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Hall of Fame at the Dunbrody
Health and Life Sciences 50
Wall Street 50
Those we Lost
What are you like?
Wild Irish Women
Window on The Past
You've Got Mail:
Ireland’s Wildlife Youngsters
March 3, 2020 by helpdesk1
℘℘℘ Ireland is fortunate enough to have a diverse range of wildlife that is consistently booming. Although, the past few weeks have been tough with one storm after another, Ireland’s Wildlife species are pushing through and sticking to their springtime schedules. Here’s a few of Irelands native wildlife youngsters to brighten up your day and encourage you to conserve and … [Read more...] about Ireland’s Wildlife Youngsters
Hall of Fame: Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher Jean Butler
A few years back, the Irish dancing community was dealt a series of devastating losses. Four celebrated dance masters – Jimmy Erwin, Jerry Mulvihill, Michael Bergin, and Peter Smith – passed away in close succession.“All I could think,” recalls Riverdance choreographer and dancer Jean Butler, “was the steps and stories that died with them. The dances live in the … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame: Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher Jean Butler
Hall of Fame: Judy Collins Singer, Songwriter, Social Activist
It is difficult to define or to encapsulate Judy Collins in under 2,000 words. Ironically though, perhaps just two words can provide an insight into this remarkable woman’s activism, career, and song choices: they are, “amazing grace.” Everything Judy has done in her long and varied life have shown ability, creativity, tenacity, and – grace. These two words also happen to be … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame: Judy Collins Singer, Songwriter, Social Activist
Hall of Fame: Patrick Doherty, The New York Official Who Uses Investment Power to Promote Human Rights.
New York Official Uses Investment Power to Promote Human Rights Patrick Doherty recalls one of many St. Patrick’s Day parties on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where his parents met, and his grandparents still lived when he was young.“The parade in those days ended at 96th Street. So, each year my grandmother basically invited the whole parade back to their apartment,” … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame: Patrick Doherty, The New York Official Who Uses Investment Power to Promote Human Rights.
Hall of Fame: Thomas Kelly, Visionary, Educator, and Advocate for “Great and Giving Lives.”
Visionary Educator and Advocate for “Great and Giving Lives" Fifteen years ago, when Thomas Kelly, Ph.D., became Horace Mann School’s Head of School, the independent school’s reputation was already established. Founded in 1887, the N-12 northern Bronx preparatory school has educated generations of the tristate area’s best and brightest, including Pulitzer Prize-winning … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame: Thomas Kelly, Visionary, Educator, and Advocate for “Great and Giving Lives.”
http://2020.irishamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/16610234-44100-2-ad3f60e9154b7-1.mp3
The Irish War of Independence begins. On January 21st, 1919, a group of IRA members acting independently shot and killed two Royal Irish Constabulary officers traveling with explosives through Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary. In response to the attack, the British Government declared the area a Special Military Area under its Defense of the Realm Act. Though the 21st is commonly acknowledged as the start of the war, the newly organized Irish Dail (which had also held its first session on the same day as the attack) and President Éamon de Valera did not formally recognize the war with the British until over two years later, on March 11th 1921.
First Word: Dreamers “Our focus is to create ladders of opportunity to help people get to the middle class through the construction trades. That's really why you do it.” – Sean McGarvey ℘℘℘…
News: An Irish Garden Blooms Spring bloomed in the world-famous Mount Congreve Gardens this Valentine’s Day. That’s when the inaugural Crocus Festival started, celebrating the simple beauty of the flower. Thousands of crocus bulbs were…
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Men's Water Polo
Never say die: Inside Cal’s 2019 season
Ireland Wagner/Staff
The men’s water polo season was not perfect, but the Bears exceeded expectations by placing second at the MPSF Championships to end their season.
Bears cap season with 2nd-place finish at MPSF Championships
After dominating Austin College and upsetting reigning NCAA champion USC, Cal fell in the tournament final against archrival Stanford.
It’s go time: Cal ready to make noise at MPSF Championships
The Bears will be at home for the three MPSF postseason games that will determine their ultimate placement in their conference.
Close, but no cigar: No. 7 Cal loses to No. 1 USC by a single goal
In this second meeting between two of water polo’s most successful programs, the Trojans escaped Spieker Aquatics Complex with a 14-13 victory over the Bears.
Trojan War: No. 7 Cal to host No. 1 USC in regular season finale
Coming off a couple of tough weekends of play, the Bears will host the Trojans in their last game before the MPSF Championships.
A tale of 2 games: No. 7 Cal downed by No. 2 Stanford, recovers against No. 15 UCI
The Bears were beaten handily by the Cardinal on Saturday, but didn’t let that disappointing result deter them in Sunday’s match-up against the Anteaters.
Familiar foes: No. 7 Cal ready to do battle with No. 2 Stanford, No. 15 UC Irvine
This year’s installment of Cal-Stanford pits two of water polo’s longtime rivals against one another, before the Bears host the Anteaters in a rematch.
Weekend warriors: Cal men’s water polo defeats Long Beach State, loses to UCLA in action-packed weekend
This weekend featured a couple of close games for Cal, which managed to push UCLA to the brink and earn an overtime victory over the similarly talented Long Beach State.
Out of the frying pan: No. 8 Cal to face No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 Long Beach State
As they make a push towards the MPSF Championships, the Bears will need to be at their best in this weekend’s contests against two of water polo’s best teams.
Run it Back: No. 4 UCSB tops No. 8 Cal in highly-anticipated rematch
The Bears fought valiantly, but couldn’t stop the Gauchos’ Nathan Puentes as he scored six goals including three in overtime.
Sanctuary cities should not criminalize poverty
Coronavirus must not overcome UC Berkeley’s cultural pluralism
City, campus need to see the light
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Contact Alugy
Home COVID-19 Russian stewardess and pilot escaped from quarantine in Moscow
Russian stewardess and pilot escaped from quarantine in Moscow
Katy Misic
A Russian stewardess with suspected coronavirus escaped from quarantine in Moscow because she was bored. This is reported by the Telegram channel “112”.
According to the source, Aeorflot cabin attendant Anna Panina was supposed to be at home for two weeks after returning from abroad. However, on the morning of March 3, a Russian woman was seen on Pskov Street.
It is clarified that on the same day the girl drove around Moscow in her BMW X4. Law enforcement officers tried to contact Panina, but she was not available via phone. She was seen with her friend ,but the friend was not available as well.
In addition, the Telegram channel Baza reported that the Russian pilot Sergei Sukhanov , who returned from South Korea also escaped from quarantine. Upon arrival from South Korea, he was tested and warned that he could not leave the country, but, according to Sukhanov, he was not told that he could not leave the house.
When the pilot left his home, he was seen via security camera at the entrance, and police arrived at the house of Sukhanov and explained to him that he could not leave the apartment for two days.
According to the latest data, in total, more than 90 thousand people have become ill with a new type of coronavirus. Of these, more than 3 thousand died, and over 48 thousand were cured. In addition to China, where the virus was first detected, cases have been reported in more than 70 countries.
Previous articleSteve Wozniak says he may be “patient zero” for coronavirus in US
Next articleMike Bloomberg unknowingly shows how Coronavirus gets spread
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I Have had a lot of flu. Does that protect against COVID-19?
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Don’t Fancy Yours, Mate! Ch. 03
The alarm on Martin’s phone woke him. It was 5.30 in the morning, and he had a hard-on, as he did every morning when he awoke. He looked at Jane, his mature, busty, and hot colleague lying next to him in the hotel bed, and was tempted to wake her. He knew that she would be reluctant to have a quickie, as she wanted him to leave and return to his own room before he was seen and thus rumbled her. At fifty-eight years old she didn’t want to be the subject of gossip and for the word “desperate” to be whispered and sniggered over.
He swung his legs out of the bed and pulled on his clothes from the previous day. He avoided using the en-suite so as not to disturb her. He was tempted to carry his shoes instead of wearing them to allow him to tread more quietly, but decided that this would look more secretive and suspicious if he was seen. Instead he slid his shoes on and walked to the door as softly as he could.
His room was only on the floor below and he walked quickly and quietly along the corridor, down the stairs, then to his own room. Thankfully he encountered nobody. As quietly and smoothly as he could he turned his key in the lock, opened the door, stepped in and closed it behind him. He slid his shoes off.
He needed the toilet and was about to go to his en-suite when his mobile buzzed and vibrated in his pocket. He guessed that it would be from Jane, and decided to check his messages in case anything was wrong.
hi, have fun washing it off but not 2 hard luv jn
He shook his head in bemusement, tossed the phone onto the bed and went into the en-suite bathroom. He looked at his tired face in the mirror as he emptied his bladder. He hoped he would be able to stay awake at the workshops and presentations that day despite his lack of sleep. After all, he and Jane had had sex the previous evening when they retired for the night, and twice during the night as well.
He looked down; then he saw it. Along his half-erect cock was some black writing. It said simply “Jane’s!” Now he understood her cryptic text message. He laughed out loud at her sauciness, writing her name on his cock as a claim of exclusive ownership while he was asleep. He ran his hand under the tap and over the soap and rubbed the writing. It remained intact. She had clearly used a permanent marker pen rather than a water-based one.
He felt annoyed. He would have to get every trace of it off. It would be mortifying if anyone spotted it if they stood next to him at the urinals later on. He took his clothes off and stepped into the shower. He cast his mind back to her text. He looked down at the writing again. There was no denying — it did have a funny side to it. He laughed.
He did have fun washing it off, too. Breakfast would not be served for nearly two hours, and he was still hard and horny as he thought about the night before. He shafted himself slowly, then more quickly. The sight and feel of her satin nightdress. Her mature body in the half-light. The feel of her big breasts pressing against him and spilling over his hands. The sight of her bum cheeks as he withdrew from her pussy and squirted over them. He gritted his teeth as he called these and other images to mind, and jerked harder and faster, bracing himself against the wall of the shower as he came.
Then he gave his attention to her writing. He did mange to get it all off but he had to apply neat shower gel and rub it hard with his fingers. It took some time and several careful inspections. He laughed again, and when he went back into his bedroom he picked up his mobile, and keyed his reply.
hi jn. had fun washing it off but wont b able 2 manage 4 some time, sore, had 2 scrub v hard
He chuckled softly and got into his clean clothes.
He avoided sitting with her for breakfast and sat with other delegates for some of the presentations and seminars, too. He even managed to avoid looking at her too much. Just before one seminar, however, she caught his eye. She smiled, seemingly innocently, but picked up her pen and made a writing action in the air. He stifled most, but not all of his laugh. The bloke next to him looked at him.
“Sorry — just a private joke,” Martin muttered, hoping he hadn’t blushed too deeply.
He caught up with her at lunchtime but apart from exchanging a couple of knowing glances and chuckles, neither referred to it.
At canlı bahis şirketleri last the final presentation and question session finished, and they headed for the railway station. As well as his own holdall, he carried her overnight case, very mindful of some of the clothing that lay inside it. She was wearing a knee-length pink raincoat that was buttoned high. It was double-breasted and the colour suited her. He was slightly disappointed that her legs were bare and that she was not wearing stockings. He wondered whether she would invite him back to her house when they arrived back.
The journey home would take just over five hours. He was glad they had reserved seats, as it was the build-up to local rush hour. They settled in their seats and made small talk. After a while he closed his eyes and re-lived in his mind the sex that he and Jane had enjoyed over the last twenty-four hours. He felt pleasantly tired.
He looked out of the window until it went dark, and browsed through the National Geographic magazine he had bought. Jane also dozed off and read her book. He noticed one or two people look at its cover and at her. It was a steamy novel that had attracted a lot of publicity. He smiled to himself. He wondered whether she really wanted to read it or whether she was just doing it for effect. No doubt fellow-passengers would consider her past such books at her age. They would be shocked indeed if they knew some of the things she got up to!
They had to change trains and waited for a while for the connection. It was twenty five minutes late. He hated long journeys, especially train journeys, and even more so when they ran behind time. He just wanted to get home and chill out — or maybe get to Jane’s house and get hot! He still hoped that she would invite him back, but he was not going to push.
They finally approached her station. It was on the main line but the express services did not stop there, hence their need to change trains earlier. He had agreed to see her safely home and then get a taxi back to his house, which was about four miles form hers. He picked up her case and his own and they got off the train onto the platform.
Only three other people alighted and they soon disappeared. It had been a long day, and to his annoyance he realised that Jane had wandered over to the information board that displayed the timetables.
“Sorry, Martin. I’m just checking the train times for work next week. I have to take my car into the garage.”
She reached into her bag for her diary and a pen. With a smirk she brandished the pen at him and mimed writing. His annoyance changed to laughter.
She jotted down a few times in the back of her diary and re-checked them back to the timetable. She fumbled in her bag, smiled, and rejoined him.
“Well, Martin — it wasn’t a bad conference. But I liked the night-time hands- on workshops the best!”
She scooped her hand under his groin and gave it a gentle squeeze. He looked round, shocked, then realised that nobody was about. The others who had got off the train had now left. The station was small and unstaffed, too, and theirs had been the last train that day scheduled to stop there. They headed towards the subway that led under the tracks to the exit.
“Have you got any plans for what’s left of the evening, Martin?”
“Not really, Jane. Have you?”
“No. No, I’ve got nothing on.”
He nearly made a crude, double-entendre comment but she looked tired and serious. They were part way down the ramp when she suddenly exclaimed, “Oh shit!”
“What’s the matter, Jane?”
“I think I’ve dropped my diary. I won’t be a second… you wait here…”
He waited half way down the ramp for her and watched her go back to the information board. Her legs looked good, and although she was wearing court shoes rather than stilettos the rapid click of her heels on the platform aroused him. Her slimmish body looked attractive in her pink coat, her posture was upright and proud, and her silver-blond hair was smart. Again he wondered whether she would invite him back or whether he would be going straight home once he had seen her to her house.
He spotted her diary lying on the platform as she drew near to it. He watched, hoping that she might bend forward to pick it up and give him a glimpse canlı kaçak iddaa up her coat, but instead she squatted on her haunches. She stood up and turned round, smiling at him and waving it in the air, then she walked back towards him and down the ramp.
“Got it, Martin. Sorry about that.”
“That’s okay.”
“Martin… you know when I said I don’t have anything on tonight…”
His heart quickened a beat. It sounded as though she might be about to go from having no arrangements to making some that would include him.
“I meant… I REALLY don’t have anything on…”
The belt of her raincoat was undone and she was unfastening the buttons. She peeled it open and stood with her hands on her hips.
“Bloody hell, Jane!”
Her crude pun and her lewd behaviour stunned him. He stared at her frontal nakedness. Her matronly breasts swayed deliciously, and her nipples were large and half-erect. Her belly was slightly plump, and he stared at the appealing horizontal creases of her skin. Her nakedness and the harsh lighting made her hairy mound seem the more prominent. Her legs and thighs were neither skinny nor fat. She was quite curvy, with matronly hips. For her age her legs were shapely. The bulkhead light emphasised the verdant hair of her natural, uncropped bush. Martin thought again of the jibe of a fellow delegate at the conference, “Don’t fancy yours, mate!” He smirked. He doubted whether the woman that man had brought along and bragged about bedding — however attractive and sexy — was as hot as Jane where it really mattered.
He was both aroused and nervous of being disturbed. She walked towards him, her hands still on her hips, her raincoat still open, her heels clicking loudly on the subway ramp as if echoing the pounding of his heart.
She stood before him and leaned into him. Her naked, DD breasts pressed against him, and she kissed him on the mouth. He slid his hands inside her open coat and fondled her ripe bum cheeks. He was shocked and thrilled at her behaviour. The realisation that as soon as the conference was over she had rushed to her room and stripped naked, and remained completely naked under her coat on their way to the station and throughout the journey was extremely arousing. It was not the way a fifty-eight year-old woman would behave! Nor was what she was doing right now…
They kissed deeply and passionately, and he fondled her full, flaccid breasts for a few moments. She pulled away from him. She left the buttons of her coat unfastened but closed it and fastened her belt to hold it loosely in place. She picked up her overnight case and took his hand in her other hand. He picked up his holdall. But instead of leading him to the far end of the subway and the station exit she dragged him back towards the platform they had left.
“Jane… what the hell…?”
She laughed and continued to lead him to the platform. It was deserted but quite well lit. She led him past the various unlit buildings. Another short platform backed onto it near its far end, a bay platform with buffers where a local shuttle ran during the day. She led him onto it and to a bench right under a platform light. She pressed his shoulders down, prompting him to sit.
His heart was hammering in his chest.
“Jane, I really don’t think…”
“I do, love.”
He stared as she unfastened her belt and let her pink coat fall open again. She stood astride him and leaned forward, proffering her large, pendulous breasts to his face. He nuzzled and kissed them, kneading the soft flesh. He squeezed one orb and pointed it compacted, firmed-up form to his mouth. He began to suck on it and to chew her nipple.
“Mmm, that’s it, Martin, love. Mmmmhhh…. Pity there were other people in or carriage on the way up or I could have suckled you on the train. Suckled you and SUCKED you, love…”
She bent her head down and to his delight she scooped her right breast to her own mouth. He stared, enthralled, as she poked out her tongue and licked her nipple. It looked rude and very erotic. She scooped her orb higher and sucked on it noisily. He moved his own tongue to flicker against her nipple, her lips and tongue as well.
She dropped her hand to his groin and unzipped his trousers. She slid her long fingers inside and kneaded and fondled his balls canlı kaçak bahis and his rising cock through his underpants.
“Oh Jane, that’s good, but let’s go somewhere more private…”
She took his hand and led it to her hairy pussy. She rubbed it against her swollen lips and her hood. She murmured with pleasure as he caressed her.
“This IS private. There’s nobody about, love. There are no more trains due and the station is unmanned…”
“I know, but what if…”
“Mmmhh, Martin, I want this inside me. That book I was reading has made me hot and horny. You can come back with me for an hour or two if you like…”
A big smile broke across his face, and he started to stand up.
“…but only if you fuck me here and now, Martin…”
She unbuckled his trouser belt and unfastened his trousers. She tugged them part way down his hips and did the same with his underpants.
“Oh Jane, not here, let’s…”
“Oh yes, here! Yes, I think so!”
She pushed him back down onto the bench. He felt its coldness against the backs of his thighs. She raised one leg and placed her foot on the bench next to him. He fondled her thigh and kissed it. She slid her foot and leg between the seat of the bench and its back, and lowered herself onto his lap, straddling him and facing him. She swung the other leg through the gap between the back and seat of the bench.
There was a low metallic sound that rose in pitch and volume, the signal of an approaching train. He jumped, but she pushed down on his thighs with her weight.
“Don’t panic! It won’t stop, it’s just the express. It will go through so fast that nobody will see,” she laughed.
The train could now be heard quite clearly.
“In any case, my back is covered by my coat and my back is towards the main platform that it will pass. And your face is hidden behind me. Let’s do it, love…” she said, her voice rising as the train roared closer.
The fear of being seen made him start to lose his erection, but she took it in her hands and played with it. She rocked up and down on his lap, playing with his throbbing cock in her hand as she did so. He tried to sink lower on the bench to hide as the sound of the train became almost deafening, and a flurry of lights flashed as the train shot past them at high speed, then receded into the distance.
“Wow, Martin! I felt the earth move and saw flashing lights, and you’re not even inside me yet!” she said.
Though still nervous, he had to laugh. She rubbed his erection against her belly and thighs and gently slapped it against her belly. He was soon hard again, but he still felt very conspicuous, and hoped that they could be quick. He cupped her breasts and groped and mauled them playfully but gently. Her wanton behaviour was driving him on.
She raised herself on his lap a little and, holding his throbbing length in her hand she lowered herself onto it. She rode slowly up and down, her hands resting on the back of the well-lit bench. He continued to grope and squeeze her bouncing breasts with one hand and with the other hand he rubbed her moist clit. He stared at the swaying and surging of her breasts. She gasped softly and increased the force and speed of her thrusts, taking him deep and hard. He tensed and clasped her tight as he pumped into her until he was empty, and she came almost at the same time, grinding against him.
They sat quite still for a few moments. He was still half in shock at what they had done. Although anonymous, they had potentially been seen by a hundred people or so. He tried to console himself that they would have thought it was two frisky young people. He looked up at her slivery-blond hair and realised that some would have guessed her approximate age. She looked at him and laughed softly.
“Good boy! You can come back now for a couple of hours if you want to, love.”
She slid from his lap. They linked arms as they headed down the subway and under the tracks again, but withdrew as they left the station exit. Her house was only a third of a mile or so away, and it would not take long to walk.
She pulled him close for a moment as they waited for the traffic lights to change so that they could cross the road. She giggled saucily and flicked back the bottom of her coat.
“Look… I’m dribbling as I’m walking along! Look at that… look at that spunk and pussy juice trickling out of my pussy and down my thigh!”
He glanced at the lewdly glistening patch on her pale thigh, then she pulled her coat over it again and they crossed the road and headed for her house.
A first time for Everything Pt. 02
Dale’s Women Ch. 03
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6 Classical Music Concerts To See In N.Y.C. This Weekend
Your Blog » 6 Classical Music Concerts To See In N.Y.C. This Weekend
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When the algorithm finds a track that listeners are responding positively to, it will normally be put in the Uncover Weekly playlist, or into a test playlist like Fresh Finds for visit the following web site a week or two. If it tests well from there, it might get reviewed by several curators for further official Spotify playlist considerations.Confident, some individuals get pleasure from listening to birds chirping as they run, or they get energized by the sound of weights hitting the floor at the gym. TIP#four: SUNSCREEN AND A HAT ARE YOUR Pals, As well: I am not positive why, but SunFest Saturday constantly seems to be the hottest of the now-four-day festival. It's also the longest. You do not want to invest all that time and funds into scheduling and cute footwear and then get sunburned. Sunburns are not cute.Confident, some individuals appreciate listening to birds chirping as they run, or they get energized by the sound of weights hitting the floor at the gym. Don't just wait for key playlists to come. Improve your probabilities by searching for out independent curators and influencers, and ask them to add your music. Brands like Nike or Starbucks are influencers as effectively. Some playlists that have lots of followers" may well be falsifying. When observing Spotify playlists, the engagement - the actual number of listeners - is significantly much more essential than the quantity of followers.They want to be a music influencer. They are motivated by receiving the largest amount of Followers" as feasible. To increase your position on their playlist or keep in longer, you must encourage your social media followers to Follow" and Listen" to the playlist. Then send another thank you e-mail to the curator with examples of how you helped get them followers.Spotify's radio function is extremely comparable to Deezer's, supplying up Artist Radio for the artists you like in the identical way as its rival. There are also lots of genre stations to select from. Spotify does not limit the quantity of skips you're permitted on every single channel, even though, so if you do not like a song that's playing you are going to be in a position to skip right ahead to the next one, or the subsequent a single and so on.So here we are in 2017, and there is a lot of Pop music in the form of Dance Pop Hits to play, visit the following web site but some of main Pop superstars have struggled not too long ago at the very same time, and there is no other single music genre that is hotter than Hip-Hop. When a Hip-Hop superstar drops an album, often 20 cuts rule the Top 50 of streaming charts. Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Logic, Huge Sean and now Jay Z all have followed this very same pattern. At the very same time, whilst Leading 40 ratings have been off, you've seen Urban radio turn into far more common. All apparent indicators show that Hip-Hop has become mainstream and far more mass appeal than ever prior to. Prime 40 Radio is beginning to adopt Hip-Hop tracks more swiftly now, primarily based on achievement at other music platforms. Hip-Hop titles are occupying a lot more complete-time slots for the first time, rather of just getting played at night as has been the case in the past handful of decades at the format.
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District 3 Email Updates:
District 3 Council Member
Council Member Sabino “Pio” Renteria is a father, community activist, and a lifetime citizen of Austin’s District 3. At a very young age he learned the lessons of hard work and serving others. At age 7 he was shining shoes and selling newspapers on Congress Ave and at 15 he entered the fields to pick cotton to help support his family. Read More.
Jan. 6, 2015 to Jan. 6, 2023
Zoom and scroll to explore District 3 in the map below. Not sure if you live in District 3? Check out our District Lookup Map.
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Babaganoush have featured in festivals such as The Melbourne Festival”Spiegeltent” 2006, National Folk Festival 2007, Maldon Folk Festival 2007, Cygnet Folk Festival 2008, Darebin Music Feast 2006-2009, Surrey Hills Music Festival 2012, Karavan Melbourne International Gypsy Festival 2011, Viva Victoria Multicultural Festival, Warburton Harmony Festival 2012, International Artist Blacksmith’s Festival 2013 & 2015, Globe to Globe Music Festival 2015, and VIVA Victoria Multicultural Festival 2015, Renaissance Festival 2015, Earthartbeat festival 2015, Murray River International Festival 2016, Oakleigh Glendi Greek Festival & Mediterranean Fiesta 2016 & 2017, Four Seasons festival-Clunes.
In 2007 the band toured Europe and took France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Holland by storm. They are popular in Melbourne’s most intimate and liveliest bars and cafes. They have sold out shows at The Spotted Mallard, Open Studio, Bar Open, The Gasometer Hotel, Sooki Lounge to name a few and have performed at popular events like the Queen Victoria Night Market.
They continue to play in music festivals & give circle dance demonstrations around Australia, various concerts, bars, cafes, weddings, parties, dance collaborations, benefit concerts & private functions. For a list of all performances visit the past performance page on this website www.babaganoush info
They have made several live appearances on various radio stations over the years: ABC Radio National, 3MBS,3RRR, PBS, 7THE (Ausflok Radio), FM2CBD
“Hugely talented…..leaves you hungering for more” Trad & Now 2007 (Australian folk music magazine)
“I had the pleasure of engaging Babaganoush to play at the International Blacksmiths Festival in March 2013. The band brought the crowd to their feet with its unique blend of original and traditional energetic gypsy and Balkan tunes. Babaganoush represented the highlight for the festival and I will not hesitate in seeking them out again for our next event.” (Steve Phillips, Project manager and director of the International Artist Blacksmith’s Festival 2013, 2015 & 2017)
Their influences include great Romani/Gypsy musicians such as Taraf de Haidouks, Kocani Orkestar, Esma Redzepova & Kali Jag. From the Spiegeltent to Europe’s liveliest bars, Babaganoush have ventured the world music circuit in full swing. Seamlessly they cover many traditions (Romani, Serbian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek) with their own authentic touch. Exuberant, heartfelt, the band has an organic beauty that is rare and unforgettable.
More History
Babaganoush was founded in 2003 by Malini Chidzey, the band’s
charismatic leader and virtuoso violinist. She invited singer and
accordionist Mark Planigale to join the group and they began performing as a duo in early 2004.
In 2004-5 the pair were joined by Colette Mortreux (clarinet) and
Andre Lobanov (bass) to complete the band’s outstanding lineup.
The first gig with this full lineup was in March 2005. Between June
2005 and April 2006, Colette travelled overseas and was replaced
by clarinettist Aviva Endean. Babaganoush’s profile has steadily grown with performances at
local and national festivals as well as a European tour in 2007 that
took the band to Germany, Holland, Belgium, France and Switzer-
land. Babaganoush has a history of interesting collaborations with
other groups including involvement in the Vjerba Dance Theatre
production ‘Svetlana’s Lullaby’ in 2006. They have participated in great collaborative projects such as the KARAVAN International GYPSY MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011 & BALKAN BEAT BOX at the FORUM 2009
Jan 2004: First gig
Nov 2004: Clarinet added to lineup
Mar 2005: Bass added to lineup
May 2005: First radio live-to-air performance (3MBS)
Aug 2005: First festival performance (Darebin Music Feast)
Dec 2005: Launch of debut CD ‘Posthumous’
Oct 2006: First performance with dancer Sarah Turner (Spiegeltent)
Apr 2007: First interstate performance (National Folk Festival)
Jun 2007: First international tour (Western Europe)
July 2008: Launch of second album “Lyubov”
Feb 2009: Percussion and guitar added to line up
July 2014: Bouzouki & Greek vocals added to lineup
Nov 2017: First special guest appearance of Stefan Noceveski playing trumpet with the band.
Jan 2018: Currently line up includes: Malini Chidzey-violi & vocals, Andre Vikas- Clarinet, Stephen Stanisic- Piano accordion/guitar, Tom Lee- Double Bass, Byron Triandafyllidis – Percussion (darbuka) & Bouzouki
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The Best Public Art in Houston Right Now
Devon Britt-Darby May 6, 2014
ArtBlogHoustonLoose Ends1 min read
There’s a lot of good public art on view right now, from the sculptures the Hermann Park Conservancy has brought to one of Houston’s most popular parks for its centennial to the Heights installations co-curated by Gus Kopriva and Chris Silkwood. But for sheer scale, raw beauty, poetry and poignancy, none can touch the ongoing top-down demolition of the 10-story building at 3400 Montrose.
Some of Havel Rucks Projects’ most ambitious works, such as Inversion (2005) and Give and Take (2009), can at least compete on the latter three counts, making the duo of Dan Havel and Dean Ruck an astute choice for Art League Houston’s Texas Artist of the Year for 2014. Much of their art is about the aching beauty of the flux evident in these pictures. In the 1960s, the Vancouver-based N.E. Thing Co. photographed intriguing forms in the built environment and stamped the photos with the company seal denoting them as Aesthetically Claimed Things. Nowadays we all do that in our heads.
Devon Britt-Darby
Devon Britt-Darby is a Houston-based writer and artist.
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Navigation » Vietnam Urban Forum Online > VUFO > Vietnam Urban Forum Online > International » ARCASIA Forum 15
ARCASIA Forum 15
ARCASIA or ARCHITECTS REGIONAL COUNCIL OF ASIA is an organization of seventeen National Institutes of Architects from the Asian region extending from Pakistan in the West to Philippines in the East, Peoples Republic of China in the North to Indonesia in the South.
The objectives of ARCASIA are:
* To unite National Institutes of Architects on a democratic basis throughout the Asian region, to foster friendly, Intellectual, artistic, educational and scientific ties.
* To foster and maintain professional contacts, mutual cooperation and assistance among Member Institutes.
* To represent architects of the Member Institutes at national and international levels.
* To promote the recognition of the architects role in society.
* To promote the development and education of architects and architectural professional in their service to society and;
* To promote research and technical advancement in the field of the built environment.
The Council of the ARCASIA consists of all the Presidents of the National Institutes. The organization itself serves as an extension for each Member Institute’s regional program and relations. Annual Meetings are held in different Member Institute countries to deliberate and to give collective directions and representation to matters that affect the architectural profession in the Asian region.
Forum 1 took place in the SLIA premises in Colombo, Sri-Lanka on 9-10 October 1982. The theme was "Innovations in Architecture"
Forum 2 took place in the Philippines International Conventions Centre in Manila on 26th October 1984 during ACA-1.
The theme was "Asian Identity".
Forum 3 took place in Kuala Lumpur coinciding with ACA-2 in 1986. The theme was "Design Directions in Asia" with the sub-theme "The State of the Art". There were two theme papers and eleven sub-theme papers presented by representatives from member and observer Institutes. After the 1986 ARCASIA Council, it was decided that the Forum would be held on the alternative years to ACA to enhance the Council meeting in between the Congresses.
Forum 4 took place in a historic palace in Bali in 1987 with the theme "My Architecture".
Forum 5 took place in Bangkok, Thailand, on 21-22 October 1989. The theme was "Food for Thought in Asian Architecture".
Forum 6 took The Fragrant Hill Hotel in the suburb of Beijing, China, was the venue of Forum 6 held on 27-28 September 1991. The theme was "New thought in Housing in the Asian Context".
Forum 7 took place in Hong Kong on 20-24 September 1993. The theme was "The Vanishing Asian City".
Forum 8 took place in Singapore on 27-29 November 1995. The theme was "Asian Cities in Asian Century".
Forum 9 was held in Tokyo, Japan on 22-24 September 1997. The theme was "Architecture of the Future in Asia".
Forum 10 was held in Seoul, Korea, from 15-17 September 1999. The theme was "Technology & Tradition in Architecture".
Forum 11 was held in Singapore September 2000. The Theme was "Man, Architecture, Nature"
Forum 12 was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from December 8-9th, 2003. The theme was "The Transition of Cities and Architecture in Asia"
Forum 13 was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 1-2, December, 2005. The theme was "Simplicity & Complexity".
Forum 14 was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The theme was "Asia Nation -Architecture across Cultures".
Forum 15 is being held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from August 17-August 22, 2009. The theme will be "City and Politics".
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E-mail: info@arcasiaforum15.com
ARCASIA Forum 15 program sessions and schedule [ attach image ]
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Arcasia Awards
ARCASIA in its endeavors to raise the standard of the built environment throughout Asia in general and in its Member countries in particular, has instituted the ARCASIA AWARD FOR ARCHITECTURE in order to encourage and recognize exemplary work done by ARCHIRECTS working in Asia. The first three in a two-year cycle of Awards were given every two years beginning 1992 during the ASIAN CONGRESS OF ARCHITECTS organized by ARCASIA. The fourth Award was given in 1998 during the ACA-7 held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. From 1999 the Awards are being adjudged during the year in which ARCASIA Forum held and conferred in the year in which ARCASIA holds its congress.
An independent Panel of Jury Member consisting of leading architects of Asia, nominated by the ARCASIA Council, shall assess and determine the winners, and the Council shall announce the AWARDS.
Aims & Objectives of the ARCASIA Awards
The aim of the ARCASIA AWARD is to acknowledge exemplary architectural work and in doing so encourage the sustenance of the Asian spirit, the development and improvement of the Asian built environment and enhancement of the awareness of the role of architects in the socio-economic and cultural life of Asian countries.
The ARCASIA Award also intends to demonstrate that good architecture is a major component of the positive influence on the human environment, and that physical development in Asia need not be in disharmony with the cultural values, national identity or the natural environment of developing countries in Asia.
ARCASIA AWARD SCHEDULE: Submission Dates
20th February 2009 - First announcement sent to all Member Institutes
20th April 2009 - Second announcement sent to all Member Institutes, Including name of jurors
8th June 2009 - Remind letters to all Member Institutes
11th August 2009 - Deadline for submission of entry documents and requested information for final judging & exhibition.
14th – 16th August 2009 - Jury meeting in Ulaanbaatar and confirmation of the results of the Awards at the ARCASIA Council Meeting, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
2010 – Conferment of the ARCASIA Awards at ACA 2010 in Lahore, Pakistan.
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The 10 most popular articles of 2015 in BMC Evolutionary Biology
While space is lacking to discuss all of the excellent research published by BMC Evolutionary Biology in 2015, here we look back at the 10 articles (in chronological order) which attracted the most attention from our readers over the last 12 months.
Christopher Foote 29 Dec 2015
Esther Clarke
Listening to the whispers of gibbons
Context-specific close-range “hoo” calls in wild gibbons
Along with their long arms, the characteristic we most associate with gibbons are their loud cries booming across the forest. Yet this research showed us that quiet calls are just as vital in gibbon communication.
Researchers measured the low frequency “hoo” calls of the white-handed gibbon. While to untrained human ears these hoos all sound the same, acoustic analysis showed that they varied significantly depending on context; e.g. the hoos made in response to the presence of raptor predators are different from the hoos made in response to a leopard. This strongly suggests that the gibbons are using these quiet calls to communicate important information to other members of their group.
Lead author Esther Clarke discussed the work on our blog and on BBC radio.
Origin and diversification of living cycads: a cautionary tale on the impact of the branching process prior in Bayesian molecular dating
Over the last decade, the advent of molecular dating has resulted in a minor revolution in the field of phylogenetics, with an explosion of studies utilising time-calibrated trees of the evolutionary relationships among species. Inevitably though, such phylogenetic models rely on a number of assumptions. One such is the branching process prior, or ‘tree shape’ prior, which effectively sets an a priori limit on how evolutionary trees can ‘grow’ in phylogenetic models.
Using the iconic cycads as a model, Fabien Condamine and co-authors showed that the choice of branching process prior can have a drastic impact on our understanding of evolutionary radiations. They stress the importance of researchers carefully selecting the model they use for dating analyses, especially for ancient groups like the cycads. A cautionary tale, and one that clearly caught the attention of the phylogenetics community.
The evolution of bad backs
The ancestral shape hypothesis: an evolutionary explanation for the occurrence of intervertebral disc herniation in humans
A bad back is one of the more common human afflictions. Could the reason behind back pain be that sufferer’s spines are ill-adapted to walking on two feet? Not a new idea, but one provided further support by this study. Researchers used morphometric techniques to compare the vertebrae of both healthy humans and people suffering with Schmorl’s nodes (bony indicators of disc herniation), with vertebrae of orang-utans and chimps.
The vertebrae of healthy humans were clearly distinguishable from those of our primate relatives, but those of Schmorl’s node sufferers were not. This supports the idea that disc herniation is more likely to affect people whose spines are closer to the ancestral end of the natural variation in human spinal shape. Or, to put it less subtly, your bad back may be because your spine is too much like that of a chimp’s.
Artist’s rendition of the ancestral snake
Julius Csotonyi
Serpentine origins
The origin of snakes: revealing the ecology, behavior, and evolutionary history of early snakes using genomics, phenomics, and the fossil record
The evolutionary origins of snakes have long inspired considerable speculation and controversy. In May, these debates advanced with the presentation of the most complete picture of early snake evolution to date. Incorporating recently discovered fossils, new information on the anatomy of stem snakes and time calibrated phylogenies, the authors estimated that snakes first appeared 128 million years ago. Their findings also suggest that the original snakes were nocturnal, land based predators, with tiny hindlimbs.
Lead authors Daniel Field and Allison Hsiang discussed their work in more detail on our blog.
Bad mates, good fathers
Natural and experimental evolution of sexual conflict within Caenorhabditis nematodes
A surprising finding from Patrick Phillip’s lab at the University of Oregon: females of the nematode worm C.remanei mated with males originally collected from New York have a greater reduction in lifespan than those mated with males from Ohio or Germany.
Why are New York males taking such a toll on their mates? The answer appears to be their aggressive sperm. In mating experiments, New York males out-competed their Ohio and German counterparts, displacing their sperm from females they had previously mated with. Presumably a side effect of this hyper competitive sperm is the detrimental effects on females. New York males seem to be bad mates, but excellent at fathering offspring.
Phillip’s lab then teamed up with Micheal Palopoli’s group at Bowdoin College to test these ideas experimentally in C.elegans. They genetically manipulated the worms to convert the natural mating system of C.elegans – self mating hermaphrodites with very rare males – into a C.remanei like male-female mating system. Some lines were then bred with high levels of male competition, others lines bred in conditions where males had no direct competition for mates.
Males in the high-competition lines evolved larger sperm which out-competed the smaller sperm of males from the non-competitive lines. Moreover, females mating with the high-competition males had shorter lifespans than those mating with the non-competitive males. Just as in the natural C.remanei populations then, higher competition for mates improves the competitive ability of male’s sperm, but at the expense of a greater cost to mating for females.
Sailing spiders
Sail or sink: novel behavioural adaptations on water in aerially dispersing species
It has long been known that many spiders can travel long distances through the air by ‘ballooning’, using their silk as a parachute to catch the wind. Through this behaviour these spiders are capable of dispersing considerable distances. However, it had always been assumed that should a ballooning spider land on a body of water it would meet a watery grave.
Not necessarily so, found this study; some spiders are in fact capable sailors. By using their bodies as ‘sails’ and their silk as an ‘anchor’, otherwise land dwelling spiders can happily sail across water.
We discussed this work in more detail on our blog in July.
Redefining the adaptive radiation
What defines an adaptive radiation? Macroevolutionary diversification dynamics of an exceptionally species-rich continental lizard radiation
Adaptive radiations are one of the most important concepts in evolutionary biology. On encountering a new ecological opportunity, a single species can rapidly diversify into a multitude of new species, each adapting to a different niche. A classic example are Darwin’s finches on the Galapagos Islands, where a single ancestor evolved into many new species, each with beaks adapted to the prevalent food source on the different islands.
Daniel Pincheira-Donoso and colleagues at the University of Lincoln studied the adaptive radiation of the South American lizard genus Liolaemus, remarkable for both number of species and the range of environments they can be found in. They suggest that the evolution of this group challenges our idea of what a ‘typical’ adaptive radiation looks like.
First, while we tend to associate adaptive radiations with the new opportunities presented by previously un-colonised islands, Liolaemus lizards demonstrate they can occur on continents. In this case, it is the repeated eruptions of the Andes mountains that has created the new ecological niches encouraging the radiation of new lizard species.
Secondly, the research shows that adaptive radiations do not have to be defined by an early burst of diversification, as one ancestral species adapts to multiple new niches. Instead for Liolaemus lizards adaptive radiation has proceeded for over 25 million years through constant pulses of speciation, driven by the periodic uplifts of the Andes.
An artist’s rendition of the sea scorpion
The oldest and scariest sea scorpion
The oldest described eurypterid: a giant Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) megalograptid from the Winneshiek Lagerstätte of Iowa
In September, this paper described the oldest sea scorpion (or eurypterid) fossil yet found, dating back some 450 million years. While many sea scorpions found in the fossil record were small and innocuous, this one was a large and fearsome predator.
While undoubtedly visions of monstrous predators scouring the ancient seas for their prey were a significant reason for the popularity of this paper, it is also of considerable interest for deeper scientific reasons. Dave Marshall nicely outlined the importance of this fossil find for our understanding of animal evolution in his guest blog.
Elsewhere, while lead author James Lamsdell carefully explained the find to BBC Radio, other mainstream media coverage of the paper helpfully informed us that the newly described sea scorpion was approximately the size of Tom Cruise…
700 million year old DNA
Analysis of 5’ gene regions reveals extraordinary conservation of novel non-coding sequences in a wide range of animals
In October, researchers at the Universities of Leicester and Warwick reported some of the oldest known conserved non-coding DNA elements (CNEs) yet described in the animal kingdom, dating back an extraordinary 700 million years.
The researchers performed a comparative analysis of 13 highly diverged insect genomes and found 322 CNEs. Given that these species diverged from their common ancestor around 118 million years ago, these CNEs have been conserved for at least this long.
Two of these CNEs were found to be conserved in a variety of more distantly related animals, including vertebrates, invertebrates and even jellyfish. These CNEs are thus likely around 700 million years old, having first appeared at the very dawn of animal evolution.
How has climate change affected the Adélie penguin?
Jane Younger
A climate change winner?
Proliferation of East Antarctic Adélie penguins in response to historical deglaciation
The detrimental effects of climate change have been uppermost in our minds throughout 2015. However, for Adélie penguins, a warming planet could be beneficial. This study of long term population trends found that at the end of the last ice age, 20,000 years ago, the penguin population in east Antarctica was very small. As the ice sheets shrank, creating more areas of open water where penguins can hunt, the population grew rapidly.
It is thus possible that as climate change causes the ice sheets to shrink further, this will benefit the penguins; although, as the researchers caution, this will depend on the effects of climate change (not to mention overfishing) on the penguin’s prey species.
Lead author Jane Younger discussed the research on our blog.
And a few more…
A few more fascinating papers published in BMC Evolutionary Biology this year which we covered on the BMC series blog:
In January, Paul Sesink Clee discussed the potential effects of climate change on chimpanzees, highlighting three linked papers published by his research group.
In February, we discussed the mating behaviour of cannibal spiders, in our blog discussing research on ‘Female control of mate plugging in a female-cannibalistic spider’.
The history of Aloe vera was the subject of our blog discussing the paper ‘Evolutionary history and leaf succulence as explanations for medicinal use in aloes and the global popularity of Aloe vera’.
In June, we discussed how a lizard has adapted to life at high altitudes on the Tibetan plateau, as revealed in the paper ‘Comparative transcriptomic analysis revealed adaptation mechanism of Phrynocephalus erythrurus, the highest altitude Lizard living in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau’.
An evolutionary love affair between plants and hummingbirds was the subject of our blog on the paper ‘The temporal build-up of hummingbird/plant mutualisms in North America and temperate South America’.
The link between male nightingales singing skills and their ability as a father was discussed in our blog on the paper ‘Multiple song features are related to paternal effort in common nightingales’.
We took a closer look at a creeping, crawling curious animal (including some spectacular images) as we highlighted research on the ‘Muscular anatomy of an entoproct creeping-type larva reveals extraordinary high complexity and potential shared characters with mollusks’.
In August, Ben Pitcher discussed his research on the mating calls of fallow bucks, as outlined in his paper ‘Intrasexual selection drives sensitivity to pitch, formants and duration in the competitive calls of fallow bucks’.
Jessica Bryant revealed what it’s like to study the world’s rarest ape as she discussed her paper ‘Identifying environmental versus phylogenetic correlates of behavioural ecology in gibbons: implications for conservation management of the world’s rarest ape’.
This writer’s personal favourite of 2015, we discussed the incredible 5000km voyage of the ancestral Mauritian stick insect in our blog on ‘Single origin of the Mascarene stick insects: ancient radiation on sunken islands?’
Do elephants ever stop growing? A question answered by Hannah Mumby and Simon Chapman in their guest blog on ‘Distinguishing between determinate and indeterminate growth in a long-lived mammal’.
In their guest blog, Jenny Ouyang and Ádám Lendvai discussed how bad weather opened up new opportunities for their research ‘Weathering the storm: parental effort and experimental manipulation of stress hormones predict brood survival’.
Do genes make some swans bolder than others, asked Walter Van Dongen in a blog discussing his recent paper ‘Variation at the DRD4 locus is associated with wariness and local site selection in urban black swans’.
Finally, in December we uncovered the origins of Australian cats, as Katrin Koch discussed ‘A voyage to Terra Australis: human-mediated dispersal of cats’
BMC Evolutionary BiologyHighlights
Image highlights from BMC Developmental Biology
BMC Public Health: Review of 2015
Christopher Foote
Editor at BMC Series
Chris is the Editor of BMC Cell Biology, BMC Ecology, and BMC Evolutionary Biology. Before joining BioMed Central in 2012, he did a PhD at the University of Glasgow and post-doctoral research at Iowa State University.
Latest posts by Christopher Foote (see all)
Neanderthals, troubles with children, and influential spiders – news from ESEB 2017 - 31st August 2017
BMC Ecology is now accepting Registered Reports! - 24th August 2017
BMC Ecology Image Competition 2017: the winning images! - 18th August 2017
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Not Acting My Age
I Know I'm Not a Girl
The Lonely Ones, by Kelsey Sutton
Told in verse for the expected added level of poignancy, The Lonely Ones tells of Fain's struggle to form connections in a world where she feels ignored and neglected. Unable to form friendships she can rely on and feeling cut off from even her own family, she retreats into a nightly fantasy world of "monsters" who take her up into the stars on grand adventures. Still, opportunities for friendships do exist and, despite the dangers of the real world, Fain tentatively reaches out. Doing so, she finds that (no matter how fractured her family) shared tragedy will bring them back together.
It's not a story that breaks any new ground, but it works as a pleasant exploration of the bonds of family and friendship, a meditation upon risking one's heart, and thoughts on taking risks in general. The format is not a great style with which to develop characters and the temptation to produce anodyne "poetry" is always strong. But good examples are effective mood pieces and I found this one pleasant and enjoyable.
Middleton, Wisconsin, United States
Would You Like Me To Review Your Book?
I review books written for teens. My primary interests are interpersonal relations and coming of age stories (which overwhelmingly are targeted at teenage girls for whatever reason!). I look for originality, readability, humor, and poignancy. I have a soft spot for a book that makes me cry.
Bluff, by Julie Dill
A Short History of the Girl Next Door, by Jared Reck
Turtles All the Way Down, by John Green
Fragile Like Us, by Sara Barnard
Words on Bathroom Walls, by Julia Walton
The Gallery of Unfinished Girls, by Lauren Karcz
Gravity, by Leanne Lieberman
The Lake Effect, by Erin McCahan
The Secret of Nightingale Wood, by Lucy Strange
Summer Unscripted, by Jen Klein
Rating the Books in This BLOG
YALSA Best Booklist and Book Award
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Suzie Cahn runs a Garden and Permaculture Design business and is also a Director of Carraig Dulra teaching farm.
She says that she is one of the lucky people, in an increasingly urban world, who have been able to develop a deep connection with nature through a frequently unstructured natural childhood by the sea and in the Irish countryside. She was exposed to a Steiner based community living through a strong family connection with the Camphill movement. (Her Grandmother was a founding parent of Camphill in Ireland) Without knowing it at the time, throughout her teens she was got to experience to bio-dynamic agriculture, eco-building and intentional communities and working with the natural landscape. She is a mother, Permaculture Designer and Educators, and an Artist and a Art Therapist working with nature, evolving into an Eco Psychologist.
Suzie says her passion is reconnecting adults, young people, families and children to the learning, healing and creativity found in both nature and art.
She has grown produce for her family since she had her first tiny plot on which to do so and has brought an organic and wildlife community garden and teaching programs to schools and community gardens. She gives workshops and lectures on many topics and in many settings: Hospice Foundation, art therapy training programs and others. She set up a local group called Wicklow Community Gardening Group in 2006 which carried out its aim of developing community gardens throughout county Wicklow. She has served on several boards: CREATE, community rep Wicklow County Partnership, and currently GIY.
She loved the family's six months WWOOFing on the road in Europe in her beloved 1971 VW camper in 2005 "Living inside other peoples lifestyles was amazing and so helpful in choosing what to do ourselves after what I called our 'mid-life crisis gap year.' After twenty years trying to live an ethical, eco life and to spread that ideal, we needed to recharge. It was becoming harder not to give in to hopelessness in the face of massive global environmental crisis' such as GMO, loss of bio diversity, global warming, and unimagionable levels of pollution from everything we do, even from our attempts at healing ourselves through medicine, not to mention running out of oil! " In 2014 the family went off again, this time driving a van (to be donated to the Mongolia Charity GoHelp) across England, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan to Mongolia. She says "this time the trip was about reminding ourselves of our easy lives in Ireland even in "austerity" and contributing what we could to permaculture and education projects and a children's charity along the way."
Suzie hopes that her work and that of Carraig Dúlra continues to inspire and support people and communities developing personal and local resilience under the permaculture umbrella ethics of earth care, people care and fair share.
Suzie's blogs can be found at:
www.suziecahn.org/blog
www.swallowclan.org/blog
http://meitheal.net/6plusWwoofVanClan/
Contact: info@dulra.org
"Designing from the Pattern to the Detail"
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Search Contrary
Autumn 2018 15th Anniversary
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Commentary / Non-Fiction
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Walk-On
by Adam Dalva
A theater. The exterior buzzes with the usual strangers and that winter’s night sensation of vibrating air. What a shame to give up on it and enter. Inside, people won’t be stepping crunchy steps. Why not keep on walking instead, walk until you reach a forest, walk until you reach the type of strangers you’ve never seen? Why not walk until you’re no longer tempted to enact a love story?
Of course, you don’t do it. Of course, you go inside.
As you enter the theater, you see that you’re at risk of enacting a love story. She is across the way, to your left. All you would need to do is move your head and her neck would feel the sting of your looking—proof of ESP.
You find your seat, sit, turn, and watch theater-goers filtering down the aisle. This is the beginning of the play, but you don’t know it yet. So much individual motion ending abruptly. The tumult agitates you. You prefer it when people are orderly in lines, when the number of subway seats exactly matches the number of people on the train.
A group of eight saunters in, limbs attached to hard parts, all contact and noise, wearing denim in ways that have never seemed stylish before. You suspect that they’re a unit, but there are only seven seats in their far-right row, so one has to take her own spot in front of the rest. Though she laughs with them, you feel that she is apart now.
A couple. Another couple. Scattered individuals. There are insinuations of music—it’s like the one summer when you lived outside the city and couldn’t grow accustomed to ignoring the crickets. It’s amazing how much one could write about the music of crickets. But you can’t try now. You are watching the play.
You chance a peek to the left, close to where she is sitting. Her aisle is completely empty. Everyone is watching the people filing in on your side—embarrassed, you continue your turn and try to play it off as a stretch. In the row behind you, a moony-eyed person is slowly spinning on his toes. You can’t tell if he is lost or dancing. At the very back of the theater a sort of phantasmagoric many-tentacled eminence is assembling. You do not want to look at it again.
You normally go to the bathroom just before plays start, but you feel that you have to stay. That’s how you realize that the play must have started. At that moment, the most handsome man you’ve ever seen walks in. Hard to say what makes him so lovely—all is clefted and in order, yes, but it’s more that he seems entirely open to experience. You aren’t trying to be egotistical when you think that he is visually reminiscent of you, but this super you, this aspirant force, doesn’t look left or right as he walks down your aisle. He ignores the still dancing man and the women who may be sarcastic. He ignores the seven who want to claim him. He doesn’t see the one apart from the seven, who now seems to burn. You get the sense that this handsome version of you is someone who would have no problem writing about the music of crickets. He could find the time.
The audience slowly waves its gaze toward the far entrance at the back, skipping over the now-grown phantasmagoria, which at this point still wants only to be recognized. A woman has entered.
And you are not enacting a love-story, of course. Everyone keeps telling you that it’s time to let that go.
But it’s inarguable that the beautiful woman looks quite a bit like the one you are trying not to see, the one whose neck is so susceptible to looking. You look at the improved you in the front row, gorgeous and fine, who is only now turning to look at the better her. They bob their heads in time to the arrhythmia of the crickets. The improved her slowly makes her way down her aisle, still bare, though all the theater’s seats have filled. She is a touch more like the woman who you are trying not to see than the gorgeous you in the front row is to you. This strikes you as a sort of rubbing it in.
You ache as she sits prim. The actual woman you are trying not to see has her head turned toward the non-actual woman and so you take the opportunity to look at the actual her and somehow, though she is reflecting a better version of herself, she isn’t at all diminished. There’s a tenderness there that you’d forgotten, a tenderness that you could never quite believe in.
A shutter goes off near your right ear.
Someone is taking a picture of your profile. The shutter goes off again, so near that you can almost feel its creaking. You don’t dare engage; to do so would be to admit self-consciousness. People are laughing in the aisle. It’s a hooting laugh, the type that is initially performed but turns into something real, though never quite achieving the best kind of loose joy. Laughs like these are only ever compromises.
The shutter clicks again. You do not turn.
You try to suck in your stomach, try not to scrunch your jowls. Even though your face is obscured, you close your eyes. You hold, and hold, and hold, and finally, when you can’t take it, you turn. The camera is gone, but on your right, you see that the phantasmagoric eminence has made its move and is trying to find a seat. The lights flicker. The second act is about to start. An overture sounds. The music is still of crickets, but a new set has joined in at a higher pitch. The curtain rises. The stage is empty. Conversation doesn’t cease, but the murmurings are more directed. Then a new sound. You’ve never heard anything like it. It is like a piano played with impossible precision, like all of its hammers are tiny diamonds.
The music reminds you of a field. And it’s a sort of nighttime in that field, purer than the night outside the theater. You look to your left and the woman you loved and the more extreme example of the woman you loved have closed their eyes. You look ahead and the best possible you is still bobbing to the music. You look to your right and are relieved that the phantasmagoria is temporarily at rest.
Your imagined field has a blue light that is not quite gloaming. It’s the hour when water seems mysteriously present in the air and actual water takes on a solidity that it can never obtain in the daytime. You look up at your imagined sky. Ten huge stars are shaking, each one-tenth the size of the moon, and there is no moon so the stars must be the moon, and you try to find the shocked mouth but it’s impossible. You realize that the individual pieces of the moon have rotated after splitting, that their shine reflects something previously hidden.
You aren’t sure if this is part of the play anymore. The vision fades. The play is almost half over. You’re beginning to feel lonely.
The ground shakes. Members of the audience moan. The other you looks over at the other her to see if she is alright, but the other her doesn’t look back at the other you. You wonder if you should repeat the gesture with your her but then you see that your her is looking at the other you with interest. If only you could take a faint string, tie it around your wrist, and send it gauzily floating across the room to her so that you could slowly rise together toward a summit of thread. The shaking stops. The eight in denim hum together and it makes you angry until you remember that all sound is just vibration.
And so you whistle.
Nothing happens. You do it again. No one stirs.
Then, the perfect you whistles sweet and clear and true. The lights go on. The curtain goes down. The audience applauds. Intermission.
The lobby is empty save for a few tentacles of the phantasmagoria clutching steaming mugs of mulled wine. You should certainly go the bathroom, but there is an undeniable risk that it would be considered part of the play. Instead you order a mulled wine and are given colorful punch in a plastic glass. There is a bug in it that you’ve never seen before. You drink it all down, expecting someone to approach: the photographer, one of the seven, or the one, or the only other person who understands that a whistle transcends vibration.
But no, you are alone.
Your drink is finished. You realize that you never noted its taste. The lights flash. When you re-enter, you see that your seat has been claimed by the now-gray phantasmagoria. Everyone else is seated. The back of her head and the back of the perfect version of her head have a pleasing symmetry. The idealized you is posing for a photo. You consider standing at the back, near where the gray phantasmagoria stood when it was young, when it still had ribbons of color and the potential for eyes and the soft touch of wet paper, but you’d miss your own seat. Finally, you look where you have learned not to look: on the far side of the stage, the entire theater is dark and reversed; all the seats are empty.
You slowly walk down toward the stage, passing the united seven and the lovely one. When you come to the ideal version of yourself, you worry that he is going to sink his fingers into the pocket of your dark green pants, but instead he whistles again.
Up close, it’s so beautiful.
You turn right. You’ve been spotted. The back of your neck stings again and again and again. You climb the stairs to the stage, keeping your eyes only on your own motion. You half-expect applause when you reach the stage, but none comes, so you do not turn. You walk to the back of the stage and climb down the stairs into the reflection of the theater. You approach the empty seat that the perfect you sits in, and you are sorely, sorely tempted to sit there yourself, to radiate his unique sort of light. But it’s just not you. The click of the shutter would be omnipresent. You walk up the aisle. You reach your very own seat, here unoccupied by the gray phantasmagoria. Your knees shake. There is this feeling that you are about to be caught, though you don’t know if you’re doing wrong.
You sit, raise your eyes to the seatback, then, finally, to the audience of the play, which is approaching its climax.
Here is what you see: They aren’t looking at you. They all seem more essentialized than when they were at oblique angles. You start on the left side, as far away from the two hers as possible, because this can’t be about them. You just won’t let it happen. You slowly skim right. The one is looking back at your old seat. You linger on the perfect you’s face, then force yourself to keep scanning. A man in the second row has closed his eyes and is moving in time to nothing but his own breathing. A woman in the back is slowly licking herself. The mass of phantasmagoria throbs. You feel pity toward those who see the phantasmagoria as god, because the skin of the devout has gone translucent and gray. So many faces are looking with need toward so many other faces. If you were still in your seat, you would likely be doing the same, and you wish that you could be any other way than the way that you are. Maybe you can still learn how. You look at the most expensive front-row seats, two of which have remained empty. A tiny rope hangs across them: the thread you wanted to tie around yourself. Finally, you look to the right. First you look at the perfect her, but she is too indescribable to bear. Then, finally, you look at her, and hers is the kind of face that doesn’t look at anyone with need. This makes you both happy and sad. You realize that she never would have felt those tiny needles of your glance. Maybe no one saw your climb onstage. Between the unyielding force of the gray phantasmagoria and the self-sufficiency of the perfect you and the charisma of both the perfect her and the imperfect her, who would bother noticing? You want to go back to your own seat, but there is something you should do here while on your own. So you stop focusing on them. Now, you are only thinking about how to write about cricket noise. You have nothing to write with, which often makes writing possible. You ignore the chaos as everyone begins to leave the seat that was their own. You ignore the laughing seven as they walk up the aisle with the one trailing lovely in their wake. You ignore the shrinking gray phantasmagoria. For just one moment, you even ignore the perfect you and the perfect her, who remain seated. You listen to the crickets in your mind. And they sound like: tshh tshhi. Tssh tshhi. Tssh tshh. Tshhi.
The perfect you and the perfect her rise and applaud. The rest of the audience bows.
The play is over. The perfect you and the perfect her leave together. The gray phantasmagoria is dead. You hear shouting in the lobby and you think of the genuine moon that awaits. But still, you sit until everyone has filed out. You don’t look toward where she was sitting. You won’t. This isn’t a love story.
But then, at last, when it seems like the story might be over too, you see that she’s still there. Your imperfect her. She waves and smiles like you do when you spot someone you’ve been looking forward to. You walk down the reversed aisle. You remove the gauzy string that covers the front-row seats in the theater’s reflection. The string in the theater remains unmoved. You look at her, and she looks back. Tiny pins dance on your eyes. You sit.
At some point, you will leave. You have to. At some point, you will walk up the stairs and across the stage and down the stairs and up the aisle and through the lobby and out. Soon. Soon. You very much feel that it is about to happen.
But then she crosses the stage and lifts the string and sits next to you. She begins to tell you what she thought the play was about.
Published Autumn 2020
Adam Dalva is a professor at Rutgers University and Marymount Manhattan College. His graphic novel, Olivia Twist, was published by Dark Horse in 2019. You can find his writing at adamdalva.com.
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by Lucy Zhang
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by Harper Warner
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by Scott Bane
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by Timilehin Alake
by Greg Tebbano
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by Cindy Hunter Morgan
The Last Motherhood of Shirley Jackson
by Eliza Browning
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by Julia TenBroeck
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Songs of Myself
by Eugenio Volpe
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Artwalk coming
Flatbush Artists will have their annual studio tour/artwalk on November 9 and 10 (Saturday/Sunday) in the Ditmas Park and Kensington areas of Brooklyn. The hours will be 12 pm to 6 pm on Saturday and 12 pm to 5 pm on Sunday. Please visit as many of the over 40 artists as you can, as there are many different kinds of art that will be shown.
The map and artist samples are here: 2019 artwalk brochure
Contemporary Artists in Victorian Flatbush
Madeline Nelson
© 2021 Flatbush Artists • Privacy Policy • Website by: Pixelpro
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Home » News » Effective ban on fracking in Wales
Effective ban on fracking in Wales
Submitted by Kirsty Luff on Dec 10th
The Welsh Government will not issue or support new petroleum licences
The Welsh Government will not issue or support new petroleum licences, it has just been announced (10 December 2018).
This new policy, together with the new edition of the Planning Policy Wales (PPW), published last week, means that an effective ban on fracking in Wales is now in place.
Earlier today, The WG released a statement in response to the recent consultation on Petroleum Extraction policy in Wales, confirming that they will adopt their proposed policy to
“Not undertake any new petroleum licensing in Wales, or support applications for hydraulic fracturing petroleum licence consents.”
Friends of the Earth Cymru and Frack-Free Wales are delighted to see a commitment by the Welsh Government to prevent a new fossil fuel industry in Wales after many years of campaigning against it.
Bleddyn Lake, Campaigns and Development Manager for Friends of the Earth Cymru
‘This ban is great news for Wales, great news for the communities who are campaigning tirelessly against fracking, and great news for our planet.
‘The time to act on climate change is now. Along with new planning policy announced last week, this news is another positive sign that the Welsh Government is taking the threat of climate change seriously. Thanks to everyone who supported our campaign to ban fracking in Wales. It’s fantastic to see our nation taking another step forward in the right direction, leading the way towards a more sustainable future.’
Donal Whelan from Frack-Free Wales
‘We welcome today's policy announcement, particularly the acknowledgment of people's very real concerns about fracking. The drillers have been sent firmly packing from Wales, and campaigners across the country can rightly celebrate this policy as a victory.
‘We'll continue campaigning to strengthen further the legislation against fracking and ensure a fossil-free future for Wales.’
New energy powers were devolved to Wales in October 2018 (through the Wales Act 2017), giving the Welsh Government the right to make decisions over energy issues, including fracking. Friends of the Earth Cymru helped to achieve the moratorium back in 2015, but have since been calling for a ban alongside Frack Free Wales.
Local activists across Wales have been meeting with their Assembly Member’s over the past year to present the case for progressing the moratorium to a legal ban and gaining their public support in favour of this.
Clean Air Act white paper - our reaction (14 January 2021)
UKCCC advice - our reaction (17 December 2020)
Wales transport strategy - our reaction (17 November 2020)
Friends of the Earth Cymru launch Wales Climate Action Plan (3 Sept 2020)
Wales Clean Air Plan - our response (6 August, 2020)
Swiss-style service standards and Dutch-style active travel needed to fix Wales’s transport system (23 July 2020)
Clean Air Act must be part of a recovery plan for Wales (8 June, 2020)
Urgent action needed on homes (21 Jan 2020)
Welsh Government plans to ban single-use plastics – our reaction (18 Mar 2020)
Charging road users will clean Cardiff's air (15 Jan 2020)
No more coal - from Carmarthenshire or anywhere (13 Jan 2020)
Welsh AM Pension Scheme moves away from fossil fuels (22 Jan 2020)
A sustainable baby box for all new parents in Wales (8 Jan 2020)
Beyond recycling - Friends of the Earth Cymru reaction (20 Dec 2019)
Great news for Wales, great news for the communities who are campaigning tirelessly against fracking, and great news for our planet.
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Amplify Energy Announces Third Quarter 2020 Results
By: Amplify Energy Corp. via GlobeNewswire News Releases
HOUSTON, Nov. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amplify Energy Corp. (NYSE: AMPY) (“Amplify” or the “Company”) announced today its operating and financial results for the third quarter of 2020.
During the third quarter of 2020 the Company:
Grew oil production volumes by 5% to 10.8 MBbls/d from 10.4 MBbls/d in the second quarter
Achieved daily production of 27.7 MBoe/d, which was in line with 27.7 MBoe/d in the second quarter of 2020, despite reduced maintenance capital expense
Generated net cash provided by operating activities of $20.6 million
Reduced LOE to $27.6 million, from $27.8 million during the second quarter of 2020, by continued realization and execution of long-term cost reduction initiatives
Continued the downward trend of cash G&A expense, attaining the previously forecasted annualized run rate of approximately $22 million, a $2.5 million annualized reduction from the first quarter of 2020
Implemented Beta field royalty relief effective July 1, 2020, which is expected to generate approximately $7 million per year of incremental revenue (assuming a $40/Bbl WTI price)
Delivered Adjusted EBITDA of $24.8 million, an increase of $3.5 million from the previous quarter
Realized $16.0 million of Free Cash Flow, an increase of approximately $5 million from the second quarter of 2020
Net Debt to Last Twelve Months (“LTM”) EBITDA of 2.8x as of September 30, 2020
Approximately 75% of fourth quarter 2020 crude oil production hedged at attractive pricing
Robust crude oil hedge position in 2021 with a mix of swaps and collars allowing for upside participation
Current mark-to-market hedge book value of $13 million as of October 30, 2020
As of October 30, 2020, net debt was $243 million, inclusive of $17 million of cash on hand
Martyn Willsher, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Amplify commented, “I am very pleased with our third quarter operational and financial results. Despite the continued impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and depressed commodity prices, we generated significant free cash flow from the continued realization and execution of our liquidity enhancing initiatives and disciplined commodity hedging program, demonstrating the sustainable value of our long-lived, low-decline assets.”
Mr. Willsher continued, “During the remainder of 2020, we will remain focused on operational excellence and capitalizing on all opportunities that enhance shareholder value. We have initiated the fall borrowing base redetermination process and anticipate a result that supports our liquidity position and provides a solid foundation for significant free cash flow generation.”
“This year has been challenging for the industry and our Company, but I remain very confident about Amplify’s future. I am extremely proud of our exceptional employees and grateful for the dedication and resourcefulness they have exhibited during this uncertain and tumultuous time,” Mr. Willsher concluded.
Key Financial Results
During the third quarter of 2020, Amplify generated $24.8 million in Adjusted EBITDA, an increase of $3.5 million from $21.3 million in the second quarter of 2020. This increase exceeded internal expectations and was primarily attributable to higher than expected production, the continued realization of our previously announced cost reduction initiatives and commodity price improvement during the quarter.
Free cash flow, defined as Adjusted EBITDA less cash interest and capital spending, was $16 million in the third quarter of 2020, an increase of approximate $5 million from $11 million in the prior quarter. This result was primarily attributed to increased revenue and a decrease in capital spending in the quarter.
Selected Operating and Financial Results for the Second and Third Quarters of 2020:
Third Quarter Second Quarter
$ in millions 2020 2020
Average daily production (MBoe/d) 27.7 27.7
Total revenues $52.7 $35.2
Total assets $421.7 $453.7
Net income (loss) $17.7 $41.3
Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP financial measure) $24.8 $21.3
Net debt (1) $257.0 $272.3
Net cash provided by operating activities $20.6 $29.9
Total capital $5.0 $6.8
(1) As of September 30, 2020 and June 30, 2020, respectively
Revolving Credit Facility and Liquidity Update
Amplify is currently working with its lenders on its fall 2020 borrowing base redetermination and expects the process to be finalized before the end of November.
As of October 30, 2020, Amplify had total net debt of $243 million, with $260 million outstanding under its revolving credit facility and $17 million of cash on hand.
Production and Operations Update
During the third quarter of 2020, average daily production was approximately 27.7 Mboe/d, mirroring that of the second quarter of 2020. While a portion of this result was attributed to receiving royalty relief at Beta, all asset areas met or exceeded internal expectations despite intermittent third-party and weather interruptions. This consistent level of production, achieved with limited capital spending, demonstrates the sustainability of Amplify’s long-lived, low-decline assets and stands as a testament to the hard work put forth by our employees to identify and capitalize on high-return projects.
Production in East Texas exceeded internal forecasts as a result of reduced downtime and efficient workover operations, despite intermittent third-party interruptions. In Oklahoma, the team prudently returned economic wells to production and converted five wells to rod-lift from electrical submersible pumps. These conversions are part of an ongoing program implemented last year, which has facilitated reduced electrical costs and well downtime. At Beta, net production during the third quarter averaged approximately 500 Bbls/d more than the previous quarter, primarily as the result of the royalty rate reduction effective July 1, 2020. This amounts to an approximate $1.7 million increase in revenue for the quarter, in line with the projected annualized increase in revenue of $7 million previously disclosed. Our oil-weighted Bairoil properties maintained stable production from the previous quarter, demonstrating the mature, low-decline nature of the asset. Lastly, third quarter production from our non-operated Eagle Ford assets remained relatively flat when compared with the second quarter of 2020, primarily due to new wells coming online in late May 2020.
Lease operating expenses in the third quarter of 2020 were approximately $27.6 million, a decrease of $0.2 million, from $27.8 million in the second quarter of 2020. This outcome was a strong result considering the second quarter included a significant number of one-time cost reductions, and is a credit to Amplify’s operating team’s continued efforts to reduce costs without impacting safety or production.
Capital Spending Update
Capital spending during the third quarter of 2020 was approximately $5 million, a decrease of approximately $2 million from $7 million in the second quarter. This was slightly higher than forecasted due to additional costs from non-operated Eagle Ford wells that were drilled earlier in the year.
Amplify’s remaining capital budget for the fourth quarter of 2020 is approximately $3 million and is focused principally on maintenance projects, which are essential to equipment integrity and operational efficiency, in addition to high rate of return workover projects.
Hedging Update
As of October 30, 2020, Amplify’s mark-to-market value of its commodity and interest rate hedge book remained a net asset position of $13 million.
The following table reflects the hedged volumes under Amplify’s commodity derivative contracts and the average fixed or floor prices at which production is hedged for October 2020 through December 2022, as of November 5, 2020.
Natural Gas Swaps:
Average Monthly Volume (MMBtu) 1,450,000 925,000 500,000
Weighted Average Fixed Price ($) $ 2.26 $ 2.49 $ 2.45
Natural Gas Collars:
Two-way collars
Average Monthly Volume (MMBtu) 420,000 925,000 530,000
Weighted Average Floor Price ($) $ 2.60 $ 2.10 $ 2.35
Weighted Average Ceiling Price ($) $ 2.88 $ 3.28 $ 3.09
Natural Gas Basis Swaps:
Average Monthly Volume (MMBtu) 600,000 500,000
Weighted Average Spread ($) $ (0.46 ) $ (0.40 )
Oil Swaps:
Average Monthly Volume (Bbls) 199,300 155,000 40,000
Weighted Average Fixed Price ($) $ 57.41 $ 45.86 $ 52.39
Oil Collars:
Average Monthly Volume (Bbls) 14,300
Weighted Average Floor Price ($) $ 55.00
Weighted Average Ceiling Price ($) $ 62.10
Three-way collars
Average Monthly Volume (Bbls) 30,500 $ 42,500
Weighted Average Ceiling Price ($) $ 65.75 $ 50.61
Weighted Average Floor Price ($) $ 50.00 $ 40.00
Weighted Average Sub-Floor Price ($) $ 40.00 $ 30.00
NGL Swaps:
Average Monthly Volume (Bbls) 111,450 22,800
Weighted Average Fixed Price ($) $ 21.99 $ 24.25
Amplify posted an updated hedge presentation containing additional information on its website, www.amplifyenergy.com, under the Investor Relations section.
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
Amplify’s financial statements and related footnotes will be available in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, which Amplify expects to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2020.
Amplify will host an investor teleconference today at 10:00 a.m. Central Time to discuss these operating and financial results. Interested parties may join the webcast by visiting Amplify's website, www.amplifyenergy.com, and clicking on the webcast link or by dialing (833) 883-4379 at least 15 minutes before the call begins and providing the Conference ID: 7283609. The webcast and a telephonic replay will be available for fourteen days following the call and may be accessed by visiting Amplify’s website, www.amplifyenergy.com, or by dialing (855) 859-2056 and providing the Conference ID: 7283609.
About Amplify Energy
Amplify Energy Corp. is an independent oil and natural gas company engaged in the acquisition, development, exploration and production of oil and natural gas properties. Amplify’s operations are focused in Oklahoma, the Rockies, offshore California, East Texas / North Louisiana and South Texas. For more information, visit www.amplifyenergy.com.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that Amplify expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Terminology such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “project,” “intend,” “estimate,” “believe,” “target,” “continue,” “potential,” the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Amplify believes that these statements are based on reasonable assumptions, but such assumptions may prove to be inaccurate. Such statements are also subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of Amplify, which may cause Amplify’s actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the forward-looking statements. Please read the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including “Risk Factors” in its Annual Report on Form 10-K, and if applicable, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other public filings and press releases for a discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those in such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Amplify undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future results or otherwise.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This press release and accompanying schedules include the non-GAAP financial measures of Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow. The accompanying schedules provide a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Amplify’s non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as alternatives to GAAP measures such as net income, operating income, net cash flows provided by operating activities or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Amplify’s non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies because they may not calculate such measures in the same manner as Amplify does.
Adjusted EBITDA. Amplify defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income or loss, plus interest expense; income tax expense; depreciation, depletion and amortization; impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets; accretion of asset retirement obligations; losses on commodity derivative instruments; cash settlements received on expired commodity derivative instruments; losses on sale of assets; unit-based compensation expenses; exploration costs; acquisition and divestiture related expenses; amortization of gain associated with terminated commodity derivatives, bad debt expense; and other non-routine items, less interest income; gain on extinguishment of debt; income tax benefit; gains on commodity derivative instruments; cash settlements paid on expired commodity derivative instruments; gains on sale of assets and other, net; and other non-routine items. Adjusted EBITDA is commonly used as a supplemental financial measure by management and external users of Amplify’s financial statements, such as investors, research analysts and rating agencies, to assess: (1) its operating performance as compared to other companies in Amplify’s industry without regard to financing methods, capital structures or historical cost basis; (2) the ability of its assets to generate cash sufficient to pay interest and support Amplify’s indebtedness; and (3) the viability of projects and the overall rates of return on alternative investment opportunities. Since Adjusted EBITDA excludes some, but not all, items that affect net income or loss and because these measures may vary among other companies, the Adjusted EBITDA data presented in this press release may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. The GAAP measure most directly comparable to Adjusted EBITDA is net cash provided by operating activities.
Free Cash Flow. Amplify defines Free Cash Flow as Adjusted EBITDA, less cash income taxes; cash interest expense; and total capital expenditures. Free cash flow is an important non-GAAP financial measure for Amplify’s investors since it serves as an indicator of the Company’s success in providing a cash return on investment. The GAAP measure most directly comparable to distributable cash flow is net cash provided by operating activities.
Selected Operating and Financial Data (Tables)
Amplify Energy Corp.
Selected Financial Data - Unaudited
Statements of Operations Data
Three Months Three Months
Ended Ended
(Amounts in $000s, except per share data) September 30, 2020 June 30, 2020
Oil and natural gas sales $ 52,488 $ 34,888
Other revenues 257 283
Total revenues 52,745 35,171
Lease operating expense 27,639 27,828
Gathering, processing and transportation 5,256 4,689
Exploration 5 3
Taxes other than income 3,761 2,195
Depreciation, depletion and amortization 7,950 7,623
Impairment expense - -
General and administrative expense 6,443 6,755
Accretion of asset retirement obligations 1,565 1,539
Realized (gain) loss on commodity derivatives (14,067 ) (45,272 )
Unrealized (gain) loss on commodity derivatives 28,419 64,437
Other, net 113 -
Total costs and expenses 67,084 69,797
Operating Income (loss) (14,339 ) (34,626 )
Other Income (Expense):
Interest expense, net (3,362 ) (6,209 )
Other income (expense) 196 (250 )
Total Other Income (Expense) (3,166 ) (6,459 )
Income (loss) before reorganization items, net and income taxes (17,505 ) (41,085 )
Reorganization items, net (180 ) (166 )
Income tax benefit (expense) - (85 )
Net income (loss) $ (17,685 ) $ (41,336 )
Earnings per share:
Basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share $ (0.47 ) $ (1.10 )
Oil and natural gas revenue:
Oil Sales $ 36,868 $ 22,963
NGL Sales 5,537 3,343
Natural Gas Sales 10,083 8,582
Total oil and natural gas sales - Unhedged $ 52,488 $ 34,888
Production volumes:
Oil Sales - MBbls 997 944
NGL Sales - MBbls 430 435
Natural Gas Sales - MMcf 6,706 6,857
Total - MBoe 2,545 2,523
Total - MBoe/d 27.7 27.7
Average sales price (excluding commodity derivatives):
Oil - per Bbl $ 36.98 $ 24.30
NGL - per Bbl $ 12.89 $ 7.68
Natural gas - per Mcf $ 1.50 $ 1.25
Total - per Boe $ 20.63 $ 13.83
Average unit costs per Boe:
Lease operating expense $ 10.86 $ 11.03
Gathering, processing and transportation $ 2.07 $ 1.86
Taxes other than income $ 1.48 $ 0.87
General and administrative expense $ 2.53 $ 2.68
Depletion, depreciation, and amortization $ 3.12 $ 3.02
Balance Sheet Data
Total current assets $ 62,502 $ 84,773
Property and equipment, net 345,733 348,788
Total current liabilities 51,387 66,794
Long-term debt 265,516 265,516
Total equity 4,036 21,255
Statements of Cash Flows Data
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 20,609 $ 29,900
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (5,220 ) (14,122 )
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities (15,070 ) (4,470 )
Reconciliation of Unaudited GAAP Financial Measures to Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow
Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Cash Provided from Operating Activities:
Net cash provided by operating activities $ 20,609 $ 29,900
Changes in working capital (217 ) 5,766
Interest expense, net 3,362 6,209
Gain (loss) on interest rate swaps 20 (438 )
Cash settlements paid (received) on interest rate swaps 462 346
Cash settlements paid (received) on terminated commodity derivatives - (17,977 )
Amortization and write-off of deferred financing fees (135 ) (2,690 )
Reorganization items, net 180 166
Exploration costs 5 3
Acquisition and divestiture related costs 152 44
Severance payments 25 10
Plugging and abandonment cost 312 -
Current income tax expense (benefit) - 85
Oher (15 ) (109 )
Adjusted EBITDA: $ 24,760 $ 21,315
Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow to Net Cash Provided from Operating Activities:
Less: Cash interest expense 3,739 3,456
Less: Capital expenditures 4,999 6,791
Free Cash Flow: $ 16,023 $ 11,067
Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Income (Loss):
Income tax expense - 85
(Gains) losses on commodity derivatives 14,352 19,165
Cash settlements on expired commodity derivatives 14,067 27,295
Share/unit-based compensation expense 456 371
Loss on settlement of AROs 113 -
Bad debt expense 218 141
Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow to Net Income (Loss):
Martyn Willsher – Interim CEO & CFO
martyn.willsher@amplifyenergy.com
Jason McGlynn – VP, Business Development
jason.mcglynn@amplifyenergy.com
Amplify Energy Corp
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Displaying items by tag: taipei
Erenlai - Displaying items by tag: taipei
The Second Life of the “Grand Ricci”
At the end of August 2014, Beijing Commercial Press (or Shangwu, one of the biggest Chinese publishing house, owner of the Xinhua Dictionary, the world's most popular reference work) launched a volume more than 2,000 pages: The Ricci-Shangwu Chinese-French Dictionary, a revised and shortened edition of the "Grand Ricci", the seven-volume dictionary published in 2001 by the Ricci Institutes of Taipei and Paris. (Since then, the two Institutes have entrusted the Ricci Association with moral and financial rights over the work.)
Opinions, Dreams & Videos
The following is a short story from eRenlai Paul Jacob Naylor, who spent time in Taipei last year learning Chinese and researching the role of Islam in Chinese and Taiwanese history. Paul has a blog were you can read more of his short stories and journalistic pieces from his time spent in Syria.
Bright flashing lights and loud music. Neon tops, cleavages, baseball caps, muscles, hair gel, tattoos, sweat and smoke. Bottles of beer and cocktails glow under UV lights. Sticky floor. A loud voice tells us to put our hands in the air. People collapsed in corners holding their head in their hands, people making out, a sign that says 'If you need to throw up please use the bathrooms.'
It has happened. I have frozen. The night started off very well. We went for rechao, drank plenty of tai pi, went to a bar. Got talking to a film-maker who was making a documentary about an orangutan sex slave in Borneo. Then someone – was it Kirsty or was it Steve?- decided we should go to Babe 18 and now I have frozen. I have no idea how long I have been standing here but I can't seem to do anything else. I was having a good time in the line outside, making jokes, trying it on with the girls, but as soon as I walk down the shiny metal staircase and have to think about cloakroom charges and drinks tickets I just zone out, become an observer.
A table full of discarded champagne flutes, a girl wearing a hat that says 'boy', a man with spiky hair, a chewing gum wrapper on the floor. Scanning the room looking for a familiar face but when I see one I don't go over, just keep scanning, looking busy, trying not to look like I am standing in the middle of the dance floor for no reason. Nobody else is looking around. They are all in their own worlds, doing their own thing. Why can't I do my own thing? Maybe this is my thing.
I look at the dance floor, imagine there's no music and think about why all these people are crowded into this small space and why they are moving around so much. I am in a silent disco with no headphones. I try to get into the mind of each person- 'Why did you come here tonight?' 'What is it you want?' 'Why do you have a hat that says 'boy' on it?' I reproach myself for being so arrogant and superior, but I don't feel arrogant and superior standing here. I just feel confused.
A western girl with a flower in her hair comes over to me. 'Just imagine it's your living room.' She says, dancing and looking straight into my eyes. 'Do you think these people realise there are other people around them? No, they come here to look at themselves in the mirror, to wear nice clothes, to show off their bodies.' She dances off.
An old man wearing a long-sleeved silk cloak is swaying to the music, holding his walking stick in the air. As he sees me standing there, a broad smile spreads across his face. 'A reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall.' He says, guffawing, showing the depths of his toothless mouth.
I should drink some water.
'You've gotta finish what's in your glass before I make you another one.' says the bartender.
'But I don't want this one.'
'You gotta finish it.'
'I just want some water. I don't want another drink.'
'Finish it or charge is 200NTD.'
I head to the toilets to get rid of my drink and come back with an empty glass. Easier than arguing.
'No drinks in the toilets' says the bouncer.
I walk back to the dance floor. The old man is gone. I put my half-finished drink (I think it is a gin fizz) under my jumper and walk back to the toilets, folding my arms to hide the bulge. I get to the urinal, take out the cup and quickly empty it out.
'Hey, I saw that.' The bouncer is behind me.
'I just threw up.' I say, wiping my mouth.
'Come with me, now.' I follow the bouncer, still holding my cup. We arrive at the cash desk.
'Pay 200NTD or leave'.
It's cold outside and I realise I have forgotten my coat in the cloakroom, which also has my mobile phone in it. I turn round to go back down the stairs but the bouncer is still waiting there.
'Don't let that guy back in' he says to the security guard at the door as I approach.
I back out into the square, go across to the 7/11 to get a coffee. Nobody is there, not even the attendant. I look across to Babe 18. The queue has gone, the security guard is not there, and the main doors are shut up. The whole square is deserted apart from a scooter parked up in the middle of the square with the engine running and the lights on. The lights cut across the dark of the square, making the small thin trees send out wild shadows in all directions. I wait in the 7/11 and look at the clock on the wall. If it gets to half past twelve and nobody comes back to the scooter, I will get on it. The hum of the engine is the only sound I can hear, it fills my whole head.
By 12:35 I am on the Xinyi express road heading south east. A few solitary taxis pass by, the faces of the drivers hidden in shadow. The sounds of the city are soon lost completely as I leave the highway, pass shuttered noodle shops and the dim red glow of temples. The road climbs and the shops and dwellings get sparser until they stop completely, giving way to trees and bushes and the occasional tudigong shrine.
The drone of the scooter lowers and is replaced by a whirring, then a clattering, then silence. No more fuel. I pull into the side of the road as the headlights slowly dim, leaving me in total darkness. As the cooling engine crackles, the air becomes full of cicadas, the ping of bats and the nocturnal rustlings of unknown creatures.
But among the persistent drone of the cicadas, there is a more human sound. Somebody is singing in the forest. Pushing away branches and fending off clouds of mosquitos I leave the road and climb down a steep incline, towards the noise. The forest turns into a clearing. At the end of the clearing there is a small brick house. In front of the house is a low-walled courtyard. A small naked light bulb hangs above the entrance. Sounds of the accordion and keyboard accompany an echoed gravelly voice, singing in Taiwanese. A group of old men sit outside, smoking and chewing betel nut. They cannot see me approach. In the middle of the courtyard I can see the accordion player, a blind man with a beret, sitting on a chair. The whole crowd joins in the chorus, their cans of beer raised in the air.
I leave the clearing and continue climbing down the slope. In no time at all the music has disappeared. The incessant chirping of cicadas and humming of mosquitos returns. A light breeze shakes the leaves of the trees above, faint traces of incense. At the bottom of the valley is a small temple, lit by the lights of a hundred flickering candles. Monks in red kneel before a statue, hidden in darkness, rhythmically chanting to the quick beat of a drum. I walk past them, following nothing in particular as the long night draws on.
The flat ground comes to an end and starts to rise. The other side of the valley perhaps. It seems I have been walking for ages but impossible to tell. Here there are rocks and boulders, slippery with moss. I begin to scramble up them. A snake slithers across my path, pale and ghostly in the moonlight. I stop for a minute to negotiate my way through the boulders when I hear the snap of a twig close by. I freeze. A rustling of leaves behind. Out of the forest comes a man wearing only a grass skirt. In one hand he holds a spear, in the other a dark bundle that seems to be tied with string. I breathe out too loudly. He hears me and shouts in an unknown tongue to the forest behind, gesturing in my direction. A voice replies. As he comes towards me he is lit up by the moonlight. He is carrying a bunch of human heads, knotted together by their thick black hair. Our eyes meet.
I scramble up the boulders, slip and fall several times, never looking back. The day begins to break and the top of the valley above is outlined on the pale blue sky. Breathless and covered with sweat, covered with grazes and scrapes, I pull myself up the final rock and surprise a few keen photographers. Taipei 101 blinks red in the dawn. I walk down the stone steps and reach Xiangshan MRT in time for the first train of the day.
Steve sits in the living room of our apartment in Taipower playing Fifa, a half-eaten happy meal lying on the table in front of him. 'How was your night?' says Steve. 'You disappeared.'
Photo credit: Amina88
Internet as Body Focus Response: Has technology changed the way we date?
When I first started to toss around the idea of exploring the stories of the gay male community in Taipei I'll admit I was a little overwhelmed by the magnitude of what I was attempting to narrate. How could I tell the varied and diverse stories of these men living, working, and loving in such a large city and focus the narrative enough to make something of the multitude of anecdotes I was hearing? Trying to weave together a thoughtful, honest, and accurate portrait of such a large, diverse community while doing justice all points of view within the group seemed almost too large of a task to take on within a single piece and threatened to kill the project before it even started.
Focus: Internet as Body
Tea break with Taipei's only Rabbi
Born in Vienna, Austria in 1918, Rabbi Dr E. F. Einhorn has witnessed huge global change throughout his 91 years. He moved to Taipei in early 1975 where he has since served as Rabbi.
Belying his age, Rabbi Einhorn is the Chairman of Republicans Abroad Taiwan; Honorary Representative Asia and Pacific Region for the Polish Chamber of Commerce; and Honorary Secretary of State for Montana, USA, among several other roles.
Here Rabbi Einhorn discusses his role as Taipei's Rabbi and shares some insights on how he remains motivated after so many years of dedicated activity.
Looking at the World from Other's Eye 透過他人的眼睛看世界
A visitor's glimpse into life in Taiwan
Maddy King, a Pacific Studies student from ANU learning Chinese in Taipei gives her opinion on a variety of topics related to her stay, such as what she has learned from it, how experiencing Taiwan has shaped her view of the Pacific, and what she misses most about home.
Revising Reality Through Sound
A Review on Revitalization of Chiayi Sound Project
TheCube Project Space is in the Gongguan area of Taipei, near the Cineplaza theatre, hidden on the second floor of an obscure apartment building. Although National Taiwan University lies just across the street, the atmosphere nearby bears no trace of scholarly temperament. A strange mixture of traditional Taiwanese food stalls such as stinky tofu and Taiwanese fried chicken and a peculiarly large amount of sport equipment shops dominate the whole block. The asphalt is always stained with oily muck and the myriad of bicycles and motorbikes makes it hard for one to maneuver about.
I was thus amazed when a small flight of stairs revealed an entirely different world: The dusty fragrance of wood and dried hay immediately shot through my olfactory nerves at the slide of the glass doors. A spacious white room was decorated with rectangular wooden boards and people were arranging themselves comfortably upon the beige tatami mats spread across the floor. Intently, they were listening to the booming of tractor engines, the murmur of old farmers in Taiwanese dialect and the crackle of feet stepping on dried hay that were sent across the room through eight devices: two pairs of stereo speakers hanging on both sides of the wall, and four other sound devices that were placed on the tatami or hanging from the ceiling. These devices came in different sizes and shapes. For example, the sound device placed on the ground was an electric megaphone, and the device hanging from the ceiling was an old radio. One speaker was even hidden inside a wooden box, in which the reverberation and vibrations of the box created a peculiar acoustic effect.
Wooden boards were placed across the room to absorb echoes
A speaker is placed inside the wooden box, creating a peculiar acoustic effect
The exhibition piece was a montage of sounds recorded from Chiayi, a large agricultural area in southern Taiwan. Sounds were arranged according to different themes, such as aboriginal tribes, religious ambience, agricultural activities or ecological surroundings. They were broadcast in a fashion that recreated our general perception of aural space. For example, the grinding noise of an ancient tatami machine was presented through stereo surrounding speakers, creating a sense of immediate, enveloping presence. The sounds of people speaking, on the other hand, were broadcasted through monophonic sound devices, such as the radio or the electric megaphone, which denoted the sound object’s specific position in space.
While the montage may seem random at first, it doesn't take long to perceive a certain order. For instance, the religious section at first featured the clatter of the divination blocks, signaling God’s will as they fall to the ground, followed by a mother’s clicking high heels and a child’s nagging whines. The soft chanting of Buddhist nuns emerged, shifting towards the grunting of men which in turn acted as a prelude to the festive religious music filled with gongs and suona, the Chinese oboe. Finally, the section was finished off with the loud explosions of Chinese firecrackers, intensively broadcasted through different speakers in an alternating fashion.
Aside from the main installation, two smaller pieces were also present in the gallery. One is a sound recording of a tour guide in a sugar factory, the other a thematic presentation of various aspects of Chiayi, such as the lost art of Beiguan music. These were accompanied by slides containing dictations from interviews with the locals.
Album cover of Sounds of the Underground
Album cover of Taiwan Sound Archive, Religious Music Vol. 1
(tai wan you sheng zi liao ku quan ji bian qian ji si wu dao pian
台灣有聲資料庫全集《變遷祭祀舞蹈篇》), produced by Hsu Tsang-Houei.
The “Revitalization of Chiayi Sound Project” is a collaboration between Yannick Dauby, Yen-Ting Hsu (許雁婷) and Wan-Shuen Tsai (蔡宛璇). In 2008, poet Chung Yung-fung (鐘永豐), the then Director-General of the Cultural Affairs Department commissioned Dauby and Hsu to collect sounds from the eighteen townships of Chiayi County, in hopes of building a sound archive that could one day be shared with the citizens of Chiayi. Had it succeeded, one could say that it would be a project of great historical significance, since the only notable works in Taiwan that were close to field recordings were the folksong collection movement carried out by musician Hsu Tsang-Houei (許常惠) and Shi Wei-Liang (史惟亮) and the ethnomusicology studies of Liu Bing-Chuan (呂炳川) in the 60’s and 70’s, followed by the more recent Sounds of the Underground (lai zi tai wan di ceng de sheng yin來自臺灣底層的聲音) compilation by Crystal records during the 90’s, all of which were still situated within the song-based musical realm and not field recording, strictly speaking. Unfortunately, due to bureaucratic reasons, the project came to halt after one year. The artists, however, having already built tight bonds with the locals, continued to collect sounds. Three years later they selected several sounds from their archive and composed the “Revitalization of Chiayi Sound Project.”
“Revitalization of Chiayi Sound Project” is the 6th installment of the Re-envisioning Society series curated by TheCube art gallery. According to their website, the goal of this series was to uncover an authentic relationship between human beings and their surroundings; a relationship which is hidden beneath the layers of artificial constructs that govern modern society. Furthermore, they sought to “construct a new vision for society” by observing the transformation of individual and collective experiences in specific aspects of contemporary life.
So how can a sound exhibition live up to such a grandiose purpose? We could say that humanity in modern society is dominated by images, or rather, that human civilization has always been preoccupied with sight. The saying “the eyes are the windows to the soul” is self-evident. Sight is the organ that determines boundaries, the boundaries upon which interpretations are made. One can say this is the initial step towards an abstract, conceptual world that is the premise of a society of spectacles. Sound, on the other hand, is more ambivalent. During the exhibition, it is often hard to make out the original sources of the sounds. Bird sounds that come from grainy radio speakers have a metallic quality that resembles a machine, thus the boundaries between organic/inorganic are blurred. Attention is given not only to the sounds presented but also to the media through which that sound is represented, which in this case is the radio speakers that convert melodic bird chirps into abrasive mechanic noises. In other words, sounds retain the noise of the media, the qualities that are generally filtered out/ignored/neglected by sight. Through close listening of sounds, attention is lowered to the materiality of things, and not the abstract concept it represents. From this site it is possible to start something new, to view our surroundings in a new light.
It is also from this site that a new construction of identity is possible. The clue may lie in the Chinese title of the exhibition: “Sheng Tu Bu Er” (聲土不二). The phrase is a word play on the phrase “Juan Tu Bu Er” (身土不二), which originally was a Buddhist phrase that explains karma, but was appropriated by Japan and Korea for its literal meaning, namely that body (身) and soil (土) cannot be separated (不二), in order to promote local food movements. The exhibition’s substitution of the word “聲” (sound) for“身” (body) can thus be interpreted that sounds cannot be separated from the soil.
Orientation of Revitalization of Chiayi Sound Project
In the orientation following the exhibition, Chung Yung-fung gave an illuminating example of this concept. He mentioned how he couldn’t recognize the Hakka singer Lai Pie-Hsia’s (賴碧霞) voice in Hsu Tsang-Houei’s recordings, because the sound quality was too clear and lacked the noisy ambience that usually accompanied the singer’s performance. That was when he realized how crucial the recording environment is to preserving aural memory. It is thus reasonable to say that the identity of the sound is inseparable from the environment that produced it, whether in a noisy night market or in a church full of echoes. The awareness of the importance of noise, that which was initially considered as a threat to the recording of “pure” sound, evokes a categorical redistribution of how we perceive the world.
Furthermore, as our perception of the world changes, so our perception of ourselves transforms. During the orientation, Dauby explained how a man from the countryside might move to a big city and attempt to forget his memories of the countryside, perhaps ashamed by the hegemonic developmentalist ideology that defines the countryside as a backwater, inferior place. Chiayi, in many ways, is precisely such a place. However, if these field recordings are presented to him, perhaps he will be able to pick up messages that lie beyond the limits of the developmentalist discourse. He will perceive the different nuances of Chiayi, nuances that were not captured by a developmentalist interpretation of Chiayi, and subsequently discover the different nuances concerning his own identity. From this perspective, it is indeed possible through field recording to discover genuine relationships between men and other men, as well as men and his local environment; to surmount the spectacles of society and to arrive at new conclusions.
Written by Julia Chien with further editing by Daniel Pagan Murphy. Photos by Julia Chien.
Flâneur Daguerre: An Alternative to Modern Jazz
Formed in June 2009, the group brings together some of the island's finest improvisers from diverse musical backgrounds, both foreign and Taiwanese. Flâneur Daguerre was founded on the belief that modern music, especially that which is so-called "avant-garde," can be enjoyed and accessed by the same audiences that find comfort in today's mainstream pop. The band explores free jazz, Eastern European and Balkan music, but they often subject pop and rock + roll forms to the improvising methods of jazz and Indian musicians.
Journey to the Karaoke Temples
In Taipei the mountains are never far away. How easy it is to escape from the city and discover a different pace of life. Human voices rise above the roar of the traffic, and in the safety of the mountains people form communities and express themselves in ways that could not happen in an urban setting, for all its apparent conveniences and freedoms. Filmed around Tiger Mountain, 2013.
Focus: The Mountains and the Margins
Will my Friends come out Today?
The old men at Huanmin Village have lived there all their life. Every day, they meet to chat about things, as old friends often do. Their peaceful existence, however, is being threatened by the plans to demolish the houses which hold so many memories for them.
Tiger Mountain and the Miculture Foundation: Transforming Spaces
Overlooking the Xinyi district, home of Taipei 101 and Taipei's financial and commercial hub, are the Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山) : Elephant, Leopard, Lion and Tiger. The image of four wild animals-embodying raw nature- dominating the urban metropolis below is a powerful one. Elephant Mountain has largely been tamed-it is now a must-see on the Taipei tourist trail and also popular with photographers wanting to get the perfect night-time shot of Taipei 101- but Tiger mountain is more elusive.
Toad Mountain Edge Effects
For students of NTU, Gongguan's café hipster youth and the high density of foreigners and government officials in the surrounding area, Toad Mountain (蟾蜍山) is merely a beautiful mountain ink landscape backdrop as one walks down Roosevelt Rd, as that painted by the traditional oil paint artist He Cong (何從):
History of the Shida Controversy
( Mandarin Training Center in NTNU)
Unlike in most in most Western countries, the mixture of residential and commercial areas is a significant characteristic of Taiwanese Cities. Most foreigners who have lived on this island for a while are sure to have discovered this charm and convenience already. How should people live and work together in this kind of lively sleepless streets is another question.
The well-known Shida Road and surrounding areas probably are the first stop for many foreign students in Taipei City. Since the war between a residents’ group and businesses began, rumors and mistrust have spread through the area. Shidahood Association (師大三里自救會) seems to be trying to shut down every illegal shop in the area, the illegal status of is often attributable to a rather complicated history.
The story continues still, and no one can be sure how this chapter will end. We try to locate the actual historical casual relationships of this controversy, starting in the 1960’s.
The timeline of the Shida area controversy
Going back to the 1960’s, the origins of the Shida night market area can be traced back to some lower class Mainlanders who came to Taiwan with the KMT. They occupied the open spaces between Jinshan South Rd., Heping east Rd. and the north part of Shida Rd. It was known as “Longquan night market” because Longquan Street was the main street at that time.
In 1967, the government expelled all squatters, knocked down illegal buildings in the area and built Shida Rd. Some businessmen moved to the Nan Ji Chang night market (南機場) and the Zhong Hua business Center (中華商場, in the Ximen area), other trader and food stalls gathered on Shida Rd (now the park).
In 1987, due to urban planning and requests from local residents, Taipei City Major Hung decided to expel vendors and built a park on Shida Rd. A few stall-keepers moved into the lanes and alleys on the east side of Shida Rd. The businesses requested to keep their house numbers and continue running their businesses.
From the 90’s, because of NTNU Mandarin Training Center and the academic background of many local residents, new cafes and international restaurants became more and more common in the area.
(Every shop in Lane 13, Pucheng St. is closed now)
Enlarging the scale of business area
Boutique shops began opening in the area. The number of clothing stalls was growing.
A famous writer, Han Lianglu (韓良露) introduced and promoted the “Kang-Qing-Long” life area concept as a tourist attraction. This area stretched from Yongkang Street (永康街) to Qintian street (青田街) and Longquan street (龍泉街). The media began to promote culinary delicacies in the Shida area. The Longquan neighborhood tried to attract attention by holding a “shopkeepers’ beauty contest and a “best shop in Shida” contest.
In January the Longquan neighborhood began cooperating with the Taipei City Market Administration Office and the Taipei City Office of Commerce. Under the guidance of the city government, they planned to found an autonomous night market committee, to redesign street signboards and undertake an environmental cleaning program. They were forced to postpone parts of their project due to the objections of local residents.
The Taipei City Office of Commerce promoted Shida as one of the top five business areas in Taipei. Local shops enrolled in the “Beef Noodles Festival” and other official tourism events. The Shida area became a new tourist spot.
In September, the Tourism Bureau and the South Village company which belonged to Han Liang Lu (韓良露) launched the “Spotlight on Taipei” program to attract international tourists.
(Shida "night market" was only on the sign of MRT exit for months,
it has now been reverted to the original name.)
The Longquan neighborhood office founded an association of businesses in the Shida area and built a billboard, “Welcome to the Shida Business Area”. They even changed the formal name of the bus stop from “Shida 1” to “Shida Night Market” and began indicating the night market at the MRT Taipower Building Station. This move enraged local residents.
At the end of 2011, the Shida business area won the ‘most popular award’ in a Taipei City Office of Commerce contest. Meanwhile, the number of shops had increased from 200 to 700 in just two years and extended further into nearby residential districts. There was a rapid deterioration in the surrounding living environment with pollution from overcrowding, smells, noise and rubbish.
On 26th October, due to the increase of clothes shops and restaurants in the neighborhood, residents from Taishun St. (east of the night market area) organized a public hearing to ask Taipei City Hall to ban illegal shops in residential areas, and formed the Shidahood Association (師大三里里民自救會). In response, Taipei City government formed a Special Shida Taskforce (師大專案小組) headed by deputy mayor Sherman Chen (陳雄文) and involving a wide array of government departments. They first banned all foreign restaurants on Lane 13, Pucheng St.
In February, some shops organized the “Shida Business Area League” petitioning to the government for their right to work, through different forms of protest such as stand-ins, kneel down and turning off all the lights on the street for 30 minutes.
In May, the Shidahood Association posted an article on the blog criticizing that Shida Park had been left abandoned as a dangerous and licentious zone.
On July 15th, the legendary live house Underworld was forced to close under pressure from the Shidahood Association.
In August, Roxy Jr. Café which had been running for 18 years on Shida Rd. hung a first banner to counter the protest banners of the Shidahood Association. Yet, on 19th August they nevertheless decided to close up temporarily.
("Legal businessman against fake neighbors' persecution" wrote by Jr. Cafe)
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B8%AB%E5%A4%A7%E5%A4%9C%E5%B8%82
David Frazier, Dodgy dealings, TAIPEI TIMES, 2012.07.25
找出師大商圈四贏的藍海，聯合報社論，2012.02.27
Edited by Nick Coulson
Focus: Living Together
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Rally Cancelled State Of Survival
Even though we were able to accomplish a lot last year, there is always room for improvement. 4 Comments. For some, the creation of a Jewish state, far from eliminating doubts about the survival prospects of the people and their polity, has actually exacerbated them. Depending on your hall of war and HQ level, your rally can range from slightly advantageous to a huge 2. If you ask more of zombie games than just having many weapons and targets to shoot at, State Develop the best strategy with other players and show that humanity deserves another chance to survive. State Of Survival Rallying A Tower During Capital Clash. responds to the survival phenomenon, where each side consti-tutes a different aspect of survival. /2/Document 277. Today, the state depends on prisons as a method of extreme social control–to punish those who threaten their monopoly of violence and to control those who cannot, or refuse, to work inside the given parameters of capitalism (think sex workers, drug dealers, shoplifters, and robbers). Ai) - 3:31. As the final broadcast story of the series' classic era, following the airing of its last episode, the series would enter a period of wilderness years devoid of new televised adventures until an attempt was made to revive it in 1996. 6%) Explain the panic please when there is more risk dying driving to work than dying ftom COVID. What stage of the Survival of the Fittest event is next. KingsGroup Holdings. Luke Jackson “hated” his childhood. In my state I win Horde almost every time (almost because sometimes work means i can’t participate and I have some great players in my state who sometimes beat me. Thursday outside of the state Capitol. State Warfare (a. 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While on a short-term mission to track an infiltrated Maquis cell, Capt. Additionally, you will benefit from an expansive network of faculty, both during your tenure and as you seek a career upon completing your course of study. From Nevada:. Under capitalism, no one has a right to survival. 9 billion) state bailout and EasyJet announced plans to restart flights next month. PARKING BAN LIFTED AS OF 3PM 12-17-2020. Echoes & Reflections is excited to announce that our poster series: Inspiring the Human Story, is now available in PDF format, free of cost. 1,191,848 likes · 8,376 talking about this. (Photo by Animal Planet) Dark Waters premiered on Animal Planet last spring, but then was moved to. [cancelled due to COVID-19]. Donald Trump's shrinking electoral map. Eternal Return: Black Survival. the festival market is in a state of flux and even the biggest players are. A Change - 4:03. 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Luke Jackson “hated” his childhood. List of every PC game checked by System Requirements Lab. A rally point sets a location from which you can start capturing terriitories. The Deerfield-based company is one of several pharmacy chains arguing in a federal opioid case that doctors and other health care practitioners who. In the past, we sought digital disruption in the hopes of bolstering our efficiency, cost-effectiveness and profit; now, we turn to it for an additional reason: safety. State of Emergency. To initiate one, all you have to do is pick the Rally option from the meny when clicking on an enemy settlement. Over the last weeks in Chile, massive state repression of civilian protests has resulted in at least 20 deaths, thousands of people are hospitalized and forcibly detained — Chile sends the second highest number of foreign state to be trained at WHINSEC. The Republican Party controls both houses of Congress. Rally Leaders. Upgrade to increase Rally Capacity. 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For the time being, things need to be dealt tactfully with cancer care being a priority, Dr Shankar said. So far at least, it appears that dogs are immune to the. Point of View: Recovery Month. His wry remark reflected the almost complete absence of any festive season preparations in the predominately. -Optimized the backpack;. Austerity definition is - the quality or state of being austere: such as. state-of-survival-cheats. State of Decay 3 is going to be the latest entry in a strong zombie survival series. This concept is best known as "survival of the fittest," a phrase developed by Herbert Spencer. State of Survival. There's few different ways in which this can be done, but it's important to now that increasing Rally size is handled by the Command Station only at this point. Cruise stocks are trending lower. Absolute fair play in a fully upgraded new 8x8 km map! 300 players battle on a wide variety of terrains. 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Players must join the alliance to get access to the rally battles. Although Maddie used to mock him for his taste in music, she misses it greatly now. Of patients who were admitted as an emergency with an aortic aneurysm, 13 were on the waiting list for elective open repair and five were on the waiting list for endovascular. 75 Apk Mod Strategy Game for Android. The VAPP penalizes a person convicted of performing female circumcision or genital mutilation with a maximum of four years in prison, a fine of 200,000 naira ($635), or both. All the games feature an open world environment that is infested with zombies. Photos: 2,020 flags wave for veterans and other heroes at Palmdale Healing and Honor Field. From the sole gameplay perspective, State of Survival is a great game, filled with many interesting and engaging features. Get the latest breaking news, sports, entertainment and obituaries in Augusta, GA from The Augusta Chronicle. Getting Started in State of Survival. 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President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Capital Region International Airport October 27, 2020 in Lansing, Michigan. " The "United for Peace and Justice" coalition includes such radical organizations as the Socialist Party USA, the Young Communists League, Communist Party USA, and the. Kathryn Janeway and her newly launched U. Clearly it has been a rough year all around. Walau tetap mengandalkan sistem upgrade, game ini juga. For Mamata and the TMC, it will be a matter of survival. Philadelphia, PA. Welcome to the RULES OF SURVIVAL arena! This is a Battle Royale game now played by over 280 million people worldwide. Small Lewis County town expects large crowd Saturday for freedom rally. Whether through starvation, dehydration, asphyxiation, the power of the elements, the threat of attack from deadly wildlife, or fantastic environmental circumstances, the world around the cast poses at least as much of a threat to life as does any humanoid enemy. Amazon's Chief Technology Officer Millions of Americans are in 'survival mode' — beware, decisions made in this frame of mind can. In past years, anti-abortion activists have often cited the case of a Philadelphia doctor, Kermit Gosnell, as part of an effort to stigmatize other. Day 6, Special Stage Four of the Yokohama Sonora Rally, presented by Method Race Wheels: Tales are told about scenery like this: Beau Gest, Lawrence of Arabia, The English Patient. seven days a week. The One Night trilogy is a series of completed survival horror games made in RPG Maker VX released between 2008 and 2011. He told the BBC: "We have been together 30 years. Kluwer Academic Publishers; Netherland: 1992. 65 of the Revised Code, to be. Join or Log Into Facebook Email or Phone. Asking the police not to give the name of killers is an attempt to hide the truth and prevent the public from knowing exactly who in France is committing these acts. While on a short-term mission to track an infiltrated Maquis cell, Capt. Build a new city, squad, and strategy to survive in this MMORPG. According on the book 50 Greatest Movies Never Made there was apparently a sequel on work but later the film was cancelled. 05 were considered statistically significant. Not to be confused with Republic of Lincoln, a survivor state carved out of the former American state of Nebraska. State of Survival 1. Andrew Cuomo said in a Democratic rally at the Andy Murphy III Midtown Neighborhood Center Sunday morning. There is a vacancy on the Supreme Court. To initiate one, all you have to do is pick the Rally option from the meny when clicking on an enemy settlement. Rush Limbaugh has made the Ditto Cam broadcast and transcript of the event available to the public. 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Media Tip: Recovery Rally at the Capitol. High on Life - 3:32. State of Survival is a real-time strategy game based on the events of a Zombie Apocalypse. In a new column, Jeff Wise spends 72 hours in the wilderness without food, water or shelter -- and finds that survival is a state of mind. So all in all, we can with an extremely high degree of accuracy state i can buy 135 milk cartons and i will use them all within a year. If you are doing a battle in the same state, you can teleport to your Rally Point for free, but it will cost you an Advanced Teleport to move back. I can attest to the former after a collision I got involved with in my Jeep down in the patron state of mayhem, Florida. Angry Trump vows to stage rally in battleground state. com with exclusive news, full bio and filmography as well as photos, videos, and more. Get the latest breaking news, sports, entertainment and obituaries in Augusta, GA from The Augusta Chronicle. şükela: tümü | bugün. Husband and wife scientist team, John and Maureen Robinson, were selected from millions of families and tasked with traveling into the future in a spaceship, the Jupiter 2, to seek out another planet to colonize because. State vs State or SvS) is the most complex event in the game. With Sea of Thieves out of the way, the next major exclusive release for Microsoft for the Xbox One and Windows 10 ecosystem is State of Decay 2, Undead Labs’ apparently. A study was performed of survival during the first year after a large-scale nuclear attack against the U. In past years, anti-abortion activists have often cited the case of a Philadelphia doctor, Kermit Gosnell, as part of an effort to stigmatize other. Since some tips easily fall under different categories, they are placed here under a "most likely" category. Arts for Biden-Harris holds a star-studded Zoom rally With every budget he submits, President Trump tries to zero out funding for the arts and humanities, public television, public radio. A Walgreens store in Naperville is seen in 2016. The largest indigenous gathering in the Brazilian Amazon in nearly twenty years will take place from May 19 to 23 in the town of Altamira, Pará, to protest against a series of huge hydroelectric dams being planned for the Xingu River. Districts from California to New York have once again closed. Toss It Up (feat. In coronavirus infection, only 3% patients need emergency care, whereas cancer demands 100% emergency care and any delay can lead to fewer chances of survival,” he said. While rally joiners only provides rally boost with their 1st hero (Captain) 1st skill. After coasting along trying to get clear of a game of automotive ego-jousting playing out, at highway speed, on I-75, I was forced to ram the back end of the participant that had lost their nerve and slammed on their brakes. Based on the new mechanism, we will share battle data from Jarrett and analyze the strength of this brand-new Hero. 9k members in the TheSoSGame community. In 2006, Cain was given a 30% chance of survival from stage 4 colon cancer that had spread to his liver. Breaking news and analysis on politics, business, world national news, entertainment more. You can check rally benefits by tapping on this same button in the rally menu. May 28: Indiana’s death toll rises above 2,000. The state is the headquarters for Delta as well as companies as varied as Home Depot, UPS, Coca-Cola and Aflac. We’ve changed the lives of over 1 billion children in the U. Players must join the alliance to get access to the rally battles. 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Другие файлы для State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition. 2021 Route; 2020 Rules; 2021 Participants; 2019 Winners; 2021 Prize Money; 2019 Scores; 2021 Waiting List; Rookies / X-Cup. Join them by editing today! The Wiki is currently using Version 1. Download State of Survival: Zombie War and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Top stocks in or near buy zones in the coronavirus stock market rally include Dow Jones leader Intel. 65,000+ door-to-door, cone clipping and dirt-throwing individuals make us the largest amateur motorsports club in the United States. Coronavirus Latest: Devon Horse Show And Country Fair Canceled Due To COVID-19 PandemicThe annual Devon Horse Show and Country Fair has been canceled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Characters are threatened with danger or death from the very environment in which they live. All sorts of horrors are trying to cut your game short and the only way to stay alive is to rally other survivors to your cause. Holocaust Survivor Book Readings Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Southern Arizona has published two volumes of To Tell Our Stories: Holocaust Survivors of Southern Arizona that share the personal testimonies of 81 Holocaust Survivors. Citizens were also engaged through evacuation exercises including the massive “Operation Green Light” which emptied roughly 1,000 downtown blocks and evacuated over 100,000 people in less than an hour. The posters feature the powerful words and experiences of Holocaust survivor and memoirist Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor Kurt Messerschmidt, and Anne Frank rescuer, Miep Gies. Combined, these elements make for a fascinating survival experience. Because of these survival improvements, in more recent years brain cancer has replaced leukemia as the leading cause of cancer death among children ( 4 ). 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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that Russia was behind the ongoing, "very significant" cyberspying campaign that has infiltrated federal With temperatures dropping and new restrictions on indoor dining, businesses see takeout orders as the only viable way forward for their survival. Welcome to the RULES OF SURVIVAL arena! This is a Battle Royale game now played by over 280 million people worldwide. [cancelled due to COVID-19]. Asking the police not to give the name of killers is an attempt to hide the truth and prevent the public from knowing exactly who in France is committing these acts. State of survival NOOB vs PRO vs HA Top 10 Zombie Gam Game Ads Vs Reali State of Survival The infection ripped across the country taking civilization with it. Some of the best hero compositions in State of Survival include: Sarge, Rusty, and Ghost: Specialists at blocking the enemy’s path and whittling down their health with sheer endurance. At the rally students and parents called on state leaders to let the athletes play. There are promises of remounts next season, but there’s only so much time next season. They know that if the aneurysm ruptures before admission the probability of survival is much reduced. Many are offering curbside service, free delivery, and reading. GamesGuideInfo. State of Survival è un album in studio del gruppo musicale statunitense Flipsyde, pubblicato nel 2009. October 30, 2020 Off Grid Survival OFFGRID Survival News 3. Saving Your Scoop - A Rally Cry. Six months of terror, horror, survival, and fighting against zombies. created by SluimerstandState 62a community for 8 months. A study was performed of survival during the first year after a large-scale nuclear attack against the U. Although Germany existed as a loose polity of Germanic-speaking peoples for millennia, a united German nation in roughly its present form dates only to 1871. Hunting and fishing will be allowed on all open properties in accordance with legal season structure and hours. Now it is survival time, as the surviving military and government have gone underground. A Walgreens store in Naperville is seen in 2016. The posters feature the powerful words and experiences of Holocaust survivor and memoirist Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor Kurt Messerschmidt, and Anne Frank rescuer, Miep Gies. Required fields are marked *. Following on from its predecessor, DiRT Rally 2. She was visiting her dad's when the outbreak hit which is how she ended up with her loyal sidekick, Frank. These are terms you'll see in-game: "RES", "RESS", "RSS" = resources KE. MADISON — With the survival of so many state restaurants at stake during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association last week announced the launch of a statewide public awareness. But each hero has special stats for different activities. The VAPP penalizes a person convicted of performing female circumcision or genital mutilation with a maximum of four years in prison, a fine of 200,000 naira ($635), or both. A historically novel kind of state seems to be arising in many corners of the world, which combines elements derived selectively from the two classic forms of the capitalist state, the liberal and the fascist. State of Survival 1. State of Survival is an exciting new strategy game developed by KingsGroup Holdings. Gone are the days of forecasting a landslide victory. Sacco has a South Jersey record 336 career wins. The cost to join the rally is AU$10 per night for an unpowered site. a cancerous shit fuck game that mocks several battle royale themed based games. War rally War rallies are the rallies used with intent to take down larger players or even the monument. As the final broadcast story of the series' classic era, following the airing of its last episode, the series would enter a period of wilderness years devoid of new televised adventures until an attempt was made to revive it in 1996. Save the Children is a leading humanitarian organization for children. If you ask more of zombie games than just having many weapons and targets to shoot at, State Develop the best strategy with other players and show that humanity deserves another chance to survive. Changes in State of Survival:-Raised the capacity of Rally;. Of course political rivalry and religious disagreements can cause violent bloodshed throughout any city or country, especially from the increasing number of extremists. updated the event Tennessee Region Tire Rack Street Survival Event @ NCM Motorsports Park. they were beaten back by state troopers on the Edmond. State of Survival game player can try to use redeem. Reference Information and Strategy Guides. Rules of Survival is an action-packed Battle Royale game. 8/10 (31 votes) - Download State of Survival Android Free. Airline stocks rallied on Thursday, as German carrier Lufthansa moved closer to a €9 billion ($9. 05 were considered statistically significant. Part 2 of 4. To encourage state-owned banks to help clean up the NBFCs balance sheets, the government has also announced that it will partially guarantee their purchase of securitised pools of NBFC assets. Cultural Survival’s recent report on the state of Indigenous women’s rights in Mexico and Guatemala reveals that gendered violence disproportionately affects Indigenous women. Am J Respir Crit Care 2020; 201:A1610. Using the Rally system essentially allows you to 'borrow' friendly troops to throw into the fray. After an outcry from state election officials and voters in Detroit (which is part of Wayne County), the officials. Registered nurses or nurse practitioners may qualify for reimbursement of the course fee upon successful completion of the course. Why Join The Great Race. If you have 2 Rally Points, both will appear in the List. Mặc dù sử dụng bối cảnh quen thuộc là sinh tồn hậu tận thế zombie, nhưng State of Survival vẫn có những điểm rất riêng đáng để trải nghiệm. Anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller was a speaker (see the video above) at a pro-Israel rally in New York City Sunday that also featured Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat. While rally joiners only provides rally boost with their 1st hero (Captain) 1st skill. Infected Horde is a great resources to earn parts for Chief gear. While the game is set in the post-apocalyptic world, in its essence, State of Survival is a strategy game. these rallies are usually shorter amounts of times to catch the player off guard. Some of the best hero compositions in State of Survival include: Sarge, Rusty, and Ghost: Specialists at blocking the enemy’s path and whittling down their health with sheer endurance. The answer seems to be: not so hot. A fast-moving storm has turned the annual 24 Hours Nurburgring into a battle of survival after wind, rain and ice wreaked havoc in the opening laps of the endurance race. Choosing the right launch time is extremely important to ensure the Rally’s success. Over the last weeks in Chile, massive state repression of civilian protests has resulted in at least 20 deaths, thousands of people are hospitalized and forcibly detained — Chile sends the second highest number of foreign state to be trained at WHINSEC. There are some heroes in the game that provide bonuses for the rally battles. Los sobrevivientes pueden obtener regalos canjeando los códigos de regalo. “I am for the Jews and Israel is no longer in the Jewish interest,” writes Philip Roth (1993, 41) , “Israel has become the gravest threat to Jewish survival since the end of. /2/Document 277. Pages in category "Cancelled Xbox games" The following 114 pages are in this category, out of 114 total. Build a city that survives the constant waves of zombies. “To state that the priority, with respect to emergency humanitarian aid, should be given to the fight against ‘HIV’ and to giving those countries the possibility of buying cheap-priced anti-viral products is just as irrational as saying to someone suffering from acute vitamin C deficiency, ‘Sir, I see that you are suffering from scurvy. A study was performed of survival during the first year after a large-scale nuclear attack against the U. Influencer trap event (Time in UTC will be provided at least 12 hours before event starts. Read more here. In the chaotic world, the survival games are mostly developed in role-playing form. PARKING BAN LIFTED AS OF 3PM 12-17-2020. Welcome to the State of Survival. Goldman Signals Gold Rally Ahead hysteria in a free society the state can convert into a global mass hysteria. "We really do want to make sure that we've got every chance of survival following the end of JobKeeper and ongoing. Slud EV, Rubinstein LV. The world belongs to the infected now. Dawn of Zombies: Survival after the Last War on the Google Play Store, or Dawn of Zombies: The Survival on the Apple App Store, is an action survival game from Royal Ark set in a … Read More MovieStarPlanet Guide (2020 Update): Tips, Tricks & Strategies to Become a Huge Celeb with a Fab Wardrobe. If the course is cancelled by CCFMTC, attendees will be notified by email and telephone at the email address and phone number provided at the time of registration, and registration fees will be refunded to participants. > “Everything is on the line,” N. After a certain level, you would be having a lot of heroes to play with. The prayers of God’s people - for instance that the tension between Muslims and Jews locally would not spiral out of control - were surely answered when a time bomb under the car of a Jewish man was discovered and defused before the device could cause any damage. Do I still list only his debts/assets in full and ours together at half or being community property state do I list all of them at full (mine and his fully combined)?. OCARTA Rally at the Capitol. A number of rally points can be built up to the number of Alliance centres you have placed. This guide is for newly created state and for new players. Thursday outside of the state Capitol. State of Survival: Апокалипсис Зомби Мультиплеер. He told the BBC: "We have been together 30 years. CIA firefight in Frankfurt as covert war against the deep state RAGES across the globe Mike Adams. 8%, versus flu about 99. State of survival NOOB vs PRO vs HA Top 10 Zombie Gam Game Ads Vs Reali State of Survival The infection ripped across the country taking civilization with it. -Optimized the backpack;. All information relating to the boost type Rally Capacity in State of Survival: Zombie War including what research projects increase Rally Capacity and what the best gear is for Rally Capacity and whether the boost can be acquired from Buildings, VIP Levels, Lord Skills Trees, Gear, or Items. All players can check UTC time in the top left corner in your game) Player with strongest rally available (hero + rally size) will set the rally. Players can jump on motorcycles, off-road vehicles, or even helicopters. To learn more about SOMO, visit www. Any surviving military or government went to. The virus has hit the northwestern state of Chihuhua hard. Join the Voices of Recovery. Please come and listen to their Read more ». o Rally Troop Lethality: +21,15% o Infantry Health: +27,65% o Infantry Lethality: +32,20% Abilities: · Ground Slam (Level 5) o Smashes the ground with his mutated arm, stunning enemies within range for 2s and dealing 304. Dow Jones futures erased sharp losses early Tuesday. Health Secretary Matt Hancock outlined the blueprint for the future to MPs yesterday. Some of the best hero compositions in State of Survival include: Sarge, Rusty, and Ghost: Specialists at blocking the enemy’s path and whittling down their health with sheer endurance. 18 One study showed a survival benefit at 1 year (population of 73 patients) from an educational program for dispatchers on continuous chest compressions. The core gameplay loop revolves around finding and fortifying strongholds, explore the world to rescue survivors and collect various resources such as food and equipment, and defend the base against zombie attack. A study was performed of survival during the first year after a large-scale nuclear attack against the U. As of July 27, the West African nation of Sierra Leone has recorded 533 Ebola. seven days a week. State of survival NOOB vs PRO vs HA Top 10 Zombie Gam Game Ads Vs Reali State of Survival The infection ripped across the country taking civilization with it. Si eres nuevo en el juego, te estarás preguntando cuáles son estos. By purchasing a Rally with Big Red shirt, you’re helping Special Olympics Missouri reach thousands of athletes across the state through online trainings and the delivery of care packages to show them that we are adapting to fit their needs and that we haven’t forgotten about them. Become a zombie hunter. Joseph football team is one of New Jersey’s best, with 20 state championships since the state non-public playoffs began in 1993. Dear Scoop Staff, Collaborators, Readers, Watchers, Allies and Friends, This is a call to arms. Lincoln is a state of the United States of America, formed out of the ten northern (panhandle) counties of the former state of Idaho, USA, and the five easternmost counties of the former state of Washington. After redeemed this codes you earn free biocaps, speed ups, exclusive Use these codes to extend your ability to survival against zombies, and to assist bolster your camp with higher defense. -Added an alliance leader tutorial in the beginner tutorial;. Recovery Month Sample Proclamation. OCARTA Rally at the Capitol. The cost to join the rally is AU$10 per night for an unpowered site. You can easily find a survival game like Free Fire on the Google Play app store. She fought as an ally of Xerxes I King of Persia against the independent Greek city states during the second Persian invasion Greece. 23, 2020, near the remote west coast town of Strahan on the island state of Tasmania, Australia. com in 2003, out of an insatiable love of the great outdoors, primitive cultures and self reliance. Would that those German citizens of 80-90 years ago had possessed the advantage of our hindsight and the. State of survival. If so January 2023, impeachment of the Socialist President Harris. Reference Information and Strategy Guides. Welcome to the RULES OF SURVIVAL arena! This is a Battle Royale game now played by over 280 million people worldwide. As a mobile strategy game, the objective in State of Survival is to build and develop your base in order to grow your armies and increase your power, with the purpose of defeating other players and establishing dominance in your server. They know how to treat this much better than 6 months ago. State of Survival is a strategy game, but it has no army units but is replaced by a unique character system. The event was due to take place at Messe Frankfurt, 12-14 May. Sir, you have worked very hard to get the truth out there and I for one, am very appreciative. Help for migrant workers. Come out and help us promote MoHud! Questions? Please contact EJ Smith for more info. As Ice Melts, Polar Bear Chance of Survival Diminishes July 17, 2015 Royce Christyn Sci/Environment 0 The sea ice where polar bear families hunt seals is diminishing at a rapid rate, and the lack of food during the summer is not faring well for the majestic animals. Sacco has a South Jersey record 336 career wins. Home; Guides. King of Avalon. While 12 states banned FGM/C, once a state legislature criminalizes FGM/C, NGOs found they had to convince local authorities that state laws apply in their districts. Dawn of Zombies: Survival after the Last War on the Google Play Store, or Dawn of Zombies: The Survival on the Apple App Store, is an action survival game from Royal Ark set in a … Read More MovieStarPlanet Guide (2020 Update): Tips, Tricks & Strategies to Become a Huge Celeb with a Fab Wardrobe. Singling out Noem, who is a Republican, he said he wished the state had canceled the rally and imposed a statewide mask mandate, as Minnesota has. Real Rally Mod Everything Unlocked GRAYPOW. President Donald Trump and Sen. Yeah, yeah -- we all know about the 1846 expedition of pioneers that got stuck in the mountains and resorted to eating the corpses of those who died. Israel's opponents are on the move: On June 10, 2007, to mark the 40th anniversary of Israel's 1967 war of survival, the extremist groups "United for Peace and Justice" and "Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation" will hold what even the liberal magazine Tikkun called a rally for the "dissolution of the State of Israel. This morning, the National Shooting Sports Foundation announced the cancellation of the upcoming 2021 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, in large part due to the socialist piece of shot who runs the states and has banned conventions and events. If you can get help with the rally quickly then set it for a short time to give yourself the best chance of getting it done. Driving time to the Park from Stockton is approx. state-of-survival-cheats. The state has been increasing its testing capacity with help from private laboratories. He was living alone by age 13, addicted to drugs, robbing houses and had a mate get. If territorial non-state actors, 186 such as the PA, are to “claim a right to become states by virtue of the right to self-determination, they cannot in good faith reject the applicability of norms that attach to statehood. "The coasties want what really should be for them. State of Survival hack free android guides videoreviews photos and help from pro players. When war is declared you start the preperation. مماثل لـ State of Survival. Read more about state of survival and latest gaming news, reviews, guides for online, mobile and video games on HappyGamer! State of Survival: Survive the Zombie Apocalypse is a strategy game for mobile devices where players set up a settlement, gather resources and train. King of Avalon. Can You Run It has over 6,000 games in our system requirements database. şükela: tümü | bugün. Also the Republicans will only need to re-take 15 seats in the House in 2022 to regain control. 5 percent of the university’s budget, campus leaders have mapped an offensive strategy to grow in size, prestige and, most important, revenue. Five-year survival rates look at people who were treated at least 5 years ago and refer to the percentage of women who lived at least 5 years after their cancer was diagnosed. Israeli COVID-19 treatment shows 100% survival rate - preliminary data Not only have all the patients survived, according to Pluristem, but four of them showed improvement in respiratory parameters. He just sucked up all the oxygen in every room. will be rewarded with some nice rewards! Have fun and good luck! 🍀 The State of Survival Team #StateofSurvival #Survival #Survivor #Zombie #PlayApartTogether. Below is our collected feedback and opinions on the current state of Fury Warriors on the Shadowlands Beta, mainly focusing on PvE viability, identity, and future design intent. Many think of these as a recovery play, but their earnings are going to be impaired for a significant period of time. May 19, 2020. 30 And Themed Events And Skins. Murphy Again Over 99. Mixing traditional RTS with interesting RPG elements, State of Survival is a fresh breath of air in the world of mobile strategy games. In this image made from aerial video shows numerous stranded whales along the coastline on Sept. Survival and disease-free survival were described in the 2 treatment groups (for all patients and for those undergoing surgery) using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with a log-rank test. Permanent State of Siege. A man will be forced to kill those very people he once held dear. Similar to most strategy games, you have to use strategies to win events. Bd best forum&tips site. This guide will aim to explain how to rally. SHOT Show forced to Cancel 2021 Convention due to Nevada Governors Ban on Conventions. You are a survivor and your friends are in a brave fight against monsters. A wide range of companies are regular and valued supporters of our important fundraising activities. It is being organized by three casino employees — Greg Mallette, cage operations manager and assistant hotel manager for. Trump's campaign issued a statement saying it canceled the event after the GOP candidate met with law enforcement officials upon his arrival in Chicago earlier Friday. From each Caltrain employee, actually, from each government employee, let’s reduce their salaries, pensions and benefits by the price of a good cup of. Save the Children is a leading humanitarian organization for children. This concept is best known as "survival of the fittest," a phrase developed by Herbert Spencer. During Tuesday’s primary elections, Barbra Streisand and Rob Reiner served as Biden’s Hollywood cheer captains, urging fellow Democrats to support the candidate as he managed to secure three key states and appeared increasingly likely to be the party’s choice to take on President Donald Trump in November. He just sucked up all the oxygen in every room. By Nathan Meunier on January 16, 2014 at 6:09PM PST. All P values are 2-sided and values of less than. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. Biden's Secretary of State Pick Antony Blinken to Face GOP Scrutiny. Increasing March and Rally capacity in State of Survival Get the nuts and bolts of increasing your Rally and March troop sizes to take down those bigger mobs and players. A fan community for the State of Survival mobile game. State Of Survival Healing Tips And Tricks. If so January 2023, impeachment of the Socialist President Harris. Critics Consensus: Featuring state-of-the-art special effects, terrific performances, and a majestic sense of spectacle, Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong is a potent epic that's faithful to the spirit of the 1933 original. This election is a matter of economic survival for Michigan. In coronavirus infection, only 3% patients need emergency care, whereas cancer demands 100% emergency care and any delay can lead to fewer chances of survival,” he said. By Leif Johnson on September 29, 2013 at 2:51PM PDT. A full refund of training registration can be given if cancellation is received 14 days before the first day of training. State of Survival King of Avalon Dino War Guns of Glory Accolade Z Day 火枪纪元 KoA test server State of Survival War Mania Test Server Dragon Warfare: Dragon Reborn king All platforms Android iOS Web. We also identified 6 before-after studies. A fan community for the State of Survival mobile game. Dennis has stepped up to serve the Society in a number of leadership roles including Conference president, Diocesan Treasurer, and President of the Far North. Gone are the days of forecasting a landslide victory. 458, Explorer Health: State-of-Survival Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. Under capitalism, no one has a right to survival. I don't think we could actually punish the Deep State like this, or else they might release a deadly SHOCK! The list of arrests and executions of famous deep state 1. If You Really Love Me (feat. The virus has hit the northwestern state of Chihuhua hard. I work in museums and teach in schools, and as an actor. If the course is cancelled by CCFMTC, attendees will be notified by email and telephone at the email address and phone number provided at the time of registration, and registration fees will be refunded to participants. com joins Jack Spirko on The Survival Podcast today to discuss Wilderness Survival, Survival Myths and Urban Survivalist Reality Zak Baker, founded BeFoundAlive. State Of Survival Survival Of The Fittest Stage Ii Heroic Development. Amid the wreckage incredible tales of survival. It is being organized by three casino employees — Greg Mallette, cage operations manager and assistant hotel manager for. State vs State or SvS) is the most complex event in the game. Complete list of survival manga. Welcome to this Guide Survivors! Joining forces and helping each other in this environment is crucial for our survival! This guide is written by experts and fans of the game State Of Survival. The simulation handling is brutal, but a lot of fun to learn and brilliantly satisfying to conquer. State of Survival is a base building game with PvE and PvP game modes where you play as a chief. Media Tip: Recovery Rally at the Capitol. Driving time from Angel's Camp is approximately 35 minutes. The cost to join the rally is AU$10 per night for an unpowered site. Thank you for. Day 6, Special Stage Four of the Yokohama Sonora Rally, presented by Method Race Wheels: Tales are told about scenery like this: Beau Gest, Lawrence of Arabia, The English Patient. 2017 as its 2020 rally powered on. When a will is admitted to probate, or a will made out of this state is admitted to record as provided by sections 2129. The Sturgis (S. In this program, you will receive in-depth training on the use of state-of-the-art software and consulting opportunities. 9 billion) state bailout and EasyJet announced plans to restart flights next month. And even though it still has enough elements similar to other games, a State of Survival guide is required to help you get the most out of the game. CIA firefight in Frankfurt as covert war against the deep state RAGES across the globe Mike Adams. Sian Bryant More patients will be able to receive potentially life-saving treatments for blood cancers following the opening of a brand new ward at University Hospital Southampton. Nonparametric identifiability of marginal survival distributions in the presence of dependent competing risks and a prognostic covariate. MADISON — With the survival of so many state restaurants at stake during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association last week announced the launch of a statewide public awareness. Companies often donate services to support our events or goods to our programs to reduce our expenditure budgets. The horror of survival. By Leif Johnson on September 29, 2013 at 2:51PM PDT. You want to place as high as possible as a individual and as an alliance to get as much gear parts as possible. In the morning I wrote about colleges closing due to COVID-19 and in the afternoon I wrote about laptop fans. We’ve changed the lives of over 1 billion children in the U. There are promises of remounts next season, but there’s only so much time next season. The 34-year-old Tempe lawyer emphasized this as she spoke at the Never Again: Jews and Allies Against Hate rally at the Arizona State Capitol on Tuesday afternoon in sweltering 100-plus-degree heat. The game brings in the effect of deadly Zombies, modern science fiction gears, and modern world troops and weapons. Speaking in…. GamesGuideInfo. Greetings Survivors, Welcome to the State of Survival Guide Workshop. Bolstered by the Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, like many metropolitan. The crowd had been hyped up at the rally against Americans and Jews. 8%, versus flu about 99. State of Emergency. State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition. A rally cry. It is very important to have the good configuration, as the fight is by rounds, mistakes can make a big difference at the end. 1 History 2 Home Sites 3 Current Conditions 4 Locations 5 Strategy 6 Trivia Justineau House Bridge Fort Church on the Hill Mohr and Mohr Distributing Loch and Keogh Self Storage Container Fort Corner Office Out of all three locations, Cascade Hills. It's been six months since the outbreak. Cascade Hills is one of the four main maps in the campaign of State of Decay 2, alongside Drucker County, Meagher Valley, and Providence Ridge. State of Survival. Cardiac arrest is a public health problem across the state of Wisconsin as well as across the country. posted the event CANCELED - Nebraska Region Tire Rack Street Survival @ Lincoln Airpark February 22, 2020 06:00 SCCA. While 12 states banned FGM/C, once a state legislature criminalizes FGM/C, NGOs found they had to convince local authorities that state laws apply in their districts. com/5bj4v1h_svr11ld. The game brings in the effect of deadly Zombies, modern science fiction gears, and modern world troops and weapons. In this game, you control a colony of survivors of an infection that turned the world’s population into zombies. 1,191,848 likes · 8,376 talking about this. State of Survival: Апокалипсис Зомби Мультиплеер. My provisional term for such a state form is “post-democratic” and India too may be moving in that direction. Also the Republicans will only need to re-take 15 seats in the House in 2022 to regain control. The horror of survival. The Metropolitan Police Bureau vow to pursue legal actions against participants in the rally at Ratchaprasong intersection on Thursday afternoon and ended at 10pm as the state of emergency was in effect, said deputy commissioner Pol Maj-General Piya Tawichai on Friday (October 16). The state's commercial casinos, which includes del Lago in Seneca County, have been closed since March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. State of Survival: Апокалипсис Зомби Мультиплеер. From here came the expressions: donator - a person who invests in the game, donate (character, for example) - an element of the game that is bought only with real money. All the games feature an open world environment that is infested with zombies. It was only in 2019, when it won 18 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, that the BJP went from being a fringe player in the state’s politics to becoming the principal opposition party. State Of Survival Survival Of The Fittest Stage Ii Heroic Development. State of Decay is a series of survival horror video games. The infection ripped across the country taking civilization with it. The disease can be treated with six to nine months of chemotherapy, doctors told the Lannings. Monday, May 4, is a day that twenty thousand students at Ohio’s Kent State University will remember in horror and sorrow for the rest of their lives. and the National Institutes of Health and was expected to give it the green light soon, clearing the way for its use to begin as early as Monday. The world belongs to the infected now. CIA firefight in Frankfurt as covert war against the deep state RAGES across the globe Mike Adams. Spore (cancelled film adaptation of life simulation real-time strategy game; 2009) Strawberry Fields Forever (cancelled "Yellow Submarine" sequel film; late 1990s) Link to facts about the film where the sequel is mentioned. Rajveer Vakani, a 27-year-old accountant from the Indian state of Gujarat, said he was on board a rented yacht on which his friend’s birthday party was taking place. Can You Run It has over 6,000 games in our system requirements database. The game takes place in an apocalyptic world full of zombies. However, there are many events you can earn rewards for by playing the game as you normally would, so it’s a good idea to frequently check the Events Billboard, which is in the upper right-hand corner. With state funding now just 12. All this work was done by volunteers survivors who took the time to share their knowledge. A similar rally in St. Record-breaking crowds of Jews and sympathetic Christians gathered on the steps of the Canadian parliament in Ottawa to rally for Israel on April 21st, 2002, a time when the rise in anti-Semitism became a concern to the Jewish community. I know that this video might be a bit chaotic but bare with me. The yacht set sail from Dubai Marina around sunset and everyone was moving to the upper deck about an hour and a half later, he added. Would that those German citizens of 80-90 years ago had possessed the advantage of our hindsight and the. WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship. NetEase also previously stated that once Season 3 begins, players will find free vehicles scattered across the map. See world news photos and videos at ABCNews. You will have to build up your base to defend yourself from the hordes, and also from other players. The event was due to take place at Messe Frankfurt, 12-14 May. Dependent Competing Risks and Summary Survival. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that Russia was behind the ongoing, "very significant" cyberspying campaign that has infiltrated federal With temperatures dropping and new restrictions on indoor dining, businesses see takeout orders as the only viable way forward for their survival. It is being organized by three casino employees — Greg Mallette, cage operations manager and assistant hotel manager for. All sorts of horrors are trying to cut your game short and the only way to stay alive is to rally other survivors to your cause. Two contracts, which I was in the process for, have been cancelled. Not to be confused with Republic of Lincoln, a survivor state carved out of the former American state of Nebraska. Купить Rules Of Survival. Saving Your Scoop - A Rally Cry. In this game, you control a colony of survivors of an infection that turned the world’s population into zombies. -Optimized the backpack;. Laid out over 250 acres, the Indiana State Fairgrounds & Event Center is home to more than 1,000,000 square feet of event space and offers the most flexible event venues in the state of Indiana. A Māori warden at the rally, Frances Kara, said he was pleased coasters were standing up for what "rightfully belongs to them". You can easily find a survival game like Free Fire on the Google Play app store. The feeling here is Ohio State will beat Indiana by three touchdowns, No.
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Paranormal Activity: Stop Being So Negative Jim Halpert.
Finally I have had a chance to see the movie that everyone has been talking about. It's been a trending topic on Twitter forever and I had a feeling since I did enjoy and get pretty creeped out by the Blair Witch Project- that this too would genuinely freak me out. It could have been because I watched it in 3 separate parts spread out over 3 days, or because I didn't see it in the theater with the sound amplified to the nines, OR because my version was not the theatrical version and therefore didn't end with the big ending that everyone kept talking about- but after those last few minutes ticked away, I found myself wondering- "That's all?"
I think that people were affected by this movie for a number of reasons. The first being that it responds to a primal fear of all us- the dark and hearing a bump in the night. It sparks that whole feeling of being 5 years old and dreading going to sleep because that's when the monsters or vampires or ghosts or whatever else may get you, comes out. Even as an adult, being alone in a house can still spook me quite a bit, and so Paranormal Activity takes those feelings and fears and serves it up right.
Had this not been filmed a la documentary style it would have bombed, because it would just be like every other ghost horror movie out there. The documentary style like the typical "true story" marker gives it instant appeal and belivability. The fact that there are no special affects or CGI ruining it, is also a high point. But overall I think you really have to experience this one in the theater for it to affect you.
The sounds that happen during the night are only really scary amplified. I found them to be barely startling with my set up, and sometimes I had to turn the volume up and rewind just to figure out what the big deal was.
Another problem for me was that Micah was really annoying. This is probably only because he sounded exactly like Jim Halpert from The Office and I cringed everytime he made a sarcastic joke- and envisioned him cracking a half smile/ awkward face behind the camera. Besides his voice though, his actions also really bothered me. Why are you provoking a demon? Do you really think you are macho enough to take him on? It was obviously Micah's fault that everything was happening. He had to be a little sarcastic unbeliving shithead and the demon was not down with that. He is also responsible for the negativity. If he had just put the camera down Katie wouldn't have gotten angry and fights wouldn't have ensued. But the demon feeds on negativity and was also probably allergic to baby powder- so things got out of control.
The only parts that kind of scared me other than Katie's weird jewelry making, were when she was was dragged from the bed and when the door moved by itself in the very beginning.
The part that didn't scare me at all and made me laugh however- was the Ouija board part. Moving by itself? Sure why not. Bursting into flames? Come on. I seriously laughed out loud right then and there. Those demons and their pyromaniac tenedencies! It was just a little silly. Also I have such a hard time picturing demons. Are they half goat, or are they people with big teeth who spit out curdled milk? Do they have horns? Did those foot prints look hoofish? I just don't know about those demons. I almost think I would have been more scared if it was just an angry ghost. Demons immediately push the movie into this other realm that's just a little too serious.
I want to say that I was scared beyond belief, and that I had a hard time sleeping- but I just can't. I want to tell you to believe the hype and confirm that this is the scariest movie I've seen in years- but I really can't. And I'm sad about it believe me. As someone who got pretty frickin scared by the Blair Witch Project I figured I would be screaming for the hills within the first few minutes, but I was more interested in figuring out why their house was so nice when only one of them had a steady job. Yes my ending was the original ending when premiered all those years ago and probably no where near as scary. But overall I just felt a huge feeling of disappointment. Bah I'm going to go watch Aliens!
Labels: Ghosts and Spooks
CMrok93 said...
Alright, this film scared the crap out of me, especially that ending. If only it had the same thing Blair Witch had going for it, where people thought it was actually real.
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Ludlow: Ponder Gets Serious
When the opening credits of Ludlow begin, I feel like one of those giggly children at a funeral suddenly silenced by the shocked looks of the teary eyed adults. Stacie Ponder's debut feature length film Ludlow produces that same kind of hushed seriousness. As longtime readers of Final Girl and fans of Stacie's work know, it is not uncommon to laugh above the octave of normalcy. And so when Ludlow begins and we are met with an instant air of heaviness and sadness, our giggling anticipation is immediately thrown out the window and we are ready to behave.
Readers of Final Girl have no doubt followed the harrowing story of the making of Ludlow and were well keyed into the fact that this was a divergence from Ponder's previous work. While the project seemed to be taking place on a roller coaster due to the shoddy electrical wiring of Ludlow and the poor reservation taking skills of motel workers---the final outcome of the film couldn't have been better. Thanks to the inspired work of Shannon Lark, Stacie's incredible eye for the beauty that lies within sadness and to her newly honed editing skills, Ludlow turns into something that the horror community greatly needs---originality.
After driving into Ludlow, a seemingly bruised and battered Krista (Lark) checks into a motel. There she calls her sister Maddy (Elissa Dowling) and promptly ignores phone calls from someone named Steve. Popping pills, and downing vodka--Krista begins to undergo a terrifying decent into a world where reality and madness are harshly intertwined.
In Stacie's early account of making Ludlow she once stated that she was deeply inspired by the film The Dead Girl (Don't get it confused with Deadgirl or I'll kill you). The comparison is easy, as both films evoke such a strong and heavy feeling of depression that by the end it almost becomes difficult to breathe. Ludlow takes things to a different place however as the way to get there is darkly clouded and often times distorted. By its end we are similarly depressed but we are also rooted in the fact that we can't be exactly sure what has just happened. In fact for the most part of the film I couldn't help but repeat to myself my very favorite lines from Let's Scare Jessica to Death.
I sit here and I can't believe that it happened. And yet I have to believe it. Dreams or nightmares. Madness or sanity. I don't know which is which.
This is perhaps less a mantra for the character of Krista and more of a mantra for the viewer. Throughout Ludlow we are never given a definitive answer as to what exactly is happening. Rather it is a continuous feeling of being stuck on some dizzying carnival ride and never being quite sure if it is going to stop. When it does we are still plagued with similar feelings, only now that our feet are rooted in the ground it makes it a little easier to think. Whether you find that the majority of the film didn't happened or whether you find that it did happen only in a different way, the fact still remains that something happened and that it affected you. Because we are so deeply pushed into the world and mind of Krista we find that we are affected by things much like she is. Ponder does this seamlessly as she causes us to grimace and become revolted by an extraordinary bloody mess in the sink for example--and then suddenly causes us to catch our breath and stare as confusedly back into the mirror just as Krista does.
We are constantly delivered a one two punch of absolute horror and absolute shock. As viewers we are 100% invested in Krista and what happens to her. This is what makes the final outcome more depressing than we'd like to admit.
The film can also not be talked about without discussing the brilliance of Shannon Lark's performance. While I try to give most independent films a shot, I am usually always turned off by the unnaturalness of most of the actors. Shannon Lark's performance however completely wowed me. There are moments in this film that had me wide eyed and amazed that Shannon Lark was actually acting. In fact I remain unconvinced that Stacie wasn't forcing Lark to chug vodka and pop pills in between takes (knowing Stacie it's probably true). Even when she isn't on screen, Lark's voice overs and monologues are some of the best work I've seen and heard. One incredibly moving scene in particular involving a shattered mirror, practically brought me to cool voice over heaven and made me want to cry (by the way I was kidding about Stacie being a booze pusher). Nothing ever comes out sounding awkward and everything right down to her facial expressions and the way that Lark's unwashed hair becomes a vital part of her character--is down right thrilling.
While a few have found a minor complaint in the shortness of the film, I almost wish it could have ended with that scene I referred to up there with the mirror. This is most likely due to the fact that I tend to love really depressing and beautiful things. But something about that scene just makes me want to watch it all day long. It's a voiceover/monologue that rivals the above mentioned Let's Scare Jessica to Death! It's that mystifying. But since I know there was quite a bit of hubbub about making the length fit into feature film territory I realize that my fascination with the glum and the depressing must be pushed aside. But know this---that part fucking rocks.
Ludlow is a film that is largely psychological yet it speaks to its viewers in a much more purposeful and chilling way. If you are a fan of naked women and helpless teenagers being brutally slaughtered than you may find yourself confused when it comes to Ludlow. Ludlow is almost quiet in what it does and it makes you feel like you too are inside that motel room. The beauty of the film can easily be summed up by the score done by James M Barry. The quiet piano notes echo those same tones of heaviness--and even sound like tears if you listen close enough. Yes, Ludlow isn't the feel good comedy of the year but it's a film that I feel like the horror world needs more of. A film that dissects a real kind of a horror and leaves the viewer feeling more scared of what the mind is capable of and less scared that a killer is waiting patiently outside their door. It's a real, brutal and honest horror and that is difficult to find.
Watching Ponder's film almost makes you want to knock on her parents' door and get them to tell you the truth about her film making experience. It still seems incredible to me that someone who had no real previous experience in film making is capable of making a film 100% better than half of those annoying indie filmmakers who claim they've had a camera in their hands since age 5. It can't be possible! Or can it? Ludlow and behold (ha that was the worst joke I've ever made....sorry), Stacie Ponder is a serious force to be reckoned with. Of course there was that time my screener copy suddenly froze and malfunctioned during chapter 6 (for those of you in the know it's during that little masturbation scene) and I swore out loud and cursed Stacie Ponder for giving me a bum copy. Upon taking the disc out to examine however, I found a cat hair gently embedded into the lens. So make of that what you will.
For all information Stacie Ponder and Ludlow check out Final Girl.
Labels: Indie City
Mikey Sarago said...
Man, I've been waiting far too long to see this. And now with these positive reviews, my excitement is really starting to annoy me, lol. I really hope Stacie makes Ludlow available to the public very soon.
Pax Romano said...
Excellent review, Andre!
I can not wait to see this one.
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Twitch Blames DJs After Servers Crash from Too Many Live Streams
With COVID-19 cancelling shows for months due to self-isolation policies and the safety of citizens within the United States and worldwide, DJs everywhere have flocked to Twitch to try their hand at live streaming. Unfortunately, the service was unprepared for the onslaught of streamers and the service crashed for a number of hours yesterday afternoon.
“We are aware of the problem and are working as quickly as possible to bring services back online for everyone,” read a tweet from Twitch. “The incredible number of new streamers due to COVID-19, particularly DJs in the electronic dance music world, overloaded our servers for a few hours this afternoon.”
Though many would view this as a cause for concern, the EDM community predictably celebrated the incredible impact their favorite DJs had on the worldwide service.
“I can’t believe it, we actually brought down twitch,” one Twitter user wrote. “#Headbanger4life.”
“Who do we think had the most users to crash twitch,” asked another, who added a poll to their tweet with Subtronics, Skrillex, JERICHO, and UnFaZeD as options.
Hopefully Twitch will have normal operations resumed soon so we can continue to watch four dozen DJs quantize their kicks in real time by the end of the day.
Disclaimer: Happy April Fool’s. We know right now that everyone is hurting, and #NoAprilFools is even trending, but we felt that to not bring levity and laughter to an otherwise very grim period in our lives wouldn’t be in line with how we do things. Though we aim to briefly deceive, our aim is not to anger or inflame any pre-existing issues, but to flip the script and examine a world where the inconceivable thrives. We hope you and yours are staying healthy during these trying times.
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Fri, Jan 22, 2021 | فارسی
Special Issue on Covid-19
Call for Paper: Special Issue on COVID-19 Pandemic
Principles of Publishing Ethics
Ethical Codes: Medical Research
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References Guideline
Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology
The Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology (IJPCP) publish original scientific articles in the fields of psychiatry, clinical psychology, mental health and allied fields. This journal is publishing by Tehran Psychiatric Institute affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences with the general objectives of community mental health promotion. All the submitted articles will be peer reviewed.
The full texts of the articles in this journal are freely available in the web sites:
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The manuscripts must be sent to the IJPCP office through the journal web site:
and the Journal E-mail address is: ijpcp@iums.ac.ir
Authors must prepare manuscripts according to the last version (5th. ed.) of Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).
The submitted materials may be accepted for publication in six different sections of the journal: original research articles, short scientific articles, case reports, review articles, meta-analysis and letter to the editor.
The corresponding author must be indicated (if the submitted manuscript has more than one author), which the journal readers can contact him/her for more information. The corresponding author is requested to supply their major, academic position, affiliations, telephone and fax numbers, postal and electronic mail addresses in the cover sheet. Regarding the research ethics when conducting studies on human subjects, the authors are advised to present the evidence that they have conducted the study according the statements of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm).
Original articles should be limited to 3000-7000 words (excluding tables, figures and references list) and to 7500 if necessary (The word software "tools" option can be used for counting the material words) and should contain: title, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, acknowledgement and references list.
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Abstract: The abstract in original articles and review articles should be limited to 250 words, and in short scientific articles and case reports to 200 words. It should include the Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions sections. The authors are encouraged to introduce 3-5 key words according to the principles and regulations used in Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) web site at:
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Home / All / Fiqh & Socitey / What Do You Know about Al-Ghadir Book?
What Do You Know about Al-Ghadir Book?
Ali Teymoori August 16, 2019 Fiqh & Socitey, Sociability & Relations Leave a comment 2 Views
Do you know that when only one volume of the Al-Ghadir collection was sent to Lebanon, 30 thousand of Sunnis became Shiites by reading this book within a very short time!
Do you know that the great collection of Al-Ghadir has been gathered in defense of the oppression of Amir Al-Mo’menin Ali (pbuh) and his true caliphate right!
Do you know that all the sources that have been used in Al-Ghadir book were amongst the sources of Sunni books!
Do you know that Allama Amini was researching and reading for about 17 hours a day to write and collect the Al-Ghadir collection!
Do you know that Allama Amini read ten thousand books wholly and has referenced to 100 thousand books repeatedly in order to write the Al-Ghadir book!
Do you know that the unique collection of Al-Ghadir has 20 volumes, of which 11 have been published so far and 9 volumes have not been yet published. The late Allama Amini said, “I have written my main words in that nine volumes and these eleven volumes are an introduction to those words”. And if all the volumes of the book get published, they will have a far-reaching effect on the world!
Do you know that the content of Al-Ghadir is not very pleasing to many people, but since it has been written based on rich sources and references, no person or group has been able to criticize or reject Al-Ghadir book or even criticize or reject only one page of it, since the book has been published till now (about sixty years)!
Do you know that the kinglets, ministers, and political figures also praised Al-Ghadir book. The elders of the jurists and Muhaddiths (hadiths researchers) and the great authors and poets of the Sunnis also read them and praised them, let alone the Shia elders!
Do you know that Allama Amini with his precious Al-Ghadir bookby using the Sunnis’ documents and books, made it impossible for those who are opposed to Al-Ghadir Sermon and the Wilaya of Amir Al-Mu’minin (puh) from any way to deny or justify it, and this book made it clear for every one and left no excuse for them to doubt about Al-Ghadir glorious Sermon!
The late Allama Amini in the unique Al-Ghadir book has introduced the Al-Ghadir hadiths narrated from 110 companions of the Prophet (puh), 84 of the followers, and 360 of the narrators of hadiths from the Sunni books from the second to the fourteenth centuries (A.H.)!
Allama Amini said, “On the Day of resurrection, I will fight the enemies of the Amir Al-Mu’minin (puh)! Because they wasted the time of Imam and my time, otherwise I wanted to spread the wisdom of Amir al-Mu’minin (puh), and they came to me and made me write a book to prove his Imamat (leadership).”
Allama Amini (may Allah bless his soul) is a person who stood against those who distort the history and he uncovered the truth with a powerful and kin, but logical and scientific words. Also, he pulled out the truth from the dark corners of history and he proved the true caliphate of Amir Al-Mu’minin (puh) to the world.
Tags Al-Ghadir Book Allama Amini Imam Ali as
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Images of Old Hawaiʻi
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April 9, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment
Ka Huakaʻi o ka Pō
“The first thing you will hear is drums in the distance, then you will smell a foul and musky odor, and you will hear a conch shell being blown, for fair warning to get out of the way, and you will see torches getting brighter and brighter as they get closer.”
“Your best chance is to have an ancestor that recognizes you, they will call out,’Na‘u!’ which means mine. But if you are in the night marchers’ bloodline no one in the procession can harm you.”
“No matter what you build in their path they go straight through it. The night marchers are the vanguard for a sacred chief or chiefess who unusually have a high station in life.” (Kapanui)
Here’s a recount …
“One night just after nightfall about seven or eight in the evening, he was on his way when of a sudden he saw a long line of marchers in the distance coming toward him. He climbed over a stone wall and sat very still.”
“As they drew near he saw that they walked four abreast and were about seven feet tall nor did their feet touch the ground. One of the marchers stepped out of the line and ran back and forth on the other side of the wall behind which he crouched as if to protect him from the others.”
“As each file passed he heard voices call out ‘Strike!’ and his protector answer ‘No! no! he is mine!’ No other sounds were to be heard except the call to strike and the creak of a ma-ne-le (string hammock.) He was not afraid and watched the marchers closely.”
“There were both men and women in the procession. After a long line of marchers four abreast had passed there came the ma-ne-le bearers, two before and two behind. On the litter sat a very big man whom he guessed at once to be a chief. Following the litter were other marchers walking four abreast. After all had passed his protector joined his fellows.”
“A month later the same young man went to call on some friends and was returning home late at night. Not far from the spot where he had met the marchers before was a level flat of ground and drawing near to the spot he heard the sound of an ipu drum and of chanting.”
“He came close enough to see and recognize many of the men and women whom he had seen on the previous march as he had sat behind the stone wall.”
“He was delighted with the chanting and drumming, with the dancing of the ala‘apapa by the women and the mokomoko wrestling and other games of the past by the men.”
“As he sat watching he heard someone say, ‘There is the grandson of Kekuanoi!’ – ‘Never mind! we do not mind him!’ said another. This was the name of a grandfather of his who lived on the beach and he knew that he himself was being discussed.”
“For a couple of hours he sat watching before he went home. His grandfather at home had sun it all; he said, ‘I know that you have been with our people of the night; I saw you sitting by watching the sports.’”
“Then he related to his grandfather what he had seen on the two nights when he met the chiefs and warriors of old.” (Kona resident, as told by Pukui in Kepelino’s Traditions; Beckwith)
The sight of the procession of Ka huaka‘i o ka Pō (‘Marchers of the Night’) “is said to be fatal unless one has a relative among the dead to intercede for him.”
“If a man is found stricken by the roadside a white doctor will pronounce the cause as heart failure, but a Hawaiian will think at once of the fatal night march.” (Pukui, Kepelino’s Traditions; Beckwith)
“The time for the march is between half after seven when the sun has actually set and about two in the morning before the dawn breaks.”
“It may occur on one of the four nights of the gods, on Ku, Akua, Lono, Kane, or on the nights of Kaloa. Those who took part in the march were the chiefs and warriors who had died, the aumakua, and the gods, each of whom had their own march.” (Pukui, Kepelino’s Traditions; Beckwith)
“There are several types of Marchers. The gods may be distinguished by a wind that blows through the forests or shrubbery. The wind snaps off branches of great trees to clear the path for the gods.”
“The march of the gods is led by a row of six who carry blazing red torches. Three of the torch carriers are females and three are males. The sound clearly heard within their ranks is the chanting of their names and chants of praise.”
“Kane is the night on which the Marchers in the Night most often consist of dead chiefs, chiefesses, priests and their close attendants. Again, a Hawaiian conceals himself for it is death to be seen by the Marchers.”
“The chief’s procession are lighted by torches, but the light of the torches is not as great as that of the gods. A warlike chief is apt to march in the procession between two warriors.”
“In all these processions, a man who had held a similar position in life, marches at the head of the column calling kapu to warn the living to get out of the way. It is his duty to execute any living being caught in the path.”
“Many Hawaiians have never seen the processions but they have heard the music of the flute, the beating of the drums and the chanting which goes on at the heiau at the end of a procession.”
“Sometimes the procession of chiefs will end on a level piece of ground which in ancient days served as a place for sports tourneys. There the chiefs and attendants play their favorite old games to the loud sound of laughing and cheering.”
“Ancient Hawaiians knew just where the paths were located which were the favorite courses of the Marchers in the Night.” (Taylor)
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night-marchers-mansson
Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Hawaii, Ka Huakai o ka Po, Night Marchers
August 22, 2013 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
Kīpapa Gulch
Place names help tell the stories of the place.
During the reign of Māʻilikūkahi, who ruled in the 1400-1500s (at about the same time Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic,), invaders from Hawai‘i and Maui arrived on O‘ahu.
In the battles, the O‘ahu forces met the opposing forces in the uplands of Waipi‘o, and a great battle occurred.
Māʻilikūkahi was raised partly in Waialua and is said to have maintained a kulanakauhale (village) there.
Fornander writes, “He (Māʻilikūkahi) caused the island to be thoroughly surveyed, and boundaries between differing divisions and lands be definitely and permanently marked out, thus obviating future disputes between neighboring chiefs and landholders.”
Kamakau tells a similar story, “When the kingdom passed to Māʻilikūkahi, the land divisions were in a state of confusion; the ahupuaʻa, the ku, the ʻili ʻāina, the moʻo ʻāina, the pauku ʻāina, and the kihāpai were not clearly defined.”
“Therefore, Māʻilikūkahi ordered the chiefs, aliʻi, the lesser chiefs, kaukau aliʻi, the warrior chiefs, puʻali aliʻi, and the overseers (luna) to divide all of Oʻahu into moku, ahupuaʻa, ʻili kupono, ʻili ʻāina, and moʻo ʻāina.”
What is commonly referred to as the “ahupuaʻa system” is a result of the firm establishment of palena (boundaries.) This system of land divisions and boundaries enabled a konohiki (land/resource manager) to know the limits and productivity of the resources that they managed – and increase its productivity.
Māʻilikūkahi is also known for a benevolent reign that was followed by generations of peace. He prohibited the chiefs from plundering the makaʻāinana, with punishment of death. His reign “ushered in an era of benign rule lasting for several generations.”
Thrum notes that while Māʻilikūkahi was peacefully disposed, he proved to be a brave defender of his realm in thoroughly defeating the invading forces.
Fornander suggests it was not considered a war between the two islands, but, rather, it was a raid by some restless and turbulent chiefs. The invading force first landed at Waikīkī and proceeded to ʻEwa and marched inland.
At Waikakalaua (an upland ʻili of Waikele) they met Māʻilikūkahi and his forces, and a bloody battle ensued. The fight continued from there to the Kīpapa gulch – stretching across Kīpapa (an ʻili of Waipiʻo,) Waikakalaua and the place known as Punaluʻu.
Tradition has it that the body count from the invaders was so great that it is said the area was paved (kīpapa “placed prone”) with their bodies.
Punaluʻu, an upland ʻili, was named for one of the invading warrior-chiefs killed during the battle. Another warrior-chief, Hilo, was also killed in the battle.
Poʻohilo (an ʻili of Honouliuli) is named from events following a battle in the Kīpapa-Waikakalaua region in which the head of Hilo was placed on a stake at this site and displayed.
Kanupo‘o (an ʻili of Waikele) may be translated as meaning, “planted skull” and seems to imply an event of some importance – it may be tied to events of the battle at Kīpapa and the naming of Po‘ohilo at Honouliuli.
Today, people suggest the gulch is ruled by the spirits of fallen warriors; there are reports that this is one of the paths of the Huakaiʻpo (night marchers) and other reports suggest a woman dressed in white hitchhiking.
The area was also a temporary home to the Naval Air Station Kipapa Field / Kipapa Army Airfield. It was used because it could accommodate two 5,000′ runways free from obstructions (however, concerns were raised about increased air congestion due to its proximity between Pearl Harbor and Wheeler Field.)
The airfield site is located south the Mililani Golf Course between Meheula Parkway and Hokuala Streets – the runways extended out to the edge of the gulch. Mililani District Park is located near the intersection of the 2 main runways.
The use of this site by the Navy would permit the concentration of carrier-group training for Naval aviation on the south side of the island of Oahu including Barber’s Point, Kīpapa Gulch, and Ford Island.
But it was not until sometime after the United States entered World War II that Kipapa Airfield was developed; the exact start date is not clear, but 1943 maps note the facility.
During the war it apparently saw little use by the Navy due to the fact that carrier aircraft were constantly deployed during the war. The Army Air Corps became the principal user of the airfield by default.
Aircraft from this airfield searched & patrolled over the surrounding Pacific area, maintaining a 24-hour vigil to avert any attack with a large number and variety of squadrons are documented to have been stationed at Kipapa Airfield during World War II.
Kipapa Field was evidently closed at some point between 1959 and 1961 (it was no longer depicted on the 1961 and later mapping.)
The image shows Kipapa Gulch. In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.
Filed Under: Place Names Tagged With: Ahupuaa, Ewa, Hawaii, Huakaipo, Kipapa, Mailikukahi, Mililani, Night Marchers, Oahu, Waikele
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Video: See the cast of “Glee” and Wanda Sykes accepting honors at the GLAAD Media Awards in LA
By Greg Hernandez on Apr 20, 2010 2:17 pm | Comments (0) |
Thanks to GLAAD for providing these videos from Saturday night’s big awards gala.
Glee won for outstanding comedy series and creator Ryan Murphy paid special tribute to Chris Colfer who came out publicly late last year saying he was “true to what he is instead of waiting until he was 40 and it doesn’t matter.”
Wanda Sykes, when accepting her award, reacted by remarking that even coming out after 40 is still “a big F-in deal!”
FILE UNDER: Awards, GLAAD, Glee
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for NFSC Car: 2008 Dodge Challenger
[[Image:NFSC_Car_-_2008_Dodge_Challenger.jpg|thumb|right|2008 Dodge Challenger]] A new "retro" Dodge Challenger concept car was shown at the 2006 North American International Auto Show. The concept uses a shortened LX platform, has the 6.1 L Hemi V8 coupled to a manual transmission, and borrows many styling cues from the original 1970 model. On July 1, 2006, prior to the Pepsi 400 at the Daytona International Speedway, Dodge announced that this concept would, in fact, be made for the 2008 model year. It will be built on the Chrysler LY platform, the next generation of the Chrysler LX platform in 2008. The rear-wheel drive performance coupe will be a direct competitor to the hugely-successful Ford Mustang, as well as to the potential future Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac GTO muscle cars. The Challenger will be made in limited numbers on the same line as the Dodge Charger, Chrysler 300, and Dodge Magnum, as the same flexible manufacturing system that allows the Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee to be built on the same line, one after the other (instead of in batches). It is possible that the flagship Challenger model may feature the 6.4 L Hemi V8 as an extra-cost option, though this is speculation. The Challenger will likely utilize the standard 5.7 L Hemi V8 as the base V8 engine. DaimlerChrysler has given the Challenger the "Green Light" for production.{{source|http://en.wikipedia.org|Wikipedia}} ==Car Info== '''Make:''' Dodge<br/> '''Model:''' Challenger<br/> '''Year:''' 2008<br/> '''Class:''' Muscle<br/> '''Confirmed:''' Yes ==Related Pages== [[Need for Speed Carbon Car List]]<br/> [[Need for Speed Carbon]] ==External Links== [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Challenger Wikipedia entry]<br/> [http://www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/dodge_challenger.asp RSportsCars entry] [[Category:Need for Speed]]
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Return to NFSC Car: 2008 Dodge Challenger.
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How do you not lose in roulette? – Usa Online Blackjack For Money
They have to know exactly how many balls they are going to get. That is how most people can predict the outcome. How do you lose in roulette and still win? You’ve never had an opportunity to win on the blackjack table. If the dealer calls black, or you call $2.50 or $4.50, when are you going to try and bet that $5 card? Even if it is a fair bet, that’s not a bet you can afford to lose.”
The author of the book, “Mafia,” is known for having studied casino strategy. He said the casino’s business model is so successful because the players know how to play, and casino workers know who to play against.
“If you take away one bit of information, it’s going to make you not as smart as your friends know you are,” he said. “You can’t think for yourself if you’re playing with a deck that’s loaded.”
He said he was stunned by the way the casino worked.
“It’s a system where you’re buying the machine because they get what they want,” he said. “And it goes away from them when they lose. They’re so greedy they’ll do whatever to get that profit. They’re playing for a profit, and if it means they lose more money, they won’t ever give it up. They don’t give them a fair chance.”
“There’s no game in the world, and there are no games that pay out the full expected profit that you are going to make if you won the bet,” he said. “Everyone has that in their lives. That goes the other way around. You have people in casinos who are so obsessed they’ve had a pathological love affair with making money they’ve lost their heads in the whole industry.”
And then, after being beaten, he said, the people who are able to get even with an establishment are those who know how to gamble like gamblers know how to play.
“If someone knows how to play it, if they can spot a few problems in a game, the casino will pay them a lower bet,” he said. “They can always make more money, because you have a higher profit margin when you are playing in the casino. If you see someone play the roulette wheel with a little more care, that makes a difference to the casino. It’s hard to do as a gambler in casinos. But if you don’t know how to play casino
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What does 00 mean in roulette? – Best Online Roulette Simulator Info
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Home › Games › Arcade
Beyond Dark Castle
Your rating: None Average: 5 (23 votes)
Author: Jonathan Gay
Mark Stephen Pierce
Publisher: Silicon Beach Software
beyond_darkcastle.zip (2.49 MB)
MD5: 74d33b0ba7616cfc60c762fa3e942619
For System 1 - 5 - Mac OS 8 - 8.1
beyond_dark_castle_complete_archive.zip (5.67 MB)
MD5: 3990cfd366a7ce6db29e24c907cbbbdc
beyonddarkcastle_1_1.zip (3.43 MB)
MD5: 6e2ad3e01530d3fb95dc6348c91e14c1
jonathan_gay_interview.zip (55.79 KB)
MD5: 3b6ee3319f3acf9d15ab5172343db019
BehindDC.zip (102.82 KB)
MD5: 40d6bb4252830088f048d4c2baf8f01a
bdc_original_documentation.pdf
jonathan_gay_interview.pdf
This game works with: Basilisk II, Mini vMac
The sequel to Silicon Beach's legendary Dark Castle. Released shortly after the original, it turned out to be more of the same, but that's no criticism.
Fans of the series would have to wait another 20 years for a third installment, Return to Dark Castle. Available for modern Macs on the Apple App Store.
Black and white only.
by ThinkIndifferent - 2019, October 25 - 3:19pm
Video about this game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8VHja56xBQ
by CalTheOnly - 2014, August 16 - 11:32pm
One of my all time favorites. I bought Return to Dark Castle. Even after all these years, the rhythm of the classic levels came right back.
by MCP - 2012, October 2 - 4:14am
The page is getting a little overloaded with downloads, but I've added my archive of version 1.1 that I've just found. It's got a compatibility chart included with its docs, detailing which system versions and which models the game works with.
by Arthegall - 2012, March 20 - 12:59pm
I just added an interview with the programmer, Jonathan Gay. It's the 55k download. Posting as .pdf to docs didn't show up.
by Arthegall - 2012, February 11 - 4:44pm
Just wanted to plug the updated version of this game, Return to Dark Castle, that is currently available on Apple's app store for $5. I've been playing at it little by little for the last month, and it took me a while to get started, but it was worth it.
It's a nice update on Dark Castle and Beyond Dark Castle but remains completely faithful in very many ways. I support copying and distributing abandonware (obviously), but when an app like this hasn't been completely abandoned, I say we owe it to the rights holders to reward them for their work. Five dollars well spent. If nothing else, maybe they'll notice a little referral traffic from this site and think kindly of our efforts.
by MCP - 2012, January 8 - 8:05am
Well done Arthegall; if only everyone would take such care with their old software!
by Arthegall - 2012, January 7 - 10:09pm
I've added a new archive that I just made from a NIB copy that I got on eBay. The software is packaged in several versions, scans of the box, disks, and documentation are included, and the whole thing is zipped. DC 4.2 and 6.3.3 .img files are included.
by Knight_Ken - 2010, March 15 - 12:52pm
by Attila - 2010, March 2 - 3:26pm
I've just noticed this archive is infected with a virus. I have an archive of my own that I grabbed before it was infected, and includes some extras. Will try to upload it later in place of the infected one.
by MacWise - 2009, September 15 - 6:09am
After fixing the problem reported here, I have re-uploaded the file to avoid more issues. It's now a DiskDup+ file, which is not harmed by the zipping process.
by bertyboy - 2009, September 12 - 9:48pm
Does anyone want / need "Behind Dark Castle" ? It's a sage game editor for Beyond Dark Castle.
by Euryale - 2009, September 12 - 9:05pm
Actually Karateka and Aztec were the very first games I ever played on a Computer,
I still have my Apple //c
(nonetheless I was born way after that era) but made quite an impression on me, for its simplicity, and how well made they were.
that's why I like this type of games (Flashback, out of this world, Prince of Persia)
and this one (Dark castle)...Nice memories
by IIGS_User - 2009, September 12 - 3:34pm
This game reminds me a bit of the AZTEC game for the Apple ][
I remember this one, too.
by Euryale - 2009, September 12 - 1:00am
(which is one of my all-time Favorites)
I like this one, and is amazingly well done for a B/W machine, very detailed,
though a bit hard sometimes,
so I'll give it a 5 stars
by jack cambrian - 2009, September 12 - 12:46am
A really amazing sequel to a really amazing game. BDC builds on the gameplay established in Dark Castle and just adds more awesome elements. I mean... flying around with a helicopter back-pack while hurling fireballs at giant birds?! And yet, this somehow makes sense in what is supposedly some sort of medieval parallel universe. In this one you kneed to collect a number of magical orbs to open the magic door (which all castles seem to be equipped with in these games) but in contrast to the first installment, in BDC you can move outside of the castle and go and explore a number of excellently rendered outdoor landscapes. And, of course, there are more dungeons and more enemies to confound you and use up your precious elixir. There is slightly more depth and detail to this game than it's precursor and it stands as a classic in it's own right.
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video production and advertising
Sabaa Tahir - An Ember in the Ashes.
An Ember in the Ashes is the debut novel from Sabaa Tahir. A breathtaking tale of love and loss set in a fantasy world that will appeal to fans of Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games.
To celebrate publication, HarperVoyager asked MoonAge to conceptualise a short animated book video trailer, which would then be promoted on YouTube through targeted Google Video advertising. To ensure as many people as possible would engage with the trailer as quickly as possible, we used some eye-catching review quotes from the praise the book had already received in America and combined these with burning ember visuals, engaging copy and a suitably dramatic soundtrack.
The result was a 40-second trailer that would pull readers in without giving too much away and encourage them to click through to find out more and ultimately make a purchase. A range of different core reading groups were identified and keyword and placement targeting was used to drive people to watch the video, generating over 40,000 views in just two weeks.
"I love it! It's so good." - Sabba Tahir's UK publishers.
Copyright © MoonAge Media Ltd 2016. All rights reserved. Site by Simon Wilkes.
+44 (0)7446 986 829 hello@MoonAge.co.uk
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Home Articles-Opinions
Dangerous Tamashas
By B.G. Verghese
The Capital witnessed some dangerous gamesmanship last week with the Delhi Government sitting on “dharna”, transacting official business on the street disposing of files with officials in attendance outside Rail Bhavan and bedrolls for the night until a face- saving formula enabled Kejriwalto call off the tamasha. This was a vulgar display of arrogant pettiness that was wholly avoidable. The Supreme Court has now asked the Chief Minister whether a constitutional authority can advocate and practise unconstitutional behaviour.
The episode was wholly avoidable. AAP has simply refused to explain or understand a simple point. The drama started because SomnathBharti, the Law Minister, claimed that there had been repeated complaints by individuals and the RWA for months, even years, to the effect that Khikri Extension had become a den of drug peddlars and prostitution in which African nationals were involved and in respect of which the police had taken no action.Therefore on an SOS by local residents on the night of January 19,Bharti decided to lead the charge himself, flagging down a passing police patrol car en route. The charge is that the police and even the ACP, who was summoned, refused to act at that midnight hour without a warrant or women police despite the Minister’s orders and urgings. So Bharti and his vigilantes acted independently, leading to complaints by four Ugandan women of racial abuse, sexual harassment, forced searches and so forth.
Kejriwal demanded that the ACP and SHO’s involved in this incident and another staged by Rakhi Birla, Minister for Women and Children, in another locality be suspended. This demand was resisted as the Lt. Governor had ordered a judicial inquiry that would take some weeks to complete. Thereupon, Kejriwal launched his “dharna” in a Section 144 area, resulting in scuffles with the police, inconvenience to the public and interference with on-going Republic Day bandobust. The Supreme Court has now asked the police why it allowed a mob to gather in a prohibited area.
The question to be asked is why Bharti and or Kejriwaldid not on January 20 order the police immediately tofile a criminal complaint or FIR against the alleged prostitution/drug ring in Khikri, promptly investigate the matter and take action against any guilty party? This would have been consistent with due process. There was no way the police could have disregarded suchan order. Rather than follow due process, Kejriwal resorted to fulmination and street action and spurn this obvious and simple option? And now the lofty but utterly irrelevant posturing by the AAP! The Ugandan women have meanwhile filed a police complaint against unknown AAP mobsters and have identified Bharti, who is facing flak on a number of counts. But the AAP leadership has let the law minister off the hook while having secured a temporary suspension of two SHOs in another display of double standardso the part of the AAP.
Not content with this folly, Bharti declined to attend a summons by the Delhi Commission of Women to explain his conduct. He went to a Kite festival while the two representatives he sent to seek another date, got into an unseemly slanging match at the DCW office. The AAP also released video tapes of Delhi police beating up a man in some past incident and eight videos purporting to show Africans in Khikri in a bad light, an offence under Article 19(a)2 for actions liable to vitiate friendly relations with foreign states.
Most political parties have been severely critical of the AAP, which is fast losing credibility even among its adherents. At the same time, riding two horses has made the Congress a laughing stock. It cannot inveigh against Kejriwal and yet continue to support the AAP in the Delhi legislature and keep it in office. It obviously fears that if the AAP falls, it could splinter and enable the BJP to form a government with dissident AAP support. This low-level politics can do the Congress no good as it struggles to remain relevant. Chidambaram has gone public in stating that the Party was split in backing the AAP in office and the decision to do so was “unnecessary”.
Attempting to keep up with the AAP, the Maharashtra Government has rashly reduced the state’s power tariffs across the board by 20 per cent, except in Mumbai city. This will cost the exchequer an unaffordable Rs 7200 crore per annum. Maharashtra thereby follows Delhi and Haryana in scattering fiscal prudence to the winds. In all these cases, populism seems to have triumphed over prudence.
The electoral campaign seems fast degenerating intoand ugly exchange of abuse and innuendo with Uttar Pradesh witnessing a no-holds-barred campaign. The Samajwadi Party has squandered its Muslim vote bank by the communalism it displayed during the Muzaffarnagar riots and its aftermath. Communalism is being whipped up.
Modi has, however, for the first time spelt out his vision in more tangible terms, unlike Rahul Gandhi who continues to espouse eternal verities. Addressing the BJP nation executive in Delhi, the BJP’s prime ministerial face spoke of aiming to accomplish several missions: the creation of world class infrastructure in terms of rail, road, water, gas and optic fibre grids; a golden triangle of bullet trains, a new urban design with 100 walk-to-work cities, and a renewed agricultural and social sector thrust.. Some of these are imaginative ideas but need prioritisation and fleshing out. Hopefully they will be elaborated and become the focus of debate. Sadly, too little has been said on systemic reforms, with old fashioned procedures continuing to matter more than outcomes.
Another matter that merits close attention is fashioning a sensible communication policy. Chidambaram, a very articulate man himself, has described the top UPA leadership as “media shy”. The Prime Minister is unfortunately a poor communicator. But what the country truly lacks is modern system of information/communication and response in an information age. There is no live or meaningful contact or coordination between the PM’s Information cell, the JS External Publicity, the Defence spokesperson, the I&B Ministry and the Home Ministry or Internal Security-cum- Police and Intelligence wings. There is no routine mechanism for morning conference calls to bring all major spokespersons on the same page or for assigning lead roles for communication in emergencies and disasters. When are we going to live up to the national motto of SatyameveJayate which implies more than mere propaganda and spin-doctoring. Nobody has paid the slightest attention to this aspect of modern day governance. Cabinet-speak and Party spokespersons have a role to play; but a communications policy has to go far beyond that.
Finally, the Army’s just-announced closure of the Pathribal case appears to lack credibility and smells of a cover-up. It must be re-investigated. The case pertains to the killing of five men in what the Army alleges was a terrorist encounter but which the local populace, the J&K police and even the CBI claim was a fake encounter in 2000 in which five villagers were gunned down. Overturning the CBI’s findings without convincing evidence to the contrary rings hollow.
www.bgverghese.com
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Mama Macha at Loktak Lake: Endless Love
KanglaOnline - April 16, 2016
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Please!! Don’t Say You Love Me
By Seant’a Conyers
A four-letter word, with Goliath sized power.
Love can ignite fires, strike pain or even launch wars. Loving someone right or loving them wrong can mend broken hearts, and even leave scars. In Please! Don’t Say You Love Me, breakout author Seant’a Conyers explores the various aspects of love and why we should understand the impact when it’s properly used or abused. When wielded like a weapon, love inflicts unbearable pain in the heart that’s desperate to own it, whether it be friendship, love of family, or simply…being in love. Love isn’t a whisper – it’s a roar. Tucked between these pages, you’ll find exactly what love has to say…about love. Do you know what love is?
Categories: Books, Pen Legacy Publishing
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Secure Your Legacy Journal
This Inspirational & Coaching Journal was created for your breakthrough. With the New Year approaching, my goal is to help everyone achieve their resolutions and goals for the infinite year of 2018. If you understand numerology, you know that the Angel Number 8 tells you to step into your personal power and have faith and trust in your own abilities, skills and talents, and to use them to their highest potential. It also brings a message that financial abundance is on its way to you as you have worked diligently and intelligently towards achieving your goals and aspirations, and your just rewards will be yours.
With this journal, I will coach you through your setbacks, challenges, and frustrations, while making you think, reflect and desire more so that you can transition from saying, “I Want” to “I Am”. By saying I Am, you are declaring to the universe what is going to happen, and that provides a platform for you achieve. This is the only way you will receive the freedom you seek and the future you envision now!
Get Out Of Your Own Way: 11 Life-Changing Stories on How to Face Everything & Rise!
After the success of the book Get Out of Your Own Way, Vol. 1 and its hit stage play, Charron Monaye comes back with a cutting-edge sequel.
Get Out of Your Own Way 11 Life-Changing Stories on How to Face Everything & Rise! is brutally honest and pulls no punches in getting to the root of why we let life get in the way of our dreams. Charron Monaye along with eleven others weave through their journey of letting go and overcoming the pitfalls and valleys that we sometimes find ourselves in during life. They remind us, so eloquently, that a dream is nothing without action, and hope is nothing without prayer. Join these twelve gifted authors as they write about the heartbreak of failure and what it’s like to triumphant over life’s many adversities. They will inspire and encourage you to find the best version of yourself and forget the notion that you’re only as good as your present circumstances. If you’re ready to take the first step towards finding your own greatness, then you can’t afford to miss this great read!
Congratulations to: Chris Hopson, Parenthysis E. Gardner, Tyrone Brown, LaKeya Guy, Teddy Pendergrass II, Charron Monaye, Sidney Ginyard, Tyrone DuBose, Lisa Dove Washington, Brett Lillard, Nichole Sherri.. they are officially out of their own way
Love the REAL You
by Charron Monaye
Are you one of the millions of people who are experiencing more pain than happiness these days? If so, this book is for you. Happiness and Self-Love comes from peace and acceptance within. Happiness is a choice. Self-Love is a matter of respect. We all choose how we see the world but before we journey outside we must wake up and face ourselves. If you are unhappy with yourself, than there is no doubt you are unhappy in the world.
Love the REAL You is a coaching and inspirational guide to help uncover deficiencies, promote introspection and lead the reader to a greater sense of self love. It contains practical, yet powerful, exercises that will move you from reflection to inspired action — in other words, from off the couch out into life!
Through Charron’s guidance and support, this book will show you how to:
•Become your own inner coach and find the strength to overcome any circumstance
•Do away with your negative chatter and bring forth greatness
•Start playing bigger in all areas of your life – from wealth, relationships, finances, and more!
After reading readers will find comfort in walking in purpose, change their mindset to accept the possibilities of life and find ways to remain committed to who you are without apologizing. It’s time to let go, move on, and forgive who we used to be so that we can live; loving the person we are destined to be!
not rated $9.99 ORDER NOW!
Handle with Care: 7 Essentials to Prepare, Pack and Propel for a Career Transition
By Pamela Burkett-Jones
That’s the triumphant sound of you taking the leap to fire your employer and bet on yourself! Moving on professionally is never easy – it can be very stressful, overwhelming, and cumbersome. Just as in a personal move, you have hard decisions to make when deciding what is important and adds significant value to your next chapter.
In Handle with Care: 7 Essentials to Prepare, Pack and Propel for a Career Transition, Pamela Burkett-Jones shares her seven essentials steps of the “Moving Box Methodology, which propelled her from employee to career freedom to embark on a new life of happiness. Kissing her boss goodbye! Infusing her personal testimonies with the proven strategies that helped her overcome stress, uncertainty, and the ultimate dream killer- fear when packing your “box” to start your new chapter, Pamela provides you her blueprint that is guaranteed to crush doubt and provide you with the tools to bet on YOU!
Are you prepared to position yourself to unleash the greatness within as you transition careers? Are you open to exploring your available possibilities as you prepare to move forward? Are you in search of strategies to keep you from crashing and burning as you transition? Are you ready to move on toward a brighter future? If so, then grab your box and get ready to handle your success with care!
not rated Coming In 2021
UpLevel: The Unapologetic Guide To Manifesting Success
By Toni Moore, Esq
There is something deep within the belly of your soul that you’re responsible for manifesting on this side of heaven. Whether you call it your brilliance, id, purpose, or gift, you’re responsible for using what you have to manifest pieces of Heaven on earth. Whether you grew up from a wealthy family or in poverty, God planned and purposed for you to manifest greater things. Now the question is, will you allow more to come through you than what was given to you?
From bruised and broken pieces to blessed and bankable, Women’s Empowerment Speaker, Toni Moore, shares her unapologetic guide to pushing through the shadows of hurt, shame, and poverty to manifest her version of ‘happily ever after.’ True to her brand of being real, raw, and relatable, Toni shares a story of how someone who comes from nothing can unapologetically manifest greater no matter what.
If you’re ready to break free of the status quo, make change possible, and manifest greater on this side of Heaven, then now is the time to Uplevel.
Son, You Matter
By Derrick Washington
Meet 7 year old Ahmad. A boy who idealizes his father and loves chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. It’s a special day for him because after school, Ahmad is going for his favorite ice cream with his favorite person. What seems like a normal day changes quickly into one that transforms the way Ahmad views his father, ice cream, and life all in one moment.
not rated $12.99 Available Now
Get Out Of Your Own Way: Overcoming Adversity to Live In Your Truth Out Loud
Compiled By: Charron Monaye
Get Out Of Your Own Way: Overcoming Adversity to Live In Your Truth Out Loud is a collection of personal short stories from C.E.O.’s and Entrepreneurs who have learned the valuable lesson of focusing on Faith, instead of Fear!
Heart Works: Mindful Things from the Heart
By Tonia Slaton
From Tonia Slaton, comes this debut collection of poetry that explores the movement from broken heart to healing, love, and moving on.
In Heart Works: Mindful Things from the Heart, Mrs. Slaton examines just how gentle, yet fragile our heart muscle is. Through beautifully crafted stanzas, Tonia reveals the comfort in pain and the freedom in moving on. As you flip each page, you will be reminded that healing is the best gift that you can give to yourself.
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27 Internet Girlfriends You Should Still Be Crushing On
Yana Grebenyuk at December 26, 2018 1:52 am .
The internet may have plenty of well-known boyfriends, but that doesn't mean there aren't just as many ladies that are getting the love and appreciation that they deserve. There is also the wonderful added bonus of the loyalty that comes with coining a character the internet's TV girlfriend.
Not only have we supported them over the years, but we are also still in their corners, learning from them as much time as we spent hoping they got good storylines and well thought out development.
Related: 27 Internet Boyfriends You Should Still Be Crushing On
Obviously not every choice pertains to everyone, which is why we've collected both well known and underrated choices, all of which spread throughout currently airing shows or TV shows that are much more nostalgic now.
Which TV girlfriend do you think the internet needs to still be crushing on right now?
1. Lexa - The 100
This can't be shocking to anyone, with Lexa's fans becoming the literal definition for loyal. Lexa made a huge impact, with her presence still felt during The 100 Season 5, and yet it is possible that she made an even bigger one off screen. Lexa offered queer fans the chance to see themselves in a powerful human on their TV screens, a necessary shift in the way that the media approached representation as well.
2. Lara Jean Covey - To All The Boys I've Loved Before
We were so lucky to have Lara Jean in our lives this year, so much so that it is likely that we would fight Peter Kavinsky for the chance to spend more time with her. It doesn't have to come to that though, with news of a second installment of To All The Boys I've Loved Before officially ordered by Netflix.
3. Prudence - Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
The least shocking thing about Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 was the way that we all fell for Prudence. Tati Gabrielle is a gift to our favorite TV shows, and it seems like this is only the beginning for us.
4. Adena El-Amin - The Bold Type
Adena became a fan favorite long before anyone realized exactly the impact that she would have both on fans and on her girlfriend Kat. But The Bold Type Season 2 took Adena on a weird road, so now everyone has come together to wait out her return to the show and to her own story.
5. Clarke Griffin - The 100
Clarke Griffin is the fight that we all find within ourselves, except she is proof of the strength that keeps us all going. She also happens to be an imperfect character, like most characters end up being on The 100, and yet there is nothing we wouldn't forgive her for because she has our entire heart. She has been through so much and has so much more headed her way, always making us want to protect her from everything the show throws at her.
6. Anissa Pierce - Black Lightning
There is a lot more that we will get to see from Anissa, but she has already left a mark on The CW and in our hearts. She is an extraordinary superhero, who deserves way more love than she is receiving from the internet right about now.
Wait! There's more Internet Girlfriends You Should Still Be Crushing On! Just click "Next" below:
Photo Galleries, Multi-Show
The 100, Game of Thrones, Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Supergirl, Wynonna Earp, Black Lightning, The Good Place, Broad City, Timeless, The Office, Outlander, New Girl, The Vampire Diaries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Sense8, Lucifer, Dynasty, One Day At A Time, Veronica Mars, Shadowhunters
Photo Galleries Slideshows, Multi-Show Slideshows, The 100 Slideshows, Game of Thrones Slideshows, Riverdale Slideshows, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Slideshows, Brooklyn Nine-Nine Slideshows, Supergirl Slideshows, Wynonna Earp Slideshows, Black Lightning Slideshows, The Good Place Slideshows, Broad City Slideshows, Timeless Slideshows, The Office Slideshows, Outlander Slideshows, New Girl Slideshows, Vampire Diaries Slideshows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Slideshows, The Flash Slideshows, DC's Legends of Tomorrow Slideshows, Arrow Slideshows, Sense8 Slideshows, Lucifer Slideshows, Dynasty Slideshows, One Day At A Time Slideshows, Veronica Mars Slideshows, Shadowhunters Slideshows
Wynonna Earp Review: Holy War: Part 1
The 100 Review: The Queen's Gambit
In the Dark Review: The Unusual Suspects
Watch Outlander Online: Season 4 Episode 9
Outlander Review: The Birds & the Bees
Outlander Review: The Deep Heart's Core
Veronica Mars: Adam Rose Joins Hulu Revival
Watch Outlander Online: Season 4 Episode 11
Black Lightning Review: Angelitos Negros
The 100: Shipping Culture and the Bellarke Romance of It All
The Good Place Season Finale Review: Pandemonium
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Review: I'm Almost Over You
Black Lightning Review: Pillar of Fire
Black Lightning Review: Original Sin
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Review: A Marriage and a Funeral
Grey's Anatomy Round Table: Are You Tired of the Teddy/Tom/Owen/Amelia/Link Love Circle?!
Dynasty Review: Mother and Brother
Black Lightning Season Premiere Review: Birth of Blackbird
Black Lightning Review: Super Sinister
Yana Grebenyuk
25 Merry and Memorable Christmas Episodes For Your Enjoyment
13 Best Christmas Episodes We'll Never Forget
TV Characters Who Are Definitely on Santa's Naughty List
Photo Galleries Photos
Photo Galleries Slideshows
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Last Updated: Monday, 28 January 2008, 11:23 GMT
James Bond set to boost Hornby
Hornby makes model railways and the Scalextric racing cars
Toymaker Hornby is betting on the latest James Bond film and Shaun the Sheep series to drive sales.
The group said it had secured licences to make a range of products based on the two characters.
The model railway maker, also known for its Scalextric model racing cars, said it had enjoyed "significant growth" in the pre-Christmas trading period.
Sales growth was also strong in Europe, but was less than expected because of delays with new product lines.
"A strong finish to 2007 shows once again that Hornby is extremely resilient in times of economic uncertainty," said chairman Neil Johnson.
Bond Scalextric
Hornby said it expected orders and sales for the next three months to be greater than the same period last year.
Shaun appears in an animated children's TV series
The firm, based in the seaside town of Margate, said that sales of its Scalextric racing cars got a boost from a range based on the McLaren Formula 1 team and star driver Lewis Hamilton.
A forthcoming Scalextric set will be based on the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, that is due out in November.
It will feature Bond's Aston Martin and an Alfa Romeo as the chase car.
Hornby said its revitalised Airfix model range would also lead to further sales growth.
It has already begun producing models based on the hit TV series Doctor Who and has secured the licence for a Shaun the Sheep kit, expected in the summer.
Hornby bought the Airfix model kit brand, famous for its detailed reproductions of World War II planes, in November 2006.
Airfix - Britain's Next Top Model?
07 Dec 07 | Business
Formula One drives Hornby sales
09 Nov 07 | Business
Hornby snaps up Airfix for £2.6m
Hornby signals German expansion
01 Sep 06 | Business
Airfix set to boost Hornby sales
01 Jun 07 | Business
Hornby branches out to new lines
26 Jul 07 | Business
Strong demand boosts Intel profit
Rio resumes Australia investment
Unemployment dips to 2.47 million
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Last Updated: Wednesday, 5 May, 2004, 18:48 GMT 19:48 UK
Mother admits raping her children
The case has shocked and outraged public opinion in France
A mother-of-four at the centre of a child rape case in northern France involving 18 children has confessed in court to raping her own children.
The 37-year-old cried as she made her admission, adding that she had been raped as a child by her father.
She is one of 17 adults on trial for the alleged assaults, which took place over five years in the northern town of Outreau.
Fourteen of the defendants, aged 24 to 67, deny any involvement.
Neighbours involved
On the second day of the trial, which has shocked France, the woman said: "I became an adult at the age of eight when my father raped me. I raped my own children."
"It's so hard. I don't understand why I did what I did," AFP news agency quoted her as saying in court.
Hundreds of witnesses are due to appear in court
She described her husband as an alcoholic who would kick her and beat her with his fists, AFP reported.
When asked why she did not leave him, she told the court: "I couldn't... things had gone too far."
She previously told police she had raped 11 of the 18 children involved, aged three to 12 at the time.
The six women and 11 men on trial have also been charged with "rape with torture" and "rape with barbaric acts". Some of their own children were named as victims.
The case came to the attention of prosecutors in December 2000, when social services alerted them to the possible sexual abuse committed by an unemployed couple against their own four children, AFP said.
The children, once they had been placed in foster care, told investigators they had been fondled, raped, coerced into performing sex acts and forced to watch pornographic films.
The children named other individuals involved, some of them neighbours.
Police seized sex toys and pornographic videos from the family apartment where the illicit sex sessions allegedly took place.
In 2001, other members of the alleged ring, including a bailiff and his wife, a taxi driver and a priest, were placed under investigation.
Twenty people were initially arrested in connection with the alleged paedophile network.
One suspect committed suicide while in detention, while another was declared unfit for trial.
The trial is expected to last six weeks.
Child rape trial opens in France
04 May 04 | Americas
Country profile: France
21 Apr 04 | Country profiles
Timeline: France
30 Mar 04 | Country profiles
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The boyfriend of a “You-tuber” who died while riding an electronic scooter says her death was a harsh lesson on the danger they can pose.
Emily Hartridge was involved in a fatal collision with a lorry in Battersea last month.
Her partner Jake Hazell says he bought the e-scooter as a present not realising they're banned on UK roads.
He also wants to continue her legacy of breaking the stigma around mental health.
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Volunteering experience with Justice Femme 18.04.2015
Raya in Flacks: NewsActivist Winter 2015- Complementary Course
Champlain College, Saint-Lambert
On the 18th of April 2015 at 2PM, Justice Femme, a non-lucrative organization, put together a meeting that included four panellists and 80 women to talk about how one should defend herself after being threatened on the street for wearing a hijab.
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Encouraging to Reach for Fitness
RayM in Flacks: NewsActivist Winter 2015- Complementary Course
During the past few weeks, I have been reading and summarizing news articles about physical activity and health. In fact, it was proven that obesity was due to the lack of exercise and the lack of a healthy diet. Obesity rates have increased rapidly in a short period of time. To put you in perspective, one in four Canadians are obese (Super-Sized 2). Also, obesity rates have increased from 25 to 35 percent for women and from 20 to 35 percent for men between 1988 and 2010 (You Are What You Eat 2).
Is a budgeted healthy diet possible?
ProvocativeTrash in Flacks: NewsActivist Winter 2015- Complementary Course
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Fat can be healthy, so don’t tell me you’re dieting for health reasons
In her article “Fat can be healthy, so don’t tell me you’re dieting for health reasons”, published in The Guardian, Bethany Rutter (pictured below) discusses a study that has “shown” that overweight (BMI >25) and mildly obese (BMI >30) people tend to live longer than “thin” people (BMI 20-25).
A Fat Tax for Austerity?
Fast Food Driving You Faster to Death?
WomboCombo in Media Ethics (Section 09)
Marianopolis College
Since their creation, fast food chains have been a source of controversy especially in the media and both sides are quick to raise pros and cons to the food and overall sanitary conditions these chains provide and contain. Nowadays, our media is riddled with ads and commercials powering possible customers to go and basically spend little for a lot, a more bang for your buck kind of deal.
Weight loss and Fitness Products: Are they really ethical?
CC0220 in Media Ethics (Section 09)
Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by advertisement. In fact, research show that the average American is exposed to about 3,000 ads every day (Media Relations, Inc. 1). Nowadays, a great amount of those ads are related to fitness and weight loss. Everyone has heard or seen an ad claiming that a certain product will make you lose 10 pounds in a week or make your muscles grow without you having to exercise.
Julien Assange and WikiLeaks
Julien Assange was born in Townsville, Australia on the 3rd of July, 1971. His childhood was spent travelling around the world with his mother Christine and stepfather Brett Assange due to the parent’s theatrical prospects. While growing up, Julien attended approximately 37 different schools and was also homeschooled. Assange became passionate about computer programming when he got is first computer on his 16th birthday.
We Just Need to Pee
lizzfowler in Flacks: NewsActivist Winter 2015- Complementary Course
In October 2014, the Canadian Senate passed Bill C-279, which added gender identity as a basis for hate crimes under the criminal code under the Canadian Human Rights Act. This is very progressive of us, and I was proud to be a Canadian in a time where we were becoming closer to equality for everyone. Senator Donald Plett changed my mind. Plett, of the Conservative Party, proposed an amendment that would exempt Bill C-279 from applying in gendered public facilities, such as washrooms or changing rooms.
Neonicotinoids and Colony Collapse Disorder
Original Title: We don’t know for sure that pesticides are killing the bees. But we know enough to worry. Author: Puneet Kollipara News Outlet: The Washington Post Date of Publication: March 5, 2015
The word « feminist » hardly associates with the gender equality’s cause
perrinebrds in Changing Welfare, Changing States? Comparative Social Policies revisited by Gender.
University of Potsdam, Germany
The word « feminism » still today widely used however has been through many period and corresponds nowadays to a really different reality than the one during which it appeared. Firstly because both of the awareness among the women’s place in society and its defense increased, took other dimensions, women acquiring gradually more rights and recognitions.
Suicide Action Montreal
While there are many opportunities to volunteer in a variety of organisations, one of the most hands-on is suicide counseling. This isn't a task that everyone can be up to; it can be traumatising to the point that some volunteers will express symptoms of PTSD. It is definitely the voluteer opportunity with the realest of consequences, but it remains the most impactful and rewarding experience.
Government Finances and Marijuana in Quebec
With Phillip Couillard looking to cut nearly $2.4 billion from Quebec spendings[14], solutions definitely have to be found. As of now, the liberal party of quebec is focusing on cuts to public services rather than creating additional revenue streams. With a healthy weed culture and minimal enforcement on individuals, Quebec looks to be one of the best prospects in Canada for marijuana legalization.
Abortion: A Woman's Choice
pinkarizona in Media Ethics (Section 09)
Abortion is an issue that causes controversy and frustration among many people. There are many different groups of people that have their own opinions. More religious people tend to be against abortion whereas non-religious people tend to be pro-abortion. Although this topic is discussed often, the general population has a hard time agreeing its morality. As a pure and applied student, I have the chance to apply into the medical field so I think it is important to discuss the ethical implications of such a procedure.
Playing With Our Food
Heedee in Media Ethics (Section 07)
Processed and genetically modified foods are being eaten by almost everyone, every day. Almost every food at your local store has been processed or is genetically modified to taste good, to look good and in fact to be sold at a cheaper price. GMOs are done by “extracting DNA from one species and injecting it into another” (Dr.OZ). While processed foods being quite similar are when you add chemicals to raw, natural foods so the process of making the product is faster and therefore able to produce great quantities of the product.
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Whistleblowers, can we trust them?
proudlithuanian in Media Ethics (Section 09)
Politicians and civil servants are often in contact with sensitive information that is, in many cases, classified. In the US alone, 4.9 million people have access to classified documents (Knefel, par. 4). If classified information does not respect someone's ethical values, should (s)he tell it to the public? Should all type of information be published in the name of public good? These are all important questions to determine if whistleblowers help society or weaken it. This article will concentrate on whistleblowers that tell government’s secrets. Whistleblowers face a difficult choice.
Cuts in School Libraries or How to Decrease Students’ Level of Education
louisp in Flacks: NewsActivist Winter 2015- Complementary Course
On an article from CTV News named School Boards Have to Make Budget Choice, Says Yves Bolduc published on August 28, 2014, Quebec education minister Yves Bolduc made a controversy by saying, on August 26, to the French newspaper Le Devoir that there was enough books in school libraries. This source is reliable because, the day after, Bolduc himself went on national television to restate his position by asking librarians to spend as much on books as the previous years.
Media and Transgendered People
Glossary of Terms 1.Transitioning: The process of socially and physically transitioning into one’s desired gender. 2.Passing: Successfully being perceived as one’s gender identity. 3.Gender Dysphoria: A condition where an individual does not identify with their sex at birth.
The Double-Edged Sword in the Fight Against Terrorism
PHayes in Flacks: NewsActivist Winter 2015- Complementary Course
A few days ago, the government introduced legislation in the House of Commons that would, among other things, give more power to CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) in its fight against global and domestic terrorism. If passed, the new law would extend the period of preventative detention for terror suspects, criminalize the promotion of terrorism, allow the agency to disrupt terrorist activities and remove content from the internet and ''tweak'' court procedures and the no-fly list.
The widening gap of educational success in the United Kingdom.
Richard Adams, education editor of The Guardian writes that the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) gap has widened between the rich and poor. According to recent statistics, only 1 in 3 disadvantaged student achieve the GSCE’s passing level. Data collected on last year’s exams in England indicate that 53% of pupils earned themselves a C or above, which is a 6% fall from 2013.
Your Privacy is at Risk
With the recent “hack” at Sony, there is a growing number of concern by corporations and state official considering the security of the internet. The United States government has especially been vocal about such an issue, as it is pushing for strengthened laws against cybercrime. The White House commented on the matter, stating that the incident was considered a “national security issue”.
OBESITY, NOT OUR FAULT?
Giroux in Flacks: NewsActivist Winter 2015- Complementary Course
In the article "McGill Researchers Recommend the 'NuVal' Food Rating System" from CTV News, it says that food labels are too complicated to understand and to evaluate for normal consumers. Therefore, people do not refer to them when they buy their food so they do not do healthy choices. The consequences are that a lot of people are diagnosed with obesity while Canada’s food labels could be change to be simple to read. The NuVal system is proposed and has been proved to work well.
ProvocativeTrash
ProvocativeTrash's Classes
Flacks: NewsActivist Winter 2015- Complementary Course
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Tennis ATP – Grand Slam Australia Open Betting Tips
Albert Turner January 3, 2017 0
2017 has come and lovers of tennis preparing to welcome a classy match which will take place at the Grand Slam Australian Open. The best players are ready to compete to be the champion and collect the reward money. The gamblers also use this Tennis ATP – grand slam Australia open betting tips to raise money from the bets offered by sportsbook. Through a comprehensive analysis and the selection of the right type of bet, an abundance of money will go into the pockets of the bookmakers.
The main concern at the Australian Open Grand Slam tournament of 2017 this time is Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Djokovic is now eyeing six Grand Slam Australian Open title in the last seven years. Meanwhile, Andy Murray will want to prove the existence as the world’s best tennis players by getting the title at the Australian Open Grand Slam tournament in 2017. You bookmakers like QQ188asia.com Best Online Sports Bookie Website & Asia Top Free Bets Bookmaker certainly have to focus on both of these players, especially when the game is still in the early rounds.
Could Andy Murray became the Champion?
Andy Murray is one of the candidates to become a Grand Slam champion at the Australian Open. His victory over Novak Djokovic at the end of 2016 proves that this player already deserves to be called the world’s best players. Betting market to enter the name of Andy Murray along with Novak Djokovic as the top two players in the list of top-seeded Australian Open champion. Odds are the same for both players. In a way, both players are equally strong.
You should put a bet on Andy Murray at Sportsqq288.com The biggest Online Sports Betting Site In Malaysia in the early rounds of the Australian Open. If you put it in your mix parlay. Play money line with a candidate wins for Andy Murray until he made it through to the semi-finals. Avoid playing handicap betting game because Murray tend not to chase victory in three sets. Typically, these players always get a high handicap in the early rounds so you better play betting money line.
Novak Djokovic, Mr. Consistency
Djokovic is the player who should be selected in any list of the mix parlay. He played relatively stable throughout last season. He is apparently still shows the best performance in 2017. Come bet the money line to win Novak Djokovic. The player is able to show dominance facing lower ranked players and is relatively easy to ensure to the final of a Grand Slam championship.
You should also try the handicap bet on Novak Djokovic. Handicap -1.5 full time for Novak Djokovic is the highest limit if you bet on this player. You should take the full time handicap game for Djokovic often finish off his opponents by a landslide score in every game. Handicap limit of 3.5 or even 5.5 is still quite safe to Novak Djokovic in the qualifying rounds.
Other Candidates
Besides those two players, you can count on players like Stan Wawrinka and the other top 10 ranked players to advance smoothly to the next round. Go bet on players like this in the early rounds. Stop when it has reached the Grand Slam quarter-finals.
Australian Open Women’s Singles
You can also bet on a tennis match of women’s singles Grand Slam Australian Open. However, you should be careful. Women’s Singles match often provide unexpected results. The seeded players could be eliminated in the early rounds. In addition, the final round could also be played by players of surprises.
Money line betting at Bettingqq101.com Malaysia Online Sports Betting Site, Live in Play Bets is a safer bet to be played on the women’s singles. If you want to play handicap. Make sure you have completed the reference needed to take a decision in the betting. Do not bet just because players are top-ranked player. Complete preparation will enable you to win the bet at the Australian Open Grand Slam.
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Feb 19, Clafouti
Le Clafouti is possibly the most famous traditional dessert from the South West of France. It is a mix between a pancake and custard, like a runny pancake
Feb 19, Coq au Vin (Cockerel in Red Wine)
Coq au Vin is one of the most famous foods from France. It is basically cockerel cooked in red wine and is ingrained in the history of France
Feb 19, Confit de Canard
Confit de canard is basically preserved duck which has been cooked in its own fat for a long while, then left to go solid.
Feb 19, Cassoulet
Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked french bean stew or casserole originating in the southwest of France
Feb 17, Tarte au Pistou
Tarte au Pistou is basically a quiche with the traditional Pistou sauce, which is garlic with basil and olive oil
Feb 17, Truffle Omelette (Omelette aux Truffes)
Truffle Omelette or Omelette aux Truffes is a regional recipe from perigord, made from one of the most expensive ingredients in the world
Feb 17, French Riviera – Cote d’Azur Food and Drink
Traditional french food information on restaurants, recipes and dining in French Riviera – Cote d’Azur
Feb 17, Bourgogne Food and Drink
Traditional french food information on restaurants, recipes and dining in Bourgogne
Feb 17, French Meat Recipes
Traditional, french meat recipes include duck, deer and wild boar in their meat dishes, from all around France
Feb 17, Beef Bourguignon
When I started to research recipies for beef Bourguignon, I realised that like most French foods there are hundreds of different variations of the recipe.
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Azalea, Unschooled by Liza Kleinman
Because of the Sun by Jenny Torres Sanchez
Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation by Kyo Maclear
Bisbee, Arizona, Then And Now by Boyd Nicholl
Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood
Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew
The Bubble Wrap Boy by Phil Earle
CatStronauts: Mission Moon by Drew Brockington
CatStronauts: Race to Mars by Drew Brockington
Drunk Tank Pink by Adam Alter
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
Finding Fortune by Delia Ray
The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg
The Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood
Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia by Won-Ldy Paye
Hello, My Name is Octicorn by Kevin Diller
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein
In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph M. Marshall III
"It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by Bernard Waber
Pantomime by Laura Lam
Pippi Moves In by Astrid Lindgren
Road Trip by Gary Paulsen and Jim Paulsen
Stef Soto, Taco Queen by Jennifer Torres
The 39-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths
The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce
The Upper Mississippi: A Wilderness Saga by Walter Havighurst
Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
Crossing the Cornfield
January inclusivity reading and shortening the gap in reviewing
On reading your own books and moving
The Green Mill Murder: 01/02/17
The Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood is the fifth book in the Phryne Fisher series. A murder during a dance contest ultimately leads to a hunt for a missing ANZAC veteran, hiding away in the Australian Alps.
As with the other books that were adapted for the Miss Fisher Investigates television series, there are a lot of gaping discrepancies between the book and episode. It's really difficult to not compare and contrast the two.
The television series unfolds its stories based on two motivations: character building of its core characters (Phryne, Dot, Jack, Collins, and made up Aunt Prudence), and to further the dramatic plot. That means that most of the work is done by the four core characters and that the plot is edited and distances are shortened to make dramatic rescues by said core characters possible.
In the editing process, criminals have their character sheets so vastly altered to give them completely different motives for their crimes. Some criminals are completely erased from the story, or given personality transplants so that they are no longer criminals, thus leaving huge gaping holes in the plot.
That's the case here. In the original, the murder at the Green Mill leads Phryne fairly quickly to realize her date for the night, Charlie, isn't the sort of person she thinks he is. His disappearance in the book is suspicious because he is violent and unhinged. In neither version, though, is he the Green Mill murderer.
In the television series, women are usually more angelic than their book counterparts except at times when the plot can't be sanitized any more. The mother of Phyrne's dance partner is portrayed as a nervous woman in both versions, though in the book, it's a complete put on and Phryne knows it. The mother isn't an innocent woman mourning the potential loss of a second son; she is a manipulative, abusive, horrible person, and the trigger for the third act in the book that is excised from the television episode.
The second half of the book (and really only a coda in the episode) is Phryne's trip to the Australian Alps. Though the names are kept in the episode, travel there is shortened to a quick, dramatic drive, rather than a multiple day flight through dangerous terrain and weather (low visibility / freezing weather) by plane.
Phryne's skills as a pilot are removed from the television episode. Maybe it was to save location shooting costs. Maybe it was to give another opportunity to show off Phryne's car. I don't know. But I loved looking over Phryne's shoulder as she planned her route, and carefully executed it.
Where Phryne ends up is rural, mountainous, and dangerous. It's a place where one needs to keep their wits about them to survive. It's a quiet place perfect for a man recovering from shell shock to live out his days. It's a place that needs time to be described and a place that needs time to get to.
And then there's the closing act, up there on the side of a mountain involving rugged terrain, jealousy, sibling hatred, years of festering abuse, and a wombat.
So it goes. Every book from the Kerry Greenwood I read, the less I like the television series.
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Most Forgettable Legends Episode Elimination Thread
Author Topic: Most Forgettable Legends Episode Elimination Thread (Read 3163 times)
Re: Most Forgettable Legends Episode Elimination Thread
Oh God this is so hard, but I guess "The Lily-Crested Crown of Clovis I" needs to go next due to the close temple games (Orange won 2-1.5) and Katie's big messup during the temple run. Other than that, this episode was completely forgettable and I didn't even know it existed back during the Nick GAS days until Renegade was waiting for that episode for completion towards his site.
1x25 - The Stone Marker of Leif Ericson
2x27 - The Crown of Queen Nzinga
2x30 - The Golden Goblet of Attila the Hun
3x06 - The Lion-Slashed Jacket of Sacagawea
3x36 - The Dried Ear of Corn of Sojourner Truth
#6: The Lily-Crested Crown of Clovis I
#7: The Ivory Elephant of Scheherazade
#8: The Lost Logbooks of Magellan
#9: The Bent Shaving Pan of Jedediah Smith
#10: The Golden Stallion of Ali Baba
#11: The Mask of the Man in the Iron Mask
#12: The Silver Saddle Horn of Hannibal
#13: Alexander and the Gordian Knot
#14: The Stolen Arm of Shiva
#15: The Treasure Map of Jean Lafitte
#16: The Shriveled Hand of Efoua
#17: Ponce de Leon and the Lost Fountain of Youth
#18: The Lost Love Letter of Captain John Smith
#19: The Missing Portait of Hans Holbein
#20: The Bone Necklace of the Blackfeet Chief
#21: The Helmet of Joan of Arc
#22: The Lost Taj Mahal Turban of Aurangzeb
#23: The Golden Chains of Zenobia
#24: The Dried Apple Half of William Tell
#25: The Silver Cannonball of Grandy Nanny
#5 goes to The Dried Ear of Corn of Sojourner Truth. It was memorable because the artifact was corn, and because of the close encounter with the corn.
#5: The Dried Ear of Corn of Sojourner Truth
Favorite episode: John Sutter and the Map to the Lost Gold Mine
Favorite Season: Season 2
Favorite team: The Bluuuuuuue Barracudas!
The #4 spot goes to "The Golden Goblet of Attila the Hun." It is memorable for the interesting temple game sequence, the Purple Parrots losing at the tiebreaker AGAIN, and the tough layout Shelly had to endure. Other than that though, there's nothing much MORE memorable than that.
Also, I kept the remaining three together on the list. Since there are so few runs left at this point.
#4: The Golden Goblet of Attila the Hun
I think I can slightly remember The Lion-Slashed Jacket of Sacagawea, so it can go now. For some reason, that artifact was always pretty cool to me.
#3: The Lion-Slashed Jacket of Sacagawea
Since there are two episodes left, I guess we can vote on which one of the two are more forgettable.
I place my vote for "The Stone Marker of Leif Erickson" for being the most forgettable episode on this show. Out of 120 episodes on this show, I don't remember a single round on this show and the temple run is very forgettable too.
At least with the Crown of Queen Nzinga, I remember it for being the only episode where an artifact is in the Lightning Room. And also, its the only temple run to be ended by the temple spirit. Other than that, this episode is very forgettable too, but the Stone Marker takes this one.
1x25 - The Stone Marker of Leif Ericson: 1
2x27 - The Crown of Queen Nzinga: 0
Can I vote again? If so, my vote goes for Stone Marker as well. Basically the same reason as TRJ.
Go for it. At this point, we are voting to decide a winner rather than eliminating episodes.
That's my vote then.
And the winner is The Stone Marker of Leif Ericson. There is not one thing memorable about the episode, and the impossible temple layout doesn't help matters either. Nzinga would have been a good choice for #1 too, but Stone Marker is fine taking the #1 spot.
Well, I suppose it's not completely what I would've expected, but not that bad a list in the end.
Admittedly, if I'd been the only one making this list, I would've probably put "The Lily-Crested Crown of Clovis I" in the #1 position. You have no idea how many times I've tried to go over lists of certain episodes for trivia games or whatnot, and that one is just impossible for me to think of, no matter what.
I'm also really shocked by "The Crown of Queen Nzinga" making it to #2, mostly because of the unique details about the Temple Run (only artifact in the Lightning Room, only run ended by a Temple Spirit, one of only three with all three guards in adjacent rooms). I probably would've also put "Sojourner Truth" a bit further from the end and "Scheherazade" a bit closer to it, but I suppose in those cases (and possibly "Clovis I" as well), Nick GaS's airing decisions might've had a subconscious impact on what episodes I remember better. Who can tell?
#1: The Stone Marker of Leif Ericson
#2: The Crown of Queen Nzinga
Quote from: The Ancient Warrior on December 30, 2011, 03:05:57 AM
Considering that it took them over a year to show "The Ivory Elephant of Scheherezade", I am not surprised to see it so high on this list. It was one of the last few episodes I needed to view, and like Clovis I, it was just not as exciting and memorable as other Legends episodes. But I will admit, I am surprised the Queen Nzinga finished in the number two spot for the same very reasons you listed, not to mention the run ended in triple capture. But its one of those episodes that you watch one or two times and don't bother watching again because, aside from the temple run, there is nothing remarkable or memorable about it.
In the end, the final 10 is good enough and I could see most of them take the #1 position. This was an interesting game too and the outcome was very good.
And for comparison reasons, here is top 25 forgettable temple run and episode elimination threads:
TOP 25 MOST FORGETTABLE TEMPLE RUNS:
#1: The Shriveled Hand of Efoua
#2: The Plumed Headdress of Cosa Rara
#3: The Silver Saddle Horn of Hannibal
#4: The Paintbrush of Leonardo da Vinci
#5: The Stolen Arm of Shiva
#7: The Lost Love Letter of Captain John Smith
#12: The Cracked Crown of the Spanish King
#14: The Codebook of Mata Hari
#15: The Dried Ear of Corn of Sojourner Truth
#17: The Snow Cone of Mt. Kilimanjaro
#19: The Upside-Down Compass of Henry Hudson
#20: The Missing Portrait of Hans Holbein
#21: The Golden Cup of Belshazzar
#23: The Lily-Crested Crown of Clovis I
#25: The Lost Logbooks of Magellan
TOP 25 MOST FORGETTABLE EPISODES:
Interesting enough, 3 episodes on both list made it to the top 10. Other than that, this list has some glaring differences, which tells you a lot about the difference between temple runs and episodes as a whole.
For example, people may list "The Cracked Crown of the Spanish King" high on a list of most forgettable temple runs because the temple run is very forgettable and nothing sticks out really from it.
However, this same episode might not rank as a high on a most forgettable episode list due to the fact that the episode had such a long moat, which sticks out more than just the temple run.
Yeah, this is a pretty good list. I would have made some serious adjustments though, had I made this list myself. I agree about "Lily Crested Crown," there is NOTHING memorable about that episode. No wonder people forgot this was even an episode back when Nick Gas wouldn't play it. I would have given the #1 spot to "The Stolen Arm of Shiva." Seriously, do you remember anything about this episode? I've only seen the full episode twice, and I always forget this is even an episode most of the time.
I agree about Nzinga, I really wish I would have eliminated that one sooner. Aside from the artifact location and the temple guard placement, there really isn't anything exciting. Sojourner Truth and Scheherazade deserve their spots in my opinion. Those episodes have next to nothing memorable about it.
And interesting list there, TRJ. You're right, temple runs and the whole episode itself are two completely different ballparks. I can't wait to do a most memorable episode/temple run list. Though I can tell one of those games have already been started.
And to anyone who cares, here's my rankings:
#1: The Stone Marker of Leif Ericson (Lower)
#2: The Crown of Queen Nzinga (Lower)
#3: The Lion-Slashed Jacket of Sacagawea (Good)
#4: The Golden Goblet of Attila the Hun (A little lower)
#5: The Dried Ear of Corn of Sojourner Truth (Good)
#6: The Lily-Crested Crown of Clovis I (I'd rank this #2)
#7: The Ivory Elephant of Scheherazade (A little higher)
#8: The Lost Logbooks of Magellan (Good)
#9: The Bent Shaving Pan of Jedediah Smith (A little higher)
#10: The Golden Stallion of Ali Baba (Good)
#11: The Mask of the Man in the Iron Mask (Good)
#12: The Silver Saddle Horn of Hannibal (Good)
#13: Alexander and the Gordian Knot (Higher)
#14: The Stolen Arm of Shiva (This is my #1)
#15: The Treasure Map of Jean Lafitte (Good)
#16: The Shriveled Hand of Efoua (A little higher)
#17: Ponce de Leon and the Lost Fountain of Youth (Good)
#18: The Lost Love Letter of Captain John Smith (Good)
#19: The Missing Portait of Hans Holbein (Good)
#20: The Bone Necklace of the Blackfeet Chief (Lower)
#21: The Helmet of Joan of Arc (A little lower)
#22: The Lost Taj Mahal Turban of Aurangzeb (Good)
#23: The Golden Chains of Zenobia (Good)
#24: The Dried Apple Half of William Tell (Good)
#25: The Silver Cannonball of Grandy Nanny (Good)
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Pope Michael
Servant of the servants of God
Sermon by Father MacArthy on the General Judgment
The Small Number of the Elect
The Small Number of the Elect Part 2
Will the Real Catholic Church Please Stand Up?
History of the Traditionalist Movement
Pope Michael’s Library
Duties of Catholics to the Church and to the members of the Church
Second Email
Acts of Faith, Hope, Charity and Contrition
Presumption of Law In Regard to Heresy
A Catholic And His Parish
Where Is the Catholic Church?
Early History of the Society of Saint Pius X
I was associated with the SSPX (Society of Saint Pius X) form ealry 1975, until my resigination on March 5, 1981. Some of these incidents I was either a part of or an eye witness to.
Sometime prior to founding the SSPX, Archbishop Lefebvre was asked by the Princess Palavicini to celebrate a Latin Mass for her. He refused and cited obedience as the reason. (No source can be found.)
November 1, 1970, Lefebvre establishes the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) at Friburg, soon to move to Econe, which was bought by Bishop Fellay’s father among others from the Saint Bernard Fathers.
December 24, 1971, Father Guerard des Laurieres asks Lefebvre to stop using the Novus Ordo at Econe. The SSPX reports this differently: “Since no response came from the Vatican, the Archbishop announces to his small group of seminarians, June 10, 1971, that he refuses to accept this new protestantized liturgy: ‘How can I agree to abandon the Mass of all ages or to admit to place it at the same level as the Novus Ordo, created by Annibal Bugnini, with the participation of Protestants to make of it an equivocal supper that eliminates totally the Offertory, and touches the very words of the Consecration.'”
May 22, 1976, Three Mexican Priests, Fathers Saenz, Carmona and Zamora travel to Saint Jude Shrine, Stafford, Texas, where Lefebvre was for confirmations that week end. The three priests told people who talked with them, they were there to talk about electing a Pope. Father Saenz died under mysterious circumstances in the Houston, Texas area two months later. (Saint Jude’s separated from the SSPX a few days after this weekend for unrelated reasons. It is located on the south west side of Houston.) (My family was there and the whole place was buzzing with the news.)
June 29, 1976, Archbishop Lefebvre ordains priests at Econe, two of whom had no dimissorial letters from their Bishop, permitting their ordination. Shortly after Paul VI suspends Lefebvre from divine things, that is administration of the Sacraments.
August 29, 1976, Archbishop Lefebvre offers a Mass in a large stadium, and calls the Novus Ordo a bastard Mass.
January 1977, Father Anthony Ward, head of the SSPX in the US and rector of the seminary at Armada, separates from the SSPX. He takes all but three seminarians with him.
July 1977, Dr. Hugo Maria Kellner issues his letter number 72 on the SSPX in the United States.
June, 1978, Archbishop Lefebvre introduces an Old-Catholic Bishop, Georg Schmitz as his successor bishop to the seminarians at Econe. On June 29th, Schmitz assisted at the ordinations in full choir dress as a bishop. (I have this from two eye witnesses, the late Father Kenneth Hodgson, a long time associate of the SSPX, and a seminarian, Alex Reine from Baton Rouge, who entered Econe the same time I did in 1977.)
April 12, 1979, Father Guerard des Lauriers publishes his letter, Monsignor, We Do Not Want This Peace about the incident noted above on Christmas Eve, 1971.
August 26, 1978, John Paul I is elected.
October 1978, John Paul II is elected.
Spring of 1979 and again on August 17, several ex SSPX seminarians, who had been at Saint Joseph’s House in Armada, Michigan, advise Archbishop Lefebvre of the sede vacantist position of Fathers Sanborn, Dolan and Cekada. On August 17, there were two meetings. The first was John Hogan with his parents, Archbishop Lefebvre and Father Bolduc as translator. I was in the second meeting with my parents, Bolduc and another ex-seminarian. At the end of our long meeting, Archbishop Lefebvre told us that we could apply to any SSPX seminary in the world and would be accepted without any consideration of our dismissal on December 15th of the previous year. He ended by switching to English, which he knew rather well and said: “The United States is my cross.” In a history of the SSPX, it is reported Lefebvre almost shut down the SSPX in the United States.
June of 1979 Archbishop Lefebvre delays the ordination of an American to the priesthood, because of this deacon’s sede vacantist leanings.
Sometime in 1979 Father Bolduc head of the southwest district of the US admits Philip Stark, who was ordained in 1970 in the New Rite to function as a priest in the SSPX.
Fall of 1979, Lefebvre sends the deacon, whose ordination he had held up, to the SSPX American seminary now at Ridgefield, Connecticut, the hot bed of sede vacantism.
May of 1980, ordains this deacon as a priest, who celebrates a Mass at the newly acquired Saint Vincent’s in Kansas City on August 10, 1980.
May of 1980, a meeting is scheduled at Saint Marys between some independent Traditionalist priests and Lefebvre. About ten priests had come, including several who became Thus Bishops, Fathers McKenna and Vezelis. Lefebvre delays coming for a day, because of health issues and no meeting happened. This helped disillusion independent priests about Lefebvre. In the United States only two priests ordained in the Church remained with the SSPX, Father Carl Pulvermacher and Father Kenneth Hodgson.
Sometime around here Father Kenneth Hodgson, Father Bolduc some priests from the North East district (later the nine, although at this time half of the nine were still seminarians) were in a meeting. One of the priests from the North East asked Lefebvre what was the SSPX policy in regard to men ordained in the New Rite. Lefebvre said his policy was conditional reordination. Then he turned to Father Bolduc and said: “Of course, we don’t mean Father Stark.” (Related to me by Father Hodgson.)
May 13, 1982, Father Juan Fernandez Krohn, who was ordaine din 1978 at Econe, takes a run at John Paul 2 at Fatima. He celebrated Mass the previous Sunday at an SSPX chapel.
March 25, 1983, the nine present their letter of objections to Archbishop Lefebvre. The objections were all with foundation.
April 24, 1983, Archbishop Lefebvre makes answer, which answer was also circulated in print throughout the world, as was the letter of the nine. He misrepresents Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Summa. I recall I had just bought the Summa, when I received this as a letter. I looked it up and Lefebvre misrepresented Aquinas.
June 30, 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre assisted by Bishop de Castro Meyer former Bishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil, consecrates four SSPX priests as bishops, Fathers Tissier de Mallerais (rector of Econe in 1977, when I entered), Richard Williamson (Professor at Econe in 1977, convert from Anglicanism and two years a priest in 1977), Alphonso de Galaretta (Who I know nothing about, personally), and Bernard Fellay. (Fellay entered a few weeks after I did. He was ordained on June 29, 1982. He had just turned 30, when he was consecrated bishop. I have heard that there was some agitation from those in Switzerland for a Swiss bishop. Canon Law currently requires age 30 as a minimum for a Bishop as well as five years in the priesthood. Our class was split, most getting a six rather than five year course. He was 19, when he entered, so both of us would most likely been put into the six year course.)
July 1, 1988, John Paul II the Great Deceiver excommunicates Lefebvre, de Castro Meyer and the four new bishops for schism.
July 18, 1988, the Society of Saint Peter was founded with ex-SSPX priests.
1998 SSPX receives a bishop consecrated in the New Rite into their fold.
Autumn of 2005, the SSPX publishes an article supporting the validity of the New Rite of Episcopal Consecration.</p>
September 2007 Angelus holds New Rite valid.
See portions of this new work here.
Go to Guerard
Saint Pius X Catechism on Tradition
The Road to Heaven
Bishop Williamson on the Traditionalist Hierarchy
Salvo on How to Give a Money Sermon
A Researcher on Why We Elected a Pope
Leonard Tanguay on How to Give a Money Sermon
popemichael on How to Give a Money Sermon
2018 Year of Prayer
Spiritual Instructions
Pope Michael Proudly powered by WordPress
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BritBox is coming to Samsung TVs and Freeview Play & YouView boxes
27th September 2019 - StreamedTV
BritBox, the ITV and BBC owned streaming service, has confirmed it will be available on Samsung TVs, Freeview Play set top boxes and TVs and YouView set top boxes in a move giving it access to millions of homes across the UK.
The service is focussed on UK made content and is coming to the UK following launches in the US and Canada.
Owners of Samsung TVs made after 2015 will have access to the BritBox app from launch, and the service will also be added YouView set-top boxes by the end of 2019 and to Freeview Play TVs and boxes following its launch later this year.
Reemah Sakaan, group launch director for ITV SVOD commented: “Our fantastic partners indicate the appetite for our exciting, new, on-demand service.
“We look forward to announcing additional distribution deals in the future.”
Guy Kinnell, Vice President of TV & AV Samsung Electronics UK Ltd said: “We have an ongoing commitment to provide the greatest experience to our customers, including offering the best range of apps currently available.
“BritBox provides a new way to access the best of British content exactly whenever they want.”
Owen Jenkinson, Marketing Director at Freeview said: “Our viewers love great British TV, so BritBox is a fantastic addition to the Freeview line up, providing extra options to top up on the best of free TV they already enjoy via the nation’s biggest TV platform.”
YouView CEO Susie Buckridge said: “We are excited to be a launch partner for BritBox in the UK.
“At a time when UK produced television is going from strength to strength, BritBox brings a fantastic array of UK television, to compliment the SVOD services already available via YouView, which our users will love.”
BritBox will also be available via web, IOS and Android mobiles and tablets.
Tagged With: Britbox
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[Docs] [txt|pdf] [draft-iab-sec-cons] [Tracker] [Diff1] [Diff2] [Errata]
BEST CURRENT PRACTICE
Errata Exist
Network Working Group E. Rescorla
Request for Comments: 3552 RTFM, Inc.
BCP: 72 B. Korver
Category: Best Current Practice Xythos Software
Internet Architecture Board
Guidelines for Writing RFC Text on Security Considerations
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
All RFCs are required to have a Security Considerations section.
Historically, such sections have been relatively weak. This document
provides guidelines to RFC authors on how to write a good Security
Considerations section.
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. The Goals of Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Communication Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1.1. Confidentiality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1.2. Data Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1.3. Peer Entity authentication . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2. Non-Repudiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3. Systems Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3.1. Unauthorized Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3.2. Inappropriate Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3.3. Denial of Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. The Internet Threat Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1. Limited Threat Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2. Passive Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2.1. Confidentiality Violations . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2.2. Password Sniffing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2.3. Offline Cryptographic Attacks. . . . . . . . . 9
Rescorla & Korver Best Current Practice [Page 1]
RFC 3552 Security Considerations Guidelines July 2003
3.3. Active Attacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3.1. Replay Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3.2. Message Insertion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3.3. Message Deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3.4. Message Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3.5. Man-In-The-Middle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.4. Topological Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.5. On-path versus off-path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.6. Link-local. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4. Common Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1. User Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.1.1. Username/Password. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.1.2. Challenge Response and One Time Passwords. . . 14
4.1.3. Shared Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1.4. Key Distribution Centers . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1.5. Certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1.6. Some Uncommon Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1.7. Host Authentication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2. Generic Security Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.3. Non-repudiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.4. Authorization vs. Authentication. . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.4.1. Access Control Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.4.2. Certificate Based Systems. . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5. Providing Traffic Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.5.1. IPsec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.5.2. SSL/TLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.5.3. Remote Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.6. Denial of Service Attacks and Countermeasures . . . . 22
4.6.1. Blind Denial of Service. . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.6.2. Distributed Denial of Service. . . . . . . . . 23
4.6.3. Avoiding Denial of Service . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.6.4. Example: TCP SYN Floods. . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.6.5. Example: Photuris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.7. Object vs. Channel Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.8. Firewalls and Network Topology. . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5. Writing Security Considerations Sections . . . . . . . . . 26
6. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.1. SMTP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.1.1. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.1.2. Communications security issues . . . . . . . . 34
6.1.3. Denial of Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.2. VRRP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
7. Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
9. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
10.Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Appendix A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Authors' Addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Full Copyright Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
All RFCs are required by RFC 2223 to contain a Security
Considerations section. The purpose of this is both to encourage
document authors to consider security in their designs and to inform
the reader of relevant security issues. This memo is intended to
provide guidance to RFC authors in service of both ends.
This document is structured in three parts. The first is a
combination security tutorial and definition of common terms; the
second is a series of guidelines for writing Security Considerations;
the third is a series of examples.
1.1. Requirements
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC 2119
[KEYWORDS].
2. The Goals of Security
Most people speak of security as if it were a single monolithic
property of a protocol or system, however, upon reflection, one
realizes that it is clearly not true. Rather, security is a series
of related but somewhat independent properties. Not all of these
properties are required for every application.
We can loosely divide security goals into those related to protecting
communications (COMMUNICATION SECURITY, also known as COMSEC) and
those relating to protecting systems (ADMINISTRATIVE SECURITY or
SYSTEM SECURITY). Since communications are carried out by systems
and access to systems is through communications channels, these goals
obviously interlock, but they can also be independently provided.
2.1. Communication Security
Different authors partition the goals of communication security
differently. The partitioning we've found most useful is to divide
them into three major categories: CONFIDENTIALITY, DATA INTEGRITY and
PEER ENTITY AUTHENTICATION.
2.1.1. Confidentiality
When most people think of security, they think of CONFIDENTIALITY.
Confidentiality means that your data is kept secret from unintended
listeners. Usually, these listeners are simply eavesdroppers. When
an adversary taps your phone, it poses a risk to your
Obviously, if you have secrets, then you are probably concerned about
others discovering them. Thus, at the very least, you want to
maintain confidentiality. When you see spies in the movies go into
the bathroom and turn on all the water to foil bugging, the property
they're looking for is confidentiality.
2.1.2. Data Integrity
The second primary goal is DATA INTEGRITY. The basic idea here is
that we want to make sure that the data we receive is the same data
that the sender has sent. In paper-based systems, some data
integrity comes automatically. When you receive a letter written in
pen you can be fairly certain that no words have been removed by an
attacker because pen marks are difficult to remove from paper.
However, an attacker could have easily added some marks to the paper
and completely changed the meaning of the message. Similarly, it's
easy to shorten the page to truncate the message.
On the other hand, in the electronic world, since all bits look
alike, it's trivial to tamper with messages in transit. You simply
remove the message from the wire, copy out the parts you like, add
whatever data you want, and generate a new message of your choosing,
and the recipient is no wiser. This is the moral equivalent of the
attacker taking a letter you wrote, buying some new paper and
recopying the message, changing it as he does it. It's just a lot
easier to do electronically since all bits look alike.
2.1.3. Peer Entity authentication
The third property we're concerned with is PEER ENTITY
AUTHENTICATION. What we mean by this is that we know that one of the
endpoints in the communication is the one we intended. Without peer
entity authentication, it's very difficult to provide either
confidentiality or data integrity. For instance, if we receive a
message from Alice, the property of data integrity doesn't do us much
good unless we know that it was in fact sent by Alice and not the
attacker. Similarly, if we want to send a confidential message to
Bob, it's not of much value to us if we're actually sending a
confidential message to the attacker.
Note that peer entity authentication can be provided asymmetrically.
When you call someone on the phone, you can be fairly certain that
you have the right person -- or at least that you got a person who's
actually at the phone number you called. On the other hand, if they
don't have caller ID, then the receiver of a phone call has no idea
who's calling them. Calling someone on the phone is an example of
recipient authentication, since you know who the recipient of the
call is, but they don't know anything about the sender.
In messaging situations, you often wish to use peer entity
authentication to establish the identity of the sender of a certain
message. In such contexts, this property is called DATA ORIGIN
AUTHENTICATION.
2.2. Non-Repudiation
A system that provides endpoint authentication allows one party to be
certain of the identity of someone with whom he is communicating.
When the system provides data integrity a receiver can be sure of
both the sender's identity and that he is receiving the data that
that sender meant to send. However, he cannot necessarily
demonstrate this fact to a third party. The ability to make this
demonstration is called NON-REPUDIATION.
There are many situations in which non-repudiation is desirable.
Consider the situation in which two parties have signed a contract
which one party wishes to unilaterally abrogate. He might simply
claim that he had never signed it in the first place. Non-
repudiation prevents him from doing so, thus protecting the
counterparty.
Unfortunately, non-repudiation can be very difficult to achieve in
practice and naive approaches are generally inadequate. Section 4.3
describes some of the difficulties, which generally stem from the
fact that the interests of the two parties are not aligned -- one
party wishes to prove something that the other party wishes to deny.
2.3. Systems Security
In general, systems security is concerned with protecting one's
machines and data. The intent is that machines should be used only
by authorized users and for the purposes that the owners intend.
Furthermore, they should be available for those purposes. Attackers
should not be able to deprive legitimate users of resources.
2.3.1. Unauthorized Usage
Most systems are not intended to be completely accessible to the
public. Rather, they are intended to be used only by certain
authorized individuals. Although many Internet services are
available to all Internet users, even those servers generally offer a
larger subset of services to specific users. For instance, Web
Servers often will serve data to any user, but restrict the ability
to modify pages to specific users. Such modifications by the general
public would be UNAUTHORIZED USAGE.
2.3.2. Inappropriate Usage
Being an authorized user does not mean that you have free run of the
system. As we said above, some activities are restricted to
authorized users, some to specific users, and some activities are
generally forbidden to all but administrators. Moreover, even
activities which are in general permitted might be forbidden in some
cases. For instance, users may be permitted to send email but
forbidden from sending files above a certain size, or files which
contain viruses. These are examples of INAPPROPRIATE USAGE.
2.3.3. Denial of Service
Recall that our third goal was that the system should be available to
legitimate users. A broad variety of attacks are possible which
threaten such usage. Such attacks are collectively referred to as
DENIAL OF SERVICE attacks. Denial of service attacks are often very
easy to mount and difficult to stop. Many such attacks are designed
to consume machine resources, making it difficult or impossible to
serve legitimate users. Other attacks cause the target machine to
crash, completely denying service to users.
3. The Internet Threat Model
A THREAT MODEL describes the capabilities that an attacker is assumed
to be able to deploy against a resource. It should contain such
information as the resources available to an attacker in terms of
information, computing capability, and control of the system. The
purpose of a threat model is twofold. First, we wish to identify the
threats we are concerned with. Second, we wish to rule some threats
explicitly out of scope. Nearly every security system is vulnerable
to a sufficiently dedicated and resourceful attacker.
The Internet environment has a fairly well understood threat model.
In general, we assume that the end-systems engaging in a protocol
exchange have not themselves been compromised. Protecting against an
attack when one of the end-systems has been compromised is
extraordinarily difficult. It is, however, possible to design
protocols which minimize the extent of the damage done under these
By contrast, we assume that the attacker has nearly complete control
of the communications channel over which the end-systems communicate.
This means that the attacker can read any PDU (Protocol Data Unit) on
the network and undetectably remove, change, or inject forged packets
onto the wire. This includes being able to generate packets that
appear to be from a trusted machine. Thus, even if the end-system
with which you wish to communicate is itself secure, the Internet
environment provides no assurance that packets which claim to be from
that system in fact are.
It's important to realize that the meaning of a PDU is different at
different levels. At the IP level, a PDU means an IP packet. At the
TCP level, it means a TCP segment. At the application layer, it
means some kind of application PDU. For instance, at the level of
email, it might either mean an RFC-822 message or a single SMTP
command. At the HTTP level, it might mean a request or response.
3.1. Limited Threat Models
As we've said, a resourceful and dedicated attacker can control the
entire communications channel. However, a large number of attacks
can be mounted by an attacker with fewer resources. A number of
currently known attacks can be mounted by an attacker with limited
control of the network. For instance, password sniffing attacks can
be mounted by an attacker who can only read arbitrary packets. This
is generally referred to as a PASSIVE ATTACK [INTAUTH].
By contrast, Morris' sequence number guessing attack [SEQNUM] can be
mounted by an attacker who can write but not read arbitrary packets.
Any attack which requires the attacker to write to the network is
known as an ACTIVE ATTACK.
Thus, a useful way of organizing attacks is to divide them based on
the capabilities required to mount the attack. The rest of this
section describes these categories and provides some examples of each
3.2. Passive Attacks
In a passive attack, the attacker reads packets off the network but
does not write them. The simplest way to mount such an attack is to
simply be on the same LAN as the victim. On most common LAN
configurations, including Ethernet, 802.3, and FDDI, any machine on
the wire can read all traffic destined for any other machine on the
same LAN. Note that switching hubs make this sort of sniffing
substantially more difficult, since traffic destined for a machine
only goes to the network segment which that machine is on.
Similarly, an attacker who has control of a host in the
communications path between two victim machines is able to mount a
passive attack on their communications. It is also possible to
compromise the routing infrastructure to specifically arrange that
traffic passes through a compromised machine. This might involve an
active attack on the routing infrastructure to facilitate a passive
attack on a victim machine.
Wireless communications channels deserve special consideration,
especially with the recent and growing popularity of wireless-based
LANs, such as those using 802.11. Since the data is simply broadcast
on well known radio frequencies, an attacker simply needs to be able
to receive those transmissions. Such channels are especially
vulnerable to passive attacks. Although many such channels include
cryptographic protection, it is often of such poor quality as to be
nearly useless [WEP].
In general, the goal of a passive attack is to obtain information
which the sender and receiver would prefer to remain private. This
private information may include credentials useful in the electronic
world and/or passwords or credentials useful in the outside world,
such as confidential business information.
3.2.1. Confidentiality Violations
The classic example of passive attack is sniffing some inherently
private data off of the wire. For instance, despite the wide
availability of SSL, many credit card transactions still traverse the
Internet in the clear. An attacker could sniff such a message and
recover the credit card number, which can then be used to make
fraudulent transactions. Moreover, confidential business information
is routinely transmitted over the network in the clear in email.
3.2.2. Password Sniffing
Another example of a passive attack is PASSWORD SNIFFING. Password
sniffing is directed towards obtaining unauthorized use of resources.
Many protocols, including [TELNET], [POP], and [NNTP] use a shared
password to authenticate the client to the server. Frequently, this
password is transmitted from the client to the server in the clear
over the communications channel. An attacker who can read this
traffic can therefore capture the password and REPLAY it. In other
words, the attacker can initiate a connection to the server and pose
as the client and login using the captured password.
Note that although the login phase of the attack is active, the
actual password capture phase is passive. Moreover, unless the
server checks the originating address of connections, the login phase
does not require any special control of the network.
3.2.3. Offline Cryptographic Attacks
Many cryptographic protocols are subject to OFFLINE ATTACKS. In such
a protocol, the attacker recovers data which has been processed using
the victim's secret key and then mounts a cryptanalytic attack on
that key. Passwords make a particularly vulnerable target because
they are typically low entropy. A number of popular password-based
challenge response protocols are vulnerable to DICTIONARY ATTACK.
The attacker captures a challenge-response pair and then proceeds to
try entries from a list of common words (such as a dictionary file)
until he finds a password that produces the right response.
A similar such attack can be mounted on a local network when NIS is
used. The Unix password is crypted using a one-way function, but
tools exist to break such crypted passwords [KLEIN]. When NIS is
used, the crypted password is transmitted over the local network and
an attacker can thus sniff the password and attack it.
Historically, it has also been possible to exploit small operating
system security holes to recover the password file using an active
attack. These holes can then be bootstrapped into an actual account
by using the aforementioned offline password recovery techniques.
Thus we combine a low-level active attack with an offline passive
attack.
3.3. Active Attacks
When an attack involves writing data to the network, we refer to this
as an ACTIVE ATTACK. When IP is used without IPsec, there is no
authentication for the sender address. As a consequence, it's
straightforward for an attacker to create a packet with a source
address of his choosing. We'll refer to this as a SPOOFING ATTACK.
Under certain circumstances, such a packet may be screened out by the
network. For instance, many packet filtering firewalls screen out
all packets with source addresses on the INTERNAL network that arrive
on the EXTERNAL interface. Note, however, that this provides no
protection against an attacker who is inside the firewall. In
general, designers should assume that attackers can forge packets.
However, the ability to forge packets does not go hand in hand with
the ability to receive arbitrary packets. In fact, there are active
attacks that involve being able to send forged packets but not
receive the responses. We'll refer to these as BLIND ATTACKS.
Note that not all active attacks require forging addresses. For
instance, the TCP SYN denial of service attack [TCPSYN] can be
mounted successfully without disguising the sender's address.
However, it is common practice to disguise one's address in order to
conceal one's identity if an attack is discovered.
Each protocol is susceptible to specific active attacks, but
experience shows that a number of common patterns of attack can be
adapted to any given protocol. The next sections describe a number
of these patterns and give specific examples of them as applied to
known protocols.
3.3.1. Replay Attacks
In a REPLAY ATTACK, the attacker records a sequence of messages off
of the wire and plays them back to the party which originally
received them. Note that the attacker does not need to be able to
understand the messages. He merely needs to capture and retransmit
For example, consider the case where an S/MIME message is being used
to request some service, such as a credit card purchase or a stock
trade. An attacker might wish to have the service executed twice, if
only to inconvenience the victim. He could capture the message and
replay it, even though he can't read it, causing the transaction to
be executed twice.
3.3.2. Message Insertion
In a MESSAGE INSERTION attack, the attacker forges a message with
some chosen set of properties and injects it into the network. Often
this message will have a forged source address in order to disguise
the identity of the attacker.
For example, a denial-of-service attack can be mounted by inserting a
series of spurious TCP SYN packets directed towards the target host.
The target host responds with its own SYN and allocates kernel data
structures for the new connection. The attacker never completes the
3-way handshake, so the allocated connection endpoints just sit there
taking up kernel memory. Typical TCP stack implementations only
Rescorla & Korver Best Current Practice [Page 10]
allow some limited number of connections in this "half-open" state
and when this limit is reached, no more connections can be initiated,
even from legitimate hosts. Note that this attack is a blind attack,
since the attacker does not need to process the victim's SYNs.
3.3.3. Message Deletion
In a MESSAGE DELETION attack, the attacker removes a message from the
wire. Morris' sequence number guessing attack [SEQNUM] often
requires a message deletion attack to be performed successfully. In
this blind attack, the host whose address is being forged will
receive a spurious TCP SYN packet from the host being attacked.
Receipt of this SYN packet generates a RST, which would tear the
illegitimate connection down. In order to prevent this host from
sending a RST so that the attack can be carried out successfully,
Morris describes flooding this host to create queue overflows such
that the SYN packet is lost and thus never responded to.
3.3.4. Message Modification
In a MESSAGE MODIFICATION attack, the attacker removes a message from
the wire, modifies it, and reinjects it into the network. This sort
of attack is particularly useful if the attacker wants to send some
of the data in the message but also wants to change some of it.
Consider the case where the attacker wants to attack an order for
goods placed over the Internet. He doesn't have the victim's credit
card number so he waits for the victim to place the order and then
replaces the delivery address (and possibly the goods description)
with his own. Note that this particular attack is known as a CUT-
AND-PASTE attack since the attacker cuts the credit card number out
of the original message and pastes it into the new message.
Another interesting example of a cut-and-paste attack is provided by
[IPSPPROB]. If IPsec ESP is used without any MAC then it is possible
for the attacker to read traffic encrypted for a victim on the same
machine. The attacker attaches an IP header corresponding to a port
he controls onto the encrypted IP packet. When the packet is
received by the host it will automatically be decrypted and forwarded
to the attacker's port. Similar techniques can be used to mount a
session hijacking attack. Both of these attacks can be avoided by
always using message authentication when you use encryption. Note
that this attack only works if (1) no MAC check is being used, since
this attack generates damaged packets (2) a host-to-host SA is being
used, since a user-to-user SA will result in an inconsistency between
the port associated with the SA and the target port. If the
receiving machine is single-user than this attack is infeasible.
3.3.5. Man-In-The-Middle
A MAN-IN-THE-MIDDLE attack combines the above techniques in a special
form: The attacker subverts the communication stream in order to pose
as the sender to receiver and the receiver to the sender:
What Alice and Bob think:
Alice <----------------------------------------------> Bob
What's happening:
Alice <----------------> Attacker <----------------> Bob
This differs fundamentally from the above forms of attack because it
attacks the identity of the communicating parties, rather than the
data stream itself. Consequently, many techniques which provide
integrity of the communications stream are insufficient to protect
against man-in-the-middle attacks.
Man-in-the-middle attacks are possible whenever a protocol lacks PEER
ENTITY AUTHENTICATION. For instance, if an attacker can hijack the
client TCP connection during the TCP handshake (perhaps by responding
to the client's SYN before the server does), then the attacker can
open another connection to the server and begin a man-in-the-middle
attack. It is also trivial to mount man-in-the-middle attacks on
local networks via ARP spoofing -- the attacker forges an ARP with
the victim's IP address and his own MAC address. Tools to mount this
sort of attack are readily available.
Note that it is only necessary to authenticate one side of the
transaction in order to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. In such a
situation the the peers can establish an association in which only
one peer is authenticated. In such a system, an attacker can
initiate an association posing as the unauthenticated peer but cannot
transmit or access data being sent on a legitimate connection. This
is an acceptable situation in contexts such as Web e-commerce where
only the server needs to be authenticated (or the client is
independently authenticated via some non-cryptographic mechanism such
as a credit card number).
3.4. Topological Issues
In practice, the assumption that it's equally easy for an attacker to
read and generate all packets is false, since the Internet is not
fully connected. This has two primary implications.
3.5. On-path versus off-path
In order for a datagram to be transmitted from one host to another,
it generally must traverse some set of intermediate links and
gateways. Such gateways are naturally able to read, modify, or
remove any datagram transmitted along that path. This makes it much
easier to mount a wide variety of attacks if you are on-path.
Off-path hosts can, of course, transmit arbitrary datagrams that
appear to come from any hosts but cannot necessarily receive
datagrams intended for other hosts. Thus, if an attack depends on
being able to receive data, off-path hosts must first subvert the
topology in order to place themselves on-path. This is by no means
impossible but is not necessarily trivial.
Applications protocol designers MUST NOT assume that all attackers
will be off-path. Where possible, protocols SHOULD be designed to
resist attacks from attackers who have complete control of the
network. However, designers are expected to give more weight to
attacks which can be mounted by off-path attackers as well as on-path
3.6. Link-local
One specialized case of on-path is being on the same link. In some
situations, it's desirable to distinguish between hosts who are on
the local network and those who are not. The standard technique for
this is verifying the IP TTL value [IP]. Since the TTL must be
decremented by each forwarder, a protocol can demand that TTL be set
to 255 and that all receivers verify the TTL. A receiver then has
some reason to believe that conforming packets are from the same
link. Note that this technique must be used with care in the
presence of tunneling systems, since such systems may pass packets
without decrementing TTL.
4. Common Issues
Although each system's security requirements are unique, certain
common requirements appear in a number of protocols. Often, when
naive protocol designers are faced with these requirements, they
choose an obvious but insecure solution even though better solutions
are available. This section describes a number of issues seen in
many protocols and the common pieces of security technology that may
be useful in addressing them.
4.1. User Authentication
Essentially every system which wants to control access to its
resources needs some way to authenticate users. A nearly uncountable
number of such mechanisms have been designed for this purpose. The
next several sections describe some of these techniques.
4.1.1. Username/Password
The most common access control mechanism is simple USERNAME/PASSWORD
The user provides a username and a reusable password to the host
which he wishes to use. This system is vulnerable to a simple
passive attack where the attacker sniffs the password off the wire
and then initiates a new session, presenting the password. This
threat can be mitigated by hosting the protocol over an encrypted
connection such as TLS or IPSEC. Unprotected (plaintext)
username/password systems are not acceptable in IETF standards.
4.1.2. Challenge Response and One Time Passwords
Systems which desire greater security than USERNAME/PASSWORD often
employ either a ONE TIME PASSWORD [OTP] scheme or a CHALLENGE-
RESPONSE. In a one time password scheme, the user is provided with a
list of passwords, which must be used in sequence, one time each.
(Often these passwords are generated from some secret key so the user
can simply compute the next password in the sequence.) SecureID and
DES Gold are variants of this scheme. In a challenge-response
scheme, the host and the user share some secret (which often is
represented as a password). In order to authenticate the user, the
host presents the user with a (randomly generated) challenge. The
user computes some function based on the challenge and the secret and
provides that to the host, which verifies it. Often this computation
is performed in a handheld device, such as a DES Gold card.
Both types of scheme provide protection against replay attack, but
often still vulnerable to an OFFLINE KEYSEARCH ATTACK (a form of
passive attack): As previously mentioned, often the one-time password
or response is computed from a shared secret. If the attacker knows
the function being used, he can simply try all possible shared
secrets until he finds one that produces the right output. This is
made easier if the shared secret is a password, in which case he can
mount a DICTIONARY ATTACK -- meaning that he tries a list of common
words (or strings) rather than just random strings.
These systems are also often vulnerable to an active attack. Unless
communication security is provided for the entire session, the
attacker can simply wait until authentication has been performed and
hijack the connection.
4.1.3. Shared Keys
CHALLENGE-RESPONSE type systems can be made secure against dictionary
attack by using randomly generated shared keys instead of user-
generated passwords. If the keys are sufficiently large then
keysearch attacks become impractical. This approach works best when
the keys are configured into the end nodes rather than memorized and
typed in by users, since users have trouble remembering sufficiently
long keys.
Like password-based systems, shared key systems suffer from
management problems. Each pair of communicating parties must have
their own agreed-upon key, which leads to there being a lot of keys.
4.1.4. Key Distribution Centers
One approach to solving the large number of keys problem is to use an
online "trusted third party" that mediates between the authenticating
parties. The trusted third party (generally called a a KEY
DISTRIBUTION CENTER (KDC)) shares a symmetric key or password with
each party in the system. It first contacts the KDC which gives it a
TICKET containing a randomly generated symmetric key encrypted under
both peer's keys. Since only the proper peers can decrypt the
symmetric key the ticket can be used to establish a trusted
association. By far the most popular KDC system is Kerberos
[KERBEROS].
4.1.5. Certificates
A simple approach is to have all users have CERTIFICATES [PKIX] which
they then use to authenticate in some protocol-specific way, as in
[TLS] or [S/MIME]. A certificate is a signed credential binding an
entity's identity to its public key. The signer of a certificate is
a CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY (CA), whose certificate may itself be signed
by some superior CA. In order for this system to work, trust in one
or more CAs must be established in an out-of-band fashion. Such CAs
are referred to as TRUSTED ROOTS or ROOT CAS. The primary obstacle
to this approach in client-server type systems is that it requires
clients to have certificates, which can be a deployment problem.
4.1.6. Some Uncommon Systems
There are ways to do a better job than the schemes mentioned above,
but they typically don't add much security unless communications
security (at least message integrity) will be employed to secure the
connection, because otherwise the attacker can merely hijack the
connection after authentication has been performed. A number of
protocols ([EKE], [SPEKE], [SRP]) allow one to securely bootstrap a
user's password into a shared key which can be used as input to a
cryptographic protocol. One major obstacle to the deployment of
these protocols has been that their Intellectual Property status is
extremely unclear. Similarly, the user can authenticate using public
key certificates (e.g., S-HTTP client authentication). Typically
these methods are used as part of a more complete security protocol.
4.1.7. Host Authentication
Host authentication presents a special problem. Quite commonly, the
addresses of services are presented using a DNS hostname, for
instance as a URL [URL]. When requesting such a service, one has to
ensure that the entity that one is talking to not only has a
certificate but that that certificate corresponds to the expected
identity of the server. The important thing to have is a secure
binding between the certificate and the expected hostname.
For instance, it is usually not acceptable for the certificate to
contain an identity in the form of an IP address if the request was
for a given hostname. This does not provide end-to-end security
because the hostname-IP mapping is not secure unless secure name
resolution [DNSSEC] is being used. This is a particular problem when
the hostname is presented at the application layer but the
authentication is performed at some lower layer.
4.2. Generic Security Frameworks
Providing security functionality in a protocol can be difficult. In
addition to the problem of choosing authentication and key
establishment mechanisms, one needs to integrate it into a protocol.
One response to this problem (embodied in IPsec and TLS) is to create
a lower-level security protocol and then insist that new protocols be
run over that protocol. Another approach that has recently become
popular is to design generic application layer security frameworks.
The idea is that you design a protocol that allows you to negotiate
various security mechanisms in a pluggable fashion. Application
protocol designers then arrange to carry the security protocol PDUs
in their application protocol. Examples of such frameworks include
GSS-API [GSS] and SASL [SASL].
The generic framework approach has a number of problems. First, it
is highly susceptible to DOWNGRADE ATTACKS. In a downgrade attack,
an active attacker tampers with the negotiation in order to force the
parties to negotiate weaker protection than they otherwise would.
It's possible to include an integrity check after the negotiation and
key establishment have both completed, but the strength of this
integrity check is necessarily limited to the weakest common
algorithm. This problem exists with any negotiation approach, but
generic frameworks exacerbate it by encouraging the application
protocol author to just specify the framework rather than think hard
about the appropriate underlying mechanisms, particularly since the
mechanisms can very widely in the degree of security offered.
Another problem is that it's not always obvious how the various
security features in the framework interact with the application
layer protocol. For instance, SASL can be used merely as an
authentication framework -- in which case the SASL exchange occurs
but the rest of the connection is unprotected, but can also negotiate
traffic protection, such as via GSS, as a mechanism. Knowing under
what circumstances traffic protection is optional and which it is
required requires thinking about the threat model.
In general, authentication frameworks are most useful in situations
where new protocols are being added to systems with pre-existing
legacy authentication systems. A framework allows new installations
to provide better authentication while not forcing existing sites
completely redo their legacy authentication systems. When the
security requirements of a system can be clearly identified and only
a few forms of authentication are used, choosing a single security
mechanism leads to greater simplicity and predictability. In
situations where a framework is to be used, designers SHOULD
carefully examine the framework's options and specify only the
mechanisms that are appropriate for their particular threat model.
If a framework is necessary, designers SHOULD choose one of the
established ones instead of designing their own.
The naive approach to non-repudiation is simply to use public-key
digital signatures over the content. The party who wishes to be
bound (the SIGNING PARTY) digitally signs the message in question.
The counterparty (the RELYING PARTY) can later point to the digital
signature as proof that the signing party at one point agreed to the
disputed message. Unfortunately, this approach is insufficient.
The easiest way for the signing party to repudiate the message is by
claiming that his private key has been compromised and that some
attacker (though not necessarily the relying party) signed the
disputed message. In order to defend against this attack the relying
party needs to demonstrate that the signing party's key had not been
compromised at the time of the signature. This requires substantial
infrastructure, including archival storage of certificate revocation
information and timestamp servers to establish the time that the
message was signed.
Additionally, the relying party might attempt to trick the signing
party into signing one message while thinking he's signing another.
This problem is particularly severe when the relying party controls
the infrastructure that the signing party uses for signing, such as
in kiosk situations. In many such situations the signing party's key
is kept on a smartcard but the message to be signed is displayed by
the relying party.
All of these complications make non-repudiation a difficult service
to deploy in practice.
4.4. Authorization vs. Authentication
AUTHORIZATION is the process by which one determines whether an
authenticated party has permission to access a particular resource or
service. Although tightly bound, it is important to realize that
authentication and authorization are two separate mechanisms.
Perhaps because of this tight coupling, authentication is sometimes
mistakenly thought to imply authorization. Authentication simply
identifies a party, authorization defines whether they can perform a
certain action.
Authorization necessarily relies on authentication, but
authentication alone does not imply authorization. Rather, before
granting permission to perform an action, the authorization mechanism
must be consulted to determine whether that action is permitted.
4.4.1. Access Control Lists
One common form of authorization mechanism is an access control list
(ACL), which lists users that are permitted access to a resource.
Since assigning individual authorization permissions to each resource
is tedious, resources are often hierarchically arranged so that the
parent resource's ACL is inherited by child resources. This allows
administrators to set top level policies and override them when
4.4.2. Certificate Based Systems
While the distinction between authentication and authorization is
intuitive when using simple authentication mechanisms such as
username and password (i.e., everyone understands the difference
between the administrator account and a user account), with more
complex authentication mechanisms the distinction is sometimes lost.
With certificates, for instance, presenting a valid signature does
not imply authorization. The signature must be backed by a
certificate chain that contains a trusted root, and that root must be
trusted in the given context. For instance, users who possess
certificates issued by the Acme MIS CA may have different web access
privileges than users who possess certificates issued by the Acme
Accounting CA, even though both of these CAs are "trusted" by the
Acme web server.
Mechanisms for enforcing these more complicated properties have not
yet been completely explored. One approach is simply to attach
policies to ACLs describing what sorts of certificates are trusted.
Another approach is to carry that information with the certificate,
either as a certificate extension/attribute [PKIX, SPKI] or as a
separate "Attribute Certificate".
4.5. Providing Traffic Security
Securely designed protocols should provide some mechanism for
securing (meaning integrity protecting, authenticating, and possibly
encrypting) all sensitive traffic. One approach is to secure the
protocol itself, as in [DNSSEC], [S/MIME] or [S-HTTP]. Although this
provides security which is most fitted to the protocol, it also
requires considerable effort to get right.
Many protocols can be adequately secured using one of the available
channel security systems. We'll discuss the two most common, IPsec
[AH, ESP] and [TLS].
4.5.1. IPsec
The IPsec protocols (specifically, AH and ESP) can provide
transmission security for all traffic between two hosts. The IPsec
protocols support varying granularities of user identification,
including for example "IP Subnet", "IP Address", "Fully Qualified
Domain Name", and individual user ("Mailbox name"). These varying
levels of identification are employed as inputs to access control
facilities that are an intrinsic part of IPsec. However, a given
IPsec implementation might not support all identity types. In
particular, security gateways may not provide user-to-user
authentication or have mechanisms to provide that authentication
information to applications.
When AH or ESP is used, the application programmer might not need to
do anything (if AH or ESP has been enabled system-wide) or might need
to make specific software changes (e.g., adding specific setsockopt()
calls) -- depending on the AH or ESP implementation being used.
Unfortunately, APIs for controlling IPsec implementations are not yet
The primary obstacle to using IPsec to secure other protocols is
deployment. The major use of IPsec at present is for VPN
applications, especially for remote network access. Without
extremely tight coordination between security administrators and
application developers, VPN usage is not well suited to providing
security services for individual applications since it is difficult
for such applications to determine what security services have in
fact been provided.
IPsec deployment in host-to-host environments has been slow. Unlike
application security systems such as TLS, adding IPsec to a non-IPsec
system generally involves changing the operating system, either by
modifying with the kernel or installing new drivers. This is a
substantially greater undertaking than simply installing a new
application. However, recent versions of a number of commodity
operating systems include IPsec stacks, so deployment is becoming
easier.
In environments where IPsec is sure to be available, it represents a
viable option for protecting application communications traffic. If
the traffic to be protected is UDP, IPsec and application-specific
object security are the only options. However, designers MUST NOT
assume that IPsec will be available. A security policy for a generic
application layer protocol SHOULD NOT simply state that IPsec must be
used, unless there is some reason to believe that IPsec will be
available in the intended deployment environment. In environments
where IPsec may not be available and the traffic is solely TCP, TLS
is the method of choice, since the application developer can easily
ensure its presence by including a TLS implementation in his package.
In the special-case of IPv6, both AH and ESP are mandatory to
implement. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that AH/ESP are already
available for IPv6-only protocols or IPv6-only deployments. However,
automatic key management (IKE) is not required to implement so
protocol designers SHOULD not assume it will be present. [USEIPSEC]
provides quite a bit of guidance on when IPsec is a good choice.
4.5.2. SSL/TLS
Currently, the most common approach is to use SSL or its successor
TLS. They provide channel security for a TCP connection at the
application level. That is, they run over TCP. SSL implementations
typically provide a Berkeley Sockets-like interface for easy
programming. The primary issue when designing a protocol solution
around TLS is to differentiate between connections protected using
TLS and those which are not.
The two primary approaches used have a separate well-known port for
TLS connections (e.g., the HTTP over TLS port is 443) [HTTPTLS] or to
have a mechanism for negotiating upward from the base protocol to TLS
as in [UPGRADE] or [STARTTLS]. When an upward negotiation strategy
is used, care must be taken to ensure that an attacker can not force
a clear connection when both parties wish to use TLS.
Note that TLS depends upon a reliable protocol such as TCP or SCTP.
This produces two notable difficulties. First, it cannot be used to
secure datagram protocols that use UDP. Second, TLS is susceptible
to IP layer attacks that IPsec is not. Typically, these attacks take
some form of denial of service or connection assassination. For
instance, an attacker might forge a TCP RST to shut down SSL
connections. TLS has mechanisms to detect truncation attacks but
these merely allow the victim to know he is being attacked and do not
provide connection survivability in the face of such attacks. By
contrast, if IPsec were being used, such a forged RST could be
rejected without affecting the TCP connection. If forged RSTs or
other such attacks on the TCP connection are a concern, then AH/ESP
or the TCP MD5 option [TCPMD5] are the preferred choices.
4.5.2.1. Virtual Hosts
If the "separate ports" approach to TLS is used, then TLS will be
negotiated before any application-layer traffic is sent. This can
cause a problem with protocols that use virtual hosts, such as
[HTTP], since the server does not know which certificate to offer the
client during the TLS handshake. The TLS hostname extension [TLSEXT]
can be used to solve this problem, although it is too new to have
seen wide deployment.
4.5.2.2. Remote Authentication and TLS
One difficulty with using TLS is that the server is authenticated via
a certificate. This can be inconvenient in environments where
previously the only form of authentication was a password shared
between client and server. It's tempting to use TLS without an
authenticated server (i.e., with anonymous DH or a self-signed RSA
certificate) and then authenticate via some challenge-response
mechanism such as SASL with CRAM-MD5.
Unfortunately, this composition of SASL and TLS is less strong than
one would expect. It's easy for an active attacker to hijack this
connection. The client man-in-the-middles the SSL connection
(remember we're not authenticating the server, which is what
ordinarily prevents this attack) and then simply proxies the SASL
handshake. From then on, it's as if the connection were in the
clear, at least as far as that attacker is concerned. In order to
prevent this attack, the client needs to verify the server's
However, if the server is authenticated, challenge-response becomes
less desirable. If you already have a hardened channel then simple
passwords are fine. In fact, they're arguably superior to
challenge-response since they do not require that the password be
stored in the clear on the server. Thus, compromise of the key file
with challenge-response systems is more serious than if simple
passwords were used.
Note that if the client has a certificate than SSL-based client
authentication can be used. To make this easier, SASL provides the
EXTERNAL mechanism, whereby the SASL client can tell the server
"examine the outer channel for my identity". Obviously, this is not
subject to the layering attacks described above.
4.5.3. Remote Login
In some special cases it may be worth providing channel-level
security directly in the application rather than using IPSEC or
SSL/TLS. One such case is remote terminal security. Characters are
typically delivered from client to server one character at a time.
Since SSL/TLS and AH/ESP authenticate and encrypt every packet, this
can mean a data expansion of 20-fold. The telnet encryption option
[ENCOPT] prevents this expansion by foregoing message integrity.
When using remote terminal service, it's often desirable to securely
perform other sorts of communications services. In addition to
providing remote login, SSH [SSH] also provides secure port
forwarding for arbitrary TCP ports, thus allowing users run arbitrary
TCP-based applications over the SSH channel. Note that SSH Port
Forwarding can be security issue if it is used improperly to
circumvent firewall and improperly expose insecure internal
applications to the outside world.
4.6. Denial of Service Attacks and Countermeasures
Denial of service attacks are all too frequently viewed as an fact of
life. One problem is that an attacker can often choose from one of
many denial of service attacks to inflict upon a victim, and because
most of these attacks cannot be thwarted, common wisdom frequently
assumes that there is no point protecting against one kind of denial
of service attack when there are many other denial of service attacks
that are possible but that cannot be prevented.
However, not all denial of service attacks are equal and more
importantly, it is possible to design protocols so that denial of
service attacks are made more difficult, if not impractical. Recent
SYN flood attacks [TCPSYN] demonstrate both of these properties: SYN
flood attacks are so easy, anonymous, and effective that they are
more attractive to attackers than other attacks; and because the
design of TCP enables this attack.
Because complete DoS protection is so difficult, security against DoS
must be dealt with pragmatically. In particular, some attacks which
would be desirable to defend against cannot be defended against
economically. The goal should be to manage risk by defending against
attacks with sufficiently high ratios of severity to cost of defense.
Both severity of attack and cost of defense change as technology
changes and therefore so does the set of attacks which should be
defended against.
Authors of internet standards MUST describe which denial of service
attacks their protocol is susceptible to. This description MUST
include the reasons it was either unreasonable or out of scope to
attempt to avoid these denial of service attacks.
4.6.1. Blind Denial of Service
BLIND denial of service attacks are particularly pernicious. With a
blind attack the attacker has a significant advantage. If the
attacker must be able to receive traffic from the victim, then he
must either subvert the routing fabric or use his own IP address.
Either provides an opportunity for the victim to track the attacker
and/or filter out his traffic. With a blind attack the attacker can
use forged IP addresses, making it extremely difficult for the victim
to filter out his packets. The TCP SYN flood attack is an example of
a blind attack. Designers should make every attempt possible to
prevent blind denial of service attacks.
4.6.2. Distributed Denial of Service
Even more dangerous are DISTRIBUTED denial of service attacks (DDoS)
[DDOS]. In a DDoS the attacker arranges for a number of machines to
attack the target machine simultaneously. Usually this is
accomplished by infecting a large number of machines with a program
that allows remote initiation of attacks. The machines actually
performing the attack are called ZOMBIEs and are likely owned by
unsuspecting third parties in an entirely different location from the
true attacker. DDoS attacks can be very hard to counter because the
zombies often appear to be making legitimate protocol requests and
simply crowd out the real users. DDoS attacks can be difficult to
thwart, but protocol designers are expected to be cognizant of these
forms of attack while designing protocols.
4.6.3. Avoiding Denial of Service
There are two common approaches to making denial of service attacks
more difficult:
4.6.3.1. Make your attacker do more work than you do
If an attacker consumes more of his resources than yours when
launching an attack, attackers with fewer resources than you will be
unable to launch effective attacks. One common technique is to
require the attacker perform a time-intensive operation, such as a
cryptographic operation. Note that an attacker can still mount a
denial of service attack if he can muster substantially sufficient
CPU power. For instance, this technique would not stop the
distributed attacks described in [TCPSYN].
4.6.3.2. Make your attacker prove they can receive data from you
A blind attack can be subverted by forcing the attacker to prove that
they can can receive data from the victim. A common technique is to
require that the attacker reply using information that was gained
earlier in the message exchange. If this countermeasure is used, the
attacker must either use his own address (making him easy to track)
or to forge an address which will be routed back along a path that
traverses the host from which the attack is being launched.
Hosts on small subnets are thus useless to the attacker (at least in
the context of a spoofing attack) because the attack can be traced
back to a subnet (which should be sufficient for locating the
attacker) so that anti-attack measures can be put into place (for
instance, a boundary router can be configured to drop all traffic
from that subnet). A common technique is to require that the
attacker reply using information that was gained earlier in the
message exchange.
4.6.4. Example: TCP SYN Floods
TCP/IP is vulnerable to SYN flood attacks (which are described in
section 3.3.2) because of the design of the 3-way handshake. First,
an attacker can force a victim to consume significant resources (in
this case, memory) by sending a single packet. Second, because the
attacker can perform this action without ever having received data
from the victim, the attack can be performed anonymously (and
therefore using a large number of forged source addresses).
4.6.5. Example: Photuris
[PHOTURIS] specifies an anti-clogging mechanism that prevents attacks
on Photuris that resemble the SYN flood attack. Photuris employs a
time-variant secret to generate a "cookie" which is returned to the
attacker. This cookie must be returned in subsequent messages for
the exchange to progress. The interesting feature is that this
cookie can be regenerated by the victim later in the exchange, and
thus no state need be retained by the victim until after the attacker
has proven that he can receive packets from the victim.
4.7. Object vs. Channel Security
It's useful to make the conceptual distinction between object
security and channel security. Object security refers to security
measures which apply to entire data objects. Channel security
measures provide a secure channel over which objects may be carried
transparently but the channel has no special knowledge about object
boundaries.
Consider the case of an email message. When it's carried over an
IPSEC or TLS secured connection, the message is protected during
transmission. However, it is unprotected in the receiver's mailbox,
and in intermediate spool files along the way. Moreover, since mail
servers generally run as a daemon, not a user, authentication of
messages generally merely means authentication of the daemon not the
user. Finally, since mail transport is hop-by-hop, even if the user
authenticates to the first hop relay the authentication can't be
safely verified by the receiver.
By contrast, when an email message is protected with S/MIME or
OpenPGP, the entire message is encrypted and integrity protected
until it is examined and decrypted by the recipient. It also
provides strong authentication of the actual sender, as opposed to
the machine the message came from. This is object security.
Moreover, the receiver can prove the signed message's authenticity to
a third party.
Note that the difference between object and channel security is a
matter of perspective. Object security at one layer of the protocol
stack often looks like channel security at the next layer up. So,
from the perspective of the IP layer, each packet looks like an
individually secured object. But from the perspective of a web
client, IPSEC just provides a secure channel.
The distinction isn't always clear-cut. For example, S-HTTP provides
object level security for a single HTTP transaction, but a web page
typically consists of multiple HTTP transactions (the base page and
numerous inline images). Thus, from the perspective of the total web
page, this looks rather more like channel security. Object security
for a web page would consist of security for the transitive closure
of the page and all its embedded content as a single unit.
4.8. Firewalls and Network Topology
It's common security practice in modern networks to partition the
network into external and internal networks using a firewall. The
internal network is then assumed to be secure and only limited
security measures are used there. The internal portion of such a
network is often called a WALLED GARDEN.
Internet protocol designers cannot safely assume that their protocols
will be deployed in such an environment, for three reasons. First,
protocols which were originally designed to be deployed in closed
environments often are later deployed on the Internet, thus creating
serious vulnerabilities.
Second, networks which appear to be topologically disconnected may
not be. One reason may be that the network has been reconfigured to
allow access by the outside world. Moreover, firewalls are
increasingly passing generic application layer protocols such as
[SOAP] or [HTTP]. Network protocols which are based on these generic
protocols cannot in general assume that a firewall will protect them.
Finally, one of the most serious security threats to systems is from
insiders, not outsiders. Since insiders by definition have access to
the internal network, topological protections such as firewalls will
not protect them.
5. Writing Security Considerations Sections
While it is not a requirement that any given protocol or system be
immune to all forms of attack, it is still necessary for authors to
consider as many forms as possible. Part of the purpose of the
Security Considerations section is to explain what attacks are out of
scope and what countermeasures can be applied to defend against them.
There should be a clear description of the kinds of threats on the
described protocol or technology. This should be approached as an
effort to perform "due diligence" in describing all known or
foreseeable risks and threats to potential implementers and users.
Authors MUST describe
1. which attacks are out of scope (and why!)
2. which attacks are in-scope
2.1 and the protocol is susceptible to
2.2 and the protocol protects against
At least the following forms of attack MUST be considered:
eavesdropping, replay, message insertion, deletion, modification, and
man-in-the-middle. Potential denial of service attacks MUST be
identified as well. If the protocol incorporates cryptographic
protection mechanisms, it should be clearly indicated which portions
of the data are protected and what the protections are (i.e.,
integrity only, confidentiality, and/or endpoint authentication,
etc.). Some indication should also be given to what sorts of attacks
the cryptographic protection is susceptible. Data which should be
held secret (keying material, random seeds, etc.) should be clearly
labeled.
If the technology involves authentication, particularly user-host
authentication, the security of the authentication method MUST be
clearly specified. That is, authors MUST document the assumptions
that the security of this authentication method is predicated upon.
For instance, in the case of the UNIX username/password login method,
a statement to the effect of:
Authentication in the system is secure only to the extent that it
is difficult to guess or obtain a ASCII password that is a maximum
of 8 characters long. These passwords can be obtained by sniffing
telnet sessions or by running the 'crack' program using the
contents of the /etc/passwd file. Attempts to protect against
on-line password guessing by (1) disconnecting after several
unsuccessful login attempts and (2) waiting between successive
password prompts is effective only to the extent that attackers
are impatient.
Because the /etc/passwd file maps usernames to user ids, groups,
etc. it must be world readable. In order to permit this usage but
make running crack more difficult, the file is often split into
/etc/passwd and a 'shadow' password file. The shadow file is not
world readable and contains the encrypted password. The regular
/etc/passwd file contains a dummy password in its place.
It is insufficient to simply state that one's protocol should be run
over some lower layer security protocol. If a system relies upon
lower layer security services for security, the protections those
services are expected to provide MUST be clearly specified. In
addition, the resultant properties of the combined system need to be
Note: In general, the IESG will not approve standards track protocols
which do not provide for strong authentication, either internal to
the protocol or through tight binding to a lower layer security
protocol.
The threat environment addressed by the Security Considerations
section MUST at a minimum include deployment across the global
Internet across multiple administrative boundaries without assuming
that firewalls are in place, even if only to provide justification
for why such consideration is out of scope for the protocol. It is
not acceptable to only discuss threats applicable to LANs and ignore
the broader threat environment. All IETF standards-track protocols
are considered likely to have deployment in the global Internet. In
some cases, there might be an Applicability Statement discouraging
use of a technology or protocol in a particular environment.
Nonetheless, the security issues of broader deployment should be
discussed in the document.
There should be a clear description of the residual risk to the user
or operator of that protocol after threat mitigation has been
deployed. Such risks might arise from compromise in a related
protocol (e.g., IPsec is useless if key management has been
compromised), from incorrect implementation, compromise of the
security technology used for risk reduction (e.g., a cipher with a
40-bit key), or there might be risks that are not addressed by the
protocol specification (e.g., denial of service attacks on an
underlying link protocol). Particular care should be taken in
situations where the compromise of a single system would compromise
an entire protocol. For instance, in general protocol designers
assume that end-systems are inviolate and don't worry about physical
attack. However, in cases (such as a certificate authority) where
compromise of a single system could lead to widespread compromises,
it is appropriate to consider systems and physical security as well.
There should also be some discussion of potential security risks
arising from potential misapplications of the protocol or technology
described in the RFC. This might be coupled with an Applicability
Statement for that RFC.
This section consists of some example security considerations
sections, intended to give the reader a flavor of what's intended by
this document.
The first example is a 'retrospective' example, applying the criteria
of this document to an existing widely deployed protocol, SMTP. The
second example is a good security considerations section clipped from
a current protocol.
6.1. SMTP
When RFC 821 was written, Security Considerations sections were not
required in RFCs, and none is contained in that document. [RFC 2821]
updated RFC 821 and added a detailed security considerations section.
We reproduce here the Security Considerations section from that
document (with new section numbers). Our comments are indented and
prefaced with 'NOTE:'. We also add a number of new sections to cover
topics we consider important. Those sections are marked with [NEW]
in the section header.
6.1.1. Security Considerations
6.1.1.1. Mail Security and Spoofing
SMTP mail is inherently insecure in that it is feasible for even
fairly casual users to negotiate directly with receiving and relaying
SMTP servers and create messages that will trick a naive recipient
into believing that they came from somewhere else. Constructing such
a message so that the "spoofed" behavior cannot be detected by an
expert is somewhat more difficult, but not sufficiently so as to be a
deterrent to someone who is determined and knowledgeable.
Consequently, as knowledge of Internet mail increases, so does the
knowledge that SMTP mail inherently cannot be authenticated, or
integrity checks provided, at the transport level. Real mail
security lies only in end-to-end methods involving the message
bodies, such as those which use digital signatures (see [14] and,
e.g., PGP [4] or S/MIME [31]).
NOTE: One bad approach to sender authentication is [IDENT] in
which the receiving mail server contacts the alleged sender and
asks for the username of the sender. This is a bad idea for a
number of reasons, including but not limited to relaying, TCP
connection hijacking, and simple lying by the origin server.
Aside from the fact that IDENT is of low security value, use of
IDENT by receiving sites can lead to operational problems. Many
sending sites blackhole IDENT requests, thus causing mail to be
held until the receiving server's IDENT request times out.
Various protocol extensions and configuration options that provide
authentication at the transport level (e.g., from an SMTP client to
an SMTP server) improve somewhat on the traditional situation
described above. However, unless they are accompanied by careful
handoffs of responsibility in a carefully-designed trust environment,
they remain inherently weaker than end-to-end mechanisms which use
digitally signed messages rather than depending on the integrity of
the transport system.
Efforts to make it more difficult for users to set envelope return
path and header "From" fields to point to valid addresses other than
their own are largely misguided: they frustrate legitimate
applications in which mail is sent by one user on behalf of another
or in which error (or normal) replies should be directed to a special
address. (Systems that provide convenient ways for users to alter
these fields on a per-message basis should attempt to establish a
primary and permanent mailbox address for the user so that Sender
fields within the message data can be generated sensibly.)
This specification does not further address the authentication issues
associated with SMTP other than to advocate that useful functionality
not be disabled in the hope of providing some small margin of
protection against an ignorant user who is trying to fake mail.
NOTE: We have added additional material on communications security
and SMTP in Section 6.1.2 In a final specification, the above text
would be edited somewhat to reflect that fact.
6.1.1.2. Blind Copies
Addresses that do not appear in the message headers may appear in the
RCPT commands to an SMTP server for a number of reasons. The two
most common involve the use of a mailing address as a "list exploder"
(a single address that resolves into multiple addresses) and the
appearance of "blind copies". Especially when more than one RCPT
command is present, and in order to avoid defeating some of the
purpose of these mechanisms, SMTP clients and servers SHOULD NOT copy
the full set of RCPT command arguments into the headers, either as
part of trace headers or as informational or private-extension
headers. Since this rule is often violated in practice, and cannot
be enforced, sending SMTP systems that are aware of "bcc" use MAY
find it helpful to send each blind copy as a separate message
transaction containing only a single RCPT command.
There is no inherent relationship between either "reverse" (from
MAIL, SAML, etc., commands) or "forward" (RCPT) addresses in the SMTP
transaction ("envelope") and the addresses in the headers. Receiving
systems SHOULD NOT attempt to deduce such relationships and use them
to alter the headers of the message for delivery. The popular
"Apparently-to" header is a violation of this principle as well as a
common source of unintended information disclosure and SHOULD NOT be
6.1.1.3. VRFY, EXPN, and Security
As discussed in section 3.5, individual sites may want to disable
either or both of VRFY or EXPN for security reasons. As a corollary
to the above, implementations that permit this MUST NOT appear to
have verified addresses that are not, in fact, verified. If a site
disables these commands for security reasons, the SMTP server MUST
return a 252 response, rather than a code that could be confused with
successful or unsuccessful verification.
Returning a 250 reply code with the address listed in the VRFY
command after having checked it only for syntax violates this rule.
Of course, an implementation that "supports" VRFY by always returning
550 whether or not the address is valid is equally not in
conformance.
Within the last few years, the contents of mailing lists have become
popular as an address information source for so-called "spammers."
The use of EXPN to "harvest" addresses has increased as list
administrators have installed protections against inappropriate uses
of the lists themselves. Implementations SHOULD still provide
support for EXPN, but sites SHOULD carefully evaluate the tradeoffs.
As authentication mechanisms are introduced into SMTP, some sites may
choose to make EXPN available only to authenticated requesters.
NOTE: It's not clear that disabling VRFY adds much protection,
since it's often possible to discover whether an address is valid
using RCPT TO.
6.1.1.4. Information Disclosure in Announcements
There has been an ongoing debate about the tradeoffs between the
debugging advantages of announcing server type and version (and,
sometimes, even server domain name) in the greeting response or in
response to the HELP command and the disadvantages of exposing
information that might be useful in a potential hostile attack. The
utility of the debugging information is beyond doubt. Those who
argue for making it available point out that it is far better to
actually secure an SMTP server rather than hope that trying to
conceal known vulnerabilities by hiding the server's precise identity
will provide more protection. Sites are encouraged to evaluate the
tradeoff with that issue in mind; implementations are strongly
encouraged to minimally provide for making type and version
information available in some way to other network hosts.
6.1.1.5. Information Disclosure in Trace Fields
In some circumstances, such as when mail originates from within a LAN
whose hosts are not directly on the public Internet, trace
("Received") fields produced in conformance with this specification
may disclose host names and similar information that would not
normally be available. This ordinarily does not pose a problem, but
sites with special concerns about name disclosure should be aware of
it. Also, the optional FOR clause should be supplied with caution or
not at all when multiple recipients are involved lest it
inadvertently disclose the identities of "blind copy" recipients to
6.1.1.6. Information Disclosure in Message Forwarding
As discussed in section 3.4, use of the 251 or 551 reply codes to
identify the replacement address associated with a mailbox may
inadvertently disclose sensitive information. Sites that are
concerned about those issues should ensure that they select and
configure servers appropriately.
6.1.1.7. Scope of Operation of SMTP Servers
It is a well-established principle that an SMTP server may refuse to
accept mail for any operational or technical reason that makes sense
to the site providing the server. However, cooperation among sites
and installations makes the Internet possible. If sites take
excessive advantage of the right to reject traffic, the ubiquity of
email availability (one of the strengths of the Internet) will be
threatened; considerable care should be taken and balance maintained
if a site decides to be selective about the traffic it will accept
and process.
In recent years, use of the relay function through arbitrary sites
has been used as part of hostile efforts to hide the actual origins
of mail. Some sites have decided to limit the use of the relay
function to known or identifiable sources, and implementations SHOULD
provide the capability to perform this type of filtering. When mail
is rejected for these or other policy reasons, a 550 code SHOULD be
used in response to EHLO, MAIL, or RCPT as appropriate.
6.1.1.8. Inappropriate Usage [NEW]
SMTP itself provides no protection is provided against unsolicited
commercial mass e-mail (aka spam). It is extremely difficult to tell
a priori whether a given message is spam or not. From a protocol
perspective, spam is indistinguishable from other e-mail -- the
distinction is almost entirely social and often quite subtle. (For
instance, is a message from a merchant from whom you've purchased
items before advertising similar items spam?) SMTP spam-suppression
mechanisms are generally limited to identifying known spam senders
and either refusing to service them or target them for
punishment/disconnection. [RFC-2505] provides extensive guidance on
making SMTP servers spam-resistant. We provide a brief discussion of
the topic here.
The primary tool for refusal to service spammers is the blacklist.
Some authority such as [MAPS] collects and publishes a list of known
spammers. Individual SMTP servers then block the blacklisted
offenders (generally by IP address).
In order to avoid being blacklisted or otherwise identified, spammers
often attempt to obscure their identity, either simply by sending a
false SMTP identity or by forwarding their mail through an Open Relay
-- an SMTP server which will perform mail relaying for any sender.
As a consequence, there are now blacklists [ORBS] of open relays as
6.1.1.8.1. Closed Relaying [NEW]
To avoid being used for spam forwarding, many SMTP servers operate as
closed relays, providing relaying service only for clients who they
can identify. Such relays should generally insist that senders
advertise a sending address consistent with their known identity. If
the relay is providing service for an identifiable network (such as a
corporate network or an ISP's network) then it is sufficient to block
all other IP addresses). In other cases, explicit authentication
must be used. The two standard choices for this are TLS [STARTTLS]
and SASL [SASLSMTP].
6.1.1.8.2. Endpoints [NEW]
Realistically, SMTP endpoints cannot refuse to deny service to
unauthenticated senders. Since the vast majority of senders are
unauthenticated, this would break Internet mail interoperability.
The exception to this is when the endpoint server should only be
receiving mail from some other server which can itself receive
unauthenticated messages. For instance, a company might operate a
public gateway but configure its internal servers to only talk to the
gateway.
6.1.2. Communications security issues [NEW]
SMTP itself provides no communications security, and therefore a
large number of attacks are possible. A passive attack is sufficient
to recover the text of messages transmitted with SMTP. No endpoint
authentication is provided by the protocol. Sender spoofing is
trivial, and therefore forging email messages is trivial. Some
implementations do add header lines with hostnames derived through
reverse name resolution (which is only secure to the extent that it
is difficult to spoof DNS -- not very), although these header lines
are normally not displayed to users. Receiver spoofing is also
fairly straight-forward, either using TCP connection hijacking or DNS
spoofing. Moreover, since email messages often pass through SMTP
gateways, all intermediate gateways must be trusted, a condition
nearly impossible on the global Internet.
Several approaches are available for alleviating these threats. In
order of increasingly high level in the protocol stack, we have:
SMTP over IPSEC
SMTP/TLS
S/MIME and PGP/MIME
6.1.2.1. SMTP over IPSEC [NEW]
An SMTP connection run over IPSEC can provide confidentiality for the
message between the sender and the first hop SMTP gateway, or between
any pair of connected SMTP gateways. That is to say, it provides
channel security for the SMTP connections. In a situation where the
message goes directly from the client to the receiver's gateway, this
may provide substantial security (though the receiver must still
trust the gateway). Protection is provided against replay attacks,
since the data itself is protected and the packets cannot be
replayed.
Endpoint identification is a problem, however, unless the receiver's
address can be directly cryptographically authenticated. Sender
identification is not generally available, since generally only the
sender's machine is authenticated, not the sender himself.
Furthermore, the identity of the sender simply appears in the From
header of the message, so it is easily spoofable by the sender.
Finally, unless the security policy is set extremely strictly, there
is also an active downgrade to cleartext attack.
Another problem with IPsec as a security solution for SMTP is the
lack of a standard IPsec API. In order to take advantage of IPsec,
applications in general need to be able to instruct the IPsec
implementation about their security policies and discover what
protection has been applied to their connections. Without a standard
API this is very difficult to do portably.
Implementors of SMTP servers or SMTP administrators MUST NOT assume
that IPsec will be available unless they have reason to believe that
it will be (such as the existence of preexisting association between
two machines). However, it may be a reasonable procedure to attempt
to create an IPsec association opportunistically to a peer server
when mail is delivered. Note that in cases where IPsec is used to
provide a VPN tunnel between two sites, this is of substantial
security value, particularly to the extent that confidentiality is
provided, subject to the caveats mentioned above. Also see
[USEIPSEC] for general guidance on the applicability of IPsec.
6.1.2.2. SMTP/TLS [NEW]
SMTP can be combined with TLS as described in [STARTTLS]. This
provides similar protection to that provided when using IPSEC. Since
TLS certificates typically contain the server's host name, recipient
authentication may be slightly more obvious, but is still susceptible
to DNS spoofing attacks. Notably, common implementations of TLS
contain a US exportable (and hence low security) mode. Applications
desiring high security should ensure that this mode is disabled.
Protection is provided against replay attacks, since the data itself
is protected and the packets cannot be replayed. [Note: The
Security Considerations section of the SMTP over TLS document is
quite good and bears reading as an example of how to do things.]
6.1.2.3. S/MIME and PGP/MIME [NEW]
S/MIME and PGP/MIME are both message oriented security protocols.
They provide object security for individual messages. With various
settings, sender and recipient authentication and confidentiality may
be provided. More importantly, the identification is not of the
sending and receiving machines, but rather of the sender and
recipient themselves. (Or, at least, of cryptographic keys
corresponding to the sender and recipient.) Consequently, end-to-end
security may be obtained. Note, however, that no protection is
provided against replay attacks. Note also that S/MIME and PGP/MIME
generally provide identifying marks for both sender and receiver.
Thus even when confidentiality is provided, traffic analysis is still
6.1.3. Denial of Service [NEW]
None of these security measures provides any real protection against
denial of service. SMTP connections can easily be used to tie up
system resources in a number of ways, including excessive port
consumption, excessive disk usage (email is typically delivered to
disk files), and excessive memory consumption (sendmail, for
instance, is fairly large, and typically forks a new process to deal
with each message.)
If transport- or application-layer security is used for SMTP
connections, it is possible to mount a variety of attacks on
individual connections using forged RSTs or other kinds of packet
injection.
6.2. VRRP
The second example is from VRRP, the Virtual Router Redundance
Protocol ([VRRP]). We reproduce here the Security Considerations
section from that document (with new section numbers). Our comments
are indented and prefaced with 'NOTE:'.
VRRP is designed for a range of internetworking environments that may
employ different security policies. The protocol includes several
authentication methods ranging from no authentication, simple clear
text passwords, and strong authentication using IP Authentication
with MD5 HMAC. The details on each approach including possible
attacks and recommended environments follows.
Independent of any authentication type VRRP includes a mechanism
(setting TTL=255, checking on receipt) that protects against VRRP
packets being injected from another remote network. This limits most
vulnerabilities to local attacks.
NOTE: The security measures discussed in the following sections
only provide various kinds of authentication. No confidentiality
is provided at all. This should be explicitly described as
outside the scope.
6.2.1.1. No Authentication
The use of this authentication type means that VRRP protocol
exchanges are not authenticated. This type of authentication SHOULD
only be used in environments were there is minimal security risk and
little chance for configuration errors (e.g., two VRRP routers on a
LAN).
6.2.1.2. Simple Text Password
exchanges are authenticated by a simple clear text password.
This type of authentication is useful to protect against accidental
misconfiguration of routers on a LAN. It protects against routers
inadvertently backing up another router. A new router must first be
configured with the correct password before it can run VRRP with
another router. This type of authentication does not protect against
hostile attacks where the password can be learned by a node snooping
VRRP packets on the LAN. The Simple Text Authentication combined
with the TTL check makes it difficult for a VRRP packet to be sent
from another LAN to disrupt VRRP operation.
This type of authentication is RECOMMENDED when there is minimal risk
of nodes on a LAN actively disrupting VRRP operation. If this type
of authentication is used the user should be aware that this clear
text password is sent frequently, and therefore should not be the
same as any security significant password.
NOTE: This section should be clearer. The basic point is that no
authentication and Simple Text are only useful for a very limited
threat model, namely that none of the nodes on the local LAN are
hostile. The TTL check prevents hostile nodes off-LAN from posing
as valid nodes, but nothing stops hostile nodes on-LAN from
impersonating authorized nodes. This is not a particularly
realistic threat model in many situations. In particular, it's
extremely brittle: the compromise of any node the LAN allows
reconfiguration of the VRRP nodes.
6.2.1.3. IP Authentication Header
The use of this authentication type means the VRRP protocol exchanges
are authenticated using the mechanisms defined by the IP
Authentication Header [AH] using [HMAC]. This provides strong
protection against configuration errors, replay attacks, and packet
corruption/modification.
This type of authentication is RECOMMENDED when there is limited
control over the administration of nodes on a LAN. While this type
of authentication does protect the operation of VRRP, there are other
types of attacks that may be employed on shared media links (e.g.,
generation of bogus ARP replies) which are independent from VRRP and
are not protected.
NOTE: It's a mistake to have AH be a RECOMMENDED in this context.
Since AH is the only mechanism that protects VRRP against attack
from other nodes on the same LAN, it should be a MUST for cases
where there are untrusted nodes on the same network. In any case,
AH should be a MUST implement.
NOTE: There's an important piece of security analysis that's only
hinted at in this document, namely the cost/benefit tradeoff of
VRRP authentication.
[The rest of this section is NEW material]
The threat that VRRP authentication is intended to prevent is an
attacker arranging to be the VRRP master. This would be done by
joining the group (probably multiple times), gagging the master and
then electing oneself master. Such a node could then direct traffic
in arbitrary undesirable ways.
However, it is not necessary for an attacker to be the VRRP master to
do this. An attacker can do similar kinds of damage to the network
by forging ARP packets or (on switched networks) fooling the switch
VRRP authentication offers no real protection against these attacks.
Unfortunately, authentication makes VRRP networks very brittle in the
face of misconfiguration. Consider what happens if two nodes are
configured with different passwords. Each will reject messages from
the other and therefore both will attempt to be master. This creates
substantial network instability.
This set of cost/benefit tradeoffs suggests that VRRP authentication
is a bad idea, since the incremental security benefit is marginal but
the incremental risk is high. This judgment should be revisited if
the current set of non-VRRP threats are removed.
7. Acknowledgments
This document is heavily based on a note written by Ran Atkinson in
1997. That note was written after the IAB Security Workshop held in
early 1997, based on input from everyone at that workshop. Some of
the specific text above was taken from Ran's original document, and
some of that text was taken from an email message written by Fred
Baker. The other primary source for this document is specific
comments received from Steve Bellovin. Early review of this document
was done by Lisa Dusseault and Mark Schertler. Other useful comments
were received from Bill Fenner, Ned Freed, Lawrence Greenfield, Steve
Kent, Allison Mankin and Kurt Zeilenga.
[AH] Kent, S. and R. Atkinson, "IP Authentication Header", RFC
2402, November 1998.
[DNSSEC] Eastlake, D., "Domain Name System Security Extensions",
RFC 2535, March 1999.
[ENCOPT] Tso, T., "Telnet Data Encryption Option", RFC 2946,
September, 2000.
[ESP] Kent, S. and R. Atkinson, "IP Encapsulating Security
Payload (ESP)", RFC 2406, November 1998.
[GSS] Linn, J., "Generic Security Services Application Program
Interface Version 2, Update 1", RFC 2743, January 2000.
[HTTP] Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H.,
Masinter, L., Leach, P. and T. Berners-Lee, "HyperText
Transfer Protocol", RFC 2616, June 1999.
[HTTPTLS] Rescorla, E., "HTTP over TLS", RFC 2818, May 2000.
[HMAC] Madson, C. and R. Glenn, "The Use of HMAC-MD5-96 within
ESP and AH", RFC 2403, November 1998.
KERBEROS] Kohl, J. and C. Neuman, "The Kerberos Network
Authentication Service (V5)", RFC 1510, September 1993.
[KEYWORDS] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
[OTP] Haller, N., Metz, C., Nesser, P. and M. Straw, "A One-Time
Password System", STD 61, RFC 2289, February 1998.
[PHOTURIS] Karn, P. and W. Simpson, "Photuris: Session-Key Management
Protocol", RFC 2522, March 1999.
[PKIX] Housley, R., Polk, W., Ford, W. and D. Solo, "Internet
X.509 "Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and
Certificate Restoration List (CRL) Profile", RFC 3280,
[RFC-2223] Postel J. and J. Reynolds, "Instructions to RFC Authors",
RFC 2223, October 1997.
[RFC-2505] Lindberg, G., "Anti-Spam Recommendations for SMTP MTAs",
BCP 30, RFC 2505, February 1999.
[RFC-2821] Klensin, J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", RFC 2821,
[SASL] Myers, J., "Simple Authentication and Security Layer
(SASL)", RFC 2222, October 1997.
[SPKI] Ellison, C., Frantz, B., Lampson, B., Rivest, R., Thomas,
B. and T. Ylonen, "SPKI Certificate Theory", RFC 2693,
[SSH] Ylonen, T., "SSH - Secure Login Connections Over the
Internet", 6th USENIX Security Symposium, p. 37-42, July
[SASLSMTP] Myers, J., "SMTP Service Extension for Authentication",
[STARTTLS] Hoffman, P., "SMTP Service Extension for Secure SMTP over
Transport Layer Security", RFC 3207, February 2002.
[S-HTTP] Rescorla, E. and A. Schiffman, "The Secure HyperText
Transfer Protocol", RFC 2660, August 1999.
[S/MIME] Ramsdell, B., Editor, "S/MIME Version 3 Message
Specification", RFC 2633, June 1999.
[TELNET] Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Telnet Protocol
Specification", STD 8, RFC 854, May 1983.
[TLS] Dierks, T. and C. Allen, "The TLS Protocol Version 1.0",
RFC 2246, January 1999.
[TLSEXT] Blake-Wilson, S., Nystrom, M., Hopwood, D. and J.
Mikkelsen, "Transport Layer Security (TLS) Extensions",
RFC 3546, May 2003.
[TCPSYN] "TCP SYN Flooding and IP Spoofing Attacks", CERT Advisory
CA-1996-21, 19 September 1996, CERT.
http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1996-21.html
[UPGRADE] Khare, R. and S. Lawrence, "Upgrading to TLS Within
HTTP/1.1", RFC 2817, May 2000.
[URL] Berners-Lee, T., Masinter, M. and M. McCahill, "Uniform
Resource Locators (URL)", RFC 1738, December 1994.
[VRRP] Knight, S., Weaver, D., Whipple, D., Hinden, R., Mitzel,
D., Hunt, P., Higginson, P., Shand, M. and A. Lindemn,
"Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol", RFC 2338, April
9. Informative References
[DDOS] "Denial-Of-Service Tools" CERT Advisory CA-1999-17, 28
December 1999, CERT http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-
1999-17.html
[EKE] Bellovin, S., Merritt, M., "Encrypted Key Exchange:
Password-based protocols secure against dictionary
attacks", Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Research in
Security and Privacy, May 1992.
[IDENT] St. Johns, M. and M. Rose, "Identification Protocol", RFC
1414, February 1993.
[INTAUTH] Haller, N. and R. Atkinson, "On Internet Authentication",
[IPSPPROB] Bellovin, S. M., "Problem Areas for the IP Security
Protocols", Proceedings of the Sixth Usenix UNIX Security
Symposium, July 1996.
[KLEIN] Klein, D.V., "Foiling the Cracker: A Survey of and
Improvements to Password Security", 1990.
[NNTP] Kantor, B. and P. Lapsley, "Network News Transfer
Protocol", RFC 977, February 1986.
[POP] Myers, J. and M. Rose, "Post Office Protocol - Version 3",
STD 53, RFC 1939, May 1996.
[SEQNUM] Morris, R.T., "A Weakness in the 4.2 BSD UNIX TCP/IP
Software", AT&T Bell Laboratories, CSTR 117, 1985.
[SOAP] Box, D., Ehnebuske, D., Kakivaya, G., Layman, A.,
Mendelsoh, N., Nielsen, H., Thatte, S., Winer, D., "Simple
Object Access Protocol (SOAP) 1.1", May 2000.
[SPEKE] Jablon, D., "Strong Password-Only Authenticated Key
Exchange", Computer Communication Review, ACM SIGCOMM,
vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 5-26, October 1996.
[SRP] Wu T., "The Secure Remote Password Protocol", ISOC NDSS
Symposium, 1998.
[USEIPSEC] Bellovin, S., "Guidelines for Mandating the Use of IPsec",
[WEP] Borisov, N., Goldberg, I., Wagner, D., "Intercepting
Mobile Communications: The Insecurity of 802.11",
http://www.isaac.cs.berkeley.edu/isaac/wep-draft.pdf
This entire document is about security considerations.
Appendix A.
IAB Members at the time of this writing
Harald Alvestrand
Ran Atkinson
Rob Austein
Fred Baker
Leslie Daigle
Steve Deering
Sally Floyd
Ted Hardie
Geoff Huston
James Kempf
Eric Rescorla
Mike St. Johns
RTFM, Inc.
2439 Alvin Drive
EMail: ekr@rtfm.com
Brian Korver
Xythos Software, Inc.
77 Maiden Lane, 6th Floor
EMail: briank@xythos.com
EMail: iab@iab.org
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More booboos FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 06/27/2012
More booboos
There really is a problem with this government under Noynoy. It jumps to conclusions much too easily, then later, with a rotten egg on its face, the same government quickly changes its tune, but not before causing diplomatic ties to deteriorate.
In the case of Jordanian journalist Baker Atyani and his two Filipino crew, for over a week, Noynoy, his aides, Jesse Robredo, his military and police along with the Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan, insisted that he was neither missing nor abducted by the Abu Sayyaf, while announcing that Atyani is an Abu Sayyaf conduit and that no rescue operations would be launched.
Where they based their conclusion that Atyani is in cahoots with the terrorist group is, as claimed by Noynoy and his aides, due to the fact that Atyani had been to the country at least three times and interviewed the Abu Sayyaf, plus the fact that that he had interviewed Osama bin Laden before the US Seals assassinated the former al-Qaeda leader.
Naturally, after the Jordanian government, through its foreign ministry, confirmed that its national had been kidnapped by the terrorist group, Noynoy and his aides suddenly admitted that Atyani and his crew have been kidnapped, but in trying to save face, they insisted that the journalist went there voluntarily. What crap they spew. Why would a journalist tell, or even ask the government for permission to interview the Abu Sayyaf?.... MORE
Posted by Jesusa Bernardo at 8:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Turning yellow EDITORIAL 06/27/2012
Turning yellow
Now is Noynoy’s chance to play hardball with China now that a Filipino fisherman has died after a fishing boat was supposedly rammed by what the Filipino boat crew identified as Chinese in an incident that happened very close to Scarborough Shoal where a standoff ensued between Philippine and Chinese vessels over rival territorial claims.
The incident happened well within Philippine territory, off Bolinao, Pangasinan, where there was no reason for a Chinese vessel to be present in the area, much more for it to ram a Filipino vessel.
It seems that without American imprimatur, Noynoy cannot act on his own in defending the country’s boundaries.
The standoff at Scarborough Shoal happened shortly after Noynoy received the Philippine Navy’s first decent warship for ages, a decommissioned cutter of the US Coast Guard, which was named BRP Gregorio del Pilar. As soon as the cutter arrived in the country, it sailed off to the disputed shoal to supposedly arrest Chinese fishermen who have long been using the shoal along with their Filipino counterparts without any trouble.
The sudden appearance of a Navy warship in the disputed area touched off heated diplomatic exchanges between the Philippines and China, with both sides maintaining the presence of government-owned vessels in the area..... MORE
Syrians hopeful for summit convened by Russia
The Syrians are in hopeful expectation of an international meeting convened by Russia, and negotiations are underway to reach a solution to the crisis of this nation that survives in the Levant.
In this sense, the press reflects that the visit that will be carried out in Iran in the morning with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, to discuss the situation in Syria and preparations for the meeting of the countries of the G-6 around the nuclear program of Iran
The Russian news agency ITAR-TASS indicated in a report that the purpose of the meeting will be mainly to seek actions to support the implementation of the peace plan of the Special Envoy of the UN, Kofi Annan, and to put an end to the problems that impede it..... MORE
URL: http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/25-06-2012/121482-summit_russia-0/
Moody's cuts ratings of 28 Spanish banks
Ratings agency Moody's has cut the ratings of 28 Spanish banks following a June 13 downgrade of Spain's sovereign rating by three notches.
The banks' long-term debt and deposit ratings have been downgraded by one to four notches. The rating of Bankia, one the country’s largest banks, has been cut to junk status.
Moody’s cited two main factors behind the move: the agency’s assessment of Spain's reduced creditworthiness, and an “expectation that the banks' exposures to commercial real estate (CRE) will likely cause higher losses, which might increase the likelihood that these banks will require external support.”.... MORE
URL: http://rt.com/business/news/moodys-ratings-spanish-banks-682/
Joseph Estrada, on Dolphy NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 06/27/2012
Joseph Estrada, on Dolphy
Armida Siguion-Reyna
President Erap’s daughter Jackie Ejercito and husband Beaver Lopez hosted our lunch get-together in their new house last Sunday. We were told the next mayor of Manila would be a little late owing to the mass at San Juan, for it was also “Araw ng San Juan”. Soon enough he was jauntily walking in, attired in trademark orange polo shirt, and matching orange Converse rubber shoes.
And then it was lunch.
Talk naturally drifted to Dolphy, for even those who barely knew him wanted to know how he was doing. Someone volunteered overhearing that Eddie Garcia was not keen on seeing his fellow Sampaguita Pictures contract actor on the sickbed, although later on in the day Garcia ended up dropping by to see the well-loved comedian at the Intensive Care Unit, after the healing mass at the hospital.
“I didn’t want to see Dolphy bed-ridden, too.” Erap said. “But I visited him to stop malicious talk that I didn’t care what was happening to him, kasi raw galit ako at him dahil nag-Villar siya in 2010. That’s not true. Of course I care about him. Puwede bang hindi, e maski matanda siya sa akin, kami halos ang magkakapanahon niyan sa industry. Iba ang pulitika, iba ang long-standing friendship. Mahal ko si Dolphy, tapos.”.... MORE
‘Red International’ splits AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 06/27/2012
‘Red International’ splits
AN OUTSIDERS VIEW
Ken Fuller
Two weeks ago, in the first part of this account, we identified three kinds of splits in the labor movement — the party-political split, the split influenced by employers, and the split engineered by government. Last week, there was the split caused by labor-leader paternalism, or the desire to escape it — for the TUPAS-FSM split might be seen as an example of this. (At the lower levels of the movement there must have been countless undocumented examples of this kind of split over the years, along with those caused by personality differences and the careerism of leaders.)
We might also add that while not necessarily causing splits, foreign funding like that advanced by the Asian-American Free Labor Institute has acted as a means of fencing off conservative organizations from their more progressive brethren. And finally, we have the example of the post-1993 splits, which we might dub the “Red International” type of split. This requires some explanation.
Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, a number of communist-led organizations were established on an international level with the aim of gaining influence in the labor and peasant movements. One such organization was the Red International of Labor Unions (RILU), established in 1921. As the international communist movement entered its most sectarian period (characterized by the slogan “class against class”), the RILU saw the aim of communists as attempting to win the support of the labor movement in their own country for the cause of revolution, and if the existing trade unions could not so be won, to establish “red alternatives.”.... MORE
Noynoy violates Charter, allows nuclear sub in RP By Mario J. Mallari 06/27/2012
Noynoy violates Charter, allows nuclear sub in RP
By Mario J. Mallari 06/27/2012
Apart from allowing armed foreign troops and bases into the country, on claims that the bases and American servicemen’s “visits” are temporary and on a “rotational’ basis despite the United States bases in Mindanao being virtually permanent, President Aquino has again violated the Constitution when it allowed another United States nuclear-powered vessel to enter Philippine territory.
The nuclear-powered submarine yesterday docked in Subic Bay for a supposed routine port call — the second such “visit” by US attack seacraft since the standoff between the Philippines and China over the disputed Scarborough Shoal erupted last April.
Article ll, Section 8 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, under State policies, mandated by the Filipino people, states that the “Philippines, consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory.”.... MORE
Palace warned vs SoVFA push as Aussie military faces abuse probe 06/27/2012
Palace warned vs SoVFA push as Aussie military faces abuse probe
Malacaang should be cautious in pushing the immediate ratification by the Senate of the proposed Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SoVFA) with Australia amid news reports on record of numerous cases of physical and sexual abuse of minors, supposedly committed by members of the Australian armed forces.
An article that came out in the New York Times last June 15 said Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised the possibility of a high-level public inquiry or convening a royal commission, a major investigative body occasionally used by some countries of the Commonwealth, to investigate sensitive public issues.
The matter has come to the attention of Senators Gregorio Honasan and Joker Arroyo and both urged the Executive department to exercise caution before having the SoVFA rushed for plenary approval..... MORE
Disini firms up libel suit vs ex-CJ Panganiban By Charlie V. Manalo 06/27/2012
Disini firms up libel suit vs ex-CJ Panganiban
By Charlie V. Manalo 06/27/2012
Having already been cleared from various Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) deal-related charges, businessman Herminio Disini has tightened the noose on the libel case he had filed against former Chief Justice-turned-columnist Artemio Panganiban for his repeated use of the phrase “go between” in reference to him in one of his column articles.
Included in the libel suit filed by Disini is the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
In his Reply-Affidavit to Respondents’ Counter-Affidavits last Friday, he said “Mr. Panganiban ascribed to me the commission of a crime, particularly corruption of a public official and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, when he described me as Westinghouse’s ‘go between’ with, and a ‘close personal associate of former President Ferdinand Marcos.’”.... MORE
Money, Corona topbill Noy’s 3rd Sona By Fernan J. Angeles 06/27/2012
Money, Corona topbill Noy’s 3rd Sona
By Fernan J. Angeles 06/27/2012
In what appears to be a sneak preview of his third State of the Nation Address (Sona), no less than the main man on center stage hinted “money” and “crown” as the highlights when he opens Congress sessions in the third week of July.
In a speech before administering the oath-taking of the Liberal Party’s newest members in Baguio City, President Aquino hinted that the financial capability of the present government to promptly deliver services and provide immediate help to its constituents gave it distinction from the previous administrations.
“I am not saying that our country is drowning in cash but we now have the capability to give to our bosses what is due them all at once, without favoring anyone and in the quickest time possible,” Aquino told his audience at the Benguet State University..... MORE
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120627nat1.html
Palawan Council: ABS-CBN, 18 local execs broke SEP Law 06/27/2012
Palawan Council: ABS-CBN, 18 local execs broke SEP Law
For occupying and converting Sabsaban Falls into an eco-tourism resort without a clearance from the Palawan Council Sustainable Development (PCSD), charges have been filed against the ABS-CBN Foundation (ACF) and 18 local government officials, PCSD legal chief Adel Belena said.
Belena said the ACF-Bantay Kalikasan, which occupied the falls within the timberland in Brookes’ Point, Palawan and converted them into a resort violated Administrative Order (AO) 6. The case marked as Administrative Case 438 is now pending with the PCSD Adjudication Board (PAB).
AO 6 provides the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 7611 or the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan Act. The order requires a SEP clearance for all projects affecting the environment and natural resources of Palawan, including government projects..... MORE
Miriam pushes RH bill to June brides 06/27/2012
Miriam pushes RH bill to June brides
All newlyweds should consider it a moral duty to observe reproductive health during marriage, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said at a posh Cebu City wedding.
Santiago, as principal wedding sponsor and guest speaker last Saturday, exhorted a newly married couple to “follow the RH paradigm” at a five-star hotel wedding reception attended by some of the most prominent Cebu City families.
“Reproductive health is the new wave of the future. The critics are flaying a dead horse. To mix metaphors, the critics are missing the boat. In the 2013 elections, the voters will educate the non-educable,” said Santiago..... MORE
Posted by Jesusa Bernardo at 12:30 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Makati City strengthens ban on synthetic packaging materials 06/27/2012
Makati City strengthens ban on synthetic packaging materials
The City of Makati will deploy 45 teams from the Plastic Monitoring Task Force (PMTF) to inspect 738 establishments starting June 26 to inspect their stock inventory of plastic and other non-biodegradable materials and evaluate their compliance with the Solid Waste Management Code of Makati.
Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay said Chapter 9 of the code, also known as City Ordinance 2003-095, gives food and retail establishments nine years to dispose of all their stocks of plastics, styrofoam and similar materials and to replace them with environment-friendly materials.
“We are now in the ninth year of implementing the ordinance, so we believe we have given establishments enough time to prepare for the full phase-out being required of them. The new executive order (EO) I issued recently has, in fact, extended the deadline to June 20, 2013,” Binay said..... MORE
More booboos FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 06/27...
Joseph Estrada, on Dolphy NO HOLDS BARRED Armida S...
‘Red International’ splits AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken F...
Noynoy violates Charter, allows nuclear sub in RP ...
Palace warned vs SoVFA push as Aussie military fac...
Disini firms up libel suit vs ex-CJ Panganiban By ...
Money, Corona topbill Noy’s 3rd Sona By Fernan J. ...
Palawan Council: ABS-CBN, 18 local execs broke SEP...
Makati City strengthens ban on synthetic packaging...
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Likee All Set to Launch Operations in Pakistan Following One Million Downloads
Likee, world’s leading global short video creation platform with around 150 million unique monthly users worldwide, is all set to launch its operations in Pakistan. The platform has already crossed a million downloads mark in the country and is expected to make new records with the localized version launch. Likee All Set to Launch Operations in Pakistan Following One Million Downloads.
The Singapore-based app is unique in the sense that it offers users with the capability to easily create the videos and add special effects to them. The special effects can be four-dimensional, attractive and dynamic stickers as well as a video editing tool.The platform plans to employ resources in the channel sales development, content operations, brand safety teams, and influencer talent management spheres.
The planned launch is a timely step as Pakistan has a market of 76.38 million internet users, according to the estimates of the current year. Interestingly, the number of users increased during the past one year by 11 million. If we look at the social media users, it stands at 37 million as of now, according to the report. Stats also suggesta 73 percent of online users preferably watch videos. So,investing in video consumption and creation area may open limitless avenues of growth for the platform.
Must Read: Philips Steps Up its Innovation Efforts in Air Purification for Healthy Living Indoors
Definitely, theshort video platform is the most popular and fast-growing industry around the world only in the past three years. In 2019, the total user number of short video APPs are over 9 billion around the world, which generates over 2,000 billion industry only in one country. Short video applications have stepped into popular imagination with a clear and simple promise – you bring the creativity; they provide the technical ability. The short video platform is besides a happy center of the youth. However, it is a production tool for many talents. With filters, effects, and so many additional editing capabilities built into the app itself, a career as a video content creator suddenly became a viable opportunity for many millions more.
Likee enjoys its position in the region as one of the top short video platforms, providing the users with the opportunity to test the potential in an engaging and immersive environment. Innovation is at the core of the app’s philosophy, helping the youth give their talent a shot.
Tagsinfluencer Likee One Million Downloads Operations Stats also suggesta
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Car News And Critiques In Malaysia
Our in-depth authoritative automotive coverage and degree of access from the boardroom to the showroom makes Automotive News unrivaled in the market. The Los Angeles International Auto Show has a modified automobile section but none of the good stuff like a style show, bikini contest or even one particular Go-Go dancer or Import Model! In other words, it is much less the question of the subversive use of a technical media form than the generation of a media or rather post-media ecology, that is, a self-referential network for an unforeseen processual production of subjectivity amplifying itself by way of technical indicates. The second and third very best promoting electric car organizations are Tesla Motors and Mitsubishi Motors respectively.
Stories end up on Demand’s eHow, Cracked, Trails or LiveStrong web sites but Demand also offers the sites of USA Right now, The San Francisco Chronicle and the Houston Chronicle with news (Shaver, 2010). I drive a Corolla proper now, but my subsequent auto will possibly be a VW CleanTDI that can run on biodiesel (which is practical sufficient right here in Seattle, but not numerous other places correct now). Around 10 AM Monday morning, nonetheless, news reports emerged that the vehicle had been found along with two other cars stolen at the occasion.
I can’t beleive that any owner would be so stupid as to risk someones life like that and not bother to post indicators of attainable damage to the people inside of a automobile. If your automobile has not been recovered, and you received a claim settled, you will need to have to buy a new auto. The television content has grow to be a lot more way of life-oriented, even though the World wide web content has more tension on factual data and news. One of the newest forms of on-the-go regional news consumption, mobile applications, are just starting to take hold among mobile device owners.
For many, new cars and nearly new vehicles are now far a lot more affordable than they’ve ever been previously and individuals now no longer have to settle for a utilized auto that is 3-5 years old. The news director who manages to arrange public matters so that public criticism is kept to a minimum, and profits stay high, seldom get fired.
Datsun is hoping to attract young purchasers with the Redi-GO and has styled it in a wise, youthful manner to make sure the car appeals to its target audience. I found your page although looking for vehicle washes locally that never need the driver to stay in the car. The news section gets updated every single day with freshest and exclusive data each hour.
Car News & Autos For Sale
one hundred Techniques To Save Money AND Devote Significantly less
Automotive Flooring Market Global Industry Share, Growth, Trend, Demand, Top Players, Opportunities And Forecast To 2026
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Interview: "The Chris Downey Podcast" Host Chris Downey
The "Leverage" co-creator chats about his unique podcasting adventure, plus the future of his former TNT series.
Interview: "103 Ways to Get Into TV (By 102 Who Did, Plus Me)" Author Jim McKairnes
The former CBS executive chats about his new book, about how to come to Los Angeles and succeed in the television business.
Interview: "Once Upon a Time" Co-Stars Josh Dallas & Robert Carlyle
Plus: Jennifer Morrison, Lana Parrilla and Steve Pearlman talk season two of the ABC drama.
Interview: "Once Upon a Time" Co-Stars Ginnifer Goodwin & Jennifer Morrison
Plus: Colin O'Donoghue, Josh Dallas, Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle talk season two of the ABC drama.
Interview: Head of MTV Programming David Janollari
The Viacom-owned network chief talks everything from "Underemployed" to "Teen Wolf" to "Jersey Shore."
Interview: "Dexter" Executive Producer Scott Buck
Check out our chat about tonight's season premiere of Showtime's flagship drama.
Interview: "NCIS" Executive Producer Gary Glasberg
The CBS mainstay kicks off its landmark 10th season tonight at 8:00/7:00c.
Interview: "Bones" Executive Producers Hart Hanson & Stephen Nathan
Season eight of the FOX drama kicks off tonight at 8:00/7:00c.
Interview: "Hell on Wheels" Executive Producer John Shiban
The Anson Mount-led drama continues Sunday nights at 9:00/8:00c on AMC.
Interview: "America's Next Top Model" Creative Consultant Johnny Wujek
The CW's reality franchise now airs Friday nights at 8:00/7:00c on the network.
Interview: "Grimm" Co-Creators David Greenwalt & Jim Kouf
The showrunners chat about the show's second season, airing Monday nights at 10:00/9:00c on NBC.
Interview: "Boss" Creator Farhad Safinia
The Starz drama kicks off its second season tonight at 9:00/8:00c.
Interview: "Necessary Roughness" Co-Stars Callie Thorne, Marc Blucas & Mehcad Brooks
Plus: executive producer Kevin Dowling on the new season, airing Wednesdays at 10:00/9:00c on USA.
Interview: "Falling Skies" Executive Producer Remi Aubuchon
TNT's hit drama returns with a two-hour premiere this Sunday at 9:00/8:00c.
Interview: "The Choice" & "So You Think You Can Dance" Host Cat Deeley
The ever-busy Brit is also behind Yahoo!'s online series "In The Dressing Room."
Interview: "Dallas" Executive Producer Cynthia Cidre
TNT's revival of the 1980s staple premieres tonight at 9:00/8:00c.
Interview: TNT, TBS & TCM President, Head of Programming Michael Wright
The veteran Turner executive talks "Dallas," "Cougar Town," "Major Crimes" and more!
Live at the Hollywood Radio & Television Society's "Newsmaker Luncheon Series: State of the Industry"
Lloyd Braun, Nancy Dubuc, Cliff Gilbert-Lurie, Gary Newman and Rick Rosen all share their thoughts.
Interview: "Royal Pains" Executive Producers Andrew Lenchewski & Michael Rauch
USA's veteran drama kicks off its fourth season tonight at 9:00/8:00c.
Interview: "Pretty Little Liars" Executive Producer Oliver Goldstick
ABC Family's hit drama kicks off its third season tonight at 8:00/7:00c.
Interview: "Love in the Wild" Host Jenny McCarthy
NBC's summer dating franchise returns tonight at 9:00/8:00c with a two-hour premiere.
Interview: "Drop Dead Diva" Creator Josh Berman
The man behind the Lifetime original series chats about tonight's season premiere.
Interview: "Mrs. Eastwood & Company" Star Dina Eastwood
E!'s latest reality entry airs Sundays at 10:00/9:00c after "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."
Interview: "The Middle" Co-Star Patricia Heaton
The actress recently received a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Interview: "American Ninja Warrior" Co-Hosts Matt Iseman & Jonny Moseley
The competition series returns this Sunday on G4 and this Monday on NBC.
Interview: "The Walking Dead" Alum Jon Bernthal
The actor chats about his post-zombie life, including guest starring on this Sunday's "Harry's Law" and toplining the TNT drama pilot "L.A. Noir."
Interview: "Around the World in 80 Plates" Hosts Curtis Stone & Cat Cora
Bravo's latest culinary competition series launches tonight at 10:00/9:00c.
Interview: "Modern Family" Executive Producer Danny Zuker
The Emmy-winning comedy continues its third season Wednesday nights at 9:00/8:00c on ABC.
Interview: "The Pitch" Executive Producer Eli Holzman & AMC's Joel Stillerman
The cable channel's latest reality series formally rolls out tonight at 9:00/8:00c.
Live at the Hollywood Radio & Television Society's "Newsmaker Luncheon Series: Unscripted Hitmakers"
Mike Fleiss, Conrad Green, Eli Holzman, Kris Jenner, Brent Montgomery and Bertram van Munster give a state of the reality TV union.
Interview: "The Vampire Diaries" Executive Producer Julie Plec
Plus: Michael Trevino, Candice Accola, Steven R. McQueen and Zach Roerig react to tonight's episode.
Interview: "Eureka" Co-Creator Jaime Paglia
The show's fifth and final season continues Monday nights at 9:00/8:00c on Syfy.
Interview: "Private Practice" Executive Producer Betsy Beers
In an exclusive chat, Beers reacts to the major happenings in tonight's episode plus teases what's ahead.
Interview: "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23" Executive Producers Nahnatchka Khan & David Hemingson
Dreama Walker and Krysten Ritter star in their new comedy, premiering tonight at 9:30/8:30c on ABC.
Interview: "Nurse Jackie" Co-Creator Linda Wallem
The series, starring Emmy winner Edie Falco, returns this Sunday at 9:00/8:00c on Showtime.
Interview: "Bones" Creator Hart Hanson
The showrunner chats about today's renewal, the future of "The Finder" and more!
Interview: "Fairly Legal" Star Sarah Shahi
The drama continues its second season on Friday nights at 9:00/8:00c on USA.
Live at the Paley Festival: ABC's "Modern Family"
Check out our recap of the final night of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
Live at the Paley Festival: AMC's "Mad Men"
Check out our recap of night 12 of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
Live at the Paley Festival: CBS's "Two and a Half Men"
Interview: "Smash" Executive Producer David Marshall Grant
The "Brothers & Sisters" alum chats about what's on tap for the NBC drama, airing Mondays at 10:00/9:00c.
Live at the Paley Festival: ABC's "Revenge"
Check out our recap of day 10 of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
Live at the Paley Festival: The CW's "The Vampire Diaries"
Check out our recap of night nine of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
Live at the Paley Festival: ABC's "Castle"
Check out our recap of night eight of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
Interview: "Shameless" Executive Producer John Wells
The prolific writer/director chats about his Showtime series as well as TNT's "Southland."
Live at the Paley Festival: FOX's "Bones"
Check out our recap of night seven of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
Live at the Paley Festival: FX's "Sons of Anarchy"
Check out our recap of night six of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
Live at the Hollywood Radio & Television Society's "Newsmaker Luncheon Series: Cable Programming Summit"
Check out our recap of the event, featuring Michael Wright, Joel Stillerman, David Janollari, Kate Juergens and Carmi Zlotnik.
Live at the Paley Festival: NBC's "Parks & Recreation"
Check out our recap of night five of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
Live at the Paley Festival: FOX's "New Girl"
Check out our recap of night four of The 29th Annual Paley Festival.
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Just another Theory Base Sites site
Can you learn to sing in 6 months?
I did and I think it’s because the school taught the kids how to play a lot better when they started, and I learned that I was on their team. My teachers know that I could have never got back where I was for the past four years, if it weren’t for my sister. Without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today. [Laughs]
What is different about being black and female on the music scene?
I’ve been asked about that a lot – ‘Oh, you have to change. We need more female artists.’ I’m doing my best just as I’m doing on the songs I’ve made, singing and rocking as much as I can. [Laughs]
Have you considered any other routes or other career options?
Maybe in a couple of years. I’m doing well and I’m getting the recognition and that’s what I’m really interested in. I think it’s more a question about success than where to go. I think I always want to make music that’s bigger than myself. I’m not like the person who thinks the music I make is bigger than the person I am. I never say, ‘I wish I were like this girl.’ I’m just me.
Sara Schanburg
Media kit by Michelle Wichman & Jessica M. Hock
Jessica M. Hock
Budgie Linux v1.18.8 Released
We are pleased to announce that the Budgie Linux 1.18.8 Beta has been released to the distribution. Beta 1 brings a few new features, as well as some bug fixes.
Budgie Linux is now using SUSE’s openQA system by default. Previously, Budgie used a pre-configured system that was not quite good enough from a bug reporting/bugsolving perspective. The new version of Budgie also has an openQA system built in, which allows for the full testing and deployment of the package. You can also run the package locally as a test, or if you prefer you can copy over the binaries there. The new version is available in Beta 1.
Several other improvements have been made, both
← Is it bad to sing everyday? → How can I improve my singing voice?
How do voices work? – How To Learn Singing At Home Without A Teacher
How can I improve my singing voice? – Learn How To Use Crystal Singing Bowls
Is a semitone a half step? – Vtech Stand And Learn Singing Notes Images Music
What is vibrato in singing? – How To Learn Singing Notes Images Clip
What happens if you sing too high? – Learn Singing Online Free
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Today marks first broken promise from re-elected Morrison Government - Transcript, Sky News
Posted by Andrew Leigh 56sc on July 01, 2019
Subjects: Tax cuts, penalty rate cuts, the government’s bold economic forecasts, Christopher Pyne’s newfound camera shyness.
LAURA JAYES: Joining me now is Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh. He's always in town because this is your hometown. Where is Labor at? What is your position on the tax cut package at the moment?
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: Laura, we want to make sure that more Australians get a bigger tax cut sooner. The economy needs that additional stimulus and Australians need some support after years in which wages have been flatlining. Labor is encouraging the government to bring forward the stage two tax cuts and we want to get those stage one tax cuts done as quickly as possible.
JAYES: So that a final position though or do we need to see this ratified through caucus?
LEIGH: Caucus will approve the shadow ministerial decision but our priority is making sure money flows into people's wallets. We need to make sure we support that demand, because we've got a really fragile economy right now.
JAYES: You've got a problem though because you're not in government and the government won’t split this package that was central to their pre-election promises. So how do you get around that?
LEIGH: We’re going to continue to make these strong economic arguments, Laura. We're seen the report out today from The Conversation, they’ve polled 20 leading economists - none of them say that the economy will hit the government's household spending target of 2.75 per cent. They all think the economy is weaker than the government forecast and don’t forget that those forecasts to what underlies this expensive tax cut, which sees about a third of the benefits going to those earning over a $180,000, who make up just 3 percent of taxpayers.
JAYES: But it’s all or nothing really, according to the government. So what is Labor going to do? Are you simply spectators here? Are you going to let the crossbench deal you out of relevance?
LEIGH: We’re going to make these strong arguments on behalf of the Australian economy. We need to be responsible economic managers in an environment in which the New York Fed says that there's a 29 per cent risk of recession and The Conversation’s panel put a similar figure on recession risk in Australia. We need the fiscal firepower to fight that downturn in Australia. Labor is the only political party that believes everybody should get a tax cut in this term of government. Scott Morrison has tied to bipartisan supported tax cuts his 2024 tax cuts for the simple reason that he knows if he didn't do that, that stage three alone would not pass the Parliament.
JAYES: Stage three, well Centre Alliance seems to be coming on board with stage three.
LEIGH: Others will do what they do. Labor will be arguing the opportunity cost. So if you support rising Newstart, if you believe we need to spend more on infrastructure, if you believe we need to spend more on schools and hospitals-
JAYES: That's not what Labor's arguing, Labor's arguing to bring stage one and two forward. It's not arguing that you should increase Newstart. As an economist, wouldn't that be a bigger boost to the economy?
LEIGH: Laura, I’m making a different point. I'm making the point that the opportunity cost of locking in extremely expensive tax cuts is that it becomes much more difficult to increase Newstart. Were Australia to suffer a significant downturn, we'd want to be looking at things like bringing forward infrastructure and stimulating spending. That becomes much harder-
JAYES: If government passes this entire package of tax cuts with the help of the crossbench, will Labor then walk back its commitment to increasing Newstart?
LEIGH: We've just lost an election. We will devise our policies for the next election as we come up to it. But I'm making the simple point that every time you cut taxes, something's got to give. And for those who believe that the Newstart allowance is too low, they need to recognise that there's a tradeoff and that if you provide these very expensive tax cuts then that makes it more difficult to go ahead with other policies-
JAYES: So is there a chance that you might support this tax cut package, depending on what caucus says?
LEIGH: Our focus right now is on securing our amendments. It is on making sure that more Australians get a tax cut-
JAYES: That’s not a no then?
LEIGH: We're focused on making sure that the government does the right thing. Let's not forget, Laura, today is the 1st of July. This is the day on which Scott Morrison-
JAYES: It’s not a no, Dr Leigh, is it? You could support this tax cut package.
LEIGH: This is the moment where Scott Morrison said that Australians would be getting their stage one tax cuts. We supported that on a bipartisan basis back in April. Scott Morrison waved us away, said we didn't need legislation then. It's proved wrong. And this is not only the first day of the fiscal year - it's the first broken promise from the re-elected Morrison Government, who said that people would have a tax cut flowing immediately.
JAYES: Just quickly before I let you go - Christopher Pyne. He's taken on a job with EY, formerly Ernst and Young. Do you see a problem here?
LEIGH: It certainly looks to me like it's a breach of the ministerial code of conduct and it's up to the prime minister and Christopher Pyne to explain why it's not. Both of them are typically pretty quick to front the cameras. Neither of them have been willing to front the cameras on this one. I think that if Mr Pyne doesn't stay away from engagement with his former portfolio, then members of the Morrison Government should leave him out in the sort of chill that Canberra’s experiencing right now.
JAYES: We’ll see. Dr Leigh, thanks so much.
LEIGH: Thanks Laura.
Authorised by Noah Carroll ALP Canberra.
speaking media what's new
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Press Release: New Book, Millennial Leaders, Features 60 Minutes Guest Expert Jason Dorsey
 Jason Dorsey, Generation Y expert and author of My Reality Check Bounced, is one of the twenty-something age leaders featured in the new book Millennial Leaders: Success Stories from Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders. Dorsey appeared recently on the CBS 60 Minutes episode The “Millennials” Are Coming.
Southern Pines, NC (PRWEB) November 15, 2007 — In the new book, Millennial Leaders: Success Stories from Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders (http://MillennialLeaders.com), the co-authors and executive coaches, Bea Fields, Scott Wilder, Jim Bunch and Rob Newbold feature interviews with 25 of the most successful Generation Y Leaders of tomorrow who are already leading today.
Jason Dorsey, Generation Y expert and author of My Reality Check Bounced, is one of the twenty-something age leaders featured in the book. Dorsey appeared recently on the CBS 60 Minutes episode The “Millennials” Are Coming.
“Jason is a very impressive and astute Gen Y leader who is making a positive impact on today’s culture,” said Bea Fields, one of the authors of Millennial Leaders and president of Bea Fields Companies, Inc. “His entrepreneurial prowess and adventurous spirit are spawning countless successes for Generation Y. Jason is a consummate role model for our future leaders.”
Natural entrepreneurs, members of Generation Y are just now making an impact in business and in the culture at large. In addition, as the first group to grow up immersed in media culture, they have a distinctive way of ordering their lives. Millennial Leaders brings readers a unique, close up look at the people responsible for the cutting edge of social and business trends.
“The leaders of Generation Y are our future, and it is time to start working with them — not resisting their efforts,” said Fields.
For more details about Millennial Leaders: Success Stories from Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders, visit http://MillennialLeaders.com or contact Bea Fields at (910) 692-6118..
Filed Under: Press Releases
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"The busiest cycle street in the world" ? Why do we keep hearing exaggerations about Norrebrogade / Queen Louise's Bridge in Copenhagen?
An industry seems to have grown up around promoting Copenhagen as the world's top cycling city. Sadly, some of the claims made do not stand up to much scrutiny.
For instance, Nørrebrogade is claimed to be "the busiest cycle street in the world". It's certainly the busiest cycle street in Copenhagen. Being 3 km long and taking a straight line path right through the city, it and the bridge on it are a funnel for cycle-traffic which uses this as one of the most direct routes to several locations. Very many of the photos of cyclists from Copenhagen are shot on this road because it's the busiest.
Counter on Dronning Louises Bro / Queen Louise's Bridge
Norrebrogade Copenhagen. The claims made for counts
of bicycles here do not stand up to scrutiny.
A recent widely reproduced press-release from the city claimed that 36000 cyclists use the road every day. Some websites go further and claim 38000 per day. Usually you have to assume that such printed figures are correct, and that's what I did too. However, in this case someone pointed to me that it's unusually easy to check it for yourself. This count was made on the same street as a famous public bicycle counter which many of you will already have seen photos of. The counter displays both the current date and the number of cyclists who have passed since the 1st of January, so a a simple calculation can be done by dividing one number by the other. Take the photo on the left as an example (click on it to see it in greater size at its owner's website). It shows 1559492 cyclists had passed by the 4th of June 2010, which was the 155th day of the year. That's just 10060 cyclists per day on average by half way through 2010. It is a respectable figure, but not close to the claims so often put forward for the street.
So what's going on here ? I don't know. It's surely good marketing to have "the busiest", but don't we need a bit more than that ? Before Christmas I emailed the two people who were responsible for a document about the street to find out where the numbers came from, but have not had an answer (see below).
Counters in many different places in the Netherlands record higher numbers than this. For instance, eight locations in Utrecht have more than 10000 cyclists per day, and one of them has more than 22000 cyclists per day. In Groningen, six different places have counts greater than 10000 per day, two of those are above 14000 per day. Bear in mind that Copenhagen's population is more than three times that of Utrecht and six times that of Groningen. Counters in larger Dutch cities almost certainly record higher figures.
It's just marketing.
Danish professionals, including the Cycling Embassy of Denmark give a slightly different perspective.
This is the inside back cover of one of their recent publications, giving some numbers. The Danes now cycle for 16% of their journeys. Sadly, this is lower than the 18 or 19% measured just a few years ago and which I have quoted in the past. The difference is significant. It's equivalent to one in eight cyclists giving up. This is not something to celebrate - it's terrible news. We need to know the cause of the decline and work out what can be done about it.
Some of the other figures are also interesting. 36% of Danish adults ride a bike to work "at least once per week". The percentage of daily commutes is not given, but it will of course be lower. 45% of Danish children "often" bike to school. Clearly this isn't the percentage who cycle every day, which again is not given and will be lower. "Often" is open to interpretation but could be less frequent than once per week. This is a startlingly lower rate of school cycling than is seen in the Netherlands, and that's important. Cycling has to start with children.
Note also the claim that 2/3rds of children under 11 use helmets when cycling in Denmark. This is not something which would be highlighted if it wasn't thought to be important. However, it is again very different from the Netherlands, where despite occasional ill-judged campaigns, helmets are still only rarely seen except on sport cyclists. It's another sign of cycling under pressure. People are scared for the safety of their children, and perhaps this has some connection with the reduced rate of cycling.
Lastly, note that 2.2 metres is the new standard width of cycle lanes in Denmark. That's somewhat narrower than the 2.5 metres which is standard here for single directional cycle paths, and it's again a thing which puts cyclists under a little bit more pressure.
It all adds up to a bit of a murky picture, similar to what I pointed out before. Copenhagen, and in the wider sense, Denmark, has a relative lack of subjective safety and this is stifling bicycle use, even in the top city of the world's second cycling country. Helmet promotion campaigns like this are only likely to contribute to the decline in Denmark.
I'm not happy about any of this. Cycling is extremely fragile, even in the two great cycling nations of the Netherlands and Denmark. It doesn't take much to stop people from cycling. If care is not taken, cycling in the Netherlands could also decline. We need ever better standards for cycle provision and no negative marketing. We all need to be able to learn from what has caused the decline in Denmark.
Why has cycling in Denmark declined since 1992, while it has continued to rise in the Netherlands ? Why is this question not being asked more widely ? This graph ends at the "18%" point. Since that time, the proportion of journeys by bike has dropped further to 16%
It's clear that Danish cycling policies are not succeeding as we all wish they would. This problem of declining cycling has not occurred in the Netherlands, and that is as good a reason as any why The Netherlands remains the best place in the world to turn to if you want to see what successful policies look like.
Update 25/1/2011
There's been quite a lot of discussion in the comments below this blog post of the discrepancy between counts which made up the first part of the post. Copenhagener got close to the answer by finding the cycle counts for a day in September 2009. However, I was also sent very helpful emails from Klaus Grimar, Project Manager, and Soren Zebitz Nielsen, Student Assistant, both of the Center for Trafik (Department of Traffic) in Copenhagen, explaining the numbers. They gave permission to reproduce the first long email, and also a shorter summary which you will find in italics below:
The survey that resulted in the number of 37.000 cyclists on Norrebrogade on the bridge where the counter is placed was conducted manually in early September 2009. We know that early September is a peak period for cyclists with good weather and due to the start of the academic year for the universities in the city. The number of 37.000 cyclists represents the average number of daily cyclist on a normal work day in both directions on the street during the peak season.
As an average in both directions on a normal working day throughout the year, the daily total number of cyclists on the street is around 28.000.
The counter relies on a sensor placed below the asphalt on the bicycle path only. We know that during the rush hour some faster cyclists overtake slower cyclists using the road, and some even the walkway. We find that the counter does not register all cyclists when the bicycle traffic is dense. It is our experience that the automatic counter generally counts around 10% less cyclists than the actual number during the peak hours and around 5% less in normal hours.
The idea of the counter is not to be an official measurement, but more to give the cyclists an idea of the approximate magnitude of bicycle traffic on the street as they pass by and a feeling that each individual cyclist contributes to make Copenhagen a City of Cyclists. The numbers counted by the automatic counter cannot be relied upon for academic purposes.
However there is no doubt that there has been an increase of around 7000 cyclist daily on the street of Norrebrogade as a consequence of the project there, since the manual surveys of bicycle traffic before and after the project were made using the same method and the traffic was counted at same time of the year in the surveys before and after the project was initiated.
Thanks to Klaus and Soren we now know that the widely reported "average" picked up by the marketing people and the media was actually a peak, and we also know the official average for a working day over the year, including a compensation for the cyclists missed by the automated count (other places could perhaps use the same compensation), but still not the average for all 365 days of the year. I'm of course very pleased to see that the improvement in conditions for cyclists on this street resulted in an increase in cycle traffic in this location. However, it has to be viewed alongside the unfortunate decline in cycling overall in Denmark.
See previous articles about Copenhagen. There are also previous articles about helmets, and particularly amongst them, this one which points out that the "danger" of cycling really has been blown out of all proportion next to that of driving. Others have pointed out that a lack of sufficient investment could be behind the lower cycling share in Copenhagen vs. Dutch cities.
This year, some people I know from Cambridge visited Copenhagen and wrote about their experiences.
They also took some photos, including the one on the right, which while it's supposed to be representative of a street along which "up to 35,000 cycle trips per day" are made, actually shows that something unpleasant has happened on the "busiest cycle street in the world". The photo shows the state of the sign on the 27th of May 2012. By that date, the 148th day of the year, 1261731 cyclists had passed the sign. In other words, in the first five months of 2012, the number of cyclists riding past this point averaged 8525 per day.
This number is not only a long way short of 35000, but compared with the numbers which I used to make the calculation at the top of this blog post, it's evidence of a 15% decline in cycling in Copenhagen compared with a count from two years previously. Both counts were made by the same permanently installed counter in the same place and both over the first five months of the year. This 15% difference cannot be explained away as an artifact caused by just a few days of bad weather - it's equivalent to 22 days of cycling being lost in just half of one year.
A 15% decline over two years in the busiest street in the city sounds catastrophic. Why has this happened ? Why did Copenhagen choose to hype the cycling rate on this street if it were actually in decline, and why do they continue to hype the amount of cycling in this street in the light of such a decline ? A 15% drop is in line with an acknowledgement by the Cycling Embassy of Denmark last year that cycling had dropped from between 18 and 19% to 16% of journeys within Denmark, but they were referring to a different decline which had happened over a much longer period than two years.
The article from Cambridge also reports a statistic that "Copenhageners make half of their urban trips by bike". However, this has no basis in fact either. We need to start with a little history:
All trips within Copenhagen 2002.
Bicycles "slightly less than one
fifth", cars just over half.
In 2002, "slightly less than one fifth" of journeys within the city were by bike. A target was set in the same year to increase commutes only to 40% by the year 2012. This target was missed. There was some reported growth in that official figures show that commuting by bike rose from 32% in 2002 to 35% in 2010, but instead of acknowledging that the 40% target for 2012 wasn't going to be achieved, Copenhagen instead announced a 50% target for 2015. It would take an extraordinary and unprecedented growth in just a few years to achieve this.
The 50% target sounds great of course, and that is what is supposed to do. It's an artifact of marketing for Copenhagen, not of the real cycling modal share. At best it's only a target, and it's a target not for all journeys but only for commuters. No-one should reproduce this figure as an achieved modal share, because it has never been any such thing. In 2009 when I estimated that Copenhagen's true bicycle modal share was around 22%, the head of Copenhagen's bicycle programme wrote a supportive comment on this blog. If the same rate of growth has been continued for the last three years then we would expect that the true modal share for Copenhagen in 2012 is around 23-24%. However, this is rather difficult to determine because the numbers are no longer easy to find.
33% for bicycles, 40% by car, 27% public
transport. They missed out walking.
While the figures for 2002 (in this document) were truly for all modes, the figures issued for 2010 which appear to show dramatic growth do so in large part because they have omitted to mention the approximately one fifth of all journeys within the city which are made by walking. Assuming that around a fifth of journeys still being by foot, the diagram on the right would indicate that approximately 26% of journeys are now by bike in Copenhagen, which is more in line with my estimate. However, note that these figures are for trips "starting or terminating in" the city and we don't know how this phrase is defined nor how the figures were calculated. We have to be wary of tricks, especially when we're looking at figures from a place with a history of exaggeration.
Any claims for growth in cycling in
Copenhagen have to be judged against the
steady decline in Danish cycling since 1992
People from other countries looking for inspiration are often drawn to Copenhagen because of the deluge of publicity from the city. However, they need to look further than headline figures ("half of their urban trips" etc.) which form part of a marketing effort from Denmark. There was a time when the annual bicycle reports and policy documents from Copenhagen were the envy of the world, and a time when they presented good data which could be compared one year with the next. However, these official documents are no longer what they once were.
The Danish people deserve much better than this. Selling the "cycling city" of Copenhagen as a brand does not help people to cycle in the city. From the evidence that is available it appears that cycling is dropping and not rising, both in Denmark as a whole and on some main streets of Copenhagen if not across the whole city. Less hype, more substance and maybe even a little humility is required before Copenhagen can achieve its potential. More investment is needed to give the city any chance at all of meeting the old target, let alone the new one. The environment needs to be transformed to be truly safe for cycling.
Bad infrastructure designs need to be abandoned and no longer presented to the world as something to copy. In particular, the "Copenhagen left turn" is not, and never was, a good design. Drivers turning right should not be encouraged to merge with cyclists as they approach traffic lights. Advanced stop lines (aka "bike boxes") are not advanced cycling infrastructure - they create conflict which should be avoided and they should not be promoted. Unfortunately these ideas are still being presented to the world as something to emulate.
Not just Copenhagen
These days, it is not only Copenhagen which is doing this. Earlier this year, Amsterdam also presented numbers which excluded pedestrians to make the figures sound better (I wrote about that too). In the last few days I read an impressive claim from someone in Utrecht about a claimed commute only cycling modal share for people who both live and work within the city of around 60% (though the actual cycling modal share for all journeys within the city is apparently around 26%).
Many cities across the world publicize commute only figures. This includes Cambridge in the UK and Portland in the USA. Neither of these cities gets remotely close to the modal share for cycling which is normal in the Netherlands, nor to the wide demographic of cyclists which is not only a curiosity of Dutch cycling but necessary for any place to achieve a high modal share.
Why exaggeration is harmful
Cambridge's campaigners were left wondering how it was that a city where infrastructure "does not seem to be of the same elevated standard found in Assen" should have achieved the high modal share which Copenhagen claims. The answer unfortunately is very simple: they haven't. Rather, they are telling impressive sounding stories which are not necessarily based in fact.
Wherever it is done, playing with statistics in this way harms us all. Without reliable figures, how can any comparison be made between countries or even within the same city on different years ? If facts are obscured by smoke and mirrors, made up figures are shouted from the rooftops, half the audience is distracted by photos of pretty girls on bikes, and a good many people are simply more interested in a nice sounding story than whether what they are being told is factual, then how can anyone tell what works from what does not work.
Extraordinary claims need to be looked into and challenged, wherever they come from. Exaggeration needs to stop.
A Danish newspaper reports that cycling in Copenhagen has "stagnated" and that the 50% target for 2015 can't possibly be met.
The only way to a higher cycling modal share is to build better infrastructure. We are still willing to help Copenhagen to "Groningenize" itself.
Earlier this year I read reports of how Copenhagen and Denmark in general had learnt from their decline and were changing course. I wrote about this change of direction because of it being extremely good news for Danish cyclists. It is only by recognizing a problem that it can be fixed and it appeared that the Danes had learnt their lesson and were going to fix their problems.
Independent EU statistics for cycling
in Copenhagen for 2010 and 2012.
Cycling dropped from 31% to 26%
Car usage rose from 29% to 33%.
Unfortunately, only a few short weeks after that happened, Copenhagen started fresh claims of having "the busiest cycle street in the world". This time they claim to have over 40000 cyclists per day travelling over the bridge. I'm not going to link to a source because frankly this sort of hype does not deserve any encouragement at all. Copenhageners: Please stop exaggerating your achievements. This is particularly unhelpful when independent figures show a decline between 2010 and 2012.
In any case, a high number of cycles in one spot is not actually a sign of success. It's not something to celebrate. The funneling effect indicates that there are a lack of routes and may actually put people off from cycling.
When similar things happen in the Netherlands, there are other routes which cyclists can be encouraged to use. This is possible because of the high quality grid of cycling infrastructure which covers the whole country. The importance of this has been understood since the 1980s and this is perhaps the most important lesson from the Netherlands yet to be learnt elsewhere.
International marketing of Copenhagen needs to take second place to actually solving the problems facing cyclists in Denmark.
High cycle counts can be indicators of a problem:
A lack of bridges to cross a river forces people to
make detours and creates queues of cyclists. Lots of
bikes in one place may look impressive, but it's a
sign of failure not of success. Don't celebrate
traffic jams for bikes! Read more about funneling.
The hype over this location and of Copenhagen in general, continues. Five and a half years have passed since I debunked the claim that 37000 cyclists per day ride over the Dronning Louises Bro in Copenhagen and in all that time, no-one has been able to provide a justification for that claim. Rather than attempting to justify the previous claim, the same players have moved on to claim a rise to 42000 cyclists per day passing over the same bridge. Exaggeration doesn't help Copenhagen's cyclists and it doesn't help anyone else either. What is happening is that the facts are being obscured.
What's more, even if the claims were true, they're not necessarily something to be proud of. Thousands of cyclists forced into a detour to take the same route because there are relatively few options available to cross a river may make for nice photographs and good headlines, but it does not make for efficient cycling.
Funneling is bad for cycling. It's better that cyclists can choose from a finely spaced grid of high quality routes which enable each person to choose a relatively lightly trafficked and more direct route to their destination. That, though, is of less use if your primary goal is to market your city internationally by use of impressive looking photos and ever more exaggerated figures.
No-one celebrates traffic jams for cars. They shouldn't celebrate traffic jams for bikes either. Big queues of bicycles are a sign of failure. A comprehensive cycling grid allows more efficient journeys to be made.
Labels: copenhagen, counters, denmark, exaggeration, fragility, funneling, press releases
For starters, you have to multiply the number by 2 - as in 2 sides of the street. That puts the figure over 20,000 per day.
David, living as you do in what I refer to as Utopia, Danish cycling infrastructure and its cycling modal share would both look inferior. However, looking at Denmark from most parts of the Anglosphere it is a shining example of what can be achieved.
I find it useful for advocacy purposes because its wide streets look like ours in Australia. The raised cycle paths and painted intersections look like something that is achievable and so in my experience people tend to take notice when you show them.
Of course, as we all know, the Netherlands shows how to make cycling safe and attractive for everyone. The problem I find is that when you show pictures of cycling infrastructure in the Netherlands, it is so good that it almost seems unachievable. That is nonsense of course but convincing people here in an environment that is so heavily car-based is very difficult. That is why Denmark is such a great example.
I think Michael Colville-Anderson would probably agree with some of the things you say, especially about the recent misguided focus on helmets. That is I think something of which all countries should not take note.
You have seen Crap Cycling in Waltham Forest. For the equivalent in my home town, have a look at:
http://www.gruntworks.com/bikelanes.html
Relatively speaking, Denmark is a nirvana for us. While it is not perfect, the numbers of women and children cycling there (while low by Dutch standards) show that they are doing something right.
Anyway, ramble over. I think you are right but credit where credit is due.
In my experience last fall -- riding from Copenhagen to Amsterdam -- the bicycle lanes ended about thirty kilometers from the Danish capital. This came at some surprise, as the reputation for bicycle friendliness gave me to believe I'd have a separate lane the whole way. Northern Germany, which took me across to the Dutch border, was actually better equipped, with only a few instances of non-separated infrastructure. Of course, nothing compares to the Netherlands, where lanes, paths, and whatnot criss-cross the country.
Paul Martin said...
My heart sinks when I see bicycle use under threat in DK or NL. We're really struggling here in Australia.
There is no problem with the sport side of cycling in Australia but only 1.3% use their bicycles to get from A to B. Things are changing but not quickly enough. The Dutch Cycling Embassy I hope will be a powerful voice and I hope they spread the word around the world.
Do the Dutch realise just how great they have it? I suspect not - probably a modest lot :)
I think the counter does only count the bikes on one side of the road, so it should be 20.000 cyclists in total. Am I right? But that’s still significantly less than the claimed 36.000.
Thanks for being the voice of reason once again. :)
Anonymous, Zweiradler: I'd go along with the idea of doubling the count. It's the closest we'll probably get to knowing what the total traffic is on this street.
Unfortunately, though, this still leaves it a long way short of the claim.
Also, I have to point out that it's not always the case that roads are used equally in both directions. Sometimes layout is such that it's easier or more convenient to return by a different route. I don't know if that is the case here.
Copenhagener said...
A counter counts the cyclists passing by! According to you, Nørrebrogade is 3 km long. I am pretty sure that all cyclists using Nørrebrogade are not passing by the counters - both standing closest to the city center - but perhaps only uses Nørrebrogade for one kilometer and then doesn't get counted...
Copenhagener: The same limitation is true of all counters in all places in the world so will affect all other counts in the same way.
What do you propose instead ? To count every person as they join and leave the street along its entire length ? I'm sure it would lead to a higher figure, but it's hardly practical and most importantly the results would be completely meaningless in comparison with all other counts made elsewhere.
If one is to make a dramatic claim about "the busiest cycle street in the world" and then send press releases everywhere to say so then it ought to be possible to back up the claim without inventing a new method of counting to justify it.
Hmm, I really don't know anything about how to count traffic - and I don't know how they do it in Copenhagen - but I don't believe they have invented a new method. I imagine that a count in one end of a street is multiplied with a factor of some kind. Otherwise it isn't an accurate picture of the amount of traffic.
Copenhagener: I don't know what the explanation of the larger quoted number is, but would like to know.
I find it hard to believe anyone would seriously suggest multiplying by a factor, and I will be extremely surprised if it turns out that Copenhagen does this.
If it is true, then they have indeed invented "a new method of counting".
The raw figure is the most accurate and reproducible figure you can get. It's the only thing that can be compared with elsewhere.
Note that the figures from last week for Utrecht are also from long cycle routes. Here, just as in CPH, cyclists will have joined and left the routes between counters so won't be counted. However, the Dutch just present the raw numbers and let you decide. What's more, you'll only see those figures if you're interested enough to look for them. You also won't have seen press releases sent to news agencies around the world to boast about these figures.
It's not about marketing, it's about trying to get the most honest analysis possible of the cycling rate so that progress can be made.
Frits B said...
Jumping boys, that's what the Danish use!
Some time ago, a reader of Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad on her Sunday jogging round in I believe Delft noticed a group of young boys jumping up and down around one of the newly installed counters on a bike route. When she came closer it became clear that the boys took turns in triggering the counter's sensor, so at 11:00am on a quiet Sunday morning this counter already clocked 2,000 cyclists.
Now I do not suppose that this is general practice :-).
wuppidoc said...
re examinedspoke:
Northern Germany had these cycle paths alongside trunk roads (or roads in the country) for decades. You were right to notice that. Separated cycling facilities on main roads are a MUST!
We lived near Flensburg for 9 months 30 years ago and sent our 9 year old son to school on his bike: 3 km alongside the main road, no problem, no fears.
Sad that Denmark seems to miss out on this, hopefully they start building more out in their countryside.
But the situation in Anglo-Saxon countries is appalling, there are only very little exceptions: Hardly any cycling infrastructure and consequently only 1 to 2 % of all trips in Great Britain are made on bikes. The new Tory-Lib government is now cutting money to support cycling but investing into motorways....new classical mistakes.
I honestly do not understand, why they do this. Policy for cycling is much cheaper than policy for cars.
The fragility of cycling is the key point to consider here - if rates can drop in Denmark, or even indeed in the Netherlands, imagine what could happen here in the UK where cycling budgets are being slashed, Councils are laying off their cycling officers and so little has been achieved with even less so far to date. Bleak doesn't really describe it.
David, can we all come and be bike refugees and stay with you please?? :o)
Frits: If it attracts more funding for cycling, then more power to the jumping boys ! However, it also shows something else.
A single day count can be inaccurate for many reasons but a yearly average will smooth things out.
"Sky-Ride" in London has attracted over 50000 people to ride past the same point on the same day, but generalizing about it would be a bit silly.
The power of division is quite amazing. Hopefully those boys in Delft found something more productive to do for the other 364 days of the year. Their extra 2000 counts sound quite extreme, but only work out as 5 a day averaged over the year of the count.
I found this recent bike count: Traffic count - Nørrebrogade. It's in Danish, but the count shows around 30.000 cyclists, but the everyday traffic (HVDT) is estimated to 36.000...
David, I'm with you when it comes to take the figures for granted that are provided by the counters (doubled though) and to doubt the marketing figures as long as no further information is given. A counter is a counter. Sure, whenever you do a count on a single day only manually, you will have factors to be applied to compensate for the day of the week, for the weather, for the season etc. The obtained figures will then be a good guess, not real figures. Marketing with unrealistic figures will strike back on you, when your opponents find out about it. Another example for brushing up the figures is the biking "commuters" figure in Cph. which is around 36% or so. Hardly anywhere else you will find this figure, instead only the overall percentage is given - and that percentage is around 25% in Cph.
On the other hand, I would support Edward: Copenhagen seems to be the most feasible model to convert existing car dominated infrastructure and it is brilliant to market the success they have had in the past. Why not see it this way: People in the NL are used to cycle with good infrastructure for so long, that it is just normal to them. No need to jump and sing and tell the world, just do it. People in Copenhagen are so proud of their recent success, that they want to jump high and sing loud. And that's just fine. :-)
Copenhagener: Thank you for your investigative work !
It's a little difficult to understand. I had to resort to google translate, and then was left with acronyms which don't mean anything to me.
However, it appears to be a single day count for both directions, on a dry September day with light wind and temperatures between 17 and 22 C.
As Frits' anecdote shows, single day counts can be extremely misleading. However, even discounting the influence of small boys jumping on the sensor, a Thursday in September is never going to be the same as a Sunday in January. You can expect that the count on this day is considerably higher than an average count taken through the year, and that's what we are seeing.
September is a good month for a high bicycle count in any city with a university. Picking a warm and dry September day to do a single day count is a good way of achieving a high count.
Rather than being close to an average count, this will represent the high end of the scale, yet the resultant figure still seems to be somewhat lower than the claim.
Like you, I still find it hard to understand where the even higher "HVDT" number comes from.
It still seems somewhat like "a new way of counting", compared with setting up a counter for the year and dividing by 365 to find a true average.
David, Copenhagener: Please note, that the counting only refers to 07:00-19:00. I guess therefore you will find a higher total figure. What the figures tell more is indeed a heavy difference depending on which way you go (fra byen/mod byen).
I don't know of any such bike counters in Germany, but I know that bike traffic counting normally is done by real people, sitting there on the spot all day. Then all the parameters like weather, temperature etc are recorded and compared to spots where you have a lot of data under different conditions. The same is true for other traffic and when all traffic is counted and estimated in a similar way, the figures should be useful anyway. What is striking in this example is, that you have a real counter (giving a lower average number) and obviously a human control count, giving a higher number on a single day. So promoting these figures should refer to: "Up to 36.000 bikes per day" or "An average bike rate of 20.000 per day" This fine distinction is going lost when marketing experts are working
Michael S: I think Copenhageners should indeed be proud. Compared with most of the world they've done extremely well.
However, "the most feasible model" ? I don't believe that at all. It seems to be merely another aspect of the hype.
You'll find it all here if you look. For instance, Dutch streets can very readily be compared with British streets and wide "American style" boulevards here have successfully been converted for cars and then back again within a century.
The modern efforts in building infrastructure in both NL and DK date from about the same period. i.e. the late 1970s / early 1980s. What's more, both came about for similar reasons.
However, one country was more successful than the other. I think it's interesting to know why.
We also haven't yet even talked about why it appears to be the case that an eighth of Danish cyclists have given up on cycling. This is a real worry. If it happens there, it can happen anywhere else. What is the cause ?
Michael S: The time of the counting could well explain the difference between 30000 and 36000 for the peak single day count. Thanks for pointing that out. The problem remains, though, that it's a single day count.
As you point out "An average bike rate of 20.000 per day" isn't what marketing will want to hear, so they pick the higher number.
This illustrates a problem. The whole thing has more to do with marketing than successful cycling policy.
While the public, internationally promoted, message is "busiest cycle street in the world" and other nations are being encouraged to copy this model (benefitting Danish businesses along the way), the local situation appears to be a bit less wonderful. Cyclists have to contend with things like bad junction design and they don't all feel safe when cycling. By Dutch standards there is a particularly low rate of child cycling - a particularly important problem because this is where the next generation have to come from.
That's why I think it is the wrong model to copy.
Interesting. In Toronto, cycle counts were done in a cordon around the downtown for twelve hours (7:00 AM to 7:00 PM) on one day in September. Taking an approximation for the other 12 hours, we get a few streets in the 5,000-10,000 cyclists per day category.
Certainly not the busiest cycle streets in the world, but quite respectable even by European standards.
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/reports/pdf/bicycle_count_summary_2010.pdf
@examinedspoke:
I remember seeing bicycle paths for absolutely most of the way from The german ferry to Copenhagen when I was cycling from Groningen til Copenhagen in september 2010.
I also rode on German roads with no cycle path, not even seperated. And the cyclepaths in the city is a joke, so annoying to ride, it goes down every time there is a driveway into a house.
This bicycle counter does stand in only one side of the street. Perhaps the other side sees more cyclists? I use a different route each way when I ride to work. Why? Because a Mango+ velomobile is pretty big, so I choose left turns with lots of room for maneuver.
This counter stands at the end of Nørrebrogade, right where the old subburbs turn into the city. There are lakes on the outer side, so maybe somebody who uses Nørrebrogade rides on the walking/cycling only path on the outside of those lakes and thus bypasses the counter. Another thing is that Nørrebrogade is a pretty busy shopping/caffeing/drinking street, so maybe lots of cyclists dont ride it all the way to the end, but stop a long it's path?
@Frits B
Here in Delft there are much more counters without displays then just the one with a display, so they can hopefully filter it out.
@Daniel:
Here is the original text:
woensdag 29 september 2010 door NRC Handelsblad
Meten = weten
Het is de eerste herfstige zondagochtend van het jaar. Delft hult zich in een dichte mist. Ondanks het kille weer besluit ik om toch te gaan hardlopen. Het is heerlijk stil op straat. De gemeente wil het fietsen stimuleren en heeft daarom meetpunten aangelegd die het aantal fietsers per dag tonen. Bij het meetpunt op mijn route staat een groep jongetjes. Ze springen driftig op en neer. Als ik dichterbij kom zie ik de cijfers op het bord in hoog tempo verspringen. Luid gejuich stijgt op. Op deze druilerige zondagmorgen om kwart voor elf heeft zojuist de tweeduizendste fietser van de dag het meetpunt gepasseerd.
Michelle Hendriks
@jonbendtsen:
I'd be curious what route you took from the ferry northwards. I was mostly on Highway 151/153, and my general experience might be summed up in this small video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zSbfShKz4s
That's not to say cycle paths didn't make their appearance here and there as I headed south, it's just that I spent more time on non-separated infrastructure. I may have selected the wrong roads, of course.
In northern Germany, by contrast, the paths mostly looked like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp-31r32PP8
In my UK town counting is done manually (by observation) for a 2 hour period on any one of 3 days. i.e. all sites done over the 3 days, but each site only done on one day. That is repeated 3 times a year.
The good numbers are 100+ for the 2 hour period.
First you say the ended, now you say they are not separated. What do you think that big fat white line a long the road is in first video t=0m10s?
Just like in the Netherlands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy3pO-6u6xA
I used that route myself, but there is a special cycle route on small side roads, It is marked with signs, and you can buy a paper map, but no GPS map :-(
It is also longer which is why I used the direct route.
I can not see the road in your german video. But while I was there I rode both big roads with cycle paths, big roads, small roads, cycle paths and even in the forest at 2 am :-O (stupid GPS device).
I think it is all about which route you choose.
In the cities I think Copenhagen and Groningen is tied. Copenhagen mainly uses asphalt, where is Groningen has some made of bricks. But Groningen generally has wider paths, though often only in one side of the road.
Amsterdam had the same flaws as Groningen, but more often had paths in both sides of the street. But they also win over Copenhagen with the many much more smaller distance between major bicycle paths to/from the city. Copenhagen is hindered by those 5 big lakes and has a much bigger distance to go around.
Germany though often had brick paths in the cities and they where not level because they dived to the road height every time there was a house, and then rose up again, which is very annoying if you wanna go fast. Also Germany often only had a painted line to divide walking and cycling traffic.
Jon: The video you chose doesn't shown a similar situation. Examinedspoke's video is of a road carrying a lot of motor vehicle traffic which has a 70 km/h speed limit. I have never found myself cycling on a road with such a volume of traffic at such a speed in NL. The twilwel video that you provide a link to is of a minor road with 30 km/h speed restrictions over speed bumps. There is no cycle lane on this road, you're looking at the road margins (though yes, it does have bypasses at the speed bumps). Most villages and many small country roads are like this. The motor traffic is moved elsewhere.
@jonbendtsen
"What do you think that big fat white line a long the road is in first video t=0m10s?"
Perhaps the Danes mark their bicycle lanes with fat white lines, but I saw it more as a road edge stripe. Whatever the case, I would find difficulty calling the area between the paint and the road edge a bicycle lane, given that it was perhaps thirty centimeters wide and had no other markings. I doubt that that's the Danish standard for lanes in the countryside; if so, then I've been on many a "Danish bicycle lane" here in Los Angeles -- and I wouldn't recommend them.
Perhaps you rode along these lanes on Highway 151, too (opens Flickr.com page):
http://tinyurl.com/5rn82b4
This infrastructure may be slightly better, but it's hardly optimal, and certainly nothing like I saw in Germany. But, as you say, road choice matters.
Here is what David Hembrow told me when I mentioned roads like that in Amsterdam (okay, maybe not a 70 km/h road, but big city road, at least 50 km/h and with parked cars on the side (ready for a door hook)).
"It is an old road, not every road can be up to the latest standard".
First you say the cycle path ended, then you say they are not separated, and now you complain they are not wide enough and with traffic next to it.
Please stop moving the goal post.
Of course there are lots of roads in Germany that are not sorted for bikes. Depends on the state you are moving in.
And when it comes to cities it also depends on the transport policy there.
Berlin is trying to pick up now, Bremen has to repair its cycle paths...
They updated the Danish cycle route map, so now you can get them digitally for GPS. http://www.trafikken.dk/wimpdoc.asp?page=document&objno=142441
It is route 9 that examinedspoke should have taken part of. But as you can see, it is not as direct as road 151 which is that straight yellow line from Vordingborg to Køge. That road was made for cars.
It can also be seen here http://www.bike-berlin-copenhagen.com/index.php?id=home#content-intext-link41
I might take that route when I cycle to spezi 2011 and back.
Those who've been following the comments might like to know that there is an update to the blog post with information from officials in Copenhagen.
The figures that Copenhagener found for a warm day in September 2009 were very much on the right lines for the high count figure.
"Usually you have to assume that such printed figures are correct"
I'm afraid it has been my experience that usually you have to assume such printed figures are incorrect.
A good many figures are essentially made up, as there is no actual way to directly quantify the phenomena. Estimating algorithms are used, which then end up reported as fact.
Where actual counts can be used the first thing to assume, as you have found in this case, is some sort of ideal conditions peak is being reported as if it were an average.
Since many phenomena can be counted, but with a certain lack of precision, and "optimism parameter" is often fudged in.
The next step, with either estimates or counts, is to add a vaguely plausible adjustment in whatever direction suits your point of view, say bumping up an odd number (37k) to an even one (38k).
The next step will be to add rhetorical rounding. 38k becomes "nearly 40k."
Eventually the "nearly" will be dropped and the extreme number will be quoted as empirical.
> What do you think that big fat white line a long the road is in first video t=0m10s?
That is surely the line marking the edge of the road. I think if nopthing else (width etc) the way the line changes over the junction (at the end of the film) confirms that this is _not_ cycle lane.
KFG wrote:
"A good many figures are essentially made up..."
Kevin's comment:
It is a well known fact that 64% of statistics are made up by being pulled out of thin air.
Kevin - My God, man! That's nearly three quarters.
"made up by being pulled out of thin air."
That is so mid 20th century. Now we pull them out of computers after destroying our raw data and keeping our algorithms as a trade secret.
Since this makes our output irrefutable, it is therefore fact.
@Neil
If people cycle on that road, they usually use the area on the outside of the big white stripe. Maybe because they are told as kids? I was when we did the yearly competition between kids on at a certain class level to see who cycles the best.
really? which country? but in any case, that is by definition then, not a cycle lane...
@Neil:
Why is it not a cycle lane?
Am I the only one who thinks a contest of who has the busiest cycle lanes is absolutely useless? What would the conclusion be?
What if a street is has more cyclists because it is the only viable cycling route into town? What if some other town had its cyclists evenly distributed over a dozen high quality routes (none of which would be among the busiest cycle routes in the world), all connecting to a dense network of cycling infrastructure? Would that be a bad thing?
Although I agree with David that marketeer cheerleading will only be harmful in the long run, I must say I find this discussion thoroughly beside the point. Maybe it's just me, but arguments that take the form "my cycling infrastructure is bigger than yours" are usually not that interesting.
@Daniel Sparing
I'd be interested to know where one would find this display enhanced cycle counter in Delft. Could you provide a Googlemaps link?
J..: I thought the more interesting point was the reduction of 1/8th in the cycling rate of in Denmark. It's not in order to gloat that I have been the only person to have blogged about this, but because sometimes you have to face up to an unpleasant truth in order to resolve the problem that causes it and to prevent the same thing happening elsewhere. Is it not interesting to know why this should have happened ? Doesn't the world need to know what went wrong so that similar problems can be avoided in the future ? However, no-one has commented on this at all.
Frankly, I'm rather bored by all the exaggeration and hype from Copenhagen. The people doing the actual work there seem reasonable enough, but the marketing is completely out of hand.
In the face of the problem of reduced cycling, why is there not a period of introspection while the issues causing it are resolved ? Why instead is there a continuation of relentless hype ?
When the CPH marketing department sends press-releases featuring exaggerated levels of cycling to the world's media, what do you think I, or other people, should do ? Is no-one to challenge it and point out the exaggeration ? Shouldn't someone, somewhere, occasionally point out that the numbers simply do not add up, and that on the face of it we're being fed self-serving nonsense which sustains an industry of consultants ?
Do facts have no value these days ?
I think the world needs honesty. If other countries are eager for information about growing cycling, is it not better than they copy the best model rather than the one which has the loudest spokesperson ?
Time and time again you see that the loudest voice gets heard most often and by most people. So far as cycling is concerned, the Netherlands is now almost completely ignored on the international stage. Another example of this was sent to me in email today: A conference in Berlin. Speakers have been invited from such great cycling cities as New York (0.6% of commutes by bike) and London (2% of journeys) and Copenhagen (22% of journeys), but no speakers are invited from anywhere in the Netherlands.
Yes, and we are only asked to attend in Berlin, very sad, we could have brought the German and British experience together, we could have said, that you need proper infrastructure for bikes sorted out to get people on bikes who want safe and relaxed cycling, who want to cycle on normal bikes and not on sport machines. But with our "little" project and no big name behind us, we are not important enough for these conferences.
We shall of course go and try to raise our voices.....
We also applied to speak in Sevilla in March (Velo-City Conference 2011), but we were turned down. No real explanation given.
I know I am complaining here, but that is how the world works. And maybe it is good when Boris Johnson pleads for the support of cycling. Given that his crownies in Downing Street are now ruining the country. I was amused to read that Cameron and Osborne got very cold remarks from their fellows and economy specialists in Davos last week.
I looked again at the programme of the conference you were talking about (in Berlin). Boris Johnson and the woman from New York are only asked to come they have not yet accepted the invite.
But you are right, David, there is nothing and nobody from the Netherlands.
Maybe they only want to show the new efforts....
David, I was shure I exempted your "truth in advertising" argument from my criticism.
We are in full agreement when it comes to creating a hype. Perhaps the good people of CPH have been lulled into complacency by there own marketing.
If anything, the takeaway is that this fight is never truly over.
J..: You said something very important there: "If anything, the takeaway is that this fight is never truly over."
wuppidoc: IMO, your "little" project is one of the more important things out there. iven that it also has a connection with Germany, I'm dismayed that it wasn't thought to be more important at this conference. It seems they'd rather keep asking the same people the same questions and keep getting the same answers.
And BoJo... well, he's pretty good on HIGNFY, but not so impressive on cycling ?
David - To give some credit where it is due, Mikael has been been posting about the decline in Danish cycling with a considerable amount of consternation for some months now.
He has noted that he has been approached by other concerned Danes requesting that he start a campaign similar to Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize specifically targeted at promoting Danish cycling.
He's looking for help on the project, we'll see if it ever turns up.
I dispute that Denmark and Holland are the two most-cycling countries in the world. I belive China has the biggest absolute and relative numbers.
tOM: You're missing the point. The Chinese have for many decades been forced to cycle. Now that they can afford cars, the country is grinding to a halt with massive traffic jams.
What the Netherlands and Denmark have achieved is to encourage people who can afford cars to prefer to cycle.
This is not something that China is busy with.
The Dutch and Danish experience is applicable to other western nations who wish to reduce their car dependency. China is unfortunately going rapidly in the opposite direction.
So, what does Copenhagen need to make itself increase from 20% to 50% or more? Intersection improvements with its cycle tracks and main roads. There are enough cyclists making left turns that I say simultaneous green is worthwhile. It easy to do. Add a sign saying right turns free for cycling (and physically re-design the intersection too if possible), simultaneous green and you can make diagonal turns on green, plus a bicycle specific signal in each direction, and finally, an extra stage or two with all way green for bikes and pedestrians (pedestrians cross on the outside of the junction not diagonal). What else? At t-junctions and standard crossroads, make right turns and top of the ts, make it possible to cycle past them. These increase the efficiency of cycling by a huge amount. It reduces the chance of a collision. Already a Copenhagen design with flashing lights has killed someone.
What else? Well, how about more pedestrianized zones with cycling allowed. This is a key to cycling in the Netherlands. Directing and concentrating motor traffic onto fewer, good through roads, with separate turn stages for left and right turning motor traffic. Maximum wait times for cyclists of 30-40 seconds is also useful. More bike parking in the central area, and bike lockers, will encourage cycling. On the cycle tracks, more of a median between track and roadway is good. It makes people feel safe, even if it is difficult for a car to jump a curb. How about when a curb must face the cycle track, make it a bicycle friendly angled curb. That would be good. Converting more streets into 30 km/h low volume, raised, unmarked junctions. That makes it easier to have non-stop cycling on friendly roads. I do not know what I have left out, maybe making bicycle specific signals more obvious, like using red, green and yellow bike shaped heads, rather than a blue painted sign above the lights. Roundabouts with cycle tracks around them. Waiting time indicators, for sure, any ideas David?
Copenhagener here, just a few inputs on the bike counters.
I don't think you can use the counters as a reliable measure of how many cyclists pass that particular place. My experience is that they don't count the right numbers if cyclists pass by in a group.
You can actually download the data here: http://www.bicyclecounter.dk/BicycleCounter/BC_Historical.jsp
And if you take a look at the data, which for some reason does not contain all days in a year, you can see that there are huge irregularities that don't make any sense. One weekday you would have 15000 cyclists on one side of the road, and the next 500. Therefore, especially the sums for a year you have been doing don't really make any sense. Many days the counters don't even count.
The bridge, which is crossing a lake btw not a river, does act as a funnel. But it isn't an extreme case of funneling.
If you look at central Amsterdam (within the outermost circular canal), you have an area which corresponds pretty well to inner Copenhagen (Indre By - inside the lakes and including Christianshavn). There are around 20 bridges going into this area in Amsterdam adn 15 roads/bridges in Copenhagen. So I don't think funneling is that much more different.
What really makes a difference is that Nørrebro, which is the area connected by the bridge houses a lot of students and young people who tend to cycle.
Anyways, I don't think the city would be allowed to make cyckle bridges crossing the lakes, as they are 'protected' areas by Danish Conservation law. And there would be a public outcry if they'd suggest it.
@ David Hembrow
Copenhagener here:
Regarding the counts and extrapolation of data.
I've digged a bit into the issue of how the numbers are estimated. I found this working paper from the Danish road authority on methodologies of bicycle counts: http://vejdirektoratet.dk/DA/viden_og_data/publikationer/Lists/Publikationer/Attachments/891/CYKELSTATISTIK%20RAPPORT-marts_2016.pdf (in Danish unfortunately)
By glansing through it, here is a number of points to clarify your discussions in this blog and in the comments which so far is based on hearsay and guesses.
1. Bicycle counts are done in a specific time frame, a couple of hours, a day or a week. From these counts there are certain standard factors used to calculate how much the traffic numbers should be on an average weekday (mon-fri): "hverdagsårstraffik" (HVDT) or on an average day: "årsdagstraffik" (ÅDT). Each hour has a certain factor used to calculate daily numbers, and each week has a certain factor to calculate yearly numbers etc. these factors are based on traffic type (commuting, school traffic, local traffic etc) on the national level, and in the working paper there is a bit of discussion of how to improve these factors. It seems Copenhagen does bicycle counts in the 12 day hours and uses that number to extrapolate from the remaining 12 hs. What exact factors Copenhagen municipality uses I don't know, but from the numbers it is clear that they use some. You can see the national factors on page 86-87 in the working paper. There is also a discussion on how to factor in the wheather
I can clearly see some issues of data quality if Copenhagen municipality uses national factors to extrapolate their counts. Central areas in Copenhagen has special demographies, there are tourists etc. I don't know if they do, but I suppose Copenhagen could use their fixed 24h counters to calibrate the factors.
You can see the bicycle counts on this map:
http://kbhkort.kk.dk/spatialmap? Go to "Veje -> Trafiktællinger for cyklister"
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Seagrass ‘Neptune balls’ bundle plastic waste
via Phys.Org
Underwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap bits of plastic in natural bundles of fibre known as “Neptune balls,” researchers said Thursday.
With no help from humans, the swaying plants—anchored to shallow seabeds—may collect nearly 900 million plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, they reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
read the full story here: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-seagrass-meadows-marine-plastic-sea.html
Categories Uncategorized Tags ecology, ecosystem, marine plastic, microplastics, neptune balls, ocean plastic, plastic pollution, plastic waste, recycle plastic
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via Fox29.com
Oceana analyzed e-commerce and packaging market data as well as a recent scientific report, published in Science about predicted growth in plastic waste and found that Amazon has a large and rapidly growing plastic pollution footprint.
“Amazon has a plastic problem,” Oceana wrote in the report released on Dec. 15. “Oceana estimates that in 2019, up to 22.44 million pounds of Amazon’s plastic packaging has ended up in the world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems as pollution. This amount is roughly equivalent to a delivery van’s worth of plastic being dumped into major rivers, lakes, and the oceans every 70 minutes.”
Read the full story here: https://www.fox29.com/news/oceana-report-says-amazon-has-a-plastic-problem-pollutes-oceans-with-22-million-pounds-of-plastics-per-year
Categories News Tags amazon, ocean plastic, plastic pollution, waste management, waste plastic
E-car ‘Luca’: horsehair seats, ocean plastics chassis
October 15, 2020 by Domino Plastics
via Recycling International
Students of the University of Technology in Eindhoven, the Netherlands have unveiled a car made largely from recycled materials such as PET bottles and household waste.
‘We want to show that waste is a valuable material, even in complex applications like a car,’ says team member Matthijs van Wijk. The group of 22 students has worked on the project for 18 months and the result is a sporty electric car called ‘Luca’ made from materials such as flax and recycled plastic, most of which was fished from the ocean.
Read the full story here: https://recyclinginternational.com/e-scrap/e-car-luca-horsehair-seats-ocean-plastics-chassis/31688/
Categories News Tags automotive plastic, ev, innovation, ocean plastic, plastic recycling, recycled plastic, technology
Plastic trash flowing into the seas will nearly triple by 2040 without drastic action
August 31, 2020 by Domino Plastics
An ambitious plan, two years in the making, might have the solution.
via National Geographic
THE AMOUNT OF plastic trash that flows into the oceans every year is expected to nearly triple by 2040 to 29 million metric tons.
That single, incomprehensibly large statistic is at the center of a new two-year research project that both illuminates the failure of the worldwide campaign to curb plastic pollution and prescribes an ambitious plan for reducing much of that flow into the seas.
Read the full story here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/07/plastic-trash-in-seas-will-nearly-triple-by-2040-if-nothing-done/
Categories Uncategorized Tags marine plastic, ocean plastic, plastic pollution, waste management
Coronavirus is causing a flurry of plastic waste. Campaigners fear it may be permanent
May 12, 2020 by Domino Plastics
via CNN
Surgical masks, gloves, protective equipment, body bags — the Covid-19 crisis has spurred a rapid expansion in the production of desperately-needed plastic products, with governments racing to boost their stockpiles and regular citizens clamoring for their share of supplies.
Such production is necessary. But all that plastic ends up somewhere — and environmental campaigners fear it is just the tip of a looming iceberg, with the pandemic causing a number of serious challenges to their efforts to reduce plastic pollution.
Read the full story here: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/world/coronavirus-plastic-waste-pollution-intl/index.html
Categories News Tags coronavirus, ocean plastic, plastic pollution, plastic recycling, recycler, recycling, waste plastic
Researchers uncover highest-ever amount of microplastics on ocean floor
via CBS News
Researchers have uncovered the highest-ever concentration of microplastics on the seafloor. According to a new study in the journal Science, scientists recently found 1.9 million pieces in an area of about 11 square feet in the Mediterranean Sea.
Over 10 million tons of plastic waste enter oceans each year — but the visible floating plastic that has led to anti-straw and anti-plastic bag movements accounts for less than 1% of the ocean’s total plastic.
Read the full story here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/highest-ever-concentration-microplastic-ocean-floor-plastic-pollution/
Categories News Tags environment, microplastic, ocean plastic, plastic pollution
E-cigarettes highlight the challenges of dealing with plastic waste
February 12, 2020 February 11, 2020 by Domino Plastics
Via ABC News
E-cigarettes and vapes have made the headlines amid national concerns about nicotine addiction among young people and health problems linked to black-market products. But among environmental advocates the increasingly popular products pose another challenge — how to get rid of them after they’re used.
E-cigarettes and pods for e-cigarettes or vapes can be both hazardous and electronic waste — depending on the product — and the plastic poses the same concerns as other plastic products that can add to overall waste and break down into microplastics that harm ocean ecosystems.
Read the full story here: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cigarettes-highlight-challenges-dealing-plastic-waste/story?id=68890487
Categories News Tags e-cigarettes, litter, microplastics, ocean plastic, plastic pollution, plastic waste
Thai Buddhist temple has recycled over 88,000 pounds of plastic into robes
February 7, 2020 by Domino Plastics
via New York Post
The recycling temple of Wat Chak Daeng is one bright example of recycling for Thailand, one of five countries that account for more than half of plastic in the world’s oceans.
The monks have crushed 40 tonnes (88,185 lb) of plastic over two years since starting the program, aiming to curb plastic waste entering the Chao Phraya River, which flows south to the Gulf of Thailand in the western Pacific Ocean.
Read the full story here: https://nypost.com/2020/02/06/thai-buddhist-temple-has-recycled-over-88000-pounds-of-plastic-into-robes/
Categories News Tags litter, marine pollution, ocean plastic, plastic recycling, thailand, trash
Dumped fishing gear is biggest plastic polluter in ocean, finds report
Lost and abandoned fishing gear which is deadly to marine life makes up the majority of large plastic pollution in the oceans, according to a report by Greenpeace.
More than 640,000 tonnes of nets, lines, pots and traps used in commercial fishing are dumped and discarded in the sea every year, the same weight as 55,000 double-decker buses.
Read the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-fishing-gear-is-biggest-plastic-polluter-in-ocean-finds-report
Categories News Tags environment, marine plastic, ocean plastic, plastic pollution, waste management
Washing laundry on a delicate cycle releases more plastic microfibres into the ocean
via ScienceFocus.com
Researchers have found it is the volume of water used which is the key factor in plucking the tiny plastic particles from man-made material. Read the full story here: https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/washing-laundry-on-a-delicate-cycle-releases-more-plastic-microfibres-into-the-ocean/
Categories Uncategorized Tags ecology, environment, ocean plastic, plastic pollution, science, sustainability
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ERi-TV Live
US Issues Visa Restrictions to Eritrea over Deportations
Daniel H / September 13, 2017 / Migration, News, Travel
US Issues Visa Restrictions to Eritrea, Guinea
www.voanews.com | September 13, 2017
The United States will stop issuing certain visas to Eritrean nationals and Guinean officials as of Wednesday, the embassies in those countries announced Tuesday.
The new restrictions are aimed at four Asian and African nations that have refused to take back citizens who’ve been deported. Under federal law, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson can stop all or specific types of visas from being issued to such nations.
The U.S. Embassy in Eritrea said in a statement that it will stop issuing business and tourism visas to Eritrean nationals, with “limited exceptions.” Eritrean officials were not immediately available for comment.
The East African nation is a major source of migrants who say they are fleeing a system of forced military conscription that repeatedly has been criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups.
In the West African nation of Guinea, a U.S. Embassy statement said the new restrictions on business, tourism and student visas affect only government officials and immediate family members.
Cambodia and Sierra Leone also are expected to be affected by the visa restrictions, though there was no statement on those embassy websites Tuesday night.
U.S. officials first discussed the visa restrictions last month. The Department of Homeland Security said it had recommended the State Department take action against four nations out of a dozen it considers recalcitrant. Neither department would identify the nations by name.
It is not clear why only Cambodia, Eritrea and Guinea were selected for the sanctions or why Sierra Leone, which was last identified as “at risk” for recalcitrance, was included.
The State Department traditionally has been reluctant to impose visa sanctions because affected countries often retaliate through reciprocal restrictions on U.S. citizens and officials. The measures have only been imposed twice before, against Guyana and Gambia.
Other countries listed as being recalcitrant in accepting deportees from the U.S. include China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Iran, Burma, Morocco and South Sudan.
Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-visa-restrictions-for-eritrea-guinea-over-deportations/4025925.html
Source: https://www.facebook.com/usembassyasmara/photos/a.214721245119.173304.213168690119/10155631149885120/?type=3&theater
Category Migration News Travel
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Eritrea Ethiopia Bure Road Project Linking Assab Port Commences
Unqualified Praise and Admiration Whitewashes the Crimes of TPLF Officials
Ethiopia: TPLF Top Officials Seyoum Mesfin, Abay Tsehaye and Asmelash Woldeselassie Killed
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“Uncle Rod, I Want to Take Pictures”
Sure you do, Skeezix. You think you do anyway. Despite its very real rewards, astrophotography is still the most frustrating way for a beginner—or anybody else—to spend time under the stars. Probably always will be.
The good news is that with today’s gear it is not as difficult as it used to be to get images that will make you happy. The astrophotography game has gotten easier and cheaper if it still ain’t easy and still ain’t cheap. Yeah, you’ll shell out bucks, and no matter how many greenbacks you sacrifice, you’d better be prepared to take on legions of gremlins who will try their dangdest to make your astrophotos look like hell. Before you can begin the struggle, though, you have to get off square one. What you gonna take them pictures with?
The imaging equipment question I hear most frequently from newbies of late? “Uncle Rod, what should I buy, a DSLR or a real CCD camera?” If you’ve seen my astrophotos, you know I ain’t no great shakes at celestial picture-taking despite 40 years of trying. But, while my results might make you wonder, I have spent a lot of time tinkering with a lot of different cameras, and can at least share my thoughts on what works for me and what might work for you. What I’m gonna do here is look at the three major groups of cameras and outline their individual strengths and weaknesses. Three kinds? Yep. In addition to astronomical CCD cameras and digital single lens reflexes, I like to put the lower-end astro cams in their own group—in some ways they are markedly different from DSLRs or astronomical CCDs.
At the bottom of the price ladder, cheaper than either mainline astronomical CCD cameras or, in some cases, DSLRs, are the bargain astrocams. I’m thinking of the Meade DSIs, the Orion Starshoots, and a few other similar cameras that lurk at the five and dime end of the scale. At this time, Orion and Meade seem to be turning away from their low-priced-spread roots and moving on to more expensive and capable “pro” versions of their cameras (which are actually quite similar to their earlier models in most ways). Some of the cheapies are still being made; however, and all are readily available used.
The first of this new breed of CCD to make its appearance was the original Meade DSI. When it landed several years back, it was an honest-to-god revelation. My initiation into deep sky CCD imaging about a decade ago had been rough. I’d been able to scrape up the funds for a Starlight Xpress MX5, but despite my hopes, what a gull-derned disaster that turned out to be. Oh, it was well built and engineered for the time, and people smarter than me made impressive images with it. But it was just too hard for Unk to get going despite 30 years of playing with film. My images were poorly framed, poorly guided, poorly exposed, just poor in general despite me working like a Trojan and sweating like a pig. I sold the MX5 and took up webcam planetary imaging with a SAC7 as my sole concession to the CCD revolution. But I still wanted to do deep sky imaging, and, with film obviously dying, it looked like CCDs would soon be the only game in town.
When Meade debuted the original DSI, which they claimed would allow e’en a goober such as myself to take good deep space pictures “the first night out,” I opened my wallet pretty quick; hope springs eternal, they say. The DSI was, unlike my MX5, a one-shot color camera. That meant it could take a nice color picture with one exposure, just like my friendly Instamatic. To get color with the MX5—and almost all other CCD cameras of the time—three separate red, green, and blue filtered images had to be taken. I wanted color, and this looked like a way for me to get it. The DSI didn’t beat the MX5 in one regard, however; it wasn’t cooled. Most CCD cameras, then and now, are chilled to low temperatures to reduce the thermal noise emission that will make your picture of M13 look like it was taken through a Maine snowstorm. The DSI, according to Meade, wasn’t cooled because it didn’t need to be.
The Deep Space Imager, said Meade, was designed to shut down at least some of its heat-producing internal electronics during exposures. That wasn’t the only innovation, either. Unlike Meade’s earlier “Pictor” cameras and many of the more expensive cameras on the market four or five years ago, the DSI was equipped with a modern, fast USB 2.0 interface. What a relief that would be. I could go inside, pour a shot of Rebel Yell, and watch an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer while my serial MX5 downloaded a single exposure to the PC.
The software shipped with the DSI was purported to be no slouch either. Not only would it do the usual things other camera control programs could do, Enivsage could expose and stack multiple short exposure subframes to produce the equivalent (well, almost) of a long exposure image—discarding any frames that didn’t make a user-selected “quality” level. That was just the beginning. Envisage had features like its “magic eye” focus indicator that some of the most expensive CCD-ware of the time did not boast.
The above was what was in Meade’s big magazine advertising spreads, anyhow. And…well…some of us were of the opinion that the company’s breathless ads might occasionally be a trifle optimistic—at least when it came to what the bunglers among us could accomplish with Meade gear. How did this 300 buck camera/software combo work in the hands of one of these bunglers? I found the DSI to be flat-out amazing. Almost unbelievably, Meade’s claim of great pictures the first night out came true; my first light M13 and M17 looked great--to me, anyhow--and were at least as good as anything I had ever done with film. I was finally a CCDer. Me.
Unk's Stephan's Quintet with the DSI, C8, and CG5.
It wasn’t even that hard, though, admittedly, those many years struggling with an OM1, an OAG, and a roll of Fujicolor stood me in good stead. I at least had a vague idea of how to proceed. I set it up DSI and scope in the simplest fashion possible—unguided on a CG5 mount exposing through a C8 speeded-up to about f/4 with one of Meade’s reducers. I mashed the “go” button on the software, walked away, and let the DSI do its thing by itself.
I was frankly amazed by the images that appeared on the laptop screen once my sequences finished. This simple set up was able to bring home not just bright stuff like M13 and M17; examining a shot I took of the Deerlick Group (NGC 7331 and company) revealed the presence of not only the big galaxy and her wee NGC buddies, but little sprites, frighteningly dim PGC galaxies. I was mucho impressed with the camera’s color rendition too. It was, frankly, the first time I had seen anything like “accurate” color delivered by a one-shot camera. It was only a little while after I got the DSI that I got the hang of it and its software and pretty color pictures began pouring out of the humble camera. Suddenly, this CCD stuff didn't seem so difficult anymore.
Minuses? The main downcheck was the small size of the chip, 5.59mm x 4.8mm. The CG5’s deadly-accurate go-to was pretty good at putting objects in the minuscule frame at f/4, but there was no denying the resulting pictures were on the small side, and that some of my friends with less well-behaved go-to rigs were having trouble acquiring dimmer targets. Still, who was I to carp when the price of the thing was about 1/3 what I’d paid for my mean ol’ MX5?
While some of my Bubbas found the Envisage software difficult or even maddening to work with, I never had any trouble with it. Oh, the user interface could have been less clunky and less complicated, but there’s a limit to how much simplification can be done when a program has as many options and abilities as this one did and still does. Oh, how did the no-cooling/passive cooling thing work? Pretty well. The images were noisier than those produced by chilled cameras, but were quite acceptable.
Yeah, I’ve outgrown the DSI, I reckon (it still does yeoman duty as my autoguider), but Meade did not. To their credit, they stuck with their creation, continually upgrading and improving both hardware and software. The current top of the line version, the DSI III with a price tag of $1295.00, moves away from the bargain-novice territory a bit, but it’s still very reasonably priced compared to much of the competition (the previous generation, the $599.00 DSI II, is still available). The big advantage of the III? A 2/3-inch 1.4 megapixel sensor that produces nice big pix. The DSI III is available in both monochrome and color versions, so you’ll need to decide between the greater sensitivity of the black and white camera and the greater ease of producing color of the one-shot model.
M27, 1995 C8, CG5, Meade DSI
Who is the DSI (or the similar Orion StarShoot II) for? For the CCD novice? Most definitely. But not just for the novice; they are for anyone who wants an easy to learn non-intimidating camera. If you can get a target centered on a chip and focused, you are assured of bringing home images that will please—and maybe even produce nods of respect from the imaging gurus down to the club. No, you probably won’t be doing 16 hour LRGB exposures with one, but most of us don’t aspire to that anyway. Heck, given the capabilities of the DSI III (or Orion’s Starshoot Pro), you may find you never need to move up to the SBIG or Apogee league.
You do want to take that next step up? Or you just want to start out with something a little more sophisticated? Up one tall tier from the DSIs and their sisters are the cooled astronomical cameras. What’s that you say? Some entry level cameras like the Orion StarShoot are cooled, too? That’s true, but the next bunch, represented by SBIG, Starlight Xpress, Apogee, FLI, and quite a few others, are different. Most of ‘em don’t just have solid state Peltier coolers like the little guys, but regulated coolers. Not only that, their Peltiers can often be supplemented with water cooling when necessary.
Why the regulation? If the camera’s temperature is not kept steady, noise reduction from subtracting dark frames will not be nearly as effective. Water cooling? That is not a new idea for amateur cameras. Way back at the beginning of the CCD era in the early 1990s, folks used windshield washer pumps and buckets of cold water to carry heat away from their homebrewed Cookbook CCD cameras (but not me—I admit I never did finish building mine). In modern CCDs, this liquid cooling allows the temperature to be kept low under high ambient temperatures (like down here in Possum Swamp).
The biggest plus for the big boy cams ain’t their coolers, though; it is their chips. They are, yep, big. Some are considerably larger than even the nice-size sensors in the DSI III and the StarShoot Pro. More importantly, most of these high-falutin’ CCDs are also more sensitive than the video camera chips and similar that have often been used in the bargain cameras. They are frequently of better quality as well, with fewer hot/dead pixels to make for trouble during image processing with Photoshop.
Deciding to go for caviar instead of Vienna sausage for a first camera is often just the start of a confusing journey. Not only is there a passel of companies selling cameras in the 1000 buck and up range (and that is the range is for cooled astro-cams), each outfit makes a bunch of models. Which one? If you insist, I’ll identify my ideal step-up/better CCD, but mainly what you should do is eliminate from consideration any of these manufacturers’ bottom-of-the-pile models. Sure, SBIG’s ST-402, for example, is a well-made, reliable camera, but for your $1500 smackers you’ll be getting a relatively small 6.9 x 4.3mm monochrome chip. If you really need to stay on the cheap side of the street, I advise seriously considering the DSI III or the StarShoot Pro. They have significantly larger sensors that produce bigger images and are easier to work with. Nice, big high resolution images are not the only reason to choose bigger chips, however.
Lots of boys and girls get started in CCDing, and lots of them never make it very far. Some just decide they prefer simple visual observing to the cart-out-a-ton-of-gear game, but many are defeated by their cameras. The main reason for that, usually, is they scrimped or chose unwisely and bought something with a too-small CCD chip.
Small sensors present two very disheartening and difficult hurdles to the CCD newbie. The biggest stumbling block is that, as mentioned earlier, it’s hard to get objects in the field of a small chip. Even if you have a fairly accurate go-to system that will place DSOs in a 25mm eyepiece every dad-gummed time, you may find it frustrating to center targets with a small chip cam. Also, once you’ve got said target acquired, you will quickly discover the “magnification factor” imparted by a small sensor makes even minor guiding errors noticeable. Your images will have egg-shaped (or worse) stars unless they are accurately guided.
So, if you want to do this right from the beginning—or at least don’t want to do a lot more work to get good pictures than you hoped—my advice is be prepared to bite the bullet and spend around 3 grand for a camera that will make learning imaging a little easier and will grow with you as your interests become more sophisticated. There are many cameras that will fulfill these things, and you can go all the way up to big, ol’ SBIG ST11000s (make sure a real big chip matches the resolution of your scope before you spend needlessly) and even bigger and more sophisticated rigs from SBIG and others.
What do I think will please an awful lot of folks, though? My pick is the SBIG ST2000. While this one is available in a one-shot color version, my advice is get the monochrome model. Not only is it more sensitive (the built-in filters of one-shot color chips mean they will always lose out to black and white CCDs when it comes to sensitivity), it is more suited to scientific tasks should you decide you want to do more than take pretty pictures.
Rosette Nebula, C8, CG5, ST2000
The ST2000 has just about everything I’d recommend for imagers old or new. Start with a good-sized sensor, the 11.8 x 8.9mm Kodak KAI-2020, which boasts nearly 2 megapixels and delivers an expansive 1600 x 1200 pixel image. It’s got a very effective, regulated cooler; it’s available with the easy to learn and capable CCDSoft camera control/processing software; is compatible with just about every other camera control program sold; and, maybe nicest of all, it can be ordered with an onboard guide chip.
As you likely know, even if you’re new to imaging, you can’t just set up the scope, slap a camera on it and expose for as long as you want. Even if you are well polar aligned, small irregularities in most mount’s gears, the “Periodic Error” you’ve heard tell about, will make your stars trail in the final images. How do you get around that? You either combine many short exposures as I did with my DSI (works) or take longer exposures (much better for keeping noise down). To take long exposures, you will need to guide. How do you do that? You use another CCD camera, usually a small inexpensive one, to monitor the position of a “guide star” and make small aiming corrections via the scope drive when that star drifts off center. It’s possible to do this by mounting the “guide camera” on a small “guide scope” (usually a refractor) piggybacked on the main telescope, but that requires more gear, and care must be taken that everything is bolted down securely or you’ll get trailed stars no matter how well your mount is autoguided.
SBIG’s proprietary autoguiding system makes taking longer exposures a snap. Guiding is done, as with a separate guide scope, by another CCD camera. In this case, though, that’s an additional CCD chip mounted alongside the main (imaging) chip in the same camera housing. In the ST2000, it’s done by a little CCD identical to what was used in the company’s pre-ST402 entry level cam, the ST237. The ST237 chip monitors the same field as the imaging chip through the same telescope, making guiding easy and effective. The combination of the onboard guide chip and SBIG’s good software means I can easily do 15 minute exposures (that go very deep) with my humble and inexpensive Celestron CG5 mount. How much will this goodness hurt? A “dual-chip” ST2000 will set you back about $3500.
So, you have to be willing to shell-out three grand plus to get More Better Gooder than a DSI? Not necessarily. There is a third path to astro-imaging enlightenment, Grasshopper, in the form of the digital single lens reflex, the DSLR. When these cameras first appeared (well, the first popularly priced ones) about a decade ago, astrophotographers were eager to try ‘em. With their removable lenses and standard lens mounts, they could be used with the adapters and accessories we already owned. They might be more convenient to use than an astronomical CCD, too, since they could be used without the services of an expensive laptop computer and its complex software. Unfortunately, early tests were not encouraging: lots of noise due to the lack of cooling, and not much sensitivity due to the CMOS chips most used in lieu of CCDs. The early cameras couldn’t even expose for more than about 30 seconds, meaning many noisy frames had to be stacked into final images.
That would have been the end of the DSLR story for astrophotography if the camera makers had stood still. But they didn’t. All the biggies—Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Minolta, and, especially, Canon—continued to improve their DSLRs, reducing noise, lengthening exposure time (before long most cameras sported a “B” exposure setting just like their film ancestors), and improving sensitivity and spectral response of the chips. One maker, Canon even went so far as to not only acknowledge that its cameras were being used for astrophotography, but actually produce one (for a brief time) designed for celestial picture taking, the Canon 20da.
In addition to the other improvements, DSLR makers continued to increase the size of their sensors, and today all cameras sport CMOS chips that are at least “APS” sized, just a wee bit smaller than a 35mm frame; typically delivering resolutions in the 4000 x 2600 pixel range, larger than the chips in all but the most obscenely expensive astronomical cameras. Soon, DSLR-crazy astrophotographers were turning out color pictures that rivaled the best tri-color shots done with astronomical cameras costing five times as much or more—the average mid-range DSLR can be had for less than $1000 with a decent zoom lens.
Should you steer toward the DSLRs instead of the SBIGs then? Maybe. If nothing else, it’s much easier to justify the purchase of a DSLR to a non-astronomer husband or wife than it is an astronomical camera. Not only will it be cheaper, it can be used to take pictures of the kids the next time y’all pack ‘em up and head to Dollywood for a vacation. There is also the fact DSLRs are much easier to learn than astro cameras.
While some advanced imagers use DSLRs in much the same fashion as astronomical cameras, running their Canons and Nikons from laptop PCs and “calibrating” images with dark, flat, and bias frames just like they do with SBIGs and Apogees, it is possible to get extremely nice DSLR pictures with without worrying about any of this complicated stuff. As mentioned earlier, a laptop is not needed to take long exposures; the only additional item required is the camera manufacturer’s remote “cable” release (to hold the shutter open in B mode). I once asked one very advanced STL11000-totin’ astrophotographer I met down Chiefland way what he thought of DSLRs. Though I’ve been impressed by these cameras and have come to love my Canon 400D, his reply still surprised me, “Rod, if all I were after were pretty pictures of showpiece objects, that’s what I’d use. There is no reason to buy anything else anymore.”
Rod's first DSLR shot. C8, EQ-6, EQMOD.
As I usually say about any astro-gear, however, it ain’t all gravy. There are some pretty substantial minuses, too. Not only are DSLRs less sensitive to light than astronomical cameras, even the under $1000 brigade, they are much less sensitive to red light. All DSLR manufacturers place an infrared blocking filter over their cameras’ sensors. CMOS chips, like almost all electronic imaging chips, are overly sensitive at the red end of the spectrum. Without a filter to remove the deep-red, terrestrial images are hard to color-balance, and pore li’l Bobbie Sue will look like she fried in the Sun on your trip down to the Redneck Riviera at Gulf Shores, Alabama. So what? This filtering makes it hard to get good exposures of dim red nebulas.
DSLRs can be modified to remove these filters, or purchased with them already removed, but this is a job for experts like the good folk at Hutech, and this service begins to drive the price of the “cheap” DSLR into SBIG regions. The good news, however, is, despite what you may have heard, it is quite possible to get credible images of even faint clouds like IC434 with an unmodified camera—it just takes longer exposures and more processing work.
What else do I turn my nose up at? The heralded “don’t need a laptop” thing turned out not to be strictly true. Sure, you can run the camera with just a remote release, but a laptop makes life much easier. Remember how hard it was to focus an SLR on even a bright star? DSLR viewfinders are even dimmer and smaller. Yes, the latest models do have “live view”—a constantly updating video display on their LCD screens—that makes focusing easier. These screens are relatively small, however, and it will always be easier to focus using the large display of a laptop running a DSLR-centric camera control program like Nebulosity.
Software like “Neb” makes DSLR imaging easier in other ways too. Since most imagers stack numerous relatively short exposures (5 minutes or less, typically) in the interest of keeping thermal noise down, it’s nice to be able to tell the laptop to have the camera take a series of exposures and be freed to walk around the observing field and annoy your buddies while PC and DSLR do their thing without supervision.
Finally, if, unlike Your Silly Old Uncle, you have dreams of doing real science, a DSLR is not the camera for you. Their one-shot color CMOS sensors are neither sensitive enough nor linear enough to make most scientific pursuits practical. Nobody says you have to have only one type of camera, though, and even if you add a top-of-the-line astronomical CCD to your stable later, you will still find uses for the DSLR on the ground and in the sky.
If I were just starting out in imaging and were able to spend 800 hundred bucks or so, I would glom onto a DSLR in a real quick hurry, no doubt about it. It’s just so easy to get your feet wet with one of these cameras. Even if you are not sure you are ready for the autoguided - prime focus bigtime, you will still be able to take some knock-your-socks-off pretty color pictures of the heavens with a DSLR right away. Buy a cheap piggyback bracket for your telescope and a remote release for your camera, do a halfway decent polar alignment, slap that Canon on the scope, and start squeezing off 30-second – 1-minute frames through your “kit” zoom lens. A little processing of these images and you will literally be jumping for joy.
How do you process images? And how about that autoguiding stuff? Do you need PEC, too? Do really have to spend all that money for Adobe Photoshop? These things are subjects for a whole ‘nother blog entry on another day. Or, more properly, a whole book like one from Mike Covington’s or Ron Wodaski’s or Jerry Lodriguss. Whether your rig is a simple DSI or a complex SBIG, astrophotography is unavoidably a complicated and often maddening pursuit, as I’m sure every astrophotographer you’ve talked to has warned you. You can’t read and learn too much. There’s a long and steep learning curve, and you can’t expect to master this craft in a week or a month or a year. Don’t let that scare you off, though. It’s also a wonderful and infinitely rewarding part of our avocation.
Once you understand it will be a long, long time, if ever, before you see your images in Sky & Telescope’s “Gallery” section, and, like me, just look on your pictures as souvenirs of your deep sky travels—like that snapshot you took of Aunt Lulu up at Rock City—you will be one happy camper, egg-shaped stars or no. Yes, you can go online and look at a million beautiful and perfect amateur and professional pictures of The Whirlpool Galaxy. But I guar-ron-tee none will look half as good as your first M51. No, it will not be perfect, but it will be yours.
The Astronomer Looks at 55
Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call.
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall,
You've seen it all, you've seen it all.
--Jimmy Buffet
I mentioned a while back that The Little Ol’ Blog from Possum Swamp is two years old in July. Well, that ain’t the only birthday we’re celebrating this month; your Old Uncle Rod is looking at double-nickels. 55, that is. Since I’ve been a part of this wonderful avocation, amateur astronomy (it ain’t just a hobby), for 43 of those 55 years, this seems as good a time as any to take stock of where we were back then, where we are now, and maybe where we are goin’ in the next decade or so.
What’s the most frequent comment I hear about the folks doing amateur astronomy? How dadgummed old we all are. This “fact” frequently leads to impassioned threads on Astromart and Cloudy Nights opining that amateur astronomy is doomed, DOOMED I TELLS YA! That it will die out with the baby boom generation. What’s my observation on the amateur demographic? What changes have I seen over the forty-odd observing seasons that have come and went since I jined-up in 1965?
There is little doubt in my formerly military mind that amateur astronomy skewed younger back in ‘65. Why do I think that? The Space Race, prompted by our deadly fear of the Soviets’ soaring Sputniks, meant there was a major push on to get younguns involved in the sciences. Not just that, though. In those (supposedly) simpler and more naïve times there wasn’t as much distract us, no Nintendos and 100 channel big screen TVs and organized “playdates.” Telescopes and microscopes and chemistry sets were still cool; they were in fact actually considered “entertaining” by the average sprout--compared to duck and cover air raid drills with Bert the Turtle, anyway. Combine that with the excitement and romance of Mercury and Gemini, and the adults really didn’t have to do much to push some of us in the direction of astronomy.
Amateur astronomers did their part too. While there was probably not as much outreach in the form of public star parties, most clubs and universities did yeoman duty in this area nevertheless. If you’ve read my astro-bio, you know the first look I had through a “real” telescope was thanks to the kindness and insight of a local college’s Physics Department. Many clubs didn’t just solicit younguns, they made provisions for ‘em with “junior sections.”
I used to think that was a bad thing, ghettoizing the pore wee folk in their own sub-clubs. Now, I ain’t so sure. Junior sections shepherded by committed adult amateurs have the benefit of making the astronomy club experience more appealing and less intimidating for teens and sub-teens. When all you do is throw your younger members into a general club meeting you risk boring ‘em: “OK, Ernest T. Bass is going to continue the discussion from last month on the question of where we’re going to hold the Christmas dinner—it’s already June.” Or intimidating ‘em: “Next, Joe Spit the Ragman is gonna talk to us at length about galaxy morphology.”
So, amateur astronomy is finished when the last of us Children of the Sixties do the big fade-out? Not so fast, not so fast. Things ain’t quite as dire as that. Yes, there are more gray haired folk doing astronomy, probably, than there were forty years ago. The main reason for more oldsters is not necessarily a lack of youngsters, however. Yes, there are a lotta gray heads, but that’s probably an inevitable spike brought on by us Boomers. Folks are now looking for a “retirement hobby,” and there are just so derned many of us retiring that the over 50 crowd is artificially inflated in amateur astronomy.
Also, I ain’t really so sure that amateur astronomy was as much of a kid thing in the 1960s as many of us remember. As far as I know, my town, good, ol’ Possum Swamp, didn’t have a real astronomy club until the mid 1980s. Well, there was the informal group me and a few teen and subteen buddies got up, The Backyard Astronomy Society (BAS) but we were hardly “serious.” Not unless you consider our meetings, where the main attraction was PB&J sandwiches and Kool-aid provided by somebody’s mom, “serious.” I suspect most of us outside major metro areas were pretty much in the same boat; there was no organized club, and thus little chance of us coming in contact with adult amateurs unless a teacher happened to be one.
Heck, if I hadn’t seen pictures of serious looking grownups in the group pictures that occasionally appeared in Sky & Telescope’s “Amateur Astronomers” column, I wouldn’t have believed any adults not affiliated with a university were into astronomy. I just tended to assume amateur astronomy was mostly a kid thing, and that perception stuck. In our failing memories, the amateur astronomy of the 1960s was all—or almost all—people our own age. Ground truth? Yes, a lot of mid-60s kiddles played around with Christmas scopes for a little while or did the occasional astronomy-oriented science fair project, but the ratio of youth to adult amateurs--practicing, committed, serious amateur astronomers--back then was probably similar to what it is today.
Now? Sure, I’d like to see more youth in clubs, but I am not as concerned about our appeal to the Lollipop Guild as some of my brothers and sisters. I teach astronomy to 18-19 year olds month after month after month at a university. Yes, many of the little people are there only to satisfy that dratted science requirement—at first, anyhow. I guar-ron-tee you would be surprised and relieved and pleased at how many wind up getting the amateur astronomy bug without much prompting. Not just interested, but seriously interested, in fact. On their own with only a little help/advice from the Physics Department adults, our kids formed their own student astronomy club and have kept it alive—and growing—for several years. Bottom line? Nintendo Wii or not, there is still interest and the kids are there to be had if we are willing to go out and get them—and figure out how to keep them.
One thing we have got going for us that amateurs of the 1960s often didn’t is that we, most of us, realize there is a huge potential for growth in a nearly untapped astronomy audience: women and minorities. I am seeing substantial gains in this area in the last decade. It is finally uncommon for me address a club or star party audience and see mostly all white male faces. Not only are there many potential recruits in these groups, they offer real “advantages” over youngsters. The Rugrats are often enthusiastic observers and club members in their pre-teen and early teen years, but then they hear the siren call of cars and boys/girls and are gone, often for quite a while if not forever, till they finish college and/or get settled in a vocation and start a family.
How about light pollution? When amateurs shoot the breeze, especially in the company of Jack Daniels and Bud Weiser, that’s often cited as a reason for our supposed decline. The skies are so punk nobody could observe if they wanted to. New amateurs starting out in the backyard soon give up. No wonder we can’t get kids—or anybody else—to join the club. There may be some truth to that, but, in my case anyway, the problem didn’t begin yesterday. By the early 1970s the Milky Way was invisible on most nights from my parents’ suburban yard. If light pollution is hurting recruitment, it has been doing that for a while. What can we do? In the short term, make sure our newbies know about the club dark site and feel welcome there. No club dark site? Find one (the subject of an upcoming blog). It’s also just barely possible light pollution may begin to be less of a burden for us.
The next decade may show the light pollution problem was, after all, a short-term and self-correcting one. With oil as expensive as it is, and the fact being that it is not gonna get appreciably cheaper--ever--cities and businesses and individuals that never cared pea-turkey about efficient lighting are finally getting the message. Which doesn’t mean we should stop campaigning against fencepost-dumb lighting. Even if it is on the wane, presenting an organized opposition (as in the IDA) can only speed-up the process.
Assessment: In the people sector, amateur astronomy is holding its own, but we need to do more. Our avocation will likely grow very slowly or even begin to shrink without our help, and growth is a good thing for us. We also need to work to make our clubs more appealing and interesting for the under 40s we have already got—make that “for everybody.”
A lot of older amateurs wax nostalgic for the happier times of the 60s when everybody was building their own scopes, fantastic telescopes that put the current crop of Chinese cheap-cheaps to shame. Not exactly. Most of us who built scopes built ‘em for one reason only: we had to. And most of the scopes we turned out were not just bad, but real bad. Back then, I don’t think I ever saw anybody’s mirror that didn’t have at least some turned-down-edge.
In those days, when a bare-bones (by 21st century standards) Criterion RV-6 Dynascope Newtonian was $194.00 ($1274.00 simoleons today), the po’ folk among us (like Unk) had to build if they wanted 6-inches or more of aperture. The well-heeled? Easy Street adults or kids in the Beaver Cleaver socioeconomic group whose parents had more moola and were more apt to spend it on sonny-boy’s (or girl’s) current obsession? They bought.
Let’s take a stroll through Chaos Manor South’s massive astro-mag archive, the place where old astronomy rags go to live out their remaining days. Don’t mind the dust, just think of it as “a fine patina of age that adds to the charm of these old periodicals.” OK, here’s one (kaff-kaff), Sky & Telescope, November 1967. Reckon that’ll do. Now, stand back while I pull her out of the stack. Wouldn’t want you crushed in an avalanche of Chuck Federer issues. They were skinny, yeah, but they was dense.
Hokay…lessee... One thing you notice right off is there wasn’t a whole lot to buy. Ads, sure, but not scads of multi-colored extravaganzas like you see in Astronomy Technology Today. Secondly, what there was was purty derned expensive. Let’s browse. Values in today’s dollars are in parentheses, and are calculated using the Consumer Price Index.
Hmm…inside front cover is occupied by Questar’s full pager, just like ever’ month from the sixties and on through the 70s I believe (don’t dare tunnel through that mountain of Astronomy Nows to get to the 1970s section—that’s where the mutant rats hang out). Right pretty li’l scope. Sure, Unk wanted one, even if he was not completely convinced this 3.5-incher would best his humble home-grown 6-inch f/8 mirror. Luckily, perhaps, he didn’t have the $795.00 ($5222.00) price of admission required to find out.
Getting to the first ad past the inside cover requires thumbing through about 15 pages of various serious (if surprisingly interesting) articles: “Budapest Symposium on Active Solar Regions.” And there, smack on page 307 (they used volume-style page numbering back then) is the Pretty Baby, a big, honkin’ pier-mounted Celestron Pacific C16. Needless to say, your old Uncle was afraid to e’en dream about one of these, seeing as how mama and daddy were not likely to come across with $11,500 ($75,552,00) at birthday time. Dang.
How about a nice Unitron, then? I literally wore out their little catalog-pamphlet one summer. Probably dissolved by my drool. They sure had some beautiful scopes that still look beautiful today, and how. But the impediment, even for a 60mm was, again, price. The bottom of the astro line 2.4-inch alt-azimuth required $125.00 ($821.00) more than I had or likely could accumulate no matter how many lawns I mowed that summer.
While not exactly packed with ads, there’s plenty more, too: Caves, Starliners, Optical Craftsmen, Tinsleys. Lovely to look at, expensive to buy, and maybe not quite as good to use as we might have hoped. Sure, just like you, I complain about the depredations of Meade and Celestron today, but the simple fact is, not only are today’s telescopes much more affordable for kids and novices of all stripes; they are better, and not just because of go-to and other modern obsessions. Yeah, those big ol’ 1960s German mounts look impressive, but they are all—almost every one—shakier than they should be. They are also not as portable as most of us would want today (I wish I had a dollar for every time I got yelled at by Mama for bumping my 4.25-inch Palomar Junior’s pedestal into a dining room table leg).
Optically? Some of those old scopes were good, very good indeed. What some of my brethren have forgotten, though, is that there were plenty of bow-wows too. Yeah, Alika Herring made some mind-blowing primaries for Cave, but not even all of his were good. Frankly, the one thing we’ve really got going for us in this new century is consistency. Your average Chinese machine-made mirror may not be the world beater some of the fully handmade 60s optics were, but it will likely be good enough, and you will pretty much be assured of getting one that is just as good as the one Bubba down the street got. In the 60s it was as easy to get a lemon as a plum.
You might, in fact, say we are living through a golden age of astro-gear. Everything and I do mean everything—not just scopes, but eyepieces and accessories of all kinds—is dirt cheap. And almost insanely good. The question is not whether we have got it easy, but “Will it last?” As long as the Chinese Yuan remains low, we’re walking in high cotton. Let that change as it likely will, and cheap but good gear will instantly be a thing of the past. We may be seeing that beginning right now as a matter of fact. The Yuan is stable, but the dollar is falling, and one APO maker who formerly had all his optical components done in China has cranked up U.S. production—it’s now cheaper and easier to do the work at home. What will happen if this continues? Will we see a return to the old days, and the rebirth of storied U.S. names like Cave and Unitron? Perhaps. Just as likely, we’ll soon be complaining about them crummy but cheap Vietnamese telescopes.
Assessment: Those of us who’ve been doing astronomy since the 1990s sure have been sipping cream: cheap, good, very technologically sophisticated astro-stuff. My opinion, I’m sorry to say, is that we are currently on the edge of a knife gear-wise. Likely the U.S. and world economies will soon ring in changes for amateur equipment. If you want something cool on the cheap, better think about getting it now (do I have to twist yer arms?).
The Pursuit
Y’all may think I’m crazy (so what else is new?), but I think the biggest change in amateur astronomy over the last 40 years has not been in what we look with but what we look at. Yeah, go-to has made a big impact. It’s made observing the deep sky less of a chore for old and new folks alike. But the experience of using a NexStar 8 SE is not really that much different from that of using a Celestron Pacific C10. No, what’s changed is what we do with these scopes. Back in The Day we were very much focused on the Solar System. Oh, sure, we glanced at the Messiers, but the deep sky was very much a secondary thing for the average Joe Amateur.
Why weren’t we chasing NGCs? Aside from the fact that almost nobody had a telescope larger than 12-inches, and that the Solar System was still a very mysterious and romantic place to play around in, we just didn’t know we could. An example is the Veil Nebula, which then or now is an easy catch for an 8-inch telescope under reasonably dark skies. A lot of us wanted to see this thing, intrigued by professional pictures, but very few of us did. Mainly because we didn’t try. There was a weird idea that NGC objects were “professional” objects, and that me and thee should stick to the good, old Messier.
Those of us who tried wade out into the deeper end of the pool were hampered by long focal length scopes and poor eyepieces (relatively speaking), but most of all by a lack of information. Most of us were using the greatly beloved Norton’s Star Atlas as our guide, and, frankly, that 6th magnitude thing, classic though it may be, was so devoid of detail that it was difficult to find M87 with its aid. Yeah, some of the more sophisticated among us were gobbling up print runs of the Skalnate Pleso Atlas (the “forerunner” of Sky Atlas 2000), and Walter Scott “Scotty” Houston’s monthly “Deep Sky Wonders” column in Sky and ‘Scope was beginning to lead us out of the deep sky wilderness—he talks about the exotic NGC 246 in his November ’67 piece—but it really wouldn’t be until the late 70s and early 80s and the coming of Big Dobsonian telescopes before we really began to stretch our legs.
Assessment: There is no doubt amateurs are performing feats of deep sky observing that would have flat-out amazed me and my buddies in our Backyard Astronomy Society proto-astronomy club. I mean…I mean…a not inconsiderable number of folks have seen Einstein’s Cross. Seen it visually. How much farther we go depends in part on what happens in the light pollution arena. As I said, the tide may be turning in that regard; but even if not, technology like Mallincams and Stellacams—crazy-sensitive and easy to use deep sky video cameras—means we will continue to push back the frontiers nevertheless.
My prediction? Amateur astronomy will be alive and well in 2051 if our children and our grandchildren want it to be. What will it be like? Technologically? I won’t hazard a guess. I could say, “more and more computers,” but the obvious ain’t often correct—the future isn't (always) an extrapolation of the past. Back in the 1960s, my prediction for the future would probably have been, “Everybody will be able to afford an 8-inch f/8 Newtonian on a big German equatorial mount with a clock drive.” Instead, the next big movement was astrophotography and 8-inch Schmidt Cassegrains, and, after that, large visual-only alt-az telescopes made of wood and cardboard.
I can make a guess about the people, though. You youngsters (Ol’ Unk Rod will be just a fading amateur astronomy footnote by then) will still be the planet’s dreamers. Whether scanning the face of Luna—straining to see the lights of Moon Base Alpha—or imaging the faint envelopes of distant QUASARs, amateur astronomers will still be that small group of special people who look up and wonder.
The Good Tasco
The good Tasco? Ain’t that what the bright boys call an “oxymoron?” Wouldn’t you need to be a moron of some kind to call one of those stinking Tasco, TRASHCO, Department Store telescopes “good?” Yeah. Except…there was a time when Tasco was importing excellent telescopes, muchachos. Oh, maybe not quite up there with Unitron, but occasionally close, very close indeed. Notice I said “imported,” not “made.” Back in The Day, I imagined a giant Tasco factory in some far-away Asian city. Something resembling the set for a Fu Manchu movie. Opium den ‘round back. I was wrong. Truth is, Tasco never made a blessed thing.
“Tasco” was the company George Rosenfield founded in 1954 as the Tanross Supply Company of Miramar, Florida. His simple goal was importing fishing tackle and similar small items for post-war leisure-crazy Americans. As the 1950s rocked-around-the-clock, George both shortened his outfit’s name, and changed his product focus. To optics; first in the form of binoculars and other “sport” optics. By the dawn of the 1960s and the Space Age, George was also selling astronomical telescopes from a variety of Japanese manufacturers to starry-eyed kids (and adults). The reason there were, yes, good Tascos was the wise decisions George and his compadres made as to exactly which scopes they would bring-in.
The choices Tasco made for its astronomical telescope suppliers are today a litany of excellence: Royal Optical, Goto, Towa, Carton, and more. You want irony, though? None of these outfits were thought of highly by American amateur astronomers—heck, the average Joe or Jane amateur (most often “Joe” in those benighted times) wouldn’t pay two nickels, a bottle cap, and a dead frog for any Japanese telescope.
Strange as it may seem to you younguns, well into the 60s U.S. consumers considered the words “Made in Japan” to be synonymous with “cheap crap.” No matter what we thought, though, the fact was these companies were producing excellent telescopes. Actually, many of us were already praising Japanese made scopes to high heaven—we just didn’t know it. Unitron, like Tasco (and today's Orion), was really “only” an importer, and all its scopes/parts also came from Japan (with the exception of an occasional U.S.-made objective for some of the larger models).
If you’re still not convinced the Tasco of the 1960s and 1970s was something special, consider the Tasco 20TE “Observatory.” This lovely 4 ¼-inch f/15 refractor was made by Goto and used an objective fabricated by Carton. Accessories? In addition to its beautiful GEM mount, which was equipped with an electric RA drive and an impressive pedestal for support, there was a brace of accessories including, among other cool stuff, two (!) star diagonals, and a box full of eyepieces in which lurked an Orthoscopic, the ne plus ultra of oculars when Unk was young(er). Price? That was hardly Department Store either. Try 950 smackers in the late 1960s, which equates to at least 4500 small 2008 dollars. That doesn't sound like the Tasco you know from WallyWorld, now does it? As you might expect, the 20TE is a highly sought-after telescope today; one you won’t buy for 15 bucks on the ‘Bay.
What was my personal experience with Tasco telescopes? Despite the above enthusiasm, it was distinctly mixed. One thing to remember about the company’s products, even the old ones, when you’re standing transfixed by some white tube wonder down to the flea market, is that even way back when Tasco DID sell some junk.
Unk’s first telescope, a 3-inch Tasco Newt on a little fork mount, was pretty, but its mirror seemed punk. The Moon was OK, deep sky objects were passable, but what I really wanted to see, Jupiter and Saturn, looked like something that came out of the wrong end of Unk's Aunt Lulu’s poodle-dog. In retrospect, it's possible the telescope's mirror retaining clips were too tight, but I didn't know enough back then to check that. Luckily, this kind of “quality” was reserved for the cheapest Tascos, not the “Observatory” or the Lunagrosso.
In the late 1970s, Arkansas’ Little Rock Air Force Base, where I was stationed, was a thriving and growing concern despite the post-Vietnam military depression. It was host to a large and active Military Airlift Command wing. That being the case, LRAFB was blessed with a large and modern Base Exchange. A store about the same size as Mr. Walton's nearby Walmart, one of his first stores, which was located in Jacksonville, Arkansas.
One of the features of this big “BX” was a well-stocked photo/optical department. Once I convinced myself I needed an “interim” scope of some kind to use for my couple of remaining active duty years (it didn't take very long for Unk to decide a military career was not for him), which would end in 1979, I moseyed over and had a look. I didn't have any trouble finding Tascos there; the store’s large and somewhat motley scope collection contained plenty of Tascos and Jasons in every variety and color imaginable. A quick scan turned up one I figured might do, a Tasco 4.5-inch reflector which at the time was designated the “11TE-5.”
The 11TE-5, which is better remembered by us astro-old-timers as the peculiarly but memorably named “Lunagrosso” (“big Moon,” I reckon), was a 4.5-inch aperture f/8 Newtonian. This is a good size; one that’s exceedingly portable but capable of showing the basic wonders of the sky, both planets and Messiers.
While a 4.5-inch loses out to a 6-inch scope, it does not do so by much. Optically, the Lunagrossos were not bad, not bad at all. Yes, the Pyrex primary was saddled with a spherical figure, which placed an upper limit on its resolution, but this sphere was a good one and the images it produced compared favorably with the excellent ones of its more famous contemporary, the 4.25-inch Edmund Scientific “Palomar Junior,” which also possessed a spherical primary. My Pal Junior did have a larger focal ratio, about f/11, and was thus capable of slightly better wave-front performance. In practice, the optical quality of the two scopes was nearly indistinguishable, and the Lunagrosso pulled ahead a bit in the field-of-view department, at least.
The 11TE’s secondary mirror was maybe slightly larger than absolutely necessary, but well suited to the scope’s somewhat tall rack and pinion focuser. Both primary and secondary were in easily collimatable cells, with the secondary featuring a real spider instead of the lousy single-stalk-attached-to-the-focuser dealie of the Edmund Pal. The Tasco’s tube was finished a gleaming, beautiful white (nicer than the red paintjobs the company later favored) that sported sturdy and attractive black tube end rings. Most amazing thing by today’s Department Store scope standards? The lack of plastic. Thinking back, trying to access my remaining brain cells, the only things plastic on the OTA were (maybe) the focuser knobs.
Mount-wise, the German equatorial furnished with the Lunagrosso was not overkill, but was sufficient if you didn’t insist on trying the scope at the 300x advertised on the box. It was a nice little mount with smooth movement in right ascension and declination, good slow motions (via the ubiquitous flexible cables), and a passably stable (black) wooden tripod equipped with an accessory tray. While no clock drive was included with the standard scope, the mount did feature a gear that would allow it to be driven in RA by an optional motor. The all-metal GEM head was nicely appointed and closer in size to one of today’s Chinese EQ-2 mounts than the EQ-1s seen on most current Department Store GEM reflectors.
The Lunagrosso was fairly well equipped with accessories. Two eyepieces were provided, an H20mm and an H6mm. These two-element Huygenians, which are mostly a thing of the past today, thank god, had small apparent fields and only fair eye-relief. The 20mm was useable, the 6mm not so much. Do I have to say the Lunagrosso’s eyepieces and focuser were of the .965-inch “Japanese standard” format? Oh, how you gonna get an f/8 4.5-inch up to the claimed 300x with them eyepieces? With a Barlow, of course. The Barlow lens shipped with the Lunagrosso was about as useful as the useless ones found with today’s crap-o-scopes—well, maybe a little better than that, I reckon.
Other stuff? The Lunagrossos, all those I’ve seen from the 1960s to the 1990s—white or red tubes—have been equipped with too small 5x24 finders. In the 1970s, these finders were still optically acceptable and made of metal, but as the 80s came in and disco suddenly sucked, the finder de-evolved into a laughable stopped-down single element objective plastic-body job. There wasn’t much else in the Lunagrosso box other than a right nice metal aperture cap. The cover’s small cutout with removable cap was intended to reduce the aperture of the scope for use with Tasco’s (dangerous) eyepiece Solar filter, I suppose, but there was, if I recollect, no Solar filter shipped with my mid-seventies scope. There was a marginally useful Moon filter.
All this sounds good by today’s department store standards, but I stood there in the BX aisle for quite a while feeling skittish, like an antelope ready to dash at the faintest whiff of lion. Based on my experience with my 3-inch Tasco, the company was indeed a predator, luring its victims with visions of 300x multicolored nebula glory. I, who’d already done most of the Messier with my Palomar Junior, was way beyond Tascos, wasn’t I?
Yeah, I did have a good enough scope back home in Possum Swamp. B-U-T… There seemed little chance of retrieving my Pal Junior anytime soon, and there—right there—was a nice-looking 4.5-inch telescope staring me in the face, whispering, “Buy me, Rod, BUY ME.”
Let’s be honest: the main thing that gave me pause was the price. Like the 20TE, if not to quite that degree, this Good Tasco was not cheap. The Lunagrosso sold for $89.95 in 1960 when it was first imported, and the price of this Towa-made scope had slowly climbed to somewhat more than $150.00 by the mid 70s, about $575.00 today, not an inconsiderable sum for a young GI. Luckily, the Base Exchange price tag read “$100.00,” still a lot, but doable, barely.
I clutched the Tasco like a little drowning person grabbing for a lifeline. That’s exactly what I was, too; I hadn’t had a look through anything but binoculars in over a year. And let's face it...this is ME we are talking about. Plunked down in a new town and in the military, I was going through some awful bouts of loneliness and boredom. I needed this Tasco. As I manhandled the garish box into my shopping cart, my eyes lit on an AC clock drive hanging on a nearby peg. 30 bucks ($50.00 in a civilian shop)? “OK,” though I wasn’t sure whether I wanted or needed it.
Even in those days, one sure thing was the New Scope Curse. My act of buying the Lunagrosso attracted not just clouds, but the threat of truly severe weather. Back at my pad, a glance out the window revealed not just overcast, but a dark, almost black line along the horizon that portended one of central Arkansas’ often awesome thunderstorms—which not infrequently came equipped with a line of tornadoes. Turning on my trusty Sears 12-inch black and white portable TV (in the white plastic disco-style cabinet), I tuned-in Channel 7, KATV. They had already broken into The Gong Show with weather warnings, and it became obvious I wouldn’t be able to observe squat this evening. At least I could admire new baby. She looked right COOL with the lights off and my black light on (of course I had one).
That’s not all I could do. There was good reading material on hand. In addition to a well written instruction manual—which contianed fairly decent collimation instructions—I was surprised to find an honest-to-God astronomy book in the box. A Key to Worlds Beyond (1966) by Arthur P. Smith of the Astronomical League was a very readable 62 page guide to the heavens that is still treasured by many former Tasco owners long after their telescopes have returned to dust (or rust).
“Hmm, not near as good as The New Handbook of the Heavens,” I grumbled (the book that came with the Pal Junior). But I soon found myself not just browsing, but learning. Maybe young Rod didn’t know quite as much about the astronomy game as he thought he did. So passed a stormy night with a new scope.
Next evening? Cloudy again. In fact, I was not able to get my new scope our under the stars for another week and a half. Not that I hadn’t done a little looking—through the windows at telephone poles and the distant tree line. The images looked pretty good, especially with the lower power eyepiece, but well I knew only the sky will reveal “good” or “bad” when it comes to telescopes. I was in an agony of suspense, but the night finally did come when it was clear (albeit with a gibbous Moon in the sky).
I plunked my pretty new telescope down in a spot with a clear view of the fat Moon and, with trembling hand, inserted the H20 ocular, centered Luna in the finder, pressed my hungry eye to the eyepiece, and saw—nuttin. At first I wondered whether the finder alignment I had done (on a distant power pole insulator) had been accurate enough, whether the target had been too close and caused parallax problems. Nope. It helps to take the aperture cap off the scope. Now I saw something—a bright, white blur.
A careful turn of a focus knob, first in one direction and then the other, delivered the goods. The terminator stood out in stark relief with excellent contrast and sharpness. What else did I notice? Focusing required a light touch or the mount got the shakes in a hurry, even with a 20mm eyepiece. My impression at the time was that the mount was decidedly less stable than the Pal Junior’s GEM, but, in retrospect, there was really not much difference. The Edmund’s mount, despite looking heftier and being heavier, was hardly the Rock of Gibraltar.
One area where my new scope was clearly inferior was in its eyepieces. When I got tired of the 44x view of Luna in the 20mm, I fished out the H6mm, which would deliver about 140x, and gave it a try. Not so hotsky. Maybe not quite as bad as the .965 6mm Edmund Ramsden I’d got for the 3-inch Tasco one Christmas, but close. Nearly zero eye relief, an apparent field to match that, putrid edge of field sharpness, and center-of-field performance that was nothing to write home about.
I didn’t panic. I knew enough about eyepieces, especially cheap, crummy eyepieces to be fairly sure that was the problem. I did resolve to check collimation again, though a quick look had shown it to be, surprisingly, pretty close out of the box. Back in went the 20mm. While it was not perfect either—it was also deficient in eye relief and AFOV—it was darned sharp, with the field edge more than acceptable.
I loved the Moon then just as I do now, but after admiring her silv’ry countenance for a good half-hour, I began to wonder “what else?” Over in the west, creeping toward the horizon with Gemini, was Saturn. Not exactly well placed, but what the heck. Over to the Ringed Wonder we went. In the 20mmH, the view was similar to what I was accustomed to in the Pal Junior with a 25mm Kellner—sweet, that is. With the rings nearly open, Cassini’s Division stood out beautifully. There was also some banding visible on the disk, which I thought was actually a little easier to see than it was in the Pal. Despite the eyepiece’s obvious shortcomings, I inserted the 6mm—Saturn cried out for more power. Acceptable, barely. Maybe looked a little better than the Moon. “Hmmm…how about that little Barlow?” Out went the 6mm, in went the 20mm and the Barlow. Not too good. Slightly superior to the 6mm? Perhaps. Not by much.
I continued to ogle Saturn, and came to appreciate the Lunagrosso’s mount. It’s RA slow motion control, anyway. Turning it produced almost no shaking in contrast to the constant and severe vibrations caused by nudging the Pal to track a planet at anything but the lowest magnifications. Despite just casually adjusting the altitude of the mount’s polar axis and pointing it approximately north, I was able to follow Saturn for quite a while with before an adjustment via the declination slo-mo control became necessary. I did give the AC powered clock drive a try (by means of a mile-long extension cord). It worked, but seemed like more trouble than it was worth for such casual viewing with such a casual telescope.
I just looked and looked, going back and forth between Luna and Saturn, and became ever more proud of my Lunagrosso. When I finally called it a night and hauled the scope back inside—a considerably more pleasant experience than wrestling the Pal Junior’s pedestal indoors—I was amazed to discover my mechanical-digital clock radio read 12:30. It seemed as if I’d only been outside for 15 minutes at most.
Oh, how pleased was Unk; I had taken a chance on a Department Store scope and it had actually worked out. Despite the cheap eyepieces’ problems—which I’d expected—I’d had some amazing views. The Tasco far exceeded my expectations. For the first time in a long time, I’d almost had my fill of observing—for one night, anyway. Sure, I hungered for the deep sky, and in time would cart my new love up into the dark Ozark Mountains, but for now I was satisfied. Time to open a Miller Lite, flick an imaginary speck of dust off the Lunagrosso’s tube, and tune-in Tomorrow with Tom Snyder as the heavens boomed and another line of severe thunderstorms began to move in.
What happened to my Lunagrosso? That’s a mystery. Somewhere, sometime over the next decade in the course of many moves and one divorce it disappeared. I will tell y’all one thing: I didn’t sell it, give it away, or discard it. Yeah, when I went on to my long-running love affair with Schmidt Cassegrains, the Tasco faded into the background a smidge. Not completely, though; it still got used as a grab ‘n go scope. The Tasco showed me countless wonders and carried me through some very lonely times. I’m sorry I don’t even have a picture of it left, but, really, I don’t need one. In my mind’s eye I can still see the Moon just as she appeared on that long ago night with my wonderful new telescope.
What happened to the Lunagrosso? I wasn’t the only person Tasco made happy with the 11TE. I’d guess thousands of astronomers, amateur and professional, got their start with the Tasco. Even those owners for whom astronomy was a passing fancy wedged between pet rocks and mood rings remember their scopes fondly, I’ve found. What killed the Lunagrosso? The same thing that killed a lot of other scopes: Comet Halley. By the mid 80s, Tasco found itself faced with both more competition and more possibilities. The main possibility being the chance of making oodles of dollars from a suddenly scope-mad public.
To do that, they had to keep up pricewise with the Jasons, and Focals, and Bushnells that were crowding store shelves, and way undercut “better” brands, like Bausch and Lomb, which were suddenly being peddled in America’s shopping malls too. To that end, by the mid 1980s Tasco was importing cheaper telescopes. Goto and Towa were fading memories as the company searched Taiwan for the more affordable and available. The Lunagrosso transitioned from white tube to red tube, and gained ever more plastic as the 80s wound down into the 90s. It was still pretty good, but the handwriting was on the wall.
What happened to Tasco post Halley? Not much. Unlike some other scope sellers, they apparently made a nice pot of money and continued on their merry way. By the mid 1990s, when ol’ Mr. Rosenfield sold out, Tasco was doing 110 mill a year. Heck, as I talked about in the last installment of this here blog, “Telescope Anxiety,” Tasco was riding so high by the end of the decade that they went out and bought themselves Celestron (in 1998). That was the high point, though, and the plunge into bankruptcy in the new century was sudden and steep. But not fatal.
All Tasco ever was was a NAME, nothing more, and that name still had and still has value. Despite the company having passed through a couple of hands after flaming out, it’s still alive today. The brightly colored boxes still draw dreaming buyers with promises of wonder, but, alas, the scopes in those boxes have a harder time delivering a taste of that wonder than the old ones did.
Every time Wally World stocks up on scopes—in my area usually only at Christmas—I can’t help wandering over for a look at the current 4.5-inch Newts, the Luminova and Spacestation. I don’t know what I expect. The Lunagrosso is gone and she ain’t never coming back. I know that; still I can’t help feeling a little sad.
If any of the above has piqued your interest in Tasco (or any of the underappreciated but good imported scopes of the 60s – 70s) have I got a great resource for you: Cloudy Nights Classic Telescopes Forum. There you can read about and discuss 11TEs and 20TEs and many more to yore little heart’s content.
There is nothing to update concerning the information contained herein. Tasco is still selling 4-inch reflectors, and I still remember my Tasco 4-inch reflector fondly.
What is notable is this article was really the start of the AstroBlog as my readers came to know it. After more than two years, I'd finally learned to stretch out, say what I felt, and talk about what I wanted to talk about instead of sticking to current events in astronomy. Yes this is really issue number one.
# posted by Rod Mollise @ 8:36 AM 13 comments
Telescope Anxiety
Brothers and sisters, telescope anxiety is abroad in our land. Telescope company anxiety, that is, and us Schmidt Cassegrain fanciers, us bubbas and bubbettes who rely on Meade and Celestron for our scope fixes have got it bad. What’s the problem? Ain’t M&C the world’s biggest amateur telescope sellers? Well, yeah, maybe still, but things ain’t quite what they used to be. Some of us have begun to wonder how long these two fabled outfits might be around, at least in a form we recognize.
Who put the fly in the SCT ointment? Well, the decline didn’t start yesterday, but it has been accelerating over the last five years or so. What happened? The main thing is that the profits that can be got out of SCT sales keep shrinking. Meade’s and Celestron’s fork mount scopes, the big sellers in their amateur gear lines, have become ever more technically advanced and complex as the years have rolled on. Their prices, however, in real dollars, have stayed nearly the same. Or, actually dropped. For example, a Meade 8-inch LX90 is $1995.00 in 2008 dollars. This dadgummed thing will do everything except get you a beer out of the fridge and peel the shrimp. And yet…in 1980 dollars its “true” worth is only $792.00 (using the Consumer Price Index as a basis for comparison), which is less than what a fully-up Meade 2080 went for in 1980.
Well, why not up the cost of the SCT to something that gives the makers and dealers a little more profit wiggle room? Fear of the competition keeping their prices low and stealing a march, I reckon. And a belief that consumers expect these prices and will desert in droves if they go up. Let me add rat-cheer that amateur telescope sales, contrary to what has been buzzed around the amateur astronomy rumor mill, are still very important to Meade’s and Celestron’s bottom lines. Department store refractors and riflescopes help, yes, but ETXes and up aren’t just “prestige items,” they are bread and butter.
How do you sell so low in the wake of the The Incredible Shrinking Dollar? How do you maintain a near-40 year old price structure? Only one way, muchachos: production costs (including QA) must stay low and get lower. Technology helps—a good PEC routine in the computer is way cheaper than a set of Byers worm gears. But at some point the need to cheapen and a reliance on low-priced but complex technology makes these CATs less reliable than they used to be. That’s exacerbated by the fact that Meade and Celestron, two similar small companies selling very similar products to the same small customer base, have been locked in a features race for years. How do you convince Joe Newamateur to buy Celestron instead of Meade? Tempt him with ever more go-to goodies. Which have to be paid for, and which have been paid for by Celestron and Meade rather than passed on to the consumer.
How much less reliable does all this stuff conspire to make our CATs? That is hard to say. Some folks use an LX200 or a NexStar GPS for years without problems. Other scopes purchased by the less lucky are DOA outa the box, something that has become distressingly common. Bottom line: ever-cheaper scopes with ever more complex features means ever less reliability. Even scarier? Since the companies have less money to spend on QA these days, getting a good CAT is often the luck of the draw.
Until recently, this sitchy-ation has been a bearable one for CAT fanciers. Life has been good. Sure, your LX200 might suffer from “declination runaway” some night, suddenly morphing into Pippi Longstocking on a sugar high, B-U-T… While Meade might make you wait for a repair, they were pretty reliable. Same with Celestron. They might have your beloved scope for weeks or months, but it would eventually wend its way back to you. The trade-off was a fair one, most of us thought: cheap scopes that usually worked, and, when they stopped, you could get them fixed with fair ease. If nothing else, the prospect of having to eventually send the scope back for “treatment” and being without it for a long spell was a sneaky way to self-justify the purchase of a “backup SCT” (don’t tell Miss Dorothy I said that).
There things remained until the new century dawned. As it did, winds of change began to blow across the SCT landscape. Those of us who pay attention to such things sensed all wasn’t well out Calli-for-nye-ay way. That it might not be so easy anymore to keep our complicated and inexpensive fork mount wonders working. It was already clear that once a scope went out of production, even one as popular as the LX200 “Classic,” its days as a repairable item were numbered. But that’s the way it’s always been with Meade and Celestron: support the old stuff for a few years, then tell the customer, “Sorry Charlie, no parts.” That was OK in the pre-go-to dark ages; an old synchro-motor-drive C8 was fairly easy for users to repair. A dead LX200? Nosir buddy. Even if you are an electronics geek, where you gonna get them custom chips?
An even greater concern lately is that it's possible neither of these companies may be around much longer to service any of their gear old or new. How did Meade and Celestron get to this place? To being the sick men of the amateur astronomy economy?
As the 1990s wound down, Celestron owners began to feel a little anxious about “their” company, though I’m not sure why it took ‘em so long to notice. Celestron had been struggling somewhat since Halley’s Comet. Not only did they make some wrong decisions in the course of that craziness, they seemed to have a hard time finding a direction afterwards, and made more bad guesses. The innovative Compustars, the first commercial go-to SCTs, were abandoned rather than built-on. Meade was allowed to practically carry off the store with the insanely popular LX200. Celestron did deliver a few innovative products in the mid-90s, including the excellent C9.25 OTA and the remarkable (if underappreciated) Ultima 2000 go-to scope. Unfortunately, the company didn’t do much to promote these products. In the face of Meade’s multi-color multi-page magazine ads, Celestron ran ugly spreads touting LED flashlights and cheap Plössls.
Why did Celestron seem to be sinking? Maybe because they had been owned in absentia by a non-astronomy/optics oriented Swiss company, Diethelm, since Tom Johnson had retired back in 1980. As Diethelm’s enthusiasm for the telescope business waned, Celestron drifted. Then came word that Celestron’s owner was looking for a buyer. That made some of us long-time Celestron users a mite nervous, but most of us looked on this as a possible good thing. The company undeniably needed a fresh start. We just didn’t reckon that fresh start would be spelled T-a-s-c-o.
Today, Tasco is notorious amongst amateur astronomers for importing cheap and junky Department Store Telescopes—the worst of the worst—and has had this reputation for at least twenty years (the company sold some excellent telescopes in the 1960s – 1970s). So y’all can imagine how shocked Celestron’s fanboys were when word leaked out on sci.astro.amateur that Big Orange had been sold to—Tasco! Oh the ignominy! Oh the ribbing Celestron users put up with on the Cloudy Nights forums and down to the local club. Us pore saps moaned that Celestron would soon be selling 675X x 60mm refractors, conveniently ignoring the fact that Meade and Celestron both had been selling cheap and junky Chinese imports since the 1980s.
The reality was different and better. Tasco didn’t seem to know squat about what made Celestron a success, but they brought cash with them. This cash infusion helped the Big C to catch its breath and introduce some much-needed new products.
In their scorn for Tasco, a lot of Celestron’s supporters forget it was under Tasco’s reign that the NexStar was born. Celestron let go of the sickly Ultima 2000 8-inch and the stillborn U2K 11-inch, and brought out a couple of cool-looking SCTs, the NexStar 5 and 8. These single arm fork mount CATs looked like they’d be right at home on the bridge of the U.S.S Enterprise. They made even the beloved LX200 look, not “classic,” but just old. Under Tasco, Celestron seemed to go from strength to strength, introducing a full line of NexStars, including the much and still beloved NexStar 11 GPS. These wonderful telescopes are a subject for a whole blog entry, but, suffice to say, they reinvigorated Celestron.
As you might expect, Meade did respond with a GPS scope of its own, the LX200GPS, before long, but for a while, Celestron appeared unstoppable. Until ever’body was blindsided by the seemingly sudden failure of Tasco in 2002. The importer was gone just like that and its assets were being sold off, including Celestron (the Tasco name lives on in different hands). And, horror of horrors, Meade expressed interest. “Horrors” for Celestron mavens because they figgered Meade would buy their competitor only to obtain patents and technology and would strangle what was left. Before Celestron fans could worry too much about that eventuality, howsomeever, the FTC stepped in with a great, big “no” (just as they had twice before when Meade and Celestron had floated the idea of a merger). Where did that leave Celestron? For a short time, as an employee owned company headed by Rick Hedrick, Joe Lupica, and Alan Hale.
That sounded good to us, and, for a little while, good it was. But then Celestron was in trouble again. In bankruptcy and looking for an angel. What the—? Why hadn’t Celestron made it as an independent company? Maybe because it was undercapitalized. Maybe because the company found itself embroiled in a money-sucking round of lawsuits with Meade (who’d decided having a telescope point north and level itself during a go-to alignment was patentable). Whatever the reason, C was on the block again, and Meade was sniffing around again.
Salvation came in the form of Chinese/Taiwanese optical giant, Synta. Celestron had been importing and selling lots of Synta gear since they ended their agreement with Japan’s Vixen back in the early 90s, and Synta seemed a natural. Did they live happily after ever? At this point it seems so. In this economy, in this niche market, never say never, but it looks as if Celestron is stable for now, and that its new masters are running the company in an enlightened fashion. The trade off? Most of Celestron’s legendary SCTs are now made in China.
That’s the orange. How do things stand on the blue side of the railroad tracks? Meade’s problems, which began in the late 1990s, didn’t have much to do with SCTs. Under the leadership of their founder, John Diebel (who’d bought the company back after selling-out briefly), the company was riding high, dominating the worldwide telescope market. The logical move, it seemed, would be to take the company public and onto the More Better Gooder. Which Diebel did.
For a while, John’s little kitchen table company was wildly successful in the Wall Street arena—in a modest sorta way. Share prices climbed with the 1990s go-go economy. Till the bubble burst. Why Meade freaks were surprised the effects of that big balloon pop were heard in Irvine as well as Wall Street is beyond me. We were too focused, I guess, on the latest Meade marvels like the LX200GPS, and, later, the RCX400 Ritchey-Chretiens (uhh… “aplantic SCTs”) to notice the way Meade’s stock prices began to decline and then fall as the new century rolled on.
At first I thought the RCX would be just what sickly Meade needed to get back on track. There’s no denying the RCX400 series was a bold and brave move. These SCTs featured just about everything amateurs had been asking for for years: sharper optics, zero image shift focusing via a moving corrector system, motorized collimation, a built-in dew heater, a carbon fiber tube, USB connectivity, and more. All this came at a price nearly twice what Meade charged for equivalent aperture “traditional” design LX200GPS SCTs, a price that might even allow them and their dealers a hint of a profit.
The only question in my mind was whether we, amateur astronomers, were willing to pay this more “realistic price” in return for these advances. I managed to get one evening with an RCX400 at a star party, and my verdict was, “Any SCT users who get their hands on this one will want one.” The RCX wasn’t perfect—the focus and drive motors still sounded like weasels with tuberculosis despite the higher price, but it (I tried the 10-inch) was a fantastic telescope. One of the best SCTs I’ve used over the last 35 years.
Unfortunately it’s not clear whether the public would have responded to the RCX as Meade (and I) hoped they would. Things did not go as planned. Lotsa boys ‘n girls wanted the RCX at first, sure, but then, when a slew of problems began to be reported, Not So Much. From its introduction, the RCX was plagued with bugs and, most of all, QA problems. Returns of defective and DOA scopes were high, sky high, and the word inevitably got out. This combined with Meade’s obviously declining financial fortunes by 2007 to make most amateurs leery of the new CAT. Even brave sorts like Your Old Uncle, who normally might have been willing to take a chance, shrugging his shoulder with a, “Heck, if she breaks down in a couple o’years, I’ll put her on a GEM,”
Why so leery? Many RCXes didn’t work correctly for two months, much less two years. Worse, even assuming the mount held-on for a couple of years, when it did go south there was no guarantee, it was becoming obvious, Meade would be there for you. Worse still, there was no easy way to adapt the scope to GEM use. Without the complex electronics built into the mount, it could not be focused or collimated. And, gull-dernit, as if that weren’t enough, the scope also garnered a passel of negative publicity due to a lawsuit by Richey – Chrétien makers Star Instruments and RCOS. These folks said Meade was wrong and deceptive to call the RCXes “Ritchey – Chrétiens” when their optical design was really a Schmidt Cassegrain variant. The lawsuit was settled out of court to both parties mutual satisfaction, more or less, but more damage had been done to the scope’s reputation
All them cotton-pickin' chickens came home to Irvine to roost in late 2007. With loans coming due, sales down, and the—I hate to say it—the failure of the RCX, something had to change. Pretty soon, we knew what that would mean. Part of it, anyway. First of all, the new management team now in place in Irvine determined all production would have to be moved offshore. Amateur level telescopes would be made in Mexico at the factory the company had formerly used to assemble ETXes. The ETX and everything else would be done in China. The Irvine facility would become a warehouse, at least until the company could divest itself of this now too-large facility.
What was the impact on us ATBs (amateur telescope buyers)? Naturally, all Meade amateur scope production was suspended until the move to Mexico was complete, and there things stood for some months. At this time, Meade’s LX200-ACF (née LX200GPS) telescopes, the LX90s, and the ETXes appear to be back in production. Just as I was finishing hunting and pecking this out, I received word from a (supposedly) authoritative source that Meade is on the verge of shipping new LX400-ACFs (the revived RCX's moniker per the agreement). What—if any—changes have been made to this problematical scope remains to be seen, and whether this is a harbinger of an improvement in Meade’s fortunes I do not know, but it is at least a ray of hope for Meade fanatics.
How about folks who already own Meade scopes? What’s the current prospect for repairs when needed? It’s not clear to me at this time where repair work will be done in the long run or what the company’s repair philosophy will be. Meade is doing repairs at this time, including for its Coronado solar scopes. Some folks report long repair times, some don’t. I have been told scopes returned to Meade for fixing are now going to Mexico to have the work done. I have not verified that, but it makes sense. I just hope Meade is aggressively training the folks there who will put their hands on our prized scopes’ innards.
What are Meade’s continuing prospects? I wish I knew. I certainly do not think Meade telescopes will go away. The name is too well known and marketable. I do wonder what Meade will look like five years from now. At this time its stock is trading for less than a dollar—86 cents a share as I write—and don’t suppose that can go on forever. I would guess Meade might have to wind up finding a buyer (they have admitted they have been “exploring options”). That could be OK. It could even be the saving of the company, as Celestron’s acquisition by Synta appears to have been for it. The unknown would be whether the folks who buy Meade will continue to support the amateur part of the business at current levels, or whether it will be a repeat of the Criterion story.
For you younguns, Criterion was a force to be reckoned with in the tiny world of amateur telescopes from the 1950s to the 1980s. Then, a couple of missteps (including the costly introduction of a poor and poorly received SCT, the Dynamax, shown here on Phil Harrington's wonderful antique scope ads site, brought ‘em down. They sold out to optical giant Bausch and Lomb. At first it appeared B&L would continue Criterion as an amateur telescope company. Alas, the Big Dog soon decided amateur scope production was way more trouble than it was worth, and shut the whole thing down. Today, Criterion is just a fond memory. Let’s hope that if Meade gets sold, it’s to somebody interested in telescopes and astronomy. How about GSO?
My advice? To prospective SCT buyers? It’s free and worth every penny. Don’t wed yourself to either company. Celestron is doing well right now, but, as we have seen, tomorrow could be a whole ‘nother story. Meade? Need you ask? If you’re after an SCT, you will obviously have to buy from one of the two, but you can reduce your vulnerability emotionally as well as financially.
Understand and accept that your beautiful new computer-crazy Meade-o-tron on its lovely fork will not be the scope of a lifetime. Eventually, the optical tube assembly will have to go on a German equatorial mount from a third party. A GEM from a company that at least looks stable (if any company making amateur gear really is): Vixen, Losmandy, Takahashi, AstroPhysics, etc. Until that time comes, take what you can get out of it. If you get some years of service or manage to get the mount repaired when it goes on the fritz, fine. But expect minimal support from either company. They can’t afford to hold your hand. Even if they are still around, they may be unable or unwilling to do much more than warranty service. Look, instead, to your fellow amateurs for help, to people like Doc Clay and Mike Swanson.
Can’t deal with that reality? Never thought I’d say this, but maybe you’d be better off just steering away from M&C altogether. There are plenty of alternatives. You might not get the SCT of your dreams, but you can get a similar scope. Vixen makes catadioptric OTAs. Russian MCTs are being imported in droves. I hear Uncle Roland is preparing to crank-up MCT production again (start saving your pennies, there, Boudreaux).
Still want an SCT? There’s always “used.” A time-tested SCT OTA on a brand new techno GEM might be just the thing. In some ways that might be the best idea of all. While most of Meade’s and Celestron’s problems have to do with mount electronics and mechanics, their recent OTAs have also been turning up with deficiencies large and small lately as well. Me? This old hillbilly will stick with ‘em to the end, I reckon. For me, amateur astronomy is Meade and Celestron. Uncle Rod start totin’ Astro - Physics or Takahashi? Not dang likely. But I am going in with my eyes open.
However you slice it, now is the time to at least think about weaning yourself from our two lost loves. I know that is tough to hear, and I hope everything does work out for ‘em. Maybe it will, but, especially in amateur astronomy, remember: nothing is forever. My generation never thought Cave, nor Edmund, nor Optical Craftsmen, nor Criterion, nor Starliner would be mere memories only a couple of decades down the line, but they are and here we are, and we are still havin’ fun nevertheless.
Editorial Note: Hard as it is for me to believe, this here Little Ol' Astro Blog from Possum Swamp is derned-near two-years-old in its present form. In recognition of that, look for something maybe a wee bit lighter in tone next time by means of celebration. As you know, howsomeever, Ol' Unk has gotta speak his mind; that's what this here astro blog is for, and is, I reckon, why you keep a-reading it.
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Real estate professionals hear about area development at lunch session
Posted by US Southwest | Jun 20, 2019 | Blog, Local News
BULLHEAD CITY — The Bullhead City/Mohave Valley Association of Realtors devoted a lunch-and-learn session to economic development on Wednesday.
Representatives of local government and the Bullhead Area Chamber of Commerce told local real estate professionals that often they are first people newcomers meet in the Tri-state, so they shared information with this group and encouraged them to offer it to people they encounter while attempting to sell homes or other real estate.
About two hours of information was provided to help real estate people be goodwill ambassadors — especially when they are asked questions about the community and local economy.
“If you’re talking about caddisflies, you’re going to turn them off,” Bullhead City Manager Toby Cotter told the audience.
Talking about what’s good about Bullhead City, the surrounding area and Mohave County in general is what the guest speakers talked about. That included various efforts and programs to help improve the business climate.
Knowing what someone interested in doing business in the county wants is key to recruiting new businesses and residents to work at them, said Tami Ursenbach, Mohave County Economic Development director.
John Pynakker, executive director and president of the Bullhead Area Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that getting the community involved is crucial.
The county continues to attract new residents and new construction.
Pegasus Group Holdings and Plus Minus Power will join to operate a $3 billion renewable energy-powered data center south of Kingman. It will be situated near Interstate 40 on more than 700 acres. The data center will generate 340 megawatts of electricity using 160,000 solar panels to power hundreds of containers holding up to 500,000 computers, according to previous reports.
The county spent months trying to lure Pegasus and Plus Minus by arranging meetings with agencies they would need to work closely with. The county also found temporary space at Kingman Municipal Airport to store solar panels. There will be 50 jobs at the data center and 35 of these are “high paying,” she said.
It will bring tax money to the county and the employees will stimulate the local economy by spending money.
“They came here because of the weather,” according to Ursenbach.
She also noted that land is less expensive here than in Las Vegas and that it was easier to work with Mohave County, too. Someone representing a business looking to relocate to Arizona wanted to be there because there would be very little rain. They were leaning toward Flagstaff.
The locally aware audience started giggling. They know the northern Arizona city can get wet. Flagstaff receives an average annual rainfall of 23.14 inches — along with 77 inches of snowfall, according to USClimatedata.com.
“They thought all of Arizona was warm. They didn’t realize,” Ursenbach said.
Accessibility to other market areas is another important need. Businesses for truckers and other drivers to stop also serve as a draw to others requiring gasoline, snacks and other essentials while traveling. They learn about the area and pass along that knowledge, Ursenbach said.
She also noted that Mohave County compares favorably against other parts of the nation in “friendliness.”
That can be very important: A couple of spouses of people looking to start a business were looking for work opportunities in a less-friendly community Ursenbach didn’t identify.
“If you live here two years we’ll help you,” she said they were told.
Their spouses decided not to move the business there.
Hemp growers are coming to the county, including four who plan to operate on 600 acres each.
Ursenbach said the county lacks large commercial structures for agricultural and industrial uses.
Pynakker and Cotter took turns speaking at various points.
Pynakker made it clear that the chamber isn’t part of city government. It does have a contract with the city for tourism functions. He said the association is a “good relationship.”
The chamber worked to create a staffing arrangement between Dot Foods and Mohave Community College.
He noted that there has been a lot of economic growth in Needles and the Fort Mohave/Mohave Valley area — much to the benefit of Bullhead City and the region itself.
Cotter said the area has a “robust” level of health care, including two hospitals: Western Arizona Regional Medical Center in Bullhead City and Valley View Medical Center in Fort Mohave. He reminded them about the uniqueness of the Anderson Auto Group Fieldhouse — especially in a community this size — and how sports tourism has brought a big boost to the local economy.
Pynakker said the chamber plans to add a medical provider section to its website so that someone new to the area seeking an oncologist can find one, for example.
Cotter also talked about how good conditions in surrounding areas benefit Bullhead City and vice versa.
Both men talked about Old Bullhead and what’s planned for that part of the city.
City and chamber officials who encounter people interested in the area — especially people seeking to relocate businesses — frequently work together to make arrangements, answer questions, even solve problems for these potential newcomers.
This extends to businesses looking to make changes. Smart & Final didn’t want to build a bigger store here without a liquor license but it couldn’t get one. Someone reached out to a local liquor store and convinced the owner to sell their full retail license to Smart & Final. The Smart & Final Extra at City Square came into being and the liquor store has a different license and sells only beer and wine, Pynakker said.
Cotter said that while home construction in Bullhead City is booming, the community is in great need of apartments.
He also explained that some residents’ desires to see such businesses as Trader Joe’s or Olive Garden open locations here could happen once the city has more residents.
Build-out could occur as the city’s population reaches 100,000 or even 110,000. There’s only so much water available to fulfill the needs of people and businesses, but there are only about 40,000 residents now, Cotter said.
Both also expressed optimism about again having airline service to one or even two large airports serving Laughlin/Bullhead City International Airport.
No carrier was identified.
Article originally appeared in the 6/20/19 version of the Mohave Daily News.
Written by Terri Harbor
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Bullhead City Chosen Once Again As The Most Affordable City in Arizona!
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South Dakota Considers First State Bill To Outlaw All Vaccine AND Medical Mandates
Who owns your body?
A growing number of legislators in South Dakota believe you do.
They have introduced a bill to not only end vaccine mandates in the state, but all future medical mandates that my be introduced in generations to come.
One hundred and fifteen years ago this month, the US Supreme Court made a decision that because there was a deadly smallpox epidemic, the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts was allowed to charge a pastor five dollars to opt out of a city wide vaccine mandate. The law didn't apply to children.
That precedent has been the basis for the mandate of dozens of now liability-free vaccines for children and adults, where no epidemic (or even one case) exists, at the costs of thousands, or even hundred of thousands, per year to opt out. It is even the basis on which the Supreme Court ruled that women can be force sterilized, for the good of themselves and society, of course.
Bad precedent, plus a century, has resulted in the legalization of actual war crimes.
The current vaccine mandate enforcement drive by Merck and Friends has driven our community, and those who never questioned vaccines before now, back to a basic question at hand here.
The knee jerk reaction , and normal human response for Americans is, "I do."
But that is not what most governments believes. Even under our Constitution of individual liberties, governments strive to control even your medical choices, and if they can't, they will find a reason to justify it, and the means to carry out their will.
In 21st century America, there are no deadly epidemics of communicable disease, despite the fact that we are subject to constant fear campaigns that one is coming. In fact no such event has happened in my lifetime. If the fear mongers want to scare you into fearing deadly epidemics, they have to go back more than a hundred years. So the circumstances for the justification of the government's actions in Jacobson v. Massachusetts exist only in the history books.
So in this age of medical tech, including vaccines, that most people want, why do mandates still exist? And if Jacobson can justify the sexual mutilation of women, then what else can it justify as medical technology progresses over the next century and beyond?
What new medical interventions and body tech will The Gates Foundation invent and convince (bribe) governments and NGOs to force people into utilizing? And where will the battle to end coerced "medical care" begin.
I submit to you that it has begun in South Dakota. Today.
South Dakota House Majority Leader, Representative Lee Qualm (R), has introduced 1235 An Act to Revise Provisions Regarding Immunizations.
The bill repeals ALL vaccine mandates in the State.
South Dakota would be the first US state to have no vaccine mandates at all, joining other governments like the UK, Japan and Canada, in uncoerced vaccine decision making.
But the bill goes even further. IT ENDS MEDICAL MANDATES ALL TOGETHER. It adds new law that reads:
"Section 5. That a NEW SECTION be added:
334-22-6.1. Discrimination-Immunization
Every person has the inalienable right to bodily integrity, free from any threat or compulsion that the person accepts any medical intervention, including immunization. No person may be discriminated against for refusal to accept an unwanted medical intervention, including immunization."
The State of South Dakota would function under the truth that YOU OWN YOUR BODY, and codifies into law that YOU make our own medical decisions. And no one can coerce your choices or discriminate against you because of them.
This is the real conversation that we should be having now. Begging the government not to take away our right to bodily integrity, or trying to claw back religious and philosophical exemptions that give us "loopholes" that "allow" us to make our own decisions about our own bodies is becoming an outdated conversation that is based on a lie. The lie that we have no right to bodily integrity in the first place, and government is doing us a favor by giving us even a medical exemption.
Cambridge, and the turn of the 20th century courts didn't care that Pastor Jacobson protested the violation of his body (and his bank account) based on his arguments that vaccines were not safe, that both he and his son had previous vaccine reactions (Jacobson himself was injured in childhood) and they violated his religious conscience. SCOTUS didn't care that Carrie Buck was a woman of sound mind who wanted to retain her ability to have children after she was raped and impregnated by a family member.
They declared her intellectually disabled, an "imbecile," even though there was never any evidence that she had any disability. They then forced her to be sterilized.
"Carrie Buck 'is the probable potential parent of socially inadequate offspring, likewise afflicted, that she may be sexually sterilized without detriment to her general health and that her welfare and that of society will be promoted by her sterilization".
The state did, of course, have a stated compelling interest, as they always do, when they seek to violate the civil rights of Americans. This was it:
"in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 , 25 S. Ct. 358, 3 Ann. Cas. 765. Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
And that justification was based on the existence of vaccine mandates.
This is dead thinking. It is unconscionable in the 21st century that such logic is allowed to stand in the law books, but Buck v. Bell is still law, as Jacobson is still law.
South Dakota will now consider the rejection of the lie that you do not own your body, the laws that can allow the state to do what it wants with your body.
It is time for America to decide who owns a person's medical choices. Is it the state, or the person in the body who must live (or die) with the consequences of those medical choices?
I urge you to change the conversation in your state. Take the SD bill to your legislators, tell them about Henning Jacobson and Carrie Buck, and ask them who they think owns your medical choices.
Because if governments have the right to coerce vaccination for Henning Jacobson, they also have the right to remove Carrie Buck's reproductive organs. And yours.
Source AgeOfAutism.com
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Assessment of Gene Expression Biomarkers in the Chilean Pencil Catfish, Trichomycterus areolatus, from the Choapa River Basin, Coquimbo Chile
Ali, J.M., Montecinos, A., Schulze, T.T., Allmon, L.G., Kallenbach, A.T., Watson, G.F., Davis, P.H., Snow, D.D., Bertin, A., Gouin, N., Kolok, A.S.
The objective of this study was to describe changes in the gene expression in the Chilean catfish, Trichomycterus areolatus, based on their geographic location within the Choapa River. Genes of choice included those that are biomarkers of exposure to metals, oxidative stress, and endocrine disruption. Male and female T. areolatus were sampled from four sites in Janu-ary 2015 differently impacted by human activities. In males, but not females, hepatic gene expression of heat shock protein (HSP70) and cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) were significantly elevated at the site adjacent to the small city of Salamanca, relative to the other sites. In females, hepatic HSP70, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), and the estrogen responsive genes, vitellogenin (VTG) and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), were significantly lower at the site located furthest downstream. A similar downstream pattern of lower expression levels also was found in ovarian tissue for the genes, HSP70 and ERα. Gill gene expression showed a unique pattern in females as levels of metallothionein were elevated at the site furthest downstream. While analytical chemistry of water samples provided limited evidence of agrichemical contamination, the gene expression data are consistent with an exposure to agrichemicals and metals. T. areolatus may be a valuable sentinel organism and its use as a bioindicator species in some rivers within Chile can provide considerable insight, particularly in situations analytical chemistry is limited by environmental constraints.
Referencia APA: Ali, J.M., Montecinos, A., Schulze, T.T., Allmon, L.G., Kallenbach, A.T., Watson, G.F., Davis, P.H., Snow, D.D., Bertin, A., Gouin, N., Kolok, A.S. (2019). Assessment of Gene Expression Biomarkers in the Chilean Pencil Catfish, Trichomycterus areolatus, from the Choapa River Basin, Coquimbo Chile. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 78:137–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-019-00678-x
Multiple reproductive modes of Myrcianthes coquimbensis (Myrtaceae), an endangered shrub endemic to the Atacama Desert
García-Guzmán, P., Loayza, A., & Squeo, F.
Many plants can produce seeds via multiple reproductive modes, such as selfing and outcrossing. Having multiple reproductive modes can be advantageous if it assures seed production when outcrossing fails, which is important for species inhabiting environments where pollinators are scarce or variable. However, it can also be disadvantageous due to the fitness costs associated to selfing. Consequently, plants have mechanisms to reduce the incidence of selfing. Here we examined the breeding system of Myrcianthes coquimbensis; this threatened Atacama Desert shrub is the last species to bloom in the community and exhibits low visitation rates per flower because pollinators are less abundant. Our aim was to determine whether this plant can produce fruits by modes other than outcrossing, and whether it possesses floral traits to prevent sexual interference. We conducted experimental flower treatments in two localities to determine whether fruits were produced by outcrossing, selfing, autonomous selfing and agamospermy. We also evaluated stigma receptivity and pollen viability during a flower’s lifespan. M. coquimbensis developed fruits and seeds by all the reproductive modes assessed, including selfing and agamospermy. Flowers presented partial segregation of sexual functions, with the peak of pollen viability occurring before the peak of stigma receptivity. Selfing is unavoidable in M. coquimbensis and likely interferes with outcrossing. Coupled with possible early inbreeding depression, it probably results in a cost for seed production. Our results suggest that this species may be vulnerable in scenarios where pollinators are scarce; however, agamospermy may provide an alternative route of seed production in these scenarios.
Palabras claves: Breeding system, Agamospermy, Selfing, Mix-Mating, Protandry, Reproductive assurance, Sexual interference.
Referencia APA: García-Guzmán, P., Loayza, A., & Squeo, F. (2020). Multiple reproductive modes of Myrcianthes coquimbensis (Myrtaceae), an endangered shrub endemic to the Atacama Desert. Flora, 263, 151537. doi: 10.1016/j.flora.2020.151537
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2020.151537
Biochemical composition as a function of fruit maturity stage of bell pepper (Capsicum annum) inoculated with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
Cisternas-Jamet, J., Salvatierra-Martínez, R., Vega-Gálvez, A., Stoll, A., Uribe, E., & Goñi, M.
The use of growth promoting bacteria in sweet pepper plants (Capsicum annuum), such as some Bacillus strains,
has previously been related to increased yields and plant resistance. However, it is also important to evaluate the
effect that inoculation has on the ripening process and on the nutritional composition of the fruits. In the present
work, the effect of root inoculation of sweet pepper plants with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on the composition of
sweet peppers harvested at different stages of maturation is evaluated. It was possible to determine a clear effect
of inoculation on the fixation of Ca and Fe, and the content of vitamin C and compounds with antioxidant
capacity. Root inoculation with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens generated an increase in the concentration of calcium,
iron and vitamin C of 561 mg kg−1, 182 mg kg−1 and 561 μg 100 g−1 d.m., respectively in Red II and Green I
compared to the control samples. An increase in antioxidant capacity was generated, which is reflected in an
increase in the ORAC test of 1618 umol TE 100 g−1 d.m. and in 587 umol TE 100 g−1 d.m. for Green I and Red I
crops respectively. On the other hand, the effect of the fruit ripening process was significant, especially in
relation to the development of natural pigments and phenolic compounds, with high antioxidant potential. An
increased of extractable pigments of 57 color units with respect to the control sample in Red II is highlighted,
which enhances the organoleptic attractiveness of the fruit. These results would allow producers to determine
the time at which to harvest to maximize the nutritional contribution of sweet peppers.
Palabras claves: Bacillus, Biofertilizer, Nutraceutical, Antioxidants, Vitamin C
Referencia APA: Cisternas-Jamet, J., Salvatierra-Martínez, R., Vega-Gálvez, A., Stoll, A., Uribe, E., & Goñi, M. (2020). Biochemical composition as a function of fruit maturity stage of bell pepper (Capsicum annum) inoculated with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Scientia Horticulturae, 263, 109107. doi: 10.1016/j.scienta.2019.109107
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2019.109107
Esculturas de acero: observaciones de corrosión e inhibición mediante una cámara de niebla salina, sensores y un microscopio de bajo costo
Novoa Jerez, J., Alfaro Guerra, M., & Alfaro Alcaíno, I.
La presencia de partículas de NaCl en el aerosol marino produce corrosión en esculturas de acero de interés patrimonial, valor artístico y arquitectónico. Es aquí donde la observación de la corrosión utilizando una cámara de neblina, sensores y un microscopio de bajo costo podría permitir su estudio, junto con la ventaja de poder desarrollar proyectos en conjunto entre carreras de Pedagogía en Química con carreras de Pedagogía en Historia y Geografía y Pedagogía en Matemáticas y Computación, además del estudio de las propiedades anticorrosivas de Metamizol frente al acero al carbono sometido al aerosol marino en la cámara de neblina mediante la utilización de fotomicrografías.
Palabras claves: Corrosión atmosférica, Aerosol marino, Esculturas de acero, Cámara de neblina, Sensores, Microscopio de bajo costo.
Referencia APA: Novoa Jerez, J., Alfaro Guerra, M., & Alfaro Alcaíno, I. (2019). Esculturas de acero: observaciones de corrosión e inhibición mediante una cámara de niebla salina, sensores y un microscopio de bajo costo. Retrieved 25 July 2019, from Educación Química (Vol 30, No 2).
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22201/fq.18708404e.2019.2.63134
Unexpected population fragmentation in an endangered seabird: the case of the Peruvian diving-petrel
Cristofari, R., Plaza, P., Fernández, C., Trucchi, E., Gouin, N., Le Bohec, C., Zavalaga, C., Alfaro-Shigueto, J., Luna-Jorquera, G.
In less than one century, the once-abundant Peruvian diving petrel has become the first endangered seabird of the Humboldt Current System (HCS). This small endemic petrel of the South American Pacific coast is now an important indicator of ongoing habitat loss and of the success of local conservation policies in the HCS - an ecoregion designated as a priority for the conservation of global biodiversity. Yet so far, poorly understood life history traits such as philopatry or dispersal ability may strongly influence the species’ response to ecosystem changes, but also our capacity to assess and interpret this response. To address this question, we explore the range-wide population structure of the Peruvian diving petrel, and show that this small seabird exhibits extreme philopatric behavior at the island level. Mitochondrial DNA sequences and genome-wide SNP data reveal significant isolation and low migration at very short distances, and provide strong evidence for questioning the alleged recovery in the Peruvian and Chilean populations of this species. Importantly, the full demographic independence between colonies makes local population rescue through migration unlikely. As a consequence, the Peruvian diving petrel appears to be particularly vulnerable to ongoing anthropogenic pressure. By excluding immigration as a major factor of demographic recovery, our results highlight the unambiguously positive impact of local conservation measures on breeding populations; yet at the same time they also cast doubt on alleged range-wide positive population trends. Overall, the protection of independent breeding colonies, and not only of the species as a whole, remains a major element in the conservation strategy for endemic seabirds. Finally, we underline the importance of considering the philopatric behavior and demographic independence of breeding populations, even at very fine spatial scales, in spatial planning for marine coastal areas.
Referencia APA: Cristofari, R., Plaza, P., Fernández, C., Trucchi, E., Gouin, N., Le Bohec, C., Zavalaga, C., Alfaro-Shigueto, J., Luna-Jorquera, G. (2019). Unexpected population fragmentation in an endangered seabird: the case of the Peruvian diving-petrel. Scientific Reports, 9(1). doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-38682-9
DOI: DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38682-9
Effect of high hydrostatic pressure treatment on physical parameters, ultrastructure and shelf life of pre- and post-rigor mortis palm ruff (Seriolella violacea) under chilled storage
Roco, T., Torres, M., Briones-Labarca, V., Reyes, J., Tabilo-Munizaga, G., & Stucken, K., Lemus-Mondaca, R., Pérez-Won, M.
To identify processing conditions that better maintain palm ruff quality attributes, high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) was applied to pre- and post-rigor fillets. Physical parameters as whiteness index (WI), water holding capacity (WHC), texture and ultrastructure and shelf life were evaluated after the application of 450 and 550 MPa (3 and 4 min) and during cold storage. Pre-rigor fillets retained less water and were softer than post-rigor, although the onset of rigor increased palm ruff's WHC and firmness. Application of HHP whitened palm ruff's dark flesh; however, this effect reverted at the end of the storage. Pressurized post-rigor samples retained less water than the control and storage caused a WHC increase in samples pressurized at 550 MPa, independent on the rigor condition. Post-rigor fillets softened at pressures of 450–550 MPa appearing to have a lower threshold than beef or cod (above 600 MPa). Ultrastructural changes revealed a subtle contraction (7.4%) of the myofibrils in the unpressurized post-rigor muscle compared to pre-rigor; after 26 days' storage both samples presented extensive muscle degradation and sarcomere length was reduced in 30%. HHP induced pressure-dependent shortening of the sarcomere and modifications to the structure which after 550 MPa was hardly recognizable. After 26 days' storage, there was only slight degradation of the ultrastructure, showing that beyond the structural modifications caused by HHP, post-mortem deterioration is delayed in HHP-treated fillets. Furthermore, HHP extended palm ruff's shelf life to 14–23 days. Thus, HHP may be considered as a technology that maintains the textural quality and shelf life of fresh and stored fish.
Palabras claves: Palm ruff, Rigor mortis, High hydrostatic pressure, Shelf life, StorageTexture, Ultrastructure
Referencia APA: Roco, T., Torres, M., Briones-Labarca, V., Reyes, J., Tabilo-Munizaga, G., & Stucken, K., Lemus-Mondaca, R., Pérez-Won, M. (2018). Effect of high hydrostatic pressure treatment on physical parameters, ultrastructure and shelf life of pre- and post-rigor mortis palm ruff (Seriolella violacea) under chilled storage. Food Research International, 108, 192-202. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2018.03.009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2018.03.009
Optimization of extraction yield, flavonoids and lycopene from tomato pulp by high hydrostatic pressure-assisted extraction
Briones-Labarca, V., Giovagnoli-Vicuña, C., & Cañas-Sarazúa, R.
Tomato pulp is a useful source of antioxidants, which can be extracted by high hydrostatic pressure (HHPE). This study aimed to optimize the individual and interactive effect of operating high pressure and solvent polarity (solvent mixture) on yield extraction, flavonoid and lycopene content from tomato pulp (Solanum lycopersicum) by using response surface methodology (RSM). The results showed that the selected factors (high pressure and solvent mixture) have a significant influence on extraction yield, flavonoid and lycopene content. Extraction at 450 MPa and 60% hexane concentration in the solvent mixture was considered the optimal HHPE condition since it provided the maximum extraction yield (8.71%), flavonoid (21.52 ± 0.09 mg QE/g FW) and lycopene content (2.01 ± 0.09 mg QE/100 g FW). Therefore, HHPE could be a useful tool improve the extraction and release of potentially health-related compounds while providing information on the cumulative effect of solvent polarity and high-pressure extraction on antioxidant compounds of fruits.
Palabras claves: Tomato, High hydrostatic pressure, Antioxidant capacity, Response surface methodology
Referencia APA: Briones-Labarca, V., Giovagnoli-Vicuña, C., & Cañas-Sarazúa, R. (2018). Optimization of extraction yield, flavonoids and lycopene from tomato pulp by high hydrostatic pressure-assisted extraction. Food Chemistry, 278, 751-759. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.11.106
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.11.106
Partitioning genetic and species diversity refines our understanding of species–genetic diversity relationships
Pfeiffer, V., Ford, B., Housset, J., McCombs, A., Blanco‐Pastor, J., & Gouin, N., Manel, S., Bertin, A
Disentangling the origin of species–genetic diversity correlations (SGDCs) is a challenging task that provides insight into the way that neutral and adaptive processes influence diversity at multiple levels. Genetic and species diversity are comprised by components that respond differently to the same ecological processes. Thus, it can be useful to partition species and genetic diversity into their different components to infer the mechanisms behind SGDCs. In this study, we applied such an approach using a high‐elevation Andean wetland system, where previous evidence identified neutral processes as major determinants of the strong and positive covariation between plant species richness and AFLP genetic diversity of the common sedge Carex gayana. To tease apart putative neutral and non‐neutral genetic variation of C. gayana, we identified loci putatively under selection from a dataset of 1,709 SNPs produced using restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing (RAD‐seq). Significant and positive relationships between local estimates of genetic and species diversities (α‐SGDCs) were only found with the putatively neutral loci datasets and with species richness, confirming that neutral processes were primarily driving the correlations and that the involved processes differentially influenced local species diversity components (i.e., richness and evenness). In contrast, SGDCs based on genetic and community dissimilarities (β‐SGDCs) were only significant with the putative non‐neutral datasets. This suggests that selective processes influencing C. gayana genetic diversity were involved in the detected correlations. Together, our results demonstrate that analyzing distinct components of genetic and species diversity simultaneously is useful to determine the mechanisms behind species–genetic diversity relationships.
Palabras claves: Genetic outlier, high Andean wetlands, SNP, species–genetic diversity correlation
Referencia APA: Pfeiffer, V., Ford, B., Housset, J., McCombs, A., Blanco‐Pastor, J., & Gouin, N., Manel, S., Bertin, A. (2018). Partitioning genetic and species diversity refines our understanding of species–genetic diversity relationships. Ecology And Evolution. doi: 10.1002/ece3.4530
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4530
Landscape connectivity among remnant populations of guanaco (Lama guanicoe Müller, 1776) in an arid region of Chile impacted by global change
Espinosa, M., Gouin, N., Squeo, F., López, D., & Bertin, A.
Connectivity between populations plays a key role in the long-term persistence of species in fragmented habitats. This is of particular concern for biodiversity preservation in drylands, since water limited landscapes are typically characterized by little suitable habitat cover, high habitat fragmentation, harsh matrices, and are being rapidly degraded at a global scale. In this study, we modelled landscape connectivity between 11 guanaco Lama guanicoe populations in Chile’s arid Norte Chico, a region that supports the last remnant coastal populations of this emblematic herbivore indigenous to South America. We produced a habitat suitability model to derive a regional surface resistance map, and used circuit theory to map functional connectivity, investigate the relative isolation between populations, and identify those that contribute most to the patch connectivity network. Predicted suitable habitat for L. guanicoe represented about 25% of the study region (i.e., 29,173 km2) and was heterogeneously distributed along a continuous stretch along the Andes, and discontinuous patches along the coast. As a result, we found that high connectivity current flows in the mid and high Andes formed a wide, continuous connectivity corridor, enabling connectivity between all high Andean populations. Coastal populations, in contrast, were more isolated. These groups demonstrate no inter-population connectivity between themselves, only with higher altitude populations, and for two of them, animal movement was linked to the effectiveness of wildlife crossings along the Pan-American highway. Our results indicate that functional connectivity is an issue of concern for L. guanicoe in Chile’s Norte Chico, implying that future conservation and management plans should emphasize strategies aimed at conserving functional connectivity between coastal and Andean populations, as well as the protection of habitat patches likely to act as stepping stones within the connectivity network.
Referencia APA: Espinosa, M., Gouin, N., Squeo, F., López, D., & Bertin, A. (2018). Landscape connectivity among remnant populations of guanaco (Lama guanicoe Müller, 1776) in an arid region of Chile impacted by global change. Peerj, 6, e4429. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4429
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4429
A hyper‐arid environment shapes an inverse pattern of the fast–slow plant economics spectrum for above‐, but not below‐ground resource acquisition strategies
Carvajal, D., Loayza, A., Rios, R., Delpiano, C., & Squeo, F.
The fast–slow plant economics spectrum predicts that because of evolutionary and biophysical constraints, different plant organs must be coordinated to converge in a unique ecological strategy within a continuum that shifts from fast to slow resource acquisition and conservation. Therefore, along a gradient of aridity, taxa with different strategies will be expected to be successful because selection pressures for slow resource acquisition become stronger as the environment becomes drier. In extremely arid and seasonal environments, however, a slow strategy may become disadvantageous because slow traits are costly to maintain. Additionally, as the availability of water decreases, selection pressures increase, reducing the variation in ecological strategies.
Using shrub assemblages along an aridity gradient in the Atacama Desert, we test the hypothesis that selection pressures imposed by hyper‐aridity act simultaneously on the variation and coordination of trait attributes, leading to an inverse pattern in the fast–slow plant economics spectrum, where strategies shift from slow to fast as the environment becomes drier.
We established 20–22 plots at each of four sites along the gradient to estimate plant community structure and functional variation. For all species recorded, we quantified a set of leaf, stem, and root traits.
Results revealed an inverse pattern of the fast–slow economics spectrum for leaf and stem traits, but not for root traits; that is, as aridity further increased, above‐ground traits exhibited a shift from a slow to a fast strategy with some level of coordination. Below‐ground traits, however, did not shift accordingly with our prediction, rather they showed more complex pattern of shift and coordination with above‐ground traits along the gradient. We also found that trait variation showed an idiosyncratic pattern of variation along the gradient, indicating that ecological strategies are driven by local processes within sites.
Synthesis. Our results increase our understanding of the fast–slow plant economics spectrum by showing that environmental gradients, as well as local process can simultaneously shape different below‐ and above‐ground resource acquisition strategies in extremely poor resource environments.
Palabras claves: Aridity gradient, Atacama Desert, Functional traits, Functional trait variation, Leaf root, Shrub communities, Stem.
Referencia APA: Carvajal, D., Loayza, A., Rios, R., Delpiano, C., & Squeo, F. (2018). A hyper‐arid environment shapes an inverse pattern of the fast–slow plant economics spectrum for above‐, but not below‐ground resource acquisition strategies. Journal Of Ecology, 107(3), 1079-1092. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13092
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13092
Isolation and cross-amplification of the first set of polymorphic microsatellite markers of two high-Andean cushion plants
Acuña-Rodríguez, I., Gouin, N., Cifuentes-Lisboa, L., & Squeo, F.
In the southern Andes mountains (27– 39∘S ) Azorella madreporica and Laretia acaulis, two Apiaceae cushion plant species commonly known as yaretas, conform a well-established altitudinal vegetation belt along the lower Andean zone. These species have been considered as fundamental components of several ecological dynamics within their communities; however, high-mountain ecosystems are increasingly threatened worldwide by natural and anthropogenic pressures and the southern Andes are not the exception. Recognizing that genetic information is crucial for the success of any conservation or restoration initiative in wild populations, we developed and cross-amplified 28 specifically designed microsatellite markers (14 in A. madreporica and 14 in L. acaulis), and also tested the cross amplification of 25 markers from the related species Azorella selago. In a region which is particularly vulnerable to global change trends, this new polymorphic microsatellite loci will be useful in the study of the genetic diversity of these high-mountain cushion plants, which are pivotal in the structuring of their native ecosystems.
Palabras claves: Cushion plants, High-Andes, Microsatellite markers, Azorella madreporica, Laretia acaulis.
Referencia APA: Acuña-Rodríguez, I., Gouin, N., Cifuentes-Lisboa, L., & Squeo, F. (2018). Isolation and cross-amplification of the first set of polymorphic microsatellite markers of two high-Andean cushion plants. Journal Of Genetics, 97(S1), 95-100. doi: 10.1007/s12041-018-0999-4
Fuzzy-based assessment of groundwater intrinsic vulnerability of a volcanic aquifer in the Chilean Andean Valley
Duhalde, D., Arumí, J., Oyarzún, R. and Rivera, D.
A fuzzy logic approach has been proposed to face the uncertainty caused by sparse data in the assessment of the intrinsic vulnerability of a groundwater system with parametric methods in Las Trancas Valley, Andean Mountain, south-central Chile, a popular touristic place in Chile, but lacking of a centralized drinking and sewage water public systems; this situation is a potentially source of groundwater pollution. Based on DRASTIC, GOD, and EKv and the expert knowledge of the study area, the Mamdani fuzzy approach was generated and the spatial data were processed by ArcGIS. The groundwater system exhibited areas with high, medium, and low intrinsic vulnerability indices. The fuzzy approach results were compared with traditional methods results, which, in general, have shown a good spatial agreement even though significant changes were also identified in the spatial distribution of the indices. The Mamdani logic approach has shown to be a useful and practical tool to assess the intrinsic vulnerability of an aquifer under sparse data conditions.
Palabras claves: Aquifer vulnerability, Data scarcity, Fuzzy logic
Referencia APA: Duhalde, D., Arumí, J., Oyarzún, R. and Rivera, D. (2018). Fuzzy-based assessment of groundwater intrinsic vulnerability of a volcanic aquifer in the Chilean Andean Valley. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 190(7).
DOI: https://doi.dx.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6758-4
El Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), es un Centro Regional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica de la Región de Coquimbo
info@ceaza.cl(+51)2204378
Raúl Bitrán #1305, La Serena, Chile
© 2016 CEAZA Centro de Estudios en Zonas Áridas Potenciado por 4ID
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Reed-Lallier Chevrolet Earns Top Dealership Awards
FAYETTEVILLE, NC – Reed-Lallier Chevrolet recently received two top awards from DealerRater®, the leading online resource for third-party dealership reviews, which are carefully screened for integrity.
The Fayetteville dealership earned a 2015 Dealer of the Year Award, which recognizes top auto dealers from the U.S. and Canada that demonstrate excellent customer service as expressed by consumer reviews. “Consumers have identified the best dealers to do business with, and Reed-Lallier emerged as the leader among Chevrolet dealers across North Carolina,” said DealerRater CEO Gary Tucker. “The quality and number of reviews for Reed-Lallier speak volumes about the top-notch experiences they provide to their customers.”
Reed-Lallier also received a 2015 DealerRater Consumer Satisfaction Award, which auto dealerships earn by delivering outstanding customer service as rated by online consumer reviews. “We created the Consumer Satisfaction Awards to enable car shoppers to learn from their peers which dealers offer top-notch customer service and to instantly spot dealerships that provide such high-quality service,” said Gary Tucker. Consumer Satisfaction Awards are based on the dealership’s DealerRater PowerScore™, and Reed-Lallier has 4.9 Star (out of 5) overall rating.
“I am so proud of our entire team here at Reed-Lallier,” said owner Mike Lallier. “Their continuous commitment to uphold our high standards of customer service, their knowledge and their positive attitude are the reasons why we earned this recognition … and, the reasons we continue to hear from satisfied and appreciative customers every day.”
About DearRater
Founded in 2002 as the first car dealer review website worldwide, DealerRater is the world’s number one online resource for anyone seeking trusted, third-party information on automobile dealerships. Featuring nearly 41,000 U.S. and Canadian car dealers, DealerRater attracts more than 10 million consumers every year to the site to search for car dealerships, read reviews and write their own reviews.
About Reed-Lallier Chevrolet
Reed-Lallier has been serving Fayetteville area customers since 1988. Today, with a team of 140 employees, the dealership offers new and pre-owned (including Certified Pre-Owned) vehicle sales, comprehensive service for most vehicle makes, and a body shop. Located at 4500 Raeford Road, Reed-Lallier is open seven days a week for sales and service.
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Premium Picks Season Pass
Tonights NHL Picks
Draft Kings Fantasy Hockey Guide
Tonights NHL Picks November 4th 2014
1-0 last night with a winner on the Blues as Tarasenko wrapped things up in a shootout with his second point on the night, earning a well-deserved first star of the game.
Three picks for tonight, one of our own plus two system picks at the bottom of the email.
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Arizona Coyotes: MAPLE LEAFS 2.00
Risk: 2 Units | Win: 2 Units (Members Only Pick)
The Toronto Maple Leafs have put together a three game winning streak, defeating the Sabres (4-0), The Blue Jackets (4-1) and the Blackhawks on Saturday (3-2). As you can see, the Maple Leafs outscored their opponents 11-3 in their last three games. Toronto is now 6-4-1 on the season and a near-perfect 3-0-1 on the road. The Leafs are scoring 2.90 goals per game overall (11th) but note that when playing on the road the Leafs are scoring 3.75 goals per game, while their defense allows just 1.75 goals against per game when playing on the road. Overall the Leafs are 15th on defense allowing 2.54 GA/GP. The Coyotes offense is ranked 20th overall today with just 2.54 goals per game, while their defense allows the most goals of any team in the NHL right now (30th), with an average of 3.73 goals against per game. Lack of scoring + Lack of defense= trouble. Scoring increases slightly for the Coyotes at Home (3.00 goals per game when playing at Home), however they have allowed 3.80 goals against per game during their five games at the Gila River Arena this season. The Coyotes have one of the worst penalty kill units in the League, ranked 27th overall with a 74.3 PK%; the Leafs are 20th overall on the power play (16.7%) however they have hit a 20% success rate on the man advantage when playing on the road. The Leafs penalty kill also improves on the road, as they are 16th overall with a 81.0 PK%, which improves to 88.2% when playing Away. Jonathan Bernier is probable for Toronto tonight with his record of 3-3-1, a 2.57 GAA and a .917 SV%. Mike Smith is probable for the Coyotes tonight and has had a rough go so far this season with a losing record of 2-6-0, accompanied by a 3.84 GAA and a .873 SV%. Mike has lost all of his last three starts, allowing 12 goals in his last three games, while the Coyotes were only able to score four of their own. The Leafs have the edge on offense and defense, which includes a superior goaltender. I see no reason why the Leafs can’t extend their win streak to four tonight against the Coyotes.
System Picks (Members Only)
Calgary Flames @ Washington Capitals: OVER 5.5 Goals 2.15
Risk: 2 Units | Win: 2.30 Units
Detroit Red Wings @ Ottawa Senators: OVER 5.5 Goals 2.21
How To Bet On The NHL
© 2021 Expert NHL Picks All rights reserved.
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Interview Questions And Answers Guide
Global Guideline - Interviewer and Interviewee Guide
Online Quiz Tests
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Ab Initio Interview Preparation Guide
65 Ab Initio Questions and Answers:
1 :: What would your previous employer say is your greatest strength?
Be prepared for this question. If you have to sit and think about it it's going to appear as if you're not sure or that you've never identified your own value in the work place - not good. You don't have to have a complex response. Keep it simple and honest. For example, several possibilities could be Leadership, Problem solving ability, Initiative, Energy, Work ethic, Innovative, etc., etc.
Is This Answer Correct? 0 Yes 0 No
2 :: What is your greatest achievement outside of work In Ab Initio?
This is a great opportunity for you to discuss how you've given back to the community, how you've achieved in a competitive extracurricular activity (think sports or clubs), how you've mentored others, and so forth.
3 :: Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when that individual may not have personally liked you (or vice versa). How did you handle the situation? What obstacles or difficulties did you face? How did you deal with them?
First, the key is to state the differences in personality to give the interviewer some background. Second, you want to discuss how that was affecting the situation. Third, show how you were able to adapt to the way the person wanted to be communicated with to achieve your goals
4 :: The change in the business industry now requires you to have a new set of skills you have to learn, how do you react to that?
5 :: Top 11 Interview Questions to Ask when Emotional Intelligence Matters In Ab Initio:
Emotional intelligence, or EQ, has come into vogue as a good trait to hire for.
EQ is the ability to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, to recognize other people's emotions and your own, and to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately.
EQ is considered essential to help teams function well. Here are some of the top questions for help you get an idea of how candidates perceive their emotions and those of others.
1. If you started a company today, what would its top values be?
2. Who inspires you? Why?
3. How could you create more balance in your life?
4. What makes you angry?
5. How do you have fun?
6. How good are you at asking for help?
7. How did you deal with a bad day?
8. What's something you're really proud of? Why?
9. Tell me about a time when your mood altered your performance (positively or negatively).
10. Has there ever been a time when you felt you needed to change your behavior at work? How did you do it?
11. Did you create friendships that lasted while working at a previous job?
6 :: Tell me about a decision you made recently and how you reached it In Ab Initio?
The key is to show that you put a lot of thought (weighing out the pros and cons) but were able to be decisive. Be sure to explain your logic in arriving at the decision.
7 :: What relevant work experience do you have in this career field In Ab Initio?
Talk about specific work related experience for the position you're interviewing for. Make sure the experience is relevant. Don't talk about previous experience that is not related to the position in question. If you don't have specific career related experience speak about prior experience that has helped you develop the specific knowledge and skills required for the position you are applying for.
8 :: Can you describe your ideal boss/supervisor?
During the interview In Ab Initio process employers will want to find out how you respond to supervision. They want to know whether you have any problems with authority, If you can work well as part of a group (see previous question) and if you take instructions well etc.
Never ever ever, criticize a past supervisor or boss. This is a red flag for airlines and your prospective employer will likely assume you are a difficult employee, unable to work in a team or take intruction and side with your former employer.
9 :: What is your personal mission statement?
Is it to conquer the world? Is it to become a CEO? Is it to give back to the community? Is it to inspire others? Define your statement by stating a clear vision of how you want to make an impact on the world with your work.
10 :: Tell me about a difficult decision you've made in the last year In Ab Initio?
11 :: What do you like to do for fun?
Be open to sharing hobbies and activities that you enjoy. Make sure you're genuine about it and don't list off things you don't really like because if they ask you a follow up question it'll be harder for you to answer.
12 :: Tell me a difficult situation you have overcome in the workplace?
Conflict resolution, problem solving, communication and coping under pressure are transferable skills desired by many employers In Ab Initio.
Answering this question right can help you demonstrate all of these traits.
☛ Use real-life examples from your previous roles that you are comfortable explaining
☛ Choose an example that demonstrates the role you played in resolving the situation clearly
☛ Remain professional at all times – you need to demonstrate that you can keep a cool head and know how to communicate with people
13 :: What are your weaknesses for Ab Initio position?
Try not to be too critical when answering this question. Instead, pick one of your weaknesses and try to turn it into a positive.
For example, you could be a perfectionist, which means that you sometimes take longer on tasks, but you make sure that they are completed to a high quality. It is important to make a negative into a positive as it doesn’t make you appear overly critical and shows you can reflect on your own performance.
14 :: What experience do you have In Ab Initio?
The employer would want to know that not only you can do the job but you can make the difference and bring significant contribution – Simple as that.
No doubt that this is your time to perform and present yourself – You have to introduce/sell yourself to the interviewer. Prepare your answer based on your qualification, professional experience and what you’ve already achieved in your previous jobs. This is your time to express why you think that your professional abilities fit into the job and its requirements.
Top 10 employment experience you’d want to review:
☛ Companies you worked for with dates
☛ The positions you’ve held
☛ Key projects and responsibilities
☛ Achievements
☛ Coursework & continues education
☛ Expertise
☛ Tools you used (software, hardware)
☛ Knowledge of languages
☛ Engagement with customers and key industry leaders
☛ Team work you were involved (and your contribution)
15 :: How did you become interested in this field/industry?
Describe how you've come to develop a passion or interest in this industry and use variables like "culture, people, vision, career development, and the work itself" to define your choice
16 :: Explain me about a problem or disagreement you had with previous supervisor?
This question is trap. It is meant to see whether or not you'll speak poorly of an employer. No one wants to hire someone who's going to speak poorly of them down the road. Stay upbeat and positive - and most of all don't say anything negative about a previous employer.
17 :: Tell me about a time when you had to give someone difficult feedback In Ab Initio?
By asking this question, your interviewer hopes to learn whether you can communicate effectively, address issues in the workplace and motivate others during difficult times. Giving negative feedback requires honesty, thoughtfulness and tact. Answering this question well can help show an interviewer that you would be a good fit for a managerial position or a position that involves working closely with others.
18 :: What is your greatest professional achievement?
Nothing says “hire me” better than a track record of achieving amazing results in past jobs In Ab Initio, so don't be shy when answering this interview question! A great way to do so is by using the S-T-A-R method: Set up the situation and the task that you were required to complete to provide the interviewer with background context (e.g., “In my last job as a Ab Initio, it was my role to manage the invoicing process”), but spend the bulk of your time describing what you actually did (the action) and what you achieved (the result). For example, “In one month, I streamlined the process, which saved my group 10 man-hours each month and reduced errors on invoices by 25%.”
19 :: What three character traits would your friends use to describe you?
Friends would typically use attributes like (assuming you have these): Trustworthy, honest, hardworking, friendly, courageous, nice, diligent, organized and so forth. Not saying you have all of these, but the best way for you to find out is to survey your friends by asking them what they consider your brand to be.
20 :: Tell me about a time when you had to use your presentation skills to influence someone's opinion In Ab Initio?
Example stories could be a class project, an internal meeting presentation, or a customer facing presentation.
21 :: Do you think you are overqualified for this position In Ab Initio?
No matter your previous job experience or educational background, be sure to tell the interviewer you have the knowledge and skills to successfully execute the job responsibilities.
22 :: Describe a time where you've failed and bounced back?
Share a story to describe this. For example: "I accidentally made the mistake of telling a customer I could deliver on a solution set on a certain date and then later found out our business partner couldn’t do it on that time. I learned that I shouldn't rush into important decisions and promises like this and that I should always check with my counterparts first before committing to a statement of work."
23 :: Describe a time when you had to help a coworker out that did not directly benefit you?
There should be many times where you've assisted others In Ab Initio. If you haven't, think of how you would in the future. You can discuss charitable causes, how you mentored someone, and so on.
24 :: What qualities do you believe are important to have as a manager?
Great managers tend to empower their employees to be successful through strong coaching. They understand how to manage relationships - this is commonly referred to emotional intelligence. They have to be able to handle both client and staff situations that require them to be calm under pressure to clearly think of solutions to complex problems. Most importantly they must be able to articulate the vision to the team and inspire them to work together to collectively achieve that goal
25 :: What is your perception of taking on risk?
You answer depends on the type of company you're interviewing for. If it's a start up, you need to be much more open to taking on risk. If it's a more established company, calculated risks to increase / improve the business or minimal risks would typically be more in line.
26 :: How open are you to relocation?
If you're not, then say you're not. Don't lie about it just to get the job. There's no point if you won't move for the job anyway and lying is unethical. If you are open to relocation In Ab Initio, let them know which areas you'd be willing to relocate to.
27 :: Have you ever been fired and if yes, why?
Answer this as positively as possible and try to avoid disparaging the company you had previously worked for. The key is to accept the fact that yes, you were fired, but you've learned from the mistakes that got you there and you're better now because of it. If you haven't been fired, well, then this question's a piece of cake isn't it?
28 :: How do you handle repetitive tasks?
29 :: In what areas do you think you will need guidance?
Think about what you need to learn going into the job. Skill sets, industry knowledge, relationship building, team dynamics. Which areas are ones you're lacking?
30 :: What role do you see technology playing in this role?
Technology is important to almost every job today but it's not meant to be abused. I believe it's important to increase productivity and not for personal use.
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IBECnet
FOR YOUNG SCIENTISTS
FOR INDUSTRY AND HOSPITALS
FOR PUBLIC AND PRESS
by Keyword: autonomic nervous system
By year:[ 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 ]
Calvo, M., Le Rolle, V., Romero, D., Béhar, N., Gomis, P., Mabo, P., Hernández, A. I., (2019). Recursive model identification for the analysis of the autonomic response to exercise testing in Brugada syndrome Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 97, 98-104
This paper proposes the integration and analysis of a closed-loop model of the baroreflex and cardiovascular systems, focused on a time-varying estimation of the autonomic modulation of heart rate in Brugada syndrome (BS), during exercise and subsequent recovery. Patient-specific models of 44 BS patients at different levels of risk (symptomatic and asymptomatic) were identified through a recursive evolutionary algorithm. After parameter identification, a close match between experimental and simulated signals (mean error = 0.81%) was observed. The model-based estimation of vagal and sympathetic contributions were consistent with physiological knowledge, enabling to observe the expected autonomic changes induced by exercise testing. In particular, symptomatic patients presented a significantly higher parasympathetic activity during exercise, and an autonomic imbalance was observed in these patients at peak effort and during post-exercise recovery. A higher vagal modulation during exercise, as well as an increasing parasympathetic activity at peak effort and a decreasing vagal contribution during post-exercise recovery could be related with symptoms and, thus, with a worse prognosis in BS. This work proposes the first evaluation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to exercise testing in patients suffering from BS, through the recursive identification of computational models; highlighting important trends of clinical relevance that provide new insights into the underlying autonomic mechanisms regulating the cardiovascular system in BS. The joint analysis of the extracted autonomic parameters and classic electrophysiological markers could improve BS risk stratification.
Keywords: Autonomic nervous system, Brugada syndrome, Computational model, Recursive identification
Jané, R., Lazaro, J., Ruiz, P., Gil, E., Navajas, D., Farre, R., Laguna, P., (2013). Obstructive Sleep Apnea in a rat model: Effects of anesthesia on autonomic evaluation from heart rate variability measures CinC 2013 Computing in Cardiology Conference (CinC) , IEEE (Zaragoza, Spain) , 1011-1014
Rat model of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a realistic approach for studying physiological mechanisms involved in sleep. Rats are usually anesthetized and autonomic nervous system (ANS) could be blocked. This study aimed to assess the effect of anesthesia on ANS activity during OSA episodes. Seven male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized intraperitoneally with urethane (1g/kg). The experiments were conducted applying airway obstructions, simulating 15s-apnea episodes for 15 minutes. Five signals were acquired: respiratory pressure and flow, SaO2, ECG and photoplethysmography (PPG). In total, 210 apnea episodes were studied. Normalized power spectrum of Pulse Rate Variability (PRV) was analyzed in the Low Frequency (LF) and High Frequency (HF) bands, for each episode in consecutive 15s intervals (before, during and after the apnea). All episodes showed changes in respiratory flow and SaO2 signal. Conversely, decreases in the amplitude fluctuations of PPG (DAP) were not observed. Normalized LF presented extremely low values during breathing (median=7,67%), suggesting inhibition of sympathetic system due to anesthetic effect. Subtle increases of LF were observed during apnea. HRV and PPG analysis during apnea could be an indirect tool to assess the effect and deep of anesthesia.
Keywords: electrocardiography, fluctuations, medical disorders, medical signal detection, medical signal processing, neurophysiology, photoplethysmography, pneumodynamics, sleep, ECG, SaO2 flow, SaO2 signal, airway obstructions, amplitude fluctuations, anesthesia effects, anesthetized nervous system, autonomic evaluation, autonomic nervous system, breathing, heart rate variability, high-frequency bands, low-frequency bands, male Sprague-Dawley rats, normalized power spectrum, obstructive sleep apnea, photoplethysmography, physiological mechanisms, pulse rate variability, rat model, respiratory flow, respiratory pressure, signal acquisition, sympathetic system inhibition, time 15 min, time 15 s, Abstracts, Atmospheric modeling, Computational modeling, Electrocardiography, Rats, Resonant frequency
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Extractive Differential Pulse Polarography of Mo (VI) Oxinate in Chloroform and its Application in the Determination of Molybdenum in Steel
Mohammad Hossein Pournaghi-Azar 1
Hossein Nahalparvary 2
1 Electroanalytical Chemistry Laboratory, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, I. R. Iran
2 Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, I. R. Iran
The voltammetric characteristics of Mo (VI) oxinate at the mercury electrode, in the presence of tri-butylammonium perchlorate (tri-BAP) and piperidinium perchlorate (PP) + piperidine (P) as two different types supporting electrolytes, have been studied in chloroform. With the both supporting electrolytes a two electron irreversible process for the reduction of Mo (VI) oxinate was observed. Preceded by a solvent extraction of Mo (VI) oxinate in chloroform, the DP method was used for the determination of molybdenum. In the presence of 0.2 M tri-BAP as supporting electrolyte, the calibration graph was linear over the range 0.5 to 50 mM. and the detection limit was 0.16 mM about 10 times lower than the case of PP + P. The proposed method using Mo (VI) oxinate-tri-BAP system has been successfully applied for the determination of molybdenum in steel.
Differential pulse polarography
Oxinate
Inorganic Chemicals Industries
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[20] Bilar, J.C., Emeleus, H.J., Nyholm, S.R., Trotman-Dickenson, A.F., Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, Pergamon Press Ltd, 3, 734 (1975).
Pournaghi-Azar, M., Nahalparvary, H. (2003). Extractive Differential Pulse Polarography of Mo (VI) Oxinate in Chloroform and its Application in the Determination of Molybdenum in Steel. Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (IJCCE), 22(1), 13-19.
Mohammad Hossein Pournaghi-Azar; Hossein Nahalparvary. "Extractive Differential Pulse Polarography of Mo (VI) Oxinate in Chloroform and its Application in the Determination of Molybdenum in Steel". Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (IJCCE), 22, 1, 2003, 13-19.
Pournaghi-Azar, M., Nahalparvary, H. (2003). 'Extractive Differential Pulse Polarography of Mo (VI) Oxinate in Chloroform and its Application in the Determination of Molybdenum in Steel', Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (IJCCE), 22(1), pp. 13-19.
Pournaghi-Azar, M., Nahalparvary, H. Extractive Differential Pulse Polarography of Mo (VI) Oxinate in Chloroform and its Application in the Determination of Molybdenum in Steel. Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (IJCCE), 2003; 22(1): 13-19.
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Winless Streak Over For Warriors After A Win In Duncan
The West Kelowna Warriors ended their seven-game winless stretch with a 3-2 victory in Duncan on Saturday night against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
The Warriors and Caps played to a scoreless opening period but West Kelowna had all the pressure with 14 shots toward Cowichan Valley netminder Adam Marcoux while the Caps could only throw 5 shot towards Warriors goalie Trevor Martin.
West Kelowna cracked the score sheet first at the 9:17 mark of the 2nd period and came courtesy of a power play. Quin Foreman made a terrific backdoor pass to find a streaking Reed Gunville for his 8th goal of the season, beating Marcoux to the blocker side and giving the visitors a 1-0 advantage.
The Warriors lead moved to two goals just 19 seconds later at the 9:36 mark as Chase Dubois found the back of the net for the second consecutive night. Dubois sped down the left wing and beat a Capital defender through his legs and fired a shot up high for a beauty and his 3rd goal of the season and the Warriors took a 2-0 lead.
The Warriors pounced for another goal at the 12:15 mark of the middle stanza as Braiden Epp found the back of the net on the power play. Quin Foreman’s left point shot was redirected in by Epp for his 5th goal of the season and gave the Warriors a 3-0 lead with three goals in a span of 2:02.
Cowichan Valley got on the score board at the 14:16 mark of the second frame as Rhett Kingston got by the Warriors defense and made a nice move past Martin to cut the Warrior lead to 3-1.
The Capitals made things interesting late with a goal in the final minute at the 19:14 mark with Ayden MacDonald firing in a rebound of a face-off win for the Caps to make it a one-goal game but it was too little, too late as the Warriors skated away with their first victory since October 4th against Chilliwack with a 3-2 win over the Capitals.
Trevor Martin was outstanding for a second consecutive night, turning aside 35 of the 37 shots he faced for his first win as a Warrior while Adam Marcoux made 32 saves on 35 shots in the losing cause.
The Warriors (6-9-0-1) close out their three-game Island road trip with a trip to Port Alberni to face-off against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (4-10-0-2). Puck drop is slated for 2:00 PM with the pre-game show starting at 1:50 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and hockeytv.com.
Cowichan Capitals
West Kelowna Warriors
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Four Point Five out of Five Stars. Check it Out on Goodreads Here
Ruby never asked for the abilities that almost cost her her life. Now she must call upon them on a daily basis, leading dangerous missions to bring down a corrupt government and breaking into the minds of her enemies. Other kids in the Children’s League call Ruby “Leader”, but she knows what she really is: a monster.
When Ruby is entrusted with an explosive secret, she must embark on her most dangerous mission yet: leaving the Children’s League behind. Crucial information about the disease that killed most of America’s children—and turned Ruby and the others who lived into feared and hated outcasts—has survived every attempt to destroy it. But the truth is only saved in one place: a flashdrive in the hands of Liam Stewart, the boy Ruby once believed was her future—and who now wouldn’t recognize her.
As Ruby sets out across a desperate, lawless country to find Liam—and answers about the catastrophe that has ripped both her life and America apart—she is torn between old friends and the promise she made to serve the League. Ruby will do anything to protect the people she loves. But what if winning the war means losing herself?
"Portraits of weary fear, landscapes of sadness, miniatures of curiosity."
I enjoyed the story immensely however, this did remind me of the same pitfalls that many second books in series have. I felt like there was a bit more filler in this book then I would have liked, but even that included some awesome action scenes. I'm hoping that filler however is just more set up for the plot. Even though the landscape they went through kept me wondering how most of the dialogue wasn't
But fortunately Ms. Bracken is alot more imaginative than I am, and was able to keep the reality they were in, as a backdrop for the characters perseverance.
Oh Ruby Roo, you root for her, and hope for the genuine change shes hunting throughout the book. This is definitely filled with alot of emotional moments, but I enjoyed them all. The action kept me engaged and I anticipated every action scene because the characters are getting better at using their powers.
But the Moment I read this line
"Her voice was clear, each word cut from stone. Ruin Him"
I was sooo pleased that I could feel, the anger and relief that was being conveyed, and I was grateful once again that words could take me to that place. Everyone in this book has come to better terms with themselves and their choices. As the plot continues on in the series, I'm looking forward to learning how the characters will function, after loss, after pain, after learning the grand possibilities of what the future holds.
"Is it better to out monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?"
You cannot be saddened or surprised by what desperate people do in desperate times. The characters in this book are left tittering on the edge, the edge of something better, the edge of promises almost fulfilled. I wouldn't be surprised if the actions these characters take up in severity, because everything they'll do will be out of crippling necessity. I'm anticipating the final book and will be reading it sooner rather than later.
My Review for Other Books in the Series
Sparks Rise (The Darkest Mind#2.5)
In the Afterlight (The Darkest Mind #3)
Labels: 2014 Read, Alexandra Bracken, Book Review, Darkest Mind Series, Four Point Five Stars, Never Fade, Sci-fi, Young Adult
The Infinite Sea (The Fifth Wave #2) by Rick Yancey
Friday 56: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Top Ten Tuesday:Winter TBR Pile
Friday 56: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana M...
Top Ten Tuesday: Sequels I Can't Wait to Get
The Friday 56: Genesis By Bernard Beckett
Honoring Those Who Serve: Veterans Day
Top Ten Characters You Wish Would Get Their Own Book
The Friday 56
Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Ve...
UnWholly (Unwind Dystology #2) by Neal Shusterman
Book Blogging: In Tori Lex= In Tori's Law
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John Dolan Exhibition: GEORGE THE DOG JOHN THE ARTIST
A unique exhibition of works by artist John Dolan. You may not think you know John Dolan, but he is East London’s most notorious artist. For the past three years Dolan has sat every day with his dog George on Shoreditch High Street documenting the surrounding architecture, elevating the old, decrepit buildings that are so often ignored and under-appreciated.
John Dolan has lived in London his whole life and has been drawing on Shoreditch High Street for the past three years. In the past, he has been in and out of prison and often found himself homeless. These days, Dolan is greeted by the likes of Gilbert and George as they walk past.
Dolan’s raw portrayals of the street lead a viewer to reconsider something that to them is merely a backdrop to their day. At the same time, he highlights how too often people living on the street are invisible to those walking past them. Dolan’s work asks us to open our eyes and see this city for what it really is. Dolan’s emphasis on repetition allows a unique insight into the changing face of what is now a highly fashionable, gentrified area. He represents the old Shoreditch, the unseen side that lies just below the surface.
An interesting facet of Dolan’s work is the way in which he documents the street art and graffiti that came to make Shoreditch the cultural capital it is today. For this exhibition, he has worked with some of the world’s best street artists and graffiti writers.
ROA (BE), Steve ESPO Powers (US), Sever (US), Gaia (US), David Walker (UK), Stik (UK), Nomers (RU), Maser (IE), Thierry Noir (FR), RUN (IT), Zomby (UK), Christiaan Nagel (ZA), Ian Stevenson (UK), Martin Ron (AR), Liqen (ES), Ben Wilson (UK), Dscreet (AU), Pablo Delgado (MX), MadC (DE), CEPT (UK), C215 (FR), BRK (ES), Michael De Feo (US), Ronzo (DE), Malarky (UK), 2Kold (UK), DALeast (CN), SNOE (UK), Faith47 (ZA), Agostino Iacurci (IT), Broken Fingaz Crew (IL), Hitnes (IT), Cityzen Kane (UK), Flying Fortress (DE), INTI (CL), Pelucas (ES), Rowdy (UK), SWET (SW) and others.
A street artist in the traditional sense of the word, Dolan identifies with this new generation of street artists and them with him. These artists have collaborated with Dolan by working directly onto the walls of his drawn cityscapes, creating unique pieces. Ostensibly a solo show for Dolan, George the Dog, John the Artist will also in effect be the biggest street art group show of recent memory, bringing a unique group of artists together to document both the constant and the ephemeral in a city that is ever changing.
Date: PV 19th September 2013 19.30
Location: Howard Griffin Gallery - 189-190 Shoreditch High Street - London - E16HU
Catagories: Art News, Charity, Culture, Exhibitions, Graffiti, Street Art
Anthony Lister NEVER ODD OR EVEN - PART 1
Never Knot Print by Craig Redman
Lucky 13 a solo exhibition by Copyright
3D and the ART OF MASSIVE ATTACK: : Book and Boxed...
GEORGE THE DOG - JOHN THE ARTIST
T.WAT SOLO SHOW “Straight Outta Compton”
Meggs Paints FareShare
Print Matters: A Fanzine and Self-Publishing Workshop
Oliver Jeffers: Nothing To See Here Exhibition
Jean Jullien - La Plage At Beach London
NOTIONS OF THE STREET Exhibition
SAKI & Bitches Solo Show "The Orchid and The White...
JaguarShoes Collective present Made You Look Exhib...
It's A Stick-Up Special Edition Street Art Books
Mr Phomer presents: MASS APPEAL Exhibition
Stüssy Artist Series - Kevin Lyons
Eine 'Tenderloin' A-Z One Night Show
BOMB THE BOX WEEK 5/6 At Boxpark
Collagism's FREE PUSSY RIOT! Show
Eduardo Kobra New LA Mural
The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti Book
"Ukraine" An Exhibition by Alex FaKso
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IX Meeting
Zero plastic
World Network of Island and Coastal
Biosphere Reserves ABOUT
Issue of the WNICBR 18th Newsletter
Download here our last issue of the Network’s Newsletter (January 2021) and stay informed on what’s new on our network activities and on our partner’s most relevant projects. In this issue we share experiences from Isle of Man, Gouritz Cluster, Commander Islands, Sahalamaza, North Devon, La Palma, Fitzgerald, Iroise, North Vidzeme, Mariñas Coruñesas, Jeju, Menorca, Palawan and the Zero Plastic Working Group. The resolution of the call «Mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in island and coastal BR» is also announced here.
Winning projects announced for the 'Mitigation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on island and coastal BRs' call
In order to foster island and coastal biosphere reserves as sites applying innovative solutions in response to the pandemic, the World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves (WNICBR) launched a call for projects aimed at mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these territories. Four projects have been selected, to be implemented by the end of 2021.
Last issue of the Zero Plastic Newsletter
In the Zero Plastic News #4 bulletin you will learn interesting initiatives taking place in Commander Islands, Jeju Island, Isle of Man, Karst and Reka River Basin, and Mariñas Coruñesas, all Biosphere Reserves involved in the fight against plastic pollution. Moreover, a new interview section is presented, this time sharing responses from two researchers involved with Marine Sciences For Society in the study of plastic pollution.
Celebrating the third edition of the international conference on plastic pollution, MICRO 2020
Under the patronage of UNESCO, the third edition of the international conference on plastic pollution from macroplastics to nanoplastics, MICRO 2020 : Knowledge and responsibilities , will be held from the 23–27 of November, 2020. As in previous years, the island of Lanzarote will host this event, however this year’s conference will be predominantly online: https://micro2020.sciencesconf.org
Call for projects on Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves
The World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves, through its secretariats in Menorca (Spain) and Jeju Island (Republic of Korea) and UNESCO's MAB Programme, invites biosphere reserves located in islands and coastal areas to submit projects aimed at mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their territories. Update: the resolution of the call has been delayed, stay tuned!
1st Virtual meeting of the WNICBR
Under the theme "Mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Reserves of Biosphere in Islands and Coastal Areas", the first virtual meeting of Network’s members was held on the 16th-17th of September, aimed at monitoring the current situation of the Network and communicate the initiatives underway and the last updates.
Last edition of the WNICBR Newsletter (July 2020)
The 17th Newsletter of our Network has been issued in July. Immersed in this unprecedented situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, our biosphere reserve partners are keeping efforts to find pathways for sustainable solutions facing the environmental global crisis.
International Workshop on "Load-Capacity Model for Sustainable Management"
UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme organizes a International Workshop on "Load-Capacity Model for Sustainable Management" developed by the Urban Plans and Projects Programme of the Pontificia Universidad Católica (Chile), which will be held virtually on 7-8 July 2020.
UNESCO MAB webinar series for the WNBR in times of COVID19 pandemic
UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme hosts a webinar series for representatives of the World Network of Biosphere Reserve, in response to the COVID19 crisis that hit the entire planet since the beginning of March 2020.
The World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves expands with five new members
Over the past months the World Islands and Coastal Biosphere Reserve Network (WNICBR) has incorporated five new biosphere reserve territories from Australia, USA, Vietnam, Canada and Colombia. With these new members, the network continues to grow and there are already 65 formally adhered BRs.
World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves The World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves was launched in 2009 by UNESCO MAB Programme to foster sustainable development in islands and coastal areas and to promote adaptation and mitigation strategies on climate change. ABOUT
Menorca Biosphere Reserve
Jeju Biosphere Reserve
MAB-UNESCO
Contact us You can use this form to send us a question or comment. We will answer as soon as possible. Thank you very much. Name:
World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves
Legal Accessibility XHTML 1.0 CSS 2.1 Contact
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$ 8649.6
feathercoin.com
coinexplorer.net
explorer.feathercoin.com
fsight.chain.tips
ftc.tokenview.com
forum.feathercoin.com
Feathercoin (FTC or ₣) is an open source cryptocurrency, published under the license of MIT / X11.1, based on the Litecoin protocol. On 16 April 2013 Feathercoin successfully forked from Litecoin by the creation of its genesis block. As a cryptocurrency, creation and transfer of coins is based on an open source cryptographic protocol (the blockchain) and is not managed by any central authority. The hashing algorithm chosen for Feathercoin was the Proof-of-Work NeoScrypt, which had premiered on Phoenixcoin. NeoScrypt is 25% more memory intense, which makes it less feasible to create ASICs for it. The main programmer is Peter Bushnell, at the time running the information technology for the Brasenose College of Oxford University. He explained his motivation for developing the coin in an interview with Vitalik Buterin. One month after launching Feathercoin, Peter Bushnell left his job as head of IT at the Brasenose College of Oxford University and lived off his Litecoin savings. Feathercoin was launched on 16th April 2013 and as developed by Peter Bushnell. It was forked from Litecoin, with the aim of making Feathercoin what Litecoin was supposed to be: a faster, more secure, and stable version of Bitcoin. The consensus mechanism is based on the Proof of Work (PoW) concept. The Feathercoin network runs on the NeoScrypt hashing algorithm, making it much easier and faster to mine. Feathercoin enjoyed rapid adoption by users soon after its launch, gaining immense popularity, and establishing itself as a worthy contender in a BTC/LTC dominated market. Feathercoin can be mined using either processors (CPUs) or graphics cards (GPUs). Due to the hashing algorithm of FTC, it cannot be mined with an ASIC card. Mining software is available for download at their official site. Wallets for FTC can be found over at their official website, including both desktop and mobile wallets.. While the paper money you are used to carrying around is (or can be) stored in a physical wallet, cryptocurrencies, like all digital currencies, have to be stored in a software-based digital wallet. Although you will find links to feathercoin wallets throughout the web, the only safe way to know that you're downloading the latest and correct version is by scrolling to the bottom of the coin's official home page and selecting the button for your particular operating system. Feathercoin wallets are available for Android, Linux, macOS and Windows platforms.
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Biden administration to approach Russia about extension of New START nuclear treaty
Home>>Technology>>How to watch the PC Gaming Show and Future Games Show today, June 13
How to watch the PC Gaming Show and Future Games Show today, June 13
Even if the world’s biggest video game expos have been canceled this year, we’re being treated to an unprecedented array of virtual events in their place — and today, what’s been dubbed the Summer Game Fest will continue with the PC Gaming Show and the Future Games Show, starting at 11AM PT / 2PM ET.
Here’s what to look forward to, and how to watch.
The PC Gaming Show
What: The PC Gaming Show will showcase “new games, never-before-seen gameplay footage, and announcements from some of PC gaming’s biggest and most interesting developers.” You can see the full lineup of developers involved here. The event will be two hours long, though unlike previous years, it will be pre-recorded instead of shown live.
The event was originally scheduled for June 6th, but was delayed to June 13th to “make space for those speaking out and demonstrating about how to end the systemic oppression and police brutality experienced by black people.”
Among other announcements, rumor has it the Persona series will finally make its way to PC!
When: Saturday, June 13th, 11AM PT / 2PM ET / 7PM London
How to watch: Watch on PC Gamer’s Twitch and YouTube channels, or just click here to start the stream:
The Future Games Show
What: The hour-long Future Games Show will include “exclusive trailers, announcements, and deep dives on existing AAA and indie games.” Content will cover “40+ games on console, PC, and mobile,” according to GamesRadar, which is hosting the event. Publishers participating include Square Enix, Devolver Digital, and more. Nolan North and Emily Rose, who star in the Uncharted series as Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher, will be hosting.
The show was first planned for June 6th, but was postponed to June 13th “in support of the protests demanding justice and change over the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police.”
When: Saturday, June 13th, 2PM PT / 5PM ET / 10PM London
How to watch: Watch on GamesRadar’s Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube channels, or just click here:
These aren’t the end of the Summer Game Fest, by the way — not by a long shot. Here’s our running list of the other events you can look forward to.
Da 5 Bloods Post-Credits Scene (& Spike Lee Appearance) Explained
Black man’s apparent hanging death on tree in Los Angeles area under investigation
Facebook will announce presidential election result in Facebook and Instagram notifications
DJI’s new Mavic Air 2 has an upgraded camera and much longer flying time
Chadwick Boseman, star of Black Panther, dies at 43
Edison Mail debuts new $15 monthly subscription service with additional anti-phishing features
Are Microsoft and Sony offering enough for you to buy a next-gen console this year?
Biden administration to approach Russia about extension of New START nuclear treaty January 22, 2021
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Willian to miss Chelsea's clash with Leicester following mother's death
Chelsea midfielder Willian will miss his side's match against Premier League champions Leicester on Saturday following the death of his mother.
The Brazilian, who has been granted compassionate leave, wrote a poem in tribute to her on Instagram on Thursday after her death, reportedly of cancer.
On the club's official website, Chelsea said: "All of us at Chelsea Football Club are sending our love and deepest condolences to Willian and his family after the passing of his mother. We are thinking of you Willian."
Willian, who joined the Londoners from Anzhi Makhachkala in the summer of 2013, scored in Brazil's 2-0 win in Venezuela on Tuesday evening.
Chelsea have won just one of their last four Premier League matches - a 2-0 victory at Hull prior to the international break - but did record a victory over Leicester in the EFL Cup last month.
Patrick Ononenyi Okonkwo goes underground, avoids media
All efforts to contact Mr Patrick Ononenyi Okonkwo have proved futile. The Lagos based business man and his associates on social media had ...
I have not been declared wanted, says Yemi Idowu
I have not been declared wanted, says Yemi Idowu Business mogul, Mr. Yemi Idowu, has refuted an online report claiming that he has been decl...
Mercy Johnson hosts first stakeholders summit as Kogi Government's Appointee
Nollywood star actress Mercy Johnson Okojie who was recently appointed as the Senior Special Assistant to Kogi state Governor on Entertain...
Ekiti Election: Voters Turn Out in Large Numbers
Electorates in Ado Ekiti, on Saturday, came out as early as 6.00am trekking long distance to get to their various polling units. Some...
CUPP: A Merger for Nigeria's Future?
The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, on Monday, July 9 th , 2018, formed an alliance with over 30 political parties and announced a new ...
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Nimit Packers and Movers in Samastipur
Samastipur is a town and a municipality in Bihar, India. It is the headquarters of Samastipur district. The Burhi Gandak River flows through the town. Samastipur was once famous for Sugar factories, jute mills and an old railway factory at samastipur railway station.
One of the most popular attractions of Samastipur is Mangalgarh that is located at a distance of 14 km from Hasanpur Block of Samastipur, near Dudhpura, earlier known as Budhpura, after Lord Buddha. The Buddha is said to have stayed there and preached Buddhism for some
Musrigharari is located at an approximate distance of 8 km from Samastipur, on NH28. This place is popular for the celebration of Muharram and Durga Puja. Thousands of people gather for the celebration of Muharram and Durga Puja
Bakhribuzurg is located approximately at a distance of 1 km from Musrighrari main market
Pusa block is world famous for Rajendra Agricultural University. Pusa is named after Mr. Henry Phipps from USA who donated money to establish agricultural research institute. In 1934, after a major earthquake rocked Bihar and which severely damage the main buildings, the Imperial Institute was shifted to the new Pusa.
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Call Us Today! 407.257.6501
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Most Qualified Academy
Juan Rodriguez Jr.
Starting as an Unarmed Security Officer in Florida. Juan realized he had a passion for the security industry. This interest expanded to all the many aspects of the business. Juan wanted to be able to offer his clients armed security services and received his Statewide Firearm License. Juan showed promise in the industry and was promoted to a supervisor, then a Security Agency Manager. As a SAM he witnessed a lack of integrity and professionalism in the security field. During his many interactions with personnel and clients his positive feedback and communication with community managements inspired him to want to create a lasting impact in the profession. He then attained his Security Instructors License so he could begin the process of sharing in his own vision. Ultimately, MQSP (Most Qualfied Security Professionals) was founded and is now in the process of developing a school for the “Most Qualified” Security Professionals. His goal is to consistently maintain the highest level of standards through continuous training of MQSP personnel.
Christie L. Garcia
Christie L. Garcia has been involved in the business industry for well over 8 years. A graduate from Baruch College in New York City with a major in Psychology and minor in Human Resource Management, she brings her expertise in business development. Christie's background extends into international Finance and Real Estate Management. Her expertise in business development and finance will bring a new culture to the security industry. Christie brings knowledge in Human Resource Management, which allows her to make fair and methodical approaches for both our clients and employees.
President Of Business Development
After serving 4 years in the United States Army, Most Qualified Security Professionals President of Business & Development Juan Rodriguez began his career in the security industry 20 years ago. He began his career working with Prestige Productions as an Operational Manager in New York, NY. During his 20 years with Prestige Productions he branched out to Miami, Florida and continued to grow in the industry. His Operational Management experience and skills also helped him to get into Executive Protection where he protected well known celebrities across the nation.
Robert started working at 14 years old. He worked during the summer as an automotive shop porter at Ivan's Automotive in Eddison NJ. He then moved on and became a Global Systems Engineer intern at Shearman & Sterling LLC. in Manhattan, NY. This early work ethic taught Robert discipline and responsibility. His passion for the automotive industry secured him a 8 1/2 year position as a data specialist for Insignia Group LLC. Robert is eager to help problem solve, he is a people person and has a thirst for knowledge. His social skills and self confidence helped him to land a position in sales as a consultant for Clayton Homes. Now as Director Of Sales he aims to help people further their knowledge in security handling and help MQSP be more then just another agency.
MQSP Officers
Most Qualified Security Professionals LLC.
7523 Aloma Ave. Ste. 211
Contact Us (407)-257-6501
B 1600156
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Home > Films > D > Dracula AD 1972
Dracula AD 1972 | 1972
Dracula A.D.1972 location: the home of groovy Johnny Alucard: 75 Hillgate Place, Notting Hill, London W8
Christopher Lee,
Peter Cushing,
Stephanie Beacham,
Gruesomely enjoyable (for all the wrong reasons) attempt to update the fag end of the Hammer series to the Swinging Seventies, set around the Kings Road, Chelsea, years after Chelsea’s sixties heyday. As the years roll by, the film has acquired a kitschy charm, but the only thing likely to wake you up screaming are those Seventies fashion nightmares.
Dracula A.D.1972 location: Swinging vampire kids in Chelsea: the coffee bar in better days: the Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW3
The church in which Dracula is revived is obviously a set, but the groovy “Cavern’ coffee bar where the trendy young things gather was Italian restaurant La Bersagliera, which stood at 372 Kings Road, up towards World’s End. After remaining unchanged for decades, the block has recently been redeveloped.
It's a kind of coming-home, in a way. Further east along the King's Road, toward Sloane Square, you can see the home of Dracula author Bram Stoker, at 18 Leonard's Terrace, at the southern end of Royal Avenue.
Over in Notting Hill, 75 Hillgate Place, just behind the Coronet Cinema (a location for – surprise – Notting Hill) was the home of groovy vampire Johnny Alucard (come on, Van Helsing, grapple with that fiendish anagram).
The country scenes filmed at Tykes Water Lake at Aldenham Country Park, west of Elstree between Bushey and Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
UK | Hertfordshire
Visit: Hertfordshire
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[News] - [Couvertures] - [VO] - Juillet 2018
14 Adult Titles Releasing in July
Dreadful Company (A Dr. Greta Helsing Novel)
Vivian Shaw
Contemporary fantasy in the world of Strange Practice, starring Dr. Greta Helsing, whose family has been keeping the supernatural community not-alive and well for generations.
When Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, is unexpectedly called to Paris to present at a medical conference, she expects nothing more exciting than professional discourse on zombie reconstructive surgery and skin disease in bogeymen — and hopefully at least one uneventful night at the Opera.
Unfortunately for Greta, Paris happens to be infested with a coven of vampires — and not the civilized kind. If she hopes to survive, Greta must navigate the darkest corners of the City of Lights, the maze of ancient catacombs and mine-tunnels underneath the streets, where there is more to find than simply dead men’s bones.
Dr. Greta Helsing novels
Strange Practice
Dreadful Company
Shadow’s Bane (Dorina Basarab)
Half-human, half-vampire Dorina Basarab is back–and facing her biggest challenge yet in the next urban fantasy in theNew York Times bestselling series.
Dorina Basarab is a dhampir–half-human, half-vampire. As one of the Vampire Senate’s newest members, Dory already has a lot on her plate. But then a relative of one of Dory’s fey friends goes missing. They fear he’s been sold to a slaver who arranges fights–sometimes to the death–between different types of fey.
As Dory investigates, she and her friends learn the slavers are into something much bigger than a fight club. With the Vampire Senate gearing up for war with Faerie, it’ll take everything she has to defeat the slavers–and deal with the entirely too attractive master vampire Louis-Cesare….
The Serpent (The Immortal Dealers)
One woman is in a world of otherworldly trouble—and she’s going to have to bet her life to save humankind.
Ernestine “Ernie” Terwilliger has put her dreams aside to look after her eccentric mother. Case in point: saving her from a mysterious stranger who’s just stormed the terrified woman’s antique store wearing a rattlesnake tattoo, leveling threats, and brandishing the weirdest deck of cards Ernie’s ever seen.
When Ernie grabs some of the cards and runs, she’s launched into a world she never knew existed—one her mother may know more about than she’s revealing. With a handful of stolen cards, Ernie has just been made an unwilling player in a game of good versus evil. But she’s not even playing with a full deck, and its original owner is more than happy to kill to get his cards back.
Suddenly Ernie’s matching wits and plays with the supernatural Immortal Dealers, who can raise empires, damn souls, and shape the world’s destiny. It’s up to Ernie to defeat the most brutal member of their order. And if her roguish new ally isn’t bluffing, he can help. The mystery is all in the cards, and to save her life—and humanity—Ernie had better learn how to deal.
The Wild Dead (The Bannerless Saga)
A Mariner Original
A John Joseph Adams Book
“The Wild Dead is a tightly plotted mind-thrill . . . This is the feminist dystopian mystery series you didn’t know you needed.” — Meg Elison, Philip K. Dick Award–winning author of The Road to Nowhere series
Mysteries and murder abound in the sequel to the Philip K. Dick Award–winning Bannerless
A century after environmental and economic collapse, the people of the Coast Road have rebuilt their own sort of civilization, striving not to make the mistakes their ancestors did. They strictly ration and manage resources, including the ability to have children. Enid of Haven is an investigator, who with her new partner, Teeg, is called on to mediate a dispute over an old building in a far-flung settlement at the edge of Coast Road territory. The investigators’ decision seems straightforward — and then the body of a young woman turns up in the nearby marshland. Almost more shocking than that, she’s not from the Coast Road, but from one of the outsider camps belonging to the nomads and wild folk who live outside the Coast Road communities. Now one of them is dead, and Enid wants to find out who killed her, even as Teeg argues that the murder isn’t their problem. In a dystopian future of isolated communities, can our moral sense survive the worst hard times?
“An intriguing mystery made compelling by its post-apocalyptic setting . . . Another great read from Vaughn.” — S. M. Stirling, New York Times best-selling author of The Sky-Blue Wolves and Dies the Fire
Veins of Gold
Charlie N. Holmberg
A new historical fantasy novel from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg:
Desperate to save her siblings from poverty, a young woman discovers magic fueled by gold . . . and a love for the man who wields it.
Abandoned by their father for the gold rush, Gentry and her siblings labor to survive alone in the inhospitable west. When bizarre natural disasters begin wreaking havoc on the land, Gentry discovers a world of magic. Desperate for help, she accepts aid from a mysterious stranger.
Winn not only sees the magic, but controls its hunger by feeding it gold—the very thing Gentry’s father left to acquire. But the earth’s unrest only grows worse, and Gentry’s fear leads her to a terrible choice: marry a wealthy man she does not love, or trust in Winn’s unpredictable power to save her family.
Other Books by Charlie N. Holmberg:
The Paper Magician
The Glass Magician
The Master Magician
The Plastic Magician
Followed by Frost
Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet
The Fifth Doll
Deep Roots (The Innsmouth Legacy)
Ruthanna Emrys
“Wicked for the Cthulhu Mythos” —Seanan McGuire on the Innsmouth Legacy
Ruthanna Emrys’ Innsmouth Legacy, which began with Winter Tide and continues with Deep Roots, confronts H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos head-on, boldly upturning his fear of the unknown with a heart-warming story of found family, acceptance, and perseverance in the face of human cruelty and the cosmic apathy of the universe. Emrys brings together a family of outsiders, bridging the gaps between the many people marginalized by the homogenizing pressure of 1940s America.
Aphra Marsh, descendant of the People of the Water, has survived Deep One internment camps and made a grudging peace with the government that destroyed her home and exterminated her people on land. Deep Rootscontinues Aphra’s journey to rebuild her life and family on land, as she tracks down long-lost relatives. She must repopulate Innsmouth or risk seeing it torn down by greedy developers, but as she searches she discovers that people have been going missing. She will have to unravel the mystery, or risk seeing her way of life slip away.
The Innsmouth Legacy
Book 1: Winter Tide
Book 2: Deep Roots
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Grandmother Paradox (Place in Time)
Wendy Nikel
When Dr. Wells, the head of the Place in Time Travel Agency, learns that someone’s trying to track down the ancestors of his star employee, there are few people he can turn to without revealing her secrets. But who better to jump down the timeline and rescue Elise from being snuffed out of existence generations before she’s born than the very person whose life she saved a hundred years in the future?
But Juliette Argent isn’t an easy woman to protect. The assistant to a traveling magician, she’s bold, fearless, and has a fascination with time travel, of all things. Can the former secret agent Chandler, with his knowledge of what’s to come, keep her safe from harm and keep his purpose there a secret? Or will his presence there only entangle the timeline more?
Heroine’s Journey (Heroine Complex)
Sarah Kuhn
The third book in the smart, snarky, and action-packed Heroine series completes the “Heroic Trio” as Bea Tanaka joins her sister, Evie, and diva Aveda Jupiter in their quest to free San Francisco from its demon portal problem
If there’s one thing Beatrice Tanaka never wanted to be, it’s normal. But somehow, her life has unfolded as a series of “should haves.” Her powers of emotional projection should have made her one of the most formidable superheroes of all time. And she should have been allowed to join her older sister Evie as a full-fledged protector of San Francisco, pulverizing the city’s plethora of demon threats.
But Evie and her superheroing partner, Aveda Jupiter, insist on seeing Bea as the impulsive, tempestuous teenager she used to be–even though she’s now a responsible adult. And that means Bea is currently living a thoroughly normal life. She works as a bookstore lackey, hangs out with best friends Sam Fujikawa and Leah Kim, and calms her workplace’s more difficult customers. Sure, she’s not technically supposed to be playing with people’s mental states. But given the mundanity of her existence, who can blame her?
When a mysterious being starts communicating with Bea, hinting at an evil that’s about to overtake the city, she seizes the opportunity, hoping to turn her “should haves” into the fabulous heroic life she’s always wanted. But gaining that life may mean sacrificing everything–and everyone–she holds dear…
Black Chamber (A Novel of an Alternate World War)
S. M. Stirling
The first novel in a brand-new alternate history series where Teddy Roosevelt is president for a second time right before WWI breaks out, and on his side is the Black Chamber, a secret spy network watching America’s back.
1916. The Great War rages overseas, and the whole of Europe, Africa, and western Asia is falling to the Central Powers. To win a war that must be won, Teddy Roosevelt, once again the American president, turns to his top secret Black Chamber organization–and its cunning and deadly spy, Luz O’Malley Aróstegui.
On a transatlantic airship voyage, Luz poses as an anti-American Mexican revolutionary to get close–very close–to a German agent code-named Imperial Sword. She’ll need every skill at her disposal to get him to trust her and lead her deep into enemy territory. In the mountains of Saxony, concealed from allied eyes, the German Reich’s plans for keeping the U.S. from entering the conflict are revealed: the deployment of a new diabolical weapon upon the shores of America…
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints
Larry Correia, John Ringo
The No-Holds-Barred Final Entry in the Monster Hunter Memoirs Series from New York Times ?best-selling authors Larry Correia and John Ringo.
“This is New Orleans.” That mantra had rung in Chad Gadenier’s ears since his first day working in the Big Easy. Everything was different in New Orleans. The food. The climate. The monsters. Even the shadowy and reprehensible MCB was different. But that’s just the beginning.
The real reason New Orleans is so different is a larval Great Old One growing day by day in power and just about ready to pop. If Chad can’t convince “the powers that be” to get involved not only New Orleans but the entire world is going to fall under the power of the nastiest of nasties.
Now on the outs with the US Government and in exile from his usual job of saving the world, Chad must rally the forces of light against the coming darkness. The problem is one guy with a sword and a sub-gun isn’t going to solve this one.
Fortunately, Chad’s made a few friends over the years. And the Fey hate Old Ones as much as God’s people, and they’re not about to give up this world without a fight.
If the Saints don’t come marching in on this one . . . there won’t be a Final Battle. There will be a final massacre.
Now, where’d he put that number for the ditzy fey princess . . . ?
The Monster Hunter Memoirs series by Larry Correia and John Ringo:
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners
?Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints
The Monster Hunter series by Larry Correia:
Monster Hunter International
Monster Hunter Vendetta
Monster Hunter Alpha
Monster Hunter Legion
Monster Hunter Nemesis
Monster Hunter Siege
A Flicker of Steel (The Avalon Chronicles Book 2)
Avalon stands revealed, but the war is far from over. For Layla Cassidy, it has only just begun.
Thrust into a new world full of magic and monsters, Layla has finally come to terms with her supernatural powers—and left her old life behind. But her enemies are relentless.
Sixteen months after her life changed forever, Layla and her team are besieged during a rescue attempt gone awry and must fight their way through to freedom. It turns out that Avalon has only grown since their last encounter, adding fresh villains to its horde. Meanwhile, revelations abound as Layla confronts twists and betrayals in her own life, with each new detail adding to the shadow that looms over her.
As Layla fights against the forces of evil, her powers begin to increase—and she discovers more about the darkness that lies in her past. As this same darkness threatens her future, will she be ready to fight for everything she holds dear?
Kiss of the Spindle
Nancy Campbell Allen
A steampunk Sleeping Beauty story from the author of Beauty and the Clockwork Beast.
Doctor Isla Cooper is cursed. Literally. Each night, at the stroke of midnight she falls into a death-like sleep from which she cannot be awakened for six hours. To make it worse, the curse has an expiration date–after a year, it becomes permanent. And the year is almost up.
In a desperate attempt to find Malette–the witch who cursed her–Isla blackmails her way onto Daniel Pickett’s private airship bound for the Caribbean, only to discover she’s traveling with three illegal shapeshifters and the despicable Nigel Crowe, a government official determined to hunt down and exterminate every shapeshifter in England. Isla and Daniel must work together to keep the identities of the shapeshifters hidden while coming to terms with their own hidden secrets, and their blossoming attraction to each other.
Filled with suspense, intrigue, and plenty of romance, Kiss of the Spindle is steampunk Sleeping Beauty story. It is a race against the clock as Isla and Daniel try to hunt down the elusive Malette before Isla’s death-like sleep becomes permanent.
The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (Ghost Roads)
The second book in the Ghost Roads series returns to the highways of America, where hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall continues her battle with her killer–the immortal Bobby Cross.
Once and twice and thrice around,
Put your heart into the ground.
Four and five and six tears shed,
Give your love unto the dead.
Seven shadows on the wall,
Eight have come to watch your fall:
One’s for the gargoyle, one’s for the grave,
And the last is for the one you’ll never save.
For Rose Marshall, death has long since become the only life she really knows. She’s been sweet sixteen for more than sixty years, hitchhiking her way along the highways and byways of America, sometimes seen as an avenging angel, sometimes seen as a killer in her own right, but always Rose, the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Green Silk Gown.
The man who killed her is still out there, thanks to a crossroads bargain that won’t let him die, and he’s looking for the one who got away. When Bobby Cross comes back into the picture, there’s going to be hell to pay—possibly literally.
Rose has worked for decades to make a place for herself in the twilight. Can she defend it, when Bobby Cross comes to take her down? Can she find a way to navigate the worlds of the living and the dead, and make it home before her hitchhiker’s luck runs out?
There’s only one way to know for sure.
Nine will let you count the cost:
All you had and all you lost.
Ten is more than time can tell,
Cut the cord and ring the bell.
Count eleven, twelve, and then,
Thirteen takes you home again.
One’s for the shadow, one’s for the tree,
And the last is for the blessing of Persephone.
13 YA Titles Releasing in July
Arabella The Traitor of Mars (The Adventures of Arabella Ashby)
David D. Levine
Hail the conquering heroes!
The tyrant, Napoleon, hasbeen defeated with Arabella and the crew of the Diana leading the final charge. But, victory hascome at atremendous cost. Britain’s savior,Lord Nelson, has not survived the final battle and the good people of the Diana must now return to London as both heroes and pallbearers.
Atlast husband and wife, Arabella and Captain Singh seem to have earned theattention of great men, ones who have new uses in mind for the Mars Companycaptain and his young wife. Both Company and Crown have decided that it is timeto bring Mars into the folds of Empire, and they think Singh is the perfect manto do it.
Now,Arabella must decide between staying loyal to the man she loves and the countryof her father or betraying all that she has known to fight alongside theMartians in a hopeless resistance against the Galaxy’s last remaining superpower.
Heart of Thorns
Bree Barton
Inventive and heart-racing, this fierce feminist teen fantasy from debut author Bree Barton explores a dark kingdom in which only women can possess magic—and every woman is suspected of having it.
Fans of Leigh Bardugo and Laini Taylor won’t want to miss this gorgeously written, bold novel, the first in the Heart of Thorns trilogy.
In the ancient river kingdom, where touch is a battlefield and bodies the instruments of war, Mia Rose has pledged her life to hunting Gwyrach: women who can manipulate flesh, bones, breath, and blood. The same women who killed her mother without a single scratch.
But when Mia’s father announces an alliance with the royal family, she is forced to trade in her knives and trousers for a sumptuous silk gown. Determined to forge her own path forward, Mia plots a daring escape, but could never predict the greatest betrayal of all: her own body. Mia possesses the very magic she has sworn to destroy.
Now, as she untangles the secrets of her past, Mia must learn to trust her heart…even if it kills her.
Sarah Henning
Wicked meets The Little Mermaid in the captivating origin story of the sea’s most iconic villainess, perfect for fans of Heartless and Dorothy Must Die.
Ever since her best friend Anna died, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. Hiding her talents, mourning her loss, drowning in her guilt.
Then a girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears on the shore, and the two girls catch the eyes of two charming princes. Suddenly Evie feels like she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.
But magic isn’t kind, and her new friend harbors secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad—or on two legs—without Evie’s help. And when Evie reaches deep into the power of her magic to save her friend’s humanity—and her prince’s heart—she discovers, too late, what she’s bargained away.
Between Frost and Fury (The Xenith Trilogy)
Chani Lynn Feener
Delaney might have done her job a little TOO well…and now her life has once again been turned upside down by aliens, this time by a deadly (and devastatingly handsome) alien prince in this explosive second installment of Chani Lynn Feener’s The Xenith Trilogy.
Delaney has been kidnapped by aliens. Again. After only a month back on Earth with her hot new alien boyfriend Ruckus, the deadly and devastatingly handsome prince Trystan has dragged her right back to his planet.
While some girls may dream of winning a prince’s heart, Delaney just wishes this one would leave her alone. Instead, she finds herself at the center of both a tense political battle between two alien kingdoms and Trystan’s romantic attentions, both of which are absolutely ruining the life she’s built on Earth. Not to mention the fact that she’s about to be crowned queen of a planet she’s barely even visited. Just another day in the life of an ordinary human girl.
Readers won’t want to miss Between Frost and Fury, the compelling, fast-paced sequel to Chani Lynn Feener’s Amid Stars and Darkness.
Praise for Amid Stars and Darkness:
“Give to fans of Melissa Landers’s Alienated and Ally Condie’s Matched.” ?School Library Journal
“Makes for fun, fluffy reading.” ?Booklist
“A thoughtful, sexy adventure with winning characters just begging for a bedtime read.” ?VOYA
Endless Water, Starless Sky (Bright Smoke, Cold Fire)
Sabriel meets Romeo and Juliet in the stunning sequel to Bright Smoke, Cold Fire—from Rosamund Hodge, the author of Cruel Beauty and Crimson Bound.
In the last days of the world, the walls of Viyara are still falling, and the dead are rising faster than ever.
Juliet is trapped—ordered by Lord Ineo of the Mahyanai to sacrifice the remaining members of her family, the Catresou, to stave off the end of the world. Though they’re certain his plan is useless, Juliet and her former friend Runajo must comply with Lord Ineo’s wishes—unless they can discover a different, darker path to protecting Viyara.
Romeo is tortured: Finally aware that his true love is alive, he is at once elated and devastated, for his actions led directly to the destruction of her clan. The only way to redemption is to offer his life to the Catresou to protect and support them . . . even if it means dying to do so.
When Romeo’s and Juliet’s paths converge once again, only a journey into Death will offer answers and the key to saving them all—but is it a journey either of them will survive?
Competence (Custard Protocol)
From New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger comes the delightful sequel to Imprudence.
Accidentally abandoned!
All alone in Singapore, proper Miss Primrose Tunstell must steal helium to save her airship, the Spotted Custard, in a scheme involving a lovesick werecat and a fake fish tail.
When she uncovers rumors of a new kind of vampire, Prim and the Custard crew embark on a mission to Peru. There, they encounter airship pirates and strange atmospheric phenomena, and are mistaken for representatives of the Spanish Inquisition. Forced into extreme subterfuge (and some rather ridiculous outfits) Prim must also answer three of life’s most challenging questions:
Can the perfect book club give a man back his soul?
Will her brother ever stop wearing his idiotic velvet fez?
And can the amount of lard in Christmas pudding save an entire species?
Custard Protocol
Imprudence
For more from Gail Carriger, check out:
Parasol Protectorate
Changeless
Spill Zone: The Broken Vow
Three years ago an event destroyed the small city of Poughkeepsie, forever changing reality within its borders. Strange manifestations and lethal dangers now await anyone who enters the Spill Zone. Addison got close enough to the Spill Zone to touch it, literally. She survived the encounter, but came back changed.
It turns out she’s not alone. North Korea has its own Spill Zone, and a young man named Don Jae is the only one who made it out alive. Alive, but changed. Now Addison, Don Jae, and, curiously, a rag doll named Vespertine, share an unholy bond and uncanny powers.
From Scott Westerfeld, the inspired imagination behind the New York Times bestsellers Uglies and Leviathan, comes The Broken Vow, the second volume of our highly anticipated new graphic novel series.
The Brink of Darkness (The Edge of Everything)
“A dark, twisted thrill ride that is also a funny, warm-hearted romance . . . I adore it.” –Laini Taylor, author of the New York Times bestseller Strange the Dreamer and the forthcoming Muse of Nightmares
In this sequel to the cinematic, romantic fantasy The Edge of Everything, star-crossed X and Zoe must overcome the boundaries of their two worlds in order to find their way back to each other.
Things have changed for seventeen-year-old Zoe ever since the otherworldly events that brought her together with the mysterious bounty hunter she calls X. In order to save Zoe and her family, X has done the unthinkable–he’s given up his freedom and returned to captivity in the Lowlands.
X is determined to break the lords’ hold on him once and for all, but being stripped of his power pushes him toward a darkness he’s never experienced and a past he’s never known. The secrets that surface could be the key to reuniting X and Zoe . . . or they could mean the destruction of everything they have been fighting for.
Gripping and full of heart, this epic continuation of Jeff Giles’ series will bring readers right to the edge of everything.
The Supervillain and Me
Danielle Banas
As witty as it is heartpounding, this fresh take on the beloved superhero genre is all about finding your own way to shine even when it seems everyone else around you is, well… super.
Never trust a guy in spandex.
In Abby Hamilton’s world, superheroes do more than just stop crime and save cats stuck in trees?they also drink milk straight from the carton and hog the television remote. Abby’s older brother moonlights as the famous Red Comet, but without powers of her own, following in his footsteps has never crossed her mind.
That is, until the city’s newest vigilante comes bursting into her life.
After saving Abby from an attempted mugging, Morriston’s fledgling supervillain Iron Phantom convinces her that he’s not as evil as everyone says, and that their city is under a vicious new threat. As Abby follows him deeper into their city’s darkest secrets, she comes to learn that heroes can’t always be trusted, and sometimes it’s the good guys who wear black.
Chosen by readers like you for Macmillan’s young adult imprint Swoon Reads, The Supervillain and Me is a hilarious, sweet, and action-packed novel by debut author Danielle Banas that proves no one is perfect, not even superheroes.
Praise for The Supervillain and Me:
“Get ready for a wild ride in this zany, high-action thriller.” ?Booklist
“Banas adeptly keeps readers guessing about Iron Phantom’s identity and provides plenty of romantic tension, which will satisfy even die-hard fans of the genre.” ?School Library Journal
“Action, comedy, romance, you name it, this book has got it!” ?KayleyKing, reader on SwoonReads.com
Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel
A. W. Jantha
Hocus Pocus is beloved by Halloween enthusiasts all over the world. Diving once more into the world of witches, this electrifying two-part young adult novel, released on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1993 film, marks a new era of Hocus Pocus. Fans will be spellbound by a fresh retelling of the original film, followed by the all-new sequel that continues the story with the next generation of Salem teens.
Shortly after moving from California to Salem, Massachusetts, Max Dennison finds himself in hot water when he accidentally releases a coven of witches, the Sanderson sisters, from the afterlife. Max, his sister, and his new friends (human and otherwise) must find a way to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plan and remaining on earth to torment Salem for all eternity.
Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don’t quite go as planned, it’s a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches’ latest vile scheme.
Alpha (An Infinity Division Novel)
Jus Accardo
Sera has no memory of her life before. Before captivity, before experiments, before the only lifeline she had was the voice of a boy in the cell next to hers. Before G.
G wishes he could forget everything before Sera brought him back to life. Forget his memories as a ruthless mercenary on an alternate version of Earth. Forget that he was part of an experiment simply known as Alpha.
Now on the run from their captors and in need of an antidote to save his life, G and Sera’s clock is ticking. And they’ll have to gamble everything on the bond they forged in captivity if they want to survive.
The Infinity Division series is best enjoyed in order.
Reading Order:
Book #1 Infinity
Book #2 Omega
Book #3 Alpha
Smoke and Iron (The Great Library)
To save the Great Library, the unforgettable characters from Ink and Bone, Paper and Fire, and Ash and Quill put themselves in danger in the next thrilling adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.
The opening moves of a deadly game have begun. Jess Brightwell has put himself in direct peril, with only his wits and skill to aid him in a game of cat and mouse with the Archivist Magister of the Great Library. With the world catching fire, and words printed on paper the spark that lights rebellion, it falls to smugglers, thieves, and scholars to save a library thousands of years in the making…if they can stay alive long enough to outwit their enemies.
Kiss of the Royal
Lindsey Duga
Princess Ivy has one goal—end the war against the Forces of Darkness.
Ivy’s magic is more powerful than any other Royal’s, but she needs a battle partner who can help her harness it. Prince Zach’s unparalleled skill with a sword should make them an unstoppable pair—if only they could agree on…well, just about anything.
But Ivy’s magic can only fully unlock with Zach’s help, and he’s not exactly cooperating.
Zach believes Ivy’s magic is dangerous. Ivy believes they’ll never win the war without it. Two warriors, one goal, and the fate of their world on the line. But the more they argue, the more they fall for each other. And only one of them can be right…
Fawkes: A Novel
Nadine Brandes
“Fawkes is the perfect mix of history and magic.” – Cynthia Hand, New York Times bestselling author of My Lady Jane
Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.
Silent wars leave the most carnage.The wars that are never declared but are carried out in dark alleys with masks and hidden knives. Wars where color power alters the natural rhythm of 17th-century London. And when the king calls for peace, no one listens until he finally calls for death.
But what if death finds him first?
Keepers think the Igniters caused the plague. Igniters think the Keepers did it. But all Thomas knows is that the Stone Plague infecting his eye is spreading. And if he doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be a lifeless statue. So when his Keeper father, Guy Fawkes, invites him to join the Gunpowder Plot–claiming it will put an end to the plague–Thomas is in.
The plan: use 36 barrels of gunpowder to blow up the Igniter King.
The problem: Doing so will destroy the family of the girl Thomas loves. But backing out of the plot will send his father and the other plotters to the gallows. To save one, Thomas will lose the other.
No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back.
Source : All Things Urban Fantasy
Libellés : A Paraitre, Couvertures, News, VO
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Public Sector Economics
Over-bureaucratisation in public procurement: purposes and results*
Juraj Nemec*
Juraj Nemec
Affiliation: Faculty of Economics and Administration, Brno, Czech Republic; Matej Bel University, Faculty of Economics, Department of Finance and Accounting, Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic
juraj.nemec@umb.sk
Matus Grega*
Matus Grega
Affiliation: Matej Bel University, Faculty of Economics, Department of Finance and Accounting, Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic
Marta Orviska*
Marta Orviska
Review article | Year: 2020 | Pages: 251 - 263 | Volume: 44 | Issue: 2
Received: July 22, 2019 | Accepted: October 19, 2019 | Published online: June 1, 2020
Download citation https://doi.org/10.3326/pse.44.2.5
Juraj Nemec, Matus Grega, Marta Orviska
https://doi.org/10.3326/pse.44.2.5 | Published online: June 1, 2020
The difference between estimated and contractual prices in Slovakia (%)
Non-weighted difference
Weighted difference (according to tender values)
Source: Compiled by the authors using data from tender.sme.sk
Transactions costs in public procurement
Ex-ante
Ex-post
- Preparing tender documentation
- Administering tender preparation fees to involved external experts
- Legal expertise costs
- Administration of running tender
- Re-start of cancelled procedure
- Costs connected with contract amendments
- Costs of cancellation or delay
- Costs connected to control/remedy procedures
- Legal costs
- Preparing bid costs to fulfil qualification criteria
- Guarantees
- Communication with tenderer
- Costs connected with delays and cancellation
Source: Authors, adapting Pavel (2007; 2013).
Administrative person-day costs of EU procurement 2008 (selected countries)
Source: Authors, adapting Strand, Ramada and Canton (2011).
Direct costs of tender preparation by firms as percentage of estimated price
Note: The number of * shows frequency of answers, *** means the most frequent response.
Source: Nemec et al. (2016: 1753).
Indirect costs of procurement by firms as percentage of estimated price
Number of cancelled tenders in Slovakia (in thousands)
Source: Authors, data from www.uvo.gov.sk, 2016.
Legislative changes to the Slovak public procurement law
Source: Own calculations.
Quantitative analysis of Slovakia’s public procurement law
Law number
Validity date
Normalised pages
Including annexes
263/1993 Coll.
25/2006 Coll.
Source: Own calculations (normalised page = 1800 signs).
The frequency of the use of the lowest price criterion to select tender winners (in %)
Source: Authors, based on data from Tenders Electronic Daily.
Lowest price and MEAT criteria used in Slovakia (in %)
Source: Authors, data on completed tenders from Tenders Electronic Daily.
2 Transaction costs in public procurement
3 Selected evidence of “over-bureaucratisation” in Slovakia
4 Core sources of over-bureaucratisation in Slovak public procurement
Most countries spend large sums of money (10 to 15% of their GDP) to procure goods, services and other work from private suppliers. Given this large public procurement market, it is clear that poor procurement practices might hinder sustainable development and negatively impact public finances and economic growth. This article uses data from the Czech Republic and Slovakia to show that these countries’ procurement systems are over-bureaucratised, and tries to identify the causes and results of such a situation. Our findings confirm that the systems investigated are characterised by legislation that is both too detailed and frequently amended, and an administrative culture that prefers compliance to performance. With over-bureaucratisation, procurement officials opt for a Rechtsstaat administrative culture of “bureaucratic safety” that generates excessive levels of passive waste of public resources.
Keywords: public procurement; Slovakia; Czech Republic; bureaucracy
JEL: H57
Public procurement accounts for a very large proportion of public expenditure. Most OECD countries spend 10 to 15% of their GDP (Pavel, 2013) to procure goods, services and other work from private suppliers. Poor procurement practices might hinder sustainable development and negatively impact public finance and economic growth.
The core standard principles of public procurement are transparency, integrity, efficiency/economy, openness, fairness, competition and accountability (Pavel, 2013). The current practice stresses that organizations engaged in sustainable procurement meet their needs for goods, services, utilities and works with a view to maximizing own, but also broad social benefits, for example by taking into account environmental and social considerations. However, if too much bureaucracy is involved in public procurement, its individual and social goals are hard to achieve.
Higher transparency may, for example, in some cases lead to lower efficiency in the public procurement system, especially if it is translated into over-bureaucratisation of the procurement processes. Too much stress on process instead of results may prevent sustainable purchasing, as compliance and the lowest possible final price are the ultimate goals for purchasing entities. The above seems to afflict many developing countries, and countries with a Rechtsstaat tradition.
Our recent research mapped the core barriers limiting the efficiency of the Slovak public procurement system (Grega et al., 2019). We began with a small number of face-to-face in-depth interviews with specialist procurement advisors to contracting authorities. In the second stage, we sent questionnaires to 13,571 suppliers and to 4,300 contracting authorities. The final response rate was fully sufficient to be a representative sample. We received 211 answers from contracting authorities (4.91% response rate) and 626 answers from suppliers (4.79% response rate).
Amongst other questions we asked respondents to choose up to three factors that, in their opinion, adversely affected the efficiency of public procurement. The representatives of contractors ranked excessive bureaucracy as the most important factor (143 answers); the suppliers ranked excessive bureaucracy as the second most important factor (369 answers), just three votes behind the non-ethical behaviour of public procurement officials.
The goal of this article is to use data from the Czech Republic and Slovakia to show that the situation is as complicated as the views of the Slovak procurement specialists interviewed and the respondents to our survey suggest, and to try to identify why that is, and what follows from such a situation.
The paper is based on a combination of simple quantitative and qualitative research methods. After a short literature review, the main section documents selected aspects of the over-bureaucratisation of both Czech and Slovak public procurement. This is followed by an identification of the core reasons for such over-bureaucratisation, and what consequences flow from it. A brief summaryconcludes.
Experts agree (e.g. Bandiera, Prat and Valletti, 2009; Pavel, 2013; Strand, Ramada and Canton, 2011) that excessive bureaucracy in public procurement increases transaction costs and may also decrease the level of competition, with negative impacts on the final outcomes from the procurement process.
Transaction costs limit the level of savings achieved by effective public procurement procedures. Table 1 indicates the differences between the estimated price and final contract price in Slovakia – we return to it in later in the text. Up to a certain level, increasing competition also positively influences the final price.
The theory of transaction costs is especially associated with Coase ( 1937; 1960). Later major contributions were made by, amongst others, Williamson ( 1985), Demsetz ( 1968), and Barzel ( 1985). Amongst Czech and Slovak authors who have written on transaction costs, Pavel ( 2007; 2013) created a taxonomy of the main types of transaction costs connected with public procurement. His scheme, with some adaptations by the authors, is set out in Table 2.
Other authors dealing with transaction costs for the Czech and Slovak Republics are Strand, Ramada and Canton ( 2011), Pavel ( 2013), Svejda ( 2010), and Sumpikova et al. ( 2015; 2016). Svejda’s estimates of transaction costs in Slovak public procurement vary between 0.25 and 5.6% of contracts’ value. For the Czech Republic Pavel ( 2013) calculated median transactions costs per participant at 0.4% of contract value. By factoring in the probability of success in bidding, his data suggest that the winning firm’s transaction costs are 4.6% of the contract’s value. According to Placek, Pucek and Ochrana ( 2019) the core factors determining the level of transaction costs in public procurement are the quality of the legislative and regulatory framework; the type and method of procurement; the expected volume; management’s experience, especially on the procurer’s side; post-award behaviour and the attitudes of participants.
Excessive bureaucracy may have a negative impact on competitiveness in public procurement procedures (an issue which is in the focus of academic research about public procurement). Gupta ( 2002) analysed 1,937 tenders for highway construction in Florida, for 1981-1986, and found that the lowest prices could be achieved with 6 to 8 bidders. Brannman, Klein and Weiss ( 1987) analysed US auctions for timber and oil exploration, while Kuhlman and Johnson ( 1983) analysed US highway construction projects in 1975-1980. Both studies confirmed the impact of competition on the final price. Similar results were obtained by Gilley and Karels ( 1981); Elberfeld and Wolfstetter ( 1999); Szymanski ( 1996); and Millet et al. ( 2004). Pavel ( 2010) analysed procurement for Czech road and railway infrastructure finding that on average an extra bidder led to a price fall of 3.27%. For Slovakia, Sipos and Klatik ( 2013) analysed all levels of procurement in 2012 with similar findings: the price decreases, at a decreasing rate, as the number of bids rises, up to a maximum of five. Similar results were confirmed by Grega and Nemec ( 2015a; 2015b), though the authors emphasise the fact that public procurement in Slovakia is the least competitive of all EU countries.
Too much bureaucracy might be one possible purpose for the limited competition in the Czech and Slovak public procurement. To participate in a public procurement procedure, potential suppliers need to cope with a lot of bureaucracy. Firms, for example, need to provide a lot of materials to confirm their compliance with the qualification requirements, generating extra costs and entry barriers, important especially for smaller firms.
The fact of excessive bureaucracy, and hence of excessive transaction costs in Slovak public procurement, was confirmed by Strand, Ramada and Canton ( 2011: 83) who estimated the administrative costs of public procurement connected with participation in above-EU threshold tenders, for 2008 (Table 3).
During our own research in the Czech Republic (Sumpikova et al., 2016) we asked interviewed firms to estimate two things. First, the percentage of direct costs connected with the preparation of bids (including drafting a budget, a technical proposal, and bank guarantees). Second, the size of indirect transaction costs, such as legal costs in case of complaints and reviews, and fees for complaints. A summary of the responses from the statistically significant sample of building firms is provided in Tables 4 and 5.
According to responses the core direct transaction costs are the salaries of involved employees, IT costs (especially the purchasing of necessary software), the need to purchase additional equipment (cars, copy machines, telephones), and the training of employees responsible for preparing the bid. The estimates of indirect costs are surprisingly high. The firms argued that building firms are subjects of “dirty” competition practices during tendering. Unsuccessful tenderers frequently submit complaints deliberately to slow down the tender realisation and to penalise winners. Note that winners may need to hire expensive legal services to defend their positions and their capacities reserved for this concrete bid may not be used because of tender delays. The practice may even go further – one interviewed expert in Slovakia confirmed that there are already firms that formally participate in the tender, but their aim is not to win the contract, but, when the bids have been ranked by the procurers, to contact the winner and ask for a special “fee” for agreeing not to file appeals and complaints.
Placek, Pucek and Ochrana ( 2019) have data showing that the probability of procurement process revisions in the Czech Republic procedures is rather high. For example, almost 1.5% of all open tenders are subject to the regulator’s revision procedure. The fact that almost 20% of complaints are approved by the regulator may mean that procurers are not well qualified, but also may mean that the legislation is overcomplicated (see below).
Transaction costs also increase because of the relatively high number of cancelled tenders. In such a situation all direct and indirect costs incurred by firms are merely wasted resources. This has a really damaging impact on the procurement system (Figure 1).
DISPLAY Figure
Over-bureaucratisation can also be documented by the legislative developments. The typical response of the Slovak and Czech governments to public procurement implementation problems, is to enshrine any changes in ever more detailed and complex legislation. We mapped two aspects – the number of changes to the Slovak public procurement law, and the number of pages of the law. This followed the methodology of Pavel ( 2013). Figure 2 and Table 6 show the results.
Frequent changes reduce the chance to deliver procurement in a legally correct way – officials may not even be able to finish re-training for a new version of the law before the next revision is passed. The enlarged law generates many concomitant regulatory and internal administrative norms. This complicates procurement execution for both suppliers and contracting authorities. Both suppliers and contractors used their options to provide verbal comments on this issue, when responding to the questionnaire. Here are two quotes to document the situation:
“The Slovak public procurement law is not for humans. It is complicated, extensive and difficult to understand. Some paragraphs lack explanations, links and implications. It requires too much in administrative actions, paperwork and time”. (Contracting official)
The bureaucracy it is necessary to accept is unbelievable. I am not sure that it was proposed by a “normal human being”. It must be designed by people who do not understand private business at all. (Supplier)
A comprehensive procurement bureaucracy delivers one more problematic outcome worth documenting. In a standard tender the contracting authority has the right to decide if it will select the supplier on the basis of the lowest price, i.e. the criterion of economy, or on the basis of the most economically advantageous bid, that is the efficiency criterion (the MEAT criterion). Figure 3 shows that the number of decisions based on the criterion of economy in countries like Slovakia is extremely high. This is despite the use of the criterion of economy for selecting future suppliers being a rather risky decision.
The new EU procurement directives, effective from 2014, strongly recommend not using lowest price as the selection criterion for works and services, for reasons noted above. Table 7 shows that the EU advice has largely been ignored in Slovakia.
The core cause of over-bureaucratisation of public procurement, and of some other areas of public administration in Slovak and Czech Republics, is the administrative culture, which reflects wider societal and political culture and values. The European Public Administration Country Knowledge (EUPACK) summary report (Thijs, Hammerschmidt and Palaric, 2017) mapped the administrative culture in all EU countries and its connection to public administration being mostly procedural in the majority of them. According to this report, managerial public administration exists only in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The vast majority of new EU member states have procedural public administration systems, with the exception of Estonia, Croatia and Poland, which are characterised as mixed systems.
A connected result is the level of regulatory density. “Red-tape” – that is a high level of regulatory density – is characteristic of all new EU members, save the Baltic States, which are assessed as having medium regulatory density. The combination of a strong procedural logic and a high regulatory density confirms the continuing high persistency of a more traditional Weberian bureaucracy in most new EU member states. This judgement has been confirmed by the Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future (COCOPS) project (Hammerschmid et al., 2016).
In Slovakia, administrative tradition and culture are definitely based on the tradition of the Rechtsstaat, characterised in general by the dominant role of law and legalism in the way the government thinks and acts. Compliance is much more important than performance. If such a Rechtsstaat tradition dominates the administration of the public procurement system, which is true for the Slovak Republic, the results can be very damaging, especially because such a situation will lead to what has been called a passive waste of resources. This phenomenon has been well mapped by Bandiera, Prat and Valletti ( 2009) who claim that passive waste has a variety of causes, but especially important are a lack of skills and incentives to minimise costs, and an excessive regulatory burden. Their example of this burden is from the US Military, whose procurement system includes a 26-page description of chocolate cookies or brownies.
Passive waste in public procurement in Czech and Slovak conditions was first explored by Pavel ( 2013), and later by others, such as Sumpikova et al., ( 2016). The findings suggest that for example, in relation to the above described overfrequent use of the lowest price selection criterion, procurement officials are reluctant to bear the risks and extra work of using more complicated criteria. They also have only limited access to information on how to apply the MEAT criterion appropriately. The data collected by OTIDEA (Langr, 2013) throw light on the situation in the Czech Republic, where, according to the responses, 85% of procurers use lowest price as winner selection criterion, because they are afraid of complaints by bidders.
These findings not only confirm problems noted by Bandiera, Prat and Valletti ( 2009), but also add an additional explanation to the variety of sources of passive waste: bureaucratic safety. Public officials are not only insufficiently motivated and inadequately trained to achieve savings, but their first priority is legal safety. This requires full compliance with regulations, and is independent of the financial results of an operation. Bureaucratic safety behaviour in an already over-bureaucratised system converts the will to achieve economy or efficiency in public procurement operations into a “mission impossible”.
This preference of procurement officials for safety can also help explain the results reported in Table 1 at the beginning of this text. The savings look very optimistic, but their main purpose is to over-estimate the price in the tender documentation. Soudek and Skuhrovec ( 2013) analysing electricity and gas supplies, where market price comparisons are straightforward, as both commodities are homogeneous, confirmed that the expected price in tender documentation is normally over-estimated. However, they were unsure of the extent to which the over-estimates reflect a desire to show savings in the final deal or to which they just reflect caution.
This article documents the phenomenon of over-bureaucratisation of the public procurement systems of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The data collected clearly confirm that the public procurement legislation is too comprehensive and generates high transaction costs, some of which may reflect the opportunistic/mafia type behaviour of certain tenderers.
The core finding of this paper is that in countries with Rechtsstaat-based administrative cultures, the over-bureaucratisation of public procurement, combined with limited incentives for public officials to make savings, and their preference for “bureaucratic safety”, represent core barriers to achieving efficient public procurement. For most procurement officials, who focus on compliance, public procurement is simply an administrative process, and not a public financial management task. Such an environment generates excessive passive waste, whose size is as yet unknown in detail, but whose mapping may be a project for further research.
The practical question resulting from these findings is obvious: How can bureaucratic and management aspects of procurement be optimally combined, i.e. how can the level of bureaucracy in procurement be optimised? However, there is no simple answer to this question, especially for countries with administrative systems like the Czech or Slovak Republics. Long term systemic changes of the whole administrative system should be the base – the switch of focus from process to results (achieved by proper, but not too complicated procedures) is the core “medicine”. Without this, although some marginal changes – like simplifying qualification procedures, formal preference to MEAT instead of price – might be possible, their impact on the system performance would be insignificant and real sustainable procurement impossible.
The preparation of this paper was supported by the Slovak Grant Agency APVV, project APVV-17-0360.
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Placek, M., Pucek, M. and Ochrana, F., 2019. Identifying Corruption Risk: A Comparison of Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 21(4), pp. 366-384 [CrossRef]
Sipos, G. and Klatik, P., 2013. Kvalita verejného obstarávania na Slovensku v roku 2012. Bratislava: Transparency International Slovakia.
Soudek, J. and Skuhrovec, J., 2013. Public Procurement of Homogeneous Goods: the Czech Republic Case Study. IES Working Paper, No. 5.
Strand, I., Ramada, P. and Canton, E., 2011. Public Procurement in Europe: Cost and Effectiveness. Brussels: European Commission.
Sumpikova, M. [et al.], 2015. Selected Factors Determining the Performance of the Czech Public Procurement System. In P. Loster and T. Pavelka, eds. The 9th International Days of Statistics and Economics: Conference Proceedings. Prague: University of Economics, pp. 1508-1517 [CrossRef]
Sumpikova, M. [et al.], 2016. Transaction Costs in the Public Procurement: Selected Findings from Czech and Slovak Conditions. In: P. Loster and T. Pavelka, eds. Proceedings from International Scientific Conference International Days of Statistics and Economics. Prague: University of Economics in Prague, pp. 1749-1758 [CrossRef]
Svejda, J., 2010. Transaction Costs in Slovak Public Procurement. Prague: University of Economics.
Szymanski, S., 1996. The Impact of Compulsory Competitive Tendering on Refuse Collection Services. Fiscal Studies, 17(3), pp. 1–19 [CrossRef]
Tenders Electornic Daily. The European public procurement journal.
Thijs, N., Hammerschmid, G. and Palaric, E., 2017. Characteristics of EU Public Administrations: Synthesis report. Brussels: EU Commission.
Williamson, O., 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: The Free Press.
II/2020
Edward N. Wofff
Wealth taxation in the United States
Antonija Buljan, Milan Deskar-Škrbić, Mirna Dumičić
What drives banks’ appetite for sovereign debt in CEE countries?
Marek Góra, Anna Ruzik-Sierdzińska
Migration with pension reform expectations
Mario Bambulović, Miljana Valdec
Testing the characteristics of macroprudential policies’ differential impact on foreign and domestic banks’ lending in Croatia
Over-bureaucratisation in public procurement: purposes and results
DOI: 10.3326/pse
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Home / Darlington Raceway / Rebecca Kivak / TV Schedule / TV Schedule: Sept. 4-6
TV Schedule: Sept. 4-6
Rebecca Kivak
Credit: NASCAR Via Getty Images
NASCAR returns to Darlington Raceway for the Labor Day weekend - and the sport is celebrating with a throwback weekend.
The Sprint Cup Series and the XFINITY Series will try to tame the Lady in Black, one of the most difficult tracks on the circuit.
The Camping World Truck Series is on a break until Sept. 18 at Chicagoland Speedway.
The following is a handy guide to track events this weekend st Darlington. All times are in Eastern Standard Time.
Friday, Sept. 4:
11 a.m. Sprint Cup Series practice, NBCSN
1 p.m. XFINITY Series practice, NBCSN
3 p.m. XFINITY Series final practice, NBCSN
4:30 p.m. Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN
9:30 p.m. Sprint Cup Series final practice (re-air), NBCSN
Saturday, Sept. 5:
10 a.m. Sprint Cup Series final practice (re-air), NBCSN
11:30 a.m. XFINITY Series Qualifying, NBCSN
1:30 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, NBCSN
3 p.m. XFINITY Series Countdown to Green, NBC
3:30 p.m. XFINITY Series: VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200, NBC
Sunday, Sept. 6:
6 p.m. Sprint Cup Series: Countdown to Green, NBCSN
7 p.m. Sprint Cup Series: Bojangles' Southern 500, NBC
11 p.m. NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
Midnight (Monday) NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1. Re-air at 2:30 a.m.
TV Schedule: Sept. 4-6 Reviewed by Rebecca Kivak on Friday, September 04, 2015 Rating: 5
Tags Darlington Raceway X Rebecca Kivak X TV Schedule
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The Stonehenge Barrow Map
From https://www.facebook.com/barrowmap/ Simon Banton, the renown Stonehenge expert, writes:
"In 1812, Sir Richard Colt Hoare (henceforth RCH) published "The Ancient History of Wiltshire, Vol. 1" - a magnificent work (one of a pair - volume 2 followed later) which detailed the work he sponsored and William Cunnington supervised in the years before and after the turn of the 19th century.
Aided by Stephen and John Parker, this ensemble excavated many hundreds of burial mounds across Wiltshire. It was one of the earliest attempts at scientific archaeological recording as opposed to simple treasure hunting. Many of the finds ultimately ended up in Wiltshire Museum and the descriptions of the barrows' excavations are a valuable resource.
There is a map in Ancient Wiltshire labelled "Stonehenge and its Environs", drawn by Philip Crocker, that depicts the landscape around the monument together with the barrows that had been investigated and numbered by RCH during this work. RCH also grouped the barrows into several areas in his "Stations" and "Itineraries" in the text, but not totally consistently in all cases.
These days, we don't use RCH's barrow numbers.
Instead there are several different standards such as the Goddard/Grinsell Parish Numbers (eg Amesbury G15), the National Monuments Record Number (eg SU 14 SW 104), the Historic England Monument Number (eg 219732) or the Wiltshire & Swindon Historic Environment Record Number (eg MWI12998 SU14SW835).
All of the above refer to the same barrow - one called "Sun Barrow" - which is RCH's barrow number 164 in his Amesbury grouping.
It can be a real challenge to correlate information that uses one system with other information that uses a different system. What's more, there isn't (or wasn't) anything online that allowed you to find a barrow via any of these systems and see the reference numbers (and links to) the other systems alongside.
That sort of thing tends to frustrate someone like me so I created a Google Map backed by a Google Spreadsheet and set about matching up the data into a single reference work for the barrows shown on RCH's famous map. It took about 6 months to achieve - two days to do the coding, the rest of the time going through each of the sources carefully matching records together. Unsurprisingly, there are some errors in each of the reference sources so I sent in reports of discrepancies along the way and the custodians of those sources have been able to update the information in them to fix things.
There are still inconsistencies - it's inevitable. In the time between RCH's excavation and numbering of a barrow and Goddard and Grinsell's work in the early and mid 20th century, mechanized ploughing has obliterated many previously upstanding earthworks. Since RCH didn't have GPS or even decent OS maps to go by, determining exactly which slight rise in the ground matches which particular one of his barrows can be a huge problem.
Nonetheless, the end result is useful I hope. "
http://web.org.uk/barrowmap
Posted by Tim Daw at Friday, August 26, 2016
David Gouldstone 27 August 2016 at 18:03
An extraordinary achievement! Thank you. I shall use it often.
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Tag: wolverine
Dear Activision
by ravenbait on Oct.18, 2009, under games, Reviews
Very well, I forgive you. I forgive you because of the sheer joy of sticking one of the annoying Assassin girlies in a cement mixer.
I wanna do that again.
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Sam reviews… Wolverine Origins
by ravenbait on Oct.18, 2009, under games, Miscellany, Reviews
Wolverine: Origins, Uncaged Edition
It’s not usual for me to review a game before I’ve finished it, but I’ll make an exception today because Frood is busy with Quantum of Solace (which is just Mace Griffin with an English accent).
First of all, let’s just do the wibbly-wobbly flashback thing. Imagine everything going a bit blurry like the teleporter effect from Blake’s Seven. You still with me?
Back in 2003 Marvel and Activision released Wolverine’s Revenge to coincide with the release of the second X-Men film — a blatant bit of Wolverine publicity if ever there was one, which made Magneto’s comment to Logan (“Once again, you think it’s all about you.”) even more lulz-worthy.
As it happened, this was a great game. It really was. The stealth kills and smell-o-vision were very well done, and made sense in terms of characterisation. I really enjoyed this game until it got a bit too frenetic for fun right up at the end. As I’ve said before and probably will do again, Activision do have previous for decent games based on the Marvel universe.
The new Origins game is an 18, so immediately you can tell that there is going to be gore. And there is. Lots of it. Which is kind of groovy. I don’t know about you but I get really ticked off with slicing and dicing and people falling over like rag dolls. If I’m kicking the living shit out of something I want see evidence. This game has it in spades.
It is also of the button mashy school, where chaining comboes means hitting the square button three zillion times before punctuating with triangle. This is, to be fair, reasonably similar to the previous Wolverine game, so I can’t complain about that too much. I just find it difficult to keep track of how many times I’ve pressed the square button when I’m being assaulted by three mutant wendigoes the size of Methodist churches, 10 killer robots and about 50 machine gunners.
You see, this game has decided that “increased difficulty” means “send more goons in to shoot him”. I’m not a huge fan of this. Indeed, it pisses me off to the point where, several times, I have been swearing at the screen, my controller slippery with sweat and my hand cramping as I try to dodge, block, roll, counter and pull off a berserker fury all at the same time while being shot to shit by an entire army of mooks who are all yelling “He’s hurt, he’s hurt, keep up the pressure!” It’s just not fun. It’s merely frustrating.
There are some really weird gaming decisions, too, like the scene in which you have to dodge the bullets from a sniper and fight off the inevitable goons while you are looking at yourself through the sniper’s sights. WTF? It’s hard enough dealing with a squad of machine guns at the best of times, but when you can’t see half of them because there are trees between the sniper who’s trying to kill you and both you and them, it’s impossible.
Which leads me to the dodgy camera angles. The camera appears to have a mind of its own and a sense of humour akin to that of GLaDOS. Why yes, thank you, I do so enjoy trying to fight off one of the stronger bad guys while my view is entirely obstructed by the freakin’ CEILING. Or the FLOOR. When fighting the camera follows Logan around like a slavish puppy, despite the supposed right stick control, so most of the time you’re staring at his arse while some giant robot pounds on him with RPGs you can’t see until they hit you because they’re coming from off-camera. This is unfortunate, because you’re supposed to counter projectiles by hitting them back at the source.
Ah yes. Countering. Hit L2 at just the right time to enable a bullet-time segment where you can hit square and perform a special attack. But “the right time” has to be precise to the millisecond, as far as I can tell. Too soon and he merely blocks, and that’s about as exciting and helpful as a dairy cow in the dressage ring.
The power-up bar in this game is rage, and Logan can accumulate rage by killing things or destroying certain items in the landscape. Once enough rage has been accumulated he has access to his superpowers of claw drill, claw cyclone, claw spin or, my personal favourite, berserker mode. He can tell which ones will give him rage because in this game smell-o-vision is a false-colour heat haze affair in which important things have certain colours. Red things are dangerous, yellow things can be destroyed for rage orbs and green things are useful in some way. Rather than the scent trails of the previous game, which made sense, and allowed you to sneak up on unseen enemies and spit them like a pig, this one has funny colours and sort of a blue breeze that indicates where you should go next. Not that you need to be told where to go next because it’s so linear you can’t even go exploring in the scenery a couple of feet from the path. No wandering about for you!
Yes, once more Activision have given us a game in which the scenery really is only scenery. This means it’s not much of a challenge to pick up the bonus items like the figurines that open up the costumes, which is presumably why you then have to complete a near-impossible bonus challenge in order to unlock said costume. Much as I’d like to unlock said costumes, I’m not sure I have the patience or the thumb stamina to fight a version of the character who has unlimited rage and all the combat reflexes of a highly trained cyborg ninja while mine has enough angry to shout at a used teabag and the reflexes of an asthmatic slug.
The gameplay is, thankfully, more varied than Ultimate Alliance 2, in that there are traps to avoid and jumping tests and the occasional puzzle. You can see where they’ve taken some hints and tips from Prince of Persia. The underlying God of War engine is also fairly obvious in the methods of dispatch for the larger, tougher enemies, especially the mutant wendigoes. These are not bad things. I like a bit of variety in my gameplay, which is why I find it so utterly bizarre and frustrating that they should have given us that and yet their combat difficulty is just throwing more and more and more things at Wolverine so he is forced to spend more time dodging and running around looking for a space to allow his healing factor to kick in before his guts spill out.
Generally the difficulty curve goes like this: start a section with a few standard grunts. Meet a whole bunch of grunts with a few of the special elite grunts who are harder to kill. Find yourself in a room with even more of them, plus some of the bastards that need a special move to kill. Fight until your hand aches. Move into a big, empty room where suddenly some new extra-difficult bad guy turns up and says “HAI!” Kill him and three more turn up and all attack at once. Swear a lot. Finally make it through that only to discover that now you’re fair game for all previous bad guys plus the new extra tough bad guys to throw down on you in vast numbers all at the same time. Rinse and repeat.
Frankly this game makes me go “GRRRRRR!” at the telly almost as much as Logan does on it. This is an adult’s game with childishly repetitive combat.
That said, you know, it’s not all bad. The feral senses could have — and should have — been done a lot better but, if you were a bad guy and had the crazy Canucklehead coming after you, would you send just one or two grunts? No. At the end of the day, if you’ve got Wolverine on your territory you send every man you have, armed to the teeth, and tell them not to stop firing until they run out of bullets or are dead.
And they will, trust me, end up dead. For while there are times when I have been reduced to screaming “FOR FUCK’S SAKE JUST DIE, WILL YOU?!” there is something deeply satisfying about going from a room full of mooks to a room full of dismembered mooks. Especially when, as occasionally happens, Logan moves in the blink of any eye from ripping some guy to shreds to answering his phone as if his mum has just called to ask if he’s coming round for dinner.
Ideally this would have had the stealth and the sneaking of the first Wolverine game combined with the potential for wholesale death and destruction on offer here. I should have been able to choose between sneaking up a scent trail for a silent claw through the gut or the incredibly useful lunge (the lunge is, at least while I’m playing, Wolverine’s primary mode of travel). As it is we have a gore-fest blender of a game with occasional challenges based mostly on being fast enough and pressing the right button at the right time. This isn’t a game you can get through without dying, frequently, unlike MUA2: it’s giving me RSI and blisters and is occasionally chuck-the-controller-at-the-telly frustrating. For all its flaws, however, it hasn’t given me the same sense of shocked betrayal that the film did.
It hasn’t, at least not yet, made me cry. Still, I suppose there’s plenty of time.
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Sam reviews
by ravenbait on May.02, 2009, under movies
I’m warning you now, there will be spoilers. Just one or two. The problem is that I can’t think of any way to tell you what I really feel without revealing a couple of things that would otherwise come as a complete surprise, especially to the fellow Marvel fans out there. What I’m hoping is that all the fans who are as sad as I am will already have seen it and everyone else won’t give a crap.
However, here’s your chance to look away. Look away now if spoilers concern you.
I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I heard it was being made, which is probably not the best way to approach a film. Marvel’s track record with movie adaptations is fairly hit and miss. The first two X-Men movies were great; the third one was a great big wobbly pile of shite. Iron Man rocked; Spider-Man was emo even before Venom got in on the act. There are two Hulks. Fans disagree which of them was better (me, I go with Edward Norton, in case that makes a difference to you). The less said about Ghost Rider the better, but then the Fantastic Four films were actually not too bad at all.
I’ve seen them all. Mostly opening night, at the cinema. The sight of the Marvel flicker-flack on the big screen puts a grin on my face that would make an orang-utan proud.
I’m not just a Marvel fan girl. I’m a Wolverine fan girl. So for this movie I didn’t even wait for opening night. I went to the special preview advance showing before the official opening, dragging Frood along with me. I take no blame for Rev Will’s attendance. He said he wanted to come. That’s him on the right.
The opening section appeared, initially, to have been lifted from the Origin story arc by Bill Jemas. So far so good. But then, um. WHAT? Say WHAT? Since when was Sabretooth Logan’s brother? Chris Claremont originally intended Sabretooth to be his father, and the source of the long-term enmity the simple fact that Victor didn’t think Logan measured up to the standard he’d set. Canon has since made it clear that Creed isn’t Logan’s father, but he sure as hell ain’t his brother.
Then follows a quick timelapse special of the two boys fighting through various wars (invariably for the Americans, despite Logan fighting for the Canadian army, but whatever, this is Hollywood). I already knew Liev Schreiber had been given the Sabretooth role, despite being about as non-Sabretooth as you can get. The only way they could have cast someone less like Sabretooth would have been to ask Will Smith to do it. Having said that, Schreiber wasn’t as bad as I expected him to be, but I still think they should have gone to the WWE for their casting.
I found Creed’s continual use of “Jimmy” to refer to Logan intensely irritating and totally out of character for both of them. Just, you know, as a by the by.
We come to Vietnam and Creed’s bestiality has been fed by decades of fighting, and yet Logan is still the noble warrior. When Creed attempts to rape a Vietnamese woman his officer tells him to stop. A fight ensues, in which Logan initially tries to protect the woman and then ends up protecting his brother. This theme arises again and again throughout the film: the notion of brotherly loyalty between Wolverine and Sabretooth. I found it totally unbelievable. Sabretooth is the character who takes great delight in the annual Wolverine birthday bash. By which I mean he bashes Wolverine on his birthday. That was the whole Silver Fox thing and… I’m getting ahead of myself here.
Full Metal Jacket this is not. Watchmen this is not. Where the Comedian shoots a pregnant woman in the head and walks away, here our two brothers find themselves in front of a firing squad for assaulting an officer. I wasn’t aware they did that in Vietnam. But still. Whatever.
Apparently it tickled.
They are then recruited by our old friend Stryker, although Brian Cox had the sense to turn down this one. He’s still in military rather than religious guise, so I can’t complain about continuity there. They join an elite group of soldiers, all of whom are mutants, for some purpose that isn’t made clear, although by the end it’s obvious that this was the start of the Weapon X project.
Yay! Deadpool!
There are three characters in the Marvel universe I follow with any degree of consistency. Wolverine, X23 and Deadpool. The merc with the mouth is simply one of Marvel’s finest creations, and it’s all thanks to Fabian.
I have no idea who the rest of them are. I don’t care. Deadpool! Squee!
There follows an infiltration exercise designed primarily to show off the various powers of these mutants to the audience, and towards the end of this short sequence Ryan Reynolds shows a glimmer of promise. I begin to think that yes, yes, he really could do it. I mean, he’s not horribly mutilated with a face that looks like the inside of a tin of dog food and a voice that sounds like Demi Moore on gravel, and there’s no sign of him recognising the fourth wall, never mind breaking it, but this is pre-Weapon X, right? There’s still time.
But that’s it. That’s your lot. Not even two minutes of a chance to shine. Then our boy Logan takes exception to a bit of violence and walks away to find a new life in the Canadian rockies as a lumberjack with a beautiful schoolteacher girlfriend (who isn’t called Silver Fox). Next thing we know his old squad is dead, and the implication is that Sabretooth is doing it.
What? But I thought… Deadpool? Deadpool? Noes!!!!11!11! He can’t die! Wake up, Deadpool, please wake up!
He does. Eventually. But you’ll wish he hadn’t. It’s just too painful.
Anyway. Then follows a standard Marvel bit of manipulation to get Wolverine back into the Weapon X programme involving murder of loved ones and revenge and all the usual stuff to bring out the animal in him. Yada yada. I’m not going to bother describing it all in detail because it’s all rather predictable. He gets his adamantium — I was disappointed that they toned it down from the stark brutality of Barry Windsor-Smith — and escapes before they can wipe his memory, leaving a trail of bodies as he seeks revenge on his brother.
The plot seems to have taken a pick-n-mix selection from the various story arcs. The Weapon X programme is sort of classic, but mostly Ultimate. In this one the familiar characters from the X-Men films are kids, as they are in the Ultimate series, being used as the basis for experimentation… Sorry. My brain veered dangerously close to what they did to Deadpool and I had to stop and take a few deep breaths or else I’d have been reduced to a quivering heap on the floor, screaming to the heavens “WHY? FOR THE LOVE OF THE LITTLE BABY JEBUS, WHY???!!”
The Blob, usually nothing more than the butt of jokes and someone too foul to generate sympathy, was really nicely done in this film, and for me was one of the high points. Kevin Durand did a very good job with him. I think, basically, that’s one of the reasons this film was so disappointing. The actors all did a remarkable job with the material they were given (apart from Danny Huston as Stryker, who appeared to believe he was working in a straight to TV flick, or was asleep). But the plot was full of holes and inconsistencies; the characters were forced into actions that were simply not like them for anyone at all familiar with canon; the dialogue was at times trite, melodramatic and downright cheesy (that Wolverine and Moon thing was almost enough to make me gag); the fight scenes were often shot unsympathetically and there was just far too much CGI. Especially that bit at the end when Professor Xavier in a Dale Winton tan turned up in Airwolf. The power effects seem to have been taken straight out of Ultimate Alliance (“XXXOO overhead spin kick!”), although that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it worked very well for Gambit and both Frood and I were move-spotting throughout.
I could see where they had levered in bits to “please the fans” but you can’t just take something out of a story arc and drop it into a context that is held together by the araldite and cable-ties of retcon and expect it to work. You can take ideas, principles, tropes or themes and use those, but not plot points. It was obvious and necessary to focus on Wolverine’s battle to be human rather than animal, because that’s the character’s main conflict throughout his various incarnations. It’s fine, even better, to deal with the memory loss in a completely different way because the Weapon X programme isn’t being played out the way it does in the comics. It’s not fine to dump the future complement of the X-Men into cells and then randomly make the White Queen Logan’s girlfriend’s sister. Pulling plot points straight from the comics and juxtaposing them with major retcons is jarring and unsettling for those of us who know the comics. It’s one of the reasons why the third X-Men film fell down (Morrison did the Logan/Jean death scene far better in New X-Men). The other reason was the wasting of one of the best characters of the entire franchise. And Wolverine makes both those mistakes.
It’s a pity, and I have to wonder who’s to blame. The writers? The director? I can’t help but feel you could take the same acting complement, give them the production crew of X2 or Iron Man and you’d have an absolutely stonking movie in which the merc with the mouth would remain the merc with the mouth and I’d have been a very happy girl.
As it is this may not even end up as part of my DVD collection, and the only other Marvel films I don’t own are the ones in the Spider-man series.
Lest you think that my negative reaction is the disappointment of a superfan whose favourite character has been brutally sodomised by the writing crew, I can report that neither of my companions thought it any better and they quite happily tell me I’m a sad Marvel geek.
Let’s hope they manage to do a better job with Avengers, eh?
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What he said
by ravenbait on Apr.10, 2009, under games, gaming
I bought the game thinking it was going to be a 2-player co-op. Frood would get Spidey and I’d get Wolverine.
Fat chance.
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Someone’s Imaginary Friend
The Shape of Noise
Publications now available
The music of water
Mad Scientist Journal interview
WorldCon Schedule
Taking a break from tri this year because we're sorting out our new old house. Otherwise I'd never get any writing done.
Theoretically, Aberdeen Assault II is still on, but I'll have to see how my medial collateral ligament is faring.
Monster of the Week – Aye Codonas!
Visiting Rights
Dumb Run retrospective, I – IV
Dunwich Dynamo 2002
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New House Journal. Day 9.
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Hashim Warren on We’re not superfucks…
Kayucian on New House Journal. Day 9.
Previously Select Month June 2020 (1) May 2020 (1) June 2015 (1) April 2015 (2) September 2014 (1) August 2014 (2) July 2014 (2) June 2014 (1) May 2014 (1) March 2014 (2) November 2013 (1) October 2013 (1) September 2013 (1) July 2013 (3) June 2013 (2) May 2013 (3) April 2013 (1) March 2013 (2) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (1) November 2012 (3) October 2012 (1) September 2012 (1) August 2012 (4) June 2012 (1) May 2012 (1) April 2012 (1) January 2012 (1) December 2011 (2) November 2011 (6) October 2011 (1) August 2011 (2) July 2011 (3) June 2011 (3) May 2011 (4) April 2011 (4) March 2011 (1) February 2011 (6) January 2011 (5) December 2010 (9) November 2010 (7) October 2010 (2) August 2010 (2) July 2010 (1) June 2010 (6) May 2010 (14) April 2010 (3) March 2010 (3) February 2010 (2) January 2010 (2) December 2009 (2) November 2009 (1) October 2009 (5) September 2009 (1) August 2009 (9) July 2009 (3) June 2009 (3) May 2009 (5) April 2009 (4) March 2009 (11) February 2009 (23) January 2009 (11) December 2008 (29) November 2008 (35) October 2008 (34) September 2008 (27) August 2008 (9) July 2008 (8) June 2008 (4) May 2008 (23) April 2008 (9) March 2008 (3) February 2008 (6) January 2008 (13) December 2007 (23) November 2007 (23) October 2007 (3) September 2007 (1) August 2007 (6) July 2007 (11) June 2007 (15) May 2007 (6) April 2007 (13) March 2007 (9) February 2007 (3) January 2007 (15) December 2006 (29) November 2006 (25) October 2006 (16) September 2006 (15) August 2006 (20) July 2006 (23) June 2006 (41) May 2006 (42) April 2006 (36) March 2006 (25) February 2006 (42) January 2006 (21) December 2005 (6) November 2005 (13) October 2005 (22) September 2005 (10) August 2005 (10) July 2005 (7) June 2005 (8) May 2005 (10) April 2005 (8) March 2005 (19) February 2005 (36) January 2005 (31) December 2004 (13) November 2004 (15) October 2004 (7) September 2004 (13) August 2004 (17) July 2004 (18) June 2004 (13) May 2004 (28) April 2004 (29) March 2004 (23) February 2004 (12) January 2004 (30) December 2003 (44) November 2003 (26) October 2003 (17) September 2003 (23) August 2003 (2) July 2003 (14) June 2003 (20) May 2003 (6) April 2003 (1) March 2003 (10) February 2003 (20) January 2003 (15) December 2002 (9) November 2002 (18) October 2002 (43) September 2002 (33) August 2002 (37) July 2002 (29) June 2002 (11) May 2002 (57) April 2002 (61) March 2002 (83) February 2002 (47) January 2002 (21) December 2001 (9) November 2001 (6) October 2001 (8) September 2001 (12) July 2001 (4) June 2001 (2) May 2001 (1) April 2001 (21) March 2001 (27) February 2001 (44) January 2001 (11)
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Movie events on the 21st October
Lord Nelson is shot in the spine, from the French flagship Redoubtable, surviving long enough to learn that he has led the British Fleet to a magnificent victory against Napoleon. (Off Cape Trafalgar) (Lady Hamilton)
An ancestor of Jean-Luc Picard takes part in the Battle of Trafalgar. (Cape Trafalgar, Spain) (Star Trek: Generations)
Hanna Schmitz is born. (The Reader)
The demonstration took place at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. As many as 100,000 demonstrators attended the event. The man in the stars and stripes shirt is activist Abbie Hoffman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbie_Hoffman (Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Washington) (Forrest Gump)
Sean Maguire meets his future wife in a bar during Game 6 of the World Series. (Boston, Mass.) (Good Will Hunting)
Someone's name is written on a sign-in sheet at 444 Nahua. (Honolulu, Hawaii) (The Killing of John Lennon)
Harry Grimbridge has dinner with his daughter Ellie. (Northern California) (Halloween III: Season of the Witch)
Dan White commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. (San Francisco, California) (Milk)
Rorschach writes in his journal that he sees Drieberg and Jupiter leaving a diner on 43rd and 7th. (New York, New York) (Watchmen)
Stephen Macray is arrested for hijacking a bread truck to Nashua, New Hampshire. (Massachusetts) (The Town)
James Coughlin is arrested for shooting Brendan Leahy at the cemetery behind Mishawum. (Boston, Massachusetts) (The Town)
Andy and Trish have their fifteenth date. (Los Angeles, CA) (The 40 Year Old Virgin)
Bruce Banner is seen fleeing. (The Incredible Hulk)
Lynn Denlon is forced to help Amanda Young keep John Kramer alive. When she gives John brain surgery, he hallucinates about his ex-wife, Jill. (Saw III)
Amanda Young refuses to free Lynn, so she shoots her, failing her test. Lynn's husband, Jeff, walks into the room, shoots Amanda in the neck, and slices Jigsaw's throat with a power-saw, causing Lynn's collar to shoot her head. Jigsaw reveals via a tape that Jeff's daughter, Corbett was in danger. (Saw III)
Eric Matthews wakes up standing on a block of ice while Hoffman is strapped in an office wheel chair. They are both on a scale. Art Blank walks in and watches them. (Saw IV)
While 90 minutes count down, Rigg encounters people in traps in his apartment, Room 261 of the Alexander Motel, and a classroom at a school. (Saw IV)
Agents Strahm and Perez search all around the city for Rigg and interrogate John Kramer's ex-wife, Jill Tuck. During the search, shrapnel is shot into Lyndsy Perez's head and she is rushed to the hospital. (Saw IV)
Clues lead Agent Strahm to the Gideon meat factory. He follows Jeff into the sick room and shoots him when he sees a gun in his hand. (Saw IV)
When Rigg arrives at the Gideon meat factory, Eric Matthews tries stopping Rigg from opening the door by shooting him in the stomach. Rigg still manages to open the door, causing two giant blocks of ice to swing down to Eric's head. (Saw IV)
After Rigg kills Art Blank and finds out that he failed, Hoffman unstraps himself from the chair and leaves Rigg on the floor. He walks over to the sick room and locks Peter Strahm inside with the corpses of Jeff, Lynn Denlon, John Kramer, and Amanda Young. (Saw IV)
Agent Strahm gives himself a tracheotomy to survive a glass box filled with water. Hoffman brings Corbet out of the Gideon. (Saw V)
Hoffman blackmails Amanda into killing Lynn Denlon. (Saw VI)
Editor Maike Axford warns Britt to be careful. (Los Angeles, California) (The Green Hornet)
Britt and Kato prepare for their vigilantism. (Los Angeles, California) (The Green Hornet)
Kyle Gatehouse's driver's license expires. (Illinois) (Source Code)
Marty Mcfly goes into the future to help save his son from Biff's grandson (Back to the Future Part II)
Complete list of movie dates.
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The Semmes Heritage Park
Beginnings-school,church,music!
YESTERYEAR'S remembered
Semmes Heritage Park is on Facebook
Calendar Photo 1996
The 1902 Semmes School began as a one room school and in the past it has been served as a classroom, the library, and school counselors office. This photo is of counselor, Sandra Rose Durant, and a group of students preparing for the Standford Achievement Test.
Photo from CALENDAR 1996
Mrs. Marty Myers, Semmes school fourth grade teachers and her students experience a school day of yesteryear's. Mrs. Myers class raised funds for the school restoration so students in years to come might experience school of days long ago.
Students held a Penny drop to raise money TO PRESERVE 1902 school.
Semmes school students and Semmes Elementary school principal, Mrs. Catherine Montgomery, pose beside the little white school building. This group was largely responsible for$525.00 being raised through a penny drop to preserve the school. (Photo from Calendar, 1996)
Teaching in Rural Alabama-the beginning years!
Before there were schools, children were taught at home by their parents,The first text book was the Bible. Nearly every family had a family Bible where marriages, births, deaths were recorded. When the community population had grown, a school was started and maintained by the people of the community. Semmes first school was a log cabin built in the 1800's which also served as the church on Sunday's and was located on the townships sixteenth section of land.
The Enabling Act required for the admission of Alabama as a state into the union, the sixteenth section in each township should be given to the people of the township for the use of schools.
The first constitution of Alabama in 1819 provided that schools and education should always be encouraged. The legislature passed an act on December 17, 1819 for the election in each township agents whose duty was to manage and protect the township school lands.
Rural Schools in Alabama
The following are quotes from “OUR YESTERYEARS” Published by the Alabama retired teachers Association, 1976 for celebration of the Bicentennial of our American independence.
“I recall clearly that both parents and the children had a full measure of splendid attributes which can not be excelled today. They were honest and thrift, hard working, generous, and selfless. They had principles and lived by them. They were poor but didn’t know it. They were happy and contented. They had spirit and pride. Everyone enjoyed simple pleasures. A bit of ribbon and a stick made a “horse” to ride around the playground. Hickory nuts, walnuts, and peanuts were exploited with delight. Wild blackberries were everywhere and available to kids and snakes alike.”
Mary Strickland Sessions (p.27)
The Early Schools
"The early school buildings were, as a rule similar in structure and equipment. These similarities were summarized by the following excerpt:"
“One big room, not ceiled, a pot-bellied stove, an open well with dippers tied to a tree so they would not fall into the open well. Three rooms, ceiled, the same kind of heaters, and an open well. Desks were made by the fathers, two, three or four pupils to the desk. The walls were painted black for writing.”
Bernice Forrester (p.28)
"Some of the changes that have taken place in schools since the beginning of this century are summarized in the following paragraph:"
“When I began teaching, except for those who lived in town, the majority of students lived on farms. Housing ranged from poor to good, There were no electric lights in the rural areas, no telephones, and only two automobiles in the entire school community. There was no public transportation. A covered wagon brought some pupils from one feeder area; a truck equipped with benches brought students from another area; some pupils rode in buggies. The wagon, truck and buggies were provided by parents. Most of those who attended school walked. The county now furnishes busses for all who need transportation. Many pupils come in their own cars. There are very few families who do not own one or more cars. It would be difficult to find a home without electric lights, a T.V. and a telephone. Houses are much improved; many are made of brick and are spacious, convenient, and beautiful.”
Ina G. Pratt (p 32)
Semmes School-1926
Left row from front-George Brincat, Iduma Lowery, Dorothy Pollard, Eva Corley, Thelma Davidson, Lee (unknown), Eunice Graham, Bill Dodd, Right row-Bush tanner, Wilson Christopher, William Powell, Clara Carroll-Teacher Willa Mae Tanner,Row 3-Viola Howell, Fern Waltman, Wilford Allen, ____Mason, Ida Welch, Alma Christian, Bunny Lee Row 4, Unknown, Rose Ila Clark, Mary Ida Graham, Adele McDuffie, Ethel Lee, Ercel Lord, Bertha Foster. Photo Adele Waltman
1902 Semmes School- Miss Abbie Strachan teacher
Left to right on top row Charlie Cogburn, Florence Christensen, Fellie Christoper, Will EffieChristopner:Next to top: Howard Roberts, Leland Wulff, Walter Stutling.Second row: Rufus Roberts, Drury Roberts, Bertha Joyner, Leona Stutling, and Jesse Ward. Front row: Ira Ward, Gus Roberts, Marshall Roberts,the one standing is Rollie Allen, Billy Wulff, Ethle Roberts, Lena Christopher, Imogene McGuire, Eden Allen, Nettie Ward, and Walter Stutling. Picture furnished by I.D. Ward of Semmes..
Semmes
Preserving our History
Jeanette Lyles Byrd
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Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey
The most Venerable Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey was born on the 13th of the fifth Tibetan month in the year of the Iron-Bird (1921) in the town of Yätsak (or Ya Chak) in the Trehor district of Tibet’s eastern province Kham. He was soon enrolled in the large local Dhargyey Monastery (founded by the 1st Zachoeje Rinpoche) of the Gelug tradition, where he took pre-novice ordination vows. Although he was enrolled there he studied mainly in the village Sakya monastery, Lona Gonpa where he received instruction in reading, writing, grammar etc, and learned numerous texts and practices by heart. His teachers there included two of his uncles, as well as Kushu Gonpä Rinpoche, who was a master of all the five major fields of learning.
At the age of eighteen Gen Rinpoche left his home country to further his spiritual education at Sera Monastery, the great monastic university in Lhasa. There he underwent extensive training in all the five divisions of Buddhist philosophical study: Logic, Perfection of Wisdom, the Middle View, Metaphysics, and Ethical Discipline. This was interspersed with periods of intensive retreat at some of the many hermitages near Sera. By the time he was nineteen he had already mastered his studies sufficiently to become a scriptural teacher, and he began to have many students of his own. At the age of 21, he took full ordination vows of a Bhikshu from the widely renowned Purchog Jamgön Rinpoche. He also received numerous teachings, initiations and commentaries from the great Lamas of that time such as Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang (His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Tutor), Bakri Dorje Chang, Lhatsün Dorje Chang, Gönsar Dorje Chang and others. His monastic teachers were the great scholar- practitioners Gen Sherab Wangchuk, Gen Chöntse, and the now Gyume Kensur Ugyän Tseten.
He studied in Sera in Tibet for twenty years until, in 1959, Chinese oppression forced him to leave Tibet. Two years earlier he had been appointed tutor to two high incarnate lamas, Lhagön Rinpoche and Thupten Rinpoche. The three escaped from Chinese occupied Tibet together taking a long and dangerous journey of nine months under Chinese gunfire and snowstorms until they reached the Mustang region of Nepal. From Mustang it was a comparatively easy journey to India, where they joined His Holiness the Dalai Lama and some of Gen Rinpoche’s other teachers.
In India, after a brief pilgrimage to the sacred Buddhist sites, he took up his studies once again, and for several continued tutoring the tulkus (incarnate lamas). In the mid 1960s, he was chosen along with fifty-five other scholars to attend an Acarya course at Mussourie (north of Delhi). During his year in Mussourie, he and the other scholars wrote textbooks for the Tibetan refugee schools being established in India at that time. He then returned to Dalhousie where, over various periods, he continued to teach another seven incarnate lamas. He also finished his Geshe studies and, in oral examinations held at the Buxador refugee camp in Assam in eastern India (the seat of Sera monastery at that time) he gained the highest grade (First Class) Lharampa Geshe.
In 1971 he was asked by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to start a teaching program for westerners at the newly constructed Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, northern India. Two of his incarnate lama disciples, Sharpa Rinpoche and Kamlung Rinpoche, acted as translators. He stayed there, teaching very extensively to thousands of Westerners, until 1984. During this time he himself received extensive and often exclusive teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and from both of the tutors, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Ling Rinpoche.
In 1982 he travelled to the West for the first time to take up a one-semester visiting professorship for at the University of Washington in Seattle. This was followed by a year-long extensive tour of Buddhist teaching centres all over North America, Europe and Australasia. He spent six weeks in New Zealand during this tour, and at the end of the visit he was requested to establish a Buddhist centre here. In 1985 His Holiness advised Gen Rinpoche to come to New Zealand, initially for one and a half years, to establish a centre. After a six month tour of Australia, he arrived in Dunedin in mid 1985. Due to the success of the Buddhist centre he remained here, occasionally travelling to other parts of New Zealand and to Australia on teaching tours.
Gen Rinpoche was a wonderful teacher who loved to teach the great treatises, as well as experiential teachings which distilled their essence. He gave his last formal teaching in February 1995 in Dunedin. Gen Rinpoche entered into the death process on the 11th August 1995 (the 16th of the 6th Tibetan month) remaining in meditation on clear-light for three days.
His body was cremated with full traditional Tibetan funerary rites at Portobello, near Dunedin on 17th August (22nd of the 6th Tibetan month). Kushu Lhagön Rinpoche, one of Gen Rinpoche’s tulku disciples, presided over the Great Offering to His Holy Body Ceremony at a specially built cremation stupa.
His passing away is an immeasurable loss to his disciples and indeed to all living beings. His reincarnation, Yangsi Rinpoche, has been recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Dhargyey Buddhist Centre in Dunedin: www.dhargyey.org.nz
Khensur Kangyurwa Lobsang Thubten Rinpoche
Gyume Kensur Geshe Ogyen Tseten Rinpoche
5th&6th ZaChoeje Rinpoche
Geshe Palden Tsering
Trashi Ganden Choepel Ling
40 Waverley Ave. Glenfield
North Shore City 0629
Auckland New Zealand
Phone: +64 (0)9 444 8886
Email: tgcling@gmail.com
Website Design by Hambrook Web Design
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1356 by Bernard Cornwell
From TheBookbag
Buy 1356 by Bernard Cornwell at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Historical Fiction
Reviewer: Ani Johnson
Summary: Sir Thomas Hookton is back, starring in a rollicking adventure across France, leading to the Battle of Poitiers. Heroes, villains, a race to a relic, an edge-of-the-seat battle… Who'd say no to that?
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 400 Date: September 2012
External links: Author's website
Sir Thomas Hookton, aka Le Batard (a French word that's very similar in English, if you see what I mean) roams France with his band of mercenaries, acquiring plundered riches and selling their services in the war against the French. However, Thomas' liege, Lord William Bohun, Earl of Northampton, disrupts the combative equilibrium when demands a diversion. Monks are spreading stories about 'La Malice', (the sword with which St Peter defended Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane) and with it the power to bless or curse the owner, depending who you listen to. So Lord 'Billy' wants it and La Batard must find it. Meanwhile, Sir Thomas has competition as unsavoury elements in the church create a special order of knights. They mean to find it first, by foul means or even fouler.
The master of historic fiction writing is back and so is the dashing Sir Thomas, the hero of Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest trilogy (Harlequin, Vagabond and Heretic). How has Sir Tom fared since last we saw him? Fans will be pleased to hear that our hero and his followers are on form. As before, members are added to his multi-national Hellequin ('devil's beloved') as he journeys. This time we're treated to the arrival of the honest monk (apparently not as common as you’d hope) Brother Michael and Keane, a silver-tongued Irishman. On a personal level, Thomas is still with his beloved Guinevere whom he rescued from a heretic's death last time out.
Where characterisation is concerned, the author mixes things up a little. People like Thomas, Keane and Michael are a real joy but it has also been said that books in which Sir Tom features lean towards two-dimensional action heroes. That's up for dispute but the baddies are definitely pantomimingly evil (particularly Marchant and his truth divining falcon). However, if any of this is a worry, you needn't fear as it doesn't matter. You really don't notice as the novel unfolds like excellent theatre so you'll be too busy watching the action and living the pacey (excellently researched) moments.
Talking of moments, if you were even mildly miffed about the lack of full-on battle scenes in Heretic, 1356 makes up for it, culminating (as the date suggests) in the Battle of Poitiers. This means that, for those readers who have just discovered Bernard Cornwell, you're in for a treat: battle scenes are one of his specialities. He uses an absorbingly journalistic style, excluding neither those who only have a vague interest in the conflicts nor the squeamish. (There is a bit of blood, as you'd expect, but it's not dwelt on in huge detail.) At the author's fingertips, Poitiers comes to life as possible outcomes pivot on strategic skill and luck. In fact, if you don't know whether England or France won, don't look it up before reading the novel as ignorance is indeed bliss, adding a whole new dimension to the experience.
As well as the fighting being relayed down the centuries in a moment by moment commentary, the narrative is seasoned with mid-grabbing detail. For instance, we come to realise why the English and Welsh longbow archers were the machine gunners of their era.
1356 is a self-contained, stand-alone novel which is good and bad. Good in that you read it without having read of Sir Thomas' previous exploits (but bet you will afterwards) and bad as there doesn't seem to be an opening for a 'Holy Sword Quest' trilogy either. But there's still mileage (and a lot of fight) in Sir Thomas et al yet so can we look forward to girding our loins for another Le Batard adventure in the future? I hope so. Nothing has been said, but perhaps if we all ask nicely…?
A special thank you to Harper Collins for sending us a copy of this book for review.
If you've enjoyed this and are ready for another historic adventure, we can suggest Hawk Quest by Robert Lyndon, Sworn Sword by James Aitcheson or Blood Forest by Geraint Jones.
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You can read more book reviews or buy 1356 by Bernard Cornwell at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy 1356 by Bernard Cornwell at Amazon.com.
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Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.
Retrieved from "http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/w/index.php?title=1356_by_Bernard_Cornwell&oldid=162964"
Reviewed by Ani Johnson
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A Very Corgi Christmas
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All Lauren Bradley, a single mom and confirmed workaholic, wants this holiday is a much deserved break. Those hopes are dashed when she runs into fellow single dad Ben who enlists her help in taking care of a cute and cuddly christmas present he plans to give his daughter. Through all the chaos and calls from work, Lauren just might get the best gift of all, the holiday spirit.
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RomanceTV Movie
Two busy strangers meet when they help an elderly woman find her lost Christmas savings. Thanks to fate and Christmas magic, they also find something they were both missing: true love.
Ellie Hartman (D’Orsay) is an aspiring crafter working in her small town’s bakery making famous Christmas Kringles. When the new, big-city CEO Nick Carlingson (Lissing) visits the bakery, he arrives filled with modernization ideas destined to lay off many employees.
Mingle All the Way
Molly is determined to prove to her family that her new networking app—designed to pair busy professionals together for upcoming events, without long-term romance—is a success. When Molly joins Mingle All the Way and is matched with Jeff, they are both horrified to realize they’ve already had not one, but two disastrous previous encounters.
Christmas in the charming town of Briar Falls will be bittersweet this year when architect Nell goes back to her hometown having been given the job of turning the historic Majestic Playhouse into a modern multiplex, much to the town’s objections. The Playhouse has been home to their annual Christmas tableaux, which will now have to end after a long and historic tradition to the town. This job is Nell’s first promotion, and one she wishes she hadn’t been chosen for, especially when she meets the new owner of the theater, Connor, whose vision and ideas clash with Nell’s. Since Connor hasn’t had much experience celebrating Christmas, Nell hopes that if she can give him a crash course in Christmas during the town’s Twelve Day Festival, that he might just change his mind about modernizing the Majestic.
Christmas at the Palace
Katie, a former professional ice skater (Patterson), is hired by the king of San Senova, Alexander, to help his daughter in a Christmas ice skating performance. As Katie spends time in the castle and with the king, she and Alex begin to develop feelings for each other and ultimately fall in love. But will the tradition-loving people of San Senova allow their king to make a foreigner their queen?
Road to Christmas
Los Angeles television producer Maggie Baker (Schram) unwittingly falls for Danny Wise (Murray), the son and former producer of his mother’s (Rothery) popular annual Christmas special Julia Wise Lifestyle. When Maggie’s secret plan to reunite Danny and his two brothers with Julia during the live broadcast in Vermont goes awry, Maggie is reminded that above all, it is the love for family and friends that makes the merriest of Christmas.
The story of Christmas Joy is based on the book of the same name written by USA Today Bestselling Author Nancy Naigle. Danielle will play the titular character, Joy Holbrook. She's a corporate market researcher, gunning for a promotion within her firm. Just as her company's CEO is taking notice, Joy finds out her Aunt Ruby has broken her ankle and will be undergoing surgery. Despite the less than opportune timing, Joy makes her way back home to Crystal Falls, NC to be with her Aunt. Stars seem to be aligned as Joy sees her former crush, Ben Andrews, while at the hospital. At first, Joy is focused solely on helping her Aunt heal; even taking over her position as chair of the local Cookie Crawl competition. Eventually, she begins to let Ben in and remembers there's no place like home for the holidays. The pair work together on the Cookie Crawl to make the event a success.
Christmas at Graceland
Laurel, a Chicago-based business executive, travels to Memphis to secure one of the city's oldest family-owned banks. While in Memphis, Laurel reunites with old flame Clay, a local music promoter with loftier aspirations. Though Laurel tries to keep her eye on the prize of the business acquisition, Clay is very persuasive reminding her of the days when they were a performing duo on the brink of stardom. Now Laurel's focus turns to the home of the Blues and dreams of making music again.
A Veteran's Christmas
Captain Grace Garland (Mumford), a decorated U.S. veteran, returns home after two tours of Search and Rescue in Afghanistan. After being separated from her beloved K9 partner, Grace must rediscover the magic of Christmas. When she finds herself stranded in the town of River’s Crossing a couple weeks before Christmas, the local judge, Joe Peterson (Faris), offers her a place to stay on his property and takes it upon himself to show Grace everything she has been missing; Christmas, family, community, and love.
When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.
ActionAdventureComedyFamily
9-year-old Alex Pruitt is home alone with the chicken pox. Turns out, due to a mix-up among nefarious spies, Alex was given a toy car concealing a top-secret microchip. Now Alex must fend off the spies as they try break into his house to get it back.
DramaFantasyRomance
Edward Scissorhands is a classic Tim Burton and Johnny Depp film about a small suburban town that receives a visit from a castaway unfinished science experiment named Edward. A satire on the normality of Middle-America and their fear of outsiders. A magical fairytale story of loneliness, learning, and love; that will make you laugh, curse, and cry.
ComedyDramaFantasyFamily
Scott Calvin is an ordinary man, who accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall from his roof on Christmas Eve and is knocked unconscious. When he and his young son finish Santa's trip and deliveries, they go to the North Pole, where Scott learns he must become the new Santa and convince those he loves that he is indeed, Father Christmas.
Marrying Father Christmas
When Miranda Chester sets off to find information on her biological father two Christmases ago, she never imagined her investigation would lead her to both the love of her life, Ian McAndrick, and the family she had always longed for, including Margaret Whitcomb and half-brother Peter Whitcomb. After her romantic engagement last Christmas, Miranda prepares for a Christmas wedding surrounded by this new family. While Miranda finalizes the details of her big day, Margaret forges a surprising romance with a friend from the past. Miranda’s wedding plans are quickly complicated when a mysterious visitor who claims to have ties to her late parents reaches out to her just days before her wedding. As Miranda’s wedding approaches, she must decide if she wants to spend one of the most momentous days of her life with this new family connection, and must carefully navigate the first steps into the next chapter of her life with Ian.
The Santa Clause 2
ComedyFantasyFamily
Better watch out! The big guy in red is coming to town once again. This time, Scott Calvin -- also known as Santa Claus -- finds out there's an obscure clause in his contract requiring him to take on a wife. He has to leave the North Pole to fulfill his obligations, or else he'll be forced to give up his Yuletide gig.
Follows seemingly unrelated people as their lives begin to intertwine while they fall in, and out, of love. Affections languish and develop as Christmas draws near.
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Photo by Brandon Johnson
Review – Gesaffelstein Brought A Heathen’s Heaven to Mission Ballroom
Kori Hazel November 15, 2019 Music
To obtain a nickname like that of the “dark prince of techno,” you’ve got to fully embody an almost sacrilegious affiliation with the depths of sound. For Gesaffelstein, the moniker is fitting if not an understatement. Draconian synths rip open rooms, pounding beats buckle and break underneath — a chaos mosaic resembling Peter Paul Rubens’ Massacre of the Innocents, unfolds when he assumes his unholy altar. His music is techno at its most rapturous — a plague of ominousness that conjures a knee-jerk reaction of a busted knee cap stomping along to its aggression. To that resounding reputation is where Gesaffelstein earned such a nickname, and swinging through Mission Ballroom Sunday night, he assured Denver he’d live up to it.
Appearances from the dark auteur are few and far between, to say the least. Besides popping up on a few festival lineups here and there, a full-fledged tour to the degree of the one he brought to Mission Ballroom had never been in the cards, until now. Word of mouth spread faster than the speed of light making Gesaffelstein the hot name on everyone’s lips, even if they couldn’t pronounce it, following the release of his groundbreaking debut, Aleph (2013). His stark performances, where he chain-smoked cigarettes, throwing out brutal beats backed by swarming white lights against a dark facade seemed almost carnal in execution and by the audience’s ravenous response. Releasing his follow up, Hyperion (2019), a much more mellow, but commercially successful affair, the Gesaffelstein that would appear at Mission Ballroom was set to level up in a major way.
Entering the near pitch-black venue to the sounds of opener Guillaume Berg spinning in the corner of the stage, the darkness felt like it was encroaching upon every step. Heads bobbled in the meek light, positioning themselves for the main attraction. A brief reprieve by way of the house lights lifting illuminated the eager faces of everyone in attendance until an increasingly agitated droning swallowed Mission Ballroom in a black hole. Emerging from the center of a monolith spawned out of Vantablack, Gesaffelstein donned a custom Balmain headpiece and robe, took to two angled stands and launched into the fitting “Doom.” Eventually giving way to “Pursuit,” Gesaffelstein strong-armed a devastating dance party from the depths of hell.
Songs corroded into other songs, pulsating with vicious energy that had the venue gripped full stop. The Vantablack monolith warped the perception of lights as they danced across the stage and flickered off Gesaffelstein’s metallic body. The songs festered in dialed down BPMs, contrary to other electronic shows that rise and fall in cadences. People like flies to a zapper traced the trails of lights and felt the inhibitions fly into the darkness. Throughout the experience, the atmosphere verged on riotous — a punk rock show grasping at the reins of anarchy, testing the limts of restraint.
While the world didn’t erupt in flames and no hierarchies fell, due in part to the prevailing restraint, it managed to defy all sorts of notions with its pace and production. If the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse were to ride to a theme song, it’d probably be the doubleheader of “Hell and Glory” and “Orck” that Gesaffelstein ended his performance with. The former’s palpitating heartbeat of a groove and the latter’s breakneck whiplash of jagged synths and “Blitzkrieg Bop” biting “heys,” took the performance to a head. By the end, people weren’t so much dancing as thrashing around under the music influence and rocking in place for those who’d caught the second-hand high. Between chaos and confusion, Gesaffelstein struck a sweet spot in the middle where the light and the dark meet.
All photogrpahy by Brandon Johnson
303 Magazine303 MusicAlephBalmainBrandon JohnsonGesaffelsteinGuillaume BergHyperionKori HazelMission Ballroom
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Kori Hazel
Music Desk Editor & Talent Buyer
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, raised in Denver, Colorado and educated at the University of Arizona, Kori is music industry zealot. Both a Staff Music Writer and Talent Buyer at 303 Magazine, music and entertainment is more than a job — it's a lifestyle. An adventurer at heart, Kori is passionate about live music, traveling and attempting to live a story worth writing about. With tastes ranging from Future Islands to The Chemical Brothers and everything in between, there's no limit to music Kori is willing experience and ultimately communicate back to you, the reader. Music is more than a sound — it's a feeling; a love letter between the artist and the audience. Kori is the messenger. Follow Kori on Instagram: @kovoho
Emma Jerry January 21, 2021
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Dos Abuelas Re-Opens, Bringing Puerto Rican Food To Denver Elks Lodge
Colin Wrenn January 20, 2021
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SOAPING THEMSELVES UP
In what we believe is known as a "shameless sell-out", the Rolling Stones have signed a deal to market themselves through daytime soap Days of Our Lives. One of their songs will be played remorselessly as a love theme.
Oh no, apparently it's not selling out at all:
Cheryl Berman, chief creative officer for the Leo Burnett ad agency, said "Selling out has changed. Selling out means you're doing bad creative."
No it hasn't changed, you silly pie-chart-spewer. You might desperately want to think you can repackage the idea of selling out from being "sucking satan's cock for the money" to "not satisfying satan when you suck his cock for the money", but actually, selling out has nothing to do with the quality of what you get at the end of it. If you're doing a promo for British Nuclear Fuels, you're still doing a promo for BNFL, even if it has dancing hippoes in blue sparkly tophats.
However, this isn't, as Reuters fears it might be, "the ultimate sellout for the Stones". That would have been when they flogged Start Me Up to Microsoft to push Windows 95.
music rolling stones days of our lives windows windows 95 nbc microsoft
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN LOW-POWERED MINDS GET HIGH SPEED CONNECTIONS
What larks over in the heart of America's teenland, where Benji Madden from Good Charlotte, Kelly Clarkson and Hillary Duff have gotten caught up in a battle over - oh, yes - artistic integrity.
What seems to have happened is this: Clarkson made her jokey remark about wanting to fight Duff; Duff's boyfriend Madden read the remarks but didn't really understand them in a "what is this 'joke' of which you speak?" way, and he stormed down to the computer to post a two-fingered message on the Good Charlotte blog. Two fingers being both the typing method, and the result:
"My mom told me if I didn't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all, so I won't say 'Amercian Idol' sux, but it does make me laugh when someone like Kelly Clarkson disses someone like Hilary Duff, 'Cause let's not forget Kelly (BTW-Kanye West thinks u have a nice ass, I saw him look at it one time ... me, I prefer the more fit look), you were a 'contestant' on a TV show. Hilary made herself."
Shortly afterwards, one of the grown-ups who run the Good Charlotte brand must have seen the post, and quickly yanked it. Because it made Benji look stupid, presumably. Or rather revealed that he was.
Benji's main job in the band is to provide inspiration for the groups' fans to write twin-incest fanfic.
music good charlotte benji madden kelly clarkson hilary duff
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NIRVANA'S DRUMMER NOW A SINGER IN HIS OWN BAND
Yes, yes, we know what you're thinking: "this is news?" - but we're not talking about Dave Grohl; this is the Bleach-era drummer, Chad Channing. He's put together a band - Before Cars and, working with Jack Endino, who produced Bleach, has recorded an album.
Chad's pretty unbitter about being asked to yield the Nirvana drumstool:
"After we did Bleach, Kurt said he wouldn't mind having some help with the songwriting, and I was like, 'Oh yeah, I'm all for that.' But over time, I realized that that wasn't going to happen, and I slowly started losing my inspiration to play. And when you lose your inspiration, it shows."
Of course, he won't know he's really made it until Courtney Love starts squeeching at him that he's stealing food from her baby's mouth.
music chad channing dave grohl nirvana before cars courtney love
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COHN SHOOTING ACCUSED WAIVES PRELIMINARIES
Joseph Yacteen, the guy accused of shooting Bobby Cohn this August, has waived his preliminary court hearing and is now due back in court November 29th to stand trial.
Yacteen remains in custody while his girlfriend, Patricia Vail has been released on bond. She faces charges relating to her alleged help for Yacteen; if he's found guilty, he faces up to ninety years in jail.
music bobby cohn denver
Some deft work over at the Guardian, where they've dug through the archives of their sister paper, the Manchester Evening News, to find their preview for the infamous Free Trade Hall gig - you know, the "judas" one.
Interestingly, the preview makes it pretty clear that not only did fans pretty much know what to expect that night, but that he'd already been heckled and jeckled on stage for going electric:
Now there is something disturbing about Dylan: he is said to have disowned all the songs he ever wrote before he turned to "folk-rock". He is said to have become an introvert.
He was nearly booed off stage in Dublin recently when he came on with three tons of sound equipment and his new backing group - simply called the Group.
There were pleading shouts of "We want the real Dylan. Leave it to Mick Jagger" as he belted out the endless choruses of his hip-orientated rhythm and blues songs.
In other words, then: the chap who shouted "judas" wasn't reacting in shock to seeing his beloved troubadour getting wired up; he'd probably bought his ticket just to get his shout in.
Oh, and Dylan's supposedly secret marriage?
For one thing, the existentialist Dylan has married.
About as secret as a Robbie Williams secret gig, then.
FILESHARING LAWSUITS - THE RIAA STILL BELIEVES IN THEM
Another small smattering of people are being threatened by the RIAA which claims to have evidence they have been filesharing - 757 added in the costly campaign which, at current rates, will take at least 2,000 years to complete bringing actions against regular US filesharers.
We were taken with this part of the report:
It brings the total number of online copyright infringement cases brought by the US music industry to 14,800.
So far more than 14,000 people in 12 countries have faced legal action for allegedly swapping music tracks online.
Well, yes... if there's been more than 14,000 threatened in one country alone, that would suggest that there have been more than 14,000 cases worldwide.
music riaa filesharing
THEY'RE CLOSE PERSONAL SHOWBIZ FRIENDS OF MINE
It's surely a little cruel to ask Lee Ryan to write for a newspaper - even if it's only the 3am column. But always unable to spot when he's being set up to make a fool of himself ("happy to help"), Lee was delighted to be asked by the 3am Girls ("my 3am Girl pals") to cover the Dolce & Gabbana ("my good friends Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana") 20th anniversary party. The resulting piece appears to have had a great deal of work done on it to shore it up, but it still reads like a third former's 'what I done on my holidays' essay. And we're talking about the end of the school where there's a greater emphasis on crafts and sports:
Then it was time for the party, which got pretty wild. I spotted super-voluptuous model Victoria Silvstedt and Formula One bigwig Flavio Briatore swigging Dom Perignon by the magnum together.
Classy work. It's just a pity they didn't get him to draw a picture as well.
music lee ryan daily mirror
COPS FIND BAGS
The Met really are throwing themselves heavily into investigating the Kate Moss drugs complaint - although, of course, it's still not clear who actually made the complaint - with the force making a high-profile raid on the studio where Moss and Pete Doherty were filmed doing coke.
There's no reason to wonder about the timing of this raid - only a cynic would wonder why, when they've had a fortnight to conduct a search of the premises, they elected to leave it until the very day Ian Blair was coming under pressure again with the discovery that he attempted to block an investigation into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and begged the Home Secretary to "suspend" the law which required an independent enquiry. It's not like there'd be any reason to assume that in a high-profile case where the owners of a site of an alleged crime knew there might be a search conducted, you'd want to do that search as quickly as possible, is it?
Meanwhile, the Mirror seems to have forgotten its own take on the Kate Moss story:
Kate, who has checked into a £1,500-a-day rehab clinic in Arizona - where she will share a room with addicts and submit to the tough regime - is expected to be quizzed by police next month.
"Share a room with addicts", eh? But, surely, Daily Mirror, you've been telling us for two weeks that Kate herself is an addict? Because if she wasn't, why would you have bounced her off into rehab? Curious.
The police went off carrying some bags, apparently.
Meanwhile, Pete Doherty has made it as far as Manchester - "only twenty minutes late". The Manchester Evening News asks its readers to send their opinions on Doherty:
Is Pete Doherty all hype and no talent or is he one of Britain's greatest ever rock stars?
Faced with those two extremes, it's hard to know what to pick: clearly he isn't one Britain's greatest ever rock stars, but then he's not untalented either.
Although the talent does seem a little shaky when you start to look at it - the Surrey Comet has been listening to Babyshambles' Bollywood to Battersea to try and work out exactly what he's on about:
Could someone deconstruct these lyrics and explain why the star's attention had fallen on the borough?
A speedy reply came. "The only person who can really give you the information you need is Peter, as he wrote the song. Unfortunately, he is not doing any interviews at the moment," said a spokesman.
Of course, there's nothing to say that a great songwriter has to be understandable. But if even his own press team don't have a clue what he's wibbling off about, it might suggest that much of Doherty's mystique is all puff and no flash.
music kate moss jean charles menezes ian blair pete doherty babyshambles
WHAT PART OF 'SECRET' CAUSES THE PROBLEM HERE?
Without wanting to even think about the sort of person who'd pay a thousand pounds to see Robbie Williams (unless it's in the context of a sentence which ends "... being chased along a cul-de-sac by three hungry lions"), we're wondering if Robbie Williams secret London Astoria gig tonight is, officially, the worst-kept secret in history? Especially now Kate Moss' drug use is no longer even a supposed secret.
In fact, the only way we can assume this secret gig is in any way is if they haven't told Robbie he's doing it - we'd imagine that he would manage to remain in the dark since his media consumption is hardly likely to extend much beyond a quick scan of the headlines in The Dandy and twenty minutes staring at the front of the Daily Sport chanting "I like girls... I like girls..." every day.
music robbie williams
CALL OFF THE SEARCH FOR SELF AWARENESS
We're a little amused and the Sun Online interview with Katie Melua, where she reveals - and prepare to be shoocked - that she isn't a "pop princess." Er, no, because you don't play pop, you play marketing-tune.
Katie insists that her artistic integrity is important to her:
"And I don’t think I would like to be part of a girl group like Girls Aloud. I wouldn’t do well in that environment."
Having said which, Girls Aloud haven't ever flogged their signature tune to DFS (or whichever one of those interchangeable sofa-matic stores it was).
This is interesting, too:
Katie’s new album Piece By Piece look sets to rocket to No1 on Sunday. It’s a classic bluesy production, which sticks to the winning formula that helped her shift millions of copies of her debut disc.
Her break up from from her long-term boyfriend Luke Pritchard last month inspired many lyrics.
So, she broke up from someone last month, and managed to write, record, manufacture and distribute an album about the split into the shops by last Monday? She was lucky there was space on all those shows to promote it at such short notice.
music katie melua
WATCH OUT, MICK, OR HE'LL START TO LIVE IN YOUR POTTING SHED
As grimly inevitable as bird flu or Ian Paisley rejecting anything offered to him, the support slot on the Rolling Stones tour for Pearl Jam could mean only one thing: Eddie Vedder making a "surprise" guest appearance during the Stones' set. Still, nice for him not to be the oldest guy on stage for once.
music pearl jam rolling stones eddie vedder
NORWEGIAN WOODN'T
We yield to nobody in our admiration for Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, but whenever Clement and La Frenais start writing about the music industry, our neck starts to tighten a little. The Commitments was bad enough; Still Crazy far worse. But now the news that they're making a film which is going to feature Bono as an aging rock star and - oh, yes - a plot held together by Beatles tunes makes us wonder if there's not some kind of law to stop this sort of thing. Eddie Izzard is involved, but sadly his judgement has never been a patch on his dress sense, has it?
music movies bono eddie izzard the beatles clement and la frenais U2
ANOTHER FORMAT - THAT'S WHAT WE NEED
We're not entirely sure that the new Rolling Stones album which is being released on a memory card is quite as ground-breaking as they seem to think: didn't Robbie Williams stick out an album on removeable memory the other year to general apathy? What's different this time is that it's a new sort of memory card that's been invented for the purpose - called the Gruvi, god help us. The supposed advantage of this format is that you can move the card from place to place and the music never rests on the player at all:
“You can take the card out and transfer it to other devices and the content stays locked in the card rather than to the device,” [SanDisk spokesman Ken Castle] said.
When we say advantage, of course, we mean it purely in terms of advantage for the record companies - not for the consumer, who are being asked to shell out USD40 for an album on the disk (it does include more music, but you have to pay extra for those) and can't even move the tracks onto your computer or mobile player. In other words, you're paying more to be able to do less with your music.
And surely the main selling points of mobile players is that you can stack up your entire collection on one small device - why would there be value in abandoning that convenience to carry round a whole bunch of extra little disks that you can risk losing, breaking or simply inadvertently feeding to a dog?
It's an idea whose time has come. Unfortunately, it came about fifteen years before the technology was available. The choice of a toecurling name for the product means it doesn't even deserve the honour of obsolesence.
Incidently: Robbie Williams' Greatest Hits were released on Flash memory last October, as the first product in Carphone Warehouse's mobile content Playmobile brand. That doesn't seem to have lasted much beyond the one release, either.
music carphone warehouse gruvi rolling stones
WEMBLEY... WILL YOU BE READY TO ROCK?
Everyone seems to be happily convinced that, despite the company doing the construction work being in despearte straits, the new Wembley Stadium (slogan: It looks like everyother football stadium now) will be ready for this season's FA Cup. Hoping that's true will be Bon Jovi, who have booked the venue for a gig on June 11th. They were the last musical act to play the old Wembley; unless someone takes a gamble on the date of completition, they'll be the first headliner in the new stadium. Have we no national sense of shame?
music bon jovi wembley
SO DOES THIS MEAN MARIAH, JAMES BROWN AND MARY J BLIGE WILL BE COMING TOO?*
Perhaps the last man alive who believes it's going to happen, apparently Michael Jackson is going to be coming to London to record his Katrina charity single with, erm, all of those stars none of whom seem to be signed up for it.
We wonder why he's chosen London. Hasn't someone told him they film Grange Hill in Liverpool now?
music katrina hurricane katrina michael Jackson
* - Answer: No
More from No Rock on james brown
AT LEAST HE'S GETTING TO THE END OF GIGS BEFORE FALLING OVER THESE DAYS
Those hardy but difficult to quantify people, "friends of Pete Doherty" are worried about him. Yes, it's hard to believe, but apparently he's overindulging on the current tour and even collapsed at the end of one of the Babyshambles tourdates this week.
Pete Doherty. Overdoing it. No, we're having trouble picturing that.
music pete doherty babyshambles
UNWELCOME SPACE
Bad cess to Leed's Space club, which refused entry to a blind woman. They did say that Sarah Caltieri could go in, she claims, providing she left her cane behind the bar - the doorman thought this might be hazardous. Of course, encouraging young people to drink large amounts of alcohol long into the night, that isn't hazardous in any way. But a small white cane? There'd be bloody carnage.
The club's assistant manager comes on like a Labour Party conference organiser:
Mark Jarvis, an assistant manager of Space, said he hadn't had a chance to speak to the doormen. He added: "I need to ask the doormen what was said. You cannot discriminate because a blind person needs that equipment to function properly. If that was the case then we would apologise profusely."
... and, of course, hope that nobody launches a prosecution under the disability discrimination act.
music clubs leeds
HOW VERY DARE YOU...
... you assume that just because a man wears blousy shirts and walks around with flowers hanging out his pocket, and looks longingly at his guitar partner, that he takes it up the Harris...
Apparently, Morrissey has never been so insulted at suggestions he and Johnny Marr were lovers:
"There was a love and it was mutual and equal but it wasn't physical. There are lots of people post-Smiths who would like to make some dramatic homosexual story. There never was one."
So there you have it. Sonya Echobelly was in with a chance all along.
music morrissey johnny marr the smiths
IF ONLY YOU'D GOT OVEN GLOVES AS A WEDDING PRESENT
Poor Patsy Kensit; it turns out all those column inches and magazine covers she kept appearing on simply because she was married to Liam Gallagher were, you know, bad times and not good PR at all. She says she touched the flame:
"It wasn't so good for me. I lived it and I've come out the other side and I'm so lucky to have come through this sane.
"I touched that burning hot, white flame of rock 'n' roll."
Actually, love, by the time you hooked up with Gallagher it was more the fake plastic coal effect of showbiz.
music liam gallagher patsy kensit oasis emmerdale
NOT, PERHAPS, THE BEST TIM TO DISPLAY YOUR CONSCIENCE
Just as the No Dirty Gold campaign fixes its sights on Alicia Key's paid-for endorsement of the dubious industry, so Alicia herself pops up to tell us how good she is:
Despite the busy schedule, she'll continue to keep an eye on the larger world around her and step in when necessary. She expects her peers will do the same.
Says Keys: "We'll continue to speak out about things because it's necessary. That's always been part of music's goal - to really expose what's happening and what's affecting the people. When we get away from that, we just become cheap."
Keys, of course, could never be accused of being cheap. We bet them gold companies are paying through the nose.
Of course, the flexible concept of campaigning (except where it affects your commercial activities) is summed up by her idea of an activist hero:
"I had a great conversation with Bono the other day and I said :"Tell me, just tell me how you do it. How?' He's just so successful in the way he's able to make things happen."
music alicia keys bono
ROCK SICK LIST: Marv Hines
Ouch, that's got to have hurt - The Paddington's Marv Hines might be without feeling in his hand through to the end of next summer, after a drink-amplified accident in Hull:
"I was out with the boys and I was stood with Tom just pissing about and having a laugh. I had a glass in my hand and I'd drank my drink and I apparently smashed a glass into a wall and then said 'See you in a bit' to Tom and walked off."
He continued: "Tom had a load of people coming up to him and saying 'are you alright?' because he'd just got a new suit which is worth more than my guitar and it was covered in blood. There was this trail of inch-thick blood leading around the floor so he followed it and found me."
We're not quite sure why the singer of The Paddingtons needs such an expensive suit. Maybe he's expecting a case to come up.
music rock sick list the paddingtons marv hines
OOH, HE HAS QUALITY SPERM
Apparently, Chris Martin is a good quality stud - Gwyneth Paltrow is up the duff again. Early betting suggests they might call the kid Orange or Satsuma. That might be a little over-cute, but then... so was apple.
music chris martin coldplay gwyneth paltrow pregnancy
ALICIA KEYS UNDER ATTACK
She's always had a squeaky-clean image but Alicia Keys has upset activists worldwide by taking cash to appear in adverts for the World Gold Council and Robert Coin. The No Dirty Gold campaign is puzzled how she sees endorsing the industry fits with her professed humanitarian ideals:
"Alicia Keys' fans are well aware of her commitment to bettering the lives of Africa's poorest people," Keith Slack, senior policy advisor at Oxfam America, said in a statement. "But, gold, as it is currently produced, comes at the expense of poor communities who risk being displaced or losing their only source of clean drinking water because of dirty mining practices."
... which we think is a polite way of saying "funny how your concern runs out when someone offers cash for an advert."
music alicia keys gold
DARKNESS FALLS. AND THEN RISES AGAIN.
The world never nearly got a sophomore album from The Darkness - when they weren't sacking Frankie Poullain, Justin and Dan Hawkins were fighting amongst themselves. Justin says it was only the quality of the rough tracks they'd laid down that stopped him from throwing the towel in and walking away.
Plus the record company contract, of course. That must have helped.
music the darkness
IT WOULD ALMOST BE WORTH IT
We don't know why Elton John has decided to pimp himself out - perhaps he needs to replace the gilt on his guest bidets - but, for £850,000 you can hire him for Christmas. For a million, he'll leave David Furnish at home.
It would be kind of fun to have whip-round and book him, wouldn't it? Paying that sort of money, you could probably choose the setlist...
music elton john
SHE REALLY IS LIKE AN AMERICAN TOURIST
Apparently, Madonna keeps going back to see Mama Mia, the Abba musical, over and over again. Eight times now.
Unfortunately, it's inspired her in the wrong way. Rather than spotting that Abba secured their legacy by quitting at the top, and not watering down what they'd achieved by an inability to leave the stage even when the songs started to get less compelling, Madonna's just decided to sample the band instead.
Oh, if only we could persuade her to retire to Sweden. Or anywhere.
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OH 'ALBION' - YES, YOU'VE NOT DONE THAT BEFORE, PETE
Babyshambles have confirmed details of their debut album, which will, of course, be called Down In Albion - due 14th November - and then followed by a single called Albion, on 28th November.
It's not like Pete Doherty gets fixated on a single idea or anything, is it?
music babyshambles pete doherty
By Simon Hayes Budgen 11 comments
IT'D BE GREAT IF IT WASN'T WINDOWS MEDIA
Now, our dislike of Windows Media isn't (totally) built on a kneejerk dislike of Bill Gates and his monolith - it just doesn't do the job as well as Quicktime or Real, in our experience; we suspect that this is down to it carrying the usual bunch of garbage and DRM that Microsoft pour into seemingly everything they ever do. So, had we been looking to launch a premium, high-end download service, we really wouldn't have plumped for windows media as being the obvious choice. However, with such high quality, you'd need to be able to calm the record labels down and convince them that the tracks would be virtually useless.
MusicGiant has launched this lossless service in the US; you have to pay fifty bucks up front in order to be able to access the tracks which cost $1.29 each. We're not convinced the market is going to be there for this - not with such a hefty upfront payment - but it'll be interesting to see what happens.
music downloads microsoft
YES SIR, YOU CAN BOOGIE
That'll make the winter chill a little less depressing this year: Goldfrapp are off on tour:
February 1 - Cardiff, Great Hal
2 - Southampton Guildhall
4 - Cambridge Corn Exchange
5 - Reading Hexagon
9/10 - Brixton Academy, London
18 - Manchester Apollo
21 - Liverpool University
23 - Sheffield Octagon
24 - Birmingham Academy
26 - Belfast Ulster Hall
27 - Dublin Olympia.
Tails are optional, but essential.
music goldfrapp
BLUNT AND BROKE
You'll remember how record companies insist - as they try to sue thirteen year old kids - that all they're interested in is the welfare of their artists? They do what they do for their boys, to ensure the talent gets rewarded. And yet, of course, they don't. So James Blune had a number one single, and a number one album for what seemed like a lifetime and a half, and yet he's not seen a single penny for his work so far.
Remember, kids: if you steal music, your favourite artists won't get any cash for their work. On the other hand, if you buy music, the chances are they won't then, either.
music james blunt
KATE MOSS NOW CAN'T EVEN GET A JOB IN ASDA
We do wonder at the self-importance of men like David Stansfield, who complained about his local Asda showing Rimmel posters with Kate Moss in them, getting the display removed.
David Stansfield, 42, who has two-year-old twins and a daughter of seven, complained to Asda in Burnley.
Yesterday he said: "Kate Moss is a role model for a lot of young women. Keeping her adverts in the store sends out completely the wrong signal."
An Asda spokesman said: "Kate Moss is ultimately contracted to Rimmel and not with Asda."
But if his oldest kid is seven, why would it even register that the poster was of Kate Moss anyway, much less that she'd been caught taking drugs? If a seven year-old kid is up to speed on the latests twists of the Doherty-Moss affair, you might think the father's problem is not with adverts in Asda.
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ROBBIE WILLIAMS IS NOT GAY
There's nothing Freudian about his apparent recurring dreams of struggling with burly men as they pee, sneaking up behind them and getting all rought without even giving them enough time to zip up their flies.
Nothing Freudian at all.
HAVE THEY THOUGHT THIS THROUGH?
While - talking of McDonalds - it's nice to see someone trying to do something about obesity, we're far from clear that it's a good plan to ask Hilary Duff warning about the dangers of overeating. Although she doesn't actually recommend following every meal with a quiet ten minutes in the washroom, it's like her rib-counting presence will be hinting at that. We guess using pin-up girls for anorexia is one way to try and encourage kids to slim down; I suppose we should be lucky that the Olsen twins were busy.
music hilary duff obesity
RONALD'S MONEY SHUNNED BY THE RAP WORLD
Things are tough for Ronald McDonald - in Japan, he's been replaced by a lady; now his plans to force his product into rap songs through the rather unsubtle means of paying rappers to work his patties into their songs has come to grief - as nobody wanted to do it.
"We have not identified the right opportunity," a spokesperson for McDonald's told Advertising Age, adding that the plan's not dead quite yet. "We are open to ideas to positively reflect our brand but we have not yet identified the match that we've been looking for."
The burger purveyors had wanted the campaign to be in full swing — with songs invading the nation's airwaves — before summer. Artists would've been paid between $1 and $5 for each time their song was played on a regular or satellite radio.
The sort of artist they hoped for wasn't touching the deal with a long McFlurry spoon; and the sort who would wasn't what they had in mind.
And they've axed the Quorn burger in favour of a greasy slimy mess they call a deli sandwich. Quiznos, like, so rules.
music mcdonalds rap product placement
VENUEWATCH: Victoria Inn, Derby under threat
In one of those "improvement plans" that councils sometimes come up with when they're casting about for land to flog off to developers, Derby has decided to introduce a plan which would mean the loss of the Victoria Inn venue. The City Centre Eastern Fringes Area Action Plan is supposed to make the bit around Derby Station seem more "attractive" to people arriving at the station. The Inn is attempting to fight back, and we wish them luck.
music derby victoria inn
ALEX KAPRANOS DISTRIBUTES POPE-LIKE BLESSINGS
Gathering his disciples around him, Alex Kapranos has swished his purple gowns and granted absolution to Pete Doherty:
“Pete Doherty is a brilliant songwriter. ‘Fuck Forever’ is a real anthem. I was really impressed with him when I saw him in Paris.”
Now, we're not sure, but we can't help wondering if Alex is being a little minxish here - even those who think Doherty's early work is worthy of note finds Fuck Forever a tiresome piece of brattery - could Kapranos be attempting to shore up weak competition to make his own band seem glowing by comparison?
Another shake of the gown, and it's an encyclical on Antony and the Johnsons:
“The Mercury is about innovation. He’s performing from the heart and as a songwriter, I understand what he’s gone through to put his feelings out there.”
music alex kapranos franz ferdinand babyshambles pete doherty antony and the johnsons
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HURRY UP HARRY
We can only think that it's one of those moments you sometimes get when the dj is meant to play one track and sticks on the wrong one by mistake - because, surely, Tony Blair didn't intend to take the stage to the sounds of Sham 69, did he? He wandered on to deliver his keynote Labour Party conference speech to a video montage and - yes - If The Kids Are United.
We look forward to the next election, where - now the precedent has been set - Hersham Boys will surely be the campaign song...
Jimmy Pursey, of course, reappeared last month having a scrap with John Lydon outside the US Embassy
music labour tony blair sham 69 jimmy pursey
VEDDER IN THE GRANNY FLAT
Those of you who recall Fresh Fields, Julia McKenzie and Anton Rogers sitcom, will also remember that they had built a flat at the end of the garden for Hester's mother - sometimes they'd have a shot of the old lady peering out from behind a net curtain at the big house with all its antics going on inside. This image comes to mind with the discovery that apparently Johnny Ramonebuilt some sort of shed in his garden for Eddie Vedder to live in.
I mean, we can see why you wouldn't want Vedder in the house - he could have a brand new DFS sofa unsuitable for human seating within an hour and a half - but why would you convert your outside toilet for him to live in? And despite Johnny's death, Vedder still turns up to sleep in there - pushing a supermarket trolley with his stuff in it, we'd imagine:
"He set it up so I could visit and stay there.
"I remember reading that Frank Sinatra did that for Sammy Davis Jr. So I felt proud to be Johnny's Sammy."
Does Eddie know the degree of contempt in which Sinatra held Davis?
music eddie vedder pearl jam johnny ramone the ramones
BONO SLAPS MATES ON THE BACK
Bono - the Wall Street financier and property magnate who has a weekend gig as a singer in his own band - has applauded the World Bank's endorsement of the G8 summit decision to wipe out debt for some countries. Bono sees this as job done:
Bono said the plan was a "great day for the poorest people on the planet".
He adds, "This is not a charity issue, this is a justice issue. (The) next injustice to be torn down is the bullying tactics of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)."
However, campaigners who are less close to the US government aren't quite as convinced:
Christian Aid’s debt expert Sony Kapoor said, “The decision will be good news for some, holds hope for others but will disappoint the majority who will not see any debt relief.”
Speaking from the World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington DC, he continued, “In the select group of 18 countries, it will transform lives for the better. Millions will go to school for the first time, be vaccinated against killer diseases and get access to clean water.
“For the other ten or so countries that could qualify by next year, the deal brings hope”.
But he added: “The G8, the Bank and the Fund have forgotten about the more than 100 other poor countries that urgently need their debts cancelled. For them the deal brings disappointment with perhaps a glimmer of hope of further action following this precedent.”
Bono is applauding a deal which leaves 19 out of 20 people in the developing world in extreme poverty. It's great that a really limited step forward has been taken forward for the few, but for Bono to suggest that all the goodwill and desire for change that surrounded Live 8 has been rewarded is to let the World Bank and the rich nations off the hook. The developing world is still running up debt repayments of USD120million a day - yes, the WTO needs to be sorted, Bono, but how about finishing this job as well?
music bono u2 world bank
WHY DOES MEL B THINK BEING A LESBIAN IS A BAD THING?
We're a little puzzled about Mel B's reaction to photos of her getting close and cuddly with Christine Crokos:
"Oh yeah, I heard about that," Brown laughed. "Do you know how many stories I've had? If I was to even take one bit of them and slightly get boiled up and believe it, I would be a wreck. I'd be some lesbian, horrible, bitchy, aggressive psychopath, party animal, sex and drugs maniac. I don't really know. I could be, but I'm not!" she told Jawn Murray. What we find a little unsettling is her apparent consideration that lesbianism is a type of character flaw like being a psychopath or bitchy. Curious.
music music spice girls
DYLAN'S AUDIENCE
So, all that promotion, across the entire BBC, and how did the Dyaln-Scorcese biography do? 1.8 million viewers - the same number of viewers as tuned in for Channel Five's compilation of bits and pieces from old TV talent shows. It's not a bad audience for BBC2 on a Monday night, but after the sheer weight of promotion thrown behind the event, to manage a tie with old clips from Opportunity Knocks might be considered a bit of a disappointment.
music bob dylan martin scorcese
MARLEY'S GHOST
Does nobody die without first hiding a big pile of previously unheard recordings under their bed? Latest dead artist to have his estate suddenly unearth some lost "gem" is Bob Marley. Somehow, his son Ziggy found a tape with the song on it, which - of course - now demands a proper release.
How do these things get overlooked for so long?
music bob marley ziggy marley
FROM THE DESK OF JONNY GREENWOOD
It's always worth keeping an eye on the Radiohead blog, Dead Air Space, as the band settle back into the studio and kill time between takes of Tom being locked in a bucket of water adding stuff.
Jonny Greenwood's made an interesting confession:
There is loads of great music out there that you’ll never have time to find out about. I’m always saying this - boring the arse off someone about this. Partly to make me sound like I know loads of great music that they don’t, and partly to justify why I’ve never heard a note of, say, the Stooges (though I really must, I know, I know...how can I claim to be a an Iggy Pop fan if I've never even heard 'I wanna be your dog'? etc. etc.)
This reminds of the piece Danny Baker used to do on his shows, where people would ring in and reveal the things they'd never done - like never playing Monopoly, or never drinking coffee; it does seem curious that someone of Greenwood's age and background has managed to avoid The Stooges; especially someone who likes Iggy. You wonder if it's now become a superstition - if he worried that if someone phoned him up and played Jesus Loves The Stooges down the phone, Greenwood's life might start to unravel.
He introduces this thought as a way of explaining why he's listenint to dub in the studio. Be interesting if this is going to feed its way into the sound of the album...
... meanwhile, let's spook him out by sending him the rarities & offcuts boxset
music radiohead iggy pop the stooges stooges jonny greenwood
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RIAA FILESHARING CASE THROWN OUT BY JUDGE
So far, the RIAA has been doing very nicely, thank you, threatening legal action against people for filesharing. Faced with the mighty weight of the four major labels barking angrily at them, it's understandable that people think the best bet is to settle out of court. And if the cases never come to court, so much the better for the RIAA - it only strenghtens their hand.
Now, though, one of their demands for cash has made it into a courtroom, and come to grief almost straight away. The RIAA in the form of Priority Records had hoped to get a quick, lucrative settlement from Candy Chan, on the basis that (it claimed) her daughter had been illegal filesharing. (You'll note, once again, the RIAA's supposed focus on the big filesharers has shaken down a thirteen year old girl.) Instead of folding, Chan contested the action:
The RIAA continued to argue that Ms. Chan was indirectly liable for providing a computer to her teenage daughter. After taking Ms. Chan's deposition, the RIAA moved to add the 13 year old child as a defendant.
Ms. Chan's attorney, John Hermann of Berkley, Michigan, objected, arguing that the daughter was a minor and that the Court would have to appoint a guardian ad litem to protect the interests of the child, before for the child before they could proceed.
Judge Zatkoff was about to announce a judgement in Ms Chan's favour, when - paniced - the RIAA hastily withdrew its action against her. Because, of course, a judgement against the RIAA could have scuppered its nice bit of business of taking cash from parents under the threat of legal action.
However, the RIAA then attempted to introduce a legal action against the kid, calling on the court to appoint a guardian ad litern. Happily, the judge was having none of this.
music riaa downloads
NOT THAT SHE'S A DIVA, OR ANYTHING
We know how much it pains Mariah Carey when she gets accused of being a demanding diva, because, darling, she just isn't like that at all. So it might be wrong to conclude that her time scrambling to get out of the dumper has not taught her humility, but to grab it all while she can, or to draw any further conclusions from reports that she demanded USD25,000 to turn up for a Vegas nightclub opening. And blacked out windows and the presidential suite.
Oh, and she wanted the waiting staff and security to "lower their heads in her presence", apparently.
Yeah, that's actually not a bad idea, that one. Or only look at you through smoked glass.
The nightclub wouldn't pay, so she didn't turn up; but her simple, non-divaesque requests actually did a better job of getting publicity coverage for the opening by themselves.
music mariah carey
WHAT MORE CAN I GIVE?
Heady times indeed for Michael Jackson - apparently, as he prepares his comeback (again), he's decided to turn to gangsta rap. Presumably inspiration struck when he thought those crowds outside court chanting at him were all yelling "P Diddy Style."
We're not sure it's such a great idea, though - sure, Eminem's done alright for himself but for most people "white guy rapping" means Vanilla Ice; certainly, Jacko's contempt for rap as an artform is on record when he got Macauly Culkin to open and close his mouth to someone elses's words. (We mean in the Black and White video, not during the court case, of course.)
What's amusing, though, is that as Jacko spends his time flicking through sportswear catalogues and sending his people down to Target to look at the jewellery counter, so the line-up of people who "are" going to appear on his Katrina charity single have shifted. Last week, we were being told it would feature Mariah Carey, R Kelly and James Brown. Now, it's going to be Jay-Z, Missy Elliot and Mary J Blige.
As part of his rap makeover, Michael Luckman (who wrote a book about Jacko once, so he should - ahem - know) claims that “soon you will see him surrounded by beautiful women.”
Well... he's always had an eye for the birds...
music katrina hurricane katrina michael jackson jay z missy elliot
Oddly, despite his claim on Sunday that he's got a secret lover and his meticulous planning of his wedding in Las Vegas, Williams is also stating that he isn't seeing any one person and doesn't want to get married:
He said: "I think growing up in my 20s, not knowing who I really was, I wanted someone to come and save me and make me better.
"But now I am like, there’s plenty of time. Let’s not run and have one of them, let’s walk and have them all."
Really, Robbie, we're convinced - you're waiting for a change in the law... sorry, a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy. But it might be more convincing if you decided if you were a devoted monogamous heterosexual or a randy, shag 'em all straight, so we know what exactly it is we're being convinced of.
And let's not even worry about the kissing Jonathan Wilkes and telling people that he's gay "for a laugh." Because it's a laugh, innit? It's just mucking about.
music robbie williams jonathan wilkes
How could Robbie Williams be gay, eh, when he's planning his wedding? He's decided he wants a "quiet" affair at a Las Vegas chapel rather than something big and flashy like Jordan and Peter Andre - and quite right, too, Robbie. After all, Jordan and Peter's whole marriage was a massive publicity stunt, wasn't it?
But you do know Las Vegas isn't in Spain, don't you?
SUDDENLY, G4 MAKES A LOT MORE SENSE
Louis Walsh, one of the "experts" who judges on The X-Factor, has had his ears cleaned out. This, clearly, is an act of public-spirit we should all applaud - we'll all benefit if he can actually hear the bunch of Tomcats-with-knackers-caught-in-mangles auditioning on the programmes; but if we had to sit at a table with Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne skriking their opinions, we wouldn't be having the wax taken out of our ears. We'd be wedging cheese, crayons, anything to hand in them.
music louis walsh sharon osbourne simon cowell x factor tv
EVEN WE HAVE TROUBLE BUYING THIS ONE
We're usually happy to think the worst of Christina Aguilera, but even we think we'd stop here for a moment to consider the claims of the Daily Star that she marked the birth of little Sean Preston Spears by sending Britney a corset and diet handbook - what, are we meant to believe life is like Hollyoaks?
Besides, if you were going to go to all that trouble to be cruel, wouldn't you be really cruel and send, say, a kaftan and a box of laxatives?
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PHIL SPECTOR: NEW YEAR, NEW TRIAL
Phil Spector popped into the court house today to hear the judge in his murder trial shift pretrial dates to October 27th & 28th and speculate that the actual trial proper would begin "probably" in January - which will at least give Court TV something to keep it busy once it's run out of Christmas 'Year of the Jacko trial' specials. Spector has waived his right to a speedy trial.
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SANCTUARY REMAINS INDIE - FOR NOW
Despite a panicky period of issuing more profit warnings than hit albums, the label and management indie group Sanctuary has announced that it's no longer looking for a buy-out partner. The stock exchange reacted to the news that possible tie-ups with EMI and Warners had been ruled out by rushing to offload more stock in the company.
Sanctuary - home to the likes of Elton John, Axl Rose and Morrissey - is heading towards making a loss this year and plans to try and salvage things by "cutting costs." There may be one or two names on their books who will be running a grubby finger round the inside of their sweaty collars tonight.
Sanctuary had got itself the reputation as being like the RSPCA's home - all manner of old bands who had nowhere else to go found comfort, warmth and shelter there. The lack of a hook-up with one of the majors means that the label will now be looking to keep bankers happy - and that might mean one or two old faithfuls being put out of their misery.
music morrissey sanctuary axl rose elton john
BEANIE ACQUITTED
And in a rap-(attempted)-murder-trial on the other side of the Atlantic, Beanie Sigel has been cleared of shooting Terrance Speller after a dispute outside a Philadelphia strip club. This was Sigel's second time on trial for the killing; the first ended in a deadlocked jury.
It's not quite time for Sigel to pay off his briefs and think about settling down - he's got another trial coming up following claims that he broke a man's eye socket in January 2003. But after that he should be able to live a simple, Courtney Love style life.
music beanie sigel
SO SOLID TRIAL RESUMES
The murder trial of Dwayne Vincent, (slightly) better known as Megaman from the So Solid Crew has been told by the victim's brother that he was not seeking to "do Megaman down."
Kyle Scarlet - whose brother Colin was shot last November - also denied suggestions from Vincent and co-accused Carl Morgan's defence that he hadn't been present at the time of the shooting.
The case continues.
music megaman so solid crew
CALL OFF THE SEARCH FOR ANYTHING NEW
Well, at least you can't accuse Katie Melua of being deluded into thinking she's all that:
My music isn't meant to be innovative, I know that. The only thing I claim to do is hopefully play good songs. It wasn't groundbreaking music that inspired me - it was songs that did something to me on an emotional level.
But if you don't innovate, doesn't that leave you just being... well, derivative?
MOSS AND DOHERTY: ONGOING
You know what only occured to us today? That Lucy Clarkson, who "opened her heart to The People" about all the lesbiancokeshag stuff she'd seen would be the same Lucy Clarkson who told the News of the World she'd been shagging Justin Timberlake behind Cameron Diaz's back. Only, of course, she hadn't been, and ended up costing Rupert Murdoch a large sum of money. Nice to see it hasn't stopped other sunday papers from getting their checkbooks out.
Meanwhile, Shaun Ryder has been shrugging his shoulders. Apparently, he could try to tell Moss to calm it down but would she listen?
Speaking to The Sun, Ryder said: “I wouldn’t give Kate advice on her habit – she probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway.
“I’ve been in Kate’s company but I can’t say I’ve ever done coke with her.”
Well, yes: Having Shaun Ryder stand in front of you and tell you to leave the drugs alone... it might not be entirely convincing, mightn't it?
music kate moss peet doherty justin timberlake shaun ryder
WHAT YOU WAITING FOR
We don't know what's more astonishing - that there was stuff left over from the sessions for Gwen Steffani's Love Angel Music Baby album (they didn't, it seems, rush out the first bunch of tracks they came up with and knock off early) - or that she's afraid that the stuff she's doing sounds so now if she doesn't release the rest of it before Christmas it'll sound out-of-date.
A woman who wears houndstooth bikinis is afraid of the tide of fashion running away from her.
music gwen steffani no doubt
STILL MISSING
As the US breathes out again as Rita receedes, there's still a lot of unanswered questions hanging over from Katrina.
For example, Barry Cowsill of 60s Partridge-lites The Cowsills is still missing. Barry, who has been having drug problems (of the liking them a little too much sort), disappeared totally in the days after Katrina hit; then made a phone call saying that he was waiting for a bus out. Now his family think they've seen pictures of him on the CNN website at the New Orleans Convention Center.
music katrina barry cowsill hurricane katrina
RIDICULE IS NOTHING TO BE SCARED OF
6Music are reporting that young Adam Ant is going to publish an autobiography next year - called, disappointingly, Stand and Deliver rather than Diddley Qua Qua. It should be a cracking read, as he's had quite a life. We wonder if it'll finally stop people googling to see if he's Liza Goddard's son. (He isn't.)
music adam ant stuart goddard liza goddard
ZANE LOWE SWEARS INTO TROUBLE
Radio One have been given a big ticking off for the not-entirely-helpful warning of bad language at the start of Zane Lowe's Most Punk back in June.
Zane's introduction, delivered by an old lady, was pretty much like this:
“Hello ladies, boys and girls, I thought that you might like to know - in the spirit of punk rock – the following show includes, what we often refer to as language. So if, like me, you are offended by such words and phrases as: arse; bollocks; tit, wank; tit-wank; rotter; mother licker; mother sucker; mother fucker; twat; minge juice; bottler and of course bastard – then you might wish to turn over, or fuck off – thank you”.
Ofcom wasn't amused:
The programme was an examination of punk culture. It was therefore inevitably likely to include some material that contained strong language and a warning was given. The ‘elderly lady’ was clearly intended to be ironic and provide a humorous introduction to the programme. We therefore appreciate the editorial technique that the BBC was trying to use, with the use of labelling and warnings.
Broadcasters have the right to transmit, and listeners the right to receive, material which may offend some people but uses strong language to explore artistic and creative themes. However, the right to deal with such subject matter comes with the responsibility of ensuring material is appropriately scheduled with the potential child audience in mind. While this was a legitimate approach, its application here was seriously misguided.
music radio one zane lowe radio
PUB QUIZ TIEBREAKER: WHAT IS MADONNA'S FULL NAME?
Actually, they'd not ask that as a pubquiz question, as the answer - Madonna Louise Ciccone - is too easy. Not, though, as simple as it might seem as Guy Ritchie was asked the question on live TV and didn't know.
Perhaps he got confused in that period when Madonna started babbling on that she wanted to be called Esther. Or perhaps - like many of us these days - he's just not that interested in the details of Madge's life anymore.
music madonna guy ritchie
LIME WIRE: SQUEEZING USERS?
Interesting developments over at LimeWire, the lovely file-sharing client software: they're working on code that could stop sharing of unlicensed material:
If an individual shares an unlicensed MP3 file, the LimeWire client will display the following message and prevent its distribution:
"LimeWire can't determine if one or more files have been published under a suitable license. These files will not be shared."
What's crucial here, of course, is that it doesn't stop you downloading unlicensed material - just from uploading it. In the same way that that RIAA software we wrote about last week is designed to save you from yourseld, so is this - only in a more genuine fashion. What it effectively does is prevent you from inadvertently sharing stuff that's identifiable as being unlicensed. It spares you from being caught by the RIAA, rather than stopping you doing what you've always been doing. At the same time, Limewire are able to show to the RIAA they've been doing their best to stop people putting their product to evil uses. Quite a deft piece of work.
music riaa limewire
THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD CLUNK, CLICK EVERY TRIP
Everytime someone gets thrown through a windscreen, a light goes on in Jimmy Saville's house to alert him that his work pushing seatbelt safety has been ignored again.
Last week, Saville's Light of Disappointment came on as largely-forgotten soul singer D'Angelo came to grief in his Hummer. You might be a little puzzled as to why a former pop star needs to drive on the main roads in a vehicle designed for driving over conquered nations, and so are we; maybe it was a desire to be off tarmac on the part of the army vehicle that led it to leave the road, crash into a fence and catapult D'Angelo, unrestrained by a seatbelt, into a field.
music d'angelo rock sick list
APPLE FALLS ON CHILDREN'S HEADS
There's been a rumpus over at iTunes, with upsetment at Apple offering War Child album individual tracks at its standard price, 20p a go less than they are on the official website; last week things were even worse, with the store selling the album as a whole at a discount rate. Some sort of "mistake", apparently, rather than a grand conspiracy of any sort.
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PRESERVE THE STATUS QUO
For reasons that we're entirely clear about, parents trying to keep Channelkirk Primary School open have decided to approach Status Quo to get their backing for their campaign.
The Oxton school is just north of the Scotland-England border. Perhaps that rugged countrysdie suggests Francis Rossi's temperament.
music status quo
Robbie Williams isn't gay, you know. Oh no. In fact, he's got a girlfriend. Oh, yes, he has. He's been seeing her for months and months, he has. Yes, he has. It's just a secret, see. All a secret.
Of course, Robbie. In fact, you're having a lovely relationship with five lovely sisters, aren't you? And their darling Mother Palm.
music robbie williams solitary masturbation
MOSS: IT'S NOT OVER YET, LOVE
If Kate Moss had been hoping that the dogs were going to be called off now that she'd lost contracts, she's going to have an uncomfortable morning. The big company who had decided to stand by her, Rimmel, now seems to have made itself a target. The Sun (them again) fumes over the company's plans to run an ad campaign filmed before The Mirror did its own filming:
COSMETICS giant Rimmel was slammed yesterday for cashing in on Kate Moss’s drug shame in a new TV ad campaign.
Commercials will see the model living up to her wild image by partying all night — before applying make-up in a taxi and arriving for work looking stunning.
"Slammed" might be overstating it a bit - the best a ring-round by the paper could do in the way of outrage was Liberal Democrat MP John 'who he' Hemming:
Lib Dem MP John Hemming said yesterday: “Cocaine damages people’s lives. It is sad a company would endorse that sort of activity for commercial reasons.”
... and even that is hardly much of a slamming. However, it might be enough to flack to persuade Rimmel to do a 360. We hope that they hold firm in the face of this onslaught of mild disappointment from an obscure MP.
Meanwhile, despite his very public descriptions of Kate as a crack-addled slut last week, Pete Doherty still thinks they're getting married this year. Well... maybe...
music pete doherty babyshambles kate moss
WE BET THE PICTURE DESK WERE THRILLED
The passing of the entire front page to a story that is 'woman the country doesn't like much writes book' must, surely have been a contractual deal, which is the only way we can imagine that the paper managed to throw away their pictures of Charlotte Church in a latex dress at GAY on an inside page.
Mind you, perhaps the paper just didn't think the pictures were that good - they seemed to think that she looked like a short, tubby bloke:
SINGER Charlotte Church takes the stage in a tight-fitting latex frock — and looks just like gay Little Britain Welshman Daffyd.
Charlotte, 19, made a striking double for comic Matt Lucas in his costume for TV’s Daffyd who says he is “the only gay in the village”.
To be honest, we don't see it ourselves - perhaps the Sun just thinks that everything wrapped in rubber looks the same to them. I bet they're a hoot when their boyfriends put condoms on...
music daffyd charlotte church latex rubber g-a-y little britain
More from No Rock on charlotte church
ONLY SOMEONE WITH A HEART OF STONE...
It would be slightly easier to have a degree of sympathy for Sharon Osbourne's announcement that she's unable to beat bulimia if the revelation wasn't coming as part of an exclusive deal to flog her life to The Sun, complete with horrible, self-satisified TV advertising campaign.
In case you managed to miss the TV ads, a crowd of journalists were gathered outside Osbourne Manor barking questions at a limo while Sharon woodenly delivered "I cannot comment" lines before settling back into the car seat to read her own story in the Sun.
Actually, this was a little more honest than Sharon probably expected - who, except a desperate publicity whore would wind down their car's tinted windows to be photographed when she was contractually obliged to not say anything? And isn't there something a little too revealing in her stilted delivery of some words scripted by someone else forbidding her from talking about her own life to anyone else, because she's sold it for a handfull of beans to Rupert Murdoch? And the final scene, of Sharon settling down to look at herself in the papers - presumably she's off taking the paper to be framed - really does sum up the self-obsession of the woman.
What is puzzling, though, is why The Sun thinks that Sharon's story is not only worth paying for, but apparently today's big news...
music sharon osbourne
SOME LYRICS WOULD DISGRACE THE BACK OF A DENNY'S NAPKIN
We're reluctant to mention Ashlee Simpson here, as her name is a huge magnet for comment spam - is she really such a top-drawer pull? Or do the spammers just assume that if you're interested in Ashlee Simpson, you'd probably need viagra? Anyway, apparently there's to be another album from Simpson, and AshleeFan.com has what it claims is the lyrics from this opus.
If it wasn't called AshleeFan, we'd assume it was a cruel pisstake. Here's a couple of samples:
What you been doing
Whoa, whoa, haven't seen you around
How you been feelin, how you been feelin Whoa, whoa, don't you bring me down
It seems like yesterday that my world fell from the sky
It seems like yesterday I didn't know how hard I could cry
But all my girls we're in a circle and nobody's gonna break through
L, O, L, O, L O LO V E
L, O, L, O L, O
L, O L, L O L, O L O V E
L, O L O L O
Did you hear me say
L, O, L, O L O L O V E
L, O, L O L, O
L, O L O L O L O V E
L, O L O L O L O
Teletubbies said something similar once, I believe. We can't help but note that the popular internet shorthand LOL has been hidden in that one, as a hostage to fortune.
Nothing's gonna hold me back
It's Friday night
And I feel all right
Nobody's gonna bring me down
And I'm doing fine
Don't you know I wanna play
So take me on a holiday
Well, it does all rhyme, at least.
Parents: we wouldn't normally advise this, but... if you do find your kids are downloading this album off the web - report your children to the RIAA. It's the kindest thing to do.
music ashlee simpson lyrics
EIGHT MILLION MORE STORIES
We're quite excited to hear via DJ Martian that there's a double album retrospective from The June Brides in the pipeline - a band bleoved of Janice long-era Night-time Radio One, the Record Mirror and Snipe! fanzine, amongst others. And it really is to be a career-spanning retrospective, too - all forty-one tracks they ever recorded. Will Martin Scorcese be making a documentary? No. But everyone who has the jangle in their heart will have a slightly bouncier step today.
music june brides
HEWITT OFFERS MOSS HER VALUABLE INSIGHT
Since when did Jennifer Love Hewitt start being called J Love? Anyway, "J Love" has offered Kate Moss a rather school ma'amish ticking off, and observed that coffee and cocaine are two different things, almost entirely:
"I have to say that I think maybe they [H&M] did her a favor, and maybe she'll actually get help," the actress/singer said. "Coffee's one thing, but coke is another. It's not something you want to really have as a problem in your life. I think we have to kind of stop rewarding bad behaviour and actually start helping people. You know when you're out in public that there are gonna be people who watching you, so you should just try to act like somebody that you would wanna be proud of if they got a photo of you. Not that you should always feel like you're always working, but it goes with the job, I think."
Excepy, Jennifer... Kate Moss wasn't out in public when she was filmed doing coke - so, since you've decided to endorse the actions of H&M in dropping Moss, does that mean that you think - as a general rule - celebrities should welcome the idea that they might be secretly filmed at all times? Or are you just blurting out some career-friendly soundbites without thinking?
music kate moss jennifer love hewitt
OF COURSE, THE BEST TRIBUTE WOULD HAVE BEEN TO ATTACK SIMON BATES
Jim McCabe has been in touch again - and it's always a delight - to raise a couple of questions. First, has anyone thought through the wisdom of having Roger Daltry and Robert Plant share lead vocals on the Peel tribute single?:
With those two egos at play, the old Buzzcocks' classic will sound like an angry sparring match in a bar just before fisticuffs occur.
Second, just why did the Guardian choose to editorialise about how much it loves Dylan?
Not entirely unwelcome, though unexpected. It would be slightly tawdry, however, if the only reason for the editorial was some sort of tenuous tie-in with Scorsese's forthcoming Dylan opus.
Ourselves, we're so tired of Bob Dylan right now. If he'd actually gone knocking on heaven's door the coverage of this documentary couldn't have been any more over-carpeted. We've seen or heard it trailed now on BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, Radio 3, Radio 4 and 6 Music - and we bet it's just luck that we haven't caught a plug on Radio 2. Now, we can understand the excitement at Bob picking up an electric guitar, in its context. It's like when Creation started issuing twelve inch singles, or the Manics didn't split after the first album. But, crucially, even if BBC2 did air an documentary featuring Matt from Sarah recreating the great "measuring the runout groove" incident, it's unlikely it would be trailed every single time you turn the television on. Even though is should.
music bob dylan john peel robert plant roger daltry
INCREASINGSHAMBLES
We're not sure if Pete Doherty's plan is to try and push things so far that British tabloid readers feel there's no option but to build up a pile of faggots and kindling and burn him, but the way things are going, that seems to be the only ending. A couple of days ago, he was getting himself muddled up with a sixteen year-old, who yesterday was spread all over the front of the Daily Star pledging to take Kate Moss' place "in Pete's bed and on the catwalk" - you'll note the British tabloids treat 16 year-old girls as children in need of protection when they're in a car with pop stars, but as women able to make their own decisions and choices when they're being interviewed; it was almost a step back to the days when Mike Gabbert was editing the Star and ran a picture of a fifteen year-old girl with a headline which mentioned the size of her tits, and how many days until she was 16, when she was pledging to get them out for the paper.
This morning, the main story in the People is headlined RACE TO SAVE FAN 15, FROM JUNKIE PETE BUS. That's not, of course, a junkie called Pete Bus. The heart of the story is that a 15 year-old girl decided to leap onto the Babyshambles bus as it left Dundee; her parents called the cops; the police intercepted the bus at a motorway service station. Not, really, the stuff of Hollywood movies, but the People do a good job of writing it up to make it sound as lurid as possible. They almost let the facts get in the way of a good story, too:
The impressionable 15-year-old had embarked on a 400-mile motorway journey through the night after being invited on to a tour bus used by Babyshambles crew members that followed in convoy with junkie Pete's coach.
So... actually, she wasn't even on Junkie Pete Bus, she was on some other bus. Which reduces the impact of the later paragraphs, somewhat...
The 15-year-old's distraught parents - aware of Doherty's horrific use of illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine - alerted cops after getting a mobile phone call from their daughter.
But while they might be distraught, what does the habits of someone not on the bus have to do with the story?
Last night family organisations were appalled by the girl's experience.
But... why? What was the experience that was so appalling? Sure, there were a few errors of judgement on all sides, and we can imagine it must have been a bit upsetting for the parents. But 'girl takes a lift; parents panic and intervene' is hardly that bad, is it?
Eric Hester, vice-chairman of Family and Youth Concern said: "It is every parent's nightmare. These girls might look older than their years but a 15-year-old is still a child and she should be protected."
We know that Family and Youth Concern are permanently on aler - and it's a sign of how ready they are to judge that Eric Hester broke off from chairing their vice sessions to comment. But this is all a flap about nothing, isn't it? It could have been very bad indeed, yes; but it wasn't.
And The People's Agony Aunt Rachael said: "This has to be the ulimate horror for parents - your teenage daughter on a bus full of roadies from a pop band headed by a self-confessed junkie."
Again, it's probably not what parents would want to hear, but we can think of dozens of parents who have had horrors far more awful than hearing their daughters have climbed onto a bus and had a bit of a silly adventure; and we're prepared to bet that when they got the phone call saying "Mum, I'm on a tour bus" they actually were relieved that some of their more obvious, burning horrors they'd been imagining - involving shallow graves and brutalism - were able to melt away.
Meanwhile, the Sunday papers rush to play catch-up with a full seven days of Kate Moss stories: Lucy Clarkson will clearly never work again after blabbing to the people:
Opening her heart to The People, Yorkshire-born Lucy, 23, revealed how...
YOUNG girls take part in lesbian orgies after losing their minds on Class A drugs.
SLEAZY businessmen hang around backstage luring young models into sex romps by offering them drugs.
DESPERATE models routinely take cocaine because it suppresses their appetite and enables them to stay slim.
CATWALK JUNKIES snorted the drug off silver platters at the prestigious London Fashion Week.
FASHION BOSSES know about the illegal abuse but ignore it.
We know, we know... who knew that models might take coke to stay slim? We're as shocked as you are.
Something we are really surprised at is the Mirror's claims that Naomi Campbell is Kate's "supermodel pal" - surely Kate can't have been so addled by drugs as to be mates with her, can she? There doesn't seem to be much to the claim, apart from a bid to stack up the paper's insistence that Moss will go onto Parkinson when she comes out of rehab. Apparently, Parkinson is the show of choice for yer recovering addict, says the paper's mysterious source:
"If she goes on and says: 'I'm sorry. I'm hooked, I was wrong,' people will show her more respect. That's what Naomi did. She's been through the same nightmare herself and has told Kate that Parky is the right show to do. It worked for her. And she's convinced it can work for Kate, too."
We're not quite sure how it "worked" for Naomi, who threw a massive strop when the Mirror ran pictures of her coming out of her twelve-step group (despite acknowledging you have a problem being step one...), but we know why Parky's the first choice - he's such a lame interviewer, it's more like being licked by a kitten than asked questions. The other main options - Martin Bashir or Jonathan Ross - would be either too probing or too prone to take the piss. Going on Parky is like choosing a twnikly old priest who doesn't much care anymore to make your confessions to.
music kate moss pete doherty babyshambles michael parkinson
THERE MIGHT BE SOME SORT OF LESSON HERE
What should we make from the news that someone who got knocked back from the X Factor as being too poor a singer even for them was able to sound passably enough like Ronan Keating to persuade Mrs. Keating that he was her husband:
He said: "I love Ronan. I've his voice to a tee. I explained that I was his double - I am the world's best Ronan Keating impersonator.
"I sang to him and his wife shouted downstairs 'Shush Ronan, I'm putting the kids to bed'."
music ronan keating
THIS WEEK, WE PLUGGED...
Echo and the Bunnymen return from creative isolation
Broadcast invite "pushing the right buttons" praise
This week's Swedish garage rock heroes
Ex-Chesterfield and Polly Harvey collaborator's solo work
More from No Rock on echo and the bunnymen
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AGHE Awards - Clark Tibbitts Award
Clark Tibbitts (1903 - 1985)
Clark Tibbitts was an architect of the field of gerontological education - an academic who spent most of his career in the federal government as an advocate for the development of aging education, training, and research programs in institutions of higher education. Tibbitts was the director of the Institute for Human Adjustment at the University of Michigan for 12 years before moving to Washington, D.C., in 1949 to serve as an specialist in aging with the agency that preceded the U.S. Departments of Health, Education, and Welfare, and Health and Human Services. He retired in 1983 as the special assistant to the U.S. Commissioner on Aging after 35 years of government service.
During those three decades, his contributions and accomplishments were many, including the following: he directed the 1950 National Conference on Aging and helped develop the 1961 White House Conference on Aging; chaired the HEW Committee on Aging and Geriatrics in the early 1950s; founded the Administration on Aging (AoA); and founded and directed AoA's Education and Training Program and its National Clearinghouse on Aging.
He played a major role in planning, organizing, and convening many international conferences on aging from the 1950's through the 1980's. He authored more than 100 publications; the most notable, undoubtedly, was the Handbook of Social Gerontology: Societal Aspects of Aging, which for a decade was the principal textbook on aging.
Clark Tibbitts died in October 1985 at age 82, leaving a legacy of accomplishments in academic institutions throughout the world. Through a combination of personal friendships and professional expertise, he fostered a federal commitment to the improvement of the lives of older persons through the development and growth of hundreds of academic gerontology programs.
The Clark Tibbitts Award
The AGHE award was established in 1980 to recognize those individuals that have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of gerontology as a field of study in institutions of higher education. In 1985, AGHE's Executive Committee renamed the AGHE award the Clark Tibbitts Award to recognize the major role that Tibbitts played in establishing and nurturing the field of gerontological education.
In addition, Tibbitts was key in establishing the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education. Tibbitts and colleague Wilma Donahue (University of Michigan) were the first recipients of the AGHE award in 1981.
This award, named for an architect of the field of gerontological education, is given by AGHE each year to an individual that has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of gerontology and/or geriatrics education.
The awardee receives an engraved plaque and delivers a lecture at the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting.
Nominees must have made a national impact on gerontology and/or geriatrics education, have had significant involvement in gerontology and/or geriatrics education, and have advanced the goals and mission of the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education.
2019 David C. Burdick | Stockton University
2017 JoAnn Damron-Rodriguez | University of California, Los Angeles
2016 Case Western Reserve University
2014 Harry "Rick" Moody | AARP
2013 Marie A. Bernard | National Institute on Aging/National Institute of Health
2012 John A. Krout | Ithaca College
2011 Edward F. Ansello | Virginia Commonwealth University
2010 Frank J. Whittington | George Mason University
2009 Larry Polivka | University of South Florida
2008 Leonard W. Poon | University of Georgia
2007 Robert Binstock | Case Western Reserve University
2006 William J. McAuley | George Mason University
2005 Sally Newman | University of Pittsburgh
2004 Jon Hendricks | Oregon State University
2003 Phoebe Liebig | University of Southern California
2002 Stephen Cutler | University of Vermont
2001 Bernice Parlak | Health Resources and Services Administration
2000 Carroll Estes | University of California, San Francisco
1999 Armin Grams | University of Vermont
1998 James H. Schulz | Brandeis University
1997 Scott A. Bass | University of Maryland, Baltimore County
1996 Tom Hickey | University of Michigan
1995 E. Percil Stanford | San Diego State University
1994 Harvey L. Sterns | The University of Akron
1993 David A. Peterson | University of Southern California
1992 Joseph Britton | The Pennsylvania State University
1991 Harold Johnson | University of Michigan
1990 Midwest Council for Social Research in Aging
1989 Wayne Vasey | University of South Florida
1988 Dorothy Coons | University of Michigan
1987 George Maddox | Duke University
1986 *Walter Beattie | Syracuse University
1985 Mildred Seltzer | Miami University
1984 Hiram Friedsam | University of North Texas
1983 James Birren | University of Southern California
1982 Robert Havighurst | University of Chicago
1981 Clark Tibbitts | Administration on Aging & Wilma Donahue | University of Michigan
* renamed to Clark Tibitts Award
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17/21 Average ratings per country
All right, give this one a go!
For each orchestra, show a report consisting of:
Name of the orchestra as the name column.
Country/Countries in which the orchestra played as the country column.
Number of concerts in this country as the concerts_no column.
Average rating of the concerts played by this orchestra in this country as the avg_rating column.
Show only the rows of the report for which the orchestra played more than once in a given country.
You need to join tables orchestras and concerts. Group by the name of the orchestra and the name of the country where the concert took place. Use HAVING to filter countries where the orchestra performed more than once.
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The Cajun/Creole Dictionary
Cajun/Creole food culture is steeped in tradition and the influences of its heritage. Let’s start with the language of Acadiana. You will find many new and sometimes confusing terms that will both baffle and intrigue. Most are Cajun-derived terms based on traditional French and some are just plain unexplainable. Either way, the language of food in Acadiana is most colorful, and lots of fun to figure out. Here’s a taste sample:
Amandine (AH-mahn-deen) – a French Creole sauce used in fish preparation featuring a basic Meunière sauce (butter, lemon, and herbs) infused with slivered toasted almonds. A Southern variation is to use pecans instead of almonds. This dish is a top seller at Galatoire’s in New Orleans.
Andouille (ahn DOO ee) is a building block of the cuisine. To say it is simply a spicy pork sausage smoked in a casing totally understates its role as a foundation for many great Cajun and Creole dishes. It is sold everywhere, and it is unquestionably the most used of all Cajun sausages as a seasoning ingredient. My favorite is found at Poche’s north of Breaux Bridge, but many other smokehouses have outstanding versions.
Au gratin (oh GROT ten or oh GRAH tan) is a casserole dish seen throughout Louisiana in upscale Creole city versions and down home rural Cajun. The two variations in pronunciation are usually reflective of the French authenticity of where you happen to be dining. From potatoes to crabmeat, the key is a topping of cheesy breadcrumbs browned and bubbling. Don’s Seafood Hut in Lafayette has a spectacular crabmeat au gratin.
Beignet (ben-yay or ban-yay): In most instances this is a sweet breakfast or dessert dish of lighter-than-air fried pastries or square doughnuts. Usually sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with cafe au lait. However, it is not uncommon to see savory fried pastry versions (usually stuffed with crawfish) in trendy restaurants. Stop by Poupart’s French Bakery in Lafayette for hot beignets and coffee most every morning.
Bisque (bisk) is a rich soup elevated to center-of-the-plate status. In the city, bisque is usually cream based with rich ingredients such as oyster & artichoke or crab & asparagus. In the countryside of Acadiana, those dishes are common as well, but dark, roux-based crawfish bisque with stuffed heads is as common. You usually cannot go wrong when you see a bisque on the menu. Get my recipe for Crawfish and Pumpkin Bisque here.
Blackened is a method of cooking introduced in the 1980s by celebrated Chef Paul Prudhomme. A native son of Opelousas located in Acadiana, the Creole chef’s dish isn’t part of traditional Cajun cooking. His blackened red fish specialty (and variations) is now seen in restaurants throughout the nation and features a fillet of fish coated with spices and quickly seared at a high temperature in a cast-iron skillet coated with butter. The key is to quickly flash sear the fish and seal the coating before the butter burns. Unless you have a commercial-grade vent over your stove, I recommend cooking this recipe outdoors.
Boucherie (BOO-shuh-ree) is a time-honored Cajun tradition of bringing families together for the butchering of a whole hog. Before refrigeration, a large pig could not be consumed before spoiling, so the village came together to butcher and cook the various parts into roasts, cracklin’, hogs head cheese, sausage, salt pork, tasso, lard, bacon, ribs and the like. The boucherie is now a common celebration in the small towns of Acadiana with Le Grand Boucherie des Cajuns festival in St. Martinville being one of the largest.
Boudin (BOO dan), I believe, is literally the link to discovering Cajun food. Once you’ve tried it, and you like it, you now understand the cuisine of Acadiana. Pork, rice, liver, onions, and spices cooked down and stuffed into a hog casing and then steamed. With its down-home humility and humble appearance, in the right hands, it is a mysterious and complicated culinary masterpiece. But, no two boudin are alike, so try them all, and then you can join the age-old debate on the “best boudin.” Boudin is sold everywhere – corner stores, groceries, restaurants, bars, and yes, even gas stations. Fill ‘er up and give me a link for the road. Read the story and my boudin recipe here.
Bread Pudding – a traditional Louisiana dessert made from French bread that is a way for home cooks and restaurant chefs to use leftover loaves. The bread is broken up, soaked in a seasoned custard mixture, and baked until golden brown. The dish is almost always served with an alcohol-based (rum or whiskey) cream sauce. A variation seen in rural Cajun country is one that uses day-old doughnuts.
Café au Lait (caf-AY-oh-LAY) literally means “coffee with milk” and is a Louisiana classic blend of strong chicory coffee and hot milk. Café du Monde in the New Orleans French Quarter is famous for their Café au lait and Beignets. In rural Cajun country, children are raised on this blend–simply called coffee milk–which is one reason Louisiana has one of the highest coffee consumption rates in America.
Chaurice (sha REESE) is a spicy South Louisiana sausage used often in gumbo and other dishes seeking a depth of flavor and heat. Some say it is akin to Spanish chorizo, but other than the name, they are quite different. I’ve seen it both smoked and raw. Either way, it is tasty and can be found in many rural markets and smokehouses throughout Acadiana.
Chicory (CHICK o ree) is an herbal root that is dried, ground, roasted, and used as an additive flavor in Louisiana coffee, most predominantly in New Orleans. The custom of blending chicory with coffee began during the Civil War when coffee supplies to New Orleans were cut off by Union naval blockades along the Mississippi River. Although it imparts a slight bitterness, some swear by the medicinal qualities of chicory.
Cochon de Lait (coo shawn duh lay) refers to a suckling pig roast. Translated, “milk pig” means that this is a young pig still attached to the sow’s milk and thus, perfect for roasting on a spit. Many restaurants across Louisiana are now featuring cochon de lait dishes on their menus, many of which are from slow roasted pork butts versus the whole pig. Still good, but somehow misses the point of tradition.
Couche Couche (coosh coosh): Not to be confused with Mediterranean couscous, this is a very rural Cajun breakfast dish made from cornmeal and usually combined with milk and sugarcane molasses. French Acadian farm families love their couche couche much like grits are favored throughout the Deep South. This dish is rarely seen in restaurants, but go to any Louisiana high school football game and you’ll hear a familiar cheer… “Hot Boo-Dan, Cold Coosh Coosh, Come on Cajuns, Poosh, Poosh, Poosh.”
Courtbouillon (coo bee YON) is a classic Cajun and Creole fish dish featuring tomatoes along with the trinity of vegetables and a good seafood stock. Redfish, usually cooked whole, is traditional, but catfish and even lesser fish like gar and gaspergou are typical in rural home cooking. It’s old-school and rarely seen in restaurants these days, but if you do see it listed, order a double portion.
Cracklin’ (CRACK lin) or Gratton (GRAH tawn) started out as the by-product of a Cajun boucherie (hog slaughter) and is essentially pork (fat and skin) fried in hog lard until crispy golden brown. The Cajun dish has become an art form and is sold in markets (even gas stations) all over rural Acadiana region of Southwest Louisiana. There is even an annual Cracklin’ Festival that celebrates the dish.
Crawfish are freshwater crustaceans trapped wild in the Atchafalaya basin and farmed in the aquaculture ponds of flooded rice fields. Sometimes called “crawdads” or “mudbugs” by locals, you will never hear them called “crayfish”, not ever. Traditionally, the season (depending on the weather) runs from early Spring through mid Summer, and Cajun crawfish boils are a frequent family event throughout South Louisiana. The tail meat is packaged for year-round use in many recipes such as crawfish étouffée and bisque. I urge you to only buy quality Louisiana crawfish and be vigilant of cheap inferior imported (Chinese) crawfish products with Louisiana sounding brand names.
Crème Brûlée (CRIM bru lay) means “burnt cream” and is a classic French dessert featuring a cold rich vanilla custard base topped with a layer of hard, burnt sugar. This Louisiana classic dish is seen mainly in the fine Creole restaurants of New Orleans and less often consumed in rural homes or casual eateries.
Étouffée (AY too fay) is the crown jewel (along with gumbo) of South Louisiana dishes and one of the simplest. By language translation, it means “smothered”, but to translate this recipe into a proper Cajun/Creole stew takes a deft hand and lots of seasoned experience. The most familiar version is Crawfish Étouffée, but shrimp is quite common as well. I’ve found that the best étouffée is usually discovered, not in the fancy restaurants, but rather in the least likely back road cafes and lunchrooms of Acadiana. Try the plate lunch étouffée at Poche’s meat market just north of Breaux Bridge. And read my story and recipe for Classic Crawfish Étouffée here.
Filé (fee LAY) is a Cajun/Creole powdered seasoning made from dried and ground sassafras leaves, not the root, as many believe. Filé is used pretty much exclusively in gumbo and provides an earthy, umami taste. Earlier in culinary history, filé was used as a thickener instead of okra or roux, but these days the ground leaves are used most often for enhancing flavor. Filé is found on most any Louisiana grocery shelf. Buy it in small quantities since, like most spices, filé loses its punch over time.
Fricassée (FREEK ah say) is a long, slow simmered stew that produces an unmistakable gravy. Usually chicken or older hen or rooster, a fricassée renders a tough old bird tender after a two-hour braise in stock and vegetables thickened with a dark roux. There are many other variations, like my favorite Meatball Fricassée, which is found on plate lunch menus throughout Acadiana. And you can get my recipe for Mamou Meatball Fricassée here.
Grillades (gree-YAHDS) is thinly sliced cut of beef or veal round steak, braised until tender in a dark tomato sauce. In Creole cooking, grillades and grits has been a mainstay dish on New Orleans restaurant menus for years. In Cajun culture, grillades is more often served over rice and may or may not contain tomatoes. And I do a Gator and Grillades version with alligator. Served with hot biscuits, this is one breakfast entrée you can sink your teeth into.
Jambalaya (jam buh LYE uh or jum buh LYE uh) is a rice dish of Spanish influence interpreted first in the Caribbean and then reinterpreted by Cajun and Creole cooks as a spicy mixture of Louisiana ingredients. In the city, tomatoes (Creole version) are a key part of a jambalaya with the rural Cajun version eliminating them. These days, both versions are acceptable on the Acadiana table with shellfish, chicken, pork, sausage and sometimes wild game as a key ingredient. Variations are endless, but white rice is always at the base.
King Cake is an oval-shaped pastry dessert decorated in colored sugar in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold representing justice, faith, and power. Tradition dictates that a small plastic baby is hidden inside the cake and requires that the person who gets the cake slice hiding the baby supplies the next cake. In Acadiana, a savory version—Boudin King Cake— featuring boudin stuffed with pepper jack cheese is on the table. Check out my recipe for Boudin King Cake.
Maque choux (mock shoe) is a Native American recipe – usually a side dish – featuring corn. Cajun/Creole cuisine has adapted this into a main dish with crawfish and shrimp being the most common upscale additives, but the base is always corn. Most quality recipes use fresh corn shucked off the ear with the silky corn milk helping to up the flavor profile. Diced tomatoes (Rotel is an acceptable shortcut) along with bell pepper and onions are sautéed in butter. A heavy hand of spices, and sometimes a bit of cream, are added to define that unique corn maque choux flavor.
Meunière (MEN-yere) – is a French term that means “miller’s wife” thus the method involves dredging in flour and sautéing in butter, lemon, and herbs. Trout Meunière is a time-honored Creole dish seen often in New Orleans restaurants, and is occasionally, but rarely, seen in rural Cajun country. Speckled trout is the classic preparation but limitations on that fishery has created many other interpretations such as the use of Black Drum. See my recipe here
Mirliton (merl uh TAWN), sometimes pronounced mel e TAWN, is a green pear-shaped squash used in many Cajun and Creole dishes. Mostly stuffed with crab or shrimp dressing, mirliton is seen often on holiday tables. Technically a chayote squash, the vegetable has its roots in Latin America. Over the years, mirliton have found a prominent place in Acadiana cuisine.
Muffuletta (muff a LETTA or muff a LOTTA) is a popular Italian sandwich of Sicilian origin featuring ham, salami, mortadella, and provolone cheese stuffed with olive salad on a round loaf of Italian bread. It is the official sandwich of the New Orleans French Quarter made famous by Central Grocery. It’s served either hot or at room temperature. I invite you to read my story about the 5 Keys to The Perfect Muffuletta.
Pain perdu (pan pare DEW) is French for “lost bread” — the Louisiana version of French toast. And this dish is steeped in historical meaning and cultural significance for the Acadiana table. For early French-speaking Cajun settlers living off the land in the farmland of South Louisiana, baking bread was a way of life. Those who excelled at the art took pride, and soon bakeries flourished with artisan-made loaves of French bread always the specialty of the house. No one wasted a thing in those days, and day-old French loaves were the building blocks of savory stuffings, custardy bread puddings and most unique of all, pain perdu.
Panéed (PA nayed) in the Cajun parlance is simply a pan sautéed dish – usually thinly sliced chicken, veal or pork with a sauce. Sometimes a dredge in egg wash and flour or breadcrumbs adds a crisp coat to the dish, but not always. As is the case with many Cajun culinary terms, variations abound. In my experience, if you see something panéed on a menu, order it. It’s most always tasty.
Po’boy or poor boy is a South Louisiana sandwich on French bread similar in presentation to a submarine or hero sandwich. It is usually stuffed with fried seafood (oysters, shrimp, crawfish or softshell crab) or meats such as roast beef.
Ponce (pawnce) or Chaudin (show-DAN) is essentially a sausage-stuffed pig’s stomach. It is a preparation that is seen in most every culinary culture. Ponce is called chaudin in parts of South Louisiana, and while some refer to ponce specifically as the smoked version, the two names are interchangeable. Ponce is cooked by browning and smothering in a dark gravy, and it is eaten by Cajun families the way most American families would eat a pot roast for Sunday dinner.
Rémoulade (RIM-a-lod or ROM-a-lod) is a cold mayonnaise-based sauce preparation. While classic French, the Louisiana version is infused with lots of spicy flavors; you can’t make a respectful rémoulade without horseradish and Creole mustard. There are many variations: From the classic white rémoulade of the fine Creole restaurants of the French Quarter to a spicier Cajun version seen along the bayou, mayonnaise is most always at the base. While shrimp rémoulade is the standard dish, I am seeing more creative versions featuring fried green tomatoes and asparagus popping up on local menus.
Roux (roo) is the foundation of many Cajun dishes and is a classic French technique of blending flour and fat. The French use butter and flour as a thickener for delicate cream-based dishes. Cajuns, however, take the roux-making several steps further. By stirring flour and oil together until it cooks, changes color and takes on a nutty depth of flavor, roux becomes a defining ingredient of Cajun cooking. Different shades of darkness in roux are featured in varying dishes depending on the degree of richness needed in the dish. Terms like blonde roux, peanut butter roux and chocolate roux connote the different stages of roux-making. “First you make a roux” is an often used saying about learning to cook Cajun. With new commercial dry and jarred rouxs on the market, the roux-making art is quickly dying off. While good in a pinch, there is no substitute for a well-made scratch roux. My wife is the roux-making queen and you can discover her secrets at Rox’s Roux here.
Sauce Piquant or Piquante (sos pee KAHNT) is a Cajun/Creole dish featuring a tomato base. Most good camp cooks like to make this dish and cut the rich tomato flavor with a dark roux. A typical sauce piquant is always highly seasoned and is usually built around a wild game ingredient like alligator or turtle. You haven’t lived until you’ve had a heaping bowl full of snapping turtle sauce piquant.
Tasso (TAH so) is a dried and smoked piece of pork used much like ham in cooking. It is highly spiced with cayenne pepper and garlic, and while fully cooked, it is usually used only as an ingredient in another dish. When I go to Best Stop I load up on their tasso, one of the best in Acadiana. Tasso is a key ingredient in my recipe for Shrimp and Artichoke Fettuccine here.
Trinity – The Cajun trinity or holy trinity is the combination of three chopped vegetables (celery, onions, and green bell pepper) that is the foundation of most every Cajun recipe. I don’t know the origin of the colorful name for these base ingredients (some say it was Chef Paul Prudhomme), but it certainly connects back to the Catholic traditions and religious culture of the area. And you would be hard-pressed not to find a refrigerator full of those three primary vegetables in any Cajun kitchen. Slicing and dicing the holy trinity is an essential skill in learning to cook Cajun.
Turducken is a Cajun meat market delicacy featuring a deboned turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken, along with lots of Cajun spice and seasoning. It is most popular on the holiday dinner table during Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is sold mail order and available in markets throughout Louisiana. Hebert’s in Maurice, LA is a great source and Big Easy Foods in Lake Charles, LA can ship one to you any time of year.
Larry Roy Sr says
Love the cajun cooking, My papa was french an his cooking was so How U say Great
Gail Dauzat says
Ce’st ce bon. ” it is good”
Devillier says
ca c’est bon
Enjoyed the dictionary. is there a printed copy available for purchase?
Jill-
No printed copy … yet, but stay tuned. All the best, George
George Clement says
Sorry George, but old time sauce piquant’s were sometimes (read lot’s of time) brown gravy based. In the last 40 yrs. or so, esp. when creole and Cajun mixed, because it says piquant they think it has to be red. Not so.
Hey George Clement – Variations abound in our South Louisiana food culture, and if you prefer it without tomatoes then go for it. And I will agree that “in the beginning” true Cajun cooking used tomatoes sparingly since it wasn’t a readily available crop. But most definitely, the foodway has developed to include tomatoes (canned Rotel, too) as an additive that pops up in many recipes. These days, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a recipe for a Sauce Piquant that doesn’t have tomatoes in it. All the best, and keep the comments coming.
Patricia guillory says
Don’t know about that . My mother and father were full bloodied Cajuns and my dad’s cooked sauce Piquant and it was always red with tomato sauce. His food was true blue Cajun. He would say make you slap your mama, (if she tried to take it away from you) .Lol
Clara Coffey says
I ordered his latest cookbook and this is all explained in it. Worth every penny.
Hey Clara-
You are correct. We’ve added most of these and a whole lot more explanations of dishes and ingredients in my new cookbook ACADIANA TABLE: Cajun and Creole Home Cooking from the Heart of Louisiana. If you want to know anything about Cajun and Creole food, it’s the go-to reference book on the subject. It is available at booksellers and online at Amazon. All the best to you!
Mike Coullard says
I love the site. As a transplant Cajun from South LA, I am the president of Panola Pepper in Lake Providence. I obviously enjoy cooking and eating spicy foods. The stories you publish and recipes make me miss home each time I read them.
Thanks so much for keeping the Cajun Heritage on the front table:)
Thanks for the comment and for all the good work the Panola folks are doing in spreading the gospel of our Louisiana culinary heritage. Best, George
Paul Frank says
Greetings George,
I am so happy to have found this site. I will be sharing this site with all of my friends and family.
Thanks so much for sharing Acadiana Table with your friends. As we all work to promote and preserve our culinary culture, spreading the gospel of Cajun and Creole cooking is the most important ingredient. Pass it on! Best to you, George
Mary Alice Lieux says
I thoroughly enjoyed this authentic review of Cajun cooking It brings back many memories
Dixie Lee Mattos says
Thanks so much for sharing. I just came upon this site as I am preparing for a Mardi Gras party. My daddy was Cajun from Mississippi and I have learned about cooking from him. I will be referring to the site many times.
Cleo Gremillion Martin says
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your dictionary. I was born and raised in Alexandria (yes, I’m Cajun) and some of the names of the dishes (or ingredients) brought tears to my eyes because since I have lived in East Texas for 50+ years I haven’t heard them in years. We still make some of the dishes and since I have found your site, will make more. Thank you.
Hey Cleo-
Glad to hear from a transplanted Cajun. Cooking the foods you grew up eating, like a black iron pot of crawfish bisque, will make you feel at home no matter where you live. Best to you. George
David Rosson says
George…just signed on and found your “Acadiana Table” and signed on to your website….being a long ago Cajun transplant —from Morgan City — that has traveled all over the country and world and has now settled down in central Florida….I STILL do my Cajun cooking !!! I have got grown children and grown grand-children and they ALL enjoy my Cajun cooking…..even a son-in-law from GA. that just loves my cooking…..They all can not wait to come over to the house for a BIG pot of gumbo and some fried catfish !!!! Keep up your good publication and the good Cajun word !!!! Thank you…….
Hey David-
Glad to have you at the table. And you are correct: you can cook Cajun from anywhere, even Central Florida. Thanks for subscribing and I look forward to more comments from you.
Perry Evans says
Yo, George,
You have an outstanding website. Truly inspiring. Your recipes are en pointe, and, you’re an excellent writer. Looking forward to the book and more.
Hey Perry-
Thanks for the compliment. It is indeed my pleasure to tell the stories of this unique and colorful culinary culture. I look forward to more of your comments.
Charles Guillory (aka Master Oyster Chef in NYC) says
I would respectfully and politely disagree with you that “Couche Couche” should not be confused with Mediterranean couscous. It has exactly the same meaning.
It is whole grain porridge, lots of complex carbohydrates, and when it is fully cooked it makes a sound that goes “shoosh-shoosh” when the grains go bubbling up from the bottom.
You could measure my Cajun/Creole body from top to bottom and you will find I am built of this stuff.
With love from a fellow refugee,
– Charlie
Hey Charlie- Good point; I never thought of it that way. The linking of food cultures is not always apparent, but fun to discover. Thanks for a great comment.
Bill Kilgore says
I Iive in lower Alabama on the Florida line and frequent the fantastic beaches at Orange Beach, Pensacola and Gulf Shores. The predominate food served here is seafood and most of the chefs are Louisiana transplants. The access to extremely high quality seafood, to my amazement, is better than in Louisiana. There is also the famous huge seafood shop in Pensacola, (Joe Patti’s) that sells every kind of very fresh seafood there is–Fish, Shrimp, etc every day for half of what it sells for anywhere else.
I grew up in South Louisiana and lived in many places there (Houma, Lafayette, Centervile by Morgan City, Grand Isle, and Westwego). I went to High School in New Orleans and college at LSU. I once got into an argument with a man in Pennsylvania, about how I could eat better in the gas stations of South Louisiana than the cafes and diners in western Pennsylvania. Now I miss the Best Stop smoked boudin, the softshell crabs at Cher Amie’s in Cut Off, and the plate lunches at a hundred other places I have eaten. South Louisiana means good food.
Hey Bill- Thanks for your perspective on Louisiana, and I agree with your thoughts on the Gulf Coast of Alabama/Florida (I love Joe Patti’s). And one other difference: You have Royal Reds (shrimp) and we don’t (lucky you). All the best.
Tom Davis says
I greatly enjoy your recipes with their down-home authenticity. Then, I found this page with the proper pronunciations of words I have mumbled so many times to avoid the embarrassment of saying them wrong. Many thanks George for sharing your heritage with us. I know a lot of time goes into a website this complete.
Hey Tom- It is truly a labor of love! And when I receive kind words like yours, it is well worth it. Thanks.
Ronny says
I just found your site, and I have gone from being nostalgic to downright homesick. Thank you for helping me remember all of the memories of growing up in Lake Charles back in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. The people, the culture and the food. I was so fortunate to have that childhood. The forests, swamps, bayous, and lakes. Being able to go out the door as a child and never finding my end to the journeys through the mystical and enchanting environments. What a blessing! I could go on and on, but I think you understand.
Hey Ronny- I do understand, and I know many others out there do, too. South Louisiana is a magical place to grow up, and memories (especially food memories) are what I love to hear about. Keep ’em comin’. All the best.
I’m a native of Kansas City, Missouri, however my husband is from Minden, Louisiana. I love Cajun food but have only enjoyed it when visiting Louisiana. I’ve tried the so-called Cajun restaurants here at home but none can compare to what I’ve eaten in Louisiana. I will be trying some of the recipes. I am a great cook, but wish me luck on conquering authentic Cajun dishes.
Tracey-
Welcome to the tasty world of Cajun cooking. I know you will love these recipes, and I look forward to your comments. All the best.
How you say Let the good times roll?
Hey Bill-
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Scott Davis says
Man this website you got here George is
a good one. Imma be checkin ya cookbook
out fuh shore bubba. Whats your go to
dish when the in laws in town and you
tryna give them the most authentic
Louisiana taste? Love to know. Mine is a
alligator sauce piquant, man that stuff is
damn good. With love from youngsville
to where you hang ya hat bubba!
Best, Scott Davis
Hey Scott – From one Bubba to another, I’ve got a long list of favorites depending on the season. But if I had to name just one, it would have to be a steaming bowl of Chicken and Andouille Gumbo over Louisiana rice with lots of hot French bread to soak up every drop. All the best to yo mama and ‘nem.
Bart York says
How do the folks at Middendorf’s, in Manchac, cut catfish so thin? One of the best place to eat!
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Meles Zenawi: in his own words – By Peter Gill
Meles retained the respect of international leaders as he sought to raise his country out of poverty and aid dependency.
In the rush to judgement on the record and the legacy of Meles Zenawi as Ethiopia’s leader for the past two decades, the man himself has barely left the shadows. Yes, he achieved record economic growth for his country, and yes, he was a force for stability and an ally in the West’s “˜war on terror,’ and no, he was certainly not a liberal democrat.
He was also a much more attractive and significant figure than these achievements and positions suggest. His work rate was punishing enough to have cost him his health (he was only 57) and his political predominance owed as much to an extraordinary intellect as to his control over the apparatus of party and state. Reflecting his country’s tradition of independence and its inclination to keep foreigners in their place, he articulated a vision of an Africa where the West no longer ruled the world.
Educational attainment is no indicator of political capacity, but Meles’ academic exploits were exceptional. At 19 he dropped out of his medical degree in Addis Ababa to become a guerrilla fighter. Seventeen years later he took up his studies again (and insisted most of his young cabinet do the same) through the Open University, and got one the best business degrees they have ever awarded. He went on to a master’s degree at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, an undertaking inconveniently interrupted by the war with Eritrea.
His thesis, appropriately, was on the functioning of African economies. As he explained to me, it “˜was primarily intended for our own local consumption to see if our policies could stand up to the rigour of some academic scrutiny.’ He got his Master’s in 2004.
Meles famously had no small talk. Chris Mullin, as a junior Foreign Office Minister, tells how he was ushered into his office after a dramatic flight across the country from the Red Sea coast. “˜Spectacular country, Prime Minister,’ ventured Mullin, to break the ice. Meles smiled and said nothing. “˜It must be very difficult to govern,’ offered Mullin in desperation. “˜Spectacularly difficult,’ replied Meles. They then got down to business.
What he lacked in small talk he made up for in willingness to debate and argue, more enthusiastically with foreigners than with Ethiopians. In researching my book “˜Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia since Live Aid‘ I trailed Meles to a series of “˜Farmers’ Festivals’ where he would give up a day to listen to speeches and hand out prizes. I heard him lecture on African development to several hundred economists, foreigners and Ethiopians, and then take questions for more than two hours.
It was after one of these occasions that I got my introduction. I told him who I was, what I was doing and said I wanted to conduct extensive interviews with him. He beamed good-naturedly. “˜I would be honoured,’ he said in as subtle a lack of formal commitment as I have ever received as a journalist. In the event I saw him for a total of four hours, and was free to tackle all the awkward questions, from Ethiopia’s image around the world to democracy and human rights and his plans to hand over power.
Here are some of the more surprising and challenging observations that Meles made to me. They help account perhaps for the regard in which he was held by fellow leaders in Africa and beyond:
On the shame and embarrassment of his country’s association with hunger and starvation:
“˜Humiliation can be a very powerful motivation for action and therefore I don’t hate the fact that we get humiliated every day so long as it’s based on facts. If we feel we deserve to be treated like honourable citizens of the world, then we have to remove that source of shame.’
On the failure to respond effectively to the 2008 famine in southern Ethiopia:
“˜That was a failure on our part. We were late in recognising we had an emergency on our hands. We did not know that a crisis was brewing in these specific areas until emaciated children began to appear.’
On how western aid agencies were also to blame:
“˜They did not respond quickly. They didn’t have the means to respond quickly. But they were exaggerating, and it appears to us that they were deliberately exaggerating. My own interpretation is because they have to shock and awe the international community to get money.’
On the 2015 deadline for realizing the main Millennium Development Goal:
“˜As far as halving poverty is concerned, we will achieve it. I have no doubt about it. I believe by 2025 we will be a middle income country with a per capita income of at least $1,000 a year and at around that time, slightly before perhaps, we will be completely free of aid of any variety.’
On the merits and limitations of democracy:
“˜We believe that democracy, good governance and transparency and fighting corruption are good objectives for every country, particularly for developing countries. Where we had our differences with the so-called neoliberal paradigm is first on the perception that this can be imposed from outside. We do not believe that is possible. Internalization of accountability is central to democratisation. The state has to be accountable to the citizens, and not some embassy or foreign actor.’
On the pressure from western aid donors to adopt free market economics:
“˜Our argument has been that the neoliberal model does not work in Africa. In developed countries it is a perfectly legitimate alternative (or it was – it needs serious modifications now). In the case of under-developed economies without the push of the state, an effective developmental state, it is very unlikely that the markets that do exist are going to function efficiently and push the country forward.’
On the restrictions imposed on foreign-funded Non Government Organisations:
“˜These NGOs were initially seen as an antidote to what was seen as the main problem in Africa – the bloated state. This was supposed to be an alternative. You reduce the role of the state, including your social services, and you encourage NGOs to provide as much of the public services as possible. In the end we argue that the NGOs have turned out to be alternative networks of patronage. NGOs have not provided an alternative good governance network.’
On his wish to step down from power:
“˜It’s not just about Meles. It’s about the old generation of leadership, the armed struggle leadership. There is consensus that the leadership has to go. Sometime during the next term [2010 – 2015] the whole leadership has to go.’
Meles’ work was not quite done. It is still unclear how far the transition to a new, younger leadership has progressed. It is still less clear whether sufficiently strong party and state institutions are in place to withstand the shock of his departure and the challenges that the new hierarchy will face. The ultimate objective, he told me in 2009, had always been for the ruling party to make itself redundant. Was that still the aim? “˜If it doesn’t do that, it has failed absolutely – miserably failed in its objective.’
Peter Gill is the author of Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia since Live Aid, published in paperback this year by Oxford University Press.
Meles Zenawi: two-sided man who took the ...
Somali Elections: politicians continue to use the ...
Charles Arthur 23 August, 2012 at 09:35
Here is another piece by Peter Gill about Meles and Ethiopia and some more quotes from the man himself:
http://www.makingitmagazine.net/?p=3574
Here is another piece by Peter Gill about Meles and Ethiopia, and some more quotes from the man himself:
Meles Zenawi: In His Own Words | Reinventing Peace 23 August, 2012 at 18:55
[…] partners, African Arguments, have posted an insightful tribute by Peter Gill to Meles Zenawi, the late Ethiopian leader. Gill, the author of Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia since Live Aid, […]
Ben Rawlence 1 September, 2012 at 07:34
These man crush eulogies to Meles are fine, but it seems Peter Gill has not done his homework and is only presenting one side of the picture:
Notice the contradiction in the first three responses: ‘It is shameful to need food aid. The government did not notice the famine of 2008. The aid agencies did not respond quickly enough, but they also exaggerate.’ These are the ramblings of a psychopath. Any aid worker can tell you how Ethiopia routinely prevents nutritional surveys, doctors the results and denies any occurrence of famine until it hits Western TV screens, and then, reluctantly, accepts help.
The sentence on democracy is meaningless nonsense in the face of a 99% victory in the polls, tens of thousands of political prisoners and the elimination of the free press and the total lack of any independent institutions, including the courts.
The MDG figures are self-reported and not to be trusted.
Gill should read Amnesty International’s thorough report on the effects of the restrictions on NGOs. It has nothing to do with patronage, it’s designed to eliminate all critical civil society, and has been very successful at doing that.
Meles may have said that he wanted to make the ruling redundant. But you cannot report that statement without pointing out that he has destroyed every other political party in Ethiopia and locked up many of the leaders.
Why are these journalists who met Meles as a rebel unable to report the facts that contradict their rosy view of the ‘intellectually brilliant’ freedom fighter? Man Crush?
Peter Gill 4 September, 2012 at 10:32
I was pleased to be accused by Ben Rawlence of having a ‘man crush’ on Meles. That must be a phrase reserved for those of us who come down from NGO towers and test their conclusions with people who have the tricky job of running countries.
This is not Ben’s style. For him, Meles’ observations are ‘the ramblings of a psychopath.’ He should have a word with his boss Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, who has just written about Meles for the Los Angeles Times.
‘Stunningly smart, strategic, practical, he cared about his country and, by all appearances, resisted the kind of graft and corruption that has plagued many African nations.’ More than that: ‘When I fired questions at him, he answered quickly and decisively, never conceding a point but always remaining calm.’
Another ‘man crush,’ Ben? Or is it just a bit of balance and fairness, and a flicker of respect for a significant life led?
Thank you for responding Peter. It was a significant life, and I concur with all that Ken Roth says including the rest of the article which details Meles appalling human rights record. Meles tortuous logic on aid is indeed the ramblings of someone unable to see his own contradictions. And indeed, in his entire lack of empathy for his victims, he fits a classic definition of a psychopath.
Ken Roth was impressed, rightly, with Meles’ acumen and talent. He was not impressed, rightly, with locking up tens of thousands of people, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands to make way for land grabs and other state development projects, war crimes in Somalia and Ogaden and the manipulation of development aid to entrench the ruling party’s total grip on power.
Running countries is difficult. It does not follow that it has to be done illegally and brutally and in violation of Ethiopia’s own constitution and international laws.
Quoting Meles is easy. Doing months of tough on the ground fieldwork (which many journalists were unable to do due to tight restrictions on the press) over the last four years to get at the real story of how billions in aid have been misused and thousand of people locked up, beaten, murdered, raped and forced off their land in the name of ‘development’ is, by contrast, hard. Human Rights Watch has gotten kicked out of the country for its pains.
And good journalism requires, as you point out, balance and fairness, and total disclosure of the facts on the record about his rule. In that light, you can report what Meles claimed he was trying to do, but it behoves the quoter to also point out the well documented reality. Seen against the backdrop of hyperinflation, massive capital and population flight, skyrocketing food insecurity, and repression on an almost Chinese scale, Meles’ words do indeed appear to reflect a man living in a parallel universe.
It is a testament to his charisma and brilliance that so many sensible journalists and Western leaders were taken in.
Nuur 4 September, 2012 at 11:16
It would have been more educative if questions pertaining to internal and Ethiopia’s war with Eritrea and Somalia could have been explored. How much of the GDP goes towards financing the war and goes towards the defense budget? Did he envisage settling his differences with Eritrea during his lifetime? How about the Ogaden conflict and the question of OLF in the south????
I appreciate your rejoinder, Ben, just as I appreciate the quality of HRW’s reports on Ethiopia. I do, however, question the wholly negative picture you insist on presenting of Meles himself.
It may make it easier for you to sustain your case to cast him as a double-dyed dictator – an incoherent psychopath without qualities, apparently – but that does no justice either to history or to circumstance, let alone to the man himself.
I may, or may not, have spent as many months on the ground as you have, and I certainly lacked HRW’s resources, but I too have researched in all corners of Ethiopia, as well interviewing those despised ministers and officials, and I emerged with a much more complex and varied picture than you seek to paint.
I acknowledge that my book was often sympathetic to the efforts of many within government, as well as to those who stand up to it. As a result I do not sport that badge you proudly wear of being kicked out of the country.
Thank you Peter. I appreciate that Meles is a complex character, and that Ethiopia’s troubled history under the EPRDF is not wholly negative, it cannot be. There are more roads, there are more clinics. In this I suppose we can agree.
But in presenting and understanding a complex nuanced picture of the country and Meles’ legacy, we cannot rely on his own assessment which, I maintain, was far divorced from the reality on the ground. My contention remains that his own words unadorned with context are misleading.
For the proper balance between the positives and the negatives, we must rely on facts, outcomes, genuine statistics. Not simply on what the protagonists claimed they were trying to do. Ethiopia’s MDG figures and economic stats are acknowledged even by DFID (off the record) as being unreliable. There undoubtedly has been some economic growth, we can see that, but how much, and how much capital flight?
Meles may have wanted to drag his country into middle income status, but he has manifestly failed to do it. He tried to bulldoze hundreds of thousands of people off their land and auction Ethiopian land to foreign investors to do it but it was a fundamentally flawed, illegal and in the end, violent process. He tried to give loans to small businesses but ended up conditioning it all on membership of the ruling party. The same with agricultural assistance. Eloquence about development coupled with violence on the ground does not square.
It is a shame that HRW has not been allowed back into Ethiopia to meet the authorities and to discuss these issues with the government. Many people have tried to facilitate that conversation. There is no pride in being ejected – it is simply a measure of the regime.
My wish is to see Ethiopia properly understood in the media and in policy circles and for policy to be based on a proper understanding of the noble things that Meles and his disciplined EPRDF say they are trying to do versus the reality of how they are actually operating and how those policies are playing out on the ground: It’s one thing to congratulate him for his commitment to reducing poverty. It’s quite another to fail to investigate how your country’s hundreds of millions of pounds are paying for forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz, Afar, Somali and the Omo valley (as the UK and numerous other European countries are currently failing to do). And this scandal relies on too much one sided journalism. The only stories that come out of Ethiopia seem to be from the journalists that the regime brands ‘balanced’; and they should not be the ones deciding.
Gemechu 4 September, 2012 at 16:44
Here we go again with the unrealistic moralizing nonsense typical of human rights activists.
First of all, the only important things in life are human rights. Political stability, infrastructural development, education and health and sectors are absolutely irrelevant when assessing the state of a country or the legacy of a leader. The value hierarchy of these in relation to press freedom is of course a subjective issue, and seen from the perspective of spoiled, upper-class, Ivy League educated lawyer living in New York, artistic freedom is the most important thing of all, as stability and food can be taken for granted. For the inhabitants of Horn of Africa, the situation is different as you can imagine. In a region ravaged by famine and war for decades, neither stability or nor food can be taken for granted, as life in Somalia or South Sudan illustrate (Ethiopia neighbors, that is). So do not be surprised if many Ethiopians are satisfied or at least content with the Ethiopia’s growth trajectory under Meles, because WE know from past experience how much worse it can be.
Contrary to what decades of political science research has taught us about the delicate task of liberalizing previously authoritarian societies, and the dangers that might follow of doing this in the absence of strong institutions, HR activists based in New York, such as Ben Rawlence, want us Africans to liberalize everything as soon as possible. Let me ask you a question, Ben, if we were to do what you ask, liberalize in all haste, and ethnic or religious conflict or instability of any kind were to follow, what would you do to help us? While we turn into another Somalia, you would be analyzing the situation from your penthouse in Manhattan.
We know that liberal democracy is good, we also know that the current state of affairs is not ideal (we don’t need you to teach us that), but please understand we have never been as peaceful and well-off as we are now, and we (who pay the price of conflict and instability) don’t really wanna risk that, pal!
Abiye Teklemariam 4 September, 2012 at 16:59
Peter Gill has a very good research question. I also think that the book makes some interesting observations and perceptive comments here and there. It is a pity that one must try hard not to be distracted by the author’s irritatingly tedious eulogizing of Meles Zenawi’s brilliance, the will-o’-the-wisp treatment of human rights, and his post hoc ergo propter hoc comments to appreciate the book’s worth. I know journalists, even the most historically perspicacious ones like Gill, can’t resist color, but it is calamitous when color either distracts or is confused for substance. In Meles Zenawi’s case, as in Saif Gaddafi’s and Assad’s before the popular uprisings in their respective countries, a number of journalists had succumbed to the ethos of a publicist.
James Hewitt 4 September, 2012 at 18:54
Perhaps it would be best to stop eulogising the late President and focus on cancelling his legacy – land grabs and hydro-electic projects which are so evidently socially and environmentally unsustainable – and likely to be economic failures for Ethiopia. Compensation need be minimal given the probable illegalities (for example, corruption) involved in securing these projects. Too many blind eyes were turned towards Ethiopia in the quest for stability in the region.
As far as stability and food security versus human rights are concerned, some facts:
1. Ethiopia is less stable now as a result of a divisive ethnicisation of politics under the TPLF/EPRDF – see International Crisis Group – ‘Ethnic Federalism and its Discontents’ and the recent post-Meles paper by the same group, plus a good body of work by independent academics who are long friends of Ethiopia like Sarah Vaughan and Kjetil Tronvoll.
2. The despots apologists and EPRDF propagandists like to say ‘food now, democracy later’. It was a favorite argument of Meles’. And liberal lefties concerned with neo-colonialism fell for it every time. It is precisely because I am not one of those people living in a penthouse in Manhattan that I can appreciate the realities and struggles of my friends in Ethiopia who do not like living under a repressive dictatorship and who rightly do not see their life choices as reflecting a hopeless choice between votes and violent meltdown or food and stability in exchange for no rights. Meles’ brutal approach delivered neither votes, food nor stability. A much higher percentage of the population rely on food aid now than they did when the EPRDF took power. The EPRDF has now strategy for how to feed its people. The big mystery is why everyone thought Meles was such a visionary when his policies were so disastrous. The achievements of his reign are the improvements in basic services and infrastructure in some areas that were all paid for with foreign cash.
3. Ethiopia is not on a trajectory of gradual liberalisation towards democracy. Ethiopia has been going BACKWARDS in terms of repression, and liberalisation, not forwards. In 2005 there was more political space, independent newspapers and less political prisoners than now. Let me remind you: 200 dead and 40,000 locked up after the 2005 crackdown. Since then, hundreds more political prisoners locked up and tortured, journalists, opposition members and others. Newspapers closed and NGOs destroyed.
The danger in Ethiopia is not liberalising in the absence of strong institutions. It is the threat to the very institutions posed by the EPRDF. It has systematically undermined parliament, the courts, regional governments and the press and civil society to the point where the only institution that has national reach is the ruling party. These institutions were stronger before.
4. Human rights goes to the core of stability and accountability for delivery of food, healthcare and education. In the absence of basic freedoms, even the delivery of these public goods can serve partisan interests, as HRW showed in its 2010 report ‘Development without Freedom’. Neither HRW nor me personally is interested in telling Ethiopia how to govern itself. We are only asking the government to respect the Ethiopian constitution and the international laws that it has signed up to. As long as the EPRDF stops interfering in the judiciary, rigging elections, locking people up for no reason, forcibly removing people from their land and committing war crimes in foreign countries, it can pursue whatever development strategy it likes; that’s none of our business.
I shan’t prolong this, Ben, but Gemechu really has hit a nail or two on the head here. We can respect the purity of your position at Human Rights Watch, but there’s a point where it surely conflicts with the exigencies of a messy and imperfect world. I see now that you dismiss an entire community of journalists as regime patsies on the grounds that they are allowed to go to work in Ethiopia.
When I spoke of history, I had something longer in mind than the mixed record of the EPRDF. Meles and his party succeeded a few thousand years of dynastic isolation and a couple of decades of catastrophic Cold War conflict. What they built – imperfect and at a cost – brought an era of stability and progress, terms that HRW only ever uses with heavy and ironic inverted commas.
My own most significant brush with contemporary Ethiopia was to have spent many weeks on the ground in the North during the famine years of 1984 and 1985. In that period at least 600,000 people lost their most basic human right to life through starvation. Food was then a weapon of war. Many were deliberately starved to death.
Human Rights Watch has presented important evidence that the Ethiopian authorities have on recent occasions deprived their opponents of development services while rewarding loyalists. That, too, is the use of aid as a weapon. Donors should have been far more alert, and should have acted to stop it. But you have gone much further, Ben. You have come as near as dammit to arguing the case that the West should cut off their aid as a result. That I believe is profoundly wrong.
Thank you Peter. I think we can agree – the tragedy of the EPRDF is that they did indeed build a fragile measure of stability and progress but one that was ultimately fundamentally flawed. When it was tested, in 2005, Meles’ rhetoric of support for democracy crumbled in the face of the messy reality of plural politics. The repression that followed should not be mistaken for stability. What you call the purist position of human rights is, apart from being morally right (there is no need for people to be beaten, detained, killed and tortured for stability to happen), also historically shown to be the best guarantor of a peaceful order through generations – the best way for securing peaceful transfer of power (viz experiences around the world since the American revolution). Without a formal opposition and a free press to air grievances and host a national debate about politics in Ethiopia discontent will likely take other forms, as well argued in the recent ICG paper. Will apologists then argue that the mass arbitrary detention of Muslim protestors or Oromos suspected of nationalist feelings is the acceptable price of stability? But that analysis aside, democracy is what the EPRDF and Meles actually signed up for, and as you quote above, actually said they believe in…
Whether or not aid is cut off to Ethiopia is actually irrelevant to this discussion. The question is Meles legacy and whether the EPRDF has left Ethiopia better or worse off. You seem to think that on balance its better and therefore Meles can be forgiven his crimes, yes, crimes. I say that the jury is out, there has been some progress but that the commonly touted achievements must be questioned and the hidden costs of this so called stability and progress must be revealed in the light in order for a proper assessment to be made. And no, Meles and all other lawbreakers like him (including Cheney, Bush and Blair) should have their day in court. Our global civiliasation is founded on the rule of law. Call me a purist, but there is never ever any excuse or need to curtail basic human rights, that’s why they’re enshrined in the UN declaration and why nearly every country in the world has signed up to them.
Finally, it is not up to foreigners like us to decide whether or not the price of stability has been too high or to try and fathom whether Ethiopians miss the freedom to decide their own future and are willing to sacrifice that for a promise of food. Ethiopians must decide those questions for themselves. The problem with an authoritarian state is that they can’t. As such, I believe the human rights position in insisting that the government adhere to the constitution, and that donors adhere to their own principles is the proper approach to the dilemma – to assist in moving towards a time when Ethiopians can have a national debate on equal terms once again, as they briefly did at the end of the Derg regime before Meles shut the door and took a different path.
Tadeos 5 September, 2012 at 15:16
Peter I could not agree more with your very independent and free of any prejudice osition in this rather interesting debate with people who appear to advance lofty causes but are actually knowingly or otherwise openly meddling in the internal political affairs of a country. I personally do not count myself as an EPRDF sympathiser but I couldn’t help but feel humiliated when I see this sort of open interference and biased political position taken by people meant to be above politics. Human Rights Watch has compromised its independence by repeatedly taking sides and echoing the opposition in exile without actually doing ample finding out itself of the accusations it makes. The excuse of course is that they are not allowed to go in to investigate. The fact is they would not have been banned from working in the country if they were not proven to be interfering in the affairs of a country where they go as neutral outsiders.
They are fed all sorts of unverifiable reports of abuse here and abuse there by so called local human rights groups some of which lets be frank were led and are linked to the governments political rivals. And that is not to mention Berhanu Nega group of self exiled opposition politicians who from their western comfort lobby the likes of Human Rights Watch and other foreign organisations thought to flex a muscle on the government. That was all too well if only some of these allegations were verifiable allegations.
As for the independent media in Ethiopia and how press freedom has been curtailed by government heavy handedness, the truth is very different from HRW try to paint. Many of these independent journalists are again individuals allied to the opposition political groups in the country and outside. As proven time and tIme again, their stories are written to advance political agendas. There is little if any independent reporting of facts. The distortion is deliberate and intended to cause damage not to the governing party but to the entire nation. Lies are routinely published and deliberate exaggeration of facts is a common feature of the private and not the independent press in Ethiopia. Many reporters , publishers and proprietors of newspapers are either members of the defunct Derg regime structure or self confessed political activists in the service of all sorts of government opponents and outside forces who wish to exert influence on events in Ethiopia. Yes everyone should have a right to speak but a lot of these so called independent journalists and publications and proprietors do not want to be held to account for what they say. Reputations are shredded to pieces and inter-ethnic conflicts incited by shabby poor and often deliberately distorted journalism which is abound today not just in Ethiopia but even in the Diaspora where many of these have gone to continue these standard of work without having to be held accountable by the rule of law.
So a lecture like that by HRW just doesn’t go down well among many people outside the government let alone the government itself.
Mekdes 5 September, 2012 at 15:18
it is in’s deed interesting debate going on i myself share my brothers
Gemechu’s idea in some extent but one should know developement with the cost of human right violation can not be development, afterall the development should be in favor of the human themselves, our late PM is some one we love to hate, and some of the development came under his leadership is undeniable, women’s right especially GBV laws were taken due consideration during his time, well at least till the 2009 CSA law. all in all lets wait and see what is going to happen
Ben ,
I hate to be rude, but you only confirm my prejudice against western human rights activists. First of all, there is an issue called selection bias in the social sciences. You pick and choose on variables and sources, and voila you have a narrative that supports your moral stance. The problem however is that the picture you end up with is distorted, not to mention simple (and dare I say childish).
Where in the world do you get the data that claims Ethiopia is more dependent on food assistance today than it was in 1991? Furthermore, life expectancy, child mortality rates, roads and other infrastructures, access to education etc , on all these indicators considerable improvements have been made. Yet they are of little interest to you as they don’t support your narrative.
And then there is point no. 1. “Ethiopia is less stable now as a result of a divisive ethnicisation of politics under the TPLF/EPRDF†and you proudly refer to an ICG report. Ethiopian history 101, ethnic politics was not invented by the TPLF. If you recall, during the Derg many factions were mobilized along ethnic lines, the Oromo, Somali, Tigray and Eritrea (THE VAST MAJORITY IN OTHER WORDS), so NO TPLF did not invent ethnic politics. Don’t believe everything just because it comes from a think tank. What grounds does the ICG have for making their claims? No primary data or surveys, just secondary data which are put together in a convenient narrative. For your information, in their last report they site Jawar Mohameds blog as a credible source on the motivations of Zenawi for choosing Hailmariam for deputy pm. Jawar is a smart guy, but how would he know what motives Zenawi had? An error an undergraduate would not commit.
You also say that eprdf “has systematically undermined parliament, the courts, regional governments and the press and civil society to the point where the only institution that has national reach is the ruling party. These institutions were stronger before.†Yes, of course the courts were very independent and the private press vibrant during the Derg, you are absolutely right. (you must be out of your mind, mate).
I think my biggest problem with you (and your professional kind) is your narrow focus and almost childlike approach to third world politics. For you it’s all rather easy, just liberalize and be nice to each other is the message. You simplify it all. Its not as simple as the good people vs the bad dictator, or the good opposition vs the bad government. We have had numerous political transitions in the Horn none have led to democracy. In fact, in the worst case scenario you may have a Somalia in 1992 or Ethiopia in 1974. These historical experiences (which Manhattan based lawyers never can understand), is why many Ethiopians are saying the current situation is not ideal, but we have some progress on many aspects, and we are afraid of rocking the boat.
So Ben if you have a new, genius and practical transition-plan (that takes into account that many of the people involved in the political process are going to bad people) then we (and other countries around globe) would sincerely appreciate it. And no, simply saying that “everyone should respect the lawâ€, does not take us very far, we sort of know that’s the ideal..
From Poverty to Power by Duncan Green » Blog Archive » Meles post mortem – hero or villain?; Charter Cities, garifunas and porn kings; back to school; African oil rush; stubborn elites; what do you think about jobs? links I liked 7 September, 2012 at 07:19
[…] off, what’s the best thing you’ve read on the death of Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi? Peter Gill and Ben Rawlence of Human Rights Watch exchange blows over his legacy. Does Gill really have a ‘man crush’ on the defunct Ethiopian leader? You […]
Abba Burqa 9 September, 2012 at 10:30
This is an interesting debate. Though I fully concur with the points Ben is trying to make. All the points Ben has indicated are reported several places (most even do not belong to HRW); and supported with facts and with no prejudice. Most of these facts reported elsewhere are verifiable; though ignored by the likes of Peter and Gemechu and some Western Journalists. I don’t know why Peter and Gemechu try to glorify and lionize Meles; as his propaganda machine has recently tried to do after the announcement of his death. It is understandable if some Western leaders and politicians who tried to paint Meles gold in the aftermath of his death. He served their interest, at least temporarily, against the will of his people, his country and the region.
Peter, you are not alone. We are seeing several western journalists focusing on what this authoritarian dictator has said, rather than the crimes he has committed in the last 21 years across the region. These journalists are hostages of Meles’s propagandists and victims of one side story.
washeraw 4 October, 2012 at 08:06
Gemechu,
Your quote of Ben is typical EPRDF! He was talking about the democratization process going BACKWARDS especially since the 2005 elections. But, you delibverately extend the time frame to the Derg era.
Your comment about the press is biased, to say the least. What is the problem if a papaer supports this or that party? In other countries, newspaers gfo as far as endorsing parties. In Ethiopia, the basic problem is that the EPRDF doesn’t want ALTERNATIVE views to be disseminated. At least morally, EPRDF is at fault. How can you accuse a journalist of writing falsehood if you don’t give them access to the truth; i.e. information about how government operates?
Do you think we shall wait until we achieve the promised land of ‘middle income country’ before we demand respect to our human rights? Melles tried to say this, almost black-and-white, when he said there is no linkage between democracy and economic development. The problem with that is, we would like to have FREEDOM and DEVELOPMENT. The colonialists promised us development and ‘civilisation’, if you remember. If you extend this argument, there is little difference between their promise and what is happening under EPRDF.
When you stated at the beginning that Melles “was certainly not a liberal democrat”, I thought you would point out some of the weaknesses in his system so that Hailemariam might try to rectify them. You didn’t say anything about that. Sad.
All this talk about Melles’ brilliance is irritating. Shall we try to list the names of dictators with high IQ? The world had quite a number of them. His “brilliance” doesn’t mean he is “good” as a leader.
Meles’ death sparks succession planning as El Cid rides again – By Mike Jennings
The AU Panel and the Justice Challenge in Sudan (3)
Africa InsidersCountry
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Dr Julie Firmstone
Position: Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School
Areas of expertise: News, journalism, political communication; particularly local journalism, local news and public engagement, editorial journalism/opinions, representations of the EU.
Email: J.A.Firmstone@leeds.ac.uk
Phone: +44(0)113 343 5874
Location: 1.01 Clothworkers North
Website: Twitter
My research addresses a range of issues in the fields of the sociology of news and political communication. I analyse news, journalism and political communication with a focus on local democracy, the communication of European politics, and newspapers' editorial opinions. My most recent projects and publications are focussed on three areas:
Changes in the local news media and the role of local journalism in engaging citizens in local democracy.
How the communication of the politics of the EU is shaped by journalistic practices, the performances of politicians, and representations of the public in television news
Defining the genre of editorial journalism and analysing the editorial opinions of the British press towards the EU.
I am Co-Investigator on an AHRC funded project Defining Freedom of the Press: A Cross-national examination of press ethics and regulation in ten European countries which began in June 2018. I was a Visiting Resarch Fellow for Autumn 2018 at NODE (The Ander Centre for Research on News and Opinion in the Digital Era), Department of Geography, Media and Communication, Karlstad University, Sweden.
I have researched and written about political and editorial journalism, the European public sphere, civil society and the EU's democratic deficit, and representations of minorities in the news. I explored these themes in several funded research projects and in my PhD (2007) which examined the editorial opinions of British newspapers on the issue of European Integration. I began my career by contributing to a variety of research projects exploring the audience's uses of new communications technologies (when the internet was just emerging!) and wrote about audience attitudes towards violence on television in the book 'Discerning Eyes: Viewers on Violence'.
As convener of the School's Journalism research group, I welcome enquiries about the group's activities and about becoming a member.
Deputy Head of School
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>
PhD The Editorial Opinions of the British Press on European Intergration
BA Communications and Management
Student education
My office hours are Fridays 9.30-10.30am and 2-3pm during term time. Students can book a video call appointment using this link: https://calendly.com/juliefirmstone/office-hours
Research groups and institutes
Current postgraduate researchers
Nely Konstantinova
<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>
My five most recent selected publications
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Can Congress Bring the National Flood Insurance Program Above Water?
The debate over too-low premiums and repetitive payouts grinds on, even as the thunderheads roll in and the water levels rise.
Michelle Cottle
Tropical Storm Cindy caused flooding in Big Lake, Louisiana, in June.Gerald Herbert / AP
Get those sandbags and storm shutters ready. Peak hurricane season is bearing down on the Atlantic coast. From New Orleans to the Jersey Shore, nothing focuses the mind quite like a looming megastorm. And while this time of year is always meteorologically suspenseful, now it’s even more so. That’s because among the many, many things Congress is struggling to cross off its to-do list is the reform and reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program.
As problematic government programs go, the NFIP is a doozy. Established in 1968, it handles some 5 million policies nationwide. Unfortunately, these days it collects less in premiums and surcharges than it shells out in claims and other expenses, leaving the Treasury Department—read: taxpayers—to plug the holes. Which means every time some neighborhood in Galveston or Daytona winds up underwater (Texas, Florida, and Louisiana account for more than half of all policies), the rest of the nation effectively bails them out. Not that coastal areas bear all the blame—rivers have a nasty habit of overflowing as well. Last August, an ugly storm parked itself over Baton Rouge for several days, dropping upwards of 20 inches of rain that caused $10 billion in damages. All told, the FEMA-managed NFIP is neck-deep in debt to the tune of $24.6 billion.
No one seriously expects the program to make good on what it owes. Ever. (For years, California Representative Maxine Waters has been pushing to have the debt forgiven.) The Government Accountability Office has listed NFIP among the programs and agencies on its “High Risk List” since 2006. As the frequency of high-dollar floods grows, so do the losses. Throw in spiraling interest payments—$400 million last year alone—and one can see why the program could use a bit of fixing.
The structural, some even say moral, flaws of NFIP are vast and varied. Roughly one out of five properties pays premiums too low for the risks involved. (That situation is slowly improving thanks to past reforms, though some contend that even “full-risk” rates are insufficient.) “Grandfathered” properties that for whatever reason are reclassified into a higher-risk zone also enjoy artificially low rates, subsidized by other policyholders in the area. Flood-zone maps are outdated and inadequate, leading to shoddy risk assessment. Subsidies are “hidden” within policy premiums, making it hard for consumers to gauge a property’s real risk. The way rates are set—based on average home prices within a zone, not the cost of individual structures—leads to cross-subsidies of rich property owners by poor ones. “Repetitive loss” properties make up around 1 percent of policies but account for 30 percent of payouts. And there are substantial barriers to private insurers entering the market.
Elaine Godfrey
On and on the list goes. The end result: An irrational system that encourages people to hunker down in areas where Mother Nature clearly does not want them. It is, critics argue, completely bonkers.
“The most basic purpose of government going back millennia is to protect its citizenry,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of the nonpartisan budget-watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. “But here you have a program that is subsidizing people to live and develop in harm’s way.”
Ellis is not alone in his frustration. His group is part of a nonpartisan coalition called SmarterSafer that has been championing NFIP reform for a decade. Other participants include the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, the National Housing Conference, Habitat for Humanity, the National Taxpayers Union, and multiple insurance giants.
While the coalition pushes a range of reforms, among its overarching goals is to shift NFIP’s focus away from rate subsidies and toward mitigation efforts. In other words, instead of making it cheaper for people to live in high-risk zones, government should work to lower those risks, either by helping owners seriously flood-proof their homes or by easing them out of an area altogether.
This political battle tends to break down along geographic rather than party lines.
Indeed, among NFIP’s core insanities is that it’s geared to help people rebuild in the same spot where they’ve already been flooded. As the Natural Resources Defense Council noted in a report last August, this is “a perilous strategy in the face of increasingly severe storms and sea-level rise due to climate change.” This holds doubly true of repetitive-loss properties, few of whose owners seem to learn from past disasters. Of 30,000 repetitive-loss properties examined by the NRDC, 75 percent had done nothing to mitigate future risk. The general public favors a new approach as well: An April poll commissioned by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 75 percent of registered voters support FEMA buyouts of “repeatedly flooded homes in environmentally sensitive areas.”
There are, in short, scads of meaty issues that need tackling. And plenty of congressional lawmakers from both teams are itching to do so, including Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which is responsible for reauthorizing NFIP. Hensarling’s committee has been laboring to come up with a comprehensive reform package that touches on many of the aforementioned problems but still has a prayer of passage. Despite the bipartisan nature of NFIP, the regional politics involved make significant change next to impossible.
Unsurprisingly, NFIP policyholders tend to get super grumpy in the face of anything that could raise their rates. And grumpy property owners translate to twitchy legislators. As such, this political battle tends to break down along geographic rather than party lines, with lawmakers from coastal and other NFIP-heavy areas often laser-focused on rate affordability above all.
Case in point: In 2012, Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Insurance Reform Act, which sought to phase out subsidies and make other adjustments to NFIP. (One of the most controversial provisions mandated that when a rate-subsidized property was sold, its premiums would promptly rise to the full-risk level. This went over very poorly with property owners and realtors.) The pace of change proved too aggressive. Rates started rising, people started freaking out, and, less than three years later, Congress passed a bill delaying or reversing many of the changes.
With reauthorization time here again, lawmakers are looking to give it another go—though they’re treading much more carefully. People involved in the effort say the lesson of Biggert-Waters is that lawmakers must move in baby steps to avoid giving policyholders sticker shock. Boost the private market a smidge here. Bump up surcharges a hair there. Work to better track repetitive-loss properties. Encourage mitigation ever so gently.
But even those efforts may prove untenable. The current legislative situation, Hill folks admit, is a mess. “The general agreement is that people don’t like what they have but are unwilling to make changes,” a frustrated Financial Services staffer noted to me.
In June, Hensarling’s committee cleared seven bills that in theory will be packaged into one 21st Century Flood Reform Act for the House to vote on. But already the chipping-away has begun. In late July, two dozen or so Republicans sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan saying they could not support the package because of affordability concerns. (Some Democrats have similar reservations.) Homebuilders and realtors associations were also up in arms. Hensarling’s people placated the latter groups by agreeing to dial back proposed fee and rate increases and retain the practice of grandfathering.
Still, grumbling among members continues, and the Senate seems to be coalescing around a far more modest bill. Reform advocates admit they are not optimistic that much will get fixed this time around. And so the dysfunctionality grinds on, even as the thunderheads roll in and the water levels rise.
Just something to think about while watching all those Weather Channel reporters getting whipped around stormy beaches this season.
Michelle Cottle is a former contributing editor at The Atlantic.
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With patient, painstaking work
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DOYLE BRUNSON SUPER SYSTEM A COURSE IN POWER POKER PDF
He was part of the All-State Texas basketball team. In the Texas Interscholastic Track Meet, he won the one-mile event with a time of He would go on to work as a school principal. Brunson had begun playing poker before his injury, playing five-card draw. He played more often after being injured and his winnings paid for his expenses.
Author: Fekus Doutaxe
Uploader: Zolotaxe
There is more than a little truth to this accusation. Poker is an ever-evolving superset of games with the individual games changing over time as the players learn how one game and then another should be played. Write a revealing book and the old games disappear more quickly and the "rocks" have to learn the new game in order to continue to make a living.
I used to play with Sklanski and MJC back in the sixties in Gardena when the only legal game in the California clubs was draw poker, both lowball and jacks or better. Not everything is explained and some of the tricks are held back.
Reese in particular, in his chapter on seven-card stud is somewhat reticent. He presents a tight strategy that is sound but withholds more aggressive strategies that, in the proper hands, would make more money.
By the way, "no limit" really means table stakes since you are NOT, as is sometimes seen in the movies, allowed to go to the bank and get some money when you hold a killer hand!
THAT does make for some interesting psychological situations! The latter game is much more of a psychological game in that you can lose pot after small pot and yet come out ahead by winning one great big monster, and also because it takes a lot of nerve to either call a huge bet or to make a huge bet. Because of these psychological factors, some of the top players at limit have never been able to make a satisfactory jump to the no limit game.
Third, there are the brilliant caricatures of the players by Stan Hunt. Just to see those again in print is worth the price of the book.
Fourth are the poker odds and statistics by Mike Caro. Believe me they are completely accurate. I and a number of others players checked and rechecked them, hoping to catch MJC in an error. No such luck! I was a little disappointed that Mike chose to recall an odds story that showed him in the right, because I, among a very small number of people, actually did beat him out of a twenty dollar bet in the sixties on some odds we were discussing.
Of course Mike would "give away" money just to support his carefully cultivated image as a "madman. I mean eyebrows raised and heads shook incomprehensibly at this totally "irrational" play. Yet it worked because people then would call him when he really had something.
Caro was also an expert on poker tells. He wrote a book on the subject. He would, when playing, do parodies of the other players by betting and acting as they would in an exaggerated way. Sometimes he actually did unconscious parodies of himself. Doyle Brunson on the other hand loved the psychological struggle and just being in action.
He had nerves of steel and an intensely competitive nature and a deep obsessive love of the game. He overpowered his opponents with a constant energy that was always, always pushing.
He had a few tricks and his knowledge of the game was among the best, but perhaps his greatest gift was his ability to bet when he knew the other guy would toss in. What you can learn from this book about poker is really almost priceless. This is, in my opinion, still the best how-to book on poker ever written.
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Doyle Brunson's Super System 2: A Course in Power Poker
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GENE LRRTM1 PDF
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Wentworth Miller >
'You Know What, Russia? I'm Gay And I'm Not...
'You Know What, Russia? I'm Gay And I'm Not Into Your Regime' - Wentworth Miller
By Jack de Aguilar in Movies / TV / Theatre on 23 August 2013
Follow Wentworth Miller
Wentworth Miller Pussy Riot
Not verbatim, but you get the point
Picture: Wentworth Miller seen getting coffee in West Hollywood. Los Angeles, California - 02.02.10
Alright, so he didn’t quite say it like that, but Wentworth Miller has sent a message out to Russia and their homophobic regime by coming out as gay and declining an invitation to the St Petesburg Film Festival.
"As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes," Miller wrote in the letter, posted on GLAAD's website. See, it’s a little more eloquent than out headline. "However, as a gay man, I must decline."
Miller is known for his hard-as-nails role in Prison Break, a hard-hitting boxset crime drama that doesn’t hold back on the violence. Miller added he was "deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government," and did not want attend an event in a country where "people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly".
Russia have come under worldwide criticism for their anti-gay politics. It came under the gaze of the media when punk band Pussy Riot were imprisoned for two-years following a show of defiance against the Vladimir Putin-lead government.
"Wentworth's bold show of support sends a powerful message to LGBT Russians, who are facing extreme violence and persecution: you are not alone," said GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz. "As people from across the globe continue to speak out against Russia's horrific law, more celebrities and corporations should follow his courageous lead in openly condemning Russia's anti-LGBT law," he added. As well as starring in Prison Break, Wentworth recently took to the page, penning the script for the thriller Stoker, which starred Nicole Kidman.
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Five married friends decide to buy a loft together, and each owned a key, but...
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You could argue that this film is all lurid style over substance, but there's actually...
Resident Evil: Afterlife Trailer
Milla Jovich returns as Alice, one of her most loved characters, in Resident Evil: Afterlife....
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FloSports closes $47m in funding led by Discovery
FloSports, a specialist in live digital sports and original content, has announced the close of its Series C funding round with $47 million (€41.6m) raised to expand and enhance coverage in new and existing sports.
Led by current investor Discovery, the round also included participation from existing FloSports financial investors Causeway Media Partners, Fertitta Capital, and DCM Ventures, as well as strategic investors World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. This follows a first quarter in which FloSports grew both subscribers and annual recurring revenue by more than 50 per cent year over year.
“We are excited to continue building on the momentum of our recent strong growth, including our best quarter ever,” FloSports CEO & Co-Founder Mark Floreani said. “With this new round of funding from our investors, we will further enrich underserved sports communities by broadening our existing coverage and expanding into new verticals.”
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As a provider of in-depth coverage across 25 sports that broadcast more than 10,000 live events annually, FloSports continues to add rights and develop new verticals. Following a year in which FloSports inked more than 250 new or extended rights deals, the company began 2019 by entering more than 55 new or extended rights deals in Q1, including the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), for which FloSports will serve as the primary media partner to provide live and on-demand coverage of more than 300 games annually, CONCACAF, Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), United World Wrestling, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), Atlantic Hockey, Hockey East, the German Bundesliga, and Eurosport.
“While live events are the centre of our offering, original programming is a cornerstone—we’re committed to providing our subscribers with engaging content out of season,” Floreani said. Currently, FloSports offers a growing library of more than 2,000 hours of premium content, including weekly studio shows, technique videos with Olympians and world champions, professional athlete features, and original films. In the past year, FloSports increased the number of premium minutes watched by subscribers by 120 per cent.”
“As we continue to build a highly engaged audience, advertisers show increased interest in our unduplicated, passionate, digital-first communities,” Floreani added. “We are excited to further invest in new monetization opportunities around advertising.”
Sports fans can access live and on-demand coverage of exclusive content and events by becoming a monthly or annual PRO subscriber. Either subscription unlocks access to premium content across the entire FloSports network and fans can watch across all screens by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Roku, or Apple TV 4.
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Stochastic Cytokine Expression Induces Mixed T Helper Cell States
Miaoqing Fang, Huangming Xie, Stephanie K. Dougan, Hidde Ploegh, et al
https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618
http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001618
http://www.mendeley.com/research/stochastic-cytokine-expression-induces-mixed-t-helper-cell-states
Is documented by
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http://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btx575
http://doi.org/10.1002/acn3.72
http://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.7027.1
http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-100814-125300
http://doi.org/10.1111/imm.12304
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.coisb.2018.02.009
http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1615590114
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.gpb.2019.03.002
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.it.2014.03.004
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2019.05.014
http://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2020.0631
http://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.559555
http://doi.org/10.1002/stem.2108
http://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.37880
http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001632
http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1242782
http://doi.org/10.1002/term.2193
http://doi.org/10.1097/MCP.0000000000000303
http://doi.org/10.1002/eji.201444645
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.gde.2017.08.008
http://doi.org/10.1038/icb.2015.45
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cellimm.2015.10.003
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcb.2015.11.002
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaut.2017.12.007
http://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2020.00659
http://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201500124
http://doi.org/10.1111/imr.12671
http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008051
http://doi.org/10.1051/medsci/20153110015
Europe PMC Citations 807 Mar 08:30 UTC
Europe PMC Database Citations 917 May 20:22 UTC
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PubMed Central30 Jan 10:21 UTC
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Wordpress.com08 Sep 14:13 UTC
{"month"=>"8", "year"=>"2013", "pdf_views"=>"249", "xml_views"=>"14", "html_views"=>"4478"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136914", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136915", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136916", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136917", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136918", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136919", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136920", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136921", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136922", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136923", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136924", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136925", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136926", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136927", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136928", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136929", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136930", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136931", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136932", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136933", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136934", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136935", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136936"], "description"=>"<div><p>During eukaryotic development, the induction of a lineage-specific transcription factor typically drives differentiation of multipotent progenitor cells, while repressing that of alternative lineages. This process is often mediated by some extracellular signaling molecules, such as cytokines that can bind to cell surface receptors, leading to activation and/or repression of transcription factors. We explored the early differentiation of naive CD4 T helper (Th) cells into Th1 versus Th2 states by counting single transcripts and quantifying immunofluorescence in individual cells. Contrary to mutually exclusive expression of antagonistic transcription factors, we observed their ubiquitous co-expression in individual cells at high levels that are distinct from basal-level co-expression during lineage priming. We observed that cytokines are expressed only in a small subpopulation of cells, independent from the expression of transcription factors in these single cells. This cell-to-cell variation in the cytokine expression during the early phase of T helper cell differentiation is significantly larger than in the fully differentiated state. Upon inhibition of cytokine signaling, we observed the classic mutual exclusion of antagonistic transcription factors, thus revealing a weak intracellular network otherwise overruled by the strong signals that emanate from extracellular cytokines. These results suggest that during the early differentiation process CD4 T cells acquire a mixed Th1/Th2 state, instructed by extracellular cytokines. The interplay between extracellular and intracellular signaling components unveiled in Th1/Th2 differentiation may be a common strategy for mammalian cells to buffer against noisy cytokine expression.</p></div>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["immunology", "Immune cells", "t cells", "systems biology", "cytokine", "helper"], "article_id"=>759718, "categories"=>["Biological Sciences"], "users"=>["Miaoqing Fang", "Huangming Xie", "Stephanie K. Dougan", "Hidde Ploegh", "Alexander van Oudenaarden"], "doi"=>["https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s001", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s002", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s003", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s004", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s005", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s006", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s007", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s008", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s009", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s010", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s011", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s012", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s013", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s014", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s015", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s016", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s017", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s018", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s019", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s020", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s021", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s022", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.s023"], "stats"=>{"downloads"=>25, "page_views"=>22, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Stochastic_Cytokine_Expression_Induces_Mixed_T_Helper_Cell_States_/759718", "title"=>"Stochastic Cytokine Expression Induces Mixed T Helper Cell States", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>4, "published_date"=>"2013-07-30 05:48:00"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136911"], "description"=>"<p>(A) As the concentration of anti-IFNγ antibody increases, the mean number of <i>Tbx21</i> transcripts per cell decreases, while that of <i>Gata3</i> transcripts remains constant. The reverse is observed upon addition of anti-IL4 antibody. (B) Conversion of <i>Tbx21</i>-<i>Gata3</i> scatter plot into polar coordinates (<i>r</i>,<i>θ</i>), where <i>r</i> is the distance from the origin and computed by , where <i>t</i> represents <i>Tbx21</i> and <i>g</i> represents <i>Gata3</i>, and <i>θ</i> is the angle with <i>x</i>-axis and computed by in the range 0≤<i>θ</i>≤π/2. (C) Distribution of <i>θ</i> for cells under non-biased condition is uniform, using the same data as <a href=\"http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618#pbio-1001618-g001\" target=\"_blank\">Figure 1D</a>. (D) Distribution of <i>θ</i> indicates that as concentration of anti-IFNγ antibody increases, the cells adopt larger <i>θ</i> (Th2-like state). The reverse is observed upon addition of anti-IL4 antibody. Red dashed lines show the medians of <i>θ</i>. All data shown are from cells at 24 h. Error bars are s.e.m. of replicate experiments.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["immunology", "Immune cells", "t cells", "systems biology", "il4", "down-regulates"], "article_id"=>759715, "categories"=>["Biological Sciences"], "users"=>["Miaoqing Fang", "Huangming Xie", "Stephanie K. Dougan", "Hidde Ploegh", "Alexander van Oudenaarden"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.g004", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>0, "page_views"=>19, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Inhibiting_IFN_and_IL4_signaling_down_regulates_Tbx21_and_Gata3_respectively_/759715", "title"=>"Inhibiting IFNγ and IL4 signaling down-regulates <i>Tbx21</i> and <i>Gata3</i>, respectively.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2013-07-30 05:48:00"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136910"], "description"=>"<p>(A) Visualization of single transcripts of <i>Tbx21</i> and <i>Ifng</i>, and <i>Gata3</i> and <i>Il4</i> in individual CD4 T cells at 48 h. All scale bars are 10 µm. (B) Distribution of <i>Ifng</i> and <i>Il4</i> transcripts in individual CD4 T cells, with inset diagrams to better illustrate the fraction of cells that express non-zero copies of cytokines. (C) Scatter plots show a weak positive correlation between <i>Tbx21</i> and <i>Ifng</i> expression, or between <i>Gata3</i> and <i>Il4</i> expression. (D) Fraction of cells that express <i>Ifng</i> (defined as >20 transcripts) and that expressing <i>Il4</i> (defined as >50 transcripts) as a function of activation time. Error bars are s.e.m. of replicate experiments.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["immunology", "Immune cells", "t cells", "systems biology"], "article_id"=>759714, "categories"=>["Biological Sciences"], "users"=>["Miaoqing Fang", "Huangming Xie", "Stephanie K. Dougan", "Hidde Ploegh", "Alexander van Oudenaarden"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.g003", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>2, "page_views"=>10, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Ifng_and_Il4_are_expressed_in_a_rare_cell_population_and_their_levels_show_no_significant_correlation_with_Tbx21_and_Gata3_expression_/759714", "title"=>"<i>Ifng</i> and <i>Il4</i> are expressed in a rare cell population and their levels show no significant correlation with <i>Tbx21</i> and <i>Gata3</i> expression.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2013-07-30 05:48:00"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136913"], "description"=>"<p>The data are fitted to Gamma distributions.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["immunology", "Immune cells", "t cells", "systems biology", "distributions", "cells", "expressing", "transcripts"], "article_id"=>759717, "categories"=>["Biological Sciences"], "users"=>["Miaoqing Fang", "Huangming Xie", "Stephanie K. Dougan", "Hidde Ploegh", "Alexander van Oudenaarden"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.g006", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>0, "page_views"=>9, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_The_distributions_of_cells_expressing_transcripts_of_Ifng_A_Il4_B_Tbx21_C_and_Gata3_D_/759717", "title"=>"The distributions of cells expressing transcripts of <i>Ifng</i> (A), <i>Il4</i> (B), <i>Tbx21</i> (C), and <i>Gata3</i> (D).", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2013-07-30 05:48:00"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136912"], "description"=>"<p>(A) Our model of the signaling network that governs Th1/Th2 differentiation. The thickness of arrows indicates the strength of interaction. The intracellular signaling network consists of all the interactions depicted in thin arrows. (B) Illustration of the CD4 T cell population during early activation. CD4 T cells are immersed in a well-mixed cytokine milieu established by the rare cytokine-expressing cells, leading to simultaneous and ubiquitous induction of <i>Tbx21</i> and <i>Gata3</i> expression in individual CD4 T cells. (C) Scatter plots showing down-regulation and mutual exclusion of <i>Tbx21</i> and <i>Gata3</i> transcripts in individual cells treated with both anti-IFNγ and anti-IL4 antibodies. (D) Distribution of <i>θ</i> shows that <i>θ</i> of most cells is very large (close to π/2) or small (close to 0) (same data as in <a href=\"http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618#pbio-1001618-g005\" target=\"_blank\">Figure 5C</a>). By two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit test, distribution of <i>θ</i> for cells under IFNγ and IL4 deprivation are significantly different from cells under non-biased condition, <i>p</i><10<sup>−11</sup> at 16 h, <i>p</i><10<sup>−19</sup> at 24 h, <i>p</i><10<sup>−54</sup> at 48 h. Error bars are s.e.m. of replicate experiments.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["immunology", "Immune cells", "t cells", "systems biology", "il4", "leads", "mutually"], "article_id"=>759716, "categories"=>["Biological Sciences"], "users"=>["Miaoqing Fang", "Huangming Xie", "Stephanie K. Dougan", "Hidde Ploegh", "Alexander van Oudenaarden"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.g005", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>5, "page_views"=>15, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Sequestration_of_IFN_and_IL4_leads_to_mutually_exclusive_expression_of_Tbx21_and_Gata3_/759716", "title"=>"Sequestration of IFNγ and IL4 leads to mutually exclusive expression of <i>Tbx21</i> and <i>Gata3</i>.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2013-07-30 05:48:00"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1136909"], "description"=>"<p>(A, B) Visualization of single <i>Tbx21</i> transcripts by mRNA-FISH (A) simultaneously with protein levels by immunofluorescence (B) at 24 h after activation. (C, D) Visualization of single <i>Gata3</i> transcripts by mRNA-FISH (C) simultaneously with protein levels by immunofluorescence (D) at 24 h after activation. All scale bars are 10 µm. (E) Scatter plot of transcript counts versus protein levels for Tbet at 24 h, with a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.59 (<i>p</i><10<sup>−44</sup>). (F) Scatter plot of transcript counts versus protein levels for Gata3 at 24 h, with a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.85 (<i>p</i><10<sup>−84</sup>).</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["immunology", "Immune cells", "t cells", "systems biology"], "article_id"=>759713, "categories"=>["Biological Sciences"], "users"=>["Miaoqing Fang", "Huangming Xie", "Stephanie K. Dougan", "Hidde Ploegh", "Alexander van Oudenaarden"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001618.g002", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>0, "page_views"=>8, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Transcript_and_protein_levels_exhibit_strong_positive_correlations_/759713", "title"=>"Transcript and protein levels exhibit strong positive correlations.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2013-07-30 05:48:00"}
PMC Usage Stats 63517 Jan 13:35 UTC
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