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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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