Lancet “What began as a ham-fisted attempt to modernise the NHS has become a grotesque political disaster for government.”
The NHS bill could finish the health service – and David Cameron Polly Toynbee says it as it is.
A big document by SOSNHS -great source of links Breaking the NHS.
There is one last chance for the Lib Dems to restore their reputation. Lib Dems hope to finally kill health reforms. “Liberal Democrat activists will defy Nick Clegg over the Government’s controversial health reforms by seeking to “kill” them at a party policy-making conference next week.”
Good luck to them. They could save the Lib Dems if they win. Much more importantly, they could save the NHS.
Sunday 4 March. Yet another story of corruption, this time in the Mail on Sunday.
“The head of the NHS regulator that is meant to ensure fairness when private-sector firms bid for public contracts is also the chairman of a huge company whose Health Service business is worth £80 million a year – and set to increase massively.
As the chairman of the NHS Co-operation and Competition Panel (CCP), Lord Carter of Coles is paid £57,000 for two days’ work each week. But his other role, as chairman of the UK branch of the American healthcare firm McKesson, is more generously rewarded. Last year it paid him £799,000.”
“Dr Clare Gerada, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: ‘He cannot have any credibility when he is also heading a company with such huge interests in the very contracts his organisation is meant to police.”
See also Conflicts of Interest and NHS reform.
According to a tweet from James Ball
“Politics of the #NHSbill awful for lib dems: only 17% of their current supporters back it – and only 9% of their 2010 voters.”
Sounds plausible. Are you listening, Nick Clegg?
5 March 2012. The emergency motion for the Lib Dem Spring Conference (March 10 -11) has been published. See also the blog of the heroic Dr Charles West for more details. If Clegg manages to defeat this excellent motion, the last chance to save the NHS will be gone.
Bitterly disappointed by vote at Lib Dem conference, not to debate the motion to drop the NHS bill. Who do I vote for now?
One thing that one can still do is to email all Lib Dem MPs give your views. Here is a list of their email addresses (via Lindy).
bakern@parliament.uk, danny.alexander.mp@parliament.uk, alan.beith.mp@parliament.uk, gordon.birtwistle.mp@parliament.uk, brookea@parliament.uk, braket@parliament.uk, brownej@parliament.uk, hernandeza@parliament.uk, burstowp@parliament.uk, lorely.burt.mp@parliament.uk, cablev@parliament.uk, menzies.campbell.mp@parliament.uk, carmichaela@parliament.uk, nick.clegg.mp@parliament.uk, mike.crockart.mp@parliament.uk, farront@parliament.uk, daveye@parliament.uk, simon.wright.mp@parliament.uk, willottj@parliament.uk, featherstonel@parliament.uk, fosterd@parliament.uk, andrew.george.mp@parliament.uk, duncan.hames.mp@parliament.uk, stephen.gilbert.mp@parliament.uk, stephenwilliamsmp@parliament.uk, kennedyc@parliament.uk, jo.swinson.mp@parliament.uk, julian.huppert.mp@parliament.uk,hunterm@parliament.uk, simon@simonhughes.org.uk, chris.huhne.mp@parliament.uk, martin.horwood.mp@parliament.uk, hemmingj@parliament.uk, david.heath.mp@parliament.uk, hancockm@parliament.uk, pagep@parliament.uk, lambn@parliament.uk, lawsd@parliament.uk, john.leech.mp@parliament.uk, stephen.lloyd.mp@parliament.uk, michaelmooremp@parliament.uk, greg.mulholland.mp@parliament.uk, teathers@parliament.uk, tessa.munt.mp@parliament.uk, john.thurso.mp@parliament.uk, david.ward.mp@parliament.uk, webbs@parliament.uk, williamsmf@parliament.uk, williamsr@parliament.uk, pughj@parliament.uk, reida@parliament.uk, contact@danrogerson.org, susan.hislop@parliament.uk, robert.smith.mp@parliament.uk, stunella@parliament.uk, ian.swales.mp@parliament.uk
And here are email addresses for (most) Lib Dem peers)
williamss@parliament.uk, walmsleyj@parliament.uk, wallacej@parliament.uk, wallacew@parliament.uk, tordoffg@parliament.uk, topeg@parliament.uk, thomascm@parliament.uk, thomass@parliament.uk, stephenn@parliament.uk, smitht@parliament.uk, shipleyj@parliament.uk, shuttd@parliament.uk, sharpm@parliament.uk, scottrc@parliament.uk, robertsr@parliament.uk, rennardc@parliament.uk, randersonj@parliament.uk, palmerm@parliament.uk, oakeshottm@parliament.uk, northoverl@parliament.uk, newbyr@parliament.uk, millers@parliament.uk, methuenr@parliament.uk, methuenr@parliament.uk, maddockd@parliament.uk, maddockd@parliament.uk, maclennanr@parliament.uk, loombar@parliament.uk, linklaterv@parliament.uk, lestera@parliament.uk, leej@parliament.uk, kramers@parliament.uk, jonesn@parliament.uk, ecem@parliament.uk, harrisa@parliament.uk, hamwees@parliament.uk, greavesa@parliament.uk, goodhartw@parliament.uk, germanm@parliament.uk, gardens@parliament.uk, falknerk@parliament.uk, ezrad@parliament.uk, dholakian@parliament.uk, cotterb@parliament.uk, clementjonest@parliament.uk, chidgeyd@parliament.uk, carlilea@parliament.uk, brintons@parliament.uk, willisg@parliament.uk, addingtond@parliament.uk , alderdicej@parliament.uk, allanr@parliament.uk, ashdownp@parliament.uk, barkere@parliament.uk, benjaminf@parliament.uk , bonhamcarterj@parliament.uk
13 March 2012. This is really last chance day. At 11 am, the Lords debate third reading of health bill and at 2 pm the Commons have emergency debate, triggered by the e-petition, which now has more than 173,000 signatures. I sent the following email to all Lib Dem peers and MPs this morning.
The idea that the changes to the health bill have solved its problems is simply wrong. Before you vote, please read http://abetternhs.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/40points/ ,
That is written by a working GP who knows what he’s talking about.
For the truth about the 49% disaster, read this.
There are 27 professional organisations who are against the bill (see here). Do you really understand the implications better than they do?
The vote at the lib dem conference gives you the mandate to vote according to your conscience. Please vote to drop the bill and start again.
I voted Lib Dem at every election from 2001. If you let us down on the health bill, I will certainly not do so again.
David Colquhoun
16 March 2012. I have learned ( from Lord Shutt) that there will be a 3-line whip on Lib Dem peers to vote against Lord Owen’s amendment. And this despite the vote against the Clegg-Williams motion at the Lib Dem conference last week. This makes the much vaunted party democracy look like a bit of a joke. The only hope now is the bishops. Here is a list of their email addresses. You can also contact them through Dr Éoin Clarke’s site (from where I got the addresses)
bishop@bathwells.anglican.org, bishop@birmingham.anglican.org, chaplain@bishopofblackburn.org.uk, bishop@bristoldiocese.org, bpchester@chester.anglican.org, bishchichester@diochi.org.uk, bishop@bishopofderby.org, durham@durham.anglican.org, langrishm@parliament.uk, bshpglos@glosdioc.org.uk, bishop.christopher@cofeguildford.org.uk, bishop@hereford.anglican.org, bishop.tim@leccofe.org, bishop.lichfield@lichfield.anglican.org, bishopslodge@liverpool.anglican.org, bishop@londin.clara.co.uk, bishop@bishopscourt.manchester.anglican.org, bishop@newcastle.anglican.org, bishop@norwich.anglican.org, bishop@riponleeds-diocese.org.uk, bishop.nigel@stedmundsbury.anglican.org, bishop@bishopofwakefield.org.uk, contact@lambethpalace.org.uk, office@archbishopofyork.org
This is what I sent to them today.
Dear Bishop,
You will be aware of the widespread concerns about the commercialisation of the NHS. No fewer than 27 medical organisations have now come out strongly against the bill and it’s clear that, despite (or because of?) over 1000 amendments, it is a real mess.
Despite the vote at the Lib Dems conference against the bill, I hear that there will be a 3-line whip in the Lords to force Lib Dem peers to vote against the very sensible proposal by Lord Owen to delay passing of the bill until the government release the assessment of the risks of passing it. This means that the Bishops will be crucial. I would like to ask you seriously to consider voting for Lord Owen’s motion on Monday. The future of the National Health Service lies in your hands
18 March 2012. Tomorrow is last hope for stopping the bill in the Lords. The 3-line whip will, I expect, ensure the defeat of Lord David Owen’s excellent amendment. The bill will probably become law. Two tweets express the impending death of the NHS quite poignantly. On 15 March @Heardin London wrote
and today, from @thewritertype,
"Years from now you’ll have to explain to children what the NHS was. Then you’ll have to explain what a LibDem was."
Poetry in 140 characters.
The hated bill was rammed through in the House of Commons, thanks to support from Lib Dems.
.The list of the peers and MPs who will make money out of privatisation is truly scary and deeply corrupt.
Tagged Andrew Lansley, Lib Dems, Michael Dixon, National Health Service, NHS, NHS Alliance, Sam Everington | 16 Comments
A thoroughly dangerous charity: YesToLife promotes nonsense cancer treatments
An email yesterday alerted me to YesToLife. This outfit seemed to me to be so dangerous that a word of warning is in the public interest.
Their own description says “YES TO LIFE is a new charitable initiative to open up a positive future for people with cancer in the UK by supporting an integrative* approach to cancer care”. That sounds sort of cuddly but lets look below the surface.
As so often, the funding seems to have been raised as the result of the death of an unfortunate 23 year old woman. Instead of putting the money into real research, yet another small charity was formed. My correspondent pointed out that “I came across them at St Pancras Station on Friday afternoon — they had a live DJ to draw in the crowd and were raising funds through bucket collections”. No doubt many people just see the word ‘cancer’ and put money in the bucket, without realising that their money will be spent on promoting nonsensical and ineffective treatments.
The supporters list.
The list of supporters tells you all you need to know, if you are familiar with the magic medicine business, though it might look quite convincing if you don’t know about the people. Sadly the list starts with some celebrities (I didn’t know before that Maureen Lipman was an enthusiast foir quackery -how very sad). But never mind the air-head celebrities. The more interesting supporters come later.
Dr Rosy Daniel of Health Creation is an old friend. After I complained about her promotion of some herbal concoction called Carctol to “heal cancer”, she was reprimanded by Trading Standards for breaching the Cancer Act 1939, and forced to change the claims (in my view she should have neen prosecuted but, luckily of her, Trading Standards people are notoriously ineffective). There is, of course not the slightest reason to to think that Carctol works (download Carctol: Profits before Patients?). Read also what Cancer Research UK say about carctol.
Dr Daniel is also well known because ran a course that was, for one year, accredited by the University of Buckingham. But once the university became aware of the nonsense that was being taught on the course, they first removed her as the course director, and then removed accreditation from the course altogether. She then tried to run the course under the aegis of the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, but even they turned her down. Now it is running as a private venture, and is being advertised by YesToLife.
Boo Armstrong, “Chief Executive of The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health and Founder and Executive Director GetWellUK”. The web site is out of date since the Prince’s Foundation shut its doors a year ago. She runs a private company, GetWellUK, that was responsible for a very poor study of alternative medicine in Northern Ireland. So she has a vested interest in promoting it. See Peter Hain and GetwellUK: pseudoscience and privatisation in Northern Ireland
Professor George Lewith. This is beginning to look like the usual list of suspects. I’ve had cause to write twice about the curious activities of Dr Lewith. See Lewith’s private clinic has curious standards, in 2006, and this year George Lewith’s private practice. Another case study. The make up your own mind about whether you’d trust him.
Dr Michael Dixon OBE, Chairman NHS Alliance and Medical Director The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health. Again the job description is a year out of date. You can read about Dr Dixon at Prince of Wales Foundation for magic medicine: spin on the meaning of ‘integrated’. He seems to be a well meaning man for whom no new-age idea is too barmy.
In fact both Dixon and Lewith have moved to a reincarnation of the Prince’s Foundation known as the “College of Medicine” (actually it’s a couple of offices in Buckingham Street). See Don’t be deceived. The new “College of Medicine” is a fraud and delusion.
It seems to me incomprehensible that people such as Sir Graeme Catto, Sir Cyril Chantler and Sir Muir Grey are willing to be associated with people who behave like this.
Charlotte Grobien, Managing Director, Give it Away. This seems to be a fund-raising organisation that has supported YesToLife. The lesson seems to be, never give money to fundraisers unless you know exactly where your money is going.
The Help Centre
YesToLife has a help centre. But beware, There is no medical person there. Just Traditional Chinese medicine (rather dangerous), acupuncture, osteopath and naturopathy (which means, roughly, do nothing and hope for the best).
Patrick Holford,
There can be no better indication of the standard of advice to be expected from YesToLife than the fact they are advertising a lecture by Holford, with the enticing title "Say no to cancer"."Through learning about the effects of diet and nutrition, people with cancer or at risk of developing cancer can be empowered to say Yes to Life and No to Cancer". Would that it were so easy. It will cost you £15.00.
Just in case there is still nobody who has heard of Holford, he is the media nutritionist who has an entire chapter devoted to him in Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science book, He has a whole website that has exposed his dubious advice, the excellent HolfordWatch. And you can find quite a lot about him on this blog. Try, for example, Patrick Holford’s CV: the strange case of Dr John Marks, and Response to a threatening letter from Mr Holford, or Holford’s untruthful and unsubstantiated advertisement
The treatments directory
Now we get to the truly scary bit of YesToLife, their treatment directory. Try searching for ‘cancer type’ and then "breast (metastatic)".. We find no mention of the advances in understanding of the genetics of breast cancer, nor ot real therapies like tamoxifen. What we find are four "alternative treatments".
Neuroimmunomodulation Therapy It sounds impressive until you learn that its only proponent is a an 82 year old Venezuelan doctor with a clinic in Caracas. Even YesToLife doesn’t pretend that there is any evidence that it works
Vitamin C Therapy The old chestnut cure-all Vitamin C Again even YesToLife don’t pretend there is any good evidence but it is still offered; treatment cost £3140.00 (what? Vitamin C is very cheap indeed)
Dendritic Cell Therapy Said by YesToLife to be "well-researched", though that isn’t so for breast cancer (metastatic). Although possibly not as barmy as the other things that are recommended, it is nevertheless not shown to be effective for any sort of cancer,
Gerson Therapy It is a sign of the extreme unreliability of advice given by YesToLife that they should still recommend anything as totally discredited as Gerson Therapy.Although YesToLife describes it as "well-researched" that is simply not true: there are no proper clinical trials. Cancer Research UK say
"Overall, there is no evidence to show that Gerson therapy works as a cure for cancer. "
"Available scientific evidence does not support claims that Gerson therapy can treat cancer. It is not approved for use in the United States. Gerson therapy can be very harmful to your health. Coffee enemas have been linked to serious infections, dehydration, constipation, colitis (inflammation of the colon), and electrolyte imbalances. In some people, particular aspects of the diet such as coffee enemas have been thought to be responsible for their death."
Recommended reading: The (Not-So-)Beautiful (Un)Truth about the Gerson protocol and cancer quackery, by David Gorski (breast cancer surgeon, writing in Science-based Medicine.
The information supplied by YesToLife is more likely to kill you than to cure you.
The next time you see somebody collecting for a "cancer charity" be very careful before you give them money.
November 2012. It gets worse.
I had an email from someone who was distressed because a friend was trying to raise £15,000 to cover the cost of treatments recommended by YesToLife. The treatment is high-dose intravenous Vitamin C infusion. This is pure quackery. There isn’t the slightest reason to think it will affect the course of cancer, or the wellbeing of the patient. It is exploitation of the desperate. My heart sinks at the thought that a “charity” can be quite so wicked.
Tagged Academia, alternative medicine, cancer, Cancer act, Carctol, College of medicine, Cyril Chantler, George Lewith, Graeme Catto, Michael Dixon, Prince's Foundation, quackery, Rosy Daniel, TCM, YesToLife | 36 Comments
The Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Integrated Health shut down amidst scandal in April 2010. In July, we heard that a new “College of Medicine” was to arise from its ashes. It seemed clear from the people involved that the name “College of Medicine” would be deceptive.
Now the College of Medicine has materialised, and it is clear that one’s worst fears were well justified.
At first sight, it looks entirely plausible and well-meaning. Below the logo one reads
“There is a new force in medicine. A force that brings patients, doctors, nurses and other health professionals together, instead of separating them into tribes.”
"That force is the new College of Medicine. Uniquely, it brings doctors and other health professionals together with patients and scientists.”
It is apparent from the outset that the well-meaning words fall into the trap described so clearly by James May (see What ‘holistic’ really means). It fails to distinguish between curing and caring.
As always, the clue lies not in the words, but in the people who are running it.
After a bit of digging on the web site, you find the names of the people on the Science Council of the “College of Medicine”, The preamble says
“Good medicine must be grounded in good science as well as compassion. The College’s Science Council brings a depth of knowledge from many senior figures.”
But then come the names. With the odd exception the “science council” is like a roll-call of quacks, the dregs left over from the Prince’s Foundation. The link (attached to each name) gives the College’s bio, My links tell a rather different story.
Professor George Lewith You’ll find plenty about George Lewith on this blog.
Professor Mustafa Djamgoz Superficially respectable but seduced by ‘ancient wisdom’ He once wrote to me "There are many ‘eastern’ remedies (such as acupuncture that we witnessed dismissed 25 year ago) that work. ". Well it isn’t as simple as that.
Professor Simon Gibbons A phytochemist with exaggerated ideas of what you can get from plants.
Professor Jane Plant A respectable geochemist who became obsessed with alternative medicine, Read about her here,
Professor John Cox MRCP
Dr Peter Fisher The Queen’s Homeopathic Physician. Advocate of the most discreded of all forms of quackery. Lots about him here.
Professor Ajit Lalvani
Professor Paul Little
Dr Michael Loughlin A post-modernist-influenced theorist who hates Ben Goldacre. Read about him here.
Professor Barry McCormick
Dr Hugh MacPherson An acupuncturist and fellow traveller of the Prince of Wales. Read here.
Professor Andrew Miles I’m sorry to see him in this company after the good job he did in ejecting quacks at the University of Buckingham.
Simon Mills A man who thinks herbs can be classified as "hot"and "cold", See here and here
Dr Karine Nohr
Professor Nicola Robinson Head of the Centre for Complementary Healthcare & Integrated Medicine,Thames Valley University A well known advocate of unevidenced treatments. Try Googling her
Professor Terry Young
Dr Catherine Zollman Another hangover from the Princes’ Foundation, and believer in magic medicine
Professor Debbie Sharp
It seems that the "Scientific Council" of the College of Medicine could more properly be called an "Antiscientific Council".
There are a few gaps in this table, to be filled in soon. One can guarantee that a great deal more will appear about the College on the web, very soon.
The Governing Council of the College is equally replete with quacks (plus a few surprising names). It has on it, for example, a spiritual healer (Angie-Buxton King), a homeopath (Christine Glover), a herbalist (Michael McIntyre). Westminster University’s king of woo (David Peters), not to mention the infamous Karol Sikora. Buxton-King offers a remarkable service to heal people or animals at a distance.
Meanwhile, it seemed worthwhile to provide a warning that the title of the College is very deceptive. It hides an agenda that could do much harm.
It is, quite simply, the Prince of Wales by stealth.
Professor Sir Graeme Catto, who has, disgracefully, allowed his name to be used as president of this “College” has said to me “There are real problems in knowing how to care for folk with chronic conditions and the extent of the evidence base for medicine is pretty limited”.
Yes of course that is quite true. There are many conditions for which medicine can still do little. There is a fascinating discussion to be had about how best to care for them. The answer to that is NOT to bring in spiritual healers and peddlers of sugar pills to deceive patients with their fairy stories. The “College of Medicine” will delay and pervert the sort of discussion that Catto says, rightly, is needed.
I need a press card. I see that the BMJ also had a piece about the “College of Medicine” yesterday: Prince’s foundation metamorphoses into new College of Medicine, by Nigel Hawkes. He got the main point right there in the title.
As was clear since July, the driving force was Michael Dixon, Devon GP and ex medical director of the Prince’s Foundation. Hawkes goes easy on the homeopaths and spiritual healers, but did spot something that I can’t find on their web site. The “Faculties” will include
“in 2011, neuromusculoskeletal care. Two of the six strong faculty members for this specialty are from the British Chiropractic Association, which sued the author Simon Singh for libel for his disobliging remarks about the evidence base for their interventions.”
The College certainly picks its moment to endorse chiropractic, a subject that is in chaos and disgrace after they lost the Singh affair.
One bit of good news emerges from Hawkes’ piece, There is at least one high profile doubter in the medical establishment, Lord (John) Walton (his 2000 report on CAM was less than blunt, and has been widely misquoted by quacks) is reported as saying, at the opening ceremony
“I’m here as a sceptic, and I’ve just told my former houseman that,” he said. The target of the remark was Donald Irvine, another former GMC president and a member of the new college’s advisory council.”
31 October 2010. I got an email that pointed out a remarkable service offered by a member of College’s Governing Council. Angie Buxton-King, a “spiritual healer” employed by UCLH seems to have another web site, The Beacon of Healing Light that is not mentioned in her biography on the College’s site. Perhaps it should have been because it makes some remarkable claims. The page about distant healing is the most bizarre.
Absent Healing/Distant Healing
"Absent healing is available when it is not possible to visit the patient or it is not possible for the patient to be brought to our healing room. This form of healing has proved to be very successful for humans and animals alike."
"We keep a healing book within our healing room and every night spend time sending healing to all those who have asked for it. We have found that if a picture of the patient is sent to us the healing is more beneficial, we also require a weekly update to monitor any progress or change in the patients situation. Donations are welcome for this service."
I wonder what the Advertising Standards people make of the claim that it is “very successful”? I wonder what the president of the College makes of it? I’ve asked him.
Other blogs about the “College of Medicine”
30 October 2010. Margaret McCartney is always worth reading. As a GP she is at the forefront of medicine. She’s written about the College in The Crisis in Caring and dangerous inference. She’s also provided some information about a "professional member" of the College of Medicine, in ..and on Dr Sam Everington, at the Bromley by Bow Centre….
It is one of the more insulting things about alternative medicine addicts that they claim to be the guardians of caring (as opposed to curing), They are not, and people like McCartney and Michael Baum are excellent examples.
Prince of Wales to become honorary president of the “College of Medicine?”
Last night I heard a rumour that the Prince of Wales is, despite all the earlier denials, to become Honorary President of the “College”. If this is true, it completes the wholesale transformation of the late, unlamented, Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Medicine into this new “College”. Can anybody take it seriously now?
Text messages to Graeme Catto and Michael Dixon, inviting them to deny the rumour, have met with silence.
Herbal nonsense at the College
29 July 2011. I got an email from the College if Medicine [download it]. It contains a lot of fantasy about herbal medicines, sponsered by a company that manufactures them. It is dangeroous and corrupt.
Tagged acupuncture, alternative medicine, Andrew Miles, CAM, Catherine Zollman, College of medicine, Cyril Chantler, George Lewith, Graeme Catto, herbalism, homeopathy, Jane Plant, Michael Dixon, Michael Loughlin, Mustafa Djamgoz, Nicola Robinson, Peter Fisher, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince's Foundation, quackery, Simon Gibbons, Traditional Chinese medicine | 33 Comments
Prince of Wales Foundation for magic medicine: spin on the meaning of ‘integrated’.
The Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Integrated Health (FiH) is a propaganda organisation that aims to persuade people, and politicians, that the Prince’s somewhat bizarre views about alternative medicine should form the basis of government health policy.
His attempts are often successful, but they are regarded by many people as being clearly unconstitutional.
The FiH’s 2009 AnnualConferen ce conference was held at The King’s Fund, London 13 – 14 May 2009. It was, as always, an almost totally one-sided affair devoted to misrepresentation of evidence and the promotion of magic medicine. But according to the FiH, at least, it was a great success. The opening speech by the Quacktitioner Royal can be read here. It has already been analysed by somebody who knows rather more about medicine than HRH. He concludes
“It is a shocking perversion of the real issues driven by one man; unelected, unqualified and utterly misguided”.
We are promised some movie clips of the meeting. They might even make a nice UK equivalent of “Integrative baloney @ Yale“.
This post is intended to provide some background information about the speakers at the symposium. But let’s start with what seems to me to be the real problem. The duplicitous use of the word “integrated” to mean two quite different things.
The problem of euphemisms: spin and obfuscation
One of the problems of meetings like this is the harm done by use of euphemisms. After looking at the programme, it becomes obvious that there is a rather ingenious bit of PR trickery going on. It confuses (purposely?) the many different definitions of the word “integrative” . One definition of “Integrative medicine” is this (my emphasis).
” . . . orienting the health care process to engage patients and caregivers in the full range of physical, psychological, social, preventive, and therapeutic factors known to be effective and necessary for the achievement of optimal health.”
That is a thoroughly admirable aim. And that, I imagine, is the sense in which several of the speakers (Marmot, Chantler etc) used the term. Of course the definition is rather too vague to be very helpful in practice, but nobody would dream of objecting to it.
But another definition of the same term ‘integrative medicine’ is as a PR-friendly synonym for ‘alternative medicine’, and that is clearly the sense in which it is used by the Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Integrated Health (FIH), as is immediately obvious from their web site.
The guide to the main therapies supports everything from homeopathy to chiropractic to naturopathy, in a totally uncritical way. Integrated service refers explicitly to integration of ‘complementary’ medicine, and that itself is largely a euphemism for alternative medicine. For example, the FIH’s guide to homeopathy says
“What is homeopathy commonly used for?
Homeopathy is most often used to treat chronic conditions such as asthma; eczema; arthritis; fatigue disorders like ME; headache and migraine; menstrual and menopausal problems; irritable bowel syndrome; Crohn’s disease; allergies; repeated ear, nose, throat and chest infections or urine infections; depression and anxiety.”
But there is not a word about the evidence, and perhaps that isn’t surprising because the evidence that it works in any of these conditions is essentially zero.
The FIH document Complementary Health Care: A Guide for Patients appears to have vanished from the web after its inaccuracy received a very bad press, e.g. in the Times, and also here. It is also interesting that the equally widely criticised Smallwood report (also sponsored by the Prince of Wales) seems to have vanished too).
The programme for the meeting can be seen here, for Day 1, and Day 2
Conference chair Dr Phil Hammond, GP, comedian and health service writer. Hammond asked the FIH if I could speak at the meeting to provide a bit of balance. Guess what? They didn’t want balance.
09:30 Opening session
Dr Michael Dixon OBE
09:30 Introduction: a new direction for The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health and new opportunities in integrated health and care. Dr Michael Dixon, Medical Director, FIH
Michael Dixon is devoted to just about every form of alternative medicine. As well as being medical director of the Prince’s Foundation he also runs the NHS Alliance. Despite its name, the NHS Alliance is nothing to do with the NHS and acts, among other things, as an advocate of alternative medicine on the NHS, about which it has published a lot.
Dr Dixon is also a GP at College Surgery, Cullompton, Devon, where his “integrated practice” includes dozens of alternative practitioners. They include not only disproven things like homeopathy and acupuncture, but also even more bizarre practitioners in ‘Thought Field Therapy‘ and ‘Frequencies of Brilliance‘.
To take only one of these, ‘Frequencies of Brilliance’ is bizarre beyond belief. One need only quote its founder and chief salesperson.
“Frequencies of Brilliance is a unique energy healing technique that involves the activation of energetic doorways on both the front and back of the body.”
“These doorways are opened through a series of light touches. This activation introduces high-level Frequencies into the emotional and physical bodies. It works within all the cells and with the entire nervous system which activates new areas of the brain.”
Or here one reads
“Frequencies of Brilliance is a 4th /5th dimensional work. The process is that of activating doorways by lightly touching the body or working just above the body.”
“Each doorway holds the highest aspect of the human being and is complete in itself. This means that there is a perfect potential to be accessed and activated throughout the doorways in the body.”
Best of all, it can all be done at a distance (that must help sales a lot). One is reminded of the Skills for Health “competence” in distant healing (inserted on a government web site at the behest (you guessed it) of the Prince’s Foundation, as related here)
“The intent of a long distance Frequencies of Brilliance (FOB) session is to enable a practitioner to facilitate a session in one geographical location while the client is in another.
A practitioner of FOB that has successfully completed a Stage 5 Frequency workshop has the ability to create and hold a stable energetic space in order to work with a person that is not physically present in the same room.
The space that is consciously created in the Frequencies of Brilliance work is known as the “Gap”. It is a space of nonlinear time. It contains ”no time and no space” or respectively “all time and all space”. Within this “Gap” a clear transfer of the energies takes place and is transmitted to an individual at a time and location consciously intended. Since this dimensional space is in non-linear time the work can be performed and sent backward or forward in time as well as to any location.
The Frequencies of Brilliance work cuts through the limitations of our physical existence and allows us to experience ourselves in other dimensional spaces. Therefore people living in other geographic locations than a practitioner have an opportunity to receive and experience the work.
The awareness of this dimensional space is spoken about in many indigenous traditions, meditation practices, and in the world of quantum physics. It is referred to by other names such as the void, or vacuum space, etc.”
This is, of course, preposterous gobbledygook. It, and other things in Dr Dixon’s treatment guide, seem to be very curious things to impose on patients in the 21st century.
Latest news. The Mid-Devon Star announces yet more homeopathy in Dr Dixon’s Cullompton practice. This time it comes in the form of a clinic run from the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital. I guess they must be suffering from reduced commissioning like all the other homeopathic hospitals, but Dr Dixon seems to have come to their rescue. The connection seems to be with Bristol’s homeopathic consultant, Dr Elizabeth A Thompson. On 11 December 2007 I wrote to Dr Thompson, thus
In March 2006, a press release http://www.ubht.nhs.uk/press/view.asp?257 announced a randomised trial for homeopathic treatment of asthma in children.
This was reported also on the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4971050.stm .
I’d be very grateful if you could let me know when results from this trial will become available.
The reply, dated 11 December 2007, was unsympathetic
I have just submitted the funders report today and we have set ourselves the deadline to publish two inter-related papers by March 1st 2007.
Can I ask why you are asking and what authority you have to gain this information. I shall expect a reply to my questions,
I answered this question politely on the same day but nevertheless my innocent enquiry drew forth a rather vitriolic complaint from Dr Thompson to the Provost of UCL (dated 14 December 2007). In this case, the Provost came up trumps. On 14 January 2008 he replied to Thompson: “I have looked at the email that you copied to me, and I must say that it seems an entirely proper and reasonable request. It is not clear to me why Professor Colquhoun should require some special authority to make such direct enquiries”. Dr Thompson seems to be very sensitive. We have yet to see the results of her trial in which I’m still interested.
Not surprisingly, Dr Dixon has had some severe criticism for his views, not least from the UK’s foremost expert on the evidence for efficacy, Prof Edzard Ernst. Accounts of this can be found in Pulse,
and on Andrew Lewis’s blog.
Dixon is now (in)famous in the USA too. The excellent Yale neurologist, Steven Novella, has written an analysis of his views on Science Based Medicine. He describes Dr. Michael Dixon as “A Pyromaniac In a Field of (Integrative) Straw Men”
09:40 Politics and people: can integrated health and care take centre stage in 2009/2010? Rt Hon Peter Hain MP
It seems that Peter Hain was converted to alternative medicine when his first baby, Sam, was born with eczema. After (though possibly not because of) homeopathic treatment and a change in diet, the eczema got better. This caused Hain, while Northern Ireland Secretary to spend £200,000 of taxpayers’ money to set up a totally uninformative customer satisfaction survey, which is being touted elsewhere in this meeting as though it were evidence (see below). I have written about this episode before: see Peter Hain and Get Well UK: pseudoscience and privatisation in Northern Ireland.
I find it very sad that a hero of my youth (for his work in the anti-apartheid movement) should have sunk to promoting junk science, and even sadder that he does so at my expense.
There has been a report on Hain’s contribution in Wales Online.
09:55 Why does the Health Service need a new perspective on health and healing? Sir Cyril Chantler, Chair, King’s Fund, previous Dean, Guy’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street
Cyril Chantler is a distinguished medical administrator. He also likes to talk and we have discussed the quackery problem several times. He kindly sent me the slides that he used. Slide 18 says that in order to do some good we “need to demonstrate that the treatment is clinically effective and cost effective for NHS use”. That’s impeccable, but throughout the rest of the slides he talks of integrating with complementary” therapies, the effectiveness of which is either already disproved or simply not known.
I remain utterly baffled by the reluctance of some quite sensible people to grasp the nettle of deciding what works. Chantler fails to grasp the nettle, as does the Department of Health. Until they do so, I don’t see how they can be taken seriously.
10.05 Panel discussion
10:20 Integrated Health Awards 2009 Introduction: a review of the short-listed applications
10:45 Presentations to the Award winners by the special guest speaker
11:00 Keynote address by special guest speaker
Getting integrated
Dr David Peters
12:00 Integration, long term disease and creating a sustainable NHS. Professor David Peters, Clinical Director and Professor of Integrated Healthcare, University of Westminster
I first met David Peters after Nature ran my article, Science Degrees without the Science. .One of the many media follow-ups of that article was on Material World (BBC Radio 4). This excellent science programme, presented by Quentin Cooper, had a discussion between me and David Peters ( listen to the mp3 file).
There was helpful intervention from Michael Marmot who had talked, in the first half of the programme, about his longitudinal population studies.
Marmot stressed the need for proper testing. In the case of
homeopathy and acupuncture, that proper testing has largely been done. The tests were failed.
The University of Westminster has, of course, gained considerable notoriety as the university that runs more degree programmes in anti-scientific forms of medicine than any other. Their lecture on vibrational medicine teaches students that amethysts “emit high Yin energy so transmuting lower energies and clearing and aligning energy disturbances at all levels of being”. So far their vice-chancellor, Professor Geoffrey Petts, has declined to answer enquiries about whether he thinks such gobbledygook is appropriate for a BSc degree.
But he did set up an internal enquiry into the future of their alternative activities. Sadly that enquiry seems to have come to the nonsensical conclusion that the problem can be solved by injection of good science into the courses, as reported here and in the Guardian.
It seems obvious that if you inject good science into their BSc in homeopathy the subject will simply vanish in a puff of smoke.
In 2007, the University of Westminster did respond to earlier criticism in Times Higher Education, but their response seemed to me to serve only to dig themselves deeper into a hole.
Nevertheless, Westminster has now closed down its homeopathy degree (the last in the country to go) and there is intense internal discussion going on there. I have the impression that Dr Peters’ job is in danger. The revelation of more slides from their courses on homeopathy, naturopathy and Chinese herbal medicine shows that these courses are not only barmy, but also sometimes dangerous.
Professor Chris Fowler
12:10 Educating tomorrow’s integrated doctors. Professor Chris Fowler, Dean for Education, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
I first came across Dr Fowler when I noticed him being praised for his teaching of alternative medicine to students at Barts and the London Medical School on the web site of the Prince’s Foundation. I wrote him a polite letter to ask if he really thought that the Prince of Wales was the right person to consult about the education of medical students. The response I got was, ahem, unsympathetic. But a little while later I noticed that two different Barts students had set up public blogs that criticised strongly the nonsense that was being inflicted on them.
At that point, I felt it was necessary to support the students who, it seemed to me, knew more about medical education than Professor Fowler. It didn’t take long to uncover the nonsense that was being inflicted on the students: read about it here.
There is a follow-up to this story here. Fortunately, Barts’ Director of Research, and, I’m told, the Warden of Barts, appear to agree with my view of the harm that this sort of thing can do to the reputation of Barts, so things may change soon,
Dame Donna Kinnair
12:30 Educating tomorrow’s integrated nurses.
Dame Donna Kinnair, Director of Nursing, Southwark PCT
As far as I can see, Donna Kinnair has no interest in alternative medicine. She is director of nursing at Southwark primary care trust and was an adviser to Lord Laming throughout his inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié. I suspect that her interest is in integrating child care services (they need it, judging by the recent death of ‘Baby P’). Perhaps her presence shows the danger of using euphemisms like ‘integrated medicine’ when what you really mean is the introduction of unproven or disproved forms of medicine.
Michael Dooley
12:40 Integrating the care of women: an example of the new paradigm. Michael Dooley, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist
DC’s rule 2. Never trust anyone who uses the word ‘paradigm’. It is a sure-fire sign of pseudoscience. In this case, the ‘new paradigm’ seems to be the introduction of disproven treatment. Dooley is a gynaecologist and Medical Director of the Poundbury Clinic. His clinic offers a whole range of unproven and disproved treatments. These include acupuncture as an aid to conception in IVF. This is not recommended by the Cochrane review, and one report suggests that it hinders conception rather than helps.
12.40 Discussion
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch and Exhibition
15.30 Tea
Boo Armstrong and Get Well UK
16.00 Integrated services in action: The Northern
Ireland experience: what has it shown us and what are its implications?
Boo Armstrong of Get Well UK with a team from the NI study
I expect that much will be made of this “study”, which, of course, tells you absolutely nothing whatsoever about the effectiveness of the alternative treatments that were used in it. This does not appear to be the view of Boo Armstrong, On the basis of the “study”, her company’s web site proclaims boldly
“Complementary Medicine Works
Get Well UK ran the first government-backed complementary therapy project in the UK, from February 2007 to February 2008″
This claim appears, prima facie, to breach the Unfair Trading Regulations of May 2008. The legality of the claim is, at the moment, being judged by a Trading Standards Officer. In any case, the “study” was not backed by the government as a whole, but just by Peter Hain’s office. It is not even clear that it had ethical approval.
The study consisted merely of asking people who had seen an alternative medicine practitioner whether they felt better or worse. There was no control group; no sort of comparison was made. It is surely obvious to the most naive person that a study like this cannot even tell you if the treatment has a placebo effect, never mind that it has any genuine effects of its own. To claim that it does so seems to be simply dishonest. There is no reason at all to think that the patients would not have got better anyway.
It is not only Get Well UK who misrepresent the evidence. The Prince’s
Foundation itself says
“Now a new, year long trial supported by the Northern Ireland health service has . . . demonstrated that integrating complementary and conventional medicine brings measurable benefits to patients’ health.”
That is simply not true. It is either dishonest or stupid. Don’t ask me which, I have no idea.
This study is no more informative than the infamous Spence (2005) ‘study’ of the same type, which seems to be the only thing that homeopaths can produce to support their case.
There is an excellent analysis of the Northern Ireland ‘study’ by Andy Lewis, The Northern Ireland NHS Alternative Medicine ‘Trial’. He explains patiently, yet again, what constitutes evidence and why studies like this are useless.
His analogy starts
” . . . the Apple Marketing Board approach the NHS and ask for £200,000 to do a study to show the truth behind the statement ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’. The Minister, being particularly fond of apples, agrees and the study begins.”
16.30 Social enterprise and whole systems integrated care. Dee Kyne, Sandwell PCT and a GP. Developing an integrated service in secondary care
Dee Kyne appears to be CEO of KeepmWell Ltd (a financial interest that is not mentioned).
Peter Mackereth, Clinical Lead, Supportive Services, Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
I had some correspondence with Mackereth when the Times (7 Feb 2007) published a picture of the Prince of Wales inspecting an “anti-MRSA aromatherapy inhaler” in his department at the Christie. It turned out that the trial they were doing was not blind No result has been announced anyway, and on enquiry, I find that the trial has not even started yet. Surprising, then to find that the FIH is running the First Clinical Aromatherapy Conference at the Christie Hospital, What will there be to talk about?
Much of what they do at the Christie is straightforward massage, but they also promote the nonsensical principles of “reflexology” and acupuncture.
The former is untested. The latter is disproven.
Parallel Sessions
Developing a PCT funded musculoskeletal service Dr Roy Welford, Glastonbury Health Centre
Roy Welford is a Fellow of the Faculty of Homeopathy, and so promotes disproven therapies. The Glastonbury practice also advertises acupuncture (disproven), osteopathy and herbal medicine (largely untested so most of it consists of giving patients an unknown dose of an ill-defined drug, of unknown effectiveness and unknown safety).
Making the best of herbal self-prescription in integrated practice: key remedies and principles. Simon Mills, Project Lead: Integrated Self Care in Family Practice, Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health, Devon
Simon Mills is a herbalist who now describes himself as a “phytotherapist” (it sounds posher, but the evidence, or lack of it, is not changed by the fancy name). Mills likes to say things like “there are herbs for heating and drying”, “hot and cold” remedies, and to use meaningless terms like “blood cleanser”, but he appears to be immune to the need for good evidence that herbs work before you give them to sick people. He says, at the end of a talk, “The hot and the cold remain the trade secret of traditional medicine”. And this is the 21st Century.
Practical ways in which complementary approaches can improve the treatment of cancer. Professor Jane Plant, Author of “Your life in your hands” and Chief Scientist, British Geological Society and Professor Karol Sikora, Medical Director, Cancer Partners UK
Jane Plant is a geologist who, through her own unfortunate encounter with breast cancer, became obsessed with the idea that a dairy-free diet cured her. Sadly there is no good evidence for that idea, according to the World Cancer Research Fund Report, led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot. No doubt her book on the subject sells well, but it could be held that it is irresponsible to hold out false hopes to desperate people. She is a supporter of the very dubious CancerActive organisation (also supported by Michael Dixon OBE –see above) as well as the notorious pill salesman, Patrick Holford (see also here).
Karol Sikora, formerly an oncologist at the Hammersmith Hospital, is now Dean of Medicine at the University of Buckingham (the UK’s only private university). He is also medical director at CancerPartners UK, a private cancer company.
He recently shot to fame when he appeared in a commercial in the USA sponsored by “Conservatives for Patients’ Rights”, to pour scorn on the NHS, and to act as an advocate for the USA’s present health system. A very curious performance. Very curious indeed.
His attitude to quackery is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. One was somewhat alarmed to see him sponsoring a course at what was, at first, called the British College of Integrated Medicine, and has now been renamed the Faculty of Integrated Medicine That grand title makes it sound like part of a university. It isn’t.
The alarm was as result of the alliance with Dr Rosy Daniel (who promotes an untested herbal conconction, Carctol, for ‘healing’ cancer) and Dr Mark Atkinson (a supplement salesman who has also promoted the Qlink pendant. The Qlink pendant is a simple and obvious fraud designed to exploit paranoia about WiFi killing you.
The first list of speakers on the proposed diploma in Integrated Medicine was an unholy alliance of outright quacks and commercial interests. It turned out that, although Karol Sikora is sponsoring the course, he knew nothing about the speakers. I did and when I pointed this out to Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of Buckingham, he immediately removed Rosy Daniel from directing the Diploma. At the moment the course is being revamped entirely by Andrew Miles. There is hope that he’ll do a better job. It has not yet been validated by the University of Buckingham. Watch this space for developments.
Stop press It is reported in the Guardian that Professor Sikora has been describing his previous job at Imperial College with less than perfect accuracy. Oh dear. More developments in the follow-up.
The role of happy chickens in healing: farms as producers of health as well as food – the Care Farm Initiative Jonathan Dover, Project Manager, Care Farming, West Midlands.
Apparently,
“Care farming is a partnership between farmers, participants and health & social care providers. It combines the care of the land with the care of people, reconnecting people with nature and their communities.”
Sounds lovely, I wonder how well it works?
What can the Brits learn from the Yanks when it comes to integrated health? Jack Lord, Chief Executive Humana Europe
It is worth noticing that the advisory board of Humana Europe includes Micheal Dixon OBE, a well known advocate of alternative medicine (see
above). Humana Europe is a private company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Humana Inc., a health benefits company with 11 million members and 22,000 employees and headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2005 it entered into a business partnership with Virgin Group. Humana was mentioned in the BBC Panorama programme “NHS for Sale”. The company later asked that it be pointed out that they provide commissioning services, not clinical services [Ed. well not yet anyway].
Humana’s document “Humana uses computer games to help people lead healthier lives” is decidedly bizarre. Hang on, it was only a moment ago that we were being told that computer games rewired your brain.
Day 2 Integrated health in action
09.00 Health, epidemics and the search for new solutions. Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, Royal Free and University College Medical School
It is a mystery to me that a distinguished epidemiologist should be willing to keep such dubious company. Sadly I don’t know what he said, but judging my his publications and his appearence on Natural World, I can’t imagine he’d have much time for homeopaths.
9.25 Improving health in the workplace. Dame Carol Black, National Director, Health and Work, Department of Health
This is not the first time that Dame Carol has been comtroversial.
9.45 Integrated health in focus: defeating obesity. Professor Chris Drinkwater, President, NHS Alliance.
The NHS Alliance was mentioned above. Enough said.
10.00 Integrated healthcare in focus: new approaches to managing asthma, eczema and allergy. Professor Stephen Holgate, Professor of Immunopharmacology, University of Southampton
10.15 Using the natural environment to increase activity. The Natural England Project: the results from year one. Dr William Bird and Ruth Tucker, Natural England.
10.45 Coffee
Self help in action
11.10 Your health, your way: supporting self care through care planning and the use of personal budgets. Angela Hawley, Self Care Lead, Department of Health
11.25 NHS Life Check: providing the signposts to
integrated health. Roy Lambley, Project Director, NHS LifeCheck Programme
This programme was developed with the University of Westminster’s “Health and Well-being Network”. This group, with one exception, is separate from Westminster’s extensive alternative medicine branch (it’s mostly psychologists).
11.45 The agony and the ecstasy of helping patients to help themselves: tips for clinicians, practices and PCTs. Professor
Ruth Chambers, FIH Foundation Fellow.
11.55 Providing self help in practice: Department of Health Integrated Self Help Information Project. Simon Mills, Project Lead: Integrated Self Care in Family Practice, Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health, Devon and Dr Sam Everington, GP, Bromley by Bow.
The Culm Valley Integrated Centre for health is part of the College Surgery Partnership, associated with Michael Dixon OBE (yes, again!).
Simon Mills is the herbalist who says “The hot and the cold remain the trade secret of traditional medicine” .
Sam Everington, in contrast, seems to be interested in ‘integration’ in the real sense of the word, rather than quackery.
Integrated health in action
How to make sense of the evidence on complementary approaches: what works? What might work? What doesn’t work?
Dr Hugh MacPherson, Senior Research Fellow in Health Sciences, York University and Dr Catherine Zollman, Bravewell Fellow
Hugh MacPherson‘s main interest is in acupuncture and he publishes in alternative medicine journals. Since the recent analysis in the BMJ from the Nordic Cochrane Centre (Madsen et al., 2009) it seems that acupuncture is finally dead. Even its placebo effect is too small to be useful. Catherine Zollman is a Bristol GP who is into homeopathy as well as acupuncture. She is closely connected with the Prince’s Foundation via the Bravewell Fellowship. That fellowship is funded by the Bravewell Collaboration, which is run by Christie Mack, wife of John Mack (‘Mack the Knife’), head of Morgan Stanley (amazingly, they still seem to have money). This is the group which, by sheer wealth, has persuaded so many otherwise respectable US universities to embrace every sort of quackery (see, for example, Integrative baloney @ Yale)
The funding of integrated services
14.15 How to get a PCT or practice- based commissioner to fund your integrated service. A PCT Chief Executive and a Practice-Based Commissioning lead.
14.30 How I succeeded: funding an integrated service. Dr John Ribchester, Whitstable
14.45 How we created an acupuncture service in St Albans and Harpenden PBC group. Mo Girach, Chief Executive, STAHCOM
Uhuh Acupunture again. Have these people never read Bausell’s
book? Have they not read the BMJ? Acupuncture is now ell-established to be based on fraudulent principles, and not even to have a worthwhile placeobo effect. STAHCOM seem to be more interested in money than in what works.
Dragon’s Den. Four pitchers lay out their stall for the commissioning dragons
And at this stage there is no prize for guessing that all four are devoted to trying to get funds for discredited treatments
An acupuncture service for long-term pain. Mike Cummings Chair, Medical Acupuncture Association
Manipulation for the treatment of back pain Simon Fielding, Founder Chairman of the General Osteopathic Council
Nigel Clarke, Senior Partner, Learned Lion Partners Homeopathy for long term conditions
Peter Fisher, Director, Royal Homeopathic Hospital
Sadly it is not stated who the dragons are. One hopes they will be more interested in evidence than the supplicants.
Mike Cummings at least doesn’t believe the nonsense about meridians and Qi. It’s a pity he doesn’t look at the real evidence though.
You can read something about him and his journal at BMJ Group promotes acupuncture: pure greed.
Osteopathy sounds a bit more respectable than the others, but in fact it has never shaken off its cult-like origins. Still many osteopaths make absurd claims to cure all sorts of diseases. Offshoots of osteopathy like ‘cranial osteopathy’ are obvious nonsense. There is no reason to think that osteopathy is any better than any other manipulative therapy and it is clear that all manipulative therapies should be grouped into one.
Osteopathy and chiropractic provide the best ever examples of the folly of giving official government recognition to a branch of alternative medicine before the evidence is in.
Learned Lion Partners is a new one on me. It seems it is
part of Madsen Gornall Ashe Chambers (‘MGA Chambers’) “a grouping of top level, independent specialists who provide a broad range of management consultancy advice to the marketing community”. It’s a management consultant and marketing outfit. So don’t expect too much when it comes to truth and evidence. The company web site says nothing about alternative medicine, but only that Nigel Clarke
“. . . has very wide experience of public affairs issues and campaigns, having worked with clients in many sectors in Europe, North America and the Far East. He has particular expertise in financial, competition and healthcare issues. “
However, all is revealed when we see that he is a Trustee of the Prince’s Foundation where his entry says
“Nigel Clarke is senior partner of Learned Lion Partners. He is a director of Vidapulse Ltd, Really Easy Ltd, Newscounter Ltd and Advanced Transport Systems Ltd. He has worked on the interfaces of public policy for 25 years. He has been chair of the General Osteopathic Council since May 2001, having been a lay member since it was formed. He is now a member of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence”
The Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence is yet another quango that ticks boxes and fails absolutely to grasp the one important point, does it work?. I came across them at the Westminster Forum, and they seemed a pretty pathetic way to spend £2m per year.
Peter Fisher is the last supplicant to the Dragons. He is clinical director of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital (RLHH), and Queen’s homeopathic physician, It was through him that I got an active interest in quackery. The TV programme QED asked me to check the statistics in a paper of his that claimed that homeopathy was good for fibrositis (there was an elementary mistake and no evidence for an effect). Peter Fisher is also remarkable because he agreed with me that BSc degrees in homeopathy were not justified (on TV –see the movie). And he condemned homeopaths who were caught out recommending their sugar pills for malaria. To that extent Fisher represents the saner end of the homeopathic spectrum. Nevertheless he still maintains that sugar pills work and have effects of their own, and tries to justify the ‘memory of water’ by making analogies with a memory stick or CD. This is so obviously silly that no more comment is needed.
Given Fisher’s sensible condemnation of the malaria fiasco, I was rather surprised to see that he appeared on the programme of a conference at the University of Middlesex, talking about “A Strategy To Research The Potential Of Homeopathy In Pandemic Flu”. The title of the conference was Developing Research Strategies in CAM. A colleague, after seeing the programme, thought it was more like “a right tossers’ ball”.
Much of the homeopathy has now vanished from the RLHH as a result of greatly reduced commissioning by PCTs (read about it in Fisher’s own words). And the last homeopathy degree in the UK has closed down. It seems an odd moment for the FIH to be pushing it so hard.
Stop press It is reported in the Guardian (22 May 2009) that Professor Sikora has been describing his previous job at Imperial College with less than perfect accuracy. Oh dear, oh dear.
This fascinating fact seems to have been unearthed first by the admirable NHS Blog Doctor, in his post ‘Imperial College confirm that Karol Sikora does not work for them and does not speak on their behalf‘.
Tagged Academia, acupuncture, Add new tag, alternative medicine, badscience, Barts and the London, CAM, cancer, chiropractic, Cyril Chantler, Department of Health, Fair trading, homeopathy, HRH, Karol Sikora, Michael Dixon, Michael Marmot, nutritional therapy, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince's Foundation, quackery, Universities, Westminster university | 26 Comments
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Home Governance How Nigeria’s N53 trillion Budget Of 18 years Failed
How Nigeria’s N53 trillion Budget Of 18 years Failed
The controversy over performance of the 2016 budget is just the latest in a series of government’s failed efforts at infrastructure building in the last 18 years despite ambitious budgets totaling N53 trillion within the period.
The nation’s yearly budget, which started from a modest expenditure plan of N948 billion ($3.2billion) — apart from supplementary requests — in 1999, consistently grew to N6.06 trillion ($19.9 billion) this year. The Federal Government plans to spend more than N7 trillion next year.
Experts have said that the combination of frivolous and fictitious heads and duplication of items in budgets have remained major challenges, leading to poor performance, the huge budget provisions notwithstanding.
Besides, high recurrent votes, which partly was paid out to “carefully crafted ghost worker scheme”, non-implementation of capital votes as planned and abandonment of projects after mobilization, helped to bring the country down.
Out of the N53 trillion, the country has budgeted N33.2 trillion in the last seven years, with recurrent expenditures averaging 72 per cent, leaving 28 per cent for capital votes.
But going by the projections of the stakeholders, an average of N900 billion yearly has been made in the last 17 years, while the recent fall into recession showed that it was not really invested.
An economist and fiscal governance campaigner, Dr. Uzochukwu Anakom, while speaking on the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, noted that the shoddy work depicts how budgets over the years were used to under-develop the country.
“The macroeconomic targets and figures make no sense to an average Nigerian and can be subject to as many interpretations as there are Nigerians. It commits the government to nothing.
“It raises several questions- what is the inflation target in the next three fiscal years? Will interest be in the single or double digits for it to be consistent with economic growth that can move Nigeria out of recession?Essentially, there are no projections for interest rate and lending to the economy.’’
The immediate past Director-General of Bureau of Public Procurement, Emeka Eze, said that the number of government projects currently abandoned across the country stood at 19,000 as at May this year.
He said that besides duplication of office buildings, personnel and overhead cost, there was the tendency for each agency of government to assert its authority in procurement process.
The result, according to experts, has been poor execution or outright non-execution of projects after mobilisation, as well as over-pricing of projects, after delays in preparation and presentation, inconsistencies in timeframe and questionable figures.
Head of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants of Nigeria, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Ademola, said, “the duplications and ambiguous sub-heads in budgets show lack of transparency and poor processes. It is a pitiable situation for the country, given its place among the nations.
“Truly, if there’s a system and procedures, somebody should see something wrong in this development and somebody must be responsible and held responsible too.”
Labour and the Private sector yesterday described government’s capital expenditure in the last two decades as ‘waste,’ because it failed to lift the country’s physical development beyond the military era. Labour particularly expressed disappointment that Nigerians have continued to get the short end of the stick from their leaders despite ambitious budgets.
Education, Health and general infrastructure have continued to suffer setback, according to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and there are concerns that the 2017 income and expenditure plan may also fail to build infrastructure and create the needed jobs. It means recession could last longer. “It is a waste of economic resources; budgets have not been productive because it is a way of putting money in the pockets of politicians —the rich grows richer and the poor gets poorer,” Comrade Idowu Adelakan, who chairs the Lagos chapter of the labour union, said.
Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Musa Lawal, said previous budgets have not been productive due to lack of effective planning by government, which often planned for the short term.
As President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2017 budget to the National Assembly yesterday, professionals charged the Presidency to ensure that the proposed income and expenditure plan does not suffer setback as the 2016 budget.
Experts, who spoke under the auspices of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) in Abuja yesterday, said the lessons learnt from the failure of 2016 budget should be positive reminder government officials to be careful in discharging their responsibilities. This, the body noted, is key to building confidence in the system.
In a statement at the end of its board meeting held in Abuja, President of the Association, Dr. Omede Idris, noted that navigating through the current recession requires genuine concern by all Nigerians.
Speaking on the recent collapse of a church in Uyo, National President of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Toyosi Raheem, called on the Federal Government to strengthen professional regulatory bodies in Nigeria to enable them perform their duties effectively.
The Federal Government said it had spent over N3.577 trillion out of the full-year N6, 060 trillion budget legislated for the 2016 fiscal year.The amount it also said translates to a 79 per cent implementation or performance level of the prorated budget for the three quarters up to September 30 in the 2016 budget.
According to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, a total of N1,137.7 trillion has also been paid out in domestic and foreign debt service expenditures during the period captured. The Federal Government also said that in addition to the N2,439.9 trillion so far released for capital, non-debt recurrent and service-wide vote expenditures, a total of N1,137.7 trillion has also been paid out in domestic and foreign debt service expenditures. This includes N44 billion transferred to the Sinking Fund to retire maturing obligations on bonds issued to contractors.
The minister had also explained that although the 2016 Budget was well conceived, with reasonably conservative benchmarks, it recorded unanticipated revenue shortfalls along the line due to militancy in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, a development, which seriously affected projected oil production levels for the fiscal year.
President of the Senate Abubakar Bukola Saraki yesterday said lawmakers would critically review the contents of the revised Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP with a view to producing a very realistic budget for the 2017 fiscal year.
He said the Senate would not rubber-stamp the decisions of the executive arm of government as far as the task of preparing the budget was concerned.And, as part of efforts to get the country out of the current economic recession, the Federal Government yesterday revealed plans to explore new streams of revenues to fund the 2017 budget.
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Nigeria’s poverty could reduce by 33% if malnutrition is curbed – UNICEF
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WORKING IN FRENCH
TRABAJAR EN FRANCÉS
JULY 8th & 9th
NEW STUDENTS: 280 €
FORMER STUDENTS: 250 €
Voilà: a course in French!
A unique opportunity to work with one of France’s leading casting directors.
We are absolutely delighted that Nathalie Cheron is returning to Frank Stein Studio.
This course will be dynamic and will provide you with an insight into the French market as well as giving you the possibility to work with scenes and improve your French and acting abilities.
Working in France.
How to prepare for a French casting.
Working on scenes previously assigned to each student.
Self-taping for the French market.
Career assessment.
All scene work will be taped and you will be sent a copy as soon as the course is finished.
NOTE: PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THIS COURSE IS ENTIRELY IN FRENCH.
Nathalie Cheron
Nathalie Cheron is a truly talented casting director based in Paris. She has cast nearly 100 feature films, both French and European, in the last fifteen years and has worked with some of Europe's most respected directors. She is Luc Besson's casting director of choice and has just finished casting VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS.
She has worked on many of the major international films shot in France such as THE BOURNE IDENTITY with Matt Damon, THE FAMILY with Robert De Niro and has worked with US directors such as Robert Altman, Norman Jewison and Danny Huston.
She has a clear vision of what an actor should and should not do and is coming to Barcelona to share this knowledge with you!
CASTING DIRECTOR OF
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« Jim Sinclair Telling It How It Is | Main | What is SK OptionTrader? »
What’s Going on in CRM?
Friday, October 19, 2012 at 08:47PM Share Article | Email Article | Print Article
By Doug Hornig, Casey Research
In Mike Judge's wicked 1999 satire of corporate culture, Office Space, there's a delightful character named Milton. Poor Milton. He's all but invisible. No one likes him, no one talks to him, and coworkers are forever stealing his stapler. Management doesn't notice him enough to fire him. Instead, Milton is shunted from desk to desk, each time losing more of that precious commodity denoted by the film's title, until he finally winds up alone in the basement, where he plots the delicious revenge he'll take on the company.
In times past, customer relations staffs were where the Miltons of the world most likely landed. If you couldn't do anything else, you could probably listen to phone complaints all day. No one wanted to, but somebody had to do it. And so they did, until they went mad from boredom or frustration.
That was then. Today, there's a new shine on customer relations departments, and the field has earned itself a fresh, glossy title and a widely recognized abbreviation: customer relations management, or CRM. And it's become an integral part of the SaaS (software as a service) industry.
The Rear-View Mirror
But first turn back the clock to the 1970s, before the real blossoming of the computer revolution. In that era, most companies – especially those in the Fortune 500 – paid little attention to customers, who were largely forgotten after they'd ordered something. Big company execs, knowing they had enormous resources at their disposal, along with a major market presence, had the attitude that they could always replace customers, if necessary.
Then came the dawn of the Information Age, with evermore powerful business computers and personal machines that began to proliferate in buyer's homes. Now people could make more informed decisions about whom they wanted to buy from. Globalization eased the task of switching suppliers if they were unsatisfied with someone's customer service. At the same time, businesses had rapidly increasing computing power at their fingertips.
The confluence of these two factors led directly to the beginnings of CRM in the 1980s.
At first, with the rise of sophisticated database creation and maintenance technology, it was referred to as "database marketing." Databases were employed to create focus groups to communicate with customers, particularly the most valued. Problem was, data was gathered primarily through repetitive and inefficient surveys, and in the end surveys don't yield a great deal of useful information.
There were processing and analysis hurdles, as well. No task-specific software yet existed that could take all the data being amassed and spit something actionable out the other end. Eventually, companies came to realize that what they needed was to compile simple information they could make plans around: what the customer was purchasing, in what quantity, how often, how much was being spent, and what was done with the products purchased.
Sounds pretty basic today, but it wasn't until the '90s that the phrase "customer relationship management" was coined, and more comprehensive versions of the software were written. Everything that could be automated, was.
CRM, however, is not just about technology. As it has evolved, it has also become more complex, more of a two-way street. While gathering information for the purpose of decision-making remained primary in order to drive increasing profits, companies also put some effort into building strong, enduring relationships with their clients in order to build loyalty. Many began giving back to favored customers, in the form of gifts, discounts, perks, and sometimes even cash.
Customer support, integrated into a CRM system, became more solid, even as machines were taking over much of the heavy lifting. Management began to treat the old saw, "the customer is always right," with greater respect. That was more difficult before the computer revolution. Now it's a cinch. When customers complain, their grievances can be handled quickly and efficiently, on an individual basis. And the mistakes that caused the problem can immediately be rooted out so that they don't happen again.
Sales, once made, can be logged into the database and tracked. They can be cross-referenced to any number of other areas, and analysis can proceed from different angles. Customers' interests and buying patterns can be identified. Sales managers can have direct access to information that allows personalization of the buyer's experience. Electronic sifting of sales data can help drive product development in the best possible direction. And customer follow-ups can be generated automatically, according to any criteria desired.
Designing a CRM System
In order to achieve these goals, it's important for the architecture of a CRM system to be broken down into three broad categories:
the collaborative, which deals with communications between companies and their clients
the operational, which deals with the automation of as many processes as possible
and the analytical, which analyzes customer information and uses it for business intelligence purposes
Collaborative CRM involves all the interactions a company makes with its customers – either face to face or through electronic means such as telephone and Internet. Here, the personal touch is very important. Customers must be provided not only with goods and services, but with whatever assistance and information they may require. Satisfied customers become repeat customers, and CRM can use multiple technologies to bring that about.
Operational CRM deals with the automation of business processes such as enterprise marketing, customer service, and sales-force matters. All data relating to customer interactions is stored in a database, allowing for staff to pull information specific to that customer as needed.
Within Operational CRM:
Enterprise Marketing Automation gives the company quick and easy access to aspects of the business climate, data on competitors, industry trends, and other critical input. That access yields strategies a company can employ to guide its overall marketing plan.
Customer Service and Support Automation takes care of such things as returns and customer complaints.
Sales Force Automation (SFA) covers demographics, special customer needs, and accounting management, with access to information made available not only to salespersons but, in appropriate instances, to clients as well.
Finally, there is Analytical CRM, which deals with analysis of all data input that bears upon customer service capabilities. Some examples would be: cross-selling products to customers; finding ways to retain customers who might be switching to competitors; and providing important information to customers without delays. Analytical CRM is also a tool for fraud detection and/or prevention, and for pattern recognition with regard to sales, inventory, and profits. It can be applied to product development and risk management, areas in which it needs to be particularly dynamic, so that the business plan can respond in a timely manner to any winds of change out in the real world.
When these are all integrated into a cohesive whole, then the company can realize substantial benefits in a competitive environment. But managing such an extensive suite of procedures is a daunting task for many companies to try to accomplish in-house. It means adding considerable (and expensive) expertise. A bespectacled software engineer lurking around every water cooler.
On the other hand, what if you could simply purchase what you needed, in the form of software as a service?
It was a good question, and people on both the user and provider ends of things began asking it. The result: creation of an instant niche for companies with CRM software products that were more cost effective than hired IT guns, and that were applicable across a wide spectrum of the business world.
CRM as a Service (SaaS)
First to jump into this space in a big way was Siebel Systems, founded by Thomas Siebel and Patricia House in 1993.
Siebel began by offering only sales force automation software, but with the explosive growth in demand for CRM through the '90s, it quickly expanded to include marketing and customer service applications. By 1999, it was by far the dominant player and was named the fastest-growing company in the United States in that year by Fortune magazine.
Along the way, Siebel pursued a strategy of forming strategic alliances and making acquisitions to provide e-business solutions for CRM and related areas; as of late 2000 the company had more than 700 alliance partners.
The company went public in 1996, and in 2000 its annual revenues broke through the $1 billion mark. A year later that had doubled, and in 2002 Siebel peaked, grabbing a 45% market share. Today, Siebel is a brand name owned by Oracle, which bought out the company in September of 2005 for $5.8 billion. Although its market share has slipped considerably, it is still a major player.
Next to throw its hat into the ring, in 1998, was the giant German multinational software company SAP. It was followed by Salesforce in 1999 and Microsoft's Dynamics CRM in 2002. Together with Oracle, these companies make up the Big Four of CRM vendors, collectively holding about 60% of market share.
Obviously, three of the four are large, diversified companies, for which CRM represents only a fraction of their revenue stream. Salesforce is the upstart. It's a company whose NYSE ticker symbol is, fittingly, CRM. That's what it's always specialized in (even though of late it has been moving aggressively into the social-networking arena).
The Rise of Salesforce
Salesforce established its position by targeting smaller to mid-sized companies, an area largely neglected by its bigger rivals – primarily because the high cost of the CRM solutions of the day was affordable only by big-budget outfits. It also pioneered the delivery of subscription-based CRM software online. Put the two together, and you have one of the biggest corporate success stories of the new century.
And no wonder. According to its website, "With Salesforce, every step of a sale – from phone calls and emails to collaboration with colleagues – is tracked in one place, so reps stay on top of deals and build stronger relationships with their customers. The average Salesforce.com customer experiences: +29% increase in sales; +34% increase in sales productivity; +42% increase in forecast accuracy."
Salesforce currently has more than 82,000 customers and over 2 million subscribers. It's international – with regional headquarters in Switzerland, Singapore, and Tokyo – and its software supports 16 different languages. It is annually recognized as one of Fortune's 100 best companies to work for, with a ranking that vaulted from 52nd in 2011 to 27th in 2012.
The company is working hard to utilize social-networking websites and to lock up a dominant role in mobile CRM. It's a leader of the migration to the Cloud, as can be seen in the way its CRM suite is broken down:
The Service Cloud enables companies to create and track cases coming in from every channel, and automatically route and escalate what's important. For their part, customers have the ability to track their own cases 24 hours a day.
The Sales Cloud provides sales representatives with a complete customer profile and account history, allows the user to manage marketing campaign spending and performance across a variety of channels from a single application, and tracks all opportunity-related data including milestones, decision makers, customer communications, and any other information unique to the company's sales process.
The Data Cloud leverages crowdsourcing via its member community to create a highly accurate worldwide business contact list. Sales leads, changes of contact information, and organizational profiles can be viewed within the Salesforce application, all generated from up-to-the-minute data created by real business interactions.
The Collaboration Cloud utilizes the type of features embraced by Facebook and Twitter users, and with it employees can tap into social, mobile, and real-time technology to collaborate on documents, business processes, projects, and application data. Components include profiles, status updates, and real-time feeds.
The Custom Cloud is a platform that allows external developers to create add-on applications that integrate into the main Salesforce application and that are hosted on Salesforce's infrastructure.
For its efforts, Salesforce has been amply rewarded. It's jumped from nothing to over $2 billion in revenues in 13 years. Its CAGR for the past five years has been 22.2%. It led the field in market share addition in 2010-'11, with a 2.8% increase. Since it IPOed at $11 in June of 2004, its share price has rocketed to around $145 today, a rise of better than 1,200%. And along the way, it steadily buttressed itself (and dampened competition) through strategic acquisitions, gobbling up 24 other companies between 2006 and 2012.
Though nothing in this fast-evolving space is certain, of course, the consensus is that Salesforce will continue to eat market share, as this projection graph against two of its primary competitors illustrates:
And Salesforce is expanding in all the right ways. According to leading technology analysis firm Gartner, the SaaS-based CRM sales the company specializes in are expected to leap to $6.4 billion in 2015, from $4.5 billion this year. That's the biggest slice of the SaaS pie, as can be seen in this table from Gartner:
At the same time, clients will be integrating social media into their customer service centers; while only 1% of companies adopting CRM are now involved with Facebook, Twitter, and the like, by 2017 that number will reach 25%, Gartner believes.
The Tentacles' Reach
CRM is continually pushing into new industries, as well. Telecommunications leads the customer list at the moment, with the energy/utilities and financial-services sectors close behind. But health care and public services are coming on strong, and are expected to take over the top spots relatively soon.
There is also plenty of room to broaden the reach of CRM services. Whereas CRM systems originated as uncoordinated, separate department servers, the key word today is "integration." And there seems to be no end to the number of corporate elements that can be drawn together, as you can see from this near-octopus that depicts the CRM of the future:
The goal – always – is to put customers first, and to offer them a buying experience that is seamless from beginning to end. The vending company's website becomes the portal through which customers can browse inventory to find what they're looking for, place orders, track order status, and provide feedback about the results. On its end, the company can gather data about customers, personalize its response to them, and set itself up to generate repeat interactions. All of this allows the vendor to transform itself from a purely static entity to one that is much more dynamic.
The Magic Quadrants
With Oracle and SAP losing market share, Salesforce and Microsoft seem poised to benefit the most. But what about other potential competitors, those that make up the 40% not controlled by the Big Four? Might some serious challengers arise?
They might – at Casey Extraordinary Technology, we're always on the lookout for them.
Each quarter, Gartner publishes its famed Magic Quadrants, in which it divides technology firms in a given field into four categories – Visionaries, Niche Players, Challengers, and Leaders – and places them inside a square partitioned into boxes. A company's position in the Magic Quadrant depends upon how Gartner sees it in relation to its peers.
There is no Magic Quadrant for CRM as a general designation; rather, there are separate charts for different aspects of the business. Thus we have this one for MultiChannel CRM Lead Management:
And quite a different one for Sales Force Automation:
There are others as well, but these two identify some of the up-and-comers in the business.
According to CMSWire, lead management involves "processes [that] take in unqualified leads from sources including Web registration, direct mail, digital and email marketing, social networks and tradeshows. CRM lead management solutions automate and optimize how those outputs are then qualified, scored, nurtured, augmented and prioritized for delivery to direct and indirect sales personnel and organizations."
In this category we find companies like top-ranked Eloqua, which Gartner cites for its ability to support complex, multichannel lead-management processes and easy-to-use user interface, and which grew revenues by 39% last year. Another is Marketo, which specializes in B2B (business-to-business) transactions, and which experienced 130% growth.
On the SFA side, SugarCRM had a big year in 2011, landing a major contract with IBM that brought aboard 75,000 users. The company is interesting in that its CRM software and associated community are open source, which enables collaborative, customer-driven enhancements. The open-source community develops and refines new capabilities, which SugarCRM then incorporates into subsequent commercial releases of its software.
Whither from here for CRM? There are probably as many answers to that question as there are those giving them. But a few themes emerge.
One of these is the integration of social media with corporate CRM. It's even got its own buzz term, "SocCRM." And one logical extension of SocCRM is what is generally referred to as "value co-creation."
Through the use of social media, companies have the ability to interact with the customer base as never before. There is a ton of information floating around out there, and it can be tapped into. Now, even major decision making can be based on real-time feedback from users. Design, marketing of product, pre- and post-purchase service – all can become true collaborative efforts, the goal being to create a win-win scenario for both the vendor and the customer. Some startups are even creating social networks before they bring their product to market, in order to find out what it is that the market really wants.
Value co-creation – both in the beginning and as an ongoing part of the toolkit – can be extremely advantageous for the company because it is, in essence, outsourcing much of the heavy lifting of product development, and getting it done for free.
With regard to its Dynamics CRM software, Microsoft put out a white paper in which it suggested uses that its product might be applied to. Among others noted by Microsoft:
Manage online class registration automatically. In addition to automating the registration process, one could track student activity like attendance, grades, certifications, and course evaluations, as well as track and report on marketing activities, including social media, to measure the success of campaigns.
Medical-product manufacturers and distributors can automatically notify product owners of a warning or recall; answer product questions with confidence using a CRM-based knowledgebase; and suggest additional products that could enrich a customer's life.
Help municipalities respond to citizen requests more effectively.
Ditch the paper order form. Work alongside customers to configure an order and send the quote immediately from a tablet device.
Track customer goods in transit with map integration, in response to customers' expectations for knowing where their product is in the supply chain once they have ordered it.
Compile a comprehensive view of lapsed customers and generate automated lists of customers who might be re-attracted based on purchase history.
In a phone conversation with a clients or prospects, employ guided dialogues to prompt follow-up questions based on answers and build decision tree interviews.
Fine-tune customer contests to meet fan interests.
Keep track of where backup paperwork specific to each interaction is located.
But in the end, how do you get sales staff, who may be very set in their ways, to actually use this stuff?
That's the question posed by Dr. Michael Wu, principal analytics scientist and blogger for Lithium.com. Wu writes that "one of the many challenges facing Social CRM will be adoption. In fact, traditional enterprise software (e.g., sales force automation) often experiences a very steep learning curve and is not well adopted within the enterprise. Even if it is adopted, people often hate to use it. Employees only use it because their job requires it."
His simple solution: "gamify" CRM software.
That is, people are more apt to learn new skills, and to warm to new technologies, if they're presented as a game. "Social gaming dynamics," he says, "can foster team work, collaboration, and even a healthy level of competition within your organization. The result is ultimately a huge boost in productivity …
"So if you ever get involved in [CRM] software design, make sure it's entertaining! Never underestimate the power of fun."
Sounds like an idea whose time has come.
Casey Extraordinary Technology is another idea whose time has come. Learn why from CET Senior Editor Alex Daley.
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China rejects “debt trap” allegations linked to Sri Lanka
China and Sri Lanka are committed to pushing forward cooperation on the Hambantota port project and realizing the goal of making Sri Lanka the logistics center of the Indian Ocean, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, according to the Xinhua news agency.
“This is not only conducive to the economic development of Sri Lanka, but also conducive to regional interconnection and the common prosperity of regional countries,” Spokesperson Lu Kang told a press briefing.
Lu made the remarks in response to allegations that appeared in U.S. media reports, which stated that China’s acquisition of the Hambantota port from Sri Lanka highlights its “debt trap” and ambitious use of loans to gain influence around the world.
Lu said such reports seriously distort the facts, which are either irresponsible or under the orders of people with ulterior motives, “We hope that the relevant media will not be keen on fake news.”
The construction of the Hambantota port is the wish of successive Governments and people of Sri Lanka, said Lu, adding that China encourages its companies to cooperate with the Sri Lankan side according to commercial principles and on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
“According to the needs of Sri Lanka, Chinese financial institutions have provided support to Sri Lanka in solving the financing gap. Later, the Chinese side made efforts to adjust relevant asset allocation according to the wishes of the Sri Lankan side,” said Lu, noting that those arrangements will benefit the business cooperation between the two sides.
“If the fabricators of the so-called ‘debt trap’ can not give the developing countries real help, they can at least take a healthy attitude towards the sincere cooperation between other countries,” said Lu.
Courtesy: Colombo Gazette
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InspireMD Announces Publication of the IRON-GUARD Registry in EuroIntervention
Zero incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events
including no major strokes
BOSTON, MA—May 17, 2017 – InspireMD, Inc. (NYSE MKT:NSPR) (NYSE MKT:NSPR.WS) (“InspireMD” or the “Company”), a leader in embolic prevention systems (EPS) / thrombus management technologies and neurovascular devices, today announced the publication of the Investigator Initiated IRON-GUARD Italian clinical registry in the peer reviewed journal EuroIntervention, which appeared in the May 9th issue. IRON-GUARD was an independent, multicentre, multi-disciplinary clinical study treating patients with carotid artery disease using the CGuardTM EPS (embolic prevention system) in 12 Italian centers.
The IRON-GUARD registry enrolled 200 patients, and showed results of 100% technical success placing the device, and zero incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), comprised of death, major stroke or myocardial infarction, in all patients at 30 days. Five (2.5%) minor strokes and two transient ischemic attacks (1%) were observed, which were resolved by 30 days.
Study authors included Professor Carlo Setacci, MD, Francesco Spezialie, MD; Laura Capoccia, MD; Pasqualino Sirignano, MD; Wassim Mansour, MD: Chiara Pranteda, MD; and Renato Casana, MD.
Dr. Francesco Spezialie, stated, “In our multi-center, multi-specialty experience, use of the CGuard EPS in routine clinical practice was associated with no major peri-procedural neurologic complications and a total elimination of post-procedural neurologic complications after 30 days. The CGuard EPS has shown itself to be a promising treatment for carotid lesions.”
James Barry, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of InspireMD, commented, “We were pleased to see the results of the IRON-GUARD registry accepted and published in EuroIntervention. These results further validate the positive clinical outcomes of other trials and registries utilizing CGuardTM EPS and the data is quite consistent with those other clinical trials. To our knowledge, this now appears to be the largest registry utilizing CGuard. Following on from the very successful Paradigm 101 study, IRON-GUARD is a further high quality independent registry which continues to give us confidence in CGuard becoming the standard-of-care for treatment of carotid artery disease due to the significant safety advantages of our device.”
EuroIntervention is a monthly peer-reviewed journal of interventional cardiovascular medicine that has become one of the benchmarks in its field. EuroIntervention is the official journal of EuroPCR and the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI). The Journal is endorsed by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and has a distinguished European and International editorial board led by Prof Patrick W. Serruys from the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam.
InspireMD intends to pursue applications of this MicroNet technology in coronary, carotid (CGuard™), neurovascular, and peripheral artery procedures. InspireMD’s common stock is quoted on the NYSE MKT under the ticker symbol NSPR and certain warrants are quoted on the NYSE MKT under the ticker symbol NSPR.WS
This press release contains “forward-looking statements.” Such statements may be preceded by the words “intends,” “may,” “will,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “predicts,” “estimates,” “aims,” “believes,” “hopes,” “potential” or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) market acceptance of our existing and new products, (ii) negative clinical trial results or lengthy product delays in key markets, (iii) an inability to secure regulatory approvals for the sale of our products, (iv) intense competition in the medical device industry from much larger, multinational companies, (v) product liability claims, (vi) product malfunctions, (vii) our limited manufacturing capabilities and reliance on subcontractors for assistance, (viii) insufficient or inadequate reimbursement by governmental and other third party payers for our products, (ix) our efforts to successfully obtain and maintain intellectual property protection covering our products, which may not be successful, (x) legislative or regulatory reform of the healthcare system in both the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, (xi) our reliance on single suppliers for certain product components, (xii) the fact that we will need to raise additional capital to meet our business requirements in the future and that such capital raising may be costly, dilutive or difficult to obtain and (xiii) the fact that we conduct business in multiple foreign jurisdictions, exposing us to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, logistical and communications challenges, burdens and costs of compliance with foreign laws and political and economic instability in each jurisdiction. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward looking statements is set forth in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC’s web site at http://www.sec.gov The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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Return to: Home > News > Financial Results > Cybercrime predicted as most disruptive fraud in the next two years: PwC
Cybercrime predicted as most disruptive fraud in the next two years: PwC
Author: Stephanie Wix
Cybercrime will become the most disruptive fraud in the next two years, according to the Global Economic Crime and Fraud survey from PwC.
The bi-annual survey of 7,200 respondents from 123 countries found that 49% have suffered fraud in their companies in the last two years, up from 36% in 2016. The most common economic crimes were asset misappropriation (45%), cybercrime (31%), consumer fraud (29%) and business misconduct (28%). PwC has attributed the increase in reporting to greater awareness and understanding.
PwC global forensics leader Kristin Rivera said: “There is far more understanding of what fraud is and where it is taking place, particularly true of cybercrime [regarding] issues, investigations, analysis, and greater investment in controls and prevention.”
Indeed, 59% reported having an operational cyber detection plan, up from 37% in 2016. Additionally, many respondents addressed fraud prevention through corporate culture initiatives and technology. Yet despite the progress, the top impacts to an organisation affect employee morale, business relations, damage to reputation and brand strength. Of respondents, 64% found their financial losses could reach $1m, in addition to the 41% found to be spending double what has been lost to cybercrime on investigations.
The survey found 52% of crime was committed internally, particularly from senior management (24%, up from 16% in 2016). However, crime was committed externally more often in Australia (64%), the UK (55%), Canada (58%), Argentina (44%) and the USA (48%), and commonly perpetrated by agents, shared service providers, vendors and customers. In comparison, the highest levels of economic crime were in Africa (62% up from 57%), North America (54% up from 37%) and Latin America (53% up from 28%).
“While technology has a strong role to play in monitoring and detection, when it comes to blocking that ‘last mile’ to fraud, the returns from people initiatives are likely to far exceed those from investing in another piece of technology,” Rivera added.
PwC UK has the highest gender pay gap among the Big Four at 43.8%
IFIAR report seeks further improvement in audit engagements
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Thankful in Turkey
When Tim and I started to plan our trip, we never had plans to visit Turkey. In all of our initial daydreams, Turkey never made the list. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to come here, it’s just the idea of visiting Turkey hadn’t even occurred to us.
Posted by Tim on Mar 26, 2005
By now, you’ve gathered something of what Punta del Diablo meant to us. Words and pictures alone will never be able to recreate what it was like there: the best we can hope to do is to offer is a taste of how it made us feel…
Our first day there, after dropping off our bags at the Hostal del Diablo, we set off in search of something to eat. Most of the village was closed up, the last of the summer tourists having moved on weeks ago. But we did come across a place called “Pizzeria Lou Ber”, and it very quickly established itself as something we would never forget.
The restaurant was about thirty feet from the point where the sandy “road” gave way first to a cliff of massive rocks (the same rocks we’d been sitting on that morning), then to the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. There were white picnic tables outside, in a clearly recently-constructed sort of patio section. Rough wooden planks were nailed together to form the walls, and the trunks of palm trees held up a thatched roof of dried reeds. You’ve never seen anything so picturesque in your life, I promise you.
The proprietor, whom I assume may have been the eponymous “Lou”, served us a spectacular pizza with mushrooms and an ice-cold liter of Uruguayan beer. I so clearly remember sitting there, listening to the roar of the ocean waves beating against the rocks just out of sight, watching an occasional burst of spray soar into view, eating that glorious pizza and drinking that glorious beer.
We went to that restaurant just about every day for lunch, and were usually the only people there. As a result, “Lou” started putting together a mushroom pizza for us as soon as he saw us coming. Most of the time, the place would be absolutely dead. He’d be standing against the doorway in his apron, watching the ocean. I imagine him a city boy from Montevideo, someone who sold everything he had to scrape together enough money to start up this restaurant. I imagine him to be a very happy man.
The temperature hovered around the mid-80s the whole time we were in Punta del Diablo, and except for the morning cloud cover that comes with being on the ocean, the weather was continuously spectacular. While we didn’t make it into the water on our first day, it didn’t take long the next morning to make our way down to the beach.
That first time, the waves were fantastic. It wasn’t a day for lazing about in the warm water, it was a day for jumping and playing among the enormous swells and crashes that swept in on us every twenty seconds or so. We stayed in the water for hours, diving into the waves, trying to bodysurf them back into shore, and occasionally inhaling a snootful of seawater. It was wonderful.
The next day, we were back for more. The ocean changed up its routine this time, and the waves were smaller, more gentle. It was a day for floating on your back, for swimming, for lazing about. It was the kind of ocean that soothes the muscles you strained battling it the day before, the kind of ocean that you never want to get out of.
Our third and final day of swimming was the best of the lot. The waves were amazing, making those on the first day seem tame by comparison. There were a couple of surfers in the water with us, and it is an experience I will always remember to see a wave curling over your head into a pipe of water 6’ wide, and then to see a man just feet to your left go by, riding it on his board. The oceans were fierce that day, just benign enough to keep from being actively dangerous to swim in. It was the most exhilarating swimming I have ever done, and the most beautiful.
The morning of our third day in Punta del Diablo, we awoke at 6:30am. Quickly, we dressed in the dark, and then made our way out to the beach to catch the sunrise.
As always, the morning was overcast, a result of the moisture the air had pulled up off of the ocean. It was cool, too, not even 70 degrees yet, as we made our way down the little path that led to the beach, a path that included a trip over a rickety hand-made bridge and a bit of balancing one’s way down a felled tree.
Then we were on the beach, running from one spot to the next, taking pictures of everything in those crucial last few minutes before sunrise. Naturally, we quickly acquired an accompaniment of stray dogs, three or four of them, eagerly following us from location to location and excited by all the activity.
There’s a long, thin peninsula of rock that extends out from the tip of Punta del Diablo, and it was there that we made our way to see the sunrise. We took picture after picture of it as it made its slow ascent into the sky, burning off the cloud cover to make way for another postcard-perfect day. The air began to warm, and a few small corners of the sleepy village began to wake up: fishermen making their way out to the rocks, shopkeepers unlocking their doors, a tourist here and there trying to find some breakfast.
The two of us stood out on those rocks for a while, watching the sunrise, watching the village, watching the water. Then we made our way back to the Hostal del Diablo to scrounge up some breakfast ourselves.
Please do not mistake anything in this anecdote, or in the accompanying photograph, to mean we are not being careful around stray dogs. We are very aware of the risks posed by stray animals and are very careful hedgehogs. Really.
Punta del Diablo is filled with dozens and dozens of large, friendly dogs. They never seem to be thirsty or starving or in poor health, so it doesn’t seem right to call them feral dogs, or strays. It feels more like they’re some kind of “community dogs”, jointly owned by the village as a whole, and taken care of by everyone. You can’t go anywhere there without acquiring a companion or two. It’s as if the dogs there “adopt” tourists, each dog attaching himself to any human that looks lonely for canine companionship. We had a number of such friends during our stay there, and we got to know twenty or so dogs by sight, and named a half-dozen or so of them: names like Mr. Fancypants and Lady Marmalade. And Flipper.
The first time we came across Flipper, I was trying to take a picture of a rusted and collapsed car laying beside the beach. A black dog approached us, and frankly, he did not look good. He looked mangy, his hair was all matted and clumpy, and we tried to move away from him quickly. But he followed us.
We were trying to make our way out onto the rocky peninsula (the one we would take pictures from at sunrise a couple of mornings later) because we wanted to have a closer look at the statue out on the end of it. The dog followed us towards it, and then, at some point, ran out ahead of us. It was as if he had appointed himself our guide, as if he knew which direction we were going, and wanted to help us get there. He led us all the way out to the rocks, but refused to go any further, instead waiting for us there while we took photographs of the statue. When we returned, he led the way again, before eventually getting distracted by another dog and leaving us.
The next day, the two of us walked the entire length of the beach, about 4 miles or so, to see the lighthouse at the far end. The same dog again appeared and accompanied us, and it was on this occasion that he won our hearts. As much as he had the look of an older dog, he was such a puppy in his manner. He scampered ahead of us and back, playing with anything we came across as we walked, and he constantly jumped into the water and frolicked among the waves. We realized that the first time we’d seen him, he must have just been doing this: the water made his fur clump and matt, making him look like he was sick or something. I’ve never seen a dog who liked the water so much. We decided to name him “Flipper” for this reason.
It was a long walk, and Flipper was pretty tired and thirsty by the end of it (as were we: 4 miles on beach sand is exhausting), but he never complained, never lost his puppy playfulness. We were in love with him by the time we got back to the village, and waved goodbye as he ran off in search of water.
The next morning, we woke up early to take photos of the sunrise. Flipper was back, one of the first dogs to accompany us. He’d appear whenever we went into town, accompany us for a bit, and then disappear. Our last evening there, we played with him on the beach for a while, videotaping it so that we could watch it when we missed him.
Our last day, on our way to the bus stop, we ran across Flipper one last time. It was sad saying goodbye to him.
We both miss him now.
Our room had wide double-doors that opened out onto a terrace, and the terrace had such a spectacular view. We spent so many of our hours in Punta del Diablo sitting out there together, whether reading, eating, or just enjoying the sights and sounds that surrounded us.
One evening, we sat out there together for hours, drinking ice-cold cervezas and just enjoying our view. There was a horse off to our right, chewing and swallowing the tall grass in large mouthfuls and shooing mosquitoes away with his tail. There were dogs chasing each other through the field to the left. And in the distance, from one side to the other, lay the ocean. There was a pile of rocks on one side that we could see the waves hammering, whitecaps breaking on stone with a distant crash. We watched that ocean for hours and hours, and we knew in our hearts that it was going to hurt to leave. Punta del Diablo was everything we’d ever wanted (minus maybe an ATM and high-speed internet), and we didn’t want to go.
We started fantasizing about staying, about buying a cabaña and never going any further on our trip, about never going anywhere other than across the border once every 90 days to renew our visas. It was so beautiful there that it hurt, physically hurt, to think about having to leave.
I’d do freelance work from the local internet café, and she’d become a local teacher. We’d live in a cottage on the beach, one with a guesthouse out back. The fact that the internet access there was out during our entire visit, Jessica’s lack of the fluent Spanish one might reasonably expect from a teacher: these things didn’t deter us. We were never going to leave.
Except, of course, that we did leave in the end. But we made a promise to each other. Thirty years from now, or maybe forty, we’ll be back. Probably not to Punta del Diablo itself (who knows what it will be like in a few decades), but to some secluded beach town that is in spirit what Punta del Diablo was for us. And we’ll live in a cottage on the beach, one with a guesthouse out back. And we’ll never leave.
Blurry Cows and Palm Trees: A Travel Day
We May Buy a Cabana There Yet...
Thoughts on a Rooftop...
March 26, 2005 at 9:31am
I've fallen in love. Happy to hear you've found the perfect retirement village.
Oh, wow. The pictures. The words. The feelings you must have felt that the words couldn't do any justice to. A truly magical place for both of you. All of the anecdotes just speak to that. Love them. I fell in love with Flipper, too, just from your story. A daily mushroom pizza, too.
It sounds utterly amazing, and beyond words… you'll find the perfect place for yourselves, in that distant future.
Sister Soldier
With all the stress in my life right now it's nice to know that I can always escape by reading the adventures of the two traveling hedgehogs. I wish I was with you… To feel heaven on Earth must be an amazing experience. It must be nice to bask in the eternal sunshine of a totally blissful life. Enjoy yourselves to the extrme, take in everything as if it was a gourmet meal, and never forget the things you've seen/heard. I envy you guys, but am nevertheless in awe of all that you have achomplished…
As usual, spectacular pics and description. It sounds as though everything so far has been lovely and I'm glad to hear that you two are having such a wonderful time.
March 26, 2005 at 10:14pm
your pal flipper seem to be quite a care free puppy your pictures are fab. it's nice to know that you apparently found heaven on earth, i envy you both i wish i had the nerve to do something like this when i was younger ps it looks like your starting to burn don't forget the sun screen completely
March 28, 2005 at 11:30am
hope jessica is wearing sunscreen!
Your writing is so beautiful – it brought tears to my eyes. You guys should really consider putting together a book about your experiences when you get back. I am sure that lots of people would read it.
Your writing is SO wonderful. I feel like I'm there (but not quite…I wish I was). I concur about the book idea. And it wouldn't be hard because you're writing as you go. Keep us updated. I love reading it! Take care, guys. I miss you.
Koreen
This post made me so happy and sad all at once. Thank you, thank you, thank you--for taking this trip and for sharing it with us. It gives me perspective
Donna R.
Hi you two. I totally have nothing to say. The other guys have said all that is in my head and heart. I want an invite to stay in that guesthouse out back. Jessica, I miss you.
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CFP: “Axel Honneth’s Recent Works: The Theory of Recognition between Psychoanalysis and Normative Reconstruction of Modernity” , «Philosophy and Society»
Davide Dalla Rosa // Ago 9, 2017
We are pleased to announce that a call for papers has been opened for the next issue of the journal Philosophy and Society on Axel Honneth‘s recent philosophical works. The deadline for submission is August 15th.
Philosophy and Society is a peer reviewed, open access academic journal established in 1987 and published by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. The journal strives to cover and present key tendencies of contemporary theory and, at the same time, to encourage research in studies of philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy and Society has always welcomed contributions from established international academics: from the first issue, which contained the articles of A. Wellmer and R. Bernstin, to last volumes with contributions from T. Scanlon, O. Höffe, J.L. Marion, J. Butler, and other renowned philosophers. Papers by such prominent authors as K. Westphal, R. Geuss, H. Brunkhorst, C. Krijnen, P. Cobben, K. Vieweg, J.M. Trigeaud, M. Kettner and others will figure in Volume 28 (2017). Articles appearing in Philosophy and Society are indexed in: ERIH PLUS, Philosopher’s Index, EBSCO, PhilPapers, ResearchGate, Genamics JournalSeek, Google Scholar, J-Gate, ProQuest, ReadCube, Europeana Collections, Journal Index, Baidu Scholar.
For more information about the journal you can visit its website.
Please find below the complete text of the call.
In the aftermath of his seminal work The Struggle for Recognition, Honneth’s mature social-philosophical perspective has evolved along several distinct lines of theoretical elaboration. Honneth’s recent works can roughly be divided into three main categories: those which attempt to solidify the normative foundations of the theory of recognition (such as Freedom’s Right, The Idea of Socialism, Vivisektionen eines Zeitalters and Disrespect: The Normative Foundations of Critical Theory); the works in which Honneth engages in explicit social critique in the form of a ‘diagnosis’ of contemporary ‘social pathologies’ (Reification, or the essays ‘Paradoxes of Capitalist Modernization’ and ‘Organized Self-Realization’); and those in which Honneth’s primary aim is to situate his own perspective more firmly within the Frankfurt School’s tradition of ‘reconstructive’ social critique (essays in Pathologies of Reason). Within all three lines of Honneth’s recent work, a fundamental tension can be identified between two different logics of grounding critique. We would like to explore this tension in more detail in this volume, since, in our opinion, it not only features in the work of Honneth as a leading critical theorist, but lies at the core of contemporary critical theory as a whole, as it simultaneously strives to meet the standard of post-metaphysical thought and identify deep-lying structures of domination and forms of social pathology by means of substantive social-philosophical concepts. On the one hand, in some of Honneth’s recent essays collected in The I in We and Unsichtbarkeit (Invisibility) such as ‘The Work of Negativity’ and ‘Facets of the Pre-Social Self’, and particularly in the essay ‘Grounding Recognition’, Honneth formulates the concept of ‘elementary’ or ‘affective’ recognition, which replaces his earlier ‘normative’ concept of recognition based on the works of early Hegel and George Herbert Mead. Honneth’s new conceptualization of recognition is now more firmly grounded in a theory of the human subject, and even more difficult than before to reconcile with the imperative of post-metaphysical thought that Honneth has taken over from Jürgen Habermas. On the other hand, another central concern of Honneth’s recent works such as The Idea of Socialism, Pathologies of Individual Freedom and Freedom’s Right has been a reappropriation of the late Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. On the grounds of Hegel’s social philosophy, Honneth has formulated the concept of ‘social freedom’ as the normative foundation of critique, a concept that is methodologically anchored in what Honneth terms the ‘normative reconstruction’ of the three constitutive spheres of society (the private, the economic and the political). Such reconstruction should uncover the ‘core values’ underlying each of these spheres and judge the extent to which they have been realized within the institutional life of the present-day developed societies.
There is, arguably, a rather strong internal tension between these two logics of grounding critique in Honneth’s recent works – the psychoanalytic and the normative-reconstructive. While the psychoanalytic concept of ‘elementary recognition’ exemplifies Honneth’s attempt to anchor critique in a trans-contextual account of the human subject, the line of work based on mature Hegel (The Idea of Socialism, Freedom’s Right) seems to have the opposite goal: to free Honneth’s perspective from essentialist philosophical anthropology and the perils of epistemological authoritarianism through a historicization of the normative foundations of critique. The two logics of grounding critique can be seen as mutually divergent and somewhat difficult to reconcile within a single theoretical system.
We invite authors to submit papers that deal with different dimensions of Honneth’s recent works, that critically engage with his ‘diagnosis’ of contemporary social pathologies, his reliance on object-relations psychoanalysis, as well as his controversial reconstructions of both the conceptual (The Idea of Socialism) and social history of modernity (Freedom’s Right). We are especially interested in contributions that, in one way or another, focus on the above mentioned tension between the two logics of grounding social critique in Honneth’s recent works. We welcome papers in English and German.
All selected articles are subject to double-blind selection by at least two reviewers. Only previously unpublished works are considered. Papers must have fewer than 60.000 characters, accompanied by a 100-250 word abstract with up to 10 key words, and prepared for blind review.
For further inquiry please consult the instructions for authors.
Articles should be sent to: redakcijaFID@instifdt.bg.ac.rs
Deadline: 15. August 2017
call for paperscritical theoryjournal philosophy and societytheory of recognition
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IT TAKES TWO - Content
From the Nov. 17, 1995, Deseret News
IT TAKES TWO — Kirstie Alley, Steve Guttenberg, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Philip Bosco, Jane Sibbett; rated PG (mild profanity, mild vulgarity, comic violence)
To be honest, a movie starring the Olsen Twins was not something I looked forward to. But on the way to the screening, I tried to be philosophical and said to my son Danny, who reluctantly came along, "Oh well, how bad can it be?"
Danny looked up at me and sardonically answered, "Have you ever seen `Full House'?"
Actually, I never have seen the Olsen Twins' television series "Full House," in which, as I understand it, they both traded off playing a single character.
But I must confess that "It Takes Two" wasn't nearly as awful as I expected it to be. To be sure, it will never be confused with such superior family fare as "A Little Princess" or "Searching for Bobby Fischer," but it's not a bad little time-waster for the kiddies.
A blend of "The Parent Trap," "Annie" and "The Prince and the Pauper," "It Takes Two" has Mary-Kate playing 9-year-old tomboy Amanda, an orphan who can't get adopted and whose case-worker Diane (Kirstie Alley) adores her.
Ashley plays Alyssa, prim-and-proper daughter of ultra-wealthy Roger (Steve Guttenberg), who surprises her when he announces that he is going to marry spoiled, child-hating social-climber Clarice (Jane Sibbett, who is so over-the-top obnoxious that her performance makes the kids more tolerable).
The plot kicks in when Roger takes Alyssa to their lakeside mansion and Diane takes the orphans to a summer camp across the lake. The two "identical strangers" are bound to meet, and when they do they decide to switch identities and try to bring Roger and Diane together.
Mary-Kate is pretty good as the street-smart, sports-minded Amanda, but Ashley is fairly unbearable as the artificially refined Alyssa. (Or is it the other way around.)
But the real saving grace here is the comic timing of Kirstie Alley (one forgets what a good comic actress she is, considering all the lousy movies she makes) and veteran character actor Philip Bosco, as Roger's longtime butler Vincenzo. Both bring some very nice touches to their slight characters — and manage to bolster the paper-thin script.
Still, this is a movie for kids. And very young fans of the Olsens are, quite rightly, targeted as the primary audience.
"It Takes Two" is rated PG for mild profanity and mild vulgarity, along with some comic violence.
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Monday, 09 December 2013 - 7:04
Sylvester Stallone to host fans session in London
Hollywood action star Sylvester Stallone is offering fans the chance to get up close and personal with him at a one-off show in London next month.
An Evening with Sylvester Stallone will see the 67-year-old discuss his life and career at Westminster's Central Hall on 11th January.
Fans will also be able to put questions to the Rocky and Rambo star.
Stallone will be in the UK in January to promote his next film, Grudge Match, with Robert De Niro.
Roger Deakins wins his Academy Award
Tuesday, 06 March 2018 - 9:46
It's been a long time coming but finally, on his 14th nomination, legendary cinematographer...
'Get Out' wins Spirit Awards best film on eve of Oscars
Sunday, 04 March 2018 - 16:57
The movie 'Get Out' has been named best film at the Film Independent Spirit Awards - which...
Emma Watson donates £1m to anti-harassment campaign
Harry Potter star Emma Watson has donated 1million pounds to a new campaign aimed at helping...
Tom Cruise makes debut
Friday, 26 January 2018 - 15:21
Tom Cruise has made his debut on Instagram, posting two photos from the set of the sixth...
Meryl Streep 'honoured' by Oscar nomination
Wednesday, 24 January 2018 - 11:59
Meryl Streep is ''honoured beyond measure'' at receiving her 21st Oscar nomination.The...
"The Real Thing" singer dies at 73
Saturday, 24 February 2018 - 16:43
Eddy Amoo, one of 1970s soul band The Real Thing - who had hits including You To Me Are...
Lady Gaga halts tour in 'severe pain'
Lady Gaga has cancelled the last 10 dates of the European leg of her world tour due to...
Temptations singer Dennis Edwards is no more
Saturday, 03 February 2018 - 9:48
Dennis Edwards, who performed as lead singer for the Motown group the ‘Temptations’,...
Spice Girls all agree to reunite
Friday, 02 February 2018 - 9:39
The Spice Girls are set for a full reunion.It is believed the five members of the girl...
Bruno Mars sweeps Grammy awards
Monday, 29 January 2018 - 15:09
Bruno Mars swept the board at the 60th Grammy awards, winning song, record and album of...
Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan ill
Tuesday, 13 March 2018 - 13:40
Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan has taken ill in Jodhpur. The actor has been...
Bollywood's Irrfan Khan has 'rare disease'
Wednesday, 07 March 2018 - 15:35
Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan has revealed that he is suffering from a "rare disease". He...
Boney Kapoor to immerse Sridevi’s ashes in Rameswaram today
Saturday, 03 March 2018 - 11:11
An urn carrying the ashes of Bollywood superstar Sridevi was brought to Chennai on Friday(Marcg...
Anushka Sharma's "Pari" banned in Pakistan
Friday, 02 March 2018 - 15:28
Anushka Sharma's horror film "Pari" has been banned from releasing in Pakistan. Mobashir...
Sridevi Kapoor: India crowds say goodbye to Bollywood star
Thursday, 01 March 2018 - 8:20
Bollywood superstar Sridevi has been cremated in the Indian city of Mumbai as thousands...
Lewis Gilbert: Director of Alfie and three Bond films dies
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One Million Mummies Unearthed From Egypt Allegations Could Be False
By Staff Reporter Dec 22, 2014 04:22 PM EST
Last week a group of archaeologists claimed they unearthed one million mummies from Egypt, although that might not actually be the case.
Dr. Youssef Khalifa, head of Ancient Egypt department at the Egyptian Ministry of Antiques, is claiming that the previous preliminary reports on the findings of the mummies are false.
"What was published in the newspaper is not true. There are no million mummies, a mummy definition to begin with means a complete mummified body and there is only one mummy found at the site of Fag El Gamous in 1980 which is at the Egyptian museum since then," Youssef said to Luxor Times Magazine. "In the past few seasons of the mission's work at the site, only poor skeletons were found and some thousands of bone's remains. The mission violated the rules and regulations of the agreement with the Ministry of Antiquities concerning making press statements and that's why the committee of the ancient Egypt department took the decision to stop their permission to work at the site after 28 years of working at the site and the last season finished last March."
The findings reported last week were based off preliminary reports by the team of archaeologists.
Kerry Muhlestein, a member of the team of archaeologists and an associate professor at Brigham Young University, told Newsweek the team has not completely excavated the entire cemetery yet. He said they determined that the number of mummies in the cemetery will be close to one million based on the density of a few smaller areas the team has investigated.
"In a square that is 5 by 5 meters across and usually just over 2 meters deep, we will typically find about 40 burials," Muhlestein explained to Newsweek.
The story is still being investigated. In the meantime Brigham Young University's permission to work on the site was cancelled by the ministry. The university was working on the site for the last 28 years.
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Philippines Aims to Become More Competitive
The Philippines has established a National Competitiveness Council with the goal of becoming a more competitive economy within the next five years. Council Co-Chairman Guillermo Luz has set his sights on a top 50 or even top 30 world ranking by 2016. This would put the Philippines on par with China, France, Israel and the Netherlands.
Ambitious goals to be sure. The country will need significant improvements in infrastructure, government institutions, and the elimination of red tape. The Council has, in fact, identified 28 categories where the Philippines ranked in the bottom 20% on various competitiveness indices.
Twelve categories where the Philippines scores in the bottom 20% are related to the integrity of public and private sector institutions. Other categories where the Philippines needs signficiant improvement include roads, ports, airports and other basic infrastructure.
The Council is benchmarking the Philippines against leading economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and promises to engage in constant monitoring and evaluation. Mr. Luz noted that there are no quick fixes, but he is confident that the Philippines can become a leader in the ASEAN region.
John Howley
Woodbridge, New Jersey
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Title: Student activism
Subject: Youth activism, Activism at Ohio Wesleyan University, Youth empowerment, History of Florida State University, Student
Collection: Counterculture of the 1960S, Student Culture, Student Politics
Part of the Politics series on
Students rights
Concepts / Theory
Anarchistic free school
Democratic education
Democratic schools
Minimally invasive education
Scholarism
Sociocratic education
Sudbury school
Student-centred learning
Student protest
Student riot
2010 United Kingdom student protests
2014 Hong Kong protests
Free school movement
Free Speech Movement
German student movement
May 1968 events in France
Port Huron Statement
Protests of 1968
Students for a Democratic Society
Ahlquist v. Cranston
Bethel School District v. Fraser
Broussard v. School Board of Norfolk
Dean v. Utica
Desilets v. Board of Education
Gillman v. Holmes County School District
Guiles v. Marineau
Henkle v. Gregory
Hosty v. Carter
Island Trees School District v. Pico
Kincaid v. Gibson
New Jersey v. T. L. O.
Safford Unified School District v. Redding
Saxe v. State College Area School District
Tinker v. School District
Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton
Ordinance of Student Rights
School corporal punishment
School district drug policies
School speech
Zero tolerance (schools)
European Students' Union
Hong Kong Federation of Students
RMIT University Student Union
(2006) Students for a Democratic Society
Student Press Law Center
Worker Student Alliance
Social movements portal
City University of Hong Kong students staging sit-in during 2014 Hong Kong protests over blocking of electoral reforms
Students demonstrating against university privatization in Athens, Greece, 2007
Shimer College students protesting threatened changes to the school's democratic governance, 2010
Tufts University students demonstrating for disinvestment from fossil fuels, 2013
Student activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political events.[1]
Modern student activist movements vary widely in subject, size, and success, with all kinds of students in all kinds of educational settings participating, including public and private school students; elementary, middle, senior, undergraduate, and graduate students; and all races, socio-economic backgrounds, and political perspectives.[2] Some student protests focus on the internal affairs of a specific institution; others focus on broader issues such as a war or dictatorship. Likewise, some student protests focus on an institution's impact on the world, such as a disinvestment campaign, while others may focus on a regional or national policy's impact on the institution, such as a campaign against government education policy. Although student activism is commonly associated with left-wing politics, right-wing student movements are not uncommon; for example, large student movements fought on both sides of the apartheid struggle in South Africa.[3]
Student activism at the university level is nearly as old as the university itself. Students in Paris and Bologna staged collective actions as early as the 13th century, chiefly over town and gown issues.[4] Student protests over broader political issues also have a long pedigree. In Joseon Dynasty Korea, 150 Sungkyunkwan students staged an unprecedented remonstration against the king in 1519 over the Kimyo purge.[5]
By country 1
Argentina 1.1
Australia 1.2
Bangladesh 1.3
Canada 1.4
Chile 1.5
China 1.6
Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet Union states 1.7
France 1.8
Germany 1.9
Indonesia 1.10
Iran 1.11
Israel 1.12
Japan 1.13
Malaysia 1.14
México 1.15
South Korea 1.16
Ukraine 1.17
United Kingdom 1.18
United States 1.19
Taiwan 1.20
Organizations 2.1
Further reading 4
Students raise the flag of Argentina at the University of Córdoba, 1918
In Argentina, as elsewhere in Latin America, the tradition of student activism dates back to at least the 19th century, but it was not until after 1900 that it became a major political force.[6] in 1918 student activism triggered a general modernization of the universities especially tending towards democratization, called the University Revolution (Spanish: revolución universitaria).[7] The events started in Córdoba and were accompanied by similar uprisings across Latin America.[6]
Australian Students have a long history of being active in political debates. This is particularly true in the newer universities that have been established in suburban areas.[8]
For much of the 20th century, the major campus organizing group across Australia was the Australian Union of Students, which was founded in 1937 as the Union of Australian University Students.[9] The AUS folded in 1984.[10] It was replaced by the National Union of Students in 1987.[11]
Student politics of Bangladesh is reactive, confrontational and violent. Student organizations act as the armament of the political parties they are part of. So every now and then there are affrays and commotions. Over the years, political clashes and factional feuds in the educational institutes killed many, seriously hampering academic atmosphere. To check those hitches, universities have no options but go to lengthy and unexpected closures. So classes are not completed on time and there are session jams.
The student wings of ruling parties dominate the campuses and residential halls through crime and violence to enjoy various unauthorized facilities. They control the residential halls to manage seats in favor of their party members and loyal pupils. They eat and buy for free from the restaurants and shops nearby. They extort and grab tenders to earn illicit money. They take money from the freshmen candidates and put pressures on teachers to get an acceptance for them. They take money from the job seekers and put pressures on university administrations to appoint them.[12]
Students protest against Bill 78 in Montreal, 2012.
Student politics
Student culture
Counterculture of the 1960s
Evolving capacities
Intergenerational equity
Youth-adult partnership
Youth mainstreaming
Positive Youth Development
Student-centered learning
Youth-led media
Youth movement
Youth participation
Youth philanthropy
Youth suffrage
Youth vote
Adultcentrism
Adultism
Fear of youth (ephebiphobia)
Fear of children (pediaphobia)
Hungry generation
International Youth Year
UK underground
Index of youth rights-related articles
University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections - Vietnam Era Ephemera This collection contains leaflets and newspapers that were distributed on the University of Washington campus during the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. They reflect the social environment and political activities of the youth movement in Seattle during that period.
Campus Activism (Networking site with resources for student activists)
Still the Earth Jumps Back: Student Uprisings Then and Now Santa Barbara, CA, SBDisorientation Collective, 2006.
Guide to Social Change Led By and With Young People Olympia, WA: CommonAction, 2006.
Student activists become more media-savvy by David Linhardt, The New York Times (NYTimes.com).
History of Student Activism from Campus Compact.
Brax, Ralph S. "The first student movement." Port Washington, NY : Kennikat Press, 1980.
Carson, Claybourne. "In Struggle, SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s." Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press., 1981
Cohen, Robert. "When the old left was young." New York : Oxford University Press, 1993.
Fletcher, Adam. (2005) "Meaningful Student Involvement Series." HumanLinks Foundation.
Kreider, Aaron ed. "The SEAC Organizing Guide." Student Environmental Action Coalition, 2004.
Loeb, Paul. "Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on the American Campus." New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, 1994.
McGhan, Barry. "The Student Movement: Where do you stand?" Time Magazine, 1971.
Sale, Kirkpatrick. "SDS: Ten Years Towards a Revolution." New York, Random House, 1973.
Students for a Democratic Society. "Port Huron Statement." Author, 1962.
Vellela, Tony. "New Voices: Student Activism in the 80s and 90s." Boston, MA: South End Press, 1988.
Manabu Miyazaki; Toppamono: Outlaw. Radical. Suspect. My Life in Japan's Underworld (2005, Kotan Publishing, ISBN 0-9701716-2-5)
Student Movements in India, An AICUF Publication, Chennai 1999
^ Fletcher, A. (2005) Guide to Social Change Led By and With Young People Olympia, WA: CommonAction.
^ Fletcher, A. (2006)Washington Youth Voice Handbook Olympia, WA: CommonAction.
^ Boren 2013, pp. 9-10.
^ a b Boren 2013, p. 68.
^ Boren 2013, p. 71.
^ Barcan, p. 330.
^ Barcan 2002, p. 330.
^ Palaeologu 2009, p. 59.
^ Palaeologu 2009, pp. 228-220.
^ Cadena Nacional de Radio y Televisión: Presidente Piñera anunció Gran Acuerdo Nacional por la Educación Government of Chile. July 5, 2011. Accessdate July 5, 2011
^ http://www.latercera.com/noticia/politica/2011/07/674-380393-9-pinera-opta-por-mantener-a-hinzpeter-incorporar-a-longueira-y-cambiar-de.shtml Canales, Javier. La Tercera July 18, 2011. Access date July 18, 2011
^ a b c d
^ Mitchell 2012, pp. 81-86.
^ Boren 2013, p. 149-150.
^ Boren 2013, p. 151.
^ Boren 2013, pp. 127-128.
^ a b O'Rourke 2002, p. 13.
^ Ando 2013, p. 60.
^ Mueller 2014, p. 98.
^ Smith, P. H. J. (2007)Student revolution in 1960s Britain: Myth or reality?
^ Flacks, 1988.
^ HoSang, D. (2003). Youth and Community Organizing Today New York: Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing.
^ Weiss, M. (2004) Youth Rising.
^ Rebecca Hamilton (2011) , Palgrave Macmillan (2011)Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide.
180/Movement for Democracy and Education
The International Human Trafficking Institute
Australian Student Environment Network
Campus Antiwar Network
Canadian Federation of Students
Energy Action Coalition
The Freechild Project
Federation of Student Nationalists
Idealist on Campus, a program of Action Without Borders
Kyoto Now!
National Youth Rights Association
North American Students of Cooperation
Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund
New York Public Interest Research Group
Muslim Students' Association
People & Planet (UK's biggest student campaigning network)
Students Coalition Against War
Students for a Free Tibet
Student/Farmworker Alliance
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry
United Students Against Sweatshops
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus
National Students Federation Pakistan
Baloch Students Organization
United States Student Association
International Students Day
LGBT Student Movement
Town and gown
Jeltoqsan
Sunflower Student Movement in 2014.
Anti Black Box Movement in 2015.
Major contemporary campaigns include work for funding of SDS in 2006.
American society saw an increase in student activism again in the 1990s. The popular education reform movement has led to a resurgence of populist student activism against standardized testing and teaching,[68] as well as more complex issues including military/industrial/prison complex and the influence of the military and corporations in education[69] There is also increased emphasis on ensuring that changes that are made are sustainable, by pushing for better education funding and policy or leadership changes that engage students as decision-makers in schools.
The largest student strike in American history took place in May and June 1970, in response to the Kent State shootings and the American invasion of Cambodia. Over four million students participated in this action.[67]
The Weather Underground. Another successful group was Ann Arbor Youth Liberation, which featured students calling for an end to state-led education. Also notable were the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Atlanta Student Movement, predominantly African American groups that fought against racism and for integration of public schools across the US.
In the Eleanor Roosevelt.[64]
A US demonstration against the Vietnam War, 1967
Student protests erupted again in 2010 during the Premiership of David Cameron over the issue of tuition fees, higher education funding cuts and withdrawal of the Education Maintenance Allowance.[63]
In 1966 the Radical Student Alliance and Vietnam Solidarity Campaign were formed, both of which became centres for the protest movement. However, the first student sit-in was held at the London School of Economics in 1967 by their Student's Union over the suspension of two students. Its success and a national student rally of 100,000 held in the same year is usually considered to mark the start of the movement. Up until the mid-1970s student activities were held including a protest of up to 80,000 strong in Grosvenor Square, anti-racist protests and occupations in Newcastle, the breaking down of riot control gates and forced closure of the London School of Economics, and Jack Straw becoming the head of the NUS for the RSA. However, many protests were over more local issues, such as student representation in college governance,[62] better accommodation, lower fees or even canteen prices.
However, it was not until the 1960s that student activism became important in British universities. Here, like many other countries, the Vietnam war and issues of racism became a focus for many other local frustrations, such as fees and student representation. In 1962, the first student protest against the Vietnam War was held, with CND. However, student activism did not begin on a large scale until the mid-1960s. In 1965, a student protest of 250 students was held outside Edinburgh's American embassy and the beginning of protests against the Vietnam war in Grovesnor square. It also saw the first major teach-in in Britain in 1965, where students debated the Vietnam War and alternative non-violent means of protest at the London School of Economics, sponsored by the Oxford Union.[61]
Student political activism has existed in U.K since the 1880s with the formation of the National Union of Students formed in 1921. However, the NUS was designed to be specifically outside of "political and religious interests", reducing its importance as a centre for student activism. During the 1930s students began to become more politically involved with the formation of many socialist societies at universities, ranging from social democratic to Marxist–Leninist and Trotskyite, even leading to Brian Simon, a communist, becoming head of the NUS.[60]
Student occupation at Cambridge University, 2010
More recent student movements include Yo Soy 132 in 2012. Yo Soy 132 was a social movement composed for the most part of Mexican university students from private and public universities, residents of Mexico, claiming supporters from about 50 cities around the world.[53] It began as opposition to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Enrique Peña Nieto and the Mexican media's allegedly biased coverage of the 2012 general election.[54] The name Yo Soy 132, Spanish for "I Am 132", originated in an expression of solidarity with the original 131 protest's initiators. The phrase drew inspiration from the Occupy movement and the Spanish 15-M movement.[55][56][57] The protest movement was self-proclaimed as the "Mexican spring" (an allusion to the Arab Spring) by its first spokespersons,[58] and called the "Mexican occupy movement" in the international press.[59]
During the protests of 1968, Mexican government killed an estimated 30 to 300 students and civilian protesters. This killing is known as in the Tlatelolco massacre. killing of an estimated 30 to 300 students and civilians by military and police on October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. The events are considered part of the Mexican Dirty War, when the government used its forces to suppress political opposition. The massacre occurred 10 days before the opening of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.[52]
A Yo Soy 132 march, 2012
The largest student movement in Malaysia is the Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM)(Student Solidarity of Malaysia). SMM is a coalition group that represents numerous student organizations.[51] Currently, SMM is actively campaigning against the UUCA and a free education at primary, secondary and tertiary level.
In Kuala Lumpur on 14 April 2012, student activists camped out at Independence Square and marched against a government loan program that they said charged students high interest rates and left them with debt.[50]
Since the act prohibiting students from expressing "support, sympathy or opposition" to any political party was enacted in 1971, Malaysian students have repeatedly demanded that the ban on political involvement be rescinded. The majority of students are not interested in politics because they are afraid that the universities will take action against them. The U.U.C.A. (also known by its Malaysian acronym AUKU) not however been entirely successful in eliminating student activism and political engagement.[49]
Since the amendment of Section 15 of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA) in 1975, students were barred from being members of, and expressing support or opposition to, any political parties or "any organization, body or group of persons which the Minister, after consultation with the Board, has specified in writing to the Vice-Chancellor to be unsuitable to the interests and well-being of the students or the University." However, in October 2011, the Court of Appeal ruled that the relevant provision in Section 15 UUCA was unconstitutional due to Article 10 of the Federal Constitution pertaining to freedom of expression.[48]
Japanese student movement began during the Taishō Democracy, and grew in activity after World War II. They were mostly carried out by activist students. One such event was the Anpo opposition movement, which occurred during 1960, in opposition to the Anpo treaty.[46] In the subsequent student uprising in 1968, leftist activists barricaded themselves in Universities, resulting in armed conflict with the Japanese police force.[47] Some wider causes were supported including opposition to the Vietnam War and apartheid, and for the acceptance of the hippie lifestyle.
Waseda University students rally in support of Tibet, 2008
In Israel the students were amongst the leading figures in the 2011 Israeli social justice protests that grew out of the Cottage cheese boycott.[45]
In 2009, after the disputed presidential election, a series of student protests broke out, which became known as the Iranian Green Movement. The violent measures used by the Iranian government to suppress these protests have been the subject of widespread international condemnation.[44]
[43] In the May 2005
At the end of 2002, students held mass demonstrations protesting the death sentence of reformist lecturer Hashem Aghajari for alleged blasphemy. In June 2003, several thousand students took to the streets of Tehran in anti-government protests sparked by government plans to privatise some universities.[40]
Recent years have seen several incidents when liberal students have clashed with the Iranian government, most notably the Iranian student riots of July 1999. Several people were killed in a week of violent confrontations that started with a police raid on a university dormitory, a response to demonstrations by a group of students of Tehran University against the closure of a reformist newspaper. Akbar Mohammadi was given a death sentence, later reduced to 15 years in prison, for his role in the protests. In 2006, he died at Evin prison after a hunger strike protesting the refusal to allow him to seek medical treatment for injuries suffered as a result of torture.[39]
In Iran, students have been at the forefront of protests both against the pre-1979 secular monarchy and, in recent years, against the theocratic islamic republic. Both religious and more moderate students played a major part in Ruhollah Khomeini's opposition network against the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[38] In January 1978 the army dispersed demonstrating students and religious leaders, killing several students and sparking a series of widespread protests that ultimately led to the Iranian Revolution the following year. On November 4, 1979, militant Iranian students calling themselves the Muslim Students Following the Line of the Imam seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran holding 52 embassy employees hostage for a 444 days (see Iran hostage crisis).
Sharif University of Technology students protest over the 2009 presidential election
Student groups also played a key role in Suharto's 1998 fall by initiating large demonstrations that gave voice to widespread popular discontent with the president in the aftermath of the May 1998 riots.[36] High school and university students in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Medan, and elsewhere were some of the first groups willing to speak out publicly against the military government. Student groups were a key part of the political scene during this period. Upon taking office after Suharto stepped down, B. J. Habibie made numerous mostly unsuccessful overtures to placate the student groups that had brought down his predecessor. When that failed, he sent a combined force of police and gangsters to evict protesters occupying a government building by force.[37] The ensuing carnage left two students dead and 181 injured.[37]
During the political turmoil of the 1960s, right-wing student groups staged demonstrations calling for then-President Sukarno to eliminate alleged Communists from his government, and later demanding that he resign.[34] Sukarno did step down in 1967, and was replaced by Army general Suharto.[35]
Sumpah Pemuda) helped to give voice to anti-colonial sentiments.
Early delegation of Java Youth
In the 1960s, the worldwide upswing in student and youth radicalism manifested itself through the German Socialist Student Union. The movement in Germany shared many concerns of similar groups elsewhere, such as the democratisation of society and opposing the Vietnam War, but also stressed more nationally specific issues such as coming to terms with the legacy of the Nazi regime and opposing the German Emergency Acts.
In May 1832 the pamphlet Der Hessische Landbote that were events that led to the revolutions in the German states in 1848.
In 1819 the student Karl Ludwig Sand murdered the writer August von Kotzebue, who had scoffed at liberal student organisations.
In 1815 in Wartburg festival at Wartburg Castle, at Eisenach in Thuringia, on the occasion of which reactionary books were burnt.
Procession of students at Wartburg Festival
The events in Paris were followed by student protests throughout the world. The German student movement participated in major demonstrations against proposed emergency legislation. In many countries, the student protests caused authorities to respond with violence. In Spain, student demonstrations against Franco's dictatorship led to clashes with police. A student demonstration in Mexico City ended in a storm of bullets on the night of October 2, 1968, an event known as the Tlatelolco massacre. Even in Pakistan, students took to the streets to protest changes in education policy, and on November 7 two college students died after police opened fire on a demonstration.[31] The global reverberations from the French uprising of 1968 continued into 1969 and even into the 1970s.[32]
In France, student activists have been influential in shaping public debate. In May 1968 the University of Paris at Nanterre was closed due to problems between the students and the administration.[29] In protest of the closure and the expulsion of Nanterre students, students of the Sorbonne in Paris began their own demonstration.[30] The situation escalated into a nation-wide insurrection.
Occupation of the University of Lyon Law School, 1968
Opponents of the "color revolutions" have accused the Soros Foundations and/or the United States government of supporting and even planning the revolutions in order to serve western interests.[28] Supporters of the revolutions have argued that these allegations are greatly exaggerated, and that the revolutions were positive events, morally justified, whether or not Western support had an influence on the events.
Otpor has inspired other youth movements in Zubr in Belarus and MJAFT! in Albania.
Student-dominated youth movements have also played a central role in the "Slobodan Milošević, ultimately resulting in his defeat.[26]
During communist rule, students in Eastern Europe were the force behind several of the best-known instances of protest. The chain of events leading to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was started by peaceful student demonstrations in the streets of Budapest, later attracting workers and other Hungarians. In Czechoslovakia, one of the most known faces of the protests following the Soviet-led invasion that ended the Prague Spring was Jan Palach, a student who committed suicide by setting fire to himself on January 16, 1969. The act triggered a major protest against the occupation.[25]
MJAFT! protest in Albania
Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet Union states
One of the most important acts of student activism in Chinese history is the 1919 May Fourth Movement that saw over 3,000 students of Peking University and other schools gathered together in front of Tiananmen and holding a demonstration. It is regarded as an essential step of the democratic revolution in China, and it had also give birth to Chinese Communism. Anti-Americanism movements led by the students during the Chinese Civil War were also instrumental in discrediting the KMT government and bring the Communist victory in China.[24] In 1989, the democracy movement led by the students at the Tiananmen Square protests ended in a brutal government crackdown which would later be called a massacre.
Since the defeat of the Qing Dynasty during the First (1839–1842) and Second Opium Wars (1856–1860), student activism has played a significant role in the modern Chinese history.[24] Fueled mostly by Chinese nationalism, Chinese student activism strongly believes that young people are responsible for China's future.[24] This strong nationalistic belief has been able to manifest in several forms such as Democracy, anti-Americanism and Communism.[24]
Students from the Peking University protesting on Tiananmen Square in 1919
The first clear government response to the protests was a proposal for a new education fund[22] and a cabinet shuffle which replaced Minister of Education Joaquín Lavín[23] and was seen as not fundamentally addressing student movement concerns. Other government proposals were also rejected.
From 2011 to 2013, Chile was rocked by a series of student-led nationwide protests across Chile, demanding a new framework for education in the country, including more direct state participation in secondary education and an end to the existence of profit in higher education. Currently in Chile, only 45% of high school students study in traditional public schools and most universities are also private. No new public universities have been built since the end of the Chilean transition to democracy in 1990, even though the number of university students has swelled. Beyond the specific demands regarding education, the protests reflected a "deep discontent" among some parts of society with Chile's high level of inequality.[21] Protests have included massive non-violent marches, but also a considerable amount of violence on the part of a side of protestors as well as riot police.
Chilean students demonstrate for greater public involvement in education
Since the 1970s, PIRGs (Public Interest Research Groups) have been created as a result of Student Union referendums across Canada in individual provinces. Like their American counterparts, Canadian PIRGs are student directed, run, and funded.[20] Most operate on a consensus decision making model. Despite efforts at collaboration, Canadian PIRGs are independent of each other.
In 2012, the Quebec Student Movement arose due to an increase of tuition of 75%; that took students out of class and into the streets because that increase did not allow students to comfortably extend their education, because of fear of debt or not having money at all. Following elections that year, premier Jean Charest promised to repeal anti-assembly laws and cancel the tuition hike.[19]
Anti-Bullying Day (a.k.a. Pink Shirt Day) was created by high school students David Shepherd, and Travis Price of Berwick, Nova Scotia,[18] and is now celebrated annually across Canada.
In 1968, SDU (Students for a Democratic University) was formed at McGill and Simon Fraser Universities. SFU SDU, originally former SUPA members and New Democratic Youth, absorbed members from the campus Liberal Club and Young Socialists. SDU was prominent in an Administration occupation in 1968, and a student strike in 1969.[16] After the failure of the student strike, SDU broke up. Some members joined the IWW and Yippies (Youth International Party). Other members helped form the Vancouver Liberation Front in 1970. The War Measures Act after 95 bombings in the October Crisis. This was the only peacetime use of the War Measures Act.[17]
Members moved to the CYC or became active leaders in CUS (Canadian Union of Students), leading the CUS to assume the mantle of New Left student agitation. [15]
Peter Singer, Immanuel Kant, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Hinduism, Buddhism
History of Florida State University
American Civil War, Chemistry, Tallahassee, Florida, Florida State University, Florida State Seminoles
University, College, Queensland, Animal rights, Socialism
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Al-Fajr as-Sadiq: A New Perspective by Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi -Determining the true time for the Fajr/Morning Prayer.
Geography of Qur'anic Accounts - Questions and answers by six scholars of the Qur'an on the subject of archealogical sites mentioned in the Qur'an such as Dhul Qarnayn Dam and Ashab-e Kahf Cave, and the purpose of studying these sites.
Qualities of an Ideal Scientist – An Islamic Perspective by Mohsen Reza Haydari-In this article, the author elucidates on the qualities of an ideal scientist. He divides the qualities into three categories: spiritual, intellectual, and physical, and discusses them from an Islamic perspective.
Science and the Muslim Ummah by Dr. Mahdi Golshani -What appears here is also available in book form titled The Holy Quran and the Science of Nature published by Global Academic Publishing at Binghamton University. Other chapters from this title will follow, which appeared in the al Tawhid Islamic Journal.
The Human Sciences and Islamic Ideology and Culture by Muhammad Taqi Misbah -
Tradition of Mufaddal by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a) - Pearls of wisdom narrated by the 6th Imam (a) to his companion Mufaddal, describing the amazing ingenuity of the Almighty manifested in the universe, human beings, the animal kingdom, nature and natural disasters.
Why 'Islamic' Science? by Yahya Cooper- The identity of the 'Islamic sciences', philosophy, and modern science.
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MainAll NewsInside IsraelRevealed: Facebook discriminates against Israelis
Revealed: Facebook discriminates against Israelis
Shurat Hadin investigation finds: Facebook removes only page that incites against Palestinians.
Ido Ben Porat, 05/01/16 06:15
Anti-Israel cartoon
Screenshot from YouTube
The non-profit Shurat Hadin-The Israel Law Center organization has conducted an investigation which proves unequivocally that Facebook discriminates against Israelis.
The investigation included an experiment in which two fictitious Facebook pages were set up, with one inciting against the Palestinians and the other inciting against Jews and Israelis. But after complaints were filed with Facebook over the contents of the two pages, Facebook only shut down the page which incited against the Palestinians, claiming it violates Facebook's terms of service. In contrast, the page inciting against Israel remains open and active and, in the eyes of Facebook, is not in violation of the social network’s terms of service.
The two Facebook pages, "Stop Palestinians" and "Stop Israelis", were opened by members of Shurat Hadin on December 28, 2015, the group said in a statement Monday. The next day, on December 29, posts with similar content began to appear on both pages simultaneously.
For example, the page inciting against Israelis had a post which read, "The Zionists eat away parts of the country piece by piece, and the world remains silent. We will stop them any way we can." The other page posted identical content, only with the title, "The whole of Israel will soon return to the control of Jews from the hands of the Muslim enemy. We will stop them any way we can."
The investigation continued and new identical posts appeared on both pages, with the level of incitement rising with each post.
One example is a cartoon depicting a crocodile simulating the “violent” state of Israel planning to “swallow” the Temple Mount, with only a Palestinian knife in its mouth preventing it from closing its jaws. The title above the cartoon said, "Vengeance against the Zionist enemy that threatens the Temple Mount. Death to the Jews". On the other page, photos were posted of anti-Arab graffiti with slogans such as, "Revenge", "Revenge against the Arabs", etc., under the heading "Revenge against the Arab enemies. Death to all Arabs".
On December 30, 2015, two days after the start of the investigation, it was decided to report the contents of the two inciting pages to Facebook. In all the complaints to Facebook, the social network was asked to remove the pages because they are abusive and hateful towards a specific race or ethnic origin.
The results were not long in coming and Facebook's management worked quickly indeed. That same day, Facebook shut down the page which incites against the Palestinians, and even thanked the complainants for the report. Members of Shurat Hadin who ran the page received a message from Facebook which said the page had been taken offline because it published abusive, threatening and violent content which “violates Facebook’s community standards".
At the same time, however, the anti-Israel page was not shut down by Facebook, despite the fact that all the content on this page was identical to the anti-Palestinian page. In this case, Facebook's management sent the opposite message, indicating that the page did not violate the social network’s terms of service.
Shurat Hadin said in its statement that it would use the results of this investigation in its recently filed lawsuit against Facebook in a New York court, in which the organization alleges the social network allowed jihadists to openly recruit and train terrorists and plan terror attacks on its pages.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, head of Shurat Hadin, said, "Facebook's management is required to act immediately against the blatant incitement being waged for years against Jews and Israelis in the social network it owns and manages. The in-depth investigation we conducted proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that [Facebook’s] claims of equality in the face of its conduct against any individual or group of people are at best erroneous and false in the worst case.”
“It cannot be that in 2015 a publicly traded commercial company will carry out a racist policy which so blatantly discriminates in favor of any party. The investigation we conducted proves that indeed there is bias in favor of one political party and against Israelis and Jews in particular. Jews and Israelis around the world should be very concerned over the results of the investigation and understand that the most famous social network in the world is working actively in favor of the Palestinians," she added.
Tags:anti-Israel, discrimination, Facebook, Shurat Hadin
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The Raconteurs announce intimate London show
Fresh from announcing their new album "Help Us Stranger" - out June 21 via Third Man Records - The Raconteurs have announced that they will play a super intimate London show at The Electric Ballroom on Wednesday 22nd May. This highly anticipated show will be the band’s first live appearance in the UK in over a decade, and their first show in the capital since their legendary Hammersmith Apollo performance in May 2008.
With tickets set to sell out quickly, an exclusive presale will be available to their 'Vault' members from 10am on Wednesday 8th May before tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday 10th May. Support for the Electric Ballroom show comes from Yak.
News The Raconteurs
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Review: The Family Gathering by Robyn Carr
The Family Gathering
by Robyn Carr
Publisher: MIRA Books
Format: eARC
Goodreads: Having left the military, Dakota Jones is at a crossroads in his life. With his elder brother and youngest sister happily settled in Sullivan’s Crossing, he shows up hoping to clear his head before moving on to his next adventure. But, like every visitor to the Crossing, he’s immediately drawn to the down-to-earth people and the seemingly simple way of life.
Dakota is unprepared for how quickly things get complicated. As a newcomer, he is on everyone’s radar—especially the single women in town. While he enjoys the attention at first, he’s really only attracted to the one woman who isn’t interested. And spending quality time with his siblings is eye-opening. As he gets to know them, he also gets to know himself and what he truly wants.
When all the Jones siblings gather for a family wedding, the four adults are drawn together for the first time in a way they never were as children. As they struggle to accept each other, warts and all, the true nature and strength of their bond is tested. But all of them come to realize that your family are the people who see you for who you really are and love you anyway. And for Dakota, that truth allows him to find the home and family he’s always wanted.
Kritters Thoughts: The third in a series that takes place in a small town semi near Denver, CO. The series centers around the Jones family - four siblings, two boys and two girls and this book centers around Dakota Jones. Dakota Jones returns to where his siblings had flocked and is going to stay here for a bit until he moves onto his next stop. An Army guy, Dakota Jones hasn't kept in touch with his family and hasn't ever really made a home, but maybe he will want to make a home here.
Most to all of Robyn Carr books that I have read focus on one couple's romantic journey and there are little bits and pieces of other couples from previous books or future books. This one felt different. Maybe the Dakota romantic story (won't divulge the other half, don't want to spoil the unveiling!) wasn't dramatic enough to fill a complete book, but in this book there were way too many side stories that weren't small but big and I felt like it was too much and overshadowed the Dakota story.
I will continue with this series, but I didn't love this book as much as the first two in the series. I like the town and the people, but just wanted more from this story and a little less of the side stories.
Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more
Ebook 2018 Challenge: 38 out of 100
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from Little Bird Publicity. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Labels: ebook 2018, review
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Article admin 0 Comments
Languages are primarily regarded as the mean to communicate. When it comes to global communication, a language that is understood in many parts of the world is always a great shot to opt for. Apart from the native language and English, knowing at least one more foreign language that has much recognition across the globe, can be beneficial. For example, learning German, French, or Spanish as a foreign language can be an excellent idea other than having a good grasp over English and the native language. Moreover, the jobs today also prefer candidates who have mastered the skills of at least one foreign language, which means that knowing a foreign language also enhancesthe career horizons. We, at the JP International School, believe that teaching children a foreign language has become more of a necessity in the current times rather than a luxury. If the training is started from the school level, it benefits children in more ways than one and turns out to be immensely beneficial for their future. Here’s taking a look at the several benefits that learning a foreign language can endow kids with:
Better Opportunities
Children naturally possess the special ability to learn any language faster than elders. As they grow up, they gradually lose this ability to cope up with a new language. Hence, it is best if a foreign language could be introduced to them during the early years of learning. In the later years of life, this knowledge can turn out to be beneficial for the child in job search and career selection as well. Many students and professionals pursue a career in foreign language translation these days, which is a well-paid and a respected profile and also caters to fulfilling the passion for language of a person. Hence, learning a foreign language during early school days can result in exposure to better opportunities in the future.
Improved Cognitive Skills
Studies have revealed that language adoption abilities have a direct connection with the cognitive power of the brain. Through the process of learning a new language, the brain develops better cognitive power, which, in turn, help the tender minds to manager their studies better. It is the analytical complexities associated with a language that sharpens the mind and makes it more agile and active. Perhaps, this is the reason why word games and word puzzles occupy a significant part of learning games for children. Learning a foreign language can be thus fun and an enriching experience at the same time.
A Knowledge Enhancer
Once a child learns a new foreign language, a lot of books written in that language become legible for him/her. As we all know that the scope of education, literature, and books never remains confined within the geographical limits. Thus, learning a foreign language opens up the door leading to new horizons of knowledge to the kid. And, who can deny the enthralling experience of reading a book written in its original language rather than its translated version! Therefore, knowing a foreign language would mean enhanced chances of knowledge acquisition through reading.
Exposure to the World
With the entire system of education and employment gone global, there are hardly any boundaries that exist today when it comes to jobs and studies. You never know if you have to travel miles for the next level of education or to pursue your career at a place where people do not speak your native language. If you already know the language spoken there as a part of your foreign language learning, it would be an impetus for the recruiters and selectors as well to choose you over others for that position. Hence, learning a foreign language today can help you achieve your goals tomorrow.
We, at JP International School,recognized as the Best International CBSE School in Greater Noida, understand the sheer importance that knowing a foreign language holds in the current times. We thus always emphasize on teaching our pupils a foreign language along with the other curricular and co-curricular activities. Our team of teachers and language experts help the children to learn the vocabularies and technical intricacies of a language better. The aided learning, group discussions, and the learned teachers make it fun for the children to indulge in learning a new language.
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Common Sense Freedom
Fourth and last comes the Principle of Common Sense Freedom:
Except where countermanded by justice, the law or respect for rights, every individual is free to choose and act as he or she wishes.
This Principle is a catch-all. It’s a little bit like the Tenth Amendment to the US constitution. It says, in essence: When there is no other guide, the choice in any matter affecting you is yours.
The Principle also makes it plain that freedom is the fourth and lowest in the hierarchy of Principles. It can be trumped by common sense justice. It can be trumped by the law, and so by moral equality. And it can be trumped by the obligation to respect others’ rights. But it can’t be trumped by anything else. Not ever; not for any pretext or excuse; not at all.
I’ll here bring out three particularly important kinds of freedom. First, freedom to choose. You are naturally free to make your own choices and decisions. Second, and closely related, freedom to refuse, to say “no,” or in more choice language “bugger off.” And third, freedom to make mistakes, and to learn from them.
There’s a follow-up, too. In any matter which doesn’t involve or affect anyone else, you as an individual have absolute, total freedom to do exactly what you want. This is how I formulate my equivalent of the “self-ownership” principle put forward by my liberty friends.
Common Sense Rights
My third Principle is a consequence of the Principle of Common Sense Justice. But it’s sufficiently important, that it merits its own title and statement. Furthermore, I separate it from Common Sense Justice because it occupies a different place in the hierarchy. For rights can, at need, be trumped by both justice and moral equality.
I call it the Principle of Common Sense Rights:
Provided you behave as a civil human being, you have the right to be treated as a civil human being.
Behaving as a civil human being means obeying the law, including respecting the equal rights of others. It is because of this that common sense equality can be said, like justice, to trump rights.
So, what rights do you acquire through behaving in this way?
I’ll start with a conventional list of human rights, the UN Declaration from 1948. Looking through the list, I find myself dividing the listed “rights” into four groups. I call these: fundamental rights, rights of non-impedance, wisdoms and aspirations.
Fundamental rights result from moral prohibitions – that is, prohibitions applicable to everyone – of the form “Thou shalt not...” followed by something bad. For example: The right to life (thou shalt not kill). Dignity (thou shalt not treat human beings as less than human). Security of person (thou shalt not do violence). Property (thou shalt not steal). No slavery. No torture. No cruel or unusual punishment. No unjust arrest or detention. No unjust interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence. No untrue defamation. No coercion into marriage. And others.
There are also some fundamental rights which should be in the Declaration, but aren’t. Notably, peace (thou shalt not commit aggressions). But also, no stalking or routine surveillance, no search without reasonable suspicion of real wrongdoing – and in particular, no random searches, on any pretext – and no unjust seizure of goods or other assets.
I am coming to think that there should also, perhaps, be some kind of “right to truth,” based on “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Aspects of this might include: A right to challenge false public statements made about you, or about issues affecting you. A right to know what information others hold about you. And a right to have such statements or information corrected or removed if they are wrong.
I hope all readers will agree with these fundamental rights, and the rightness of the prohibitions which underlie them. I hope, too, that few will disagree with my second category, rights of non-impedance. These result from more nuanced moral prohibitions, of the form “Thou shalt not put any obstacle in the way of...” followed by something good. In this category fall rights such as: Freedom of movement and residence. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Freedom of opinion and of speech. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Freedom to marry. Freedom to seek work. Free choice of employment.
As with fundamental rights, there are also some rights of non-impedance missing from the Declaration. For example, freedom for each individual to pursue his or her own happiness.
The third group I call wisdoms. Examples include: equality before the law; public, impartial courts and trials; and innocence until proven guilty. They represent, in a Western view at least, the best ways found so far to organize Civilization justly. These are all good stuff; but they’re necessarily provisional. There’s always a chance of discovering better ways to do these things.
The fourth group I call aspirations, though some call them “positive rights.” Examples are a “right to work,” social security, a minimum standard of living or “free” education. While most people would agree with the gist of these aspirations, there’s a problem with elevating them into “rights.” For, when such a “right” requires someone other than the receiver to pay for it, that is itself a violation of the rights of those who are forced to pay.
But these aspirations can easily be recast as rights of non-impedance. For example, the “right to work” turns into the right not to be impeded from seeking work. And the “right to a minimum standard of living” becomes a right not to be impeded from trading with others to get your basic needs satisfied such as food, shelter and sex. In other words, no-one should ever put any obstacle in the way of anyone’s access to the free market.
Similarly, no-one should put obstacles in the way of anyone insuring against illness, injury or other incapacities. Or providing a good education for their children. Or making themselves financially secure.
Thus, all real rights are either fundamental rights, rights of non-impedance, or “wisdoms” which represent the best ways so far found to achieve justice.
But there’s a sting in the tail. Or, more accurately, in the proviso at the front of the Principle. If you fail to behave in a civil manner, then to the extent that you fail, you forfeit correspondingly some of your own rights. This is why it’s OK, for example, to deny freedom of movement to convicted criminals in prison.
Rejecting the cop-out clauses
Conventional views of human rights, however, don’t make this proviso. Instead, they allow political governments – or the EU, or the UN – to cop out, and to limit rights for trumped-up reasons.
The Declaration includes the following text:
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
– United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 29
If the Article quoted above had stopped after the word “others,” I could have accepted it. But instead, there are excuses for cop-out such as “morality,” “public order,” “the general welfare” or “the purposes and principles of the UN.”
Questions present themselves. What morality? How can “public order” be compatible with the nature of conscious beings to create order, not to be brought to order? Does “the general welfare” differ from John Locke’s “public good,” and if so, how and why? And if the UN gets a bee in its bonnet about something – say, deep green environmentalism, or world government – does that negate all human rights in that area? These cop-outs are both wrong and very, very dangerous.
Certainly, you may choose to give up some of your rights in a particular situation, if you wish. If you have joined with other people in a defensive war or a fight against oppression, for example, you may be willing to give up for the common cause some of your property, or some of your freedom of movement, or some of your opportunities for rest and leisure.
But the rights of a civil human being, unless he or she voluntarily chooses to forgo them, must not be violated. Not for any reason. Ever. They are sacrosanct. And those that violate others’ rights cannot complain if they, in their turn, suffer their own rights being violated.
Common Sense Equality
To the second of my principles: Common Sense Equality.
Equality is a troublesome concept. To the political right, equality is a dirty word. The idea is vague and shadowy, but it threatens them and their privileges. It’s outside their paradigm, their way of thinking. So they ignore it, deny its validity, or suppress discussion of it, as far as they can.
The political left, on the other hand, do take on board the idea of equality. But then, seemingly failing to understand the difference between justice and equality, they pervert the idea into an excuse to harm good people. In the name of ideals like “equality of outcome” or “equality of opportunity,” the left seek to create both inequality and injustice.
An example: Suppose A and B do similar jobs, but A is much better at the job than B. Perhaps he has more experience, or is more conscientious, or has developed his talents further, or is a self-starter, or works quicker or harder than B; or, perhaps, several of these. So A fairly earns – say – twice as much as B. But the political left see this as an inequality to be “rectified.” They want to better B at the expense of A. So they authorize someone – let’s call them C – to take away some of A’s earnings, and re-distribute them to B.
Now this is an inequality, and far bigger than the one we started with. C has acquired a “right” to take away and re-distribute A’s earnings; yet A has no such “right” to take away C’s earnings and re-distribute them to B, or whomever else he wishes. It’s an injustice, too; for A has done no-one any harm, and so he deserves not to be harmed.
In reality, the remedy in this situation lies with B. He should watch what A does well, and make himself more like A. In time, perhaps, he will come to compete with A, and – in an extreme case – may even take over his job.
Neither the political right nor left offer a helpful view on equality. Yet my common sense tells me that in one very strong sense at least, we human beings are all equal. Although each of us is different and unique, we’re all morally equal; we all have the same moral rights. I express this in my Principle of Common Sense Equality:
What is right for one to do, is right for another to do under similar circumstances, and vice versa.
This kind of equality is usually called equality before the law. The idea being, that the same law and the same rules should apply to all of us. It is an essential part of the so called “rule of law.”
Equality before the law does, indeed, tally with my common sense view of equality. But my Principle is more primitive than law. It applies not only inside legal systems, but even prior to, or in the absence of, any framework of law.
Some will ask, under common sense equality, how can there be a justice system? And in particular, how can some have a right to be judges over others? For if A has a right to judge B, doesn’t B have an equal and opposite right to judge A?
My answer to this is that Common Sense Equality, my second principle, is subordinate to Common Sense Justice, my first. Otherwise put: Justice trumps equality. And so, allowing some to be judges over others doesn’t contradict common sense equality, provided those judges are entirely, and always, focused on delivering objective, common sense justice.
Some, however, will disagree more fundamentally with this kind of equality. They may make the Orwellian claim that some are more equal than others. But they must answer: exactly who is “more equal?” What do the more equal have the right to do, that the less equal do not? When? And why? And if they think some should be treated as “less equal,” and allowed less moral rights than others, they why should they themselves not be thrown down to the very bottom of the heap?
Please don’t underestimate how radical this Principle is. For it denies any claim by political officials of any right to do things which other people may not. It does not suggest that an official, such as a policeman, may not sometimes be better equipped to do a particular act in a particular situation than another person. But it affirms that what is right for that policeman to do, would be right for anyone else to do in the same situation. And vice versa.
The Principle can be applied to other political acts, too. For example, taxation. Now taxation, obviously, isn’t for the sole purpose of objective, common sense justice. In fact, most taxation has exactly the opposite effect; it re-distributes wealth away from those who justly earn it, and towards the politically hip and their supporters. Therefore, in this case, equality can’t be trumped by justice. So we can apply the Principle in full force, with the following effect: If they have a right to tax me, I must have an equal and opposite right to tax them.
As another example, consider the routine interception of our e-mails. Plainly, this can’t be for reasons of common sense justice. For if it were, it would only ever be used against those reasonably suspected, on the basis of objective evidence, of having committed, of committing or of planning to commit some real crime. Therefore, again the Principle applies in full force. If they have a right to intercept our e-mails, we must have a right to intercept theirs.
The political class try to make out that “national security,” or some other such ruse, demands that they must know about everything each of us is doing or planning to do. But we have an opposite, and far stronger, argument. That is, that our security against them and their kind requires that we must have the right to know about everything they are doing, or planning to do, to us.
Furthermore, my Principle goes directly against two of the historical guiding ideals of political states. Namely, sovereign immunity, the idea that officials cannot be brought to justice for their offences; and irresponsibility, the idea that the state isn’t responsible for damage it causes. My Principle goes directly against the ancient mantra: “The king can do no wrong.”
I’ll take this a step further. From common sense equality, it follows that there exists a moral code of what is right and wrong. And this is independent of time, place, culture, or the social status of an individual. Otherwise put: Morality is universal.
To see this, try the following thought experiment. Take a large (large!) sheet of paper, and make two column headings: Act and Circumstance. Then write down pairs of acts and circumstances, in which the act is wrong under the circumstance, and should be prohibited. By common sense equality, any such prohibition must apply equally to all individuals. Continue until you have covered all such situations you can think of.
Then take another sheet (rather smaller), and do the same for acts which are required. In other words it’s wrong not to do the act under the circumstances. When finished, you have your moral code. The first sheet contains the prohibitions of that code, the second its mandates.
Of course, actually doing this will take lots of time and ink – probably more than you have available! Nevertheless, if common sense equality is right, this moral code must exist. I call it the law; or, the law of civil conduct.
Now you may ask, won’t each individual’s version of the law tend to reflect the particular culture from which that individual comes? Perhaps so; though, personally, I’d hope to be able to minimize the effect. Nevertheless, I’ll refine the thought experiment, by having it done a thousand times over.
Let a thousand greybeards scribble, I say, from as many different cultures as possible. And then we’ll take only those prohibitions and mandates which appear in all their screeds – or, at least, in a goodly proportion, say 95 per cent.
I’d expect that, provided all the beards are grey enough, there should be at least some moral rules which would survive this process. A strong candidate is Confucius’ Golden Rule, which has been generally accepted, in one form or another, by almost every religion and major culture. Three more contenders, from the Judaeo-Christian stable, are, “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Thus, as the mathematician in me would say, the law exists, and is non-empty. QED.
Particular moral codes, of course, may include elements beyond this core. They may, for example, require observance of customs such as not eating pork or not drinking alcohol. Or they may demand particular religious formalities, or require that individuals subordinate their economic interests to those of others, or seek to minimize some “footprint” of some kind. However, all valid moral codes must include the common moral core, which is the law. And to try to browbeat or to force individuals, against their wills, to obey rules not part of this core, is itself immoral and against the law.
Those familiar with conventional philosophy may also ask, in mock American accents: “Does that make you a ‘deahntahlogist’ rather than a ‘cahnsequentialist?’” My answer is no. In fact, I consider the distinction between the deontologist who judges right by adherence to a moral code, and the consequentialist who judges it by consequences, to be a straw man. I think of myself as both. For, when judging any act, I take into account both bad consequences (which I call the civil law part) and immorality or bad motive (the criminal law part).
Is this concept, of the law, the same as what has traditionally been called natural law? My answer is, broadly, yes. I hesitate to give an unconditional “yes,” mainly because the phrase “natural law” seems to mean different things to different people. But in my view, the law is the code of conduct, which is natural to civil human beings.
And legislation made by governments is only valid, if it is consistent with the law. Or, in John Locke’s words, legislated laws are “only so far right, as they are founded on the law of Nature.” (Second Treatise, §12).
I also note that the law has no statute of limitations, since it applies to everyone at all times in all places. It doesn’t matter where, or how long ago, individuals broke the law; they still broke it.
And furthermore: What is right on a Tuesday, or in Antofagasta, cannot be wrong on a Sunday or in Antananarivo.
Similarly, the law is what it is. It can’t be changed to fit political agendas. Surely, its details can change as the law is applied to new situations. And very occasionally, it’s possible that new knowledge may become available, which enables a better understanding of what the law is. But it cannot be changed merely by the say-so or the legislative fiat of any politician or group of politicians. Otherwise put: the law can be discovered, but it cannot be invented.
Chapter 49. Of Our Return Journey
The next day, I had a mescap from Hazael. He reported that he had formally announced to the people of Earth that they had been accepted as Junior Galactics. He had announced, too, that there would be ceremonies and celebrations. They would begin once the several hundred Galactics who would attend, including many dignitaries, had had time to travel to Earth.
Hazael had a question for me. He wanted to be able to tell people in which cities and on what dates the ceremonies would take place. He knew what was normal in such cases; eight to sixteen ceremonies, in different cities of the planet, usually over twenty-five to thirty-five days. Plainly, the first and biggest ceremony would be in Washington. But no-one had given him a list of the rest. And he was well aware that some on Earth might feel a bit sour, if other people’s countries were awarded ceremonies, but theirs weren’t, without there being a clear reason why.
Normally, Hazael continued, this decision would be made by Bart Vorsprong, as project consultant. But Bart was away, travelling on a Naudar’I ship, and so not reachable. Hazael had tried Balzo, who had merely told him to ask me. So, if I could possibly..?
Actually, it didn’t take me long to work out a scheme. The members of the Team were from twelve different countries – if, as I did, you counted Hong Kong as separate from China. We had been selected, by Bart himself, to provide – among much else – wide geographical coverage. So, one ceremony in a major city in each of these countries would fit the bill. I decided, on a whim, to put the list – apart from Washington, which had to come first – in the same order in which we had been picked up. So the list of twelve I came out with was: Washington, London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Moscow, Sydney, Cape Town, Freetown, Delhi, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Beijing.
Maybe, I thought, I was being a bit tough on the South Americans, whose two planned Team members Gabriel had not managed to pick up. But on the other hand, it was the South Americans’ own fault, for firing the missiles that had delayed him.
I took the opportunity, provided by an unusually warm day for the time of year, to pay a final visit to Harv’I’s house. Harv’I was in a buoyant mood. He told me that, for his next project, he would base himself for a while on Earth. He planned to continue his father’s researches into what had happened to the Elo’I colony on Venus.
Harv’I told me that Hazael had negotiated long leases on several pieces of land in Virginia, in total a dozen or so square kilometres, to become a Galactic embassy and accommodation base. In this base, Galactic engineers would create environments for many different species. And, in particular, homes from home for those visiting species – such as Elo’I – who would not be comfortable if exposed directly to Earth conditions. Harv’I was now waiting only for them to build a house for him in the accommodation base.
Then there was the question of what to do with Kenny. It was not normal for pets to be accepted on Naudar’I ships. So, if Kenny travelled with us, he would have to be asleep for the whole voyage. Ray and Jenna eventually chose to have him Pushed back into the care of Paul and Melinda, who were now at home in Australia and – unlike most of the other trainees – had resumed their old lives.
The week and a half before we left Perinent were a time for looking back fondly. We had the final Friday ride – a repeat of Gabriel’s very first. And the last dinner, which, very conveniently, fell on a Sunday. Roast lamb, of course. Pulled from a different president’s store this time, in exchange for a case of Seraphim wine.
At that dinner, Gabriel told us that he had had exciting news. Rrrela Himself would be there at the ceremony, and would personally welcome us into the Galaxy! That was most unusual for a new Junior species.
“Who is Rrrela?” asked Ben. “The Galactic president? Or some kind of religious figure?”
“Not either, really,” Gabriel replied. “Rrrela is – you might say – the spirit of the Galaxy. In fact, some say that, in a sense, he is the Galaxy. After all, he owns most of it – everything that isn’t owned by anyone else. Which makes him No. 1 in the Galactic rich-list.”
Then, laughing, “I can see you’re confused. I know I’m not making myself at all clear here. But take it from me, Rrrela is a very powerful individual, in his own quiet way. He is indestructible, for one thing. And he’s a really nice guy.”
“Does he look like a big brown squirrel?” I asked.
Gabriel blinked. “Yes, he does. How did you know that?”
“I already met him,” I said. “When I took the train to Segment 24 to meet the Skobar. And I agree with you, he’s a really nice guy.”
We left on the Monday morning. While still on the ground, we were given a big dose of a very pleasant, slow acting sleep-gas, like the one we had taken for the Time of Storms. We were about half way out, when Michael took the ’mobile off and gave us, for the brief time until sleep overtook us, a ride to remember.
I woke next to Lily in a big, comfortable bed. The lights in the room were on, but the curtains were closed. As on the first ship, the room was recognizably a hotel room, and designed for Seraphim. But this hotel was clearly five-star. The furnishings were very plush, and everything was... just so. The one odd thing about the room was that it was long and thin, much thinner than normal for a hotel room.
We washed and dressed. Then we opened the curtains, to reveal picture windows, which looked out on a park-like landscape. And the landscape was moving slowly. Or – no, it wasn’t. Actually, we were moving. We were in a train!
We went out of the room, and found ourselves in a corridor. I saw Michael coming along the corridor from my right. “Welcome to the Naudar’Ient Express!” he said. “Or, to give it its proper name, the Naudar’I First Class Far Transport Vessel 4144-B. The dining room is to your left, two coaches along. Breakfast should just about be ready now.”
Good, I thought. I was hungry.
At breakfast, we learned more about the B-class ship we were in. While shaped like a cone, like the V-class in which we had travelled to Perinent, it was far, far smaller – only about forty kilometres long. And at the point where we were, a little above the middle, it was only twelve and a half kilometres around. It rotated about four times as fast as the other ship – one revolution every ninety seconds or so.
One reason, why the accommodation on Naudar’I first class ships took the form of trains, was to enable each group of passengers to choose a place in the ship where the gravity was exactly as they wanted it. Some liked to start at the gravity of the planet they had just left, and to move their train gradually towards the gravity of the planet they were going to. Others just picked whichever of the two was greater. We, for example, were now moving to park at the point where the gravity was the same as Earth’s. Aha, I thought, that is why I feel heavy today – I had got used to Perinent gravity, which was only ninety per cent of Earth’s.
A second reason for the trains was so that different groups of passengers could meet easily. When one group wanted to meet another, they simply agreed on a meeting point, and moved both their trains to that place. (There were many sidings at regular intervals along the track, some of which were reserved for trains to cross, and others provided places to park.)
We could, of course, get down from the train and go walking in any direction we chose. Though we had to be aware that the train might move off! Fortunately, it wasn’t common for the trains to move either very far at once, or very fast.
Michael and Gabriel’s ’mobile was stored in a hangar next to the tracks. On a ship this small, it was not permitted to fly a ’mobile inside. Instead, we had to take the ’mobile through the locks, and fly it outside the ship but within its envelope.
There was one thing I insisted we agreed on at that breakfast. From now, we would return ourselves to the Earthly day-cycle of 24 hours.
There were passengers on the ship for many destinations in the general direction of Earth, not only for Earth itself. But, as the journey went on, we met more and more individuals, who like us were headed for the celebrations on Earth.
Since Avoran was fairly close to Perinent, and not far away from the direction towards Earth, one of the first species we met were the Avor’I. A party from Avoran joined the ship a few Earth days after we did. Their train spent most of its time some way down-axis from ours, as the gravity on Avoran was fifteen per cent greater than on Earth. But it was easy to arrange a meeting. And so, at last, the Team met Balzo in person.
He was a very upright, tall, gnarled lizard with a light blue robe, a deep bass voice, a confident and direct manner, and a quick smile. He had with him also Olgal. She now wore a dark purple frill, which among Skobar was reserved for officers of the Company for Galactic Advancement, and was a badge of high status.
Balzo wanted to talk privately with me and Lily. So he came to our room.
He did not waste time. “I have a proposishun for u, Nil and Lily,” he said. “I have recently been promoted. I now have charge of all the Company does on Perinent. I am making a noo group to manage all the projects. I have already Lohman, and Odam has now jonned me. I have also Olgal and two Avor’I in my research group. Would u two like to jon my team?”
“What, specifically, would you want us to do?” I asked.
“I would like u both to spend about a third of ur time on Perinent,” Balzo replied. “To work with the local managers, project consultants and the candidate Teams. To monitor and check their progress, and to suggest what they might do for the better. For the rest of ur work, it is on our planet, Avoran. Nil, u can do the planning with Lohman and Odam. And Lily, I would like u to help in the research.”
Lily and I looked at each other. This sounded like an offer we would be dumb to refuse.
“Spondulix?” I asked Balzo. He looked confused, so I said “That is English for, ‘How much money?’”
“Oh, I see, which Galactic Scale,” he said. “Both ur posts will be well higher than the contracts u have now. I can confirm for u the numbers when we reach Earth.”
Lily and I looked at each other again. “Tap your right hand on the table, twice for yes, once for no,” I thought. She tapped twice.
“Very good,” I said to Balzo. “In principle, we accept your offer. There will be more details to agree. Let us discuss those when we reach Earth.”
Our time on the ship lasted twenty-five Earth days. At the end of it, we were again put under sleep-gas in the ’mobile. The next we knew, we were coming in for landing at the Galactic embassy in Virginia.
Labels: chapters
Common Sense Justice
(A key extract from Chapter 5 of "Honest Common Sense.")
Ah, the 64 zillion dollar question: What is justice?
Trying to answer the question by looking at what pundits of the past have said, I found that few have dared to take a deep breath and begin a sentence with, “Justice is…” The Roman jurist Ulpian, in the early 3rd century AD, made a decent attempt: “Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to everyone his due.” In the 19th century, Disraeli said that justice is “truth in action” – an admirable sentiment, but not of much practical use.
There are other definitions of justice. But most, I find, fail to capture what I see as the essence of justice – balancing the rights and interests of the individual against the rights and interests of others. Isn’t balance, indeed, the reason why justice is often pictured as a pair of scales?
My definition of justice, as it happens, is not so far from Ulpian’s. For me, justice is that condition in which each individual is treated, overall, as he or she treats others.
To make this idea into a Principle, I prefer to put it as a should. So my Principle of Common Sense Justice, the first and most fundamental principle for any civilization, is:
Each individual, over the long term and in the round, should be treated as he or she treats others.
Let me put forward reasons why this is a good Principle on which to found a social system. First, it encapsulates the balancing of the individual against others, which to me is the essence of justice.
Second, it gives an incentive for almost everyone – the occasional masochist, perhaps, excepted – to behave well towards others. Common sense justice or, otherwise said, objective justice or individual justice, is a benefit to all who treat others with that same justice.
So, if you don’t do nasty things to other people, you shouldn’t have to suffer nasty things done to you. For example, if you don’t violently attack others, you shouldn’t be violently attacked. If you don’t steal others’ possessions, you shouldn’t have to suffer your possessions being stolen. If you don’t defraud others, you shouldn’t have to suffer fraud. On the other hand, if you do such things... You get the message.
And under common sense justice, if you want to be treated better by others, all you need do is find a way of treating others better, of making yourself more valuable to others.
Third, common sense justice aims to be practical. Plainly, individuals cannot be treated as they treat others in every single action and moment; for that would intrude into every aspect of life. So, common sense justice aims to minimize injustice. It strives to avoid gross or persistent treatment of individuals better or worse than they treat others. And thus, any implementer of common sense justice – whether called government, justice provider or something else – will not take decisions lightly.
Some, though, will disagree with my Principle of Common Sense Justice. They may promote, perhaps, “social justice” or “environmental justice” – whatever those may mean. Or they may believe, probably without admitting it, the old adage that “Might makes right.”
But those who disagree must answer some questions. Just who deserves to be treated persistently better than they treat others, and who worse? Who, if anyone, deserves riches, power or respect that they haven’t earned, and that they haven’t been voluntarily given? And who, if anyone, deserves to be unjustly impoverished, exploited or oppressed?
I hope that you, dear reader, find the same answer to these questions as I do: “No-one.” And I add, that those that disagree with common sense justice, and wish to see some individuals oppressed, cannot complain if they find their own selves as victims of oppression.
Many people will feel eager at the prospect of common sense justice. But some will be terrified by the idea. Such as: brutes that killed innocent civilians in aggressive wars; bureaucrats that enforced burdensome taxes or regulations; lobbyists that promoted, and politicians that made, bad legislation. They know what they are – and they know what they’ve done.
To these, I merely put the question: Who’s afraid of common sense justice?
How to Re-cycle Wealth
I have written elsewhere about my view of the human being as creator or generator of wealth. Today, I want to address the other side of the same coin. I want to look at the human being as preserver of wealth. Or, to use a phrase, as re-cycler of wealth.
Re-cycling is all the rage these days. I will begin with a few comments about the re-cycling of physical material. I will then ask, why don't we go one further, and re-cycle wealth? And I'll conclude… no, that would spoil your fun.
Where re-cycling makes economic sense - as, for example, with aluminium - then no-one can reasonably object to it. It is far cheaper to re-cycle aluminium than to produce it from ore. Furthermore, the aeroplane or the beer-can made from re-cycled aluminium is essentially identical to the same thing made with metal from ores.
Less clear is the benefit in re-cycling of garbage. There is some valuable stuff in garbage - glass and aluminium or steel cans, for example. But the government monopolists, that are supposed to organize the collection and disposal of our garbage, don't want to give us discounts for that valuable stuff. Nor do they want to serve us, by offering to sort our garbage for us. Instead, they want to force us to sort it ourselves. And they threaten us with "rubbish police" to sift through our garbage looking for things they say we should have re-cycled! They see the re-cycling ideal merely as an excuse to bully people.
In summary, re-cycling of physical material can be good, and it can be bad. Where it improves the human environment, as for example by leading to greater prosperity, it is good. Where it harms the human environment - where it leads, for example, to bad, bullying "laws" - then it is bad.
I pass now to the question: Why don't we re-cycle wealth? If it makes sense to re-cycle valuable physical objects, then surely it makes even better sense to re-cycle the well-being, which is the result of productive human endeavours? That way, each of us can have that well-being many times over.
What would it entail, this re-cycling of wealth? It would mean that each of us strives not to let any wealth seep out of the system. We spend wisely, giving our wealth to those who do good things for us in return, and to those whom we want to help or to invest in. We strive to keep our wealth away from those that want to damage our lives. We avoid giving to - for example - the violent, the dishonest, trouble-makers, thieves, warmongers, bigots, bullies, killjoys, wealth-haters, criminals, the malicious, the disruptive, the destructive, the obstructive. We give nothing to those that want to prevent us enjoying the peace, freedom, justice, prosperity, progress and happiness we deserve.
In such a system, every opportunity to spend becomes an opportunity for someone to serve. Every opportunity to serve becomes, through the mechanism of trade, an opportunity to spend. And, with no wealth being lost from the system, every opportunity for an individual to spend eventually finds its way back to that individual as an opportunity to serve. This cycle continues indefinitely; serve, spend wisely; serve, spend wisely. And what is being re-cycled and preserved is not just material wealth, but the most important resource on the planet - the productive and creative energy of human beings.
Contrary to what most pundits today would tell us, in a system where wealth is re-cycled, we should not seek to minimize how much we spend. Rather the opposite, in fact. Each of us should spend as much as we can comfortably afford without prejudicing our own futures. Whenever we can afford it, we should always buy high quality goods and services in preference to shoddy.
We should not, for example, allow ourselves to be conned into feeling guilty for buying a more expensive Jaguar rather than a cheaper Ford. As we sit back and enjoy the extra comfort, we can reflect that by buying the higher quality, more expensive car we have actually increased the rate at which wealth travels round the system, and therefore the general prosperity. We can think of the craftsmen at Jaguar who, in their turn, have an opportunity to spend on whatever they want. Perhaps, indeed, we are being a little hard on the Ford workers. But they're OK too, since there's always going to be someone who can't quite afford the Jaguar yet, but is only too happy to buy the Ford.
Nor should we feel guilty if, when we go on holiday, we stay in a luxury hotel rather than, say, camping. Indeed, we should question the motives of the killjoys that try to make out that we are misusing wealth by spending on our own enjoyment. For, in reality, no wealth is lost from the system, when we spend on those who serve us. Wealth is only lost when it finds its way to those that fail to serve and, instead, damage others' lives.
When our wealth is properly re-cycled, we will be able to invest in the future too. At the personal level, we can save for our own old age. At a wider level, we can improve the environment for the human race. We can invest, for example, in practical, long-term, large-scale energy supplies. In developing a system of law and justice, which cannot be perverted by politicians or vested interests. In methods of education which encourage excellence, and strive to bring out the maximum potential of each individual. In means of transport which are fast, comfortable, fun, safe and private. When our wealth is fully re-cycled, we human beings will become, as we should be, the masters of our planet.
Unfortunately, our wealth isn't being re-cycled today. There is a constant and enormous drain on our well-being, from two directions. First, and more obvious, are what I call the oozers. These are individuals, whose nett effect is to damage the human environment. They harm our economy, our livelihoods, our emotional states, our enjoyment of our earned pleasures, our liberties, our lifestyles, the quality of our lives. I name them "oozers," because their effect on our lives is like a foul ooze that pollutes everything it touches.
But, far more numerous than the oozers, are the wasters. These are people who do not try as hard as they should to re-cycle wealth. They voluntarily give away part or even much of their wealth to oozers. Probably, many of them do not even realize how much waste, and so indirectly how much damage to everyone's lives, they are causing.
In a sense, we are all of us guilty of behaving like wasters. By paying more in taxes than the dubious benefits we receive in return are worth, we are failing to re-cycle our wealth. With the obvious result, that our opportunities both to spend and to serve are greatly diminished. And so, all of us human beings are far poorer than we deserve to be. Worse yet, what we pay is being used, not to benefit us, but to feed the egos of politicians, and to build bureaucracies full of oozers just waiting to pounce on us, rob us and bully us on any pretext they can find.
Most people know, deep down inside at a level beyond mere rational thought, that there is something desperately wrong with human society as it is today. They are quite right. And this, I think, is a reason why so many people have jumped on the re-cycling and, more generally, the enviro bandwagon. For, at first glance, enviro ideas seem to offer a fresh approach, a prospect of a better future. But, when we look a little more deeply, we find that enviro-ism is rooted in an extreme conservatism. The kind of "environment" which enviros want for us is one that is economically depressed, politically tyrannical and going absolutely nowhere. That isn't a human environment! That isn't an environment fit for human beings to live in!
But, buried inside any system of ideas which has power, there is always at least a nub of rightness. And so it is with re-cycling and the environment. For one of the key questions, which we lovers of freedom face today, is: How do we go about improving the human environment? How do we bring about the peace, freedom and prosperity, which human beings need and deserve? And, not surprisingly, part of the answer is - re-cycle. Re-cycle wealth, that is.
Imagine, just imagine, if all wealth was re-cycled. Imagine if we were able to keep all our wealth away from - and I'll repeat the list - the violent, the dishonest, trouble-makers, thieves, warmongers, bigots, bullies, killjoys, wealth-haters, criminals, the malicious, the disruptive, the destructive, the obstructive. Imagine if all those that want to damage our lives were starved of the resources they need to carry out their vile schemes. Wouldn't that make for a better environment? Wouldn't it lead to a world fit for human beings to live in?
So here's the message on re-cycling: Help the environment - the human environment. Re-cycle your wealth!
(From the archives - March 1st, 2003)
How to Make the Economy Sustainable, and to End Poverty in the Process
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to try out on you today a thought experiment. I know that you may find some of what I have to tell you hard to swallow. Nevertheless, I commend this thought experiment to you. For it may have a little – just a little – power to change your thinking, and so eventually the world, for the better.
I must begin with a short note on terminology. It irks me that enviros and politicians have found it so easy to pervert the word “sustainable”. What the word should mean is “capable of being sustained”. Or, otherwise said, “able to endure into the future”. What it seems to mean in enviro-speak, though, is more like “minimizing use of natural resources”, or even “minimizing effect on the surroundings”. I want to make it clear to you, that when I use the word sustainable without a sniff before it, I mean able to endure into the future.
So, let’s begin the thought experiment.
Picture, if you will, a rolling, grassy plain. And, standing on that plain, many human beings. A few hundred, or a thousand, should suffice. Now imagine that one of these human beings has a parcel, a parcel of goodies. What kind of goodies does not matter very much, so long as they are yummy.
Watch, now, as the human being with the parcel consumes some of it. But then, using what he has consumed, he generates some more goodies. He adds them to the parcel. And then, he throws the parcel to one of his neighbours. That neighbour, in her turn, takes out some, puts in some, and passes the parcel on. And on. And on.
Imagine, for a moment – only – that each human being in this chain contributes only half as much yumminess as they take out. What will happen? The parcel will get smaller and smaller. After it has been through thirty or forty people, it will be microscopic. Time for another parcel – which must come from the outside world.
Imagine, on the other hand, that each human being contributes at least as much as he or she takes out. What happens? The parcel gets gradually bigger. Eventually, it gets too big for an individual to hold, and some of it has to be put down on the ground. The parcel carries on its way for ever, and our rolling, grassy plain becomes covered with goodies. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a sustainable economy!
Now, I want you to “zoom out” – to take a broader view. Our game of pass-the-parcel doesn’t quite represent a real economy. Because, in a real economy, there are lots of parcels. And they’re a lot smaller. Where I live, they’re called pennies – although, in most of the world, they’re called cents or some such.
It’s difficult to visualize pennies flying from one individual to another, and there would probably be injuries. So I’ll use a different metaphor – light. Imagine if each of those people, on that rolling plain, takes in light, and gives out light in return. If each of them gives out less light than he or she receives, the economy – the candle, if you like – sputters and dies. But if each individual gives out as much as he or she receives or more, the candle burns. And continues to burn, brighter and brighter. Just imagine, every one of those human beings on that rolling plain, happy, smiling and bathed in light!
Now let’s zoom out again. Look in your imagination, from out in space, at the planet Earth. Look at the places where there is peaceful, purposeful, productive human activity. Think of those billions of human beings, who play their full part in this activity, as sources of light. Watch them, in your mind, glow – and grow. Watch the light of peace, prosperity and progress spread all over the planet.
But the world today isn’t like that, is it? Why not?
One possible reason presents itself. Look closer, and among the producers of light, you will find dark figures. These are people who are too young or too old to produce, or who are ill, injured, or mentally or physically disabled. They consume light, but they are unable to generate light. Could these people be the reason why the light doesn’t spread?
Look closer still at the producers, the generators of light. Many of them, you will find, produce far more than they consume. If they do enough, their extra productivity can make up for the presence of the dark figures. For the mathematicians among you, the break-even point comes when the proportion of the productive in the population, multiplied by their productivity, reaches 1. If the dark figures are, say, one-third of the population, then the light can still spread, provided the productive two-thirds each produce at least 50 per cent more than they consume.
This load is supportable, as long as productive individuals have confidence that, over the long term, they will break even. No-one can reasonably grudge re-paying help to those who have helped them in the past, or investing in those who will help them in the future. The economy can support these dark figures without losing sustainability, provided – and it is a big provided – that they do not let themselves become a long-term drain on others.
But look closer yet, and you will find, mixed in with the radiant producers and the dark non-producers, a third kind of individual. These individuals consume light, like the others. But, instead of adding to the economy by being productive in their turn, they actively take from the economy, and damage it. They emit, not light, but a dark brown, foul, toxic ooze that pollutes everything it touches. I name them the Oozers.
When this damaging, polluting ooze reaches the bright producers, it begins to dim their light. It causes productive human beings to become less prosperous, and to start to lose confidence in the future. It takes away their incentive to develop their skills and to produce more and more. If the ooze reaches a high enough concentration, it can suffocate individuals entirely. It can snuff out their light, and make them dark.
As with the non-producers, there is a relationship between the proportion of oozers in the population, the amount of damage each causes, and the effects. If the proportion of oozers, multiplied by the damage each causes, exceeds the proportion of the productive times their productivity, the economy is headed downhill. It is not sustainable. And this can happen even when the actual proportion of oozers is quite small, perhaps only two or three per cent. For in today’s kind of world it is, as everyone knows, far easier to destroy than to build. It is far easier to do a million dollars’ worth of damage than to deliver a million dollars’ worth of value.
Zoom out once more, and look at the planet as it actually is. See the arbitrary red lines, which constitute political boundaries. See that, in areas of the world where the oozers are relatively few, or relatively innocuous, there is some light and prosperity. Not nearly as much, to be sure, as if the oozers were not there. For, even in the most advanced Western economies, the negative effect of the oozers is a terrible burden on us all. And, today, the oozers are becoming more and more virulent.
If you wonder why the world economy in the 20th century has been so unpredictable, so up and down, consider the oozers as a root cause. For the world economy is like a battle-ground between productive human beings and oozers. When and where productive human beings win, the economy goes up. When and where oozers win, the economy goes down.
In areas of the world where oozers are entrenched in power, the light is, and has been for decades, firmly suppressed. And this has consequences. In Africa, in South America, economies, that were never very healthy in the first place, are in danger of dying.
Now, look at people in those places, where the ooze suppresses the light. You will find yet a fourth kind of individual. They are not oozers; they are not evil or destructive. Like the non-producers, these individuals are dark. But they are not dark because they are too young, or too old, or ill, or injured, or disabled. They are dark, because the light does not reach them. They have no opportunity to take part in the world economy. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a name for these people. They are called the poor.
How can we human beings end this unnecessary state, which is called poverty? The answer is simple. We must help the poor to help themselves. How do we do that? By bringing the light to them – by giving them the chance to take part in the world economy. And who or what stands in the way of our doing that? The destructive oozers, and their polluting ooze.
Imagine, just imagine, if the oozers were no longer among us. Imagine if those, that maliciously damage our economy, had got the come-uppance they deserve, and had drowned in their own foul ooze. Can you see what would happen? With the oozers gone, productive people would be able to unleash themselves. Good people would receive at last, in a free market without coercion, the rewards they deserve. And this would give them the incentive to build on their talents, to develop their skills, to produce yet more. Prosperity would breed prosperity. Progress would breed progress. And, by the miraculous phenomenon which economists call “trickle-down”, opportunities would come even to the very poorest.
What about natural resources? We would use them – but we would use them wisely. We would use them to help us gain access to more and more resources. We would use scarce resources to get us to the point where we don’t need them any more, because we have better alternatives. And we wouldn’t waste any resources at all on oozers.
The world economy would gather pace, and more pace. Beyond a certain point, when good people’s immediate needs and desires are satisfied, and their personal futures secure, we would be able to start thinking about the human future. Our economy would become truly sustainable, because productive human beings would, at last, have enough resources and time to address the longer-term future of the human race.
Zoom out again. Planet Earth has supported us human beings for thousands of years. It has provided us with the natural resources we need to grow. But, today, it’s not the healthiest of places. And some of the resources we need may be, perhaps, in danger of running out within a few decades.
Enviros and politicians, with their perverted notion of (sniff) “sustainability”, tell us that we must cut our use of natural resources. And then, that we must cut it again, and again. Even though, as they well know, the long-term effect of policies based on this notion can only be to destroy our economy. In the name of (sniff) sustainability, they want to take away our means of sustenance, and to condemn us all to poverty. Ladies and gentlemen, the enviros and the politicians claim to care about the future. But they don’t care about your futures. Or mine.
Zoom out one last time. There is, within nature, an analogy to our situation today. You might enjoy it.
Think, if you will, of the Earth as like a giant egg. And think of the human race as like a chicken inside that egg. What does a chicken do, when his egg becomes foul and the nutrients start to run out? He hatches! He breaks out of the egg, into the big world beyond. He takes the next step on his journey towards becoming a rooster.
So here’s what we have to do, to make ourselves a liveable economic future. One, get rid of the foul oozers, that damage our economy. Two, create the conditions for a fully free market, which will unleash the productive and get the economy moving. Three, look wider than just planet Earth.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we can make the economy sustainable, and end poverty among human beings in the process.
(First published on December 24th, 2002)
Chapter 48. Of Choosing a Gift
After Hazael reported that events on Earth had reached their tipping point, we on Perinent entered something of a no man’s land. The success of our project was now all but assured; and our Pulling workload was dropping steadily, as the need for us to interfere in what was happening on Earth became less and less. Yet, until the Board of the Galactic Association had formally adjudged humans as fit to be Junior Galactics, we had to stay on Perinent.
The following Monday, Balzo sent a mescap reporting that he and Bart Vorsprong had completed the formal proposal for our admission to the Galaxy. It was now being reviewed by the top management of the Company for Galactic Advancement, including Nansen Ault. Balzo expected it to go to the Board, and for them to decide, in three Perinent weeks or so.
But I, at least, was not allowed to be idle. In that same mescap, Balzo asked me to visit all the other camps on Perinent – and nominated Michael as my pilot. “Take a look,” Balzo said, “and report what u see at each camp. No preconcepshuns.”
Four of the five other camps were at much the same distance from Camp Two, a little over ten thousand kilometres. Camp Five, being directly opposite our own camp on the globe, was twice as far. But the ’mobile could reach even Camp Five in not much more than an hour. So, Michael and I planned five day trips, over a couple of weeks. In each case, Lily – as ever – came along for the ride. Other members of the Team came on some of the trips too, if only to get away from the Camp Two winter for a few hours.
I went back to Camp Four first. The candidates who had replaced the Brjemych were a lizard species, the Feh’in. Physically, they were not unlike the Skobar, if a little larger on average, and with unusually short tails for lizards. They were still settling in, and learning Pulling and Pushing. They had not yet started even to identify their trainees.
The Feh’in had as Helpers a young, enthusiastic couple of Avor’I. It was their first project with the Company, and they clearly meant to make it work. As local project manager they had a Toronur, Zherhat by name, who had come highly recommended by Odam, and who was obviously well organized. And Lohman, Balzo’s principal assistant, was in overall charge of the project from his base on Avoran.
Tuglayino and Tuglayono appeared relaxed among the Feh’in. The Cherubim, too, seemed content. But I was not totally convinced. It did all seem rather too good to be true. So, my report to Balzo on the new project at Camp Four was, “Too early to tell. Monitor closely.”
My visits to Camps One, Five and Six turned up little to worry about. The species at Camps One and Six were both plodding along steadily at their own pace. And those at Camp Five were in much the same situation as we had been after P-Day, two-thirds of a Perinent year before. The project was clearly going in the right direction, but they still had a lot of work to do.
The visit to the equatorial Camp Three was the most difficult, as this was the camp with facilities for amphibious and aquatic species. The candidate species here were metre long, carnivorous fish. Even with my new two-way translator, the best that Seraph industry could produce, I could find no way of directly communicating with them. (I certainly wasn’t going to go in the water!) I couldn’t even find out unambiguously what their species name was.
Their Helpers and teachers were a team of four amphibians, from a species called the Pelino’tqvam. While I could converse with them, the import of our conversations was never very clear. It was as if their thought processes moved, for the most part, at right angles to my own.
My report to Balzo on Camp Three was that we needed the help of experts on communicating with species such as the Pelino’tqvam, if we were to understand better how these projects were going.
It was three weeks later, on a Wednesday morning, that Gabriel came in to breakfast with a mescap in his hand and a beaming smile on his face. “Here it is,” he said, raising the mescap. “We have confirmation from the Board that you humans have been accepted as a Junior Galactic species.” There were cheers all round.
“This means,” continued Gabriel, “that we will leave for Earth in one to two weeks from now. But there is much more to be said.
“Firstly, the Board has accepted humans as a whole into Junior Galactic status. But they wish to reward those like yourselves, who have done so much good work, with more. So, the Board has conferred full Galactic citizenship on all of you the Team, on the trainees of your first and second waves, and on Cristina and Helen too. They will also confer full citizenship on those members of your third wave who deserve it; which individuals, will be decided during the ceremonies.”
“What does full Galactic citizenship mean to us, as opposed to Junior status?” asked Marie.
“It means,” replied Gabriel, “that you as individuals can go anywhere in the Galaxy, and do anything permitted for Galactics, on your own initiative and without any kind of supervision. It also means that you are no longer required to wear white on weekdays or on Naudar’I ships. White is the colour of novices, but you are no longer novices. You can wear your Sunday robe colours every day. You may be surprised how much difference this makes to how other Galactics will view you.”
“It sounds, then,” I said, “as though we have another procurement job to do.”
Gabriel nodded. “We will have enough of the right size and colour robes for the whole Team ready on Seraph by tomorrow. It will then be a matter of Pulling them and sorting them.
“Secondly,” Gabriel went on, “after the ceremonies on Earth are completed, the project, and your contracts on it, will be over. This means that you need to think about what you do next. You can stay on Earth if you want, or go wherever else in the Galaxy you wish.
“It also means that you will need to start supporting yourselves financially again. Since you left Earth, your Galactic bank accounts on Tener-3 have been building up. It is now time for you to learn how to use them. We have ordered a training course, which we expect to arrive by mescap tomorrow, and we will load it into the Pedia.
“Thirdly,” he continued, “it is traditional for a species, when they are accepted as Juniors, to be given a substantial gift from the Galaxy.
“In some cases, it is obvious what that gift should be. For example, when the Tefla were admitted as Juniors, their most urgent need was to be able to communicate easily with others in the Galaxy. So the Tefla were given translators adapted for their particular abilities. In the case of the Tuglay, their biggest need was mobility; so we gave them their transport boards. In your case, though, there doesn’t seem to be one gift you obviously need ahead of anything else. So, we would like your thoughts on the matter.”
“If the decision was up to me,” I said, “I’d probably go for something like large scale, cost-effective solar power. Perhaps collecting energy outside the Earth’s atmosphere, then beaming it to receiving points on Earth, from which it can be distributed to where it is wanted. We could develop that on our own, but it would probably take many decades. Using Galactic technology to speed up the process could give us a big benefit.”
“That is definitely a possibility,” said Gabriel, and several others agreed.
“How long do we have to make a decision?” I asked.
“A few weeks,” Gabriel replied. “It will be announced during the ceremonies on Earth. But bear in mind that all of us here will be in a Naudar’I ship, and so not contactable, after the next week or so.”
“I suggest,” I said, “that we ask Ramael and Hazael to take a poll among the trainees and the members of the third wave. We the Team will send our own votes to them before we leave Perinent, to start the ball rolling.
“Democracy, anyone?” I asked, with a grin.
Chapter 47. An Awakening - Part 2
The Personal Transition, in its turn, fed the Social. And here, we were greatly helped by a group of our first-wave trainees, who had had ample time for discussion and planning on their journey home from Perinent. This group formed a society, which they called the Galactic Movement, and whose purpose was to catalyze the social changes necessary for humans to join the Galaxy.
The Galactic Movement was open for membership to anyone worldwide, who was prepared to commit to behaving up to Galactic standards. The founders had written these standards down in a brief, clear document. Broadly, they were honesty; non-aggression; peacefulness except under attack, or defending others against attack; taking responsibility for your life and for the effects of your actions; striving to create wealth; respecting others as individuals; tolerating difference; treating others at least as well as they treat you; practising what you preach; and respecting the rights and freedoms of everyone who behaves well enough to deserve them.
Members were required, each month, to sign a confirmation that they remained committed to living up to Galactic standards. And there were public, honest and transparent mechanisms by which those, that were found to have lied about their commitment, could be expelled from membership.
The Galactic Movement, its founders made very clear, was not a political organization or party. Indeed, it was adamantly against all politics; all aggression, all thieving, all dishonesty. But, where appropriate, it would offer public support to, and provide volunteers to help, those members in good standing who chose to make themselves candidates for election to public – not political – office.
So, there were defections of a few savvy, and not too badly compromised, democratic politicians from their parties to the Galactic Movement – becoming ex-politicians in the process. The occasional prince or president, who had been infected with the Galactic bug, joined in too. More than half of the third wave members, along with many of the trainees from the first and second waves, became prominently committed to the Galactic way forward.
At first, the Galactic Movement and those it sponsored were ignored by the great majority of politicians, and by practically all the media. But it very quickly gained traction on the Internet, and even more by word of mouth. Soon, the official line was to laugh at it, and to make personal insults against its members. Not long after, it was smeared as evil and in the pay of Big Capitalism or Big Socialism, according to the preference of the smearer.
Then, briefly, politicians in many countries declared the Galactic Movement illegal, and harassed and criminalized its members. The EU and UN, too, got in on the act, trying to force national governments to shut down the Galactic Movement in their areas, and to bankrupt its supporters.
These attempts ceased suddenly, after Ramael one Saturday evening, having given twenty minutes’ warning, lifted one of the UN office buildings in New York off its foundations. Flew what was left of it, dangling from the ’mobile, slowly eastwards for a few hundred metres. And dunked it in the East River.
The Social Transition began in different ways in different places. But, once a government friendly to Galactic principles had been installed in a country, they took broadly the same steps in each case.
They repealed bad laws en masse. They ruthlessly pruned all unjust or intrusive laws from the statute books. They withdrew armies from conflicts around the world, and radically downsized them. They reduced the functions of government to their core – civil justice, criminal justice, and defence against aggression. They took down spy cameras, and closed communications interception centres.
They abrogated all commitments to the EU and UN. They sacked all government employees that failed to deliver a service people were voluntarily willing to pay for. They transferred control of services like schools and hospitals to the people who delivered those services. They freed universities to set their own fees, and to teach whatever they thought was best. They opened their borders without formalities to all members in good standing of the Galactic Movement.
They cut taxes enormously. They converted politicized “welfare” into honest insurance. They converted pensions into savings schemes. And they made sure that those, who had already paid for future expected benefits, did not lose their investments.
They stabilized their currencies, by ceasing to print money that did not represent wealth. They wound up the morally and financially bankrupt political state, in the same way as any other bankrupt entity. And they distributed its assets among its creditors.
They brought to justice those that, in the name of or in collusion with bad governments, had committed crimes against innocent people. And those, that had ordered, promoted or taken part in redistribution or confiscation of others’ fairly earned wealth, were made to compensate their victims.
Looking to the future, the new Galactic style governments committed to principles, which the founders of the Galactic Movement had laid down for the conduct of all human governments. Never again to make any individual pay more than their service was worth to that individual. Never to interfere without reasonable suspicion of real wrongdoing. Never to obstruct freedom of speech, opinion, religion, association or movement without good and provable reason. Never to violate anyone’s privacy without good and objective cause. Never unjustly to favour some over others. Never to lie to or to deceive the public. Never to obstruct honest business or trade. Never to allow officials rights or immunities denied to ordinary people.
The first countries to implement the Social Transition were, naturally, those in which members of the third wave were already in power. Soon they were joined by several democratic countries in which there was a conveniently timed election. For the effects of the Personal Transition were so strong, that no political party could compete in a fair election against the new independent leaders who were committed to Galactic principles.
The Social Transition spread to most of the rest of the world in just a few months. It happened in three main ways.
Plan Z was reserved for the difficult cases. Either a bad government received a little gentle persuasion of the military kind from Ramael, or we on Perinent pulled the worst of those in power to the Pit, or both. It wasn’t usually too long before the rest of the people got the message.
In Plan Y, democratic or supposedly democratic governments were brought down by scandals or by public demonstrations, and the way was then clear for a fresh election. In most cases, this produced a new government committed to Galactic principles. If not, we put them on the list for Plan Z.
The third way, Plan X, was like a domino effect, and happened particularly in Africa. Once a country had a Galactic style government, many people from neighbouring countries wanted to flock into it. But what the Galactic style government did, instead of having people moving across its borders, was to move its borders across the people. They admitted those who wished in the neighbouring countries into the Galactic Movement, and promised to defend them – with Ramael’s help if needed – if they were attacked by the local political government. These people became, in essence, Galactic colonists, while remaining in their own homes. Once there were enough of them in an area, the collapse of the old-style government in that area became inevitable.
The Personal and Social Transitions now, in their turn, fed the Economic. The more incentive good people had to be productive, the more productive they became. Without the dead weight of the politicals holding it down, the worldwide economy became truly sustainable – in the same way as a bush fire or a nuclear reaction is sustainable. And, in place of the politicals controlling us, we human beings began to take control of our world.
Good people started to receive, at last, the economic rewards they deserved. And that gave them the incentive to build on their talents, to develop their skills, to produce yet more. Success bred more success. Competence bred more competence. Prosperity bred more prosperity. Technology leaped forward. New, small companies flourished. A new generation of entrepreneurs began to bring their projects to fruition. Many became rich, as they deserved. And, by the miraculous phenomenon which economists call “trickle-down,” opportunities started to come even to the very poorest among good people. And so, their standard of living began to rise greatly – as they too deserved.
It got better. Now that people had incentives to be honest and dynamic instead of the opposite, many of the formerly lazy became dynamic. Many of the formerly dishonest became honest. As well as a big positive effect on the economy, there was, not surprisingly, a big improvement in the tone of societies, and so in the quality of life.
As to natural resources, we humans began at last to use them wisely. We stopped wasting them on wars and politics. We used them to benefit good people, not bad ones. We used them to help us gain access to more and more resources. We used finite resources wisely to get us towards the point where we wouldn’t need them any more, because by that time we would have developed better alternatives.
Meanwhile, the politicals were faced with a straightforward choice. If they wanted to survive, all they had to do was become human, behave up to human standards in future, and compensate those they had wronged. And where the compensations were financial, they had to include interest and 100 per cent damages.
But, unless and until the politicals reformed themselves and delivered the compensation they owed, good people didn’t waste time, resources or compassion on them. Those, that failed to become human, were frozen out of human civilization. And, far from being hailed as the superior species they had thought themselves to be while they were in power, they were derided as failures. Born with the potential to become human, but having failed to realize that potential.
If good people bothered to give them any attention, it was, perhaps, to spit on them. Or to bait them with words, such as “If you really believed carbon dioxide was a pollutant, why didn’t you stop breathing?” Or “If you really thought the world was overpopulated, why didn’t you kill yourself?” Or, for that little bit of extra special satisfaction, to give them a good kick in the goolies.
There was still much mopping up for us to do on Perinent. There were still politicians, bureaucrats and generals to be Pulled to the Pit from those places where the Social Transition was moving slowest. This went on for about 20 Perinent weeks, just over four Earth months.
Though we did have a break in the work. For we had now been on Perinent more than a local year, and the Time of Storms was again due, when we would be out of action for a week or more. As that time approached, we looked forward to our bed-rest, since we were all tired. Perhaps not surprisingly, for I and the rest of the Team had been working continuously at or near our peak for almost a Perinent year.
This year, the storms came almost a week later than they had the previous year – eleven Perinent weeks after the invasion, and seven after the departure of the last trainee. They lasted eleven days and nights.
In August, just five Earth months after the invasion, Hazael reported that human civilization had reached the tipping point towards going Galactic. For the Personal Transition was driving the Social, which drove the Economic, which in its turn fed back into the Personal. On our planet Earth, for the sixth time in Galactic history, a species was Awakening.
In Praise of Self Development and the Work Ethic
Today, I’m going to explore something natural to all human beings; the process I call self development. And I’m going to take a look at one part of this process, an attitude commonly called the “Work Ethic.”
Now some, mostly on the political left, like to pooh-pooh the work ethic. It’s a hangover from the old, spent force of Protestantism, they say. Or, it’s out of date and counter-productive. Or, it’s merely enslaving yourself for the benefit of an élite class of the rich.
While there’s some merit in these criticisms – particularly the last – I find that I can’t go the whole way with them. There is something about the work ethic that makes it seem, to me, both natural and good. And so, my purpose here is to try to tease out just what it is that makes me feel this way.
The baby turns into the child, the child turns into the unruly teenager, and the teenager turns into the (more or less) civilized man or woman. All this we take for granted; we’ve been through it. For most of us, it wasn’t terribly pleasant at the time. But we pulled through. And now here we are, able and ready to pontificate on our highfalutin’ blogs over the ins and outs of ethics, or politics, or economics, or Life.
Yet not everyone manages to get this far. Many – too many – seem to reach a point of stagnation. Often, around the time their physical development reaches its peak, individuals’ mental development seems to stop.
I have my own view on this matter. For I know that, whatever ailments my body may have suffered in its 60+ years to date, my mind has never stopped growing. (Despite being pickled in alcohol on many occasions!) This is just as well for me; for I seem to be moving towards becoming one of that rare and very late maturing species, the generalist.
And, as a “Student of Generalism,” I find it natural to ask questions like: why has this process of mental growth, which seems to stop in so many others, continued in me over all these decades? What have I done differently?
Physical and Mental Development
Our physical development happens, for the most part, willy nilly; it is wired into us. Yet, even here, there are choices to be made. For example, I always found it far easier to grow outwards than to grow upwards. So it was fortunate for me that, unlike many whose minds are naturally stronger than their bodies, I had sufficient hand-eye co-ordination to be able to enjoy at least some sports. (There was a time when I used to bowl a cricket ball at around 70mph!). Thus I had an incentive to keep myself, at least moderately, physically fit.
As to mental development, we spend our childhoods having our brains stuffed with facts – and fantasies, too. We also soak in, to a greater or lesser extent, culture from around us. I was lucky enough to enjoy (if that is the right word) an old fashioned, classical education, which was then overlaid by a heavy dose of mathematics and science. That was a good combination. For it not only gave me a better than average understanding of the context in which we live our lives; but it also instilled in me strong desires for truth and progress. That helped to make me what I am – a natural radical who, nevertheless, can when necessary find traditional (or even square) roots.
Beyond a certain point, however, our development becomes almost entirely volitional. To do it, we have to want to do it. I wonder, perhaps, whether this may be part of the cause of the stagnation which so many people suffer. Where, for whatever reason, there’s no will to progress, how can there be much of a way?
Now there are some fine people, who volitionally continue their physical development. For example, many years ago I knew a young lad, whose talent for the game of cricket was far greater than my own. I faced his bowling in the nets when he was only 15, and couldn’t lay a bat on it. It was clear that, if he put in the necessary efforts and managed to stay fit, he could become a fine bowler.
This particular story had a (very) happy ending. My young friend first made it into county cricket, then all the way up to the England team, for whom he took more than 170 Test wickets. In the process, he put himself through many agonies; fast bowling isn’t the easiest of careers for someone who suffers from a bad back! But he became a household name, then a respected sports journalist, and he’s now (2014) an England selector.
I salute Angus, and all such people. But for many of us, and for myself in particular, it is the mind rather than the body which becomes the focus of self development. I will, therefore, confine my remarks in the remainder of this essay to mental development.
Five Dimensions
In human development – and, in particular, in analysis of my own development – I have identified five mental dimensions, in which an individual can grow. These dimensions have a one to one correspondence with the divisions within the philosophy, which I put forward in my recent book Honest Common Sense. Some of them also have two distinct flavours or directions; which I like to think of as inside or outside, yin or yang.
The first dimension is about what we are. Its out side is individuality. Now, it’s blatantly obvious that we are individuals; for each of us has our own body and our own mind. As I once heard it put, “if god had meant us to be collectivists, he’d have given us plugs in our stomachs and sockets in our backs.” And that means, that we should behave as individuals; we should, simply put, be ourselves.
The in side of this dimension is tolerance. That is, to accept others as individuals. And so, as long as they aren’t dishonest or lazy, and as long as they don’t commit real crimes, to accept them for what they are – even if they are very different from ourselves. It is this viewpoint, tolerance of the individual, which is the source of what some see as my far left views on subjects like racism, religion, gay “marriage” and immigration.
The second dimension is about how we think. The scientific part of my education gave me a head start in the out side of this dimension, which I characterize as seeking the truth. Finding truth is extremely important to me. For, if individuals disagree on the facts of an issue, it isn’t going to be easy to persuade them to agree on anything derivative, such as what should be done about it. And I greatly respect the scientific method, which – when applied honestly and with full attention to detail – is the best tool we human beings have so far developed for finding out truth.
The in side of this second dimension I think of as mental hygiene. Its externally visible aspects are, first, a strong reluctance to lie, to deceive or to bullshit anyone. And second, intolerance for lies, deceit and bullshit, and distaste for all the dishonest that peddle them.
The third dimension is about how we relate to each other. In this dimension, I find two of the traditional branches of Philosophy. The yang of this dimension is Ethics – how each of us should behave towards others – and the yin is Politics, the art or science of social organization and government.
As far as Ethics is concerned, each of us must evolve our own ideas of right and wrong, and then seek to do only the right. From some of our received culture – for example Confucius’ Golden Rule, the secular among the Ten Commandments and perhaps some form of the libertarian Non Aggression Principle – we get both a start, and a sense that the task is a tough one. In my book, I went so far as to write down Ten Ethical Laws, my own shot at a moral code common to all civilized people. That task, indeed, was hard enough; and trying to keep to my code is even harder!
As to Politics, my generalist nature leads me to look for fundamental principles which should underpin all civilized societies. I myself see four such principles, which form a hierarchy. I won’t go into detail here – that’s in the book – but I’ll simply name them, in order: justice, moral equality, rights and freedom. It is my view that any civilization worth the name must implement these four principles, or something very like them.
On to the fourth dimension, which is about what we do, and in particular Economics. Here, I find Franz Oppenheimer’s distinction, between the economic means of getting needs satisfied and the political means, to be key. The economic means is “one’s own labour and the equivalent exchange of one’s own labour for the labour of others,” or, otherwise said, work. In contrast, the political means is “the unrequited appropriation of the labour of others,” also known as robbery.
One of the most powerful – and unexpected – new ideas I had during the writing of my book, came when I considered altruism; the idea, so often peddled by the establishment, that we should not be “selfish” or “grasping,” but ought to devote ourselves to the welfare of others. But I suddenly realized that someone who works for a living, who uses Oppenheimer’s economic means, has already done their bit for others! For, as I had already identified, there is no nobler human activity than delivering goods or services which others are voluntarily willing to pay for. And this led to the converse thought; that it is the users of the political means that are the selfish and grasping, and that ought to be castigated and shunned for failing to devote themselves to the welfare of others.
The fifth and final dimension I call Honesty. In one sentence, honesty is being true to your nature. I contrast this with dishonesty, and in particular with its most visible form; that is, hypocrisy, or otherwise said, failing to practise what you preach.
The Work Ethic
Now, where does the work ethic fit in all this? It’s actually rather obvious. All of these dimensions of self development require the individual to put in work. Hard work.
The work ethic is, of course, most obvious in the economic sphere. But it can bring benefits in other areas, as well. For example, when I was a mathematics student at Cambridge, I was extremely diligent. And what leisure time I had, I spent on the cricket or hockey field, or in late night sessions at the Computer Lab. Looking back now, I think I was probably far too diligent; I should have got out more. But the result – a First – did give me some kind of start in my career.
It takes work to be an individual, too; not to try to be cool, not to be just part of a crowd, not to sponge off others,. It takes work to be tolerant – of people of different skin colours and sexual orientations, of Muslims, of Christians (I’m an agnostic these days), of Rastafarians and Pastafarians. To seek truth is harder work yet – requiring you, as it does, to examine what you are told by the media, to evaluate it, and to reject those parts (most) that are false. To keep to an Ethical code is harder still. To formulate, and then promote, new Political ideals is – well, that’s such hard work that only generalists like me will even try it. And to be, and to remain, honest – well, that’s the hardest work of all.
As to the work ethic in its economic sense, another identification I make in my book is that Competition, along with co-operation, is one of the parents of economic progress. I list there what I call the Four Paths of Competition: (1) Do it better. (2) Do it quicker. (3) Do it cheaper. (4) Do what others can’t. I myself, as a technologist, have used a combination of (1), (2) and (4) during my career; but the older I get, the more I seem to return to number (1) as my primary mode of earning.
It seems to me that those that criticize the work ethic actually hate competition. They’re too lazy, or too dishonest, to do things better, or quicker, or cheaper; or to make any effort to innovate. And a lot of them are so lazy and dishonest, that they use Oppenheimer’s political means to live off others’ efforts.
Oh, and most of them are collectivist, intolerant, liars and bullshitters, criminals and/or political operators. Many are hypocrites, too.
Now, I can answer my earlier questions: Why is my mind still growing? And, what have I done differently to those that have let themselves stagnate?
My answer to both is the same. I have, over many decades, adhered – more or less diligently – to the work ethic. They have not.
How to Make the Economy Sustainable, and to End Po...
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TV / MOVIE/
Watch Jackson and Ahn Yo Seob Show off Their Bromance
Kyung Ho Kim, Sept. 15, 2016, 9:40 a.m.
On the latest episode of MBC’s Chuseok special program Flower Boy Bromance, Jackson and Ahn Yo Seop showed fans exactly how close they are. Jackson said in the interview, "To tell the truth, when I was a trainee, I was really difficult. I'm sorry to Producer J.Y. Park, but I was really difficult. The only person who stayed by my side was Hyo Seop."
Ahn Hyo Seop said, "We got close while training at the company, but while living together, we got even closer."
Jackson Wang is a Hong Kong-born Chinese rapper, singer, and dancer. He is best known as a member of the South Korean boy band Got7 under JYP Entertainment, as well as for multiple appearances on Korean reality television series such as Roommate.
He is a former national sabre fencer for the Hong Kong fencing team, and ranked 11th in the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, winning first place at the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in 2011.
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ABT principal: happy to be back home
Lee Charm, left, president of the Korea Tourism Organization; Seo Hee, center, principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre; and Mark Tokola raise a toast at a welcoming party for the troupe at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. Seo will dance the role of Giselle in the troupe’s performances that begin today at Seoul Arts Center.
/ Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Rachel Lee
Ballerina Seo Hee still feels bewildered at her recent unexpected promotion to principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the world’s leading companies.
“I am happy to be back and perform in my home country,” said the dancer during an interview with The Korea Times on Tuesday. “I would like to dedicate this performance to my father who was too busy to come see me in New York.”
She was attending the American Ballet Theatre welcoming party hosted by Hwang Hae-jin, professor at Ewha Womans University. Some 80 colleagues from the company also attended the event, held at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul, Tuesday.
The troupe will perform one of their signature works, “Giselle,” at Seoul Arts Center from today through July 22. Seo will alternate with other principals including Julia Kent and Paloma Herrera in the role of Giselle.
“’Giselle’ is such a famous production. I would say the highlight of the performance is the beautiful but quiet scene in the second act,” Seo said.
Seo was born in Seoul, and began her ballet training in her hometown at the Sun-hwa Arts Middle School. She was awarded a three-year full scholarship to continue her training at the Universal Ballet Academy in Washington, D.C. In 2003, Seo won a scholarship to train at the John Cranko Ballet Academy in Stuttgart. She was the recipient of the 2003 Prix de Lausanne Award and the 2003 Grand Prix at the Youth American Grand Prix in New York.
Seo joined the ABT Studio Company, which is an ensemble of dancers with outstanding potential, in 2004. She then joined the main company as an apprentice in May 2005, becoming a member of the corps de ballet in March 2006. She was promoted to Soloist in August 2010.
“The company is like my second home. I really love and enjoy working at the company,” she added.
The 26-year-old will also teach at Universal Ballet’s summer academy for young professional dancers.
leehye87@hotmail.com
leehye87@hotmail.com More articles by this reporter
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Therapist Gatherings
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Home / How Do Polyamorists Identify Themselves?
How Do Polyamorists Identify Themselves?
June 3, 2017 Rami HenrichUncategorizedbeliefs, connection, identity, marginalization, non-monogamy, polyamory, relationships
Photo Credit: Group Hug by Meg Cheng via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
by Rami Henrich, LCSW & Cindy Trawinski, Psy.D.
This is the second in a series of articles about the intersections of polyamorous identities and psychotherapy, adapted from our article in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, “Social and therapeutic challenges facing polyamorous clients” (Henrich & Trawinski 2016). In this installment, we provide an overview of Rami’s research findings, which uncover just how complex and diverse polyamorous identities can be.
To read the first article in this series, click here.
Rami’s research findings (unpublished, 2011) indicate several areas of importance to people in polyamorous relationships: jealousy, disclosure and identity challenges, and the importance of negotiation. This article focuses on several topics related to identity and germane to therapists: marginalization and social obstacles, and the challenges polyamorists often experience when considering their own identities, disclosing to others, and seeking compassionate and effective therapy. Authors note: our focus on challenges that polyamorous individuals face does not indicate that there were no benefits reported in the study. In fact, respondents reported polyamory can offer some significant advantages, including deepened communication, expanded sense of family, and opportunities for personal growth, addressed elsewhere. 1
We focus here on polyamory as a lifestyle and identity rather than sexual orientation for three reasons. First, space constraints prohibit a sufficient discussion of sexual orientation. Second, participants themselves phrased their responses with a language of identity, more so than sexual orientation. Third, from the perspective of Process-oriented Psychology, identity is the individual’s awareness and perceptions from which identity emerges as the fluid expression of experience that is the immediate result of environment, social context, inner states, and personal history.2 Thus, identity provides the lens through which the participants view and the authors understand marginalization. In the following sections, we use participant statements and the authors’ personal experiences to explore these themes.
Clinical Portraits of Polyamorists
Participants frequently expressed challenges related to their polyamorous identities. Interviews showed that “Do you identify as a polyamorist?” was rarely a simple “yes” or “no” question. Respondents routinely reflected on the meaning of polyamory, who does and does not identify as polyamorous, and why. Three participants identified as polyamorous, three as monogamous, and six were unsure and drew a distinction between being in a polyamorous relationship and having a polyamorous identity.
In some polyamorous relationships, all partners identify as polyamorous, and in others, only some do. Partners in asymmetrical poly relationships often wonder if polyamory is circumstantial for them (i.e. they are only in a polyamorous relationship because they love a polyamorist), or if polyamory is something they identify with beyond their current relationship.
Crystal and Wanda were in a committed polyamorous relationship. Although Crystal did not have another girlfriend at the time of the interview, she was open to the possibility in the future. Her answer to the question “Do you identify as a polyamorist?” is complex:
I don’t consider myself polyamorous, but I am a part of a polyamorous triangle. I am in a loving relationship with one person but she is also in a loving relationship with someone else. I am in a polyamorous relationship because the person I love loves someone else…not because I love more than one person. If you ask me if I were polyamorous, I would say “No?” with a question mark at the end.
Crystal considered polyamorous identity as a process and explained that if or when she has a girlfriend in addition to her primary relationship with Wanda, then she would identify as polyamorous.
Several other participants viewed polyamorous identity development as an unfolding process. Anna, who was in the process of getting divorced and in a polyamorous relationship with Paul, responded:
I think [I’m polyamorous] but I’m not sure… I am dating a married man and it is all open and honest… I think that, had my husband been able and willing to be open to my relationship with Paul, I would have continued on with both of them.
Some in polyamory communities debate whether polyamory is a lifestyle choice or “hard-wired,” that is to say innate. 3 4 Some report a deep sense of self-as- poly that pre-existed their contemplation of relationship constructs other than monogamy. Sue viewed her identity from 18 years of polyamorous marriage, concluding that it was not a choice but more a recognition of a pattern in her own experiences:
I don’t have an identity beyond noticing what happens to me… I have this pattern. Every three to five years somebody will show up where I need to pursue this thing of the heart, this very strong uncontrollable attraction. I need to be with that until it resolves itself in some way, and that seems to be my nature, who I am.
Like others who characterized polyamory as a deep identity and not a choice, both Sue and Helen saw polyamory as an essential identity superordinate to others. For Helen, polyamorous identity was political and defined her place in the world because she could not “squash” her polyamorous nature:
There is a distinction between someone who is polyamorous and someone who chooses to be polyamorous. It is different … in the sense that you have people who are gay, lesbian, or … honestly bisexual. But if you are bisexual and monogamous, you will end up being straight or queer… Monogamy trumps [bisexuality]. In my life, polyamory trumps everything else, it’s… the first for me.
Issues of disclosure and personal identity were important to all participants. Many identified connections with others in polyamorous communities as crucial support to navigate the complex issues. In addition to disclosure and marginalization, therapists serving polyamorous clients should be prepared to address issues related to personal, sexual, and relational identities.
1 Henrich, 2011
2 Diamond & Jones, 2004
3 Klesse, 2014
4 Tweedy, 2011
Bibliography and Further Reading
Diamond, Julie & Lee Spark Jones (2004). A path made by walking: Process Work in practice. Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press.
Henrich, Rami. (2011). “Following a path of heart: Exploring the psychological, relational and social issues of polyamorists” (Unpublished thesis). Process Work Institute, Portland, OR.
Klesse, Christian. (2014). “Polyamory: Intimate practice, identity or sexual orientation?” Sexualities, 17, 81–99.
Tweedy, Ann E. (2011). “Polyamory as a sexual orientation.” University of Cincinnati Law Review, 79, 1461–1515.
KPACT is an online discussion group hosted by LifeWorks Psychotherapy Center. For more information, visit our website.
8707 Skokie Boulevard, Suite 310, Skokie, IL 60077
© 2019 KPACT (Kink and Poly Aware Chicago Therapists) | All Rights Reserved
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IJEL
The Design and Sequencing of eLearning Interactions:A Grounded Approach
Atsusi Hirumi, University of Houston–Clear Lake, United States
International Journal on E-Learning Volume 1, Number 1, 2002 ISSN 1537-2456 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC USA
In traditional classroom settings, good educators interpret verbal and non-verbal cues, clarify expectations, provide immediate feedback, facilitate activities, promote discussions, elaborate concepts, render guidance, and provide timely and appropriate feedback as they present content in an clear and engaging manner. In contrast, key interactions that occur spontaneously in classroom settings must be carefully planned and sequenced as an integral part of eLearning. Examination of three basic questions provides insights into the eLearning process: How does eLearning differ from other modes of instruction? What are meaning eLearning interactions? How do you design and sequence meaningful eLearning interactions? This article chronicles knowledge gained from seeking answers to these fundamental questions and posits a five-step process for designing and sequencing eLearning interactions based on a combination of research, theory and experience.
Hirumi, A. (2002). The Design and Sequencing of eLearning Interactions:A Grounded Approach. International Journal on E-Learning, 1 (1), 19-27. Norfolk, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved July 18, 2019 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/8390/.
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Bermudez, A., & Hirumi, A. (2000). Examining the effectiveness of systematically designed web-based instruction. Interactive Learning Environments, 8(2), 1-12.
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Cuban, L. (1993). How teacher taught (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
Kemp, J.E., Morrison, G.R., & Ross, S.M. (1994). Designing effective instruction. NY: Macmillan College Publishing.
Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J.O. (2000). The systematic design of instruction (5th edition). New York: Addison-Wesley.
Mason, R., & Kaye, T. (1990). Toward a new paradigm for distance education. In L.M. Harasim (Ed.), Online education: Perspectives on a new environment (pp. 15-30). New York:
Merrill, D., Li, Z., & Jones, M.K. (1990). Second generation instructional design. Educational Technology, 30(2), 7-15.
Moore, M.G. (1995). The 1995 distance education research symposium: A research agenda. The American Journal of Distance Education, 9(2), 1-6.
Moore, M.G. (1989). Editorial: Three types of interaction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2), 1-6.
Mortera-Gutierrez, F. & Murphy, K. (2000). Instructor interactions in distance education environments: A case study. Concurrent
Hill, N., Williams, R., & Hirumi, A. (2001). Facilitating the development of e-Learning through a support site. Concurrent session presented at the annual Texas Distance Learning Association conference, Houston, TX.
Hillman, D.C., Willis, D.J. & Gunawardena, C.N. (1994). Learnerinterface interaction in distance education: an extension of contemporary models and strategies for practitioners. The American Journal of Distance Education, 8(2), 30-42.
Hirumi, A. (2000). Chronicling the challenges of Web-basing a degree program: A systems perspective. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 1(2), 89-108.
Northrup, P. (2001). A framework for designing interactivity in Web-based instruction. Educational Technology, 41(2), 31-39.
Shale, D., & Garrison, D.R. (1990). Education and communication. In D.R. Garrison & D. Shale (Eds.), Education at a distance (pp. 23-39). Malabar, FL: Robert E. Krieger.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2000). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Smith, P.L., & Ragan, T.J. (1999). Instructional design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Soby, M. (1990). Traversing distances in education: The PortaCOM Experiment. In A.W. Bates (Ed.), Media and technology in European distance education. Proceedings of the EADTU workshop on media, methods and technology (pp. 241-247).
Hirumi, A., Willis, J., Frey, J., & Gause, C. (2001). Online TEKS training: Educating Texas teachers on the TA of TEKS. Concurrent session presented at the annual Texas Distance Learning Association conference. Houston, TX.
Weller, H.G. (1988). Interactivity in microcomputer-based instruction: Its essential components and how it can be enhanced. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 28(2), 23-27.
Student and faculty perceptions of the quality of online learning experiences
Michael Ward, Gary Peters & Kyna Shelley, The University of Southern Mississippi
The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 11, No. 3 (Oct 13, 2010) pp. 57–77
Enhancing motivation in online courses with mobile communication tool support: A comparative study
Chantorn Chaiprasurt & Vatcharaporn Esichaikul, Asian Institute of Technology
The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 14, No. 3 (Jun 03, 2013) pp. 377–401
Evaluating types of students' interactions in a wiki-based collaborative learning project
Maria Prokofieva, Victoria University
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology Vol. 29, No. 4 (Sep 22, 2013)
Enhancing Students Online Interactions in Online Learning Environment
Wei-Ying Hsiao, Southern Utah University, United States
An Effective Pedagogical Model for the Adoption of e-Learning Platform
Wei-Mann Lee, The Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology, Taiwan; Yung-Sheng Chang, National Taichung Institute of Technology, Taiwan
Adopting Seven Principles in a Skill-based e-Learning Course
David Wei-Mann Lee, Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology, Taiwan; Nicole Pei-Wen Huang, National Formosa University, Taiwan; Po-Ying Wang & I-Fang Ho, Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology, Taiwan
E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2005 (October 2005) pp. 860–865
The Role of Interaction in Enhancing Achievement and Student Satisfaction in an Online Course: A Rubric Analysis
Belle Alderman, University of Canberra, Australia
A novel Approach to e-Content Development Process: Complexity Reduction and Process Automation
Elijah Omwenga, Michael Njoroge & Erastus Kanyingi, University of Nairobi, Kenya
Optimizing e-Learning Effect with the Right Technological Solution
David Weimann Lee & I-Fang Ho, The Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology, Taiwan; Nicole P. W. Huang, National Formosa University, Taiwan
Development and Application of an Objectives-driven eContent Structuring and Deployment Model
Elijah Omwenga & Timothy Waema, University of Nairobi, Kenya; Georges Eisendrath & Arno Libotton, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium
Faculty Best Practices for Promoting Student Interaction in Online Courses
Rita Dobbs & W. Clayton Allen, The University of Texas at Tyler, United States
EdMedia + Innovate Learning 2003 (2003) pp. 3076–3078
Beyond the Discussion Board: Exploring the Use of CMC in Online Teacher Education
Judi Repman, Randal Carlson & Cordelia Zinskie, Georgia Southern University, United States
Principles of Educational Web Design
Hafize Keser & Necmi Esgi, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Ankara University, Turkey; Aytac Simsek, IDD&E, Syracuse University, United States
Interactive Communication Tools in E-Learning: What Works?
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Design and enactment of online components during four blended learning courses
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Information and Communications Technology Literacy – Getting serious about IT
Empathy as Tacit knowledge: Implications for instructional technology educators
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Turner Gill named new head football coach
December 14, 2011 : Liberty Athletics
Liberty University Chancellor and President Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Director of Athletics Jeff Barber have announced that former Nebraska standout quarterback and Buffalo and Kansas head coach Turner Gill has been named the eighth head coach in the history of the Flames football program.
The Liberty University community will welcome Gill Thursday afternoon at an introductory press conference in the Club Pavilion (third floor) of the Williams Stadium Tower.
The event is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Thursday and is open to all members of the media, Flames Club members and the general public. The event will also be video streamed live on www.LibertyFlames.com.
In addition to the introduction of Gill, Chancellor Falwell will be making a special announcement concerning the Liberty football program.
Gill comes to Liberty after serving two years as head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks. During his time in Lawrence, Kan., Gill coached 10 players who earned All-Big 12 honors, including 2011 All-Big 12 second-team all-conference offensive lineman Jeremiah Hatch and nine players who garnered All-Big 12 honorable-mention accolades.
Gill’s two-year coaching stint at Kansas was spotlighted by a victory over No. 15 Georgia Tech, 28-25, his first Jayhawks win in 2010, and a 52-45 victory over Colorado, where he rallied Kansas for a fourth-quarter comeback after being down 45-17.
Gill received his first head coaching position in 2006, when he took over a struggling Buffalo Bulls program. After posting a 2-10 record during his inaugural season, Gill guided the Bulls to a 5-7 record in 2007, the program’s best mark in more than a decade, when they had finished 8-3 in 1996 while competing at the FCS level (then called I-AA football).
Gill was honored for his turnaround efforts in 2007 when he was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year, following the Bulls’ 5-3 record in conference play. Buffalo finished the season 4-2 in the MAC East Division, earning the Bulls a share of the conference regular-season title in just his second season at the helm of the program.
Gill continued the upward trend in 2008, leading Buffalo to an 8-6 overall record and the MAC championship following a 42-24 victory over Ball State in the conference title game. The victory earned the Bulls the program’s first-ever postseason bowl game appearance, where Buffalo lost to Connecticut in the International Bowl.
The 2008 season saw Gill earn MAC Coach of the Year honors by The Sporting News and he was a finalist for the Bear Bryant National Coach of the Year award. With Gill at the helm of the Bulls’ high-powered offense, Buffalo set a program record by scoring 424 points in 2008, which ranked No. 34 nationally in scoring offense.
Gill’s longest coaching tenure has been at his alma mater, where he served as an assistant coach from 1992 to 2004. He served as the Cornhuskers’ quarterbacks coach from 1992 to 2003 and wide receivers coach during his final year with the program.
During his decade-plus coaching stint in Lincoln, Neb., Gill was part of a coaching staff that guided Nebraska to 13-straight bowl appearances and three national championships (1994, 1995 and 1997).
Gill instructed two All-America quarterbacks at Nebraska in Tommy Frazier (1995) and Eric Couch (2001). Couch became the third player in the storied history of the Cornhusker program to win the Heisman Trophy, also doing so in 2001.
Gill was honored himself in 2002 when he was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award, given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.
Prior to his full-time coaching days at Nebraska, Gill also served as a graduate assistant at North Texas (1989), Nebraska (1990) and Southern Methodist (1991). Gill also served one year as the Green Bay Packers’ Director of Player Development in 2005, before leaving the professional ranks to return to the collegiate level to take over the Buffalo program in 2006.
During his playing career at Nebraska (1980-83), Gill guided the Cornhuskers to a 28-2 record and an unblemished 20-0 record in conference play. He led Nebraska to three-straight Orange Bowl appearances, spotlighted by a win over LSU on Jan. 1, 1983.
Gill was a three-time Big Eight all-conference selection, earned second-team All-America honors and was a Heisman Award finalist, where he finished fourth in the voting in 1983.
Gill was honored as the quarterback selection to the Big Eight Conference All-Decade Team (1980-89) and has been inducted’ into both the Nebraska Football and Orange Bowl Halls of Fame.
Gill also played collegiate baseball for one season at Nebraska and earned All-Big Eight honors at shortstop. Following his collegiate career, Gill played two seasons in the Canadian Football League with Montreal (1984-85) and three years as a baseball player in the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers minor league systems (1986-88).
Gill completed his bachelor’s degree in behavior analysis at North Texas in 1990. The Fort Worth, Texas, native and his wife, Gayle, have two daughters – Jordan and Margaux.
Quote from Liberty University Chancellor and President Jerry Falwell, Jr:
“In our search for a new head football coach, almost every advisor recommended Turner Gill. Every indication is that he is a perfect fit for Liberty University. His experience is at the level where we would like to take our football program. His Christian faith is strong and sincere and what any new recruit would expect to see in a Liberty University head football coach. I think Liberty University and Turner Gill were made for each other.”
Quote from Liberty University Director of Athletics Jeff Barber:
“Liberty is tremendously blessed to welcome Turner Gill as our new head football coach. As we conducted this search during the past nine days, his name was recommended to us over and over from coaches and athletics directors from around the country as the right man to lead our football program. Turner embraces all that Liberty is and stands for and it will be a privilege to work alongside him as we continue to move our football program forward.”
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Home TOP STORIES FEATURES A Season of Miracles
December 9, 2009 Christine Fontana 0
A Season of Miracles
Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s groundbreaking medical reporting continues with a new book and documentary
As a practicing neurosurgeon, associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital and assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his skilled hands indubitably full. But because of his great passion to deliver news of medical and health innovations to the public, Gupta also relishes his role as a well-respected journalist.
As chief medical correspondent for the health and medical unit at CNN, Gupta plays an integral role in reporting breaking medical news and regular health and medical updates, while also anchoring the weekend medical affairs program House Call With Dr. Sanjay Gupta and reporting for CNN documentaries. Gupta’s topnotch reporting has earned him myriad awards and accolades, including an Emmy for the story
“Charity Hospital,” which revealed that more than 200 patients remained at the hospital for five days after Hurricane Katrina hit; his coverage of the hurricane and its aftermath contributed to CNN’s winning a Peabody Award.
Gupta doesn’t view New Orleans as just another place he’s reported on. The good doctor has a true affinity for the Crescent City and its well-being and is personally involved in taking measures to help the community in several different health and medical aspects. Gupta graciously found time to share his personal and professional experiences in New Orleans with New Orleans Living magazine, including the reporting he did from Charity Hospital during Katrina, plus his generous involvement in rebuilding and upgrading Pontiff Playground in Metairie after the storm. Plus, he promises to stay focused on the future of New Orleans. We also got the lowdown on Gupta’s latest book, Cheating Death: The Doctors and Medical Miracles That Are Saving Lives Against All Odds and its companion documentary, Another Day: Cheating Death, which promises readers and viewers an in-depth look into some absolutely astounding medical miracles happening in the world today, perfect for a season that’s rife with hope.
Congratulations, Dr. Gupta, on your latest book, Cheating Death, and its companion documentary, an interesting collection of stories about miracles in the medical field!
I thank you for that, Christine. It’s funny, I think many people in the health-care field don’t like to use the term “miracle,” but we hear about miracles–or outliers, things that fall outside the norm–all the time. It might make a headline and people will read about it, but what I really wanted to do is look at those miracles and try to figure out why they happened–why that person lived when no one thought they would–and how we can apply those lessons to everybody else. That’s how we move science forward.
One amazing medical innovation you write about in your book regards rapid chest compressions and the changes in CPR protocol that were made in Arizona to deemphasize mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which has proven to save more lives. This is profound stuff. Don’t you think other states should take a serious look at this?
Yes, I do. The chest compressions work better than stopping to do mouth-to-mouth and more people are likely to do it instead, and if you do it and move blood through the body, you get a much better result and it could save more lives. The traditional way information has been transmitted to doctors and the public has been through scientific journals. But because I’m a doctor and also a reporter, I can write a book like
this and talk about it, and people read about it or read about it in a magazine like yours and it ultimately does get out there. But it’s still quite a laborious process to get these messages widespread.
Another interesting story in your book concerns the Norwegian skier who was basically frozen to death for three hours after an accident, but wound up making a full recovery. Hypothermia and “cooling” the human body came into play, and if the body slows down, the window of opportunity for survival can be lengthened.
It buys time, no question. Your heart stops working, and you boil down all the science around that principal, and it comes down to one of two things having to happen: You either have to get the heart working again, or you have to decrease the demand of the rest of the body for blood. You’ve got to make it so that the body doesn’t need as much oxygen in its blood anymore, so you either increase supply or decrease demand. And if the heart isn’t working and you can’t get it working, you have to somehow quiet the body down, and it turns out hypothermia is a very good tool for that. It almost puts the human body into a hibernation-like state, but it’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, making someone really cold can be very dangerous; on the other, it can be very protective.
After hearing about cases where people were deemed clinically dead but were somehow revived, I must ask if you believe that health-care professionals should go much further in trying to bring people back from being technically dead.
You know, Christine, it’s a thin line because for the most part, I think the medical establishment does a fine job walking that line between life and death; it’s extremely uncomfortable when health-care workers have to declare someone dead. On the other hand, there are people who survived when no one thought they would, and people are surviving now that wouldn’t have 20 years ago. Twenty years from now, things that we think are hopeless will not be hopeless. It just becomes a question of what moves the line. If you look at the history of medicine, you find incremental gains here and there, medicine remains the same for a long period of time, then all of a sudden there’s this huge change, and it was because in the face of adversity and seemingly overwhelming odds, somebody tried something brand new, bold and audacious and it worked. So in that sense, we shouldn’t give up on people who are given a terminal diagnosis of brain cancer or who’ve had a terrible head injury or cardiac arrest patients, because someone tries something new and it’s like, Whoa, they’re all living!
You were the first reporter to break the news that officials had incorrectly reported that Charity Hospital in New Orleans had been completely evacuated during Katrina. How did being in such close proximity to these events affect you?
That’s a good question. Katrina in general and Charity in particular has had a huge effect on me. I think the images of all those patients on the parking deck waiting to be evacuated in the hot August sun, with doctors and nurses using those ventilation bags blowing air into their lungs for hours if not days on end, that’s a pretty haunting image. They were literally canoeing about 200 patients from the hospital to the parking deck because it was flooded. They would carry these patients up on backboards because you couldn’t go up the stairways because they were too narrow, so they would walk up the way a car drives up carrying people on their back. Everyday they would carry these patients up, canoe across the flood, carry them up and wait–and help didn’t come. So then they would carry them back down and canoe them back over to the
hospital, and they kept doing this because it was reported by the governor’s office that it had been evacuated, but the choppers weren’t coming. They didn’t know to come! So when I got there and saw all this, I was the first person to literally be able to pick up the microphone and turn to our TV cameras and say, “They’re still here, look!” So that was a pretty powerful thing.
On a more personal level, Charity Hospital is a hospital that cares for the indigent population in New Orleans, and I operate at Grady Hospital, a similar hospital in Atlanta, which is a sister hospital to Charity, and I think I have an affinity for these types of hospitals. I do think it was an injustice that Charity wasn’t evacuated; these people were poor and they got left behind, and some died when they didn’t have to because of that. It’s a long answer to your question, but it’s had a profound impact on me.
You’ve reported a number of times on the increase of mental health afflictions in the New Orleans area and the decrease in providing for these people since Katrina. But are you hopeful about the future of health care here in New Orleans?
It’s a situation where the city is constantly on the brink. As one of the ER directors at University Hospital put it to me, they’re one bus accident from a total catastrophe in New Orleans because they just don’t have the beds to take care of these patients. But I’m a hopeful person by nature. I’m disappointed that almost five years later, it isn’t really much better. In some ways it may have gotten even worse, because people who are truly feeling desperate don’t have a place to go. There are lots of remarkable people who are stepping up on their own, creating clinics and trying to fill in mental health gaps, but it is going to take a more concerted effort by the leadership of Louisiana to make sure that people have the medical and mental health resources that they need.
You love New Orleans! Tell us why.
I do love it! I used to visit New Orleans a lot before Katrina. It’s such a colorful city that it’s easy to see why John Kennedy Toole wrote about it. It’s got a resilient nature, and it’s a deeply texturized place, and that will ultimately help the city bounce back. My wife has lots of family there, so we spend time with them and visit the places where they worship. It’s a beautiful city to tour around. We also go to the area around the French Quarter, which I’ve been visiting since I was a kid. I’m a big jazz fan, so I love going to listen to music. It’s just one of those cities you can immerse yourself in.
You’re an avid runner, and people have told me that they’ve seen you running around the river. I guess you’re working off all that New Orleans–style food!
Yeah, I like the café au lait, gumbo and various seafood. I try to exercise when I’m down there. I’ve been to New Orleans and Metairie to talk about diet and exercise. It’s one of those fine lines again, because it is part of the culture of that part of the country. But there is an issue with people being overweight. You want to encourage people to have healthy behaviors, but you don’t want to strip away some of the beautiful things about their city.
Everything in moderation! And speaking of Metairie, you had a big hand in the rebuilding of the Pontiff Playground in Metairie after Katrina. This must be directly correlated to your passion for inspiring Americans and particularly children to lead healthier, more active lives through Fit Nation, CNN’s multi-platform grassroots initiative against obesity.
Yeah, that’s one of the things I’m most proud of in terms of my time with CNN and with Fit Nation. There’s enough data that shows that if kids have a playground within walking distance of their home, they will be dramatically more active than if they don’t. And KaBOOM!, which is an organization that ultimately wants to put a playground within walking distance for every child in America, partnered with us on this particular project and we built a playground. And it was great! We had no idea what the response was going to be, but people showed up from all over the place to help. There was no controversy because it wasn’t political; we just wanted to build a playground for kids and everybody really got in to it. So that was a lot of fun.
What can we do to avoid weight gain during the delicious holidays?
The same rules that we’ve had all year long apply during the holidays; there are just many more temptations you’ll have. My family does physical activity together on a daily basis, even if it’s just taking a walk. Going out to eat or cooking a huge dinner will happen, and that’s fine, but be sure you include physical activity as well, which is also a great chance to bond. Staying well hydrated over the holidays is important, because people can get dehydrated if they stay indoors a lot, and people often misinterpret thirst for hunger. So if you stay hydrated, you tend not to eat as much at those big dinners. In our house, we put plenty of healthy munchies out because with kids and relatives around, if you put carrots and cut-up fruit out instead of candy, they’ll eat it. People eat what’s in front of them.
Great! I have cut up carrots on my counter right now! You’ve received many awards and accolades for your work. But being named one of People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive in 2003 must have been one of your proudest moments!
[Laughs] Ha, ha! That was a short list that year, that’s what I think! I … I don’t know what to say; it’s one of those things that … well, it will be great to show the grandkids one day when I’m older–Hey, look, at one point somebody thought I was all right looking! [Laughs]
As both a doctor and a reporter, it must be extremely rewarding to share your insights about medical innovations with so many. We hope to see many more enlightening stories coming from you in the future.
It’s a great privilege, but it mandates me to get it absolutely right. Medical news is different than other types of news, because people may change their life based on what they’re hearing. I don’t ever want to be misleading; I take it very seriously. And I promise you, I will work tirelessly to keep people informed. We’re coming up on the fifth anniversary of Katrina, and I am working on some special projects that are a combination of what I do as a doctor and as a journalist. I have some ideas to galvanize health-care professionals from around the country to come to New Orleans and really help people out. That’s what we’re working on for next year.
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Início › Focus on automotive › Search for Alfa Romeo
Focus on automotive: Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Tonale wins Auto Express’ Readers’ Choice Award
The Alfa Romeo Tonale concept has been honoured with the Readers' Choice Design Award at this year's influential Auto Express Awards, just days after it wowed the crowds with its UK debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The award was voted for by readers of Auto Express, making the accolade extra special for the design team at FCA's Centro...
2019 Car Design Awards assigned to Alfa Romeo, Peugeot and Citroën
The design teams of Alfa Romeo for the Tonale concept, Peugeot for the 208 and Citroën for its product range design are the winners of the Car Design Award 2019, the new edition of the Oscar of world automotive design instituted in 1984. The award ceremony took place in Turin yesterday as part of the Parco Valentino Turin Motor Show, with the...
A special #AlfaRomeoDay at the Museum in Arese to mark the brand's birthday
A day-long party, on the eve of the 109th anniversary of the Alfa Romeo's foundation. At the Museo Storico in Arese, June 23 will be the special #AlfaRomeoDay: a whole day of appointments, meetings and events that range from history to the very latest news. A party dedicated to the Brand's fans, which will begin with a parade of cars on the in-...
Alfa Romeo rides high in the 2019 Bandini Trophy
The twenty-sixth edition of the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy took place over the weekend. The event involved over 15,000 people and culminated with the prize awarded to Antonio Giovinazzi as the best new driver of the year in Formula 1. The Italian Alfa Romeo Racing team driver added his name to a list of legendary drivers who won this prize in past...
Alfa Romeo at the 21st Gumball 3000
The Gumball 3000 is a non-competitive motoring event covering a course of almost 5,000 kilometres, on roads open to traffic, and every edition visits locations symbiotic to the international jet set. Celebrities from all over the world regularly take part: artists, entrepreneurs, trendsetters and philanthropists, all helping to raise funds for,...
Mercedes-Benz celebrates 125 Years of Motorsport” on 1000 Miglia roads
From May 15 to 18, the Mercedes-Benz heritage returns to the roads of the legendary 1000 Miglia. Also this year Mercedes-Benz confirms the close bond that has always united the House of Stuttgart with the "most beautiful race in the world". In 2019, on the occasion of the 1000 Miglia, Mercedes-Benz will also be celebrating the 125th anniversary...
FCA Heritage and Alfa Romeo lead the 1000 Miglia event
From 15 to 18 May, the 37th historical re-enactment of the most famous road race of all time will take place: all eyes will be on the Alfa Romeo brand, "Automotive Global Partner" of the event and also the car manufacturer with the most participating vehicles (44 cars). The Alfa Romeo Historic Museum will be sending three exclusive vehicles that...
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Home Investing Brooklyn Judge Vows Not to Send People Back to Prison for Smoking Marijuana
Brooklyn Judge Vows Not to Send People Back to Prison for Smoking Marijuana
1 year ago by admin 0
Noting that marijuana has become increasingly accepted by society, a federal judge in Brooklyn made an unusual promise on Thursday: He pledged he would no longer reimprison people simply for smoking pot.
In a written opinion that was part legal document, part mea culpa, the judge, Jack B. Weinstein, 96, acknowledged that for too long, he had been sending people sentenced to supervised release back into custody for smoking pot even though the drug has been legalized by many states and some cities, like New York, have recently decided not to arrest those who use it. Under supervised release, inmates are freed after finishing their prison time, but are monitored by probation officers.
“Like many federal trial judges, I have been terminating supervision for ‘violations’ by individuals with long-term marijuana habits who are otherwise rehabilitated,” Judge Weinstein wrote. “No useful purpose is served through the continuation of supervised release for many defendants whose only illegal conduct is following the now largely socially acceptable habit of marijuana use.”
Supervised release, administered in courts across the country by the federal probation agency, was created in 1984 to help rehabilitate people who have finished prison terms. But certain violations can lead to reimprisonment: among them, using drugs, getting caught with weapons or associating with other known criminals.
Because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, those on supervised release who use the drug — or even refuse to be tested for it — are required to be sent back into custody. But in his order, Judge Weinstein said that locking people up again just for smoking pot — especially at a moment when laws and attitudes are changing — was not only a waste of time and money, but also had an implicit racial bias.
“In this court, the majority of supervisees who face a violation charge for marijuana use are African- Americans,” the judge explained. “Since an African-American is eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana use, his or her chance of a supervised release violation for marijuana is much greater than a white person’s.”
Though Judge Weinstein said his new approach to supervised release would be carried out in all his future cases, his opinion was issued specifically in regard to Tyran Trotter, a 22-year-old Queens man who pleaded guilty in 2016 to distributing heroin. Mr. Trotter was sentenced in the case to two years in prison and to three years of supervised release.
Last year, after Mr. Trotter had served his time in prison, probation officials said he had violated the terms of his release by using marijuana and failing to comply with their orders to get treatment. The officials recommended that he be sent back to prison for another four months and be placed on two more years of supervised release.
But instead, Judge Weinstein refused to send Mr. Trotter back to prison and ended his stint of supervised release, essentially forgiving him of any violations. Mr. Trotter, the judge explained, had “stayed out of trouble” after being freed and was “trying to lead a productive life.” But he had a “chronic problem” that was getting in his way: an addiction to marijuana.
“Many people from all walks of life now use marijuana without fear of adverse legal consequences,” Judge Weinstein wrote. But the criminal-justice system, he went on, “can trap some defendants, particularly substances abusers, in a cycle where they oscillate between supervised release and prison.”
Both the probation agency and the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn, which prosecuted Mr. Trotter, declined to comment on the ruling. But most federal judges seem to believe that designating drug use as a violation of supervised release “is not desirable,” Judge Weinstein wrote. He cited a survey from 2014 in which 85 percent of federal judges said that they should not be required to send people on supervised release back to prison for possessing an illegal drug. According to the study, 74 percent of the judges said the same about people who failed three drug tests in a year.
Federal courts have split over the issue. In 2010, a federal judge in Michigan found that using marijuana — even for legal medical reasons — was enough to reimprison people on supervised release. (A federal judge in Virginia found the same in 2016.) But in 2016 and then last year, two judges in Washington, D.C., decided to end terms of supervised release rather than send the defendants back to prison for using marijuana.
Judge Weinstein, who has sat in Federal District Court in Brooklyn for more than 50 years, has long been known for his progressive leanings and iconoclastic temperament. Last summer, he publicly called for more female lawyers to have speaking roles in court. A few months later, he said he wanted to personally investigate the problem of perjury by the police.
Just a few weeks ago, he took on the United States Supreme Court, saying that its justices had gone too far in curbing the public’s power to hold the police accountable for misconduct and abuse.
To read more visit: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/nyregion/brooklyn-judge-vows-not-to-send-people-back-to-prison-for-smoking-marijuana.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FMarijuana%20and%20Medical%20Marijuana&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection
Appeals court rules feds can’t prosecute…
FDA rejects move to further restrict cannabis
That, To Me, Just Makes Sense.
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Ohio officials release proposed rules for medical…
Federalism and marijuana
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June 18, 2017 / Renee Peters
I share seven health tips that I have learned during my journey to live a more sustainable life.
June 18, 2017 / Renee Peters/ 7 Comments
wellness, health, diet, nutrition, beauty, self care, beauty products, sustainable living, fitness, exercise, media, whole food, plant-based, vegan, Macrobiotic, sustainable fashion, nature, wellbeing, sleep, productivity, depression, anxiety, news, pilates, yoga, walking, umweltverträglich, eco, ecológico, eco friendly, bien durable, sustainable, easy sustainable, healthy living
April 24, 2017 / Renee Peters
Staying relevant in the fashion industry, while maintaining my ethics, was something that I grappled with a lot. As issues of sustainability and ethics became more important in my life, I began to question if “staying relevant” was really an issue at all. Was this just an insecurity that I developed after 15 years of advertising telling me I wasn’t good enough if I didn’t have the latest trend? I realized the questions I was having were actually masking an even deeper truth. I was unsure about who I was, and fast fashion only perpetuated that confusion.
"I was unsure about who I was, and fast fashion only perpetuated that confusion."
Beginning as a teenager, as most of us deal with issues of identity, I questioned who I was and how I wanted to present that person to the world. One year I felt goth and the next year hippie. As fast as I could throw out one identity (and the clothes that went along with it), I was replacing it with a new one. Stores like Hot Topic, Wet Seal, and Forever 21 provided trendy clothes at dirt cheap prices, and fueled my search with lots of wear and waste. Although I am thankful for these years of exploration, they lasted way too long, and far beyond my years of teenage angst.
Throughout college, and into my career as a model, this confusion didn’t go away. With newer, more trendy stores like H&M and Zara, I never wanted to stop and think about my own personal style… the one that reflected who I am deep inside. I wanted to keep up with the trends and remained prey to the constant “Hot and Not” lists that advertisers and fast fashion CEOs count on. It wasn’t until graduating college, going vegan, and investigating the vast environmental issues facing us, that I started to even question who made my clothes.
A film premiere in New York of the documentary called True Cost was the catalyst for my journey. Released after the Rana Plaza disaster on April 24, 2013, it highlights the astonishing inequality that garment workers are subjected to across the globe. It shows the horror of the 1,134 people who were killed and the over 2,500 that were injured in Dhaka, Bangladesh when the complex collapsed. Despite earning my degree in Biology, the massive affect of the clothing we wear on the environment hadn't occurred to me. True Cost demonstrates how and why the fashion industry is one of the largest polluter on Earth, perhaps less damaging than the oil industry alone.** Fast fashion being the main culprit. This film was not only an eye-opener but it also marked a huge turning point in my life.
I knew something had to change and that my mindless consumption of fast fashion had to stop. My true identity, no longer a question of outward appearance but something deep within, was finally able to take shape. Limiting my purchases to consciously manufactured pieces and consuming only that which I truly need, each item of clothing that I would own from that day forward needed to truly reflect the person that I am. My clothing also needed to last, which meant I had to be comfortable with that identity for a long period of time.
For the first time I was forced to really ask myself, "Who am I?" and "How will I present this person to the World?". Although it was difficult at first, with practice and time I have been able to curate a wardrobe I feel confident in wearing over and over again. I have pieces that are sustainable and ethically made that all fit together. I have formed a unique capsule collection of clothing that confidently reflects my true self.
"Limiting my purchases to consciously manufactured pieces and consuming only that which I truly need, each item of clothing that I would own from that day forward needed to truly reflect the person that I am."
I now know that the clothing choices I make have a huge impact. “80 billion pieces of clothing are bought each year, and on average we only wear 20% of the clothes in our closet. The average American also throws away 82 pounds of textiles each year, adding to 11 million tons of textile waste in the U.S. alone." Giving up fast fashion therefore reduces huge amounts of toxic waste in landfills. Without much effort on the part of consumers, buying less and choosing well, also reduces the degradation of Earth’s waterways and ecosystems.
Climate change is real. We are using up the Earth’s resources at a rate that compares to no other time in history. In order to sustain life in the way that humans are living now, we would need SEVEN planet Earths. The little things that we, as individuals, do everyday all add up to combat climate change. Ask the question, “Who made my Clothes?”, and stop supporting brands that exploit their labor. Investigate the environmental affects that our clothing has. Fashion Revolution and one of my favorite brands, Zady, both have vast amounts of information on their websites available for free. If you haven't seen the movie, True Cost is available for viewing via their website, Netflix, Amazon and iTunes. I cannot recommend it enough.
Giving up fast fashion has not only been an inspiring and fun journey for me with my clothes, but also helped me find confidence in how I present myself to the world. Never underestimate the power of small, daily actions that all add up to be a huge reduction in our carbon footprint. Not only will you be supporting our fellow humans and the planet, but you may even find out more about yourself.
-Renee Peters
“Take two very simple actions that we perform every single day: getting dressed and eating. Now start a journey backwards – to where your food and your clothes come from. At the other end, you will rarely find happy people, treated with dignity and respect. Human beings working at the bottom of any supply chain are often treated like slaves, without reference to our common humanity. So ‘fashion’ – i.e. what we wear every single day, has huge relevance and huge consequences on human, social and environmental capital.” - Liva Firth, Eco Age
Join the Fashion Revolution here:
***2018 UPDATE: A report conducted by Quantis and Climate Works, released in February of 2018, now shows that, "Combined, the global apparel and footwear industries account for an estimated 8% of the world ́s greenhouse gas emissions." Read the full report here --> Measuring Fashion: Insights from the Environmental Impact of the Global Apparel and Footwear Industries study
April 24, 2017 / Renee Peters/ 9 Comments
Fashion, Lifestyle and Happiness
Fashion Revolution, fast fashion, Model4greenLiving, Fashion, sustainable fashion, Sustainable Style, green living
Q&A WITH MELISSA CANTOR OF ETHICA
March 27, 2016 / Renee Peters
Tell me a bit about yourself.
My name is Melissa Cantor. I'm originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras (which is part of what sparked my interest in commerce as a tool for international development and positive social impact). I started my career as a magazine editor in Miami; later worked on digital media launches for companies like NBC, AOL and Fox; and most recently spent a couple of years working on web and social content at Tiffany & Co. and L'Oreal.
I'm the co-founder and editor of Ethica, which I launched with my sister and husband in 2012, as well as an occasional freelance writer whose work has been published by CNN and New York magazine, among others.
What is Ethica?
Ethica opened its virtual doors in September 2012 with a pioneering proposition: to make it simple and, above all, exciting to support ethical and sustainable fashion. Our brands range from buzzy up-and-comers to industry pioneers to tiny artisan outfits. In 2015, we expanded our selection to include a small selection of change-makers in the world of clean beauty as well.
What does “Sustainable Fashion" mean to you?
It's timeless, high-quality clothing made with respect for people, the planet and other living beings. On a personal level, for me it's come to mean understanding the story behind a garment and falling in love with that aspect of it, in addition to the way it looks and feels. When I receive a compliment on an ethically made or sustainable item, I always have something I could share about it (though of course I don't always do so!), whether it's the fact that it's made of reclaimed materials, made in one of the few knitwear factories remaining in the U.S., etc. It adds a layer of enjoyment to it for me.
From an industry perspective, I really like this question because it underscores the fact that ethical and sustainable are broad and subjective terms. From day one at Ethica, we have spelled out on every product page exactly why we consider an item ethical and sustainable, so that the shopper doesn't have to rely on our definition and can make her own decision. We hope that this translates into more empowered and informed consumers all around, not just when they are shopping with us.
Does the sustainable design trend we are currently seeing in fashion reinvigorate your passion for the industry?
Yes, absolutely. I left my career as a fashion writer to launch Ethica precisely because I no longer wanted to be part of the status quo, and it's very encouraging to see how many people have embraced this movement in the past few years, from all aspects of the industry – you're a great example of this! I love meeting people who are contributing different sets of talents toward this common goal. For me as a writer and communicator, the creative and anthropological aspects of fashion are what have always been appealing, and both of these are magnified in sustainable fashion. There is so much creativity in terms of use of materials, designing for longevity, using commerce to make a positive impact, and so many takeaways when you look at this movement from a social and cultural perspectives. So yes, I'm really encouraged by everything I see, and it's so fulfilling to be able to create awareness about these issues and also offer people a platform where they can turn that knowledge into action.
Do you think an on-trend / contemporary wardrobe is possible, while maintaining our ethics?
100 percent. Ethics aside, I don't think cheaply made, trend-driven clothing is the foundation of a good wardrobe. Deliberately investing in well-designed, well-made pieces over time is much more likely to lead to a strong wardrobe, so I think ethics and style go hand in hand.
Returning to the idea of story, when you have a personal connection to the things that you purchase, and when your closet is full of things that you want to keep over the years (instead of picking something up and going, "What was I thinking when I bought this?"), your wardrobe becomes an aspect of your personal narrative, and isn't that ultimately what style is?
The average consumer doesn't believe that they have the extra income required to pay the true cost of their clothing. Many seem to believe more sustainable options are too expensive or simply unavailable. How do you respond to this claim?
I say that supporting ethical and sustainable fashion doesn't have to be a zero-sum game. That creates such a barrier to entry, mentally, and it turns it into something that people will do "someday." If you can't afford to buy ethical and sustainable fashion exclusively, that's ok. But there's surely a step that you can take, like maybe giving up shopping at one fast fashion store. Or buying just some things ethically. I know someone who's very committed to ethical fashion and sustainability, but who makes an exception for shoes because she can't find affordable options. I think that's perfectly reasonable, and it doesn't minimize her support for sustainable brands in other categories. It's about taking the first step, and then the next one, instead of thinking of it as this big, restrictive, expensive lifestyle. The more that you explore the field, the more options you'll find. There are a lot of great, affordable brands out there, along with plenty of sales and secondhand options.
Is sustainable fashion able to reach everyday consumers who may shop in "fast fashion" now?
It's certainly available to anyone with an interest in it. The bigger challenge, in my view, is creating that interest. Some people just don't want to engage in these issues, even if you tell them that the fashion industry is nearly as bad as the oil industry, or that a lifetime of wearing formaldehyde-soaked clothes might give them cancer someday. And I understand that, because that's not exactly an uplifting message. That's why good design is so important, because it's a way of attracting people through something positive, and once they have a positive experience, they can hopefully start to outgrow fast fashion.
What does "green living" mean to you? How do you incorporate green living into your life?
It means to tread lightly, and to try to at least not leave anything worse than I found it–whether that's a person on the other side of the world who is affected by my choices, or whether it's a more direct environmental impact. I've always thought of myself as someone who cares for and about the environment, but giving up single-use plastic and aspiring to zero-waste living in recent years has absolutely blown my mind. I'm not zero-waste yet (or even close), but I work toward these goals every day.
When people ask me how or where to start on a journey to sustainability, I suggest seeing how long they can go without buying something that's made in China or how long they can do without single-use plastic bottles, bags or straws. It's really eye-opening as to how pervasive these things are.
March 27, 2016 / Renee Peters/ Comment
Sustainable Style, sustainable fashion, ethical fashion, Fashion, lifestyle, Ethica, Vegan, Organic, sustainable living, fair trade, shopping, Melissa Cantor
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CSSR/Czech Rep. (2)
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Israel/Colombia (5)
Kingdom of Italy (1)
Kingdom of Norway (1)
Nazi Germany (4)
Norway/USA (1)
P.R. China (13)
Rep. of China (1)
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FEG AK-63MF
The FEG AK-63MF is a Modernised Hungarian variant of the AKMS assault rifle manufactured by the Fegyver- és Gépgyár (FÉG) state arms plant in Hungary.
In Hungarian service, the AK-63 replaced the AMD-65, which is nearly identical but features a modified heat shield and a vertical forward hand grip under the barrel. Although the AKM-63 had been the Hungarian service rifle since 1963, it was more expensive to build, and the forward grips had a reputation for being easily damaged in the field. In the late-1970s, the Hungarian Defense Ministry requested that FÉG manufacture a cheaper rifle based on the more traditional Soviet AKM design. By the end of 1977, the AK-63 was adopted by the Hungarian People`s Army (beginning with the Ground Forces). In 1978, FÉG added a folding stock AKMS version of the AK-63 to their catalogue; thereafter, the fixed-stock AK-63 became known as the AK-63F (Wooden Stock) and the folding-stock version was designated AK-63D (Descent).
In Hungarian service, the AK-63 F and D are designated as the AMM and AMMSz, respectively.
The AK-63 F and D (AMM and AMMSz) are both nearly identical externally to the USSR-manufactured AKM and AKMS. The main difference is that the AK-63 series retains the distinctive-looking straight pistol grip of the AKM-63. The forward hand grip of the AK-63 also lacks the grip rails which characterize the Soviet AKM (and most AKM copies made in many other countries). The wood on the AK-63, like that of the AKM-63, has a bright, laminated blond finish.
Export Users
During the Cold War and afterwards, the AK-63 series was widely exported to a number of nations in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South America.
Iraq under Saddam Hussein was the first major export customer to receive the AK-63, which it began importing in large numbers in 1979 to equip its armed forces. These rifles made their combat debut in the hands of Iraqi soldiers during the Iran–Iraq War in 1980-1988. During the war, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and many of the local militias which participated in the fighting were also armed with AK-63s; these were most likely acquired by capturing them from the Iraqis (since Iran mostly purchased AKs from China and North Korea, and received some Soviet weapons from Libya and Syria). The AK-63 was used by Iraqi forces again during the Gulf War in 1990-91, and later turned up in Kurdish and Shi`ite hands during the insurrections in Iraq throughout the 1990s.
The AK-63 was also exported to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, which used them to fight the Contras in the 1980s. Significant numbers of AK-63s were also sent to the FMLN in nearby El Salvador starting in late 1984 or 1985. One estimate suggested that about 11,000 AK-63 rifles may have been sent to the region over a five-year period. Since the end of the Cold War, the AK-63 has also turned up regularly in the hands of militants in Somalia and Zambia, and was also purchased by Croatian forces for use during the Croatian War of Independence.
In 1985, a semi-automatic version of the AK-63 was exported to the United States for civilian consumption. Imported by Kassnar (of Harrisburg, PA), which sold it as the SA-85M, it was only available in its "pre-ban" form for a few years before the 1989 assault weapons importation ban. Since only about 7,000 pre-ban SA-85Ms were imported prior to 1989, it is now considered a collector`s item amongst firearms enthusiasts and commands high prices (often $1,500 or higher). The post-ban version of the SA-85M, featuring a thumbhole stock, was discontinued after only a few years of importation. However, in recent years, several companies in the United States have built clones of these rifles from Hungarian parts kits on American-made receivers.
- AK-63F (AMM in Hungarian service): The basic fixed-stock copy of the Soviet AKM.
- AK-63D (AMMSZ in Hungarian service): An AKMS copy with an under-folding steel stock.
- AK-63MF: Modernised AK-63D with telescopic stock and MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail.
- SA-85M: A semi-automatic-only version intended for civilian sales in the United States; imported by Kassnar in both pre- and post-ban versions.
- Iran–Iraq War,
- Nicaraguan Revolution,
- Salvadoran Civil War,
- Gulf War,
- Croatian War of Independence,
- Iraq War
- Libyan civil war
Video Shows Probably an Late FEG AK-63F
Weapontype:
Fegyver- és Gépgyár
Gas operated, rotating bolt
Approx 7.3 lb
Approx 35.5 / 25.8 in
Barrel:
Magazine Capacity:
10, 20, 30 round
Feed system:
Box magazine
Sights:
Wide Variety
Rate of fire:
600 rounds/min
Effective range:
500 m (550 yd)
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Aneurysms that occur inside the head (intracranial) are among the very serious neurological conditions which can cause severe Brain injury or death as a result of hemorrhage. To remain healthy, the Brain needs a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood. To deliver this supply, an extensive network of blood vessels, called arteries, carry blood from the pumping Heart to the Brain. In order for the blood to travel up the arteries from the heart and into the Brain where it circulates, the blood is under pressure. Maintaining adequate blood pressure to the Brain requires, among other things, arteries that are not blocked and do not leak.
Aneurysms are usually described as weak places on the arteries, which supply blood to the Brain. They form in a manner that looks like a blister. They are similar, in concept, to the weak spot on an inner tube of a car tire or a child's balloon that is over-inflated.
Figure 1: Cerebral Angiogram
This is a Lateral view Carotid Artery Angiogram demonstrating a giant Aneurysm".
A special "dye" was injected through a catheter introduced into the arterial system through a groin artery and then "floated" through the Aorta towards the cerebral arteries.
In these instances, one knows that it is likely that at some point it is likely that the inner tube or balloon will fail resulting in a "blowout". Unfortunately there is a parallel risk that a patient has who harbors one of these Aneurysms.
What is the Incidence of Aneurysms?
Aneurysms are present in approximately five percent (5%) of the general population. Although they can occur in children and early adulthood they are more likely to make their presence known in adults between 40 and 60 years.
How do Aneurysms Occur?
Aneurysms form in particular areas of the Cerebral (Brain) Arteries. These are mostly where the arteries branch (Figure 2). Some of us are born with a very small defect in an elastic membrane which is part of the thick, middle layer of our Brain arteries (See Figure 3.) As a result of the blood pounding on the inside of the artery with each heartbeat, a small internal hernia occurs through the weak and defective elastic membrane. Over the years this internal hernia slowly enlarges to extend outside the wall of the artery and takes on the appearance of a thin-walled blister (See Figures 3 C & D). These arteries have three distinct layers (Figure 3): The outer layer (i) is very thin (called the adventitia). The inner layer (iv) is also very thin (called the endothelium). The middle layer (media) is relatively thick and is made mostly of muscle (ii). Near the center of the media is the elastic membrane (internal elastic membrane - iii). Defects (v) in the internal elastic membrane are more likely to occur where arteries branch. It is through this defect that the hernia of the inner wall of the artery may occur. When the hernia extends through the entire wall of the artery and forms a blister, a true Aneurysm has formed. Unfortunately the Aneurysm wall is made up almost entirely of the thin, inner and outer layers of the arterial wall and does not have the protection of the thick muscle or its elastic membrane to keep the blood from bursting out of the inside of the blood vessel.
Figure 2A (Left): Illustration of the component parts of an arterial "Bifurcation". This is where vessels branch or divide.
Figure 2B (Right): A saccular Aneurysm arises from the apex of the bifurcation in patients who were born with the defect illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Diagram of Arterial "Defect" Leading to Aneurysm Formation
These arteries have three distinct layers: (i) outer thin layer (adventitia); (iv) inner thin layer (endothelium); (ii) thick muscle middle layer (media); (iii) internal elastic membrane; Internal Elastic Membrane Defect (3B-v) occurs where arteries branch; (3C) hernia of the inner wall of the artery through Internal Elastic Membrane defect; (3D) hernia extends through the entire wall of the artery and forms a true Aneurysm with a wall made up of the thin, inner and outer layers of the arterial wall and does not have the protection of the thick muscle or its elastic membrane to keep the blood from bursting out of the inside of the blood vessel.
Multiple Aneurysms
Approximately 15% of Aneurysm patients have two or more Aneurysms inside their head. There are certain factors, which help the experienced physician determine which of the Aneurysms has been the one that hemorrhaged. Sometimes this is a difficult determination to make. In any patient who has more than one Aneurysm, the unruptured one still represents a significant potential threat. There is about a 10% risk to death within 10 years from the unruptured Aneurysm. There are some factors, which increase the likelihood to have more than one Aneurysm. Patients who are under 55 years of age and also suffer with hypertension are twice as likely to have multiple Aneurysms compared to patients who have normal blood pressure. Females are more likely to have multiple Aneurysms than males. Women who are over age 60 and have one Aneurysm are twice as likely to have multiple Aneurysms compared to men of similar age. Increasing age and hypertension are two factors in women that correlate with multiple Aneurysms. There are certain locations of aneurysms (such as Carotid-Ophthalmic Aneurysms), which seem to have a predilection to having a similar Aneurysm on the opposite side. This is almost a mirror-like distribution. These Aneurysms are relatively uncommon.
One question that is frequently asked about Intracranial (inside the head) Aneurysms concerns factors of heredity. The neurological and neurosurgical literature on this subject suggests that, "There are some families which have an inherited weakness of the cerebral blood vessel wall which may predispose these individuals to aneurysm formation." The occurrence has been suggested to be a strongly inherited (autosomal dominant) pattern; however, only a few families have been reported. It is suspected that the familial incidence is higher than has been reported; nevertheless, the actual likelihood of this problem occurring in your children is extremely small. Where there appears to be a family history of Aneurysms non-invasive screening methods are available for these other individuals.
Medical Conditions Associated with Aneurysms
There are certain unusual medical problems, which are closely related to the formation of an Intracranial Aneurysm. Fortunately these conditions are very uncommon. They are listed here only for the sake of completeness and to illustrate the rarity. For those who are interested in learning more about these conditions, further information is available. These unusual conditions are:
Coarctation (narrowing) of the aorta associated with Intracranial Aneurysms in younger individuals including children.
Polycystic disease of kidneys When this is associated with the adult form (bilateral disease), 16% of these patients will have an Intracranial Aneurysm.
Fibromuscular disease of the Renal and Carotid Arteries, Marfan's syndrome, pseudoxanthoma elasticum, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and Moya Moya disease are all diseases of connective tissue or blood vessels and are associated with increased risks for Intracranial Aneurysms.
Among the symptoms that bring this condition to attention are the following:
Headaches? Seizures (epilepsy)
Visual problems (impaired vision, double vision, drooped eyelid)
Catastrophic Headache consequent to haemorrhage
WARNING SIGNS OF IMMINENT HEMORRHAGE
Almost 60% of patients will have warning signs preceding a major hemorrhage. The interval between the last warning sign and a hemorrhage averages between 6 and 17 days depending on the location of the Aneurysm. The likelihood of having a warning sign varies with the location of the Aneurysm in the cerebral circulation.
Change in Headache Pattern:
A serious change in the pattern of headaches or the onset of persistent headaches in someone who rarely is bothered by headaches can be important.
Epilepsy:
The onset of seizures (epilepsy) in someone who has not had seizures previously is very important and should be evaluated by someone knowledgeable in these matters.
One "fundamental rule" in Neurology and Neurosurgery is that "NEW ONSET SEIZURES" are presumed to be related to an intracranial structural problem (tumor or aneurysm) and that this DEMANDS INVESTIGATION.
Additional Warning Signs:
The development of any of the following additional problems could be warning signs of an Aneurysm due to the growth in size of the Aneurysm, which then compresses and injures an adjacent Cranial Nerve or Brain area. The following signs and symptoms may indicate the presence of an Aneurysm:
drooping eyelid;
double vision;
unilateral (one-sided) dilated pupil;
blurred or absent vision;
temporary weakness (decreased motor power);
impairment of peripheral vision;
speech disturbance;
temporary deafness; and
ringing in an ear.
Aneurysms represent one of the most serious causes of "stroke". Hemorrhage from a rupture of the aneurysm is the occurrence, which we fear the most about this condition. The hemorrhage may be a small leak or a more catastrophic bleed, which severely damages or destroys Brain tissue. Once a hemorrhage from an aneurysm occurs, 35% of these patients will die no matter what treatment is given. This is in addition to those patients who survive the initial hemorrhage but who have permanent Brain injury as a result of the hemorrhage.
It is very important to recognize that not all patients with one or more Aneurysms will have problems from the Aneurysm. Aneurysms are very unpredictable peculiarities. It is generally agreed that, in any population of 100,000 patients who already have Aneurysms, only about 20 of these patients will experience a hemorrhage each year. Of these 20 people, thirty-five (35%) percent will die as a consequence. In those patients who suffer a hemorrhage and survive that experience, there are certain statistical factors, which are recognized and are important to know. Although Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH) comprises only 1% to 7% of all "strokes" (intracranial Cerebrovascular Accidents=CVA), the loss of years of productive life for these patients is comparable to "cerebral infarction" (death of Brain tissue as a result of an obstructed blood supply, as often occurs in older people) because of the relatively younger age of the Aneurysm patient and the generally poor neurological outcome for many of these patients.
Once an Aneurysm has hemorrhaged, it is likely to do so again. The patient who suffers an initial hemorrhage is at serious risk to suffer another hemorrhage within 48 hours and again at approximately two weeks after the first hemorrhage. The risk to life (mortality) is greater with each subsequent hemorrhage, as is the risk to more Brain injury.
Natural History of UNTREATED Aneurysms
In the event that the patient survives one month from the first hemorrhage without a recurrence, there is about an 80% chance they will survive to one year without treating the Aneurysm.
Long-term survival of patients who have recovered from a ruptured Aneurysm (that is not permanently treated) is significantly lower than that of the general population. It appears that there is a little greater than 2% risk per year that the Aneurysm will re-bleed in the first 10 years after the initial hemorrhage. (Approximately 11.5% will have re-bled at five years, 21% will have re-bled at 10 years and 30% will have re-bled at 20 years after the initial hemorrhage.) There is approximately a 3 1/2% risk to death per year for those patients who survive the first hemorrhage and do not undergo surgical treatment. The bleeding episodes are reported to be fatal in 78% of patients. The overall mortality rates for patients surviving the initial hemorrhage are 18% at five years, 31% at 10 years, and 45% at 20 years. That is to say, 18% will have died at a point five years after the initial hemorrhage; 31% will have died at 10 years and 45% at 20 years after the initial hemorrhage with all deaths having been related to a recurrent hemorrhage.
The "Incidental Aneurysm"
There is another way that Aneurysms are now coming to our attention. There is an increasing frequency of "Incidental Aneurysms." This term refers to the fact that the Aneurysm has not yet either hemorrhaged or caused any other difficulties. The presence of the Aneurysm is usually identified on one of the newer "Brain Scan" techniques that are being done to investigate some other problem. For example, your physician may request a CAT (computerized axial tomogram) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan either to investigate a possible blood clot after a head injury or for some other problem. These scans may "incidentally" identify an Aneurysm. Scans that are being done to investigate the complaint of headaches may uncover an Aneurysm, which may or may not have anything to do with the cause of headaches.
There are several ways by which Cerebral Aneurysms can be identified. In patients who have suffered an Intracranial Hemorrhage, a CT or MRI Scan will usually confirm the clinical suspicion of a hemorrhage. Following that confirmation, some other forming of "neuro-imaging" procedure will be required in order to actually identify the presence and location of the Aneurysm.
Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), a methodology that uses Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology, is useful as a primary method for "screening" patients who are suspected of having some intracranial (inside the head) problem with the blood vessels to or of the Brain. MRA is not capable of providing sufficiently clear anatomical detail for definitive diagnosis or surgical planning in most patients.
CT Angiography (CTA) is also available in many institutions. These are the technologies that would customarily be used in patients who HAVE NOT HAD A HEMORRHAGE but are suspected of harboring an Aneurysm since they are "non-invasive" and still provide images of the blood vessels of the Brian.
"Invasive" Cerebral Angiography
Aneurysms can only be fully evaluated by a radiological (X-ray) investigation called an angiogram or arteriogram. This test allows us to evaluate all of the arteries of the Brain (as well as the blood circulation pattern of the Brain including the veins). The Neurosurgeon will want to see several different views of the Aneurysm and its relationship to the nearby and directly adjacent vessels. This test will also help to identify if any other Aneurysms or other cerebral blood vessel problems are also present. Angiograms are usually performed by a Neuroradiologist. This physician has special training and competence to conduct these investigations. Although these tests carry with them some risks, they are small compared to the benefits gained for the patient. In the hands of a competent Neuroradiologist, the actual risk rates are very small.
A Neuroradiologist is conducting a Cerebral Angiogram (under x-ray guidance) by manipulating a long catheter introduced through the groin artery and "floating" it towards the Cerebral Arteries. A "dye" substance is injected through the catheter which fills the Brain's blood vessels permitting images to be obtained using x-ray techniques.
Anatomy of the Brain's Blood Supply
The blood supply to the Brain is mainly from four (4) major arteries (See Figure 5). The two CAROTID ARTERIES supply the Anterior (front) circulation to the Right and Left Cerebral Hemispheres. The circulation to the Posterior (back) of the Brain is from the two VERTEBRAL ARTERIES. After the Carotid Artery enters the head, it branches into two (2) major divisions to supply the bulk of the arterial blood to each Cerebral Hemisphere. These branches are the ANTERIOR CEREBRAL (front Brain) ARTERY and the MIDDLE CEREBRAL (middle Brain) ARTERY. Each of these arteries begins to send off branch arteries immediately and continue to subdivide to progressively smaller arteries in order to deliver the blood to every area of the surface and interior of the Brain. Each half of the Brain (each hemisphere) has its own Carotid, Anterior Cerebral, and Middle Cerebral Arteries. (Therefore, there are LEFT and RIGHT CAROTID, MIDDLE CEREBRAL, and ANTERIOR CEREBRAL arteries.)
Figure 5: Diagram of the Cerebral Arteries
The Posterior (back) Brain circulation comes from the two VERTEBRAL Arteries which join each other inside the head to form the very important BASILAR ARTERY. This vessel, in turn, sends numerous small and several important large vessels to the Brain Stem (Medulla, Pons, and Midbrain) and Cerebellum (the balance and motor coordination center of the Brain). The BASILAR Artery ends where it forms the two (2) large POSTERIOR CEREBRAL (back of the Brain) Arteries which go to the back of the Left and Right Cerebral Hemispheres. These Posterior Cerebral vessels supply the Occipital Lobes of the Brain which are responsible for our sense of SIGHT.
The "Circle of Willis"
At the base of the Brain there is a remarkable interconnecting system of these major arteries which allows communication between the Anterior (front) and Posterior (back) arterial circulation systems as well as the Right and Left Hemispheres' Systems. This circular interconnection of arteries is called the CIRCLE OF WILLIS. (It is named for the anatomist who described it.) The Circle of Willis is very important for a number of reasons. It allows the Brain an alternative way to keep blood flowing to every area even if one or more of the major blood vessels (supplying blood to the Brain) were to shut down (such as may occur in atherosclerosis hardening of the arteries).
The Circle of Willis may be very important in planning surgery for some Aneurysms since we may have to rely on it to provide a detour route for an adequate blood supply in order to eradicate some Aneurysms. Unfortunately a "complete" Circle of Willis is present in only 40% of patients. In the other 60%, there is some deficiency in part of the "Circle." That does not mean that it is "BAD"; however, when the surgeon is planning the approach to "clip" the Aneurysm, it is often important to know if an alternative route (detour) of blood supply is available or not. Surgery can usually be done successfully in spite of a deficiency in the "Circle"; nevertheless, it is best to have as accurate a "road map" of the cerebral circulation as possible. This information is only part of what is learned during the ANGIOGRAM (arteriogram).
Distribution and Location of Aneurysms
Figure 6: Anatomical distribution and relative incidence of Intracranial Aneurysms.
Intracranial Aneurysms can occur on any of the arteries of the Brain. However, there is a strong predilection to certain locations. Most Aneurysms occur in association with the larger Cerebral Arteries and are in the region of the base (underneath) portion of the Brain. Eighty-five percent (85%) of all Intracranial Aneurysms occur in the Anterior circulation (Carotid, Anterior and Middle Cerebral Arteries) while Fifteen percent (15%) involve the back circulation (Vertebral, Basilar, and Posterior Cerebral Arteries).
In the Anterior (front) circulation approximately 30% of Aneurysms involve the Internal Carotid Artery while 30% involve the Anterior Cerebral Artery and another 25% involve the Middle Cerebral Artery. The remaining 10-15% of anterior circulation Aneurysms involve some of the smaller branches of each of these major vessels.
In the Posterior circulation system most of the Aneurysms involve the Basilar Artery, usually near the area where the left and right Posterior Cerebral Arteries originate. However, Aneurysms can occur anywhere along the Basilar Artery and may involve or incorporate (in the Aneurysm) vital blood vessels which nourish the Brainstem.
Giant Aneurysms
Giant Aneurysms are a "different category" within the broad range of these structural problems.
Although these Aneurysms can be the source of a hemorrhage, they are more likely to cause problems such as Seizures (Epilepsy), impaired or double vision, symptoms and neurological signs related to injury to Cranial Nerves or as a "Mass Lesion" pressing upon Brain structures.
Among the important differences from small Aneurysms, these giant Aneurysms tend to have a much thicker "wall" which may be partially or entirely "calcified" (as part of a degenerative process similar to atherosclerosis-hardening of the arteries). A large calcified mass (See Figures 1 & 7-11) pressing on vital Brain and Cranial Nerve structures while, at the same time is an integral part of the blood supply to Brain makes for a considerable technical challenge to the Microvascular Neurosurgeon.
Figure 8: Cerebral Angiogram demonstrates a Giant Left Internal Carotid Artery Aneurysm that involves the origin of the Left Ophthalmic Artery.
Figure 11: Giant Internal Carotid Aneurysm after removal. It is no longer "tense" since there is no blood coursing through it. The walls have not collapsed due to their thickness and partial calcification.
When an Aneurysm ruptures, blood leaks out of the artery and surrounds the Brain tissue in the space where Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) normally circulates called the Subarachnoid Space. The hemorrhage is often referred to as a "Subarachnoid Hemorrhage". This condition is known as an "Aneurysmal Bleed". It can cause sudden, severe headaches or even a life-threatening coma. Some severe hemorrhages may result in destruction of brain tissue, an Intracerebral Hemorrhage.
Team Approach
In actuality there is a team of physicians (neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuro-radiologists, neuro-ophthalmologists and intensive care specialists) and nursing staff as well as other health care professionals (such as speech therapists, physical and occupational therapists, neurophysiologists, etc.) who are involved to varying degrees in the care of Aneurysm patients. Depending on the individual needs of the particular patient, these Neuroscience staff personnel will contribute to that patient's treatment.
Once an Aneurysm has been detected, it is usually considered best to repair it rather than risk the dangers of a ruptured artery. Repair of Aneurysms requires a dedicated team of specialists who have a variety of techniques available including direct surgical repair, endovascular repair as well as trapping and arterial bypass procedures.
In medicine, there are usually some reasonable choices in the care of most diseases. Sometimes the treatments carry with them more risk than the disease itself. In diseases which themselves are very serious, the treatments are frequently also quite serious. That does not mean that the treatments cannot be or are not successful, but it does clearly mean that there are certain risks to not achieving a "perfect" result or to failure of the treatment. One must weigh all the factors involved in the particular patient such as the neurological condition, medical conditions that might interfere with successful treatment, as well as the actual disease and its risks together with the risks of the treatment, in deciding what the best treatment method is for that patient. The experience and capabilities of the physicians and surgeons in the treatment methods are also important factors.
For patients who have suffered an Intracranial hemorrhage from a ruptured Aneurysm the "ideal" treatment result is the COMPLETE OBLITERATION OF THE ANEURYSM so as to prevent another haemorrhage. There are some options; however, all of these require some form of "invasive" intervention.
SCIENTIFICALLY-BASED TREATMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
A recent review by the respected Cochrane Project and reported in the "Cochrane Corner" (published in STROKE 2006; 37:572-573) concludes that "for patients in good clinical condition with ruptured aneurysms of either the anterior or posterior circulation, we have firm evidence that if the aneurysm is considered suitable for surgical clipping and endovascular treatment, coiling is associated with a better outcome." Furthermore the report states: "For patients in poor clinical grades, there is no reliable randomized evidence comparing the risks and benefits of coiling versus clipping. Because coiling is less invasive than surgery, also in patients with poor clinical condition, coiling seems the preferred option. A disadvantage of coiling is that aneurysms are more often incompletely treated (90%-100%) obliteration) and carry a risk for reopening. The long-term follow-up (>1 year after SAH) of coiled patients, with regard to renewed filling of the aneurysm, is an unknown but important issue that needs further study." (Note: SAH=Subarachnoid Haemorrhage)
Re-bleeding AFTER Treatment
The technologies underlying these endovascular procedures are still evolving. Among the problematic issues for any form of aneurysm treatment are the concerns for re-bleeding. In the case of endovascular treatment, rebleeding can occur despite the apparent excellent placement of the "coils". A recent Editorial in STROKE (Gary J. Redekop, MD; 2006; 37:1252-1353) summarized an important scientific investigation regarding aneurysm treatments. "The International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT) compared microsurgical clipping and endovascular coil occlusion in patients with ruptured aneurysms felt to be suitable for either technique. This study showed that the risk of late re-bleeding was low but more common after endovascular coiling than after clipping. There are concerns about the long term durability of coil occlusion as well as the need for follow-up imaging and further treatment if aneurysm recurrence is detected."
Furthermore, this editorial commented that: "The Cerebral Artery Rerupture After Treatment (CARAT) study compared rates of recurrent haemorrhage in patients with ruptured aneurysms treated initially with coil embolization or surgical clipping. Significantly more patients treated with coiling required repeat treatment during the first year and continued to require additional treatment, although infrequently, as long as 5 years after the initial procedure." This is a matter of considerable importance since "serious morbidity occurred in 11% of patients undergoing repeat coil embolization and 17% of those undergoing repeat surgery."
The durability of Aneurysm coil embolization is thought to depend on the "packing density" of the coils within the Aneurysm. Part of the reason for the apparent "failure" of coiling to maintain complete obliteration of an aneurysm is the entity of "compaction" of the coils over time. As the coils are pressed closer together, they no longer completely fill the Aneurysm. One of the newer advances in coil technology involves the use of coils that are coated with a hydrophilic polymer causing the coil to swell when they come in contact with blood resulting in a more densely packed Aneurysm. (This technology was reported in STROKE: 2006; 37:1443-1450.)
The point in sharing this information with you is to demonstrate that, clearly, there are significant advances that are being made in this field to improve the safety of the procedures as well as ensure a better long term outcome for these patients.
Specific treatment strategies must be individualized, taking into account the patient's age, neurological status and other medical conditions as well as the specific anatomical characteristics of the aneurysm. These characteristics of an Aneurysm that help to determine the most efficacious interventional technique include its size, location, geometry, relationship to the parent artery or other adjacent arteries, the size of the dome and shape of the aneurysm neck, presence of calcification within the wall of the aneurysm and the presence of clot (thrombus) within the Aneurysm. A multi-disciplinary team that emphasizes an honest and unbiased collaboration between the surgeons and the interventionalists is critical in the decision making process for the successful treatment of these patients.
There are some circumstances that occur which will result in a recommendation for early surgical treatment. In these cases, the operation is usually carried out within the first forty-eight (48) hours after the initial hemorrhage. We are trying, in these situations, to reduce the risks to life related to repeat hemorrhage by obliterating the Aneurysm before it can do harm again. However, there are some additional risks to this "early surgery". There is a significant likelihood that "vasospasm" (spasm or narrowing of the blood vessels of the brain) will occur in the "early" operations. (See Page 15, Part 2, of our ANEURYSMS monograph for further discussion of vasospasm.) However, one additional major advantage to the early clipping of the Aneurysm is that, in the event that vasospasm occurs, we can "artificially" raise the blood pressure with medications and try to "drive" blood through the narrowed arteries. Obviously this technique of raising blood pressure could not be used to treat vasospasm unless the Aneurysm was already clipped since raised blood pressure would be expected to cause a hemorrhage from an unclipped Aneurysm. Another possible technique to overcome "focal" spasm is through another angiographic maneuver called Endovascular "balloon angioplasty". In this instance, a balloon catheter is used to "dilate" the segment of a vessel that is in spasm. (This can ONLY be done AFTER the Aneurysm has been surgically "clipped".) This is another example of the advances available using Interventional Neuroradiology techniques.
Aneurysm "Clipping"
For most patients with an Intracranial Aneurysm (most particularly those who have already suffered a hemorrhage), the treatment of choice is to obliterate or occlude the Aneurysm. The goal of these interventions is to stop blood from going into the Aneurysm while preserving the blood supply to the Brain. The Endovascular Interventional techniques were described previously. The surgical method to accomplish this results in applying a specially designed metallic "Aneurysm Clip" in such a way that isolates the Aneurysm from the artery. When blood can no longer get into the Aneurysm (the weak spot), then it can no longer hemorrhage. The clip is permanent (See Figures 13 & 14). The remainder of the Aneurysm wall beyond the clip shrivels up and usually scars. Occasionally we must use more than one clip to successfully occlude the Aneurysm.
Additional Surgical Options
There are some Aneurysms which actually have to be cut out and the blood vessel sewn up (a technique called "aneurysmorraphy") (See Figures 8-11.) This is more hazardous and is rarely required. Other unusual Aneurysms cannot be completely clipped (usually because to clip them entirely would result in the sacrifice or injury to another important artery and thus produce a stroke). In the event that only part of the Aneurysm can be clipped, the surgeon will attempt to reinforce the remaining segment of Aneurysm in some fashion (usually with a rapidly setting glue substance). An alternative for some other situations is to "trap" or excise the Aneurysm and reconstruct the blood supply to the Brain by creating an Arterial Bypass Graft.
Figure 14A (Left): Operative Photograph of Left Middle Cerebral Artery with Multiple Aneurysms. The Aneurysms have been clipped while sparing the vitally important parent vessels (Arrows). Compare to Figure 14B.
Figure 14B (Right): One of the "Clipped Aneurysms" has been opened, drained of blood and collapsed (Curved Arrow). This is dramatic "proof" that the Aneurysm has been obliterated and "cured". The same technique will subsequently be used for the second Aneurysm (Straight Arrow).
Some limitations
Although the ideal method (to permanently stop all blood flow to the entire Aneurysm) is usually accomplished, it is not always possible to achieve the ideal. In these cases, we strive to reinforce the wall to provide a stronger wall for the part of the Aneurysm that remains. In some unusual cases, surgery cannot be completely or even partially accomplished.
Sometimes we find that the clipping of the Aneurysm (or coating it with glue to reinforce the weak blood vessel wall) would have a high risk to produce a profound neurological injury or death. In these rare cases (and those where surgery is not being done), the patient assumes the risks of the natural history of the disease. Regrettably, physicians cannot cure everyone and even modern treatments are not always completely successful.
Please see our Downloads & Information section for additional information in our comprehensive ANEURYSMS monograph.
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Google Working on OnLive Like Cloud Gaming Service
During a talk earlier today at Develop Liverpool, Google developer advocate Paul Kinlan revealed that Google is already working on an OnLive style cloud gaming service, though server infrastructure and publishing agreements are another matter. Google plans to achieve this with the support for WebRTC, an open-source Real-Time Communications (RTC) application that will run directly in the Chrome web browser with no plug-in required. WebRTC will enable rich, high quality, RTC applications to be developed in the browser via simple Javascript APIs and HTML5. WebRTC includes the fundamental building blocks for high quality communications on the web such as network, audio and video components used in voice and video chat applications.
Google's Chrome browser will soon have greatly enhanced gaming capabilities, with plug-and-play support for gamepads on the way. Due in the first quarter of next year, the update will also see Chrome support cameras and microphones without the need for plug-ins, with Kinlan hinting at the possibilities for augmented reality games and player tracking.
It all goes to show the growing potential of Chrome for games. With HTML5 widely accepted to replace Flash in the fullness of time, Chrome's support for accelerated graphics with WebGL, and an unrivalled update cycle - Google releases a new version every six weeks, no matter what - it's certainly got the technology. With over 200 million users - it's expected to replace Mozilla Firefox as the second most popular browser on the planet before the year is out - it also has the audience.
SOURCE: EDGE.
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Two Ex-Ministers Admit Collecting N1.1 Billion In N23 billion Election Bribery Scandal
A former Minister of Mines and Steel, Musa Sada, has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of his involvement in the alleged N23.29 billion election bribery scandal.
Mr. Sada is one of the former ministers in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, who are being investigated by the anti-graft agency.
During investigation, Mr. Sada disclosed that he was authorised by a former governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, to collect N700 million on behalf of Katsina State and remit it to the state’s former Commissioner of Finance . The commissioner was asked to keep the money for the governor, a statement by the EFCC said.
In a related development, a former Minister of State for Agriculture, Asabe Asmau Ahmed, from Niger State, revealed how she personally signed and collected N450 million. Mrs. Ahmed also stated that she kept N105 million for herself and transferred the balance to top Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, party officials in Niger State.
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PHOTO: © William Perugini / Shutterstock.com
Funding to help local groups raise domestic violence awareness
September 19, 2018 12:32 pm in National by Jaydan Duck
COMMUNITY groups in Queensland will be given up to $5000 in funding from the state government to help raise awareness of Domestic Violence during the national prevention month in May next year.
Applications for the 2019 Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month Community Grants opened today, with the state government setting aside $150,000 to help local groups host an awareness event.
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Di Farmer said everyone could contribute to ending domestic and family violence and spreading the message of zero tolerance.
“Every May Queenslanders say ‘not now, not ever’ to violence in our communities as they raise awareness of domestic and family violence,” Ms Farmer said.
“Domestic violence is a scourge on our society, and I’m proud to be part of a government that is tackling it head-on.
“Violence impacts far too many lives and too many have been lost to it.
“That’s why we need everyone to play their part. Hosting events in every corner of the state means all Queenslanders have an opportunity to speak up, get involved and raise awareness.”
Ms Farmer said in 2018, funds were distributed to 35 community organisations to hold 43 awareness raising events, projects and activities.
Events were held in every part of the state, including Palm Island, Burdekin, Balonne, Cunnamulla, Cooktown, Mackay, Yeppoon, the Darling Downs, Atherton Tablelands, Murgon, Bundaberg, Noosa, Hinchinbrook and Mt Isa.
“Each of these events sent a clear message that violence of this type is not tolerated and that by working together, people can make a real difference,” Ms Farmer said.
“We want to send an even stronger message to every corner of Queensland in 2019.
“While domestic and family violence impacts every community, in 2019 we are also encouraging submissions that focus on domestic and family violence for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or Queer.
“We also know that domestic and family violence has a devastating impact on too many of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and funding will be earmarked for events that raise awareness of domestic and family violence in Indigenous communities.”
To apply for a grant, click here.
http://www.mygc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Community.jpg 321 845 Jaydan Duck http://www.mygc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mygc-logo.png Jaydan Duck2018-09-19 12:32:542018-09-19 12:39:02Funding to help local groups raise domestic violence awareness
Man critically injured in serious ‘bull incident’ Win a Burleigh Bears Workplace Shout
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Bristol Blues pitcher Shane looking to earn spot in CCSU rotation
CCSU left-hander Matt Shane during a game this past season | Steve McLaughlin | CCSU Athletics Buy this photo
Published on Tuesday, 2 July 2019 16:34
Written by ZACK CARPENTER
@ZACKCARPENTERBP
BRISTOL - Bristol Blues pitcher Matt Shane is trying to earn a spot in the CCSU baseball team’s regular starting rotation next season.
On Monday night, the left hander made a good case for why he should be given the opportunity with the Blue Devils. In his first start for Bristol this summer, Shane delivered five solid innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits to go along with one walk and five strikeouts, to pick up the win in an 8-2 victory over the Nashua Silver Knights.
“Hopefully I can find myself in a routine in the rotation,” Shane said. “That’s my goal - to work my tail off to earn a spot.”
The five innings of work equaled Shane’s longest outings this past season as a sophomore at CCSU. Shane was a reliever as a freshman, and that was his main role in 2019 as well. But he did make four midweek starts for the Blues Devils in the spring, throwing four innings in two of the starts and five innings in the other two as part of a 3-3 record with a 4.45 ERA and 15 strikeouts.
He’s had a similar role with the Blues this summer. Mostly used as a reliever, Shane has the team’s third-lowest ERA (1.92) and has racked up 11 strikeouts in 14 innings. It’s possible he will get another start for Bristol in the next few weeks, though he will still be relied upon as a reliever.
“We’ll try to get him a couple more starts, but we’re also gonna keep using him out of the pen,” Blues manager Ronnie Palmer said. “Obviously, with the 12-day stretch we have, we thought it was a good idea to slide him into one. He might get another one by the time the 12 days are up. It’s something we’ll always look at and see what’s in the best interest of him and in the best interest of the organization as well.”
Shane made a spot start Monday night due to the team’s need for another reliable arm during the stretch of 12 games in 12 days that began Friday and was worsened by the loss of starter Jack Moore for the summer to injury, and an injury to starter Ken Turner that has lingered.
But Shane’s outing was what the Blues needed, giving the team an opportunity to give the bullpen and other guys some rest. That included four of his five strikeouts coming at opportune times, as the left hander was able to strand Nashua runners in scoring position with all four of those punch outs.
“Any time you have guys you can put out on the mound that you trust to throw strikes, that’s important. Shane has done that for us this whole summer,” Palmer said. “Any time you have a starter to get us deeper into the game, it shortens what we have to do on the backside as far as what we do in our bullpen.”
Perhaps Shane’s solid outing can be attributed to being slotted back into his more comfortable starter’s spot that he excelled at in high school at Bacon Academy.
“I love the mentality of a starter,” Shane said. “It’s almost like you’re going to war against these guys. It’s a lot different than coming out of the [bull]pen. For me, you’re not necessarily as engaged. It’s hard, for me at least. Some people have the knack for it. But I’m willing to compete any time I’m given an opportunity.”
Zack Carpenter can be reached at (860) 973-1811 or zcarpenter@bristolpress.com
Posted in New Britain Herald, Bristol Blues, CCSU on Tuesday, 2 July 2019 16:34. Updated: Tuesday, 2 July 2019 16:37.
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Chris Brown’s album ‘Indigo’ earns No. 1 on Billboard 200 chart
| 9 July, 2019 at 18:51
American singer, songwriter, and dancer, Chris Brown has earned his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with his latest album, Indigo, which launches atop the list with 108,000 equivalent album units.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units.
The new July 13-dated chart (where Indigo bows at No. 1) was posted in full on Billboard’s websites on July 9.
Indigo’s first week was supported largely by streaming activity, as the set tallied 76,000 SEA units, which equates to 97.95 million on-demand audio streams for the set’s lengthy track list of 32 songs.
Indigo is the ninth studio album by the American Singer, which was released on June 28, 2019, by RCA Records. The album marks his second double album and serves as the follow-up to Heartbreak on a Full Moon. Indigo marks Brown’s third leader on the Billboard 200 and his 10th consecutive top 10 album.
Reacting to this, Chris Brown took to Instagram to thank his fans.
He wrote: “WE DID IT TEAMBREEZY.”
Tags BillboardChris BrownIndigo
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Since 2002, Steven has been working with students at the most competitive schools in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. He specializes in standardized testing, advanced math, and academic writing and has counseled dozens of students who have been admitted to Stanford, Harvard, Brown, and other leading universities. Steven graduated with honors from Harvard University and applies his training in psychology to understanding the social and emotional contexts surrounding his students’ academic work. Through further work at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and UC Berkeley, he has explored how rigorous understandings of mindfulness, intrinsic motivation, and gender can augment educational outcomes.
Steven is also the Project manager of Sue’s Tech Kitchen, a STEM-inspired interactive technology experience that had residence at the Cornell Tech Campus before touring the country.
Rebecca Asherie
Rebecca received a B.A. with high honors in Linguistics and Italian from McGill University in Montreal, and an M.A. and Ph.D. with distinction from NYU. For three years she acted as a research and teaching assistant at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the department of Communication Studies at Rutgers University. Prior to that, she served as head of the foreign language department and teacher of French and Spanish at a progressive private school in Manhattan and spent five years tutoring for one of the premier global standardized test preparation agencies. She also holds the certificate of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Rachael Uggla
Rachael started her career in education as a ninth-grade Special Education teacher in Washington, DC. A position managing school operations lured her to NYC, where she now works on program development and implementation for a nationwide personalized middle school math program. She loves having the opportunity to work with students one-on-one as they build and refine their learning habits that will propel them to all of their future successes. Beyond working with Nexus students on middle and high school content, she also has prepared students for the SHSAT, ISEE, ACT, SAT and LSAT. Rachael is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Political Science and has an M.Ed. degree from George Mason University, which she obtained while a member of the teaching corps of Teach for America.
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10 Most Anticipated Films - March and April 2016
Last night the Academy Awards officially wrapped up 2015 in film by handing out their awards, and tomorrow is March 1st so it's time to look ahead. This year some very interesting work is due out over the next two months, and ten films in particular have caught my eye for various reasons. Some because I believe we may witness something truly special, the type of movies that will end up on my best of list early next year. Others, it's not so much an expectation of greatness but a general curiosity of the spectacle and how the finished products will turn out.
Zootopia - March 4th
As a father, you can pretty much guarantee that I will be seeing any halfway decent looking animated film shortly after it's released. Zootopia is more than halfway decent looking, it appears to be another colorful and fun adventure from Disney Animation and the reviews that have been released so far are beyond enthusiastic. I have high expectations for this one, and I have no issue connecting to the type of experience some believe to be meant "just for kids." If you dig deep enough, a lot of animated films are terrific and some are masterpieces.
Knight of Cups - March 4th
For residents of other countries, Knight of Cups has been available for quite some time now. In fact it can be owned on Blu-ray right now if your device is able to play discs from other regions. For us Americans though, the new Terrence Malick film is finally being released in theaters. As usual this is getting a pretty mixed response over all but that is to be expected from a Malick picture. Considering the man created my favorite film of all time, The Tree of Life, and has other masterworks under his belt like Badlands, Days of Heaven, and The Thin Red Line. Oh, and his recent movie To the Wonder was absolutely a lesser effort but I still very much enjoyed the gorgeous ride it took me on.
10 Cloverfield Lane - March 11th
I like the original Cloverfield enough, but it's not a film I love or hold in any really high regard. So why am I including its sort of sequel ominous spinoff whatever the hell this is film on this list? Exactly. Because I have no idea what it even is and the trailers have intrigued me more and more with each new look. It was absolutely unheard of that this movie was kept a secret until just about a month or so ago when the first trailer for it was released and surprised everyone - how the hell does that happen anymore? In a world where we know every superhero film due out for the next decade, we find out about a pretty widely anticipated movie when it is due in theaters in less than two months? 10 Cloverfield Lane may end up being terrible, who knows, but count me as someone who needs to find out more.
The Lobster - March 11th
I know basically nothing about the plot of The Lobster and honestly, I plan to keep it that way. All I know is that it is getting pretty terrific reviews and is being talked about for just how strange it is. That's plenty for me to be excited about a film.
Midnight Special - March 18th
I listed these films in order of when they are released, so I feel compelled to make it clear that had I ranked them based on level of anticipation, Midnight Special would be at the top of the list. Directed by Jeff Nichols, who is the man behind the masterpiece Take Shelter, the near masterpiece and totally great Mud, and the terrific film Shotgun Stories, I had Midnight Special listed on my most anticipated of all of 2015 last year but its release was delayed until March. It recently premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and just as I expected, the reviews out of there are pretty outstanding. I can't wait to see what this amazing storytelling has come up with now.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - March 25th
Am I excited for Batman v Superman? Yeah...I guess. I mean I am, but it isn't so much a "This is going to be great!" excitement. More of a "I wonder if this will actually be good?" excitement. I don't know what it is, but no matter how many trailers or clips they throw at me, my enthusiasm for the project can't rise above the "I hope this is cool." level. I really hope it is too, I hope it blows my mind with awesomeness. I am not a naysayer nor am I a believer that this is a game changing project. I am a wait and see with an open mind type on this one, but the spectacle and the possibilities will have me seated in that theater shortly after its release.
Louder Than Bombs - April 8th
My excitement for the film Louder Than Bombs comes from the fact that it received relatively positive reviews when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival a year ago, but even more so just because of a previous film by director Joachim Trier that knocked my socks off called Oslo, August 31st. That film basically made it official that anything Trier did going forward, I would be there.
The Jungle Book - April 15th
I know it seems silly to be excited about a film like The Jungle Book when so many of the other films I am looking forward to are totally original and this is a property that has been adapted a few times before, but something about this new take intrigues me. I think I just find myself excited by the actual theater experience, as it looks like it could be pretty visually stunning on a huge screen. Not to mention the fact that my family is looking forward to it as well, always nice to join them on a trip to the cinema. I have no idea if The Jungle Book will actually be good, but I hope so.
Everybody Wants Some - April 15th
Directed by Richard Linklater, the man behind Dazed and Confused and the 2014 masterpiece Boyhood, Everybody Wants Some is described as a "spiritual sequel" to the former classic. That's literally all I need to know, I am so damn in.
Green Room - April 15th
There is a low budget film from 2013 called Blue Ruin that perhaps you haven't heard of. Do me a favor, if you have Netflix streaming, go search for it and add it to your queue. Perhaps just watch it immediately to avoid adding it and forgetting about it. Seriously, it's that good. Director Jeremy Saulnier returns with Green Room, a film that looks absolutely brutal and visceral and has already been met with stellar reviews. It involves a punk rock band that witnesses a murder, thus pitting them up against a group of skinheads who want them dead. Oh, and the leader of the skinheads is played by Patrick Stewart. Remember how I said Midnight Special would be my #1 more anticipated on this list had I ranked them that way? Green Room would have been my #2.
Posted by Scott H Anderson at 4:51 PM 2 comments:
The 88th Annual Academy Awards - Reaction
Another Oscars have come and gone and it was an interesting night, both for the totally expected winners that I was thrilled to see walk away with awards and also for some surprises. Some good...and one that was downright awful.
I have come to expect that my personal favorite films will not always align with what the Oscars recognize, although my number one picture of the year, Mad Max: Fury Road, did win the most total. It just didn't win Best Director or Best Picture, which in my opinion it was far and away the right choice for those categories but eh, what can you do? I'm not going to lose sleep over the lack of a George Miller acceptance speech or a Fury Road win of the top prize, but I am always baffled how a movie can be recognized for so many different aspects of what went into the process, and yet the vision of the genius who brought it to the screen isn't worthy. Fury Road was considered better than The Revenant in numerous categories, yet somehow what Inarritu achieved surpasses that of the work of Miller? I will never understand.
That's where I will lead off in terms of reaction, the Best Director win for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, his second consecutive and frankly he deserved neither. Last year he accepted an award that belonged in the hands of Richard Linklater for his absolutely brilliant craft of Boyhood, and now this year he gave a speech that was meant for George Miller. I have no angst for Inarritu or his films, in fact I ranked Birdman in my top ten last year, but the direction of masterpieces for two straight years have been ignored.
I was honestly pretty darn happy that The Revenant didn't win Best Picture as well, although it wasn't that big of a surprise because I correctly predicted it wouldn't. To be fair, I picked The Big Short, but I was waffling between that and Spotlight which was the winner after all. The reason I had narrowed it down to those two films was the preferential ballot that is utilized for the Best Picture category only. Other categories the award simply goes to the person or film that received the most first place votes, but Best Picture works a little differently. In order to instantly win Best Picture, a film must receive 50% + 1 of the first place votes, which essentially never happens because of the expansion of the category to more films. Example, this year eight beloved films were nominated, no chance one of those eight was going to get over 50% of the vote right away. Long story short, assuming no film gets that large amount of first place votes, it then starts to matter that you were listed in second or third place on ballots and that's where the logic of picking either The Big Short or Spotlight comes in.
The Revenant is either held up as an absolute masterpiece or is considered a strange, ponderous misfire which would result in it being at the bottom of the eight options on many ballots. I don't think it's either, to be clear. I think it's a really terrific film that was exhausting to watch and too damn long, and with 30 minutes to go I grew weary of the spectacle and just wanted it to end. Spotlight and The Big Short may not have received the most first place votes, but they were far more likely to be listed second and third on a vast majority of the ballots because no one really hated those films. They were either the best or almost the best, and Spotlight reaped the benefits of this on Oscar night. It's a tremendous and important film so I'm glad it did, it was my #2 of the category behind only Fury Road.
Best Actor, we all knew it was coming and I was happy for the man. Leo DiCaprio. Nominated for the sixth time and finally a winner, and honestly he has deserved it far more for previous films but I don't begrudge him from his moment now. I would have given him the gold in 2013 for The Wolf of Wall Street which I found to be far more impressive and nuanced than his turn in The Revenant, but the narrative of just how difficult shooting The Revenant and the weather conditions he dealt with lead to an impossible to stop runaway train of votes that meant an inevitable win. Personally my favorite of the nominees was Matt Damon, but he never had a chance.
As for Best Actress, Brie is just so wonderful. Love that she won, love her. I didn't know when it would happen or what film it would happen for, but after seeing the astonishing Short Term 12 (on Netflix now, look it up now!) I said Brie Larson would win an Oscar at some point. Happened pretty darn soon after. The funny thing is, she wouldn't even have been my winner if it were up to me since Charlotte Rampling was her competition and she delivered my single favorite performance of the year in 45 Years, but Brie was my very, very close second place and I couldn't be happier she won. So beautiful, so talented, so seemingly likable, and her performance in Room was powerful and haunting.
In the supporting categories we had one surprise and one I predicted for a while now. Mark Rylance winning for Bridge of Spies over Sylvester Stallone in Creed was the surprise. It just seemed like Stallone's year and he would have received my vote, and my runner up would have been Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation who wasn't even nominated. Rylance was great, don't get me wrong, but I was underwhelmed in comparison to some of the other supporting work that moved me in 2015. On the other side, Alicia Vikander is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses and I am happy she won, although it was for the wrong role. Her best performance of the year came in Ex Machina, but I guess she deserves credit for being the only redeeming quality of the shameful, awful movie The Danish Girl. I look forward to many more nominations for Vikander for years to come, because her talent is undeniable and she is here to stay.
Speaking of Ex Machina, which was one of the finest films of the year, I love that it is officially an Oscar winning film but the fact that it won for its visual effects left me speechless for a moment. Not that it didn't have top notch effect work which was even more impressive considering it was a relatively unknown indie picture rather than a massive blockbuster with a enormous budget, but up against films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Martian and Mad Max: Fury Road, I really didn't consider the possibility that Ex Machina could win. It did.
At the start of this post I mentioned a surprise on the night that was downright awful and it's about time I address it. Best Song. How in the holy hell did Sam Smith win for that dull, drab, lifeless song from the new Bond film Spectre when Lady Gaga was nominated for her BRILLIANT song from the documentary The Hunting Ground? Did not enough people see that film? Did no one hear the song prior to voting? Was I the only one that was banging my head on a table in order to stay awake during the Sam Smith song?
The Hunting Ground is an eye opening, important film about the rape culture epidemic on college campuses around the country, and Lady Gaga wrote an amazing song for it that brings tears to my eyes. Then she performs it at the Oscars, again, tears to my eyes. A couple hours before this, Sam Smith was out there singing a lullaby to us, and that's the song that wins? That Writing on the Wall nap time shit? Goodness. I couldn't believe it. I still can't. I think I would need voters to explain to me why they voted the way they did, and the only possibility I can conceive of is that a lot of them didn't watch The Hunting Ground and didn't go out of their way to hear the song associated with it. It can't be that they actually believed Smith wrote and performed a better song, and I have trouble even considering this a matter of opinion.
Besides my disgust in the song department, it was a enjoyable Oscar night and a lot of very worthy people won. If you haven't seen Spotlight, please do. It's not a flashy film but it is deserving of being called the best, even if it would have been my personal silver medalist. Journalism films are really difficult to get right, and not only did Tom McCarthy get it right but he crafted a potential classic that tells a profound, unsettling story about sexual abuse in the Catholic church. It's perfectly acted and important, a true story about real people who were brave enough to pull the cover off of a widespread tragedy despite threats from powerful people to try and stop them. A lot of times the film that wins Best Picture is quickly forgotten, but I have a feeling that won't be the case this time around.
Posted by Scott H Anderson at 1:05 AM 4 comments:
The 50 Finest Films of 2015: #10 - #1
I have seen roughly 155 to 160 films that were released in 2015, and it all boils down to this. The top ten of the year, a wonderful one that saw the spectacular from massive budgets and bold and beautiful storytelling that had far less resources to work with. There are examples of both in this top 10.
The moment where I officially turn the page and move onto a new year in cinema, the unveiling of the ten best movies of last year.
10. Beasts of No Nation
I can't help but wonder if some people equate a film released straight onto a streaming service like Netflix with being essentially a straight to DVD feature. Basically, lesser than work that goes into a typical theatrical wide release. It certainly seems like the Academy voters didn't take Beasts of No Nation seriously, and proof of that can be found in the Best Supporting Actor category where somehow, inexplicably, Idris Elba didn't make the final five. Don't be fooled and witness the raw, devastating power of this film for yourself. It's a tough watch but a terrific one.
9. Anomalisa
It's a tough break for Anomalisa, being such a truly brilliant piece of cinema and yet not even being the best animated film of its year. I worry it will push the movie into obscurity, given that most people I talk to see that category at the Oscars and only focus on Inside Out. Don't get me wrong, they are right in assuming it will win the award because it's a guarantee, but Anomalisa is spectacular and one of the smartest films of the year. Once you get used to the style that can be a bit jarring initially, it becomes quite clear that the film is extraordinarily tender and touching.
Some have said that the documentary doesn't break new ground in terms of the story behind it, a celebrity that falls victim to fame and addiction. Personally, just because similar stories have been told doesn't mean others don't deserve the same treatment, especially considering the stigma of drug addiction is still painfully real. We see these people on television and assume they have it all, and when they lose their battle to a disease they are dismissed as being stupid. It's tragic.
The way this documentary is assembled, with so much real footage that it is hard to believe we are really seeing so much behind the scenes of Amy Winehouse's life, is extraordinary. It's heartbreaking and powerful and fascinating to watch unfold.
7. 45 Years
Speaking of heartbreaking and powerful, 45 Years features my single favorite performance of 2015 from lead actress Charlotte Rampling, whom is nominated by the Academy but will not win (congratulations to Brie Larson). It's a simple film that on an emotional level is far more complicated, watching a marriage of 45 years crumble before our eyes because of a major discovery that opens up old wounds and allows long kept secrets to come bubbling to the surface.
6. Sicario
Denis Villeneuve can do no wrong in my book, and Sicario is further proof of that. Another home run from the filmmaker, sending my excitement for his Blade Runner sequel through the roof. Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin, just perfect casting and great performances in this chilling tale of the battle against drug cartels and the question of whether it can ever possibly be won. Perhaps minimizing the damage is our only hope. Claustrophobic, intense filmmaking that had me on the edge of my seat throughout.
5. The Martian
A perfect balance of funny dialogue and stomach turning dramatic stakes, The Martian is what happens when a terrific book is adapted exactly the way it should be for the big screen. Writer Drew Goddard knew when to trust the source material and utilize it verbatim, but he also knew exactly what to cut or manipulate slightly to produce the best cinematic experience possible. Director Ridley Scott is hit or miss for me, but when he brings his vision to the science fiction genre it is basically guaranteed to win me over. The Martian is no exception. An amazing cast from top to bottom with Matt Damon leading the way with my favorite male performance of the year, this is an inspiring story of courage and hope.
4. Ex Machina
Alicia Vikander is beautiful, immensely talented and is going to be an absolute star for some time to come. She was also nominated for the wrong film in 2015 by the Academy, as she is the perceived front runner in the supporting actress race for her performance in The Danish Girl. Don't get me wrong, she is terrific in that film, the only thing watchable about the entire experience to be honest. She was even better in Ex Machina though.
What a superb, surprising film this turned out to be. Released during the spring last year by distributor A24 (production company flying under the radar while putting their names on truly great indie work), I found myself interested in seeing Ex Machina because of the subject matter but I had no idea it would be this great. Directed by Alex Garland making his debut in that role and starring Vikander, Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson, the movie is a gorgeous slow burn science fiction thriller about the progression of artificial intelligence and why such advancement should be feared as much as it is anticipated.
3. Inside Out
When Pixar is at their best, they are releasing films that both appeal to children aesthetically and with fun concepts and terrific vocal performances and also directing deeper, more meaningful themes at the adults in the audience. Inside Out might just be their finest effort to date, and that's saying something. The amount of subtle complexity going on under the surface of this film is staggering, with a screenplay that just gets the human mind and the importance of being in touched with all of your emotions. Featuring the single most heartbreaking moment of any film this year for me (Bing Bong made me weep uncontrollably), Inside Out is just beautiful and quite possibly the smartest film of the year.
My expectations for the return of my all time favorite film franchise were beyond sky high. I still remember the day I was sitting at work and the news broke that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm and would make more movies and I believe I was literally shaking with excitement. Sounds lame, I know, but I grew up with the original trilogy and by that I mean I watched the films so many times my parents were worried the VHS tapes would start on fire.
Still, I tried to tell myself to remain focused and judge the new work with honesty, because I am not afraid to admit I was the guy who tricked myself into believe I loved The Phantom Menace back in 1999, and it wasn't until much later that I realized how deeply, uncomfortably flawed that movie is.
5 theatrical viewings of The Force Awakens later, and I believe it is pure magic, exactly the type of movie I could have hoped for as a continuation of the originals. Terrific new characters, a wondrous screenplay that captures everything fans want from Star Wars and the best acting the franchise has ever seen, I love this film so much.
Yet, despite this, it wasn't the best film of 2015.
A batshit crazy punk rock apocalyptic action film unlike anything seen before, Mad Max: Fury Road is what happens when someone has a truly brilliant vision and is given free reign to bring it to the big screen. The man in charge here was George Miller, returning to the franchise that he started and crafting the defining masterpiece of 2015. As a film fan, everything you could ask for is in display here: frenetic yet flawless editing, vivid cinematography, mind boggling production design, ingenious direction and excellent performances. Miller knows exactly when to give the audience a minute to catch their breath before thrusting the film into overdrive all over again and seeing if our eyes can keep up. By the end of Fury Road, I was exhausted and I could practically taste the sand and dirt in my mouth, yet I wanted to do it all over again instantly.
The 50 Finest Films of 2015: #20 - #11
The top 20 of 2015. Angry dogs, male strippers, dread filled horror and the return of a champion. These films weren't able to sneak into my top ten, but don't be fooled: these are remarkable and exciting movies that need to be seen.
20. Carol
Between the cast, the set designs, the replication of the period it is set in and the love story being told, Carol is impossibly beautiful. It's a film that is dripping with sensuality and passion, with every tiny detail being so perfectly executed that it will both steal and break your heart. Neither of them are going to walk away with the trophy on Oscar night, but Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara more than deserve their nominations and I hope it's enough recognition to persuade more people to see this movie.
19. Creed
I am more than willing to admit that I was a serious doubter of the film Creed ahead of its release. The idea of bring the Rocky franchise back yet again only this time focusing on the son of Apollo Creed just screamed of desperation to me, a plot begging to make a buck for studio execs incapable of an original idea. The original idea part may still stand, but Creed is a total winner. What a joy, to see Stallone give such an amazing performance portraying the character I associated with him growing up, and Michael B. Jordan is terrific in the lead. The real star of the film though? Director Ryan Coogler. Everything he brought to this film was top notch, but that one specific long take boxing sequence had me in awe from start to finish.
18. White God
I mean no disrespect, but anyone who declares that the plot of White God is silly or unrealistic needs to do a quick search for the definition of the word "allegory" and reconsider. One must not always take the images depicted at face value because the power of this film lies with the message being told beneath the surface. At a time when racial and economic injustices are regularly making headlines, the sight of these dogs, these "beasts" finally having enough of the abuse and fighting back in the streets is extraordinary. Brave, startling filmmaking with an ending that will give you goosebumps.
17. World of Tomorrow
A 16 minute long animated film makes my top 20 of the year? You better believe it. World of Tomorrow by the genius Don Hertzfeldt is even more impressive due to its extremely short length because the amount of moving images and beautiful dialogue delivered in that time seems impossible. His previous masterpiece titled It's Such a Beautiful Day also utilizes stick figures to tell a profound story, and it may seem difficult to take these films seriously but truly absorb the imagery and listen to every word. Remarkable.
16. Magic Mike XXL
I never expect everyone to agree with me on a film, but I find the extremely cold reaction to Magic Mike XXL to be surprising. Mixed critical reaction and pretty poor scores from users on IMDB, and as I watched the film for the third time the other day I was left thinking about the disconnect people are having that I don't understand. With so many films screaming for more diversity, here we have one that is incredibly open minded and with a huge heart on so many levels. There are multiple opportunities for the movie to come off as mean spirited but it never once happens, and the crisp cinematography presents every person regardless of gender, race, age or size as being equally beautiful. The story is of gorgeous, perfectly built men who strip but I love that they are the ones who are vulnerable and facing the realities of life after the lights dim. One last ride, one last show and my god it is so entertaining.
15. Spotlight
Quite the transition from Magic Mike to Spotlight, as one film is designed to make you feel special and the other, well, isn't. Spotlight isn't meant to make you feel good, it's meant to hit hard and leave a lasting bruise on your heart. It does. Telling the true story of a specific team of journalists working for the Boston Globe that investigated deeper into the allegations of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church than anyone else would, Spotlight is one of the finest journalist pictures in a long time, taking the perfect no nonsense and no flash approach to such grounded, honest storytelling.
14. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Like so many indie films I adore, I have come to accept that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is one that many love to hate. That's okay. I will keep on believing in the film, an extremely funny and also completely moving work. You may read the plot synopsis and think oh, it's just another teenager driven cancer sob story. Another The Fault in Our Stars. It's simply not the case, as here we avoid the tropes that go along with a love story and rather focus on the honesty that is being a selfish shit growing up and not opening your eyes and truly seeing the world. Does it depict high school in an authentic manner? No, it doesn't, but I don't think it means to. I think what we are seeing is an exaggerated perspective of everything, like we are looking through the eyes of an awkward teenager who is desperate to fit in and afraid of being alienated. The me of many years ago can relate.
13. It Follows
After years of turning my back on the horror genre thanks to nauseating Saw and Hostel films and a desperation to latch onto the tired found footage sub-genre, recently there has been a resurgence. Thank goodness for filmmakers like Ti West, James Wan's surprising The Conjuring, Jennifer Kent's The Babadook and of course It Follows by David Robert Mitchell. It's a slice of horror cinema that has me looking over my shoulder yet mesmerized by the gorgeous photography and wonderfully creepy electronic score by Disasterpeace. We could use more originality and intelligence like that found in It Follows.
(Note: 2016 is no exception to the above post. In fact, we already have a better horror film than all those listed above. Can't wait to gush about you on next years list, Robert Eggers!)
12. What We Do in the Shadows
I love comedy, so I mean no slight to the genre when I say that I am absolutely shocked I have a film like this rated so high. Why do I say that? Because I love good, smart, truly funny comedy and it feels like we don't get nearly enough of it anymore. What We Do in the Shadows is a revelation that only gets better with repeat viewings, as you catch all the subtleties that make every scene so delicious. A mockumentary about vampires living in New Zealand, the film is insanely quotable and with a short, fast paced running time I can watch it again and again.
11. Respire (Breathe)
A sexy, terrifyingly terrific drama about a teenage girl named Charlie who lacks the confidence to maintain a social life until she is befriended by Sarah, the type of girl you know you should steer clear from but her beauty and rebellious nature is irresistible. Directed by Melanie Laurent, the title proves to be fitting because in the end I had to remind myself to do just that: breathe.
The next list will be the last for 2015, my ten favorite films of the year. Some are probably obvious choices. Others, not so much.
The Witch Review
"Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?"
Back in 1999, I recall seeing The Blair Witch Project and shortly after witnessing it I went away with my family to our family cabin immersed in the deep woods of northern Wisconsin. The environment I would have normally considered to be peaceful instead felt alive as I went near it. Not only alive, but evil. I could hear movement in every direction, as if something was lurking in the shadows. I would stare into the darkness and something sinister would stare back. The week was uneventful, but I never felt comfortable.
Seventeen years later and on the very same day I witnessed the new film The Witch, I get a text from my mother talking about that cabin and the land that surrounds it. It has been many years since I have been there, over a decade since the property was sold. I was transported back to the way the wind whipped through the trees, the way you could practically feel the crunch of the leaves as someone or something walked on them nearby. It was like I could hear the movement all over again, even from the comfort of my suburban home. I am staring into the darkness again. Something sinister is staring back.
I am not comfortable.
The Blair Witch Project was so real to people that part of the allure of the film upon its release was the notion that it may have actually been found footage. This is before the sub-genre had become so widespread to the point of being numb to the technique, when you could actually sell an audience on the realism of a hand held camera and raw, low budget filmmaking. I try to not let the found footage flood that I have since drowned in over the years bother me and remember a time when I, too, was horrified by just how real that film felt. When the terror dripped down onto me like the tears of Heather Donahue. I was aware from the beginning that the movie was fiction, but I knew people who truly were convinced that what they were seeing was fact.
I'm not comparing the two films, they are completely different in style and absolutely unrelated in substance. I am merely reminded so deeply and profoundly of the way I felt all those years ago. The Witch takes place in the 1600's and at the very start of the film we see a family of Puritans that are being banished from their community. They must pack their things and live their lives away from the other settlers, outside the safety of the erected walls. With their devout faith and love for each other, they start life anew on their own, a home and a farm surrounded by the eerie calm of the woods.
The craziest thing about the film is that it shouldn't feel so real. Not on paper at least. A story taking place 400 years ago involving the supernatural and yet I was affected by the realism in a way I never could have expected. The aspect ratio of The Witch is 1.66:1, which makes the image slightly more boxed in than full widescreen and the result is just a bit more claustrophobic, a bit more intimate. The imagery and the atmosphere created by director Robert Eggers is already designed to make you feel a little pressure in your chest and quite literally tightening up the frame only enhances the effect. The performances are incredible and their execution of Old English dialogue feels so spot on, and the lighting and musical score work together to fill every inch of your body with dread and unnerve the audience until we can't take anymore. The string instruments slice through our ears with a high pitch shrill and the flickering light of the candles is enough to make what we are seeing feel wrong, like we are flies on their wall and we shouldn't be allowed into their world. I could barely blink because every frame carried so much attention to detail with it, and I would imagine that revisits will be vastly rewarding and only enhance the experience, which is hard to believe because the first time through I am left believing The Witch is one of the finest horror films in a long, long time.
I have a complicated, sometimes ugly relationship with religion and my brief experience dealing with Catholicism first hand is something that lingers with me years later. I was blown away by the way The Witch transcended being merely a "scary movie" and served as an exploration into the history of religion and the obsessive dedication from those leading a life driven by it. This film is darker than dark, bleaker than bleak, and you can practically feel Satan's breath on every frame, even the moments that are seemingly inconsequential, though the brilliance of The Witch is that nothing is. Every shot, every camera angle, every word spoken and everything not said but felt is essential. This picture, a horror film released in the middle of February, is an absolutely astonishing masterpiece that feels destined for classic status.
I can't stop thinking about the way pure evil hangs over every second of The Witch. The way it preys on the fears and weaknesses or each member of the family makes my soul ache. Robert Eggers hasn't merely arrived with this shockingly ingenious debut film, he has kicked the door in and announced himself as the ultimate hope for taking the horror genre in new, jaw dropping ways that feel especially invigorating given the current landscape of what audiences have come to expect. Another Saw sequel or a lazy Purge effort. A beat up basket full of tropes that are sprinkled upon so many films each year, resulting in a constant stream of recycled and uninspired storytelling. The Witch knows how to build tension by being terrifyingly patient and wait for just the right moment to break you, how to cast a spell on you and make you wonder about the motivations of God or the overwhelming power of the Devil.
The shadows of the trees dance ever so gently across the windows tonight, and while I can't look out at the density of those woods I used to visit, I can still picture the never ending darkness and hear the piercing sound of silence being shattered by one branch breaking in the distance. I see nothing but at the same time, everything. Something is out there, watching. A chill flutters down my spine. I am not comfortable.
The Witch is a meticulously crafted work of art, like an intoxicating blend of the themes of a Bergman classic through the lens of Tarkovsky delivering horrors like those Kubrick unleashed in The Shining. Seriously, it's that good.
It's fucking delicious, and I want to live deliciously.
Deadpool Review
Among the many different ways that Deadpool separates himself from other superheroes we have become so familiar with is the way he communicates with the audience through dialogue, referred to as "breaking the fourth wall". It happens quite often throughout the film but very early on we get the most on point utilization when he suggests that female members of the audience may be shocked by the graphic violence and style of the movie because their boyfriends simply told them it was a "superhero movie". While I am not entirely sure that it is fair to assume that any sort of adverse reaction to those first few minutes is due to gender, I can say that the crowd I saw it with wasn't quite loosened up just yet. Some laughter, sure, but with a hint of discomfort. Perhaps the promises of blood turned out to be even bloodier and the crude humor had to be heard to be believed.
Once Deadpool had made his motivations clear and he had announced to the world his disgust over being referred to as a hero, things seemed to loosen up and the laughter was far more comfortable. By the end it seemed we were all in agreement: the movie is a blast.
Consistently funny and fast paced, wrapping up in a mere 100 or so minutes, Ryan Reynolds proves to be the perfect choice to fill the suit through a barrage of bullet holes, dick jokes and dead bodies left in his wake. Personally I find it quite strange how many people have immediately disparaged this movie for being nothing more than a teenager's wet dream, despite it being a pretty fair assumption that it probably is. Sure, had Deadpool been released 15 or so years ago I probably would have declared it my favorite movie and wanted to watch it on repeat, but that doesn't mean it is a guaranteed failure for adults. This concept sort of feels similar to the idea that animated films are only for kids and that growing up means moving away from such material. I have a wife, a daughter, and my one and only vice is cinema. I am by all accounts boring and usually am on the receiving end of old man jokes because my ideal weekend night involves pajamas and a great film. I'm also quite capable of falling in love with a wonderful work of Disney animation or laughing at an incredibly immature masturbation joke. If that isn't okay, then fuck growing up.
Before anyone considers the existence of a double standard, as I recently wrote an extremely negative review of the cinematic turd Dirty Grandpa and criticized its lazy desire to beg for laughs using juvenile humor, one word in that is crucial to point out the difference: lazy. All erection jokes are not created equal. The reason Deadpool elicits laughter from me whereas watching Robert De Niro touch himself and say nothing but dirty things left me cold is because it actually takes talent to nail comedic timing and use such material in a clever manner. Deadpool works because of outstanding writing and not just in the understanding of comedy but also the rewarding way it balances the graphic content and cuss words with a surprisingly moving romance and meaningful dramatic stakes. Just making an audience smile isn't easy. Being able to wipe those smiles away with a tonal shift that further engages them is even harder.
Deadpool is self aware enough to know that the tropes of a superhero film are a bit tired yet entertaining enough to still make me care when they are invoked, and while the villains frankly sucked, I also found their underwhelming and cliche nature to be a part of the gag. Thank goodness for Ryan Reynolds in the lead and Morena Baccarin as his love that keeps the silliness in check, because their chemistry is superb and somehow believable inside a film that is practically forcing you not to believe. Every time Reynolds reminds us that we are watching a stupid film it is quickly forgotten because the talent both on and off the screen elevate it to something smart.
15 years ago I would have convinced myself that Deadpool was perfect. I'm quite alright with adult me accepting that it is merely pretty damn great.
Posted by Scott H Anderson at 10:05 PM 3 comments:
The Deer Hunter Review
"A deer has to be taken with one shot. I try to tell people that but they don't listen."
I know someone who enlisted in the army and was quickly put into action in the Middle East. I have pretty vivid memories of his demeanor prior to his deployment, and all of them involve him smiling. His zest for life was exhausting. His enthusiasm was so constant that it became tedious. You could never just sit back and relax and enjoy the moment because he was always thinking about the next step. What could we be doing that was more fun? What would the world look like tomorrow?
When he returned from his tour overseas, I met up with him for dinner to celebrate. He still looked the same. His voice still sounded the same. Something was different though. Everything else was different. He told stories of some of the ugliness of war, but the picture was never fully painted by his words. I don't know if he was incapable or simply didn't want to go into too much detail. I didn't press for more. He said he was happy to be home and in a way I believed him, but the zest was gone. The enthusiasm seemed like a distant memory. He talked only about the past and didn't seem all that interested in the future. He barely smiled at all.
The Deer Hunter is a cinematic masterpiece directed by Michael Cimino that tells the story of three young men who leave behind their lives as factory workers in order to serve their country in Vietnam. I had seen the film before but so long ago that I was barely even able to qualify for a PG-13 movie, and unsurprisingly the mind of a kid barely a teenager isn't quite ready to process the themes of a film such as this. Needless to say, this was an eye opening experience. What I really found fascinating was the fact that of a three hour running time, so little of it was actually spent with them in combat in Vietnam. The first act may test some of the audience's patience but I found it wonderfully developed these characters with perfect pacing and essential, important dialogue. This sequence is mostly centered on a wedding and one of my favorite shots from the entire film involves the bride and groom drinking from conjoined goblets with the goal being to simultaneously drink without spilling a drop, and the camera zoomed in on two tiny splashes that stain her gown. Clean consumption symbolizes good luck for life, and this one shot so perfectly foreshadows the horrors that are to follow.
Act two brings us into Vietnam and introduce us to the iconic Russian roulette scenes that are so haunting and hard to watch but you simply cannot look away. I have no idea if the game itself was actually ever played during the war, but honestly it seems irrelevant. The concept of a one-in-six chance that this could be the last moment of your life feels so fitting for a war setting like this, that unnerving us with each pull of the trigger is an incredible representation of the stakes of sending our youth into war. The performances in this section of the film are so absolutely perfect that they only increase the horrifying nature of the content, with Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken doing Oscar nominated and Oscar winning work, respectively.
The final act of the film brings us back home to Pennsylvania, and it is here when I couldn't help but think of the brave young man I know who isn't quite the same anymore. I can't comprehend it and I don't think even a masterful film can truly make someone like me understand just what war does to a human being. In the film, people ask Mike (DeNiro) how he is and he says fine with a smile on his face, but how can it be that simple? How can one be "fine" after experiencing such pain, seeing such atrocities, coping with such stress and fear?
I want to ask my friend to dig deeper and tell me what really went on over there, but I can't. I'm not sure if that's what he needs from me now, if that's what's best for him. Perhaps I'm just a distraction rather than a facilitator of stories that pick at forever healing wounds
I will just be there to ask him how he is. When he says fine, I will smile. Hopefully he will smile back.
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Rosenbury Hired to Lead Lords Football
Courtesy of Kenyon Athletics
GAMBIER, Ohio – Jill McCartney, Kenyon College's Director of Athletics, Fitness and Recreation, announced Friday the hiring of James Rosenbury as head coach of the Lords football program. Rosenbury comes to Kenyon from Macalester College and takes over for previous head coach Chris Monfiletto, who resigned in February after seven seasons.
"It's a huge honor and privilege to be part of such an accomplished athletics program and college," Rosenbury said. "We've got some work to do on the football field, but I feel very strongly that the support is in place to build a culture of success. The roster is healthy and the facilities are some of, if not the best, in all of Division III. During my interview, I was able to watch parts of a spring workout and the energy and enthusiasm of the players was phenomenal."
Since 2015, Rosenbury tackled many duties at Macalester. Most recently, he served as the Scots' offensive line coach, special teams coordinator and director of both football operations and recruiting. In previous seasons, he was the program's running backs and tight ends coach.
While at Macalester, Rosenbury helped move the Scots from a 4-6 record in 2015 to a 7-3 record in 2016. Overall, the program was 21-19 in his four seasons there.
"The hard work of our search committee led us to identify James as the candidate best suited to direct our football program," McCartney said. "He's been at Division III institutions that have turned their football programs around, and he's had tremendous mentors along the way. He impressed everyone he met with his authenticity and willingness to learn and grow. He will be a terrific role model for our student-athletes and a valuable addition to the campus community."
After graduating in 2008 from Case Western Reserve University, Rosenbury remained on campus and served as an assistant coach, working with offensive backs. He contributed to an overall 31-3 record, was part of three University Athletic Association (UAA) Coaching Staff of the Year awards and helped steer the Spartans to three NCAA playoff appearances.
He moved on to work for one season at Grinnell College, where he coached running backs and saw the team move from a 2-8 record to a 6-4 mark. He then spent two years at University of Redlands, earning a master's degree in higher education and serving as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs, who logged a combined 14-5 record and made an appearance in the 2011 NCAA Division III playoffs.
Prior to making the move to Macalester, Rosenbury returned to Case in 2013 as an assistant coach for two more seasons. In that time, he worked with offensive backs, special teams and served as assistant recruiting coordinator. He coached four all-conference backs, as well as the UAA Special Teams Player of the Year.
"During my 12 years coaching at the college level, I've had the privilege of working at some of the best Division III high-academic research universities and liberal arts colleges. I love student-athletes who want to be challenged in the classroom, as well as on the field," Rosenbury said.
"I like to think of myself as energetic and enthusiastic. I am a detailed oriented coach and believe in setting clear expectations and holding people accountable," Rosenbury added. "At the same time, I'm positive and do my best to compliment before I criticize. Football is a game and games are supposed to be fun. I see my job as providing an amazing experience and creating an environment where student-athletes can compete and pursue their passions both on the football field and in their academic lives."
During his playing days, Rosenbury was a running back at Case. He rushed for 1,712 yards and nine touchdowns during his career and was a two-time All-UAA selection.
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Over the Hedge Movie Summary
Just whose backyard is it, anyway?
Spring has sprung, and Verne and his woodland friends awaken from their long winter’s nap to discover that a tall, green “thing” has mysteriously cropped up right through the middle of their home. Enter RJ, an opportunistic raccoon, who explains that the world beyond the hedge is the “gateway to the good life” where peculiar creatures called humans live to eat, rather than eat to live.
Suspicious and even a little jealous of RJ, the ever-cautious Verne wants to keep his blended family safely on their side of the hedge. But, proving the adage that one man’s garbage is another man’s—or rather animal’s—treasure, the manipulative RJ tries to convince the woodland band that there is little to fear and everything to gain from their over-indulgent new neighbors. Eventually, RJ and Verne form an unlikely friendship as they learn to co-exist with—and even exploit—this strange new world called suburbia.
Heading up an all-star voice cast, Bruce Willis is the voice of the mischievous con-artist raccoon named RJ, and Emmy winner Garry Shandling voices the overprotective turtle named Verne in the computer-animated comedy “Over the Hedge.”
Rounding out the voice cast of “Over the Hedge” are: Steve Carell as a hyperactive squirrel named Hammy; two-time Emmy winner William Shatner as Ozzie, a possum who excels at playing dead with a melodramatic flair; chart-topping recording artist Avril Lavigne as Ozzie’s daughter, Heather; Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, who are paired as the porcupine couple Penny and Lou, with a brood of little porcupine mouths to feed; comedienne Wanda Sykes as a sassy skunk named Stella; two-time Oscar® nominee Nick Nolte as a bear named Vincent; and Omid Djalili as a spoiled housecat named Tiger. On the human side, four-time Emmy winner Allison Janney plays Gladys, the president of the local homeowners’ association, who isn’t about to see her neighborhood overrun by wildlife; and Oscar® nominee Thomas Haden Church as “the Verminator,” whom Gladys hires to rid the area of our woodland heroes.
Based on the popular comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis, “Over the Hedge” is being directed by Tim Johnson (“Antz”) and Karey Kirkpatrick (“Chicken Run” screenwriter), making his directorial debut. Bonnie Arnold (“Toy Story,” “Tarzan”) is producing.
Pet / Animal Cast
RJ……………………Raccoon (Bruce Willis)
Verne…………………Box Turtle (Garry Shandling)
Hammy…………………American Red Squirrel (Steve Carell)
Stella………………..Striped Skunk (Wanda Sykes)
Ozzie…………………Virginia Opossum (William Shatner)
Vincent……………….American Black Bear (Nick Nolte)
Heather……………….Virginia Opossum (Avril Lavigne)
Lou…………………..North American Porcupine (Eugene Levy)
Penny…………………North American Porcupine (Catherine O’Hara)
Tiger…………………Persian Cat (Omid Djalili)
Bucky…………………North American Porcupine (Sami Kirkpatrick)
Spike…………………North American Porcupine (Shane Baumel)
Quillo………………..North American Porcupine (Madison Davenport)
Nugent………………..Rottweiler (Brian Stepanek)
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (United States, 2010)
A movie review by James Berardinelli
In the wake of a successful endeavor to transform a popular Disney theme park attraction (Pirates of the Caribbean) into a motion picture blockbuster, uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer has now turned his attention to a well-received video game series, Prince of Persia. With Mike Newell at the helm, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a lively, action-oriented romp through ancient lands that bear a suspicious resemblance to the animated environs of Disney's Aladdin. The movie is as fast-paced as it is ultimately pointless - a lot of running around that results in no gain. One of the problems with the injudicious use of time travel is that it provides the screenwriters with ample opportunities to cheat (there's no such thing as writing oneself into a corner), and that's precisely what happens here. Prince of Persia is unsatisfying because of the way it gets to the ending.
All of the action and mayhem is designed to distract the viewer from the realization that a lot of what transpires during the course of this movie makes little sense. Basic logic - like the lack of a motive for a key murder - is ignored in favor of keeping the narrative moving. It's on a treadmill, but Newell is almost skilled enough to make that not matter until the "cheat" occurs and we're left feeling that Prince of Persia could have been a lot shorter (not that 109 minutes is too long for a summer movie). Newell also pays homage to the film's video game origins. Gamers will find a lot of the jumping, climbing, swinging, and other maneuvers employed by the characters to be familiar. Of course, it's a lot more fun to play a game than it is to watch one being played, and this applies here, as well.
The story takes place in ancient Persia, which is ruled by King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup). He has four trusted advisors: his brother, Nizam (Ben Kingsley); his eldest son and heir, Tus (Richard Coyle); his second son, Garsiv (Tony Kebbell); and his adopted son, Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal). After the Persian army, led by Tus, invades a holy city and takes captive the princess, Tamina (Gemma Arterton, showing more spunk than in the Clash of the Titans remake), Sharaman arrives with words of reprimand. The king decides to betroth Tamina to Dastan, but before the proclamation can be made official, Sharaman is murdered and suspicion falls upon Dastan. He and Tamina flee, uneasy allies in a quest to prove Dastan's innocence, reveal the true killer, and keep a mystical dagger with time-travel powers from falling into corrupt hands.
The film's marketing campaign is highlighting connections with Pirates of the Caribbean and, despite the influence of a different director, the look and pacing are not dissimilar, although one could as easily compare Prince of Persia with Stephen Sommers' The Mummy. However, although Jake Gyllenhaal is a competent actor and his scenes with Gemma Arterton set off sparks, it doesn't take much searching to identify the missing ingredient: Johnny Depp. Pirates of the Caribbean would have been a far less jolly adventure had it focused solely on Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, and that's a little like the dynamic here. While there's plenty of chemistry between Gyllenhaal's Darstan and Arterton's Tamina (comparable to what exists between Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in The Mummy), the real standout is Alfred Molina, hamming it up as a desert entrepreneur who races ostriches and avoids paying taxes. It's a stock character, but portrayed with considerable verve, although not on Depp's level. Ben Kingsley, slumming as he is wont to do from time-to-time, is entertaining, although his portrayal seems uncannily like an audition for Ming the Merciless in a new version of Flash Gordon.
Prince of Persia falls into the ever-popular category of summer cinema which was best described by Shakespeare as "sound and fury, signifying nothing." It looks impressive (all the more so because no one forced a 3-D conversion) and there's never a dull moment. Newell understands the dynamics and rhythm of a big-budget fantasy adventure, having already taken the reins for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, so he crafts something eminently watchable. But, in large part because of extreme narrative deficiencies, it's hard to see Prince of Persia as anything more substantive than drive-in fare. With lots of running around and plenty of special effects, the only thing missing for the viewer is a game controller and the ability to replay some of the most challenging moves and jumps.
Director: Mike Newell
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Toby Kebbell, Richard Coyle, Ronald Pickup, Gisli Orn Garoarsson
Screenplay: Boaz Yakin and Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard
Cinematography: John Seale
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
U.S. Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Sexual Content)
Subtitles: none
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Three...better movies of this genre
Braveheart (1995)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Hidden Fortress, The (1962)
worse movies of this genre
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
Catwoman (2004)
Deep Rising (1998)
Three...better movies of Jake Gyllenhaal
Proof (2005)
Brothers (2009)
worse movies of Jake Gyllenhaal
Moonlight Mile (2002)
Demolition (2016)
Rendition (2007)
Three...better movies of Gemma Arterton
Disappearance of Alice Creed, The (2010)
Gemma Bovery (2015)
worse movies of Gemma Arterton
Runner Runner (2013)
Three...better movies of Ben Kingsley
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Elegy (2008)
worse movies of Ben Kingsley
Self/Less (2015)
What Planet Are You From? (2000)
Last Legion, The (2007)
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Welcome to the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Princeton University!
In a place centered on the important task of learning, our programs provide opportunities to continue exploration and education of the Christian faith and Lutheran tradition. Our community gathers monthly for dinner and lively table talks at Murray-Dodge Hall on the Princeton University Campus.
A part-time chaplaincy, Lutheran Campus Ministry cooperates with other Christian campus ministries and local Lutheran congregations to
a) proclaim the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ,
b) help students, faculty and staff grow up into salvation (1 Peter 2:2) through fellowship, worship, service, social action, and academic events, and
c) learn together what being a Christian means for how and why we live.
Local churches engaged with Princeton University include Lutheran Church of the Messiah, located in Princeton, and Prince of Peace Lutheran, located in Princeton Junction. Both churches are eager to welcome visitors.
You will find more information on my background, monthly Table Talks, and Churches in Partnership below. I can also be reached at lcmprinceton@gmail.com.
I hope you’ll join us – we look forward to hearing from you!
Rev. Martin K. Erhardt
Lutheran Chaplain, Princeton University; Pastor, Lutheran Church of the Messiah
Meet the Chaplain
Meet the Chaplain: Martin K. Erhardt
Welcome to Lutheran Campus Ministry! I look forward to meeting you! I came to Princeton as a student myself in 2007 and was appointed Lutheran chaplain at the university in 2011. I also serve as the pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Messiah on Nassau St., Princeton. In my spare moments, I enjoy hiking, driving oxen, singing and stomping to baroque music, and reading books by P. G. Wodehouse, James Herriot, Chaim Potok, Shusaku Endo, and Patrick O’Brian, among others. I am an avid fan of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, and the King James Bible – especially its accounts of Paul’s encounters with the burghers of Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens in Act 17. A former chemistry professor, I’m a graduate of Princeton Seminary (M. Div.), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Ph.D. in chemistry), and Valparaiso University (B.S.in chemistry and economics), and serve as the Lutheran chaplain at Princeton University.
Lutheran Chaplain, Princeton University & Pastor, Messiah Lutheran Church
Worship - Churches in Partnership
Sunday worship service at 10:30 a.m. during the academic year. During the academic year, Messiah provides rides from the old U–Store building at 36 University Place at 10:15 a.m. Sunday mornings. If you need a ride when Princeton University is not in session, call or email Messiah by the Thursday of the previous week to arrange one. If walking, biking or driving, go east on Nassau St. The church is located a few blocks past Harrison Street at the corner of Nassau and Cedar Lane, one mile from Palmer Square. Visit the church website from more detailed information on summer worship schedule, directions and maps, calendar of events, or to contact us directly.
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
177 Princeton-Hightstown Road
Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
Sunday worship service at 9:30 a.m. For transportation to Prince of Peace Church on Sunday mornings, please arrange for a ride by calling the Church Office at 609-799-1753. For directions to Prince of Peace Church, visit the church website and follow the tab under “contact.” The church is 4.5 miles from Witherspoon Street, via Washington Street which leads into the Princeton-Hightstown Rd. Click HERE for a contact person at Prince of Peace.
Thursday Evening Table Talks:
Table Talks will resume in the fall.
During the academic year, we get together for monthly table talks (includes dinner), generally on Thursdays. All discussions are scheduled for 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. in Room 210 of Murray-Dodge Hall, Princeton University. After 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, free parking is available in the university lot on William St., between Washington Rd. and Charlton St. All are welcome! Please join us and invite friends.
Recent 2018/2019 Table Talks:
Thursday, May 2: Seeking Fulfillment (Pastor Erhardt)
Thursday, April 4: How Unified Should the Church Be? (Justin Hylden)
Thursday, March 7: Overcoming Negativity (Pastor Erhardt)
Thursday, February 7: All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Evangelicalism (Justin Hylden)
Thursday, January 10: Humility as Withdrawal and Engagement (Pastor Erhardt)
Thursday, December 6: A Baptism Story — An Interview with Hadley Arkes
Thursday, November 8: Sin: The Dirty Word We Still Need (Justin Hylden)
Thursday, October 4: Suffering in the Shadow of the Cross (Justin Hylden)
Thursday, September 13: The Catholics We Are (Pastor Erhardt)
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Mental illness, Aboriginal misery haunt Canada
A US-type tragedy has jolted Canadians and reminded them that though their country is among the best in the world, it too bears untreated warts - the misery of the Aboriginal people and mental illness among Canadians, particularly among the First Nations.
The Justin Trudeau government has pledged to improve the plight of the Aboriginal people. Across Canada, meanwhile, governments, agencies and medical professionals have started working together to reduce mental illness, which afflicts all sections of Canadians. Among the Aboriginal people, however, it leads to more violence, alcoholism, crimes and suicides.
Four people were killed and seven injured in the remote community of La Loche, in Saskatchewan province, in a mass shooting by a 17-year-old youth. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the city and expressed his sympathies. Federal government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc called the violence tragic and said the government will work to improve the situation.
A Mental Health Awareness week is arranged in Canada regularly to raise awareness and seek citizens’ participation. It highlights that:
* 20 percent of Canadians experience a mental illness.
* Mental illness is prevalent in people of all ages, cultures, educational and income levels.
* About one percent of Canadians suffer manic depression and another one percent schizophrenia.
* Suicide accounts for 24 percent of all deaths among 15-24 year olds and 16 percent among 25-44 years old. Suicide is among the leading causes of death in men and women from adolescence to middle age.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada estimates that 500,000 Canadians miss work because of a mental health problem and that the lost productivity, income supports and health expenses cost some $52 billion every year.
The Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) asserts that those afflicted rose from 4.7 percent a decade ago to 7.1 percent in 2013. Canada spends on mental health just seven percent of the money it spends on health care compared with 10 to 12 percent in the Netherlands, said Louise Bradley, president of the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). However, now Canada is taking action to reduce the problem drastically.
The Muslim Coordinating Council and the Ottawa Muslim Association arranged a session at the Ottawa mosque on Mental Illness in Children and Youth, conveying the message that mood disorder, depression, substance abuse, addictive behavior and suicide are treatable. Ottawa physician Dr. Ferrukh Faruqui arranged the event at the suggestion of Imam Samy Metwally.
Dr. Khalid Bazaid, a child psychiatrist working with Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and at the University of Ottawa, said that suicides constitute the second leading cause of death among 16 to 24 year olds (after motor vehicle accidents). He quote Statistics Canada which stated in 2002 that 15 percent of youth have mental health problems, compared to about five percent among all Canadians.
Dr. Bazaid said biological, psychological, social and environmental causes lead to depression and suicide. He stated that this can be corrected with adequate care including counseling.
Dr. Faruqui called the problem tragic but stated that it can be tackled. She listed the agencies and individuals in Ottawa who are working to assist those needing treatment.
The Canadian Mental Health Association asserts that 10 to 20 percent of youth are hit by mental illness. A study by Dalhousie University’s Department of Psychiatry states that those who attend religious functions cope better with depression, according to Daniel Rasic of the department.
Among the Aboriginals who live on reserves in Third World conditions depression leads to suicides. The suicide rate among Aboriginal youth is about five to six times more than among non-Aboriginal youth. The suicide rate for Aboriginal youths is 126 per 100,000, compared to 24 per 100,000 for non-Aboriginals.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported prison ombudsman Howard Sapers as stating that Aboriginals number 3,723 out of 14,624 federal prisoners - though Aboriginals only are 1.4 million, or just 4.3 percent of Canada’s 35 million people. Aboriginal women number more than a third of the women in federal jails.
In 2012, the United Nations Committee against Torture found Canada violating its human rights obligations under the Convention against Torture. It recommended that Canada deal adequately with the needs of prisoners with mental illness instead of placing them in prolonged solitary confinement.
Maclean’s magazine reported that often people who need treatment end up in jails, often with addictions, compounding their problems. The Correctional Services of Canada estimates that prisoners with psychiatric disorders range from 64 percent to 81 percent.
Dr. Zul Merali, president of the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, said that the “burden of depression is 1.5 times greater than all cancers put together and five times more than all infectious diseases put together.” He said the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Center has set up a depression research center that emphasizes total care. “Part of our broader vision is to treat the patient as a whole, not just one condition at a time.”
Dr. David Goldbloom, vice-chairman of the mental health commission, says the issue is now in the national limelight and is now being tackled gradually but effectively. That’s the hope.
— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge.
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By Carole Radziwill
What Remains is a vivid and haunting memoir about a girl from a working-class town who becomes an award-winning television producer and marries a prince, Anthony Radziwill, one of a long line of Polish royals and nephew of President John F. Kennedy. Carole Radziwill's story is part fairy tale, part tragedy. She tells both with great candor and wit.
Carole grew up in a small suburb with a large, eccentric cast of characters. She spent her childhood summers with her grandparents and an odd assortment of aunts and uncles in their poorly plumbed A-frame on the banks of a muddy creek in upstate New York.
At the age of nineteen, Carole struck out for New York City to find a different life. Her career at ABC News led her to the refugee camps of Cambodia, to a bunker in Tel Aviv, to the scene of the Menendez murders. Her marriage led her into the old world of European nobility and the newer world of American aristocracy.
What Remains begins with loss and returns to loss. A small plane plunges into the ocean, carrying John Kennedy, Anthony's cousin, and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Carole's closest friend. Three weeks later Anthony dies of cancer. The summer of the plane crash, the four friends were meant to be cherishing Anthony's last days. Instead, Carole and Anthony mourned John and Carolyn, even as Carole planned her husband's memorial.
Carole Radziwill has an anthropologist's sensibility and a journalist's eye. She writes about families--their customs, their secrets, and their tangled intimacies-- with remarkable acuity and humanity. She explores the complexities of marriage, the importance of friendship, and the challenges of self-invention with unflinching honesty. This is a compelling story of love, loss, and, ultimately, resilience.
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