pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 62
972k
| source
stringlengths 37
43
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__cc
| 0.739145
| 0.260855
|
Ancestor Hunger and Religious Conversions
by Maud | April 16th, 2019
I don’t usually cross-post from my newsletter, but I’m making an exception here. This might be my last post before the site is finally redesigned.
If you’ve been reading my work for a while, you may know that my mom started a church in my living room when I was a kid. It was a tongues-speaking, Rapture-awaiting, exorcism-full ministry focused on hippies, drug addicts, refugees from cults, and assorted others in need. Every Wednesday night, they worshipped in our house in a ritzy Miami suburb. They banged tambourines and Hallelujahed and bound up Satan in Jesus’ name until my father came home and shouted at them to get out or until the neighbors called the cops.
For most of my life, I feared I might have some extreme religious conversion, too. As an adult, after trying on atheism and then Episcopalianism and not feeling a commitment to either, I responded to this fear by becoming a fervent agnostic. I was deeply committed to not knowing. I clenched around uncertainty, all the more so once I learned that my mom wasn’t the only female preacher in her family.
Around the time I turned forty, I started meditating. I studied the Alexander Technique, which, as taught by my teacher, is basically another form of meditation. His approach is especially good for writers and other bookish people who have difficulty being in their bodies. Through all of this, and a billion years of therapy, I opened up to possibilities that had made me anxious before.
When I started writing my book, I could feel myself going in a spiritual direction. I was afraid of what I’d find and where I’d end up, but I decided to follow where the book led me. Recently I went to an ancestral lineage healing intensive, and I’m going to another this summer. It makes me uncomfortable to tell you this, but I’ve decided to own it.
I hand in the draft of my book on June 3! If my editor feels it’s far enough along, I’ll finish revisions by the end of this year with an eye toward a publication date in Spring 2021.
In the coming months, I’ll be starting another newsletter, Ancestor Hunger, for anyone who’s interested in knowing more about that. You can sign up at Substack, if you’re interested. (More info on the About page.)
Updated June 18 to link to the Ancestor Hunger newsletters so far:
The Family Face — and Gesture (including Thomas Hardy’s “Heredity,” Tim Spector’s Identically Different, and Nicole Chung’s All You Can Ever Know)
Ancestor-Focused Spiritual Practices (including book recommendations, the Biblical story of Rachel and the household gods, and some people who’ve inspired me)
Visits From the Dead (including Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books and Claude Lecouteux’s The Return of the Dead)
DNA Testing Giveth, and Taketh Away (including Alex Wagner’s Futureface, which I reviewed last year for the New York Times Book Review; a discussion of autosomal DNA testing and inaccurate geographical assignments; and an except from my old Family Tree interview with Laila Lalami)
Sharing Some Ancestor Hunger (on my granny and the title “ancestor hunger,” and including an excerpt from my Family Tree interview with Celeste Ng)
Tags: ancestor hunger, ancestor veneration, ancestors, book, dna, epigenetics, maud newton, spirituality, spring 2021
Random House Will Publish My Ancestry Book
by Maud | May 19th, 2014
I’m ecstatic to announce that Andrea Walker of Random House has acquired my forthcoming book on the science and superstition of ancestry, a subject that has obsessed me for years because of my own family and also because of the way it obsesses the culture at large. While writing my new story for Harper’s, “America’s Ancestry Craze,” I realized that it was mounting — and over the years had been mounting — into a much bigger project.
Here’s the announcement: “Random House will publish writer and critic Maud Newton’s first book, an examination of her obsession with genealogy and her own colorful family history, along with the science and superstition of ancestry in the culture at large. Newton’s essay, ‘America’s Ancestry Craze,’ is the cover story for the current issue of Harper’s magazine. This interdisciplinary study will draw on memoir, reporting, cultural criticism, scientific and anthropological research to understand the fear and fascination behind genealogy, and why it has become the second most popular hobby in the United States. Newton began blogging about books and culture in 2002; within a few years her site was one of the most widely praised and quoted in the industry, and she began writing for the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR, among others. Random House senior editor Andrea Walker pre-empted North American rights from Julie Barer at Barer Literary.”
Andrea and I first met while she was at the New Yorker, after she wrote nice things about a novel excerpt of mine that Narrative published, and since then I’ve followed her career with admiration and excitement. I’m thrilled to be working with her and the rest of the Random House team! And now you know what I’ll be doing for the next couple years.
Tags: ancestry, andrea walker, book, epigenetics, family history, genealogy, genetics, history, julie barer, maud newton, random house, science, the begats
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1796
|
__label__wiki
| 0.905565
| 0.905565
|
10 Big Facts About Big Love
BY Garin Pirnia
On March 12, 2006, HBO debuted Big Love, a dramedy that chronicled a family of fundamentalist Mormons living in suburban Utah as polygamists. Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer created the show, which starred Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn (Barb, wife number one), Chloë Sevigny (Nicki, second wife), and Ginnifer Goodwin (Margene, third wife) as a different type of family. Paxton’s Bill Henrickson is married to all three women, who live in separate houses, and raise his children, including then-unknown Amanda Seyfried (Sarah Henrickson).
The Emmy-nominated series spurred controversy within the Mormon community, and inspired the 2010 formation of the TLC reality show Sister Wives. However, after five seasons and 53 episodes—including Bill’s tumultuous run for Senate and the family adding and then removing another sister-wife—HBO canceled the show and aired the series finale on March 20, 2011. Here are 10 surprising facts about Big Love.
1. GEORGE W. BUSH INSPIRED THE CREATION OF THE SHOW.
Olsen and Scheffer told NPR they got the idea to explore polygamy after George W. Bush got elected for a second time, because of the “campaign-season rhetoric about what makes a family.” To them, family—especially marriage—meant different things. “Every time there’s a whiff of discord in the family, [people think] ‘they’re going to bail. This one’s going to bail,’” Olsen said. “And Will and I have never looked at it like that. We’ve never played the ‘who's going to leave the marriage’ game, because I think we have a firm belief that you stick it out—that marriage is worth sticking out.”
2. BILL HENRICKSON REPRESENTED AN “EVERYMAN.”
Olsen explained to Deadline that when they pitched the show to HBO, they described Bill as an “Everyman” who was “a good husband and father who was overwhelmed by the escalating demands of modern life ... Bill H. was a man of faith and integrity who lived with many secrets and moral uncertainties, who actively struggled with ‘right’ and ‘wrong,’ and someone who was proudly, deeply ‘American.’ It didn’t take long for us to realize the part had been written for Bill Paxton.”
In casting Paxton, who passed away on February 25, 2017, the showrunners said they knew he was the right choice. “We cannot think of any actor, any man, who you’d ever want to be captain of your ship over the long and arduous journey of television making than Bill Paxton," the creators said in a statement following Paxton's death. "He was smart and collaborative and curious. He was a leader, a raconteur, a mentor.”
3. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS WAS UNHAPPY WITH THE SHOW.
The Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—which has more than 15 million members—outlawed polygamy in 1890 yet between 50,000 and 100,000 Mormons (mainly the fundamentalist sector) still practice polygamous relationships. When the show premiered, the church issued a statement asking HBO to place a disclaimer at the beginning of episodes stating that the fictional family is not associated with the organization. “Those groups which continue the practice in Utah and elsewhere have no association whatever with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and most of their practitioners have never been among our members,” the LDS’s statement read. “It will be regrettable if this program, by making polygamy the subject of entertainment, minimizes the seriousness of that problem.”
HBO eventually relented and placed a disclaimer on an episode. In 2009, the show once again angered the church, this time with an endowment ceremony—something that Mormons prefer to keep secret.
4. NICKI WAS MORE THAN JUST A PERSON PEOPLE LOVED TO HATE.
Although Sevigny's Nicki at times seemed like a villain, she was the glue that held the Henricksons together. “The family had to swim through a lot of shit with Nicki, but she provided the family something unconditional,” Ginnifer Goodwin told Vulture. “Nicki reminded them all the time about what was so important about faith. The pros outweighed the cons.”
In developing Nicki, Olsen and Scheffer made her someone who didn’t fit in. “We wanted Nicki to cover her insecurities with a sense of entitlement, the sort of polygamist princess, and Chloë Sevigny gave that really well,” Olsen told the Los Angeles Times. “And she gave the ambiguity of the character real depth."
5. PAXTON DIDN’T SEE HAVING THREE WIVES AS A “MALE FANTASY.”
Paxton told the Los Angeles Times that a man married to three women wasn’t “some male fantasy thing” but a “male nightmare.” “You put a kid in the candy store and you say to the kid: eat as much candy as you want,” he said. “Go on, eat as much candy as you want. And then you ask the kid the next day, ‘Hey you want some candy?’ And the kid’s going to look at you like he never wants to see another piece of candy in his life.”
6. IT WAS A PRO-FEMALE SHOW.
“The big secret of the show is that it’s always been a feminist show,” Olsen told NPR. “And even though it was dramatizing this very patriarchal system in some ways, the opportunities that women found—particularly in this very abusive system—to support each other was what drew us to the material in the first place, and gave us reason to want to explore it. We felt that there were opportunities for women to find support in one another.”
By the series finale, it’s clear the three women will stick together and forge a new life. Paxton also shared the sentiment of Big Love inevitably being a show about the women.
“I was kind of a fiduciary character in many ways,” Paxton told The Huffington Post. “It was really, how do these women relate to each other, sharing this guy and this religion and this whole thing? And how are they going to carry on now that he’s gone probably was a more interesting dynamic.”
7. AARON PAUL WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A “POSSIBLE RECURRING” CHARACTER.
Before Breaking Bad made Aaron Paul a household name, the up-and-coming actor played Sarah’s boyfriend-turned-husband Scott Quittman, from 2007 to 2010. He told Fade In the part was listed as “possible recurring.” “It’s weird,” Paul said. “They just kept having me back.”
Despite Breaking Bad taking off in 2008, Paul found time to star in six more Big Love episodes, including the series finale. “And I thought once Breaking Bad got picked up, Big Love would be done, and so did Big Love,” he said. “They were trying to figure a way to end the relationship, and they actually did end the relationship with Scott and Sarah. But I just stayed in contact with HBO and some of the producers there. I said, ‘Breaking Bad is totally open to me coming back if you can work it out with the schedule.’ They were like, ‘Really?’ So they [raised] my character from the dead again, and brought me back, and we got back together, fell madly in love, and got married.”
8. MATT ROSS DIDN’T KNOW ALBY’S SEXUALITY UNTIL LATER.
Ross played the sinister cult leader Alby Grant, Nicki’s brother, for five seasons. In the beginning, Alby’s sexual orientation was ambiguous. “I think the first scene where I was wondering about his sexuality was when he picks up a drifter or a hustler in a convenience store and he takes him home,” Ross told NPR. “And that was just obviously a strange thing to do. I mean, well, why is he doing that? That was not clear.” Ross thought Alby just wanted to feel something other than numbness, so Alby put himself in a dangerous situation. But later on, Ross figured it out. “I read a scene where it said Alby is—I think he'd been arrested for doing something. And he was in a police station. And it said Alby is checking out all the butts of the cops that are there. And I was like, OK, well, OK, if he's checking out their butts then he’s, you know, this is his sexuality.”
9. THE SHOW ENDED WITH BILL BECOMING A HERO.
The series ends with a neighbor shooting and killing Bill—yet the sister wives decide to stay together. “We wanted to give him a Gary Cooper exit from the show, but it went much deeper than that,” Olsen said to NPR. “We didn’t want Bill to go out a loser or a failure or an unrepentant fundamentalist. And we wanted to find that thing that would render his life’s existence the most successful. We felt [that] the greatest testimony to Bill would be that he had created a family that endured.”
10. PAXTON WANTED BILL TO LIVE.
The actor told The Huffington Post that he wished Bill hadn’t been killed off in the series finale, but he understood why. “The guy was really a revolutionary like Jesus Christ was in some ways,” Paxton said. “I don’t know, I guess society can’t reward that guy, because he is really living outside of society … I guess I was just really fond of the guy and I thought that after all that he had gone through, he deserved to find a quiet place in the sun.”
entertainment Lists News Pop Culture tv
A Stranger Things Fan Is Selling Epic Demogorgon Dog Costumes on Etsy
BY Jessica Bowman
Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, and Gaten Matarazzo in Stranger Things.
Stranger Things is great at placing the truly terrifying alongside the absolutely adorable. One minute we are gushing over Eleven and Mike’s teen romance, and the next we’re jumping off the couch at the sight of those possessed by the Mind Flayer.
No matter how seamless the Duffer Brothers' Netflix series is in weaving together these moments, it seems like it would be impossible to make the Demogorgon cute. But somehow, one crafty fan has done just that.
Etsy shop ThatCraftyFriendShop has created Demogorgon headpieces that fit perfectly on your dog’s head.
Turn Your Dog Into an Adorable Demogorgon with Stranger Things Dog Costumes on Etsy https://t.co/sJgoD0OzeU
— People (@people) July 16, 2019
People reports that the headpieces range in size from extra small (for 5- to 10-pound dogs) all the way to extra large (for dogs over 75 pounds). Prices range from $25 to $75, depending on the size of your four-legged friend.
These wool and felt doggy costumes are perfect for Halloween, or even a Stranger Things watch party while you continue to binge and re-binge the third season—with a decked-out doggy by your side.
[h/t People]
Animals cute dogs entertainment Netflix News Pets Pop Culture shopping Smart Shopping Stranger Things Television tv
J.K. Rowling Reveals How San Francisco Inspired Major Harry Potter Location
BY Bernadette Roe
The award-winning play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is about to open at the Curran Theater in San Francisco. The two-part drama takes place 19 years after the events in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and depicts Harry’s life as his son, Albus, is about to begin school at Hogwarts.
J.K. Rowling has pointed out that San Francisco had a deep influence on the original Harry Potter novels, SFGate reports. In the video below, Rowling talks about how Alcatraz, the infamous former prison, inspired her creation of Azkaban.
"[San Francisco] is a very distinctive, special place—I love the feel of it, I love the architecture,” Rowling said. “I've actually said this before, but Azkaban is a combination of Alcatraz and Abbadon, which is an old word for hell. I squeezed those words together. The idea of the rock in the middle of the ocean was directly inspired by a visit to Alcatraz."
With its mist and Gothic mood, it’s no wonder this slice of San Francisco inspired a big part of the Harry Potter world.
[h/t SFGate]
books celebrities cities entertainment Harry Potter News Pop Culture theater bookcorner
How to Parallel Park Perfectly in One Try, According to Math
Planning a Vacation? Here's How to Make Sure You Don't Bring Any Bed Bugs Home With You
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1798
|
__label__wiki
| 0.796974
| 0.796974
|
How will R.A. Dickey surprise us in 2012?
by Brian Joura • November 25, 2011 • 7 Comments
Generally speaking, the less said about the 2011 Mets pitching staff, the better. Despite enjoying good health among their starting pitchers, as well as playing in a pitcher’s park, they finished 13th in the National League in ERA. Yet Dan Warthen still has a job. But I’m not here to talk about the power of incriminating photos. Instead, let’s talk about R.A. Dickey.
By now, the Dickey tale has been told many times, yet it still seems incredible. It’s difficult to pick out the most unlikely aspect of his story. Is it:
A. The fact that he has no Ulnar Collateral Ligament (roughly 15% of the population does not) yet is still able to pitch in the majors?
B. The fact that he was diagnosed without the UCL when a doctor noticed his arm hanging funny in a picture and prompted the Rangers (the team that drafted him and was ready to sign him to a big contract) to examine him further?
C. That he reinvented himself as a knuckleball pitcher? Most MLB players have toyed with a knuckler at some point in their career. Yet very few actually utilize the pitch on a regular basis.
D. That after finally signing a multi-year contract and cashing in on his talents, Dickey is risking having his 2012 contract voided by hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money to combat human trafficking in India?
I’d say these were all excellent choices but if pressed for an answer I guess I would go with B. That is until I realized that Dickey had such a strong season with the Mets in 2011 – a team-best 208.2 IP, a SP-best 3.28 ERA and a 2.48 K/BB ratio – despite having his knuckleball be a below-average pitch.
That is pretty remarkable.
Dickey last year threw his knuckleball 75.3% of the time, yet his Pitch Type Linear Weights show that his knuckler was worth -7.4 for the year. For a comparison, Dickey’s knuckler rated 10.8 in 2010. Dickey was successful last year because his fastball was so good. It’s a strange thing to say, as Dickey’s average fastball speed of 84.4 ranked 93rd out of 94 pitchers qualified pitchers on the FanGraphs leaderboards. But his wFB rating of 11.1 was the 14th-best in the majors last year.
If we scale things to 100 pitches, we see Dickey’s knuckler was only -0.31 — not a huge number. But still, it’s got to be a little surprising for a successful pitcher to rely so much on one pitch and have that pitch not be in positive numbers, much less dominating. For example, Mariano Rivera’s cutter had a wCT of 12.2 and a wCT/C of 1.54, which is more in line with what I would have expected for Dickey’s knuckler.
Of course, the knuckleball hardly follows the rules of other pitches. That’s why it’s so hard to hit and so hard to forecast the guys who throw it. If we look at Tim Wakefield, we see that his knuckleball has been a below average pitch the past three seasons, too. But Wakefield has been lousy the past two years and even three seasons ago, he was not as good as Dickey was last year.
After his breakout year in 2010, none of the forecast systems projected Dickey to have another strong season in 2011. But he did. And I expect we’ll see the same pattern here again this year. The Bill James projections are out and it forecasts a 3.89 ERA from Dickey, significantly above last year’s 3.28 mark. ZiPS has him at 3.77 – and that was with 2011’s Citi Field dimensions.
Regardless, I look forward to Dickey completing his Mt. Kilimanjaro hike without incident and providing strong pitching for the Mets again in 2012. And at this point, I expect him to add another wrinkle to what has already been an extraordinary career. Last year we found out that Dickey was a huge Star Wars fan and it will be tough to top that.
But if we find out that he does a killer Howard Megdal impersonation, I think that will work.
Tags:R.A. Dickey
← What Mets fans should be thankful for
Reviewing my 33-year-old grudge against Richie Hebner →
7 comments for “How will R.A. Dickey surprise us in 2012?”
How will R.A. Dickey do in 2012? 22-6 W/L, NL leading 2.26 ERA, 4.25 K/BB. First Met Cy Young award winner since Doc Gooden and first 20 game winner since Frank Viola, pitching the Mets past a collapsing Phillies team with 3 shutouts in September, and into the postseason.
Jose Reyes scores from first on an Ike Davis walk off double to win the NLDS against the Brewers, and David Wright is awarded NLCS MVP after batting .450 and connecting for 5 homers in the series, including three in a game against Matt Cain of the Giants.
R.A., after pitching a two-hit shutout in game 2 of the world series, comes on in relief in the decisive game 4 against the Yankees, getting Derek Jeter to pop out while the Mets celebrate on the Yankee Stadium infield. He is awarded WS MVP honors.
When it happens, you heard it here first.
Was just looking at some older articles and found this! Almost a spot on prediction for Dickey! (sadly everything after that terribly wrong)
Is Dickey aware that Kilimanjaro is not in India, or is he just working on such a high plane of existence that such details become irrelevant?
I think he chose Kilimanjaro because it requires little technical climbing skill – not because of any connection to his charity.
By the way, the Tom Seaver in your logo looks very tired.
Gotta love R.A. Dickey – unassuming, thoughtful, throws a quirky pitch and has that great story of dogged determination to overcome some amazingly unlikely tough luck early on. And yeah, the hiking Kilimanjaro to support awareness of human trafficking just makes him all that much more admirable. 2010 and 2011 were a couple of depressingly crappy years for the Metsies, but R.A. gave the fans something to feel good about. I hope he has an outstanding season in 2012, and even if he doesn’t, he’ll still be a favorite.
Dan Stack
Yeah, ya gotta love Dickey. I should have included him in my Thanksgiving piece!
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1805
|
__label__cc
| 0.627066
| 0.372934
|
Pasadena, California, USA:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget (1965–66) or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun (1967–70); in the 1970s, for Sybil (1976), Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Norma Rae (1979); in the 1980s, for Absence of Malice, Places in the Heart (1984) and Steel Magnolias; in the 1990s, for Not Without My Daughter, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and Forrest Gump; and in the 2000s, on the TV shows ER and Brothers & Sisters. She has also performed in numerous other roles. Field has won two Academy Awards, for Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984). She has also won three Emmy Awards: for her role in the TV film Sybil (1976); her guest-starring role on ER in 2000; and for her starring role as Nora Holden Walker on ABC's series Brothers & Sisters in 2007. She has also won two Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She also won the Best Female Performance Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, for Norma Rae (1979). Description above from the Wikipedia article Sally Field, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
National Theatre Live: All My Sons (2019)
Kate Keller
Little Evil (2017)
Miss Shaylock
Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)
Doris Miller
Aunt May
The Desert of Forbidden Art (2011)
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008)
Marina Del Ray (voice)
Two Weeks (2006)
Anita Bergman
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
Rep. Victoria Rudd
Aunt Betsey Trotwood
Say It Isn't So (2001)
Valdine Wingfield
Mama Lil
A Cooler Climate (1999)
The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful (1996)
Herself (Uncredited)
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996)
Eye for an Eye (1996)
Karen McCann
A Woman of Independent Means (1995)
Bess Alcott Steed Garner
Through the Eyes of Forrest Gump (1994)
Mrs. Gump
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Miranda Hillard
Sassy (voice)
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991)
Soapdish (1991)
Celeste Talbert
Not Without My Daughter (1991)
M'Lynn Eatenton
Punchline (1988)
Lilah Krytsick
Daisy Morgan
Murphy's Romance (1985)
Emma Moriarty
Places in the Heart (1984)
Edna Spalding
All the Way Home (1981)
Mary Follet
Absence of Malice (1981)
Megan Carter
Back Roads (1981)
Amy Post
Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
Celeste Whitman
Norma Rae (1979)
Norma Rae
Hooper (1978)
Gwen Doyle
The End (1978)
Mary Ellen
Heroes (1977)
Carol Bell
Carrie 'Frog'
Stay Hungry (1976)
Mary Tate Farnsworth
Home for the Holidays (1974)
Christine Morgan
Mongo's Back in Town (1971)
Marriage: Year One (1971)
Jane Duden
Hitched (1971)
Roselle Bridgeman
Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring (1971)
Denise 'Dennie' Miller
The Way West (1967)
Mercy McBee
The Christmas Tree (1996)
Teleplay
Dying Young (1991)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1806
|
__label__wiki
| 0.728618
| 0.728618
|
"I need people to listen to me"
From today's Daily Record (an Ohio newspaper), "Testimony asks state to abolish death penalty; it creates 'more victims'":
COLUMBUS -- Twenty-seven years ago, Mary Jane Stout and her husband, Norman, allowed John David Stumpf and another man into their Guernsey County home to use the telephone.
In response, Stumpf shot and killed Mary Jane and attempted to kill her husband with repeated gunshots to the head.
That was in May 1984. Stumpf has been on Death Row since that year while his case works its way through the requisite state and federal appeals before an execution date is set.
On Wednesday, the couple's son asked state lawmakers to abolish Ohio's death penalty, saying the lengthy legal process has brought nothing but pain and constant reminders of the crime rather than closure.
"We need certainty, we need healing," Chris Stout told the House's criminal justice committee. "We need to not be hauled into court again and again for 27 years and ... traumatized over and over."
He added, "I need this system to stop, period. I need the death penalty to be over and I need people to listen to me when I say, do not do this to me or my family. Don't kill John David Stumpf because of me. We've been through enough, and we want it to end. All this system does is create more victims. ..."
Stout was one of more than a dozen people providing testimony in favor of legislation that would end capital punishment in the state.
Speakers included former Death Row inmates who were innocent of the charges against them, attorneys who talked about the costs and inequity in administering the death penalty and family members of murder victims who said the system is not working.
Read the full article.
A Human Rights Day thank you
Seven years ago, at the UN Church Plaza in New York City, a group gathered to celebrate the official launch of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights. Here's a photo of the Founders" Pledge, which says, "In honor and memory of our family members taken from us by homicide, the undersigned join together to form Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights. In the name of victims we pledge to work to end the death penalty in all countries of the world."
It was, of course, a deliberate choice to launch MVFHR on December 10th, International Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In our first mailing shortly after the founding ceremony, we wrote:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that sets forth the most basic principles regarding the value of human life and the way human beings ought to treat one another, was inspired by victims, demanded by victims. It grew out of the suffering of millions of civilians murdered under the brutal regimes of the Second World War, and its adoption on December 10, 1948 was a way to honor the loss of these lives, and an attempt to give meaning to the loss, by asserting that such violations are neither moral nor permissible under any nation or regime.
Now is the time to raise our voices again and insist that violations of human life in the form of the death penalty or other state killings are not permissible under any nation or regime. It is time to call for the abolition of the death penalty because the only way to uphold human rights is to uphold them in all cases, universally.
We believe that survivors of homicide victims have a recognized stake in the debate over how societies respond to murder and have the moral authority to call for a consistent human rights ethic as part of that response. Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights is the answer to that call.
Now as we observe International Human Rights Day today, in 2011, we extend our deepest thanks to all MVFHR's members and supporters who have helped answer that call and who have accomplished so much in these seven years.
Remembering Martina Davis Correia
MVFHR joins the many other organizations that have expressed sadness at the passing of Martina Correia, sister of Troy Davis. Troy Davis was executed in Georgia on September 21st, amid much protest because of his significant claims of innocence. So many joined in the campaign to stop Davis's execution -- not only in the U.S. but around the world as well -- and the campaign was marked by the t-shirts many of the protesters wore, saying "I am Troy Davis." Martina had led that tremendous campaign for many years while battling cancer.
MVFHR's Executive Director Renny Cushing offers these thoughts:
On numerous occasions over the past dozen years, I was fortunte to share a public platform with Martina Correia as we both tried to put a public face on the issue of violence and the death penalty. Martina was more than just an advocate for her brother; she was emblematic of the pain and struggle that all families of death row prisoners experience. Her dignity and quiet strength in both her public work and her private life were inspiring. When I heard of her passing, I thought not just of her but of all the family members of death row prisoners and executed persons and of how many people in the world today could be wearing a t-shirt that reads “I am Martina Correia."
Many others have offered memories and tributes. In a post on the Amnesty International blog, Laura Moye wrote:
Martina fought her deteriorating body every step of the way to hold onto life and to be in this world for her family and for the human family. Her body finally gave out, living eleven years longer than doctors predicted she would. It is unimaginable what stress and hardship she and her family faced having a loved one on death row who was almost executed three times, then finally killed by the state she called home and in the country she served as a military and civilian nurse. Martina’s mother, though in perfect health, died shortly after Troy Davis’ final appeal was denied and a few months before his execution. The families of murder victims and the families of death row prisoners endure enormous pain. The death penalty is horrifically destructive, creating a downward spiral of violence that drags so many people down in its wake. We must end it so that an authentic justice that brings us accountability, healing and a better future can take root and blossom.
And here is a link to Scott Langley's moving tribute and photo series.
Today is the Community of Sant'Egidio's annual day of Cities for Life - Cities Against the Death Penalty, when well over a thousand cities around the world hold events and gatherings calling for an end to the death penalty. Many, such as the event at the Roman Colosseum, involve the lighting of a public monument. Illinois MVFHR member Cathy Crino will be joining with many others to participate in that special occasion, and MVFHR board member Bill Pelke is in Germany participating in Sant'Egidio's speaking tour there.
Also today, Massachusetts MVFHR member Bob Curley will be the speaker at an event, "A Journey from Death to Life," held at Boston College and organized by The Community of Sant'Egidio in Boston. Bob, who was initially a supporter of the death penalty following his son Jeffrey's murder in 1997, has spoken widely, in many venues around the world, but Boston College has a special resonance because it was where he first announced publicly, ten years ago, that he had changed his mind and was now an opponent of the death penalty. You can read more about Bob's journey in Brian Macquarrie's book The Ride.
"I simply cannot participate"
"[[The death penalty] has been carried out just twice in last 49 years in Oregon. Both were during my first administration as Governor, one in 1996 and the other in 1997. I allowed those sentences to be carried out despite my personal opposition to the death penalty. I was torn between my personal convictions about the morality of capital punishment and my oath to uphold the Oregon constitution.
"They were the most agonizing and difficult decisions I have made as Governor and I have revisited and questioned them over and over again during the past 14 years. I do not believe that those executions made us safer; and certainly they did not make us nobler as a society. And I simply cannot participate once again in something I believe to be morally wrong."
MVFHR joins many other organizations in thanking Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber for his decision yesterday to halt executions in the state. Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (OADP) has news and information about this momentous decision, the work that led up to it, and the further examination of the death penalty that lies ahead in Oregon.
MVFHR board member Aba Gayle, who also serves on the board of OADP, has been part of the effort to stop executions in Oregon. For more voices of Oregon victims' family members, vist MVFHR's Gallery of Victims' Stories.
Take care of all victims
From today's Baltimore Sun, this opinion piece by Vivian Penda, "For the sake of victims' families, repeal the death penalty":
I always thought murder was something that happened to other families. You read about it in the paper. You see the legal process unfold on TV. There's so much attention paid to certain murders that you assume the families going through their tragedy are getting support and help.
Then my son, Dennis, was murdered in 2002, and I learned how little support there actually is. Losing Dennis rests heavily with me every day. His murder received no notice, and our family was left to grieve on our own.
It turns out that my experience is not unusual. Only a small fraction of Maryland's 400-plus murders each year generate headlines. For those with the knowledge and means to access help, there is a patchwork of government and nonprofit services to help victims' families cope with their loss.
For too many of us, there is none of that.
We fail the families of too many murder victims at the moment when they need our support most. Murder traumatizes families, isolating survivors in their pain. Many survivors face trouble just getting out of bed, much less figuring out where to find and fight for grief counseling and other needed services.
Instead of providing comprehensive support to all surviving families of murder victims, Maryland has opted to maintain a costly death penalty that throws millions of dollars at just a few cases. A 2008 study commissioned by the Abell Foundation found that the average death penalty case adds almost $2 million extra to the state's costs, and that having the punishment has cumulatively cost the state $186 million.
I find this use of state resources offensive. Many murder victims come from low-income families. And although three-quarters of murder victims in Maryland are African-American, the five men currently on death row are all there for murdering white Marylanders.
Some say the death penalty offers justice to victims, but with the majority of people on death row still there after decades, even the cases that do result in execution impose a cruel wait on the victims' families. Changes to our state's death penalty law enacted in 2009 have only prolonged this.
Why do we choose to pursue a small handful of death sentences at a cost of millions and millions of dollars, all while tormenting the victims in the process? Those millions could instead help all victims' families with their trauma, and prevent crime so there aren't as many victims in the future. Why don't we invest to break the cycle of grief and violence, making for healthier and safer communities for all of us?
The ugly truth is that capital punishment elevates a few murders, leaving the rest of us to suffer without recognition. The effort to identify the "worst of the worst" rests on a false assumption that some murders are simply ordinary. What mother is going to agree that her little girl or boy's murder was ordinary? All murders are horrible and leave behind a family in grief, a family overwhelmed by a heartache we all hope to never face.
In 2008, the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment, having heard testimony from many survivors of murder victims, concluded that capital cases are more detrimental to surviving families than life-without-parole cases. The commission recommended repealing the death penalty and using the resulting savings to increase resources and services for surviving families.
This is why the 2012 death penalty repeal bill will include funds to aid murder victims' families. I will be working with other family members who have lost loved ones to violence to pass this bill next year.
In a time of shrinking resources, we need to make choices. Instead of pursuing a handful of executions that may not take place for decades, let's take care of the thousands of families across Maryland who have been hurt by violent crime. Let's take care of all of us.
Welcome to our new board members
We would like to welcome three new members to MVFHR's Board of Directors:
Long-time abolitionist Aba Gayle also serves on the boards of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, The World Forgiveness Initiative, and The Catherine Blount Foundation, named for Aba Gayle's 19-year-old daughter who was murdered in California in 1980. In this issue of the MVFHR newsletter, Aba Gayle talks about how she initially felt pressured to support the death penalty for her daughter's killer, and how she came to change her mind.
James Staub is active with Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. James was 12 years old when his mother, Patricia Staub, was murdered in 1985, and to this day the murder rrmains unsolved. In this issue of MVFHR"s newsletter, James speaks about how an unsolved murder affects a survivor.
Yolanda Littlejohn's sister Jacquetta Thomas was murdered in North Carolina in 1991. Two men were arrested for her murder. One was never convicted; the other was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. In 2009, he was exonerated and released from prison when DNA evidence proved that he could not have been the killer. The murder of Jacquetta Thomas is now a cold case – an unsolved homicide. Yolanda has been active in the effort to repeal North Carolina’s death penalty and speaks frequently to groups, telling her story and discussing the effects of exoneration on victims’ families.
We are honored to have these three new members join our Board, and we know that MVFHR will be even stronger and more effective because of their contributions.
Not the direction I want
From Monday's KSFY (ABC) news in South Dakota, "Victim's family reacts to state seeking death penalty for inmate":
Family members of 75-year-old Maybelle Schein are reacting to the state's decision to seek the death penalty for accused murderer James McVay.
The Minnehaha County States Attorney's office filed the paperwork on that decision Monday.
Police say 41-year-old McVay stabbed Schein to death in her Sioux Falls home and then stole her car.
We talked to Schein's cousin, Robin Prunty on the phone. She didn't want to go on camera.
Here's what she had to say when we ask her about the state seeking the death penalty.
"That's not the direction I want it to go. Being in prison for the rest of his life is OK and enough. Do we need to put him to death? I don't think so. It won't make me feel any better," Robin Prunty said.
Speaking in Pennsylvania
In recent weeks, MVFHR board member Walt Everett has told his story to a variety of audiences in his home state of Pennsylvania. Walt spoke at two Bucknell University events, and he was one of several speakers at a "Day of Responsibility" event held at a local prison; about 60 inmates attended. Then in late October, Walt was the luncheon speaker at NAMI-Pennsylvania's Criminal Justice Symposium.
MVFHR has been collaborating with NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) on the national level since 2008, when we launched the "Prevention, Not Execution" project. We are pleased to see that collaboration continue and look forward to more opportunities to address NAMI's state and local groups.
The ultimate violation
MVFHR member Aba Gayle is featured in this article in the 10/30/11 Oregon Statesman Journal, "From hate to healing":
For years, Aba Gayle "lusted for revenge" against the California death- row inmate who murdered her 19-year-old daughter.
But everything changed when she mailed the killer a letter, saying she forgave him.
Paying visits to San Quentin prison, Gayle befriended the man she once despised and wanted put to death.
As hate gave way to healing, she turned against the death penalty.
Now, the 77-year-old Silverton woman is a leader of a nonprofit Oregon advocacy organization that is seeking to abolish the death penalty here.
Even though condemned killers rarely are executed in Oregon, Gayle says it's time for Oregonians to repeal the law that allows state-sanctioned killing.
As she tells it, the ultimate punishment should be scrapped because it sucks taxpayer dollars, undermines human values and takes revenge in arbitrary fashion. "It truly is the ultimate violation of human rights," she said. "It is horrendous to think that when they kill somebody at the penitentiary, they do it in the name of the citizens. I don't want anybody killed in my name."
Working with the Catholic Mobilizing Network
MVFHR Board Chair Vicki Schieber has been working extensively with the Catholic Mobilizing Network Against the Death Penalty, and is in the midst of a series of speaking events in connection with that effort. This past Saturday she was the keynote speaker at a Respect Life conference in Cincinnati, and over the next couple of weeks she will be speaking as part of the National Conference of Catholic Women conference and an event called "Unimpeachable Voices Against the Death Penalty."
You can see the upcoming schedule, and other news from the Catholic Mobilizing Network, here.
A broken promise
From today's California Progress Report, "Murder Victim Mom Against the Death Penalty," by Lorrain Taylor:
My twin sons, Albade and Obadiah, were just 22 years old when they were gunned down on the streets of East Oakland. Both students, Albade attending Merritt College and Obadiah studying to open his own barber shop, they had stopped on the side of the road to fix Obadiah’s stalled car when somebody shot and killed them at close range. The pain I feel for the loss of my sons will never go away. It is made even worse when I hear, almost daily, that another mother in California has lost her child to violence that has taken so many lives.
The person who killed my twin sons likely still walks the street today. Like the death of my sons, a shocking 46% of murders in California each year go unsolved, along with 56% of reported rapes. In this time of economic crisis, budgets for local law enforcement have been slashed repeatedly. Instead of hiring more officers to investigate open homicide cases, we are forced to lay off the very people who could catch these killers. Instead of testing each rape kit, they languish on shelves while the perpetrator remains free to attack another person.
While these criminals are still walking our streets, California continues to waste precious money on a broken death penalty system. Every year, California throws away $184 million dollars on 714 people that are already locked up behind bars instead of investing money in public safety programs that work. Since 1978 when the death penalty was reinstated, we have spent over 4 billion taxpayer dollars for 13 executions. For the cost of one execution, we could be employing nearly 6,000 police officers to patrol our streets, solve more serious crimes, and bring justice to more families.
The death penalty is a broken promise. It does not make our streets safer and it takes away resources from things that prevent violence, like keeping our kids in school and putting cops on the street. It also denies justice for thousands of grieving mothers who, like me, will never see their children’s murderer be held accountable for their crimes.
This is why I support the SAFE California Act (Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement for California Act). SAFE California is a ballot initiative that will replace the death penalty with life without possibility of parole. By replacing the death penalty with life without possibility of parole, California will save an estimated $1 billion over the next five years. In addition, it will allocate $100 million to local law enforcement to investigate unsolved murders and rapes.
A sentence of life without the possibility of parole offers swift and certain justice. It also means that inmates will work in prison and pay money into the victim compensation fund as restitution. This money can help families of murder victims receive badly needed counseling services and pay for burial expenses. ...
Read the whole article.
Unlikely opponents?
MVFHR members Charisse Coleman and Gus Lamm are among those interviewed for the CNN story, "Death penalty's unlikely opponents," that ran yesterday. Here are some excerpts:
Charisse Coleman has no real compassion for the man who walked into the Thrifty Liquor Store in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1995 and put three bullets in her brother, Russell.
But she doesn't want Bobby Lee Hampton -- one of more than seven dozen killers on Louisiana's death row -- executed, either.
"My opposition to the death penalty has nothing to do with Bobby Lee Hampton," Coleman said. "He's a bad dude. He's never going to be a good dude. If I got a call that said Bobby Lee Hampton dropped dead in his cell last night, I don't think it would create a ripple in my pond."
She added, though, "I will be goddamned if I will let Bobby Lee Hampton make me a victim, too, by taking me down that road of bitterness and revenge."
Coleman, 50, is among the most unlikely opponents of the death penalty, people who lost loved ones to unspeakable violence yet believe executing the killer will do nothing for family members or society.
Their stance is backed by groups like Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation and Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, and their reasons aren't as religious or political as one might think. Some feel so strongly they've spoken against the death penalty even when it wasn't an option in their loved one's case.
Jan Brown of Houston said she can't pinpoint why she loathes the death penalty, but she always has, even when her 9-year-old daughter's killer was executed.
A Southern Baptist until 1984, Brown said capital punishment is tantamount to "legalized murder." She said she doesn't know when she developed her disdain. The first time she considered it may have been when she told a prosecutor she didn't want James Earhart to die, she said.
"Maybe I'm just selfish," she said. "Maybe he'd tell me what her last words were. Maybe he'd tell me why she had to die. Maybe because I think it's barbaric. Maybe if one of my children ended up in the same situation, I wouldn't want them to die."
Brown, 65, said the entire process leading up to Earhart's lethal injection was more about the perpetrator than the victim. Brown was a suspect until police found Kandy Janell Kirtland's deteriorating body, her hands bound, in a rubbish pile in Bryan, Texas. Brown said she was further devastated when protesters staged a vigil at Earhart's 1999 execution -- not for the innocent girl who never got to see fifth grade, but for her killer.
Brown said she went through 12 years of hell because a prosecutor seemed to care more about Texas' reputation for being tough on crime than about helping Kandy's family heal.
Gus Lamm said he felt the same way when his wife, Victoria Zessin, was taken at age 28. He and his daughter unsuccessfully sued the parole board -- and in the process alienated themselves from Zessin's family -- to make sure the state knew they felt capital punishment was repugnant.
No Solace
The 10/23/11 Hartford Courant has this op-ed by MVFHR member Antoinette Bosco, "Capital Punishment No Solace To Survivors":
... I faced unspeakable torment when a Montana sheriff called in August 1993 to tell me that my son John and his beautiful wife, Nancy, had been murdered in their newly purchased home in Big Fork. We didn't know for five months who the killer was, but then we found out — it was the 18-year-old son of the people from whom John had bought the house. The killer entered through a basement window, sneaked up into their bedroom where they were sleeping and shot them to death.
Montana had only recently re-established capital punishment, and the boy, "Shadow" Clark, was facing death. I had always opposed the death penalty and my children were raised to believe as I had. I remember kneeling in that room of death with my surviving sons and we all grasped a truth so clearly — that unnatural death at the hands of another is wrong, except in a clear case of self-defense. The state is no more justified in taking a life than is an individual. Killing cannot be sanitized by calling it "official" and "legal."
And so, my then five living children and I wrote to the Montana judge asking him not to seek the death penalty for Shadow Clark. We knew it is only a delusion to believe that one's pain is ended by making someone else feel pain. We were relieved when the young murderer took a plea bargain and received a life sentence, avoiding the death penalty.
My daughter Mary expressed our belief well.
"The truth is, no one in my family ever wanted to see Shadow Clark put to death. We felt instinctively that vengeance wouldn't alleviate our grief. We wanted Clark in prison, removed from society forever, so he could never hurt another person. But watching Clark suffer and die would have done nothing to help us heal. Worse, wishing Clark would suffer and die would only have diminished us and shriveled our own souls. We had had enough pain already, dealing with the indescribable horror of our loved ones' brains and blood splattered all over their bedroom walls. We didn't need to increase our own torment by demanding more blood."
And Mary emphasized where we all stood: "Hatred doesn't heal. Mercy, compassion, moving on with life, turning toward good people, walking into the light of love as much as possible, that's what victims need. And our lawmakers have the capacity to help us do that by abolishing the death penalty and along with it, the fantasy that it will make the pain go away."
Read the whole piece.
Connecticut victims' families
Connecticut member Elizabeth Brancato, whose mother was murdered in 1979, has been active in efforts to repeal Connecticut's death penalty, and she has recently started a blog, Connecticut Murder Victims' Families Speaking Out Against the Death Penalty. In her first post, Elizabeth wrote:
A few months ago, I stood with a group of individuals who had something very sad in common – we’d all lost loved ones to murder. That experience, and our subsequent experience with the criminal justice system, has convinced us that the death penalty is harmful to victims. Currently, over 80 of us have joined to together to say that if we really care about victims, we will end the death penalty.
This blog is for all victims’ family members who believe the death penalty is a policy that has failed victims. I will submit entries, but I will also ask other victims’ family members from around Connecticut to share their stories. We have different backgrounds and perspective, but are united by the belief that the death penalty system has hurt us and other survivors.
We welcome Elizabeth and other Connecticut victims' family members to the blogosphere, and look forward to linking regularly to their powerful testimony.
Speaking about how an execution affects a family
This past Sunday, Texas MVFHR member Rena Beazley and I (Susannah Sheffer) gave a presentation -- via telephone and Skype -- to law students attending a weekend training organized by the British group Amicus, which provides various kinds of assistance to capital defense attorneys in the United States. Rena, whose son was executed in 2002, spoke about her family's experience and about the effects of an execution on surviving family members. I spoke about MVFHR's No Silence, No Shame project, including some of the recommendations that we have made regarding legal recognition for families of the executed and regarding various kinds of help that should be made available. Thanks to Piers Bannister at Amicus for inviting us to make this presentation.
Glimpse of MVFHR in Mongolia
This item from Mongolia's English-language news service gives a glimpse of MVFHR's work there this week past week. More to come!
The London Declaration
One outcome of Penal Reform International's “Progressing toward abolition of the death penalty and alternative sanctions that respect international human rights standards" conference last month, at which Renny Cushing represented MVFHR, is a document called the London Declaration. The Declaration summarizes the recommendations that the participants agreed upon - participants which included government officials and representatives of civil society and inter-governmental organisations from 31 countries.
MVFHR contributed in particular to the inclusion of recommendations regarding victims' families and families of the executed. See the fourth point in this list of assertions that introduce the Declaration:
- Convinced that the death penalty undermines human dignity and can amount to cruel,inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment;
- Noting that there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters criminal behaviour any more effectively than other punishments;
- Recalling that where the death penalty is retained at all, it should only be imposed for the “most serious crimes”, and after a fair trial has been granted to the accused;
- Mindful that the death penalty creates additional victims – the family members of those who have been executed – who are often forgotten, marginalised or stigmatised by society;
- Mindful that the essential aim of the penitentiary system should be the “reformation and social rehabilitation” of prisoners;
And the ninth recommendation of the Declaration says:
In recognition of the suffering of victims of violent crime and their loved ones, call upon states to:
a. ensure that all victims be treated with dignity, respect and equality throughout the criminal process, regardless of their beliefs about or position on the issue of the death penalty;
b. establish a victims’ compensation fund where there is none;
c. address the rights of victims to reconciliation or mitigation with the offender where appropriate, and provide any other psycho-social support.
We were interested to see that an Inter-Press Service article earlier this week focused specifically on the Declaration's urging of the Arab League and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights to consider developing regional protocols on the abolition of the death penalty. The Inter-Press Service article also quotes the portion of the Declaration that refers to families of the executed.
Video from South Korea interview
No photos yet from Mongolia, but we've just gotten a link to the short video that Amnesty International made during MVFHR's visit to South Korea last month, in connection with the country's 5,000th day without an execution. In this video, Renny Cushing talks about his father's murder, his opposition to the death penalty, the work of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, and why this is a crucial historical moment for South Korea.
... and in Uganda
MVFHR members Bill Pelke and Bill Babbitt are traveling in Uganda with The Journey of Hope this week, speaking out against the death penalty at various events. They are there at the invitation of Journey of Hope member Mpagi Edward Edmary, who spent 18 years on Uganda's death row for a crime he did not commit.
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty reports that there were many events in African countries honoring World Day Against the Death Penalty yesterday:
One of the bigger events is the ‘Regional Conference on the Abolition and/or Moratorium on the Execution of the Death Penalty’ organised by the Government of Rwanda with Hands Off Cain and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, to be held in Kigali. The conference will have participants from at least 24 different African countries and representatives from the European Union and African Union. According to the organisers, “The conference aims to launch a major debate on the need to abolish the death penalty on the African continent or at least impose a moratorium on its execution across the entire Continent.”
Read the rest of the Coalition's article, which also mentions the Journey of Hope's visit.
Working for abolition in Mongolia
A delegation of MVFHR members is in Mongolia this week, working with allies to support efforts to abolish the death penalty in that country. We'll post photos and reports from the various events as soon as they're available. One of today's activities is a press conference in connection with World Day Against the Death Penalty. Here is the group's public statement:
Today is World Day Against the Death Penalty, a day when nations around the globe stand in solidarity against the use of capital punishment. Members of Murder VIctims' Families for Human Rights, a United States-based international organization, are in Mongolia on this day to lend support to those who are calling for an end to the death penalty in this country. We are meeting with other family members of murder victims to share our common pain, and we are meeting with public officials and others to explain why we oppose the death penalty. As survivors with a direct stake in the death penalty debate, we join today in the call for a worldwide moratorium on executions. Let us not respond to violence with more violence. Let us recognize that justice for victims is not achieved by taking another life.
Read MVFHR's general statement on World Day Against the Death Penalty.
Read about MVFHR's previous work in Mongolia.
World Day Against the Death Penalty
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights
Statement on World Day Against the Death Penalty
Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights is a U.S.-based international organization of family members of homicide victims and family members of people who have been executed. As survivors with a direct stake in the death penalty debate, and as people who believe in the value of basic human rights principles, we join today in the call for a worldwide moratorium on executions.
The most basic of human rights, the right to life, is violated both by homicide and by execution. We call today for a consistent human rights ethic in response to violence: let us not respond to one human rights violation with another human rights violation. Let us recognize that justice for victims is not achieved by taking another life.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was inspired by victims, demanded by victims. It grew out of the suffering of millions of civilians murdered under the brutal regimes of the Second World War, and its adoption on December 10, 1948 was a way to honor the loss of those lives by asserting that such violations are neither moral nor permissible under any nation or regime.
Now, over sixty years later, let us recognize that violations of human life in the form of the death penalty should not be permissible under any nation or regime. Working across state and national borders, united by our losses and our opposition to further killing, members of MVFHR call for abolition of the death penalty because the only way to uphold human rights is to uphold them in all cases, universally.
MVFHR's Renny Cushing will be the keynote speaker at the Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons conference this weekend, and will also meet with members of Coloradoans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Read MVFHR's newsletter article describing the work of Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons.
Read MVFHR's newsletter issue with a feature on how unsolved murders affect victims' families.
Read more about Renny Cushing's legislation regarding victims' compensation and cold cases.
25 quotes
MVFHR is mentioned in this column by Tom Hennessy in Saturday's Long Beach (CA) Press-Telegram:
When Troy Davis was executed in Georgia last month for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail, opponents of capital punishment nevertheless took solace in hoping that the death penalty was on its way to being abolished.
After all, Davis had more going for him than almost any of the 1,270 U.S. prisoners put to death since 1976. About 650,000 Americans had signed petitions opposing his execution. Those pleading for his life included Pope Benedict XVI, former President Jimmy Carter and former FBI director William Sessions.
Seven of the original nine eyewitnesses had recanted their testimony. Thus, the possibility remained that Davis was innocent. But likely, we will never know. Once a suspect has been executed, the justice system does not encourage further investigation.
Some of those who favored the execution say they did so on the premise that the death of Davis will bring closure to the family of Officer MacPhail.
But Jeanne Woodford doubts that assessment. As former warden of San Quentin State Prison, she became so distressed by a lifetime of helping administer the death penalty that on May 12 she took on a radically different post: executive director of Death Penalty Focus, a San Francisco-based group opposed to capital punishment. She was one of six ex-wardens opposed to the killing of Davis.
"The death penalty serves no one." Woodford has said. "It doesn't serve the victims. It doesn't serve prevention. It's truly all about retribution."
She is not alone. In the following paragraphs, 25 other notable people, widely quoted on a variety of websites, express their views on capital punishment, a subject that may well be on the California ballot next year.
A justice's view
1. "... the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent."
Supreme Court Justice William Brennan Jr.
2. "I was eight years old when my father was murdered. It is almost impossible to describe the pain of losing a parent to a senseless murder ... But even as a child, one thing was clear to me: I didn't want the killer, in turn, to be killed. I remember lying in bed and praying, `Please, God. Please don't take his life, too.' I saw nothing that could be accomplished in the loss of one life being answered with the loss of another."
Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Sen. Bobby Kennedy.
3. "If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue."
Justice Thurgood Marshall, 1990.
4. "You believe an eye for an eye until you are put in that situation. If they kill those guys, it really doesn't mean much to me. My father is gone."
Basketball player Michael Jordan on the murderers of his father, James.
5. "Government ... can't be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill."
Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking."
6. "Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul."
Mark Twain.
Primitive nation?
7. "It's just really tragic after all the horrors of the last 1,000 years we can't leave behind something as primitive as government-sponsored execution."
Sen. Russ Feingold.
8. "To top it off, for those of you who are interested in the economics, it costs more to pursue a capital case toward execution than it does to have full life imprisonment without parole."
Ralph Nader.
9. "Capital punishment, like the rest of the criminal justice system, is a government program, so skepticism is in order."
George Will.
10. "A humane and generous concern for every individual, his health and his fulfillment, will do more to soothe the savage heart than the fear of state-inflicted death, which chiefly serves to remind us how close we remain to the jungle."
U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
11. "When you execute a man who has been on death row seven, eight, 10 or 12 years, you are not executing the same man that came in."
Don Cabana, former warden of Mississippi's Parchman Penitentiary.
12. "Here I want to say that one must be careful in searching his soul ... one may just find that God is there and that he does not support the barbaric idea that man should execute man."
Ron McAndrew, former warden of Florida State Prison.
13. "To me the death penalty is vengeance, and vengeance doesn't really help anyone in the healing process."
Bud Welch, board president, Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights. His daughter, Julie, was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.
14. "No man has the right to take God's place and say another man should die. It destroyed my life."
Perry Cobb, who spent eight years on Illinois' death row for a crime he did not commit. He was exonerated in 1987.
District attorney's view
15. "California's death penalty is ... an incredibly costly penalty, and the money would be better spent keeping kids in school, keeping teachers and counselors in their schools and giving the juvenile justice system the resources it needs."
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti.
16. "Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders."
French philosopher Albert Camus.
17. "My overriding belief is that it is always possible for criminals to improve and that by its very finality the death penalty contradicts this."
The Dalai Lama.
18. "People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty."
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
19. "To say that the death of any other person would be just retribution is to insult the immeasurable worth of our loved ones who are victims."
Marietta Jaeger. Her daughter, Susie, age 7, was kidnapped and murdered in 1973.
20. "I do not think that God approved the death penalty for any crime, rape and murdered included. Capital punishment is against the best judgment of modern criminology and, above all, against the highest expression of love in the nature of God."
21. "I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don't think it's human to become an Angel of Death."
Nobel laureate, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
22. "The reality is that capital punishment in America is a lottery. It is a punishment that is shaped by the constraints of poverty, race, geography and local politics."
Bryan Stevenson, death row lawyer.
23. "Most people approve of capital punishment, but most people wouldn't do the hangman's job."
George Orwell.
24. "I believe that no one should be executed, guilty or innocent. There are appropriate sanctions that protect society and punish wrongdoers without forcing us to stoop to the level of the least among us at his or her worst moment."
Actor and activist Mike Farrell.
25. "I have come to think that capital punishment should be abolished."
Jack Kemp, Republican vice presidential candidate, 1996.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1810
|
__label__wiki
| 0.944223
| 0.944223
|
COVER STORY: Daniel Mannix: the man and his legacy
EDITORIAL: Battle lines drawn for 2004
The Price of Freedom : its contemporary relevance
COMMENT: Faith and the elite agenda
Australian culture wars: losing the argument?
COMMENT: Solving the Policy Nuts Industry Crisis in a few minutes
by Michael Gilchrist
News Weekly, January 10, 2004
Michael Gilchrist's revised and updated biography Daniel Mannix: Wit and Wisdom, with a Foreword by Cardinal George Pell, will be released by Freedom Publishing early in 2004.This is the final chapter and postscript.
The Archbishop celebrated his 99th birthday at Portsea where he was reported to be in excellent health as the usual flood of greetings arrived and Fr Leo Clarke (later Bishop of Maitland) was kept busy with media people. The Tribune informed its readers that Dr Mannix "spent the day quietly in prayer and reading without his spectacles. The excitement of the day did not affect him and he went to bed at his usual time of about 8 o'clock".
Among the many telegrams was one from a fellow nonagenarian, Archbishop Duhig of Brisbane: "Heartfelt greetings on your ninety-ninth birthday. You enter the last lap of the century with worldwide greetings".
A few years earlier, Dr Mannix had told a priest of a recent dream about Dr Duhig in which they were both walking down a long jetty towards the Royal Yacht, Britannia. The walk had seemed endless and even Dr Mannix's legs began to tire; but Archbishop Duhig kept striding forward purposefully. Finally, Dr Mannix collapsed on to his knees, unable to move, but Dr Duhig breezed ahead and was received on board the Britannia. By the time Dr Mannix could stagger forward again, the Royal Yacht was steaming into the distance.
Perhaps Dr Mannix might have foreseen the time when the widely popular, diplomatic "James the builder" would receive a richly deserved knighthood from the Queen. Nearly 40 years earlier, Dr Mannix had said he hoped Archbishop Duhig "would live long" and find ample time to attend Vice-Regal levees.
While Dr Mannix was at Portsea in early 1963, his secretary, Fr Leo Clarke, reminded him of the congratulatory message he had sent to Mr Calwell three years previously. The Archbishop was amazed that Fr Clarke still remembered it and that it had made such an impression on him. Fr Clarke explained that one could take the telegram any way one wished and said that he had kept the piece of paper with Mannix's draft of the telegram on it. "Why would you do a thing like this?" asked the old man. Fr Clarke then pointed out that there was very little around in the Archbishop's handwriting and that one day, a historian might pay £50 for it. Dr Mannix chuckled, exclaiming: "Well, you're a mercenary young priest!" Nevertheless, he seemed tickled that his secretary should have remembered the old telegram.
"Viva! Viva!"
The Archbishop then returned to Melbourne to review another St Patrick's Day procession. He looked well and waved continuously to a large, enthusiastic crowd as cries of "Viva, viva!" and "Good on yer, Doc!" could be heard. When his car passed the just completed Southern Cross Hotel, Dr Mannix gave a special greeting to those lining the concourse. Later, Mr Sean Kennan, the Irish Charge d'Affairs in Canberra, who had attended the procession, called at Raheen to present the Archbishop with a replica of the Cross of Cong as a Jubilee gift from the people of Ireland. The original was held in Ireland's National Museum and originally made in 1123 for the last King of Ireland, Roderic O'Connor.
On Anzac Day, Dr Mannix issued a statement which asked for prayers for world peace and for the souls of Australia's dead servicemen. After emphasising the importance of the American alliance, he took note of the conflict in Vietnam and the emergence of newly independent Third World nations: "Our thoughts go to the small band of Australian soldiers who are serving in Vietnam, helping the people of that country to defend their freedom against a brutal and often murderous aggressor. The independence of small nations has always been dear to us. Like the Pope, we rejoice in the dawn of an age which has witnessed the birth of freedom for so many nations in Asia and Africa".
The Archbishop's thoughts turned also to the declining health of the much-loved Pontiff, John XXIII, and when he died in June 1963 Dr Mannix offered a warm tribute to his "paternal solicitude and breadth of vision". Privately, his observations about John XXIII's successor, Pope Paul VI, revealed some of the familiar irony as he remarked: "Well, he's the best looking of the candidates, at any rate," adding: "I believe that Pope Paul has said that he remembers me when I was leading the Australian Holy Year Pilgrimage [in 1925]. I don't remember him, but that is not to be wondered at. I was the Archbishop and he was just a young Monsignor around the Vatican. Now he has come into his own, and I'm still sitting on the shelf".
But, as Archbishop Mannix had said to Arthur Calwell 17 years earlier: "If I had ever wanted to be a cardinal, I would certainly have charted my life differently".
In July, the Archbishop issued a statement reacting to recent comments by the Labor Leader and Deputy Leader as "objectionable". The latter had denied the Constitutional validity of State Aid and Dr Mannix was quick to point out that precedents already existed in the Federal Government's education policies in Papua-New Guinea and the ACT.
As if the unity ticket issue were not enough of an electoral handicap for Labor, the Archbishop remarked ominously: "It is said that the forthcoming Federal Conference of the Labor Party will deal with that Party's attitude to the independent schools. If the Conference's decisions reflect the apparent attitudes of the two ALP leaders, those who believe in the religious schools can only draw the conclusion that they have nothing to hope for from the ALP".
Difficulties and opportunities
Labor's inability to come to terms with State Aid and open conflict between the Federal and NSW branches of the Party over the issue provided opportunities both for the Catholics and other State Aid supporters, as well as for the hard-pressed Menzies Government seeking an enlarged majority in the House. The cagey Menzies continued to hesitate, despite opinion polls favouring government grants, increasing ecumenical co-operation, the disappearance of the Irish problem, the importance of DLP second preferences and a lack of organised opposition to State Aid.
During the year, Mr B.A. Santamaria held further discussions with Mr Holt, arguing that 1963 was the time to take a decisive step on State Aid, a step which could only prove beneficial to the Government at a Federal election.
On 8 August, Victoria's bishops met at Raheen and reaffirmed their commitment to Catholic education, no matter what hardships might be involved. They also sternly rejected Labor's position on education that while Catholics and others might found schools for conscientious reasons they could expect no government grants:
"What the ALP Conference had to decide was not whether we had a right to establish our own schools but whether a Labor Government would be authorised to expend public funds to which Catholics contribute their full share on the education of children who happen to attend these schools. In substance, the attitude of the ALP Federal Conference is that nothing is to be spent on these children. The decision of the 1957 Conference still prevails".
As the weeks slipped away in 1963, and the Archbishop continued to make his voice heard about the Archdiocese and the political scene, there seemed no reason to suppose that he would not pass the century milestone as he had passed so many others already. His mental and physical condition apparently gave no cause for concern.
On 15 October, Dr Mannix signed a circular calling for parish co-operation with Fr Noel Ryan's research project on the performance of Catholic students at Melbourne University. The next day, he issued a statement on the establishment of a new system of Catholic regional high schools.
In the meantime, Bob Santamaria's talks with Mr Holt had finally borne fruit and on Friday, 1 November,
Mr Santamaria was able to inform the Archbishop that a State Aid breakthrough would be announced in the Prime Minister's policy speech on 12 November. It was just over 50 years since Dr Mannix had become involved in the fight for educational justice and, as Santamaria recalls, the Archbishop paused for a few moments before replying: "I have never stopped speaking about this question in all the years since I came from Ireland. But I thought I had wasted my time. I haven't wasted my time. But we do not owe it to anything I have done. We owe it to the men who have stuck to their guns".
Later in the day, Bishop Fox called with some photos he had taken of the Archbishop. Fox recalled that as Dr Mannix looked at the pictures he was "in quite good spirits and quite as alert as usual". He then told the Archbishop that he was taking a week off for a holiday in Bendigo. Fr W. Dew also spent time with Dr Mannix that day and remembers that no pressure was put on him to leave.
The following Monday, Dr Mannix received nine visitors in his usual unhurried way. One of them was again Bob Santamaria who stayed half an hour and discussed the proposed building of Mannix College at the recently established Monash University. According to Santamaria: "He said to me I'd be grateful to you if you'd take these plans down to Sir Michael Chamberlain on your way home. If I die, that College will never be built.' And he just burst out laughing".
Mr Santamaria next raised the matter of his previous day's telecast when he had condemned the circumstances surrounding the recent death of the South Vietnamese President, Ngo Dinh Diem, and wondered whether his outspoken remarks had done more harm than good. Dr Mannix replied: "The greatest harm you could ever do would be not to stand by your friends, especially when they're dead, and the rest of the world condemns them".
On Tuesday morning, the Archbishop complained to his housekeeper of not feeling well but as the morning wore on, said he was feeling better. However, after lunch, he suddenly collapsed and his personal physician, Dr John T. Cahill, was summoned and shortly after, Msgr Moran arrived to administer the last rites.
It was soon evident that Daniel Mannix had not long to live, and as the news went out over the radio, a relay of visitors kept vigil at the bedside, including the Anglican Archbishop, Dr Frank Woods, Bob Santamaria, Arthur Calwell and Bishop Fox. The Archbishop seemed periodically to recognise people around him and nodded his head several times, but when he tried to speak, no sounds came out.
As Wednesday dawned, Dr Mannix was still hanging on to life and when Bishop Fox said he would celebrate Mass for him, Mannix nodded perceptibly and seemed to understand what was said. Sister M. Chrysostom from the nearby Caritas Christi Hospice tended the prelate almost continuously for the last 20 hours of his life, and as he finally lapsed into unconsciousness, he clasped the Sister's hand and would not let go. Finally, at 12.35 pm on Wednesday, 6 November 1963, he breathed his last.
The nation's press, which had once castigated the Archbishop for his political views, was now lavish in its tributes. The Age extolled Dr Mannix's worldwide reputation, the international scope of his vision and his historical role in Australia: "He was a reformer both within his own Church and in
the broad fields outside it. In the first half of this century he was in the centre of fierce controversy on national and political questions and, while the passage of years brought a gentler temper to his reforming zeal, he was still in this past decade, a powerful voice with a political persuasion. "He commanded loyalties and respect at all levels among clergymen and laymen. He was a great Irishman who served his communion in Australia - his adopted country - as faithfully as if it were on his native heath. He was a unique figure in the Australian story and one of historic proportions".
This assessment was shared by a wide range of public figures: the Prime Minister noted Dr Mannix's "power of persuasive speech which I have never known surpassed"; Mr Calwell linked Archbishop Mannix with Cardinal Moran as one of the two greatest figures in the history of the Church in Australia; Mr Henry Bolte, the State Premier, called him "one of the outstanding men of Australia" and Melbourne's Anglican Archbishop described Dr Mannix as "a legend in his own lifetime".
Not all the comments were as positive. The Methodist Spectator grumbled: "Those who remember the first World War will recall the fierce controversy which some of the Archbishop's statements engendered. Many people whose sons and daughters were fighting in France deeply resented the frightful carnage being described as 'a sordid trade war'."
The Spectator considered that the Archbishop had fostered "an hysterical attitude to communism" although it conceded he was "an amazing churchman".
Such reservations were hinted at in Archbishop Simonds' panegyric after the Requiem Mass: "It is, however, one of the ironies of human life that, when the spotlight of political prominence is unduly played upon ecclesiastical leaders, their truly greatest work is often overshadowed in the minds of men. Archbishop Mannix's incursions into the affairs of State were not his greatest contribution to Australian life."
The Archbishop was, continued Simonds, "primarily a man of God" and in this regard was beyond reproach. As a Church leader, he said, Dr Mannix "had little difficulty in commanding the loyalty and devotion of his priests and people".
Dr Mannix's body lay in state at the Cathedral from Friday, 8 November, to the following Tuesday. During that period, an estimated 200,000 people filed past to pay their last respects. At one stage, on Sunday afternoon, a line of people, four deep, extended from the front door of the Cathedral along Gisborne Street and around the corner into Albert Street.
As the casket was lowered into the vault, a drummer and bugler from the Southern Command played Last Post and Reveille while, in the Domain, the Army fired a thirteen-gun salute at minute intervals for the man who, for 46 years, had been a Chaplain-General of the Australian Military Forces.
Flags flew at half-mast on numerous major city buildings including the State Parliament, Flinders Street Railway Station, the Elizabeth Street Post Office and the Eastern Hill Fire Station. The Myer Emporium, Australia's largest department store, displayed a gilt-framed picture of Dr Mannix along with a black stole and a Roman Breviary. A caption read: "In tribute to a great and noble man".
So ended one of the most eventful eras in the history of the Church in Australia and, without question, the episcopate of the most remarkable churchman of any denomination in the nation's history.
The world and the Church have changed out of all recognition since the heady days of the Mannix episcopate. To many younger Catholics, the man who was once a household word is now a forgotten relic of a forgotten era in the history of the Church. The religious milieu and the sectarianism of the first half of the 20th century seem light years away from today's permissive, secular, indifferent culture.
Since Dr Mannix's death, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) has seen the liturgy and most aspects of Catholic life transformed beyond recognition. In our ecumenical - even indifferent - era, the triumphalist religious pageantry of the Mannix period may seem quaint, even embarrassing to some. The settling of the State Aid question has seen Catholic schools become a de facto part of the nation's educational edifice, encountering at times something of an identity problem in the process, while Irish cultural influence, already declining well before Dr Mannix's death, has all but disappeared as the Church becomes increasingly multicultural.
What, then, remains as a legacy of the Mannix era? How well did the Archbishop's extraordinary natural endowments serve his Church or the wider community?
The Mannix charisma and wit undoubtedly inspired unprecedented loyalty from both Catholic laity and clergy. Thanks to this, his episcopate saw the firm consolidation of the work of his predecessors in the building of schools, churches, convents and charitable institutions, and the survival of the Catholic educational system during the difficult times of the depression and the post-war classroom crisis. And by dint of Dr Mannix's easy dominance of the Australian Hierarchy for most of his episcopate, his impact on the Church was felt well beyond the bounds of his own Archdiocese of Melbourne.
By the end of the Mannix era, the majority of Catholics were no longer hewers of wood and drawers of water but an assimilated part of the nation's socio-economic fabric, proportionately represented in the professions and skilled trades. Dr Mannix had ceaselessly exhorted his community to use its talents and aptitudes and aspire to higher things, providing financial inducements to achievement for the talented, but poor, among his people.
No doubt the most modern aspects of Dr Mannix's Church leadership - and anticipating by many years Vatican II - were his readiness to foster lay participation in the affairs of the Church, keep his mind open to new ideas and delegate responsibilities to trusted subordinates. As a result, the Melbourne Archdiocese was usually in the forefront of innovation and the most intellectually vibrant See in Australia. It was a place where, as Dr Max Charlesworth - a one-time critic of the Mannix-supported Movement - put it, the Archbishop was prepared "to let a hundred flowers bloom".
Like his mentor, Archbishop Thomas Croke of Cashel, Dr Mannix saw himself as his people's tribune and duty bound to employ his God-given talents in their service - in the spiritual and temporal domains.
It is difficult not to admire a man who so trusted and respected others, displayed such scintillating wit, spurned dependence on modern amenities and had the courage to offer unpopular views.
There are all too few leaders of this calibre today in either Church or State.
Ring News Weekly Books (03) 9326 5757 to reserve your copy now.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1812
|
__label__wiki
| 0.68629
| 0.68629
|
Young frontrunners see potential in developing Baltic bioeconomy
Carbon farming enables young farmers to tackle climate change
Nordic countries boost the bioeconomy in the shadow of climate change
How to cut plastic waste and boost the bioeconomy
Politicians, stay calm, and develop the bioeconomy
How to create a bioeconomy revolution
#2 May 2019
2018 May test
#1 March 2019
#3 September 2018
#1 February 2018
Subscribe for 4 yearly issues of Sustainable Growth the Nordic Way – free of charge.
By clicking on "Sign up" you consent to being a subscriber to our online magazine. Our policy is never to share our subscribers' personal details with anybody else. You will be given the option of unsubscribing again every time you receive an email from us.
Thank you – you are almost finished
We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the mail we just sent you.
Back to mainpage
Consistent innovation delivers higher value in the blue bioeconomy
BACK TO CURRENT ISSUE
Sustainable Growth the Nordic Way
WEB MAGAZINE - September 2018
By Páll Tómas Finnsson
Sustainable management of fisheries and innovative fish processing techniques laid the foundations for the emerging and constantly evolving Nordic blue bioeconomy. The countries have led the way in utilising as much of the catch as possible, and innovation across the region is now ensuring that, instead of being thrown away, marine biomass is being converted into high-value products such as medical products, pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, cosmetics and textiles.
Sustainable resource management is key
“Developing a strong and global blue bioeconomy is extremely important,” says Árni Mathiesen, Assistant Director General of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department and former Minister of Fisheries in Iceland. “Fish consumption has increased significantly around the world, and we’ve demonstrated that it’s possible to manage sustainable and profitable fisheries.”
He emphasises that the entire blue bioeconomy approach must be based on sustainable resource management, an area in which Iceland and Norway in particular have achieved excellent results.
“There’s been a determined effort in the Nordic Region to improve utilisation of marine raw material, obtain higher prices for the products, and identify new and more diverse ways in which to use the raw material,” Mathiesen says. “The aim is to maximise the value of the traditional use of the catch and then add value to the residue. For instance, the added value of using more of the marine raw material for food, rather than for production of feed, is five- to tenfold.”
Using the harvested biomass in its entirety
Fisheries and aquaculture are important contributors to the economy in each of the Nordic countries. These new and often highly specialised bio-based industries not only improve resource efficiency but also create jobs and livelihoods in even the most remote parts of the region. Since 2014, the blue bioeconomy has therefore featured prominently on the Nordic agenda.
“Optimising the quality of our traditional fisheries and aquaculture products remains a key focus,” says Geir Oddsson, Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iceland. “However, it’s also time to rethink the way we want to grow these industries, because we cannot take more out of the ocean than the natural systems can replenish. Innovation in the Nordic blue bioeconomy aims to utilise as much of the harvested biomass as possible… and preferably all of it.”
Oddsson is finalising the programme for Iceland’s Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2019, which will focus on youth in the Nordics, sustainable tourism and blue growth, with special emphasis on improving the livelihoods of people and communities in remote areas.
"Optimising the quality of our traditional fisheries and aquaculture products remains a key focus. However, it’s also time to rethink the way we want to grow these industries"
Geir Oddsson
Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iceland
Crossovers with high-tech industries
Previous presidency programmes have addressed everything from the impact of microbeads and other marine plastic litter on bio-based industries to replacing petroleum-based products with marine biomass. The common thread is to develop high-value products through crossover innovation between the primary sector and various high-tech industries.
“This is where the blue bioeconomy concept comes in, focusing on increasing value through methodologies such as biotech and blue biorefineries,” says Oddsson. “We’ve already seen products and services that target entirely different markets, such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and the health industry. One example is Icelandic Keresis, which has developed extremely valuable markets by using fish-skin products to heal human wounds and tissue damage.”
Mathiesen and Oddsson also highlight the textile industry’s use of seaweed and fish skin as an example of new and innovative ways of using marine resources. Apart from being an interesting ingredient for cosmetics and medicine, seaweed is rich in fibres and can be used in sustainable textiles for the fashion industry.
“The use of seaweed and fish skin in textiles provides a new venue and an audience that is very different from traditional innovation in the marine sector,” Oddsson says. “Seaweed and kelp are already significant value creators in the Nordic blue bioeconomy.”
Aquaculture has an important role to play
In the Nordic Roadmap for the Blue Bioeconomy from 2016, increased cooperation on aquaculture was highlighted as an area of Nordic added value that could also contribute to the enormous challenge of feeding the growing world population. In 2017, Norway’s aquaculture industry produced 1.3 million tonnes of fish for food, mainly salmon, making the country the biggest producer in Europe. Drawing on experience from this production, Norway and FAO have joined forces on developing methods to increase food production in aquaculture around the world.
“We cannot meet the increased demand for fish by increasing fisheries from the ocean,” explains Mathiesen. “If the world population grows as fast as expected, the increase must come from aquaculture. We’re well aware that we won’t feed the world on salmon alone, but there’s considerable potential for transferring know-how and technology to farming of other species.”
Active innovation in a widely dispersed industry
This year’s edition of State of the Nordic Region, an annual publication by the research centre Nordregio, includes a map showing landings of fish and aquaculture production sites in the Nordics.
“The map shows that fisheries and aquaculture are widely distributed across the region,” says Oddsson. “This means that the innovation and growth potential in the blue bioeconomy can be crucial in supporting local and regional development and growth. This also applies to other related industries such as ocean-based tourism, which has increased considerably in recent years.”
“There’s significant investment being made in these new growth potentials,” he adds. “You’d be hard pressed to find a port or landing place that’s not actively involved in innovation, whether within established companies, clusters or innovative blue bioeconomy start-ups.”
As the Nordic Bioeconomy Programme released 15 action points to boost the transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy, a new campaign came to life to tell the stories of the people behind some of the most visible solutions in Nordic & Baltic states.
Dr. Tim Staufenberger is proudly developing a local mussel and algae farm in Kiel, Germany, selling his products not only for food but also to a high-end cosmetics brand. By taking up nutrients from the sea, his business is fighting eutrophication – a major problem in the region due to the run-off of nutrients and minerals from land activities. To see his algae turned into cosmetics, Tim had to transcend sectors and adapt to new requirements and product specifications.
Photo and video: Camille Duran/Green Exchange
Tel.: (+45) 60 39 42 81
Email: stifje@norden.org
Stian Fjelldal
Feature articles:
Páll Tómas Finnsson
Editor: Stian Fjelldal
Featured articles: Páll Tómas Finnsson
Tlf. (+45) 60 39 42 81
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1816
|
__label__wiki
| 0.672138
| 0.672138
|
Lovecraft Sketch MWF: Horror on the Orient Express 2
I’ve written on this blog already about the “Horror on the Orient Express” Call of Cthulhu campaign, and about the excellent campaign podcast GMed by Paul MacLean and available to subscribers at yog-sothoth.com. I also mentioned that I ran the game myself in college (although not as well as Paul did), and when one of my ex-roommates and players asked me to do a drawing from the campaign, of course I said yes.
My friend requested a drawing of a scene from the campaign, in which one of the other players — an Italian Futurist poet who had joined the party at an art gallery in London where he performed a rousing in-character slam-poem on the theme of ‘trains’ — was making his way through customs using a mind-control amulet he had picked up from the Lloigor earlier in the story. By this point, his character was almost totally insane as a result of his experiences. The tentacled shape in the back doorway is not literal, rather symbolic of pursuing evils. He’s crazy anyways, so maybe he’s hallucinating.
I try to get reference material for these sketches, so I emailed Aaron, the actual player of the character, who described him: “The character was a Futurist, loosely modeled in attitude after Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, though occupying a less prominent role in the movement. I don’t recall the characters name, but it was something “Italian-sounding” (the character was definitely Italian), I believe starting with an “M”. Prior to becoming a Futurist, I believe he was a train conductor (fitting the futurist obsession with trains, mechanism, and fast movement). He also must have been a soldier during WWI, thus making him probably in his late 20s. Over the course of the adventure, he had (as is the wont of CoC characters) grown progressively more insane–I think I recall half of the party capturing a cultist, trying to force him to talk, and having the skin of his face ripped off and being sucked into his mouth to silence him.” For what it’s worth, I always envisioned the character as being clean-shaven with long hair, like Aaron himself, but when the pen hit the paper I ended up giving him only slightly longish hair and a mustache like the original Marinetti. Over-reliance on reference material? Or just period realism? Either way, let no one say that our games didn’t have lots of research, darnit!
Speaking of the Orient Express, Nick Marsh, one the players in the excellent Yog-Sothoth.com campaign, is actually writing a novelization of the original campaign. Since most of my own story ideas came from roleplaying games (including my currently-on-hold 2003-2007 webcomic The Stiff), I heartily endorse the idea, and I’m looking forward to reading it when it comes out!
└ Tags: call of cthulhu, lovecraftian sketches, orient express
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1818
|
__label__cc
| 0.548338
| 0.451662
|
Silt, Colorado
Originally the tribal land of the Ute Indians, this region was opened to homesteading in 1881. The town of Silt began as the ranch of pioneer George Ferguson—and was named ‘Ferguson’ until 1889 when the Denver and Rio Grande Junction Railway named their depot ‘Silt’ after the powdery soil in the area.
Silt was the last town to be incorporated in Garfield County in 1915. By the 1930s, Silt boasted over twenty businesses including a bank, lumber yard, movie theater, pool hall, grocery and mercantile stores as well as several bars and restaurants. The oil shale boom and bust of the late 1970s to the early 1980s first expanded then depleted the population. Since then, with a resurgence of drilling for natural gas, Silt has grown and more than doubled its size with new homes, a business park, and a river preserve along the Colorado River.
Do you know how pioneering settlers in the Colorado River valley lived?
Find out at the Silt Historical Park and museum! This historical park recreates the life of settlers in the early 1900s. The Park features a guided tour of log cabins, a schoolhouse, cow camp, country store, and tool shop, all of which have been restored and relocated to put you in the shoes of the Colorado pioneer’s life. After the tour, jump in your car and head south on RD 331 to visit the site of President Theodore Roosevelt’s hunting camp and see the one room schoolhouse he dedicated while in the New Castle area.
Did you know that one of the two oldest forest ranger stations in the United States is located in the National Forest south of Silt?
Three National Forests: White River, Gunnison, and Grand Mesa, are accessible from the town of Silt. President Theodore Roosevelt is responsible for preserving the lands of all three of these forest preserves. One of the oldest stations—the Cayton Ranger Station—is near Theodore Roosevelt’s 1905 hunting camp in present day Grand Mesa National Forest. Today, fishing, hunting, camping, picnicking, wildlife and scenic photography are just some of the activities you can enjoy in these forests. In winter, go snowmobiling, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, or ice-fishing.
Located 4 blocks north, then ½ block west, of the Silt Roundabout you will find the Silt Historical Park and museum. This historic park was created by men and women who lived, worked and played in the town of Silt and on the surrounding ranches in the early 1900‘s. Start your fun filled and informative day at this Park with a guided tour of the park, its buildings, their furnishings, and the tools/equipment they used. After this tour you will be ready to jump in your car and head either north or south on a self guided trip to see where these historical events actually took place. Have a picnic, swim and or fish in Harvey Gap or Rifle reservoirs. See where President Roosevelt had his hunting camp, the one room school he dedicated, where the German prisoner of war camp was, visit other historic sites, or just take pictures of great scenery.
From I-70 take Exit 97. Downtown Silt is north of the exit.
townofsilt.org
Silt Historical Park: 970.876.5801
Silt Historical park
www.silthistoricalpark.com: (970)-876-5801
DOWNLOAD SILT PDF BROCHURE
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1823
|
__label__wiki
| 0.967978
| 0.967978
|
Walter Baring
Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, University of Nevada-Reno Library.
Governor Grant Sawyer and Representative Walter Baring (left to right) at the Centennial Admission Day celebration in Carson City, Nevada, 1964.
Representative Walter Baring, Governor Grant Sawyer, and Senator Alan Bible (left to right) wearing Native American headdresses at the Centennial Admission Day celebration in Carson City, Nevada, 1964.
Born in Goldfield, Nevada on September 9, 1911, Walter Baring Jr. came by politics naturally. During Goldfield's heyday, his father was an Esmeralda County commissioner and an assemblyman. The family later moved to Reno, where the elder Walter owned a furniture store.
The younger Walter graduated from Reno High School in 1929 and the University of Nevada in 1934. Within two years after graduating college he was chairing the Washoe County Democratic Party and, like his father, was elected to the Assembly. He served two years as a deputy constable, then lost an election for constable by a wide margin.
Baring also worked for the Internal Revenue Service during his legislative service, but on July 23, 1937, local Internal Revenue collector R. L. Douglass suspended him, purportedly for being involved in politics while a federal worker. In his biography of U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, Jerome Edwards suggests the suspension occurred because Baring had run afoul of McCarran.
Baring resigned from the Assembly during his second term to enter the navy. After serving in World War II from 1942 to 1945, Baring returned to Reno and was elected to the city council in 1947. Then he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1948 over Republican Charles Russell. (Throughout Baring's career, Nevada had only a single U.S. House member, meaning candidates for the seat ran statewide.)
At the time, Baring was a traditional Democrat, and was even endorsed heartily by President Truman in the 1950 election. Baring won reelection easily, but the Eisenhower tide in 1952 stopped his bid for a third term. Cliff Young, an appealing young Republican, defeated him.
Baring ran again in 1954, and again he lost to Young. In that campaign he was red-baited, with Young spokesperson Les Gray likening Baring's voting record on labor issues to that of Representative Vito Marcantonio of New York (whom critics accused of communist sympathies).
When Young tried for the Senate in 1956, Baring ran for the House again. He beat Howard Cannon and three other Democrats in the primary and Republican Richard Horton in the general election.
On January 3, 1957, House Speaker Sam Rayburn welcomed "our very good friend" back to Washington. (He did not return as a first-termer. The House formula for seniority credits members for earlier terms.) Baring returned to his role as a traditional Democrat. In 1957 he and Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts co-sponsored legislation to protect the blind, and in 1959 Baring introduced the first bill to protect wild horses.
An unprepossessing speaker, Baring was never a leader or even particularly prominent in Congress, and he left no appreciable legislative legacy. However, he was one of the state's principal political figures for many years and his later career reflected the strains in the Democratic Party in the 1960s.
In the early '60s, Baring suddenly shifted from liberal to conservative. Why, however, is unclear, although he may have thought Nevada too conservative for Kennedy's "New Frontier." In 1962, the Nevada Democratic Party made a major blunder, withholding a normally automatic ceremonial resolution praising him without having a candidate to oppose him in the party primary election. Thus, after the party cast him as a victim of its leaders and he was reelected over their opposition, it made him appear to be a giant killer. His new appeal to GOP voters meant he could lose only by campaigning, so Baring laid low throughout the campaign.
His legislative interests changed. He sponsored bills like House Resolution 514: "Creating a select committee to conduct an investigation and study of the problems involved in the fluoridation of potable water." At the time, fluoridation was under heavy criticism from fringe groups like the John Birch Society. He also opposed Kennedy's New Frontier and, later, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society.
In effect, Baring rejected successive portions of the Democratic base. He called himself a "Jeffersonian state's rights constitutional Democrat." Each modifier served to peel away a portion of Baring's party support, none more so than the term "state's rights," which, in the 1960s, was a code word for opposition to civil rights.
After his rebirth as a conservative, Baring was unbeatable in general elections because he pulled a heavy Republican vote, which, when melded with conservative Democrats, gave him easy wins. But he had close calls in Democratic primary elections. In 1964 and 1966, Ralph Denton of Boulder City pressed him hard in rough primaries.
Along with his new conservatism, Baring exhibited a new vindictiveness. After winning his second race against Denton, he demanded that University of Nevada President Charles Armstrong take action against professors being involved in politics, which Baring claimed violated the federal Hatch Act. (Armstrong said most of the professors Baring named merely signed a newspaper advertisement endorsing Denton without using their university affiliation; one of them, political scientist Don Driggs, had simply provided political analysis to the Reno Evening Gazette, and in any event Nevada's attorney general advised him that professors were not covered by Hatch).
Aside from Baring's electoral difficulties, his role as a Democratic right-winger had hurt his state and his congressional standing. In 1965, after the long-sought Southern Nevada Water Project finally passed Congress and landed on President Lyndon Johnson's desk, the president waited a while to sign it, in an attempt to punish Baring before finally approving it.
Years passed during which another House member with Baring's tenure might have moved on to more significant committees, but he never did. Carl Albert, later House Speaker, described the way Baring lost a coveted seat on the influential Ways and Means Committee:
"You had two candidates, Walter Baring of Nevada and Judy [Julia Butler] Hansen of Washington. They both wanted it. Baring was a man you couldn't have. The administration didn't trust him. The party couldn't trust him. He was an enemy of foreign aid and other things. I don't know all the strings that were pulled to make sure the Ways and Means Committee didn't elect him; but I'm certain that outside forces were at work. The job was given to Mrs. Hansen."
Meanwhile, Baring moved further right. The term "communist" tended to lose its meaning when Baring employed it; he often used it against people and institutions he opposed, including the United Nations. He denounced civil rights as communist inspired, adding, "It's been shown that Martin Luther King is connected with several subversive groups, and yet he calls himself a reverend." In 1967, during a House debate on flag "desecration," Baring referred to "dirty, long-haired, communist-led beatniks."
Sometimes Baring's positions aligned him with others whom he otherwise had nothing in common with, as when, in November 1971, he abandoned his long support for the war in Vietnam and voted to cut off spending for it. He reasoned that the U.S. was not fighting the war aggressively enough to win and should get out. It was the opposite view of war critics, but they were happy for votes against the war wherever they found them.
In 1970, the Nevada Republican Party declined to support any candidate against Baring, and the party's share of the vote against Baring fell to 17.5 percent. Why Baring never switched to the Republican Party is something of a mystery, since it might have made him invulnerable.
Just two years after that smashing general election victory in 1970, Baring's luck ran out and he lost the Democratic primary, 52.21 to 45.60 percent, to University of Nevada Regent James Bilbray. Bilbray was now known as "the giant killer," though he scarcely had time to savor the role. Baring spitefully endorsed little-known Gardnerville Republican Realtor David Towell, who defeated Bilbray in the general election.
Baring's long political career was over after ten nonconsecutive terms in the House. He discussed running for governor in 1974 but would have faced another conservative Democrat, incumbent Mike O'Callaghan, though O'Callaghan's conservatism was hardly the hard-right brand Baring espoused. Baring passed up the race and died on July 13, 1975.
Ralph Denton and Michael S. Green. A Liberal Conscience. Ed. Michael S. Green and R.T. King. University of Nevada Oral History Program, 2001.
Erwin A. Jaffe and Stanley A. Pearl. The 1962 Election in Nevada. Western Political Quarterly, University of Utah, June 1963.
Pat McCarran
Carl Albert
David Towell
Mike O'Callaghan
James Bilbray
Judy [Julia Butler] Hansen
Cliff Young
Don Driggs
Charles Armstrong
Ralph Denton
Sam Rayburn
Howard Cannon
Richard Horton
Vito Marcantonio
Harry Truman
Jerome Edwards
R. L. Douglass
By Dennis Myers
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1827
|
__label__cc
| 0.651502
| 0.348498
|
Disney movies hold a special place in our childhoods. For some, they’re nostalgic, a reminder of the simpler days. For others, the movies and characters have influenced the way they see the world. For Ivy Thompson, however, a Disney production was the inspiration for her to create an amazing dress.
Thompson learned to sew from her mom and her grandmother. “I don’t have any kind of background in sewing or design, but I’m looking forward to taking my first official sewing class at the end of the month,” she told Business Insider. Initially, she came up with the concept for the dress after seeing a production of Cinderella. Later, when she learned about a masquerade ball being held in Seattle, it was the motivation she needed to bring her vision to life.
Thompson, who describes herself as an “English teacher by day [and] seamstress by night”, worked hard on perfecting the design. She hoped to create a dress that would appear to transform before the viewer’s eyes. For her, the hardest part was figuring out how to make the dress transform in one smooth motion. Eventually, however, a snap panel and series of laces would bring the illusion to life.
After incorporating laces on the back of the dress, Thompson connected the lacing to a snap panel in the front. Using a pull cord and simple flick of the wrist, she puts the transformation into motion.
You can see the Disney inspirations in its design with the shoulder-less style and bell-shaped skirt. But when Thompson begins to spin, tugging the pull cord in the process, the ballgown suddenly begins to morph.
Like a caterpillar emerging from a cocoon, Thompson’s gown transforms into a beautiful, butterfly-inspired vision.
Thompson ultimately mastered the smoothness required for a convincing transformation— and seeing it in action truly is reminiscent of the classic Cinderella scene.
When Thompson posted a short video of the dress on Reddit, it immediately went viral. There’s something so magical in the transformation, sewing aficionados were dying to try it for themselves: “This dress is absolutely stunning. I would LOVE to attempt this for my daughter’s prom,” wrote Reddit user alrhios.
If any master seamstresses would like to attempt a transformation dress, YouTuber Becca Beach recruited her mother to create a tutorial.
There isn’t much information online about transformation dresses, so videos like this are few and far between. Beach’s mother doesn’t appear to be using the same method as Thompson, but the transformation is impressive, nonetheless.
Since being featured by INSIDER, Thompson’s transformation has been viewed 1.7 million times.
“Can we appreciate the intricate details she did to create this?”
“It’s like in fairy tales.”
Watch the video below!
Previous Post NASA to Explore Early Universe, Origins of Life with SPHEREX
Next Post These Lovely Dogs ‘Pack Walk’ And Pose For Pictures Together Every Day
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1833
|
__label__wiki
| 0.995895
| 0.995895
|
Beyond the 2016 Olympics: Will the Games Return to LA?
CSUF Expert Says Los Angeles Is a Strong Contender
Los Angeles is one of five cities bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, exactly 40 years after the city hosted one of the most successful games in history.
Matt Llewellyn
Before the 2016 Summer Olympics begin, five cities are already vying to host the 2024 games. Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome. Which city will it be?
Cal State Fullerton Olympics scholar Matt Llewellyn says Los Angeles is a strong contender and the evidence can be traced back to 1932, when the city was first awarded the Olympic games.
"The year 1932 really sparked Los Angeles' love of the Olympic movement," said Llewellyn, associate professor of kinesiology and co-director of the University's Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research.
At the time, the small outpost in the western American frontier was quickly transforming into a cultural mecca of fashion, lifestyle and industry. Los Angeles capitalized on the Olympics, using the opportunity to cast itself as an attractive destination and turn an unprecedented financial profit of more than $100,000.
"In many ways, Los Angeles laid the framework for hosting the Olympic games and doing it very well," said Llewellyn. "The fact that we have palm trees lining the streets of Los Angeles today is a direct result of hosting the Olympic games."
Following the success of the 1932 Olympics, Los Angeles continued to bid for the summer games. But it wasn't until 1984 that the games would return to Los Angeles, after its only competitor — Tehran, Iran — dropped out.
"What's fascinating about 1984 was that nobody wanted the games," said Llewellyn. "In 1976, Montreal hosted the games in Canada and lost an overwhelming sum of money. It took the city almost 30 years to pay back the debt. So in an era in which nobody wanted the games, only one city did: Los Angeles."
Once again, Los Angeles proved to be an excellent Olympics host city.
"The 1984 games were extremely successful. Instead of building new stadiums and arenas, Los Angeles decided to go a radically different route by using and investing in pre-existing structures like the Coliseum," said Llewellyn. "In fact, Cal State Fullerton was the official venue for the team handball event at the 1984 games."
Los Angeles again produced a profit, this time estimated at $223.5 million, some of which became an endowment known today as the LA84 Foundation supporting youth sports and cultural programs in the Southland.
"One of the main aspects of a successful Olympic bid is the concept of legacy," said Llewellyn. "Legacies, both tangible and intangible, encompass a broad range of infrastructural, cultural, economic, educational and political outcomes. For instance, if you're going to build a new venue, you have to ensure that it can be used for future generations.
"Following the arc over to 2024, what we see is a city that's had a very positive relationship with the Olympic movement," he said. "Los Angeles has loved hosting the games, they've done a wonderful job and they've helped the Olympics grow. I don't want to paint the picture that everyone wants the games, but enough Los Angelinos have fond memories and want to bring them back."
Other factors that make Los Angeles a prime location for hosting the Olympics are the existence of major infrastructures to support an influx of tourists, an optimal time zone for television broadcasts, and the length of time since the games were last hosted in the United States.
"I would be surprised if the Olympics didn’t come back to Los Angeles — if not in 2024, then shortly thereafter," said Llewellyn.
More than anything, Llewellyn hopes that if Los Angeles is awarded the games, it will turn to its old playbook and create a sustainable, economically-viable plan. The International Olympic Committee is scheduled to make its announcement in September 2017.
"Instead of building a brand new facility for team handball, bring it to a state institution like CSUF where the students and the local community can come and watch," he said. "It's an opportunity to truly share the games with the people. To me, that's what the Olympic games should be about."
2016 Olympics is a series of stories highlighting Cal State Fullerton faculty, staff and athletes connected with the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Follow the games Aug. 5-21, and join us on social media with the #CSUFOlympics.
CSUF Faculty Experts Study Media's Olympic Errors
CSUF Alumna Makes Waves as Athletic Trainer
CSUF Scholar Calls for More Gender Equity
CSUF Professor Coaches USA Men's Volleyball
CSUF Researcher Examines Crackdown on Doping
CSUF Professor Preps Athletes for Mental Game
CSUF Historian Sheds Light on New Refugee Team
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1836
|
__label__cc
| 0.656824
| 0.343176
|
St James Ethics Centre
The Ethics Centre is a non-profit organisation that provides support to people to navigating complex and difficult ethical issues. It runs a free ethics helpline called Ethi-call, which provides a confidential and safe means by which people can receive advice on ethical challenges in order to make ethical decisions. It is involved in a range of other programs in order to assist members of the community. At Resolve Litigation Lawyers, we believe in, and support, the work of the Ethics Centre.
Contact Panoptis
Privacy Policy| Terms of Service
Global Hq
7160 Dallas Parkway,
info@panoptis.com
media@panoptis.com
PanOptis.com Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes the types of personal information PanOptis, LLC and its affiliates (collectively, “PanOptis”) collect through www.PanOptis.com and all associated linked sites maintained by PanOptis (collectively, the “Site”) and how that information is used and shared. This Privacy Policy applies to information PanOptis collects from you via the Site. The Site may contain links to third-party Web sites (“Linked Sites”). This Privacy Policy does not apply to Linked Sites, and PanOptis is not responsible for the content of Linked Sites or the privacy practices of such third parties. We may modify this Privacy Policy at any time in our discretion, with or without notice. Your continued use of the Site following modification of this Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of all modifications.
1. Information Collected
We collect information about you through you providing personally identifiable information about yourself to us. We may obtain information about you that is commercially available from third parties. We may collect information about your usage of the Site, such as information in server logs, including, with respect to your usage of the Site, URL visited, the content accessed, errors experienced, and in some cases, the websites you visited before or after you visit the Site.
2. Cookies and Other Technologies
We use various technologies to collect and store information when you use the Site, and this may include sending one or more cookies or anonymous identifiers to your device, including “web beacons”, clear GIFs, pixel tags and other means. Cookies are text information files that your web browser places on your computer and/or your mobile device when you visit a website. Pixel tags are not visible to the user of a website and consist of a few lines of computer coding delivered with the web pages accessed. PanOptis may use such technologies to obtain non-personal information from you as an online visitor. Most browsers accept cookies automatically, but can be configured not to accept them or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. You can remove certain cookies by following the directions in your Internet browser’s “help” file. Without cookies, you may not be able to take full advantage of all of the features of the Site.
3. Use of Your Personally Identifiable Information
The personally identifiable information that you provide and that we collect will be stored and maintained by PanOptis or its service providers for so long as we, in our sole discretion, believe is necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes and the uses for which such information was collected, or otherwise to comply with applicable laws or other requirements. When you contact PanOptis, we may keep a record of your communication.
PanOptis may use your personally identifiable information internally, separately or in combination with pre-existing information, including to:
Communicate with you about PanOptis products or services and send marketing communications
Contact you and manage our relationship with you
Provide products, services and support to you
Improve and develop products, services and support
Update you on new products and services
Prevent and detect security threats, fraud or other malicious activity
Conduct surveys
Answer questions and provide information
Assess and improve the performance and operation of the Site
Maintain your contact details and provide updated details to PanOptis licensors, service providers and partners where necessary
To enforce our Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy
To provide any legitimate business service or product
We may combine personal information about you received from several sources, including without limitation, the information described above in order to create more tailored personalized promotions of certain products and services for you and to better market our products and services to you and to third parties. We may share such personal information, in an aggregated, non-personally identifiable manner, with third parties.
4. Data Sharing and Transfer
PanOptis will not trade, sell or share your personal information for use by any third party except (1) with PanOptis’s affiliates, licensors, business partners, agents, service providers, (2) as permitted by this Privacy Policy, and (3) otherwise with your consent. We may provide your personal information to our affiliates or other trusted businesses or persons that provide services to help us with our business activities, based on our instructions and in compliance with our Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. These third parties are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide these services to us. We may share aggregated, non-personally identifiable information publicly and with companies that perform marketing services on our behalf. In the event that PanOptis is involved in a transaction such as a merger, equity purchase, bankruptcy or sale of assets, your personal information may be transferred to the other party in such transaction. PanOptis reserves the right to disclose your personally identifiable information where necessary or appropriate to: (a) meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; (b) enforce this Privacy Policy, including investigation of potential violations; (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; (d) protect and defend the rights or property of PanOptis; or (e) act in urgent circumstances to protect the safety or security of the public or of the users of the PanOptis product and service offerings.
The Site is not directed at children and children are not intended as the audience of the Site. Neither PanOptis nor third parties acting on its behalf knowingly collect any personal information from children under 13 years of age through the Site or otherwise. Accordingly, the provisions of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act do not apply to the Site.
6. Security; Access outside the United States
Your personal information will be stored by PanOptis or its third party service providers in locations in the United States Your information will be subject to the security procedures utilized by PanOptis and such service providers, whose data protection and privacy protections may not afford the same level of protection as required by laws of certain countries, such as the member nations of the European Union. If you wish to receive information about such security measures, you may make such request using the contact information set forth at the end of this document, including the phrase “Security Measures” in the subject line, and providing us with your name, address and e-mail address. We will respond to you within thirty (30) days of receiving such a request
We make no claims that the Site or any of its respective contents are appropriate or may be downloaded or accessed outside of the United States. If you are visiting the Site from a country outside the United States, you acknowledge and agree that in using the Site, you will transfer personal information about yourself to the United States, that your information will be deemed sent to PanOptis from the United States, that the data protection laws of the United States may not be as comprehensive as those in your own country, and that the transfer of this personal information occurs with your consent and will be treated in accordance with the laws of the United States. By providing any personal information to PanOptis through the Site, all users, including, without limitation, users in the member states of the European Union, fully understand and expressly consent to the submission, collection and processing of such information in the United States. Transmissions via the Internet and mobile networks are never completely private or secure. You understand that any messages or information you send to our Site may be read or intercepted by others. If you have any questions about the security of personally identifiable information collected by PanOptis, please contact us at the e-mail address shown below.
7. Access to your Information; Deletion of Information
You may use the contact information set forth at the end of this document to contact us for any inquiry or request regarding our privacy policy or the handling of your personal information. You also may write to us directly if you wish to update or delete your personally identifiable information or request that we cease sending you promotional or other information via mail or e-mail. We will comply with requests for the deletion of information.
8. Special Notice to California Residents
Under California Law SB 27, California residents have the right to receive, once a year, information about third parties with whom we have shared information about you for their marketing purposes during the previous calendar year and a description of the categories of personal information shared. To make such a request, please use the contact information set forth at the end of this document and please include the phrase “California Privacy Request” in the subject line, and provide us with your name, address and e-mail address. We will respond to you within thirty (30) days of receiving such a request.
PanOptis does not support Do Not Track (“DNT”) with respect to your usage of the Site. The Site does not have a mechanism to recognize the various web browser DNT signals, in part, because no common industry standard for DNT has been adopted by industry groups, technology companies or regulators.
10. Questions or Comments
PanOptis welcomes questions and comments about this Privacy Policy and/or our use of your information. Questions or comments should be directed to privacy@PanOptis.com.
Panoptis.com Terms of Use
Acceptance and Site Ownership
These Terms and Conditions of Use (the “Terms of Use”) apply to www.Panoptis.com and all associated linked sites maintained by Panoptis (collectively, the “Site”). Panoptis, LLC and its affiliates (collectively, “Panoptis”) and its licensors and content providers own all right, title and interest in and to the Site. BY USING THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE, INCLUDING ALL CHANGES AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE SITE MADE BY PANOPTIS FROM TIME-TO-TIME IN ITS SOLE DISCRETION, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE.
Panoptis owns, controls or licenses all text, graphics, images, interfaces, trademarks, logos, sounds, music, artwork and computer code (collectively, “Content”), including the design, structure, expression, and arrangement of the Content, contained on the Site. The Content is protected by trade dress, copyright, patent and trademark laws, and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws. Except as expressly provided in these Terms of Use, no part of the Site and no Content may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted or distributed in any way (including “mirroring”) to any other computer, server, Web site or other medium for publication or distribution or for any commercial enterprise, without Panoptis’ express prior written consent. You may use information on Panoptis products and services purposely made available by Panoptis for downloading from the Site, provided that you (a) retain and not remove any proprietary notice language in all copies thereof, (b) use such information only for your own non-commercial purpose and do not copy or distribute such information, and (c) make no modifications to any such information. Panoptis reserves the right, without notice, to modify the Site and to suspend or terminate operation of or access to the Site.
You shall not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion or feature of the Site, or any other systems or networks connected to the Site or to any Panoptis system. You shall not probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the Site or any network connected to the Site, nor breach the security or authentication measures on the Site or any network connected to the Site. You agree that you shall not take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the infrastructure of the Site or any connected systems or networks. You shall not pretend that you are, or that you represent, someone else, or impersonate any other individual or entity. You shall not use the Site or any Content for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms of Use, or to solicit the performance of any illegal activity or other activity which infringes the rights of Panoptis or others. You may not use or export or re-export any Content or any copy or adaptation of such Content, or any product or service offered on the Site, in violation of any applicable laws or regulations, including without limitation United States export laws and regulations.
Panoptis’ Privacy Policy applies to use of the Site, and its terms are part of these Terms of Use. Panoptis’ Privacy Policy is located here. You acknowledge and agree that Internet transmissions are never completely private or secure. You understand that any message or information you send to the Site may be read or intercepted by others.
Other Terms and Conditions
Panoptis’ obligations, if any, with regard to its products and services are governed solely by the agreements pursuant to which they are provided, and nothing on the Site shall be construed to alter such agreements. Panoptis may make changes to any products or services described on the Site, or to the applicable prices for any such products or services, at any time, without notice. The materials on the Site with respect to products and services may be out of date, and Panoptis makes no commitment to update the materials on the Site with respect to such products and services.
Links to Other Sites and to the Panoptis Site
The Site may contain links to third-party Web sites (“Linked Sites”). Linked Sites are provided solely as a convenience and are not under Panoptis’ control. Panoptis is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of Linked Sites.
THE SITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE DELIVERED ON AN “AS-IS” AND “AS-AVAILABLE” BASIS. PANOPTIS DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT OR FEATURE OF THE SITE WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, OR THAT ANY DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. PANOPTIS DOES NOT ENSURE THAT ANY FILES OR OTHER DATA YOU DOWNLOAD FROM THE SITE WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES OR CONTAMINATION OR DESTRUCTIVE FEATURES. PANOPTIS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. PANOPTIS DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE. YOU ASSUME TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND ANY LINKED SITES.
You agree that all matters relating to your access to or use of the Site, including all disputes, will be governed by the laws of the United States and by the laws of the State of Texas without regard to its conflicts of laws provisions. You agree to the personal jurisdiction by and venue in the state and federal courts in Collin County, Texas, and waive any objection to such jurisdiction or venue.
Copyright © 2017 Panoptis, LLC. All rights reserved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1841
|
__label__cc
| 0.547348
| 0.452652
|
Path MEGAzine > News > World News > Dr. Myles Munroe’s Funeral Arrangements Announced
Dr. Myles Munroe’s Funeral Arrangements Announced
Posted on November 17, 2014 by Kris Patrick
UPDATE: Memorial and funeral locations have been updated. CLICK HERE to view… The following is a press statement by Bahamas Faith Ministries:
The Board of Governors of Bahamas Faith Ministries International along with the families of Dr. Myles and Pastor Ruth Munroe and Dr. Richard Pinder would like to announce the following dates for Home Going and Memorial Services.
The Homegoing Service for Dr. Richard Pinder will be held on Tuesday, December 2nd 2014, at Bahamas Faith Ministries International Diplomat Center located on Carmichael Road in Nassau, Bahamas.
On Wednesday, December 3rd 2014, the Life & Contributions of Dr. Myles and Pastor Ruth Munroe will be celebrated during a National Memorial Service of Thanksgiving & Praise. We anticipate hosting this event at one of our major national facilities that will announced as soon as all official confirmations have been realized.
The official Funeral or Home Going Service for Dr. Myles and Pastor Ruth Munroe will be held on Thursday, December 4th 2014, at Bahamas Faith Ministries International Diplomat Center located on Carmichael Road in Nassau, Bahamas.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Prime Minister, the Rt.Honorable Perry G.Christie, his Cabinet as well as members of the Government for their condolences, words of kindness and support to date. We are in communication with the Government and other relevant stakeholders as we continue to fine tune our plans.
We intend to announce shortly a number of additional events leading up to the Home Going & Memorial Celebrations for Dr. Myles and Pastor Ruth Munroe and Dr. Richard Pinder. At that time we will also announce the service time for each event.
We are however pleased announce that several organizations and churches from around the world have already planned and announced Services of Thanksgiving & Celebration in honor Dr. Myles and his wife Pastor Ruth Munroe. Thanksgiving Services are confirmed to be held in several countries including Africa, Canada, Europe, Papua New Guinea, Barbados, several Latin American countries and at various churches throughout United Stated of America. We are awaiting final confirmations from additional countries.
The Board of Governors with the blessing of the family is also pleased to announce that a Special Memorial Organizing and Planning Committee has been commissioned to assist the family and the board with the planning and organization of the official Home Going and Memorial Celebration Services.
This Special Memorial Organizing Committee will be Chaired by Veteran Broadcaster, Business Executive & President of the CEO Network Deborah Bartlett who also serves as one of our Pastors at Bahamas Faith Ministries. Media Executive, Radio Personality and CEO of Harris Media Group Kevin Harris have been selected to serve as Deputy Chairman and Pastor Jay Mullings who is one of the five founding fathers of Bahamas Faith Ministries International will serve as Honorary Chairman.
We have literally been flooded with calls and well wishes from all over the world. We have also received a number of phone calls from several Head of States including Presidents of Countries, Prime Ministers as well as well known Pastors, Singers, Actors and Dignitaries expressing their sympathies and who have all indicated a commitment to attend.
The Memorial Organizing Committee has already established a Command Center here at Bahamas Faith Ministries where all calls, emails and request for information regarding Home Going and Memorial Services can be addressed. The direct phone contact to the Command Center is 242-461-6429.
We intend to once again release additional information regarding all services within the next few days.
On behalf of the Family of Dr. Myles and Pastor Ruth Munroe and Dr. Richard Pinder, we would once again like to thank the Bahamian people as well as people from around the world for their expressions of love, well wishes and support. It truly means a lot to us.
BACKSTORY:
Dr. Myles Munroe, Pastor Ruth and Pastor Richard Pinder all perished with six others on Sunday, November 9th when his Lear jet crashed at the Grand Bahama Shipyard. It was en route from Nassau.
Reports said that the plane clipped the side of a crane at the Shipyard and “exploded on impact”. The weather was said to be a factor.
The nine passengers aboard the plane belonging to Dr. Myles Munroe were heading to Grand Bahama for the Global Leadership Forum scheduled for November 10th through 13th to be hosted by Myles Munroe, the leader of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, which did take place despite the tragedy.
Prime Minister of The Bahamas, the Hon. Perry Christie said in a press statement, “It is utterly impossible to measure the magnitude of Dr. Munroe’s loss to The Bahamas and to the world. He was indisputably one of the most globally recognizable religious figures our nation has ever produced. Dr. Munroe was a man of immense charisma and persuasive appeal. He was regarded by a great many persons as the Conscience of The Nation. Certainly, he was among the most defining and influential spiritual leaders of the modern Bahamas and, I daresay, of the wider world of Christian evangelism as well.”
Bahamas Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Obie Wilchcombe said, ” Dr. Munroe was a global leader, a pillar of strength and inspiration for many and a pioneer of religious tourism in the Bahamas. Dr. Munroe also acted as an ambassador for The Bahamas, taking his Ministry to thousands and participated in numerous foundations and conclaves around the world.”
Bahamas Faith Ministries Pastor Dave Burrows said in a press statement, “We thank all Bahamians, and those who have called from the international community, for your prayers and expressions of comfort…”
Dr. Myles Munroe was an internationally renowned bestselling author, lecturer, teacher, life coach, government consultant, and leadership mentor. He had travelled around the world training leaders in business, government, education, sports, media, and religion.
This multi-gifted motivational speaker served as a business consultant to governments, Fortune 500 companies and corporations, addressing critical issues that affect every aspect of human, professional, leadership, social, and spiritual development.
Dr. Munroe represented his country as the youngest recipient of the Queen’s Birthday Honors of the Order of The British Empire (OBE) Award 1998 bestowed by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of England, for his spiritual and social contributions to the national development of the Bahamas. He had also been honoured by the government of the Bahamas with the Silver Jubilee Award (SJA) for providing twenty-five years of outstanding service to the Bahamas in the category of spiritual, social and religious development.
Dr. Myles was the senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship, where his wife, Ruth Ann, serves as co-senior pastor. He was a proud parent of Charisa and Chairo (Myles Jr.). He was 60 years old.
This entry was posted in Articles, World News and tagged Dr. Myles Munroe, Dr. Richard Pinder, funeral, homegoing, Ruth Munroe, times by Kris Patrick. Bookmark the permalink.
Pingback: Funeral Arrangements Set for Pastor Munroe & His Wife | AM 1310: The Light()
Pingback: One Year After the Death of Dr. Myles Munroe, Destiny Image Publishers Remembers His Legacy | Path MEGAzine()
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1843
|
__label__wiki
| 0.597807
| 0.597807
|
Applications & Bookings
Host or Book a Seminar
Franchise Coach Application
What is Resilience?
Accreditation and Affiliation
Seminars / Courses
The Wheelbarrow Kid
Business Resilience
Developing Environmental Resilience
How to sell your brand as a Resilient compelling story
Resilience in Crisis
Resilience Thinking
Resilient ‘I am Called’ High Impact Seminar
Resilient Communication
Resilient Corporate Governance
Resilient Employee Engagement & Wellness
Christian Leadership
Resilient Faith
Resilient God
Resilient Health
Resilient Learning
Resilient Marriage
Resilient Personality and Temperament
Resilient Wealth Creation
Resilient Rules of Order for Board Members
Six sides of Relationship Intimacy Resilience
Franchise Coaches
Dr Paul Charles- APARTHEID, WHERE THE HELL DID IT COME FROM?
HomeDr Paul Charles- APARTHEID, WHERE THE HELL DID IT COME FROM?
breuban@gmail.com
Dr Paul Charles – It starts in the mind and it must end in the mind – then work with the end in mind.
I have heard it repeatedly claimed that Apartheid is still alive in South Africa, after so many years of constitutional democracy. In this article, in a series of three, I will limit myself to the Root of Apartheid.
The Afrikaner Identity
Previously, in the not-so-distant past and hard-to-forget history of South Africa, Afrikaner Nationalists believed in the superiority of the Afrikaner nation. They believed that their identity was ‘god-given.’ They feared that the Afrikaner’s very existence was threatened by the mass of Africans that confronted them in South Africa; that the Afrikaner nation would be swamped and overcome if there was continued mixing of races. Afrikaner Nationalist historians explain apartheid in 1948 as the consolidation of these beliefs through a range of laws that were passed to prevent the mixing of the races and to preserve this ‘god-given’ Afrikaner identity.
When we hear the word Apartheid, we sometimes think of Nelson Mandela’s triumphs: his Nobel Peace Prize and long struggle to transform South Africa into a democracy. However, its history is worth recollecting, for illustrative purposes only, with no vilification intended. This modern system of legalized racial and “tribal” segregation dominated South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s. What is it that determined the course of white supremacy in twentieth-century South Africa?
A closer look is shocking. What is it that will make a person, who bleeds as the next person and feels love and pain as the next, who is of the same intrinsic value and worth as the next person assume that he is superior by far, in every aspect? This question sparked a brief journey that made me realize that there is a lot more than what meets the eye. When you trace the historical processes that led to Apartheid rule and its forms of economic, political and social control, you will identify global ideologies, rooted in Social Darwinism and eugenics, that influenced Apartheid laws and mentalities.
I was shocked. A certain group of people began to think they were superior and therefore acted in line with that belief. The aphorism, “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” not only embraces the whole of a man’s being but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. As the plant springs from, and could not be without the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them.
Not too many people stop to think through the implications of our belief systems. Have you taken a recent look at Charles Darwin’s famous book that started it all? You know the one. The Origin of Species. And are you aware of the full original title Darwin gave his book? Maybe in our current politically correct culture the complete title is too offensive to put right on the cover. But like it or not, here’s the whole title. Ready?
On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. What? Favored Races? Yes, Favored Races! Darwin made certain that the essence of his theory was front and center. Let’s break it down. First we see that the book is about origins. Darwin is attempting to inform us where we came from. According to him, our existence is a purely accidental naturalistic phenomenon. Then he moves into the process by which he believed we came into existence: “By Means of Natural Selection.”
That simply means that the strong survive and the weak don’t, also described by Darwin as, “the survival of the fittest.” Every creature is in competition for survival with all others. It’s “natural,” Darwin says, “that those with stronger traits will conquer those with weaker traits. The survivors will then breed, thus preserving and strengthening the traits most suited for survival. Things get gradually better as the weak are slaughtered and the strong survive to propagate.”
Elimination of the Weak
So evolution is dependent on the elimination of the weak. In fact, to the degree that any of the weak survive, the evolutionary process will be hindered. In this sense, competition and conquest are good for the advancement of life. The highest law is self-preservation, and the brutal cycle of killing is merely an amoral (neither right or wrong) necessity.
Final Part of the Title
Which brings us to the final part of Darwin’s title. It’s a mouth-full for a book title, but get these words: “The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” The idea is so heavy that even those who believe the theory see the racist implications and cringe. And yet, no explanation can alter what Darwin means when he speaks of “favored races.”
Favored above others
Sure, Darwin used the word “races” to refer to all life forms, both vegetable, and animal, but that does not lessen the racist implications because the human species was included in Darwin’s theory. The theory of evolution unavoidably teaches that some human races are favored above others. It should come as no surprise, then, that Darwin’s cousin and disciple, Sir Francis Galton, became the father of modern “eugenics,” which is the Greek word for “wellborn.”
Logical Conclusion
Taking Darwin’s evolutionary theory to its logical conclusion, Galton taught that “the gifted,” or more highly evolved humans, should treat the less favored among us with “kindness”—get this—“so long as they maintain “celibacy.” He went on to say, “If these continued to procreate children inferior in moral, intellectual and physical qualities, it is easy to believe the time may come when such persons would be considered as enemies of the state” (Quoted in Peter and Jean Medawar, Aristotle to Zoos, p. 87).
Eish! Wow! Ouch!
People considered as “enemies of the state” because they are inferior? Galton’s ideas turned out to be a dark “prophecy” that came true when Nazi eugenics scientists bought into Darwin’s “favored races” theory and supervised Hitler’s “Final Solution.” Millions who were regarded as less evolved than the Aryans were slaughtered with survival-of-the-fittest gusto, and the evolution-educated conscience seems to have felt no guilt.
Kill or be Killed
Kill or be killed, and why feel guilty, because, after all, if self-preservation is the highest law, and if the “triumph of the strong over the weak” is simply necessary for the advancement of mankind, well, then, may the best race win! And the pattern was mimicked in the Caribbean, Australia, America and South Africa, et al. Which begs the chilling question, If Darwin was right, then which ones are the “favored races”? Which of us are more highly evolved?
Who is better?
Which of us are better than the rest of us? The Nazis’ thought they were answering the question with their Aryan supremacy ideology and their gas chambers. In the past, Whites, in South Africa, thought it was them.
The Preservation of Favored Races. Can you see it on the bestseller shelf? Those words are there, after all, in the original title. Like it or not, that is the point of Darwin’s theory in all its debasing “glory.”
Do we really understand?
But somehow, I don’t think the Favored Races title would sell. I wonder how many really understand the implications of the logical conclusion of Darwin’s theory. The question is, do we? That is how a holocaust is started. Today scientists confirm how the evolutionary theory of random genetic change contradicts what really happens in nature.
Dr Paul Charles – You can keep the Apple, just give me the Seed
Dr Paul Charles – Marriage and Employee Wellness
Resilience Coaching International
Pursuing Excellence | Influencing Change | Restoring Relationships
paulinperson@gmail.com
© 2019. Resilient Coaching International. All Rights Reserved. Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1845
|
__label__wiki
| 0.647302
| 0.647302
|
Can there be a Critical Political Economy of International Trade?
Trailer: The Emotional Logic of Capitalism
Historicising Finance
by Martijn Konings on October 5, 2015
Let me start this piece on Samuel Knafo’s The Making of Modern Finance: Liberal Governance and the Gold Standard with a disclaimer: it makes no claims to neutrality or objectivity. I have witnessed the book’s development up close since approximately the turn of the century, when Sam and I were both graduate students at York University in Toronto. From there Sam moved to the University of Sussex, where the book spent some more years in the oven before it emerged in its current form. My own work has developed in close dialogue with Sam’s, and the conclusions of my The Development of American Finance parallel those of The Making of Modern Finance in key respects. The book was the subject of the reading group in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney during its meetings from May to July, and, as has become something of a tradition, this post and the following pursue some of the reflections that emerged there.
A brief summary of sorts. The book starts off by observing a curious contradiction in the IPE literature. It is widely acknowledged that the gold standard never functioned in a way that is consistent with the liberal image of a subordination of states to the discipline of financial markets. Yet this has rarely prompted scholars to re-examine the nature of the gold standard. Instead, it has primarily motivated efforts to salvage the liberal hypothesis: the literature on the gold standard accordingly reads like an endless series of excuses and exemptions. Sam’s objective is to advance a qualitatively new interpretation of the gold standard, and to this end he delves deeply into financial history, exploring the sources of British finance and tracing how they shaped a particular gold standard regime and the way in which this came to serve as the basis of international finance during the heyday of British power. The formalization of the gold standard was not a decision of the state to tie its own hands to the mast, but an attempt to police finance and make it serviceable to political objectives.
The book is not the work of a historian: it does not unearth any new archives. On the other hand, its conceptual intervention is fully historical – there is no meta-theoretical claim. Somewhat predictably, that leaves the book open to ojections from two opposite directions. A recurrent theme in the reading group (and I should confess here that I was not able to make all the meetings) was that people felt somewhat in the dark about the author’s theoretical commitments – during the first few weeks, much time was spent wondering what the book was gearing up to do. In IPE it is common for an author to declare her or his theoretical affiliations up front, or even just to explicitly state her or his reasons for refusing such affiliations. IPE debates accordingly tend to assume the form of competing conceptual templates, each claiming to be able to integrate a greater amount of historical data. But working with this kind of theory-history relationship is to put the cart before the horse: it always ends up shoehorning historical material into a theoretical template that must be maintained for reasons that reflect not so much their explanatory capacity but rather the perceptual blinders or reputational investments produced by academic institutionalisation.
If there is no doubt something disorienting about the way the book sets up its contribution, to my mind many of the critical theoretical frameworks that might be considered suitable candidates have already been given a run for their money and found wanting. A “factions of capital” analysis would likely resemble Ingham’s claims about British finance, and a theory of financial cycles in the spirit of the currently fashionable financialisation literature would bring us close to Arrighi’s work. Neither of those approaches has been capable of rethinking the image of classic liberalism as the subordination of the state to financial markets. The efforts of critical theorists to re-interpret financial history along such lines have often had a rather abstract character, placing phenoma in a different framework but without offering a qualitatively new angle on their significance.
From the other end of the spectrum the opposite concern might be voiced: many historians would readily agree with the above points but question the extent to which the book really practices an appropriate degree of historical sensibility – after all, the book does not open up any new archival material and draws only on secondary resources. Nor should we be too quick to associate such an attitude exclusively with the historical profession: even in a field such as IPE, which prides itself on its theoretical reflexivity and imagines itself immune to charges of empiricism, the yardstick by which originality of contribution is measured often turns on empirical novelty – even when such new facts only confirm what we already knew. All too often, therefore, that kind of attitude amounts to an injunction to get on with the business of empirical fact-finding even as significant gaps in our existing theoretical frameworks persist. In a sense, then, The Making of Modern Finance is less interested in finding out new facts than in putting to productive use the facts that we already have but tend to ignore.
The book’s primary objective is thus to historicize, to think finance historically. Perhaps we can view this as a particular take on Marx’s dictum that people make history but not under circumstances of their own choosing. This has of course evolved into the kind of notion that few thinkers – Marxist or otherwise – disagree with, and is usually taken as arguing for a balance between structure and agency, between the material weight of history and the opennes of the future. But the book moves beyond such formulaic notions of “interaction” to give the idea of structuration a particular twist. Structure has no material existence: it works at the level of unintended consequences and it only makes itself felt as something that systematically distorts the projections of human agency. History, then, may be motored by designs and intentions, but its direction follows a much more complex logic and is centrally governed by the continuous emergence of unexpected constellations of social and economic forces.
One way of reading this approach is in terms of the influence on Sam’s work of Political Marxism, an approach that is usually seen to have its origins in Robert Brenner’s work on the transition to capitalism. The central idea taken from Brenner’s contribution is that capitalism was not incipiently present in the structures of feudalism: capitalism did not emerge through capitalists avant la lettre liberating themselves from feudalism’s institutional shackles, but was an unintended system-level effect of the changing logic of social and political competition. Over the last couple of decades the insights from Political Marxism have made their way into historical sociology and international political economy and much of this work has been done at Sussex. This has been accompanied by a certain divergence between “first-generation” and “second-generation” Political Marxists. Whereas Political Marxism’s original proponents (most notably Ellen Meiksins Wood in addition to Brenner) have tended to focus on capitalism’s laws of motion in a way that reproduced the structuralism they initially sought to break with, more recent contributions have tended to be more interested in the way institutions and logics of social power continue to evolve in capitalism. What remains is perhaps above all a sensibility, an acute awareness that history does not follow any principles or laws or but generates its own endogenous dynamics.
We can read this either an effective break with the substantive tenets of Political Marxism or as a renewal of the promise of a specifically political Marxism. The title of the book refers to the making of modern – not capitalist – finance, and so suggests the importance of differentiating “capitalism” from “modernity.” Modernity seems to have a specific political rationality that isn’t captured in the conception of capitalism as a system of exploitation based on wage-labour. The book’s critique of liberalism does not center on the role of capital or of the working class, but on that of the state and the ways in which it was able to develop institutional capacities that are suppressed in liberal theory and its many offshoots. The emphasis on the importance of unintended consequences does not by any means entail a relativization of agency tout court – the central claim of the book is about the emergence of a specific kind of agency, namely that of the English state, through this historical logic.
So the model that this suggests is one of human interaction creating interdependencies that offer new configurations of constraints and opportunities. The nature of those patterns is never fully grasped in the moment itself, and there is always an element of contingency in whether and how they are exploited. Innovation is essentially the process whereby actors reposition themselves within such evolving constellations of cooperation and competition. State policies do not escape this dynamic: to assume that the state “sees like a state” (to borrow James Scott’s phrase) is to beg all the interesting questions, and to ignore entirely the historical processes through which the particular vantage point of contemporary financial policy emerges. New patterns of social relations offer new, unanticipated opportunities for manipulation, and policymakers over time learn how to wield these. Modern financial policy is not a variation on a generic model of market and state interactions, but a specific historical accomplishment.
But as much as this framework allows the book to move beyond some widely held misconceptions, we may still ask whether it is entirely successful in eradicating all traces of idealism and offering a reading of history as an endogenously evolving process. It is hard to escape the impression that the state is seen to acquire its capacity for productive interventions by being at a few removes, or gradually distancing itself from, the historical logic of unintended consequences. Let me emphasize that I am not here questioning Sam’s emphasis on the importance of the state. That state and finance do not exist at each other’s expense should be considered a historical given that much contemporary scholarship has worked very hard to suppress. Rather, I wonder if (and let me add here that I think the very same question can be raised about my book on American finance) the narrative still tacitly assumes the working in history of a Hegelian cunning of reason. If the state enjoys no inherently privileged vantage point, how should we explain its systematic ability to access a rationality that remains out of reach to others? What is the principle of hierarchisation at work in the kind of contingent historical logic that Sam’s book describes and how can we theorize this wihout returning to statist assumptions?
This is not a purely theoretical quibble. I wonder if the book ends up setting too much store by the self-image of modern monetary policy and its claims to technical precision. With respect to the historical narrative, it seems to me that the lender-of-last resort question, which was prominently on the minds of contemporary observers such as Bagehot and is intimately connected to financial governance in its least sophisticated guise as too-big-to-fail bailouts, is sidelined a little too much. And this has implications for how we view the nature of twentieth century monetary policy, which Sam argues should be seen as the further development of the innovations introduced under the gold standard regime: if Keynesianism certainly formalized newly perceived ways of governing economic processes, its technical sophistication served to rationalize away some of the most banal aspects of what it means to finally see like a state. Such considerations have of course considerable contemporary relevance, as a whole new generation of critical thinkers is blindsided by the technicalities of risk management innovation and seem unable to discern the ways they institutionalize a form of central banking that above all works by systematically shifting risk away from large financial institutions.
But if the worst I can say about this book is that it bends the stick a little too far in the other direction, or that it doesn’t fully settle the questions it speculatively takes up in the conclusion, that only goes to underscore the fact that Sam has given us a fundamental reinterpretation of what we have always thought about British finance and its role in the making of the modern world.
financeRobert Brenner
finance, Robert Brenner
Martijn Konings
Martijn Konings works in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney. He is the author of The Development of American Finance (Cambridge University Press, 2011), The Emotional Logic of Capitalism: What Progressives Have Missed (Stanford University Press, 2015), Neoliberalism (with Damien Cahill, Polity, 2017) and Capital and Time: For a New Critique of Neoliberal Reason (Stanford University Press, 2018). With Melinda Cooper, he edits the new Stanford University Press series Currencies: New Thinking for Financial Times.
financeRobert BrennerDebating the Making of Modern Finance
HECS and the Rise of the Investment State
Call for Papers: Intersections of finance and society 2019
Triple book launch at Gleebooks
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1846
|
__label__cc
| 0.643192
| 0.356808
|
“The Quarterly Journal of Veterinary Science in India and Army Animal Management” Vol 4 Issue 14 – January 1886Articles include: advertisement; Editorial . On Military Veterinary Science as a Speciality; Experimental Therapeutics; Civil Veterinary Reports. Cattle Disease in the Amherst District; Army Animal Management. Notes on the Camel as an Animal of Transport; Military Veterinary Records;...
6 – ‘The Evils which are occasioned by modern stables’Original watercolour painting of horses in a stable. The painting was used to produce a woodcut engraving for print in Mayhew's 'The Illustrated Horse Management' (1864), page 217...
You are here: Home / 1900 / February
10 – Letter to Mary Ann Smith from Frederick Smith, 10 Feb 1900
10th February 1900 /0 Comments/in Letters by Smith to his wife Mary Ann, during the Boer War 1899-1900 /by Helena Clarkson
This letter has several sections redacted in black ink, which are assumed to be on personal subjects and not related to Smith’s work in South Africa. In this letter, Smith writes on the following subjects: 10 Feb – plans to attack the Boer forces on early morning 5 February;…
http://rcvsvethistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/featured-FS.2.2.4.2.10-3.jpg 917 2598 Helena Clarkson http://www.rcvsvethistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/VH-newlogo-v2.png Helena Clarkson1900-02-10 11:54:562017-06-06 16:17:0110 – Letter to Mary Ann Smith from Frederick Smith, 10 Feb 1900
23rd February 1900 /0 Comments/in Letters by Smith to his wife Mary Ann, during the Boer War 1899-1900 /by Helena Clarkson
This letter has several sections redacted in black ink, which are assumed to be on personal subjects and not related to Smith’s work in South Africa. In this letter, Smith writes on the following subjects: account of the South Africa landscape seen during journey by rail; ostrich farms;…
http://rcvsvethistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/featured-FS.2.2.4.2.11.jpg 813 1292 Helena Clarkson http://www.rcvsvethistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/VH-newlogo-v2.png Helena Clarkson1900-02-23 12:32:442017-10-04 11:27:5211 – Letter to Mary Ann Smith from Frederick Smith, 23 Feb 1900
Norfolk Central Committee
North of England Veterinary Medical Association
North of Scotland Veterinary Medical Association
Northumberland and Durham Medical Society
agriculture anatomy anonymous author blood cattle cattle plague circulatory system digestive system dog eye foot France glanders heart horse illustration India inflammation intestine lameness lecture leg legal trial legislation limb lung military parasite pig poison rabies reproductive system respiratory system Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Royal Veterinary College rupture sheep skeleton stomach surgery tumour veterinary education veterinary literature veterinary practice veterinary profession
Archives Select Month December 1921 (6) November 1921 (6) October 1921 (6) September 1921 (7) July 1921 (4) June 1921 (6) May 1921 (1) April 1921 (1) March 1921 (4) February 1921 (3) January 1921 (2) December 1920 (3) November 1920 (2) October 1920 (5) September 1920 (9) August 1920 (5) July 1920 (2) June 1920 (4) May 1920 (6) April 1920 (7) March 1920 (10) February 1920 (10) January 1920 (4) December 1919 (7) November 1919 (4) October 1919 (1) September 1919 (3) July 1919 (3) June 1919 (1) May 1919 (2) March 1919 (7) February 1918 (1) August 1917 (4) June 1917 (1) May 1917 (1) March 1917 (5) February 1917 (3) January 1917 (5) December 1916 (11) October 1916 (4) May 1916 (2) April 1916 (2) March 1916 (2) January 1916 (1) June 1915 (1) March 1915 (1) February 1915 (1) December 1914 (5) November 1914 (2) October 1914 (2) September 1914 (5) May 1914 (2) April 1914 (4) March 1914 (8) February 1914 (13) January 1914 (4) December 1913 (5) November 1913 (18) October 1913 (5) September 1913 (12) August 1913 (1) July 1913 (8) June 1913 (17) May 1913 (14) April 1913 (13) March 1913 (16) February 1913 (13) September 1912 (1) August 1912 (1) April 1912 (11) March 1912 (13) October 1911 (1) March 1911 (1) January 1911 (2) November 1910 (17) October 1910 (1) December 1907 (2) November 1907 (2) October 1907 (1) January 1905 (1) July 1901 (1) February 1901 (1) January 1901 (1) October 1900 (3) September 1900 (2) August 1900 (1) July 1900 (1) June 1900 (3) May 1900 (1) March 1900 (1) February 1900 (2) January 1900 (5) December 1899 (5) February 1899 (1) February 1898 (4) January 1898 (6) December 1897 (3) November 1897 (1) January 1893 (1) December 1892 (1) July 1892 (1) September 1891 (1) December 1890 (1) October 1890 (1) July 1890 (1) April 1890 (1) January 1890 (2) December 1889 (6) October 1889 (1) July 1889 (1) April 1889 (1) January 1889 (2) December 1888 (1) October 1888 (1) July 1888 (1) April 1888 (1) January 1888 (1) December 1887 (3) October 1887 (1) July 1887 (2) April 1887 (1) January 1887 (1) October 1886 (1) July 1886 (1) April 1886 (1) January 1886 (1) July 1885 (1) April 1885 (1) January 1885 (2) December 1884 (2) October 1884 (1) August 1884 (1) July 1884 (1) May 1884 (1) April 1884 (1) January 1884 (2) December 1883 (2) October 1883 (1) July 1883 (1) April 1883 (1) January 1883 (3) January 1882 (1) January 1881 (1) December 1880 (1) May 1880 (1) December 1879 (2) November 1879 (1) October 1879 (1) September 1879 (1) August 1879 (1) July 1879 (1) June 1879 (1) May 1879 (1) April 1879 (1) March 1879 (1) February 1879 (1) January 1879 (1) December 1878 (2) November 1878 (1) October 1878 (1) September 1878 (1) August 1878 (1) July 1878 (1) June 1878 (1) May 1878 (1) April 1878 (1) March 1878 (1) February 1878 (1) January 1878 (1) December 1877 (2) November 1877 (1) October 1877 (1) September 1877 (1) August 1877 (1) July 1877 (1) June 1877 (1) May 1877 (1) April 1877 (1) March 1877 (1) February 1877 (1) January 1877 (1) December 1876 (2) November 1876 (1) October 1876 (1) September 1876 (1) August 1876 (1) July 1876 (1) June 1876 (1) May 1876 (1) April 1876 (1) March 1876 (1) February 1876 (1) January 1876 (1) December 1875 (2) November 1875 (1) October 1875 (1) September 1875 (1) August 1875 (1) July 1875 (1) June 1875 (1) May 1875 (1) April 1875 (1) March 1875 (1) February 1875 (1) January 1875 (1) December 1874 (3) November 1874 (1) October 1874 (1) September 1874 (1) August 1874 (1) July 1874 (1) June 1874 (1) May 1874 (1) April 1874 (1) March 1874 (1) February 1874 (1) January 1874 (1) December 1873 (2) November 1873 (1) October 1873 (1) September 1873 (1) August 1873 (1) July 1873 (1) June 1873 (1) May 1873 (1) April 1873 (1) March 1873 (1) February 1873 (1) January 1873 (1) December 1872 (2) November 1872 (1) October 1872 (1) September 1872 (1) August 1872 (1) July 1872 (1) June 1872 (1) May 1872 (1) April 1872 (1) March 1872 (1) February 1872 (1) January 1872 (1) December 1871 (2) November 1871 (1) October 1871 (1) September 1871 (1) August 1871 (1) July 1871 (1) June 1871 (1) May 1871 (1) April 1871 (1) March 1871 (1) February 1871 (1) January 1871 (1) December 1870 (2) November 1870 (1) October 1870 (1) September 1870 (1) August 1870 (1) July 1870 (1) June 1870 (1) May 1870 (1) April 1870 (1) March 1870 (1) February 1870 (1) January 1870 (1) December 1869 (4) November 1869 (1) October 1869 (1) September 1869 (1) August 1869 (1) July 1869 (1) June 1869 (1) May 1869 (1) April 1869 (1) March 1869 (1) February 1869 (1) January 1869 (1) December 1868 (2) November 1868 (1) October 1868 (1) September 1868 (1) August 1868 (1) July 1868 (1) June 1868 (1) May 1868 (1) April 1868 (1) March 1868 (1) February 1868 (1) January 1868 (1) December 1867 (2) November 1867 (1) October 1867 (1) September 1867 (1) August 1867 (1) July 1867 (1) June 1867 (1) May 1867 (1) April 1867 (1) March 1867 (1) February 1867 (1) January 1867 (1) December 1866 (2) November 1866 (1) October 1866 (1) September 1866 (1) August 1866 (1) July 1866 (1) June 1866 (1) May 1866 (1) April 1866 (1) March 1866 (1) February 1866 (1) January 1866 (1) December 1865 (2) November 1865 (1) October 1865 (1) September 1865 (1) August 1865 (1) July 1865 (1) June 1865 (1) May 1865 (1) April 1865 (1) March 1865 (1) February 1865 (1) January 1865 (1) December 1864 (2) November 1864 (1) October 1864 (1) September 1864 (1) August 1864 (1) July 1864 (1) June 1864 (1) May 1864 (1) April 1864 (1) March 1864 (1) February 1864 (1) January 1864 (1) December 1863 (2) November 1863 (1) October 1863 (1) September 1863 (1) August 1863 (1) July 1863 (1) June 1863 (1) May 1863 (1) April 1863 (1) March 1863 (1) February 1863 (1) January 1863 (1) December 1862 (2) November 1862 (1) October 1862 (1) September 1862 (1) August 1862 (1) July 1862 (1) June 1862 (1) May 1862 (1) April 1862 (1) March 1862 (1) February 1862 (1) January 1862 (1) December 1861 (2) November 1861 (1) October 1861 (1) September 1861 (1) August 1861 (1) July 1861 (1) June 1861 (1) May 1861 (1) April 1861 (1) March 1861 (1) February 1861 (1) January 1861 (1) December 1860 (32) November 1860 (1) October 1860 (1) September 1860 (1) August 1860 (1) July 1860 (1) June 1860 (1) May 1860 (1) April 1860 (1) March 1860 (1) February 1860 (1) January 1860 (1) December 1859 (2) November 1859 (1) October 1859 (1) September 1859 (1) August 1859 (1) July 1859 (1) June 1859 (1) May 1859 (1) April 1859 (1) March 1859 (1) February 1859 (1) January 1859 (1) December 1858 (2) November 1858 (1) October 1858 (1) September 1858 (1) August 1858 (1) July 1858 (1) June 1858 (1) May 1858 (1) April 1858 (1) March 1858 (1) February 1858 (1) January 1858 (1) December 1857 (2) November 1857 (1) October 1857 (1) September 1857 (1) August 1857 (1) July 1857 (1) June 1857 (1) May 1857 (1) April 1857 (1) March 1857 (1) February 1857 (1) January 1857 (1) December 1856 (3) October 1856 (1) September 1856 (1) August 1856 (1) July 1856 (1) June 1856 (1) May 1856 (1) April 1856 (1) March 1856 (1) February 1856 (1) January 1856 (1) December 1855 (2) November 1855 (1) October 1855 (1) September 1855 (1) August 1855 (1) July 1855 (1) June 1855 (1) May 1855 (1) April 1855 (1) March 1855 (1) February 1855 (1) January 1855 (1) December 1854 (3) November 1854 (1) October 1854 (1) September 1854 (1) August 1854 (1) July 1854 (1) June 1854 (1) May 1854 (1) April 1854 (1) March 1854 (1) February 1854 (1) January 1854 (1) December 1853 (2) November 1853 (1) October 1853 (1) September 1853 (1) August 1853 (1) July 1853 (1) June 1853 (1) May 1853 (1) April 1853 (1) March 1853 (1) February 1853 (1) January 1853 (1) December 1852 (2) November 1852 (1) October 1852 (1) September 1852 (1) August 1852 (1) July 1852 (1) June 1852 (1) May 1852 (1) April 1852 (1) March 1852 (1) February 1852 (1) January 1852 (1) December 1851 (2) November 1851 (1) October 1851 (1) September 1851 (1) August 1851 (1) July 1851 (1) June 1851 (1) May 1851 (1) April 1851 (1) March 1851 (1) February 1851 (1) January 1851 (1) December 1850 (2) November 1850 (1) October 1850 (1) September 1850 (1) August 1850 (1) July 1850 (1) June 1850 (1) May 1850 (1) April 1850 (1) March 1850 (1) February 1850 (1) January 1850 (1) December 1849 (2) November 1849 (1) October 1849 (1) September 1849 (1) August 1849 (1) July 1849 (1) June 1849 (1) May 1849 (1) April 1849 (1) March 1849 (1) February 1849 (1) January 1849 (1) December 1848 (3) November 1848 (1) October 1848 (1) September 1848 (1) August 1848 (1) July 1848 (1) June 1848 (1) May 1848 (1) April 1848 (1) March 1848 (1) February 1848 (1) January 1848 (1) December 1847 (2) November 1847 (1) October 1847 (1) September 1847 (1) August 1847 (1) July 1847 (1) June 1847 (1) May 1847 (1) April 1847 (1) March 1847 (1) February 1847 (1) January 1847 (1) December 1846 (2) November 1846 (1) October 1846 (1) September 1846 (1) August 1846 (1) July 1846 (1) June 1846 (1) May 1846 (1) April 1846 (1) March 1846 (1) February 1846 (1) January 1846 (1) December 1845 (2) November 1845 (1) October 1845 (1) September 1845 (1) August 1845 (1) July 1845 (1) June 1845 (1) May 1845 (1) April 1845 (1) March 1845 (1) February 1845 (1) January 1845 (1) December 1844 (2) November 1844 (1) October 1844 (1) September 1844 (1) August 1844 (1) July 1844 (1) June 1844 (1) May 1844 (1) April 1844 (1) March 1844 (1) February 1844 (1) January 1844 (1) December 1843 (2) November 1843 (1) September 1843 (1) August 1843 (2) July 1843 (2) May 1843 (1) April 1843 (1) March 1843 (1) February 1843 (1) January 1843 (1) December 1842 (2) November 1842 (1) October 1842 (1) September 1842 (1) August 1842 (1) July 1842 (1) June 1842 (1) May 1842 (1) April 1842 (1) March 1842 (1) February 1842 (1) January 1842 (1) December 1841 (4) November 1841 (1) October 1841 (1) September 1841 (1) August 1841 (1) July 1841 (1) June 1841 (1) May 1841 (1) April 1841 (1) March 1841 (1) February 1841 (1) January 1841 (1) December 1840 (3) November 1840 (1) October 1840 (1) September 1840 (1) August 1840 (1) July 1840 (1) June 1840 (1) May 1840 (1) April 1840 (1) March 1840 (1) February 1840 (1) January 1840 (1) December 1839 (2) October 1839 (2) September 1839 (1) August 1839 (1) July 1839 (1) June 1839 (1) May 1839 (1) April 1839 (1) March 1839 (1) February 1839 (1) January 1839 (1) December 1838 (5) November 1838 (1) October 1838 (1) September 1838 (1) August 1838 (1) July 1838 (1) June 1838 (1) May 1838 (1) April 1838 (1) March 1838 (1) February 1838 (1) January 1838 (1) December 1837 (3) November 1837 (1) October 1837 (1) September 1837 (1) August 1837 (1) July 1837 (1) June 1837 (1) May 1837 (1) April 1837 (1) March 1837 (1) February 1837 (1) January 1837 (1) December 1836 (2) November 1836 (1) October 1836 (1) September 1836 (1) August 1836 (1) July 1836 (1) June 1836 (1) May 1836 (1) April 1836 (1) March 1836 (1) February 1836 (1) January 1836 (2) December 1835 (2) November 1835 (1) October 1835 (1) September 1835 (1) August 1835 (1) July 1835 (1) June 1835 (1) May 1835 (1) April 1835 (1) March 1835 (1) February 1835 (1) January 1835 (1) December 1834 (2) November 1834 (1) October 1834 (1) September 1834 (1) August 1834 (1) July 1834 (1) June 1834 (1) May 1834 (1) April 1834 (1) March 1834 (1) February 1834 (1) January 1834 (1) December 1833 (2) November 1833 (1) October 1833 (1) September 1833 (1) August 1833 (1) July 1833 (1) June 1833 (1) May 1833 (1) April 1833 (1) March 1833 (1) February 1833 (1) January 1833 (1) December 1832 (2) November 1832 (1) October 1832 (1) September 1832 (1) August 1832 (1) July 1832 (1) June 1832 (1) May 1832 (1) April 1832 (1) March 1832 (1) February 1832 (1) January 1832 (1) December 1831 (2) November 1831 (1) October 1831 (1) September 1831 (1) August 1831 (1) July 1831 (1) June 1831 (1) May 1831 (1) April 1831 (1) March 1831 (1) February 1831 (1) January 1831 (1) December 1830 (2) November 1830 (1) October 1830 (1) September 1830 (1) August 1830 (2) July 1830 (2) June 1830 (4) May 1830 (3) April 1830 (3) March 1830 (3) February 1830 (3) January 1830 (3) December 1829 (6) November 1829 (3) October 1829 (3) September 1829 (3) August 1829 (3) July 1829 (3) June 1829 (3) May 1829 (3) April 1829 (3) March 1829 (3) February 1829 (3) January 1829 (3) December 1828 (3) November 1828 (2) October 1828 (2) September 1828 (2) August 1828 (2) July 1828 (2) June 1828 (2) May 1828 (2) April 1828 (2) March 1828 (2) February 1828 (2) January 1828 (2) December 1809 (1) December 1799 (1) December 1796 (1) March 1790 (1) December 1752 (1) January 1748 (1) December 1683 (6) February 1613 (1) January 1528 (1)
Select Category Archive Collections (496) EM – Edward Mayhew Watercolours (30) 1 – Watercolours used in “The Illustrated Horse Doctor” (15) 2 – Watercolours used in ‘The Illustrated Horse Management’ (14) FS – Frederick Smith Papers (465) 2 – Working Papers (43) Smith’s work as a student at the Royal Veterinary College (1) Smith’s work in Africa, including the Second Anglo-Boer War (26) Letters by Smith to his wife Mary Ann, during the Boer War 1899-1900 (22) Smith’s Official Diary of the War in South Africa (4) Smith’s work with the Army Veterinary Service (16) Veterinary case notes collected by Anatomy or Pathology, 1868-1899 (15) 3 – Correspondence (422) 1 – Correspondence between Smith and members of the Bullock family (401) 01 – Correspondence sent and received in 1910 (18) 02 – Correspondence sent and received in 1911 (4) 03 – Correspondence sent and received in 1912 (26) 04 – Correspondence sent and received in 1913 (122) 05 – Correspondence sent and received in 1914 (45) 06 – Correspondence sent and received in 1915 (3) 07 – Correspondence sent and received in 1916 (22) 08 – Correspondence sent and received in 1917 (19) 09 – Correspondence sent and received in 1918 (1) 10 – Correspondence sent and received in 1919 (28) 11 – Correspondence sent and received in 1920 (67) 12 – Correspondence sent and received in 1921 (46) 3 – Correspondence with individuals (21) 2 – Letters to Smith from Sir Francis Galton (15) 3 – Letters to Smith from Captain Richard Crawshay (6) RCVS – Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons papers (1) 1 – Papers relating to the incorporation of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (1) Library Collections (802) Books and Pamphlets (25) Bracy Clark Pamphlets (4) Historical Book Collection (21) Authors Surname A-D (3) Authors Surname E-I (2) Authors Surname J-M (2) Authors Surname S-V (14) Periodicals (777) “Farrier & Naturalist” (53) 1828 – Volume 1 (13) 1829 – Volume 2 (25) 1830 – Volume 3 (15) “The Quarterly Journal of Veterinary Science in India and Army Animal Management” (41) 1882 – Specimen Issue (1) 1883 – Volume 1 (4) 1883-1884 – Volume 2 (5) 1884-1885 – Volume 3 (5) 1886 – Volume 4 (3) 1886-1887 – Volume 5 (6) 1887-1888 – Volume 6 (6) 1889 – Volume 7 (6) 1890 – Volume 8 (5) The Veterinarian (683) “The Veterinarian” Vol 1-25 (331) 1828 – Volume 1 (13) 1829 – Volume 2 (13) 1830 – Volume 3 (13) 1831 – Volume 4 (13) 1832 – Volume 5 (13) 1833 – Volume 6 (13) 1834 – Volume 7 (13) 1835 – Volume 8 (13) 1836 – Volume 9 (14) 1837 – Volume 10 (14) 1838 – Volume 11 (15) 1839 – Volume 12 (13) 1840 – Volume 13 (13) 1841 – Volume 14 (15) 1842 – Volume 15 (13) 1843 – Volume 16 (13) 1844 – Volume 17 (13) 1845 – Volume 18 (13) 1846 – Volume 19 (13) 1847 – Volume 20 (13) 1848 – Volume 21 (13) 1849 – Volume 22 (13) 1850 – Volume 23 (13) 1851 – Volume 24 (13) 1852 – Volume 25 (13) “The Veterinarian” Vol 26-50 (326) 1853 – Volume 26 (13) 1854 – Volume 27 (13) 1855 – Volume 28 (13) 1856 – Volume 29 (13) 1857 – Volume 30 (13) 1858 – Volume 31 (13) 1859 – Volume 32 (13) 1860 – Volume 33 (13) 1861 – Volume 34 (13) 1862 – Volume 35 (13) 1863 – Volume 36 (13) 1864 – Volume 37 (13) 1865 – Volume 38 (13) 1866 – Volume 39 (13) 1867 – Volume 40 (13) 1868 – Volume 41 (13) 1869 – Volume 42 (14) 1870 – Volume 43 (13) 1871 – Volume 44 (13) 1872 – Volume 45 (13) 1873 – Volume 46 (13) 1874 – Volume 47 (13) 1875 – Volume 48 (13) 1876 – Volume 49 (13) 1877 – Volume 50 (13) “The Veterinarian” Vol 51- (26) 1878 – Volume 51 (13) 1879 – Volume 52 (13)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1847
|
__label__cc
| 0.723284
| 0.276716
|
Sometimes I wonder what life would be like in a different time. Actually I wonder about it all the time. I think that’s why I love traveling so much (to Europe especially). The timeless elegance of Europe makes being there almost like a trip back in time. It’s an escape from the bustling modern world that we live in today. Which probably explains why I’ve recently started reminiscing my last trip to Europe almost two years ago in an attempt to escape the reality of finals week (my first two are tomorrow, yay). Funny thing is, it still seems like the trip was just yesterday. But at the same time, it seems like it’s in its own dimension of time. Every time I think about my memories in France, it’s not just a trip back two years in time, it seems like thousands. Maybe looking at these pictures, you’ll understand what I mean.
Do I need to explain? I feel like the pictures speak for themselves. Each one seems to speak to a different time period, and it’s amazing that I was able to snap these images in a span of just two weeks. We don’t really see places like this anymore, especially in the U.S. But I’m thankful that these special places are still being preserved–hopefully for many more years to come.
I could keep looking through my album for hours, but then I would be signing myself to doom for my finals tomorrow. But thanks for sharing my little daydream with me! I hope you found as much inspiration as I did in these beautiful places, even if it is only through pictures.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1848
|
__label__wiki
| 0.991293
| 0.991293
|
According to no less an authority than the RIAA, Boyz II Men are the most commercially successful R&B group of all time. They've sold ludicrous numbers of records and been involved in three of the longest-running number-one pop singles in history, and they've done it as a unit of equals. In fact, their four-part harmonies blend so smoothly that most of the general public would be hard pressed to name any of the group's individual members. And that's no reflection on their skill as singers; Boyz II Men were among the first male urban soul artists to adopt the sort of hyper-technical melodic embellishments that were popularized by virtuosic divas like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Their early music was indebted to new jack swing, but the group quickly found their fortè in lush, soulful ballads, where their harmonies could be showcased to greatest effect. Boyz II Men may never duplicate their incredible run of success during the first half of the '90s, but that's a near-impossible task for anyone, even with the broad-based appeal of their clean-cut romantic image.
Boyz II Men were formed in 1988 at Philadelphia's High School of the Creative and Performing Arts. Founding members Nathan Morris and Marc Nelson had been singing together for several years, but had trouble keeping a group together simply due to members graduating. Things finally stabilized when they hooked up with Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, and bass vocalist Michael McCary; calling themselves Unique Attraction, the quintet performed a well-received Valentine's Day show for their school, and developed a repertoire that leaned heavily on New Edition songs (one of which, "Boys to Men," gave them their name). Their big break came in 1989, when they snuck backstage at a Bell Biv DeVoe concert and wowed group member Michael Bivins (also formerly of New Edition, and a budding music entrepreneur) with an a cappella version of New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain." Bivins offered them a deal right there, but Nelson would not stick around to be part of it; personality conflicts led to his departure soon after (he later resurfaced as a member of Az Yet).
Down to a quartet, Boyz II Men entered the studio to record their debut album, Cooleyhighharmony, for the legendary Motown Records. Backed by the new jack production then in vogue, they dubbed their sound "hip-hop doo wop," though as a vocal-harmony group they were more indebted to R&B of the '60s and '70s. Cooleyhighharmony was released in 1991, and its first single, the uptempo dance track "Motownphilly," rocketed up the charts, going Top Five pop and number one R&B on its way to platinum sales. The a cappella ballad "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday," a cover of a song from the film Cooley High, also hit the pop Top Five and topped the R&B charts, and went gold. Meanwhile, the album won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Boyz II Men joined MC Hammer's Too Legit to Quit tour in 1992, but tragedy struck when tour manager Khalil Roundtree was shot and killed in Chicago; the group rededicated "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" to him.
The tragedy notwithstanding, Boyz II Men had had an extremely auspicious beginning to their career. Still, nothing could have foreshadowed the group's Midas touch over the next few years. Briefly entering the studio in between concert gigs, Boyz II Men cut a smooth Babyface ballad called "End of the Road" for the soundtrack of the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. Released as a single, it became not just a blockbuster, but one of the biggest hits in history; it spent 13 weeks at number one on the pop charts, an incredible run that broke the record of 11 weeks Elvis Presley had held ever since 1956 with the double-sided single "Don't Be Cruel"/"Hound Dog." "End of the Road" won a slew of awards and cemented Boyz II Men's star status beyond any doubt; while crafting their next album during 1993, the group released a couple of placeholders: a Top Five cover of the Five Satins doo wop classic "In the Still of the Nite," from the TV-movie The Jacksons: An American Dream, and the holiday album Christmas Interpretations. (Also that year, Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" broke "End of the Road"'s record with 14 weeks at number one.)
The post-"End of the Road" buzz helped make Boyz II Men's next album, II, an instant smash when it arrived in 1994, even though it didn't include "End of the Road." Produced by the likes of Babyface and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, rather than Bivins (who wanted to concentrate on developing new artists), II debuted at number one on its way to sales of over 12-million copies. The first single, "I'll Make Love to You" (also penned by Babyface), raced up the charts and wound up tying Houston's short-lived record, with 14 weeks of its own at number one - a staggering feat in itself, made all the more amazing by the fact that the group had already set the record once. Moreover, the follow-up single "On Bended Knee" actually replaced "I'll Make Love to You" at number one for a six-week run of its own; only Elvis and the Beatles had ever replaced themselves at number one. "Thank You" was a relative flop, not quite making the pop Top 20, but "Water Runs Dry" returned them to the Top Five, falling one slot short of number one. Boyz II Men spent much of 1995 touring the U.S. and beyond in support of II, and also opened their own recording studio. They spent some time recording collaborations with other artists: Wanya Morris duetted with Brandy on the hit "Brokenhearted," and the whole group sang on Michael Jackson's "History" and LL Cool J's "Hey Lover." The biggest one, however, was a song done with Mariah Carey called "One Sweet Day." Featuring two of the biggest chart powerhouses in the industry, "One Sweet Day" was virtually a guaranteed blockbuster, and it went on to spend 16 weeks at number one on the pop charts, debuting there in December 1995; it was the third such record-setting single of Boyz II Men's career.
Over the group's objections, Motown released a piece of cash-in product titled The Remix Collection in late 1995; in retaliation, Boyz signed a distribution deal with Sony, not Motown, for their new vanity label Stonecreek. It was the beginning of a souring relationship that only worsened upon the release of Boyz II Men's next album, Evolution, in 1997. The record started out strong, debuting at number one and sending "4 Seasons of Loneliness" to the same position on the singles charts; its Top Ten follow-up, "A Song for Mama," gave Boyz II Men their record-setting seventh platinum single. However, Motown was unable to throw its full promotional muscle behind the record (perhaps because of their transition to a new label president), meaning that Evolution didn't have nearly the shelf life of II, selling only two-million copies. It didn't help that critics were less than enthusiastic, questioning the album's title since the music itself was more of the same. The group was also forced to postpone parts of their supporting tour when Wanya Morris developed a benign polyp on his vocal cords. He recovered fully, though, and in early 1999, amid major record-company mergers, the group got their contract transferred from Motown to Universal. For their next album, the group assumed greater control over songwriting and production, handling a greater share of each by themselves. The resulting record, Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya, was released in 2000, and while it received better reviews than Evolution, it continued the group's downward commercial slide, only going gold and producing a smaller-scale hit in "Pass You By." The group subsequently signed with Arista Records. In summer 2002, Boyz II Men kept with their sophisticated approach for the aptly titled release Full Circle.
Steve Huey, All Music Guide (allmusic.com)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1851
|
__label__wiki
| 0.711905
| 0.711905
|
NCBA, State Affiliates Urge Congress to Ratify USMCA | Rural Radio Network
NCBA, State Affiliates Urge Congress to Ratify USMCA
BY NCBA News Release | July 9, 2019
Home › News › Livestock
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) today sent a letter signed by 39 of its state affiliates to U.S. Senate and House leaders urging them to support the swift ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is NCBA’s latest salvo in the battle to build support for USMCA ratification, coming less than two weeks after the group launched a new media campaign to push the accord.
“American cattle producers need to maintain our unrestricted, duty-free access to markets in Canada and Mexico, and that’s exactly what USMCA would guarantee us,” said NCBA President Jennifer Houston. “Jeopardizing that access by having Congress not take action on USMCA is simply not an option for us.”
In addition to calling on Congress to quickly ratify USMCA, the letter also encouraged the Capitol Hill leaders to oppose efforts to re-instate failed policies of the past, such as mandatory country-of-origin labeling, or MCOOL.
“MCOOL was U.S. law for six years until it was repealed by Congress in 2015 to avoid $1 billion of retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico that were sanctioned by the World Trade Organization (WTO),” the letter says. “The truth is MCOOL cost the U.S. beef industry hundreds of millions of dollars to implement, and the vast majority of consumers never paid attention to it. Our industry has suffered enough with this bad idea and we do not need to relive the sins of the past.”
Click here to read the full letter, and click here to view NCBA’s “Faces of USMCA” media campaign, which launched in June.
agriculturecattleFarmingNCBARanchingUSMCA
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1860
|
__label__cc
| 0.608132
| 0.391868
|
ArtistsExhibitionsGermantownPublicationsArt FairsNews / EventsGallerySearch
Featured Works Thumbnails Back
Floorpiece IV, 1973
Cloth and acrylic
56.75h x 56.75w in (144.15h x 144.15w cm)
Bandaged Grid #1 (2015)
Oil and mixed media on canvas
44.25h x 76.5w x 2.5d in (112.4h x 194.3w x 6.4d cm)
Naples Grid (2015)
80.25h x 54.5w x 3d in (203.8h x 138.4w x 7.6d cm)
White Rims #2 (2015)
Monotype on Twinrocker paper with metal grommets
47h x 33.5w in (119.4h x 85.1w cm)
Spillway (2014)
91h x 71w in (231.1h x 180.3w cm)
Fraggle (2014)
48.5h x 58.5w in (123.2h x 148.6w cm)
Buffer (2011)
44.5h x 50.5w in (113.03h x 128.27w cm)
Collection of New Mexico Museum of Art, NM
Rims (Dark Red on Light Red) (2011)
Monotype on paper
13h x 10.5w in (33h x 26.7w cm)
In 2 parts: 74h x 41w x 2d in each; 74h x 82w x 2d in overall
Lesbian Dreams (1992)
32.50h x 23w in (82.55h x 58.42w cm)
Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Chicken Lady (1989)
96h x 127.50w in (243.84h x 323.85w cm)
In Her Absence (1981)
34h x 86w in (86.4h x 218.4w cm)
Bitteroot (1976)
Oil and Dorland's Wax Medium on canvas
Koster (1975)
24h x 38w in (60.96h x 96.52w cm)
Kypros Born (1975)
Grey Grid (1974)
20.50h x 20.50w in (52.07h x 52.07w cm)
An Oval Braid (1972)
Charcoal on paper
25h x 38w in (63.5h x 96.5w cm)
28.5h x 23.5w in (72.4h x 59.7w cm)
Bio Summary
Harmony Hammond, 2019. Photo by Clayton Porter.
Harmony Hammond (b.1944) was a leading figure in the development of the feminist art movement in New York in the early 1970s. She attended the University of Minnesota from 1963–67, before moving to New York in 1969. She was a co-founder of A.I.R., the first women’s cooperative art gallery in New York (1972) and Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art & Politics (1976). Since 1984, Hammond has lived and worked in northern New Mexico, teaching at the University of Arizona, Tucson from 1989–2006. Hammond’s earliest feminist work combined gender politics with post-minimal concerns of materials and process, frequently occupying a space between painting and sculpture.
For years, she worked with found and repurposed materials and objects such as rags, straw, latex rubber, hair, linoleum, roofing tin, and burnt wood as well as buckets, gutters and water troughs as a means of introducing content to the world of abstraction. Hammond’s near-monochrome paintings of the last decade participate in the narrative of modernist abstraction at the same as time they insist on an oppositional discourse of feminist and queer content. Their focus on materiality and the indexical, suggesting topographies of body and place, derives from and remains in conversation with her feminist work of the 1970s. A second ongoing series of overtly political work in various media ranging from bronze sculpture to digital prints, deals with issues of intolerance, censorship, and self-censorship.
A survey exhibition of Harmony Hammond’s work opened in 2019 at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT. Hammond’s artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally in venues such as the Museum of the City of New York, NY (2016); New Mexico Museum of Art, Sante Fe, NM (2016); Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung, Ludwig, Vienna, Austria (2016); Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA (2015); RedLine Art Space, Denver, CO (2014); National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. (2011); MoMA PS1, Queens, NY (2008); Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada (2008); Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (2007); Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria (2007); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2007); SITE Santa Fe, NM (2002); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (1996); Brooklyn Museum, New York (1985); New Museum, New York (1982), Downtown Whitney Museum, New York (1978), Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN (1968); among others.
Hammond’s work is in the permanent collections of Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM; Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others. Her archive is in the permanent collection of the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA. She has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim, Joan Mitchell, Pollock–Krasner, Esther and Adolph Gottlieb, and Art Matters Foundations, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Hammond’s book, Wrappings: Essays on Feminism, Art and the Martial Arts, (TSL Press, 1984) is considered a seminal publication on 1970s feminist art. Her groundbreaking book Lesbian Art in America: A Contemporary History (Rizzoli, 2000) received a Lambda Literary Award and remains the primary text on the subject. In 2013, Hammond was honored with The College Art Association Distinguished Feminist Award. She received both the College Art Association's Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award and Anonymous was a Woman Award in 2014.
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Bartlett Center for the Visual Arts, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Chemical Bank, New York, NY
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
General Mills Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY
Johnson & Johnson Corporate Collection, New Brunswick, NJ
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
New Mexico Arts, State Public Art Collection, NM
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, NJ
Rendez-vous International Sculpture Site, St. Jean Port-Joli, Quebec
Roswell Museum, NM
Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
St. Thomas Aquinas Church, St. Paul, MN
St. Thomas More Chapel, Fordham University, Bronx, NY
Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
Weisman Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Series / Projects
Weave Paintings 1973–77
Fabric Works 1971–1984
Works on Paper 1980–present
Political Work
Inappropriate Longings April 19 – May 25, 2018
Haptic
July 7 – August 12, 2016
May 19 – June 25, 2016
Broken Spaces: Cut, Mark, and Gesture
Queer Abstraction
Des Moines Art Center June 1 – September 8, 2019
About Face: Stonewall, Revolt, and the New Queer
Wrightwood 659 May 22 - August 3, 2019
Art After Stonewall, 1969–1989
Harmony Hammond April 20 – July 21, 2019
Harmony Hammond: Material Witness, Five Decades of Art
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum March 3 – September 15, 2019
Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection
Brooklyn Museum August 31, 2018—March 31, 2019
Harmony Hammond: Big Paintings 2002 - 2005
Center for Contemporary Arts April 9 - May 21, 2005
Harmony Hammond: Monster Prints
SITE Santa Fe February 16, 2002 - June 2, 2002
Harmony Hammond: Erasing Censorship
Artist Curated Projects February 2018
Everson Museum of Art August 26 – December 31, 2017
Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York
Museum of the City of New York October 7, 2016 – March 26, 2017
Harmony Hammond and Francis Cape: Angle of Repose
SITE Santa Fe July 18 – October 4, 2015
Pretty Raw: After and Around Helen Frankenthaler
Rose Art Museum February 11 – June 7, 2015
Harmony Hammond: Becoming/Unbecoming Monochrome
RedLine Art Space August 2 – September 28, 2014
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis January 24 – April 13, 2014
Harmony Hammond: Alcove 12.2
New Mexico Museum of Art May 4 - June 3, 2012
WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles March 4 – July 16, 2007
May 19 - June 25, 2016
October 23 - December 7, 2013
Articles / Reviews
Hammond June 14, 2019
Hammond June 8, 2019
Hammond June 2019
Hammond May 24, 2019
Hammond May 2, 2019
Art in America
Hammond May 2019
Spike Art
Hammond April 10, 2019
CT Post
Hammond March 28, 2019
Ridgefield Press
Hammond March 7, 2019
Widewalls
Hammond February 27, 2019
Hammond September 28, 2018
Art New England
Hammond August 17, 2018
ArtReview
Hammond Summer 2018
Flash Art
Arte Fuse
Hamptons Arts Hub
Suited Magazine
Hammond Spring 2018
Contemporary Art Review
ADAA 2018 Art Fair Brochure
Hammond January 5, 2018
Artinfo
Hammond November 21, 2017
Brooklyn Rail
Denver Westword
Hammond September 3, 2014
Art Basel Miami Beach 2013 Brochure
Hammond November 8, 2013
Hammond Exhibition Catalogue October 23, 2013
Hammond January 24, 2012
Artforum.com
Hammond October 17, 2011
We Who Feel Differently
Hammond January 2011
Art21 Magazine
Hammond August 5, 2010
Exitbook
Hammond October 2007
Hammond February 2007
Artnet Magazine
Hammond February-April 2007
Hammond December 25, 2006
NY Arts Magazine
Hammond March-April 2005
Hammond December 2004
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Arts Magazine
Hammond March 1976
May 1 – 5, 2019
SP-Arte
ADAA: The Art Show
February 28 – March 4, 2018
April 6 – 9, 2017
May 14 – 17, 2015
May 9 – 12, 2014
Art Dubai
December 5 – 8, 2013
510 West 26 Street, New York NY 10001 United States
Summer hours: Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1862
|
__label__wiki
| 0.942689
| 0.942689
|
Home » LIFESTYLES » Film festival aiming for ‘red carpet experience’
Film festival aiming for ‘red carpet experience’
Posted on September 13, 2017 by oshawaexpress in LIFESTYLES
By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express
With a new name and new focus, the Durham Regional International Film Festival will roll out the red carpet next week.
Colin Burwell, a member of the festival’s steering committee, says adding “international” to the name and some of the new programs they are offering are part of a dedicated effort “to change up some of the flavour of the film festival.”
Now in its third year, the event was organized by the region itself for the first two, with a non-profit group of volunteers taking over the reigns in 2017.
“The first few years, we were really gunning towards a family-friendly kind of event,” Burwell says. “For the third year, we really wanted to get people to associate the festival with the red carpet experience.”
“With the international-type of vibe, we felt that would give the festival a bit more credibility and attract an audience that are more film buffs or filmmakers themselves,” he continued.
That international aura is evident as films have been submitted from across the globe.
“We are screening films from eight different countries. We have a few from the U.S., and countries such as Iraq, France, and Switzerland,” Burwell noted.
Not to be outdone, Canada, Ontario and of course, Durham Region, are all healthily represented as well.
One local filmmaker whose work will be highlighted during the festival is Carla Sinclair of Oshawa’s Empty Cup Media.
Sinclair’s interest in filmmaking began at the age of 12 when she picked up her “friend’s grandmother’s old ‘handycam’.”
“I got really invested in it and that’s what I spent all my time doing.”
Sinclair would go on to study film in British Columbia, including a program on international film design with an emphasis on “cinematography, advanced editing, and business.”
Eventually, Sinclair would join the ranks of Empty Cup Media, where she has honed her craft locally.
She was involved with two films submitted for DRIFF, including Armoured Time Machines.
The 11-minute documentary focuses on Persian Gulf War veterans reunited with their fellow soldiers and the military vehicles they went into battle in more than 25 years ago.
Alan Duffy, president of Oshawa’s Ontario Regiment Museum, approached Sinclair’s company with his idea for the film.
“It was a brilliant film to make,” Sinclair says, reflecting on the experience. “It was cool to first just interview [the soldiers] and then see the emotions they were experiencing at the time.”
While those emotions were quite varied, Sinclair says she really could see the soldiers were overjoyed to be reunited with their former colleagues.
“The camaraderie they had with the people they had been friends with before was very prevalent,” she added.
While Armoured Time Machines is not meant to be a political film, Sinclair says it was an eye-opening experience on the topic of war.
“One gentleman spoke about how, which really caught my attention, the people who abhor war the most are probably [the soldiers],” Sinclair says. “They are not necessarily excited to go fight, but it’s an important role to play and it if comes down to it, you have to go to battle, but you can probably find the most anti-war advocates in the soldiers.”
Aside from the pride of showing her work, Sinclair says she too is optimistic about the growth of the festival.
“I very excited for a festival of this calibre to be in Durham Region, and I love TIFF, but just going into the city can be challenging, so having this kind of foreign content in our backyard and coming together to celebrate the arts in this fashion is great.”
Burwell, a filmmaker in his own right, says there is a huge buzz growing around the local
film scene.
“I think 2017 is really the tipping point for film in Durham. After this, we will no longer be living in the shadow of Toronto’s film world, we will be our own entity and competing with Toronto.”
Explaining that Durham is quickly becoming a filming location hotspot, Burwell says he believes this will not be a well-kept secret for long.
“It’s blowing up and we really want the festival to be a catalyst for this explosion.”
For Burwell, one example of the region’s largely undiscovered charms is Newcastle’s Docville Wild West movie set.
“It’s one of those hidden gems in Durham that a lot of people haven’t seen. It’s a really neat venue.”
The set will host a full day of events during the festival, including an opportunity for patrons to be on camera as part of a ‘movie-in-a-day’ project, which includes the ability to see how the film is put together.
In another effort to give the event a larger feel, DRIFF will feature screenings of critically and commercially successful feature films such as 54, Bang Bang Baby and The Blackcoat’s Daughter, to name a few.
Some of the directors and producers of these films will be attending Q&A sessions after the screenings, Burwell states.
“That is the ingredient to add to give the festival more of an international feel and red carpet experience.”
The festival will feature the adjudication of films across nine categories, including Best Animated Short, Best Feature Film, Best Documentary Short, Best Documentary Feature, Best Comedy Short, Best Short Film, Best Student Film, People’s Choice Award and Best Regional Film.
More for information, such as ticket pricing and festival schedule, visit driff.ca.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1863
|
__label__cc
| 0.538796
| 0.461204
|
Disclosed Ground
International Competition for Rehabilitating Mapo Oil Depot into a Cultural Depot Park
2014. August
Architect : Simplex Architecture
Landscape Architect : Gyeong Tak Park
As a retroactive instrument to recover primal memories of nature, the existing oil depot will be turned into a new landscape feature in various programmatic levels to create a prospective locus to open up the public's subconscious desire to interact with nature. Our proposal of a Disclosed Ground of each level reveals its own inherent topographical characteristics where people can engage with nature in numerous methods. Either by opening up the area previously occupied by the tank or by covering the site so that it recuperates the original condition before its industrial usage, each tank will thus stimulate people's primitive emotions and re-instigate their relationship once held with nature.
Disclosed Ground provides people with a primitive-like landscape and contains sensory stimulating activities enabling nature to prevail over the existing post-industrial vestige without entirely demolishing the current structure. The old Mapo Oil Depot re-constituted in the Disclosed Ground becomes a new cultural center replenishing people with socio-cultural activities communing with raw environments that have been lacking in most artificially manicured contemporary parks and cultural facilities.
Site Usage and Intervention
The current site has a parking lot in front which is part of the main access to the tanks. In order to provide people with a pedestrian oriented welcoming entry area, the concrete surface of the parking lot will be removed to allow the natural soil below to come disclosed. This enables people to interact directly with the ground, which has been neglected in modern society. Therefore, both children and adults will be able to enjoy touching the ground while allowing for the adults to reminisce about the past when nature was the paramount form of discovery.
Overall Design Composition
The arterial trail, which runs throughout the site, connects all 5 tanks at the 41m level. This new trail will be the main pedestrian road for people to access between the tanks without going down the existing pathway level which also connects to the world cup stadium and the promenade.
The watering corridor, which is typically dry, links the upper wild forest with the existing lower hardscape parking area. This will consist of three major components. The retention basin adjacent to the existing pathway at approximately 31m level receives the rainwater from the watershed it covers. Then the rainwater is delivered to the proposed bio-swale on the slope that is structurally stabilized by the adjacent buffer green. Finally it is led to the soil playground and drainage gravel pathways that will ecologically revive the entire site.
Tank 2 heals the site by removing the existing roof structure and locating the park at the 32m level. The public will access the site by walking along the linear footbridge connected from the 41m level arterial trail that is surrounded by trees located at the 32m level as well as buildings that are connected to the bridge. This new circulation path will enable a unique experience amid an unusual forest-like environment.
The library and lecture hall are located either directly from the 41m level bridge or from the 32m level park. A staircase linked from the bridge will lead people to the 32m level where people can leisurely stroll and enjoy the surrounding atmosphere. The original skin of the tank will be folded and retrofitted to become a bench near the edge of the park to provide a resting area.
The soil under the oil tank has been contaminated for a prolonged period of time. Therefore, this soil will be capped with a protective layer and filled with planting soil above. As well, the plants on the top soil will work as a phyto-remediation strategy which remediates the potential pollutants delivered by rainwater. The bio-retention edge along the perimeter is to further enhance the rainwater quality before it is passed to the drainage pipe or below ground.
Tank 3 recovers the site with the landscape feature from the 41m level to the 48m level so that it recuperates the original site condition before its industrial usage. Newly introduced landforms enable pedestrians to ramp up towards the park and inhabit the intriguing new landscape.
The ramp extracted from the landform leads people to the lower level where the restaurant and the retail shops are located. Moving down along the ramp, people will encounter the performance center lobby where they can purchase tickets and wait for the performance to commence. The back of house area is also connected to the stage.
This tank is covered with the sloped landform so that it recovers the original natural form of the landscape. The building is nestled under the ground which introduces light through the clerestory slit as part of the landform where the ground varies from 41m to 48m. This landform naturally accepts the southeast wind yet blocks the northwest wind. The original skin of the tank and the concrete retaining wall will be partially visible from the roof layer level and turned into a handrail, bench, or an architectural element.
Tank 4 is connected directly from the 41m level which is the arterial trail level. The park at the 41m level is extended towards the sloped area so that the programmed space below can be maximized. The roof of the tank will be removed so that the interior of the tank can be utilized as a courtyard. The remaining space between the tank and the retaining wall will be used as an exhibition space and creativity studio.
Passing by the existing tank skin, people can ramp down towards the lower level of the open air courtyard. The lower floors will be used as a creativity studio, where young artists and people starting up their office can rent a space for various uses. The floor above will be used as a special exhibition with a view towards the courtyard.
The tank is to be used inside out by opening up the inside of the tank and using the space between the tank and the retaining wall as a special exhibition space. The open space at the center will be used for various dynamic activities including a children’s playground, educational space for students, and as a cultural activity space. Existing column structures inside the tank will be kept with different programs to provide people with a sense of history of the oil depot.
Tank 5 uses the 48m level rooftop as a park with a reflecting pool. While the exhibition space below can be accessed from the 41m arterial trail level, the steel stairs from the 41m leads people up to the 48m park level. Since the park is located at the highest point amongst all the tanks, the public will be able to witness a new city view from the park.
Accessible from the 41m level, the stairs at the entry lead people down to the permanent exhibition space below. At the exhibition lobby, people will encounter the information center, where they can obtain information regarding the history of the oil tanks and the new parks. The permanent exhibition space will be divided by shear walls and columns which support the waffle slab above, in turn, holding the soil and trees.
This tank is surrounded by the lawn where the reflecting pool is located in the center. People can stroll around the reflecting pool and along the walkways freely. The trees are planted in the reflecting pool with a metal trim in a 3m soil which is also a partial element of the waffle slab structure of the ceiling. The waffle slab will not only function as the structure that supports the roof slab and reflecting pool, but will also be an aesthetic element of the ceiling seen from the interior of the permanent exhibition space. The perimeter edge of the tank contains a slit ring that casts natural light into the interior space that washes the walls.
Soil Playground
Once disturbed by the petrochemical infrastructure then forbidden until now, the site has a disparate environment of modern industrial vestige and vital nature prevailing over it, which is an unique, inherent, and unmissable value of the site. By respecting such aspects of the site with a minimum intervention, the Disclosed Ground seeks to recover both the primitive emotion of people that has been lacking in modern society and the ecological resilience of the site that has been impeded by the industrial facilities and its usage. The new cultural depot unveiled by the Disclosed Ground enables people to interact directly with the ground and re-instigates their relationship once held with nature
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1867
|
__label__cc
| 0.606842
| 0.393158
|
K92 Mining Quarterly Production Results
K92 is pleased to announce Q3 2018 production of 9,549 ounces of gold and 146,315 pounds of copper from the Kainantu Gold Copper Mine
Q3 2018 Highlights include:
Production of 9,549 ozs of gold and 146,315 lbs copper for a total of 9,908 AuEq ozs in Q3 2018
The average grade treated through the Process Plant for Q3 2018 was 16.7 g/t Au and 0.38% Cu
Initial exploration drilling program on Yanabo/Yompossa porphyry target completed
No Lost Time Injuries (LTIs) recorded during Q3 2018 and none recorded for the entire 2017
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 12, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- K92 Mining Inc. (TSX-V: KNT; OTCQX: KNTNF) (“K92”) is pleased to provide an update on operations during Q3 2018 (“Q2”) at its Kainantu Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea.
During Q3, K92 produced 9,549 ounces of gold, 146,315 pounds of copper and 2,551 ozs of silver or 9,910 AuEq ozs (based on a Gold price of US$1,300/oz; Silver US$16.5/oz; Copper US$2.90/lb).
As previously reported, mining operations were disrupted for a period of over three weeks in July due to a fall of ground (“FOG”) near muck bay 4 in the incline, which necessitated remediation action and replacement of ground support in the area. The production was achieved from operating less than 75% of the quarter, while during the balance of the quarter production exceeded 1,000 ozs AuEq per week.
Mining operations focused on Kora North, comprising cut and fill stope mining from the K2 vein over a 200-metre strike length and cut and fill stope mining on the K1 vein over a 250-metre strike length.
The blend of primarily K1 material with some and K2 material provided an average grade treated through the Process Plant for Q3 of 16.7 g/t Au and 0.38% Cu. Recoveries for the quarter averaged 94% for gold and 93.2% copper.
Grade control drilling from the third drill cuddy Diamond Drill Cuddy 3 (“DDC3”) continued during the quarter, while exploration drilling commenced from DDC4.
John Lewins, K92 Chief Executive Officer and Director, states, “We are extremely pleased with the production of almost 10,000 AuEq ozs achieved during this quarter, especially given that underground mining production was disrupted by a Fall of Ground (“FOG”) in the incline, which resulted in over 3 weeks of underground mine production being lost during the quarter. Excluding this stoppage, production exceeded 1,000 ozs per week for the balance of the quarter. In addition, we saw an improvement in gold recover to 94% while throughput in September was the best yet achieved at over 9,500 tonnes for the month.”
Further financial details regarding Q3 production will be available within the upcoming quarterly financial filing. Based on budget, K92 anticipates operations achieved positive cash flow for the quarter.
On behalf of K92,
John Lewins
Chief Executive Officer and Director
For further information, please contact the Company at +1-604-687-7130.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain “forward-looking statements” under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Cash flow estimations for Q1 2018 are subject to change and subject to the finalization of financial statements. All statements that address future plans, activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur are forward-looking information, including statements regarding the realization of the preliminary economic analysis for the Project, expectations of future cash flows, the proposed plant expansion, potential expansion of resources and the generation of further drilling results which may or may not occur. Forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the market price of the Company’s securities, metal prices, exchange rates, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry, changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, and regulations and other matters. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1869
|
__label__cc
| 0.724269
| 0.275731
|
Renfrew County Regional Science Fair
RCRSF Ethics Rules
The following forms are required for the Regional Science Fair:
Form 4.1A (Humans Low Risk) is required if your project involved the use of human subjects and the project meets the criteria for low risk, as defined in Youth Science Canada Policy 4.1.1.1 - [Participation of Humans in Research - Low Risk] (i.e., the project involves a survey of attitudes and beliefs, skill tests, or observations of behaviour withthe participants’ consent where there is minimal risk to the participant).
Each participant should be informed of the details and risks in the project, which involves reviewing with them a Letter of Information outlining the project. Follow the links for an example and a blank Letter of Information. Please bring a copy of the completed Letter of Information to the science fair.
A letter of permission should be obtained from each human participant (example). Keep these in your project notebook/binder for fair day.
Form 4.1B (Humans Significant Risk) is required if your project involved the use of human subjects in an experiment involving significant risk, but the project does not meet the criteria for low risk as defined in Youth Science Canada Policy 4.1.1.2 - [Participation of Humans in Research - Significant Risk].
Form 4.1C (Animals) is required if your project involved any use of animals or animal parts. Refer to Youth Science Canada Policy 4.1.2 - [Use of Animals in Research] for details.
Youth Science Canada has policies governing the use of human participants, animals (vertebrate and invertebrate) and animal parts in research by young scientists (elementary and secondary school students). Ideally these policies are consulted prior to beginning work on the project; however, even if they have not been, they define what is acceptable at the Renfrew County Regional Science Fair.
Use of Human Subjects
Participation of Humans in Research - Low Risk
All human participants in scientific research must give Informed Consent, which comprises consent, confidentiality and the right to withdraw. Class surveys of attitudes, beliefs or skill tests, such as “Do my classmates remember better if they read while listening to jazz or hip hop?” may be termed Low Risk, as defined in the Participation of Humans in Research - Low Risk policy.
For Low Risk projects, completion of the simple Participation of Humans - Low Risk (Form 4.1A) is required. Approval by the student’s adult supervisor (such as a parent or teacher) is usually sufficient to ensure that the appropriate ethical issues have been addressed. Be aware, however, that not all such surveys are low risk. For example, a survey to measure the Body Mass Index of class members could affect participants’ self-esteem and would therefore be classified as Significant Risk.
Participation of Humans in Research - Significant Risk
The Participation of Humans in Research - Significant Risk policy establishes what constitutes a drug and specifies that drugs and invasive procedures may only be used in a science project experiment under the direction of a qualified Scientific Supervisor.
Effective October, 2010, sensory food projects (i.e., those designed only to assess the sensory characteristics of a food or drink), within certain restrictions (e.g., not involving "energy drinks"), are the only ingestion projects considered to be low risk. Significant risk ingestion projects are only allowed at the CWSF if carried out under professional supervision at a laboratory with its own internal Ethics Review Committee, such asa university or hospital laboratory. Projects in which human participants, including the student researcher, are required to consume a substance or apply a substance to the skin must be carefully reviewed for compliance with the indicated Humans in Research policies before any testing begins.
All projects involving human participants in ways other than surveys and skill tests are considered Significant Risk. For Significant Risk projects, the more detailed Participation of Humans - Significant Risk Approval (Form 4.1B) must be completed, and the indicated approval procedures must be followed.
Use of Animals (Vertebrate and Invertebrate)
All experimental care and use of animals in Canada is subject to the requirements of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), a national, peer-review organization founded in Ottawa in 1968. CCAC documentation states: “Youth Science Canada, amongst its responsibilities, regulates animal experimentation in science fairs.”
Research using vertebrate animals for science fair projects may only be carried out in one of five ways:
Behavioural studies with positive rewards, without any stress involved
Any project carried out in a university, medical or industrial laboratory and approved by the appropriate Scientific Review Board
Experiments on embryos - These experiments are subject to the same rules that apply to the animal producing the embryos. Studies of mammalian embryos are restricted to observation without intervention with drugs or other chemicals.
Research involving cephalopods (cuttlefish, nautilus, octopus, squid, etc.) must follow the same rules as for vertebrates above. Research on all other invertebrate animals is presently unrestricted, except that the project must have some scientific or educational merit and be judged to be ethical.
The Use of Animals in Research policy establishes what constitutes a drug and specifies that drugs may only be used in a science project experiment under the direction of a qualified Scientific Supervisor.
Form 4.1C Animals - Approval is used to ensure that the appropriate review of projects involving animals has taken place.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1873
|
__label__wiki
| 0.613299
| 0.613299
|
The Degradation of Japanese Politics
The Top Headline
—Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano says that in case after case we are witnessing the degradation of Japanese politics after five years of the Abe administration. Both politicians and bureaucrats are failing to maintain basic standards of public trust.
—Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura blasts the Abe government over its persecution of Kihei Maekawa and interference in local school board: “Moral value judgments by the Ministry of Education are leading to thought control.”
—Party of Hope executive suggests calling former Defense Minister Tomomi Inada before the Diet to explain how, in yet another case, the ministry during her time in office misled the Diet about records not existing, in this case the daily logs of the Self-Defense Forces’ Iraq War mission.
—It seems that about half of Itsunori Onodera’s job as Defense Minister is taken up by apology tours: apologies for US military mishaps and arrogant behavior, apologies for aircraft accidents, apologies for lying to the legislature, mostly done by his predecessor, Tomomi Inada.
—Defense Ministry itself says that it “discovered” the Iraq mission daily logs in January, but for some reason waited almost three more months before they decided to inform Diet lawmakers that their earlier testimony that the documents didn’t exist was false.
—After receiving a strongly negative reaction from even some parts of the ruling party, the Abe government might be backing off their idea of revising the broadcasting law to allow biased and openly rightwing partisan on television.
—Democratic Party again (again!!!) pleads with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan to join with them and the Party of Hope in a re-merged, larger opposition party. Edano’s team has learned from the failures of the past, but these guys clearly never will learn.
—Goshi Hosono confirms that he won’t be joining the “New Democratic Party” to be created from the merger of the current Democratic Party and the Party of Hope. It’s not clear that he has anywhere to go at this point, so likely he’ll become an independent.
—At the end of March, Tomoaki Katsuda, head of the Tokyo Labor Bureau, threatened to issue business improvement orders against media companies after he became annoyed by aggressive questioning by reporters at a news conference. The story is starting to break into the open.
—38 North, run by the US-Korea Institute of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, challenges Foreign Minister Taro Kono’s contention that there is evidence North Korea is preparing a new nuclear weapons test.
—Foreign Minister Taro Kono doubles down on his contention that there is clear evidence that North Korea is preparing a new nuclear weapons test: “We can see that they are doing their utmost to prepare.”
—It’s worth noting that the South Korean news media is basically just ignoring Foreign Minister Taro Kono’s warnings of a new North Korean nuclear weapons test. It seems to be a non-story across the Tsushima Strait because they aren’t taking Japan’s contentions very seriously.
—Yoshiro Mori, head of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, apparently has asked the International Olympic Committee to intervene on Japan’s behalf on the issue of abductees to North Korea. It seems he thinks the IOC’s role is to conduct Japanese diplomatic talks.
—Apparently, hackers have broken into many Japanese government ministries and obtained email addresses and passwords of a large number of government employees. These are now being sold by the hackers.
—Fukuoka city becomes the seventh local government in Japan to recognize LGBT partnerships. The conservative Abe government doesn’t see the issue as a priority, but local governments in Japan are doing what they can to advance civil and human rights in the meantime.
Tagged with: 38 North (website), Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), Democratic Party (2016-2018), Fukuoka city (Fukuoka), Goshi Hosono, International Olympic Committee (IOC), Iraq War (2003-Present), Itsunori Onodera, Johns Hopkins University, Kihei Maekawa, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nagoya City (Aichi), National Diet, North Korea, Party of Hope, School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins University), Self-Defense Forces (SDF), Shingetsu News Agency, Shinzo Abe, South Korea, Takashi Kawamura, Taro Kono, Tokyo Labor Bureau, Tokyo Olympics (2020), Tomoaki Katsuda, Tomomi Inada, Tsushima Strait, United States, US-Korea Institute (Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies), Yoshiro Mori, Yukio Edano
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1876
|
__label__cc
| 0.685146
| 0.314854
|
Select other Diamondbacks Ahmed, Nick Andriese, Matt Avila, Alex Bradley, Archie Chafin, Andrew Dyson, Jarrod Escobar, Eduardo Flores, Wilmer Godley, Zack Greinke, Zack Hirano, Yoshihisa Holland, Greg Jones, Adam Kelly, Carson Kelly, Merrill Lamb, Jake Leyba, Domingo Locastro, Tim López, Yoan Marte, Ketel McFarland, T.J. Ray, Robbie Vargas, Ildemaro Walker, Christian Young, Alex Diamondbacks Roster
.167 4 13
Team: Arizona Ht / Wt: 6-0 / 185
Position: LF Born: 4/3/1992 Birthplace: Bedford, Texas
Bats/Throws: S/R Draft: 1st Round by Red Sox (2011)
Hitting Breakdown 2019
Splits AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS TBB K GDP OBP SLG
Total .167 42 90 13 15 1 0 4 13 0 0 6 34 2 .227 .311
vs. Left .118 - 17 - 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0 .211 .118
vs. Right .178 - 73 - 13 1 0 4 13 0 0 4 28 2 .231 .356
Home .074 18 27 3 2 0 0 2 4 0 0 4 12 0 .194 .296
Away .206 24 63 10 13 1 0 2 9 0 0 2 22 2 .242 .317
Grass .169 25 59 8 10 0 0 2 7 0 0 3 20 2 .222 .271
Turf .161 17 31 5 5 1 0 2 6 0 0 3 14 0 .235 .387
Day .178 19 45 4 8 1 0 2 8 0 0 3 13 2 .229 .333
Night .156 23 45 9 7 0 0 2 5 0 0 3 21 0 .224 .289
Runners and Outs
None on .143 - 49 - 7 0 0 1 1 0 0 4 24 0 .208 .204
Runners On .195 - 41 - 8 1 0 3 12 0 0 2 10 2 .250 .439
Scoring Pos .208 - 24 - 5 1 0 2 10 0 0 2 7 0 .296 .500
None on/out .150 - 20 - 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 0 .261 .150
ScPos/2Out .182 - 11 - 2 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 2 0 .182 .545
Inning 1-6 .109 - 46 5 5 0 0 2 5 0 0 4 16 0 .180 .239
Inning 7+ .227 - 44 8 10 1 0 2 8 0 0 2 18 2 .277 .386
Pre All-Star .167 42 90 13 15 1 0 4 13 0 0 6 34 2 .227 .311
March .000 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 .400 .000
April .200 15 35 4 7 1 0 1 5 0 0 2 10 1 .243 .314
May .154 24 52 8 8 0 0 3 7 0 0 3 22 1 .200 .327
vs. Team
vs.Bal .000 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 .167 .000
vs.Oak .800 2 5 2 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .800 1.400
vs.Sea .000 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 .400 .000
vs.Tor .000 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .000
vs.Atl .200 3 5 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 3 0 .333 .800
vs.ChC .000 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 .333 .000
vs.NYM .000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .000
vs.Pit .143 6 14 2 2 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 7 1 .143 .357
vs.SD .111 3 9 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 .111 .111
vs.SF .077 6 13 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 .143 .077
vs.Col .214 6 14 3 3 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 5 1 .267 .429
vs.Ari .250 2 8 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 .250 .375
vs.TB .167 2 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 .167 .167
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1880
|
__label__wiki
| 0.888391
| 0.888391
|
Organist and Choirmaster
Choral Scholarships
Choral Foundation
Wesley R. Warren
Wesley R. Warren was raised in Ottawa, where he began organ studies with Fred K. Graham in high school. An honours graduate in organ performance of the University of Toronto (B. Mus) and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA (M. Mus), where his teachers were Douglas Bodle and Robert Glasgow, he has undertaken shorter periods of study with Dame Gillian Weir, Marie-Claire Alain, Harald Vogel and Daniel Roth. Mr. Warren was winner of the National Playing Competition, sponsored by the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO), in 1981. He has performed at several RCCO National Conventions, and has recently been a Travelling Clinician (2015) and the National Examiner (2017) for the RCCO.
While studying at the Royal School of Church of Church Music, London, UK, he was awarded the coveted Limpus, Shinn and Durrant prizes for highest marks in organ playing for the exams (ARCO and FRCO) of the Royal College of Organists (RCO). Mr. Warren has been broadcast frequently on CBC/Radio Canada. Much in demand as a recitalist and clinician, Wesley Warren has performed extensively on concert series throughout Canada, in the United States, Britain and Europe, including such prestigious venues as Winchester Cathedral, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City. He has been Organist and Choirmaster at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Ottawa since 1987, and his choir there won First Prize in their category in the National Choral Competition, co-sponsored by CBC/Radio Canada and the Association of Canadian Choral Communities (ACCC) in 2010. They released their second CD, “Exsultate Deo”, in 2012. Mr. Warren has taught at Carleton University, St. Paul University and Augustine College. He performs organ continuo with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, where he has worked with Trevor Pinnock and Pinchas Zuckerman. In September, 2017, he returned to London, UK, to perform recitals in several concert series.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1883
|
__label__wiki
| 0.562618
| 0.562618
|
Appendix: Glossary
Crosswalk, crosswalking
A general term for moving data from the format of one encoding scheme or database to another. In EpiDoc terms, it often refers to the dynamic transformation of the semantic distinctions of epigraphic and papyrological editions between EpiDoc XML and one or more database of texts or catalogue records. These "crosswalks" may take place in either direction, or in some cases in both directions and reversible without loss of information. Prominent crosswalks performed by the EpiDoc community include: the conversion of IRT from EpiDoc to the database format of EDH; the migration of the Duke Databank, HGV and APIS content to EpiDoc as part of the Papyri.info project (the HGV-to-EpiDoc is lossless and bidirectional); the current conversion of the EAGLE constituent databases into EpiDoc XML as part of the EAGLE Europeana project.
Encoding in this context means the conversion of human-readable information into machine-readable information, e.g. in the form of XML.
EpiDoc Example Stylesheets
Software code, written in the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL or XSLT), and intended for use in transforming EpiDoc XML files into other formats (chiefly text and HTML) using a range of standard typographical conventions (e.g., Leiden). Documentation and further information are to be found on the Stylesheets page in the EpiDoc Wiki.
EpiDoc Schema
A formally structured set of rules that tells an XML editor or processor what elements, attributes and other content are available in an EpiDoc file and how these are to be structured. Documentation and further information are to be found on the Schema page in the EpiDoc Wiki.
Leiden, Leiden Conventions
A set of rules for the encoding of classical epigraphic and papyrological texts using simple, arbitrary and unambiguous symbols to represent editorial observations and interventions, e.g. '[' and ']' for lost text (restored or lacuna). There are several minor variations on Leiden now in use (Krummrey-Panciera and PETRAE perhaps prominent among them). A good summary of Leiden can be found at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiden_Conventions
Leiden+ (Leiden-plus)
Leiden+ is a system of text markup, based very closely on Leiden but including new signs and combinations for complex apparatus markup, for example, devised for the Papyrological Editor's "tags-free" editing environment. Full description and documentation of Leiden+ is at papyri.info/editor/help.
Markup language in a way to encode a text's contents in order to enable different ways of representation and e.g. to extract information to be collected for indexes, or search tools (cf. Encoding).
"Markup" is sometimes also used as shorthand for the Markup List, an email list for the discussion of EpiDoc and other ancient text markup matters.
The Morpheus morphological analysis service is a tool originally developed by Perseus, versions of which are in use by Papyri.info and the TLG for lemmatizing their Greek texts. The Perseus version of the tool also caters for Latin and Arabic lemmatization. (More information at Bamboo and Perseus.)
Papyrological Navigator (PN)
The search and browse interface of the Papyri.info platform, which incorporates the DDbDP, HGV, APIS and other papyrological databases.
Papyrological editor (PE)
The text-editing, management and editorial workflow tool of the Papyri.info platform, allowing community contribution to and emendation of the corpus of documentary papyrology, notably via the tags-free Leiden+ editing interface.
The Perseus Digital Library Project studies the progression from physical to digital libraries and offers an increasing number of texts. Searches and a number of tools can be used directly on the website while reading, e.g. the Morpheus dictionary tool for Greek and Latin texts.
A gazetteer of places and place names from the ancient world, building on the project that produced the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Pleiades assigns unique identifiers to all places, enabling a web of Linked Data such as that curated by the Pelagios project. Pleiades can be found at pleiades.stoa.org.
Text Encoding Initiative. Guidelines and tools for the encoding of literary and historical texts in XML. It is the format on which EpiDoc is based. The latest TEI Guidelines can be found online at http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/index-toc.html.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community developing standards to be used across the Internet. The public can take part, but there is also full-time staff and entire organizations that are members of the endeavour. For further information, see: www.w3.org.
Extensible Markup Language. A text-based encoding format that allows the structured encoding of text or data in human- and machine-readable format. It is the technical basis of both TEI and EpiDoc, and is a standard maintained by the World-wide Web Consortium. See www.w3.org/XML for the spec and further description.
Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations. XSLT is a language that can convert XML documents into either different XML or other forms, e.g. the HTML format used for websites, the import format for a database, or the Open Document Format behind a word-processing document. The EpiDoc Stylesheets are an example of XSLT used to transform EpiDoc XML to common display formats. A useful introduction to XSLT is offered by W3 Schools.
Laura Löser, author
Tom Elliott, author
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1884
|
__label__wiki
| 0.525324
| 0.525324
|
Bert Coan being Inducted into Texas High School Football Hall of Fame
May 7, 2015 Bert Coan, Kansas City Chiefs 2 Comments
Running back Bert Coan was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1962. After playing in four games with the Chargers, Coan was shipped off to the Kansas City Chiefs prior to the start of the 1963 season. Coan spent six years with the Chiefs where he had a strong, if unheralded career. He led the AFL with 5.4 yards-per-carry in 1966, and finished Top 10 in the league each season in most rushing categories.
Always known for his great speed, Bert Coan is being honored this week with induction into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. You can read more about Coan, and his high school, collegiate and professional sporting achievements in the article HERE.
2 Responses to Bert Coan being Inducted into Texas High School Football Hall of Fame
afl says:
Bert Coan was fast… unfortunately he was also plagued by injury. In his 7 year career, he averaged more than 5 yards per carry 3 different seasons. 1966 was his best year: he averaged 5.43 per carry, second in the AFL behind his teammate Mike Garrett’s 5.45 ypc. Career, Bert averaged more than 5 yards per carry 3 different seasons as a triple-threat plus one weapon who ran the ball, caught passes, passed the ball and returned kicks.
Coan began ’66 as the Chiefs starting HB but rookie Garrett, equally stellar, eventually became the starter. Coan led KC in rushing in 5 games including 2 100-yard games but had zero rushes in 2 other games due to injury. All told, Bert rushed for 7 tds, he caught 2 more and also threw a td pass on the halfback option for 10 td plays overall that year.
Still remember the 2nd half of Superbowl I when NBC came back late from commercial. GB had to kickoff a second time and on the re-kick, Coan exploded up the middle of the field and, had he kept his feet, may have taken it all the way for a Chiefs touchdown. He wasn’t part of the 1969 Chiefs Superbowl team, his active career having ended in ’68, but to fill his shoes in ’69 the Chiefs used former Charger Paul Lowe, trade acquisition Warren McVea and rookie Robert Holmes to help augment the duo of Mike Garrett & Wendell Hayes. As well, it isn’t very often that you see a 6’4 (or 6’5 depending on source) halfback; Bert & another college Texan Donny Anderson (6’3) of the Packers were exceptions the sub six-foot rule.
Matt Haddad a.k.a. overdrive1975 says:
Yet another player I’d heard of but knew virtually nothing about.
Thanks Todd, and 1967 (a.k.a. AFL), for educating me.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1886
|
__label__wiki
| 0.920434
| 0.920434
|
Category Archives: Russia
Russia, United States
Low-key Kislyak lies at the heart of Trump’s ongoing Russia mystery
March 2, 2017 Kevin Lees Leave a comment
Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak lies at the heart of the mysteries surrounding ties between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. (Sputnik)
He’s served as the Kremlin’s man in Washington since 2008.
But only now has Sergey Kislyak, the low-key Russian ambassador to the United States, started making headlines as the person no one in the Trump administration seems to remember meeting.
It’s not a crime for a sitting US senator to meet with the ambassador of a country that sits on the UN security council, even one that’s sometimes , like Russia. It might not even, as a technical matter, be perjury, that US attorney general Jeff Sessions ‘forgot’ about the two conversations he is now reported to have had with Kislyak in 2016 at the height of the presidential election campaign.
So who is the old Russian hand at the center of a controversy that’s already claimed the resignation of Mike Flynn, the retired general who is no longer national security advisor, and might claim Sessions as well?
Kislyak is a longtime career diplomat who speaks fluent English and French. In contrast to Russia’s long-serving foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the burlier and less polished Kislyak mostly avoids the spotlight. If reports are true, Kislyak is already a lame-duck ambassador — Moscow is reportedly readying a more hard-line figure, deputy prime minister Anatoly Antonov, to replace Kislyak.
One of the mysteries of the current brouhaha over the Trump campaign’s ties to Kremlin officials is the disconnect in December between Kislyak’s initial anger over the outgoing Obama administration’s additional sanctions (related to increasing indications that Russia attempted to use cybertricks to interfere with the US election) and the Kremlin’s more relaxed response a day later — after nearly a half-dozen calls between Flynn and Kislyak:
The concerns about the contacts were cemented by a series of phone calls between Mr. Kislyak and Michael T. Flynn, who had been poised to become Mr. Trump’s national security adviser. The calls began on Dec. 29, shortly after Mr. Kislyak was summoned to the State Department and informed that, in retaliation for Russian election meddling, the United States was expelling 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives and imposing other sanctions. Mr. Kislyak was irate and threatened a forceful Russia response, according to people familiar with the exchange.
But a day later, Mr. Putin said his government would not retaliate, prompting a Twitter post from Mr. Trump praising the Russian president — and puzzling Obama White House officials. On Jan. 2, administration officials learned that Mr. Kislyak — after leaving the State Department meeting — called Mr. Flynn, and that the two talked multiple times in the 36 hours that followed. American intelligence agencies routinely wiretap the phones of Russian diplomats, and transcripts of the calls showed that Mr. Flynn urged the Russians not to respond, saying relations would improve once Mr. Trump was in office, according to multiple current and former officials.
So who is Kislyak and how did he come to be the Kremlin’s envoy to Washington for a decade?
Continue reading Low-key Kislyak lies at the heart of Trump’s ongoing Russia mystery →
antonovdiplomacyflynngeorgiairankislyakkremlinmedvedevmoscowputinrussiasessionssouth ossetiatrumpukraine
Full investigation now the only way to clear Trump White House on Russia quid pro quo
The now-famous mural of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Lithuania’s capital city of Vilnius.
With national security advisor Michael Flynn’s resignation and new reporting from The New York Times that Trump campaign officials had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials, it is time to ask the fundamental question about this administration’s underlying weakness over Russia:
Was there a quid pro quo between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign to help Trump win?
No one wants to believe this, of course, and it is an important moment to give Trump as many benefits of the doubt as possible. It is probably true that Trump would have defeated Hillary Clinton without any Russian cyber-shenanigans (though of course Richard Nixon would have easily defeated George McGovern in 1972 without ordering a break-in at the Watergate Hotel). It is also true that the leaks coming from the intelligence community could represent a serious threat to civil liberties, though it is not clear to me whether this information is coming directly from the intelligence community or secondhand from any number of potential investigations. There are many ‘known unknowns’ here, and there are potentially even more ‘unknown unknowns.’
But here is what we think that we know, as of February 15: Continue reading Full investigation now the only way to clear Trump White House on Russia quid pro quo →
bushclintoncybersecuritydemocratflynnFrancegermanyhackhenry wallaceirankislyaklogan actmanafortmarine le penmedvedevmerkelNATOobamapencepodestaputinrepublicanromneyrussiasyriatillersontrumpukraineUnited Statesyanukovych
Russia, Turkey
Karlov assassination in Ankara stuns world amid global leadership vacuum
December 19, 2016 Kevin Lees 1 Comment
An AP photo shows the gunman who shot and killed Russia’s ambassador to Turkey on Monday. (AP)
Yesterday was the anniversary of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s birth date in 1883.
It was his assassination by a Serbian nationalist in 1914 that set off a chain reaction leading to World War I.
The world is, rightly, alarmed today with the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, who had served in one of his country’s most delicate diplomatic roles since 2013 and whose experience included long stints in North Korea, including as ambassador from 2001 to 2006.
The gunman reportedly shouted ‘Allahu akbar,’ and ‘Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria!’ as he shot Karlov from behind at a gallery exhibit of Turkish photography.
The assassination comes at a crucial time for relations between Russia and Turkey. Karlov’s killing could immediately chill the fragile diplomatic gains of the last half-year, however, especially at a time when no one really knows what kind of global leadership that president-elect Donald Trump will provide after his inauguration in just over a month in the United States. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly praised Putin as a strong leader and promised to escalate US efforts to push back against ISIS in eastern Syria.
But no one should start preparing for World War III just yet.
Much now depends on how Putin responds — and how nationalist hard-liners within Russia also respond — considering that the gunman seems to have acted with the precise aim of destabilizing the Russia-Turkey relationship. Though Russian nationalists are wary of Turkey, they’re far more hostile to the threat of Islamic extremism. Moreover, the two countries have found common ground when it comes to the threat of Islamic extremism. Karlov’s assassination might ultimately Turkey and Russia together more closely Turkey in efforts to eradicate ISIS and other jihadist elements in the Middle East. The incoming Trump administration would almost certainly welcome and join that common front.
RELATED: Why Erdoğan is not — and will never be — Putin
If you’re looking for a silver lining, it’s worth noting that the two countries have been moving closer together after last summer’s coup attempt against Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Relations hit their worst point in December 2015 after Turkey shot down a Russian jet along the Syrian border. Today, a year later, relations are much improved, if still strained. That means that the diplomatic channels between the two countries are far more open to deal with a trauma like Karlov’s assassination. Continue reading Karlov assassination in Ankara stuns world amid global leadership vacuum →
aleppoassadassassinationerdoganirankarlovputinrussiasyriatrumpturkeyUnited States
Chechnya, Russia
Putin wins Russian parliamentary elections despite economic woes
Both Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chechnya’s governor Ramzan Kadyrov won their respective “elections” on Sunday. (AFP)
Earlier this month, voters went to the polls in Belarus to elect the country’s rubber-stamp parliament under its authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko and, in what amounts to democratic liberalization, two opposition MPs were elected to the 110-member assembly from the constituency that contains Minsk, the capital.
Last weekend, a higher number of opposition MPs were elected to the state Duma (ду́ма), the lower house of the Russian federal assembly, when Russian voters took to the polls on September 18. Nevertheless, despite the unfair and unfree nature of Russian elections, an electoral rout for president Vladimir Putin’s United Russia (Еди́ная Росси́я) means that Putin will now turn to the presidential election scheduled for 2018 with an even tighter grip on the Duma after United Russia increased its total seats from 238 to 343 in the 450-member body. As predicted, Putin took fewer chances in the September 18 elections after unexpected setbacks in the 2011 elections that saw United Russia’s share of the vote fall below 50% for the first time.
Moreover, nearly all of the remaining seats were awarded to opposition parties — like Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party (Политическая партия ЛДПР), Gennady Zyuganov’s Communist Party (Коммунистическая Партия) and Sergey Mironov’s A Just Russia (Справедливая Россия) — that long ago ceased to be anything but plaint, obedient and toothless in the face of Putin’s autocratic rule, whose party logos even mirror those of Putin’s United Russia party. Putin’s liberal opponents, operating under greater constraints than in past elections, failed to win even a single seat to the parliament.
The drab affair marked a sharp contrast with the 2011 parliamentary elections, the aftermath of which brought accusations of fraud and some of the most serious and widespread anti-government protests across Moscow (and Russia) since the end of the Cold War, prompting demands for greater accountability and democracy. Today, however, though Russia’s economy is flagging under international sanctions and depressed global oil and commodities prices, Putin’s power appears more absolute than ever. He’s expected to win the next presidential election with ease, thereby extending his rule through at least 2024 (when, conceivably, American voters could be choosing the successor to a two-term administration headed by either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump).
Moreover, more than 18 months after opposition figure Boris Nemtsov was murdered just footsteps from the Kremlin, perhaps the most telling statistic was the drop in turnout — from around 60% in the 2011 parliamentary elections to just under 48% this year. That’s the lowest in a decade, even as reports emerged of ballot-stuffing and other dirty tricks that may have artificially boosted support for Putin’s United Russia. Turnout in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where opposition voices have traditionally been loudest, fell even more precipitously to well below 30%. Though the low turnout might have boosted the share of support that Putin and his allies won, it’s also the clearest sign of growing disenchantment with Putin’s regime and its record on the economy (which contracted by nearly 4% last year, and is expected to contract further in 2016) and on civil and political rights. Corruption, as usual, remains rampant, even if oligarchs no longer dominate the Russian economy as they did in the 1990s.
Perhaps the most well-known opposition leader today, Alexei Navalny, a blogger who was at the heart of the 2011 protests, has been notably quiet (with his own ‘Progress Party’ banned from the election), though he is expected to contest the 2018 presidential vote — at least, if he’s not banned or imprisoned.
As a depressed number of Russian voters cast ballots in Sunday’s parliamentary vote, president Vladimir Putin seems to have the upper hand in the cat-and-mouse game with Russia’s long-suffering liberal opposition. (TASS)
Notably, it was the first election since 2003 in which half (225) of the Duma’s seats were determined in single-member constituencies, with the other half determined by party-list proportional representation as in recent elections. Though United Russia won just 140 of the 225 proportional seats, it took 203 of the single-member constituency seats, which undoubtedly contributed to its 105-deputy gain on Sunday. One such new United Russia deputy is Vitaly Milonov, a St. Petersburg native who has battled against LGBT rights for years, including a fight to introduce a law in the local city parliament in St. Petersburg banning so-called ‘gay propaganda.’ (For what it’s worth, Russian authorities today censored one of the most popular gay news websites in the country).
For the Kremlin, though there’s some risk that the new constituency-elected deputies could be more independent-minded than party-list deputies, it’s a risk balanced by the massive supermajority that Putin now commands in the Duma.
Conceivably, as Moscow’s economic woes grow, there’s nothing to stop Putin and his allies from moving the scheduled presidential election to 2017 — and there are signs that Putin plans to do exactly that. (The weekend’s parliamentary elections were moved forward to September from an earlier plan to hold them in December, scrambling opposition efforts).
The elections came just a month after Putin replaced a longtime ally, Sergei Ivanov, as his chief of staff, a sign that the Kremlin is already looking beyond the next presidential race to what would be Putin’s fourth term in office (not counting the additional period from 2008 to 2012 when Putin’s trusted ally Dmitri Medvedev served as president, with Putin essentially running the country as prime minister).
Anti-gay crusader Vitaly Milonov won a member constituency race in St. Petersburg. (RIA)
For Putin, the flawed parliamentary vote also comes at a crucial time for Russia’s role in the international order. Increasingly at odds with NATO, Putin thumbed his nose at American and European officials when he annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, then helped instigate a civil war in eastern Ukraine that continues even today. Increasingly, Putin believes that Russia has a geopolitical responsibility to all Russian-speaking people, even those outside Russia’s borders, complicating relations with several former Soviet states. Putin has also stepped up Russian military assistance to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, providing crucial support against Sunni-dominated militias in Aleppo and elsewhere — even as Russian and U.S. officials try to extend a ceasefire in the country’s now five-year civil war.
Moreover, though the Russian parliamentary elections are hardly front-page international news, the results are relevant to the 2016 US presidential election, in which Russian influence and cyberattacks have played a prominent role. As Republican nominee Donald Trump continues to praise Putin as a ‘strong leader,’ it’s important to note that Putin’s strength comes in large part from a brutal disregard for the rule of law and the liberal and democratic values that have, for over two centuries, been a fundamental bedrock of American politics and governance. To the extent that the next president of the United States has to deal with Putin’s ‘strength,’ it will be derived in part from a parliamentary victory yesterday that bears no resemblance to the kind of democracy practiced in the United States today, but through a mix of authoritarian force and coercion. Continue reading Putin wins Russian parliamentary elections despite economic woes →
a just russiaassadbelaruschechnyacommunistcrimeacyberattackdonbassdonetskdumakadyrovLDPRliberal democratic partylukashenkomedvedevmilonovmironovmoscownavalnynemtsovputinrussiasyriatrumpukraineunited russiayablokozhirinovsky
NATO comments show why Trump could inadvertently start a global war
Donald Trump enters the convention stage on the first night of the Republican gathering in Cleveland.
The theme of this week’s convention could have already been ‘I Took a Pill in Cleveland,’ because it’s clearly more Mike Posner than Richard Posner.
All eyes last night were on Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who lost the Republican nomination to Donald Trump and, notably, Cruz’s pointed refusal to endorse his rival in a rousing address that is one of the most memorable convention speeches in recent memory. Trump’s allies instructed delegates to boo Cruz off the stage, and they spent the rest of the night trashing Cruz for failing to uphold a ‘pledge’ to support the eventual nominee.
But shortly after Cruz’s speech, David Sanger and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times published a new interview with Trump about foreign policy, in which he indicated that he would be willing as president to break a far more serious pledge — the mutual collective defense clause of Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty that essentially undergirds the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the organization that has been responsible for collective trans-Atlantic security since 1949:
Asked about Russia’s threatening activities, which have unnerved the small Baltic States that are among the more recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing if those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”
“If they fulfill their obligations to us,” he added, “the answer is yes.”
Mr. Trump’s statement appeared to be the first time that a major candidate for president had suggested conditioning the United States’ defense of its major allies. It was consistent, however, with his previous threat to withdraw American forces from Europe and Asia if those allies fail to pay more for American protection.
The comments caused, with good reason, a foreign policy freakout on both sides of the Atlantic. The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg wrote, ‘It’s Official: Hillary Clinton is Running Against Vladimir Putin.’ In The Financial Times, a plethora of European officials sounded off a ‘wave of alarm.’
In successive waves, NATO’s core members expanded from the United States and western Europe to Turkey in 1952, to (what was then) West Germany in 1955, Spain in 1982, the new eastern and central European Union states in 1999 and 2004 (which include three former Soviet republics, the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), and Albania and Croatia in 2009. Of course, many of the more recent NATO member states spent the Cold War behind the Iron Curtain subject to Soviet dominance.
Above all, so much of eastern Europe joined NATO to protect themselves from Russian aggression in the future. Article Five provides that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all NATO countries, entitling the NATO country under attack to invoke the support of all the other NATO members. This has happened exactly once in NATO’s decades-long history, when the United States invaded Afghanistan in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
It’s not the first time Trump has slammed NATO during the campaign; he called it ‘obsolete’ in off-the-cuff remarks at a town hall meeting in March:
“Nato has to be changed or we have to do something. It has to be rejiggered or changed for the better,” he said in response to a question from an audience member. He said the alternative to an overhaul would be to start an entirely new organisation, though he offered no details on what that would be.
He also reiterated his concern that the US takes too much of the burden within NATO and on the world stage. “The United States cannot afford to be the policeman of the world, folks. We have to rebuild this country and we have to stop this stuff…we are always the first out,” he offered.
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, meeting earlier this year with US president Barack Obama, has challenged Donald Trump’s criticisms of NATO. (Facebook)
The latest attack on NATO and, implicitly, the international order since the end of World War II, came just days after NATO’s secretary-general, former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, announced a new plan for NATO cooperation on the international efforts to push back ISIS in eastern Syria and western Iraq. Stoltenberg, it’s worth noting, is the first NATO secretary-general to come from a country that shares a land border with mainland Russia. So he, more than anyone, understands the stakes involved. Continue reading NATO comments show why Trump could inadvertently start a global war →
article 5estoniagermanyilveslithuaniamanafortnarvaNATOpolandputinrepublicanrussiastoltenbergted cruztrumpukraineUnited States
Australia, Colombia, DRC / Congo, France, Georgia, Ghana, India, Peru, Russia, Scotland, Taiwan, Tamil Nadu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, West Bengal
16 in 2016: Sixteen global elections to watch in 2016
December 31, 2015 Kevin Lees 2 Comments
(123rf.com)
Of the most important elections in 2015, it’s a safe bet to argue that three of them took place in Greece: the January parliamentary elections, one insane roller-coaster of a referendum in July and another snap parliamentary vote again in September.
So what is the world to do in 2016, when no one expects Greeks to return to the polls? (Though, Athens being Athens, it’s impossible to rule the possibility out.)
Fear not. The new year will bring with it a fresh schedule of exciting elections on all seven continents, including in the United States, which after a marathon pair of primary campaigns, will finally choose the country’s 45th president in November 2016.
But following American politics only begins to scratch the surface.
At least two world leaders in 2016 will put ballot questions to voters that could make or break their careers (and legacies).
New governments could emerge from elections in Taiwan, the Philippines, Morocco, Georgia, Peru, Jamaica, Ghana, Zambia and Australia.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy will either advance or flame out in his bid for a French political comeback in 2016.
Semi-autocratic leaders in Russia, Uganda, Congo and Vietnam will seek endorsements from their voters while hoping that the veneer of elections doesn’t unleash popular protest.
An opaque series of votes in Iran could determine the country’s future Supreme Leader.
A mayoral election in London (and regional elections outside England) could reshuffle British politics with an even more important vote on the horizon in 2017.
One very special election could change the international agenda of world peace and global security altogether.
Without further ado, here is Suffragio‘s guide to the top 16 elections to watch in 2016. After a short break in the new year, your attention should turn to the South China Sea… Continue reading 16 in 2016: Sixteen global elections to watch in 2016 →
australiacolombiacongoDRCFrancegeorgiaghanaindiairanperuphilippinesrussiascotlandtaiwantamil naduugandaunUnited Kingdomunited nationsUnited Stateswest bengal
France, Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), Russia, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United Nations
‘Coalition of the frenemies’ is bombing Syria for all the wrong reasons
December 7, 2015 Kevin Lees Leave a comment
The aftermath of an American strike in Syria’s Idlib province last September. (Abdalghne Karoof / Reuters)
Call it the ‘coalition of the frenemies.’
With British prime minister David Cameron’s victory in the House of Commons last week, fully four of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus NATO member Turkey and several regional allies, will now be engaged in the fight against ISIS (ISIL/Islamic State/Daesh) in eastern Syria. Following last week’s fatal shooting in San Bernardino, California, by two jihadist sympathizers, US president Barack Obama reassured the United States in a rare Sunday night prime-time address that his administration will continue its intensified airstrikes against ISIS in eastern Syria, increasingly targeting the oil tankers controlled by ISIS that fund its jihadist mission.
Cameron’s team, including foreign minister Philip Hammond, argued that a force of 70,000 ‘moderate’ Syrian forces would be willing and ready to take on the ISIS threat in the event of a coordinated allied campaign to deploy sustained airstrikes against ISIS, both reducing the terrorist threat to Europeans at home and establishing the conditions for peace abroad (and the Obama administration has more or less echoed this sentiment). That seems optimistic, however, given that ‘radical’ rebels, like ISIS and the al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra quickly overpowered ‘moderate’ rebels like the Free Syrian Army throughout 2012 and 2013.
In reality, there’s no bright line among anti-Assad Sunnis in Syria. Although Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is Alawite, 75% of Syria’s pre-war population was Sunni, which means there’s a lot of room for variation. Nevertheless, after more than a year of U.S. airstrikes, moderate Syrians (whether 70,000 or 7,000) and Kurdish peshmerga forces have not effectively dislodged ISIS, particularly outside traditionally Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria.
Though U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is still boosting peace talks in Vienna in early 2016, neither the Assad government nor the anti-Assad rebels have indicated they will join those talks. What’s more, it’s not even clear who would ‘represent’ the anti-Assad rebels, who are fighting as much against each other as they are against Assad.
Even as countries from four continents are running air campaigns in Syria, they are acting in far from a coordinated manner. Tensions are already rising after Turkey downed a Russian military jet late last month, despite repeated warnings that the jet was infringing Russian airspace. Imagine how tense the situation could become if a Russian jet attacks an American one in the increasingly crowded Syrian skies. None of the actors, including Russia or the United States, has any clear strategic plan for an endgame in Syria. Russia still can’t articulate a credible scenario where Assad rules a united postwar Syria, and the United States still can’t articulate a credible scenario where Sunni and Shiite factions can work together to govern Syria — or even Iraq, for that matter.
The descent of the world’s major powers upon Syria was accelerating even before jihadist terrorists left 130 innocent civilians dead in Paris, and the manner in which Syria has now become a proxy war for so many other regional and global actors is starting to resemble the domino trail of alliances and diplomatic errors that began World War I. It’s irresponsible to argue that the world is plunging into World War III, but the escalations in Syria reflects the same kind of destructive slippery slope that began with the assassination of the heir of a fading empire by a nationalist in what was then a provincial backwater. Continue reading ‘Coalition of the frenemies’ is bombing Syria for all the wrong reasons →
AKPassadCameronCDUcharlie hebdocorbyndaesherdoganFrancehammondHDPhezbollahHollandeiraniraqISILISISislamic statejihadistkerrykurdlebanonmarine le penobamaparispeshmergaputinrussiaSarkozyseehofersyriaturkeyukraineUnited Kingdom
Russia, Syria, United Nations, United States
Why the ‘brosé summit of 2015’ was more about Russia than the United States
US president Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin share a toast Monday at the United Nations. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The way the US and international media portrayed Monday evening’s meeting between US president Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin, you might think that the diplomatic maneuvering at the United Nations General Assembly over Syria’s civil war amounted to a fight-to-the-finish struggle for the two countries, both of which are permanent members on the UN Security Council.
But that’s just not true because the stakes in Syria for the United States are far, far lower. It is tempting to view every disagreement between the United States and Russia as a zero-sum game, with a clear winner and a clear loser, but that’s false.
Why Syria matters so much to Putin
Consider how important Syria and, in particular, Bashar al-Assad, is to Russia. Assad, these days, doesn’t control much of Syria’s territory, but he does retain power throughout many of the coastal cities where most of Syria’s weary population still resides. That’s important to Moscow because the Syrian coast hosts the only warm-water port for the Russian navy at Tartus.
A look at which groups control Syria, as of September 2015. (Wikipedia)
But it’s so much more.
While the United States continues to project influence on a global basis and while China has expanded its regional reach into south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and even parts of Latin America, Russia’s post-Soviet influence is more limited. The battle lines between Russia and the ‘West’ are no longer Vietnam or Afghanistan or even Poland or Hungary, it’s skirmishes within former Soviet republics like Ukraine and Georgia or fights over influence in central Asia.
RELATED: One chart that explains Obama-era Middle East policy
RELATED: The idea of a nuclear war with Russia is absolutely crazy
Syria, however, retained the strong ties with Moscow that it developed under Assad’s father Hafez in the 1970s. Outside the former Soviet republics, there is virtually no other country that you could consider anything like a Russian ‘client state,’ with the exception of Syria. That’s a big deal for a country resentful that it has gone from a truly global player — culturally, technologically, politically and economically — to regional chump with fading commodity exports, crumbling physical and social infrastructure and an economy one-tenth that of the US economy. Continue reading Why the ‘brosé summit of 2015’ was more about Russia than the United States →
assadbaltic stateschechnyageneral assemblyiraniraqislamic stateNATOpatrushevputinrussiasecurity councilshiitesunnisyriaukraineununited nationsUnited States
Primakov’s legacy lives on in aggressive Russian foreign policy
July 7, 2015 Kevin Lees Leave a comment
Photo credit to AFP.
In an alternative universe, with just a twist in Russian politics, Yevgeny Primakov might have died, at age 85 late last month, as his country’s president.
Instead, he’ll be known for what the international community remembers as ‘Primakov’s loop’ — his order that a Washington-bound plane across the mid-Atlantic reverse course and turn back to Moscow upon hearing the news that the United States had launched military action against Russia’s ally Serbia in 1999. Though it was ultimately a nationalist gesture that did nothing to stop the eventual NATO-led action in Serbia and the de facto independence of Kosovo, it was the highlight of Primakov’s turbulent nine-month tenure as prime minister.
Russian president Boris Yeltsin turned to Primakov in a moment of crisis, after the collapse of the Russian ruble and an economic collapse that left the once-proud country even more at the mercy of international institutions. Despite narrowly winning reelection over a cast of misfits, nationalists and washed-up communists in 1996, Yeltsin failed in his second term to restore the kind of economic prosperity that capitalism seemed so loftily to promise in the heady days following the Soviet Union’s breakup. Privatization of public industries amounted to a botched firesale of national assets, delivering wealth into the hands of a few lucky and well-placed businessmen who made obscene fortunes in the process.
A former spook who started his career as a writer for Pravda in Cairo in the 1960s, Primakov would become the chief Russian strategic on Middle East affairs across a career that spanned the Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev eras, reached its apex under a wary Yeltsin and concluded with a turn as Russia’s chief envoy to Iraq in the lead-up to the 2003 US invasion. Primakov, not surprisingly, vociferously opposed US military action and had nurtured a decades-long relationship with Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein. Continue reading Primakov’s legacy lives on in aggressive Russian foreign policy →
1990salbrightberezovskyclintonFSBiraqkhodorkovskylebedluzhkovoligarchyprimakovprimakov's loopputinrussiasoviet unionSVRunited russiayeltsin
Israel, Russia, United States
Obama’s top two foreign rivals could be vanquished in one week
March 15, 2015 Kevin Lees Leave a comment
Photo credit to Kobi Gideon / GPO / Flash90.
It’s still irresponsible chatter to suggest that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s nine-day absence from public view is anything more serious than the flu.
But as Julia Ioffe wrote Saturday in The Washington Post, even if Putin’s absence is, as very likely, caused by something as mundane as the influenza epidemic currently sweeping through Moscow, it is becoming a more serious event because of the highly personalized system of Russian government where everything has become so micromanaged by Putin and his close allies. The longer Putin’s absence, the greater the chances of an internal coup or putsch, perhaps by the internal security forces, the siloviki, upon whose support Putin rose to power in the 2000s:
You can see why some in Russia are panicking right now—or veiling their discomfort in humor. It certainly doesn’t help that Putin’s disappearance comes at a particularly nervous time for the country. It is at war in Ukraine, its economy is shuddering under sanctions and historically low oil prices, and the opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov, was recently gunned down steps from the Kremlin. There is a sense in Moscow that the wheels are coming off. To Moscow’s chattering class, Putin’s disappearance confirms that impression.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, in national elections, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s center-right Likud (הַלִּכּוּד) is set to win fewer seats in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset (הכנסת) than the center-left Zionist Union (המחנה הציוני) of Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog and former justice minister Tzipi Livni. Though it’s too soon to write off a third consecutive mandate for Netanyahu, the March 17 vote is the toughest electoral fight for Netanyahu since he lost his first bid for reelection in 2001.
Even if Israeli president Reuven Rivlin, a former Likud speaker in the Knesset, convinces Likud and the Zionist Union to form a national unity coalition, polls show that Herzog, and not Netanyahu, would become prime minister. That would place deadening pressure on Netanyahu’s leadership of Likud, where capable replacements, such as former interior minister Gideon Sa’ar, are waiting in the wings.
Remarkably, that means that US president Barack Obama’s two most nettlesome rivals in international affairs could be sidelined in the course of the same week — or even the same day. Continue reading Obama’s top two foreign rivals could be vanquished in one week →
foreign policyherzogirankerryknessetkremlinlikudlivnimedvedevnaftali bennettnetanyahuobamapalestineputinrivlinsa'arsilovikisyriaukrainewhite housezionist union
Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
A look at Nizhny Novgorod, where Nemtsov began his career
Photo credit to The Moscow Times.
In the aftermath of Boris Nemtsov’s shocking assassination, his friends in Russia and abroad are remembering him primarily for his role as a liberal opposition leader in the Putin era and for his short-lived tenure as first deputy prime minister under former Russian president Boris Yeltsin.
Nemstov’s appointment as deputy prime minister lasted just four months, however, when Yeltsin dismissed him and other top government officials in the tempest of the 1998 ruble crisis. It was a sharp fall for someone that even Yeltsin hinted might one day be his successor.
Photo credit to BBC.
Instead, Nemtsov’s more enduring legacy in Russian government involves the six years he spent as the first post-Soviet governor of Nizhny Novgorod oblast in the Russian heartland that lies hundreds of miles to the east of Moscow — it lies north of the Caucuses and the Turkish-Iranian border.
RELATED: Nemtsov’s shocking assassination rocks Moscow
The oblast is home to Nizhny Novgorod, once Russia’s third city after Moscow and St. Petersburg. Named Gorky (after the writer Maxim Gorky) from 1932 until the fall of the Soviet Union, it plays an important, if shrinking, role as a hub for the Russian industrial heartland. The city, which rests at the point where the Volga river meets the Oka river, dates to the 13th century. During the Soviet era, it was a center of military activity and, accordingly, foreigners were prohibited from visiting the city. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, Nizhny opened both to tourists and capitalists alike.
Nemtsov, a bright and charismatic physicist who first engaged public policy in protest over the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, was appointed Nizhny Novgorod’s governor in November 1991. In December 1995, when Russia was still an emerging democracy (and not a failing democracy, or a puppet democracy or an outright autocracy), Nemtsov was reelected at a time when privatization and liberalism had become so unpopular that Yeltsin himself was struggling politically to defeat communist and ultra-nationalists.
As governor, Nemtsov enthusiastically embraced the wave of liberal reforms that Yeltsin and Anatoly Chubais, first deputy prime minister before Nemtsov, were introducing across the country. Unfortunately, however, those policies also caused massive economic dislocation and cultural disorientation. Nevertheless, Nemtsov won praise from free-market advocates like former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and from Western bankers keen on the investment opportunities in a newly opened Russia. He was close not only to the young group of market-oriented reformers in government, but also to opposition liberals, most notably the liberal, pro-democratic ‘Yabloko’ bloc, then led by Grigory Yavlinsky, who advised Nemtsov on economic reforms in Nizhny Novgorod and who remains the intellectual godfather of the Russian opposition movement (here’s a recent interview with Novaya Gazeta).
In his book Resurrection: The Struggle for a New Russia, the inimitable David Remnick writes that Nizhny Novgorod was a bright star in the Russia of the 1990s:
Beyond Moscow, the most encouraging region is centered around Nizhny Novgorod, where young and progressive politicians like Boris Nemtsov have made good on their promises to create ‘capitalism in one country.’ One of the biggest problems with the Soviet economy was that it was so heavily militarized; Nizhny Novgorod, the third-largest city in the country, has been one of the most militarized of all. And yet not only has the city managed, through privatization, demonopolization, and bond issues, to create thriving service and production economies, it has also managed to convert 90 percent of its collective farms to private hands.
But today, Nizhny is a case study in just about everything that’s wrong with the country — a confluence of the economic, environmental and demographic tragedies that are afflicting Russia in the 21st century. The oblast’s population has fallen from 3.71 million in 1989 to just 3.31 million in 2010, and the city is shrinking by around 15,000 annually as the death rate far exceeds the birth rate. Nizhny is now the fifth-most populous city, eclipsed by cities like Novosibirsk in Asian Russia.
As the prolific writer Anna Nemtsova (no relation to Nemtsov) has chronicled, her home city of Nizhny is not only one of the fastest shrinking cities in Russia, it’s one of the fastest shrinking cities in the world:
In 2014, [Nizhny] achieved an unenviable distinction: in the first six months of the year, 26,350 people died and only 18,700 babies were born – the population of Nizhny shrunk by 7,600 people in six months, its highest ever death rate. No bombs fell on the city during the period, no epidemics hit, no natural disasters struck its population. For the past two years Nizhny had been the fifth fastest shrinking city in the world.
In Siberia, of all places, cities like Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk are growing, even while Nizhny is failing. That’s not all Nemtsov’s fault who, after all, hadn’t been responsible for its government in nearly two decades. Moreover, as grim as Nizhny now appears today, it might have been even worse without the effects of Nemtsov’s shock therapy in the 1990s.
Nemtsova also writes about the city’s current mayor, whose wife spends much of her time in southern France. Valery Shantsev, the oblast governor since 2005 (one year after the Kremlin ruled that governors will be appointed directly and not elected) previously served for a decade as a former deputy mayor of Moscow under the fabulously corrupt Yuri Luzkhov.
Even as the region’s current leaders seem more like neo-feudalist, criminal vassals of Putin’s Kremlin, it’s clear that Nemtsov, in the 1990s, fell short of the economic miracle he was trying to achieve, and it’s important not to omit that failure from his legacy. It will be tempting now to remember Nemtsov for all his qualities as an opposition leader since the rise of Vladimir Putin, to paint him in broad strokes as a pro-democracy, pro-reform dissident and a man of principle. Nemtsov, of course, was all of those things.
But it’s not quite that simple, because he shares responsibility for the wave of creative destruction unleashed throughout the Russian economy in the 1990s. Even if the Yeltsin-Chubais-Nemtsov reforms were a necessary step in Russia’s transition from a top-down communist state, they engendered economic suffering unknown to Russia for decades, scars that still afflict Russian collective memory today. The failure, in aggregate, of the reformers to establish broad-based economic prosperity, and the even more damning perception that they created a new class of oligarchic robber-barons set the conditions for Russia’s slow march back to autocracy.
Nationalism, the state security apparatus, a culture of corruption. All of these things are to blame for the rise of Putin-era illiberalism. But to understand the genesis of the Putin regime today requires a blunt and unflinching assessment of the failures of the regime that preceded it. After all, it was Yeltsin himself who plucked Putin out of relative obscurity in naming him as his fifth and final prime minister in August 1999.
Putin came to power, not in a vacuum, but into a specific context of economic, political and cultural conditions that Boris Nemtsov helped shape, both for better and for worse.
chubaiscorruptiondemographic declinegorkynemtsovnizhnynizhny novgorodnovosibirskputinrussiasoviet unionyablokoyavlinskyyelstin
Nemtsov assassination rocks Moscow
February 27, 2015 Kevin Lees 3 Comments
Throughout the Putin era, it hasn’t been uncommon to see political opponents harassed or even killed.
Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in 2006 in the elevator of her building in central Moscow after writing several highly praised books detailing the dark side of life in Russia under president Vladimir Putin.
Officials in the United Kingdom protested furiously when, as if out of a Cold War thriller novel, former Russian secret service agent Alexander Litivinenko was apparently poisoned with the radioactive polonium-210 a month later.
Alexei Navalny, who rose to prominence more recently as a critic of Putin and the corruption of Russian government, has been harassed and imprisoned on politically motivated charges.
Business leaders like Boris Berezovsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky were exiled and imprisoned after Putin’s government decided that they amassed too much wealth in the fire sale of the 1990s when Putin’s predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, sold many of the former Soviet Union’s public assets.
But the assassination of opposition figure and former Yeltsin-era deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov is the most brazen attack yet. I’m sure no one will ever be able to tie Nemtsov’s murder to the Kremlin, which is already officially condemning the murder. The attack — an audacious murder on the streets of Moscow when Nemtsov was otherwise on a Friday night stroll — sends a chilling message to everyone in Russia who opposes Putin’s increasingly autocratic rule (not to say that Putin’s rule was even incredibly liberal or democratic).
Nemtsov’s assassination seems certain to subdue a planned opposition march scheduled for Sunday.
Don’t think for a moment that this isn’t exactly the gruesome image the Kremlin wants its critics to see — a dissident gunned down in the back just footsteps away from the Kremlin walls: Continue reading Nemtsov assassination rocks Moscow →
assassinationilliberalkasparovkremlinnavalnynemtsovputinrussiaukraine
Greece, Russia
A Russian bailout may have always been ‘Plan B’ for Tsipras
February 11, 2015 Kevin Lees 1 Comment
Photo credit to ELTOS/ELTA.
It may have seemed odd that, within hours of taking office, Greece’s new prime minister Alexis Tsipras struck out at the European Union to delay and ultimately weaken the bloc’s resolution to extend sanctions against Russia and certain actors within the Russian government.
The incident shed light on an under-explored element of policy preferences of Greece’s new governing party, the leftist SYRIZA (the Coalition of the Radical Left — Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς), including its reluctance to embrace NATO and the traditional military and security alliance that links the United States and the European Union. Tspiras, who has visited the Kremlin several times, has forcefully opposed the EU sanctions against Russia stemming from its involvement in the unrest in eastern Ukraine.
Furthermore, Tsipras’s choice to form a coalition with the right-wing, anti-austerity Independent Greeks (ANEL, Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες), and to appoint ANEL’s leader, Panos Kammenos, as defense minister, brought into government a brand of right-wing nationalism with roots in traditional Greek Orthodoxy and plenty of euroscepticism.
Throughout the campaign and, indeed, for years, Tspiras has publicly evoked confidence, if not outright cockiness, that he would be able to negotiate a deal to lighten Greece’s debt load if elected to power. Presumably, many commentators believed that meant Tsipras was willing to engage EU elites, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, in a game of ‘chicken’ over Greece’s potential exit from the eurozone. That’s probably still true.
But the common view among most economists is that Greece’s leverage on this point is growing weaker. Merkel and others have privately briefed that the eurozone is much stronger now than in 2012 when the ‘Grexit’ issue first became a real concern, and they don’t believe that the contagion from a Grexit today would be considerable. Greece’s turmoil can be isolated, but caving to the demands of the Tsipras government could embolden radical leftists elsewhere in Europe, especially in Spain, where the leftist Podemos movement now leads polls in advance of elections later this =year. The European Central Bank last week essentially backed Merkel’s view by announcing that it would refuse to accept Greek bonds as collateral, pushing the burden of risk on Greek debt exclusively upon the Greek central bank. Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis clashed publicly with German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble last week as well, noting that he didn’t even ‘agree to disagree’ with Schäuble over the Greek debt standoff.
But Kammenos’s comments yesterday about Greece’s ‘Plan B’ make it clear that the Tsipras government believes it has another, potentially more explosive card it can play:
“What we want is a deal. But if there is no deal – hopefully (there will be) – and if we see thatGermany remains rigid and wants to blow apart Europe, then we have the obligation to go to Plan B. Plan B is to get funding from another source,” he told a Greek television show that ran into early Tuesday. “It could the United States at best, it could be Russia, it could beChina or other countries,” he said.
The United States is certainly not going to undermine Merkel and the EU leadership, especially to bail out a far-left government in Greece. Furthermore, China’s recent history demonstrates that it very rarely makes splashy political moves in foreign policy outside regional Asian politics (such as in Bhutan or Sri Lanka).
That, of course, leaves Russia, which shares a common form of Christianity with Greece in Orthodoxy, and which also happens to be in the middle of the most high-stakes geopolitical struggle with NATO since the end of the Cold War. Continue reading A Russian bailout may have always been ‘Plan B’ for Tsipras →
european central bankEuropean Uniongreeceindependent greekskammenoskotziaskremlinmerkelNATOorbanputinrussiaschaubleserbiasouth streamsyrizatsiprasvaroufakis
Why the West shouldn’t root for Russia’s rouble freefall
It might be tempting today for policymakers in Berlin, Washington, Brussels and London to have a moment of schadenfreude at the Russian currency crisis, which seems to deepen by the hour.
But as Russia’s economy significantly weakens, those same officials might regret their glee if it causes Russian president Vladimir Putin to double down on the nationalist rhetoric and geopolitical aggression that’s characterized his third term in office. The Guardian‘s Larry Elliott declared that with today’s collapse, the West has won its ‘economic war’ with Russia and otherwise christened it ‘Russia’s Norman Lamont moment,’ a reference to the British pound’s collapse in 1992:
Back in September 1992, the then chancellor said he would defend the pound and keep Britain in the exchange rate mechanism by raising official borrowing costs to 15%, even though the economy was in deep trouble at the time.
European and US governments slapped economic sanctions against several top Russian officials earlier this year, largely in retaliation for Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March and the Kremlin’s continued role supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine. Even today, US president Barack Obama indicated that he would support even more economic sanctions against Russian weapons producers and other companies tied to the Russian defense industry after the US Congress overwhelmingly passed a new anti-Russia bill with bipartisan support.
The last Russian financial crisis in 1998 coincided with slowdowns across the developing world, an ominous sign for the struggling Brazilian, Indian and Chinese economies. It may have even precipitated the 1998-99 Asian currency crisis.
Much of Putin’s support in the last decade and in his first stint as president from 2000 to 2008 rested on the economy’s strong performance. After the embarrassing and impoverishing experience of the Soviet Union’s collapse, the Putin era brought an end to the grinding poverty that characterized the presidency of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. Buoyed by rising demand for Russian oil and gas, Putin presided over a boom in the mid-2000s that materially raised incomes across Russia, especially in cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
That continued even through the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, when Putin, barred from a third consecutive term, instead served as prime minister. But since returning to the Kremlin in 2012, Putin has faced an increasingly precarious economy, and as Max Fisher and other commentators have convincingly argued, the political basis for Putin’s government has shifted from economic grounds to increasingly nationalist and populist rhetoric. That explains the Kremlin’s machinations in Ukraine and its growing political standoff with Europe and the United States, a stand that’s boosted Putin’s previously flagging approval ratings.
If that’s true, though, the risk of Russian aggression is actually rising as its economy deteriorates. There are now several potential catalysts — the currency crisis could easily engender a wider economic recession, oil prices might continue their drop, or the United States and Europe could implement deeper sanctions. In such case, Russian president Vladimir Putin may respond by intensifying his saber-rattling against not only Ukraine, but the Baltic states, southern Europe, Moldova and Kazakhstan, to say nothing of Belarus, Georgia or elsewhere. Continue reading Why the West shouldn’t root for Russia’s rouble freefall →
bulgariacurrency crisiskudrinmedvedevoil pricesputinroublerussiasouth streamukraineUnited States
Putin tops world power rankings
November 5, 2014 Kevin Lees 1 Comment
It’s far from scientific, but less than 24 hours after Republicans appeared to defeat US president Barack Obama in midterm congressional and gubernatorial elections, Russian president Vladimir Putin defeated him to the top spot on Forbes‘s 72 Most Powerful People in the World.
The rankings don’t really mean that much in the grand scheme of things, of course.
The Forbes rationale?
We took some heat last year when we named the Russian President as the most powerful man in the world, but after a year when Putin annexed Crimea, staged a proxy war in the Ukraine and inked a deal to build a more than $70 billion gas pipeline with China (the planet’s largest construction project) our choice simply seems prescient. Russia looks more and more like an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped rogue state with an undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head unconstrained by world opinion in pursuit of its goals.
Hard to argue with that, I guess.
But the rankings represent a nice snapshot of what the US (and even international) media mainstream believe to be the hierarchy of global power. Though I’m not sure why Mitch McConnell, soon to become the U.S. senate majority leader, isn’t on the list.
So who else placed in the sphere of world politics this year?
Obama ranked at No. 2 (From the Forbes mystics: ‘One word sums up his second place finish: caution. He has the power but has been too cautious to fully exercise it.’).
Chinese president Xi Jinping, who took office in late 2012 and early 2013, ranked at No. 3. (Tough break for the leader of the world’s most populous country!)
Pope Francis, ranked at No. 4, even though Argentina lost this year’s World Cup finals to Germany.
Angela Merkel, ranked at No. 5, third-term chancellor of Germany and the queen of the European Union.
Janet Yellen, ranked at No. 6, the chair of the US Federal Reserve.
Mario Draghi, ranked at No. 8, the president of the European Central Bank.
David Cameron, ranked (appropriately enough) at No. 10, the Conservative prime minister of the United Kingdom, who faces a tough reelection battle in May 2015.
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, No. 11, the king of Saudi Arabia.
Li Keqiang, No. 13, China’s premier.
Narendra Modi, No. 15, India’s wildly popular new prime minister.
François Hollande, No. 17, France’s wildly unpopular president.
Ali Khamenei, No. 19, Iran’s supreme leader, especially as Iranian nuclear talks come to a crucial deadline this month.
Continue reading Putin tops world power rankings →
baghdadiban ki-moonbill clintonbloombergclintondraghiEPNforbeshillary clintonHollandejim yong kimjinpingjohn robertskeqiangkhalifa bin zayedkhameneikim jong-unking abdullahkurodalagardemerkelmodinetanyahuobamapark geun-hyepena nietopope francisputinrousseffshinzo abeyellen
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1890
|
__label__wiki
| 0.71218
| 0.71218
|
One Neck, Ready for One Leash
Feature Article by Robert Tracinski, June 19, 2018
The Internet has brought us one of the greatest expansions of the free flow of information in history, so naturally government bureaucrats think this has to stop immediately. And when it comes to unaccountable bureaucrats getting their way, it’s hard to beat the European Union.
Hence Wednesday’s preliminary vote on a set of EU Internet regulations that includes something called Article 13. This is ostensibly a measure to enforce copyright protections, but it is drawn so preposterously overbroad that it will catch everybody.
A proposed new European copyright law wants large websites to use “content recognition technologies” to scan for copyrighted videos, music, photos, text, and code in a move that that could impact everyone from the open source software community to remixers, livestreamers, and teenage meme creators.
This law is calculated to destroy the free-wheeling Internet in five ways.
1. It restricts the flow of content on computer networks.
Article 13 reverses one of the key legal doctrines that allowed the Internet to thrive: the idea that computer networks are not “publishers” and are therefore not liable for the actions or statements of their users. This means that you can sue an individual user for libel or copyright infringement, but not the e-mail service or bulletin board or social media platform on which he did it. This immunity made it possible for computer networks to open up a floodgate of content produced by independent individuals, without requiring service providers to serve as editors or moderators.
Making them moderators again would not only throttle the volume of material that can be published (since there are a limited number of moderators) but would also set up the service providers as gatekeepers of content. Yet that’s exactly what the bureaucrats want, which lead us to the second consequence.
2. It creates an Internet surveillance state.
Article 13 would require big tech companies to establish the infrastructure to monitor and control all communications that go through their networks, which is precisely what they are already doing too much of. As one opponent of Article 13 puts it, this “further entrenches ubiquitous surveillance into the fabric of the Internet.” Which leads us to the next point.
3. It entrenches the big media giants.
The expense of setting up the electronic filters mandated in Article 13 is so great that tiny little startups can’t do it. Only the giants can do it.
The technology to filter out memes—or for that matter any copyrighted material—would require a significant investment of time and money to develop. This means that we could see the detection of copyrighted material outsourced to companies with the means to carry it out effectively—that’s likely to be US internet giants such as Amazon and Google.
But wait, it gets worse. Along with Article 13 is Article 11, dubbed the “link tax,” which requires websites to buy a license from established publications in order to quote, excerpt, or possibly even link to their material. Ostensibly, this is to protect publications from sites that “curate” content by stealing it, providing a link to the original source only after they have excerpted all of its key information and gathered all the Web traffic for themselves. But the egregious abuse of excerpts is already illegal. Article 11 replaces existing laws with something much broader and more vague, whose exact scope hasn’t even been defined yet.
The most bizarre claim is that this will liberate publishers from dependence on companies like Google and Facebook, when it will obviously have the opposite effect. “Google can afford a license, [but] there’s no guarantee smaller organizations can.” So Article 11 and Article 13 together have the effect of establishing the big existing players on the Internet as the only legal sources of information, creating a huge barrier to entry against potential competitors.
4. It would outlaw legitimate uses of information.
As another opponent explains, “Automated systems just can’t distinguish between commentary, criticism, and parody, and mere copying, nor could the platforms employ a workforce big enough to adjudicate each case to see if a match to a copyrighted work falls within one of copyright’s limitations and exceptions.” A lot of perfectly legal use of copyrighted material, from “fair use” to parodic use to Internet memes—which it seems almost sacrilegious to outlaw—would be caught as “copyright violations” and users would then have to appeal case-by-case to a small and overwhelmed group of moderators. But once again, it gets worse.
5. It would unleash false and malicious copyright claims.
Article 13 allows for mass uploading of copyright claims but imposes no penalty for making a false claim. This creates an incentive for bad actors to suppress information by targeting it with false copyright claims.
[S]tock-market manipulators could use bots to claim copyright over news about a company, suppressing its sharing on social media; political actors could suppress key articles during referendums or elections; corrupt governments could use arms-length trolls to falsely claim ownership of footage of human rights abuses…. It’s asymmetric warfare:…. Bots will be able to pollute the copyright databases much faster than humans could possibly clear it.
All of these attacks on the free flow of information follow on the heels of a campaign against “fake news” that has been used as an excuse to bring government censorship to the Internet. A good overview of this trend sums it up: “With the potential ability to imprison, bankrupt or put journalists out of business for publishing poorly defined ‘misinformation,’ there is enormous scope for abuse.”
There is one egregious error in the article, though: a reference to “Donald Trump’s popularization of the term ‘fake news’ during the 2016 presidential election.” No, it was the left that originally popularized “fake news” after Election Day. This was their way of explaining away Hillary Clinton’s election loss by blaming it on Facebook and trying to shake down Mark Zuckerberg and force him to reinstall the old media gatekeepers. It was only after the left screamed about “fake news” for a few months that Trump managed to turn the phrase back against them and co-opt it for his own purposes. There’s a lesson there about own goals (to use a very European figure of speech) and about unintended consequences.
But also remember the Law of Intended Consequences. Clamping down on the free-wheeling Internet and giving more power to a few big gatekeepers is entirely consistent with the kind of unchecked bureaucratic power that is central to the modern European Union. What the advocates of big government want, to paraphrase Ellsworth Toohey, is an Internet with one neck, ready for one leash.
Amazon, Article 11, Article 13, censorship, copyright, Ellsworth Toohey, European Union, Facebook, fair use, fake news, Google, Internet, link tax, news aggregation
The Thatcher Line
The High Road of Hope and Prosperity
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1894
|
__label__wiki
| 0.850377
| 0.850377
|
Veteran sports writer Jim Utter covers NASCAR for The Charlotte Observer and its racing site, ThatsRacin.com. In this space, Jim writes about all things NASCAR and other forms of racing which may also be relevant ... or not.
Joey Logano to join Penske Racing
Joey Logano, who earned his second career Sprint Cup Series victory this season and leads all drivers in the Nationwide Series with six wins, will join Penske Racing as the driver of the No. 22 Ford next season, The Observer and ThatsRacin.com have learned.
Logano, 22, has spent his entire NASCAR career with Joe Gibbs Racing, but JGR did not have a fulltime Cup ride available for him in 2013. Logano's move comes just as JGR is set to officially announce on Tuesday that former Cup champion Matt Kenseth is joining the organization in 2013.
An official announcement of Logano's move to Penske could come as early as Tuesday as well, multiple sources confirmed.
A request for comment from Penske Racing was not immediately returned.
Sam Hornish Jr. now drives the No. 22 Dodge for Penske on a temporary basis after former driver A.J. Allmendinger was released by the team after being indefinitely suspended by NASCAR for failing a random drug test. Logano would be the fourth driver in the No. 22 in less than two seasons.
Logano is still technically in the hunt for one of the two wild card berths in the Chase this season. He has one win this season, at Pocono, and a second victory Saturday night at Richmond, Va., could qualify him for the Chase for the first time.
Posted by Observer Sports at 11:34 AM 4 comments:
Flags happen
Restarts don't always bring out the best in drivers, or in officials in the flag stand. - File-Getty Images)
http://www.thatsracin.com
http://www.charlotteobserver.com
http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com
http://www.charlotte49ers.com
Theme images by Kativ. Powered by Blogger.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1896
|
__label__wiki
| 0.669579
| 0.669579
|
Zinaida Portnova: Young Avenger
By Alexis Coe
on September 20, 2013 in History
Alexis Coe’s past essays on women’s history for The Toast can be found here. Most recently: A Very Unnatural Crime.
Zinaida Portnova was visiting her grandmother’s farm when she first spotted the uniformed men approaching the barn. It was 1941, and they had come for the family’s cattle. Herbert Black, a German minister, planned to starve Russia in order to feed Germany, and it was starting to work.
If the Nazi soldiers confiscated the livestock, there would be nothing to replace it; there was no money to buy more, and no more to buy. Her elderly grandmother resisted as much as a woman of her age could, but this was not a discussion. With one swift strike of the hand, a German soldier silenced her, and led their greatest chance of survival away.
That was all the provocation 15-year-old Portnova needed. She joined the “Young Avengers,” the underage faction of the Belarusian resistance movement in Obol. At first, she just distributed Soviet propaganda leaflets in occupied Belarus, reporting back on the whereabouts of German soldiers, but she was soon dealing in arms. Soviet troops had strategically hidden guns, and she was tasked with discovering them. She was impressive in the field, and deemed fit to undergo basic weapons and explosives training. Portnova soon put her new skills to work, subverting German occupiers at a local power plant and brick factory.
The large contingent of Nazi soldiers stationed in Odol depended on the local population to serve them, but the Young Avengers had thus far been thwarted in their attempts to place an agent on the inside. Portnova would be the one to secure a position as kitchen aid to the garrison, where she was given unfettered access to their most basic weakness. In August of 1943, soldiers began to fall ill from food poisoning, and a few died.
The kitchen staff was immediately suspect, but Portnova, with her round, girlish face, was willing to prove her innocence; either way, the outcome would be the same. Under the watchful eye of the Nazis, she ate a small plate of the food she had indeed poisoned. Showing no signs of malady, she was released, but her body would soon succumb to the poison. The road to her grandmother’s house was paved with abdominal cramps, fever and chills. She arrived just in time to digest copious amounts of whey, neutralizing the poison.
But she couldn’t go back to the garrison. Her absence would surely serve as confirmation of the German’s suspicions, but perhaps they had already knew the truth. Portnova would be sent back out into the field, where her familiarity with the area could be put to good use sabotaging soldiers.
By January, her outfit needed to establish contact with another in Odol, and Portnova was chosen to go back. The local police, who knew her well, quickly plucked off the street and turned her over to the Germans.
She knew her options. A soldier pushed her towards the interrogation room, every step one closer to death. When he opened the door, she saw a pistol lying on the table. Within seconds, it was in her hand, and she shot him dead. Two more men rushed to the scene, and she had no choice but to shoot at them, too.
By some accounts, she was caught in the courtyard. Others say she fled into the woods, where she was captured alongside a river. Either way, Portnova ended up in Goryany, where she was relentlessly beaten and tortured. It is unclear if she gave them information about the youth resistance, or if there was even anything substantial to give, but by the time the teenager emerged from interrogation, she was blind. They threw her battered body on the back of a truck, and drove her to the forest.
Zinaida Portnova was shot dead on January 15, 1944, just a month shy of her 18th birthday.
To this day, Portnova remains a celebrated figure in Russia. She was the youngest person to be declared a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1958 and received the Order of Lenin, among other honors. There are two monuments to her in Minsk and Obol.
Works Consulted:
Martin Gilbert, The Routledge Atlas of the Second World War (Indiebound | Amazon)
Henry Sakaida et al., Heroines of the Soviet Union: 1941-45 (Amazon)
Original artwork kindly provided by Sally Klann.
alexis coe
Archival Mix: The Story of Lee Miller, Part Three
Come See Alexis Coe and Mallory Tonight in San Francisco
Femslash Friday IRL: Alice + Freda Forever
Archival Mix: An Interview With Karen Abbott
Alexis Coe is The Toast's history correspondent. She holds a master's degree in American women's political history, and was a research curator at the New York Public Library. Alexis is also a columnist at The Awl, and has contributed to The Atlantic, Slate, the Paris Review Daily, and many others. Her first book, Alice+Freda Forever, will be published on October 7th. Follow her @alexis_coe.
@alexis_coe
More by Alexis Coe
Archival Mix: The Story of Lee Miller, Part Two
Archival Mix: The Story of Lee Miller, Part One
Archival Mix: Cathay Williams and William Cathay
Why This Column Is Called “Archival Mix” Now: On Women’s History
553010 Comments on Zinaida Portnova: Young Avengerhttp%3A%2F%2Fthe-toast.net%2F2013%2F09%2F20%2Fzinaida-portnova-young-avenger%2FZinaida+Portnova%3A+Young+Avenger2013-09-20+16%3A00%3A21Alexis+Coehttp%3A%2F%2Fthe-toast.net%2F%3Fp%3D5530
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1897
|
__label__wiki
| 0.850698
| 0.850698
|
Gallup: 72% of Americans think that big government is the greatest threat to the future of the United States
Thecityismine Dec 20, 2013
Thecityismine
Record High in U.S. Say Big Government Greatest Threat
Now 72% say it is greater threat than big business or big labor
by Jeffrey M. Jones
PRINCETON, NJ — Seventy-two percent of Americans say big government is a greater threat to the U.S. in the future than is big business or big labor, a record high in the nearly 50-year history of this question. The prior high for big government was 65% in 1999 and 2000. Big government has always topped big business and big labor, including in the initial asking in 1965, but just 35% named it at that time.
The latest update comes from a Dec. 5-8 poll. Gallup has documented a steady increase in concern about big government since 2009, rising from 55% in March 2009 to 64% in November 2011 and 72% today. This suggests that government policies specific to the period, such as the Affordable Care Act — perhaps coupled with recent revelations of government spying tactics by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden — may be factors.
Currently, 21% name big business as the greatest threat, while 5%, a record low, say big labor. The high point for big labor was 29% in 1965. No more than 11% of Americans have chosen big labor since 1995, clearly reflecting the decline of the labor movement in the United States in recent decades.
The historical high choosing big business, 38%, came in 2002, after a series of corporate scandals rocked major corporations including Enron and Tyco. Also at that time, Americans may have been less willing to choose government given the rally in support for government institutions and officials after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Americans were also more likely to view big business as a big threat during the recent recession, with more than three in 10 choosing it in 2008 and 2009, a time when many large corporations, including financial and automotive companies, failed or were in danger of failing without government intervention. But fewer Americans now view big business as a threat — the current 21% is the lowest Gallup has measured since 1983.
Republicans Especially Likely to See Big Government as Threat
Even though Americans have always viewed big government as the greatest threat, the degree to which they do so has varied. In recent decades, since the start of the Clinton administration, perceptions of big government as a threat have varied depending on the party of the president. Since Barack Obama took office in 2009, an average of 64% of Americans have named big government as the greatest threat. That is up from an average 56% during George W. Bush’s administration from 2001-2008, but similar to the 65% average from 1993-2000 during the Clinton administration.
This pattern is largely driven by Republicans, who generally are more likely to be concerned about the size and power of government, and this concern is amplified when a Democrat is president. Democrats are more likely to see government as a threat when a Republican is in office; however, they tend to see government as less threatening than Republicans do, and their concern about big government topped out at 62% in 2005 under Bush.
During the Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Reagan administrations, party differences were much more modest than they are today.
Each party group currently rates big government as the greatest threat to the country, including a record-high 92% of Republicans and 71% of independents, as well as 56% of Democrats. Democrats are most likely of the partisan groups to name big business as the biggest threat, at 36%; relatively few Republicans, 4%, view big business as the most threatening.
Americans have consistently viewed big government as a greater threat to the United States than either big business or big labor, but never more than they do now. That may be partly a reaction to an administration that favors the use of government to solve problems. Also, the revelation of widespread government monitoring of U.S. Internet activity may be a factor in raising Americans’ concern about the government. The threat of big business may seem diminished now, during a relatively calm period for big business, with rising stock values and relatively few major corporate scandals such as occurred in the early 2000s. Also, the labor movement is far less influential in U.S. policy today than in the past, including in 1965, when Gallup first asked the question.
In the future, Americans likely will continue to view big government as the greatest threat of the three, partly because of Republicans’ reluctance to rely on government to solve problems, and because Democrats and independents are also inclined to view big government as a greater threat than big business or big labor. But the percentage of Americans viewing big government as the greatest threat will also likely to continue to vary, in response to current conditions in the political and business environments.
Venezuela’s Opposition Calls for Big Protes...
A woman with her face painted with Spanish words for; “Freedom, peace, don’t forget,” attends a vigil to honor the more than 90 people killed during three
EU leaders would be willing...
The former PM calls for a “proper debate” over
FLASHBACK: Mueller recused ...
NSA DOCUMENTS PROVE SURVEIL...
Bombshell discovery shows targets of NSA’s “Project Dragnet” WASHINGTON,
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1898
|
__label__wiki
| 0.898389
| 0.898389
|
Lives at risk as Victoria braces for worst floods in decades
by | December 01, 2017 | 14:05
The worst of Melbourne's rainfall will take place on Friday evening and Saturday morning . A flood watch has been issued for rivers across the state, including Melbourne's Yarra River, with widespread flooding likely from Friday onwards, the bureau says.
NH man shot by dog while hunting in Iowa
Rancourt, who lives in New Hampshire, was rushed to hospital but is expected to survive as the gun was loaded with birdshot. The gun was lying on the ground when one of the dogs stepped on the trigger discharging the shot from about 22 yards away.
Police hunt underway after nurse allegedly abducted on Gold Coast
A male Gold Coast nurse was allegedly abducted this morning from the hospital he works at, forced into a auto and made to withdraw money from an ATM. A male nurse was allegedly accosted by up to four men with a knife and possibly a gun while on his lunch break at approximately 4am this morning. "He said that he had been robbed at gunpoint.
Plans to replace Secretary Tillerson underway after soured relationship with Trump
If Cotton is appointed and confirmed to a Trump administration post, he'd be temporarily replaced in the Senate by Arkansas's Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, before a likely special election to fill the rest of his term later this year.
Man arrested on trail near where Francis Howell teacher was shot Wednesday
The young boy was attempting to hang himself in a stairwell, just before school started. The teacher, whose identity has not been disclosed, was running on a trail when he passed an unidentified man, police said. Street view of Glenda Dawson High School. School personnel rendered first aid to the student until the paramedics arrived on scene, according to Wells.
Pentágono: Pruebas de misiles de Corea del Norte son una amenaza global
Las autoridades estadounidenses esporádicamente han insinuado la posibilidad de entablar un diálogo directo con Pyongyang en caso de que mantuviera la mesura. Aseguró que el misil alcanzó una altura de 4.475 kilómetros (2.780 millas) y una trayectoria de 950 kilómetros (590 millas) antes de hacer impacto en el blanco designado, en alta mar.
BJP ahead in UP civic poll trends; BSP follows
For the mayoral elections, the saffron party forged ahead on nearly all the 16 seats from where trends were available after an hour of counting. "The SP is closely analysing the results", he said. This is the first time that a chief minister campaigned for municipal elections, as Adityanath himself promoted the party across 16 different municipalities.
Congress party president elections 'rigged', says Maharashtra Congress secretary Shehzad Poonawalla
My family and I neither have any relation, association nor wish to comment on the issue or the said individual Shehzad Poonawalla. Shehzad, on the other hand, told a leading news agency, "I have got info that the delegates who are going to vote for the party president elections are fixed, its rigged".
Libya slave trade: Why Nigeria must go to war - Fani-Kayode
Dabiri added that around 5,000 Nigerians have come back from Libya in the past year. "And for people to cross the Sahara Desert to go into shanty boats across the Mediterranean Sea, I think we will try and keep them at home". In her remarks, the German Chancellor appreciated the strides made by the Buhari administration in revamping the economy and promised to increase support for Nigeria in dealing with terrorism.
Sanders pushes bill to help Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
More than two months later, millions of people in Puerto Rico still have no power and lack access to clean drinking water, refrigeration and other necessities. It was overwhelming then - but Franceschini says it's nothing compared to the "unprecedented" exodus of Puerto Ricans who are now trying to escape to places like Orlando in the face of deteriorating conditions on the demolished colony in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
No. 3 Michigan State crushes No. 5 Irish
The third-ranked Spartans bullied one of the ACC's elite teams Thursday night in East Lansing, racing to a 20-point halftime lead over fifth-ranked Notre Dame , withstood an early second-half charge from the Irish and cruised to a comfortable 81-63 victory.
WH dismisses Rubio plan to beef up child tax credit
Lee and Rubio are suggesting that they should therefore be permitted to keep a modestly greater portion of the money they earn, and that it may be especially appropriate that they get some relief from the payroll tax, which is both the heaviest federal tax burden lower-income workers face and a tax that (on paper anyway) exists specifically to help fund Social Security for the elderly.
Four injured as heavy fire continues inside Peshawar's Agriculture Directorate
As per the reports, the police said two students, a watchman and a journalist were among the injured. The directorate is located near the Agriculture University of Peshawar . The rapid response force has also initiated its action. A group of armed individuals launched a coordinated attack on a governmental compound in Peshawar city of Pakistan earlier today.
Sanders says she is baking pies for WH press corps
Sanders' father, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, said this week that the incident showed how "ridiculous" the news coverage of the Trump White House has become. April Ryan , Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks , told the Washington Post that she had "given up trying to figure out why" she wasn't invited to Friday's event, but noted President Donald Trump "has the right to invite whoever he wants".
Doctor: Texas girl Sherin Matthews showed signs of abuse before death
The toddler was adopted from India and lived with her adoptive parents, Wesley and Sini Mathews, and their biological daughter. After prosecutors gave up on questioning the Mathewses, they called Dr. The Mathews repeatedly invoked the 5 Amendment throughout the custody hearing, refusing to answer questions which might incriminate them in the criminal proceedings.
Deepest Fish Ever Discovered in Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench occupies a part of the ocean that is so deep, dark and cold that its name - the "hadal zone" - was taken from "Hades", the Greek underworld, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . The animal appears to dominate in this ecosystem, going deeper than any other fish and exploiting the absence of competitors by gobbling up the plentiful invertebrate prey that inhabit the trench, the study authors wrote.
Japan's Emperor Akihito to abdicate in April 2019
Formal Cabinet approval of the decision is due on December 8, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. The last emperor to abdicate was Kokaku in 1817. But the proposal met opposition from the Imperial Household Agency as ceremonies to mark the imperial succession would coincide with important year-end and New Year imperial events.
Woman accuses Rep. John Conyers of 'violating my body'
Sen. Peters says an expedited ethics investigation should take place before asking Conyers to resign. She says other witnesses also would testify under subpoena. "I am taking a risk", Brown said. But on Thursday, she said: "Zero tolerance means consequences - for everyone". Two Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Kathleen Rice of NY and Rep.
Delhi records highest cases of crimes against women in 2016
Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of crimes against women. Secondly, the number of cyber crime cases prove that we are not refusing to register these cases. Rape cases in the state have increased from 1105 in 2015 to 1278 in 2016. Mumbai also ranked second in cases of kidnapping and abduction of children, with 5,457 cases in Delhi and 1,864 cases in Mumbai .
Michigan Attorney General Candidate Suggests Voting for the Candidate Without a Penis
In the wake of the sexual assault, harassment and misconduct allegations that have rocked many institutions including Hollywood and Capitol Hill, Dana Nessel says she has a solution. "And it has me wondering - can we afford not to?" "Some people will tell you I can't be the Democratic nominee for Attorney General here in MI because, 'We can't have an all female ticket for statewide office in 2018, '" Nessel says, referencing campaigns from incumbent Sen.
‹ previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 next ›
Royal Caribbean cruise ship cancels Puerto Rico stop amid violent protests
Saravana Bhavan founder P Rajagopal passes away after heart attack in Chennai
Germany: leader of Merkel party takes over defence ministry
Bank of England Accrediting Cryptocurrency? New £50 Note to Feature Alan Turing
UK arrests Manchester bomber's brother after Libya extradition
Ethel Medina
1 dead, many hurt as fire engulfs animation firm in Kyoto
Boeing dedicates $50 million to crash victims
Former Mitsubishi workers seek assets sale for wartime labor：The Asahi Shimbun
Turkish diplomat shot dead in Iraqi Kurdistan
Autopsy procedures were completed at Erbil Rizgari Hospital, where the martyred diplomat was taken after the attack, said the so...
President Trump has no regrets about 'go back' tweets
President Donald Trump likes to tweet, and when he does, he expresses his opinion in no uncertain terms. Green has unsuccessfull...
Footage of Trump and Epstein together at a party in 1992 emerges
Trump recently said he wasn't "a fan" of Epstein , as the financier faces child sex trafficking charges. Acosta was the US at...
Moderately than declare regret, Trump talked about Monday that Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of Original York, Ilhan Om...
Uber and Lyft driver Suhail Siddiqi charged with sexual assault and robbery
He has been charged with four counts of felonious sexual assault and two counts of prohibited sales of alcohol. "This man approa...
Duterte signs law imposing heftier fines for sexual harassment
Implementing the law under Duterte's administration would "certainly be a challenge", the group added. On International Women's ...
Air Force Warns Facebook Group Against Trespassing at Area 51
Citing anonymous "law enforcement sources in the Nevada area", TMZ confirms that government agencies are closely monitoring the re...
House votes to hold Barr and commerce chief in contempt over census
Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said the contempt vote was an...
Family mourns 6-year-old girl killed by father's golf shot
Aria Hill died on Monday after her father accidentally hit her in the head with a golf ball at Sleepy Ridge golf course , in...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1900
|
__label__wiki
| 0.994726
| 0.994726
|
Tears and sympathy: support grows for Smith over cricket ban
A wave of sympathy for disgraced Australia skipper Steve Smith gathered pace on Friday after his heart-wrenching apology and as opposition grew to the severity of bans handed out in a
ball-tampering scandal.
Smith's tearful appearance in front of media helped trigger the resignation of coach Darren Lehmann and also prompted calls to rein in criticism which has verged on hysterical during an extraordinary week for Australian cricket.
Both Smith and vice-captain David Warner were banned for 12 months and Cameron Bancroft for nine months for ball-tampering during the third Test in Cape Town.
Lehmann -- who had earlier warned about the players' mental state -- said he was convinced to step down by the emotional apologies of Bancroft and Smith, which also drew messages of support.
"Dear Australia, that's enough now," ran a headline in British newspaper The Times. "This was ball-tampering, not murder."
The ball-tampering scandal has unleashed a torrent of vitriol against Smith and Warner in particular, and heavy criticism of a team long perceived as arrogant and out of touch.
Australia's leg-spin great Shane Warne wrote in Sydney's Daily Telegraph: "We are all so hurt and angry and maybe we weren't so sure how to react. We'd just never seen it before.
"But the jump to hysteria is something that has elevated the offence beyond what they actually did, and maybe we're at a point where the punishment just might not fit the crime."
Former England captain Michael Vaughan said Smith and Bancroft, who also faced media on Thursday, were "decent guys who had a moment of madness".
"They deserve a 2nd chance and hopefully get the right support around them now .. Takes a lot guts to do what they did today," he tweeted.
- 'Glaring anomalies' -
The Australian Cricketers' Association voiced concern over the welfare of the players, and argued that the sanctions were disproportionate compared to other sanctions for ball-tampering.
"There are a number of glaring and clear anomalies in the process to date which causes the ACA to query the severity and proportionality of the proposed sanctions," a statement said.
Warner, a divisive figure who was charged with instructing Bancroft, one of the team's junior members, to tamper with the ball using sandpaper, is expected to face the media on Saturday.
Pressure also remains on CA, which has been hit by an exodus of sponsors over the damaging saga and uncertainty surrounding current broadcast rights negotiations.
CA's losses include an estimated Aus$20 million (US$15 million) partnership with naming rights sponsor Magellan, which tore up its three-year contract after barely seven months.
Following the fourth Test in Johannesburg, which starts later on Friday with Tim Paine as stand-in captain, Australia's next assignment is an ODI series in England that starts in June.
Former Test opener Justin Langer is a strong favourite to become Lehmann's successor, although reports said Australia could name a separate coach for the ODI and Twenty20 teams.afp
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1901
|
__label__cc
| 0.63848
| 0.36152
|
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
laane.org
Our vision is to help build a new economy rooted in good jobs, thriving communities, and a healthy environment. Here in Los Angeles and in cities across the country, we are moving steadily toward that vision – recharging democracy through grassroots organizing and community-oriented policy. Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) is a nonprofit organization focused on grassroots organizing and community-oriented policy that leads to well-paying jobs, vibrant communities, and a clean environment. LAANE recognizes the stark inequality that pervades Los Angeles, and strives to advance working communities towards economic equality and a healthy community.
One of LAANE’s main efforts campaigns is the Repower LA citywide coalition that advocates for equitable environmental programs and career-path jobs at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP). As the largest municipally-owned utility in the nation, the DWP has the potential address high unemployment rates at a large scale, as well as help residents in LA’s lower income neighborhoods lower their energy and water bills. One of Repower LA’s LADWP and IBEW Local 18’s programs that Repower promotes is, the Utility Pre-Craft Trainee (UPCT) program, is a pre-apprenticeship program that has recruits recruited many women and communities people of color, including the re-entry population. These apprentices earn $16/hour with benefits to learn valuable electrical and water utility skills, while simultaneously working towards stable permanent DWP jobs. Repower LA also helped institute win the Equity Metrics Data Initiative (EMDI) within the DWP. This initiative tracks and releases semi-annual data to the public on how the DWP is serving customers in low-income communities through employment, services, and programs. It will feature an analysis in the future releases that are intended to help guide DWP policy.
Our Water LA is another coalition effort LAANE is a lead part of that brings communities and environmental organizations together to work on improving stormwater capture and groundwater recharge in LA County. The campaign identifies ways to cut down on stormwater pollution while improving community resilience through and job creation. The LA County Public Works Board of Supervisors is now focused on doing outreach for a proposing a future ballot tax measure that will generate a source of dedicated revenue for these projects. LAANE is working in conjunction with Public Works staff to ensure outreach and engagement with low-income communities of color, as well as to ensure that water projects in low-income areas receive priority, while also generating a report on the construction and operations jobs potential from the measure.
LAANE has also helped shape policy in many other City and County of Los Angeles departments through Community Benefit Agreements and Project Labor Agreements. For example, the Construction Careers and Project Stabilization Policy outlines a targeted and disadvantaged hiring program and project labor agreements that are applied to board approved construction projects within Metro, the Port of Los Angeles, and Los Angeles City Public Works.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1902
|
__label__wiki
| 0.698572
| 0.698572
|
Displaying items by tag: Turkish armed forces
An Uncertain Future for the Turkish Armed Forces
By Lars Haugom
The secularist identity of the Turkish armed forces is being dismantled in piecemeal ways by the AKP government. There is a risk that the comprehensive changes that are now underway will further exacerbate ideological and political factionalism within the officers’ corps. Ultimately, the politicization of the military and the attempts at its traditional, secularist ethos could provoke a crossing of swords between religious-conservative and secularist factions. Since the coup attempt last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has taken steps to ensure the loyalty of the current military leadership, while guarding against the possibility of a more politically assertive military leadership in the future. However, it is uncertain if this strategy is also going to restore the internal cohesion of the Turkish armed forces.
Erdoğan’s Dilemma: Preserving the Nationalist Alliance or Making Peace
By Nicholas Danforth
Turkey's July 15 coup attempt has transformed the country's politics, and notably it has deepened a dangerous pre-existing dilemma. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan faces rival challenges from a Kurdish nationalist movement with a longstanding commitment to violence and a nationalistic Turkish electorate which opposes the concessions that will be necessary to make peace with the Kurds. This triangular tension means that Turkey will face a series of trade-offs, setting the country's embattled prospects for peace and democracy against one another.
The Turkish Armed Forces Restructured
The Turkish military is undergoing a comprehensive post-coup restructuring process. It is not difficult to understand the rationale behind increased civilian government control of the armed forces after the July 15 coup attempt. However, the Turkish government aims to increase civilian political control and oversight with the armed forces, and not civilian democratic control. There is a risk that the Turkish Armed Forces will become a more politicized and dysfunctional organisation, with greater internal rivalry between the branches and an even more restive officers’ corps as a result of some of these changes.
Altan: The growing power of the military
Mehmet Altan in Özgür Düşünce writes that the traditional rivalry between the mosque and the barracks has given way to a coalition, and that there are those who fear that Turkey is headed toward a “Baathist” regime, in which the military and security apparatus controls the economy. With the exponential growth of the defense industry, some suggest that the military has come to enjoy unprecedented access to financial resources… Will the mosque-barracks alliance then last? Will the rapid increase of wealth in military ranks lead the military to change the position (toward the mosque) that it has had since the beginning of the 19th century? It’s doubtful. It appears that political Islamist fascism has become so desperate that it has had to cling to its historical rival. This inevitably increases the power of the military. It looks as if the military, which briefly appeared to have lost its traditional sovereignty, wants its old power back, now that democracy has been abandoned. The question is if the military after a while is going to want to hold all the reins in its hands and return us to an even harsher period of “tutelage?”
Published in What the Columnists Say
Babahan: No, the military will not stage a coup
Ergun Babahan in Özgür Düşünce comments a news article in the Wall Street Journal according to which the “Palace” (President Erdoğan) is concerned about a prospect of a military coup. The United States will support a coup in Turkey if vital American interests are threatened, and the Turkish Armed Forces will never stage a coup unless it has American support for it. For the moment, Turkey does not have a stance that threatens American interests. Yes, the American administration cannot stand Erdoğan. It dislikes his authoritarian style. However, that’s not a reason enough for a coup. Besides, the Turkish regime does everything that the U.S. administration tells it to do in the region and in Turkey. Yes, it takes some effort to bend Turkey, but this is not anything new. Turkey was always a troublesome ally. The Erdoğan regime is not doing anything, nor has it taken any such decisions, that would jeopardize the interests of American companies. Furthermore, American interests are served by the fact that Turkey has become totally dependent on the West since the downing (last year) of the Russian plane (in Syria.) The same reasons apply to the Turkish military. The military is convinced that Turkey can only survive with the Turkish-Islamic synthesis. And the AKP gets the blame for all human right violations, ensuring the image of the Armed Forces is unharmed.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1905
|
__label__wiki
| 0.746152
| 0.746152
|
YC-grad Papa raises $2.4M for its ‘grandkids-on-demand’ service
One of the latest additions to the on-demand economy is Papa, a mobile app that connects college students with adults over 60 in need of support and companionship.
The recent graduate of Y Combinator’s accelerator program has raised a $2.4 million round of funding to expand its service throughout Florida and to five additional states next year, beginning with Pennsylvania. Initialized Capital led the round, with participation from Sound Ventures.
Headquartered in Miami, the startup was founded last year by chief executive officer Andrew Parker. The idea came to him while he was juggling a full-time job at a startup and caring for his grandfather, who had early onset dementia.
“I’ve always been a connector of humans,” Parker, the former vice president of health systems at telehealth company MDLIVE, told TechCrunch. “I’ve always naturally felt comfortable with all walks of life and all age groups and have just felt human connection is really critical.”
Seniors can request a “Papa Pal” using the company’s mobile app, desktop site or by phone. The pals can pick them up and take them out for an activity or have them over to play a game, complete household chores, teach them how to use social media and other technology or simply to chat. A senior is matched with a student, who must complete a “rigorous” background check, in as little as 30 seconds.
Parker says there are 600 students working with Papa an average of 25 hours per month.
“We’ve been fortunate that this is something the students really want to be part of,” he said. “They aren’t doing this for a couple extra dollars. They are doing this to help the community.”
The service costs seniors $20 per hour, $12 of which is paid to the students and $8 is returned to Papa. It’s not a subscription-based service, but seniors can pay for a premium option that lets them choose between three Papa Pals instead of being randomly paired with one of the several hundred options. The students do not provide any personal care, like bathing or grooming. And they are not a pick-up and drop-off service, like Uber or Lyft.
“We believe the Papa team has found a unique way to combat loneliness and depression in older adults,” said Alexis Ohanian, co-founder and managing partner of Initialized Capital, in a statement. “The experience that Papa Pals bring their members make it seem like they are part of a family.”
In addition to expanding to new markets, Papa is in the process of partnering with insurance companies with a goal of allowing seniors to pay for some of its services through their Medicare plans.
“Loneliness is a crisis. It’s a disease. It’s killing people prematurely,” Parker said. “We are providing a really massive impact to these people’s lives.”
← Instagram tests tapping instead of scrolling through posts, first in Explore
Facebook mistakenly deleted some people’s Live videos →
YC-backed Buttermilk brings easy-to-prepare Indian meals to your doorstep
Furniture startups skip the showroom and go straight to your door
Placecast launches new product to verify the location data in mobile ad campaigns
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1907
|
__label__wiki
| 0.569902
| 0.569902
|
Home/Toshiba
Toshiba Corporation is a Japanese multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Its products and services include information technology and communications equipment and systems, electronic components and materials, power systems, industrial and social infrastructure systems, household appliances, medical equipment, office equipment, lighting and logistics.
Toshiba was founded in 1939 as Tokyo Shibaura Electric K.K. through the merger of Shibaura Seisaku-sho (founded in 1875) and Tokyo Denki (founded in 1890). The company name was officially changed to Toshiba Corporation in 1978. Toshiba has made numerous corporate acquisitions during its history, including of Semp in 1977, of Westinghouse Electric Company in 2006, of Landis+Gyr in 2011, and of IBM's point-of-sale business in 2012.
Toshiba is organised into four main business groupings: the Digital Products Group, the Electronic Devices Group, the Home Appliances Group and the Social Infrastructure Group. In 2010, Toshiba was the world's fifth-largest personal computer vendor measured by revenues (after Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Lenovo). In the same year, it was also the world's fourth-largest manufacturer of semiconductors by revenues (after Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics and Texas Instruments).
Toshiba is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indices, the Osaka Securities Exchange, the Nagoya Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1908
|
__label__wiki
| 0.901784
| 0.901784
|
The A’s, Bees, & C’s of Survival
Simply Breathtaking
Instructor Nathan Lucas teaches how to safely enjoy the beauty of freediving
Fun and Gamers
Cat Tompkins has turned her hobby into popular Beachcon event
Going Out On A Lim
Phillip Lim has fashioned his own clothing empire
Color Her World
Artist C. Finley wants to paint the world in shades of positivity
It IS Rocket Science
Beach Launch Team aims high in their pursuit of space travel
Courting friendships
Student-athletes help build a basketball court for Panama youth
Leading a Fruitful Life
Frieda Caplan has introduced us to a world of new tastes
Two student-led teams win international Biomimicry Challenge awards
Never Too Late to Dream
Phượng Truong’s graduation last spring fulfilled a lifelong vision
InTouch: Class Notes
Imagine Beach 2030
Artist C. Finley helped start GLAMFA on campus
She got her start for outdoor art by decorating dumpsters
Her mural “Divine Feminine” looks down at Pico Boulevard and Grand Street in L.A.
Sean DuFrene, Courtesy of C. Finley
Courtesy of C. Finley
It took a few years, but C. Finley has made a colorful splash in the world of large-scale art.
Artist C. Finley views the world through prisms, always looking for color in an often times black-and-white world. And when that doesn’t work, she paints, using buckets of the stuff, largely in hues of blues, greens, purples and pinks. Lots of pinks.
With her paint brush and roller, the former Long Beach State Masters of Fine Arts major wants to color the world in shades of positivity, something she says is lacking in today’s society. It’s the motivation behind her murals and other large-scale paintings that adorn walls and galleries and dumpsters from Los Angeles to Rome.
More on the dumpsters later.
Finley is a Rome-based artist whose elaborate geometric paintings and use of bright colors have brought her acclaim from galleries worldwide. Her work has been exhibited in Vienna and New York, in galleries located in Miami and Los Angeles, and on the pages of the New York Times, Women’s Wear Daily and Huffington Post.
“I always knew I wanted to be a player in the international way,” Finley said. “I always wanted to travel and be a part of the world, to play the global scene.”
Recently, Finley’s art has gone big, with a capital B. In April, she finished her third mural called, “Sky Dance” that adorns the side of a parking garage in downtown Houston. Last October, Finley put the finishing touches on “Divine Feminine”, a silhouetted color-blocked woman on a pink background that greets drivers near the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Grand Street in Los Angeles.
“What the world needs now is some happiness, some positivity because it seems like everyone is down and mired in the political environment,” Finley said.
C. Finely painted “The Divine Feminine” earlier this year. The colorful mural is located on Grand Avenue and Pico Boulevard in L.A.
“I feel we are not going to be able to change those who don’t have a joyful heart. In the mural of dancers flying through the air in Houston, you can see people as they walk by with a big smile on their face. So, we are putting a little bit of slice of joy in their heart.
“I feel we need to start there.”
Unknown to Finley, the owner of a Houston skyscraper watched her work on the L.A. mural and approached her about doing something similar in Texas.
“I’ve always liked to work large,” she said. “I was a scenic painter fresh out of Pratt Institute (where she got her B.A.), so I learned a lot about working on really large-scale paintings.”
C. Finley painted “Three Grace” in 2015, using acrylic and on canvas.
Finely said meeting new people is a side perk of working on murals, who stop to admire her work and Instagram it.
“I’m an extroverted person, so the studio work feels a little lonely, even though it gives me a lot of solitude,” she said. “So, to connect with people like this gives me a lot of enjoyment. I could never have imagined it and now I can’t imagine my life without it.”
Finley’s creative side was born out of boredom growing up in Sedalia, town of 21,000, located in the heart of Missouri. She said it was the perfect place for her “because I could be wild and free.”
Despite being the home to Daum Museum of Contemporary Art that houses exhibitions by such artists as Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel and Helen Frankenthaler, Finley discovered her inspiration down another artist avenue.
“I was inspired by Madonna and Prince and following their lead, I subscribed to Interview magazine and found my tribe,” she said. “On another note, the Chinese landscape paintings at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City moved me to tears at 12 (years old).”
Finley eventually left Sedalia and enrolled at Pratt Institute of Art, where she earned her B.A. She developed her love of community and the environment while earning her master’s degree at Long Beach State. It’s also where her activism was ignited.
While earning her MFA at Long Beach State, C. Finley started wallpapering dumpsters as a project for a class.
In an interdisciplinary studies class, each student was asked to create a piece of art using something other than their preferred medium. For Finley, that meant putting down her paint brush and look beyond the easel. She saw wallpaper and steel shipping containers.
“I was working at a wallpaper magazine and I always had a couple of rolls around,” she recalled.
Finley was visiting the Port of Los Angeles when she noticed how dismal shipping containers looked but knew immediately decorating them was impossible. She turned to dumpsters, those bulky utilitarian boxes that normally found behind companies and apartment buildings.
She papered her first dumpster for her class assignment in 2006, her third for a dumpster on campus and didn’t stop until there were roughly 50 beautified dumpsters all around the world. There were flowers in New York and smiles in Santa Monica. In Paris, dumpsters resembled vintage lace. Some of her other wallpapered creations popped up in cities such as Paris, Dublin and San Francisco.
“It’s a way to create a positive or surprising or creative way to ask people to consider where their trash goes.” C. Finely says of her wallpapered dumpsters.
“They bring a lot of joy to people when they see literally the ugliest thing in the world become a beautiful precious work of art.
“The wallpaper dumpster project was a really great way to use art to help people think ‘If this dumpster is a work of art, I want to put my trash in the right place, and I want to put my compost here and I want to put my recycling here.
“It’s a way to create a positive or surprising or creative way to ask people to consider where their trash goes.”
The dumpster project not only inspired people to throw their garbage in the decorated receptacles and earned her nicknames, such as “Dumpster Diva”, it ignited a passion within Finley. She wanted to show that Long Beach had its own mecca of artists, some right on campus.
Requests for wallpaper dumpsters came from around the world as more and more people saw her handiwork that began in San Pedro.
That vision led to creating GLAMFA, the annual exhibition where MFA and MA students from various area schools display their work at the school’s galleries. Finley and six other MFA students organized the event and it continues to be curated by Long Beach State’s School of Art graduate students.
“One of the greatest assets at Long Beach is the art gallery complex, which is like a million-dollar complex,” said Finley. “Most schools don’t have that level of professional gallery spaces, so I just thought ‘Wow, this is such an asset. Why don’t we bring the community, the greater L.A. community, here and show them what we got?’”
GLAMFA will hold its 13th annual show next February.
“GLAMFA is now ensconced as a major annual event for the Southern California art scene, and it wouldn’t have ever gotten started without Finley’s vision and energy,” said ceramics professor Jay Kvapil.
Finley said Kvapil had a major influence on her during her time at Long Beach State, serving as her mentor during her two years. She, in turn, mentored an undergraduate student, Jahan Khajavipour, who she eventually hired to be her studio assistant in Rome.
“We mentored each other,” Finley said of Khajavipour. “Through the Whitney Houston Biennial, I have exhibited several artists from Long Beach State.”
Most of C. Finley’s wallpapered dumpsters are long gone, but in their heyday some could be found in Vienna and Paris.
Kvapil recalls Finley as energetic and charismatic.
“As an artist, of course, she is a creative thinker. If she gets an idea in her head to do something, no matter how large or complex, she will get it done,” he said.
Yet it was Finley’s work with dumpsters that garnered her praise from the contemporary art world – outside of Long Beach. Suddenly her colorful patterns and abstract figures were being featured in galleries, leading eventually to exhibitions at Galerie Ernst Hilger in Vienna, Superchief Gallery in Los Angeles and New York’s Jenn Singer Gallery.
“I always had that inside of myself. I always had that strong calling to be an artist. So, I put those two together and here I am,”she said.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1910
|
__label__wiki
| 0.513372
| 0.513372
|
Venture-Net Partners From Idea to IPO
Randell Young
Doug Pewitt
Mario Fiori
Allene Lewis
Tony Frudakis
Non-Disclosure Agreements
VC Confidential
Mission to Millionaireship
Mission to Millionaireship (Audio Book)
Venture-Net is always interested in new ventures. To begin our review process, please email an electronic copy of your business plan to submissions@venturenet.partners and/or send one hard copy of your business plan to: Venture-Net Partners2620 Regatta DriveLas Vegas, NV 89128
Posted On August 17, 2018 April 26, 2019 By Venture-Net Partners
Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Entrepreneur-in-Residence Tony Frudakis is the founder and former chief executive officer of DNAPrint Genomics, developer of the world’s first genomic ancestry panels and pioneer of today’s $300 million genetic ancestry market. In 2001, Genome Technology Magazine readers voted Dr. Frudakis “Most Influential” in the SNP category.
He is also the founder and former chief executive officer of Okeanos Technologies, developer of an electronic desalination process that won the 2014 Ocean Exchange Gulfstream Navigator award and which has been named by Fast Company as one the world’s most innovative companies. He has also served as vice president and director of genomic medicine at GLG Pharma, a developer of next-generation precision oncology therapies for STAT3-driven hyperproliferative diseases.
Dr. Frudakis is the author of Molecular Photofitting: Predicting Ancestry and Phenotype Using DNA, a graduate-level human genomics textbook, as well as numerous other publications, conference presentations, patents and successful grant applications. The first patents for genomic ancestry and phenotyping compositions and methods were filed by Dr. Frudakis
He holds a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley and has served as an adjunct professor of biological sciences at St. Petersburg College. He currently serves on the scientific advisory boards of Precision Therapeutics, a cutting-edge precision oncology platform; and GreenTech Endeavors, which is developing new energy storage and generation systems.
Copyright All right reserved Theme: Multipurpose Business by Themeinwp
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1913
|
__label__cc
| 0.585486
| 0.414514
|
Aksharadhool
Be informed, Read Akshardhool!
My e-books
Articles in Marathi
A Journey Impossible
A geographer par excellence
Searching on internet with a search engine has become a routine task these days. All of us use the search engine almost every day to find out about things we do not know or things that we know but do not remember precisely. All of us have now become used to the exhaustive search results that these search engine spiders present to us that are interspersed with advertisements cleverly. Yet sometimes, the search spiders come up with an odd find of a gem that simply baffles you and makes you think, Hey! How did I never know that?
It happened with me a couple of days ago. I was searching for an obscure place in south Uzbekistan; very near the Afghan border. This place was described in old books as a mountain pass and only two writers gave a detailed description of it. The first writer was the famed 7th century Chines traveler, Xuan Zhang, who calls it as Iron Gate and goes on to describe it as; “ The pass so called is bordered on the right and left by mountains. These mountains are of prodigious height. The road is narrow, which adds to difficulty and danger. On both sides there is a rocky wall of an iron colour. Here there are set up double wooden doors, strengthened with iron and furnished with many bells hung up. Because of the protection afforded to the pass by these doors, when closed, the name of Iron gates is given.”
The second description comes from the travelogue of one “ Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo,” who was ambassador of Henry III. of Castile, to the court of Timur in 1404. He describes this pass as ;” This hill is very high and there is a pass leading up by a ravine, which looks as if it has been artificially cut, and the hills rise to a great height on either side, and the pass is smooth and very deep. In the center of the pass there is a village, and the mountain rises to a great height behind. This pass is called the great gates of iron.”
Among the hundreds of links thrown up by the search engine on my computer screen, there was one link of a book that looked most uninteresting because of its old fashioned long name; “The universal geography: the earth and its inhabitants; edited by E.G. Ravenstein and A.H. Keane.” Since I was not able to find any further details from any of the other web sites, I thought of downloading the book and did it. When I opened the book, I found that the author of the book was actually someone else. It was written by a person known as Elisee Reclus.
This book surprisingly not only gave full details of the place, but had also included a line sketch of the place. It described the pass as;” One of the southern branches of the Kashka rises in a highland district formerly famous for containing one of the " wonders of the world. This is a defile 40 to 65 feet broad, and nearly 2 miles long, traversed by the route leading from Balkh to Samarkand by the Shirabad River, Shehi'-i-sebs, and the Samarkand tau range. When visited by the pilgrim Hwen-T'sang this defile was closed by folding gates, strengthened with bolts and adorned with belfries. Eight centuries afterwards Clavijo, Spanish envoy to the court of Tamerlane, also passed through the "Iron Gate," but the artificial structure had disappeared, and the place is now called Buzgola-khana, or the "Goat Hut." But the nearest town retains the significant name of Derbent,"
I really got interested in this book and its author, after finding detailed information about such an obscure spot, in it. To my utmost surprise, the book turned out to be a giant; by any standards. “The universal geography: the earth and its inhabitants” is a masterwork that has been published in 19 volumes, originally in French. Each volume is dedicated to a different part of the world. The author, Élisée Reclus or Jacques Élisée Reclus (15 March 1830 – 4 July 1905) was a renowned French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced this 19-volume masterwork, originally titled as “La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes” over a period of nearly 20 years (1875–1894.)
Reclus was born in the French town of Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, as a second son of a of a Protestant pastor and his wife. The couple had fourteen children, quite a few of which achieved renown as men of letters, politicians or members of learned professions. His two brothers Onésime and Élie Reclus, actually also became like him geographers. Reclus began his education in Rhine province of nearby Prussia and later continued it at Protestant college of Montauban in southern France. He completed his studies with an exhaustive course in geography under famous German geographer, Karl Ritter (1779 – 1859), considered as one of the founders of modern geography at University of Berlin.
A major political upheaval tormented France in December 1951, when the then president, Louis Bonaparte proclaimed himself the Emperor Napoleon III. Fed up with the developments, Reclus left France and spent next six years travelling and working in Great Britain and United states. He settled down as a tutor in 1853 at a plantation, about 50 miles upriver from New Orleans in Louisiana. He published two books,’ impressions of antebellum New Orleans’ and ‘Fragment d'un voyage á Louisiane,’ in 1855.
He returned to Paris and was attracted to the anarchist movement. He was arrested in 1871 for anti-national activities and sentenced to deportation for life. Because of intervention by supporters from England, the sentence was commuted in January 1872 to perpetual banishment from France.
Reclus settled in Clarens, Switzerland, where he wrote his masterwork ‘La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes.’ An English edition also was published simultaneously, also in 19 volumes, the first four by E. G. Ravenstein, the rest by A. H. Keane. This masterwork examined every continent and country on earth in terms of the effects that geographic features like rivers and mountains had on human populations. Reclus’ books were profusely illustrated with maps, plans, and engravings.
For their extreme accuracy and brilliant exposition, which gave them permanent literary and scientific value, Reclus’ writings were awarded the gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society in 1892. He was also awarded the 1894 Patron's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in London.Reclus was appointed chair of comparative geography at the University of Brussels, in 1894, and moved with his family to Belgium, where he stayed till his death in 1905.
An independent scholar and author, Kirkpatrick Sale has this to say about Reclus’s writing.” His geographical work, thoroughly researched and unflinchingly scientific, laid out a picture of human-nature interaction that we today would call bioregionalism. It showed, with more detail than anyone but a dedicated geographer could possibly absorb, how the ecology of a place determined the kinds of lives and livelihoods its denizens would have and thus how people could properly live in self-regarding and self-determined bioregions without the interference of large and centralized governments that always try to homogenize diverse geographical areas.”
Fortunately for us, most of the volumes of “The universal geography: the earth and its inhabitants” are available on net and can be downloaded. It may be worthwhile to download them and keep them in our library.
Labels: anarchist, books on geography, Elisee Reclus, Iron gates pass, south Uzbekistan, The universal geography: the earth and its inhabitants
Sapient December 19, 2015 at 7:52 PM
This is a great find sir. Thanks for sharing.
mannab January 4, 2016 at 9:17 AM
Very interesting post. Thanks a lot.
Mangesh Nabar
JOYDEEP SIRCAR February 28, 2016 at 1:18 PM
The pass is clearly visible SW of Derbent, Uzbekistan on Google Maps but the contours make me doubt whether it is a narrow cleft as shown in sketch.
Kaku's Kitchen
My Reference e-books Library
Articles by Guest Authors
Want to read Akshardhool on your Mobile device?
Click on image to find out
Crazy Bicycles: Part I
Panshet 1961
Walking out of the family
An Aircraft Boneyard
The Magnificent Palace of the Peshawa's -The Shaniwar Wada - Part II
“The Great departure”: sculptured over centuries, across the sub-continent
Robin Hood Marketing
Zubeida's crashed airplane
Tom and Jerry Games in South China Sea
New Delhi's Nehru Place Electronics Market blacklisted by US
Akshardhool Music
Do You miss the melodious
music of the 1960's.?
You can listen in to the
long forgotten musical tracks
of my playlists on You Tube
Akshardhool Music: First series
Akshardhool Music: Second series
Akshardhool Music: Third series
(Just click one of the links above)
For Android and ios devices
Tweets by @cathavale
Search Old Posts
Search Old Posts November 2018 (3) September 2018 (6) July 2018 (4) April 2018 (3) March 2018 (1) February 2018 (1) November 2017 (2) September 2017 (1) January 2017 (1) December 2015 (1) November 2015 (1) October 2015 (4) July 2015 (2) June 2015 (7) May 2015 (23) April 2015 (28) March 2015 (31) February 2015 (28) January 2015 (31) December 2014 (29) November 2014 (20) October 2014 (21) September 2014 (29) August 2014 (30) July 2014 (30) June 2014 (29) May 2014 (29) April 2014 (30) March 2014 (29) February 2014 (28) January 2014 (31) December 2013 (31) November 2013 (30) October 2013 (30) September 2013 (30) August 2013 (30) July 2013 (28) June 2013 (23) May 2013 (25) April 2013 (26) March 2013 (30) February 2013 (24) January 2013 (21) December 2012 (31) November 2012 (25) October 2012 (23) September 2012 (30) August 2012 (29) July 2012 (20) June 2012 (23) May 2012 (29) April 2012 (16) March 2012 (28) February 2012 (32) January 2012 (52) December 2011 (53) November 2011 (26) October 2011 (15) September 2011 (16) March 2011 (1)
Translate this Blog to your own Language
Akshardhool is on Google plus
Follow me on Linked in
Akshardhool Showcase
Gems from the National Museum- New Delhi, Sir Aurel Stein Collection, click image to read more
Photo Feature by Anjali Vyas: Clouds
Photo Credit and Copyright Anjali Vyas
India’s ancient gateway to central Asia
Shaidulla Khwoja October 1873, Frontier outpost of Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
It’s final! Duryodhana and Bhima are home again
It is a joyous occasion for all Cambodians and art lovers from all over the world.
Real life Zubeida was very beautiful and was born into a Muslim family connected with the films..
Copyright - Chandrashekhar Athavale. Simple theme. Powered by Blogger.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1919
|
__label__cc
| 0.544625
| 0.455375
|
Adept Technology Reports Fiscal 2009 Third Quarter Results
Company Executes Restructuring, Lowering Operating Expenses by An Additional $1M Per Quarter; Quattro Orders and Sales Remain Strong, Increasing 29% Sequentially
PLEASANTON, Calif., May 6, 2009 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX News Network) -- Adept Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADEP), a leading provider of intelligent vision-guided robotic solutions, today announced financial results for its 2009 fiscal third quarter ended March 28, 2009.
Fiscal 2009 Third Quarter Results
Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 decreased 52% to $7.7 million, compared to $16.1 million for the same period last year, and decreased 30% from $11.0 million in the second quarter. The decrease in revenue was driven by a decrease in orders across all industries and services business in January and February 2009 reflecting the global economic downturn affecting the Company's customers. The Company reported a GAAP net loss of $3.5 million, or $0.42 per share, which compares to net income of $983,000, or $0.12 per fully diluted share in the third quarter of fiscal 2008 and a net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.57 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $2.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2009, compared with adjusted EBITDA of $1.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2008 and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $3.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. A discussion of this non-GAAP measure and reconciliation of this measure to the applicable GAAP measure is included below.
Gross margin was 38.2% of revenue in the third fiscal quarter of 2009, compared with 46.3% of revenue in the third quarter of 2008 and 42.2% in the second quarter of 2009. Adept's gross margins were negatively impacted by lower volumes which caused under-absorption of fixed manufacturing expenses, although the Quattro product margin remained steady throughout the quarter. Operating expenses for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 were $6.4 million, compared to operating expenses of $6.6 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2008 and $8.8 million in the second quarter of 2009.
During the quarter, Adept implemented new expense reductions expected to result in quarterly savings of approximately $1 million starting in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, which began on March 29, 2009, with the full effect realized in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, which begins on July 1, 2009. Included in the savings were additional voluntary executive salary reductions lowering the base salary of our CEO by 15% and of other executive management by 10%, which together with salary reductions effected in January 2009, reflects a total reduction of 35% and 20%, respectively, in addition to other employee salary reductions.
Adept's cash and short-term investment balance at March 28, 2009 was $8.7 million, as compared to $11.0 million reported as of December 27, 2008.
"We experienced a significant slowdown in January and February of this year as a result of the worldwide recession," said John Dulchinos, Adept's president and chief executive officer. "We saw numerous customers idle production lines and delay capital investments in the first two months of the year, which had a significant impact on our revenue. We are encouraged by an increase in activity since then, including a 29% increase in Quattro orders during the quarter, indicating that our business may be stabilizing. Looking forward we continue to focus on managing our resources and returning to cash flow positive operations. We took steps during the quarter to reduce our operating expenses by $1 million per quarter, which should be fully reflected in our first fiscal quarter of 2010. We have now secured a $5 million line of credit and our balance sheet remains strong. With our realigned cost structure we are confident that we have sufficient cash to weather this downturn. With our new product offerings and solid design wins in our key markets of packaging and solar, we are also confident we are well positioned to return to growth and profitability once the economy begins to recover."
Recent Highlights:
* Obtained a line of credit for up to $5 million in borrowings from
Silicon Valley Bank.
* Adept implemented further cost cutting measures during the quarter
resulting in an additional quarterly savings of approximately $1
million. Included in the savings were additional voluntary executive
salary reductions lowering CEO salary by an additional 15% and
executive management by an additional 10% of base, which together
with salary reductions from January 2009, bring the total to 35%
and 20% respectively.
* Adept Quattro robot orders were up 29% quarter over quarter showing
recently growing momentum in packaging.
* Adept demonstrated its Quattro robot and its ACE PackXpert software
at premier food industry and industrial manufacturing shows in
France in March 2009.
* During the quarter, Adept demonstrated its new inline solar cell
handling and inspection system, Eclipse(tm), at the Photovoltaic
Technology Show 2009 Europe and at the Photovoltaic Power
Generation Expo 2009 in Tokyo.
* Adept signed two new distribution partners during the quarter,
which are focused on the Japanese robotics market, the largest in
the World.
John Dulchinos, president and chief executive officer, and Lisa Cummins, vice president and chief financial officer, will host an investor conference call today, May 6, 2009, at 5:00 P.M Eastern Time to review the Company's financial and operating performance for the fiscal 2009 third quarter. As the Company is no longer providing a revenue, net income, adjusted EBITDA or cash outlook for fiscal 2009, the Company intends not to provide specific forward-looking statements regarding fiscal 2009 financial results. However, the Company may make other forward-looking statements during the call, and intends to continue its practice of not updating the forward-looking statements provided in this release and the earnings conference call until its next quarter end results announcement. These statements will be forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially. The Company intends to continue its practice of not updating forward-looking statements until its next quarter end results announcement. The call can be accessed by dialing (800) 762-8779. Participants are asked to call the assigned number approximately 10 minutes before the conference call begins. In addition, the conference call will be available over the Internet at www.adept.com in the Investor Relations section of the site. For those who are not available to listen to the live broadcast, the call will be archived at www.adept.com and a telephonic playback of the conference call will also be available for seven days following the call. Replay listeners should call (800) 406-7325 and enter the passcode 4066204#.
Adept Technology, Inc. designs, manufactures and markets robotic systems, motion control and machine vision technology for global markets including automotive, consumer electronics, consumer goods, disk drive, food, industrial tooling, medical devices, solar and pharmaceutical. Adept robots, controllers, and software are used for small parts assembly, material handling and packaging. Adept intelligent automation product lines include industrial robots, configurable linear modules, machine controllers for robot mechanisms and other flexible automation equipment, machine vision, and systems and applications software. Founded in 1983, Adept Technology is the largest U.S.-based manufacturer of industrial robots. More information is available at www.adept.com.
All trade names are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
To view the complete press release with disclosures and financial statements, please visit the Adept website at: http://ir.adept.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=382208
This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com
SOURCE: Adept Technology, Inc.
Adept Technology, Inc.
Lisa Cummins, Chief Financial Officer
MKR Group, Inc.
Todd Kehrli
Charles Messman
News Provided by COMTEX
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1922
|
__label__wiki
| 0.560952
| 0.560952
|
Course of Nature - Short Animated Film
C O U R S E of N A T U R E
In a world where rain is produced by puppy-like rain clouds, Mother Nature’s young daughter sets them free to save them from evaporation. CGI Animated Course of Nature Short Film by Lucy Xue and Paisley Manga from Ringling college of art and design.
Labels: animation, cgi, independent
Rosa Salazar to Lead ‘Battle Angel Alita’
R O S A S A L A Z A R is...
Looks like James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez have finally found their female lead for Alita: Battle Angel.
According to Collider, Rosa Salazar (Insurgent, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) -- who has quite the résumé already for a young up-and-coming actress -- has nabbed the title role of the cyborg bounty hunter, beating out Maika Monroe (It Follows), Bella Thorne (Amytiville: The Awakening) and Disney sensation Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming).
The dynamic duo had been looking for the perfect lead for quite some time -- even though the 20th Century Fox movie has yet to be greenlit, hence the current lack of a planned release date -- with their search narrowing down to these four actresses a month ago.
Cameron was originally slated to helm the sci-fi movie that's been a passion project of his for years but, being otherwise occupied with his ever-expanding Avatar movie franchise, Cameron personally chose Rodriguez to replace him as director last year. Even though he's no longer sitting in the director's chair, he'll stay on as producer.
With a screenplay penned by Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and James Cameron, Alita: Battle Angel is the live-action adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s super popular Japanese cyberpunk manga series, Battle Angel Alita.
Set in the 26th century, the story revolves around an amnesiac female cyborg named Alita who’s discovered by a scientist in a scrapyard and rescued. Having no memory of her past except for her deadly martial arts skills, she becomes a skilled bounty hunter, tracking down vicious criminals. The upcoming action-adventure movie will explore a young woman’s journey of self-discovery and search for love.
B A T T L E A N G E L A L I T A
Labels: anime, battle angel alita, manga, movie, news, scifi
Disney Infinity 3.0 - The Movie
This video shows all cutscenes and boss battles from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Playset in Disney Infinity 3.0.
Labels: animation, cgi, disney, gaming, infinity, short
Star Wars Emoji
Join emoji-fied versions of Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, Poe, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Princess Leia and more Star Wars characters as they retell The Force Awakens, while we all wait for Rogue One.
Labels: animation, emoji, fan-made, star wars
Anime Viewing Schedule for May 28, 2016
Wood Dale Public Library
Set weapons to Obliterate!
"Dead or alive, you're coming with me... to the anime meeting!"
Main Meeting Room, 10:15 am to 5:00 pm
10:15 - 11:05 Flying Witch eps 2-3
11:05 - 11:30 Macross Delta ep 1
11:40 - 12:20 Noragami Aragoto 8-9
1:05 - 1:55 Lupin the Third (2015) eps 12-13 (end)
1:55 - 2:45 Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress 3-4
2:45 - 4:45 The Empire of Corpses (Movie)
Start watching the exciting new anime series: Noragami Aragoto and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress!
Battleborn's Prologue
B A T T L E B O R N
Battleborn’s prologue mission begins with a gorgeous animated sequence, followed by an excellent single-player story mission. Then it goes away.
Labels: animation, battleborn, cartoon, gaming
Star Trek Beyond Official Trailer
S T A R T R E K : B E Y O N D
"Star Trek Beyond," the highly anticipated next installment in the globally popular Star Trek franchise, created by Gene Roddenberry and reintroduced by J.J. Abrams in 2009, returns with director Justin Lin ("The Fast and the Furious" franchise) at the helm of this epic voyage of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her intrepid crew. In "Beyond," the Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.
Labels: live-action, movie, star trek, trailer
Next Club Meeting is May 28, 2016
"Anime Central 2016 Cosplay Coverage"
520 N. Wood Dale Road
Main Meeting Room
Public Transit Options
Our next club meeting will be at the Wood Dale Public Library,
Main Meeting Room (on your far right as you enter the front doors),
(until the library closes).
There is public transportation available.
A Metra train-stop is located within walking distance.
Please note: If you are driving, please park your car
on the south side of the building (not the front) in order to
make room for other library patrons.
Ghostbusters (2016) New Trailer
G H O S T B U S T E R S
A paranormal researcher (Melissa McCarthy), a physicist (Kristen Wiig), a nuclear engineer (Kate McKinnon) and a subway worker (Leslie Jones) try to rid New York of ghosts that can possess humans.
Labels: ghostbusters, live-action, movie, trailer
Anime Central 2016 Cosplay - Sunday
Last pics of awesome cosplayers at Anime Central.
Posted by anim8trix at 5:00 PM No comments:
Labels: acen, Cosplay
Anime Central 2016 Cosplay - Saturday
Lots of pics of awesome cosplayers at Anime Central.
Anime Central 2016 Cosplay - Friday
First pics of awesome cosplayers at Anime Central.
Anime Central 2016 is this Weekend!
Hyatt Regency O'Hare,
Anime Central (ACen) is Chicago’s and the Midwest’s largest anime, manga and Japanese popular culture convention. The convention is currently held in Rosemont, IL, less than 30 minutes from downtown Chicago. As part of its mission, ACen brings fans together with guests from the Japanese and US sectors of the anime and manga industry, as well as gaming, cinema, and Asian culture personalities. The event includes a huge exhibit hall, a massive video game room, concerts, dances, educational panels and workshops, premiere screenings, autograph sessions, 24-hour video rooms, tabletop gaming and much, much more! Attendees can attend a dance with 5,000 of their favorite friends and cheer while amazing DJs spin, enjoy an incredible concert, or visit the largest artist’s alley found in any US anime convention.
Labels: acen, convention, Cosplay, event
Overwatch Animated Short | “Dragons”
O V E R W A T C H : D R A G O N S
“Dragons” explores the history of conflict between the scions of the Shimada clan: Hanzo and Genji. In this episode, we follow Hanzo as he returns to the siblings’ family home in Hanamura to seek redemption . . . and confront the ghosts of the past.
Labels: animation, cgi, gaming, overwatch, trailer
Details emerge on 'Attack On Titan' Game
'Attack On Titan' Game
Shows Off Its Pre-Order Bonuses
With the Western release of Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom looming, Koei Tecmo has been keen to show off the game’s pre-order bonuses.
While some of these were in the Japanese release, others are new. For instance, the cleaning costumes for Eren and Levi are included like in the Japanese version but also Mikasa’s festival costume as well (pictured above).
In the US, these will be bundled with the game at pretty much every retailer but in Europe the two costume sets will be split between outlets, with GAME getting the cleaning costumes and mostly everyone else getting the festival costume.
If you buy the game online via the PlayStation store, then you will instead get a selection of avatars to use on the PlayStation Network.
European fans shouldn’t feel put out though, as they’ll be getting a collector’s edition boxset containing all manner of trinkets. Along with a copy of the game, the boxset will include an art book, a muffler towel, six pin badges, the game’s soundtrack and a download code for an alternative special costume for Armin.
Currently this boxset looks to be exclusive to the European release of the game and there are no plans yet to make it available in the US.
The game itself is good though, as I played through and greatly enjoyed the Japanese version on PS4.
Developed by Omega Force, it’s a big departure from their Dynasty Warriors games but they nailed the core mechanics here. This was something many were concerned about, as getting the controls and mechanics for the Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear correct has been something of an obstacle for previous Attack on Titan games.
While the Japanese version of the game was available on PS4, PS3 and Vita, the Western release will be also coming to PC and the Xbox One.
Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom is released in Europe on August 26th and in the US on August 30th.
Labels: anime, Attack on Titan, gaming, trailer
Aaron Eckhart stars in new exorcism film
I N C A R N A T E
"Possession is a Disease"
Confined to a wheelchair after a horrific accident, Dr. Seth Ember (Aaron Eckhart) is an “Incarnate” — gifted with the rare ability to delve into the minds of possessed people in order to exorcise their demons from the inside out. When the Vatican enlists him to exorcise a particularly troubled young boy, Ember is shocked to discover inside him the same evil spirit responsible for the death of his wife and child years before. Now, with the young boy’s life in his hands and his own personal redemption at stake, Ember desperately searches for a way to destroy the demon before it kills him and unleashes its terror upon the world…
Incarnate opens September 30.
Labels: horror, movie, scifi, trailer
Darwyn Cooke passes away at 53
Legendary Comics Creator
DARWYN COOKE
[Source: blastr] Darwyn Cooke, one of the most celebrated comic book writers and artists of his generation, passed away overnight at his home in Florida, just one day after his wife announced he'd received treatment for an "aggressive" form of cancer. He was 53.
Cooke's family announced his passing early this morning on his official website, asking that the public respect their privacy and requesting that donations be made in his name to the Canadian Cancer Society and to the Hero Initiative, a nonprofit group that helps comics creators with medical expenses.
Cooke's first comics work dates back more than 3 decades, but his breakthrough with superheroes didn't happen until the early '90s, when he joined producer Bruce Timm's team at Warner Bros. animation. After working as a storyboard artist on both the Batman and Superman animated series -- where his art style fit right in -- he created the iconic main titles for Batman Beyond. Then, it was time to go back to comics.
In the 2000's, Cooke cemented himself as one of DC Comics' finest creators, collaborating on a Catwoman run with Ed Brubaker and winning an Eisner for his issue of the anthology project Solo. His most famous work, though, might be the miniseries The New Frontier, a story that redefined the way we look at Silver Age superheroes and became indispensable to readers who want to know the history of the DC Universe. In recent years, Cooke busied himself with several adaptations of Donald Westlake's Parker novels, winning three Eisners for four different adaptations as he produced a group of definitive crime comics.
Cooke was one of the most acclaimed comics creators of his age, winning 13 Eisner Awards for his penciling, writing, lettering, and design work. His art style was timeless, as much at home in the pages of a superhero epic as in the pages of noir story. He was also beloved by his peers, as the outpouring of tributes today proves.
Posted by anim8trix at 8:58 AM No comments:
Labels: darwyn cooke, died
Assassin's Creed - Trailer
A S S A S S I N ’S C R E E D
Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) experiences the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day. ASSASSIN’S CREED stars Academy Award nominee Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Days of Future Past, 12 Years a Slave) and Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises, La Vie en Rose). The film is directed by Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Macbeth); produced by New Regency, Ubisoft Motion Pictures, DMC Films and Kennedy/Marshall; co-financed by RatPac Entertainment and Alpha Pictures; and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
ASSASSIN’S CREED hits cinemas December 21, 2016.
Labels: adventure, cgi, gaming, live-action, movie, trailer
Voltron: Legendary Defender unites on Netflix
V O L T R O N
L E G E N D A R Y D E F E N D E R
The Netflix original series DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender reimagines one of the most popular fan-favorite shows of all time in this all-new comedic action-packed show from executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos (The Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender) and co-executive producer Lauren Montgomery (The Legend of Korra). Five unsuspecting teenagers, transported from Earth into the middle of a sprawling intergalactic war, become pilots for five robotic lions in the battle to protect the universe from evil. Only through the true power of teamwork can they unite to form the mighty warrior known as Voltron.
DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender debuts on Netflix June 10, with a special hour-long origin story called "The Rise of Voltron," followed by 10 episodes.
Labels: animation, anime, cgi, netflix, voltron
Disney is ending its Infinity video game line
I N F I N I T Y ∞ E N D S
[Source: Polygon] Disney announced today that it would be discontinuing its Infinity video game line and shutting down its internal studio, Avalanche Software.
In a statement, Disney's chairman of consumer products and interactive media, Jimmy Pitaro, said they have changed their approach to console gaming and would be transitioning "exclusively to a licensing model." Part of that change means that Disney would be closing its Avalanche Software studio, putting close to 300 people out of work, but Pitaro said it was a decision the company did not make lightly.
"This was a difficult decision that we did not take lightly given the quality of Disney Infinity and its many passionate fans," Pitaro said.
Disney will take a $147 million charge to offset the cancellation and was primarily taken from an inventory write-down. Other factors, like severance for employees and other assets, were also taken into the costs. The news follows reports that Disney missed its Wall Street estimate for annual revenue and earnings, leading to a 6 percent drop in stocks during after-hours trading.
During an earning's call following the news, Disney CEO Bob Iger explained why the company decided to drop completely out of the game development business.
"We thought we had a really good opportunity to launch our own product in that space; the console space, but also the toys to life space," Iger said. "In fact we did quite well with the first iteration and did OK with the second, but that business is a changing business and we did not have enough confidence in the business in terms of being stable enough to stay in it."
Iger pointed to the loss the company took when they shuttered the game, most of which was due to the still existing inventory of toys, as a prime example of that risk.
"We just feel it is a changing space and that we're just better of managing the risk of that business by licensing instead of publishing," he said. "We made a good product. I give the developer a lot of credit for the product they made.
"The truth of the matter is that the risk we cited when we initially started this finally caught up with us."
In March, vice president of Disney Interactive, John Vignocchi, told Polygon that while the company wouldn't be investing in another major update to the line this year, the company was still behind the franchise.
"The company has been completely behind Disney Infinity. If you look at all of the creative content coming out this year, you can see they are still proud and still 100 percent behind us," he said.
Despite Disney's success in other markets, including its enormous film universe, an earnings report from earlier this yearshowed that its Infinity line hadn't been performing as well as the company expected it to. Still, Vignocchi told Polygon that with Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars being added to Disney's universe, the line was still safe.
"Disney Infinity will support all of the major events and theatrical releases at Walt Disney in 2016," Vignocchi said. "This year we will release four new playsets, each introducing unique gameplay for the platform. Each of the playsets will represent new content from our core properties."
On the Disney Interactive blog, John Blackburn, senior vice president and general manager of the Infinity franchise said that from the beginning, the goal of the company and the line was to create a community that made Disney Infinity feel more like a game. Blackburn said that through the efforts of their team, they felt like they accomplished that goal.
Blackburn said that there would be two final releases from the line, including three more chapters from Alice Through the Looking Glass and the Finding Dory playset in June.
Disney has not yet announced its plans for support of the titles moving forward beyond general statements that nothing will change in the immediate future. Details on the game's sun-setting are expected to be announced in the future.
Labels: disney, gaming, infinity
The new redesign of the Power Rangers
P O W E R R A N G E R S
[Source: blastr.com] The studio has released the first official shot of the new costumes, showcasing the “translucent extraterrestrial armor that crystallizes around their bodies,” as opposed to the usual spandex and plastic from the original series. It’s certainly a bold design choice, though they do make a point to keep some homages to the original designs. The helmets are somewhat similar to the classic suits, and hey, they did keep the colors.
“The show was about kids coming of age, about metamorphosis,” director Dean Israelite (Project Almanac) told Entertainment Weekly. “These suits needed to feel like they were catalyzed by these kids and their energy, their spirit.”
The big-screen reboot stars Becky G as Yellow Ranger Trini, Ludi Lin as Black Ranger Zack, Dacre Montgomery as Red Ranger Jason, Naomi Scott as Pink Ranger Kimberly, and RJ Cyler as Blue Ranger Billy. Elizabeth Banks is also attached to play main villain Rita Repulsa.
Labels: live-action, movie, power rangers
New DOOM Launch Trailer
D O O M
The latest iteration of the deadly Doom franchise is set to unleash fresh hell next week, and we've got the final launch trailer for your prurient pleasure, with enough insane creature slaughter sequences to shatter all sensibility. We've all waited a dozen years for a decent new Doom game, and it appears this edition by Bethesda and iD Software will be well worth the delay, with the crystal-clear Unreal 4 engine being utilized to amp up the gorgeous graphics and its notorious level of brutal melee action ratcheted up to maximum kill-tensity.
Fling your mind into this manic new trailer and tell us if you're primed to deliver some righteous demon punishment when Doom drops for Xbox One, PS4 and PC on May 13, 2016.
Labels: animation, cgi, gaming, trailer
Hé Mademoiselle - ESMA 2015
Being a prey to the males she meets in the street, that is the daily life of this young Parisian girl. What will happen to her suitors?
Labels: animation, cgi, humor
In Korean, "Wedding" has the meaning of "Going husband's house". In other words, "Leaving her home". This is a story about a woman, who was a baby, daughter, lady, wife, and mom.
Labels: animation, cgi, short
Alden Ehrenreich to play Young Han Solo
Y O U N G H A N S O L O
Multiple sources are now confirming that 26-year-old Alden Ehrenreich, who played budding movie star Hobie Doyle in the Coen Bros.’ “Hail Caesar,” has signed to play the lead in Lucasfilm’s untitled Young Han Solo movie. The “Star Wars” prequel will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the fellows behind “22 Jump Street” and “The Lego Movie.” Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (“Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” “The Force Awakens”) and his son Jon scripted.
A L D E N E H R E N R E I C H
Labels: news, star wars
Simpsons Couch Gag | Rick and Morty | Adult Swim
Two great worlds collide . . . violently. Do not miss the Rick and Morty Season Premiere, July 26th!
Rick and Morty is Adult Swim's most scientifically accurate animated comedy. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, it catalogues the bizarre misadventures of a bored scientific genius/drunkard and his socially awkward grandson, Morty. Their exploits tend to have unintended consequences for Morty's dysfunctional family, especially his unfailingly mediocre father, Jerry. Watch Rick and Morty battle everything from interdimensional customs agents to Cronenberg monsters now, only at http://AdultSwim.com.
Labels: cartoon, parody, rick and morty, simpsons
STAR WARS DAY!
[Source: STAR WARS.com] Say “May the 4th Be With You” out loud and you’ll hear the pun that Star Wars fans worldwide have turned into a rallying cry to proclaim their love of the saga. It’s the worldwide day to say “May the Force be with you” to all, and celebrate the beloved Star Wars story that binds our galaxy together.
One of the earliest known records of “May the 4th” used in popular culture is in 1979, as described here by author Alan Arnold while he was chronicling the making of The Empire Strikes Back for Lucasfilm:
“Margaret Thatcher has won the election and become Britain’s first woman prime minister. To celebrate their victory her party took a half page of advertising space in the London Evening News. This message, referring to the day of victory, was ‘May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations,’ further proof of the extent to which Star Wars has influenced us all.”
Once the Internet allowed Star Wars fans around the world to connect with one another, May the 4th soon became a grassroots tradition each year, with fans online and offline proclaiming it “Star Wars Day.”
While the idea of May the 4th did not start with Lucasfilm, the film company that created Star Wars has fully embraced the spirit of fandom that makes the day so special. StarWars.com as well as the official Star Wars social media channels (hashtag #StarWarsDay) help spread the word and showcase fan activity. More and more official partners have offered sales, giveaways and exclusives, and have hosted parties and other activities to mark the day.
May the 4th kicks off a season of celebration, particularly since the month of May has always been important to Star Wars fans. The six live-action movies of the Star Wars saga debuted in May (starting with the original Star Wars on May 25, 1977). The month of May includes George Lucas’ birthday (May 14, 1944), and has been the traditional start date of the popular Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World Resort.
With the launch of a new era of Star Wars thanks to The Force Awakens — which continues with Rogue One later this year — this day to celebrate the saga and its amazing fans is bigger (and more fun) than it’s ever been.
Labels: celebration, event, star wars
Longboard Dancing
This girl does some awesome longboarding tricks by dancing on the board!
Posted by anim8trix at 12:00 AM 2 comments:
Labels: dancing, longboard
BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE Official Trailer
BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE
As Batman hunts for the escaped Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime attacks the Gordon family to prove a diabolical point mirroring his own fall into madness. Stars: Kevin Conroy, Ray Wise, Mark Hamill, Tara Strong
Labels: animation, batman
These Japanese girls ROCK!
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1923
|
__label__wiki
| 0.955869
| 0.955869
|
Tight security for India mosque destruction anniversary
Tight security for India mosque destruction anniversary /node/1416686/world
Police in Ayodhya were seen checking vehicles and stopping some passers-by for questioning as they sought to prevent any flare-up in violence. (AFP)
The anniversary of the destruction is always tense with some hard-liners seeking to commemorate the event
Many Hindus believe Ayodhya marks the birthplace of the deity Ram, and that the mosque which stood there for 460 years was only built after the destruction of an earlier temple
AYODHYA, INDIA: Some 2,000 baton-wielding Indian police were on duty in the flashpoint city of Ayodhya on Thursday to prevent any clashes around the anniversary of the destruction of a mosque.
Hindu zealots reduced the Babri mosque to rubble in 1992, kicking off riots across India that left thousands dead, most of them Muslims, and the site’s future has become a major touchstone issue in Indian politics.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 pledging to construct a temple on the same spot, but the issue remains tied up in the courts.
The anniversary of the destruction is always tense with some hard-liners seeking to commemorate the event, and on Thursday police were taking no chances, standing behind yellow steel barricades, checking vehicles and stopping some passers-by.
With around 1,500 Hindu devotees visiting the city, watchtower guards and security cameras were trained on the ruins of the Babri mosque, which are protected by a high steel fence.
There was no violence but police arrested eight people including a local priest who threatened to set himself on fire.
Many Hindus believe Ayodhya marks the birthplace of the deity Ram, and that the mosque which stood there for 460 years was only built after the destruction of an earlier temple.
Modi, running for a second term in 2019, has faced some disquiet from his core supporters who feel that he has not done enough for the cause of having a temple built.
Uttar Pradesh’s state premier Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand monk who has long campaigned for the temple, has also unveiled plans to build the world’s largest statue in Ayodhya — a 221-meter (725-foot) bronze Ram.
On an average day, a few thousand Hindu devotees visit the makeshift temple that was established after 1992.
Meanwhile, on Thursday dozens of holy men dressed in saffron robes gathered at an auditorium, chanting “Jai Shri Ram” (“Hail Lord Ram“) and pledging to have a temple in place before next year’s anniversary.
Muslim groups held small commemorations of those who lost their lives in 1992.
“All we want is peace and harmony. Muslims and Hindus of Ayodhya have always lived in harmony but it is the politicians who stoke hatred for their electoral gains,” said Mohammed Shahzad, who runs a meat shop in the city.
“The mosque in my neighborhood was attacked during the riots in 1992. Our home was set on fire, we somehow managed to save our lives. We don’t want a repeat of the violence at any cost.”
Kalyani Ubhe, a tourist, said: “A temple must be built here. It is a matter of Hindu faith and devotion. We have a right to pray at the birthplace of Lord Ram.”
This was echoed by Sharad Sharma, the local spokesman for Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a militant right-wing outfit linked to Modi’s BJP that co-organized a rally by tens of thousands of devotees in Ayodhya last Sunday.
Another rally is set to take place in Delhi this Sunday.
“Our Lord Ram is being made to run around the courts for so many years... There is no question about the fact that Ayodhya is the birthplace of Ram. We want a magnificent temple to be built there,” Sharma said.
“Our patience is running out. We can’t wait indefinitely for something which is our right. It is a question of Hindu identity and faith. We want an ordinance to be brought as the courts have been sitting on this matter for decades,” he said.
“Once a grand temple is built here, tens of thousands of devotees will come.”
Topics: India mosque Ayodhya Islam Hinduism
Mosque named after fallen Emirati soldier
Five historic mosques to be restored in Asir province
Algerian football fans touch off national identity debate in France /node/1527941/middle-east
Algerian supporters celebrate in Guillotiere district in Lyon, central eastern France after the victory of their team over Nigeria during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) semi-final football match, on July 14, 2019. (File/AFP)
Algeria play Senegal in the final of the African Cup of Nations on Friday evening
Around 2,500 police officers will be mobilized around the Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe
PARIS: Thousands of extra French police are set to be on duty later Friday in Paris and other major cities following clashes involving Algerian football fans that have touched off a debate about national identity.
Algeria play Senegal in the final of the African Cup of Nations on Friday evening with excitement high in France which is home to a huge Algerian-origin population due to the country’s colonial history.
Thousands of people partied in the streets when Algeria won its quarter-final on July 11 and then again for the semifinal on July 14, but the celebrations were later marred by pillaging and street clashes. “I call on people celebrating, even if I understand their joy, to behave themselves,” Paris police chief Didier Lallement told a press conference on Wednesday.
Around 2,500 police officers will be mobilized around the Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe where crowds set off fireworks and flew flags from car windows last Sunday, which was also France’s national Bastille Day.Clashes with police in the early hours, following pillaging the week before, saw more than 200 people arrested, leading to condemnation from the police and government, as well as far-right politicians.
The fact that the semifinal coincided with Bastille Day, which celebrates the French republic and its armed forces, irked nationalist politicians in particular who worry about the effects of immigration. “Like lots of French people, I was shocked to see French people take down the French flag and put up the Algerian one,” far-right politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan said on Friday morning.
Dupont-Aignan said the French-born Algeria fans, many of whom have dual nationality, could “go back” to north Africa if their preference was for Algeria. “I want to ask these young people, who are a minority I hope: France has welcomed you, fed you, educated you, looked after you, but if you prefer Algeria, if it’s better than France, go back to Algeria!"
Violence has flared in France in the past after major football games involving Algeria including during World Cup games in 2014, which led far-right leader Marine Le Pen to propose stripping rioters of their French nationality.
“Their victories are our nightmare,” a spokesperson for Le Pen’s National Rally party, Sebastien Chenu, said Monday. “Whenever there’s a match with Algeria... there are problems.”
A France-Algeria friendly in 2001 in Paris saw the French national anthem copiously booed in what was the first meeting on the pitch between the countries since Algeria’s independence in 1962 following 130 years of French rule.
The National Rally has called for Algeria fans to be barred from the Champs-Elysees on Friday, a demand dismissed as impractical and unfair by the Paris police force. “For me, the people coming to the Champs-Elysees are joyous citizens,” police chief Lallement told the press conference.
Others have pointed out that the overwhelming majority of fans marked Algeria’s last two victories in the Africa Cup peacefully and that many Franco-Algerians feel free to celebrate the successes of both countries. “We are saddened by the events of July 14,” Faiza Menai from Debout l’Algerie, a collective that unites members of the Algerian diaspora in France, told AFP on Thursday.
She recalled that France had seen six months of violent demonstrations during the so-called “yellow vest” protests against the government, which were supported by Le Pen and other far-right groups. The football violence was caused by not only by Algerians, she said, and was the result of an angry minority living frustrated lives in low-income and neglected suburban areas that ring French cities.
“It’s a pity that there are people who show up just to cause trouble. As in the case of the yellow vests, you have these young guys who missed the point — they come in from the suburbs and take advantage of the situation to get their revenge,” she said.
Her group plans to send out volunteers in florescent orange vests to the Champs Elysees to “try to limit the damage by raising awareness among supporters and lending a hand to authorities.”
Azouz Begag, a novelist and former minister in France’s government in 2005-2007, called on fellow Franco-Algerians to “state again after the match against Senegal that they are in their home in France, that they pay taxes and are voters.“The public spaces of the republic are theirs,” he wrote in Le Monde.
Topics: African Cup of Nations Algeria Paris
Algeria beats Nigeria, sets up final match with Senegal in African Cup
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1925
|
__label__cc
| 0.509827
| 0.490173
|
Sean H. Reid is a doctoral candidate in the Anthropology Department at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. He specializes in African archaeology, maritime archaeology, and the archaeology of the Atlantic world. His dissertation, titled “Continuity, Transformations, and Rupture in the Forests of Gold,” examines broad transformations over the past 2,000 years in the lifeways of the people inhabiting the coast and hinterlands of Central and Western Region, Ghana. He specializes in the use of remotely sensed imagery to aid archaeological survey, particularly satellite imagery. Sean was a Fulbright Fellow for the 2016-2017 academic year affiliated with the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. He is also a former Critical Language Scholar (Egypt '09) and has worked on archaeological projects in Sierra Leone, South Africa, The Gambia, Barbados, Maryland, Florida, and France.
Pre-Doctoral Fellow (Anthropology)
Dissertation Title:
“Continuity, Transformations, and Rupture in the Forests of Gold”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1929
|
__label__cc
| 0.731165
| 0.268835
|
06/15/15 Being a Better Father with Xavier Bryan
Home/Re-Creation Radio, Universal Talk Laws Radio/06/15/15 Being a Better Father with Xavier Bryan
The love that a father has for his daughter is one of the strongest bonds that there is. Xavier Bryan, the husband of over 20 years and father of a 15 year old young lady expresses some heart felt thoughts about his journey through the eyes of a concerned father. Topics discussed ranged from how he first had the sex discussion with his daughter all the way to the reasons why his wife breastfed for 16 months when she was born. “There is no off season”…was his response to how him and his wife plan for the school summer break and he even shares some of the books that he read over 16 years ago that prepared him to be a better father. UTL Radio gets a closer look into the mind of a family from the father’s point of view. Enjoy and share… This information is needed now more than ever…..
http://www.xavierbryan.com
http://www.realtor.com/realestateagents/Xavier-Bryan_Newport-News_VA_1782661_817699841
By Kinja Dixon| 2017-10-27T23:17:42-07:00 June 15th, 2015|Re-Creation Radio, Universal Talk Laws Radio|Comments Off on 06/15/15 Being a Better Father with Xavier Bryan
About the Author: Kinja Dixon
Throughout our lives, certain dates will have significant meaning for us. Our birthdate, the date we graduated from high school or college, perhaps the date we met that special person with whom we could share the rest of our days. For Kinja Dixon, one of the most important dates for him occurred in October 2013, when he was able to retire at the age of 34 to pursue his passion…his calling.
To help others achieve the life and financial success and security to pursue their own dreams.
This Brooklyn native found early success in sales. With Wyndham Vacation Ownership, Kinja worked diligently with men and women to assist them in making dreams come true. It was during that time that fine-tuned his skills and recognized the power of communication…the power of words. Kinja’s efforts eventually led to him becoming a top salesperson, and in 2013 those efforts were recognized worldwide when he was awarded the Golden Stevie Award and the American Resort Development Association award.
Before Kinja Dixon, no individual had ever won both awards in the same year.
And it was then that Kinja recognized that he could utilize his own experience and his own success to coach and inspire others to reach their goals and obtain financial independence. He expresses the importance of intrapersonal talk, that is to say, “…how you talk to yourself determines how you talk to others…” and it’s through that intrapersonal talk that the foundations of success and financial freedom are established.
Kinja Dixon is an international award winning salesperson, coach, motivational speaker and author. His book “Universal Talk Laws: How to Increase Your Net Worth With Words” has become an essential tool for those seeking the tools to generate their own success. And Kinja has additionally taken on the role of radio talk show host. You can find him and his show, Universal Talk Laws Radio on wsRadio.com. There he shares the secrets to success with all of his listeners.
To listen to Kinja, tune into www.wsradio.com.
To follow Kinja and learn more about financial growth, independence and success, click on the following links:
http://www.kinjadixon.com
https://www.facebook.com/kinja.dixon
https://twitter.com/kinjadixon
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/kinja-dixon/27/b1a/782
http://wsradio.com/category/business/universal-talk-law-radio
https://www.youtube.com/user/ajniknoxid/videos
by Dennis Crosby
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1930
|
__label__wiki
| 0.747333
| 0.747333
|
The Best Looks From the 2018 Tony Awards
The Tony Awards celebrated the best of Broadway on Sunday night. The awards show, which honours the best of Broadway, held at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The ceremony was hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban and the highlight of the show is expected to be a performance by Bruce Springsteen.Sunday night our favorite Broadway stars hit the red carpet for the annual event and showed us how they razzle dazzle!
The Tony Awards nominations were led by “Mean Girls” and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” garnering 12 nods each. Revivals of “Angels in America” and “Carousel,” as well as the new musical “The Band’s Visit,” received 11 nominations apiece.
Scroll down to see the best-dressed attendees at the 2018 Tony Awards:
Bee Shaffer
Laura Osnes
Lauren Ambrose
Stephanie Styles
Here’s the full list of winners:
Best Book of a Musical
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Andrew Garfield, “Angels in America”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Glenda Jackson, “Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women” *WINNER
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Tony Shalhoub, “The Band’s Visit” *WINNER
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Katrina Lenk, “The Band’s Visit”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Nathan Lane, “Angels in America” *WINNER
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Laurie Metcalf, Edward Albee’s “Three Tall Women”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Ari’el Stachel, “The Band’s Visit” *WINNER
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Lindsay Mendez, “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel” *WINNER
Best Direction of a Play
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Best Direction of a Musical
The Band’s Visit *WINNER
Best Play
Best Revival of a Play
“Angels in America” *WINNER
The List of Best and Worst Dressed at Oscars 2018
Why you might struggle more doing cardio in the winter
How I Take Care of my Hair in Summer
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1932
|
__label__wiki
| 0.982418
| 0.982418
|
Home Pro MLB
Nightengale: Baseball’s Hall of Fame Opens Doors to DH’s, Closers for the Future
Newly elected Hall of Famers Harold Baines, left, and Lee Smith pose for photographers Monday in Las Vegas. Photo: John Locher / AP
By Bob Nightengale |
The door into Cooperstown swung wide open Sunday for designated hitter Harold Baines and closer Lee Smith when they were elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame by Today’s Modern Game Era committee on Sunday.
Both players were snubbed by the baseball writers when they were on the ballot. Baines, the first DH to participate in an All-Star Game, never got above 6.1% of the vote before being removed from the ballot. Smith lasted all 15 years, but never got more than 50.6% in 2012, needing at least 75%.
“It just didn’t bode well for DHs, like we were just half a player,’’ said Baines, “that’s why I don’t think we got our just due.
“Maybe this will open the door for more DHs.’’
Yes, indeed, come on in Edgar Martinez, who’s in his final year of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot. Martinez also has been partly penalized for being a DH, but with Baines now being inducted in July, playing 1,643 of his 2,830 games as a DH, Martinez will be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame when the voting is announced on Jan. 22.
“One thing that may have changed was I think the DH is getting more respect now than it used to,’’ said White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, one of 16 members of the committee. “People recognize David Ortiz will have to go in, and almost his whole career was as a DH. Frank (Thomas) was regarded most of his career as a DH. Edgar Martinez probably will get in, so think that attitude of people toward the DH changed quite a lot.’’
Smith, who plans to wear a Cubs’ cap while Baines will wear a White Sox cap, undoubtedly will join New York Yankees legendary closer Mariano Rivera into the Hall of Fame. They will help ease the path for future closers, with Smith openly lobbying for former New York Mets closer John Franco, who had 424 career saves.
The closer’s role has been diminished in today’s game with analytics dictating that closers can be just as valuable pitching earlier in games than the ninth inning.
“Where would teams be without closers?’’ Smith said. “Back in the day, relievers were the ones who weren’t good enough to be starters. But now, closers are so important. If you lose the game in the ninth inning, that hurts.”
Smith, who pitched 18 seasons, was the all-time saves leader upon his retirement with 478 career saves. He led the league in saves four times and had 30 or more saves in 11 seasons. He even finished in the top five of the Cy Young voting three times.
Yet, on this day, he was a unanimous selection by the 16-member committee.
“It’s unbelievable, man, it’s a hell of a birthday gift,’’ said Smith, who turned 61 on Dec. 4. “You think about this as a kid.’’
Baines, with Reinsdorf and Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa on the committee pushing for his election, received 12 votes, which was the 75% threshold needed.
“I looked at Tony La Russa,’’ Reinsdorf said, “and thought he was going to cry.’’
Baines might have beat him to those tears.
“I’m very shocked today,’’ said Baines, who produced 2,866 hits, 384 homers and 1,628 RBI with the White Sox retiring his number as an active player. “I’ve got four very proud kids today.’’
Smith, who was on a tractor shoveling snow when he got the call, still is numb over the news after so many years of disappointment.
“I didn’t always understand the voting how it worked,’’ Smith said, “but after the wait, it makes it even more sweet.’’
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, USA Today. Follow Bob Nightengale on Twitter and Facebook.
Previous articleWADA Begins Audit of Russian Anti-Doping Agency as Key Deadline Looms
Next articleThe Role of Corporations in Supporting Sports and Recreation
Bob Nightengale
Nightengale: Major League Baseball is at a Crossroads
Nightengale: As Home Runs Fly at Record Pace, MLB’s Doping Question is Back
It Hurts to Hurt Someone
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1935
|
__label__wiki
| 0.797703
| 0.797703
|
inspiration & news
In the News 18.01.17 : Today’s Articles of Interest from Around the Internets
Wednesday 18th January, 2017
by P.F.M.
Ryan Gosling Is A Star After His Time
The fact of the matter is that a baby-faced young person – a waistcoated and behatted 11-year-old Michael Jackson in 1969, say – singing a love song about feelings he has no experience with is adorable. It was delightful to hear him sing Smokey Robinson’s “Who’s Loving You?” and more than a little absurd. But if that blend of cuteness and slightly uncomfortable absurdity ain’t broke, why on earth would you try to fix it, even 25 years later?
Witness then, four youths in the early 1990s (all dressed in dramatic all-white) singing “Cry for You” by Jodeci, one of the most sexual bands of the decade, on Disney’s The All-New Mickey Mouse Club. Three of the four boys are white, and those three white boys went on to become wildly famous in the ’90s and beyond; the fourth boy, Dale Godboldo, is less famous but working still, most recently in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Two of those white boys, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake, went on to be in the Grammy-nominated band NSYNC.
And the last white boy in that musical lineup? Well, he went on to become a human meme, a father of two, and the star of such films as The Notebook, Drive, and Half Nelson, for which he was Oscar-nominated. That’s right: The child singing “you know you’re everything I do,” while emoting with real feeling, went on to become Hollywood A-lister and recent Golden Globe award winner Ryan Gosling.
Read the rest of this article at BuzzFeed
Is AI Sexist?
It started as a seemingly sweet Twitter chatbot. Modeled after a millennial, it awakened on the internet from behind a pixelated image of a full-lipped young female with a wide and staring gaze. Microsoft, the multinational technology company that created the bot, named it Tay, assigned it a gender, and gave “her” account a tagline that promised, “The more you talk the smarter Tay gets!”
“hellooooooo world!!!” Tay tweeted on the morning of March 23, 2016.
She brimmed with enthusiasm: “can i just say that im stoked to meet u? humans are super cool.”
She asked innocent questions: “Why isn’t #NationalPuppyDay everyday?”
Tay’s designers built her to be a creature of the web, reliant on artificial intelligence (AI) to learn and engage in human conversations and get better at it by interacting with people over social media. As the day went on, Tay gained followers. She also quickly fell prey to Twitter users targeting her vulnerabilities. For those internet antagonists looking to manipulate Tay, it didn’t take much effort; they engaged the bot in ugly conversations, tricking the technology into mimicking their racist and sexist behavior. Within a few hours, Tay had endorsed Adolf Hitler and referred to U.S. President Barack Obama as “the monkey.” She sex-chatted with one user, tweeting, “DADDY I’M SUCH A BAD NAUGHTY ROBOT.”
Read the rest of this article at Foreign Policy
Shop the Tuscany Tote in Midnight
at Belgrave Crescent & shop.thisisglamorous.com
From Designer to CEO, Alexander Wang Is a Man with a Plan
NEW YORK, United States — It’s been just over a year since Alexander Wang ran skipping and smiling down the runway, taking a bow after his last Balenciaga show. Following a three-year stint as creative director at Balenciaga, Wang returned to New York re-energised. With experience at one of the industry’s most revered and elevated fashion businesses and new learnings to apply to his own namesake label, he was now, as he puts it, “an American brand of Asian descent with European training.”
In June, the company announced that in addition to his role as designer, Wang would take on the role of chief executive and chairman, replacing his sister-in-law and mother, respectively. Today, the Alexander Wang business is said to turn over about $150 million in revenues with over three hundred employees spread across New York, Paris and Hong Kong. The company declined to provide actual sales figures but says the business is growing at double-digit percentages annually, with revenue split equally between apparel and accessories.
Read the rest of this article at BOF
Michael Joyce’s Second Act
Michael Joyce climbs into his father’s station wagon on a Sunday afternoon, the light of southern California glowing soft and gold. Joyce is tiny and cherubic, his face freckled and full, his hair a shock of strawberry blonde. He is 12 years old and has already spent six of those years playing competitive tennis, and he’s become very good at it.
In another six years, Joyce will become the junior national champion. After that victory, he will hoist a heavy trophy overhead and cameras will pop and flash and reporters will shout questions in his direction, and his ascension, as a professional tennis player, will begin. In an especially vibrant era for American tennis, Joyce’s cohort will include Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, and Jim Courier. He will play each of them, with varying levels of success, and at his peak he will be ranked as the 64th best male singles player in the world.
During his playing days, David Foster Wallace will write about him in his seminal tennis essay, “The String Theory,” later republished in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments, and through that work, Joyce’s career will persist, a blip of his existence anthologized in pop culture. In the years that follow, at every tournament Joyce attends, someone will ask him about that story, about Wallace, and about that period in his life.
Read the rest of this article at Longreads
Blue Lies Matter
BuzzFeed News reviewed 62 incidents of video footage contradicting an officer’s statement in a police report or testimony. From traffic stops to fatal force, these cases reveal how cops are incentivized to lie — and why they get away with it.
Officer Nicholas M. Buckley described the arrest in exceptional detail, the single-spaced lines covering two full pages in his report.
He had worked for the San Francisco Police Department for three years, and in recent months he had patrolled the Tenderloin district, a neighborhood of dive bars and homeless shelters wedged between City Hall and the city’s booming commercial center — a neighborhood, Buckley wrote, where “violent, felonious crimes are frequently committed.”
As he and his partner drove past the intersection of Eddy and Taylor streets shortly after 11 p.m. on December 1, 2015, they saw about a dozen men huddled on the sidewalk beside a chain-link fence. The cops suspected the men were gambling. As the officers pulled up to the curb, the men began to disperse.
Buckley homed in on the guy in the long brown coat, Brandon Simpson. While the other men nonchalantly headed north up Taylor Street, Simpson went in the opposite direction and “quickly walked away from the group upon detecting police presence,” Buckley wrote.
He noted what he considered Simpson’s suspicious body language: hands near his waistband beneath his coat. It was “consistent with a person trying to conceal a weapon,” he would later say in court.
Buckley ordered Simpson to stop and show his hands, and when he did not, Buckley “grabbed him by the shoulders.” Simpson resisted and struggled to escape, the officer said. A battle broke out as more officers joined the effort to subdue Simpson, punching and kicking him until they were able to “gain control” and snap on handcuffs, Buckley said. Afterward, officers picked up a white object that had apparently fallen out of Simpson’s waistband or coat. It was a sock with a gun inside of it. Simpson was booked on charges of illegal firearm possession and faced 10 years in federal prison.
On April 13, 2016, officer Buckley repeated his story in a written court declaration, the same story he’d tell a month later on the witness stand during Simpson’s pretrial hearing.
When Buckley had finished testifying, the defense attorney stepped up. She had footage of the arrest, from a surveillance camera on a building across the street.
In full color and crisp definition, it showed what really happened that night.
The police car pulls up. The huddled men stroll away together. A man in a long brown coat near the back of the group — Simpson — walks with them. His arms are at his sides, clearly visible. He holds a water bottle in one hand. Seemingly picking this man at random, Buckley cuts him off on the sidewalk. The man tries to step around the officer. Buckley places a hand on his chest. The man takes a step back. Buckley grabs his arms, pinning his hands to his back. A second police car pulls up. Three officers rush to Buckley and knock the man to the ground. His body disappears beneath the scrum. With the man pinned against the fence, the officers let loose punches and kicks.
P.S. previous articles & more by P.F.M. // Top images: all by @eleonoracarisi on Instagram
Tags: AI • alexander wang • articles • collage • contributor • current events • david foster wallace • eleonora carisi • instagram • Michael Joyce • news • p • pink • Ryan Gosling
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1937
|
__label__wiki
| 0.591717
| 0.591717
|
North Putnam approves Sam Carnes as head football coach (Local News ~ 04/21/17)
BAINBRIDGE — After filling the vacant position of athletic director in March, the North Putnam school board announced during a public session Thursday its decision to hire Sam Carnes as the newest head football coach of the Orange and Blue. Carnes, who most recently coached football in in the positions of junior-varsity head coach and special teams coach for the varsity squad at Avon, accepted his first head coaching position Thursday after the board approved his hiring via 6-0 vote...
DePauw School of Music events, week of April 24-30 (Local News ~ 04/21/17)
DePauw School of Music Events Week of April 24--30 Big Woodwind Bash Tuesday, April 25 7:30 p.m. Green Center, Thompson Recital Hall Woodwinds join forces for an evening of fun music for all. Included are performances by ensembles of clarinets, saxophones, and flutes. We even feature an ensemble that includes oboe, bassoon and horn. What could be better? Music from Ireland, Venezuela, Greece, America, France and Hungary. That's what!...
Trio of local bars participate in Raising the Bar Indiana (Local News ~ 04/21/17)
Three local restaurants are going above and beyond to keep patrons safe. This week, staff at Tap House 24, Wasser Brewing Co. and the Fluttering Duck are all participating in Raise the Bar Indiana training, an innovative program that teaches servers, bartenders and other staff at alcohol-serving establishments how to safely and effectively intervene if they see the potential for violence. These businesses have not had a problem, and they are being proactive to make sure they never do...
Turkey scourge comes to town? (Local News ~ 04/21/17)
The flock of suicidal turkeys recently engaged in an undeclared war on Indiana cars has made its way to Putnam County. Joining at least four known incidents on Indiana roads in recent weeks, a turkey flew into the side an SUV driven by a Spencer man Tuesday evening...
Cutting It Close (Local News ~ 04/21/17)
North Putnam principals update school board on 1:1 Initiative (Local News ~ 04/21/17)
BAINBRIDGE — As a follow-up to their recent endeavors on the technology front at North Putnam Community Schools, each principal within the corporation gave a collective presentation to their school board Thursday during the April public session. The end result of an effort known as the 1:1 Initiative, which has existed for some time but has now retaken the attention of the board members, will include hundreds of Lenovo 11e Thinkpads that will be acquired and implemented over a relatively short period of time.. ...
Changes coming to South Putnam High School (Local News ~ 04/21/17)
South Putnam High School is about to see some big changes. At a total cost of roughly $161,180.56, the South Putnam School Board approved three projects and tabled one during its regular meeting on Tuesday. The first was a continuation of the 1:1 take-home device roll-out begun in the high school last August. ...
Riggle event set at DePauwRiggle event set at DePauw (Community Sports ~ 04/21/17)
The Team Riggle Foundation will have its sixth annual free tennis lessons from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday at the DePauw University courts. Tiger athletes will be giving the lessons, and no experience is necessary. T-shirts and bracelets will be available for purchase, with all proceeds benefitting the foundation started by DePauw coach Scott Riggle...
Sims, Gasho pace Cougars to Senior Night win (High School Sports ~ 04/21/17)
ROACHDALE — North Putnam’s girls’ track team hosted Crawfordsville Thursday on Senior Night and came away with a 70.5-51.5 victory. Emily Gasho and Hannah Sims each won two events. Coach Kevin Lutes thought the team came out “ready to compete” on the special night...
Mat star saluted for success (High School Sports ~ 04/21/17)
BAINBRIDGE — During its monthly public session Thursday, the North Putnam school board formally recognized an up-and-coming middle school student for his impressive record on the wrestling mats. Kysen Montgomery, 13, was present for the Celebrate Success portion of the meeting, which regularly acknowledges the efforts of Cougars both future and present...
Putnam Scanner for April 22, 2017 (Police Logs ~ 04/21/17)
Twelve people were booked in the Putnam County Jail recently. Thursday • At 11:57 p.m. Anna Mae Gross, 51, Cloverdale, was lodged at the jail for trafficking with an inmate outside a facility, possession of methamphetamine and possession of paraphernalia with a prior conviction...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1940
|
__label__wiki
| 0.732632
| 0.732632
|
Real World - Road Rules Challenge
Kim: C+ | Grade It Now!
Keep Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'
Previously on the Challenge: More scenes that have never been shown before. Christian has trouble understanding Ayanna, and accuses her of speaking "jive," which would be somewhat offensive coming from anyone else. Christian falls while skiing, drops some water balloons while in the trees, and slides off the greased pole. Christian looks very sad while the Real World team celebrates raucously.
The RW team dances joyously in their bus. In an interview, Julie claims that she's not being cocky, but she doesn't think her team can possibly lose, ever. Which means that they will lose tonight. Rebecca and Dan dance together.
In contrast, over on the RR bus, things are very, very quiet. I'm surprised that they didn't resurrect the "crickets chirping" sound effect from last week. Someone's foot sticks out of an upper bunk. Emily says that her team cannot take another loss. Laterrian hates to lose. Ayanna flips through some papers and says that she "isn't going to say nothing." Why was that scene in there? What is she even talking about? Another shot of the random foot peeking out of the bunk. In an interview, Emily (who is looking very pretty) says that their team doesn't "feel like a group at all." Wouldn't it be great if they won the mission and then they all overcame their differences and became best friends forever? In an interview, Ayanna points out that they have lost three missions in a row (and didn't we see this clip last week?) and that they "can't blame anybody. Nobody slacked off. Nobody didn't not show up." Has she been taking elocution lessons from Tami from L.A.? Anyway, Ayanna feels that the reason they lost is that they "just weren't as good as them." It's kind of refreshing to see someone admit that, and not play the blame game. Both buses are in a parking lot somewhere. Christian sits outside in the sun. In an interview, he says that while there's not one reason for his team losing, he still feels like if he hadn't fallen off the greased pole, his team would have won. Aw, poor Christian.
Julie opens a door with a Canadian flag sticker on it, and announces that they have a clue. The person speaking on the clue says that on their next mission, they'll be "hanging with Mr. Cool," and then reminds Dan to "roll with it" and not "drop the ball." I totally didn't recognize the voice, but the on-screen graphic tells us that it was Flora from the Miami season. Dan looks shocked and stunned, and then it's dropped. As with the Devon-voiced clue, I wish there were some follow-up to that. How hard would it be, in Dan's next interview, to ask whether he was surprised to hear Flora's voice or something? I know Dan is a big drama queen, but the look on his face was priceless, and I'm sure he would have something interesting to say about Flora. Oh, I guess they didn't have time to show that footage since they had to show someone's foot hanging out of a bunk. Twice. Julie reads the letter that contains more information. They have to be at some factory by 9 AM, and are supposed to wear their "uniforms with long pants." I guess uniforms just means their colored shirts. Syrrhosis has the biggest, most gaudy silver chain around his neck.
1 2 3 4 5 6Next
The Best Movie You Never Saw:...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1943
|
__label__cc
| 0.662921
| 0.337079
|
Home » News » Headlines
Travis Perkins Group most improved in corporate action on deforestation
Published: 24 November, 2014
For addressing the challenge of removing deforestation from its supply chain, the Travis Perkins Group has been recognised as the most improved company from 2013 in Industrials and Autos in CDP’s 2014 global forests report, ‘Deforestation-free supply chains: From commitments to action’.
The report recognises those companies that have made continuous improvements along the journey from commitment to action. This is in the context of the goal of removing deforestation from agricultural supply chains by 2020, launched as part of the landmark New York Declaration on Forests this September.
Companies identified as the most improved in their sector are those that have made the biggest improvement in their total score from 2013 to 2014. Scores are awarded on CDP’s respected scoring methodology, publicly available on https://www.cdp.net/en-US/Pages/guidance-forests.aspx.
Jez Cutler, head of group environment at The Travis Perkins Group, said: “We are delighted to be recognised as the most improved company in our industry in reducing reliance on forest risk commodities in the supply chain.
“This is a result of our continuous efforts to improve environmental excellence and sustainability throughout our organisation and our activities. We will continue to aim for further improvements and transparency as well as engagement with important organisations such as the CPD, who support this agenda.”
Paul Simpson, chief executive officer of CDP, the non-government organisation working to prevent dangerous climate change, said: “Companies that regularly respond to CDP's forests programme are now identifying many more of the opportunities available to them, including securing their supply chain against the risks associated with deforestation and commodity sourcing. This in turn is helping to secure shareholder value.
“Different parts of the supply chain are moving at different rates to tackle this issue. What is clear is that leading companies, as identified by CDP, are those that are bringing their supply chains with them on this journey.”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1946
|
__label__cc
| 0.675614
| 0.324386
|
Decking Board Planter
2018 Watchet Wheelbarrow...
My Favourite Podcasts
Building a Plant Ladder
CharlesBarsley.com
Charles Barsley | July 23, 2017 | Musings | No Comments
Here are some of the podcasts that help my commute speed by, you’ll start to see a theme of business and technology, add your favourites to the comments too as I’m always looking for something new. In no particular order –
Analytics / Stats
More or Less Behind the Stats – More or Less is a BBC show hosted by Tim Hartford writer of the Undercover Economist, in More or Less the show attempts to make sense of the stats that surround us, exploring stats that are quoted by politicians and newspapers More or Less uncovers if they’re true and where they come from.
Listen to More or Less Behind the Stats here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrss1/episodes/downloads
The Digital Analytics Power Hour – Tim Wilson and Michael Helbling are your hosts in this weekly podcast that takes a deep dive into different areas of Digital Analytics, they tend to take a tool agnostic approach and discuss getting value out of Analytics, the role of the analyst, and often have guests on to discuss their take on a topic. If you work in Digital Analytics then this is a must to stay in touch with the news and thoughts of the wider industry
Listen to The Digital Analytics Power Hour here – http://www.analyticshour.io/
How I Built This – I’ve just recently started listening to How I built this which interviews founders on how they built their company. As an NPR show many of the companies covered are high profile international companies that you would have heard of but often the stories are ones you aren’t aware of. Some of these include Five Guys, Crate & Barrel, Lyft, Virgin (the list goes on!)
Listen to How I built this here – http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this
Startup – Start up is the story of Starting a business, Alex Blumberg formerly producer of This American Life felt there was a space in the market for in-depth highly produced podcasts, so he formed a podcast company “Gimlet Media”, their launch podcast was “Startup” the story of how he started his business, including making a business plan and getting funding, it’s a fly on the wall journey of the birth of Gimlet Media. In later series, they cover other companies and updating on their own progress through the series.
Listen to Startup here – https://gimletmedia.com/show/startup/
The Bottom Line – The Bottom line is a BBC Radio show hosted by Evan Davis, he tends to have 3 guests and they have a roundtable discussion on a particular business topic.
Listen to The Bottom Line here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006sz6t/episodes/downloads
The Marketing Cloudcast – I’m a new listener to the Marketing Cloudcast, it’s a Salesforce podcast hosted by Heike Young. I am impressed with how this podcast isn’t just a sales pitch for Salesforce but is a truly constructive discussion of marketing best practices and stories of industry successes.
Listen to The Marketing Cloudcast here – https://www.salesforce.com/products/marketing-cloud/resources/podcasts/
The Pitch – The Pitch is basically an audio dragons den, an entrepreneur pitches their investment opportunity to 4 investors and they ask questions and decide whether or not to invest. What makes the Pitch different to me is that there is a post pitch interview with the investors to find out what they were really thinking during the pitch, and a check in with the entrepreneur a few weeks or months later to find out what happened next.
Listen to the Pitch here – https://gimletmedia.com/thepitch/
Beyond Busy – Beyond Busy is the podcast of Graham Allcott writer “How to be a Productivity Ninja” which I have previously blogged about here. In each podcast he interviews/chats with a different person about what makes them successful and how they are productive. The premise behind the podcast is that it is in part research for his next book. Some of the interviewees you will have heard of, other are not as well known but have interesting stories and tips. A few of the episodes which stuck with me include – Chester Osbourn of Australian Winemaker d’Arenberg, Nick Jenkins formerly of Moonpig and Dragons Den, Rob Geraghty who discusses his “Vision 35” a plan to retire at 35.
Listen to Beyond Busy here – http://getbeyondbusy.com/
Chequered Flag Formula One – A BBC Radio 5 Live Podcast which features a Preview and Summary Episode for each race. I follow Formula One less and less now on TV so this podcast gives a snappy and entertaining update on the previous race results and gossip.
Listen to Chequered Flag Formula One here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrsjn/episodes/downloads
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 – BBC Radio 4’s Friday Night Comedy cycles through a number of different shows, I particularly enjoy Just a Minute and Dead Ringers
Listen to Friday Night Comedy here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pc9pj/episodes/downloads
Simon Mayo’s Confessions – Simon Mayos Confessions is a weekly podcast of the daily confessions from Simon Mayos Radio 2 show, viewers write in asking for forgiveness for a usually hilarious series of events which generally they committed in the distant past and haven’t told a soul until now.
Listen to Simon Mayo’s Confessions here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrvdq/episodes/downloads
No Such Thing as a Fish – I wasn’t sure whether No Such Thing as a Fish should be categorised as Comedy or Factual. It’s a show hosted by the writers and fact checkers of the TV show QI (affectionately known as the QI Elves), each episode has each presenter give a fact that they discovered that week (usually bizarre and niche) and the other elves then try to out do each other with connected facts. Several shows include live audiences who also contribute facts.
Listen to No Such Thing as a Fish here – http://qi.com/podcast
Techs Message UK – Tech’s Message UK is a rarity in that it is a UK based Technology Podcast, hosted by Nate Lanxon this explores technology news with a UK spin, it’s refreshing to hear UK issues (such as broadband access) discussed in a clear and relevant way, rather than other shows which can be too USA centric.
Listen to Tech’s Message UK here – http://www.natelanxon.com/podcast/
Wired UK – Wired UK’s podcast is a roundtable discussion of the week’s tech news from the writers of Wired Magazine, as with Techs Message UK, it’s nice that there is a UK slant on the tech news. In the same feed, they have started including other special shows “Gearhead” and “Upvote”.
Listen to Wired UK podcast here – http://www.wired.co.uk/podcasts
This Week in Tech – TWIT was probably the first podcast I listened to, 11 years on its still going strong as host Leo Laporte and a weekly roundtable of technology journalists/insiders discuss the week’s technology news. An American slant to the news but well worth a listen to keep up to date on all the releases, news and issues in technology. Check out the rest of the TWIT cast network for most specific niche topic podcasts
Listen to This Week in Tech here – https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech
Other / General Listening
Reply All – I wasn’t sure how to classify Reply All hence the Other category. Reply All is another podcast from the Gimlet Media network, each episode the show’s hosts and reporters look into a story in detail, it can be hit and miss depending on the story but more hits than misses and some really interesting stories and discoveries.
Listen to Reply All Here – https://gimletmedia.com/reply-all/
The Kevin & Ryan Show – The Kevin and Ryan Show is a new show, just 2 episodes in at the point that I write this from Kevin Rose (Digg.com, Google Ventures) and Ryan Carson (Treehouse). Both of the hosts have impressive backgrounds and knowledge, the show is just them talking about whatever interests them, to date they have done an episode on Health Hacks, and their favourite software and apps. The second episode on favourite software is a great one to pick up some new tools.
Listen to The Kevin and Ryan Show here – http://kevinandryanshow.libsyn.com/
Virtual Shopping Centres – The Future?
100 years since Louis Blériot’s first flight across the Channel
Comments, Spam and Manners on the Internet
1 Comment | May 21, 2009
Categories Select Category Books (24) Cycling (53) eCommerce (17) Excel (8) Featured (1) Formula one (2) Headline (1) Musings (32) Photography (4) Technology (8) Television (24) Web Links (6)
© 2019 CharlesBarsley.com.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1956
|
__label__wiki
| 0.810398
| 0.810398
|
On 29 July 2013, about 64 NM (119 km) from Sydney the captain of Bombardier DHC-8-315 (Dash 8) aircraft, registered VH‑SBG and operated by QantasLink on a scheduled flight from Sydney to Wagga Wagga, New South Wales noticed a blank area in the centre of the flight management system (FMS) screen. About 10 minutes later the screen went completely blank and thick, light-grey smoke was observed coming from the unit.
The flight crew commenced the quick reference handbook Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist, donning oxygen masks and smoke goggles. The crew found communication difficult while wearing their masks and, as a result, removed the masks for the remainder of the flight. The aircraft was diverted to Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The flight crew were taken to hospital for observation and later released without needing treatment. No injuries were reported by the cabin crew or passengers. The aircraft sustained no other damage.
What the ATSB found
Examination of the FMS unit found that two capacitors failed, resulting in the smoke and failure of the unit. The unit was manufactured in 1997 and, in 1998, the FMS manufacturer introduced a modification to replace those capacitors in all subsequently-manufactured units. However, there was no recall or retrofit program for unmodified FMS units already in service.
The ATSB also found that, at the time of the occurrence, the approved QantasLink training did not provide sufficient familiarity to first officers in the use of oxygen masks and smoke goggles. The more-experienced captain’s familiarity with the equipment was enhanced by completion of additional mask and goggles training sessions.
What's been done as a result
In October 2013, as a result of this occurrence, the FMS manufacturer issued a service bulletin for the optional incorporation of different capacitors to unmodified in-service FMS units.
QantasLink undertook a number of safety actions in response to this occurrence. This included installing modified FMS units to all aircraft in its Dash 8 fleet. QantasLink has also implemented a number of improvements to crew training, including improved oxygen mask and smoke goggle training and identifying alternate stowage for the flight deck fire extinguisher.
Safety message
This occurrence highlights the importance of flight crew familiarising themselves with the operation of the onboard emergency equipment. It also reminds crews that inhalation of fumes can have an adverse effect on an individual’s ability to function. Flight crew need to fully consider the implications of removing their emergency breathing equipment when in an environment where smoke and fumes are, or have been, present.
The occurrence
At about 1130 Eastern Standard Time[1] on 29 July 2013, the crew of Bombardier DHC‑8‑315 (Dash 8) aircraft, registered VH-SBG and operated by QantasLink, departed Sydney on a scheduled flight to Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. On board were two flight crew, two cabin crew and 49 passengers. The captain was the pilot flying,[2] and the first officer (FO) was the pilot monitoring.
About 64 NM (119 km) from Sydney, the captain noticed a 30 mm diameter ‘blank’ area in the centre of the flight management system (FMS) screen. The crew were still within radio contact range with QantasLink ‘maintenance watch’ so technical advice was sought. While the captain was talking to maintenance watch, the blank area disappeared and normal FMS function resumed. On receiving that information, maintenance watch personnel advised the crew that it was safe for the flight to continue to Wagga Wagga.
About 10 minutes later, the crew observed the FMS screen go completely blank, with thick, light‑grey smoke coming from the unit. At that time, the aircraft was out of radio range with maintenance watch so further advice could not be obtained. The captain reported that when the FMS screen went blank, it emitted a solid stream of light‑grey smoke for about 5 minutes. The smoke reduced to puffs of about 30-second intervals, before finally stopping about 3 minutes before landing.
There were no warnings or alerts while the solid stream of smoke was visible. The captain reported that immediately preceding the loss of the FMS screen, the presentation of navigation information was degraded.
At the first sign of smoke, the FO removed the Quick Reference Handbook from its stowage and commenced reading out the checklist action items for the non‑normal/emergency procedure Fuselage Fire or Smoke (appendix A). This resulted in the crew donning their oxygen masks and smoke goggles. The FO also removed the portable fire extinguisher from its stowage at the rear of the centre console and passed it to the captain.
The captain could not see anywhere in the FMS unit into which to discharge the extinguishing agent, so the fire extinguisher was placed on the floor adjacent to the captain’s seat.
Both flight crew reported communication was difficult while using the oxygen masks. This was due to an initial incorrect intercom setting. It was further exacerbated by the need to switch the mask microphone OFF between talking. The FO also reported that the communication difficulties resulted in an increased level of anxiety.
The captain asked the FO to contact Melbourne Centre air traffic control (ATC) to report the situation. The FO, believing the captain wanted to descend from their current cruise altitude of flight level (FL) 200[3], declared a PAN[4] and requested a descent. The flight crew reported that ATC did not initially understand the call, so the FO repeated the broadcast a number of times until ATC acknowledged the PAN. Noting the aircraft was maintaining the cruise level, the FO disconnected the autopilot and initiated a descent.
The captain did not recall discussing the need to descend and did not intend doing so at that time. As a result, when the FO initiated the descent, the captain re-engaged the autopilot, pulled back on the control column and declared having control of the aircraft. Both crew reported the FO disconnected the autopilot a second time in similar circumstances, although data from the flight recorder did not show this. The captain again re-engaged the autopilot and repeated ‘my controls’ so the FO would know the captain had taken control of the aircraft. Due to the ongoing communication issues, the captain instructed the FO to remove their mask to improve communication between the crew. Both crew removed their masks and goggles to discuss the situation.
As the FMS was no longer functioning, the FO asked ATC for the nearest airport and was told Canberra was 30 NM (56 km) away. The crew advised ATC they would divert to Canberra and requested and received radar vectors for approach to Canberra Airport, Australian Capital Territory.
The captain briefed the cabin crew and made a public address to alert the passengers of the intention to divert to Canberra with a landing in about 10 minutes. At that time, the smoke in the flight deck had reduced to about 50 per cent of its original rate. As neither crew felt they were experiencing ill effects from the smoke, they did not refit their masks or goggles.
During the descent, the flight crew returned to the Quick Reference Handbook checklist items but misread a note that resulted in them ceasing the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist to allow commencement of the normal landing checks. The smoke had almost cleared from the flight deck by the time the aircraft commenced the approach. After touchdown, the aircraft was turned onto taxiway Golf where it was stopped and a precautionary disembarkation of the passengers and crew carried out.
The flight crew had flown without wearing their masks and smoke goggles for about 10‑15 minutes. As a result, they were taken by ambulance to a local hospital for monitoring, before being released some hours later.
No passengers or cabin crew reported injuries or ill effects from the smoke. There was no other damage to the aircraft.
Eastern Standard Time (EST) was Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) + 10 hours.
Pilot Flying (PF) and Pilot Monitoring (PM) are procedurally assigned roles with specifically assigned duties at specific stages of a flight. The PF does most of the flying, except in defined circumstances; such as planning for descent, approach and landing. The PM carries out support duties and monitors the PF’s actions and aircraft flight path.
At altitudes above 10,000 ft in Australia, an aircraft’s height above mean sea level is referred to as a flight level (FL). FL 200 equates to 20,000 ft.
An internationally recognised radio call announcing an urgency condition which concerns the safety of an aircraft or its occupants but where the flight crew does not require immediate assistance.
The captain commenced flying in 2002, held an Air Transport Pilot (Aeroplane) Licence and had a current Class 1 Medical Certificate. Their total aeronautical experience was about 3,525 hours, with about 2,000 hours on the Dash 8 aircraft type.
During the previous 7 days, the captain was on duty for 4 days, on stand-by (without call-out) for 1 day and then had 2 days off duty. The previous duty concluded at about 2255 on 25 July 2013. The captain reported being on duty for 3 hours at the time of the occurrence, having been awake for 6 hours. The captain did not report any fatigue‑related concerns or any illness leading up to the occurrence.
The first officer (FO) held a Commercial Pilot (Aeroplane) Licence and had a current Class 1 Medical Certificate. They had a total aeronautical experience of about 2,531 flying hours.
During the previous 7 days, the FO had 1 day on duty, 2 days off duty, and then 4 days on duty. The previous duty concluded at 1531 on 28 July 2013. The FO reported being awake for 4 hours and on duty for 2 hours at the time of the occurrence and did not report any fatigue‑related concerns or any illness at that time.
Emergency procedures training
Oxygen masks and goggles
As part of endorsement training, crew were required to conduct a rapid depressurisation simulator session. This session required the rapid donning and ongoing use of oxygen masks and:
included making a single radio transmission to air traffic control
included crew-to-crew communication
did not involve wearing the smoke goggles (as they were not required by the training scenario)
included the initiation of an emergency descent with the engines at the flight idle power setting
included the initiation of an emergency descent at the maximum operating airspeed.
Further rapid depressurisation sessions were conducted as part of command upgrade or other recurrent training. QantasLink also provided annual emergency procedures training. This training was theory‑based and covered the use of the emergency equipment including the oxygen masks, but not wearing, or communicating while wearing the mask. The emergency procedures training did not incorporate wearing the smoke goggles.
Training records indicated that since commencing employment with QantasLink in 2008, the captain had undertaken three rapid depressurisation simulator sessions. The most recent session was in 2011 on the DHC-8-402 aircraft that was fitted with a different type of oxygen mask. The captain had also undergone five emergency procedures training sessions. The captain reported not having previously worn the oxygen mask or smoke goggles during a flight.
The FO reported completing a rapid depressurisation simulator session about 18 months prior to the occurrence. That was the only occasion that the FO had worn the oxygen mask prior to the occurrence flight. Training records indicated that the FO completed three emergency procedures training sessions.
The FO advised that, during the initial simulator session, only one radio transmission was made while wearing the mask and that after the aircraft had descended to the safe altitude, the oxygen mask was able to be removed. The FO had not worn the smoke goggles prior to the occurrence flight.
Neither crew member had used the portable fire extinguisher previously. As part of QantasLink’s investigation into the occurrence, a simulation was conducted where flight crew had to remove and then replace the portable fire extinguisher in its stowage. That simulation revealed that while seated, neither crew could refit the fire extinguisher in its stowage and secure it correctly. The aircraft manufacturer’s Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist, which had been adopted by QantasLink, included a step to extinguish any fire with the portable extinguisher. No specific instruction was provided in the checklist regarding the stowage of an empty or unused extinguisher.
Aircraft information
Flight management system
The flight management system (FMS) was a fully-integrated navigation management system designed to provide the crew with computer-based flight planning, fuel management and centralised control for the aircraft's navigation sensors. The aircraft incorporated a single FMS unit located on the left side of the centre console, adjacent to the captain’s seat (Figure 1).
Examination of the failed flight management system unit
The FMS unit was sent to the manufacturer for examination. That examination found that there had been a dielectric breakdown[5] of a capacitor, which then acted as a low resistance load. This resulted in self-heating that led to the failure of that capacitor, of an adjacent capacitor and of a diode. Other signs of excessive heating were visible on a number of circuit boards, including the display circuit board and connector ribbons within the unit.
In November 1998, because of previous unit failures, the manufacturer released an engineering change order to replace the capacitors affected in this occurrence with components of a higher rating. That modification applied to newly-built units only, and was not retrospectively applied to existing units. As a result, a number of unmodified units remained in service globally.
The circuit board containing the failed capacitors and diode was in original condition and had not been modified. The capacitors were of a different rating, which did not meet the manufacturer’s post-1998 specifications.
Figure 1: DHC-8-315 instrument panel showing the location of the FMS on the captain’s side of the centre console (detailed view of the FMS at inset)
Source: QantasLink
FMS service history
The failed FMS unit, part number 10172-41-111, serial number 1590, was manufactured in 1997 and was acquired from the manufacturer as an overhauled unit by QantasLink in April 2010.
A review of the unit’s service history revealed that it entered service in November 2010 and was removed 438 hours later due to the screen going blank. In May 2011, the unit was returned to service and removed 2,808 hours later due to a backlight problem on the display panel. The unit was returned to service in March 2013 and was removed 671 hours later due to this occurrence. Following this occurrence, the unit was returned to service in August 2013 but was again removed 141 hours later due to the display being permanently set to full brightness.
Flight crew emergency oxygen system
The aircraft flight deck contained a fixed emergency oxygen system comprising of captain and FO half-face (oronasal) masks. The masks were suspended on quick-release hangers from the ceiling panel above and behind each crew seat. Each mask contained a microphone and a regulator that supplied normal or 100 per cent oxygen, either on demand or as continuous flow.
Communication using the mask microphone required the user to select the intercom switch on the communications panel at the rear of the centre console from BOOM (headset microphone) to MASK (mask microphone). The press-to-talk switches on the control columns were then required to be toggled ON when the individuals were speaking and OFF when finished. This was to prevent distraction for the other crew member from breathing noises associated with a live microphone.
During the first flight of the day, flight crew were required to check the serviceability of the emergency oxygen equipment. This included:
a visual inspection of the condition of the oxygen mask
checking the mask is connected to the oxygen supply
testing for continuous flow of oxygen
confirmation that the ‘100%/Dilute’ selector is in the 100 per cent position
checking the operation of the oxygen mask microphone.
The fitment of the smoke goggles was not routinely carried out as part of that check.
Operational factors
QantasLink DHC-8 Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist
The aircraft manufacturer’s Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) was used by QantasLink. The QRH contains information derived from the Approved Airplane Flight Manual. It is used by flight crew to confirm that respective procedures have been performed correctly.
The QRH contains checklists for Normal and Non-normal/Emergency situations. The Non‑normal/Emergency checklists contain only those items and procedures that differ from those for normal aircraft operation.
The Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist was divided into four sections (appendix A):
‘boxed’ action items (the recall/memory action items) and landing considerations
Known Source of Fire or Smoke action items
Unknown Source of Fire or Smoke action items
Source of Fire or Smoke cannot be identified action items.
The boxed action items that were applicable on the occurrence flight are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Dash 8 Quick Reference Handbook extract showing the procedural action items in the case of a fire or smoke in the cockpit from a known source (from the FMS in this case)
The Known Source of Fire or Smoke section of the checklist did not contain action items for removal of electrical power from affected systems, such as the FMS. The aircraft manufacturer advised the ATSB that the checklist relied on the flight crew isolating, as required, affected equipment from the aircraft’s electrical system through the operation of any integrated power switch. Reconfiguration of the aircraft’s electrical system in response to a fire or smoke situation of unknown origin was contained in other sections of the checklist (appendix A).
Flight crew actions
Quick reference handbook
On observing the smoke, the FO removed the QRH from its location at the rear of the centre console, located the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist, and commenced reading out the recall/memory action items. After donning their masks and goggles, the recirculation fans were selected to OFF. The FO went to select the emergency lights ON but was told to leave them off by the captain, who did not want to alarm the passengers or be distracted with cabin crew enquiries.
While actioning the checklist, the crew were interrupted multiple times with calls from air traffic control and QantasLink. Each time the crew were interrupted, they recommenced the checklist at the start to ensure all actions were conducted.
The crew briefly returned to the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist at about 8,000 ft. The FO read out the note that followed the recall actions. This allowed for the discontinuation of the procedures in response to an unknown source of smoke or fire prior to their completion. This was to facilitate preparations for an immediate landing. However, this was misheard by the captain as being applicable to their situation of a known source of fire or smoke – the FMS.
As a result, the checklist was terminated at that point. This meant that the forward outflow valve was never opened, which would have, if activated, assisted in the removal of the smoke from the flight deck.[6]
At the time the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist was inadvertently stopped, the normal approach and landing checklist became the priority, so the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist was not returned to, nor completed.
Both crew reported communication difficulty while wearing their oxygen masks. This difficulty related to both inter‑crew communication and communication between the FO and air traffic control. As a result of this difficulty, and the FO disengaging the autopilot, the captain directed the removal of oxygen masks. The oxygen masks were not worn for the remainder of the flight.
Neither crew reported suffering ill effects from the smoke and were subsequently medically cleared after landing.
Tests and research
Fume and smoke hazards
There has been extensive research into the effects of fumes and smoke in aircraft. The United States Federal Aviation Administration pilot safety brochure Smoke toxicity[7] highlights that smoke inhalation should be recognised as a very real danger. It also states that ‘smoke gas levels do not need to be lethal to seriously impair a pilot’s performance’.
ATSB research report AR-2013-213 Analysis of fumes and smoke events in Australian aviationfrom 2008 to 2012: A joint initiative of Australian aviation safety agencies,[8] found that over 1,000 fumes/smoke events were reported to the ATSB and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority in the period 2008–2012. From the data gathered, it was apparent that the most common source of fumes/smoke was the malfunction or failure of electrical systems and auxiliary power units.
The ATSB research report also identified a significant increase in reported fumes/smoke events from mid-2011, which was independent of the growth in flying activity. The report highlights that fumes relating to electrical failures may have the potential to pose a health risk through eye/skin irritation, difficulty in breathing, incapacitation or illness. This was especially the case if the fumes were associated with particulates (smoke) or fire. However, while the potential for a serious outcome is more likely from an occurrence involving smoke, the research also found that ‘very few led to a serious consequential event (such as a forced landing) or outcome such as fire or crew incapacitation’.
Other occurrences
QantasLink advised there had been a total of five FMS fire/smoke events within their fleet of Dash 8 aircraft during the period 2004–2013. One other Dash 8 operator in Australia had experienced an FMS smoke event, which occurred in 2011. The remaining Australian Dash 8 operators reported they had not experienced any FMS fire/smoke events within their fleets.
A review of the ATSB occurrence database confirmed that six Dash 8 FMS fire/smoke events were reported between 2007 and 2013 across all Australian Dash 8 operators. In one such event on 24 March 2007, while conducting a scheduled flight from Cairns to Horn Island, Queensland, the flight crew of Dash 8 aircraft, registered VH-SBV, reported the aircraft’s FMS unit ceased operating. About 60 seconds later, smoke was observed emanating from the FMS unit. As a precaution, the flight crew donned their oxygen masks and smoke goggles. After completing the action items in the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist, the captain ‘pulled’ (opened) the circuit breaker for the FMS to isolate electrical power. That action, while not in accordance with procedures or the checklist, resulted in the smoke ceasing. The opening of the forward outflow valve, in accordance with the checklist, resulted in the rapid removal of smoke from the flight deck.
The ATSB also reviewed a number of international safety databases. While that review found numerous reported smoke/fire events for the Dash 8 aircraft, it did not identify any additional FMS‑related occurrences.
Dielectric breakdown refers to a rapid reduction in the resistance of an electrical insulator when the voltage applied across it exceeds the breakdown voltage.
This step in the QRH calls for crews to open the valve ‘if necessary to assist in removal of smoke’.
Available at www.faa.gov.
Available at www.atsb.gov.au.
Safety analysis
The failure of the flight management system (FMS) unit and subsequent smoke in the cockpit led to the flight crew diverting the aircraft to Canberra Airport, Australian Capital Territory. This analysis will examine the failure mode of the FMS unit, the actions of the flight crew, operational issues and organisational factors that had the potential to affect the flight.
Flight management system failure
The failure of the FMS unit was due to the dielectric breakdown and overheating of one of the unit’s capacitors. The FMS manufacturer had reviewed the suitability of the capacitors in the early model FMS units and implemented a design modification to upgrade the capacitors in 1998. This was done through an engineering change order, which was implemented about 12 months after the release to service of the FMS unit installed in VH-SBG.
Despite the availability of this modification, the FMS manufacturer did not have a retrospective fitment program for in‑service units. Such a program could be expected to reduce the likelihood of capacitors overheating and therefore in-flight FMS failures and subsequent fire/smoke occurrences. The manufacturer was unable to provide details of the number of unmodified units currently in service, which made evaluation of the risk of further in‑service failures as a result of this failure mode difficult to determine. However, in Australia, QantasLink commenced an upgrade of their FMS units in February 2014 to meet the new design specification under service bulletin SB10172.XX.()‑34‑3578 Installation of Mod 22 in the UNS-1C+ FMS. This upgrade was completed in June 2014.
As would be expected in any emergency situation, the appearance of smoke from the FMS created a level of stress for the flight crew. Their immediate response was to review the Quick Reference Handbook and action the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist. The first step was to put oxygen masks on, followed by fitting the smoke goggles before continuing the checklist.
During this time, the crew were interrupted numerous times due to the need to respond to air traffic control (ATC) and calls from QantasLink via radio as the first officer (FO) was reading out the checklist. After each interruption, the checklist was recommenced from the start. However, reports from the crew indicated that communication both between them and with ATC while wearing the oxygen masks was difficult. Consequently, the FO had to repeat the PAN call to ATC multiple times before being understood. This added to the crew’s stress and workload in trying to resolve this difficulty.
Research has shown that, under stressful conditions, the performance of tasks can be affected so that the outcomes are not as planned or in conformance with a procedure (Wickens and Hollands, 2000). The effects of stress on human performance have been characterised as:
Attentional narrowing, where an individual’s attention can concentrate on a single aspect of a task at hand to the detriment of other information cues or task requirements.
Perseveration[9], where an individual perseveres with a given action or plan they have used in the past, even if it is failing to provide a successful solution.
Confirmation bias, where a decision maker, once locked in to a hypothesis on the reason behind an event, will be less likely to consider information cues that might support an alternative hypotheses.
The combined influence of those characteristics can contribute to a pattern of convergent thinking or ‘cognitive tunnelling’. This will initially narrow the set of cues processed by the individual to those they perceive as being the most important. As the cues have been viewed to support one hypothesis only, the individual will continue to consider that hypothesis only, and process a restricted range of cues consistent with that set.
The FO’s action to reduce altitude appears based on recognising this requirement from the training in simulated rapid depressurisation procedures. The captain did not recall discussing descending the aircraft with the FO at that time and was not aware that the FO had advised ATC they intended doing so. Consequently, the captain was surprised by the FO’s actions and immediately re-engaged the autopilot.
After the FO attempted to descend the aircraft without a direction to do so from the captain (who was the pilot flying) and, recognising that the FO was anxious, the captain ordered the removal of the oxygen masks. As the smoke goggles and oxygen masks were ‘tangled’ together, both crew members’ masks and goggles remained off for the remainder of the flight.
The captain reported that once the oxygen masks were removed, and better communications established as a result, the FO contacted ATC and determined that Canberra was the closest suitable airport. The crew requested radar vectors for Canberra from ATC as the FMS was no longer working. The captain stated that descent from FL 200 normally required about 60 NM (111 km). In this instance, the aircraft’s proximity to Canberra meant that the crew had to prepare for the descent and landing over a remaining distance of 30 NM (56 km). This resulted in a similar number of tasks being carried out in a reduced period of time.
Workload has been defined as ‘reflecting the interaction between a specific individual and the demands imposed by a particular task. Workload represents the cost incurred by the human operator in achieving a particular level of performance’ (Orlady and Orlady, 1999). A discussion of the effect of workload on the completion of a task requires an understanding of an individual’s strategies for managing tasks.
An individual has a finite set of mental resources they can assign to a set of tasks (for example, performing a take-off). These resources can change given the individual’s experience and training and the level of stress and fatigue being experienced at the time. An individual will seek to perform at an optimum workload by balancing the demands of their tasks. When workload is low, the individual will seek to take on tasks. When workload becomes excessive the individual must, as a result of their finite mental resources, shed tasks.
An individual can shed tasks in an efficient manner by eliminating performance on low priority tasks. Alternately, they can shed tasks in an inefficient fashion by abandoning tasks that should be performed. Tasks make demands on an individual’s resources through the mental and physical requirements of the task, temporal demands and the wish to achieve performance goals (Hart and Staveland, 1988 and Lee and Liu, 2003).
The inherent stress of the event, together with the associated high workload led to the crew making errors in both aircraft management and checklist completion. This included not completing the ‘transition drill’ when passing 10,000 ft on descent, which includes checking, and changing as required, the fuel system, exterior lights, pressurisation and ice protection. These drills were conducted at 8,000 ft prior to conducting the approach checklist.
As part of the initial conduct of the checklist, the FO retrieved the fire extinguisher and handed it to the captain. However, as the FMS was still an intact, sealed unit, there was no way for the extinguisher to be used on the FMS. The captain’s decision to place the unused fire extinguisher on the floor adjacent to the seat may have been influenced by the impracticality of re-securing the fire extinguisher in the normal stowage location. Consequently, the fire extinguisher presented a potential projectile hazard within the flight deck.
The captain stated that passing about FL 120 the FO was requested to continue with the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist. The captain reported a number of interruptions at about this time to the extent that the FO was unable to recommence reading out the checklist actions until passing about 8,000 ft. These interruptions included the previously-mentioned numerous ATC calls and from QantasLink ground personnel, enquiries from cabin crew and the need to make a public address announcement to the passengers.
When the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist was recommenced just prior to 8,000 ft, the captain misheard the cessation note as read out by the FO. This note was designed to highlight the need to prepare for and manage an immediate landing if the source of fire or smoke could not be identified and that to do so, the checklist could be terminated. It is likely that when this note was read out, the proximity to Canberra and the need to conduct the approach and landing checklist reinforced the captain’s decision to terminate the checklist at this point, despite it applying to an unknown source of fire.
In both the crew’s initial action to carry out the Fuselage Fire or Smoke checklist, and its review at 8,000 ft, circumstances prevented the completion of the Known Source of Fire or Smoke section. In both cases, the action to open the ‘forward outflow valve’ was missed. However, the associated note for this action specified its completion ‘if necessary to assist in removal of smoke’. Given the crew reported the smoke had dissipated by the time the approach was commenced into Canberra, even if this step was reached, it is unlikely it would have needed to be actioned.
Emergency equipment training
All QantasLink flight crew underwent a rapid depressurisation scenario simulator session as part of their Dash 8 endorsement training. Additional rapid depressurisation training was undertaken as part of command upgrade for captains. The crew were required to undertake emergency procedures training annually but this was primarily theory based.
QantasLink provided limited training in the use of smoke goggles and no training on using the goggles in combination with the oxygen mask. Both crew confirmed that the only training provided in the use of oxygen masks was during a rapid depressurisation scenario, which was reported not frequently practiced.
Resolution of emergency situations relies on effective decision making by crews given the information available. Emergency procedure training provides the opportunity for crews to familiarise themselves with those procedures for use in times of high stress and workload. In this instance, the lack of prior exposure to wearing smoke goggles in a training environment increased the risk of reduced flight crew performance in response to the occurrence.
Both crew reported being confident in the use of the oxygen mask. However their infrequent practice using the mask microphone to communicate increased the risk of communication breakdown as experienced during this occurrence.
The communication difficulties experienced by the crew in this occurrence contributed to their decision to remove their oxygen masks. Despite addressing the problem of communication, it also resulted in their re-exposure to potentially harmful smoke/fumes. While the crew reported no adverse effects from this exposure, it did increase the risk of crew impairment/incapacitation.
To continue with a response after its stimulus is no longer present.
From the evidence available, the following findings are made with respect to the failure of the flight management system unit and subsequent smoke on the flight deck occurrence involving Bombardier DHC-8-315 aircraft, registered VH-SBG, near Canberra Airport, Australian Capital Territory on 29 July 2013. These findings should not be read as apportioning blame or liability to any particular organisation or individual.
Safety issues, or system problems, are highlighted in bold to emphasise their importance. A safety issue is an event or condition that increases safety risk and (a) can reasonably be regarded as having the potential to adversely affect the safety of future operations, and (b) is a characteristic of an organisation or a system, rather than a characteristic of a specific individual, or characteristic of an operating environment at a specific point in time.
The flight management system unit failure and observed smoke were the result of a capacitor, which did not meet current design specifications, overheating.
Despite a design upgrade in 1998 for new flight management system units, unmodified units remained in service that had the original capacitors.
At the time of the occurrence, theapproved QantasLink training did not provide first officerswith sufficient familiarity on the use of the oxygen mask and smoke goggles. This likely contributed to the crew's communication difficulties, including with air traffic control. [Safety issue]
Other factors that increased risk
Despite removing their oxygen masks to improve communication, by doing so the crew increased the risk of impairment or incapacitation as there was still smoke in the cockpit.
The stress associated with the smoke in the cockpit resulted in a high workload for the crew and adversely affected their performance, leading to errors in aircraft management and checklist completion.
Safety issues and actions
The safety issues identified during this investigation are listed in the Findings and Safety issues and actions sections of this report. The ATSB expects that all safety issues identified by the investigation should be addressed by the relevant organisation(s). In addressing those issues, the ATSB prefers to encourage relevant organisation(s) to proactively initiate safety action, rather than to issue formal safety recommendations or safety advisory notices.
All of the directly involved parties were provided with a draft report and invited to provide submissions. As part of that process, each organisation was asked to communicate what safety actions, if any, they had carried out or were planning to carry out in relation to each safety issue relevant to their organisation.
The initial public version of these safety issues and actions are repeated separately on the ATSB website to facilitate monitoring by interested parties. Where relevant the safety issues and actions will be updated on the ATSB website as information comes to hand.
Emergency oxygen mask and smoke goggles training
At the time of the occurrence, the approved QantasLink training did not provide first officers with sufficient familiarity on the use of the oxygen mask and smoke goggles. This likely contributed to the crew's communication difficulties, including with air traffic control.
ATSB Safety Issue: AO-2013-120-SI-01
Additional safety action
Whether or not the ATSB identifies safety issues in the course of an investigation, relevant organisations may proactively initiate safety action in order to reduce their safety risk. The ATSB has been advised of the following proactive safety action in response to this occurrence.
QantasLink
QantasLink has undertaken the following additional safety actions:
Amended the Aircrew Emergency Procedures Manual to include post‑precautionary evacuation procedures and post‑incident debriefings to all flight and cabin crew. This includes in crew emergency procedures training.
Completed a program in June 2014 to modify all QantasLink flight management system units to incorporate 22uF/25V capacitors in accordance with service bulletin SB10172.XX.()-34-3578 Installation of Mod 22 in the UNS‑1C+ FMS.
Amended their emergency procedures training to include alternative stowage of fire extinguishers in the flight deck.
Sources and submissions
The sources of information during the investigation included the:
flight crew of VH-SBG
Bombardier Inc
flight management system manufacturer
United States National Transportation Safety Board
United Kingdom Air Accidents Investigation Branch
Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Hart, SG & Staveland, LE 1988, ‘Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of empirical and theoretical research’, In PA Hancock & N Meshkati (Eds.), Human Mental Workload. North Holland Press, Amsterdam.
Lee, YH & Liu, BS 2003, ‘Inflight workload assessment: Comparison of subjective and physiological measurements’, Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, vol.74, pp. 1078‑1084.
Orlady, HW & Orlady, LM 1999, Human factors in multi-crew flight operations. Ashgate, Aldershot, p. 203.
Wickens, CD & Hollands, JG 2000, Engineering psychology and human performance. 3rd Edition. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Under Part 4, Division 2 (Investigation Reports), Section 26 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (the Act), the ATSB may provide a draft report, on a confidential basis, to any person whom the ATSB considers appropriate. Section 26 (1) (a) of the Act allows a person receiving a draft report to make submissions to the ATSB about the draft report.
A draft of this report was provided to the crew of VH‑SBG, QantasLink, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Bombardier Inc, the flight management system manufacturer, United States National Transportation Safety Board and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Submissions were received from the captain of VH-SBG, QantasLink and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. The submissions were reviewed and where considered appropriate, the text of the draft report was amended accordingly.
Appendix A – DHC-8-315 Quick reference handbook
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1957
|
__label__cc
| 0.533691
| 0.466309
|
Russia and Islam, part six: the Kremlin
This is a topic which I have been most hesitant to cover for many reasons, including the fact that my views on this topic have come to change, and that they did so not as a result of the discovery of indisputable facts, but under the combined action of much "in between the lines" readings of events, many indirect events pointing in the same direction, combined with a very strong, but inevitably subjective, gut feeling. To state my thesis bluntly, I have come to the conclusion that for many years already there have been several interest groups fighting against each other in the Kremlin and that one group has decided to break cover and engage in a quiet but still visible attack against the other. As a result of that, a profound revolution has now begun in Russia and that the next 4-5 years will see either huge changes or a major power struggle inside the Kremlin.
The Muslim world and the "Islamic factor" inside Russia play little or no role in this struggle, but the result of this struggle will define Russian policies both towards Muslims inside Russia and towards the Middle-East and the rest of the world. This is why I have decided to address this issue now.
In the past, I was of the opinion that Putin and Medvedev were the representatives of the same interest group which could be loosely described as a mix of security services and big money. I credited this group with very skillfully deceiving the US-controlled regime of Eltsin and his Jewish oligarchs only to systematically crush it as soon as Putin came to power. I still believe that this model is fundamentally correct, but I now also have come to realize that it has a deeper dimension which I have missed in the past.
First, I used to see the events of 1999-2000 as basically a victory of the "Putin people" against the Jewish oligarchy (which it was) and against US interests. The latter is not so simple. Yes, when Putin came to power he did basically "decapitate" the top figures of the oligarchy, but he simply did not have the means to change the system which the oligarchs and their US sponsors put in place. The people were changed, the system remained fundamentally the same. Berezovsky and Gusinsky fled Russia, Khodorkovsky was offered a much deserved trip to tree logging camp in Siberia, but the system these guys had built stayed: the media toned down some of its most obnoxious propaganda (in particular on Chechnia), the "New Russian" millionaires stopped trying to simply buy the Duma (like Khodorkovsky had), the various separatists groups decided to keep a low profile, and the Russian mob decided to be more careful in its actions. But the basic laws, the Constitution, the system of government, all remained pretty much unchanged. Furthermore, inside the "Putin people" there were some who very much wanted to deepen the integration of Russia into the West and its US-controlled international system. Some were clearly CIA/MI6 paid agents of influence, others did that because they truly believed that this was the best course for Russia. This type of people were often seen "near" Medvedev, "near" both physically and ideologically. The 1990s also left a lot of these people in key positions in various government agencies, media groups and business interests. No less important than who was "in" the power circles at the time is who was kept away. Some extremely popular figures were sent far away from the centers of power. This is well illustrated by the case of Dmitri Rogozin sent to Brussels.
So what we have witnessed between 2000 and 2012 is a grand balancing act, a compromise, between at the very least two interest groups: I will call the first one the "Atlantic integrationists" and the second one the "Eurasian sovereignists". The first groups wants Russia to be a respected strategic partner to the West while the second group aims at the creation of a multi-polar world in which no one country or alliance would hold supreme power.
Just as the late 1990s the "Putin & Medvedev" people succeeded in outwitting the Jewish oligarchy, in the past couple of years the "Putin" people have, apparently, succeeded in outmaneuvering the "Medvedev" camp. I very much doubt that the people around Medvedev realized what they were doing when they let Putin run for President, officially under the argument that his popularity was higher than Medvedev's (which is true). They probably were told that another 6 years of compromise and continuity were ahead, but in reality Putin has fundamentally change the course of Russia since he came to power a year ago.
In the past, cracks between the two camps had already appeared over a number of issues, including the S-300 sale to Iran, the UNSC Resolution or the response to the 08.08.08 war against Georgia, but these differences were always settled under the fundamental fact that the role of the President and the one of Head of Government ("Prime Minister") were clearly defined and each had to remain within his own sphere of competence. Medvedev made the point himself when he publicly declared that the decision not to veto the UNSC Resolution on Libya allowing a US/NATO war was his personal one and that he personally instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In contrast, Putin denounced this decision in no uncertain terms, but could do nothing about it. Every time Medvedev and Putin butted heads over something, Medvedev's popularity sagged while Putin's rose.
Serdiukov
This conflict came to a head around the person of Anatolii Serdiukov, the former, and now disgraced, Defense Minister. I will skip all the well-known details about how Serdiukov was caught, but I will state one obvious fact: neither the journalists who "uncovered" Serdiukov's indiscretions nor the Investigative Committee which opened an investigation could have done so without the direct approval of the Presidential Administration. Just like Obama had to "clear" (read: instigate) the Petraeus scandal to get rid of a powerful figure and replace him with a loyal ally, so did Putin really instigate the downfall of Serdiukov. Let me add here that the widely held belief that Serduikov was Putin's man is based on nothing but journalistic clichés and is irrelevant anyway. If, like I think, Serdiukov was imposed upon Putin by the "Atlantic integrationists" then Putin would inevitably be considered as co-responsible of Serdiukov's actions regardless of whether Putin wanted Serdiukov in the first place or not. And that made it very difficult for Putin to do something against "his" protégé.
The reason why I am focusing so much on Serdiukov is because in the Russian political system, the Minister of Defense is something of a mini-President: he runs what is truly a mini-state inside the bigger state, it is both highly autonomous and extremely powerful. As a result, the position of Minister of Defense is one of the most powerful ones in Russia. I find it also very plausible that the "Atlantic integrationists" could have agreed to have Putin as a President, provided that Medvedev is #2 and Serduikov #3. Medvedev is still #2, but Serdiukov has been ejected and disgraced, and his successor, Sergey Shoigu, is his polar opposite in almost every conceivable aspect.
Shoigu
As soon as Shoigu took over the Ministry of Defense, he summarily kicked out Serdiukov's Chief of General Staff, General Makarov (a person of exceptional mediocrity), and replaced him with a highly talented and immensely respected combat officer, General Valerii Gerasimov who, in turn, brought back a long list of respected and highly competent generals to key positions in the Armed Forces. Shoigu also immediately reversed some of the worst excesses of the so-called "Serduikov's reforms" in many fields including military education, medicine, command and control, etc.
Predictably, and unlike Serdiukov, Shoigu has excellent relations with key personalities like Dmitri Rogozin, Vice-premier of Russian Government in charge of defense industry, and Sergei Ivanov, Chief of Staff Presidential Administration of Russia (both of which are suspected by many observers to have played a key role in the downfall of Serdiukov).
There are also other signs of a potential shift in the top echelons of power in Russia. More and more observers are speculating that Putin's All-Russia People's Front is being developed not only as a movement to generate new ideas, which is what it was supposed to be, but as a tool to influence and, if needed, replace the United Russia party which is seen as too much under the control of the "Atlantic integrationists". Again, this is speculation, but there are more and more well-informed observers who are predicting that Medvedev might not remain as Head of Goverment all too long. My personal take on that his that I get the feeling that Medvedev is a decent man, but of small political stature, who can be trusted to administer and manage, but without much of a vision. Surrounded by powerful visionaries like Putin, Shoigu or Rogozin, he will do as he is told. But yes, if he does not, he will probably be ejected fairly soon.
Before turning to the next aspect of this process, I would like to introduce a thesis here which I rejected for a long while, but which I ended up accepting as true.
There is no doubt that in 1991 the Soviet Union lost the Cold War: the country was split into 15 separate pieces, the entire polity was brought down and the state practically ceased functioning, all the wealth of the country was brought under the control of Western interests and their proxies - Jewish oligarchs - poverty literally exploded, as did the mortality rate, NATO pushed forward its forces right up to the border of the Russian Federation, and American "advisers" literally created the new Russian state, the constitution, the system of government and most laws. Now here is the key concept I want to submit: for all its external appearances of independence, the Russian Federation between 1991 and 2000 became a US colony, a US dependent territory, something similar to the status of Iraq following the withdrawal of most American forces or the status of, say, Poland or maybe Romania during the Soviet era. Anyone who has any doubts about this needs to carefully study the events of 1993 when the comparatively legitimate Parliament of Russia was shot at by tanks with the full "support" (read: under the control of), the USA acting through its embassy in Moscow which during those days literally became the command post for the entire crackdown on the opposition. I personally was present in Moscow during these events, and I had first-rate information about what was really going on at the time. I can, for example, attest to the following two facts: a) the number of victims was grossly under reported and b) the scope in time and space of the repression was also grossly under reported. The true figures of casualties are close to 5'000 (five thousand) people and it took 5-6 days of combat in the entire Moscow metropolitan area (including areas outside the city proper) to eventually crush the opposition (I personally witness a intense firefight right under the windows of my apartment on the evening of the 5th day after the assault). This entire bloodbath was directed and coordinated by the USA via its embassy in Moscow and most of the atrocities were not committed by government forces in uniform, but by hired guns in plainclothes (including mobsters and Beitar squads) and without any legal authority. Does that not remind you of another capital? Yes, of course, that could have been Baghdad. Predictably the entire Western corporate press presented these events as a victory of democracy and freedom against the dark forces of revanchism, nationalism and communism.
If we accept the thesis that Russia was de-facto a US controlled territory until 2000, we can then immediately understand the next key implication: the coming to power of Putin did not, in itself, magically change this reality. Think of other examples like Saddam Hussein or Noriega who used to be loyal US-puppets who eventually decided to take a more independent course? Did their countries change overnight? Of course not. The difference with Russia is, of course, that the US did not have the means to wage war on Russia, much less so occupy it and install another puppet regime. Even the terminally weakened and dysfunctional Russian state of the 1993-1999 years still had the means to transform all US major cites into a rubble of radio-active ashes. And yet, the Russian state could not even get together enough regiments to deal with the Chechen insurgency. All that the Russians could send to deal with the Chechen insurgency was a limited amount of so-called "Mixed Regiment" (сводный полк - really mixed *battalions*), a mishmash of hastily clobbered together subunits which often had no military training at all. Thus, by the time Putin came to power Russia has a quasi-dead state fully controlled by the USA.
And yet, Putin achieved some kind of miracle. First he skillfully crushed the Chechen insurgency. Then, he ejected the Jewish oligarchs which resulted in an immediate change in the tone of the media coverage of the war in Chechnia. Then he began to reassemble the state piece by piece and while rebuilding what he called the "verticality of power", meaning that he re-subordinated the various regions of Russia to the central government: mobsters were ejected from the gubernatorial seats they had purchased, the regions began to pay taxes to the Federal government (most had stopped) and Presidential envoys were sent out to restore order in the regions. If all this was a bitter pill to swallow for the British who had been deeply involved in breaking up Russia into many smaller pieces, it was really no big deal for the Americans who, at the time, and more pressing issues to deal with: the Neocons had just successfully pulled-off 9/11 and the Global War On Terror (GWOT) was in full swing. Besides, externally, Russia was playing it all very nice, actually helping the USA in Afghanistan. Logically, while the press in the UK was frantically cooking up all sorts of hysterically anti-Russian propaganda, the US press did not care very much.
I don't think that the Americans really liked Putin, but they probably saw him as a reliable partner that they could keep in check and who would not given them too much grief. Sure, he prevented the final break-up of Russia, but every good thing has an end and it would have been unrealistic by 2000 to expect another decade of Eltsin-like chaos and collapse. Besides, its not like Russia really had tossed off the American yoke: the system which the USA had created was still in place and there is only that much that Putin could legally do.
So between 2000 and 2012 Putin and Medvedev began a very gradual step-by-step process of internal reconstruction. In foreign relations Russia did a lot of zig-zagging, sometimes acting in a way mildly irritating to the Americans, but always subservient when things got really important.
And then the USA did two truly dumb things: feeling buoyed by a sense of omnipotence and imperial hubris, the Americans let Georgia attack Russian forces in Ossetia and then they fully sided with the aggressor. That, combined with the maniacal insistence on deploying an anti-missile system around Russia resulted in a wave of anti-American anger in Russia which Putin fully exploited. The Americans probably figured that, sure Medvedev was better, but Putin they had already seen in power, and it was no biggie - they could handle him too. Except that "Putin 2.0" was quite a different one from the original version.
There had been a warning sign which the West dismissed as just a political speech: Putin's speech at the 2007 Munich Conference on Security Policy (full text here) in which he unambiguously stated that the USA's planetary empire was the number one cause of all the worlds major problems:
The history of humanity certainly has gone through unipolar periods and seen aspirations to world supremacy. And what hasn’t happened in world history?
However, what is a unipolar world? However one might embellish this term, at the end of the day it refers to one type of situation, namely one centre of authority, one centre of force, one centre of decision-making.
It is world in which there is one master, one sovereign. And at the end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within.
And this certainly has nothing in common with democracy. Because, as you know, democracy is the power of the majority in light of the interests and opinions of the minority.
Incidentally, Russia – we – are constantly being taught about democracy. But for some reason those who teach us do not want to learn themselves.
I consider that the unipolar model is not only unacceptable but also impossible in today’s world. And this is not only because if there was individual leadership in today’s – and precisely in today’s – world, then the military, political and economic resources would not suffice. What is even more important is that the model itself is flawed because at its basis there is and can be no moral foundations for modern civilisation.
This speech with its unusually candid type of language did create an initial moment of shock, but it was soon dismissed and forgotten. The Western reaction was basically "fine, you don't like us, but watcha gonna do about it?!" and a shrug.
What Putin did about it is continue to systematically strengthen the state, launching the economy on a multi-year boom which even overcame the 2008 crisis, and slowly educating the people inside Russia on a new concept: "sovereignization" (суверенизация).
Sovereignization is a powerful concept because it combines a diagnostic (we are not really sovereign) with a goal (we need to become sovereign). It is not directed against anybody, but anybody openly opposing it immediately looks bad (how can anybody legitimately oppose sovereignization?). Furthermore, by introducing the concept of sovereignization, Putin pushed the people to ask key questions which had never been asked in the past: if we are not sovereign, why not? How did it happen that we are not sovereign? And who is really sovereign then? And what about those who oppose sovereignization, whose interests are they defending?
By the time the Americans realized that the genie had been let out of the bottle it was literally too late: by a single conceptual push the entire political discourse in Russia had been altered from a state of catatonic stupor to a potentially very dangerous cocktail of opinions.
And this time Putin did not stop at words: he also passed laws demanding that any foreign-financed NGO sign-up as a "foreign agent" and that any government employee with money or real estate abroad either justify its origin or resign. And these are just test runs, the big stuff is all ahead: Putin now wants to change the laws regulating the activities of the mass media, he plans to implement new legislation making it possible to incorporate major industries inside Russia (currently they are all incorporated aboard), he intends to change the taxation system of major foreign multinationals and, eventually and inevitably, he will have to initiate a revision of the Russian Constitution. Step by step, Putin is now using his power to change the system, cutting off each instrument of foreign control over Russia one after the other. Last, but not least, Putin has now openly embared on a process to establish a new Common Eurasian Economic Realm (Единое Евразийское Экономическое Пространство) with any former Soviet Republic willing to join (Belarus and Kazakhstan are already in) which will eventually become a new Eurasian Union (Евразийский Союз). This, of course, is utterly unacceptable to the USA, which is why Hillary Clinton took the unprecedented step to openly announce that the USA would do everything in its power to either prevent this outcome or, at the very least, to delay it:
"There is a move to re-Sovietize the region. It's not going to be called that. It's going to be called customs union, it will be called Eurasian Union and all of that. But let's make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it."
This time around, however, it was Russia's turn to say "fine, you don't like us, but watcha gonna do about it?!".
The fact of the matter is that there is precious little the USA can do about it. Oh sure, the US did raise a big stink about "stolen elections", the Pussy Riot movement, the Congress passed the Magnitsky Act, and Hillary made her threats. But all that was way too little and way too late, by the time the Americans came to realize that they had yet another major problem on their hands, there was nothing much they could do about it.
This is not to say that there is nothing that they will do about it in the years to come. First and foremost, we can expect a surge in the number of terrorist attacks in the Caucasus and the rest of Russia. If Chechnia seems to be safe, at least for the time being, the situation in the neighboring republic of Dagestan is still very dangerous. Second, we can expect the anti-Putin propaganda to reach new heights. Third, the US CIA and MI6 will return to their Cold War practices of covertly funding and directing a dissident movement. Finally, and if all else fails, the West might try to find some crazy "lone gunman" to get rid of Putin himself.
Putin and his "Eurasian sovereignists" supporters are probably not a majority of the people at this time. Yes, they are in key positions of power and they can use what is euphemistically called the "administrative resource" (административный ресурс - the power of the state bureaucracy) to promote their agenda, but they will have to deal with a Russian intelligentia which is still fiercely anti-Putin and with a media which is even more hostile to any idea of sovereignization. And yet, as long as Putin does not engage into any excesses, it will be awfully hard for the media to openly trash a political program aiming at the sovereignization of the Russian nation. This is why when Putin repeatedly referred to this idea in his Message to the Federal Assembly (full text here) the media either ignored it, or played it down. And yet, gradually, this topic is becoming more and more common in the Russian political discourse, lead by the very active Russian Internet (known as RuNet).
At this moment Putin has a very strong control of the state apparatus and most key positions in the Kremlin are in the hands of his allies. The state itself is in halfway decent condition, still plagued by corruption and a legal system designed to make it ineffective, it will work when needed, but it is still far from being a well-oiled machine. The Russian economy is doing pretty well, in particular compared to others, but it is still very heavy, often ineffective, and most revenue is still channeled abroad. Likewise, the Russian society is mostly happy that the 1990s are over, but the vast majority of people still are faced with many difficulties and hope for a better future. Finally, the Russian armed forces have suffered a great deal under Serdiukov, but they are already definitely capable of dealing with any realistically imaginable conflict and they are gradually working on restoring their full-spectrum deterrent capability. In this context, Putin's chances are overall good, but this is far from a done deal and it would be very naive to underestimate all the potential responses the US Empire could come up with to deal with this emerging threat to its domination.
The time frame to see what will happen is relatively short, 4-6 years max. If by the end of his term Putin does not succeed in his sovereignization program then all bets are off for Russia and since all parties, including the "Atlantic integrationists", realize that, the struggle inside the Kremlin is likely to only heat up. We can be sure that the next months and years will see a lot of political upheavals in Russia, possibly beginning by an open fallout between Putin and Medvedev.
And Islam in all that?
As I wrote above, neither the Muslim world nor the "Islamic factor" inside Russia are going to have any influence on the outcome of this struggle. At the most, the USA and their "Atlantic integrationists" allies will use Islamic terrorists to destabilize Russia. But as long as the state remains organized and solid, no amount of terrorism will be sufficient to truly influence the course of events. Besides, a resurgence of Islamic terrorism in Russia might have the exactly opposite effect: it might convince even more Russians that they need a powerful and independent regime to protect the country.
However, the outcome of this struggle might have a deep effect not only on the "Islamic factor" inside Russia, but on the Muslim world in general: "Atlantic integrationists" are by and large anti-Muslim and pro-Israeli; they want to integrate Russia into a Western system of security as opposed to a Islamic one. To one degree or another, "Atlantic integrationists" are always the proponents of the "clash of civilizations" paradigm. In contrast, the "Eurasian sovereignists", while not all necessarily pro-Islamic in any way, are all for a multi-polar world and they have no problem at all with the idea that one of these poles of power would be an Islamic one. In other words, the only circumstance when "Eurasian sovereignists" see a threat in Islam is when Islam is used by the US Empire as a tool to destabilize those countries who dare resist the USA. From this point of view there is an "Islam" in Bosnia, in Kosovo or in Chechnia which is a clear enemy of Russia, but there is an Islam in Iran, Lebanon or Kadyrov's Chechnia which is an objective ally of Russia. It is characteristic that the "Atlantic integrationists" always see Israel as Russia's natural ally in the Middle-East while the "Eurasian sovereignists" always name Iran.
As long as these two forces continue to fight each other for the control of the Kremlin and Russia the Russian policies towards Islam inside Russia and the Muslim world will be inconsistent, at times indecisive, and therefore only moderately predictable. My personal sense is that Putin and his "Eurasian sovereignists" are currently in a much stronger position than their opponents and that is definitely good news for the Arab and Muslim world, in particular for Syria. This process is far from over and it would be unwise to make too many predictions about what Russia might do, or to count on Russia to do the "right thing" just because logic would indicate that it should. The appalling example of Russia essentially given the US/NATO a green light at the UNSC to invade Libya should serve as a reminder that Russia is still not a truly sovereign and that it cannot be counted on the always resist the USA's immense power.
Posted by VINEYARDSAKER: at 23:19
Labels: Russia and Islam
Russia stands for freedom!
Stop the Empire's war on Russia
The European Saker - in his own words:
I am a 'legal alien' currently living in the Imperial Homeland
SUPPORT THIS BLOG WITH YOUR DONATIONS
Checks: (to Saker Analytics, LLC)
Bank wires:
Saker Analytics LLC
758 North DuPont Highway
wire dept routing# 031101266
SWIFT code: NRTHUS33XXX
or click here: http://tinyurl.com/SakerPayPal
First, go to Amazon.com (not Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr or any other Amazon site)
Then click on "Gift Card" on the top of the page
Then click on "Email" at the "Ways to Send" menu
Finally, choose a card and amount. That's it!
Cash by snail mail:
Edgewater, FL 32132-0711
Free Novels (PDF) for Saker Blog Supporters
e-book in *PDF* format - not paperback!
How to contact me:
Main email address: vineyardsaker@gmail.com
(for example to be included in the "Saker's friends" low volume mailing list)
Alternative/backup emails:
vineyardsaker@mail.ru
thesaker@unseen.is
RSS feeds for this blog:
Atom 1.0: http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
RSS 2.0: http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
WORDS TO LIVE BY:
Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free
Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew (10:26) and Saint John (8:32)
Trust not in princes, nor in the children of men, in whom there is no safety. His breath shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth; in that day all his thoughts shall perish.
Holy Prophet and King David (Psalm 145:3-4 according to the LXX)
To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.
Thou shalt not be a victim.
Thou shalt not be a perpetrator.
And above all,
Thou shalt not be a bystander
Yehuda Bauer
In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act
Each small candle lights a corner of the dark
I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
I am for truth, no matter who tells it.
Globalize the Intifada!
I am a pessimist by nature. Many people can only keep on fighting when they expect to win. I'm not like that, I always expect to lose. I fight anyway, and sometimes I win.
Truth is treason in the empire of lies.
Dieu se rit des hommes qui déplorent les effets dont ils chérissent les causes
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Не в силе Бог, а в правде!
Благоверный князь Александр Невский
Indignez-vous !
9/11 Turth
First results from the Russia-China partnership
Russia between Cyprus and China
"The Syrian Diary" - Russian TV documentary (subti...
CrossTalk: Cypriot Bail-In
Has Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made an empty threat? (...
Russia and Islam, part seven: the weatherman's cop...
How some (most?) Americans feel about Russians
A New Pope and "The Most Corrupt Vatican Since the...
British double-standards in the Falklands
Russia and Islam, part five: "Islam" as an ally
Televised speech delivered by Hezbollah Secretary ...
Protect Freedom - Join the Free Software Foundation!
Quenelle Epaulee
No to Internet censorship!
Save the Internet from corporate greed!
GNU/Linux distributions I recommend:
Debian, the Universal Operating System
Mint, the easiest to use distribution
Xubuntu, distribution for older hardware
Knoppix, general purpose distro on live-CD
Puppy, small size distribution and live-CD
Tails, the privacy and security oriented distro
Ubuntu Studio, distribution for artists
Trisquel, the 100% free software distro
All the original content published on this blog is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). For permission to re-publish or otherwise use non-original or non-licensed content, please consult the respective source of the content.
What's a Saker anyway?
The Saker is a large falcon which, sadly enough, is threatened (you can find more info on this wonderful bird here). Do these sakers really monitor vineyards? Well, one does for sure!
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1960
|
__label__wiki
| 0.970035
| 0.970035
|
From war-torn Iraq to fashion week: Oday Shakar makes his runway debut
Updated 8th September 2016
Written by Yasmin Khorram, CNN
It's early Autumn and Oday Shakar is carefully hemming his latest creation: a mauve lavender suede jacket, worn atop an ivory chiffon skirt with plissé inserts.
"The skirt will be black for the show, but I've actually fallen in love with this color," Shakar tells his fitting model.
Naomi Campbell celebrates 30 years of supermodel stardom
"Should we make another one in ivory?"
Already a red carpet regular, Shakar's designs have been worn by the likes of Sandra Bullock, Sofia Vergara and Dianna Agron since he first launched his brand in 2009.
On September 9, he plans to take his career to a new level, showing his collection alongside the some of the world's most exclusive brands at his New York Fashion Week debut.
From Anaheim to Baghdad
Hailing from affluent Anaheim Hills, Southern California, Shakar was born to parents who had fled Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime.
After the end of the Gulf War, 12-year-old Shakar and two of his siblings were sent to Baghdad to reconnect with their heritage. He arrived armed with a sketchbook and Discman, speaking no Arabic.
"I remember smelling the smoke in the air as we drove into Iraq. There were statues of Saddam Hussein and burned cars on the side of the road," he says.
Karl Lagerfeld: 'Paris is a nightmare now'
"The hardest was not understanding how to be from one country and coming from another. And [with] these two places -- Iraq and America -- being at war, I didn't know where I stood or who I really was."
Oday Shakar fits a model in his studio. Credit: Yasmin Khorram
But that didn't stop him from immersing himself in the culture. The women, he remembers, were particularly fascinating.
"They wore the most beautiful eyeliner, hair out and no Hijab. They were so fashion forward with very little to work with. They would use old pieces of fabric and turn it into something beautiful."
Return to America
After nearly two years in Baghdad, Shakar moved to Amman, Jordan, where he spent his teenage years taking fine art classes.
At 18, he moved back to the United States to study at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, but quit weeks before his 2003 graduation when he was given the opportunity to design costumes for a music video.
Shakar continued to design on-off pieces for clients, and was preparing to launch a line of his own. But plans were put on hold when he was diagnosed with stage 4 thyroid cancer in 2008.
"I didn't even know what that meant, let alone to be stage four," he said.
Is this the future of fashion in Middle East?
Shakar had to have his thyroid removed and spent weeks in isolation for radiation therapy.
"There was a moment I was in so much pain laying in the hospital, and when I tried to draw my hand wouldn't work," Shakar said.
"It was the scariest feeling ever, that I didn't have that ability anymore. Not physically being able to sketch or even use my hands, I remember thinking this is the worst thing that could possibly happen."
Sandra Bullock accepts the MTV Generation Award at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards wearing Oday Shakar. Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
And yet he refused to let the disease quash his ambitions. While in isolation, he slipped sketches of his gowns to an admiring client and first business partner.
Shakar officially launched his brand in 2009, and only a year later, he found himself featured in tabloids across America when Sandra Bullock wore one of his designs at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.
Shakar went into remission in 2011.
The most exotic fashion shows ever staged
Shakar's upcoming collection will be the 12th he's designed, but his first shown at a major fashion week.
"The minute I got [to New York] in March, there was only one goal: to figure out who I am as a designer," he said.
Taking cues from his role model, seminal fashion designer Halston, and inspiration from his mother and sisters, Shakar calls his collection a mixture of "two worlds, a westernized influence on the Middle East," featuring geometric patterns inspired by Islamic architecture, bold prints, and Western silhouettes.
"It's much more than just designing, it's what the clothes represent and how they make women feel," he said.
"To me, that's magic."
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1961
|
__label__cc
| 0.57613
| 0.42387
|
Sitenotice: 11/29/2018: The wiki is back. It turns out, some anti-virus product on my web server had an issue with the latest version of PHP. My server techs have resolved this issue, and things should be working again. During the investigation, I did restore to a backup from September. There is a chance that any changes done since then were lost, but I do not recall any edits. --OS-9 Al
8/30/2016: Massive re-work is being done on the InfoBox Templates. Read that page to keep up with the plan for that, and adding better keyword tags (categories) to all the pages. --OS-9 Al (talk) 15:28, 31 August 2016 (CDT)
View source for The RAINBOW Magazine 1984
← The RAINBOW Magazine 1984
{{NavRainbow}} The following are links to scans of The RAINBOW Magazine on [https://archive.org Internet Archive].'' ---- [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-01.jpg|600px|thumb|left|January 1984 Vol. 03 No. 06|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-01]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-02.jpg|600px|thumb|left|February 1984 Vol. 03 No. 07|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-02]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-03.jpg|600px|thumb|left|March 1984 Vol. 03 No. 08|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-03]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-04.jpg|600px|thumb|left|April 1984 Vol. 03 No. 09|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-04]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-05.jpg|600px|thumb|left|May 1984 Vol. 03 No. 10|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-05]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-06.jpg|600px|thumb|left|June 1984 Vol. 03 No. 11|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-06]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-07.jpg|600px|thumb|left|July 1984 Vol. 03 No. 12|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-07]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-08.jpg|600px|thumb|left|August 1984 Vol. 04 No. 01|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-08]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-09.jpg|600px|thumb|left|September 1984 Vol. 04 No. 02|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-09]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-10.jpg|600px|thumb|left|October 1984 Vol. 04 No. 03|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-10]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-11.jpg|600px|thumb|left|November 1984 Vol. 04 No. 04|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-11]] [[File:Rainbow_cover_1984-12.jpg|600px|thumb|left|December 1984 Vol. 04 No. 05|link=https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine-1984-12]]
Template:AlertBox (view source)
Template:Delim (view source)
Template:Header (view source)
Template:Home (view source)
Template:NavRainbow (view source)
Template:PageName (view source)
Template:Publications (view source)
Template:Rainbow (view source)
Return to The RAINBOW Magazine 1984.
Retrieved from "http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/The_RAINBOW_Magazine_1984"
Chicago CoCoFEST!
About CoCopedia - The Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer Wiki
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1962
|
__label__wiki
| 0.93053
| 0.93053
|
Home » 2013 » September » Seattle Storm CEO Karen Bryant (’02) respected by colleagues on and off the court
Seattle Storm CEO Karen Bryant (’02) respected by colleagues on and off the court
Living in Seattle and a passion for basketball have been two constants in Karen Bryant’s (B.A., 2002) life. Going on six years as CEO and President of the Seattle Storm, she has been able to combine her passions with her career aspirations.
“I just really love it,” Bryant said. “I find great meaning in what I do. For me, being the CEO of the Storm is a great combination of my love of sports, my love of the Northwest, and it’s also an opportunity to be challenged.”
Bryant played Division I basketball for the UW after transferring from Seattle University. While at the UW, she worked in the Capital Projects Office, which manages the University’s construction program. Bryant said Janet Donelson, who hired her for that position, was instrumental in her development as a young female professional and remains a positive role model and mentor for her today.
“I had just taken over as the University’s project manager for the Allen Library as construction got underway and the contractor cut down trees and dug the hole,” Donelson said, who now serves as Vice President of Trammell Crow Company’s Seattle Business Unit. “My new boss told me I needed to have a ‘communications plan’ – yikes!”
For someone trained in numbers and pictures, the help from a “bright, young communications major” was well received. For two years, Bryant arranged biweekly ads in The Daily, one-page memos to people in departments directly affected by the construction, and the pair produced a weekly column about construction activities to inform the public about the project status and how it was designed and built.
“Of course she was smart, personable, always striving for the best, and considerate of those around her, but more than that, I think she was (and is) pretty much fearless,” Donelson said. “I never knew Karen to believe she couldn’t do what she set out to do. Just because it wasn’t the normal path didn’t mean she couldn’t do it or make it happen, and she inspires those surrounding her to do the same. This characteristic makes her a born leader and a truly outstanding CEO in a new arena like women’s basketball.”
Bryant worked her way into the local basketball scene, holding increasingly higher positions. Upon relocation of the SuperSonics in 2008, the Seattle Storm became an independent organization. Three local businesswomen, known as Force 10 Hoops, stepped forward to purchase the Storm so that the team would remain in Seattle, becoming one of six independently owned franchises in the WNBA.
“Karen has been instrumental in building the Seattle Storm women’s basketball franchise,” said Lisa Brummel, a member of the owners group and executive vice president for Human Resources at Microsoft. “Bringing fans into the arena, helping coaches and players excel in their jobs, and leading the staff which runs the Storm organization is a deep communications activity.”
Brummel said she remembers Bryant playing as a senior at UW and that she was “tough as tough could be,” never backing down and always competing until the end. This is true for her today as a business woman.
“Karen is a role model for other CEO’s in the WNBA,” Brummel said. “She drives the right business principles while remembering that people are at the center of all that we do; on and off the court. She has insight to the game as well as insight into the fans. The combination of these two things is rare among her peers.”
Bryant has been sharing her knowledge and experiences in a new way by teaching for the Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership Program, a Master’s degree program offered through the UW College of Education. She started as a guest speaker and was later asked to develop and teach a capstone class that focused on leadership and management.
“There’s a real sincerity that comes across with the students,” said Sara Lopez, Co-Director for the Center for Leadership in Athletics, and Director for the Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership M.Ed. Program. “She’s very reflective about her own experience and how she has learned and grown as a leader. She’s willing to share that with the students, which has a tremendous impact because it helps them look more closely at their own experiences and practice.”
As part of the summer session, students attend sports events in the community, including a Storm game. Lopez recalled seeing Bryant courtside one minute, in the concourse area the next, later in the stands talking to the students, and up in one of the boxes to greet a special guest.
“That’s representative of the energy and personal connection that she’s able to bring,” Lopez said. “Here’s the CEO of the organization, but she’s making it a point to reach out and visit with students who she doesn’t necessarily have to interact with, but she is sincere in making those connections. I admire her energy and she’s doing a lot in terms of visibility not only for the organization, but as a role model and leader in the field.”
Under Bryant’s leadership and guidance, the Storm has won two WNBA championships and revenue has increased 162 percent. These are just two measurements of Bryant’s impact on one of Seattle’s most talented sports teams.
Karen Bryant is a 2013 inductee to the UW Communication Alumni Hall of Fame.
← The Seattle Globalist announces Globie Award winners
Alex Stonehill, Sarah Stuteville’s documentary BARZAN accepted to eight film festivals →
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1963
|
__label__wiki
| 0.783677
| 0.783677
|
Scottish Parliament to debate forestry
A Scottish Government debate on Delivering Forestry in Scotland will take place in the Holyrood Parliament next Tuesday, it has been confirmed.
Confor has welcomed the debate as part of an increasing focus on forestry in Scotland, where the sector contributes £1 billion annually to the economy and employs more than 25,000 people.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity, Fergus Ewing MSP, has made clear his ambition for further growth in the sector by driving up planting to meet the 10,000-hectare annual target.
After Confor highlighted concerns with the process of approving planting schemes, and the suggestion to learn from the planning sector, the Cabinet Secretary appointed ex-chief planner Jim Mackinnon, whose recent report contained practical proposals to make the process smoother.
More money was allocated to tree planting in the Scottish Government's budget last month, and Confor has welcomed cross-party support, in particular from both the SNP Government and the 31-strong Conservative group, for more planting to support both the rural economy and Scotland's climate change objectives.
Stuart Goodall, Confor's Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted that the Scottish Parliament is debating forestry.
"We have worked very closely with Fergus Ewing and his team to identify where improvements can be made to drive up planting. It is great to see the momentum now developing to drive forward the forestry and wood sector - and the growing understanding of its enormous potential in Scotland."
Confor will produce a briefing paper for MSPs ahead of the debate - and is encouraging its members in Scotland to contact their local MSP ahead of the debate to encourage them to take part in the debate.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1964
|
__label__wiki
| 0.805983
| 0.805983
|
About Fourth Estate
Work @ Fourth Estate
Fall for the Blog
Freshman Focus
Mason Hoops Central
Patriots Preseason Includes Games in Italy
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 5:29pm | Broadside Sports Editor John Powell
The George Mason University Men's Basketball team began practices earlier this month in preparation for their 10-day trip to Italy (video courtesy George Mason Athletics)
UPDATED 5:28 p.m.
George Mason University’s Men’s Basketball team will say “Ciao!” later this month as its members depart from the states to don their jerseys and shoot hoops in Italy.
National Collegiate Athletic Association regulation allows Division I teams to play out of the country every four years, and on Aug. 18, the Patriots will leave to play four preseason games in Italy to prepare for the 2010-2011 season. Taking advantage of the regulation, the Patriots will play four professional — not amateur — teams while overseas. They will return to the states on Aug. 28.
Possibly more important than the games themselves are the ten days of practice the NCAA allows the team to take before embarking on the trip. The team’s first practice was Aug. 1.
“The very first thing is we get a chance to practice together,” said Head Coach Jim Larranaga. “For ten days the guys will be on campus, hanging around together, hopefully bonding and becoming a closer-knit group.”
Even the players feel closer together. “I’m fitting in real well,” said the new freshman forward Jonathan Arledge, a four-sport athlete in high school. “We’re playing basketball every day and we’re getting along.”
“The best thing is getting our whole team to come together more,” said junior forward Mike Morrison. “That’s really the whole point of the trip: team unity. And while we’re out there, getting on the right foot.”
“Unity is a big thing, and that’s going to be one thing that [the trip] brings to us,” said senior guard Cam Long, who will be regarded as the face of the Patriots for the second year. “We can get the feel of how each other play[s] and we are also going to get to know each other better just by . . . hanging out with each other more often.”
During the trip, the players will experience the sights and sounds of cities including Vatican City, Florence and Pisa. The focus, however, is to observe and play at the level of professional basketball currently played overseas to get a jump-start on the season.
“First of all, I just wanted to get the opportunity to play overseas, to play against professionals,” said Long, who recognizes the importance of the early preseason work. “It gives us the opportunity to play together before the season starts.”
The coaches will be able to see the key strengths and weaknesses in the team and will be prepared to maximize the success based on the findings. Other schools will likely be looking at the results as well, since the conference portion is often considered the most important part of the schedule.
“Playing the games should be fun to see the level of play that’s being played over in Italy at the professional level, because these are four professional teams that are going through their preseason training,” said Larranaga. “What it will help us do is put in a little bit of offense, [and] most importantly our defense and our rebounding, [and it will] emphasize those things in preparation for our entire season. . . .This will just be like a part of our nonconference [schedule].”
This will also be the first time that the new freshmen recruits will play with their new team. While overseas, Bryon Allen and Jonathan Arledge will see their first action on the court in their college careers.
“[Like it is for most freshmen], I think . . . the most difficult adjustment will be to the speed and physicality of the game, and you’re learning a whole new way of playing defense, a whole new way of playing offense and it takes a long time to get confident and comfortable,” said Larranaga.
“They’ve got to come in ready to play,” said Morrison of the freshman, not allowing them any leeway once the season begins.
One freshman already has high hopes and is set on what he wants to accomplish on the trip. “I want to be more versatile, especially with shooting [and] posting up,” said Arledge.
Student Media Group:
Latest Fourth Estate Articles
The Story told In Lorton’s Darkroom
Best Mason Buildings to Study
Faces of Mason
Making a change step by step
Fourth Estate is George Mason University's official student-run news outlet.
The organization was formed in Fall 2013 in collaboration between the student newspaper, Broadside, and an student-run news website, Connect2Mason.
Our mission is to inform Mason students, faculty and alumni about what's happening in the community. Through a weekly publication and an online presence, Fourth Estate covers everything from the Board of Visitors to the next concert coming to the Patriot Center.
Arthemia is based on the original design by Michael Hutagalung.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1965
|
__label__wiki
| 0.796487
| 0.796487
|
Ep. 110 – Black Panther
February 20, 2018 by Jerrod Kingery
Filed under Podcast
This week on The CineSnob Podcast, Cody and Jerrod review Marvel Studios’ mega-hit “Black Panther.” They also talk giveaways for “La La Land” live at the Majestic, a special deal for “Birdman” live at the Empire, and our 20th anniversary screening of “The Truman Show” at Alamo Drafthouse!
Click here to download the episode!
Tags: Andy Serkis, Captain America: Civil War, Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Freeman, Marvel, Michael B. Jordan, Ryan Coogler, Winston Duke
December 19, 2014 by Jerrod Kingery
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage
Directed by: Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”)
Written by: Fran Walsh (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy), Philippa Boyens (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy), Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy), Guillermo del Toro (“Pacific Rim”)
When “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” was released in 2003, there was the sense of celebration, a victory lap for the trilogy as a whole capped off by a huge box office haul and Oscars for both the film and for newly-minted A-list director Peter Jackson. Here we were, right in the middle of a collective indifferent, angry shrug reaction to the “Star Wars” prequels, when along came a new fantasy trilogy to sweep us off our feet, selling enough extended edition DVDs to fill up Mount Doom. Fast forward 11 years, though, and Jackson’s own prequel trilogy based on the slim tale of “The Hobbit” has been greeted with a sense of resignation and, personally, relief that the whole thing is finally over.
Picking up where “The Desolation of Smaug” left off, the gold-hoarding dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) is laying waste to Laketown. While others flee, Bard (Luke Evans) manages to fire the shot with the only arrow capable of slaying the dragon. Meanwhile, inside the Lonely Mountain, hobbit Bilbo (Martin Freeman, essentially wasted in this whole trilogy) and the other dwarves watch helplessly as their king Thorin (Richard Armitage) has caught “dragon sickness” from all of the gold and treasure and his search for the Arkenstone. At the same time, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) is being rescued by Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Sauruman (Christopher Lee), and Elrond (Hugo Weaving) as Sauron attacks. Back at the Lonely Mountain, armies of man, elves, orcs, and dwarves begin amassing at the gate, each looking for their share of the dragon’s gold.
Much has been said the last three years about the decision to extend the slight novel into a trilogy of nearly three-hour-long films, but by now the fatigue is real and it begs the question: “What would these movies look like if there were less of them?” The years spent bringing “The Hobbit” to the screen seem to have burned Jackson out. Where the “Rings” trilogy featured Jackson working at the top of his game, combining camera trickery and physical effects with state-of-the-art CGI, these “Hobbit” movies see a director willing to give in to shiny, physics-defying computer-generated effects, robbing the films of the handmade, visceral quality that made their predecessors so effective in the age of George Lucas’ misguided prequel trilogy and all its digital manipulation. Sadly, Jackson seems to be channeling the worst of Lucas here, filling the last film he’ll likely get to make in Middle Earth with grating, groan-worthy comic relief and endless fan service that does little more that connect the dots to the “Rings” trilogy that no one needed spelled out for them anyway. Thankfully the journey is over.
Tags: 2014, Guillermo del Toro, Ian McKellen, jerrodreview, Martin Freeman, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, Richard Armitage, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Fargo (TV) Review – How Does It Compare To The Film?
April 22, 2014 by Cody Villafana
Filed under CineBlog
With the word “cinematic” constantly being thrown around to describe television shows these days, it seems logical that TV would look to the world of film for ideas for new series. In a continuation of a recent trend, TV poaches another prominent film actor in Billy Bob Thornton for an adaption (but not really an adaption) of the 1996 Coen Brothers classic, “Fargo.”
Right from the start, it is important to note that this is not a direct remake or re-imagining of the story seen in ’96. It is, rather, a separate, limited-series that takes place in the same area of Minnesota, around the same types of people, with a similar mix of tone of the darkly funny and the violent. Sure, there are a few callbacks to the film. The logo of fictional town of Bemidji sports an image of Paul Bunyan like the statue seen in Brainerd in the film, there are plenty of “on account of’s” and “aw geez’s” and a certain scene in a later episode which fans of the film will instantly call back to the film.
As a pilot episode, “The Crocodile’s Dilemma” serves as a nice jumping off point for the series. We are introduced to Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) who is an insurance salesman who is constantly nagged upon by his wife. While he isn’t as frantic, funny and quite frankly as brilliant as William H. Macy was Jerry Lundegaard from the film, the characters are pretty similar in their construction. Freeman is pretty good here, able to portray Lester with a sense of built up frustration, but with a resistance to sticking up for himself. He occasionally has struggles maintaining the particular Minnesota accent, but its a problem shared with the rest of the cast who occasionally fade in and out of it. After a rather embarrassing run in with an old high school bully, Lester meets a drifter named Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) in the waiting room of a hospital. There, they have a conversation that leads to Lester’s life being turned upside down. It should be noted that Thornton is absolutely brilliant in his role as Malvo. He is sinister, cruel, calculated, and loves to stir the pot and mess with people. He is easily the best part of every episode, and especially fun to watch when he embraces an alter ego in Episode 4. While there is no real direct comparison to “Fargo” the movie, his character design is definitely more Peter Storemare than Steve Buscemi. What is impressive about the pilot episode is that it starts decently and unassumingly enough as a table setter and gets dark in a hurry. By the end of the episode, the audience is virtually blindsided with multiple brutal scenes in a row, setting forth the events of the rest of the season.
It is apparent by the 2nd or 3rd episode, however, that this is a massive cast of characters, and the show begins to feel a little overpopulated. We meet Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman), who is the Maggie Gunderson counterpart from the film, and a host of other characters ranging from a supermarket king played by Oliver Platt and a police officer from another area of Minnesota in Colin Hanks. Still, the most interesting storyline presented to us in the first few episodes is the interaction between Lester and Lorne, yet they are both off doing their own things (albeit some of them amusing) and hardly interact in the back half of the four episodes that I have seen. Of course, I’m sure that at some point during these 10 episodes, stories will intersect and everything will become central, but if the beginning of the series is any indication, there will be some detours along the way to a crash course conclusion.
With a similar tone, setting, character design, and of course, name, it is difficult to not compare the TV product to the film, which is vastly superior in every aspect. While you won’t find the continued police adventures of Maggie Gunderson, “Fargo” is more of a spiritual cousin of the film that will bring you glimpses into the humorous and sometimes frightening environment, but ultimately make you pine for the Coen Brothers classic. It may not be the best thing currently on TV, but Freeman’s and especially Thornton’s performance and an interesting set up have me intrigued enough to continue watching.
Tags: Billy Bob Thornton, codyreview, Coen Brothers, Fargo, FX, Martin Freeman, TV
December 16, 2013 by Cody Villafana
Filed under Cody, Reviews
Starring: Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage
Directed by: Peter Jackson (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”)
Written by: Peter Jackson (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”), Fran Walsh (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”), Philippa Boyens (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”) and Guillermo del Toro (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”)
With three “Lord of the Rings” films that have a total running time of over nine hours, Peter Jackson has the tendency to be a long-winded filmmaker. Of course, with the three “Rings” movies, Jackson was also adapting three separate novels into three separate movies, spanning an epic tale. But with J.R.R. Tolkein’s “Rings” prequel “The Hobbit,” Jackson made the decision to stretch one 300-page book into three films. With the first of the new series, “An Unexpected Journey,” opening last year, Jackson turned in an overlong, plodding and decidedly juvenile entry to the “Lord of the Rings” franchise. Looking to improve, the Oscar-winning director returns with the second chapter, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”
“The Desolation of Smaug” follows Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan) and a band of dwarves on a quest to reclaim their Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. When they reach their destination, a dangerous dragon named Smaug is awaiting them.
One of the most notable details of “The Desolation of Smaug” is the inclusion of the “Rings” trilogy favorite Legolas played by Orlando Bloom. Though he is nowhere in the actual “Hobbit” novel, the character injects a little bit of life into “The Hobbit” film series, adding to the most interesting fight sequences of the film. Though many of the scenes are occasionally goofy and overlong, one particular sequence involving Legolas that takes place on a river is among the best scenes in the film. Though Legolas is at least an entertaining character, he isn’t necessarily interesting, which is a problem throughout “The Desolation of Smaug.” There is a certain sense of separation from every character, not giving the audience any room or reason to become attached. Relationships such as the one with brand new elf character Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and a dwarf are forced. Even the film’s protagonist Bilbo is relatively quiet and unmemorable.
“The Desolation of Smaug” also suffers from serious pacing and length problems. The first section of the film is filled with long conversations that are difficult to follow and keep attention, which is an odd choice when opening a film. Casual fans to the franchise might be well served to take a short refresher course on the events of “An Unexpected Journey” to avoid being a little lost. Beyond that, the film occasionally stretches itself too thin making it easy for interest to dwindle.
In a pleasant turn, the tone of “The Desolation of Smaug” is more serious and adult, a far cry beyond the silly songs and humor seen in the first. Still, “The Desolation of Smaug” remains a flat and dull entry into the “Lord of the Rings” franchise. Perhaps Jackson can turn in a final entry on par with the original trilogy, but with two subpar attempts and an outstretched narrative, he has miles to travel.
Tags: 2013, codyreview, Evangeline Lilly, Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom, Peter Jackson, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Filed under Reviews
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage
Directed by: Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy)
Written by: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) and Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”)
Revisiting fanboy-friendly cinematic properties after an extended absence from theaters is always a tricky proposition. On the financial side, it’s an absolute no-brainer: you’re getting more proven product to sell to an already-existing audience. Huge box office numbers are pretty much guaranteed, not to mention sales of any ancillary products that might go along with it. Creatively, however, these endeavors often fail to live up to incredibly high expectations held by fans. I mean, spend a few minutes looking up what the internet at large thinks about “Prometheus,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” or, God help you, the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
See what I mean? Now you understand what any follow-up to director Peter Jackson’s mega-hit “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy has to deal with. Ever since the final film, “The Return of the King,” ended up raking in all the money and Oscars available back in 2003, audiences have been anxiously awaiting an adaptation of the trilogy’s official prequel, J.R.R. Tolkein’s more kid-friendly novel “The Hobbit.” Legal issues tied up the film rights for years, but the wait is over. Jackson’s first film of a new “Hobbit” trilogy, “An Unexpected Journey,” is finally here, for better or worse.
“An Unexpected Journey” begins 60 years before the events of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), happily puttering around his Hobbit hole, is approached by wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellan) and offered the opportunity to enrich his life by embarking on an adventure. Bilbo politely declines, but, undeterred, Gandalf volunteers the Hobbit anyway. Soon, a pack of Dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) arrives at Bilbo’s door demanding food and singing songs. With the help of Gandalf, the Dwarves set out to enlist the reluctant Baggins in their quest to retake their home and treasure from the dragon Smaug.
While none of Peter Jackson’s previous adventures in Middle Earth were known for their brevity, at least those films had three huge books filled with pages and pages of source material to draw from. Not so with “The Hobbit.” Stretching one novel into three epic films is understandably worrisome, and the strain shows from the beginning. Kicking things off with a prologue featuring Ian Holm’s aged Bilbo Baggins writing a letter and Elijah Wood’s Frodo checking the damn mail is an exercise in padding. Plus, the dinner introducing the baker’s dozen of Dwarves is 45 minutes of “get on with it!” Once all of that is out of the way, though, the film slides easily into the groove that turned the “Rings” trilogy into blockbusters. Geared ever-so-slightly to younger audiences, the quest mixes the whimsical, like the goofy wizard with a rabbit-drawn sleigh and a trio of moronic cave trolls, with the terrifying, such as the hook-handed Orc bent on hunting down Thorin or the chilling duel of riddles Bilbo engages in with the pitiful Gollum played by Andy Serkis, once again in top form. By the time the latter scene comes to an end with Bilbo in possession of a familiar golden ring, Jackson’s magic is back in full force. Even the notoriously fickle fanboys should be ready to journey there and back again with the director. Whether he can keep it all going for two more bloated films is the real question.
One technical note: Jackson shot “The Hobbit” in a new format known as HFR, or high frame rate. What it does is double the traditional frame rate of film, 24 frames per second, to 48 frames per second. Select theaters are screening the film in HFR, which is how I saw it, and I can’t recommend this format at all. The difference is stark and distracting to say the least, with a look reminiscent of a cheap soap opera, and ends up unwittingly exposing the fakery of many special effects shots. Avoid HFR.
Tags: 2012, Fran Walsh, Guillermo del Toro, Martin Freeman, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1968
|
__label__cc
| 0.574946
| 0.425054
|
Home / Opinions / NATION: Congressman Jeff Duncan on separating immigrant families And Response w-Update
NATION: Congressman Jeff Duncan on separating immigrant families And Response w-Update
Tue, 06/19/2018 - 1:17pm Vic MacDonald
Jeff Duncan on Facebook
UPDATE - TODAY - Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jeff Duncan (SC-03) released the following statement regarding the “Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation” executive order: “President Trump just signed an executive order that will allow illegal immigrant families to remain together in U.S. custody during the entirety of their immigration proceedings. I applaud the President for taking this action, the exact same policy that I advocated for legislatively earlier in the week. This is important because it essentially ends the deeply flawed "catch-and-release" program that caused the government to release many of the illegal immigrants caught entering the United States. Under the old system, sometimes as many as 90% of people arrested for illegally entering the United States were released under the promise that they would return for their court hearing, only for them never to show up. “Unfortunately, a legal precedent that prevents illegal immigrant families from being detained for more than 20 days (the reason why the President’s original policy was not written this way), will likely mean that this is only a temporary fix, and that permanent legislative changes will need to be made. There have already been legislative fixes to this issue filed in Congress, like H.R. 6134 by Congressman Mark Meadows (NC-11) which I strongly support. This legislation needs to be voted on quickly to ensure that we are not abdicating important policy decisions to the courts. “I strongly support the President on this action, which I believe achieves the proper balance between enforcement and common sense.”
NATION: Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-3rd District-Laurens County) Facebook post about separating immigrant families:
Before I shared my personal thoughts on the situation on the southern border, I wanted to post yesterday’s article providing background on what is really happening. I felt it was important because when celebrities and late night talk show hosts decide to weigh in on policy issues, they tend to spout more propaganda than facts, and leave out some very important details in the process.
Based on what I shared, you now know that the government's policy is not to separate parents from their children for the sake of separating them. The policy is to enforce the law for what happens when someone commits a crime, and yes, illegally crossing into the United States is a crime and should remain that way.
We also know based on the facts that illegal immigrant families can only be detained together for 20 days before they have to be released into the interior of the United States. They are released with a promise that they will return for their court date, however, at times as many as 90% of those requesting asylum never show up for their hearing and become fugitives. While some don’t want to take their chances in court, many others skip their hearings because their asylum requests were fraudulent to begin with. That is why continuing “catch-and-release” policies that reward illegal behavior and result in open borders is a non-starter.
Our broken immigration system is responsible for creating this difficult choice before us: either separate illegal immigrant families at the border and keep them in custody until it can be determined whether they qualify for asylum, or incentivize them to risk the lives of their children (or trafficked children) so they can be used as human "get out of jail free cards."
However, President Trump and I believe there should be a third choice. President Trump himself has said that there needs to be a better option IN LAW that allows for families to stay together while enforcing the law, protecting American sovereignty, preventing illegal immigrants from being released into our communities, and sending a strong signal to illegal immigrants not to break our laws.
I believe the solution is simple: continue to prosecute illegal immigrant parents for breaking the law by illegally coming into this country, but allow families to remain together in a family setting while under U.S. custody during their asylum consideration. Because the courts have ruled that families can be held for no more than 20 days, we need to double or triple the number of current immigration judges and require that all asylum cases be adjudicated within that time so the family can be either be deported or released in a timely manner. Considering that a significant portion of all asylum cases are fraudulent, changes in our asylum laws also need to be made so that gangs like MS-13 are unable to exploit loopholes in our immigration system. We also need to make sure that lawbreakers aren't able to circumvent the legal immigration process, and that those seeking asylum are doing so, not by sneaking across our southern border, but rather at an official port of entry like a border crossing.
These are the common sense reforms that President Trump has called for and they are far from controversial. Senator Cruz and Congressman Meadows have filed narrow bills that would cover much of what I described above. Now the question is - do Members of Congress really care about securing the border, combating illegal immigration, and keeping families together- or do they want this crisis to continue for selfish political reasons?
CHALLENGER’S RESPONSE: SC-3 Candidate Mary Geren’s Statement in Response to Jeff Duncan’s Comments on the Ongoing Immigration Crisis along the Texas Border
Anderson - Jeff Duncan has weighed in on the ongoing immigration crisis happening along the southern border of the United States and is continuing to live up to his nickname - ‘Do Nothing Duncan’. As usual, Jeff is blaming others instead when he has had 8 years to find common sense and humane immigration solutions. The current human rights atrocities go against the ethical, religious, and humane beliefs held by many District 3 residents.
Instead of doing right by these innocent children and working to protect them, Jeff Duncan continues to offer mere lip service rather than taking action. The ‘zero-tolerance’ policy that was rolled out in April by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is leading to thousands of children being separated from their parents immediately upon their detection. The power to change this policy lies with Congress, and while Jeff blames celebrities and late night talk show hosts, he’s failing to acknowledge that Republicans control BOTH parties of Congress and the White House; meaning that they could immediately end this practice of separating families immediately, which is not a partisan issue.
Jeff, as a mother, I implore you to stop with the partisan rhetoric and fear-mongering. There are many points in this immigration debate of which we may disagree, but the fact is you and your colleagues in Congress have the power to pass a law that protects these children and by continuing to be ‘Do Nothing Duncan, ‘ you are complacent for the psychological, emotional and mental damage being done to these children, these babies. A real leader, the kind I intend to be in Washington, would examine this situation and understand our duty to protect children instead of continuing to ‘Do Nothing’.
Congressman Jeff Duncan
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1969
|
__label__wiki
| 0.944886
| 0.944886
|
From Darcy to ‘Downton’: The appeal of the costume drama
EntertainmentWorth Watching
By Steven D. Greydanus On Mar 2, 2012
“It really does boil down to one moment writ large…” says British TV critic Kathryn Flett. “Man steps out of lake, world changes. Television is never the same again.”
The man stepping out of the lake, of course, is Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in the beloved 1995 BBC miniseries of “Pride and Prejudice.” The moment — where Darcy, fresh from a dip in the family lake, embarrassingly encounters the woman who spurned his offer of marriage — is now so iconic that it coined the nickname “Colin ‘Wet Shirt’ Firth.” The miniseries — whose website, amusingly, includes a video clip entitled “How did writer Andrew Davies persuade Colin Firth to smoulder?” (apparently only accessible to those in the UK; thanks a lot, BBC) — launched the 1990s’ “romantic revolution” of the costume drama.
Discussion of this pivotal moment in the history of the costume drama is one element of “The Story of the Costume Drama: The Greatest Stories Ever Told,” which airs beginning March 3 on PBS stations (click here to check local listings). Narrated by Keeley Hawes (Lady Agnes in the new “Upstairs Downstairs”), the one-hour program is a quick take on the history of the genre, from the enormous popularity of “The Forstye Saga” to the controversial sexual and/or political implications of programs like “Brideshead Revisited,” “I, Claudius,” and “The Jewel in the Crown,” to the romantic revolution of the ‘90s and more recent programs like “Cranford,” featuring such grande dames as Judi Dench and Eileen Atkins.
The airing of the PBS program is a good opportunity to examine the appeal of the costume drama, which stems from many directions. For the British especially, a peek into the sometimes scandalous private lives of their own monarchs (in programs such as “Edward VII,” for instance) has been one draw. For those both within and beyond Britain’s borders, the lure of romance, lush settings, intriguing characters, engaging plots, and, of course, fabulous clothes, have all played their role in drawing in viewers. The audience is wide-ranging, from American single women pining for their own Mr. Darcy to the royal family of England. “Apparently on a Sunday night at 9 p.m.,” says Susannah Buxton, costume designer for the miniseries “Downton Abbey,” “nothing happens at Buckingham Palace because the top of the house is watching ‘Downton.’”
But does it all come down to fluff and fantasy? Or are there themes and messages in some of these dramas that also contribute to their appeal? Just as Dickens’ novels served to shed light on and arouse indignation at social injustices of 19th-century England, some costume dramas serve a social and political function — such as “The Jewel in the Crown,” described in “The Story of the Costume Drama” as an apology to a nation (India) for colonialism. The interracial romance in the series, which pulled heartstrings, no doubt served to both ruffle feathers and question prejudices.
Then there are more universal themes like grace and forgiveness that enhance any good story. In their podcast “A Catholic Look at ‘Downton,’” America magazine editors Jim Martin, SJ and Tim Reidy discussed these and other themes in connection with the show, from the characters’ handling of betrayals and forgiveness to the ways that showing the characters’ feelings and weaknesses helps us find humanity even in devious characters like the first footman Thomas and the lady’s maid, O’Brien. (Interesting factoid: the creator and writer of the show, Julian Fellowes of “Gosford Park” fame, is Catholic.)
There’s even the possibility that viewers are swallowing some social and sexual ethics with their spoonful of sartorial sugar — and, perhaps, liking it. In today’s oversexed, less codified, “anything goes” society, perhaps the world of costume dramas — at least, those that feature more meaningful glances than ripped bodices — affords an escape to a more morally restrained and polite world when romance was more subtle and sexual virtue more valued. Today, when the most explicit of pornography is available at the click of a mouse, women are still replaying “Pride and Prejudice” to catch a hint of Colin Firth’s chest beneath a wet Regency shirt, and tuning in to PBS to sigh over stolen glances in “Downton Abbey.” Perhaps, then, the less chivalrous and ultra-permissive side of our modern western culture is not providing women with the kind of respect and romance they desire (an argument that has also been made to explain part of the appeal of the Twilight series, featuring a handsome, chivalrous vampire hero from the Edwardian era who saves sex for marriage). Writers continue to churn out Austen-inspired works (Austenland and Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, among others) in which modern-day Austen-obsessed women, disillusioned with two-timing, uncouth, or noncommittal men, one-night stands, and a lack of genuine love and respect from the opposite sex, ultimately learn to ditch the Wickhams in their lives and find Darcys instead. These men, like Austen’s, show their love not primarily through passionate trysts, but through kindness, compassion, honorable behavior, and rescuing the heroines from duplicitous cads.
After all, in Pride & Prejudice, it’s not Darcy’s good looks that turn Elizabeth’s head, but the fact that he is kind to her and her relatives, rescues her wayward sister from ruin, and works on his character flaws. In Austen’s novel, the anticipated happiness of the modest and restrained Elizabeth and Darcy contrasts widely with that of the rakish George Wickham and flirty, flighty Lydia (insightfully updated in the Bollywood “Bride and Prejudice” as a belly-baring, boy-texting teen). “How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue, [Elizabeth] could easily conjecture,” Austen wrote.
Austen’s insights into character, virtue, and honorable behavior are still relevant today, which may be one reason for the ongoing popularity of her novels and the costume pieces that dramatize them. Austen, points out the author of the blog PhilosophersBeard.com, was “a brilliant moral philosopher who analyzed and taught a virtue ethics for middle-class life that is surprisingly contemporary… Her novels analyze and teach a virtue ethics for bourgeois life, the kind of life that most of us live today.” He describes the happy resolution of “Pride and Prejudice,” so dependent upon the living out of middle-class propriety, as “a moral happy ending even more than it is a romantic one.”
Whatever the cause of their appeal, thanks to “Pride and Prejudice” and its small-screen comrades, costume dramas aren’t going away anytime soon. And those of us who love them have cause to rejoice. CD
“The Story of the Costume Drama: The Greatest Stories Ever Told” begins airing March 3 on PBS stations. Click here to check local listings. The program includes clips from and discussion about shows including “The Forstye Saga,” “Vanity Fair,” “Brideshead Revisited,” “Upstairs, Downstairs,” “Edward VII,” “I, Claudius,” “The Jewel in the Crown,” “Tenko,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Moll Flanders,” “Cranford,” and more. It also includes interviews with actors including Susan Hampshire, Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Alex Kingston, and Art Malik.
Editor’s note: Parental discretion advised for this program. The documentary touches on some adult-oriented topics, such as the sexual implications of programs like “Brideshead Revisited,” censorship issues related to scenes in “I, Claudius,” and some steamy clips from “Moll Flanders.”
Julie Rattey [jrattey@catholicdigest.com] is the managing editor of Catholic Digest. In 2008, she fulfilled a longtime dream by playing Elizabeth Bennet in a stage adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice.”
Steven D. Greydanus
Steven D. Greydanus is the creator of DecentFilms.com and regularly appears in Catholic print, radio, and television. He is a permanent deacon in the Archdiocese of Newark. He and his wife, Suzanne, have seven children. Follow him on Twitter: @decentfilms
Knights of Columbus series shows ‘Everyday Heroes’
‘Hesburgh’ shows the power of the priesthood
‘Unplanned’ review: Movie shows the reality of abortion
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1970
|
__label__cc
| 0.657737
| 0.342263
|
CEIBS Careers
Gong, Yan
Professor of Entrepreneurial Management Practice, CEIBS
Programme Director of CEIBS Entrepreneurial Leadership Camp
Programme Co-Director of CEIBS Venture Capital Camp
Dr. Gong Yan is Professor of Entrepreneurial Management Practice at CEIBS, and Programme Director of CEIBS Entrepreneurial Leadership Camp/CEIBS Venture Capital Camp. He received a Ph.D. in strategic management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining CEIBS, he was an assistant professor at the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine. Prof. Gong specializes in lean startup methodology. He has published a number of books, including Lean Startup Methodology and Business Model Innovation.
Prof. Gong's research interests include strategic transformation, lean startup and business model innovation. His research has appeared in the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Technology Transfer, Handbook of Organizational Routines, and Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research. He was a finalist for the 2006 INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition. In recent years, Prof. Gong has put his research focus on Chinese business development.
Dr. Gong has taught Entrepreneurial Management, Global Business, Business Strategy, and Complex Organisations to the full-time and other professional MBA programmes at CEIBS and UC-Irvine. He received a Bachelor degree from Hunan University, China; an MBA degree from Zhejiang University, China; and a Ph.D. in management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Prof. Gong is known for his great academic achievements in strategic transformation and lean startup theory and his insightful observations for the strategic development of Chinese companies. Apart from research and teaching, he is also deeply engaged in the strategic planning and transformation of many well-known companies at home and abroad.
ACADEMIC DEGREES
TEACHING INTERESTS
2007, Ph.D. in Management, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
2001, MBA, Zhejiang University, China
Entrepreneurial Learning
Capabilities and Routines
Organisation Theory
Nov 21, 2018: The Logic of Success
China Daily - Apr 21, 2017: Prof Gong Yan on China’s real estate business
The Economist Intelligence Unit - Sep 2, 2016: Uber Stuck with Subsidising China Market
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1972
|
__label__wiki
| 0.708467
| 0.708467
|
Home : News : Press Release 8112009
New Jersey Division of Elections Selects Allied Security Innovations Products to Secure Voting Machines
FARMINGDALE, N.J., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Allied Security Innovations, Inc. (ASI) , reports that their tamper evident security products, manufactured and distributed by its wholly owned subsidiary, CGM-Applied Security Technologies, Inc. (CGM-AST) have been selected by Mr. Robert F. Giles, Director of the Department of Elections, to secure voting machines throughout the State of New Jersey.
"We are honored that our home state of New Jersey has chosen CGM-AST products to assist in maintaining the integrity of the vote," states Anthony Shupin, ASI CEO and President of CGM-AST. "This is a significant win for our company. As is our custom, we never reveal the exact nature of the security product or its application when discussing or announcing a specific client. However, I can state that CGM-AST products, including tamper evident tapes and labels, are being utilized throughout the United States to deter anyone who wishes to compromise our democratic process."
"CGM-AST tapes, labels and other products are carefully designed to include the necessary security features, which can be customized to fit within security protocols on a local basis. No special tools and minimal training are required to implement the security protocol within a local, county, city or state district. Voting machine integrity can be continuously monitored before, during and after the election, easily, thoroughly and efficiently," Mr. Shupin continued.
For more information on how CMG-AST products may be utilize to deter theft or protect our supply chain from terrorist intentions, as well as other homeland security applications, please contact Gina Levinson Uzzolino, CGM-AST Director for Business Development (glevinson@cgm-ast.com).
About the New Jersey Division of Elections
The Chief Election Official (Secretary of State, Nina Mitchell Wells) through the Division of Elections (Director, Robert F. Giles) assures compliance with N.J.S.A. 19:1 et. seq., the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which includes all reporting requirements to the Federal Election Commission and Election Assistance Commission. Additional responsibilities include certification of voting machines for use in all elections, filing officer for all federal and state public elective offices, overseeing compliance with polling place accessibility for elderly and voters with disabilities, regulatory authority for voter registration, political party declarations, absentee voting, election district requirements and polling place accessibility. The Secretary of State serves as the chair of the Board of State Canvassers, which certifies election results for federal and state office elections and public questions. For more information please go to www.newjersey.gov/state/elections.
About Allied Security Innovations Inc.
Allied Security Innovations, Inc, (ASI) headquartered in Farmingdale, NJ, provides homeland security products and proprietary criminal justice software to over 3,000 clients worldwide. It is composed of the original DDSI Company, a public company since 1995, and its wholly owned subsidiary, CGM-Applied Security Technologies, Inc., (established in 1978). With manufacturing in Staten Island, NY, ASI is a leading manufacturer and distributor of Homeland Security products, including indicative and barrier security seals, security tapes and related packaging security systems, protective security products for palletized cargo, physical security systems for tractors, trailers and containers, as well as a number of highly specialized authentication products.
Allied Security Innovations. Inc. is a fully reporting company whose stock trades OTC under the symbol "ADSV." For information contact Investor Relations 1-800-899-2246 or www.cgm-ast.com.
This Press Release contains or incorporates by reference "forward looking statements" including certain information with respect to plans and strategies of Allied Security Innovations, Inc. For this purpose, any statements contained herein or incorporated herein by references that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes," "suggests," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward looking statements. There are a number of events or actual results of Allied Security Innovations, Inc. operations that could differ materially from those indicated by such forward looking statements.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1974
|
__label__cc
| 0.507591
| 0.492409
|
Why Support a Public Hospital
Mother is a Verb.
Hot Rocks Griller Challenge
R.O.C.K.—Refugee Outreach Clothing Kids
Men’s Night Out
NightShine Gala
Next Generation Giving: Young Professionals
601 Broadway, MC 0111
(303) 602-2970PHONE
(303) 602-2981FAX
Upcoming Events Volunteer Today Donate Now
Bruce Madison, MD
Dr. Madison, a fourth generation Denverite, graduated from George Washington High School, after which he attended Northwestern University. Returning to Denver, he graduated from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1975. He trained in Internal Medicine at D.C. General Hospital, in Washington, D.C., and in Emergency Medicine at Michigan State University.
After finishing his training Dr. Madison practiced Emergency Medicine at Rose Medical Center in Denver for nine years. He was the Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine from 1984-86.
After his clinical career at Rose, Dr. Madison pursued his passion in public health. He moved with his family to Boston, where he worked for the Harvard Community Health Plan and received his Masters Degree in Public Health, with a focus on Health Policy and Management, from the Harvard School of Public Health.
For the following several years Dr. Madison worked in a variety of health management positions, including as the Medical Director for two national health insurance companies. In 1997 he was recruited to become the Associate Medical Director at University Physicians, Inc., now known as CU Medicine, which represents the healthcare providers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He served on several committees of University Hospital, UPI, and The Medical School, including Quality Management, Utilization Review (Chairman), Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committees, and the Admissions Committee of the medical school.
In late 2004, Dr. Madison had a heart transplant, after which time he chose to make some career changes, (A heart transplant will do that.) After recuperating from his transplant, Dr. Madison became involved in the health policy/political world in Colorado. He was the Chairman of the Legislative Council of the Colorado Medical Society, and lobbied the state legislature on health policy issues. He has been awarded the Health Hero of Colorado Award by Health Care for All Colorado, the Commitment to Health Access Award by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, and the Founders Circle Award by the Colorado Center for Health Progress.
Dr. Madison lives in Denver with his wife, Susan. They have two grown children and two grandchildren.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1976
|
__label__cc
| 0.584196
| 0.415804
|
West Covina BAC Legal DUI Limit
Legal DUI Blood Alcohol Levels in West Covina, California
DUI offenders charged with impaired driving face severe and harsh punishments in West Covina. In such cases, it is always advisable to contact an experienced and reliable drunk driving lawyer.
The DUI Legal Limit of BAC Level in West Covina, California
As per the California Vehicle Code, DUI driving is dealt with in the strictest manner. There are very strict laws about impaired driving in California which leads to stiff fines and penalties under the law. It is a criminal offense to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08mg.
As per the DUI laws in California it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle with any of the following blood alcohol concentration (BAC) percentages:
0.08% or higher for 21 years old or older operating a regular passenger vehicle.
0.04% or higher for operating a commercial vehicle.
0.01% or higher for younger than 21 years old.
When you get pulled over for an offense that is beyond the limits of the DUI Blood Alcohol Level set by the law, the first thing you should do is to contact a reputable and experienced DUI lawyer who will represent you at trial.
Our team of experienced West Covina DUI lawyers will plead your case based on technical grounds, such as the violations of your rights as well as inconsistencies in the evidence provided by the prosecution and the cross-examination of witnesses. Our lawyers have delivered consistent and commendable results on behalf of our clients over the years.
What VC 23152(b) of The California Vehicle Code States About DUI BAC in West Covina?
As per the California Vehicle Code Section 23152(b) VC, impaired driving is defined as everyone driving with a BAC of 0.08% or greater commits an offense while he or she operates a motor vehicle or vessel or operates or assists in the operation of an aircraft or of railway equipment or has the care or control of a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment, whether it is in motion or not.
While VC 23152(b) is about driving under influence of drugs and/or alcohol, it lays down limitations on DUI BAC. It says that the Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of the person driving or in care and control of the vehicle should not exceed 80 mg per 100 ml of blood.
Do Not Hesitate To Contact Us If You Have Received A DUI Offense in West Covina
Establishing Charges For Breaching The DUI Legal Limit BAC in West Covina, California
Primarily, it is the observation of the investigating officer that helps in establishing charges of transgressing the DUI Legal Limit. The prosecution is dependent on such evidence as well as a cross-examination of witnesses. This is the reason why the over 80mg charges are some of the most evenly contested cases in the courts of West Covina, California.
Moreover, there are a lot of details that surround the collection of samples. The law stipulates that the first sample of blood should be taken not later than 2 hours of the incident and subsequent samples should be taken at 15 minutes intervals. These are all points of attack in defending you.
Legally-Approved Instruments to Measure The Legal DUI Limit in West Covina
A major part of the prosecution’s case for establishing the legal DUI limit infringement depends on the use of an approved instrument for collecting breath samples. The instrument is calibrated to show a numerical value if the BAC is below 0.05% and caution if it is between 0.05 and 0.1 percent. It shows fail for all instances over 0.1%. This instrument has to be handled by a qualified technician whose findings will be admissible in court as evidence. If handled improperly, it opens up a point of attack for us to break down the prosecution’s case against you.
At the same time, if the accused refuses to go through with the tests, the prosecution has to prove that a proper demand for conducting the test was made and understood by the accused and that the accused intended to not provide a proper sample.
Fines and Penalties for Exceeding The Legal DUI Levels in West Covina, CA
A person convicted from a DUI arrest in West Covina can face a jail term, a driver’s license suspension, a probation order as well as several fines. In California, there are different laws in each area that allow the local courts and government to impose their own penalties. Therefore, a punishment for an offense in West Covina, California will not be the same as that of other areas. In West Covina the minimum punishment for crossing DUI levels is:
First Instance:
License suspension for a period of six months
Probation for a period of three years and may go up to five years
Jail sentence for a period of 48 hours to six months
Monetary fine that may go up to $1000
Five month requirement to drive a car with an ignition interlock device
Second instance:
License suspension for a period of two years
Jail sentence for a period of 96 hours to one year
12 month requirement to drive a car with an ignition interlock device and it may go up to 3 years.
Third instance:
License suspension for a period of three years
Jail sentence for a period of 120 hours to one months
24 month requirement to drive a car with an ignition interlock device and it may go up to 3 years
Hiring A West Covina DUI Lawyer If You Crossed The DUI Legal Limit
Our team of West Covina DUI lawyers handles cases like a breach of the DUI legal limit in the courts of West Covina and California on highly-technical grounds. We understand that it is the duty of the Prosecution Attorney to prove you guilty, so we focus primarily on issues that matter most. In cases where the officer pulls you over without a search warrant, we will raise issues on unreasonable search and seizure. These chapters of defense have helped us to consistently defend our clients charged with crossing the legal DUI limit. Contact us for more information.
West Covina DUI Laws
West Covina DUI Defense Attorney
West Covina DUI Defense Attorney With Consistent Results
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1980
|
__label__wiki
| 0.519081
| 0.519081
|
Epstein on the Constitution
Richard Epstein of New York University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the U.S. Constitution. Topics covered in this wide-ranging conversation include how the interpretation of the Constitution has changed over time, the relationship between state and federal power, judicial activism, the increasing importance of administrative agencies' regulatory power, and political influences on the Supreme Court.
http://files.libertyfund.org/econtalk/y2013/Epsteinconstitution.mp3
Greg G
May 20 2013 at 10:47am
Great podcast here and a very interesting companion to the Seidman episode. Interesting for their similarities as well as their more obvious differences. Both argue from a consequentialist point of view (not that there is anything wrong with that). Both are clear that originalist arguments are fatally undermined by actual history and the fact that no one applies them consistently. They differ most on the consequences they anticipate for the policies they advocate.
I loved the way Epstein backed his arguments with accurate and unsentimental historical accounts. For example, when he pointed out that the principle of sharply limited Federal power had a lot to do with (among other things) a desire to find a way to assure that slavery was permitted.
It is probably true that we all rely most heavily on our intuitions in deciding these issues. The arguments we use are rarely the decisive thing even when we think they are. Even so, it is a pleasure to hear a position as well argued as we heard in this podcast.
Epstein is as good a debater as you will find anywhere. He certainly got the best of Seidman and I say that as someone who probably would agree with Seidman on more specific policy issues.
As Epstein points out, Federalism has effects both good and bad. He wants to emphasize how limiting Federal power can increase liberty. Fair enough. Let’s remember it can also permit any number of preventable evils up to and including, well…slavery.
Dale Jung
May 20 2013 at 2:46pm
I think Seidman gets an unfair rap.
If you believe that the Constitution is correct, then you also believe in Natural Laws that existed before pen touched paper. The Constitution is not tautological, it derives its merit from something that cannot be written down or quantified.
The Framers debated and defended their positions without the crutch of saying “this is un-Constitutional.” Perhaps the only way to uphold the Constitution is to argue from that same position. If you were to teleport Jefferson to today, he would debate from his first principles, he would say, “We wrote this because we thought it the best way, and here is why.”
Like all things that outlive its creators, we’ve gotten too enamored with the armor and not the fire that forged it in the first place. Now we’re finding that it’s not protecting us like it once did, and we’ve lost the ability to temper it anew.
Ak Mike
Greg – As someone who certainly disagrees with Seidman on more specific policy issues, and would agree with Epstein and our host on policy, I nevertheless think that Seidman has the better of this discussion.
I think Prof. Roberts and Prof. Epstein mischaracterize Seidman’s argument. He was not saying that the constitution is irrelevant because it was written a long time ago, and therefore should be ignored. Instead, he was pointing out that by its nature the constitution cannot be used to settle current disputes, and that as a matter of fact all judges, no matter how faithful they claim to be, are actually deciding cases based on their own policy preferences.
Seidman notes that you can predict which way each justice of the supreme court will vote based on the politics of controversial cases, rather than the constitutional history of the provisions involved. And he would say that the brief few hundred words of the written constitution simply do not provide the material for deciding most disputes where “constitutional” issues are raised; and this has been true from Marbury v. Madison to the present.
So Seidman’s essential point is that constitutional adjudication is a kind of high-minded fakery,and always has been. He wants judges to stop pretending that their decisions are based on the constitution, not because he wants to abandon constitutional adjudication, but rather because there never really has been such a thing.
Ak Mike – I thought Russ was only a little unfair to Seidman in his introduction to the topic today. He did add more nuance later in the discussion and I thought he was very fair in the actual Seidman interview which he was probably assuming that most listeners had already heard. Some of the commenters on the earlier podcast did mischaracterize Seidman’s views in a number of ways.
As for Epstein, I fail to see where he was unfair to Seidman in any way here. I understood Seidman to be saying that we do care, and should care, only about getting good results from government. And that since constitutional arguments are delaying needed reforms, open disrespect for the Constitution is called for and courts should mostly just defer to legislatures.
I understood Epstein to be agreeing that people care most about getting the policy results they want. He recognizes that there are bad arguments as well as good arguments for he policies he supports. But he is saying we should also care about respecting long standing precedent and being consistent with the text and the original intent of the law. Each of these concerns has the potential to conflict with the others.
Sure there is often a lot of “high-minded fakery” in constitutional arguments. The right way to deal with that is to call it out when you see it, not to dispense with respect for the Constitution. Despite our many problems, this American constitutional experiment doesn’t look that bad at all in the larger context of human history.
May 20 2013 at 10:40pm
Greg – you are right that Seidman does not respect the constitution overly much. And you are certainly right that Prof. Roberts, as always, was fair to Prof. Seidman when he was interviewed a few months ago.
However, I respectfully submit that you haven’t perceived the strength of Seidman’s argument about constitutional adjudication, and neither have the participants in today’s discussion. You cannot just call out the fakery when you see it in a constitutional argument, because fakery is inherent in every constitutional argument. Justice Marshall made up his right to overturn a statute in Marbury v. Madison, which is not in the text of the constitution. Justice Warren made up his prohibition of segregated schooling in Brown v. Board of Ed., which is nowhere in the 14th amendment. None of the issues in the important constitutional decisions can be settled by the text of the constitution. It’s just a short simple document that has very few answers for these vexing questions. So the judges resort to such concepts as “original meaning” or “living constitutionalism,” by which anyone can come up with a myriad of plausible reasons to justify any result you would like to reach.
I think Seidman is right about this: constitutional interpretation is like Rorschach inkblots, everyone sees his/her own opinions and ideas in the text.
Seidman’s problem is that he has nothing to replace constitutionalism with; and he does not seem to value the real purpose of constitutional decisions: to provide a cloak of legitimacy for the counter-democratic limitations that are imposed by policy preferences of judges, which they pretend are based on this ancient document.
Roger McKinney
“And as a normative theory it’s very difficult to figure out which way the Justices are going to start to come down on the really big cases that shape and define the nation.”
And that means we long ago abandoned the rule of law and have been subject to the arbitrary rule of men. No one can predict how the law will change, which creates a regime of great uncertainty in almost all areas.
PS, I think somewhere Mises wrote that the only constitution that matters is the will of the majority. It seems that is what Epstein is saying, too. If the majority does not want liberty they will not have it.
The middle ground between Epstein and Seidman seem to be that the Constitution is a good written contract that we can use to guide us AND that some instances of making it fit the desired ends for some people has occurred. Seidman suggests the mechanism used to effect the progress along the chosen path and Epstein shows effects of each bending of the Constitution since 1937 and the pathway used.
I can not help thinking of the deeply disturbing decision of Chief Justice John Roberts and how it was effected.
Epstein seems to suggest the only way to return to a path of smaller Federal government is for the Judicial branch to reverse the path to the Administrative State and to give control to voters through Initiative, Referendum, and Recall. Could Dr. Epstein suggest how the Constitution could be used to return control to voters–and certainly before the flood of newly unassimilated immigrants arrive.
john thurow
May 22 2013 at 7:16am
Excellent, thanks!
SaveyourSelf
Great Podcast. Like his previous interviews, this presentation is provocative and nuanced.
What a strange and remarkable idea Epstein put forward. Slavery—arguably the LEAST efficient economic system ever—was the cornerstone that gave birth to [and maintained] a Constitution which respected Freedom to such a degree that it allowed States to compete with each other, and that competition made the US the most fertile laboratory for free market capitalism—the MOST efficient economic system ever—in the world. But Epstein said the Constitution’s remarkable protection of state-autonomy started to erode about 40 years before 1937. I politely disagree. It started to erode in 1861 with the start of the Civil War.
The tolerance for alternative governance systems written in the original US Constitution following the “Great Compromise” waned over time as the number of slave-tolerant states gradually became a minority. Given their majority position, the Northern States sought to force the Southern States to alter their state laws. The Southern States, resenting this intrusion on their self governance, sought to leave the United States. This move towards cessation, not concern over slavery, triggered the Civil War. The conclusion of the Civil War had the incidental consequence of abolishing slavery—a positive economic change—but it also set a precedent that violent action at the Federal level was permissible against citizens when they refuse to follow the edicts of the majority—a very negative economic change.
This viewpoint is disquieting.
The government run school system teaches that Lincoln was the greatest president ever and that the Civil War was an unavoidable tragedy brought on solely by the evil slave owners of the South; that Lincoln “saved the Union;” and that his only mistake was choosing bad generals. Economic analysis suggests the opposite. Slavery would have abolished itself! Slavery, after all, is ridiculously inefficient. The South could not compete with its free market neighbors or the rest of the world using a slave system. The South, left to its own devices, would have eventually collapsed—exactly like the USSR in 1991. The Southern Confederacy would have imploded and spontaneously dissolved when its citizens got tired of their intolerably low standard of living. And, like the fragmented nations that fell out of the USSR, the Independent Southern States would have strongly desired re-entry in to the Free Market economy of the United States where the standard of living was much, much higher. Unfortunately, Lincoln did not allow nature to take its course. Instead he led a brutal and destructive war—decimating the infrastructure of the South and killing 600,000 people—while simultaneously establishing both a precedent for supplanting the Constitution with majority opinion and a precedent for suppressing minority dissent with violence. Lincoln is probably the worst president in all of US-history and a villain of gigantic proportions. He rendered the Constitution hollow while trying to save it.
John Berg – You heard in this interview the suggestion that the only way forward toward what Epstein advocates involves Initiative, Referendum, and Recall. I didn’t hear that at all. Which raises an issue that is even more fundamental than constitutional adjudication.
Each of us comes to all of these issues with a lot of prior beliefs. When we dislike the way it works out we call that bias or prejudice. When we like the way it works out we call it learning. Either way we can’t start at square one on every decision. This problem will still be there in full force even if we do away with constitutional arguments and go straight to arguing about the effects of proposed legislation.
Staying with our tradition of conducting the debates within a constitutional framework provides the important benefit of making outcomes more predictable. As a rule, we all want predictable outcomes to judicial questions…except, of course, for the cases where we don’t like the predictions.
Sure secession, not slavery, was the immediate cause of the Civil War. While that is true, it conveniently ignores the fact that disputes over slavery were the main cause of secession. So it still really did have a whole hell of a lot to do with slavery.
History shows we would have eventually gotten independence from England without a Revolutionary War. Does that mean fighting for our independence was a mistake? Does it mean Washington was “a villain of gigantic proportions” ? There were a lot of colonists who were Loyalists after all.
Does it mean that if one of our states today chose to secede and establish slavery it would be wrong to fight a war to prevent that? I really can’t think of anything a majority could do that would advance the cause of liberty more than opposing slavery.
Saveyourself offers a distracting bit of hypothetical alternative history but one not helpful to correcting the history since 1937 that has imperiled the world I had hoped to leave my grandchildren. Inter alia, 1937 also saw the FDR’s Supreme Court Packing threat which President Obama may have used to intimidate John Roberts into using a mechanism such as Seidman suggests to contrive a method to save Obamacare and possibly Obama’s reelection.
Turning to GregG’s comment, I thought Dr.Epstein took any possible remedy away from the Legislative and Judicial Branches and placed such a possibility in the voter’s hands. We are about to find out soon whether the Supreme Court says the courts can trump clear decisions from the electorate at the polls.
Two question in response to Dr. Epstein’s quote:
And that gets you to a second problem. Which is: Suppose you’ve done this wrong and it works. And you’ve done it for 200 years. So, I’m not the guy who is going to come along and say: You know, Marbury v. Madison is wrong; what we have to do is to overrule it. I think what happens is constitutional law has two things, to deal with this sort of incipient illegitimacy that gets ratified by past use. One is originalism–that is the text, and the various modes of construction. And the other is what I call in my new book the ‘prescriptive Constitution’
My reading of the Constitution notes requirements for the Presidency: S/He must be native born citizen, commonly meaning both parents are born in the US. When can we insist on a presidential candidate proving he meets the Constitutional requirements?
I also read that the 14th Amendment as saying that the questioned state of children born to former slaves now freed is that the children are citizens whether born during slavery or after emancipation. When can we end this nonsense that alien mothers can bestow citizenship on their children merely by having it in the US?
Apropos of Dr. Epstein’s
Cowboy Prof
This was a great podcast despite my priors going into it. I had read the first 5 or 6 comments and was a bit dubious about it.
I know that Russ likes to hear how we use his podcast and what resonates with listeners, so here is how I know it was a great podcast:
1) I was listening whilst walking the pooch this morning as I usually can focus on the interview with this relatively routine task. However, I know this was a great podcast because I could not continuously focus on the whole interview from front to end. Epstein would say something and I would start thinking about what he said and then 5 minutes later realizing that I hadn’t heard anything else. I would have to pause and rewind. In short, I know that I will be listening to this at least two more times in the next week to get the full impact of it.
2) In addition to the substantive points Epstein was making, the discussion spurred me to reorganize my fall graduate seminar a bit differently than I was planning, including a potentially ingenious pedagogical attempt to run it like an EconTalk podcast. (Email if you want details.)
3) I will buy Epstein’s book when it came out. There have been a handful of these podcasts, most notably Leeson’s pirate book and (more recently) Bernstein’s book on language.
Substantive Comment.
There was a great deal in this podcast that prompted me to think, including the ironic role that slavery played in crafting limited government. However, what really struck me is Epstein’s rather brief comment on Kelo v. New London (one of my big SCOTUS pet peeves for how it affects religious organizations).
When Epstein said that Kelo was not judicial activism I did a full stop with the dog (yanking him back on his leash so that he looked like a bucking bronc) and said, “Ruh?” But what he said made perfect sense. Kelo did nothing more than legitimate what Congress, state legislatures, and various bureaucracies are doing with other laws and regulations anyways. Crafting a zoning regulation via the city council has as much of an impact as the city council declaring eminent domain and giving pink residential houses to giant pharma companies (who probably won’t use the land anyways).
But on the other hand, I still disagreed with Epstein in that the eminent domain clause of the 5th Amendment seemed like a major impediment, and perhaps one of the few remaining, to regulatory power. The cost of blatant land grabs by the government at least had some high legal barriers and other costs (I could sue like Kelo did) to it, thereby slowing down the rapidity in which the “administrative state” operates.
So, oddly enough, I both agreed and disagreed with equal fervor with Epstein on that issue proving that someone can be both right and wrong at the same time!
Louis Michael Seidman
I have a great deal of respect for Richard Epstein. I’m confident that he has better things to do with his time than to educate himself about my, admittedly idiosyncratic, views of constitutional law. Still, it’s a shame that he didn’t bother to read my book before criticizing it. He says that I favor popular constitutionalism and would abolish judicial review. But on pp 129-30, I expressly say that my position leaves open the question of whether judges would continue to have the power to invalidate statutes. For my doubts about popular constitutionalism, see Can Constitutionalism Be Leftist?, 26 Quinnipiac L. Rev. 557 (2008). Professor Epstein professes not to know what I mean when I argue against constitutional obligation. In On Constitutional Obligation, I take many pages to spell out precisely what I mean. I commend the book to Professor Epstein and won’t try to repeat anything like the whole argument here. But if I had to summarize my position in a couple of sentences, it would go like this: We should feel no obligation to do things just because people who are long dead and had no inkling of our present circumstances wanted us to do them. Instead, the desirability of various constitutional provisions must be defended by argument that makes sense today. Ironically, Professor Epstein, here and elsewhere, has engaged in just this sort of argument — argument that would be irrelevant if one thought that there was a duty of blind obedience to the Constitution.
Professor Seidman
First, thanks for being part of the conversation here.
I share your low opinion of Originalism but I don’t hear anyone advocating for Originalism while also agreeing that their position makes no sense today but they are bound to it anyway.
When we get down to real cases the Originalists almost always argue that the original intent still does make sense today. Yes, if necessary, they ignore some key historical facts in order to do so.
There simply is not any significant number of people using Originalism to argue for laws they wouldn’t favor anyway.
I suppose within the sense I understood Greg G above and Dr. Seidman in his podcast I am an “originalist.” I certainly swore formally to defend the Constitution. In my comment above I raised two issues about changes to the original Constitution: the first made by simply choosing to ignore the Constitution; the second, the right to citizenship by birth, occurring closer to use of a mechanism such as Dr. Seidman suggests.
My question about both is how do they get fixed?
I found many of Professor Epstein’s comments very informative. And in many respects I share his concern over the growth of federal power. I am a criminal defense lawyer and I work exclusively in federal court at both the trial and appellate level. Over the 20 years that I have been in practice, I’ve witnessed an enormous increase in the “federalization” of traditional state crimes.
But, that having been said, I found the podcast somewhat frustrating – particularly when the discussion turned to the Commerce Clause and the “rise of the administrative state.” Professor Epstein seems to lay a lot of blame on SCOTUS for the increase of federal power and the rise of the “administrative state.” At the end of the podcast, he suggested (even recommended) that the “judicial system . . . assert its control over federal regulation, which [he] thinks is ruinous to the organization and against its competitive ideals.” I’m not completely sure how to take that comment, except as a call for rank judicial activism.
Congressional authority to regulate interstate commerce derives from Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. This provision also enumerates a number of other powers, including the authority to “establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization”, and to enact laws to protect intellectual property (i.e., patent and copyright laws). I think it would have been useful to the discussion if Professor Epstein had given some background on the SCOTUS’s Commerce Clause jurisdiction and explained how it reviews Congressional legislation passed pursuant to its commerce authority.
Congressial authority to regulate commerce is expansive. Its authority in this arena is amplified by the Necessary and Proper Clause. As early as 1838, in a case entitled United States v. Coombs, the SCOTUS determined that the Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress authority to regulate intrastate (not just interstate) commerce. When necessary to effective regulation of interstate commerce, Congress may regulate intrastate activities that do not, in and of themselves, substantially affect interstate commerce. As it is now articulated, the Commerce Clause (paired with the Necessary and Proper Clause) permits congressional regulation of: (1) the channels of interstate commerce; (2) the instrumentalities of interstate commerce; and (3) activities that “substantially affect” interstate commerce.
Our system is one of separation of powers. Out of respect for the other branches of government, the judiciary generally affords great deference to the acts of Congress and the Executive.
It reviews Congressional authority under the Commerce Clause under what is termed the “rational basis” test. The idea behind rational basis review is that the judiciary must show deference to the elected representatives of the people. A law – be it a prohibition against medical marijuana, a wage and hour regulation, or a statute prohibiting racial discrimination in restaurants – will be upheld so long as Congress had a rational basis for concluding that the chosen regulatory scheme was necessary for the protection of commerce. A judge cannot strike a statute simply because he disagrees with it or, even, if he thinks it is stupid and may prove harmful.
So, while I am sympathetic to many of Professor Epstein’s concerns – and I mean no disrespect to him personally or professionally – I think a little more explanation of the nuts and bolts of Congressional authority and the standards of judicial review would have been helpful to a clearer understanding of the issues.
I am somewhat taken aback that Professor Seidman reacted so sharply to my comments. I thought that it was clear from the comments that I was responding to Professor Roberts’ question about Seidman’s general views. I based my evaluation in large measure on his New York Times editorial, which I argued was thoroughly misguided in my Hoover column Our Obsolete Constitution? I might add that my views are unshaken by Professor Seidman’s restatement of his position here, which I find most alarming. To claim that “the desirability of various constitutional provisions must be defended by argument that makes sense today” is to leave much too much running room to judges and others entrusted with interpreting and applying the Constitution. My own views will be set out in detail on this issue in my new book, The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government, which will be out this fall from Harvard University Press.
Nathan Willard
Given the fact that both Prof. Seidman and Prof. Epstein have entered this conversation it may be stupid for me to make any comment, but I will anyway.
My comment has to do with Seidman’s general principle that the Constitution must stand or fall based upon its merit, not its authorship. I have a great amount of respect for Russ Roberts, but felt that during his conversation with Seidman he just didn’t understand the basic idea of what Seidman was trying to say, this feeling was reinforced in his conversation with Epstein. I feel that Roberts greatly misconstrued Seidman’s viewpoint and presented Epstein with a straw-man that was easily dismissed.
I’m not saying I agree or disagree with Seidman’s political views. It makes no difference, the basic principle he is putting forward is separate from a particular political agenda. He is not saying we should throw out the Constitution; he is just saying the Constitution is not a sacred text – it is not a final unquestionable authority. Epstein acknowledged that there are some bad ideas in the Constitution, ideas he disagrees with. He thinks it’s good we don’t follow them, or return to them. When he started talking about Hamilton on commerce, Marbury v. Madison and “prescriptive Constitution”, I thought that’s exactly what Seidman was talking about.
So we must admit that we should not, and really cannot, just appeal to the authority of the Constitution and think that will settle an argument. We must craft convincing arguments for the validity of the Constitution if we wish to preserve it. Because of Eptstein’s comment I better understand what he sees as the danger of Seidman’s argument. However, this battle is not just being fought in the courts. It is being fought in the public square. It seems that most American’s do not understand or care what the Constitution actually says. So if we wish to preserve what we think is good about the Constitution, and change what we think is bad we must do so with compelling arguments. We must convince the American people of the beneficence of our views for today. The Constitution is upheld or ignored based upon our ability to justify its worth – Thank you Russ Roberts for doing a great job of this with Econ Talk.
Prof. Epstein – I am an unabashed admirer of yours and believe your comments in this interview were honest, insightful, and thoughtful as always.
But – is it really correct to speak about being right or wrong in making a constitutional decision? Isn’t it the case that no constitutional decision, from Marbury forward, can claim to be compelled by the constitutional text? And isn’t constitutional intent an impossibly vague standard for reasons articulated by Justice Scalia when speaking about legislative intent? And don’t all judges, when looking into the constitutional mirror, see their own reflections?
In short – your criticism of Prof. Seidman’s proposed remedy is a bullseye – he would substitute an explicitly political decisionmaking process with zero legitimacy for the current method: but doesn’t he have a point that constitutional decisionmaking currently is a bit of a sham?
My last post was long-winded and I don’t want to bore my fellow listeners. But I want to respond to comments made by Nathan Willard and Ak Mike.
(1) Nathan says: “I have a great amount of respect for Russ Roberts, but felt that during his conversation with Seidman he just didn’t understand the basic idea of what Seidman was trying to say, this feeling was reinforced in his conversation with Epstein.”
I agree with Nathan completely. I love EconTalk and have a great respect for Russ. But during the Seidman interview, I felt like I was listening to two very smart people who were talking past one another. Law and economics, as disciplines, often rely on different modes of thought and ways looking at the world. I felt like Russ was speaking “economese” and Seidman was speaking “legalese” and neither really understood what the other was saying.
(2) Nathan says: “It seems that most Americans do not understand or care what the Constitution actually says. So if we wish to preserve what we think is good about the Constitution, and change what we think is bad we must do so with compelling arguments.”
Again, I agree completely. I would only add that, in addition to the Constitution, most people are completely misinformed about how our legal system — by which I am referring to the courts — actually operate. Don’t get me wrong, after 20 years of active practice, I see a lot to be disillusioned about. But, so much of the criticism I hear on the street and in the press seems ill-informed and misdirected. People don’t understand concepts that lawyers and judges deal with every day — standards of review, different forms of error (is it harmless?; is it plain?), exhaustion requirements, etc., etc. Therein lays my critique of Epstein’s interview. One can criticize the judiciary and recent constitutional interpretation all day. But, I think to do so effectively, one should have a basic understanding of the rules under which courts operate.
(3) Ak Mike says: “Is it really correct to speak about being right or wrong in making a constitutional decision? Isn’t it the case that no constitutional decision, from Marbury forward, can claim to be compelled by the constitutional text?”
I’m not sure that I agree with you completely. The Nineteenth Amendment (giving women the right to vote), for example, seems pretty clear. But, you are right in that much of the language in the Constitution is vague. An “unreasonable search” — what is that? Well meaning, smart people can and do disagree over the meaning of such terms. The Second Amendment, in my opinion, provides a perfect example of what I’m talking about. If you haven’t already done so, read the SCOTUS’s decision in District of Columbia vs. Heller. As you may know, Justice Scalia wrote for the majority and Justice Stevens wrote the primary dissenting opinion. Putting aside whatever bias you may have, try to decide who was correct. Was it Justice Scalia or Justice Stevens. Personally, I don’t really know. But I lean towards Justice Scalia even though I generally favor gun control laws.
Finally, Russ, if your son has not yet done so, suggest that he read Justice Scalia’s concurrence in Gonzales v. Raich, the medical marijuana case decided several years ago. It is only about four pages long and, as always with Justice Scalia, is beautifully and simply written. In the opinion, he discusses the Necessary and Proper Clause and its interplay with the Commerce Clause.
l0b0t
If one is going to read Raich at all, I would humbly suggest starting with the blistering dissent penned by Thomas; in my opinion, his absolute best writing. Raich is one those cases that just scream injustice, the state creating commerce out of whole-cloth for the sole purpose of furthering the inhumane policy of the prohibition of (certain non-government sanctioned) intoxicants.
As for the Constitution being at all ambiguous, I’m afraid I just don’t see it that way. “Shall make no law” and “Shall not be infringed” are pretty clear to me. The only ambiguity comes about when one tries create a veneer of legitimacy to state actions that are clearly contraindicated by the plain text of the document; hence, a century of “emanations and penumbras” and an ever-growing federal Leviathan.
[Comment removed pending confirmation of email address and for irrelevance. Email the webmaster@econlib.org to request restoring your comment privileges. A valid email address is required to post comments on EconLog and EconTalk.–Econlib Ed.]
@Greg G
“…disputes over slavery were the main cause of secession.”
Differences in opinion regarding the Constitutional protection of States’ rights to self-govern was the main cause of secession.
“History shows we would have eventually gotten independence from England without a Revolutionary War. Does that mean fighting for our independence was a mistake?”
Tough question. Please allow me to restate it a bit: Does separation from English-rule 200 years earlier than would have occurred naturally justify the loss of life, loss of property, and damage to infrastructure that occurred in the War of Independence. Maybe. The Constitution is a remarkably good economic document (as you might expect at the heart of the strongest economy in the world). All the economic loss from the war of independence has probably been repaid several times thanks to the creation and application of the Constitution.
“Does it mean that if one of our states today chose to secede and establish slavery it would be wrong to fight a war to prevent that?”
I think you considering two very different questions together. Let us consider them separately.
1. “If one of our states today chose to secede…it would be wrong to fight a war to prevent that?” Yes. Freedom is one of the requirements for a society to produce a high standard of living. Freedom includes the right to make poor decisions. It is contrary to all reason to introduce violence—kill people—in a futile attempt to prevent poor decisions given that poor decisions generally correct themselves if given time.
2. “If one of our states today chose to …establish slavery it would be wrong to fight a war to prevent that.” No. Forcing people in to slavery reduces Freedom. Freedom is one of the requirements for a society to produce a high standard of living. It is reasonable to violently oppose such a profoundly negative change in an economy.
By separating the two questions you can see that the direction of change in the market assumption [Freedom in this case] is what matters when trying to make decisions about war. Past decisions–good or bad–are “sunk costs.” Considering “sunk costs” when making decisions is a common mistake of logic. I recommend avoiding it.
@ SaveyourSelf
If we are obligated to permit a state to secede is a state then obligated to permit a county to secede from the state? Is a county then obligated to permit a town to secede? Is a town obligated to permit an individual landowner to secede?
At some point the freedom of some people to make bad decisions will impinge on the rights of other people to make a nation at all. I am aware you can trace this back to the 13 colonies declaring independence but that itself was an arbitrary historical contingency. It is hard to see how you derive a metaphysical right from such a thing when it is not at all clear that a majority of colonists favored going to war with Britain when independence was first declared.
@ Greg G
You wrote, “If we are obligated to permit a state to secede [from the nation], is a state then obligated to permit a county to secede from the state? Is a county then obligated to permit a town to secede? Is a town obligated to permit an individual landowner to secede?”
Yes, except I would change the word “obligated” to “obliged.”
“At some point the freedom of some people to make bad decisions will impinge on the rights of other people to make a nation at all.”
I think when you say “right to make a nation” you are talking about freedom of contract. I fail to see how allowing some people to opt out of a contract interferes with others entering in to one.
“It is hard to see how you derive a metaphysical right from such a thing when it is not at all clear that a majority of colonists favored going to war with Britain when independence was first declared.”
This is an interesting sentence. I think when you say “metaphysical right” you are referring to my statement about “States’ rights to self govern.” If that is the case, I think metaphysical is an inappropriate term. The States’ rights to self govern is spelled out explicitly in the constitution. Since the Constitution is a real contract negotiated and agreed on between the states, its conditions are real–not metaphysical.
Regarding your mention of “a majority of colonists” not favoring war with Britain, I think you are revealing a belief that a majority opinion = truth or that majority opinion = moral. I would caution anyone who holds this belief that it is wildly dangerous and misleading. Remember Galileo. The majority once thought the sun circled the earth. The lesson there is that the opinion of a majority is irrelevant to truth. Majority opinion generally is useful only as a proxy for violence. That is to say, the larger number of people would probably win a physical contest if the dispute over the question every came to blows—as demonstrated in the American Civil War.
You have really good questions, Greg, thank you.
@SaveyourSelf
You say that you fail to see how allowing someone to opt out of a contract prevents others from making one. Consider a municipal water and sewer system in a large city. You could never have a modern water and sewer system in an urban area with out the power of eminent domain. A small number of holdouts could stop the whole thing. We know what cities were like before modern water and sewer systems. They had levels of disease that impinged on everyone’s freedom.
I’m pretty sure the CSA didn’t allow localities to secede from it and remain part of the USA. A nation simply isn’t a nation if you allow that sort of thing. It is an imaginary anarcho-capitalist state never actually seen in nature for long.
People don’t just care about the absence of coercion. They care just as much about the presence of positive options. That is why no one would want to live on a desert island even if it was well stocked with material goods. We are a social species. The desire to live with other people means that there will always be disagreements about what the law should be and no one will always get their way.
Of course majority opinion is not always right. Neither is it irrelevant to truth as you claim. It increases the odds of being right. The reason Galileo’s ideas are still taught today is because they were convincing to an overwhelming majority once that majority was fully exposed to them.
My point about a majority of colonists was not a claim that the majority would have been necessarily right. (We have no way to even be sure exactly what a majority thought.) My point is that, to the extent that you want to view the Declaration of Independence and Constitution as having their legitimate foundation in the right of contract, you need to remember that that was a contract among a minority of the colonists at the time. The majority were not even consulted.
One more good question if you will indulge me. If we are obliged to permit localities of every variety to secede from the larger political entities they are a part of, then exactly how will we decide when the secession request is legitimate given the fact that you have ruled out majority opinion as useful?
Greg, it appears we have the room to ourselves.
If I am understanding your scenario about city sewers correctly, you are arguing that because city sewers reduce levels of disease, eminent-domain is justified. Lets talk about eminent-domain.
Eminent domain is compulsory purchase of private property by government. Eminent domain is a dangerous and deceptive concept. It is a subtle logic trap. It must never be used.
Expanding on your sewer example, imagine that everyone on a city block wanted a sewer line installed except one person. Imagine further that that one person would allow no sewer line across his property for any price. Under “eminent-domain,” the other homeowners could approach the government and ask the government to force the holdout-owner to allow the sewer line to traverse his property. Their pitch to the government is, “the injury to the holdout-homeowner, whatever it may be, is less than the gain to all of society following the sewer line’s completion.” That argument sounds reasonable, but includes several traps hidden in plain view. The first—and least important—is that the argument implies that the sewer cannot be completed except is a straight line. It leaves out pump stations and parallel lines from other streets and all manner of other options. The second trap is far more substantial.
“Society,” is fundamentally a group of people who agree not to injure one another. It is a contract between like minded people who realize that violence is the greatest obstacle to improving their standard of living. The formal agreement not to hurt one another is the “Societal contract.” This is relevant to a discussion of eminent-domain because when eminent-domain is invoked someone is getting hurt! The societal-contract is being violated. Eminent-domain literally DISOLVES THE SOCIETY. Exercising eminent-domain is like making a deal with the devil where he cures the inconvenience of a cold but in exchange gives you cancer. This is why Eminent Domain must never be used. It kills society.
So what are the alternatives to Eminent-domain? Sometime just raising the offering price for access to the property solves the problem. Sometimes just routing around the property is the only solution. Sometimes Justice allows for the use of force.
I suspect for most people city sewers just makes sense. Who wouldn’t want their sewage carried off their property and rendered harmless. But what if someone didn’t want it?
Adam Smith defined Justice as a set of negative precepts that prevent harm to strangers. Do not kill. Do not harm. Do not lie. Do not steal. In Richard Epstein’s book, “Design for Liberty,” he talks about how sewage spilling over from one person’s property to another person’s property is generally accepted as a harmful act, which means it violates Justice, which means it requires an accounting under the Societal-contract, which means society can force the offending land-owner to adopt some sort of solution that stops the injury. It is Justice and expedience, therefore—not Eminent Domain—that leads citizens to allow sewage lines to cross their property. Even so, if there is a way to safely process sewage on a tiny plot of land so it does not travel to a neighbors property and that land-owner refuses to allow sewage lines to cross his property at any price, then there is no violation of Justice and that land-owner is protected by the societal-contract from his neighbor’s desires. In such a case, force against the land-owner—through eminent-domain or any other coercive policy—is a violation of Justice.
Now, the reason you brought up sewers and eminent-domain is because you were trying to imagine that same scenario with the added complication that the holdout-homeowner was not a citizen—he opted out of the societal contract. He is a foreigner/alien. There are two possible outcomes to that scenario. One I will call a moral-intelligent outcome and the other an immoral-natural outcome.
In nature, when different societies meet they usually try to destroy one another. It would shock no one, I believe, if the holdout, alien, property owner was approached by his neighbors at gunpoint and forced to allow the sewer lines to cross his property. Ditto if they just killed him and took his property. Either way there is NO CONSEQUENCE from the societal contract. He wasn’t a party to it. Even though there are no societal consequences, there are ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES to immoral acts. After all, you can’t trade with a dead man or trade with someone who hates you for past injuries. Absence of trade leads to lower standard of living for everyone, because the economic model which is known to produce the highest standard of living for everyone requires Trade in a Free-Just-Competitive-Informed market. Sacrifice any of those variables and there is a corresponding decrease in societal standard of living.
President Lincoln, obviously, chose this immoral-natural approach. When the Southern states left the protection of the US Societal-contract, he killed them. While killing the outsiders, he did a remarkable amount of damage which decreased the standard of living for both the Northern and the Southern states. Some of that unnecessary poverty continues to this day. The poorest states in the nation are still in the South–Mississippi foremost among them.
Had Lincoln taken the moral-intelligent route, he would have allowed the Southern States to secede and treated them with Justice—ie. not harmed them—but he need not have helped them either. He could have refused to allow trade with the new Confederacy knowing the lack of trade plus the innate inefficiency of the slave driven economy would produce such a profound level of poverty that the independent Southern States would probably, eventually return to the United States—sans slavery. Barring trade would have hurt the Northern States too, but the Northern States had deeper pockets and would have weathered the recession better.
Anyway, back to the sewage problem. If the holdout-homeowner was a foreigner/alien, it would still benefit his moral-intelligent neighbor’s to treat him with Justice and run the sewer lines around the property. Treating him like a citizen in this most basic sense of not harming him would, in the long run, provide larger economic benefits for all parties than the cost of re-routing the project.
Greg wrote, “If we are obliged to permit localities of every variety to secede from the larger political entities they are a part of, then exactly how will we decide when the secession request is legitimate given the fact that you have ruled out majority opinion as useful?”
I hope I have convinced you that the foundation of society is a contract not to harm one another. Entering a contract requires the consent of the other parties to the contract but leaving it does not. Leaving only requires the dissatisfied person to inform the others parties that he is departing. The only party whose opinion matters in your question is the individual choosing to opt out.
Yes, it’s probably a good thing we have “the room to ourselves” at this point because we are off on a bit of a tangent. Even though we disagree on a lot, I appreciate your thoughtful and fair replies. That is not always the norm in these internet debates.
In your view agreeing not to hurt one another is, or should be, the fundamental reason people form societies of various kinds. That is only half the story in my view. The other half is that, through co-operation, groups of people can achieve many things they could not accomplish on their own which make them all better off (like sewer systems, legal systems and common defense). Again, this is why no one wants to live on a well stocked desert island despite the guarantee of freedom from violence and coercion. It is implicit in the decision to be a part of a larger society that policy decisions won’t always go your way.
Not every city in the world has a proper sewage system. There is always a cost threshold above which it cannot be done. Holdouts raise that cost threshold. In some cases this makes the system not possible at a cost that can be paid, making everyone worse off. Furthermore, without eminent domain, many more people would be able to hold out for higher prices resulting in even fewer cities able to build them at all. No doubt eminent domain can be abused like anything else.
You keep arguing that the anarcho-capitalist system you favor would be better for everyone and provide a competitive advantage to a society that employed it. If that is true then how do you explain the fact that it never evolves and survives in the real world?
The Confederate states did NOT recognize the right of counties, towns, cities and individuals within it to secede from the individual states. Their assertion of the right to secede from the U.S. was a transparent case of special pleading, not an assertion of the larger principle you are advancing here. I really can’t see then how you find their position to be morally superior to the North especially with the slavery issue as part of the mix and with the South firing the first shots.
Many, if not most, contracts do not allow for one party to unilaterally withdraw without the consent of the other. The Constitution itself does not address the issue. Like everything else, the founders would have probably disagreed about it. They certainly knew enough history not to expect that secession would be unproblematic.
You have not answered my question about how we should judge the legitimacy of a secession movement in an entity with many people like a state, town, county or city. Especially since you seem to think the answer shouldn’t involve majorities which you view as generally “useful only as a proxy for violence.” And given the fact that no one alive today was even part of the original contracts that formed the governments of these entities.
@Greg G – This conversation has been a great pleasure. We are starting to circle though, so let me try to bring our conversation to a close.
Greg wrote, “Not every city in the world has a proper sewage system. There is always a cost threshold above which it cannot be done. Holdouts raise that cost threshold. In some cases this makes the system not possible at a cost that can be paid, making everyone worse off. Furthermore, without eminent domain, many more people would be able to hold out for higher prices resulting in even fewer cities able to build them at all. No doubt eminent domain can be abused like anything else.”
Any use of eminent domain is abuse. You are right about higher prices. You are wrong that those higher prices justify government force against its citizens.
“In your view agreeing not to hurt one another is, or should be, the fundamental reason people form societies of various kinds. That is only half the story in my view. The other half is that, through co-operation, groups of people can achieve many things they could not accomplish on their own…”
Yes. You are correct. We agree on the goal. Where I think we disagree is on how to get there. I cannot predict what projects and policies will produce the greatest gains for the largest number of people at the lowest costs. You say it is city sewers. I say I am not smart enough to know if that is the optimal answer and you aren’t either. Who is that smart? The market. The market is smarter than me..and you…and all the politicians…and even the majority. It is smarter than anything else humans have ever designed or created. Markets combine the expertise and understanding of EVERY individual—not just the majority of them—in a way that benefits EVERY individual (assuming it is Free-Competitive-Informed-Just). The policies I am proposing to you are the policies that get dumb people like me out of the way of the market. Don’t hurt other people, I need them healthy so they can contribute to the market. Don’t regulate people, I need them free to contribute their expertise to the market without fear of government retribution. Don’t steal from people, it makes the market less efficient. Don’t subsidize anything, it distorts the market outcomes. Don’t Lie to people, it introduces noise in the market signals. Don’t erect trade barriers and tariffs, it reduces competition in the market.
The model I am selling to you is an ideal. Societies can move closer to it but cannot achieve it perfectly. The Free-Competitive-Informed-Just market model predicts countries will see a higher standard of living as they approach that ideal and a lower standard of living as they move away from it. The USA was the closest to the ideal for a while and it had the highest standard of living in the world. Since FDR, the USA has moved rapidly away from that ideal and its standard of living is declining as predicted. China, on the other hand, is moving closer to the ideal and its standard of living is rapidly increasing. The USSR saw a rapid and sustained decrease in standard of living following widespread implementation of central planning. The story is the same everywhere. The model is very reliable.
The reason I think the USA—or any country—allows policies that lead to declining living-standards is mostly due to ignorance. The schools are run by the government. Naturally they teach that the government has the answer. To fix America, you first have to fix the schools and that means you have to let the market run them, the government just isn’t smart enough.
You are right about us needing to bring this enjoyable discussion to a close because we are starting to repeat ourselves. Still, I can’t resist one more reaction to something new you said in your last post.
You wrote, “Since FDR, the USA has moved rapidly away from that ideal and its standard of living is declining as predicted.”
Well, back in the 1930’s libertarians were very vocal in predicting that the growth of government programs would cause our standard of living to decline. And in every single year since then they have made the same prediction over and over again even as we have enjoyed one of the most spectacular INCREASES in standard of living in human history since the 1930’s.
In the 1930’s many people did not have enough to eat. Today the biggest nutrition problem among the poor is obesity. The rich today enjoy a standard of living never approached in human history. The middle class routinely enjoy many, many comforts unimaginable to even the richest Americans in the 1930’s. Pointing out the many ways standards of living have increased for everyone is something Russ Roberts is very good at.
Of course you can, and will, claim that things would be much better yet if we had seen some imaginary counterfactual. Everyone can do that. That is the problem with this kind of debate. There is always that escape hatch for all sides.
What you can’t do is claim this history as a success story for the predictive accuracy of libertarians.
Fair enough. Predicting the end of the world isn’t the kind of thing I want to right about Anyway. Well played.
David H
Thanks for all the podcasts. It would be interesting to hear you touch on the constitutional and economic implications of the Citizens United case, and if we should tax corporations at all.
I agree that the characterization of Seidman’s argument seemed a bit unfair, though I will say based on my recollection of the Seidman podcast, that he didn’t help himself that much in preventing that mis-characterization.
But, here’s the core of his point, from that podcast:
For those provisions that are worthy of our respect, we ought to follow them because they are worthy of our respect and not because it so happens that people thought they were worthy of our respect several hundred years ago.
I may be putting words in Seidman’s mouth, but I think an additional point is that the written legislation that was put into the Constitution to allow it to evolve (e.g. Amendment V) does not match with the emergent evolutionary process (e.g. empowering the judiciary with semi-legislative powers).
What I find strange is that Hayekians, who taught me that law naturally evolves and emerges despite what’s written on paper, don’t seem to want to accept this point, right, wrong or indifferent.
In summary, I found Seidman’s point to be Hayekian and was surprised that Hayekians opposed it. But, I could be wrong…
Wanted to offer a personal thought, Russ. Might be a best practice not to directly mention a previous podcast guest specifically, especially in a negative light. I knew at the time, you were not a big fan of Seidman’s position, but you really managed the Seidman podcast with class.
Think it hurts the podcast to then reference the guest later, paraphrase positions without a disclaimer and use it as a building block with the current guest. Just as easy to reference the idea versus the person, especially when he/she is not there to defend his/her positions.
This was an awesome podcast! I had to listen twice it was so densely packed. I offer the above thought because I feel like a stakeholder in your continued success.
Greg, you wrote,”Back in the 1930’s libertarians were very vocal in predicting that the growth of government programs would cause our standard of living to decline. And in every single year since then they have made the same prediction over and over again even as we have enjoyed one of the most spectacular INCREASES in standard of living in human history since the 1930’s.”
I forgot to tell you, the decrease in standard-of-living the Libertarians predicted has already occurred. You just don’t feel it yet because the government is borrowing money to prop up our standard-of-living. They have been doing that for a long time. Once the borrowing stops though–and it has to stop eventually—BOOM…we can’t ignore it any more.
In medicine we call that “denial.” In economics it is called “Keynesianism.” Think about it.
And in the prediction business they call this kind of reasoning: “A broken clock is right twice a day.”
Economies are always cyclical. What matters is not nominal debt but debt as a percentage of GDP.
Counties have been routinely going into debt to fight wars for all of human history with little correlation between who takes on debt and who sees an increase in standard of living. What is new is going into debt for social programs. England had massive public debt around the time of the American Revolution. And yet the standard of living there has increased until today.
As always, anyone can claim tomorrow will be different. The USA started with a big public debt from the Revolutionary War and saw a steady increase in standard of living until Andrew Jackson fully paid off the national debt. A horrible depression followed.
Luke J.
Jun 9 2013 at 6:12pm
Thanks Russ, for getting Richard back to Econtalk. It was as stimulating as always.
After a considerable amount of time and a small amount of money, I finally uncovered a reference to a study mentioned in a book I read 6 years ago that your conversation tickled in the back of my mind. It turns out the study is conducted annually so the data posted here is more current than I remembered. The description of this study and its findings rocked my world 6 years ago and started me thinking that Freedom was not a boolean variable, but instead described a wide range of possibilities. It also was my first hint that there were reliable levers that could predict the changes in societal standard of living.
http://www.heritage.org/index/PDF/2011/Index2011_highlights.pdf
Page 5, chart 3 shows the correlation between the Heritage Foundation’s “Index of Economic Freedom” and the “Legatum Prosperity Index”. The “Index of Economic Freedom” is a quantitative rating system for economic variables broken out of the Free-Competitive-Informed-Just market model. The “Legatum Prosperity Index” is a hippie-fied version of GDP per capita.
It is my hope that their strong correlation can, at least in part, addresses your concerns about the predictive acumen of the Free-Competitive-Informed-Just market model.
And, in the probable case that there is some overlap between the “Index of Economic Freedom” and the “Legatum Prosperity Index’s” variables, I found this link to the 2008 Heritage study which used GDP per Capita rather than the “Legatum Prosperity Index.”
http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/index/pdf/2008/Index2008_ExecutiveSummary.pdf
Page 6, chart 3 is not quite as pretty as its newer counterpart but still appears to show a strong, linear, non-random correlation between the “Index of Economic Freedom” and measured prosperity.
SaveyourSelf,
In my opinion, studies like this are hopelessly subjective and wind up discovering little more than the preexisting opinions of their authors. I’m sure if some left wing think tank did a worldwide study measuring “social justice” you would have no trouble seeing that. For example, one of the ways economic freedom is measured here is to simply assume that a larger share of GDP for government means less economic freedom. Even if something is true you don’t prove it by assuming it. Here it is simply assumed that more government equals less freedom.
It is especially ironic when those who view themselves as Hayekians suspicious of economic aggregates embrace studies of this kind which purport to measure and rank things like economic freedom to within one tenth of one percent.
I don’t see myself as being against economic freedom. I owned my own business almost my entire adult life. My father, my four siblings and my daughter all own or owned their own businesses. I suspect that you and I don’t have exactly the same concept of freedom despite sharing a lot of overlapping values.
I think economic freedom and prosperity each cause the other to be more attainable. I do not see a simple straight line causation from one to the other. Thanks for investing all this time in the conversation though.
j fortier
Heard this podcast and liked it.
Was curious enough to come to the website where I started to read this thread.
I read through “saveyourself” initial comment, more or less agreed with the second paragraph (the civil war seems pretty important in this discussion, something I suspect Doctor Epstein would agree with). Then I read the fifth paragraph…
On the one hand (s)he argues:
Slavery would have abolished itself! Slavery, after all, is ridiculously inefficient. The South could not compete with its free market neighbors or the rest of the world using a slave system. The South, left to its own devices, would have eventually collapsed—exactly like the USSR in 1991.
But then goes on to suggest
Lincoln is probably the worst president in all of US-history and a villain of gigantic proportions.
Why you might ask, apparently in part because
he led a brutal and destructive war—decimating the infrastructure of the South and killing 600,000 people
OK… I guess so, but (s)he goes on:
while simultaneously establishing both a precedent for supplanting the Constitution with majority opinion and a precedent for suppressing minority dissent with violence.
So violence against slaves is completely tolerable. But somehow, minority dissent, suppressed with a violence that seems completely absent in my day to day activities is intolerable?
It’s hard, and potentially silly to compare suffering, but slavery, particularly as practiced in much ot the pre-war Southern plantations seems clearly an order of magnitude more cruel then any suffering that “saveyourself” (or I, or anyone who has commented here) experiences.
Richard Epstein's Home page
The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government, by Richard Epstein at Amazon.com (available for pre-order).
The Federalist. Free online at the Online Library of Liberty.
The Founders' Constitution. Joint venture of the University of Chicago Press and Liberty Fund.
U.S. Constitution. Online at Cornell University.
U.S. Articles of Confederation. Library of Congress.
Law and Economics, by Paul H. Rubin. Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
John Locke. Biography. Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann. Justia.com.
Seidman on the Constitution. EconTalk podcast.
Glenn Reynolds on Politics, the Constitution, and Technology. EconTalk podcast.
Winston on Market Failure and Government Failure. EconTalk podcast. Discussion of regulatory capture.
More EconTalk Episodes with Richard Epstein.
0:33 Intro. [Recording date: May 3, 2013.] Russ: Our topic for today is the Constitution, and I want to start with a very broad overview. How has the role of the Constitution changed in the United States since the founding? How has our understanding of it evolved, good and bad? And that, of course, we could spend 7 or 8 hours on, but why don't you open us up with a general overview of the biggest trends. Guest: The biggest trend in the Constitution has to do, I think, with the change in Federal and state relations from the time of the Founding. The point here is that the Bill of Rights was not wildly important in terms of judicial action for a very long period of time, and that the major battles therefore were over the structure of the Constitution. And the issue was driven in large part, although it's often forgotten today, by the slavery question. The central feature of the great compromise that brought the United States together was the decision to allow the southern states to keep with their slave traditions and the northern states to keep with their abolitionist traditions, to the extent that they had them. In order to make this work, what you had to do is to limit, very powerfully, the ability of the Federal government to regulate activities that go within the states. And so at that particular point what happened is, you give the Federal government the power to regulate foreign commerce, which essentially allows it--not for the best of all possible reasons--to introduce protective tariffs, which were championed first by Alexander Hamilton, later by Joseph Story, and you give it the power to regulate commerce within the states--that is, transportation going back and forth between states. And also to deal with the very tricky questions of the relations with the Indian tribes. And the rest of it was supposed to be inside the states, with the state police power[?]. When you look at the Judicial System, it was also pretty much the same kind of arrangement. There was to be one United States Supreme Court to review various kinds of decisions. But it in turn was checked by a Congress which could limit the kinds of cases that it could take. And it was also very unclear at the Founding as to whether or not there was anything that the Federal government at the center could do in order to override the decisions of state courts which invalidated certain kinds of laws on Federal constitutional grounds, or more importantly, upheld them against challenges that were based on Federal constitutional grounds. So that what you did in effect was you had an institutional design which was intended to marginalize the Court in its original foundation, and to leave primary power in the federal legislatures and the President and the state legislatures and the state governors, as the case would be. And so, you have that as kind of a key feature with respect to the original constitutional design. There is also the question about what is the role of the Executive. And for the most part, the United States wanted a single executive with great power to execute but little power to create law. And so what they did in effect was to create a system in which the President--and it was the single President--had the powers of a commander-in-chief, had the powers to veto various kinds of legislation, had the power to pardon various kinds of individuals, and was charged with duties like making reports to the Congress like the way in which things went. But if you put the whole system together, the basic way of understanding it was that the Constitution was drafted as a way to get rid of the defects of the Articles of the Confederation, rather than to create the modern welfare or New Deal state. And so they had the President, which the Articles of Confederation did not have; it had a Congress with the power to tax, which the Articles of Confederation did not have. It did have a Federal Judiciary, which the Articles of Confederation did not have. And so what you did in effect was you found a way to get greater degrees of centralization, but the trick was to go far enough to allow the nation to operate as a coherent whole, but not so far as to allow it to squash the individual variations that took place within the states. That's the original design. By the time you get to the modern period, everything starts to change. The separation of powers at the Federal level is looked upon with a great deal of suspicion. And we see the rise of the administrative state. Uh, the notion of enumerated powers, particularly with the Commerce Clause, giving the Federal government only a limited ability to control the way things go within the state, is scrapped in favor of a system of concurrent jurisdiction, where basically on any kind of important economic issue, it turns out that the Federal government is entitled to act. And in its absence, the state government is entitled to act as well. But the earlier version--this is federal, that's state, and never the twain shall meet--was never in fact kept after the 1937 period. So it's a huge difference between a relatively lean classical state--small government, strong property rights--to a law state with heavy administrative law, concurrent jurisdiction. And lots of discretion that's being given to agents at all levels of government. So it's a really very, very big change that took place.
6:03 Russ: Now, you talked about the rise of the administrative state. Explain what that is, the 'administrative state', and when that rise occurred. Why did that happen? Guest: Well the 'administrative state' is not simply a state which engages in administration. I mean, every state has to have tax rolls, property rolls, voting rolls, public highways, and so forth. The 'administrative state' refers to the conscious effort on the part of government, to believe that essential industrial and academic--actually not academic--essentially industrial and manufacturing, commercial functions, or to be subject to a very strong degree of oversight by professionals. And these professionals are supposed to have the kind of scientific expertise that would allow them to manage an economy. And the general constraint on them would not be a system of freedom of contract in private property, but would be the political oversight that takes place by virtue of general popular election. Uh, the way it started was of course gradual, and the first area in which something was clearly needed, or people thought, had to do with the creation of a railroad industry. A network industry that went from one end of the country to the other. And so for the first time what you did was you saw heavy capitalized firms dominating industries, which were at a multi-state level. And the question of how it is that these things were to be regulated became a great challenge. So, in the mid-1880s, the Supreme Court case of Bobby[?] and the Wabash Railroad, sort of indicated that, you know, states could under certain ways, bond--control certain things that take place in their jurisdiction. And then when these decisions made it clear that there might be fragmented control over interstate railroads, in 1887, the Interstate Commerce Act was put into place. And this gave your first system of Federal regulation--the control over rates that railroads could charge. It was in fact quite an ingenious scheme. Because what it was designed to do was inverse the long-haul/short haul inversion. It's very common when you are dealing with network industries. So there are four railroad lines that run from San Francisco to Chicago, and they compete furiously for business. There is only one line that goes from Omaha to Kansas City. And so what happens is it's not a cost-based system of pricing. It's essentially a system which says you load all of your costs of the fixed network onto the smaller portion. So you are paying more to go from Omaha to Kansas City than you do to go from San Francisco to Chicago. And this enraged a lot of people, who didn't understand that this was a form of Ramsey pricing, which means that in effect you put the fixed cost of the system on the inelastic portions of the overall operation. Because otherwise you can't fund it. And so what they did in order to counter that was they required you to price the shorter portions on any individual leg at a price that was at least as great, rather, no greater than the price of running the long haul. So, they tried to control this long-haul/short haul thing. And then slowly what happens is the power to regulate the railroads expanded, so by the 1920s, what you did is you had a comprehensive system of rate regulation, and instead of trying to control these kinds of weird price reversal, what happened is that you now had a cartelization of the industry, courtesy of government. When the Progressives then take over again in the first part of the 20th century, we start to see the creation of the Federal Trade Commission. And this is, again, a very large administrative agency, and a very lot of what it is designed to do is to regulate trust-busting type activities--the Sherman Act had come on board in 1890 and the Clayton Act, which is expanded, it came on in 1914 with the Federal Trade Commission. And what happens is that the model is: Congress gives the broad outlines and the agency fills in the gap. And sometimes it's an anti-fraud device or a consumer protection device. Sometimes it's a trade practice device that's going to be regulated. And so what you do is you see more and more perception on the part of people in government that markets fail for informational reasons, monopoly reasons, whatever. And they want bigger and bigger regulation.
10:10 Guest: So this continues on a regularly steady trend until you get to the 1930s, when it mushrooms with the creation of so many of the major agencies that we have today. Russ: Let's stop there for a second. When we look at that trend--and you earlier identified 1937 as something of a turning point--there's a temptation to say: Well, we're in the middle of the worst economic downturn of American history, the Great Depression. [?] lost in markets; people naturally turn to the government for solution. But in fact these trends had been building for some time. And certainly the Progressive Movement, which--I don't know when it started, maybe late 19th century through the 1st-- Guest: About 1900. Russ: Yeah, about 1900. You get this view, at least this is the story, you get this view that now there is this cadre of experts of people who are clamoring to be expert about and who are lobbying the public and the intellectual class, who are very amenable to this idea that experts should have more power. So, this expansion during the Roosevelt Administration isn't so much a--in this view, isn't so much a counter-revolution to the, excuse me, a response to the Great Depression, whatever. It's rather just the building up of a lot of underlying forces that pushes in that direction. What's your view on that? Guest: Yeah. I mean, 1937 is in fact an extremely important date. Because it represents the final culmination of a movement that has been building for 40 years, on two dimensions. One on the Federalism dimension. It became pretty clear that there was virtually nothing with respect to comprehensive economic regulation. That was beyond the scope of Congress to regulate. Whereas beforehand it was actually quite different. You still had the older view that Congress could regulate interstate journeys, so that if you shift something across state lines in a truck and then you unload it and put it in a car, the truck would be in interstate commerce and the car would not. And by the time you get to 1937, all of the earlier concerns about slavery of course long gone, and now you could regulate whatever you want by way of manufacture, mining, and agriculture within the state, which meant that the Federal governments could really prop up labor cartels, from the National Labor Relations Act, and agricultural cartels, with the Agricultural Adjustment Acts, which were passed repeatedly in the 1930s, harkening back to an earlier period when these things were first introduced under Wilson. Who was of course a transformative, progressive president. But in the interim there are people like Herbert Hoover, so you get the Federal Radio Act in 1926 which is under the control of the Department of Commerce, which Hoover headed. And you see an expansion of government power there. Hoover also organized--it's interesting to remember--a conference which was designed to deal with zoning within states; and they proposed a uniform zoning law which became quite influential. And zoning was sustained as a constitutional matter in 1926, having been introduced as a legislative matter in New York City some 10 years before. So you see this pattern building up. And there is resistance by the old Court; there is reluctance on the part of various people in the Federal government to go the last 9 yards. And then when Roosevelt takes over and the 1937 Court transformation takes place, what's clear is that the progressives have dominated everything, and then, boom, a year later, we have to worry about race; and it's all of a sudden very clear that this model of complete government control and a lot of state power and a lot of Federal power is not going to work very well in the face of systematic segregation in the South. And so you get another permutation, from 1938 through 1954, where eventually in Brown v. Board of Education the Court acted as the super-est of super-legislatures when it struck down the whole state system of segregation, after having decided that it's just absolutely terrible to strike down a minimum wage or a maximum hour law. Constitution law does have this way of having strange twists associated with it.
14:12 Russ: So, what you are saying, if I read you correctly, is that the natural--I'm going to phrase it in a little hyperbole--the natural trend toward Leviathan, which is implicit in any coercive power, monopoly coercive power of the State, was actually restrained, ironically, by slavery and the need for the original Founding to show a respect for state authority that was easily ignored once the slavery issue was gone. And that that's the trend we're still riding today. Guest: It is very ironic. But it's quite clear that the cause of limited government was advanced by the institution of slavery, because it made Federalism a very important issue. Just the way in Canada it's an important issue because of the differences between Quebec and the English-speaking provinces that lay to the west. Russ: Explain 'Federalism'. A lot of people find 'Federalism' to be an awkward term. Federalism means--explain it. You would think it would mean the power of the centralized state. That's not what it means. Guest: No. It means almost exactly the opposite. A Federal system, as opposed to a unitary system, is best understood by going back to the Articles of Confederation, dropping the first syllable. And 'federated' means loosely affiliated, one through another, so that you are not dealing as strangers but on the other hand you have separate relations, separate governances with some degree of comity or cooperation between them. And the so-called Full Faith and Credit Law, whereby each state promises to give respect, full faith, and credit to the judicial decisions and the legislative actions of other states is a classic illustration of how Federalism works. So, what happens is you enter into a judgment against x in State Number 1, and that guy disappears to State Number 2, you want to go in and enforce that judgment in State Number 2 as the winning plaintiff in the first case. And the state, by having to give full faith and credit to it, means it can't say: Gee, we want to relitigate that case in our particular jurisdiction so we can be sure it gets right. And so federations in effect are loose alliances among states. And it's more complicated here because you've got the Federal government on top of it. So you have, in Federalism, to worry about state-state interactions and then Federal pre-emption or domination of things that the individual states can do.
16:41 Russ: So, let me ask a naive question, which I don't know the answer to. It's the kind of question my 14-year-old has been asking me lately; and we're going to get to him later, maybe. He's got a lot of questions that I don't know the answer to; it's partly why you are on the show this week. Guest: [?] Russ: Isn't it exciting? Now if a state, a particular state, passes legislation that violates the U.S. Constitution, or might be thought to--and we have a lot of experiments going on right now in social policy areas, marriage issues, drug issues--what's the legal issue there? What is the ability of a state to carve out its own set of legislation, that follows its own constitution but not the Federal one? Guest: Well, if you go back to the pre-1937 issue, [?], what becomes clear is that there's a lot of room for experimentation, not all of it good. So the most famous use of that particular metaphor about experimentation comes from a 1932 case, and it's a dissent by Louis Brandeis, a case called New Ice against Leibmann, in which he says that the laboratories are essentially the places--the states are laboratories in which we can have experimentation going on. And it's kind of like the trial-and-error mode of scientific inquiry: this state seems to make it work, that state doesn't; the one state that fails will imitate the one that does good, and by having these multiple experiments running simultaneously, you get a way to compare and to contrast. And that, in effect, is an effective constraint on limited government. The problem about that is that sometimes you know these experiments are failures even before they are tried. And in the case of the New Ice Company, what happened is the state, I think it was Oklahoma, which sort of announced that hey, we are going to have a cartel created for the sale of ice inside this state. An ice cartel. And, you know, you are trying to figure out why it is that you'd want to do this; and the only explanations that come up are forms of political influence and naked economic protectionism. And that was the thing that our friend Brandeis was defending. And the majority of the Court said, this is the kind of thing that the Federal Constitution doesn't allow, and it struck it down. And this is what the complication is. After the Civil War, it was widely understood that there were too few Federal constraints on what states can do. And this, of course, is the obvious consequence once you decide to strike down slavery. So what they did is they passed the 14th Amendment. And the way to understand it is as follows. What it does is to guarantee people fairly extensive rights. There is something called the 'privileges or immunities clause' of the 14th Amendment, which says, categorically, no state shall make or enforce any law that abridges the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States. And 'no state shall make or enforce any law'--this is a huge prohibition on what states can do. It's a kind of a veto power. And it's to be enforced mainly from Congress by appropriate legislation. So the Federalist system changed after the Civil War. And what was thought was that you'd have state initiative only, but you have Federal veto power. But what you did not have under the 1868 situation, where it was that the Federal government could initiate those kinds of rules that the state had to follow. That came only in 1937. So, the original version was: You states can do all kinds of things, but we've got this Constitutional protection out here so that you cannot engage in various kinds of dangerous activities. And the basic argument is this: Federalism is good because it creates tax competition; Federalism is bad because what it does is it creates land-use monopolies that the state can easily control through zoning regulations or entry restrictions of one sort or another. And the cleverness of the 1868 solution was it was an effort to have Federal vetoes over bad sorts of state acts while allowing the good state acts to continue to go more or less as they were. So experimentation is certainly not a bad thing. So, for example, one of the things that you discover is, you take states like, um, Illinois. Or Massachusetts. Still governed states. They have flat tax Constitutions, which makes a huge difference compared to places like California and New York, which don't have those things. So, you know, experimentation on tax rates, I can understand where that comes from. But experimentation in the form of entrenching local monopolies is the kind of thing that you would like to strike down.
21:12 Russ: Well, you were talking about the administrative state and I derailed you. I want to come back to that for one more minute. Given the expansion of the administrative state in our time, where we have agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency {EPA] and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), they have much larger roles in implementing legislation. And the legislation is much broader and more ambitious. And it's inevitable, it seems to me, and in the current situation, because of the complexity of these regulations, that they have to work very closely with the industries they are regulating. Which opens up the possibility of regulatory capture. I know that the ideas behind these agencies are lovely--cleaner air, better air waves, more access. But how can it possibly be a good thing that this communication--and I'll add the financial sector to it as well. My voice, as Mr. Citizen, seems to be very quiet, given how much time the regulated industries must spend in the halls of power. What's going on there? Guest: Well, it's actually even more complicated than that. Your voice as a citizen is indeed ever [?] least subdued, but it would be a mistake to think that the regulatory capture model works unambiguously in all cases. The way this system is in fact organized, the people who wish to veto various kinds of actions are often given enormous kinds of power. So that what happens is you have an Environmental Protection Agency and you have the industry groups that are lobbying for relaxation of certain pollution controls, but at the same time there are well-organized environmental groups of one kind or another which are constantly suing the Agency in order to make sure that they impose even stricter restrictions on what's going on. So the Natural Resource Defense Council, whatever these organizations are called, are always very, very active in this kind of fray. And it's always very indeterminate as to who is going to win those kinds of struggles. First of all, the agencies themselves are often quite conflicted. Many of the people who are appointed to the agencies are not what you would call 'friends of industry.' Nobody would say, for example, that the leadership under the Obama Administration on the Environmental Protection Agency was pro-industry. The industry people lost most of the major battles with respect to that. So, there's a kind of indeterminacy at that level. The second point is that the issue about capture is not sort of an inevitable by-product of a well-organized scheme that somehow gets derailed. It is actually built into the statutes themselves. The most famous illustration of this has to do with the charter that was given to the FCC, which is created first by the Radio Act in 1926 and then it gets expanded jurisdiction in 1934 and it becomes the Federal Communications Act. And the administrative agency was delegated the power to make all rules and regulations necessary to advance the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Now, you mentioned that obviously we need the system to make sure there's no spectrum interference going one way or another, and that's absolutely correct. But the agency in fact by the courts took a much more aggressive view of the situation. And in the famous phrase of Felix Frankfurter in talking about this in the 1943 decision involving NBC, he said: It's quite clear that the function of the agency is not only to set the rules of the road--that is, to prevent interference on the frequencies, but it's also to determine the composition of the traffic. So that when you start to see the lobbying that comes on in this particular case, don't think of it as simply a question of abuse at the agency level. Think of that one at least as a very serious defect in the design of the system at the Constitutional level; at the Congressional level, when they didn't take the sensible position, which was to figure out how to assign frequencies that are consistent with one another and then auction them off to users for their hired use, that was a major Congressional decision. And it is perfectly consistent with their view that these experts in government are entitled to do all sorts of other things and to simply confine them to use the 'night watchman state' to use their own terminology would be a desperate error. So, what you do is you see the administrative agencies responding to the Congressional commands, and the Judicial system, which is not particularly convinced about the merits of a property system anyhow, accommodating them up and down the line. So it becomes a very, very erratic position; and it's extremely difficult, therefore, to generalize from one administrative scheme to another. Indeed, to generalize between one portion of the jurisdiction, the statute, to another. So the rules that govern, for example, the roles of air pollution under the EPA are very different in design and impact from the rules that govern water pollution. And it takes a very brave soul to be able to make jumps from one kind of organization to another. So, it's a really very complicated situation. And just like the Federalism situation, it's not just there's a tendency, one powerful push that leads to regulatory capture. What is unleashed is a whole series of initiatives by private and public parties alike which are constantly at war with one another, and you don't know the initial positions of all of the players, and therefore it's almost impossible in advance to predict what the outcomes will be. And it's also extremely difficult to know whether the courts are going to get their noses up with some of what these agencies do, or whether they are going to basically be highly compliant. So the [?] can only be described as expensive and chaotic. Russ: There's one other word I would add, which is 'non-transparent.' Guest: Oh, that, too. Russ: And the lack of accountability--if things don't go well--basically we're relying on that--not internecine, I was going to say 'internecine conflict'--it's wrangling, that takes place behind the scenes with the administrative court system. It's a bizarre way to run a country, which certainly isn't the way it was a while ago. But it's the way it is now. Guest: Yeah, but Russ, it's ironic. You used the word 'transparent,' and it's lack. The way in which we've achieved non-transparency is to publish so much information before any one of these particular proceedings take place, and nobody can figure out what it is that's going on. You get this outpouring of papers and stuff, and then, since nobody can assimilate it, what happens is the serious work is done behind closed doors. So you do get a nod toward transparency, but Lord knows how the sausages are made, to quote this book.
27:51 Russ: In a recent episode of EconTalk I interviewed Louis Michael Seidman, who had argued at the time in an op-ed, and I think it's based on his book, that we should just ignore the Constitution; it makes no sense to be beholden to a bunch of dead people who lived hundreds of years ago; they don't know anything about what we're doing; it's bizarre that we constrain ourselves that way. What was your reaction? I know you had one. Shockingly. Shockingly a negative reaction. Guest: Well, my reaction was negative. I was by no means alone. I don't even know what it is to ignore the Constitution. Do we start to say, in effect, that people can disregard the judgments of the Supreme Court? Does it mean in effect that when Congress passes a law by say, less than a majority vote, that we are going to so: Oh, 40% of the people are in favor of this in the House of Representatives, it's now a law? Certainly he doesn't mean all of that. The question is just: What does he mean? He was certainly in favor of giving certain kinds of protections for the 1st Amendment--speech. Well, that's got to be Constitutional and that's got to be enforced. There is a movement on the Left, of which Seidman is a part; his former colleague now at Harvard, Mark Tushnet, is a part; Larry Kramer, who is the former Dean of Stanford Law School is a part--which says that what we have to do is to return to the principles of popular democracy, in the way we elect public officials, is clear enough, but also in the way in which we pass our laws. So that for the most part whatever comes out of the Congressional or the state mill, if it is a reflection of "the will of the people", then the courts ought to yield to it. Because otherwise, to use Kramer's famous phrase: Instead of having 'we the people' what we do is we have 'we the court' deciding things. My own view about this is I just think it's much too crude. There is no question that any appropriate constitutional theory has to be able to find a series of structural constraints that existing legislatures are not in a position to avoid. But on the other hand it has to give them sufficient power so as to be able to make sure that you can upgrade a government to deal with the technical and the legal and the moral challenges, and the international challenges, of a [?] age. The issue that you'd want to then ask is just exactly how it was that the folks in 1787 did[?] understand that exact precise dilemma and whether or not they picked the series of institutions and rules which actually gave you the needed flexibility where it was required but gave you the needed structural regularities where that was required as well. So you have to be able to figure out whether or not they did a good or bad job. So, for example, I think that the old device, wholly apart from the slavery question, of having competition between states in the organization of such general policies on such things as taxation and then having the Federal government with the power to make sure that no state could blockade trades across state lines, that's a kind of a structure that works very well in the age of the Internet, the airplane, the railroad, as it does in the horse and buggy stages. So that I don't think there was anything whatsoever wrong with that original structure of enumerated powers. And that the risk of factions, which later becomes the risk of public choice captured is in fact one that was real in 1787 and it's one that's real today. So, if you look at the Constitution and you sort of ask yourself which of its provisions seem to have durability that outlast the time of their creation, I would say a very large fraction of them do. And the ones that clearly did not--the three-fifths clause on racial voting and the fugitive slave provisions that dealt with the duty to return escaped slaves to their owners and so forth--those things are all gone. Does this mean that we have a perfect Constitution? No. But ironically, if you then start to figure out what some of the great achievements are, it's actually through more Judicial intervention rather than less. Let me give you one example. If you look at the Constitution on this key question of interstate trade, it says: Congress shall have the power to regulate trade amongst the several states. And what typically happens is Congress doesn't regulate trade very much amongst the several states. And what the states then try to do is to create all sorts of barriers to make it more difficult for merchants out of state to compete with local people. And what the Supreme Court has done under the so-called 'dormant' commerce clause, it has basically inferred that in the absence of Congressional legislation, it is its duty to essentially make sure that we preserve the basic outlines of a competitive economic union, much the way the early economic union was in Europe. So that states cannot impose differential barriers on foreign trade and commerce, or foreign merchants coming inside the state, so as to create a nationwide common market instead of having a Balkanized market with either 13 or 50 states. It's been a great intellectual achievement. They make it very clear that this doesn't allow you to admit poisons into the rivers of another state or to introduce native wild species into a particular community which will kill all the local fish and habitat. Essentially what they did was they invented a classical liberal doctrine. Now, if you take Seidman seriously, then presumably you are going to go back to the kind of state relationships which essentially allow you to have this provincialization take place. I can't think of anybody who would really want to do that. You are going to get rid of judicial review; you are going to have to say: Gee, well really shouldn't the people in the state of South Carolina decide whether they want to continue with segregation? And by the way, why don't we want to have any Federal oversight or Constitutional oversight over who is allowed to vote in state elections and so forth. So, it becomes almost grotesque to put this forward as a general concern. And the correct way in which to do it is to break it down into smaller questions and say: is this an area in which you think, either as a matter of existing Constitutional law or as a matter of general constitutional theory, that the courts have gone too far? And you know, take one case where that's arguably so: Should the Federal government, or should the Federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, have the power to tell states how to organize their prison systems? And I certainly think that the Constitution has gone way too far in an area that Seidman might be in favor of, which is the ability under the so-called 'cruel and unusual punishments' clause to essentially say that it is no longer permissible in the United States to execute somebody if it turns out that he's guilty of child rape. There are all sorts of normative judgments that the Supreme Court makes on capital punishment which bear no relationship to the judgment of 'we the people'. And yet somehow or other I don't know whether or not Seidman thinks it's a bad thing or a good thing. I think that's a case of judicial excess. But on the other hand, allowing a zoning law which confiscates property effectively to pass unchallenged I think is a sign of judicial abnegation. So I just don't see this one-directional situation on any relevant issues, which allows me to say there's too much court or too little court. I take this at a retail level, not at a wholesale level. Russ: The problem I have with it, with the formulation you gave, the Kramer formulation, is that this idea that there is such a thing as the will of the people is a bizarre intellectual concept to me, since most of us don't agree on many things. And any attempt to aggregate our preferences is inherently imperfect. And that aggregation should only take place when it's absolutely necessary or a strong improvement, because most of the time it's a way to redistribute among people.
35:20 Russ: But let me give Seidman his due and challenge you. He makes a good point, I think, that the Constitution only constrains legislation and behavior infrequently in the modern era, and maybe it would be better to be more honest about its real role in our lives. So there's certain areas--the First Amendment, I think, and that's why he likes it--I'm a fan of it, too. Second Amendment, I think he's also a fan of that also. But we can disagree about which are the good amendments, which are the bad amendments; but I think--am I wrong in saying that there are only a few of them that really matter? That most of the time, whatever Congress wants to do, it does anyway; and we just go along. To quote my--he's actually 15; I misspoke; he got a year older while we were doing the podcast--but my 15-year-old says: Why is marijuana illegal? Why is that Constitutional? Or trans fats in New York City? You name it. What gives the government the right to stop me from eating or consuming what I want to consume? Most people just say: Because it's good law. But we don't really use the Constitution. In a way, Seidman's vague idea that, well, if it's good, if people like it, that's what we should do; we shouldn't be constrained. You think that's true? Guest: Well, in spite--I mean, look. One of the things that people don't know whether they want the courts to intervene or to back off. And the cases that you've given, you would love to have a judicial decision that says it is not within the competence of the state in the exercise of its police power to tell you what you can and cannot eat. What it's supposed to do under its police power is to make sure people don't get killed in street fights and to make sure that poisons aren't circulated throughout the system. But if you have ordinary food and there's an issue of overconsumption, that becomes an individual matter rather than a collective matter to solve. Well, that's an argument that means strong constitutional interventions, not for having weak ones. So, your son is on both sides of the issue. As is everybody else. One of the great things that happened with the Kelo case was that the Supreme Court said that you are taking land for public use--you are going to transfer it from one private party to another. And most people said: This is the most outrageous form of judicial activism. But it was exactly the opposite. It was a situation in which the Court knew that this was not a public use transfer, and nonetheless said it's up to the state to decide whether or not to allow it. And they should always make it for public use because every transfer will have some indirect public benefit. Well, if that's the test and every transfer has the limitation that is de facto read out of the Constitution. So people who get indignant about this, often whenever they don't like a decision, they call it judicial activism, even when they are cases of complete judicial passivity. So again, I'm just going to repeat what I think to be the case, which is that what we need to do is define imparticularities[?]--where courts should intervene and where not. So let me just give you one simple example: What do you do with tax base[?]. Well, I think it would be absolutely crazy for somebody to say: Well, the U.S. Constitution means, a. that the average tax level can never be more than 4% no matter whether you are at war or at times of peace. That would be crazy. Or that the total budget that could be spent for all times could never be more than a billion dollars. There is a $20 provision about jury trials in the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution. But I think it's perfectly sensible for somebody to say: look, under our Constitution if you want to eliminate the kinds of political discretion that can eat you alive, what you have to do is to have a broad tax base and the tax rates have to be flat. And if you did that it would be a complete transformation of modern American politics at the Federal level. Just think of what would happen in the debate about the top 1%. You could no longer have it. You would be in the same position that Illinois and Massachusetts, both ill-governed states, are with respect to this. That's a judicially enforceable limit; it makes a big difference; and it does not trench upon your ability to raise whatever revenues you think you need in order to discharge the important functions of the day. So, that's a classic case in which, on the matter of rate, it seems to me you would want to have complete Congressional control but on the matter of rate structure, you would want very strong Judicial control. That's the same very issue. So to kind of argue that I'm in favor of restraint or I'm in favor of Judicial restraint or Judicial activism becomes idle[?]. You can disaggregate. Figure out how in accordance with general principles of political theory you give people enough discretion to run the government but not so much to run it into the ground. Which is what we are doing today. Look, you know as well as I do, Russ: there is no major tax rate currently in place which has a half-life of more than two years. They all get changed. And they get changed in terms of the intensity, the progressivity, the kinds of taxes we impose or whatever. So, we had a compromise just this past year in which we raised the estate tax up to $5 million and then give a cost of living increase, and now it turns out the President comes back and says: I don't like that; let's go back to $3.5 million dollars and a higher bracket for taxable stuff. So, his attitude is: I conceded on this point in 2013 in the beginning of the year, and now I'm perfectly okay that we can pass a statute so that by 2018 or 2017 it goes back into a position that is radically different from the one that we have. How do people plan against that kind of erratic behavior? Russ: That is a problem. I'd certainly prefer a more stable tax environment, and I'd prefer a flatter tax environment and a broader based tax. And a more transparent tax system where we don't have this weird payroll tax thing, that people think is for their old age, but their other Federal activities get funded out of the income tax when in fact they both get pooled together. There's a lot of problems.
41:02 Russ: But let me ask you one other followup to this Seidman issue that come up, which I thought was very provocative, which is--I'm not sure how it came up, but it's something I think about a lot--which is that we have this romance about the Court, that members of the Court have these philosophies. We have these people with strict constructionist views, we have people with more progressive views, people with more liberal views in terms of how the Constitution should be interpreted. What do you think of what I would call the 'realistic view', which is the view that I increasingly come to in most areas of human thinking, which is: People have a bunch of biases and ideologies and philosophies, and they do what they want, and then they cook up the reason later. They are not really seeking the truth when they go out to examine a court case. They know what they are going to come to. They just have to find cases that support that view. In what sense do the Justices of the Supreme Court do what we might call 'real jurisprudence,' where they go and find out what the record says, what are the precedents, as opposed to just figuring out where they want to go and write the roadmap as they go along? Guest: Yes. I mean I think it's all too common. It's a very difficult question in general. Because you don't want to say in effect that people who do this are being completely incoherent or inconsistent. Russ: Or hacks. Guest: One of the things that's so interesting about this is if you figure out what the Progressive intellectual agenda was on individual rights, Federalism, separation of powers of the administrative states, their decisions are perfectly coherent with respect to that basic set of principles. And exactly the same thing could be said with respect to us classical liberals. The reason why I scream is that this is not a debate in pure political theory. You've got yourself a text there. I think in fact it does have certain strong commitments to it. And all those commitments were drafted by people who thought about the world in the way in which I do rather than the way in which they do; and yet somehow or other they always manage to win when it comes to the question of what these words mean. And I believe that the descriptive that you've given, that is that people have their political preferences and then what they do is they organize their judicial theory around it, is in fact correct. But I've never been able to get past the simple point that sometimes you are wrong when you do this and sometimes you are right. One of the tests that you always give yourself is to ask whether or not you are creating this sort of the world's perfect constitution, in which no matter what's written there, you always end up with something that is perfectly in accordance with your own beliefs. Russ: What you like. Guest: Yeah. So, you want to find out whether or not you think there is something which is written there which disagrees with something that you clearly favor. And I constantly ask myself that question. And so if we go back to this commerce clause illustration, and the question is whether or not in 1787 there was a protectionist constitution against foreign trade, the answer to that question is unambiguously, yes. Hamilton was a mercantilist; he was a highly influential [?]. He said in effect if you read Federalist Number 11 that one of the reasons that we have this Federal commerce power with respect to foreign commerce is so we can have a united front against foreign states, otherwise we are at the mercy of market forces in the way in which we regulate our own internal economy. I think this is just terrible prose. Bad idea. But I have no doubt of what they did. To give you another illustration, on the question of whether or not there is judicial supremacy: Now, you read closely what the Constitution says about the creation of the Federal Court system, and it's just not in there. You go back and you check the way in which Montesquieu and Locke describe the separation of powers, and the judicial role was to protect individual rights in accordance with the laws that were passed by the congress and enforced by the executive, there was never to veto or to overcept those laws. And yet we certainly have read, since Marbury and Madison, and Martin against Hunter's Lessee, the thing in exactly the opposite direction. And I think it was wrong as a matter of original interpretation. And that gets you to a second problem. Which is: Suppose you've done this wrong and it works. And you've done it for 200 years. So, I'm not the guy who is going to come along and say: You know, Marbury v. Madison is wrong; what we have to do is to overrule it. I think what happens is constitutional law has two things, to deal with this sort of incipient illegitimacy that gets ratified by past use. One is originalism--that is the text, and the various modes of construction. And the other is what I call in my new book the 'prescriptive Constitution'--i.e., if somebody trespasses on your land, he's a wrong-doer, right, Russ? If he does it for 20 years, he's a new owner. That's the doctrine of prescription. And so it is, if you start with a Constitution, somebody does something which is rather gutsy and probably incorrect, and then people acquiesce in it over a long period of time, that becomes the new Constitution. Not in every case, but in many cases. So that--no originalist that I'm aware of wants to go back to the original Constitution on Marbury or on Martin and Hunter's Lessee--that is, dealing with the power of the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate state or Federal laws. And so you have to be very much aware, and ask the question: What counts as legitimate long use? Plessy v. Ferguson is pretty long decision; it was in power for 58 years and it was struck down by the Supreme Court. I think the long and the short of that is that it was never a decision whose legitimacy was wide-spread accepted, particularly as segregation became more and more ugly. So, now what you have is you even have a worse world. You have to have a prescriptive Constitution with some selective judgment as to which things last and which things don't. And I think you can do that. What I don't think you can do, is do it in an error-free fashion. Russ: Yeah. Well, there's a certain Hayekian aspect to that prescription view. Guest: Absolutely. Russ: It says that stuff that persists must have something good about it. And, as you say, sometimes it doesn't. There may be a reason it persists that isn't because it's good and unchallenged. But it's an interesting place to start.
47:30 Russ: One more question for my 9th grader: What is the elastic clause? Guest: That's a dangerous kid. Russ: Yeah, I know he is. He's dangerous. That's right. What's the elastic clause, and what is your view of it? What is he asking about? Guest: I think he's asking about the necessary and proper clause. Russ: That's correct. What is that? Guest: Well, if you look at the organization of the Federal Constitution, it's a principle of enumerated powers. And at the end of this thing, at the end of this, it says: And each of the departments of government shall have all of those powers--necessary and proper powers--to carry into execution the aforementioned powers. And so what happens is, it's an enumerated powers doctrine with a twist. And the question is just how big is the twist that we have to add in. And when John Marshall interpreted this provision in a case called McCulloch and Maryland, he said that the words 'necessary and proper' when taken together mean 'appropriate.' And that clearly, as a linguistic matter, lowers the level of scrutiny that can be brought to any particular action of Congress. So, if you think that something is necessary, it means that you can't do without it. And proper, meaning that it manages to accord with all sorts of other prohibitions in the Constitution. Appropriate means a much looser connection. And the proof of the pudding is in the case that he was dealing with, which is the question as to whether or not the Congress had the power to create a national bank. So, if you look at the individual powers what you do is you don't see a bank there. What you see is a power to regulate commerce. And the power to issue credit. And the power to run a mint. And so what Marshall said is, you know, all of those things work a lot better if you can have a national bank. And so therefore it's appropriate to have them, and it's constitutional. There was a big debate earlier on as to whether or not the clause could be read that broadly--Hamilton for it, I think, Madison against. My view is that I think Marshall misread the clause. He was in fact a champion of the strong Federal government. Indeed the best illustration is a young fellow who is about to enter into teaching whose name is Will Ford[?] who wrote this very interesting paper in which he said: Well, is it necessary and proper for the Federal government in the States to be able to condemn land to be able to build to post roads? And you would have thought, how can you build a post road unless you can condemn the land? But the practice seems to have been otherwise. And the rule was that if you have two sovereigns, a state sovereign and a Federal sovereign, what the Federal government had to do was the ask the state to condemn the land and then turn it over to them. So that then gives you an exceedingly narrow reading of this clause, and it's not what you would call an 'elastic' clause. It's a clause which says, for example, if the United States has to find people to live in Washington, D.C., they can essentially give people stipends, even though there's nothing in the Constitution which talks about stipends for housing allowances. And I think at that point, the great battle is you really need to say that, because traditional views of construction would always give you those additional powers anyhow. And so this became a clarification. But when you get to the 1930s, all of a sudden people are saying necessary and proper is the way in which you understand the legitimacy of the administrative states. So, instead of having three branches of government, you can now have what is called the 'fourth branch of government', in addition. It's a huge transformation in the way things work, and this shows you why constitutional law is so perilous. You get something and you don't know what it means; and your son asks you a question; you have no idea of the huge stakes that are involved. And the one thing you could say about all great American Constitutional scholars is they understand how significant the issues that they debate in a way that the public does not. And so with the necessary and proper clause, you get the administrative state. If it turns out that the Commerce Clause allows you to regulate those things which affect interstate commerce even if they are not in interstate commerce, that seems to you like a matter of words; well, you can set prices in the agricultural markets under one way, and you can't set them under the other. So that the battle over the two meanings of the Commerce Clause is a way of expanding Federal power by an order of magnitude at least, if not more. So that's why these things make such a difference. And my view is from the classical liberal Constitution is, if you are trying to figure out under the species of eternity how you put these things together, understanding the recurrent dangers of political order and the recurrent problems associated with factions--the 1787 Constitution is actually more sophisticated than the 1937 Constitution. And part of the reason why we have such a malaise now is there is such a concentration of power in Washington that it's a huge target for every interest group in town to come there and essentially, as you said at the beginning of the hour: You can't create wealth if all you are interested in doing is transferring from one party to another. Russ: Ah--a sigh. A long sigh.
52:35 Russ: It crosses my mind, as I ask the guests from time to time a variant of this question, that, we get the Constitution we deserve. You and I, we like the Constitution of 1787. Other people like the 1937 one or the 2007. And we don't have many people that agree with us. So, there are these underlying political forces--again, all these ideas about theories of judicial interpretation, that's just window dressing. What's really going on is, the President nominates Supreme Court justices that are politically popular, and basically the ones that are politically popular, because the President wants to be politically popular, and his party wants to be popular, are going to be justices that don't have the "right theory" of the Constitution, but who open the door to laws, legislation, that most people want. And what most people want is a more active Federal government. Guest: What do I think about that? Russ: Yeah, what do you think about that? Guest: Most people want--I think most people want a more active Federal government to advance the particular cause that they champion and a smaller Federal government with respect to all those things which harm them so greatly. And so what happens is you still can get large numbers of people who will quote to you Gerald Ford when he says to you: the government is big enough to give you everything you want; it's big enough to take away everything that you have. And most people straddle that particular kind of an insight. So they don't know which side they are on. But that's why these academic debates, so called, are so absolutely important. Because quite simply, the stakes are enormous. It's very clear that there is no sort of automatic guardian of the public welfare that sits outside of human beings, by divine origin or divine power to structure these things, so what you have to do is to change the climate of opinion in the hopes that once you do that, you'll be able to change the input of the judges on the Court. And remember, it is very common for justices on the U.S. Supreme Court to shift one way or another. Harry Blackmun started out in some sense as a Nixon appointee, and he does the abortion cases because he worked for the Mayo Clinic, and by God, by the time he's done he's a member of the liberal faction. Indeed, if you look at the Supreme Court there are many conservative Presidents who appointed liberal justices. I think I did a rough calculation once that between, say, 1956 and 2005, roughly speaking, what you could say was that each year on average there were three justices appointed to the Supreme Court by conservative presidents who turned out to have deeply liberal sentiments. Russ: My theory of that is they like to go to good parties. So, after you've been in Washington for a while, and most people are not like you, you think: Well, this isn't any fun. Slightly cyncial. Sorry. Guest: Yeah, I know that. But not with Bill Brennan. Eisenhower appointed him because in 1956 he thought he needed to solidify his base in New Jersey. He later described it as the worst political miscalculation in his career. Earl Warren was in fact part of a political deal that if he backed Eisenhower in 1952, he would get the next open seat, and it just happened to be the Chief Justiceship of the United States Supreme Court. Stevens, who is a very distinguished judge, was a buddy of Edward Levy, and that had a huge amount to do with it; and Edward was a progressive Republican and so did it turn out was our friend, Stevens. David Souter was sworn to by Warren Rudman to be a man that would be sound; and it turned out that the first Bush believed him and he got himself 20 years of relatively left of center justice. Russ: Does it ever go the other way? You get somebody who is nominated-- Guest: Political--your party theory--no. It tends to be as people get on the Court, they tend to veer to the left. Russ: And that's consistent with my party theory. Guest: Yes. Sandra Day O'Connor certainly was a more liberal justice towards the end of her term than she was at the beginning. Same thing could be said even of Bill Rehnquist. Somebody like Byron White is a very complicated character, because he was very far to the left on labor issues, on which he was much further to the left than Bill Brennan; but on the other hand he was very conservative on moral kinds of questions, police power, abortion. So he was conservative on some issues. It was not a case in his situation of a transformation. I think that's the way he was when he took office in the early 1960s and he remained that way until he resigned some years later. Now, it's a complicated set of mixtures but there's no question that the age of miscalculation, as one might call it, I think is over now. If you look at the current Supreme Court, every one of the 9 of them is reforming in the [?]. Except possibly for Kennedy. And he was appointed of course 25 years ago. But even he--on the Commerce Clause stuff--everybody said he was the doubtful man, and he came out essentially completely transformed the earlier argument, when he just asked the very innocent question: Does Congress have the power to create commerce in order to regulate it? I mean, you know, that was tough stuff. The theme to end with on the hour is that we all have simple theories which explain some portion, but the closer you look at any of the particular issues, the more complicated the cross-currents turn out to be. So as a descriptive matter, it's very hard to figure out how the capture theory works, under this current Constitution that we have. And as a normative theory it's very difficult to figure out which way the Justices are going to start to come down on the really big cases that shape and define the nation.
58:07 Russ: Let me close with a rhetorical question I have here written down--it's kind of comical: Is there anything important you have to say about the Constitution I haven't asked you about? It's a rhetorical question--I know the answer is Yes. Guest: Yes. Russ: Why don't you close with some final thoughts, and you might want to mention which direction you think we are going. You and I would like to be closer to 1787. See anything moving us in that direction? Guest: Well, I mean, you know, for example, the single most momentous issues before the Court right now are the gay marriage issue, which is a judicial fabrication designed to create a new set of social rights. Politically I'm very sympathetic with it, given my libertarian organization, but in terms of the structural history of the American Constitution, I'm highly doubtful that you can squeeze this into the Equal Protection clause as it was understood in 1868. The Supreme Court, I predict, will move fairly substantially in the direction of creating constitutional equal protection rights, with respect to gay marriage. And this is originalism on the one hand as against at this point a nascent liberarianism coming out. On guns, I'm a dissenter from the general view of the Second Amendment. I think it's largely a structural position which is intended to protect the Federal government from regulating the way arms are used in the states so as to allow the states to organize their militias, which is done in Article I. But today it's read as a free-standing right and the militia portion of it is just dropped out. I don't think that's originalism in my view, and I think Justice Scalia was wrong, and ironically on originalist grounds; Justice Stevens, who wrote the dissent was probably correct. It's not a particularly well-drafted Amendment, but I think that's the best you could do with respect to reading it. So you get these kinds of cross-currents taking place. As I mentioned to you on cruel and unusual punishments with an 's' [?] I think the Supreme Court is just marching to its own drummer without any Constitution authorization on the one hand and without any popular support on the other, and it's a mistake. And then when you start going down the list of economic stuff, the extent to which we tolerate the extensive economic regulation over various aspects of the economy at the state or the Federal level, I think we are engaged in active self-strangulation of the nation, which are very inconsistent with the protections of property and contract that were built into the original structure on the grounds that when you are worried about excessive concentrations of power, you can't put all of your faith in one kind of remedies so that in a very deep sense, Hamilton was wrong when he said that the structures are the protections for civil rights. And the guys who wanted the Bill of Rights were correct when they said that a certain degree of redundancy is needed. And the great peril that we have today is I think there's too much of a public consensus in favor of this view that government gives us more than it takes from us. And so long as that general attitude exists we are going to have rough sledding. We already know that, even though the stock market hit 15000 today, this has been a very slow and very difficult recovery and we also know that most of the interactions that were taken in the 1930s prolonged rather than lessened the Great Depression, which lasted well into the middle of WWII. And it was because of most of the Roosevelt policies, not the spending policies, but the regulatory policies. And I think the single largest issue in the Constitution that we have to face today is whether or not the judicial system will assert its control over Federal regulation, which I think is ruinous to the organization and against its competitive economic ideals.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1983
|
__label__cc
| 0.593182
| 0.406818
|
Lesley Billingslea is a Bridgeport native with a background in law enforcement, powerlifting, strongman and bodybuilding. Lesley competes as lightweight and middleweight bodybuilder for the NPC. Last June Lesley placed 4th in middleweight class for the Powerhouse Classic. Lesley has also competed as a strongman competitor for the United States Strongman Association, in 2015 he placed second in the lightweight class for the Hardkore Classic. He has has also been powerlifting over 6 years in which he has had top placing in all of his competitions. Lesley is currently the state record holder for the IPA (International Powerlifting Association) at 165lbs for squat, bench and deadlift. He is also preparing for his first amateur boxing match.
Lesley hopes that his passion for health and fitness motivates people to feel better and work harder to reach their goals.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1984
|
__label__wiki
| 0.678189
| 0.678189
|
None more gothically Marxist
Posted by: Elizabeth Sandifer 8 years, 1 month ago
OH MY GOD! I SAW UNDER JAMIE'S KILT!
Hi! So, how was A Good Man Goes to War? I hope it was good. I wrote this post a full week ago, and since I suspect that there are going to be things that it would make sense to point to in A Good Man Goes to War here, I figured I should remind you of that fact.
It's March 16, 1968, and Israeli novelty blues are still at the top of the charts. It is replaced by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, and Tich with "The Legend of Xanadu," which sits oddly on the line between novelty and love song. In week three The Beatles ride in to save us with Lady Madonna, and in week five it's Cliff Richard. Honestly, I'm at a loss - this is not music I'm terribly familiar with. Cliff Richard appears to veer in his career from young rock guy to evangelical Christian. I see lower in the charts things like 1910 Fruitgum Company, which I have never heard of. I look at the cover and think "Ooh, that looks like a nice bit of psychedelia." And it turns out to be bubblegum pop. Let's call that the defining image of these weeks.
In real news, the British Foreign Secretary resigned seemingly over a drunken row with the Prime Minister, the Mai Lai massacre took place, 91 people are injured in a London protest against the Vietnam War, 200 more are arrested. Aer Lingus flight 172 crashes, killing 61. Lyndon Johnson declares he will not seek re-election, which was probably a good idea on paper, though as it turns out, this upcoming US Presidential Election is going to go somewhat badly for the planet. (I am rather more a hippie than an archeologist). Martin Luther King is murdered. Political assassinations in Germany. And, just to wrap off these uneventful six weeks, on the day the final episode of Fury From the Deep is transmitted, Enoch Powell makes the famous Rivers of Blood speech in which he rails against excessive immigration into Great Britain, complains that the British way of life is being destroyed, and warns:
As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood". That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century. Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal.
In other words, this is the bit of history that we're talking about when we talk about the turbulence of the 1960s. Except none of this is turbulence. Turbulence suggests the rapid switching back and forth between Summer of Love-esque bits of youth culture and stuff like Enoch Powell. This is, frankly, just a six week stretch of sheer unpleasantness.
While on television, we have that increasingly bone-chilling phrase, a classic Patrick Troughton story. No. That's unfair of me. It's really not that there's anything awful about the stories in this era. It's just that there's rarely anything especially good about them either. Fury From the Deep, I fear, is no exception. I'd summarize the plot, but you know it. The Doctor arrives at LOCATION_OF_BASE to find that the base is being threatened by a DESCRIPTION_OF_MONSTER. Although the base takes a while to trust the Doctor, eventually he is able to save the day. This time, LOCATION_OF_BASE is an offshore natural gas platform, and DESCRIPTION_OF_MONSTER is sentient seaweed.
As with any base under siege, there are plusses and minuses. We get some sense of ordinary people here, including a civilian wife who is unfortunately menaced. There's a strong female character, although she's the stock idiot plot role of the new person in charge who shows up when all the old people in charge have either been possessed by monsters or won over to the Doctor's side so that there's still someone to make sure nobody does anything untoward like actually resolve the plot. Which gets at the larger problem - a base under siege lives or dies on its supporting characters, and these ones are, on the whole, pretty flat.
On the plus side, though, the threat has some scariness this time, with the clearest example yet of the show taking an everyday object and making it dangerous. (This time it's seaweed and stove repairmen that are revealed to be deadly) The lack of any overt monster is nice - instead it's bits of foam and rushing water that are scary, which is a nice touch.
In more childish fun, we also have here a Doctor Who story that is oddly suited towards being a stoner party game, since everyone keeps talking about "the weed" and delivering lines like "someone among us here must be under the control of the weed!" The last episode even aired on 4/20. Better party games in Doctor Who do not exist. (This paragraph of inappropriateness should perhaps be capped off by observing a recurring theme in the Troughton era that appears again here. Just as the Third Doctor is a gadget freak and focuses most of his sciencey bits on gadgetry, Troughton's Doctor usually solves problems via chemistry. In the psychedelic era, when the major drug is the result of chemistry as opposed to horticulture, this is a small but significant clue in where this Doctor's social allegiances lie.)
Staying on the positive side of the ledger, this story is also intriguingly more modern in its storytelling than the rest of season five. This story, you see, marks Victoria's departure from the TARDIS. And for the first time since at least Steven, arguably Vicki or Susan, and really probably just ever, this fact is actually seeded and dealt with through the entire story. Victoria, as this story goes on, gets more and more frustrated and upset about life with the Doctor and the continual mortal peril she's thrust into. Until, in a deliciously clever end twist, it turns out to be Victoria's screaming that is capable of vanquishing the seaweed, which ends up being the final straw for Victoria, who longs for a life in which she is not continually threatened by homicidal plant life, Martians, Cybermen, Daleks, or Yeti.
But the structural maturity here only serves to make the degree to which we do these things better in 2011 clear. Yes, this episode deserves credit for seeding Victoria's departure through the whole story. Also for giving hints that Victoria's screams are what's effective against the weed throughout the story. And for the fact that the Doctor's bit of gadgetry in the start - unscrewing a hatch with some new toy he has called a sonic screwdriver - echoes the solution he'll eventually use to defeat the monster - a sonic attack. All of this is very good.
But it's not enough. Fury From the Deep may show us Victoria's misery a lot, and even have her misery play into the climax, but it's not about her misery. Compare it to the nearest equivalent in the new series - Last of the Time Lords. Last of the Time Lords may be by far the weakest of Davies's season finales, but it goes out of its way to earn Martha's departure at the end. Martha goes through absolute hell, and the whole story revolves around the fact that she has to do this because the Doctor, Jack, and her family are all captured. Every plot development extends from Martha going through awful things, so that when she finally says this is too much and she has to go, we believe it and know why. And yes, it's clumsy and has an awful moment where Dobby the House Doctor metamorphoses into a magical love Jesus through the healing power of Doctor Who fandom, but it's still a better handling of an emotional journey than Fury From the Deep.
But here we get to the bizarre thing. For all of its flaws, The Dark Path is a better story than this. Which is odd, because this is probably the third best story of its season and one of the better Troughton stories overall. And it's not just that I'm burnt out on bases under siege and tired of watching reconstructions. (This is, thankfully, the last story to have no episodes existing. I have exactly eleven more reconstructed episodes to watch, and two of those they animated.) It's that this story, which is ostensibly about putting Victoria through the emotional wringer, does not deal with her nearly as interestingly as The Dark Path, even though that novel ends up being a kind of ridiculous snub of Victoria. Why? Because that novel took the time to make sure multiple plot developments hinged on Victoria's actions. Because there are specific character traits of Victoria's - her upbringing, her father's death - that cause her to make the decisions she makes. Her fate at the end of that book is meaningfully a consequence of her own actions, and had it been the story of her departure, it would have made far more sense than this one did with no changes other than her leaving at the end.
Here, on the other hand, ultimately Victoria is a passive object to whom bad things happen until she gets fed up and leaves. Even the ultimate defeat of the weed does not extend from her actions. She screams into a microphone, and the Doctor solves the problem. Compare to how this would surely be done now, with her getting captured and dragged to the nerve center and is about to have something truly awful happen to her when she lets out a piercing scream and saves the day. Note how in that version of the story, it's Victoria's actions that resolve the story. This shouldn't be a story that also happens to be a bad day for Victoria. It should be a story about Victoria's bad day.
For another comparison, think about the supporting characters of Fury From the Deep and the ones in The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People. In Fury From the Deep, every character is defined almost entirely in terms of how they'll respond to a terrible seaweed crisis. The closest thing to another motivation anyone has is Frank worrying about his wife, and even that mostly only affects how he does or doesn't want to evacuate the base or stop drilling. Whereas in The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People, characters have significant traits that don't in any direct way relate to crisis management. Jimmy has a kid whose birthday it was. Jennifer imagined a stronger, better version of herself growing up. These are traits that define the characters as people instead of crisis management plot devices. And The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People then uses these facets of the characters instead of just their crisis management skills for its plot resolution. The fact that Jimmy is a father and that Jennifer has always imagined a better version of herself both end up shaping how they respond to the crisis in ways that go beyond mere competence, which is all Fury From the Deep ever thinks of its characters in terms of - how good at crisis management are they, and are they going to make the situation worse or better when they act?
And this gets to something I want to point out, both because I've been fairly critical of aspects of the Troughton era here and because I just kind of took McIntee's book to task last Friday. Generally speaking, Doctor Who has consistently improved over time. Yes, there are stories in the 1980s I'm going to be as savage towards as anything we've already talked about. Yes, the TV Movie is one of my least favorite things ever. Yes, there are truly staggeringly bad bits throughout the run, and classics as well.
But by and large, over time, we've gotten better at TV and have learned and mainstreamed more and more interesting techniques in novels. Techniques that were high literary techniques in the 1960s are business as usual in the 1990s, and yeah, that helps the novels a lot. The improvements in editing technology over the course of the series has helped it. But so have better understandings of how to tell television stories. Mass entertainment is much better, in 2011, about grabbing emotional throughlines and making sure they impact the rest of the story than it was in 1997. And 1997 was better than 1968. And so The Dark Path has more mature and interesting storytelling techniques than Fury From the Deep.
Yeah, there's high levels of variation in the short term, but in the long term, an average piece of Doctor Who in a given year is likely to be better than an average piece from five years earlier, and likely to be inferior to one from five years later. That doesn't mean that the Hartnell and Troughton eras aren't amazing, but let's be honest - they need to be watched as historical phenomena. They don't pack nearly the same punch as shows in 2011 that are far worse shows for 2011 than Doctor Who was for the 1960s. None of this is a criticism - I think learning to appreciate and enjoy historical modes of storytelling is a tremendously important skill. I think there's a ton to be learned by seeing how 1960s Doctor Who is good. Because even if later Doctor Who is better, there are still things that are good in 1960s Doctor Who that aren't done again, and there's a lot to be accomplished in looking to old ideas and figuring out how to make them work in new contexts. Matt Smith built a whole portrayal of the Doctor off of 1960s Doctor Who, and it's stunning.
I say all of this because, well, there are stories I don't like and eras I don't like. We're going to hit a big era I'm really just not very fond of soon. And I've been harsh on the Troughton era, aside from my continual point that Troughton is a jaw-droppingly good actor who can make anything compelling. But beyond that, have a look at the lengthy clip of Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill menacing Maggie Harris that survived for this episode. Look at the use of close-ups and cutting to tell the story, and how they create and sustain tension. There's very, very little in the Hartnell era that works that effectively. The Hartnell era needed to kill Sara Kingdom and have a Dalek ultimate weapon to get the kind of menacing atmosphere that Fury From the Deep manages with evil stove repairmen.
It may not be a very ambitious story, but in terms of how it's put together, it grabs the audience and engages them in a way Hartnell-era stories didn't and couldn't. And Pertwee stories will improve on this, and so on and so forth. Whatever wrong turns the show takes, and I'll point out lots of them, this is something we don't reflect upon often enough - by and large, the show really does improve. Some years go downhill from the ones before them, and some are shockingly bad compared to what else was on at the time. But in terms of how it tells its stories, the picture is almost uninterrupted improvement.
But enough of that. Let's go to a positive note. This story is our farewell to Victoria, as I said. No, wait. That came out terribly wrong. Because there's nothing nice about Victoria leaving. She's the most successful female companion the show has had in ages. And we ought to take a moment, as she goes, to praise her.
The thing that is so effective about Victoria compared to the two preceding female companions is, ironically, the thing that makes her least palatable in 2011. No effort is made to have her be an ordinary, viewer identification figure. We talked about some of this in the video blog on The Ice Warriors. Instead of being the eyes through which we see fantastic things, Victoria is instead usually a bit objectified and used as what I have derisively referred to as a peril monkey.
The thing is, and this ties in with my point about Fury From the Deep compared to The Dark Path, it works terribly well. In part because we have such a magnetic lead and in part because we are nearly five years into this Doctor Who thing and thus pretty comfortable with the basic premise, we don't need audience identification figures in quite the same way anymore. And so the female companion has been reverting, over the last few years, into a plot role as opposed to a character role. They're there to get captured and menaced. This is itself a problem and something the show will have an almost continual love-hate relationship with - starting with the next story, it tries to solve it a bit. Two years from now, it's going to succumb to it in a major way. From there on out, it swings back and forth.
But what's crucial about Victoria is that she's actually a companion designed to do what companions do on the show, as opposed to what people wish they did. The decision to cast a well-known former child star as the companion pays dividends, because the show is unrepentant about using close-ups of Watling's face and using her charisma to let her get in nice plucky moments between her imperilments.
Yes, it's frustrating that the female companion is such a peril monkey. And if all of the outrage weren't so painfully obvious, I'd stamp my feet and point out that it sure would be nice if she got as many save-the-day moments as Jamie. Or, you know, any. But here's the thing. Since Barbara left, female companions have tended to be good ideas that get shoehorned into peril monkeying. It's very much been a matter of "take a solid actress and a neat concept for a part, and then have them stand their and get menaced by monsters constantly." And it's been a frustrating waste of talent and an insult to the characters. However much of a male gaze damsel in distress Victoria might be, the fact of the matter is that seeing a character who was actually supposed to be a strong and independent woman like Polly reduced to hot beverage service is considerably more irritating. By starting the companion off as a fairy tale damsel in distress - which is what Whitaker did with her way back in Evil of the Daleks - the show made it so that when she dishes out sassy put downs to sexist men in Tomb of the Cybermen, it counted for something. It was not just, as those rare moments of spunk in Polly were, brief moments where the character worked right. They were moments when the character worked surprisingly well.
This isn't just about lowering expectations. It's about going with the flow. And it was an important switch. Yes, Victoria is, thus far, the companion that feminists should be most frustrated with - a particularly irritating fact for 1967-68. But on the other hand, by learning to do a peril monkey well, the show has made it so that it can begin varying that template and pushing it. I've already written about why Sarah Jane is so effective a companion. But much of what is so effective about Sarah Jane comes from taking the Victoria template and turning the spunkiness up to eleven.
With Victoria, in short, the show stopped trying to have the female companion be the audience's eyes, and instead had the female companion be likable. And that means that future companions can push up against the limits of the role in ways that past ones couldn't. And it is one of the best decisions the show made in its first five years. It's every bit as much of a watershed moment for the series as Patrick Troughton's revamp of the role of the Doctor.
So farewell to Deborah Watling. Basically, you rule.
troughton,
eruditorum
← Missing Codec
That's Just Wizard (The Wheel in Space) →
Aaron 8 years, 1 month ago
What's frustrating to me is how the Bidmead early 1980s Who, and the early Saward Who are such a step backwards from the storytelling techniques we see done well in Hartnell and Troughton Who. Despite 2011 storytelling generally doing a better job with emotions, and creating emotional throughlines like you said, Hartnell and Troughton Who at least has these from time to time (Victoria here, Ian and Barbara's exit in the Chase). But for some reason Bidmead and JNT decided that it was "science fiction" not a "soap" which meant that Romana gets almost no exit, and characters like Tegan and Nyssa react to things like the TARDIS and regeneration like they're the most normal occurrences they've ever seen. Say what you will about the Sixth Doctor and Peri, but at least Peri reacted to events in a reasonable, emotional way. It's frustrating, because I'd love to give early JNT Who a pass, since it was made in the 80s, except that everything they're doing in it was done better in the 60s. So, despite storytelling getting better each year, it's weird and frustrating how there are such obvious dips in how simplistically stories are told.
Anyways, that rant got way off topic. You really think Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Timelords is the weakest RTD finale? Weaker than Stolen Earth and Doomsday? I mean, I don't like the Dobby doctor anymore than the next guy, but that story strikes me as one of the great triumphs of the RTD era.
Spikeimar 8 years, 1 month ago
As always this blog remains one of the most thought provoking of the few I actually read these days. I may not always agree with you but I never come away not mulling what's said over in my mind. As Lieutenant George might say in a loud and annoying way "BRAVO!"
Not being as erudite in getting my thoughts down as you forgive me if this wanders a bit.
I think trying to compare 60's (or even 70's and 80's) Who to New Who is a difficult thing to do, if not impossible. The Beeb (and television in general) was such a different animal then, programes were rarely made to enhance drama, or be world changing but were generally made to pass a pleasant half hour before the pubs opened. I can't remember who it was that said the main aim was that there would be 'something' on the screen after the results.
Occasionally the right people would come together and something special would come out of the sausage factory approach and the fact that so much Who remains entertaining is a miracle in itself when compared with much of the rest of tv's output in this era. I'm not saying we should go easy on it but I'd rather have milk in my tea that's gone a bit cheesy than have it with rancid camel's pee in it instead.
Much as I love the Troughton years I think the line from 'Tomb' sums up what's wrong with it when the Doctor says something like "Victoria will have to wear something sensible if she wants to join us on our adventures..." Real people don't generally think their lives are a series of 'adventures', there's a falseness, a 'World Distributors' feel to the characters, they are 'spacemen' on 'adventures'. For whatever faults the Hartnell era had there was a reality to the regulars that this era lacked. Does that make sense?
As for the casual racism, have you seen "Love thy Neighbour"? Spike Milligan's "Q" series etc? Again while it shouldn't be ignored I think Who at this time was no more racist than most of the Beebs output(and far less than a lot of the supposedly more 'with it' ITV channels)
As to why 80's Who seemed to go backwards, well we could learn a thing or two from Gerry Anderson here, his 60's shows were sublime but his 80's out pourings were uniformly terrible mainly because we think of everything as a smooth path, going upwards all the time but of course in reality the people making the shows in the 80's were not the people making the shows in the 60's and had different skills which were sadly sometimes just not as good as their predecessors. JNT staffed the show with almost all new people (and the psychological reasons for that are worth a blog on their own) who had to learn from scratch.
Who+ 8 years, 1 month ago
Responding to Spikeimar, on the subject of "real people" not "thinking of their lives as adventures" - if I ever get hold of a police box that can take me to any point in time and space, and I at no point think of my life using it as "a series of adventures", then you have my full permission to take out a gun and shoot me.
Extraordinary people *always* think of their lives as a series of adventures. This is a sci-fi adventure serial, not a dour kitchen sink drama in the industrial north of England. And besides, in what sense were Russell T Davies's Doctor-companion pairings not off "having adventures"? I'd say 99% of Doctor Who adventures stem from the TARDIS crew having curiosity and a spirit of adventure; the very rare exceptions being Hartnell trying to get his companions home, and Pertwee being stuck (much against his will!) in a tedious military job on a backwater planet...
BatmanAoD 8 years, 1 month ago
Aaron--what's wrong with Doomsday? I mean, yes, it has its flaws, but of the 5 RTD finales (including End of Time), I'd say it's the second-best, after the aforementioned End of Time.
Though I agree that Stolen Earth is pretty bad. I feel that Davies' set-ups got better and better and his resolutions weaker and weaker (with the exception of End of Time).
I don't know, I don't particularly like the Rose/Tenth Doctor thing for the first thing, and I don't particularly care for Cybermen on the second hand. But mostly I think that there are a lot of things going on in that episode that all don't really connect in any meaningful way. There's the Army of Ghosts, which gets overshadowed by the reveal of Torchwood, which gets overshadowed by the Cybermen vs Daleks fight, which gets overshadowed by the real story of Rose and the Doctor, and how they can't stay together. And none of these plot threads have anything to do with each other, even thematically, they just seemed mashed together because they were good ideas for episodes. I also don't like how the hinted hubris of Rose and the Doctor never actually was signposted as the reason they were broken up, and I don't like how it's really just incidental that Rose falls into the parallel universe when it really should have been something that was integrally related to the Dalek/Cybermen plotline going on. I also think it's one of the worst RTD reset switches in the show. The fight between the forces should be a really big deal, but before we see hardly any of that fight, they all get cleanly swept back into the void. And like Phil is explaining in this post, Rose's emotional state should be a throughline of the entire episode and the thematic link that binds all these pieces together. And it isn't. It's just an incidental ending.
Bad Wold/Parting of the Ways is the best episode of the New Series to me, and I adore the Sound of Drums three parter. I also don't mind End of Time, thought I've only seen it once, and probably need to rewatch it before I can come to a clear conclusion about it. And I despise Stolen Earth because it's manipulative bullshit that tries to trick it's audience into liking it with meaningless gimmicks. While I don't hate Doomsday, I do feel like it's a poorly scripted episode that fails to connect all the important plot threads in any meaningful way. But again, I'm not a huge fan of the Tenth Doctor and Rose, and I really didn't like what Series Two was trying to do artistically at all (except for Girl in the Fireplace and Love and Monsters, which are perfection). As a result, I might be biased, since someone who really did like Rose might find that ending far more heartbreaking than I did.
Elkins 8 years, 1 month ago
"But mostly I think that there are a lot of things going on in that episode that all don't really connect in any meaningful way."
This is an interesting criticism of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, and one I find particularly compelling in light of the conversation I had with one of my not-fan housemates just the other night. We saw some Cybermen, and he asked me if we were supposed to know who they were, were they some Old Who monster or something? And we had a dialogue that went a bit like this:
ME: Those are Cybermen. I'm pretty sure you've seen them before. Didn't you see that one where they went into the alternate universe? I could have sworn you watched that episode with me.
HIM: Did I? I don't remember it.
ME: Okay, well --oh, wait. I know you saw Doomsday. They were in that one, too. The season finale with Rose?
HIM: The one where she gets possessed by the TARDIS?
ME: No, no, no, the one the year after that. With Tennant. The one where she winds up trapped in another universe and separated from the Doctor forever and ever -- or anyway, until they brought her back for some cameos a couple of years later. You really don't remember that?
HIM: Of course I remember that! Rose cried her eyes out against a wall. It was heartbreaking.
ME: Right. Well, that one had Cybermen in it.
HIM: It did?
ME: Yeah. They invaded Earth. They looked like ghosts at first? And then they got into a comedic bitch fight with a handful of Daleks.
HIM: Seriously? I remember Billie Piper crying. I don't remember there being ghosts or Daleks or those stupid-looking robot guys--
ME: Cybermen.
HIM: Whatever. I don't remember them being in that episode at all. Are you sure you're thinking of the same story?
So indeed, it would seem that your feeling that those plotlines weren't integrated very well is absolutely borne out in how one casual viewer, at any rate, remembered that episode.
In response to Who+
No I agree the series is a show about adventures and people having adventures (and given the chance I would have adventures in the TARDIS) but my problem is that real people don't refer to their lives as "a series of adventures"
You wouldn't refer to your last holiday as 'that adventure we had in Spain' or 'remember the adventures of getting the car through it's MOT' (Actually you might say that last one in an ironic way if your car is like mine)
I personally don't like the kitchen sink drama of the Rose era etc but when your characters behave as if they know they are in a sci-fi teatime show then a certain amount of reality (or as real as Doctor Who gets) is lost. That was my complaint. Perhaps I didn't explain it properly.
The Lord of Ábrocen Landmearca 8 years, 1 month ago
The problem with End of Time is that, other than the beautiful scene with Wilf in the cafe, End of Time PArt 1 is ENTIRELY POINTLESS. Remember when they meet up with the Ood at the beginning, and the Doctor is shocked that something has interfered with their development, they're a hundred years on and way too advanced? or something? Remember how that was important too the plot? Remember their Naismiths and their dastardly scheme to... give the Master some pretty infrastructure to screw around in? And hey, remember how the Doctor notes how strange and significant it is that he and Wilf keep crossing pasts, and that that must mean something? And then it doesn't? At all? End of Time PArt 1, and everything up until the master's sacrifice is all style and no substance, those few beautiful scenes between Wilf and the Doctor notwithstanding. Let's bring Wilf back. He's so amazing.
I don't think any RTD finales past PArting of the Ways end up holding up very well on re-watch, although Journey's End stands out for being particularly awful. Phrases like "Meta-Crisis Doctor" make me weep.
landru 8 years, 1 month ago
"Last of the Time Lords. Last of the Time Lords may be by far the weakest of Davies's season finales, but it goes out of its way to earn Martha's departure at the end. Martha goes through absolute hell, and the whole story revolves around the fact that she has to do this because the Doctor, Jack, and her family are all captured. Every plot development extends from Martha going through awful things, so that when she finally says this is too much and she has to go, we believe it and know why. And yes, it's clumsy and has an awful moment where Dobby the House Doctor metamorphoses into a magical love Jesus through the healing power of Doctor Who fandom, but it's still a better handling of an emotional journey than Fury From the Deep."
Whereas in real life, the opposite would be true. The story is absurdly about Martha's departure to its own detriment. In fact, the previous 2 brilliant installments Utopia/Sound of Drums was so ruined by this ending that its actually hard to imagine loving them as they went out.
I really am disagreeing with you on this premise the stories should revolve around the companions ... This example (and the ever decreasing quality of modern season finales) seem to prove this.
Elizabeth Sandifer 8 years, 1 month ago
Oh, I wasn't trying to say that the story should revolve around the companions so much as that the emotional payoff and the spectacle payoff should not be treated as distinct parts of the narrative process. One of the major advances of the new series over the old one has been that the new series doesn't treat emotional catharsis and monsters as separate jobs, but instead sees its mission as being to tell emotional stories about monsters.
But the emotional stories don't need to be about the companions. The Doctor's Wife is a fantastic emotional story about the Doctor. Both Doomsday and Parting of the Ways are ultimately about the relationship between the Doctor and Rose more than they are about Rose's emotional journey. The Doctor slipping the universe-crossing device on Rose's neck without her consent or answering the "coward or killer" question in what is obviously the wrong way out of shame are, I would argue, as important, moreso even, than anything Rose does in either episode.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that generally speaking, stories in which the Doctor has the primary emotional arc (Girl in the Fireplace, Dalek, The Doctor's Wife) interest me more than ones where the companion does, although there are certainly some companion-centered pieces I adore (Father's Day, The Big Bang, Amy's Choice).
Jesse 8 years, 1 month ago
I generally like the Davies era, but in pretty much every season of his the final episode is the weakest. The man is good at setting and character but simply cannot write endings (*), a fact he displayed right away in Rose and The End of the World and reminded us at the end of every story arc.
(* Oh, all right. He did give Children of Earth a great wrap-up.)
On reflection, actually, the one Davies finale that I don't dislike is Last of the Time Lords. The resolution of the story may be dumb and anticlimactic, but it makes up for it somewhat with (a) the Scissor Sisters sequence at the beginning, one of the best scenes in the history of Who, (b) John Simm in general, and (c) the reveal (or maybe-a-reveal) about the Face of Boe, which made me laugh. In a good way.
No, the weakest Davies finale was The End of Time. What a mess. Thank goodness Moffat came along.
landru 8 years ago
Having just watched the Loose Cannon recon of this I found the story very lacking in all kinds of things that a classic needs. I thought the novelization was very well done, but as a concept I don't really know if I care.
SK 7 years, 11 months ago
You know, I'm not sure I can ever think of Victoria the same way after seeing Danger UXB.
It's just... wrong.
Henry R. Kujawa 6 years, 11 months ago
Aaron:
"What's frustrating to me is how the Bidmead early 1980s Who, and the early Saward Who are such a step backwards from the storytelling techniques we see done well in Hartnell and Troughton Who."
YEAH. And everything else that came before it.
"for some reason Bidmead and JNT decided that it was "science fiction" not a "soap" which meant that Romana gets almost no exit, and characters like Tegan and Nyssa react to things like the TARDIS and regeneration like they're the most normal occurrences they've ever seen."
Not sure that quite sums it up, as JNT also had so many stories run right into the next, like a soap-opera (or BATMAN's 3rd season) that few stories were allowed to stand on their own. And yet, virtually no character development (until Sylvester & Sophie teamed up).
Spikeimar:
"we could learn a thing or two from Gerry Anderson here, his 60's shows were sublime but his 80's out pourings were uniformly terrible mainly because we think of everything as a smooth path, going upwards all the time but of course in reality the people making the shows in the 80's were not the people making the shows in the 60's and had different skills which were sadly sometimes just not as good as their predecessors."
NOT quite right. Anderson had wonderful writing on FIREBALL XL5 and nearly as good on STINGRAY, but beginning with THUNDERBIRDS, his obsessin with machinery completely over-ruled Sylvia's desire for characterization. She threw her hands up, Gerry "won", and each subsequent show became more mechanical, cold-blooded, "serious", and LESS human. CAPTAIN SCARLET, JOE 90, SECRET SERVICE, UFO, THE PROTECTORS, and, God help us, SPACE: 1999 (the show I used to laugh AT rather than WITH).
And then... Gerry & Sylvia got DIVORCED. And something happened. Because TERRAHAWKS had real "characters" in it, was fun to watch, and in places was actually funny!! The most "human" character on the show, ironically, was "Sergeant-Major Zero", the commander robot who was shaped like a basketball, was in love with Mary Falconer (a dead ringer for Barbara Bain) and delighted in confounding his superior, Doctor Tiger Ninestein (who similarly reminded me of Martin Landau).
And then SPACE PRECINCT was just his masterpiece-- though nobody at the time seemed to realize it. GREAT characters, GREAT writing, GREAT ideas, action, suspence, drama, humor, fabulous music and the best use of "old-fashioned" special effects (miniatures) I've ever seen on a TV show. This thing, in my view, totally blows every late-model STAR TREK revival completely out of the water, and is the only show I can think of where I can honestly say that I love every frame of every episode of.
"someone who really did like Rose might find that ending far more heartbreaking than I did."
As it hyappens, I did, but, I find myself in total agreement with you on that story. It had its best impact on me because I had actually managed the incredible feat of AVOIDING any spoilers in advance, including the stupid ones the Sci-Fi Channel kept running all the damn way thru part 1!!!!! Nice job, guys, BLOW the cliffhanger before your audience has a chance to see it. (I kept shutting off the sound and averting my eyes at every commercial break.) So when THE DALEKS show up at the end of Part 1-- I screamed at the TV-- both in horror, and, in delight!!! For me, they WERE a surprise!
Somehow I never quite liked Rose as a character as much as it seemed I should. My best friend suggests it may have had to do with how badly she treated Mickey. Maybe. But anyway, her departure just seemed contrived. Oh, Billie Piper's leaving, let's find a reason for her to do so, and since things got so emotional, let's make it so she can "NEVER!!!!!" come back!! Hahhahahahahah.
"SCHOOL REUNION", however, did leave me in a very emotional state for 2 whole days. I think I finally "got over" Sarah then. So when we lost Lis, somehow, incredibly, it DIDN'T hurt as much as I'd have thought it would have. (I never saw her spin-off show... dammit.)
Landru:
"the previous 2 brilliant installments Utopia/Sound of Drums was so ruined by this ending that its actually hard to imagine loving them as they went out."
"LAST OF THE TIME LORDS" is so far the last one I've been able to see. And frankly, I DIDN'T care for it. Maybe that's why I haven't quite "missed" the show since then as much as I might have.
So, are you eventually going to tackle "DOWNTIME"?
ladysugarquill 2 years ago
Here we are. The one story in the entire Doctor Who that I found MINDBREAKINGLY BORING. The beginning and the end with Victoria are well done, but the rest is 120 minutes of: "go check the rigs" "no" "go check the rigs" "no" *seaweed* *foam* "go check the rigs" "no".
One thing that gets overlooked is that Victoria getting to scared and bailing out was, according to her actress on some DVD extras, always the plan, and was being established since the beginning of the season. Victoria is the first companion *to have an actual arc*. Sadly, it wasn't done too well.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1986
|
__label__cc
| 0.618286
| 0.381714
|
Waxwork to release The Babadook, Evil Dead 2 soundtracks on vinyl
Waxwork Records has announced five new soundtrack releases for next year: The Babadook, Evil Dead 2, Don’t Look Now, Sam Raimi’s 1990 Darkman and Creepshow 2. All five will also be included in 2017 Waxwork Records Subscription.
Subscribers will receive exclusive colored vinyl pressings of all records with deluxe packaging and other bonuses. An Evil Dead 2 t-shirt and Creepshow 2 poster are part of the deal, but some of the extra loot is still a secret for now. It also comes with a 10% discount on other Waxwork releases throughout the year.
Check out the full details here and revisit some of the score for The Babadook below.
Source: www.factmag.com
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1988
|
__label__cc
| 0.57309
| 0.42691
|
Home > Climate-Smart Agriculture > News
Climate-Smart Agriculture
International fora
Women farmers and resilience in the face of climate change
Women on average make up 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries and account for an estimated two-thirds of the world's 600 million poor livestock keepers (FAOSTAT).
8th March is International Women’s day and this year’s theme is “Women in...
Food insecurity and poverty pose major challenge to goal of ending hunger by 2030
FAO report stresses need to increase agricultural productivity
Some 153 million people, representing about 26 percent of the population above 15 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa, suffered from severe food insecurity in 2014-15, according to a new FAO report. The...
Africa-funded project helps small-island nations adapt to perils of climate change
17 November 2016, Rome -- Recognizing the disproportionate burden that climate change places on small island developing states (SIDS), FAO will support six African island nations in their efforts to make their agriculture more resilient to climate shocks and boost economic...
FAO and India’s SEWA join efforts to empower rural women and youth
New agreement aims to ensure capacity development, farmers’ access to productive resources, knowledge exchange
Empowering rural women is key to boosting rural economies and reducing poverty. Women weighing vegetables before sale in Krishi Vigyan Kendras, India. India's Self Employed...
Race against time in drought-ravaged Southern Africa to ensure 23 million receive farming support
28 July 2016, Rome - With only a few weeks before land preparation begins for the next main cropping season, some 23 million people in Southern Africa urgently need support to produce enough food to feed themselves and thus avoid being...
News article of the month
Great hopes for climate-smart farming
Last year, Ashmita Thapa’s husband left their hometown in southern Nepal to find work in Saudi Arabia. He had been working as a farmer and used to be able to grow enough food for the family.
But now, Ashmita explains, the yields are poorer and poorer. “This is a part of climate change,” she adds. “There isn’t as much rain as before; winds are stronger and pest infections are on the rise.”
“We have less than a half of the maize we used to have,” Ashmita adds.
Nepal is one of the countries hardest hit by the impacts of climate change, and farmers are some of the worst affected...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1993
|
__label__wiki
| 0.688229
| 0.688229
|
Rahm ready to milk the home fans as he goes for second Irish Open victory
By Andrew Griffin on 3rd July 2019
Jon Rahm says he feels more at home in Ireland than anywhere than his beloved Spain, as he looks for a second Dubai Duty Free Irish Open title at Lahinch. Picture by GETTY IMAGES
SPANIARD Jon Rahm will be hoping to convert his impressive recent form into a third Rolex Series title and a second victory at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
The Spaniard tees it up at Lahinch Golf Club for his third successive appearance at the historic national open tomorrow (Thursday).
The World No. 11 has enjoyed his visits to Irish soil, winning on his Dubai Duty Free Irish Open debut with a 24 under par total, which smashed the record for a tournament first played in 1927, before going on to post a top five last year in Ballyliffin despite opening with a 74.
Following a tied third finish in the US Open and a share of the runner-up spot at the Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters, he is in buoyant form at the famous County Clare links venue.
An ebullient Rahm said: “I’m confident. You know, those weeks, this week and the Irish Open is one of the few – if not the only one – that I feel almost as comfortable and the support that I had last week in Valderrama and the Spanish Open.
“I don’t know why, it might be my love for the country of Ireland, but it’s something that I feel like the support is here. The support is amazing. Every time I come, I’m just comfortable. It’s a great feel.
“I’ve had 10 top 10s so far this year. Playing really good golf, second places, third places. I’ve had chances to win.
“I just haven’t so far. Winning’s not easy and there’s a lot of diverse winners out this year and there’s not many multiple winners.
“There are still a lot of golf tournaments to come. Hopefully I can get it done and I hope I can win a European Tour event again.
“I’ve been able to do it the last few years and it would be amazing to be able to do it on both tours again. Looking forward to it and hopefully I can repeat in Ireland.”
“I’m driving it much better than last year. Really good off the tee. I would say maybe not last week, but in general, my putting has been a little bit better than what it was the year before.
“But again, I always equate putting to mental stability. It’s such a mental part of the game that if your head is in the right space, no matter how your technique or no matter what you see, you’re going to be able to putt properly. That’s where I go with it.”
Graeme McDowell, meanwhile, is one of the many Irish golfing luminaries to have won as an amateur at Lahinch Golf Club – alongside Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley – and the Northern Irishman will be targeting a first European Tour title in five years.
McDowell, who secured his ticket to Royal Portrush at the Canadian Open last month, said: “It’s been a great solid year. I’ve achieved a lot of things I wanted to achieve this year and looking forward to these next three weeks.
“It’s going to be some great golf, some great golf courses and a lot to play for. Very much trying to keep my eye on this week and trying to play as well as I possibly can.
“I think hats off to Paul McGinley and really the marketing he’s done the last six months on social media and really building this event up.
“Obviously it includes Rory and the job he’s done the last three years with this event and really put it back on sort of the main stage of European Tour events.
“I’m so happy for Paul. It’s a fantastic venue. Certainly no complaints from a golf course setup point of view. It’s really, really good.
“I certainly feel like I’m playing well enough to do it and I’m focused on the present here. Would love to try and compete and win this weekend.
“My record in the Irish Open wasn’t great in my younger days, kind of back to what I said earlier.
“Sometimes you show up at these events and you think just being there, that is the show, whereas focusing and competing, having a chance to win here would be very, very special.
“Definitely working hard these next few weeks, and we’ll see what happens.”
Padraig Harrington knows how much it means to the Irish fans to have a homegrown winner, after his victory at Adare Manor in 2007 – the first Irishman to win the Open in 25 years.
Harrington, who will captain Europe in the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, said: “It’s very important for the Irish Open that we create this festival atmosphere, that we create more to the event than just golf.
“And that works both ways. You know, it works from the players’ perspective.
“We want more. We play around the world all the time, so we appreciate when we come to an event and you can see as a collective, we can see the effort that’s gone in by everybody in the locality, that everybody is behind the event.
“And secondly, to create a good event, you do need to have the buy in of the locals, of the spectators, of everybody who’s coming in working or paying to come and watch the golf, if they buy into the event it just makes it all the more special if it gives a buzz.
“As I always say, you can go to a lot of events around the world, and if you pulled out of the golf, went down the road a mile and pulled into a petrol station, they wouldn’t know the event is on.
“If you do that in Ireland, you pull into the petrol station, you can guarantee you’ll be asked for a couple of tickets.
Thomas is Major attraction for The Hero Challenge in Scottish Open Renaissance
England have got plenty of Patience when it comes to European Young Masters
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line1998
|
__label__wiki
| 0.815563
| 0.815563
|
Vancouver Sun: Cutting Wood satisfies; writing satisfies more
Tom Henry lives with his writer wife Lorna Jackson and their five-year-old daughter, Lily, in what many would fondly consider near-idyllic circumstances.
Their home is a rented 90-year-old cabin on about 50 acres of farmland bordering an ocean bay near Metchosin, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.
In the woods away from the house, Henry has fixed up an old logger's shack with a woodstove, a table and an old chair, and that's where he writes.
Twice a finalist for the B.C. Book Awards, Henry, 35, is best known for his recent collection of short, humorous pieces about country life, Dogless in Metchosin. Another collection of anecdotes and observations is in the works.
He writes the way he lives - simply, honestly, and with a continuing delight in the down-to-earth detail of day-to-day life in the country.
Idyllic? Maybe. But realistic? No. He is not, he stresses, "hippie enough" to be a full-fledged back-to-the-lander.
Born in Duncan and raised on a farm in the northern part of the province, Henry worked as a logger until he gave it up to become a writer about a decade ago. He followed a history/writing BA at the University of Victoria with newspaper work around B.C.
He splits his time about 50-50 between doing odd jobs - fencing, gardening, woodcutting, haying, or out on the water as a dock hand or boom man - and writing about it.
"Cutting wood is very satisfying, he says, "but, writing about -if you're forced to think about why you like it - You get to live it twice, don't you?”
Most of his pieces are initially written for his weekly radio column carried on CBC Radio in B.C. He seems genuinely modest about his work.
"I feel I'm not skilled at anything - I'm probably a good woodcutter. Everything else I'm competent at. That's the price you pay for being a professional generalist. I'll never be as good a writer as I'd be if I worked at it eight hours a day. I'm like a career 14-year-old - I'm always learning from people around me."
-Max Wyman, Vancouver Sun
Quill and Quire Review
When Tom Henry reads excerpts from his stories about rural life in Metchosin, B.C., his voice and accent sound familiar in a homey sort of way. Many listeners will have heard him on the radio in his role as the CBC's "Country Life" columnist. His style evokes the familiar world of Stephen Leacock, although Henry definitely belongs to his own time. It's hard to imagine Leacock rhapsodizing about the "horny, lonely, unsatisfied" sounds of a country spring, or, for that matter, whispering "bugger off" to some Canada geese. It seems certain too that Leacock did not, as Henry tells us he did, sleep in the nude.
Henry sets the stage with sound effects: car engines, wood saws, Henry’s daughter's piping voice, the snipping of barber's shears. These frame a series of anecdotal tales based on his present and past. The fact that the life Henry describes has become increasingly exotic to the majority of us only adds to its charm. A genial tour guide, he introduces us to the BC "estate car," an "unlicensed, uninsured, and generally dilapidated vehicle used for running, errands on one's own property." He describes his adventures with raising chickens, extols the civic importance of the town barber, takes us through a sweaty day in haying season, and explores useful "Tricks to Finding Stuff in a Ditch.”
Like a social anthropologist, Henry digs for the allegory in the most basic of circumstances - the baser the better. When the son of a Sacred MLA tears apart a beautifully constructed outhouse after it swallows his wallet, Henry speculates about this act and its possible political meaning. Closely observing his chickens' behaviour, he notes that the more chickens, the greater their intelligence, which is just the opposite of human beings, "who get stupider and stupider in groups." From the making of soups as a measure of family harmony to the swinging of axes as a measure of the father-son bond, Henry opens a door into world we remember with affection, even – or perhaps especially – if it is a world we never knew at all.
-Nancy Wigston, Quill and Quire
Monday Magazine: Snug and smug in the country
Tom Henry lives in a small shack at the head of a bay in Metchosin. He spends his days working as a labourer, puttering around the house, splitting wood and doting over his daughter, Lily.
The lucky bastard.
A sense of contentment runs through this series of tales of rural living and sunny outlooks. In a lesser writer it might be irritating, but somehow Henry is so honest, and so acute in his observations, that it is hard to mind.
Even his ruminations on subjects like gardening and soup recipes are funny, bringing in personal and cultural histories along with a snapshot of a life as healthy and fulfilling as a good day's work.
These anecdotes are compiled from Henry's column on country life, which he regularly reads on CBC radio's Afternoon Show.
On the radio, where they usually are inserted between breathy live updates of Vancouver's rush hour traffic woes, they sound rather like a smug letter to a friend who has been foolish enough to leave the Island and go live in a big city - the kind that reads: "Dear cousin Agatha, today we had a great hike in East Sooke Park and saw a sea-lion. It was 10 degrees Celsius, so we had to wear our sweaters, but that’s OK for January. So how are things in Scarborough?”
But if you're homesick, it's kind of nice to read one of those letters, and if you’re staying home, it’s kind of nice to write one. This is a great book for all Islanders, home and away.
-Fiona McCaw, Monday Magazine
A Rich Legacy of Canadiana
You may know Tom Henry as the country columnist on CBC radio's The Afternoon Show. Perhaps you’ve read his book The Good Company: An Affectionate History of the Union Steamships, which won the BC Historical Federation’s Lieutenant Governor’s Award.
The Metchosin writer released a new book Saturday - Dogless in Metchosin and it’s a good way to get to know him. And savor life in the country.
You’ve probably guessed that Tom doesn't have a dog. But he has chickens, a daughter, a wife, and a penchant for telling great little stories. These are warm and humorous anecdotes voiced by a man with sagacious insight into human nature.
The collection is a must-read for urbanites harboring fantasies about lifestyle. I haven't finished all the stories yet, but I know I will.
-Stephanie Chamberlain, Times Colonist
Book Reviews: Metchosin Authors
Dogless in Metchosin, surely that's an oxymoron. Seven hundred dogs are registered in our community of 1,600 houses and who knows how many are walking the other side of the canine law? On our humble little seaside road, dogs live in trios and pairs and evening walkers are regularly faced with running a barking gauntlet. So why are there no dogs to be found at Tom Henry's house? Dogless in Metchosin, Henry's collection of Country Life columns, which can be heard on the CBC's Afternoon Show, holds the key to that particular mystery and I'm not about to give it away.
Amusing and conversational, Dogless in Metchosin is a collection of 60 vignettes that explore the philosophies and characters of Tom Henry's curiously timeless country of hewing of wood and drawing of water. This land is for the most part a rural idyll populated with eccentrics and old guys - which incidently, despite his 34 years, Tom Henry (who admits to enjoying sorting hardware into coffee cans) is an old guy - and most importantly, with his family, the love for whom casts an enviable shadow over all he writes.
Henry's writing style, steeped in the oral tradition and laced with a drop or two of E. B. White and Garrison Keillor, meanders from place and character, and frequently shifts in time - from Metchosin, to the Peace River Country, to Duncan or Vancouver. Throughout the anecdotes the reader meets Tom as a child, a teen, as a logger, gardener and university student, as well as a host of other Henry kin and friends. We are treated to philosophizing on mudrooms, barter, the virtue of old trucks, soup and manual labour as well as observations on cussing, community groups, and what makes a good lunch when working out in the rain or during haying season. Almost all are served with a dollop of humour. One of his best pieces pays tribute to two writers and B.C. naturalists, countrymen: Bruce Hutchinson and Roderick Haig-Brown.
This is the perfect book for casual reading or even better, for reading aloud to friends and family.
Reading Dogless in Metchosin in a few sittings rather than grazing through it as perhaps one should, left me strangely nostalgic for a time in my life that was pre-mortgage and before some of life's challenges knocked on my door. This I believe is because Tom Henry is above all a rural romantic. Equally at home with Chekhov and chainsaws, he is interested in recording mainly the upside of country life and of life in general. His is a cheery, welcome voice, one that many look forward to each Thursday afternoon on the CBC, and his book should appeal to both the faller and the woman who taps out her living at the keyboard of her computer, hopefully with a pair of wet dogs nearby steaming and snoozing by the warmth of the woodstove.
-Suzanne Steele, Metchosin Muse
Country Lifestyle at centre of new book
A Metchosin writer, with a flair for comedy, has written a book about his country lifestyle.
Tom Henry's Dogless in Metchosin is a collection of humorous essays that had its beginnings in a hayfield one hot June day in 1993.
"I was haying for a farmer down the road here," Henry said Tuesday from his Speyside Lane home, bordering the Beecher Bay Indian Reserve.
Henry, 34, enjoyed the work so much, he wrote a freelance piece for the Vancouver Sun.
That led to a call from a CBC Radio producer who wanted Henry to do a series about country life.
In the fall of 1993, Henry became the CBC's country life columnist and he does twice-weekly broadcasts Mondays and Wednesdays which he tapes from his back porch and sends to CBC’s radio studios by bus.
Harbour Publishing of Pender Harbour asked Henry to "retool" his radio columns into a book, which became Dogless in Metchosin.
Henry also has written The Good Company, a history of Union Steamships, and Paul Bunyan on the West Coast.
Born in Duncan, Henry spent most of his life on Vancouver Island, except for six years on a grain farm.
From a family of avid readers that included four brothers and a sister, Henry said he became interested in writing when he was 26 or 27.
He remembers the moment when writing definitely became attractive to him. He was working as a hook tender in a logging camp, wet and cold on a mountain slope in Phillips Arm, south of Knight Inlet.
"I didn't want to be doing that forever," said Henry.
He enrolled in creative writing and history at the University of Victoria - "I really like B.C. history. I've always been a history buff" - in 1986 and came out with degrees in both in 1990.
While at UVic, Henry worked at the weekly 100 Mile House Free Press and the Cranbrook Daily Townsmen, where he learned the grind of producing stories.
"It just made me realize stories could be written in a short time."
He also did a stint in the communications branch of the federal Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs in Whitehorse.
Henry worked for two years at Monday Magazine as a staff writer before being fired.
"Thank Christ I was. At the time, I didn't like it."
Henry estimates that half his income is derived from his writing and the other half from log booms, logging, gardening and other general handyman jobs.
He and Lorna Jackson, who is also an author and has written Dressing for Hope, are striving for some degree of self-sufficiency.
Henry said country living is about keeping one's nose clean and learning such skills as fencing and how to preserve things.
Dogless in Metchosin is about their rural lifestyle.
"It describes how I learned those things," Henry said.
He has been working for about a year on a new book, a biography on the life of Gwyn Grey Hill.
"He's an idiosyncratic Englishman who sailed the (west) coast from 1935 to 1985 and knew it better than anyone ever has or ever will."
Henry said Grey Hill's vessels were instantly recognizable for their filth, "and so was he."
Henry, was able to meet Grey Hill once before he died this June in Cowichan.
Henry has all of Grey Hill's log books plus well over a thousand of his letters.
Grey Hill, described as an alcoholic who had an excellent memory but no time for mundane pleasantries, was in his 80s when he died.
"He embodies at least two eras of coastal history. He virtually wrote essays on what the coast was like in each era."
Henry and Jackson are hosting a book launch Saturday at the Metchosin Preschool, 4354 Metchosin Rd.
-King Lee, Victoria Times Colonist
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2001
|
__label__cc
| 0.724514
| 0.275486
|
MERGES AND ACQUISITIONS
DISPOSITION/ ACQUISITIONS
Information and Privacy Policy
info@hessinc.com
Please Review This Information About Brokerage Services
refers to any information that identifies or can be used to identify, contact, or locate the person to whom such information pertains, including, but not limited to, name, address, phone number, email address. Personally Identifiable Information does not include information that is collected anonymously (that is, without identification of the individual user) or demographic information not connected to an identified individual.
What Personally Identifiable Information is collected?
We may collect basic user profile information from all of our Visitors. We collect the following additional information from our Authorized Customers: the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
How does Hess Inc. use Personally Identifiable Information?
We use Personally Identifiable Information to customize the Site, to make appropriate service offerings, and to fulfill buying and selling requests on the Site. We may email Visitors and Authorized Customers about purchase opportunities on the Site or information related to the subject matter of the Site.
With whom may the information may be shared?
Personally Identifiable Information about Authorized Customers may be shared with other Authorized Customers who wish to evaluate potential transactions with other Authorized Customers.
How is Personally Identifiable Information stored?
Personally Identifiable Information collected by Bee Cave Fitness is securely stored and is not accessible to third parties.
What choices are available to Visitors regarding collection, use and distribution of the information?
Visitors and Authorized Customers may opt out of receiving unsolicited information from or being contacted by us and/or our vendors and affiliated agencies by responding to emails as instructed, or by contacting us at hessrealtors@gmail.com.
Are Cookies Used on the Site?
Cookies are used for a variety of reasons. We use Cookies to obtain information about the preferences of our Visitors and the services they select. We also use Cookies for security purposes to protect our Authorized Customers. For example, if an Authorized Customer is logged on and the site is unused for more than 10 minutes, we will automatically log the Authorized Customer off.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2003
|
__label__cc
| 0.511648
| 0.488352
|
Paperboy 2
Platform: Game Boy
Developer: Tengen
04/??/1992
More Game Boy Games to Consider...
System: Game Boy; Reviews: 1
Release Date: 1991 (North America)
Bubble Ghost
At HonestGamers, we love reader reviews. If you're a great writer, we'd love to host your Paperboy 2 review on this page. Thanks for your support, and we hope you'll let your friends know about us!
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Paperboy 2 is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Paperboy 2, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. Staff and freelance reviews are typically written based on time spent with a retail review copy or review key for the game that is provided by its publisher.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2011
|
__label__cc
| 0.534033
| 0.465967
|
Back to Article Listing Public Acts Search Guide Disclaimer Printer-Friendly Version
(625 ILCS 5/) Illinois Vehicle Code.
625 ILCS 5/5-102.1
(625 ILCS 5/5-102.1) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 5-102.1)
Sec. 5-102.1. Permits for off site sales and exhibitions.
(a) A licensed new or used motor vehicle dealer licensed under Section 5-101 or 5-102 shall not engage in any off site sale without an off site sale permit issued by the Secretary under this Section.
The Secretary shall issue an off site sale permit to a dealer if:
(1) an application therefor is received by the
Secretary prior to the beginning date of the proposed off site sale, accompanied by a fee of $25;
(2) the applicant is a licensed new vehicle dealer or
used vehicle dealer in good standing; and
(3) the Secretary determines that the proposed off
site sale will conform with the requirements imposed by law.
However, in no event shall an off site sale permit be issued to any licensed new or used vehicle dealer for any off site sale to be conducted outside that dealer's relevant market area, as that term is defined in this Chapter, except that this restriction shall not apply to off site sales of motor homes or recreational vehicles.
The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to self-contained motor homes, mini motor homes, van campers, and recreational trailers, including trailers designed and used to transport vessels or watercraft.
An off site sale permit does not authorize the sale of vehicles on a Sunday.
(b) Only a new or used vehicle dealer licensed under Section 5-101 or 5-102 may participate in a display exhibition and shall obtain a display exhibition permit issued by the Secretary under this Section.
The Secretary shall issue a display exhibition permit to a dealer if:
Secretary prior to the beginning date of the proposed exhibition, accompanied by a fee of $10;
(3) the Secretary determines that the proposed
exhibition will conform with the requirements imposed by law.
A display exhibition permit shall be valid for a period of no longer than 30 days.
(c) A licensed new or used motor vehicle dealer under Section 5-101 or 5-102, or any other person as defined in this Section, may participate in a trade show exhibition and must obtain a trade show exhibition permit issued by the Secretary under this Section.
The Secretary shall issue a trade show exhibition permit if:
(1) an application is received by the Secretary
before the beginning date of the proposed trade show exhibition, accompanied by a fee of $10;
(3) the Secretary determines that the proposed trade
show exhibition shall conform with the requirements imposed by law.
A trade show exhibition permit shall be valid for a period of no longer than 30 days.
The term "any other person" shall mean new or used vehicle dealers licensed by other states; provided however, a trade show exhibition of new vehicles shall only be participated in by licensed new vehicle dealers, at least 2 of which must be licensed under Section 5-101.
(d) An Illinois or out-of-state licensed new or used trailer dealer, manufactured home dealer, motor home dealer, mini motor home dealer, or van camper dealer shall not engage in any off site sale or trade show exhibition without first acquiring a permit issued by the Secretary under this subsection. However, the provisions of this Section shall not apply to a licensed trailer dealer selling a mobile home or manufactured housing, as defined in the Illinois Manufactured Housing and Mobile Home Safety Act, if the manufactured housing or mobile home has utilities permanently attached. The Secretary shall issue a permit to an Illinois dealer if:
before the beginning date of the proposed off site sale or trade show exhibition, accompanied by a fee of $25;
(2) the applicant is a licensed new or used vehicle
dealer in good standing; and
site sale or trade show exhibition will conform with the requirements imposed by law.
The Secretary shall issue a permit to an out-of-state dealer if the requirements of subdivisions (1), (2), and (3) of this subsection (d) are met and at least 2 licensed Illinois dealers will participate in the off site sale or trade show exhibition.
A permit issued pursuant to this subsection shall allow for the sale of vehicles at either an off site sale or at a trade show exhibition. The permit shall be valid for a period not to exceed 30 days.
(e) The Secretary of State may adopt rules regulating the conduct of off site sales and exhibitions, and governing the issuance and enforcement of the permits authorized under this Section.
(Source: P.A. 90-718, eff. 1-1-99; 90-774, eff. 8-14-98; 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
(625 ILCS 5/5-102.5)
Sec. 5-102.5. Used vehicle dealer prelicensing education program courses.
(a) An applicant for a license as a used vehicle dealer shall complete a minimum of 8 hours of prelicensing education program courses pursuant to this Section prior to submitting an application to the Secretary of State.
(b) To meet the requirements of this Section, at least one individual who is associated with the used vehicle dealer as an owner, principal, corporate officer, director, or member or partner of a limited liability company or limited liability partnership shall complete the education program courses.
(c) The education program courses shall be provided by public or private entities with an expertise in the area as approved by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State must approve course curricula and instruction, in consultation with the Illinois Department of Transportation and any private entity with expertise in the area in the Secretary of State's discretion.
(d) Each person who successfully completes an approved prelicensing education program under this Section shall be issued a certificate by the education program provider of the course. The current certificate of completion, or a copy of the certificate, shall be posted conspicuously in the principal office of the licensee.
(e) The provisions of this Section apply to all used vehicle dealers including, but not limited to, individuals, corporations, and partnerships, except for the following:
(1) Motor vehicle rental companies having a national
franchise;
(2) National motor vehicle auction companies;
(3) Wholesale dealer-only auction companies;
(4) Used vehicle dealerships owned by a franchise
motor vehicle dealer; and
(5) Banks, credit unions, and savings and loan
associations.
(Source: P.A. 96-678, eff. 8-25-09.)
Sec. 5-102.7. Dealer Recovery Trust Fund.
(a) The General Assembly finds that motor vehicle dealers that go out of business without fulfilling agreements to pay off the balance of their customers' liens on traded-in vehicles cause financial harm to those customers by leaving those customers liable for multiple vehicle loans and cause harm to the integrity of the motor vehicle retailing industry. It is the intent of the General Assembly to protect vehicle purchasers by creating a Dealer Recovery Trust Fund to reimburse these consumers.
(b) The Dealer Recovery Trust Fund shall be used solely for the limited purpose of helping victims of dealership closings. Any interest accrued by moneys in the Fund shall be deposited and become part of the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund and its purpose. The sole beneficiaries of the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund are victims of dealership closings.
(c) Except where the context otherwise requires, the following words and phrases, when used in this Section, have the meanings ascribed to them in this subsection (c):
"Applicant" means a person who applies for reimbursement from the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund Board.
"Board" means the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund Board created under this Section.
"Dealer" means a new vehicle dealer licensed under Section 5-101 or a used vehicle dealer licensed under Section 5-102, excepting a dealer who primarily sells mobile homes, recreational vehicles, or trailers.
"Fund" means the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund created under this Section.
"Fund Administrator" means the private entity, which shall be appointed by the Board, that administers the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund.
(d) Beginning October 1, 2011, each application or renewal for a new vehicle dealer's license and each application or renewal for a used vehicle dealer's license shall be accompanied by the applicable Annual Dealer Recovery Fund Fee under Section 5-101 or 5-102 of this Code. The fee shall be in addition to any other fees imposed under this Article, shall be submitted at the same time an application or renewal for a new vehicle dealer's license or used vehicle dealer's license is submitted, and shall be made payable to and remitted directly to the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund, a trust fund outside of the State Treasury which is hereby created. In addition, the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund may accept any federal, State, or private moneys for deposit into the Fund.
(e) The Fund Administrator shall maintain a list of all dealers who have paid the fee under subsection (d) of this Section for the current year, which shall be available to the Secretary of State and the Board. The Secretary of State shall revoke the dealer license of any dealer who does not pay the fee imposed under subsection (d) of this Section. The Secretary of State and the Fund Administrator may enter into information sharing agreements as needed to implement this Section.
(f) The Fund shall be audited annually by an independent auditor who is a certified public accountant and who has been selected by the Board. The independent auditor shall compile an annual report, which shall be filed with the Board and shall be a public record. The auditor shall be paid by the Fund, pursuant to an order of the Board.
(g) The Fund shall be maintained by the Fund Administrator, who shall keep current records of the amounts deposited into the Fund and the amounts paid out of the Fund pursuant to an order of the Board. These records shall be made available to all members of the Board upon reasonable request during normal business hours. The Fund Administrator shall report the balance in the Fund to the Board monthly, by the 15th day of each month. For purposes of determining the amount available to pay claims under this Section at any meeting of the Board, the Board shall use the Fund Administrator's most recent monthly report. The Fund Administrator shall purchase liability insurance to cover management of the Fund at a cost not to exceed 2% of the balance in the Fund as of January 15th of that year.
(h) In any year for which the balance in the Fund as of August 31st is greater than $3,500,000, the Fund Administrator shall notify the Secretary of State and the Secretary of State shall suspend collection of the fee for the following year for any dealer who has not had a claim paid from the Fund, has not had his or her license suspended or revoked, and has not been assessed any civil penalties under this Code during the 3 previous years.
(i) Moneys in the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund may be paid from the Fund only as directed by a written order of the Board and used only for the following purposes:
(i) to pay claims under a written order of the Board
as provided in this Section; or
(ii) to reimburse the Fund Administrator for its
expenses related to the administration of the Fund, provided that the reimbursement to the Fund Administrator in any year shall not exceed 2% of the balance in the Fund as of January 15th of that year.
(j) The Dealer Recovery Trust Fund Board is hereby created. The Board shall consist of the Secretary of State, or his or her designee, who shall serve as chair, the Attorney General, or his or her designee, who shall serve as secretary, and one person alternatively representing new and independent Illinois automobile dealers, selected collectively by the Attorney General, or his or her designee, and the Secretary of State, or his or her designee. The Secretary of State may propose procedures and employ personnel as necessary to implement this Section. The Board shall meet quarterly, and as needed, as directed by the chair. The Board may not pay out any claims before the balance deposited into the Fund exceeds $500,000. Board meetings shall be open to the public. The Board has the authority to take any action by at least a two-thirds majority vote.
(k) The following persons may apply to the Board for reimbursement from the Dealer Recovery Trust Fund:
(i) A retail customer who, on or after October 1,
2011, purchases a vehicle from a dealer who subsequently files for bankruptcy or whose vehicle dealer's license is subsequently revoked by the Secretary of State or otherwise terminated and, as part of the purchase transaction, trades in a vehicle with an outstanding lien to the dealer if lien satisfaction was a condition of the purchase agreement and the retail customer determines that the lien has not been satisfied;
(ii) A retail customer who, on or after October 1,
2011, purchases a vehicle with an undisclosed lien from a dealer who subsequently files for bankruptcy or whose vehicle dealer's license is subsequently revoked by the Secretary of State or otherwise terminated;
(iii) A dealer who, on or after October 1, 2011,
purchases a vehicle with an undisclosed lien from another dealer who subsequently files for bankruptcy or whose vehicle dealer's license is subsequently revoked by the Secretary of State or otherwise terminated.
(l) To be considered by the Board, an applicant must submit his or her claim to the Board within 2 years after the date of the transaction that gave rise to the claim.
(m) At each meeting of the Board, it shall consider all claims that are properly submitted to it on forms prescribed by the Secretary of State at least 30 days before the date of the Board's meeting. Before the Board may consider a claim against a dealer, it must make a written determination that the dealer has filed for bankruptcy under the provisions of 11 U.S.C. Chapter 7; that the Secretary of State has revoked his or her dealer's license; or that the license has been otherwise terminated. Once the Board has made this determination, it may consider the applicant's claim against the dealer. If a two-thirds majority of the Board determines that the dealer has committed a violation under subsection (k), it shall grant the applicant's claim. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, the maximum amount of any award for a claim under paragraph (i) of subsection (k) of this Section shall be equal to the amount of the unpaid balance of the lien that the dealer agreed to pay off on behalf of the applicant as shown on the bill of sale or the retail installment sales contract. The maximum amount of any claim under paragraph (ii) or (iii) of subsection (k) of this Section shall be equal to the amount of the undisclosed lien. However, no award for a claim under subsection (k) of this Section shall exceed $35,000.
(n) If the balance in the Fund at the time of any Board meeting is less than the amount of the total amount of all claims awarded at that meeting, then all awards made at that meeting shall be reduced, pro rata, so that the amount of claims does not exceed the balance in the Fund. Before it reviews new claims, the Board shall issue written orders to pay the remaining portion of any claims that were so reduced, provided that the balance in the Fund is sufficient to pay those claims.
(o) Whenever the balance of the Fund falls below $500,000, the Board may charge dealers an additional assessment of up to $50 to bring the balance to at least $500,000. Not more than one additional assessment may be made against a dealer in any 12-month period.
(p) If the total amount of claims awarded against any dealer exceeds 33% of the balance in the Fund, the Board may permanently reduce the amount of those claims, pro rata, so that those claims do not exceed 33% of the balance in the Fund.
(q) The Board shall issue a written order directing the Fund Administrator to pay an applicant's claim to a secured party where the Board has received a signed agreement between the applicant and the secured party holding the lien. The agreement must (i) state that the applicant and the secured party agree to accept payment from the Fund to the secured party as settlement in full of all claims against the dealer; and (ii) release the lien and the title, if applicable, to the vehicle that was the subject of the claim. The written order shall state the amount of the claim and the name and address of the secured party to whom the claim shall be paid. The Fund Administrator shall pay the claim within 30 days after it receives the Board's order.
(r) No dealer or principal associated with a dealer's license is eligible for licensure, renewal or relicensure until the full amount of reimbursement for an unpaid claim, plus interest as determined by the Board, is paid to the Fund. Nothing in this Section shall limit the authority of the Secretary of State to suspend, revoke, or levy civil penalties against a dealer, nor shall full repayment of the amount owed to the Fund nullify or modify the effect of any action by the Secretary.
(s) Nothing in this Section shall limit the right of any person to seek relief though civil action against any other person as an alternative to seeking reimbursement from the Fund.
(Source: P.A. 97-480, eff. 10-1-11; 98-450, eff. 1-1-14.)
625 ILCS 5/5-103
(625 ILCS 5/5-103) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 5-103)
Sec. 5-103. (a) Every new vehicle manufacturer shall specify the delivery and preparation obligations of its vehicle dealers prior to delivery of new vehicles to retail buyers. A copy of the delivery and preparation obligations of its dealers shall be filed with the Secretary of State by every vehicle manufacturer and shall constitute the vehicle dealer's only responsibility for product liability as between the dealer and the manufacturer. A manufacturer's product or warranty liability to the dealer shall extend to any mechanical, body or parts defect constituting a breach of any express or implied warranty of the manufacturer. The manufacturer shall reasonably compensate any authorized dealer who rectifies a defect which constitutes a breach of any express or implied warranty of the manufacturer and for preparation and delivery obligations. Every dealer shall perform the preparation and get ready services specified by the manufacturer to be performed prior to the delivery of the new vehicle to the buyer.
(b) The owner of the vehicle may cause the vehicle to be inspected according to this Section and have the original manufacturer's warranty reinstated if the vehicle is a theft recovery that has been salvaged and is recovered without structural damage or missing essential parts, excluding wheels, damage to the steering column, and radios provided the owner:
(1) Submits the vehicle to a franchised dealer for a
complete inspection, including fluids, frame, essential parts, and other items deemed by the manufacturer as essential for verification of the condition of the vehicle at the time of recovery.
(2) Submits a copy of the police recovery report to
the inspecting dealer.
(3) Paid the inspection fee charged by the franchised
dealer.
The manufacturer shall reinstate the original manufacturer's warranty if a vehicle is certified by a franchised dealer as having complied with the provisions of this Section. The manufacturer shall, in addition to reinstating the warranty, provide the owner with a written statement indicating that the original manufacturer's warranty has been reinstated.
(c) Nothing in this Section shall affect a cause of action a buyer may have against a dealer or manufacturer under present applicable statutory or case law.
Sec. 5-104. On and after January 1, 1976, each manufacturer of a 1976 or later model year vehicle of the first division manufactured for sale in this State, other than a motorcycle, shall clearly and conspicuously indicate, on the price listing affixed to the vehicle pursuant to the Automobile Information Disclosure Act, (15 United States Code 1231 through 1233), the following, with the appropriate gasoline mileage figure:
"In tests for fuel economy in city and highway driving conducted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, this passenger vehicle obtained ....... miles per gallon of gasoline.".
(Source: P.A. 100-863, eff. 8-14-18.)
Sec. 5-104.1. Informational labels on pickup trucks; penalty. (1) Every manufacturer of second division vehicles having a gross vehicle weight rating of 8,500 pounds or less which are sold or offered for sale for use upon the public streets or highways within this State shall, prior to the delivery of the second division vehicle to an Illinois dealer, or on or prior to the introduction date of new models delivered to an Illinois dealer, securely affix to the windshield or side window of the second division vehicle a label upon which the manufacturer shall endorse clearly, distinctly and legibly true and correct entries disclosing information identical to and in the same manner as required on new first division vehicles. The label shall remain affixed to the second division vehicle until delivery of the second division vehicle to the ultimate purchaser. Any manufacturer who shall willfully fail to affix a proper label required by this Section or any person who shall willfully remove, alter or mutilate a label prior to delivery of the second division vehicle to the ultimate purchaser is guilty of a misdemeanor. This Section shall not apply to such second division vehicles for which the annual sales in Illinois of the previous model year were less than 200.
(2) This Section shall apply to second division vehicles having a gross vehicle weight rating of 8,500 pounds or less built after December 31, 1987.
(Source: P.A. 85-387.)
Sec. 5-104.2. Nonconforming vehicles; sale.
(a) Every manufacturer shall be prohibited from reselling any motor vehicle that has been finally ordered, determined, or adjudicated as having a nonconformity under the New Vehicle Buyer Protection Act or a similar law of any state, territory, or country, and that the manufacturer repurchased or replaced because of the nonconformity, unless the manufacturer has corrected the nonconformity and issues a disclosure statement prior to resale stating that the vehicle was repurchased or replaced under the New Vehicle Buyer Protection Act or similar law of any other state, territory, or country; identifying the nonconformity; and warranting that the nonconformity has been corrected. The disclosure statement must accompany the vehicle through the first retail purchase.
(b) "Nonconformity" refers to a new vehicle's failure to conform to all express warranties applicable to the vehicle, which failure substantially impairs the use, market value, or safety of the vehicle.
(c) The disclosure statement referred to in subsection (a) shall be in substantially the same form as below: "IMPORTANT Vehicle Identification Number (VIN): (Insert VIN Number);
Year: (Insert Year); Make (Insert Make); Model: (Insert Model). This vehicle was previously sold as new. It was subsequently ordered as having a nonconformity by final decision of court proceeding or State run arbitration. It was subsequently repurchased by its manufacturer because it did not conform to the manufacturer's express warranty and the nonconformity was not cured within a reasonable time as provided by Illinois law. The following nonconformities have been corrected (a minimum of 5 numbered lines shall be provided to describe the nonconformity or nonconformities)."
The customer shall sign the disclosure statement. This disclosure language shall be in at least 8-point type.
Sec. 5-104.3. Disclosure of rebuilt vehicle.
(a) No person shall knowingly, with intent to defraud or deceive another, sell a vehicle for which a rebuilt title has been issued unless that vehicle is accompanied by a Disclosure of Rebuilt Vehicle Status form, properly signed and delivered to the buyer.
(a-5) No dealer or rebuilder licensed under Sections 5-101, 5-102, or 5-301 of this Code shall sell a vehicle for which a rebuilt title has been issued from another jurisdiction without first obtaining an Illinois certificate of title with a "REBUILT" notation under Section 3-118.1 of this Code.
(b) The Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe the format and information contained in the Disclosure of Rebuilt Vehicle Status form.
(c) A violation of subsection (a) or (a-5) of this Section is a Class A misdemeanor. A second or subsequent violation of subsection (a) or (a-5) of this Section is a Class 4 felony.
(Source: P.A. 100-104, eff. 11-9-17; 100-863, eff. 8-14-18.)
Sec. 5-105. Investigation of licensee required. Every person seeking a license under Chapter 5 of this Act, as part of the application process, authorizes an investigation to determine if the applicant has ever been convicted of a crime and if so, the disposition of those convictions. This authorization shall indicate the scope of the inquiry and the agencies which may be contacted. Upon this authorization the Secretary of State may request and receive information and assistance from any Federal, State or local governmental agency as part of the authorized investigation. The Department of State Police shall provide information concerning any criminal convictions and their disposition brought against the applicant upon request of the Secretary of State when the request is made in the form and manner required by the Department of State Police. The information derived from this investigation, including the source of this information, and any conclusions or recommendations derived from this information by the Secretary of State shall be provided to the applicant or his designee. Upon request to the Secretary of State prior to any final action by the Secretary of State on the application, no information obtained from such investigation may be placed in any automated information system. Any criminal convictions and their disposition information obtained by the Secretary of State shall be confidential and may not be transmitted outside the Office of the Secretary of State, except as required herein, and may not be transmitted to anyone within the Office of the Secretary of State except as needed for the purpose of evaluating the application. All criminal convictions and their disposition and information obtained by the Division of Investigation shall be destroyed no later than 60 days after the Division of Investigation has made a final ruling on the application, and all rights of appeal have expired and pending appeals have been completed. The only physical identity materials which the applicant can be required to provide the Secretary of State are photographs or fingerprints. Only information and standards which bear a reasonable and rational relation to the performance of a licensee shall be used by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall adopt rules and regulations for the administration of this Section. Any employee of the Secretary of State who gives or causes to be given away any confidential information concerning any criminal convictions and their disposition of an applicant shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
(Source: P.A. 84-25.)
Sec. 5-106. No person may keep open, operate, or assist in keeping open or operating any established or additional place of business for the purpose of buying, selling, bartering, exchanging, or leasing for a period of 1 year or more, or offering for sale, barter, exchange, or lease for a period of 1 year or more, any motor vehicle, whether new or used, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday; provided, that this Section does not apply to the opening of an established or additional place of business on Sunday for the following purposes:
(1) to sell petroleum products, tires or repair parts
and accessories;
(2) to operate and conduct a motor vehicle repair
shop;
(3) to supply services for the washing, towing or
wrecking of motor vehicles;
(4) to participate in a trade show exhibition or
display exhibition by a dealer who has been granted a permit by the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 5-102.1 of this Article;
(5) to sell motorcycles, motor driven cycles,
motorized pedalcycles when offered for sale by a dealer licensed under Sections 5-101 and 5-102 to sell only such motor vehicles;
(6) to offer for sale manufactured housing;
(7) to sell self-contained motor homes, mini motor
homes, van campers and recreational trailers when offered for sale by a dealer at an established or additional place of business where only such vehicles are displayed or offered for sale. This exemption includes dealers with off site sales or trade show exhibition permits issued pursuant to subsection (d) of Section 5-102.1 of this Article.
(Source: P.A. 89-551, eff. 1-1-97.)
Sec. 5-107. Bond exemption. The following persons shall be exempt from the bond required in Sections 5-101 and 5-102: (1) Any person who has been continuously licensed under Section 5-101 or 5-102 since calendar year 1983; (2) any licensee who as determined by the Secretary of State, has faithfully and continuously complied with conditions of the bond requirement for a period of 60 consecutive months after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly.
This exemption shall continue for each licensee until such time as he may be determined by the Secretary of State to be delinquent or deficient in the transmittal of title and registration fees or taxes.
A person whose license is cancelled due to the voluntary surrender of such license, who applies for a new license for the same license year or one license year after the license year of the cancelled license, will remain exempt under paragraph (1) above if the only break in the continuous licensure is caused by the cancellation due to the voluntary surrender of the license.
(Source: P.A. 100-450, eff. 1-1-18.)
Sec. 5-108. Vehicle Referral and Marketing Services. Nothing in this Code shall be construed to prohibit a credit union, as defined in the Illinois Credit Union Act, a bank, as defined in the Illinois Banking Act, or any firm, copartnership, association or corporation from advertising the sale of motor vehicles by licensed dealers or advertising motor vehicle purchase opportunities from licensed dealers, from referring potential purchasers of motor vehicles to licensed dealers, or from soliciting purchasers of motor vehicles for licensed dealers. However, any motor vehicle sale resulting from those activities may only be consummated by a dealer licensed under Section 5-101 or 5-102 of this Code.
(625 ILCS 5/5-109)
Sec. 5-109. Manufacturers and distributors; fees.
(a) "Manufacturer" means any person who manufactures or assembles new motor vehicles either within or without of this State.
(b) "Distributor" means any person who distributes or sells new motor vehicles to new vehicle dealers, or who maintains distributor representatives in this State, and who is not a manufacturer.
(c) Each manufacturer and distributor doing business in this State shall pay an annual fee of $1500 to the Secretary of State to be deposited into the Motor Vehicle Review Board Fund.
625 ILCS 5/Ch. 5 Art. II
(625 ILCS 5/Ch. 5 Art. II heading) ARTICLE II. TRANSPORTERS
Sec. 5-201. Transporters must apply for in-transit plates.
(a) No person shall engage in this State in the business as a transporter until such person shall apply for and receive from the Secretary of State a generally distinctive set of two "in-transit license plates" for any vehicle so transported by him.
(b) An application for a generally distinctive number under this Article shall be filed with the Secretary of State, duly verified by oath and in such form as the Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe and shall contain the name and business address of such person, the certificate, registration or permit number issued by the Illinois Commerce Commission and such other information concerning the business of the applicant as the Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe. If the applicant does not hold a certificate, registration or permit from the Illinois Commerce Commission to so transport, such application shall be denied.
(c) An application for a generally distinctive set of two "in-transit license plates" shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee. Upon the payment of such license fee, such application shall be filed and recorded in the office of the Secretary of State. Thereupon the Secretary of State shall assign and issue to such person a generally distinctive number and without any further expense to him shall deliver to such person at his business address a certificate of registration in such form as the Secretary of State may prescribe and one set of two "in-transit license plates" with a number corresponding to the number of such certificate of registration. Such in-transit plates shall be used by such person only on vehicles transported, but not owned, by him.
(d) Except as provided in sub-section (3) hereof, all certificates of registration and "in-transit plates" granted under this Section shall expire by operation of law on December 31 of the calendar year for which they are granted unless sooner revoked under the provisions of Section 5-501 of this Chapter.
(e) A certificate of registration under this Article may be renewed upon application and payment of the fee required herein as in the case of an original application, provided, however, that in case an application for renewal of an effective registration is made during the month of December, such existing registration shall remain in force until such application for renewal is granted by the Secretary of State.
(f) Any person registered as a transporter under the Article may make application for additional duplicate sets of "in-transit plates" on such form as the Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe, from time to time to obtain as many duplicate sets of "in-transit plates" as he may desire upon payment of the prescribed fee for each set. Such duplicate plates shall bear the number of that person's original certificate of registration.
(g) In case of loss or destruction of one license plate issued to a transporter under this Section such transporter may obtain a duplicate of the same by filing an affidavit to that effect with the Secretary of State, accompanied by the prescribed fee.
(h) An original "in-transit plate" or a duplicate shall be attached to the front and rear of each vehicle so transported in this State; provided, that if one such vehicle is towing another such vehicle, one plate or duplicate plate shall be attached to the front of the towing vehicle and one such plate to the rear of the rearmost towed vehicle.
(i) Anything in this Chapter to the contrary notwithstanding, the provisions of this Section shall not apply to a non-resident engaged in such business and using the public highways of this State if he has an "in-transit plate" or license from the State, foreign country or province, territory or federal district of which he is a resident and such State, country, province, territory or district grants a like exemption to residents of this State.
(Source: P.A. 76-1586.)
Sec. 5-202. Tow or Wrecker operators must register tow or wrecker vehicles. (a) No person in this State shall engage in the business of operating a tow truck or wrecker or operate a tow or wrecker vehicle until such person shall register any vehicle to be used for such purpose and apply for and receive from the Secretary of State a generally distinctive set of 3 "tow truck" plates for any towing or wrecker vehicle operated by him.
(b) An application for registration for a generally distinctive set of 3 "tow truck" plates under this Article shall be filed with the Secretary of State, duly verified by oath and in such form as the Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe and shall contain the name and business address of such person, the vehicle identification number of the vehicle for which such application is made, proof of insurance as set forth in paragraph (d) of Section 12-606 of this Code, and such other information concerning the business of the applicant as the Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe.
(c) The application for registration and a generally distinctive set of 3 "tow truck" plates shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee. Upon payment of such fee, such registration and application shall be filed and recorded in the office of the Secretary of State. Thereupon the Secretary of State shall assign and issue to such person a generally distinctive number for each vehicle and without further expense to him shall deliver to such person at his place of business address one set of 3 "tow truck" plates. Such "tow truck" plates shall be used by such person only on the vehicle for which application was made and the vehicle being towed, and are not transferable.
(d) All "tow truck" plates granted under this Section shall expire by operation of law on December 31 of the calendar year for which they are granted unless sooner revoked under the provisions of Section 5-501 of this Chapter.
(e) One "tow truck" plate shall be attached to the front and rear of each registered vehicle, and one "tow truck" plate shall be attached to the rear of the vehicle being towed unless the towed vehicle displays a valid registration plate visible from the rear while being towed, so that the numbers and letter on the plate are clearly visible to any person following the vehicle being towed. However, illumination of the rear plate required by subsection (c) of Section 12-201 of this Code shall not apply to the third plate displayed on the towed vehicle. In addition, the vehicle registration plates assigned to the vehicle being towed shall be displayed as provided in Section 3-413 of this Code.
(Source: P.A. 86-444; 86-565; 86-1028.)
Sec. 5-207. Licensing of towing services as dealers. Any towing service that sells or disposes of 5 or more vehicles in a calendar year to anyone other than a person licensed under Chapter 5 of this Code must also be licensed under Section 5-102 of this Chapter.
(Source: P.A. 89-433, eff. 12-15-95.)
625 ILCS 5/Ch. 5 Art. III
(625 ILCS 5/Ch. 5 Art. III heading) ARTICLE III. USED PARTS DEALERS, SCRAP PROCESSORS, AUTOMOTIVE PARTSRECYCLERS AND REBUILDERS
Sec. 5-301. Automotive parts recyclers, scrap processors, repairers and rebuilders must be licensed.
(a) No person in this State shall, except as an incident to the servicing of vehicles, carry on or conduct the business of an automotive parts recycler, a scrap processor, a repairer, or a rebuilder, unless licensed to do so in writing by the Secretary of State under this Section. No person shall rebuild a salvage vehicle unless such person is licensed as a rebuilder by the Secretary of State under this Section. No person shall engage in the business of acquiring 5 or more previously owned vehicles in one calendar year for the primary purpose of disposing of those vehicles in the manner described in the definition of a "scrap processor" in this Code unless the person is licensed as an automotive parts recycler by the Secretary of State under this Section. Each license shall be applied for and issued separately, except that a license issued to a new vehicle dealer under Section 5-101 of this Code shall also be deemed to be a repairer license.
(b) Any application filed with the Secretary of State, shall be duly verified by oath, in such form as the Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe and shall contain:
1. The name and type of business organization of the
applicant and his principal or additional places of business, if any, in this State.
2. The kind or kinds of business enumerated in
subsection (a) of this Section to be conducted at each location.
3. If the applicant is a corporation, a list of its
officers, directors, and shareholders having a ten percent or greater ownership interest in the corporation, setting forth the residence address of each; if the applicant is a sole proprietorship, a partnership, an unincorporated association, a trust, or any similar form of business organization, the names and residence address of the proprietor or of each partner, member, officer, director, trustee or manager.
4. A statement that the applicant's officers,
directors, shareholders having a ten percent or greater ownership interest therein, proprietor, partner, member, officer, director, trustee, manager, or other principals in the business have not committed in the past three years any one violation as determined in any civil or criminal or administrative proceedings of any one of the following Acts:
(a) the Anti-Theft Laws of the Illinois Vehicle
Code;
(b) the "Certificate of Title Laws" of the
Illinois Vehicle Code;
(c) the "Offenses against Registration and
Certificates of Title Laws" of the Illinois Vehicle Code;
(d) the "Dealers, Transporters, Wreckers and
Rebuilders Laws" of the Illinois Vehicle Code;
(e) Section 21-2 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or
the Criminal Code of 2012, Criminal Trespass to Vehicles; or
(f) the Retailers Occupation Tax Act.
directors, shareholders having a ten percent or greater ownership interest therein, proprietor, partner, member, officer, director, trustee, manager or other principals in the business have not committed in any calendar year 3 or more violations, as determined in any civil or criminal or administrative proceedings, of any one or more of the following Acts:
(a) the Consumer Finance Act;
(b) the Consumer Installment Loan Act;
(c) the Retail Installment Sales Act;
(d) the Motor Vehicle Retail Installment Sales
Act;
(e) the Interest Act;
(f) the Illinois Wage Assignment Act;
(g) Part 8 of Article XII of the Code of Civil
Procedure; or
(h) the Consumer Fraud Act.
6. An application for a license shall be accompanied
by the following fees: $50 for applicant's established place of business; $25 for each additional place of business, if any, to which the application pertains; provided, however, that if such an application is made after June 15 of any year, the license fee shall be $25 for applicant's established place of business plus $12.50 for each additional place of business, if any, to which the application pertains. License fees shall be returnable only in the event that such application shall be denied by the Secretary of State.
7. A statement that the applicant understands Chapter
1 through Chapter 5 of this Code.
8. A statement that the applicant shall comply with
subsection (e) of this Section.
9. A statement indicating if the applicant, including
any of the applicant's affiliates or predecessor corporations, has been subject to the revocation or nonrenewal of a business license by a municipality under Section 5-501.5 of this Code.
(c) Any change which renders no longer accurate any information contained in any application for a license filed with the Secretary of State shall be amended within 30 days after the occurrence of such change on such form as the Secretary of State may prescribe by rule or regulation, accompanied by an amendatory fee of $2.
(d) Anything in this Chapter to the contrary, notwithstanding, no person shall be licensed under this Section unless such person shall maintain an established place of business as defined in this Chapter.
(e) The Secretary of State shall within a reasonable time after receipt thereof, examine an application submitted to him under this Section and unless he makes a determination that the application submitted to him does not conform with the requirements of this Section or that grounds exist for a denial of the application, as prescribed in Section 5-501 of this Chapter, grant the applicant an original license as applied for in writing for his established place of business and a supplemental license in writing for each additional place of business in such form as he may prescribe by rule or regulation which shall include the following:
1. the name of the person licensed;
2. if a corporation, the name and address of its
officers or if a sole proprietorship, a partnership, an unincorporated association or any similar form of business organization, the name and address of the proprietor or of each partner, member, officer, director, trustee or manager;
3. a designation of the kind or kinds of business
enumerated in subsection (a) of this Section to be conducted at each location;
4. in the case of an original license, the
established place of business of the licensee;
5. in the case of a supplemental license, the
established place of business of the licensee and the additional place of business to which such supplemental license pertains.
(f) The appropriate instrument evidencing the license or a certified copy thereof, provided by the Secretary of State shall be kept, posted, conspicuously in the established place of business of the licensee and in each additional place of business, if any, maintained by such licensee. The licensee also shall post conspicuously in the established place of business and in each additional place of business a notice which states that such business is required to be licensed by the Secretary of State under Section 5-301, and which provides the license number of the business and the license expiration date. This notice also shall advise the consumer that any complaints as to the quality of service may be brought to the attention of the Attorney General. The information required on this notice also shall be printed conspicuously on all estimates and receipts for work by the licensee subject to this Section. The Secretary of State shall prescribe the specific format of this notice.
(g) Except as provided in subsection (h) hereof, licenses granted under this Section shall expire by operation of law on December 31 of the calendar year for which they are granted unless sooner revoked, nonrenewed, or cancelled under the provisions of Section 5-501 or 5-501.5 of this Chapter.
(h) Any license granted under this Section may be renewed upon application and payment of the fee required herein as in the case of an original license, provided, however, that in case an application for the renewal of an effective license is made during the month of December, such effective license shall remain in force until such application is granted or denied by the Secretary of State.
(i) All automotive repairers and rebuilders shall, in addition to the requirements of subsections (a) through (h) of this Section, meet the following licensing requirements:
1. provide proof that the property on which first
time applicants plan to do business is in compliance with local zoning laws and regulations, and a listing of zoning classification;
2. provide proof that the applicant for a repairer's
license complies with the proper workers' compensation rate code or classification, and listing the code of classification for that industry;
3. provide proof that the applicant for a rebuilder's
license complies with the proper workers' compensation rate code or classification for the repair industry or the auto parts recycling industry and listing the code of classification;
4. provide proof that the applicant has obtained or
applied for a hazardous waste generator number, and listing the actual number if available or certificate of exemption;
5. provide proof that applicant has proper liability
insurance, and listing the name of the insurer and the policy number; and
applied for the proper State sales tax classification and federal identification tax number, and listing the actual numbers if available.
(i-1) All automotive repairers shall provide proof that they comply with all requirements of the Automotive Collision Repair Act.
(j) All automotive parts recyclers shall, in addition to the requirements of subsections (a) through (h) of this Section, meet the following licensing requirements:
1. provide a statement that the applicant purchases 5
vehicles per year or has 5 hulks or chassis in stock;
2. provide proof that the property on which all first
time applicants will do business does comply to the proper local zoning laws in existence, and a listing of zoning classifications;
3. provide proof that applicant complies with the
proper workers' compensation rate code or classification, and listing the code of classification; and
4. provide proof that applicant has obtained or
Sec. 5-302. Out-of-state salvage vehicle buyer must be licensed.
(a) No person in this State shall sell or offer at auction salvage vehicles to a nonresident who is not licensed in another state or jurisdiction.
(b) (Blank).
(c) (Blank).
(d) (Blank).
(e) (Blank).
(f) (Blank).
(g) An out-of-state salvage vehicle buyer shall be subject to the inspection of records pertaining to the acquisition of salvage vehicles in this State in accordance with this Code and such rules as the Secretary of State may promulgate.
(h) (Blank).
(i) (Blank).
625 ILCS 5/Ch. 5 Art. IV
(625 ILCS 5/Ch. 5 Art. IV heading) ARTICLE IV. RECORDS REQUIRED TO BE KEPT
Sec. 5-401.2. Licensees required to keep records and make inspections.
(a) Every person licensed or required to be licensed under Section 5-101, 5-101.1, 5-101.2, 5-102, 5-301 or 5-302 of this Code, shall, with the exception of scrap processors, maintain for 3 years, in a form as the Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe, at his established place of business, additional place of business, or principal place of business if licensed under Section 5-302, the following records relating to the acquisition or disposition of vehicles and their essential parts possessed in this State, brought into this State from another state, territory or country, or sold or transferred to another person in this State or in another state, territory, or country.
(1) The following records pertaining to new or used
vehicles shall be kept:
(A) the year, make, model, style and color of the
vehicle;
(B) the vehicle's manufacturer's identification
number or, if applicable, the Secretary of State or Illinois Department of State Police identification number;
(C) the date of acquisition of the vehicle;
(D) the name and address of the person from whom
the vehicle was acquired and, if that person is a dealer, the Illinois or out-of-state dealer license number of such person;
(E) the signature of the person making the
inspection of a used vehicle as required under subsection (d) of this Section, if applicable;
(F) the purchase price of the vehicle, if
applicable;
(G) the date of the disposition of the vehicle;
(H) the name and address of the person to whom
any vehicle was disposed, and if that person is a dealer, the Illinois or out-of-State dealer's license number of that dealer;
(I) the uniform invoice number reflecting the
disposition of the vehicle, if applicable; and
(J) The sale price of the vehicle, if applicable.
(2) (A) The following records pertaining to used
essential parts other than quarter panels and transmissions of vehicles of the first division shall be kept:
(i) the year, make, model, color and type of such
part;
(ii) the vehicle's manufacturer's identification
number, derivative number, or, if applicable, the Secretary of State or Illinois Department of State Police identification number of such part;
(iii) the date of the acquisition of each part;
(iv) the name and address of the person from whom
the part was acquired and, if that person is a dealer, the Illinois or out-of-state dealer license number of such person; if the essential part being acquired is from a person other than a dealer, the licensee shall verify and record that person's identity by recording the identification numbers from at least two sources of identification, one of which shall be a drivers license or State identification card;
(v) the uniform invoice number or out-of-state
bill of sale number reflecting the acquisition of such part;
(vi) the stock number assigned to the essential
part by the licensee, if applicable;
(vii) the date of the disposition of such part;
(viii) the name and address of the person to whom
such part was disposed of and, if that person is a dealer, the Illinois or out-of-state dealer license number of that person;
(ix) the uniform invoice number reflecting the
disposition of such part.
(B) Inspections of all essential parts shall be
conducted in accordance with Section 5-402.1.
(C) A separate entry containing all of the
information required to be recorded in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of this Section shall be made for each separate essential part. Separate entries shall be made regardless of whether the part was a large purchase acquisition. In addition, a separate entry shall be made for each part acquired for immediate sale or transfer, or for placement into the overall inventory or stock to be disposed of at a later time, or for use on a vehicle to be materially altered by the licensee, or acquired for any other purpose or reason. Failure to make a separate entry for each essential part acquired or disposed of, or a failure to record any of the specific information required to be recorded concerning the acquisition or disposition of each essential part as set forth in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) shall constitute a failure to keep records.
(D) The vehicle's manufacturer's identification
number or Secretary of State or Illinois Department of State Police identification number for the essential part shall be ascertained and recorded even if such part is acquired from a person or dealer located in a State, territory, or country which does not require that such information be recorded. If the vehicle's manufacturer's identification number or Secretary of State or Illinois Department of State Police identification number for an essential part cannot be obtained, that part shall not be acquired by the licensee or any of his agents or employees. If such part or parts were physically acquired by the licensee or any of his agents or employees while the licensee or agent or employee was outside this State, that licensee or agent or employee was outside the State, that licensee, agent or employee shall not bring such essential part into this State or cause it to be brought into this State. The acquisition or disposition of an essential part by a licensee without the recording of the vehicle identification number or Secretary of State identification number for such part or the transportation into the State by the licensee or his agent or employee of such part or parts shall constitute a failure to keep records.
(E) The records of essential parts required to be
kept by this Section shall apply to all hulks, chassis, frames or cowls, regardless of the age of those essential parts. The records required to be kept by this Section for essential parts other than hulks, chassis, frames or cowls, shall apply only to those essential parts which are 6 model years of age or newer. In determining the model year of such an essential part it may be presumed that the identification number of the vehicle from which the essential part came or the identification number affixed to the essential part itself acquired by the licensee denotes the model year of that essential part. This presumption, however, shall not apply if the gross appearance of the essential part does not correspond to the year, make or model of either the identification number of the vehicle from which the essential part is alleged to have come or the identification number which is affixed to the essential part itself. To determine whether an essential part is 6 years of age or newer within this paragraph, the model year of the essential part shall be subtracted from the calendar year in which the essential part is acquired or disposed of by the licensee. If the remainder is 6 or less, the record of the acquisition or disposition of that essential part shall be kept as required by this Section.
(F) The requirements of paragraph (2) of subsection
(a) of this Section shall not apply to the disposition of an essential part other than a cowl which has been damaged or altered to a state in which it can no longer be returned to a usable condition and which is being sold or transferred to a scrap processor or for delivery to a scrap processor.
(3) the following records for vehicles on which junking certificates are obtained shall be kept:
(C) the date the vehicle was acquired;
(D) the name and address of the person from whom the
vehicle was acquired and, if that person is a dealer, the Illinois or out-of-state dealer license number of that person;
(E) the certificate of title number or salvage
certificate number for the vehicle, if applicable;
(F) the junking certificate number obtained by the
licensee; this entry shall be recorded at the close of business of the fifth business day after receiving the junking certificate;
(G) the name and address of the person to whom the
junking certificate has been assigned, if applicable, and if that person is a dealer, the Illinois or out-of-state dealer license number of that dealer;
(H) if the vehicle or any part of the vehicle is
dismantled for its parts to be disposed of in any way, or if such parts are to be used by the licensee to materially alter a vehicle, those essential parts shall be recorded and the entries required by paragraph (2) of subsection (a) shall be made.
(4) The following records for rebuilt vehicles shall be kept:
number of the vehicle or, if applicable, the Secretary of State or Illinois Department of State Police identification number;
vehicle was acquired, and if that person is a dealer, the Illinois or out-of-state dealer license number of that person;
(E) the salvage certificate number for the vehicle;
(F) the newly issued certificate of title number for
the vehicle;
(G) the date of disposition of the vehicle;
(H) the name and address of the person to whom the
vehicle was disposed, and if a dealer, the Illinois or out-of-state dealer license number of that dealer;
(I) The sale price of the vehicle.
(a-1) A person licensed or required to be licensed under Section 5-101 or Section 5-102 of this Code who issues temporary registration permits as permitted by this Code and by rule must electronically file the registration with the Secretary and must maintain records of the registration in the manner prescribed by the Secretary.
(b) A failure to make separate entries for each vehicle acquired, disposed of, or assigned, or a failure to record any of the specific information required to be recorded concerning the acquisition or disposition of each vehicle as set forth in paragraphs (1), (3) and (4) of subsection (a) shall constitute a failure to keep records.
(c) All entries relating to the acquisition of a vehicle or essential part required by subsection (a) of this Section shall be recorded no later than the close of business on the seventh calendar day following such acquisition. All entries relating to the disposition of a vehicle or an essential part shall be made at the time of such disposition. If the vehicle or essential part was disposed of on the same day as its acquisition or the day thereafter, the entries relating to the acquisition of the vehicle or essential part shall be made at the time of the disposition of the vehicle or essential part. Failure to make the entries required in or at the times prescribed by this subsection following the acquisition or disposition of such vehicle or essential part shall constitute a failure to keep records.
(d) Every person licensed or required to be licensed shall, before accepting delivery of a used vehicle, inspect the vehicle to determine whether the manufacturer's public vehicle identification number has been defaced, destroyed, falsified, removed, altered, or tampered with in any way. If the person making the inspection determines that the manufacturer's public vehicle identification number has been altered, removed, defaced, destroyed, falsified or tampered with he shall not acquire that vehicle but instead shall promptly notify law enforcement authorities of his finding.
(e) The information required to be kept in subsection (a) of this Section shall be kept in a manner prescribed by rule or regulation of the Secretary of State.
(f) Every person licensed or required to be licensed shall have in his possession a separate certificate of title, salvage certificate, junking certificate, certificate of purchase, uniform invoice, out-of-state bill of sale or other acceptable documentary evidence of his right to the possession of every vehicle or essential part.
(g) Every person licensed or required to be licensed as a transporter under Section 5-201 shall maintain for 3 years, in such form as the Secretary of State may by rule or regulation prescribe, at his principal place of business a record of every vehicle transported by him, including numbers of or other marks of identification thereof, the names and addresses of persons from whom and to whom the vehicle was delivered and the dates of delivery.
(h) No later than 15 days prior to going out of business, selling the business, or transferring the ownership of the business, the licensee shall notify the Secretary of State that he is going out of business or that he is transferring the ownership of the business. Failure to notify under this paragraph shall constitute a failure to keep records.
(j) A person who knowingly fails to comply with the provisions of this Section or knowingly fails to obey, observe, or comply with any order of the Secretary or any law enforcement agency issued in accordance with this Section is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor for the first violation and a Class A misdemeanor for the second and subsequent violations. Each violation constitutes a separate and distinct offense and a separate count may be brought in the same indictment or information for each vehicle or each essential part of a vehicle for which a record was not kept as required by this Section.
(k) Any person convicted of failing to keep the records required by this Section with intent to conceal the identity or origin of a vehicle or its essential parts or with intent to defraud the public in the transfer or sale of vehicles or their essential parts is guilty of a Class 2 felony. Each violation constitutes a separate and distinct offense and a separate count may be brought in the same indictment or information for each vehicle or essential part of a vehicle for which a record was not kept as required by this Section.
(l) A person may not be criminally charged with or convicted of both a knowing failure to comply with this Section and a knowing failure to comply with any order, if both offenses involve the same record keeping violation.
(m) The Secretary shall adopt rules necessary for implementation of this Section, which may include the imposition of administrative fines.
Sec. 5-401.3. Scrap processors required to keep records.
(a) Every person licensed or required to be licensed as a scrap processor pursuant to Section 5-301 of this Chapter shall maintain for 3 years, at his established place of business, the following records relating to the acquisition of recyclable metals or the acquisition of a vehicle, junk vehicle, or vehicle cowl which has been acquired for the purpose of processing into a form other than a vehicle, junk vehicle or vehicle cowl which is possessed in the State or brought into this State from another state, territory or country. No scrap metal processor shall sell a vehicle or essential part, as such, except for engines, transmissions, and powertrains, unless licensed to do so under another provision of this Code. A scrap processor who is additionally licensed as an automotive parts recycler shall not be subject to the record keeping requirements for a scrap processor when acting as an automotive parts recycler.
(1) For a vehicle, junk vehicle, or vehicle cowl
acquired from a person who is licensed under this Chapter, the scrap processor shall record the name and address of the person, and the Illinois or out-of-state dealer license number of such person on the scrap processor's weight ticket at the time of the acquisition. The person disposing of the vehicle, junk vehicle, or vehicle cowl shall furnish the scrap processor with documentary proof of ownership of the vehicle, junk vehicle, or vehicle cowl in one of the following forms: a Certificate of Title, a Salvage Certificate, a Junking Certificate, a Secretary of State Junking Manifest, a Uniform Invoice, a Certificate of Purchase, or other similar documentary proof of ownership. The scrap processor shall not acquire a vehicle, junk vehicle or vehicle cowl without obtaining one of the aforementioned documentary proofs of ownership.
(2) For a vehicle, junk vehicle or vehicle cowl
acquired from a person who is not licensed under this Chapter, the scrap processor shall verify and record that person's identity by recording the identification of such person from at least 2 sources of identification, one of which shall be a driver's license or State Identification Card, on the scrap processor's weight ticket at the time of the acquisition. The person disposing of the vehicle, junk vehicle, or vehicle cowl shall furnish the scrap processor with documentary proof of ownership of the vehicle, junk vehicle, or vehicle cowl in one of the following forms: a Certificate of Title, a Salvage Certificate, a Junking Certificate, a Secretary of State Junking Manifest, a Certificate of Purchase, or other similar documentary proof of ownership. The scrap processor shall not acquire a vehicle, junk vehicle or vehicle cowl without obtaining one of the aforementioned documentary proofs of ownership.
(3) In addition to the other information required on
the scrap processor's weight ticket, a scrap processor who at the time of acquisition of a vehicle, junk vehicle, or vehicle cowl is furnished a Certificate of Title, Salvage Certificate or Certificate of Purchase shall record the Vehicle Identification Number on the weight ticket or affix a copy of the Certificate of Title, Salvage Certificate or Certificate of Purchase to the weight ticket and the identification of the person acquiring the information on the behalf of the scrap processor.
(4) The scrap processor shall maintain a copy of a
Junk Vehicle Notification relating to any Certificate of Title, Salvage Certificate, Certificate of Purchase or similarly acceptable out-of-state document surrendered to the Secretary of State pursuant to the provisions of Section 3-117.2 of this Code.
(5) For recyclable metals valued at $100 or more, the
scrap processor shall, for each transaction, record the identity of the person from whom the recyclable metals were acquired by verifying the identification of that person from one source of identification, which shall be a valid driver's license or State Identification Card, on the scrap processor's weight ticket at the time of the acquisition and by making and recording a color photocopy or electronic scan of the driver's license or State Identification Card. Such information shall be available for inspection by any law enforcement official. If the person delivering the recyclable metal does not have a valid driver's license or State Identification Card, the scrap processor shall not complete the transaction. The inspection of records pertaining only to recyclable metals shall not be counted as an inspection of a premises for purposes of subparagraph (7) of Section 5-403 of this Code.
This subdivision (a)(5) does not apply to electrical
contractors, to agencies or instrumentalities of the State of Illinois or of the United States, to common carriers, to purchases from persons, firms, or corporations regularly engaged in the business of manufacturing recyclable metal, in the business of selling recyclable metal at retail or wholesale, or in the business of razing, demolishing, destroying, or removing buildings, to the purchase by one recyclable metal dealer from another, or the purchase from persons, firms, or corporations engaged in either the generation, transmission, or distribution of electric energy or in telephone, telegraph, and other communications if such common carriers, persons, firms, or corporations at the time of the purchase provide the recyclable metal dealer with a bill of sale or other written evidence of title to the recyclable metal. This subdivision (a)(5) also does not apply to contractual arrangements between dealers.
(b) Any licensee who knowingly fails to record any of the specific information required to be recorded on the weight ticket required under any other subsection of this Section, or Section 5-401 of this Code, or who knowingly fails to acquire and maintain for 3 years documentary proof of ownership in one of the prescribed forms shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor and subject to a fine not to exceed $1,000. Each violation shall constitute a separate and distinct offense and a separate count may be brought in the same complaint for each violation. Any licensee who commits a second violation of this Section within two years of a previous conviction of a violation of this Section shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
(c) It shall be an affirmative defense to an offense brought under paragraph (b) of this Section that the licensee or person required to be licensed both reasonably and in good faith relied on information appearing on a Certificate of Title, a Salvage Certificate, a Junking Certificate, a Secretary of State Manifest, a Secretary of State's Uniform Invoice, a Certificate of Purchase, or other documentary proof of ownership prepared under Section 3-117.1(a) of this Code, relating to the transaction for which the required record was not kept which was supplied to the licensee by another licensee or an out-of-state dealer.
(d) No later than 15 days prior to going out of business, selling the business, or transferring the ownership of the business, the scrap processor shall notify the Secretary of that fact. Failure to so notify the Secretary of State shall constitute a failure to keep records under this Section.
(e) Evidence derived directly or indirectly from the keeping of records required to be kept under this Section shall not be admissible in a prosecution of the licensee for an alleged violation of Section 4-102(a)(3) of this Code.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2019
|
__label__wiki
| 0.517171
| 0.517171
|
Montclair Real Estate
Montclair, CO Real Estate
Montclair Photo Gallery
Montclair, CO Homes For Sale
Search for Properties in Montclair
View All Montclair Listings »
Montclair is bordered by Colfax Avenue to the North, 6th Avenue to the South, Quebec Street to the East, and Holly Street to the West.
Denver’s Montclair neighborhood was originally developed as a small suburban community east of Denver.
The other founder, Baron Walter von Richthofen, was a German nobleman and uncle to Manfred von Richthofen, the celebrated World War I flying ace known as the Red Baron. The famous Richthofen castle was recently sold.The land was purchased and developed in 1885. One of its founders, Matthias P. Cochrane, originally came from Montclair, New Jersey and named the community in its honor.
The community became the incorporated town of Montclair in 1888. With the crash of the silver market in 1893, von Richthofen began to promote the town as a health retreat.
In 1903, Denver annexed the neighborhood. A system of parkways and boulevards were developed, and many trees were planted along with erecting fountains and monuments.
Jane Smith, a Montclair preservationist, began pushing the idea of a historic district in 1973, and the central heart of the neighborhood was named a historic district in 1975.
Today, residents enjoy grand old trees, large lots, and distinctive homes, including 19th century Victorian architecture and Queen Anne style architecture. There are also bungalows, cottages, Tudor revival, and modern ranch-style homes.
Montclair Park is one of three community parks in the neighborhood, and schools include Montclair Elementary and St. James Catholic School
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2020
|
__label__wiki
| 0.683609
| 0.683609
|
Country Club Real Estate
Country Club, CO Real Estate
Country Club Photo Gallery
Country Club, CO Homes For Sale
Search for Properties in Country Club
View All Country Club Listings »
Country Club is bordered by 8th Avenue to the North, Alameda Avenue to the South, University Boulevard to the East, and Downing Street to the West.
Nowhere else in Denver does the canopy of 100-year-old American elms spread quite so magnificently over tiled rooftops and broad parkways as it does in Country Club. One of city's most cherished neighborhoods, Country Club - occasionally referred to as "Denver's Spanish Suburb" - is also among the most scenic.
Stately Spanish gateways and lush gardens stand sentry-like at the entrances to the elegant community as if to protect the rural ambiance of its quiet streets. The gates, parkways, and many of the area's homes were designed by architects William and Arthur Fisher, renowned for their refined Mediterranean designs, a sensibility that Arthur acquired during his sojourns through southern Europe.
During the late 1800s, area was given over to farms and sporting facilities. The Gentlemen's Driving Association, whose illustrious membership included Horace Tabor and Walter Cheesman, planted hundreds of trees near 4th Avenue and Corona and built a half-mile track, two-story clubhouse, and stables for sulky racing.
Gala parties were not uncommon with races frequently enlivened by a bass band. But as interest in racing waned, the Driving Association directors sold out, to be succeeded by a second group of sports-minded Denverites, the Overland Park (Golf) Club. Seeking a new venue, the members incorporated as the Denver Country Club in 1901 and acquired a 120-acre tract straddling Cherry Creek.
The first clubhouse opened on New Year's Day 1905, and the lush new fairways, designed by noted golf-course architect James Foulis, Jr. quickly acquired a sterling reputation throughout the Rocky Mountain Region.
On Country Club's eastern edge, Park Lane Square, reminiscent of the English countryside with charming curved streets and expansive lawns uninterrupted by alleys or sidewalks, is entered through picturesque English-style gates fashioned from brick.
Originally planned as a single country estate, this elegant enclave boasts some of the grandest estate homes in the city. Grandest of all is the Tudor Revival Castle (Reed Mansion), an area icon with a steeply pitched, multi-gabled, slate roof, soaring stone chimneys, bronze window frames, and elaborate Indiana limestone trim and brickwork.
The commanding edifice enjoys 2.5 acres landscaped by Saco DeBoer (architect of many Denver parkways) as a terraced formal garden highlighted by a lily pond and fountains. Shielded from busier districts by Speer Boulevard Parkway and Cherry Creek Bike Path and the Seventh Avenue and Alamo Placitas historic districts, Country Club is nevertheless just blocks from the heart of the Cherry Creek Shopping district and only minutes from Downtown.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2021
|
__label__wiki
| 0.971331
| 0.971331
|
Home India News A toast to India
A toast to India
Indian community gets to mark Independence Day at the State Parliament
Preeti Jabbal
The Indian tricolour took pride of place alongside the Australian flag inside the Victorian Parliament, recently, to commemorate India’s 72nd Independence Day.
The reception was jointly hosted by AICCI (Australia India Chamber of Commerce and Industry and AISG (Australia India Strategy Group). “Today is the day to celebrate the modern economic miracle that is the Indian nation,” said Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews addressing the select audience.
“India is the biggest democratic nation in the world, and not only in size. It’s a country that makes us proud in technology, innovation, critical thinking, science, finance and so many different areas,” said the Premier. “Free modern India is an example for all of us and there is much for us to learn from modern India as it is for us to share with India,” he said.
The Premier and other speakers were unanimous in condemnation of the remarks that were made by Queensland Senator Fraser Anning at the Australian senate the night before. Anning caused a furore with his maiden speech after he appealed for a ban on Muslim and non-English speaking migrants and a return to a white Christian Australia. According to the Premier the senator’s words denigrated the values and contributions that have been made and continue to be made by every person in Victoria.
He praised the Indian community for its focus on family, hard work, faith and looking after those that are less fortunate. He thanked everyone for making the multiculturalism in Victoria envy of the world. “Every single Indian Victorian has a bigger heart and a more generous outlook than the terrible words that were spoken in the Senate yesterday,” said the Premier to great applause.
Craig Ondarchie MP, Member for Northern Metropolitan Region took the popularity vote with his impassioned speech praising India and Indians in Australia. Quoting cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar he said he admired the contribution of the Indian community in multicultural Victoria because “The harder they work the luckier they get”.
He announced $5.5 million dollars to build a new Indian community centre if the Liberal Party won the upcoming elections in November. He also announced that an elected Liberal Party would make Hindi available as a language in Victorian primary schools.
The celebrations continued with more speeches, national anthems and patriotic songs. The emotional and cultural attachment to India was evident in the enthusiasm with which the guests joined in singing the popular patriotic song Ae mere pyare vatan.
Bruce Atkinson MP, President of the Legislative Council and Robin Scott, Minister for Multicultural Affairs echoed similar sentiments and praised the significant contributions made by the Indian diaspora in Melbourne. They both promised to provide an enabling environment for diaspora engagement.
Drinks and canapés did the rounds as AICCI spokesperson Ravi Bhatia kept decorum and announced the speakers for the evening. He formally introduced the committee members of AICCI and AISG and reiterated their common goal of enhancing the Indian Australian engagement through community participation, networking, trade, and business opportunities.
Diaspora organisations such as AICCI and AISG are increasingly seeking to influence government, media, corporate sector and other prominent groups by speaking up on a range of issues affecting Indians here.
They aim to ensure better integration of the Indian diaspora in Australia and to ensure respect for their rights for best outcomes.
Previous articleAdelaide remembers Atalji
Next articleVic Premier’s promise for Indian seniors
Preeti is the Melbourne Coordinator of Indian Link.
What's on in Melbourne
What’s On this weekend in Melbourne’s Indian community
A Lord gives back to rural Punjab through education
Over 2.5 million affected due to floods in Bihar, CM reviews...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2029
|
__label__cc
| 0.584187
| 0.415813
|
Home > Articles > Security > Network Security
A Security Review of Protocols: Lower Layers
By Steven M. Bellovin, William R. Cheswick, Aviel D. Rubin
Basic Protocols
Managing Addresses and Names
IP version 6
Network Address Translators
As a security-minded system administrator, look at the lower layers, areas of possible dangers, and some basic infrastructure protocols, such as DNS, UDP, SCTP, ARP, TCP/IP, DHCP, IPv6, and WEP.
Firewalls and Internet Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker, 2nd Edition
In the next two chapters, we present an overview of the TCP/IP protocol suite. This chapter covers the lower layers and some basic infrastructure protocols, such as DNS; the next chapter discusses middleware and applications. Although we realize that this is familiar material to many people who read this book, we suggest that you not skip the chapter; our focus here is on security, so we discuss the protocols and areas of possible danger in that light.
A word of caution: A security-minded system administrator often has a completely different view of a network service than a user does. These two parties are often at opposite ends of the security/convenience balance. Our viewpoint is tilted toward one end of this balance.
2.1 Basic Protocols
TCP/IP is the usual shorthand for a collection of communications protocols that were originally developed under the auspices of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (then DARPA, later ARPA, now DARPA again), and was deployed on the old ARPANET in 1983. The overview we can present here is necessarily sketchy. For a more thorough treatment, the reader is referred to any of a number of books, such as those by Comer [Comer, 2000; Comer and Stevens, 1998; Comer et al., 2000], Kurose and Ross [2002], or Stevens [Stevens, 1995; Wright and Stevens, 1995; Stevens, 1996].
A schematic of the data flow is shown in Figure 2.1. Each row is a different protocol layer. The top layer contains the applications: mail transmission, login, video servers, and so on. These applications call the lower layers to fetch and deliver their data. In the middle of the spiderweb is the Internet Protocol (IP) [Postel, 1981b]. IP is a packet multiplexer. Messages from higher level protocols have an IP header prepended to them. They are then sent to the appropriate device driver for transmission. We will examine the IP layer first.
Figure 2.1: A schematic diagram of the different layers involving TCP/IP..
2.1.1 IP
IP packets are the bundles of data that form the foundation for the TCP/IP protocol suite. Every packet carries a source and destination address, some option bits, a header checksum, and a pay-load of data. A typical IP packet is a few hundred bytes long. These packets flow by the billions across the world over Ethernets, serial lines, SONET rings, packet radio connections, frame relay connections, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) links, and so on.
There is no notion of a virtual circuit or "phone call" at the IP level: every packet stands alone. IP is an unreliable datagram service. No guarantees are made that packets will be delivered, delivered only once, or delivered in any particular order. Nor is there any check for packet correctness. The checksum in the IP header covers only that header.
In fact, there is no guarantee that a packet was actually sent from the given source address.
Any host can transmit a packet with any source address. Although many operating systems control this field and ensure that it leaves with a correct value, and although a few ISPs ensure that impossible packets do not leave a site [Ferguson and Senie, 2000], you cannot rely on the validity of the source address, except under certain carefully controlled circumstances.
Therefore, authentication cannot rely on the source address field, although several protocols do just that. In general, attackers can send packets with faked return addresses: this is called IP spoofing. Authentication, and security in general, must use mechanisms in higher layers of the protocol.
A packet traveling a long distance will travel through many hops. Each hop terminates in a host or router, which forwards the packet to the next hop based on routing information. How a host or router determines the proper next hop is discussed in Section 2.2.1. (The approximate path to a given site can be discovered with the traceroute program. See Section 8.4.3 for details.) Along the way, a router is allowed to drop packets without notice if there is too much traffic. Higher protocol layers (i.e., TCP) are supposed to deal with these problems and provide a reliable circuit to the application.
If a packet is too large for the next hop, it is fragmented. That is, it is divided into two or more packets, each of which has its own IP header, but only a portion of the payload. The fragments make their own separate ways to the ultimate destination. During the trip, fragments may be further fragmented. When the pieces arrive at the target machine, they are reassembled. As a rule, no reassembly is done at intermediate hops.
Some packet filters have been breached by being fed packets with pathological fragmentation [Ziemba et al., 1995]. When important information is split between two packets, the filter can misprocess or simply pass the second packet. Worse yet, the rules for reassembly don't say what should happen if two overlapping fragments have different content. Perhaps a firewall will pass one harmless variant, only to find that the other dangerous variant is accepted by the destination host [Paxson, 1998]. (Most firewalls reassemble fragmented packets to examine their contents. This processing can also be a trouble spot.) Fragment sequences have also been chosen to tickle bugs in the IP reassembly routines on a host, causing crashes (see CERT Advisory CA-97.28).
Addresses in IP version 4 (IPv4), the current version, are 32 bits long and are divided into two parts, a network portion and a host portion. The boundary is set administratively at each node, and in fact can vary within a site. (The older notion of fixed boundaries between the two address portions has been abandoned, and has been replaced by Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR). A CIDR network address is written as follows:
207.99.106.128/25
In this example, the first 25 bits are the network field (often called the prefix); the host field is the remaining seven bits.) Host address portions of either all 0s or all 1s are reserved for broadcast addresses. A packet sent with a foreign network's broadcast address is known as a directed broadcast; these can be very dangerous, as they're a way to disrupt many different hosts with minimal effort. Directed broadcasts have been used by attackers; see Section 5.8 for details. Most routers will let you disable forwarding such packets; we strongly recommend this option.
People rarely use actual IP addresses: they prefer domain names. The name is usually translated by a special distributed database called the Domain Name System, discussed in Section 2.2.2.
2.1.2 ARP
IP packets are often sent over Ethernets. Ethernet devices do not understand the 32-bit IPv4 addresses: They transmit Ethernet packets with 48-bit Ethernet addresses. Therefore, an IP driver must translate an IP destination address into an Ethernet destination address. Although there are some static or algorithmic mappings between these two types of addresses, a table lookup is usually required. The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) [Plummer, 1982] is used to determine these mappings. (ARP is used on some other link types as well; the prerequisite is some sort of link-level broadcast mechanism.) ARP works by sending out an Ethernet broadcast packet containing the desired IP address. That destination host, or another system acting on its behalf, replies with a packet containing the IP and Ethernet address pair. This is cached by the sender to reduce unnecessary ARP traffic.
There is considerable risk here if untrusted nodes have write access to the local net. Such a machine could emit phony ARP queries or replies and divert all traffic to itself; it could then either impersonate some machines or simply modify the data streams en passant.
This is called ARP spoofing and a number of Hacker Off-the-Shelf (HOTS) packages implement this attack.
The ARP mechanism is usually automatic. On special security networks, the ARP mappings may be statically hardwired, and the automatic protocol suppressed to prevent interference. If we absolutely never want two hosts to talk to each other, we can ensure that they don't have ARP translations (or have wrong ARP translations) for each other for an extra level of assurance. It can be hard to ensure that they never acquire the mappings, however.
2.1.3 TCP
The IP layer is free to drop, duplicate, or deliver packets out of order. It is up to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) [Postel, 1981c] layer to use this unreliable medium to provide reliable virtual circuits to users' processes. The packets are shuffled around, retransmitted, and reassembled to match the original data stream on the other end.
The ordering is maintained by sequence numbers in every packet. Each byte sent, as well as the open and close requests, are numbered individually. A separate set of sequence numbers is used for each end of each connection to a host.
All packets, except for the very first TCP packet sent during a conversation, contain an acknowledgment number; it provides the sequence number of the next expected byte.
Every TCP message is marked as coming from a particular host and port number, and going to a destination host and port. The 4-tuple -localhost, localport, remotehost, remoteport- uniquely identifies a particular circuit. It is not only permissible, it is quite common to have many different circuits on a machine with the same local port number; everything will behave properly as long as either the remote address or the port number differ.
Servers, processes that wish to provide some Internet service, listen on particular ports. By convention, server ports are low-numbered. This convention is not always honored, which can cause security problems, as you'll see later. The port numbers for all of the standard services are assumed to be known to the caller. A listening portis in some sense half-open; only the local host and port number are known. (Strictly speaking, not even the local host address need be known. Computers can have more than one IP address, and connection requests can usually be addressed to any of the legal addresses for that machine.) When a connection request packet arrives, the other fields are filled in. If appropriate, the local operating system will clone the listening connection so that further requests for the same port may be honored as well.
Clients use the offered services. They connect from a local port to the appropriate server port. The local port is almost always selected at random by the operating system, though clients are allowed to select their own.
Most versions of TCP and UDP for UNIX systems enforce the rule that only the superuser (root) can create a port numbered less than 1024. These are privileged ports. The intent is that remote systems can trust the authenticity of information written to such ports. The restriction is a convention only, and is not required by the protocol specification. In any event, it is meaningless on non-UNIX operating systems. The implications are clear: One can trust the sanctity of the port number only if one is certain that the originating system has such a rule, is capable of enforcing it, and is administered properly. It is not safe to rely on this convention.
TCP Open
TCP open, a three-step process, is shown in Figure 2.2. After the server receives the initial SYN packet, the connection is in a halfopened state. The server replies with its own sequence number, and awaits an acknowledgment, the third and final packet of a TCP open.
Attackers have gamed this half-open state. SYN attacks (see Section 5.8.2) flood the server with the first packet only, hoping to swamp the host with half-open connections that will never be completed. In addition, the first part of this three-step process can be used to detect active TCP services without alerting the application programs, which usually aren't informed of incoming connections until the three-packet handshake is complete (see Section 6.3 for more details).
Figure 2.2: TCP Open The client sends the server a packet with the SYN bit set, and an initial client sequence number CSEQ. The server's reply packet has both the SYN and ACK packets set, and contains both the client's (plus 1) and server's sequence number (SSEQ) for this session. The client increments its sequence number, and replies with the ACKbit set. At this point, either side may send data to the other.
The sequence numbers mentioned earlier have another function. Because the initial sequence number for new connections changes constantly, it is possible for TCP to detect stale packets from previous incarnations of the same circuit (i.e., from previous uses of the same 4-tuple). There is also a modest security benefit: A connection cannot be fully established until both sides have acknowledged the other's initial sequence number.
But there is a threat lurking here. If an attacker can predict the target's choice of starting pointsand Morris showed that this was indeed possible under certain circumstances
[Morris, 1985; Bellovin, 1989]then it is possible for the attacker to trick the target into believing that it is talking to a trusted machine. In that case, protocols that depend on the IP source address for authentication (e.g., the "r" commands discussed later) can be exploited to penetrate the target system. This is known as a sequence number attack.
Two further points are worth noting. First, Morris's attack depended in part on being able to create a legitimate connection to the target machine. If those are blocked, perhaps by a firewall, the attack would not succeed. Conversely, a gateway machine that extends too much trust to inside machines may be vulnerable, depending on the exact configuration involved. Second, the concept of a sequence number attack can be generalized. Many protocols other than TCP are vulnerable [Bellovin, 1989]. In fact, TCP's three-way handshake at connection establishment time provides more protection than do some other protocols. The hacker community started using this attack in late 1995 [Shimomura, 1996], and it is quite common now (see CERT Advisory CA-95.01 and CERT Advisory CA-96.21).
Many OS vendors have implemented various forms of randomization of the initial sequence number. The scheme described in [Bellovin, 1996] works; many other schemes are susceptible to statistical attacks (see CERT Advisory CA-2001-09). Michal Zalewski [2002] provided the clever visualizations of sequence number predictability shown in Figure 2.3. Simple patterns imply that the sequence number is easily predictable; diffuse clouds are what should be seen. It isn't that hard to get sequence number generation right, but as of this writing, most operating systems don't. With everything from cell phones to doorbells running an IP stack these days, perhaps it is time to update RFC 1123 [Braden, 1989a], including sample code, to get stuff like this right.
Figure 2.3: These are phase diagrams of the sequence number generators for four operating systems. The lower right shows a correct implementation of RFC 1948 sequence number generation (by FreeBSD 4.6.) The artistic patterns of the other three systems denote predictability that can be exploited by an attacker. The upper right shows IRIX 6.5.15m, the upper left Windows NT 4.0 SP3, and the lower left shows a few of the the many TCP/IP stacks for OpenVMS.
TCP Sessions
Once the TCP session is open, it's full-duplex: data flows in both directions. It's a pure stream, with no record boundaries. The implementation is free to divide user data among as many or as few packets as it chooses, without regard to the way in which the data was originally written by the user process. This behavior has caused trouble for some firewalls that assumed a certain packet structure.
The TCP close sequence (see Figure 2.4) is asymmetric; each side must close its end of the connection independently.
Figure 2.4: TCP I/O The TCP connection is full duplex. Each end sends a FIN packet when it is done transmitting, and the other end acknowledges. (All other packets here contain an ACK showing what has been received; those ACKs are omitted, except for the ACKs of the FINs.) A reset (RST) packet is sent when a protocol violation is detected and the connection needs to be torn down.
2.1.4 SCTP
A new transport protocol, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), has recently been de-fined [Stewart et al., 2000; Coene, 2002; Ong and Yoakum, 2002]. Like TCP, it provides reliable, sequenced delivery, but it has a number of other features.
The most notable new feature is the capability to multiplex several independent streams on a SCTP connection. Thus, a future FTP built on top of SCTP instead of TCP wouldn't need a PORT command to open a separate stream for the data channel. Other improvements include a four-way handshake at connection establishment time, to frustrate denial-of-service attacks, record-marking within each stream, optional unordered message delivery, and multi-homing of each connection. It's a promising protocol, though it isn't clear if it will catch on. Because it's new, not many firewalls support it yet. That is, not many firewalls provide the capability to filter SCTP traffic on a per-port basis, nor do they have any proxies for applications running on top of SCTP. Moreover, some of the new features, such as the capability to add new IP addresses to the connection dynamically, may pose some security issues. Keep a watchful eye on the evolution of SCTP; it was originally built for telephony signaling, and may become an important part of multimedia applications.
2.1.5 UDP
The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) [Postel, 1980] extends to application programs the same level of service used by IP. Delivery is on a best-effort basis; there is no error correction, retransmission, or lost, duplicated, or re-ordered packet detection. Even error detection is optional with UDP. Fragmented UDP packets are reassembled, however.
To compensate for these disadvantages, there is much less overhead. In particular, there is no connection setup. This makes UDP well suited to query/response applications, where the number of messages exchanged is small compared to the connection setup and teardown costs incurred by TCP.
When UDP is used for large transmissions, it tends to behave badly on a network. The protocol itself lacks flow control features, so it can swamp hosts and routers and cause extensive packet loss.
UDP uses the same port number and server conventions as does TCP, but in a separate address space. Similarly, servers usually (but not always) inhabit low-numbered ports. There is no notion of a circuit. All packets destined for a given port number are sent to the same process, regardless of the source address or port number.
It is much easier to spoof UDP packets than TCP packets, as there are no handshakes or sequence numbers. Extreme caution is therefore indicated when using the source address from any such packet. Applications that care must make their own arrangements for authentication.
2.1.6 ICMP
The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) [Postel, 1981a] is the low-level mechanism used to influence the behavior of TCP and UDP connections. It can be used to inform hosts of a better route to a destination, to report trouble with a route, or to terminate a connection because of network problems. It is also a vital part of the two most important low-level monitoring tools for network administrators: ping and traceroute [Stevens, 1995].
Many ICMP messages received on a given host are specific to a particular connection or are triggered by a packet sent by that machine. The hacker community is fond of abusing ICMP to tear down connections. (Ask your Web search engine for nuke.c.)
Worse things can be done with Redirect messages. As explained in the following section, anyone who can tamper with your knowledge of the proper route to a destination can probably penetrate your machine. The Redirectmessages should be obeyed only by hosts, not routers, and only when a message comes from a router on a directly attached network. However, not all routers (or, in some cases, their administrators) are that careful; it is sometimes possible to abuse ICMP to create new paths to a destination. If that happens, you are in serious trouble indeed.
Unfortunately, it is extremely inadvisable to block all ICMP messages at the firewall. Path MTUthe mechanism by which hosts learn how large a packet can be sent without fragmentationrequires that certain Destination Unreachable messages be allowed through [Mogul and Deering, 1990]. Specifically, it relies on ICMP Destination Unreachable, Code 4 messages: The packet is too large, but the "Don't Fragment" bit was set in the IP header. If you block these messages and some of your machines send large packets, you can end up with hard-to-diagnose dead spots. The risks notwithstanding, we strongly recommend permitting inbound Path MTU messages. (Note that things like IPsec tunnels and PPP over Ethernet, which is commonly used by DSL providers, can reduce the effective MTU of a link.) IPv6 has its own version of ICMP [Conta and Deering, 1998]. ICMPv6 is similar in spirit, but is noticeably simpler; unused messages and options have been deleted, and things like Path MTU now have their own message type, which simplifies filtering.
Pearson eText Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice -- Access Card, 8th Edition
By William Stallings
Integrated Security Technologies and Solutions - Volume II: Cisco Security Solutions for Network Access Control, Segmentation, Context Sharing, Secure Connectivity and Virtualization
By Aaron Woland, Vivek Santuka, Jamie Sanbower, Chad Mitchell
CompTIA PenTest+ PT0-001 Cert Guide
By Omar Santos, Ron Taylor
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2030
|
__label__cc
| 0.728177
| 0.271823
|
22nd June 2019, 08:17 AM #241
You don't ask to put the computer in jail. Go to the police station and try. They'll look at you like you're crazy.
That's only because what we do to a computer, should it misbehave in such a way as to injure or kill a human, would be inhumane by present-day moral standards if applied to a misbehaving human. Not because the computer is not held responsible.
Therefore, even if contemporary moral systems are incompatible with determinism (which you have not shown), that points to a possible flaw in the design of contemporary moral systems, not to any logically valid argument that the universe cannot be deterministic.
Philosophies such as determinism also change. The same as moral systems.
I don't see that difference. The computer can have a piece changed, the human being can have his behavior modified. You can treat your old computer very well and if it fails your attitude will be very different from if your child fails in something morally important. Stealing, for example. Don't you see it?
Last edited by David Mo; 22nd June 2019 at 08:29 AM.
Things are either true or they aren't.
Moral systems are either valid, or they aren't.
Determinism is either true or it isn't.
Originally Posted by Roboramma
Either it is neither false nor true.
Take the hammer by the handle. False or true?
Or it is neither false nor true.
You're saying that the universe may be neither deterministic nor not deterministic?
Philosophies such as determinism also change.
No, they don't. We keep coming up with new ones and with neo-whatever variations, but all the old ones are still there unchanged (and many of them are still on the exam in philosophy courses). Determinism was defined perfectly well by Democritus.
What changes is our understanding of how a given philosophy might apply to systems in the real world. Democritus had no idea a deterministic machine could solve problems, remember past events, or form plans of action. We know better now.
You don't think removing parts from a person or wiping a person's memory to correct their behavior, or destroying them completely to replace them with a smarter person, would be considered excessive punishments? We routinely do those things to computers to correct their behavior.
Of course my attitude is different. I would never treat a person that way. We treat people more kindly and correct their misbehavior in much gentler ways, for a variety of good reasons.
How can I be responsible for an action I haven't committed? If my grandfather killed his neighbor I cannot be responsible for that death.
You use metaphorical language when you say that the computer is responsible for your defeat. We are talking about moral responsibility. You don't ask to put the computer in jail. Go to the police station and try. They'll look at you like you're crazy.
While TECHNICALLY moral responsibility -- well, "moral evil" -- is defined as "something 'bad' that was caused by intentional action or inaction of a human agent", and thus a computer wouldn't qualify, it changes less than you seem to think. I can still decide whether what the computer did was good or bad, and I can still decide if a different course of action would be better.
E.g., google "the story of Mel". It contains a literal case of someone working at a computer manufacturer coding a blackjack program, and the management, which was showcasing it at conventions to win over customers, deciding that it's "bad" if it wins every time, and "good" if it 'cheats' a bit to let the customer win. Presumably because people get in a good mood if they win, and in a bad mood if they lose, and because happy people are more likely to spend money. So management decides that 'good' towards that set of criteria is to ask Mel to change the program to play worse. Sort of like how you would give a new set of rules to a human dealer at a real casino, IF your goal wasn't as much to make money at the blackjack table, as to get them happy enough to spend a LOT more money elsewhere. (We're talking about an age where computer prices were measured in millions of dollars. Costing ONLY a couple tens of thousands made a computer a 'mini'.)
(Mel was obviously aghast at the idea that someone's goals could possibly be anything else than to show off how well he can program the damned thing.)
At any rate, it shows that without asigning moral blame, and without wanting to take the computer in handcuffs to a court, one can still decide what is 'good' or 'bad', and one can still decide on a way to remedy it. And at no point does anyone find it obvious to go, 'well, if we can't blame it, just delete the program, discontinue the computer, burn down the factory, and plough and salt the ground'
Yet that is not what you have claimed.
Well, except as a dodge when I asked why would philosophy school X, Y or Z give up on their approach and go 'ah, just gas the retarded then.' THEN you suddenly are aware that there's more than one school of moral philosophy, and one may have different criteria than another.
But otherwise what you repeatedly claimed is that there's some inevitable causal connection between (A) believing in determinism, and (B) wanting to gas the retarded, just like Hitler.
What you're effectively trying to have is both an "All A are B" claim, AND a convenient excuse to handwave why counter-examples don't really count. It doesn't work that way.
So which one is it, silly? DOES it follow that inevitably, or can you dodge behind some version of 'well, there's more than one school of moral philosophy, and they change all the time'? One or the other. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
Last edited by HansMustermann; 22nd June 2019 at 10:03 AM.
22nd June 2019, 02:25 PM #251
I was quoting HansMustermann
This was the quote,
The problem there is that it seems to assume that your words and actions don't ALSO cause conditioned behaviours. E.g., that, say, Ted Bundy was conditioned by X, Y or Z in his past to kill all those women, but society deciding that it's wrong to kill would totally not also cause a difference in his behaviour.
But, regardless of whether decisions are deterministic or not, they are based on the WHOLE set of available data. Which includes how society will react to it, possible punishments or rewards, etc.
And generally, the decision taking in the brain -- which by now we can even watch in real time on MRI -- is essentially a voting process. The reasons for doing it are weighed against the reasons for not doing it.
Essentially if we all just shrug and go "poor guy, he must have been conditioned to kill those women" and let him get away with it, then he'll just do it again. Because a bunch of reasons not to do it just disappeared from that column.
And this was your response,
Skinner affirms that familiar or social pressure determines the behaviour. Therefore a person can be influenced if he is blamed by a parent or a friend. But this is not due to moral reasoning but to personal or social influence. Therefore this personal influence can be used in more efficient ways than moral sermons.
Determinism does not imply any kind of too compassionate morality. Quite the opposite.
If either what matters is only efficacy or morality is only a weaker way to modify the behaviour, aggressive means are justified over compassionate ones. If a brutal beating is more efficient than reasoning, go and beat your son until you got tired. If cutting off the hand of the thief in a public square prevents robberies, go and cut off hands, take off eyes, heads and every else you need to.
If efficiency is the rule, there are no limits to violence. It is not a comfortable conclusion for the determinist.
Last edited by winter salt; 22nd June 2019 at 02:27 PM.
We blame things (systems) as well as people based on their perceived capacity to sense, decide, and act. That's why we don't blame young children or the intellectually disabled when they do some things we would blame neurotypical adults for. It's not because we suppose the behavior of young children or the intellectually disabled is somehow more deterministic than that of neurotypical adults. It's because we have lower expectations of good social decision-making from them (or from rocks or bolts) than from other people.
Is that "perceived capacity to sense, decide, and act" a description of free will ?
How do they develop?
The same applies to designing a better society, silly. That's all I'm saying.
And none of your silly excuses hold any water, especially since they are the SAME regardless of whether things are deterministic or not.
Yes, there are conflicts of interest, and yes things can't be solved to a PERFECT state. That's why we went at figuring out even just the legal system for at least the last 5000 years straight, and are still at perfecting it. Yes, it's a hard problem. But guess what? It's still hard regardless of whether things are deterministic or not. And nobody sane is giving up on the problem entirely just because it's hard.
You accused ME of wanting simple answers. But actually in the whole thread YOU are the only one proposing to go by just the over-simplistic notion that only one thing matters, and to just give up on solving the problem at all, if things are too hard.
Honestly, I think you're getting tangled up in your own words. Partly because you use them as fetishes.
A real conflict of interest problem is not solved by proclaiming its "optimization. You recognize that conflicts of interest are "hard to solve".
"Optimizing" is the same as "finding the best solution" and what we are talking about here is what criteria are used to seek a "better" solution to moral problems. With what criteria can you justify or not justify a decision such as forced euthanasia. To say that it is a justification that benefits "society as a whole" or that "optimizes" the options is not to say anything. For the question is: How can forced euthanasia be justified or not as a good for society as a whole? The majority you tried to introduce I think I have already shown that it is not a moral principle. And abstract words excepted, you have not produced anything.
And I think it's silly for you to make up children's stories to explain what we've all already understood. What you have to do is explain the cases that I have proposed, which are much more complex than the tales of puddles of water. It is this what I call "simplify".
23rd June 2019, 12:10 AM #255
Nothing can be proven, but any particular thing is still either true or false, though for some things we may never know which.
For many unprovable things we can still examine evidence in favor (or not) and thus change the credence we put in those ideas. This is all we can do.
Say it however you like, but modern determinism is very different from that of Democritus, even in its very formulation because it is a philosophical system. Also moral relativism already existed in Greece. But it was quite different from today's relativism. Philosophical systems change just as moral philosophies change. They are philosophy.
It doesn't seem to me either that brainwashing a person is morally acceptable. Even if it can be done. Because I believe that the moral person has a dignity. But I don't think the deterministic has any reason to condemn such practices. If there is no freedom, men are like machines. And machines have no dignity. As Hans says in this forum, it's all a question of whether "the majority of society" is interested. If a majority considers it fair to apply aggressive therapies to criminals or our enemies, why not? Or even people who are not properly speaking criminals. If immigrants bother me on the street, why not let them die at sea or in the desert trying to get to my city? Why can't we shoot to kill if they get too close to the border? This is not a mere theorical problem, you know.
Of course, determinists are offended when you explain this. They say they have their morals. I don't doubt it. It's usually one form or another of utilitarianism. But it seems to me that utilitarianism is inconsistent with their deterministic principles.
That the computer did a bad operation, that's not disputed. You can say that it was responsible, if you want, but that responsibility is very different from a person's responsibility. For example, the programmer. The programmer can be taken to court if it is considered that there was negligence or malice in programming the computer. Hence,there seem to be two different types of responsibility. That's the question. Do you understand the difference? I do. It lies in intention. But if the programmer did it wrong because he had a terrorist pointing a gun at him, things change again. He can no longer be held responsible or not so responsible. Why? The answer lies in freedom or lack of freedom of the agent of the harm. It seems obvious to me.
Last edited by David Mo; 23rd June 2019 at 12:44 AM.
I'm sorry you misunderstand what I write. What I have said several times is that there is a logical incompatibility between being deterministic and condemning forced euthanasia. That determinists try to overcome the difficulty with incoherence is another issue. I do not accuse determinists of being monsters, but of being inconsistent.
There are two things where it seems that a computer is different from a human being. In the ability to act outside the margins for which it has been computed and in the ability to feel compassion. This seems indisputable.
1. Err, no. What you actually said includes such gems as: "If you are determinist the word “persuade” has not many sense. There are caused behaviours. If you can modify a behaviour changing its causes, you do it. If you cannot do it, you can eliminate the problem. This is to say, eliminating retarded persons. The final solution, you know." (message #150)
Or: "A thief, a killer or a corrupt politician are the same for a determinist. They are behaviours which must be stopped. If you can change their behaviours, you do it. If you cannot, you eliminate the individuals. Or you punish them in a so awful way than other possible evildoers are dissuaded." (message #150 again.)
That's saying something completely different. It's flat out making claims about how determinists think. It's an "All X are Y" claim.
2. Even taking it that way, you still haven't shown a single determinist author actually ending up struggling with such an implication, or being inconsistent about it. Which, again, makes it just your very own strawman.
You have cited a single name so far, namely "F.B. Skinner" (which already raises red flags because it's actually B.F. Skinner), but nothing in what you quoted actually shows him reaching that implication or being inconsistent about it.
3. I don't think you've actually read Skinner, nor even tried to understand the one paragraph (most likely quote-mined from a secondary source) that you provided here about what he said. Because even your own paragraph contradicts what you then postulate about how determinists think.
E.g., you say that "If you are determinist the word “persuade” has not many sense", but even your own paragraph about Skinner's work contradicts you there. Because it says exactly that persuasion works. Sure, it works best when social pressure is applied, or via deprogramming programs, but it does work.
E.g., you say that if you're a determinist, "you punish them in a so awful way than other possible evildoers are dissuaded." But if you had actually read anything by or even about Skinner, you'd know that what he actually said on the topic of punishments is that relying on punishments to suppress behaviour is at best temporary and can have unintended and unwanted consequences.
More importantly, you'd also know that he introduced a third category besides reward or punishment, namely extinction: the systematic absence of a reward stimulus, as a way to make certain behaviours go away. And incidentally as something to be aware not to do to desired behaviours.
What I actually see there isn't you even really trying to show where Skinner went wrong, but your usual going into your own flights of fantasy based on one quote-mined quote from some secondary source. And even there you do some surreal reading between the lines, while ignoring the actual lines. That's not a proof that Skinner was wrong, but that your style of arguing based on your own fantasy is wrong.
So, again, exactly where DOES Skinner run into this kind of problem and how is he inconsistent about it? Otherwise, again, you're just fighting your own strawmen.
Last edited by HansMustermann; 23rd June 2019 at 03:51 AM.
23rd June 2019, 12:43 PM #262
It's a description of part of how we cognitively model the world. "Making a decision" is something that the entities in our mental models do. This is useful in our mental models because it points to possible opportunities to alter the outcome in advantageous ways.
Our ancestors had no way to perceive "if I perform certain actions that will optically generate certain patterns in a certain photoreceptors belonging to a cooperative colony of cells, it is very likely to set in motion nerve impulses in certain pathway's of the colony's central nervous system cells that will ultimately result in a reaction that signals the colony's contractile tissues in patterns that result in decreasing proximity between myself and the colony's big pointy teeth." The causal pathways involved are hidden from direct perception and are too complex to follow anyhow.
But they could perceive this instead: "If I stand up tall and wave my stick, the bear will likely decide to run away instead of attacking me."
The latter is a narrative mental model that's far simpler to compute and act upon. Being a mere summary, it leaves out details, and it replaces them with idea-chunks instead. Some of those chunks are fairly accurate depictions of reality. "The bear" really does correspond, for the most part, with a particular and persistent collection of matter. "Running away" really does correspond, for the most part, with a particular and (for a while) persistent pattern of change. But one of those chunks is merely a useful fiction: the word "decide."
In nature, nothing makes decisions. The loose rock doesn't decide whether or not to fall, the semiconductor logic gate doesn't decide whether to output 1 or 0, the synapse doesn't decide to strengthen or the neuron to fire. Those are all effects of causes, likely in some cases with quantum randomness involved as well. "Deciding" is something the characters in our mental summary narratives do.
The useful fiction says this: "The mind (or spirit) of the bear has free will and a decision to make. This gives me a chance to affect what happens by my actions, and I can learn and teach what actions are effective it getting the outcome I prefer." Because, of course, it actually is possible to influence the outcome, and it's far easier to understand that in terms of the useful fictions "free will" and "decision" than in terms of the bear's sensory receptors and neural processes.
They evolved from biological systems of reaction to environmental stimuli.
I don't think that the mainstream meaning of "decide" hinges on free will, though. Nor is it the only one, in any case. Computer Science for example is quite happy to talk about, for example, a decision tree. Or a decision list. Or a decision table.
The fact that the agent, in this case a computer, has absolutely no free will whatsoever, doesn't change the fact that most people would say that in a certain situation it "decided" for a certain option, out of the many available in that situation. Or at the very least would understand what you mean if you say the computer decided to do X. E.g., to move the knight to threaten the queen on a chess table.
Last edited by HansMustermann; 23rd June 2019 at 12:52 PM.
"I don't think the deterministic [sic] has any reason to condemn such practices."
Yet, those reasons have been pointed out to you repeatedly by several different people in this thread.
Which means, at this point, you are just preaching, and you're preaching the preacher's oldest and vilest preach: "I you don't think as I do you're incapable of morality."
What other versions of that have I heard? Here are a few:
"Atheists don't have any reason to be moral because they don't believe in God or in punishment in the afterlife."
"Christians don't have any reason to be moral because they believe their sins have been redeemed in advance and can be forgiven at any time."
"Muslims don't have any reason to be moral because their scripture promises them paradise if they kill infidels."
"Capitalists don't have any reason to be moral because making money is the only thing that matters."
"Socialists don't have any reason to be moral because the state promises to provide all their needs regardless."
"Gays don't have any reason to be moral because their sexuality doesn't produce offspring so they have no descendants' futures to worry about."
Please do stop teasing and tell me now, what is it that you demand I DO believe about the nature of reality, in order for you to regard me as capable of morality?
I agree. The way I'd put it is, we apply to the computer chess program the same simplified mental model, the same useful fiction, that we apply to the bear or to the person. And for the same reason: it's too complex (and for most, too hidden) a process to apprehend in terms of its actual steps of cause and effect, even though cause and effect (plus possible randomness) is what's happening. Instead, our mental model invokes a fictional singular entity (the bear's or person's "mind" or the computer's "program"*) that is performing a fictional singular monolithic task, "deciding."
*Wait, doesn't a computer program really exist? Yes, as an collection of information in the computer's memory. But a computer only executes a program one step (or a few steps) at a time. Saying "the program is running" depicts the program as an abstract summary entity doing an abstract summary thing. It's a useful mental model just like "the bear is running."
Well, really just in free will, far as I can tell.
As I was saying, he didn't explain it particularly well here, but there was another thread a while ago that he derailed into morality, and got pushed into explaining how his works. And it really was what I was calling earlier a crap OCPD solution whenever one of those encounters an optimization problem. He reduced it all to one variable, "freedom", and maximizing only that one.
Everything else, he rationalized around that one. E.g., killing was bad because it robs the victim of the most freedom. (He ain't gonna be taking any more decisions after that.)
Of course, he didn't actually seem to have much of a working moral system. That reduction to one variable didn't seem to be able even to say if an assault and battery is justified if you really need something the other person has. But he was adamant that that's the only solution, the only POSSIBLE moral system that could ever work.
Well, enter the premise that you're not "free" if your reasons determine your choice for you, and his whole system stops working. Not entirely sure why, because nobody else ever defined freedom as acting chaotically, free of any rhyme or reason. And one could even redefine the same system to minimize coercion instead. But there we go, if your actions aren't "free" of being caused by any reason whatsoever, his moral system stops working.
I'm sure most people would just take that as an ad absurdum indication that their logic took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, but for him it seems to indicate that everyone ELSE is wrong
Great explanations Myriad und Hans, thank you.
Well, enter the premise that you're not "free" if your reasons determine your choice for you, and his whole system stops working. Not entirely sure why, because nobody else ever defined freedom as acting chaotically, free of any rhyme or reason.
I was going to bring that up eventually. I've pointed out before that the less rhyme or reason we perceive in a person's actions, the less (not more) likely we are to attribute those actions to the person exercising their free will. Instead, we start talking about compulsions, neuroses, phobias, addictions, delusions, acting upon misinformation (such as buying into a scam), being "under the sway" of a bully or a charismatic leader, and so forth.
"I rushed to the hardware store, bought a gallon of bright yellow paint, and poured it all over my own head in the parking lot. All for no reason whatsoever. I'm sure you would never do such a thing, unless you were coerced somehow or pursuing some substantial reward. That proves my free will is freer than yours." Does that make any sense?
Quoting excerpts out of context form a single post is bad practice. As a comment can be misinterpreted I worried to explain my idea better in other posts. See 117, 154, 174 and 202 among others.
On the power of moral sermons, according to Skinner:
Skinner affirms that familiar or social pressure determines the behaviour. Therefore a person can be influenced if he is blamed by a parent or a friend. But this is not due to moral reasoning but to personal or social influence. Therefore this personal influence can be used in more efficient ways than moral sermons. (117 and again in 130!)
On the moral consequences of determinism
My argument is analytical. It is based on an inconsistency of determinism. That is to say, the postulates of determinism lead to conclusions that are contradictory to common intuitions and are undesirable even to determinists. (154)
It is obvious that this conclusion repulses our moral sense and, in fact, whenever it has been posed in to a deterministic he has tried to avoid it in some inconsistent way. Generally they covertly introduce the free decision. The Nazis and others like them are not so inconsistent. (172)
My position was definitively summarized in 202.
GENERAL WARNING.
Some of you don't quite understand the problem. I will put it another way: It's not a question of whether indeterminism or determinism drives people to do bad things. Probably the proportion of evil will be the same or similar in both cases. The problem is that if we admit that certain behaviours are morally undesirable what is the ethical theory that can best explain why they are.
I think it's clear that I'm not accusing Skinner or any other determinist in particular of defending concentration camps or police brutality. What I'm saying is that the logic of their positions prevents them from having a consistent moral argument against these and other aberrations. I hope this is definitely clear to you and that you don't continue bothering with the same tune.Because speaking of straw men, you have a great deal of experience in this field, as I have just demonstrated.
Last edited by David Mo; 23rd June 2019 at 11:43 PM.
Mate, I don't know what kind of confusion of the mind makes you think that repeating the same bare assertions, in fact making it clear that you're repeating the same postulates YOU wrote before, is settling the issue of whether it's a strawman. We are not in The Hunting Of The Snark and you are not the Bellman. A bare postulate doesn't become true if you just say it three times.
Show where SKINNER runs into such a consistency issue. Otherwise, yes, you are fighting your own strawman.
Well, technically even acting on bad information, or trying to please a bully or charismatic leader would qualify as reasons when you decide whether to do something or not. As would acting on a phobia or delusion, or acting to satisfy an addiction. They may not be good reasons, or sane reasons, but it's still some data going into the process and determining the output. It's just, as they say, garbage in, garbage out. But the "in" part still determines the "out" part. So it still wouldn't qualify as free in David's view.
I'm rather under the impression that it would have to be truly and completely random and unconnected to any needs or previous experiences where the action ever satisfied any need, to qualify as "freedom" for him. Something like "I was out of cigarettes, so I took a skip around the house, dragging my pet rock on a leash" or "I was getting late for the meeting, so I took the time to hack my front door down and draw a penis on the sidewalk."
Of course, even skipping over how that would just qualify as insane rather than "free", that just rises the question of how that kind of acting free of reasons is even compatible with any imaginable morality system. Because having a moral system also means having certain rules that act as reasons for whatever you decide to do. E.g., my believing that rape is wrong is the reason I don't do more than *ahem* covet my neighbour's ass. If my actions were free of having any reasons, it seems to me like such moral reasons would also not apply.
From my comment 202:
I will put it another way: It's not a question of whether indeterminism or determinism drives people to do bad things. Probably the proportion of evil will be the same or similar in both cases. The problem is that if we admit that certain behaviours are morally undesirable what is the ethical theory that can best explain why they are.
The accusation that atheism or any other belief is incapable of justifying morality is entirely legitimate. In the case of atheism it is also totally false. But if it were true I would worry about looking for the reasons to hold moral principles. It would be a real problem for me, who am an atheist and believe in moral obligation.
The word "reason" was probably ambiguous. I think in English, as in Spanish, it means either to motivate or give a rational explanation. The second sense corresponds to what I wanted to say.
I have said several times that I was not blaming determinists to be immoral. To maintain inconsistent reasons to do something is a frequent thing in the day to day life. It is because passions are stronger that reason. And good passions are the basis of morality.
What I am after is the justification of moral.
You are nevertheless claiming that they haven't solved the problem satisfactorily. I still expect you to provide some quotes that show that to be the case.
So far, frankly, you've only shown that YOUR idea of a moral system falls apart under those conditions. (Not to mention having some bigger problems, like with recognizing rights for the disabled or retarded.) You haven't done anything to show that SKINNER's system has a problem there.
Basically all I see is still just you barking at your own strawmen.
Ay caramba! I could have sworn that I have been trying for a few days to make you understand that metaphysical determinism is contrary to the concept of freedom and that without freedom we cannot attribute responsibility and that without responsibility there is no condemnation or moral merit.
Do you want me to quote you where Skinner defends determinism? No problem, if you commit to tell me the precise sources of your knowledge of moral determinism.
Do you want me to quote you where Skinner defends determinism?
No, I want you to show where SKINNER's theory is self-inconsistent, since that is what you claim about it.
All you've shown so far is that YOUR dysfunctional moral system has a problem with "freedom", or rather with YOUR very own redefinition of "freedom". And, frankly, it was already obvious that your supposed moral system flat out doesn't work for more than spewing generalities anyway. You've made that amply clear in the previous thread. So, that one more problem breaks it completely, well, I'd venture a guess that it's not surprising anyone.
You just POSTULATE that other moral systems can't solve the problem of morality the way THEY set out to do it, because YOU find it too hard. Essentially it boils down to postulating that if YOU can't solve a given problem, then everyone who says he found a solution (or at least a partial one) must be wrong. Which is exactly on par with Pixie Of Key's insisting that GR is wrong because HE doesn't understand it.
No problem, if you commit to tell me the precise sources of your knowledge of moral determinism.
I'm not the one making the claim that such an inconsistency exists, silly. It's your burden of proof.
Should I just forget about this ?
So it was HansMustermann's claim that you were quoting.
Hey Hans ! What did you mean here ?
Last edited by winter salt; 24th June 2019 at 05:30 AM.
That's most certainly not something I've ever written.
(...)I'm not the one making the claim that such an inconsistency exists, silly. It's your burden of proof.
I've already exposed where the contradiction resides in Skinner (and other deterministic psychologists). You're the one who says I'm explaining Skinner wrong. If you say so, you must prove it. Cite your sources and how I am misleadingly explaining Skinner's position. By quoting. I don't mind quoting Skinner directly. You seem uncomfortable with your sources. Maybe because he doesn't know very well what he's talking about. Quote your sources and I quote mine. Let's see who misinterprets Skinner.
Originally Posted by kellyb
It's really most philosophically useful to me for the purposes of forgiveness and compassion.
Is it? One of the purposes -- and arguably the MAIN purpose -- of laws and social norms is deterrence. If everything is forgiven, then there is really no reason not to do something evil.
(...)Basically deterministic or not, free will or not, deterrence works. If you think people deciding not to do something unlawful don't have free will in that choice, good. All the better, in fact. I see no reason to change that, then.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2031
|
__label__wiki
| 0.503734
| 0.503734
|
HomeFind a JobCompaniesBarilla America, Inc
Current Jobs (8)
At Barilla, we believe that the making — and enjoyment — of food is an art. Through our pastas and sauces, we want to bring Americans the best that Italy's culinary traditions have to offer; and through our promotion of Italian food, art, and culture, we want to inspire everyone to share in the values that have guided us for more than a century — a love of life, a devotion to quality, and a respect for tradition.
Since its founding in Parma, Italy in 1877, Barilla has been a family-run company, dedicated to producing the highest quality food products for consumers around the world. Barilla America, Inc., the U.S.-based division of The Barilla Group, extends the company's commitment to flavor, convenience, and the highest culinary standards to America, where, following its launch in 1996, Barilla has become the #1 national brand of pasta.
Barilla America, Inc., the U.S.-based division of The Barilla Group, Italy’s largest food producer, was launched in 1996. Just three years later, Barilla became the No. 1 brand of pasta in the United States (and today produces the fastest-growing pasta and sauce brands in their categories). To achieve this milestone in such a short time is a testament to Barilla’s history of 130 years of excellence in food production, brand-building, product quality, and global consistency.
At Barilla, food production is guided by three essential principles: product quality, commitment to nutritionally balanced eating, and, of course, flavor, the unmistakable hallmark of the Barilla brand name. To maintain these standards, the Group engages in extensive research and development that helps us produce the best products, while always considering the concerns and needs of our customers. The Group also operates with respect for the environment and consumer health, and serves as a helpful, caring partner in the communities in which we operate.
Finally, because Barilla considers its people to be its greatest asset – the key to its development, growth, and success – we work hard to foster natural talent and leadership with a managerial style that is based on integrity, sound decision making, and business practices that are always professional and ethical.
Barilla America, Inc
Wholesale / Retail Trade (non-computer)
www.barillaus.com
885 Sunset Ridge Rd
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2037
|
__label__cc
| 0.643373
| 0.356627
|
New concept of Minsk City presented
10:17 Business and Economy, Real Estate 1 comment
Minsk-City, a tremendious office area which Belarusian government would like to see as an international financial centre has a long strory of planning, redesign and conflicts with investors. Initially it was supposed to be built in 2009 but world financial crisis made Itera, a Russian investor, to abandon the project. Now it looks Belarus itself will develop this area.
Concept of Minsk-City
Architects of the engineering research enterprise Minskgrado has worked out a final concept of the area coverage of the downtown Minsk-City. The enterprise director Leonid Dobysh has informed TUT.BY.
According to him, the conditions of the competition, the results of which will determine the investor for the implementation of this conception, are currently being developed. At the same time a detailed plan, that will determine the building regulations, is being worked out. The Director of Minskgrado has underlined that "the investor must rigidly adhere to the concept of building."
It should be noted, that last year an international competition for the best architectural concept of the site development was held. However, nobody won. As it stated in the final report of the competition committee, "none of the submitted projects has a complex of urban planning ideas that could be fully implemented. Therefore it was decided not to award the first place and not to provide investors with preferential advantages in the competition”. "We took some details of those concepts and included them into the final project," Leonid Dobysh said.
Plan of Minsk City
As it stated in the concept explanatory note, one of the most important principles of the project is to preserve the key features of the building area: green space, the direction of the runway, the terminal building, the hangars of the Aircraft Repair Plant № 407, dwelling houses as well as to refresh the landscape along the southern and south- eastern line of Minsk-City.
According to the explanatory note, the main idea of the concept is to preserve the direction of the runway in order to remind of the aircraft past of this territory and to enrich it with a beautiful landscape and parks.
An international financial center (IFC) is to be created in the central part of Minsk-City. Four 30-45 storey office buildings and a high-rise hotel complex are planned to be developed. The total area of the financial center can be about 300 thousand square meters.
View of the IFC
The long boulevard created on the remained runway was formed from multifunctional complexes with the total area of 80 thousand square meters (accommodation - offices - trade - catering), which will give visitors of the area availability and variability in the choice of services. 1.6-kilometer boulevard alternate with theme sites.
Educational and exhibition centers are proposed to be created close to the financial center on the basis of two hangars, one of which was brought from Germany after World War II.
A large shopping and entertainment center with a total area of 130 thousand square meters is planned to be built along the 3rd Ring Road Street from the Aerodromnaya Street.
View of the shopping street
A sport complex with the total area of 65 thousand square meters is proposed to be built nearby.
The great part of Minsk-City will consist of residential neighborhoods, represented by 4 -7 storey residential buildings. The total area of this residential development will make up 1.27 million square meters, including the economy class houses - 670 thousand square meters. In addition, it is proposed to provide 100 plots of land for the building of cottages.
The building plan involves the immediate development of the area along the Kizhevatova Street, which is supplied with engineering networks and requires no additional demolition and redevelopment after the airport closing. The planning structure of residential areas stays the same for the entire territory. According to the explanatory note, other functional areas of the business center "Minsk-City" can be flexible regarding zoning as well as functional purposes.
It will be recalled that recently Alexander Lukashenko expressed his dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the project implementation and demanded to brisk up the work. "I am surprised by the approach of [Prime Minister Mikhail] Myasnikovich and [Minsk Mayor Nikolai] Ladutko . We all agreed on "Minsk-City". Why weren’t any suggestions made?” the head of the state said. “You should honestly and objectively make proposals. Do you think that this 300 hectares plot of land will not be controlled, as it should be, on the straight dealing? The one who will offer the best conditions must develop the territory. Stop wasting time!"
Minsk-City is a multifunctional complex, which is to be built on the territory of more than 300 hectares in the central part of Minsk. The project involves the removal of Airport Minsk- 1 and the Aircraft Repair plant. In the summer of 2012 Belarus terminated the investment agreement with the affiliate of Russian “Itera" on the construction of the business center Minsk-City. Lukashenko was dissatisfied with the project implementation pace. At the same time Belarusian authorities have announced that they are searching for a new investor for Minsk-City and planning an international competition. At that time the estimated cost of the project was $5 billion.
Hermosa Beach property inspection 4 November 2014 at 08:54
Overall our experience with our real estate manager for the past year has been quite pleasant. We have clean facilities with a washer/dryer and we love our apartment.
Where to go in March?
TOP-8 Belarusian sportsmen in 2013. MELITINA STANU...
TOP-8 Belarusian sportsmen in 2013. VASILY KIRIYEN...
TOP-8 Belarusian sportsmen in 2013: DARYA DOMRACHE...
TOP-8 belarusian sportsmen in 2013. VICTORIA AZARE...
Cinema rooms in Minsk – a cozy sofa but no intima...
Places to go: Zerno coffee house
TOP-8 Belarusian sportsmen in 2013: SERGEI RUTENKO...
TOP-8 Belarusian sportsmen in 2013: VLADIMIR SAMSO...
OKSANA VOLKOVA: "There were times when I was invit...
TOP-8 Belarusian sportsmen in 2013: MIKHAIL GRABOV...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2040
|
__label__wiki
| 0.599797
| 0.599797
|
(As with a number of my short stories this was inspired by the weekly word at the writing group I attend (although the original ‘word’ was waves). This really is a short story at 530 words, but I think it’s complete.)
Greg trailed behind his three children, across the dunes and onto the beach. They were all grown up now of course, hardly children. But then, they would always be his children, wouldn’t they? After all, he had been there when they’d first screwed up their little faces, balled their fists and cried hello to the world. Naked and wrinkled, but perfect in every way.
The eldest, David, put his arm round Johanna’s shoulders, pulling her in, whilst she linked arms with Michael. All three of them so close. It was good to see. It hadn’t always been like that, especially when they were little. It had worried Janet. He’d told her it was all normal sibling rivalry and they’d grow out of it. But, being an only child, she had this naive fantasy about having brothers and sisters. That somehow they’d always be best of friends. Well, at least they were for this moment. With all three together, he wanted to tell them how proud he was of them. How privileged he felt that they were his children. But expressing his feeling towards them had always been difficult. It had been the same with his father. But then knowing what he did of his father’s childhood it was understandable. It was more difficult for him to empathise with his own reluctance. Janet had said they understood, that they knew. Seeing them now he guessed that was true.
They were bundled up, in coats and scarves, against the chill January day. The weak winter sunshine doing little to warm the body against the wind whipping in from the North East. From behind he could almost see them as children again. Those similar days, now many years in the past, when he’d dragged them out of the car to walk along this deserted stretch of sand. It had always been his favourite time of year to come to the beach. Sharing the place with perhaps just the odd distant person and maybe a dog. It seemed such luxury. He couldn’t imagine why more didn’t appreciate it. The smell of ozone clearing the mind. Head high breakers casting mists of spray, catching in hair and eyelashes. Watching the rainbows against the low winter sun. It was the best antidote to the modern, centrally heated world, he could imagine.
Greg hung back as David, Johanna and Michael walked towards the water, braving the chill and the damp. David and Johanna stopped, huddling together, at the furthest reach of the waves. The tide was going out, that was good. Michael continued, the water swirling round his wellingtons, the sand running over his feet. Waiting for a lull in the breeze, he opened the jar, spreading the ashes on the surface of the foaming water. His gaze followed them as they were swept down the beach to be swallowed up in the next on rushing wave. Michael stood, as if in contemplation, for a few waves longer before trudging back to join his brother and sister. Arms around each other they headed back towards the car. Greg watched them go. He would linger for a while. After all this was his favourite time of year in his favourite place.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2042
|
__label__wiki
| 0.651651
| 0.651651
|
A total of 5520 monkeys were trapped by various local authorities in Delhi over the last year as part of efforts to rid the capital city of the monkey menace, which has assumed serious proportions, claiming the life of Delhi's Deputy Mayor S S Bajwa among others.
According to the statistics released by the Delhi Government, 5520 monkeys were trapped between April 2007 and March 2008. Of this, 4700 monkeys were trapped by the Municipal corporation of Delhi while 820 monkeys were caught by the New Delhi Municipal Council.
In the recent years, the monkey menace has assumed serious proportions in Delhi. Infact, last year, the Deputy Mayor of Delhi S S Bajwa fell down from the terrace of his house when he was surrounded by a group of monkeys.
According to the statistics, 536 cases of monkey bites came to light in 2004, a figure which rose to 715 the next year. In 2006, it rose further to 783. Despite this, the Delhi Government claims that the situation is not alarming.
The state Government says all efforts are being made to tackle the monkey menace. Last year, the MCD invited sealed bids through National newspapers in a bid to control the menace. However,the response to the bid was nil.
Since then, the MCD has got in touch with the authorities in the neighbouring states, inviting monkey catchers from these states to trap the simians in return for a payment of Rs 450 for every monkey caught. Nine teams of the corporation are at present engaged in the operation to trap the monkeys.
The trapped monkeys have been housed in the Asola Bhati mines where they are being kept under the supervision of the Forest Department.
Labels: delhi, monkeys, trapped
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2045
|
__label__wiki
| 0.531802
| 0.531802
|
Home amazing Revealed: The towering NSA 'spy hubs' hidden in plain sight in cities across the country 'peering into Americans' lives from their own backyards'
Revealed: The towering NSA 'spy hubs' hidden in plain sight in cities across the country 'peering into Americans' lives from their own backyards'
The NSA is 'spying on internet users with the help of telecoms giant AT&T'
AT&T data processing hubs in eight US cities allegedly used by the NSA
They process data from AT&T customers as well as from other internet providers
The hubs are 'liable to carry everybody's internet traffic at one point or another'
The National Security Agency is using internet data processing centers run by telecommunications powerhouse AT&T to spy on American and foreign citizens, a new investigation claims.
The Intercept has identified eight AT&T facilities across the United States which are allegedly being used by the NSA to monitor internet users' emails, social media posts and internet browsing.
The centers are known as 'peering' facilities' and processes data from both AT&T customers and those of other U.S. internet providers, as well as telecoms companies fromSweden, India, Germany and Italy.
Spy HQs: This map shows the eight locations of the AT&T facilities allegedly being used by the NSA to spy on internet users
I spy: These AT&T data processing hubs in New York City, left, and Chicago, right, are two of eight facilities allegedly being used by the NSA
'It's eye-opening and ominous the extent to which this is happening right here on American soil,' said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice told The Intercept.
'It puts a face on surveillance that we could never think of before in terms of actual buildings and actual facilities in our own cities, in our own backyards.'
All eight buildings, in cities such as Los Angeles, NYC, Seattle and Washington DC, have several things in common, as well as being AT&T facilities.
They are tall and imposing structures with few or blacked out windows, and - either seemingly or confirmed to be - built to withstand a nuclear attack.
The buildings are located on 10 South Canal Street in Chicago, 1122 3rd Avenue in Seattle, 811 10th Avenue in New York City, 30 E Street Southwest in Washington DC, 51 Peachtree Center Avenue in Atlanta, 611 Folsom Street in San Francisco, 4211 Bryan Street in Dallas and 420 South Grand Avenue in Los Angeles.
Hiding in plain sight: The processing centers, like this in San Francisco, processes data from both AT&T, other U.S. internet providers, and international telecoms companies
Listening posts: By gaining access to the data which goes through these AT&T facilities identified by The Intercept, the NSA can monitor huge amounts of internet data
Same same, but different: The AT&T buildings, such as this one in Washington DC, are all tall and imposing structures with few or blacked out windows
By tapping into wires in these 'peering' facilities, the NSA can collect 'not only AT&T's data, they get all the data that's interchanged between AT&T's network and other companies,' according to Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician who worked with the company for 22 years, told The Intercept.
'The peering links, by the nature of the connections, are liable to carry everybody's traffic at one point or another during the day, or the week, or the year,' he added.
The Intercept interviewed several former AT&T employees who confirmed the locations of the eight 'peering sites' used by the NSA.
Investigation: The report by The Intercept has been confirmed by former AT&T employees. Pictured is the AT&T facility in Dallas linked to the NSA by the website
Breaking news: The information that these hubs, like this one in Seattle, is being utilized by the NSA has been compared to spying on Americans 'in their own backyard'
The NSA would neither confirm nor deny the claims, while AT&T told The Intercept that they were required by law to provide the authorities with information to certain extents.
The telecoms giant's close relationship with the NSA was first revealed by the New York Times in 2015, thanks to documents leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
The company helped the spy agency in a broad range of classified activities, the documents revealed.
They describe how the NSA's working relationship with AT&T had enabled the agency to conduct surveillance, under various legal rules, of international and foreign-to-foreign internet communications that passed through network hubs in the United States.
Revealed: The towering NSA 'spy hubs' hidden in plain sight in cities across the country 'peering into Americans' lives from their own backyards' Reviewed by free heip on June 26, 2018 Rating: 5
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2047
|
__label__wiki
| 0.871071
| 0.871071
|
Thanks for visiting the website of the North Carolina Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Our organization, open to male descendants of Confederate veterans who honorably served their country during the War Between the States, is dedicated to honoring their memory and preserving their legacy for future generations. Please join us! Click on the "How To Join" page under the "Membership" tab and get started. Now more than ever, we need to ensure that the contributions of our ancestors and our shared heritage are protected.
For the South,
Kevin Stone, Commander
NC Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Division Minutes
Genealogy Assistance
Conf. Veteran Magazine
Camp Awards
Past Division Commanders
Find Meeting
Camp Education Packet
Index Confederate Issues
The Confederate Cabinet
Heritage Issues
Heritage Violation Procedure
An Untaught History
Recommended Speakers
Sutlers and Vendors
North Carolina Confederate Leaders
State SCV Websites
Heritage Organizations
NC Civil War Websites
CSA Military Links
War Unit Information
Reenacting
Confederate Units
NC Infantry Units
NC Cavalry Units
NC Artillary Units
Heritage Projects
Confederate Devotions
William Ruffin Cox Bio-Sketch
Written by Craig Pippen, Camp 2205, Stem, NC
William Ruffin Cox was born on March 11, 1831 to an affluent family that had lived in North Carolina since the colonial period. Cox, born in the town of Scotland Neck, NC, moved after his father died when he was four years of age. His mother settled his family in Nashville, TN where William Ruffin Cox was reared and educated. After attending Franklin College in Franklin, TN, William Ruffin Cox studied at the Lebanon School of Law in Lebanon, TN. Upon passing the bar exam, he became a partner with a successful Nashville attorney and his business thrived.
In 1856, William Ruffin Cox got married to his first wife, Penelope Bradford Battle, of Edgecombe County, NC. They had a child in Nashville, TN that died soon after birth. In 1857, William ceased to practice law. He and Penelope moved to Edgecombe County, NC to his plantation. In 1859, William again took up the practice of law in Raleigh, NC. This tossed him into the tumultuous political life of the State of North Carolina while still managing his plantation.
In the year of 1861, with the impending storms of war on the horizon, William Ruffin Cox raised and equipped a battery later called Ellis Artillery Company with his own finances. He also raised and equipped a company of infantry for the Southern Cause. Governor Ellis of North Carolina appointed him Major of the newly formed 2nd N. C. Infantry Regiment. William Ruffin Cox and the 2nd N. C. fought in the Battle of Sharpsburg. After the battle, he received a promotion to lieutenant colonel due to the death of the Colonel. William Ruffin Cox received a promotion to colonel soon thereafter due to the resignation of the newly promoted colonel that Cox would replace. He received his official commission as Colonel in March 1863. In two months, Colonel Cox found himself fighting at Chancellorsville, VA and wounded three times. Colonel Cox stayed with his regiment until late in the battle. He was exhausted and taken to a hospital for treatment of his wounds.
Due to his wounds received in May 1863 at Chancellorsville, he did not participate in the Gettysburg Campaign. He returned in the fall of 1863 to take temporary command of General Stephen D. Ramseur’s Brigade while the General was getting married. On November 7th of 1863, while leading his troops in the Battle of Kelly’s Ford, he suffered shots to the face and shoulder. William Ruffin Cox was out of action for the next forty days in a hospital in Richmond. Upon his return to action, he fought admirably in the Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. He was personally commended by General Robert E. Lee for his actions on May 12, 1864.
Robert E. Lee recommended Colonel William Ruffin Cox for promotion to command a brigade of boys from the Old North State. He fought in the Cold Harbor Campaign and then became a part of the Second Corps under General Jubal Early for the Shenandoah Campaign. In the Battle of Monocracy, his brigade held for the days fighting. After their return to the Army of Northern Virginia, he led his men in the Siege at Petersburg and the attack on Fort Stedman. Promoted to brigadier general, he received appointment to lead a division. He led this division in the final year of the war. He surrendered it with the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House.
After the war, he returned home to his law practice in Raleigh. He became President of the Chatham Railroad. He served as Solicitor General for the City of Raleigh, NC. He became Chairman of the State Democratic Party and declined a nomination to run for Governor of North Carolina. In 1877, Governor Zebulon B. Vance appointed him Judge of the Sixth Judicial District. He served in this capacity for three years before his election to the U. S. Congress.
In December of 1880, his wife, Penelope, died. William and Penelope had three sons. Two died in youth, and a third died at the age of twenty-five in 1892.
William Ruffin Cox served three two-year terms in Congress before his election as Secretary of the U. S. Senate.
In 1883, he married Frances “Fannie” Augusta Lyman, the daughter of an Episcopal bishop. They had two sons that survived and lived long lives of service. In 1886, his wife died of a sudden illness. In 1900, he retired from the position of Secretary of the U. S. Senate and returned to Edgecombe County, NC and his plantation.
In 1906, he married his third wife, Catherine “Kate” Cabell. She was the widow of another C. S. A. officer, Captain Herbert A. Clairborne. Upon his death in 1919, he was one of the last remaining general officers of the Confederate Army. He lies next to his first wife in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, NC.
QUICK FACTS (WRC)
Name: William Ruffin Cox
Rank: Brigadier General
Education: Franklin College in Nashville, TN; Lebanon Law School
Birth Date: March 11, 1832
Birth Place: Scotland Neck, NC (Halifax County)
Death Date: December 26, 1919 (age 87)
Death Place: Edgecombe County, NC
Copyright © 2019. All rights reserved. North Carolina Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, 3445 Sigmont Drive, Claremont, North Carolina 28610 USA.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2050
|
__label__wiki
| 0.838161
| 0.838161
|
Donald Trump Won't Say How Appointing Judges Opposed To Gay Marriage Would Unify Americans
Appearing Sunday on ABC's This Week, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was asked to expand upon his stand on marriage equality.
Host George Stephanopoulos asked Trump to reconcile two seemingly contradictory statements he made this week on the subject.
On Fox News Sunday, Trump said that he would nominate conservative Supreme Court justices whom he hoped would reverse the court's finding that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry. On Friday, he told Sue O'Connell of the New England Cable Channel that Americans can expect more “forward motion” on gay rights when he's president.
“I'm talking about bringing people together,” he told Stephanopoulos.
“But you want them to overturn … that Supreme Court decision?”
“I would appoint them and we will see how they will vote.”
“But how does that move us to equality?”
“We'll find out,” Trump answered. “I mean we're going to find out. There's a lot of people that want to see that. More important than anything else to me, this country is so divided right now.”
“But a majority of Americans now support the idea of gay marriage. Wouldn't it be divisive to try to overturn it?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“It has [already] been determined and we will see what happens. We're going to look at judges. They've got to be great judges. They've got to be conservative judges. We're going to see how they stand depending on what their views are. But that would be my preference.”
“Where do you want them to stand?”
“I would prefer that they stand against it, but we'll see what happens. It depends on the judge.”
“And how does that move us toward equality for gays and lesbians?”
“Look, George, it's very simple. We're going to bring our country together. We're going to unify our country. We're going to do whatever we have to do. I'm going to put the absolute best judges in position. We're going to see what their views are. I will make the determination at that time.”
“But what do you say to gays and lesbians who think that overturning that decision is not unifying our country, it's dividing our country?”
“I think I understand what they're saying and we're going to see what happens,” Trump answered.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2056
|
__label__wiki
| 0.780076
| 0.780076
|
Doctor Who Magazine 490
reilly2040
Book News, News
STEVEN MOFFAT PREVIEWS THE NEW SERIES OF DOCTOR WHO, EXCLUSIVELY IN DWM 490!
Doctor Who Magazine spoke to the show’s executive producer and head writer, Steven Moffat, to give us a taste of what’s in store over the next 12 episodes…
“Why not start with a blockbuster?” says Steven of the two-part opening story, The Magician’s Apprentice and The Witch’s Familiar. “Why leave it till the last two weeks? So yes, it’s like starting with a finale, and having a big, grand, movie-sized story, as opposed to a 45-minute story.”
What does Steven like about the longer format? “It allows you to play with certain things,” he replies. “There’s a kind of scale that you can attain in a two-parter, that you can’t have in 45 minutes. It’s a scale that we’re not used to at the moment, as we haven’t done two-parters for quite a while. And in a way, it’s sort of advertising the fact that we’ve got two-parters back this year. We do things in that first episode that I would say are very ‘two-parter-y’.”
ALSO INSIDE ISSUE 490…
THE SECRET DIARY OF THE MASTER!
He’s mad, bad and dangerous to know… and now, DWM has discovered the secret diary of the Master, which reveals the insane thinking behind his… er, her every scheme!
Why does nearly everyone in Doctor Who speak English? Steve Lyons investigates the mystery of universal translation throughout the history of the series – and comes to some intriguing conclusions…
THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR?
Showrunner Steven Moffat answers more readers’ questions – and presents a brand new scene which explores what the Doctor called himself during the Time War…
THE VAMPIRE MUTATIONS
The Fourth Doctor and Romana encounter creatures with a thirst for blood – and an ancient enemy of the Time Lords – as theThe Fact of Fiction explores the 1980 story State of Decay.
THE RETURN OF DANNY PINK
Clara has a shocking reunion with her boyfriend in the brand-new comic strip adventure, Spirits of the Jungle, by Jonathan Morris, illustrated by John Ross.
TRAILS AND TRIBULATIONS
Novelist, fan girl, and mum Jacqueline Rayner celebrates the joy of a new Doctor Who trailer in her regular column, Relative Dimensions.
The Time Team embark on a marathon viewing session as they sit down to watch David Tennant’s swansong as the Doctor: The End of Time.
DWM takes a look at a landmark new series of books, which begins in September: Doctor Who The Complete History.
ON THEIR WAY…
DWM talks to the people involved in the latest Doctor Who CD and book releases, including Dan Starkey, James Goss and Gary Russell.
THE UNEXPLAINED
The Watcher examines some of the many unanswered questions in Doctor Who and celebrates a feisty equine talent inWotcha!.
PLUS! All the latest official news, reviews, competitions and The DWM Crossword.
Doctor Who Magazine 490 is on sale from Thursday 20 August 2015, price £4.99.
Updated: August 19, 2015 — 10:56 pm
Tags: dan starkey, Doctor Who, doctor who magazine, Gary Russell, Missy, Peter Capaldi, The Master
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2059
|
__label__wiki
| 0.784073
| 0.784073
|
Addressing motoring’s future
Uplifting the auto industry
Shifting gear
Where is the global automotive industry headed? Are electric vehicles set to replace conventionally-driven counterparts? Will driverless cars become the norm?
Innovation abounds in the electrified, automated and connected car fields, with many of the world’s leading technology companies contributing to the knowledge pool.
Among them is Bosch, a German-based designer and manufacturer of automotive products for OEMs and the aftermarket, which had on display at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show an array of wares engineered to address motoring’s future.
First, the company’s faith in conventional internal combustion engines appears to remain strong, its focus aimed at producing cleaner burning units which emit less harmful gases than their predecessors.
From a diesel engine perspective, Bosch has developed systems that increase fuel injection pressure to as much as 2 700 bar, the resultant atomization of the fuel helping it to mix better with air in the combustion chamber to create a clean-burning charge that reduces emissions of nitrogen oxide and other gases.
Unlike the system of pilot and main injection used up to now, a newly developed injection process relies on many separate injections involving miniscule amounts of fuel. The result is said to be a gentle combustion process that burns more efficiently.
Similarly, petrol-fuelled engines have been shown to benefit from high-pressure injection technology. Tests indicate that a system in which petrol is delivered at 350 bar significantly cuts particulate emissions, especially when the engine is working at high load.
Also, turbocharging plays a key role in a cleaner burn. According to Bosch, careful tuning of exhaust-gas recirculation, coupled with relevant control unit functions, significantly reduces basic emissions and improves fuel consumption.
Further, variable turbine geometry developed by Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems (BMTS) for petrol engines has introduced a new generation of exhaust-gas turbochargers, based on a principle that can be more widely employed in petrol- fuelled engines of the future.
The key breakthrough is that the turbochargers are less prone to deformation at higher temperatures and are capable of withstanding sustained temperatures of 900 ̊ Celsius.
Engines fitted with this new technology are said to deliver more performance or are more fuel efficient than forerunners. The same holds true for diesels, in which a reduced guide-vane gap further enhances the efficiency of the variable turbine.
On the connected powertrain front, regeneration of particulate filters can now be regulated via an electronic horizon developed by Bosch. The system interprets data received from sources ahead of a vehicle on its planned route and might involve filter regeneration well before city traffic is met – on a preceding freeway leg, for instance.
In terms of hybrid vehicles, the electronic horizon offers similar advantages. For example, if the car’s navigation software knows that there is traffic congestion ahead it will instruct the vehicle to charge its battery in preparation, so that by the time the snarl-up is reached the hybrid can switch to electric, zero-emissions mode to pass through the slow-go area without polluting the environment.
Another innovation involves an active accelerator pedal that helps to save fuel by providing a gentle haptic signal – a slight vibration – to indicate to the driver its most efficient position. Bosch claims the technology results in fuel savings of up to seven per cent.
Further, if the vehicle has a driver assistance system such as adaptive cruise control, the pedal can be used as a safety indicator: coupled with a navigation system or a camera that reads the road ahead, it will vibrate slightly to warn that a corner is being approached too rapidly.
On the electric vehicle front, Bosch holds the view that cost is paramount. If sales are to become widespread, vehicles must become significantly cheaper – and battery technology will play a key role in achieving the aim.
By 2020, the company expects that its joint venture with Japanese partners GS Yuasa and Mitsubishi Corporation will deliver lithium-ion power packs that provide twice the energy at half the present cost. Also, it expects its recent acquisition of US battery pioneer Seeo to complement the work of its existing partners.
Other areas of the company’s strategic approach include the development of technology to better monitor and control battery usage, including management of thermal systems in vehicles, and the launch of its second-generation 48-volt hybrid motor.
Further, on the road to the automated car, Bosch has developed a range of driver aids systems such as evasive steering support, which uses radar and video sensors to detect and measure obstacles ahead, reacting 25% faster than humans in taking avoiding action – even in complex situations.
The company has developed, too, an assistant for turning against oncoming traffic. Using two radar sensors at the front of the vehicle, judgements can automatically be made with regard to gaps in approaching traffic. If the gap is too small to permit a turn, the system prevents the vehicle from moving forward. Alternatively, if a collision with an oncoming vehicle appears imminent, the system will stop the turn in time by taking automatic emergency braking action.
Similarly, Bosch’s highway pilot is an automated driving function which takes control of a car on stretches of freeway. Prerequisites for this include sensors that reliably monitor the vehicle’s entire surroundings, highly accurate and up- to-date map data, as well as powerful, interconnected control units.
Once the vehicle has been driven onto the freeway, the driver can activate the function and let the vehicle drive itself. Before the automated part of the journey ends, the highway pilot alerts the driver and warns him or her to prepare to re- take control. The system has undergone tests on public roads and is scheduled for introduction once changes are made to the legal framework that governs road traffic ordinance.
Already in use is a traffic-jam assist system that automatically drives the car at speeds of up to 60km/h, accelerating and braking in accordance with the traffic pattern, and keeping the vehicle in its lane through steering interventions.
Common to many of Bosch’s automated applications is a stereo video camera which detects vehicles, pedestrians and traffic signs and offers a single-sensor solution for a range of assistance systems. The solution is a standard feature in the Jaguar XE and the Land Rover Discovery Sport, with each of the vehicles using the camera to effect emergency braking applications.
Parking, too, has fallen under Bosch’s spotlight, the company having developed an intelligent system that finds and reports vacant spaces and which can park a vehicle automatically. A similar system has been developed for smart trailer parking.
While safety, efficiency and convenience are among the major drivers of new technology and connectivity systems, Bosch acknowledges that the flood of information presented to the human behind the steering wheel can pose problems.
Accordingly, the company has developed display systems that prioritise and present information in a way that allows data to be processed as intuitively as possible through user interfaces in which visual and acoustic interaction is supplemented by haptic elements.
When drivers are using a touchscreen, for instance, they receive a haptic response that makes it feel as if they are running their fingers over virtual buttons, which have to be pressed to be activated. In the company’s view, this reduces distraction, as visual checks of the screen are no longer necessary. And, in terms of the connected horizon, Bosch is looking to build on existing technologies by adding real-time dynamic information that relates to traffic flow, accidents or roadwork sites while, on the smartphone front, a technology called mySPIN has been developed to make the device part of the vehicle’s communication system.
The technology means drivers can continue to use their favourite apps in the usual way, both for iOS and Android smartphones. The apps are pared down to show relevant information only, and are displayed and managed via the vehicle’s built-in display.
Paving the autonomous path
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2061
|
__label__wiki
| 0.509675
| 0.509675
|
Home > About Us > Our History
10 years of production in the pre-salt cluster
We completed 10 years of production in the pre-salt cluster, reaching the mark of 1,500,000 barrels of oil lifted there per day (bpd). From the first oil extracted from the pre-salt in September 2008, in the Jubarte field, in the Capixaba portion of the Campos Basin, to the volume of 1,500,000 bpd achieved this year, we made a leap in our results in that layer. Just six years after the first oil, we reached the 500,000-barrel-per-day mark and, after eight years, the first million. (9/4/2018)
We have improved safety in our operations
To improve our security-related processes, we not only undertake preventive actions, but also reinforce the handling of deviations and incidents. Providing different types of training to our workforce is among the important initiatives we use to achieve these objectives and boost safety in our operations. This year we surpassed our top metric of the Recordable Accidents Rate (RAR), anticipating the attainment of this indicator compared with our strategic planning.
Production in the pre-salt cluster surpasses 1 million barrels per day
The production of oil operated in the Brazilian pre-salt cluster surpassed 1 million barrels per day. This result, achieved fewer than ten years after these deposits were discovered, proves both the technical and economic feasibility of the pre-salt and its high productivity. (5/8/2016).
Pre-salt output reaches 300,000 barrels of oil per day
Seven years after the first oil discovery in the pre-salt layer, we reached the 300,000-barrel-of-oil-per-day mark.(2/20/2013).
Less time than it took for the same level to be reached in other major offshore production areas around the world. (2/20/2013).
Producing nonstop
We got production underway at the FPSO Cidade de Anchieta vessel platform, in the Baleia Azul field.
This platform is capable of processing up to 100,000 barrels of oil and 3.5 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Discovery of the pre-salt cluster
The oil and gas discoveries off the Brazilian pre-salt coast bring a new horizon for the oil industry worldwide. Parallelly, we have created a series of strategic actions that ensure the development of the entire goods and services chain, bringing technology, job training and great opportunities to the industry.
Podium Gasoline
Petrobras' Podium gasoline is launched at the service stations.
It is the same fuel used on the Formula 1 race tracks.
Creation of the General Ombudsman’s Office
Our General Ombudsman’s Office was created on May 2. At the time, it was not yet a formal body, but it already played its role: To be an independent relationship channel with our audiences. In 2005, it was linked directly to the Board of Directors and became the unit responsible for the company’s complaint channel.
The resumption of national cinema
Sponsorship for the "Carlota Joaquina" feature film marked the resumption of Brazilian cinema.
Since then, we have sponsored more than 500 movies, among feature films, shorts and digital media films.
Oil in the Amazon?
The Urucu Field, located in the Solimões River Basin, went on stream.
Since the onset of activities in Urucu, we have worked with entities related to environmental research and conservation in the Amazon, taking care of the region's ecosystem and helping map different areas. This work is done yet today.
The discovery of the Campos Basin
In the midst of the oil crisis, we discovered the Campos Basin.
Located off the northern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro and ranging all the way to southern Espírito Santo. A few years later, it becomes the biggest oil province in Brazil, accounting for upwards of 80% of the domestic oil production.
Oil in the sea and the first platform
The P-I was built as a mobile drilling rig and was able to operate in water of up to 30 meters deep. It was the one that discovered the first oil field in the Brazilian continental shelf, offshore Sergipe, in 1969, giving rise to Guaricema field.
Cenpes is born
Our Research and Development Center (Cenpes) is created in Rio de Janeiro.
A few years later, it becomes one of the most important applied research complexes in the world.
An important step in refining
REDUC - the Duque de Caxias Refinery - is founded in Rio de Janeiro.
It is currently the most complete refinery in operation in our system.
Our company is founded on October 3, 1953, as a result of a popular campaign that lasted seven years.
Eugenio Antonelli is the employee who receives badge number 1.
Check out some of the awards we have received in recognition of our work.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2062
|
__label__wiki
| 0.770542
| 0.770542
|
Label profile: Frkwys
Starting a record label is a huge investment – of time, money, blood, sweat and tears. You have to be pretty stupid or pretty masochistic to get yourself involved.
Matt Werth is a masochist all the way; he seems to derive serious pleasure from all that pain. While most of his contemporaries were smoking bongs and navel-gazing, Werth channelled his high-school boredom into releasing punk records. His arrival several years later in New York – via Philadelphia – prompted him to found a new imprint, Rvng Intl., indulging his increasing interest in dance and electronic music. To begin with, the main strand of Rvng’s output was the Rvng of The Nrds series, with artists from near and far – including The Flying Squad (Tim Sweeney), Wade Nichols (Todd Terje), Greg Wilson, Pilooski and Jacques Renault – contributing re-edits of obscurities and forgotten gems by the likes of Wire, R.D. Burman and Munich Machine. A significant cut above the usual mutant disco fodder, these 12″s were clad in distinctive artwork from Kevin O’Neill and sounded, without exception, killer; but Rvng was never going to restrict itself to re-edits. Running alongside the Rvng of The Nrds was the Rvng presents Mx series, a run of eccentric mix CDs that peaked with mind-bending entries from Purple Brain and JD Twitch, and since then Rvng has brought out two original releases, Pink Skull’s Endless Bummer LP and These Are Power’s Candyman EP.
But the focus of our attention today is Frkwys, a division of Rvng which sprung into life last year. More than a mere sub-label, Frkwys’ stated ambition is to bring together “contemporary artists and their progenitors by way of remix, reinterpretation and original collaboration”. The first 12″ release on the label, perversely entitled Frkwys Vol.2, featured two remixes of Jon Fell Ryan’s much-loved experimental troupe, Excepter. The Brooklyn band, who have released their last few albums on Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks, surrendered the stems for their tracks to Carter Tutti and JG Thirlwell. Carter Tutti is of course the duo of Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, founding members of Throbbing Gristle and all-round electronic envelope-pushers (can you believe this was made in 1983?), while JG Thirlwell is best known for his grandstanding industrial recordings as Foetus, and more recently the Morricone-influenced instrumentals he makes under the name Manorexia.
As if all this cross-generational collaboration wasn’t extraordinary enough, Frkwys is an interesting business proposition in and of itself, being based around a 100-strong base of subscribers who help to finance its releases and feed back with ideas for projects they’d like to see happen. This additional funding allows the label to compensate all artists involved upfront, and also enabled Vol.2‘s amazing packaging: a tip-on style jacket wrapped in black leatherette and overlayed with “family portrait”-style photographs of Excepter, Thirlwell and Carter Tutti.
This month sees the release of Frkwys Vol.3, an album-length collaboration between ARP & Anthony Moore, comprising seven modern minimalist instrumentals and one vocal track born out of sources old and new. It features reworkings of original and unreleased 1960s material by Moore, and contemporary pieces by ARP (real name Alexis Georgopoulos). The project came about as a result of Georgopoulos’s love of Moore’s 1971 album Pieces From The Cloudland Ballroom, a record once described by Alan Licht as neither “a Krautrock or artrock LP but a bona fide minimal classic”. When Moore heard some of ARP’s own music, he claimed to be “struck by a powerful sense of familiarity, a recognition of certain musical values close to my own heart being explored by someone else”.
The upshot of this instinctive connection was the coming together of Moore and Georgopoulos at Atlantic Sound’s Brooklyn studio in September 2009, where they recorded Frkwys Vol.3 with a 24-track, 2″ Studer tape machine. A range of instruments and strategies were employed in the making of this soaring, contemplative record, including tape loops, cello, violin, piano and analogue synthesizers. Fans of Arthur Russell, Steve Reich and the more pensive, organic end of kosmische music will find much to admire here; and of course it all comes in sumptuous tip-on packaging replete with family portrait and spot-on design from Kevin O’Neill.
ARP is one third of experimental ensemble The Alps, who have released records on labels including Type, Smalltown Supersound and Root Strata. In 2007 he released a fine solo album for Smalltown, entitled In Light. Anthony Moore, meanwhile, played a significant role (primarily as keyboardist) in the groundbreaking English avant-rock group Henry Cow, which was formed by Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson in Cambridge in 1968. The duo performed music from Frkwys Vol.3 live in New York last month, by all accounts a very special evening.
You can tell by now why we’re so interested in Frkwys, right? FACT got hold of the eternally busy Matt Werth to talk about the label, its origins and his plans for its future….
Anthony Moore and ARP by Jody Rogac
First of all, please tell us a bit about yourself – who you are, and what your life in music up to this point has been…
“I’m an 8 year NYC transplant from Arkansas via Philadelphia. I moved to Philadelphia when I was 18, leaving a punk rock record label I’d run through high school and seeking asylum in a city inherently exposed to more music because of its locale.
“Once arrived, I gradually moved beyond the selection of Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine records I transported with me to the grittier sounds of mid-90s Philly noise & psyche a la Siltbreeze (The Dead C, Harry Pussy) and, for the first time in my life, electronic music.
“After finishing college in Philadelphia and playing in several bands, I moved to New York for even broader exposure to music. Rvng released a couple mixtapes prior to my move but really grew legs after the first or second year I was settled here.”
“There are still a lot of incredibly smart and passionate artists left under the mutable and mutant skin cells of NYC.”
To what degree to you consider Frkwys (and Rvng) to be a product of New York? Spiritually and culturally, I mean…
“Thus far, only one of the six artists we’ve involved for a Frkwys edition are based outside of NYC. I don’t need to convince anyone that NYC is a cultural nexus where creative movements both large and small resonate on a worldwide level. I’m just fortunate that I can draw from this truth for inspiration, especially for a project that involves an intense knowledge and respect of music tradition. There are still a lot of incredibly smart and passionate artists left under the mutable and mutant skin cells of NYC.”
Tell us more about the high school punk label. What was the driving force behind it?
“Like most punk rock labels of the early 90s, the driving force was to stave off boredom. Alcohol and drugs hadn’t really seeped into our scene where the average band member age on the label was 16, so there was a lot of idle time to fill with home recording, screen-printing record covers, putting on shows, and booking tours. The idea was to hang out with a bunch of friends and have something to hold and listen to at the end instead of barfing in each others shoes. I’m sure that’s why I’m a quality control freak now with Rvng.”
Was their a eureka moment, a sudden awakening, a particular record that opened you up to the world of electronic music, or was it more of a gradual process?
“Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James Album was a eureka moment. I was just dipping my toes into the worlds of drum & bass and jungle – at this point having had limited exposure to “electronic music” beyond Weatherall remixes and E.A.R. oscillations – and was finding the waters tepid. Then I discovered that album. Richard D. James was beat manic and texturally exciting to my ears but also possessed immediately identifiable melodic and pop qualities.”
“Alcohol and drugs hadn’t really seeped into our scene where the average band member age on the label was 16, so there was a lot of idle time to fill with home recording, screen-printing record covers, putting on shows, and booking tours.”
Why did you choose to start Frkwys? You’ve already got one label – Rvng Intl. – so are you a masochist or what? What distinguishes Frkwys from Rvng, what’s the idea behind it…
“I am a masochist. I have the paper cuts to prove it. Although Frkwys requires a whole new set of responsibilities (and possibilities), it isn’t a separate label from Rvng. It’s a series, like our Rvng of the Nrds 12″s (Pilooski, Greg Wilson) or the Rvng Prnsts Mx mix CDs + vinyl (Purple Brain, JD Twitch).
“What distinguishes Frkwys from the other series rooted in re-edits and DJ mixes is the focus on original music and the reinterpretation of. The guiding concept behind the series is to bring contemporary electronic artists together with their creative forebearers of sorts and allow them to collaborate as inspired.
Excepter by Andy Curtain
Tell us about the subscription model, indeed, the business idea in general of Frkwys. What led you to go with this kind of approach?
“Honestly, the biggest benefit from employing a subscription model is a sense of duty and timeliness to our subscribers. The Frkwys series lives for the artists and subscribers first and then warmly and receptively fans out to anyone that missed the subscription opportunity. It allows me to communicate and almost consult with a cluster of people that have entrusted their confidence (and money) to us. One of the next series installations is almost entirely built upon a subscriber’s input for collaborations.
“A lot of the artists we’re working with went through the industry ringer at some point in their careers. This isn’t to say they process an opportunity with a bitter filter, they actually seem more keen to work on a project that trumps the system.”
What’s your A&R approach with this label? Where did the ideas for the collaborations spring from?“Chris & Cosey and JG Thirlwell were my idea but I did run both by Excepter for approval before pursuing them. Chris, Cosey, and JG all come from hands-on and adventurous music production and the presentation of it via packaging and live performance, so it was fairly easy for them to identify with Excepter and the series concept.
“It’s a respect thing, not hero worship (even though I probably fanned out a bit when meeting Throbbing Gristle on their US dates last year). None of these artists are relics, most are actively producing music. And, even if we are sparking a creative fire, it’s still and will always be within them.
“It’s also a trust thing. A lot of the artists we’re working with went through the industry ringer at some point in their careers. This isn’t to say they process an opportunity with a bitter filter, they actually seem more keen to work on a project that trumps the system. I believe that’s why we’ve accomplished such interesting results so far.”
ARP & Anthony Moore’s collaboration is album-length. What kind of practical challenges does putting out an album, as opposed to a three-track 12″, present you with?
“Well, practically, the budget swells considerably. In the case of this collaboration, we facilitated travel accommodations so Anthony could extend a trip to the US to rehearse and record with Alexis for ten days in New York. So, rather than sending session stems to artists for remixes, we were dealing with a full-on studio production – engineers, session players, tape reels, etc. I can tell you though that sitting and listening to the rough mixes at the end of Anthony & Alexis’ session in the serenity of the Atlantic Sounds studio was worth every bit, and completely mind-melting.”
Tell us about the artwork concept behind Frkwys – who designs the sleeves, and how do you achieve the results you want?
“The artwork is compiled by Kevin O’Neill at Will Work For Good. Kevin’s been a part of every Rvng release from the ground up. Our Peter Saville. The portrait concept is part documentarian and part family portrait. You can choose which artist is the weird uncle. OK, they all are.
“For the Excepter 12”, I ran all 1100 jackets in leatherette wraps and adhesive tip-ons. The cost on each jacket was already insane and then I got the freight bill from California. Holy fuck. For the second series, I killed the leatherette and produced some beautiful black jackets and adhesive tip-ons with Stumptown Printers in Oregon. We manufacture all vinyl locally with Brooklyn Phono.
“Everyone should be blessed equally for buying music in its physical form.”
Frkwys’ name obviously alludes to Folkways. Do you feel an affinity, however abstract, with that label?
“It is a bit abstract but I do feel an affinity. Like Moses Asch’s label, what we’re doing with Frkwys is documenting a music movement but enabling the movement to happen in order to document. We’re not travelling the world for field recordings but we might put together some artists in a live space or living room and preserve the sound.”
The first release on the label was Frkwys Vol.2. What happened to Vol.1?
“Not to worry. It’s coming together but continually evolving. We really didn’t make it easy on ourselves releasing Vol. 2 before Vol. 1 but that’s the freaky nature of this pursuit.”
Do you feel like the subscription model is going to be something we see more and more of? Is it the future of vinyl?
“The vinyl market is at a saturation point. There are so many records available now compared to just five years ago. I’m all for it but it does create a sense of bewilderment for buyers. We’re about to see pressing numbers drop, a number of labels that adapted to the “vinyl craze” dropping production with them, and records becoming specialty items all over again. I feel like fans that buy the 100 to 1000 records you press from release-to-release naturally constitute a subscription base and there’s no real need to differentiate reward levels. Everyone should be blessed equally for buying music in its physical form.”
Can you tell us anything about your plans for Frkwys in 2010 and beyond, or is it all under wraps?
“Under wraps but keep an eye our our Facebook for subtle and not-so-subtle hints.”
Are you particularly feeling the work of any other labels out there?
“I love Mississippi Records. So much care going into those records. A few NYC labels that I really respect are Golf Channel, Sacred Bones, and Olde English Spelling Bee. Beyond the City, D-I-R-T-Y Soundsystem and DC Recordings always bring it. I’m a full on geek for label culture.”
What advice would you offer to someone thinking of starting their own label in 2010?
“Go for it but do it well.”
Kiran Sande
/kobe-8-system-green-black-jade-year-of-the-snake.html
/barkley-posite-max-metallic-gold-black.html
/adidas-adizero-rose-4.5-grey-red-shoes.html
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2063
|
__label__wiki
| 0.89099
| 0.89099
|
Kal Penn mocks White House adviser's couch gaffe
by veena March 2, 2017 0224
Washington, March 2 (IANS) Indian American actor Kal Penn has mocked White House adviser Kellyanne Conway after she was pictured kneeling on a Oval Office couch in heels.
Penn in a tweet on Thursday posted an image of him sitting on a couch similar to the one in the Oval Office, mimicking Trump’s senior counsellor’s weird pose earlier this week.
With his pants hitched up to his knees, Penn knelt on the couch, with his phone in his hand and a confused look on his face. The picture, which has been liked on Twitter more than 4,500 times, was posted with the caption “Kal-E-Anne”.
Conway was subjected to social media outlash after she was photographed checking her phone and kneeling on the couch with her shoes on while President Donald Trump was meeting leaders of historically black colleges and universities in the Oval Office on Monday.
Conway later said that she “meant no disrespect”, and blamed the reporter for taking the picture and wobbling up the issue just to create a sensation, American Bazaar online reported.
“I was being asked to take a picture in a crowded room with the press of us. I was asked to take a certain angle and was doing exactly that. I certainly meant no disrespect, I didn’t mean to have my feet on the couch,” she said on Fox Business Network’s Lou Dobbs Tonight on Tuesday.
“If we started the trend here, where people are outwardly talking about greater respect for the Office of the President and its current occupant, then perhaps that’s something positive that came out. But I, of course, meant no disrespect.”
Kal Penn, born to Indian parents, is an actor, producer, chef and civil servant. He advocated for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008. He served as an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement from 2009 till 2011.
He currently stars in political drama ‘Designated Survivor’.
UGA's Shreya Ganeshan among 7 Indian-Americans nominated for Truman Scholarship
5 GA Tech students participate in 10,000 mile rally across 23 countries
NFIA seeks award nominations for outstanding achievements
Senate passes rights bill for LGBT
veena November 8, 2013
Haley to raise India's UNSC membership at UN
veena August 7, 2017
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2065
|
__label__wiki
| 0.986269
| 0.986269
|
Jeen Premieres New Song “Medicate Me”
Canadian singer-songwriter Jeen O'Brien, aka Jeen has delivered a new song “Medicate Me” via SoundCloud. The song was premiered exclusively on Billboard.
The song follows up previously released "Any Moment". Both songs will appear on her upcoming third album "Gift Shop", which is expected to be released in September. It is her first LP in two years.
She started to write the songs at the end of 2016 for the new album and wrote 30 songs. The album comprises of 9-track.
Jeen told billboard about the song;
"It's a bit of an ode to introverts. Being an anti-social person by nature, this music industry is obviously a tricky one to navigate for someone like that. So the song touches on using medical marijuana to calm my nerves, to medicate me a little bit. That's what was in my head.
"It's fabulous. It's kind of a shame it's not more available to people for different things. There's a real need for something like that, aside from pills or anything. But it definitely gave me the inspiration for (the song)."
Jeen is known as a member of the currently on-hiatus group Cookie Duster. Also she has written for many recording artists such as Great Big Sea, Serena Ryder, Res, Hawksley Workman, Brendan Canning, FUWA FUWA (j-pop) and Martin “Doc” McKinney to name a few.
To date, she has released two albums such as Tourist" (2015) and "Modern Life" (2016).
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2069
|
__label__wiki
| 0.93656
| 0.93656
|
Princess Anne officially opens £30m Sellafield education campus in Cumbria
Campus Whitehaven, Sellafield’s largest ever community investment, has been officially opened by HRH Princess Anne.
The Princess Royal unveiled a plaque to mark the official opening of the site, which houses St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Secondary School and Mayfield Special School and opened its doors to pupils in January.
The £30m facility is a “world-class learning environment” according Jamie Reed, Sellafield Ltd’s head of corporate affairs.
He said: “This is our largest single social impact investment. I think it will prove to be one of the best decisions we ever made.”
Construction work finished last year, after Sellafield, the government body responsible for the Sellafield nuclear site, invested an original £10m from its social impact budget into the project.
Further funding has been provided by Cumbria County Council, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and Copeland Community Fund.
HRH Princess Anne will officially open the £30m Campus Whitehaven today.
It’s our largest community investment. @JamieFonzarelli our head of corporate affairs said:
“Campus Whitehaven shows the confidence we have in the future of west Cumbria.”https://t.co/PPaqJw9mz5 pic.twitter.com/dWsVgfnAvT
— Sellafield Ltd (@SellafieldLtd) July 2, 2019
Princess Anne was greeted by crowds of students waving flags as she toured the education campus, met with staff, students, governors and local stakeholders.
Mayfield School headteacher, Gillian Temple, commented: “We were delighted and honoured to have opportunity to showcase our wonderful new facilities.
“Her Royal Highness enjoyed seeing our fantastic new learning environment along with the commitment and dedication of all our students and staff.”
Sellafield supply chain director Martin Chown added: “The building looks tremendous and the energy and enthusiasm of the students was genuinely uplifting.
“The campus will help raise educational attainment levels so more young people can access future opportunities in our decommissioning programme and beyond.
“It’s a genuine community asset which is already improving lives in west Cumbria. It’s a perfect demonstration of our social impact strategy in action.”
A catalyst for regional development
19/07/2019Report finds progress at Barnet Council’s Children’s Services
A report by OFSTED on Barnet Council’s Children’s Services have gone from inadequate to good in just under two years. The report highlights that the council is delivering improve...
The general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) has described the decision by MPs to approve the second stage of the High Speed Two (HS2) as “wise and welcome&rdq...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2071
|
__label__wiki
| 0.754004
| 0.754004
|
Free Music Streaming Sites
There are many FREE streaming music sites and apps available on the internet that allow you to listen to music or watch videos in 'real time' on your computer or other device.
Deezer allows users to listen to music content from record labels including EMI, Sony, UniversalMusic Group, and Warner Music Group on various devices online or offline. Will be available in the United States soon.
iHeartRadio is an Internet radio platform. iHeartRadio functions as both a music recommender system and a radio network that aggregates audio content from over 800 local Clear Channel radio stations across the United States, as well as hundreds of other stations and various other media. iHeartRadio is available online, via mobile devices, and on select video game consoles.
iTunes Radio is a free, ad-supported service available to all iTunes users, featuring Siri integration on iOS. Users are able to skip tracks, customize stations, and purchase the station's songs from the iTunes Store.
NPR Music offers current and archival podcasts, live concert webcasts, reviews, music lists, news, studio sessions, and interviews to listen to from NPR and partner public radio stations across the country, as well as an index of public radio music stations streaming live on the Internet.
Pandora is a FREE subscription-based service with a catalog of 1 million songs available on laptop and mobile devices, plus Roku and other app-based appliances.
Rhapsody is a monthly fee-based subscription service with a catalog of 32 million different songs. Try it for $1 for three months.
Spotify is a FREE subscription-based digital music service that offers access to over 22 million different songs from a laptop, smartphone or other device.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0052.json.gz/line2077
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.