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Next for HealthSource RI?
Robert B. Hackey
Over the past year, much of the discussion about whether or not Rhode Island should operate its own health insurance marketplace focused on the political survival of the Affordable Care Act and its insurance subsidies. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in the case of King v. Burwell -- which upheld the constitutionality of federal health insurance subsidies in states without their own health insurance marketplaces -- should prompt Gov. Gina Raimondo and legislative leaders to ask some hard questions about the relative performance of HealthSource RI, Rhode Island’s state-based health insurance marketplace.
With the survival of the ACA no longer in question, it’s time for Rhode Islanders to assess the return on taxpayers’ investment -- past, present, and future -- in continuing to operate a state-based marketplace. A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (“Measuring the Performance of Health Insurance Marketplaces”) that I co-authored with Erika May lets policymakers benchmark HealthSource RI against other states.
The results are not encouraging, and should provide a wakeup call for the next General Assembly session.
Over time, policymakers and the public should expect to see significant growth in enrollment as marketplaces work through their growing pains. This is a particularly important challenge for state-based marketplaces, which must be financially self-sufficient once federal subsidies end in 2015.
HealthSource RI enrollment grew by 10 percent, from 28,485 in 2014 to 31,337 in 2015, placing the state well below the national average (enrollment across the U.S. increased 46 percent from 2014 to 2015). With the exception of Vermont’s state-based marketplace, which was one of two to experience an enrollment decline (minus 17 percent), other New England states recorded significantly better results.
In Connecticut, enrollment increased by 39 percent, while Maine grew 69 percent. New Hampshire signed up 32 percent more subscribers compared with 2014, while Massachusetts rebounded from a disastrous first year with a 343 percent enrollment surge in 2015.
Overall, the enrollment performance of Rhode Island’s health insurance marketplace remains unimpressive compared with that of other states in New England. Return on investment should drive future conversations about the next steps for HealthSource RI.
In the long run, Rhode Island may find that other approaches to implementing the ACA that use the federal website (healthcare.gov) offer better performance.
In particular, Rhode Island has much to learn from other small states such as New Hampshire and Delaware. Both states operated partnership marketplaces that signed up a larger proportion of eligible individuals than Rhode Island, and each recorded larger percentage increases in enrollment from 2014 to 2015 than Rhode Island.
To put matters into perspective, Rhode Island received more than $140 million in federal grant dollars from 2010 to 2015, compared with less than $7 million in Maine, which delegated implementation of the ACA to the federal government. Strikingly, Maine’s federally facilitated marketplace signed up more individuals each year than Rhode Island, enrolled a higher proportion of eligible individuals, and saw its enrollment rise 69 percent from 2014 to 2015.
Supporters contend that a state-based marketplace keeps jobs in Rhode Island and maintains local control. Neither is a compelling argument. The call center and drop-in center are managed by an outside contractor, whose staffing varies on a seasonal basis to meet demand. Local control is also a misnomer, as Rhode Island relies heavily on outside consultants to provide technical support and ongoing fixes for the marketplace’s web infrastructure.
When (not if) the HealthSource RI website requires significant upgrades in the future, state taxpayers, not the federal government, will be handed the bill. By not using the federal portal, Rhode Island policymakers are making a calculated gamble that the state can effectively manage what is -- in effect -- a multimillion-dollar health IT startup firm.
In addition, Rhode Island’s decision to maintain its own web portal diverts scarce resources that could be used for outreach and consumer education efforts. Doing so also means that state officials fail to capitalize on the economies of scale offered by healthcare.gov, which will provide participating states with improved functionality and usability over time. In the event of future technological “glitches” similar to those that plagued the first open enrollment period in October 2013, the federal government is in a far better position to mobilize a “tech surge” to redress the problem.
Public officials should evaluate continued support for HealthSource RI on the basis of its return on investment. To make the case that Rhode Island should continue to operate its own health insurance marketplace, the governor and legislative leaders must demonstrate that HealthSource RI outperforms other alternatives.
After two years, the performance of Rhode Island’s marketplace remains average. Taxpayers -- the “shareholders” in this new venture -- can, and should, expect more.
Robert B. Hackey is professor of health policy and management at Providence College and a visiting fellow at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University.
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Home / Locations / United States / California / Santa Rosa
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About Santa Rosa
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Rosa is considered one of the largest cities in the Redwood Empire and wine country. The city is unique in that there are many natural wildlife areas throughout town, including the network of creeks that run through the city center, so it's not unusual to see deer, wild turkeys or great blue herons exploring corners of town.
Over the decades, the growing city of Santa Rosa has earned a reputation as a friendly, welcoming place with moderate weather, a diverse population and many scenic vistas.
Santa Rosa's History
Santa Rosa originally was the home of three separate Native American tribes: the Pomo, Miwok and Wappo, who lived together peacefully until the Spaniards arrived in the 19th century to build missions and take over local industry. Senora Maria Ignacia Lopez de Carrillo owned the first plot of land in Santa Rosa, acreage that was known as the Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa.
Still, the city didn't see significant growth for many years. The Spaniards continued to build missions throughout the area until the Gold Rush brought more settlers. People began buying land in the area to raise their families and start businesses. They build roads connecting Santa Rosa with other Southern California cities, and these early settlers discovered that Santa Rosa was rich with fertile soil, so many of them started farms and other agricultural businesses.
Santa Rosa became a city when three entrepreneurs bought up land and started selling off parcels at $25 each. Only a few hundred people called Santa Rosa home in the late 19th century, but the population exploded after the railroad came to town. The city grew and evolved over the next several decades, blossoming into a vibrant metropolis with plenty to offer.
Things to Do in Santa Rosa
There's plenty to see and do in Santa Rosa, whether your interests lie in history, art, nature or dining. Thanks to its great weather, excellent amenities and thriving arts and culture scene, you'll find it easy to keep busy and entertained.
Santa Rosa is often recognized for its natural beauty, with scenic places around every corner. You can explore the Armstrong Redwood Forest, where you'll find some of the oldest and tallest trees in the state. The city is also located at the edge of California's wine country, making it easy to take a day trip to see the vineyards and enjoy some wine. Or you can take advantage of the more than 50 parks in the city and enjoy a day outdoors right in your own neighborhood.
The Children's Museum of Sonoma County offers kids a variety of interactive exhibits, focusied on science, nature and the arts. At the Charles M. Schulz Museum, you can learn more about the iconic cartoonist who created Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
In addition to these major attractions, Santa Rosa also provides you with plenty of options for dining, shopping and entertainment in nearly every corner of the city.
Santa Rosa Neighborhoods
Here are just a few of Santa Rosa's great neighborhoods:
Railroad Square
Railroad Square is one of Santa Rosa's historic districts, and it got its start in the 1870s with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway. Today, many of the original brick buildings are still standing, earning recognition for surviving the disastrous 1906 earthquake.
Fountain Grove
Originally established as a Utopian colony in the 1870s, Fountain Grove is now home to many of Santa Rosa's wealthiest residents. The Fountaingrove Club is a large, private golf course and country club that hosts many tournaments and special events.
Roseland is one of the most diverse communities in all Santa Rosa, largely due to its origins as a major entry point for immigrants. It's also a popular choice for college students, attracting them with its pedestrian-friendly design and convenient access to local schools.
Ridgeway is an active area, and many of its residents work together to preserve its historic homes and buildings. It's also known as very family-friendly and hosts community events like block parties, neighborhood garage sales and holiday events.
Schools in Santa Rosa
Several different schools districts manage the public schools. Many of the districts observe an open enrollment policy, meaning that your children are not restricted by zoning. If you want your children to attend a different school in the district, you're free to enroll them as long as there's space. There are many private schools in and around Santa Rosa, providing both secular and faith-based options.
If you're considering attending college in the city, you have a few different options. The University of San Francisco-Santa Rosa, Empire College and Santa Rosa Junior College are the main campuses within city limits.
Resources for Moving to Santa Rosa
Here's an at-a-glance guide to help you plan your move to Santa Rosa:
Utilities: The local energy provider is Pacific Gas & Electric, and the city manages water services.
Garbage and Recycling: Curbside collection is provided for trash, recyclables and organic waste.
Transportation: A network of bus routes and the SMART light rail provide easy access in Santa Rosa and surrounding areas.
Santa Rosa Housing
Home prices in Santa Rosa have been steadily rising and are well above the national average. However, you have your choice of a range of options from cozy apartments to large family estates, making it possible to find something for nearly any budget.
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Hanwha Q CELLS Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Results April 11, 2018
Hanwha Q CELLS Co., Ltd. ("Hanwha Q CELLS" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: HQCL), a global leading photovoltaic manufacturer of high-performance, high-quality solar modules, today reported its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2017. The Company will host a conference call to discuss the results at 8:00 am Eastern Time (9:00 pm Korea Standard Time) on April 11, 2018.
Seoul, South Korea, April 11, 2018
Fourth Quarter 2017 Highlights
Net revenues were $624.7 million, compared with $543.0 million in the third quarter of 2017 and $565.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Gross margin was 8.5%, compared with 11.6% in the third quarter of 2017 and 7.0% in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Operating loss was $29.7 million, compared with operating income of $10.6 million in the third quarter of 2017 and operating loss of $21.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Net loss attributable to Company's ordinary shareholders was $50.5 million, compared with net income of $5.0 million in the third quarter of 2017 and net loss of $18.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Loss per fully diluted American Depositary Share ("ADS" and each ADS represents 50 of the Company's ordinary shares) was $0.61, compared with earnings per fully diluted ADS of $0.06 in the third quarter of 2017 and loss per fully diluted ADS of $0.22 in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Full Year 2017 Highlights
Total revenue-recognized module shipments were 5,438MW for the full year 2017, an increase of 18.7% from 4,583MW for the full year 2016.
Total net revenues were $2,177.4 million for the full year 2017, a decrease of 10.2% from $2,425.9 million for the full year 2016.
Gross margin rate was 11.2% for the full year 2017, compared with 18.1% for the full year 2016.
Operating income was $29.3 million in the full year 2017, compared with $192.1 million in the full year 2016.
Net loss attributable to Company's ordinary shareholders was $9.2 million for the full year 2017, compared with net income of $127.5 million for the full year 2016.
Loss per fully diluted ADS was $0.11 for the full year 2017, compared with earnings per fully diluted ADS of $1.75 for the full year 2016.
Mr. Seong Woo Nam, CEO of Hanwha Q CELLS, explained that in 2017, the Company was able to re-establish the course of its strategic direction, focusing more on solidifying its leadership in new markets. He noted that the modules manufactured in the Company's Turkish fab under the JV will be supplied to the Company's 1.3 GW DC solar power plant with a target commercial operation date of 2021 and expressed confidence in the Turkish project's potential to enable the Company to "establish a commanding leadership in the Middle Eastern market through increased brand awareness, proven track record, and locally manufactured products shielded from potential trade disputes."
Mr. Moon Seong Choi, Senior Vice President of Corporate Planning, noted that the Company's "fourth quarter and full year results were in-line with the Company's guidance set forth in Q3 and last year, respectively." Mr. Choi noted that despite the negative impact of Section 201 tariffs in the U.S. solar market, the Company "will continually look for ways to provide high quality solar modules to its customers in the U.S." He added that the Company will focus on expanding its footprint in the U.S. residential segment with its mono-PERC half-cell products as the Section 201 tariffs are expected to have a lesser impact on residential demand.
Mr. Jay Seo, the Company's CFO, noted that the Company's bottom line was negatively affected by the recognition of a one-time loss associated with the discontinuation of its wafer manufacturing operations and bad debt expenses, without which the Company would have seen an improvement in its profitability due to elimination of losses resulting from unprofitable operations as well as a downward trend in wafer prices. Mr. Seo noted that the Company observed a steady downward trend in wafer prices, due to "reduced demand for mono-crystalline wafers after the deadline for Top Runner projects in China, combined with additional mono wafer capacities coming on-line in China."
Fourth Quarter 2017 Results of Operations
Total net revenues were $624.7 million, up 15.0% from $543.0 million in the third quarter of 2017 and up 10.5% from $565.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $53.4 million, down 15.5% from $63.2 million in the third quarter of 2017 and up 34.8% from $39.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. When excluding the effects of one-time losses due to the write-off of wafer production assets, gross profit would have been $92.6 million, up 46.5% QoQ and 133.8% compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.
Gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2017 was 8.5%, compared with 11.6% in the third quarter of 2017 and 7.0% in the fourth quarter of 2016. When excluding the effects of one-time losses due to the write-off of wafer production assets, gross margin would have been 14.8%, up 3.2% points QoQ and 7.8% points compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.
Results of Operations and Operating Margin
Loss from operations in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $29.7 million, compared with income of $10.6 million in the third quarter of 2017 and loss of $21.5 millionin the fourth quarter of 2016.
Operating margin in the fourth quarter of 2017 was -4.8%, compared with 2.0% in the third quarter of 2017 and -3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Total operating expenses were $83.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 58.0% from $52.6 million in the third quarter of 2017 and up 36.0% from $61.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, primarily due to a one-time bad debt expense of $29.8 million.
Selling and marketing expenses were $31.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 1.6% from $30.6 million in the third quarter of 2017 and up 11.9% from $27.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
General and administrative expenses were $46.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 167.2% from $17.4 million in the third quarter of 2017 and up 121.4% from $21.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, due to the aforementioned bad debt expense.
Research and development expenses were $6.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 41.3% from $4.6 million in the third quarter of 2017 and down 44.0% from $11.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Net Interest Expense
Net interest expense was $12.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with $10.0 million in the third quarter of 2017 and $11.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Foreign Currency Exchange Gain (Loss)
Foreign currency exchange loss was $0.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with a gain of $7.3 million in the third quarter of 2017 and a loss of $7.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Gain (loss) on Change in Fair Value of Derivative Contracts
The Company recorded a gain of $0.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 from the change in fair value of derivatives in hedging activities, compared with a loss of $0.6 million in the third quarter of 2017 and a gain of $6.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)
Income tax expense was $4.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with an income tax expense of $2.5 million in the third quarter of 2017 and an income tax benefit of $10.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Net Income (Loss) and Earnings (Loss) per ADS
Net loss attributable to Company's ordinary shareholders was $50.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with net income of $5.0 million in the third quarter of 2017 and net loss of $18.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Loss per fully diluted ADS on a GAAP basis was $0.61 in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with income per fully diluted ADS of $0.06 in the third quarter of 2017 and loss per fully diluted ADS of $0.22 in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Full Year 2017 Results of Operations
Total net revenues were $2,177.4 million, down 10.2% from $2,425.9 million for the full year 2016.
Gross profit was $243.6 million, compared with $440.3 million for the full year 2016.
Gross margin was 11.2%, compared with 18.1% for the full year 2016.
Operating Expense, Income and Margin
Total operating expenses were $214.3 million, down 13.7% from $248.2 million for the full year 2016.
Selling and marketing expenses were $113.1 million, down 5.8% from $120.1 million for the full year 2016.
General and administrative expenses were $95.6 million, up 22.3% from $78.2 million for the full year 2016.
Research and development expenses were $24.0 million, down 51.2% from $49.2 million for the full year 2016.
Net interest expense was $41.0 million, compared with $46.4 million for the full year 2016.
Foreign currency exchange gain was $16.2 million, compared with a net loss of $3.5 million for the full year 2016.
The Company recorded a net loss of $3.3 million from the change in fair value of derivatives in hedging activities, compared with a net loss of $24.4 million for the full year 2016.
Income tax expense was $9.8 million, compared with an income tax benefit of $4.3 million for the full year 2016.
Net loss attributable to Company's ordinary shareholders was $9.2 million, compared with net income of $127.5 million for the full year 2016.
Loss per fully diluted ADS on a GAAP basis was $0.11, compared with earnings per fully diluted ADS of $1.75 for the full year 2016.
2017 Year-End Financial Position
As of December 31, 2017, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $163.5 million, compared with $390.0 million as of December 31, 2016. The restricted cash as of December 31, 2017 was $160.3 million, compared with $116.8 million as of December 31, 2016.
As of December 31, 2017, accounts receivable was $537.6 million, compared with $411.7 million, as of December 31, 2016. Inventories were $317.8 million as of December 31, 2017, compared with $338.5 million as of December 31, 2016.
As of December 31, 2017, accounts payable was $455.5 million, compared with $439.9 million, as of December 31, 2016.
Total short-term bank borrowings (including the current portion of long-term bank borrowings) of $859.3 million represented an increase of $331.4 million from December 31, 2016, due reclassification of long-term borrowings with maturities in 2018 as short-term borrowings.
As of December 31, 2017, the Company had total long-term debt (net of current portion and long-term notes) of $356.6 million, a decrease of $287.1 million from December 31, 2016. The Company's long-term debt is comprised of bank and government borrowings, to be repaid in installments until their maturities, ranging from one to thirteen years.
Capital expenditures were $66.1 million in the full year 2017.
Operations Updates
As of December 31, 2017, the Company's in-house, annualized production capacities were 1,600 MW for ingots, 4,300 MW for cells and 4,300 MW for modules.
Furthermore, the Company has additional module availability of up to 3,700 MW (annualized) as of December 31, 2017 from Hanwha Q CELLS Korea Corporation, an affiliate of the Company.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Guidance
For the first quarter of 2018, the Company estimates net revenues in the range of $430 to 450 million.
For the full year 2018, the Company provides the following guidance:
Total module shipments in the range of 6,000 to 6,200 MW
Capital expenditures of approximately $90.0 million for manufacturing technology upgrades and certain R&D related expenditures. In addition, the Company estimates $37.0 million in relation to a planned capital increase in the Turkey joint venture.
Hanwha Q CELLS Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:HQCL) is one of the world´s largest and most recognized photovoltaic manufacturers for its high-performance, high-quality solar cells and modules. It is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea (Global Executive HQ) and Thalheim, Germany (Technology & Innovation HQ) with its diverse international manufacturing facilities in Malaysia and China. Hanwha Q CELLS offers the full spectrum of photovoltaic products, applications and solutions, from modules to kits to systems to large-scale solar power plants. Through its growing global business network spanning Europe, North America, Asia, South America, Africa and the Middle East, the company provides excellent services and long-term partnerships to its customers in the utility, commercial, governmental and residential markets. Hanwha Q CELLS is a flagship company of Hanwha Group, a FORTUNE Global 500 firm and a Top 10 business enterprise in South Korea.
This report contains forward-looking statements that are not statements of historical fact. These statements constitute "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, and as defined in the U.S.Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Such statements, particularly statements about our guidance for performance in the first quarter and the full year 2018, involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include pending administrative and civil actions in the United States under existing or potential new statutes and regulations governing trade between the United States and other countries, and potential antidumping, countervailing or other duties imposed on goods imported into the United States, as well as the Company's access to new capacity from an affiliate. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Hanwha Q CELLS' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Except as required by law, Hanwha Q CELLS does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Hanwha Q CELLS Co., Ltd.
News Provided by Acquire Media
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NNDC backs Bacton hydrogen energy study
Date published: 15th October 2020
North Norfolk District Council is to help fund an important feasibility study into extending use of the Bacton Gas Terminal beyond its current expected life and role supporting the processing of natural gas, to create a major location for the production of hydrogen energy as the U.K. transitions to a “net zero” carbon energy economy.
The ‘Bacton 2.0’ Hydrogen Production Feasibility Study will be led by local cleaner energy experts Hydrogen East, a not-for-profit company, and the Council is matching a £12,500 funding contribution already committed by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership. The remaining £25,000 cost of study will be funded by the Oil and Gas Technology Centre.
Officers and members from the Council will also join the steering group of the feasibility study into this potentially ground-breaking greener energy project.
The Government committed in June 2019 to a 2050 net zero emissions target, which dramatically increases the need to accelerate decarbonisation of the UK economy. Achieving net zero will require fundamental changes across all sectors, with hydrogen expected to increasingly fulfil energy demand across power, heat and transport.
With the harvesting of natural gas from the North Sea being scaled down and wind energy already a major feature of life in our district and across East Anglia, the focus is also now moving to replacing natural gas energy with cleaner hydrogen gas.
The feasibility study by Hydrogen East will look into the possibility of re-purposing the existing Bacton terminal which currently supplies one-third of the UK’s natural gas, to extend the life of the facility to 2050 and beyond as the nation’s energy supply requirements shift towards greener solutions.
The backing of the study is part of the Council’s on-going commitment to improving our environment and working collectively to combat man-made climate change.
NNDC has pledged to become carbon neutral as an organisation by 2030, has undertaken a major project to plant one new tree for every resident in our district by 2023 and recently has begun rolling out electric vehicle charging points, with the first two up and running in Sheringham and Holt.
Leader of the Council, Sarah Butikofer, commented: “The Bacton feasibility study is a fantastic initiative looking at the ways in which we can work together with partners to drive the green energy agenda forward in North Norfolk. New technology and our green agenda have the potential to bring more jobs to North Norfolk, and to put us at the forefront of this fresh wave of green energy production.”
Last updated: 15th October 2020
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Home › Saxon Storyteller | Enamel Pin Series
Saxon Storyteller | Enamel Pin Series
The full series of Enamel Pins made by The Saxon Storyteller are now available exclusively through Northern Fire. The 3 pins represent different areas of the Saxon world: Rædwald's Helm, Wodens Knot and the Boar:
Rædwald's Helm
Following on from his interpretation of the Sutton Hoo helmet (Rædwalds Helm Art Print), The Saxon Storyteller has modified his design so you can now wear a piece of history through his new enamel pin.
Found in East Anglia (one of the 4 main English kingdoms of the period and named after the "Angles" - a Germanic tribe who settled in the area) it is thought that this helmet belonged to Rædwald who was a king of this region in the early 7th Century.
Whether you believe it was worn by Rædwald or not, it is hard not to see the helmet as one of the symbols of the Anglo Saxons.
Woden's Knot
This enamel pin design by The Saxon Storyteller features a 3 pointed knot to celebrate the god Woden who's name still appears in every day life through the origin of the day Wednesday.
Woden was widely known as a god of war to the early Medievil cultures of Northern Europe, but he was important also as a god of learning, of poetry, and of magic. The king of the Anglo-Saxon gods was Woden, and whilst it is an oversimplification to say he was a German version of the Scandinavian god Odin, he did have two pet wolves and a horse with eight legs...
The boar was a powerful symbol amongst the Germanic people who settled in Britain during the 5th Century. To the Anglo-Saxons, it was a symbol of strength and virility and its image has been known to adorn their helmets.
This enamel pin designed by The Saxon Storyteller celebrates the power of an iconic creature that appears several times in the archaeological record (such as the Sutton Hoo helm and the Staffordshire hoard helmet) and even in literature like the iconic Beowulf poem.
He has also chosen to incorporate runes on the body of the boar which are from the Germanic Iron age and are an early runic charm.
Our pins are crafted in solid metal with enamel detailing and a sturdy pin for security of closure and longevity.
The Saxon Storyteller is an illustrator known for his incredible ability to capture the character and theme of artifacts and historical figures. Reminiscent of Saxon and Viking iconography, his subject matter ranges from members of the lore (such as Ragnar Lothbrok) to those of Tolkien (like Gandalf and other members of the Fellowship). You may also recognize his work as the key illustrator of the Nordic Mythology Podcast, where his images appear unique to each episode and its content.
On Northern Fire, you can find the artwork of Saxon Storyteller on clothing, prints, and pins.
Rough diameter of 5cm (2 inches)
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China Poses Threat to Democracy – USA
by Nadarajah Sethurupan | @ | October 2, 2020 10:11 am
US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Keith Krach has urged Germany to support NATO by expelling the Chinese tech giant Huawei from its 5G mobile network. The statement comes after German officials said last week that the country’s new rules stipulate an option for senior cabinet members to issue objections based on political risk before Huawei components enter the German 5G network. Earlier, Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned that if Huawei is excluded from the country’s 5G rollout project, it could be stalled for as long as five or even ten years.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, for his part, said in a statement in early September that the company had been forced to change numerous components and algorithms in its devices to cope with restrictions from the United States.
Below is a full rush transcript of the press conference by Keith Krach Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.
Under Secretary Krach: I’m in the midst of a 10-day, eight-country swing through Europe. And on this trip I’ve met with many EU leaders and discussed a number of issues since I’ve been here – from the pandemic relief to supply chain diversity. But there is one issue above all the others that forms the purpose of my trip. And the reality that the transatlantic alliance faces one of an ever-increasing cyber warfare, seemingly ceaseless variations of intense, perhaps even weaponized, economic competition.
The Chinese Communist Party presents a real and urgent threat to democracies and companies here in Europe, and all around the world. The CCP has exploited the institutions of the free world, such as the WTO, and this is to gain an upper hand over the same free nations that enabled its prosperity. Rather than open up, the Chinese Government intensified its aggression. It imposed market restrictions, forced technology transfers, and stole intellectual property.
We’re free traders, but when someone comes into the market and doesn’t play by the rules, the market is no longer free. And all along, we thought capitalism would equal democracy. In China’s case, we were wrong. As Secretary Pompeo says, it’s time to take off our rose-colored glasses and treat China not how we hope they’d be, but how they really are.
And now, on both sides of the aisle back in Washington, they truly understand the CCP is playing the long game, and they’re playing for keeps. They fancy themselves as masters of a four-dimensional game of economic, military, diplomatic, and cultural chess. Worst of all, they believe they’re above the rules. In this high-stakes competition, there is nothing static about NATO security – it can vanish in an instant – and there is no substitute for a coalition of freedom.
A challenge of this magnitude cannot be done alone. It’s a team sport and it will require the synergistic effects across all our governments as well as our powerful private sectors. To prevent CCP authoritarianism from winning the day on 5G, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently remarked on the China challenge, “We have to make sure that Europe and North America stand together.”
For years, the CCP has been putting pressure on telecommunications companies and countries to buy from Huawei, knowing that its national intelligence law can oblige Huawei to share data from these countries and companies at any time. CCP’s stated doctrine is to seduce with money and reinforce with intimidation and retaliation. Untrusted, high-risk vendors like Huawei and ZTE provide the CCP’s authoritarian government the capability to disrupt or weaponize critical applications and infrastructure or provide technological advances to China’s military forces. And it’s no secret that Huawei stole intellectual property from T-Mobile, the U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. We know that it deploys these same tactics in Europe and wherever it can get a foothold.
Given these dangers, governments and businesses around the world are increasingly asking: who do we trust carrying our most personal information and intellectual property? The primary choices are two world-class European vendors on one side, Ericsson and Nokia, and two CCP-controlled companies on the other, Huawei and ZTE. After this year, there should be no doubt about the answer. From concealing an outbreak that became a pandemic, to eviscerating Hong Kong’s freedoms, to persisting with a ruthless campaign of repression in Xinjiang, the CCP’s human rights abuses are impossible to ignore. This behavior is made possible by an Orwellian big brother surveillance state that tracks billions of people worldwide and it extends the great one-way China firewall, where all the data comes in for the CCP’s use but none goes out, and reciprocally, all the propaganda goes out but the truth does not come in.
UK Foreign Secretary Raab recently remarked that it isn’t just the devastation of COVID-19 that takes the shine off of China, but also the fact that the CCP doesn’t live up to the deals it makes. The crackdown on Hong Kong is a case in point. As Foreign Secretary Raab said: “It comes down to an issue of trust.” And he said, “Why would anyone trust China with other deals they might make?”
The transatlantic alliance has a responsibility to protect the integrity of our networks for nearly 1 billion citizens living under our security umbrella. And that’s why the United States has teamed up with likeminded nations to develop the Clean Network, which is a comprehensive approach to address the long-term threats to data privacy, security, human rights, and trusted collaboration. Its 5G Clean Path initiative complements the work done by the EU member states developing the clean EU 5G Toolbox for designing, constructing, and administering 5G infrastructure.
The Prime Minister of Poland Morawiecki recently commented: “Poland believes the construction of our 5G Clean Path network is a prerequisite for strategic technological sovereignty. [And] that is why we are proud to be a 5G Clean Country.” The Clean Network is rooted in internationally accepted digital trust standards and represents execution of a multi-year, enduring strategy built on a coalition of partners. The Clean Network encompasses the entire system by incorporating additional Clean Initiatives to safeguard mobile carriers, apps, cloud-based systems, and undersea cables – because a system is only as strong as its weakest link. The Clean Network has sparked a wave of countries and companies choosing clean vendors for their 5G networks. Already many EU nations have joined the Clean Network.
The 5G tide has turned towards clean, trusted vendors as more and more of these countries and companies are using clean providers to build 5G networks. Huawei deals are evaporating as everyone begins to realize it’s an arm of the CCP surveillance state and a tool for human rights abuse. The Clean Network now includes over 30 countries around the world. Many are European, such as the Czech Republic, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Estonia, Romania, Denmark, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, most recently Serbia and Kosovo, Albania, Latvia, France, the United Kingdom, and Slovenia.
Most countries’ largest telecommunications companies have also joined the Clean Network, such as Telefonica, Telco Italia, Reliance in India, Telstra in Australia, SK and KT in Korea, and then all telcos in Japan, Singapore, Australia, U.S. and Canada have joined the Clean Network.
But the transatlantic alliance, too, is only as strong as its weakest link. Countries may be tempted to auction off 5G contracts to the lowest bidders, but this approach exposes all of us to undue risks. The transatlantic alliance and other partners must acknowledge the intersection between 5G providers and national security equities, including interoperability, information sharing, and reliance against coercive tactics. By building safe networks today, governments can ensure the integrity of their systems and prevent costly countermeasures down the road.
Many European nations have come a long way, transitioning – at great human and economic cost – from an authoritarian regime into a democratic state that we all enjoy today. They know firsthand how authoritarian regime uses data to exert leverage. We will stand firm to protect against this. Modern technology should expand people’s opportunities, not expand a government’s control over them.
President Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” speech combined with Europe’s Solidarity movement was a crucial catalyst in bringing down the Iron Curtain. And I really think this is emblematic of the unity and solidarity which will be required to never allow ourselves to be intimidated or undermined by China’s Great Firewall. The Clean Network and the EU 5G toolbox provides strength in numbers for the transatlantic nations and our governments as well as the companies.
History has taught us, there is power and strength in unity and solidarity and together we can control our 5G destiny and ensure we lead our people down the clean path for a safe and a secure future.
Another issue that I’ll be talking with Commissioner Thierry Breton later on today about is the PRC’s campaign of environmental destruction. The PRC is the world’s largest annual greenhouse gas emitter, the world’s largest emitter of mercury, neurotoxins and major public health threat. The world’s largest consumer of illegal wildlife. The world’s largest consumer of illegal timber. One of the largest, if not the largest, emitter of marine plastics. And one of the world’s worst perpetrators – the world’s worst perpetrator when it comes to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said, “Too much of the Chinese Communist Party’s economy is built on willful disregard for air, land, and water quality. The Chinese people – and the world – deserve better.” It also exports through these practices abroad through the environmental destruction of the One Belt One Road campaign, which compromises – with all these 600,000 [sic] coal plants in more than 62 countries.
So I look forward to discussing all of this and much more with Commissioner Breton today, and with many of the other leaders throughout my stay in Brussels and on this trip.
Question: Should U.S.-allied countries restrict sales of semiconductors and semiconductor equipment to China, following U.S. policy in this regard?
Under Secretary Krach: Yes. So, for example, the restrictions placed on Huawei, the allied nations have been great. And as a result, I think the implications are pretty clear that Huawei is running out of its chips for its 5G systems, their smartphones, even their servers for their cloud business and data center business. And it’s hard to estimate how long they have chips, but it’s literally within months. So I think the important thing is for the telecommunication companies and companies in general who utilize their equipment to take that into account.
Question: Do you plan to put SMIC on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List? How do you respond to the argument that U.S. sanctions on Huawei are counterproductive because they are forcing China to boost its own technology and software?
Under Secretary Krach: So as far as the company SMIC goes, that’s really a state-backed company. We know that they’re involved with civilian-military fusion. And the thing to understand is that these semiconductors power that surveillance state which extends that great firewall, which is a tremendous threat to democracies around the world. So I think, first of all, it’s up to the Commerce Department in this area, but here again I don’t think this is going to change anything that the Chinese Government is doing in terms of their initiative to bring everything in-house. There’s nothing we’re going to do that’s going to accelerate or decelerate them. They have their plans.
Question: Handelsblatt reported the German Government has agreed on requirements that would force operators and vendors to certify and authorize 5G components. Are you happy with this outcome from Berlin?
Under Secretary Krach: We’ve had some good discussions. We spent some time in Berlin. We agree on the North Star, and that is to really protect the 5G systems, not just in Germany, in Europe, the transatlantic alliance. So they’re making – they’re making great progress. And I think the German people realize the implications for that surveillance state. And the thing I talk about in Germany is German basic law, article 1 – German basic law is like the Constitution, and that article 1 is two words; it’s “human dignity,” and human dignity is sacrosanct. And by German basic law, that’s the responsibilities of government authorities. So they totally understand that.
Question: Evidence was declassified in 2019, per a Wall Street Journal story, regarding Huawei’s capacity to tap into lawful interception interfaces of the European networks they operate. Why didn’t you make the evidence public? What does it consist of? And has this capacity been used? If so, where and when?
Under Secretary Krach: Yeah, this – I mean, this is a perfect example of things that the Chinese Communist Party do. And I’ve spent my entire career in the private sector. I was the vice president of General Motors and I spent 30 years in Silicon Valley. And I didn’t realize when I came into government that the North Star for the federal government is national security. I mean, that’s true for all our governments. And what I’ve learned is that you’ve got to fight every single day to preserve the democracies and the freedom we enjoy because it’s against the natural order of things; it’s against all the laws of physics. The natural state of the order is the bad king, the dictator, the emperor. And I think when you look at countries like the United States and like the European countries, if it wasn’t for the things that we do, I think there’s a lot of nations around the world that would not be enjoying the freedom that we have today.
Question: How receptive has Germany been toward U.S. warnings about Huawei during your recent talks? Are there any indications that Germany and Italy are moving closer to taking concrete action on this issue?
Under Secretary Krach: The German Government as well – I’ve spent a lot of time with German CEOs as well. They’ve been very receptive and they’re coming out with an IT security act. So they’re moving in all the right directions from everything that we can see. Our position is we want to be able to educate them; we want them to learn from our experiences and experiences of other countries. But at the end of the day, that decision is a German decision and we respect that.
In terms of the Clean Network, we would of course love Germany to join the Clean Network. And as a matter of fact, they’re a leader in – if you think about it, I mean, as a businessman, they’ve always been a great leader in quality, reliability, data privacy, security. It’s in their nature. And the Clean Network would be incomplete without them. I mean, I – so I’m optimistic.
Question: In your capacity as ombudsperson on the Privacy Shield, can you update us on the current talks between the European Union and the United States on a future data transfer accord, after the European Court of Justice struck down the Privacy Accord in July?
Under Secretary Krach: Yeah. Being the ombudsman for the data Privacy Shield, this was obviously something new to me coming into the government. And I will tell you that – how serious the United States takes that. In our three branches of government, there’s no authority over me in our Executive Branch – I work with the Judicial Branch on that. I can say that there’s only been one incident over all these years. We’ve run it to ground. Everybody was satisfied. It actually ended up to be much ado about nothing. In terms of the latest decision, we’re in discussions about that and I think our position is this: that we want to make sure that it doesn’t harm European businesses, it doesn’t harm U.S. businesses. We want to make sure whatever new laws are going to be in place by Europe are reciprocal. A question I always ask is, well, I’m the ombudsman for the U.S.; where’s the ombudsman for Europe?
And also, to make sure that it takes into account all – all nations. One of my questions originally on it when I first met with the European team when we had our annual meeting is: tell me about the EU-China data privacy shield? And I found out there wasn’t one. And I asked this team of people and they were just – their answer was, well, China will be China. And I don’t think that’s good enough anymore.
So I think for the Europeans are – who are putting together that next proposal, I think you’ve got to look at it holistically.
Question: After Slovenia this summer, and others before it, which European Union countries are closest to signing a joint declaration with the U.S. on 5G security?
Under Secretary Krach: Well, there’s a number of them. One of the things that our first stop was in Luxembourg, and what I found out over in Luxembourg is all three of their telcos have decided to go with trusted vendors. So in essence they just – they joined as well. I’ll be going over to Albania and they – they’re on the Clean Network. It’s great. So I think there’s a number of them that are right on the cusp. And in some cases, they’re just now putting together their rules and their laws. But right now, of the 30 NATO countries, 20 are on the Clean Network.
But here again, my point I emphasize is this: is that we don’t want to end up with a fractured NATO – two NATOs where you have countries that have secure, clean networks and ones that don’t. Because it will restrict a lot of access to information. And here again, it’s only as strong as its weakest link. It’s like a pearl necklace. You’re weak in one place, it can expose the others. And I had a great meeting yesterday over there with the NATO folks. They totally understand that. They understand the importance of having a clean path like the United States State Department does where any of our domestic facilities or international facilities like our embassies requires a clean path. So all the network – all the network traffic coming in cannot touch an untrusted vendor’s equipment. And particularly when you’re talking about security, this is – it’s a must.
Question: How will the strategy to keep Huawei out of Europe’s next-generation network work if Germany, Europe’s biggest economy and most populous nation, allows Huawei to co-build its 5G network?
Under Secretary Krach: Well, here again, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. And here again, I think we’re seeing things moving in the right direction in Germany. And it’s no secret that the Chinese threatened the Germans with this. They threatened their automotive business with this. And it’s kind of similar to when Boris Johnson said, “I think we’re going to reconsider letting Huawei in to 35 percent of our telecommunications system.” Because immediately what you can see is Beijing threatened the British bank HSBC. You heard the Chinese ambassador to the UK say, “We’re going to take away that $100 billion investment we made in that rail system in the north of England.” And that’s when Secretary Pompeo stood up and he said, “We stand with the UK. We stand with all our allies against that China bully.” And I think that was highly symbolic.
And we really do – we really do look at their retaliation. It’s an 800-pound elephant in the room, of China as a bully. And I think we’ve all had experiences with bullies in our lives, and if there’s anything I’ve learned: when you confront a bully, they back down. And they really back down when you confront them and you have your friends by your side. And that’s exactly what the United States intends to do. And that’s also the purpose of the Clean Network, because there’s strength in numbers. There’s strength in solidarity and unity. And that’s the power of the transatlantic alliance, NATO, the EU. And I think the EU is really important because it provides cover for all these European nations where China picks the – they’re – picks the gazelle from the herd, and what they want to do is they want to drive a wedge between countries, they want to drive a wedge right between the Atlantic.
So this is not an issue of U.S. superpower versus China superpower. This is an issue of freedom versus authoritarianism.
Question: How much of the critical U.S. semiconductors did Huawei stockpile, to your knowledge? What’s your current assessment of their ability to create a fully Chinese alternative?
Under Secretary Krach: Not enough. I can tell you that. You’re already seeing some of the shortage of supplies out there. The interesting thing is that last February, Huawei announced they had 90 5G contracts, and what we’ve seen is we’ve seen those deals evaporate. The most we can count outside of China is six. So they have totally lost the momentum. The tide has totally turned. And I think this is something that countries and companies should keep in mind. There’s really no future with Huawei.
Question: What should countries do with their preexisting equipment from Huawei? Or is the concern only for the 5G system? In other words, can they use other elements of Huawei equipment?
Under Secretary Krach: Our focus has really been on 5G, but also understand that whether it’s 4G or whether they’re smartphones, it’s a risk. And the reason is simple, and I didn’t realize this until I was in government. And I had my intellectual property stolen in Silicon Valley as I built four companies, from the Chinese Communist Party – is that there’s a law in China – it’s called their national intelligence act – and it says this. It says any Chinese company, state-owned or otherwise, and any Chinese citizen has to turn over any information, proprietary technology, intellectual property, data, and also genetics, upon request to the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army, the PRC Government, and if they don’t, then they have to suffer the consequences.
Question: Do you have any closing remarks you’d like to make?
Under Secretary Krach: I think just the closing remarks to everybody would be thanks so much for your time. And in this issue with regard to China’s surveillance state, and in this fight for freedom versus authoritarianism – because we look at what China has done, and they’ve really stepped up their aggression since the pandemic – and you can see that at the Indian borders. You can see it – the Japanese islands, north of Taiwan. You can see it – their invasion of Hong Kong. And you’re seeing it all over the world. It represents a real and urgent threat to democracy. And really, a key tool that we have in the free world is transparency. And what the media – the professionals in the media like the ones on the phone right now are such a necessary strategic part of solving this issue, and shining a light on these practices that for so many years they concealed. And if you look at China’s economic statecraft or on every dimension, a key part of their strategy is deception.
Well, I think now the genie is out of that bottle and I think people around the world have woken up and see the truth about China’s – we call it the three-pronged strategy of concealment, co-option, and coercion. And the citizens don’t like it. And it’s really given the political will to government leaders, corporate CEOs around the world to stand up to that China bully, and that is thanks to the media. So I – this is just a chance for me to thank everyone.
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Kanye West Stands Alone : The Record On his new songs, the rapper points fingers in every direction, including back at himself.
Music News From NPR
Kanye West Stands Alone
May 21, 20133:00 PM ET
Frannie Kelley
Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley on Kanye West
Kanye West performing "Black Skinhead" on Saturday Night Live last weekend. Dana Edelson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank hide caption
Dana Edelson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
Kanye West performing "Black Skinhead" on Saturday Night Live last weekend.
What happened over the weekend? At 8:34 on Friday night, Kanye West tweeted. He said he'd be premiering a song in a half hour and we'd have to do what he said to hear it – we'd have to go to a particular address and stand outside with other people and watch a video projected onto the side of a building. Of course, the first video of the video was up within minutes, so most people didn't have to do any such thing. "New Slaves" spread, the texting and Vineing and opining ran rampant. A few hours later even Michael Moore was Rap Genius-ing the song. The next night Kanye was the musical guest on the season finale of Saturday Night Live, where he premiered another new song, "Black Skinhead," performed "New Slaves" for the first time and stood alone while the cast hugged around him and the credits rolled.
He came for us on wavelengths old-fashioned and new, inserting into our conversations two songs that are stacks of questions without answers. Received as part of Kanye's 15-year career, they make sense – from the composition that is both heavy-handed and deft to the singsong retort of his flow and the lyrics that combine insecurity with callous certainty, that decry consumerism while refusing to give it up, that drag internal conversations in front of a mass-market, hair-trigger, blinkered audience. "New Slaves" is the "c'mon, c'mon" in the "All Falls Down" hook 10 years and millions of dollars later. He's got more on the line now — a decade of living has made him less inclined to sugarcoat.
This new song is a rotund, hollow production over which the man who made "Jesus Walks" and "Slow Jamz" and "Drive Slow" and "Runaway" and "Can't Tell Me Nothing" looks us dead in the eye and raps about the proximity of Jim Crow. He says things about the government that would have been dangerous 30 years ago. He airs out the music industry. Other rappers are doing this, but Ye also admits fault and weakness every time he mentions a Maybach. He is balling out on every level, especially emotionally. He's made so much money anticipating our desires that he now has the capital and the connections to push our buttons whenever he wants.
How does a very rich and eminently successful artist with a superstar-all-from-a-home-movie girlfriend call us out? "Black Skinhead" is somebody banging on your door in the middle of the night, hurtling out of Ye's metal-plated face, predicting reactions before it's halfway over. He rides an industrial-sounding, stadium-sized beat, calling Chicago, "Chiraq" in a grainy echo. He associated himself with Malcolm X on "Good Morning," but then it was a joke. This time he's serious. He says he's going 400 mph, which we believe – he's taken corners on two wheels on live TV before.
In the Saturday Night Live performances Ye hit all his marks. He mostly controlled his delivery of FCC-banned words – but not all the way and half the slipups felt intentional. His set design is as composed and emphatic as it has been since he started working with Es Devlin. It's invigorating and ominous. His bare-chested DJ couldn't restrain himself, and the SNL audience was in full-throated support.
That was good to hear, because Kanye isn't exactly beloved. Not everybody gets it. On record and in public, he's asymmetric and flustered just like a regular human being is, but unlike rap you'll play for your kids, rap songs about shopping at Goodwill, rappers who are safely in the past. What's popular, on the sales charts, on the radio, at the festivals and in hip-hop today is EDM. And EDM has a lot of things, but it's short on words. Kanye has words for days — words that don't agree with each other, ambiguous pronouns, homonyms, insults, "Strange Fruit" quotes. There are ideas in "New Slaves" and "Black Skinhead" that are echoed in the editorial pages of The New York Times, but Kanye's songs give them volume and heart. They are a reminder of what music can do — and the isolation artists feel when they say things we don't want to hear. People need to stop saying hip-hop is dead. There are brave people making it, and we should be proud.
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Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole announces his plan to fight Delta-driven fourth wave
Coquitlam, BC – Today, the Hon. Erin O’Toole, Leader of Canada’s Conservatives, announced his plan to fight the Delta-driven fourth wave of COVID-19. “Justin Trudeau calling an election in the middle of the pandemic was not the right thing to do, but Dr. Tam’s alarming briefing yesterday should be a wakeup call for all of us that the fight against COVID-19 is not over,” said O’Toole. “We need to come together now and urgently find a path out of this crisis. The Conservatives are ready to deliver a plan to protect the health and safety of all Canadians from this threat.” Canada’s Conservatives have a plan to stop a Delta-driven fourth wave of COVID-19 and protect Canadians by immediately calling for action in the following areas: -- Information – Resume regular national public health briefings to provide accurate and up-to-date information to Canadians on the crisis, no matter how concerning or inconvenient it is for the government of the day. -- Fairness – Ensure political parties and campaigns lead by example and follow all national, provincial, and local public health restrictions and guidance in order to protect Canadians and stop the spread of COVID-19. -- Unity – Put aside divisive politics on questions of public health and science, and stand united in efforts to persuade every Canadian that vaccines are safe, effective, and the best route out of the crisis. -- Cooperation – Work with the provinces to understand the steps needed to contain, control, and eradicate COVID-19, including delivering more vaccines and rapid tests, tracking outbreaks, and managing PPE stockpiles. Working together, Canadians can get vaccination numbers up to where they need to be and keep one another safe. “Right now, we cannot afford to divide the country when the lives of tens of thousands of Canadians are on the line,” concluded O’Toole. “Canada’s Conservatives will be laser-focused on solutions and ensuring we have the information, fairness, unity, and cooperation necessary to beat the fourth wave.”
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stated on June 15, 2016 in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity
Even among "second and third generation" Muslims in the United States, "there's no real assimilation."
By Louis Jacobson • June 18, 2016
stated on June 2, 2016 in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press Daily"
"More businesses went out of business last year than were started for the first time in our history."
By Jon Greenberg • June 3, 2016
stated on March 15, 2016 in a victory speech after the March 15 primaries
"Our campaign depends on small donations for the majority of our support."
By Louis Jacobson • March 21, 2016
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Mary Lee Darlington
February 17, 1933 - October 30, 2021
Memorial Visitation Spring Grove Cemetery- Norman Chapel 4521 Spring Grove Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio 45232 December 4, 2021 8:30am - 10:00am Directions
Memorial Service Spring Grove Cemetery- Norman Chapel 4521 Spring Grove Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio 45232 December 4, 2021 10:00am
Mary Lee Darlington, age 88, passed away on October 30, 2021 in Chattanooga, TN. She was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Ted Darlington, and her parents, Marie and Fred Porter. Mary is survived by her four children, Theodore L. Darlington (Kathy), Fred Darlington (Tracy), John Darlington (Deborah), and Anna Frey (Jeff), 13 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Shirley Porter Williamson.
Mary was born in Cincinnati, OH on February 17, 1933. When she was young, her family moved to Liberty, KY, where she attended elementary and high school. She attended the University of Kentucky, and later earned both a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Education from the University of Cincinnati. She taught business at Campbell County High School, in Alexandria, KY until she retired in 1991, after which she and Ted moved to Marco, Island, FL.
Mary loved bridge. She was a Gold Life Member of the American Contract Bridge League, which she believed was one of her greatest accomplishments. After she moved to Florida, she became a ACBL accredited bridge director and teacher. She directed contract bridge play in Naples and Marco Island, and in her beloved community at Hideaway Beach.
Mary enjoyed traveling. She traveled to see the sights in many European countries, but her favorite travel destination was Las Vegas where she went twice a year. She played video poker, didn't lose, and always earned complimentary rooms and meals.
Mary was also an avid University of Kentucky Wildcat fan. She enjoyed football, but basketball was her favorite. She continued to watch games until her passing.
Family and friends will gather for a Celebration of Life on Saturday, December 4, 2021, at Norman Chapel, Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, OH. The visitation begins at 8:30 AM with the service at 10:00 AM.
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Trump may open door to Venezuelans to stay in U.S. under TPS program, but wrongly shuts out others from troubled countries | Editorial
The Trump administration is being mean-spirited and unfair in possibly opening one immigration door to Venezuelans, while trying to slam another shut for hundreds of thousands of other equally deserving migrants who have already qualified for a special humanitarian immigration program, known as TPS, or Temporary Protected Status. (photo: AP)
The Trump administration is considering a plan to let up to 200,000 Venezuelan migrants who fled to the U.S. to escape the depressed economy and political chaos under President Nicolás Maduro to stay here under a special immigration program.
It’s not a humanitarian gesture, but more of a political calculation to win over voters in South Florida’s large Venezuelan-American community before the 2020 presidential election, according to POLITICO, which first reported the administration’s plan, citing two people familiar with the discussions.
POLITICO reports the administration is weighing different options to allow Venezuelans already here to keep living and working in the U.S., including one that would allow them to qualify for Temporary Protected Status, or TPS.
Created in 1990, TPS is a longstanding humanitarian program benefiting hundreds of thousands of migrants from countries battered by war or natural disasters. It’s well intentioned but has its flaws because many TPS holders remain in immigration limbo for years.
There’s nothing wrong with the administration wanting to offer TPS to Venezuelans. The corrupt Maduro regime has mismanaged its oil-rich economy and triggered terrible shortages in food and medicine. By any measure, it’s a humanitarian crisis. UN officials estimate that more than 4 million people have left the country, with thousands making their way to South Florida. Think Doral in Miami-Dade and Weston in southwest Broward.
But it’s wrong for the administration to favor one group of migrants over others who face similar hardships if forced to return to their troubled homelands. Think Haitians, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans, to name a few. They also call South Florida home.
It’s also mean-spirited and unfair on the part of the Trump administration to open one immigration door to Venezuelans, while trying to slam another shut for the hundreds of thousands of other equally deserving migrants who have already qualified for TPS.
The fate of TPS holders is in the hands of Trump administration officials. Under the law, the Homeland Security Department secretary decides whether to extend or end TPS. About 417,000 migrants from 10 countries currently have TPS, including more than 57,000 in Florida.
Two years ago this month, administration officials began announcing plans to terminate TPS for more than 408,000 migrants from six countries — El Salvador (251,526), Haiti (56,209), Honduras (80,633), Nepal 14,596), Nicaragua (4,517), and Sudan (806) — even though conditions in those countries have shown little improvement or worsened over the years. The deportation of these lawful immigrants would leave more than 279,000 U.S-born children with an uncertain future.
Fortunately, several immigrant advocacy groups have gone to federal court to challenge the administration’s TPS termination plans and have put the deportations — at least for the moment — on hold.
The sudden interest in granting TPS to Venezuelans is an about-face for the Trump administration. In late July, acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli told two top Democratic senators — Dick Durbin of Illinois and New Jersey’s Bob Menendez — that the administration would not designate Venezuela for TPS.
That was typical Trump hypocrisy. Administration officials have been warning Americans not to travel to Venezuela because it’s so dangerous, but at the same time telling desperate Venezuelans they could not stay here.
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POLITICO reported that the administration was only eyeing TPS for Venezuelan migrants, noting that top White House advisor Stephen Miller, the mean-spirited architect of the president’s harsh immigration policies, is even on board with the idea.
The politics at play here are no surprise. Florida’s 29 electoral votes are crucial for any candidate wanting to capture the White House. Presidential elections here typically come down to razor-thin margins for the winner, so any advantage gained with any one group of voters can tilt the outcome. In 2016, Trump won Florida by beating Democrat Hillary Clinton by 1.2 percentage points, or less than 113,000 votes out of some 9.4 million ballots cast.
The Trump administration needs to do right by Venezuelans and make them eligible for TPS. It also needs to do right by the many Haitians, Salvadorans, Hondurans and other migrants who should have their current TPS eligibility extended and eventually be allowed to remain here permanently. It’s only fair.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Sergio Bustos, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.
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It is a miracle
Published on Tuesday, 25 June 2013 06:59
Recently I commented on the news about Israel where had been born the first child conceived from sperm of a young man who had died of cancer six years ago. The parents of the deceased and the woman who had agreed to carry a child to term, quickly managed to reach an agreement, but the difficulty was that the deceased had not left any directions about the disposition right of his genetic material after death. The well-known lawyer in the country, leader of the "New family", Irit Rosenblum, who had been dealing with the issues of so-called "biological testament” for many years, came to the aid of the family. The court took the side of the claimants and gave permission for the procedure.
Despite the fact that the practice of biological wills exists only in Israel, the experience shows that more and more people around the world are interested in the issues of posthumous donorship.
So last years in the USA, cases when relatives of the dead send a request to the hospital to give them the sperm of their native for later fertilization, have become more frequent. An urologist Larry Lipshults at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas states that the number of applications for posthumous donorship is constantly increasing, but the problem is in the lack of governmental regulation of this phenomenon. The occurring ethical issues make the protocols’ creating very complicated. For example, if the dead would have agreed for the use of his sperm? Who exactly has the right to the biological fluid of the deceased? Is it humanely to make a baby orphaned since birth?
Some institutions, guided by the principle like "people can’t be reproduced without their permission," require to provide a written consent of the deceased. But there is a huge number of requests coming when the death was sudden, and people simply didn’t have time to leave such an order.
Larry Lipshults held a public poll together with his colleagues to find out the attitude of society to the post-mortem donorship. According to the study, 85% of men who are clients of sperm banks agree on the use of their biological material after death.
The subject of “biological will” is closely related with a topic of the genetic material’s cryopreservation in cases when diseases’ treatment threaten human life. For example, Australian doctors have organized a campaign appealed to persuade young men suffering from cancer to provide a sperm sample before the treatment was started, that in the future they could experience the joy of fatherhood. According to experts, in addition to fertility preservation, this measure has a positive impact on the psyche of patients. And here's news from quite the same story: in America testing of the method that will help to keep fertility for cancer patients has been already started. The point is that spermatogonial stem cells- the precursors of sperm- are taken from testicles and get frozen. Years later the material can be thawed and implanted into the testicles, thereby testis will get capacity to produce full-fledged spermatozoons even if infertility is caused by side effects of the cancer treatment.
It’s still too early to talk with certainty about the effectiveness of this technique, as it is still under the testing. If there is such a need, for today it’s more reasonable to use the proven method of fertility preservation - cryopreservation of sperm, which allows patients to become fathers, even many years after. Incidentally, the record in this area again belongs to the Americans. Not so long time ago in the United States was born a girl, whose father had left his biological material quarter of a century ago. A similar record in freezing oocytes is 12 years.
As for the "biological wills," I have always said, and stand by my opinion that this matter is important and essential, but it’s a kind of sphere that provokes a lot of questions, not only ethical but legal as well. For example, if a child will be entitled to inherit the property of the father, with whom his mother had never met? It is clear that such delicate questions can’t be solved without governmental regulation, especially as the demand for such services around the world is constantly growing.
Well, words from The Queen’s songs are coming to my mind:
Test tube babies being born
Mothers, fathers dead and gone
It’s a miracle…
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Trump seeks $25 billion for border wall, offers 'Dreamer' citizenship
By Roberta Rampton, Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday previewed his outline for an immigration bill that he will promote next week, saying he wants $25 billion to build a border wall and is open to granting citizenship to illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.
Trump said he was optimistic he could come to an agreement with both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress that would appeal to hardliners seeking tougher rules for immigrants while also preventing the roughly 700,000 “Dreamers” from being deported.
“Tell them not to be concerned, ok? Tell them not to worry. We’re going to solve the problem. It’s up to the Democrats, but they (the Dreamers) should not be concerned,” Trump told reporters during an impromptu question-and-answer session at the White House.
Trump campaigned for president in 2016 promising tougher rules for immigration. In September, he announced he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, effective in March - unless Congress came up with a new law.
The program currently protects about 700,000 people, mostly Hispanic young adults, from deportation and provides them work permits.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the lead lawmakers in the immigration negotiations, said Trump’s comments signaled a major breakthrough.
“President Trump’s support for a pathway to citizenship will help us get strong border security measures as we work to modernize a broken immigration system,” Graham said in a statement. “With this strong statement by President Trump, I have never felt better about our chances of finding a solution on immigration.”
DACA recipients and supporters protest for a clean Dream Act outside Disneyland in Anaheim, California U.S. January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
“COULD GO EITHER WAY”
Graham was part of a bipartisan group of three dozen senators who met on Wednesday on Capitol Hill to discuss moving forward on immigration legislation.
After the meeting, Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill expressed cautious optimism to reporters about Trump’s framework, saying “that could go either way,” when asked if it will be helpful to lawmakers.
Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, was slated to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday, a senior White House official said.
Trump so far has rejected bipartisan proposals to continue DACA, leading to the standoff between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate that resulted in a three-day government shutdown that ended on Monday.
Congress agreed to extend funding to Feb. 8, but Republicans promised to allow debate on the future of the young illegal immigrants. Senators began meeting to discuss their proposals on Wednesday.
The White House plans on Monday to unveil a framework for immigration legislation that it believes can pass muster with both parties. Trump will deliver his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night.
For immigration legislation to be enacted into law, the House of Representatives ultimately would have to pass a bill identical to whatever the Senate approves.
Trump said his proposal would include a request for $25 billion for the border wall, $5 billion for other border security programs, measures to curb family sponsorship of immigrants, and an overhaul of or end to the visa lottery system.
In exchange, he said he wanted to offer the Dreamers protection from deportation and an “incentive” of citizenship, perhaps in 10 to 12 years.
Addressing the status of the Dreamers’ parents, who brought them into America illegally, would be “tricky,” Trump said.
Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Leslie Adler
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12 Days of Christmas in New York
Author Michael Storrings, Introduction by Kathie Lee Gifford
There’s nothing like Christmas in New York. "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me—the Statue of Liberty!" So begins this clever adaptation of the beloved Christmas carol, in which author and illustrator Michael Storrings celebrates the things that we all love about New York City during the holidays. Filled with beautifully detailed illustrations of the most iconic symbols of New York, including five subway cars, four chestnut vendors, three cups of coffee, and two taxicabs, The 12 Days of Christmas in New York evokes all of the joy and wonderment that is skating in Central Park or shopping along Fifth Avenue. Elegant, fun, and able to fit into any stocking, this is the perfect gift for anyone who loves the magical way the greatest city in the world celebrates the most wonderful time of the year.
Michael Storrings is an award-winning designer, illustrator, and art director working in New York City. He is the creative director at St. Martin’s Press. Kathie Lee Gifford is the Emmy award–winning co-host of the Today Show, a playwright, songwriter, and actress.
Category: Travel - United States - Northeast - Middle Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA)
Publisher: Universe
“..a clever adaptation of the beloved Christmas carol….the book uses warm-hearted, whimsical illustrations to celebrate the 12 things that everyone loves about New York City at Christmas. You'd be hard-pressed to find turtledoves, French hens, and milk maids in this city, so instead the author captures the perfect New York City moments with staples like chestnut vendors, horse-drawn coaches, and the perennial sidewalk Santas to create a portrait of what the holiday season really feels like in the Big, Apple. 12 Days of Christmas in New York City gives a perfect impression of what it means to spend the holidays in the world's most famous city.” ~Quest Magazine
Author Bookshelf: Michael Storrings, Kathie Lee Gifford
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We are able to work individually. However, experience has shown that when we join forces, abilities of the whole team grow exponentially.
Team Rockaway
Jakub Havrlant (*1984) is the founder, CEO and sole shareholder of the Rockaway Capital group, which he established in 2013 with the vision of building a global investment group from the Czech Republic.
As an angel investor, Havrlant previously supported start-ups in the United States (e.g. ProductBoard, in which an investment was undertaken in 2018 by the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers group, which is behind the success of Amazon, Google and other global companies), Brazil (e.g. the fintech start-up Creditas, whose value had increased nearly tenfold by the time Rockaway exited the firm in 2017), and the Czech Republic (e.g. Brand Embassy, now a leading customer-care platform that collaborates with Apple, for example).
During the same period (2010-2013), Havrlant served as CEO for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic states in the Allegro e-commerce group (part of Naspers, which also owns stock in Facebook), which he joined after selling his own real-estate start-up Bezrealitky.cz, the first start-up in our country to use Google Maps technology.
By the age of thirty, Havrlant had carried out a successful exit from the role of CEO in a multinational e-commerce group and established a portfolio of investments in global start-ups. Through Rockaway Capital, he is now striving to bring a broader meaning to the term “internet business” – simply building strong companies with the use of digital technologies. The firms under Rockaway’s administration achieved aggregate sales of more than EUR 2.5 billion in 2019, while employing more than five thousand people in 17 European countries.
5. 11. 2021, marek.blahuta
Allegro to acquire MALL Group and WE|DO, transaction value reaches 1,13 billion USD
3. 5. 2021, Pavel Kalouš
Rockaway completes the acquisition of Bringmeister and aims to build a leader in on-line food shopping in Germany
Jaromír Švihovský
Jaromír serves simultaneously as the CFO and COO at Rockaway. He is thus in charge of finance, the legal department, IT and back-office operations. Jaromír worked for Jakub Havrlant prior to the founding of Rockaway and has thus been part of the team since the very beginning.
He has roots in the world of finance – he has been focused on the the areas of tax consulting, financial management and controlling since 2009. He previously lectured on the issue of international taxation at the Technical University of Liberec.
12. 10. 2021, Marianna Zapotilová
7. 11. 2019, Adam Rek
Rockaway Money Talks: From Bonds to Burnout
Robert Chmelař
Investment Partner
Robert has been with Rockaway since 2016. In addition to seeking out new opportunities, he focuses primarily on the firms Euromedia Group and Heureka Shopping. He joined Rockaway in order to have a hand in defining the investment strategy, take part in setting the company’s direction and, primarily, to help build something that he can consider to be somewhat his own – after spending more than twelve years in the world of corporate finance.
Robert came to Rockaway from the investment company Mid Europa Partners, the biggest private equity firm in Central and Eastern Europe, where as the investment manager he played a role in major investments on the Czech market. In total, that involved ten transactions, including České radiokomunikace, T-Mobile, Walmark and Energy 21, whose value exceeded CZK 75 billion.
20. 5. 2021, Marianna Zapotilová
Rockaway Insider with Robert Chmelař, A Rockaway Capital Investment Partner: If your work is not fun and fulfilling, change it. Life is too short
9. 2. 2021, Adam Rek
Interview with František Mala, CEO of Euromedia Group: Czechs are exceptional when it comes to books
Jaroslaw Czernek
Jaroslaw joined the Rockaway team as an investment partner in 2015. He brought with him essential know-how, thanks to which he was able to finalise key transactions such as the acquisitions of Mall and Heureka. Today he is responsible for firms in the travel industry, with Invia Group at the top.
Jaroslaw previously worked at the law firms White & Case in Prague and London, Cravath, Swaine and Moor LLP in New York and Linklaters in London. In addition to the Czech Republic, he is a qualified attorney in New York, England and Wales. His specialisations are cross-border transactions in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, with particular focus on Russia/CIS and the markets of Central and Eastern Europe.
27. 10. 2021, marek.blahuta
Rockaway Insider with Jaroslaw Czernek, Rockaway Capital investment partner
2. 4. 2020, Michaela Papežová
Businesses write the prime minister: “Let’s talk about saving the travel industry in the Czech Republic”
Dušan Zábrodský
Dušan joined the Rockaway team in 2014. As an investment partner, he focuses primarily on Mall Group, Heureka and certain start-ups. Even though his role is developing, thanks to his knowledge of start-up business and know-how in the area of transformation strategies for large portfolio units, he has long been seeking out new opportunities and cultivating existing projects in our portfolio.
Prior to joining Rockaway, Dušan focused on consulting for international start-ups, where he was involved in company development and entry into international markets. Before that, he spent seven years at AVG Technologies, where he was part of the company’s management, which listed AVG on the New York Stock Exchange.
Rockaway Insider with Dušan Zábrodský, Rockaway Capital investment partner
Rockaway Ventures launches a fund focused on ESG investment in startups and announces its first two acquisitions
Jan Jírovec
Honza joined Rockaway at the very beginning, in 2014. In his position as an investment partner, he focuses on business development, PR and HR, and is thus responsible for fulfilment of the long-term vision and management of strategic activities. Within the Group, in the past he served as CEO of firms such as Koloniál/Košík and E-commerce Holding.
Before joining Rockaway, Honza was the head of Allegro Group for the region of the Czech Republic and the Baltics, a position in which he replaced Jakub Havrlant. Prior to that, he developed the PayU payment gateway on the Czech and Slovak markets. Honza has also worked in the financial software segment in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
Interview: Covid showed the festival’s importance for Karlovy Vary
Andrea Lauren
As an investment partner, Andrea has long been focused on fintech at Rockaway. She joined the team at a time when the firm needed senior expertise and was arranging partnerships with major global companies. Andrea came to Rockaway from the Czech investment bank Roklen, which she cofounded in 2014 and where as CEO she managed the first Czech investment crowdfunding platform, Fundlift. Prior to that, she worked in London for the global investment banks JPMorgan and HSBC, where she participated in the management of M&A deals for clients in the private sector as well as for governments in the total volume of more than CZK 675 billion. In addition to that, she is also the chairwoman of the Czech Fintech Association (CEFTAS).
16. 4. 2021, Adam Rek
Andrea Lauren: Why the 160 million that’s coming to BudgetBakers from the Netherlands makes me happy
Viktor Fischer
Viktor is an investment partner at Rockaway whose areas of expertise are start-ups and blockchain. He came to Rockaway from the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, having previously lived for eleven years in France, where he cofounded Innovatrics, a start-up focused on biometric identification, which won several awards and was ranked in the Deloitte Top 50 with 344% growth. Viktor has taught project management at a university in Paris, and the accelerators StartupYard and Wayra in Prague and The Spot in Slovakia know him as a mentor. He is also an investor in several technology start-ups and runs the club Le Valmont in the very centre of Prague.
Viktor Fischer bought a candle in an auction for one bitcoin to support Amnesty International
Milan Vašina
For many years Milan Vašina was CEO of T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom. During the course of his career, he has gained a reputation as a successful manager and leader in telecommunications and ICT, something also confirmed by his winning the Best Telecoms CEO, Eastern Europe Award. Milan’s experience includes implementation of business strategies, acquisitions of companies, their integration and changes in operating models. He was responsible for nearly 7000 employees and revenues of €2.0 billion. In the business community, he is well known for his ability to foster a culture of cooperation, personal responsibility, and authentic leadership. At Rockaway, his newly created role has two objectives: to help selected portfolio companies with their business strategy and to promote development of managerial talent across the group.
Petr Mahdal
Executive Leader, Technologist & Advisor
Petr has been part of the Rockaway story since the very beginning, when he was enticed by Jakub Havrlant’s vision, for which he left AVG Technologies, where he’d been for seven years. He specializes in technologies, product development, IT and project/programme management, both directly for Rockaway and for its portfolio companies and projects. His most recent mission involved three years with the Košík.cz on-line supermarket, where he was in charge of R&D and IT, including product development. At the beginning of 2021 he rejoined the Rockaway team. In the past Petr worked for Sunnysoft, a Czech company developing products and software for the precursors of today’s smartphones, and then for AVG, which he took to the New York Stock Exchange and participated in the acquisition of US and Israeli companies.
Samuel Robel
Samuel joined our investment team after several projects, within which he played a role in, for instance, the financing of Invia and the three-year strategic plan for Mall Group. He has experience in consulting, having most recently worked for the Boston Consulting Group, where he focused primarily on strategic projects in the consumer and retail sector for European and global clients. He had previously worked in M&A and restructuring at Deloitte in Vienna, where he focused on consulting in the area of companies’ sell-side processes and restructuring. Samuel studied at universities in Germany, India and Moscow.
Radek Musil
Radek came to Rockaway in the fall of 2020. He focuses on FinTech, and as part of our investment team applies his expertise to other areas, such as logistics. In the past he was CEO of Fundlift, the first Czech investment crowdfunding platform that also became the largest Czech platform of its type, and was present from the very beginning during its development and market introduction. He was also a partner at the Roklen FinTech group, where his role included providing M&A consulting.
Radek graduated from the University of New York in Prague and also graduated with honours from the London School of Economics. In 2018 Forbes Magazine ranked him among the thirty most talented people under the age of thirty in the Czech Republic.
David Šťastný
Investment Associate
David joined Rockaway Ventures as an investment associate. He is involved in the search for new opportunities and is responsible for the existing portfolio of start-ups.
Before joining us, he was involved in the launch of a venture-capital investment firm in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that, he worked for the consulting firm McKinsey, where he focused on telecommunications and the oil and gas industry. He studied at universities in Prague and Stockholm.
10. 10. 2019, Adam Rek
Rockaway Ventures reinforces its team with the addition of David Šťastný and Max Palko
Max Palko
Max is part of the Rockaway Ventures team. As an investment analyst, he examines and evaluates investment opportunities, monitors the start-up market, creates financial models and assists with maintaining the current portfolio. He previously spent a year and a half in the Rockaway Academy programme, where he worked for Košík.cz in addition to start-ups.
Prior to joining Rockaway, he worked for three years in the sales and controlling departments at the pharmaceutical company Sandoz. Max also served as president of the student consulting organisation Club 307, where he collaborated with companies such as the Boston Consulting Group, AT Kearney and Arthur D Little.
Jakub Losenický
Jakub was the first intern to graduate from the Rockaway Academy and was then offered a permanent position with us. After a stint with Košík.cz, where he built the data platform from scratch, put together the internal Business Intelligence team, and was responsible for strategic projects and the shareholder agenda, he is now part of the Rockaway Ventures team and together with Dušan Zábrodský manages investments into the German Bringmeister internet supermarket. At the Rockaway Ventures Fund he put together its ESG strategy and drew up an investment assessment strategy from the perspective of sustainability.
Jakub graduated from Economics at Charles University in Prague as well as Business and Management at the Stockholm School of Economics. He worked on financial analysis at SME Direkt in Stockholm, and as a consultant at EY Czech Republic. He is also an enthusiastic Scout and the co-founder of the Redukto start-up.
Radek Horák
CFO / Rockaway Blockchain Fund
Radek is responsible for operations and finances of the Fund. He joined from Macquarie Investment Management ($340B AUM) in London. Radek started his career in PwC as an auditor. Radek holds EMBA degree from IMD, Msc. from Charles University and is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.
Dušan Kovačič
Chief Investment Officer / Rockaway Blockchain Fund
Dusan Kovacic is responsible for all Fund investments. As part of this, Dusan actively engages in crypto-communities, advocating user-oriented product and platform development. Dusan also engages in non-profit activities. Before joining Rockaway Blockchain, he built GPU-based mining farm for Monero and worked as an IT Security engineer and project manager. Dusan holds a Computer Science degree from the Czech Technical University in Prague.
David Rakušan
Investment Manager / Rockaway Blockchain Fund
David is responsible primarily for portfolio management. Prior to this, he worked as an Investment Analyst at RSJ Investments (€500M AUM), where he was responsible for analysing both direct investment opportunities and indirect fund of funds investments in the VC sector. David holds a CFA charter and a Master’s Degree from the University of Birmingham.
Oldřich Peslar
Legal Counsel / Rockaway Blockchain Fund
Oldrich is in charge of legal operations of the Rockaway Blockchain Fund and legal aspects of the investments (both funds and projects). Before joining Rockaway Blockchain Fund, Oldrich worked as a lawyer at Allen & Overy and Havel & Partners.
Marek Šandrik
Principal / Rockaway Blockchain Fund
Marek is responsible for investments and portfolio management. Prior to Rockaway, Marek worked at McKinsey & Co focusing on financial institutions and building digital products enabled by advanced analytics. Marek holds an MBA from LBS and Bachelor degree in economics from University College London.
Tomáš Eminger
Head of Staking Infrastructure / Rockaway Blockchain Fund
Tomas is responsible for operating validation servers, including for projects in which the Fund has invested, and analyzing blockchain technologies. Prior to working with RBF, he worked within Rockaway Capital as an Enterprise Architect for Košík.cz, and before that he was in charge of connection of ICT acquisition services within Mall Group after starting at Kolonial.cz.
Adam Bilko
Asset Manager / Rockaway Blockchain Fund
Adam is in charge of managing a yield fund, which uses strategies to preserve capital and generate a steady return in the crypto world. Prior to joining the RBF team, he was Investment Director and Portfolio Manager at Aakon Capital. Adam holds a M.Sc. degree from RANEPA, Moscow.
Mark Kobal
Head of Investor Relations / Rockaway Blockchain Fund
Mark leads the investor relations program for RBF as well as global public relations. Before joining RBF, Mark was the Head of Investor Relations at Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. until it was acquired and delisted from the NASDAQ and the Prague Stock Exchange in October 2020. Mark began his career with KPMG, working both in Prague and Denver, Colorado. He holds the Investor Relations Charter credential and received a bachelor’s degree in business economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Lenka Ježková
Group Reporting and Consolidation
Lenka has been part of the finance team since 2016 as Head of Reporting and Consolidation. Her responsibilities include ensuring the implementation of the consolidation process in the group and portfolio companies, coordinating the consolidation process according to IFRS, checking statutory/consolidated financial statements and annual reports according to various jurisdictions (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, etc.) and communicating with auditors.
Lenka studied corporate economics at Technical University of Liberec. During her studies she spent a Leonardo da Vinci work term in Lisbon, and also holds an FCCA certificate. For 12 years she worked for KPMG Czech Republic auditing international and local Czech groups, especially construction, mechanical engineering, and retail companies. She was the KPMG regional soft skills instructor in the CEE region and was the IFRS course supervisor and instructor at KPMG Czech Republic.
Money Talks 007: How automation and robotisation are functioning across the group
MONEY TALKS #1: Conference of people in finance throughout the Rockaway group
Jakub Ryba
Portfolio Valuations
Jakub joined Rockaway team in 2019, and since then he works on our Portfolio Valuations, modelling and financial due-diligences, and M&A valuation support. Before that, he served for more than 7 years in Risk Advisory in KPMG.
He was a manager of the advisory team focused on corporate finance, valuations, business combinations and acquisition accounting. For 3 years, he supported clients with IPOs and bond offerings. His experience includes working on 50 valuation engagements, 15+ business combinations and several capital market transactions, e.g. advising to EPIF on various bond offerings (combined volume in €bn), and valuation advising to PPF Group in respect with Telenor acquisition. He holds ACCA and ASA designation.
Dana Běhálková
At Rockaway, Dana is responsible for the financial reporting of key holding companies in the group. So she spends most of her time working on financial controlling, reporting, communicating with auditors and tax advisors and is also involved in cash flow planning for the entire group.
Prior to that, she worked at KPMG, where she led teams in audits, especially of financial institutions.
Barbora Petrusová
Bara came from KPMG, where she spent nearly six years. She led audit teams, engaged in auditing financial institutions (mainly banks and funds) and also provide consulting services. In Rockaway is in charge of financial controlling, reporting, consolidation and preparing communications with auditors and tax advisors.
Dominika Karvánková
Dominika is in charge of accounting documents, billing, payments, payroll, processing of various reports, communication with banks and offices, archiving, and a lot of other things we would not miss. She studied Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.
18. 1. 2022, marek.blahuta
Kateřina Drugdová
Financial Admin
Katka came to Rockaway Capital in 2016, started as a receptionist. Two years later, she moved to the finance department – here she holds the position of Financial Support. She is in charge of invoicing and the agenda associated with it.
Martin Štukheil
Senior Consolidation Specialist
Martin has been part of the Rockaway team since 2020. In the Finance Department he is involved in drawing up the group’s financial statements, reporting, working with the auditor, and helping with sub-consolidation within the scope of the group’s individual segments. Before coming to Rockaway, Martin worked at O2 Czech Republic, where he focused on corporate reporting and consolidation. Prior to that he worked for five years at KPMG, where he was in charge of teams auditing prominent Czech manufacturing companies and groups.
Jan Berný
Honza graduated from University of Economics in Prague. For more than 15 years he has been working in the field of finance, with the main focus on the creation of financial models and reports. In Rockaway, he helps with creating a reporting and consolidation system.
Jakub Rod
Chief M&A Counsel
Jakub has worked on a number of cross-border and local transactions, including the joint venture between PPF and Generali, which was realized in 2008; being valued in excess of 5.2 billion euro, it ranks among the biggest joint venture transactions realized in the CEE region. Amongst others, he has also represented Mid Europa Partners in its auction sale of České radiokomunikace, or the founders of AVAST Software in the sale of a minority stake in AVAST to Summit Partners.
Jakub graduated from Macquarie University in Sydney and is admitted, among others, to practice law in England and Wales. After returning from Australia to the Czech Republic in 2008, Jakub worked for five years as an Associate in White & Case Prague’s specialized M&A team. In 2014, he started working as a consultant at BBH, providing legal services to its clientele. In September 2016, he decided to join Jakub Havrlant’s Rockaway.
Jakub Havrlant at the 4th CEO’s Day: The biggest challenges are yet to come
5. 10. 2016, Michaela Papežová
Rockaway Strengthens Their Legal Team with Jakub Rod
Jakub Krůta
Senior Legal Counsel
At Rockaway, Jakub doesn’t occupy just one chair: he works on all primary aspects of M&A transactions, and to a similar degree also on large corporate and financing projects within Rockaway. He currently spends most time on the Media vertical – the KVIFF acquisition is hitherto Jakub’s largest project at Rockaway.
After studying law in the UK, Germany and China, Jakub lived for a time in the United States before deciding to practice his profession in the Czech Republic. Prior to joining Rockaway’s legal team, Jakub worked at the Prague branch of a German law firm, where he focused on M&A, IP, and data protection law as well as internal investigations in the area of white-collar crime.
Miroslav Obernauer
Miroslav joined the Rockaway Capital team in 2020. As Senior Legal Counsel he is responsible for the e-Travel vertical, specifically the Invia Group, providing legal support both to the company’s executives as well as to members of the Board of Directors of the e-Travel holding company.
In the past he worked at law offices, primarily in the area of real estate law, and also addressed legal issues related to acquisition financing for a prominent European developer. He specializes in contract law.
Kristýna Ulmanová
At Rockaway, Kristýna focuses mainly on the operational and corporate affairs of holding companies and participates in M&A transactions. She works on group audits, consolidations and intragroup financing.
She joined the team from a small law firm, where she focused mainly on M&A, and also gained a lot of experience during her three years at the investment company Hartenberg Capital. Kristýna studied at the Faculty of Law of Charles University.
Andrea Šamšová
Legal & Finance Associate
Andrea joined Rockaway to support lawyers, but she has grown rapidly and currently works with both the financial and investment teams to help prepare audits and consolidation, as well as the day-to-day management of the group’s operations. Besides, she studies international business at the University of Economics in Prague.
Marianna Zapotilová
At Rockaway, Marianna makes sure that the entire group’s activities are visible. She manages social networks, and works with her colleagues on events, press releases, website content, the newsletter and internal magazine, as well as internal communications and PR strategy for Rockaway Ventures. Together with HR, she is also responsible for promoting the Rockaway Academy and communication with universities.
Marianna worked for a year for the Czech Radio news website team, and for seven years for the PR department of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. She has a journalism degree from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University and a Master’s Degree from Kingston University in London. She also spent a study abroad year at the University of Miami.
Marek Blahuta
Marek joined Rockaway’s PR team in the fall of 2021. His responsibilities include promoting the group and portfolio companies, writing press releases and other texts, helping with the newsletter and internal magazine, and with events. He also helps with the implementation of the communication strategies of Rockaway Ventures and the Rockaway Blockchain Fund.
Mark’s experience is primarily in the area of start-ups. For example, he worked as a marketing specialist for Satoshilabs, a manufacturer of hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies. He also worked as an intern for the information research centre of A. T. Kearney, a consulting company. He studied Media and Communication Studies at Metropolitan University Prague, where he primarily focused on the influence of new information technologies on public opinion.
Eva Livora
Eva has been a part of Rockaway since its very beginning – as a VSB graduate (Technical University of Ostrava) she was one of our first employees.
She started as an assistant and then moved up to finance. In June 2015 she was given a chance to start our HR 2.0 department. Since then she has been helping match people with the jobs that fit them best.
“We sometimes hear that we are very corporate, but some things can’t be done without good planning,” said Radko Sekerka, head of R&D at Mall Group, at the Culture Rocks conference
GastroTech Hackathon: 37 developers, seven projects and two days nonstop
Mária Dandárová
Mária joined our team in June 2021. She is Rockaway’s office manager and takes care of everything related to the smooth operation of our office and reception, organizes and thinks up most of our programme outside of work, and also provides support to the financial department and the Rockaway Blockchain Fund. Mária likes working at Rockaway because she is free to show her creativity and bring her ideas to life.
Prior to starting with us she worked for several years in the back office and as office manager at ConnectArt and Bohemia Energy.
Petr Doleček
Senior IT Administrator
Peter makes sure our computer technology and equipment is in order and works well. For over 20 years he has been working in IT. The last 15 years he spent at Allianz Financial Services, so he has a lot of experience and we can count on him. “I believe the team can remain prosperous and stable only if all pull together as a team.”
Michal Ryba
Michal joined Rockaway Capital as an IT administrator in 2018. In his previous job, he was involved in two helpdesks, collaborating on national and international projects within the Allianz Group.
Linda Trličíková
Linda has been providing office support to her colleagues and taking care of the reception since 2018. Prior to joining our team, she worked as a receptionist at companies in the e-commerce segment or the financial sector, and also took an English course after graduating from high school. As she herself says, the things she considers most important at work are orderliness, a pleasant environment, and above all the satisfaction of her colleagues.
Lea Skálová
Lea joined our team in the summer of 2021. As a receptionist, she makes sure that her colleagues have a pleasant day at the office and have all they need. Lea graduated from the College of Higher Medical Education in Pilsen, and in the past worked as a dietologist, a hostess, and in the theatre. While working abroad for several months, Lea was certified as a lifeguard and an Emergency Medical Technician.
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The Mystery of 221B Baker Street
Our series on Design and Sherlock Holmes begins with an investigation into the location of the famous detective’s London flat
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson drawn by Sidney Paget in The Adventure of Silver Blaze (image: Sidney Paget, Wikimedia commons)
The Game is afoot, dear reader. For today, Design Decoded starts its newest series as the world turns its eyes to London for the Olympics: Design and Sherlock Holmes. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the incomparable consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his intrepid assistant Doctor John Watson made their debut in A Study in Scarlet, published in 1887 in the the pages of Beeton’s Christmas Annual. Though the last canonical adventure of Holmes and Watson was published in 1927, Sherlock Holmes is still an international cultural icon. In fact, he may be more popular today than ever before. The zeitgeist is saturated with all things Holmesian: two Hollywood films; a recent BBC television series; another forthcoming series for American television; and then there are the countless television shows, plays, and films inspired by the adventures of Holmes and Watson. Indeed, we can perhaps trace the entire “buddy-cop” genre back to Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective duo.
Let us begin our series today by stalking down the gas-lit streets of Victorian London, and turning our magnifying glass toward an architecture that was defined by Holmes and Watson and poses something of a mystery itself: their London flat at 221B Baker Street.
Baker Street circa 1890 (original image: George Washginton Bacon’s New Map of London, via wikimedia commons)
The mystery of 221B Baker Street is not one of secret passages or hidden symbols. Rather, it could be described as a sort of existential spatial riddle: how can a space that is not a space be where it is not? According to Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson lived at 221B Baker Street from 1881 to 1904. But 221B Baker street did not exist in 1881, nor did it exist in 1887 when A Study in Scarlet was published and Baker Street house numbers only extended into the 100s. It was a purely fictional address – emphasis on was. Time marches on, Baker Streets are renumbered, and 221Bs are revealed.
The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street (image: © The Sherlock Holmes Museum)
If you visit 221B Baker Street today you’ll find the Sherlock Holmes Museum, which was opened in 1990 by the Sherlock Holmes International Society. But the Sherlock Holmes museum is not, technically speaking, located at 221 Baker Street. In fact, there is still no 221 Baker Street. Since the 1930s, the famous address has been lumped in as part of a larger block of buildings originally occupied by the Abbey National Building Society. From almost the day the Abbey National opened they began receiving letters from all over the world addressed to Mr. Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street. Such a profusion of letters were delivered that the bank’s public relations department found it necessary to employ a full-time secretary charged with responding to the urgent inquiries from those in need of Holmes’s unique deductive prowess (these inquiries were usually met with a response that the detective had retired to keep bees in Sussex).
When the Sherlock Holmes Museum opened at 239 Baker Street in a Georgian townhouse that likely bears a close resemblance to Conan Doyle’s imagined 221 Baker street, there emerged a dispute over which business should receive the letters. The new museum argued that they were better equipped to respond to the inquiries while the Abbey National presumably wanted to continue their accidental role as the secretary to a fictional detective. The debate lasted more than a decade and was not resolved until 2002, when the Abbey National vacated their building and the Royal Mail finally agreed to deliver all letters addressed to 221B Baker Street to the museum at 239 Baker Street. The Sherlock Holmes Museum, which includes a full replica of Holmes’s flat, was also allowed by special permission of the City of Westminster, to bear the address 221B – although its physical location is still found between 237 and 241. To recap: a fictional flat in a real city has been made a reality at a fictional address in the real city near the real address of the fictional flat. Confused yet? The controversy doesn’t end there.
The fact that there is no real 221 Baker Street has not stopped literary historians from speculating about which Baker Street building Doyle used as his proxy for the home of Holmes and Watson. By closely reading the texts, scholars have proposed multiple Baker Street addresses as a possible inspiration for the literary 221, yet there is no definitive answer. Equally vexing is the design and furnishing of the famous flat itself.
When the Baker Street flat is introduced in A Study in Scarlet, the rooms receive little attention other than the note that they meet the needs of Messrs. Holmes and Watson and consist of “a couple of comfortable bed-rooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows.” There are other equally brief descriptions scattered throughout Holmes canon, but usually nothing more than a few words. Yet from these scant clues, dedicated collectors around the world have been inspired to reconstruct their own versions of 221B.
Perhaps the most visited replica of 221B is the aforementioned recreation at the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street, which promises visitors that “the interior has been faithfully maintained for posterity exactly as described in the published stories.” The Museum flat may also be the most complete of the many 221Bs, as it includes Watson’s bedroom on the second floor whereas most reconstructions focus solely on Holmes’s sitting room.
“Visitors can sit in Mr Holmes’s armchair by the fireside to pose for photos, and enter his bedroom adjoining the study; but please bring your own pipe to smoke! His possessions are in their usual places: his deerstalker, magnifying glass, calabash pipe, violin, chemistry equipment, notebook, Persian slipper and disguises.”
In this sitting room, visitors will find the original wicker chair referenced by famed Holmes illustrator Sidney Paget in his portrayal of the seated detective. In a sense, it could be argued that this chair is Holmes’s chair. But while the flat includes many recognizable Holmesian artifacts and ephemera, certain inferences must be made to complete the fictional Victorian setting. Such a replica is essentially an architecture of deduction – a physical manifestation of Sherlock Holmes’s signature art form. But unlike Holmes’s brilliant deductions, the answer is never certain. The pipe and magnifying glass, the many newspapers and books and test tubes – these things are an index of the life of Sherlock Holmes. But the wallpaper selection, choice of period furniture, the selection of books on Holmes’s shelves – these are pure extrapolations that reflect that taste, style, and opinions of the collector. Indeed, when it comes to the mystery of 221B Baker Street, there are as many deductions as there are detectives.
221B Baker Street at the Sherlock Holmes Pub (image: The Sherlock Holmes Pub)
If you’re in the mood for enjoying a pint while viewing a recreation of 221B, you’ll want to head over to The Sherlock Holmes Pub in London, which has the honor of housing the first collection of Sherlock Holmes memorabilia. Originally assembled for an exhibition in 1951 as part of the the Festival of Britain, the pub’s collection includes the desk and chair used by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write many of the Holmes adventures, as well as a chair that belonged to Paget. The pub also claims to be a part of Holmesian lore itself – specifically, the site where the detective tracked down a suspect in “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor.” Not only that, but it stands in close proximity to other prominent locations frequented by Holmes and Watson.
“Old Scotland Yard is just across the other side of Northumberland Avenue, and the Turkish baths that Holmes and Watson used to enjoy were right beside the Hotel. It is still possible in fact to see the entrance, which now forms part of the wall of the bank in Craven Passage. With Charing Cross Station immediately beside the pub, one can just imagine the duo dashing off to catch a train into the countryside on one of their hair raising adventures!”
The Sherlock Holmes Museum in Meiringen, Switzerland (image: Catherine Batac Walder and Mike Walder, via Fine Books & Collections)
Just as the adventures of Holmes and Watson sometimes took them out of London to exotic locales around the world, the same holds true for their surprisingly mobile flat. Another replica of 221B Baker Street is located in The Sherlock Holmes Museum at Meiringen, Switzerland near the Reichenbach Falls, the site of the climactic final battle between Holmes and his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty. The Meiringen Museum claims to have the largest collection of Holmes ephemera, as well as the most accurate reproduction of the famed sitting room, reconstructed by Tony Howlett, former President of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, and architect John Reid. Its windows are authentic to the era, made in London and shipped to Switzerland; the wallpaper is designed after an 1890s pattern and was bought on High Street in London; the fireplace, oil lamps, and other Holmesian paraphernalia are all authentic Victorian antiques.
221B at the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Lucens, Switzerland (image: The Reichenbach Irregulars)
There is another 221B replica at another Sherlock Holmes museum in Switzerland, an older one established in 1965 at a hotel in Lucens, which was frequently visited by Conan Doyle’s son. It’s interesting to note that all these 221Bs have been purposely arranged to look as if Holmes and Watson had left only moments ago. It seems as if pipe smoke should still be lingering in the air. Looking at the scattered newspapers, books, and teacups, one can imagine the detective springing up from his chair, hot on the heels of a suspect or following a new lead. The carefully curated disarray suggests an unknown narrative, a new mystery for readers to imagine.
The 221B Room at the University of Minnesota (image: still from The University of Minnesota Videos)
Yet another 221B can be found across the ocean on the fourth floor of the Wilson Library at the University of Minnesota, which also has the distinct honor of being home to the world’s largest collection of ephemera related to Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle. “The 221B Room,” as it is known, was donated by the estate of Holmes collector Allen Mackler, who painstakingly recreated Holmes’s sitting room in his own home using authentic period artifacts. Mackler’s room was then moved piece-by-piece to the University library.
The 221B room at the home of Allen Mackler (image: The University of Minnesota Libraries)
There are surely many other partially reconstructed 221Bs in the homes of private collectors around the world. And then there are the myriad sets built for film and television, some of which loyally followed Conan Doyle’s text in the crafting.
These replicas, especially those that have been relocated, call to mind a similar reconstruction, Julia Child’s kitchen in the American History Museum, which was painstakingly moved from her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts – cabinets, appliances, cookbooks, kitchen table, utensils, gadgets and all. Visitors to Julia’s kitchen (though the exhibition is currently closed for renovation) get a sense for how she worked, how she lived, and what she was like as a person. Architecture and interior spaces are records of our lives; they are extensions of our own identities. In the same way that visitors to Julia’s kitchen gain new insight into the life of the famous chef, the visitors to one of Sherlock’s many flats can gain insight into the proclivities of the famous detective and his life in Victorian London.
There is, of course, one major difference between Julia’s kitchen and Holmes’s sitting room: Julia Child is a real person. Her kitchen in the Smithsonian was her real kitchen. It is a real space. Holmes’s flat, on the other hand, was not. It can’t properly be called a “replica” or “reconstruction” because it never truly existed. Instead, the many 221Bs could more properly be considered a simulacrum—unless you’re a Sherlockian abiding by the rules of the Game, in which case the study is very much a recreation of a true place. The Game is a sort of friendly competition among Holmes scholars, created to explain the many inconsistencies in Conan Doyle’s quickly-written stories using Sherlock’s own methods of deduction. Timothy J. Johnson of the University of Minnesota explained one of the most important rules of the Game in a correspondence with a peer who was critical of his intent to create a “replica” of a fictional space:
“According to the rules of the Game, Holmes is considered a real person, who has never died (no obituary having appeared in The Times), and Doyle is merely the ‘literary agent’….One looks at all the descriptions of the room as provided in the stories and creates a replica. There’s a whole little industry in the Holmesian world that has spent time and ink describing the exact location of 221B Baker Street and the contents of the room.”
By the logic of the game, those Sherlockians looking for the Arthur Conan Doyle’s inspiration for 221B are, in fact, searching for the true apartments of Holmes and Watson, which were obviously disguised in Watson’s “memoirs” with a false address. The line between fiction and reality is blurred for the most ardent fans of Sherlock Holmes.
While it can be argued that the non-Baker Street flats are less authentic, in that they exist independently from their historical context, it could also just as easily be argued that there is no real historical context. After all, 221B Baker Street does not now exist, nor has it ever existed. These replicas are all, to one degree or another, authentic recreations. But is any 221B more authentic than another? How does a non-Game-player measure the authenticity of a place that isn’t real? By location? By how closely it resembles the sparse descriptions and illustrations in the original text? Or perhaps by the authenticity of the Victorian antiques used in crafting the reproduction?
As a real manifestation of a fiction, the many 221Bs attest to the power of Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing. So strongly do the Holmes stories resonate with our culture that we have manifested his home in our own reality, creating shrines and sites of pilgrimage across the world. But these “replicas” also attest to the power of architecture and interior design, which by their very nature make things real. Every building and space is a manifestation of narratives that results from a confluence of theories, politics, cultural beliefs, pragmatic necessities and opinions. But not only is the built environment a manifestation of these narratives, it’s also a venue for new narratives. Stories are an inherent part of the architectural process. The reconstructions of Sherlock Holmes’s flat at 221B Baker Street just makes that much more explicit.
Jimmy Stamp | | READ MORE
Jimmy Stamp is a writer/researcher and recovering architect who writes for Smithsonian.com as a contributing writer for design.
Architecture Books Performing Arts
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Ave Maria by Ludwig Self
Yesterday afternoon, as we were checking the tech setup for last night's 'Bach's World' event, Dianna mentioned that our very first virtual Bach Talk ('Alt Bach') had occurred exactly one year before, on May 13, 2020.
And today we have our 52nd Friday Motet!
To celebrate, we're going to wrap right back to our very first motet, the remarkable and justly famous 'Ave Maria' by Josquin Desprez (c.1553-1521). Here's a link to that first motet project. I suggest you click and listen for two reasons: A) It's one of the greatest pieces in the repertoire, it's good for the soul, and can't be heard too much; and B) Listening will help prepare you to get the most out of today's piece.
Why's that, you ask? Because today our project is Ludwig Senfl's amazing transmogrification of Josquin's 'Ave Maria'.
Senfl (c.1486-c.1543) was a Swiss composer who spent much of his career as director of the Hofkapelle of Maximilian I, and was later at the court in Munich, where he was succeeded by Orlande de Lassus. Senfl worked extensively with his senior colleague Heinrich Isaac (c.1450-1517), and absorbed and built upon Isaac's style; but he was also a devotee of Josquin's music (as was Isaac himself), and much of Senfl's work displays a deep comprehension of the style of the older, groundbreaking composer.
Some Senfl pieces go beyond this, adopting specific devices from Josquin or borrowing and extending certain passages. Examples include his 'Miserere mei Deus', which adopts an ostinato technique similar to Josquin's setting of the same text; and his 'Ave rosa sine spinis', which uses the same cantus firmus as Josquin's eponymous setting.
But no extant Senfl piece goes as far as his 'Ave Maria'. In this 'tribute piece', Senfl includes virtually all of the materials of Josquin's motet. But he expands the piece both horizontally (his setting is much longer than its model) and vertically (Senfl scores for six voices rather than Josquin's four).
In addition, he converts the famous opening line (So Do-Do Re Mi Do) into a sort of idée fixe: The Tenor primus sings nothing but this line, in long notes, entering towards the end of every point of imitation, punctuating and providing clear structure and unification to the entire piece.
It's an amazing achievement: The piece honors and celebrates Josquin and his motet, while simultaneously being an absolutely new work of art. It brings to mind the more radical transformations which Picasso wrought in his series of takes on Velázquez' 'Las Meninas'.
I am attaching both a modern score and a scan of the manuscript (which includes works by both Josquin and Senfl) in which the Ave Maria is found. The beautiful manuscript is well worth checking out. It is in separate parts on facing pages. Each double-page contains the six parts: Discantus primus, Discantus secundus and Bassus on the left; Contratenor, Tenor primus and Tenor secundus on the right. As the pages are turned, one can imagine the singers jockeying for a good position to see their parts.
And everyone had to be really good at counting, or the whole thing would fall apart. However, at least one could begin again page by page, rather than going all the way back to the beginning as might happen with the more common separate part-books. Thank God (or whichever of His minions handles the minutiae of music notation) for modern scores!
In addition to the old and modern scores attached, click this link for a packet which also includes recordings of the two parts of the motet, and a text-translation sheet.
Enjoy! Thrive! May there be Peace! Harmony! Abundance! Love!
Click here to download learning materials
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Resilience in non-democratic contexts: perspectives from Venezuela
As elected governments increasingly launch power grabs and smear campaigns against their critics, NGOs across Latin America must work together to restore democracy, exchange innovative practices, and combat regional authoritarianism.
Photo: EFE/SANTI DONAIRE
With no possibility of litigation and bringing cases to justice, NGOs dedicate themselves almost exclusively to documenting cases and reporting them to international bodies.
As human rights organizations began to criticize the slow deterioration of civil and political rights in Venezuela in the early 2000s, the government retaliated by questioning these organizations’ funding sources, alleging that foreign funding was part of an international conspiracy against the state. In 2010, the government approved the “Law for the Defense of Political Sovereignty and National Self-Determination”, which expressly prohibits foreign financing for organizations deemed to have “political purposes.” Although the law has never been formally applied, it still inhibits different social actors who do not want to put their funding sources at risk.
The repression of civil society has not stopped there: the Venezuelan government has also increasingly used smear campaigns as a harassment strategy against activists and human rights defenders. Pro-government media outlets, for example, have accused organizations of having an “extreme right” ideology, being part of an international conspiracy, or being financed directly by the president of the United States. The harassment against civil society increased to the point that in 2015, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered nine precautionary measures to protect Venezuelan human rights defenders.
Then, at the end of 2016, Nicolás Maduro’s pro-Bolivarian party experienced its worst electoral result: the opposition coalition defeated the ruling coalition by more than two million votes, prompting a turn to a dictatorship. The first evidence of authoritarian rule was the premature replacement, a few days after the parliamentary elections, of the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, allowing the government to ensure control of the country’s highest court. Eight months later, the government decided to suspend two electoral events. While other decisions were equally controversial, the public condemnation from Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz about the government’s takeover of the legislative assembly is what finally sparked national and international outcry.
Ortega’s words—that Maduro’s attempt to control congress was a “rupture” of the constitutional order—triggered a cycle of protests that lasted 120 days and left 124 people dead, more than 5,000 arrested, and 609 civilians prosecuted under military justice. The intensity of the protests—9,436 demonstrations, with an average of 78 protests a day—escalated to such an extent that the government finally sacrificed the last positive symbolic element of Bolivarianism: the 1999 Constitution. Only a few months later, the government organized fraudulent elections for the National Constituent Assembly (ANC)—whose purpose is to create a new judicial order and rewrite the constitution—making it a supra-power entity, even above the legitimate National Assembly and the president.
In this increasingly illiberal context, the space for independent civil society in Venezuela is rapidly closing. Ninety-five percent of the lawsuits against the state are declared “inappropriate,” reflecting the absence of a system of effective recourse to justice. The lack of independence in the branches of government has also reached the public prosecutor’s office and the ombudsman’s office. As a result, victims of human rights violations do not have institutions that respond to their demands.
With no possibility of litigation and bringing cases to justice, NGOs dedicate themselves almost exclusively to documenting cases and reporting them to international bodies. Many have had to adopt greater security and personal safety measures, which has generated unforeseen expenses. Finally, general insecurity, the deterioration of basic services such as electricity, water, and the internet, and ongoing difficulties with public transport have limited the fieldwork carried out by researchers.
Provea has been reflecting and experimenting with how to respond to this restrictive environment. Our strategies result from careful analysis, using social networks and non-traditional media, because the state has control of traditional communications channels. Our first conclusion was that the gravity of the situation merits human rights actions that go beyond traditional activities (documenting, denouncing, litigating, and exposing). The need for “political” action, understood in a sense broader than “partisan”, resulted from a long dialogue with the Peruvian human rights movement that struggled against Fujimori.
Our strategies result from careful analysis, using social networks and non-traditional media, because the state has control of traditional communications channels".
We also concluded that, in the context of globalization of communications, maintaining a high profile in such a non-democratic context provided a greater guarantee of security for members and for the organization itself.
A third decision was to craft less technical messages, steering away from the usual jargon of NGO activists, so that ordinary citizens could understand that the political cost of the attacks against human rights defenders would increase. Finally, we concluded that we should dialogue with “new” activists, not only because of their training in digital platforms, but also for their different cultural references than those of “analog” civil society.
Provea now uses social networks intensively, incorporating graphic and visual elements into our messages. We also promote comics as a way of connecting with our audience and we sponsor trainings in narrative writing and other forms of non-traditional discourse.
Together with the youth organization Redes Ayuda, Provea has created an online radio station whose recording and publishing infrastructure benefits other civil society initiatives (at no cost) to circulate their short recordings in networks like WhatsApp. This has increased NGO presence in the media and opinion columns in different outlets. Our alliances include musicians, photographers, and graphic designers who generate content for new audiences.
Another strategy has been to build alliances with the new digital information platforms that have appeared because of the censorship and neutralization of traditional media. For example, Provea has financed research by affected journalists who publish on different platforms and we strengthen media outlets that depend on crowdfunding.
Finally, Provea has fostered a strategy called “citizen diplomacy” through one-week visits in other Latin American countries, increasing knowledge outside Venezuela about our political crisis and mapping out joint work with partner organizations. Information technologies make communications faster and more affordable, but to gain allies, nothing can replace face-to-face interaction.
Of course, citizen diplomacy is expensive and the results do not happen quickly. Nevertheless, these actions have increased the level of overall information available about the Venezuelan situation within the regional social movements and in the defense of human rights, in addition to increasing the alliances (and potential alliances) for Provea’s work.
These strategies have permitted Provea, a traditional organization born in the analog era, to transmit content about human rights to a digital generation, increase our audience, and improve the public reception of our messages.
However, the deterioration of public services has limited the impact of these initiatives. For example, the deceleration of internet service and constant electrical outages have blocked the growth of the human rights digital radio project. This has made us reflect on the necessity of maintaining and augmenting our presence in traditional media, like public radio.
Finally, we believe that these post–Cold War dictatorships are the new models of regional authoritarianism. NGOs across Latin America must work together to restore democratic practices and avoid division caused by reducing these threats to human dignity to mere left–right ideologies. We can learn much from each other by sharing and replicating good practices in a regionally appropriate way.
New Human Rights Playbook
Rafael Uzcátegui is a sociologist and the general coordinator for the Venezuelan Program of Education and Action in Human Rights (PROVEA).
Venezuela: UN human rights system needs more coherence and coordination
Venezuelan crisis shows the need to enhance the coherence of the UN human rights machinery
Populism and human rights: a new playbook
By: César Rodríguez-Garavito & Krizna Gomez
Español | العربية
Reducing dependence on foreign aid—what will it take?
By: James Ron & José Kaire & Archana Pandya & Andrea Martínez
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Veterans Service Center ribbon-cutting, from left, retired dean of matriculation Helen Elias, Acting Vice President of Business Services Roxanne Solis, Student Services Supervisor I Dora Meza, City College President Ricky Shabazz, City College Foundation Chairman Michael Taylor, and Student Services Supervisor II Megan Soto.
City College celebrates grand opening of Veterans Service Center
November 8, 2019 | San Diego City College
San Diego City College celebrates the grand opening of its new Veterans Service Center. The center moved from a small 445-square-foot room to a spacious and inviting 1,404-square-foot space in room M-101 in the Student Affairs building.
The new Veterans Service Center at San Diego City College.
“The Veterans Service Center relocated to a space where they can find their community again,” said Dora Meza, student services supervisor for the Office of Admissions, Records, and Veterans. “Our student Veterans now have better access to computers, a space to hold social events and workshops, and an area where they can study and relax between classes.”
The Veterans Service Center is home to a number of student support services and amenities, which include study spaces, printing services, computer and internet use, a kitchenette, and snacks and food to fight food insecurity. The center will also feature transfer and career workshops, and workshops on financial aid and other services available for our student Veterans.
“The new center is fantastic,” said Samuel McCauley, behavioral science student who served as a combat engineer in the U.S. Army for nine years. “Seeing where the center was before to what it is now, and all the support and opportunities that are available to the student Veterans, it’s just great!”
San Diego City College serves more than 3,000 active duty military, veterans, and their dependents — approximately 13 percent of the student population.
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Let me just tell you how thrilling it really is, and how, what a challenge it is, because in 1988 the question is whether we're going forward to tomorrow or whether we're going to go past to the - to the back!
Dan Quayle
Let me just be very clear that the Republican Party will select a nominee that will beat Bill Clinton.
Japan is an important ally of ours. Japan and the United States of the Western industrialized capacity, 60 percent of the GNP, two countries. That's a statement in and of itself.
It's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.
It's time for the human race to enter the solar system.
It's rural America. It's where I came from. We always refer to ourselves as real America. Rural America, real America, real, real, America.
It's a question of whether we're going to go forward into the future, or past to the back.
It shows 'us vs. them,' and I'm on the 'us' side.
It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
Think Before You Speak quotes
Pollution quotes
Dumb quotes
Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
If you give a person a fish, they'll fish for a day. But if you train a person to fish, they'll fish for a lifetime.
If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure.
If Al Gore invented the Internet, I invented spell check.
All I Want Is You
Being Happy
Being Positive
Deep Love
Thinking About Him
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Patrick Kane signs with Swiss team EHC Biel
Patrick Kane has signed a contract with EHC Biel of the Swiss league until the end of the NHL lockout.
By SB Nation NHL News Oct 23, 2012, 1:35pm CDT
Share All sharing options for: Patrick Kane signs with Swiss team EHC Biel
Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has signed a contract with EHC Biel of the Swiss hockey league until the end of the season or the end of the NHL lockout. Kane joins Boston Bruins center Tyler Seguin on EHC Biel.
Kane continues the trend of NHL players signing to play overseas as the NHL lockout drags on. Kane was the first overall pick of the 2007 NHL Draft and has spent five years with the Blackhawks; earning three All-Star team selections. Kane has scored 369 points in his career with 126 goals and 243 assists. His best year was the 2009-10 season in which the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup; Kane scored 30 goals and added 58 assists that year.
Kane joins the ever increasing list of NHL players who have signed overseas during the lockout and the 19th to sign in Switzerland. He is the fifth Chicago Blackhawks player to head overseas this year.
This story originally appeared at SB Nation.
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The wait is almost over: Tartine sets July 15 opening date for new SF location
Warriors’ Draymond Green signs first-of-its-kind deal with Turner Sports
June 24, 2019 Updated: June 24, 2019 4:14 p.m.
1of4Caramel sauce on the Rocky Road Ice Cream Pie at Tartine Manufactory in San Francisco, Calif. is seen on January 5th, 2017.John Storey / Special to The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
2of4The Morning Bun and the Ham & Cheese Danish at Tartine Manufactory in San Francisco, Calif. are seen on January 5th, 2017.John Storey/Special to The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
3of4Freshly-baked Tartine bread.Sarah Fritsche / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
4of4BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA - MAY 2018: Tartine Manufactory: Porchetta.John Lee / Special to The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
Almost one year after word originally spread regarding Tartine’s planned expansion to the Inner Sunset, the long-awaited project now has an official opening date — July 15.
The forthcoming Tartine outpost will be an all-day restaurant with menus featuring the brand’s popular pastries and breads. It’s slated to open with breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch services while a dinner service will be added toward the end of summer, according to the Tartine team. Leading the kitchen will be chef Susanna Ok who spent the last six years as executive chef of the Battery in San Francisco.
On the beverage front, the restaurant will have beer, wine, kombucha and coffee from Coffee Manufactory, Tartine’s sister company.
The new outpost (1226 9th Ave.) is around 3,800 square feet and once housed the Standard Roofing Co. It caught the eye of Four Barrel in 2016 but the company backed out of the project when its founder was accused by multiple women of sexual harassment. Tartine signed a lease for building last summer.
The space is being designed by Studio BBA, the same folks behind the aesthetics of Tartine Manufactory in Los Angeles. The dining room will have 45 seats and there will be an additional 10 seats on the outdoor patio.
If anything, the forthcoming San Francisco project is a reminder of Tartine’s grand plans for the future. Beyond the two locations in the city — the bakery at 600 Guerrero St. and Tartine Manufactory at 595 Alabama St., which combines a bakery with a restaurant and ice cream shop — Tartine has three outposts in Korea, a new Tartine Manufactory in Downtown Los Angeles and the Manufactory Food Hall at the International Terminal at San Francisco International Airport, both of which opened in January.
Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.
A fourth Korean location is in the works, according to the Tartine camp, as is a location in Hollywood, an outpost on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and another in Santa Monica.
Tartine: 1226 9th Ave.; No reservations; Opening July 15; Hours of operation will be 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily. Breakfast will be offered from 8-11 a.m.; lunch from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. and brunch on the weekend from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Dinner service will be added later this summer.
Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
Tartine Bakery continues expansion in 2018 with new Inner Sunset project
SFO’s International Terminal welcomes Tacos Cala, Tartine, Kamin
Reach Justin on
Justin Phillips joined The San Francisco Chronicle in November 2016 as a food writer. He previously served as the City, Industry, and Gaming reporter for the American Press in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In 2019, Justin also began writing a weekly column for The Chronicle's Datebook section that focused on Black culture in the Bay Area. In 2020, Justin helped launch Extra Spicy, a food and culture podcast he co-hosts with restaurant critic Soleil Ho. Following its first season, the podcast was named one of the best podcasts in America by the Atlantic. In February, Justin left the food team to become a full-time columnist for The Chronicle. His columns focus on race and inequality in the Bay Area, while also placing a spotlight on the experiences of marginalized communities in the region.
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Case Closed, Vol. 7
Book #7 of Case Closed
By Gosho Aoyama
1st Edition Trade Paperback
Can Detective Conan crack the case…while trapped in a kid’s body?
Jimmy Kudo, the son of a world-renowned mystery writer, is a high school detective who has cracked the most baffling of cases. One day while on a date with his childhood friend Rachel Moore, Jimmy observes a pair of men in black involved in some shady business. The men capture Jimmy and give him a poisonous substance to rub out their witness. But instead of killing him, it turns him into a little kid! Jimmy takes on the pseudonym Conan Edogawa and continues to solve all the difficult cases that come his way. All the while, he's looking for the men in black and the mysterious organization they're with in order to find a cure for his miniature malady.
On a remote island, a job request comes in from a pianist who's been dead for over 10 years. Can Conan solve the case of the cursed piano?
And later, a mysterious woman shows up claiming to be Jimmy's girlfriend. The only problem is, Conan's never seen her before in his life!
Book Cover Image (jpg): Case Closed, Vol. 7
1st Edition Trade Paperback 9781591169789
More books from this author: Gosho Aoyama
See more by Gosho Aoyama
More books in this series: Case Closed
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NBA Expected To Approve 22-Team, 8-Game Return
Update #1, 2:29 PM: The NBA is expected to continue with its existing schedule, Vince Goodwill of Yahoo Sports reports. Teams will progress through the schedule as they were prior to the shut down, they’ll simply skip games in which they would matchup against a team that didn’t make the 22-team bubble.
The NBA’s board of governors is expected to approve a proposal from the league, outlying a return to action, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports. A total of 22 teams are expected to be brought back into the fold for an eight-game regular season, a potential play-in tournament and then the postseason.
Those regular season games could unfold similarly to summer league action, SLAM’s Keith Smith reports, with matches taking place on multiple courts simultaneously throughout the day.
ESPN’s report relays that in the event that the No. 9 seeds in either conference end up within four games of the No. 8 seeds, the respective teams will engage in an unconventional play-in tournament wherein the favored No. 8 seed would have a double-elimination advantage.
The 22-team cut-off allows teams on the postseason bubble to finish the 2019-20 campaign with a legitimate shot at making the postseason. The distinction will extend the fate of the six best teams on the outside looking in as of the March 11 NBA standings, including five Western Conference teams and one Eastern Conference squad.
Given how much more competitive the West’s playoff picture is, all of the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings and Spurs – separated by 0.5 games of each other – will have the opportunity to chase down the Memphis Grizzlies, who sit eighth with a three-game advantage.
The Suns, too, will be included although have a bigger hole to dig out of.
In the East, the Wizards will have the eight additional regular season games to close their 5.5-game gap behind the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic.
The Charlotte Hornets will be the best team to miss the cut for the return to action but Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that franchise owner Michael Jordan was outspoken on a recent board of governors call expressing concerns over player safety and advocating for teams at the bottom of the standings to stay home.
It is unlikely, although not mathematically impossible, for the Hornets to claw back from seven games behind the Magic while simultaneously leap-frogging the Wizards in between.
As has been reported for much of the past month, the league’s return will take place exclusively at Disney World in Orlando for a myriad of reasons including the fact that it’s privately managed.
Additional precautions will be put in place to protect personnel, The Athletic reports, these include having athletes shower back at their respective hotel rooms and inactive players viewing the games from in the stands.
The target return date for league action is July 31 with the latest possible contest, Game 7 of a four-round postseason, scheduled to take place no later than October 12.
Jabari Parker on Re-signing With Celtics: ‘I Knew It Was The Right Place To Be’
By Ronald Agers
Damian Lillard Says He’s ‘Optimistic’ About Portland Contending for NBA Title
Nuggets HC Michael Malone on Nikola Jokic’s Knee Injury: ‘I Don’t Think It’s Anything Too Too Serious’
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South Street Caves, Dorking, Surrey
Beneath the streets of Dorking in Surrey is a subterranean world of interconnecting caverns and galleries carved out in the 17th century and used by brewers, vintners and grocers for storing their wares for hundreds of years.
Dorking Museum & Heritage Centre now runs tours of South Street Caves which are accessed beside the war memorial – originally it was all part of a big estate and was privately owned. There are 4 main galleries, well shafts and a mystery chamber where its thought religious or political meetings were held; you’ll notice centuries old inscriptions on the walls, the oldest dating back to 1666
What’s fascinating is how so many of the shops and houses had cellars that led off to underground passageways; it’s like a hush-hush world where people moved about in secret. A former pub in the High Street has a cellar with a cock pit and not so long ago, during the building of a supermarket a huge cave was discovered with trompe l’oeil pillars – but commerce reigns supreme, so sadly, it was all filled in.
Tours of South Street Caves run from April to Oct at 10am, 11am, 1pm and 2pm on open days (generally the last Saturday of the month). You can have a Group Tour for up to 12 people any day of the week, subject to a guide being available.
Contact: caves@dorkingmuseum.org.uk or call the museum on 01306 876591
All information correct at the time of writing
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Education Master's and PhD degree programmes International Relations (120 EC) International Humanitarian Action (120 EC)
International Humanitarian Action (120 EC)
Master - full-time
What are the dominant issues in humanitarian action? What is the so-called aid industry? And can professionalization prevent dependence on aid? Find out in this programme.
The 120 ECTS Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree Master in International Humanitarian Action is an inter-university multidisciplinary master. It provides high quality academic education and professional competencies for personnel working or intending to work in the area of humanitarian action. It is offered by 8 European universities in the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Malta, France and Poland. The students can follow the regional training (3rd semester) at various global universities.
Interdisciplinary, multicultural and multilingual teaching and training by interfaculty members, a combination of in-house experts and field-experienced guest lecturers. In this programme you will learn to evaluate humanitarian emergencies. You will study the causes of conflicts and different coping strategies for conflicts and disasters, assess intervention and reconstruction programmes. Also, practical skills are acquired such as management skills and cross-cultural communication skills. Graduates have the capacity to act at all levels of humanitarian relief operations and to function in a variety of ways to enhance professional delivery of assistance and substantial actions.
NB: Application through NOHA network: apply.nohanet.org. Applications submitted via Studielink will not be considered.
MA in International Relations
24 months (120 ECTS)
Croho code
Why study this programme in Groningen?
Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree programme
Joint degree diploma of two European universities
Unique, multilingual, interdisciplinary and inter-university programme
Consortium of European and Global partner universities
Unique combination of hands-on practice and theory
Career-oriented internship in humanitarian organizations
Possibility to study at one of our Global partner universities
Semester 1 (home university): consists of the Intensive Programme and jointly developed NOHA modules providing ample opportunity to learn about and discuss the essentials of humanitarian action and its current trends.
Semester 2 (host university): allows students to obtain more advanced knowledge and competences in specific areas of humanitarian action. Each NOHA programme university offers a study programme around its unique expertise which is supplemented by a set of joint NOHA courses.
CoursesCourse Catalog >
Intensive Programme in Humanitarian Action (5 EC)
World Politics and Humanitarian Action (5 EC)
Social and Medical Sciences in Humanitarian Action (10 EC)
Legal Dimensions of Humanitarian Action (5 EC)
Management in Humanitarian Action (5 EC)
Humanitarian Analysis and Intervention Design (H-AID) (20 EC)
Methodology and Research Methods in Humanitarian Studies (5 EC)
Advanced Management in Humanitarian Action (5 EC)
Semester 3: students choose between a Regional Training Track (RTT) and a Work Placement Track (WPT).
RTT: elective courses in regional humanitarian studies at a NOHA partner university.
WPT: advanced career development training and placement at a humanitarian organisation.
Semester 4: allows students to obtain key competences that are necessary to conduct research in the humanitarian action context. Students will write a master thesis in order to demonstrate these competences.
Career Development Training (10 EC, optional)
Regional Training Track (30 EC, optional)
Work Placement Track (20 EC, optional)
Master Thesis (30 EC)
Study abroad is required
For an average of 40 weeks
Maximum of 90 EC
The first semester is spent at the HOME university. The second semester is spent at one of the NOHA partner universities in Europe. During the third semester students choose between research specialization in one of the Global partner universities or a professional placement. Free choice of location for writing the master's thesis.
Dutch diploma
International diploma
grade list
The programme is highly selective. Priority is given to students with better results.
knowledge minimum
Written bachelor's thesis.
previous education
Bachelor degree in law, health, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, management, international relations or any other humanitarian action related field.
Relevant working experience is an advantage.
other admission requirements
Students will be selected based on an assessment of their prior learning, motivation and, if applicable, earlier field experience.
IMPORTANT: Application through NOHA network: apply.nohanet.org. Applications submitted via Studielink will not be considered.
Deadline Erasmus Mundus applications: 15 December
Type of student
Dutch students 15 April 2022 01 September 2022
15 April 2023 01 September 2023
EU/EEA students 15 April 2022 01 September 2022
non-EU/EEA students 15 April 2022 01 September 2022
NOTE: admissions through NOHA Network. Tuition fee for full-course (2 years): 12.000 Euro
Practical information for:
Dutch studentsInternational students
After your studies
More than a decade of experience has proved the Network's commitment and capacity to educate and train highly committed and interdisciplinary persons who can act at all levels of humanitarian relief operations and who can function in a variety of ways to enhance the delivery of humanitarian assistance and sustainable actions.
Some 3,500 graduated professionals work in the field of humanitarian relief and international co-operation. They hold various positions of responsibility in all kinds of international and national NGOs, institutions, agencies and government both in the field and at headquarters level all around the world. Such positions include programme managers, protection officers, field/country directors, emergency team leaders, administrators, researchers, academics and consultants.
Job examples
protection officers
field/country directors
emergency team leaders
programme managers
The list below shows an overview of all NOHA Lecturers and Associate staff. Visit their personal university profile page to read more about the research topics our staff is involved in and to see an overview of their publications.
1st semester:
prof. dr. T.K. (Theo) Bouman (Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences)
dr. A.G. (Antenor) Hallo de Wolf (Faculty of Law)
dr. S.J.N. (Steven) van Bockstael (Faculty of Arts)
dr. N.M.T. (Nadine) Voelkner (Faculty of Arts)
dr. E.I.G. (Elisabetta) Costa (Faculty of Arts)
dr. B.J.W. (Bartjan) Pennink (Faculty of Economics and Business)
2nd semester:
dr. K. (Kirstin) Scholten (Faculty of Economics and Business)
dr. C.M. (Clara) Egger (Faculty of Arts)
dr. T. (Talita) Cetinoglu (Faculty of Arts)
dr. S. (Seiki) Tanaka (Faculty of Arts)
dr. X. (Xavier) Guillaume (Faculty of Arts)
NOHA Associate staff
dr. B.E. (Brenda) Bartelink (Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies)
prof. dr. mr. T.H.F. (Tjalling) Halbertsma (Faculty of Arts)
dr. S. (Sipke) de Hoop (Faculty of Arts, History)
dr. J. (Joram) Tarusarira (Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies)
prof. dr. J.J.M. (Jacques) Zeelen (Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences)
mr. Y. (Yongjun) Zhao (Faculty of Arts, IRIO)
Apply nowBrochureEventsContact
Dutch brochureEnglish brochure
Drs. Ingrid Sennema (Programme Coordinator)
Email: noha rug.nl
Sander Ootjers (Assistant Programme Coordinator)
Jakob Matthias Grüter (Student Ambassador)
Work experience NOHA alumna
In 2003, she worked on a project interviewing Brazilian soldiers who had been in the Second World War in order to build up a Digital Database for students and researchers. When that project was concluded, she took a break from university and went to England to learn English and work babysitting, gardening and waitressing.
After England, she lived and worked as a volunteer in Israel during the conflict with Lebanon. Next stop was Nepal, and there she worked in an orphanage taking care of children, teaching them English and arts, helping with the daily work, and orientating about health care. In India she gave conversation English classes to refugees from Tibet and later on she went to Australia to work as a waitress.
Back to Brazil, three years later, she worked at the BBC History Magazine (Brazilian version) as an editorial assistant and after that in the website of the Ministry of Tourism, where she was a reporter and photographer. At the same time she finished university and started to work on the project of the documentary film "Beyond Madness". a film about the exclusion of people with mental disturbs. A year and a half later, the 23-minute documentary, won the category of TV's 5th edition of the Journalism Award of the ABP 2010.
In the second half of 2010 she left to Asia and Middle East to work as volunteer and as a freelancer journalist. In 2012, she went to France to learn French and work as a volunteer in a spiruline (nutritious algae) farm. In the beginning of 2013, already back in Brazil, she started working as a photographer and as a volunteer teacher.
Nationality: Italian and Brazilian
Pre education: BA in Social Communication
An international and multidisciplinary academic study that promotes networking, cooperation and expertise
– Cynthia Sahan
'The Joint Master's Programme in International Humanitarian Action is a one and half year intensive programme that is advantageous for those who would like to perform in the humanitarian sector looking at the complexity and particularity of the humanitarian world.
The complexity of humanitarian actions around the globe makes it indispensable to master the humanitarian principles and to be well equipped with the necessary tools for proper interventions. Hence a number of specific tools are provided in a way that will facilitate your ability to intervene in settings where humanitarian aid is needed to save lives in dignified manners.
It is an international and multidisciplinary academic study that promotes networking, cooperation and expertise for the delivery of high quality services to the ones in need. Since the NOHA programme is basically rooted in a network of universities, during the second semester, students get the opportunity to specialise in a specific area of humanitarian action of their choice, which is meant to deepen and strengthen their knowledge in this particular area. The specialisation in international humanitarian action is unique and offers both theoretical and practical insights regarding the humanitarian field. On the one hand the practical facet allows you to apply the theories. And on the other hand it is an experience that gives the opportunity to shape your professional career as a humanitarian worker.'
What I liked most within my internship is that I worked with people with a different background, which gave me other perspectives on certain issues.
– Koen van der West
Within the Master International Humanitarian Action an internship is a mandatory part. Throughout my studies I have become very interested in the interaction between military and humanitarian actors, and therefore I decided to get an internship within the specific field of civil-military interaction. During my studies I got in contact with several civil-military professionals, who gave me advice on possible internship placements.
My internship at the CCOE gave me the experience of working within a multi-cultural professional (military) organization. More specifically I learned how to work within a team on a specific project. Furthermore I gained a lot of knowledge with regards to civil-military interaction and doing research, and I learned how to work under time pressure. Although my internship was mandatory I would like to highly recommend students to do an internship, since it gives you real working experience and (hopefully) gives you more insight into your further career.
What I liked most within my internship is that I worked with people with a different background, which gave me other perspectives on certain issues. Furthermore I really liked that I was given real responsibilities, which gave me an idea that I was really part of the team within the CCOE. Lastly I really liked that I could put my academic research skills into practical use. Read more
Placement at CARE India
– Lars Faber
I had already undertaken placements in Central America so I was already used to working in new environments. This placement taught me how to make decisions under pressure of time and money, based on sufficient relevant training. In addition, I learned to transfer my insights and knowledge to the organization in an accessible way. I also learned how to procure some freedom within a highly hierarchical organization in order to get the desired learning experience.
What I found most impressive were the field visits to a region that had been hit by a giant tidal wave followed by landslides and earthquakes. The situation of many people in that region is deplorable, and their prospects for the future are sobering for someone from a different background. I enjoyed the conversations with people who were building new houses, the hospitality in rural areas, and the feeling of my standard frame of reference being challenged. My research into the operationalization of ‘resilience’ in CARE projects is what made life at the office in New Delhi a fun experience, besides the Indian way of eating lunch together, sharing food, celebrating Indian festivals, and talking with colleagues about cultural differences and local customs. What I would do differently next time is that I would draw up a schedule of feedback opportunities. When you are part of an Emergency Response Unit of a humanitarian organization you never know what may happen next week or whether someone is available or not. This may make drawing up and updating such a schedule a complicated task, but scheduled moments of revision and feedback are essential when you have limited time carrying out your own research and are at the same time going through a phase of personal development.
University of Groningen Orange Tulip Scholarship/Talent Grant of Faculty of Arts
Are you a non-EU/EEA student from Russia, India or Indonesia, starting a Master's programme at the Faculty of Arts? If so, you could qualify for the University of Groningen OTS/Talent Grant, Faculty of Arts, a partial scholarship which helps you to finance your studies.
Read more about the OTS/Talent Grant Faculty of Arts.
Study associations
Clio is the study association of International Relations and International Organization at the University of Groningen.
It has around 1000 members and is one of the largest study associations in Groningen and the largest study association at a Dutch Faculty of Arts. Clio organises numerous events including parties, workshops, excursions and offers services like high-quality summaries, the internship database and various discounts around Groningen.
https://www.clio.nl/home
If you have any questions or doubts about your studies, you can always contact the study advisor. He or she knows all the ins and outs of the program and personal planning. Study advisors are impartial and everything that is discussed is treated confidentially. They can also help you find the right institutions and student desks for your problems.
twitter.com/NOHANetwork
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Kirov (08.2011)
Located in the north-eastern part of European Russia, Kirov (city) has a population of approximately 460,000. Founded in 1174, the city was originally known as Khlynov and was the center of a then-independent republic. Annexed to Moscow by Ivan III in 1489, the city was subsequently renamed Vyatka by Catherine the Great in 1780. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a place of exile for opponents of the tsarist regime, including many prominent revolutionary figures. The city was given its present name, Kirov, after Bolshevik leader, Sergey Kirov, following Kirov's assassination in 1934. The city is home to Russia's oldest library, the Gertsen Regional Science Library, and Russia's traditional, beloved clay figurines known as Dymkovo or Vyatka toys which have been made here for more than 400 years.
Helping sweep the street at the Nadezhda orphanage.
KirovRussiarusurusu photographyКировХлыновВяткасиротский приютorphanageKirov orphanageиротыorphanсироты
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The Madden Brothers Talk About Their New Music At Seacrest Studios
Aug 29 , 2014
Seacrest Studios and the patients at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia were treated to a special visit from Benji and Jo
Recap Written By Kevin Shirley, Seacrest Studios Intern
Seacrest Studios at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was treated to a special visit from Benji and Joel Madden, or as they call their new musical act, The Madden Brothers. The twin brother musical duo sat down to have a fun, good-spirited talk with the patients in the studio.
The brothers rose to fame in the 2000s as the co-founders of the pop punk band, Good Charlotte. The Madden Brothers have described their current project as a “new musical adventure,” borrowing inspiration from iconic bands like The Beach Boys and The Eagles. However, the duo does not limit themselves to just working on their own music. They also run Madden Brothers Studio in Los Angeles, where they have produced songs for other musicians, including recent CHOP guests, Five Seconds of Summer. With a new tour coming in 2015, it was remarkable that the brothers could make time in their busy schedule to visit Seacrest Studios.
But, the life of the Madden Brothers is not just work. The duo also discussed how they like to spend their free time. Joel, a father of two, expressed joy for playing Legos with his kids and watching cartoons. The brothers also listed some of their favorite cartoons, including current hits like Ninjago and the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, as well as old classics like He-Man and Tiny Toons. Joel hopes to take his kids to see the new Ninja Turtles movie as soon as possible. Before leaving, the brothers left a bit of advice for aspiring musicians: “dream it, believe it, and practice.” CHOP thanks The Madden Brothers for bringing inspiration to the wide-eyed dreamers of the hospital and hopes for further success in their exciting musical career.
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Exclusive: Jim Lee reveals his latest sketch for comic book retailer charity auction
April 13, 2020, 4:29 PM ET
By Matthew Jackson
Credit: SYFY WIRE
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt daily life around the world, many businesses are suffering, including the comics industry. With Diamond Comics Distributors stopping shipping on new product for the time being, and various stay home orders in place around the country, many local comics shops are struggling to get by. While some are doing their best to keep going through the sale of trade paperbacks and other merchandise, others have been forced to close entirely, which means comic book creators and fans alike are stepping up to help.
One of those creators who decided to wield his influence in a major way is DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee, a legendary artist known for his work on DC's Justice League, Batman: Hush, and many other iconic stories and characters. In late March, as the scope of the impact on the comics industry was becoming clearer, Lee launched an ambitious new fundraising idea: He'd sketch a popular comic book character every day for 60 days, then post each one on eBay for three days. The proceeds from each auction would then be donated to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC) to support local comic book stores.
Less than two weeks into the project, Lee's sketches have already raised more than $80,000 for BINC, and DC Comics has committed an additional $250,000 in donations to BINC to further boost support for local shops. That's a lot of relief money, but Lee's not even close to done. He's still drafting artist friends like Ivan Reis, Rafael Albuquerque, and Bryan Hitch to join in the effort, and Lee himself is sketching up a storm. Today, SYFY WIRE is pleased to exclusively reveal the next Lee sketch fans can bid on beginning in just a few hours: Dark Nights: Metal character The Red Death.
Courtesy of Jim Lee/DC Entertainment
This sketch, along with all other sketches that are part of the campaign, will be posted to eBay for a special three-day auction benefitting BINC. Some of Lee's most recent sketches, including Sunday's reveal of The Grim Knight from the DC Multiverse, have pulled in bids upwards of $8,000, and there are plenty more fundraising sketches arriving in the coming weeks. So, if you're in the market for some amazing original art, head over and place a bid, and follow along with the campaign's progress on Lee's Instagram page.
Superman just got a new mission statement: ‘Truth, Justice and... a Better Tomorrow’
Master Inker Scott Williams on inking Jim Lee & X-Men deadline woes
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Solar Eclipse Pictures and Video to Make Your Brain Happy
March 20, 2015, 12:18 PM ET
By Phil Plait
On March 20, 2015, the Moon passed in front of the Sun ... if you were on the right spot on the planet. Or, better, above it!
Let's start off with a special treat: From the ground, master astrophotographer Thierry Legault took video of the International Space Station crossing the Sun during the eclipse!
Incredible. Legault is really, really good at this sort of thing and traveled to Spain to catch the fraction-of-a-second event.
Most of the U.S. would've been asleep during the eclipse overnight, which graced the skies of Europe, northern Africa, and Asia ...where for the most part it was only partial; it was total in the waters north of Europe and Asia.
However, some places did see a total eclipse, like in Longyearbyen, a town in Svalbard, an island a few hundred kilometers north of mainland Norway. My pal Tunç Tezel was there and got this great shot:
The European Space Agency has a lot of images and video on its site, including this one taken by its Proba-2 satellite using a camera sensitive to the far ultraviolet:
There's a video of the eclipse from Proba-2 as well that's pretty nifty.
Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti took an amazing picture of the Moon's shadow on the Earth, with a Russian capsule hanging off the ISS in the foreground:
And one more: NASA's Terra Earth-observing satellite took this dramatic shot of the Moon's inner (umbra) and outer (penumbra) shadow over clouds in the Arctic Ocean:
Those lines are called cloud streets and are pretty cool all by themselves.
And finally, if you want to understand eclipses, why, I did a Crash Course episode on them:
If you missed this eclipse, don't sweat it: There are a lot more coming, including the August 2017 that will sweep across the U.S.! I'll have more information about that closer to the event, of course.
Update, March 20, 2015, at 16:30 UTC: I originally wrote that this eclipse happened "yesterday," because it was during the middle of the night for those of us in the U.S. A few people got confused by that, so I changed it to simply the date of the eclipse: March 20, 2015. Sorry about that!
This lopsided galaxy is a mess. But why?
Cancel Columbus Day: Sun storms pinpoint Europeans being in Canada in 1021 A.D.
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Quinton de Kock will prefer the faster tracks
Published on November 25, 2014 | Leave a response
South Africa’s ODI series loss to Australia is disappointing. The games were close but the Proteas are losing too many.
It was a heavy series result and the experimenting with different combinations didn’t help very much.
The squad, because of changes made to the XI throughout the series, was exposed a bit. But playing Australia in Australia is a tough challenge. They don’t lose too many series at home. While the games were close, you have to realise it’s all in the planning – teams bat well enough to win with an over or two to spare.
I was happy with Quinton de Kock coming good in the final match and, while I haven’t been impressed with him previously, Farhaan Behardien played a nice innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He has been under a lot of criticism, but that innings might have saved him for now. Faf du Plessis was disappointing in Australia. AB de Villiers, as the key guy, must be batting higher than five in the order. He is missing out on about 20 balls he should be facing. It has been shown that the important guys have to get in early, as early as possible and be given the opportunity to face the majority of the deliveries. I don’t know why he is coming in at five and not higher.
Any guy who is batting after four in the order will have the difficulty of coming in without enough balls to face and, if he gets out early, the confidence can be lost. I don’t want to see them trying too many different things out there. The batsmen get excited and, in trying to maintain the momentum, they get out. But they must bat more sensibly. With more wickets in hand, the last five or 10 overs of the innings will be more fruitful. We don’t want to be at a stage where the lower-order players have to face the closing overs. It is not such a technical game. If they get back to the basics, they will win games.
I’m not too concerned about the bowling. Vernon Philander is coming along nicely in ODI cricket and although Kyle Abbott was expensive in the final game, which was unfortunate, he is still a very good player and worthy of selection. He has plenty of possibilities and finds extra bounce, which is always useful in Australia and New Zealand. Abbott could possibly play ahead of Wayne Parnell. I don’t know whether Parnell has the commitment to make it work, to be honest. To reiterate a point I made recently, I would like to see Johan Botha back. Robin Peterson is not bowling out the top order and can be expensive, much like Imran Tahir. These spinners look reasonably good but are not doing enough damage where it is needed.
De Villiers spoke about how South Africa might be over-thinking and over-analysing the game situation. I’ve heard Paddy Upton say it before, that international cricket is getting to a stage where the players know more than the coaches. The players are playing a lot of games in a season. They are the ones out in the middle, where it is all happening. But they get all theoretical, instead of doing the basics right. If you do the basics right in ODI cricket, you are going to win 70 or 80 percent of the games. They must see the state of the game and the state of the wicket for what it is, and play accordingly. They must not read too much into statistics and those sorts of things.
South Africa will have learned a lot from the tour to Australia. They will have understood why they lost in the end and will become a better unit for it. The experimenting will stop. The best XI must play and win games. If something happens and a top player is injured, the others are good enough to slot in and make it work. They have to get momentum by winning games. That will bring confidence again.
In closing, Colin Ingram has signed a Kolpak deal in county cricket. For me, he is in the same category as Rilee Rossouw – a good left-hander who strikes the ball well. South Africa might have moved on from him for now, though. The bunch is settled and they won’t miss Ingram much. I wish him the best of luck.
Posted in Graeme Pollock, Opinion, Proteas
Post by Graeme Pollock
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Founder of Florida spa tied to Robert Kraft case offered access to Trump and family at Mar-a-Lago to Chinese clients
Doug Stanglin Christal Hayes
Cindy (Li) Yang, a Florida entrepreneur who founded a chain of spas and massage parlors that included the one where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was arrested recently for allegedly soliciting prostitution, also runs a consulting business that has offered to sell Chinese clients access to President Donald Trump and his family at Mar-a-Lago, according to the company's website.
Mother Jones, which broke the story on Saturday, says Yang could not be reached for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Yang, a donor to the Republican Party and Trump campaign, popped up this week in photos showing her at a Super Bowl viewing party at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago that included a selfie with the president, the Miami Herald reported.
According to Mother Jones, Yang's company — GY US Investments LLC — has a website, mostly in Chinese, that shows her and purported clients hobnobbing at the presidential retreat.
While Mother Jones' examination on the website includes critical detail about a New Year's Eve gala at Mar-a-Lago, a cached version of the website using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine from August 2018, examined by USA TODAY, also confirms the key points of the magazine's story.
It details Yang's vast network within the Trump administration and Republican Party — including photos with the president, his family, members of Congress and key White House aides — and offers businesses and individuals a window into that network.
The company, founded in 2017 by Yang and her husband, Zubin Gong, describes itself as a consulting firm that helps businesses in America "expand their brand image in the modern Chinese marketplace.”
Mother Jones says the website stopped functioning the same day the Herald story was published about Yang and her connection to the spas.
The website, mostly in Chinese, lists events where Yang and others at the company mingled with the president and members of his cabinet, such as Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. It also lists photos with the president's family, including sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., top White House aide Kellyanne Conway, former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka and Fox News host Jesse Watters.
It boasts about opportunities for businesses and individuals where they can “have the opportunity to interact with the president” and other “political figures.” It lists various dinners and charity events and a fluid calendar of events, most including Trump. One also listed Republican Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
According to Mother Jones, the company boasts it has “arranged taking photos with the President” and suggests it can set up a “White House and Capitol Hill Dinner.”
The company listed one event in Ohio on May 4 where it advertises the opportunity to meet Trump and take a “one-on-one photo” and get an autograph. During the event, Trump talked up the new Republican tax law and discussed relations with North Korea.
The company included an array of photos showing Yang attending a number of high profile events, several of which were held at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and one held at the White House.
During a May 2018 dinner for a “Lincoln Remembrance Day” event at Mar-a-Lago, the company boasted that “every member of the Florida political community” was “eager to participate” in the event since it was held at the “winter White House.”
The company lists photos of Yang with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and several of attendees with the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
The webpage also lists photos from a December 2017 fundraising event in New York City where Trump made remarks about trade with China and a recent trip he took to the country.
The company wrote there was nearly 100 Chinese attendees at the event, “which marked the rise of Chinese political participation in politics.” The page includes photos of attendees with Trump and Conway, who is dubbed “the hero of Trump’s presidency” on the website.
Yang is described on the page as a “member of the presidential fundraising committee” and was listed as “one of the only guests in South Florida who was invited to the White House to celebrate” the Chinese New Year in 2018.
Several photos of from the event show Yang and others wearing what appears to be a White-House issued pass, which are given by security in order to gain access to the grounds.
The website says Yang has been “settled in the United States for more than 20 years” and is a member of the “Presidential Fundraising Committee.” According to the Herald, Yang is a registered Republican, and since 2017 she and her relatives have donated more than $42,000 to a Trump political action committee and more than $16,000 to Trump’s campaign.
Yang, according to the Miami Herald, says she is no longer in the spa business and in 2013 sold Orchids of Asia Day Spa, the massage parlor where authorities say Kraft was caught on camera paying for sex on the morning of the Jan. 20 AFC Championship game. Kraft, who has denied the charge, is a close friend of Trump's and frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago.
Yang was not charged in the anti-human-trafficking operation last month that shut down 10 Asian day spas in Florida, none of which are registered to her or her family.
Investigation:How Florida police snared nearly 300 — including Robert Kraft — at spas used for sex trafficking
More:Why is there only one human trafficking charge in Florida massage parlor busts?
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Ortiz-Zayas J.R.
Urban influences on the nitrogen cycle in Puerto Rico
Ortiz-Zayas, J. R., E. Cuevas, O. L. Mayol-Bracero, L.
Donoso, I. Trebs, D. Figueroa-Nieves, and W. H. Mcdowell.
2006. Urban influences on the nitrogen cycle in Puerto Rico.
Biogeochemistry 79:109–133.
Anthropogenic actions are altering fluxes of nitrogen (N) in the biosphere at unprecedented rates. Efforts to study these impacts have concentrated in the Northern hemisphere, where experimental data are available. In tropical developing countries, however, experimental studies are lacking. This paper summarizes available data and assesses the impacts of human activities on N fluxes in Puerto Rico, a densely populated Caribbean island that has experienced drastic landscape transformations over the last century associated with rapid socioeconomic changes. N yield calculations conducted in several watersheds of different anthropogenic influences revealed that disturbed watersheds export more N per unit area than undisturbed forested watersheds. Export of N from urban watersheds ranged from 4.8 kg ha)1 year)1 in the Rı´o Bayamo´ n watershed to 32.9 kg ha)1 year)1 in the highly urbanized Rı´o Piedras watershed and 33.3 kg ha)1 year)1 in the rural-agricultural Rı´o Grande de An˜ asco watershed. Along with land use, mean annual runoff explained most of the variance in fluvial N yield. Wastewater generated in the San Juan Metropolitan Area receives primary treatment before it is discharged into the Atlantic Ocean. These discharges are N-rich and export large amounts of N to the ocean at a rate of about 140 kg ha)1 year)1. Data on wet deposition of inorganic N (NHþ4 þ NO 3 ) suggest that rates of atmospheric N deposition are increasing in the pristine forests of Puerto Rico. Stationary and mobile sources of NOx (NO+NO2) and N2O generated in the large urban centers may be responsible for this trend. Comprehensive measurements are required in Puerto Rico to quantitatively characterize the local N cycle. More research is required to assess rates of atmospheric N deposition, N fixation in natural and human-dominated landscapes, N-balance associated with food and feed trade, and denitrification.
Cuevas E.
Donoso L.
Figueroa-Nieves D.
Mayol-Bracero O.L.
McDowell W.H.
Trebs I.
Waste water disposal
Integrated Water Resources Management in the Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico: An Evolving Process
Sun, 07/24/2011 - 11:28 — ckass
Ortiz-Zayas, J.R. and F.N. Scatena. 2004. Integrated Water Resources Management in the
Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico: An Evolving Process. Water Resources Development. 20 (3): 387-398.
The ecologically unique forest ecosystems of the Luquillo Mountains in Eastern Puerto Rico and the scenic value of its forests, rivers and surrounding beaches have promoted population growth, tourism and light industry, thus increasing regional water demands. In light of further increases in future water demand, integrated water resources management (IWRM) initiatives are rapidly evolving in this area. In an effort to seek international collaboration and information exchange on IWRM, the Luquillo Mountains joined the Hydrology for the Environment, Life, and Policy (HELP) Programme of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/International Hydrological Programme (IHP) in 1999. The paper was prepared to document existing IWRM efforts and to promote internal discussion for further IWRM development in the region.
Scatena F.N.
Helping HELP with limited resources: the Luquillo experience
Scatena, F.N.; Ortiz-Zayas, JR; Blanco-Libreros, J.F. 2008. Helping HELP with limited resources: the Luquillo experience. Water SA. 34(4 special HELP edition): 497-508.
By definition the HELP approach involves the active participation of individuals from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds, including representatives of industry, academics, natural resource managers, and local officials and community leaders. While there is considerable enthusiasm and support for the integrated HELP approach, a central problem for all HELP basins is how to effectively engage individuals and groups with few, if any financial resources. In the Luquillo HELP project we have managed this issue by focusing our efforts on holding small, public meetings and workshops with technocrats and managers who are engaged in local water resource management. To date several forums have been organised, including: technical meetings with the directors of natural resource agencies; presentations and panel discussions at the meetings of local professional societies, including the societies of Civil Engineers and Architects, the Commonwealth Association of Tourism, the Association of Builders and Developers, and the Puerto Rican Association of Lawyers. During these forums HELP specialists gave presentations and led discussions on how integrated watershed management can help resolve local problems. Because the audience are directly involved with these issues, they are quite responsive to these discussions and have often provided unique solutions to common problems. Technical workshops are co-sponsored by local municipalities – these day-long workshops are hosted by a municipality and include managers from other municipalities, the local water authority, and local community leaders. Additional activities include: technical advice on water infrastructure projects is given; there are educational exchanges between local and international students, scientists, natural resource managers, and community leaders; and synthesis publications relevant to integrated water resource management are produced. Other activities have included compiling oral environmental histories and organising watershed restoration activities. This paper describes these activities and discusses the benefits and costs of each approach.
Blanco-Libreros J.F.
integrated water resource management
tropical mountains
Metabolism of a tropical rainforest stream
Ortiz-Zayas, J.R. et al. Metabolism of a tropical rainforest stream. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, Volume 24, No. 4, pages 769–783.
Gradients in photosynthesis (P) and respiration (R) were measured on an unperturbed portion of the Rio Mameyes, a tropical stream in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, northeastern Puerto Rico. Rates of P, which were similar to those of streams in temperate-deciduous forests, were low in the heavily canopied headwaters (<70 g O2 m−2 y−1) and were higher (453–634 g O2 m−2 y−1) in middle and lower reaches. Periphyton biomass did not show the expected increase as the canopy opened downstream, probably because of increasing herbivory in downstream reaches. Rates of R, which were much higher than in most temperate streams, also were lower in the headwaters (767 g O2 m−2 y−1) than in the middle and lower reaches (1550–1660 g O2 m−2 y−1). High rates of R and suppressed periphyton abundance caused annual P/R to be <<1 from headwaters to lower reaches. Results for the Rio Mameyes suggest that intense herbivory, which is favored by the presence of large herbivores and consistently high temperatures, may be more typical of tropical than temperate streams. Results also show that the tropical rainforest provides the stream with sufficient amounts of labile organic C to support high rates of respiration over long distances across the basin.
Lewis W.M.
McCutchan J.H.
Saunders J.F.
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Home Breaking News Qatar violates the ban on Diab
Qatar violates the ban on Diab
Indefinitely, the maritime boundary edict amendment file was folded. This time, the US role was to push for this outcome, publicly and directly, through the veto expressed by Assistant US Secretary of State David Hale personally on any amendment to the basis for negotiations. However, the Presidency of the Republic did not announce the final death of the project. It replaced it with gradual steps that expect it to lead to the same result, that is, to preserve Lebanon’s right to its waters, and more importantly to prevent the Israeli enemy from drilling in the Karish field, which enters the area that the army sees as Lebanese waters. According to Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe, the first step is to visit Greece and warn it of the danger of its companies operating in that region. The most important thing, according to concerned sources, is to extract the agreement of the American side to seek the help of international experts to define the borders, which was rejected by the enemy completely.Based on the above, and after Hill affirmed the necessity of returning to the negotiating table, it seems that these negotiations will not be delayed before the start, without knowing how the negotiating delegation will deal with the new developments. Should it complete from where it began, that is, by demanding an additional 1,430 square kilometers to the Lebanese region defined by Decree 6433, or should it withdraw to demand the 860 kilometers that Israel insists on sharing with Lebanon?
For his part, President of the Republic General Michel Aoun stressed the importance of continuing negotiations and completing the American role “from the position of an honest and just mediator.” At the same time, Aoun left the door open to the possibility of re-activating the issue of the decree, indicating that “Lebanon has the right to develop its position according to its interest and in line with international law and in accordance with constitutional principles.”
President Aoun called for “the accreditation of international experts to demarcate the line and a commitment not to carry out oil or gas work and not to start any exploration work in the Karish field and in the adjacent waters,” stressing that he would not compromise “Lebanese sovereignty, rights and interests.” He also stressed “the need for the demarcation of borders to be the subject of consensus among the Lebanese.”
As for Hill, after his meeting with Aoun yesterday, he said, “America stands ready to facilitate negotiations on the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel on the basis that we started in these discussions.” He emphasized that “international experts could be brought in, if necessary, to help inform us all.”
Later, the General Directorate of the Presidency of the Republic issued a statement read by Aoun’s media and political advisor, Antoine Constantine, in which there was confirmation from the President of the Republic on three points:
1- He is entrusted with sovereignty, rights and interests, and he will not neglect them.
Diab has not yet been informed by the Iraqi side of a date to visit Baghdad!
2- Lebanon spared any negative repercussions that may result from any careless stance.
3- Make every effort to make border demarcation a subject of consensus among the Lebanese and not a subject of division, with the aim of strengthening Lebanon’s position in the negotiations.
In his statement, after the meeting, Hill touched on the economic and political crisis. He said, “The time has now come to form a government and not obstruct it. Now is the time for comprehensive reform.” America and the international community are ready to help. But you cannot help without the Lebanese partner. And those who continue to obstruct the progress of the reform agenda, risk their relationship with the United States and its partners and expose themselves to punitive measures. ” He added, “As for those working to facilitate progress, they can rest assured of our strong support.”
As in all of his meetings, Hill did not forget to assign responsibility for the collapse to Hezbollah, considering that “Hezbollah’s accumulation of dangerous weapons, smuggling and other illegal and corrupt activities undermine the legitimate state institutions and rob the Lebanese of the ability to build a peaceful and prosperous country.” He also said that “Iran is feeding and financing this challenge to the state and this distortion of Lebanese political life.” At the same time, however, he reiterated that “a mutual return to compliance with the nuclear agreement with Iran is in our interest and in the interest of regional stability, but it will only be the beginning of our work.” In a message to the allies in Lebanon, Hill reassured that America “will not abandon its interests and its friends in Lebanon” after the revival of the nuclear agreement.
Hariri – Putin: A connection, not a meeting
In addition, it was remarkable that Saad Hariri’s visit to Moscow was not culminated in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but rather a phone call made by Hariri from his residence in the guesthouse of the Russian Foreign Ministry was satisfied. However, Hariri’s advisor, George Shaaban, explained in a call with the “new”, that this was not surprising, and the delegation was aware of it, and it is returning to the measures that the Kremlin is following to prevent the Corona virus. He also mentioned that Hariri was formally received as Prime Minister of Lebanon.
It was noteworthy that the official statement issued by Hariri’s office, based on what he described as “the sources of the Lebanese delegation,” indicated that the call, “which lasted for fifty minutes, was excellent.” It focused on the governmental crisis in Lebanon, during which it was stressed the need to form the new government as soon as possible. The research also touched on the prospects for cooperation between Lebanon and Russia in the field of combating the Corona pandemic, and the possibility of Russia providing Lebanon with quantities of the necessary vaccine. The understanding was reached to continue discussions between the Russian and Lebanese sides to benefit from the Russian support for Lebanon in various fields and to facilitate the ground for Russian companies to invest in Lebanon and Lebanese companies to invest in Russia.
For his part, a statement issued by the Kremlin stated that “Hariri briefed Putin on developments in the internal situation in Lebanon, as well as on the initial measures to form the new government and overcome the economic crisis.” The Russian side affirmed Russia’s principled position in support of Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
In a related context, Hariri held talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at the Russian Prime Ministry headquarters, on the latest developments in Lebanon and the region and the bilateral relations between the two countries.
“The difficulty of the situation now is in forming a government of specialists in order to carry out all the required reforms,” Hariri told his host. But when we form the government and carry out the necessary reforms, we want you to know that we want to see all Russian companies come to Lebanon to invest in it in the existing facilities, whether electricity, ports, roads, or everything related to infrastructure. ”
Diab to Qatar: I will not raise support
While Hariri was holding official talks in his capacity as Prime Minister, President Hassan Diab was presiding over a meeting on the topic of the fuel crisis, attended by the Minister of Energy and Water in the caretaker government, Raymond Ghajar, and the Director General of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, in addition to a number of general managers and owners of oil companies.
After the meeting, the Minister of Energy said: “It became clear to us that the main reason for the gasoline crisis is smuggling out of Lebanese territory because of the difference in prices between Lebanon and Syria. The price of a petrol plate in Lebanon is 40 thousand Lebanese pounds, while the official price in Syria reaches 140 thousand pounds, and on the black market it reaches 240 thousand pounds. ” He said that the solution is to control the price of this material, and the subsidy will not be raised before the financing card is approved as part of the rationing plan. Roma called on citizens not to rush to buy and store gasoline because the government will not lift subsidies soon.
In the meeting, Diab reaffirmed that under the caretaker government, the subsidies will not be lifted, unless Parliament passes a law covering the financing card credits.
On the other hand, the government departments did not inform their Iraqi counterparts of a date for Diab to visit Baghdad, instead of the date of April 17, which was previously postponed by the Iraqi side, without explaining the reasons or setting an alternative date. At the same time, Al-Akhbar learned that Diab will visit the Qatari capital, Doha, next Sunday, on Tuesday. Not one of the ministers will accompany Diab to Doha, as the delegation is limited to Diab and his advisor, Khader Talib, and Lahoud Lahoud, the director of protocol in the prime minister, and the rest are security men. Diab still surrounds the news of the visit with a cordon of secrecy, noting that it will be his first abroad since he took office, after canceling his visit to Cairo months ago, without knowing the fate of his postponed visit to Baghdad.
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NR 328 Final Exam Latest (150 MCQs and 10 long questions)
Question 1: (TCO 1) Which of the following is the best example of an off-time event that could have negative effects upon an individual’s development?
A) The deaths of elderly parents
B) Being divorced at the age of 25
C) The death of one’s spouse at the age of 30
D) Experiencing a life-threatening illness at the age of 60
Question 2: (TCO 1) Adults in London, England, who were teenagers living there during the bombings of World War II all report that their lives were changed by those events. This exemplifies which of the following?
A) Normative age-graded changes
B) Normative critical periods
C) Normative history-graded changes
D) Non-normative life events
Question 3: (TCO 1)Which of the following is a finding of Glen Elder, et al., on individuals who grew up during the Great Depression?
A) The cohort born in 1920 suffered more than the cohort born in 1928.
B) Teenage girls were more likely than teenage boys to be forced into the work place prematurely because of economic hardship.
C) Teenagers whose families experienced severe economic difficulty assumed adult responsibility prematurely.
D) The adolescents who were forced prematurely into the work force were better adjusted as adults.
Question 4: (TCO 1)The Maple Leaf Elementary School counselor, social worker, and the parents of 8-year-old Jimmy Jackson are working as a cooperative team to determine why Jimmy exhibits a pattern of highly aggressive behavior toward his peers and teachers. Jimmy’s behavior has been extensively observed, he has been subjected to a battery of psychological tests, and his parents have been interviewed. This in-depth examination of Jimmy Jackson is an example of
A) an ethnograph.
B) naturalistic observation.
C) a correlational study.
D) a case study.
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January 28 to February 3: “What is your favorite sub-genre of thrillers?”
Domestic thrillers? Crime thrillers? Action thrillers? Historical thrillers? This week we ask ITW members Robert E. Kearns, Jess Montgomery, Larry Loftis, L. A. Starks, William L. Myers, Jr. and Keenan Powell to tell us your favorite sub-genre of thrillers and why? Scroll down to the “comments” section to follow along – you won’t want to miss this!
L. A. Starks is an energy investor and the author of the Lynn Dayton thriller series. Strike Price, the second in the series, won the Texas Association of Authors’ First Place Award for best mystery/thriller. She is also multi-published in nonfiction. Starks was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in Oklahoma, went to school in New Orleans and Chicago, and now lives in Texas. Her favorite recent international destinations include Denmark, Spain, and Switzerland.
William L. Myers, Jr. is the No. 6 bestselling author for Amazon Kindle in 2017 for his debut. Once you pick up his legal thriller and bestselling novel, A Criminal Defense, it becomes obvious he is not new to the intricacies of the legal profession. Open A Criminal Defense and you’ll find yourself lost in a labyrinth of deceits and hidden agendas, a world where everyone has a secret. You never know what is going to happen next or when the plot is going to take another unexpected turn.
Jess Montgomery is the author of the Kinship Historical Mystery series, inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff and published by Minotaur Books. THE WIDOWS, the first book in the series, is set in 1920s Appalachia and follows two women who investigate murder and fight for their community. Jess is also a newspaper columnist, focusing on the literary life, authors and events of her native Dayton, Ohio for the Dayton Daily News.
Larry Loftis is the international bestselling author of the nonfiction spy thriller, INTO THE LION’S MOUTH: The True Story of Dusko Popov — World War II Spy, Patriot, and the True Life Inspiration for James Bond.
Keenan Powell illustrated the original Dungeons and Dragons, then ditched art for law school. The day after graduating, she moved to Alaska where she continues to practice. She is the author of the Maeve Malloy series set in contemporary Alaska. Her debut, Deadly Solution, was published in 2018. The second in the series, Hemlock Needle, is being published in January of 2019.
Robert E. Kearns was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1971. He held roles in accounting and finance for various multi national organisations in both Ireland and Texas, where he lived for nine years. He currently lives in Dublin, Ireland. HY BRASIL, ISLAND OF ETERNITY is his first novel.
January 21 - 27: "Which books would you recommend to new writers?"
Ten-Seven by Dana King
L. A. Starks says:
I grew up in an Oklahoma town where “women in STEM” was not some far-off aspiration but a given part of the working culture. My father was an Oklahoma-bred MIT-trained chemistry research PhD; his first and only foreign language was the German he needed to read scientific papers. Science has always been an international discipline, so despite growing up on the Great Plains it wasn’t unusual for me to meet Asian and European PhDs who were in town to discuss with my father a research breakthrough or an industrial process.
As a natural extension of this global scientific environment, my favorite thriller sub-genres to read are those in the mix I write: international, science, and espionage. Among the male authors whose books in these sub-genres I have enjoyed are Alex Berenson, Dan Brown, Marc Cameron, Ben Coes, Michael Crichton, Daniel Silva, Brad Thor, Vince Flynn and now Kyle Mills writing for Vince Flynn. I found the entire Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam amazingly creative and refreshingly global in scope, a perfect example.
Women who pioneer anything encounter nay-sayers. I had the occasional professor and one elderly grandfather who thought women should not train or work as chemical engineers. I didn’t listen. I’ve also sensed the occasional reluctance—mainly from old-fashioned publishing pros—that women don’t write international thrillers. Again, I don’t listen.
Thus, an even bigger pleasure is when I find books in these genres written by women: books by ITW co-founder Gayle Lynds and by this month’s cover author Taylor Stevens, Lisa Brackmann’s Chinese trilogy, Megan Abbott’s Give Me Your Hand, books by Stella Rimington (the first female Director General of MI5), Amy Rogers’ Petroplague, and Jamie Freveletti’s “Run” books. My most recent favorite is Turkey-set Liar’s Candle by August Thomas, who uses just enough Turkish to put readers right into Ankara.
With each of these authors, I relish the international and cultural details that inform and transport. In my books, examples are the scene in 13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy of being trapped in a cooling tower (yes, it happened to me); referencing Cherokee and Osage history in Strike Price to include the only known use of the Cherokee syllabary in a thriller; and applying Russian-US energy conflicts to inform the fictional attack on a Polish LNG terminal in The Second Law.
Keenan Powell says:
I’m excited to have discovered several brilliant female Irish crime writers. Tana French is not alone. These women have a unique perspective on the dynamics and tensions ubiquitous during late 20th century seismic cultural shifts in Ireland and a talent for describing complicated workings of the mind:
Liz Nugent, author of UNRAVELING OLIVER, LYING IN WAIT, and SKIN DEEP. These three powerful and creepy standalone psychological thrillers have won awards in Ireland for both in paper and audio forms. Told from first person point-of-view, the characters are highly complex and believable. I highly recommend the audiobooks.
Dervla McTiernan, debut author of THE RUIN short-listed for the Limerick Literary Festival Kate O’Brien award. A traditional mystery with well-defined characters told in multiple third-person points-of view. The author has a talent for escalating stakes organically and for such vivid storytelling that third person feels like first person. Another great audiobook.
Anna Burns, author of MILKMAN, winner of the Man Booker literary award. Told in first person, the narrator is a young woman living in a Northern Ireland in the 1970’s who is being stalked by the Milkman during a time when murder, suicide, assault and other heinous acts were the unquestioned norm. Another incredible audiobook.
More female Irish crime writers I’m looking forward to reading include Fiona Davis, Alex Barclay, Jane Casey, Sinead Crowley, Jo Spain, Sam Blake, Louise Phillips, Niamh O’Connor, Claire McGowan, Arlene Hunt, Andrea Carter, Andrea Mara, Cat Hogan and Karen Gillece.
More great reading. Thanks Keenan.
Robert E. Kearns says:
I love a novel in the Suspense genre. When they are written well, they’re difficult to beat, and I tip my hat to the author who can pull it off.
Not easy to get right, but when you come across a gem, you know it. The book which can do it from start to finish has to be admired.
Robert, I just finished reading The Perfect Stranger, by Megan Miranda, and it was indeed a perfectly suspenseful read.
Jess Montgomery says:
Of course, I must speak up for the historical thriller! I still remember reading The Key to Rebecca (Ken Follett) and being intrigued by not only the characters and plot line, but by the notion of combining historical events with a thriller plot. (Of course, as a friend of mine once said, one person’s epiphany is another person’s obvious. But for me, years ago, this combination was an epiphany.)
There are so many great historical mysteries/historical thrillers to choose from. It’s a delight for me as a reader, and an honor as a writer to make my own contribution to the sub genre.
Martin Hill Ortiz says:
Yay! Historical thrillers! I love it when they believably transport me to another time. Non-fiction historical thrillers, also.
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Fellows of the British Academy
Culture, Media and Performance
This section brings together Fellows who specialise in culture, media and performance studies.
Focus of this section
Culture, Media and Performance is a highly interdisciplinary section: it incorporates cultural studies, film studies, media studies, new media and digital culture studies, and performance studies, as well as related fields including cultural geography, cultural sociology, visual culture studies, photographic studies, sound studies and areas of the digital humanities.
Each of these fields is itself interdisciplinary, and several of them cross the boundary between the humanities and social sciences. In all of them British scholarship is influential internationally, and all were until recently under-represented in the Academy. They are fields that exemplify the burgeoning interdisciplinarity of academic and intellectual life over recent decades.
Section chair
Professor Georgina Born
Professor of Music and Anthropology, University of Oxford; Fellow, Mansfield College, Oxford
Professor Angela McRobbie FBA What is cultural studies?
Professor Annette Kuhn FBA What is film studies?
Professor David M. Berry What are the digital humanities?
Fellow Types
Corresponding Fellow
Honorary Fellow
UK Emeritus Fellow
UK Fellow
Africa, Asia and Middle East
Media, performance and communications
A - Z Z - A Year Elected Year Elected (reverse)
Professor Dawn Adès FBA
History of Art;Central America; South America; USA, Canada, Mexico; Eastern Europe; Southern Europe; Western Europe
Professor Kofi Agawu FBA
Music analysis as theory and practice; semiotic applications in music; West African music
Professor Jonathan Alexander FBA
Professor Robin Alexander FBA
Pedagogy, policy and culture in primary education; comparative education; classroom discourse.
Professor Philip Alexander FBA
Jewish Studies: Jews and Judaism and Late Antiquity (Dead Sea Scrolls; Bible Interpretation; Magic and Mysticism; Jewish-Christian Relations; Judaism and Hellenism)
Professor Pauline Allen FBA
Early Christian literature, especially the study of letters and homilies and the edition of Greek texts; translations from Greek and Latin
Professor Svetlana Alpers FBA
Painting and its cultural circumstances in Europe, 1500 to the present; writing about and critical attitudes to looking at art; the practice and uses of photography
Professor Michael Anderson FBA
Social, economic and geographic histories of Scotland, the UK, and Western Europe since the 18th century. Social economy of households and families
Professor Sara Arber FBA
Gender and ageing, including care-giving, older men, pensions; health inequalities, including women's health, social capital, cross-national comparisons; sociology of sleep, research on women, couples and ageing
Professor Aleida Assmann FBA
English and American literature; cultural anthropology; media history of writing and reading; individual, collective and cultural memory, with special emphasis on Holocaust, trauma and the construction of national narratives
Professor Stephen Ball FBA
Sociology of education with a focus on policy processes and social class equalities.
Professor Stephen Bann FBA
Professor John Barclay FBA
Early Judaism and the formation of early Christian thought and practice in the first century; the theology of Paul and the history of its reception
Professor Eileen Barker FBA
Professor John Barrell FBA
English Language and Literature History of a specific country Britain in the 18th & 19th C. History of Art Theory of Painting Cultural Geography
Professor Melanie Bartley FBA
Research on unemployment, social inequality, gender and other social determinants of health over the life course
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Marsh, James H.. "George Hainsworth". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 04 March 2015, Historica Canada. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/george-hainsworth. Accessed 28 January 2022.
Marsh, J. (2015). George Hainsworth. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/george-hainsworth
Marsh, James H.. "George Hainsworth." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published January 22, 2008; Last Edited March 04, 2015.
The Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "George Hainsworth," by James H. Marsh, Accessed January 28, 2022, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/george-hainsworth
George Hainsworth
Article by James H. Marsh
Published Online January 22, 2008
George Hainsworth, hockey player (b at Toronto 26 June 1895; d near Gravenhurst, Ont 9 Oct 1950).
He won the Vezina Trophy the first 3 years it was awarded and recorded 22 shutouts in 44 games in 1928-29.
George Hainsworth, hockey player (b at Toronto 26 June 1895; d near Gravenhurst, Ont 9 Oct 1950). He joined the Montréal Canadiens in 1926 as a replacement for Georges Vézina and was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1933, playing 3 1/2 years before returning briefly to Montréal. He won the Vézina Trophy the first 3 years it was awarded and recorded 22 shutouts in 44 games in 1928-29 and 94 shutouts in 464 NHL games. He was killed in a car crash.
Interested in sports?
Douglas Harvey
Lionel Conacher
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thedapc@gmail.com
Mental health and substance use disorders affect all communities nationwide. With commitment and support, those impacted can embark on a journey of improved health and overall wellness. The focus of National Recovery Month this September is to educate others about substance use disorders and co-occurring disorders, the effectiveness of treatment and recovery services, and that recovery is possible. Recovery Month spreads the message that people can and do recover every day and to celebrate all people that make the journey of recovery possible. Through Recovery Month, people become more aware and able to recognize the signs of mental health and substance use disorders and people in need of recovery services are encouraged to seek help.
The 2021 National Recovery Month theme, “Recovery is For Everyone: Every Person, Every Family, Every Community,” reminds people in recovery and those who support them that no one is alone in the journey through recovery. Everyone’s journey is different, but we are all in this together. Check out the comprehensive list of resources below for those looking for help with a substance use and/or mental health disorder for themselves or a loved one:
Addiction Recovery Programs
Alcoholics Anonymous: A fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem (https://www.aa.org/)
Cocaine Anonymous: A fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others recover from their addiction (https://ca.org/)
Crystal Meth Anonymous: A fellowship whose primary purpose is to lead a sober life and to carry the message of recovery to the crystal meth addict who still suffers (https://www.crystalmeth.org/)
Dual Recovery Anonymous: A fellowship of men & women who meet to support each other in their common recovery from two No-Fault illnesses: an emotional or psychiatric illness and chemical dependency (http://draonline.qwknetllc.com/index.html)
Heroin Anonymous: A 12-Step program adapted from AA’s 12 steps and concerned solely with the personal recovery and continued sobriety of heroin addicts (http://heroinanonymous.org/)
In The Rooms: A Global Recovery Community: Information, resources, live meetings and discussion groups for individuals recovering from addiction and related issues (https://www.intherooms.com/home/)
Life Ring Secular Recovery: An abstinence based, secular, and self-empowered addiction recovery pathway offering text, voice and video meetings (https://www.lifering.org/online-meetings)
Marijuana Anonymous: A fellowship of people who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from marijuana addiction (https://marijuana-anonymous.org/)
Narcotics Anonymous: A fellowship of people for whom drugs had become a major problem and who meet regularly to help each other stay clean (https://www.na.org/)
Nicotine Anonymous: Information, resources, and access to directories of in-person and virtual meetings for those struggling with their nicotine use (https://www.nicotine-anonymous.org/)
Refuge Recovery: Program grounded in the belief that Buddhist principles and practices create a strong foundation for a path to freedom from addiction (https://www.refugerecovery.org/)
Unity Recovery: Virtual meetings for those in recovery from mental health and/or substance use disorders and/or their loved ones (https://unityrecovery.org/digital-recovery-meetings)
We Connect: Daily virtual meetings for those dealing with substance use, mental health concerns, eating disorders, as well as any other quality of life concerns (https://www.weconnectrecovery.com/free-online-support-meetings)
Blogs, Forums & Apps
Addiction Guide’s Recovery Blog Post Collection: Inspirational and helpful blogs for men and women struggling with addiction (https://feedly.com/addiction)
The Addiction Recovery Guide Message Boards: A place to share stories and ask questions about treatment for all kinds of addictions (https://www.addictionrecoveryguide.org/message_board/)
Connections App: A free smartphone app that is scientifically proven to support patients in recovery by reducing relapse and promoting pro-social engagement (https://www.addictionpolicy.org/connections-app)
Recovery Speakers: Online library of recovery audio recordings (https://www.recoveryspeakers.com/)
SMART Recovery Forum: An online meeting place for those going through the SMART program to discuss their progress and support one another (https://www.smartrecovery.org/community/forum.php#.VlfM3HarRhE)
Sober Recovery Forum: A place where people who are living sober lifestyles after suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction can openly share stories and experiences (https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/)
Toll-Free (English): 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Toll-Free (español): 1-888-628-9454
Website: http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline
Toll-Free: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)
Support available Monday-Friday: 10am-8pm
New York State Hopeline
Toll-Free 1-877-846-7369/Text: HOPENY (467369) (24/7 chemical dependency and problem gambling hotline)
Website: https://oasas.ny.gov/hopeline
Partnership to End Addiction
Text: CONNECT to 55753 or schedule a phone call at https://drugfree.org/
Free and confidential help available for parents, grandparents, or another family member who is struggling with a child’s drug or alcohol abuse. Services include personalized course of action for individuals and families, as well as information and resources. Support is available in English and Spanish.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Helpline
Toll-Free: 1-800-662-HELP (24/7 Treatment Referral Information Service in English and español)
Website: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-treatment
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: Information, resources, and support for those struggling with suicidal thoughts and their loved ones, as well as those who have lost someone to suicide (https://afsp.org/)
Drug Crisis in Our Backyard: A non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals and families struggling with substance misuse (https://www.drugcrisisinourbackyard.org/)
Friends of Recovery New York: Recovery Support Services: Information about some of the recovery support services offered across New York State (https://for-ny.org/recovery-support/)
Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation: Offers prevention and recovery solutions nationwide and across the entire continuum of care for youth and adults (https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/)
The Mental Health Association of Westchester: Information, resources, treatment, and support (https://www.mhawestchester.org/)
NAMI Westchester: Information and resources for those living with a mental health condition and their loved ones (https://namiwestchester.org)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: Latest research on alcohol use and its impact on human health and well-being (https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/)
National Institute on Drug Abuse: Latest research on drug use and its consequences including pertinent information on commonly abused drugs, emerging trends, and clinical resources (https://www.drugabuse.gov/)
Office of Addiction Services and Supports
Prevention, treatment, and recovery information and resources (https://oasas.ny.gov/)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: Treatment, prevention, and recovery information and resources (https://www.samhsa.gov/)
Support for Loved Ones
Al-Anon Family Groups: A mutual support program for people whose lives have been affected by someone else’s drinking (https://al-anon.org/)
Nar-Anon Family Groups: Information, resources, and access to directories of in-person and virtual meetings for friends and family of addicts (https://www.nar-anon.org/naranon/)
National Alliance on Mental Illness Help for Family Members and Caregivers: Information and resources including family to family programs and family support groups (https://www.nami.org/Your-Journey/Family-Members-and-Caregivers)
Partnership to End Addiction: Information, support, and resources for families pertaining to substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery (https://drugfree.org/)
American Psychiatric Association Foundation’s Find a Psychiatrist Tool: https://finder.psychiatry.org/?_ga=1.178573348.1294726899.1456165962
American Psychological Association’s Find a Psychologist Tool: https://locator.apa.org/?_ga=1.122738379.1939913089.1455299072
Buprenorphine Treatment Locator: https://www.samhsa.gov/medication-assisted-treatment/practitioner-program-data/treatment-practitioner-locator
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator: https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
The DAPC is also offering the following webinars during National Recovery Month to help the community learn more about the help and resources available to those struggling with a mental health and/or substance use disorder:
Talk Saves Lives: An Introduction to Suicide Prevention:
September 16th, 7pm
Maria Idoni, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Hudson Valley/Westchester Area Director, will discuss the general scope of suicide, the research on prevention, and what people can do to fight suicide.
Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qr9nHQDKQ7e_f38QmuGWrg
Shatter the Stigma:
Dr. Jonathan Avery, Director of Addiction Psychiatry and an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, will present along with a panel of people in recovery who will share their stories.
Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f2inCU2kS4miYOlR6XSrgg
One Foot Out the Door?
For parents, the impending departure of their child for college generates a wide variety of emotions. There is pride felt for their child’s great accomplishments and excitement for all the
By: Kathryn Ferrara There are a variety of factors which impact the likelihood of an individual developing a substance use and/or mental health disorder. Effective prevention reduces the risk factors
Taking Care of Your Mental Health During Stressful Times
By: Kathryn Ferrara As COVID-19 has spread throughout the country it brought many devastating effects to communities, including a rapid rise in mental health struggles. According to recent data from
The DAPC has a new website
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Laila Bullock Biography
Born in: Louisiana
Famous as: Daughter of Sandra Bullock
Family Members American Female
mother: Sandra Bullock
siblings: Louis Bullock
U.S. State: Louisiana
Blue Ivy Carter
Summer Rain Rutler
Bodhi Ransom Green
American People
Who is Laila Bullock?
Laila Bullock is the adopted daughter of Academy Award-winning Hollywood actress Sandra Bullock. She was adopted by her mother following a lengthy adoption procedure that took over three years to finalize. Sandra, who had to fight the paparazzi to keep her identity secret during this time, allowed 'People' to publish an exclusive photoshoot of her family captured by her photographer boyfriend, Bryan Randall, soon after the adoption process completed. The cover shoot was also accompanied by an exclusive interview in which the press got their first inside look into the family. Her mother has often talked to news outlets and on television shows about her two children and how she was inspired to adopt twice. Sandra, who is involved with many charities, has often advocated child adoption, leading by her own example. With her story, she has also inspired many fans and other celebrities to do the same, including broadcast journalist and television personality Hoda Kotb who interviewed her about her family in June 2018.
https://diversao.r7.com/tv-e-entretenimento/fotos/que-linda-filha-de-sandra-bullock-mostra-estilo-em-ferias-na-neve-10072017#!/foto/1
Rise to Stardom
Laila Bullock first gained media attention soon after she was adopted by actress, Sandra Bullock, at the age of 3.5 years in late 2015. In December that year, she appeared on the cover of 'People' magazine, in her mother's arms, while her adoptive brother Louis tagged along. The pictures were taken by Los Angeles photographer Bryan Randall, who has been dating Sandra since 2015. Their perfect family photos soon won over the hearts of numerous fans. Since then, Laila has appeared on the news many times and has also made public appearances occasionally with her mother, brother and Randall.
Celebrities Who Have Insane Phobias
There is not much known about Laila Bullock's early childhood before being adopted by Sandra Bullock on December 2, 2015, except that she was born in 2012 and was raised in a foster home in Louisiana. Her grandmother Helga Bullock was an opera singer who died in 2004. Her brother, Louis Bardo Bullock, who was born in January 2010, was also adopted from Louisiana. Laila and her brother live with their mother Sandra Bullock in her $16m mansion in Beverley Hills, California. They are reportedly very close to Skylar – the 23-year-old daughter of Sandra's boyfriend Bryan Randall from his previous relationship with Janine Staten – who often spends time playing with the two children. According to a report published on 'Star' in late November 2017, Sandra might have legally adopted Skylar as her daughter as well.
Path to a Family
In June 2018, during an emotional interview with Hoda Kotb on the 'Today' show, Laila Bullock's mother Sandra Bullock opened up about her journey to motherhood and how she came to build a compete family via adoption. She was still in double minds about the adoption process in the early 2000s, but after the 5 Hurricane Katrina struck her then-home city, New Orleans, in 2005, she had a feeling that her child was there. Following a four-year-long process, she and her then husband, Jesse James, co-adopted Louis Bullock in January 2010. They revealed the news in April 2010, after she won the 'Oscar' for playing Leigh Anne Tuohy, who had adopted celebrated American football player Michael Oher, in the biographical drama 'The Blind Side' (2009).
Unfortunately, she split with her husband reports within a few days after the Oscars and continued the adoption process as a single mother. In the same interview, she shared how a three-year-old Louis led her to Laila by telling her girlfriends that she was going to have a baby daughter soon while she was not even thinking about that. Looking back, now she thinks it happened around the same time when Laila was born, even though she adopted her three years later, following another complicated adoption procedure.
Sandra fostered Laila before she was adopted, during which time they were once snapped by the paparazzi, putting the adoption process in jeopardy. Sandra, who had legally agreed to shield Laila from prying eyes, had to beg lawyers to protect her. While speaking with 'InStyle' magazine in May 2018, Sandra revealed that Laila had developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from her fear of being photographed. In December 2015, she finally left foster care in Louisiana to join Bullock’s family and bring "pink and glitter in the house mixed with LEGOs and Batmans". Talking to 'People' following the adoption, her mother revealed how the two siblings had formed an inseparable bond, adding that "the exact right children came to me at the exact right time." In her interview with Kotb, Sandra also mentioned how her two children were the exact opposites of each other, with Louis being the "wise" one and Laila being "the aggressor", but they "balance each out". According to her mother, Laila is "unafraid" and is "a fighter".
Laila Bullock Bio As PDF
- Laila Bullock Biography
- https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/laila-bullock-42897.php
(American)
Maceo Robert Martinez
Saint West
Royalty Brown
Flynn Timothy Stocklin
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EPA Announces Over $335,000 for Projects in U.S.-Mexico Border Region
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced $335,855.48 in grants awarded through the Border 2020: U.S.-Mexico Environmental Program. The grants will fund projects benefitting the U.S.-Mexico border region between Texas and New Mexico and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamulipas. In addition to these funds, recipient organizations will contribute an additional $426,630 for the support and implementation of these projects which benefit a region where more than 15 million people reside.
“Through the Border 2020 program, EPA works with federal, state, and local partners to enhance communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border,” said Regional Administrator Ken McQueen. “EPA is proud to fund these projects that, coupled with local investment, will improve environmental and health outcomes and benefit millions of people in the border communities of both nations.”
“The Border 2020 program has been successful at working to improve health and living conditions along the US-Mexico border as evident with the funding of these projects,” said Calixto Mateos-Hanel, Managing Director of the North American Development Bank (NADB). “NADB is pleased to work in collaboration on Border 2020 with EPA and the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and look forward to continuing this partnership with the Border 2025 program.”
“We are grateful to the EPA for the Border 2020 project, benefiting El Paso and our Sister City, Cd. Juarez,” said El Paso Mayor Dee Margo. “I look forward to continued collaboration along the border, supporting our environment and bi-national community.”
The following projects received funding:
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua: Two projects in Ciudad Juarez received funding totaling $121,501.40. The Patronato del Museo de Nino’s Transboundary Water Conservation Project received $61,041.40 for community education and outreach. The project will engage area youth with interactive exhibits that teach about agricultural, urban, and industrial water usage. The Municipal Water and Sanitation Board of Ciudad Juarez received $60,460 for the Sustainable Use of Biosolids Through Composting Project. The project will establish a program for composting biosolids including compost production techniques, field procedures, machinery management, and personnel training. It will produce 100 tons of compost suitable for use in parks and gardens.
Nava, Coahuila: The Secretariat of Environment for the State of Coahuila received $82,100 to analyze emissions from coal-fired plants in the area. The project will use dispersion modeling to study the emissions, and will include an analysis of health impacts. At the end of the project, a public campaign will be conducted to inform stakeholders of the results.
El Paso, Texas : The El Paso area received grants for two projects totaling $32,350 in funding. The El Paso County received $9,980 for the Urban Heat Island Mapping Project, which will educate the community on warming of urban areas and improve quality of life for the community. The project will produce heat maps for El Paso and engage the public to understand heat-related issues and solutions. The El Paso City-County Office of Emergency Management received $22,370 for two binational tabletop discussions and three functional exercises involving a rail tank car leak. The funding will also help purchase spill mitigation equipment that can quickly be deployed to protect the environment and the community in the event of a hazardous materials spill from rail tanks in El Paso, Texas and Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua.
Amistad Reservoir, Del Rio, Texas: The Southwest Research Institute received $99,904 for work with U.S. and Mexican federal and state partners to delineate the Goodenough Spring Catchment Area Project by the Amistad Reservoir. The project team aims to help stakeholders in the region better understand the catchment area to help effectively manage and protect it for long term-use sustainability.
These funds were awarded in partnership with the North American Development Bank under the Border 2020: U.S.-Mexico Environmental Program, a binational effort to protect human health and the environment in the U.S.-Mexico border region.
For more about EPA’s Border 2020 program: https://www.epa.gov/usmexicoborder
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Sued Over Twitter Message? Can You Defame Someone In 140 Characters Or Less?
Hello. My Name Is Martin -- And I'm A Creative Administrator
What The Netflix Prize Tells Us About Innovation, Collaboration, Info Sharing And Game Theory
from the fascinating! dept
Tue, Jul 28th 2009 1:46pm — Mike Masnick
While there's lots of attention being paid to the fact that some team has won the Netflix Prize (it probably won't be announced who until September), there's an interesting side story that's worth noting -- which is how important collaboration was in breaking through. Plenty of studies have shown that innovation happens much faster when you have the free and open sharing of information (rather than having it locked up, say, by patents), as that mixture of different approaches and ideas allows for breakthroughs to come much faster (in fact, studies have shown that much of the success in Silicon Valley came from the free sharing of info across companies as people rapidly moved around).
And, in fact, that's exactly what happened with the Netflix Prize. The first "team" to break the 10% finish line, BellKor, was actually a merger of a few separate teams, allowing them to combine different pieces of different approaches to actually leap ahead. So, rather than trying to hoard the idea for themselves to claim the entire prize themselves, they realized it was better to team up to make the real breakthrough.
But, then a second interesting thing happened. Since the rules allowed another 30 days for other teams to offer up solutions that beat the first one, a bunch of other teams realized that it was in their best interest to team up as well, in order to leap-frog the original team. So they created the aptly named Ensemble -- and, again, the merger of various teams and different approaches allowed them to jump forward. It's not clear who actually had the best solution (both teams claim they did), but it's nice to see yet another clear example of the value of collaboration in innovation, against the standard myth of the lone inventor having a "flash of genius." It's also interesting to see the game theory aspect of the "loser teams" recognizing that they had to team up in order to catch up with the leader in the space.
Filed Under: collaboration, game theory, innovation, netflix prize
Companies: netflix
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How To Destroy Innovation And Competition: Putting SHOP SAFE Act Into Innovation And Competition Act
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jul 2009 @ 2:11pm
"it's nice to see yet another clear example of the value of collaboration in innovation, against the standard myth of the lone inventor having a "flash of genius.""
This would be true if we were talking of going from zero to 100 on something. But in this case, they are taking a very, very good system and trying to make it 10% better, in a very complex system.
So even if it is 10% better, the original 90% was done by a very, very small group of people having "AH-HA!" moments.
Reset, try again, another false conclusion.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
:Lobo Santo (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 2:41pm
Hello Coward!
To state my view succinctly: "Put up or shut up."
(Or if you're a Wikipedian: "citation needed.")
Do you have any *Real* data concerning the orginating algorithms and history thereof by which Netflix does it's suggestion system?
If so, please, by all means, support your conclusion with evidence.
CrushU, 28 Jul 2009 @ 2:45pm
After all, the wheel was only 10% better, if that, from the squares we had been using before. I mean, really, cutting the corners off?
We had a very good system in our squares before that, so all the people that thought of the wheel really didn't improve it very much.
DJ (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 2:57pm
Well done! I think that is the singularly most crushing argument I've seen on this site.
Space Pirate, 28 Jul 2009 @ 2:47pm
Was netflix built by a single ah-ha person? And can you really justify the the apparently arbitrary distinction between a 'small' group and the rather unknown team sizes?
Ahaaa!
Actually, it's pretty simple. If 100 people made 90%, and 100 people made the last 10%, which one was more effecient?
The developer of Cinematch is Stan Lanning. I think he may be the original "ah-ha!" guy on this one.
Plus most of this is older news, the contest started in 2006 and BellKor was spotted in 2008.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-03/mf_netflix
information on Cinematch from 2002:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.12/netflix.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=
"Actually, it's pretty simple. If 100 people made 90%, and 100 people made the last 10%, which one was more effecient?"
You're applying an efficiency quotient to innovation. Coming up with the platform/process/invention (whatever you wanna call it) in the first place may have been the "hard part", but that doesn't mean that improving upon it was any easier.
No, all I am saying is that Mike is trying to say that "ah-ha" single inventor stuff is a "standard myth" and that this is much more effecient. My feeling is that for capping off the last 10.09%, perhaps that is right. But the original idea came down to a single guy or a very small group having an 'ah-ha' moment, not a crowdsource suddenly suggesting something.
The last 10% is probably much harder work than the first 90, so you need more people to push it there. But to deny how the first 90% happened is sort of like denying that a band or artist (like Trent Reznor) has an advantage because of his position in the public's mind, built up over years in the traditional music business.
But hey, what do I know? I apparently need to (retake) econ 101. ;)
Ryan, 28 Jul 2009 @ 3:41pm
Did you read the article? Given the exact same problem, individual groups failed to achieve a solution. Once they collaborated, they were able to make significant advances. Nobody ever said one person or two people or five people or fifty people are incapable of advancing technology; however, the more people the better, and compartmentalizing individual advances prevents symbiosis.
Actually, you're the first one to mention "ah-ha" moments. Mike's article is just describing how collaboration furthered innovation. He's NOT (that means he's NOT) taking anything away from orignial programmers/inventors. It's more of a "hooray-for-collaborative-innovation" article than anything else.
Which means you're arguing about a secondary issue....
Mike Masnick (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 11:06pm
Once again, we've actually shown numerous bits of research that have shown that the "a-ha" moment is mostly a myth. Not entirely, of course -- it has happened. But nearly all innovation comes out of a general advancement in knowledge, done in collaboration with groups.
It's the difference between recognizing that innovation is an ongoing process and thinking it's a single step.
You have obviously never heard of experience curves or the law of diminishing returns...
Matt Tate (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 3:45pm
My thoughts exactly. I'm not a doctor, but I figure that it's pretty difficult to make a good system 10% better, or else Netflix wouldn't put up a giant prize to do it.
Derek Kerton (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 10:48pm
Yes. He DOES need to take Ecoc 101 again.
Ender, 29 Jul 2009 @ 2:04am
To paraphrase a famous physicist, you aren't right, you aren't event wrong.
First of all, try to be aware of how the NetFlix contest actually worked. None of the participants ever had access to the code behind CineMatch. So each and every one of the participating teams had to reinvent the 90% you claim to be an 'A-ha' moment before they could proceed to do something better. Because of this, it's quite likely that the original NetFlix algorithm and both of the new potential winners have little to nothing in common.
There was no 'A-ha' moment to speak of, not in the sense you understand it anyway. Look up 'collaborative filtering' and papers related to this subject as well as 'neural networks' and 'machine learning'. There are many ideas and concepts that build upon each other, and the stared in the early 90s. When did you say the NetFlix team had the 'A-ha' moment and invented it all?
Anonymous Coward, 29 Jul 2009 @ 5:45am
"?When did you say the NetFlix team had the 'A-ha' moment and invented it all?"
I don't suggest for a minute that they have an "a-ha!" moment and invented the whole thing from nothing. Heck, someone had to invent math first, right?
But there is a time between "Netflix had nothing" and "netflix had something" where the idea was formed, honed, and put into place. It wasn't an infinite number of monkey moment, it wasn't a worldwide collaberation between hundreds of people, it was a guy or a small ground of guys sitting around working on an idea.
The real trick isn't in the methods used, it's in the idea and the general implementation of the idea. If you get 100 people in a room and don't tell them what to do, just to "invent something good" and you will get probably as many ideas as people - they certainly won't come up with one single idea. However, if you give them a focused goal, like "make this 10% better", it can work. My point is the initial spark doesn't come by rubbing a large group of people together. The original idea is as likely to have from two guys scribbling something on a coffee shop napkin or something quietly taking a bath and going "damn, we could do something like this" and bringing it into the next development meeting.
Truth is, if you can get large groups of people to work on something for free (or for the chance at a prize), and it is cheaper than trying to do it yourself, then it is good business. Netflix did 90% of the work in house over the last few years, honing and refining, and now they will pay out $1,000,000 for the last 10% of the deal. In house, it might have taken them 10 more years and 10s of millions to accomplish. But we wouldn't be here without the first 90%.
The "a-ha" moment in the case isn't coming up with a theory (collaborative filtering), but rather in realizing and understanding ways that it could be used to better provide movies to users.
MindParadox (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 2:43pm
actually, it's not a false conclusion, nowhere in the article does it assume going from 0 to 100%, as a matter of fact, it simply says "breaking through" and "cross the 10% finish line"
besides, you have the false conclusion of 0 to 100% with your statement that "the original 90% was done by a very, very small group of people having "AH-HA!" moments." by the simple fact that you assume (falsely i might add) that the team of people working at netflix on their system was very small (it wasn't, believe me) or that it was ONLY their team that came up with the entirety of the idea (again, it wasn't, trust me, or do the research :))
but hey, pop another quarter in, and you get 4 more tries!
You make a good point.
Netflix didn't start from Zero. Collaborative Filtering had been researched and published out of some other source. Xerox PARC, and a woman PhD at MIT, if I remember correctly.
I'm sure Netflix wasn't so stupid as to start from square one. They, like all inventors today, stood on the shoulders of many giants.
So, lemme see, they started based on prior work and academic research, probably used competitive analysis, too, looking at companies like Amazon and Tivo. They did a great job taking the concept further. They then realized they needed more collaborative brainpower to make it to the goal. I think the case against "flashes of genius" is pretty well made in this example.
Mike Masnick (profile), 29 Jul 2009 @ 1:23am
You're thinking of Pattie Maes, and yes, Netflix is in many ways indebted to her and many others when it came to collaborative filtering (Maes, too, built on the work of earlier pioneers in the space). The idea that some lone engineer at Netflix had a flash of genius is a myth.
PRMan, 28 Jul 2009 @ 3:10pm
Cool, can they work on Watch Instantly now?
It stalls 2-3 times per episode.
Maybe it's Time Warner's fault, but I don't know.
drkkgt, 28 Jul 2009 @ 4:00pm
Re: Cool, can they work on Watch Instantly now?
wow, i use it a lot in LA with charter and have only had it hiccup once - but then it was my network connection since I was browsing the web from my lapti at the same time, couldnt load google and then everything came back and netflix kept on going. maybe TW is mucking with you.
Ri, 28 Jul 2009 @ 3:18pm
They DID as a matter of fact violate dozens of patents. Every functional piece of software does!
Re: Patents
For my argument on that point, I shall simply use one of the most versatile words in the English language.
Dude?!
washii (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 4:26pm
Re: Re: Patents
But it's not as fun to examine the versatility of the word like with the F-Word.
Mark Blafkin (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 3:32pm
Interesting but ...
not sure this is really an argument against patents.
Yes, it is a reminder that 'flash of genius' moments are relatively rare and that most innovative products are the result of collaboration and teamwork. However, often the teamwork happens inside singular companies...leading to great leaps. Sometimes those leaps are not enough, and companies need to buy other firms (think iPod and Kindle) or work out collaborative development agreements or licensing deals with other firms. Nothing about patents prevent this kind of collaboration. In fact, they often make it EASIER not harder because rights are clearly defined during the negotiation for collaboration.
This NetFlix prize is a great story, but it makes a case against ignoring the possibility of collaboration with perceived competitors. It doesn't make a convincing case against patents. Just look at Dean Kamen. No one was put more emphasis on creative competitions that encourage collaboration/coopetition, yet he is one of the biggest backers of the patent system.
Re: Interesting but ...
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I don't think it's patents as a whole, that people are against. Rather, it's the way patent law is being handled in corporate America.
Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 28 Jul 2009 @ 4:50pm
Mark Blafkin spouted:
Nothing about patents prevent this kind of collaboration. In fact, they often make it EASIER not harder because rights are clearly defined during the negotiation for collaboration.
Patents don’t give you rights you didn’t have before. All they do is take away rights.
Mike Masnick (profile), 28 Jul 2009 @ 4:58pm
Just look at Dean Kamen. No one was put more emphasis on creative competitions that encourage collaboration/coopetition, yet he is one of the biggest backers of the patent system.
And have you noticed the commercial success of his various projects? It's no surprise that his businesses have been mediocre when it comes to the commercial market. He's someone who believes in the "big bang" theories of innovation rather than recognizing the importance of it being an ongoing process. Those who recognize the ongoing process are the ones who succeed in the market.
Re: Re: Interesting but ...
Yep. If he hadn't kept it such a secret, he might have known better what the market reaction would be to the Segway (a.k.a. IT). He might have even been able to modify the project to deliver something with stronger demand.
Mark Blafkin (profile), 29 Jul 2009 @ 7:05am
First, I don't think the commercial success is relevant to the point I'm trying to make at all. Kamen's FIRST competitions for robotics are designed to encourage cooperation in the pursuit of prizes. Designing competitions that incentivize cooperation is actually something he spends a lot of time doing. He does believe in 'ongoing processes' of invention and cooperation to achieve such goals, despite what you assert here.
Second, you are simply wrong about his commercial success being "mediocre." While the Segway has not revolutionized cities the way some suggested it would, he has built a fortune by inventing, producing, and licensing dozens of medical technologies that have not only been runaway commercial successes but have also won him humanitarian and technology awards around the world. You are right that his attempt to essentially go it alone on producing and marketing the Segway was a mistake, but that seems less because of a lack of innovation than a lack of understanding of the market.
@Lawrence
Perhaps you misunderstood me. I know that some argue that patents "take away rights" of the populace at large. The patent system is a bargain that is designed incentivize the exploration of useful arts and sciences. Whether that bargain is currently the topic of serious debate.
However, I do not believe there is any question that patents confer special rights and privileges onto those that hold them.
Kazi, 28 Jul 2009 @ 4:14pm
Who says that they only had to do only 10%? maybe they had to redo the whole thing because the system as previously designed reached it's limitations.
It's possible (Though I have no idea) that the work could have been done from the ground up ... redesigned the whole thing instead of working with something that already optimized completely.
Ryan D, 28 Jul 2009 @ 4:44pm
...since it was ONLY 10% they might as well have not even done it anyways, I mean, if other people already had the 90%, why even make the effort if it only gains 10%
DS, 28 Jul 2009 @ 4:50pm
Wait, so someone did something, WITHOUT the gov't spending (my) money to fund it?
Gasp!
The Cenobyte, 29 Jul 2009 @ 11:38am
Ok so no Ah-Ha
What about all the data that shows it really doesn't matter what you do to try and keep information private and in your control. You had a story just a few days ago that showed that progress in the macro form can be plotted easily and doesn't seem to change no matter what extra factors are involved. So I will ask again, if progress on the Marco level doesn't change with or without patents, free licences, etc, how can we conclude that patents are a problem?
gvhgv, 15 Jul 2015 @ 12:15am
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tubemate video downloader, 28 Jan 2016 @ 9:37am
nice post try and good
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Diary & Writing
When your child doesn’t want to go to school
Nadja Ebner
Definition not found... 20 Feb 18 · 3 min read
In January we went to visit our family in Slovenia. We didn’t see any positive consequences of our visit. We were exhausted, and it was hard to get back into our daily routine. The most significant problem occurred when it was time to get back to school. Lejla skipped two weeks of school, and she had a lot of catching up to do - tons of homework. But the most heartbreaking issue we had with Erik. He just didn’t want to go back to school.
One notable change happened when we came back. School board informed us that Erik could not use school bus anymore. He was using it with his older sister for three months, but because he is still four years old and there is no supervision on the bus, they prohibited it. Erik was somewhat proud that he is big enough that he was able to drive to school with other kids on the school bus. It was easier in every aspect. We said goodbye when the bus arrived, we waved to each other and school day began.
Excited to be on the school bus
Now I am taking kids to school with public transportation. We have to change buses and wait a lot. It takes us almost an hour to get to school - with school bus it was only 5 minutes. When we approach the school, Erik gets in a defensive position. “I don’t want to go to school!” he whines. When we get to the door of a classroom, he uses all his four limbs to block the entrance. He grabs me with fury and doesn’t want to let go.
It is not always like that. Some days he gives me a peck on my cheek and says: "See you later!" If it comes a day full of school resentment I go into the classroom with him. I play with his schoolmates, and it is okay afterward.
I asked him many times, why he refuses to go. Of course, there are many reasons. Everything is new to him. They have different approaches how to do things. They speak in a language he doesn’t understand. They speak English only to him, and he is not that good in English either. A lot of times he doesn’t understand what is going on around him. “Why are kids shouting at me? What are they saying? What do they want? What are teacher's instructions? Why do they get angry if I don’t do anything and I just keep my mouths shut? Why do they shout? I just don’t know what is happening…”
He tries to interpret his surroundings as much as he can, but sometimes it can be a huge overload. I get it. Everything is new and strange. The worst thing is I cannot do much about it. He will have to fight his own battles.
I do feel guilty sometimes. It was me, who threw my son into the unknown world. He wasn’t asking for it. He needs to follow his parent's capriciousness.
On the other hand, I am convincing myself that in the end, my kids will get tough. They’ll learn many languages, they’ll know how to handle new surroundings, and they'll have the ability to change when requirements change.
Every transition is hard. Changes are hard. But in my experience, results repay the input.
We have some difficult time in front of us, especially because we’ll move once again. But we'll do it with an optimistic prospect in our heads. We overcame many obstacles already; together we'll manage whatever is yet to come.
Into sunset
Edited: 3 years ago by Nadja Ebner
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400 years later, honesty about colonialism, genocide is part of marking Pilgrims’ legacy
by Hans Holznagel | published on Nov 24, 2020
As the United States marks Thanksgiving, a holiday immersed in stories about a small group of Europeans and their arrival in North America, people of faith are among those turning a critical eye to that history – and to Christians’ role in the genocide of the people who were living here.
Churches interested in interrogating what has happened since the Mayflower’s passengers stepped ashore on Nov. 11, 1620, will find plenty of user-friendly resources online, including several from United Church of Christ-related sources.
A recent one is a Nov. 16 blog post by the Rev. Kelly Gallagher, an associate conference minister of the UCC’s Southern New England Conference. In it – and in a web page of “First Encounter” resources for individual and church study – she called on Christians to acknowledge centuries of violence committed by and in the name of the church. (To read her article, click the image at right — John Gast’s 1872 painting, “American Progress,” illustrating the doctrine of “Manifest Destiny.”)
Gallagher described “the Pilgrim and Puritan communities who took this land as their own in the name of their Christian institution.” This, she said, marked just one point – albeit an important one – on a spectrum of conquest and white supremacy from the Middle Ages to today. She said the church has been an actor and enabler all along that spectrum, backed up by decrees ranging from the 15th-century papal Doctrine of Discovery to the 19th-century concept of “Manifest Destiny.”
“The dehumanizing, removal and genocide of the Indigenous communities by people who called themselves Christians laid the groundwork in the very fabric of this society for the Trail of Tears, for slavery, for Jim Crow, for alienation, oppression and continued genocide of people of color in this nation to this day,” Gallagher wrote.
Efforts to come to terms with this legacy have been going on for years in the United Church of Christ. To name just a few:
In early 2020, the Congregational Library and Archives in Boston published “Plymouth’s Pilgrims: Their Church, Their World and Ours.” Available in youth and adult versions, the curriculum includes detailed study questions.
Sacred Conversations to End Racism, a learning program offered by the UCC’s Justice and Local Church Ministries and authored by the Rev. Velda Love, minister of racial justice, requires leadership from a trained facilitator.
In 2019, the UCC’s racial justice program offered multiple resources – still available at this web page – commemorating 400 years since the arrival of Africans in what is now North America.
In 2013, the UCC General Synod passed a resolution calling on the entire church “to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, which authorized the genocide of Native peoples and the theft of Native lands.” A web page of resources contains further reflections.
From 2012 to 2015, the UCC’s South Dakota Conference transferred tribal land parcels –whose deeds it had inherited from predecessor bodies at the formation of the UCC in 1957 – to the Indigenous-led Dakota Association.
In 1993, the UCC issued a formal, public apology for the church’s role in the overthrow of the Native Hawaiian monarchy 100 years earlier. This was followed in ensuing years by a redress process, including financial grants to Native Hawaiian causes.
Study, lament and repentance are important, Gallagher said, and there are things Christians and their churches can do now to start to make amends. Examples in New England – described at the website of the Massachusetts-based Interfaith Opportunities Network – include support for Indigenous land conservancies, cultural centers and redress initiatives.
“The good news is that we have the capacity – and the teachings – to behave differently,” Gallagher said. “We have a faith that teaches us humility, repentance, relationship and community. We have a set of core values and ethics that can be called upon to overcome the self-serving, power seeking, dominating values we have claimed and perpetuated for so long.
“…The time has come to hold up the faith that is truly at the core of Jesus’ teachings – a faith of walking with, instead of over – a faith of inclusion instead of exclusion, a faith that calls us to repent, and repair, and seek a way forward for all.”
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The Heritage of Hope
23 September 2020 | Story Prof Theodore Petrus | Photo Supplied
Prof Theodore Petrus is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of the Free State.
As we as a South African nation prepare to celebrate Heritage Day on 24 September, and as we reflect on our heritage during Heritage Month, what stands out clearly is that this year’s heritage celebrations will be somewhat … different. It will not be like previous celebrations because as a country, we – along with our fellow continental and global citizens – have experienced what can be described as one of the greatest health, social, and economic challenges that we as a species have ever faced. The repercussions and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for some time to come. And it is this realisation that may cast a little damper on our celebrations during this #Heritage Month.
But what can our shared heritage as South Africans teach us about who we are as a people, and how can this knowledge help us to adapt to and overcome the long-term challenges wrought not only by the pandemic, but also by the many other challenges facing us?
Heritage Day is a celebration of our cultural heritage and diversity as a nation. It presents us with an opportunity to reflect on our individual and collective heritage. It is also an opportunity for us to take stock of the cultural and other resources that enable and empower us to take ownership of what we want to be as a nation, as a country, as a people.
So, in view of the questions raised earlier, here are some ideas on what I think our shared heritage can teach us:
1. The heritage of where we come from
Inasmuch as our past is a painful one – a past that still has lingering effects decades after the transition to a democratic dispensation – it still plays a fundamental role in shaping who we are now, and who we want to become.
Colonialism and apartheid sought to suppress our indigenous cultures and traditions, and had a negative impact on our psyche, self-confidence, and dignity as indigenous and African people. But one positive that came from this, is that if it was not for our shared heritage of colonialism and apartheid, we probably would not have become the nation we needed to become to bring it to an end.
Instead of destroying symbols of that painful past, we need to shift our perspective to re-interpret those symbols in a new way. The power of cultural symbols lies in their meanings. Symbolic anthropologist Victor Turner spoke about the ‘multivocality of symbols’, meaning that we can ascribe whatever meanings to our cultural symbols we choose. Let us reflect on how we can change the current meanings we ascribe to our cultural symbols that reflect an awareness of how the heritage of where we come from does not keep us trapped in negative and painful meanings of these symbols, but instead inspire us to create new positive meanings.
2. The heritage of where we are now
After 1994, we began the process of creating a new contemporary heritage as a nation struggling to free itself of the burden of a painful past. And while it was difficult, we have made significant strides. Yes, we do still face challenges rooted in the past: institutional and structural violence; race and diversity-related issues; intercultural and intergroup conflicts; crime and violence against men, women, and children; corruption at various levels of governance; and others. We are also faced with ‘newer’ challenges as a country that is part of the globalised world. Poverty, inequality, unemployment, slow economic growth, and ailing infrastructure are all contemporary problems, some of them rooted in the past, others the product of the contemporary context.
What can we learn from our shared heritage of where we are now that can help us to overcome these contemporary challenges? We need to remind ourselves of what we are capable of as a nation. We have ended an oppressive regime, not once but twice. And, with all of the challenges, problems, and obstacles, we are still here.
3. The heritage of where we are going
This might sound strange, because heritage usually refers to the past and present. Rarely do we speak of heritage in a future-oriented context. However, as a nation, given our past and given our present, where we come from and where we are now determines where we are going.
As South Africans, we need to ask the question: where do we want to go? Are we heading in that direction? If not, how do we change course so that we do go in the right direction? I have no simple answer. But what I can suggest is that it should start with critical self-reflection, both individually and collectively. We also need to ask ourselves what legacy we want to leave for future generations. Do we want them to still be struggling with the same problems and challenges that we are dealing with right now? Or do we want to leave them a legacy of a nation that stood up to its challenges, took ownership of them, and found a way to overcome them?
A globally devastating pandemic. A painful past. A present wrought with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. As a South African, as a child of the soil, I know that as a nation we can overcome, and we can emerge better and stronger. That is our heritage. The heritage of hope.
Opinion article by Prof Theodore Petrus, Department of Anthropology, University of the Free State
Full accreditation for MBA programme
The University of the Free State (UFS) this week received full accreditation for its MBA-programme from the Council on Higher Education (CHE). The accreditation was granted after the programme was conditionally accredited earlier this year.
“The full accreditation serves as proof that the key elements of a good teaching programme are in place. After the programme received conditional accreditation, a few areas were addressed and a progress report was submitted to the CHE. This was followed by a site visit by a delegation from the CHE. We are happy about the successful outcome of the accreditation process,” said Prof Helena van Zyl, Director of the UFS’s School of Management.
“In the initial evaluation done by the CHE it was already mentioned that the UFS’s MBA-programme clearly and significantly contributes to students’ knowledge and skills, is relevant for the workplace and appropriately resourced. Now we can build on the further extension of the quality of the programme,” said Prof van Zyl.
“We welcome the CHE’s accreditation process. It confirms and protects the integrity of the group of high quality MBA-programmes in South Africa,” said Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.
The UFS’s online MBA-programme will only be evaluated next year because the CHE is still in the process of developing criteria for the on-line programmes of tertiary institutions.
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Matt's Hi-Res Hide-Out
Ford Mustang (5th gen) 2005-2013
Thread: Ford Mustang (5th gen) 2005-2013
Size Queen
Wichita, Kansas USA
Ford introduced a redesigned 2005 model year Mustang at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, codenamed "S-197," that was based on the new D2C platform. Developed under the direction of Chief Engineer Hau Thai-Tang and exterior styling designer Sid Ramnarace, the fifth-generation Mustang's styling echoes the fastback Mustang models of the late-1960s. Ford's senior vice president of design, J Mays, called it "retro-futurism." The fifth-generation Mustang is manufactured at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Flat Rock, Michigan.
For the 2005 to 2010 production years, the base model was powered by a 210 hp (157 kW; 213 PS) cast-iron block 4.0 L SOHC V6, while the GT used an aluminum block 4.6 L SOHC 3-valve Modular V8 with variable camshaft timing (VCT) that produced 300 hp (224 kW; 304 PS). Base models had a Tremec 3650 5-speed manual transmission with Ford's 5R55S 5-speed automatic being optional. Automatic GTs also featured this, but manual GTs had the Tremec TR-3650 5-speed.
The 2010 model year Mustang was released in the spring of 2009 with a redesigned exterior and a reduced drag coefficient of 4% on base models and 7% on GT models. The engine for base Mustangs remained unchanged, while GTs 4.6 L V8 was revised resulting in 315 hp (235 kW; 319 PS) at 6000 rpm and 325 lb·ft (441 N·m) of torque at 4255 rpm. Other mechanical features included new spring rates and dampers, traction and stability control system standard on all models, and new wheel sizes.
Engines were revised for 2011, and transmission options included the Getrag-Ford MT82 6-speed manual or the 6R80 6-speed automatic based on the ZF 6HP26 transmission licensed for production by Ford. Electric power steering replaced the conventional hydraulic version. A new 3.72 L (227 cu. in.) aluminum block V6 engine weighed 40 lb (18 kg) less than the previous version. With 24 valves and Twin Independent Variable Cam Timing (TiVCT), it produced 305 hp (227 kW; 309 PS) and 280 lb·ft (380 N·m) of torque. The 3.7 L engine came with a new dual exhaust; gas mileage increased to 19 city/31 highway mpg. GT models included a 32-valve 5.0 L engine (4951cc or 302.13 cu. in.) (also referred to as the "Coyote".) producing 412 hp and 390 ft-lbs of torque. Brembo brakes are optional along with 19-inch wheels and performance tires.
The Shelby GT500's 5.4 L supercharged V8 block was made of aluminum making it 102 lb (46 kg) lighter than the iron units in previous years. It was rated at 550 hp (410 kW; 558 PS) and 510 lb·ft (690 N·m) of torque.
For 2012, a new Mustang Boss 302 version was introduced. The engine had 444 hp (331 kW; 450 PS) and 380 lb·ft (520 N·m) of torque. A "Laguna Seca" edition was also available.
In spring 2012, Ford launched an update to the Mustang line as an early 2013 model. The Shelby GT500 has a new 5.8 L supercharged V8 producing 662 hp (494 kW; 671 PS). Shelby and Boss engines came with a six-speed manual transmission. The GT and V6 models revised styling incorporated the grille and air intakes from the 2010–2011 GT500. The GT's 5.0 liter V8 gained eight horsepower from 412 hp (307 kW; 418 PS) to 420 hp (313 kW; 426 PS).
Mustang past and future
Ford Mustang (1st gen) 1964–1973
Ford Mustang (2nd gen) 1974-1978
Ford Mustang (3rd gen) 1979-1993
Ford Mustang (6th gen) 2014-
05MUST10.jpg (315.5 KB, 55 views)
Last edited by Man of Steel; 08-23-2019 at 11:21 PM.
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Prescribed burns continue along North Rim
Hazardous fuels reduction treatment takes place in 2017 on the North Kaibab. (Photo by David Hercher, U.S. Forest Service)
GRAND CANYON, Ariz. — A series of prescribed fire projects began Nov. 30 and will continue throughout the week at various locations across the North Kaibab Ranger District on the Kaibab National Forest.
Approximately 6,000 acres are scheduled to be ignited at the following specific locations Nov. 30, and continuing through Dec. 5.
• Big Saddle Rx Project: 1/2 mile north of Crazy Jug, 957 acres.
• Big Ridge Rx Project: 2 miles east of Jacob Lake, 472 acres.
• Buffalo Hill Rx Project: mile SE of Jacob Lake, 4,519 acres.
The National Park Service may conduct a prescribed fire project which is anticipated to begin Dec. 4, on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
• Slopes Rx Project: west of North Entrance Station, 500+ acres.
During operations, fire personnel and vehicles working in these vicinities may be visible to the public. Motorists are reminded to slow down and drive with heightened caution when passing through active project areas.
All prescribed burning on the Kaibab National Forest is subject to approval by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
Information provided by NPS
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Home / Labelling / Register of Protected GIs and Other Terms / Geographical Indications / McLaren Vale
McLaren Vale Geographical Indication
McLaren Vale (region)
The Australian Geographical Indication "McLaren Vale" was entered in the Register of Protected Names on 2 September 1997 in response to a direction received by the Registrar from the Presiding Member of the Geographical Indications Committee acting under Section 40Z of the WAC Act 1980.
Noarlunga topographic map
Scale 1:50,000
Sheet 6627-4 & PT 6527-1
By authority of the Minister of Lands.
Aerial Photography, Svy SA 3099 & 3111, March 1984.
Photolithography: D.J. Woolman, Government Printer, 1987.
Yankalilla topographic map
Sheet 6527-2
Aerial Photography, Svy SA 3725, November 1987.
Photolithography: A.B. Caudell, Government Printer, 1990.
Willunga topographic map
Aerial Photography, Svy SA 4196, September 1990.
Photolithography: A. Secker, Government Printer, 1992.
The Geographical Indication "McLaren Vale" is located within the zone "Fleurieu", within the State of South Australia, Australia.
The beginning point of the boundary is the coastline on Map Noarlunga (Sheet 6627-4 & PT 6527-1) at grid reference TG717164, thence proceeding in an easterly direction following grid line 164 to the foot bridge at Hallett Cove Railway Station grid reference TG724164 and thence continuing in a north easterly and then easterly direction along Perry Barr Road to its intersection with Aroona Road at grid reference TG743172 and then in a northerly and then north easterly direction along Aroona Road to its intersection with Lonsdale Road at grid reference TG751175, thence north along Lonsdale Road to the intersection with Majors Road at grid reference TG751179, thence proceeding east along Majors Road to its intersection with Main South Road at grid reference TG773182, thence proceeding south to the intersection with Blacks Road at grid reference TG773179 and thence proceed in a generally east and then south east direction along Blacks Road to the intersection with Oakridge Road at grid reference TG815177, thence proceed in a south easterly direction along Oakridge Road to its intersection with Main Road at TG835160, thence in a generally south westerly direction along Main Road to its intersection with Sugarloaf Road at grid reference TG827147 then south westerly along Sugarloaf Road to the intersection with Chandlers Hill Road and Grants Gully Road at grid reference TG823145, thence in a generally southerly then easterly direction along Grants Gully Road to the spillway at Clarendon weir at grid reference TG843118, thence following the centre line of the Onkarparinga River in a generally easterly then southerly direction to the foot bridge south of the Mount Bold Reservoir spillway at grid reference TG887106, thence in a direct line in a generally southerly direction to its intersection with Razorback and Boothill Roads at grid reference TG889095, thence in a generally southerly direction to the dam at grid reference TG889093, thence along the watercourse in a southerly direction to the intersection with Dashwood Gully Road at grid reference TG886067, thence east south east along Dashwood Gully Road for 500 metres to the intersection with Sharondon Park Road at grid reference TG891065, thence in a generally southerly direction along Sharondon Park Road to the northern boundary of Kuipto Forest at grid reference TG888054, thence following the vehicular track in a generally north west direction along the north west and northern boundary of Kuipto Forest and thence south along the western boundary of Kuitpo Forest to the intersection with Peter Creek Road at grid reference TG875049, thence proceeding south along Peter Creek Road until the intersection with Knotts Hill Road at grid reference TG881035, thence proceeds in a generally westerly direction along Knotts Hill Road to the intersection with Toops Road at grid reference TG864033, thence along Toops Road in a southerly direction to the intersection with Wickhams Hill Road at grid reference TG860021, thence continuing south along Wickhams Hill Road to the intersection with Range and Glenview Roads at grid reference TG862015, thence proceeding along Range Road in a south south westerly direction to intersect with Pennys Hill Road at grid reference TF835968, thence continuing south south west along Range Road to edge of map at grid reference TF833966; on to Map Willunga (Sheet 6627-3) at grid reference TF833966, thence continuing to proceed along Range Road in a south westerly direction to the intersection with Willunga Hill Road at grid reference TF798918, thence proceeding in a north westerly direction along Willunga Hill Road to the intersection with the 200 metre contour at grid reference TF785926, thence west south west along the 200 metre contour to the intersection with Bangor Road at grid reference TF777923, thence continuing along the 200 metre contour to the intersection with Delabole Road at grid reference TF761913, thence continuing in a south westerly direction along the 200 metre contour to intersect with Loud Hill Road at grid reference TF749903, thence continuing along the 200 metre contour in a south westerly direction to edge of map at grid reference TF727887; on to Map Yankalilla (Sheet 6527-2) at grid reference TF727887, thence continuing in a south westerly direction along the 200 metre contour to the intersection with Old Sellicks Hill Road at grid reference TF708868, thence proceeding along Old Sellicks Hill Road in a north westerly direction to the intersection with Main South Road at grid reference TF703874, thence proceeding along Main South Road in a south westerly direction to the Rail cutting at grid reference TF687851, thence proceeding along the Cadastral boundary in a north westerly direction to the coastline at grid reference TF675858 and proceeds thence in a generally northerly direction along the coastline to the beginning point at grid reference TG717164 thus completing the defined area.
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India Development Coalition Promotes Social Entrepreneurship Oct.18-19, 2014
– WHEATON, Illinois, USA
India Development Coalition of America (IDCA) hosted its 12th international conference here at Illinois Institute of Technology, Rice Campus, Oct. 18 and 19 with the theme “Inspiring Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship for Poverty Alleviation and Climate Change Mitigation in India.” Consul General of India in Chicago Ausaf Sayeed delivered a brief opening address. Keynote speakers from India included Dr. Nandita Pathak, Director, J. P. Foundation, Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh, and Pooja Murada, Director Communications, S. M. Sehgal Foundation. Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Award Honoree Suresh Virmani was a special guest. There were panels on water management, livelihoods, health care, climate change and education.
Pathak recounted how Chitrakoot, known only from the Ramayana, has been placed squarely on India’s development map by Nanaji Deshmukh, who was responsible for making this pioneering initiative her own life mission. The J.P. Foundation says its primary focus is to create sustainable livelihoods for marginal and small farmers in the region. Graduate couples live in these villages to cultivate grassroots self-reliance. Agricultural yield needs to be supplemented by livestock and entrepreneurial activities, speakers said, despite the introduction of short yield crops to boost the seasonal harvests. At the same time, the Foundation strives to preserve and promote local traditional knowledge and culture, they said.<\p>
Sayeed, who during his diplomatic career, was responsible for India’s West Africa programs offering concessional lines of credit to countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, pointed out that such initiatives are required even here in the U.S., which now has 17.5 million hungry people. He praised Prime Minister Modi’s Swacha Bharat campaign and wondered at the 75 million poor people who, given the opportunity to open bank accounts with zero balance, signed up with all their savings. He regretted the lack of youth in the audience, considering that India will soon be “the youngest country.”<\p>
Murada’s fascinating presentation “Community Radio: a Catalyst for Rural Empowerment and Transformation” described how the Sehgal Foundation is working in Gaghar tribal village, almost two hours from Delhi, with community-led media to highlight rural voices that otherwise do not have a platform. It takes only a computer and radio to get started and broadcasts now continue for 12 hours daily, organizers showed. Most of the rural audience listens in through radio-enabled mobile phones to discussions affecting their immediate lives and surroundings. Here again, the program “Kisse Kahani” is devoted to retelling and preserving ancestral stories. The children’s program counts Sesame Street and UNICEF as partners.<\p>
Virmani described his work amid the 100,000 Indian, mostly Gujarati, expatriates in Oman, where he lived 36 years. With help from the Indian government, he led a group of professionals to build a school there. The story was again that of self-reliance imposed by a largely indifferent alien regime, he noted.<\p>
Professor Aseem Z. Ansari described the initiatives of the Khorana Program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in exposing American students to India’s developmental needs. For example, India is the largest producer of milk in the world but produces only 2-3 kilos per cow compared to 30 kilos in Wisconsin. The reason for this dramatic difference in yield was discovered rather fortuitously by his university colleague, while on a field trip in India, Ansari said. Today, the program sends 50 students all over India and brings back a 100 Indian students, who the faculty find “simply amazing,” he said. Other fascinating and inspiring stories were told over the two days of the conference either for the first time or by way of updates to ongoing projects.<\p>
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Calling hours for fallen Marine held Thursday
Brandon Garabrant, 19, killed last month in Afghanistan
Updated: 11:55 PM EDT Jul 3, 2014
Family and friends gathered Thursday to remember a local Marine killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.Click to view News 9's report.Lance Cpl. Brandon Garabrant, 19, died along with two other Marines in Afghanistan less than eight weeks after being deployed.Friends described him as well-liked and well-respected."He is in heaven, standing before the greatest example of service and sacrifice," said Tricia Rousseau, a friend.The adulations for Garabrant numbered longer than the line of people waiting to pay their final respects Thursday."It's unreal. It's like, ‘Man, this is a brother I grew up with and he's gone.’ It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense at this point," said Chris Sharrock, a friend.Friends said the 2013 graduate of ConVal Regional High School lived a life of service. He was a volunteer firefighter and an active member of his church, as well as a Marine.His death was especially difficult for Temple Fire Chief George Clark, who was a family friend and Marine veteran."Knowing the sacrifice and serving his country and Brandon was always no matter what … he was the one who always stepped up to the plate,” said Clark.In some cases, people waited in line at the school for more than an hour to pay respects.Garabrant’s funeral services are scheduled for Saturday morning,
PETERBOROUGH, N.H. —
Family and friends gathered Thursday to remember a local Marine killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
Click to view News 9's report.
Lance Cpl. Brandon Garabrant, 19, died along with two other Marines in Afghanistan less than eight weeks after being deployed.
Friends described him as well-liked and well-respected.
"He is in heaven, standing before the greatest example of service and sacrifice," said Tricia Rousseau, a friend.
The adulations for Garabrant numbered longer than the line of people waiting to pay their final respects Thursday.
"It's unreal. It's like, ‘Man, this is a brother I grew up with and he's gone.’ It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense at this point," said Chris Sharrock, a friend.
Friends said the 2013 graduate of ConVal Regional High School lived a life of service. He was a volunteer firefighter and an active member of his church, as well as a Marine.
His death was especially difficult for Temple Fire Chief George Clark, who was a family friend and Marine veteran.
"Knowing the sacrifice and serving his country and Brandon was always no matter what … he was the one who always stepped up to the plate,” said Clark.
In some cases, people waited in line at the school for more than an hour to pay respects.
Garabrant’s funeral services are scheduled for Saturday morning,
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Rockettes end season as New York tallies record COVID cases
People stand in front of Radio City Music Hall after cancellations of The Rockettes performance due to COVID-19 cases on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, in New York. New York City had been mostly spared the worst of the big surge in COVID-19 cases that has taken place across the northeastern and midwestern U.S. since Thanksgiving, but the situation has been changing rapidly in recent days. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
NEW YORK (AP) — New York state reported Friday that just over 21,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day, the highest single-day total for new cases since testing became widely available.
Just under half of the positive results were in the city, where lines were growing at testing stations, the Rockettes Christmas show was canceled for the season and some Broadway shows nixed performances because of outbreaks among cast members.
One-day snapshots of virus statistics can be an unreliable way to measure trends, but the new record punctuated a steady increase that started in the western part of the state in late October, and has taken off in New York City in the past week as the omicron variant spreads.
“This is changing so quickly. The numbers are going up exponentially by day,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a Friday appearance on CNN.
The steep rise in infections should be of great concern but it was inevitable, given the quick spread of the newest variant, said Dr. Denis Nash, the executive director of the Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health at the City University of New York.
“We were already headed for a winter surge with delta, which is a very concerning thing in its own right,” Nash said.
“But then you layer on top of that the new omicron variant, which is more transmissible from an infection standpoint,” he said, noting that current vaccines may be unable to contain the “more invasive” new variant.
Statewide, New York averaged 13,257 positive tests per day over the seven-day period that ended Thursday. That is up 71% from two weeks ago.
The state’s previous one-day high for positive tests came on Jan. 14, 2021, when just under 20,000 people tested positive.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has warned that omicron is in “full force,” but said the city’s hospitals are “very strong and stable right now” and far better able to handle COVID-19 than when the pandemic began. Treatments have improved, and more than 70% of eligible city residents are fully vaccinated, he noted.
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COVID-19 fears dash hopes for the holiday season — again
by: MICHAEL RUBINKAM, JENNIFER PELTZ and ALI SWENSON, Associated Press
Pedestrians wait in line to get tested for COVID-19 at a mobile testing site near the NYU campus in New York, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Lines again stretch around blocks at some COVID-19 testing sites. Refrigerated mobile morgues are on order, and parts of Europe are re-tightening borders amid a winter spike in coronavirus infections.
This year’s holiday season was supposed to be a do-over for last year’s subdued celebrations. Instead it’s turning into a redux of restrictions, cancellations and rising angst over the never-ending pandemic.
“This year, more than ever, everyone needed a holiday,” said John McNulty, owner of Thief, a Brooklyn bar that had to close for a day earlier this week because of an infected employee.
As Christmas and New Year’s approach, a pall lingers over the season. Infections are soaring around the world, and the quickly spreading omicron variant has triggered new restrictions on travel and public gatherings reminiscent of the dark days of 2020.
The accelerating cancellations seem “to have thrown us back into that sort of zombie world of the first week of March of the pandemic last year,” said Jonathan Neame, the chief executive of Shepherd Neame, Britain’s oldest brewery and chain of pubs.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that the city would “watch very carefully” whether to press ahead with plans to welcome a fully vaccinated crowd back to Times Square on New Year’s Eve, a celebration that was canceled last year. It’s a go for now, the mayor said.
Multiple Broadway shows, including “Hamilton,” “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” called off performances in recent days because of virus cases in their all-vaccinated casts and crews. California and New York brought back indoor mask mandates.
In Philadelphia, Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole urged residents not to go to indoor holiday parties, calling them “just too dangerous.” She ruefully advised against even getting together with other households for Christmas.
“It’s hard, and it feels impossible, and it feels unfair,” she acknowledged, but “I have to say it.”
Many Americans have spent nearly two years on an emotional seesaw as the pandemic worsened and waned in cycles and the hoped-for return to normal was repeatedly pushed back. A recent poll by MTV Entertainment Group and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that nearly half of American adults said the pandemic made it harder to maintain their mental health.
“I think for a large number of people, there was this hopefulness that this holiday season was going to be different. So if you went in with that expectation, and you weren’t adjusting it over the last couple of months, I think you’re going to be all the more disappointed,” said Dr. Vaile Wright, a clinical psychologist who works for the American Psychological Association.
Her advice? “Try to get to a place where the expectation is that this is going to continue on for a while, and if you’re feeling stuck, try to find ways to make your life meaningful right now.”
The world has been on edge over the omicron variant, which could become the dominant strain of coronavirus in weeks in many nations. Adding to that anxiety is the fact that hospitals in many U.S. states are already slammed with patients infected with the delta variant. The military and the National Guard have been enlisted to help at hospitals.
Refrigerated mobile morgues, a grim symbol of the early pandemic, are making a comeback. In Arizona, one county voted this week to spend $65,000 on a mobile morgue because virus deaths have far exceeded capacity. A hospital in Akron, Ohio, brought in a trailer to more than triple its morgue space, Cleveland television station WKYC reported.
Some people are striving to keep fears in check.
Yvonne Sidella, a “50-something” from Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, views the steep rise in cases and the looming threat of omicron with equanimity. She does not plan to let it alter holiday plans that include spending time with her elderly parents, her four children and her eight grandchildren.
“I’m not going to let this blow my spirit,” said Sidella, a manufacturing supervisor. “I’m going to continue to live my life. I’m not going to let this here thing have me afraid to go places or to do things or to touch people.”
After last winter’s brutal COVID-19 surge forced him to skip his usual Christmas trip home to visit family and friends in the Midwest, Don Carlson booked plane tickets in September. The college administrator in San Francisco figured with vaccinations available and a lower number of infections, the trip to Minneapolis and Nebraska would be fine.
Soon after, hospitals started filing up in the Midwest. Then came the discovery of the omicron variant.
Carlson, 59, couldn’t in good conscience make the trip, so he canceled. He will stay in Northern California and get together with a few vaccinated friends for small dinners around the holiday. He plans to do Zoom calls with the friends and relatives he would have visited.
“It’s disappointing, but what would be far more disappointing is spreading it to an elderly person in your family because you went through airports,” Carlson said. “I think it’s just prudent to stay put.”
Dakota LeRoy, a 25-year-old product designer in Manhattan who is fully vaccinated, had reasoned that it would be safe to go to a Christmas-themed dive bar to celebrate a new job last week. But on Wednesday she found she was infected with COVID-19, after a scratchy throat and some sniffles prompted her to get tested before a holiday visit with her boyfriend’s family in Boston.
“Everyone I know is either positive or has been in direct contact with somebody who is,” she said.
April Burns, a bill collector for New York City, said things are far from being back to normal. But she considers the worst to be over.
“Last year, everybody was shut down. At least now, things are open, you know. You can get out more, and you still get to see people,” said Burns, who is unvaccinated and was standing in line Thursday near Wall Street to comply with city rules that require her to be tested weekly.
Rubinkam reported from Hamburg, Pennsylvania, and Swenson and Peltz from New York. Associated Press writers Bobby Caina Calvan in New York, Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City and Pat Eaton-Robb in Columbia, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
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A List Of The Top Things To Do In Los Angeles At Night
All you need to know.
New Yorkers like to puff that their home turf is “the city that never sleeps,” but Angelinos can offer plenty of proof that L.A. is no slouch in the nightlife department, with plenty of cool after-dark activities. Here is a rundown of fun things to do at night in Los Angeles, whether you want culture, a great place to eat, or take in a panoramic vista.
Nighttime Activities
Situated at a highpoint of Griffith Park, nested among the luxury enclaves in the Hollywood Hills and just a short way from the iconic Hollywood sign, the white domes of the art deco observatory are another classic L.A. landmark. Better still, their public telescopes are available for free use by members of the public all year round.
You can drive here, but the intrepid might like to take one of the two sinuous walking routes, the Firebreak Trail or Fern Hill Nature Trail (aka Boy Scout Trail), both of which are around 1.3 miles long and offer spectacular views of the city. A note of caution – these are not well-marked routes, so you’d be best advised to attempt them before sundown or join an organized group hike (see below).
Stargazers will appreciate the daily updates that the observatory post online telling you what to look for and where. Expect to pay for parking and for tickets to the Samuel Oschin Planetarium if you want to make a day of it.
A popular destination for fishermen, diners, and mild thrill-seekers alike, Santa Monica Pier is a historic focal point for both locals and tourists. Brightly illuminated and adorned with the 85-foot high Ferris wheel (the world’s only solar-powered one), the pier has someone to offer everyone.
Described as “double-jointed,” Santa Monca Pier comprises two structures dating back to 1909 and 1916, conjoined by the Pacific Park amusement park. Beyond the entertainment arcades and rides, the boardwalk extends a further 500ft into the Pacific, providing wonderful views of the L.A. skyline.
A range of restaurants and cafes extend along the pier - we’d recommend Mexican fare and margaritas as the sun sets at Maria Sol at the very end of the pier. Alternatively, for a beachfront view, while you watch the game, Big Dean’s Ocean Front Café is an unpretentious local favorite.
Museum of Neon Art, Glendale
For over twenty years, this Glendale attraction celebrating all things neon has been providing an after-dark “Neon Cruise” in a British double-decker bus. The tour includes the marquee lights of L.A.’s downtown theatre district plus Hollywood’s glitz and glamour and culminates with Chinatown’s sparkling pagodas.
The museum offers a unique insight into the development of “noble” gases for advertising displays, including neon and its sister elements (learn that Krypton isn’t only Superman’s home planet). If you would prefer to tour the city’s illuminations on foot, the museum runs walking tours of the Miracle Mile, Chinatown, and Glendale.
Urban Light
If you haven’t had enough of the bright lights just yet, Urban Light is a dazzling public artwork by Chris Burden, situated outside the County Museum of Art at Wilshire Blvd. The artist, who died in 2015, had himself deliberately shot with a small-caliber rifle for the 1971 conceptual work Shoot. Urban Light comprises 202 cast iron lampposts which once illuminated the city streets. They were assembled in a large grid from the artist’s collection of restored street furniture, which began with a chance flea market find.
The installation is solar powered and switched on every night between dusk and 10pm.
Based at Universal Studios, Universal City, the CityWalk is a horseshoe-shaped enclave of restaurants, shopping outlets and, of course, a seven-story IMAX cinema with state-of-the-art LASER theater, making this the best screen in a town with no shortage of them.
Stores include Sketchers, Sephora and Abercrombie & Fitch and there are outlets selling Universal Studios and L.A. Dodgers memorabilia. There are plenty of places to dine out too, including Forrest Gump fans, the famous Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
Visitors report that CityWalk is compact enough to see in one visit, and outlets are reasonably priced. It’s open until 10pm nightly.
Nighttime Viewpoints
If that all sounds just a little too hectic and you’d rather head for a quiet romantic spot to watch the sunset and the Miracle Mile light up, we can recommend two in particular:
Universal City Overlook
Not far from Universal Studios on Mulholland Drive (made infamous by David Lynch) you’ll find the Universal City Overlook, a vantage point with scenic views of the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Hills.
Sierra Hiking Club
For those more energetic in their pursuit of a photo opportunity, join the Sierra Hiking Club for weekday evening hikes and monthly moonlit explorations of Griffith Park. Meeting at 7 pm, the group walks for approximately two hours, and hikes vary in difficulty, ranging from beginners (level 1) to strenuous (level 6).
Restaurants with a View
If all the hiking and touring is making you hungry, why not stop for a meal with a view of the bright lights? Our two top picks are:
Castaway in Burbank, which offers idyllic mountain and cityscape vistas, as well as a huge wine selection and a fascinatingly varied steak-forward menu. Diners have reported that it’s one of the most romantic date venues in LA but do ask to be seated on the patio for the best views.
Yamashiro Mansion
Alternatively, transport yourself to a Japanese mountain palace, at the Yamashiro Mansion, situated 250 feet above Hollywood Boulevard and named after a province near Kyoto, Japan. Opened in 1914, Yamashiro is a celebrated L.A. institution with an excellent sushi bar, ornate garden, and a huge collection of Asian antiques.
Hollywood Night Market
In summer, Yamashiro hosts the Hollywood Night Market with stalls, drinks, and live music. Remarkable panoramas of downtown Los Angeles are available from a range of vantage points within its lush grounds. Yamashiro is a feast for all the senses, its ornate pagodas contrasting with the gleaming Hollywood skyline.
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The Tourney Pod Bracket Reveal: Best One Hit Wonder Song
Soft Cell. Right Said Fred. Men Without Hats. Deep Blue Something. What do all these random phrases have in common? Well, they’re actually all bands that are known for one singular thing--one massive musical hit. That’s right, A-Tourneys, we’re finally getting to the bottom of an impossible question: Which One Hit Wonder is the best One Hit Wonder?
As we learned throughout our research for this episode of the podcast, One Hit Wonders have existed since the dawn of recorded popular music. There were virtually thousands of songs we could have chosen to include on our list of One Hit Wonders, so in order to narrow down an infinite list into one containing a bracket-friendly number of songs (in this case, sixty-four), we followed a semi-strict set of criteria. We consulted numerous ranking lists, focused our efforts on the latter half of the 20th century, and tried to find songs that were on the Billboard Hot 100 for...a while. What we landed with isn’t perfect--it never is--but we think it’s a solid collection of tunes that are both wildly famous and were birthed from artists that were otherwise never heard from again.
Some songs are ones you’d expect like Haddaway’s “What is Love” or “Macarena.” Some are songs where you might think some multi-hit band is actually the artist behind it, like Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music,” or Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling.” And then some are almost as obscure now as their artists are, like Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me with Science” or Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life.” But in addition to being One Hit Wonders, all of these songs are certified bangers, which is why we also made this Spotify playlist of all of them in rank order (also so you can play along at home).
We always like to reward our fans with things they want to hear about, so for this episode, we gotta give credit to A-Tourney at Pod Steven Hix. Not only did Steven give us the idea for this episode, but he’s also helping us predict which song will win as a special guest on the pod! The only thing you have to do now is listen, vote, and then listen again!!
8/2/21: Opening round voting
8/3/21: Second round voting
8/4/21: Sweet Sixteen voting
8/5/21: Elite Eight voting
8/6/21: Final Four voting
8/7/21: Championship voting
8/9/21 - Winner reveal on a brand new Results Episode of the podcast (and Steven's b-day!)
The Tourney Pod Bracket Reveal: Best Summer Olympic Event
DCOMmentaries Episode 10: Genius
The Tourney Pod Bracket Reveal: Best Bo Burnam Special
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Home Health & Wellbeing COVID-19: International Borders and Need to Keep Nigerians Safe
COVID-19: International Borders and Need to Keep Nigerians Safe
By Beti Baiye
Nigeria’s international borders re-opened on September 5, 2020. This came months after international and land borders were shut down in March to reduce the spread of COVID-19, as the media continued to report the increasing number of confirmed cases in Europe, the United States and Asia.
The airports were closed in order to limit the introduction of new infections into the country. The Nigerian aviation sector had been paralysed since the closure of the border, with many domestic airlines facing significant financial losses and thousands of jobs were put at risk. The financial damage to the Nigerian aviation industry will take a long time to recover from, at the same time as the country is also struggling with the adverse economic impact from the sharp drop in global oil prices.
The opening of the international borders was therefore welcomed by most Nigerians as well as corporate Nigeria, as the closure had disrupted the international flow of passengers – many families had been separated from each other for an extended period of time – and dded to the economic woes of the country. After months of protracted discussions, and multi-stakeholder consultation, measures were put in place to ensure the safe easing of restrictions and airport re-opening, so as to prevent a sharp resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria.
The goal was to reopen the aviation industry while sustaining the gains of the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP) was set up by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF-COVID-19), supported by the Coalition Against COVID (CA-COVID) with the aim of ensuring safe travel into the country. The NITP is hosted on the web portal of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and co-managed with Port Health Services of the Federal Ministry of Health and other government institutions, within PTF-COVID-19.
The platform hosted by the NCDC was also developed in partnership with Access Bank.
Passengers arriving in Nigeria must present a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) negative COVID-19 test, taken at least 120 hours (5 days) before travel, in their country of departure.
The negative PCR result would then need to be uploaded onto the NITP, and evidence of the negative result provided at the time of flight check-in and upon arrival in Nigeria. Passengers are then mandated to isolate for 7 days, and to take a repeat COVID-19 test on the 7th day.
Following a negative test result, they are free to continue with their lives. These measures are put in place to limit the risk of further introduction of the virus into the country. The countries with the highest passenger travel to Nigeria, also happen to be countries with high incidence of infections currently.
Many Nigerians have questioned why passengers returning to Nigeria must provide a PCR-negative test result before arriving in Nigeria, quarantine for 7 days and then take a second COVID-19 test seven days later. Nigeria is not unique in putting in place measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. As an initial precaution, the pre-boarding test ensures that all passengers are free from COVID-19 at the time of travel. That is why tests are required to be carried out as close as possible, to the time of departure.
Given that they could still have acquired the infection in the 5 days prior to travel, or during the flight, they are then required to test again on the 7 th day after arrival in Nigeria.
Other countries that put in place re-opening plans for their international borders such as Ghana and South Africa also require arriving passengers to provide a negative PCR test result. The Ghanaian border opened on September 1 with passengers required to provide a PCR negative COVID-19 test, taken at least 72 hours before arriving in the country.
The South African international borders are scheduled to re-open on the 1 st of October, with incoming passengers required to present a negative COVID-19 test result that is not older than 72 hours from the time of departure, and where they do not present a COVID-19 test on arrival, they will be required to quarantine at their own cost.
So, why has the Nigerian government put in place all these arrival protocols?
Nigerians have to think back to March 2020 when there was a fierce clamour for the government to close the international borders. Cases were rising in Europe, the US and Asia and there was a lot of concern that COVID-19 cases would rise exponentially in Nigeria and put undue pressure on our domestic health system. TV screens at the time were showing people on ventilators in Europe and there were fears that Nigeria would be overwhelmed with the rising cases.
Therefore, when preparations were being made for the re-opening of the international border, strict protocols were put in place as a precautionary measure. The NITP platform has experienced some technical challenges which are being quickly addressed by the NCDC, Port Health and other relevant stakeholders. Passengers who face challenges are required to email travelportal@ncdc.gov.ng if they need further assistance.
Accredited laboratories in collaboration with state governments agreed on the price of the repeat tests and are responsible for liaising with arriving passengers to remind them to come for their repeat COVID-19 test, after their seven days of quarantine. Other platforms such as the Instagram page ‘traveltonaija’ provide passengers with Nigeria related travel information. One traveler, @sassy-funke said, “You’re Godsent, period. Honestly, I didn’t and still don’t think the process is tedious and your info has 80 per cent to do with that. My attitude and approach is also that this is for mine & everybody else’s protection”.
Part of the #TakingResponsibility is that all Nigerians play their part in stopping the spread of COVID-19. The price charged for the repeat COVID-19 test is a small price to pay to keep the wider Nigerian population safe from COVID-19, especially our most vulnerable members of society. In addition, there needs to be stable and sustained funding made available to protect Nigeria’s health security, so the country is better prepared for future infectious disease outbreaks. Our collective action is needed to protect every citizen, everywhere, now and in the future.
Beti Baiye is a Programme Manager at Nigeria Health Watch (www.nigeriahealthwatch.com)
Previous articleCOVID-19: CSR and Healthcare Reforms in Nigeria
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Solar Cells Use Nanoparticles to Capture More Sunlight
Optical antennas could help solar cells produce more energy.
Katherine Bourzacarchive page
Inexpensive thin-film solar cells aren’t as efficient as conventional solar cells, but a new coating that incorporates nanoscale metallic particles could help close the gap. Broadband Solar, a startup spun out of Stanford University late last year, is developing coatings that increase the amount of light these solar cells absorb.
Solar antenna: The square at the center is an array of test solar cells being used to evaluate a coating that contains metallic nanoantennas tuned to the solar spectrum.
Based on computer models and initial experiments, an amorphous silicon cell could jump from converting about 8 percent of the energy in light into electricity to converting around 12 percent. That would make such cells competitive with the leading thin-film solar cells produced today, such as those made by First Solar, headquartered in Tempe, AZ, says Cyrus Wadia, codirector of the Cleantech to Market Program in the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Amorphous silicon has the advantage of being much more abundant than the materials used by First Solar. The coatings could also be applied to other types of thin-film solar cells, including First Solar’s, to increase their efficiency.
Broadband believes its coatings won’t increase the cost of these solar cells because they perform the same function as the transparent conductors used on all thin-film cells and could be deposited using the same equipment.
Broadband’s nanoscale metallic particles take incoming light and redirect it along the plane of the solar cell, says Mark Brongersma, professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford and scientific advisor to the company. As a result, each photon takes a longer path through the material, increasing its chances of dislodging an electron before it can reflect back out of the cell. The nanoparticles also increase light absorption by creating strong local electric fields.
The particles, which are essentially nanoscale antennas, are very similar to radio antennas, says Brongersma. They’re much smaller because the wavelengths they interact with are much shorter than radio waves. Just as conventional antennas can convert incoming radio waves into an electrical signal and transmit electrical signals as radio waves, these nanoantennas rely on electrical interactions to receive and transmit light in the optical spectrum.
Their interaction with light is so strong because incoming photons actually couple to the surface of metal nanoparticles in the form of surface waves called plasmons. These so-called plasmonic effects occur in nanostructures made from highly conductive metals such as copper, silver, and gold. Researchers are taking advantage of plasmonic effects to miniaturize optical computers, and to create higher-resolution light microscopes and lithography. Broadband is one of the first companies working to commercialize plasmonic solar cells.
In his lab at Stanford, Brongersma has experimented with different sizes and shapes of metallic nanostructures, using electron-beam lithography to carve them out one at a time. Different sizes and shapes of metal particles interact strongly with different colors of light, and will direct them at varying angles. The ideal solar-cell coating would contain nanoantennas varying in size and shape over just the right range to take advantage of all the wavelengths in the solar spectrum and send them through the cell at wide angles. However, this carving process is too laborious to be commercialized.
Through his work with Broadband, Brongersma is developing a much simpler method for making the tiny antennas over large areas. This involves a technique called “sputter deposition” that’s commonly used in industry to make thin metal films (including those that line some potato-chip bags). Sputtering works by bombarding a substrate with ionized metal. Under the right conditions, he says, “due to surface tension, the metal balls up into particles like water droplets on a waxed car.” The resulting nanoparticles vary in shape and size, which means they’ll interact with different wavelengths of light. “We rely on this randomness” to make the films responsive to the broad spectrum found in sunlight, he says.
Broadband is currently developing sputtering techniques for incorporating metal nanoantennas into transparent conductive oxide films over large areas. Being able to match the large scale of thin-film solar manufacturing will be key to commercializing these coatings.
The company has been using money from angel investors to test its plasmonic coatings on small prototype cells. So far, says Brongersma, enhanced current from the cells matches simulations. Broadband is currently seeking venture funding to scale up its processes, says CEO Anthony Defries.
by Katherine Bourzac
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Jack Grealish exclusive: 'It's been harder than I expected at City – but it's nice being a £100m player'
In his first newspaper interview since leaving Aston Villa for Man City, Grealish talks through the emotions around leaving his boyhood club
By John Percy 1 December 2021 • 11:17am
Grealish returns to Aston Villa on Wednesday where he spent seven years in the first team and 13 more in the academy before
There are two versions of Jack Grealish. The first one you probably know already - the £100 million Manchester City footballer, a poster boy for England’s new golden generation of talent and a man who inspires such devotion you can buy a calendar which features nothing but pictures of his calves.
Then there is the other Grealish - the bashful kid from Solihull devoted to his family, and still so gripped by self-doubt that he recently turned down an invitation to watch his beloved Aston Villa, for fear of the reception he would receive from his former fans.
On Wednesday, he really will be back at his old club, with City, and it is this second version of Jack Grealish - the thoughtful, caring one - who is talking Telegraph Sport through his tumult of emotions in his first newspaper interview since his transfer.
“I knew some people would be unhappy when I left, and I can see why some were like that, but I gave my all for the club every single year I was there. If I score, I’m not going to be celebrating,” he says. “At the end of the day I’m Jack Grealish from Solihull who loves the Villa. That will never change - I’ve had a season ticket since I was four and been a fan my whole life.
“I was so close to coming to the West Ham game [in October], as we’d played on Saturday against Palace. I was invited to sit with Christian [Purslow, Villa’s chief executive] but I wasn’t actually sure of the reception I was going to get so I didn’t go.
“Fingers crossed it will be a good one on Wednesday. I’ll clap all four sides of the ground no matter what. If I get booed it will be a bit awkward!”
Grealish’s return to the club where he spent seven years in the first team, and 13 in the academy before that, will be a highly-charged evening for him and his Villa-supporting family, nearly four months after that record-breaking move to the Premier League champions.
He became the most expensive footballer in British football history when City triggered the £100million release clause inserted into his contract and has no regrets over moving. City are in the thick of the Premier League title race and have dazzled in the Champions League, with Grealish scoring on his European debut against RB Leipzig.
Grealish scores against RB Leipzig in September Credit: Getty Images
City won the match 6-3 Credit: Getty Images
Yet those ties to Villa are not easily broken and he is still clearly moved when he reflects on the day he had to say his goodbyes.
“You can’t imagine how hard it was for me to leave,” he says. “I went for a run in the morning, a load of people took photographs of me and it was all on social [media] that I was staying.
“I came back and had to address all the players and staff. There were about 70 people there. I spoke for about a minute-and-a-half, then I had to stop because I had a lump in my throat and was crying.
“I was a bit surprised by some of the backlash when I left. I’d never want a toxic relationship with anyone there. I owe everything to them and I wouldn’t be at City without Villa.”
Grealish could easily have left long before City came calling. Tottenham Hotspur wanted him in the summer of 2018, and it was only the intervention of Villa’s new owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens which blocked the deal at the 11th hour.
Last year, he was targeted by Manchester United, under their former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“I was really close to going, but nothing happened in the end,” he says. “We played United in a pre-season game on Saturday and I wasn’t supposed to play in a cup game at Burton. But after the United game I said to Purslow and my agent [David Manasseh]‘if I’m not leaving, I’ll sign my new contract’.
“I went in with my dog on Tuesday morning, signed the deal, and played later that day. We all agreed on the clause and if any team hit that, it’s a win-win because it means I’ve had an unbelievable season and Villa got £100 million.”
Grealish came close to leaving Villa the summer before his move, but signed a contract that included a £100m release clause Credit: Getty Images
Grealish is still in regular contact with many of his old Villa team-mates, and is still part of a WhatsApp group with his close friend John McGinn, Matt Targett and Matty Cash, who recently picked Grealish’s brain over which vet should treat his pet dog.
Grealish’s association with local charities remains strong. He recently donated 300 balls to Birmingham Childrens’ Hospital, while 30 tickets have also been offered to Acorns Children’s Hospice for the reverse fixture at City on the final day of the season. Acorns ambassador and Villa fan Moin Younis, who was diagnosed with severe epidermolysis bullosa, is booked in for a box at the Etihad Stadium for that game.
Such are the ties that he hopes, one day, to return. “It’s a club that is so close to my heart and I definitely hope to go back there,” he said. “That’s always been in my mind. Ashley Young has done it and I want to do the same, 100 per cent.”
Like Young, and others including Gareth Barry and James Milner before him, Grealish’s time with Villa did have to end.
Their progress over the past three years from promotion to top-flight stability has been impressive, with Grealish - the local boy made good - at the forefront. But as he approached 26, and his peak years, the offer from City simply could not be turned down - not least because he craved the chance to test himself in European football.
“You only get one shot at your career and it just flies by,” he says. “I feel Villa are going towards that [Europe] but I just didn’t know how long it was going to take for us. If I hadn’t come here, I would have regretted it forever. I remember hearing Michael Owen say the same about Real Madrid.
“You look at most of my England team-mates - I was probably one of the last to play [in the] Champions League. You could probably count two or three who haven’t, such as Kalvin Phillips or Sam Johnstone.
“I’ve played four times in it now and loved every moment. It’s completely different to the Premier League, a completely different standard and way of playing.
“It’s the one we all want to win. The manager has come here and won everything else, we’re all desperate to win it and I’ve come here to try and help them.”
Grealish has loved his time in Manchester, but admits acclimatising has taken time: while he was front and centre of most of Villa’s attacking play, at City he is simply one of a stellar cast list, who tend to share the glory around.
“I’ve got so much more to give,” he said. “I’ve found it a lot more difficult than I thought I would, adapting to a different manager and team-mates. At first I thought I’d have more of the ball, get more assists and goals but it doesn’t work like that at all. I’ve had nowhere near as much of the ball as I used to get at Villa.
New club, different game – Jack Grealish
“I wouldn’t say I’ve struggled, but I found it hard to get used to at the start. I’ve not had the assists and goals I got last season, but I’m never one to doubt myself.”
And what of the price-tag - has being a £100million player fazed him? “I couldn’t care less about that,” he insisted. “There’s a spotlight on you but, if anything, it’s a nice thing to have as the first British £100million player.”
If Grealish does ever have a flutter of self-doubt, he need only look around the City dressing room at team-mates such as Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and the outstanding Joao Cancelo to realise that the first season under Guardiola can be a slow-burner. They have all flourished after modifying their game under the City manager, whose standards remain dizzyingly high.
“Some games this season he’s literally won on his own, from stuff he’s got us to do on the training pitch, with little tactics or tweaks. He’s an unbelievable manager and obsessed with football,” says Grealish. “You don’t see much of him in the building, but we see him on the pitches and in meetings. He has a lot of people working with him but 99 per cent of it comes from him.
“Every game we have a different way of setting up and it helps us so much.
“It’s weird because I’ve always classed myself as an off-the-cuff player. Last season I was playing left-wing and Dean Smith would say ‘if you feel like it’s right to go inside, I trust you and go and do it’.
“Here, it’s more structured and completely different. That is what I mean about adapting. There’s lots of meetings and a lot to get used to.”
Grealish is already a popular addition to the City squad, and he points to the assistance of England team-mates Phil Foden (“He’ll go down as one of the greatest English players”), Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker and John Stones for helping him settle in.
He has also fulfilled an ambition of playing alongside his idol Kevin De Bruyne, who is also expected to return soon after contracting Covid-19. There is one City player, however, who has taken Grealish’s breath away.
“Joao [Cancelo] is unreal! I can’t tell you how good he is, honestly one of the best players I’ve ever played with,” he says, laughing. “He’s loud, and a funny guy. He doesn’t speak much English but I’ve got a good connection with him.
“In the first season he struggled a bit, but this season he’s been so good. So has ‘Walks’ [Walker] - he’s different to Joao, as he’s more of a defender who will give it to the players who can hurt you. But he was amazing against PSG last week - Neymar and Mbappe couldn’t get past him.”
Joao Cancelo has been Grealish's standout player at City Credit: Getty Images
And so back to Villa, and the stadium Grealish has called home for so much of his life. It may only be four months since he moved up the M6, but much has changed at his old club, notably the manager. For all the excitement Grealish feels at his impending reunion with his old team-mates, the fact that Dean Smith will not be there for a quick handshake and hello is perhaps his only regret.
“I was devastated to see Dean go. I FaceTimed him straight away after the news and spoke to him for about 20 minutes,” he says. “I was so happy to see him go straight back in at Norwich. I actually watched his first Norwich game on a stream, with the Villa game on at the same time.
“He’s one of the best human beings I’ve ever come across. My family absolutely loves his family to bits.
“The day I left Villa, after I spoke to the staff, I shook everyone’s hand. But I gave the gaffer a big hug.”
Jack Grealish,
Manchester City FC,
Aston Villa FC,
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Saint Thomas CEO’s salary, benefits soar
Walter F. Roche Jr.
wroche@tennessean.com;
Saint Thomas Health’s top executive, Dr. Michael Schatzlein, saw his salary and benefits jump more than 60 percent in the last fiscal year, climbing by $770,682 to over $2 million.
Schatzlein’s salary, along with other details about the Nashville health firm’s finances, was laid out in a series of tax returns filed by a recent IRS deadline. Nonprofits like Saint Thomas are required to file the returns annually.
The new returns cover the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013.
Schatzlein became Saint Thomas Health’s CEO four years ago. His salary and benefits totaled $1.246 million in the prior fiscal year.
Asked why his salary jumped by more than 60 percent, Saint Thomas spokeswoman Rebecca Climer said, “Dr. Schatzlein’s responsibilities have expanded beyond Nashville to include oversight of Ascension’s 23 Indiana hospitals, Ascension’s largest ministry.”
She said “the bulk of the increase from 2011 to 2012 is in the form of ‘at risk’ compensation, based on goal attainment, and deferred compensation related to attainment of longer-term goals in Nashville and for Ascension as a whole.”
Other top earners include Dr. Vafa Mansouri, whose salary and benefits went from $1.27 million to $1.43 million, and Dr. Joseph Boyd, whose combined total went from $1.21 million to $1.31 million.
Dr. James Baker’s salary and earnings went from $1.11 million to $1.27 million, and Dr. Steven Fahrig‘s jumped from $1.06 million to $1.13 million.
Revenue at Saint Thomas Midtown was $421.2 million, while Saint Thomas West reported $462.3 million. A year earlier, Midtown reported $438.39 million while West reported $484.68 million.
Expenses at Saint Thomas Midtown went down from $396.37 in the prior year to $382.65 million. Saint Thomas West also shrunk expenses slightly, from $411.08 million in the prior year to $405.84 million.
Reach Walter F. Roche Jr. at 615-259-8086.
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TPPF Releases Newest Episode of Forging Texas
Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released the latest episode in its “Forging Texas” history series, focusing on the origins of and motivations for the Texas Revolution. The third and newest episode is titled “The Battle of San Jacinto.” To accompany the release, TPPF hosted a premiere event for Texans from across the state, while also inviting highly regarded Texas historians Dr. Stephen Hardin and Scott McMahon to provide their unique insight into the Texas Revolution.
“Forging Texas” is an in-depth look at the heroes, principles, and sacrifices that led Texas in its fight for independence—a fight from which the brave Texians would later emerge victorious. The story of the fight for freedom for Texas is just as important today as it was in 1836, and one worth retelling.
To watch “Forging Texas: The Battle of San Jacinto” please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JoSh8bmMSk
TPPF Releases Forging Texas Episode 2: Season of Defeat
K-12 Education February 10, 2021
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Contrary to popular belief, thrilling soul music is created and released still today. This column features with interviews two artists that have come up with new and convincing material – Latimore and Sweet Angel. In addition to two more CDs, there’s also a new book on Otis Redding reviewed. As a last-minute delivery I received a delightful musical present from the Memphis guitar virtuoso, Bobby Manuel.
Latimore
Sweet Angel
New music:
Latimore: A Taste of Me: Great American Songs
Willie Clayton: Crossroads of the Blue
Sweet Angel: Can’t Walk Away
Bobby Manuel: Saulsauce
Compilation/Reissue CD reviews:
Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised ...plus
Jonathan Gould: Otis Redding – An Unfinished Life
After Latimore had released six albums on his and Henry Stone’s joint Latstone label between 2007 and 2013, Henry passed away in August 2014. Latimore: “This new CD is on Essential Media Group that’s based in Miami and the CEO of the company is Paul Klein. They approached me with this idea to see if I like it and I said ‘okay, we’ve got nothing to lose, let’s try it’. Ish Ledesma and Steve Alaimo, who are two of the producers, knew that I liked some of the older, smooth songs that I’ve performed in clubs years ago. They gave me a long list of songs and I gave them mine, and they put it on me to pick the ones I wanted to do. I picked these out, and there are a couple of more that didn’t make it on this CD, but in case we’ll do something else, a follow-up, we’ll use them. I tried to keep the integrity of the songs and still put my little touch to it.”
“We got some good players together and we kind of collaborated on the arrangements. We didn’t want to have a whole lot of strings and horns but keep it nice and simple... and it came out pretty good.” A Taste of Me: Great American Songs (www.essentialmediagroupllc.com; 942 326 635-2) features such musicians as Ish Ledesma on guitar, Dorian Reyes on drums, Eric England on bass, Douglas Carter on keyboards and Vincent Brookfield on saxophone.
Ish Ledesma was born in Cuba in 1952, moved to Miami and became a guitarist at TK in the 1970s. “That’s when I met him. With Steve Alaimo we’ve been knowing each other for many, many, many years. I played behind him quite a few times, when he was singing.” Between 1962 and ’66 Steve had six charted singles – and a couple bubbling under - on Checker, Imperial and ABC, including Every Day I Have to Cry. In spite of some small hits still later on, Steve, however, concentrated on running record labels, composing and producing after that. Ron and Howard Albert are credited as co-producers on this CD. “I met them in the late 60s. They were engineers at the Criteria Studios in Miami, and we’ve been friends for all these years.”
The opening track is a slow, tender and romantic song, which derives from Mexico in the late 1950s. “Sabor A Mi – that was a big Spanish song and Ish wanted me to do that. We translated it into English – A Taste of Me – and after we had done the song I said ‘you know, that might be a good title for the whole CD’, because people get to see a little different side of me. It also shows that I can still sing at this old age (laughing). This CD has a little jazzy overtone, and that was something we wanted to try.”
There are many standards on display and the most jazzy ones in arrangements and instrumentation are Cry Me a River, The Very Thought of You, What a Difference a Day Makes and to a degree Since I Fell for You. At Last and Smile are both smooth and soft, almost tranquilizing numbers. Al Kooper’s I Love You More than You’ll Ever Know is one of the slow, sax-spiced songs on the set, but this is not the first time Latimore covers Al’s song, because both Jolie and (Be Yourself) Be Real were released on Glades in 1973. “Al Kooper, who is a good friend of Steve Alaimo, was pretty pleased that we’re going to do I Love You More than You’ll Ever Know, and I think he’s satisfied with the outcome.”
DIG A LITTLE DEEPER
The CD contains also two Latimore’s own songs. “Paul Klein wanted me to do Let’s Straighten It Out. He wanted that real bad, because that song is my calling card, my identity. We did a bit smoother version of it but still not departing very much from the entity of the song itself.” Naturally on this track Benny himself plays the piano.
In 1978 Latimore released an album called Dig a Little Deeper, and the title song was put out as a single, too. “I wanted to do Dig a Little Deeper because of the message of the song. People these days tend to be so shallow. They don’t take time to look a little further – look beyond the obvious – when you might find what you’re looking for... so, ‘dig a little deeper’!”
Besides his own songs, Latimore names You Are So Beautiful, The Very Thought of You and What a Difference a Day Makes his favourites. “We’ve already shot a couple of videos. And one thing that is different on this CD: on most of the tracks we use an upright bass. It has a warmer feeling. We wanted to do a good listening album. It’s not a dance thing. It is something you put on and relax. It is nice to listen to, easy on the ears.”
In May Latimore was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis, Tennessee. “I’m going to Jackson, Mississippi, on July the 24th. They’re giving me the Lifetime Achievement Award. Then in August I’ll be playing in Detroit and Chicago, so I’m going on and on and on, but trying not to do too much, because I’m not getting any younger (laughing). But I feel good. I try to keep myself healthy. I don’t like travelling all that much, but once I’m on the stage I feel as good as I’ve always felt.”
(Interview conducted on July the 13th in 2017; acknowledgements to Yvonne and Benny Latimore; http://www.soulexpress.net/deep4_2013.htm#latimore).
WILLIE CLAYTON
I’m a devoted fan of Willie Clayton and his music. By now I have 35 albums from him, and although I don’t always agree with all of his musical choices I think that he’s one of the greatest male soul vocalists there is.
Willie has included blues songs on practically all of his CDs, but this time he dedicated an entire album to the blues, in the traditional meaning of the word. Crossroads of the Blues (Endzone Entertainment; www.willieclayton.net) is in terms of writing and producing for the most part an entity created by Willie himself and Harold Darnell Taylor. Christopher Forrest also co-wrote a couple of songs, and – what’s delightful! – on most of the tracks there are actually live rhythm section players and on some tracks even real horns, which enables an authentic, full sound.
Among the three rolling romps, Sneaking & Creeping is the catchiest and perkiest one and actually the first single off the album. In the slow walking blues category, Backside of Fifty is strongly influenced by Bobby Bland, while Delta Water Blues reveals some biographical information, as well.
There are as many as five melancholic slow numbers, which you could file under soul-blues. Of them, Bartender Blues appeared already over twenty years ago on Ace Records. For pure soul music lovers there are two tracks, a killer ballad called Two Wrongs Don’t Make It Right and Purple Rain, a convincing tribute to the late Prince. There’s actually a lot of soul to this blues CD.
INTRODUCING... SWEET ANGEL *
“Last year we were in Cairo, Illinois, and I was on stage. All of a sudden one man jumped on stage. There were no stairs or anything... he just leaped on the stage. I was playing my saxophone in upper register and my reaction was that with my right hand I just pushed him back, off the stage. It was kind of scary for a moment, but nothing happened - the band kept playing and I kept playing.”
On tour anything can happen, but in the studio these days everything is strictly under Sweet Angel’s control. She has recently released her 6th CD album, Can’t Walk Away (SA Records), and in her 10-year recording career it is indisputably her best so far. Sweet Angel: “I put everything that I got into this one and I’m hoping it’ll do great for me. Actually this is my first time of having a full live band in the studio, and this is the band I tour with.”
The rhythm section consists of Michael O. Cole on keys, Randy Goodlow on drums, Wayne Whitmore on guitar and Donald Taylor on bass. Wayne is also one of the three background singers along with Jacquelyn Ingram, Briana Dobbins and Mattie Hester. The latter two are Sweet Angel’s daughters. “In the early part of my career I did more like track shows, but during the last eight years I perform with my own band and that’s where my comfort zone is. I really thought I would do my best work with my band in the studio, which turned out to be the right thing for me. I just felt a better vibe.” The CD was cut at the Ecko Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. “Even though I’m no longer with that label, they have a great engineer in their studio, Til Palmer, that I love working with.”
Sweet Angel is the writer or co-writer on all fifteen tracks on this set, which begins with a fast introductory song called Take a Look. It is followed by a rolling blues song titled Hold Back the Booga Bear, which may take your thoughts back to Ollie Nightingale’s ’96 recording, You Got a Booger Bear under There. “It doesn’t have any connection. It’s just a common term in the blues world.” Sweet Angel and her husband Mac Dobbins wrote that song together. “We had it sitting in the box for awhile. As a matter of fact, I was thinking of giving it someone else to do, but it’s a really fun song and good to perform on stage.”
After a smooth and light dancer named I Need a Real Love, we are treated to a sensual and pretty soul ballad, Steps to Love. “I released it in 2015 as a single, but now it’s remixed with a live band playing on it.” Action Speaks Louder than Words is a thrilling deep soul ballad. “It’s one of my favourites along with the title track.” Juking at the Hole in the Wall is a perky number, which originally was released on Angel’s preceding CD in 2012. “We released it also as a single, but actually I didn’t do it on stage a lot, because the sequencing was so hard for me, so I remixed it and had a live band to play it. Now it’s a little more commercial and easier to handle on stage.”
CAN’T WALK AWAY
A smooth slowie called I Got Your Back is followed by another ballad, the poignant Still Crazy for You, which was originally released as a single four years ago. “I just wanted to try it a bit differently with a band. I like the way it turned out, so that’s why we re-released it. I really didn’t push those singles very hard, because it takes a lot of work distributing them out there and you should have a whole package to go with it. So a lot of people never did get those singles unless they really followed me, but now that they are re-released on an album they get the attention they didn’t get before.” One can’t help noticing that there are some similarities to a song titled I Must Be Crazy, which appeared on Angel’s debut CD ten years ago. “As a matter of fact, on my live performances I often do a medley of those two songs.”
The title tune, Can’t Walk Away, is a touching soul ballad, whereas I Wanna Ride It is a half-spoken party song. You can’t help comparing a zydeco ditty named How Low Can You Go? with My Tu Tu. “As a matter of fact, I did cover My Tu Tu for a long time, because periodically Denise LaSalle and I are on the same show and when she’s not there I do a medley of these songs on stage.” Thrill Is Real sounds like it was inspired by Roy Hawkins’ 1951 recording of The Thrill Is Gone. “That’s one of my favourites and one I can showcase my saxophone. I always try to put one or two of my horn-playing tracks in there.” Besides blowing her saxophone, in the middle of the song Angel breaks into a Caribbean beat. This Is My Prayer (if It’s for me) is an emotional and inspirational down-tempo number. “I put it out as a single also, because that way it’ll be played either on inspirational or gospel channels, more than soul and r&b stations.”
“On this CD I’m getting good feedback from all the jocks saying it’s one of those you don’t know what you want to play first. I was trying to capture my feelings to wrap into this project. I just wanted to make sure that I will put something out that I can continuously work on, and in many areas people say it is my best work so far, which makes me so proud.”
On the pic above: from left to right - Larry Chambers, Cherrie Holden and Heikki Suosalo in Memphis in 2000
MIKE’S CLUB
Clifetta Colbert aka Sweet Angel was born in Memphis on March the 9th in 1964, and that’s where she still resides today. She has two daughters, ages fifteen and eighteen. “Growing up in Memphis wasn’t too hard for me, because I was too young to really know what hard times were. I was raised by my mother and father, and there were six children and I was next to the baby. My mom loved the blues and we would listen to it all day on Saturdays. My dad was not a professional gospel singer but sang in that church where we grew up. At that time my mom loved Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Rush, Bobby Blue Bland, B.B. King, so these were the voices I heard ringing in my ear. When I took the turn to get into music professionally, I had a mixture of those artists plus - coming up in your 20s and 30s - the r&b artists you were listening to at that age. Performance-wise I loved Tina Turner, and at a former amusement park here in Memphis I played with the band and we backed an Elvis impersonator; I soon grew up a big attraction for Elvis’ music. So when you listen to my music, almost every song has a different direction, because I love all types of music - and I make it my business to do a good show.”
At Lincoln Elementary, Sweet Angel already started singing and playing xylophone and later in Junior High clarinet. “I did start with xylophone, but unfortunately I never did take piano lessons, which I wish I really had. But I did mostly woodwind instruments like clarinet and flute, and finally saxophone. My preference right now is alto saxophone.”
After graduating in the early 1980s, Sweet Angel didn’t enter the music business right away but chose non-artistic real estate and banking businesses instead. “I chose a career path that I can lean on, where I can make a living (laughing). I did not even think about music as a profession, until I met my husband, Mike Dobbins. We formed a club and I started singing there – even started hosting karaoke as a DJ – then moving on into the studio... and the rest is history. At that point Mike gave me my disc-jockey handle, Sweet Angel. When you’re married and stable, at that point you can make an investment into something that is like a hobby at first, because you’re not making money out of it. I just didn’t have any clue that I would be recognized as an artist in any form of music.”
Sweet Angel met Mac “Mike” Dobbins in 2004 and two years later they were already running Mike’s Club, but they soon sold it. “Probably it was in 2008, when we decided that we had to make a choice on whether we’re going to be in the music business or the club, because trying to manage both of them was very difficult. Being on the road during the weekend and other people managing the club in the meantime, some numbers didn’t add up in the club, so it was just not financially beneficial to us.”
ANOTHER MAN’S MEAT ON MY PLATE
“Another Man’s Meat on My Plate - that was my first recording, first time in the studio, first time everything.” Mike knew Ecko Records’ promotion director, Larry Chambers, which led to Sweet Angel and Mike using John Ward’s Ecko studios to record their debut album. Mike was credited as a producer and writer on six songs.
Released on the couple’s Mac Records in 2007, there were – alongside a couple of dancers – some fascinating ballads on the CD. “My favourite is I Must Be Crazy and I love Another Man’s Meat on My Plate, too.” The only outside contribution is a mid-tempo, mellow and slightly jazzy number called Easy Loving You, which was produced and written by the late Morris J. Williams. “He said ‘I’ve got this song and I’d love you two to check it out’. That is a beautiful song, but I’ve never performed it anywhere on my circuit.” Right Street, Wrong Way is one of the four classy soul ballads on the set. “That was another one that was nice, and in fact it’s still getting airplay today.”
For the holiday season in 2007 they released the bluesy Merry Christmas My Baby. “It was only on single, and I’ve been really planning on bringing it back and doing a full Christmas CD.”
HANDLE YOUR BUSINESS
Sweet Angel’s sophomore album, Handle Your Business, was this time released on Ecko Records in 2008, and actually that debut album was re-released with two additional tracks on it also on Ecko in 2009. “I had already started my next project, Handle Your Business, so those two albums - Meat and Handle - were practically taken over by Ecko Records and re-released under that label.”
Produced by Angel and Mac, this time Mac wrote seven out of the eleven songs on display. “He used to have a band many, many years ago. He tried to do some writing and - what he had initially started - a lot of that stuff is what came on to my albums. These days Mac really doesn’t write too much.” As her latest CD proves, Sweet Angel nowadays writes almost all of her own material. “Now that I’ve been in the business this long, I know something about life; what matters to people, affects their feelings, has longevity. Now I play a bigger role in what I want to say, the feeling that I want to convey and the sound I want to present. I have to feel it, when I’m performing on stage.”
On the CD, besides party songs on toe-tappers there are three ballads (I Love My Man, Hard Times Were the Good Times and You Gotta Make Love). “I love the album. It was a little more laid-back. I think people loved the title cut. It was telling a little story, which was more or less something that anybody in a relationship can relate to.”
BOLD BITCH
Again on Ecko Records in 2009 Bold Bitch! concentrates on more up-tempo material, and it kicks off with an infectious dancer titled Butt Up! Among the more mellow mid-pacers there are such numbers as I’m Movin’ Up and Outside Tail. The saxophone track this time is called Blow that Thang Sweet Angel and for older gentlemen there’s a down-tempo song titled The Tongue Don’t Need No Viagra.
Betty Wright’s Clean up Woman is the first thing to cross your mind when listening to Don’t Let the Clean up Woman Pick up Your Man. “Clean up Woman has always been a crowd-pleaser, a big favourite. I’ve performed that song in my career possibly one or two times on stage. If we go to soul-blues events, most times a female singer will be singing Clean up Woman on stage, so I had to turn it around and make something that is more of my own. That got a lot of attention and I’ve performed it a lot at the time it was released. It had a good groove.”
A GIRL LIKE ME
Mrs. Clifetta Dobbins’ aka Sweet Angel’s fourth and last Ecko CD in 2010, A Girl like Me, was for the most part written and produced by Sweet Angel and Mac with John Ward credited as a co-producer. Among steppers and mid-tempo floaters there are as many as six strong ballads, such as Mrs. Number Two, The Comfort of My Man, I’d Rather Be by Myself and the country-tinged I’m Workin’ on My Job. Don’t Be Lonely, Be Loved was written by Sweet Angel’s sister in dedication to her deceased husband.
The bluesy I’ve Got to Get Paid bears a slight resemblance to Drown in My Own Tears, whereas a bluesy roller titled I like the Money, but I don’t like the Job must have been inspired by Barrett Strong’s Money. “That is a very fun song that a lot of people really love.” In terms of variety and soulfulness, A Girl like Me was Sweet Angel’s strongest album thus far. “That took me to the next level actually. It got a lot of attention and airplay and there are songs on there that I’m still singing today.”
MR. WRONG GONNA GET THIS LOVE TONIGHT
Recorded at Ecko studios, Sweet Angel’s next CD in 2012, however, appeared not on Ecko Records, but on her own SA Records. “I was writing the majority of the music that was put on the Ecko label. When you’re writing and they’re publishing, you really don’t reap the benefits. So as I got more seasoned and learned a little bit more about the processes, I started doing what was more beneficial on my behalf.”
For the CD, Mr. Wrong Gonna Get This Love Tonight, Sweet Angel wrote eight songs out of ten and she plays alto saxophone on four tracks. The title track is a smooth soul ballad. “It got a lot of airplay and I’ve performed it on stage up until this year, when I started to refresh my show a little bit and add some of my new material.” Zydeco Funk is just what the title says. “People love the zydeco song and it’s one of those that I keep on my shows.”
Touch Me represents fine, pleading soul balladry, whereas the first of outside tunes, a cover of Nappy Brown’s 1958 recording on Savoy called Don’t Hurt Me No More, is a traditional down-tempo rhythm & blues moan. The other cover is Prince’s Purple Rain. “I added Purple Rain, because it’s a part of my show that’ll never go away. I close the show out with it. I don’t like to perform stuff, if my version of it can’t be in my fan’s ear even when I’m off stage.”
JUS’ BLUES AWARD WINNER
It took five years for Sweet Angel to finally come up with her new CD, Can’t Walk Away. “A lot of people say you don’t stay relevant if you don’t release constantly, but there’s no point for you to spend the money and record year after year stuff, if it doesn’t have any substance. If I can’t get my hands on something that I really want to record and do on my shows, then I don’t record it. I had on my shows songs that were keepers like Good Girls Do Bad Things, which was released in 2009 and audience still asks for it. Now I thought it was time for me to freshen up my show and create with a live band a new full and fresh sound.”
A two-time Jus’ Blues Award Winner (http://www.jusblues.org/jus-blues-awards1.html) – in 2008 and 2013 – is very proud of her latest CD. “This new CD is a big part of my new show, but along with the old stuff, because a lot of people love my older music, too. I try to include as much as I can into my 45-60-minute show, but I really work hard to make sure that I keep my old fans staying with me, alongside new ones. Each year we take The Boogie Bus to various places and this year we’ll take it back to the Delta Blues & Heritage Festival in Greenville, Mississippi, on September the 16th. I enjoy the music and I love what I do.”
(www.sweetangel.org; Interview conducted on July the 9th in 2017; acknowledgements to Sweet Angel, David Whiteis and Anders Lillsunde).
SWEET ANGEL ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY
ANOTHER MAN’S MEAT ON MY PLATE (Mac) 2007
I Must Be Crazy (radio version) / Another Man’s Meat On My Plate / I Got Love For You / Easy Loving You / Mike’s Place / Right Street, Wrong Way / Please Come Home / Mike’s Place (instrumental) / I Must Be Crazy (club mix) / Right Street, Wrong Way (extended mix)
NOTE: Re-released in 2009 on Ecko (ECD 1112) with two additional tracks:
I’d Rather Have A Cheatin’ Man / I’m Gonna Give You Good Love
HANDLE YOUR BUSINESS (Ecko, ECD 1102) 2008
I’m Leaving / Guilty As Charged / Back It Up And Slow Roll It / I’m Sharing Your Man / I Love My Man / Handle Your Business / Hard Times Were The Good Times / Oops! / You Gotta Make Love / It’s The Weekend / Rock Me
BOLD BITCH! (Ecko, ECD 1115) 2009
Butt Up! / The Tongue Don’t Need No Viagra / I’m Gonna Give You Good Love / Don’t Let The Clean Up Woman Pick Up Your Man / I’m Movin’ Up / Good Girls Do Bad Things / Let Me Be Your Angel / Blow That Thang Sweet Angel / Outside Tail / Bold Bitch
A GIRL LIKE ME (Ecko, ECD 1126) 2010
A Girl Like Me / I’d Rather Be By Myself Than To Be Unhappy / Mrs. Number Two / I’ve Got To Get Paid / What I Want, What I Need / Last Night Was Your Last Night / Don’t Be Lonely, Be Loved / I Like The Money, But I Don’t Like The Job / I’m Workin’ On My Job / The Comfort Of My Man / Roll / Do You Feel Alright / Butt Up (remix)
MR. WRONG GONNA GET THIS LOVE TONIGHT (SA Records) 2012
Mr. Wrong (Gonna Get This Love Tonight) / Juking (At The Hole In The Wall) / Zydeco Funk / Blow That Thang Again / Soul Stepping / Touch Me / Love Thief / Don’t Hurt No More / Touch Me (instrumental) / Purple Rain
CAN’T WALK AWAY (SA Records) 2017
Take A Look / Hold Back The Booga Near / I Need A Real Love / Steps To Love (remix) / Action Speaks Louder Than Words / Juking At The Hole In The Wall (remix) / I Got Your Back / Still Crazy For You (remix/radio version) / Can’t Walk Away (From Mr. Good Thang) (radio version) / I Wanna Ride It / How Low Can You Go? / Thrill Is Real / This Is My Prayer (If It’s For Me) / Still Crazy For You (remix/album version) / Can’t Walk Away (From Mr. Good Thang) (album version)
BOBBY MANUEL
On the pic above: Bobby Manuel at his High Stacks Studios in 2000
More good news from Memphis! The guitarist extraordinaire, an engineer, a writer, producer and label owner Bobby Manuel has finished a CD entitled Saulsauce (Kudzu Electric, K33001), and the release date is July 20th for all digital outlets. Bobby: “I never thought that I would do a solo record but I guess this is kind of my legacy album. It features Memphis royalty as musicians and pure soul vocals. The late greats, William Brown, J. Blackfoot and Ollie Nightingale give fantastic vocal performances.”
When Bobby talks about Memphis royalty, you can’t help but agree. You only need to have a look at the list of participants in the making of this CD. On different tracks there are as many as 22 musicians backing Bobby up, and among them you can spot such names as Steve Potts and Willie Hall on drums, Lester Snell and Winston Stewart on keys, Charles Hodges on organ, Leroy Hodges and Ronnie Williams on bass, Chad Cromwell on percussion and in the horn section Jim Spake, Andrew Love, Kirk Smithers, Scott Thompson, Tom Clary, Ben Cauley etc. Engineers at Royal Studio were Boo Mitchell and Kevin Houston, and at Ardent Adam Hill and Robert Jackson.
Bobby wrote or co-wrote ten songs, and one of the two non-Bobby tunes is a traditional called Deep River, the closing song with only Bobby and his acoustic guitar in a peaceful setting. The other outside song is a cover of Eddie Floyd’s 1968 hit, I’ve Never Found a Girl. On this rollicking track William Brown and J. Blackfoot share their soulful vocals. Ollie Nightingale is the featured vocalist on a fast and hard-edged dancer named Icy Cold Hands.
The rest of the tracks are all instrumentals and, as expected, Bobby’s guitar playing and his improvisation-filled solos are in the main role. He moves effortlessly and easily from one mood to another. There’s a beautiful love ballad called Connie, dedicated to his wife, but before that you can enjoy a Caribbean fiesta song named Memphis in Havana and the funky, quick-tempo number titled Soulsauce # 9. Right after the dreamy Connie, we are back picking up the speed again with a rolling mid-tempo number named Shuffalo and even switch over to a cha-cha beat on Good News.
The fast and funky The Royal Strut is followed by the intense and horn-heavy Dr. Groove. Smooth Sailing is a simple mid-tempo number and similarly Soul Slide is a sunshiny, laid-back mid-pacer. The melodies are quite catchy and – true to best Memphis music traditions – Soulsauce is both easy to dance to, and a pleasure to listen to.
GIL SCOTT-HERON
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised ...plus (CDBGPD 305; www.acerecords.com; 20 tracks, 64 min.; notes by Dean Rudland) is a compilation of Gil’s early 1970s tracks on the Flying Dutchman label. Produced by the label-owner, Bob Thiele, and all songs written by Gil or co-written with Brian Jackson, the tracks represent the first wave of angry black poetry set to music.
There are a few spoken-word tracks, and on this set The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is the most widely known of them. On majority of the tracks, however, Gil is also singing. He delivers his poems either surprisingly softly and even bluesy - Pieces of a Man, Save the Children, I Think I’ll Call It Morning, The Get out of the Ghetto Blues - or more aggressively, like on Home Is Where the Hatred Is (remember Esther Phillips a year or so later?) and Or Down You Fall. Some of them lean heavily on jazz: Free Will and Lady Day and John Coltrane.
Gil is not a very expressive singer, but on the other hand the two main elements in his music are the lyrics and the “jazz combo” playing with such luminaries as Pretty Purdie on drums, Ron Carter on bass, Hubert Laws on flute and David Spinozza on guitar, to name a few. Although of acquired taste, historically this is an interesting CD. Right after Flying Dutchman, Gil went on to enjoy his most popular ten-year period on Arista with such single hits as Johannesburg, The Bottle, Angel Dust and Re-Ron. Gil died in 2011 at the age of 62.
BLACK BOOKCASE
OTIS REDDING
For his book, Otis Redding – An Unfinished Life (Crown Archetype, ISBN 978-0-307-45394-5; 548 pages, 24 photos; index included), Jonathan Gould has interviewed as many as 87 persons and most importantly many of those, who were close to Otis, namely his widow Zelma Redding and her family and people close to Otis’ manager, Phil Walden. He has also talked to a lot of musicians, who used to perform with Otis, and people connected with related record labels (Lute/Confederate, Stax, Atlantic etc.). This fact sets this book apart from earlier biographies on Otis, and especially from Mark Ribowsky’s tome two years ago (http://www.soulexpress.net/deep7_2015.htm#bookreview), which contained many inaccuracies and peculiar conclusions. Also, if you have a look at the bibliography in Jonathan’s book (books and articles), you become convinced that Jonathan has done a thorough research on this subject.
In his approach Jonathan has chosen a wider perspective, which means that he writes not only about Otis and his life, but extensively tells about his family, cultural and social changes in southern areas, minstrel shows, racial tension, “Jim Crow” incidents, lynchings, white violence, the great migration, black power, and he also touches such issues as black art, black radio, indie record labels and of course the history of black music generally. More specifically he writes profound bios on many artists, including Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Little Richard, Louis Jordan, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke and Aretha Franklin.
This wider perspective means that especially in the beginning of the book Otis appears on its pages quite irregularly. He was born on page 45, goes to school on page 80 and attends first talent shows on page 110. Only on page 207 we get to These Arms of Mine, which actually was written by Jackie Avery. But it doesn’t bother me, because Jonathan very skilfully places Otis and his activities, his art and his records in the context of the surroundings and historical processes. He also closely analyses Otis’ music and isn’t afraid to express his own opinions. Chronologically all the significant events in Otis’ life are included and this time also from the angle of many of those who were close-by. I highly recommend this book. It’s the most profound research on Otis.
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The Beautiful Future That Could Be
by Cher Gilmore
Boonyachoat/Getty Images
“Mr. Rogers showed us a small neighborhood where all the inhabitants lived peacefully with each other; it’s up to us to expand that vision.”
The unexpected popularity of the recent documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” shows how much people are craving a gentler, kinder world than the one we’re experiencing today. The film recounts how Fred Rogers, the host and creator of the children’s television show “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” used that program to demonstrate a friendly and loving neighborhood environment where all children were accepted, appreciated and loved. Everything was about love, he said—either giving it or needing it—and he focused his show on providing love in many forms to everyone in the neighborhood, unconditionally.
Wouldn’t we all like our neighborhoods to be like Mr. Rogers’? Well, a planetary culture based on real love—a love-in-action encompassing wisdom, compassion, sharing, justice, and acceptance—is the vision for humanity set forth by a great spiritual teacher named Maitreya. According to British author Benjamin Creme, Maitreya has been in our everyday world since 1977, working behind the scenes for our betterment until the conditions are right for him to appear before all of us simultaneously on an international television/internet broadcast. Like other great teachers before him, such as Krishna, the Buddha, and Mohammed, he has come to bring us the next lessons we need for our evolutionary journey.
Much as Mr. Rogers spoke earnestly and truthfully with the children in his neighborhood, during his international broadcast, Maitreya will explain that we are all equally beautiful divine beings who have forgotten who we are. He’ll tell us how we’ve lost our way in competition and materialism and how we can repair the damage we’ve done to each other and Earth. He’ll advise us as one human family to share the resources of Earth more fairly, as a normal family would, and he’ll describe the miraculous future we can create together if we choose to share.
What might that future look like?
If we choose to share and implement a rational redistribution of the world’s resources (food, raw materials, etc.), a better balance will be struck between the developed and developing world. Hunger and poverty would end, and a sophisticated form of barter would replace the present economic systems.
Our attention would also be turned to cleaning up the environment and making Earth viable again. New, universally-accepted legislation would reflect the growing concern for nature and the environment. In major cities, slums would be replaced by parks and environmentally-friendly housing communities.
A new Science of Light would be introduced gradually when we realize our oneness and renounce war completely, destroying all weapons of war. We would begin to use light directly from the sun—free to all—for every energy need, making all current forms of power obsolete.
The nations of the world, sharing resources and aiming for sustainable sufficiency, would gravitate toward various forms of democratic socialism, and we would enter an era of tranquility and peace in exact proportion to the present discord.
Mr. Rogers showed us a small neighborhood where all the inhabitants lived peacefully with each other; it’s up to us to expand that vision to include all of humanity, the other kingdoms of nature, and Earth itself.
Sponsored by: Share International
Cher Gilmore is a long-time volunteer for Share International USA. Share International USA is a non-profit educational organization established to disseminate information about the presence in the world of great Spiritual...
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Research into the lives of plants, animals and micro-organisms.
Access a database of Western Australian flora
FloraBase is a database of Western Australian plants.
Access interactive maps showing Western Australia's biodiversity
NatureMap provides species distributional information for Western Australia's biodiversity.
Apply for a Community Stewardship Grant
These grants support community-based projects that serve to protect and restore the local environment.
Search for an organism and its legal status
The Western Australian Organism List provides the status of organisms which have been categorised under the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007.
Threatened species and communities
A listing of threatened native plants and animals that are under identifiable threat of extinction, are rare, or otherwise in need of special protection.
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Get paid £500 to drink tea and test the ‘ultimate Builder’s Brew’
Peek inside this Listed converted mill, for sale near Wakefield
LifestyleHomes and Gardens
Celebs show their support for Wakefield hospital worker raffling his 4-bedroom home - with tickets raising £50K for the NHS
Fancy being in with a chance to win a mortgage free, four-bedroom family home for just £2?
By Leanne Clarke
Tuesday, 23rd March 2021, 11:06 am
Pinderfields Hospital worker Nick Wyrill is offering 250,000 opportunities to win his family's home, and is hoping to raise £50,000 for the NHS at the same time.
Nick, 34, and wife Louise decided to raffle off their home, on the outskirts of Ossett, home following a similar raffle in the area last year.
And with 250,000 tickets on sale, it's hoped sales will enable them to donate the huge amount to MY Hospitals Charity, the charitable arm of the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust.
And the sale has been supported by a number of celebrities, including Kerry Katona, The Chase's Jenny Ryan and Chuckle Brother, Paul Chuckle, who have all made videos in support of the NHS donation.
Nick, who works as a Patient Services Manager, said: "There are a couple of reasons why we want to make the donation. I wanted to give back to my colleagues for all their hard work in the Covid-19 pandemic. The challenges my teams have faced in the past 12 months, and are still facing, have been enormous.
"Also, my mum sadly died of cancer in March 2020 and my dad is sadly receiving treatment for Leukaemia at Pinderfields Hospital after being diagnosed in January 2021. This has further sparked our desire to give something back to the NHS."
Nick and Louise, along with son Arthur, plan to stay in the area, but are hoping to upgrade to a bigger home.
Fancy winning this four-bedroom house?
The family home, which is just five years old, features a fully fitted kitchen, four modern, sizeable bedrooms, a garage and enclosed garden - and its very own orangery and fruit patch.
The raffle will end of July 1, or when all the tickets have been sold. Today, March 23, marks 100 days left until the raffle deadline.
The lucky winner will then walk away with a mortgage-free house - and a celebratory bottle of champagne.
Nick has also agreed to pay any legal fees associated with the sale and, provided that all tickets sell, will donate 10 per cent of his takings, or around £50,000, to MY Hospitals Charity.
Fully fitted kitchen, comprising integrated fridge freeze and dishwasher. Tiled flooring throughout.
The charity, which was launched in 1998, works to support patients at Dewsbury, Pontefract and Pinderfields Hospitals, which are all run by the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Keith Ramsay, Chair of The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and MY Hospitals Charity said: “On behalf of the Trust and the Charity I would like to thank Nick and his family for his inventive way of fundraising for MY Hospitals Charity.
“Fundraising and donations to the charity are being used to improve patient experience, providing equipment above and beyond what’s normally funded by the NHS.
“It is through our communities’ generous donations we are able to improve upon the high quality healthcare services we aim to achieve in our hospitals, to improve the quality of people’s lives.”
A beautiful house is just 5 years old.
To find out more, take a look around the house and to enter the raffle, visit the Raffall website here.
24 photos that will take you back to a night out in Mustang Sally's in 2005 and 2006
29 photos that will take you back to nights out in Mustang Sally's, Quest and Lush in 2008
These are the 10 most naughty breeds of dog - adorable if mischievous pups
What is the new Highway Code? How cyclists are impacted by 2022 changes - and who gets priority at roundabouts
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Only A Game
Home//Radio//Only A Game
Dan Wetzel And The Case Against Miami 06:49
<iframe width="100%" height="124" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://player.wbur.org/onlyagame/2011/08/20/miami"></iframe>
NCAA investigators and television news trucks were on the University of Miami campus this week to investigate allegations by former booster Nevin Shapiro. (AP)
During a week in which most college football programs are focusing on learning plays and running drills, the University of Miami is reacting to allegations by a former booster that he showered players with more than $1 million in improper benefits between 2002 and 2010.
The claims are being made by Nevin Shapiro, a former booster who is now serving 20 years in federal prison for running a $930 million Ponzi scheme. In an interview with Only A Game's Doug Tribou, Yahoo! Sports national columnist Dan Wetzel explains Shapiro's motivation for bringing the allegations to light.
"His reason for coming forward is both to cooperate with the federal government and revenge," Wetzel said. "It's fairly simple. He wants to hurt people that hurt him. He has absolutely nothing to lose, so he will tell pretty much any story that he can to hurt the Miami football program."
Yahoo! Sports corroborated the details of this week's report, but Wetzel says the NCAA might be able to confirm even more of Shapiro's allegations. Given the severity of the accusations and the previous sanctions against the University of Miami, the NCAA could choose strip the University of Miami of its football program under the so-called "death penalty" clause. Wetzel says that's not likely to happen.
"This is one of the storied, powerhouse programs in a big TV market," Wetzel said. "It would cost the NCAA a great deal of money, and I just don't believe the organization has the stomach for that."
This segment aired on August 20, 2011.
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Nintendo 3DSPlayStation 4
How Square Enix Requested Akira Toriyama To Design Dragon Quest XI’s Main Characters
By Casey August 6, 2017
Square Enix celebrated the Dragon Quest series with a big event earlier today, where they shared an interesting look at how Akira Toriyama was asked to design the main characters of the triple million-seller Dragon Quest XI.
Here’s a look at the notes given to Akira Toriyama on what Square Enix wanted for the main character designs of Dragon Quest XI, with spoilers removed from the description.
A 16-year old boy at about 170cm in height.
A “hero” pursued by the kingdom, at the mercy of fate.
A design that will make you think of “hero in the rough” who is different from past heroes.
A cool 19-year-old young man of about 175cm in height.
A mysterious hooded “Thief” who protects the hero under pursuit.
A master of the sword who travels with the protagonist in order to _____.
Outfit pointers: He wears a hooded outfit. His hood is usually down.
______ of about 160cm in height.
A “Priest” descended from a family tasked with protecting the hero.
An easygoing and innocent personality. Has a harp.
Outfit pointers: please make it a miniskirt.
A _______ girl of about 125cm in height.
A “Mage” descended from a family tasked with protecting the hero.
A robe and staff that is too big for her size. A strong personality.
A ♥-year-old man of about 185cm in height.
A dashing entertainer with a feminine way of speaking.
A slim but muscular man with sex appeal. The party’s mood maker (life of a party).
Martina]
A ___ year-old girl of about 170cm in height.
A “Female Monk” who travels the world with Row and has style.
Is a mix of elegant and ____. Is sexy.
Costume pointers: Please give her a cool weapon like a Naginata.
An old man of around 70 years of age and 155cm in height.
A “Mage” who travels with Martina.
He used to be a _____.
A nice old man.
Dragon Quest XI is available in Japan on the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo 3DS. The game will release in the West in 2018 and is also in development for Nintendo Switch.
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Vinton Railroad Depot Receives Heritage Area Designation
Northeast Iowa – Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area (SSNHA) is proud to recognize the Vinton Railroad Depot, as the most recent addition to the Heritage Area. Ranging from dairy farms and museums to vineyards and tractor assembly plants, there are now 113 Partner Sites formally designated with preserving and sharing their own unique part of America’s agricultural story in this 37-county region of Northeast Iowa.
Located in Vinton, Iowa, this 1900 railroad depot tells the industrial stories of how the railroad provided the infrastructure to allow industry to grow in Benton County. The railroad provided essential accessibility for businesses like the Iowa Canning Company, Vinton Produce Company, Vinton Steel Works and Vinton Pearl Button Company. The Depot, once the sales office for Hawk Bilt farm implements, now tells the story of that company and highlights the railroad’s rich local history with artifacts and memorabilia. Visitors can step back in time in the authentic depot agent’s office, which includes the original telegraph complete with sound.
“We are excited with the addition of the Vinton Railroad Depot as the Heritage Area’s newest Partner Site. The depot share’s the unique story of how the railroad contributed to Iowa being a nationwide hub for agriculture,” stated Candy Streed, SSNHA Program & Partnership Director.
If you are interested in learning more about the process to become a Partner Site, please click here or call 319-234-4567.
Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area is one of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service. The Heritage Area covers 37 counties in the northeast quadrant of Iowa. Interstate 80 borders it on the south and Interstate 35 borders it on the west. Through a network of sites, programs and events, SSNHA interprets past and present farm life, agribusiness, and rural communities.
Topics: General, Press Releases
Vinton Railroad Depot
Vinton, IA
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Bangladesh refugee camp fire: More than 5,000 people lose homes
Thousands of Rohingya people have been displaced after a fire ravaged their refugee camp in southeastern BangladeshAccording to authorities.
About 850,000 members of Myanmar's persecuted Muslim minority live in a network of camps in Bangladesh's border town of Cox's Bazar, many of whom survived a 2017 military crackdown in M ...
On Sunday, Kamran Hossain, a spokesman for the Armed Police Battalion, which oversees security in the camp, stated, "About 1,200 homes were burned in the fire.".
COX's BAZAR, Bangladesh - Thousands of Rohingya people have been displaced after a fire ravaged their refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh according to authorities.
About 850,000 members of Myanmar's persecuted Muslim minority live in a network of camps in Bangladesh's border town of Cox's Bazar, many of whom survived a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar that UN investigators said was carried out with "genocidal intent."
On Sunday, Kamran Hossain, a spokesman for the Armed Police Battalion, which oversees security in the camp, stated, "About 1,200 homes were burned in the fire."
According to him, the fire started at Camp 16 and spread through bamboo and tarpaulin shelters, displacing more than 5,000 people.
Hossain said that the fire started at 4:40 pm and was brought under control within two hours.
"Emergency workers have got the fire under control," Mohammed Shamsud Douza, a Bangladesh government officer in care of refugees said. "The cause of the fire has yet to be determined," he added.
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Dalvin Cook 'Day-to-Day' With Shoulder Injury
Nov 29, 2021 at 04:45 PM
EAGAN, Minn. — Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said Monday that Dalvin Cook is considered "day-to-day" with a shoulder injury.
"We'll just see how Dalvin is doing," Zimmer said. "It will be day-to-day and see where it goes."
Zimmer declined to reveal the specific nature of Cook's injury and said he was unsure if the running back would play Sunday against the Lions.
"I don't know," Zimmer said. "It's day-to-day … that's what they're telling me."
Cook, who underwent an MRI on Monday, injured his shoulder late in the third quarter Sunday at San Francisco and left the game after a scary play.
The running back was tackled for a loss of 4 yards and fumbled, but he was shaken up after the play and had to leave the game on a cart.
Cook, who was quickly ruled out with a shoulder injury, was attended to by trainers and encouraged by players on both teams as he left the field.
Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen on Monday said the offense will have to find a way to be productive without Cook, who ranks fifth in the league (and leads the NFC) with 773 rushing yards.
"If he does miss a game, obviously he'll be extremely missed," Thielen said. "His play on the field, his leadership ability, things like that.
"But at the end of the day, we'll figure that out this week," Thielen added. "And then we'll put our best foot forward as far as trying to move the ball and score points and help this team win."
Cook's injury could open the door for Alexander Mattison, who has made two starts in Cook's place already this season.
Mattison shined with 112 rushing yards against Seattle in Week 3, and then set a new career-high with 113 rushing yards against Detroit in Week 5.
The 2019 third-round pick has made four career starts, tallying 95-plus rushing yards in three of them.
"He's done a nice job when he's been in there," Zimmer said. "We anticipate him, if he has to play, going in there and playing well."
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Outlines What Vikings Seek in Next Head Coach
Beyond Head Coach Hire, Busy College Scouting Slate Awaits Vikings
Lunchbreak: Media Credits Vikings for Hiring Adofo-Mensah as GM
2021 Vikings Position Recap: Special Teams
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AMI textile manufacturer creates its own 'Country of Origin' certificate
YarnsandFibers News Bureau 2014-02-06 22:30:00 – NewYork
Auburn Manufacturing, Inc. (AMI) is the industry’s leading expert in the manufacture of high performance textiles for extreme temperature protection has created its own “Country of Origin†certificate, to certify that their products are “Made in the USA†this came in response to the rising US government and private industry requirements for proof that its textile products are made in America.
The certificate will be automatically issued with each price quotation as a service to its customers. The AMI certificate attests that the products are made in the USA — from yarn to finished product at the company's manufacturing facilities in Maine. In addition, AMI's Country of Origin certificate also identifies textiles that comply with the Berry Amendment, a statutory requirement that restricts the Department of Defense (DoD) from using funds appropriated to DoD for procurement of food, clothing, fabrics, fibers, yarns, other made-up textiles, that are not grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States. The Berry Amendment has been critical to maintaining the safety and security of armed forces, by requiring covered items to be produced in the United States.
AMI is proud to attach the American flag to all its US-made products certifying that they are manufactured in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations of the FTC, The Buy America Act and the Berry Amendment.
The "Made in the USA" certificate means that not only are the products themselves assembled in the United States, but that virtually all of the components are also made in the United States, explained Kathie Leonard, AMI president and CEO. This raises the bar for suppliers who imply their products are US-made when, in fact, they are only warehoused or are largely made from foreign materials. If these suppliers are not honest about the point of manufacture, chances are their products also don't meet the proper safety and performance standards, thereby short-changing the customer, and the US economy, as well.
Leonard urges buyers to err on the side of safety and request a Country of Origin certificate. It is important to note that the word 'Origin' refers to the country where the products are made — and not the country from where they are shipped. If suppliers choose to make claims that their products are made in the USA, they must comply with the Federal Trade Commission's "Made in the USA" policy. This requires a product bearing the words "Made in the USA" to actually be "all or virtually all" made in the USA. This means that only a product that is fully produced in the United States can be stamped with the label "Made in the USA" or use an American flag on the label.
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YESCO Installs New Billboard at Laws Railroad Museum
Click Here for Video
BISHOP, CALIFORNIA (February 2021) - YESCO, the 100-year-old company known for creating, repairing, and maintaining internationally recognizable signs, announces the installation of the historic Laws Railroad Museum and Historical Site billboard on Highway 395 in Bishop, California.
Donations of $13,000 to install a new billboard were made by the community, with matching donations provided by the Death Valley Conservancy.
Founded in 1964, Bishop Museum and Historical Society, known as Laws Railroad Museum and Historical Site, is proud of its partnership with the County of Inyo. As one of the oldest non-profit foundations in the Eastern Sierra, the Laws Railroad Museum and Historical Site is honored to preserve the history of the Owens Valley for generations to come.
“The old sign was about 20 years out of date,” said museum volunteer Jay Smart, referring to the fading and dilapidated old sign. Smart was the organizer of the new sign program. With the help of fellow board member and exhibits manager Katie Olson, they secured Maria Bucaro of Bucaro Design, Inc. in Pasadena, California, and Ray Spencer, a former Walt Disney Imagineer, to create the design.
Additionally, the Laws Railroad Museum and Historic Site billboard include historic design features. The steam engine with Mount Tom in the background is almost an exact perspective of what waiting passengers at the station would have seen as the train pulled in. Also, the 20-Mule Borax team is an homage to the Death Valley group that helped fund the project.
“What an amazing opportunity to be part of the refurbishment of this historic sign,” said Jeff Young, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, YESCO. “It’s gratifying to be part of a project that will be seen and appreciated by visitors for years to come.”
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Raymond M Johnson
Raymond M. Johnson, MD
Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine
Chicago Medical School (1992)
Washington University (1995)
Washington University School of Medicine (2000)
Haelen Center
330 Orchard Street
Biography - Raymond M. Johnson, MD
Raymond Johnson, MD, PhD is an associate professor of medicine (Infectious Diseases) at Yale School of Medicine and a clinician at Yale Medicine. In the latter role, Dr. Johnson treats patients with complex hospital infections, such as surgical infections, diabetic foot ulcers, or fevers of unknown origin. Many of these conditions can be very complicated and require close follow-up, says Dr. Johnson. “You have to reassure the patients about the entire process, rather than simply saying, ‘Here, take this and you’ll be better.’” He follows up with patients for as long as necessary, even if it takes years.
Dr. Johnson is also a world-class researcher specializing in the herpes simplex virus and chlamydia. His expertise in molecular genetics and cell biology enables him to help people feel comfortable about the science behind their infection and the treatments that will help cure it. “I try to make sure the patient understands their condition and the range of diagnostic treatments available to them,” he says. “We review the basic biology of what’s going on. I want to make sure they are comfortable with the interaction and the care they’re receiving.”
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Small Business Online Store
Connected Threat Defence
DevOps Resource Centre
CISO Resource Centre
The IoT Attack Surface: Threats and Security Solutions
View Infographic: The IoT Attack Surface
The internet of things (IoT) is easily one of the most versatile technologies in existence today. The ubiquity of the internet, the growing capacity of network connection, and the diversity of connected devices make the IoT scalable and adaptable. Food production, manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and energy are just a few of the industries that the IoT has revolutionized — specifically through its extension, the industrial internet of things (IIoT). At the same time, it has also led to the realization of smart homes, buildings, and even cities.
However, the growing reality of the IoT also means recognizing its possible consequences. In an enterprise setting, for example, the IoT is often seen in the office automation (OA) and operational technology (OT) areas. This translates to multiple IoT and IIoT devices deployed within an organization. Such a setup increases the possibility of threats in spaces that had never posed cybersecurity risks before. IoT devices in these common spaces can have an effect on critical systems, like the intranet and database servers, through the IoT systems’ data collection and monitoring capabilities. As a result, even threats that involve seemingly innocuous IoT devices such as smart toilets and smart coffee machines can have a great impact depending on the environment they are set up in.
Part of adopting the IoT, therefore, is anticipating what else the technology brings to the environments it is being applied to — not least of which are security concerns that can give rise to successful attacks on IoT systems and devices.
How does the IoT influence security?
Threats to IoT systems and devices translate to bigger security risks because of certain characteristics that the underlying technology possesses. These characteristics make IoT environments functional and efficient, but they are likely to be abused by threat actors.
These characteristics include:
Gathering of abundant data. IoT sensors and devices gather highly detailed data from their environments and users. This data is necessary for the IoT environments to function properly. However, this data could mean several cascading negative effects if not secured or if stolen or otherwise compromised.
Connection of virtual and physical environments. Many IoT devices are capable of functioning on the data they receive from their respective environments. This ability shortens the distance between virtual and physical systems. But while convenient for users, it can allow cyberthreats to translate to physical consequences more quickly, thereby generating a greater impact.
Creation of complex environments. Complex IoT environments can now be created thanks to the growing availability and diversity of devices. “Complex” in the context of the IoT means that enough devices are working in a single IoT environment that dynamic interactions between its devices are possible. This complexity expands the capabilities of an IoT environment, but at the cost of a wider attack surface.
Centralization of architecture. Applying a traditional centralized architecture to IoT systems can have a detrimental effect on security. A centralized architecture means that the data gathered by each device and sensor will be communicated to a base station. In an enterprise, the main database could be the very same one used by thousands of devices that gather an astonishing amount of data. This may be less costly than separate databases, but it comes at the risk of a wider attack surface that is intricately connected to a single root.
What are the attack surface areas of the IoT?
As part of its Internet of Things Project, the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) has published a detailed draft list of IoT attack surface areas, or areas in IoT systems and applications where threats and vulnerabilities may exist. Below is a summarization of the IoT attack surface areas:
Devices. Devices can be the primary means by which attacks are initiated. Parts of a device where vulnerabilities can come from are its memory, firmware, physical interface, web interface, and network services. Attackers can also take advantage of unsecure default settings, outdated components, and unsecure update mechanisms, among others.
Communication channels. Attacks can originate from the channels that connect IoT components with one another. Protocols used in IoT systems can have security issues that can affect the entire systems. IoT systems are also susceptible to known network attacks such as denial of service (DoS) and spoofing.
Applications and software. Vulnerabilities in web applications and related software for IoT devices can lead to compromised systems. Web applications can, for example, be exploited to steal user credentials or push malicious firmware updates.
How can the IoT be secured?
As can be inferred from the aforementioned IoT attack surface areas, all of the major components of IoT systems can be exploited. Security should therefore be a priority in building and maintaining IoT systems. Regardless of the scale or the type of environment an IoT system is built into, security should be considered from the design phase to better integrate it in every aspect of the system — it should not be a mere accessory. In this way, the IoT system, from its individual devices to its overall configuration, can be tailored to be both functional and secure.
Here are some other security guidelines to consider:
All data being gathered and information being stored should be accounted for. Every single piece of data and information circulated within an IoT system should be mapped accordingly. This does not only refer to what is gathered by the sensors and devices deployed in the environment, but it also refers to any possible credentials in automation servers or other IoT applications.
Each device being connected to the network should be configured with security in mind. Secure settings should be ensured before connecting a device to the network. This includes using strong username and password combinations, multifactor authentication, and encryption.
The organization’s security strategy should be built on the assumption of compromise. Although avoiding breach and compromise is important, acknowledging that there is no perfect defense against evolving threats can help in creating mitigation protocols that can significantly contain and reduce the effects of a successful attack.
Each device should be physically secured. It is important to also take into account the physical accessibility of IoT devices. If an IoT device itself has no physical safeguards against tampering, it should be kept in a restricted place or secured with the appropriate locks or other tools. IP cameras, for example, can be tampered with directly if a cybercriminal reaches them. They could be implanted with malicious hardware or software that could cause system failures or spread malware.
With additional insights from Ziv Chang and Shin Li
<p><a href='/vinfo/nz/security/news/internet-of-things/the-iot-attack-surface-threats-and-security-solutions'><img src='https://documents.trendmicro.com/images/TEx/infographics/The-IoT-Attack-Surface-Infographic.jpg' alt='View Infographic: The IoT Attack Surface' style='width:669px;'/></a></p>
Posted in Internet of Things, Infographics
Security for the Next-Generation Retail Supply Chain
How to Secure Smart Home IoT Devices, Routers, and Smart Speakers
Trust Centre
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Legendary Coach Eddie Sutton Selected For Naismith Hall of Fame
April 6, 2020 by OSU Athletics
STILLWATER - The author of 806 wins and three Final Four appearances, the legendary Eddie Sutton has been selected for enshrinement in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Sutton, 84, earned his place in Springfield, Massachusetts after being named a finalist for the seventh time in February. The enshrinement ceremony is currently slated for August 29, 2020.
The first coach in history to lead four different schools to the NCAA tournament, Sutton ranks 11th all-time with 806 career victories. He is an eight-time conference coach of the year and a two-time recipient of the Associated Press National Coach of the Year award (1978, 1986).
Sutton entered the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 having led Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and his alma mater, Oklahoma State, to a combined 26 NCAA Tournament appearances. In 37 seasons of Division I coaching, Sutton won 17 conference regular season and tournament championships.
He took Arkansas to the Final Four in 1978 and returned with Oklahoma State in 1995 and 2004. Sutton’s three Final Four appearances are tied with notable names like Phog Allen, Nolan Richardson, Bill Self and John Thompson for the 21st most in college basketball history.
Sutton becomes the fifth OSU representative in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, joining Bob Kurland (1961), Mr. Henry Iba (1969), Don Haskins (1997) and Bill Self (2017).
When Sutton arrived in Stillwater on April 11, 1990, he inherited an Oklahoma State program that had made just one appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 25 years and had only seven winning seasons during that same period.
Over the next 16 seasons, Sutton guided Oklahoma State to 13 NCAA Tournaments, 13 20-win seasons and seven first or second place finishes in conference play. OSU’s NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005 marked its eighth-consecutive postseason appearance, the longest streak in school history.
At Oklahoma State, Sutton coached seven All-Americans, 52 all-conference Cowboys, five Big Eight/Big 12 Players of the Year and nine NBA Draft picks. Bryant “Big Country” Reeves, Desmond Mason, John Lucas III and Joey Graham all became All-Americans and OSU legends under Sutton.
Sutton began his coaching career by taking over a Creighton team in 1969 that had not produced a winning record in three seasons. He led them to five consecutive winning marks, culminating in a 23-7 record and a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 1974.
He was hired at Arkansas in 1974 and is credited with leading the Razorbacks back to national prominence. Sutton coached the famed Arkansas Triplets – Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer and Marvin Delph – as well as Joe Kleine, Scott Hastings, Alvin Robertson and numerous other Razorback greats. In fact, his Arkansas winning percentage of .776 was the highest in the history of the Southwest Conference.
At Kentucky, Sutton won two Southeastern Conference championships, advanced to three NCAA Tournaments and was the National Coach of the Year (AP, NABC) after the 1985-86 season.
Born in Bucklin, Kansas on March 12, 1936, Sutton was a standout at Bucklin High School before attending Oklahoma A&M, where he played for the legendary Mr. Iba from 1956-58. Sutton averaged 8.1 points in 1957 and helped take down star center Wilt Chamberlain and No. 2 Kansas, 56-54. As a senior in 1958, Sutton poured in 8.3 points on 47.4 percent shooting and helped OSU win 21 games and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Sutton earned his bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State in 1958 and a master’s degree from OSU in 1959.
Along with his late wife, Patsy, the Suttons had three sons – Steve, Sean and Scott – two of which carried on the family coaching tradition. Sean was the head coach at Oklahoma State from 2006-08 and is currently on staff at Texas Tech, while Scott spent 18 season as the head coach at Oral Roberts before joining Mike Boynton’s staff at OSU in 2017.
This is just the latest hall of fame honor for Sutton. On top of his induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011, Sutton has gone into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame (1983), the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor (1995), the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame (1996), the Oklahoma State University Hall of Honor (1997), the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (2009), the Creighton University Hall of Fame and the College of Southern Idaho Hall of Fame.
The Oklahoma State and Arkansas basketball programs continue to honor Sutton to this day, with the Cowboys playing on Eddie Sutton Court and the Razorbacks practicing at the Eddie Sutton Basketball Practice Gym.
Categories: Oklahoma State University, OSU Athletics
Tags: Oklahoma State University Athletics
Author: OSU Athletics
Fans and alumni of Oklahoma State University have long been blessed with one of the nation's most well-rounded athletic departments. From bowl games in the fall and Final Fours in March, to the College World Series in June, the cheering, and winning, never stops in Stillwater.
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Why India’s startup community should look towards the EU market
By Varun Sharma
With an estimated 500 million people, the European market has a huge demand for innovative tech-based solutions, especially in the field of travel and hospitality, e-commerce and B2B.
StartupBlink — a global startup ecosystem map — has ranked India at 37 out of 125 countries in the worldwide startup ecosystem in 2017. The ranking is a reflection of the major strides India has made in creating and developing a sustainable environment for the growth and prosperity of a thriving startup community.
Over the last decade, Indian startups have been supported and nurtured by governments both at the Centre and in the states. This has resulted in the creation of a vast pool of corporates across multiple domains such as financial services, travel and hospitality, e-commerce and so on. These startups have successfully demonstrated how technology can be an enabler to meet the specific requirements of a country of over a billion people.
During these 10 years, the startup community saw a surge in both investment and consumption demand. Entrepreneurs constantly strived to develop innovative products and services across sectors — from health to logistics, fintech to travel, and consumer service to artificial intelligence and big data. So far these unicorns, or privately held start-up companies valued at over $1 billion, have catered mainly to the domestic market.
This raises the question: should desi startups continue to focus on India?
India has made rapid progress in building state-of-the-art indigenous technologies, which, coupled with its strong human capital base, has resulted in the creation of a plethora of tech-based products. Many of these products are not only innovative but also unparalleled in the world.
Emerging companies have been quick to realise this potential. Many startups, in pursuit of their next phase of growth, are already venturing beyond the domestic market and establishing their footprints in other geographies. The preferred destinations are countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Australia. While these regions are home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world with immense growth potential, another equally attractive investment destination is the European Union, or EU, and northeastern Europe in particular.
A partnership that stands the test of time
The EU is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for over 13 percent of our overall trade, ahead of both China (11.6 percent) and the US (9.6 percent). Last year, trade between India and the 28-member bloc stood at €85.8 billion. In fact, so strong is the collaboration between the two trading partners that the German Ambassador to India, Martin Ney, called for a resumption of EU-India free trade agreement talks. This exemplifies the deep-rooted friendship and trust existing between the two giant partners. Such an environment is critical for sustaining relations and inviting Indian startups to look towards the EU.
With an estimated 500 million people, the European market has a huge demand for innovative tech-based solutions, especially in the field of travel and hospitality, e-commerce and B2B. Further, most Indian startups offer a superior value proposition as well as technological skills and solutions that are unmatched even among many of the European countries. Europe is also home to a large pool of local talent, which the startups can harness to create innovative products in various specialised fields such as artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain.
The European Union is also favourable for companies looking to raise funds. According to Invest Europe, European funds raised €6.4 billion in 2017. As per Ernst & Young, the continent now ranks at No.3 in terms of total venture capital invested, behind only the US and China. Moreover, multiple government-sponsored programmes support capital requirements across businesses.
In today’s era of digital disruption, it is no longer a requirement to have a physical presence in Europe for doing business in the continent. Technology has democratised the business environment. The Republic of Estonia ranked as the most entrepreneurial country in Europe by the World Economic Forum, has come up with one of the most innovative initiatives called e-Residency. Through e-Residency, an entrepreneur can conveniently operate his business in Estonia and across Europe while residing in his own country. The programme has been gaining critical acclaim among entrepreneurs across the world and especially in India. Indian entrepreneurs now can simply Make in India and Sell in Europe!
With several European countries expected to do well in the next two years, Indian startups would do well to turn their attention to the EU and, in particular, the high-growth economies that lie to its east, which offer a more cost-effective and business-friendly environment for Indian startups to grow.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)
indigenous technologies
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At Webster University, we're passionate about providing our students with the tools necessary to develop sound business practices and communicate effectively.
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Feb 17, 2022: Centre Francophone Presents: Interview with Pascal Blanchard
Feb 22, 2022: The Centre Francophone Recruitment fair: “What can French do for me?”
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Doug Trumbull says high frame rates really are the future of cinema
By Tom Bailey published 26 July 21
New tech the answer to dwindling cinema audiences?
(Image credit: MGM)
Special effects legend Doug Trumbull is convinced that high frame rates are "the next frontier of movie making".
Trumbull, best known for creating the effects for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, believes Hollywood will have to embrace the tech if it's to tempt people away from streaming services and back into cinemas.
In an interview with RedSharkNews, the cinema visionary claimed that high frame rates have the ability to provide audiences with a “hyper outer body experience [that] takes you beyond the limits of a TV screen and becomes totally immersive”.
The technical wizard has thrown his weight behind a next generation high frame rate format called Magi, which captures in 4K resolution, stereo 3D and frame rates up to 160fps.
To put that in context, most modern movies use the standard rate of 24 frames per second (fps). Hollywood directors have begun to experiment with HFR but it's early days. The most high-profile films to date have been Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy (48fps) and Ang Lee's Gemini Man (120fps).
High frame rates are said to bring the most vivid, realistic pictures to audiences. But while the tech suits fast-moving sports, critics argue that the loss of traditional cinematic motion-blur makes high frame rate films look too much like video games. Titanic director James Cameron recently branded 120fps "distracting".
The solution, according to Trumbull, is to render digital high frame rate footage in such a way that it replicates film. To that end, the Magi format introduces a 'flicker' that claims to replicate the authentic look and feel of film.
"[Flicker] is what differentiates movies from TV," says Trumbull. "So, if you introduce digital flicker in the projection of the film [actually in the DCP file] it can look fully cinematic even if you raise the frame rate to 120 or 160."
In addition, Magi has the ability to dynamically change the frame rate throughout projection, meaning that scenes can be shot in 24, 120 and 160fps and edited together. The idea is to give directors the option to use high frame rates when it makes sense within a specific scene.
Trumbull hopes to set up a Magi demonstration centre in LA to get new technology seen by Hollywood decision makers including production heads, cinematographers and directors.
"Kubrick was trying to pave the way for a new form of immersive cinema and most people didn’t realise it. I’m trying to do it again."
High Frame Rate: what is it and why does it matter?
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Tom Bailey
Tom has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Men's Health, ShortList, The Sun, The Mail on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include mobile tech, electric cars and video streaming.
Best AV receivers 2022: brilliant home cinema amplifiers
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What Is The Largest Bay In The World?
The Hudson River is in the United States, but to find Hudson Bay, we must go to Canada. Hudson Bay is an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, connected to the ocean by Hudson Strait. It’s so far north that it’s sometimes completely frozen over!
Both the bay and the strait were named after Henry Hudson, who explored the bay in 1610. But the strait was first discovered by John Cabot in 1498, so it might just as easily have been called Cabot Strait.
Hudson Bay is 1,300 miles long and up to 590 miles wide, with a total area of some 317,500 square miles. That makes Hudson Bay practically a small sea, for its area is three times as large as all five of the Great Lakes combined! It’s the world’s largest bay.
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2 thoughts on “What Is The Largest Bay In The World?”
While its true that Hudson bay has the world’s longest shore line, it is only the second largest bay (based on area). Bay of Bengal is the largest.
DJBALTA
The Bay of Bengal is more part of the ocean then a bay — so at what point does this so called bay end and the ocean start because really there is no difference.
That fact alone and the fact that people doing to “fact” making have determined that the parts of Hudson bay leading into the Atlantic and Arctic ocean are not part of the bay — going by that claim the bay of bengal is nowhere near as large as hudson bay because it leads into the ocean in it’s entireity. Once again someone trying to claim Canada doesn’t have the largest bay — WRONGGGGGGGGGGG.
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Boksic set to be releasedfrom contract
Middlesbrough are poised to release striker Alen Boksic from his contract, the club’s chief executive has revealed.
Boksic has submitted a written request to the Premier League requesting he be allowed to leave before his contract expires on June 30.
“I think over the weekend we will make a decision but I would think that we will grant Alen’swishes and release him from his contract,” Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb told Sky Sports television.
Middlesbrough bought two strikers during the transfer window in January – Michael Ricketts from Bolton and Malcolm Christie from Derby, when it emerged that Boksic was on the verge of announcing his retirement.
“In view of our recent acquisition of strikers I don’t see a problem,” Lamb added.
Although Boksic is understood to be one of the best-paid players in England, Lamb denied that money played a part in discussiions between the parties.
“It’s not a consideration. It’s Alen’s request. We are considering it. He has acted in a reasonable way and I’m sure that we will give him a reasonable response. But it is not about money,” Lamb said.
“Alen is a very nice man and has scored some very importantgoals for the football club.
“Everyone at the club wishes Alen well in the future whatever he chooses to pursue. We will part good friends.”
Freak accident rules Wanchope out for the season
Del Neri sets sights on Champions League
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More chances to enjoy nature
Dontez Taylor's love of the outdoors was born in the inner city.
December 1, 2009 Conservation Stories
Dontez, 16, of Medina, joined a Boy Scout troop when he was living in Cleveland’s St. Clair Avenue neighborhood. The first time he went on a campout, he was hooked.
“I never had s’mores before, I’d never been around a campfire and I had never slept in a tent. I found out I liked it,” he said.
Today, Dontez, a sophomore at Medina High School, is an avid camper who enjoys spending time outdoors. While he is a good athlete – Dontez is a long jumper in track, a third baseman in baseball and a small forward in basketball – he is just as much at home in nature.
“I love the smell of the campfire. The bugs, not so much,” he said with a laugh. Dontez was happy to learn the Land Conservancy, Medina Township and the Medina County Park District had preserved a 20-acre tract on Weymouth Road (state Route 3) for a new county park. The land is just across the street from Blakslee Park, where Dontez plays summer baseball. “That’s awesome, it really is,” he said. “I just think going to a park or being outside is better than staying inside at home, playing (video) games and doing the same old things.”
Boy Scouts of America Dontez Taylor Medina Medina County Park District Medina Township Outdoor recreation Public Parks
Parkland acquisition adds to Medina’s green corridor
The Medina County Park District’s acquisition of a tract off Fenn Road is the latest link in a corridor of conserved land through parts of Medina and Medina Township – one that is two miles long and covers more than 600 acres. The park district worked with the nonprofit Western…
More than 300 people celebrate yoga, conservation
More than 300 people attended an Aug. 23 event featuring an outdoor yoga practice session at a local park. “Practicing on the Preserve: A Celebration of Yoga and Conservation,” which was co-sponsored by Western Reserve Land Conservancy and Cleveland Yoga, was held at the Geauga Park District’s Orchard Hills Park…
Going for the green
How often is a golf course allowed to revert to its natural state after it ceases operations? Almost never. But that is exactly what happened in Geauga County, thanks to a partnership between conservation-minded landowners, a park district, government entities and the Land Conservancy. Instead of becoming a housing subdivision…
Joint recreation district takes ownership of former Girl Scout camp in Richfield
In a ceremony Monday, ownership of the 339-acre former Camp Crowell Hilaka was formally transferred from the nonprofit Western Reserve Land Conservancy to the Richfield Joint Recreation District. At the same time, the RJRD announced it would open the property for public tours on Aug. 9. After the Girl Scouts…
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‘Shock and anger’ over poor GP access in Horsham and Mid Sussex
Shock and anger has been expressed at the revelation that Horsham and Mid Sussex are among the worst areas in the country for GP access.
Wednesday, 23rd January 2019, 10:12 am
A BBC analysis has shown that there is only one GP for every 2,997 people in the local area, second only to Swale in Kent which has 3,342.
Now local Liberal Democrats say they are shocked and angry and are calling for a meeting with Horsham MP Jeremy Quin and West Sussex County Council to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group - which covers Horsham, Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and the surrounding areas and is responsible for paying for local health services - says it is currently working closely with local GP practices to develop new ways of working to meet growing demand. They say that local GP practices “ensure appointments are available daily, with urgent cases taking priority. From October last year all also offer registered patients access to both routine and urgent appointments at evenings and weekends.”
However, Royal College of General Practitioners’ chairwoman Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard has called the differences in the number of GPs ‘shocking’ and says she believes the health service in England is 6,000 doctors short of what it needs - and the problem meant care was ‘not safe’ in some places.
Dr David Skipp, Liberal Democrat leader on Horsham District Council, and a former Horsham GP, said: ”Much of the problem relates to poor planning at national and regional level over many years.
“Whilst the NHS has many pressures, this particular problem is caused by a shortage of trained GPs and the failure of NHS England and the CCG to provide new GP premises.
“Despite a great deal of tinkering with the NHS, successive governments (of whatever colour) have failed to put in place a long term strategy for provisioning the NHS. We are now reaping the failures of the last 20 years, and although NHS England is now attempting to recruit more GPs, it takes time to train them.
“The UK population has been rising for many years, as many people live into their 80s and 90s, and mortality in younger age groups decreases due to medical advances, reduced levels of smoking, safer roads and many other advances. “However, the need for NHS services is rising in areas with high numbers of frail older people. A rise in diseases linked to obesity such as diabetes, mental health problems, and more children also bring pressures. Our area has a higher population of older people, and their demands on GP time can be high. There is also increased public demand for medical services.
“Many new houses have been built in both Horsham and Mid Sussex. The resultant rise in population is mirrored by the increase in demand for General Practitioner services. NHS England and the local CCG have failed to provide new practices and additional GPs. This has resulted in greater pressure on the existing services, so more GPs have taken early retirement, thus creating even more pressure.
“The NHS must recognise that there is inequality of access to GPS and encourage health staff to move into the area. When local GP practices recruit, potential staff may be deterred by high housing costs and inadequate places for their families in the most popular schools. This can only be addressed by developing a long term strategy to ‘invest in people’ by providing more affordable housing, in particular allocating housing for key workers, and additional school places.
“When considering housing levels and population increase, new housing should guarantee new surgeries or health centres in the area.
“Finally, the Government needs to look again at nurse recruitment and reward, as having nurse-practitioners in GP practices helps to extend the reach of the GPs we do have. Nurse training has been badly affected by the removal of bursaries. Nurses in training do not get long holidays as most students do; so they are financially penalised by the removal of the bursaries, becoming a free pair of hands on the ward.”
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Iowa man who risked his life to translate for US Forces faces deportation
Zalmay Niazy was threatened with death after serving as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. His request for asylum in the U.S. was denied mid-May.
Author: Eva Andersen
Published: 11:53 PM EDT June 1, 2021
Updated: 1:03 PM EDT June 2, 2021
IOWA FALLS, Iowa — Zalmay Niazy's decision to interpret for the U.S. forces under the Taliban regime is one he knew would be risky, but he saw it as a civic duty.
The Afghanistan native was just 19 years old when he decided it's a path he would pursue.
"I stand with the United States Armed Forces and I became an interpreter, and I have done what was right and what seemed right," said Niazy.
But doing the right thing is something that made him and his family a direct target of terrorists. Niazy says they killed his uncle because of it, and attacked his entire family.
"We lost about everything, where we were and where we are from," he said.
When he came to the U.S. for a work conference in 2014, the threats worsened. Niazy says media in his home country cast him as a traitor, a "U.S. spy." He said the Taliban made it clear that if he returned home, he'd be killed.
"I have been a high target for years," said Niazy. "Not only me, but everybody that has been working with the forces."
At that point, Niazy decided to apply for asylum in the US. He came to Iowa Falls because his cousin lives there, and he quickly sought work as a handyman. He became known by everyone as "Zee" and felt warmly welcomed.
"I've been treated very well, and they are counting me as their own," he said.
Niazy waited for more than four years to get his asylum decision, something he'd been told would only take a matter of weeks.
May 17, he got the letter: he was denied.
"It was just a gut punch," he said. "Just a punch in the gut."
Niazy showed Local 5 the letter of denial. It listed the reason as "you have engaged in terrorist activity."
Niazy says it's because he shared with his interviewer that at the age of nine, he gave a member of the Taliban a piece of bread. A terrorist had pulled up on his motorcycle and threatened young Niazy to provide food.
"They said that 'you are bringing us a piece of bread,' and I didn't have any choice," Niazy said. "They said, 'You're bringing either a bread or we'll burn your house or we'll just kill your parents.'"
He recalls what went through his mind during the interaction.
"If by bringing a piece of bread which wasn't bigger than [my hand], if you are keeping us alive and if you are not burning our house, here, you can have it," Niazy said.
The actions of a nine-year-old under duress have now put his life in jeopardy.
Mike Ingebritson, of Iowa Falls, considers Niazy to be a grandson. He helped get him his job when he arrived and now is set on keeping him here.
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"It's so beautiful out, I thought I should be out fishing [today], I should be out riding my motorcycle," said Ingebritson. "Instead, I was studying deportation and immigration law."
Niazy is now in need of $15,000 in legal fees to pay for an immigration lawyer. He faces a judge on June 28.
A GoFundMe set up for Niazy has raised more than $7,000 so far.
Tuesday, dozens of community members from Iowa Falls gathered at the Methodist Church in town to discuss ways they can support him, either financially, or by writing letters to elected officials.
Donate to Niazy's legal fees at this GoFundMe link
Inaugural Hoosier Chocolate Festival set for February
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York College's Brandon Childs is national NCAA Division III men's lacrosse coach of year
York College's Brandon Childs is the USILA NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year.
Childs led the Spartans' men's lacrosse team to a 19-3 mark in 2018.
York advanced to the NCAA Division III Elite Eight in 2018.
York College’s Brandon Childs has earned one of the top honors of his coaching career.
The Spartans’ boss was been named the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year. The honor was announced at the 2018 Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Convention in Baltimore on Friday.
Childs, who is entering his eighth year at the helm of the York program, led the Spartans to a 19-3 mark in 2018, earning their fourth straight NCAA D-III berth. York went 8-0 in Capital Athletic Conference play and advanced to its second NCAA D-III Elite Eight in three years.
Childs earned his 100th win on the Spartan sideline during the campaign. He boasts a winning percentage of .739 in his seven years at York. The Spartans are 43-10 in CAC play under Childs, including 22-2 over the last three years with a regular-season and a CAC tournament title.
Childs guided a 2018 team that placed a school-record nine players on the All-CAC squads, including seven first-team selections. Childs was named the CAC Coach of the Year for the second straight year and the third time in his career. York had three players earn first-team USILA All-America honors while four others were also recognized on the second and honorable mention teams.
The 2018 Spartans were also successful in the classroom, finishing the year with a team grade-point average 3.27. That GPA was the second highest among the 11 men’s sports at York. Midfielder Ryan Cook was named the Dr. William DeMeester Male Athlete Award winner recognizing the top senior student in the York program. Cook graduated with a GPA of 3.88.
The Spartans are 102-36 in Childs' seven seasons. His career record now sits at 130-55. Childs is now the winningest coach in York men's lacrosse history and is the fastest coach to reach the 100 career win milestone in Spartan history.
While at York, Childs has coached 24 USILA All-Americans, 10 USILA Scholar All-Americans, eight North/South All-Stars, one USILA National Position Player of the Year (Conrad Ordakowski in 2017), one Lacrosse Magazine National Rookie of the Year (Hunter Davis in 2016), three CAC Rookie of the Year winners, one CAC Player of the Year, one CAC Scholar Athlete of the Year and 41 All-CAC selections.
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Texans may turn eye toward offense
Chris Duncan, AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON — The Houston Texans have loaded up their defense through the draft in recent years. It seems like a good time for the Texans to turn their eyes toward offensive help, particularly a big-play receiver to pair alongside All Pro Andre Johnson.
The Texans have the 27th overall pick in the first round Thursday night. Houston has been looking for a suitable complement for Johnson for years, and the missing component was obvious again last year. The Texans ranked 11th in pass offense (239.4 yards per game) and had only 46 receptions covering at least 20 yards, half of them by Johnson.
Last year, Houston picked DeVier Posey (Ohio State) in the third round and Keshawn Martin (Michigan State) in the fourth. Martin settled into a return role, while Posey took most of the season to blossom. Posey had three catches in the playoff loss, but tore his left Achilles tendon and is likely to miss much of the 2013 campaign.
The Texans cut dependable Kevin Walter and didn’t get enough production out of Lestar Jean, an undrafted free agent in 2011. Johnson, who’ll be 32 when the season begins, says he’s “all in” for adding a first-round receiver because a team can never have too many weapons.
“I don’t have a problem with having more help,” said Johnson, the third overall pick in 2003. “It just makes your team more explosive, makes your team much better. The injury to Posey really hurt us, but I think we can get another guy and with him, Keshawn and Lestar, it’d probably the best group here since I’ve been here.”
Texans general manager Rick Smith said they wouldn’t target a particular position in the first round, but rather pick the best player available. But he did acknowledge the need for someone to play opposite Johnson.
“It’s been well-documented. I think we could use some help at the wide receiver position,” Smith said.
Houston has nine picks overall this year, two of them compensatory.
They could have plenty of receivers to choose from, including Clemson’s DeAndre Hopkins, California’s Keenan Allen and Tennessee’s Justin Hunter. Hopkins had 82 catches for 1,405 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2012. Allen is skipping his senior season to enter the draft and finished his career as the school’s all-time leader with 205 receptions. Hunter had 73 catches for 1,083 yards for the Vols last season.
The Texans could end up not picking in the first round, and Smith said the team would certainly consider all trade possibilities.
“In this draft there are a lot of players that we like in the mid-rounds and I think some players that can impact your football team,” he said. “I think maybe we’ve had one draft since I’ve been here that I didn’t execute a trade. We are always open to trades, moving up and moving back. We’ve done that and certainly are willing and open to doing that again this year as well.”
The Texans’ last five first-round picks have moved into key roles, including All-Pro selections Duane Brown and Brian Cushing and 2012 defensive player of the year J.J. Watt. Linebacker Brooks Reed (second round, 2011), nose tackle Earl Mitchell (third round, 2010) and linebacker Darryl Sharpton (fourth round, 2010) have also taken over starting roles.
“The key is that we pick the best player,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “I know that’s cliche, but if you panic because you’ve got a need here or there, you may make a mistake. We need to pick the best players available to our team, put them in and go from there. We’ve got certain spots we can improve upon very quickly, but you can’t push the envelope, so to speak.”
The Texans could also use help on the offensive line and in the linebacker corps.
Houston retooled the right side of the line last year after cutting tackle Eric Winston and letting guard Mike Brisiel go in free agency. Derek Newton, a seventh-round pick in 2011, won the right tackle job from Rashad Butler in the preseason, and was rotating with veteran Ryan Harris by the end of the season. Rookies Brandon Brooks (third round, 2012) and Ben Jones (fourth round, 2012) shared time at guard with veteran Antoine Caldwell, who missed time last year with a hamstring injury.
Smith expects Newton, Brooks and Jones to make leaps in progress in 2013.
“Obviously, I think we got some real benefit from last year with the young guys being able to play the way that they did,” Smith said.
Cushing tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in Week 5, and the Texans’ defense was never quite as good without him. The Texans re-signed Tim Dobbins, who filled in for Cushing, but outside linebacker and 2011 sacks leader Connor Barwin signed with Philadelphia in free agency.
“There are plenty of areas on our football team where we can add good football players,” Smith said. “And that’s why I think you have to always exercise the discipline in taking the right player at the corresponding value because at some point, that player will help your team win.”
Chris Duncan
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