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__label__cc	0.655217	0.344783	Can VR Bridge the Gap Between Learning & Job Market Needs? by Digital Marketing Institute As humans become more dependent on technology for work and play, Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming more popular due to its immersive nature and ability to engage. By 2019 the VR market is projected to grow to a $16 billion industry and its applications go way beyond gaming and advertising. In fact, many industries are now using it as an effective training tool to ensure recent hires and existing employees are prepared for real-life scenarios. And with some creative thinking, training companies and colleges can do the same. In this article, we explore the benefits of VR in a learning environment that can help spark ways to use the technology to drive engagement and prepare graduates better for the increasingly competitive job market. Mirror Real-Life Situations There are plenty of real-world scenarios that can be simulated in VR to help prepare students and trainees for the real thing. One such example is the Paramedic Clinical Simulation Center at Kingston University and St. George’s University of London. By using a VR instruction program paramedic students are being taught and trained to prepare for real-life emergency scenarios. The Paramedic Clinical Simulation Center includes two life-sized rear sections of an ambulance, three purpose-built rooms, and a skills acquisition laboratory. In addition, an immersion room uses VR technology to allow trainees to enter different scenarios, assess the environment and treat patients. By exposing students to real-world simulated emergencies, Kingston and St George’s hopes to properly prepare its students for the increasingly demanding role of emergency medical services. This application of VR demonstrates the value of the technology in preparing individuals for the reality of working life. However, its application does not need to be as resource intensive and could be replicated in a learning environment. VR is often used to help trainees practice their skills in a simulated environment. At NASA, astronauts have to go through a rigorous two-year program before they can qualify for a mission assignment. Learning to work in a simulated space environment is one key aspect of astronaut training, and this is done at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab. At the NBL, a giant pool houses a replica of the International Space Station for simulated spacewalks. NASA has delved into VR over the last decade to help astronauts train in a simulated environment. At the Virtual Reality Lab, trainees practice their spacewalk scenarios before proceeding to the real thing in lower earth orbit. NASA’s VR Lab also prepares trainees for emergency contingencies, such as when astronauts get disconnected from the ISS during spacewalks. By using virtual reality, instructors can brief trainees on how to use their jet backpacks to propel themselves safely back to the ISS. Facilitates Skill Application Walmart, one of the world’s largest retailer, partnered with STRIVR to help its employees prepare for the job market using VR instruction. STRIVR is a virtual reality company that uses VR to improve performances of organizations and brands. Walmart currently has 200 “Walmart Academy” training centers in the U.S and plans to incorporate VR into its training program using the Oculus Rift. Potential hires will go through various scenarios that are meant to test an employee’s customer service level, and response to seasonal situations such as Christmas and Black Friday. All employees will be able to use VR instruction during their two weeks training before they are allowed to commence in an entry-level position. In addition, the Oculus Rift headsets will be broadcast live during a classroom session so that teachers and fellow peers can provide real-time feedback. Drive Understanding Journalism has long sought to extend its reach in mass communications. VR can tell a great story by placing viewers in the actual scene, and helping them to understand the story beyond its narrative through combining text with sight and sound. This form of journalism, called immersive journalism, allows viewers to experience an event firsthand using immersive technologies. Nonny de la Peña, a Senior Research Fellow at USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism and Communications, is often considered the pioneer of immersive journalism. In one example, she captured footage of a man collapsing at a food bank while waiting in line. Using the footage, de la Peña and her team digitally reconstructed the story and gave viewers a firsthand experience of the story. According to de la Peña, VR and immersive journalism is a way for viewers to be “more invested in the experience. It’s a very powerful, distraction-free storytelling technique”. Improve Group Interactions Just two years ago, a professor of engineering design and industrial engineering at Penn State experimented with the Oculus Rift and haptic gloves to determine its impact on online learning. Using only the goggles and gloves, students were tasked to assemble a virtual coffee pot. Half of the students using VR accomplished the task in 23.21 seconds, while the other half using a traditional keyboard and mouse took 49.04 seconds. The study revealed that online learning with VR allows students to engage with objects more naturally. While online learning allows students across continents to collaborate and interact with each other, the lack of immersive and tactile interaction makes the experience slightly lacking. VR solves this problem by allowing students to collaborate with one another as if they were all in the same room, even if they live in different countries. “Online learning gives us huge opportunities in higher education. You can connect with more diverse people across greater distances, for example. But online courses also limit in some ways – there’s little immersive or tactile interaction, and sometimes it’s hard for students to engage with the material. IVR systems are a potential solution to that problem.” - Conrad Tucker, Penn State Virtual reality may have its roots in gaming and entertainment, but it also presents serious use for real-world applications. The technology required to experience true virtual reality is becoming more advanced and cheaper to manufacture. In time, we can expect to see VR in more widespread and innovative settings. Training providers would do well to start incorporating VR into their learning programs if they wish to help change the fundamental way in which future humans work and communicate. Thinking Strategically Understanding Strategic Thinking Creativity Skills Delivering a Presentation Dealing With Conflicts and Crises Building Agreement Benefits of Team Collaboration Webinar: Digital Transformation is about Talent, not Technology How to get a job in digital marketing without a degree Your Ultimate Job Search Tracker 5 Steps for Moving Forward after Being Fired How the Privacy Paradox affects Business Growth How to get things done in Digital Marketing Digital Marketing Budgets - The Full Toolkit Webinar: Burnout and Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace 10 Digital Skills That Can Make Students Instantly Employable in 2022	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1971
__label__wiki	0.716744	0.716744	Green organisations call for common stand on hunting Times of Malta, 24 April 2010 Malta is becoming “an international and EU embarrassment” and the government and the opposition should work together to address the spring hunting issue, seven environmental organisations insist. In a joint statement, the organisations expressed concern at the issues related to the opening of spring hunting. The government and the opposition should work together and “stop trying to gain political mileage on hunting in Malta. This calls into question the environmental credibility of the two major parties,” they said. The organisations – Din L-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth Malta, the Gaia Foundation, the Malta Organic Agriculture Movement, Nature Trust and the Ramblers Association Malta – condemned the recent alleged assaults by hunters on BirdLife volunteers and stressed on the need for better enforcement. The police Administrative Law Enforcement unit had long been understaffed and the enforcement unit within the Malta Environment and Planning Authority needed to be strengthened, they said. “This lack of action by the national authorities is now being interpreted as lack of environmental commitment by the government,” they said. Turning to Mepa, they said they were shocked to learn that its representatives on the Ornis committee – the government’s hunting advisory body – commended a longer spring hunting season in Malta. Finally, the NGOs appealed to the Maltese people to show their concern on this issue. “If Malta ends up being fined by the EU, (the money) will not be paid by hunters or politicians but by all Maltese and Gozitan citizens through their tax contribution,” the NGOs said. Last month, Ornis recommended a hunting season between April 10 – 30 allowing for a total of about 33,000 birds to be shot. But the government decided on a shortened season, between April 24 and 30, excluding Sunday, with a bag limit of about 7,000 birds. The season would be open to a limited 2,500 hunters. The government explained its decision by saying that, since no agreement was reached with the European Commission on the matter, it did not want to run the risk of being dragged to court and waste tax payers’ money in hefty fines. The disgruntled hunters have called on the government to open the season immediately to an unlimited number of hunters and with a bag limit not below 33,000 birds. The Labour Party has been reiterating its stance in favour of the Ornis recommendations. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100424/local/green-organisations-call-for-common-stand-on-hunting Historic buildings’ scheduling should be ‘streamlined’ UK trawler filmed dumping tonnes of fish	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1973
__label__wiki	0.711093	0.711093	Saudi Arabia Wants to Avert War DESPARDES News Monitor – Saudi Arabia wants to avert war in the region but stands ready to respond with “all strength and determination”, a senior official said, adding that the ball was now in Iran’s court. “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not want a war in the region nor does it seek that,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference on Sunday. “It will do what it can to prevent this war and at the same time it reaffirms that in the event the other side chooses war, the kingdom will respond with all force and determination, and it will defend itself and its interests.” A senior Iranian military commander was similarly quoted as saying his country is not looking for war, in comments published in Iranian media on Sunday. [the_ad id=’2023′] Al-Jubeir’s comments came after last week’s attacks on Saudi oil assets, and days after four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Iran has denied it was behind the attacks which come as Washington and the Islamic republic spar over sanctions and the US military presence in the region, raising concerns about a potential US-Iran conflict. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has invited Gulf and Arab leaders for emergency summits in Mecca on May 30 to discuss implications of the attacks. The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, in a statement about increased maritime patrols, said Gulf countries were “specifically increasing communication and coordination with each other in support of regional naval cooperation and maritime security operations in the Arabian Gulf”. Their navies and coastguards working with the US Navy, it said. Earlier this week, Kuwait said it was ‘ready’ in case of regional war. The current situation in the region due to rising tensions between the US and Iran, is “perilous”, head of the Kuwaiti parliament Marzouq Al Ghanem said on Thursday following a crisis meeting with government officials. Dog Rescued From Saudi Street Finds a New Home in US Top 5 Most Powerful Arabs in Saudi Arabia US Defense Contractor to Build High-Tech Bombs in… China's Crude Oil Imports From Saudi Arabia Up 43Pct Pakistan Expresses Solidarity With Saudi Arabia on… Saudi Arabia's First-Ever Women Golf Tournament: 108… Turkey, Russia Get Closer, Discuss Joint Production of Defense Systems Rights Groups Alarmed at Spike in Attacks Against Muslims in India	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1977
__label__wiki	0.870145	0.870145	Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Photo courtesy National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site Every year, as the anniversary of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s birthday approaches, it is inspiring to look back upon his life and legacy. Born on February 27,1807 in Portland, Maine, he was the second of eight children. He enrolled in Bowdoin College at the age of 15. When he graduated in 1825 he was ranked fourth in his class and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. By this point, he had already written and published dozens of poems and knew that his life’s passion would be literature. Despite being offered a professorship at Bowdoin after graduating, Longfellow declined it and instead spent three years abroad in Europe, returning to America with a renewed dedication to writing. This renewed dedication inspired him to eventually write some of America’s best known and beloved poetry. By the time he took up a teaching post at Harvard College in 1835, Longfellow had traveled extensively throughout Europe and Scandinavia, mastering over nine languages. Longfellow’s reputation as a writer was already firmly established when he resigned his post at Harvard in 1854 in order to devote his life to poetry. After his resignation, he wrote some of his most popular works such as The Song of Hiawatha in 1855 and Paul Revere’s Ride in 1860. In 1864, he also became the first American to begin translating Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. This became his most ambitious works as the translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy in unrhymed verse. Though Longfellow was an incredibly private man, he was a fiercely loyal friend and sought companionship from others who could help to inspire both his life and work. In 1836 he became a professor at Harvard. Here, as a young man, he forged intimate friendships as a member of the Five of Clubs. The Five of Clubs is also where he began his lifelong friendship with Senator Charles Sumner. Later in life he was also a part of the Dante Club where again he was surrounded by, amongst others, his friends James Russell Lowell and Oliver Wendell Holmes. The friends he made in these groups also shaped many of his views on current social and literary movements. Most importantly, his public condemnation of slavery and his unwavering, though at times strained, support for Charles Sumner and his cause. While his life was very much so dedicated to his craft, Longfellow was also a devoted family man and romantic. His first wife, Mary Storer Potter, died four years into their marriage after suffering a miscarriage. Her death deeply affected him, causing him to write some of the few poems that can be directly linked to his personal thoughts or emotions. Eventually recovering, he embarked on a seven year courtship with Frances ‘Fanny’ Appleton and in 1843 they eventually married and had six children together. In 1860 a tragic accident occurred which left Fanny badly burned from a fire; she died the next morning unable to recover from her injuries. Longfellow, in his attempts to save her was badly burned himself. He would never fully recover from the devastation of losing Fanny. In 1879, 18th anniversary of Fanny’s death, he wrote another rare poem expressing his personal grief called The Cross of Snow. Longfellow died at home on March 24, 1882 after going to bed with severe stomach pain. He was buried with both of his wives at Mount Auburn Cemetery. According to newspaper accounts, hundreds gathered for Longfellow’s funeral including Oliver Wendell Holmes and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Illustrations from Harper’s Weekly show the graveside scene and the funeral procession as it entered the gates of Mount Auburn Cemetery and moved up Central Avenue towards the family tomb on Indian Ridge Path. The casket was decorated with two palm branches and a spray of passion flowers, the symbolism of which Samuel Longfellow, the poet’s brother, noted in a letter afterwards: “He had known both the suffering and the victory.” Longfellow’s monument was designed by his nephew, William Pitt Preble Longfellow, an architect and author. It is fashioned of Indiana limestone. On the left side of the monument is a Latin symbol with an inscription (pictured left) dating back to the 11th century at the church of St. Etienne at Caen, France. The Latin words Dux, Lex, Lux and Rex mean Leader, Law, Light and King. Longfellow used variations of this symbol for the title pages on two of his books and in the design for his garden in 1845. Longfellow was the most popular poet of his time and today is thought of as one of the most important and distinguished poets that America has ever produced by playing a vital role in familiarizing Americans with European legend and literature. He maintained, however, a lifelong commitment to promoting American poetry as worthy of the recognition European poetry enjoyed, and helped lay the foundations for a native literature by giving form to American legends. The increasing monetary returns for his poetry reflects his popularity as America’s favorite household poet –from $15 for “The Village Blacksmith,” in 1840 to $3,000 for “The Hanging of the Crane” in 1874. During his lifetime, 10,000 copies of the Courtship of Miles Standish were sold in London in a single day. Though his popularity has declined, the importance of his work and his lasting impact on American culture is still seen today when, for instance, a child learns of how Paul Revere came to the rescue during his midnight ride by reading Longfellow’s portrayal of events. Longfellow’s memorial can be found at Lot#580, Indian Ridge Path. Before the great poet himself came to be buried at Mount Auburn in 1882, he experienced the deaths of several close family and friends. Here are a few poems that Longfellow wrote in memory of friends and family who are also buried at Mount Auburn. Longfellow’s Children All six of Longfellow’s children are buried at Mount Auburn. Four of the children are in the family lot, while two of Longfellow’s daughters are buried in their husband’s lots. Five of his six children survived into adulthood. “Grave Alice, and Laughing Allegra, and Edith with the golden hair” -The Children’s Hour Lot #580, Indian Ridge Path Charles A. Longfellow (1844 – 1893) Ernest W. Longfellow (1845 – 1921) Fanny Longfellow (infant) (1847 – 1848) Alice M. Longfellow (1850 – 1928) Lot #6209, Willow Avenue West Annie Longfellow Thorp (1855 – 1934) Lot #4863, Jonquil Path Edith Allegra Longfellow Dana (1853 – 1915) Tagged: Poetry Fay Dabney says: Thank you for this very interesting article Helen Hoague Huston says: Perhaps you already know, but the aforementioned William Pitt Preble Longfellow, nephew of the poet, is also buried at Mount Auburn. He married a daughter of Otis Daniell and is buried in his father-in-law’s lot on Lily Path. Charles Chauncey Wells says: Indeed Longfellow was true and loyal to his friends. In my book, New North Church: Life and Death in Early Boston, I devote Chapter 6 to the murder of Dr. George Parkman by Harvard Professor John Webster. Webster was hanged Aug. 30, 1850, and presumably buried in the Webster Tomb 4 at Copp’s Hill, having been denied burial at Mt. Auburn. Longfellow remained a friend of the family, especially Mrs. Harriet Webster, and said when she died in 1877,”Mrs. Webster is dead–dead of a broken heart–worn out, she swooned away into death without any other disease than this! The only wonder is she did not die before. What a life! With the stigma of her husband’s crime upon her.” There was a Webster plot at Mt. Auburn, but I am unsure if she was buried in it or if it had to be sold to pay off family debts. The home and their effects had to be auctioned off. Friends supplied another one for the family. Willa Bodman says: Thank you for this “refresher” on Longfellow. What a great man! And, Mr. Wells, I would now like to read your book!	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1978
__label__wiki	0.712363	0.712363	Song of the Day: “Parachute” by Ingrid Michaelson Leave a Comment / Song of the Day / By ESBM / December 10, 2010 December 13, 2010 Today’s song is “Parachute” by Ingrid Michaelson. The video was helmed by director Adria Petty (Beyonce’s “Sweet Dreams” and Duffy’s “Mercy”) and sees Ingrid rocketing off into space to save a frail plant on a far off planet. While the songs main focus may be love between people, the video focuses on the love between people and nature and boasts stunning visuals saturated in a gorgeous futuristic Little Prince aesthetic. Ingrid has appeared on Ellen, Good Morning America, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Rachael Ray and was the first unsigned musician ever selected as a Vh1 “You Oughta Know” artist. Her hit single “The Way I Am,” off her breakthrough album Girls and Boys, was not only spun on radio stations all over the country, but was featured in a major national television commercial for Old Navy. She has since sold 2.5 million single downloads, over 560,000 copies of her three albums and “The Way I Am,” was recently certified Platinum. Watch the video below and get the song now on iTunes. For more information on Ingrid check out her official website, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pages.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1994
__label__cc	0.733955	0.266045	July 8th-10th 2021 Terms of Use (Version 1.0 – dated [August 1, 2020]) The following Terms of Use govern all users’ (each a 'User') use of the websites eeassoc.org (the 'Website') and eeavirtual.org (the ‘Events Platform’). Please read them carefully because by registering with or visiting eeassoc.org and/or eeavirtual.org, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. eeassoc.org and eeavirtual.org are published by the European Economic Association (Registered office: Neerstraat 107, Tessenderlo, 3980, Belgium, with Company No. 0429.064.949) (the 'Association'). Your membership will run for a 12-month or a 36-month period (upon your choice) from the point you join our Association as a member or renew your membership. The Association, according to its statutes, can cancel the membership at any time on request by the member at issue, but does not refund, neither fully nor partially, any membership fees. 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The Association shall not be liable for any breach of these Terms of Use or any failure to provide or delay in provision of any services through the Website and/or Events Platform resulting from any event or circumstance beyond its reasonable control including, without limitation, any Acts of God, strikes, lock outs and other industrial disputes, breakdown of systems or network access, fire, flood, explosion or accident. If any of these Terms of Use are or become or are declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, such terms shall be severed from these Terms of Use and shall not affect the validity, legality or enforceability of the remainder of these Terms of Use. © 2021 European Economic Association. All rights reserved.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1995
__label__cc	0.509234	0.490766	Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) Home > JAM > Vol. 3 > Iss. 1 (2016) Misconceptions and Mismanagement of Menstruation among Adolescents Girls who do not attend School in Pakistan Naghma Rizvi, Aga Khan University, PakistanFollow Tazeen Saeed Ali, Aga Khan University, PakistanFollow School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan Background: Menstruation is perceived and interpreted differently under different social and cultural norms. There are a number of different practices, conceptions and misconceptions that have been reported in studies conducted in various countries. In Pakistan, there is a dearth of knowledge related to hygienic and unhygienic practices, discomforts, misconceptions related to nutrition, and restrictions imposed during menstruation. Therefore, this study was conducted with the objectives to identify the conceptions and misconceptions about menstruation, explore hygienic and unhygienic practices during menstruation along with the socio- cultural and religious restrictions imposed, and the discomforts with its management among adolescents who do not attend schools between the ages of 13-19 years, residing in the squatter settlements of urban Karachi. Based on the study outcomes, the community midwives can be used as vectors to disseminate published information related to management of menstruation. Consequently, midwives can contribute in improving the health indicators of the country. Methodology: The methodology of the study used a qualitative exploratory study design. Three focus group discussions were conducted with 6-8 participants in each group. Six in-depth interviews were conducted with the key informants selected from three focus groups. The participants were non-school going adolescent girls. The data collected were thematically analyzed. Results: The themes that emerged were; lack of knowledge about menstrual physiology, misconceptions about normal menstrual blood flow; discomforts and mismanagement, unhygienic practices during menstruation, alteration in nutrition, bathing, and socialization in both the religious and social activities. Conclusion: Adolescent girls held misconceptions and beliefs regarding menstruation and its management. Dissemination of the findings to the health professionals will increase their awareness regarding menstrual management which would be helpful for improved reproductive health of the girls. Rizvi, N, & Ali, T S. Misconceptions and Mismanagement of Menstruation among Adolescents Girls who do not attend School in Pakistan. Journal of Asian Midwives. 2016;3(1):46–62. Nursing Midwifery Commons All Issues Vol. 8, Iss. 2 Vol. 8, Iss. 1 Vol. 7, Iss. 2 Vol. 7, Iss. 1 Vol. 6, Iss. 2 Vol. 6, Iss. 1 Vol. 5, Iss. 1 Vol. 4, Iss. 2 Vol. 4, Iss. 1 Vol. 3, Iss. 2 Vol. 3, Iss. 1 Vol. 2, Iss. 2 Vol. 2, Iss. 1 Vol. 1, Iss. 2 Vol. 1, Iss. 1 in this journal in eCommons@AKU across all repositories	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1996
__label__wiki	0.737479	0.737479	Dover Police Create Video To Aid Child Cancer Patient 5-20-2015 May 20, 2015 May 20, 2015 Dover Police Department After four months and 34 million views on Youtube alone, people around the world have seen the viral Dashcam Confessional featuring Officer Jeff Davis lip-syncing to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off hit single. As a result of that video, the Dover Police Department has received messages from across the globe thanking us for brightening their day. However, one of those messages stood out amongst the rest. Victoria Marsh is a 13 and a half year old girl from Delaware. (Victoria asked that we make sure everybody knows about the half.) Victoria, like most girls her age, is a huge fan of Taylor Swift. She loves to sing and dance to her music, and even dressed as her idol for Halloween in 2014. In December of 2014, Victoria complained to her parents about a pain in her ankle. A week after visiting doctors at the AI Dupont Hospital for Children, doctors informed Victoria that she had a form of bone cancer; osteosarcoma. In February, Victoria had the lower half of her left leg amputated. Since then, she has been fitted with a prosthetic that she refers to as her “fancy foot.” Her dream has always been to meet Taylor Swift and attend a concert. The Dover Police Department, as a result of the Shake it Off video, received tickets from Taylor Swift’s record label for the June concert in Philadelphia, PA and offered them to the Marsh family. Unfortunately, it was later learned that Victoria cannot attend because of her chemotherapy treatments. Victoria chose to give the tickets to her sisters because of the support and love they provide her throughout her battle. Cpl. Mark Hoffman, of the Dover Police Public Affairs Office, and Victoria’s mother, Karen, came up with the idea to create a video in hopes that Taylor Swift will see Victoria’s wish to Facetime or even meet Taylor during her upcoming tour stop in Philadelphia. It is the hope of the family and the Dover Police Department that the video will quickly become popular and reach Taylor Swift so that Victoria’s wish will come true and she will gain support from around the country. Page 2 of the letter Page One of a letter from Victoria’s mother to the Dover Police Department PreviousFour Arrested for Heroin Possession by Street Crimes and Probation Units 5-20-15 NextDover Police Expand Cadet Program, Accepting Applications 5-20-15	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1997
__label__cc	0.53274	0.46726	The late Peter Gray was born in 1941 and grew up on the banks of the River Tyne. He was the grandson of a ghillie on the Tweed, and became an angler himself. Gray began fishing for brown trout but quickly found his niche with Atlantic salmon and sea trout. His 27-year career was spent managing the famous Kielder Hatchery where he played a major role in returning the River. Tyne to one of the finest salmon rivers in England. Gray carried his knowledge and successful efforts to the River Dove. He went on to serve as a consultant and worked with salmon restoration programs across the world. Gray’s efforts resulted in one of the most impressive wild Atlantic salmon restoration programs in the 170 year history of Atlantic salmon conservation. Salmon returns increased on the River Tyne from 724 to over 13,000 adults. His innovative rearing conditions in his unique streamside hatchery led to strong salmon prepared for survival during their epic oceanic journey. REFLECTING ON A VISIONARY Gray facilitated the setup and training for the Peter Gray Parr Project at the Downeast Salmon Federation (DSF), which is why the Project is named in his honor. In an interview with Fly Fisherman Magazine, DSF’s Executive Director Dwayne Shaw shared, “Peter’s philosophy was that our hatchery efforts here in America have failed to recover salmon stocks because we’ve been producing inferior fish. He believed we needed to produce ‘little athletes’ with a superior ability to survive, grow, navigate the North Atlantic, and return as healthy adults.” From custom-designing incubator boxes that allow fish to swim out when they are ready, painting rearing tanks black instead of blue and conditioning fish with increasing water velocities, to using unfiltered water from the very river that holds 10,000 years of evolutionary connection, Gray’s methods continue today. He suddenly passed away in 2012, a year in which the first batch of 81,000 eggs was hatched at the facility now bearing his name, the Peter Gray Hatchery. More in Peter Gray Parr Project The Peter Gray Hatchery Peter Gray Parr Project	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line1999
__label__wiki	0.954908	0.954908	Family viewing Date of the week Hitting the target Preparing for War By Michael Pickard Three Families director Alex Kalymnios and cinematographer Ula Pontikos discuss their work on this two-part BBC drama, which follows the real-life stories of a mother and two women affected by Northern Ireland’s restrictive abortion laws. More than 50 years ago, the Abortion Act of 1967 legalised abortion across the UK. Yet the change in law did not extend to one part of the union, Northern Ireland, where in the vast majority of cases it remained a criminal offence to have or perform an abortion. Women would often travel across the Irish Sea to England to seek abortion services they could not access at home, and that remained the case until 2019 when the government in Westminster controversially imposed changes to the law while Northern Ireland’s Stormont Assembly was suspended. Against the backdrop of the restrictive law and the campaign to overturn it, BBC two-part drama Three Families explores how three women come up against legislation that dated back to 1861, while exploring both pro-life and pro-choice arguments surrounding abortion. Theresa (Sinéad Keenan) faces prison for trying to help her teenage daughter have an abortion, while young newlyweds Hannah (Amy James-Kelly) and Jonathan (Colin Morgan) learn that their first child will die of a fatal foetal abnormality. Older first-time mother Rosie (Genevieve O’Reilly) also discovers complications with her pregnancy, and faces a lack of legal solutions. Cinematographer Ula Pontikos (left) and director Alex Kalymnios (second left) on location “Being in England, I wasn’t aware of what was going on. Until the law changed and it was all in the news, I just naively assumed the law in Northern Ireland was the same as in England,” director Alex Kalymnios (Titans, The 100) tells DQ. “Part of the reason why I was compelled to tell this story is because if I didn’t really know what was going on, there would be other women too, and men [who didn’t know], and I felt it was really important to share these true stories of these women going through hell because of this ridiculously restrictive law.” Produced by Studio Lambert, the company behind award-winning, fact-based drama Three Girls, the show has been penned by screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes (Honour, Vanity Fair), who based the stories featured in Three Families on real-life cases, changing names and details to protect the privacy of those involved. Behind the camera, Kalymnios partnered with cinematographer Ula Pontikos (Russian Doll, Marcella) to bring these highly emotive stories to the screen. Keen to avoid turning Three Families into a social realism drama, they use the space between documentary and fiction to bring honesty to the portrayal of the families at the centre of the story. “What one must mention about this story is the shame that’s associated with abortion,” the director says. “One of our stories, Theresa, is based on a real case, which in a way is almost like a witness-protection case. We had to elaborate and change some of the family details because they don’t want to be recognised. Even to this day, they don’t want any recognition because no one knows who they are. What’s really important is that, with drama, you can tap into the truth and emotion without necessarily exposing people. “What I love about Gwyneth’s script is she still nails down the true moments. And what I love as a director is to be able to find those moments and expand them with the actors, the cinematography, the locations and production design to really emphasise what we’re trying to get across. I didn’t want it to feel like it could have been a documentary. I wanted it to feel considered, elegant and cinematic.” The Northern Irish coast features prominently in the series Key to the look of the series was Northern Ireland itself. Kalymnios and Pontikos were keen to showcase Belfast with plenty of colour and to utilise coastal views to emphasise that these women were on an island where they were living with a century-old law. “The script has a lot of empathy towards both sides of the story,” Pontikos notes. “There isn’t a right or wrong decision. You can’t really quantify whether somebody who doesn’t believe in abortion is wrong, and what Gwyneth managed to do and Alex emphasised through directing is show both sides of the story. It never bashes you with ideology. It just tells you about these women, who are going through difficult moments in their lives, and how they try to put it all together.” During pre-production, the pair struck upon the idea of filming with anamorphic lenses to produce a widescreen effect, not just so it would look cinematic but also to allow the camera to frame the characters in an intimate way. In addition, they injected the series with a colour palette that one may not expect from the subject matter, while Pontikos wanted to light the series with as much sunlight as possible to build a connection between interior shots and exterior locations. “Let me tell you about Belfast. It was my first time there and everyone says, ‘It’s going to rain,’” she recalls. “My friend does lots of photography in Ireland and she always finds this beautiful sun, so I said, ‘No, I think it’s a very sunny place.’ We were doing location recces and it was always sunny. But everyone was like, ‘Don’t worry, once we start shooting, it’s going to be raining.’ Lo and behold, we had sun the majority of the time.” Sinéad Keenan (right) plays Theresa, who is trying to help her teenage daughter get an abortion Locations were also key to representing the different socioeconomic statuses of the three central women, with Theresa considered working class and Rosie coming from a wealthier background. “This law affected women from all parts of society. I didn’t matter what class you were, it still affected these women,” Kalymnios says. “That was really important and something we wanted to get across through the production design, location choices and, to a certain degree, with the colour palette. Hannah’s story was always the sunshine ,so we used lots of yellow and warm colours. Then Rosie had a much cooler look with her house and her clothes. Theresa had a lot more of a mixture.” Set across six years, the series demanded a timeless quality that would highlight the juxtaposition of an old law with the modern women it affected. To achieve this, the creative team decided to use vintage Cooke Xtal lenses to avoid the crispness that comes with modern equipment. “I remember doing the camera test and it just looked stunning. That’s the beauty of those lenses,” Kalymnios says. “When they hit the light, there’s a softness and magic to it. And when you have the lens flare, it’s just gorgeous. I wanted to lean into the beauty of these lives and the fact they are families. It’s not a cold family life. They’ve had to endure something that’s been awful, but they still try to find those moments of beauty along the way.” “I just want to give a hands-up to Andy Gardener, our focus puller, because with those lenses, they can be very tricky and they’re not robust,” Pontikos adds. “He knew them very well and he made our life really easy.” Amy James-Kelly and Colin Morgan as newlyweds Hannah and Jonathan Kalymnios chose to shoot Three Families with a single camera, steering away from the two-camera approach used for most modern TV dramas. This was particularly necessary due to the compact nature of some of the locations, but it also meant the director had to build a comprehensive shot list to ensure she could get what she wanted without asking actors to repeat emotionally exhausting scenes more times than were necessary. “We have three different stories and, because of the way we shot it, and also because of Covid and the locations, the characters didn’t really ever meet,” she explains. “It was almost like having three different shoots, and each actor had their own process. With Amy and Colin, we did a lot of improv on the day to get really into their relationship and feel the love and the joy, but there were some really tough scenes for all of them. You just needed to know what shots you were going to start with. We usually did the tight stuff first and worked our way out.” As Rosie, O’Reilly was involved in a particularly emotional scene in which her character shops for baby clothes – one that meant there wasn’t a dry eye on set. “The most important thing working with actors is to give them space so they feel secure,” Kalymnios says. “Each of the actors had their own personal reasons for taking on this project and they also knew the responsibility of trying to do these women justice. There was a lot of pressure on everyone, because everyone just wanted to do the story right. We did a little bit of rehearsals and readthrough leading up to it, but it was mainly about discussions and having that private time in between setups to talk about stuff.” Filming began last September, making Three Girls one of the first dramas to start following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 35-day shoot was then interrupted when a positive test result led to a short hiatus, causing some locations to be lost and new ones having to be sought before production wrapped in November. The drama launches tonight on BBC1, with the second part airing tomorrow. Genevieve O’Reilly had to film a particularly emotional scene involving shopping for baby clothes “One of the weirdest things was wearing the masks, not because they were extremely uncomfortable or horrible, but because you can’t see someone’s mouth – and when you can’t communicate visually with a smile or an expression, it’s really hard,” Kalymnios notes. “That was one of the personal challenges shooting in a pandemic. We did get shut down but, in a way, it was great because it gave us all a beat just to reflect and look at the material, edit, see what we had, see if there was anything else we needed and give everyone a bit of a rest. But everyone wanted to be there and everyone appreciated how important the story was. And because people hadn’t worked for eight months, we were also very eager to work.” Coming to Northern Ireland together from England, the director and Pontikos formed a bubble, and the Poland-born cinematographer says Three Families became more than just another job. “We were a support network to each other during the pandemic,” she says. “Everyone was still slightly confused and unsure, and there were a lot of insecurities about coming back onto a job during the pandemic. Having Alex and that support network and that friendship was what made that job so much more pleasurable.” Similarly, Kalymnios praises the cast and crew for completing the series – distributed internationally by All3Media International – while filming in “unknown territory.” “I’m really grateful Ula came on the journey with me and we managed to do it together,” she adds. “It was difficult at times, but it was incredible we got it done in a pandemic. I’m really proud of what we managed to achieve and thankful for everyone’s involvement.” tagged in: Alex Kalymnios, BBC, Studio Lambert, Three Families, Ula Pontikos	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2001
__label__wiki	0.778865	0.778865	National Women’s Physician Day February 3 was National Women Physicians Day. Obviously, this is an important day – the pioneering female physicians that paved the way for so many. This date was selected because Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States on February 3, 1849. Unfortunately, females in the medical industry aren’t on level footing with our male counterparts, even 170 years later. While the number of women doctors gradually increased in the last two decades, 2016 statistics show 35% of physicians are women. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine recently revealed that women doctors earn on average 8% less than their male counterparts. That discrepancy along with nearly a third of women physicians reporting sexual harassment in the workplace and large majority experiencing gender bias. Clearly, there is still work to be done. This fact is daunting, but we can’t let it distract us from the incredible accomplishments of women in healthcare. This exceptional video from the American College of Surgeons details the career of Dr. Kathryn Anderson, who was the first female director of the American College of Surgeons. She also has also served as president of the American Pediatric Surgery Association in the past. “I wanted to be a surgeon from being about 8 years old,” she has said, “I don’t know why because I had no role models, as a child, in medicine.” That last phrase is striking. Diana Farmer is another excellent surgeon. She is Chair of Surgery at UC Davis, and a Reagent of the American College of Surgeons. Her outstanding research on myelomeningocele, which is a form of spina bifida, is revolutionizing the way we treat this disease. Farmer has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed research articles, including studies of neuroblastoma, Chiari II malformation, twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, fetal trauma and necrotizing enterocolitis. “Dr. Farmer is a worldwide innovator in treating complex birth defects and diseases in very young children,” said Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for human health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC Davis. “Her technical insights, expert leadership and dedication to patients will assure that our surgical team continues to offer compassionate care together with the latest technologies.” Locally, Gail Berstein is an incredible role model for young women interested in medicine. She has had a huge impact on the reduction of opioid deaths in Erie County via harm reduction interventions. She currently serves as the Erie County Commissioner of Health – a position she’d held since 2012. She is passionate about public health, and has spoken on a number of issues, including the importance of childhood immunizations; eliminating healthcare treatment inequities; educating adolescents about sexual health and prevention of STDs; and making family planning services available and affordable for all. Just as Dr. Bernstein speaks on inequity in medical treatment, we must continue to focus on equality in the physician population. The incredible physicians named here are a glowing example of the importance of women in medicine, and I strive every day to do work that is as inspiring as the women who have come before me.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2003
__label__wiki	0.904785	0.904785	Lady-in-waiting (Redirected from Lady in waiting) For the 1976 album, see Lady in Waiting (album). For the 1957 novel, see Lady in Waiting (novel). For British peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, see Lord-in-waiting. Look up lady-in-waiting or lady in waiting in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman, but of lower rank than the woman to whom she attended. Although she may either have been a retainer or may not have received compensation for the service she rendered, a lady-in-waiting was considered more of a secretary, courtier or companion to her mistress than a servant. Princess Tatiana Alexandrovna Yusupova, a lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court of Russia In other parts of the world, the lady-in-waiting, often referred to as palace woman, was in practice a servant or a slave rather than a high-ranking woman, but still had about the same tasks, functioning as companion and secretary to her mistress. In courts where polygamy was practised, a court lady was formally available to the monarch for sexual services, and she could become his wife, consort, courtesan, or concubine. Lady-in-waiting or court lady is often a generic term for women whose relative rank, title, and official functions varied, although such distinctions were also often honorary. A royal woman may or may not be free to select her ladies, and, even when she has such freedom, her choices are usually heavily influenced by the sovereign, her parents, her husband, or the sovereign's ministers (for example, in the Bedchamber crisis). 2 Duties 3 By court 3.1 Austria 3.3 Cambodia 3.5.1 Han 3.5.2 Song 3.5.3 Ming 3.5.4 Qing 3.6 Denmark 3.10 Italy 3.10.1 Naples and the Two Sicilies 3.10.2 Kingdom of Italy 3.11 Japan 3.12 Korea 3.13 The Netherlands 3.14 Nigeria 3.15 Norway 3.16 Ottoman Empire 3.18 Russia 3.20 Sweden 3.21.1 England 4 Notable examples 4.4 England, Scotland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom 4.7 Hungary 4.9 Korea 4.10 China 4.11 Ottoman 4.15 Thailand 5 In fiction 6 Extended uses The development of the office of lady-in-waiting in Europe is connected to that of the development of a Royal Court. During the Carolingian Empire, in the 9th century, Hincmar describes the royal household of Charles the Bald in the De Ordine Palatii, from 882, in which he states that court officials took orders from the Queen as well as the King. Merovingian Queens are assumed to have had their personal servants, and in the 9th century it is confirmed that Carolingian Queens had an entourage of guards from the nobility as a sign of their dignity, and some officials are stated to belong to the Queen rather than the King.[1] In the late 12th century, the Queens of France are confirmed to have had their own household, and noblewomen are mentioned as ladies-in-waiting.[1] During the Middle Ages, however, the household of a European Queen Consort was normally small, and the number of actually employed ladies-in-waiting, rather than wives of noblemen accompanying their husbands to Court, was very small: in 1286, the Queen of France had only five ladies-in-waiting in her employment, and it was not until 1316 that her household was separated from that of the royal children.[1] The role of ladies-in-waiting in Europe changed dramatically during the age of the Renaissance, when a new ceremonial court life, where women played a significant part, developed as representation of power in the courts of Italy, and spread to Burgundy, from Burgundy to France, and to the rest of the Courts of Europe.[1] The Court of the Duchy of Burgundy was the most elaborate in Europe in the 15th century and became an example for France when the French Royal Court expanded in the late 15th century and introduced new offices for both men and women to be able to answer to the new renaissance ideal.[1] From small circle of married Femmes and unmarried Filles, with a relatively humble place in the background during the Middle Ages, the number of French ladies-in-waiting were rapidly expanded, divided into an advanced hierarchy with several offices and given an important and public role to play in the new ceremonial court life in early 16th century France.[1] This example was followed by other Courts in Europe, when Courts expanded and became more ceremonial during the 16th century, and the offices, numbers and visibility of women expanded in the early modern age.[1] During the late 19th century and the early 20th century, however, most European Courts started to reduce their court staff, often due to new economic and political circumstances which made court representation more questionable. DutiesEdit The duties of ladies-in-waiting varied from court to court, but functions historically discharged by ladies-in-waiting included proficiency in the etiquette, languages, dances, horse riding, music making, and painting prevalent at court; keeping her mistress abreast of activities and personages at court; care of the rooms and wardrobe of her mistress; secretarial tasks; supervision of servants, budget and purchases; reading correspondence to her mistress and writing on her behalf; and discreetly relaying messages upon command. By courtEdit AustriaEdit In the late Middle Ages, when the court of the Emperor no longer moved around constantly, the household of the Empress, as well as the equivalent household of the German Princely Consorts, started to develop a less fluid and more strict organisation with set court offices. The court model of the Duchy of Burgundy, as well as the Spanish court model, came to influence the organisation of the Austrian Imperial Court during the 16th century, when the Burgundian Netherlands, Spain and Austria were united through the Habsburg Dynasty.[2][page needed] In the early and mid-16th century, the female courtiers kept by female Habsburgs in the Netherlands and Austria was composed of one Hofmesterees (Court Mistress) or Dame d'honneur who served as the principal lady-in-waiting; one Hofdame or Mere de Filles, who was second in rank and deputy of the Hofmesterees, as well as being in charge of the Eredames (Maids of Honour), also known as Demoiselle d'honneur, Fille d'honneur or Junckfrauen depending on language (Dutch, French and Austrian German respectively), and finally the Kamenisters (Chamber Maids).[3][page needed] However, during the tenure of Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress in the mid-16th century, the court of the Empress was organised in accordance with the Spanish court model, and after she left Austria, there was no further household of an Empress until the 1610s.[4][page needed] This resulted in a mix of Burgundian and Spanish customs when the Austrian court model was created. In 1619, a set organisation was finally established for the Austrian Imperial Court, which came to be the characteristic organisation of the Austrian-Habsburg court roughly kept from this point onward.[4] The first rank of the female courtiers was the Obersthofmeisterin (Mistress of the Robes), who was second in rank after the Empress herself, and responsible for all the female courtiers.[4] Second rank belonged to the Ayas, essentially governesses of the imperial children and heads of the children's court.[4] Third in rank was the Fräuleinhofmeisterin, who was the replacement of the Obersthofmeisterin when necessary, but otherwise had the responsibility of the unmarried female courtiers, their conduct and service.[4] The rest of the female noble courtiers consisted of the Hoffräulein (Maid of Honour), unmarried females from the nobility who normally served temporarily until marriage.[4] The Hoffräulein could sometimes be promoted to Kammerfräulein (Maid of Honour of the Chamber).[4] The Austrian court model was the role model for the Princely Courts in Germany.[4] The German court model in turn became the role model of the early modern Scandinavian Courts of Denmark and Sweden.[5][page needed] BelgiumEdit The Kingdom of Belgium was founded in 1830, after which a Royal Court was founded, and ladies-in-waiting were appointed for Louise of Orléans when she became the first Queen of Belgium in 1832. The female officeholders of the Queen's household were created after the French model and composed of one Dame d'honneur, followed by several ladies-in-waiting with the title Dame du Palais, in turn ranking above the Première femme de chambre and the Femme de chambre.[6] The ladies-in-waiting have historically been chosen by the Queen herself from the noblewomen of the Roman Catholic Noble Houses of Belgium. The chief functions at court were undertaken by members of the higher nobility, involving much contact with the royal ladies. Belgian princesses were assigned a lady upon their 18th birthdays. Princess Clementine was given a Dame by her father, a symbolic acknowledgement of adulthood. When the Queen entertains, the ladies welcome guests and assist the hostess in sustaining conversation. CambodiaEdit In Cambodia, the term ladies-in-waiting refers to high ranking female servants who served food and drink, fanned and massaged, and sometimes provided sexual services to the King. Conventionally, these women could work their way up from maids to ladies-in-waiting, concubines, or even Queen. Srey Snom (Khmer: ស្រីស្នំ) is the Cambodian term for the Khmer lady-in-waiting. The six favorite court ladies of King Sisowath of Cambodia were probably initially drawn from the ranks of classical royal dancers of the lower class. He was noted for having the most classical dancers as concubines. The imperial celestial dancer, Apsara, was one of these. This practice of drawing from the ranks of royal dancers began in the Golden Age of the Khmer Kingdom. CanadaEdit Several Canadian ladies-in-waiting have also been appointed to the Royal Household of Canada. Canadian ladies-in-waiting are typically appointed in order to assist the Queen of Canada when carrying out official duties in Canada and royal tours in the country. Five Canadian ladies-in-waiting were made Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order.[7] ChinaEdit Tang Dynasty court ladies on A Palace Concert painting HanEdit The ladies-in-waiting in China, referred to as palace women, palace ladies or court ladies, were all formally, if not always in practice, a part of the Emperor's harem, regardless of their task, and could be promoted by him to the rank of official concubine, consort or even Empress.[8][page needed] The Emperors of the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD) are reported to have had a harem of thousands of 'palace women', although the actual numbers are unconfirmed.[8] SongEdit At least during the Song dynasty (960–1279), palace women were divided in three groups: Imperial women (consisting of concubines and consorts), Imperial daughters (consisting of daughters and sisters of the Emperor), and the female officials and assistants, who performed a wide range of tasks and could potentially be promoted to the rank of concubine or consort.[9] Women from official elite families could be chosen to become Empress, consort or concubine immediately upon their entrance in the palace, but the Emperor could also promote any female court official to that post, as they were officially all members of his harem.[9] The female court officials and attendants were normally selected from trusted families and then educated for their task.[9] MingEdit During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), palace women were sorted into roughly the same three categories as in the Song Dynasty.[10] However, female officials and assistants in the Ming Dynasty were organized into six established government groups, called the Six Bureaus: the Bureau of General Affairs, Bureau of Handicrafts, Bureau of Ceremonies, Bureau of Apartments, Bureau of Apparel and Bureau of Foodstuffs.[11] These groups were all overseen by the Office of Staff Surveillance, headed by a female official.[12] Women workers in the imperial palace were distinguished as either permanent or temporary staff.[13] Permanent palace staff included educated and literate female officials serving in the Six Bureaus, and wet nurses caring for imperial heirs or other palace children.[13] These women received great wealth and social acclaim if their jobs were performed well.[14] Seasonal or temporary palace women included midwives, female physicians, and indentured contractors (these were usually women serving as maids to consorts, entertainers, sewing tutors, or sedan-chair bearers).[15] These women were recruited into the palace when necessary and then released following the termination of their predetermined period of service.[16] Throughout the Ming Dynasty, there was frequent movement between the palace service industry and the low levels of the Imperial Harem.[17] Although Emperors frequently selected minor consorts from Imperial serving women, few selected women ever reached the higher ranks of the consort structure or gained significant prominence.[18] As the Ming Dynasty progressed, living and working conditions for palace women began to deteriorate.[19] Lower-ranked serving women working in the Imperial palace were often underpaid and unable to buy food, leaving them to support themselves by selling embroidery at the market outside the palace via eunuchs.[20] Overall, living conditions and punishments for misbehaving eventually grew so bad that there was an assassination attempt against the Jiajing Emperor by a group of serving women.[21] Led by palace maid Yang Jinying in 1542, the failed assassination attempt involved several maids sneaking into the Emperor's bedchamber as he slept, to strangle him with a curtain cord.[22] The attempt ultimately failed, and all the women involved were put to death, although this type of violent revolt by serving women had never been seen before in the Ming Dynasty.[22] Due to slanderous literary propaganda written and spread by male officials and Confucian authors, higher-class female officials also saw their power begin to weaken throughout the Ming Dynasty.[23] These prominent government men began to disparage having educated women in government and state roles in response to the influence Imperial women had held over the nation in the past.[24] This prompted a gradual overtaking of female official roles by palace eunuchs that continued throughout the remainder of the Dynasty.[25] QingEdit The system of palace women continued mostly unchanged during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), when a class of Imperial women acting as consorts or concubines, who had not previously held other roles, existed. However, female court attendants were also all available for promotion to concubinage or the position of consort by the Emperor.[26][page needed] During the Qing Dynasty, Imperial women were selected from among the teenage daughters of the Manchu official banner families, who were drafted to an inspection before they could marry.[26] Similarly, palace maids were drafted from lower official and banner classes before they could marry.[27][page needed] After their selection, palace maids were educated as personal attendants to consorts, female officials within court rituals or other tasks, and were also available for the Emperor to promote to consort or concubine.[27] Below the palace maids were the maidservants, who were selected the same way by a draft among the daughters of soldiers.[27] DenmarkEdit The early modern Danish Court was organized according to the German court model, in turn inspired by the Imperial Austrian court model, from the 16th century onward.[5] The highest rank female courtier to a female royal was the Hofmesterinde (Court Mistress) or, from 1694/98 onward, Overhofmesterinde (Chief Court Mistress), equivalent to the Mistress of the Robes, normally an elder widow, who supervised the rest of the ladies-in-waiting.[28][page needed] The rest of the female courtiers were mainly Kammerfrøken (Senior Maid of Honour), followed by a group of Hofdame (Court Lady) and the Hoffrøken (Maid of Honour).[28] They were followed by the non-noble female court employees not ranking as ladies-in-waiting, such as the chamber maids. This hierarchy was roughly in place from the 16th century until the death of King Christian IX of Denmark in 1906.[28] During the 20th century, most of these titles came of use, and all ladies-in-waiting at the royal Danish court are now referred to as Hofdame (Court Lady). FranceEdit Marie Louise of Savoy-Carignan, Princesse de Lamballe was lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette of France The Queen of France is confirmed to have had a separate household in the late 12th century, and an ordinance from 1286 notes that Joan I of Navarre, Queen of France, had a group of five ladies (Dames) and maids-in-waiting (Damoiselles). In the 1480s, the French ladies-in-waiting were divided into Femmes Mariées (married ladies-in-waiting) and Filles d'honneur (Maids of Honour).[1] However, the Queen's household and the number of female courtiers during the Middle Ages was very small in France, as in most European courts. It was not until the end of the 15th century and early 16th century that emulation of the new courts of the Italian Renaissance made ladies-in-waiting fashionable in official court ceremonies and representation, and female court offices became more developed and numerous in the French court as well as in other European courts.[1] The introduction of ladies-in-waiting increased in great numbers at the French court at this time: from a mere five in 1286 and still only 23 in 1490, to 39 in 1498 and roughly 54 during the 16th century.[1] This expansion of female presence at court has been attributed to both Anne of Brittany, who encouraged all male courtiers to send their daughters to her, and to Francis I of France, who was criticized for bringing to court "the constant presence" of large crowds of women, who gossiped and interfered in state affairs. Francis I once said: "a court without ladies is a court without a court".[1] The first ranked female courtier in the French royal court was the Surintendante de la Maison de la Reine (Mistress of the Robes) to the Queen. The Surintendante and the Governess of the Children of France were the only female office holders in France to give an oath of loyalty to the King himself.[2] This office was created in 1619,[29][page needed] and was vacant from the death of Marie Anne de Bourbon, in 1741, until the appointment of Marie Louise of Savoy-Carignan, Princesse de Lamballe, in 1775. The second highest rank was that of the Première dame d'honneur, who could act as the stand-in of the Surintendante[2] and had roughly the same tasks, hiring and supervising the female courtiers and the Queen's daily routine and expenditure.[29] This post was created in 1523 and had originally been the highest female court office.[1] The third rank belonged to the Dame d'atour, who formally supervised the Queen's wardrobe and jewelry and the dressing of the Queen.[29] This post was created in 1534.[1] The fourth rank was that of the dames, from 1523 named Dame d'honneur,[1] composed of ladies-in-waiting whose task was simply to serve as companions and attending and assisting with court functions.[29] The position was abolished in 1674, and replaced by the Dame du palais, 12 married noblewomen with the same tasks.[2] The fifth rank was the Filles d'honneur or Demoiselles d'honneur (Maids of Honour), unmarried daughters of the nobility, who had the same tasks as the dames, but were mainly placed at court to learn etiquette and look for a spouse.[29] They were supervised by the Gouvernante and the Sous-gouvernante.[29] The Filles were from 1531 supervised by the Gouvernante de Filles, a lady-in-waiting who had the task to chaperone them: this post was divided in to several from 1547 onward.[1] The position of Filles d'honneur was abolished in 1674.[2] The sixth rank was the Première femme de chambre, who in turn outranked the remaining Femme de Chambres and Lavandières.[2] The Premiere femme de chambre had the keys to the Queen's rooms and could recommend and deny audiences to her, which in practice made her position very powerful at court.[29] During the First Empire, the principal lady-in-waiting of the Empress was the Dame d'honneur, followed by between 20 and 36 Dames du Palais.[30][page needed] During the Bourbon Restoration, Marie Thérèse of France restored the pre-revolutionary court hierarchy.[31][page needed] During the Second Empire, the female courtiers of the Empress were composed of the first rank, Grand Maitresse, and the second rank, Dame d'honneur, followed by six (later twelve) Dames du Palais.[32][page needed] GermanyEdit The early modern Princely Courts in Germany were modeled after the Imperial Austrian court model.[4] This court model divided the ladies-in-waiting in a chief lady-in-waiting named Oberhofmeisterin (a widowed or married elder woman) who supervised the Hoffräulein (Maids of Honour), of which one or two could be promoted to the middle rank of Kammerfräulein (Maid of Honour of the Chamber).[4] The Princely German Courts in turn became the role model of the Scandinavian courts of Denmark and Sweden in the 16th century.[5] After the end of the German Roman Holy Empire in 1806, and the establishment of several minor Kingdoms in Germany, the post of Staatsdame (married ladies-in-waiting) were introduced in many German Princely and Royal Courts. At the Imperial German Court, the ladies-in-waiting were composed of one Oberhofmeisterin in charge of several Hofstaatsdamen or Palastdamen.[33][page needed] GreeceEdit During the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantine Empress was attended by a female court (the Sekreton Tōn Gynaikōn), which consisted mostly of the wives of high-ranking male court officials, who simply used the feminine versions of their husbands' titles. The only specifically female dignity was that of the Zoste patrikia, the chief lady-in-waiting and female attendant of the Empress, who was the head of the women's court and often a relative of the Empress; this title existed at least since the 9th century. The Kingdom of Greece was established in 1832 and its first Queen, Amalia of Oldenburg, organized the ladies-in-waiting of its first royal court with one 'Grande Maitresse', followed by the second rank 'Dame d'honneur', and the third rank 'Dame de Palais'.[34][page needed] ItalyEdit Naples and the Two SiciliesEdit Prior to the unification, the greatest of the Italian states was the Kingdom of Naples, later called Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The ladies-in-waiting of the Queen of the Two Sicilies were in 1842, composed of one Dama di Onore (Lady of Honor), placed in rank as number two after the Cavaliere di Onore, and followed by three Dama di Compagnia (Lady Companions), who were number four in rank after the Cavalerizzo, and a large number of Dame di Corte (Court Ladies).[35] Kingdom of ItalyEdit In 1861, the Italian Peninsula was united in to the Kingdom of Italy. The ladies-in-waiting of the Queen of Italy were headed by the Dama d'Onore, followed by the Dame di Corte, and finally the Dame di Palazzo.[36] The Dama d'Onore was nominally the chief lady-in-waiting, but in practice often limited her service to state occasions; the Dame di Corte was the regular lady-in-waiting who personally attended to the Queen, while the Dame di Palazzo were honorary courtiers attached to the royal palaces in particular cities, such as Florence, Turin and so forth, and only served temporary when the Queen visited the city in question: among these, only the Dame di Palazzo attached to the royal palace of the capital of Rome served more than temporary.[37] JapanEdit In Japan, the imperial court offices was normally reserved for members of the court aristocracy and the ladies-in-waiting or 'palace attendants' were commonly educated members of the nobility.[38][page needed] During the Heian period (794–1185) women could hold court offices of substantial responsibility, managing the affairs of the Emperor.[38] Female palace attendants were employed by the Imperial Bureau of Palace Attendants from among the court aristocracy, but were required to have sufficient education in Chinese classics to be accepted.[39][page needed] During the Sengoku period (1467–1603), the highest rank of a lady-in-waiting was the 'Female Assistant to the Major Counselor', who ran the affairs of the daily life of the Imperial Household.[38] The second rank was Hoto No Naishi (Female Palace Attendant), who acted as intermediary between the Emperor and those seeking an audience and issued his wishes in writing.[38] Ladies-in-waiting acted as imperial secretaries and noted the events at court, visitors and gifts in the official court journals.[38] In contrast to China, female palace attendants managed the palace of the imperial harem rather than eunuchs, and could hold high court offices in the Emperor's personal household.[39] Female palace attendants were divided in two classes, which in turn had several ranks, signifying their task.[40][page needed] The first class consisted of the nyokan, or ladies-in-waiting who held court offices: naishi-kami (shoji) naishi-suke (tenji) and naishi-no-jo (shoji). The second class were the female palace attendants: myobu, osashi, osue and nyoju.[40] The ladies-in-waiting worked as personal assistants, tending to the Emperor's wardrobe, assisting the emperor's baths, serving meals, performing and attending court rituals.[39] Ladies-in-waiting could be appointed as concubines, consorts or even Empresses by the Emperor or the heir to the throne.[39] The function of a lady-in-waiting as potential concubine was abolished in 1924.[39] KoreaEdit Gungnyeo (literally palace women) is a term that refers to women who worked in the palace and waited upon the King and other members of the Royal Family. It is short for Gungjung Yeogwan, which translates as a lady officer of the royal court. Gungnyeo consisted of the high ranking court ladies, who were divided into ranks from 5 to 9 (the ranks from 1 to 4 were the official concubines of the King), with two levels each (senior and junior), the highest attainable one being the sanggung (senior 5th),[41] as well as the ordinary court ladies who did most of the labour work known as nain, and the other types of working ladies who were not included in the ranks, such as musuri (women from the lowest class who did odd jobs, such as drawing water and distributing firewood), gaksimi (also known as bija and bangja, who were personal servants of a sanggung), sonnim (literally translated to 'guest', were maids brought in the palace to work for the royal concubines, most of the time related to the concubines' families) and uinyeo (selected from public female slaves, they worked at the royal infirmary or public clinics, and practiced simple medicine skills). Generally, the court ladies were chosen from among the young girls of the sangmin (commoners) and the private female slaves of the sadaebu (governing class). Later, the candidates were also picked from among the government slaves, together with the daughters of the aristocrats’ concubines who were former courtesans or slaves. The appointment process was different for nain associated with the inner quarters for the King and Queen, who were recruited by the high ranked court ladies themselves, through recommendations and connections. The nain for the departments with specific skills such as sewing and embroidery were from the jungin (middle class), with the lowest class of gungnyeo coming from the cheonmin (vulgar commoners). They could be as young as 4 when entering the palace, and after learning court language and etiquette, they could be elevated to a nain. When they had served the Court for more than 15 years, they would eventually be promoted to higher ranks, however they were eligible for the rank of sanggung only after a minimum of 35 years of work. Court ladies could become concubines if the King favored them. They would be elevated to the highest rank (senior 5th) and would be known as seungeun sanggung (or "favored sanggung"). If they gave birth to a son, they would become members of the Royal Family, after being promoted to Sug-won (junior 4th) and until the 18th century, they could advance as high as becoming Queen (the most notable example being Jang Ok-jeong, a concubine of Sukjong of Joseon and mother of Gyeongjong of Joseon). The NetherlandsEdit The Court of the Duchy of Burgundy, which was situated in the Netherlands in the 15th century, was famous for its elaborate ceremonial court life and became a role model for several other courts of Europe.[1] The Burgundian court model came to be the role model for the Austrian Imperial Court during the 16th century, when the Burgundian Netherlands and Austria were united through the Habsburg Dynasty.[2] In the 16th century, the ladies-in-waiting in the Courts of the Habsburg governors of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary, were composed of one Hofmeesteres (Court Mistress) or Dame d'honneur who served as the principal lady-in-waiting; one Hofdame or Mere de Filles, who was second in rank and deputy of the Hofmeesteres as well as being in charge of the Eredames (Maids of Honour), also known as Demoiselle d'honneur, Fille d'honneur or Junckfrauen, and finally the Kameniersters (Chamber Maids), all with different titles depending on language in the multilingual area of the Netherlands.[3] The Kingdom of the Netherlands was founded in 1815, signifying the organisation of a Royal Court. In the 19th century, the ladies-in-waiting of the Dutch Court were headed by the Grootmeesteres (Grand Mistress, equivalent to Mistress of the Robes), of second rank were the Dames du Palais (married ladies-in-waiting), followed by the third rank Hofdames (Court Ladies, equivalent to Maids of Honour).[42][page needed][43][full citation needed] Beatrix of the Netherlands had a total of seven Hofdames. They accompanied the Queen and the other female members of the Royal House during visits and receptions at the Royal Court. The monarch paid for their expenses, but they did not receive any salary. Not all of these ladies were members of the Dutch aristocracy, but each had a "notable" husband. Excellent social behavior and discretion were the most important recommendations for becoming a Hofdame. In 2012, the Hofdames were Letje van Karnebeek-van Lede, Lieke Gaarlandt-van Voorst van Beest, Julie Jeekel-Thate, Miente Boellaard-Stheeman, Jonkvrouwe Reina de Blocq van Scheltinga, Elizabeth Baroness van Wassenaer-Mersmans and Bibi Baroness van Zuylen van Nijevelt, Jonkvrouwe den Beer Poortugael. Queen Maxima reduced the number of Hofdames to three, hers being: Lieke Gaarlandt-van Voorst van Beest, Pien van Karnebeek-Thijssen and Annemijn Crince le Roy-van Munster van Heuven. After their voluntary retirement, Hofdames were appointed to the honorary Royal Household. The honorary Royal Household still distinguishes between Dames du Palais and Hofdames, but the category Dames du Palais is slated for discontinuation. The Grootmeesteres (Grandmistress) is the highest-ranking lady at the Royal Court. From 1984 until 2014, the position was held by Martine van Loon-Labouchere, descendant of the famous banker family, a former diplomat and the widow of Jonkheer Maurits van Loon of the famous Amsterdam canal estate. The current Grootmeesteres is Bibi Baroness van Zuylen van Nijevelt-den Beer Poortugael (lady-in-waiting between 2011 and 2014). NigeriaEdit A number of tribes and cultural areas in the African continent, such as the Lobedu people of Southern Africa, had a similar custom on ladies-in-waiting in historic times. For example, within certain pre-colonial states of the Bini and Yoruba peoples in Nigeria, the queen Mothers and High Priestesses were considered "ritually male" due to their social eminence. As a result of this fact, they were often attended on by women who belonged to their harems in much the same way as their actually male counterparts were served by women who belonged to theirs. Although these women effectively functioned as ladies-in-waiting, were often members of powerful families of the local nobility in their own right, and were not usually used for sexual purposes, they were none-the-less referred to as their principals' "wives". NorwayEdit During the Denmark–Norway Union, from 1380 until 1814, the Danish Royal Court in Copenhagen was counted as the Norwegian Royal Court, and thus there was no Royal Court present in Norway during this period. During the union between Norway and Sweden from 1814 to 1905, there were Norwegian courtiers who served during the Swedish Royal Family's visits to Norway. The female courtiers were appointed according to the Swedish court model, that is to say the class of Hovfröken (Maid of Honour), Kammarfröken (Chief Maid of Honour) and Statsfru (Lady of the Bedchamber), all supervised by the Overhoffmesterinne (Mistress of the Robes): these posts were first appointed in 1817.[44][page needed] When the union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, a permanent Norwegian Royal Court was established. Ottoman EmpireEdit In the Ottoman Empire, the word lady-in-waiting has often been used to described those women of the Imperial Harem who functioned as servants, secretaries and companions of the wives, daughters and sisters of the Ottoman Sultan. These women originally came to the Harem as slaves, captured through the Crimean slave trade, the Barbary slave trade and the White slave trade.[45] When they entered the Harem, they were given the position of Cariye and were all formally available as concubines to the Sultan, but if they were not chosen to share his bed, they served in a similar position to lady-in-waiting, serving the mother, wives, concubines, sisters and daughters of the Sultan.[45] PolandEdit In early modern Poland, the queen's ladies-in-waitings were collectively referred to as the fraucimer. The queen's household mirrored that of the king, but was smaller. The queen's male courtiers were supervised by the Ochmistrz, a nobleman, and the women of her court were supervised by the chief lady-in-waiting, the Ochmistrzyni (magister curiae). The Ochmistrzyni was defined as a state office and it was the only state office in Poland prior to the partition of Poland which was held by a woman. She was always to be a noblewoman married to a nobleman of senatorial rank. The Ochmistrzyni supervised a large number of unmarried ladies-in-waitings, maids of honour. The queen's court was a larger version of the courts of the Polish magnate noblewomen, and it was the custom in the Polish nobility to send their teenage daughters to be educated as ladies-in-waitings in the household of another noblewoman or preferably the queen herself in order to receive an education and find someone to marry. [46] RussiaEdit In the Court of Muscovite Russia, the offices of ladies-in-waiting to the Tsarina were normally divided among the Boyarinas (widows or wives of Boyars), often from the family and relatives of the Tsarina.[47] The first rank among the offices of the ladies-in-waiting was the Tsarina's treasurer. The second was the group of companions. The third were the royal nurses to the princes and princesses (where the nurses of the male children outranked); among the nurses, the most significant post was that of the Mamok, the head royal governess, who was normally selected from elder widows, often relatives to the Tsar or Tsarina.[48] All offices were appointed by royal decree. The group of ladies-in-waiting were collectively above the rank of the Svetlichnaya (the Tsarina's sewing women), the Postelnitsy (the Tsarina's Chamber Women and Washing Women) and the officials who handled the affairs of the staff.[48] In 1722, this system was abolished and the Russian Imperial Court was reorganized in accordance with the reforms of Peter the Great to westernize Russia, and the old court offices of the Tsarina were replaced with court offices inspired by the German model (see lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court of Russia). SpainEdit The Royal Court of Castile included a group of ladies-in-waiting for the Queen named Camarera in the late 13th century and early 14th century, but it was not until the 15th century that a set organisation of the ladies-in-waiting is confirmed.[49][page needed] This characteristic organisation of the Spanish ladies-in-waiting, roughly established during the reign of Isabella I of Castile (r. 1474–1504), was kept by Isabella of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Spain, during the 16th century, and became the standard Spanish court model for ladies-in-waiting.[49] The highest rank female courtier was the Camarera Mayor de Palacio (Mistress of the Robes).[4] This office is confirmed from the 1410s.[49] The second rank was shared by the Ayas (royal governess), and the Guardas (chaperones).[4] The third rank was the Dueñas de Honor, the married ladies-in-waiting, who were responsible for not only the unmarried Damas or Meninas (Maids of honour), but also of the female slaves and dwarfs, who were classified as courtiers and ranked before the Mozas (maids) and Lavanderas (washer women).[4] SwedenEdit The early modern Swedish Court, as well as the Danish equivalent, were re-organized in the early 16th century according to the German court model, in turn inspired by the Imperial Austrian court model.[5] This model roughly organized the female noble courtiers in the class of the unmarried Hovfröken (Maid of Honour, until 1719 Hovjungfru) which could be promoted to Kammarfröken (Chief Maid of Honour, until 1719 Kammarjungfru).[5] They were supervised by the Hovmästarinna (Court Mistress, equivalent to Mistress of the Robes), normally a married or widowed elder noblewoman.[5] Under this class of female noble courtiers, were the non-noble female servants. They were headed by the normally married Kammarfru (Mistress of the Chamber, roughly equivalent to a Lady's Maid), often of burgher background, who supervised the group of Kammarpiga (Chamber Maids).[5] From the reign of Queen Christina, the Hovmästarinna was supervised by the Överhovmästarinna (Chief Court Mistress).[5] In 1774, the post of Statsfru (Mistress of the State) was introduced, which was the title for the group of married ladies-in-waiting with a rank between the Hovmästarinna and the Kammarfröken.[50][page needed] The Swedish Court staff was reduced in size in 1873.[50] The new court protocols of 1911 and 1954 continued this reduction, and many court posts were abolished or no longer filled. With the exception of the Statsfru and the Överhovmästarinna, none of the titles above are in use today. At the death of Queen Louise in 1965, her Överhovmästarinna was employed by the King. From 1994, the Överhovmästarinna is the head of the court of the King rather than the Queen, while the court of the Queen is headed by the Statsfru. There is now only one Statsfru, and the other ladies-in-waiting are simply referred to as Hovdam (Court Lady). Queen Silvia of Sweden has only three Hovdamer (Court Ladies). Her chief lady-in-waiting is the Statsfru. United KingdomEdit In the current Royal Households of the United Kingdom, a lady-in-waiting is a woman attending a female member of the Royal Family. A woman attending on a Queen Regnant or Queen Consort is often (informally) known by the same title, but is more formally styled either: Woman of the Bedchamber, Lady of the Bedchamber or Mistress of the Robes, depending on which of these offices she holds. The Women are in regular attendance, but the Mistress of the Robes and the Ladies of the Bedchamber are normally required only for ceremonial occasions. The phrase lady-in-waiting to the Queen has, however, been used in formal documents to denote which of the Women is actually "on duty" at any one time.[51] The senior lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II was the Mistress of the Robes, Fortune FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton, until her death on December 3, 2021, and the position has remained vacant since. The other ladies-in-waiting are Virginia Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie; The Hon. Mary Anne Morrison; Susan Hussey, Lady Hussey of North Bradley; Susan Richenda Elton, Lady Elton (wife of Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton); The Hon. Dame Annabel Whitehead; Jennifer, Mrs. Michael Gordon-Lennox (daughter-in-law of Alexander Gordon-Lennox) and Philippa de Pass (wife of Lieutenant Commander Robert de Pass).[52] EnglandEdit In the Middle Ages, Margaret of France, Queen of England is noted to have had seven ladies-in-waiting: three married ones, who were called Domina, and four unmarried maids of honour, but no principal lady-in-waiting is mentioned,[53] and until the 15th century, the majority of the office holders of the Queen's household were still male.[54] As late as in the mid-15th century, Queen Elizabeth Woodville had only five ladies-in-waiting,[54] but in the late 15th century and early 16th century, ladies-in-waiting were given a more dominant place at the English court, in parallel with developments in France and the continental courts. The court life of the Duchy of Burgundy served as an example when Edward IV created the Black Book of the Household in 1478,[2] and the organisation of the English royal household was essentially set from that point onward.[55][page needed] Elizabeth of York, Queen of England had numerous ladies-in-waiting, which was reported by the Spanish ambassador, Rodrigo de Puebla, as something unusual and astonishing: "the Queen has thirty-two ladies, very magnificent and in splendid style".[54] She reportedly had 36 ladies-in-waiting, 18 of them noblewomen; in 1502, a more complete account summarised them as 16 'gentlewomen', seven maids of honour and three 'chamberers-women', who attended to her in the bedchamber.[54] Aside from the women formally employed as ladies-in-waiting, the Queen's female retinue in reality also consisted of the daughters and the ladies-in-waiting of her ladies-in-waiting, who also resided in the Queen's household.[54] The duties of ladies-in-waiting at the Tudor court were to act as companions for the Queen, both in public and in private. They had to accompany her wherever she went, to entertain her with music, dance or singing and to dress, bathe and help her use the toilet, since a royal person, by the standards of the day, was not supposed to do anything for herself, but was always to be waited upon in all daily tasks as a sign of their status.[54] Ladies-in-waiting were appointed because of their social status as members of the nobility, on the recommendation of court officials, or other prominent citizens, and because they were expected to be supporters of the royal family due to their own family relationships. When the Queen was not a foreigner, her own relations were often appointed as they were presumed to be trustworthy and loyal. Lady Margaret Lee was a Lady of the Privy Chamber to Queen Anne Boleyn, just as Lady Elizabeth Seymour-Cromwell was to Queen Jane Seymour. The organisation of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting was set in the period of the Tudor court. The ladies-in-waiting were headed by the Mistress of the Robes, followed in rank by the First Lady of the Bedchamber, who supervised the group of Ladies of the Bedchamber (typically wives or widows of peers above the rank of Earl), in turn followed by the group of Women of the Bedchamber (usually the daughters of peers) and finally the group of maids of honour, whose service entitled them to the style of The Honourable for life.[56] The system has formally remained roughly the same since the Tudor period. However, in practice, many offices have since then been left vacant. For example, in recent times, maids of honour have only been appointed for coronations. Notable examplesEdit These are a list of particularly well known and famous ladies-in-waiting of each nation listed. More can be found in their respective category. Countess Sophie Chotek, later Duchess von Hohenberg (1868 – 1914) Margaret Southern (b. 1931)[7] Louise von Plessen (1725 – 1799) England, Scotland, Great Britain, and the United KingdomEdit Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex and Leicester Lady Mary Boleyn (с. 1499/1500 – 1543) Four of Henry VIII's Queen Consorts: Anne Boleyn (c. 1501/07 – 1536) Jane Seymour (c. 1508 – 1537) Catherine Howard (с. 1523 – 1542) Catherine Parr (1512 – 1548) Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (c. 1505 – 1542) Katherine Ashley (c. 1502 – 1565) Jane Dormer, later Duchess of Feria (1538 – 1612) Mary Fleming (1542 – 1581); one of the Four Marys Lettice Knollys (1543 – 1634) Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660 – 1744) Ivy Gordon-Lennox, later Duchess of Portland (1887 – 1982) Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy (1908 – 1993) Lady Pamela Mountbatten (b. 1929) Jane Loftus, Marchioness of Ely (1821 – 1890) Lady Sarah McCorquodale (b. 1955) Françoise de Brézé, Countess of Maulévrier (1515 – 14 October 1577); Regent of Sedan from 1553 to 1559 Jacqueline de Longwy, Countess of Bar-sur-Sein (before 1520 – 28 August 1561) Henriette of Cleves, 4th Duchess of Nevers and Countess of Rethel (31 October 1542 – 24 June 1601); one of France's chief creditors until her death. Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe (1749 – 1792) Yolande de Polastron (1749 – 1793) Louise-Elisabeth, Marquise de Tourzel (1749 – 1832) Marie Luise von Degenfeld (1634 – 1677); at the court of The Palatinate Baroness Maria Caroline Charlotte von Ingenheim (1704 – 1749); at the court of Bavaria Sophie Marie von Voß (1729 – 1814); at the court of Prussia Charlotte von Stein (1742 – 1827); at the court of Saxe-Weimar Luise von Göchhausen (1752 – 1807); at the court of Saxe-Weimar Karoline Friederike von Berg (1760 – 1826); at the court of Prussia Gabriele von Bülow (1802 – 1887); chief lady-in-waiting at the court of Prussia Rosalie von Rauch, later Countess of Hohenau (1820 – 1879); at the court of Prussia HungaryEdit Helene Kottaner (1400 – 1470); lady-in-waiting for Elisabeth of Luxembourg, she organized the abduction of the Holy Crown and nursed Elisabeth of Habsburg, who later become a Polish Queen Countess Irma Sztáray de Sztára et Nagymihály (1863 – 1940) at the court of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi) Countess Marie Festetics von Tolna (1839 – 1923); lady-in-waiting for Sissi and Honorary Lady of the Order of Theresa Ida Krisztina Veronika Ferenczy of Vecseszék (1839 – 1928); close friend and confidant of Empress Sissi Lady Ise (875 – 938); poet, lover of Prince Atsuyoshi and later, concubine of Emperor Uda Takashina no Takako (d. 996); served at the court of Empress Junshi, later the legal wife of Fujiwara no Michitaka, was regent of Emperor Ichijō Uma no Naishi (949 – 1011); poet, she served under Empress Kishi (wife of Emperor Murakami), Fujiwara no Senshi (the imperial consort of Emperor En'yū and mother of Emperor Ichijō) and Empress Teishi (wife of Emperor Ichijō), later she become a follower of Shōnagon Akazome Emon (с. 956 – c. 1041); poet and writer of Tale of Flowering Fortunes, she served at the court of Empress Shoshi Murasaki Shikibu (c. 978 – c. 1016/1031); poet and the writer of the first known novel, The Tale of Genji, she also wrote a diary about court life after serving at the court of Empress Shoshi Sei Shōnagon (c. 966 – 1017/1025); writer of the Pillow Book, she served at the court of Empress Teishi Ise no Taifu (989 – 1060); poet, she served Empress Shoshi along with Murasaki Shikibu, Akazome Emon and Izumi Shikibu, and later became the nurse of Emperor Shirakawa Daini no Sanmi (999 – 1082); daughter of Murasaki Shikibu she served at court of Grand Empress Dowager Shoshi and was the nurse of Emperor Go-Reizei and the imperial princesses Lady Sarashina (1008 – after 1059); writer of Sarashina Nikki, she served Imperial Princess Yushi, the third daughter of Emperor Go-Suzaku Kim Gae-si (d. 1623) Royal Consort Gwiin Jo (d. 1652) Royal Noble Consort Huibin Jang (1659 – 1701) Royal Noble Consort Sukbin Choe (1670 – 1718) Royal Noble Consort Yeongbin Yi (1696 – 1764) Royal Noble Consort Uibin Seong (1753 – 1786) Imperial Consort Gwiin Yang (1882 – 1929) Lu Lingxuan (d. 577); served as the wet nurse of Emperor Gao Wei Sumalagu (1615 – 24 October 1705); palace attendant during the Qing Dynasty and close confidant of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang Wei Tuan’er (d. 693); favourite lady-in-waiting of Wu Zetian Princess Der Ling (1885 – 1944); she was given the title of "princess" while serving as the first lady-in-waiting for Empress Dowager Cixi OttomanEdit Canfeda Hatun, mistress housekeeper (d. 1600) Hubbi Hatun, poetess (d. 1590) Raziye Hatun, mistress of financial affairs (1525 - 26 June 1597) Şahinde Hanım (d. 15 March 1924) Şekerpare Hatun, mistress housekeeper Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien, later Queen of Poland (1641 – 1716) Klara Izabella Pacowa (1631 – 1685) Elżbieta Helena Sieniawska (1669 – 1729) Sophia Razumovskaya (1746 – 1803); a mistress of Paul I of Russia Countess Julia Therese Salomea von Hauke, later Princess of Battenberg (1825 – 1895) Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova (1884 – 1964) Elizabeth Ribbing (1596 – 1662), and later her morganatic daughter, Elizabeth Carlsdotter Gyllenhielm (1622 – 1682) Ulrika Strömfelt (1724 – 1780) Augusta von Fersen (1754 – 1846) Magdalena Rudenschöld (1766 – 1823) ThailandEdit Princess Vibhavadi Rangsit (1920 – 1977) In fictionEdit The Favourite (2018 film) Extended usesEdit The term "lady-in-waiting" is sometimes used as slang for "pregnant woman". Chaperone (social) Handmaiden Lady's companion Lady's maid Manservant Odalisque NotesEdit ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Kolk 2009. ^ a b c d e f g h Duindam ^ a b Kerkhoff ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Akkerman 2013 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFAkkerman2013 (help) ^ a b c d e f g h Persson 1999 ^ Almanach royal officiel de Belgique, pour l'an 1841[full citation needed] ^ a b McCreery, Christopher (2008). On Her Majesty's Service: Royal Honours and Recognition in Canada. Dundurn. p. 133. ISBN 1-5500-2742-5. ^ a b Ebrey ^ a b c Chung, pp. 960–1126 ^ Hsieh, Bao Hua (1999). "From Charwoman to Empress Dowager: Serving-Women in the Ming Palace". Ming Studies. 42: 26–80. ^ Hsieh, Bao Hua (2014). "Ming Palace Serving-Women". Concubinage and Servitude in Late Imperial China. London: Lexington Books. pp. 179–208. ^ Hsieh. Concubinage and Servitude. p. 184. ^ a b Hsieh. Concubinage and Servitude. p. 180. ^ Cass, Victoria B (1986). "Female Healers in the Ming and the Lodge of Ritual and Ceremony". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 106.1: 233–245. ^ Cass. Female Healers. p. 236. ^ Hsieh. "From Charwoman to Empress Dowager". Ming Studies: 45. ^ Hsieh. "From Charwoman to Empress Dowager". Ming Studies: 127. ^ Lee, Lily Xiao Hong (2016). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II: Tang Through Ming 618–1644. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. p. 543. ^ a b Lee. Biographical Dictionary. p. 543. ^ Hinsch, Bret (2016). Women in Imperial China. London: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 147–174. ^ Hinsch. Women in Imperial China. p. 148. ^ a b Walthall ^ a b c Hsieh Bao Hua ^ a b c Kjølsen 2010 ^ a b c d e f g Akkerman & Houben harvnb error: no target: CITEREFAkkermanHouben (help) ^ Mansel. ^ Nagel 2008. ^ Seward 2004. ^ Zedlitz-Trützschler 1924. ^ Almanach de Gotha 1859. ^ Almanacco reale del regno delle Due Sicilie ^ Calendario reale per l'anno 1879[full citation needed] ^ la Repubblica.it, 2007, 11, 25, La dama di compagnia dell' ultima Regina[full citation needed] ^ a b c d e Lillehoj ^ a b c d e Rowley ^ a b Lebra ^ "상궁(尙宮), Sanggung" (in Korean and English). The Academy of Korean Studies. [need quotation to verify] ^ Hamer 2011. ^ S Gravenhaagsche Stads-Almanak: voor 1857 ^ Hauge & Egeberg 1960. ^ a b Madeline Zilfi: Women and Slavery in the Late Ottoman Empire: The Design of Difference ^ Bożena Popiołek, Rola dworów magnackich w edukacji dziewcząt na przełomie XVII i XVIII wieku, www.wilanow-palac.pl [dostęp 2020-02-25]. ^ И. Е. Забелин. Глава VI. Царицын дворовый чин // Домашний быт русских цариц в XVI и XVII столетиях. — М.: Типография Грачева и Комп., 1869.[need quotation to verify] ^ a b Верховая боярыня // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в 86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). — СПб., 1890–1907.[need quotation to verify] ^ a b c Cruz & Stampino ^ a b Rundquist 1989 ^ "Lady Dugdale has succeeded the Hon Mary Morrison as Lady-in-Waiting to The Queen" (Court Circular, 1 June 1994). ^ British Monarchy 2016. ^ William J. Thoms: The Book of the Court: Exhibiting the History, Duties, and Privileges of the English Nobility and Gentry. Particularly of the Great Officers of State and Members of the Royal Household, 1844 ^ a b c d e f Alison Weir: Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World ^ Gosman, Macdonald & Vanderjagt. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 663. Akkerman, Nadine; Houben, Birgit, eds. (2013), The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-In-Waiting Across Early Modern Europe, Leiden: Brill CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)[full citation needed] Almanach de Gotha: annuaire généalogique, diplomatique et statistique, 1859 [full citation needed] "Ladies-in-Waiting and Equerries", The Official website of the British Monarchy, archived from the original on 3 February 2016 Chung, Priscilla Ching, Palace Women in the Northern Sung, pp. 960–1126 [full citation needed] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Honourable" , Encyclopædia Britannica, 13 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 662–663 Cruz, Anne J.; Stampino, Maria Galli, Early Modern Habsburg Women: Transnational Contexts, Cultural Conflicts, dynastic continuities [full citation needed] Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, Women and the Family in Chinese History [full citation needed] Duindam, Jeroen Frans Jozef, Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 1550–1780 [full citation needed] Kolk, Caroline zum (June 2009), "The Household of the Queen of France in the Sixteenth Century", The Court Historian, 14 (1) [full citation needed] Hsieh Bao Hua, Concubinage and Servitude in Late Imperial China [full citation needed] Gosman, Martin; Macdonald, Alasdair James; Vanderjagt, Arie Johan, Princes and Princely Culture: 1450–1650 [full citation needed] Hamer, Dianne (2011), Sophie: biografie van Sophie van Würtemberg (1818–1877) — op basis van brieven en dagboken[full citation needed] Kägler, Britta, Frauen am Münchener Hof (1651–1756) [full citation needed] Kerkhoff, Jacqueline, Maria van Hongarije en haar hof 1505–1558: tot plichtsbetrachting uitverkoren [full citation needed] Lebra, Takie Sugiyama, Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility [full citation needed] Lillehoj, Elizabeth, Art and Palace Politics in Early Modern Japan, 1580s–1680s [full citation needed] Mansel, Philip, The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon [full citation needed] Nagel, Susan (2008), Marie-Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter, NY: Bloomsbury: Macmillan, ISBN 1-59691-057-7 Persson, Fabian (1999), Servants of Fortune. The Swedish Court between 1598 and 1721, Lund: Wallin & Dalholm, ISBN 91-628-3340-5 Hauge, Yngvar; Egeberg, Nini (1960), Bogstad, 1773–1995, H. Aschehoug Walthall, Anne, Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History [full citation needed] Kjølsen, Klaus (2010), Det Kongelige Danske Hof 1660–2000 [full citation needed] Rowley, G. G., An Imperial Concubine's Tale: Scandal, Shipwreck, and Salvation in Seventeenth-Century Japan [full citation needed] Rundquist, Angela (1989), Blått blod och liljevita händer: en etnologisk studie av aristokratiska kvinnor 1850–1900, Carlsson, Diss. Stockholm: Univ., Stockholm [full citation needed] Seward, Desmond (2004), Eugénie. An empress and her empire, Stroud: Sutton, cop., ISBN 0-7509-2979-0 Zedlitz-Trützschler, Robert (1924), Twelve Years at the Imperial German Court [full citation needed] Look up lady-in-waiting in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Alchin, Linda. "Lady in Waiting". Elizabethan Era. Retrieved 18 April 2017. Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lady-in-waiting&oldid=1064329399"	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2010
__label__wiki	0.820235	0.820235	ONGC awards Bokaro CBM drilling contract to Essar Oilfields Essar Oilfields Services is expected to post a revenue of Rs 300 crore for the current financial year ending March, the firm said in a statement. January 24, 2018, 16:33 IST New Delhi: Essar Oilfields Services India Ltd, part of the Essar Group, today announced that it has been awarded a one-year, Rs 32-crore contract by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to drill 30 wells at ONGC’s Coal Bed Methane (CBM) block in Bokaro, Jharkhand. “We are proud to have been awarded this drilling contract for the Bokaro block, which is being widely regarded as India’s biggest CBM project. With increased activity in India’s oil & gas exploration sector, our rigs are well equipped to help boost domestic crude production, thus ensuring the country’s energy security,” Rajeev Nayyer, Chif Executive Officer (CEO) of Essar Oilfields Services India said. The company said its offshore semi-submersible rig has been deployed on a three-year Rs 850 crore contract with ONGC since May 2017. “EOSIL is expecting to increase its revenues by a further 20 per cent in FY 2018-19 because of better deployment of assets. Eight of its rigs are likely to be in operation for a range of clients in the upcoming financial year,” the company said in a statement. It added that Essar Oilfields Services is expected to post a revenue of Rs 300 crore for the current financial year ending March as three of its land rigs are currently in operation, servicing government-owned Oil India and Mercator Petroleum. ONGC Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Essar Oilfields Services Essar Group	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2011
__label__cc	0.72786	0.27214	Old but sustainable: buildings of the future or a utopian ideal? Photo credits Annelie Bortolotti Via EUREC member EURAC research Renovations struggling to get off the ground and some positive signs The rate of renovation of European buildings has been stuck at one per cent for years, yet energy efficiency has been a key point in every European climate strategy for a decade now. In a sector until now characterised by its lack of impetus, research has become vital in propelling technological innovation. Every year, on average, only one in a hundred of Europe’s existing buildings can count on new insulation and installations. A rather paltry figure when one considers that for the past ten years the European 2020 strategy has been advocating a 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency. Today, the European Union has put forward significant funding to support collaboration between research and business, and owners can now begin to count on national incentives and new financing models for renovations. However, for the sector to benefit, the construction sector will need to undergo a radical transformation, at all levels – from the mentality of those commissioning renovations to the approach of those designing and managing them as well as the manner in which the works are undertaken on-site. Renovation sites – status quo and prospective goals “Little has changed on Italian renovation sites over the last few decades: each company does its own thing and work often risks being poorly integrated. Prefabricated products are not commonly used, and a lot of the work is done on site, at great expense in terms of time and money. Due to this, partial renovations, which only address solving aspects of a building’s problems and which often require further work after a few years, are often chosen. By contrast, deep renovation is based on a systemic approach that involves sharing interdisciplinary expertise at all stages of intervention,” explains Stefano Avesani, Eurac Research engineer and envelope systems for buildings expert. Today, thanks to research efforts, changes are on the horizon. In South Tyrol, researchers and companies have been studying prefabricated façade systems for years in order to facilitate renovations and improve their quality. In 2012, a European project in which Eurac Research experts developed the first prototypes of multifunctional prefabricated envelopes was initiated. The use of these technologies is not limited to insulation: envelope systems can accommodate ventilation, solar and other technologies. The prototypes were tested in laboratories at the NOI Techpark in Bolzano and then installed in several pilot buildings across Europe. The optimisation of the prefabricated envelope has continued over the ensuing years and was recently used in the massive renovation of a large social housing complex in Bolzano. The initiative is paying off, a few weeks ago, Eurac Research renewable energy experts began a collaboration with the South Tyrolean company Rubner to confront the challenges of using this type of technology on a large scale. The new European project – INFINITE, aims to industrialise the production of a prefabricated wooden façade that can integrate ventilation devices, smart windows, solar systems and even green envelopes and will also analyse the optimal degree of prefabrication for effective on-site installation. A digital approach to renovation design and management The focus on industrialisation is only one part of the project coordinated by Eurac Research: a European consortium of 19 partners will also work on a 360° concept for the façade, addressing not only the functionality of the product but also enabling sustainable production and disposal as well as extending product life cycle and consequently the life of the renovated building. Experts aim to integrate these assessments with current design systems, another important step in modernising the construction sector. “We are working in this direction because designers should have a digital infrastructure that collects data and analyses and encourages synergy among the professionals involved at their disposal,” explains Avesani. “This would save time and resources and make it easier to adopt innovative technologies in renovations. ” A change of mentality, beneficial for external and internal environments Industrialisation and digitalised design frameworks are certainly key points in the transformation of construction. But the most radical intervention capable of encouraging an increase in deep renovations is a general change of mentality among all the players in the sector. “Only deep renovations can make a decisive contribution to decarbonisation, and today they account for only a fifth of total renovations. Superficial or isolated works alone are not enough and everyone in the sector should be more aware of this. Renovating means aiming to reduce consumption, but not only that. In the end, paying careful attention to sustainability over time will have little negative impact on the environment around us and can improve quality of life inside the buildings themselves,” continues Avesani. Looking to the future, the positive aspect is that today there are more and more projects that, in addition to working on the development of technologies, aim to involve the supply chain with training, networking and other initiatives. “The potential of projects like INFINITE is to show that working differently is not only possible but will also pave the way to the best future we can build together,” concludes Avesani. Original article: here	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2013
__label__wiki	0.542685	0.542685	Chief Information Security Officer, City of Palo Alto As CISO since early 2012, Raj has established an Information Security Steering Committee comprised of executive management, and developed an information security strategy and roadmap for future activities. In support of the strategy to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information systems that support the operations and assets of the City, he has implemented an ISO 27001-based (Information Security Management Systems) security framework and created a new Information Security and Privacy Policies. Prior to joining the City of Palo Alto, Raj held positions as Director of Information Security and Compliance at Kaiser Permanente, Chief Information Security Marshal at Oracle Corporation/Sun Microsystems, and Senior IT Manager for Development and IT Security at Sun Microsystems. It was during this period that he published Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Security Policy and Specifications, which became an industry-leading practices to ensure security and privacy.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2014
__label__cc	0.621776	0.378224	Automation Is Taking Over Our Jobs – What Does The Future Hold For Us? Y'berion Pyrokar \| September 19, 2020 \| Artificial Intelligence, Features, Main Grid, Science & Tech Advancements in modern technology have greatly influenced the world of work in the 21st century. Digital transformation has taken over our workplaces, and the evolution of robots has made it easier to get work done faster and more efficiently, leading to greater productivity. Technology is undoubtedly dominating society. There’s a software for virtually everything you can think of, and it doesn’t just stop with intellectual office tasks, there’s even software to help people write music! Music lovers can benefit from music writing software such as Notion 6, MuseScore, and MagicScore Maestro 8. Automation offers a cheaper and less complicated method of getting things done. It has also made it possible for workers to bypass repetitive jobs. The big question, however, is, at what costs? Could the use of robots in our workplaces be a kiss of death for human workers? This has been the concern of many workers over the past few decades. There is a serious concern that the use of robots in the workplace could push countless workers out of their jobs. How Many People Are Worried About Losing Their Jobs To Robots The advances in artificial intelligence (AI) has left many workers breathless with fear of losing their jobs due to automation. More than half of US employees are afraid of losing their jobs to robots. A recent survey conducted by MindEdge Learning reveals that 52% of employees in the US who work in companies that have adopted automation are concerned about robots taking over their jobs. The quarterly CNBC/Survey Monkey- Workplace Happiness survey also reports that 27% of workers say they are worried that their present jobs could be eliminated within the next five years. The survey reveals that fears of job losses due to automation is more common among younger workers as 37% of workers between the ages of 18 and 24 years are more concerned that robots will take their jobs. According to Laura Wronski, who is a senior research scientist at SurveyMonkey, although workers between the age of 18-24 years understand that technology can have positive impacts on work, they are concerned because they envision vast potential changes in the nature of work over the course of their lifetime. The survey also revealed that there is a correlation between income and fear of job loss as 34% of workers who earn $50,000 or less are more worried about losing their jobs to automation. The fear of job losses due to automation is even higher among workers in industries that have already tasted the negative effects of technology such as advertising and marketing, automotive, business support, and retail industries. Professions That Are Already Being Occupied By Robots Research shows that about a quarter of jobs in the US are at risk of being automated. The risk, however, differs according to professions; some professions face a higher risk of automation than others. Many professions are already facing job losses due to automation. Some of these include the advertising, marketing, and automotive industries; but the list doesn’t stop here. We have compiled a list of other professions that are already feeling the impact of automation. 1. Insurance Industry Workers in the insurance industry have started feeling the heat of automation as human workers are already being replaced with robots in this sector of the economy. An insurance company in Japan (Fakoku Mutual Life insurance) has already replaced 30 workers in its medical insurance claims with robots. These robots can analyze and interpret data far better than a human can, and they take much lesser time to complete the task. 2. Bank Representatives Another profession that is currently being taken over by automation is the banking industry. With the introduction of the ATMs and smartphone apps, many bank tellers lost their jobs due to a huge decline in the number of people who visit the bank daily. Workers in this industry still face a high risk of losing their jobs because, with the introduction of AI, cash transactions, account opening, and loan processing can now be done by robots. Since these robots make the process of carrying out tasks easier, faster, and more efficient, they are more likely to push bank workers out of their jobs. 3. Financial Analysts Artificial intelligence financial analysis software is already putting many financial analysts out of jobs. Banks can now use financial analysis software to read and understand financial trends and predict future market possibilities. This was the job of human, financial analysts, but it’s now been threatened by a stiffer competitor. 4. Manufacturing Industry Workers in the manufacturing sector are already losing their jobs to robots. Robots can easily carry out the tasks done by workers in this sector; they do so even more efficiently than human workers. This explains why some manufacturing industries are already replacing some of their workers with robots. 5. Journalists Even writers are not as safe as most people thought. AI is now used to write reports in many media firms. There is a possibility that in the nearest future content sites could exist without human writers. Further Forecasts On The Impacts Of Robots On The Labor Market Research conducted by McKinsey Global Institute estimates that 75 million and 375 million jobs could be eliminated by automation by 2030. This means that 3% to 14% of workers globally are at risk of unemployment due to automation. (Source: McKinsey Global Institute). The survey further revealed that by 2030, as much as 33% of the global workforce might have to pursue new professions in different sectors of the economy. According to reports from the UK Office for National Statistics, 1.5 million jobs in the UK are at risk of automation. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the fear of job losses has increased because the use of automation in workplaces has accelerated as companies struggle to avoid infections in the workplace. About 40 million jobs were lost in the US during the pandemic. Experts estimate that 42% of the jobs lost will never be restored. This justifies the increasing fear that workers have of losing jobs. Robots are gradually but steadily taking over the jobs done by human workers. The best strategy to ensure your job is secured is to adapt and learn how to work with them. While you may not be able to carry out the same job you did before robots were introduced, you can supervise the robots while they work, this way you are sure that your job is safe. Y'berion Pyrokar A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Mafia: Definitive Edition – Everything You Need to Know Fall 2020 TV Preview: Top Shows to Watch	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2016
__label__wiki	0.618618	0.618618	License Commission Revokes Winners Bar & Grill Liquor License by Seth Daniel • May 3, 2019 • 0 Comments Winners was a big loser Monday night at City Hall. The recently-renovated bar and grill on Ferry Street was found by the License Commission to have violated its last-chance agreement with the Board – and the result was a 2-1 vote to strip the venue of its liquor license as of May 13. In a contentious meeting where the Board had clearly been pushed beyond its limits of toleration, owner Tony Portillo and his attorney, John Mackey, asked for another chance to operate the new sports bar – which Portillo said is underwater in debt. “Tony has complete and utter disregard for this Board and what it asks him to do,” said Chair Phil Antonelli. “In September, with the last-chance agreement, everything Tony wanted, Tony got. He has not been a good corporate citizen in Everett. We have police reports, over serving patrons and staying open late. No matter what, it’s never his fault.” Antonelli added that in his 15 years on the Board, he has never issued a last-chance agreement – let alone one that has been violated so egregiously. He also pointed out that Portillo has been before the Board at every single monthly meeting for the past year. Member Phil Arloro said he had seen and heard one too many lies from Portillo – who he had hoped could run a good business when Portillo took over the old Shooters location. “I want to know why he has lied to us,” he said. “Every single time he has come in here, he has always told us he gives us his word. He says he’s going to do things right. But nothing ever changes. Then we got to the point where we had to put something on paper with the last-chance agreement. Now we’re here tonight with the same problems with the last-chance agreement. What he tells us and what he does are two different things. This Board has more than bent over backward to accommodate this business.” The crux of the latest issue was the fact that Portillo was barred from using the basement of the establishment in the agreement. That was because he had been found on numerous occasions to have blocked egresses and created an unsafe condition there. The agreement under no uncertain terms read that the basement was off-limits even though it had been renovated at a huge cost. Then, on April 20, Member Brian McCarthy discovered that there was an event in the basement being promoted, and actually being filmed live on Facebook. When members of the Board and Everett Police went to the establishment, they found patrons watching soccer in the basement, and one person was extremely intoxicated. Records from the cash registers indicated that the basement had been used regularly, and it wasn’t a special situation. Portillo, accompanied by his wife, Sandra, and his brother in law, Juan, pleaded with the Board – admitting he had screwed up by allowing people in the basement. “I screwed up on this one,” he said. “As a man, I take responsibility.” He said he made the move to use the basement because the business is struggling due to renovations that cost $750,000 – in addition to utility bills in the tens of thousands of dollars. “I know I screwed up; this last time is 100 percent on me,” he said. “Whatever penalties you decide, I accept. I just want a fair chance to show I’m an asset again. I don’t want to be a headache. Everything I have I invested in Winners. I think the sports is a niche market and can be successful.” However, it was too late. McCarthy and Arloro voted to revoke the liquor license, with Antonelli voting against revocation. They agreed to allow him to stay open for Cinco de Mayor and Mother’s Day, but the bar must close up on May 13, and surrender the liquor license on May 15. It can still operate as a restaurant but cannot serve alcohol. Mackey and Portillo said they would work diligently in the next few weeks to find a buyer to bring before the Board to take over the establishment. That buyer would need to apply for a new liquor license, and there are about eight now available. •In other news, La Perle owner Valery Joseph was before the Board concerning her liquor license for the now-shuttered La Perle Restaurant on Bow Street. The restaurant had been a hit for many years in the Haitian and Caribbean community but hit a wall with the construction of Encore Boston Harbor next door. The casino eventually bought the building and Joseph had to close up in March. Commissioners told her that due to state rules, she had until late October to find a new location in Everett to use her liquor license. Joseph said she is trying very hard to find a location, but the real estate market is so hot that it has become impossible to find an affordable, vacant location. ← Council Questions Mayor Regarding Concerns of a Delayed Opening Former Supt. Fred Foresteire Pleads Not Guilty on Seven Counts →	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2017
__label__wiki	0.879497	0.879497	Six rhino poached in Kruger Park SANParks says six carcasses were found on the weekend, with most likely killed in the prior weeks. FILE: A rhino calf stands next to its mother who was killed by poachers at the Finfoot Lake Reserve in the Brits District. Picture: EWN. Rhino Poaching Ike Phaahla Eyewitness News \| 2932 days ago JOHANNESBURG - Authorities on Monday confirmed six rhino carcasses were found in the Kruger National Park this past weekend. It's believed the animals were killed by rhino poachers over the festive season but the carcasses were only discovered over the weekend. South African National Parks's Ike Phaahla says they will have to do more to tackle the problem. "It's going to take our efforts to match those of the rangers who are trying to keep the poachers away from the animals. We have to match their efforts in order to make a difference." Close to 1,000 rhino were killed on South African soil last year. The Kruger National Park alone lost about 600 of the animals to poaching. In 2010, the total number of rhino poached in South Africa was 333. In 2011 the number was 448 and last year it was 668. SANParks says the majority of poachers come from outside South Africa, with more than 90 percent of them crossing the border from Mozambique.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2018
__label__wiki	0.870877	0.870877	Laureate bemoans ‘thankless’ job Filed under: Entertainment News, Latest, Reviews — Tags: Abbey, Andrew, Art, bemoans, block, Dame, Dame Judi Dench, Dench, diamond, diamond wedding anniversary, Duke of Edinburgh, Ealing Arts Festival, Ealing Arts Festival in London, Edinburgh, family, festival, Hughes, job, Judi, Laureate, Laureate bemoans, Laureate bemoans 'thankless' job, London, Motion, poet, Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, Prince William, Queen, Royal, royal family, Royal occasions, Ted, Ted Hughes, Westminster, Westminster Abbey, William — expressyoureself @ 12:55 pm Motion writes verse for significant Royal occasions Poet Laureate Andrew Motion has said that the job of writing verse for the Royal Family is “thankless” and gave him a case of writer’s block. Motion told the Ealing Arts Festival in London that the Queen “never gives me an opinion on my work for her”. “I won’t be including any of that work in my future collections,” he said, adding he “did what I had to do”. Motion has had the job of writing verse on Royal occasions since 1999, and will hold the post until next year. ‘Hiding to nothing’ His assignments have included composing a poem to mark the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh’s diamond wedding anniversary and a modern verse for Prince William’s 21st birthday. The 55-year-old said the job has been “very, very damaging to my work”. Afterwards the Queen stopped me and said ‘thank you’, but I have no idea if she really liked it “I dried up completely about five years ago and can’t write anything except to commission.” But he added: “I thought all the poetry had gone, but I feel some of it is still there and may yet return.” Speaking about the occasion of the Queen’s 60th wedding anniversary when his poem was read by Dame Judi Dench in Westminster Abbey, Motion said: “Afterwards the Queen stopped me and said ‘thank you’, but I have no idea if she really liked it.” “Writing for the Royals was a hiding to nothing,” he added. Motion initially said his appointment would give him a platform to promote poetry. He succeeded the late Ted Hughes to the position, which was introduced in 1668. Previous appointees stayed in the role until their death.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2020
__label__wiki	0.985039	0.985039	Tourists warned of Thailand airport scam Filed under: Business News, Latest, Politics News — Tags: account, airport, ATM, bags, Bangkok, Danish, departure, embassy, freedom, immigration, international, Interpreter, Irish, Money, office, phone, police, scam, security, shop, Sri Lanka, Taxi, Thailand, tourists, Travel, UK, video — expressyoureself @ 5:56 am Bangkok’s showcase new international airport is no stranger to controversy. Built between 2002 and 2006, under the governments of then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the opening date was repeatedly delayed. It has been dogged by allegations of corruption, as well as criticism of the design and poor quality of construction. Then, at the end of last year, the airport was shut down for a week after being occupied by anti-government protesters. Now new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting, and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom. That is what happened to Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin, two IT experts from Cambridge, as they were about to board their flight to London on the night of 25 April this year. They had been browsing in the duty free shop at the airport, and were later approached by security guards, who twice asked to search their bags. Mr Ingram and Ms Xi were told they had to pay £7,500 They were told a wallet had gone missing, and that Ms Lin had been seen on a security camera taking it out of the shop. The company that owns the duty free shop, King Power, has since put the CCTV video on its website, which does appear to show her putting something in her bag. However the security guards found no wallet on either of them. Despite that, they were both taken from the departure gate, back through immigration, and held in an airport police office. That is when their ordeal started to become frightening. “We were questioned in separate rooms,” Mr Ingram said. “We felt really intimidated. They went through our bags and demanded that we tell them where the wallet was.” The two were then put in what Mr Ingram describes as a “hot, humid, smelly cell with graffiti and blood on the walls”. Mr Ingram managed to phone a Foreign Office helpline he found in a travel guide, and was told someone in the Bangkok embassy would try to help them. The next morning the two were given an interpreter, a Sri Lankan national called Tony, who works part-time for the police. They were taken by Tony to meet the local police commander – but, says Mr Ingram, for three hours all they discussed was how much money they would have to pay to get out. Mr Ingram and Ms Xi were taken to meet the local police commander They were told the charge was very serious. If they did not pay, they would be transferred to the infamous Bangkok Hilton prison, and would have to wait two months for their case to be processed. Mr Ingram says they wanted £7,500 ($12,250) – for that the police would try to get him back to the UK in time for his mother’s funeral on 28 April. But he could not arrange to get that much money transferred in time. ‘Zig-zag’ scheme Tony then took them to an ATM machine at the police station, and told Ms Lin to withdraw as much as she could from her own account – £600 – and Mr Ingram then withdrew the equivalent of £3,400 from his account. This was apparently handed over to the police as “bail”, and they were both made to sign a number of papers. Later they were allowed to move to a squalid hotel within the airport perimeter, but their passports were held and they were warned not to leave or try to contact a lawyer or their embassy. “I will be watching you,” Tony told them, adding that they would have to stay there until the £7,500 was transferred into Tony’s account. On the Monday they managed to sneak out and get a taxi to Bangkok, and met an official at the British Embassy. She gave the name of a Thai lawyer, and, says Mr Ingram, told them they were being subjected to a classic Thai scam called the “zig-zag”. Their lawyer urged them to expose Tony – but also warned them that if they fought the case it could take months, and they risked a long prison sentence. After five days the money was transferred to Tony’s account, and they were allowed to leave. Mr Ingram had missed his mother’s funeral, but at least they were given a court document stating that there was insufficient evidence against them, and no charge. “It was a harrowing, stressful experience,” he said. The couple say they now want to take legal action to recover their money. ‘Typical’ scam The EXPRESS has spoken to Tony and the regional police commander, Colonel Teeradej Phanuphan. They both say Tony was merely helping the couple with translation, and raising bail to keep them out of prison. Tony says about half the £7,500 was for bail, while the rest were “fees” for the bail, for his work, and for a lawyer he says he consulted on their behalf. In theory, he says, they could try to get the bail portion refunded. Colonel Teeradej says he will investigate any possible irregularities in their treatment. But he said any arrangement between the couple and Tony was a private affair, which did not involve the police. Letters of complaint to the papers here in Thailand make it clear that passengers are regularly detained at the airport for alleged shoplifting, and then made to pay middlemen to win their freedom. The Danish Embassy says one of its nationals was recently subjected to a very similar scam, and earlier this month an Irish scientist managed to flee Thailand with her husband and one year-old son after being arrested at the airport and accused of stealing an eyeliner worth around £17. Tony told the BBC that so far this year he has “helped” about 150 foreigners in trouble with the police. He says sometimes he does it for no charge. The British Embassy has also warned passengers at Bangkok Airport to take care not to move items around in the duty free shopping area before paying for them, as this could result in arrest and imprisonment.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2021
__label__wiki	0.991951	0.991951	flac full album » Rock » Mika R - Crazy Love Song Mika R - Crazy Love Song Album FLAC Mika Spain 2011 Performer: Mika R Album: Crazy Love Song 1 –Mikar Krzy Love Song Private Individual project made by Mikar. Original Release. Made By – Mikar Crazy Love is a romantic ballad written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1970 album, Moondance. The song was originally released as the B-side to Come Running in May 1970 before it was released as a single in the Netherlands, Come Running as the B-side. The cover of the single shows Morrison with his then-wife, Janet Planet Rigsbee. The photograph was taken by Elliot Landy, the official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock festival. Crazy Love is a 1979 hit single for the country rock group Poco introduced on the 1978 album Legend written by founding group member Rusty Young, Crazy Love was the first single by Poco to reach the Top 40 and remained the group's biggest hit with especial impact as an Adult Contemporary hit being ranked by Billboard as the 1 Adult Contemporary hit for the year 1979. Crazy Love - Deep-Maker. Лента с персональными рекомендациями и музыкальными новинками, радио, подборки на любой вкус, удобное управление своей коллекцией. Crazy Love Album - TMC. The album version of the song features Priscilla Renea. This song sampled Popular from Wicked Musical. I sent read more. Crazy Love. Исполнитель: Various artists. 2020 r&b. Song of the Islands. Billy Vaughn. Crazy Love is a song from Michael Bublé's 2009 album, Crazy Love. Crazy Love was written by the Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. A song appearing in several films and covered by many artists, Crazy Love has become a seventies classic. The original B-side of the single release of this song was Come Running. Like Van Morrison, Bublé's rendition of the song was released as a single. Shop from the world's largest selection and best deals for Mika Album Music CDs. From United Kingdom. EUR postage. Genre: PopStyle: Pop R&BArtist: Mika. HX574 Mika, Life In Cartoon Motion - 2007 CD. EUR Related to Mika R - Crazy Love Song: McFadden & Whitehead - I Heard It In A Love Song Elton John - Love Song Astralasia - Alien Love Song Rudy Love And The Love Family - This Song Is For You / Take Nothing For Granted Toni Braxton - Another Sad Love Song Renée Chemet - Gypsy Love Song / Kiss Me Again Erik A Viking - Crazy Baby William Horncloud - Sioux Songs of War and Love Daliah Lavi - Love's Song Paul Harrys - Love Song	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2023
__label__cc	0.598945	0.401055	Sexual Assault By Transferring A Sexually Transmitted Infection Forrest Williams > News > Criminal Defence > Sexual Assault By Transferring A Sexually Transmitted Infection A sexually transmitted infection is defined as: an infection that can be transferred from one person to another through sexual contact Sexually transmitted infections are most often spread by oral, vaginal or anal contact; however, they can also be contracted after skin to skin contact. So, what if you consented to sexual contact with someone, but did not know this person had a sexually transmitted infection until after the sexual contact took place? If a person (A) is unaware of another’s (B) sexually transmitted infection, then A is incapable of giving valid consent to any sexual contact. B has therefore committed Sexual Assault. A person guilty of Sexual Assault is liable to a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. Donna contacted us after separating with her boyfriend. They had been together for 2 years before her boyfriend disclosed that he had Hepatitis B and Genital Herpes. Donna was understandably concerned and made an appointment with a medical clinic which unfortunately the result showed she had also been affected. Donna reported what had happened to the police, who advised that they did not have the resources available to investigate Donna’s case. Donna looked online and saw that Forrest Williams specialised in private prosecution. We were able to discuss the circumstances of Donna’s case as part of our free initial advice and she was so impressed by our knowledge and professionalism that she then decided to instruct us to look into taking out a private prosecution against her ex-boyfriend for Sexual Assault. Her case continues. If you have received a sexually transmitted infection that you believe your partner was aware of having, and would like to discuss the possibility of taking legal action against them, please call our specialist team on 01623 600645.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2024
__label__cc	0.552747	0.447253	Mount Nod: the almost forgotten resting place of Wandsworth’s Huguenots 17th Century · 18th Century · Wandsworth September 12, 2014 February 4, 2019 Caroline Marooned on an island between two busy stretches of road in south west London is a little known burial ground that tells a small part of the long and complex story of London’s immigrants. The name of one of the adjoining streets gives away this connection: Huguenot Place. The Huguenots were French Calvinist Protestants who left France in search of religious freedom after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. The Edict of Nantes had previously granted the Huguenots significant rights in a predominantly Catholic country, but under the more autocratic rule of Louis XIV this tolerance was revoked and many Huguenots saw no option other than to leave France. It is thought that around half a million Huguenots fled to other Protestant countries in Europe and further afield. Many of them settled in England, and today they are most closely associated with the Spitalfields area of East London. A large number of the Huguenot refugees were skilled craftsmen and many were involved in the weaving trade — which made them welcome in England, as French fashions were popular. The Huguenots who settled in Spitalfields became known for their involvement in the silk trade, but they were not the only Huguenots to settle in London. In Wandsworth, then a village to the south west of London, a community of Huguenots could also be found, with its members involved in brewing, silk dyeing, hatmaking and working in the area’s many market gardens. Church services in French were performed at the old Presbyterian Chapel in Wandsworth for over a century after the first Huguenots arrived. James Thorne, writing in 1876, commented that “gradually the French element became absorbed in the surrounding population, but Wandsworth was long famous for hat making.” As in other parts of England, the Huguenots assimilated with the local populations that they joined and today many Londoners probably have Huguenots amongs their ancestors. A stone, erected in 1911, commemorates the Huguenots buried in the cemetery and remembers their contribution to Wandsworth. There isn’t a great deal of information to be found about the old burial ground. The name “Mount Nod”, as referenced on the memorial stone pictured above, doesn’t seem to have any obvious origin (at least as far as I can find) – although the site is a fairly significant uphill walk from Wandsworth Town railway station. The burial ground was first used in the late 17th Century, and like so many other cemeteries in London it was closed in 1854 as part of the Metropolitan Burials Act. Today it comes under the care of Wandsworth Council, who replaced the railings around it in 2003. Frustratingly, when I made my way to Wandsworth on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I was faced with an obstacle: a padlocked gate. A couple of plastic ties on the gate suggested that there had once been an explanation present for the site’s closure, but it is there no more. Luckily, the site is small and with the help of my zoom lens I was able to take some pictures of the old tombs and grave stones through the railings that surround the burial ground. A number of the tombs looked crumbling and unsafe, which probably explains why the burial ground is padlocked. I’m particularly fond of the designs and images present in many 18th Century memorials, and Mount Nod was not a disappointment on this front. One of the tombs, either already restored or simply having stood the test of time better than some of its neighbours, had a fantastic “death’s head” skull and crossbones relief – one of the best I have found so far. Beautiful 18th Century headstone with winged hourglass, carved lilies and skulls An interesting feature of this burial ground, like so many other 17th and 18th Century burial grounds, is the lack of Christian imagery used on memorials despite the graveyard being a Christian one. Overtly Christian symbolism, such as crosses or images of Christ or saints, were seen as as a Catholic attribute – much in the same way that nonconformist and most Protestant churches lack the often lavish decoration and statues of Catholic churches. Bearing that in mind, it makes perfect sense that Huguenot graves would lack any form of decoration that could be seen as Popish, as they had been forced to leave their homeland by a Catholic regime. Instead, their gravestones feature carved patterns, winged cherubs, the death’s head and other memento mori symbols such as the hourglass, and in the case of some of the grander memorials, family coats of arms. Religious features such as crosses and statues only became popular in the 19th Century, when attitudes towards Catholicism had softened and architectural movements such as the Gothic Revival brought Catholic designs and imagery into the secular sphere. The concentration of rather grand tombs in such a small burial ground points to a prosperous community. Sadly, many of these monuments are now in a poor condition, either through vandalism or the natural shifting of the ground and tree roots over the years. As I wasn’t able to get close to many of the graves, and as many of them were so old and worn, it was difficult to to read the inscriptions on the tombs and headstones. Some of those that were legible showed names that were not recognisably French – these people were not Huguenots, or had over the years Anglicised their names or married into English families. The burial ground opened in 1680, before the Huguenots arrived, and was presumably used by local families as well as Huguenot immigrants. Thorne comments that the cemetery “appears to have been used as the ordinary burial ground for that end of the parish when the Huguenot population began to die out.” Daniel Lysons’ 1792 publication The Environs of London: County of Surrey describes a number of of those buried at Mount Nod, including a number of those buried in the 18th Century with English names, such as Matthew Green, Samuel Goodman and David Asterley. Amongst these English names the Huguenots stand out. James Baudoin from Nîmes, who died in 1739 at the grand old age of 91, had “fled from tyranny and persecution in 1685.” Lysons’ list also includes the wonderfully named Dame Isabeau Bories de Montauban en Guyenne. Other Huguenots buried there included Paul de la Roque, John Delaparelle, Mary Montoileu and Anne Savigny. This little burial ground is not the only example of a London cemetery becoming associated with a particular expatriate community. At West Norwood cemetery in South London, there is a Greek necropolis which was bought by the Greek community, who settled in London in the 19th Century. It contains many ostentatious tombs, which reflect the prosperity of some of London’s Greek immigrants, and today the necropolis has nineteen listed monuments. (Flickering Lamps will be visiting this beautiful site before too long!) As well as the grand memorials at Mount Nod, many fragments and more modest grave stones are dotted around the burial ground, some of them surviving from the 18th Century. When the burial ground closed in 1854, it was redeveloped as a public garden. Over the years, though, the site fell into disuse and disrepair and many of the tombs deteriorated into a ruinous and dangerous condition. In 2010, Wandsworth Council published a document highlighting their intention to restore the Huguenot Burial Ground and reopen it to the public, with plans to add seating to make it a more attractive place for visitors, as well as highlighting the site’s historical significance and refurbishing dilapidated tombs. However, this plan does not seem to have been fully implemented as the gate remains padlocked, although it looks as though the grass areas and trees are cared for. Making safe crumbling tombs and adding some seating would allow local people to interact with and enjoy the space again. In the future, it would be wonderful to see this beautiful resting place of Wandsworth’s Huguenots given the maintenance and prominence it deserves. England’s “first refugees”, Robin Gywnn, History Today, 1985 http://www.historytoday.com/robin-gwynn/englands-first-refugees The Huguenots, part of Merton Council’s River and Cloth project, 2010 http://microsites.merton.gov.uk/riverandcloth/textilehistory/huguenots.html ‘Wandsworth’, The Environs of London: volume 1: County of Surrey, Daniel Lysons, 1792 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45394 Handbook to the Environs of London, James Thorne, 1876 https://archive.org/details/handbooktoenvir04thorgoog Huguenot Burial Ground Management Plan 2010-2015, Wandsworth Council, 2010, http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/downloads/download/206/management_plans funerary symbolism Graveyards huguenots london wandsworth Previous Post A Roman house and baths hidden under the streets of London Next Post Marc Bolan’s rock shrine – a place of modern-day pilgrimage 25 thoughts on “Mount Nod: the almost forgotten resting place of Wandsworth’s Huguenots” Great history – it should be taught in schools like this. Making it relevant and interesting. I hope the cemetery is reopened as intended. Thoroughly enjoyable post. Thank you very much Andrew! I was lucky enough to learn about some of the history of my area at primary school and it definitely really helped me to appreciate my surroundings and their history. I hope that this cemetery can be restored and reopened to the public so that the people of Wandsworth (and further afield) can appreciate and learn from it again. Pingback: London News Roundup \| Londonist runner500 says: A fantastic post, I really enjoyed it. I think I wandered round there in the dim and distant past, although as I was killing time before an interview at Wandsworth Town Hall. Thank you! It’s a burial ground I’ve been aware of for quite a long time but although I don’t live very far away it took me a while to get round to visiting. It’s a real gem and I’d be so happy to see it reopened to the public in the future. The Nod seems to be biblical and refers to wandering, oddly found in reference to the cemetery. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/LONDON/1999-01/0915607573 Ah, now that would make perfect sense as a name for a burial ground for refugees! Bob Jones - The Lost City of London says: Fascinating post! I notice that one of the graves is of John and Elizabeth Garthwaite. With it being such an unusual name, I wonder whether they might have been connected to Anna Maria Garthwaite (1690-1763), a famous designer of silks for the Huguenot weavers who had come to live and work in Spitalfields after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. There’s a corporation blue plaque marking her former house at the junction of Princelet – formerly Princes – Street and Wilkes Street in Spitalfields. And a lovely blog about the house by the Gentle Author (April 5th, 2013). It’s not a common name so I suspect you are correct in linking John and Elizabeth with Anna Maria. I wasn’t aware of Anna Maria’s work so thank you for letting me know about her and pointing me towards the Spitalfields Life post about her home! http://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/04/05/at-anna-maria-garthwaites-house/ nickgadd says: Very enjoyable post, thank you. Some of the carving on those tombs is so beautifully executed and has lasted remarkably well (James Frost) Thank you Nick! It’s amazing how well some of the inscriptions have survived – I’m sure that the stonemasons who created the headstones would be pleased to see how good they still look after 200 years! Fiona Butler says: My Great Grandfather Reginald St Aubyn Roumieu unveiled the memorial (third picture) to the many Huguenots buried at Mount Nod.on 21.10.1911. He was President of the Huguenot Society. I wonder if I could have a copy of your article. Hi Fiona, great to hear from someone with a family connection to Mount Nod! I will email you a PDF version of the article. For some reason, I never received your PDF , probably due to my ignorance when faced with a computer. Perhaps we could try again? Fiona Lamorna says: Hello Fiona. I have a book with a book plate belonging to your great grandfather “Provence and Languedoc” by Cecil Headlam. Do you know what the connection is with the St Aubyn family is ( I am one of them)? Lamorna, Sorry I have only just noticed your reply on Flickering Lamps. We don’t know of a StAubyn family. I think it was just the name his parents gave him.I am very interested to hear about the book plate, is it possible to send me a copy. We have a large aschette with his family crest on one edge. But that is about all! Fiona. Lamorna Good says: It took me a bit of time to find the book! So long ago.. If you email me on lamornagood@hotmail.com, I’ll send you a photo of his bookplate. I did find a bit about him on the web, and I saw that he was an architect, mainly of churches. So was an ancestor of mine in the 19th century but that still doesn’t explain why your great grandfather had our name….curious. There’s a Mount Nod road in Streatham (used to live on it!), which is named after the farm the land originally belonged to: Mount Nod farm (http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/case-studies/streatham/3). Still none the wiser as to where the name ‘Mount Nod’ originally came from though! Nick Barber says: There are four Mount Nods in South London…the one in this article,one in Battersea (behind Cedars Road,a tumulus now destroyed) the Streatham one,and one in Lewisham (now cleared and rebult as a housing estate)….the origin of the name is not clear,though. Mildred Graham says: Have been researching my family and found out they were French Hugenots who fled France and went to England. Leonard Henry Jean Vernadeau is buried in one of the Hugenot cemeteries. His son Leonard Vernedeau fled to America (Orangeburg District South Carolina). Appreciate this article on Hugenot cemetery. jeff St.Clair says: Many thanks your photographs and descriptions of this place bought back memories for me ,I lived in Wandsworth when I was a boy in the 1960s and walked past Mount Nod many times on my way to school or to the common and thought it was a calm place amid the noise …really good to see it still there … Roger Batchelor says: Is the Huguenot cemetary in wandsworth now opened to the public. Also would the Huguenot Society have any records for names of people who are buried there? Diane Botelle says: I am also researching my husband’s Huguenot family. His grandfather wrote that early settlers were buried at Mount Nod Cemetery so I have found this Flickering Lamp site and found it all very interesting. We live in Dorset but would love to visit if it is now possible to gain entrance and would also like to know if there are records of people buried there. Our name is now Botelle and I am sure this has changed over the years, but there maybe a similar name. Aileen Broomfield says: Hi. The Mount Nod Cemetery has been refurbished and is now open to the public. The Wandsworth Heritage Library has a small booklet and map listing inscriptions and wills of Huguenots buried there. This was compiled by Mr John Traviss Squire in the late 1880s. You can visit the library to refer to the booklet but it can’t be borrowed though they can make copies of odd pages. Mr Squire gave a talk about his book and it’s appended to the minutes of The Huguenot Society’s meeting and can be read on-line. So good to hear this … Next time I am in London I will visit Mount Nod …	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2025
__label__wiki	0.773997	0.773997	Football contre l'Apartheid Palestine Land Day: A day to resist and remember 12 months ago faa 0 Original article: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/3/30/palestine-land-day-a-day-to-resist-and-remember Forty-two years ago today, Israeli police shot and killed six Palestinian citizens of Israel as they were protesting the Israeli government’s expropriation of thousands of donums of Palestinian land. Since then, March 30 has been known as Land Day. It has become a major commemorative date in the Palestinian political calendar and an important event in the Palestinian collective narrative – one that emphasises Palestinian resistance to Israeli colonisation and sumud (steadfastness). The 1976 protests were a result of mass collective action across historic Palestine, which saw Palestinian communities resisting not only the theft of land but also overall settler colonial policies of erasure. Although there were also protests in the Naqab and Wadi Ara, most of the action took place in six villages in the Galilee that had been placed under curfew: Sakhnin, Arraba, Deir Hanna, Tur’an, Tamra, and Kabul. The demonstrations were met with serious aggression and violence; in addition to the six demonstrators killed, hundreds were injured. This year, the commemoration of Land Day remains as important as ever because in addition to remembering Palestinian resistance, it reminds us how the domination of space is an integral aspect of the Zionist settler-colonial project. Indeed, settler colonial states the world over are in a constant process of colonising more and more indigenous land while squeezing indigenous peoples into as little space as possible. In Palestine, the colonisation and appropriation of land has been continuous since the establishment of Israel and today it is accelerating at an astonishing speed. Recently this has been highlighted by Israeli political maneuverings in Jerusalem, including the postponed Greater Jerusalem Bill, through which the Israeli government would annex illegal settlements in the West Bank and exclude Palestinian neighbourhoods. Another postponed bill, the Sovereignty Bill, would extend Israeli law to the settlements in the West Bank. Although the votes on both these pieces of legislation have been postponed, they demonstrate an audacious boldness of de facto and de jure annexation. Undoubtedly, the Israeli government is capitalising on the Trump administration’s brazen disregard for international law and international consensus with regards to Jerusalem and Palestine in general. However, though the current Israeli government is incredibly right-wing with a particularly fascist discourse, it is important to remember that no Israeli government since the state’s establishment has halted settlement building in the West Bank. Settlement building has come hand in hand with the displacement of thousands of Palestinians and the theft of their land. At the same time, across the “Green Line”, no Israeli government has ever approved the building of new towns or communities for its Palestinian citizens and they too continue to have their ancestral lands stolen from them. The aim to occupy more space for the exclusive use of Jewish citizens, while simultaneously shrinking the space in which Palestinians exist has always been the name of the game from the river to the sea. All the while, the international community has failed to implement the mechanisms that could prevent the colonisation of the West Bank and destruction of Gaza. These include (but are not limited to) implementing sanctions on Israel and supporting Palestinian attempts to take Israel to the International Criminal Court. Yet international players have remained impotent in the face of Israeli colonisation, which has consistently been backed by its ally and fellow settler colony: the US. The West Bank is now an archipelago of non-sovereign Palestinian areas, with all Palestinians facing a system of apartheid. In spite of this international impotence, Palestinians have not been a passive population and have demonstrated many times their resistance to the settler colonial project and its theft of their land. One prominent example is that of the ongoing fight and resilience of the “unrecognised” Bedouin villages in the Naqab who face near constant home demolition and displacement yet who continue to seek legal recourse and to rebuild. Other resistance strategies include grassroots initiatives such as the Palestinian-erected “protest communities” of Bab el Shams and Ein Hijleh, which were established in an effort to reclaim and re-Palestinianise the land. Overall, Palestinian existence, steadfastness and determination to create space when it is increasingly shrinking parallels many other indigenous peoples’ resolve to resist erasure. Today around historic Palestine, many protests and initiatives are taking place to mark this important date. Indeed, for Palestinians, Land Day presents an opportunity not only to mark a past event, but also to think about creative and resilient ways to further resist Israeli land theft and to demand once and for all that the international community pick the right side of history. The first steps are simple: states must fulfill their third state responsibilities to hold Israel to account for its war crimes and theft of land. To do this, they must sanction Israel until it withdraws from the territories occupied in 1967, ends its apartheid regime within Israel and complies with the internationally recognised right of return for the Palestinian refugees. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Test your ability to be Attorney General. Please rate these 3 crimes listed in order of seriousness. The three crimes outlined in the 3 links below should have been put before the worlds public last week. The world’s press has had their say on the seriousness... Read More Who is “committing a crime worse than Apartheid” Mr Gove? Let us see. Vyara Gylsen’s article in Europalestine (https://europalforum.org.uk/en/post/1093) is well worth a critical look, whether scholar or activist. Reproduced here in full by FAA Last Monday, Conservative MP and Britain’s Secretary of... Read More Apartheid; Israeli Policy Is What It Is: What I’m about to write will not come easily for me. By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent I used to be one of those people who took issue with... Read More Football Against Apartheid – resident poet, penned this poem for Palestine There are no chains on footballs And there will never be But all of us are in shackles Till Palestine is free You bureaucrats in Zurich Please leave your... Read More	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2028
__label__cc	0.740845	0.259155	Connecticut 5 Star Legal Forms: A Connecticut Deed of Trust is a guarantee between a lender and a borrower – while installing a trustee as an intermediary – that pledges the interest in a parcel of real property to secure the proceeds of a loan, or promissory note. Download a free Connecticut Deed of Trust that you can customize with your own personal information and print online. A Connecticut Deed of Trust is commonly used by lenders and requires the borrower to provide title to the property being acquired as collateral for the loan amount. A Connecticut Deed of Trust is sometimes called a Connecticut Trust Deed. How does a Connecticut Deed of Trust work? The lender loans the borrower a certain amount of money for the purchase of a piece of property. Through the application of a Connecticut Deed of Trust, the borrower will then transfer title of the property to an independent trustee, who will hold the title until the debt is repaid to the lender. Similarities and differences between a Connecticut Deed of Trust and a Connecticut Mortgage Deed A Connecticut Mortgage Deed and a Connecticut Deed of Trust are similar in that both act as security for the repayment of a loan by liens placed on the property. When taking out a Mortgage in Connecticut, there are only two parties involved – a lender and a borrower. A Connecticut Deed of Trust, however, is comprised of three parties – a lender, a borrower and a trustee. When taking out a Connecticut Mortgage Deed, if the borrower cannot repay the loan, the lender will commence judicial foreclosure, file a lawsuit against the borrower and take the case to court, costing everyone involved a lot of time and money. With a Connecticut Deed of Trust, the trustee, once notified of delinquency on the note, will start non-judicial foreclosure proceedings to recoup the lender’s investment without the added expense of going to court. Both Mortgage Deeds in Connecticut and Connecticut Deeds of Trust, once transferred, must be recorded in the local records office and are in the public domain. A Connecticut Deed of Trust is a viable alternative to a Mortgage in Connecticut because of the non-judicial foreclosure process used when borrowers cannot repay the note on the property. Non-judicial foreclosure, when compared to the judicial foreclosure process used when taking out a Mortgage in Connecticut, saves all parties the certainty of excessive legal fees and lengthy court proceedings. We show you how to fill out a free Connecticut Deed of Trust, customized with your information, and printed out in minutes online. Fill out and print a Connecticut Deed of Trust online. Click here to start today for free.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2035
__label__cc	0.680748	0.319252	Bishop 2nd Graders Explore Devils Postpile National Monument BISHOP SECOND-GRADERS CELEBRATE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CENTENNIAL WITH TOURS OF DEVILS POSTPILE NATIONAL MONUMENT More than 170 students and teachers to explore public lands, taking Earth Science curriculum from classroom to the Great Outdoors MAMMOTH LAKES, CA – October 2016 – Devils Postpile National Monument hosted Bishop Elementary second graders this October for a series of interactive field trips highlighting the national treasure in their own backyard. The Bishop Unified School District and Friends of the Inyo will be celebrating the National Park Service Centennial during the first two weeks of October at Devils Postpile. During this time, 170 seven- and eight-year-olds, teachers, parents and chaperones will have the opportunity to explore the natural wonder of their local monument. The field trips provide a golden opportunity for students to celebrate this year’s National Park Service Centennial while learning about the many natural resources their own local Monument protects. The trips are possible, in part, through funding from Friends of the Inyo. Bishop second graders participated in field trips October 10-12. “Devils Postpile is a national treasure, well-known and loved for its scenic beauty, wild rivers and extraordinary geology,” said Laura Beardsley, Executive Director of Friends of the Inyo. “Through student trips, education programs and engagement with local youth, we aim to foster a new generation of champions for the diverse wildlands of the Eastern Sierra.” “The second grade team at Bishop Elementary is very excited to have this opportunity to reinforce our science curriculum through a real-world experience,” said Abby Sada, Dual-Immersion Teacher at Bishop Elementary School. During the field trips, students will examine a variety of natural processes that occur on monument lands, and learn of the rich history of protection for natural and cultural resources. They’ll explore the importance of the San Joaquin River watershed, learn about the challenges of climate change, and how young people can help preserve the monument’s biodiversity and migratory corridors. “These students are the next generation of advocates for our great Monument,” said Deanna Dulen, Superintendent of Devils Postpile National Monument. “We’re so grateful for the energy and enthusiasm they bring to safeguarding the natural and cultural heritage of this outstanding resource.” Devils Postpile National Monument rests along the Upper Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The 798-acre monument preserves the columnar basalt known as the Devils Postpile, the 101-foot Rainbow Falls and other resources in the vital watershed. The Postpile is a fascinating sight in the geologic world and ranks as one of the world’s finest examples of columnar jointing. After years of pressure from mining interests to build a dam that would destroy the area’s natural scenery, President William Howard Taft in 1911 designated Devils Postpile a national monument under authority of the Antiquities Act. Another way families can visit Devils Postpile National Monument and other federal public lands is through the Obama Administration’s Every Kid in a Park program, which was recently extended for another year. This program ensures that every American has the opportunity to visit and enjoy the outdoors by giving all 4th graders and their families a pass for free access to federal lands and waters nationwide for a full year.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2036
__label__cc	0.55375	0.44625	New online tool shows climate change in Chesapeake region, county by county A new online tool developed by researchers at Cornell University in New York offers a year-by-year, county-by-county snapshot of those changes. The interactive analysis focuses on the Northeast, so it incorporates much of the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed — Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia — but ignores Virginia and the District of Columbia. Still, the website’s centerpiece — a clickable map that enables users to find climate data ranging from 1950-2013 in each county — underscores that the vast majority of the watershed is getting hotter and rainier. Just about all of the watershed’s counties included on the map have experienced warmer annual average temperatures since 1980, according to the data Cornell used to develop its tool. In Franklin County in south-central Pennsylvania, the average annual temperature has risen at a rate of 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since 1950. But that rate jumps to 0.7 degrees when measured since 1980, suggesting things are getter hotter faster. In Maryland’s Prince George’s County, the typical low temperature has warmed up a full 1 degree per decade since 1980. In New York’s Chemung County, average annual precipitation increased at a rate of 2.3 inches per decade from 1980-2013. In Sussex County in Delaware, the typical daily high temperature ranged from 64 degrees in 1958 to 69.5 degrees in 2012. But the overall trend suggests it is increasing at a rate of 0.2 degrees per decade. What lovely cherry picking! 0.3 degrees per decade! Can you feel a difference of 0.3 degrees? Prince Georges County MD is a growing urban center, and we can expect the Urban Heat Island effect to increase the temperature. 0.23 extra inches of rain per year in Chemung County, where the annual rainfall is 33 inches. 0.2 degrees per decade. 2 degrees per century! Be afraid! Be Very Afraid! Labels: Chesapeake Bay, climate, global warming, propaganda	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2037
__label__wiki	0.575707	0.575707	Written by Ma Jun, Steve Tsang Sales of electric vehicles are surging in China – they made up ten per cent of total auto sales in January–July 2021. Here, an electric vehicle is tested in a specially designed laboratory in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province Will China's climate pledges be enough to achieve Xi Jinping's vision of a 'beautiful, green China'? As the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, what China does in regard to climate change matters to every person on the planet. And there are positive signs. In September 2020, President Xi Jinping pledged to peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2060. In another hugely significant move, he announced in September 2021 that China won’t build new coal-fired projects abroad. It had previously been funding coal projects in countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, its huge infrastructure project. On the other hand, the country itself is still heavily reliant on coal for energy and any pledges it makes are likely to live or die on the success of its economy – certainly not a sure thing. We talked to two China experts to find out more Ma Jun has spent more than two decades as one of China’s top environmental campaigners. He’s currently a director at the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a dynamic NGO that, among things, monitors the CO2 emissions of Chinese companies and provinces. Chinese NGOs aren’t entirely free from state censorship and criticising the ruling party is largely impossible, but action can still be taken at the local level. ‘The environmental movement started burgeoning more than 20 years ago in China. The pollution really started to teach the hard lessons. One watershed moment was the smog that struck Beijing ten years ago. At that time, millions of citizens made their voices heard on social media and, eventually, the government decided to initiate a mass-scale clean-air action plan. This set the stage for China to take a more proactive position on the climate issue. Air pollution comes from very similar sources as carbon emissions – it’s the fossil fuels, it’s the coal. For quite a long time, the climate situation was somewhat different. In 2009, in Copenhagen [COP15], China had a very firm position of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’, insisting that the West first deal with its historic emission impacts. That position has changed. I think in many ways, it was the people’s voice on local air pollution that opened up new possibilities for China to join the global climate movement. China is on its way to fulfilling its commitments under the Paris Agreement, but that’s not enough. The question is how to tackle that. Many local regions want to relax environmental controls in order to hedge against global economic uncertainty. As a result, we have again seen a picking up of China’s coal consumption and a rebound of carbon emissions. That’s why the carbon-neutrality pledge by Xi Jinping came at a critical moment. It contributes to global solidarity, which is very important. That solidarity was very much hurt by the top administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement [the USA withdrew under Donald Trump; it has since rejoined]. At that time, not just the USA, but many other Western countries lost confidence, so they didn’t make ambitious commitments. But now it’s a whole different situation. A real global race to zero has emerged. The pledge has been made; the implementation will be highly challenging. We still have an energy consumption that is highly dependent on coal. We’re still the factory of the world, with a lot of heavy-duty manufacturing. I believe we can only do it with extensive public participation from multiple stakeholders and the first step is access to information. Last year, we launched the zero-carbon map. We colour-coded all the provinces and cities according to their level of carbon emissions. During the process, we also identified a major gap for businesses – most lack the capacity to measure and report their carbon emissions. So we developed a digital platform to help businesses conveniently measure and disclose their emissions. Thousands of businesses have started to use the tool, to measure and to report. So far, we are tracking some nine million factories and companies. They have been motivated not just by the NGOs, but also by major global and local brands who use our data to track the performance of their supply chain in China. Some of the largest brands, including Apple, Dell, Levi’s and Adidas, all require their suppliers to disclose their local carbon emissions. We need to make sure that China’s national ambitions are clearly distributed locally, down to the provinces and then the cities and then to the carbon-intensive industries. We need to get started.’ Steve Tsang is the director of the SOAS China Institute at SOAS University London ‘Until relatively recently, China was building more coal-fired power plants than the rest of the world put together. Now it’s beginning to scale down because recipient countries are saying that they don’t want them, because they’re not economically viable. So they do change, they do respond to pressure. But they won’t cave in. They will only do it on their own terms, not terms set by COP, or Washington, or anywhere. They are serious about climate change. They absolutely want to do something about it; Xi Jinping talks about a beautiful China, which is a green China. But the bottom line for Xi Jinping and the party is not actually climate change – it’s not anywhere near the top of the political agenda. The most important thing is keeping the Communist Party in power. China takes part in the big climate conferences not because of climate change, but because having an impact at these global mega-events means that China is now a top-tier power. China might still transition to renewables – provided the economy can afford it. But if the Chinese economy doesn’t grow at the current rate, and if it can’t afford to make that transformation promise for 2060 – then it won’t happen. Climate change affects us all. We know that in the back of our mind. But there are more traditional, old-fashioned geopolitics, too. There are countries that no longer see it as being in their interest to help the Chinese sustain that level of growth, which most of the Western economies have essentially been doing for the past 40 years of China’s economic miracle. That’s changing, and a lot of countries are becoming uncomfortable. Not only is the USA uncomfortable, but also the EU, Japan; Australia is extremely uncomfortable, so is Canada, so is Southeast Asia, which means we won’t necessarily all focus on climate change. China argues that the middle income trap [in which a country that attains a certain income gets stuck at that level] doesn’t apply to it. As an academic, I would say the middle income trap applies to China as much as it did to all the 80 or 90 middle-income countries we have in the world. And since the end of the Second World War, only about 14 to 15 of them have come out of it successfully. Whether China will is an open question. There’s a lot to be said that it may not. Th ose arguments are completely dismissed by the Chinese government. Th ey believe that their economy will sustain a very fast rate of growth. Th ey believe they are going to overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy in a matter of years. On those assumptions, then the net zero promise for 2060 is a relatively modest timetable. But if you’re talking about the economy at the actual scale of China’s economic maturity – then, it is ambitious.’	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2039
__label__wiki	0.875728	0.875728	Kagan Slams Conservative Justices for Gerrymandering Ruling That “Imperils Our System of Government” In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said the Supreme Court’s conservative majority abdicated its role to protect voters’ rights. Pema Levy Activists opposed to partisan gerrymandering protest outside the US Supreme Court on March 26.Carolyn Kaster/AP Justice Elena Kagan tore into Chief Justice John Roberts’ logic Thursday in throwing out two partisan gerrymandering cases, accusing the Supreme Court’s conservative justices of “abandon[ing] the Court’s duty to declare the law” and “imperil[ing] our system of government.” Writing for the conservative majority in a 5-4 decision, Roberts found that the federal courts cannot strike down extreme gerrymandering intended to benefit one political party over another. In doing so, the justices on Thursday declared open season for hyper-gerrymandering, giving the majority party license to rig state district lines in 2021, when the next round of nationwide redistricting will take place. The decision is a doomsday scenario for voting rights, permitting state lawmakers to choose their voters, rather than allowing voters to select their representatives. The majority essentially abdicated its responsibility to rein in partisan gerrymandering by stating that it’s a political question too tricky for the legal minds on the nation’s highest court to tackle. The ruling leaves voters in many states without recourse when their participation in the democratic process is diluted through gerrymandering. Kagan was having none of it. She wrote, “For the first time in this Nation’s history, the majority declares that it can do nothing about an acknowledged constitutional violation because it has searched high and low and cannot find a workable legal standard to apply.” Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor joined Kagan’s dissent. Kagan wrote that the majority’s claim that it couldn’t solve this problem was dubious, given that lower-court judges in the same cases—in Maryland and North Carolina—had assessed the evidence and ruled accordingly. It’s hard work, but it’s doable. “By substantially diluting the votes of citizens favoring their rivals, the politicians of one party had succeeded in entrenching themselves in office,” Kagan wrote of the lawmakers in Maryland and North Carolina who orchestrated the gerrymanders. “They had beat democracy.” The conservative majority let them get away with it. Roberts, in his ruling for the majority, wrote that state courts offered one venue for addressing partisan gerrymandering in the future. “But what do those courts know that this Court does not?” Kagan wrote. “If they can develop and apply neutral and manageable standards to identify unconstitutional gerrymanders, why couldn’t we?” With the 2020 census and redistricting around the corner, state legislatures across the country will feel emboldened to draw districts that entrench one party’s power. Voters in have some recourse: In certain states, voters have the power to approve independent redistricting commissions, and in others, state constitutions and laws provide a path to challenge gerrymandering in state courts. But in many states, neither route is available. With improved data collection and powerful computer software, gerrymandering has evolved into nearly a science, and it may cause millions of voters across the country to lose the power to choose their representatives by being packed into uncompetitive districts where their votes could have little effect. “The ‘core principle of republican government,’ this Court has recognized, is ‘that the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around,'” Kagan wrote, adding, “The majority disputes none of this.” She concluded, “Of all times to abandon the Court’s duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court’s role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections.”	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2040
__label__cc	0.601368	0.398632	Isabelle Gounod opened her first gallery in 2004, and inaugurated her space in Le Marais in 2008. The gallery is developing with the "Studio", both showroom and new exhibition space. From the outset, the gallery has paid particular attention to the French scene, and has accompanied and represented the work of Michaële-Andréa SCHATT, Martin BRUNEAU and Jérémy LIRON for more than ten years, and more recently, Jacqueline DAURIAC, Florent LAMOUROUX and Moussa SARR. Particularly recognized for its support of the emerging scene, it represents Lenny RÉBÉRÉ, Pierre AGHAIKIAN, Audrey MATT AUBERT, Sophie KITCHING and Mikaël MONCHICOURT. Since 2016 the gallery has also strengthened its position by representing artists from the international scene: Glen BAXTER (GB), Leslie SMITH III (US), Dan BRAULT (CA), Katharina ZIEMKE (DE) and Axel PAHLAVI (DE). In 2020, a first exhibition dedicated to Carolyn CARLSON initiated the gallery's commitment to the graphic and poetic work of the French-American dancer and choreographer. The gallery presented the first exhibitions of Julien des Monstiers (2008), Claire Tabouret (2010, 2012 and 2013), Thomas Lévy-Lasne (2013) or Maude Maris (2013, 2015 and 2017). Fairs & Collections : The Isabelle Gounod Gallery has been present since 2008 at French and international fairs, including SLICK (2010), FIAC-(OFF)ICIELLE and FIAC Outdoors (2014), YIA (Brussels) and Paréidolie (2016), Drawing Now Paris (since 2010) as well as Choices - Paris Gallery Weekend (2014, 2015, 2018 and 2021), BIENVENUE Art Fair Paris (2018, 2019 and 2021) as well as at the first edition of DRAW ART FAIR LONDON (2019) The works of the artists represented by the Isabelle Gounod gallery or having been supported by it are present in numerous public and private collections: Musée National d'Art Moderne / Centre Pompidou (Paris), MoMA (N.Y.C.), LACMA (L.A. ), CNAP, Fonds Municipal d'Art Contemporain de la ville de Paris, FRAC AUVERGNE, FRAC PACA, FRAC Haute-Normandie, FRAC Basse-Normandie, Musée Paul-Dini (Villefranche-sur-Saône), Le musée de l'Immigration, Collection du cabinet des Dessins Jean Bonna, Collection EMERIGE, Collection Société Générale, Collection François Pinault, Fonds de dotation Bredin Prat, Fondation Salomon, Collection Florence et Daniel Guerlain... Isabelle Gounod : Isabelle Gounod comes from a family of artists for many generations, composers, painters, photographers, directors, poets and writers. After training in visual arts (Penninghen, Icart) and a decade devoted to theater in France and England as an actress, she pursued her career in the mid-1980s in film and audiovisual production and collaborated in the making of feature films as well as numerous documentaries, notably for the BBC. She regularly participates in round tables and lectures to students in the Master's program - Art Market (IESA, Paris). Member of the Comité Professionnel des Galeries d'Art since 2010, Isabelle Gounod has also been invited to represent the CPGA in several commissions of the Cnap (Aid to publication, Aid to production) as well as in the Commission Auteurs 2D of the AFDAS. From 2019 to 2021, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the CNAP - Centre National des Arts Plastiques, representing the CPGA - Comité Professionnel des Galeries d'Art. Suscribe Unsuscribe	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2042
__label__cc	0.72331	0.27669	Call of Cthulhu Review by Lee Pilling January 8, 2019 January 13, 2019 Knowledge is power, or so they say. But, in this Lovecraftian cosmic horror, is that really a good thing? Welcome to the world of H.P. Lovecraft inspired by the Chaosium RPG of Call of Cthulhu, where madness and reality are balancing upon a knife’s edge. The game is created by Cyanide, published by Focus Home Interactive and released for PC, Xbox One and PS4 on the 29th October 2018. The Beginning of Everything In this story, you play the role of P.I. (private investigator) Edward Pierce. He is a bit of blank slate at the start, so you get the usual backstory of traumatic circumstances that lead your playable character up to their present day situation. But, in this case, that works to your advantage as he is ready to be moulded by you. You are then tasked by a gentlemen who wants you to investigate the mysterious death of his daughter, Sarah Hawkins. He is convinced that she is not dead and has hired you to prove this. Sure enough, your character accepts the job, and you travel to the island known as Darkwater to begin your investigation. Darkwater You arrive on the mysterious island and immediately begin your investigation, asking the locals questions, getting a feel for the place and knowing who’s who. I quickly learned that not everything is at it seems. Despite the fact that Darkwater is remote, the locals aren’t exactly welcoming of outsiders. Nevertheless, you begin to turn up stones that the locals would rather you left undisturbed. Secrets reveal themselves through the environments you explore. Atmospheric, gritty and foreboding. If it was anything else, it wouldn’t feel right for a Lovecraftian inspired story. From the shores of Darkwater to the stranded Whale Inn, the attention to detail on the island is paramount, giving you the feeling that this place is hiding many secrets, all of which is your task to find and explore. By piecing together hints and clues, you begin to build a picture of what events have transpired, like following a trail of breadcrumbs in the Hansel and Gretel fairy tales. Good job you’re a P.I. then, isn’t it? You, Yourself, Madness and Cthulhu Progression through this dark tale sees your character evolve by leveling up skills within a skill tree. You have many areas in which you can progress your skills, such as strength, intelligence and the like, much like with other RPG-style games. Choosing how to spend your points as you journey through this adventure is how your story unfolds. You will begin to see how your version of Edward Pierce tackles certain situations. If he is more talented at eloquence and the occultism branches, he will be able to ascertain more info from questionings of the locals than, say, an Edward Pierce who is more skilled with medicine and strength-related advancements. But, be careful as to what knowledge you acquire as certain pieces of information will have a detrimental effect on Edward Pierce’s psyche, thus altering the fabric of reality and the world around you. Here is where the game truly shines. The lore from which this game is based upon runs riot with visions of horrific creatures, nightmarish scenarios and cosmic dangers, to name but a few. To tell you what dangers you face would be spoiling it as the reveals in the game are what I found to be truly captivating, hooking me in to play more. Down the Rabbit Hole You Go The more you progress, and also how you play, through this title will see the story unfold in different ways. If you’re a bit of a sleuth, you’ll be wanting to leave no stone unturned, and you will definitely be looking everywhere. But, should you miss a few clues, the game will take that into consideration when tackling situations, and certain options to gleam info from suspects may remain locked to you. Upon investigating the circumstances that surround the Hawkins family, you will begin to unravel the mysteries that have cast a shadow over all the island and its inhabitants. You’ll find clues in recreating crime scenes by going into a dream-like state with what evidence is at hand; kind of like a CSI reenactment. Through this feature you will learn more information to help you progress with your investigation. But the more you learn, the more the madness will start to creep in, gnawing at the edges until you can’t ignore it anymore. Secrets will reveal themselves to you, and the very fabric of reality will be questioned by Edward Pierce the further you go. I have taken my time to play this game, and I’m so glad I did. To rush through this title would be to not do it justice. The real terror is in the atmosphere that it provides. The creepy music along with the dark and gritty undertones of horrors unknown were what kept me wanting to savour every moment as one challenge was replaced by another. There are extra little touches help to heighten the stress and fear that your character is going through. For example, Edward Pierce has a grave fear of confined spaces. So, when exploring an old asylum is on the cards, you can bet that your character isn’t very pleased when he has to hide in wardrobes and closets to avoid detection. Also, certain segments of the story help to pull respective players into the lore of the Lovecratfian horrors that are found within. But, in stark contrast there are some segments to the game that should have been left out, in my opinion. Now, I know that all games need variety, or people will get bored. But, in this scenario I feel they should have been left out as they don’t lend themselves to sleuthing and investigative narrative that the studio have aimed for. An example of this is when you are tasked with getting to a warehouse while fighting your way through enemies with clunky shooting mechanics that don’t feel right. It brought me out of the experience a little, but I won’t go into detail as to what scenario this relates to as it is a major story point. In contrast, however, you get to visit an old bookstore to find a specific book. To find said book, you need to look at all the clues within the immediate area and piece them together. But, nowhere does it say where the clues are to be found. It’s entirely up to you to find and piece together the fragments needed. It took me a good while to see through the clues, and reaching that moment of “Ah, I see” is a major achievement, bringing back the sleuthing and investigative angle the studio have aimed for. In my conclusion for Call Of Cthulhu, this is a title worthy of your money. It has great depth in terms of horror and the occult lore that surrounds H.P. Lovecraft. For fans of horror and all things scary in general, you’ll definitely find what you’re looking for with this game. There are a few game mechanics that need work in terms of the gunplay, but all in all, it had me captivated from start to finish. I’m ready to dive back into this world a second time and see what options I missed on my first playthrough. Oh, word of advice, to truly get the best experience for this game: 1. Play in the dark. 2. Wear headphones. 3. Play at nighttime, not the daytime. Happy Gaming, and dare you heed the call of that which should not be named? I know I will when I play my second time. Developer: Cyanide Publisher: Focus Home Interactive Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4 For fans of horror and all things scary, Call of Cthulhu is the game for you. For anyone wanting to experience a psychological horror fix, then this is for you too. To get the best out of this title, play this game in the dark and alone with headphones as it will immerse you in its cosmic horrors from start to finish. There are a few gameplay mechanics that need work, but those issues can be forgiven as the whole experience was a joy to play. Lee Pilling Great atmospheric gameplay In-depth exploration of H.P. Lovecraft's work through in-game references Gritty environments to explore True investigation skills needed to solve puzzles Sneaking element does need a refresh as it can feel clunky Gunplay elements feel tacked on Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar Review Yoshi’s Crafted World Set for March Release	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2044
__label__cc	0.696728	0.303272	Colloidal system Revision as of 15:40, 25 April 2012 by imported>Perlwikibot (Also called colloidal dispersion, colloidal suspension.) An intimate mixture of two substances, one of which, called the dispersed phase (or colloid), is uniformly distributed in a finely divided state through the second substance, called the dispersion medium (or dispersing medium). The dispersion medium may be a gas, a liquid, or a solid and the dispersed phase may also be any of these, with the exception of one gas in another. A system of liquid or solid particles colloidally dispersed in a gas is called an aerosol. A system of solid substance or water-insoluble liquid colloidally dispersed in liquid water is called a hydrosol. There is no sharp line of demarcation between true solutions and colloidal systems or between mere suspensions and colloidal systems. When the particles of the dispersed phase are smaller than about 10-3 μm in diameter, the system begins to assume the properties of a true solution; when the particles dispersed are much greater than 1 μm, separation of the dispersed phase from the dispersing medium becomes so rapid that the system is best regarded as a suspension. According to the latter criterion, natural clouds in the atmosphere should not be termed aerosols; however, since many cloud forms apparently exhibit characteristics of true colloidal suspensions, this strict physico-chemical definition is often disregarded for purposes of convenient and helpful analogy. Condensation nuclei and many artificial smokes may be regarded as aerosols. Retrieved from "https://glossary.ametsoc.org/w/index.php?title=Colloidal_system&oldid=15730" Terms C	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2046
__label__wiki	0.516314	0.516314	Toward better measures of global ICT adoption and use Mike Jensen Amy K. Mahan http://www.suvabay.com/ http://www.lirne.net/ Measuring Progress 1.99 MB Efforts to agree on the most appropriate indicators to use for measuring disparities in information and communications technology (ICT) adoption and progress toward information society goals have continued in 2008. However as yet global consensus has not been reached and debate continues over what indicators would best take into account the growing broadband divide, what constitutes “universal access”, and how to accommodate local realities regarding data availability, especially in developing countries. Current background and status of work on global ICT indicators In the area of ICTs, constant technology and market change has meant that until recently there was little global agreement on an appropriate set of indicators or indices. As a result, a wide range of ICT-related data has been gathered by national statistical and regulatory agencies, and many regional and international agencies have developed their own measures of ICT uptake over the last fifteen years. [1] By the beginning of the new century, more concrete and universal information society goals were being developed. These began to focus at a global level with the targets of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Plan and the ICT-related components of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which provided further momentum for two important developments in ICT uptake measurement. First, three indices aimed at measuring and ranking national progress towards becoming information societies were developed and published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU): the Digital Accessibility Index (DAI), the ICT Opportunity Index (ICT-OI) and the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI). [2]Using a small set of mainly ICT infrastructure and human capacity-related indicators such as teledensity and education levels, none of them were directly based on measures of achievement of the WSIS targets. Although they provide interesting general measures of progress toward some information society goals, important aspects were left out, partly because the data are not seen as relevant, or because the data are simply not available for many countries, especially data requiring household surveys. The ITU has now begun work on a single index which aims to combine the best features of the ICT-OI and the DOI. At the 6th World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Meeting in December 2007, the options for a single index were discussed but agreement was not reached, and a working group was set up to finalise the index. One of the outstanding issues, which highlights the difficulty of coming up with simple, globally applicable indicators, was the proposed use of international bandwidth as an indicator. Advanced countries isolated by language, such as South Korea or Japan, would not feature highly on use of international bandwidth because most of their traffic would be local. The meeting also considered community access indicators and a number of measures were proposed, including tracking the percentage of localities (villages, towns, etc.) with a public internet access centre, and those that are connected to the public telephone network. In addition, new indicators in the area of mobile/wireless broadband measurement and computer virus infection levels were discussed. Second, and perhaps of greater significance, has been the formation of the international multi-stakeholder Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development. Established during the 11th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) session in 2004, the partnership now comprises the ITU, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UNCTAD, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Eurostat, the World Bank Group and the UN regional agencies. [3] The partnership was set up for three key reasons: to achieve a common set of core ICT indicators, agreed upon internationally; to help build the capacities of national statistical offices in developing countries to collect the necessary data; and to develop a global database on ICT indicators and make it available on the internet. Its two main report outputs are: Measuring ICT: The Global Status of ICT Indicators,[4]andCore ICT Indicators.[5]The former is the report of a global stocktaking exercise on the availability of ICT indicators. The 47% national response rate to this concerted effort underlines the problems in establishing global indicators – especially with particularly low numbers of responses for Africa and the Asia Pacific countries. [6] The second work,Core ICT Indicators, describes a set of 41 core indicators that were identified during the stocktaking exercise and subsequently endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in 2007. The core indicators are divided into four groups as follows: • ICT infrastructure and access (twelve indicators) • Access to and use of ICT by households and individuals (thirteen indicators) • Use of ICT by businesses (twelve indicators) • The ICT sector and trade in ICT goods (four indicators). The full list of 41core indicators is described in Annex A at the end of the chapter. Several developing countries have since integrated the core indicators into existing household and business surveys. While the UN endorsement, and the partnership capacity-building activities, should lead to improvements in the number of countries that collect ICT indicators, and in the comparability of the data, there may need to be a rethink about what indicators should be contained in the “core list”. In this respect it should be noted that the partnership does not claim the list to be complete, and identifies the process as continuous and subject to periodic review. In an ideal world, the core list as proposed by the partnership would certainly provide a useful picture of ICT uptake that covers a large part of the Real Access Framework (RAF) criteria suggested by Bridges.org to assess access to ICTs. (The RAF has been used loosely in the country reports in GISW 2008 to reflect access challenges at a national level). However, lack of data availability from many countries remains a key problem – only a small proportion of countries are able to report on all 41 indicators. In 2005 the partnership found that only about 40 countries worldwide collected ten or more household ICT indicators. To maximise the number of countries that can report on a common set of indicators, the total number of indicators may have to be reduced, especially those that require user surveys. The core list also has many measures for factors that mainly concern business and trade, which could be reduced relative to those that focus on the general public. Developing countries need indicators which help them formulate regulatory and policy decisions around how to best extend the network using constrained resources. Shared use, community networks, telecentres and so forth are strategies that are not yet fully reflected or measured in the legacy indicators agreed to by the partnership – although the intention to use household survey data does take some steps towards accuracy in this regard. There are also a number of other important aspects of Real Access that the core list does not explicitly address, including gender disaggregation. These areas are covered in more detail in the following section. Principles and considerations for selecting future indicators The number and range of ICTs available today has never been greater, and the interrelationships between them and their indicators are many. In order to effectively evaluate the choice of indicators, it is essential to have a clear conceptual framework on which to base the evaluation. In considering options for choosing indicators, the key considerations and assumptions can be summarised as follows: The goal should be to provide universally accepted measures of ICT adoption at a national level that encompasses as many nations as possible, using consistent data definitions and timing for data reporting. The selection of indicators should be based on a solid conceptual framework that aims to provide measures of actual uptake and use. The use of factors that attempt to ascribe the potential for access are likely to find less wide acceptance. Similarly, supply-side indicators also tend to reflect potential use rather than actual use. Given the framing of the WSIS and MDG goals, the focus should be on personal rather than business use (although ideally in future when more data is available, household use and other types of disaggregation would also be more explicitly included in the indicators). To maximise the validity period in the face of evolving technologies, new infrastructure and new services adoption, the indicators need to anticipate the future evolution of ICT infrastructure and services. [7] Indicator data used should be provided by credible organisations which issue it on a regular basis to allow for longitudinal studies (over time). Due to the general lack of up-to-date data, the smallest number of indicators is likely to be the most inclusive and comparable across countries. Data freshness is another factor here. Even for the most commonly used data such as teledensity, while an increasing amount of year-end 2007 data is becoming available, overall, 2006 is still the most recent year for globally representative data. This highlights a key problem in selecting a meaningful set of core indicators and also means that for policy-makers there is at least a two-year lag in seeing the results of policy decisions. While more up-to-date information may be available for some indicators, if it is not available for all indicators, the overall value decreases substantially. Since the availability of indicators with broad representation across countries is so small, these considerations also underline a key tension in the construction of the core list: the playoff between accuracy and country representation. Measures of equipment uptake need careful consideration for inclusion in a core list of indicators because of lack of accurate data in developing countries, and also due to technology change. For example, in considering the use of computer penetration, the definition of what actually constitutes a personal computer (PC) is becoming increasingly blurred because of mobile/PC convergence and the embedding of computing devices in other household equipment such as fridges. Television (TV) penetration also suffers from similar problems. Data for TV sales is not up to date in many countries, is likely to be inaccurate due to grey market importing, and is currently only available for 85 countries. TV penetration measures are also not future-proof, considering rapid moves toward internet protocol TV (IPTV) and mobile phone TV, so that using traditional TV measures would bias against those countries that have already adopted these technologies. Radio penetration data suffers from the same sort of problems as PC and TV data. Fixed-line penetration measures may also be problematic, considering that little new cable is being laid and many nations (especially developing countries) are skipping the use of fixed-line infrastructure and moving directly to wireless technologies. As a result, including fixed-line measures would be likely to bias against most developing countries. In contrast to fixed lines, mobile phone access is becoming the de facto measure of basic access, and this indicator is of particular concern to developing countries where growth is still rapid and has not come close to reaching saturation. In addition, mobile phones are now being used more for internet access than PCs in some countries. [8]Mobile subscribers are accurately monitored in 220 countries by Wireless Intelligence, [9]the partnership between the GSM [global system for mobile] Association and Ovum. Quarterly data is even available a few months after the end of the quarter [10]and the data spans mobile network operators across most technologies, including GSM, wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), personal digital cellular (PDC), cdmaOne, CDMA2000 1x, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, analogue and integrated digital enhanced network (iDEN). Similarly, a measure of the total number of internet users is an important indicator, but there are some limitations to subscriber data, which is usually provided by operators. This is because there is no clear relationship between the number of internet subscribers (relatively easily obtained) and internetusers, many of whom may share the subscriber’s connection. As a result, much of the available data is based on estimates, for which the level of accuracy is unclear. Since broadband users, and in particular, wireless and mobile internet users, are becoming an increasingly important component of the internet user base, it may also make sense to include measures of these users, especially as there is now a well-accepted understanding of the importance of broadband for full access to the information society. The need for affordable pervasive access to broadband therefore extends beyond access to information and into active participation, as people with shared interests or problems become significantly active on the web only when broadband is available. In measuring usage (rather than availability), until more widespread national survey data is available, the use of proxy indicators such as telephone minutes or internet bandwidth will be necessary. The main deficiency with these indicators is a tendency to over-emphasise international usage. Ideally more measures of national usage would be included. However, there is very little national internet traffic data currently available, and although there is some national voice-traffic data, the level of country representation is poor. Although traffic indicators would appear to only measure usage, they also provide some indication of production of data, although ideally this aspect would be augmented in future by other measures such as numbers of local websites and domain names. These measures are difficult to gather, however, due to the use of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) by many in-country website operators who choose not to use country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Similarly, the number of secure internet servers has been commonly adopted as an indicator of the extent to which reliable digital transactions are made. However, this indicator does not reflect the fact that many of the most popular online services requiring secure servers are global brands and not specific to any particular country (Amazon, eBay, etc.). International internet bandwidth per capita has become an increasingly well-recognised indicator following its use at the G8 Dot-Force meeting in Kananaskis in 2002. It is fairly easy to obtain because there are a relatively small number of international internet service providers. Because of the relatively high costs of international bandwidth, it is likely to reflect actual usage rather than being a supply-side indicator based on the size of the pipe. There are also other ways of measuring or cross-checking estimates of internet bandwidth. For example, bandwidth data is gathered by the Stanford University SLAC PingER project.[11]The PingER project calculates the bandwidth of internet links by measuring the time it takes to send packets of data to internet hosts around the world.. This indicator confirms that international bandwidth reports to the ITU are broadly in line with measured performance, although there are a number of exceptions at a national level that would be worth examining. Ideally, if total national and international internet bandwidth could be measured, this figure, combined with the total number of internet users, would give a reasonable composite measure of the extent of internet use. However, given the growing importance of networks based on internet protocols and the decreasing use of switched-voice circuits, it will be increasingly important to identify other measures of internet use. IP host numbers have been used, as this is a superficially attractive measure because it is easily available for every country and is relatively up to date. However, due to the prevalent use of private IP numbers behind firewalls, and allocations of numbers not in actual use, this measure is quite misleading. In addition, the transition from IPV4 to IPV6 is changing the entire IP numbering system, and some countries are more advanced in this process. In the long term, however, this will ultimately improve IP host numbers as a measure by eliminating the need for network address translation (NAT) and host address masquerading. In the interim, a more valid approach would be to use a metric based on autonomous system numbers (AS numbers or ASNs). Unique ASNs are allocated to internet network operators by the regional registries (RIRs) for use in multi-path (BGP) routing (the protocol used to ensure that there is more than one route to the internet provider’s network). The use of ASNs as an indicator was pioneered by OECD researcher Tom Vest, and based on his work, the OECD’s Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy (ICCP) has now proposed the use of ASNs for measuring internet uptake in their member countries. [12] Raw ASN information is available on a daily basis via automated file transfer protocol (FTP) download and is therefore the most up-to-date ICT indicator available in the world. The data is hosted by the University of Oregon Route Views Project [13]where the daily updated data goes back to 1997. In this respect a key advantage of the ASN metric is that it does not rely upon country reporting and therefore does not further burden developing country national statistical offices (or the national regulator) with further indicator collection responsibilities. Indicators to measure the level of exclusion from ICTs amongst the public are of special importance. While this has not been the direct focus of the other ICT uptake measurement efforts, the DOI focused on the related concept of opportunity. Of note is that the World Bank’sWorld Development Report 2006advocates taking equity into account when determining development priorities. Given current technology trends and long-stated gender concerns, it is becoming increasingly essential to have a clear picture of how the internet and women’s access to ICTs are evolving in developing countries, and indeed throughout the world. So measures of gender-disaggregated access should be included, although currently gender-disaggregated data availability is minimal; for example, only 39 countries feature on the ITU’s STAT page for female internet users. [14]There is no doubt that as national-level information society policies prioritise women and girls’ access to and ability to use ICTs, there will be efforts to measure these in order to document progress towards policy goals. But this is only just beginning to happen, and it will be a long time before there is a critical mass of gendered ICT indicators available. Aside from measures of gender equity, other equity indicators would include the dispersion of public access facilities (telecentres, cybercafés or public phones), mobile coverage areas, mobile and broadband affordability, and basic literacy levels. Measures of network coverage should include national broadband coverage and the proportion of population covered by mobile networks. Ideally, affordability indicators would measure the prices of broadband subscriptions calculated pro-rata for a certain agreed speed of connection per month, such as one megabit per second (Mbps). This would allow comparison of countries with different speeds available and could also be expressed as a percentage of average monthly household income. Another expression of affordability could be the OECD-defined basket of costs for mobile usage. Because of the complexity and variety of available mobile tariff packages, and the lack of identical packages in different countries, it should be noted that there may be some inherent variation in the data that does not reflect actual costs. In addition, a case could be made for using the medium basket, rather than the low-end user basket, which was defined in the early 1990s when mobile usage was relatively low. It should also be noted that while the ICT access costs aim to measure affordability, when compared against country wealth they may not correlate fully with use. The poor may spend a much higher proportion of their income on communication costs. Flat-rate subscriptions with monthly minute packages also tend to skew this assessment. Adult literacy levels are an obvious and well-represented indicator for the degree to which the public can use ICTs, but the measure does suffer from some biases. Mobile phone users do not necessarily have to be literate to use this technology, and intermediaries are often used by the non-literate to obtain information from the internet or to send messages. Annex 1: The Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development – Core Indicator List Infrastructure and access A1 Fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants A2 Mobile cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitants A3 Computers per 100 inhabitants A4 Internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants A5 Broadband internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants A6 International internet bandwidth per inhabitant A7 Percentage of population covered by mobile cellular telephony A8 Internet access tariffs (20 hours per month), in USD, and as a percentage of per capita income A9 Mobile cellular tariffs (100 minutes of use per month), in USD, and as a percentage of per capita income A10 Percentage of localities with public internet access centres (PIACs) by number of inhabitants (rural/urban) A11 Radio sets per 100 inhabitants A12 Television sets per 100 inhabitants Household use HH1 Proportion of households with a radio HH2 Proportion of households with a TV HH3 Proportion of households with a fixed-line telephone HH4 Proportion of households with a mobile cellular telephone HH5 Proportion of households with a computer HH6 Proportion of individuals who used a computer (from any location) in the last 12 months HH7 Proportion of households with internet access at home HH8 Proportion of individuals who used the internet (from any location) in the last 12 months HH9 Location of individual use of the internet in the last 12 months: (a) at home; b) at work; (c) place of education; (d) at another person’s home; (e) community internet access facility (specific denomination depends on national practices); (f) commercial internet access facility (specific denomination depends on national practices); and (g) others HH10 Internet activities undertaken by individuals in the last 12 months: Getting information: (a) about goods or services; (b) related to health or health services; (c) from government organisations/public authorities via websites or email; and (d) other information or general web browsing Purchasing or ordering goods or services Education or learning activities Dealing with government organisations/public authorities Leisure activities: (a) playing/downloading video or computer games; (b) downloading movies, music or software; (c) reading/downloading electronic books, newspapers or magazines; and (d) other leisure activities HH11 Proportion of individuals with use of a mobile telephone HH12 Proportion of households with access to the internet by type of access: Categories should allow an aggregation to narrowband and broadband, where broadband excludes slower speed technologies, such as dial-up modem, ISDN and most 2G mobile phone access. Broadband will usually have an advertised download speed of at least 256 kbit/s. HH13 Frequency of individual access to the internet in the last 12 months (from any location): (a) at least once a day; (b) at least once a week but not every day; (c) at least once a month but not every week; and (d) less than once a month. B1 Proportion of businesses using computers B2 Proportion of employees using computers B3 Proportion of businesses using the internet B4 Proportion of employees using the internet B5 Proportion of businesses with a web presence B6 Proportion of businesses with an intranet B7 Proportion of businesses receiving orders over the internet B8 Proportion of businesses placing orders over the internet B9 Proportion of businesses using the internet by type of access: Categories should allow an aggregation to narrowband and broadband, where broadband excludes slower speed technologies, such as dial-up modem, ISDN and most 2G mobile phone access. Broadband will usually have an advertised download speed of at least 256 kbit/s. B10 Proportion of businesses with a local area network (LAN) B11 Proportion of businesses with an extranet B12 Proportion of businesses using the internet by type of activity: Getting information: (a) about goods or services; (b) from government organisations/public authorities via websites or email; and (c) other information searches or research activities Performing internet banking or accessing other financial services Providing customer services Delivering products online ICT sector and trade in ICT goods ICT1 Proportion of total business sector workforce involved in the ICT sector ICT2 Value added in the ICT sector (as a percentage of total business sector value added) ICT3 ICT goods imports as a percentage of total imports ICT4 ICT goods exports as a percentage of total exports ITU and UNCTAD (2007) World Information Society Report 2007: Beyond WSIS. Available at: www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/worldinformationsociety/2007 Minges, M. (2005)Evaluation of e-Readiness Indices in Latin America and the Caribbean. Santiago, Chile: ECLAC. Available at: www.eclac.org/socinfo/publicaciones/xml/8/24228/w73.pdf Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development (2005) Measuring ICT: The Global Status of ICT Indicators. Available at: www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/partnership/material/05-42742%20GLOBAL%20ICT.pdf Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development (2005) Core ICT Indicators. www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/partnership/material/CoreICTIndicators.pdf World Bank (2006)World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development. Washington: World Bank. [1]A good comparison of the most important of these can be found in Minges (2005). [2]TheWorld Information Society Report 2007: Beyond WSIS, a joint publication by ITU and UNCTAD, details the use of these different indices. [3]These are the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA). [4] www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/partnership/material/05-42742%20GLOBAL%20ICT.pdf [5] www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/partnership/material/CoreICTIndicators.pdf [6]Not to mention the absence of some major economies which did not respond to the survey, such as China, Nigeria and South Africa. [7]In this respect it is expected that networks will steadily evolve away from a circuit-switched infrastructure to packet-switched/internet protocol-based networks, commonly known as next generation networks (NGNs), which will also increasingly comprise larger numbers of wireless internet users. [8]communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/01/putting_27_bill.html [9] www.wirelessintelligence.com [10] www.gsmworld.com/news/statistics/index.shtml [11] www.slac.stanford.edu/xorg/icfa/icfa-net-paper-jan07 [12] www.oecd.org/dataoecd/25/54/36462170.pdf [13] archive.routeviews.org/oix-route-views [14] www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/f_inet.html	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2053
__label__cc	0.726122	0.273878	GCR affirms Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited’s rating of AA-(ZW); Outlook Stable. Johannesburg, 30 May 2018 — Global Credit Ratings has affirmed the national scale ratings assigned to Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited of AA-(ZW) and A1+(ZW) in the long term and short term respectively; with the outlook accorded as Stable. The ratings are valid until May 2019. SUMMARY RATING RATIONALE Global Credit Ratings (“GCR”) has accorded the above credit ratings to Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited (“Stanchart” or “the bank”) based on the following key criteria: The ratings accorded to Stanchart reflect strong capitalisation and liquidity, as well as improved asset quality and earnings. Furthermore, the bank’s ratings factor in technical and financial support from its parent, Standard Chartered Plc. The bank’s capitalisation remains strong, with a risk weighted capital adequacy ratio of 39.2% at FY17 (FY16: 41.2%) and a Tier 1 capital to risk weighted assets ratio of 29.1% (FY16: 29.4%). Furthermore, the bank’s regulatory capital ratios remain well above requirements. Stability in the capital adequacy ratio was achieved despite the notable rise in the balance sheet, owing in large to high asset quality, coupled with some diversification benefits. Nevertheless, capital growth was limited at 6.6% compared to asset growth of 61.9%, and as a result the bank’s total capital to assets ratio declined to 10.4% from 15.7% at FY16. A continued downward trajectory in this capitalisation metric could exert rating pressure, and as a result capital management represents a key rating consideration over the rating horizon. The bank’s profitability improved, with net profit before tax rising to USD18.2m at FY17 (FY16: USD17.5m). This was largely driven by 34.6% growth in interest income on the back of increased investment in Treasury Bills to USD267.8m (FY16: USD135.7m) and growth in the loan book of 21.2%. However, a reduction in fee and commission income, coupled with a rise in operating costs, saw the cost to income ratio increase to 71% at FY17 (FY16: 68.7%). Despite challenging macroeconomic conditions which continue to put pressure on consumers and businesses, Stanchart’s asset quality improved, while its loan book grew. The bank’s gross non-performing loans ratio decreased to 2.7% at FY17, from 3.6% at FY16. Specific provisions also improved to 45.0% at FY17 (FY16: 31.9%). Like most banks in Zimbabwe, the bank exhibited short-term maturity mismatches in its asset/liability profile (in particular in the critical 0-30 days’ maturity). However, some asset/liability decisions are informed by behavioural patterns as some deposits are sticky. To manage liquidity risk, the bank holds high levels of liquidity supported by a high liquid and trading assets to total short-term funding ratio of 88.2% at FY17 (FY16: 85.1%). The bank maintains its liquidity ratio above the regulatory minimum. An improvement in the operating environment, as well as significant improvements in the bank’s business and financial profiles, could positively impact the bank’s credit profile. The bank’s ratings will be sensitive to a reduction in the credit quality of liquid assets, a deterioration in asset quality, lowered long-term earnings (exerting high pressure on capitalisation) and the bank’s inability to meet the regulatory capital and/or liquidity requirements. NATIONAL SCALE RATINGS HISTORY Initial rating (September 2000) Long-term: AA(ZW); Short-term: A1(ZW) Outlook: Stable Last rating (May 2017) Long-term: AA-(ZW); Short-term: A1+(ZW) Vimbai Muhwati vimbaim@globalratings.net Secondary Analyst Victor Matsilele Junior Credit Analyst victorm@globalratings.net Patricia Zvarayi Senior Credit Analyst patricia@globalratings.net Global Criteria for Rating Banks and Other Financial Institutions, updated March 2017 Zimbabwe Bank Statistical Bulletin (December 2017) Stanchart rating reports (2000-17) ALL GCR’S CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://GLOBALRATINGS.NET/UNDERSTANDING-RATINGS. IN ADDITION, GCR’S RATING SCALES AND DEFINITIONS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT THE FOLLOWING LINK: HTTP://GLOBALRATINGS.NET/RATINGS-INFO. GCR’S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, PUBLICATION TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE AT HTTP://GLOBALRATINGS.NET. GCR affirms that a.) no part of the ratings was influenced by any other business activities of the credit rating agency; b.) the ratings were based solely on the merits of the rated entity, security or financial instrument being rated; and c.) such ratings were an independent evaluation of the risks and merits of the rated entity, security or financial instrument. Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited participated in the rating process via face-to-face management meetings and other written correspondence. Furthermore, the quality of information received was considered adequate and has been independently verified where possible. The credit ratings have been disclosed to Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited with no contestation of the ratings. The information received from Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited and other reliable third parties to accord the credit ratings included: Audited financial results as at 31 December 2017 (plus four years of comparative numbers) Unaudited interim financial results as at 31 March 2018 Latest external audit report to management Corporate governance and enterprise risk framework Industry comparative data The ratings above were solicited by, or on behalf of, Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited, and therefore GCR has been compensated for the provision of the ratings. GLOSSARY OF TERMS/ACRONYMS USED IN THIS DOCUMENT AS PER GCR’S FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS SECTOR GLOSSARY Asset A resource with economic value that a company owns or controls with the expectation that it will provide future benefit. Asset Quality Refers primarily to the credit quality of a bank’s earning assets, the bulk of which comprises its loan portfolio, but will also include its investment portfolio as well as off balance sheet items. Quality in this context means the degree to which the loans that the bank has extended are performing (ie, being paid back in accordance with their terms) and the likelihood that they will continue to perform. Audit Report A written opinion of an auditor (attesting to the financial statements’ fairness and compliance with generally accepted accounting principles). Balance Sheet Also known as a Statement of Financial Position. A statement of a company’s assets and liabilities provided for the benefit of shareholders and regulators. It gives a snapshot at a specific point in time of the assets the company holds and how they have been financed. Capital The sum of money that is invested to generate proceeds. Capital Adequacy A measure of the adequacy of an entity’s capital resources in relation to its current liabilities and also in relation to the risks associated with its assets. An appropriate level of capital adequacy ensures that the entity has sufficient capital to support its activities and that its net worth is sufficient to absorb adverse changes in the value of its assets without becoming insolvent. Corporate Governance Refers to the mechanisms, processes and relations by which corporations are controlled and directed, and is used to ensure the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of an entity to its stakeholders. Credit Rating Agency An entity that provides credit rating services. Credit Risk The possibility that a bond issuer or any other borrowers (including debtors/creditors) will default and fail to pay the principal and/or interest when due. Customer Deposit Cash received in exchange for a service, including safekeeping, savings, investment, etc. Customer deposits are a liability in a bank’s books. Debt An obligation to repay a sum of money. More specifically, it is funds passed from a creditor to a debtor in exchange for interest and a commitment to repay the principal in full on a specified date or over a specified period. Exposure Exposure is the amount of risk the holder of an asset or security is faced with as a consequence of holding the security or asset. For a company, its exposure may relate to a particular product class or customer grouping. Exposure may also arise from an overreliance on one source of funding. Financial Institution An entity that focuses on dealing with financial transactions, such as investments, loans and deposits. Interest Scheduled payments made to a creditor in return for the use of borrowed money. The size of the payments will be determined by the interest rate, the amount borrowed or principal and the duration of the loan. Liquidity The speed at which assets can be converted to cash. It can also refer to the ability of a company to service its debt obligations due to the presence of liquid assets such as cash and its equivalents. Market liquidity refers to the ease with which a security can be bought or sold quickly and in large volumes without substantially affecting the market price. Liquidity Risk The risk that a company may not be able to meet its financial obligations or other operational cash requirements due to an inability to timeously realise cash from its assets. Regarding securities, the risk that a financial instrument cannot be traded at its market price due to the size, structure or efficiency of the market. Long-Term Not current; ordinarily more than one year. Long-Term Rating Reflects an issuer’s ability to meet its financial obligations over the following three to five year period, including interest payments and debt redemptions. This encompasses an evaluation of the organisation’s current financial position, as well as how the position may change in the future with regard to meeting longer term financial obligations. Maturity The length of time between the issue of a bond or other security and the date on which it becomes payable in full. National Scale Rating Provides a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities only within the country concerned. Under this rating scale, a ‘AAA’ long term national scale rating will typically be assigned to the lowest relative risk within that country, which in most cases will be the sovereign state. Net Profit Trading/operating profits after deducting the expenses detailed in the profit and loss account (including taxes). Performing Loan A loan is said to be performing if the borrower is paying the interest on it on a timely basis. Provision The amount set aside or deducted from operating income to cover expected or identified loan losses. Regulatory Capital The total of primary, secondary and tertiary capital. Risk The chance of future uncertainty (i.e. deviation from expected earnings or an expected outcome) that will have an impact on objectives. Securities Various instruments used in the capital market to raise funds. Short-Term Current; ordinarily less than one year. For a detailed glossary of terms please click here	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2054
__label__wiki	0.898337	0.898337	Joe Robert Cole To Write ‘Black Panther’ For Marvel; F. Gary Gray Among Director Candidates By eelyajekiM \| @ \| Tuesday, October 6th, 2015 at 6:35 pm Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicks off with Captain America: Civil War. The film will end the Captain America trilogy, but it will also introduce the Spider-Man and Black Panther characters to the MCU. Chadwick Boseman will play the Prince of Wakanda, who seems to have his own agenda in Black Panther. We don’t know how exactly his presence will affect the MCU has a whole, but at least we know who will be writing his solo feature. A new report says that Marvel has hired Joe Robert Cole (FX’s American Crime Story) to pen the script. There are also other reports saying that the studio is eyeing F. Gary Gray to direct the film. More on the story below. The Wrap was the first to report on Cole’s involvement. They say that no directors are in consideration until Cole finishes the script. The writer hails from Marvel’s in-house writing program, the same place where Nicole Perlman got her start by writing the treatment for Guardians of the Galaxy. She then got the job to write the Captain Marvel script alongside Inside-Out co-writer Meg LeFauve. It’s being rumored that Cole also took a “crack” at the Inhumans script for Marvel, but it doesn’t look like they will use his draft or treatment. It’s really not clear if anyone is actually under consideration at the moment, but Variety says that Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray is among the contenders to direct the film. Gray is now one of the most sought out directors, thanks in part to the success of Compton, and has just entered exclusive talks with Universal and Vin Diesel to helm Furious 8. However, Marvel is also looking for a director to helm Black Panther, and may have their sights set on Gray to take the director’s chair. Now it is important to note that he is only being considered for the job. Surely following the success of Straight Outta Compton, Gray is getting offers to direct other studio films as well. It’s unclear if he has even entered talks with Marvel or entertained the idea of directing Black Panther. Before Marvel considered Gray to direct, the studio was in talks with Selma director Ava DuVernay. She walked away from the opportunity to direct the superhero pic citing creative differences as her reason for walking away. But it wouldn’t be the first time that he has been close to directing a Marvel film. In 2012, Gray was on the shortlist to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The job ultimately went to the Russo brothers, who would eventually sign on to direct the Avengers: Infinity War two-part epic. Like actors, directors can leave some sort of impression on the studio despite not getting the job, and could get another project given to them should that time come. Gray is best known for directing films such as Law Abiding Citizen, Be Cool, The Italian Job, A Man Apart, The Negotiator, Set It Off, and Friday. It’s not clear who else Marvel is looking at to direct Black Panther, but with Marvel looking at smaller indie directors to helm their films’ (Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi is in talks to direct Thor: Ragnarok), the studio may want to turn their attention to lesser-known directors. Chadwick Boseman stars as the titular Black Panther, which is said to open in theaters on July 6, 2018. No word yet on who else may star in the film, but Andy Serkis, who played the nefarious arms dealer Ulysses Klaue in Avengers: Age of Ultron, may appear as an antagonist. [Source: Variety \| The Wrap] Tags: Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman, F. Gary Gray, Joe Robert Cole, Marvel, Marvel Studios TV Review: Minority Report 1.3 “Hawk-Eye” ‘The Elder Scrolls Online’ DLC Pack “Orsinium” Trailer and Details Released 468x60 AD END ROS --> Related Articles on Geeks of Doom • Holiday Gift Guide 2021: Books, eBooks, and AudioBooks • In Memoriam 2020: Remembering Those We Lost In Entertainment • Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2020: Specialty Items • ‘Rick and Morty’ and ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Writers To Pen ‘She-Hulk’ and ‘Moon Knight’ Series For Disney+	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2055
__label__cc	0.605749	0.394251	Can you change the speed of a ceiling fan? Dorothy Coleman Examine the fan's pull chain switch. The fan will operate slowly if a switch fails or if a speed setting is absent. Turn off the fan and wait for it to cease moving. Pull the chain and turn the fan to the lowest speed setting, then pull the chain and travel through the progressive speed levels while listening to the fan motor. If it sounds like there's no problem with the fan belt or blade attachments, then it's likely just a loose chain that can be tightened by pulling it hard for a few seconds. If this doesn't fix the problem, then it's time to replace the fan. Ceiling fans are easy to install yourself, but if you need help, most home improvement stores or online retailers will let you take your old fan down to their repair department before they ship out a new one. They'll usually charge around $75-100 for the service. The best way to ensure that you're getting a proper speed setting on your fan is to first examine the manufacturer's instructions or data sheet for your model. If these instructions are missing or not available, then use our guide to determine the correct speed for your situation. Once you know how fast you should be running your fan, measure the distance between its mounting holes and multiply this number by 0.8 (this gives you the width of its arc) - this will give you an idea of how much space it needs in order to spin completely. Is there a way to reduce the speed of a fan? How do you slow down a ceiling fan? Do ceiling fans slow down over time? Perhaps a resistor connected in series or a variac can be used to lessen the speed. The fan makes use of a shaded pole motor (the manufacturer calls it "Alveolate" and compares it to the standard shaded pole motor, pointing out that its motor is better). A starting capacitor is required for the "alveolate" motor. This should be an electrolytic type with no less than 10 microfarads capacitance. The resistance needed for a variable speed fan depends on how much current the fan requires. Most fans will work best at full speed. Reducing the speed will cause the fan to run slower and faster until it reaches some other speed which is less than full speed. This is usually not a problem with desktop fans, but large industrial fans may need to be run at very slow speeds to prevent overheating. Variable frequency drives (VFDs) are available for commercial applications where it is necessary to vary the speed of one or more appliances such as air conditioners, heat pumps, and ventilators. These devices can also control lights and other appliances using a built-in communication system. VFDs offer many advantages over traditional methods of controlling power tools and other equipment, including reduced noise and energy consumption. Resistors can be used to adjust the speed of a fan. This is done by connecting the resistor in series with the fan itself. The higher the value of the resistor, the lower will be the speed of the fan. Slowing the fan's speed is as simple as attaching a bulb or other resistive load in series between the power source and the fan. If the wattage of the connection load is raised in this technique, the fan speed is likewise increased. Slower speeds are more energy efficient. This method can also be used to accelerate a fan when you need to create a breeze or if you are experiencing a heatwave and want to reduce the temperature faster. The key here is that you only connect the load for a short period of time - enough to slow down the fan but not so long that it affects how often it turns. This is called "variable speed" operation and is available on many ceiling fans. Other types of fans may have this feature but not all of them do. To determine if your fan has this capability, look under the unit for settings like this: Variable Speed. This means that you can control the speed by adding or removing resistance from the circuit that powers it. For example, if you put your hand up against the fan blade, it will stop spinning because there is no current flowing through it. Remove your hand and the fan will start up again at its previous speed. This type of fan is called "wall-mounted" because it hangs from the wall using screws or bolts. You can also find floor models which are designed to sit directly on the ground. A ceiling fan ages by slowing down over time. The slowing may not be evident at first, but as the fan becomes increasingly sluggish, you will notice a change in the air circulation, or lack thereof. Slowing Down With Age A sluggish fan can be caused by one of three things: a problem with the bearings, an out-of-balance blade, or a defective capacitor. Ceiling fans are available with either metal or plastic blades; both types will wear out over time if not maintained properly. If a fan has not been cleaned for several months, it should be taken off the wall and washed thoroughly with a spray bottle filled with water and mild dishwashing liquid. Don't use soap—this will cause corrosion of the metal parts inside the motor. Ceiling fans with wooden blades are attractive and low maintenance, but they do have their drawbacks. The main one is that wood tends to grow organisms such as mold and bacteria which can be transferred to people through the air. Also, wooden blades can become dry and aged looking over time. Metal blades are the most durable option, but they are also the most expensive. Over time, metal parts inside the motor will wear out and need to be replaced. This is why it's important to maintain your fan, and remove any debris that may be blocking its blades. Plastic blades are much less expensive than metal ones, but they aren't as durable. Over time, plastic parts can break easily, causing the fan to malfunction. Dorothy Coleman is a professional interior designer who loves to blog about her favorite topics. She has a degree in Interior Design from the University of Brighton and a background in art, which she finds fascinating. Dorothy's hobbies include reading, gardening, cooking and discovering new restaurants with friends. Her ultimate goal is to help others create their dream home! GrowTown.org is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Why do some Class 1 appliances need earth wires? Author: Leda Rhodes What are the most common problems with ceiling fans? How do you make a thimble fit? Author: Lynn Surface Is venting refrigerant illegal? How many amps does a 3 kW immersion heater use? By Lynn Surface Is it OK to leave a ceiling fan on all day? By Ruth Cruz Why are my stainless steel appliances rusting? By Cindy Doherty Should toasters be unplugged when not in use? By Thomas Ikehara	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2060
__label__wiki	0.594003	0.594003	Utah State University - » Bon Jovi: Living on a prayer is good medicine in SLC Bon Jovi: Living on a prayer is good medicine in SLC March 29th, 2011 Posted in Opinion Photo and review by Ben Hansen Special to the Hard News Cafe SALT LAKE CITY–You are most likely familiar with at least a half-dozen songs from the Bon Jovi music catalogue. Whether you have sung your heart out while pumping your fists into the air to songs like Living on a Prayer or Bad Medicine via karaoke or while playing Guitar Hero, or remember a romantic moment in your life that correlates to Bed of Roses or I’ll Be There for You, chances are that most of us have some memory that can be associated with a Bon Jovi song. Singer/guitarist Jon Bon Jovi, guitarist/vocals Richie Sambora, bassist Hugh McDonald, drummer Tico Torres, and keyboardist David Bryan have all contributed vocal lines, individual riffs and rhythms that that have caused many of us to “air jam” wildly with our hands. Now entering their fourth decade as one of the top acts in the rock world, the band brought their massive collection of hits to Salt Lake City last week. Over the last decade, Bon Jovi has made significant giving efforts. Whether it is through promoting local bands at each show, donating his personal music gear, or supporting two handfuls of charities including Habitat for Humanity, the man has had an impressive history of giving back freely. This evening was no exception, with a huge focus being made on Jon’s current charity in many places along the concourse of the venue. Dozens of volunteers recruited concert-goers for community involvement, while the band offered opportunities for purchasing discounted merchandise in fundraising efforts. Jon himself was ready to give back musically by offering a long concert, as he joked early with the audience, “I ain’t going to waste time talking…I’ll be singing and dancing. Doing what you pay me to do!” The set list was well conceived, covering numerous eras of the band’s success in closely clustered intervals. From the start of the opening song Blood on Blood through Born to Be My Baby, I could literally again feel the satisfaction of finding my cracked, well-worn New Jersey cassette tape, ready to reap the joys of reliving these classics by popping it in my double-decked boom-box and turning the volume up as loud as I could (until my parents would bang on the door to keep the racket down.) Bon Jovi’s 2011 Circle tour somewhat seemed to be a celebration of their music coming full circle into the next generation. Fans of all ages, from those who lived their glory days during the band’s initial heyday to teenagers who admire the complete catalogue long after the majority of it has been written, all had the opportunity to experience a major multimedia event that somehow made Energy Solutions feel more like an intimate venue than a large arena. Although the concert was not solicited as “in the round,” Jon found time to perform songs to each corner of the building, including climbing custom mechanized platforms to the rear of the stage to ensure that even those seated behind the action were involved in the show. A circular catwalk surrounded a pit, making the inner stage portion reminiscent of U2’s famous ellipse. Jon and Richie took full advantage of the expanded performing area, making their way out during several songs to the outer reaches of the crowd with guitars in hand and microphones placed at various locations along the way. Jon and Richie mixed their familiar vocal pairing with extra power throughout the night, as Hugh and David helped by providing strong backing vocals that gave a little oomph to each song in the set. Even with the additional vocals, there were numerous times where the audience noise drowned out the echoing singing in the stadium, as thousands of fans vocalized in unison as if many of the songs were hymns. Jon encouraged the sing-along action of the crowd throughout the entire set, while Hugh, Richie, and Tico laid down a rock-solid rhythm section for the many legions of would-be performers. As the band progressed into the later years of their archives, they would periodically dig back deeper into their early classics. Between It’s My Life and The More Things Change (their most recent song), the early hit Runaway was well placed. Bad Medicine, I’ll Be There for You, and Keep the Faith all found their way into segments which included We Got it Going On, Have a Nice Day, and It’s My Life. Late in the set, Jon took some time to acknowledge his fondness for the state of Utah prior to playing the song Blaze of Glory from the film Young Guns II, as the video for this song was shot in Southern Utah. He also cited his thanks for his bassist Hugh, who is also a Utah native. No Bon Jovi set would be complete without hearing what VH1 had named as the top song of the 80’s. Three songs into the encore performance, Jon pulled out the band’s finale and fan favorite Living on a Prayer to an ecstatic audience. While he started singing the first several lines to the song with no musical accompaniment, somehow the crowd mustered up the ability to scream with the energy as if the concert had just started, only this was 23 songs into the show! After the show ended, the Energy Solutions Arena seemed to empty rather slowly. It seemed that few were antsy for the show to end, as everyone appeared to want more Bon Jovi. On my drive home, I again wondered what had happened to my old cassette tape, and if I found it, how I’d play it. Regardless, I’m glad I finally got the chance to relive those days for a couple of hours with thousands of fans who felt the same way. Tags: Bon Jovi, concert review, Salt Lake City	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2068
__label__wiki	0.960864	0.960864	Valley Children's Healthcare > Health Encyclopedia MONDAY, Oct. 25, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Moderna announced Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine safely triggers a strong immune response in children aged 6 to 11. Company data shows that a month after receiving both doses of the vaccine, children's antibody levels were 1.5 times higher than those in young adults. The company did not release the full data on the shots and the results have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. "We are encouraged by the immunogenicity and safety profile of mRNA-1273 [Moderna's vaccine] in children aged 6 to under 12 years and are pleased that the study met its primary immunogenicity endpoints," said Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna. "We look forward to filing with regulators globally and remain committed to doing our part to help end the COVID-19 pandemic with a vaccine for adults and children of all ages." The trial included more than 4,700 children who received two shots of the vaccine 28 days apart. Each shot contained 50 micrograms of vaccine, half the adult dose. Most side effects were mild or moderate, and the most common were fatigue, headache, fever and pain at the injection site, according to Moderna. The vaccine's safety will continue to be reviewed by an independent monitoring committee for 12 months after the second dose, The New York Times reported. Moderna is still recruiting children aged 2 through 5, and 6 months to under 2 years for trials of the vaccine in those age groups. So far, the company has enrolled about 5,700 children in the United States and Canada in that trial. On Tuesday, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is scheduled to weigh the use of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine in children aged 5 through 11. In June, Moderna submitted trial results for use of its COVID-19 vaccine in youth aged 12 through 17, but the FDA has not yet announced a decision for that age group, the Times reported. Some research indicates that the Moderna vaccine may increase the risk of a rare side effect of heart muscle inflammation (myocarditis) in boys and young men. In July, the FDA asked both Pfizer and Moderna to increase the size of their trials to try to detect less common side effects, the Times reported. Visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for more on COVID vaccines. SOURCES: Moderna, news release, Oct. 25, 2021; The New York Times For Parents: Bicycle, In-Line Skating, Skateboard, and Scooter Safety Helping Kids Get Over their Fears Step-by-Step: Changing a Child's Tracheostomy Step-by-Step: Choking Rescue for a Child (Over 1 Year of Age)	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2072
__label__cc	0.621892	0.378108	Joshua Draper Stoney Ridge Farmer Joshua (Stoney Ridge Farmer) grew up on a working farm and his dad was a horse trader and grandpa had cattle operation on 700 acres in Virginia, but Joshua had no interest in farming as a young man. In 1995 he graduated high school in Southwest Virginia and went on to sign up for the US Air Force where he served 4 years as an electrician and lineman serving and training with the elite Naval group known as the SeaBees. After serving 4+ years of military duty stationed at Hill AF Base in Ogden Utah, Joshua started a small construction company with an old truck and $200 worth of used tools and began remodeling houses, hotels and office buildings. This forwarded him the opportunity to purchase more than 20 homes and distressed properties during the housing boom of the early 2000’s and at the age of 23 Joshua was self employed with a residual income that afforded him the time and independence attend Weber State University and eventually earn a Bachelor degree in the Science of Nursing…Joshua became a registered nurse. In the spring of 2006 Joshua uprooted his successful business and real estate holdings to move back home closer to his family and back to his roots in Southwest Virginia where he was employed as a Registered Nurse. He moved to a bigger city and met his wife after starting an urban farm business on 1/3 of an acre. It was at this time that Joshua realized a calling from the land and the soil and he began raising vegetables for sale, chickens for meat and eggs and started an urban beekeeping operation in the city of Greensboro North Carolina. Working as an intensive care nurse Joshua met a man that was selling a 60 acre tract of worn out brush covered land that a rabbit would have a tough time getting through….after months of deliberation with his new bride they decided that buying land and moving to the country was the thing to do. So with a dream of starting a family in the country, Joshua and his wife packed up and moved to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and started a new life homesteading on 60 acres of brush and briers. Joshua and his wife managed to find a used mobile home for $3500 and purchased it with cash. The remodeling process began and journey of building a homestead began. The house and urban farm in town was sold and Joshua and his bride moved to the country to homestead, save money and get debt free! About 1 year into this process Joshua picked up a camera and went outside with the intention of sharing some knowledge and experience that he was acquiring from this new life and from years past. Stoney Ridge Farmer and the Stoney Ridge Farm was born! Now Joshua shares his journey of taking a raw piece of land and growing it into a homestead and successful farm operation…you can follow along as he takes an overgrown piece of eroded and abused farm land and turns it into something wonderful and his livelihood. Stoney Ridge Farmer will show you the journey, both the failures and the triumphs that go along with owning a piece of land, homesteading and building a farm business from scratch. From raising chickens, using and working on tractors, forestry, land clearing and management, fencing, crop planting, hogs, goats, cows and a few hot rods in between the Stoney Ridge Farmer will take you on a rural lifestyle journey that’s different from any other homesteader on social media. So “Come on Down to the Stoney Ridge” and enjoy this family-friendly rural lifestyle channel, watch, dream and learn as he and his family live out their dream of clean country life on the Stoney Ridge Farm. Topic: Build Your Own Chicken Feeder/Waterer in 10-15 Minutes! Date: Friday, October 11th, 2019 2:00pm Topic: Farm Planning, Fencing…and Saving Money by Doing it Yourself Date: Saturday, October 12th, 2019 3:15pm See Josh at the Conference! BUY TICKETS NOW	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2078
__label__wiki	0.993749	0.993749	To The Max: Scherzer, Mets Finalize $130M, 3-Year Deal By JAKE SEINER AP Baseball Writer Uncredited, ASSOCIATED PRESS This still image from video shows New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, left, and agent Scott Boras as they participate in a news conference, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021. The Mets and the three-time Cy Young Award winner finalized a $130 million, three-year deal Wednesday, a contract that shattered baseball's record for highest average salary and forms a historically impressive 1-2 atop New York's rotation with Jacob deGrom. (AP Photo) NEW YORK (AP) — Mets owner Steve Cohen promised a max effort bringing a World Series back to New York. Enter Max Scherzer, the newest ace in Queens. The Mets and the three-time Cy Young Award winner finalized a $130 million, three-year deal Wednesday, a contract that shattered baseball's record for highest average salary and forms a historically impressive 1-2 atop New York's rotation with Jacob deGrom. Scherzer said he was convinced during a video call with Cohen last month that the second-year owner was going to do whatever it took to build a winner in Flushing. “You don't hear that from owners too much these days,” Scherzer said Wednesday. “When you hear an owner wants to do what it takes to win, obviously that piqued my interest.” Of course, Cohen put his wallet behind his words. The 37-year-old Scherzer will earn $43.33 million per year, 20% higher than the previous mark, the $36 million Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is averaging in his $324 million, nine-year contract signed prior to the 2020 season. Scherzer has the right to opt out after the 2023 season and become a free agent again. The eight-time All-Star was 15-4 with a 2.46 ERA last season with the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers, who acquired him on July 30. He didn't lose a game after May 30 and was as dominant as ever in his first nine starts with LA, going 7-0 with an 0.78 ERA. The right-hander ran out of steam following heavy usage in the postseason, though. He was unable to start Game 6 of the NL Championship Series against Atlanta as planned due to arm fatigue. The Dodgers lost that game to end the series. Scherzer said he took about two weeks off before resuming throwing. He's back on his normal offsesaon program, and he said the arm has turned a corner and felt better over the past two weeks. “I needed to see where my arm was at, make sure there wasn't any damage, and there wasn't," he said. "I just needed time. I overcooked my arm, I worked past my work capacity and what it was built for. “From a long-term standpoint, structural standpoint, health standpoint, I'm ready to go.” Scherzer struck out 236 and walked 36 in 179 1/3 innings, averaging 94.4 mph with his fastball in the final season of a $210 million, seven-year contract that included $105 million in deferred money payable from 2022-28. This deal will raise his career earnings to at least $370 million. “Max is one of the best pitchers of this or any generation,” Cohen said. “It’s a great day for the New York Mets. It’s an even better day for our fans.” Cohen said new general manager Billy Eppler and the team’s analytics department calculated Scherzer’s value in the “vicinity” of where his contract ended up. “I might have added a little more for brand building, but that’s how I got to the number,” he said. Distinctive and fearsome with a blue eye on the right side and a brown one on the left — a condition known as Heterochromia Iridis — Scherzer is 190-97 with a 3.16 ERA in 14 major league seasons for Arizona (2008-09), Detroit (2010-14), Washington and the Dodgers. Scherzer, who has thrown two no-hitters, lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, about an hour’s drive from the Mets spring training complex in Port St. Lucie. With his young daughters starting school, that proximity played in New York's favor. Scherzer won his first Cy Young in 2013 with Detroit, then consecutive best-pitcher awards in 2016 and '17 with Washington. He finished third in this year's NL balloting behind Milwaukee's Corbin Burnes and Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler. DeGrom won the Cy Young Award in 2018 and '19, and Scherzer will be the seventh multi-time Cy Young winner to pitch for the Mets — also Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Bret Saberhagen, Johan Santana and Tom Seaver. That's two more than any other franchise, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Scherzer and deGrom will be the seventh pair of teammates to pitch together after winning multiple Cy Youngs. Scherzer did it with Clayton Kershaw last season, and the Mets had the previous two pairings with Martinez-Santana in 2008 and Martinez-Glavine from 2005-07. Scherzer has also been teammates with Cy Young winners David Price, Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, Robbie Ray, Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson. “I've been fortunate throughout my whole career to have great starting pitchers beside me,” Scherzer said. “I know how powerful that can be, to have guys to feed off of and watch great pitchers.” DeGrom didn't pitch after July 7 this year because of right forearm tightness, and Scherzer said he called deGrom to check on his status and inquire about the New York market before signing. They'll top a rotation that also includes Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker and Tylor Megill. Noah Syndergaard, returning from Tommy John surgery, left for a $21 million, one-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels. The Mets lost out on left-hander Steven Matz, whose $44 million, four-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals was finalized Monday. The Mets also finalized deals this week with center fielder Starling Marte ($78 million for four years) and outfielder/first baseman Mark Canha ($26.5 million over two years with a club option). 162 2021 11/30/2021 11/30/21. $78,000,000/1. 2022-2025 Marte gets a $5 million signing bonus, half payable on Jan. 31 and the rest on Jan. 31, 2023. He has salaries of $14.5 million in 2022 and $19.5 million in each of the final three seasons. Canha receives a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $12 million in 2022 and $10.5 milliion in 2023. The Mets have an $11.5 million option for 2024 with a $2 million buyout. They also announced a $20 million, two-year agreement with infielder Eduardo Escobar on Wednesday that includes a club option for 2024. The 32-year-old switch-hitter from Venezuela was a first-time All-Star in 2021, hitting .253 with 28 homers and 90 RBIs for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers. He'll receive $10 million in 2022, $9.5 million in 2023 and his club option is for $9 million with a $500,000 buyout. Marte, Canha and Escobar all agreed to their deals last Friday. “When I saw those names, it was like, ‘OK, we're cooking a little bit now,'” Canha said. The Mets had baseball’s third-highest payroll on Aug. 31 at $196 million, trailing the Dodgers ($261 million) and Yankees ($204 million), They could emerge as the top spender following their first full offseason under Cohen, who bought the team in November 2020 from the Wilpon and Katz families in a deal that valued the Mets at a baseball-record $2.42 billion. Scherzer is not getting a signing bonus with the Mets but is eligible for $1.15 million in award bonuses each season under the deal — $100,000 for making an All-Star team, $200,000 each for winning a Cy Young Award or MVP, $150,000 for finishing second in Cy Young or MVP voting, $50,000 for finishing third in Cy Young or MVP voting, $150,000 for winning World Series MVP and $100,000 for winning LCS MVP. As baseball heads to a likely lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires Wednesday night, Scherzer is a member of the union’s eight-player executive subcommittee. His agreement, like Cole’s, was negotiated by agent Scott Boras. More AP MLB coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Professional baseball Athlete contracts Sports transactions Sports team and league operation Corbin Burnes	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2079
__label__wiki	0.886591	0.886591	High School Football America 100 shuffles after No. 5 St. Thomas Aquinas (Florida) is upset TOPICS:High School Football America 100High School Football America national rankingshigh school football rankingsnational rankings Cardinal Gibbons soars from No. 89 to No. 12 in the latest High School Football America 100 national rankings powered by BlackMP Living Water after stunning former No. 5 St. Thomas Aquinas Friday night in a South Florida Top 100 showdown. The Chiefs’ 17-10 victory drops STA ten spots to No. 15 this week and allows shuffling throughout the Top 25 and beyond. Miami’s Northwestern jumps nine spots to No. 8 after defeating No. 21 Miami Central 21-14. It was the Bulls and Rockets first games after due to the coronavirus pandemic. Northwestern will try to improve it lofty ranking this week when it faces No. 2 IMG Academy (Florida). Right now, Florida has sixteen teams in the Top 100 that is created with our proprietary algorithm, five of them are in the Top 25. Texas leads the way with 18 teams in the Top 100, 13 of them are in the Top 50. Read: On the Bubble Defending Alabama 7A champ Thompson is up four spots to No. 4 this week after knocking-off former No. 24 Hoover to finish the regular season a perfect 10-0. There are two new entries this week — Brother Martin (Louisiana) at No. 72 and Medina (Ohio) at No. 94. This week, which upset top-seed St. Edward in the second round of the Ohio Division I playoffs will face No. 35 Mentor in a rematch of their Week 1 game won by Mentor 37-19. The Medina/Mentor game will be one of eight head-to-head Top 100 matchups this week: No. 2 IMG Academy (Florida) vs. No. 8 Northwestern (Miami, Florida) No. 7 Grayson (Georgia) vs. No. 56 Parkview (Georgia) No. 12 Cardinal Gibbons (Florida) vs. No. 42 American Heritage (Plantation, Florida) No. 32 Bryant (Arkansas) vs. No. 81 North Little Rock (Arkansas) No. 35 Mentor (Ohio) vs. No. 94 Medina (Ohio) No. 36 Denton Guyer (Texas) vs. No. 55 Prosper (Texas) No. 39 St. Xavier (Ohio) vs. No. 50 Lakota West (Ohio) No. 51 Chaminade-Madonna (Florida) vs. No. 54 Jones (Orlando, Florida) High School Football America 100 Rank, Team, State Record Last Week #1 North Shore (Houston, Texas) (5-0) 1 #2 IMG Academy (Florida) (6-0) 2 #3 Lowndes (Georgia) (5-0) 3 #4 Thompson (Alabama) (10-0) 8 #5 St. Joseph’s Prep (Pennsylvania) (2-0) 4 #6 Pickerington Central (Ohio) (9-0) 6 #7 Grayson (Georgia) (6-0) 7 #8 Northwestern (Miami, Florida) (1-0) 17 #9 St. Peter’s Prep (New Jersey) (4-0) 10 #10 Westlake (Austin, Texas) (4-0) 9 #11 Dutch Fork (South Carolina) (5-0) 11 #12 Cardinal Gibbons (Florida) (3-0) 89 #13 Katy (Texas) (4-0) 13 #14 Archbishop Hoban (Ohio) (7-0) 14 #15 St. Thomas Aquinas (Florida) (1-1) 5 #16 Duncanville (Texas) (2-1) 15 #17 Allen (Texas) (2-0) 16 #18 Maryville (Tennessee) (9-0) 12 #19 Center Grove (Indiana) (9-0) 19 #20 Corner Canyon (Utah) (10-0) 20 #21 Miami Central (Florida) (0-1) 21 #22 Trinity (Kentucky) (5-0) 22 #23 Edna Karr (Louisiana) (3-0) 23 #24 Chandler (Arizona) (4-0) 25 #25 Owasso (Oklahoma) (7-0) 26 #26 Denton Ryan (Texas) (4-0) 27 #27 Cathedral (Indiana) (8-1) 28 #28 DeSoto (Texas) (3-0) 29 #29 North Allegheny (Pennsylvania) (5-0) 30 #30 Colquitt County (Georgia) (4-0) 31 #31 Massillon Washington (Ohio) (7-1) 32 #32 Bryant (Arkansas) (7-0) 33 #33 Brentwood Academy (Tennessee) (9-0) 34 #34 Hoover (Alabama) (9-1) 24 #35 Mentor (Ohio) (8-1) 35 #36 Denton Guyer (Texas) (3-1) 36 #37 Bergen Catholic (New Jersey) (4-0) 37 #38 Highland Park (Texas) (2-0) 38 #39 St. Xavier (Ohio) (6-2) 39 #40 Brookwood (Georgia) (6-0) 40 #41 Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Florida) (5-1) 48 #42 American Heritage (Plantation, Florida) (4-1) 49 #43 Lake Travis (Texas) (4-0) 42 #44 Norcross (Georgia) (7-0) 44 #45 La Salle (Ohio) (6-2) 45 #46 Rockwall (Texas) (4-1) 46 #47 Southlake Carroll (Texas) (2-1) 47 #48 Bloomingdale (Florida) (6-0) 66 #49 Cedar Hill (Texas) (3-0) 50 #50 Lakota West (Ohio) (8-0) 55 #51 Chaminade-Madonna (Florida) (4-1) 57 #52 Oakland (Tennessee) (9-0) 51 #53 Hewitt-Trussville (Alabama) (8-2) 58 #54 Jones (Orlando, Florida) (5-0) 82 #55 Prosper (Texas) (3-0) 54 #56 Parkview (Georgia) (5-1) 56 #57 Delbarton (New Jersey) (4-0) 63 #58 Bixby (Oklahoma) (6-0) 59 #59 Rockledge (Florida) (4-0) 60 #60 De Smet (Missouri) (2-0) 61 #61 Central Dauphin (Pennsylvania) (6-0) 62 #62 Hamilton (Arizona) (3-0) 72 #63 Venice (Florida) (6-2) 41 #64 Saguaro (Arizona) (2-1) 43 #65 Aledo (Texas) (3-1) 67 #66 Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey) (1-2) 65 #67 Acadiana (Louisiana) (4-0) 78 #68 St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, New Jersey) (1-2) 68 #69 Alcoa (Tennessee) (8-1) 69 #70 Manvel (Texas) (3-1) 70 #71 Cedar Grove (Georgia) (4-0) 71 #72 Brother Martin (Louisiana) (4-0) 125 #73 Toledo Central Catholic (Ohio) (6-0) 74 #74 Blessed Trinity (Georgia) (3-0) 75 #75 Davison (Michigan) (6-0) 76 #76 Palmetto (Miami, Florida) (0-0) 73 #77 Archbishop Rummel (Louisiana) (2-1) 18 #78 Carmel (Indiana) (7-2) 79 #79 Oxford (Alabama) (8-1) 80 #80 Pine-Richland (Pennsylvania) (6-0) 81 #81 North Little Rock (Arkansas) (7-0) 83 #82 Cocoa (Florida) (5-0) 84 #83 John Curtis (Louisiana) (2-2) 85 #84 Edgewater (Florida) (2-2) 52 #85 Covington Catholic (Kentucky) (6-0) 86 #86 Jenks (Oklahoma) (7-1) 88 #87 Milton (Georgia) (5-1) 90 #88 St. Thomas More (Louisiana) (4-0) 94 #89 Lee County (Georgia) (5-1) 92 #90 Massillon Perry (Ohio) (8-0) 93 #91 Atascocita (Texas) (1-1) 98 #92 Elder (Ohio) (5-4) 87 #93 Lone Peak (Utah) (9-1) 95 #94 Medina (Ohio) (6-3) HM #95 St. Edward (Ohio) (6-2) 91 #96 Catholic (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) (2-2) 97 #97 Lakeland (Florida) (3-2) 53 #98 Bridgeland (Texas) (5-0) 99 #99 Gaffney (South Carolina) (4-0) 96 #100 Dorman (South Carolina) (2-1) 100 Editor’s Note: The High School Football America national, regional and state rankings are developed using our proprietary algorithm. Dropped-out: No. 64 Dublin Coffman (Ohio), No. 77 Auburn (Alabama) 2020 High School Football America 100’s 2020 High School Football America On the Bubble California High School Football News, National News It’s Official – St. John Bosco is 2019 High School Football America 100 national champ Two new teams break into Top 50 California High School Football News Mater Dei captures back-to-back “mythical” national championships Ohio High School Football News Ohio Top 25 – Week 9	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2082
__label__cc	0.632293	0.367707	1891 Fort Worth Texas Poster Map - Vintage Map of Fort Worth TX Wall Art Decor - Historic Fort Worth Map - Birds Eye View of Old Fort Worth Texas Vintage Map VINTAGE MAP REPRODUCTION: You’ll love this high quality historic reproduction of 1891 Fort Worth Poster Map. Our museum quality maps are archival grade, which means it will look great and last without fading for over 100 years. Our print to order maps are made in the USA and each map is inspected for quality. This beautiful artwork is a perfect addition to your themed decor. Vintage maps look great in the home, study or office. They make a perfect gift as well. A LOOK BACK AT HISTORY: This is an impressive, historic reproduction of 1891 Fort Worth Art Poster. This print is from an original found in the maps and geography division of the US Library of Congress. A true piece of history. See our product description section for more fascinating information about this historic map and its significance. Produced and published by prolific American lithographer Henry Wellge, this stunning bird's eye perspective of Ft Worth in 1891 depicts the iconic Texas city in a period of transition and growth. Wellge was a prominent map producer and is among the five American lithographers that illustrated half of the bird's eye perspectives in the Library of Congress. Wellge's maps were some of the most popular illustrations from the late nineteenth century through the 1920s. Ft Worth's status as a cattle town was in full swing during the late nineteenth century, and its stockyards are responsible for some of the most iconic images of the American West. The Texas and Pacific Railway had been completed in 1876 and provided the vast cattle ranches in Texas greater ease when shipping cattle to northern and western markets, which had grown tremendously in the decades following the conclusion of the Civil War. The rail's arrival transformed the cities stockyards and made it the largest wholesale marketplace for cattle. The railroad also expanded access, and eager workers flocked to the city from throughout the American south. Bird's eye perspectives were produced as marketing tools for cities to attract merchants and residents. Businesses and residents alike displayed these perspectives in a show of civic pride. Ft Worth developed into a bustling frontier town by the end of the nineteenth century. Still, it would become transformed again by the early twentieth century's oil boom, and this unique depiction is genuinely a piece of American cartographical history. Our museum quality giclee print comes printed with archival ink on premium heavyweight matte paper. Shipped in a sturdy cardboard tube your print will arrive ready to be framed. This eye-catching vintage map reproduction print makes the perfect gift for anyone that loves history and imagery.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2083
__label__wiki	0.774136	0.774136	How did We Come so Far? The Meaning of Tuesday's Election With two days to go before the election, the evidence is mounting that the United States faces the third great turning point in its history as a nation. As William Strauss and Neil Howe have pointed out in their vitally important works Generations and The Fourth Turning, great crises in American political life occur roughly every eighty years—first in the era of the Revolutionary War and the Constitution, then during the Civil War, and then in the Depression and in the Second World War, which created the now-vanishing world in which every American under 62 has spent his entire life. (For more on their theories and their books, see www.fourthturning.com, where I have been a frequent contributor.) The election pits two entirely different philosophies against one another. On the one hand, the Democrat John Kerry wants, essentially, to continue building upon the achievements of Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson, with a nod to Bill Clinton’s remarkable budget-balancing achievements. On the other, George W. Bush wants almost entirely to undo the work of the twentieth century, vastly reducing public services, effectively ending environmental regulation, reducing or eliminating progressive taxation, privatizing social security, and essentially substituting faith for reason as our guide. Abroad, meanwhile, he has already junked 60 years of multilateralism and commitment to international law in favor of a belief in the efficacy of unbridled American force. These changes are so dramatic that many in the major media refuse to believe they are taking place. Richard Cohen of the Washington Post has expressed astonishment at his many friends who see catastrophe lurking if Bush should be reelected, and when Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind told Chris Matthews that many Bush supporters see the President as a messenger from God, Matthews exclaimed, “Oh, come on!” –prompting Suskind to exhort Matthews to get out of Washington and see what was happening in the rest of the country. The wholesale repudiation of the beliefs of our educated elite at the highest levels of our government—amply documented in Suskind’s recent New York Times Magazine article—does come as a shock, but Strauss and Howe’s historical scheme helps understand how it has happened. Nor is it without precedent in western history, as something quite similar happened in Great Britain at the end of the eighteenth century. Every great crisis has winners and losers—and losers, as every sports fan knows, have longer memories and bigger incentives than winners. Bush, Karl Rove and the rest of the Republican establishment have managed to forge a coalition of the losers in both of our last two national crises—the business interests who resented the New Deal, and the white Southerners who have never been fully reconciled to the effects of the Northern victory in the civil war. Meanwhile the bi-coastal elite has made the natural but critical mistake of taking its parents’ victories for granted and assuming that nothing, really could change very much. The new conservative coalition, which initially emerged between the 1960s and the 1980s, now may be poised to set the direction of American life for most of our children’s lifetimes. The New Deal, combined with the Second World War, created the most progressive tax structure in American history, and in the 1950s and early 1960s—a period of sustained economic growth—the top marginal income tax rate had reached 90%. Meanwhile, labor unions dominated the industrial work force and insured, until 1973, that workers’ income would continue to increase relative to the rest of the population. Corporate America had to live with these changes, and some more enlightened business leaders accepted them as the price of civic order, but by the 1970s the top rates had fallen and a tax revolt was beginning. Foreign competition was also making heavy inroads in critical areas like automobile production, and this in the long run was going to weaken the standing of American workers. But the real corporate offensive against both taxes and workers’ rights began, of course, in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan, and the erosion of the union movement has been dramatic since then. The US Government had been pushing free trade since the late 1930s, when the United States was industrially supreme, and in the 1990s further extensions of free trade, most notably through NAFTA and agreements with the Chinese, essentially destroyed much of our high-wage industrial economy—and the most important part of the New Deal voting coalition along with it. With three days to go to the 2004 Presidential election, Michigan has become a toss-up—something that would not have happened, in my opinion, if Democratic legislators and administrations had done more to prevent the collapse of American industry that Michael Moore documented in Roger and Me. Accustomed to ruling and comfortable in Washington, the Democratic leadership apparently forgot where its votes came from. Republicans, meanwhile, could not openly repudiate the principles of the New Deal—that the government owed the people the assurance of jobs that paid living wages. Supply-side economics came to the rescue, arguing not that great fortunes merely represented the survival of the fittest (the view of post-Civil War Republicans), but that they would benefit the rest of the country. (The Republicans’ need to pretend that their policies have the opposite effect that they actually have is one of the chief causes of the degradation of American political life. It has culminated in George Bush’s campaign stump speech, which argues that all the beneficiaries of his tax cuts are job-creating small business owners.) Officially we are seeking the same goals by more efficient means. Actually both the relative and the absolute bargaining power of working-class Americans are continually eroding, and the gap between executive pay and worker pay has increased by one or two orders of magnitude. Meanwhile the economic rights of retirees are being stripped away as well, as guaranteed pensions are eliminated from most private employment. Ironically, the diminishing resources of the elderly are bound to create a crisis in the economy of the Republican Sunbelt eventually, but that may take another decade or two. Corporate America is now stronger in Washington than it has been since the 1890s, and stands for the most part firmly behind the Administration. The broadcast media are either firmly in the Republican camp or too intimidated to take it on directly. The print media, where rationality is still prized, remains more faithful to earlier traditions, and Kerry commands far more newspaper endorsements, but even there, several publishers (such as those of the Denver Post and the Chicago Tribune) have overruled their editorial boards and insisted on backing Bush. The corporate elite has been doing what it naturally does, trying to amass more wealth—and the restraints against it have gradually come down. It has now become the biggest single pillar of the Republican Party. While corporate America funds Bush (and is rewarded in return), the foot soldiers who provide the votes come, in their largest numbers, from the white South and (in smaller numbers) from the Plains states. To understand how this has happened we must go back even further, to the aftermath of the civil war. Few historical forces equal the strength of bad conscience. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the white elite of the Confederacy sought both to re-establish its power and to prove the justice of its principles by keeping freed slaves in a position of permanent civil and economic inferiority. But the southerners continued to see themselves as the exploited losers in the conflict, and between 1933 and 1945 they aligned themselves with northern workers as part of the New Deal coalition. In return, Franklin Roosevelt made no major moves to challenge white supremacy. And the South benefited considerably from the Second World War and the Cold War, since senior southern legislators managed to make sure that a substantial part of the new military-industrial complex was located inside their region. The northern Democratic embrace of the civil rights movement in 1948, of course, began to crack the solid South, beginning with the candidacy of Strom Thurmond. But the Democratic retreat became a rout, as President Lyndon Johnson privately predicted, after the voting rights act of 1965. Since then only two Democratic southerners, Jimmy Carter (once) and Bill Clinton, have managed to win any southern electoral votes at all—and Al Gore, another southerner, was unable to repeat that performance in 2000. Johnson was right—by signing the Voting Rights Act, he turned the South over to the Republican Party for a generation. These results suggest an unpleasant truth—that the whites of most of the old Confederacy have never accepted full equality for black citizens. But the civil rights movement has had other sad and ironic results as well. Because many southern whites refuse to send their children to school with blacks, segregation is at near-1950s levels in much of the rural south, such as the Mississippi Delta. Because white voters apparently are disinclined to fund public black schools as well as private white ones, spending on public education remains very low, and the anti-tax movement is extremely popular in the South. And that philosophy has now been introduced into our national life by the Bush Administration. The underfunded No Child Left Behind Act, as currently administered, will result in the discrediting of thousands of public schools and accelerate a movement towards private ones among better-off Americans. Meanwhile, the testing movement, by focusing on math and reading, seems designed to produce a generation of poorer children whose intellectual skills will be just sufficient to hold down jobs at Wal-Mart. The cost of higher education has increased by 2.5 times, controlling for inflation, in the last forty years. All around the country, even once-great state universities like Michigan and North Carolina are being crippled by budget cuts. There remains, of course, the third pillar of the new Republican coalition, the cultural one. This too is a key to Republican strength in the South, the Midwest and the Plains states, and it has been the hardest for blue-zone Americans to take seriously. Much of it has come in reaction to the sexual liberation of the last few decades, which a vocal and increasingly powerful minority of Americans have never accepted. But more generally, the Republican cultural assault involves a new emphasis on faith and an attack on science and rational analysis in general that seems to have reached the highest levels of the government. George Bush’s disdain for factual analyses is well known, and American scientific authorities have frequently branded his whole Administration as unwilling to acknowledge accepted science in a variety of fields. The United States was a child of the Enlightenment and has traditionally valued its trust in science and inquiry, but reason, alas, seems destined to remain what David Hume (himself an Enlightenment figure) called it more than two centuries ago: the slave of the passions. Reason, indeed, which was probably never more supreme in American life than around 1950 or so, has been under attack in the academy since the 1960s, with fairly disastrous results in the humanities and social sciences. If postmodernists no longer feel bound by objective truth, why should their counterparts on the right? As I pointed out in my last post, reverence for truth was a casualty of the Left’s war on the establishment in the Vietnam era—which divided the left, perhaps fatally, for the rest of our lifetimes. (To be sure, the establishment discredited its own respect for the truth by beginning and continuing the war in Vietnam, but the younger generation went much further down that path. )The Right has followed along, with devastating impacts on American life. Who can be surprised, really, that so many Americans are no longer voting with their heads? In 1932 both Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt made long speeches of astonishing factual complexity to show that they understood the country’s problems. During the last thirty years we have steadily sunk into a sound bite culture. How many Americans know how much the federal government spends every year, or what the deficit is? How many have a real sense of the recent economic changes in American life? How many could name the leaders of Congress, or actually follow the progress of legislation? In a famous and telling moment late in the 2000 campaign, Cokie Roberts suggested that Al Gore’s reference to the Dingell-Norwood Bill would turn off voters, because it was “Washington speak.” A well-known journalist for a major network, whose father had been a Congressional leader for decades, now regarded a knowledge of what was actually happening in Washington as something for a candidate to hide. With such opinion leadership, we cannot expect much from the American people. And thus, it is possible, though hardly certain, that a Bush victory on Tuesday might indeed usher in an entirely new era in American life—one marked by an increasingly weak state, a shrinking safety net, a return of elderly poverty on a large scale, and a division of the country into a rich elite and a mass of insecure workers that would bring a smile to the face of Karl Marx. It would not be the first time that a western nation had taken a big step backward. Eighteenth century England had established the rights of man and a form of religious toleration. Its social life was frankly hedonistic and licentious; its politics, though largely limited to the aristocracy, were extraordinarily free; and religious belief had become a mere formality. Many leading Englishmen wanted to move towards democracy in the mid-eighteenth century, and but for George III, they might have. His rule, however, and the general reaction to the American and French revolutions, led England away from democracy and open inquiry and towards tighter aristocratic rule, a far greater role for the Church of England, and a more rigid and unequal class structure than ever in the first half of the nineteenth century, as the effects of the industrial revolution were first being felt. Only the Union victory in the American civil war, which the whole western world saw as a victory for democracy over aristocracy, reversed the trend. It is possible that we are not destined for a new Victorian age. Even without a Kerry victory on Tuesday, Democrats and rationalists may yet find new energy and manage to reverse the tide. But to do so, they will need causes to rival the economic and religious totems of the Republicans. Merely standing for the status quo of the second half of the twentieth century is not enough. The losers in our last two crises have been in the ascendant for twenty years because they cared enough to do anything to win. That is the eternal advantage of those who have been denied victory for too long, and it is a far more powerful influence in history than we have generally recognized. Note to readers: This rather lengthy post shall be the last one for at least two weeks. By then things shall look considerably different. George W. Bush--Man of the Sixties President Bush likes to contrast himself and his policies with the 1960s. “We’re changing the culture of America,” he says, “from one that says, ‘If it feels good, do it,’ and, ‘If you’ve got a problem, blame somebody else,’ to a culture in which each of us understands we’re responsible for the decisions we make,” (When Dick Cheney used the language of the 1960s in the face of an opposition U.S. Senator and defended himself because he “felt better,” the irony got less attention than it deserved.) Culturally, of course, the President rejects the sexual liberation of his youth, and portrays himself as a reformed sinner. Politically, as a conservative, pro-war Republican whose father had campaigned against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he was certainly out of step on the Yale campus of 1964-68. All this is, however, entirely misleading—and the country, particularly its younger voters, should try to understand exactly who and what they are voting for before the election. George Bush and his Administration actually represent the worst of the late 1960s—a terrifying certainty determined to repudiate the past, disrupt the present, and risk the future for an ideological ideal. His certainty is not merely, as Ron Susskind argued last in last Sunday's New York Times, a question of his faith—it is all too characteristic of his entire generation. As George W. Bush’s college years drew to a close, the most visible political faction on most campus was the Students for a Democratic Society, which took over the main Administration building, provoked a police bust, and temporarily halted instruction at my own school, Harvard, in the spring of 1969. They were distinguished more than anything else by a complete rejection of everything our parents stood for. In their eyes, the Cold War’s “defense of freedom” was greedy imperialism; civil rights laws simply masked enduring American economic racism; marriage and family were outdated bourgeois conventions; and democracy was a sham. They and they alone knew good from evil, and they had less than nothing to learn from the past. Even within their own ranks, they had contempt for democratic processes. In April of that memorable year, a vote of the SDS turned down a proposal to occupy University Hall by a vote of about two to one—but the next day, the losing minority faction undertook the occupation anyway, dragging their colleagues (and eventually most of the student body) in their wake. A similar omniscient spirit has dominated the Bush Administration from the day it took office. One by one, the achievements of our parents’ generation—who occupied the White House from John F. Kennedy through George H. W. Bush—have been gleefully tossed aside: the ABM Treaty, the rigid separation of Church and State, overtime protection for workers, environmental protection, and especially the spirit of compromise and civic responsibility that allowed Republicans and Democrats to work together for the good of the country from the 1950s through the 1980s. In foreign policy they have even repudiated, in effect, the NATO Alliance and the United Nations. Events in the fall of 2002 were particularly revealing. Prodded by Colin Powell, who remembers the 1950s, the Administration sought a second Security Council resolution to authorize war against Iraq, but when they found they had only two other votes on their side, they simply disregarded the opinion of the world in the same way that the SDS disregarded the majority vote the night before the occupation of University Hall. Meanwhile, our Boomer-crafted new National Security Strategy gives the United States both the right and the duty to decide what nations shall possess what weapons, and summarily to remove hostile regimes. My Harvard classmate Elliot Abrams opposed SDS’s attempt to rule Harvard University according to their lights, but he is now enthusiastically doing his part to assure that he and his Administration colleagues rule the whole world in the same way. Other memories from the Vietnam era come to me these days. One Saturday afternoon in 1970, I sat in a packed Harvard Square theater watching Sam Peckinpaugh’s The Wild Bunch. Midway through the movie, William Holden (himself a member of what we now call “The Greatest Generation”) tried to explain to his fellow gang members why Robert Ryan was now working for the other side. “He gave his word,” Holden said, speaking for an older America. “It’s not whether you keep your word!” one of his companions shouted. “It’s who you give it to!” The audience went crazy with delight. Isn’t that the same spirit in which the Bush White House has patronized the scurrilous, baseless campaign of the Swift Boat veterans? John Kerry is on the wrong side; therefore, he can’t be a war hero. And such is the partisanship of our times that even Bob Dole and George H. W. Bush Sr. have joined this campaign—although John McCain, significantly, refuses to do so. Reality, of course, is a casualty of classic Baby Boomer thought. SDS members truly believed in 1969 that workers and students were going to overturn the established order—because it was right. In the same way, George W. Bush, in defiance of mountains of evidence that Iraq is disintegrating and that our intervention has reduced our standing in the Arab world to new lows, repeats that Iraq is on its way to a democratic transformation that will spread through the region. Freedom, he explains, is the Almighty’s gift to every man and woman on this planet—an homily which leaves a calmer observer wondering why the Almighty has been so stingy about bestowing it in so much of the world for so many centuries, or whether the President believes that he is fighting Satan’s evil presence on earth. Caught between ideology and reality, the Administration constantly resorts to Orwellian language. A loss of jobs becomes economic progress, less health care means more, opening national forests to logging becomes “The Healthy Forests Initiative,” and so on. In the same way, the SDS explained to us that dictatorship of the proletariat was the only true democracy. And the Administration cares nothing about federalism, because federalism could stand in its way. In 1960, when Kennedy and Nixon debated federal aid to education, Nixon argued that federal money would eventually mean federal control. Now a new Republican generation is using federal money to discredit and weaken public education through the No Child Left Behind Act. The Bush Administration and its supporters are usually less obvious than their left wing contemporaries were about their repudiation of our parents’ works, but the other day, Grover Norquist—the anti-tax activist who has bragged about his close relations with the White House for four years—let the cat out of the bag in an interview with a Spanish newspaper. The Weekly Standard has printed quotes from the tape of the interview. Here is How Norquist assessed the coming election. "And we've had four more years pass where the age cohort that is most Democratic and most pro-statist, are those people who turned 21 years of age between 1932 and 1952--Great Depression, New Deal, World War II--Social Security, the draft--all that stuff. That age cohort is now between the ages of 70 and 90 years old, and every year 2 million of them die. So 8 million people from that age cohort have passed away since the last election; that means, net, maybe 1 million Democrats have disappeared… This is an age cohort that voted for a draft before the war started, and allowed the draft to continue for 25 years after the war was over. Their idea of the legitimate role of the state is radically different than anything previous generations knew, or subsequent generations. . . . Very un-American. Very unusual for America. The reaction to Great Depression, World War II, and so on: Centralization--not as much centralization as the rest of the world got, but much more than is usual in America. We've spent a lot of time dismantling some of that and moving away from that level of regimentation: getting rid of the draft . . ." Norquist, a younger Baby Boomer, has actually hit the nail on the head. The twenty million men we drafted to win the Second World War (a conflict he apparently regrets) deserved, and got, their countrymen’s reward, in the form of the GI bill, 4% mortgages, generous Social Security benefits, and real pensions. Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower confirmed the government’s responsibility for their well-being and that of their families. Such policies have now become “un-American” as the Bush Administration leads us towards their New Jerusalem—really a new Gilded Age. Norquist is actually exalting the collapse of civic virtue and mutual responsibility that he has helped to promote during his political career. Younger Americans should understand one thing: our current leadership is impervious to facts. Ultimately, like so many of my contemporaries, they care less about any specific changes they make at home or abroad than about simply proving to their own satisfaction that they are right and everyone else is wrong. They have already left the nation and the world a dangerous legacy. What "War on Terror"? The "War on Terror" and American foreign policy In Wednesday's third debate, John Kerry quoted President Bush (accurately, although the President quickly denied it) as having said, early in 2002, that he was not very concerned about Osama Bin Laden anymore, because Bin Laden was no longer running a country. During the past three years, while Bin Laden hides in what is supposed to be a major non-NATO allied nation, Pakistan, we haven't been able to find him. Instead, we conquered Iraq. The President and Vice President explain, again and again, that the most dangerous "nexus" today is the possibility that terorists might get weapons of mass destruction from a state. Based on their policies and strategies, I think it has become quite clear that they don't see that as the most dangerous threat, they see it as the only threat. This is parallel to how successive Administrations (Johnson and Nixon, mainly) approached the Vietnam War: the threat was the state of North Vietnam and could be solved by going after it and its armed forces, to persuade it to stop sponsoring revolutions. Of course, under the Bush/Cheney doctrine, we don't try to persuade hostile states, we destroy them. It is really not clear how much we have done to stop attacks within the US. Although we have heightened airport security we don't seem to be very interested in the kind of attack that actually killed 3000 Americans in 2001. We do not seem to be very interested in what small groups of terrorists could do. Our policy shows no conern for public opinion in the Muslim world, where the growth of terrorism is blamed on us. (See today's NY Times article about Saudi Arabia: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/international/middleeast/14saudi.html?oref=login. It doesn't matter how many millions of people hate us, apparently, provided no state exists that could give them weapons. We are, of course, trying to create a friendly democracy in Iraq, but the recent attack in the Green Zone, which killed seven people, show that secure areas there have shrunk, literally, to zero. (Reporters have been telling the same story.) In fact, the Bush Administration's "war on terror" has simply become a convenient excuse to pursue the essence of neoconservative foreign policy (developed during the Cold War) more vigorously. The neoconservative approach targets hostile states, which must be intimidated or brought down by a mixture of relentless hostile propaganda, superior weaponry, and either arms races or, if the state is sufficiently weak, conquest. Those in charge of our foreign policy have been shaped by the Cold War as they saw it--a drama in which Ronald Reagan's rhetoric and arms build-up somehow forced the Soviet Union to collapse. Even before that happened, they had become wedded to the idea of missile defense, which could theoretically enable the U.S. to disable a hostile enemy with a first strike. To many Americans, most foreign policy professionals, and even the first President Bush, the end of the Cold War seemed to usher in an era of peace and true international cooperation. To neoconservatives--led by Paul Wolfowitz of the first Bush's Defense Department--it removed any obstacles to American worldwide supremacy. By preventing the emergence of a peer competitor, Wolfowitz suggested, the United States could indefinitely dominate the world. We no longer needed either to rely on interational coalitions or to respect the deterrent powers of other states. Any hostile regime could simply be removed from the scene. Out of power in the late 1990s, the neoconservatives began to identify Iraq--which we know now had been weakened by sanctions and inspections to the point where it no longer posed a threat--as the target for a new American offensive. Once in power in 2001, as Richard Clarke and Paul O'Neill have both confirmed, they immediately began planning to implement this agenda. A less ideological and more realistic approach would suggest that the real achievement of the Cold War period was to maintain a relatively peaceful world--a task in which the two major victors of the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union, actually collaborated. Athough the two superpowers inevitably competed for power and influence as well--often foolishly, especially in the Third World--they respected one another's vital interests, and, in very different ways, kept their spheres of influence under control. Now we need a new structure for peace, and the United States does not have enough power or enough ground troops, in particular, to impose one. (Our population is much smaller relative to the world's than it was in 1941, and even in the Second World War we only created a new world order with the help of the Soviets.) A successful structure for the future can only be a multilateral one. Terrorism, as Clarke shows very clearly, was not initially a priority for the Adminstration, and it ignored the most explicit warnings the intelligence committee could draw up. But 9/11 immediately became an excuse to proceed, first against the Taliban, and then against Iraq. Even before the Iraq war we had also identified Iran and North Korea as the next targets. The results of the Iraq war have been catastrophic because this policy essentially destroys for the sake of destroying. The Administration, to be sure, has emphasized the need to build democracy in Iraq, and President Bush himself, I think, takes this goal seriously. But had Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, John Bolton and the rest of the war planners really believed in it, I do not think they would have so fatuously disregarded all available advice on the size of the force that would be needed to occupy and rule Iraq in the meantime--one at least double the number of troops that we have put there. (The best source on this fiasco that I have found was written by James Fallows in the January/February Atlantic and can be purchased online.) The situation in Iraq seems to be much worse than most people realize. We have enough troops there for various insurgencies to mobilize against, but not enough to occupy and control territory. Our troops are too stretched to protect themselves, and Senator Patty Murray has just written the Defense Department on behalf of a Washington unit that has asked for, and been refused, more troops to guard the huge supply base it occupies, which has taken numerous casualties from rocket and mortar attacks. Nor have we been successful in recruiting a cadre of Iraqis who share our views about the country's future that could contend with the insurgents--the topic of a later post on Iraq and Vietnam. What the Bush Adminstration's policies have done is to create anarchy within an oil-rich nation of 25 million people. Should Bush be re-elected, we shall very likely see a new war against Iran or North Korea--but this time, I suspect, without any ground troops at all. This time we shall simply use precision weapons to take out nuclear facilities. Under Bush's leadership, the United States, which as the richest nation in the world has the greatest interest in a peaceful world, has begun smashing the international order and promoting international anarchy. This is a catastrophic policy that neither we, nor the world, can afford. As a full-time history teacher and author whose work has contemporary implications, I frequently try to put the day's news in varoius broader contexts. Occasionally I have been able to do this in op-ed or Sunday pieces in various newspapers, but such pieces have become increasingly hearder to place, and finding a home for them takes longer than writing them does. I have therefore decided to open this blog, which I hope to contribute to about once a week. I plan to discuss long-term trends in American foreign and domestic policies as they relate to specific recent events. Visitors may be interested in what I have written. My books are: Economic Diplomacy and the Origins of the Second World War (Princeton, 1980). Postmortem: New Evidence in the Case of Sacco and Vanzetti (co-author William Young) (Amherst, Mass., 1985). Politics and War: European Conflict from Philip II to Hitler (Cambridge, Mass., 1990). Epic Season: The 1948 American League Pennant Race (Amherst, Mass., 1998) American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War (Cambridge, Mass., 2000). All but the first are still in print. My first post will appear very shortly. Posted by David Kaiser at 9:51 AM How did We Come so Far? The Meaning of Tuesday's E...	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2084
__label__cc	0.575139	0.424861	Car Accident News and Tips » Traffic Congestion is Down, But Frustration is Up According to IBM Survey Traffic Congestion is Down, But Frustration is Up According to IBM Survey According to IBM’s Global Commuter Pain Survey that was released this month, drivers face less congestion on their commute but their frustration has skyrocketed. Surveying 8,042 commuters in 20 cities on six continents, IBM found this perception is a worldwide problem. It would appear that if congestion is down, driver satisfaction would increase, but that wasn’t the case according to the study’s findings. The study also revealed that more people are taking public transportation instead of driving compared to last year. The worst traffic congestion was found in Mexico City, and the best in Montreal. But what about those drivers in cities where the traffic is somewhere in the middle and not quite as bad? Unfortunately, a number of respondents in many cities reported that traffic congestion has increased their anger and stress and affected how they behave at school or work. The increases in the amount of anger and frustration related to driving were significant for many cities. Here’s a breathtaking statistic: There are more than one billion cars on the road worldwide, according to the IBM study, and that translates to a lot of angry people behind the wheel. The good news is that more people are willing to use public transportation, and 41 percent of those who participated in the survey feel public transportation can help reduce traffic congestion. Drivers in cities such as Los Angeles said that accurate information about road conditions on a timely basis would help reduce stress. The study ranked the emotional and economic toll on people who drive for their commute in each city. The index took into account 10 issues: 1) commuting time 2) time stuck in traffic 3) price of gas is already too high 4) traffic has gotten worse 5) start-stop traffic is a problem 6) driving causes stress 7) driving causes anger 8 traffic affects work 9) traffic so bad driving stopped 10) decided not to make trip due to traffic. The least painful commute belongs to Montreal, and close behind are London and Chicago. Los Angeles ranked at number 34. New York City did better than Southern California’s major city, coming in at number 28. Interestingly, New York, which was among the 15 cities surveyed in both 2010 and 2011, reported increases from year to year in the number of respondents who said traffic in their city had improved somewhat or substantially over the past three years. 24% of the 2011 respondents from New York stated traffic had improved compared to 12% of the 2010 respondents. But even though traffic had improved in the Big Apple, 45% of 2011 respondents said that traffic had increased their stress levels compared to 13% in 2010. Los Angeles also showed significant increase in the number of drivers who said their stress levels on the road have grown—44% of 2011 respondents versus 21% in 2010. And here’s an added alarming statistic: Eleven of the 15 cities surveyed in the last two years show increases in the number of drivers who said roadway traffic makes them angry. In New York, 35% of respondents stated this for the 2011 survey versus 14% in 2010. In Los Angeles, 29% of respondents stated this for 2011 versus 14% in 2010. Communities worldwide are using the data from the survey to design solutions to ease traffic congestion. In the meantime, a lot of drivers still have to deal with delays on the road. The only thing drivers can control in the short term is their temper. Keep cool, breathe, and stay safe. If you are in an accident, you need support. The Accident Attorneys’ Group provides their clients the expert legal help to win results. You can feel confident that the car accident lawyers who represent you know your concerns, and the issues you face with crowded roads, freeways, and highways that can lead to automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, bus accidents, and truck accidents. The car accident lawyers know these issues from the inside and out—as legal professionals and as citizens who share the road and live in the communities. The Accident Attorneys’ Group serves clients in many locations across the United States, and has car accident lawyers to represent you in San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County, San Fernando Valley, Ontario, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, Fresno, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Las Vegas.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2085
__label__cc	0.590123	0.409877	Artstic nude teens Photographs of nude teenagers that prompted police to close a gallery exhibit in Australia's biggest city and launch an obscenity investigation were cleared Friday as non-pornographic, and police dropped their case against the artist. Police announced that no charges would be laid in connection to the photographs by leading Australian photographer Bill Henson. The decision appeared to clear the way for the reopening of the Henson exhibit at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. Police shut down the exhibit hours before it was to open May 22 and confiscated dozens of photographs of naked adolescent boys and girls to investigate whether they violated obscenity laws. Henson, 52, is a renowned artist whose work is displayed in galleries around the world. His work, known for its use of light and dark shading, encompasses a wide range of subjects — landscapes, cloudscapes, suburban and rural life, young people and old people. Nude Photography Pioneers: 10 Fine Artists Whose Visionary Work was a Source of Scandal Nude Photography Pioneers Whose Work Was a Source of Scandal \| Artland Magazine Depictions of nudity include visual representations of nudity throughout history, in disciplines including the arts and sciences. Nudity is restricted in most societies , but some depictions of nudity may serve a recognized social function. Clothing also serves as a significant part of interpersonal communication , and a lack of clothing in public is expected to have a social context. In Western societies, the three contexts that are easily recognized by a majority of individuals are art , pornography , and information or science. Any image not easily fitting into one of these categories may be misinterpreted, leading to disputes. At all times in human history, the human body has been one of the principal subjects for artists. It has been represented in paintings and statues since prehistory. Bella Thorne. Age: 29. Exquisite lady, the embodiment of passion and talent in one bottle. Fantastic appearance: flawless chest of the second size, wasp waist, well-groomed skin, attractive features. It is interesting to talk with me and hot in bed. I will become an adornment of fashionable parties and business negotiations, and the fact that I can get up in bed will drive you crazy with pleasure. Depictions of nudity Where to Buy Contemporary Art? More info. You can be interested in items within a given price range, willing to locate a specific artist's artwork, or a particular technique: Artmajeur offers the largest selection of original paintings, sculptures, photography, limited editions and prints. More than 2,5 millions works are presented on the site by emerging and established or famous contemporary artists from all corners of the world. Nude photography has been a genre of fine art photography since the inception of the medium in the middle of the nineteenth century; depicting the nude human body with a particular emphasis on form, composition, and the emotional qualities evoked by such. Nude photography has played an important role in establishing photography as an accepted medium of fine art practice. Nude photography should be distinguished from erotic photography, although there has been some genre overlap over the years. Videos pornographiques Svenska porn Free red head porn movies Naked photos uncensored Metro last light strip Really loud porn Son sex pic Wife orgy 25.06.2020 by Mejinn: Sir, I feel that your sexual ability is too strong, you should call her sister together to provide you with better sexual service! 21.06.2020 by Zolomi: Unless you hate the censoring mosaic garbage that all too often gets stuck on this kind of material.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2086
__label__cc	0.667378	0.332622	Wouldn't Wish It On a Dog This week's post was written by Jeff's dog Gizmo, transcribed and translated from the original Beagle. I'd like some food. Do you have food? Chicken is best, but any meat will do. Cheese is good,too. Just no bread and no vegetables. I'm not crazy for peanut butter, but cream cheese is AMAZING! Do you have food? Will you give me food? I have been asked what it's like to live with a mystery author. I have no idea. Is that what the main male is doing all day with his back to me? His dog? It's very rude. I don't actually read books because they are written for humans and require opposable thumbs to read, and besides, they smell like paper, which is fun to tear up but not to eat. Do you have any food? Before I lived in this building I spent a year in another place where there were many other dogs. The people who worked there weren't mean to us but they didn't care about us very much. They all looked the same because their outer fur was the same. I don't see color well but I could tell they were all in the same tint. Every once in a while one of them would pay attention to me and then I would sleep for a time. Sometimes I'd feel strange after that. I don't remember much about it. After some time--I don't really remember how much--I was taken in a van to a separate building filled with smells. I could tell many other dogs and some cats--I'm not at all fond of cats--had been here. There was the smell of food and of some interesting things to chew. Many of the other dogs from my first building were there. People came through who were not the people from my home, and many of them stopped to pet me. A few even picked me up and held me. One of them was the main male, who was there with the main female and the second male and female. They spoke to the woman who had brought me to this place, but then they left. It was quite confusing. Some time later--it might have been days--I was brought back to the building with the interesting aromas and the people I had met returned. This time we left together and I was taken to my home, where I have now lived for a much longer time than either of the two other buildings. Do you have any food? The days here are very stressful. I walk down the stairs each morning when the main female leaves her sleeping area and I lie on the couch for an hour or so until the main male asks if I want to go outside. I do, so we leave and smell the area. Other things happen and then we return, at which time I get a treat. I love treats. Assuming they're the right ones. Then it's time for some more lying on the sofa or on the floor if the sun is hitting that area. I stay there until the middle of the day, when the second male usually asks if I want to go outside. I usually do, so I smell more areas and get another treat. Occasionally, however, I am subjected to the ultimate indignity: I am lying on the sofa, minding my own business when a large van pulls up outside the building where we live. A man comes and, no matter how I protest, forces me into a place where water and soap are rubbed all over me. Then he waves a loud instrument at me and air pushes my fur. It's horrifying and I spend much of the rest of the day--after being returned to my home from 20 feet away--watching to make sure the man is not coming back. He does not. That day. But I never know when he will return. I spend most afternoons on the sofa, at which time the main male is sitting with his back to me and doing whatever it is he does. He does not make an interesting noise or smell especially unusual, so I tend to relax. The main female (and sometimes the second female, who is here only occasionally now) will take me outside for a longer time to smell the area. Then it's back to the building and the sofa, where I fall asleep from all the activity. But I will not sleep on the sofa all night because my pack is upstairs and I refuse to climb the stairs myself. The main male must carry me to my upstairs bed where I will sleep until the main females leaves her sleeping area and the next day begins. And that is what it is like to live with a mystery author. Will you give me food? The main male says to tell you that pitchers and catchers report in 15 days. Do you have any food? Jan 30, 2017 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Writing I Might (or Might Not) Have a Little List... I will not blog about politics... I will not blog about politics... I will not blog about politics... I will not blog about politics... So! What do YOU want to talk about? A friend whose opinion I respect recently got in touch with a request I'll admit I hadn't considered before. She said I should write into (assumedly at the beginning of) each book a list of the characters who will be involved in the story. She explained that it helps people who might have trouble keeping up with each name as it appears in the story, particularly those mentioned near the beginning that don't show up again until considerably later. My feeling on cast lists had always been that if a person can't remember who one of the characters is, I have not done my job adequately. I should have given that character a personality trait or at least a physical attribute meant to make the person stand out and be memorable. If I didn't do that, I should have done better. But my friend said that some readers have memory problems and need a reference point, which I'll admit I had not previously considered. So I've been going back and forth on the subject for a while now, and I think for the next Haunted Guesthouse novel (due from Crooked Lane Books in 2018) I might just add that list at the beginning. Now I have to go back over that manuscript and make a note of every lunatic I invented, then come up with a way to encapsulate each character without giving away the plot. Maybe this whole list thing isn't exactly the greatest invention since the wheel after all. But I'm still going to do it, I think. It feels like I'm cheating, somehow, but if readers will be helped to have a more enjoyable experience reading my book, I am not the person to argue. I'll throw it open to the vast population of DEAD GUY readers: Do you like, dislike, or are you completely indifferent to, character lists at the beginnings of mystery novels? There. I didn't blog about politics. But it was REALLY difficult not doing that. I deserve a cookie, or something. Pitchers and catchers report in 22 days. That's what's keeping me going right now. Jan 23, 2017 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Down Side Last week I posted the best (and probably only) advice I'd give to aspiring authors: Write the book you want to read. And I hinted--no, said straight out--that there was a down side to that practice, and that I'd tell you about that this week. So I will. It's not exactly what you'd call a huge impediment, but it's something I've noticed about myself and wonder whether other writers have the same issue. Writing what you want to read is undeniably the best way to write the book you should. This is your chance to fill a gap only you know exists. It's an opportunity to fly in the face of current, transient trends and write something you'll like even after you have to read it for the 17th time for copy editors before it inevitably goes out with some small errors in it anyway. But here's the thing: Once you've written the book you want to read, you might notice that nobody else is writing that. And that leads to a realization that most books you see on store shelves aren't what you want to read. This certainly might not apply to you, but I've found that I read less since I started writing books. Of course, that phenomenon is partly due to the fact that writing books takes up a lot of time and so I have fewer minutes to read other people's work in an average day. It also has something to do with the idea that I spend much of my day reading words, mostly my own, and by the time I have a break--usually at night--I want to do pretty much anything else. But there is that small component in a person like me, who as a child would spend an hour trying to pick out exactly the right comic book and then decide not to buy one at all, that says, "Nobody's going to hit your sweet spot exactly. Watch a movie instead." Granted, it's not a huge thing. I read nonfiction instead of crime fiction for the most part and am trying (again) to get myself into Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Bully Pulpit, about Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. I did recently read The Daily Show (The Book) and got through it very quickly. It only reinforced my belief that the world would be a better place if Jon Stewart decided to comment on a regular basis again. I don't want to overstate this. It's not that I hate all other authors' work because that's not remotely true. I still stop and read some favorite authors as soon as their latest is released and I will try things on audiobook because I like to have that going in the car on longer drives. But I do find that focusing on my writing (the book I want to read) is narrowing my choices of other books I might want to read. I don't know if other authors have this problem, and it hasn't stopped me from reading. But it has slowed me down some. Pitchers and catchers report in 28 days and it can't happen soon enough. What To Write. Period. Recently I--among many others--was asked on Facebook (the only place people interact anymore) what my advice would be for someone who "wants to be a writer." My immediate impulse was to tell the person that s/he is either a writer or not already and if there's any doubt, s/he is probably not. But I knew what this person was really asking so I decided to forego that answer because it was obnoxious. I'm on a new kick of trying not to be obnoxious. We'll see how long that lasts. I gave the question some thought, but not a lot because I already knew what I wanted to say. It's what I always tell people when the subject comes up (as it will when one is foolish enough to identify oneself as a professional writer). Because it really is what I think any aspiring published author should do. Write the book you want to read. There are many strategies for getting published, all of which are perfectly legitimate if they work for you and some of which include the idea that you should publish your work independently. Again, absolutely fine if that's your strength. But there is an equal number of theories bouncing around that are aimed at making the person espousing the theory money. Many of these purport to analyze the "current publishing market" and reveal what is being purchased from authors in the hope that you, the aspirant, can write something that's "hot" right now and get your foot in the door. Don't fall for those. They are the equivalent of saying you'll build a wall on the Mexican border to keep Mexicans out and Mexico will pay for it. Seriously. Who'd believe that? The fact is that writing to some magic formula that analyzes the market is a sucker's game. For one thing, you'll write a book you don't care about very much, and that means your writing will be considerably less good than it should be. For another, you'll be writing a story that might be in vogue now but won't be in the 18 months or so it takes to hit bookshelves, and editors and publishers know that. So scrap your plans for The Gone Girl on the Train and move on. Instead, write the book you want to read. Write the story you would immediately pick up if you saw it in a bookstore. Think about what isn't being written because you haven't written it yet, and make that. You'll be more enthusiastic about your own work, you'll be writing something only you could write and even if it doesn't get published, you'll be creating something that will make you proud. Next week I'll tell you about the down side of following this particular advice, but suffice it to say it won't have any effect whatsoever on your getting your work published. The down side is about you personally not about your work. That's right: I can tell you something about you that you don't know yourself yet. Tune in next Monday. Until then, get to work. Write the book you want to read. Pitchers and catchers report in 35 days. Jan 9, 2017 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Nothing of Substance They play John Lennon's "Imagine" in Times Square right before the ball drops every year. I don't think anybody really listens to the lyrics. As is my family's custom, we watched the Marx Brothers on New Year's Eve. This year, one of the selections was DUCK SOUP. It was eerily prescient. ("If you think this country's bad off now, just wait 'til I get through with it.") I thought the Yule Log might be the silliest thing to watch on TV when I was a kid. Now I realize it's tuning in to watch time pass while a million people stand for hours in the cold with silly hats and no bathroom. Watching a marathon of The Twilight Zone on a holiday weekend based strictly on the passage of time is a little cruel. Baseball should have no offseason. After the World Series, an alternative Major League should begin for four months playing only in warm climates. Every once in a while I just can't play guitar. (I'm never really very good.) I can't make simple chords. I figure what little ability I had is leaving me. Then I cut my fingernails and go, "Oh yeah." At the end of each year I look for a wall calendar for my office and end up making my own on iPhoto. This year it's pictures of acoustic guitars. Some people look at the beginning of the year as a chance for a sort of rebirth, an opportunity to take stock and make adjustments to improve themselves. I think there's something wrong with those people. Every year the Farmer's Almanac tells us in the Northeast that we're going to have a horrendously difficult winter. It's right about half the time. The Weather Channel has to stop naming winter storms. That's just stupid. People ask me what kind of music I have on when I'm writing. Right now I'm listening to Gerry Rafferty. If I never have to go another wedding that doesn't involve one of my children, I'm fine with that. How happy are clams, really? Go see LaLa Land. It's an end-of-the-year movie that's not depressing. How often do you get one of those? I just read The Daily Show: The Book. I am more convinced than ever that Jon Stewart is a genius and while he is clearly happier, we are lessened by his absence on television. Hey. I hope you have a really good year. For the record, I'd like to do the same. Let's put some effort into that. Jan 2, 2017 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen, Music, Publishing, Sports, Television, Writing See Ya, 2016! (And Don't Come Back!) A quick post today because it's the day after Christmas, there are five days to New Year's Eve (or as my daughter Eve calls it, "New Year's Me"), and almost everybody's off work today. It's been an exhausting year and it ain't getting any easier as it draws to a close. Personally, there have been ups and downs. Externally it's been mostly downs, but that's a topic for another time and place. And there's no point in recapping all that's gone on. Let's just end this day, this week, this year with the hope that things will improve. I know; it doesn't really seem like that's a realistic expectation right now, but it's possible. And keep in mind that we have some small say in our conditions if not our destinies. We can make our voices heard. We can disagree when we disagree and do so loudly. We can demand. Some things will be beyond our control, surely. But a new year represents, metaphorically, a re-beginning despite it actually being a continuation. You will not feel that much different next Sunday than you do the day before, depending on how much celebrating you do Saturday night. It's like your birthday--you're technically a year older, but you worked your way up to that moment by living through all the other ones--and you'll be pretty much the same when it comes. Time is a concept we have created to ensure we can be late for meetings. So here are my wishes for everyone who writes or reads this little blog we've put together: May you get all you deserve and maybe a little bit more. May you stay vigilant and conscious. May you enjoy your work and cherish those you love. Have a little fun. See at least one comedy. Read a book or four. Do all you can to enjoy yourself, but do no harm to yourself or anyone else. Pet a dog. Have a piece of cake. Try to understand, if not agree with, the other side of an argument. Care about people you don't know. Watch a baseball game. Go to the movies and DON'T TALK. See a live play. Listen to music, some maybe that you haven't heard before. Stay out of the hospital but maybe go to the gym. And above all, do what makes you happy. Here's to 2017. We don't know what it'll be. But there is hope in the idea that it could be anything. Dec 26, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Music, Publishing, Television, Writing It's Just My Opinion After reading Erin's Friday post I was... well, inspired is probably going too far. But I did take her point about the "unpopular opinions" fad going around Facebook. Yes, people were looking at that prompt and thinking they had to post things that were inherently negative: I hate this, I think this thing everybody likes is stupid, and so on. I have in fact contributed to the problem (saying that I can't stand The Wizard of Oz, an opinion I have expressed here). And since I think we have rarely been in a situation that required positivity more than the present day, I'd like to be part of the solution. So here are 10--mostly unrelated to crime fiction publishing--positive opinions. 10 Positive But Unpopular Opinions 1. I actually like the Electric Light Orchestra. "Serious" listeners to pop music think Jeff Lynne's 70s band that mixed classical strings and occasionally horns into the arrangement is silly and a sign that one is easily misled. I disagree. Trying something different often resulted in some spurts of genius (There has never been an arrangement besides Lynne's of Roll Over Beethoven that included actual Beethoven) and even though the later years were fairly disposable as Lynne lost interest ("The music plays/so loud and clear/but somehow I can't make you hear/the dream is gone") much of what is there is still worth listening to. 2. I think baseball is infinitely more exciting than football. "Baseball is a slow sport." Sure. If you're not paying attention. You want to be a casual fan who only has to look up every once in a while when 22 men try to knock each other down? Enjoy American football. For a "fast sport," I've never seen an activity that has so much downtime. But hey, to each his own. For me, the fact that something can happen at any time in a baseball game, and the situations that develop around each pitch make it a nail biter from beginning to end. 3. I think there should be cursing in cozy mysteries. I get it--many readers want a clean, safe space to read about violence, death and avarice. That's fine. There should be such a thing without question. But when I write a character who stumbles over a murdered corpse and has to say, "Oh, drat!" I think there should be an alternative. Perhaps two versions of each book should be issued: One with "bad" language and one sanitized for your protection. I don't think people who want a "clean" version are wrong. I just don't think they're all the readers. 4. I'm all for saying "happy holidays." People already think I'm a lefty liberal idiot, so I might as well go the whole way. What's wrong with acknowledging that not everybody celebrates Christmas? What's wrong with noting that not everybody celebrates ANYTHING? Those who rail against "political correctness" are missing the point. It's about accommodating those not in the majority to make everyone feel more comfortable. Where's the problem with that? 5. I still think Superman is the best hero. Keep your dark brooding types. Think of a better argument in favor of fair immigration: A being from another place comes here, has enough power to take us over and make us do his bidding, and instead decides to use his unique abilities and help in any way he can. There are lessons here and they aren't about who has the best things. 6. I think the Beatles are better than Beyonce. This is not to diminish Ms. Knowles at all. I thought the Beatles were better than Michael Jackson, Elton John and whatever other act was supposed to surpass them. Come up with better songwriting, better musicianship, more innovation and... you can't. 7. I think newspapers will survive. Yes, there will be massive changes and there will be downsizing. But I'm encouraged by the fact that the best investigative, in-depth reporting done during this past election cycle (about which no more will be said) was done by Newsweek and the Washington Post, followed by the New York Times. And in the week after the election, 41,000 people bought subscriptions to the New York Times. 8. I think independent bookstores can prevail over online sellers, and will. Sure, you can buy anything--literally--online and have it at your door within two days. But when you need a suggestion for your next read, do you want it to come from another reader, or from a algorithm? I once had a site recommend a certain DVD to me because I had bought a vacuum cleaner from them. The signs are there. Independent bookstores rule. 9. I think comedy is about to have a renaissance. And I don't mean just because political satire will be EVERYWHERE. I think the tide is turning in comedy and there will be a wider range of product to take in. It doesn't all have to be raunch or children's animation and nothing else, and soon we'll see that it's not. The recent Ghostbusters wasn't a great movie, but it did show off a tiny sample of the talents of Kate McKinnon, and she's going to be huge. 10. I believe the next four years will lead to something good. It'll take a while and it won't be fun, but activists will be born. Already the actor Michael Sheen has announced that he is no longer the actor Michael Sheen and is now the activist Michael Sheen. And the thing about activists is they're the people who get stuff done. Because they're, you know, active. Last positive note: Pitchers and catchers report in 56 days. Happy holidays, to those who celebrate! Dec 19, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Erin Mitchell, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Music, Publishing, Sports, Television, Writing How To Write 4 Books a Year E.J. Copperman Someone asked me the other day (meaning a day that wasn't today) about having four mystery series going at more or less the same time. And I'll admit that as a concept that sounds pretty impressive. "How do you do that?" she asked. I like to answer such questions honestly, and I did that time as well. "It's really not that hard," I told her. Because when you look at it the right way, it's not. The business of writing four 80,000-word (give or take) books a year is a question of organization and simple arithmetic. If you write 1,000 words a day and take no days off, you'll have a book in about 80 days. Fileas Fogg made it around the world in that much time, but it probably took Jules Verne longer to write that one. That means that you have about 10 days to revise and rest up before starting the next one. Four books a year, and you even get an extra five days off along the way. Six in a leap year. (Not the only reason to hope 2020 gets here in a hurry.) Well, that sounds like a lot of work. And it is, if writing 1,000 words a day takes you all day, but it shouldn't. Assuming you have a general idea of what you're doing just for that day (3-4 pages double spaced), even with the requisite moments when something stumps you for a bit, you should still have time to go to your day job if you have one, see the spouse and kids for a while, maybe even watch a little TV or read a book that somebody else wrote. Today (that being the day I wrote this and not today), I graded a number of student papers, watched a full-length movie with my wife, bought a holiday present for a loved one (admittedly online) watched a 90-minute concert online--you should check out the shows Circe Link and Christian Nesmith do from their home once a month--played a little guitar to clear my head, listened to a quiz show on the radio. And oh yeah, I wrote 1,000 words. The trick is to stop mystifying the process. Stop thinking of writing as a spiritual journey taken with a magical muse on your shoulder that must be indulged with rituals and processes, that can be stopped by a mythical disease called "Writer's Block," that happens only when the stars are properly aligned. Writing is a creative endeavor, certainly. We make a story where none existed before. But writing is really a job, and when it's treated like one, it can happen quickly and efficiently. Whether or not that decreases the quality of the product is for better minds than mine to determine. I think I do all right. It doesn't hurt to have a really good agent who can sell four series. That's key, and a deadline certainly provides ample motivation. So does making a living. But the trick is thinking of it as a job. Don't fret it, don't delay it, don't impose layers of artifice on it. Just do it. Dec 12, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Spouse on Haunted Hill--TODAY! So, this happened. Sometimes when you really need a lift (and let's just say November 2016 was not my favorite month for a few reasons), one just appears. And when Library Journal lists your novel as one of the Top 5 Mysteries of the Year, that's the very definition of a lift. But that's not why I gathered you here today. Although you might want to take a peek anyway. You see, this week the eighth (!) Haunted Guesthouse mystery novel, SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, is being published, and we need to discuss that. Because it's much like the other seven, except it's not. Here's how the publishing business works: The author (in this case, me) writes the book about a year before it's to be published. When, as in this instance, the novel is the last on the contract from the publisher, there is always the possibility that there will be no offer for more and this will be the last story in the series. Of course, it's a year ahead of time and nobody knows what's really going to happen, so there's also the possibility that the publisher WILL decide on more books or that (as with the Haunted Guesthouse series many months later) the publisher does pass but another publisher decides to continue with more books. But keep in mind that I'm writing this book a year ago, when everyone thought Jeb Bush would be the Republican nominee. As a writer, one has to juggle the possibilities. This was the eighth in the series. Subplots and character interactions had been developed from Book #1 and the writer, as an entertainer, would hate to leave the audience (that, hopefully, is you) without a satisfying ending. So with the state of cozy mystery publishing being what it was in 2015 and what it remains today, writing a conclusion to the series seemed at least a consideration. Don't want to frustrate loyal readers. But there was the other possibility, which in its own way came true. There WILL be more than eight Haunted Guesthouse mysteries. There will be at least 10 (that's a minimum of two more, the first of which is being written right now). So writing a definitive conclusion to the series would, in retrospect, have been a strategic error. Not to mention, there was no way of knowing when writing this book which way the wind was going to blow. So what does an author do? Well, I'm not going to tell you because I want you to read the damn book. But suffice it to say that SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL leaves its possibilities open while offering what hopefully would have been a satisfying conclusion to many things that had been brewing since the series began. It's a high wire act and one that you'll have to read for yourself to determine if I've pulled it off successfully. I look forward to hearing from you. No, really. I mean that. Suffice it to say: SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL brings back Alison Kerby's ex-husband Steven Rendell, to whom she refers, not at all fondly, as The Swine. Steven blows into town (Harbor Haven, New Jersey) with no suitcases but plenty of baggage: He's skipped out on a very large business deal, owes some shady people a good deal of money, and thinks they might be following him. So he asks if he can stay at Alison's Jersey Shore guesthouse because, this being February, surely she has an available room. Given his nickname, Alison would be happy to turn The Swine away. But he is the father of her now-teenage daughter Melissa and she (Melissa) would be devastated if anything happened to her dad. So in comes Steven, his debts, his pursuers and his infuriating habits. And before you know, somebody's dead, somebody's suspected and everybody is scrambling for answers. Meanwhile, Paul Harrison, the resident ghost detective, is distracted by an electrical experiment he believes might propel him into the next level of existence. Maxie Malone, the guesthouse's poltergeist, is carrying on her romance with Everett, the ex-Army ghost who was murdered in a gas station restroom, and Alison's boyfriend Josh is acting oddly. So it's a slightly more hectic week than usual at the Haunted Guesthouse. And it all wraps up. Or not. Depends, I suppose, on how one looks at it. I hope you take a look and decide for yourself. Possible Endings for SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL A random missile from Ft. Dix blows up the guesthouse; (rejected) The ghost of Abraham Lincoln strolls by and emancipates all the other ghosts (unlikely) Melissa grows up to be a paranormal scientist and finds Paul his path to the next level (I wouldn't count on it) It was all a dream (no comment) The Swine sees the error of his ways and remarries Alison (uh-huh) The Guesthouse is shut down by the local Board of Health (plausible, but boring) Something not listed here (most probable, and let's face it, I've read the book) Only one way to find out, and it starts this week. Dec 5, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Libraries, Publishing, Writing Contest Winners and Grumpiness! The winners of last week's contests: Copies of SPOUSE IN THE WIND, A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery (coming Dec. 6): KarenM Emily Goehner Adrienne Asher Free codes for the Audible Audiobook of THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND: PJ Meyers Amanda Naughton AM Caldwell Copies of THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND: Kathy Whitmore Phillis Carbone Please get in touch by emailing EJCopperman AT gmail DOT com with your mailing address for paper books and email address for audiobook codes. Thanks to everyone who entered! I hope all those who celebrated had a lovely Thanksgiving. November was such an odd, lousy month and the gathering of families can sometimes be so stressful that it can be a trial for some. It is not for my family, largely because we are of the same political stripe so those arguments are few and far between, and because over the years through logistics and circumstance, the group has dwindled to a manageable number. But never let it be said that I am not thankful for the wonderful readers, reviewers and visitors who help me continue to have a job, as well as for the professionals who help my work look like it's coherent even when my first draft might have been, let's say, a little rough. I am very happy to know each and every one of you, and if I seem grumpier than usual for the next month or so, you may rest in the knowledge that it is certainly no doing of yours. I get this way every year around this time. In the meantime, here's wishing everyone in the DEAD GUY family and every visitor we get here a tranquil and enjoyable end to a year a lot of us would like to forget very, very soon. Nov 28, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Only 2 Days Left... In case you missed it: SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, the eighth Haunted Guesthouse mystery (which is a source of amazement for me--8?) will be available to you in a mere two weeks, on December 6. More on that in a minute. It will also be the last of the Haunted Guesthouse mysteries to be published by Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Random House (which sounds like all the publishing companies but isn't). As the publishing business evolves into... something else, it was decided that the Guesthouse series sales numbers were good but not great, and so Berkley chose not to renew the contract or request more books. But the wild card here is that Josh is a really good agent. As soon as we were informed that the publisher wanted no more of the Guesthouse books, he was on the phone and it took a remarkably short period of time to contact Crooked Lane Books, the publishers of the Mysterious Detective Mystery series, where the Guesthouse, still well situated on the Jersey Shore in the fictional town of Harbor Haven, could find a new home. So worry not, Copperman fans. The Haunted Guesthouse will go on. SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, which I think you'll find a special installment in the series, will be followed by at least two more books, probably in 2018 and 2019 if I had to guess, which I don't. I'm writing #9 right now and I'll tell you the title as soon as I think of it. In SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, Alison's ex-husband Steven "The Swine" Rendell has returned, and not for a pleasure trip. He's being chased by some unsavory characters after a LOT of money he owes them, but he has a plan: Alison should sell the Guesthouse and give him the profits. Some plan. When one of The Swine's pursuers ends up in an alley with a couple of bullets in him, it's possible she's going to stop being an ex-wife and start being an ex-widow. Or something. Meanwhile Paul Harrison the ghostly detective is restless with his inability to leave the house and is working on an experiment to propel him into "the next plane of existence." Alison's daughter Melissa definitely doesn't have a crush on this guy in her class. And Alison's boyfriend Josh is acting strange. There's a lot going on at the Guesthouse, and there will be for books to come. So let's celebrate! It's time to move some inventory, by which I mean I'm hip-deep in books and need to get some out of my house and into yours. So let's have a contest. No. Let's have THREE contests! And let's make them as completely subjective and random as possible! Contest the First: Guesthouse fans--search the Internet for mentions of E.J. Copperman or the Haunted Guesthouse series (no fair finding REAL haunted guesthouses!). Find your favorite review of a Guesthouse book, pick out a quote and enter it in Comments below. My three favorites (I told you this would be subjective) will get a copy of SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. Contest the Second: For fans of the Samuel Hoenig Asperger's mystery series, you know of Samuel's special interest in a certain British pop band (if you just thought One Direction, you are disqualified). Name your favorite Beatles song below. If yours is one of the Comments I choose incredibly arbitrarily, you'll win a free CODE. I know, you're excited. Wait. That code will get you a FREE DOWNLOAD of the brand-new audiobook version of THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND performed by Mark Boyett, who was interviewed here not long ago! You plug in the code, you get the book for free, and I will give out THREE codes for that audiobook from Audible. Contest the Third: You like Samuel Hoenig, but you hate having someone read a book to you brilliantly? No problem! I'll give out THREE FREE copies of THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND on actual pages. To win this one, search the Internet for people rumored to have had Asperger's Syndrome or high-functioning autism in history (you'll be amazed how many there are, and no, we have no idea if any of this is accurate). Choose your favorite and mention him/her in a Comment below. Then get friends to vote for your favorite also in the Comments below (and mention your name). Top three vote getters win! (I could make an election comment here, but I'm exercising restraint.) Yes, you MAY enter more than one contest, but you may only enter each one time (no multiple answers). And even then, since I'm being completely arbitrary about choosing winners, you may NOT win more than one of the prizes, to be fair to all. Winners will be announced in this space next Monday, the 28th! Entries must be in by, let's say noon Black Friday, the 25th! Complicated enough? Get to work! How I Go On I had a whole post written that dealt with the events of last week. And I simply couldn't put you through it. If you're desperate for my take on what happened and what I believe is coming, go to my Facebook page, but there is certainly no obligation to do so if you're as weary of all this as I am. Instead, I'm going to soldier on, as I have been doing with the latest in a series you know about that I can't identify just yet for reasons. I've been working on it for 14 days, which I know because the word count currently stands at exactly 14,000. Haven't gone over yet, and I never go under 1,000 words a day. That's the rule. This book is taking me places I wasn't prepared to go, but they're interesting and hopefully will be fun for the reader. You might not even notice if you've read another in the series that this is a little unusual, because I'm not suddenly moving the action to Saturn or deciding the main character can fly. But in my mind it's different, and since my mind gets to see it first, that might be significant. Meanwhile, there's got to be an idea for the book after this one. With a series, you're really telling one LONG story that has episodes, like a television series. So there has to be some consistency but there always has to be an element of change in each story. You (the author) don't want to keep writing the same book over and over, and there is that danger if you're not thinking ahead. So the idea for the next one, in a different series, is germinating as we speak. If I think it's any good, it might show up at a bookstore near you in 2018. Or not. But there's also the book I wrote about a year ago and haven't seen since. That arrived in the mail this week with copyediting to be checked against. Go remember what I was thinking a year ago. It was such a simpler time. I read each page and have some vague recollection of my original intention, but the upside is that it's not a bad read. Problem: Reading all day makes me sleepy. Not a good endorsement for my own work, but the truth is it would happen no matter whose book I'd be reading. It just makes me need the occasional nap, is all. So all at once I'm dealing with the past, the present and the future. It's not always easy to be optimistic but it is necessary to keep going no matter what. Those 1,000 words a day have to get written. If I have any regard for my own reputation it would be nice if I strove for them to be good words. A silly story can inspire, it can entertain, or it can be a colossal pain when written badly. There's time for revision and restructuring later. Right now it's just about writing. A thousand words. Every day. Not just because it's November but because it's my job. Because the important thing is to keep going. First a word from our sponsor: THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND is now available for preorder as an audiobook. Audible Studios is offering the third Asperger's Mystery novel from E.J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen starting November 15, but you can order it now. This concludes the message from our sponsor. More important: My last word on America's longest bad acid trip: Votevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevote. That was my last word on the subject. And now: There has never been an accurate depiction of writing in movies or on television. I understand why that is true: Watching someone write is almost as much fun as watching the blank screen but offers less hope for improvement. Even people who write in teams like collaborators or television writing rooms are given to long, quiet, inert phases where nothing is happening. The most you can expect in terms of visual excitement is the writer pacing. The largest sign of progress is... typing. So it makes sense that no film or television program has ever successfully made drama out of writing. Writers in movies and TV tend to be doing something other than writing when we see them. They are solving crimes (Castle), solving even more crimes (Murder, She Wrote), solving crimes based on their work (The Raven), or searching for inspiration while probably falling in love (all other movies with writers in them). What's interesting about the depictions in popular entertainment is how much the stories get wrong, given that they were all written by, I'm gonna say writers. Assigned with the impossible task of making the routine of someone like me interesting, most writers punt. They fall back on the popular tropes that have worked before and don't try for a new approach. I understand that impulse too, given the high level of difficulty involved. I wouldn't want to have to write an accurate but engrossing portrait of a writer at work. On the other hand, even writing a character who happens to be an author and, yes, is helping to solve crimes in the Mysterious Detective Mystery series, I have attempted to provide at least a little realism in the depiction. Rachel Goldman is a mid-list mystery author who just grinds it out. She writes 1,000 words a day (stop me if this sounds familiar) no matter what. She hates revisions. She watches the success of other writers and doesn't so much envy it as wonder why she isn't doing as well. Rachel is constantly noticing things she might be able to use in a future book, and is always slightly disappointed in the way her work turns out. It's never quite what she envisioned, but she doesn't have time for that because she has to get another 1,000 words together for today. She deals with the publishing business' foibles as many of us do: Rachel mostly ignores the industry and relies on her agent and her editor for information. She knows some booksellers but not enough. She has an assistant (which most of us definitely don't, but I wanted Rachel to have someone to ask for research and to talk to, so her assistant works only twice a week). She deals with her small group of fans gratefully but with some astonishment, wondering why they might be so devoted to her creation. The whole thing about her character leaping off the page and showing up at her door is another story entirely. Personally, I'm not looking for the accurate portrait of a working writer in popular entertainment because I sincerely believe it would be too dull to provide much amusement. But if anyone in the business would like to discuss putting Rachel up on the screen, they will find no resistance from me. Bring it on, Hollywood. Vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote. Nov 7, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing Staring at the Blank Page Again. Ahh. Yeah, yeah, Halloween. Ghosts, goblins (What's a goblin?) (Wait. No. Don't tell me.). Vampires. Dressing up like (if you're an adult) an idiot. Giving out candy. Halloween. Yay. Now that that's over with: America's long nightmare is very nearly over. No, no that one, although I think the sigh of relief on Nov. 9 will be audible from Jupiter. I'm talking instead about the fact that this week (in fact, today or tomorrow) I will begin writing a new novel, and the period of inactivity since I turned in my last one will be blissfully done. So let me say, I'm back! And that's good for America. Because whichever way you're voting, you don't want me hanging around with nothing to do. I can't tell you anything about the story I'm about to start--yet--but suffice it to say it'll be good to be back at work. I've told you before that I get antsy when there's no work in progress, and nothing I could have started in the last, what, two months? was holding my interest enough to continue. So thanks to Josh and his hard work, I'm back in the saddle (a stupid metaphor) and am concocting story lines even as we speak. We're not really speaking. I'm typing this a couple of days before you're reading it, unless you read it at some later date or... this is getting complicated. You know what I mean. Anyway, it'll be a relief of sorts to get into the 1,000-word-a-day habit again. Except that I'll need to come up with that thousand words a day, which is always something of a brain teaser. See, I've often described my work as "comedy with a mystery in it," and I believe in that, but the fact is, those mystery plots are not easy to devise or maintain. That's the rough part of this job. It was once noted (and I have before quoted) by Joseph Mankiewicz that "the difference between life and the movies is that a script has to make sense, and life doesn't." The same is true in every kind of storytelling. Every notion that comes across my feverish little brain while I'm punishing my keyboard for not coming up with the ideas itself has to add up. I can't throw a plot point out there, decide it's not anything, and just leave it hanging. I can't include some outlandish story twist and never explain it. I have to keep all this stuff in my head for the period of months while writing the thousand words a day. And being a "pantser" from way back (I grew up in Way Back, New Jersey), I don't worry about the plot holding water in advance. I just try to get through the day's assignment. Often the best plot points come when I'm just trying to find the end of the chapter and keep the reader interested enough to start the next one. I've written myself into many a corner that way, and then had to fight my way out. Some of those are the best story points I've ever written. Others aren't. Nonetheless I'm looking forward to starting up again, and maybe I'll do that as soon as I finish writing this post. Except... how am I going to start this time? Oct 31, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Choosing a Favorite Sometimes at an "event," where I'll show up to discuss a book and perhaps try to persuade one or two people--and believe me, it's not unusual that I'm talking to one or two people--to purchase one, or two, the readers there will ask questions of the author, who is me. Most of them are easy to answer. "How long did it take you to write this book?" Usually somewhere in the area of three months, given my 1000-word-a-day habit and time enough to revise. "Are the characters all based on people you know?" Actually, no they're not. "Where do you get your ideas?" Lowe's. Used to be Home Depot, but I disagree with their politics. "Which one of these is your favorite?" A favorite? Among my (so far) 18 novels? Including SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, coming a mere six weeks from tomorrow? You might as well ask me which is my favorite of my children, and I only have two of those. The favorite is the one you just finished, because thank goodness that's over with. The least favorite is always the one you started with, because it's been 14 years and you haven't seen a royalty check yet. Ingrate. There are things I like about every book I've written. There are things I absolutely detest about every book I've written. Larry Gelbart once told me he wouldn't watch reruns of MAS*H because he'd want to go back and rewrite each one. I completely get that. I'd like to fix all the stuff I didn't see until much later, or that I wouldn't have thought of then but would now. They'd all be so much better if I could just issue revised editions every year. But sales figures and sanity prohibit such a thing. Besides, reading stuff I've written makes me sleepy, which slows down the process. And telling you which book was my favorite, if I had one, would be a lose-lose situation anyway. Just because the author likes it best doesn't make it his/her best work. There are sentimental reasons about the time the novel was being written that might color the memory, or a certain character manifested from a cherished memory (I sneak my late father into my books on regular occasions) that make it special to the writer while the reader would never even know such a thing existed, let alone get the emotional benefit. I tell readers I don't have a favorite among my books because 1) It's true and 2) I don't see how that will help you. If you're interested in an author's work but are not familiar with each title, read the plot description on the back (or the online page for the book--there's plenty of information available). See which one appeals to you. Because what I think is irrelevant to your enjoyment of my work. Now, I could tell you which PAGE of mine is my personal favorite, and maybe I will next week... When I Was 45 It Was a Very Good Year We've just recently passed the 14th anniversary of the publication of For Whom the Minivan Rolls, the first Aaron Tucker mystery and not coincidentally my first published novel. (I had to look it up, but apparently the book was published officially on October 1, 2002.) So I've been in this business for the past 14 years. And it has been quite the ride. With the publication of my 18th novel (and 20th book overall, since there are two non-fiction titles) looming on December 6, it seems a good time to sort of take stock and recap. Not about each book specifically, because even I would get sick of that somewhere around Book #11, but about some of the experiences that have come along the way. With Minivan I attended my first mystery book conventions, which I have learned to say because when you tell people you're going to a "mystery convention," they think you're attending an event and won't know what it's about until you get there. This one was in Philadelphia, PA and was the late lamented Mid-Atlantic Mystery Convention and Book Fair. It was, in fact, the last one held, which worries me because I start to think it's my fault. There I met Mindy Starns Clark, with whom I couldn't have had less in common except that she turned out to be a very nice person who shepherded me through the event. Mindy remains a friend to this day and actually attended a few of my book launch parties despite living 90 minutes away. She brought her husband and children. Later that year came my first Malice Domestic conference at which I met a number of friends I am proud to count on my side to this day: Leann Sweeney, Lorraine Bartlett, Toni L.P. Kelner, Doris Ann Norris (hi, Doris Ann!), Con Lehane and Jeff Markowitz, among others. I was operating at this point without an agent and had no idea what I was doing, so watching friendly professionals go through the experience of a larger conference had a great deal of value for me. And Leann still believes, for reasons that defy explanation, that I stole a chair from the hotel, which I emphatically did not. Leann is given to these flights of fancy. It's probably why she's in the fiction business. The chair is still in the hotel. That's all I'm saying. That was also around the time I attended my first street fair/party at The Black Orchid, the great NYC mystery bookstore that is also late and lamented. More friends met, including my buddy Chris Grabenstein, now a habitué of the New York Times bestseller list, who introduced me some years later to my current excellent agent. (Hi, Josh!) I bought my first Harlan Coben book at that party and had it signed. And that's all from the first book. Perhaps I'd best condense: Discovered I like speaking in front of a crowd and discussed Asperger's Syndrome (which apparently also is late, not necessarily lamented) at a conference run by the amazing Lori Sheri; Moved to a (much) larger publishing company after signing with my first agent courtesy of a recommendation from my good friend Julia Spencer-Fleming, the nicest person in crime fiction; Launched Elliot Freed, about whom there might be news soon, in the Double Feature mystery series thanks to the wonderful Shannon Jamieson Vazquez; Won a Barry Award for best short story at a Bouchercon in Cleveland, OH, and accepted the award at a ceremony held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (and impressed them so much they retired the award for short stories immediately after); Started the Haunted Guesthouse mystery series, again thanks to Ms. Jamieson Vazquez, and created an odd character named E.J. Copperman; Began collaborating with myself on the Asperger's Mystery series thanks to Terri Bischoff (hi, Terri!). Received countless wonderful emails and messages from people who have read the books and enjoyed them. And a few from people who just read them; Got to host a talkback at a Broadway show because I write mystery books; Started writing the Mysterious Detective Mystery series with great help from Josh and Matt Martz at Crooked Lane Books; Met a boyhood crush and idol when Kathryn Leigh Scott showed up at a Malice Domestic; Got to know Linda Ellerbee because she blurbed one of the early books and became a friend; Met many other wonderful authors like Cornelia Read, Rosemary Harris, Lee Child, Harley Jane Kozak, Jennifer Stanley and so many others I'm afraid to go on because I'll leave someone out; Met great fans and readers like Dru Ann Love, Fiona Marsden (hey, Fi! How are things Down Under?), our own Shaz Wheeler (don't be a stranger, Shaz) and again, I'll stop now for fear of offending those I should mention and don't; Started a blog with some friends and now have passed 600,000 views! Those are just a few highlights. Someday when I'm pretentious enough to attempt a memoir perhaps there will be countless more. But enough about me. (And I have that book coming in December and at least three more next year!) It's been a pretty good 14 years. Most Guys Don't Do That. No. I have (almost) entirely refrained from discussing this massively insane election season on this site. We are for the most part devoted to the publishing of crime fiction, and my opinions on one candidate or another have been relegated largely to social media. I did make one slip here, and no one seemed offended, but I am cognizant that visitors don't come here to find out what I think about politics and I respect that. The events of the past few days have brought forth something I feel that I need to address. No, I'm not going to tell you who to vote for if you're an American, although I'm sure it will be interpreted that way by some. That's not my intention. What I feel overwhelmingly obligated to do is to debunk one toxic idea that has been floating around since Friday. If you see that as a denouncement of a candidate, so be it. But that's not what I'm trying to do. Entirely. This is the truth: No, women. All guys don't talk about you that way. Not me and not anyone I know. We don't do that, we never did, and it's not normal. What is being discussed on the infamous "hot mic" tapes is nothing less than sexual assault. It is the talk of two men who felt privileged enough to do whatever they wanted with whomever they wanted whether it was desired by the woman or not. That's not "locker room talk" and it's not "boys being boys." And it bothers me when the defense is that "all guys talk like that." We really don't. I can't begin to tell you how angry I am that I have to defend that position. Luckily, the women who know me don't have to be told it's true about me. But they might think other men really do have this level of degradation and objectification as a default position. And some, I'm sure, do. Don Draper might have retired, but he isn't extinct yet. But not "all guys." Not even close to "all guys." As far as I can tell you from personal experience, no guys I know. We're all looking at each other right now incredulously. We're astonished this kind of thing is seen--by anyone--as acceptable or "mainstream." It's not. And now, when I walk down a random street and see a woman--any woman--walking toward me, I feel the urge to say, "Not me! I don't say that stuff! I don't even think it!" I don't want them thinking such things when they see my son on the street, either. Because they'd be wrong both times. A long time ago when I was in my early twenties, I was essentially a walking hormone and unattached. I was working in New York City and living on my own and yes, I spent quite a bit of time with my friends, most of whom were in similar social circumstances, discussing various women we knew and hoped perhaps to date. Guess what--we didn't talk like that then, either. It's not normal, it's not accepted, it's not okay and it's not to be dismissed as "locker room talk." And that, in addition to all the rest, is what I object to personally. Now. Vote for whomever you please, but please vote. And when you see or read me, please don't think that "all guys" act like that. We surely don't. Back to crime fiction next week, I promise. Oct 10, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen See Me at Moonstone! Jeff Cohen/E.J. Copperman Tuesday night, October 4, I'll be "appearing" (as if out of thin air) at Moonstone Books/Twice Told Tales in Flemington NJ at 7 p.m. I/we will be signing THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND and any other books you buy from our good friend Marilyn that evening (but just the ones I wrote--you can't get me to sign the new Bruce Springsteen book). So if you're even near the area, please drop on by! Here's the info. Oct 3, 2016 10:58:49 PM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Marilyn Thiele, Publishing, Writing Sed-a-give??? Many people of my heritage are spending today and tomorrow in solemn reflection of their past year's transgressions and the possibility of a better year to come. I don't do the spiritual thing so much, but I do have a religious holiday this week and it comes Wednesday night. Please don't call me that evening. For the first time in many years, the 1974 classic Young Frankenstein will be shown in theaters around the country. Mel Brooks (if I have to tell you who he is, just come back next week) has said he requested the showings as a tribute to the late Gene Wilder and Brooks will deliver a live (on-screen from, the 20th Century Fox lot in Los Angeles) introduction to the film. It's a lovely gesture and a reminder of quite possibly the best comedy ever made. With a 1927-Yankees kind of cast and a script by Wilder with contributions from Brooks, it's a lovely, faithful homage/lampoon of the great James Whale Frankenstein films of the 1930s starring Boris Karloff (first just "Karloff") as the Creature (later "the Monster"). And if ever a film could be said to exist as a labor of love this is that film. Brooks was never as clever a director, framing things as Whale would have, playing each joke--and there are tons of jokes--right to the limit but never past it. It's a loving film and staged like a real horror movie except that everyone in it is very silly. And wow, was there ever a better-cast comedy? I don't think so. Wilder of course takes the part of the young doctor, so disgusted with his family's history that he pronounces his last name "Fronk-on-steen." His assistant (henchman), upon hearing this, insists his name is pronounced "Eye-gore," and given that he's played by the sublime Marty Feldman, the name sticks. The creation (because it wouldn't be a Frankenstein movie if there was no man made of previously-used parts and lightning) is played by Peter Boyle in what might be his finest performance. I could go all the way down the cast list--Kenneth Mars, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr and almost unrecognizably Gene Hackman--and there isn't one who isn't perfect. Not good, not great, perfect. Every one. Wilder was perhaps the master of playing comedy through character. Feldman is the wonderful character who comments on the action because he doesn't have to care. Boyle is the enormous little child trapped in a hulking dangerous body. Leachman plays menace and heart. Every situation is set up and executed with care and thought. Every scene is framed and shot with intelligence. It's not just about being funny, although it is always that. It's about being true to the subject matter. That's Mel. It's about being hilarious but with heart. That's Gene. It's about a group of comedy all-stars that know they're doing something special and are clearly having a great time they don't want to end. That's all of them. So Wednesday night, if you get the chance, go see Young Frankenstein in a theater with an audience. It's where comedy is supposed to be, and this is the greatest comedy ever filmed, I've decided. And don't look for me then because I will be with my people, after a celebratory dinner, worshipping at our collective temple and hoping for a miracle, that something might be this good again. It doesn't seem possible, but religious holidays are all about faith, aren't they? Oct 3, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Writing This is the one thing you'll read today that isn't about The Debate. Jerry Lewis, at the age of 90, has a new film out now. He didn't write or direct this one, although he did that quite often decades ago; now he's "just an actor." And it's in an indie film about a elderly man who suspects his late wife of 65 years might have had a secret lover. That's right. Jerry's doing his dramatic thing now. It's not the first time by any stretch. Lewis made a film with Martin Scorsese (oh yes, he did) called KING OF COMEDY in which he held his own quite nicely and without any shtick against no less a talent than Robert De Niro. Now, I've never been a huge Jerry Lewis fan despite his growing up in the same town as I did. The man-playing-a-child thing has never really worked for me and I always saw him as something of an embarrassment. I'm not French enough to appreciate his genius, it seems. But his move into the "serious" is symptomatic of a larger condition, one that afflicts many if not all people who amuse others for a living. No less a personage than Groucho Marx performed Gilbert & Sullivan (granted, not exactly Oedipus Rex but still) in his later years. His brother Harpo played a mute murder witness on television in the 1950s. Charlie Chaplin played a serial killer. Neil Simon wrote plays about seriously dysfunctional families, addiction and mental illness. Carol Burnett, Dick Van Dyke and Lucille Ball all had the urge to play alcoholics and homeless people. Albert Brooks has lately taken to specializing in tough guys in the classier action films. If Mel Brooks (no relation to Albert, in that "Brooks" isn't either's real name) decides to play King Lear sometime soon, you'll know why. It's about respect. You see, those of us who decide to be funny professionally--and I count myself on the low end of those, since I do not actually perform comedy or write it for others to perform--get tired of the backhanded compliments. (My favorite is "effortless." HA!) We chafe at being relegated to the kiddie section, thought of as "cute" and "charming" and--in our eyes--not appreciated for the hard work and, dare I say it, talent we bring to the table. Please don't take this too far. I'm not complaining about being seen as the "humorous" author. It's what I set out to be. And the idea of "effortless" comedy is the way it's supposed to be. If you see the joke coming or the effort behind it, you won't laugh. But if you notice the number of funny mysteries given Edgar Awards or comedies given Oscars, you'll notice they're very few and extremely far between. Respect comes in a lot of varying forms. Mel Brooks himself was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President Obama just last Thursday. He had to wait until he hit 90 to get it, but it was a very big honor and Mel accepted it with aplomb, kneeling at the president's feet in a joke about how heavy the medal hung around his neck must have felt. The press then speculated on whether Mr. Brooks had tried to pull the president's pants off. So lately, with far too much writing time on my hands, I've been trying to decide what my next opus might be and wondering if, after all these years of being cute and amusing, I might want to tackle something that would get some R-E-S-P-E-C-T, as Ms. Franklin put it. (It bothers my daughter that she also insists she is "taking care of TCB," as that means Aretha is "taking care of taking care of business." The redundancy annoys Eve. We raised that girl right.) Am I at that crossroads in my career? Do I crave the respect of the literary world more than a few cheap laughs in a tawdry (I've been waiting for years to use the word "tawdry") mystery novel? Is it time to dig deep into my psyche and pull out some dark, potentially depressing insight in an effort to be seen as "important" by critics? My role in the literary world, minor though it is, is the right one for me. I get more joy out of a reader sending an email about a joke in my book than I would out of the National Book Award, which I have a zero percent chance of ever getting no matter what I write (you can ask Nate Silver, and he'll say, "Who?"). I think the world needs more silly people, not fewer. I've read the "important" books. Largely, they are boring. Yeah, I know. I'm a Philistine. So whatever it is I decide to tackle next (that is not a football reference, as I do not follow football--my sports year ends Sunday), you can count on one thing: It will try to make you laugh. Whether or not it succeeds will depend on who you are and how well I do my job. And maybe there will be some other emotions at play in the story as well, but it will definitely not be completely serious. I don't do that, and I have no intention of starting now. Who am I, anyway? Jerry Lewis? Sep 26, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Signs That You Aren't Funny I have often, in this space and elsewhere, urged those who are not funny to avoid trying to write comedy. This is not stated from a superior point of view, in that I am actually quite incapable of writing an entire story that is serious. I understand the impulse to do the other, but I'm here to warn the humor-impaired off the impulse. It won't be good for you and it won't be good for anyone else. But the question that might arise from that statement is clear: How can I be sure I'm not funny? It's a reasonable query and one that should be addressed seriously. Alas, if you read that previous paragraph, you know I'm not the man for the job if those are the criteria. So let's consider it: You think you might not be funny, and that's a problem because you'd like to write a funny story. How can you be certain? Maybe you're hilarious and you don't know it. Or, conversely, it's possible you are the least funny person on the planet but you believe yourself to be the reincarnation of Groucho Marx. Either way, you need a little guidance, and I'm here to help. Signs You Aren't Funny You say something in the spirit of humor and nothing happens. Crickets chirp. People look uncomfortable. If anyone's still wearing a wristwatch, s/he looks at it. This is a clear signal. Think of writing a tragedy. You're suited to it. Someone asks you how you're doing and your impulse is to respond, "As well as Donald Trump." Now you haven't just not said something funny, you have waded into a political statement and worse, nobody knows what you mean. The only thing you've demonstrated is an ability to annoy people on both sides of the aisle. Think about becoming a speech writer. For Donald Trump. You say something you think is hilarious and people take you seriously. "Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig's disease," you say. "What are the odds?" Your friend explains patiently that the condition is called ALS and it just took on the name of the famous Yankee AFTER he passed away from it and... Never mind. You're not funny. You, a rabbi, a priest and a minister walk into a bar and nobody thinks that's at all amusing. Your favorite comedian of all time is Señor Wences. Your idea of a riotous comedy film is something directed by Ingmar Bergman. You wish W.C. Fields had just gone to an AA meeting. Just one. That poor man. You try to charm a woman you just met with your wit and find out from a friend later that she was listening to a hockey game in one ear. You think Seth Rogen should option Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis as a starring vehicle for himself. Wait. That's not a bad idea. Scratch that. Forget I said anything. Get me Seth Rogen's phone number. Someone asks who your favorite Marx Brother is and you answer, seriously, "Karl." Worse, "Gummo." Your idea of a gag present is a Target gift card. You walk into a party ready to slay them all with your ready wit and before you can speak everybody asks, "What's wrong?" I hope this has proven to be the public service for which it was intended. Meanwhile, keep in mind that THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND isn't just out there buying itself. Same is true of WRITTEN OFF. And I'm just getting ready for SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. Stay tuned. Sep 19, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Children's Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Music, Publishing, Television, Writing It's been almost a month since I finished the first draft on a book that won't be out for another year, and we'll discuss that then. The key here is that I haven't been working on a new manuscript for 28 days. My family is becoming concerned. I'm not the same person when I'm not writing. I'm more anxious, more edgy, less fun to hang around with. I don't have that evolving story to occupy my mind and so I think about other things that are less productive, like the presidential election (yikes!) or my usual neuroses (you don't want to know). It's not pleasant for anybody. When I'm not writing I do crossword puzzles (when I'm not working on newspaper articles or teaching) more than I should. I can be found on Twitter and Facebook far too often. I nap during the day so I can't sleep at night. My usual aid to help me sleep--thinking about the story I'm writing--doesn't really come into play so much. And already I can hear you say, "But Jeff, the solution is so easy--just start writing something!" If I weren't in such a cranky mood because I'm not writing I would certainly see the merit in your argument, but it ain't that simple. Right at the moment, I'm not under contract to do much of anything and the ideas I have for standalone novels are, let's say, not inspiring me a huge amount. I started one novel and am currently, after weeks of work, on p. 11. Usually by this point I should be closing in on the 100 page point if you're keeping score at home. It's just not grabbing me. And if I'm not interested, expecting readers to eventually find this little tome enchanting is somewhat more optimistic than typically describes my nature. I'll get back to it, as soon as I run out of excuses not to. When I go to the gym rather than work on a story I'm writing, well, I really hate going to the gym. I'm looking for sweet inspiration every morning, noon and night/but these days it just keeps on passing me by.--Gerry Rafferty, "A Dangerous Age When I'm not writing I tend to obsess on what I laughingly refer to as "my career." I focus on minutiae and worry about the future months--sometimes years--before any development can reasonably be expected. I bother those involved (right, Josh?) when there's no need to and then instantly regret it. I concern myself with making up for the expected destitution I will no doubt experience because nobody's ever going to give me money to write anything again, and I don't know how to do anything else. It's not a fun time, is what I'm saying. This is not a plea for help, I promise. I'll get bitten by the bug of some story idea sooner or later--hopefully sooner--and that will set the wheels rolling once more. But right now it seems like a better idea to check the Amazon sales ranking numbers (the only ones I have available to me) on THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND. Or pre-orders of SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. Or GHOST IN THE WIND. Or WRITTEN OFF. So you see, it is possible to fill the day. I can try to learn the chords to the Beatles' Because again. Or perfect my rendition of Broken by Circe Link. Not for any particular reason, but because the guitar is five feet from my right hand and that seems much easier than anything else. I'd work on my golf swing but I've never actually played golf in my life and this doesn't seem like the time to start. Time between books. It's happening to a writer you know almost every day. And it makes us crazy. More crazy. Crazier than usual. Sep 8, 2016 8:09:05 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Here's Why I Hate Rain Man I'll start this by saying that the third Asperger's mystery novel, THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND, will be officially published on Thursday, September 8. That's one day after my brother Charlie's birthday, which is entirely unrelated to the book or anything I'll be posting about today. Happy birthday, Charlie. Of course I'd love it if you purchase a copy of said book on the day it's published, if for no other reason than the fact that publishers look at numbers right after the book comes out and make predictions about total sales, which affects the possibility that future contracts will be drawn necessitating further books in the series. So there's that. But this installment in the series (and you don't have to start at the beginning, but you can) is a little different, and the reason for that is that I hate Rain Man. When the Tom Cruise/Dustin Hoffman movie about a slick Hollywood Yuppie (you could say that then) who finds out he has an autistic older brother was released in December 1988, my wife was pregnant with our son Joshua, although we didn't know him yet. I thought it was a pretty good movie that was somewhat predictable, that Hoffman and Cruise were both very good and that it would win a bunch of awards and people would talk about the "courage" necessary to make it, both of which turned out to be true. And then I didn't think much of it until sometime in 1994. It took a while for Josh to be diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning (and even that term is demeaning) disorder (see previous parenthetical statement) on the autism spectrum. He was about six years old when we finally got that official diagnosis after the first psychologist we met told us our son was "eccentric." I had told him we weren't wealthy enough to be eccentric and that Josh therefore needed to be talked down to neurotic, and the doctor clearly believed he had found the genetic link he'd been looking for. But it wasn't until he was starting kindergarten that we started dealing with other parents on a regular basis, and at various points Josh's Asperger's, which was not a well-known term at the time, would be brought up in conversation. And since nobody had heard of Asperger's, the term "autism" would invariably be mentioned, and that's when you'd hear it. "Like Rain Man, right?" they'd say with a knowing nod. Well, actually, no. Josh isn't a bit like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. He doesn't dress in the same clothes every day, he is not a "savant" who can tell you how to win at blackjack or how many matches have fallen out of the matchbox, he does not fly into a rage if he misses a particular television show (although that might have more to do with TiVo), he does make eye contact now and again, he is charming and conversant and it has never once been suggested that he be institutionalized because he poses a threat to the safety of his younger sibling, because he never has. Are there people with autism who are like the character Raymond in Rain Man? Sure there are. Are all people with autism like the character? Good lord, no. And that's the problem. The general public hears autism and they picture Hoffman in that movie. The more literate think they know what autism is because they read or saw The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which I know many very smart people loved a lot. When I created the character of Samuel Hoenig for the Asperger's mystery series (which I was calling the Questions Answered series, but that was then and this is now), I was keenly aware of the danger and the responsibility involved in presenting a fictional character with a disorder on the autism spectrum. What I feared--although I knew my audience would not be anywhere near that of Rain Man or Curious Incident-- was that people with little knowledge of the spectrum would read a book from Samuel's point of view and say, "Now I know what autism is like." Well, there's a reason it's called a "spectrum." Because the condition affects so many people and affects each in a singular, unique way, it is dangerous to suggest that one depiction, or even five, cover the range of what it entails. The last thing I wanted to do was create a character whose depiction by extension excluded the vast majority of those who would be defined as he was defined. So that brings us to THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND (you thought I'd forgotten?). It has always been my intention to write a novel in which Samuel encounters a number of other people diagnosed with some form of autism so I could depict it as being more than one thing. I believe the first book in a series should engage the reader (they all should) and set up the premise for the series as a TV pilot episode does. The second should reinforce what the first did and settle the main characters' relationships so the reader knows what to expect. That way you can do what they DON'T expect at any time for the rest of the series. The third book, in my opinion, is where the characters become whole. It's where you can write about them and not the mystery of the week (year). And in this case, it was where I could illustrate a very small section of the autism spectrum. In THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND, Samuel's client (Samuel runs a business called Questions Answered, which does just that) is a young man diagnosed with autism. Because he is aware of his condition and his personal issues with it, Tyler Clayton can't trust that a guy he knows from the convenience store, Richard Handy, is really a friend. He asks Samuel to confirm that fact. During the course of his research, much happens that complicates Samuel's work, like Richard Handy being shot to death and Tyler being arrested for the crime. But it will also bring Samuel into contact with a number of other people diagnosed with autism, and hopefully the reader will notice that each one acts differently from the others. That's what this book is about for me. You might find it's about something different for you. Because even the neurotypical are not all the same. P.S. Yes, today is Labor Day in the U.S., but hey, I have a book coming out on Thursday. If you want to read my comments on the holiday, please see what I said this time last year. Sep 5, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Gene Wilder. Hero. I don't often post twice in a week, but I lost a friend yesterday, a friend I never met and never spoke to. Many of you might feel the same way. Gene Wilder was a true hero of mine. I don't have many. There are people whose work I admire greatly and people who I might try to emulate under select circumstances, but not many heroes. I define a "hero" as a person who does something so extraordinarily well, and who lives by all credible accounts an admirable, respectable life, that I look up to that person as a model. I never try to be anyone other than myself, but sometimes we all need an ideal to which we can aspire. For me, one of those people was Gene Wilder. I never actually met the man, although we were in the same room twice. When I was the arts editor of the Rutgers Daily Targum back in the Middle Ages, I made sure to attend a screening of Wilder's film The World's Greatest Lover, a movie he wrote, directed and starred in. Wilder was going to be there, and I wasn't going to miss it. He came out after the film--which isn't great but isn't bad--had shown and answered questions. I might even have asked one. I honestly don't remember. I do remember having a feeling I occasionally have when confronted with someone whose work I believe truly stands alone--that I don't want to ask a stupid question and sound like a fawning idiot. I guess I didn't do that, because I'd definitely remember. Wilder himself was charming and personable. He didn't treat college reviewers as the minor league team. He considered each question, gave credit to others--I especially remember him pointing out Harry Nilsson's song for the film--and no doubt suffered some fools patiently. Many years later, my wife and I attended a session at the 92nd St. Y in New York City when Wilder, who had pretty much retired from acting and rarely spoke publicly, had agreed to be interviewed in depth by Wendy Wasserstein. He was gracious and shy, took a while to warm up to the idea of entertaining an audience, but eventually ended by explaining the origins of the theater expression "break a leg" and how it has been misunderstood for decades. Questions from the audience could be submitted on paper. Mine, regarding his performance in a not-great movie in which he gave a great performance, was not selected. Like almost everyone else, my real experiences of Gene Wilder were from his astonishingly good screen work. His acting in classic comedies--The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, among many others--was extraordinary among comic actors. Wilder never played the joke. He always played the character. There were no winks to the camera. There was no false move. There would never be a moment that didn't feel real, even in the most outlandish circumstances. When The Producers was done as a Broadway musical in 2001, it was a work of genius and a phenomenon that can only be compared today to Hamilton, the only other musical to win almost as many Tony Awards. And everything about the show was wonderful, but on our way out of the theater, I said to my wife, "I loved it, but there's just one thing." She looked at me. "No Gene Wilder," she said. Matthew Broderick, who took over the role of Leo Bloom a mere 34 years after Wilder had done it on film, played the part well. But he played it as a timid nerd and nothing else. Wilder played it with so much emotion and so much heart that the viewer could extrapolate a complete backstory for the character. We knew how he'd been treated in grade school. We felt the cold shoulders of the women who had repeatedly rejected him over the years. We knew the beating heart of the beautiful butterfly inside that bland caterpillar. Many people will now remember Gene Wilder--justifiably--as Willy Wonka in the first, real film made from Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That's not my favorite Wilder film but it is a staggeringly great performance. A man who could be seen as heartless and cruel comes across as impish and good-humored because the man playing him had such enormous humanity. In his last years Wilder took to writing books, and while it wasn't his best work, his writing showed more areas of his soul that had gone unexplored in many of his movies. He appeared--I can't know the real man--to have been a man intrigued by human behavior who wished that everyone would just treat each other better. There are few things a person deposited on this planet can do for his fellow Earthlings nobler than to provide others with a laugh, a smile, a warm feeling. I can't think of anyone who ever did that more than Gene Wilder. He was one of a kind. We will not see his like again, but luckily we can still see him whenever we choose to do so. That is a great gift. He was a great gift. If that's not a friend, I don't know what is. Rest in peace, my friend. You are already being sorely missed. Aug 30, 2016 12:18:05 AM \| Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Writing All One Voice--Mark Boyett So. THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND, the third in my collaborative (with E.J. Copperman) Asperger's mystery series, will be published one week from Thursday, on Sept. 8. And if you thought I wouldn't be posting about it this week and next, you're adorable. It's become a semi-tradition to post an interview with the incredibly talented actors who have lent their voices and their gifts to the creation of audiobooks from the Aaron Tucker series, the Haunted Guesthouse series and now the Asperger's series. Amanda Ronconi, who performs the Guesthouse books, does the same for the Mysterious Detective series, which debuted just a couple of months ago with WRITTEN OFF, and she is amazing, as are all these wonderful performers. Mark Boyett, the actor who becomes Samuel Hoenig (and everyone else) in the Asperger's mysteries, is a very busy man. Besides narrating many audiobooks, he is a working actor on stage and in film and television. So it took a while for us to find the time for an interview, but I think you'll find it was worth the wait: Jeff Cohen: How do you approach a new book to perform? What’s your process and what do you know about it when you get the script for the first time? MB: Unless it's a book from a series that I'm already doing, I don't know anything about the script before I get it. The casting is usually done by the audiobook producer (Audible Studios, in the case of The Aspergers Mystery Series) and if they decide on me for the job, that's the first I see of the script. I prep the book by reading it very carefully, paying attention to who the characters are, marking each with a particular color (I used to use colored markers on a paper script, but these days it's all done on the iPad with an app called iAnnotate. It's awesome. I love it. And I don't get colored marker stains on my shirts and sheets anymore since I usually prep in bed in the morning with coffee.) Since it often isn't revealed who is speaking a particular line until after the line's been spoken, these color-coded dots in the left margin become very useful in the studio. I also make notes about the characters when they first appear -- male/female, old/young etc. Sometimes I'll have to go back and add to the notes if it's revealed later in the book that the character is from a particular place or has a particular character trait like always being nervous or some such. During the prep phase I also look up pronunciations of any words or locations I may be unsure about. And I'll score the script in little ways that would only make sense to me. Little cues that I'll use in the studio to know, for example, to keep the pace up during this part, or slow it down a bit here. But I try not to over score it so that I don't get distracted during the actual recording by how I thought it should be done while I was prepping. I think there's great value in trusting the story and my instincts during the actual performing, and being in the moment, living the story as much as possible. Informed, of course, by my having read the book beforehand. JC: How do you develop a voice for the narrator (Samuel Hoenig) and then the other characters? MB: I take any clues from the script that are available about where the character is from and what kind of person they are and just kind of keep those things in mind when I'm in the studio. I don't plan the voices out in advance, I let them come to me in the moment. With the exception of dialect particularities that may be necessary to practice a bit. In that case, if the character has a dialect that I don't come across very often or is one that I don't do very well naturally, I'll get online and click around a lot to find samples and I'll work on that as extensively as necessary to feel relaxed about doing it in once I'm in the studio. JC: Do you have to refer back to old recordings when a new book comes in to remember how you voiced a character in previous books? MB: Yep. For sure. In every series I do, unless we're on book 11 or something where I've done the voices in multiple books already, I always go back and listen to the voices in the previous book. JC: How much more difficult is it to voice female characters? Should I be careful about writing them in the future? MB: It took me a few books to figure out female voices. I think the trick is not to go overboard with making them sound like actual females. Because at the end of the day, it's just me narrating the whole book and I'm a guy, so I'm kind gonna always sound like a guy. That said, if the voice is just lightened bit and pitched a little bit higher, that does the trick generally. My first few books I was pitching the female voices way too high and someone commented in the comment section at Audible.com and said as much and I was like "Yea, that's a good point. I am pitching them way too high." So I stopped that. As for you being careful in some way while you're writing female characters... No. I think the author's job is just to write what he/she sees or imagines. It's the narrators job to run with whatever that is. JC: Do you read the whole book before starting, or do you approach it in sections? MB: I always read the whole book before I start recording. It helps me tell the story if I know where it's going. And also, tying back into character voices, there was a book I did early on in which it wasn't mentioned until late in the book that this one character was from Minnesota. Well, she was speaking from chapter one on, so I'm glad I knew when I started recording that she needed a Fargo-y accent. So I learned early to read the whole book before day one in the studio. JC: What’s the recording process like? What do you do in a typical day? MB: I mostly work with an engineer. So he or she sits in one half of the studio. And I sit in the other half. And there's a window between us. And we start to to read the book together. I'm reading aloud, of course. And the engineer is following along to help make sure I don't misread anything, while simultaneously pushing the appropriate recording buttons. If I mess up or need to go back for an interpretive reason and re-do a sentence or a word or whatever, the engineer stops recording and rolls the sound back a few seconds and I hear a bit in my headphones and pick up the narrating wherever the audio stops. If that makes sense. We do that for typically 4 to 6 hours straight. And a typical book will take about 5 days at that pace. The standard is that it takes about 2 hours of studio time for every hour of audio. JC: You’re also a stage, film and television actor. Aside from the obvious, is there a difference to the process of creating a character for an audiobook? MB: It's very different. It happens much more on the fly with an audiobook. In theater and even in film/ TV there's rehearsal, sometimes a lot of it. And also because in those mediums I'd be only playing one character, I'm typically only interested in that one character's perspective and inner life. With a book I take on everyone's point of view. JC: While the Asperger’s books are not written from the perspective of someone who wants to be funny, Samuel’s stories should hopefully have some laughs in them. How are you cognizant of that in the performance, and how do you approach comedy as opposed to something more dramatic? MB: There are definitely some laughs in the Asperger's books! I think maybe even quite a few. I love the humor in the books. And I think it comes exactly from Samuel not meaning to be funny. For those parts and for his character in general I just try to keep a very literal interpretation of things in mind. It's just a matter of aiming to be true to who he is and maybe somewhere in the back of my mind knowing that it's meant to be funny. Of course there are also parts where his internal experience is not comedic, far from it. It can be quite moving at times to live his panic and anxiety with him in some parts, for example. JC: Because Samuel does have Asperger’s, which he considers simply an aspect of his personality, did you have to do any research before starting THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD? MB: Not specifically, no. But I did draw on my own understanding of how Asperger's can manifest. I have a godson "on the spectrum" and because of him I've become very interested in the subject and often perk up at the various PBS docs and stories that show up on NPR about folks with Asperger's. Sincere thanks to Mark Boyett for taking the time! If you want to hear him perform the previous Asperger's mysteries THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD and THE QUESTION OF THE UNFAMILIAR HUSBAND, take a listen here! Aug 29, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Questions? We've Got Answers! First: I am very sorry to note that last Thursday marked the final airing for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Having inherited the time slot of a phenomenon it was unfair of Comedy Central to believe the ratings would be maintained, particularly after another phenomenon left The Daily Show leading into this program. But I'm glad I got to know Mike Yard, Grace Parra,Holly Walker, Robin Thede and Jordan Carlos and saw some of the wonderful work they could do. Mr. Wilmore, don't let anyone tell you your show wasn't good enough. If this year has taught us anything, it is that quality is rarely the defining factor in popularity contests. On to business: This week I opened the discussion to those on Twitter and Facebook this week to see if there were questions readers/visitors/total strangers might have for the author (that's me). There were no rules posted. So I should have known what to expect. A quick word: I'll be updating throughout the day, so if you want to add a question, feel free to comment below and I'll get to it sooner rather than later. Keep in mind that the opinions expressed here are those of the author and not people who aren't the author. Because that would be silly. So with the upcoming release of THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND now only a few (2) weeks away, let's begin there. Jack Getze: Do you and E.J. do things together--besides writing books, I mean? What are you implying, Jack? Must E.J. and I have our seconds contact you? (I've been listening to the Hamilton cast album too much.) Arlene Cassidy: What's the best opening line ever? It used to be "come here often?" but now I believe it's something on the order of, "I saw your profile and just couldn't resist." (Actually it's probably, "Call me Ishmael." Everybody knows that one. Best one I ever wrote is likely, "The guy in Row S, Seat 18 was dead, all right.") Bill Davis: How many times have you considered bumping off Elliot? I assume Bill refers to Elliot Freed, protagonist of the Comedy Tonight (Double Feature) mystery series. I never considered bumping off Elliot, Bill. For one thing, he narrates the books, so that would leave a lot of empty pages. (Elliot fans: There is news forthcoming. No, not a new book, but news. I'll tell you when I can.) Jack Getze (who apparently can't get enough): How do you keep track of all the characters in your several series? Any charts or special files? I actually keep a "Bible" file on the Asperger's, Mysterious Detective and Agent to the Paws series because I tend to lose track of details like number of siblings and type of car the character drives. I never had to do that when I was writing just one or two series. Ken Cohen (no relation--he's my cousin): How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? John R. Rymer: Why is Trump still here? Robert Walker: What is the cosmic explanation for how Jeff Cohen came into being? I could ask my mother but that would probably lead to some very uncomfortable images in my head and who needs that? Dawn: How do you write such spectacular dialogue? When I write, dialogue always feels painful and stilted, to the point where I feel like I must have a bit of Aspergers because I don't know how to have a normal conversation! Thanks for the lovely compliment! For me dialogue is the best part of writing. I just come up with a first line and then let my characters have a conversation. The better you know your characters, the more effortless and realistic the dialogue will seem. (I say "seem" because it's never effortless!) I write as much dialogue as I want and then cut out the parts I don't need. Aug 22, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Music, Publishing, Television, Writing Becoming An Olympian Writer I'll confess I haven't been watching a ton of the current Olympic Games, particularly since my daughter left for a weeklong trip to Oregon. She's the one with a real interest. It's not that I don't find the competition worth attention. It's that there's only so much beach volleyball you can watch before coming to the conclusion that there's a reason they wear bikinis, and it's not athletic. (Same is true of men's swimming and diving, by the way, minus the bikini tops.) Nonetheless, from the broadcasts I have watched it's clear the coverage of the Games is devoted to our understanding of the hard work each champion undergoes to reach his or her goal. Obviously, there is a tremendous amount of training necessary to becoming an athlete worthy of competition in the Olympics, and we are invited to join along via the ever-present video camera every step of the way. The message here is clear, and it's a similar one to that we are fed in many movies, television shows and, yes, books: Hard work and determination will overcome any disadvantage and lead one to glory. Well, I'm here to tell you it ain't like that really. I don't know, well, anything about being a fantastic athlete. I could play a little second base when I was 15 and even then would have been easily outmatched by anyone with real talent. And maybe that's the point. Because I played most days and worked very hard on improving. I have been playing acoustic guitar for, no kidding, 45 years. And yes, I've gotten better and I have practiced many hours. I have worked very hard and been quite determined. I am not yet at the Jimi Hendrix level. I'm not holding my breath. The fact is, hard work and determination will help--but you have to be born with some talent to begin with. If not, you're just going to get better at not being as good as those who do have the genetically communicated ability. That's just how it is. I was born with some facility for language and communication. I can write, and I always could. So I've been doing that professionally for a now-impressive number of years. I have put in the work and I have practiced and studied and worked very hard for many hours. And I have indeed gotten better, thank goodness. I know a lot more about storytelling, character development, dialogue and the work of writing than I did when I started writing my first (dreadful) screenplay at the age of 20. But if I did not have that initial talent, would I be able to make my living doing this today? I argue I would not. I'd have found another line of work more suited to the abilities I did have under those circumstances, which could have been pretty much anything. I do some teaching at the college level, and my students are always required to do a good deal of writing. Some of them are endowed with the ability to manipulate words in an entertaining and perhaps enlightening fashion. Most can just communicate thoughts through words. There's no shame in that. Some people play in bar bands. Some people gave up the guitar after college because they no longer needed to meet girls. Only one person is Paul McCartney. I grade all my students by the same standard, and that is what they do with the talent they possess walking into the first class. I don't penalize people for not having the skill of an Olympic athlete. If you can play pickup basketball and do okay, the key is what you do with the knowledge you're being given. Does it make you a better pickup basketball player? Great. If you pay attention and apply what you learn, you'll get a good grade. I don't expect every student to become a successful professional writer because they're not all born with that talent. They have others. That's fine. So if you're an aspiring writer, stop being that. You're either a writer or you're not. It's something that's part of you. Everyone can learn to be a better writer. No one can learn to be a writer. Being published doesn't make you a writer. It makes you a published writer. That's great; it's reason for celebration. Just forget the myth that determination and grueling practice can turn you into something you're not. If it's not inside you, something else is. Chase that. There is something legitimately, verifiably inspiring about watching Olympic athletes like the USA women's gymnastic team. There is a genuine uplift for all of us in seeing them do things we could never dream of doing. But the lesson to take away from it is not that if you work hard enough, you can be a gymnastics champion. The lesson is to take what you are given, what makes you undeniably you, and run with that. Because you already have that within you. Aug 15, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Television, Writing I Admit It. I'm Good at Some Stuff. I can't believe I'm writing this post. Those who love me and a few who just like me a little have expressed the thought--a large number of times--that I have a habit so infuriating it distracts from my better qualities. And while I understand their point, I have always been less than enthusiastic about doing anything that might attempt to refute it. They say I am self-deprecating to the point of exasperation. Keep in mind that I was brought up to be modest at all costs. Bragging in my family was just distasteful and coarse. Let others think you're a good person and always strive to project the impression that you're simply trying to live life as everyone does. Or should. Or something. I was never really clear on that last part, but the fact was that anytime one celebrated an accomplishment or pointed out a positive character trait about oneself, it was considered in bad taste. It was fine for others to tell you that you were wonderful (as our parents and a few others did, in my opinion, too much) but never, ever think of doing so yourself. Also, I grew up (sort of) as a short male. In this country that is a sin almost as egregious as enjoying soccer. Sorry. Futbol. In order to avoid getting beaten up on a regular basis in school, it was necessary to develop a self-deprecating sense of humor. Beat the other person to the insult. It actually works pretty well. But then there are my family and friends saying I'm overindulging in the jokes directed at myself. That's something worth considering, as I really like my family and friends a lot and value their opinion. So grudgingly, painfully, against my every better instinct, I offer the following list, after which I sincerely promise nothing of the sort will ever happen again. Things I Am Good At I turned into a really good dad. It was rocky there for a while because I have a temper and little kids can get under your skin like no one else, but as it happens, I'm a terrific parent. I treat my children (and always have) like the interesting individuals they are. I value their opinions and offer my own. I guide without insisting. I have always tried very hard not to say, "because I said so." As a result, and that of them have an exemplary mom and being themselves, they have become really good adults. I had a hand in doing that. I can write really good dialogue. My plots aren't always airtight and sometimes they're not even plausible, but if you read one and like it, you'll come back for the conversations. I have the ear, which a lot of writers don't, and I use it every chance I get. I'm a good friend. If you need me, I'm there. If you want advice, I'll give it. If you don't, I'll listen. I'm so thrilled you chose to like me I'll pretty much back you up on anything you need. You'll never find a better husband. I spent 28 years looking for my wife, largely because she insisted on living in other states until I was that age. If the woman had stood still a little while it might have been easier. But since we met I have been her most fervent booster, her ardent devotee and her greatest admirer. I sometimes wish she would let herself need me more. I'm a very smart baseball fan. You and I might not agree on the team to root for and that's okay. I understand the game, after watching for 50 years or so, extremely well. I get how the strategy works, I know when a pitcher is having a good day right away and I admire players for doing things right and not just doing them a lot. I won't trash talk when my team beats yours and I understand why you don't root for mine. But it'll be hard--although hardly impossible--to get the game more than I do. You like my dialogue? My characters are better. You'll never find a two-dimensional person in my work. I try to think of and for my characters as fully fleshed humans, and they will be interesting even when they're not necessarily admirable. There are no "villains" in my books. Because villains don't think they're villains. I can always see the other side of the argument. Don't confuse that with agreeing every time someone disagrees. I understand that those with whom I sometimes argue (politically this year especially and in general on any topic all the time) have valid points of view. I get that most people are not idiots, and I spend very little time dealing with the ones who are. I'll hear you out. I will still disagree with you and have a hard time believing you weren't swayed by my cogent points, but I will hear you out. You want to sit behind me at the movies. I'll never talk. I'll unwrap any candy before the trailers begin. I try not to fidget in my seat much, but I'm old and some things can't he helped. I will never open my cell phone in a theater. And neither will either of my children (see pt. #1). I have narrow but good taste in music. I will not say that I'm good at playing music myself because I am at best an okay amateur. That's at best, and I mean it literally. (I also understand what "literally" means, but that's not worth a whole listing.) I can hear the things being done with instruments that some will miss and I get why the songwriter chose that word and not another. I'm a very well-educated fan. I can walk away from a car salesman. My wife loves to point out that I will not be bullied into buying one vehicle or another. If I feel like I'm getting played I'll get up and leave. This is true in virtually any retail environment. I grew up in retail and I know the tricks. If you're buying something big, bring me along. I write good titles. They're not always the ones on the completed book, mind you, because the publishing business is a business. But I don't just slap a name on the thing and forget about it. I try to come up with titles that have some relevance to the story and hopefully amuse at least a little. Eventually, I'll make you laugh. I have taken on as my mission in life getting everyone I ever meet to laugh. I'm pretty good at it when I'm not trying to hard, but if it doesn't work the first time, I'll keep at it until I succeed. I have a quick wit and I'm always looking for an opening. You have been warned. Okay, that's all I can think of. May I please stop now? Aug 8, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing You're Stealing. Stop It. There are a multitude of disturbing trends in today's society. One of them is running for president, but that's not the point here. The bottom line is, it's virtually impossible, no matter what one's point of view might be, to watch the news, read the news or download the damn news without being upset (often horrified) about what you see. And the political or global issues are not the only sources of outrage and anxiety, not by a long shot. There are some wonderful things about the current version of the modern age, and I'd list them here but right at the moment I'm having a hard time remembering what they are. Trust me, I know they exist. I'll think of them tomorrow. What concerns me at the moment that won't upset people whose ideologies are not in line with my own? The decline of simple rules of grammar, punctuation, usage and syntax, to begin with. I teach people at the college level who can't tell the difference between you're and your. I see posts and documents indicating that even those who have completed advanced degrees don't bother to use apostrophes properly. You'd be amazed how many people think the sentence, "Lots of woman do the same thing" is perfectly acceptable. And then there is the odd sense of entitlement among those--and I do not limit this to millennials and young people, as I have seen done--who believe that entertainment is a right. These are individuals with working brains who don't see the problem in downloading music off "free" sites, who will buy bootleg copies of movies before they are released to DVD, who steal a cable TV signal and believe they are somehow completing a victory over "the system." Well, I'm "the system." Nice to meet you. There are any number of online sites that right now, today, will let you read books that I spent months writing and to which I own the copyrights and they will not charge you for those books because they themselves did not pay for them. The site might charge visitors a fee as a "subscription," but trust me, when they send you the file with my name (or my other name) on it and you read the book, I am receiving a grand total of nothing for it. The idea that somehow this is a victimless crime, that no one is losing out when you "beat the system" by getting free entertainment, is crap. I hear the argument all the time that there's no harm in a bootleg download of a movie because "Tom Cruise already has enough money." Maybe so, but guess what--the key grip doesn't. The Foley artist needs a salary, and if revenues go down, she won't get any. The guy who cleans the recording studio isn't getting paid when the artist can no longer afford to book the place because nobody is paying for the art. I have close friends and relatives who see no harm in finding "free" entertainment. They seem to feel they're being clever, winning a victory over a corrupt system. I see them stealing. Period. Right now, I am contracted to write four separate mystery series which some of you read and hopefully enjoy. If sales don't hit the right numbers--and no, I have no clue what those numbers might be because the publishing industry changes its standards about every 20 minutes--I will no longer be releasing any books at all. Because I need to make a living and pay the bills. This is true of every author, every singer, every filmmaker, every producer, every actor, every screenwriter and all the people who serve the industries they inhabit. If you're taking copyrighted content from a source that doesn't compensate the creators of that content, you're stealing. Pure and simple. You're not being a Robin Hood outlaw. You're robbing from everybody and keeping everything. At most the only concerns you're keeping alive are the ones that steal from artists. I object. Aug 1, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Children's Books, Crime Fiction, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Libraries, Music, Publishing, Television, Writing This Kid Walks Into A Bank... And Almost Gets Arrested So much of the time as crime fiction writers we are working from a place of ignorance. I haven't murdered anyone and don't plan to, so any crime I depict is strictly the product of my twisted imagination. I'm not 100 percent sure I've done much that violates the criminal code other than speeding (just kidding, New Jersey State Police!), which is a Garden State common law tradition dating back to the Lenni Lenapis, who were rumored to run faster than other local tribes (I made that up, too). My criminal record is squeaky clean. I've never actually used an illegal drug, although I did probably have some beers before I was legally able to drink alcohol at the age of 18 (back in the day that was the age). I just never found the idea interesting and didn't bother with it. I'm the kid in your class who never did any of the cool stuff at all because he either wasn't invited or didn't care. Writing about crime, then, is something of a stretch for me. Luckily for me as a writer, the type of work I do doesn't rely heavily on gritty reality and leans more towards the willing (one hopes) suspension of disbelief. If anything about crime or the way it is committed doesn't feel authentic to you, feel free to chalk that up to the author's inexperience. As I said, my record is impeccable, other than the time I almost got arrested for robbing a bank. Threatening, no? Oh, did I forget to mention that? Sorry. It was so long ago it tends to slip one's mind. Yeah, there was this moment in my very early 20s when I was a suspect in robbing a bank. Well, plotting to rob a bank. That's closer to the fact. Plotting to rob a bank. Attempted bank robbery; would that be the charge? I leave it up to you: I was just out of college and just starting work as a newspaper reporter, but still living "at home" (anywhere you live is "at home") with my parents until I could save up enough for a security deposit and one month's rent on an apartment. And keep in mind, this particular flat was rent-controlled and going, at that time, for a whopping $214 a month. Heady sums. Part of that plan involved opening a new bank account at a local branch where I could drop my vast savings and start writing checks for my anticipated expenses. My family had moved while I was in college, so I was dealing in that age before ATMs with a new bank closer to home. I put on my college windbreaker, stuck my old checkbook (which was actually connected to my father's account) in a pocket and walked into the branch to open the account. I was a little jittery, I guess; I was young and dealing with actual money, something I'd never really had before. I had not been given a "small loan of one million dollars" by my father to start my way in the world, so the numbers were not exactly eye-popping. But it was my money, and this was a step into adulthood, and here I was, talking to the nice young lady about giving the bank my funds in exchange for some absurdly low interest rate. She smiled, in retrospect wanly, and said she'd be right back with the necessary paperwork. So I sat in the chair, hands in my jacket pockets (in case anyone asked for the checkbook in a hurry), and waited for her return. It seemed to be taking a long time, but I had no frame of reference. After a while I saw two men in jackets and ties walk into the bank. They looked around and strode in with some kind of purpose. I figured they were important customers or something. They walked over to one of the bank managers and talked to her for a moment. Then they all turned and looked directly at me. Before I could register that, the two men marched to the desk where I was sitting. One of them asked my name and told me he was with the local police. Would I mind--very carefully--producing some ID? I found my wallet, no doubt hands shaking, and gave the man my driver's license. He asked if I would stand up, so I did. He instructed me to take my hands out of my pockets. I did that, too. I don't remember a lot of the rest of this, but what it came down to was that the young woman I'd been dealing with had decided that since I kept my hands in my jacket I must have been armed and intending to rob the bank by... giving them my money. That part isn't clear. The cops ran my ID, I think I might have given them my jacket to search, they found nothing but pens, and that was pretty much it. Total and utter idiot that I was and am, I believe I even closed the deal to open the account. I guess I was impressed with the bank's security measures. Does the remembered fear of that encounter infuse my writing? I tend to doubt it. I think about that incident very infrequently. It was my only actual brush with the law, I had done a grand total of nothing wrong, and I was a white guy in America so there were no special consequences. No harm, no foul. I have led a life on the right side of the law before and since. I mean, it's not like I stole public property, or anything. Jul 25, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Part of the Problem? (Revised) Lately, more than usual, it has seemed impossible to escape the darker areas of society. One hideous, heart-wrenching event comes after the last hasn't had time to leave the news cycle. Violence seems to be erupting more often and more brutally everywhere. And the upcoming Presidential election in the U.S. is not anywhere near as funny as it used to be. I'm not going to impose my politics on you, but to me the choice seems embarrassingly clear. And that's all I'll say. People complain that there's "too much bad news." That's largely because bad things tend to happen and they are reported upon. If you want more good news, get out there and make some. For a crime fiction writer, there's a debilitating effect from all the sadness, rage and carnage in the streets. You start to wonder if what you're doing is actually contributing to the societal mayhem. Particularly in my end of the pool, where the murder in the mystery is meant to be "fun," a moral question arises: Am I desensitizing a (very small) segment of the population to the horror of violence? Does my insistence on writing entertainment that revolves around the ultimate personal crime mean I'm adding to the problem instead of working to reduce it? That's probably an example of a writer assuming more importance and influence than he's entitled to feel. The 8,820 people who have, to this date, bought GHOST IN THE WIND (oh yes, I get to check the numbers) have, I'm willing to wager, not killed anyone since buying and (hopefully) reading it. I don't think the cause-and-effect idea is that literal. But it does make one wonder whether the cumulative effect is more subtle, but just as insidious. Writers are just like everyone else. Wait. Writers are a lot like everyone else. Okay, writers are the same species as everyone else and that means we do see the news and we are affected emotionally as is the bulk of the population. How can you view people being shot, assaulted, blown up and run over and not feel anything? So when it comes the part of the day when it's necessary to sit down and concoct tales of shootings, stabbings, poisonings and assorted mayhem, is it possible to disconnect and simply serve the story? Sadly, yes. I write that 1,000 words every day no matter what the news has been personally or around the world. I wrote the day my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and the day we found out it was Stage 1 and she'd be fine after treatment. I wrote the day my dog died. I wrote the day doctors told me I had lymphoma (they were wrong). I've written in hospital waiting rooms, mechanics' waiting rooms, on airplanes, in hotel rooms, from sickbeds and trains. I have written at conventions like Bouchercon and Malice Domestic. I have written while tending to sick children, on the day I moved each of them into and out of college dorms. I wrote on 9/11. I'm not proud of all those facts, but I'm a writer. It's my job and it's what I do. But does what I'm writing help, hurt or have no effect whatsoever? For the record, I've decided the answer is no. I respect my readers enough to assume they know the difference between reality and the fiction I pull out of my twisted brain. As for the tone the stories take, it's true that I try to make my readers laugh. Enough are buying the books that I can say with some certainty that I'm successful at least sometimes. Does that make the death and violence more "fun"? I don't write "funny" murders. I'm not looking for quirky methods of bumping off characters. The comedy, hopefully, comes in the reactions to the crime rather than the event itself. And I do not glamorize weapons. When a gun is pulled in one of my books it's seen as a scary, dangerous object. Because that is how I see guns. Your mileage may vary. So no, I don't think I'm damaging anyone's mind. Maybe that's a way to make myself feel better, but if so, it works. I rail against real violence; I decry the awful events that seem to permeate our news feeds on a daily, if not hourly, basis. I am not in favor of private citizens owning AR-15 assault rifles. That's me. My fiction is a character in a situation. Each one will react based on his/her personality. Yeah, they come from my mind, but they're not all me. I'll write characters I disagree with if it works for them. The ultimate judgment, I have to say, probably rests with the reader. I've gotten emails from people who said they were helped by the diversion my book provided while they were going through a rough time. If I have written in hospitals, they have read my books in hospitals. I've heard from others who read the book at home while trying to deal with a new diagnosis of autism. Those, too, have been very touching to read, because people usually don't email an author if the book has had no impact on them at all. The ones who get in touch when they're angry usually just didn't like the book. From my point of view, the writing will go on. It hasn't been a small consideration that over the past few weeks when things have seemed especially awful I've been working on a novel in which nobody gets killed. My first, and I'm happy about it. (Thanks, Terri!) Do crime fiction novels (especially cozies) take violence to a place where it's unthreatening and "fun"? I leave that to sociologists and critics. If I felt that I was a bigger part of the problem than most, I would have to find another way to make a living, and this is the only thing I'm good at. Here's my only piece of advice to anyone who's as horrified and upset as I am about what's been going on: Try to see the other person's side of the argument. Is that justification for violence? Absolutely not. But maybe if we understand WHY the person feels that way, we can start to work toward making fewer people feel that way. That's all I've got. And don't vote for Trump. Sorry. It slipped out. Jul 18, 2016 12:01:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing These Corpses Are Fictional I write mysteries--mostly murder mysteries--for a living. It's what I do, it's what I like to do and it's what I have become (in a small circle) known for. I've been doing that for over 16 years now. But I still haven't gotten used to the questions people ask when they find out this is my job. No, I'm not going off on the "so, are you still writing?" rant again. This is about something else. With WRITTEN OFF, the latest of the E.J. Copperman titles to be published, I was thinking a little bit more about the writer's life because the character narrating the story is an author whose circumstances are a little like mine. But so far I haven't had anyone ask Rachel Goldman the question that most baffles me when I get it in conversation or at an author "event." "Do you get revenge on people in your life by killing them off in books?" So here's your answer: No. I don't. There appears to be some odd temptation among those who do what I do for a living to purge their anger and frustration by naming characters after people they don't like and then offing said characters in some especially ostentatious method. I guess that makes them feel better, and if so, more power to them. I never question another writer's method. But I never do that. For one thing, there aren't that many people I'm angry with. Most of them are orange-colored Presidential nominees and other public figures and there's no fun in killing them off in books. Especially since I almost never set my mysteries anywhere but in suburban New Jersey and we don't get that much traffic in major party candidates here. I just really don't get the impulse, to tell the truth. Killing off someone I don't like would require me to spend time mentally with that person while writing, which is the last thing I need. And I wouldn't get any satisfaction out of the practice. The next time I saw that person in real life it would just serve as a cruel reminder of my utter lack of power in the non-fictional world. I'd probably crawl into bed and stay there for a week, which would be a real inconvenience when the bed got made in the morning. I don't often name characters after real people anyway. Again there's the problem of thinking about a real person when writing a fictional one, which means I can't make fun of the ones I like and I have to think about the ones I don't. There's no upside. I will occasionally name a character after a contest winner or something, but that's usually a person I've never actually met. Easier to do whatever the story requires under those circumstances. In the interest of full disclosure, very early on I did fashion one murder victim after a guy I sort of knew in high school who had achieved some notoriety, if you want to call it that, in subsequent years. But I didn't really know the guy very well so I could mold him into exactly the kind of person I needed the character to be, and I gave him a completely different name for many reasons, some of which didn't involve the possibility of a nasty lawsuit. And now that I think of it, that character turned out not to be so dead late in the book, anyway. So I can stick to my statement: I haven't ever "killed off" a real person for symbolic revenge or any other reason. When I was writing the first Aaron Tucker novel For Whom the Minivan Rolls, I figured nobody would ever read--let alone publish--a book written almost entirely by accident by a first-time novelist who clearly had no idea what he was doing. So I gave the character some of my own circumstances and made up others. And no, I did not kill off anybody I had ever actually met. But once Aaron had made his 17th comment about how lovely his wife Abby's legs were and a neighbor met my wife in the supermarket and called her Abby (thinking he was being amusing), I resolved never to get that close to home again. So do me a favor and don't ask me about my wife's legs, okay? It's fiction. All of it. For legal reasons. We Hold These Truths "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." To the Americans, like me, who read this blog: Isn't it great that our country was founded on these words? Isn't it great that our country was founded on words? There is a tendency in the U.S., and perhaps other places, to confuse patriotism with a belief that a country (or a government) must never be seen as being wrong. To criticize or point out problems is considered treasonous or close to it. But this country was conceived based on the idea that nothing is perfect. Our constitution was immediately amended and continues to be to this day; it is a living document that is never meant to be finished. That's because we're built on ideas. Other places became organized because everybody already lived there or because the monarch decreed it. The United States was somebody's idea. Writers put together the concepts that would initially establish the nation but left open the possibility that changes over time would be necessary. So the unquestioning dedication to a pledge of allegiance, the inclusion of patriotic songs at sporting events, the almost religious dedication to the flag--these are all things that, if you truly believe in them, have value. But if they're just part of the reflex of belonging to a group, if they exist because we must not question them, they run counter to the idea that started this country. It has now been 240 years since the words above were written and signed as a statement of clarity and defiance, of purpose and explanation. We celebrate the words and we celebrate the traditions, but we should also keep in our minds the idea that was behind it all. All people (because even Jefferson, perhaps especially Jefferson, is subject to amendment) begin life as equals. Each person is entitled, by virtue of being a person, to certain basic rights: Life. Liberty. The chance to be happy. I celebrate those concepts. I am proud of the fact that my country came to being because of them. If I don't stand up when a recording of Kate Smith is played at a baseball game, that is my way of being patriotic. This place was conceived to revel in differences and to question everything. I absolutely love that. This is a revolution, dammit! We're going to have to offend SOMEBODY!--John Adams, "1776" Jul 4, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen Hamilton, the Monkees and Paul Simon. Among Others. It's summer (finally!) and that means things tend to slow down. The publishing business is pretty much on hiatus until Labor Day (except for writers, who plow on throughout, and no doubt agents, right Josh?). All there is for me to do is write and tell you once again that WRITTEN OUT is now available from Crooked Lane. I won't mention the very positive review of the upcoming THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND from Kirkus Reviews, although now I have mentioned it so you know what I liar I am. But since the pace is a little more relaxed at this time of year, I thought maybe we could devote today to a slightly off-topic topic. Lately, after a spate of... a while... I started listening to some new music, albeit not all from new artists. I am after all a geezer and should not be expected to keep on the cutting edge of new material. But assuming there might be a few other tail-end Baby Boomers checking in here every week, let's look at some new releases because they've been on my mind and for no other reason. First, a quick mention of methodology: I pay for the music I listen to, just as I pay for the books I read, the movies I see and the food I eat. I do not steal other people's work. If you do, please don't mention it to me. My stomach is so easily upset. As for the way I critique music: Like everything else in the arts, it's completely subjective. I like what I like. You like what you like. In all probability they are not exactly the same. That's okay. It doesn't mean one of us is right and the other wrong. It means I like what I like and you like what you like. Good. More employed artists that way. So onto the latest: After a spate of only 40-something years, The Monkees (of all people) have put out a new album of music and not another "Greatest Hits" or "Unheard Tracks" rehash. This is new material, albeit some that really is from forever ago but you've never heard it before. And it was produced, played, sung and arranged this year, not in 1966 for the most part. I'll admit that when I heard the news I was, let's say, skeptical. But it turns out Good Times really is a very good album. It opens with Micky Dolenz, finally starting to get credit for having a really good voice that hasn't lost very much at all since the "hey-hey" days, duetting with of all people the late Harry Nilsson--and a young Nilsson, to boot. The album's title song is taken from a demo tape Nilsson (who wrote for the band when it was a TV phenomenon) made but that was never recorded by the Monkees. Here Dolenz, who was a close friend of Nilsson, gets to play with his pal one last time and it's a great deal of fun. Besides Nilsson, songs are written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, and band members Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Dolenz, among others. Much of the album hits the same emotional points as a vintage Monkees album but the production by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne (with whom I played softball when I was in my twenties and he was maybe 12) is impeccable and not at all dated. Yes, the 13 tracks are probably two too many but the whole album comes in at less than 40 minutes and is garnering respect from those who would have dismissed the band in its heyday. (And yes, Nesmith took part and has a couple of lead vocals. The late Davy Jones does get a vocal on Love to Love taken from old tapes, and it's nice to hear him one last time.) After a break of a mere five years, Paul Simon is back with Stranger to Stranger, which has been getting massive critical acclaim and incorporates exotic instruments and sounds that seem to have inspired the brilliant songwriter and performer. The problem is, listening to the album is too much like work. It was probably a lot more fun to record it than to hear it. It's not that Simon doesn't have good ideas--he always has good ideas--but the melodies are more like a grumpy man mumbling than a great artist spreading his wings. Simon has clearly decided that there's no reason to appeal to a listening audience anymore (in other words, no hooks), meaning he can make music just for himself. That's fine. An artist should be free to express himself as he sees fit. And a few of the tracks (like the single Wristband) are interesting to hear. But overall, I've only gotten all the way through it twice and I had to force myself to pay attention. It might be great, for all I know, but it hasn't stuck with me at all, and I am a long-time Paul Simon fan. He is one of the few artists (I can think of only the one) to whom I have written a fan letter. This one just didn't grab me. On the other hand, as virtually everyone on the planet now knows, the original cast recording of the resplendent Hamilton will get into your head and never leave. That's fine, because you won't want to banish it ever. You'll recall--if you're a regular reader and given to such things--that my family and I saw the musical a couple of weeks ago after a seemingly endless wait having bought tickets before last Thanksgiving. As a last birthday surprise for my wife--the occasion for which said tickets were purchased--the recording was waiting in the glove compartment of her car when we were driving home from the performance. It went into the CD player then and I don't think has been out since. It's one thing to hear a middle-aged Jewish woman quoting rap lyrics around the house or having a 27-year-old explain the Presidential election of 1800 to you a few times (or more). It's another to get repeated listenings to a work this diverse (ethnically and stylistically) and truly appreciate the scope and the ambition of the whole score. It's a marvel to hear and better than that, it's so entertaining that the music, which ranges from hip hop to speed rap to pop to Broadway to girl groups and back again, will occupy your mind. I managed to steal the CD from my wife's car and make a condensed copy for my car. It hasn't been out of the player for a couple of weeks. It probably won't leave for some time. Not brand new, but anything by Circe Link and Christian Nesmith (see Michael Nesmith, above, and note that he is frequently referred to here as "Papa Nez") is worth hearing. Take a listen. Smart lyrics, genius arrangements and some of the friendliest music you'll ever hear. Their latest is a collection of covers called Side Dishes which is fascinating but the original albums are the real treats. Either way, what's not to like? Jun 27, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Music, Publishing, Writing The Miracle of Conversation I'd like to talk for a moment about a miracle. Now, those who read this post regularly might remember that miracles are not part of my belief system. I generally put my trust in science and verifiable fact ahead of faith in pretty much anything. But there is the odd exception at which I marvel, even if I'm not attributing that phenomenon to any higher power. And I speak here of speaking. I talk of talking. Am I not being clear? Human conversation just knocks me out. It amazes me in so many different ways. It makes me stop and shake my head in wonderment when I actually consider what's going on when two--or better, more--people get together and just talk. About anything. Yes, even the election, although I would like to take something of a break on talking about that. Suffice it to say that I have no argument with people of color assuming the color isn't orange. But that's beside the point. Conversation. Think about it. You have a thought. You take that thought and convert it to a verbal expression. Then you voice that expression to someone who can hear it. That person hears what you're saying (or signs it, if that is the mode of communication), comprehends it (assuming you're being coherent) and responds to it almost at the moment you are finished expressing that thought. That's amazing. We humans have the ability to compute and analyze verbal communication we didn't know we were going to hear and respond to it pretty much immediately. How is that not a secular miracle? Now. Let's talk about dialogue. That's right--the words writers put into the mouths of their characters in an attempt to get them to communicate with each other (and, quite frequently and unfortunately, to dispense plot information). When you're writing dialogue, your character who is not speaking at the moment doesn't know what is going to be said. S/he doesn't have a written transcript of the coming speech and in all likelihood does not have hours or days during which to fashion an appropriate response. Your characters are having a conversation. They are not trading speeches. It makes me crazy when writers of novels, screenplays, theater works or any other fiction refer to things their characters say as "speeches." When you're talking to the guy at the Post Office and you ask if Forever Stamps (best deal ever) will always be valid postage--something that should be obvious from the name, I'm just saying--are you making a speech? No, you're not. You're having a conversation. That's what your characters are doing, too. Conversation assumes that the people involved can't foresee what's coming. It assumes that the thoughts being expressed, no matter how long they're been in the person's mind, are just being put into words for the first time. Conversation isn't perfect. It isn't gorgeous. It's sloppy and improvised. It's human. That doesn't mean dialogue in a story should be people grunting and being inarticulate. Stylized dialogue is fine in the right setting. Banter is my favorite game to play. Do most people talk like that? Probably not. Does it work for my story? I like to think so. But the message to be taken away from all this blather is that your dialogue needs to sound like your characters. It needs to be real for them. It needs to sound like they're having a conversation and making it up as they go. That's conversation. And that's a miracle. P.S. By the way, get a copy of WRITTEN OFF. Here are excerpts from a few reviews. Jun 20, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing My Book Publishes Today. That's Not What This is About. I think I speak for all my DEAD GUY colleagues when I say the events over this weekend in Orlando, FL are unthinkable, unpardonable and absolutely unacceptable. No matter who you might consider voting for it is clear that action needs to be taken. I know what I think should happen. Consider what you think and contact your legislator immediately to let him/her know you will not let the status quo stand. Too many families are crying today. It's not okay and it's not "the cost of doing business." It needs to stop. This weekend saw my wife hit a birthday that had a 0 in it. Since I did not marry a person whose age was in the single digits and we have been married for 29 years, you can probably make a decent estimate of the number involved. That's not relevant. The point is, whenever such an occasion comes around, I plan something a little more spectacular than I might if the numeral in question ended in a 3 or an 8. One year isn't any different than another really, but we do tend to mark these occasions more significantly than others. Once I organized a surprise birthday party and convinced friends to fly in from Cleveland, Chicago and Honolulu, among other places. The next time a 0 was involved, our children and I took my wife to Rome for a week. This year, we went to see Hamilton. You might have heard of the show. It's gotten a little buzz. So I bought the tickets last November and we sat in seats where only the lower half of the set was visible. They were the last four seats available in the theater. Last November. For a performance that took place this past Saturday. Well, everything you've heard is true. The blend of hip hop beats, mile-a-minute rap and Broadway song styles is dazzling. The storyline is enlightening and presents history in a way that has already proven to be mesmerizing to young people of all stripes. My daughter teaches algebra to high school students in the Bronx. Not one of them can afford a ticket to Hamilton. If you think they haven't memorized the lyrics to the songs, you are mistaken. The talent on that stage is astonishing and the inventiveness never stops. Two hours and forty-five minutes go by in a flash. As an audience member, you're moved and amused and devastated and any number of other emotions in rapid succession. I don't know how much play there has been with the facts of the first Treasury Secretary's life, but it rang true even as the style was completely 2016. And that brought me back to the essence of storytelling and why a good story well told always works. Interest an audience, get their attention, make them care about what goes on. It will take you places and take them places. It will make a difference. It can change the way things are. And as we've seen most painfully, things can use some changing. By the way, the latest story I have told, WRITTEN OFF, the first Mysterious Detective Mystery, is officially published today. It's gotten some very nice reviews and the readers who have contacted me seemed to have enjoyed it a lot. This is usually the post where I do my best to get you to buy a book, but there was too much going on. And a significant birthday treated to a significant story told in an unusual way. (We also got as many friends and family as we could to video birthday messages and had my son the filmmaker edit them together into a DVD. And next March my wife and I are going to Hawaii. If the IRS asks you, it's for Left Coast Crime.) You can't get tickets to Hamilton, but when you can, do. Or buy the soundtrack. But you might want to take a look at WRITTEN OFF, too. After all, there isn't just one story worth telling. P.S.: In order to better celebrate (that is, shamelessly promote) the publication of WRITTEN OFF, I'll be visiting the book club and signing copies at Booktrader of... wait for it... Hamilton (NJ) Wednesday evening at 7:30. Please drop by if you're in the area--all are welcome! Also, I'll be blogging all over the place this week (what a coincidence, no?): Cats, Books and More Cats (spoiler alert–there’s no cat in the book): Week of June 12 Speculating on what I’d do if WRITTEN OFF happened to me) Dru’s Book Musings: June 14 (Publication Day!) A Day in the Life of Rachel Goldman (Plus a book giveaway!) Jungle Red Writers: June 15 (The Day After Publication Day!) About my dad, not about WRITTEN OFF (too much) Interview at Shelf Pleasure (hey, we don’t name these things): June 17 Kings River Life: June 18 How do you publicize a nutty book? Stuff & Nonsense: June 22 On characters doing what they want Jun 13, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing This Didn't Actually Happen So I'm sitting at my desk and the doorbell rings. First thing that happens is the dog goes berserk. Of course, our dog goes berserk when a doorbell rings on television and now that we can keep the windows open, pretty much anytime someone walks by the house, so that's not terribly unusual. I tell him to be quiet, he doesn't obey, and I walk to the door. We have our rituals. After Gizmo finally shuts up I open the door and there stands a woman in her early-to-mid thirties, I'd say, although I'm a terrible judge of age in pretty much everybody, so for all I know she's 108 or 16. The door has a screen in it and I don't want to let the dog out to lick this person within an inch of her life, so I say, "Can I help you?" I mean it literally. I have no idea if I am capable of aiding this woman. Probably she wants to tell me about a political candidate (New Jersey's primaries are tomorrow and for the first time in decades at least one of them actually matters). Probably I want to get back to Words With Friends--hey, it has "Words" in the title, so it's part of my job--and would like to get rid of her ASAP. "I'm Rachel Goldman," she says. I chuckle involuntarily. "Sorry," I say. "I don't mean to be rude. I'm a mystery author, and my new book has a character named Rachel Goldman." "I know," she says. "I'm her." I'm so stunned I don't even mention the correct grammar would be, "I am she." Instead my erudite mind comes up with, "Huh?" "I'm the character in your book. You wrote me. You created me. I don't know what to do.You have to help." My head starts to hurt. Even Gizmo looks a little confused, but he's a beagle and that's how they look. "In the book, WRITTEN OFF, this is what happens to Rachel," I said. "Her main character, Duffy Madison, shows up at her door." (Actually he calls and then shows up at a book signing, but this is more concise.) "Yeah," the woman says. "How meta can you get? Can I come in?" This must be the weirdest campaign pitch in history, but it works; I let the woman into the house. "I'm not sure what it is you're trying to accomplish, Ms..." "Goldman. Rachel Goldman. You should know. You named me." She sits on the armchair without asking, which is probably what the Rachel Goldman in WRITTEN OFF would do and... wait a minute. "This is a joke, right?" I ask her. "Somebody who's read the book paid you to come here and pretend to be my character? You're very good, by the way. You must have really studied the book." "I haven't read it," she answers. That's what Duffy Madison tells Rachel in the book. This is getting weird. No. It's been weird since the beginning. Now it's getting eerie. "Why are you here?" I ask. "You think you're the Rachel Goldman from my book, fine. Go be Rachel Goldman. Duffy comes to her because he's a consultant with the county prosecutor's office and he thinks she can help him solve a missing person case. Why did you come to me?" She fixes me with a grin. I'm fixed now. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Gizmo thinks bad. "The book hasn't even come out yet," the woman points out. "You don't know if people are going to buy it. I don't have any money. I need a place to stay. You got a spare room?" I think about the room my daughter vacated to go teach in the Bronx. But she might be back in a few weeks, or not, and... Wait. "No," I tell this nut. "You can't stay here. You're wearing nice clothing. Your hair is well coiffed. You're carrying a purse. I'm thinking you got all that stuff somewhere." She shrugs. "This is what the woman in your book would look like," she says. "I'm her. You didn't write her naked and broke. I'm saying you owe me. I carried a whole novel for you, now I need another week before the book comes out to get myself together. If enough people buy the thing, maybe I'll be super-successful and I'll be out of your hair. If not, well, you can always kill me off in the next one." Her eyes look straight at me like she's challenging me to think of the blood--or ink--on my hands if I decide Rachel (in the Mysterious Detective Mystery series) must die. "What proof do you have? Anybody could show up at my door and say she came out of my book. How do I know--" The doorbell rings and Gizmo loses it again. I hold up a defensive hand to tell "Rachel" I'll be right back and actually step outside the steel door and onto the stoop so I can talk to this new visitor without a beagle baying his brains out in my ear. This one is a man, tall and thin and looking about six inches above my eyes as he addresses me. "Allow me to introduce myself," he says. "I am Samuel Hoenig." I bolt back inside and lock the door in his face. Something feels odd. I'm sweating and it's not that hot out. My mind is a little hazy. I shake my head violently to clear it. When I look up, a woman and her tween-age daughter are standing in my living room. "I'm Alison Kerby," she says. "This is my daughter Melissa. There are ghosts here." Then I sit up in bed, just like in the movies. I look around the dark room and hear the hum of the air conditioner. My wife scuffles a bit on the other side of the bed but stays asleep. I lie back down because there's no one here to see I just woke up and sat bolt upright, making a fool of myself. I really have to stop eating Raisinets before bed. WRITTEN OFF, the first novel in the Mysterious Detective Mystery series, will be published by Crooked Lane Books next Tuesday, June 14. If you want to get this crazy woman out of my spare bedroom, I hope you'll pick up a copy. (It's also available for pre-order as an audiobook.) Jun 6, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing In Defense of the Insufferably Smug It's been brewing for a long time, but I feel this Memorial Day is the time for me to finally come out of the closet and admit to my true self. Given the level of mockery, disdain and, yes, hatred directed toward my people, there is some risk involved in this revelation. But I am strong enough and sure enough to state it unequivocally and without reservation. I own a Prius. No. That's not entirely accurate. I own two Priuses. (Prii?) Comedians, politicians and people with very little tolerance for anything have been decrying the rise of a "PC culture" in America. And no, they don't mean that not enough people are using iMacs. They're complaining that it's not okay for us to use terms considered offensive to some groups, and that jokes aimed in the direction of an ethnicity, religion, disability or point of view are no longer acceptable to the general public. Personally, I say boo-hoo to that, but it's beside the point. There are still a few groups who, even in our supposedly too-polite world (has anybody been reading the newspaper lately?) are considered not off-limits. It's still okay, for example, to make fun of overweight people. It's not outside the realm to mock short men. (Stop me if you sense a pattern here.) You want to write characters from the South who are stupid and bigoted? Enjoy. But undoubtedly one of the weirdest groups to deride is owners of the Prius. The little hybrid car from Toyota that looks a little goofy and isn't built for the Indy 500 is frequently sneered at by comedians. People on the road actually pass us when we're driving well above the speed limit because it's a supposed embarrassment to let a Prius drive faster than you. Owners of said vehicles are asked if it's "really like a regular car" and told that we're smug just for having purchased one. Some Prius owners are smug. Not as many as those driving Mercedes or Audis, but some. When you sell enough of a product (say, more than three) the chances are good some of the owners are going to be smug. Yes, like to mention that we can get 51 miles to the gallon. Sure, we might feel we're doing more for the environment than a suburban dad driving a Chevy Silverado to his job at an insurance office. Imagine that. Is it possible we think of this dinky little machine as a status symbol? I won't say no. But I bought my first Prius when I was 48 years old. It was my midlife crisis car. Aren't there points for not getting a red convertible? Worse, I own a Prius c, the even smaller, even weirder-looking version, that can be parked in the glove compartment of most SUVs. People see it, look puzzled, then see the "Prius Hybrid" plate on the back, and I can see their faces change to something approaching disgust. Are people subjected to disdain for driving a Honda Accord? Do buyers of Volkswagen Jettas have to justify their purchases on moral grounds? Is it assumed that because you tool around town in a Hyundai Sonata your very personality is in question? Frankly, it gets a little wearying. The rolling of the eyes. The late-night TV jokes. The insistence of having decent pick-up when up-ramping on the New Jersey Turnpike. All I wanted was a car that would cost less on the weekly gasoline bill and maybe do less damage to the planet. Hath not a Prius a fuel pump? Hath not a Prius axles, steering wheels, brake shoes, windshield wipers? Powered with the same (though admittedly less) fuel, damaged with the same sideswipes, subject to the same bird poop, cleaned by the same car wash, warmed and cooled by the same heater and air conditioner, as a gas guzzler is? If you prick our tires, do they not go flat? In other words, what's your problem? All I'll say is this: my wife and I took a trip to presidential estates in Virginia one weekend not long ago. We drove from central New Jersey to Alexandria, Virginia (George Washington's Mount Vernon) and then to Charlottesville, Virginia (Thomas Jefferson's Monticello). Then back. Including a few short side trips for dinners and whatnot, that's about 650 miles. We filled up before leaving and once before the return trip. That was it. Total gasoline cost: Less than $40. I commuted to Philadelphia the day after we returned. I'm still driving on that tank of gas. If I'm being smug, I don't want to be... what's the opposite of smug? P.S. Today is Memorial Day in the U.S. It is a somber occasion that acknowledges and honors those who lost their lives in the conflicts their governments undertook. It's not just about barbecue and it's not Veterans Day, which comes in November and honors all those who fought in those conflicts and survived to tell the story. P.P.S. Wednesday will be the first day of June. What do you know, WRITTEN OFF by E.J. Copperman comes out in June! If you think I won't be posting about that the next few weeks, you're adorable. May 30, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Television, Writing I'd Like to Stop Killing People The wonderful Shannon Jamieson Vazquez, who edited an even dozen of the stories I've written, once told me she found me unusual among my colleagues: I was the mystery writer who most hated killing people. As usual, she was completely right. I am not especially interested in violence. I don't really care what the method of the murder might be. Motivations to commit the act always seem stupid in my mind--really, there was no recourse other than to kill somebody? Exactly how much did you need that rare butterfly or the parcel of land in California (it's always in California)? Yeah, you were mad that your wife cheated on you, but so were another thousand spouses, and that's just today. You couldn't just get a divorce? Revenge-cheat? Take up chess?j The method of murder is just as odd in my opinion. People living in suburban Indiana take each other apart with medieval axes? Citizens of Pittsburgh fly in an exotic plant to create just the right poison? My friend Luci Hansson Zahray, otherwise known as The Poison Lady, tells me a person can overdose on pretty much anything. For your character it has to be that species of Amazonian Strychnos? Really? I'm not saying I'd ban all murders from all books; of course I wouldn't. Fiction is meant to be free and in some cases hyper-dramatic. I get that, and I have personally murdered more than 20 people in books and short stories. I don't have a problem with the existence of murder mysteries; they have provided me with a nice living and I find writing them to be enjoyable. When the writing is going well. We are told as crime fiction writers that murder "ups the stakes" in the story and makes it more exciting for the reader. I tend to think that if your characters are involved in answering an interesting question and they themselves are not boring people, there are other topics to be explored. One hedge against this--and it's one I've used in the past--is to write a supposed murder that turns out not to be a murder in the end. It gives the writer a nice surprise moment toward the end of the story where the assumed victim shows up breathing. I'm not above utilizing that one. But I am interested in writing something else once in a while. A heist? A missing person? A lost dog? Something? Maybe. Not sure if my publishers would be thrilled, but I'd like to give it a shot. It makes me wonder if readers feel the same way. Do you really need there to be a killing (or four) in every book for the story to be interesting? Is that an absolutely essential part of the mystery reading experience? I'm asking this seriously and would welcome answers in the comments below. What about a mystery with no murder? Not even the hint of one? What do you think? May 23, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Book-to-Film: Casting? (I'm currently on the road back to New Jersey from Charlottesville, VA. This was written before I left.) I always get just a little bit amused when--and this happens much less frequently than it used to--a novelist (or playwright) complains publicly about the adaptation of his/her work for film or television. I live in the hope that some day I get to be as badly abused as some of these writers, because at some point we're going to need a new car. In truth, it's the fans who tend to be more appalled at the "Hollywood treatment" (usually Vancouver) given their beloved books. We might recall the brouhaha that exploded when Lee Child's beloved Jack Reacher was played on film (and will be again) by a man who had the temerity not to be very tall. When I daydream about my works making it to a screen of any size--and I do--I never cast the movie in my head. I swear to you I have never given a moment's thought to who would play Alison Kerby or Samuel Hoenig or Duffy Madison (of the very-soon-upcoming WRITTEN OFF). The brains in the office buildings can cast anybody they like. I'd prefer it be someone who can act, but the writer has no control over this sort of thing and my hair is gray enough already. No, I consider much more deeply who would write the screenplay for said venture. In a perfect world (my version), naturally that would be me. But the fact is, I've already written the story in another medium and there was a reason it was a book and not a screenplay. I've written screenplays. A LOT of screenplays, in fact. (Don't bother looking up my IMDb page because I don't have one--nothing's ever been produced.) If I wrote a novel it was because that story felt like a novel to me. I'd love to take a crack at an adaptation sometime, but I'm a realist and I know that even if I am hired for that job, there will be rewrites and there will be other writers. Aaron Sorkin gets his screenplays made verbatim. That's the whole list of writers who have that kind of respect. So who would I want to write the screenplay (assuming I'm not the first choice and Sorkin is busy)? Well, I'm not going to name names, mostly because that's limiting oneself and besides, I still want to harbor the fantasy. It's the writer I care about, then maybe the director--especially if it's a theatrical film we're talking about--perhaps the producer (particularly in television) and then if one has time, the cast. Personally, as long as nobody's wearing a Spandex costume and taking down CGI buildings, I'm okay with it. I am not worried about people stomping on my books. Even if a miracle of luck were to happen and some producer wanted to adapt them, and even if that producer turned the novels into something I myself wouldn't recognize as my story, the books would still exist. I have tons of them and I'm about to get more. After WRITTEN OFF will come the Samuel Hoenig novel THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND in September (hi, Terri!) and then the Haunted Guesthouse book SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL in December. Shelf space in my office is somewhat limited already. So the books will be there, and readers can open them up and immerse themselves whenever they like. If you think the movie is going to desecrate your memory of a beloved story, here's what you do: Don't go. Don't watch it on TV. Re-read one of the books. I am a dedicated fan of the STAR TREK TV series from my childhood. The real one, with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. When it was announced there would be new movies "reimagining" the franchise, I was intrigued. Then I saw the first movie. Fool that I was, I saw the second one, too. There will be a third this July. I'm not going. I can watch the episodes and theatrical films I grew up on whenever I want. That can be the reality for me. And JJ Abrams and whoever Paramount has decided is next can make their movies and shovel in the money. Good for them. I'm not interested. It's an honor and a compliment to a writer that someone wants to take the work s/he has done and create a new version of it for a wider audience. That's wonderful and any author should be pleased to see it happen. But just because something's on film or TV doesn't mean it's the "official" version of that story. You, the audience/reader, get to decide what is your version. Stick to it. Cherish it; it's yours. We write it for you. If someone else has another version that works for them, that's great. You don't have to subscribe. This is a free country for at least the next six months. May 16, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Television, Writing If Something Gives You Joy... So let me get this straight: According to a book that has become the latest in a series of "sensations," I am to de-clutter my house by following one simple rule: I hold every object in my house next to my body, and if it doesn't give me joy, I get rid of it. Now, I haven't read the book (I barely read anything I didn't write anymore because I just don't have the time, but I am listening to The Three Musketeers in my car), so I'm willing to bet the method has been somewhat simplified in the press. Those devious bastards. First they create a presidential candidate out of an orange rind and a bird's nest and now they're telling me to hold my dining room table against my body to determine if I should keep it. The idea here is that one needs to divest oneself from the amount of clutter that fills the modern home, and I couldn't agree more. We have more junk in this house than in most third-world countries, and they wouldn't want most of it either. But this particular method of neatening seems a little... let's say inefficient for my taste. Since I am in essence a simple man (stop laughing!), I would like to question the logic of this particular philosophy. I think there are flaws that would benefit from my input, perhaps for the inevitable sequel, Maybe Joy Was Too Strong a Word. 1. If I'm only keeping objects that bring me joy, what am I going to use the next time the toilet is backed up? 2. There are objects that bring me great amounts of joy that I can't physically hold against my body. My refrigerator is just too damn large, and if you think I'm going to cozy up to it myself, well you don't understand exactly how I get joy out of that thing. 3. I don't get any particular feeling when I hold the dining room chairs next to my body, but I'm definitely going to need to sit on something the next time we invite people over to eat. 4. Do I have to hold every single vinyl record I've ever owned close to me, or can I just hug the cabinet they're in and move on? 5. There's a bottle of Joy under our kitchen sink. It doesn't exactly elate me. What to do? 6. I read an article last week saying dogs don't like to be hugged. We've become so attached to Gizmo. Do we have to discard him, or can we just call that one a draw? 7. Do I have to hug everyone who walks into the house really tightly and then decide whether they can stay? I mean, I don't know where the plumber's been. 8. Hugging each kitchen knife seems not only odd but dangerous. I'm not sure they give me joy, but eating an entire turkey without utensils would be messy and selfish. 9. Just because something doesn't give me joy now doesn't mean it won't at some time in the future. Right now my Yankees cap is giving me anything but joy. Is that always going to be true? (At the moment, frankly, it seems that way.) Note to all who might want to gloat right now: You are just being mean and should be ashamed of yourself. I don't trash talk, ever. 10. If I'm joyful all the time, how the hell can I write anything? P.S. Listen to Circe Link. May 9, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing You Can Bid Until Friday! I'll make this short and you can decide if it's sweet. Murder by the Book, the well-known and well-loved mystery bookstore in Houston, TX, suffered pretty severe damage in recent heavy rains, taking on flooding that will be under repair for months. McKenna Jordan, owner of the store, isn't interested in charity to help repair the damage, but she is happy to have people buy books, gift certificates and other merchandise from Murder by the Book to get the store closer to its accustomed state. A number of authors are doing what they can to encourage people to buy from the store in person, on their website or visit their Facebook page. Here's how McKenna puts it: For fans of the work of the elusive E.J. Copperman, here's the pitch: The upcoming WRITTEN OFF will begin the Mysterious Detective Mystery series featuring Duffy Madison, who might or might not be the living embodiment of a character featured in crime novels by Rachel Goldman. There are in existence two Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of WRITTEN OFF and you can have one of them! All you have to do is help out Murder by the Book! Both ARCs are now available for purchase by auction on eBay. One can be found here and the other here. High bid on each gets the ARC and a five-week (or so) sneak peek of WRITTEN OFF, with free postage. So feel free to bid! ALL proceeds will go to buying gift certificates to Murder by the Book which will become prizes in a contest we'll be announcing here next week! Murder by the Book is a unique store with friendly ownership and employees who care about the genre and love books and authors. I've been there a few times to sign books and there is no more pleasurable experience for a writer to have. So let's help get the store back on its feet--bid! A signed ARC of WRITTEN OFF could be on its way to you! Bidding ends this Friday, May 6 at 10 a.m. and 10:20 a.m. so don't be late. And if you don't want to bid on the ARCs, please do some of the things listed above and keep a Houston landmark of mystery alive! May 2, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Biggest Bang for Your Entertainment Buck This past weekend much of my family gathered at my house for our 45-minute PowerPoint Seder (now in HD!), a ceremony that dates back at least six or seven years and celebrates our limited attention span as well as a few jokes to keep things lively. It's our way of upholding the longstanding tradition while jettisoning the parts of it that we have always considered, well, to say any more would be to annoy people for whom such things are sacrosanct and the one thing we do agree upon is that such people are entitled to their opinion. I have no desire to sound oppositional. But that's not the point, anyway. At one moment during the evening, one of our guests noticed the box of copies Crooked Lane Books generously sent last week of WRITTEN OFF, E.J. Copperman's soon-to-be-published first edition in the Mysterious Detective Mystery series, of which you will no doubt be hearing quite a bit in coming weeks (trust me). And he picked up one of the copies and said, in very impressed tones, "Oh! Your new book is in hardcover!" Yes, it is. I'm not sure why people think that's the interesting aspect of the novel, but it is undeniably being released in a hardcover edition rather than the trade and mass market paperbacks that the Haunted Guesthouse and Asperger's Mystery novels (not to mention the late lamented Double Feature series, of which you also might be hearing a little something--or not--in a few months) have been. Now, I enjoy the hardcover editions as much as the next guy, assuming the next guy would love to have a novel published even if it were carved in stone or written out in whipped cream. Someone wants to read my words and I'm a happy man. Still, I am a little concerned about the lack of respect the paperback book is getting these days, particularly as it pertains to mystery novels. It is no secret that the number of paperbacks, especially mass market editions, is shrinking in the publishing business. I was not a business major in college and I hold absolutely no knowledge of marketing strategy, as any attempts I have made to publicize my work might indicate. But as an entertainment medium I defy you to find a better value on this planet than the mass market paperback book. Think about it: Movies are now about $15 a ticket in many areas and usually come in around two hours in terms of entertainment time. TV was free when I was nine years old, but now comes in the form of a cable or satellite subscription, a streaming service, Netflix or Hulu or some other Jetsons-style video-on-demand medium I was writing about as a futuristic dream in trade magazines in the 80s. Bottom line, if you're not picking up the networks on your rabbit ears, and even if you are, you're paying for television. And I know there are some out there who refuse to acknowledge they watch television because they're just too sophisticated for the witless fare to be found there, but they are mostly lying. If you don't think so, look at the comments section on any web site that covered the last episode of Downton Abbey and see if you find some unexpected names there. Anyway, you're paying for TV. You're paying for music--or you should be, if you don't want to deprive artists of compensation for their work (and you really should be listening to Circe Line and Christian Nesmith if you're not already). An album (remember those?) of music will cost at least $10 on iTunes, for you old fogies who go that way, or more for a (gasp!) CD of the stuff. They last under an hour in most cases. A paperback book? Depending on your reading time, the average experience has to be at least six hours. Paperbacks cost about $7.99. That means, from a writer's point of view, you have to sell more books--a lot more books--to be profitable to a publisher and collect royalties above the advance you were (hopefully) paid when you signed the publishing contract. It means you have to work harder to please more people while still writing the book you wanted to read in the first place. Yes. Mass market paperbacks are a harder way to make a living for a writer than hardcovers. And I love hardcovers. They feel great in your hands, the spines don't wrinkle and splinter, the words are larger and there's an actual dustcover, which is nice because... it avoids dust? I love hardcovers. But I'm also a huge fan of paperbacks and hope they remain with us for a very long time. They are the literary medium of the masses and that should count for something. More people read your book. What's better than that? Fight for your paperbacks, America. And everywhere else. Keep them coming and keep them cheap. They're minute-by-minute your best entertainment value anywhere. They deserve to be saved. P.S. For those who are attending the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland next weekend, but E.J. Copperman and I will be attending, and depending on how you look at it, it'll be impossible either to see us in the same room or not to see us in the same room. Your call. Whichever one of us is there will be on a panel called Ghostly Murder Saturday morning at 9. One or both of us sincerely hope to see you there. Apr 25, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing I Lie A Lot Okay. Let me explain why I lie so much. In my regular walking-around life, I try to tell the truth the vast majority of the time. For one thing, remembering the lie is exhausting, and besides, I have very little to hide. So the actual facts are usually what you'll get from me. But I have another, less public life that I don't talk about much. And in that one, I lie my brains out quite frequently. Not on important points, but in the details. I don't have one area of my life I'll tell the truth about in that area. And keep in mind, I write fiction for a living, which is a form of lying (although some will say the real truth comes out in fiction), and that's not even the circumstance I'm discussing. That's right. I fill out surveys. I don't remember exactly how I got started, but there are a couple sites that offer "rewards" for answering a few questions, or sometimes a LOT of questions, and I've found the practice to be something of a palate-cleanser when I'm writing. I can stop thinking about what Alison, Samuel, Kay or Rachel is going through at that moment and just respond to prompts that are simple. It's sort of a mindless way to be mindful, and in the end you get some air miles or a gift certificate to an online retailer or two. So every once in a while I get an email prompting me to check in and see what the topic is going to be today. And almost immediately, I start lying. The survey generally begins with a screening process. That is, a few preliminary questions are asked to see if the survey subject (that's me) fits the demographic the client (usually a company trying to figure out if people will or already do like its product). So they ask my age, and I tell the truth. I'm 58. Deal with it. They ask my gender. Once again, no reason to deny that I'm male. I figure most of these things are filled out by women, so I'm something of a novelty and that might get me into the survey easier. Fine. Then the survey will ask for my zip code. I change that one every time it's asked. None of their business exactly where I live. They can ask the NSA if they're that interested. Quite frequently the next question will be about my annual income. No chance they're getting a straight answer on that, because for all I know they're a front for the IRS or people hoping to find rich people's houses to rob on a given evening (in which case I'm actually pretty safe, but that's not the point). If there's an option to answer, "I'd rather not say," I'll click that, and more times than not I'll immediately get kicked off the survey. That's the way it goes. But sometimes there no such out switch, so I'll vary my answers. Tell them my family of four is subsisting on $5000 a year. Go for the middle of the pack. Close my eyes and click on something, just to see if I'm wealthier than I think I am. I never, ever tell the truth. It's just a rude question. You don't answer those. I have no such compunction on questions about my health or sexual orientation. Those come up rarely, but if they're there, I'll usually tell the truth. Usually. Now, if I actually get admitted to the survey, I'll answer all the questions about the product and the subject matter honestly. I don't want to screw up the results of the survey or I wouldn't have agreed to do these things to begin with, $10 gift certificate or no $10 gift certificate. They get the straight data from me where it counts. But if you want to know my annual income, you'd better be my accountant. And I know what he looks like; he used to be married to my cousin. Pretty much everything in this post is true, by the way. Almost all of it. As is the fact that WRITTEN OFF is coming June 14 and advance readers are emailing to say they like it, which is always very nice. And the Audible version will be available, but I don't know when exactly. The narrator emailed a few days ago with a question or two. I told her the complete truth. Apr 18, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen, Writing Such a Character! Update, Thursday, Apr. 14: I am told that Arnold Drucker passed away early this morning at the age of 93. The fact that I posted about him this week was a complete coincidence, but a friend of the family saw the post and let his children know about it. I hope they understand (and I'm told they do) that the piece was written with great affection, and I offer my sincere condolences. One of my favorite real-life characters of all time has never made it into a book I've written because I just haven't been able to find the proper context, and because I don't think anyone would believe it. Arnold Drucker sold consumer electronics equipment in Newark, New Jersey. When I first encountered him I was prepared to use the money I'd saved up working at a men's clothing store in Irvington, NJ one summer to buy my very first stereo component system. Remember those? My brother, who was about to leave for college and wanted a stereo to take with him, had saved up his salary from the wholesale jewelry business he'd worked at for a number of summers, had heard about Drucker's from our uncle, who had bought... something there. I tended to go from summer job to summer job until I almost sliced off my finger working in the deli department of a Shop Rite and decided the next summer to try for a newspaper internship, which I luckily got. It was harder work, but much safer for my hands. So we got into my 1965 Chevy Impala, a car big enough to land aircraft on the hood, and headed into downtown Newark, a drive of maybe 15 minutes. There was free parking at Drucker's if you bought something and we were primed to be big spenders. And that's when I first laid eyes on Arnold Drucker. He was a middle-aged man, probably younger than I am now. Bald with white tufts of hair on either side. He was slim and energetic, a wheeler-dealer of an electronics salesman who knew what everybody needed based on what he had in excess stock and how to get the best price (for him) out of the negotiation. I found him fascinating. If you want to (kind of) see for yourself, you can get a glimpse here. But the really interesting thing about Drucker's was that Arnold was selling room-sized speakers, large tuners, turntables, cassette decks (and 8-tracks!) as well as televisions and I'm pretty sure major appliances. He was the only salesman in the facility--there were other guys who get your merchandise "from the warehouse" and help you get it into your car--and you had to wait in a long line to get to talk to Arnold. Some customers were there for the stereo equipment, some were there for the air conditioners, some were there for the vacuum cleaners and others wanted a large, heavy tube TV. Others just came for a Snickers bar and a copy of the New York Daily News. Drucker's was run out of a newsstand in an office building. It's true: The whole of the electronics empire was contained in a newsstand. Newspapers and candy bars were out front; the sample electronics were behind the counter. Virtually nothing sold there (aside from the newspapers and candy bars) was on the premises. The big box items were kept in another part of the large building, the basement if I remember correctly. You made your deal with the Mr. Haney of electronics himself, then he wrote up the order and handed it to a minion who would meet you in the parking garage with your merchandise. It was a lot like buying olive oil from Don Corleone, except I'm fairly sure most of Arnold's stuff was at least purchased legitimately. Most of it. We ended up spending a fortune at Drucker's that day (about $350--each!) and I still have the speakers I bought that day. I'm pretty sure they're in my basement. They were the size of end tables and could be used as such. And I'm sure that a properly equipped iPhone could blow them out of the water today. It's the march of progress and that's not always a good thing. The Moroccan bazaar aspect of Drucker's was what I found most interesting. Nobody who came with a well-thought-through list ever ended up with what they had decided upon. Everybody drove out of the lot with what Arnold had wanted to sell them and were happy with their choices. My brother and I bought the exact same stereo system because he'd convinced us these were absolutely the best components available at the price we could afford. I'm not an audiophile, which is probably good in this case, and it sounded great to me. It followed me to college, then home, then to my first apartment and when I decided to upgrade I went to Drucker's new store, which he had bought in a more suburban area to compete with the coming Crazy Eddie avalanche. It was a real store, no cigar stand, and there were staff salesmen. But if you gave any of them the least bit of trouble about what they wanted you to buy, you got Arnold. Once when my friend Jeff Pollitzer wanted to buy some new speakers for his car--yes, we used to install our own--we drove out to Drucker's. Pollitzer knew what he wanted. Arnold knew what he wanted to sell this kid. He brought out a box of the not-Jensen (or whatever brand Pollitzer had asked for) speakers, for more money, and leaned over confidentially. "Channel Master," he said as if it was a state secret. "I know the name. You know the name." We didn't know the name, and neither did anyone else. Not even Mr. and Mrs. Master. Pollitzer ended up with a third choice, as I recall. He didn't buy the Channel Masters, but he didn't get what he'd come for, either. The speakers sounded fine and everybody was happy, but Arnold had clearly lost a step in the move and the store didn't last very long after The Wiz and Crazy Eddie started taking over the territory. You couldn't even buy a Three Musketeers there. I mean, what's the point? P.S. Opening Day was last week. You missed it. Luckily, there are 158 games left to be played. How I Got to the Bestseller List I am pleased--no, tickled--to report that during the week of April 10, I will be in the #1 position on the New York Times bestseller list. You don't believe me (as you would be wise not to)? Just click here. See? Right there at the top of the middle grade (hardcover) list: The book is called Jacky Ha-Ha. And it's my ticket not only to cracking the list, but to hitting it immediately at the top spot. What's that you say? The authors of the book are listed as Chris Grabenstein and some guy named Patterson? Yes, that's correct. I didn't say I had written a book at the top of the bestseller list, just that it had gotten me there. I'm a character in the book. Yes, it takes place in middle school and the character is not specifically a 58-year-old curmudgeon, but when you turn to p. 111, you'll see my name right up there in the cast list for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the show the kids in this particular school are about to begin rehearsing. And just in case you're thinking, well, there are plenty of guys called Jeff Cohen this little brat could have been named for, let me give you the description (p. 131): "Jeff is a bundle of energy, curly hair," (Editor's note: See photograph, right) "and quirky eye tics." Not sure where Grabenstein got the eye tics from, but come on. That's me (at that age--I'm hardly a bundle of energy now). I know mostly because Chris alerted me to this the day after the book was released. The fact is, Chris is a good friend and needed a wiseguy character for his latest collaboration with Mr. Patterson. Since beginning with the wonderful John Ceepak/Danny Boyle, Chris has found great success in middle grades books like his own Mr. Lemoncello's Library series and in collaboration with the ultra-bestselling author he knew from both their days in advertising. Chris even had a very nice New York Times feature in the Real Estate section (!) a couple of Sundays ago. Authors are not without their egos and their jealousies. Yes, we love to see our peers do well, but we're also wondering why that wasn't us. That's okay; it's a human response. Grabenstein and I started in this whole odd book business around the same time. I remember meeting him at the Black Orchid during one of the wonderful block parties they used to throw (alas, the place is no longer there and the parties have not continued) and picking up his book because somebody told me Chris "writes funny," which in my world is a challenge. Nobody's allowed to be funnier than me. Well he's not, but it's close. I will gladly stop a busy afternoon if there's a new Ceepak book, which alas Chris tells me is not coming anytime soon. They're funny but with heart, the narrator is a developing character who evolves from book to book, and Chris always makes you want to turn pages. His ability to plot and to have secondary mysteries that are tied to character and get to the core of the story leaves me in awe. I have no jealousy for Chris Grabenstein. I begrudge him nothing. I am thrilled for the great success he's found. That's the absolute truth. And now he's gotten me to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. That's a friend. Besides, Jacky Ha-Ha is charming and smart. Written as a remembrance by a narrator who is now an Oscar-nominated actress and alumna of SNL, it tells a story of growth and worry. It's 1990 and Jacky's mom, a Marine, is deployed to Iraq waiting for the order to move in, so she has a good deal of anxiety. At home she's having a hard time behaving because she like to make jokes as a defense mechanism and needs an audience, which too often consists of her peers in the classroom. But one teacher sees something in her, and maybe that's going to make a difference. Jeff Cohen is one of her pals and quite frankly, I think we need to see more of him. Perhaps a sequel will delve more completely into his complex psychology and heroic talents, most of which consist of being quick with a joke (clearly a fictional conceit). I believe he's a character who cries out for a book of his own. One of these days I'll write a character named Chris Grabenstein and see if it helps my sales. I'm not entirely altruistic. P.S. Opening Day has been postponed until tomorrow (when I'll be teaching in Philadelphia and won't be able to watch). So you can call me today, but expect me to be grumpy. Apr 4, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Children's Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing The People Vs. O.J.? Nah. I Saw the Original Cast I am very clear about this: I make things up for a living. That is to say, nothing you'll read from me (with the possible exception of this blog and my two non-fiction books) is true. None of it happened and none of those people--again, with one exception I used with permission--is real. My job, as I see it, is to amuse and entertain. Reality just gets in the way of that. That's why I have not seen any episodes of The Making of a Murderer or The Jinx. I have not listened to Serial, either "season." I'm not watching any of the current The People vs. O.J. Simpson. I'm not even a fan of In Cold Blood in any incarnation. True crime honestly doesn't interest me. I understand that some people love the details of the case and want to know whether the accused (there always seems to be an accused) "did it," whether the victim will--despite remaining dead--get justice. I'm not saying those people shouldn't find all this stuff absolutely riveting. It's a perfectly legitimate form of storytelling and for those who find something in it, more power to you. It's just not for me, that's all. I do tend to read non-fiction, partly because fiction reading has become something of a busman's holiday for me. I've always said that I don't read much crime fiction because I don't want someone else's voice in my head when I'm writing (and these days, luckily, I'm pretty much always writing), and I do mean that. Even subconsciously there should be no plot point seepage into my own work. I wouldn't ever steal an idea from another writer on a conscious level but I don't want even the possibility to exist. Also, one of the reasons a person gets into this game is that nobody's writing the book you want to read, so you have to write it yourself. And that is not insignificant. I do write the kind of book that keeps me interested, largely because you deal with it for a few hours but I have to live with the story for months. I trust that by not boring myself I will hopefully not bore the reader. But the non-fiction I read tends to be in the areas of historical profiles or biographies. True crime never enters into the mix. Frankly, it's a little depressing for me to begin with and I'm not interested in speculating (as so much of the current crop seems to expect the consumer to do) on whether the party at the center of the investigation is guilty or not. One of the things I've always liked about crime fiction is that we pretty much always get to find out who the culprit is at the end of the story. There is rarely a question left open. In fact, editors have been very clear with me about not leaving anything dangling at the end of a book, even in a series novel. So you get your closure no matter what. Also, true crime tends to deal with the sensational events, almost always murders, that are meant to pique the public's imagination through the hideous nature of the crime and/or the spectacularly bizarre personalities at the center of the issue. In that way true crime is not all that different from crime fiction. We focus on strange, or at least unusual, crimes (almost always murders although I'd love to write one without) and oversized personalities. The problem is, as Joseph Mankiewicz once noted, "the difference between life and movies is that a script has to make sense and life doesn't". I'm not interested in getting that close to a sociopath. I prefer a little humor in what I use to fill that "free time" I keep hearing about. For me, the idea of getting that deep into a situation in which someone actually lost his or her life is deflating: Maybe the guilty party is caught; maybe not. Either way, the victim stays dead and I find that disturbing. Yes, people should be exposed and punished when they do something wrong, especially that wrong. But does it make everything okay? Not really. In fiction, we can make the victim someone nobody liked or someone inconsequential. If we want, we can invite the reader (audience) to care about the victim and offer some idea of restoration in the criminal's comeuppance. A writer can focus on any aspect of the story (I prefer to emphasize character and hopefully humor) and downplay others (like death and terror). That's me. I'm not suggesting it has to be you. So I won't be checking in on any of the real-life murderers on TV these days. In fact, I don't watch any "reality programming" because I can't think of one that's not insulting to my intelligence or simply uninteresting. Again, this is a matter of personal taste. I will watch some stuff I can't even call a "guilty pleasure" and wouldn't recommend to you at all. But it fills a need for me (and no, I'm not talking about porn). That's why I'm not a fan of the true crime genre. So if you refer to whomever that murderer who was made might be or some other "famous" killer and I look blank, you'll know why. In my head, I'm busy making up something else. P.S. Opening Day is 7 days from today. Mar 28, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Film, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Television, Writing It's Great Being a Crime Fiction Author--Usually Things I Like About Being A Crime Fiction Author Readers are a wonderful group. Even the ones who don't like my books are nice about it. Other authors. What a welcoming community. I have met people named "Twist" and "Sparkle." Try that in an accounting firm. Editors: I've yet to meet one who doesn't really want to make the book be the best it can be. Agents, or at least Josh and the gang at HSG. I can work in any clothes I want. The kitchen is 6 feet away. People think writing is a superpower and I have it. They're wrong, but don't tell them. My guitar is 2 feet away. All that stuff you have to cram into a weekend? I can do that whenever I want. I can take a long weekend off with my wife in May and don't have to tell anybody. I actually love going to conventions. Lots of pals and new pals waiting to be met. There is no mandatory retirement age. I have something to think about when I'm trying to sleep that won't irritate or terrify me. I can post something silly on Twitter or Facebook and claim it's part of my marketing strategy. Going into a bookstore can be an ego boost. Librarians like me. I consider the New York Times crossword puzzle a necessary part of my working day and no one argues. Want to have lunch sometime? I'm available. If there's a day game I can watch it. Things I Don't Like About Being A Crime Fiction Author Second acts. A slight edge of condescension among the more "literary" types. That paycheck you get twice a month? I know it's coming but not necessarily when. I can't ever stop working. That long weekend with my wife? I'll be writing 1000 words a day while we're away. I love the conventions. Alas, I don't have time to sleep for a week when they're over. People might stop liking my books tomorrow. People might have stopped liking my books yesterday and I don't know it yet. Sometimes going into a bookstore can be intimidating--they have a mystery section without me. Some plot problems keep me up when I'm trying to sleep. I'm really not very good on guitar. I have time to worry about the election. There aren't that many day games. Overall, there are far more and better items in List #1 than List #2 and always have been. I love this job. Thanks for letting me have it. It is 14 days to Opening Day. Mar 21, 2016 12:00:00 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Jeffrey Cohen, Publishing, Writing Gonna Be in Ewing on Sunday? I'll be speaking on How to Make (Fictional) Murder Funny at the Ewing Branch Library in Ewing, NJ this Sunday (March 20) at 2 p.m., so please register and drop on in! I'll be signing books and talking to the audience afterward. Love to see you there if you're in the area! Only 33 spaces left, so make sure you register! Mar 15, 2016 7:52:45 AM \| Books, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Jeffrey Cohen, Libraries, Publishing, Writing	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2090
__label__cc	0.596536	0.403464	Former Homeowners Not Hurt By Bad Credit By Kevin Chiu The threat of bad credit isn’t hurting millions of former homeowners who have undergone foreclosure when it comes to finding a new place to live. Landlords are even getting used to hearing from foreclosure victims applying for homes and apartments to rent. In fact, the plight of former homeowners isn’t even considered by most rental companies any longer, much like medical bills have been excused in the past. “It’s just a part of doing business anymore,” said one New York City rental agent, who asked not to be named. “We’re seeing all sorts of people who have been through the housing mess, and they aren’t having any trouble finding a place to rent.” Bad credit when it came to foreclosures was once considered a death blow for renters, who would have to put up hefty deposits if they could even get a landlord to rent to them. But as the foreclosure crisis mounts, taking the homes of more than 7 million so far, rental agents are looking the other way. “Foreclosures on your credit don’t cause a problem at all,” said Martha Ruiz, a licensed real estate agent with six years experience in property management in Santa Maria, California. “They don’t hurt anymore at all,” she said with a chuckle. Foreclosures are all too common in Ruiz’s line of work, where those who have suffered through a foreclosure seek rental homes and apartments to keep a roof over their heads. Millions of former homeowners are walking away from homes as a result of being upside down on mortgages. Others owe too much on loans they feel will never get to even a break even point, and make the point that after banks and mortgage companies offered loans to artificially inflate the housing market they aren’t going to be able to break even in their lifetimes. “I wasn’t going to hold on to a losing asset,” said Saul Klein, a former homeowner whose home was foreclosed in February in a Los Angeles suburb. “I didn’t have a problem renting a house for my family. We’ll buy another home when things improve with the economy in a few years. Who knows that may take a decade.” Klein looked at walking away from his $600,000 plus mortgage much like “companies do business every day. There was emotion involved, but I wasn’t going bankrupt over the loan,” he said. With credit that has been reestablished by paying credit cards, auto payments and other bills in a timely fashion, former homeowners who suffer through foreclosure could be able to borrow money on a new mortgage in as soon as three years. Published July 20, 2011 By Housing Predictor Team Categorized as 2011 Housing Market, California, Credit, Foreclosure, Housing Market, New York Mortgage Volume Jumps on Lower Interest Rates Home Sales Dip Troubling Real Estate Market on Cancellations	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2093
__label__wiki	0.789861	0.789861	Start Nintendo 3Ds Game Download Below Nintendo 3Ds Game Download Overview Citra is an open-source Nintendo 3DS emulator that gets its name from the model name of the first 3DS, CTR. It can run Nintendo 3DS games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Pokémon Sun and Moon, and Sonic Generations. Notwithstanding the games, it likewise imitates the 3DS’ Wi-Fi. Rather than playing against or with clients in your neighborhood, can play with any Citra client from any area of the planet. Designers can exploit the two interfaces: an essential order line interface and a completely highlighted graphical UI. These guarantee engineers that the components of the UI are decoupled from its center, permitting the new frontends to be executed. Citra offers its players a method for playing Nintendo 3DS games on any gadget they need, and on an interface, they can undoubtedly follow. The clear UI permits the read-just memory document of the game to design itself to your gadget without showing a flood of choices. At dispatch, you can set up your favored controls, sound, and picture quality. You will likewise find different survey modes that will adjust to the game you’re playing. This implies you can see a game on a solitary screen or see the two screens if necessary. When you’re in a game, you can improve its illustrations through different devices. This incorporates goal scaling and surface sifting. Your gaming experience can likewise be made more vital by including the camera and receiver into your framework. Along these lines, you’ll have the option to play multiplayer with companions or other gamers. The illustrations on Citra Emulator 3DS can reach up to 60 FPS and 400 x 200 goals, which is considered a high goal for cell phones. You will likewise observe that the models and surfaces seem dynamic and sharp instead of the nature of 3DS. It has been made this way by the engineers to upgrade the experience of Nintendo fans who had played the 3DS console initially. Citra is a reasonable utility program for gamers that need to play Nintendo 3DS games on both work areas and versatile. While the games are not underlying the program, it is viable with most 3DS ROMS you see on the web. There are additionally restricted customization choices, so the presence of the game will change per game. At last, Citra takes the 3DS games to another level as you get to associate with different players from everywhere in the world. Nintendo 3Ds Game Download Minimum Requirements Operating System – Windows 10 (64-bit). Intel Core i5 processor with 4 cores. 2GB AMD Radeon R7 240 graphics. DirectX 11. 16 GB RAM. Nintendo 3Ds Game Download Recommended Requirements How You Can Install Nintendo 3Ds 2. Download “Nintendo 3Ds” Installer (Supports Resumable Downloads). Final Fantasy 8 Download	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2094
__label__wiki	0.912835	0.912835	Russell Reynolds Associates Seeks New CFO for XPO Logistics August 24, 2018 – Russell Reynolds Associates has been selected to find a new chief financial officer for Greenwich, CT-based XPO Logistics. CFO John Hardig recently stepped down to spend more time with his family, the company said. Sarah Glickman, senior vice president, corporate finance, assumes the role of acting chief financial officer. Mr. Hardig will remain available to the business in an advisory capacity until mid-September. “I’m immensely grateful to John for helping us grow XPO into a $15 billion company over the last six-and-a-half years,” said Bradley S. Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of XPO Logistics. “John’s legacy at XPO is one of integrity and accomplishment. We wish him the very best.” Mr. Hardig served as XPO’s first CFO since 2012. “My years on the XPO executive team have been the most fulfilling of my career,” he said. “I’m particularly proud of the world-class finance organization we built and the talented leaders who are immersed in our strategy. It was a difficult decision to leave, but now is the right time for me to focus on my family.” Strong Experience Ms. Glickman has more than 25 years of senior finance experience. She was formerly chief financial officer of business services for Novartis and has held executive roles with Honeywell International and Bristol-Myers Squibb. During her 11 years with Honeywell, she served as chief financial officer of the fluorine products business unit, global head of internal audit and director of finance operations. With Bristol-Myers Squibb, she had senior responsibility for corporate controllers and accounting, financial controls and compliance. Ms. Glickman began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is a CPA and a chartered accountant with a degree in economics from the University of York (U.K.) XPO Logistics is a top ten global logistics provider of cutting-edge supply chain solutions. The company operates as a highly integrated network of people, technology and physical assets in 32 countries, with 1,505 locations and more than 97,000 employees. XPO uses its network to help more than 50,000 customers manage their goods more efficiently throughout their supply chains. Its European headquarters is in Lyon, France. Earlier this month, during the company’s second quarter earnings conference call, Mr. Jacobs reported that revenue, operating income and earnings all hit company records for a second quarter. “We generated higher than expected organic revenue growth of 11 percent, and we continued to grow adjusted EBITDA at a faster rate than revenue,” he said. “On a year-over-year basis, our EBITDA in the quarter was up 18 percent, underscoring the broad-based growth that we delivered across our operations.” In its transportation segment, the company increased freight brokerage revenue by 27 percent and increased brokerage net revenue by 46 percent, he said. In North American LTL, XPO Logistics achieved an adjusted operating ratio of 84.3 percent, which was the company’s best operating ratio in 30 years. “In last mile, we grew revenue in the quarter by 17 percent,” Mr. Jacobs said. “And, once again, the big driver of last mile performance was E-commerce. We opened another 16 last-mile hubs in the second quarter, bringing our last-mile network to 71 hubs across North America, on track for a total of 85, ahead of the holiday peak.” The growth in E-commerce is a global phenomenon, he added. “In our logistics segment, E-commerce fueled an acceleration of our organic revenue growth to 14 percent,” said Mr. Jacobs. “We implemented a record 37 contract logistics start-ups in the quarter, bringing our year-to-date start-ups through June to 64. We expect this strong growth to continue due to our $1.8 billion logistics sales pipeline, which is up 48 percent from $1.2 billion a year ago.” Finding CFOs CFOs continue to be in high demand. Finding them is keeping many of the nation’s top recruitment operations busier than ever. In recent months, search firms of all varieties have placed CFOs at various companies. Here’s a look at a few from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives: New York-based executive recruiter Herbert Mines Associates recently placed Paula A. Price as CFO for retail giant Macy’s. Ms. Price has 30 years of finance experience, mostly from retail and consumer-facing businesses. Most recently, she served as CFO of Ahold USA. Houston-based search firm The Alexander Group placed Joshua Brumm as CFO of Kaleido Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology company. Managing director Beth Ehrgott led the assignment. Mr. Brumm, an accomplished CFO with extensive financial and operational experience, has more than a decade of experience in the life science industry. Caldwell Partners International placed Bradley Wear as the new executive vice president and CFO of Compassus, a nationwide network of community-based hospice. Neal Maslan and John Blank, both partners in the firm’s life sciences and healthcare practice, led the search. Mr. Wear has more than 20 years of experience in senior financial leadership roles in healthcare. TalentRISE placed Laura Witter-Johnson as CFO of Prism Healthcare Partners. The assignment was led by J. James O’Malley, partner and executive search practice leader, and Beth Gordon, director for executive search. “We were looking for a sitting controller or director of accounting within a professional services firm,” said Mr. O’Malley. Sports and entertainment recruitment firm Turnkey Search placed Daniel Fumai as the CFO of the Milwaukee Brewers. In his new role, Mr. Fumai will provide direct, hands-on leadership for the financial operation of the Brewers organization and related entities, including the direction of all finance, accounting, reporting and treasury duties. Check Out These Related Articles On CFO Recruiting: ON Partners Lands CFO for McAfee Spencer Stuart Lands CFO for Entercom Communications AETHOS Places CFO at Red Lion Hotels Waterhouse Executive Search Lands CFO for Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Spencer Stuart In Hunt for 'Global CFO' for Amaya NPAworldwide Adds Eight New Member Firms Employers Using Social Media More and More to Screen Candidates	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2095
__label__wiki	0.543027	0.543027	A study of correlation of angiographic evaluation of coronary artery disease with androgenetic alopecia – TricoHeart study Vaibhav B Patil1, Snehal B Lunge2 1 Department of Cardiology, J N Medical College, Kaher and Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital, Belagavi, Karnataka, India 2 Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, J N Medical College, Kaher and Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital, Belagavi, Karnataka, India Dr. Snehal B Lunge Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, J N Medical College, Kaher and Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital, Belagavi, Karnataka DOI: 10.4103/ijt.ijt_111_19 Background: Research on the association between androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and coronary artery disease (CAD) in women, with a focus on the evaluation of their angiographic association in the form of the severity of disease, has been lacking. Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the relation between CAD and AGA in women and to study their severity. Methods: This study, carried out with 438 women within 55 years of age and admitted for coronary angiography, had the case group (participants with CAD; n = 219) and control group (those without CAD; n = 219). The clinical and paraclinical data were collected after clinical history, physical examination, and review of the patients' records (family, past, and personal history of the participants). The coronary risk profiles such as diabetes mellitus, blood pressure, and serum cholesterol level were also noted, and the diagnosis of AGA was performed, and participants were grouped using the Ludwig's baldness grading system. Statistical analysis was performed by studying association between the variable using the Chi-square test (R i386.3.5.1 software). Results: In the study group, 74 (33.79%) participants were treadmill test positive, 55 (25.11%) had unstable angina, 40 (18.26%) had ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and 50 (22.83%) had non-ST-STEMI (NSTEMI). In the case group, Grade II female AGA was evidenced in 38 (43.18%) participants, whereas Grade III was present in 30 (34.09%) participants. Further on, 27 patients with triple vessel disease had Grade III female AGA. Whereas, in the control group, Grade I female AGA was evidenced in 23 (65.71%) participants. Conclusion: The hypothesis that female pattern baldness is a marker for increased risk of CAD events has been studied and established as part of the present study. Further, extensive studies on the effect of other variables with a larger sample size need to be conducted. Keywords: Alopecia, androgenetic, angiographic, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction Patil VB, Lunge SB. A study of correlation of angiographic evaluation of coronary artery disease with androgenetic alopecia – TricoHeart study. Int J Trichol 2019;11:227-31 Patil VB, Lunge SB. A study of correlation of angiographic evaluation of coronary artery disease with androgenetic alopecia – TricoHeart study. Int J Trichol [serial online] 2019 [cited 2022 Jan 16];11:227-31. Available from: https://www.ijtrichology.com/text.asp?2019/11/6/227/275955 Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a pattern of hair loss in males and females, characterized by varying degrees of thinning primarily at the frontal area and vertex of the scalp.[1] The Framingham Heart Study revealed an association between the progression of hair loss during adulthood and occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in male individuals, although no direct relationship has been observed as with the extent of baldness and CAD.[2] It has been demonstrated that the early onset of AGA in young participants (<30 years) increases the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD).[3] Premenopausal women are generally protected from the manifestations of IHD because of the protective effects of estrogen; however, the effects get diminished with the development of diabetes mellitus (DM).[4] Although several studies have reported the association of AGA with CAD, the studies have focused on the male population.[4],[5] Reports of their association in women are lacking in the literature; this restricts the development of diagnosis and treatment plans for females. In addition, the limitation of research on detecting the development of the conditions with respect to its severity also effects the timely intervention.[6] Thus, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between AGA and CAD and evaluates the severity of the conditions. This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2016 to July 2019, after receiving the approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee. The study was conducted in the department of cardiology at a tertiary care hospital and research center. A total of 438 women participants were enrolled in the study. The inclusion criteria included women within <55 years and having documented angiography report. The participants with the presence of chronic telogen effluvium, history of thyroid disorder (hypo/hyper), on chemotherapy drugs, patients with connective tissue disorder, unavailability of first-degree relative, and those who were unwilling to participate were excluded from the study. The participants were divided into two groups on the basis of their angiography results – case group (participants with CAD; n = 219) and control group (those without CAD; n = 219). The first-degree female relatives (mother, sister, and aunt) of the case participants were assessed for AGA (as AGA has genetic predisposition and has been established to have polygenetic mode of inheritance[7]) were categorized in the control group if they did not have demonstrate/report any evidence of CAD (asymptomatic with normal electrocardiogram and echocardiography [ECHO] findings). Coronary angiography data were obtained from the database. Significant lesions were defined as those with ≥70% diameter narrowing of coronary arteries; left main CAD was defined as ≥50% stenosis of the left main coronary artery. Individuals in the control group were evaluated for CAD with electrocardiography and ECHO, and if found symptomatic, then treadmill test (TMT) on an outpatient basis. The clinical and paraclinical data were collected after clinical history, physical examination, and review of the patients' records. Family, past, and personal history of the participants, including a family history of CAD, myocardial infarction (MI) and AGA, history of CAD, MI, tobacco chewing, and amenorrhea, were also recorded during the subject's inclusion in the case group. The coronary risk profiles such as DM, blood pressure, and serum cholesterol level were also noted. Diagnosis of androgenetic alopecia The dermatologist diagnosed the participants and their relatives for AGA, clinically, and was blinded regarding the categorization of the groups. The participants were blinded to the angiographic results. After the clinical examinations of the participants, they were grouped using the Ludwig's baldness grading system (Grade I –III) [Figure 1]. Ludwig's classification of hair loss among females Data analysis was performed using R i386.3.5.1 software. Continuous data were represented in the form of mean ± standard deviation, and the categorical variables were represented by the frequency table. The association between the categorical variable was studied using the Chi-square test. Of the 438 participants, majority of the case group participants were between 41 and 50 years of age, and the control group participants were between 61 and 70 years of age [Table 1]. Table 1: Distribution of participants by age group (n=219) Upon the diagnosis of the heart condition in the case group, majority of the participants were TMT positive followed by participants with unstable angina [Table 2]. Table 2: Clinical presentation of coronary artery disease in the case group (n=219) Upon distributing participants based on the detection of AGA, only 40.18% of the case group and 15.98% of the control group were diagnosed with AGA. Majority of case group participants were diagnosed with Grade II AGA, whereas majority of control group participants had Grade I AGA [Table 3]. Table 3: Distribution of participants by female androgenetic alopecia Baseline angiographic characterization of the case group revealed no adverse in-hospital outcome. However, SVD vessels were the most diseased, with the lesion located at LAD, slow/no flow being the most predominant procedure complication, and Type A being the most common lesion [Table 4]. Table 4: Baseline angiographic characteristics of the case group On the other hand, the clinical and laboratory characteristics of the groups indicated age and hypertension as the two predominant factors for CAD [Table 5]. In contrast, no statistical significance was observed in the lipid profiles of the participants in both groups [Table 6]. Interestingly, a statistically significant (P < 0.0001) association was observed between the development of AGA in CAD participants, as represented in [Table 7]. Furthermore, there was statistical significance found between female AGA and high blood pressure [Table 8]. Table 5: Clinical and laboratory characteristics of case and control groups Table 6: Lipid profile of the case and control participants Table 7: Association between female androgenetic alopecia grade and coronary artery disease in the case group Table 8: Association between female androgenetic alopecia and high blood pressure (≥140/90) in the case group AGA has been extensively documented in males. However, studies with respect to its cause, association with condition such as CAD and underlying mechanisms in females is yet to be established. An important study on AGA in females was published by Mansori et al. in 2005 where they reported an association between AGA and the heart condition-CAD. They also explored the factors such as greying of hairs and MI and their association with AGA. From their findings, they concluded that AGA is associated with CAD in females under the age of 55 years.[4] The present study also attempted to determine the relationship between AGA and CAD in females by investigating various factors such as demographic variables, clinical presentation of CAD and other comorbid conditions, distribution of AGA in females, baseline angiographic characteristics, and lipid profiles. Similar to the study of Mansouri et al. in 2005, the present study evaluated the frequency of CAD, AGA, and other comorbid conditions among the case and control groups. The frequency of anemia, hypertension, amenorrhea, and female Grade I AGA was higher, similar to the Mansouri et al.'s study. In addition, the mean age of the Mansouri et al.'s study was also similar to the present study, although the population and time of study were different. The present study also supports the study results of Mansouri et al. with respect to the correlation of AGA with CAD and high blood pressure. Mansouri et al. reported a statistically significant relationship between AGA and CAD, and they also reported the association between AGA and high blood pressure as not significant.[4] The results of both the studies also were common in case of lipid profiles of the participants. However, the present study demonstrated the incidence of DM among the participants, in contrast Mansouri et al.[4] Other interesting observations of the present study, which was not previous documented by Mansouri et al., were the baseline angiographic characteristics and the clinical presentation of the case group. The present study considered the first-degree female relatives as the condition (i.e., AGA) is of genetic predisposition with polygenetic mode of inheritance. The genes for AGA have also been reported to determine the onset, pattern of progression, and severity of AGA in the affected individuals. Besides the genetic predisposition, other factors reported to increase the chances of AGA in individuals include smoking, stress, testosterone, hypertension, minimal physical activity, and diabetes, which are also the factors responsible for the occurrence of heart conditions such as CAD.[3],[7],[8] Some of these factors have been studied in the present study, and the results are in accordance with Mansouri et al., as mentioned previously.[4] However, contrasting to Mansouri et al., the present study also revealed about 59.82% of the CAD-diagnosed females in the case group with no alopecia. An observation by Price in a review article published in 2003 gives an insight into this fact. Price reported that hair loss in women is generally less as compared to men as the androgen receptors and 5α-reductase (type I and II) were less in women than in men. This may lead to the difference in presentation of AGA clinically, in women, thereby leading to delay in the diagnosis.[3] However, the diagnosis can be expediated by observing thinning of hair, especially in the frontal area of the scalp, along with recognizing other coexisting conditions such as CAD and MI, which have been attempted in the present study. A significant association between AGA and CAD was observed in the present study, indicating CAD as an important diagnostic factor in detecting the origin of AGA in women. In addition, a high percentage of AGA Grade III participants were diagnosed with triple vessel disease (TVD), which can be an indicative marker for the heart condition. These patients had Type A lesions, hence, underwent revascularization in the form of percutaneous treatment option as percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. However, these possibilities need to be explored and established with the higher study population. To our knowledge, this is the first comparative study among the Indian population to evaluate the association of CAD and its parameters with respect to severity of AGA in women. The present study is also among the few studies evaluating AGA in females and investigating the role of comorbid factors in the development/diagnosis of AGA. Since a high incidence of hirsutism was detected in the case group, an endocrinological opinion was sought for the incidence of PCOS and if detected, then patients were further referred to the endocrinologist for further evaluation and treatment. However, other than exploring the association of heart conditions with AGA, future studies can also determine the relation between other comorbid conditions such as diabetes and AGA, which can also aid in the detection of AGA, in the long run. The hypothesis that female pattern baldness is a marker for increased risk of CAD events has been studied and established as part of the present study. The elevated level of high blood pressure and TVD is predominantly observed in third-grade alopecia patients. However, there are still many questions unanswered such as – does AGA reflect CAD morbidity and mortality whether associated solely with CAD or metabolic syndrome or obesity? We conclude that there is a significant association between female AGA and CAD. However, we plan to study the association of CAD and AGA in the female population who were protected for CAD before menopause. Sari I, Aykent K, Davutoglu V, Yuce M, Ozer O, Kaplan M, et al. Association of male pattern baldness with angiographic coronary artery disease severity and collateral development. Neth Heart J 2015;23:265-74. Herrera CR, D'Agostino RB, Gerstman BB, Bosco LA, Belanger AJ. Baldness and coronary heart disease rates in men from the Framingham Study. Am J Epidemiol 1995;142:828-33. Price VH. Androgenetic alopecia in women. J Invest Dermatol Symp Proc 2003;8:24-7. Sharma KH, Jindal A. Association between androgenetic alopecia and coronary artery disease in young male patients. Int J Trichology 2014;6:5-7. Mansouri P, Mortazavi M, Eslami M, Mazinani M. Androgenetic alopecia and coronary artery disease in women. Dermatol Online J 2005;11:2. Lesko SM, Rosenberg L, Shapiro S. A case-control study of baldness in relation to myocardial infarction in men. JAMA 1993;269:998-1003. Ellis JA, Harrap SB. The genetics of androgenetic alopecia. Clin Dermatol 2001;19:149-54. Ramos PM, Miot HA. Female pattern hair loss: A clinical and pathophysiological review. An Bras Dermatol 2015;90:529-43. [Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3], [Table 4], [Table 5], [Table 6], [Table 7], [Table 8] Patil VB Lunge SB androgenetic angiographic	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2099
__label__wiki	0.882766	0.882766	Sandra Halliday Farfetch shares plunge despite revenue rise and Q3 profitability Investors are usually very forgiving of tech firms when they spend years grappling to achieve the kind of profitability they’d like, but they weren’t forgiving Farfetch on Thursday as the firm’s shares plummeted 22% in after-hours trading. That was due to the release of its Q3 results report that missed expectations. Not that the report was actually a bad one. The company said it earned $769 million in net profit in the quarter, up from from a loss of $537 million a year ago. However, the latest figure included a $901 million non-cash one-off benefit. Revenue rose 33% to $583 million. But analysts had expected revenue to hit around $591 million and didn’t like the fact that the gross profit margin dropped due to higher costs. But the company itself seemed upbeat and ignoring the market reaction and looking just at the figures, it’s clear that the group is continuing to build a massive share of the luxury fashion market. In the three months to the end of September, gross merchandise value (GMV) rose 28% to $1.017 billion from a year earlier and was more than double the figure of two years ago. Gross profit was $252 million, up from $209 million, while the gross profit margin dropped to 43.3% from 47.8%. As well as that net profit figure mentioned earlier, adjusted EBITDA was $5.3 million after a loss of $10.3 million a year earlier. The company also said that Digital Platform GMV rose to $828 million from $674 million, with its gross profit up to $159 million from $143 million. Marketplace average order value rose to $593 from $574 as the number of active customers also surged. Digital Platform GMV growth on a two-year basis also “accelerated sequentially from 89% in Q2 2021 to 97% in Q3 2021, led by key luxury markets including the United States, Mainland China, United Kingdom, Middle East, Germany and Russia, which more than doubled in two years”. The company continued to be boosted by linking with top brands for initiatives such as ‘The Language of Prada’, highlighting Prada’s new collection (the first of a two-part partnership), as well as Balenciaga, Miu Miu (a “first-time partner”) Dolce & Gabbana and Moncler. Meanwhile, its Brand Platform GMV and revenue were both up to $165 million from $112 million and gross profit rose to $80 million from $58 million. The company said its New Guards Group offer continued to progress with Off-White and Palm Angels being within the top 10 brands on the Farfetch Marketplace. José Neves, Farfetch Founder, Chairman and CEO, was upbeat and talked of “Farfetch’s continued track record of delivering aggressive market share capture, and [we] remain on track to achieve our goal of full year Adjusted EBITDA profitability and GMV growth above our long-term 30% CAGR target”. He also said the business is “seeing strong industry traction behind our platform strategy. Over 1,400 brands and retailers are not only listing more luxury products than ever, but also driving record media solutions revenue in recognition of our highly valuable customers. And with accelerating interest in our Luxury New Retail vision, Farfetch Platform Solutions is shaping up to revolutionise the digitisation of the luxury experience and unlock significant potential for Farfetch”. Copyright © 2022 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved. Spring-Summer 2022 Milan Dolce & Gabbana hires former Condé Nast exec for communication & marketing Fall-Winter 2020 Milan	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2103
__label__wiki	0.93668	0.93668	Why does the Russian government have a secret army? The Kremlin has quietly deployed a secret elite force of Russian soldiers in Syria, where Russia is fighting the rebels, according to reports. The move to recruit Russian special forces into Syria was first reported by The Washington Post. The report said that the military is known as the ‘Dirty Five’, a reference to the Soviet secret military unit that developed and deployed sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles. The Pentagon says it is “very concerned” by reports that Russia has begun to arm Syrian rebels. The US has not ruled out sending more special forces to Syria to aid the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, but the White House says it has not authorised military action against the Syrian government. “We don’t have a clear idea of what the Russians are doing in Syria,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said on Tuesday. “We’re aware of the reports of Russian activity. We’re aware that there’s a lot of talk of Russian support for opposition groups.”‘ Russian arms will help us crush ISIS’ Russia has also repeatedly said that it will support the US and its allies in the region against the so-called Islamic State (IS) group. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the government had not “received any proposal” from Washington to use Russian airpower against the extremists. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also threatened to shoot down US planes in the air. Russian air strikes on IS positions in Syria have caused civilian casualties, including at least 12 people who were killed by a US B-2 bomber in May, the first time that Russia had conducted such an attack. Moscow has also been accused of shooting down Syrian warplanes in recent months, with at least one pilot captured and a Russian fighter jet destroyed. Tags: kaspersky indir crack What is it like to work with a company whose stock has a bad reputation?	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2104
__label__wiki	0.950421	0.950421	Zuckerberg Lost At Least $6 Billion in Hours Amid the Great Facebook Crash As he plummets down the list of the richest people in the world. By Brad Bergan Oct 04, 2021 (Updated: Nov 08, 2021 08:41 EST) Sad Zuckerberg. COM & O / iStock Big tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg has lost more than $6 billion in just a handful of hours since his tech empire's websites (including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) all crashed midday on Monday, October 4, 2021, according to an initial report. Surprisingly, this isn't a massive loss for one of the world's most wealthy men. Ultimately, the loss brought his wealth to $117 billion in total. Interested in knowing exactly how low (or high) that is? He’s now the world’s sixth richest person. For comparison, Jeff Bezos, was worth $185.8 billion, as of Q1 2021. The 'tech glitch' that dwarfed whistleblower fallout This gigantic loss for Zuckerberg may not seem so gigantic in these contexts. Nonetheless, it has kicked him down the list of the world's richest people, and it comes in the wake of a whistleblower's allegations about the company's conduct, which have already thrown the company into turmoil. Just this week, a whistleblower handed a trove of documents to the United States Congress, the Securities Exchange Commission, and various news outlets about the practices at Facebook. Frances Haugen, a former product manager in Facebook's now-disbanded Civic Integrity Unit, appeared on 60 Minutes and revealed her identity, saying things were "substantially worse at Facebook than anything I'd seen before." Her goal in coming forward? To "fix the company, not harm it." "When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seatbelts, the government took action," said Haugen's written testimony to be delivered to a Senate Commerce subcommittee, in a report from Reuters. "I implore you to do the same here." But it seems a standard tech glitch may have caused more harm than any whistleblower could have imagined. Facebook and Instagram are restored after five hours' outage Just before 6:00 PM EDT, Facebook and Instagram were restored after an outage that lasted more than five hours. As the crisis continued, an alleged Facebook "recovery team" employee said the outage probably stemmed from a configuration attempt gone wrong, while Twitter users shared their suspicions about Facebook's self-owned registrar master key being deleted, effectively removing Facebook from the web. But with service returning to Facebook and its subsidiaries, the most interesting steps in the story of corporate calamity surely lie ahead, as the businesses involved take account of the damage, and potentially adapt to prevent it from happening again. At least, anytime soon. This was a breaking story and was regularly updated as new information became available. Billionaires in America Gained $2.1 Trillion As Millions Lost Their Jobs Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook and Instagram Messenger Apps Are Down Again Elon Musk Presents: The New $50 'Cyberwhistle' Was Sold Out in Hours NASA Wants Companies to Build Its $2 Billion SLS Moon Rocket at Half the Price	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2108
__label__wiki	0.836731	0.836731	Q3/2018 - Microsoft - Cybersecurity Tech Accord & Cyber Peace Campaign Singapore, 20 September 2018 At a hearing of the Global Commission on Stability in Cyberspace (GCSC) in Singapore on 20 September 2018, Microsoft announced that it had reviewed its proposals for a Digital Geneva Convention in the light of the discussions of the last two years and was going to present them in a new and adapted format at the Paris Peace Forum. In Paris, Microsoft intends to launch a Cyber Peace Campaign (CPC) in cooperation with the French government. This CPC will be based on the Cybersecurity Tech Accord (CTA), which has already been signed by 61 companies. Such Cyber Peace Campaign could also include a non-state organisation that would assist government agencies with the classification of cyber attacks in complex cases. The revised proposal presents an essential modification of the original proposal for the creation of a so-called "Attribution Organisation" according to the model of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. MicrosoftQ3/2018	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2109
__label__wiki	0.639579	0.639579	Q2/2020 - United Nations UN Security Council on Cyber Security, 22 May 2020 (virtual) On 22 May 2020, the UN Security Council held its first separate session on cyber security. The meeting, which was organised according to the so-called "Arria Formula", had been scheduled by Estonia, which held the monthly rotating UN Security Council presidency in May 2020. Cyber security had appeared on the agenda of a regular meeting of the UN Security Council for the first time already in March 2020. At that meeting Georgia informed about a cyber attack that was assumed to be initiated by Russia. The case was acknowledged without discussion. The May meeting was not based on a specific incident. Estonia wanted to raise the general political awareness of cyber security of the members of the UN Security Council and thus of the global public by that special meeting. The public meeting was attended by the 15 members of the UN Security Council and by 41 governments. The meeting was opened by Jüri Ratas, Prime Minister of Estonia. The keynote speakers were Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and James Lewis[1], Senior Vice President and Director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, and David Koh, Chief Executive of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, boycotted the meeting. It accused the incumbent Estonian president of the UN Security Council of abusing UN rules with the “Arria Formula Meeting” in order to blame Russia for unproven cyber attacks[2]. Yet the Russian UN embassy issued a statement on the subject of the UN Security Council meeting. In this statement, Russia advocates a “cyber peace” based on the principles of international law. It says that a cyber confrontation entails the risk of global escalation. The world literally finds itself now before a choice between global cyber peace or cyber warfare. An unspecified “elite minority” is accused of fuelling tensions in cyberspace and intending to unilaterally regulate cyberspace in its favour. This “elite minority” is said to actively pursue a “militarisation of cyberspace” and to propagate a concept of “preventive military cyber strikes”. Russia therefore supports in particular the OEWG and refers to the new UN committee on the elaboration of a convention for countering cybercrime, which could become an important building block for the promotion of global cyber peace[3]. As to content, the virtual session of the UN Security Council was more concerned with principles and how to handle the issue of cyber security within the UN framework in the future. The activities of the two working groups UN-GGE and OEWG under the 1st Committee of the UN General Assembly was rated very positively. In particular, the fact that international law and the Charter of the United Nations are universally recognised to apply both offline and online and thus also provide the relevant legal basis for cyberspace is considered a major achievement. The eleven Principles for Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace adopted by the 4th UN-GGE in 2015, which have since been confirmed by the UN General Assembly on several occasions, were stated to constitute the framework for further steps to strengthen security in cyberspace. However, the voluntary commitments of states reflected in the eleven principles should be supplemented by confidence- and capacity-building measures. The idea repeatedly put forward by China and Russia in recent years to draw up a new cyber security treaty that is binding under international law met with little response. The majority of the speakers preferred to concentrate on implementing the previous resolutions. Most important was to find a way how to apply existing norms of international law in cyberspace. In particular, the question of whether a cyber attack violates the principle of the prohibition of violence (Article 2.4 of the UN Charter) and thus can trigger the right to self-defence anchored in Article 51 of the UN Charter is controversial. However, the May discussion in the UN Security Council did not bring new insights. No progress was made on the difficult question of attribution of cyber attacks. Technical and political attribution are seen here as two interconnected but independent processes. The decision on political attribution is considered a “sovereign right” of states. The idea of assigning the task of cyber attack attribution to a supranational, neutral authority found little support. A few years ago, Microsoft had proposed to elaborate a new “Geneva Convention” for cyberspace, within the framework of which an organisation based on the model of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should have been formed. The IAEA monitors the production and use of nuclear material. Many statements referred to the rapid growth of offensive cyber operations. It was strongly regretted that despite the verbal agreement on the validity of international law and the acceptance of the eleven principles for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace of 2015, the number of cyber attacks attributable to governments is constantly increasing. The Estonian Prime Minister condemned in particular recent cyber attacks on hospitals and medical research institutions. Governments that tolerated such misconduct should be held accountable. The U.S. Ambassador Cherith Norman Chalet, too, called for consequences for state misconduct, without specifying what these consequences might be. The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, attacked Russia directly. He accused Russia of leading a hybrid war against Ukraine and testing new offensive cyber weapons in that context. In 2019 alone, he said, Ukraine was the target of 1,500 cyber attacks on facilities belonging to the country's so-called critical infrastructure. UN Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, 11 June 2020 (virtual) On 11 June 2020, UN Secretary-General António Guterres presented his “Roadmap for Digital Cooperation“[4], he had announced in January 2020. The Roadmap is based on the recommendations made by the UN High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation (HLP), which was established by Guterres. Co-chaired by Melinda Gates and Jack Ma, the Panel submitted its final report precisely one year before, on 11 June 2019. The “Roadmap for Digital Cooperation” shall serve as a guideline for the UN throughout the 2020s. According to the UN Roadmap, the United Nations shall not take on the role of a “world government of the Internet” but be a “platform for the multistakeholder dialogue” and act as a facilitator for all negotiations dealing with issues of digitalisation in cyber space. The dialogue shall be organised by a so-called Technology Envoy who is going to be appointed next year. The Roadmap defines eight fields of action and advocates a strengthened and enhanced Internet Governance Forum (IGF). When presenting the Roadmap, the UN Secretary-General said that the world had reached a critical point with regard to the handling of technology. The Roadmap was pointing out how to maximise the possibilities offered by global digitalisation and how to reduce risks to a minimum. A combination of multilateralism and multistakeholderism was required to find the right way into the “age of digital interdependence”. The United Nations could and had to be a useful platform in this context and could and should assume the role of a facilitator. The overriding aim of the Roadmap was to connect, respect, and protect people in the digital age)[5]. The list of speakers at the virtual presentation meeting also included the Presidents of Sierra Leone and Switzerland, Julius Maada and Simonetta Sommaruga, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Fekitamoeloa Katoa 'Utoikamanu from Tonga for the Least Developed Countries. Speakers of the non-state stakeholders were Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, Ajaypal Singh Banga, CEO of Mastercard and Vice Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone, Andrew Sullivan, President and CEO of the Internet Society, and Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Speakers for the civil society were Baroness Joanne Shields OBE, who is combating child sexual exploitation on the Internet as President of the WePROTECT Global Alliance. The presentation of the report was followed by two virtual panel discussions[6]. The panellists included Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General, and the digital ministers of Finland, France, Norway, Sierra Leone, Mexico and Singapore. Other speakers were Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Adrien Lowett, CEO of the World Wide Web Foundation, Amani Abou-Zeid from the African Union, Eamon Gilmore from the European Union and Brett Solomon from Access Now. On 12 and 14 June, Fabrizio Hochschild, Assistant Secretary-General in the UN, moderated two other virtual panel discussions with experts from different fields. The presentations reflected that the UN is willing to advance to a multistakeholder dialogue. While governments, the technical community and the private sector were strongly represented, not many delegates of civil society attended. Follow-up zum Bericht des High-level Panels The prime goal of the Roadmap is to offer the UN as a platform for a multistakeholder dialogue for all Internet-related issues. Since he took office, Guterres repeatedly emphasized that the UN did not intend to act as the “world government of the Internet” but wanted to make use of its authority and legitimacy to promote a multistakeholder dialogue on Internet governance. Accordingly, the key sentence of the Roadmap reads: “The United Nations is ready to serve as a platform for a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue on the emerging technologies[7]. The dialogue shall be organised by a so-called Technology Envoy that the UN Secretary-General will appoint in January 2021[8]. This new UN Special Envoy is to become the UN Secretary-General's right-hand person for all Internet-related issues. She/he will coordinate the various initiatives distributed among numerous UN organisations and organise cooperation with non-state actors from the private sector, academia, civil society and the technical community. Guterres is thus responding to the long-standing criticism that the UN needs a holistic approach to global Internet policy, without claiming the role of a “world government of the Internet”, and that the various UN negotiating groups in their “silos” need to be networked both with each other and with non-state stakeholders. The Technology Envoy will become the central point of contact for all Internet-related issues in the UN ecosystem. De facto, she/he shall take on the role of a "clearinghouse" or "cooperation accelerator". As regards content, a key aim of the Roadmap is to link global digitisation with achieving the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). The central goal is to have overcome the digital divide by 2030 and provide access to the Internet for everybody at affordable conditions. This applies in particular with regard to the development and application of artificial intelligence. Linking the goals of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) with the sustainable development goals of the UN (SDGs) has been a long-standing demand, especially from civil society. The 17 SDGs formulated in 2015 do not include digitisation as an independent goal in its own right. Commentators have therefore now referred to the Roadmap as “Goal 18” of the SDGs The Roadmap defines eight fields of action[9]: Achieving universal and global connectivity by 2030 that grants affordable access to the Internet to everyone; Promoting the digital environment as a public good with strong support for open source, open data, open standards etc. Ensuring digital inclusion for all, including the most vulnerable in particular; Strengthening digital capacity building for the future world of work; Ensuring the protection of human rights offline and online; Supporting global cooperation on the development and application of artificial intelligence; Promoting trust and security in cyber space; Building a more effective architecture of global digital cooperation by strengthening the IGF. Regarding the three mechanisms for an improved political Internet governance architecture proposed by the HLP, the Roadmap prefers the IGF+ proposal. The Roadmap suggests seven measures to strengthen the IGF[10]: Creating a new strategic and empowered multistakeholder high-level body with more comprehensive decision-making powers; Stronger focus on central policy issues; Establishing a high-level ministerial and parliamentary segment within the IGF; Strengthening the cooperation with the regional and national IGFs and the youth IGFs; Advancing the intersessional work of the IGF with a focus on policy issues; Providing better financial and personnel resources to the IGF and creating a fundraising strategy; Enhancing the visibility of the IGF both within the UN ecosystem and the global wider public. Besides the appointment of a Technology Envoy and empowering the IGF by creating a new multistakeholder high-level body, the Roadmap proposes the formation of four other bodies. However, it does not provide any details regarding their establishment and composition. The proposed bodies are: a multistakeholder coalition for digital inclusion; a multistakeholder network for promoting a holistic approach to digital capacity building and sustainable development; a multistakeholder advisory body for global cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence; a group of global investors to finance the establishment and expansion of infrastructure and connectivity. The Roadmap considers itself a milestone of a process that has started with the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2002 and is currently targeted to the year 2030, with the WSiS+20 in 2025 as an interim goal. The Roadmap explicitly refers to the ongoing discussions and negotiations in other bodies, e.g. in the field of cyber security (OEWG & UN-GGE). Reference is also made to the eight “Roundtables” that were established after the 14th IGF in Berlin in December 2019 to implement the recommendations of the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation (HLP). These Roundtables are currently working on “Opinion Papers” for the 75th UN General Assembly, which will start in September 2020. Their recommendations will form part of the implementation of the Roadmap. The Roundtables are chaired by so-called “co-champions”. They will possibly also be responsible for appointing the new bodies proposed in the Roadmap. It is not yet clear how long the Roundtables will remain active. Roundtables will be held on the following topics: Global Connectivity (co-champions are Uganda, ITU, UNICEF) Digital Public Goods (Norway, Sierra Leone, iSPIRIT, UNICEF, UN Global Pulse) Digital Inclusion and Data (Mexico, UN Women) Digital Help Desks (ITU, UNDP) Digital Human Rights (Korea, EU, Access Now, OHCHR) Artificial Intelligence (Finland, France, FLI, UN Global Pulse, Office Hochschild) Digital Trust and Security (Estonia, The Netherlands, Microsoft, UNODA, Office Hochschild) Digital Cooperation Architecture (Germany, United Arab Emirates, Office Hochschild) Not taken up by the UN Secretary-General were proposals by the HLP for working out new documents. The HLP had submitted two proposals: a “Global Commitment on Trust and Security” and a “Global Commitment on Digital Cooperation”. In the view of the HLP, both documents could have been adopted by the UN General Assembly on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations on 24 October 2020. Yet the HLP had not proposed a procedure for preparing the text of the documents. Instead, the Roadmap now proposes to create a general “Statement on common Elements of an Understanding on Digital Trust and Security”. Such statement should be negotiated by the governments and adopted on the highest level. However, it should not duplicate the work of the two UN cyber security negotiation groups (OEWG & UN-GGE). After adoption by the UN member states, such document should be open for endorsement by non-state stakeholders from the private sector, in particular global Internet companies, and the civil society (following the model of the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace of 2018)[11]. Q2/2020UN [1] In his speech, James Lewis gave a very differentiated overview of the challenges the international community of states will have to face. He said that: „However, a number of nations have concluded that there have been instances were norms were not observed, and that in the absence of consequences for a failure to observe norms, the incentives to change behavior are small. The conclusion that there must be consequences when a norm is violated will reframe the discussion of cybersecurity. While the imposition of consequences could increase risks to stability in the short term, in the long term it is less destabilizing than a failure to act. This makes the development of diplomatic tools to manage cyber conflict, based on the 2015 Framework, an essential task. As international relations become more conflictual, risk will increase. One issue for multilateral discussion is how to slow this trend and minimize harm. An initial conclusion is that in this effort, the tools of diplomacy can be wielded more effectively through regular discussion among states, by increased capacity building, and by finding stronger global mechanisms for building confidence and reducing distrust among potential opponents. This discussion of threats and offensive cyber operations points to the difficult issue of the application of international law. While member states agree that international law applies to cyberspace, along with the principles found in the UN Charter, there is disagreement over how it should be applied. Some argue that new law is needed. The 2015 UNGA agreement removed a major impediment to the collective consideration of cybersecurity, the difficulty of defining “use of force” and “armed attack.” It created a new agreed threshold, “ICT practices that are acknowledged to be harmful or that may pose threats to international peace and security.” In addition, the ability to attribute the source of a malicious cyber action has improved, to the point where there is sufficient information on some incidents to allow States to discuss them. Agreed norms call for caution in attribution and in ensuring that “all relevant information, including the larger context of the event,” is taken into account, but this was not intended to block all discussion. These are area where agreement is likely to be ultimately determined by state practice rather than some prescriptive or academic approach, and in this examination and definition of state practice there is an important role for the Security Council. In the interim, however, we should begin with the recognition that States’ obligations under international law in the physical world apply equally to cyberspace. Deciding on the appropriate consequences consistent with international law and practice for a decision by a state not to observe the 2015 norms has not received adequate attention. Progress in this area will depend on the further development of common understandings of state responsibility. The more difficult question is whether, despite the growing sense of concern, risks to international peace and security in cyberspace are seen as sufficient to justify the accommodations and concessions necessary for effective agreement.“ See: James A. Lewis, UN Security Council Arria-Formula Meeting, Discussion Paper: “Cyber Stability, Conflict Prevention and Capacity Building”, 22 May 2020, in: vm.ee/en/activities-objectives/estonia-united-nations/signature-event-estonias-unsc-presidency-cyber [2] See: Statement by the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN on its non-participation in the UN Security Council Arria-Formula meeting on Cyber Stability, Conflict Prevention and Capacity Building, organized by Estonia, 22 May 2020: “Due to the recent violation by the delegations of Estonia, UK and US of the established practice that all Security Council Members participate in Arria-Formula meetings, regardless of whether they approve or disapprove its topic, the Permanent Mission did not participate in this event as it undermines established UN inclusive negotiations mechanism”, https://russiaun.ru/en/news/arria_220520 [3] See: Statement by the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN on its non-participation in the UN Security Council Arria-Formula meeting on Cyber Stability, Conflict Prevention and Capacity Building, organized by Estonia, 22 May 2020: „It should be clearly understood that cyber confrontation can never be contained within local borders and will inevitably spread far beyond them. The world literally finds itself now before a choice between global cyber peace or cyber warfare. This choice is now existential, and that’s not a metaphor. Making this choice should lie with all Member States regardless of their capacities and cannot be usurped by the “elite” minority, which thinks itself entitled to unilaterally regulate the information space. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced dramatic changes into our lives and is rightfully dominating the UN day to day agenda. However, this is also an important reminder that the issue of international information security (IIS) is no less critical for the security and mankind. Amid the COVID-19 crisis almost all of the communication, be it public or private, went digital. Our government services, banks, hospitals, schools as well as other essential institutions now fully rely on digital infrastructure. The world’s dependence on the information and telecommunication technologies (ICTs) is now unprecedented. Ensuring them security has already become a national priority worldwide. Despite political differences or economic disparities, Member States are equally vulnerable to this threat and feel an urgent need to come out with a global response. It is of grave concern that this “elite” minority is actively pursuing the militarization of cyberspace by pushing forward the concept of “preventive military cyber strikes”, including against critical infrastructure. It is even more regrettable that certain countries are exploiting the pretext of the ‘full and unconditional application of international law in information space’, including international humanitarian law, in an attempt to justify unilateral pressure and sanctions on other Member States and even possible use of force against them. We completely reject these concepts and stand firmly for the use of ICTs for peaceful purposes only. The role of the UN in this process is unique and indispensable. Only the UN can provide a truly global response and ensure the participation of all states on equal footing. While we acknowledge the valuable input of regional organizations, there should be no fragmentation of global efforts as they become split along regional lines or among the ‘power groups’. In our view reaching a state of “cyber peace” is a realistic goal and can only be achieved through UN consensus based and inclusive mechanisms like the OEWG on ICTs which is uniquely positioned to address this issue.“ Siehe: Statement by the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN on its non-participation in the UN Security Council Arria-Formula meeting on Cyber Stability, Conflict Prevention and Capacity Building, organized by Estonia on 22 May, in: russiaun.ru/en/news/arria_220520 [4] Report of the UN Secretary-General Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, New York, 11 June 2020, see: www.un.org/en/content/digital-cooperation-roadmap/ [5] António Guterres, Remarks to the Virtual High-Level Event on the State of the Digital World and Implementation of the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, 11 June 2020: „ The world is shifting from analog to digital technology at a faster pace than we could ever have predicted. This creates both vast promise – and some peril. The COVID pandemic has magnified the many benefits and harms of the digital world. Technology is enabling the lifesaving work of healthcare providers, allowing businesses to operate remotely, educating our children and connecting us with friends and family. But we also have seen technology gravely misused. Hate speech, discrimination and abuse are on the march in digital spaces. Misinformation campaigns put health and lives at risk. In response, the United Nations has launched the Verified initiative, to increase the volume and reach of accurate information on the crisis. Life-threatening cyberattacks on hospital systems threaten to disrupt lifesaving care. We are at a critical point for technology governance. Digital connectivity is indispensable, both to overcome the pandemic, and for a sustainable and inclusive recovery. But we cannot let technology trends get ahead of our ability to steer them and protect the public good. If we do not come together now around using digital technology for good, we will lose a significant opportunity to manage its impact, and we could see further fragmentation of the internet, to the detriment of all. This is the backdrop to the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation that we are launching today. The Roadmap is a guide for a multilateral, multi-stakeholder way forward in the age of digital interdependence.Building on the report of the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, it sets out eight areas where we can come together and pursue the imperative for global action on digital cooperation. The overriding aim of the Roadmap is to connect, respect, and protect people in the digital age. The United Nations will be a facilitator and a platform, mobilising partnerships and coalitions between governments, citizens, civil society, academia, and industry.“, in: www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2020-06-11/remarks-state-of-digital-world-and-implementation-of-roadmap-for-digital-cooperation [6] See: twitter.com/unsgdigicoop [7] Report of the UN Secretary-General Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, New York, 11 June 2020, Paragraph 73, see: www.un.org/en/content/digital-cooperation-roadmap/ [8] Report of the UN Secretary-General Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, New York, 11 June 2020, Paragraph 74: To facilitate such a dialogue, I intend to appoint an Envoy on Technology in 2021, whose role will be to advise the senior leadership of the United Nations on key trends in technology, so as to guide the strategic approach taken by the Organization on such issues. The Envoy will also serve as an advocate and focal point for digital cooperation – so that Member States, the technology industry, „see: www.un.org/en/content/digital-cooperation-roadmap/ [9] Report of the UN Secretary-General Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, New York, 11 June 2020, Paragraph 77 ff. 1. Achieving universal connectivity by 2030—everyone should have safe andaffordable access to the internet, 2. Promoting digital public goods to unlock a more equitable world—the internet’s open source, public origins should be embraced and supported. 3. Ensuring digital inclusion for all, including the most vulnerable—under-served groups need equal access to digital tools to accelerate development, 4. strengthening digital capacity building—skills development and training are needed around the world, 5. Ensuring the protection of human rights in the digital era—human rights apply both online and offline, 6. Supporting global cooperation on artificial intelligence that is trustworthy, humanrights based, safe and sustainable and promotes peace, 7. Promoting digital trust and security— calling for a global dialogue to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, 8. Building a more effective architecture for digital cooperation—make digital governance a priority and focus the United Nation’s approach. see: www.un.org/en/content/digital-cooperation-roadmap/ [10] Report of the UN Secretary-General Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, New York, 11 June 2020, Paragraph 93: “1. Creating a strategic and empowered multistakeholder high-level body, building on the experience of the existing multi-stakeholder advisory group, which would address urgent issues, coordinate follow-up action on Forum discussions and relay proposed policy approaches and recommendations from the Forum to the appropriate normative and decision-making forums; 2. Having a more focused agenda for the Forum based on a limited number of strategic policy issues; 3. Establishing a high-level segment and ministerial or parliamentarian tracks, ensuring more actionable outcomes; 4. Forging stronger links among the global Forum and its regional, national, sub-regional and youth initiatives; 5. Better integrating programme and intersessional policy development work to support other priority areas outlined in the present report; 6. Addressing the long-term sustainability of the Forum and the resources necessary for increased participation, through an innovative and viable fundraising strategy, as promoted by the round table; 7. Enhancing the visibility of the Forum, including through a stronger corporate identity and improved reporting to other United Nations entities.” See [11] Report of the UN Secretary-General Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, New York, 11 June 2020, Paragraph 90ff.: Digital Trust and Security: A broad and overarching statement, endorsed by all Member States, in which common elements of understanding on digital trust and security are outlined, could help to shape a shared vision for digital cooperation based on global values. The Secretariat will continue to explore with Member States whether and how to take such a statement forward. Such a statement could be beneficial for the following reasons: a) The strong linkage between principles of digital trust and security and the ability to realize the 2030 Agenda must be acknowledged at the highest level; b) Digital technologies must be deployed in a safe and trustworthy manner that narrows the digital divide. Promoting this through a universal document would ensure the engagement of all countries, in particular developing countries; c) The statement would raise the global profile and level of engagement with digital trust and security issues among Member States, in a principled way, in areas that do not duplicate the important technical work being done in the Open-ended Working Group and the Group of Governmental Experts. Following adoption by Member States, the statement could also be open to endorsement by stakeholders, such as those in the private sector, including technology companies, and civil society“ see: www.un.org/en/content/digital-cooperation-roadmap/	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2110
__label__wiki	0.757608	0.757608	Relevant to Our Interests? Longtime essayist Ellen Willis’ work is important, whether or not it encapsulates our current state of affairs. Jude Ellison Sady Doyle May 7, 2014 The essays in 'The Essential Ellen Willis' include Willis' takes on Janis Joplin, the Sex Pistols and 'The Sopranos'—writing that has withstood the test of time even as its subjects have slipped out of the spotlight. (Robert McBell / Flickr / Creative Commons) The word “relevant” is often used to describe the work of cultural critic and essayist Ellen Willis. But it’s generally prefaced by some equivalent or variant of the word “still.” For example, in her back-of-book blurb for The Essential Ellen Willis, released this month by the University of Minnesota Press, Feministing founder Jessica Valenti writes: “It’s incredible that decades after it first made waves, Ellen Willis’ writing is still as relevant as ever.” Meanwhile, in his preface to the section of the book that collects her 1990s essays, Cord Jefferson laments, “I wish Ellen Willis were no longer relevant,” going on to catalogue the depressing topics she covered — racism, sexism, the steady impoverishment of intellectual workers — that we still have to worry about today. And the editor of the collection, Willis’ daughter Nona Willis Aronowitz, notes in the foreword that when reading her mother’s work, “I couldn’t help but see parallels to present-day questions … [they] convinced me of her work’s ongoing relevance.” To evaluate Willis solely on relevance denies one of the chief pleasures of 'The Essential Ellen Willis': the chance to see a writer grow up and evolve, over the course of five decades. It’s not that I question the basic assertions that Willis has something to say to us in 2014, that we can use her points to confront present-day questions of politics and aesthetics and that we ought not to ignore her — all of this is very true. But such repetition is depressing. Taken all together, it reads like special pleading: As if the (excellent) writers in question feel the need to convince a hostile audience that they can, in fact, read a 20-year-old essay without falling out of touch with the zeitgeist or wasting their time. But writing — good writing, anyway — has a tendency to last for hundreds or even thousands of years. After all, plenty of people claim to model their lives on a millenia-old listicle that some guy got carved into stone tablets. We still go to the theater to watch Elizabethan plays. “Relevant” implies that the chief value of writing is whether it speaks to the precise conditions and aesthetics of the exact second in which we’re reading it. (Is Joan Didion’s “On Keeping a Notebook” relevant? How about Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”? Or Beowulf?) Although Willis’ work is often prescient, and does in fact often speak to the conditions and arguments of our present moment — her early writing on street harassment, in “Up from Radicalism,” could have been cadged from a present-day Tumblr — that’s not why you should read her. You should read her because she’s good. And to evaluate Willis solely on relevance denies one of the chief pleasures of The Essential Ellen Willis: the chance to see a writer grow up and evolve, over the course of five decades. Many of the essays collected in the first half of the book have already appeared in Out of the Vinyl Deeps (a collection of her rock criticism, published in 2011) and No More Nice Girls (feminist and more generally countercultural writings, first published in 1992). What The Essential Ellen Willis does, very well, is to place those essays and themes in context, to let the reader see what role they played in Willis’ quest to shape, define and continually redefine her own voice. For example, her much-celebrated rock writing — sharp yet casual, the sort of thing that can kick off with, “On November 7, I admitted I was turned on by the Sex Pistols” and wander off into a discussion of hype cycles, the legacy of the ’60s, and the frustrating wimpiness of feminist musicians — turns out to have been only a small part of her career, something she’d more or less tossed to the side by the 1980s. Her prose style starts out conversational and slangy. As she writes in a piece on Janis Joplin: “Janis sang out of her pain as a woman, and men dug it. Yet it was men who caused the pain, and if they stopped causing it they would not have her to dig.” Over the next few years, it tightens up into a more formal, “writerly” diction. Big personal essays come into the picture: “Next Year In Jerusalem” (1977) details her complicated relationship with Judaism via her brother’s decision to enter an Orthodox yeshiva, and “Escape From New York” (1981) is an attempt to take the temperature of 1980s America through a cross-country Greyhound trip. But these, too, phase back out again. By the time the 1990s roll around, Willis is focused away from the arts and from her own life. For nearly a decade, she strictly publishes her takes on current issues — the O.J. Simpson trial, welfare reform, many pieces on Monica Lewinsky — to the point that it’s a surprise to see her eventually edge back toward criticism, with a piece on “The Sopranos” (2001). She also seems to back away, starting in the 1980s, from a specifically feminist perspective to a more generally leftist one, writing about the Iraq War and Israel as often as she wrote about sexual harassment or reproductive rights. To watch Willis evolve is also to watch radical and left-wing politics evolve. In particular, the book acts as a crash course on the history of feminism, including some moments that we might prefer to forget. In her early work, you see the unpleasant tendency of ‘60s white feminists to equate their fate with that of “black people,” typically black men. “Black kids find out they’re black, little girls find out they’re female,” she writes in 1969, seemingly unaware that some children wake up to find that they’re both. At some points, she seems to argue that those black men have it better than she does: “[A] genuine alliance with male radicals will not be possible until sexism sickens them as much as racism.” Oof. It isn’t until 1982 that she confronts the question of racism within feminism, by reviewing bell hooks’ Ain’t I a Woman. And although the review is positive — she likes hooks’ points — she can’t help but get defensive, exclaiming, “Who are these upper-class feminists I keep hearing about?” If you have to ask, you usually won’t like the answer. And sure enough, Willis admits to hiring a nanny just a few essays down the line. In other debates, Willis comes off better. In the 1970s and 1980s, she gets involved in the now-infamous Porn Wars, coming down hard on the “pro” side. Whereas she identified throughout her life as a radical feminist because she believed that male supremacy was a systemic form of oppression, she was deeply opposed to what she called the trend of “authoritative pronouncements on what women really want/ought to want/would want if they were not intimidated/bought off/brainwashed by men.” In “Toward a Feminist Sexual Revolution,” she writes that this trend led to “the development of feminist sexual orthodoxies that curtail women’s freedom by setting up the movement as yet another set of guilt-provoking rules about what women should do and feel.” (She also expresses concerns that Catharine MacKinnon’s pioneering work in sexual harassment law will bring about a world where it is looked-down-upon for teachers to have affairs with their students. Willis’s stubbornness can frequently lead her into hard-edged, obnoxious contrarianism — which, I would argue, is all a part of the fun.) Willis thereby essentially anticipated and wrote the script for the sex-positive movement of the 1990s. For her, sex-positivity was built into the feminist project from the get-go. Feminism was supposed to make you free. Freedom was supposed to make you happy. Sexual satisfaction was part of happiness. Therefore, feminism meant you got to get laid, and you got to get laid in the manner most pleasing to you personally, and that was pretty much that. These essays aren’t “relevant” in the sense that you could print them now without an explanation, or in the sense that they’re on-trend with current feminist discussions. But they’re immensely important, because they’re signposts in the evolution of a writer and of a movement. Willis learned to handle race more responsibly — her Anita Hill coverage is great — because her whole generation of white feminists was challenged to learn. She figured out her stance on the question of sexual freedom versus sexual exploitation — which continues today, in debates over everything from porn to one-night-stands to precise sexual positions — by fighting it out within a feminist movement that was fracturing along pro-porn and anti-porn, pro-penetration and anti-penetration lines. For any feminist writer working today, The Essential Ellen Willis is useful in that it allows us to see how ideas of what it means to be a “feminist” might change over time, and to imagine a viable future for ourselves. In an age where “writing” often comes down to disposable quick-takes and context-free 140-characters-or-fewer reactions, the collection demonstrates that it’s worthwhile instead to grow with writers, to hang on through their changes of style and opinion. It also reminds us that some arguments are better and more interesting when the writer has been working on them for decades, rather than pumping them out as fast as possible to make sure they retain “relevance” in a crowded 24-hour news cycle. It’s also wonderful as evidence that Willis never gave up her commitment to experimentation. Toward the end of her career, she was attempting an entirely new sort of project: A big, unified book, with a through-line argument (all of her previous books had been essay collections) attempting to reunite left-wing political theory with the work of Freud. Her illness and 2006 death prevented her from finishing the project. But there’s something thrilling about the chapters we do have. The woman worked for five decades, and five decades into her career, she had still managed to come up with a version of Ellen Willis that was entirely new. Buttigieg Is Shocked, Shocked at McKinsey’s Transgressions. But It Was Notorious When He Joined It. McKinsey was embroiled in a nationwide scandal over helping insurance companies squeeze customers. Branko Marcetic Which Candidates’ Climate Plans Put Justice First? We Break It Down. Several Democratic contenders offer ambitious proposals to support workers and communities of color. Christine MacDonald Too Important to Fail The feds saved Goldman Sachs and other banks deemed ‘too big to fail,’ but Park National was left to swing in the wind.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2111
__label__cc	0.640896	0.359104	Respected Terry O’Neill Award opens up doors to mobile photographers – CALL FOR ENTRIES November 12, 2014 , Nicki Fitz-Gerald Says Terry O’Neill: When I set up the Award nine years ago I saw a prize that would engage with young aspiring photographers from every corner of the globe. The Award’s partnership with The Guardian and its impressive international audience takes us a step closer to realizing this vision. The Terry O’Neill Award in partnership with the UK Guardian newspaper has a call for submissions and the deadline of 30 November is coming up soon. The award is one of the major prizes in the big-camera photography world and has been for over the last ten years. Last year they launched a mobile category for the first time. It has some cracking prizes, including £500, a place in a London gallery exhibition for 2 weeks and publication in The Guardian. The judges are also serious photography and media people including Terry O’Neill himself and Lord Puttnam, the film director. We think it’s great that a “serious” photography competition is taking mobile photography seriously. The deadline is November 30 and people have to submit a series of images. Just to clarify, mobile photography entrants should choose “Mobile” under “Format” and then any of the other categories (there is only one prize for Mobile irrespective of category). Deadline: 30 November. For more details, please visit oneillaward.com Nicki Fitz-Gerald Co-author of The Art of iPhoneographyCentral. Founder of iPhoneographyCentral.com	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2113
__label__wiki	0.857166	0.857166	With public attention focused on Iraq, the Bush administration's prized missile defense system has been far from the limelight. But make no mistake, it's still chugging along. Michelle Ciarrocca, John Gershman President Bush has decided to deploy a partial missile defense system by October 1, 2004. Despite the huge investment in missile defense over the past four decades, the Pentagon has been unable to field a workable system, and major hurdles remain. The Bush administration’s proposal to deploy a missile defense system, coupled with its aggressive nuclear policy, could halt progress toward nuclear arms reductions. With public attention focused on Iraq, the Bush administration’s prized missile defense system has been far from the limelight. But make no mistake, it’s still chugging along. Many things have changed since the September 11th attacks, but the current administration’s stubborn determination to deploy some kind of missile defense system–whether it works or not–has not wavered. During President Bush’s State of the Union address in January 2003, he said, “This year, for the first time, we are beginning to field a defense to protect this nation against ballistic missiles.” However, the truth is, this won’t be the first time. Under President Nixon, the Safeguard system was developed and eventually deployed. That system, using nuclear-tipped interceptors, became fully operational on October 1, 1975. It was actually Donald Rumsfeld who pulled the plug on the system four months later during his first stint as defense secretary. Rumsfeld announced that the Safeguard system was being shut down, because it was too costly while offering only meager capability. Today, Rumsfeld is of a different mindset. Acknowledging that the system will only be able to deal with a relatively small number of incoming ballistic missiles, he now calls it “better than nothing.” In March 1983, President Reagan introduced his Strategic Defense Initiative–Star Wars–as a way to render nuclear weapons “impotent and obsolete.” Since that time the U.S. has spent more than $90 billion (over $143 billion since the early 1960s) attempting to develop various approaches to missile defense. Though the current administration has scaled back Reagan’s vision of a multitiered defensive shield fending off thousands of Soviet missiles, its broad description of the program’s goals is just as ambitious. President Bush has pledged to install a system capable of defending “our friends and allies and deployed forces overseas” from ballistic missile attack. According to a press release from the Pentagon, this time around, the initial missile defense capability will build on the Ft. Greeley, Alaska, test-bed site and include up to 10 land-based interceptors in Alaska and California by 2004. Another 10 interceptors could be added in 2005. The Pentagon says it will be employing an “evolutionary approach to the development and deployment of missile defenses over time,” and it envisions a layered system comprising ground-based and sea-based interceptors alongside upgraded versions of the short-range Patriot system. Bush’s decision to start with a modest missile defense shield may have been prompted by the string of test failures that preceded it. As the New York Times reported, the $100 million test conducted on December 11, 2002, failed when the interceptor “missed its intended target by hundreds of miles and burned up in the atmosphere, while the mock enemy warhead it was meant to destroy zoomed by unscathed.” As with previous failures, officials were quick to dismissively deny that the malfunction had anything to do with advanced missile technology. Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Lehner of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said that the U.S. has been successfully separating boosters from their payloads for 50 years. However, the same problem had occurred during an intercept test in July 2000. The 2004 budget requests $9.1 billion for missile defense programs, a hefty increase over the amount in the last Clinton administration budget ($5.4 billion) and $1.5 billion more than this year. The Pentagon is projecting yearly missile defense funding to reach $11.5 billion by 2007. Though substantially surpassing the Clinton administration’s spending on missile defense, these sums represent only the down payment on the actual cost of deploying the system. The Bush administration has been increasing its support for missile defense while dismantling the international arms control regime both by withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and by putting forth a new nuclear war fighting doctrine. Whereas Ronald Reagan left office saying that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought, two decades later, the word coming from the Bush administration is that nuclear weapons are here to stay. Bush’s “new idea” is that the U.S. should develop flexible nuclear weapons that can be employed in a variety of circumstances from busting Saddam Hussein’s underground bunkers to bailing out U.S. forces in a conventional conflict. Following the recommendations from the Bush administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the declared role of U.S. nuclear weapons could change from a tool of deterrence and a weapon of last resort to a central, usable component of the U.S. antiterror arsenal. Problems with Current U.S. Policy Key Problems The threats that a missile defense system is meant to address have been greatly exaggerated. The Bush administration is rushing to deploy a missile defense system before it has been sufficiently tested. The resurgence of Star Wars has been politically driven, spurred on by the missile defense lobby, which is thoroughly entrenched in the Bush administration. Since 9/11/01, President Bush has been painting a picture of “unprecedented threats” to the U.S., highlighting the threat of a hostile state or terrorist group armed with weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. However, Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has pointed out that “there are fewer nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons in the world and fewer nations pursuing these weapons than there were ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago.” Even the December 2001 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) disagrees with Bush’s claims. The NIE noted that “U.S. territory is more likely to be attacked” with weapons of mass destruction by countries or terrorist groups using “ships, trucks, airplanes, or other means” than by anyone using a long-range ballistic missile. Such delivery systems are less expensive than those needed for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and, unlike missiles, nonmissile systems can be covertly developed and employed in an attempt to evade retaliation. They can also be deployed in ways that will evade ballistic missile defenses, rendering the costly investments in these systems irrelevant. Beyond the issue of whether or not the threat warrants an elaborate, though partial missile defense system is the fact that the proposed system has yet to show that it can effectively defend the U.S. against a ballistic missile attack. As former Pentagon testing official Philip Coyle has repeatedly pointed out, “There is nothing that the DOD has done that is as difficult.” In eight highly scripted tests, the ground-based system, which is most developed and the backbone of the Bush administration’s scheme, has failed three times. Compare that to Nixon’s Safeguard system, which underwent 111 tests, including 58 successful target intercepts in 70 attempts. And the few successful intercept tests of the Bush system are marred by how simple and predictable the variables were compared to the uncertainties of a real ballistic missile attack. Furthermore, all the tests to date–successful and unsuccessful–used a beacon inside the mock warhead, which helps guide the intercept missile to the target. Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Missile Defense Agency, was adamant in saying that the data from the beacon does not assist the interceptor in the final targeting of the kill vehicle. But it certainly makes the job a lot easier. A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that although the target and interceptor start out 5,000 miles away from each other, a transponder guides the interceptor to within 400 meters of the warhead. Pentagon officials claim that the transponder has to be used, because existing Pacific radars are located in less-than-ideal places for testing. Maybe this is part of any weapons testing program–you’ve got to walk before you can run–but the Bush administration wants to deploy them before they’ve even taken a step. Defense contractor Raytheon won a $350 million contract to develop the X-band radar; however, it won’t be ready for testing until 2005, after the Bush administration has deployed the system. The Pentagon’s own director of test and evaluation, Thomas Christie, noted in his annual report that “due to the stage of development and the following testing limitations, the GMD [ground-based mid-course missile defense] element has yet to demonstrate significant operational capability.” Elaborating to the Senate Armed Services Committee in April, Christie continued, “This conclusion is based on the fact that many essential components of the GMD element have yet to be built.” Similar concerns exist for the sea-based systems. One obvious “solution” to test failures is to cancel the tests, and that’s exactly what the Bush administration has sought to do. The Pentagon has cancelled three of five intercept tests of the ground-based system that were scheduled before the 2004 deployment date. The president’s 2004 budget included language that would have formally waived the system from testing requirements; fortunately, the language was removed. As Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) said, “That law exists to prevent the production and fielding of a weapons system that doesn’t work right.” Following the president’s deployment announcement, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) got to the heart of the matter: “The president’s decision to deploy an untested national missile defense system has more to do with politics than effective military strategy.” What else would explain the rush to deploy and get something in the ground by October 2004, conveniently right before the elections? More than any administration in history, the Bush team has relied on the expertise of former weapons contractors to outline U.S. defense needs. Thirty-two Bush appointees are former executives, consultants, or major shareholders of top weapons contractors, including appointees with ties to major missile defense contractors Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman. At a time when corporate scandals are making headlines, the Bush administration’s reliance on individuals with ties to the arms industry to fill major posts in the national security bureaucracy deserves far greater scrutiny than it has received to date. In addition to the dozens of former weapons executives in the Bush administration, personnel from conservative, corporate-backed think tanks, such as the Center for Security Policy, the Project for a New American Century, and the American Enterprise Institute, are now ensconced in key policymaking posts. Their fingerprints can be seen on virtually every major element of the Bush national security strategy, from the doctrines of preemptive strikes and regime change in Iraq, to the administration’s aggressive nuclear posture and commitment to deploying a Star Wars-style missile defense system. Toward a New Foreign Policy Key Recommendations Instead of focusing primarily on military and technical means to deal with the threat of weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration should expand and increase funding for nonproliferation programs. The U.S. should redouble its diplomatic efforts to bargain away nascent nuclear weapons programs in North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, and India. The ultimate goal of U.S. nuclear strategy should be the abolition of nuclear weapons. It is true that President Bush has pledged to reduce deployed U.S. nuclear weapons. Last May, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, which should reduce each nation’s nuclear arsenal to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads, although the cuts do not have to take effect until the expiration date of the treaty: December 31, 2012. Moreover, there are minimal accounting and verification measures within the treaty. Besides granting 10 years to make the reductions, the treaty allows both sides to keep thousands of their withdrawn warheads in reserve rather than destroying them, and it gives either party the right to withdraw from the agreement on just 90 days notice. The new arms accord also does nothing to secure or destroy Russia’s massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons and materials. Shortly before Bush’s inauguration, a bipartisan task force chaired by former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker and former White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler reported that “the most urgent national security threat to the U.S. today is the danger that weapons of mass destruction or weapons-usable material in Russia could be stolen and sold to terrorists or hostile nation-states and used against American troops abroad or citizens at home.” The task force recommended the development of a $3-billion-per-year, long-term plan to safeguard, destroy, or neutralize Russian nuclear materials. Total current funding for all nonproliferation programs is about $1.8 billion. Even at current funding levels, major U.S. government nonproliferation programs have accomplished a tremendous amount, from financing the destruction of more than 4,400 Russian strategic nuclear warheads to orchestrating the airlift of nearly 600 kilograms of poorly guarded, highly enriched uranium from Kazakhstan in 1994. But much more can and should be done. The potential benefits of U.S.-Russian nuclear reductions are overshadowed by the risks posed from the administration’s nuclear plans, which include dramatically expanding the scenarios in which U.S. nuclear weapons might be used, producing a new generation of more usable nuclear weapons systems, and resuming nuclear weapons testing. How likely are countries like Iran, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Russia, and China–all of which have been targeted in Bush’s nuclear plan–to heed the administration’s calls to reduce or renounce their own nuclear arsenals in the face of this new threat from the United States? Given Washington’s multibillion-dollar Star Wars plan and knowing that they may be targeted by a new generation of U.S. nukes, aren’t such countries more likely to beef up their nuclear stockpiles? Unfortunately, U.S. arms trade and military assistance policy also deters them from undertaking any serious nuclear disarmament. For example, rather than pressing new nuclear nations like India, Pakistan, and Israel to give up their nuclear weapons, Washington has been rewarding these states with arms sales and military assistance. The continued pursuit of a costly missile defense system will have far-reaching consequences for the future of arms control and the goal of nuclear abolition. It will also take precious time, money, and energy from nonproliferation and diplomatic efforts, which have proven to be far more productive in reducing the threat posed by nuclear weapons. A modest missile defense program of research, in the range of a few hundred million dollars per year and focused on improving the performance of a medium-range defensive shield to replace the current Patriot system, is justified as a way to limit the potential damage posed by the use (or threat of use) of ballistic missiles. Pentagon test director Thomas Christie rightly noted: “I recognize and agree, in principle, with the desire to field new capabilities as soon as possible, but that desire should be tempered with the responsibility to ensure that the weapons will not put Americans at risk.” Ultimately the U.S. and other nuclear powers should strive for a nuclear-weapons-free world by living up to their commitments, signed 30 years ago under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, “to reduce and eventually eliminate their vast arsenals of nuclear weaponry.” The abolition of nuclear weapons is the only reasonable safeguard against the threat of annihilation. The U.S. must lead the way toward this goal. Michelle Ciarrocca is a research associate for the World Policy Institute's Arms Trade Resource Center at the New School for Social Research.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2114
__label__wiki	0.924623	0.924623	Remarks by Baroness Betty Boothroyd–Call for Justice Summit, July 19, 2020 Baroness Betty Boothroyd, Former Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit—day 2. In her remarks, Baroness Boothroyd said, “The lesson of history is that a regime that has repression and terrorism in part of its DNA Remarks by Amb. Lincoln Bloomfield–Call for Justice Summit, July 19, 2020 Amb. Lincoln Bloomfield, Jr., Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit—day 2. In his remarks, Amb. Bloomfield said, “I wrote a monograph explaining in detail the politics and the heritage of this movement called The Ayatollahs and Executions Means to the Mullahs’ Survival. Call on UN for the 1988 Massacre Accountability The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a virtual event on, August 22, 2020, over the 1988 massacre of Iranian political prisoners. This conference attended by political dignitaries and human rights experts from across the globe. The conference and its NCRI-U.S. Webinar: The necessity to re-impose UN sanctions on the Iranian regime The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Representative Office in the United States (NCRI-US) held a virtual conference on August 26, 2020, over the Iranian regime’s terrorism, the need to reimpose all sanctions on the mullahs’ regime Remarks by Geoffrey Robertson Q.C.–Call for Justice Summit, July 19, 2020 Geoffrey Robertson Q.C., Human Rights Barrister and Author joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit—day 2. In his remarks, Mr. Robertson said, “Britain, Canada, America, Australia, and the countries that have these targeted sanctions and laws should target the surviving masterminds of the 1988 barbarities.” In July Remarks by Giulio Terzi–Call for Justice Summit, July 19, 2020 Giulio Terzi , Former Foreign Affairs Minister of Italy joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit—day 2. In his remarks, Mr. Vidal-Quadras said, “The time of impunity is over. In Iran, regime change would be the dawn of a new era for human rights and freedom.” Remarks by Alejo Vidal-Quadras–Call for Justice Summit, July 19, 2020 Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Former Vice President of European Parliament joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit—day 2. In his remarks, Mr. Vidal-Quadras said, “The pain of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners remains in the heart of families because justice has not Remarks by Taher Boumedra–Call for Justice Summit, July 19, 2020 Taher Boumedra, Former Chief of the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit—day 2. In his remarks, Mr. Boumedra said, “We will continue our work with JVMI for justice for the victims of the 1988 Remarks by Ingrid Betancourt–Call for Justice Summit, July 19, 2020 Ingrid Betancourt, former Senator, Presidential Candidate of Colombia, and former hostage joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit—day 2. In her remarks, Ms Betancourt said, “The members of the MEK are women and men who have suffered torture both in the Shah’s and in the mullahs’ Remarks by Henri Leclerc–Call for Justice Summit, July 19, 2020 Henri Leclerc, French lawyer and Honorary President of the Human Rights League joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit—day 2. In his remarks, Mr. Leclerc said, “It is evident that when we look back on the massacres of 1988, we know of NCRI calls on UN for accountability over 1988 massacre in Iran On August 22, the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) hosted an online conference calling for an international investigation against the Iranian regime officials and perpetrators involved in the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners across Iran. NCRI highlights the necessity of reimposing sanctions against Tehran On August 19, in a webinar hosted by the Iranian coalition opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – U.S. Representative, several experts in international peace and security affairs attended and delivered remarks on the Iranian regime’s destructive role in the Middle East region and across the globe. Remarks by Mohammad Askar–Free Iran Global Summit, July 17, 2020 Dr. Mohammad Askar, Minister of Human Rights of Yemen joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit. In his remarks, Dr. Askar said, “Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, you are an inspiration to all the free people of the Remarks by Bassam Al-Omoush–Free Iran Global Summit, July 17, 2020 Bassam Al-Omoush, former Jordanian Minister and former Ambassador to Iran joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit. In his remarks, Amb. Al-Omoush said, “The [mullahs] lie to the Iranian people, lie to the region, lie about Islam, and lie about Remarks by Luís Leite Ramos–Free Iran Global Summit, July 17, 2020 Luís Leite Ramos, Deputy Leader in Parliament of Portugal joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit. In his remarks, Mr. Ramos said, “The corrupt dictatorship that governs Iran, that gains billions of dollars from Khamenei and the Pasdaran, doesn’t spend a	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2115
__label__cc	0.632846	0.367154	Home Chevron down icon Railway Preservation Society of Ireland The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland was formed in 1964 to preserve Irish steam locomotives, carriages and rolling stock and to operate them on the Irish railway network for everyone to see, appreciate, enjoy and travel on. The Society currently has around 1,000 members from all across the world and depends on its volunteers and funds raised by these exclusive, limited edition models to keep its trains operational.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2116
__label__wiki	0.964188	0.964188	Research & Policy Brief SAIRR Today: Good news in South African schooling - 21st May 2010 Recently the provincial education department in the Eastern Cape stated that it would be auditing former ‘Model C’ schools there because these schools had ‘too many luxuries’, and were refusing to comply with the provincial department’s policies. In a meeting at the provincial legislature in Bhisho in April, the portfolio chairman on education in the province, Mr Mzoleli Mrara, said that ‘Model C’ schools were ‘racist’ and used the country’s courts to win battles against the provincial education department. However, the 2009 matric results in former ‘Model C’ schools around South Africa indicates that their black pupils do very well. The Institute has analysed results in schools formerly administered by the House of Assembly (HoA). This was the whites-only chamber in the tricameral Parliament which South Africa experimented with between 1984 and 1994. Schools for coloured pupils were administered by the House of Representatives, and Indian schools by the House of Delegates. Schools for African pupils were controlled by either the Department of Education and Training or the various homeland administrations. Former ‘Model C’ schools can trace their roots to the beginning of the 1990s. In 1990, the then-minister of education, Mr Piet Clasé, announced that from the beginning of 1991 parents with children in white government schools would be allowed to choose from three models how the schools would be run in future. Model A would result in the school’s becoming fully private. Model B would result in its remaining a state school, and being allowed to admit black pupils up to a maximum of 50% of the total pupil body. Model C would result in the school’s becoming semi-privatised. The school would receive a state subsidy but would have to raise the balance of its budget through fees and donations. It would also be able to admit black pupils up to a maximum of 50% of the student body. From the beginning of 1992, a fourth option was added, Model D. These schools would remain under the control of the white education department, but would be able to admit an unlimited number of black pupils. In 1992 the Government announced that all schools under the control of the House of Assembly would become Model C schools, unless parents voted by a two-thirds majority for Model B schools. As a result, by April 1992, approximately 1900 former white schools had become Model C schools. This equated to 96% of all schools that were under the control of the House of Assembly. An analysis of matriculation results broken down by race shows that pupils, especially African pupils, fare significantly better in former ‘Model C’ schools than in other government schools. According to the Department of Education there were 5 477 public secondary schools in South Africa in 2008 (the latest year for which figures are available). Of these, some 620 (11%) were former Model C schools. At the same time there were 180 independent secondary schools in the country. In 2009 the proportion of African pupils who passed the matric examinations overall was 56%. However in former ‘Model C’ schools the proportion of African pupils who passed was 88%. In order to pass, a pupil must achieve at least 30% in three subjects, and 40% in a further three, one of which must be the pupil’s home language. For coloured pupils the overall matric pass rate in 2009 was 76%, while for those attending former ‘Model C’ schools it was 99%. The overall proportion of Indian and Asian pupils who passed the matric exams was 92%. For those attending former ‘Model C’ schools it was 98%. For white pupils the overall proportion that passed was 98.5%, while for those attending former ‘Model C’ schools the pass rate was 98.4%. However, the vast majority of white pupils who wrote the 2009 matric exams would have attended former ‘Model C’ schools. An analysis of provincial pass rates is instructive. In the Eastern Cape, where former ‘Model C’ schools were the subject of an attack by the provincial education department, the pass rate for African children in such schools was 95%. The overall pass rate for African pupils in that province in last year’s matric exams was 47%. This shows that in the Eastern Cape, an African pupil’s chances of passing matric are far better if he or she attends a former ‘Model C’ school. In all other provinces, with the exception of the Northern Cape, pass rates were between 85% and 95% in former ‘Model C’ schools. For other population groups the figures are similar. Of coloured pupils who wrote matric exams in former ‘Model C’ schools in 2009, pass rates of more than 90% were achieved in every province, with the exception of the Northern Cape. In that province the pass rate for coloured pupils was 68%. For coloured pupils as a whole, pass rates by province varied from 66% in the Northern Cape to 85% in KwaZulu-Natal. The pass rates in all other provinces varied between 70% and 79%. Indian pupils and white pupils all fared relatively well. The pass rate for Indian and Asian pupils in former ‘Model C’ schools was above 90% in all provinces , with the exception of the Northern Cape. However, in that province only 12 Indian or Asian pupils had written the matric exams. For white pupils the results in former ‘Model C’ schools mirrored almost exactly the overall results, as would be expected, since as noted above, the vast majority of white pupils would have attended former ‘Model C’ schools. The pass rate for white pupils, overall and in former ‘Model C’ schools was above 95% in all provinces. African matric pass rate, 2009: Former ‘Model C’ schools African matric pass rate, 2009: All schools These results are not surprising. Former ‘Model C’ schools have facilities that are the envy of schools which did not fall under the control of the House of Assembly. Although there are many non-’Model C’ schools with dedicated and hard-working teaching staff, the results suggest that the teaching ethos in most former ‘Model C’ schools is still intact. Teachers are serious about their jobs, and dedicated to the children that they teach. The same cannot be said for many non-’Model C’ schools, where teachers often do not teach for the full day and are sometimes not in class at all. Reports of sexual abuse and harassment are rife. In August 2009 President Jacob Zuma said that were a number of schools where teaching occurred for fewer than 3.5 hours per day, rather than the required seven. The majority of schools where this occurs are likely to be non-’Model C’ schools. The racial make-up of teachers or pupils at former ‘Model C’ schools does not affect the results. Former ‘Model C’ schools which have largely African teaching staff and pupils still perform well. For example, Brakpan High in Ekurhuleni (Gauteng) has an African staff complement exceeding 80%, and some 83% of the pupils who wrote matric there in 2009 were African. The school achieved a pass rate of 93%, far in excess of the provincial pass rate of 65%. The pass rate among Africans in the school was 92%. There are other examples. Kingsridge High School in King Williams Town, formerly known by the politically incorrect name of Kaffrarian High School for Girls, attained a pass rate of 100%. Of its 87 pupils, some 60 were African, and only 10 were white. Port Shepstone High in KwaZulu-Natal achieved a pass rate of 100%. Some 148 (66%) of its student body of 224 were Africans. Dawnview High, also in Ekurhuleni, had a pass rate of 94%. Some 105 (67%) of its student body were Africans. The decay and neglect of the African education system is probably the most insidious legacy of apartheid. The restoration of a culture of teaching and learning within predominantly African schools is a matter that the Government must tackle with haste. Schools that work, which appear to be the majority of former ‘Model C’ schools, need to be encouraged and their success replicated elsewhere. Obviously these schools benefit from superior facilities, but the teaching ethos that is so strong in many of these schools needs to be copied. Poorly-performing schools must be strengthened, but not by weakening the schools that perform well. Excellence in the public schooling system is not confined to former ‘Model C’ schools. In the 2009 matric exams there were 1 576 schools that achieved pass rates of between 80 and 100%. Nearly one-third of these were former ‘Model C’ schools. Some 509 of such schools achieved pass rates of between 80 and 100%. This equates to 82% of all former ‘Model C’ schools. Conversely only 1 067 of former non ‘Model C’ schools achieved pass rates of between 80 and 100%. This was equal to 22% of such schools. Although the proportion of such schools getting pass rates above 80% was much lower than that in former ‘Model C’ schools, there were nevertheless two excellent such schools for every excellent former ‘Model C’ school. The South African education system is in crisis, but it is clear that centres of excellence still exist. Many schools which achieve good results did not fall under the jurisdiction of the House of Assembly. The factors that make these schools and many of the country’s former ‘Model C’ schools excellent need to be identified and replicated in the rest of the country’s schools. These good schools are the foundation on which the future success of South Africa will be built, and this must be strengthened and encouraged. At the same time poorly-performing schools must not be abandoned. The success of the more than 1 500 schools which achieved pass rates of above 80% must spread to the rest of the South African education system. - Marius Roodt	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2117
__label__cc	0.559978	0.440022	Home > Free Essays > Education > Education Issues > Humanities Terminologies Humanities Terminologies Essay These are disciplines in academics that are used to assess the human condition. This is normally done using methods that involve analysis, critical thinking and speculation. These methods of inquiry are different from the empirical approaches that are usually adopted for the natural sciences. Examples of humanities include history, literature, music, religion and arts. Languages, both the ancient and modern, are also humanities (Fiero, 2011). We will write a custom Essay on Humanities Terminologies specifically for you Distinguishing the humanities from other modes of human inquiry and expression Humanities differ from other academic disciplines that study the human condition since they use methods that involve speculation, analysis and critique. Other modes of human inquiry and expression use methods that involve the empirical approach. Such approaches are employed in natural sciences and they need to have testable variables and predictions about various aspects of the universe. Such studies may be explained rationally or logically, differing from the humanities. Empirical approaches, employed by other modes of inquiry, utilize the empirical approach that requires evidence or observable events that need the use of senses. A current example of each type of the following humanities and an explanation of why each example given reflects current developments in politics, socioeconomics, and technology: Art – art has evolved with time and has experienced improvements owing to the fact that technology plays a great part in art now. At the beginning of the 21st century, critiques and historians realized the difference in the methods of artistic works. The historians described this as post modern. This expression has been used to describe the different styles of making art. One way this art has been changed is through the copying of masterpieces of the past and using current technology that involves the use of computers. Today’s art does not contain the traditional aspect of the past and their uses differ from those of the past. Today’s art (contemporary art) differ from the traditional art in that the content of the art is of more significance than the material or form utilized in its making. Today’s artists seek to involve the viewers conceptually through the use of innovative ideas and issues (Levi, 1970). Today’s advancements in art include computerized and digitized art. This computerized art is used as a major form of human expression. This can be accredited to the technological advancement to the computer age. The first computers were developed and with time, there were several advancements that saw the development of more sophisticated software. Computers have also allowed the easy manipulation of large amounts of data. Technology has also played a great role in making the art easily available to the people interested in it. People can now access art from the internet in the comforts of their homes. The World Wide Web has enabled people access art galleries to choose the pieces they want. Museums have also been seen trying to incorporate technology in their methods of displaying and advertising their pieces of art. This is done in an attempt to keep up with the advancements and competition from others Music – music has gone through evolution with time since today’s music incorporates a lot of technological input to make it successful and appealing. This means that those individuals who still use traditional instruments such as the trombone and the flutes face a lot of challenges. Today’s music is highly computerized and involves the use of software and high-end computers to produce digital music. Digitization of the music range from creation of the instrumentals to the recording and manipulation of the human voice. This has created high quality music and faced off the traditional music. However, technology has brought with it some challenges to the artists and the producers of the music. One of the challenges is that of lack of privacy. Through the internet, people can easily download music and replicate it. This causes losses for the musicians and their producers since they only sell less of their CDs since the music is made freely and readily available to the public via the World Wide Web. Literature – literature has also undergone metamorphosis from the traditional methods that were previously employed in writing to the more sophisticated and modern forms. The materials used for writing have changed due to the technological advancements that have characterized the type of literature today (Levi, 1970). Through the invention and the use of computers and software, literature can now be accessed easily. The World Wide Web has made the literature to be only a click away. However, this has also posed some challenges to the writers and editors. Their materials have been put in the internet and anyone can access them and use them for their own good. Many researchers have had the opportunity to access the publication of other authors and use them for their research. The literature available in the internet is practically from all subjects. It is not always the case, however, since this availability of literature in the internet has enabled research to be much easy, more so for those researchers who are only using secondary sources as their source of data. The researchers are able to access the information with much ease and compare their work with those of other researchers. Today’s literature has also changed and has accommodated some of the aspects that were not formally incorporated in literature. Literature has been used widely to shape the political atmosphere. Politics have also shaped the literature of today since many writings and publications are of political nature and address the political issues of the area. Philosophy – philosophy has also changed a lot with time and has included such fields as moral philosophy. Moral philosophy has been used to shape the current developments in socioeconomics. It has seen its application in the field of management since every organization is required to observe ethics in the working environment. Every individual is required to adhere to the set codes of ethics in the organization. The branch of ethics that encompasses these ethical issues in the workplace is the normative ethics. This branch of ethics is concerned with the way one ought to act. The person’s decisions are also shaped by the ethical consideration. Many ethical theories have been developed to guide the human behavior. The organization is one area where ethics is richly applicable. Organizations are normally ranked according to the level which they adhere to the code of ethics. Architecture – architecture has also gone through several changes from the past. In the past, architecture employed more traditional methods and structures were developed in accordance to traditional beliefs. The churches, for example, were built using traditional architectural designs. There were fine details which displayed the rich culture of the society. Today’s architecture has changed and has done away with some of the rich details that the traditional ones had. Today, different architectural styles are being used for different purposes. Architecture has been significantly changed and shaped by the technology. Technological advancements have enabled the construction of more sophisticated structures. Sky scrapers have now been built due to the technological advancements available. Fiero, G. (2011). The Humanities Tradition (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Levi, A. (1970). The Humanities Today. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. This essay on Humanities Terminologies was written and submitted by your fellow student. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. Problems of Modern Education Repairing Donated Children Books IvyPanda. (2022, January 15). Humanities Terminologies. https://ivypanda.com/essays/humanities-terminologies/ IvyPanda. (2022, January 15). Humanities Terminologies. Retrieved from https://ivypanda.com/essays/humanities-terminologies/ "Humanities Terminologies." IvyPanda, 15 Jan. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/humanities-terminologies/. 1. IvyPanda. "Humanities Terminologies." January 15, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/humanities-terminologies/. IvyPanda. "Humanities Terminologies." January 15, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/humanities-terminologies/. IvyPanda. 2022. "Humanities Terminologies." January 15, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/humanities-terminologies/. IvyPanda. (2022) 'Humanities Terminologies'. 15 January. Powered by CiteTotal, free citation machine Medical terminology errors Computerized Accounting System Project Medical Terminology Abbreviations Nursing Terminologies: NANDA International Organizational behavior terminology Current Procedural Terminology in US Healthcare Medical terminologies for dummies SNOMED-CT and PTSD Terminologies Bodies in Physical Education Norm and Criterion Referencing Professional Learning Communities: Schools of Thought Interview With the School Principal: Something for Grown-Ups to Learn Envy of Students: Educational Problem Education Education Issues	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2120
__label__wiki	0.9114	0.9114	Tallawah turmoil - Nehemiah Perry shares concerns about local CPL franchise future after Gayle exit Published:Monday \| May 4, 2020 \| 12:21 AMDaniel Wheeler/Gleaner Writer Former national cricketer Nehemiah Perry says that Chris Gayle’s departure from the Jamaica Tallawahs means that the franchise will need to create a better team dynamic as they continue to rebuild for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season. Gayle signed for the St Lucia Zouks after the Tallawahs chose not to retain his services in spite of two years remaining on his contract. The move is the latest in the franchise’s bid to improve from their poor 2019 season, which saw them finish at the bottom of the table. Head coach Donovan Miller and manager Andrew Richardson already left the team after the last campaign and all-rounder Andre Russell said that he would not play for the Tallawahs beyond this year. Perry said that while the main concern for the team will be how to improve the roster with similar talent to Gayle, he says that the emphasis has to be placed on building a positive team culture focused solely on winning. “It is going to be very difficult to get a replacement for Gayle, but you have to now look at how can you get the team motivated, spirited, and ready to go,” Perry said. “What you want is 11 players, or 13 men who are going to die for each other out there. Who is going to play solid cricket, consistent cricket? Who is going to [make] the team spirit very good?” Gayle left the Tallawahs on bad term,s having uploaded a three-part video on YouTube last Monday, giving his side of circumstances behind his departure. Gayle criticised the team management and assistant coach Ramnaresh Sarwan, blaming him for the internal problems experienced by the team. Russell then went on Instagram a day later to voice his own frustrations with the team, leading to his decision to leave after this season. Perry said that the public fallout now being experienced will not benefit the Tallawahs or the sport. “It doesn’t bode well for youngsters and people who are aspiring to play cricket to come into an environment like that,” he said. “I think we need to be a little bit more responsible. We need to be a little bit more practical in what we do and what we say because a lot of people out there look up to people like those – the Sarwans, the Gayles, and the Russells. They have them as their mentors, and to hear all of this is not good for cricket.” A founding member of the franchise, Gayle led the Tallawahs to two CPL championships in 2013 and 2016 before leaving for a two-year stint with the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. He returned to the Tallawahs last year, but the team won only two of their 10 matches. daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com «JRFU concerned about 2021 calendar Windies move up T20 rankings »	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2122
__label__wiki	0.726994	0.726994	Character Study: Cookie Lyon from TV’s Empire (it’s the bad that makes her so good!) Posted on June 1, 2015 by Janna G. Noelle Like 17 million other people, I’ve been watching Empire. And in keeping with the prevailing opinion, I think it’s a great show. When I told my sister I was watching it, she expressed surprise. Not an unexpected reaction given most of what I watch is either fantasy, sci-fi, historical, or about science and nature. However, Empire, at its core over the first season, is a succession drama, which I always love and happen to be writing myself in a historical setting. As well, I have a prior history with stories about record companies thanks to the 1985 movie Krush Groove, which my sister and I watched together and both enjoyed. Empire is the story of multimillionaire record company mogul and former gangster-turned-bestselling-recording-artist Lucious Lyon. Upon discovering that he’s terminally ill with only a few years left to live, Lucious decides he must choose an heir from among his three very different sons to someday take over Empire Records, which is soon to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. Much of the action of the first season relates to the machinations of the three sons and their various supporters as they all endeavour to display their suitability for the job. At the same time, Lucious himself grows ever more desperate and despicable in his efforts to ensure his legacy and battle enemies both internal and external to the family-run business. But succession dynamics aren’t the only reason I love the show; the characters are great as well, particularly Cookie Lyon – Lucious’s estranged wife and mother of his three sons – who is equal parts brash, demanding, accomplished, compassionate, and naïve. That is to say, a complex, well-rounded female character. Cookie begins the series having just been released from jail following a 17-year sentence for drug trafficking. She and Lucious did this together in the rough inner city neighbourhood where they grew up and later started raising their family. However Cookie was clearly something of the brains behind the operation, both in that she’s the only one who was jailed and also because she repeatedly claims that Empire Records was founded with $400,000 of her drug money, which she immediately sets about trying to reclaim after her release from jail. These two facts about Cookie – her criminal past and her jail time – make her a fascinating character of the sort not many female TV characters are permitted to embody. Cookie wasn’t just a gangster’s wife hanging out in the background like some sex-up chick from a hip-hop video; she was a gangster in her own right. Regardless of one’s thoughts on drugs and criminal activity, there’s no question that male characters are often both criminals and heroic (e.g. Walter White, Dexter, Tony Soprano) while female characters are generally expected to be more lawful, likeable, and appropriately repentant of any wrongdoing they commit, which Cookie most assuredly isn’t. As well, the fact that Cookie is portrayed as a talented and gifted music producer and the one responsible for helping launch Lucious’s career is very interesting and unexpected. Lucious is said to have had music in his soul, yet he regularly relied on Cookie to help give his songs that little extra something. As well, it was Cookie who had the original vision to create their own record company, and is responsible for producing a number of Platinum albums prior to her incarceration. Cookie continues to prove herself indispensible to the running of Empire Records as she manages her son Jamal (an up-and-coming R&B singer) and a handful of other key artists others deem difficult to work with or to have image problems in the media. She wasn’t just given her job back to shut her up about the drug money, but rather because she’s a genuine asset – well-known in the music industry as a whole and repeatedly shown demonstrating knowledge, skills, and grit that few others possess. Soft at the center Cookie can work with difficult people because she can be difficult herself. Cookie Lyon is no manic pixie dream girl and we can all thank heaven for that. She’s an over-the-top diva: loud, pushy, impatient, unfiltered, and self-possessed with no qualms about barging in on board meetings, rolling up in violent ghettos, or butting into conversations to offer her esteemed opinion whether it’s solicited or not. She isn’t politically correct: she makes racial comments about her son Jamal’s Latino boyfriend, calling him “Dora” (the Explorer) and “La Cucaracha” (Spanish for “the cockroach”, after the famous song). She calls Jamal himself a “sissy” for claiming he cares more about his music itself than fame or wealth, and refers to bipolar disorder and its treatment as “white people problems”. She calls Lucious’s girlfriend, Anika, of whom she’s clearly jealous, “Boo Boo Kitty” (an on-the-fly epithet created by the phenomenal actress Taraji P. Henson, who plays Cookie) as well as “fake-ass Halle Berry”, and “yellow” in reference to Anika being biracial. She calls her assistant, Porsha, stupid, and according to Porsha, says the same of everyone else since “that’s what she do”. Finally, she claims to have liked Lucious better when he was a thug and less concerned about his image within white society. These shortcomings make a lot of sense for Cookie’s character, who doubtless received little formal education and then spent so long behind bars. They also serve to make the character, frankly, human. We can all be jerks sometimes, so it’s refreshing to see a woman on TV released from the boring shackles of good girl perfection. “Bad” girls don’t usually fare so well in fiction, but in this case, even more so than Lucious – the ostensible star of the show – Cookie is a heroic figure. Besides, there’s a softer side to Cookie as well. She is fiercely loyal to her family: to Lucious, who it’s revealed is the only man she’s ever been with sexually (a virtually unheard of representation of black women, who are typically portrayed as promiscuous and unfaithful), and particularly to her children. She laments the years she spent locked up while they were young and needed her. Regardless of how she may occasionally tease Jamal about being gay, she’s fully accepting of his sexuality (as opposed to Lucious, who is vehemently opposed to it). As well, she’s desperate to build a relationship with her youngest son, Hakeem, who resents her previous absence and now wants as little to do with her as possible. She genuinely cares about the artists she represents and goes out of her way to help them when they get in trouble. She also continues to believe in Empire Records and supports Lucious in whatever needs doing to see the company thrive, even though he abandoned her while she was in jail without ever saying goodbye and eventually shacked up with Anika. Cookie is an incredible character – a true powerhouse – who’s likely to grow even more complex opposite Lucious as he continues further down his dark path. Have you seen Empire? Who is your favourite character? What is your favourite song from the show? Let me know in the comments. (Image source #1, #2, and #3) This entry was posted in Character Study and tagged Characters, Diversity, Empire, Feminist fiction, Gender, Gender roles, Representation, TV. Bookmark the permalink. ← What’s On the Menu in the Middle Ages? (Medieval Mondays #2a) What My Phone’s Autocorrect Entries Say About Me as a Person → 7 thoughts on “Character Study: Cookie Lyon from TV’s Empire (it’s the bad that makes her so good!)” on June 1, 2015 at 10:02 am Never hear of it – I know, I live in a cloud. But will consider it on your recommendation. Good shows are hard to find. on June 2, 2015 at 10:35 pm It’s a great show – it’s kind of like a black Game of Thrones without all the senseless nudity and sexual violence, the main stake being a record company instead of the Iron Throne, significantly fewer (but not zero) killings, and original hip-hop and R&B music. on June 3, 2015 at 6:29 am Sounds as if it has a LOT of energy. on June 1, 2015 at 8:11 pm I love the hell out of Empire. It’s Shakespeare meets “Dallas” as told by Suge Knight. I don’t know how anyone’s favorite character cannot be Cookie. Your description of her is quite apt. I find myself thinking she’s a pretty bad person who I nevertheless root for and whom I feel bad for when her plans go awry. Getting out of prison after 17 years, she’s still the same street hustler as before trying to adapt to a world where all the people she knew have moved on to bigger and better things. She’s probably the most complex character on TV right now (notwithstanding the clones on Orphan Black), and Taraji P. Henson is perfect. Having worked in music stores and been in bands and interacted with people from nightclubs and record companies for many years, I can say the show is about as authentic as James Bond movies, but I’m 100% down with alternate realities, provided they stay true to themselves. I knew you’d be a fan of this show! In my reply to Alicia I referred to it as a black Game of Thrones without all the senseless nudity and sexual violence, the main stake being a record company instead of the Iron Throne, significantly fewer (though not zero) killings, and original hip-hop and R&B music. I think Cookie personifies a desire we all possess to know and own our sense of importance and to not put up with anyone’s BS. She has all the best lines and has probably never experienced d’esprit de l’escalier in her life. I think my next favourite character is Jamal, but it’s cool to have so many black characters who are all different from each other. You don’t get that much variety across shows that only have their one token black character. What’s your favourite song from the show? Mine’s “Good Enough” with “Conqueror” as a close second. Oddly enough, given my experiences, I am absolute rubbish at remembering song titles. I have albums I love that I’ve listened to over 100 times and couldn’t tell you what half the songs are called. I’d have to revisit the season to answer that question. Jamal is a good character, but he’s pretty much has to be the one you root for by default. Every one else is either crazy, dangerous, or conniving. As minor characters go, you’ve got to love Porsha. In a weird way, she’s the audience surrogate, especially when she makes those hysterical face expressions in response to all the melodrama going on around her. Like, “Oh come on. What have I got myself into here?” This may sound funny coming from a dude, but I agree that there’s too much gratuitous nudity in TV shows these days. I’m hardly a prude, but I find it exploitative and it makes me reluctant to watch GoT. This is somewhat tangential, and stop me if we talked about this already, but: I read an interesting book by black feminist professor Stephanie Dunn called “Baad Bitches” in which she discusses the complexity black American women deal with in seeking female role models in movies. She talks about how her aunts and older female relatives were all inspired by Pam Grier back in the 1970s, yet who in revisiting those films tend to experience a great deal of conflict and emotional discomfort by how Grier was represented. Although Grier was in a lot of ways the first black female movie star, most of her films were produced by white men, and she was treated very exploitatively in terms of gratuitous nudity, graphic rape scenes, etc., not to mention the repeated plot device of her gaining access to the villain by posing as a prostitute (and the resultant “catfight in lingerie” that inevitably breaks out between the escorts). With Empire and Cookie, we have a character who is in control, doesn’t take s***, and for all her questionable acts, never exploits herself, and she is in charge of her own sexuality. As we’ve discussed before, I’m all for story-relevant events, whether it’s violence or nudity or whatever (provided the actors are not being coerced), but there really aren’t that many artistically justifiable reasons to strip a non-speaking character and have her parade around the set simply to titillate and lend eye candy to the proceedings. I’m actually not that good at song titles either … or even lyrics a lot of the time either beyond the main line from the chorus. Where it not for azlyrics.com, I’d easily end up one of those callers on a morning radio show offering up some gem like Everytime you go away/You take a piece of meat with you. In the case of the Empire song titles, I looked them up on iTunes and then proceeded to buy the album (a lot of the songs are on the show’s YouTube channel as well). I’m so over GoT for a multitude of reasons besides just the gratuitous rape and nudity, but those are definitely contributing factors. I’m especially sick of all the “that’s they way it was back then” justifications, because I’ve studied enough about the medieval times to be able to recognize how history is being subordinated to the kinks and perversions of screenwriters and showrunners. Plus which historical era did the dragons occur in again? That’s an interesting point about Pam Grier; it kind of like how Nichelle Nichols was on Star Trek but didn’t have a hugely significant role and actually considered quitting the show until MLK talked her out of it. Both these actresses were nonetheless very important to black people and to the cause of gaining us more mainstream visibility. As you point out, with Cookie, we’ve clearly come a long way, although of course there’s always more that can be done. Oh yes, Porsha = ❤	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2125
__label__wiki	0.621495	0.621495	Tokyo Tower とう kyou たわー tawaa tons (approximate) Tokyo Tower was built during the bubble years and completed in 1958 after politicians preening about Japan's new economic might decided they needed to commemorate it somehow. At the same time, TV and radio stations were having problems finding good transmission locations in Tokyo's flat landscape. The solution to both was to build an omnibus tower. The tower is modeled after the Eiffel Tower but is 9 meters taller and much lighter because of improved construction materials and a stronger design. It was Japan's tallest structure for more than 50 years. It is painted in international orange to satisfy air safety regulations. It reportedly took 28,000 liters to paint the structure. In the early years, it was highly popular with tourists and became a symbol of Tokyo. The tower can be easily seen from many points in Tokyo because the surrounding area is filled with mostly low-rise buildings. Still, Tokyo hasn't stopped growing upwards since the tower's completion. It gradually became just one of many tall buildings and it lost its appeal with tourists and broadcasters alike. The 2011 deadline to switch the digital TV broadcasts presented a problem for NHK and other broadcasters who used Tokyo Tower. It was just not high enough for those new digital signals. Thus, the completion of Tokyo Skytree (634.0 m) in 2012 near Asakusa basically ended TV broadcasts from the tower. Tokyo Tower is has three levels: foot, main observation deck and special observation deck. The observation decks are at 150 meters and 250 meters, respectively. There is a cafe on the lower main observation deck. Mt Fuji can be seen on a clear day (every tall building in Tokyo claims this) from both observation levels. On good weather days, it is possible to climb up. Tickets are still required for climbers. The "Foot Town" contains other attractions and gift shops. Once you view from the observation floors the elevator will drop you off on the 4th floor. There is an aquarium, wax museum, hologram gallery and trick art gallery. All of these require an additional entrance fee. On the 4th floor, there is an interesting free statistics plaza. Looking at timelines of Japan's economic and social development is a little dry but it fits with the general theme of celebrating Japan's economic miracle. On the 2nd floor (and partly on the 1rst) are the gift shops and more restaurants. The company that owns Tokyo Tower is infamous for having mortgaged Tokyo's most recognizable building for 10 billion yen in 2000. The unlikely scenario of it being sold for scrap by angry creditors isn't going to occur anytime soon but it helps explain the ticket prices. The company's balance sheet bled red (and may have whimpered a little) after they built an unprofitable golf course on pricey land right before the economic bubble burst. There's just no denying that Tokyo Skytree has surpassed Tokyo Tower as the best place to peer out at the cityscape. Tokyo Tower is still a icon of the city and worth visiting. It has one of the best overall views of the city. Practically every large building and famous area of Tokyo can easily seen except for a few places in JR Tokyo Station's direction. It is a worthwhile attraction to see, but, depending on your schedule, there may be closer, cheaper or better options if all you want to do is view Tokyo from above. The tower really starts to become a tourist trap after you've looked out from the main viewing deck. The extra charge to go up to the special platform uses an effective upsell strategy to fleece tourists of extra yen. Guard your wallet unless your happiness is tied to how high you saw Tokyo from. The other attractions in the base building aren't a waste of time but they are certainly overpriced and not anything you'd fly halfway around the world to see. Tokyo Tower has an embarrassing number of subway lines that pass nearby but don't go to it. The legacy of being built where no large buildings would block its TV and radio signals has been to the bane of all tourists since. The closest ones are Onarimon Station on the Mita Line, Kamiyacho on the Hibiya Line and Akabanebashi Station on the O-Edo Line. The Mita Line is least likely to be of use if you're touring Tokyo. The Hibiya Line connects easily to the Ginza area and the O-Edo is most useful from the Shinjuku Area. All the close options aren't really that wonderful and waste your yen and time on transfers and finding stations. There are two much more easier and cheaper routes from the Asakusa Subway Line and the Yamanote. Just be prepared to walk for 15 minutes or so. The subway line connects to Tokyo Station, Ueno and Asakusa. Walking from JR Hamamatsucho Station at Ginza is probably the cheapest and simplist route from most places in Tokyo because it is on the Yamanote Line. It and the subway line do require walking a fair distance, but you'll pass through Shiba Park (芝公園) and by Zojoji Temple which are worth a look anyway. Tickets for the main observation floors are purchased at ticket windows on the first floor. Tickets to go to the special observation deck at 250 meters are purchased separately after you ride up. Posted: April 17, 2011 Updated: August 25, 2015 Total Height 333 m Special 250 m Must purchase lower ticket first Main 150 m Tokyo Tower (Japanese)	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2126
__label__wiki	0.700137	0.700137	Time series analysis of maternal mortality in Africa from 1990 to 2005 Maral DerSarkissian1, Caroline A Thompson1, Onyebuchi A Arah1,2,3,4,5 1Department of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA 2Center for Global and Immigrant Health, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA 3Center for Health Policy Research, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA 4California Center for Population Research, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA 5Department of Public Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Correspondence to Maral DerSarkissian, Department of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, 5416 La Crescenta Ave. La Crescenta, Los Angeles, CA 91214, USA; mdersarkissian{at}gmail.com Objectives Most global maternal deaths occur in Africa and Asia. In response, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG-5) calls for a 75% reduction in maternal mortality from 1990 to 2015. To assess the potential for progress in MDG-5 in Africa, we examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of socioeconomic, demographic and population-health factors with maternal mortality rates in Africa. Methods We used data from global agencies and the published literature to identify socioeconomic, demographic and population-health explanatory factors that could be correlated with maternal mortality in 49 countries of Africa for the years 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005. We used correlation, negative binomial and mixed Poisson regression models to investigate whether there exist associations between potential explanatory factors and maternal mortality. Results Some African countries have made substantial progress towards achieving MDG-5 while others have fallen behind. Lower gross domestic product (GDP) and female enrolment in primary schools, but higher HIV prevalence, neonatal mortality rate and total fertility rate, were associated with higher maternal mortality. Conclusions Maternal mortality rates in African countries appear to be declining. The mean maternal mortality ratios in Africa decreased from 695.82 in 1990 to 562.18 in 2005. Yet some countries are more likely than others to achieve MDG-5. Better socioeconomic, demographic and population health development appear to be conducive to better maternal health in Africa. Sustained efforts on all these fronts will be needed to close the gap in maternal survival and achieve MDG-5 in Africa. INTERNATIONAL HLTH http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2013-202565 Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2127
__label__wiki	0.689647	0.689647	Red Bull will not repeat favouritism of Sebastian Vettel over Mark Webber Professional / September 3, 2008 by JB / Leave a Comment • Webber was angry at treatment after British grand prix • Owner says that both drivers are now on equal footing The owner of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, has said there will be no repeat of the controversial favouritism shown to Sebastian Vettel at the British grand prix. Vettel’s team-mate, Mark Webber, was furious that a new front wing was taken off his car and given to the German for qualifying at Silverstone. Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, indicated after the race that, if faced with the same dilemma, he would again give preference to whichever driver was ahead in the championship, but Mateschitz has now said: “If you ask me today who will be champion, I say one of our two drivers. But the pits must not interfere because then the problems begin in earnest.” Mateschitz spelled out his opposition to favouritism in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, ahead of Sunday’s German grand prix. “This philosophy is not in keeping with my understanding of racing,” he said. “We do not have a No1 and a No2 driver. “Both drivers have cars to exactly the same standard. The problem with the new wing at Silverstone was the first exception. “Our two drivers know that they have to beat the other and they still need each other to take away as many points as possible from the competition. You cannot just programme a champion. We are talking about racing – the image of blood, sweat and tears is not by chance.” Jon Brodkin	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2128
__label__wiki	0.752273	0.752273	St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum)-induced psychosis: a case report Maria Ferrara1, Francesco Mungai1,2 & Fabrizio Starace1 St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) has been known for centuries for its therapeutic properties and its efficacy as an antidepressant has been confirmed by a growing body of evidence. During the last two decades it has also come to prominence with a wider public, due to advertising efforts across Europe and United States of America. However, its availability without prescription, as an over-the-counter medication, raises some concern regarding its clinical management and unsupervised administration to individuals with psychopathological risks. To date, the evidence available regarding the administration of Hypericum in people with severe mental health problems is still meager and refers mainly to affective disorder spectrum or psychotic relapse in people with established diagnoses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report regarding the onset of psychotic features in a patient presenting with psychotic diathesis. The case discussed in this report is a 25-year-old white man, not known to the psychiatric services, with a history of brief and self-remitting drug-induced psychosis and a positive family history of psychotic depression. He was admitted to hospital due to the onset of florid psychotic symptoms concomitant with self-administration of Hypericum perforatum. The aim of this report is to promote further systematic research, draw the attention of clinicians to the potential risks of Hypericum precipitating psychosis, and raise awareness among health professionals to investigate and caution their patients on the haphazard use of phytotherapeutics such as Hypericum. Hypericum perforatum (St John’s wort) has been known for its therapeutic properties, such as anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and antidepressant, since the times of ancient Greece and interest in this plant has been documented throughout history [1]. Over the last two decades, St John’s wort has gained significant relevance in the field of psychiatry for the treatment of mild-to-moderate depression. St John’s wort has been investigated, providing evidence of its efficacy and tolerability profile [2,3,4,5,6,7], and it has been included within internationally acknowledged guidelines [8]. At the same time, it has been increasingly advertised and commercialized across Europe and the United States of America as an over-the-counter medication. However, its rising popularity could also mean an increased risk for people self-medicating for potentially severe psychopathological conditions, for which there is no evidence of efficacy and tolerability, without receiving any professional supervision. In fact, even though a recent meta-analysis has provided further evidence supporting the comparability of St John’s wort to standard selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), with regards to mild and moderate depression [7], to date, still too little is known about its safety, recommended dosage, and side effects in people at risk of psychiatric disorders. St John’s wort contains a combination of different components, which makes the interpretation of clinical trials rather complex [9]. However, among its active constituent fractions (for example, hypericin, hyperforin, and polyphenols) consensus has now been reached regarding the key role of the hyperforin component in antidepressant activity [7]. Furthermore, in many cases, the formulations available and advertised across countries as over-the-counter remedies for the treatment of mood disorder, anxiety, and jet lag syndrome, consist of a combination of Hypericum and other phytotherapeutics (for example, valerian) or melatonin. St John’s wort is a complex mixture containing a variety of constituents; some of these components are potent enzyme inducers and their pharmacokinetic interactions should be particularly cautioned with concomitant drug use [10, 11]. In particular, hypericin and hyperforin are reported to be respectively CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 inducers [7]. Thus, attention should be paid when Hypericum is administered in combination with other medications in general [12, 13] and more specifically with drugs such as antiretrovirals [14], cyclosporine [15], anticoagulants [16], hormonal contraceptives [17], and other psychotropic agents such as antidepressants [15] and antipsychotics [18]. The number of neurotransmitter systems potentially involved in the mechanism of action of Hypericum is remarkable, encompassing not only monoamines (serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine), for which the antidepressant effect is hypothesized, but also glutamate and ion channels [19, 20]. To the best of our knowledge, to date, the evidence available regarding the risk posed by Hypericum in terms of psychiatric adverse effects, with reference to its potential to precipitate psychosis, is limited [21]; the evidence is confined essentially to some case reports describing the onset of manic symptoms [22,23,24,25], two cases of psychotic relapse [26], and a case report regarding the onset of a first episode of psychosis in a 39-year-old Japanese woman who self-medicated with a high dosage of Hypericum during a spell of mild depressed mood [27]. The case discussed refers to a 25-year-old white man, previously unknown to the psychiatric service, seen at Accident and Emergency (A&E) by the psychiatrist on call and immediately admitted to our acute psychiatric unit due to his florid psychotic symptoms. He was accompanied by two friends who described him as having been “off and strange” over the last few days, reporting that it looked like he was under the effect of some sort of illicit drug. His clinical picture was characterized by disorganized speech, paranoid thinking, and delusions of influence, such as thought control and beliefs that his mind was being read. He also presented with pervasive somatoform preoccupations regarding his internal organs “being displaced” and a form of Capgras delusion towards his parents. He denied experiencing auditory hallucinations. On the ward he remained very quiet, although no objective mood disturbances were detected. Nevertheless, he complained of weakness and to be struggling with a “period of distress”; he could not elaborate further. He did not present anxiety or sleep disturbances. His blood test results were within the normal range and he did not show any neurological abnormalities. The result of his toxicological blood screening was negative. He was initially administered risperidone (9 mg daily), subsequently switched to paliperidone (6 mg daily) due to the onset of extrapyramidal symptoms and a better tolerability profile. His condition settled fairly quickly and, due to a substantial improvement in his clinical picture, after 15 days of hospital stay he was discharged with a diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder. Due to poor insight and his reluctance to continue taking the medication, he was started on the long-acting antipsychotic, Xeplion (paliperidone palmitate), 100 mg injection monthly. Over the following 3 months he attended follow-up visits at the local community mental health service. His clinical picture remained stable and his insight, energy, and global functioning gradually improved. However, during the follow-up visits he gave an account of a previous psychotic episode, 9 months before the index episode, concomitant with cannabis abuse. He reported having seen a specialist and being offered olanzapine 2.5 mg daily, which he declined along with the follow-up visits. He claimed that since then he had stopped taking illicit drugs. Subsequently, he reported an improvement in his mental state. However, 3 months prior to the admission to our psychiatric ward, he started experiencing weakness, exhaustion, and severe stomach discomfort. He reduced his food intake, losing up to 8 kg, and started feeling so weary he decided to resign from his job. He resolved to see his general practitioner, who arranged to carry out some investigations. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) showed the presence of multiple stomach erosions and Helicobacter pylori infection which could explain his stomach pain and physical problems. Nevertheless, he turned down the treatment offered by his general practitioner, due to his personal inclination against pharmaceutical drugs, and started to self-medicate with Hypericum. The formulation taken was herbal aqueous infusion (sachets of the herb brewed in water), which has been reported as a rich source of Hypericum components (that is, hypericins and flavonoids), comparable with tablets and capsules; he took doses recommended for mild/moderate depressive episodes [28]. He recounted a dose of 4 g of herbal mono-preparation per infusion, and quantified his average intake as four cups daily. He admitted to have continued taking Hypericum nonstop until he was admitted to our acute psychiatric unit and it was during that time that he could recall the exacerbation of psychotic symptoms. Later, he also informed the clinicians that his father had experienced psychotic depression, of which he was not aware at the time of admission. The lack of detailed information on the composition of the St John’s wort tea mono-preparation taken by our patient and suspected to have caused the described event should be acknowledged as a limitation. Moreover, it is not possible to establish a definitive causal link regarding the onset of a psychotic episode precipitated by self-administration of Hypericum. However, we can hypothesize that in this young and vulnerable individual, with a known genetic predisposition and a previous drug-induced psychotic episode, the unsupervised self-administration of Hypericum could have played a determinant role in the onset of the psychopathological conditions leading to his urgent hospital admission. In addition, this case suggests that treatment with antipsychotics may be effective for Hypericum-associated psychosis. To date, the evidence available regarding the safety profile of Hypericum in people with risk factors for psychosis is still insufficient and more systematic research is necessary; clinicians and health professionals in general should consider the risk of Hypericum precipitating psychosis. Moreover, since patients generally do not volunteer information about usage of alternative medicines, it is particularly important that physicians actively elicit herbal remedy use in their history taking, particularly in cases of sudden-onset of psychosis. Finally, cautioning patients on the haphazard use of herbal remedies, such as Hypericum, should be part of best practice in health care. A&E: SSRI: Standard selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor Istikoglou CI, Mavreas V, Geroulanos G. History and therapeutic properties of Hypericum perforatum from antiquity until today. Psychiatriki. 2010;21(4):332–8. Linde K, Knuppel L. Large-scale observational studies of hypericum extracts in patients with depressive disorders – a systematic review. Phytomedicine. 2005;12(1–2):148–57. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2004.02.004. Linde K. St. John’s wort for depression – development of a Cochrane review from 1993 to 1996. Z Evid Fortbild Qual Gesundhwes. 2008;102(8):487–92. Apaydin EA, Maher AR, Shanman R, Booth MS, Miles JN, Sorbero ME, et al. A systematic review of St. John’s wort for major depressive disorder. Syst Rev. 2016;5(1):148. doi:10.1186/s13643-016-0325-2. Sarris J, Panossian A, Schweitzer I, Stough C, Scholey A. Herbal medicine for depression, anxiety and insomnia: a review of psychopharmacology and clinical evidence. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2011;21(12):841–60. doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2011.04.002. Kasper S, Gastpar M, Moller HJ, Muller WE, Volz HP, Dienel A, et al. Better tolerability of St. John’s wort extract WS 5570 compared to treatment with SSRIs: a reanalysis of data from controlled clinical trials in acute major depression. Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 2010;25(4):204–13. Ng QX, Venkatanarayanan N, Ho CY. Clinical use of Hypericum perforatum (St John’s wort) in depression: A meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2017;210:211–21. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.12.048. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Depression in Adults with a Chronic Physical Health Problem: Treatment and Management. Leicester: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence: Guidance; 2010. Taylor D, et al. The Maudsley prescribing guidelines in psychiatry. 11th ed. Hoboken, USA: Wiley-Blackwell; 2012. Ernst E. The risk-benefit profile of commonly used herbal therapies: Ginkgo, St. John’s Wort, Ginseng, Echinacea, Saw Palmetto, and Kava. Ann Intern Med. 2002;136(1):42–53. Markowitz JS, Donovan JL, DeVane CL, Taylor RM, Ruan Y, Wang JS, et al. Effect of St John’s wort on drug metabolism by induction of cytochrome P450 3A4 enzyme. JAMA. 2003;290(11):1500–4. doi:10.1001/jama.290.11.1500. Izzo AA. Drug interactions with St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum): a review of the clinical evidence. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2004;42(3):139–48. Whitten DL, Myers SP, Hawrelak JA, Wohlmuth H. The effect of St John’s wort extracts on CYP3A: a systematic review of prospective clinical trials. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2006;62(5):512–26. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2125.2006.02755.x. Piscitelli SC, Burstein AH, Chaitt D, Alfaro RM, Falloon J. Indinavir concentrations and St John’s wort. Lancet. 2000;355(9203):547–8. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(99)05712-8. Borrelli F, Izzo AA. Herb-drug interactions with St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum): an update on clinical observations. AAPS J. 2009;11(4):710–27. doi:10.1208/s12248-009-9146-8. Uygur Bayramicli O, Kalkay MN, Oskay Bozkaya E, Dogan Kose E, Iyigun O, Goruk M, et al. St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) and warfarin: Dangerous liaisons! Turk J Gastroenterol. 2011;22(1):115. Berry-Bibee EN, Kim MJ, Tepper NK, Riley HE, Curtis KM. Co-administration of St. John’s wort and hormonal contraceptives: a systematic review. Contraception. 2016;94(6):668–77. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2016.07.010. Van Strater AC, Bogers JP. Interaction of St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) with clozapine. Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 2012;27(2):121–4. doi:10.1097/YIC.0b013e32834e8afd. Russo E, Scicchitano F, Whalley BJ, Mazzitello C, Ciriaco M, Esposito S, et al. Hypericum perforatum: pharmacokinetic, mechanism of action, tolerability, and clinical drug-drug interactions. Phytother Res. 2014;28(5):643–55. doi:10.1002/ptr.5050. Schmidt M, Butterweck V. The mechanisms of action of St. John’s wort: an update. Wien Med Wochenschr. 2015;165(11–12):229–35. doi:10.1007/s10354-015-0372-7. Stevinson C, Ernst E. Can St. John’s wort trigger psychoses? Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2004;42(9):473–80. Fahmi M, Huang C, Schweitzer I. A case of mania induced by hypericum. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2002;3(1):58–9. Guzelcan Y, Scholte WF, Assies J, Becker HE. Mania during the use of a combination preparation with St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum). Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2001;145(40):1943–5. O’Breasail AM, Argouarch S. Hypomania and St John’s wort. Can J Psychiatry. 1998;43(7):746–7. Schneck C. St. John’s wort and hypomania. J Clin Psychiatry. 1998;59(12):689. Lal S, Iskandar H. St. John’s wort and schizophrenia. CMAJ. 2000;163(3):262–3. Shimizu K, Nakamura M, Isse K, Nathan PJ. First-episode psychosis after taking an extract of Hypericum perforatum (St John’s Wort). Hum Psychopharmacol. 2004;19(4):275–6. doi:10.1002/hup.582. Sakowska J, Anyzewska M, Lozak A, Kowalczuk A, Jablczynska R. Testing Pharmaceutical Release of Active Substances from Medicinal Products Containing St. John’s Wort. Acta Pol Pharm. 2016;73(2):395–401. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study. Conceptualization: MF, FM. Methodology: MF, FM. Supervision: MF, FM, FS. Writing (original draft preparation): MF, FM. Writing (review and editing): FS. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Approval was waived by the Modena Ethics Committee. Dipartimento di Salute Mentale e Dipendenze Patologiche, Modena, Italy Maria Ferrara, Francesco Mungai & Fabrizio Starace Department of Mental Health & Drug Abuse, AUSL Modena, Viale Muratori 201, 41124, Modena, Italy Francesco Mungai Maria Ferrara Fabrizio Starace Correspondence to Francesco Mungai. Ferrara, M., Mungai, F. & Starace, F. St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum)-induced psychosis: a case report. J Med Case Reports 11, 137 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13256-017-1302-7 Complementary and alternative medicines	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2131
__label__cc	0.680866	0.319134	Job seekers: Sign in or Assistant Professor in Comparative Modernisms, Tenure-Track Professor, Assistant 4-year college or university Open date: November 15th, 2021 Next review date: Monday, Dec 6, 2021 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Final date: Tuesday, Nov 15, 2022 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) The University of California, San Diego, Department of Literature invites applicants for a tenure-track position in Comparative Modernisms. We seek a candidate that studies modernist aesthetics and cultural production across multiple languages, geographic and historical positionalities, and/or media and genres. Candidates should have a substantive understanding in the field of modernism with a comparative and transnational approach that is critical and innovative. In particular, we invite scholarship that offers new perspectives and critical purchase on more traditional assumptions, approaches, and methods. This could include work that engages with global south modernisms, cultural production in non-English languages, or that centers the relationship between politics and modernist aesthetics, for example through a consideration of colonialism, race, and/or sexuality. Along these lines, we welcome work that is interdisciplinary and in conversation with fields including, but not limited to: Black Studies, Disability Studies, Critical Gender and Sexuality Studies, ecocriticism, or new media. Ideal candidates should demonstrate the potential to build an excellent record of research, teaching, and service, as well as demonstrable interest in working within a world literature department with a focus on critical theory, social justice, and cultural, ethnic, and gender studies where faculty members work in multiple languages, geographies, and historical periods. We welcome candidates with the potential to demonstrate excellence in college-level teaching. Candidates will be expected to teach a range of graduate and undergraduate courses in literature, and cultural studies. In addition to specialized seminars, the successful candidate should also be prepared to teach large enrollment survey courses in contemporary U.S. literatures, including ethnic and African-American literatures. Salary and level of appointment are based on qualifications and UC pay scale. Proof of authorization to work in the U. S. will be required prior to employment (Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1985). Review Date: Dec 6, 2021 Applicants are asked to submit applications using UC San Diego's online Recruit web page: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF02981. Qualifications Basic qualifications (required at time of application) PhD degree in literature, cultural studies, or a related field by the start of the appointment Additional qualifications (required at time of start) Demonstrate the potential to build an excellent record of research, teaching, and service, as well as demonstrable interest in working within a world literature department with a focus on critical theory, social justice, and cultural, ethnic, and gender studies where faculty members work in multiple languages, geographies, and historical periods Potential to demonstrate excellence in college-level teaching Application Requirements Document requirements Cover Letter - Include job ad code “174” and the acronym showing where you found the ad at the top of your cover letter with personal statement Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V. 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Misc / Additional (Optional) 3 letters of reference required Please add contact names and requested information (click on the prompt to contact references, which generates an email to these references). Request your dossier services to upload reference letters to your online application web page. Apply link: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF02981 Help contact: litadm@ucsd.edu The University of California, San Diego is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, covered veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy. As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Vaccination Program Policy. All Covered Individuals under the policy must provide proof of Full Vaccination or, if applicable, submit a request for Exception (based on Medical Exemption, Disability, and/or Religious Objection) or Deferral (based on pregnancy) no later than the applicable deadline. For new University of California employees, the applicable deadline is eight weeks after their first date of employment. The University of California prohibits smoking and tobacco use at all University controlled properties. The UC San Diego Annual Security & Fire Safety Report is available online at: https://www.police.ucsd.edu/docs/annualclery.pdf. This report provides crime and fire statistics, as well as institutional policy statement & procedures. Contact the UC San Diego Police Department at (858) 534-4361 if you want to obtain paper copies of this report. Job location La Jolla, CA To apply, please visit: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF02981 Posted by the FREE value-added recruitment advertising agency jeid-1c16e7b467eb4a429e48f41735af00b7 Similar searches: Full-time, 4-year college or university, English, Cultural studies, California, Professor, Assistant Assistant Professor of Central American Literatur… More from the MLA Join the MLA MLA Career Resources Humanities Commons www.mla.org joblist@mla.org Join the MLA Mailing List © 2019 - 2022 Modern Language Association Powered by Madgex	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2132
__label__cc	0.708568	0.291432	Is Elon Musk wrong about LiDAR in self-driving cars? This autonomous driving exec says yes … news, TechFirst with John Koetsier Do self-driving cars need LiDAR? Elon Musk says no, but most other experts say yes. And we’re going to talk to one of them today In a recent episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, Omer Keilaf, founder and CEO, Innoviz, who supplies lidar for BMW and other manufacturers, says LiDAR is essential, because water or mud or dust can disrupt visual sensors. And, of course, all this is happening in an era when LiDAR is getting so cheap we can have it in our phones. Right now it’s at $1000 for automotive uses; that’s coming down to $100 or even less. Scroll down to subscribe to the podcast, get the full video, and read the transcript … And … here’s the story on Forbes … TechFirst: is Elon Musk wrong about LiDAR? Other podcasting platforms Watch: do we need LiDAR in self-driving cars? (Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you’ll get notified when I go live with future guests, or see the videos later.) Read: LIDAR, self-driving cars, and BMW supplier Innoviz (This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.) John Koetsier: Do self-driving cars need LIDAR? Elon Musk says, no way. Most other experts say, probably. We’re going to talk to one of them today. His name is Omer Keilaf, and he’s the founder and CEO of Innoviz, who supplies LIDAR and other technology for BMW and many other manufacturers. In an era, of course, when LIDAR is getting so cheap, we can have it in our phones. Welcome, Omer! Omer Keilaf: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. John Koetsier: Good to have you here. I’m looking forward to this conversation. Let’s start right here: Do we need LIDAR to make self-driving cars safe? If so, why? Omer Keilaf: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, an autonomous car is driven by a computer and you can’t allow it to have a single point of failure, right? So, you know, a drop of water can blur a camera and then the computer can not understand the scene. Today, you have a passenger which is holding a wheel and taking over if something wrong happens. But if you want to really fully disengage, you need to add another sensor that is not degraded in the same way that cameras are, that can actually provide redundancy. Today, the only sensor that can provide it is a LIDAR. So if you want to get to autonomous driving, you have to use a LIDAR. John Koetsier: Big elephant in the room … Elon Musk and Tesla have been … hardcore, let’s put it that way, that LIDAR is unnecessary. It’s almost a religious position it seems in some way, shape, or form. Why? Omer Keilaf: Yeah. I mean, five years ago, when he had to make a decision on a car that he brings to the market, there was no LIDAR that was available at the right price point and performance and maturity. So he made a good decision. I think the reality has changed. I think that the people realize that LIDARs are able to reach the relevant price point and performance. And basically, I believe eventually he would make the right decision if he wants to go for Level 3. John Koetsier: So we’ll get into some of the costs and cost curves and where it’s going, where it’s trended in a little bit. Talk to us a little bit about how much better LIDAR is. You mentioned already that it doesn’t get blinded by a drop of water or some mud on the sensor or something like that that might come up from the road. How much better is LIDAR — what’s the resolution, the range, those sorts of things — than visual? Omer Keilaf: Yeah. So, range and resolution are calculated by the speed of the car that you want to drive autonomously. The faster the car— John Koetsier: Very fast. Very, very fast. [laughing] Omer Keilaf: Yeah. So, for example, when a car drives at 130 kilometers an hour, it has a certain time it needs to slow down, right? So you can actually calculate the range which you need to see. So about 200 meters is kind of the figure of merit in that. And you need to have very high resolution, because you want to be able to see an object which is at least one-third of the tire, because that’s an object that can actually make a car turn over. So the resolution is quite high, it’s 0.1 or even higher than that. And you need to have first a high frame rate in order to react faster and wide field of view in order to capture different driving scenarios such as incline or decline or turns, etc. And, you know, cameras can achieve quite well in seeing objects, as long as they see. And when they don’t, there is no other sensor that can reach that. Even the most advanced radars that are in discussion today are far below the needed resolution. So, it’s only LIDARs. John Koetsier: Okay. Now, you’re working with BMW, you’re installing them, your LIDARs, in their cars. What are they using it for? And how’s that project going? Omer Keilaf: Yeah, sure. So this is our product. As you can see, it’s very, very small. This is InnovizOne, it’s a solid state LIDAR. It’s mounted in the car grill in order to provide that redundancy information, also including object detection and classification. So we’re not only providing the raw 3D information, we also provide insights — meaning that we translate the road data into cars, pedestrians, motorcycles — and that gives a redundancy to the overall system. The project is quite interesting. Being part of such a program is a big honor for us. Now BMW is one of the most, I would say, advanced car makers in regards to the technology … and we’re very proud to be picked for that. The Innoviz One LiDAR John Koetsier: So let’s talk about those cost curves that you mentioned earlier. I remember when LIDAR sensors were thousands of dollars — I even want to say tens of thousands of dollars — and now, of course, you’re getting them in smartphones; you’re getting them in smaller devices. Talk to me about the evolution there and where the cost curves have come, and where they’re going. Omer Keilaf: Yeah. I mean, traditionally whenever a new technology is introduced to the market, those are mostly adopted by the premium cars, because they have sufficient volume but can absorb a certain cost. So today, for a premium car, a LIDAR is about $1,000, and I think it still meets the market demand. But if you want to go into a lower grade, the LIDAR needs to be much cheaper, right? So we all know that at the really high adoption of LIDARs, it will need to be at $100 or even less. I think that in the next five or seven years, probably the trend would go through $500 and then $300. And this is where we are targeting our next generation: InnovizTwo. I’ll give you an interesting insight. You know, five years ago, there was a big discussion whether you use stereo cameras or mono cameras, right? And Mobileye has proven [to] the world that even saving tens of dollars — right, the difference between two cameras and one, is only $10 or $20 — can be compensated by a very strong IP. I think that the push for lower cost LIDARs would be very, very harsh. I think that using our kind of technology is the right way to get there. John Koetsier: So what are you using? Are you using multiple cameras or one? Omer Keilaf: We’re using one. [crosstalk & laughing] And in that benchmark, we’re using one. I mean, there is a dispute in the LIDAR space between using 1550 nanometer and 905 nanometer. We are on the 905 camp, because that’s allowing us to use very low cost components, and we’re able to solve performance limitations of 905 by very strong IP that we developed. John Koetsier: Okay. So we’re talking self-driving cars, obviously. You’re talking BMW, one of your customers. Those are one application of using LIDAR; one application of autonomy, frankly, for machines or even cars, other types of transportation. How else, and where else do you see it being used? Omer Keilaf: Hmm, many — so, you know, there are different application verticals you would say, for LIDARs. One of them is shuttles. So those are urban creatures that like to travel in a predetermined route. And there is a lack of drivers also in trucks, so they need — the use of LIDARs can actually quite be beneficial in order to improve transportation as a whole. So trucks, shuttles … of course also there are other industrial applications that would like to automate. I mean, anything you’d like to automate would like to have 3D sensing, because it gives you a very good understanding of the scene, and would be able to be enabled by a LIDAR. I think a LIDAR has a very strong benefit which gives you a very good understanding of the scene for very different types of objects. A camera is mostly relying on the fact that you are able to train the system to identify what it is in order to interact with it. A LIDAR is actually a physical sensor. You send a pulse of light and you measure a reflection, a light reflection from an object. So you basically can see it. So you know where it is. You know what’s the size of it, even if you don’t exactly know what it is. I will talk about the example of a person pushing a piano into the road … that might happen, right? I mean, if you didn’t train your camera to understand what is that object now pushed to the road, not sure how would you react to it. And with a LIDAR, you basically see where it is; you see how large it is; how far you are with it; and you know how to walk around it. So it’s not only about making it safer, it’s actually also providing lots of insights that are missing from the camera, and the processing power that you need to add in order to understand the scene is going to be much lower. John Koetsier: So Apple is rumored to be entering the self-driving car market, perhaps 2024, and they’re talking about using LIDAR as well, from what we hear. How do you see rumors of that impacting your industry — the car industry — and if that turns out to be true, what do you think the impact will be? Omer David Keilaf, CEO and Co-Founder at Innoviz Technologies Omer Keilaf: I think it’s quite good, obviously. It’s quite clear why Apple has an interest to go in that direction. Tesla has showed the world that being a very technology company allows them to be the most valuated company in the world. I mean, and it’s not because they’re selling more cars than others. I think it’s because of the fact that people believe that eventually they will gain more and more market share because of their technology lead. Apple is a very strong technology player, and most likely would be a very strong player in the market if they decide to participate. And I think it’s a smart move. I think it helps also for us, as a supplier in the automotive space that pushes technology, to get more interest from car companies that want to be in the game, want to be more technology-oriented, and get faster to technology. John Koetsier: It’s going to be so interesting. Obviously there’s talk about partnering. There was talk about some Japanese partners as well, that seemed to fall through. And I’m not going to ask you to speculate on that. Obviously you’ve got partnerships and interests in the industry as well, but Apple has a big war chest and it can make a lot of things happen whether it goes on its own, whether it partners, whether it actually purchases a full-on existing automotive manufacturer right now as well. In terms of LIDAR, and in terms of devices that a vehicle has to sense its environment, how many should a vehicle have? Omer Keilaf: So it depends on the application. For Level 2+ or Level 3, which is an autonomous car but mostly on highway, or traffic jams, it’s basically one sensor: one front-looking sensor. Obviously with sufficient field of view, okay, but it’s front-looking. Once you go into an urban scenario, like a shuttle or a robo taxi, you need to have 360°, meaning that you need several LIDARS around the car. I think that in shuttles you might need even more, because — and I think that using a LIDAR such as ours has a quite interesting value, because shuttles are usually very long vehicles and very tall, so if you add a spinner to the roof, it will most likely meet like the roof from the top and will have a very huge blind spot around the vehicle. John Koetsier: Yes. Omer Keilaf: So that’s not very helpful. So anyway you need multiple sensors, even if they’re 360°. And that’s not very efficient and it’s quite expensive. So having a LIDAR like ours, which is very small and you can embed the surrounding on the vehicle and you can place them lower, gives you the benefit of using a lower cost automotive grade and short range, and long range. So, I think that that’s a very interesting market for us. John Koetsier: Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting. So TechFirst is about tech that’s changing the world and innovators who are shaping the future. Where do you think the future of machines and perception is? How do you see that evolving over the next 5-10 years? Omer Keilaf: I believe it’s going to be growing very fast. I think that once the — we all see that there are two trends that are supporting that kind of application. One is the processing power, and the second is the sensors. And, you know, I’m also amazed by the pace that we are able to achieve. You know, with InnovizTwo, which will be released later in the year, it’s going to be a product that is going to be mind blowing. And it’s quite amazing to see how technology can run so fast. And, to your point earlier about Elon Musk, which is very religious about LIDARs, you know, I always say that I don’t really understand why people would be religious on technology. They tend to change so fast. I think that they change faster than we can realize. And obviously while we’re talking about also quantum computing, it’s really going to be quite amazing. You know, it’s funny — I don’t know if you know, but in automotive there is a lot of work on cybersecurity. John Koetsier: Mm-hmm. Omer Keilaf: And one of the things that we need to meet with is with the chance that in the next 15 years, quantum computers would be available to attack, you know, cyber security. So you need to prove that your cyber security today is going to be strong enough for the next 15 years. Think about that as a challenge. John Koetsier: It’s a real challenge. And of course you can update over the air, but the hardware is not so easy to update. And we see that coming very soon, right? I mean, Teslas are already in an unreleased version talking to each other, telling each other what’s up ahead on the road, prepping to go and caravan together, right? So they break the wind and you are 20% more efficient — battery efficient, I should say, rather than fuel efficient — traveling. So it’s super interesting. So you’re releasing version two later this year. Where do you see your technology in … let’s say a decade? Is it too small to see? Is it tiny? Is it invisible in the car? Perhaps ubiquitous? Ten little pods around the car that you don’t even notice? Omer Keilaf: Yeah, it’s a good question. I think that, you know, it’s clear that there are two ways to solve it. One is that you need to have a sensor which is cheap enough that you can embed in any car and actually multiple of those. And then there’s the infrastructure. So I don’t know which one of them would come faster. I assume that the earlier one, because even when the infrastructure is going to be available, it will have its own limitations. I believe that LIDARs would be very much smaller and much cheaper, like sub $100 and even lower than that, and I have no doubt it will get there. John Koetsier: Excellent. Thank you so much for your time. Omer Keilaf: Yeah, sure. It was a pleasure. Thank you for inviting me. Read all that? Just subscribe already … Made it all the way down here? Who are you?!? 🙂 The TechFirst with John Koetsier podcast is about tech that is changing the world, and innovators who are shaping the future. Guests include former Apple CEO John Scully. The head of Facebook gaming. Amazon’s head of robotics. GitHub’s CTO. Twitter’s chief information security officer (yeah, that’s this one!). Scientists inventing smart contact lenses. Startup entrepreneurs. Google executives. Former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold. And much, much more. Subscribe on your podcast platform of choice: Previous postRobot spas are coming: Here’s the LUUM lash extension robot in action Next postQuantum computing: Here’s the world’s first non-photonic quantum key distribution	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2133
__label__cc	0.678546	0.321454	Three Components of Cultivating Culture December 1, 2021 The John Maxwell Leadership Podcast 1 Comment What’s the most valuable asset to your organization? It’s the people, hands down. People are the driving force behind your organization’s success, which is why it’s so important to have a healthy culture. Culture is all about the people. In this lesson, John teaches that the culture is made up of the people and of the messages they receive from their leader. Today, John is going to talk about the three ways that those messages are received from the leader to the employee so that you can better understand, as a leader, how to cultivate a culture that will make both the business and the people thrive. During the application portion of the episode, Mark Cole and Traci Morrow join forces to dive into John’s lesson and discuss the cultures they are building within their own families and within the John Maxwell Enterprise. If you want to cultivate a healthy, thriving culture within your business, you definitely don’t want to miss this episode. Our BONUS resource for this episode is the “Three Components of Cultivating Culture Worksheet,” which includes fill-in-the-blank notes from John’s teaching. You can download the worksheet by clicking “Download the Bonus Resource” below. Watch this episode on YouTube! How I Learned to Connect with People People Do What People See Share how the podcast has impacted you! Change Your World Mark Cole: Welcome to the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast. My name is Mark Cole and I am excited today to not only have an incredible lesson by John Maxwell, but to be joined by my co-leader, my friend, my partner, Traci Morrow, and she and I, after we listened to John together, are going to come back and discuss this lesson, both in our personal application, as well as how we apply around the John Maxwell's organization. So get ready because today John is going to be teaching on culture. In fact, John will be teaching you. He makes a statement in today's lesson, he says, "The most powerful factor in an organization's success is its culture," and he'll share with you three ways that culture is driven in and through an organization. I'm very excited for you to take this in. Now, if you're joining us visually that's because you found us at maxwellpodcast.com/YouTube. Welcome. We're glad you're here. We're glad we are visually connecting. Some of you have already began sharing your impact story from the podcast and from the Maxwell brand by going to maxwellpodcast.com/MyImpactStory. But for those of you listening today, and you're just tuned in, you're honed in for a lesson on culture, I want you to go to maxwellpodcast.com/culture, click on the bonus resource button, and there you will get some fill in the blank worksheet that will help you follow along as John teaches. So now that you have your pen, your paper, your fill in the blank worksheet, let's hear from John Maxwell. John Maxwell: Today I want to talk to you on the subject, culture, the most powerful factor in an organization. More important than anything else is the culture in an organization. And culture is a way of life cultivated over time through three things. Culture is cultivated by, number one, behavior. Number two, symbols, and number three, systems. And these three things, behavior, symbols, systems, are outward displays of what is valued, and that is what culture is. Culture is created as a result of the messages employees receive about how to behave around here. As human beings, we are hardwired to adjust and fit into the communities of which we are members. This is essential if we are to become accepted socially and in the case of an employer, if we are to keep our job. Employees pick up these messages about expected behavior and adjust their own accordingly, and those who cannot or will not adjust, tend to leave on their own free will or be ejected. These messages tell us what is valued in this organization, and they're received from different sources, again, behavior, symbols and systems. For example, behavior, the behavior that is played out through others, especially those that are in positions of authority. The behavior is what is done rather than what is said. It can be in small groups, one-on-one, or it could be in large groups, but it is the behavior that is being fleshed out. When I pastored in San Diego, what we had was a church that was growing very fast and we were landlocked on a few acres and building and we had to go through a major relocation, that's another story. But here we are in this landlocked area, and we're having to be creative and we had literally four services on Sunday morning trying to handle crowds. And so what I needed is I needed a lot of people to park off property because we didn't have enough parking space. And so literally there was a place across the street and down the road and about a block away that you could park cars. And so I had to create a culture, a behavior system that people could understand and buy in and so when I told the leaders that they couldn't park on the property, when... In fact when people joined the church, I said, "The good news is you become a member, the bad news is you can't park on the property." Now see most congregations, the members it's the country club for them, they get to park in the closest places. No, we parked in the farthest places. What I did is I would get there first in the morning, because I'm getting ready for the day, four services, you got to get mentally, spiritually ready. So I'd go maybe at six o'clock in the morning and I would park a block away and I would walk to the church. Now, could I have parked right by the front door? Of course, I could have parked by the front door, but I realized I couldn't get my leaders to park away if I didn't park away. Are you seeing this? This is behavior. This is fleshing out by example what you want your other people to do. And you set your culture, not by what you say, you set your culture by what you do. Remember this, the greatest motivational principle in the world is people do what people see. So behavior is part of it. Now symbols are also. Symbols such as how time is spent, how money is allocated, office space, who gets the best offices, titles, who gets promoted, favored, how communication works. What is symbolic about your business that creates the culture of it? For example, and again, I could take any of these and talk about them and illustrate it. Office space, office space I've always felt is overrated. Let me tell you a cute story. When I started my company in San Diego, enjoy out of... I wanted to develop a company to resource leaders, of course we had very little money. We were just small. Half of us were volunteers in the beginning. And so we were... Like a strip mall and we had a section there to have our offices and we were growing extremely fast. So, we had a handful of employees and pretty soon we got 50, 75, a hundred, this thing just... it's just exploding. Well, we can't keep up. We don't have space. And I told them, I said, "Well, give up my office. Let somebody else have my office." And so I gave my office away kind of unnerved a lot of people because they thought, "Well, John, you need an office. You're the owner of the company." No, I don't need an office. I can hang, I'll go from room to room. I can go to people's offices and talk to them. And so it was no problem. The number one leadership magazine in the country, it's called Leadership Magazine. And they wanted to come out and they wanted to interview me and wanted to do a feature article on my leadership stuff. So I said, "Fine, come on out to San Diego where I am." And so immediately my crew began to worry, because again, they were going to come out and interview me. They're bringing photographers. They were doing all this stuff. They were bringing in the whole van with all the... because it was the front cover deal and the whole deal. And they said, "But John, you don't have an office." I said, "I don't need an office. It's okay. I can do an interview without an office." And about two weeks before they came, in the back hallway was a storage closet. And one day I just got the idea. I thought, "You know what? Think I'll just clear the storage closet out." So I hadn't cleared the storage closet out and I put a card table in it, because there wasn't any room, it's only about eight feet by 10 feet. You got the picture? It was a glorified telephone booth. So I got a card table and I got a folding chair on one side and put a folding chair on the other side. And I got a picture of my family and stuck it on the wall. And this is so funny. So, they came out for the interview. And so I go out into the little front area where they were and they said, "Good to have you. Come on back to my office." And so I'm leading through all these other places and some nice offices, we just keep going back and we get to the end of the hallway, we go into the closet and I said, "I'm sorry," because they had seven people, they had two cameramen, they had... And I said, "You know what? We'll have to do this in shifts. You know what I'm saying? So whoever's going to interview, you can come in and I'll sit in this chair and you sit on that chair and the rest of you can take turns and just rotate. You know what I mean? Just have at it, it's all yours." So the guy is just down to do the interview and another guy standing behind him and they're just looking around, they're... And I'm just inside horribly, dysfunctionally happy. You're getting to know me well, aren't you huh? I'm just saying, I am messing with you like you haven't been messed with for a long time. And I know they're getting ready for this interview and they get the recorders, they're doing video, it's a feature article front cover stuff. And so they started asking questions and I'm just answering the question because I know it's only a matter of time. And can I tell you something? I ain't going until they're asking and we're about in the third or fourth question, final guy said... he just puts his things and said, "Is this really your office?" And I said, "Oh yeah, I'm so excited." I said, "I just got it." I said, "I'm just thrilled. I just got it because I didn't have one a couple weeks ago. And the team felt I should have one since I own the company, and I didn't know if I really needed it, so we cleaned out the closet and I'm sorry, we got the folding tear but the folding table does good. It works fine." And the guy says, "I've done a lot of interviews with leaders and I've never seen an office like this." I said, "Well, I know." And I said, "Again, you want to take some picture or something? You can... My family's right there on that concrete block wall right there if you want to focus in there." And then I proceeded to tell him and things of importance, offices don't matter. They really don't. Now again, I'm not opposed to a good office. I'm just telling you, it's a cultural thing. And what I was telling my people is this, if you're in a cubicle, it's okay to be in a cubicle. It's all right. What we're doing is trying to help people. But I wanted to set a precedence as far as a culture. It's a symbol. People aren't impressed you with you because you've got a great office. They're aren't impressed to you because you've gone a certain degree. They're not impressed with you because you got a certain... They're impressed with you when you add value to them, and when you care about them and when they can trust you. Symbols, behavior, systems. The systems are part of the culture. What gets measured, what gets reported on, how we pay people, budgeting, structure, all of this stuff, all of this stuff. The organization itself has an invisible quality, a certain style, a character, a way of doing things that may be more powerful than the dictates of any one person or formerly documented system. To understand the essence or soul of the organization, it requires that we travel below the charts, rule books, machines, and buildings into the underground world of the corporate cultures. Organizational culture includes tangibles and intangibles. The things we see are the way people dress and behave and look, and the corporate offices, the messages of posters on the walls. Here we go. Here we go. Important statement. The intangibles may be harder to grasp, but they give a better read on the organization's true personality, the organization values, stated and unstated beliefs, assumptions. What and how success is celebrated, how problems are addressed, the manifestations of trust and respect at all levels of the organization. These are the intangible elements of culture. Every group in society, family, town, state, nation, company, church, civic group, team, or any other gathering of people has a culture and sometimes clearly identified, but often camouflaged. Mark Cole: Hey, welcome back. And I am today... Traci, I am so glad to be in studio via Zoom with you today, and really to start talking about this idea of culture. And I love what John teaches here, as it relates to how to construct and build great culture, but isn't it true? What Ralph Waldo Emerson said. He said, "What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." And I think that's what John is saying here. And I'm excited to discuss this with you today. Traci Morrow: Exactly. That's exactly what he's saying. I'm excited to be here too. I feel like this is one of my favorite lessons that John has given, only because no matter what your position and where you are in life, you can contribute to the culture. We're responsible for ourselves and what we bring to the culture. And I always... He broke it down into three pieces, but before we dive in to the business aspect of it, I like to look at what we can do in our family culture, because this is where I first applied John's stuff is raising our six kids and creating a family culture within our home. And so we used to always say, action speak louder than words, same thing. But then when your words and your actions, your behaviors are in alignment, it is all the more powerful. And so for many of you, you might be brand new to the leadership world, and the first place to practice is at home with creating a culture in our family. And we used to... Mark I know you and I have talked about this before but Casey and I, my husband Casey and I, always wanted to have the culture within our home to be stronger than the culture outside of our home. And in order to do that, this is great breakdown of... People might be saying, "That sounds great, except for how do I do that?" John breaks it down for us, which I think is... Did you use these Mark for your family? Was this something that you and Stephanie would talk about and intentionally create culture in your home? Mark Cole: We have, and we do. It's funny because I'm always looking for tools for resources to keep it fresh. Our family is very on the go. Very interactive. I got that from my parents. Stephanie got that from her home culture, always being on the go, always moving. And so that is absolutely transcended right into what Stephanie and I, the type of culture we have here. So one of the things that means is we're always looking to up level. We have some very hard and fast foundational systems within the culture of our family, but we're always looking for new things. And so, even as you were talking, I'm sitting here, joting down and thinking, "Okay, man, I could do this." We need to go see what are the behaviors that are acceptable? What are the symbols? What are the systems that we have? And so, even as you're talking about it, I'm going, yes, we have some real foundational principles to the culture of our family, just like we do at the office, but have we really sat down and said, "Here's the behaviors. Here's the symbols. Here's the systems." And in some ways we have, but I think we can up level it. Traci Morrow: Yeah. I think we all could. And there's times where I'm stronger and times when we're not as strong, usually it's when we're busier in busier seasons. But there's times that we can continually point back to... just like you can in a business setting. Point back to, this is our family culture. This is not out of line with it and reiterating that as you're with them in the car ride, or while you're waiting in line or whatever and being able to point back to that. But the key is making sure that our behaviors are in line with what we're asking our kids to do, and that's where the rubber really hits the road. But let me just- Mark Cole: Let me say this, because I know you're getting ready to move. Let me say this, over the last, I guess three months now Traci, well time flying, John and I got to be in your home with your family. And to watch these kids that have been... One is John and I got to go down and see what where you're setting right now with all those John Maxwell books behind. Many of you don't know this, Traci and one other person that I know of has the most extensive comprehensive collection of John Maxwell books than anybody else. And John has signed each and every one of those books behind Traci. And this is all for you podcast listeners, you're going to want to go to YouTube [crosstalk 00:17:13] Traci Morrow: Check it out on YouTube, see my display. Mark Cole: But let me say this. So the books are nice. It's a wonderful home. It's a great meal by the way. But all of that was not the stark impact moment for me. The stark impact moment is what you're describing right now. Your kids sit around with John Maxwell at the table and ask questions, and we're very comfortable with a leadership discussion from a guy that is an icon to many. He felt like just a family guest to your team, to your family rather. And I think that's because you created this culture in your home. So I love that you brought that up. I love that we started that way because I have been... And John has been a testament in your and Casey's home and we got to see culture lived out that you're describing. Traci Morrow: Well, thank you. That's an honor. And it's just more of you guys leaving in a clear trail for all of us to follow. And it's interesting because when my adult daughter, Holly met John for the first time, she's like, "Oh my gosh, mom. It's like now I see where you get all of these things that you say and do. I now see the story." Mark Cole: Traci and you correct her and say, "No, no, no, that's where John got [crosstalk 00:18:18] thank you very much." Traci Morrow: But I have also been in positions where, when I was not the leader of the company but a leader in a company with a leadership over me, I have had situations where the culture was not clear and the culture changed. And it was with the wind almost what was rewarded. John said, "Culture is an outward display of what is valued. And also what is rewarded." He'll say, "What gets rewarded gets done." And so I've been in that and I can't... I'm certain that the people in our podcast audience have had the same situation, but what do you... Do you think if you are not the leader, can you affect the culture of a team, if you're not the one setting what gets rewarded, if you're not the person who is in charge of setting that, what if you're in a culture that's uncertain, unclear, maybe even something that you think isn't great. What do you say to people who are maybe be in a situation where their company culture is not ideal? Mark Cole: Yeah. And I love this question and the answer is yes, I am after 10 opportunities to do something different. John did finally find something that maybe I can do with effectiveness, we'll see. But I do get to set and guard and to be honest with you, more than the CEO, I'm the chief culture officer because culture is so important as John said, it is a factor of success in any organization, the biggest factor. So to your question, what does a leader do when they are working in a culture that does not match? As Emerson says, the actions do not match what's being said. I've been there. I've been there in a Maxwell organization, to where leadership was not truly in sync with what we said, we were not acting, we were not rewarding the same behavior. So what does one do? Back to your question. Well, let me tell you what I did. One is I pointed it out, because I think that we as leaders so many times since we're not the leader, we excuse inconsistencies and incongruency in the organization. We go, "Well, I'm not the leader, so that's just a fact of life." No, it's not. You're a part of that organization, step up. Now, step up with honor, step up with an awareness that it may mark you as unpopular and unpromotable. But by the way, do you want to be promoted in an organization that does not match your values? So just think about that one for a minute, but let's go back. What do you do? I do not believe you sit and let it be unaddressed. I think we find ways to address it with honor, with dignity, but we express it. So what I would do in the particular situation that I'm thinking about is I would express, "Hey, you're wanting behaviors and you're wanting a leadership dynamic that I don't personally agree with. And I don't think Maxwell's content agrees with. So if that's what you want, don't promote me into this leadership position, because I'm not going to run our sales team that way. And if that is what you want, then you're going to need to find somebody else." Now that was a very difficult statement for me to make, because I was in a place where I would like to have a little bit promotion and a whole lot more money and this was both of those, but it was not congruent with who I was. So I pointed it out, when I was then given permission that, "Hey, no, you're the right leader. You've produced really well. I want you to lead and teach other people how to produce." I went, "Well, then I'm going to do it my way." And what that means dear leader is there is a chance I'm going to create a subculture on you. Now let me say something to all you leaders out there that are running a subculture. I don't believe in subcultures. I don't want anybody that's working alongside me on our team to have a subculture, but sometimes subcultures are required in toxic organizations, but I don't believe any good leader builds a subculture without being transparent about it. You're that, I believe you do have to have subcultures sometimes, I've ran subcultures. But to run a subculture and pretend that you are loyal to the bad culture while you are creating subculture makes you just as incongruent as the situation. So what I did was I went, "Hey, okay, I will step in and lead it my way. Thank you for seeing that I can't run it your way because I couldn't, I will run it my way but that's going to create a subculture on you. Are we okay if I have a subculture under the culture that is in some ways very toxic?" And the answer of course at that point, because the need for my sales competence was needed was, yes, but every single month I was running up against the subculture because it's not optimal. That's a long answer Traci, to your question. My point is, yes, there are times we lead in a culture that is not congruent, but we should never lead from a place of silence. And we should never lead from a place of being comfortable creating a subculture against the toxic culture. It needs to be very transparent. Traci Morrow: You said... I know this is really long, but I feel like there was so much gold in that, because for the people who are in that space right now that was life giving to them, I know that. And so lot of good stuff there friends, even something to just rewind and take a note and listen again, if you're listening while you're commuting or on the way to a meeting that's a difference maker. So, we've been going for a while on this one. Now I want to switch gears a little bit, Mark. John, first of all the story about him in his office in that tiny little cracker box with his family picture on the little cement ledge is hysterical, that story I love it. But it does bring to mind, because he'll say the lowest level of the five levels of leadership is title and position. But there is something to be said for you as the leader who sees somebody coming up in the ranks and improving and doing an incredible job. And there are certain symbols that symbolize that they are rising in the ranks as far as having more influence in the organization. And so how do you as a leader... John gave himself the crummy office, he didn't give somebody else the crummy office because John does holds those things very loosely because he is more captured on what the goal is and the purpose of where he's going that an office doesn't make sense. But you as the leader, how do you navigate that line between your employees who are... or the leaders in your employee, who are leading and having influence over others, but also not focusing and making a priority of the desk, of the office? How do you do that? Because John did it for himself. He monitored himself and took away that power. But what do you do as a leader? Or is that something that you do? Do you give somebody the next biggest office as they have a new position? Or how does that go in the way that you run the organization? Mark Cole: Well, I think that we all should balance ourself with humility, with hunger, with the sense that there is a level of influence and perception that we need to demonstrate our leadership effectiveness. And so, man, I know billionaires here in Atlanta. I'm thinking of two right now that drive an old Chevy pickup truck [crosstalk 00:26:31] going to work, billionaires. And so I think each person really needs to work out. I'm not going to say that every leader should have the milk bucket with a folding table and their family there. I certainly have one of the corner offices with two walls of glass. And so, but at the same time, I think that we all need to hold ourself in check with how we interact and deal with our team. In fact, as you were asking that Traci, I was going to do this at the end of the show today, but we had a listener question recently from Jason. Jason's one of our podcast listeners. And he asked this question and I'm going to promise you, I'll tie this into the question you just asked of me. Here was Jason's question, do you think it is a good leadership idea to say my people or my staff when discussing your job and those you manage? Personally, it's always bothered me when managers saying my anything, because the people are not yours, they're your team or you are a team and therefore Jason says, I always say we and our, when discussing those I work with and manage, and then Jason says and by the way, thank you, Jason. He says, thanks and I love your podcast. And I went, "Jason, you had me all the way up until you called this my podcast. It's not my podcast, it's our podcast." And I just cracked up Jason, but here's the point, Jason's really on to something right here. And Jason, I love you, can't wait to meet you in person, hug your neck and thanks for listening to the podcast. Pass it along, Jason. But here's what Jason's point really is, it's not my mine, our. John not only did that wonderful lesson about his office with his family on the concrete ledge and all that. He was met in Atlanta at a really nice restaurant by somebody that says, "Hey, John, I just started working for you. I'm on your team now." And John introduced himself and the person introduced himself. He said, "Hey, by the way, you don't work on my team and you do not work for me. We work together." And so Jason, I think you're onto something with this question because I do think it's ours. I think it's our workspace. And while it may make sense for some offices and some meetings and some different things that give me that office premium that is different than what John's was, because John's not in the office. And I'm not in the office much right now either, but when I'm in the office there's this needing and this need for our workspace and what's happening in that space. And I think the real thing Traci, that we all need to think through in the culture, is it a dictatorial all for the benefit of the senior leader, or is there camaraderie that we're all in this together and we all benefit together? And I think balancing that and not letting one person, the leader be the sole determiner of that is really important. I didn't ask for my office. They gave it to me when we moved recently, I'm getting ready to look at them and go, "Hey, this may not be the best use of this real estate based on how much I'm traveling right now." So I think we need to work through that with people that are around us. But certainly if there is this culture that I am the senior leader, I am the one that deserves this, then I think that's the idea or the perspective we need to keep ourselves in check about. Traci Morrow: So the spirit isn't that the office itself is wrong. John was talking about his office was moving and building, growing so fast that they were running out of space. It wasn't that he refused to ever have an office, because I think that's worth noting because we just don't want to hold it too closely, our identity is caught up in whether or not we have two walls of glass or whether we are in a small little cleaning room. The point is that we're connected to what we're doing, and I love that you said keeping humility and hunger in check, which has nothing to do with where we sit down to do our work or meet people. Mark Cole: And let me tell you Traci, this goes back to Jason's great question. I certainly try not to use... In fact, those of you that hear the podcast often, I try to always lead with women and men, "Okay, women and men let me tell you this right here." But most of our culture says men and women. We've always heard men and women, men and women. But I always... if you'll listen back to podcasts, I always try to lead women and men. There's two reasons that I do that. One, my dad always taught me ladies first and I try to go back to my culture in treating others with dignity and respect, which by the way has very little to do with gender and has a whole lot to do with how you see the other human being with dignity and respect. And I decided that I'm not going to say men and women, boys and girls, I'm going to say girls and boys, and I'm going to say women and men. Now, the second reason I do that is because we're in a society that is realizing that we have undervalued women's place in leading and changing the world. And I'm on a quest to demonstrate that some of the greatest world changers in the universe is women. Some of the greatest, yes, I use a comparative statement right there, is women and we have not done good as a society of recognizing the power, and the influence and the significance of women in leadership. And so several years ago I made a decision for... with a very small nomenclature change, I'm going to make a very big statement, small nomenclature change. Many of you have not even noticed that I invert that all the time, but I had did it a long time ago because I'm on a quest of two things. One, give honor to another human being. And two, show the significance of women in leadership. Now back to your question Jason, and back to your question, Traci, on this podcast. When it's my and our, is it really a leader trying to power up by saying my team? Most of the time, no, it's just somebody that's highly responsible that says, "This is my team." Sometimes it's somebody very protective, "This is my team." Some of the time, people that want identity, "This is my team," but there are times that people go, "This is my team," like they lured over them. I do think nomenclature matters. I do think for me and you Traci, and you Jason, if we are convicted by something, we need to change it. I change it and say women and men, but I don't look down on people that still say men and women because they don't share my nomenclature change. And so the world needs a little bit more tolerance and a little bit more singularity and not a whole lot more conformity. Conformity's trying to make you say it like me because I want you to have the same, that's the same problem is we're trying to address. So I went on a little bit of a tirade right there, but I think it matters in culture. Traci Morrow: I do too. Mark Cole: So just because Traci, you say men and women does not mean you don't respect women. And just because I say women and men don't mean I respect women more, but many times our current culture is telling us that if you don't say it just like me, you're a problem which then is underscoring the problem we're trying to alleviate. And that is what I'm saying about culture. Traci Morrow: And you know what? It triggers something in me because we have some episodes previous that connect to this. And so we'll put the link in the notes, but what my Mark just said, you're affecting culture. You're influencing future culture by saying women and men because the people who will hear you will flip that, which will give different honor. And that's a way of connecting with people. So we have two episodes that we'll put in the link in the show notes, but it's... The first one was how I learned to connect with people by honoring them, Mark you do that so well. And then people do what people see, people will hear what you say, see what you do. And then they will do it as well because people do what people see. This has been a great episode, hasn't it, Mark? Mark Cole: It has. The final thing I'll say as we close out today is I do John talk today in this episode that behavior, symbols and systems are the components of cultivating culture. I believe common beliefs, excuse me, common language, common beliefs and common behaviors are the greatest indicators. So the greatest cultivators, John says behavior, symbols and systems. The greatest indicators are, are we all saying the same thing, is there are common language? Are we all believing the same thing? We are believing that if we live up to this language, we're going to see greater things ahead of us. And then the common behaviors are an outsource from what we say and what we believe. And so common language, common beliefs and common behaviors are the great indicators of culture. We hope we've added value to you today, Traci, as always, thanks for adding value to our podcast listeners, Hey, if you're listening today and this is your first time, we have a lot of episodes that you need to catch up on. Go to maxwellpodcast.com and you'll see all of it there. If you're an Avid listener and you've never taken advantage of the show notes. At maxwellpodcast.com, you'll see the show notes of this episode as well as other episodes and we include links and things that will help you continue diving deep into today's subject matter. And then finally, if you're wanting to see how awesome Traci is and how much I have a face for radio, we're now on YouTube, maxwellpodcast.com/youtube. Today, Traci and I are both in our home offices. She in Colorado, me in Atlanta, Georgia, but we're with you via visual podcast. And then finally, one final statement, if you've been impacted by John Maxwell and even specifically this podcast, we're capturing stories, we're sharing them with John. We're going to start sharing them live during the podcast. But if you've been impacted, go to maxwellpodcast.com/myimpactstory, forward slash myimpactstory. Record a video, let us see and hear your impact story and let us share it with the world. Thanks for joining us today. Let's go build a powerful culture together. Let's listen, let's learn. Let's lead. ← Focus on the Future The Value of Questions → 1 thought on “Three Components of Cultivating Culture” Joseph Miller says: It was nice to be prompted in the ‘References’ that this podcast could be viewed on YouTube. The video added ‘connectedness’ to the speakers. Traci adds a nice touch (balance) to Mark’s sometimes verbose approach.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2135
__label__wiki	0.906185	0.906185	Why Submit to JCSWB Submission Instructions & Process The Dispatch Newsletter Biography: Dr. Paul Rinkoff, Ph.D. For over two decades, Paul has gained frontline, investigative, and senior leadership and management experience in the fields of policing and criminal justice. He has, and continues to lead several committees that promote equity and inclusivity. Paul holds a PhD in Policy Studies from Ryerson University, specializing in Public Policy and Administration and an MA in Leadership Studies from the University of Guelph College of Business and Economics. Paul’s most recent publications and research interests focus on police leadership and supervision, public sector leadership and management, leadership style and theory, implementation policy, organizational culture, community and neighborhood policing, and race relations. The Journal of CSWB is a peer-reviewed and open access publication that is positioned to be the authoritative global resource for high-impact research that, uniquely, spans all human service and criminal justice sectors, with an emphasis on their intersections and collaborations. The Journal showcases the latest research, whether originating from within Canada or from around the world, that is relevant to Canadian and international communities and professionals. Official Journal of the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance (CSKA) Thank You to Our Mission Supporter Niche Technology Inc. Published by SG Publishing Inc. Most read last month COVID-19 and the impact on police services Policing of sex work in South Africa: The positive policing partnership approach Law enforcement wellness: Promoting the “good” during the “bad” and “ugly” Mental health and well-being of police in a health pandemic: Critical issues for police leaders in a post-COVID-19 environment Peeling the paradigm: Exploring the professionalization of policing in Canada Follow @JournalCSWB Tweets by @JournalCSWB Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being \| eISSN: 2371-4298 Publisher: SG Publishing Inc. on behalf of the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance Editor-in-Chief: Norman E. Taylor \| Senior Contributing Editor: Matt Torigian Journal content is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND). Contact \| Privacy Policy \| Twitter \| LinkedIn	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2139
__label__cc	0.729753	0.270247	Author: Joy Olson's blog I’ve done non-profit research and advocacy on migration, human rights, Latin America and US foreign policy since the early 1980s. I was the Executive Director of WOLA (the Washington Office on Latin America), a human rights advocacy organization from 2003-2016, and Director of the Latin America Working Group, a coalition of 60 organizations that advocated for human rights and social justice in US policy toward Latin America from 1993-2002. At present I’m helping organizations and non-profit directors think strategically and solve problems. I have particular interest in multi-sectorial approaches to complex problems. If you think that I could be of help, let’s talk. Militarization in Slow Motion Change in slow motion can leave one desensitized to its significance. With that in mind let’s take note of the changing role of the Mexican military. In the final decades of the 20th century, military dictatorships were the main threat to democracy in Latin America. During this period, Mexico stood apart from much of the region because its military had a limited role, mostly addressing matters of national defense with some disaster response and drug eradication. But that limited role has changed. Since the mid-1990s, the Mexican military has had a growing variety of roles in public security, often temporarily used to respond to drug trafficking, police corruption, and high homicide rates. Deployments of the military, or newly ex-military, in public security were generally accompanied by a political message that read: this was temporary, pending the implementation of long-term reform. Now, 25 years in, the military’s role in public security is being regularized. In 2019 President Andres Manuel López Obrador created the National Guard. It was announced as a civilian public security body but was initially populated with active duty military who literally put on new arm bands to show their participation in a different force. In parallel, the President announced in 2020 that direct military deployment in public security tasks would end in 2024. Today the National Guard has replaced the Federal Police and is formally part of the Ministry of Citizen Safety and Protection. But the majority of the Guard’s roughly 100,000 members are still military. They live in barracks and their commander is a general. And, abandoning all pretense that the National Guard is meant to be a civilian police body, López Obrador has stated that he will seek a constitutional reform to formally make the Guard part of the Ministry of National Defense; that is, the new force would become part of the armed forces. Over time the Mexican military has accumulated responsibility for: ports and customs; immigration control; drug eradication; distribution of materials in response to Covid-19; natural disaster response; and construction in mega projects like the new Mexico City airport and the Mayan Train. It is argued that using the military in these roles is efficient (they are already mobilized so why not use them). And that they are less corrupt than other Mexican civilian institutions. I find both arguments perplexing. When claiming efficiency, no one ever factors in the cost to maintain a force large enough to take on these roles. The corruption issue is even more perplexing. How would one ever determine that they are less corrupt? The Mexican military is one of the least transparent institutions in the country. And now it is giving out no bid contracts on construction projects, a highly questionable practice if anti-corruption is the goal. So, what’s the downside to the expanded use of the military? First, it delays problem solving. Stephanie Brewer, from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) puts it well, “Instead of buying time for (civilian) authorities to implement solutions, militarization has become the addiction that postpones those solutions indefinitely.” That’s the second problem: using the military to address problems that don’t have a military solution doesn’t work. After 25 years of unsuccessful attempts at using the military in public security and drug control that failure seems clear. Third, it undercuts civilian government. When you give too many authorities to one institution, only that institution has the capacity to respond, meaning that it will continue to be called upon. In this case, that institution is the one that has guns. Giving too many responsibilities to the military disturbs the balance of power. The more you do it, the fewer options you have. Once the hemispheric example of quiet and limited civilian power, the Mexican military’s responsibilities are increasingly being expanded. Ojo, broadening military roles weakens democracy. First published in Mexican newspaper La Reforma‘s English language site MexicoToday.com, 1/10/22. Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized Leave a comment January 10, 2022 3 Minutes Thankful for Three Women: More Misuse of Mexico’s Organized Crime Law I’m thankful for people who do hard things for the public good while under tremendous pressure. It was recently reported that Mexico’s anti-organized crime law was spuriously used to surveil three such people: Marcela Turati, Mimi Doretti and Ana Lorena Delgadillo. Here is who they are, why the use of the organized crime law against them is so wrong and why I am thankful for them. Marcela Turati is an award-winning journalist who has done amazing and dangerous work to uncover information about the disappeared in Mexico. She is one of the founders of Periodistas de a Pie, an organization of journalists helping and training journalists doing rights related investigations. Mexico is the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist and Marcela is known for undertaking dangerous investigations. Mimi Doretti is the leader of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF). This organization uses forensic tools to identify human remains and works with families searching for missing loved ones. The EAAF has helped identify victims of government abuse and organized crime as well as migrants who have perished on their journey to a better life. Mimi and the EAAF have trained young anthropologist throughout the world, including Mexico. Their findings have been used in prosecutions and comforted families of the previously lost. Ana Lorena Delgadillo runs the Fundacíon para la Justicia in Mexico. The Foundation uses the judicial process to hold accountable those responsible for disappearances and accompanies the victims’ families in the process, which is often long, complicated and painful. They work with families of the disappeared in Mexico, including Central American migrants. The work of these three came together around the identification of mass graves near San Fernando, Tamaulipas in 2011. In this series of bloody crimes, 193 people, many of them Central American migrants, were taken off of buses, killed and dumped in mass graves. No one has yet to be held accountable. Now, decade later, the work to uncover the truth about San Fernando continues. As part of this process, the Fundación para la Justicia requested access to the legal case files and was able to get them in 2021. One thing revealed by the documents was stunning. In 2015, the Mexican government had used an anti-organized crime law to investigate these three women, who were not involved in the crime, but investigating the massacre and helping the victims’ families. These women were put under surveillance and their communications monitored as if they might be responsible for the killings. Yes, that is as twisted as it sounds and yet another misuse of Mexico’s anti-organized crime law. Shame, or better yet accountability, should be heaped upon those who put these amazing women under surveillance. I think the phrase, “they worked tirelessly” is overused. But not when it comes to these three. They make our society better. As we reflect upon 2021 and look forward to 2022, let’s strive to be more like them, brave and tireless; and do more to hold accountable those who seek to intimidate, or do worse, to those seeking justice. Originally published in Mexican newspaper La Reforma’s English language site, MexicoToday.com 12/20/21. Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized Leave a comment December 20, 2021 2 Minutes Remain in Mexico 2.0: Civil Society Left Holding the Bag The US asked for, and Mexico has accepted, the reinstatement of “Remain in Mexico,” the policy that makes asylum seekers stay in Mexico while their cases are adjudicated in the United States. This policy violates international law, gets Mexico to make promises that it has no intention or capacity to fulfill, and leaves civil society to deal with the mess of human suffering it produces. The Biden administration says that it intends to terminate Remain in Mexico but is justifying the reinstatement because of a court order. Biden should not get brownie points for wanting to do the right thing, because implementing the court order violates other laws. The Administration is actually taking advantage of the court order. Remain in Mexico 2.0 will cover more categories of people than the previous version and Title 42, the adjacent and unjustifiable Covid-19 policy that allows the government to immediately expel others, has just been renewed. The new agreement between the US and Mexico claims that it will address serious humanitarian, security and due process issues that abounded with the previous version. To address these concerns, the Department of Homeland Security, in its “Guiding Principles for Reimplementation” claims the following, that: 1) asylum cases will be heard in a timely fashion and asylum seekers will have “meaningful opportunities to access and meet with (legal) counsel;” 2) they are working to ensure that there will be shelters in Mexico and secure transportation to and from ports of entry; and that 3) no one will be returned to Mexico if they “demonstrate” a reasonable possibility of persecution or torture in Mexico. Based on past experience with Remain in Mexico, here is what we can reasonably expect. We know that US asylum seekers are much more likely to win their cases if they have legal representation. We also know little legal representation will be available. According to HIAS, a US immigration organization that helped provide legal representation the last time around, only about 10% of those under Remain in Mexico actually secured legal representation. This time, some lawyers who tried to help in the past are refusing to participate because they believe that by doing so they will be facilitating the violation of international law. We know that security is a huge problem for those forced to wait at the border. It is well documented that this population is targeted by organized crime. NGO Human Rights First has documented 7,647 cases of kidnappings and violent attacks against people blocked or expelled to Mexico since President Biden took office. We also know that these crimes are grossly under-reported and almost never prosecuted. We know that there are not sufficient shelters to protect those who are forced to wait. There isn’t sufficient shelter now and the numbers of people will only increase. One of the times when migrants are at greatest risk is when they move from shelters to the border for scheduled appointments. Mexico’s standard policy has been that it will not provide any additional protection for asylum seekers that is not provided to the regular Mexican population. We know that people will not have sufficient access to medical care. Under the last round of Remain in Mexico, Global Response Management (GRM) responded in the border state of Tamaulipas. This is an organization that sets up emergency clinics in precarious humanitarian situations. Their idea is to go in early and help cover medical needs before the bigger organizations can establish a presence. The problem was that the bigger NGOs never came. Many international NGOS consider the Tamaulipas border to be too dangerous and will not put staff there. GRM is still there helping as best they can, but it is not enough. When it comes to the US making exceptions for asylum seekers who are at risk if they remain in Mexico, I’ll believe it when I see it. Until now, even those who had previously been kidnapped in Mexico were returned when they tried to apply for US asylum. There are NGOs and attorneys on both sides of the border who worked incredibly hard to provide support to those who suffered from the Remain in Mexico 1.0, and to help the US end that program. They are the ones who provide food, shelter, medicine and legal assistance to those in need. They are hopping mad that it is being reinstated. From experience, they know that they will be left holding the bag, having to figure out how to help those who will suffer under this policy. This is a chronicle of suffering foretold. No matter what pretty words are in this agreement, we know what’s coming because we have been here before. And neither government has earned our trust that their stated intentions will be put into practice. Asylum seekers will get stuck, for months, if not years on the Mexican side of the border. They will not have housing; they will not be safe; and they will not get legal representation. And both governments will leave it to the NGOs to bear the burden of this policy. First published in Mexican newspaper La Reforma’s English language site MexicoToday.com, 12/6/21 Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized 1 Comment December 6, 2021 3 Minutes Fear in Mexican Academia The Mexican Attorney General’s Office has charged a number of accomplished of academics with organized crime and money laundering. Yes, you read that correctly and it is as crazy as it sounds. Just to be clear from the start, they are not accused of being involved with drug trafficking or pocketing money to buy mansions. The accusation relates to one academic program’s support for another academic program. Organized crime and money laundering are real problems in Mexico. They are impediments to a more prosperous and equitable Mexico. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is known for his campaign against corruption. But what is happening here appears to be something else. The López Obrador government alleges that one academic institution, CONACYT (the National Council for Science and Technology), used funds to inappropriately support another academic institution, the Foro Consultivo (the Scientific and Technological Consultative Forum). Even if true, it is not clear that a crime has even been committed since CONACYT’s governing documents reportedly mandated it to support the Foro Consultivo. I don’t know the particulars of academic financing in Mexico and have no opinion about whether or not inappropriate academic financial transfers took place. But let’s look at the supposed crime – organized crime and money laundering – and the penalties they could incur. Does the accusation fit the alleged crime? The UNODC defines organized crime as, “a continuing criminal enterprise that rationally works to profit from illicit activities…. (and) is maintained through corruption of public officials and the use of intimidation, threats or force to protect its operations.” Global Financial Integrity defines money laundering as, “the process of disguising the proceeds of crime and integrating it into the legitimate financial system.” In this case, it is reported that CONACYT approved the budgets and expenses of the Foro and that the funds were externally audited. While something may have been inappropriate, it is hard to imagine how a misdeed of this type rises to the level of organized crime or money laundering. In Mexico, simply being accused of these crimes can result in pretrial detention in a maximum-security prison. The Mexican Attorney General has twice sought arrest warrants for the academics. Twice judges have denied the request. So what is happening here? Why these outsized charges for leading academics? Along with AMLO’s anti-corruption theme have been austerity measures that have hit public universities hard. The Foro did not just complain about the cuts, they sued the government over austerity related cuts. Academia is based on challenging ideas. Their research should (and does) challenge the status quo. Threatening academics with a stint in a maximum-security prison is beyond the pale. Fear will keep them from performing their role in society. The government’s allegations create real fear within the Mexican academic community. Maybe instigating fear is the intent. To silence and ensure compliance. Unfortunately, this is not over. The Mexican Attorney General has said that he will seek another warrant for the academics. Scaring professors into not criticizing the government will not help Mexico. Organized crime and money laundering are the real problems. First published in Mexican newspaper La Reforma’s English language site MexicoToday.com 11/23/21. Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized 1 Comment November 24, 2021 2 Minutes Time to Own Cuba Policy It is ten months into the Biden Administration and time they started owning their approach to Trump era foreign policies that they haven’t changed – like Cuba policy. US policy toward Cuba is stuck in a Cold War time warp and held in place by domestic policy concerns that have nothing to do what makes sense for 2021. The Obama Administration stepped back from the Cold War “regime change” approach to Cuba policy and instead focused on encouraging change through engagement. With justifiable fanfare – after half of century of relations based on the idea that economic and political isolation would force change – the Obama Administration re-established a US embassy, eased rules on travel that dramatically increased the number of US visitors and eliminated almost all restrictions on the delivery of remittances to Cuba. While Cuba is one of the rare cases in which the US Congress has codified economic sanctions, meaning the Obama Administration couldn’t lift the entire embargo without congressional action, they went a long way in changing the fundamentals of the policy and the relationship. Under the Trump Administration the US/Cuba relationship reverted to the 1980s. Since President Biden took office little has changed. Technically the US embassy in Havana still exists, but it has few staff members. With almost no staff, they don’t have the capacity to provide visas to Cubans for refugee admissions, family reunification or other options. This lack of legal pathways for migrations is contributing to the large number of Cubans crossing through Mexico and attempting to cross undocumented into the US at the southern border. While travel to Cuba had expanded greatly by the end of the Obama Administration, now only a handful of direct flights from the US are allowed. As Covid-19 related economic disruptions hit Cuba hard, the Trump Administration all but ended the flow of remittances from the US to Cuban families, first limiting total remittances to US $4,000, then imposing sanctions that made it impossible for Western Union to transfer remittances through Cuban financial institutions. These left-over policies from the Trump Administration mean that now, under the Biden Administration US/Cuba policy is still based on isolation. The question of what to do with countries that break the rules of democratic governance – like Cuba – has long been a diplomatic challenge. If military intervention is off the table – which I’m glad it is – economic sanctions are considered one of the primary tools available to convey objection to human rights violations or anti-democratic behavior. In recent years a lot of questions have arisen about the impact of economic sanctions, not just toward Cuba, but around the world. General economic sanctions are considered to have serious unintended consequences for the most vulnerable people in the target country. It is not the rich or corrupt who suffer. It is those living on the edge, taking public transportation and using public health services. With these critiques in mind, the US Treasury Department recently published a global review of sanctions policy. The review recommended changes in how sanctions should be structured rather than recommending changes to specific country sanctions. Nonetheless, it is relevant to Cuba as three of the key recommendations are that: 1) sanctions be linked to a clear policy goal – while Cuba sanctions are about regime change; 2) the cost of sanctions should fall on the intended target – while Cuba sanctions impede access to humanitarian goods and limit the ability of families to support their loved ones; and 3) there should be international support for sanctions – while the UN votes regularly to condemn US sanctions on Cuba. Among the Treasury Department’s recommendations are this: “Going forward, Treasury will continue to review its existing authorities to consider the unintended consequences of current sanctions regimes on humanitarian activity necessary to support basic human needs, as well as potential changes to address them while continuing to deny support to malicious actors.” Applying this analysis to existing US/Cuba policy is something the Biden Administration needs to do now. To be clear, the reconsideration of sanctions should not ignore the Cuban government’s authoritarian practices, violations of due process or human rights abuses. This summer, discontent over food shortages, power black outs, and the government’s failure to follow through on promised reforms led to an eruption of spontaneous protests in Cuba, the likes of which have not been seen in decades. It was exciting to watch the free expression of popular sentiment. Unfortunately, the government quickly shut it down. A follow up protest is scheduled for November 15th. There is no doubt that the Cuban government will go to great lengths to stop this protest before it starts. They have a long history of detaining protest leaders before protests even happen. The US and others can and should encourage the Cuban government to tolerate and listen to dissent. The international community shouldn’t be indifferent when popular protest gets stifled. But being critical of Cuba doesn’t mean sticking to a failed policy of isolation. Restructuring Cuba policy isn’t easy, but just keeping the Trump era restrictions is not the answer. For political pragmatists in the Democratic camp, there is always a reason not to change Cuba policy. Right after Biden came into office it was because he had bigger fish to fry – the domestic economic and social policy agenda. Then, all of the foreign policy political capital was spent on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Now the reason for inaction is the US mid-term congressional elections. It would incense some voters in south Florida and they think risk the Democrats ability to win congressional seats. After November of 2022 the rationale will be that Cuba policy change will risk the Democrats ability to hold the presidency. The excuses are endless. It is time for the Biden Administration to own the policies they implement. They did this in a good way last week when they issued a new ruling to end Remain in Mexico, the Trump era policy that forces US asylum seekers to wait in Mexico pending the termination of their cases in the US. That wasn’t a politically easy change. Now they should own Cuba policy by refocusing on engagement, as Obama did, and implementing the sanctions recommendations made by the Treasury Department. Waiting won’t make it easier and certainly doesn’t make current policy any better. * Originally published on 11/2/21 in Mexican newspaper La Reforma’s site MexicoToday.com Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized Leave a comment November 3, 2021 4 Minutes The Judge Made Me Do It The Biden Administration has recently announced that it will reinstate the “Migrant Protection Program” (what a misnomer) also called “Remain in Mexico” (somewhat more honest). Established by the Trump Administration, it requires asylum seekers, who approach the US border from Mexico, to stay there while their cases are adjudicated. If you thought that policy was still in place, you are excused. It is very hard to keep track of US policies to deter asylum seekers at the US/Mexico border. Just to refresh your memory, the other one is called “Title 42,” which sounds like an article of the Constitution or the chapter of a much too long book. Title 42 is shorthand for the health code that allows the government to turn back potential asylum seekers using a public health rationale. While it may have had justification early in the Covid-19 pandemic, it is now simply a specious legal argument that allows the Border Patrol to turn people away before they can apply for asylum. Democrats cried foul when the Trump Administration created Remain in Mexico, and a sad looking encampment of asylum seekers formed in Matamoros, within sight of the Brownsville border crossing. When President Biden was elected, they reversed the Remain in Mexico policy and dismantled the camp, but kept Title 42. It was a handy rationale to keep asylum seekers at bay. Now, US courts have instructed the Biden Administration to reinstate Remain in Mexico. But before we allow “the judge made me do it” excuse to settle in, note that this decision was made because the Trump era program was determined to have been improperly terminated. The Biden Administration could simply decide to end it in a way that is acceptable to the court. Let’s be clear. Instead of deciding to properly end the Trump era program, which violated international asylum commitments, the Biden Administration will own Remain in Mexico. This stain is on them. Where does all of this leave asylum seekers? Dumped back on the Mexican side of the border, without support. There are currently camps of potential US asylum seekers sitting in plazas in Reynosa and Tijuana. They are disturbing scenes of humanity, filth and people being preyed upon by criminals. Neither country wants to encourage asylum seekers and seem to think that misery is the best deterrent. Where are the international humanitarian assistance organizations that we all know and love – the big institutions like the UN High Commission for Refugees or the big international NGOs? Not in the most dangerous Mexican border cities. They all consider them too dangerous to have a continuous presence. The US State Department lists Tamaulipas as a “Do Not Travel” state, and seriously restricts the travel of US employees. But this is where we will send migrants to wait while their US asylum claims are considered. To be clear, people requesting asylum do so because of a fear of persecution in their home countries. Our response is to make them wait in places where international organizations are too afraid to work, and US government employees are prohibited from moving about. US citizens are rightly outraged when children’s rights are not respected in US immigration facilities, or when Haitian migrants are chased on horseback at the border. But if we push these same people across the line back into Mexico, those so outraged fall silent. Pushing the asylum crisis into Mexico, into places US citizens will not venture, may help those on this side of the border sleep better at night, because they don’t see the problem. But Remain in Mexico creates a nightmare for asylum seekers and if President Biden reinstates it, he will shoulder the blame. Originally published in the Mexican newspaper La Reforma’s site MexicoToday.com – 10/19/20. Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized Leave a comment October 19, 2021 3 Minutes The Urgency of Tackling the Root Causes of Migration This past week Mexico and the US restarted high level economic talks. This is good; as this kind of diplomatic engagement was dismantled under the Trump Administration. Central American migration was on the agenda. That’s good too, but both countries need to start displaying a sense of urgency to address the causes of migration. Granted, high level diplomatic dialogues are not detail laden affairs. These are meetings of “the principals–” cabinet secretaries — and in this case Vice President Harris. They are designed to build the participants trust and facilitate problem solving, laudable goals. But this meeting reminded me of how much talk there is about addressing the “root causes” of migration and how little substance I see. The presidents of both countries inherited dysfunctional migration systems from their predecessors, but both have also been in office long enough to own the policies that they execute. Neither country’s rhetoric aligns with what people in Central America experience. The US talks about a US $4 billion investment in the Northern Triangle. But US economic aid is the slow boat to China (or in this case, Central America). It generally takes years from the moment that spending is announced, for it to be approved by Congress, contracted out and then implemented. To someone desperate for change in their immediate future, what could happen in two years means nothing. Vice President Harris is also encouraging businesses to invest in Central America, but the US is not playing diplomatic hardball with fundamentally corrupt and undemocratic governments, and economic and political elites. If the US wants more investment in the region then their anti-corruption policies need to be more than tough tweeting. Then there is Mexico, which professes to offer hope by announcing the expansion to Guatemala of Sembrando Vida, an employment generation/tree planting program; accompanying this announcement was an appeal to the US to provide temporary work visas for those who participate. Let’s take that apart. The provision of large numbers of temporary work visas to Central Americans could be an important part of a legitimate response to the outflow of people from the region and something that could give people immediate hope. But linking Sembrando Vida to a US visa, is a political gimmick. Few people will throw stones at a tree planting program, but Guatemalans aren’t going to stop leaving home because they got temporary work planting trees. The tree program is about Mexico looking like it is responding to a migration crisis without actually doing much. The US needs to provide serious numbers of work visas to Central America, and Mexico should push them to do it. When both countries want to move fast to address a problem, they can. Just look at the US response to the Afghani refugees, or how fast the Mexican National Guard was brought in to stop migrants at Mexico’s southern border. When there is a sense of immediacy, and when a crisis does not involve our borders, both nations spring into action. But when the desperate people are your neighbors, it’s a different story. The politicians are talking a good game about the root causes of migration in Central America, but the talk is miles ahead of action. Instead of giving people hope that things will change, all this talk is feeding cynicism. Only actions that are concrete and have some immediate component will provide a thread of hope to would be migrants. Both governments feel political urgency when it comes to migrants and refugees crossing our borders. Let’s see some urgency in addressing the root causes of migration. Originally published in the Mexican newspaper La Reforma’s site, MexicoToday.com 9/15/21. Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized 2 Comments September 15, 2021 2 Minutes Mexico, the US and Venezuelan negotiations Venezuela is mired in crisis, but a new round of negotiations, that started in Mexico on August 13th, provide new hope, albeit distant, for something better. Both Mexico and the US have potentially constructive roles to play in this process. Two years ago, after elections on a dramatically slanted playing field gave Nicolás Maduro a second six-year term as president, 60 countries chose instead to recognize the head of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó as president. As international support turned to Guaidó, and Maduro’s government became more isolated internationally, both sides turned to Norway to facilitate a process of negotiations. That round of negotiations, known as the Barbados talks, ended by the fall of 2019, without positive conclusion. Hard-liners and skeptics on both sides willed it to fail, and too many outsiders, including the US, did not actively support the negotiations. Complicating matters even more, Venezuela had become a place where the US’, China’s, and Russia’s geopolitics were playing out. The biggest losers in all of this are the people of Venezuela. Over 5 million people left Venezuela as a result of the economic and political crisis that started well before 2019. The economy is in shambles. There is hyper-inflation. While not creating the economic crisis, US sanctions have hobbled any possible economic recovery, but not achieved its desired outcome, pushing Maduro to relinquish power. The healthcare system was in collapse, then came Covid-19. The new round of negotiations is somewhat surprising. Power dynamics and possible outcomes as in any negotiation are constantly shifting; some argue that Maduro is stronger than the opposition political parties. That said, neither side goes into these negotiations with much support from the people they are supposed to serve. A recent Datanalisis poll showed that 75% of Venezuelans consider themselves “independents” and very few trust either the government or political parties. Venezuelan civil society organizations, working together, are stepping into the credibility gap and developing concrete proposals to solve the problems of daily life. Even if civil society organizations don’t have a seat at the negotiating table, their proposals should be taken into consideration. Working together around these proposals, the government and the opposition could solve concrete problems and build confidence with each other and with the public. Negotiations observers should not view this as a quick way to reinstate the opposition, as many did the last round. The only way out of this complex crisis is to start walking a path of conflict resolution and problem solving. Hopefully these negotiations begin by creating agreements that ease the lives of Venezuelans and provide greater humanitarian assistance. And, lay the groundwork for local and regional elections in October that encourage participation by all parties. Only Venezuelans will resolve the deep-seated, multilevel crisis that is Venezuela today. Nonetheless, the international community can play a role in its success or failure. Mexico is choosing to play a constructive role by hosting this process. It is showing that non-intervention doesn’t have to mean non-engagement. The US is already engaged concerning Venezuela. The EU, the US and Canada recently released a joint statement saying that they were willing to start lifting sanctions if negotiated agreements can be reached. That’s a positive start. The hardest part of the negotiations process could be to get all parties at the table, and for those supporting it, to keep their eyes on the prize – results that actually benefit the people of Venezuela. Originally published in Mexican newspaper La Reforma’s publication, MexicoToday.com, 8/16/21. Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized Leave a comment August 16, 2021 2 Minutes A 1,000 Pounds of Ash and Bone Half a ton, 500 kilograms, over a thousand pounds of human remains in the form of ash and bone fragments have been found in La Bartolina, near Matamoros, Mexico. That’s what has been found to date in an effort to uncover what happened in this notorious place, just 12 kilometers from Brownsville, TX. This “clandestine cremation site” or a “place of extermination,” once reportedly used by the Gulf Cartel, was identified in 2016, but not much about it has been reported officially until now. Karla Quintana head of Mexico’s National Search Commission in her semi-annual report revealed that this site has been being processed for the past five years, the last two by her office. 1,000 pounds. Let the weight of that sink in. How many people could that possibly have been? No one knows. What went on in La Bartolina was an extended atrocity. Some say that the cartel used the area from 2009-2016. How could something so horrible go on for that long and on this scale? There are two things that might answer this question: the normalization of disappearance; and a fear-based abandonment of the region. While families of the disappeared are working in remarkable ways to find their loved ones, often doing complex investigations themselves, disappearance in Mexico has also become normalized. Kidnappings happen a lot and we have gotten much too used to hearing about them. The Mexican government’s registry of the disappeared contains about 88,000 names and covers the period of 2006 to the present. 21,000 of those on the list have disappeared during the AMLO administration. Kidnappings, disappearances and the findings of remains are all linked. While the Bartolina findings are historic in nature (they happened in the past), this year alone 71 people have disappeared on the road between Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey. The AMLO administration should be given credit for acknowledging the problem and assigning serious people to run the National Search Commission. But we have all gotten too accustomed to talking about disappeared people. This is not normal or at least it shouldn’t be. Then there is the rational fear-based avoidance of places like Tamaulipas. This state feels like the land everyone gave up on. Criminal organizations decide the parameters of what gets reported by the media and can shut down cities at will with outbursts of violence. No one wants responsibility for what happens there, so national authorities keep their distance. Searching the US State Department’s travel advisory page for Tamaulipas shows this message, “Do Not Travel due to crime and kidnapping.” At both the national and international level organizations seem to have decided that Tamaulipas is too dangerous to even try doing anything about – best to just steer clear. When I ask humanitarian organizations why they don’t work in Tamaulipas, the answer is almost always because their security protocols – designed to keep their own workers safe – don’t allow it. So that leaves us what we have now, an area where locals and migrants passing through, are in serious danger and few from the outside are even willing to witness their plight. I am not cavalier about the risk. It is real. But we know what you get when no one from the outside is watching. You get 1,000 pounds of ash and bone. First published in the Mexican paper La Reforma’s English language site, MexicoToday.com 8/2/21 Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized Leave a comment August 2, 2021 2 Minutes Migrant Kidnapping: “El Pan de Cada Día” Migrant kidnapping. It is the pan de cada día – a daily occurrence. That’s what I was told recently when interviewing people on the Mexican side of the Texas/Mexico border. It is the crime that everyone working at the border knows about, but neither country prosecutes the perpetrators and victims go mostly unaided. These kidnappings are often binational crimes. Migrants are kidnapped in Mexico, but their families in the US are extorted and money transfer companies operating in both countries facilitate the payment process (knowingly or not). This is not a new problem, although it was exacerbated by President Donald Trump’s policy of forcing thousands of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their US cases to be considered. Some lost their asylum cases, because having been kidnapped, they missed their appointed court date. I’m often asked, “Why would criminal organizations kidnap migrants?” Good question. By definition they are poor, or else they wouldn’t be trying to cross the border undetected. But extorting the families of poor migrants has become a solid business model for Mexican criminal organizations. Years ago, ironically when the US border was less “protected,” migrants could cross by themselves or with the help of Mom-and-Pop smugglers. That model went out the window as the US invested more money in walls and Border Patrol personnel. As it became harder to cross, the potential crossing points narrowed, and control of those points became the territory of criminal organizations. Now, if someone wants to sneak across the US/Mexico border, they cannot do it without paying a criminal organization. I was told that there are criminal lookouts everyone. If you try to cross without paying the controlling criminal group, you will be kidnapped. The criminal groups provide paying customers with a code. If you are stopped by one of their people you provide the code and are good to go, otherwise, good luck. These migrant kidnappings are difficult crimes to prosecute. They take place in more than one country, so jurisdiction and evidence questions are complicated. The crimes go unreported. Often the kidnapping victim and their extorted family members are undocumented, in both countries. Neither country promises protection to the victims. Asking for help risks deportation. Then there is the power of the violent criminal organizations in Mexico who control the passage of migrants through Mexican territory and are often in cahoots with authorities. When I asked at the border about how those working with migrants deal with the problem of kidnapping, one person told me that the best you can do is stay out of their way. Another said that they try to help in ways that don’t interfere with the business model of the criminal organizations. There are some Mexicans who attempt to intervene and navigate between corrupt and legitimate authorities and sometimes get victims freed. I won’t name them here, but they are my heroes. The US has just appointed a new interagency Task Force “Alpha” whose job it is to investigate and prosecute migrant smuggling and trafficking networks. The Task Force was named by the Attorney General and involves both the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Migrant kidnapping falls within their purview. While their goal will be to disrupt criminal networks, this is the first time I can remember when addressing migrant kidnapping has been prioritized. I try to put myself in the place of the victims or their families. I can’t imagine having no one to turn to for help. With Task Force Alpha, at least now it is in someone’s job description. *Published first in MexicoToday.com, the English language site that is part of the Mexican newspaper La Reforma, 7/19/21. Joy Olson's blog Uncategorized 2 Comments July 19, 2021 3 Minutes	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2140
__label__wiki	0.850579	0.850579	Sombrillo, New Mexico facts for kids Sombrillo, New Mexico Location of Sombrillo, New Mexico Coordinates: 35°58′53″N 106°2′18″W / 35.98139°N 106.03833°W / 35.98139; -106.03833Coordinates: 35°58′53″N 106°2′18″W / 35.98139°N 106.03833°W / 35.98139; -106.03833 1.0 sq mi (2.5 km2) 5,741 ft (1,750 m) 508.0/sq mi (196.1/km2) UTC-7 (Mountain (MST)) UTC-6 (MDT) Sombrillo is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 493 at the 2000 census. Sombrillo is located at 35°58′53″N 106°2′18″W / 35.98139°N 106.03833°W / 35.98139; -106.03833 (35.981341, -106.038224). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), all land. As of the census of 2000, there were 493 people, 179 households, and 138 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 508.0 people per square mile (196.2/km2). There were 191 housing units at an average density of 196.8 per square mile (76.0/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 76.67% White, 1.01% African American, 1.01% Native American, 0.61% Asian, 17.65% from other races, and 3.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 50.30% of the population. There were 179 households, out of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.2% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.9% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 2.99. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 21.9% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 34.9% from 45 to 64, and 7.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.0 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $47,000, and the median income for a family was $46,125. Males had a median income of $34,821 versus $33,352 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $16,809. None of the families and 1.4% of the population were living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and none of those over 64. It is in Española Public Schools. Sombrillo has one elementary school, Tony E. Quintana "Sombrillo" Elementary. The comprehensive public high school is Española Valley High School. Sombrillo, New Mexico Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2145
__label__wiki	0.940479	0.940479	Renowned jazz drummer/percussionist Joe Porcaro, father of three Toto members, dead at 90 Joe Porcaro in 1998; Robert Knight Archive/Redferns Joe Porcaro, an acclaimed jazz drummer and percussionist whose three sons — Jeff, Steve and Mike — were members of Toto, died Monday at the age 90. Porcaro’s surviving son, Steve, announced his father’s passing in a message posted on his official Facebook page. “Surrounded by his wife Eileen and his family, Joe passed peacefully in his sleep,” the message reads. “Please allow a few days before reaching out with phone calls and texts. Given the enormous amount of people who Joe considered family and whose lives Joe has impacted, it would be overwhelming to respond just now. Steve adds, “Please know that we so appreciate your love, thoughts, friendship and can’t wait to celebrate his amazing life with all of you.” Joe’s career as a session musician spanned decades, and he played on recordings by a variety of music stars, including Rosemary Clooney, Nancy Sinatra, The Monkees, Bonnie Raitt, Peggy Lee, Boz Scaggs, Glen Campbell, Olivia Newton-John, Eric Carmen, Paul Anka, Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand, Madonna, Richard Marx, and Joe Cocker. Porcaro also contributed to several Toto albums, including playing the marimba solo from the band’s chart-topping 1982 song, “Africa.” Joe’s sons Jeff and Steve were two of Toto’s founding members, playing drums and keyboards, respectively, in the band. Mike Porcaro later joined Toto on bass, and played with the group for many years. Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack in 1992 at the age of 38 and Mike passed away from complications of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2015 at age 59.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2147
__label__wiki	0.725059	0.725059	For Dementia Patients, A Dose of Music music_therapy.jpg Brent Holmes Becky Wellman singing with patients at a music therapy session. Music is powerful. It can make us laugh and cry, rejoice and regret. It can take us back in time. And it can heal. For those reasons, it’s an ideal form of therapy. At the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, it’s a staple for patients with dementia. “There is a variety of ways we can address the symptoms that occur in Alzheimer’s Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders,” Dr. Dylan Wint, a neurologist with Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, told KNPR's State of Nevada. Wint said not every treatment works for every patient, but it is important to try different kinds of therapies. “We feel it’s important to have in our armamentarium as many potential methods as possible so that we have the greatest chance of reaching the largest number of people,” he said. Alzheimer's disease is probably the most well-known form of dementia, but it can also be caused by other progressive cognitive disorders. It can also be caused by strokes or toxins in the brain. Wint explained that dementia is the loss of connections or pathways in the brain. Multiple studies have shown that music can restore those connections. “What we think may be happening with music therapy is that when there are certain pathways that are disrupted that may not be traversed by typical verbal communication or visual-spatial communication that perhaps the music – the structure, the tonality, the emotionality of music – may be able to bridge some of those pathways that aren’t accessible by other methods,” he said. Dr. Becky Wellman leads the music therapy program at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. She said music therapy works because of our connection to music. “The benefits really come from the innate properties of music that come to all of us,” she said. Wellman said that almost everyone has a lifetime connection to music that often starts as babies when our parents sing lullabies to us. But music is often connected to time periods or special life events like weddings or first dates. “We as music therapists can use that music to capture those memories and bring them back to the surface to recapture that for them,” she said. Wellman said she'll talk to caregivers about what music the patient might like or a genre they enjoyed. But when it comes to actually playing music, she said live music is better than something that is recorded. “The benefits of live music are huge," she said. "I can change the tempo. I can change the pace. I can change the key. Sometimes even just that much, bringing it down a third or bringing it up a third, changes their interaction. They feel like they can sing along.” Although, if a patient really connects to a particular artist Wellman will use recorded pieces of music or videos to help connect with them. “I’ll be honest, I can’t play like Jimi Hendrix," she admitted jokingly. Wellman said music is personal, helping patients find that personal connection and feel like themselves again is what music therapy is about. Dr. Dylan Wint, neurologist, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health; Dr. Becky Wellman, music therapist, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health/Photo credit: Brent Holmes Dylan Wint, neurologist, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health; Becky Wellman, music therapist, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health Nevada & the Southwest dylan wint becky wellman cleveland clinic lou ruvo center for brain health Snooze Alert: A Sleep Disorder May Be Harming Your Body And Brain Music: Therapy for the Brain Her Mom Was Lost In Dementia's Fog. Singing Christmas Carols Brought Her Back	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2149
__label__wiki	0.892337	0.892337	Hal Holbrook, Known For His Mark Twain Portrayal, Dies At 95 Claire Epting Published: February 2, 2021 Hal Holbrook, best known for portraying Mark Twain on stage and screen for over six decades, is dead at 95. The prolific actor passed away on January 23 in Beverly Hills, California. The Cleveland-born Holbrook began portraying the Southern author in the one-man show Mark Twain Tonight! in 1954, while he was studying at Lock Haven State Teachers College. The show traveled around the country, and eventually around the world. In 1967, Mark Twain Tonight! was broadcasted on CBS. He received an Emmy for his performance, which captured Twain's signature drawl and acerbic wit. Interestingly enough, Holbrook was only 29 when he began playing 70-year-old Twain, and would continue to embody him well into his 80s. It wasn’t until September 2017 that Holbrook officially announced his one-man show’s retirement. He resigned in a letter to an Oklahoma theater where he was scheduled to perform. “I know it must end, this long effort to do a good job,” he wrote. “I have served my trade, gave it my all, heart and soul, as a dedicated actor can.” In addition to his iconic role of Twain, Holbrook played the grandfatherly role of Ron Franz in Sean Penn's 2007 movie Into the Wild, earning him nominations for the Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also played the influential Republican journalist Francis Preston Blair in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln in 2012, but his most famous movie role is likely as the mysterious source Deep Throat in All the President’s Men. Holbrook is survived by his children, his two stepdaughters Ginna Carter and Mary Dixie Carter, his two grandchildren, and two step-grandchildren. Gallery — Best Picture Winners That Everyone Should See: Source: Hal Holbrook, Known For His Mark Twain Portrayal, Dies At 95 Filed Under: Lincoln	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2150
__label__wiki	0.800116	0.800116	Larson, Blumenthal, Murphy, and Bronin Announce $4.75 Million in Federal Public Safety Grants for Hartford Hartford, CT - Today, Rep. John B. Larson (CT-01), Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin announced that $4.75 million in federal public safety grants are being awarded to the City of Hartford, helping the state’s capital city make its streets safer for kids and families. “These major federal grants — including the largest COPS award nationwide — will bring more officers and resources to Hartford neighborhoods, like North Hartford’s Promise Zone, enabling the kind of community-oriented policing we know can drive down crime and improve trust between police and the communities they serve and protect," said U.S. Senators Blumenthal and Murphy and Congressman Larson in a joint statement. "At a time when communities are struggling more than ever to balance budget constraints with the need for critical local services, we will keep working to bring federal dollars back to Connecticut. Congratulations to the Hartford Police Department and the City of Hartford. We look forward to seeing these new officers out in the community soon.” “Now more than ever, we’re focused on making our city safer while at the same time engaging the Hartford community in a true public safety partnership,” said Mayor Bronin. “At a time when Hartford is battling a fiscal crisis, these Department of Justice grants – which are extremely competitive – will help us continue to invest in making our neighborhoods safer and stronger. Our team worked hard to develop winning grant proposals, and I’m grateful to Senators Blumenthal and Murphy, Congressman Larson, and President Obama’s Administration for their tremendous partnership. No other city in the country received all of these grants.” One of the three grants received by the City – the U.S. Department of Justice Byrne Criminal Justice Innovations Program Grant – is for $1,000,000 to support a public safety initiative in the North Hartford Promise Zone (NHPZ). The funds will go towards the NHPZ Community Safety Project, which is a three-year initiative led by the Hartford Police Department to reduce gang-related and violent criminal activity in the Upper Albany, Clay Arsenal, and Northeast neighborhoods. A second grant received by the City – the U.S. Department of Justice Technical Innovations for Public Safety (TIPS) Grant – is for $245,681. The funds will go towards enhancing the capabilities of Hartford’s Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) through the purchase of technology, helping it become a regional hub that offers critical insights into public safety data. The third grant received by the City – the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office Award – is for $1.5M per year for three years to support the hiring of 15 new police officers. The Hartford Police Department’s primary financial obligations for these fifteen officers during the three-year period are equipment, uniforms, and costs related to the recruiting process. In accepting the grant, the Hartford Police Department agrees to maintain those fifteen officers for one additional year following the three-year period. The grant will support the hiring of new officers in FY2018. “I am extremely grateful to our federal delegation who continues to work hard on our behalf in Washington,” said Council President T.J. Clarke who serves as co-chair of the City’s Public Safety Committee. “I would also like to thank Mayor Bronin and Chief Rovella for their leadership as well. These funds will help the City of Hartford to hire more police officers, enhance community policing, and increase the quality of life in our city. These funds come to us at a time where it’s much needed for our great city.” “I am extremely happy that we are receiving funds to improve the quality of life in our city,” said City Councilman James Sanchez who also serves as co-chair of the City’s Public Safety Committee. “I’m looking forward to the positive changes ahead.” Grants, Local, Promise Zone	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2156
__label__wiki	0.947116	0.947116	Azerbaijan Grand Prix becomes next race to be postponed The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the latest Formula 1 race to be postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week Formula 1 confirmed that the Dutch and Spanish races had been postponed, while the Monaco Grand Prix was cancelled, and organisers of the race in Baku have now confirmed that their race scheduled for June 7 has now also been postponed. Although the race will no longer be in line to hold the opening race of the F1 season, Baku City Circuit has said that they are looking to re-schedule the race for a slot later in the year. A statement released by the Baku race organisers said: “The postponement was agreed upon after extensive discussions with Formula 1 as well as the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic. “This comes as a direct result of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and has been based entirely on the expert guidance provided to us by the relevant authorities. “In coming to this conclusion, BCC’s primary concern throughout has been the health and well-being of the Azerbaijani people as well as all visiting F1 fans, staff and championship participants. “BCC shares its fans disappointment at not being able to experience the pinnacle of motorsport race through the streets of Baku this June. “To that end, we will continue to work closely with Formula 1, the FIA and the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic to monitor the situation with a view to announcing a new race date later in the 2020 season. “All tickets for the FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2020 will continue to be valid, without any additional formality. “As soon as the new date of the Grand Prix is confirmed, all spectators will be informed accordingly about the available options, both for those who have purchased their tickets through the Baku City Circuit’s website (www.bakucitycircuit.com) and through other channels.” With the Azerbaijan Grand Prix having now been postponed, it means that if racing does go ahead, the current opening race of the season would be held at Montreal in Canada on June 14.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2157
__label__cc	0.726504	0.273496	KPMG names Wema Bank among 2021 Customer Experience Leaders The support of Nigeria’s leading digitally driven financial institution, Wema Bank, for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has been recognized in the 2021 KPMG Nigeria Banking Industry Customer Experience Survey. The report classifies Wema Bank as number three in SME Banking, this is three-places higher than the bank’s 2020 classification. Wema Bank has been consistent in her drive to support the growth and development of SMEs in the country. The bank has initiated several financial and advisory support programs to boost SMEs, some of which include: Single digit loans for women, uncollateralized loans for SMEs, quarterly SME webinars, access-to-market initiatives, and a plethora of other advisory and support services In the last one year, Wema Bank pioneered the establishment of the first bank-led SME business school in the country, aimed at boosting critical knowledge and capabilities for SMEs at no cost to beneficiaries. The business school which enjoys the support of Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germany, has reputable consultants and organizations such as Ernst & Young, MTN, Microsoft, Google, Agusto, etc. facilitate at the program. READ ALSO: SA tech talent marketplace OfferZen raises $5.1m Series A funding for European growth The KPMG survey ranked banks using the six pillars of customer experience excellence, including integrity (being trustworthy and engendering trust), resolution (turning a poor experience into a great one) and expectations (managing, meeting and exceeding customer’s expectations. The others were empathy (understanding the customer’s circumstances to drive deep rapport), personalization (using individualized attention to drive emotional connection) and time and effort (minimizing customer effort and creating frictionless processes). In a statement on the survey report, KPMG said, “This year’s leaders show digital banking excellence and have adapted well to higher transaction volumes and complaints.” Commenting on the bank’s KPMG ranking, the Managing Director/CEO, Wema Bank, Ademola Adebise, said it was an affirmation of the bank’s commitment to the growth and well-being of SMEs as critical contributors to the economy. He said, “At Wema Bank, we recognize SMEs as an important part of the economy, and we are always on the lookout for their well-being. We are happy that the SMEs acknowledge our contributions, hence our ranking”. READ ALSO: Pariti raises $2,850,000 seed to enable startups in emerging markets Speaking further, he stated that recognitions such as this are an invitation to do more. He therefore gave the bank’s unwavering commitment to intensifying its support to SMEs in year 2022. Recall that in 2020, Wema Bank received the SME Bank of the year award from Business Day and in 2021, the bank has again received this recognition from KPMG as a customer experience leader in the banking industry. This is definitely a bank to lookout for in 2022. The KPMG Nigeria Banking Industry Customer Experience Survey has been held annually for the last 15 years with the 2021 edition themed “Changing Customer, Changing Priorities”. READ ALSO: Autochek Africa launches brand new car loans to further deepen mobility Tags: among Bank customer experience KPMG leaders names Wema	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2159
__label__cc	0.627641	0.372359	Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev vs. Anthony Yarde Mandatory Bout Scheduled for August 24 in Chelyabinsk, Russia Chelyabinsk, Russia: Fighting in his own hometown for the first time in his professional boxing career, WBO World Light Heavyweight Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs) takes on the WBO’s mandatory challenger, Anthony Yarde (18-0, 17 KOs) of the UK, on Saturday, August 24th at the Traktor Arena in Chelyabinsk, Russia. The event will be presented by RCC Promotions, Main Events, Krusher Promotions and Queensberry Promotions. This will be Kovalev’s 16th consecutive world title bout. That is more than the three other light heavyweight champions combined. The Three-Time World Light Heavyweight Champ, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, explained the significance of this fight. “I am thrilled to fight for the first time in my home town of Chelyabinsk. It is a dream to defend my WBO title in front of all my friends and family back home. Thank you to Igor Altushkin, Egis Klimas and Main Events for making this dream a reality and thank you to Anthony Yarde for agreeing to fight in my backyard.” Challenger, Anthony Yarde, replied, “I am more than happy to achieve my goal in Russia and I think it is only right that a great world champion such as Kovalev is given the opportunity to defend in his home country. He has earned that right. What I know is that on Aug. 24 another World Title belt will be under British ownership and I will have done it the hard way-one that nobody will be able to question” He continued, “This is my time and I am going to show the world what I am all about. Everything has fallen perfectly into place for me. This will be my coronation as world champion and I am going to realize my dream by beating the most decorated of the current world title holders.” “We are so pleased that Sergey, one of boxing’s greatest all-time road warriors, will finally get the chance to defend his title in his own hometown, where he grew up and where his most-devoted fan base resides,” said promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events. “I can only imagine how excited Sergey’s friends and neighbors will be to finally get the chance to see him perform in person. We are most grateful to Igor Altushkin, RCC Promotions, Queensberry Promotions and Anthony Yarde for making this great event possible.” Kovalev’s long-time manager and friend, Egis Klimas added, “Sergey has wanted to fight in his hometown for a long time. But he has always been the one to go and fight in another fighter’s backyard. Now that he is back where he rightfully belongs, on top of the light heavyweight division, it is exciting that he finally gets this opportunity. Thank you to RCC Promotions, Igor Altushkin, Queensberry Promotions and, of course, Anthony Yarde for making this fight possible.” “It is a fantastic opportunity for Anthony and he has earned his shot by working his way to the No.1 spot in the rankings. He has showed what he is all about by being prepared to go into Kovalev’s backyard and it demonstrates the confidence he has in his own ability,” explained Yarde’s promoter, Frank Warren. “Everybody knows Kovalev is a tremendous puncher and a fearsome presence in the ring. It is something we first saw over here when he fought Nathan Cleverly, and he has continued to operate at the very highest level. Anthony possesses tremendous self-belief and we back him to come away with the spoils. But whatever does happen in the fight, it is one that he will take a lot of valuable experience from.” The fight will be seen on Match TV in Russia, BT Sport in the UK and US distribution information will be released soon. Previous Previous post: Warriors Boxing and Ural Promotions Sign Prospect Being Touted as ‘One of the Best Fighters to Ever Come out of Cuba,’ Osvary David Morrell Gutierrez, to a Promotional Contract Next Next post: FALCAO GETS THE TKO STOPPAGE	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2160
__label__wiki	0.901107	0.901107	Second of 3 Young Children Shot in Minneapolis Has Died The Associated Press Published: May 28, 2021 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The second of three young children shot during recent gun violence in Minneapolis has died, according to her family. Nine-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith was shot in the head May 15 while jumping on a trampoline and died Thursday at North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, her father Raishawn Smith said in a social media post. Minneapolis police said they were informed of the girl's death late Thursday. Several vigils have been held outside North Memorial for her and the other two children who were shot. Ten-year-old Ladavionne Garrett Jr. was shot April 30 while riding in a vehicle in Minneapolis. He remains hospitalized. Six-year-old Aniya Allen died May 19, two days after she was shot while riding in her mother's car. HAVE YOU SEEN ME? 28 Kids Missing From Minnesota As of April 7, 2021, there are 28 children missing from across Minnesota and have still not been found, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. If you have seen any of them, or have any information on their whereabouts, please don’t hesitate to call 911 or you can call the National Center at 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST). Bucket List Attractions in Minnesota - Must Sees Filed Under: crime, Minneapolis Categories: State News	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2161
__label__wiki	0.734318	0.734318	KIC Services Interventional Radiology (IVR) Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) Routine Fluoroscopy Bone Densitometry (DEXA) Venacure Varicose Vein Removal KIC Physicians John Anderson, M.D. Timothy C. Benning, M.D. Bruce Bowser, M.D. Nicholas M. Brewer, M.D. Stephen D. Clark, M.D. Thomas D. Cox, M.D. Patrick Craig, D.O. James C. Degner, M.D. Thomas J. Flynn, M.D. Mark H. Fritze, M.D. Dan Gillespie, M.D. Larry C. Graham II, M.D. Adam Gregg, M.D. David Gutschenritter, M.D. Paul J. Hutsey, M.D. Ahmad Izard, M.D. Eric D. Kater, M.D. Marcus A. Kater, M.D. John Knudtson, M.D. Scott McIntyre, M.D. Jeffrey L. McPherson, M.D. Michael S. Morrow, D.O. Darren K. Orme, D.O. Kyle Redelman, M.D. S. Kumar Reddy, M.D. Robert A. Schmaltz, M.D. Jessica B. Tanner, M.D. About KIC Contact KIC Contact \| Search A Respected Radiology Practice . . . Kansas Imaging Consultants’ sub-specialty trained physicians provide radiology professional services for the largest hospital system in Kansas and other regional hospitals and imaging centers across the state. . . . that Cares about Community Founded in 1996, KIC works in partnership with both large and smaller hospitals, many of which are in underserved rural areas of Kansas. We provide a full range of services which can include on-site interpretations and procedures along with remote interpretations from some of the best radiologists in the state. An Exceptional Team, Dedicated to Kansas. KIC’s team of more than 20 radiologists are all board certified experts in state-of-the-art imaging services and interventional procedures. With a focus on high-quality patient care, we strive to improve the lives and health of Kansans. KIC will work with you to develop a unique service model that fits your needs. Each of our radiologists is based in Kansas and averages over 10 years with KIC. Copyright © 2022 Kansas Imaging Consultants. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2162
__label__wiki	0.891799	0.891799	Donald Trump Sues New York Attorney General To Halt Investigation By Bill Galluccio Dec 20, 2021 Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James in an effort to stop her investigation into the Trump Organization. The lawsuit comes after James indicated she wanted to subpoena Trump as part of her civil fraud investigation. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Northern New York, says that the investigation is a political hit job, "guided solely by political animus." "The investigations commenced by James are in no way connected to legitimate law enforcement goals, but rather, are merely a thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates. Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent," the complaint says. "Since taking office, she has tirelessly bombarded him, his family, and his business, Trump Organization LLC, with unwarranted subpoenas in a bitter crusade to 'take on' the President," the lawsuit continues. The suit highlights comments made by James in 2017, in which she said: "I've been leading the resistance against Donald Trump in NYC and will only continue to do so in every way possible." The lawsuit asks for an injunction against James and demands that she "immediately cease or, at a minimum, appropriately limit all ongoing investigations" into the Trump Organization.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2163
__label__wiki	0.633973	0.633973	Home :Library :People :Laurence Naden Laurence Naden (1906-1979). Evangelist, radio speaker. Born in Rotorua, New Zealand, and educated at New Zealand Missionary College (now Longburn Adventist College), he served as a pastor/evangelist. He was a pioneer of religious broadcasting in Australia and in 1937 became speaker of the Advent Radio Network based in Sydney. He served as president of South New Zealand Conference from 1939-1941 and of West Australian Conference from 1941 to 1943. He headed the radio ministry of the church in the South Pacific Division (then Australasian Division) until 1954, when he was appointed secretary of the division. Beginning in 1962, he served as president of the division until 1970. Written Files What Do the Brinsmead Fraction Really Believe? (DF 938) Advent pioneers brief biographical sketches (to accompany pioneer prints) Testimony for the church Elmshaven' Office (St. Helena, California, US) Bible Training School (South Lancaster, Massachusetts, US)	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2167
__label__wiki	0.614143	0.614143	Sturridge Screamer Wins Goal of the Month Daniel Sturridge is the best. By AJ Joven@aj_joven Oct 12, 2018, 9:30pm BST Share All sharing options for: Sturridge Screamer Wins Goal of the Month Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images Daniel Sturridge is the best. Or, at least, this corner of TLO believes Daniel Sturridge is the best. Which is probably not at all a surprise because that’s been my personal position since 2012 but, well, we’re going to go hard on that this season. Which is why it is my pleasure to announce that someone else thinks Daniel Sturridge is the best. Or, to be more accurate, an organization: the Premier League. And to be even more accurate, not that Daniel Sturridge is the best per se but rather that his curler into the top corner against Chelsea to nab a result is the best goal in the month of September. Which, we really can’t argue with that, can we? A few things to consider about that specific goal: It came in the 89th minute and just after Sturridge had been substituted. It came against an organized Chelsea team that seemed to have done just enough to waltz out of Anfield with three points. It had to beat Kepa who was having a solid day minding the net. Sturridge’s contribution in this match and notching a goal in his start against PSG marks a rather solid September for the resurgent striker. And when you consider that his return of 3 goals in 116 minutes across all competitions indicates that he’s on a blistering 2.33 goals per 90. Sure, that number is likely off-balance because he doesn’t accumulate the same number of minutes as a standard striker, now that he’s being deployed as a supersub. Kind of like the inflated strikeout per innings rate of top closers in baseball, it’s a bit unfair to compare Daniel Sturridge’s per 90 rate against other strikers in the league. But I think it is fair to think about how his role is difficult and rather unique in world football. Much like the position of the closer referenced above, he seems to have a very specific role on this club: nab a goal in limited minutes. The thing about that management that is perhaps more demanding than a closer is that Sturridge’s contributions center on him dropping into a game - and, if Klopp’s decision of when to substitute him in is a sign, it’s always right at the death - with minimal time to adjust to the flow. More, Sturridge is tasked with getting a contribution that requires a lot more team involvement. A top closer could strike out the side and notch a save, needing only himself and his catcher to make it happen. Sturridge will make runs, of course, and still needs to finish, but it is generally dependent on his teammates making key passes and creating scoring opportunities. And this is what makes his goal against Chelsea perhaps that much more impressive: dropped into the dying moments of a match against a top class opponent, Sturridge made a goal out of nothing. Running against the grain and atypical in terms of how the game of football usually works, Sturridge came up with a magic moment. I’m no scholar of the game and thus can’t say with certainty if there have been other forwards deployed - successfully - in a similar type of situation. But one of the joys I’ve taken out of this season has been to see Sturridge’s always imminent threat and clear class lead to actually nabbing some goals. Here’s hoping that Klopp’s management of his minutes and Sturridge’s hard work will continue to pay dividends for him and Liverpool.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2176
__label__cc	0.565894	0.434106	Digitizing the Market: How Blockchain Technology is Revolutionizing the Video Advertising Industry “Blockchain” has become a flashy buzzword in the modern global vocabulary, especially in the financial sector. Most will recognize the word “blockchain” from discussions about the rise of cryptocurrency markets such as Bitcoin and the like. However, trends in the global market are indicating that blockchain technology will become relevant in a wide array of fields, including the massively influential video advertising field. In February of 2018, the Interactive Advertising Bureau released a Whitepaper about the market effects of blockchain technology in digital advertising, and the possible future benefits it offers to the video advertising market, primarily increasing efficiency for both ad agencies and content creators. Blockchain will be an intriguing trend to follow in the video advertising industry, and its usage signals an important development in the industry toward more efficient markets, which will have global ramifications. Before I go any further in examining blockchain technology’s role in video advertising, it is necessary to explain what blockchain actually is and provide a basic outline of how it functions. Blockchain is a network-based ledger of transactions between users, who have permission to enter data, which permanently becomes a part of the blockchain. The network is a decentralized database of information entered by its users, and all of the data can be made visible for each user. Below is a handy graphic that walks through the basic steps of the technology (Source). Blockchain in Video Advertising: What We’ve Seen So Far One of the first signifiers of this growing trend occurred in July of 2017 when DECENT, a blockchain-based content distribution platform launched PUBLIQ, a free application that is built onto DECENT’s existing blockchain network, which allows content creators to post their work onto the blockchain, and develop a “reputation score” based off the number of views and viewer feedback. DECENT claims that this will give ad agencies “frictionless access” to uncensored content, and the “reputation score” ensures that content creators will be more fairly compensated for their work.The network claims to facilitate free and safe distribution between the artist and the buyer. The lexical repository of the brand launch statement includes many buzzwords that often enter into the blockchain conversation, i.e. its efficiency, ease of use, and its safeguarded transaction ledger. Other corporations seeking to take advantage of these same conveniences have rolled out services of a similar model, most notably, Comcast’s advanced advertising group has developed a blockchain method for brands to buy ad space on broadcast or OTT television. This means that marketing agencies and programmers receive data from content publishers that will instruct them on how to target their ad buys, without revealing to them all of the content publisher’s actual data. (Source). While this service unites global media brands including Comcast, Disney, and Altice, even larger global networks are being formed to integrate such services. 2018 will see the launch of New York Interactive Advertising Exchange, which, in partnership with Nasdaq, will become a marketplace for the buying and selling of future ad inventory by automated contracts for digital ad buys. (Source). While it seems certain that blockchain technology will be a growing part of the video advertising conversation in the years to come, there remain some stumbling blocks in the way of its large scale usage. There will be some time before ad agencies get on board, and the whole industry can be streamlined. Issues also exist in terms of scale and adaptability to the premium video market, however most professionals in the industry seem to be optimistic about the future efficacy of the blockchain model. Content creators and ad agencies alike should be on the watch for shifting trends in the video content market, especially the effects of the blockchain phenomena that has already taken the financial world by storm, and is showing promise in a diverse array of industries. By: Jessica Crandall	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2182
__label__wiki	0.994526	0.994526	Music » Music Lead The Song Remains Insane U.S. Maple thrives on the need to "reorganize" rock and roll. by Rob Harvilla U.S. Maple, with Sweet Roxx and Shuteye Grog Shop, 1765 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights 10 p.m., Friday, March 2 U.S. Maple: A bountiful plate of something to hate. If Al Johnson, singer/moaner/wheezer for the Chicago avant-grunge jazz quartet U.S. Maple, remembers nothing else about his band's experiences in Cleveland, he'll remember the dogs. When the band played a show on the Case Western Reserve campus, it regaled what it hoped were open-minded college kids with its freaked-out, utterly indescribable free-form rock, splintered blues chords, arbitrary, time-signature-less rhythms, and song structures and melodies that seemingly rise from the dead and float in the air for a few seconds, before abruptly imploding. And above it all, Johnson's ghoulish, near-incoherent croon, gasping tortured lyrical fragments in a voice so indecipherable, some fans swear he's singing in Japanese. Then the dogs came. "The way our songs are structured, and the way we present them, things dwindle down to virtually nothing," Johnson explains. "So we were doing our thing, and I can't remember if it was one or two dogs had joined us up on stage. And they weren't necessarily going from band member to band member -- they were sort of facing the audience, like we were." An emotional bond had formed. Unified and content, the band and its newfound friends stood staring out onto a probably befuddled crowd. "There were disparaging similarities between the dogs and us," Johnson continues. "It crystallized the way this band is thought of in this country: how we're perceived as dogs, and how lonely a dog can be. I don't think I'll ever forget that." Likewise, few art-rock enthusiasts who cross the path of U.S. Maple -- which, in addition to Johnson, includes drummer Patrick Samson and guitarists Todd Rittmann and Mark Shippy -- will forget the experience. Beginning with its 1995 debut Long Hair in Three Stages and leading up to its upcoming fourth long-player, Acre Thrills, the quartet has gleefully hijacked the key components of "rock" (guitar riffs, rumbling drums, and guttural moans) and scrambled them beyond comprehension. Think of U.S. Maple as the anti-Smashing Pumpkins -- pop music conceived and written and performed in exact reverse, sacrificing cohesion for intense concentration. Johnson has resigned himself to a lifetime of Captain Beefheart comparisons, but the ultimate U.S. Maple end product is the band's and the band's alone. On record or in person, the four players often appear to have no relationship with each other -- it's as if they're not even playing the same song. "I think there are moments when we don't know what we're about to do," Johnson says of the U.S. Maple live experience. "We don't know if we're going to get to the end of a song, come in together, or find a resolve." Then again, pop backwards is still pop, lack of resolve notwithstanding. Acre Thrills finds U.S. Maple confidently sticking to its anti-rock guns, blasting out free-jazz jolts of electric rock inspiration with song titles such as "Chang, You're Attractive," "Make Your Bedroom Great," and "Rice Ain't Afraid of Nothing." The album retains traces of the paranoia that dominated Talker, the band's 1999 quasi-concept album that Johnson once described as dealing with "high school, the last American haunted house." The subject matter may have changed, but the core U.S. Maple sound and philosophy have not. Committed from the beginning to "reorganizing rock and roll," the band ain't done yet. "U.S. Maple is a rock and roll band," Johnson explains. "We were in 1995, and we are now. I think we're still doing it. Every time we make a record, we have to reorganize the race and further this idea. We continue to do that. You can listen to all of our albums, and I don't think we've strayed far from what we're trying to do. We're still scratching." "Scratching" still ably describes Johnson's voice: As the song titles suggest, translating his lyrical conceits ("Yeah/Go ahead/Get your window clear") proves almost impossible. But -- at least in theory -- it makes sense to his fans, and it certainly makes sense to him. "It's a natural course for me to be a better singer after all these years, but by no means do I think I'm going to be known as a singer, so much," Johnson admits. "I think I'm known for being this physical flu on stage." If anything, Johnson hopes to vocally present the image of someone attempting to be known as a singer -- and quite possibly failing. "The undercurrent of feelings and emotions from someone who's trying to do something is poetry to me," he says. "I try to do things and go places where I'm not sure I'm going to make it. I think that comes across. I think there are moments on the records when you go, 'Oh, God.' "I've always been sincere," Johnson concludes, sincerely. "This band is the most sincere thing I've been a part of in my life." But sincerity has rarely enthralled the masses, and the band thus draws the small but unshakably devoted fan base that insists Johnson and Co. are light years ahead of their time -- 30 years from now, U.S. Maple will enjoy the deification currently heaped upon, uh, Captain Beefheart. Then there's the small but unshakably devoted contingent that shows up for a live gig and subsequently considers U.S. Maple the very scourge of mankind. "There are people who absolutely detest what's going on," Johnson admits. "Detest it. But generally, the people who hate U.S. Maple -- they stick around. We're offering something that keeps them there, so they can decide what they hate next." Johnson appears to welcome either reaction. "I think we have a profound effect on people -- good or bad," he says. "I think if you can leave people with that at the end of a show, you're open to interpretation, down the line. I think it's quite easy to be bluesy, to have a retro sound. You can go out and buy those things. It's a lot harder to create something from absolutely nothing -- to get out there and put it out there. I don't think people know what to do with it all the time."	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2183
__label__cc	0.69664	0.30336	(thing) by flyingroc Wed Mar 21 2007 at 22:59:04 What is software testing Software testing is the act of comparing the behavior of software against its formal or informal specification. That is, we are testing a piece of software when we compare what it does against what it is supposed to do. The aim of testing is twofold: Find bugs Increase confidence in the quality of the software under test The testing process Software testing can happen at any time in the development process, and is done in three stages. First, test cases are generated; this may be done by humans (e.g. a programmer writing a unit test), or automatically generated by software. Test cases are often grouped together in a test suite. Tests are then executed, often using an automated test-runner, but also possibly manually by a user. Finally, an evaluation is made both of the quality of the software under test, and the quality of the test cases themselves. These three stages can happen with varying levels of formality and rigor. It can be as informal as an end user saying "When I type in 'xyz' on a text box, my browser crashes" to a test engineer building comprehensive test suites and running them every time code is checked in to a repository. Black-box and white-box testing Software testing is often categorized into two types, black box testing and white box testing. Black box testing is a process of testing software from its specifications; it is called black box, because typically the tester has no access to the source code, and must rely on the specifications to determine for each software component: given the inputs, what should be the outputs. Despite the lack of source code, black-box testing techniques can be effective. To generate effective test cases, black box testers ask things like: "Have I tested every method in the class?" "Do I have test cases for typical inputs?" and "Do I have test cases for the usual problem inputs such as null and 0?" White box testing, on the other hand relies on the availability of the source code. The availability of source code allow testers to ask additional questions like: "Have I executed every statement at least once?" or "Do I have enough test cases such that every if statement evaluates to true at least once and false at least once?" (see code coverage). Often both types of testing are used in an organization, for example, using black-box testing techniques to generate test cases, and white-box techniques to evaluate the strength of the test cases. Levels of testing Testing occurs at all levels of software from individual software units (e.g. a class or method -- unit testing) to interactions between those units (integration testing) to the whole software system itself (system testing). Testing is performed by various people as well, from the developer themselves, to dedicated testing teams, to the end users in the form of alpha and beta-testing. Too often, software is not tested rigorously enough by the software developers, and buggy software is put into production. The task of actual testing is given to the poor end users, who are relied on to report catastrophic failures of the software. This has to change. While few people dispute the necessity of software testing in a modern programming discipline, many argue that it is wholly inadequate to ensure the quality, let alone correctness of software. This argument has been going on for a very long time. Dijkstra once estimated that it would take 30 thousand years to test all possible inputs of a multiplication operation.1 Dijsktra, of course is the same person who noted: "Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!" 2 He became convinced that the only way we can assure the correctness of programs is to prove them correct. Another computer science luminary, Andrew Tanenbaum, wrote a paper called "In defense of program testing"3 that argues for software testing; including that even if we can prove software correct, we need to test whether the proof was itself correct. Or, as Donald Knuth famously quipped: "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it."4 1http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD03xx/EWD303.html 2http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd02xx/EWD249.PDF 3In defense of program testing or correctness proofs considered harmful, ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 11 , Issue 5 (May 1976) 4http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/faq.html Testing regression testing full-scale systems test cyclomatic complexity algorithm trace BS7925-1 Alpha test Software mutation testing Chief Programmer Team unit test Hiren's BootCD postcondition test vector retesting Position Independent Code Everything University June 11, 2019 Software design First Day Cover Home designs and styles George W. Bush's 2004 State of the Union Address United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon Escitalopram How to eat a mango On finding a wife Open letter to God Kicking up leaves as we walk along Basic self-defence techniques for women	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2184
__label__cc	0.702754	0.297246	Last edited by Zujinn Thursday, October 8, 2020 \| History 4 edition of Winning with the sicilian defense. found in the catalog. Winning with the sicilian defense. Jeremy B. Silman by Jeremy B. Silman Published 1991 by Chess Digest in Dallas . Pagination 174p. Sicilian Defense, Pin Variation - GM Yasser Seirawan - Duration: Saint Louis Chess Club , views. Sicilian Kan - The Carlsen Attack Trap (trap no. ) - Duration: In chess, the Smith–Morra Gambit (or simply Morra Gambit) is an opening gambit against the Sicilian Defence distinguished by the moves. 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3. White sacrifices a pawn to develop quickly and create attacking chances. In exchange for the gambit pawn, White has a piece developed after 3 and a pawn in the center, while Black has an extra pawn and a central pawn majority. In chess, the Dragon Variation is one of the main lines of the Sicilian Defence and begins with the moves. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6. In the Dragon, Black fianchettoes their bishop on g7, castling on the king's side while aiming the bishop at the center and one of the most popular and theoretically important lines, the Yugoslav Variation, White meets. Buy Winning with the Sicilian defense Rev. 2nd ed by Jeremy Silman (ISBN: ) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible s: 1. The Sicilian Dragon is a variation of the Sicilian Defense opening for black. The Sicilian Defense is arguably the best answer to white’s most common opening, 1. e4. The main reason it’s so strong is because black does a great job preventing white from playing d4 easily and establishing a strong pawn center. Chess Opening Books > Sicilian Defense; Sicilian Defense. Shop By. Clearance Items. Unbeatable Deal (49) Price. $0 $38 $0 to $ Year of Publication. to Manufacturer. Everyman Chess (40) Quality Chess (12) New in Chess (8) Chess. The sage of Bethany Synthesis and organisation in the bacterial cell. The history of Hell Pipeline safety reauthorization The mountains of central Spain Lets go, Washington, D.C., 1992 Encyclopedia of integrated circuits The title of kings proved to be jure devino Open Channels Physicians and health care in the Third World Winning with the sicilian defense by Jeremy B. Silman Download PDF EPUB FB2 "Winning with the Sicilian Defense A Complete Repertoire Against 1 e4," Revised 2nd Edition is a tome of pages, which provides a system, or repertoire, of opening variations for playing the Black side of the Sicilian. A significant portion of the book is devoted to the Accelerated Dragon, where Black plays an immediate g6 after 1 e4 c5 2 /5(2). Winning With The Sicilian Defense book. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. Chess strategy manual by a master/5(11). Winning with the Sicilian defense: A complete repertoire against 1 e4 by Jeremy Silman Free PDF d0wnl0ad, audio books, books to read, good books to read, cheap books, good books, online books, books online, book reviews epub, read books online, books to read online, online library, greatbooks to read, PDF best books to read, top books to read. The Sicilian Defense is the most common response to 1. By advancing the c-pawn at the first move, Black creates an asymmetry in the pawn structure. This leads to an imbalanced position that gives Black higher chances to win. Besides this, the move 1 c5 controls the important d4-square. The Classical Sicilian (reached from many move orders, such as 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6) is one of the soundest lines of the Sicilian for Black, if not always the most enterprising. White has several options beginning on the sixth move, such as. This page book covers most Open, OFF-BEAT and Closed Sicilian Defense PAWN STRUCTURES alive today, but there are SSOOOOO many to choose from, it may be short by most standards. I believe this work could have more of a point with modern game data () but the modeled games STILL have s: Sicilian Defense Chess Books. Chess Books» Sicilian Defense; The Sicilian (1. e4 c5) is the most played chess opening nowadays. First analysed in the 17th century in some depth by a Sicilian priest, it has been a strong way to meet 1. e4 ever since, directly challenging the centre of the board. I will give you a list of some good books, but before I do, I want to echo what Mr. Holmes suggested, that’s it’s more important to under the key ideas of opening that trying to learn and memorize massive amounts of theory. The eminent chess teach. Cant recommend a book for this one because I havent played this opening. Also for ultra sharp and tactical play I recommend the Sicilian Dragon. There are 2 books I can recommend: Winning with the Sicilian Dragon 2 by Ward, and Play the Sicilian Dragon by some author I heard who's good. For positional play. In chess, Wing Gambit is a generic name given to openings in which White plays an early b4, deflecting an enemy pawn or bishop from c5 so as to regain control of d4, an important central square. (Or in which Black plays b5, but Wing Gambits offered by Black are very rare.) The most common Wing Gambit is in the Sicilian Defence (1.e4 c5 2.b4). The most important Wing Gambit is the Evans. Winning with the Sicilian defense: A complete repertoire against 1 e4. The Amazon Book Review Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone /5(2). Title: "Winning With The Sicilian Defense" Released: Format: pdf Size: 5 Mb. Download book. Similar news. Sicilian Defense: The Chelyabinsk Variation. Complete Defense to King Pawn Openings. Winning with the Najdorf Sicilian: An Uncompromising Repertoire for Black — download book. B Sicilian Defense - download book. agonizing deliberations) did not make the final cut. The whole Sicilian Defence creates something of a ‘win-win’ situation, in the sense that the unbalanced positions often result in bloodshed for one side or the other. In some variations Black may have to defend for a while, but it rarely kills. ♕ Learn more about the chess course "Master Sicilian Pawn Structures" and get it with amazing offers - ♕ Download the PGN of these ches. This book is being replaced by two new volumes on the Sicilan. Grandmaster Repertoire 6A - Beating the Anti-Sicilians by Vassilios Kotronias is now available. Playing the Najdorf is planned for Lubomir Ftacnik is a renowned opening analyst with great experience and expertise in the Sicilian Defense. In this book he reveals his secrets to provide a complete repertoire for Black against. A chess study by Francesco_Super. Accessibility: Enable blind mode. Play By Jeremy Silman Winning with the Sicilian defense: A complete repertoire against 1 e4 (2nd) [Paperback] Paperback – Decem out of 5 stars 3 ratings See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions/5(3). Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Winning with the Sicilian defense: A complete repertoire against 1 e4 at Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users/5. In many ways, the Najdorf Sicilian is the ideal defense against 1.e4 - aggressive and leading to creative and exciting play, allowing Black to play for a win and yet unquestionably sound. Despite the Najdorf's great popularity and reputation as a theoretical labyrinth, Bryan Smith believes it is possible to play it "by the light of nature. In this series, Chess Opening Tutorial, I give you an introduction to the Sicilian Opening, also known as the Sicilian Defense. The Sicilian Defence occurs a. This book gives a complete defensive system against 1.e4. The opening we choose is the Sicilian Defense c5. The Accelerated Dragon is the variation given if White plays the Open Variation: 3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4 g6.Winning with the Najdorf – King – Chess Book Review Description: The Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defence is one of Black’s most exciting defences. As cutting edge opening theory and one of Black’s most exciting defenses, the Najdorf variation is a favorite of counter-attacking players worldwide. Today, we are looking at the Taimanov Sicilian which arises after the moves 1.e4 c5 3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4 Nc6. The opening is named after Grandmaster Mark Taimanov. frecklesandhoney.com - Winning with the sicilian defense. book © 2020	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2192
__label__cc	0.597719	0.402281	All developments De Connectie Startbaan, Amstelveen The existing building on the Startbaan will eventually make room for housing. The location lends itself well for a combination of single-family homes and apartments. The plans have been designed in consultation with the municipality, in connection with the surrounding housing construction, while maintaining the green character of its surroundings. Caritas & Fortitudo Postjesweg, Amsterdam The office building on the Postjesweg will eventually be redeveloped into housing. The location is ideal for the construction of (rental) apartments. The housing plans are developed in consultation with the municipality and with respect for the immediate environment. The Modernist Kruisplein, Rotterdam The final part of the redevelopment of the Weenapoint complex will take place at the Kruisplein. Architect Jacob van Rijs (MVRDV) is responsible for the design of The Modernist: high-quality entrances and shops on the ground floor, approx. 14,000 m² of high-quality office space and approximately 300 apartments, with a magnificent view over the city. The design is inspired by modernism that is so characteristic of Rotterdam's architecture from the 1950s and 1960s. Professor E.M. Meijerslaan, Amstelveen OPEN is a high-quality and energy-neutral office building of approximately 18,000 m2 GFA. It is rising in the Kronenburg district, the largest office location in Amstelveen and one of the largest in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. This area of approximately 25 hectares will be transformed into a dynamic all-round campus in the coming decade. A place where working, living and meeting come together. With OPEN as the center. Klaprozenweg Buiksloterham, Amsterdam Noord The Buiksloterham district (Amsterdam Noord) is transforming from a mono-functional industrial area on the outskirts of the city to a mixed city centre on the IJ. With a view on the water, residential and work buildings are rising next to each other, while retaining the industrial character of the location. On the corner of Klaprozenweg and Papaverweg there is room for a landmark building, with approximately 64 affordable, circular homes. The residential program consists mainly of 2- and 3-room apartments intended to be rented out. De Distel Distelweg, Amsterdam The existing buildings on Distelweg 78 - 80 will be partly demolished in order to add approximately 140 new homes, business premises and parking spaces. The (mainly) 2- and 3-room apartments are being developed as rental properties and will be added to the Maarsen Group residential portfolio. Bovenkerkerweg Bovenkerkerpolder, Amstelveen On the edge of the Bovenkerkerweg in Amstelveen, the existing, outdated office buildings will be demolished to make room for affordable housing. In 2021, an area vision will first be drawn up for the various developments on the east side of the Bovenkerkerweg. Subsequently, the plan for approximately 250 sustainable and nature-inclusive rental and owner-occupied apartments will be developed. The plans are developed with respect for the existing greenery and the wishes of the surrounding residential area. The rental homes will be realized for the housing portfolios of Maarsen Groep and partner Zadelhoff.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2195
__label__wiki	0.768999	0.768999	Graeme MacKay's Editorial Cartoon Archive August 29, 2017 by Graeme MacKay Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 30, 2017 “We made a large and serious mistake:” Bob Young apologizes to TiCat fans Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young is apologizing after a controversial near hire that sent fans and corporate partners into a frenzy. “We made a large and serious mistake. We want to apologize to our fans, corporate partners and the Canadian Football League. It has been a difficult season and we are searching for answers. This is clearly not one of them,” Young said in a statement on Tuesday. Art Briles – whose invitation to be a coach here was pulled late last night, was fired as the head coach of Baylor University last May after an investigation discovered the school mishandled numerous sexual assault allegations, including some against football players and that “football personnel chose not to report sexual violence and dating violence.” CEO Scott Mitchell says the franchise was caught off guard by the level of anger that would follow the hiring of Briles, who’d been at the centre of one of the largest sexual assault scandals in U.S. college history. “We underestimated the tsunami of negativity that was going to happen,” Mitchell told The Fan590 radio station in Toronto. Mitchell said he believed Briles deserved a second chance after being fired from Baylor but society and the media decided it wasn’t the time. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: Art Briles, Baylor, coach, disaster, Hamilton, Scott Mitchell, Ticats, tiger-cats, Tim Horton Field, winless Click on dates to expand This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted. Social Media Connections Artizans Syndicate Association of Canadian Cartoonists Wes Tyrell Guy Bado’s Blog You Might be From Hamilton if… Intellectual Property Thief Donkeys National Newswatch Young Doug Ford MacKay’s Virtual Gallery Brand New Designs! 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__label__cc	0.585182	0.414818	Home » Universal Service The Universal Service Fund (US Fund) is a system of subsidies and fees managed by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA).The Fund is the Authority’s main regulatory tool for promoting universal access to ICT services in rural and underserved areas in the country. The Fund was established in response to the National ICT Policy of 2013 which put a deliberate policy statement aimed at making ICTs available and accessible to all the people throughout the country particularly those in rural and underserved areas. The Fund was established through the Communications Act of 2016 which provides a legal framework for the US Fund establishment. The Act mandates the Authority to collect levies from all its licensees in the communications sector, allocate and disburse some part of the levy to address ICT access gap in the country. Read more. Objective of the US Fund The objective of the US Fund is to promote universal access to communications services which comprise of broadcasting, postal and telecommunications. It will fund deployment of communications infrastructure and service provision in rural and underserved areas where licensees may not be willing to invest due to lack of economic viability. The Fund will target areas where provision and access of services would otherwise be cost prohibitive. The Fund will enhance the reach of broadcasting, postal and telecommunications services to the underserved areas. The Fund will address both provision and the access of communication services in the rural and underserved areas.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2197
__label__wiki	0.823575	0.823575	Faint Worlds On the Far Horizon December 7, 2015 / Marc Kaufman / 0 Comments Faintest distant galaxy ever detected, formed only 400 million years after the Big Bang. NASA, ESA, and L. Infante (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile) For thinking about the enormity of the canvas of potential suns and exoplanets, I find images like this and what they tell us to be an awkward combination of fascinating and daunting. This is an image that, using the combined capabilities of NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, shows what is being described as the faintest object, and one of very oldest, ever seen in the early universe. It is a small, low mass, low luminosity and low size proto-galaxy as it existed some 13.4 billion years ago, about 4oo million years after the big bang. The team has nicknamed the object Tayna, which means “first-born” in Aymara, a language spoken in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America. Though Hubble and Spitzer have detected other galaxies that appear to be slightly further away, and thus older, Tayna represents a smaller, fainter class of newly forming galaxies that until now have largely evaded detection. These very dim bodies may offer new insight into the formation and evolution of the first galaxies — the “lighting of the universe” that occurred after several hundred million years of darkness following the big bang and its subsequent explosion of energy. This is an illustration by Adolf Schaller from the Hubble Gallery and shows colliding protogalaxies less than 1 billion years after the big bang. (NASA) Detecting and trying to understand these earliest galaxies is somewhat like the drive of paleo-anthropologists to find older and older fossil examples of early man. Each older specimen provides insight into the evolutionary process that created us, just as each discovery of an older, or less developed, early galaxy helps tease out some of the hows and whys of the formation of the universe. Leopoldo Infante, an astronomer at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, is the lead author of last week’s Astrophysical Journal article on the faintest early galaxy. He said there is good reason to conclude there were many more of these earliest proto-galaxies than the larger ones at the time, and that they were key in the “reionization” of the universe — the process through which the universe’s early “dark ages” were gradually ended by the formation of more and more luminous stars and galaxies.. But the process of detecting these very early proto-galaxies is only beginning, he said, and will pick up real speed only when the NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (scheduled to be launched in 2018) is up and operating. The Webb will be able to see considerably further back in time than the Hubble or Spitzer. Estimates of how many galaxies might exist in the universe are in flux, with recent studies producing results ranging from 100 to 225 billion. On average a galaxy will have some 100 billion stars, giving the universe a low-end estimate of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars. When it comes to planets, a consensus of sorts has formed around the conclusion that in the Milky Way, and perhaps elsewhere, there is on average at least one planet per star. So assuming that the planetary dynamics of our galaxy are similar to those of others, that’s an awful lot of potential exoplanets. PSR B1620-26 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 12,400 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius. It bears the unofficial nicknames “Methuselah” and “the Genesis planet” due to its extreme age. (NASA and G. Bacon, STScI) All this has significant implications for the field of exoplanet research. “We know that basically, planets form at about the same time as their stars from all the leftover dust and gas kicked up,” said Joel Green, Project Scientist at Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach (STScI.) The Institute operates the science for the Hubble Space Telescope as an international observatory. “The earliest planets may have been very different kinds of planets because there was not as much metallicity (heavier elements) in those stars. But as soon as you have stars, you have planets.” He said that in theory, that means that when the very earliest stars formed — during a time when the universe was essentially dark — planets were formed too. “They don’t need a universe of light to form; they need one star.” The most ancient exoplanet detected so far (PSR B1620-26 b) has had a rather unusual history, first born 12.7 billion years ago outside of a “globular cluster” of stars (a comparatively older, compact group of up to a million old stars, held together by mutual gravitation), it then migrated closer to the cluster and into a rough astrophysical neighborhood. As viewed today, it orbits a pair of burned-out stars in the crowded core of a globular star cluster. It was first identified as a possible planet in 1992 — before the detection of 51 Pegasi b — but it took more than a decade to confirm that it is. The oldest known exoplanet solar system is Kepler -444, formed 11.2 billion years ago in the Milky Way, itself 13.2 billion years old. Located in the constellation Lyra 116 light-years away, it hosts five rocky planets, all orbiting close to their sun. Kepler-444 hosts five Earth-sized planets in very compact orbits. A metal poor sun (composed largely of hydrogen and helium), it is very bright and easily seen with binoculars. (Tiago Campante/Peter Devine) The discovery of a solar system with rocky planets of this age (more than twice the age of our solar system’s rocky planet quartet), opens the door to the prospect of an early universe with many more rocky planets than once thought. That means there could be vast numbers of very ancient Earth-like planets out there. Returning to the faintest protogalaxy, it is described as being comparable in size to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a very small satellite galaxy of our Milky Way seen in the southern hemisphere. Tayna is rapidly making stars at a rate ten times faster than the LMC, and is likely the growing core of what will evolve into a full-sized galaxy. This faintest ancient galactic find is part of a discovery of 22 young galaxies at ancient times located nearly at the observable horizon of the universe, research that substantially increases in the number of known very distant galaxies. “The big unanswered question is how and when did the stars and galaxies turn on to end those Dark Ages,” said Green. “There was a point when they started popping like popcorn. With Hubble we can go back only so far and can’t see anymore, but the James Webb can go significantly further and see back to the Dark Ages.” Massive cosmic objects, from single stars to galaxy clusters, bend and focus the light that flows around them with their gravity, acting like giant magnifying glasses. This effect is called gravitational lensing or, when detected on distant plants and faint galaxies, microlensing. (ESA/ATG medialab) Ironically, Infante and his team were able to find the faintest distant galaxy so far without having it be the hardest to see. That’s because they were able to use a technique of observing first proposed by Albert Einstein. As described on the HubbleSite: The small and faint galaxy was only seen thanks to a natural “magnifying glass” in space. As part of its Frontier Fields program, Hubble observed a massive cluster of galaxies, MACS J0416.1-2403, located roughly 4 billion light-years away and weighing as much as a million billion suns. This giant cluster acts as a powerful natural lens by bending and magnifying the light of far-more-distant objects behind it. Like a zoom lens on a camera, the cluster’s gravity boosts the light of the distant protogalaxy to make it look 20 times brighter than normal. The phenomenon is called gravitational lensing and was proposed by Einstein as part of his General Theory of Relativity. While gravitational lensing uses a galaxy cluster as its magnifying glass, “micro-lensing” takes advantage of the same physics but uses a single star in our galaxy as the lens. That technique is the only known method capable of discovering planets at truly great distances from the Earth. Radial velocity searches look for planets in our immediate galactic neighborhood, up to 100 light years from Earth, transit photometry can potentially detect planets at a distance of hundreds of light-years, but only micro-lensing can find planets orbiting stars near the center of the galaxy, thousands of light-years away. And in the spirit of the wonder that microlensing tends to engender, let me leave you with another of those defining astronomical images that are impossible to ignore or forget. This is the third version of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, first assembled from 2003-2004 images, upgraded to the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) image in 2012 and then enhanced further in 2014 and returned to the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field name. Both the XDF and the 2014 version capture a patch of sky at the center of the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field. That initial effort, which looked back in time approximately 13 billion years, picked up many unintentionally microlensed galaxies. The newer images feature about 5,500 galaxies even within its smaller field of view. The faintest galaxies are one ten-billionth the brightness of what the human eye can see; just imagine that ratio for a single star or a planet. So while there undoubtedly are an untold numbers of planets in the field, they will remain hidden for a very long time to come. Hubble Ultra Deep Field from 2014. using full range of ultraviolet to near infrared, includes some of the most distant galaxies imaged by an optical telescope. It is the third iteration of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image, and combines more than 10 years of Hubble photographs taken of a patch of sky at the center of the original creation. (NASA) Astrobiology, Discoveries, Exoplanets, Featured, Galaxies, Phenomena 51 Pegasi bexoplanetsfaintest galaxiesHubble Space TelescopeHubble Ultra Deep FieldJames Webb Space telescopereionization Exoplanet Earth The Borderland Where Stars and Planets Meet	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2200
__label__cc	0.646274	0.353726	Home > Stocks & Markets Market Realist covers stock and business developments in financial services from mature established firms to the latest fintech startups. What Are the New Fannie Mae Loan Limits in 2022? Fannie Mae, along with Freddie Mac, provides financing for mortgage lenders. It follows federal regulations and limits for loans determined by average home prices. By Kathryn Underwood Dec. 28 2021, Published 11:54 a.m. ET Apple investor takeaways: Why loyalty will decide Apple’s future According to the latest report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C continued to lead the British smartphone market in May. By Puneet Sikka Dec. 4 2020, Updated 10:53 a.m. ET Strong economic data is causing the yield curve to steepen The shape of the yield curve matters almost as much as the absolute level of interest rates to financial companies As a general rule, financial companies (banks, REITs) borrow short and lend long. What this means is that they lever their balance sheet by borrowing at short-term interest rates and generally invest in longer-maturity assets, […] By Brent Nyitray, CFA, MBA Dec. 4 2020, Updated 10:53 a.m. ET What to watch for in real estate next week The week ahead Earnings season is pretty much over. Only five companies will report next week; nobody related to real estate is reporting. Next week is not all that heavy data-wise, although we will get the S&P Case-Schiller Home Price Index and Pending Home Sales. The Case-Schiller data will be from March, which should begin […] Strong Resistance Pushed Corn Prices Lower March corn futures prices were trading near the crucial resistance level of 370 cents per bushel on January 21, 2016. By Sean Brown Dec. 4 2020, Updated 10:53 a.m. ET The Fed maintains its policy on reinvesting QE assets The Fed’s decision to reinvest QE assets in the markets affects REITs. It keeps a bid under TBAs, and it supports MBS values in general. Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group sells its stake in British Petroleum The Baupost Group pared almost half of its stake in British Petroleum (BP), which accounted for 7.80% of the fund’s total portfolio in 4Q 2013. By Samantha Nielson Dec. 4 2020, Updated 10:52 a.m. ET Company & Industry Overviews Mortgage REITs Rose among the Volatile Market The week ending December 24, 2015, reaped positive results for all of the mortgage REITs. The VanEck Vectors ETF Trust (MORT) ended with returns of 6.1%. By Steve Sage Dec. 4 2020, Updated 10:52 a.m. ET Must-know: Why the jobs report slammed Ginnie Mae TBAs Friday’s stronger-than-expected jobs report was the catalyst for a heavy sell-off in the bond market. The ten-year bond sold off by 15 basis points. Import prices fall in May Import prices are an important driver of inflation The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its U.S. Import and Export Price Indices monthly. The report keeps track of import prices by locality, type, and fuel/non-fuel. It also separates commodities and non-commodities. Commodity prices tend to be more volatile than non-commodity prices, so it makes sense to […] Weekly Realist real estate roundup (Part 2) Back to Part 1 Mortgage-backed securities are the starting point for all mortgage market pricing, and they’re the investment of choice for mortgage REITs When the Federal Reserve talks about buying mortgage-backed securities (MBS), it’s referring to the To-Be-Announced market (usually referred to as the TBA market). The TBA market allows loan originators to take individual […] Market Realist Chronicles: Global investment strategy and outlook for 2014, Part 1 At the close of December 2013, the S&P 500 was up 29.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was up 26.5%, the Nasdaq was up 38.2%, and the Russell 2000 was up 37.0%. By Liam Odalis Dec. 4 2020, Updated 10:52 a.m. ET ARCP’s Cole Capital acquisition ended due to accounting issue In November, RCS Capital terminated a $700 million deal to acquire Cole Capital from ARCP. Outflows in High-Yield Funds Fell, Yield on High-Yield Bonds Rose Investor flows in high-yield bond funds were negative last week. According to Lipper, the net outflows from high-yield bond funds totaled $0.5 billion. By Lynn Noah Dec. 4 2020, Updated 10:43 a.m. ET Analyzing China’s Leading Economic Index China’s Leading Economic Index currently indicates that the country’s economy is facing a downturn. Its LEI remained unchanged at 98.71 points in July 2015. By Lynn Noah Nov. 20 2020, Updated 5:24 p.m. ET Unemployment in Mexico holds steady, finally some good news May unemployment figures were marginally stable compared to April Unemployment is a key indicator of economic health. It’s a lagging indicator, and that means it’s better at confirming trends, especially downward trends, since unemployment rises faster than it falls. Unemployment holds steady, in line with PMI employment indicator The June PMI showed a continued slowdown […] By Dale A. Norton, ME Nov. 20 2020, Updated 5:20 p.m. ET Ginnie Mae TBAs rally before the Fed meeting Mortgage-backed securities are the starting point for all mortgage market pricing and the investment of choice for mortgage REITs When the Federal Reserve talks about buying mortgage-backed securities, it’s referring to the To-Be-Announced (also know as the TBA) market. The TBA market allows loan originators to take individual loans and turn them into a homogeneous product […] By Brent Nyitray, CFA, MBA Nov. 20 2020, Updated 5:15 p.m. ET MDC Partners Issued the Most Junk Bonds in the Week to March 18 MDC Partners (MDCA) offers marketing and communication network services. It issued dollar-denominated junk bonds worth $900 million on March 18. The End Of Quantitative Easing Could Make Mortgage REITs Vulnerable Big agency REITs like Annaly (NLY) and American Capital Agency (AGNC) took the chance to deleverage their balance sheets after the warning in the spring of 2013. Home Prices Keep Climbing, and Here’s What It Means The latest Existing Home Sales report shows available inventory at 4.7 months and a market that’s tilted heavily in favor of sellers. Why the HARP refis dry up as rates rise, lowering prepay speeds HARP was designed to help people who wanted to stay in their home and who had adjustable-rate mortgages where they wouldn’t be able to afford the payment once the mortgage adjusted upward. Why home price appreciation has saved MFA Financial MFA Financial is a REIT that invests in both agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities MFA Financial (MFA) is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in both agency (government-guaranteed) and non-agency (non-guaranteed) mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Its portfolio is primarily invested in hybrids, adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM), and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages. It chooses to invest […] Macroeconomic Analysis The Argentine Peso Tanks as Government Fulfils the Promise of Freefloat The US dollar and Argentinian peso currency pair, which is inversely related to the Argentinian peso, rose by 35.6% on December 17, 2015. By David Meyer Nov. 20 2020, Updated 4:51 p.m. ET Why Ginnie Mae TBAs rallied despite looming government shutdown High-Yield Bond Issuance Fell after the FOMC’s Dovish Statement Last week brought the total US dollar-denominated issuance of high-yield debt to $24.3 billion in 2016 YTD. It’s 71.0% lower than the same period in 2015. Discover Financial Services: Assessing Analysts’ Ratings Five analysts suggested a “hold,” one recommended a “strong sell,” and nine recommended a “strong buy” on DFS stock. By Raymond Anderson Nov. 20 2020, Updated 4:35 p.m. ET NFIB Small Business Survey flashes warning signs for REITs The National Federation of Independent Business Optimism Survey is a finger on the pulse of small business. Rackspace Hosting sees activist interest from Blue Harbour In September, after months of speculation that Rackspace could be acquired by CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL) and had interest from Hewlett-Packard, the company said it was no longer exploring merger and acquisition options. On the contrary, the company declared its commitment to remain independent. By Samantha Nielson Nov. 20 2020, Updated 4:28 p.m. ET Fannie Mae TBAs rally as Ben Bernanke soothes the bond market, better for mortgage REITs Mortgage-backed securities are the starting point for all mortgage market pricing, and they’re the investment of choice for mortgage REITs When the Federal Reserve talks about buying mortgage-backed securities, it’s referring to the To-Be-Announced market (usually referred to as the TBA market). The TBA market allows loan originators to take individual loans and turn them into […] Fannie Mae TBAs flat as rates stabilize, good for mortgage REITs Last week was a relatively light week data-wise, and many market participants were off work ahead of the Labor Day weekend. Passive Funds Investing in Russian Stocks Have Had a Good 1Q16 All passive funds have outpaced the actively managed LETRX in 1Q16. Picks from the information technology sector did the LETRX in. By David Ashworth Nov. 20 2020, Updated 4:13 p.m. ET The Dallas Fed explains why the Texas housing market is hot The General Business Activity Index rose to 11.4 from 7 the month before. The six-month outlook rose as well, to 18.7 from 11.8. Capital expenditures fell, although most other sub-indices were increasing. Radar Logic futures curve predicts flat real estate prices until September 2014 Radar Logic futures can be used to forecast real estate prices Most people are unaware that there is a futures market for U.S. real estate prices. The Radar Logic futures contract launched about a year ago on the CBOE Futures Exchange. While they are not especially liquid, they do provide an insight into what the market […] ADP Payrolls come in lower than expected The ADP National Employment Report is a monthly preview of the Labor Department’s Jobs Report Automatic Data Processing (ADP) is a global provider of business outsourcing. They provide a range of services from human resources to payroll. The ADP National Employment Report is published monthly by the ADP Research Institute. It provides a snapshot of […] Mortgage servicing rights increase in value as interest rates rise Mortgage servicing rights are one of the few financial assets that increase in value as rates rise Most mortgage REITs are exposed to changes in interest rates, and are usually long-duration, which means that the value of their portfolio decreases in value as interest rates rise. Good examples of these types of REITs would be […] PLVVX: Weak Emerging Economies Lead to Poor Performance The PIMCO RAE Low Volatility Plus Emerging Fund Class A (PLVVX) is an alternative mutual fund that mimics the long/short strategy to construct a portfolio with low volatility and high-income securities. By Ivan Kading Nov. 20 2020, Updated 3:51 p.m. ET Refinances increase as interest rates fall after the Fed surprise The MBA Refinance Index increases again after the Fed maintains its pace of QE (quantitative easing) The Refinance Index rose 3% (to 1,947 from 1,889) after the Fed decided to maintain its current pace of asset purchases. The bond market has been re-adjusting to the idea that we may see the end of quantitative easing soon, and […] Analyzing Risk-Adjusted Returns of Four China-Focused Mutual Funds Risk-adjusted returns is a concept that can be used to determine how much return an investment can provide with the given level of risk associated with it. How Does MGIC Investment Compare to Its Peers? The peers outperformed MGIC Investment based on the forward PE ratio. However, MGIC is way ahead of its peers based on the PBV ratio. By Gabriel Kane Nov. 20 2020, Updated 3:35 p.m. ET Why Davidson Kempner eliminates position in JPMorgan Chase Davidson Kempner exited a position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) that accounted for 1.29% of the fund’s 1Q14 portfolio. This position was initiated in 1Q14. JPMorgan Chase is a leading global financial services firm. It has $2.5 trillion assets. It has operations worldwide. Dallas Fed bounces back in May The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index is a manufacturing-focused index of business activity The Dallas Fed conducts its Texas Manufacturing Survey monthly, and it is similar to many of the other regional Fed surveys, like the Empire State Manufacturing Survey, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index or the Philly Fed. These are all diffusion type indices […] CalPERS establishes new position in CBS Outdoor Americas CBS Outdoor Americas is the largest provider of advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures and sites across the US, Canada, and Latin America. MBA Refinance index falls; prepayment worries fade into the background The MBA Refinance Index is an important index that forecasts mortgage activity and prepayments The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Index of Refinance Activity measures application activity, not loans made. The Mortgage Bankers Association samples roughly 75% of all mortgage activity in the U.S., and its indices are key indicators for the real estate finance market […] 10-year bond breaks out of its trading range on positive reports Mortgage-backed securities are the starting point for all mortgage market pricing, and they’re the investment of choice for mortgage REITs When the Federal Reserve talks about buying mortgage-backed securities (MBS), it’s referring to the To-Be-Announced market (usually referred to as the TBA market). The TBA market allows loan originators to take individual loans and turn them […] HARP refinances fall in Q2 as rates increase, effect on REITs The Home Affordable Refinance Program permits homeowners with negative equity in their homes to refinance at today’s lower rates The Home Affordable Refinance Program was instituted in 2009 to allow homeowners with negative equity to take advantage of today’s low interest rate environment. Before HARP, banks wouldn’t lend more than the home’s value. In real-estate […] How Did the Fidelity China Region Fund Class C Perform in August? The Fidelity China Region Fund Class C (FHKCX) aims to achieve long-term capital growth. Manufacturing decelerates in the Dallas region, affecting REITs The Dallas Fed survey asks about output, employment, orders, prices, shipments, inventories, capacity utilization, prices, capital expenditures, and some other indicators. Must-know: Davidson Kempner sells stake in Omnicom Davidson Kempner exited a position in Omnicom (OMC) that accounted for 1.93% of the fund’s 1Q14 portfolio. The position was initiated in 1Q14. Omnicom is a leading global advertising, marketing, and corporate communications company. It offers its services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries. Must-know: Import prices fall, keeping inflation well-contained Inflation isn’t the Fed’s biggest concern at the moment. If anything, it’s worried that inflation is too low. Must-know: NFIB Small Business Optimism Survey slips in October When forecasting the Fed’s next move, it pays to focus on small business earnings as much as or more than the earnings of, say, Apple.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2202
__label__wiki	0.897133	0.897133	Intervening in Infancy Might Help Prevent Some Cases of Autism: Study Infants may show early signs of autism, but a diagnosis usually isn't made until age 3. Now, a new study suggests that jumpstarting therapy might stave off that diagnosis altogether. Researchers say their preemptive, parent-led intervention could have a significant impact on children's social development and longer-term disabilities. "What we found is that the babies who received our therapy had reduced behaviors that we use to diagnose autism. And, in fact, the therapy was so effective in supporting their development, that the babies who had received the therapy were less likely to meet clinical criteria for autism," said study author Andrew Whitehouse. He's a professor of autism research at Telethon Kids Institute and the University of Western Australia. The four-year randomized trial, supervised by Telethon Kids, included 104 babies in Australia, ages 9 months to 14 months. Most were followed to age 3. All had shown behavioral signs of autism, which can include reduced eye contact and less gesturing communication. Half the participants received the typical autism therapies. The other half received a 10-session intervention using video feedback, which records the parents with the infant, so parents can watch it later and observe how their baby communicates. Both groups went through the sessions for five months. By the time the children were 3, when a diagnosis could be made, researchers found that autism was one-third as likely in children who had received the new therapy, with 7% meeting the criteria for an autism diagnosis in the intervention group compared to 21% in the other group. Those children still had developmental difficulties, but the therapy supported their development by working with, instead of trying to counter, their unique development, according to the study authors. Using this approach, "we've reduced the level of disability to the point that they don't receive a diagnosis. What we can absolutely expect or hope is that these reductions in disability will translate to real-life, real-world, longer-term outcomes in terms of what they can achieve in their education, in their employment and in their everyday lives," said Whitehouse. This isn't in any way a cure for autism, nor is that an aim they believe in, Whitehouse said. Many therapies try to replace developmental differences with more "typical" behaviors. This new therapy instead tried to work with each child's unique differences to create a social environment that would work for that child, the researchers said. Parents developed increased sensitivity to their baby's unique communication. The researchers also saw an increase in parent-reported language development. "The purpose of the therapy is to help the parents observe, reflect and change the way in which they interact with their child," Whitehouse said. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can include impairments in social interaction and communication and repetitive behaviors, according to the study. In the United States, about 1 in every 54 kids has autism, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children are often born with small differences in the way they process the world, but those small differences can create larger disabilities later, Whitehouse explained. "Parent-child interactions are in no way a cause of autism. Absolutely not," Whitehouse said. "What we're saying is that parents are the most prominent and important people in their children's lives and they can play such a powerful role in helping support their development." Researchers plan to follow these children up to age 6 or 7 to get greater confirmation of the findings, published Sept. 20 in JAMA Pediatrics. The study is exciting for several reasons, said Dr. Victoria Chen, a developmental behavioral pediatrician at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York. "It is impressive that this low-intensity intervention showed a decrease in the number of children with clinical diagnosis of ASD at age 3 years old in the intervention group versus the control group, though the impact on multiple developmental and parental outcomes were not as significant," Chen said. "It is also impressive that these differences in symptoms of ASD were sustained over the two-year study period." Chen, who was not part of the study, said she found it interesting that families in the control group participated in more community-based therapeutic programs than the families in the intervention group, yet those in the intervention group still did better overall. To confirm the research, Chen said she'd like to see a larger study with a more diverse sample of participants. "It's hard to make the perfect study in an initial study," Chen said. "I don't want to take away from this study because it's a very, very good study and has lots of strengths." The website Baby Navigator has more on children's developmental milestones. SOURCES: Andrew Whitehouse, PhD, Angela Wright Bennett Professor of Autism Research, Telethon Kids and University of Western Australia and director, CliniKids, Nedlands, Western Australia; Victoria Chen, MD, developmental behavioral pediatrician, Cohen Children's Medical Center and assistant professor, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Uniondale, N.Y.; JAMA Pediatrics, Sept. 20, 2021 Infant / Child Care	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2205
__label__wiki	0.66578	0.66578	Tag: #memoir On September 1, 2020 By maryjom2015In Memoir1 Comment In February 1944, Irene was promoted to Tech Sergeant. A Tech or Technical Sergeant was similar in rank to a gunnery sergeant and other technical ranks with which it shared its insignia. Then in March, she made First Sergeant. By this time, she had 120 women in her company plus nineteen Drill Instructors (DIs) – all men, of course. She developed strong friendships with those DIs, who referred to her as “Top.” She learned about leadership and how to get people to do what you want them to do. Within the first year or so of her Marine Corps career, she had racked up an impressive collection of achievements: • the first woman to leave Sharpe & Dohme to join the Marines • among the first of eight women to be sworn into the Corps in Philadelphia • one of the first class of Women Marines to be trained at Hunter College • among the first group of Women Marines to appear in uniform in Philadelphia • one of the first group of fourteen chosen from boot camp to attend the inaugural class of Women Marines in First Sergeant’s school • the first of four women to make First Sergeant • the first woman to replace a male First Sergeant Irene (fourth from left) and her fellow Feathernecks arriving in Philadelphia. Photo Philadelphia Inquirer Life at Camp Lejeune did have its bright spots, however, and the Feathernecks (along with the Leathernecks) got liberty as long as they behaved. They’d frequently go into the nearest “town,” Swansboro, which had a population of 454 in 1940. Not exactly a metropolis. There was a great little restaurant there called Captain Charlie’s, where those Yankee girls learned how to eat Southern, from fried green tomatoes to grits to hushpuppies to yummy fried catfish, and crisp, succulent fried chicken. And, it was a change from the base. The locals loved seeing the women Marines, who were still a novelty then. I suspect this is where I learned my love for Southern food, although the only ones I remember my Mom cooking as I was growing up were fried green tomatoes. But I can easily make a meal out of grits. Especially if they have lots of butter and cheese in them. By August of 1944, there were fewer recruits, so Irene’s company began scaling back. They were down from 139 to 37 at this point, and because one of her clerks had been transferred, she was putting in 12- to 18-hour days just trying to keep up. It started to get really old really quickly. The only saving grace was the food on the base was significantly better, and she and Gerry had friends who were cooks and ran the mess hall. So, even when she worked late, she could always get some food, and especially some goodies like cake, brownies, and cookies. Irene loved goodies. During her time at Camp Lejeune, she met Carl, a fellow Marine who was a Chief Pharmacist’s Mate in the Quartermaster Corps. The Quartermasters were responsible for logistics, but served alongside the fighting units so they were in just as much danger. Irene and Carl fell deeply in love. They went to Swansboro and ate great food, along with Gerry and whoever she could round up to go along. But there were several hitches. For one, there was a war going on, so personal planning was complex and uncertain at best. More importantly, Carl had a tricky personal situation. He was married, but separated, when he met Irene, and he was very up-front about it. He swore that he’d soon be divorced, but he said that his wife kept dragging her feet on signing the papers. Irene had finally met who she thought was Mr. Right – if only he was not married. The situation was far from perfect.They both decided to enjoy life while they could, even if they were in limbo. They had a great time together until he was shipped out, first to San Diego, and then to Iwo Jima. He was in the 5th Division, which was the group that sustained the highest casualties of any Marine Division anywhere in WWII. Irene heard from him sporadically, but the last letter she received was in November 1944. She dreaded knowing what that meant, and even pulled some strings to see if she could get any kind of news of him, but to no avail.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2206
__label__wiki	0.867684	0.867684	Duterte did not interfere in bidding process for 3rd telco — Palace by AJ Siytangco By Genalyn Kabiling President Dutert has nothing to do with the selection of a consortium involving a Davao-based businessman as the third telecommunications player in the country, Malacañang said Thursday. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo (OPS / MANILA BULLETIN) Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo has rejected speculations that the President’s ties with businessman Dennis Uy influenced the bidding process for the new major telco player, saying Duterte does not meddle in government transactions. “I think it’s a baseless assumption because, given the character of this President, it’s far-fetched. As we all know, relationship, alliances, friendship do not matter with this President,” Panelo said during a Palace press briefing. “What matters to him is you follow the law and I’ll be with you. You don’t follow it and I’ll be against you,” Panelo said,” he added. Panelo maintained that the Mislatel consortium passed the preliminary screening for new major player without any intervention from the President. The consortium, which includes China Telecom, and Uy’s Udenna Corp. and Chelsea Logistics Holding Corp, recently emerged as the lone qualified bidder in the telco race, edging out two other rivals. “The President’s policy is not to interfere with his departments as well as the committees created by those departments so the President has nothing to do with any of those bidding, any of those negotiations or contracts. That’s the policy of the President and it holds until the end of his term,” he said. Amid reports the Davao businessman was one of the top campaign contributors of Duterte in the last presidential elections, Panelo said he could say if the President and Uy were close friends. “It doesn’t make you close to the President if you support the President,” he said. Asked if he vouching for the integrity of Mislatel consortium, Panelo said: “For as long as they follow the legal requirements, then the assumption is that they are qualified.” Even as Mislatel emerged as new major player, Panelo said the losing bidders could still appeal their cases before relevant authorities. “If one or two of them have not satisfied the requirements, this early, one of them will have to win over them. And then again as I said, there is still a remedy for them, they can appeal and point out why they should be the ones chosen by the committee,” he said.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2210
__label__wiki	0.548293	0.548293	Murders in Mexico surge to record in first half of 2019 Published July 22, 2019, 8:29 AM by Gabriela Baron & Minka Klaudia Tiangco MEXICO CITY – Murders in Mexico jumped in the first half of the year to the highest on record, according to official data, underscoring the vast challenges President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faces in reducing violence in the cartel-ravaged country. Bullet casings lie on the street near a crime scene in Acapulco, Mexico May 7, 2019. (REUTERS/Javier Verdin /File Photo/MANILA BULLETIN) There were 14,603 murders from January to June, versus the 13,985 homicides registered in the first six months of 2018, according to data posted over the weekend on the website of Mexico’s national public security office. Mexico is on course to surpass the 29,111 murders of last year, an all-time high. For years Mexico has struggled with violence as consecutive governments battled brutal drug cartels, often by taking out their leaders. That has resulted in the fragmentation of gangs and increasingly vicious internecine fighting. Veteran leftist Lopez Obrador, who took office in December, has blamed the economic policies of previous administrations for exacerbating the violence and said his government was targeting the issue by rooting out corruption and inequality in Mexico. “Social policies are very important – we agree they’ll have positive effects. But these positive effects will be seen in the long term,” said Francisco Rivas, director of the National Citizen Observatory, a civil group that monitors justice and security in Mexico. The complexity of fighting criminal groups is a major test for Lopez Obrador’s young administration, which has vowed to try a different approach than that of his predecessor. His administration last month launched a new militarized National Guard police force tasked with helping to fix the problem.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2211
__label__cc	0.637207	0.362793	Christian group airs apprehensions on SOGIE Published August 18, 2019, 11:17 AM by Dr. Eduardo Gonzales By Leslie Aquino Transgender women are invading safe spaces, especially that of women, according to Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life. It cited as an example of men who insist on relieving themselves in women’s comfort rooms. “Transgender women claim the right to use a comfort room of their choice. Well, what about the rights of women and girls, who are not safe in such a situation?” the group said in a statement posted on their Facebook page. “There have been a number of instances in other countries where such men have sexually assaulted women, including young girls, in such comfort rooms,” it further read. And CFC FFL believes that the space that will be invaded next is the freedom of speech especially with the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE) bill. “Tomorrow, the space to be invaded will be our freedom of speech. The SOGIE bill will stifle any critical speech that is perceived to be offensive to transgender women insisting on using women’s comfort rooms. Let us have none of it,” the group said. “Otherwise, there will be no more safe spaces. There will be no more comfort in comfort rooms,” added the group. To note, a transgender woman Gretchen Diez was prevented from using a women’s restroom of Farmers Plaza by a janitress, who insisted that she use the men’s restroom. Due to the incident, a number of groups such as the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the SOGIE-sensitive Anti-Discrimination Bill in both the Senate and the House of Representatives should be revisited. Villafuerte urges fellow solons to act swiftly on bill regulating bank accounts, e-wallets Stocks may see more profit taking ABS-CBN Entertainment partners with Viu Security Bank tops consumer survey during pandemic	cc/2022-05/en_head_0000.json.gz/line2212

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