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(Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic)
Lori Fieri Was Kicked Out of Guy Fieri’s Restaurant Long Before Marriage
Erica Landis
Your best friend just got fired from her restaurant job in Long Beach, California, but she's got a lot of friends still working there and the food is really good. So she asks you if you want to get something to eat with her at her previous place of employment. You say sure, but when you get there, her boss is restaurateur, Guy Fieri. He has no social media presence, net worth, or Hollywood status yet, but he tells you both to leave. You stick up for your friend and say no. This is not a bizarre dream. This is how Lori Fieri met her husband.
Guy Fieri told this adorable story to Delish back in 2017. He refers to his wife of over 25 years as "this blue-eyed, blonde girl giving me this mean mug." Guy said he just knew that she was the one for him. Awwww.
Lori was on a cross-country road trip when she met the not-yet-famous chef who would become her future husband. We don't know much about the early life of Guy Fieri's wife Lori, but we do know that she grew up in North Providence Rhode Island, and was headed to San Diego when she met Guy.
A post shared by Hunter Fieri (@hunterfieri)
How else would Guy Fieri woo his future wife? Through her stomach, of course. He cooked for her on their first date.
Guy told Delish in 2017,
"I don't remember what I made, but I do remember it was quite an epic time," he said. "The first time I cooked for her, she was just like, 'You made all this?' We both love food, so being able to cook, that was one of the things that impressed her."
Starting the Fieri Family
Guy and Lori got married in 1995, three years after that first meeting. Not only the bride changed her name after they got married. Guy legally changed his name from "Ferry" to "Fieri" which was his grandfather's name before it was changed on Ellis Island in New York when he arrived from Italy. Lori Brisson filled out the name change paperwork too and Mr. and Mrs. Guy and Lori Fieri were born, AKA The Mayor and First Lady of Flavortown.
One year later, their son Hunter Fieri was born. Another birth of sorts happened that year too. In 1996, Guy opened his very first restaurant called Johnny Garlic's in Santa Rosa, California.
In 2005, Ryder Fieri was born. The new Fieri family of four was about to have even more success when Guy won the second season of "Food Network Star" in 2006. That same year he began filming his first hit show for the Food Network, "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."
(Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
There would be many more TV shows including "Guy's Big Bite," "Guy's Family Cruise," "Guy's Grocery Games" and "Guy's Family Road Trip." All of this success was with his wife Lori Fieri by his side. But guess what? Lori can cook too. She may not be a famous chef but she makes a mean linguine with clams, as well as top sirloin with egg noodles and gravy.
Lori and Guy credit their long-lasting marriage to lots of compromise and understanding. Lori and Guy have been together from before he was a celebrity chef with those famous frosted tips. In fact, he had dark hair and dressed very differently when they first met.
Lori told People in 2019:
"He wore a suit to work every day," Lori said. "Now I look at him, and I'm like, 'Where's that man I married with the whole clean look?"
Guy's famous blonde hair was the result of a stylist experimenting with hair color and it all happened by accident. It was supposed to be temporary. We all know how that turned out.
"I always say, 'When are you going to change your haircut?' But it stuck and it's him," Lori said. "I tease him every once in a while. And I do want a little change sometimes. But that's like me changing my hair to black. I mean, I'm not going to do that for him, so."
Lori is Guy's biggest cheerleader. The best example of this is when Guy was approached by Carnival Cruise Ships to open a restaurant on one of their humongous sailing vessels. Guy wasn't really interested in the idea at all. But after some thought and a push from Guy's father to try something different, the Fieri family boarded the ship.
Guy came up with the crazy idea of doing a pop-up restaurant to get a feel for food on the high seas. In three hours, they served 7000 hamburgers and had a great time doing it. Guy now has 19 restaurants on Carnival cruise ships.
Guy Fieri Family Food
Even though Lori Fieri tends to keep a low profile, she is front and center in Guy's heart and head cheering him on.
Products featured on Wide Open Eats are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.
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A Year of Struggle and Perseverance
By Gordon McHenry, Jr., on March 16, 2021 | In Covid-19, News, Racial Equity
Just about a year ago, Seattle, like the rest of the country, began to shut down because of the coronavirus, which first hit American soil in our region.
Few suspected at the time that, one full year later, families and communities—particularly Black, Indigenous and communities of color— would still be struggling with the economic effects of the pandemic: unemployment, reduced working hours, and most importantly, more than a half-million deaths, and many more suffering from long-term ailments.
The resilience and lethality of the virus proved to be much tougher and harder to tackle than most people expected. The shocking death toll has come as a surprise even to the experts.
Many thought the drastic measures governments took would be lifted within months. When we canceled the annual Community Resource Exchange, we said it was “postponed.” That cancellation deprived hundreds of people the opportunity to obtain much-needed services and supplies.
When we shut down United Way of King County’s Free Tax Preparation locations, we said it was “temporary.” Our service providers and tax experts scrambled to continue providing those services virtually via phone and online.
United Way was fortunate to have a team that could quickly adapt to try to reduce the harmful impacts of mass unemployment, which has wreaked havoc among our most vulnerable communities.
But we soon learned how COVID-19 exacerbated and shined a light on the racial inequities that still inflict so much pain on our communities of color. The pandemic struck BIPOC communities the hardest, according to the Centers for Disease Control: rates of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all higher for BIPOC people than white communities.
Black, Indigenous and Pacific Islander workers were disproportionately impacted by unemployment at far higher rates than white counterparts, as King County data demonstrate. Similarly, Black and Latino populations have experienced higher food insecurity than white people.
Several volunteers, AmeriCorps and United Way staff members helping to load a car with food for delivery for pandemic relief.
Issues like the digital divide in our region surfaced as well—some households of color didn’t have access to the needed devices, or even to the internet, for their children to learn virtually. We learned how families were forced to share a single computer with multiple children.
While the federal government enacted several laws to alleviate the economic hardship caused by the pandemic last year, it wasn’t enough for communities who are still fighting to stay in their homes and feed their families.
We applaud the new administration and Congress for passing the American Rescue Plan, a historic relief bill that can be transformative and which is expected to cut childhood poverty in half. The new law also contains substantial allocations for rental assistance.
While the childhood poverty-reduction and housing help aspects of the law are temporary, we are advocating for a more sustained effort from the federal government to continue to reduce poverty and help people who are experiencing housing insecurity.
The Dual Pandemics
Just as we were coming to terms with the full impact of the health crisis, we were hit with a second pandemic, one that had been lurking for decades, even hundreds of years: racism.
In late May and early June, another unjustified killing of a Black man by police officers sent a nation that was already struggling with lockdowns and a sinking economy into this second pandemic that we struggle to eliminate because of structural and systemic barriers.
Thousands of people protested peacefully in Seattle in 2020 in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
The racist police system was put on full display, as videos George Floyd’s murder played on TV and mobile devices across the world, with Floyd struggling to breathe, his life slowly taken away.
As I write this, many across the country and world are pausing to remember Breonna Taylor, who was killed one year ago this month. And the trial of one of the police officers responsible for Floyd’s murder is just beginning. While the judicial system traditionally has favored police in similar cases, we can only hope justice will be served this time.
From Crisis Response to Recovery
As we enter into recovery mode from the pandemic with the introduction of national and state vaccination efforts, we are again reminded of the racial inequities that exist within our health systems.
Just as the criminal system has discriminated against communities of color, we are already seeing the racial divide in the administration of the vaccine. From uneven deployment of vaccination centers, which favor white and wealthier communities, to reduced access to the internet to set appointments, to working conditions that limit the number of hours low-wage employees can take to get vaccinated, the rollout of the vaccine has been plagued by racial inequities.
But we are encouraged by the new administration’s efforts to address these challenges and hope this initiative will lead to a more equitable vaccine distribution.
We at United Way will continue to support and serve the most vulnerable in the region and to fight the racist systems and inequities that the pandemic has exposed. We will do this by investing in programs that address those disparities that negatively impact too many people of color in our communities.
It has been a long, arduous year, but we see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. We hope to emerge out of this crisis stronger and into a better, more just and equitable world.
Tags: Coronavirus, COVID-19, digital divide, Pandemic recovery, racial disparities, Racial Equity, racial justice
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Emergency responder staging area built on foundation of strong relationships
Employees from Williams, CHS, Enterprise and the McPherson Fire Department meet at Mutual Aid Conway, or MAC. The site is intended to be used as a staging area in case of emergency incidents for Williams and other nearby energy operators.
For Williams, being a safety-minded neighbor in the communities where we operate is a given – it’s part of our Core Values & Beliefs. But in Conway, Kansas, we’ve even extended our safety focus to the other energy operators around us.
In 2018, during a quarterly “Mutual Aid Conway” meeting, Williams initiated a discussion with the McPherson (Kan.) Fire Department and the McPherson County Sheriff, along with three other energy operators in the area – CHS, Enterprise and ONEOK. The goal of the discussion was to get consensus on the need to create a central staging area in the event any of the companies ever experienced an emergency incident.
“The area surrounding our plant includes the operations of several other companies,” says Randy Heinrichs, senior operations manager, at Williams’ Mid-Continent Fractionation & Storage plant. “If there was ever a scenario where we or our neighbors needed to set up an incident command system quickly, the idea was that this would serve as our staging point.”
Ultimately, the organizations all agreed that it was a worthwhile endeavor. So, Williams donated and cleared a small patch of land near corn and wheat fields about a half mile east of our plant; and all four companies shared in the cost of construction. Once completed, the site was named Mutual Aid Conway (or MAC) and now provides space for first responders and company support equipment in the event of an emergency.
Steve Wilson, safety & health specialist III, says the MAC Group is reflective of the power of building and maintaining positive working relationships with our neighbors in the community, even if those neighbors may be business competitors in some cases.
“What’s unique about the Staging Area,” Steve explains, “is that we were able to leverage the strong relationships we’ve established and fostered with the other companies around us, as well as first responders, to create a partnership and commitment to assist one another if a time of need ever arises.
“The MAC Group and the Staging Area is a win for Williams, a win for our neighbors and a win for the surrounding communities of McPherson County,” he adds.
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Wind farm sits in limbo
MONMOUTH – Clean Energy Concepts must wait until they reach a land lease agreement with an unnamed landowner before moving constructing the county’s wind farm.
“We’re in a holding pattern until we get the land secured,” said Matt Cumberworth, managing director for CEC. “It’s hard to pinpoint a time frame (for completion) because we’re in April and we hoped to have it done in February.”
Jolene Willis, Western Illinois Economic Development Partnership director, said construction is estimated to be completed in 2010.
“We’re still monitoring (the wind farm) on behalf of Warren County,” Willis said. “Right now it’s going through (CEC’s) due diligence and due process.”
Due to the sensitivity of purchasing land, CEC is forced to be secretive about where exactly they stand with the landowner adjacent to the county farm.
“We want to be as generic as we can so we don’t step on anyone’s toes,” Cumberworth said. “We’re at a real sensitive point right now.”
What Cumberworth could say is the county’s portion of the land agreement is completed and CEC is now working on assessments.
“Right now we’re just at the critical point,” Cumberworth said.
For the wind assessments, CEC is looking to see if there is enough wind speed at the appropriate height that is needed.
CEC is also completing environmental assessments, including endangered species studies, archeological studies, wetland studies and avian studies.
“They are to see what impact the towers will have on the area,” Cumberworth said. “If they are disrupting, we’ll have to talk with the state to see what can be done.”
A third party completes the assessments. Cumberworth was unable to give the names of the groups due to confidentiality agreements between CEC and the third parties.
CEC is also in the process of completing transmission studies to see how they are going to send the power out to customers.
Once all land lease agreements are met, CEC will then be able to finish its power purchase agreement.
“We cannot enter an agreement until we can prove we have the land and a wind assessment,” Cumberworth said.
By Stephen Geinosky/Staff Reporter
Daily Review Atlas
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Solar System News
Universe News
Space Mission News
NSF News Releases
Table showing how many meteors will be seen per hour.
Courtesy of NASA
NASA will show the shower live
Watch Out for the Meteors!
News story originally written on August 10, 1999
This week's solar eclipse isn't the only thing to watch! The annual Perseid meteor shower will peak on August 12-13, 1999. There could be as many as 150 "shooting stars" per hour. Scientists say the best time to see this spectacular event is a few hours before dawn. However, the meteors should be visible all night long, starting at dusk.
These brilliant flashes of light will seem to originate from the constellation Perseus. It is best to lay down on the ground and face north to see the shower. Although they appear to come from the same point in space, they will be visible all over the sky.
Meteors are small fragments that broke off a comet. This particular shower came from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun once every 135 years. Swift-Tuttle will not be visible from Earth until 2126. Fortunately, we have this great shower every year in August!
Typical meteors are the size of a grain of sand. They make up for their size with their speed. These meteors average 130,000 miles per hour! But don't worry, the particles burn up long before they reach Earth. A particle's high speed causes a large amount of friction between the meteor and Earth's atmosphere. The result is a burned up meteor!
The shower will be visible for most of the Northern Hemisphere. If you live below the equator, I'm afraid that very little, if any at all, will be seen. Fortunately, NASA will provide a live broadcast of the event on the web. They'll fly a balloon into the stratosphere with a video camera. So, no matter where you live, you can witness one of the more fascinating astronomical events!
Last Solar Eclipse of the Millennium on August 11
The last solar eclipse of this millennium occurred on August 11, 1999. Amateurs and professionals alike used this opportunity to witness one of the most brilliant natural phenomenon. This was a total...more
1999--A Year in Review...
It was another exciting and frustrating year for the space science program. It seemed that every step forward led to one backwards. Either way, NASA led the way to a great century of discovery. Unfortunately,...more
STS-95 Launch: "Let the wings of Discovery lift us on to the future."
The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 2:19 p.m. EST, October 29th. The sky was clear and the weather was great as Discovery took 8 1/2 minutes to reach orbit for the Unitied...more
Moon Found Orbiting Asteroid
A moon was discovered orbiting the asteroid, Eugenia. This is only the second time in history that a satellite has been seen circling an asteroid. A special mirror allowed scientists to find the moon...more
U.S. is Fed Up with Russia
Will Russia ever put the service module for the International Space Station in space? NASA officials are demanding an answer from the Russian government. The necessary service module is currently waiting...more
More on Recent Coronal Mass Ejection
During a period of about two days in early May, 1998, the ACE spacecraft was immersed in plasma associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME). The SWICS instrument on ACE, which determines unambiguously...more
Mother Nature's Air Conditioning
J.S. Maini of the Canadian Forest Service has referred to forests as the "heart and lungs of the world." Forests reduce soil erosion, maintain water quality, contribute to atmospheric humidity and cloud...more
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Commentary OpinionRIGHT TO REPLY
Climate consensus plummets to 7.5%
Exclusive: Lord Monckton reveals why planet 'does not need to be saved again'
By Lord Monckton
Published September 7, 2014 at 4:58pm
In two weeks' time, the U.N. will host yet another "climate summit" – an opportunity for left-leaning world "leaders" to strut and fret their hour upon the stage, parading their ersatz consciences and vowing to inflict ever heavier taxes and regulations upon their baffled and suffering peoples.
The people are baffled at the gibbering and gesturing and posturing on climate change, because there has been no global warming for just about 18 years, according to the latest satellite global temperature data from Remote Sensing Systems Inc., and the rate of global warming since 1990 has been half what the failed computer models predicted that year.
The people are suffering because they are being made to pay through the nose for the desire of the global ruling elite to establish a global "government," using the supposed "imperative" to make non-existent "global warming" go away as the feeble pretext.
At the U.N. climate gabfest in Doha, exactly 21 months ago, world "leaders" decided they would extend the failed Kyoto Protocol from 2012 to 2020, with nations outbidding each other in their commitments to shut down their economies for no good reason at all. Technically, the Protocol had already lapsed, but world "leaders" do not pay much attention to the law.
However, a show of hands at the lamentably disorganized Doha climate yadayadathon was not enough. Individual nations were required, under the usual rules for treaties, to lodge an instrument of accession to the amendment with the U.N. as the depositary. So far, of 144 nations bound by the Kyoto Protocol, only 11 – or 7.5 percent – have indicated that they will sign.
The United States had the good sense not to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol in the first place. The U.S. Senate in 1997 voted by 95 to not accept any such protocol unless it bound all nations. The president of the Senate at that time was one Albert Arnold Gore.
Canada had originally signed the Protocol, but gave notice that it did not intend to continue with it and has now left. Russia, New Zealand and Japan (where an influential group at the Academy of Sciences has described belief in catastrophic manmade warming as "akin to belief in astrology") did not vote to renew the Protocol in Doha.
However, of 144 nations who voted at Doha, only 11 have actually signed up to the amendment almost two years later. Aside from China, which appears to have signed by mistake, the other 10 nations are tiddlers: Bangladesh, Barbados, Honduras, Kenya, Mauritius, Micronesia, Monaco, Norway, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.
Not one of the 29 states of the EU has agreed to sign the new amendment. This is not particularly surprising, since individual EU nations no longer have the right to enter into foreign treaties on their own behalf. Foreign policy is now an exclusive competence of the unelected Kommissarsmeeting in secret behind closed doors in Brussels.
The refusal of most nations to agree to the Kyoto Protocol shows that the steam has gone out of the ghastly climate "process," and not before time. If climate action were really urgent (which, after 18 years without any global warming, it is not), they would be competing to be among the first to sign up.
Though the Kyoto Protocol has been in force for more than a decade, it has had no discernible effect on global CO2 concentration, which continues to rise at record rates. Yet global warming has not risen, is not rising and – aside from the occasional "El Niño" – will probably not rise by very much over our lifetimes.
The U.N. knows that if it is to get away with its plans to set itself up as a global government in 2015, having failed spectacularly and humiliatingly to get away with its attempted coup-by-treaty in 2009 at Copenhagen, it is in an increasingly desperate race against time. The longer the period without global warming, the more nations will wake up, come off the Kool-Aid, and realize they had been deceived by a small, poisonous clique of climate communists aided and abetted by the usual host of useful idiots – as Lenin used to call them – in academia and the news media.
Mr. Obama, of course, as climate communist in chief, will go to the U.N. meeting. But the Chinese and Indian heads of government will not be there – and they account for a third of the world's population between them.
The extent to which tyranny by treaty is replacing democracy may be gauged by a remark by M. Laurance Tubiana, France's "climate ambassador" to the U.N., who told one of the newspapers that world "leaders" recognized what he called "the difficulties of the U.S. situation."
What he meant by this is that Mr. Obama is powerless to inflict any treaty on the U.S. unless he can convince two-thirds of the Senate to ratify it. And that is not going to happen anytime soon. Indeed, in the forthcoming midterms, there is a possibility that the GOP may take overall control of the Senate, albeit by a narrow margin.
The "difficulties" at which M. Tubiana is so exercised were put there, for very good reason, by your Founding Fathers, who wanted to make sure that no person occupying the office of president could sign away your freedoms by treaty without a two-thirds majority in the now-elected Senate. The greatest of these "difficulties," then, is democracy itself. Self-evidently, M. Tubiana has no time for mere voters. They smell. They are illiterate. They are stupid. Leave it to us, the experts.
The GOP, at first wobbly on the climate issue, has now rightly hardened its opposition to the anti-capitalist measures proposed by Mr. Obama and his lickspittle lackeys at the EPA, for GOP leaders have realized that the supposed dangers of manmade global warming are more imaginary than real. There are even some in the Republican Party – in both Houses – who consider that the EPA has outlived what usefulness it had and should now be de-funded and swept away. Quite right, too.
Mr. Obama, powerless to bind his people by treaty, is proposing an idea as characteristically spiteful as it is characteristically pointless – to "name and shame" nations into making "legally binding" reductions in their sins of emission. He can do that without the consent of the Senate.
However, the world will simply laugh.
Where is the shame in a nation deciding that it will take no further steps to shut down its economy in the name of saving the planet, when the planet plainly does not need to be saved?
If one is a Christian, one believes the planet was triumphantly saved some 2,000 years ago. Whether theologically or meteorologically, it does not need to be saved again.
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Lord Monckton
Christopher Monckton of Brenchley, high priest of climate skepticism, advised Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, wrote leaders for the Yorkshire Post, was editor of the Catholic paper The Universe, managing editor of the Telegraph Sunday Magazine, assistant editor of Today, and consulting editor of the Evening Standard. He invented the million-selling "Eternity Puzzles," "Sudoku X" and a promising treatment for infections. See the Science & Public Policy Institute.
Nobody expects the Roman Climate Inquisition
A death sentence for tens of millions
It's time to prosecute the climate fraudsters
Global non-warming will be death of socialism
Who is John Galt?
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Wondermondo 🢖 World 🢖 Wonders of Africa 🢖 Wonders of Libya
Wonders of Libya
Landscape in Tadrart Acacus mountains / Luca Galuzzi, Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Libya, for the most part, is covered with desert. This country is enormous, f.e. distance from Tripoli to the southernmost point of Libya exceeds the distance between Tripoli and Vienna. This giant land has lots of secrets – landmarks created by long lost cultures. The most amazing wonders of Libya are:
Roman and Greek heritage. African provinces were among the richest in the Roman Empire and here flourished arts and sciences. Time has passed and now we can admire just ruins of these ancient cities.
Heritage of Garamantes. The most interesting indigenous culture in Libya is the rich and too little known culture of Garamantes which flourished in the time period between 500 BC and 700 AD. Although little mentioned today, this was a highly developed and very interesting culture, Garamantes built extensive underground irrigation systems and amazing cities.
Petroglyphs and cliff art. Libya has thousands of sites with high-quality paintings and petroglyphs, created over many thousands of years. Drawings often show animals which are long extinct here and thus hints at a different climate and nature in the past.
Top 25 wonders of Libya
Afzejare Arch (Forzhaga Arch)
Ghat
Enormous free standing natural arch in the desert, with a span of 32 m and height of 43.5 m.
Lethe Cave
Large cave chamber with brackish lake. This is the supposed legendary site of the Lethe River of Forgetfulness.
Tin Khlega Arches (Fezzi Jaren Arches)
Group of large natural arches – a block of rock standing on several tilted columns. The largest arch has a span of 11 m and a height of 18.6 m. There are numerous other spectacular arches in Akakus Plateau.
Leptis Magna
Murqub
Some of the best preserved Roman ruins. This city was founded by Phoenicians around 1000 BC and in the 1st century AD was incorporated into Roman Empire. Abandoned sometimes around 650 AD.
Jabal al Akhdar
Spectacular ruins of ancient Greek and Roman city, once the most important city of these empires in Africa, capital of Cyrenaica, a city of philosophers. Founded in 630 BC and abandoned after several devastating earthquakes in 365 AD. Contains ruins of the Temple of Apollo and necropolis. Here is located also the Cave of Apollo – approximately 300 m long natural underground passage.
Sabratha
Ruins of a historical city that was established by Phoenicians sometime around 500 BC or local people earlier. Later it was a city in Massinissa and Roman city. The notable structure is the three-storied theatre, as well as temples of Liber Pater, Serapis, and Isis, Christian Basilica of Justinian. The decline of the city started in 365 AD.
Tadrart Acacus rock paintings
In these spectacular mountains are found numerous sites with thousands of rock paintings. Paintings have been created over an extended period of time from 12,000 BC to 100 AD. Many paintings are made in very high artistic quality, with skilled use of different colors and adjusted to the background. Most drawings show daily activities of people, hunting scenes, rituals.
Wadi Mathendous
Wadi al Hayaa
This site is very rich with high-quality prehistoric rock engravings that were created some 8,000 years ago. The site contains engravings of elephants, giraffes, crocodiles – animals that became extinct here millennia ago. One drawing shows a huge herd of giraffes, each animal is some 2 m high. In this region – Mesak Settafet – are found numerous other sites with petroglyphs.
Slonta Grotto
A very old cult site that was mentioned by Herodotus already in 500 BC. Petroglyphs and sculptures have been carved in the walls.
Germa (Garama)
An abandoned desert city, the capital of Garamantes that flourished in the 2nd – 3rd century AD. Captured by Arabs in the 7th century AD.
Senam Semana
Group of 17 ancient Roman olive presses that for a while where considered to be prehistoric megaliths – trilithons. There are other groups of such olive presses too – f.e. Kherbet Agoub.
Apollonia (Libya)
The ancient port city of Cyrene, founded by Greek colonists. Now the city is partly inundated due to earthquakes. Here are the ruins of three churches but especially impressive is the Greek theatre.
Germa pyramids (Jerma, Jarmah) (Ahramat al-Hattya)
Necropolis in the former capital of Fazzan – Kingdom of Garamantes, created in the 1st – 4th century AD.
Arch of Marcus Aurelius
The only visible remains of Roman structures in Tripoli. The arch was built in the 2nd century AD.
Haua Fteah Cave
A spectacular, wide, and shallow cave, up to 20 m high, 40 m deep, and 85 m wide. Cave has served as a shelter for extended periods of time, cultural deposits are more than 12.5 m deep. Excavations in this cave have provided valuable information about the history of the whole of North Africa.
Marj
Well preserved ruins of an ancient city, most likely founded in the 7th – 6th century BC. Later it became a Roman city and was an important center until 428 AD when it was destroyed by Vandals. The city contains an extensive network of underground passages.
Zinchecra (Zankakrah)
Abandoned fortress town on the top of a hill. The first capital of Garamantes flourished in the 9th – 1st century BC. Circular buildings were built here initially, the village was enclosed in a wall.
Ghadames
Nalut
A beautiful, walled desert town with excellent infrastructure providing protection from heat. One of the ways to avoid the heat is covered walkways between the buildings. City first mentioned in the 1st century BC.
Tarmeisa
Jabal al Gharbi
Hilltop village, almost abandoned. This ancient Berber village is surrounded by dramatic mountain scenery, houses are adorned with ancient ornaments. The village can be accessed through underground passages.
Ksar Nalut
Typical ksar – fortified granary, built in the 11th century on the hilltop to make its defense easier. It is abandoned since the 1960s.
Quasr al Hajj granary
Enormous, fortified granary. This structure has an oval form and multiple smaller premises for the grain supplies of local families.
Tripoli Old City
Well preserved, albeit dirty and dilapidated historical center of Tripoli with its fortification walls still standing.
Atiq Mosque
Al Wahat
An old mosque, built in the 12th century in vernacular style from adobe and limestone. It has 21 conical domes that provide light and ventilation.
Garian troglodyte houses
In earlier times local people built their houses underground to escape the heat in summer and cold in winter. There was made central courtyard – a hole in the ground with entrances into several underground apartments. One such house has been well preserved since 1666 and now serves as an exclusive hotel.
Tripoli Cathedral
Ornate cathedral, built in Neo-Romanesque style in 1928. Now converted into a mosque.
Tripolitania (Libya Archaeological Guides)
This is the first in a new series of guides to the archaeology of Libya, from prehistoric times until the invasion of the Bani Hilal in AD 1051. It deals with a region that offers the visitor not only the classical splendors of UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as Sabratha and Lepcis Magna but also a hinterland that is rich in standing monuments of the Punic, Roman, and early Islamic periods.
Libya – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs, and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts.
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The Fertilizer Institute hires new Director of Agronomy
Published by Harleigh Hobbs, Editor
World Fertilizer, Wednesday, 02 November 2016 10:15
The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) has hired Dr Sally Flis as its Director of Agronomy, a new position created to support agronomic efforts related to the adoption of 4R Nutrient Stewardship practices across the US.
“In the last six years, adoption and support for the 4R Nutrient Stewardship program has grown tremendously, and we continue to see widespread growth as growers, the fertilizer industry work to increase yields while minimising environmental impact,” said Chris Jahn, TFI President. “The addition of Sally to the team gives us the needed bandwidth and experience to continue to support TFI members, growers, and other stakeholder organisations in their implementation of 4R principles in the field.”
In this role, Dr Flis will provide guidance and support for 4R Nutrient Stewardship initiatives and industry efforts related to fertilizer use in the field and for directing agronomic 4R initiatives with stakeholders. This position primarily supports TFI’s stewardship and sustainability programmes, but also provides guidance to TFI’s government and public affairs departments regarding relevant policy, legislation, publications and outreach.
Dr Flis has more than 15 years worth of experience working in agriculture, most recently as the feed and crop support specialist at Dairy One in Ithaca, New York, where she provided technical support for three laboratories and developed reference materials for use by animal nutritionists, agronomists and producers. Previously, she was responsible for developing 35 nutrient management plans in New York and Vermont, while also working to help plan large-scale nutrient management initiatives in Vermont.
Read the article online at: https://www.worldfertilizer.com/nitrogen/02112016/the-fertilizer-institute-hires-new-director-of-agronomy/
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Are Hindu Marriage Vows Misogynistic?
Posted on January 8, 2015 by WHN
Should Hindu Marriage vows be rewritten to suit the times? The answer, as a study of the shastras show, is an emphatic No.
As quoted by Swami Vivekananda, in the Ramayana, once Rama and Sita had gone to visit a female sage in the forest during their banishment:
“Sita approached this sage and bowed down before her. The sage placed her hand on the head of Sita and said: “It is a great blessing to possess a beautiful body; you have that. It is a greater blessing to have a noble husband; you have that. It is the greatest blessing to be perfectly obedient to such a husband; you are that. You must be happy.” Sita replied, “Mother, I am glad that God has given me a beautiful body and that I have so devoted a husband. But as to the third blessing, I do not know whether I obey him or he obeys me. One thing alone I remember, that when he took me by the hand before the sacrificial fire — whether it was a reflection of the fire or whether God himself made it appear to me — I found that I was his and he was mine. And since then, I have found that I am the complement of his life, and he of mine.”
Groom to Bride during the Hindu wedding ceremony (translated from Sanskrit):
“I am the sky, you are the earth. I am a song of the Samaveda, you are a Rik, a couplet of the Rigveda; I am thee and thou art me. We are married. Let us get virtuous progeny, who will be lovable, lustrous for us. Let us lead a long life in togetherness to enjoy one hundred autumnal seasons.”
In a recent column in Business Standard, Mitali Saran argues that Hindu wedding vows should be updated or rewritten by couples for the sake of gender equality. Her basic complaint is that the Sanskrit shlokas used for the wedding ceremony envision a specific division of labour (the woman doing the household work and the man earning for the family while being served by his wife at home) that is unfair to working women in today’s world. The column is rather shallow and gratuitously provocative, but raises two serious questions that deserve to be answered:
1. Are the Hindu marriage vows inherently misogynistic? 2. Even if those vows were once appropriate, have they become obsolete today?
There is enormous intricacy and subtlety in the rites of Hindu marriage, and there is also significant variation across different regions,sampradayas (religious traditions), and jatis (clans / socioeconomic groups). The importance of various rites and their different layers of meaning and symbolism deserves its own series of articles, but the focus of this piece will be on the saptapadi mantras, which are the mantras uttered during the seven rounds taken by the bride and groom around the consecrated fire.
The groom leads the bride around the fire for the first three rounds; the bride leads during the last four (which also shows their inherent equality in stature—sometimes the husband leads, sometimes the wife). The vows themselves are as follows:
Bride and Groom together: Let us walk together, hand in hand, the seven steps symbolic of the aspirations below: May We take the first step together for sap (nourishment), May We take the second step together for vigour, May We take the third step together for thriving wealth, May We take the fourth step together for comfort, May We take the fifth step together for offspring, May We take the sixth step together for the various seasons, May We take the seventh step together for everlasting friendship. You be my unswerving partner; (let us have many auspicious progeny who shall see long life crossing 80 years)
Personally, I find these vows to be extraordinarily rich and multifaceted, reflecting deep psychological and sociological insight into the various needs and phases that a married couple goes through. We do not see in these vows the misogyny alleged by Saran.
However, there is variation in the exact customs followed across regions and sociocultural groups according to various Grihya Sutras, and there appear to be certain interpretations or variations of these vows where the bride promises to cook for and please the groom, which is Saran’s main grievance.
Without getting into a lot of arcane debate about whether these alternative interpretations are authentic or interpolations, let us assume for the sake of argument that Saran is correct that in these vows there is emphasis on the bride’s promise to take care of the family, feed the family and serve and please her husband with no such corresponding vow required on the husband’s part. Even in such a scenario, the basic point is that a division of labour is not in and of itself unequal or derogatory towards woman.
There are differences in male and female psyches that lead to certain qualities predominating in men and others in women—as a general matter, not to be taken to extremes—and specialization in certain roles tends to optimize the different qualities in men and women for the benefit of all. (In fact, to characterize the role of women in the household as being secondary to office work or business is based on the sexist premise that the domain of the home is inferior to the domain of the workplace. Perhaps it is the husband who should be considered oppressed because he does not get to spend enough time at home!)
This does not mean that those gender roles are ossified for all times and in all circumstances—this is one model for society, and in the context of that model, these vows are entirely appropriate and cannot be considered to be derogatory towards women.
Saran’s chief complaint is that the bride is reduced to the lowly status of a maidservant. But in the Hindu conception of marriage and womanhood, as reflected in the shastras and the ordained rites, the bride is not at all a maidservant—rather, she is the one who reigns over the household.
The Sanskrit term for a wife is grhini, which means the owner of the house, whereas the term for husband, grhastha, means a mere resident of the house. If the wife were to have the same status as the husband, she would be known as a grhasthaa. In Tamil, too, the wife is illaal, one who owns the house, whereas the husband is illarattaan, one who performs the dharmic rites in the house.
The conception of the wife as reigning over the household stems from the Vedas themselves. In the Rg Veda, we find these beautiful quotations:
“Happy be you (as wife) and prosper with your children here (in the house): be vigilant to rule your household in this home (i.e. exercise your authority as the main figure in your home). Closely unite (be an active participant) in marriage with your husband. So shall you, full of years, address your company (i.e. have authority to speak over household matters).” (10.85.27); “O Bride! May your father-in-law treat you as a queen. May your mother-in-law treat you as a Samrajni (queen). May the sisters and brothers of your husband treat you as a queen.”(10.85.46).
If we have fallen away from these ideals in the recent past, the fault lies in social decay and not in the beliefs and traditions that our rishis have passed down to us.
Unlike Saran, who seems to think that the work a woman does at home is demeaning, our acharyas and rishis held women in great reverence for the importance of their work and role, not just in the family but in society, and for the depth of their devotion and sacrifice.
In traditional Hinduism, the wife plays a fourfold role: she is ardhangini(the other half of her husband, metaphorically speaking); sahadharmini(partner in the fulfilment of human and divine goals—principally, the fourpurushartha, or aims of human life: dharma, artha (accumulation of wealth through righteous means), kama (fulfillment of desire through appropriate means) and moksha (self-realization; liberation from the cycle of birth and death)); sahakarmini, (partner in all acts and actions), andsahayogini (partner in all ventures).
Moreover, the wife’s role was not merely to ‘please’ her husband:
“It must be noted that a wife creates well-being for the world even as she does the work of cooking or as a source of sensual gratification for her husband… It is not that she cooks for the husband alone. She has to provide food every day to the guests, to the sick and to the birds and beasts and other creatures. This is how she serves the purpose ofatithyam (serving unexpected guests) and vaisvadevam(serving sentient beings).”
In Hinduism, the role of cooking and feeding is not that of a lowly servant—it is a divine role manifested in the form of Annapurna Devi, the goddess of food and nourishment, from whom even Lord Shiva receives bhiksha(food gathered as alms through begging).
As eloquently explained by Swami Vivekananda:
“Why should the Hindu mother be worshipped? Our philosophers try to find a reason and they come to this definition: We call ourselves the Aryan race. What is an Aryan? He is a man whose birth is through religion. This is a peculiar subject, perhaps, in this country; but the idea is that a man must be born through religion, through prayers. If you take up our law books you will find chapters devoted to this—the prenatal influence of a mother on the child. I know that before I was born, my mother would fast and pray and do hundreds of things which I could not even do for five minutes. She did that for two years. I believe that whatever religious culture I have, I owe to that. It was consciously that my mother brought me into the world to be what I am. Whatever good impulse I have was given to me by my mother—and consciously, not unconsciously. … The mother has to eat last. I have been asked many times in your country (the United States) why the (Hindu) husband does not sit with his wife to eat—if the idea is, perhaps, that the husband thinks she is too low a being. This explanation is not at all right. … The first part of the food—when it is ready—belongs to the guests and the poor, the second to the lower animals, the third to the children, the fourth to the husband, and last comes the mother. How many times I have seen my mother going to take her first meal when it was two o’clock. We took ours at ten and she at two because she had so many things to attend to. [For example], someone knocks at the door and says, “Guest”, and there is no food except what was for my mother. She would give that to him willingly and then wait for her own. That was her life and she liked it. And that is why we worship mothers as gods.”
The late Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati Svami, explains that one of the three objectives of marriage is “to create a means for women (and men) to be freed from worldly existence. A man who is not yet fully mature inwardly is assisted in his karma by his wife. By doing so, by being totally devoted to her husband, she achieves maturity to a degree greater than he does.”
In return for the indispensable help a dharma-patni renders to her husband in carrying out his dharma and evolving spiritually, half of whatever punya karma (spiritual merit) the husband attains is transferred to her. On the other hand, none of the paapakarma (spiritual demerit) of her husband inures to her, and none of the punya karma of the wife is transferred to the husband.
So we see that in the marriage vows themselves and in the Hindu conception of woman and her role as a wife, she was in no way a mere maidservant or meant to be an appendage to serve her husband. Her role was much greater than that, and she was given due respect, reverence and recognition for her devotion and sacrifice that benefitted not just her husband, but also her own spiritual evolution and the society at large.
We now come to the second question, which is whether changes in the modern woman’s role at home and in the workforce render the Hindu wedding vows somehow obsolete. The question itself is based on a false premise that these vows are meant to be prescriptive in a literal sense. The Hindu conception of marriage is much more nuanced and diverse than that.
Traditionally, Hinduism recognizes eight forms of marriage: brahma(considered to be the highest form of marriage, where the groom’s parents approach the bride’s parents for kanyadana (giving away of their daughter to the others’ son)—here, the bride is sought out by the groom’s family); daiva (where the bride’s parents seek a groom in the area where sacrifices are performed and marry her to a priest who officiates the yajna); arsa (where the bride is given in exchange for two cows from the groom’s family, or alternatively, where the bride is married to a rishi);prajapatya (the same as the brahma style, but the bride’s parents must approach the groom’s parents instead); asura (where the groom is not a match for the bride, but money is given to the bride and her family in exchange); gandharva (where the bride and groom unite out of their own desires); raksasa (forcible abduction of the bride against the wishes of her family (but not necessarily of the bride herself)—this is the form in which Sri Krishna married Rukmini); and paisaca (where the bride does not or is unable to consent—for example, when a man seduces a girl who is unconscious or mentally incapacitated).
Even though the last two forms of marriage are generally discouraged by the shastras and our acharyas, they are recognized for a reason. In Hinduism, shastras are made for man; man is not made for the shastras. In other words, the shastras are developed based on the sociological reality of the day. That is why the smrti are ever-changing, and it is only the Vedas (sruti, that which has been revealed or heard) that are unchanging and eternal.
The Dharmashastras are meant to apply based on time, place and circumstance. Our shastras are not meant to be one-size-fits-all, and thus provision is made for diversity in cultures, customs and personality types. For example, those who are more accustomed to pleasure and sense gratification would be more likely to engage in the gandharva form of marriage.
Similarly, even though the raksasa and paisaca forms of marriage may be unethical, our shastras grant them some recognition so that, to the extent they occur, some provisions may be made for safeguarding the honour and dignity of the woman; however, because they are expressly disapproved of, their occurrence is meant to be minimized as much as possible.
No matter which form of marriage applies, the marriage vows are, at the core, the same. Why? Because there is a bhavana (feeling / state of mind / attitude) and code of values that underlies these Sanskrit shlokas that is universal—they are meant to promote certain vrttis (waves within our consciousness) and lakshanas (qualities that promote masculine virtues for the groom and feminine virtues for the bride).
The vows are not just the bride and groom promising fidelity to each other, but, at a deeper level, are a commitment to being partners who will together care for their families, observe together all of the rites and sacrifices enjoined by the Vedas in the spirit of loka sangraha (wellbeing for the world/ cosmos) and be companions who give comfort and strength to each other. These mantras sanctify and cement a bond between husband and wife and their respective families, and they promote social harmony by guiding couples on how to perform their individual and familial dharma.
No matter what form of marriage is chosen or what socioeconomic roles are assumed by the husband and wife, these core vows are applicable to all—they are the bonds through which a lifelong partnership are formed.
These mantras encode the blessings and tapasya (spiritual power) of our ancestors and devas, our rishis and acharyas, who are invoked through the marriage ceremony, and such mantras are not to be tampered with lightly.
It is not equivalent to the modern practice of couples writing vows to each other based on their personal feelings—there is nothing wrong with that practice but such vows should supplement, not supplant, the core mantras from the vivah samskara (the Hindu marriage rites).
There is a current of energy, of blessings and power in these mantras and rites, which transforms a marriage from a social contract and emotional bonding to a sacred covenant that is strong and lifelong (or, rather, seven lifetimes long).
The taking of Hindu marriage vows with utter sincerity and faith does not preclude a husband and wife from arranging (and rearranging) between themselves their roles within and without the household in new ways.
Hinduism does not promote a cookie cutter mould of our marriage—ours is a tradition that honours the Panchakanya (Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita or Kunti, Tara and Mandodari), venerated as the five ideal Hindu wives, although, in their own way, each of them led an unconventional married life.
The conception of Hindu marriage does not preclude a woman from working or a man from being a house husband. But there needs to be serious reflection on all of the important roles played by a married couple in the Hindu conception of society and how those roles and responsibilities may be carried out equitably in these new scenarios.
We cannot just discard those duties that have been enjoined upon as, but we can find new ways of carrying out those duties—for example, if people feel that Karva Chauth is too one-sided, nothing stops the husband from also fasting on that day (as I know many men do nowadays).
That would be a much healthier alternative than simply stopping the observance of Karva Chauth, as this is a vrata that strengthens the marital bond and also the bond between the bride and her new family. The integration of worship with the marital relationship in Hinduism makes Hindu marriages uniquely sacred and powerful, and we cannot lose that sacred link out of some cheap politicization of the gender wars.
When we understand the spirit of the Hindu wedding rites and mantras, the depth of feeling and philosophical intent behind them, it is impossible to think that they are inherently misogynistic.
Yes, it is true that the rites and mantras have been, through social custom, often interpreted in misogynistic ways. But that was not the original intent of the vivaha mantras. These mantras can be and should be understood, in spirit, in a way that is in harmony with the world in which we live today. That has always been the Hindu way.
That is why there are so many different Dharmashastras / Grihya Sutras—they have to be relevant to differing times, places and circumstances. That is what makes our spiritual tradition so unique—the flexibility of ourshastras to encompass a wide variety of practices, beliefs and traditions while still retaining a universal framework of principles and values that applies to them all.
Source: swarajyamag.com
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היים בלאטאפרים הערשקאוויטש
סטעיט אָוו די יוניאָן 2019: לייענט די פולע טראַנסקריפּט
יום שלישי, פברואר 05, 2019 0 קאמענטארן
פרעזידענט דאָנאַלד טראָמפּ האט געהאלטן זיין 2019 סטעיט אָוו די יוניאָן היינט דינסטאג. לייענט די פרעזידענט'ס צוגעגרייטע רעדע, ארויסגעגעבן דורך די ווייסע הויז.
פעקט טשעק אויף טראָמפּ’ס זאַצן
Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States, and my fellow Americans:
We meet tonight at a moment of unlimited potential. As we begin a new Congress, I stand here ready to work with you to achieve historic breakthroughs for all Americans.
Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us now, gathered in this great chamber, hoping that we will govern not as two parties but as one Nation.
The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda. It is the agenda of the American people.
Many of us campaigned on the same core promises: to defend American jobs and demand fair trade for American workers; to rebuild and revitalize our Nation's infrastructure; to reduce the price of healthcare and prescription drugs; to create an immigration system that is safe, lawful, modern and secure; and to pursue a foreign policy that puts America's interests first.
There is a new opportunity in American politics, if only we have the courage to seize it. Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.
This year, America will recognize two important anniversaries that show us the majesty of America's mission, and the power of American pride.
In June, we mark 75 years since the start of what General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the Great Crusade -- the Allied liberation of Europe in World War II. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, 15,000 young American men jumped from the sky, and 60,000 more stormed in from the sea, to save our civilization from tyranny. Here with us tonight are three of those heroes: Private First Class Joseph Reilly, Staff Sergeant Irving Locker, and Sergeant Herman Zeitchik. Gentlemen, we salute you.
In 2019, we also celebrate 50 years since brave young pilots flew a quarter of a million miles through space to plant the American flag on the face of the moon. Half a century later, we are joined by one of the Apollo 11 astronauts who planted that flag: Buzz Aldrin. This year, American astronauts will go back to space on American rockets.
In the 20th century, America saved freedom, transformed science, and redefined the middle class standard of living for the entire world to see. Now, we must step boldly and bravely into the next chapter of this great American adventure, and we must create a new standard of living for the 21st century. An amazing quality of life for all of our citizens is within our reach.
We can make our communities safer, our families stronger, our culture richer, our faith deeper, and our middle class bigger and more prosperous than ever before.
But we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution -- and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good.
Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America's future. The decision is ours to make.
We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction.
Tonight, I ask you to choose greatness.
Over the last 2 years, my Administration has moved with urgency and historic speed to confront problems neglected by leaders of both parties over many decades.
In just over 2 years since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom -- a boom that has rarely been seen before. We have created 5.3 million new jobs and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs -- something which almost everyone said was impossible to do, but the fact is, we are just getting started.
Wages are rising at the fastest pace in decades, and growing for blue collar workers, who I promised to fight for, faster than anyone else. Nearly 5 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps. The United States economy is growing almost twice as fast today as when I took office, and we are considered far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world. Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in half a century. African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American unemployment have all reached their lowest levels ever recorded. Unemployment for Americans with disabilities has also reached an all-time low. More people are working now than at any time in our history --- 157 million.
We passed a massive tax cut for working families and doubled the child tax credit.
We virtually ended the estate, or death, tax on small businesses, ranches, and family farms.
We eliminated the very unpopular Obamacare individual mandate penalty -- and to give critically ill patients access to life-saving cures, we passed right to try.
My Administration has cut more regulations in a short time than any other administration during its entire tenure. Companies are coming back to our country in large numbers thanks to historic reductions in taxes and regulations.
We have unleashed a revolution in American energy -- the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world. And now, for the first time in 65 years, we are a net exporter of energy.
After 24 months of rapid progress, our economy is the envy of the world, our military is the most powerful on earth, and America is winning each and every day. Members of Congress: the State of our Union is strong. Our country is vibrant and our economy is thriving like never before.
On Friday, it was announced that we added another 304,000 jobs last month alone -- almost double what was expected. An economic miracle is taking place in the United States -- and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations.
If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn't work that way!
We must be united at home to defeat our adversaries abroad.
This new era of cooperation can start with finally confirming the more than 300 highly qualified nominees who are still stuck in the Senate -- some after years of waiting. The Senate has failed to act on these nominations, which is unfair to the nominees and to our country.
Now is the time for bipartisan action. Believe it or not, we have already proven that it is possible.
In the last Congress, both parties came together to pass unprecedented legislation to confront the opioid crisis, a sweeping new Farm Bill, historic VA reforms, and after four decades of rejection, we passed VA Accountability so we can finally terminate those who mistreat our wonderful veterans.
And just weeks ago, both parties united for groundbreaking criminal justice reform. Last year, I heard through friends the story of Alice Johnson. I was deeply moved. In 1997, Alice was sentenced to life in prison as a first-time non-violent drug offender. Over the next two decades, she became a prison minister, inspiring others to choose a better path. She had a big impact on that prison population -- and far beyond.
Alice's story underscores the disparities and unfairness that can exist in criminal sentencing -- and the need to remedy this injustice. She served almost 22 years and had expected to be in prison for the rest of her life.
In June, I commuted Alice's sentence -- and she is here with us tonight. Alice, thank you for reminding us that we always have the power to shape our own destiny.
When I saw Alice's beautiful family greet her at the prison gates, hugging and kissing and crying and laughing, I knew I did the right thing.
Inspired by stories like Alice's, my Administration worked closely with members of both parties to sign the First Step Act into law. This legislation reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the African-American community. The First Step Act gives non-violent offenders the chance to re-enter society as productive, law-abiding citizens. Now, States across the country are following our lead. America is a Nation that believes in redemption.
We are also joined tonight by Matthew Charles from Tennessee. In 1996, at age 30, Matthew was sentenced to 35 years for selling drugs and related offenses. Over the next two decades, he completed more than 30 Bible studies, became a law clerk, and mentored fellow inmates. Now, Matthew is the very first person to be released from prison under the First Step Act. Matthew, on behalf of all Americans: welcome home.
As we have seen, when we are united, we can make astonishing strides for our country. Now, Republicans and Democrats must join forces again to confront an urgent national crisis.
The Congress has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our Government, protect our homeland, and secure our southern border.
Now is the time for the Congress to show the world that America is committed to ending illegal immigration and putting the ruthless coyotes, cartels, drug dealers, and human traffickers out of business.
As we speak, large, organized caravans are on the march to the United States. We have just heard that Mexican cities, in order to remove the illegal immigrants from their communities, are getting trucks and buses to bring them up to our country in areas where there is little border protection. I have ordered another 3,750 troops to our southern border to prepare for the tremendous onslaught.
This is a moral issue. The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security, and financial well‑being of all Americans. We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens. This includes our obligation to the millions of immigrants living here today, who followed the rules and respected our laws. Legal immigrants enrich our Nation and strengthen our society in countless ways. I want people to come into our country, but they have to come in legally.
Tonight, I am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country.
No issue better illustrates the divide between America's working class and America's political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.
Meanwhile, working class Americans are left to pay the price for mass illegal migration -- reduced jobs, lower wages, overburdened schools and hospitals, increased crime, and a depleted social safety net.
Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate -- it is cruel. One in three women is sexually assaulted on the long journey north. Smugglers use migrant children as human pawns to exploit our laws and gain access to our country.
Human traffickers and sex traffickers take advantage of the wide open areas between our ports of entry to smuggle thousands of young girls and women into the United States and to sell them into prostitution and modern-day slavery.
Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are killed by lethal drugs that cross our border and flood into our cities -- including meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl.
The savage gang, MS-13, now operates in 20 different American States, and they almost all come through our southern border. Just yesterday, an MS-13 gang member was taken into custody for a fatal shooting on a subway platform in New York City. We are removing these gang members by the thousands, but until we secure our border they're going to keep streaming back in.
Year after year, countless Americans are murdered by criminal illegal aliens.
I've gotten to know many wonderful Angel Moms, Dads, and families -- no one should ever have to suffer the horrible heartache they have endured.
Here tonight is Debra Bissell. Just three weeks ago, Debra's parents, Gerald and Sharon, were burglarized and shot to death in their Reno, Nevada, home by an illegal alien. They were in their eighties and are survived by four children, 11 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren. Also here tonight are Gerald and Sharon's granddaughter, Heather, and great‑granddaughter, Madison.
To Debra, Heather, Madison, please stand: few can understand your pain. But I will never forget, and I will fight for the memory of Gerald and Sharon, that it should never happen again.
Not one more American life should be lost because our Nation failed to control its very dangerous border.
In the last 2 years, our brave ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of criminal aliens, including those charged or convicted of nearly 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 killings.
We are joined tonight by one of those law enforcement heroes: ICE Special Agent Elvin Hernandez. When Elvin was a boy, he and his family legally immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic. At the age of eight, Elvin told his dad he wanted to become a Special Agent. Today, he leads investigations into the scourge of international sex trafficking. Elvin says: "If I can make sure these young girls get their justice, I've done my job." Thanks to his work and that of his colleagues, more than 300 women and girls have been rescued from horror and more than 1,500 sadistic traffickers have been put behind bars in the last year.
Special Agent Hernandez, please stand: We will always support the brave men and women of Law Enforcement -- and I pledge to you tonight that we will never abolish our heroes from ICE.
My Administration has sent to the Congress a commonsense proposal to end the crisis on our southern border.
It includes humanitarian assistance, more law enforcement, drug detection at our ports, closing loopholes that enable child smuggling, and plans for a new physical barrier, or wall, to secure the vast areas between our ports of entry. In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall -- but the proper wall never got built. I'll get it built.
This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier -- not just a simple concrete wall. It will be deployed in the areas identified by border agents as having the greatest need, and as these agents will tell you, where walls go up, illegal crossings go way down.
San Diego used to have the most illegal border crossings in the country. In response, and at the request of San Diego residents and political leaders, a strong security wall was put in place. This powerful barrier almost completely ended illegal crossings.
The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime -- one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our Nation's most dangerous cities. Now, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of our safest cities.
Simply put, walls work and walls save lives. So let's work together, compromise, and reach a deal that will truly make America safe.
As we work to defend our people's safety, we must also ensure our economic resurgence continues at a rapid pace.
No one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 percent of the new jobs created in the last year. All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before -- and exactly one century after the Congress passed the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in the Congress than ever before.
As part of our commitment to improving opportunity for women everywhere, this Thursday we are launching the first ever Government-wide initiative focused on economic empowerment for women in developing countries.
To build on our incredible economic success, one priority is paramount -- reversing decades of calamitous trade policies.
We are now making it clear to China that after years of targeting our industries, and stealing our intellectual property, the theft of American jobs and wealth has come to an end.
Therefore, we recently imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods -- and now our Treasury is receiving billions of dollars a month from a country that never gave us a dime. But I don't blame China for taking advantage of us -- I blame our leaders and representatives for allowing this travesty to happen. I have great respect for President Xi, and we are now working on a new trade deal with China. But it must include real, structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our chronic trade deficit, and protect American jobs.
Another historic trade blunder was the catastrophe known as NAFTA.
I have met the men and women of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Hampshire, and many other States whose dreams were shattered by NAFTA. For years, politicians promised them they would negotiate for a better deal. But no one ever tried -- until now.
Our new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- or USMCA -- will replace NAFTA and deliver for American workers: bringing back our manufacturing jobs, expanding American agriculture, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring that more cars are proudly stamped with four beautiful words: made in the USA.
Tonight, I am also asking you to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, so that if another country places an unfair tariff on an American product, we can charge them the exact same tariff on the same product that they sell to us.
Both parties should be able to unite for a great rebuilding of America's crumbling infrastructure.
I know that the Congress is eager to pass an infrastructure bill -- and I am eager to work with you on legislation to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting edge industries of the future. This is not an option. This is a necessity.
The next major priority for me, and for all of us, should be to lower the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs -- and to protect patients with pre-existing conditions.
Already, as a result of my Administration's efforts, in 2018 drug prices experienced their single largest decline in 46 years.
But we must do more. It is unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place. This is wrong, unfair, and together we can stop it.
I am asking the Congress to pass legislation that finally takes on the problem of global freeloading and delivers fairness and price transparency for American patients. We should also require drug companies, insurance companies, and hospitals to disclose real prices to foster competition and bring costs down.
No force in history has done more to advance the human condition than American freedom. In recent years we have made remarkable progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach. My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. Together, we will defeat AIDS in America.
Tonight, I am also asking you to join me in another fight that all Americans can get behind: the fight against childhood cancer.
Joining Melania in the gallery this evening is a very brave 10-year-old girl, Grace Eline. Every birthday since she was 4, Grace asked her friends to donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. She did not know that one day she might be a patient herself. Last year, Grace was diagnosed with brain cancer. Immediately, she began radiation treatment. At the same time, she rallied her community and raised more than $40,000 for the fight against cancer. When Grace completed treatment last fall, her doctors and nurses cheered with tears in their eyes as she hung up a poster that read: "Last Day of Chemo." Grace -- you are an inspiration to us all.
Many childhood cancers have not seen new therapies in decades. My budget will ask the Congress for $500 million over the next 10 years to fund this critical life-saving research.
To help support working parents, the time has come to pass school choice for America's children. I am also proud to be the first President to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave -- so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.
There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our Nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world. And then, we had the case of the Governor of Virginia where he basically stated he would execute a baby after birth.
To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb.
Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children -- born and unborn -- are made in the holy image of God.
The final part of my agenda is to protect America's National Security.
Over the last 2 years, we have begun to fully rebuild the United States Military -- with $700 billion last year and $716 billion this year. We are also getting other nations to pay their fair share. For years, the United States was being treated very unfairly by NATO -- but now we have secured a $100 billion increase in defense spending from NATO allies.
As part of our military build-up, the United States is developing a state-of-the-art Missile Defense System.
Under my Administration, we will never apologize for advancing America's interests.
For example, decades ago the United States entered into a treaty with Russia in which we agreed to limit and reduce our missile capabilities. While we followed the agreement to the letter, Russia repeatedly violated its terms. That is why I announced that the United States is officially withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF Treaty.
Perhaps we can negotiate a different agreement, adding China and others, or perhaps we can't --- in which case, we will outspend and out-innovate all others by far.
As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in 15 months. If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed. Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one. And Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam.
Two weeks ago, the United States officially recognized the legitimate government of Venezuela, and its new interim President, Juan Guaido.
We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom -- and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair.
Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence --- not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.
One of the most complex set of challenges we face is in the Middle East.
Our approach is based on principled realism -- not discredited theories that have failed for decades to yield progress. For this reason, my Administration recognized the true capital of Israel -- and proudly opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem.
Our brave troops have now been fighting in the Middle East for almost 19 years. In Afghanistan and Iraq, nearly 7,000 American heroes have given their lives. More than 52,000 Americans have been badly wounded. We have spent more than $7 trillion in the Middle East.
As a candidate for President, I pledged a new approach. Great nations do not fight endless wars.
When I took office, ISIS controlled more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria. Today, we have liberated virtually all of that territory from the grip of these bloodthirsty killers.
Now, as we work with our allies to destroy the remnants of ISIS, it is time to give our brave warriors in Syria a warm welcome home.
I have also accelerated our negotiations to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan. Our troops have fought with unmatched valor -- and thanks to their bravery, we are now able to pursue a political solution to this long and bloody conflict.
In Afghanistan, my Administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban. As we make progress in these negotiations, we will be able to reduce our troop presence and focus on counter-terrorism. We do not know whether we will achieve an agreement -- but we do know that after two decades of war, the hour has come to at least try for peace.
Above all, friend and foe alike must never doubt this Nation's power and will to defend our people. Eighteen years ago, terrorists attacked the USS Cole -- and last month American forces killed one of the leaders of the attack.
We are honored to be joined tonight by Tom Wibberley, whose son, Navy Seaman Craig Wibberley, was one of the 17 sailors we tragically lost. Tom: we vow to always remember the heroes of the USS Cole.
My Administration has acted decisively to confront the world's leading state sponsor of terror: the radical regime in Iran.
To ensure this corrupt dictatorship never acquires nuclear weapons, I withdrew the United States from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. And last fall, we put in place the toughest sanctions ever imposed on a country.
We will not avert our eyes from a regime that chants death to America and threatens genocide against the Jewish people. We must never ignore the vile poison of anti-Semitism, or those who spread its venomous creed. With one voice, we must confront this hatred anywhere and everywhere it occurs.
Just months ago, 11 Jewish-Americans were viciously murdered in an anti-semitic attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. SWAT Officer Timothy Matson raced into the gunfire and was shot seven times chasing down the killer. Timothy has just had his 12th surgery -- but he made the trip to be here with us tonight. Officer Matson: we are forever grateful for your courage in the face of evil.
Tonight, we are also joined by Pittsburgh survivor Judah Samet. He arrived at the synagogue as the massacre began. But not only did Judah narrowly escape death last fall -- more than seven decades ago, he narrowly survived the Nazi concentration camps. Today is Judah's 81st birthday. Judah says he can still remember the exact moment, nearly 75 years ago, after 10 months in a concentration camp, when he and his family were put on a train, and told they were going to another camp. Suddenly the train screeched to a halt. A soldier appeared. Judah's family braced for the worst. Then, his father cried out with joy: "It's the Americans."
A second Holocaust survivor who is here tonight, Joshua Kaufman, was a prisoner at Dachau Concentration Camp. He remembers watching through a hole in the wall of a cattle car as American soldiers rolled in with tanks. "To me," Joshua recalls, "the American soldiers were proof that God exists, and they came down from the sky."
I began this evening by honoring three soldiers who fought on D-Day in the Second World War. One of them was Herman Zeitchik. But there is more to Herman's story. A year after he stormed the beaches of Normandy, Herman was one of those American soldiers who helped liberate Dachau. He was one of the Americans who helped rescue Joshua from that hell on earth. Almost 75 years later, Herman and Joshua are both together in the gallery tonight -- seated side-by-side, here in the home of American freedom. Herman and Joshua: your presence this evening honors and uplifts our entire Nation.
When American soldiers set out beneath the dark skies over the English Channel in the early hours of D-Day, 1944, they were just young men of 18 and 19, hurtling on fragile landing craft toward the most momentous battle in the history of war.
They did not know if they would survive the hour. They did not know if they would grow old. But they knew that America had to prevail. Their cause was this Nation, and generations yet unborn.
Why did they do it? They did it for America -- they did it for us.
Everything that has come since -- our triumph over communism, our giant leaps of science and discovery, our unrivaled progress toward equality and justice -- all of it is possible thanks to the blood and tears and courage and vision of the Americans who came before.
Think of this Capitol -- think of this very chamber, where lawmakers before you voted to end slavery, to build the railroads and the highways, to defeat fascism, to secure civil rights, to face down an evil empire.
Here tonight, we have legislators from across this magnificent republic. You have come from the rocky shores of Maine and the volcanic peaks of Hawaii; from the snowy woods of Wisconsin and the red deserts of Arizona; from the green farms of Kentucky and the golden beaches of California. Together, we represent the most extraordinary Nation in all of history.
What will we do with this moment? How will we be remembered?
I ask the men and women of this Congress: Look at the opportunities before us! Our most thrilling achievements are still ahead. Our most exciting journeys still await. Our biggest victories are still to come. We have not yet begun to dream.
We must choose whether we are defined by our differences -- or whether we dare to transcend them.
We must choose whether we will squander our inheritance -- or whether we will proudly declare that we are Americans. We do the incredible. We defy the impossible. We conquer the unknown.
This is the time to re-ignite the American imagination. This is the time to search for the tallest summit, and set our sights on the brightest star. This is the time to rekindle the bonds of love and loyalty and memory that link us together as citizens, as neighbors, as patriots.
This is our future -- our fate -- and our choice to make. I am asking you to choose greatness.
No matter the trials we face, no matter the challenges to come, we must go forward together.
We must keep America first in our hearts. We must keep freedom alive in our souls. And we must always keep faith in America's destiny -- that one Nation, under God, must be the hope and the promise and the light and the glory among all the nations of the world!
Thank you. God Bless You, God Bless America, and good night!
באריכט פון אפרים הערשקאוויטש צו אידישע נייעס (וועב | טעלעגראם | טוויטער | אינסטעגראם | וואטסעפפ)
אפרים הערשקאוויטש דאנעלד טראמפ דאקומענטן עקסקלוסיוו פאליטיק קאנגרעס
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Edzerza’s cause celebre comes true
For Environment Minister John Edzerza, the opening of the Yukon's newest aboriginal healing camp was personal. I can testify to you today about alcohol," said Edzerza on Thursday.
James Munson
For Environment Minister John Edzerza, the opening of the Yukon’s newest aboriginal healing camp was personal.
“I can testify to you today about alcohol,” said Edzerza on Thursday, standing in a large circle of officials, addictions specialists and Kwanlin Dun employees.
“I started alcohol when I was about eight years old and I was getting pretty drunk by the time I was 11 and 12. I walked in the dark for many, many years.
“And let me tell you, it’s lonely, painful, depressing. You don’t even realize the sun is shining. And every day you wake up and you wonder if it’s going to be the day you’re going to die. That’s the life of an alcoholic.”
The sombre testimonial provided a vivid example of why the territory needs inventive solutions to curb alcoholism. Healing camps have existed in the Yukon before, but have quietly closed. The Jackson Lake Land-Based Healing Programamp is the latest attempt to create one that works.
The method involves taking alcoholics away from the towns and onto the land. The camp is surrounded by small lakes and rolling hills, and participants will learn traditional outdoor skills as well as aboriginal psychological concepts to help them heal.
“If you were sitting at the crossroads in front of the Sarah Steele building, or in a big room somewhere, would it feel like this?” said Edzerza after his speech, holding his hands up to the clear blue sky.
“This is less stressful. It’s more open. You’re not sitting inside of a building.”
Edzerza has criticized medical-oriented alcohol treatment for the last decade. He sees healing camps as a restoration of aboriginal culture, since it involves traditional methods once banned or destroyed by the arrival of nonnatives to North America.
“The conventional method is built on PhD’s,” he said. “The traditional method comes from ‘We’ve been there and we’ve done that.’”
The camp will revolve around aboriginal values and beliefs, he said.
“One of my main teachers was my mother,” he said. “She always talked about respect for life in every way, shape and form.
“I remember her saying, ‘Anyone with addictions, never kick them when they’re down. Always lend a hand to help these people.’”
Some of the camp’s future participants attended the opening Thursday. Nora MacIntosh suffers from extended relapses into alcoholism and has attended healing camps before. On Sunday, she’ll be one of the first 16 women to use this camp in its official capacity.
Before the speeches, she was touring the wall tents dotting a winding road around Jackson Lake.
“I’ve got my heart set on that one,” she says, pointing to a tent overlooking a bluff.
Edzerza took time earlier in the week to leaf through some of the programs for the camp. He’s developed three programs himself for healing camps he’s run.
“One is my own personal medicine wheel, where I tell the story of my life journey – how I was able to overcome my alcohol addiction,” he said.
Edzerza never suffered abused at a residential school. But the young boys who returned from them brought the behaviour home, sparking cycles of abuse while Edzerza was a young child.
“There was a lot of mental, physical, sexual abuse,” he said.
Those experiences shaped his teenage years and half of his adult life.
“I was a loner pretty well all my life and it was due to the fact of a lot of abuse,” he said.
In the early 1980s, he sobered up. It was an incredibly difficult process, but one modeled on tradition rather than modern healing.
For years, he’s done counselling and tried to spread his story of overcoming alcohol.
“A lot of us never thought how easy it is to get into it, but how difficult it is to get out of it,” he said.
Elected to the legislature in 2002, he’s been in and out of government over the last eight years.
“I’ve pushed every government to try to do this,” he said. “The NDP, the Liberals, the Yukon Party.”
“A lot of the people at the top of the political positions really don’t understand what this means.”
The road to Thursday’s opening has been bumpy. Premier Dennis Fentie once said Edzerza “failed First Nations” for not getting a healing camp set up in 2006. Edzerza left the government to sit in opposition for several years, before mending fences and returning to the government last year.
He wouldn’t elaborate on how Fentie and he got over the acrimonious insults.
“I think it’s all politics and not really understanding what it’s about,” he said. “I don’t even like to think political about something like this.”
Edzerza worked extensively with the Kwanlin Dun chief and council in recent years to get the camp started. Jeanie Dendys, the First Nation’s justice director, has also helped organize the many stages leading up to opening day. The Yukon government will put $198,300 into running the camp, and $300,000 will come from the federal Northern Strategy Fund. The camp is a one-year pilot project, with the women’s program running for the next five weeks and a men’s program to follow in September.
The mood was buoyant and festive under the hot sun on Thursday. Natives and nonnatives worked on the development of the camp. The participants will also come from many backgrounds.
“We all live in this territory, we all have to work together, we all have to heal together,” Edzerza told the crowd. “I don’t know if there’s any one right way, but what’s been missing in my life have been the traditional ways.”
Contact James Munson at
jamesm@yukon-news.com
Territory to get new licence
Little Salmon/Carmacks chief in US jail
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Jack Nadel
October 4, 1923 - September 24, 2016
A Man For All Seasons October 4, 1923 - September 24, 2016 Santa Barbara, California Jack Nadel lived just short of 93 years, enjoying life to the fullest and bringing joy to all who had the pleasure of knowing him. Born in New York City, Jack enlisted in the military during World War II at the age of 19. When he was honorably discharged as a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1946, he had flown 27 missions in a B-29 bomber over Japan and returned home a hero. The young Nadel served as a combat navigator and radar bombardier and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. He and his fellow flight crew members also received the Presidential Unit Citation, a top award for the Army Air Force. After the war, Jack began a successful career as a global entrepreneur that spanned seven decades, having founded, acquired and operated more than a dozen companies worldwide. Jack was always the first to say that he was lucky enough to have met two great women who were the loves of his life. He had two wonderful marriages: first to Elly for 54 years and then to Julie for 11 years of their 14-year partnership. Jack is survived by his two children Jeff (Shelley) and Judie, four grandchildren, Jennifer (Eric) Elizabeth (Michael), Tristan (Bianca), and Nick, and two great-grandchildren, Hunter and Sophie. In addition, Jack had two stepchildren, Shari (Ed) and Hillary (Scott) and four granddaughters (Lily, Aerin, Ella, and Hope). Jack's signature business - Jack Nadel International with 25 offices around the world - was the embodiment of his indomitable spirit, and today is thriving in its 63rd year under the leadership of his nephew, Craig Nadel. Jack won every honor in the promotional marketing and advertising industry, including being inducted into the Promotional Products Association International Hall of Fame. In 1988, he was invited by President Reagan to participate in an important Presidential Trade Mission to Japan. Jack also authored six business books and a novel including the award-winning works, "The Evolution of an Entrepreneur" and his novel, "My Enemy, My Friend". Jack was always at the cutting edge of technology, and in his 80's, he continued his writing career in the digital realm, writing for The Huffington Post, and appearing in Forbe, Entrepreneur, Vetrepreneur, and on television and radio, as well as lecturing at colleges and universities. Jack was a recipient of the first Entrepreneurial Lifetime Notable Achievement Award from Santa Barbara City College. Jack mentored many young entrepreneurs, who have gone on to very successful careers. He also hosted a popular TV show in Santa Barbara, "Out of the Box with Jack Nadel," on which he interviewed well-known celebrities and experts - all with the aim of improving the human condition. In 1990, Jack founded The Nadel Foundation whose mission continues to help improve the standard of living and quality of life, beginning with his local community. With his wife Julie at his side, Jack was a hands-on philanthropist, maintaining activities to the organizations and programs they support. Jack Nadel truly was A Man for All Seasons whose legacy will live on for generations. In lieu of flowers, the family requests gifts in Jack's memory be sent to the Nadel Prescription Navigator Program at Sansum Clinic, PO Box 1200, Santa Barbara, CA, 93102, ATTN: Dru A. Hartley.
A Man For All Seasons October 4, 1923 - September 24, 2016 Santa Barbara, California Jack Nadel lived just short of 93 years, enjoying life to the fullest and bringing joy to all who had the pleasure of knowing him. Born in New York City,... View Obituary & Service Information
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Laurence Montano
88, passed away peacefully after a short stay at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, CA on April 21, 2015 with his son, David at his side. He was born in Buena Vista, CO on June 10, 1926 to Solomon and Andrea (Avila) Montano. Laurence graduated from Leadville high school and attended the University of Missouri. He joined the U. S. Army during World War II and attained the rank of Sargent. He was awarded two Bronze Stars and was honorably discharged in 1946. Laurence married Caroline (Ortiz) Montano in Leadville and worked for the United States Postal Service. He served as Postmaster in Leadville from 1961 until his retirement in 1972. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, and was a member of Annunciation Parish where he attained 4th Degree in the Knights of Columbus. The family moved to Goleta, CA in 1972 where Laurence worked in the Building Services Department at the University of California at Santa Barbara for 16 years. He retired a second time and utilized his expertise working with his son David for eight years at "Dave's Market" in Isla Vista, CA. He enjoyed music, bible study, and advocating for veterans after his third "retirement." Laurence lived at Wood Glen Assisted Living facility in Santa Barbara, CA for several months, where he met Mildred Thomas, whose company he enjoyed until she passed away in 2010. Laurence enjoyed his last several years at home, thanks to around-the-clock care from his son, David. There were many good meals, short trips in the area, and visits with family, friends, and neighbors. He loved to share memories of his life embellished with humor and some hard to believe "facts." Laurence took delight in providing "forbidden" treats to his granddaughters when they were young, such as trips to 7-11 for snacks and placing coins in the backyard ?money tree.? His older grandsons received Cracker Jacks as Christmas presents and he enjoyed sharing his coin collection. Laurence is survived by his sister Dolores Roberts, Omaha, NE; brother Albert Montano, Grand Junction, CO; former spouse Caroline Montano, Happy Valley, OR; son Larry Montano (Cathie), Humble, TX, daughter Virginia Teter, Happy Valley, OR, son David Montano, Goleta, CA, son Stephen Montano (Saradrey), San Luis Obispo, CA; grandchildren Renee Orr (James), Happy Valley, OR, Marilyn Montano, Austin, TX, Crystall Montano (Delana), Portland, OR, Brandon Montano, Santa Barbara, CA, Cody Montano, Las Vegas, NV, Leo Montano, Humble, TX; great-grand children Elias and Ily Montano, Portland, OR, Avery Orr and Teagan Orr, Happy Valley, OR; and many other relatives. Laurence was preceded in death by his sister Virginia Montano (1933), father Solomon Montano (1949), mother Andrea Montano (1974), and sister Ruth Quintana (2015). Viewing will be Thursday, May 7, 2015 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapel, 15 East Sola Street, Santa Barbara, CA. Graveside services, with military honors, will be Friday, May 8, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. at Goleta Cemetery, 44 South San Antonio Road, Santa Barbara, CA. A Reception will follow. The family requests donations be made to the American Diabetes Association in lieu of flowers.
88, passed away peacefully after a short stay at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, CA on April 21, 2015 with his son, David at his side. He was born in Buena Vista, CO on June 10, 1926 to Solomon and Andrea (Avila) Montano. Laurence graduated... View Obituary & Service Information
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Open All Night: America's Car Factories
By Christina Rogers
Updated Aug. 17, 2013 1:42 pm ET
DETROIT—More U.S. auto plants are cranking out cars around the clock like never before, a change that is driving robust profit increases at Detroit's Big Three.
After years of layoffs, plant closures and corporate bankruptcies, U.S. auto makers and parts suppliers are pushing factories to the limits. At General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, more flexible union agreements now allow the companies to build cars for 120 hours a week or more while paying less in overtime pay.
More U.S. auto plants are cranking out cars around the clock like never before. Pictured, an assembly line supervisor at the Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit.
As demand for automobiles nearly returns to pre-recession levels, automakers are ramping up production.
Nearly 40% of car factories in North America now operate on work schedules that push production well past 80 hours a week, compared with 11% in 2008, said Ron Harbour, a senior partner with the Oliver Wyman Inc. management consulting firm.
"There has never been a time in the U.S. industry that we've had this high a level of capacity utilization," he said.
The Detroit auto makers closed 27 factories following the financial crisis as GM and Chrysler went through government-led bankruptcies. But U.S. vehicle sales have roared back from the trough of 10.4 million in 2009.
In July, U.S. car and light truck sales ran at an annualized pace of 15.8 million, up from a 14.2 million pace a year ago. Auto sales hit a peak rate of 17.5 million in 2005. The industry had 925,700 employees that year. Last year, the workforce stood at 647,600.
The combination of rising sales and tight production capacity helped Detroit auto makers last year generate the second-highest profit in the industry's history. Ford's North American auto operations racked up $4.77 billion in pretax profit during the first half of this year, while GM North America reported $3.4 billion in earnings before interest and taxes.
But fresh from a near-death experience during the recession, auto makers are reluctant to put money into bricks, mortar and machinery that could become a drag on profits if car sales fall. Volkswagen AG's new $1 billion Chattanooga, Tenn., factory recently cut 500 workers after sales of its new Passat sedan swooned.
So instead, car makers are squeezing as much as they can out of the factories and the people they have.
For Detroit's auto makers, changes in union labor contracts have been critical to running factories harder.
Through a series of agreements negotiated with the United Auto Workers union, the Detroit Three now can schedule work at night and on weekends without paying as much in overtime as they would have in the past. Adding a third shift, as many plants have done, also reduces overtime. Overtime pay also starts after 40 hours a week, not after eight hours a day as in the past. On top of those savings, a newly hired Big Three factory worker now earns about $15 an hour versus $28 an hour for veteran workers, under postrecession labor pacts.
In Toledo, Ohio, Chrysler is building all the Jeep Wranglers it can and dealers say they are still short on the hot-selling model. The plant has been running nearly round the clock, churning out about 800 Jeep Wranglers a day and using overtime to staff production lines 20 hours a day, six days a week for the past two years. Temporary workers fill in when regular employees aren't available.
Workers don't even have to leave the factory to get a bite to eat; there are three Subway locations there.
Toledo factory managers recently changed break schedules to squeeze out even more production. Instead of shutting down the assembly line eight times a day for routine breaks, they have hired extra workers to fill in during breaks, so the line doesn't stop running.
The result: about 70 more Wranglers a day. With a starting price of $22,295 each for the vehicle, that is $1.6 million or more in additional revenue a day.
"We've been able to raise the output of the plants without buying a lot of hardware," said Scott Garberding, Chrysler's manufacturing chief.
Stretching workers and plants can only go so far.
James Spizzirro, 33 years old, a worker at Hyundai Motor Co.'s Montgomery, Ala., factory, said the South Korean auto maker's decision last year to add a third shift came as a relief. Before that, he was working 10-hour-a-day shifts with overtime.
"It was very grueling," he said. "You make great money but the toll it takes on the body, and the time away from family gets hard to deal with."
Hyundai's decision to hire an additional 800 workers boosted the plant's yearly production to about 385,000 vehicles, about 150,000 more than two years ago when the factory ran two shifts a day. The factory's 33 parts suppliers also created extra shifts and hired about 700 workers.
Finding the right employees to do the physically intensive work can be a challenge. "People who know how to build cars have disappeared," says Chrysler Vice President Mauro Pino. At its Toledo plant, Chrysler recently hired about 1,200 to build a new Jeep, "all of them were new to the industry," he said.
Of those who applied for the work, 70% were rejected, mostly because they couldn't pass initial assessment tests, Mr. Pino said.
GM is running six of its U.S. plants through the night on three-shift schedules. Last year, GM produced 3.24 million vehicles in North America compared with 4.52 million in 2007—when it had five more assembly factories.
Ford has gone a step further, adding a fourth crew of workers at some engine and transmission plants to keep those factories running 152 hours out of the 168 hours in a week.
The techniques have helped expand production by 600,000 vehicles during the past 15 months—the equivalent of about three assembly plants, says James Tetreault, Ford's vice president of North America manufacturing. Ford doesn't plan to build a new North American assembly plant, he says.
"In an ideal world, we'd like all our plants to run around the clock, 365 days a year," says Mr. Tetreault. "That would be a financial dream. But we don't know how to do that yet."
Many component suppliers are stretched to the hilt trying to build enough parts to keep up with new-vehicle orders. The auto industry is now building about the same number of vehicles as it did in 2007, but with about 100,000 fewer employees, said Neil De Koker, president of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association.
"For some suppliers that's a real challenge, especially if you're a smaller, family-owned company," Mr. De Koker said. "They have to ask, 'Should I invest $5 million and take the risk the market won't turn.' "
The big Japanese auto makers aren't following the round-the-clock trend. Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. run two shifts a day and offer workers overtime as needed to increase output. If a particular model is in short supply, the two can add production to plants that build multiple models on the same line.
Mike Robinet, a senior analyst for consultants IHS Automotive, says auto makers relying on multiple shifts will soon have to invest in plant expansions or new factories to avoid missing out on sales.
"We are bumping up against the edge," he says.
But Ford's Mr. Tetreault says there are always new ways to crank out more cars from existing plants. "We didn't think we could run plants 120 hours [a week] and now we're doing it pretty routinely," he said. "As a manufacturing guy, I never say we're maxed out."
—Jeff Bennett contributed to this article.
Write to Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com
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LatestProfile
Contact|About|
International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)
Global class struggle
Capitalism & Inequality
Fourth International
Socialist Equality Party
About the WSWS
Trump’s victory and the debacle of American democracy
Joseph Kishore@jkishore
The victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election is a political earthquake that has exposed before the entire world the terminal crisis of American democracy. Such is the degeneration of bourgeois rule that it has elevated an obscene charlatan and billionaire demagogue to the highest office in the land.
Whatever conciliatory phrases he may issue in the coming days, a president Trump will lead a government of class war, national chauvinism, militarism and police state violence. In addition to the executive branch, all the major political institutions in the United States—including both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court—will be in the hands of the far right.
Under Trump, America will not be made “great again.” It will be driven into the dirt.
Media commentators, none of whom foresaw this outcome, fell back on now routine explanations focused on the voting patterns of various racial and identity groups. They all ignored the fact that the election became a referendum on the devastating social crisis and decay in the United States, which Trump was able to channel and direct to the right.
Who and what is responsible for the victory of Trump? First, the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party, which were unwilling and incapable of presenting a program that could attract any significant popular support.
Clinton waged her campaign on the lowest and most reactionary level. She combined claims that Trump was an agent of Putin—aimed at creating the framework for aggression against Russia—with denunciations of the working class as racist and “privileged.”
Second, the administration of Barack Obama, elected eight years ago on pledges of “hope” and “change.” Obama won the support of large sections of the working class, including white workers, bitterly opposed to social inequality and the Bush administration’s policies of war and social reaction.
During two full terms in office, Obama presided over unending war, a historic transfer of wealth to the ruling class, and the continued erosion of the living standards of the vast majority of the population.
Obama’s signature domestic program, the Affordable Care Act, was an assault on health care packaged as a reform. In the final weeks of the election, millions of workers discovered that they are facing double-digit increases in health care costs. This was likely far more important in affecting the outcome of the election than the actions of FBI director James Comey in reviving the Clinton email scandal.
Third, the trade unions, which for the past four decades of increasing social inequality have worked systematically to suppress the class struggle and maintain the political stranglehold of the Democratic Party. They have as well assiduously promoted reactionary economic nationalism, which is in line with Trump’s own platform.
Fourth, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and those organizations that promoted him. Sanders’ craven capitulation to Clinton—the logical outcome of his strategy of channeling opposition into the Democratic Party—ensured that opposition to the status quo would be monopolized by the political right. The most significant Trump upsets came in states where Sanders had defeated Clinton by large margins in the Democratic Party primaries.
Behind all of this was the central ideological role of identity politics and the systematic effort to conceal the real social divisions within society. The relentless and obsessive focus on race and gender over the past four decades has been used to give the Democratic Party a left cover for a thoroughly right-wing political agenda at home and abroad. At the same time, it articulates the interests of the most privileged sections of the upper-middle class.
The notion that the basic divisions in society are along the lines of race and gender is not only politically reactionary, it is fundamentally false. The Democrats and Clinton were hoisted on their own petard. They not only lost in regions that are predominantly poor and white, but also suffered from a decline in voter turnout in majority black regions, as African-American workers and youth saw no reason to back the candidate of the status quo.
The coming period will be one of shock, outrage and increasingly bitter struggles. It will not take long for workers, including those who voted for him, to realize what they have in a President Trump. At the same time, the explosive divisions within the state apparatus expressed in the election will emerge in new and more violent forms.
Definite conclusions must be drawn from the experiences of these elections.
In the 2016 elections, the Socialist Equality Party and its candidates, Jerry White and Niles Niemuth, warned of the disastrous consequences of the subordination of the working class to the Democratic Party and the promotion of identity politics. We insisted that the interests of the working class—in the fight against war, social inequality and dictatorship—could be advanced only through the fight to unify workers of all races, ethnicities and nationalities in a common struggle against the capitalist system.
These warnings have been confirmed. The basic and urgent task that now arises out of the elections is the need to build a revolutionary socialist leadership—the Socialist Equality Party.
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PerspectivesThe 2016 US ElectionsUnited StatesTrump and the danger of fascism in America
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INTEGRATIVE MEANING
THE WTM
JEREMY GRIFFITH
Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith was raised on a sheep station in rural New South Wales and educated at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, one of the most highly regarded schools in the world. Jeremy gained first class honours in biology in the state matriculation exams, and in 1965 began a science degree at the University of New England in northern New South Wales. While there, Jeremy played representative rugby union football, making the 1966 trials for Australia’s national team, the Wallabies.
Deferring his studies in 1967, Jeremy hitchhiked to Tasmania, determined to save the remarkable dog-like marsupial, the Thylacine, or ‘Tasmanian Tiger’, from extinction. The search was to last more than six years — the most thorough investigation ever into the plight of the Tasmanian Tiger — but sadly concluded it was extinct. The quest generated articles in the American Museum of Natural History’s journal, Natural History, and Australian Geographic, and featured in an episode of the Australian television series A Big Country.
In 1971 Jeremy completed his BSc in zoology at the University of Sydney and the following year, in the same self-sufficient spirit with which he had undertaken the ‘Tiger’ search, he established Griffith Tablecraft, a highly successful business manufacturing furniture based on his own simple and natural designs. In addition to his design work, Jeremy is also an accomplished artist.
It was during this time that, at age 27, Jeremy realised that trying to save animals from extinction or trying to build ideal furniture wasn’t addressing the real issue behind the extraordinary imperfection in human life, which is our species’ ‘good and evil’-conflicted behaviour, and that what was really needed in the world was a deeper understanding of ourselves — so it was to this issue of the human condition that Jeremy turned his attention, a study that has remained his life’s focus.
Jeremy started writing about the human condition in 1975, established the World Transformation Movement (WTM) in 1983 (which is dedicated to the study and amelioration of the human condition), and is the author of numerous books on the subject, including the 2004 bestseller A Species In Denial, and in 2016, FREEDOM: The End Of The Human Condition, his “summa masterpiece”.
Jeremy’s full biography is available on HumanCondition.com.
WORLD TRANSFORMATION MOVEMENT STAFFORDSHIRE
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Change the Team?!
There’s a little known fact: we were going to change the X-MEN:TAS team. We had written the script where four members left and four new ones came on. It seems hard to imagine now. One of the strengths of the series is that we had found an excellent balance of diverse characters. How would we write stories without four of our team, mixing in four new-comers? The trick is that we were not planning to. Fox Network had decided to end the series at 65 episodes with a big story that concluded with four members leaving and four, who had proved themselves within the story, replacing them. The big four-part story was “Beyond Good and Evil,” and we had finished the four scripts — story laid out by Mark Edens and Michael Edens — with heartfelt farewells included. Then word came down that Fox didn’t want to end the series after all. They wanted another season (season five). Oops. Now I had to go back into “B. G. & E.” and take out all of the story bits that lead to four characters leaving and four new ones stepping in. Not pleasant. What was a really well-constructed 88-minute story now needed to be patched together to be something different. Fast. Oh, well. Below are our original ten X-Men (including Morph), plus some guest stars. See if you can guess which four of our ten was set to leave and who would have replaced them. Two of the replacements are among those shown below.
WHO LEFT AND WHO REPLACED THEM?
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Chris Beardshaw
Christopher Paul Beardshaw (born 11. January 1969)[1] is a British garden designer, plantsman, author, speaker and broadcaster.
Beardshaw was formally trained in Horticulture at Pershore College and holds an BA Hons and PGDip in Landscape Architecture from the University of Gloucestershire. He has won 35 prestigious design awards, including 12 RHS Gold Medals, the latest was for his Morgan Stanley Garden for the NSPCC at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2018 which also was awarded the coveted Best Show Garden Award. He has also been voted for the People's Choice Award 5 times.
His first TV appearance was in 1999 as the expert on 'Surprise Gardeners' for Carlton TV. After this, he moved to the BBC TV and Real Rakeovers as the expert contributor. His first show as solo presenter was Weekend Gardener for UKTV Style in 2000. Also in 2000, he co-presented Gardening Neighbours for BBC 2. This was followed by three series of Housecall. After this, he joined Gardeners' World Live as a specialist presenter, and then soon moved on to become a presenter on Gardeners' World, alongside Monty Don and Rachel De Thame. Beardshaw was perhaps best known for his The Flying Gardener series for BBC2 which ran for four series. He currently presents Beechgrove Garden and is a regular panel member on BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time.
The Chris Beardshaw Rose was launched at the Hampton Court Flower show in July 2007. Beautifully scented with soft pink blooms, the new rose was produced by international rose specialist C&K Jones. Chris Beardshaw specifically asked for a donation (£2.50) to be made to the Royal Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) for every rose sold.[2]
He holds an Honorary Degree from Liverpool University and is an Honorary Fellow of Gloucestershire University and in 2017 was awarded the Kew Guild Gold Award.
"Beardshaw, Christopher Paul". ukwhoswho. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
"Chris Beardshaw celebrity supporter for the RNLI". Rnli.org.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4
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(a) (b)
Fig. 3.7 Progressive encoding: (a) spectral selection; (b) successive approximation.
imation offers better reconstructed quality in the earlier scans compared to the spectral selection method.
Eight DCT-based progressive coding methodologies have been defined in JPEG standard [1].
3.5 HIERARCHICAL MODE
In hierarchical mode, JPEG provides a progressive coding with increasing spatial resolution in a number of stages. This is particularly suitable for applications where a higher-resolution image is viewed on a lower-resolution display device and other similar kinds of applications. The pyramidal mul-
tiresolution approach for implementation of the hierarchical mode of coding is shown in Figure 3.8.
0\
Fig. 3.8 Hierarchical multiresolution encoding.
In this mode, the original image is filtered and down-sampled by required multiples of two for the target resolution and the lower-resolution image is encoded using any of the other three JPEG modes. The compressed lowerresolution image is then decoded and interpolated for upsampling by the same interpolation method that will be used at the decoder. The interpolated image is then subtracted from the next-higher-resolution image. The difference is then encoded by one of the other three JPEG modes (lossless or lossy). This procedure of the hierarchical encoding process is continued until it encodes all the resolutions.
Fourteen different methods for encoding the difference images in the hierarchical mode have been explained in greater detail in JPEG standard [1].
3.6 SUMMARY
In this chapter, we described the JPEG standard for still image compression. We discussed the details of the algorithm for lossless JPEG. We also discussed in great detail the principles and algorithms for the baseline JPEG standard. Baseline JPEG is the most widely used algorithm among all different modes in the JPEG standard for still image compression. We presented some results of baseline JPEG and compared them with the new JPEG2000 standard. The features, concepts, and principles behind the algorithms for the JPEG2000
Standard will be elaborated on in great details in Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 10. We also summarized the progressive mode and hierarchical mode of operation of the JPEG standard in this chapter with examples.
1. W. B. Pennebaker and J. L. Mitchell, JPEG Still Image Data Compression Standard. Chapman & Hall, New York, 1993.
2. T. Acharya and A. Mukherjee, “High-Speed Parallel VLSI Architectures for Image Decorrelation,” International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 343-365, 1995.
3. H. Lohscheller, “A Subjectively Adapted Image Communication System,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, COM-32, Vol. 12, pp. 1316— 1322, 1984.
4. The independent JPEG Group, “The Sixth Public Release of the Independent JPEG Group’s Free JPEG Software,” C source code of JPEG Encoder research 6b, March 1998 (ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/jpeg/).
5. K. R. Rao and P. Yip, Discrete Cosine Transform—Algorithms, Advantages, Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, 1990.
6. B. G. Lee, “FCT—A Fast Cosine Transform,” Proc. of the Intl. Conf. on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, pp. 28A.3.1-28A.3.3, San Diego, March 1984.
7. N. I. Cho and S. U. Lee, “Fast Algorithm and Implementation of 2D Discrete Cosine Transform,” IEEE Trans, on Circuits and Systems, Vol. 38, pp. 297-305, March 1991.
8. “Information Technology—JPEG2000 Image Coding System,” Final Committee Draft Version 1.0, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 1 N1646R, March 2000.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Although the “wavelet” has become very popular and is widely used as a versatile signal analysis function, its concepts were hidden in the works of mathematicians even more than a century ago. In 1873, Karl Weierstrass mathematically described how a family of functions can be constructed by superimposing scaled versions of a given basis function [1]. Mathematically a “wave” is expressed as a sinusoidal (or oscillating) function of time or space. Fourier analysis expands an arbitrary signal in terms of infinite number of sinusoidal functions of its harmonics and has been well studied by the signal processing community for decades. Fourier representation of signals is known to be very effective in analysis of time-invariant (stationary) periodic signals. In contrast to a sinusoidal function, a wavelet is a small wave whose energy is concentrated in time. The term wavelet was originally used in the field of seismology to describe the disturbances that emanate and proceed outward from a sharp seismic impulse [2]. In 1982, Morlet et al. first described how the seismic wavelets could be effectively modelled mathematically [3]. In 1984, Grossman and Morlet extended this work to show how an arbitrary signal can be analyzed in terms of scaling and translation of a single mother wavelet function (basis) [4, 5]. Properties of wavelets allow both time and frequency analysis of signals simultaneously because of the fact that the energy of wavelets is concentrated in time and still possesses the wave-like (periodic) characteristics. As a result, wavelet representation provides a versatile mathematical tool to analyze transient, time-variant (nonstationary) signals that
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GOP Sen. Scott Brown denounces Romney, as do others
Ruh roh. Granted, Brown doesn't want to lose his senate race over this. But the fact that he thinks Mitt Romney is hurting his senate race is telling. The Hill:
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) came out in opposition to Mitt Romney's controversial remarks on the "47 percent."
Brown, who has been distancing himself from elements of the Republican Party, joins GOP Senate candidate in Connecticut Linda McMahon in coming out against the statements.
"That’s not the way I view the world. As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in. Too many people today who want to work are being forced into public assistance for lack of jobs," he said in an email to The Hill.
Good luck with that, Scott, because it wasn't just Mitt Romney. Your party chairman, the esteemed Reince Priebus, endorsed the comments too. So that means it's the official policy of the Republican party now. So why are you still a member, Scott?
GOP Senate candidate Linda McMahon in Connecticut, not known for her liberal leanings, denounced Romney too. Of course, the problem for McMahon, as HuffPo points out, is that she used the same 47% talking point that she's now dissing Romney for using.
Even GOP House member Allen West is uncomfortable with what Romney said, and Allen West is crazy.
And now even Romney's host at the now-infamous fundraiser, Marc Leder, seems to be distancing himself from the comments (albeit coyly).
Gonna be a bad couple of days for the Romney campaign.
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COVID-19, Cybersecurity
Online Dispute Resolution Platforms: Cybersecurity Champions in the COVID-19 Era? Time for Arbitral Institutions to Embrace ODRs
Wendy Gonzales (CyberArb) and Naimeh Masumy/ September 25, 2020 September 25, 2020 /Leave a comment
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the interest in alternative dispute resolution, especially arbitrations conducted online. The greater utilization of online platforms and digitization has coincided with the growing frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks. Reportedly, by 2021 a business will fall victim to cyber-attacks every 11 seconds. Therefore, it is critical for these platforms to provide secure digital environments where the exchange of communications, storage of evidence and files, and virtual hearings can be conducted remotely and securely. The necessity of providing easily accessible platforms apt to handle complex disputes has brought to light the importance of online dispute resolution (ODR) platforms. Some of these platforms have taken the initiative to encompass robust security measures through which they implement standards consistent with the existing protocol on cybersecurity (2020 Protocol). Such measures may shift the arbitration landscape, in which these platforms may play an important role in institutional and ad hoc arbitration globally.
This note highlights some of the good practices of security measures, which mirror standards enshrined in the 2020 Protocol. In doing so, we make references to notable ODRs that embody these features. We then underscore the role of arbitral institutions in giving greater recognition to cybersecurity needs as they embark on the digitization of their services.
A. Online dispute resolution platforms: a viable alternative to ensure cybersecurity?
There has been a surge in the number of ODRs in the recent years. There platforms leverage sophisticated software that allows them to handle several simultaneous uploads and downloads of files in real time, and the technological advances of ODRs render these platforms suitable to addressing the emerging needs of security in the face of many cyber threats. Platforms have taken practical measures to apply and embody some of the distinctive features proposed by various cybersecurity instruments, including 2020 Protocol and international standards (ISO).
The following will outline some of the features that increase the security of online platforms by inhibiting potential hackers from deciphering and accessing sensitive information, and ultimately damaging the confidentiality, integrity, or availability (i.e., “CIA triad”) of different arbitration phases.
Two-step verification is a salient feature of many ODRs that limits the potential for data exposure. This feature provides an additional layer of security so that only authorized individuals are accessing sensitive information. Principle 7 (b) of the 2020 Protocol recognizes “access controls” as one of the important considerations in an arbitration. This principle states that in considering the specific information security measures to be applied in arbitration, consideration should be given to issues such as “asset management” “access controls” “encryption”, and “information security incident management”. This is of substantive importance, as most ODRs run on browsers that leave some form of digital footprint, thereby rendering them prone to hackers who can access vulnerable browser details. Thus, it is important to control access on a “need to know” basis, which has an advantage over self-made passwords. For instance, eArbitration, an ODR platform, has established two-factor authentication in which each participant obtains a unique ID associated with their user profile called a “token”, which has to be validated by a second factor/device upon login – e.g., on a phone or via e-mail. This allows them to access only the information they are privy to and is important given that some platforms like Zoom, which are currently being employed by some virtual hearings, had episodes of susceptibilities, with unauthorized users accessing meetings for the purpose of disrupting their security. Due to by a New York Attorney General’s recent investigation, Zoom has committed, among other things, to implement various security measures including penetration-testing, which aims to identify and solve vulnerabilities in cyber security. In doing so Zoom also included features like default passwords, pre-entry waiting rooms and enhanced encryption to keep malicious users at bay.
Encryption is a cybersecurity measure that protects information by using extremely complex and unique codes that mix up data and prevents unauthorized users from deciphering sensitive information. “Encryption” is also a standard enshrined in principle 7 (c) of the 2020 Protocol. It helps to prevent the discovery of confidential information, including trade secrets, financial information, and personal identifiable information. In the absence of this feature, such sensitive data may be prone to attack, and, as a result, will amount to the breach of confidentiality, which is an important pillar of arbitration. Encryption requires routine audits during which the platform is tested to face potential security vulnerabilities. For instance, both eArbitration and Immediation ODRs conduct routine verifications to determine and ensure the encryption of sensitive data.
Collecting and storing of information
“Asset management” is another important standard in the process of collecting and storing all sorts of information during the case management of arbitral proceedings, which is encapsulated in principle 7 (a) of the 2020 Protocol. Under this standard, information disseminated should be identified, classified, and controlled. In this regard, retention and destruction is an important component of this principle, in which data is initially stored securely, and after the conclusion of arbitral proceedings, is destroyed in compliance of applicable privacy rules. Another integral part of asset management is providing a platform that allows the secure exchange of information. For instance, Immediation and eArbitration embedded an integrated “live” chat box similar to the platform Slack uses, in which all parties who are privy to the arbitration proceeding, including the arbitrators, counsels and secretary can use to communicate with respect to the case. Such a feature captures the standards of “communications security” stipulated in principle 7(d) of the 2020 Protocol.
Managing breach incidents
Despite robust security measures, sometimes the breach of information might be inevitable, and has been especially notable during the COVID-19 era, where many online businesses have observed spike in fishing attacks, malspams, and, ransomware attacks. In these occasions, these platforms ought to act promptly to mitigate a data breach and recover lost or stolen information. This standard has also been captured in principle 7 (h) of the 2020 Protocol as “Information Security Incident Management”. This can be achieved through routine platform audits to perform a studied plan of actions in order to respond to an incident. Both Immediation and eArbitration have devised periodic audits in order to detect new security vulnerabilities or potential threats.
B. Heralding institutional involvement in cybersecurity
Many arbitral institutions have pivoted towards digitizing their services in light of the demands emerging from the COVID-19 era to resolve their disputes expeditiously and efficiently, both of which are duties many arbitral institutions strive to uphold. However, these institutions have not adequately addressed essential security measures needed for virtual hearing. For instance, the ICC, SIAC, and LCIA have introduced comprehensive rules regarding how virtual hearings ought to be conducted. According to these rules, parties are entitled to incorporate measures they deem necessary to safeguard the proceedings. For instance, under 22.3 of the ICC Rules, a party can invoke confidentiality in order to protect sensitive and confidential information. Similarly, the HKIAC under Article 3.1 (e) recognizes and the AAA-ICDR Article 37.2 primarily grant parties the discretion to select the necessary measures or a secured online repository to protect sensitive and confidential information. However, the above institutions’ rules are silent regarding issues including case management, exchange of communications, and virtual hearings. No hard guidance has been provided regarding what cybersecurity measures entail.
The lack of hard guidance may bear significant consequences. A breach of the security of sensitive data may amount to the violation of confidentiality. This may undermine the integrity and viability of international arbitration, and the whole proceedings by inflicting reputational damage to arbitral institutions, arbitrators, and counsels, as well as to the system of international arbitration overall. It is now becoming increasingly important for arbitral institutions to embrace ODRs or other platforms that incorporate necessary security measures.
Concluding remarks:
In this new era of COVID-19, as more arbitration proceedings move into digitized platforms, the need to identify instances of security breaches is becoming clear. In particular, for the users of international arbitration whose primary concerns are protecting their trade secrets and confidential information while having their disputes resolved in an expeditious and cost-effective manner. Thus, most stakeholders in arbitration, in particular, arbitral institutions have the onus to acknowledge the threat and explore the nature of cybersecurity because a cyber-threat may undermine the integrity of arbitration. In doing so, stakeholders shall take proactive steps in adopting tailored automatized safeguard tools that encompasses essential security measures. Effectively, instituting an ODR platform that would embody the necessary features, such as multi-tiered authentication, encryption, secured collection and storage, as well as managing breach incidents in order to minimize the risk of a security breach during online proceedings.
Without a doubt, COVID-19 crisis will serve as a catalyst for improvement, as it will underline the aptitude of ODRs in navigating the obstacles presented by this new circumstances and will perhaps garner more significance to address cybersecurity concerns.
Standardising Technology’s Contractual Relationships and Alternative Dispute Resolution – The Construction Industry as a Model
Chelsea Pollard (Asian International Arbitration Centre)/ September 25, 2020 September 25, 2020
The New Landmark African Investment Protocol: A Quantum Leap for African Investment Policy Making?
Hamed El-Kady (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD)/ September 24, 2020 September 23, 2020
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Fan Fit Case Study
www.fanfit.co.uk
The Fan Fit Case Study
The Full Fan Fit Case Study can be downloaded here .
Thanks to smartphones, fast internet speeds, social media and apps, sports fans have become “hyperdigitalised” (Lawrence and Crawford, 2018). Sports clubs are also an example of very popular brands with loyal and highly engaged fans. Like many organisations, clubs are seeking opportunities in digital transformation in order to engage a wider fan base and playing a positive role in the wellbeing of fans and communities.
The Fan Fit project began in 2015 at the University of Salford in the UK. The team of academics started the project in order to use technologies to engage fans and customers around fitness and wellbeing working with local sports teams. The Fan Fit app was designed to pull in news, fixtures and social media but with the addition of tracking walking and running automatically through the phone or a fitness wristband. The app had the ability to create fitness leagues between fans (global, monthly or personal). Personal leagues could also be created and shared with a code.
The idea came from working with a local football team (Salford City Football Club), so the original name of the project was Footy Fit where the initial Minimal Value Product (MVP) was tested and developed. The MVP was developed by working with a local app development company using a small source of University funding through a competition from the Technology Transfer Office at the University of Salford. The app was later rebranded to Fan Fit once other sports clubs became interested in the idea. The app was designed to be ‘rebrandable’ (white label) and white functionality, which means that the app could be customised for different brands and functions changed.
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DECREE ON ECUMENISM
Back To Vatican ll Document Contents
1. The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided.(1) Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.
But the Lord of Ages wisely and patiently follows out the plan of grace on our behalf, sinners that we are. In recent times more than ever before, He has been rousing divided Christians to remorse over their divisions and to a longing for unity. Everywhere large numbers have felt the impulse of this grace, and among our separated brethren also there increases from day to day the movement, fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, for the restoration of unity among all Christians. This movement toward unity is called "ecumenical." Those belong to it who invoke the Triune God and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, doing this not merely as individuals but also as corporate bodies. For almost everyone regards the body in which he has heard the Gospel as his Church and indeed, God's Church. All however, though in different ways, long for the one visible Church of God, a Church truly universal and set forth into the world that the world may be converted to the Gospel and so be saved, to the glory of God.
The Sacred Council gladly notes all this. It has already declared its teaching on the Church, and now, moved by a desire for the restoration of unity among all the followers of Christ, it wishes to set before all Catholics the ways and means by which they too can respond to this grace and to this divine call.
CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES ON ECUMENISM
2. What has revealed the love of God among us is that the Father has sent into the world His only-begotten Son, so that, being made man, He might by His redemption give new life to the entire human race and unify it.(2) Before offering Himself up as a spotless victim upon the altar, Christ prayed to His Father for all who believe in Him: "that they all may be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that thou has sent me".(3) In His Church He instituted the wonderful sacrament of the Eucharist by which the unity of His Church is both signified and made a reality. He gave His followers a new commandment to love one another,(4) and promised the Spirit, their Advocate,(5) who, as Lord and life-giver, should remain with them forever.
After being lifted up on the cross and glorified, the Lord Jesus poured forth His Spirit as He had promised, and through the Spirit He has called and gathered together the people of the New Covenant, who are the Church, into a unity of faith, hope and charity, as the Apostle teaches us: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one Baptism".(6) For "all you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ ... for you are all one in Christ Jesus".(7) It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the Church as a whole, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful. He brings them into intimate union with Christ, so that He is the principle of the Church's unity. The distribution of graces and offices is His work too,(8) enriching the Church of Jesus Christ with different functions "in order to equip the saints for the work of service, so as to build up the body of Christ".(9)
In order to establish this His holy Church everywhere in the world till the end of time, Christ entrusted to the College of the Twelve the task of teaching, ruling and sanctifying.(10) Among their number He selected Peter, and after his confession of faith determined that on him He would build His Church. Also to Peter He promised the keys of the kingdom of heaven,(11) and after His profession of love, entrusted all His sheep to him to be confirmed in faith(12) and shepherded in perfect unity.(13) Christ Jesus Himself was forever to remain the chief cornerstone (14) and shepherd of our souls.(15)
Jesus Christ, then, willed that the apostles and their successors -the bishops with Peter's successor at their head-should preach the Gospel faithfully, administer the sacraments, and rule the Church in love. It is thus, under the action of the Holy Spirit, that Christ wills His people to increase, and He perfects His people's fellowship in unity: in their confessing the one faith, celebrating divine worship in common, and keeping the fraternal harmony of the family of God.
The Church, then, is God's only flock; it is like a standard lifted high for the nations to see it:(16) for it serves all mankind through the Gospel of peace(17) as it makes its pilgrim way in hope toward the goal of the fatherland above.(18)
This is the sacred mystery of the unity of the Church, in Christ and through Christ, the Holy Spirit energizing its various functions. It is a mystery that finds its highest exemplar and source in the unity of the Persons of the Trinity: the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, one God.
3. Even in the beginnings of this one and only Church of God there arose certain rifts,(19) which the Apostle strongly condemned.(20) But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions made their appearance and quite large communities came to be separated from full communion with the Catholic Church-for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame. The children who are born into these Communities and who grow up believing in Christ cannot be accused of the sin involved in the separation, and the Catholic Church embraces upon them as brothers, with respect and affection. For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect. The differences that exist in varying degrees between them and the Catholic Church-whether in doctrine and sometimes in discipline, or concerning the structure of the Church-do indeed create many obstacles, sometimes serious ones, to full ecclesiastical communion. The ecumenical movement is striving to overcome these obstacles. But even in spite of them it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ's body,(21) and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church.(22)
Moreover, some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and visible elements too. All of these, which come from Christ and lead back to Christ, belong by right to the one Church of Christ.
The brethren divided from us also use many liturgical actions of the Christian religion. These most certainly can truly engender a life of grace in ways that vary according to the condition of each Church or Community. These liturgical actions must be regarded as capable of giving access to the community of salvation.
It follows that the separated Churches(23) and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church.
Nevertheless, our separated brethren, whether considered as individuals or as Communities and Churches, are not blessed with that unity which Jesus Christ wished to bestow on all those who through Him were born again into one body, and with Him quickened to newness of life-that unity which the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Tradition of the Church proclaim. For it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is "the all-embracing means of salvation," that they can benefit fully from the means of salvation. We believe that Our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, in order to establish the one Body of Christ on earth to which all should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God. This people of God, though still in its members liable to sin, is ever growing in Christ during its pilgrimage on earth, and is guided by God's gentle wisdom, according to His hidden designs, until it shall happily arrive at the fullness of eternal glory in the heavenly Jerusalem.
4. Today, in many parts of the world, under the inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit, many efforts are being made in prayer, word and action to attain that fullness of unity which Jesus Christ desires. The Sacred Council exhorts all the Catholic faithful to recognize the signs of the times and to take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism.
The term "ecumenical movement" indicates the initiatives and activities planned and undertaken, according to the various needs of the Church and as opportunities offer, to promote Christian unity. These are: first, every effort to avoid expressions, judgments and actions which do not represent the condition of our separated brethren with truth and fairness and so make mutual relations with them more difficult; then, "dialogue" between competent experts from different Churches and Communities. At these meetings, which are organized in a religious spirit, each explains the teaching of his Communion in greater depth and brings out clearly its distinctive features. In such dialogue, everyone gains a truer knowledge and more just appreciation of the teaching and religious life of both Communions. In addition, the way is prepared for cooperation between them in the duties for the common good of humanity which are demanded by every Christian conscience; and, wherever this is allowed, there is prayer in common. Finally, all are led to examine their own faithfulness to Christ's will for the Church and accordingly to undertake with vigor the task of renewal and reform.
When such actions are undertaken prudently and patiently by the Catholic faithful, with the attentive guidance of their bishops, they promote justice and truth, concord and collaboration, as well as the spirit of brotherly love and unity. This is the way that, when the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion have been gradually overcome, all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and only Church in that unity which Christ bestowed on His Church from the beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time.
However, it is evident that, when individuals wish for full Catholic communion, their preparation and reconciliation is an undertaking which of its nature is distinct from ecumenical action. But there is no opposition between the two, since both proceed from the marvelous ways of God.
Catholics, in their ecumenical work, must assuredly be concerned for their separated brethren, praying for them, keeping them informed about the Church, making the first approaches toward them. But their primary duty is to make a careful and honest appraisal of whatever needs to be done or renewed in the Catholic household itself, in order that its life may bear witness more clearly and faithfully to the teachings and institutions which have come to it from Christ through the Apostles.
For although the Catholic Church has been endowed with all divinely revealed truth and with all means of grace, yet its members fail to live by them with all the fervor that they should, so that the radiance of the Church's image is less clear in the eyes of our separated brethren and of the world at large, and the growth of God's kingdom is delayed. All Catholics must therefore aim at Christian perfection(24) and, each according to his station, play his part that the Church may daily be more purified and renewed. For the Church must bear in her own body the humility and dying of Jesus,(25) against the day when Christ will present her to Himself in all her glory without spot or wrinkle.(26)
All in the Church must preserve unity in essentials. But let all, according to the gifts they have received enjoy a proper freedom, in their various forms of spiritual life and discipline, in their different liturgical rites, and even in their theological elaborations of revealed truth. In all things let charity prevail. If they are true to this course of action, they will be giving ever better expression to the authentic catholicity and apostolicity of the Church.
On the other hand, Catholics must gladly acknowledge and esteem the truly Christian endowments from our common heritage which are to be found among our separated brethren. It is right and salutary to recognize the riches of Christ and virtuous works in the lives of others who are bearing witness to Christ, sometimes even to the shedding of their blood. For God is always wonderful in His works and worthy of all praise.
Nor should we forget that anything wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our separated brethren can be a help to our own edification. Whatever is truly Christian is never contrary to what genuinely belongs to the faith; indeed, it can always bring a deeper realization of the mystery of Christ and the Church.
Nevertheless, the divisions among Christians prevent the Church from attaining the fullness of catholicity proper to her, in those of her sons who, though attached to her by Baptism, are yet separated from full communion with her. Furthermore, the Church herself finds it more difficult to express in actual life her full catholicity in all her bearings.
This Sacred Council is gratified to note that the participation by the Catholic faithful in ecumenical work is growing daily. It commends this work to the bishops everywhere in the world to be vigorously stimulated by them and guided with prudence.
THE PRACTICE OF ECUMENISM
5. The attainment of union is the concern of the whole Church, faithful and shepherds alike. This concern extends to everyone, according to his talent, whether it be exercised in his daily Christian life or in his theological and historical research. This concern itself reveals already to some extent the bond of brotherhood between all Christians and it helps toward that full and perfect unity which God in His kindness wills.
6. Every renewal of the Church(27) is essentially grounded in an increase of fidelity to her own calling. Undoubtedly this is the basis of the movement toward unity.
Christ summons the Church to continual reformation as she sojourns here on earth. The Church is always in need of this, in so far as she is an institution of men here on earth. Thus if, in various times and circumstances, there have been deficiencies in moral conduct or in church discipline, or even in the way that church teaching has been formulated-to be carefully distinguished from the deposit of faith itself-these can and should be set right at the opportune moment.
Church renewal has therefore notable ecumenical importance. Already in various spheres of the Church's life, this renewal is taking place. The Biblical and liturgical movements, the preaching of the word of God and catechetics, the apostolate of the laity, new forms of religious life and the spirituality of married life, and the Church's social teaching and activity-all these should be considered as pledges and signs of the future progress of ecumenism.
7. There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from renewal of the inner life of our minds,(28) from self-denial and an unstinted love that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way. We should therefore pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-denying, humble. gentle in the service of others, and to have an attitude of brotherly generosity towards them. St. Paul says: "I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace".(29) This exhortation is directed especially to those raised to sacred Orders precisely that the work of Christ may be continued. He came among us "not to be served but to serve".(30)
The words of St. John hold good about sins against unity: "If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us".(31) So we humbly beg pardon of God and of our separated brethren, just as we forgive them that trespass against us.
All the faithful should remember that the more effort they make to live holier lives according to the Gospel, the better will they further Christian unity and put it into practice. For the closer their union with the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, the more deeply and easily will they be able to grow in mutual brotherly love.
8. This change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and merits the name, "spiritual ecumenism."
It is a recognized custom for Catholics to have frequent recourse to that prayer for the unity of the Church which the Saviour Himself on the eve of His death so fervently appealed to His Father: "That they may all be one".(32)
In certain special circumstances, such as the prescribed prayers "for unity," and during ecumenical gatherings, it is allowable, indeed desirable that Catholics should join in prayer with their separated brethren. Such prayers in common are certainly an effective means of obtaining the grace of unity, and they are a true expression of the ties which still bind Catholics to their separated brethren. "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them".(33)
Yet worship in common (communicatio in sacris) is not to be considered as a means to be used indiscriminately for the restoration of Christian unity. There are two main principles governing the practice of such common worship: first, the bearing witness to the unity of the Church, and second, the sharing in the means of grace. Witness to the unity of the Church very generally forbids common worship to Christians, but the grace to be had from it sometimes commends this practice. The course to be adopted, with due regard to all the circumstances of time, place, and persons, is to be decided by local episcopal authority, unless otherwise provided for by the Bishops' Conference according to its statutes, or by the Holy See.
9. We must get to know the outlook of our separated brethren. To achieve this purpose, study is of necessity required, and this must be pursued with a sense of realism and good will. Catholics, who already have a proper grounding, need to acquire a more adequate understanding of the respective doctrines of our separated brethren, their history, their spiritual and liturgical life, their religious psychology and general background. Most valuable for this purpose are meetings of the two sides-especially for discussion of theological problems-where each can treat with the other on an equal footing-provided that those who take part in them are truly competent and have the approval of the bishops. From such dialogue will emerge still more clearly what the situation of the Catholic Church really is. In this way too the outlook of our separated brethren will be better understood, and our own belief more aptly explained.
10. Sacred theology and other branches of knowledge, especially of an historical nature, must be taught with due regard for the ecumenical point of view, so that they may correspond more exactly with the facts.
It is most important that future shepherds and priests should have mastered a theology that has been carefully worked out in this way and not polemically, especially with regard to those aspects which concern the relations of separated brethren with the Catholic Church.
This importance is the greater because the instruction and spiritual formation of the faithful and of religious depends so largely on the formation which their priests have received.
Moreover, Catholics engaged in missionary work in the same territories as other Christians ought to know, particularly in these times, the problems and the benefits in their apostolate which derive from the ecumenical movement.
11. The way and method in which the Catholic faith is expressed should never become an obstacle to dialogue with our brethren. It is, of course, essential that the doctrine should be clearly presented in its entirety. Nothing is so foreign to the spirit of ecumenism as a false irenicism, in which the purity of Catholic doctrine suffers loss and its genuine and certain meaning is clouded.
At the same time, the Catholic faith must be explained more profoundly and precisely, in such a way and in such terms as our separated brethren can also really understand.
Moreover, in ecumenical dialogue, Catholic theologians standing fast by the teaching of the Church and investigating the divine mysteries with the separated brethren must proceed with love for the truth, with charity, and with humility. When comparing doctrines with one another, they should remember that in Catholic doctrine there exists a "hierarchy" of truths, since they vary in their relation to the fundamental Christian faith. Thus the way will be opened by which through fraternal rivalry all will be stirred to a deeper understanding and a clearer presentation of the unfathomable riches of Christ.(34)
12. Before the whole world let all Christians confess their faith in the triune God, one and three in the incarnate Son of God, our Redeemer and Lord. United in their efforts, and with mutual respect, let them bear witness to our common hope which does not play us false. In these days when cooperation in social matters is so widespread, all men without exception are called to work together, with much greater reason all those who believe in God, but most of all, all Christians in that they bear the name of Christ. Cooperation among Christians vividly expresses the relationship which in fact already unites them, and it sets in clearer relief the features of Christ the Servant. This cooperation, which has already begun in many countries, should be developed more and more, particularly in regions where a social and technical evolution is taking place be it in a just evaluation of the dignity of the human person, the establishment of the blessings of peace, the application of Gospel principles to social life, the advancement of the arts and sciences in a truly Christian spirit, or also in the use of various remedies to relieve the afflictions of our times such as famine and natural disasters, illiteracy and poverty, housing shortage and the unequal distribution of wealth. All believers in Christ can, through this cooperation, be led to acquire a better knowledge and appreciation of one another, and so pave the way to Christian unity.
CHURCHES AND ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES SEPARATED FROM THE ROMAN APOSTOLIC SEE
13. We now turn our attention to the two chief types of division as they affect the seamless robe of Christ.
The first divisions occurred in the East, when the dogmatic formulae of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon were challenged, and later when ecclesiastical communion between the Eastern Patriarchates and the Roman See was dissolved.
Other divisions arose more than four centuries later in the West, stemming from the events which are usually referred to as "The Reformation." As a result, many Communions, national or confessional, were separated from the Roman See. Among those in which Catholic traditions and institutions in part continue to exist, the Anglican Communion occupies a special place.
These various divisions differ greatly from one another not only by reason of their origin, place and time, but especially in the nature and seriousness of questions bearing on faith and the structure of the Church. Therefore, without minimizing the differences between the various Christian bodies, and without overlooking the bonds between them which exist in spite of divisions, this holy Council decides to propose the following considerations for prudent ecumenical action.
I. The Special Consideration of the Eastern Churches
14. For many centuries the Church of the East and that of the West each followed their separate ways though linked in a brotherly union of faith and sacramental life; the Roman See by common consent acted as guide when disagreements arose between them over matters of faith or discipline. Among other matters of great importance, it is a pleasure for this Council to remind everyone that there flourish in the East many particular or local Churches, among which the Patriarchal Churches hold first place, and of these not a few pride themselves in tracing their origins back to the apostles themselves. Hence a matter of primary concern and care among the Easterns, in their local churches, has been, and still is, to preserve the family ties of common faith and charity which ought to exist between sister Churches.
Similarly it must not be forgotten that from the beginning the Churches of the East have had a treasury from which the Western Church has drawn extensively-in liturgical practice, spiritual tradition, and law. Nor must we undervalue the fact that it was the ecumenical councils held in the East that defined the basic dogmas of the Christian faith, on the Trinity, on the Word of God Who took flesh of the Virgin Mary. To preserve this faith these Churches have suffered and still suffer much.
However, the heritage handed down by the apostles was received with differences of form and manner, so that from the earliest times of the Church it was explained variously in different places, owing to diversities of genius and conditions of life. All this, quite apart from external causes, prepared the way for decisions arising also from a lack of charity and mutual understanding.
For this reason the Holy Council urges all, but especially those who intend to devote themselves to the restoration of full communion hoped for between the Churches of the East and the Catholic Church, to give due consideration to this special feature of the origin and growth of the Eastern Churches, and to the character of the relations which obtained between them and the Roman See before separation. They must take full account of all these factors and, where this is done, it will greatly contribute to the dialogue that is looked for.
15. Everyone also knows with what great love the Christians of the East celebrate the sacred liturgy, especially the eucharistic celebration, source of the Church's life and pledge of future glory, in which the faithful, united with their bishop, have access to God the Father through the Son, the Word made flesh, Who suffered and has been glorified, and so, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they enter into communion with the most holy Trinity, being made "sharers of the divine nature".(35) Hence, through the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in each of these churches, the Church of God is built up and grows in stature(36) and through concelebration, their communion with one another is made manifest.
In this liturgical worship, the Christians of the East pay high tribute, in beautiful hymns of praise, to Mary ever Virgin, whom the ecumenical Council of Ephesus solemnly proclaimed to be the holy Mother of God, so that Christ might be acknowledged as being truly Son of God and Son of Man, according to the Scriptures. Many also are the saints whose praise they sing, among them the Fathers of the universal Church.
These Churches, although separated from us, yet possess true sacraments and above all, by apostolic succession, the priesthood and the Eucharist, whereby they are linked with us in closest intimacy. Therefore some worship in common (communicatio in sacris), given suitable circumstances and the approval of Church authority, is not only possible but to be encouraged.
Moreover, in the East are found the riches of those spiritual traditions which are given expression especially in monastic life. There from the glorious times of the holy Fathers, monastic spirituality flourished which, then later flowed over into the Western world, and there provided the source from which Latin monastic life took its rise and has drawn fresh vigor ever since. Catholics therefore are earnestly recommended to avail themselves of the spiritual riches of the Eastern Fathers which lift up the whole man to the contemplation of the divine.
The very rich liturgical and spiritual heritage of the Eastern Churches should be known, venerated, preserved and cherished by all. They must recognize that this is of supreme importance for the faithful preservation of the fullness of Christian tradition, and for bringing about reconciliation between Eastern and Western Christians.
16. Already from the earliest times the Eastern Churches followed their own forms of ecclesiastical law and custom, which were sanctioned by the approval of the Fathers of the Church, of synods, and even of ecumenical councils. Far from being an obstacle to the Church's unity, a certain diversity of customs and observances only adds to her splendor, and is of great help in carrying out her mission, as has already been stated. To remove, then, all shadow of doubt, this holy Council solemnly declares that the Churches of the East, while remembering the necessary unity of the whole Church, have the power to govern themselves according to the disciplines proper to them, since these are better suited to the character of their faithful, and more for the good of their souls. The perfect observance of this traditional principle not always indeed carried out in practice, is one of the essential prerequisites for any restoration of unity.
17. What has just been said about the lawful variety that can exist in the Church must also be taken to apply to the differences in theological expression of doctrine. In the study of revelation East and West have followed different methods, and have developed differently their understanding and confession of God's truth. It is hardly surprising, then, if from time to time one tradition has come nearer to a full appreciation of some aspects of a mystery of revelation than the other, or has expressed it to better advantage. In such cases, these various theological expressions are to be considered often as mutually complementary rather than conflicting. Where the authentic theological traditions of the Eastern Church are concerned, we must recognize the admirable way in which they have their roots in Holy Scripture, and how they are nurtured and given expression in the life of the liturgy. They derive their strength too from the living tradition of the apostles and from the works of the Fathers and spiritual writers of the Eastern Churches. Thus they promote the right ordering of Christian life and, indeed, pave the way to a full vision of Christian truth.
All this heritage of spirituality and liturgy, of discipline and theology, in its various traditions, this holy synod declares to belong to the full Catholic and apostolic character of the Church. We thank God that many Eastern children of the Catholic Church, who preserve this heritage, and wish to express it more faithfully and completely in their lives, are already living in full communion with their brethren who follow the tradition of the West.
18. After taking all these factors into consideration, this Sacred Council solemnly repeats the declaration of previous Councils and Roman Pontiffs, that for the restoration or the maintenance of unity and communion it is necessary "to impose no burden beyond what is essential".(37) It is the Council's urgent desire that, in the various organizations and living activities of the Church, every effort should be made toward the gradual realization of this unity, especially by prayer, and by fraternal dialogue on points of doctrine and the more pressing pastoral problems of our time. Similarly, the Council commends to the shepherds and faithful of the Catholic Church to develop closer relations with those who are no longer living in the East but are far from home, so that friendly collaboration with them may increase, in the spirit of love, to the exclusion of all feeling of rivalry or strife. If this cause is wholeheartedly promoted, the Council hopes that the barrier dividing the Eastern Church and Western Church will be removed, and that at last there may be but the one dwelling, firmly established on Christ Jesus, the cornerstone, who will make both one.(38)
II. Separated Churches and Ecclesial Communities in the West
19. In the great upheaval which began in the West toward the end of the Middle Ages, and in later times too, Churches and ecclesial Communities came to be separated from the Apostolic See of Rome. Yet they have retained a particularly close affinity with the Catholic Church as a result of the long centuries in which all Christendom lived together in ecclesiastical communion.
However, since these Churches and ecclesial Communities, on account of their different origins, and different teachings in matters of doctrine on the spiritual life, vary considerably not only with us, but also among themselves, the task of describing them at all adequately is extremely difficult; and we have no intention of making such an attempt here.
Although the ecumenical movement and the desire for peace with the Catholic Church have not yet taken hold everywhere, it is our hope that ecumenical feeling and mutual esteem may gradually increase among all men.
It must however be admitted that in these Churches and ecclesial Communities there exist important differences from the Catholic Church, not only of an historical, sociological, psychological and cultural character, but especially in the interpretation of revealed truth. To make easier the ecumenical dialogue in spite of these differences, we wish to set down some considerations which can, and indeed should, serve as a basis and encouragement for such dialogue.
20. Our thoughts turn first to those Christians who make open confession of Jesus Christ as God and Lord and as the sole Mediator between God and men, to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are aware indeed that there exist considerable divergences from the doctrine of the Catholic Church concerning Christ Himself, the Word of God made flesh, the work of redemption, and consequently, concerning the mystery and ministry of the Church, and the role of Mary in the plan of salvation. But we rejoice to see that our separated brethren look to Christ as the source and center of Church unity. Their longing for union with Christ inspires them to seek an ever closer unity, and also to bear witness to their faith among the peoples of the earth.
21. A love and reverence of Sacred Scripture which might be described as devotion, leads our brethren to a constant meditative study of the sacred text. For the Gospel "is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and then to the Greek".(39)
While invoking the Holy Spirit, they seek in these very Scriptures God as it were speaking to them in Christ, Whom the prophets foretold, Who is the Word of God made flesh for us. They contemplate in the Scriptures the life of Christ and what the Divine Master taught and did for our salvation, especially the mysteries of His death and resurrection.
But while the Christians who are separated from us hold the divine authority of the Sacred Books, they differ from ours-some in one way, some in another-regarding the relationship between Scripture and the Church. For, according to Catholic belief, the authentic teaching authority of the Church has a special place in the interpretation and preaching of the written word of God.
But Sacred Scriptures provide for the work of dialogue an instrument of the highest value in the mighty hand of God for the attainment of that unity which the Saviour holds out to all.
22. Whenever the Sacrament of Baptism is duly administered as Our Lord instituted it, and is received with the right dispositions, a person is truly incorporated into the crucified and glorified Christ, and reborn to a sharing of the divine life, as the Apostle says: "You were buried together with Him in Baptism, and in Him also rose again-through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead".(40)
Baptism therefore establishes a sacramental bond of unity which links all who have been reborn by it. But of itself Baptism is only a beginning, an inauguration wholly directed toward the fullness of life in Christ. Baptism, therefore, envisages a complete profession of faith, complete incorporation in the system of salvation such as Christ willed it to be, and finally complete ingrafting in eucharistic communion.
Though the ecclesial Communities which are separated from us lack the fullness of unity with us flowing from Baptism, and though we believe they have not retained the proper reality of the eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Orders, nevertheless when they commemorate His death and resurrection in the Lord's Supper, they profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and look forward to His coming in glory. Therefore the teaching concerning the Lord's Supper, the other sacraments, worship, the ministry of the Church, must be the subject of the dialogue.
23. The daily Christian life of these brethren is nourished by their faith in Christ and strengthened by the grace of Baptism and by hearing the word of God. This shows itself in their private prayer, their meditation on the Bible, in their Christian family life, and in the worship of a community gathered together to praise God. Moreover, their form of worship sometimes displays notable features of the liturgy which they shared with us of old.
Their faith in Christ bears fruit in praise and thanksgiving for the blessings received from the hands of God. Among them, too, is a strong sense of justice and a true charity toward their neighbor. This active faith has been responsible for many organizations for the relief of spiritual and material distress, the furtherance of the education of youth, the improvement of the social conditions of life, and the promotion of peace throughout the world.
While it is true that many Christians understand the moral teaching of the Gospel differently from Catholics, and do not accept the same solutions to the more difficult problems of modern society, nevertheless they share our desire to stand by the words of Christ as the source of Christian virtue, and to obey the command of the Apostle: "And whatever you do, in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him".(41) For that reason an ecumenical dialogue might start with discussion of the application of the Gospel to moral conduct.
24. Now that we have briefly set out the conditions for ecumenical action and the principles by which it is to be directed, we look with confidence to the future. This Sacred Council exhorts the faithful to refrain from superficiality and imprudent zeal, which can hinder real progress toward unity. Their ecumenical action must be fully and sincerely Catholic, that is to say, faithful to the truth which we have received from the apostles and Fathers of the Church, in harmony with the faith which the Catholic Church has always professed, and at the same time directed toward that fullness to which Our Lord wills His Body to grow in the course of time.
It is the urgent wish of this Holy Council that the measures undertaken by the sons of the Catholic Church should develop in conjunction with those of our separated brethren so that no obstacle be put in the ways of divine Providence and no preconceived judgments impair the future inspirations of the Holy Spirit. The Council moreover professes its awareness that human powers and capacities cannot achieve this holy objective-the reconciling of all Christians in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ. It is because of this that the Council rests all its hope on the prayer of Christ for the Church, on our Father's love for us, and on the power of the Holy Spirit. "And hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us".(42)
Each and all these matters which are set forth in this Decree have been favorably voted on by the Fathers of the Council. And We, by the apostolic authority given Us by Christ and in union with the Fathers, approve, decree and establish them in the Holy Spirit and command that they be promulgated for the glory of God.
Given in Rome at St. Peter's, November 21, 1964
1. Cf. 1 Cor. 1, 13.
2. Cf. 1 Jn. 4, 9; Col. 1, 18-20; Jn. 11, S2.
3. Jn. 17, 21.
4. Cf. Jn. 13, 34.
5. Cf. Jn. 16, 7.
6. Eph. 4, 4-5.
7. Gal. 3, 27-28.
8. Cf. 1 Cor. 12, 4-11.
9. Eph. 4, 12.
10. Cf. Mt. 28, 18-20, collato Jn. 20 21-23.
11. Cf. Mt. 16, 18, collato Mt. 18, 18.
12. Cf. Lc. 22, 32.
13. Cf. Jn. 21, 15-18.
14. Cf. Eph. 2, 20.
15. Cf. 1 Petr. 2, 2S; CONC. VATICANUM 1, Sess. IV (1870), Constitutio Pastor Aeternus: Collac 7, 482 a.
16. Cf. Is. 11, 10-12.
17. Cf. Eph. 2, 17-18, collato Mc. 16, 15.
18. Cf. 1 Petr. 1, 3-9.
19. Cf. 1 Cor. 11, 18-19; Gal. 1, 6-9; 1 Jn. 2, 18-19.
20. Cf. 1 Cor. 1, 11 sqq; 11, 22.
21. Cf. CONC. FLORENTINUM, Sess. VIII (1439), Decretum Exultate Deo: Mansi 31, 1055 A.
22. Cf. S. AUGUSTINUS, In Ps. 32, Enarr. 11, 29: PL 36, 299
23. Cf. CONC. LATERANENSE IV (1215) Constitutio IV: Mansi 22, 990; CONC. LUGDUNENSE II (1274), Professio fidei Michaelis Palaeologi: Mansi 24, 71 E; CONC. FLORENTINUM, Sess. VI (1439), Definitio Laetentur caeli: Mansi 31, 1026 E.
24. Cf. Iac. 1, 4; Rom. 12, 1-2.
25. Cf. 2 Cor. 4, 10, Phil. 2, 5-8
27. Cf. CONC. LATERANSE V, Sess. XII (1517), Constitutio Constituti: Mansi 32, 988 B-C.
29. Eph. 4, 1-3.
30. Mt. 20, 28.
31. 1 Jn. 1, 10.
32. Jn. 17, 21.
34. Cf. Eph. 3, 8.
35. 2 Petr. 1, 4.
36. Cf. S. IOANNES CHRYSOSTOMOS, In loannem Homelia XLVI, PG 59, 260-262.
37. Acts 15, 28.
38. Cf. CONC. FLORENTINUM, Sess. VI (1439), Definitio Laetentur caeli: Mansi 31 1026 E.
39. Rom. 1, 16.
40. Col. 2, 12; cf. Rom. 6, 4
41. Col. 3, 17.
42. Rom. 5, 5.
Translation of Latin Original by the Holy See
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Chevrolet is Global Leader for Android Auto, Apple CarPlay
5:45 PM Android Auto, Apple Car Play, car technology, Chevrolet No comments
According to Strategy Analytics, there are more than 2.3 billion smartphones in use globally, and that number continues to rise. And on the road, customers are demanding better integration between phones and their vehicles. Whether they have an Apple or Android phone, Chevrolet is committed to providing the smartest, simplest connected driving experience possible to owners across the globe.
For the 2016 model year, Chevrolet will offer Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility in more models than any automotive brand. The 14 Chevrolet models include the all-new 2016 Cruze compact car, which will debut on June 24. Cruze is Chevrolet’s best-selling passenger car, with more than 3 million sold since launch. Additional models are listed in a chart below.
“For most of us, our smartphones are essential,” said Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors. “Partnering with Apple and Google to offer CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility across the widest range of models in the industry is a great example of how Chevrolet continues to democratize technology that’s important to our customers.”
Chevrolet’s seven-inch MyLink infotainment system gives owners a smart and simple way to access both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The eight-inch version of MyLink will be compatible only with Apple CarPlay at the beginning of the 2016 model year. While development and testing is not yet complete, Android Auto compatibility may be available on the eight-inch version of MyLink later in the 2016 model year.
Each system builds off of the features smartphone users rely on most. Android Auto is built around Google Maps, Google Now and the ability to talk to Google, as well as a growing audio and messaging app ecosystem that includes WhatsApp, Skype, Google Play Music, Spotify, and podcast players. A full list of supported apps is available at Android.com/auto.
Apple CarPlay takes the iPhone features you’d want to access while driving and puts them on the vehicle’s display in a smart, simple manner. That allows drivers to make calls, send and receive messages and listen to music right from the touchscreen or by voice via Siri. Apple CarPlay supported apps include Phone, Messages, Maps, Music and compatible third-party apps. A full list of those apps can be found at Apple.com/ios/carplay.
Many features can be controlled via voice commands through a button on the steering wheel, helping drivers spend more time with eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
Chevrolet has a strong track record when it comes to broad availability of customer-centric innovation as the first brand to introduce Siri Eyes Free functionality and the first and only car company to offer available OnStar 4G LTE connectivity across a range of cars, trucks and crossovers in the U.S. and Canada. In less than one year, Chevrolet has connected more than a half-million customers to high-speed 4G LTE Wi-Fi.
Chevrolet customers in markets around the world including Brazil, Mexico and Canada will benefit from this new level of smartphone integration. Specific market availability for Android Auto can be found here. Current Apple CarPlay markets can be found here.
In 2014, the 14 models included in this rollout accounted for more than 2.4 million vehicle sales, or 51 percent of Chevrolet’s total global sales.
Using either application is simple in a compatible 2016 Chevrolet. A “Projection” icon on the MyLink screen is visible when a phone is not connected, then changes to indicate either CarPlay or Android Auto (whichever is applicable) when a compatible phone is connected via USB. Android Auto requires a phone running the Android Lollipop 5.0 operating system or above, while Apple CarPlay requires an iPhone 5 or later.
Compatible apps need to be downloaded to a phone before using. Apple and Google’s privacy statements and terms of use apply. Data plan rates may also apply.
2016 Model Year Chevrolet Infotainment Systems
7-Inch MyLink Infotainment
Camaro Convertible
Corvette Convertible
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Combatting organized crime
Organized crime has increased in many parts of the world and has become more transnational in character, leading, in particular, to the spread of such negative phenomena as violence, terrorism, corruption, illegal trade in narcotic drugs and, in general, undermining the development process, impairing the quality of life and threatening human rights and fundamental freedoms. International collaboration is required not only to reinforce control mechanisms, but also to prevent such crime from moving into new territories that are less equipped to deal with it and from expanding its operations into new areas and activities. It is recognized that action should aim at conceiving and designing strategies on the basis of common characteristics of organized transnational crime, including the involvement of several persons in a hierarchically structured group, the profit-making aim, the use of violence and intimidation, corruption, the infiltration of legitimate businesses and expansion across national frontiers.
Although the evolution of organized crime and the forms it takes vary from country to country, since formation of criminal associations is influenced by various social, economic and legal factors, there are two basic ways in which organized crime evolves in the majority of countries: involvement in illegal activities (such as property offences, money laundering, drug trafficking, currency violations, intimidation, prostitution, gambling and trafficking in arms and antiquities); and participation in the legal economic sphere (directly or through parasitic means such as extortion). The latter tends to use illegal competitive means and can be of greater economic impact than the involvement in entirely illegal activities. In both cases criminal methods are used because the backbone of organized criminal formations is composed of criminal elements.
Organized crime is usually understood as being a relatively large group of continuous and controlled criminal entities that carry out crimes for profit and seek to create a system of protection against social control by illegal means such as violence, intimidation, corruption and large-scale theft. A more general description would be "any group of individuals organized for the purpose of profiting by illegal means on a continuing basis". One type of organized crime is the traditional or the Mafia-style family, where structured hierarchies, internal rules, discipline, codes of behaviour and diversity in illegal activities are common practice. Included in such organizations are the largest and most developed types of criminal groups, involved in a multiplicity of illegal activities. Another type is the professional. Members of such organizations join together for a certain criminal venture. Such organizations are fluid and not as rigidly structured as those of the traditional type. They are exemplified by entities involved in counterfeiting, car theft, armed robbery and extortion. The composition of a professional criminal organization may be constantly changing and its members may be involved in a variety of similar criminal enterprises. In addition there are many organized groups that dominate particular territories, and others that are involved in particular types of crime. Organized crime groups may also be divided on the basis of ethnic, cultural and historical ties which link them to their countries of origin, thus forming a major network extending beyond national borders. Exploiting the features of their origins, such as language and customs, they are able to insulate themselves from the actions of law enforcement agencies. Many organized crime groups have significant ethnic or national components and are often commonly referred to by ethnic or national labels.
Identification of organized criminal groups by type does not necessarily imply rigid borderlines between them. Nearly every organized criminal entity may involve a multiplicity of component features. New forms involving different elements frequently arise. Some countries have seen the emergence of urban street formations, including juvenile gangs. Indeed, organized crime adapts very rapidly in response to national criminal justice policies and to protective mechanisms of states. Its leaders are often individuals of great intelligence and extreme cruelty, and are true professionals in crime, making them a particular threat to society.
Organized crime produces social, political and economic evils. Among the social evils are the adverse effects of illegal drugs on behaviour and health, the growth of violence involving firearms, the fear of crime, manipulation and control of bodies such as labour unions and the increased cost of purchasing goods and services. For example, in one highly developed country, the largest organized crime group has controlled four of that nation's labour unions. Political effects can include infiltration into and influence over political parties and the apparatus of government, including local administrations, and corruption of politicians and state officials. This often leads to a loss of public confidence in the government and the political process and a breakdown of consensus within society. Many countries report that members of their police forces and armed forces have been corrupted by drug traffickers. Also, assassinations of government officials, judges, mayors and law enforcement officials in certain countries have alarmed public opinion worldwide. It is not possible to identify accurately or even to estimate all the economic consequences of organized crime. It infiltrates legitimate business, tainting all those with whom it comes into contact, as well as corrupting officials whose services are required to launder illicit profits. In some countries, the profits of organized crime can be compared to those of entire branches of industry; for example, the trade in illegal drugs has been estimated to be the second largest industry in the world, by value of goods. The income of organized crime groups equals the gross national product of many countries.
In practically all countries, those engaged in the illegal activities of organized criminal entities are subject to criminal liability in accordance with various laws which establish certain offences, or within the framework of common law in particular categories of crimes. Long experience in organized crime control has led many countries to adopt specific preventive and repressive statutes designed to restrict the possibilities for organized crime to flourish.
The following recommendations were drawn up in 1992 by the [Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on Strategies to Deal with Transnational Crime for the attention of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Creation of an Effective International Crime and Justice Programme and the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control] its twelfth session.
1. The process of studying and combatting transnational crime and crime with transnational aspects should take into account the considerable changes in the political economic and social situation and the extensive development of international business activities, including creation of common markets and other forms of integration. It should also take into account the vulnerability of national frontiers, the high level of modem communication, the expansion of the international banking system and resultant simplification of money transfer, the extensive use of computer technology, the universal spread of illegal business in arms and explosives, the growth in the number of enterprises producing and using radioactive and chemical substances and the extensive use of such substances, and the limited geographical reach of national laws and national law enforcement authorities, differences in legal systems, and the limited effect of international procedures for obtaining evidence, apprehension and extradition of offenders.
2. In view of the political and economic changes taking place in many countries, including the newly emerging "market economies", new laws and regulations should be developed to permit anticipation of, and response to, changing situations and emerging economic realities. Exchange of information on, and experience with, economic crime and its control by criminal sanctions should be intensified. Due consideration should be given to regulatory mechanisms as essential complements to penal sanctions.
3. In view of the increasing seriousness and gravity of organized crime, terrorism and other transnational crimes, governments should conclude bilateral and multilateral agreements to carry out or enhance the effectiveness of extradition proceedings and mutual assistance in criminal matters, using as a basis UN model treaties and other treaties and agreements concluded at the regional and international levels. The role of regional and subregional intergovernmental organizations in supporting the UN in this field would be essential. Appropriate coordination mechanisms should be established and maintained.
4. National organizations should be established to plan and coordinate domestic criminal justice and crime prevention programmes and comprising representatives of relevant sectors of government and the community.
5. Countries should share information and intelligence on non-controversial matters, facilitating such exchanges through national databases with links to all other countries. A technical committee should overview these activities.
6. To help eliminate the difficulties associated with the technical requirements that are the main obstacles to extradition being granted, countries should study the practices on extradition prevailing in regional groups such as the Council of Europe.
7. National and international efforts to achieve more effective strategies should focus on: (a) harmonizing legislation and avoiding of conflicts of jurisdiction that may result in serious transnational offenders escaping justice; (b) penalizing certain forms of behaviour to eliminate gaps in national legislation; (c) cooperating through extradition, mutual assistance, enforcement of foreign judgements, transfer of criminal proceedings and transfer of offenders, including designating an appropriate coordinating authority to expedite the implementation of treaties; (d) integrating international cooperation to provide better and more efficient results; (e) reassessing traditional principles of international cooperation, such as reciprocity, double criminality, specialty, the political offence exception and the non-extradition of nationals and territoriality; (f) lessening the divergence of national conceptions of criminal justice, including substantive law and procedural rules and practices, with due respect for human rights considerations; (g) sharing law enforcement intelligence (information) and increasing joint activities in inter-State law enforcement collaboration; (h) developing effective financial mechanisms to trace the proceeds of illicit activities; (i) developing subregional or regional "judicial spaces", with a view to exploring possibilities for their expansion as needs emerge; (j) including international and transnational crimes in national legislation, in particular with a view to eliminating safe havens; (k) developing means to prevent, detect and prosecute abuses of power by public officials and other forms of corrupt behaviour; (l) developing education and training programmes in international criminal law, both in formal legal education and in public agencies; (m) developing specialized education and training of judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials in the areas of transnational crime, money laundering and other economic offences, including corruption and elaboration of the required training material: (n) developing regional centres to make available specialized library material, documents and research results, and able to provide technical legal advice to countries of the region; (o) acceptance that all countries, regardless of how seriously they are affected by transnational crime, have to collaborate and share information on its nature and extent, to facilitate appropriate policy formulation and planning; (p) developing interfaces with existing international and regional networks such as the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO/Interpol) and other international bodies; (q) strengthening awareness of governments and relevant national agencies of the important correlation between socioeconomic development and crime control programmes, with appropriate budget and resource allocations, including international aid for crime prevention schemes.
8. Efforts should be pursued to formulate effective strategies for dealing with environmental offences. An assessment should be made of the administrative, civil and criminal laws enforced by different countries, so as to identify gaps and propose appropriate remedies. Adequate attention should be given not only to the sanctioning strategies but also to prevention of environmental abuse and protection of the environment.
9. Efforts should be made to allow the widest possible distribution of information on stolen art objects so as to prevent their illegal sale, thereby effectively stemming the international traffic in movable cultural property.
10. So as to build on past successes and failures, an assessment should be made of cooperation already undertaken to prevent the use of the banking system and financial institutions for money laundering, including successful preventive measures. Initiatives such as the development by the Council of Europe of the [Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime] (was opened for signature 8 Nov 1990) should be encouraged and efforts should be pursued to develop a multilateral agreement with universal application. The model decree for confiscation is very practical and could prove extremely useful in such an application.
11. Information on corruption and anti-corruption strategies should be gathered with a view to assisting governments in combatting corruption and in formulating more effective policies to deal with it. Emphasis should be placed on formulating curricula for anti-corruption training courses, benefiting, in particular, developing countries. In addition to research, training and technical assistance in advanced methods of corruption control through repression, equal attention should be paid to prevention and education. The efforts of independent commissions against corruption can be useful in devising controls in public administration and in increasing public intolerance for waste and corruption.
12. While bilateral and regional cooperation may provide for specific arrangements to prevent or investigate certain types of transnational criminality, they cannot provide a comprehensive solution to cooperation in combatting serious forms of organized crime at the international level. Multilateral cooperation should therefore be made more effective, through the UN, which has the general mandate and the international constituency necessary to provide countries with guidance and assistance in the prevention and control of transnational crime. This could be pursued in the context of a genuinely international crime and justice programme capable of responding to the challenge of such crime.
13. UN surveys on crime trends should also include information on trends in transnational crime so as to permit an in depth analysis of its scale, structure and dynamic, and of the extent of its material cost and potential social consequences. In further developing the UN Criminal Justice Information Network, attention should be paid to setting up databases on transnational crime.
14. The idea of establishing a world foundation on crime prevention and assistance to victims of transnational crime should be pursued. The foundation could help identify and mobilize financial resources to support the implementation of international crime prevention and criminal justice programmes, raise public awareness about crime trends and the rights of victims, develop innovative means of responding to technical assistance needs and provide financial support to victims.
15. The UN crime prevention and criminal justice programme should aim at developing the new mechanisms, procedures, conventions and institutions necessary to combat crime with transnational aspects and dimensions and to assist governments in reducing domestic crime. This could include assistance to countries in: (a) gathering information on, and analysing, the incidence of crime and the efficacy of response; (b) preventing crime and helping its victims; (c) enhancing the criminal justice process through improved methods for investigating crime and developing pre-trial, trial and appellate review procedures; (d) improving administration of sentences and reintegration of offenders into society and the control of recidivism. On the international level, the mandates should include: (a) drafting of international conventions, declarations and recommendations pertaining to the definition of international offences; (b) enhancing existing cooperative mechanisms and the development of new ones, including mutual assistance and extradition; (c) organizing trainee programmes for developing countries; (d) drafting model penal provisions dealing with selected offences. The mandate should include development and encouragement of coordinated subregional, regional and international activities from the investigative to the adjudicative stages, including ascertaining the practicality of establishing subregional and regional penal tribunals with transferred jurisdiction, in order to meet more effectively the problems of particularly severe domestic crime and of crime transcending national frontiers. Consideration should also be given to coordination by the UN of cooperative arrangements at the bilateral level, including exchange of crime prevention and criminal justice personnel, such as police officers at different levels, who could conduct comparative studies on criminal investigations into drug-trafficking and other similar activities. In addition, criminal justice attaches at embassies and consulates could help one another to reach a better understanding of the laws and court processes and procedures of their countries. This could be a useful means of facilitating effective cooperation with respect to transnational crimes involving different countries. United Nations government-appointed national correspondents in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice should become more operational. Ideally, their functions should be coordinated by an office or individual in an agency or institution with responsibilities in national criminal justice systems, so as to ensure that action was taken when necessary and to respond accurately and with authority to UN enquiries. Technical cooperation, particularly at the regional and subregional levels, should be intensified through the development of technical assistance projects benefiting developing countries. Special consideration should be given to strengthening operational capacity of the crime prevention and criminal justice programme and its interregional advisory services, to ensure that the most recent developments in modern technology and expertise are placed at the disposal of all member states. Efforts should also be made to create regional advisers on crime prevention and criminal justice to provide services in close contact with the regional institutes for the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders The UN crime prevention and criminal justice programme of work should be coordinated with that of ICPO/Interpol and other relevant organizations.
The UN organized a World Ministerial Conference on Organized Transnational Crime in 1994.
The ability of organized crime to generate a vast supply of capital, to infiltrate legitimate business and to ruin rivals by means of control over prices represents a serious threat to the very future of any society. Legitimate commerce can be undermined by the shadow economy, with all the political and social dangers following that process. The large illicit sums infiltrating the world economy affect a country's balance of payments, the monetary system, bank cooperation, the profitability of private firms and the prices of consumer goods and services. Cooperation between the largest organized criminal entities and the growing internationalization of organized crime may create a system with such economic strength that it poses a threat that many countries would not be able to counteract on their own. The international community should strive to arrive at a common perception of organized transnational crime, making it possible to design and implement more mutually compatible national measures capable of containing the phenomenon.
Counter Claim:
Difficulties in international cooperation stem from the great differences that still exist among countries in the comprehension and evaluation of organized crime and, consequently, in the choice of different strategies to combat it, as well as in widely divergent degrees of development of laws and regulations.
Combatting international crime
Exposing government links to organized crime
Implementing legislation against organized crime
Constrains:
Combatting illegal immigration
Involving organized crime
Making safer cities
Preventing urban crime
Researching organized crime
Combatting money laundering
Business complicity in organized crime
Government complicity in illegal activities
Ineffective legislation against organized crime
Overorganized
International Association for the Study of Organized Crime
United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Trevi Group
Centre for International Documentation on Organized and Economic Crime, Cambridge
Societal Problems → Crime
D: Detailed strategies
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Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill Levi, the founder of the eponymous Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura in Barcelona and the prolific designer of hundreds of buildings in dozens of countries, died on January 14, 2022, at the age of 82. John Hill
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Holcim Global Gold to Swiss Building Made from Salvaged Materials
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The Tulip Is Dead
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No Windows? No Problem
Despite nationwide criticism over the lack of windows in most bedrooms, the University of California, Santa Barbara is apparently moving forward with plans for a 4,500-bed, 11-story dormitory partially funded and designed by 97-year-old billionaire Charles Munger. John Hill
'Split Lives' Wins TRANSFER Architecture Video Award 2021
The TRANSFER Global Architecture Platform has revealed the winner of its 2021 Architecture Video Award: Split Lives by Joshua Bolchover and John Lin of Rural Urban Framework. John Hill
Architects at COP26
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced it is sending a delegation of architects to attend the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), taking place from October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the first time the AIA is officially participating in a COP event. John Hill
Not for the Timid
City Climb, billed as "the highest open-air building ascent in the world," has opened on the top of 30 Hudson Yards in New York City, directly above Edge, an outdoor skydeck that cantilevers from the supertall skyscraper. John Hill
Finalists for TRANSFER Architecture Video Award 2021
The Transfer Global Architecture Platform has announced the ten finalists in the second TRANSFER Architecture Video Award. The winner will be announced on Friday, October 29. John Hill
Foster's Tulip Likely to Happen
Unveiled by Foster + Partners in late 2018 but then rejected by London mayor Sadiq Khan less than a year later, The Telegraph is reporting that the Tulip is expected to gain approval from the housing secretary, allowing the 305-meter tower to proceed. John Hill
An Adjaye Supertall?
Renderings have been released for a proposed 1,500-foot tower designed by the firm of David Adjaye, as part of an "all Black team aiming to develop [the] first skyscraper built by African Americans in NYC history." John Hill
Japan's Tallest Tower
The Torch Tower will dominate Tokyo's skyline when it's completed in 2028. The 63-story tower is the main element in Tokyo Torch, a mixed-use development in the city's historic Tokiwabashi district. Ulf Meyer
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Devin Wynn, DS #81 RB, Furman
Name: Devin Wynn (+) Coming off Oct 2021 Groin INJ
College: Furman Number: 22
Position: RB Pos2:
Data Scout Notes: 2021: (+) Coming off Oct 2021 Groin INJ...2020: P3rdNationalFCS-PSDS...2019: 2ndC...P2ndC. 113-722-6.4-6 rush, 9-130-14.4-1 rec in 10 gms in '18. Backup w/17-53-3.1-0 rush, 1-10-10.0-0 rec in 12 gms in '17.
Devin Wynn, Furman, Player News
10/10/21 - RB Devin Wynn, rSr/2022, Furman, 5-11, 211 (DS#81 RB) + More +
Devin Wynn rushed for 206 yards and scored three touchdowns as Furman defeated Wofford 42-20 on Saturday. The Paladins (3-2. 1-1 Southern Conference) climbed out of a 10-0 hole with a 21-point second quarter and outscored Wofford 21-3 after halftime to w in going away. Freshman Jace Wilson made his first career start, in place of Hamp Sisson, completing 14 of 23 passes for 189 yards and a 26-yard touchdown pass to Wynn to end the first half with Furman on top 21-17. Ryan DeLuca added a 7-yard touchdown r un for Furman midway through the third quarter and Wynn and Wayne Anderson put the game away with TD runs of 7 and 6 yards, respectively. The Terriers (1-4, 0-3) were led by Irvin Mulligan with 126 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Peyton Derrick was 7-of-15 passing with a touchdown. Mulligan found a seam up the middle for a 72-yard scoring run that gave Wofford a 7-0 lead. - AP College Football
(DS#81 RB) rSr/2022 RB Devin Wynn, Furman
News Source: AP College Football
Devin Wynn rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns, and the Furman defense held Tennessee Tech to 121 totals yards, 26 in the second half, as the Paladins defeated the Golden Eagles 26-0 on Saturday. Hamp Sisson, the reigning Southern Conference offensive player of the week, completed 17 of 29 passes for 196 yards for Furman (2-0). Wynn's 42-yard touchdown run opened the scoring midway through the first quarter, Timmy Bleekrode added four field goals and Wynn's 2-yard run capped the scoring late in the f ourth quarter. Bleekrode's 51-yard field goal early in the fourth was his career long.
Tennessee Tech quarterback Davis Shanley completed 6 of 21 passes for 60 yards and was intercepted three times. The Golden Eagles (0-2) managed just six first do wns and were 2 for 13 on third down. They crossed midfield once, on their opening drive when they reached the Furman 37-yard-line before punting. Furman cornerback Travis Blackshear had two interceptions, giving him three this season. It was Furman's fir st shutout since 2004. - AP College Football
Devin Wynn ran for 106 yards and a touchdown to help Furman beat Western Carolina 35-7 on Saturday in the Southern Conference opener for both teams. Wynn became the 13th player in Furman history to reach 2,000 career yards rushing, finishing the game at 2,063. The Paladins (1-0) finished with 533 yards of total offense and 33 first downs compared to Western Carolina's 109 yards and five first downs. Furman outgained Western Carolina 384-39 and had a 23-1 edge in first downs in the first half. - Furman/A P College Football
News Source: Furman/AP College Football
2020 PHIL STEELE/DRAFTSCOUT PRESEASON ALL-FCS THIRD TEAM: RB Devin Wynn, Furman, Sr.,...Wynn heads into the season with 1,957 career rushing yards, which ranks 15th on Furman's career rushing yards ledger...Fashioned an outstanding season as Furman's pre mier running back, rushing for a team leading 1,182 yards and 14 touchdowns...ranked fifth in the SoCon in rushing and finished second in rushing touchdowns. - Furman Football
News Source: Furman Football
2019 ALL-SOUTHERN CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM (COACHES): RB Devin Wynn, Furman,...Wynn fashioned a superb regular season, becoming the first Paladin 1,000-yard rusher (1,121) since 2013, averaging 6.8 yards per carry, and scoring a team leading 14 touchdowns. The Greensboro, Ga., product has climbed to 15th on Furman's career rushing chart with 1,896 yards. - Furman Football
The Furman Paladins are back in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs, earning an at-large bid to the 24-team field of playoff teams, it was announced today. Furman (8-4, 6-2 SoCon), ranked No. 16 in the STATS FCS Poll released earlier tod ay, will hit the road to face Ohio Valley Conference champion Austin Peay (9-3, 7-1 OVC), ranked 18th in the FCS Poll, this Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN3 at Fortera Stadium in Clarksville, Tenn. The playoff berth is the 18th for Furman - tops among curr ent Southern Conference schools and second in the last three years under third-year head coach Clay Hendrix.
The Paladins, who own an 19-16 all-time playoff record, have played for three FCS (formerly I-AA) Championships and captured the league's f irst national championship in 1988, defeating Georgia Southern, 17-12, in Pocatello, Idaho. The Paladins dropped two of their first three games this season, including setbacks to FBS foes Georgia State (48-42 loss) and Virginia Tech (24-17), before winni ng seven of their next eight outings. Furman was ranked ninth in the FCS Selection Committee's Top 10, which was released on Nov. 6, and moved as high as seventh in the AFCA Coaches Poll on Nov. 11 before falling to Wofford, 24-7, on the road in the SoCo n season finale on Nov. 16. - Furman Football
NOV 11 SOCON OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Devin Wynn, Furman, Jr., TB, Greensboro, Ga.,...Furman tailback Devin Wynn scored half the Paladins' points in a 60-21 win over VMI on Saturday, doing so in just over three quarters of action. The junior from Gr eensboro, Georgia, ran for 102 yards and a career-best four touchdowns, adding a 2-yard TD reception for a five-score day. Wynn had touchdown runs of 1, 1, 4 and 59 yards on the afternoon, while his 102 rushing yards moved him into the top 20 in Furman h istory, pushing his career mark to 1,757 yards, good for 17th. Wynn helped the Paladins compile 635 yards of total offense on the day. The award is his second of the season. Other nominees: Quay Holmes (ETSU), Kendall Watson (Samford), Elijah Ibitokun-Ha nks (Chattanooga), Alex Ramsey (VMI), Donnavan Spencer (Western Carolina) and D'mauriae VanCleave (Wofford). - Southern Conference Football
News Source: Southern Conference Football
Devin Wynn rushed for 102 yards and scored five touchdowns as No. 9 Furman routed VMI 60-21 on Saturday. Furman (7-3, 6-1 Southern Conference) outgained the Keydets 636-381. The Paladins scored two touchdowns in each quarter. In addition to Wynn's four t ouchdowns on the ground, Dominic Roberto ran for one, Jeff McElveen ran for another and Hamp Sisson threw scoring passes to Wynn and Devin Abrams. Thomas Gordon had 10 receptions for 148 yards and Sisson was 17-of-22 passing for 277 yards and the two sco res. Furman took an early 15-0 lead on two 1-yard runs by Wynn but VMI responded with Reece Udinski's 45-yard TD pass to Jakob Herres and Alex Ramsey's 49-yard run. Wynn scored on two more short runs and Furman led 32-21 at halftime before blanking the K eydets (4-6, 3-4) in the second half. Udinski was 23 of 34 for 213 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for VMI. Ramsey carried 20 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns. - AP College Football
Devin Wynn rushed for 87 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score, as Furman racked up 296 yards on the ground defeating Western Carolina 28-7 on Saturday and reclaiming a share of first place in the Southern Conference. The Paladins (5-3, 4-1), ranked No. 14 in the FCS Coach's Poll, rebounded from a loss to The Citadel to match Wofford atop the SoCon standings. The two teams meet at Wofford Nov. 16.
Western Carolina (1-7, 0-5) jumped to a 7-3 lead when Tyrie Adams capped a grinding, 16-play drive with a dash from the 7-yard line late in the opening quarter. Furman struck back on its next possession with Darren Grainger moving the Paladins 72 yards in seven plays. Wynn's score from 2-yards out reclaimed the lead. Grayson Atkins adde d a 40-yard field goal as time expired in the half and Furman took a 13-7 lead into the break. In the third quarter, Grainger connected with Thomas Gordon on a 36-yard scoring pass and Wynn added his second TD of the game, a run from the 3. Furman rolled up 392 yards of offense to 264 for the Catamounts, who were held to 77 yards on the ground. - AP College Football
OCT 7 SOUTHERN CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Devin Wynn, Furman, Jr., TB, Greensboro, Ga.,...Furman tailback Devin Wynn ran for a career-high 217 yards and two touchdowns on just 14 carries and caught a 61-yard touchdown pass in a 58-14 win at Samford, which moved the Paladins to 3-0 in league play for this first time since 2006. After the Bulldogs scored on their first drive for an early 7-0 lead, Wynn took an option pitch on Furman's first play from scrimmage and raced 75 yards for his firs t TD of the day.
Later in the quarter, Wynn ran for a career-high 89-yard touchdown, finished the first with 174 rushing yards to match the SoCon record for rushing yards in a quarter. On Furman's opening drive of the third quarter, the junior from Greensboro, Georgia, hauled in a 61-yard scoring pass to put Furman ahead 49-14. Wynn would depart the contest with just over five minutes to play in the third and finished with 278 all-purpose yards. His rushing total was the ninth-best in school histo ry. Other nominees: Raleigh Webb (The Citadel), Ailym Ford (Chattanooga), Reece Udinski (VMI), Tyrie Adams (Western Carolina) and Joe Newman (Wofford). - Southern Conference Football
2019 PRESEASON SOUTHERN CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM (COACHES): RB Devin Wynn, Jr., Furman,...Wynn is coming off a 2018 season that saw him rush for a team leading 722 yards and six touchdowns. The Greensboro, Ga., product ran for 512 yards and four scores ov er the final five games. - Furman Football
Tweet #DevinWynn, Tweet #Football,
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Back to main media page
Supreme Winners - Westpac Gisborne Business Excellence Awards 2018
CPS were proud to be participants in the 2018 Westpac Gisborne Business Excellence Awards.
We won our Professional and Service Excellence Award category, were Finalists in the Health & Wellbeing category, as well as being awarded the Supreme Winner of the 2018 awards.
Westpac Supreme Business of the Year 2018
Westpac Supreme Business Finalist 2018
Professionals & Service Excellence Award 2018
Below is an excerpt from the Gisborne Herald Award Supplement - September 2018. For the full supplement publication, please click here.
RUSSELL and Gretchen Moylan started Civil Project Solutions (CPS) nearly five years ago when they saw an opportunity to develop a professional project management capability in Gisborne.
The company grew quickly and this year won the Supreme Business of the Year award at the Westpac Gisborne Business Excellence Awards.
“We were absolutely blown away by winning the award and also the amazingly positive response we have had from the community,” said Mr Moylan.
The secret to their success is the hard working team which is focussed on their clients’ needs and the outcome driven — ‘best for project’ — culture he said.
“We have built up our team from both people based in Gisborne and those wanting to return to the region.” They used word-of-mouth and personal recommendations to recruit them. “Our team is made up of project managers, engineers, geologists and surveyors. “They come from a variety of professional backgrounds and bring a wide range of knowledge, experience and skills, gained both in New Zealand and abroad.”
The skills include civil engineering, engineering and quantity surveying, engineering surveying, geology, mine and quarry planning and operations, residential, commercial and industrial building construction, and infrastructure construction (road, rail, bridges and other structures) in addition to the company’s core skill of project management.
The company has been involved in a broad range of projects across diverse industries including dairy, food processing, commercial, industrial and retail construction, cool storage, roading and infrastructure and sports facilities. CPS is predominantly a Gisborne business with about 70 percent of their work in Tairawhiti but they have also worked on projects in Kaikoura, Nelson, Hawke’s Bay, Kawerau, Auckland and Fiji.
One project they are most proud of is the LeaderBrand salad processing facility. Mr Moylan said it was an extremely challenging and complex project which was delivered on time and on budget using almost entirely local sub-contractors. “There’s a common misconception that Gisborne’s construction industry doesn’t have the skill set to take on these big jobs — I think we’ve proven this is not the case.”
At the moment CPS is working on a variety of projects in Gisborne such as new coolstores, subdivisions and upgrading existing facilities for RocketLab at Mahia. They are also managing a dairy factory build in Kawerau and a couple of smaller projects in Hawke’s Bay. Mr Moyan said the vision for the company was to continue to exceed both their own and their clients’ expectations. “We get an enormous amount of satisfaction from the work we do and enjoy working with such a great team at CPS.” Mrs Moylan said the CPS staff are a big reason for their success. “They are all really motivated and enjoy the diverse range of work. “We feel very fortunate to have such a great team.”
The government has just announced a huge capital injection into the Tairawhiti region and Mr Moylan said “this is an exciting opportunity for lots of local businesses like ours to be involved in some incredibly ambitious and exciting projects”. “I would like to see a greater focus on developing and supporting local skills and capabilities.”
There is no typical day at CPS and every day brings many and varied challenges and problems to solve. “This is part of the fun,” says Mr Moylan. With a background in civil engineering, Russell worked extensively overseas in Hong Kong, London, Dublin, Dubai and the Pacific Islands. “I worked primarily on infrastructure projects — roading, airports, light rail — as both a contractor and in a consultancy.” He met his wife Gretchen in London where she worked as an investor relations associate and they travelled together to Dublin and Dubai where they had their first child. The couple now have three children and say Gisborne is a fantastic place to raise a family. Gretchen grew up on a farm in Wairoa and Russell comes from Ashburton in the South Island.
The company meets every Friday for lunch at their offices in Gisborne’s industrial area. They discuss projects and health and safety as they enjoy a sit-down meal together. It’s a good chance for everyone to touch base with the rest of the team in a relaxed environment that isn’t a ‘meeting’ as such says Mrs Moylan. Project manager Stuart Buscke says he loves working at CPS and enjoys both the work and the culture where the staff feel valued. The Friday lunches are an extra bonus.
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The Unseen Festival 2019: Closing Night! The Abyss and the Afterlife. Sunday, September 29, 7:30pm
Join us on Sunday, September 29, 7:30pm, at Counterpath (7935 East 14th Ave., Denver) for night 10 and closing night of the Unseen Festival 2019!
Emma Arlington M. specializes in cross-genre hybridities. As a vocal advocate for challenging the boxes creative artists are put in, she pushes boundaries by refusing to adhere to traditionality of genre, language or the confines of the page within her work. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing, with a focus on poetry and memoir, from Goddard College. Her writing can be found in print in The Pitkin Review and The Champagne Room Journal. Emma Arlington M. writes most often about bodies; their intricacies, intimacies, and intersections. Her current project, [the curation of a body], is a hyrbid work which uses poetry, photography, and prose to create a memoir-esque journey of a body searching for its footing as mental illness takes root. The narrator navigates her way through time and space, from birth to young adulthood, to discover that acceptance is a lifetime project where she is constantly re-finding her way back into her own body and mind.
Michele Bernier / Alberta Shulman
Oneiric Premonition #1 – Emily Van Loan – USA – 2019 – 15 min – LIVE EXPANDED CINEMA – FILMMAKER IN PERSON!
“In 2017, I dreamt I made a filmic installation. I saw these four panels of canvas, arranged to allow for three projections. I saw a saccharine sweet, slightly incoherent motivational quote, and the silhouette of a woman, who I came to know as myself. In an effort to remain inspired, I sit as the silhouetted woman, and bring myself into a space of quiet meditation among the gentle hum of the projectors. I hope that I may fall into a dream, pregnant with a new creative affair.” – EVL
Emily Van Loan (b. 1994) is a diaristic experimental filmmaker and artist interested in vulnerability, emotional intimacy, and self-disclosure. She is pursuing an MFA in Filmmaking at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she works on films, installations, and performances that incorporate her own autobiography, and attempt to create a connection between herself and her audience, as well as connections within an audience.
The Note – Siavash Eydani – Iran – 2018 – 4 min
The man wakes up and finds himself on the bed in the sea …
Siavash Eydani. 1985 Born, Shiraz – Iran. 2017 BA Visual Communication. 2019 MA photography. “When I was 17, faced to photography with a Zenit SLR Camera. And One year After that, I set up my own darkroom to do photography in serious ways. Interesting to variety of Culture and Roots of History , made a reason for me to travel around Iran to do photography and make movie with this concept. Most of these travels are with bicycle and hiking. A kind of documentary that shows relations between human, history and environment is my ideal. My works maybe is a rope between photography and cinema.” – SE
Ascensor – Adrian Garcia Gomez – USA – 2019 – 8 min
Ascensor is an exploration of grief, longing and mysticism through a queer lens. It documents a syncretic ritual that culls from the magical reverberations in Mexican culture to process the unexpected loss of a dear friend. The repetition of the ritual eventually leads to the transcendence of physical space, transforming unrelenting ache into shining resilience.
Adrian Garcia Gomez is an interdisciplinary artist working in film/video, photography and illustration. His artwork, which is largely autobiographical and often performative, explores the intersections of race, immigration, gender, spirituality and sexuality. His short experimental films, photographs and drawings have been exhibited around the world. He currently lives and works in Geneva.
The Cliff of the Blind – Blas Payri – France/Spain – 2017 – 5 min
The wandering of a sightless woman guided by the contact of the others. This films evoques separation and reunification and the strength that comes out of union.
Blas Payri is a sound artist and a video/screendance artist. He is professor of sound design, film music, video art and music perception at the audiovisual communication department of Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain.
VideOvide Hermaphrodite – Samuel Bester – France – 2019 – 10 min
Based on Hermaphrodite from Book IV of Ovid’s Metamorphoses translated by Marie Cosnay.
A Franco-German born in Geneva, Samuel Bester was studying in the school of Decorative Arts of Strasbourg in 1992 when he became aware, with the complicity of Jean-François Guiton, of the importance that video will take in his life and in his artistic research. Meetings with Sarkis, Robert Cahen, Jochen Gerz and Harun Farocki nourished his approach. At the edge of different styles, his films are of documentary and experimental inspiration.
Human Geography – Anna Estelles – Spain/Indonesia- 2019 – 3 min
A trip through the topography of human bodies that evoke landscapes.
Director, Actress and Movement Researcher, Visual Artist. Founder & Director of Akar Studio & Akar Dance Theatre.
“I have worked in films, TV and theater, also as choreographer, art director.
Seven years ago I moved to Indonesia to study Traditional Dance and I decided to establish my company in Java. I got involved in traditional art & culture, looking for new movement languages and other inspiration sources. Nowadays, I’m focused on collaborating with different artists and disciplines, getting deep in my own style as scene director, visual artist , video artist and movement researcher.
I currently live between Spain and Indonesia.” – AE
Between Medusa and the Abyss – Felicity Palma – USA/Italy – 2019 – 12 min
Notions of belonging and the ethics of travel are questioned through female rite and ritual, pointing at the pervasive and contradictory presence of history and myth in present-day Sicily.
Felicity E. Palma is a visual artist who works in a range of time-based media, including 16mm, VHS, and medium and large format still photography, and incorporates performance and installation elements to her work. Drawing from her personal history with illness and disability, and her identity as a second-generation immigrant, her various projects have focused on the tensions between human mobility and stasis, myth-making and ritual, and time and memory – always with a feminist lens.Born and raised in California to a Sicilian father and Croatian mother, Felicity is currently based in Durham, NC. She holds an MA in European and Mediterranean Studies from New York University and an MFA in Experimental & Documentary Art from Duke University. She is the recipient of multiple awards, grants, and fellowships, including the Flaherty Film Fellowship, the Anne Scott Firor Research Award in Women’s Studies, the Kenan Institute for Ethics Graduate Arts Fellowship, the Duke Bass Connections Fellowship for Documenting Durham’s Health Disparities, and the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for the Italian language.
La Soga del Muerto – Dakota Nanton – USA/Bolivia – 2019 – 32 min – FILMMAKER IN PERSON!
An encounter with the shamans of the Amazon Rainforest’s Beni River Valley becomes a personal search for forgiveness and transcendence.
Dakota Nanton is an experimental animator based out of Boulder, Colorado. His artwork and films draw inspiration from such diverse areas as comic books, folklore, science fiction, religious imagery and art history. Borrowing from the images and iconographies of the past, and mixing old techniques with new, he explores the complexities and contradictions of living in the modern world. His work has been exhibited all around the world and is held in permanent collections in the United States, Canada, Italy, Australia, Egypt and New Zealand.
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review (Spoiler Free)
‘There has been an awakening…’
While watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I snuck a cheeky glance behind me to gauge the audience’s take on arguably the most anticipated film of all time.
Smirks stretched from cheek to cheek, and eyes beamed with childish joy as they glistened with the reflection of the screen they were so intensely focused on.
No other franchise can do this. This is Star Wars, where a mere line like “Chewie, we’re home” sends people into fits of screaming, crying, or more likely both in tandem.
Any chance to see the bold yellow outline burst onto the big screen accompanied by John Williams’ spine-tingling score is cause for celebration in and of itself.
Of course, it’s what happens after said introduction that has proven to be the big unknown ever since 1999’s The Phantom Menace.
Tasked with what will surely stand as the biggest test of his career (one he originally turned down), Director J.J. Abrams has managed to resurrect the most recognisable film franchise of all time, restoring it to the heights of the original trilogy while forging a path in its own right.
You can truly tell it’s a fellow fan behind the camera, and fellow fans in front of it, with love and care going into nearly every single shot, line, and glance put on film.
Nostalgia permeates the film, with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) relishing the chance to make the jump to light speed once more, while Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Luke (Mark Hamill) appear sparingly enough to prompt a rush of giddiness whenever they appear on screen.
(The force was strong with this one…)
Still though, the film is not a one-trick pony. Indeed, perhaps the greatest feat Abrams has achieved is crafting a film able to stand on its own two feet despite the considerable weight it carries from its past.
Make no mistake, there is nostalgia abound in The Force Awakens, but there is an equal (if not greater) amount of time devoted to the franchise’s new stalwarts.
Daisy Ridley and John Boyega turn in brilliant performances as Rey and Finn respectively, while Adam Driver does the best with what he is given to ensure main villain Kylo Ren isn’t relegated to a one-dimensional plot device.
John Williams puts together a score that reminds all listening that, in case they may have forgotten, he has secured himself a spot in the pantheon of composing greats.
All this combines to make the personal journeys of these characters thrilling, which is an absolute essential given the generic plot. Indeed, The Force Awakens borrows heavily from the stories of the original trilogy, particularly A New Hope, to the point where Han even makes a coy remark or two about the familiarity of the mission at hand.
The action is superb, and it’s clear there was a specific goal to use as little CGI as possible. Gone are the robotic droids of the prequels, replaced with the stormtroopers of old, although with slightly better aim (they could actually hit the side of a barn door now… barely) and substantially more humanised, mainly realised through main character Finn. Also, the lightsaber battles are yet another callback to the trilogy of old, forgoing blatant showboating choreography in favour of grittier, more ‘realistic’ (I’m aware it’s still Star Wars) battles.
Of course, in today’s age of Marvel-movie-a-minute-mania, there’s always bound to be forward thinking when it comes to major film franchises, and The Force Awakens is no different. It teeters dangerously close to the edge of teasing what’s to come at the expense of enjoying the story ‘here and now’, but manages to avoid the curse films like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 had to bear, providing The Force Awakens with a story that truly means something while leaving audience goers thirsty for more.
A scene post-climax in particular (again, no spoilers I promise) is bound to have fans racing to their nearest Internet Cafe (those are still a thing, right?) to book tickets for Episode Eight.
As I looked around the cinema and saw the smiles, backs hunched forward, and occasional tears, I couldn’t help but realise just how special this franchise has become, and will continue to become for a new generation from this point forward.
If there’s one piece of advice I can leave, it’s to enjoy the anticipation, the feeling of unadulterated excitement. Rarely does a film become an ‘event’ in the way Star Wars: The Force Awakens has.
Even rarer is said events living up to the (quite literally) astronomical expectations surrounding it and, while no effort could have possibly reached such lofty heights, J.J Abrams and the team behind him have crafted something leaving us eager to return to a galaxy far far away forevermore.
Welcome back Star Wars.
Rating – 8.5 / 10
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is out now in Australia, and on the 18th December in the US
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Stars: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher
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24×7 News Channel
Rooted in the concept of true reporting, GoaTimeline plans to launch a 24×7 news channel in Goa, India. The channel will be multilingual and will cover everything from news, sports, bollywood, fashion, music and more. With expertise of over a decade in television advertising, through this channel we will also provide new opportunities for innovative television marketing.
To be positioned as one of it’s kind new channel in Goa, it will feature news from across the world. Updates will be broadcast round the clock with a mix of live streaming and anchored news.
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K. Muralidharan
Pratima Bavagosai
Home > Vol 8, No 2 (2021) > Muralidharan
Some Inferences on Tests for Inliers
K. Muralidharan, Pratima Bavagosai
The present paper studies the problem of inliers in samples and how to test their statistical significance. Inliers are instantaneous or early failures that are natural occurrences of a life test. In them, some of the items may fail immediately or within a short time of the life test due to mechanical failure, inferior quality, or faulty construction of objects and components. We provide procedures for testing hypotheses consists of single and multiple inliers coming from an exponential distribution. It further studies the masking effect on Dixon type tests and the Cochran type test for the case of single inliers. The critical values are theoretically considered and numerically computed. The power of the tests and the error probabilities for the effects of masking and swamping under outward sequential criteria are tabulated for the number of inliers = 2 and 3.
A. C. Kimber; H. J. Stevens; The null distribution of a test for two upper outliers in an exponential sample, Applied Statistics, 30, No. 2: 153–157 (1981).
A. C. Kimber; Tests for many outliers in an exponential sample, Applied Statistics, 31: 263–271 (1982).
B. K. Kale; Trimmed means and the method of maximum likelihood when spurious observations are present, Applied Statistics, R. P. Gupta, Ed., North Holland, Amsterdam, 177–185 (1975).
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This image of the United arab emirates flag is in the Public Domain and can be used freely. If you use it on a webpage, a link to http://ourworldflags.com/United arab emirates would be very much appreciated.
The flag of United arab emirates
Top Home > Library > Travel > Regional StatsClick to enlarge flag of United Arab EmiratesIntroduction Background: The Trucial States of the Persian Gulf coast granted the UK control of their defense and foreign affairs in 19th century treaties.
[view]
Civil and State Flag of United Arab Emirates: EPS vector format in both official proportions and a standard sized 3:5 ratio version. $4.95 - United Arab Emirates - Macintosh - Download (.
Flag of United Arab Emirates - Description of the United Arab Emirates Flag * As the above picture of the United Arab Emirates Flag indicates it consists of three equal horizontal bands
Flag of United Arab Emirates: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and black with a wider vertical red band on the hoist side Flag of United Arab Emirates Source: CIA World Factbook Other World Travel Sites
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Redbox Completes Business Combination With Seaport Global Acquisition Corp.
Posted byipoedge October 22, 2021
NEW YORK & OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Redbox (NASDAQ: RDBX), America’s destination for affordable new-release movies and entertainment, announced today that it has completed its previously announced business combination with Seaport Global Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: SGAM) (“Seaport Global Acquisition”), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. As a result of the merger, the entity will be known as “Redbox Entertainment Inc.” Redbox’s common stock and warrants are expected to begin trading on NASDAQ on Monday, October 25, 2021, under the ticker symbols “RDBX and “RDBXW,” respectively.
“Today marks the beginning of Redbox’s next chapter,” said Galen Smith, CEO of Redbox. “Since revolutionizing the way Americans rent movies nearly two decades ago, Redbox has continuously evolved and expanded our reach – all while offering our millions of loyal customers exceptional value in home entertainment. Today, we are building on our legacy and reaffirming our commitment to delivering a wide range of choice and convenience for consumers, as well as value for our Redbox stakeholders.”
Smith continued, “As a public company, we plan to continue our strong momentum and accelerate our digital transformation. Through this transaction, and the incremental capital it provides, Redbox is equipped to advance our goal of creating a one stop experience that spans multiple entertainment mediums and simplifies the streaming experience. We are eager to capture the significant and growing opportunities ahead, take our business to the next level and achieve profitable growth for Redbox shareholders.”
Redbox Continues to Generate Strong Momentum
In recent months, Redbox has:
Entered into a multiyear distribution agreement with Lionsgate, under which Lionsgate will distribute Redbox Entertainment™ titles across home entertainment windows in addition to subscription video on demand (SVOD) licensing for select titles under the Redbox Entertainment brand.
Expanded the distribution footprint for its streaming app to the PlayStation 5 console, allowing consumers to stream thousands of Ad Supported Video on Demand (AVOD) movies and TV shows, as well as over one hundred Free Ad Supported TV (FAST) channels.
Signed a promotional agreement with Roku® to further attract multi-platform users to the Redbox streaming app. Through mid-2022, consumers will receive a $5 streaming code on Roku players sold exclusively at Walmart.
Announced it will add over 20 Free Ad Supported Television (FAST) channels to its streaming service including live local news, Spanish language, and kids programming, bringing the total number of channels available to over 100.
Signed a distribution agreement with Vewd – one of the world’s largest providers of OTT and hybrid TV solutions – to pre-load the Redbox streaming app on new and existing Vewd powered TVs and set-top boxes in the US.
Transaction Overview
The business combination was unanimously approved by the parties’ Boards of Directors, and approved by Seaport Global Acquisition’s stockholders at a special meeting on October 20, 2021.
The transaction, combined with a fully committed PIPE of $50 million led by Ophir Asset Management and backstop agreements with certain funds announced on October 11, 2021, will provide Redbox with approximately $88 million in cash. Redbox intends to use the funds from the transaction to pay down existing debt, pay transaction costs and fees, fund future growth investments, and for general corporate purposes.
The final number of shares redeemed totaled 12,346,223. As a result, Redbox will have approximately 45.4 million shares outstanding, of which approximately 2.0 million shares will be immediately tradeable. The shares that will be purchased as part of the backstop agreements, along with the PIPE, will be registered for resale separately in the future.
B. Riley Securities acted as capital markets advisor to Seaport Global Acquisition and lead placement agent on the PIPE. BTIG, LLC acted as lead financial advisor and capital markets advisor to Redbox. Moelis & Company LLC also served as a financial advisor to Redbox. Apollo Global Securities and BTIG, LLC also served as placement agents on the PIPE. Wedbush Securities and Canaccord Genuity LLC acted as capital market advisors.
Paul Hastings LLP acted as legal advisor to Seaport Global Acquisition. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal advisor to Redbox. Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal advisor to the placement agents.
About Redbox
Redbox (NASDAQ: RDBX) is a leading entertainment company that gives consumers access to a large variety of content across digital and physical media. The company operates a rapidly growing digital streaming service that provides both ad supported (AVOD) and paid movies from Hollywood studios and hundreds of content partners, as well as over 100 channels of free ad supported streaming television (FAST). The Redbox app is available on major entertainment platforms that include Roku devices, connected TVs, gaming platforms, the web as well iOS and Android devices. Redbox also operates its popular kiosks across the US at thousands of retail locations – giving consumers affordable access to the latest in entertainment. The company produces, acquires, and distributes movies through its Redbox Entertainment label, providing rights to talent-led films that are distributed across Redbox’s digital and physical services as well as through third-party digital services. Headquartered just outside of Chicago, Redbox has offices in Los Angeles and Seattle. For more information visit www.redbox.com.
This communication includes certain statements that are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are, but not necessarily, accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar words or expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this communication, regarding the business combination between Redbox and Seaport Global Acquisition, the benefits of the transaction and Redbox’s future financial performance and condition, as well as Redbox’s strategy (including acceleration of digital services and provision of a simplified streaming experience and more affordable entertainment ecosystem), future operations and condition, Redbox’s NASDAQ exchange trading, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this communication, and on the current expectations of the management of Redbox and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Redbox. Potential risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political and legal conditions; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, including Redbox management’s plans for accelerating digital and expanding and simplifying Redbox’s streaming and other digital services; the overall level of consumer demand for Redbox’s products, including kiosk rental and digital usage; general economic conditions and other factors affecting consumer confidence, preferences, and behavior; disruption and volatility in the global currency, capital, and credit markets, as well as NASDAQ’s decisions relating to Redbox and its securities, including their trading; the financial strength of Redbox’s customers; Redbox’s ability to implement its business and growth strategy, including providing an affordable, multi-product entertainment ecosystem; changes in governmental regulation, Redbox’s exposure to litigation claims and other loss contingencies; disruptions and other impacts to Redbox’s business, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and government actions; Redbox’s ability to retain and expand customer relationships; competitive pressures from many sources, including those using other distribution channels, having more experience, larger or more appealing inventory, better financing, and better relationships with those in the physical and streaming movie and television industries; developments in the home video distribution market as newer technologies and distribution channels compete for market share, and Redbox experiences a secular decline in the physical rental market; the impact of decreased quantity and quality of movie content availability for physical and digital distribution due to changes in quantity of new releases by studios, movie content failing to appeal to consumers’ tastes, increased focus on digital sales and rentals, and other general industry-related factors; the termination, non-renewal or renegotiation on materially adverse terms of Redbox’s contracts or relationships with one or more of its significant retailers or studios; Redbox’s inability to obtain licenses to digital movie or television content for home entertainment viewing; Redbox’s reliance upon a number of partners to make its digital service available on their devices; unforeseen costs and potential liability in connection with content Redbox acquires, produces, licenses and/or distributes through its service; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Redbox’s business, results of operations and financial condition, its suppliers and customers and on the global economy; the impact that global climate change trends may have on Redbox and its suppliers and customers; Redbox’s ability to protect patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights; any breaches of, or interruptions in, information systems; fluctuations in the price, availability and quality of electricity and other raw materials and contracted products as well as foreign currency fluctuations; changes in tax laws and liabilities, tariffs, legal, regulatory, political and economic risks. More information on potential factors that could affect Redbox’s financial results is included from time to time in Redbox’s (and previously Seaport Global Acquisition’s) public reports filed with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K as well as the preliminary and the definitive proxy statements filed with the SEC in connection with the solicitation of proxies for the meeting of stockholders that approved the business combination. If any of these risks materialize or Redbox’s assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Redbox presently does not know, or that Redbox currently believes are immaterial, that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Redbox’s expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Redbox anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause their assessments to change. However, while Redbox may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Redbox specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Redbox’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.
Peabody Announces Offer To Purchase Up To $15.842 Million In Aggregate Accreted Value Of Its 8.500% Senior Secured Notes Due 2024
Q4 Inc. Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering
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AOIFE FITZPATRICK
Aoife Fitzpatrick lives and works in Dublin, Ireland. She studied at the School of English, Trinity College. The Observable Universe is her first publication. A writer of short stories, she is also completing her first novel for young adults.
The Observable Universe
Chris wants to talk to me. Apparently the child has something to say to his father. And it has to be in person.
Martha delivered the summons.
‘You know what it’s about,’ she said.‘I’m not going to steal his thunder. Just come over.’
The dial tone kicked in before I could make my excuses.
I’m too obedient for my own good. One F train later and my feet are going numb in the snow while Chris’s cactus collection swelters on the kitchen windowsill above me.
I cannot believe that a nine-year old is about to give me a dressing down. I swear, this better not be about the flashlight because if that’s the only thing Chris remembers about stargazing with his old man, I’ve no hope of ever making that kid happy. He’ll have something to say about me smelling of smoke too, but for as long as I’m paying for his Carroll Gardens apartment, I will combust my cigarettes in the Brooklyn air at my leisure.
If I’d picked up a red flashlight when we went to buy the telescope there wouldn’t have been anything for us to fight about. But that was a weird day. We were outside the store on Ninth Avenue before I even realized that dad’s office was across the street. A month earlier, Jack Senior would have been able to see us from his desk—me and Chris going into B&H where two floors of technology heaven were about to fry my son’s brains. I wouldn’t have given dad a thought if he were still alive and watching over Hell’s Kitchen, but because he was gone, I could think of nothing else. While Chris watched crates zipping along the ceiling conveyor, trying to guess which one was ferrying his new telescope to the register, I had this urge to call dad’s old extension.
Processing claims made him feel so big that he couldn’t have seemed smaller to me. Yet there I was, squeezing my cell phone in my hand, wishing that I could hear the obnoxious tone of voice he’d always used at work. I was desperate to reach him to say, ‘Dad, you were cheated. With your top-drawer health insurance, you should’ve had months in hospital, pumped full of obscenely expensive drugs. I’m sorry it all ended with a coronary and a D-O-A.’
I took Chris up to the roof that night. As far as the flashlight went, I thought we improvised well. I got him to put a filter over the end of my regular halogen; a flattened square of red cellophane that I’d saved from a box of cinnamon candies. He didn’t blink once when I explained that it takes half an hour for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. That’s how I know he understood me, because he did that thing where he stares until you’ve stopped talking then clicks his lids shut and swallows hard like a frog. It’s difficult enough to find Betelgeuse in the orange blare of the city without dazzling yourself with white light while you read your star maps. I made sure that wrapper was fitted on good and tight with a rubber band before I brought the telescope tube up. Chris followed me with the tripod, banging the legs off every wall, but I didn’t say a word about that because I choose my battles.
Betelgeuse, the shining dot on Orion’s shoulder, has been my son’s obsession ever since he heard that it could go supernova any day. It’s not likely to implode in his lifetime but that doesn’t dull his enthusiasm. At least once an hour, he’ll spin the wheel on his planisphere, lining up the date and the time to find where Betelgeuse is in the sky. As he likes to explain, daylight is no obstacle. The flare will be visible to the naked eye no matter when the supergiant collapses. That’s why life with Chris is punctuated by moments of silence when he points his arm at the sky and everything stops while we watch for a bloom of dead-star light.
He wouldn’t be as good at locking-on to heavenly bodies if dad hadn’t bought him that compass for his birthday. It’s one that he can wear like a watch, and he only takes it off to bathe away the film of little-boy dirt that he accumulates wherever he goes. He had his hand over the rose, cradling his wrist as if he’d hurt it, when he asked about my father.
‘Where’s granddad?’ he said.
It seemed like a strange question. He was at the burial after all. But when I saw his face looking strained in the shadows, I knew his angst must be of the metaphysical variety.
‘Hasn’t your mom explained?’ It didn’t seem like Martha to leave an emotional stone unturned.
Chris shrugged his shoulders, bringing them almost level with his ears.
‘Yeah, she did. She said ... you know ... heaven.’ There was a long pause before he added, ‘But you don’t believe in God. So what do you think?’
I shouldn’t have been surprised. He’s always been a thoughtful child. But with no idea what to say, I tried to buy time, studiously clamping the telescope onto its mount.
Chris idolised his grandfather. Maybe I’ll always be outraged that Jack Senior had the love affair with my son that he never had with me, but any idiot who saw them catching bluefish in the Montauk surf last summer could have seen that it was a two way street. How could I tell Chris what I believe? That dad is as spent as any of the waves that heaved over the top of his waders at the base of the lighthouse that day on Long Island; that the materials which came together and metabolized him into being are parting ways, and there is nothing left of who he was in this world or any other. I couldn’t confess to my son that I’ve been finding it hard to come to terms with these things myself, even after all of my father’s coldness and crippling conservatism. While ninety-nine percent of me accepts his complete extinction, the other one percent cannot and surprises me by shrivelling with grief and anxiety every time I think about it.
Chris watched me, open mouthed, as if he were hoping for some class of good news. I’d let his grandfather take him uptown to Saint Patrick’s for Sunday service too often, so even though I wanted to tell him it was all baloney, I could see he wasn’t ready. That’s when I heard myself making up a story for him.
‘I can’t prove that there’s no heaven, Christopher,’ I said. ‘The universe is pretty big. Some parts of it are so far away that, even if you had the best telescope in the world, you still wouldn’t be able to see them. The light just hasn’t had enough time to reach the Earth yet. So if there’s a heaven, or a place that people go where we can’t see them anymore, maybe that’s where it is. Way out there ... outside the observable universe. It could be that we live in one pocket of the cosmos, and granddad is in another.’
My voice wasn’t shaky, but I started to mist up. Knowing bull when he heard it, Chris raised an eyebrow at me. He didn’t get it; that I love him and want him to be okay. Same as – it turns out – I loved my asshole of a father.
I admit that I was stoic for most of dad’s viewing at the funeral home. The curtain had closed on our relationship and there were no bright spots to be missed. But as his friends and colleagues started to file in, signing the condolence book and saying what a ‘fine man’ he’d been, I looked over at him in his open casket, his rosary beads woven through his fingers, and had this vivid memory of my grandfather’s funeral.
I’d never seen a corpse before that day. I was hiding outside the funeral home, sidling around the walls, too nervous to go in. The next thing I knew, my dad came and picked me up. He carried me into a room full to bursting with people paying their respects, and we went just far enough into the crowd for me to see into the casket. I was afraid. I thought it was one of his life lessons, that he was saying, ‘Here son, here’s what a dead body looks like. Now grow a pair and get over it.’
It was only when I saw dad lying there in his own nest of white polyester that I realised it wasn’t an education. It was simply that his father was dead and he’d come to find his boy. There was an odd sensation in my head as my memory recalibrated, its emphasis shifting. I started to remember how we stood in the middle of that crowded room as though we were on our own island. As he held me, dad’s hands were warm against the bare skin of my legs and he whispered to me that everything was okay. It wasn’t a platitude; it was kindness. He was gentle, mindful of my fears, telling me not to be shocked by how grandpa looked. The old body in the coffin was the car that he’d used on Earth, he said, and he wouldn’t be needing that jalopy in heaven. I’d been too busy thinking about my seven year old self to see that dad was clinging to me, his child a buoy amidst the sea of strangers and acquaintances.
Looking at my father’s old jalopy, my head buzzed like a fluorescent tube. There had been a moment, long ago, when that bastard in the box had loved me. In his mourning, he’d found the same solace in me that I’d been finding in Chris since mom had called me from the emergency room. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to wake him up, to tell him that I knew.
My face collapsed, contorting into a Halloween-mask. I couldn’t straighten myself out, not even when Martha gave me that smug nod of approval for finally showing some emotion. All I could do was give in to the snot and the tears and curse the fact that we’d left Chris at home. I’d wanted to protect him from what I thought had happened to me.
My hands were leaving clouds of fog on the plastic of the telescope as Chris looked on. He seemed disappointed with my every move, but at least I managed to resist my usual tics of embarrassment; the throat clearing and ear scratching.
‘Let’s find this star,’ I said, parlaying my agitation into enthusiasm. ‘Quickly now. Before it blows up.’
Chris was relieved. He picked up the planisphere and started fumbling with the flashlight. He was twisting the head, trying to turn it on, but by the time it lit up, he’d flipped the candy wrapper off the end. He threw that beam of white light around like a drunk who can’t piss straight and, wondering why it wasn’t red, he shined it right into his eyeballs. He was too dazzled to see the square of cellophane drifting over the wall. I couldn’t catch the wrapper and we didn’t have a spare.
‘Chris,’ I said. ‘Gimme that thing.’ I shouldn’t have grabbed, but I swiped it from his hand. ‘Jesus ... you’re some genius.’
From the corner of my eye, I saw Chris stiffen, his hand still hovering in the air where it had last been holding the light. After a few beats, he lowered it dramatically. On his face was a flash of Jack Senior; and I startled. It was the same look of dignified hurt that dad gave you if you even disagreed with him, never mind dared to criticize. I watched as Chris’s head tilted backwards, eyes cast down like he was bearing a flare up of stigmata. Whatever was on his mind, he wasn’t about to reveal it. Like his grandfather, he was going to extort my remorse with silence, pursed lips and shallow sniffs. He waited for me to mount my defence, ready to use every word of it against me.
I can’t count how many times this bait has been offered to me, or how many times I’ve taken it, laying myself out on a platter to be carved up. But with dad gone, Chris could’ve waited until every star in the cosmos had burned out before I’d be hooked again. I held my breath, tightened every muscle in my neck, wedged my tongue against my teeth.
Chris’s composure was absolute.
‘I can’t see,’ he said, as if this were somehow my fault. ‘I’m going back inside.’ He felt his way through the door frame, slow enough to allow me the chance to apologise.
He disappeared down to the apartment. Martha picked him up an hour later. She’s taken his side, of course. How is it that my father’s impunity has skipped a generation? All around me, there are pieces of Jack Senior’s personality taking up residence in the people who’ve survived him. My forty year old sister, driven to madness by dad’s constant wariness when he was alive, has bought a burial plot beside him in Queens and has resolved to stay in the job that’s likely to put her in it. Even Uncle Joe, who used to go scarlet and wave his hands like he was choking whenever dad criticised his wife, has started to say, in reverent tones, that Jack Senior was right about her. But the jackpot – dad’s infallibility – has somehow gone directly to my son. I can’t help thinking that it was my birthright. Not his.
The doorbell is backlit, a halo around Martha’s maiden name. It’s tacky when I press it, the work of a little boy too young to have a key.
‘Hello?’—Martha.
At the sound of the buzzer, I shoulder the door. The warm air inside sends me into shivers as I climb to the second floor. Through the spindles of the staircase, I can see that the apartment is already open, offering glimpses of white walls and the Degas prints that I’ve always hated. On the landing, I stop to peel off my coat and, although there’s no sign of anyone, I hold it out while I invite myself in, as if I’m expecting someone else to take it and hang it up.
I’m in the living room before anyone acknowledges me. Chris is standing in the middle of the room with Martha’s hand on his shoulder. It seems rehearsed. There’s an air of intervention about it and I’m a little surprised that no one else has emerged from behind the furniture.
It’s Chris who makes the first move.
‘Hey dad.’ He steps away from Martha’s protection, wringing his hands but looking me right in the eye. ‘I was thinking how upset you were the other night,’ he says, ‘and I was talking to my teacher about it.’
I dart a glance at Martha, expecting a black-eyed scowl and the waving of custody papers. Instead she’s smiling. I surmise that it’s the savage pride of a mother egging her son on to become a man, but before I have a chance to say my piece, Chris says, ‘C’mon’.
He takes my hand and drags me down the hall to his bedroom. ‘What’re you doing?’ I say, but he’s too fired up to listen.
‘Lie down,’ he says, shoving me towards the mattress. ‘Mom, close the shutters.’
There’s nothing left to do but cooperate because he’s acting like the greatest show on Earth is about to start. I sit on the bed as Martha secures wooden panels over the window panes. By the time Chris bounds onto the bed beside me, she’s gone, the door clicking shut as she leaves us in near darkness.
Chris flops backwards, crossing his ankles and putting his hands behind his head as if he’s lying on grass gazing up at the night sky.
‘Look,’ he says.
It’s not the time to tell him that I don’t like surprises. I lie back, clutching the comforter like I’m lowering myself into a vat of snakes. But as soon as I’m horizontal, I see it. On the ceiling, there are two intersecting ovals, both drawn in fluorescent, green paint. Each of them is teeming with glow-in-the-dark stars.
I don’t have to spend long wondering what it’s all about. One of the ovals has a photograph of me and Chris in Coney Island glued in its middle, the skeleton of the rollercoaster just visible behind us. And, shining out from the intersection of the two egg shapes, there’s a lone star, much bigger and brighter than all of the other plastic beacons. This five-pointed beauty is labelled Granddad.
I am a monster.
I stare at Chris’s wobbly handiwork and listen to his excited breath. How could I have engendered a boy capable of anything so staggeringly, beautifully guileless?
‘Teacher said you’re right. There really are galaxies out there that we can’t see.’ He’s hoping that his fourth-grade teacher’s approval will bolster my self esteem, so I make vague sounds of fascination and gratitude. ‘But I thought about it,’ Chris says. ‘If that circle is our part of the universe – the one with you and me in Luna Park – and the other one is granddad’s part of the universe ... then maybe one day, the light from his world will reach us and he won’t seem so far away.’
He knows that I don’t believe it. Neither of us does. And though we might not be ready to say it yet, it doesn’t matter. Our heads roll together on the pillow, and we keep looking towards the sky.
©2013 Aoife Fitzpatrick
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About the Patrol Division
The Patrol Division of the Nash County Sheriff's Office is the backbone and heart and soul of the Sheriff's Office. It is comprised of 29 full time Deputies and 12 Reserve Deputies. The Patrol Division is responsible for responding to calls for service from citizens of Nash County, as well as, service of all criminal warrants and all civil process to be served. The Patrol Division answered over 26,000 calls for service from citizens in 2019. If you call 911, one of the Deputies from the Patrol Division is likely to be the one to respond to your call for assistance.
Patrol Staff
The Patrol Division is comprised of one Division Commander: Captain Chris Cary, who oversees the entire Division. The Patrol Division is divided into four platoons, which provide 24 hour service to the citizens of Nash County. Each platoon has a Lieutenant and a Sergeant to monitor and supervise their shift. Working under the direction of the Lieutenant and Sergeant, are five deputies who respond to the calls for service from the citizens of Nash County. That means there are a total of seven Deputies on each platoon. Each platoon is also staffed with a member of the K9 Unit.
K-9 Unit
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Introducing the 2017 Calgary Stampede Royalty
Calgary – The search for the 2017 Calgary Stampede Queen and Princesses culminated this evening with the crowning of three young ladies. The Agrium Western Event Centre hosted the final riding competition and the ultimate crowning of Stampede Queen Meagan Peters and Princesses, Brittany Lloyd and Lizzie Ryman.
“Each year we are thrilled to see the amazing young ladies apply for this wonderful opportunity,” says Kathy James, Stampede Royalty committee chair. “It is always difficult to choose just three to represent the Stampede for the year. We are confident Meagan, Brittany and Lizzie will be incredible ambassadors.”
Meagan Peters – Queen
Meagan is 23 years old and is from Chestermere, Alberta. She spent 4 years with her local 4H club, and rode for the Calgary Stampede Showriders for 3 years. She is a successful hairstylist and enjoys riding horses, camping, fishing and skeet shooting.
Brittany Lloyd – Princess
Brittany was born and raised in Calgary, where she spent her time competitively show jumping horses and exploring the Canadian Rockies. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Colorado in Boulder and competed on the intercollegiate circuit in Western horsemanship. She currently works in the communications field here in Calgary.
Lizzie Ryman - Princess
Lizzie was born and raised in Calgary. Since she grew up spending a lot of time on her grandparents’ farm, she has a passion for horses and western traditions. Lizzie is entering her fourth year of Criminal Justice at Mount Royal University and would like to become a police officer. She enjoys riding, hiking, hunting, running and training Muay Thai.
For the past month, the contestants participated in riding skill competitions, speech competitions and a number of unique events where the ladies were able to mingle with VIPs to showcase their social skills.
The Stampede Royalty act as official ambassadors of the Stampede by promoting western heritage and values in the community and around the world, making more than 400 appearances during their reign. The winning three contestants must embody the Stampede values of integrity, pride of place, western hospitality and commitment to community.
M. 403.4636834
E. jbooth@calgarystampede.com
Princess Brittany Llyod
Princess Lizzie Ryman
Queen Meagan Peters
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Theodore and Mabel Bent (The Bent Archive)
Over a period of twenty years, in the 1880s and 1890s, Theodore and Mabel Bent explored the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa and Arabia, and published extensively on their activities. The objects and acquisitions they amassed along the way, their ‘Collections’, mostly found their way initially, in crates and bundles, to the Bents’ London home – 13 Great Cumberland Place – which fulfilled the roles of museum, laboratory, warehouse, archive, and, it has to be said, showroom.
A few of these literally thousands of things – from big statues to tiny beads – remained at 13 Great Cumberland Place until Mabel’s death in 1929, upon which everything was left to her nieces and thereafter mostly dispersed. However most of the objects found their way in their lifetimes to museums in England and abroad – predominantly the British Museum in London, and equally predominantly not on show today, apart from a few treasures.
It is known, however, that Mabel was prepared later to sell off items in aid of her various charities, e.g. “Mrs. Bent recently organised a sale of work in connection with the society of the ‘British Israelites’, in which she is keenly interested, and a two-days’ conference, of which she attended this month.” [Belfast Evening Telegraph, Monday, May 25, 1914]
This section of our site (currently under development) lists the main institutions and repositories that curate the ‘Bent Collection’ (as we arbitrarily call it) – from Athens to Zimbabwe, from Oxford (UK) to Istanbul, from Preston (UK) to Cape Town…
As important for researchers as the diverse range of items the Bents returned with, are the assemblages of materials and documents associated with them – manuscripts, photographs, letters, sketches and illustrations, maps, etc. Consequently, some of the archives with such holdings are also listed below.
The Bents had no children, and their estates passed to Mabel’s nieces and nephews and their descendants. Several items from the ‘Bent Collection’ remain in their care, but they are not included in this section.
If you come across other museum artifacts labelled as ‘collected by J. Theodore Bent’ do please let us know!
The British Museum, London
The British Museum, London, UK: The largest collection anywhere of the Bents’ acquisitions from the E. Med, Arabia, and Africa, with an excellent searchable database – your first port of call.
The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, UK
The Victorian and Albert Museum, London, UK
The Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
The Archaeological Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
The Archaeological Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
The Great Zimbabwe Museum, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
The National Archive, Harare, Zimbabwe
The Royal Geographical Society, London, UK
The Natural History Museum, London, UK
Sulgrave Manor, Banbury, UK
Hellenic and Roman Library, Senate House, London, UK
The British Library, London, UK
Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, London, UK
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, UK
Where you can eat, drink and sleep today where Theodore and Mabel Bent once lived in yesteryear!
Sutton Hall, near Macclesfield (UK). The Bents’s country retreat for twenty years or so, and now a fine gastro-pub.
Temple House, Sligo, Ireland. One of Mabel’s three Irish homes, and now a luxury hotel.
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home | the Book | the merchandise | the history | contact
news | Mudcat's Schedule | informative links
Mudcat's Homepage (eMudcat.com)
JIM “MUDCAT” GRANT is pleased to announce that an updated edition
of THE BLACK ACES, containing additional text and photos, including
Jim’s visit to The White House, along with Dontrelle Willis, Mike Norris
and Ferguson Jenkins, has just been released and is now available.
The Black Aces, Baseball’s Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners is a book written by Jim “Mudcat” Grant, the first African-American Twenty-Game Winner in the American League (Minnesota Twins, 1965) and the first African-American to win a World Series Game in the American League (1965).
The book is a historically accurate description of the lives of the only thirteen African-American Twenty-Game Winners in the Majors, and a look at the lives of ten other pitchers who Mudcat feels would have been twenty-game winners if they had been allowed to play in the Major Leagues, a privilege denied to them because of the color of their skin. Woven throughout the stories of these men is the story of the integration of baseball, and the integration of America.
This website is maintained by The Black Aces, LLC, a company founded by Mr. Grant, and is intended as a celebration of the lives of those pitchers included in Mr. Grant’s book.
Disclaimer: The inclusion of an African-American pitcher in Mr. Grant’s book, and his reference to these pitchers as Black Aces, shall not be deemed to indicate that those pitchers endorse any of the products for sale on this website, or the website itself. The views and opinions contained in this website and the book are solely the views and opinions of Mr. Grant unless otherwise indicated.
Disclaimer - All material on this web site is provided "As Is." The Black Aces does not guarantee, expressly or by implication, the accuracy, validity or timeliness of any information provided. The Black Aces disclaims the fitness for use of any material for a particular purpose. Neither The Black Aces, its elected officials, officers or affiliates, will be liable or have any responsibility for any loss or damage you incur or may incur due to failure or interruption of this Site, or from the act or omission of any other party involved in making this Site, whether or not the circumstances giving rise to such cause may have been within the control of The Black Aces or any party engaged by The Black Aces.
Privacy Statement - The only information that The Black Aces retains, concerning visitors to this site or their reference to another individual, is supplied voluntarily by the visitor. No visitor to this Site is required to reveal any information. The Black Aces will not disclose information obtained about any visitor to anyone outside the Site unless its disclosure has been authorized by that party or their authorized agent, or as required pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law or by court order.
© 2006 - The Black Aces, LLC - TheBlackAces.com
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Hitler's Big Mistake and Islam's Big Advantage
Being a "religion" gets Islam a free pass from civilization.
By Petrarch | November 6, 2009
From the early days of the internet as global discussion and debate between far-flung groups of ordinary people became possible and even routine, attorney Mike Godwin made a trenchant observation:
As a discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.
This has become known as Godwin's Law. It means that if you argue over something long enough, sooner or later Hitler is going to put in an appearance in the chain of argument. A further tradition has evolved: whoever first invokes a Hitler comparison loses the argument.
Alas, this law isn't enforced in our politics; if it were, the loony lefties who fulminated about Chimpy McBushitler for the last eight years would have been studiously ignored.
Apparently, the corollary to Godwin's Law only applies to comparing Hitler and his National Socialist (Na-Zi, the abbreviation in German) Party to the statist and socialist policies of the left. While comparing leftists to Hitler is out of bounds, comparisons to policies and politicians on the right are ruled fair game.
Then there's Islamofascism, about as politically incorrect a word as can be found anywhere. Are fundamentalist Muslims on the political right, since they are violently aggressive? Are they instead leftists, as their governance tends to be both socialist and totalitarian? Or are they something else?
So, let's compare them to Hitler! And when you do, you discover something shocking: Islamofascism has come up with a psychological weapon against the United States that, had Hitler had the imagination and chutzpah to use, would have made it much, much harder for America to defeat his evil philosophy: Islam is a religion, and under the First Amendment, can't be banned.
Nazism is a philosophy but never claimed to be a religion. Not being a religion made it legally possible to ban Nazism for the duration of our war against them.
Totalitarianism On the March
It's easily forgotten today, but during the unprecedented Great Depression of the 1930s, a great many highly respected thinkers thought that the day of democracy was over. The free nations of the world had fallen into a financial hole from which no amount of wriggling seemed able to extricate them.
On the other hand, nations which were ruled by authoritarian strongmen seemed able to end the breadlines, put everyone back to work, enforce order, and Get Somewhere. Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Tojo's Japan, and Stalin's Russia seemed, at least on the surface, to have licked their economic problems.
Dictatorships spread far beyond the famous four in those days. There were also Franco in Spain, Peron in Argentina, and no shortage of smaller-scale tinpot rulers throughout South America in the classic banana republics.
Africa, India, and Southeast Asia were mostly under the control of European colonial powers and were effectively dictatorships from the point of view of the people. China was torn apart by civil war between two authoritarian sides, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalists and Mao's Communists, not to mention foreign invasion by totalitarian Japan.
Look for a liberal democracy, and you pretty much had the U.S., the British Empire, and a few other wobbly countries in Continental Europe. Everyone else, well... today we'd say "they suffered under the heel of dictators," but that wasn't how things looked at the time.
The democracies were flat on their faces in the mud, wracked by political wrangling and division. The dictatorships, under the iron grip of one man each, were standing up and marching in lockstep.
Was a strongman just the medicine needed to cure Depression? In England, Sir Oswald Mosley prescribed himself for that role, supported by uniformed paramilitary Blackshirts and stirring oratory just as Hitler had been. In America, international hero Charles Lindbergh argued that we should find common cause with Germany, not conflict. President Roosevelt was advised to seek dictatorial powers to resolve the banking crisis of 1933:
The approving headline FOR DICTATORSHIP IF NECESSARY ran in the New York Herald-Tribune on March 5 [1933], with similar notes stuck in the Inauguration coverage of other major papers.
Documents show that Roosevelt seriously considered doing just that, although to the relief of history and all of us, he decided not to. It was a close-run thing, however: in a crisis, human nature is to look for a Savior and sacrificing essential liberties for the illusion of peace and security is all too tempting.
What we all know as the evil of Nazism began to be apparent, but only very slowly. Even before the war in Europe began, Roosevelt ordered J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to keep tabs on Nazi and Communist sympathizers; FDR saw which way the winds were blowing sooner than most of his peers.
When Germany finally declared war on the United States after Pearl Harbor, the FBI pretty much already knew who they needed to arrest for "subversive activities." Hitler's hoped-for Fifth Column in the United States never really got off the ground.
The primary reason it didn't is because there was a far more effective melting pot in America of the early 20th century than we have today. Immigrants were expected to become Americans; for the most part, that's exactly what they did. Only the very most recent German immigrants had much loyalty to Germany, and of course, no few recent German immigrants were fleeing from Hitler and were not the least bit inclined to help him out.
Still, America had a First Amendment in those days just as we have now and Americans had every right to argue in favor of a strongman and being friends with Hitler. America did not, however, have an ACLU arguing that the government cannot keep an eye on things; the FBI carefully implanted snoops within the ranks of German sympathizers and took careful notes.
As soon as war was declared, suddenly what previously was free speech was now an act of treason. Singing the praises of Nazism and shouting "Heil Hitler!" was obviously "giving aid and comfort to the enemy;" off to prison with the lot of them.
The Sanctuary of the Mosque
Things are a bit different today. Modern Neo-Nazis have the freedom to hold rallies and marches; but they're heavily infiltrated by law enforcement, and the moment they step past the boundary of inciting violence, off they're whisked to prison.
As a result, unless you are exceptionally unlucky and find yourself in very much the wrong place at the wrong time, you will never be the victim of Nazi violence. Nazi gathering places are few and far between, generally known only to the initiate, and not really growing in number.
And then... you have Islam. According to President Barack Obama,
If you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.
Mr. Obama's no better at counting people than he is at fixing economies. Considering that there are only 5 million or so Muslims in America out of a world Islamic population of well over a billion, we're not nearly "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."
Still, there are almost certainly a lot more Muslims here than Neo-Nazis. Mosques are visibly growing in number and splendor; the call of the muezzin rings louder than "Seig Heil!" ever did from Deutscher-Bund beer halls.
Yet Islam's attitude towards Jews is almost identical to that of Nazis. In fact, the similarities between the Koran and Mein Kampf are striking; the Koran spends proportionately more time denigrating the Jews even than Hitler did in his book!
So where are the police infiltrations of mosques, to protect American citizens from an evil, anti-American ideology? In England, an independent documentary team infiltrated several prominent London mosques and recorded imams preaching appalling hatred and violence. Dutch politician Geert Wilders has called for the Koran to be banned, just as Mein Kampf is banned in many European countries who directly suffered from Hitler's depravity:
The root of the problem is fascist Islam, the sick ideology of Allah and Mohammed as laid down in the Islamic Mein Kampf: the Koran. In this regard, the texts from the Koran speak for themselves.
In various suras Muslims are summoned to oppress, prosecute or kill Jews, Christians, renegades and non-believers, to beat and rape women and to establish a worldwide Islamic state through violence.
We can't very well ban the Koran here in the United States; even during World War 2, possessing a copy of Mein Kampf was not a crime and should not have been. The best response to evil speech is a good thorough debunking, not suppression.
When you consider that virtually all the world's terrorists are Muslims, though, simple prudence would dictate an active approach to infiltration, just as J. Edgar Hoover did with Hitler's Nazis and we still do with their successors today.
So, where are we with that? Not nearly where we need to be - because Islam is not just an evil, totalitarian, fascist ideology. It's an evil, totalitarian, fascist religion - and, it would seem, can only be touched with kid gloves no matter what depravity it preaches.
Thus we find that Islam, far from receiving a totally justified suspicion, is awarded every accommodation with your tax dollars instead. The Wall Street Journal reported:
At the University of Michigan's local campus, administrators have recently refitted several school bathrooms to include small footbaths in the corner--an accommodation for Muslim students who must perform ritual washing as part of their daily observance.
It would be a frosty day in Hell before an American public university would allow a Protestant minister or Catholic priest to use an empty classroom for religious services - yet here we find a public entity spending taxpayer cash on religious facilities for a belief sworn to destroy our way of life! A belief, indeed, whose leaders have proclaimed war on us. Ah, the joys of that noble name of "religion!"
In Hitler's Germany, the Fuhrer's word was law. He held power of life and death over all. He wields influence beyond the grave over the Neo-Nazis of today.
For all practical purposes, Nazis worship Hitler as god, but he forgot to claim to be god, and that was his big mistake. Had he done so, shazzam! Instead of being an ordinary national enemy, Nazism would be a religion and thus unassailable.
Religion, A Total Free Pass?
Of course, that's ridiculous, as the ACLU, CAIR, and other liberal suspects know very well, but that doesn't stop them from pressing ridiculous claims in court using lawyers who're funded by tax-exempt money.
Human sacrifice has a long tradition throughout history and is an essential part of major historical religions - particularly the Mayans, whose removal from the scene is the source of daily slander from the left against half-millennium-dead Spanish conquistadors. You'd think ending human sacrifices would be a noble blow for human rights, but no, halting the Mayan sacrificial system is now defined as cultural imperialism.
Nevertheless, try to sacrifice a human here in the U.S., and even calling yourself a religion will not protect you from a very long prison term no matter how religious you claim to be.
We also frown on cannibalism, despite that being a well-known feature of the indigenous religions of both Africa and the Pacific Islands, both also oppressed by Western colonialism and thus usually given a free pass to violate modern mores.
Apparently, cannibalism and human sacrifice are a bit too far, but only just a bit.
What, then, is the Islamic suicide bomber, if not human sacrifice? In what way are the ritual beheadings of David Pearl and countless other Westerners captured by Islamic terrorists different from what the Mayans did atop their pyramids?
Why is it OK to stop witch doctors from popping missionaries into the cookpot, but not OK to speak out against a religion that openly calls for stuffing Western women into funereal shrouds and locked-up harems? At least the missionaries were invading the territory of the cannibals; today, the barbarians are coming here, and we kowtow to them in our own land.
No, if Hitler had claimed to be god, J. Edgar Hoover would not have done one single thing differently. The Nazis in America would have been locked up just as quickly, and, one imagines, Mr. Hoover would hardly have quailed from flushing a Mein Kampf down the crapper had it occurred to him.
The difference is that, back then, we know which side was good and which side was evil.
After 9-11, after the London and Madrid bombings, after countless videotapes depicting all manner of debauchery, after the trivial ease of reading the dozens of violent and anti-Semitic passages in the Koran, how can there be any doubt as to which side is good and which evil today?
The only way there can be any doubt at all is if our leaders have completely given up on the idea that some ideas are better than others, that some customs, some societies, nay, even some religions are better than others. Our elites have given up on any kind of faith in God, or even the thought that America has produced wealth through hard work and not by exploiting the downtrodden of other lands.
Their economic ideas are bad enough, but it's this moral relativism, it's their inability to tell good from evil that represents to real danger posed by our leaders' ideas.
Is there any hope? Maybe, just maybe, reality will force its way in. The Wall Street Journal gives us hope:
The African-American leader of a Detroit mosque was fatally shot Wednesday during a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on what authorities called a criminal gang run by U.S. converts to Islam. Mr. Abdullah was imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque and was connected to a group known as "Ummah," a brotherhood that seeks to establish a separate state within the U.S. that would be ruled by strict Islamic or Sharia law, the U.S. attorney's office said. Authorities do not believe he has ties to such international terrorist groups as al Qaeda. [emphasis added]
Has he not? He has one very great and powerful tie to terrorism: the Koran.
Of course, the federal PR people will deny all international ties, but maybe somebody in authority has finally realized what Islam means. Alas, it comes too late for the victims at Ft. Hood gunned down by a Muslim psychologist (!) who was known to his superiors to be trying to convert wounded soldiers, attended a mosque, and publicly made statements condemning our country's presence in the Muslim world.
How many more to go until we are safe again?
Petrarch is a contributing editor for Scragged. Read other Scragged.com articles by Petrarch or other articles on Foreign Affairs.
How Much Diversity Can a Nation Stand?
Allah's Rapists
Luck and Pluck? or Divine Right?
Godwin's law
FDR's 'Defining Moment'
American Bund
Obama's Muslim comment sparks debate
The Koran Versus Mein Kampf
Undercover Mosque
Enough is enough: ban the Koran
Cleansing the ACLU
Cruelty in the Quran
Islam's Jew-Hating Hadith Matter Today
Detroit Imam Killed, Six Arrested in an FBI Raid
Ft. Hood suspect reportedly shouted
lfon said:
GREAT article. And 5 million is a high count. That's a number mostly supported by CAIR and company. I've heard the REAL number is more around 2-3 million. Regardless, this is great analysis.
Al Termind said:
Hi Petrarch,
I wanted to tell you that your posts awhile ago in our debate about Islam were right. I guess many times when I would look at Islam and the people who call themselves Muslims, I look at the people that I know on a personal level. One of these people, I've come love with all my heart.
The thing is that after taking the blinders off and seeing what is happening to our world and the effect and impact Islam is having on Islamic countries as well as western countries, I now agree that Islam is a poison, whose partisipants say that Islam represent such things as "Peace" and "Rights for Women", when the opposite is quite the reality. How can a religion of peace and equal rights for women breed so many suicide bombers/killers or have a figure head prophet who according to one of his favorite wife's hadiths would "beat" her.
Last time I checked, Jesus Christ never beat a woman... nor did he lead people to raid/steal from caravans or fight an offensive war.
I want to apologize for the ideas and for defending a religion that until a few months ago, I only knew one side of and was accepting the words of muslims as being the true Islam.. now that I've looked at the other, the true and right side, I see that this is a poison as you had said and that this is either a religion that needs serious reform or needs to be labeled as an extremist group.
twibi said:
This analysis could not come at a more perfect moment considering the atrocities in Ft. Hood yesterday.
Petrarch said:
The fact is, I myself have friends whose families are/were Muslim. Loads of Americans in 1940 had family and friends who were German. They're not all inhuman monsters...
But we had to stop the march of their philosophy regardless. Terribly sad, but alas, that's the story of human history.
There comes a time when each individual has to make up their mind who they want to be counted with, and publicly choose. For professing Muslims in America, that time is now. I fear for the future of those who don't make the right choice - innocent they may be, but if you hang out with the guilty you get caught in the crossfire.
Now someone just needs to get through to Barack Obama. Has he no feelings at all for the soldiers he is supposed to be Commander in Chief of? What sort of leader could joke and campaign normally after such an event? It has to have been bad for NBC to be appalled.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/A-Disconnected-President.html
beeji said:
Astoundingly correct. Yes.
irvn rynn said:
Hitler's big mistake was he didn't have you to spread his fear and hate...all you would need to do is substitute Jew for Muslim and Wilkommon, mein Freund..
One reason Muslims come to this country is to escape such putrid bigotry.. at least they can confront it here with the word, not with the sword..
Tell me again why we support such tyrannical regimes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan?
@ irvn
Um, what the hell does "Hitler's big mistake was he didn't have you to spread his fear and hate" mean?
Where exactly are Scragged writers spreading Hitler-style fear and hate? Is there some anti-semitic article I missed? No, I didn't think so.
Once again, we have a typical reply from someone who can't conjure up the valid words he needs to legitimize his opposition.
(For an added laugh, we'll note that Irvn says "Muslims come to America to confront bigotry with words, not swords". And occasionally handguns on military bases? Of course, it's possible that Irvn isn't aware of what just happened at Ft. Hood. Liberals tend to forget or ignore history unless it happened in the past week and on MTV or Comedy Central.)
Benjamin Caliban said:
Interesting information you provided about Roosevelt. I remember reading in Ann Coulter's book, "Treason", that when Adolf Berle tried to alert the president to an infiltration of communists in the highest ranks of government, Franklin said "Go f--- yourself". Charming.
November 12, 2009 7:19 PM
Theo334 said:
"America did not, however, have an ACLU arguing that the government cannot keep an eye on things; the FBI carefully implanted snoops within the ranks of German sympathizers and took careful notes."
There was an ACLU back then, but it was an ACLU that banned totalitarians of either left or right from its membership. According to Wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union):
"'In 1940, the ACLU formally barred communists from leadership or staff positions, and would take the position that it did not want communists as members either. The board declared that it was "inappropriate for any person to serve on the governing committees of the Union or its staff, who is a member of any political organization which supports totalitarianism in any country, or who by his public declarations indicates his support of such a principle.' The purge, which was led by [ACLU founder Roger] Baldwin, himself a former supporter of communism, began with the ouster of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a member of both the Communist Party USA and the Industrial Workers of the World."
parwati said:
Interesting point of view will take a while to digest
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The Islamic Reformation: Been There, Done That?
Reformers have tried to civilize Islam - and failed.
By Will Offensicht | January 31, 2011
Many writers of good will have stressed the need for an Islamic "reformation." They point out correctly that Catholicism was associated with military conquest, torture, and various brutal Inquisitions during the Middle Ages. When running theocratic governments, the Catholics of old could be as intolerant of dissent as any modern-day Muslim theocracy.
This sort of muscular Catholicism came to end following the Protestant reformation. The wish which accompanies this view of the past is that Islam would have such a reformation so that it could take its proper place among the rest of the world's religions which, regardless of what they may believe, are tolerant of others' rights to believe something else.
What these folks forget is that the end of church-sponsored wars came only after centuries of war between Catholics and Protestants. The Huguenots represent but a single thread of this multi-national and multi-generational conflict, but their story is illustrative:
Martin Luther began the Protestant reformation around 1517
His ideas of salvation of the individual without the need for help from the church put his followers in conflict with church authorities and with kings who claimed to rule by divine right.
French Protestants, who came to be called Huguenots, were declared heretics who should be exterminated by a General Edict in 1536. Remind anyone of "death to infidels?"
A covert Huguenot church was established in Paris in 1555.
In 1562, some 1200 Huguenots were murdered at Vassey, France, starting the French Wars of Religion which occupied the next thirty-five years.
King Henry IV signed the Edict of Nantes in 1598 which ended the Wars of Religion and gave Huguenots some religious freedoms in 20 specified towns but nowhere else.
King Louis XIV revoked the Edict in 1685. Hundreds of thousands of Huguenots fled France for other countries, where they were welcomed for their professional skills.
The Edict of Toleration of 1787 partially restored Huguenot rights in France.
France gradually became a more secular society which today makes a virtue of uncritical tolerance, perhaps in reaction to its manifestly intolerant past. Unfortunately, this tolerance has led France into a place where it tolerates the intolerable, barbaric, modern Muslim practices.
The Protestant reformation resulted in formerly rigidly Catholic societies becoming more tolerant of other faiths, but this process required several centuries and a tremendous amount of bloodshed. The Huguenot conflict alone lasted from the 1536 General Edict until the Edict of Toleration in 1787, a period of more than 250 years. The Spanish wars against Protestants, the wars in the Low Countries, and the religious conflicts in England, Germany, and Italy were equally protracted and equally messy. America was founded as a side effect of people fleeing religious persecution.
These unarguable facts of history suggests that an Islamic reformation would be neither peaceful nor rapid.
The Islamic Reformation: Already Over?
The powers that be realized early on that Martin Luther was a dangerous subversive. After discussing the matter at a meeting at the town of Worms in 1521, the Holy Roman Emperor declared Luther an outlaw, banned his literature, and demanded his arrest: "We want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic." His life was saved only when a political rival of the Emperor sheltered him for several years.
Unfortunately for the hopes of Western apologists for Islam, the history of the 20th century suggests that Islam has had, not one, but at least three reformations, each of which were crushed by the traditionalists just as the Emperor tried to crush Luther's reformation, only more successfully.
The nations of Islam were in sad shape after the First World War. The Ottoman empire had sided with the Germans and had been essentially destroyed by British guerrilla forces under the leadership of Lawrence of Arabia; Istanbul was occupied by British soldiers.
Resistance movements dedicated to driving out the infidels bubbled up all over Anatolia. In the end, Mustafa Kemal drove out the foreign forces in 1923 and declared the formation of a new nation - Turkey. He later became known as Ataturk: Father of the Turks.
In his new country, Ataturk excluded Islam from any role in public policy and relegated it to private life as the ACLU tries to ban Christianity from the public square. All religions were to be tolerated. He discarded all the laws of the Ottoman empire in favor of Turkish, abandoned Arabic script for the Latin alphabet, outlawed polygamy, banned veils and headscarves, and moved the worker's rest day from Friday to Sunday.
This made him a modernist in Western eyes, but to Islamic traditionalists, Ataturk was a breathtakingly radical extremist. He realized that Islamic traditionalists would strike back; to protect his revolution, the Constitution he wrote gave the army the duty of maintaining that "wall of separation."
Ataturk's system worked for most of the 20th century. From time to time, a political party or leader would become too overt in its calls for sharia law or Islamic governance. The army would remove the excessively devout leader and ban the party. New elections would be held with the lesson just taught held firmly in mind, the government remained secular, and life went on.
The problem, as we've noted before, is that unlike Christianity, Islam has no sense of separation of church and state. The Koran is just as much a book of civic laws as moral and religious ones; no devout Muslim can be fully comfortable in a land that declines to endorse the commands of Mohammed by writing them into secular law.
As long as Turkey remained overwhelmingly Muslim and also democratic, the tension would remain. Perhaps Ataturk himself hoped that his people would eventually move away from Islamic devotion as Europe has left Christian piety, but they didn't.
Enter the European Union. Turkey has a toehold on the continent of Europe, and has long aspired to join the EU. Europe can't accept a country prone to military coups, however, and is not eager to embrace sharia law.
Even to discuss joining the EU, the Turkish army had to give up their special status as guarantors of the secular nature of the state. This has permitted a strongly Islamist party to take power, which will probably end the modernization of Turkey fairly soon.
The situation in Iran after WW I was equally unstable. The last King of the old Persian empire, Ahmad Shah Qajar, faced a revolution led by traditionalists at about the same time Ataturk was establishing his new nation of Turkey. The British believed that forces backed by the new Soviet government of Russia would seize control, so they sponsored a colonel named Reza Pahlavi, who threw out the king and crowned himself Shah of Iran.
Pahlavi was a Westernizer like Ataturk and instituted the same dress code. Islamic clerics could wear turbans, but in order to be granted the right to wear a turban, a cleric had to get a license from the government.
The Shah's secret police couldn't catch every potential rebel, however. In 1978, the Ayatollah Khomeini led a rebellion which toppled Pahlavi's son.
Iran ended up with a theocratic government based on traditional Islam, 52 Americans were held hostage in the American embassy in Tehran for 444 days, and Ronald Reagan replaced Jimmy Carter in the White House. Again, the forces of modernity were defeated by the forces of Islamic medievalism.
The Egyptian monarchy survived WW I, but after WW II, an army colonel named Abdul Nasser organized a coup and took over the country. He expelled the British and took over the Suez Canal revenues with American support.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which had helped with his coup, rapidly became disenchanted with his pro-Western views and tried to assassinate Nasser. He had their leaders put in jail and tortured, but without a democratic process to co-opt the rebellion, he had to keep control by the use of secret police and terror, the usual tools of tyranny.
His successor, Anwar Sadat, signed a peace treaty with Israel, but was gunned down by Islamic terrorists. Although the current government is avowedly secular and the governing elites have a Western outlook, the Muslim Brotherhood keeps growing in strength among the common people who aren't participating in the fruits of modernity.
It's likely that Egypt will end up with a government similar to the Iranian theocracy when President Mubarak dies or loses control. With the recent uprising, we are already seeing reports that the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood is waiting in the wings to take over.
In Afghanistan, Mohammed Nadir Shah founded a Western-looking government much like Ataturk's Turkey and Pahlavi's Iran; his son followed in the same vein, but a coup by a group of Afghan communists smashed his government in 1972.
The Soviet Union invaded when the local communists couldn't hold power. The Taliban drove the Soviets out with American help and then took over; America invaded after 9-11.
Afghanistan is a long way from being a stable country of any kind, much less a modern one, and it's quite difficult to imagine how it will ever become one. Nobody else is likely to dump larger amounts of money or effort into the place than we have, to very little effect.
Pakistan had a western-educated prime minister named Zulfikar Bhutto. In 1977, an Islamist general overthrew him and Bhutto was hanged. In this case, the army was a force for Islamization rather than a force keeping Islam out of politics as in Turkey.
Bhutto's daughter Benazir became the first woman to lead an Islamic society in 1988 and was assassinated by Islamic terrorists in 2007. With the assassination of Salman Taseer, a state governor who tried to stop a Christian woman from being stoned for allegedly insulting Islam, Pakistan seems to be turning firmly away from any notion of westernization. The militants are likely to retain their atomic bombs even though atomic power isn't mentioned in the Koran.
Recent news items illuminate the differences between the Islamic mind set and the Catholic thought process. When the Emperor wanted to discuss Luther's ideas at the Diet of Worms, he gave Luther a safe conduct which made him immune to arrest while going to the conference, during the meetings, and on his way home. Despite regarding Luther's ideas as extremely dangerous, the Emperor honored his safe-conduct and left Luther alone as he had promised. The resulting conflicts might have been prevented had the Emperor had Luther killed.
The bodyguard who shot Governor Taseer had sworn the strongest possible oath to protect the governor as the Emperor had sworn to protect Luther. After shooting the governor, the assassin drew on the Koranic sura which permits Muslims to lie to infidels. By advocating what the bodygard regarded as blasphemy, the Governor turned himself into a renegade. That not only rendered the guard's vow to protect him null and void, the guard had a positive duty to shoot him because the Koran demands that all good Muslims kill as many renegades as possible.
Reformation Come and Gone
Reformation is gone from Iran, absent another revolution, but the current unrest could be the beginning of 250 years of see-saw wars between traditionalists and modernists as in the French wars of religion. Egypt has a governing class with a Western outlook, but the poverty-stricken masses are more loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt could soon end up governed by the Brotherhood in which case the Westernized upper classes would either flee or die as did their equivalent in Iran thirty years ago.
Turkey is still nominally a secular state, but Islamic influence is growing, particularly since the Army has been taken out of politics.
It's clear that the Islamic reformation came at least three times in three different places, five if you count Afghanistan and Pakistan, and each time, it's been defeated.
If an Islamic reformation is to succeed in taming the fires if Islam as the Protestant reformation tamed the fires of Catholicism, history suggests that the process has only begun. Based on historical precedent, we've a couple of centuries of bloodshed within Islam ahead of us in addition to whatever conflicts spring up between Islam and the rest of the world.
Some of our leaders like to call the War on Terror "The Long War." They may be far more right than they know.
Will Offensicht is a staff writer for Scragged.com and an internationally published author by a different name. Read other Scragged.com articles by Will Offensicht or other articles on Foreign Affairs.
Hearts of Darkness 7 - Church and State
Farewell, Benazir Bhutto
A Tale of Two Assassinations
Hearts of Darkness - Conclusion
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood eyes unity gov't without Mubarak
irvnx said:
Nice overview — and might remind some of the Puritans who advocate prayer in school, religious edicts like prohibitions and blue laws and abortion restrictions that there are those whose live quite well w/o mystic balderdash, government interventions in our lives & workplace [ooops~! I used the personal pronoun] in the name of what they find ethical, and other immoral interference.
Hey irvnx, looks like you missed one of last week's articles. They wrote one just for you:
http://www.scragged.com/articles/incest-morals-hitler-and-the-law
@irvnx
In mentioning the Puritans, you made a VERY GOOD case for the American federal system. The Puritans ran their state so harshly that Roger Williams left and founded Rhode Island. The idea is that if you don't like a state you can move away is FUNDAMENTAL. Unfortunately, our liberals are busily destroying the federal system by ramming their dreams through the Supreme Court. Scragged explained where that goes, what do you think of that?
http://www.scragged.com/articles/federalism-slavery-and-freedom-s-end-1
Another Infidel said:
Read Ali Sina's articles at faithfreedom.org - you will be enlightened as to the root cause of the problem.
BTW, Bhutto and his daughter may have looked and sounded westernized, but they were no angels; they supported and financed terrorist attacks on India and were very corrupt to boot. They were no Kamal Atta Turk or Sadat or Shah. Had they been, Pakistan would have been a much happier place (though it wouldn't last). As it was, they set Pakistan on the path to destruction and their successors are much worse (as is usually the case).
Also BTW, you made a dangerous error in your article - you speak of the bodyguard drawing on the "Quaranic sutra" - the correct word is "sura" and not "sutra" (which is a Hindu/Sanskrit word and thus likely to cause anger among certain people - not Hindus in case you are confused - if they ever read your article).
The Editors said:
That was an editing mistake, Another Infidel. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. It's been fixed.
Jacobite said:
This is a joke. The Reformation ended religious persecution? Elizabethan England has been called the first totalitarian government. Every prayerbook, every stained-glass window, every Spanish dancing-master had to be scrutinized by the thought-police for possible Catholic influence. Priests were hunted down in secret passageways ("priest holes"). Elizabeth was a sociopathic pervert who loved killing even more than Henry, her dad. Catholicism was eliminated in Scotland by the sword, and the same was attempted in Ireland, with massive loss of life. The protty bastards in England went at it with every bit of the enthusiasm of the Bolsheviks in the Ukraine. It may come as an amazement, but the Protestant side in the religious wars fought as fiercely as the Catholic side. Or did you think they prayed the Catholics in their territories to death? I'm glad I've lived to see the Anglicans forced to kneel to their prancing-queen bishops and priests. Wait until they have to bend over for them! I don't know what the theological underpinnings were for Englishmen to accept the dictat of Henry VIII -- "Hey, gang, let's get a cathedral and put on our own religion!" Or a monk named Martin Luther to found another artisan religion, eponynomous, at that. At least the various sects of Mohammedanism all claim to be following the Prophet. Protestant sects are all following one crank or another, 1,500 years remote from Jesus. Or maybe He made special appearances for them, with the hitherto secret codicils to the Bible, which He'd withheld until the time was right for the deputy under-Assistant Messiahs to take the wheel. I hold Protestantism to blame for all modern Leftism, as the underlying conceit of both is the belief that thousands of years of human history are meaningless, and that 'we' can know today things relating to God and Human Nature that no human has ever known before. Notice that Catholic theologians never make that leap of arrogance. Thomas Acquinas worked to reconcile Aristotle and the Catholic Faith. If he were a Protestant, he'd simply say "What the hell could some old Greek know about anything? I have the correct interpretation; for the first time in 2,000 years somebody, namely me, has finally figured it all out. Amen!"
@jacobite - I agree with you that there was much murder and other violence as you said, but to me, the Reformation period boundaries are defined by the violence. Most people agree that it started with Luther. Opinions differ among historians, but I, personally, say it didn't end until the violence ended. One could argue it didn't really end until JFK was elected in the US. Until that time, the Pope and various other elements in the hierarchy were urging American Catholics to try to take over the government in the name of Catholicism. I don't know when the violence actually died away, but the threat of Catholic takeover was felt to be pretty real until JFK's election.
By that definition of the end of the Reformation period, I agree with the article.
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Wheelhouse Comments on Council Tax Reform
SNP South Scotland MSP, Paul Wheelhouse, has welcomed the Scottish Government’s plans for an ambitious, progressive set of reforms to the Council Tax – which will see the council tax charges paid by those in the highest bands pay more, with the money raised invested in schools across the Scottish Borders.
As announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon this week, council tax charges paid by those in Bands E, F, G and H will be adjusted – in a move which will generate £100 million to be invested in education, while leaving 75 per cent of households unaffected.
The planned reforms will also provide additional support for those on low incomes – with low income families with children across all bands seeing an extension of the council tax reduction scheme, benefiting 77,000 families by an average of £173 per year
There will also be additional support for 54,000 low income households – more than one third of which are pensioner households – living in higher band properties, who will be entitled to an exemption from the changes through the Council Tax Reduction scheme.
The SNP Scottish Government has also been clear that if it is re-elected in May, would consult with councils on the assignment of a portion of devolved income tax raised in Scotland amounting to around £3bn. This would reduce local authorities’ reliance on grant-in-aid funding from central government, make councils more accountable to local people and incentivise the local authorities across Scotland to develop policies that increase prosperity and economic activity locally to grow their own revenue base. It is estimated that when the planned changes take effect, 75 per cent of local government funding will be locally determined.
Commenting, Paul said:
“The reform to council tax announced by the First Minister this week meets the key tests of making the system fairer, more progressive and empowering of local democracy, in line with the principles agreed by all the parties on the Commission on Local Tax Reform.
“The progressive plans will see three quarters of households in the Scottish Borders paying the same as they do now or even less, while those who can better afford to will pay a bit more in order to fund a major new investment in our local schools.
“We’ll also see new support for low-income families – supporting 140,000 children and their families to the tune of an average of £173 per year – and additional protection for low-income households in higher bands, many of whom are pensioners.
“While Labour and the Lib Dems are planning to hike taxes across the board, hurting even the lowest-income workers in the Scottish Borders and the Tories are planning to reintroduce tuition fees for higher education students, the SNP in government has chosen to take a different approach – asking those who have the broadest shoulders to pay a bit more, while providing additional financial relief to low income families. This isn’t just the right approach to take – but the only progressive option and other parties claiming to favour fair taxation should back these plans.
“I also welcome the move to consult with councils on a bold plan to assign a portion of devolved income tax – which would be a welcome move in empowering Scotland’s local authorities, incentivising councils to support economic growth and in making Scottish Borders Council more accountable to local people.
“Overall, these plans will protect the vast majority of household incomes in the Scottish Borders, support investment in local schools and make local taxation both fairer and with a more explicit incentive in the new model for local authorities to stimulate employment and prosperity.”
Further details on the reform to council tax can be found here:http://www.snp.org/council_tax_reform_explained
Scotland £7 Billion Poorer Under Lamont and Mundell, Claims Salmond
BORDERS Tory politicians John Lamont and David Mundell would have signed away £7 billion of Scotland’s finances – enough money to build the Borders Railway 20 times over – had they been involved in negotiations with the UK Treasury on Holyrood’s fiscal framework, according to former First Minister Alex Salmond.
Addressing Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire SNP candidate Paul Wheelhouse's adoption meeting in Kelso, Mr Salmond told his audience how his successor Nicola Sturgeon and Deputy First Minister John Swinney had refused to give ground until the Westminster Government’s proposal to cut the Scottish budget by £7 billion was revised downwards to £3 billion, then £2 billion and eventually to zero.
But Mr Salmond warned there would have been an entirely different outcome had Mr Mundell, the Secretary of State for Scotland been conducting the financial bargaining on Scotland’s behalf. He would have accepted the £7 billion deduction, and Mr Lamont, the MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh & Berwickshire would have signed up for it too.
Mr Salmond was speaking in support of Scottish Government Minister MrWheelhouse, who hopes to oust Mr Lamont at the parliamentary elections in May.
"Only the SNP was capable of standing up for Scotland in negotiations with the UK Government", claimed Mr Salmond.
He also lambasted Mr Lamont for steadfastly opposing the Scottish Government’s decision to invest £350 million on reinstating the Borders Railway, a project which had already proven to be an unqualified success.
Mr Salmond said:
"Now that the railway is doing so well John is claiming the credit for it even though he said at one time he wouldn’t be seen dead on the railway”.
Mr Salmond urged the Borders to grasp the opportunity provided by the reinstatement of the railway to recover the local economy by attracting up to 250,000 visitors to the region’s many splendid attractions on top of the million passengers a year who would use the train services to travel betweenTweedbank and Edinburgh. He was convinced the line should be extended all the way to Carlisle and said local SNP politicians would campaign for that to happen.
Paul Wheelhouse MSP added:
“As a Minister in Nicola Sturgeon’s team I have gained valuable experience and have been able to champion the cause of the Borders at the heart of Government in Scotland. If the voters of my home patch, Ettrick, Roxburgh & Berwickshire, put their trust in me on May 5th, then I will make sure my experience, contacts and influence are deployed in the best interests of the constituency.
"But to achieve that end, we must ensure the SNP wins this seat for the first time by defeating my Tory opponent, John Lamont, just as my colleague Calum Kerr MP did last year. In voting for me, local people can be sure they are electing someone who is ambitious for the area and actually wants to serve as their constituency MSP, rather than use the role as a platform to seek a seat in Westminster.”
Wheelhouse Supports Parkinson’s UK Campaign
Paul Wheelhouse MSP (SNP, South Scotland) is highlighting support for the Parkinson’s UK campaign Get it on Time, which aims to ensure people with Parkinson’s get their medication on time every time when receiving care.
After recently meeting with local health professionals in the Scottish Parliament Paul said:
“There are thought to be 228 people living with Parkinson’s in the Scottish Borders at the moment. What we heard was that those individuals are at risk of becoming seriously unwell if they don’t receive their medication precisely on time when they are in hospital, or when receiving social care at home or in a care home.
“I recently met local healthcare professionals from the region at a Parkinson's UK event in the Scottish Parliament and was concerned to learn that people can often receive their Parkinson’s medication at the wrong times – perhaps where there are inflexible timings for medicine rounds in a ward - despite the fact that, in particular, this can make people with Parkinson’s very unwell. I heard that for patients with advanced symptoms this is particularly important.
“Hospitals and care homes must be capable of being seen as safe havens for people with Parkinson’s and I have written to NHS Borders to ask what procedures and practices they have in place to ensure that people with Parkinson’s get their medication on time, every time and also to enquire as to any plans to invest further in specialist nursing provision, given I was told Borders has growing numbers of people being diagnosed with Parkinson's as a result of improvements in life expectancy."
Katherine Crawford, Scotland Director of Parkinson’s UK, commented:
“I am delighted that Paul Wheelhouse MSP is supporting our ‘Get it on time’ campaign. Medication is the main treatment for Parkinson’s. It can help to manage symptoms but does not stop the progression of the condition. And the medication only works if it is administered at the right time and dose for each individual. Timing is everything, and when people with Parkinson’s don't get their medication at the right time and dose, their symptoms become unmanaged and they can quickly become very ill. Even a 10-minute delay can affect people, and could lead to people being unable to move, speak, eat or swallow, or have uncontrolled movements and hallucinations. It can take weeks to stabilise someone’s symptoms. Sadly, some people never recover.
“Parkinson’s UK is calling for the NHS and nursing homes to put people first by dispensing medication to meet people’s individual needs. We also want assurances that action is being taken to ensure all nursing and related staff understand the consequences of delaying medication. Delays should be treated as a ‘drug failure’ and given the same serious attention as dispensing the wrong dose or the wrong medicine.”
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TAGS: 30 minutes, 40 meters, active june, arrl field day, average daily planetary, average daily sunspot, cm flux, daily sunspot numbers, Field Day, Field Day station, geomagnetic indices, geomagnetic instability, Geophysical Institute Prague, meter e-skip, meter ssb, Monthly averages, new group, New Mexico, short term, short term peak, shows, solar activity, solar flux, solar flux values, solar hemisphere, sunspot group, sunspot numbers, unsettled june
The average daily sunspot numbers were up nine points to 25.3 for this week, compared to the May 20-26 period; the average daily planetary A index rose nearly 10 points to 14.3, and this rise in geomagnetic instability came with the increase in solar activity. Sunspot numbers for May 27-June 2 were 11, 12, 43, 40, 39, 14 and 18, with a mean of 25.3. The 10.7 cm flux was 72.7, 73.2, 73.7, 73, 72, 72.7 and 74, with a mean of 73. The estimated planetary A indices were 4, 10, 33, 19, 16, 12 and 6, with a mean of 14.3. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 1, 7, 15, 14, 14, 9 and 4, with a mean of 9.1. The monthly averages of daily sunspot numbers for 2010 are 21.3, 31, 25.2, 11.2 and 20.
Sunspot group 1072 -- reported in last week’s bulletin -- was visible for nine days, until May 28. When it was gone on May 29, three new groups appeared: 1073, 1074 and 1075. On May 29-31, the daily sunspot numbers were 43, 40 and 39, but geomagnetic indices were high as well, with the planetary A index at 33 on May 29, and planetary K index up to 5. On the same day, the college A index (Alaska) was 53, with college K index as high as 7.
On May 31, group 1074 was gone and it was the last day that groups 1073 and 1075 were still visible. On that day, new group 1076 appeared, and through June 3, the total area (in millionths of a solar hemisphere) was 20, 20, 40 and 190. The increase from June 2 to June 3 was big (up 375 percent), but curiously, the sunspot number for those dates declined slightly, from 18 to 17, while the solar flux rose from 74 to 74.6.
The prediction from USAF and NOAA has solar flux slowly declining in the short term, from 75 for June 4, to 74 on June 5-6, 73 June 7-9, 72 on June 10 and 70 on June 11-17, then rising to a peak of 82 on June 28.The predicted planetary A index for the next seven days -- June 4-10 -- is 10, 8, 5, 8, 8, 5 and 5. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions June 4, quiet to active June 5-6, quiet to unsettled June 7-8 and quiet again on June 9-10. Some may have noticed that NOAA showed a solar flux value of 0 for June 2, which is impossible. I don’t know how that was left out, but you can always get the data from the source that shows a solar flux value of 74.6 for that day.
ARRL Field Day is June 26-27, coinciding with what may be the next short term peak in solar activity, according to the NOAA and USAF prediction; they are calling for solar flux values for June 25-28 at 80, 80, 80 and 82.
Field Day 2009 was spotless. In fact, there were no sunspots at all from June 25-July 2, 2009. Suppose that there are sustained daily sunspot numbers around 25 for the days leading up to Field Day 2010? What differences could we expect?
Checking W6ELprop from Southern California to Ohio, for example, shows very little difference, except on 15 meters there is a much greater chance for an opening. Both show 40 meters opening up after 0000, reaching optimum signal strength 0330-1030. Both show 20 meters open through the day, but weakest periods around 1330-1430 and 2300-0000 and strongest signals through the night, 0100-1200.
We see similar results from Atlanta to the center of the continental United States, somewhere in Kansas. The path is quite a bit shorter, and we see 20 meters opening a half hour earlier than last year, at 1500 and lasting until 2130, a half hour later than last year.
A similar test from Hawaii to the mainland shows a big improvement over last year, especially on higher frequencies, such as 15 meters. In Field Day, there is no bonus for DX, and it isn’t like ARRL Sweepstakes where multipliers are earned for each new Section worked, so the only incentive is to work as many stations as possible. But for a Field Day station in Hawaii, the increased solar activity will make a big difference in the number of stations they can work.
Now at the beginning of a new month, we can look at our quarterly moving averages for sunspot numbers. We use a sliding three month window for averaging the data, so the latest number is for March 1-May 31 and centers on April. For May 2009-April 2010, the three month averages are 4.2, 5.2, 4, 4, 4.6, 7.1, 10.2, 15.2, 22.4, 25.7, 22.3 and 18.5. You can see that the numbers have declined a bit. The monthly averages of daily sunspot numbers for 2010 are 21.3, 31, 25.2, 11.2 and 20.
Floyd Chowning, K5LA, and David Clark, K5PHF, both in DM61 in El Paso, Texas, and George Olcott, K7ICW, in Las Cruces, New Mexico (DM62) all worked Ron McGaha, K7MAC, in Nampa, Idaho (DN13) on June 2 at 1758 on 2 meter SSB. This rare sporadic-E opening lasted 30 minutes. The distance from K5LA to K7MAC is 973 miles, according to my calculations. If you check here for K5LA, you will see some detail on his propagation beacons on 30, 17, 10 and 6 meters, and his participation in propnet.org.
David Greer, N4KZ of Frankfort, Kentucky wrote a detailed description of his 2 meter sporadic-E adventure. “It’s June, so it must be time for the VHF bands to start rockin’. They did not disappoint on June 3, with 6 meters providing 3 dozen SSB and CW QSOs from central Kentucky (EM78) to the West Coast. Of course, the day before wasn’t shabby either, with a dozen contacts into W1 and the Caribbean.
“But it was June 3 that provided some memorable QSOs. In the midst of handling a pile-up of West Coast callers, I got a call from KD5CCG in Arkansas. That got my attention because it showed the E-skip distance was shortening up -- often a tip-off that E-skip will show up on 2 meters. So I set my rig and amp on 144.200 MHz and called several CQs while beaming west. Nothing, zilch. So I turned on the squelch and went back to to 6 meters.
At 0047, N0YK came on the 2-meter frequency with an S9 plus SSB signal calling CQ. I answered him and we both logged 59 reports. He’s in Kansas, DM98. That’s western Kansas, almost to the Colorado line. Exactly 10 minutes later, WB2FKO (DM65) in New Mexico came roaring in with a strong ‘CQ 2 meter E-skip, Beaming east.’ Bingo, he was in my log too, but not before I nervously asked him to repeat his call twice. Even after 41 years of ham radio, such a contact gives me chills. My logging program shows 1173 miles between our locations. I've been on and off 2 meter SSB since 1975 and it was only the second time I had worked New Mexico from Kentucky. Wow, nearly 1200 miles on 2 meters!
“At 0106, I worked N0QKY -- also in Kansas -- and then made a quick QSO a minute later with KA0RID, another Kansas station. It’s about 600 miles from my location to central Kansas and those are great 2 meter contacts, but the nearly 1200 mile QSO with New Mexico was really special. During the opening, I copied, but did not work, K7ICW in New Mexico and N0POH in Colorado. At that point, things were quite busy on 144.200 MHz with QSOs, CQs and QRZs galore. I do wish guys would spread out a bit more during these openings!
More than 30 minutes after I first heard and worked N0YK, I was still copying him, but the signals were in the noise as the 2 meter E-skip opening was fading. I have modest stations on both bands. I run 200 W out and a 9-element M2 Yagi at 60 feet on 2 meters and 100 W out to a 4-element Yagi at 55 feet on 6. Antennas are important, but time and time again it’s proven that much of the battle at VHF is about being in the right place at the right time.”
Thanks, Dave!
Amateur solar observer Tad Cook, K7RA, of Seattle, Washington, provides this weekly report on solar conditions and propagation. This report also is available via W1AW every Friday, and an abbreviated version appears each Thursday in The ARRL Letter. You can find a guide to articles and programs concerning propagation here. Check here for a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin. An archive of past propagation bulletins can be found here. You can find monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and 12 overseas locations here. Readers may contact the author via e-mail at k7ra@arrl.net.
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Commentary on a Verse of Sa'di
Introduction by Alison Marshall
As the title suggests, this work is a commentary on a verse of poetry written by the major Persian and Sufi poet, Mushrif-ud-Din Abdullah Sa'di (1184-1283/1291?). It is not known when Baha'u'llah wrote the commentary, but translator Juan Cole estimates, from the language used in the work, that it was in the late 1880s.
The lines of poetry commented on are from Sa'di's book, The Rose Garden (Persian: Gulistan). It is made up of eight parts, each with stories and sayings. The lines in question are from section 2, story 11. It begins:
"I spoke in the cathedral mosque of Damascus a few words by way of a sermon but to a congregation whose hearts were withered and dead, not having travelled from the road of the world of form, the physical, to the world of meaning, the moral world. I perceived that my words took no effect and that burning fire does not kindle moist wood. I was sorry for instructing brutes and holding forth a mirror in a locality of blind people. I had, however, opened the door of meaning and was giving a long explanation of the verse, 'We are nearer unto Him than the jugular vein', 'til I said:
'The Friend is nearer to me than my self
But it is more strange that I am far from him
What am I to do? To whom can it be said that he
Is in my arms, but I am exiled from him.'"
The verse that Baha'u'llah discusses in his commentary is the first two lines of the poetry above: "The Friend is nearer to me than my self/ But it is more strange that I am far from him". As Sa'di indicates, these lines were inspired by a verse from The Qur'an, 50:15, which reads: "We are nearer to him than the jugular vein." The point Sa'di is making in the poetry is that, although Muhammad assures us that God is nearer to us than the jugular vein, nevertheless we remain far from God.
In the second paragraph of the commentary, Baha'u'llah begins discussing his central theme, which is an elucidation on the concepts of spiritual nearness and distance. He opens with a point that alludes to a fundamental principle of Baha'i theology. This principle is that God's essence cannot be known or described by human beings, and that the attributes we usually attribute to God, such as creating and loving, apply only to the manifestations of God. Assuming that his reader knows this, Baha'u'llah says that it makes no sense to speak of God ("the Absolute Truth") as being near or far from anything. These concepts have meaning only in relation to the manifestations.
Baha'u'llah explains that the human heart is created to be God's "seat" or home within us, an idea also found in the following saying from Muhammad: "The heavens and the earth cannot contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant can contain Me." Despite this, people's hearts are occupied with the things of this world and not with God. When this happens, a person is said to be 'distant' from God. But when a person is occupied with God, that person is 'near' to God. In fact, people can forget about themselves, but despite this God continues to know them and God's radiance remains visible in them. From this, it follows that God is always near to us and it is only we humans that do the coming and going.
The commentary contains some interesting enigmatic statements; for example, in paragraph three, Baha'u'llah says: "Every soul that has quaffed the most pure, the most glorious Wine has ascended to the zenith of nearness and union. Without that, they would be on the lowest rung of remoteness and separation, even though they might at every moment utter the mention of the All-Merciful and act according to His commands. For today, the diverse communities that exist upon the earth, since they are deprived of the Wine of divine unity, are all wandering in the desert of remoteness."
I understand Baha'u'llah to be saying that those who have turned to him ("quaffed ... the most glorious Wine") can be said to be near to God. This is because Baha'u'llah is the latest person to manifest God. Everyone who has not drawn near to God by drawing near to Baha'u'llah is therefore distant from God, even though they mention God everyday and obey the commands of their scripture. The various communities on earth, by not recognising Baha'u'llah, have not understood the important concept of divine unity - that all the manifestations are one - and are therefore not walking the straight path. Baha'u'llah follows this with a restatement of the idea that closeness and distance to God is found in closeness and distance to the manifestation of God. When a new manifestation appears, that person is the latest manifestation of the name of God, "the Near", and this new reality encompasses creation. The people therefore draw near to God by drawing near to this reality each time it is newly manifested as part of a new revelation.
Baha'u'llah goes on to make the important point that "spiritual closeness is prior to and more near than physical proximity". What this means is that a person might live physically near to the manifestation but in fact be distant because the person lacks spiritual closeness. Adib Taherzadeh suggests that an example of such a person was Mirza Aqa Jan.1 He was Baha'u'llah's amanuensis for forty years and, as such, was physically close to him for a long time. However, this exceptional favour eventually went to Mirza Aqa Jan's head and he lived out the last years of his life in disgrace. On the other hand, a person might live a long distance from the manifestation and yet be near due to that person's spiritual closeness.
In the final paragraph, Baha'u'llah states that a person who visits him out of sincerity has performed a deed equal to all the good deeds of the past and present. In fact, he goes further and says that such a person "will be the recipient in all the infinite worlds of the grace and recompense of this action". But even more favoured is a person who visits Baha'u'llah and recognises his station as a manifestation of God. This person has attained to the promise in The Qur'an that, in the Day of Resurrection, the believers will meet God. In surah 13, verse 2, for example, Muhammad says: "He ordereth all things. He maketh His signs clear that ye may have firm faith in attaining the presence of your Lord." Baha'u'llah discusses at length the meaning of 'attaining the presence of God' in The Book of Certitude.
[1] Adib Taherzadeh: The Revelation of Baha'u'llah. Akka, The Early Years, 1868-77 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1983) p 404.
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ALI DAWSON GIBSON
Space Clearings
Vocal Coaching
Soprano, Ali Dawson Gibson, is a singer and performer with a varied musical background. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she has been a classical soloist since the age of 16. She studied voice at the University of Colorado, Boulder (BM), and University of North Carolina, School of the Arts, Fletcher Opera Institute (MM), with teachers including Erie Mills, Robert Harrison and Marilyn Taylor. Ms. Gibson also trained at programs such as the Aspen Opera Theater Center, where she studied with Suzanne Menzter and director Ed Berkeley, as well as Lorenzo Malfatti’s I Solisti di Lucca, through the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, based in Italy. While abroad there, Ali took lessons with Benita Valente and performed weekly recitals in the many historic and atmospheric piazze throughout Lucca. Some of Ali’s favorite operatic roles include Zerlina in Don Giovanni, both Hansel and Gretel (separate productions) in Hansel and Gretel, and Giacinta in Mozart’s La Finta Semplice.
Upon moving to New York City, Ali broadened her musical experience to include pursuing a career as Teaching Artist, (or TA). For almost 10 years, she worked passionately in Arts in Education, having had the opportunity to work as a TA for some wonderful organizations including Lincoln Center Education, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York City Opera, Weill Music Institute of Carnegie Hall and The Dreamyard Project. One of the things Ali enjoyed most about being a teaching artist was learning from her students. Such experiences helped her to discover new aspects of what it means to be a performer and songwriter, as she continues to develop her own style and artistry more everyday. Ms. Gibson also enjoys giving voice lessons to students of all ages, levels and musical genres in her private voice studio in Bristol, Vermont, as well as a member of the faculty at the Middlebury Community Music Center.
While in NYC, Ali enjoyed her Lincoln Center debut at the Clark Studio Theater where she wrote, performed and directed Alice Revealed, a showcase of 20th Century music with lyrics by Lewis Carroll. She was also pleased to produce and perform in the benefit concert, Summer Song Saving Lives, in conjunction with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which gathered singers of all types, including classical, jazz and gospel.
In the Summer of 2013, Ali and her family moved to the glorious state of Vermont, where she continues to teach and sing. Since moving to the Green Mountains, Ali co-founded Middlebury Song Fest, where she was honored to be both the producer and director, as well as a performer along side a handful of other Vermont based musicians including Cynthia Huard (co-founder), The Rev. Françios Clemmons, Sadie Brightman, Sarah Cullins and Mary Bonhag.
Above all, Ali is honored to be raising her 10-year-old son with her wonderful husband, and to be on a new journey as an entrepreneur, running a healing business and song writing with musical partner, Dayve Huckett.
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Allison Crowe alights on academy stage
SONG IN HER HEART: Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe will perform with her quartet at 8 pm on Friday, March 27 at the Powell River Academy of Music. (billie woods photo)
Internationally acclaimed songstress communicates emotions through music
Published: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 12:58 PM CDT
Music lovers can expect overtones of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, jazz and Broadway when Allison Crowe, Canada's bi-coastal, singer-songwriter, performs in concert at 8 pm on Friday, March 27 at the Powell River Academy of Music.
Born and raised in Nanaimo and now living in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, internationally acclaimed Crowe delights in a wide range of roles. She's recently performed for the Queen's Master of Music, headlined a concert for the John Lennon Memorial Garden in the Scottish Highlands, joined the ensemble cast of The Vagina Monologues at the Nanaimo campus of Vancouver Island University, and, online, her simple, honest music videos have been enjoyed by more than five million people.
"Treat yourself to one of the mightiest talents on the singer-songwriter scene today," advised Bob Muller, song curator at www.jonimitchell.com.
"Ever wonder what it would have been like to listen to a gifted singer-songwriter from Saskatchewan in a small, intimate hall before she became Joni Mitchell? Don't fret the missed opportunity. There's no need to turn back the clock. Check out Allison Crowe," stated Robert Reid in The Record.
Crowe's talent in communicating emotions not only makes her an original act, her role as an interpreter is getting much recognition. "Her version of I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) would give Aretha Franklin goose-bumps," noted Robert Moyes in Boulevard.
Recently, two major tributes to Leonard Cohen have featured Crowe's song contributions.
Longtime National Public Radio (NPR) host Ross Hocker called a performance by Crowe "the most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in my entire life."
For her first-ever visit to Powell River, Crowe is joined by a trio of West Coast musicians. Hailing from Salt Spring Island, Billie Woods, Crowe's guitarist, opens the show with songs inspired by life in Canada's Pacific coastal forest and infused with the warmth and vitality of the sambas, bossa novas and other cultural rhythms of Brazil. Crowe's quartet also features a pair of top-flight rhythm-makers: Dave Baird on acoustic and electric bass, and percussionist Laurent Boucher, renowned for his playing with Sunyata and other combos.
Advanced tickets for Crowe's performance are $17 for adults, and $12 for students and seniors, and are available at the academy box office, Breakwater Books and Split Endz Salon. Tickets at the door will be $20 and $15. For music and more information, readers can visit www.allisoncrowe.com.
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Why the Roanoke Colony is Known as “The Lost Colony”
Noelle Ortiz My Blog August 29, 2017 August 25, 2017
One of the earliest mysteries in North American history is that of Roanoke Colony, better known as “The Lost Colony.” Roanoke Colony was established in the year of 1587 in what is in the state of North Carolina today. This venture was an attempt by the English Queen Elizabeth the First to establish a colony in the Americas, founded by one Sir Walter Raleigh.
After Sir Walter Raleigh and the colonists accompanying him arrived at the colony’s location, John White, a close friend of Raleigh’s, was chosen to become the governor of Roanoke Colony. Later in the year of 1587, the colonists persuaded John White to return to England for fresh supplies and to bring back help for the settlement. When he departed, he left behind 115 men and women, including his newborn granddaughter who was the first English child to be born in North America.
John White sailed for England, although during the time of his travels it was considered risky to cross the Atlantic Ocean. When he arrived in England, he was just in time for the attack of the Spanish Armada, and the Anglo-Spanish War that followed. Queen Elizabeth required the use of every available ship during this time, which made John White’s return to Roanoke Colony impossible for some time.
In 1588, John White was able to acquire two vessels that were small but able when it came to sailing across the ocean. He then began the trip to Roanoke Colony. However, the two ships were captured and their cargo seized before they could successfully make their way back to the Americas. With nothing left to deliver the colonists, the decision was made to direct the ships back to England.
Finally, John White was able to travel back to Roanoke Island, arriving at the site on what was his granddaughter Virginia’s third birthday. However, he was unprepared for the sight that awaited him. Roanoke Colony was completely deserted.
There was no trace of desertion, nor was there any evidence that the men, women, and children left behind had been attacked. All that was left behind was the word “Croatoan” that had been carved into a post that had made up the fence that surrounded the village. “CRO” had also been carved into a tree nearby. While there have been many theories as to what happened to Roanoke Colony, the mystery surrounding it has lead to its other name – The Lost Colony.
← Governor George Yeardley
Biography: Sir Walter Raleigh →
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ASIA/IRAQ - Barzani: ready to arm Christian volunteers
Chaldean Patriarch Sako receives a delegation from the Muqtada al Sadr Movement
The Chaldean Patriarch Sako to the Iraqi communists: the country's evil is called sectarianism
Political blocs "compete" in initiatives against illegal expropriation of houses and land to the detriment of Christians
Patriarch Sako: digital platforms and social media used to harm the Church
Patriarch Sako to the Chaldean youth: in the Church, enlivened by Christ, your role is not "decorative"
Iraqi Kurdistan, steps forward in the fight against illegal expropriations suffered by Christian owners
Erbil (Agenzia Fides) - The Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, announced that the government of the autonomous Region of northern Iraq is ready to open its doors to Christian volunteers among the Kurdish armed forces by providing them with the means to create self-defense forces in their villages and defend themselves from jihadi militias of the Islamic State (IS). This willingness was expressed in a statement issued by the Presidency of the Region on Monday evening, August 18, after a meeting between Barzani and the Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Basil. The statement reiterates that the Government of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan will do "everything in its power" for Christian refugees, and calls on Christians "not to think about emigrating and leaving the Country, because the threat of terrorism is temporary and terrorists will be defeated". On August 14, Barzano had received Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and Personal Envoy of the Pope in Iraq. Already on that occasion, Barzani had hoped that Christians would remain in Iraq, recognizing in them a part of the most ancient culture and tradition in the Country. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 20/08/2014)
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Google switches to open-source license for Java APIs in Android: will this limit Oracle's case to past damages?
I've seen comments on Internet discussion boards according to which the long-running Oracle v. Google copyright infringement dispute has been practically settled, given that Google has just confirmed to VentureBeat that its upcoming release of Android (Android N) will come with Java language libraries that follow "an OpenJDK-based approach." The OpenJDK is licensed by Oracle under the GPLv2 with a so-called Classpath Exception.
It's too early to agree with those who believe it's a virtual settlement (except that damages for past infringement might still have to be determined in court). I do remember that Oracle's lawyers released a statement ahead of the 2012 trial in which they basically said that Google had two options for using Java in Android--a proprietary license or using it on open source terms with the obligation to contribute back to the open source community--but, by simply using Java without either kind of license, Google had committed copyright infringement. That was more than three-and-a-half years ago. Why wouldn't Google have taken this step long before, if such a seemingly simple solution to the legal problem as OpenJDK had existed all along?
There are two possibilities:
It could be that Google is now (that Android has unstoppable momentum) indeed fine with GPL'ing all of Android and just wanted to avoid it earlier on. Android already uses Linux, which is available under only the GPL (no proprietary option there). Now it's also going to use the OpenJDK libraries. So maybe Google doesn't care about applying copyleft--the rule that derivative works incorporating GPL-licensed code must also be published under the GPL (or they must not be published at all)--to Android as a whole. It previously preferred the Apache Software License, which gave Google and its partners more flexibility in terms of throwing closed-source components into the Android mix.
Without knowing how Oracle views this and what Oracle will do, I consider a second possibility no less likely than the first one. It could be that Google still isn't going to put Android as a whole under the GPL. Maybe Google interprets the copyleft rule in the GPL (in this case, in conjunction with the Classpath Exception) in a way that differs from the way Oracle would interpret it. Maybe Google believes it can just replace those Java APIs with something based on the OpenJDK but still doesn't have to put any additional components of Android under the GPL. In that case, Oracle would likely disagree. And that disagreement could then give rise to another lawsuit.
The first possibility is, for now, a possibility. Maybe Oracle will look at Android N (when it's released) and say: this is in compliance with our rules, we just want to get damages for past infringement (including older Android versions that are still out there).
The second possibility, however, would lead to the most significant and dramatic GPL enforcement litigation in history. With the greatest respect for what the likes of Harald Welte and the Software Freedom Conservancy have done on that front, a lawsuit with which Oracle would seek to force Google to release the whole of Android under the GPL would dwarf everything that has ever been done to enforce the GPL.
As a litigation-focused blogger, I can't resist from speculating about what this scenario would mean in procedural terms.
So far, GPL enforcement lawsuits have typically been settled. To the extent that judicial decisions have come down, there is no indication that one can successfully seek what is called specific performance and have a court of law order a GPL infringer to release something under the GPL. It appears that the original right holder can at best obtain an injunction against continuing to distribute the derivative work without making it available on GPL terms.
Let's assume for a moment that Oracle defeats Google's "fair use" defense at next year's trial. It could then seek an injunction against further use of the proprietary Java API declaring code. If Judge Alsup and/or the appeals court agreed, Google would then be barred from continuing to distribute the proprietary Java APIs as part of Android unless it takes a license from Oracle.
But Google would then say: that five-year-old lawsuit is about the proprietary Java APIs, and new Android versions follow what Google now calls its "OpenJDK-based approach."
In that case, Oracle might argue that the injunction still applies, and seek sanctions against Google. So there would be an enforcement dispute.
If Oracle prevailed on the enforcement question, the whole OpenJDK thing wouldn't have helped Google in the end.
However, in order to enforce an injunction arising from the five-year-old lawsuit against Android N, Oracle would have to convince the district court (and/or the appeals court) that this is really an issue that was decided in the original lawsuit. Google, of course, would argue that the copyleft implications of its use of OpenJDK are a completely different matter. I don't want to state a position on this yet, but if the dispute reaches this presently-hypothetical point, I will say what I think (based on the facts that will be on the table at that point, and one of those facts would be the exact wording of the hypothetical injunction Oracle would have won in the meantime).
Without stating a position on a combination of hypothetical events, I think it's not too speculative to say that a not entirely impossible outcome of such an enforcement dispute would be that the court(s) would say: sorry, Google's use of OpenJDK raises one or more new legal questions that must firstly be decided on the merits. In that case, Oracle would have to bring a second complaint against Google, which would be OpenJDK-centric. All of this would take a long time--also including any appeals--to be resolved.
I don't think it's purely coincidental that Google is going down the OpenJDK avenue just in time before Oracle has its next opportunity to obtain an injunction, which will be after the upcoming trial.
If you'd like to be updated on the smartphone patent disputes and other intellectual property matters I cover, please subscribe to my RSS feed (in the right-hand column) and/or follow me on Twitter @FOSSpatents and Google+.
Florian Mueller um 5:05 AM
Apple wants a $180 million Christmas present from Samsung, seeks supplemental damages in patent case
While Apple is usually the net payer when it comes to patents (most recently vis-à-vis Ericsson), it has received $548 million from Samsung this month, though a reimbursement may be demanded later. Samsung might base a future reimbursement claim on its design patent-related appeal to the Supreme Court (if that one succeeds, which would not be a huge surprise) and/or on the fact that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has held the '915 pinch-to-zoom API-related patent invalid (a decision Apple is appealing to the Federal Circuit) and/or the increasingly likely invalidation of the D'677 iPhone design patent.
But not enough: yesterday, Apple brought a motion for supplemental damages and prejudgment interest. Most of the documents are hidden from the general public for now, but a declaration by Apple's damages expert Julie Davis was published (this post continues below the document):
15-12-23 Davis Declaration ISO Apple Motion by Florian Mueller
According to the Davis declaration, Apple wants supplemental damages (damages for infringements after the cutoff date of the jury trial) amounting to $178.7 million and prejudgment interest totalin $1.2 million, i.e., $180 million in total. Samsung is not going to fork that money over without a fight. The amount seems high to me given that the products at issue in this case (the first litigation between the two companies) were already somewhat outdated by the time of the 2012 trial.
While I strongly disagree with Apple's enforcement of patents held invalid (and also with its position that an unapportioned disgorgement of profits is the appropriate remedy for design patent infringement), yesterday's motion could not be accurately described as adding insult to injury: it's merely a logical step of the overall enforcement efforts Apple has started. It does make the underlying issues economically more significant, but it's just more of the same in terms of Apple's attitude. If Apple had decided not to bring this motion (for which it had sought permission), it would have had to backtrack. Again, I think it should have backtracked because no one in this industry, including Apple, would want invalid patents to be enforceable in any way, but a withdrawal is something unrealistic to hope or ask for at this stage.
Florian Mueller um 7:27 PM
Federal Circuit denies injunction rehearing: will Apple v. Samsung become the next eBay v. MercExchange?
By sharply disagreeing with the majority of the panel ("This is not a close case."), Federal Circuit Chief Judge Sharon Prost practically invited Samsung to file a petition for a rehearing on Apple's injunction appeal. Samsung indeed filed the petition and received some impressive support from industry, NGOs, and academia. I actually thought a rehearing en banc (full-court review) was fairly likely to be granted, but no: today the notoriously patentee-friendly Federal Circuit merely modified its opinion slightly and denied a rehearing en banc.
The modification now establishes the following rule:
"Apple did [...] show that 'a patented feature is one of several features that cause consumers to make their purchasing decisions.' [...] We conclude that this factor weighs in favor of granting Apple's injunction."
The Federal Circuit has withdrawn the original decision and replaced it with the modified one (which also includes an amended dissent). Here's how Chief Judge Prost criticizes this modification:
"Perhaps recognizing its error, the majority reissued its opinion in this case to remove the implication that even an insignificant connection might be enough to satisfy the causal nexus requirement. While this change is a more accurate reflection of our law, it does not obviate the central problem with the majority's conclusion in this case. As we stated in Apple III, '[t]he question becomes one of degree, to be evaluated by the district court.' [...] Here, the district court weighed the evidence and found it lacking."
The amazing part here is "even an insignificant connection." This is just so inconsistent (of the panel majority, not of Chief Judge Prost) with the Supreme Court's eBay v. MercExchange ruling. Just like Chief Judge Prost's original dissent invited Samsung to request a rehearing, today's modified opinion--especially with the modified dissent--is almost a cert petition (request for Supreme Court review) in and of itself.
Just the day before yesterday, Samsung filed a petition for writ of certiorari in connection with design patents (on a couple of closely related issues on which Chief Judge Prost agrees with Apple, while she still believes Apple simply has no case for an injunction). Could today's denial of a rehearing lead to the next cert petition? I don't know what Samsung plans to do, but I hope that it will give it a try.
I don't think there's been a similarly splendid opportunity for the Supreme Court to provide some clarifications again on patent injunctions since eBay v. MercExchange. One might even argue that the Supreme Court's great work on eBay would have been in vain if the Federal Circuit's Apple v. Samsung ruling was allowed to stand.
Presumably it's not an easy decision for Samsung to ask the Supreme Court for help twice in a short time frame and in connection with the same dispute (though these are two different cases, one of which was filed about a year before the other).
The organizations and individuals who supported Samsung's petition for a rehearing with amicus curiae briefs would likely be interested in a cert petition, given the enormous importance of the issue. And at that stage, some others might also be prepared to chime in.
The first informal amicus curiae brief in support of a petition for writ of certiorari already exists: Chief Judge Prost's dissent.
Apple v. Samsung: petition for Supreme Court to take first look at design patent case in 122 years
As it announced in August, Samsung has filed a petition for writ of certiorari (request for Supreme Court review) today in its almost five-year-old litigation with Apple. While it's statistically very hard to get the attention of the top U.S. court, I actually think the design patent-related issues Samsung's lawyers (of the Quinn Emanuel firm) raise here are extraordinarily certworthy:
Where a design patent includes unprotected non-ornamental features, should a district court be required to limit that patent to its protected ornamental scope?
Where a design patent is applied to only a component of a product, should an award of infringer's profits be limited to those profits attributable to the component?
The first question is about properly defining the scope of a design patent. If functional elements such as rounded corners (everyone carrying a phone in a pocket would agree that they have a practical benefit) were deemed to be "owned" by a design patent holder, juries could easily identify "infringements" where there aren't any, or they could consider design patents valid when the only relevant characteristics--the ornamental features--are not new. In other words, design patents would attain unreasonable strength.
The second question relates to the determination of damages. In Apple v. Samsung, the California jury was told that Apple was entitled to an unapportioned disgorgement of whatever profits Samsung made with products considered to infringe one or more Apple design patents. The Computer & Communications Industry Association as well as 27 law professors, among them three scholars who supported Apple's positions on FRAND licensing of standard-essential patents and a law professor who previously studied art and design and is now particularly interested in design patents, asked the Federal Circuit to ensure reasonableness in design patent damages. So did Google, HP, Facebook and others, who warned that a company could lose its entire profits over a design patent covering a single icon. But the appeals court claimed to have no choice under the law than to side with Apple.
There are two things to consider when reading Samsung's cert petition and thinking about its prospects:
Fate has it that Samsung is now the petitioner and that Apple will oppose. Apple simply wants to collect many hundreds of millions of dollars (in pretrial and supplemental damages) and hopes to have leverage to achieve a settlement with Samsung on its terms. If Apple's shoe were on the other foot and Samsung had prevailed on a design patent (if it had, as it did not, asserted one in its counterclaims), or if Apple faced this issue in a dispute with anyone else (such as a patent troll), there isn't even the slightest doubt that the world's most profitable company would now be doing the same thing.
Even some people who are Apple's allies on other issues can't support its positions here with a straight face. I mentioned above that three law professors who had filed an amicus brief in support of Apple against Motorola (on SEPs) filed one in support of Samsung's position in this case. And even a mere blogger like me just couldn't support Apple on this one. Generally speaking, I have disagreed with both Apple and Samsung on their offensive cases and agreed with them on their key positions as defendants. In Samsung's case I took a critical position right away because its pursuit of injunctive relief over SEPs had me concerned; in Apple's case I used to be somewhat sympathetic for a while but the longer it took and the more apparent the shortcomings of Apple's patents as well as Apple's positions on remedies became, the more I spoke out in favor of the defendant's positions--as I do in connection with Ericsson v. Apple.
At this stage, it's not about who's right or wrong. It's only about whether the legal questions raised merit Supreme Court review, which has legal as well as economic implications.
If the Supreme Court denied certiorari, the Federal Circuit ruling would be the last word on the issue, and as a result, design patents would be stronger than they should be and give their holders leverage beyond their reasonable value. A patent troll might acquire a design patent and sue a company like Google or Facebook--or Apple--for 100% of its profits. Worse still, and as Samsung's petition explains: the next patentee with a different design patent that is also a tiny part of a product could ask for the same. And so could potentially thousands of design patent holders, driving even the healthiest company into bankruptcy in such a scenario. If this here wasn't an issue of major importance to the U.S. economy, what would be?
There are strong and compelling arguments and interesting facts in all parts of today's cert petition, but they didn't save the best for last. Instead, the very first paragraph of the introductory section stresses that the case law surrounding U.S. design patents needs to be adjusted in the 21st century because of how products have changed since the late 19th century:
"[The Supreme Court] has decided many utility-patent cases in recent terms, but has not reviewed a design-patent case in more than 120 years. Late nineteenth-century [Supreme Court] cases considered design patents on such products as a spoon handle [1871], a carpet [188], a saddle [1893], and a rug [1894]. [...]
[...] A patented design may be the essential feature of a spoon or a rug. But the same is not true of smartphones, which contain countless other features that give them remarkable functionality wholly unrelated to their design. By combining a cellphone and a computer, a smartphone is a miniature internet browser, digital camera, video recorder, GPS navigator, music player, game station, word processor, movie player and much more."
On page 27 of the petition I found an argument that was exactly what I felt when I saw the Federal Circuit opinion on unapportioned disgorgement:
"The [appeals] court provided no basis for [that] interpretation, much less the strong justification needed where interpretation of a statute produces absurd results."
I mean, isn't that what judges are for? Interpreting the law reasonably. Identifying ridiculous results. I don't mean to argue that judges should be lawmakers. But when a law is very old and the world has moved on, when the products that lawmakers had in mind when they wrote and passed the law are very different from the products at issue in a case like Apple v. Samsung, then there must be a way to arrive at the result that the same lawmakers would have intended if they had known what was going to happen over a century later.
On page 31, absurdity is discussed again:
"As noted, the Federal Circuit's contrary interpretation of Section 289 produces absurd and anomalous results. The Federal Circuit's holding would require awarding Apple all of Samsung's profits for sales of a smartphone containing any Apple design patent, even a trivial one. [a footnote then points to an actual Apple design patent of that kind, which basically covers a musical not in a circle and also had the Patently-O blog stunned] And under this holding, profits on an entire car--or even an eighteen-wheel tractor trailer--must be awarded based on an undetachable infringing cup holder."
The petition then goes on to give examples of multiple disgorgements of total profits. Two easy-to-understand examples:
"[A] boat manufacturer whose boat infringed separately owned windshield, rooftop and seat designs, or a shoemaker that infringed separately owned design patents for the sole, heel and lace. Even if the first such award were deemed to have exhausted all profits, and the second and third patent holders in the race to the courthouse could obtain only a reasonable royalty, the infringer would still have to pay more than its full profits. Congress could not have intended such absurd results."
Actually, I think the petition even understates the potential scope of the problem. There aren't just "thousands" of designs in modern high-tech products that could infringe a design patent. There could be tens or even hundreds of thousands. If you think of all the apps preinstalled on a smartphone, and consider that each icon or even a part of an icon, each screen or even part of a screen, could be covered by a design patent, then the possibilities--in a negative sense--are pretty limitless.
I'm going to talk about this cert process more in the weeks and months ahead. I believe Samsung will get a lot of support from amici curiae, presumably even more than it did in the Federal Circuit proceedings. Apple will also get some support but hardly any from other information and communications technology companies. Still, there will be letters by "friends of the court" to talk about.
For now, I just wanted to highlight a few more things that I found interesting in Samsung's petition (and that one might easily overlook):
I agree with the warning that the Federal Circuit's ruling, if allowed to stand, would turn design patents into "a weapon to take profits from others, even where those profits are attributable to their own innovations that have nothing to do with the patentee's ornamental design."
It's an interesting fact that the Federal Circuit threw out the trade dress-related part of the decision in Apple's favor because of the functional aspects of the relevant trade dress, but allowed the design patent part to stand, though there is hardly a difference between what both types of intellectual property rights were meant to cover in this case.
While design patents and utility patents are different, the petition does make some interesting references to Bilski, a Supreme Court decision on patent-(in)eligible subject matter.
Samsung's lawyers draw analogies to the limits imposed on the scope of, and the damages for infringing, other intellectual property rights such as trademarks and copyright.
At first sight (and I'll think about this some more), Samsung's argument on disgorgement appears to put the definition of "article of manufacture" front and center, which was at the heart of CCIA's amicus brief mentioned further above.
Circuit conflicts are not as key for patent-related cert petitions as for most other cases, given that the Federal Circuit is now the only circuit to hear U.S. patent appeals, but still, Samsung's lawyers cite some old decisions by various circuits that are, as far as I can see, rather different from the Federal Circuit's position on unapportioned disgorgement.
Finally, here's the a copy of the petition (as uploaded to Scribd by Re/code's Ina Fried):
Samsung vs Apple - Samsung's Appeal to the Supreme Court by inafried
Why would a patent office be afraid of bloggers? Only if it has something to hide. Like the EPO.
Over the years I've learned not to take things personally, but there are situations when it's hard. I did take it personally when I faced a shitstorm in 2012 after a totally erroneous decision by a judge who still doesn't correctly state the law on the copyrightability of declaring API code. And this morning I saw something that is just absurd. I'm talking about the last bullet point in the following quote from the EPO's official allegations against Elizabeth Hardon, a staff union leader they're now trying to fire:
"(1) actively cooperated with the campaign conducted by C [suspended in-house judge] against the EPO, members of the Administrative Council, and individual EPO staff members.
Specifically, the evidence demonstrates that she:
discussed with C the strategy for his campaign and provided instructions to him;
provided C, on at least one occasion, with non-public contact details for all delegates of the Administrative Council, which C used to send anonymous defamatory email messages;
was in personal contact with at least one blogger habitually attacking the EPO, Mr. FM of FOSS Patents, which resulted in the publication on FOSS Patents of attacks regarding alleged corruption of delegates of the Administrative Council;"
First, I don't disclose sources unless they wish to be disclosed. Also, I sometimes get messages from anonymous sources. Therefore, I can neither confirm nor deny any allegations of someone having been in contact with me, regardless of how truthful or untruthful an allegation is. As for "personal contact", I can generally say that no SUEPO (staff union) person has ever met me or even talked to me over the phone--I listened to some of their speeches at demonstrations in Munich, without approaching them. I only talked to two persons at an EPO demo. I asked one guy to let me take a picture of a banner, and I said hello to an EPO in-house judge I happen to know for a reason that has nothing to do with the labor dispute.
Second, I comment on the EPO situation from time to time (not even very frequently), but "habitually attacking the EPO" is really not the way I view it. On one major issue I even agreed with the president of the EPO (though an expert on suicides tends to agree with SUEPO).
Third, regardless of who my sources are, none of my sources even tried to persuade me to allege "corruption of delegates of the Administrative Council [of the European Patent Organization]." The closest thing to corruption--and "closest" is an overstatement--that I wrote about was that the EPO allegedly pays for the visits of its supervisors (especially those from relatively poor countries) to Munich doctors. I wrote about this because I heard it at a SUEPO demo. I remember that Mrs. Hardon was among the speakers, but I also remember with certainty that the thing about medical care was mentioned by a male speaker at a demonstration about a year ago. Apart from that, I merely mentioned that Administrative Council delegates often hope to become EPO president or vice president, and that this ambition appears to prevent at least some of them from doing their supervisory job right.
Actually, it's only after the above reference to "corruption" in an official EPO document that I start to wonder whether the EPO leadership's hypersensitivity may have a factual reason that I don't know about yet.
Getting back to the first point: even if one wanted to assume arguendo that Mrs. Hardon had communicated with me, there wouldn't be anything wrong about it. Managing Intellectual Property magazine put me on their list of the 50 most influential people in IP in five of the last ten years, and Canadian IP lawyers and blogger Barry Sookman once listed FOSS Patents among the top three patent law blogs in the world. SUEPO must have the right to communicate with someone like me, just like BMW or Allianz couldn't prevent their staff representatives from talking to the general press.
The EPO leadership is just paranoid about bloggers who criticize what's wrong with the way that organization is run. But those EPO folks don't appear to understand that they're only making things worse by the day. They threatened legal action on at least four occasions against TechRights author Dr. Roy Schestowitz, who is still the most prolific writer on the EPO labor dispute. Now they blame a staff representative for my commentary without a factual basis.
What do they have to fear? They must have something to hide.
Samsung announces payment of $548 million to Apple but reserves right to seek reimbursement
Last month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Samsung's petition for an en banc rehearing on the question of whether Apple could enforce payments involving (among other things) a patent--the '915 pinch-to-zoom API patent--that the USPTO has held invalid. The en banc petition looked like Samsung might further appeal this matter to the Supreme Court. But on Thursday afternoon local California time, Apple and Samsung filed a joint case management statement with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in which Samsung says it has "has made arrangements to complete payment to Apple." It is now waiting for Apple's original invoice, and if that payment arrives before the weekend by Korean time, it will send $548 million to Apple by December 14.
So, approximately four months before the fifth anniversary of its original complaint, Apple will physically receive money from Samsung. After years of not getting a cent, more than half a billion dollars is significant. But the case management statement (which for whatever reason I haven't been able to upload to Scribd) indicates that Samsung, while apparently not asking the Supreme Court to look at this right now, does not believe that the funds will necessarily stay on Apple's bank account forever:
"Samsung continues to reserve all rights to obtain reimbursement from Apple and/or payment by Apple of all amounts required to be paid as taxes. [...] Samsung further reserves all rights to reclaim or obtain reimbursement of any judgment amounts paid by Samsung to any entity in the event the partial judgment is reversed, modified, vacated or set aside on appeal or otherwise, including as a result of any proceedings before the USPTO addressing the patents at issue or as a result of any petition for writ of certiorari filed with the Supreme Court. Samsung notes that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has issued a final decision of invalidity on the '915 Patent, and Apple filed a notice of appeal to the Federal Circuit in the USPTO last week."
Apple writes in its own part of the filing that it "disputes Samsung's asserted rights to reimbursement."
I tend to agree with the president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, who wrote an op-ed for TheHill.com with the following title:
"Patent office sides with innovation, yet Apple double-downs on fool's gold patents"
The situation surrounding the '915 patent is not the only factor of uncertainty here for Apple. Samsung announced in the summer that it would file a petition for writ of certiorari (request for Supreme Court review) concerning design patent damages. If the top U.S. court agreed to hear that matter and agreed with what will likely be a broad industry coalition, there would have to be a retrial.
Lest I forget, one of Apple's iPhone design patents underlying the decision is also under serious pressure as the patent office feels it shouldn't have granted that one either.
So this will go on for some more time, especially since the filing also notes that a settlement conference took place on November 2, 2015 and "did not result in settlement."
Florian Mueller um 11:04 PM
Shame on the European Patent Office for its legal threats against TechRights author Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The European Patent Office is the last dictatorship on Central European soil. Local police cannot allowed to enter the EPO's facilities without an invitation from the president. National court rulings cannot be enforced; compliance is voluntary. Employees and visitors are subjected to covert surveillance. And if employees are fired (or "suspended"), which just happened to several staff representative, they won't get their day in court for about ten years.
The EPO's leaders have a rather selective attitude toward the law. When it's about their wrongdoings, they want their organization to be a lawless, autocratic island that disrespects human rights. But when the rules of the world around the EPO come in handy, the leadership of the EPO tries to leverage them against those who dare to criticize it.
A Munich newspaper reported last week that the EPO even tried to get a staff union lawyer disbarred. And today World IP Review has reported on legal threats by the EPO against Dr. Roy Schestowitz, author of the TechRights blog (temporarily the link was broken, but at the time of publication, it worked). In July it became known that the EPO blocked access from its local network (which examiners use for prior art searches) to TechRights. I strongly criticized that move, and found it futfile. But the EPO leadership stops at nothing, and is now trying to silence its fiercest and most frequent critic in the entire blogosphere.
Dr. Schestowitz had mentioned this on Twitter, but he had not revealed any specifics before the WIPR article. You can find his commentary on the WIPR story--and information that purports to indicate a publisher has also been threatened--here.
TechRights has always been an opinionated, rather combative blog. Still, with almost 20,000 blog posts, Dr. Schestowitz had not received a legal letter before an EPO lawyer sent him one.
Many thousands of TechRights posts took aim at Microsoft, and typically not in diplomatic terms. But Microsoft, which has a huge and sophisticated legal department, never thought it prudent to send a cease-and-desist letter. Nor did any other company that was criticized, and there were many (though Microsoft used to bear the brunt of TechRights' criticism).
The EPO leadership must be very afraid of TechRights. It should be. Dr. Schestowitz is doing a first-rate job at keeping track of developments at and around the EPO. He doesn't miss a beat. I don't mean to say that I would always use the same terminology, but the EPO should respect the freedom of speech. If the EPO leadership wants more positive press coverage (and not just from its "media partners" like Les Échos), then it should tackle the underlying issues.
If the EPO ever sued Dr. Schestowitz, I would contribute money and lend an endorsement to a crowdfunding effort to finance his defense.
Privateering: UK court holds Ericsson patent valid, essential to LTE in case against Huawei, Samsung
In March 2014, Unwired Planet sued several smartphone makers over various patents it had "acquired" from Ericsson. Actually, "acquired" misses the key commercial point here. In April I took a closer look at the related arrangements and couldn't help but conclude that this was just a pseudo-sale of patents and simply an act of what is commonly referred to as "privateering."
The first decision relating to Ericsson's (technically, Unwired Planet's) infringement claims came down yesterday in the England and Wales High Court. Judge Colin Birss held that EP2229744 on a "method and arrangement in a wireless communication network" is valid (and in the UK) and "infringed by wireless telecommunication networks which operate in accordance with the relevant LTE standard," or more specifically, "essential to standard 3GPP TS 36.322 release 8 version 8.8.0."
This decision came down against Huawei and Samsung's challenges to this patent. According to Bloomberg, "Samsung said it was confident it had not infringed Unwired Planet's patents." I don't know whether this means Samsung will appeal and/or whether Samsung will argue that its own implementations of the LTE standard don't make use of the technique covered by the patent in Judge Birss's opinion.
If the patent was ultimately deemed valid as well as infringed by Huawei and Samsung's LTE devices, there might be equitable defenses (relating to privateering) and there almost certainly would be a debate over what constitutes a FRAND royalty for that patent and possibly some other patents. Privateering and FRAND are the two issue heres that I'm going to be more interested in. Those two parts are intertwined, especially because Ericsson once made a promise not to demand more than a certain royalty rate for all of its LTE patents--a promise Ericsson may have circumvented by "selling" some patents to a privateer like Unwired Planet.
Oracle v. Google: Judge Alsup, who reportedly taught himself Java, gets the law wrong again
Many people were impressed by Judge William H. Alsup's claim (according to media reports) that he had taught himself Java to better be able to judge the Oracle v. Google Android-Java case. After the Federal Circuit threw out his non-copyrightability decision as fundamentally wrong, many Judge Alsup admirers remained loyal to their hero and thought that the Federal Circuit judges just didn't understand the issues. I have said all along that the Federal Circuit showed a better understanding not only of the law but also of the underlying technical aspects than Judge Alsup. I can now show you a major error in the introductory part of a new decision by Judge Alsup that shows the Federal Circuit understood the API copyright issues at the intersection of law and technology far better than Judge Alsup.
What the Federal Circuit has decided is now law of the case, and Judge Alsup has just incorrectly described the law of the case. Here's what he wrote in a procedural order he handed down yesterday:
"The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the remaining five percent infringed Oracle’s copyright in the structure, sequence, and organization of the Java Application Programming Interface, reversing a decision by this Court that had held the Java structure, sequence, and organization constituted a non-copyrightable 'method of operation' within the meaning of Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act."
Something that omits an important part in such a context is also an error. The above passage is, therefore, an incorrect summary of what the appeals court actually decided. The easiest way to see that Judge Alsup missed a key point here is to look up the "Conclusion" part at the very end of the Fed. Cir. opinion:
"For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the declaring code and the structure, sequence, and organization of the 37 Java API packages at issue are entitled to copyright protection." (emphasis added)
There you have it. Judge Alsup refers exclusively to the structure, sequence and organization, when in reality the Federal Circuit determined that not only the SSO but also "the declaring code"--approximately 7,000 lines--was protected by copyright. That's important because the declaring code was copied literally, while you can't literally "copy" an SSO any more than you could eat a recipe.
This error regarding the law (of the case) should give the remaining die-hard Judge Alsup fans out there pause.
By the way, his focus on a percentage, when copyright law actually doesn't care about percentages if the heart of a protected work was taken and especially doesn't care about the percentage of stolen material relative to what it gets incorporated into, does nothing to dispel concerns about him being "hostile" to Oracle's case. I just quoted "hostile" from The Recorder's article on yesterday's decision.
For the context in which that statement was made, let me refer you to my previous postings on the related Oracle v. Google motion process (in reversely chronological order):
Oracle apparently facing an unfair judge and a tainted expert in its copyright case against Google
(please note my disclosure statement in there: I don't have any business relationship with Oracle, its partners, or its counsel as we speak; that's a thing of the past)
Oracle to court: Samsung's offense was also Google's defense in Apple case, expert not neutral anymore
Oracle moves to disqualify damages expert because Apple v. Samsung is practically Apple v. Google
Judge Alsup denied Oracle's motion to disqualify the court-appointed expert, Dr. Kearl. I disagree with that decision and I will talk about it some more on another occasion, but before I do so, I want to see (i) what the scope of the expert's testimony will be (a footnote says a tentative order on that question will come down shortly) and (ii) whether or not Oracle is going to live with this decision or fight it.
Finally, here's the order:
15-11-23 Order Denying Oracle Motion to Disqualify Dr. Kearl by Florian Mueller
On Wednesday, a motion hearing was held in the San Francisco courthouse of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to discuss Oracle's motion to disqualify the court-appointed damages expert, Dr. James Kearl, who since his original appointment in this case has effectively defended Google's interests in connection with an Apple v. Samsung case.
Having just read this Courthouse News report on the hearing, I can't help but conclude that Oracle's problem in this case is not limited to the damages expert. There appears to be a bigger problem: I've been watching the remand proceedings for a while and feel that Judge Alsup is not fair. Instead of recognizing that the only reason this case hasn't been resolved yet is a decision he made on (non-)copyrightability, which the Federal Circuit found completely wrong and the Supreme Court declined to reinstate, and now doing his best to ensure that justice finally be served, Courthouse News reports that Judge Alsup said the case would be delayed by at least 18 months, or possibly until 2019 or 2020, if he granted Oracle's motion. It's obvious that Google would love this delay to happen, and for Oracle it would be very bad.
He says that he'd only appoint a new damages expert if necessary but makes it sound like that will probably happen. That is rather different from how other big commercial cases are handled in the U.S., where court-appointed damages experts are few and far between.
It would only be human if Judge Alsup hated Oracle (I don't know if he does; just saying it would be understandable) for having defeated his non-copyrightability decision on appeal. He's been described as an ego-driven judge, and a journalist said in 2012 that he appeared to be the smartest person in the room (at the 2012 trial), which contrasts with the circuit judges' remarks at the December 2013 appellate hearing: they found him "confused" and incorrectly conflating copyrightability and "fair use" aspects. The written opinion was even tougher. It was totally damning for the district judge.
Years ago I had proactively disclosed a consulting relationship with Oracle. Let me state this very clearly: there is no such relationship at this time and I have no reason to assume that there would ever be one again. Not with Oracle, not with any Oracle partner, not with Oracle's counsel, neither directly nor indirectly. I'll be happy to see many people at Oracle and its law firms download my apps next year, but I doubt Oracle and its counsel will do a lot of in-app purchasing of boosters and exclusive game content :-) I wanted to clarify this so it won't look like I was criticizing the judge to do Oracle a favor or, worse, that Judge Alsup would attribute my independent opinion (I've never discussed the damages expert or the way Judge Alsup runs this show with anyone even close to Oracle) to a company I'm completely independent from.
I've had the same positions on API-related copyrights for more than ten years. Before and after fighting against Oracle's acquisition of Sun. Before and after helping Oracle in connection with standard-essential patents.
In the first quarter of 2012, about two years after fighting against Oracle, and still a while before doing any work for Oracle, I noted that "threatening with a delayed trial gives the judge leverage only against Oracle, but even if he has leverage of a certain kind, he should use it fairly" and said I was surprised that after Google had delayed the case through a meritless mandamus petition, he faced Oracle with the choice of either leaving a key piece of evidence out of the case or the case being delayed. That was not balanced. Still in the first quarter of 2012, I wrote that Judge Alsup "can't force Oracle to withdraw anything, but he can delay resolution of the case, and that gives him enormous leverage." Unlike Judge Koh in the same district, who allowed both Apple and Samsung to reassert withdrawn patents in a separate case (they haven't made use of that option so far and maybe never will, but they could do so), and who even wants to let Apple enforce a patent that has been held invalid at a far later stage of proceeding, Judge Alsup required Oracle to drop patents with prejudice just because of rather early and not too meaningful USPTO findings. Actually, even during the earliest phase of the trial, one withdrawn patent was suddenly affirmed despite a prior "rejection" but Judge Alsup barred Oracle from asserting it again. Another withdrawn patent was revived on appeal this March. So much for justice and fairness in connection with reexamined patents.
After the appellate proceedings, I hoped and even thought that he would, despite his reportedly ego-driven way of running the show, try hard to be fair. I already had some doubts, but only voiced them cautiously between the lines, when he allowed (tentatively so far) Google to present its equitable defenses at the retrial, though this could greatly confuse the jury with respect to the (actually distinct) "fair use" factors, but did not want Oracle to bring up its willfull-infringement arguments (which are extraordinarily strong here and I will publish some of the evidence that is already in the public domain when the trial begins) in a first phase of the trial because he thought this time could be saved in case Oracle doesn't prevail on the merits: Oracle should only argue willfulness after prevailing on the merits, i.e., at the remedies stage.
Admittedly, if Google prevailed on an equitable defense, that would be dispositive. It's just very unlikely. There's a strong basis for saying Google actually lost on those defenses at the first trial and didn't preserve them on appeal. Anyway, it's true that willfulness is a remedies-related matter. But why would a judge who ran the 2012 trial in a very uneconomic way (letting a jury consider "fair use" even before he handed down his flawed non-copyrightability ruling) now all of a sudden be concerned about a limited amount of willfulness argument in the early phase of the trial? The simplest explanation would be because he might love to see Google defend itself on the merits, so if the jury gets confused by Google, that's fine, but if the willfulness arguments Oracle could present would psychologically influence the jury with respect to "fair use," then that must be avoided. I'm not saying I know what's going on in his mind, but the freedom of speech also extends to speculation about potential reasons.
I'll try to find that story again but I remember once having read something about Judge Alsup having written a letter to an appeals court to disagree with an appellant (he felt he needed to correct some misrepresentations) and to defend his ruling. I'm not aware of any other district judge ever having done that anywhere in the world. Apparently he cares a great deal about what happens to his decisions on appeal, and the highest-profile decision he made, at least in an IT/IP context, was the non-copyrightability finding that turned out to have been wrong on each point. But that wasn't Oracle's fault. Oracle's counsel tried hard to educate Judge Alsup about the way U.S. software copyright law works. If he had agreed with Oracle, the Federal Circuit would have affirmed his decision.
Since the beginning of 2012, this judge has not been fair in my opinion. He's also been completely wrong on a key issue, which is not just my opinion but also that of the Federal Circuit judges, who wield a far bigger stick every day than he ever has. He called Oracle v. Google the World Series of IP cases. The Northern District of California is a major IP litigation venue, but the World Series of IP finals take place in Washington, DC. Unlike in baseball, however, the local venue can delay things a lot. I hope Oracle will not back down because that would be a bad precedent for everyone who believes courts should be fair, experts should be neutral, and judges should be fair in light of the fact that "justice delayed is justice denied" almost always affects only the plaintiff.
I will continue to follow this case, and I won't mince words if I find more signs of unfairness. In my totally independent role, in which I can testify under oath that there is no relationship with Oracle, I can do so without having to fear that someone else would be penalized for what I say.
Federal Circuit denies Samsung petition for rehearing in Apple case: next stop Supreme Court?
What's an invalid patent worth? As I noted at the end of my previous post on Samsung's appeal against a partial final judgment that would allow Apple to collect half a billion dollars over a set of patents including one the United States Patent of Trademark Office has held invalid, it should be worth nothing at all; actually, it should even have a negative value (an invalid patent is a non-material form of pollution). It appears, based on litigation results, that most patents in this industry are not valid in the form in which they were originally granted. Patent(ee)-friendly judges have a problem with that fact.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is markedly patent(ee)-friendly, and it has just denied Samsung's request for a full-court review of a summary decision against Samsung's appeal of that partial final judgment. The document doesn't state any reasons:
15-11-19 CAFC Denial of Samsung v. Apple en Banc Petition by Florian Mueller
With the mandate scheduled to issue on November 30, I guess Samsung will have to make it clear pretty soon whether it will appeal further (i.e., to the Supreme Court). Its petition for a rehearing already looked very much like a petition for writ of certiorari. A cert petition appears more likely than not, and it will be very interesting to see which other companies support Samsung's position that a patent that has been held invalid not only by the Central Reexamination Division of the USPTO but also by a PTAB (in-house court) must not be enforceable at that advanced stage of the reexamination proceedings.
One could even ask the question of who will support Samsung on this one the other way round: who except for non-producing entities and companies with a stronger interest in patent monetization (in general or in certain markets) than in making products would seriously want to give any leverage to holders of invalid patents?
Long-term I don't even believe that Apple really wants this. It just wants it now, more than four-and-a-half years after bringing its first patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung.
FRAND flurry: two new initiatives promote fair licensing of standard-essential patents, Qualcomm in trouble
FRAND-pledged standard-essential patents (SEPs) were a major topic (actually, the #1 topic) on this blog a few years ago. Then my focus shifted, but my positions on this issue did not. I'm following with great interest Apple's efforts not to bow to Ericsson's notoriously-aggressive SEP royalty demands and pleased to see that two new industry initatives relating to FRAND were launched this week:
ACT | The App Association has announced a new web resource for innovators, policy-makers, and academics. It's called All Things FRAND and supported by significant players including Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft. ACT is headquartered in the U.S. but also quite active abroad.
The new FairStandards Alliance is based in Brussels, the de facto EU capital. Its website says: "We are friends of FRAND"
The FairStandards Alliance is off to a pretty good start with this position paper and support from an interesting mix of IT (Cisco, Dell, HP, Intel, Juniper), mobile/IoT (Fairphone, India's Micromax, Lenovo, Sierra Wireless, Telit) and--this is particularly interesting but not surprising to me given that cars are increasingly "smartphones on wheels"--automotive companies (BMW, Volkswagen).
Both these initiatives are interested in various FRAND-related issues. The FairStandards alliance is particularly clear in its support of a proper royalty base. That question (on which Apple has been vocal in court and in standard-setting organizations) also appears to be key to findings of South Korea's Fair Trade Commission in an investigation of Qualcomm's licensing practices, including its device-based pricing strategy. I agree with analysts who view this as spelling trouble for Qualcomm. South Korea's FTC may very well get support, in political terms, from the two new FRAND initatives launched this week.
In the past, Qualcomm got away pretty much unscathed, at least in the EU. Even its Chinese settlements appears not to have caused similar worries in the investment community. South Korean antitrust enforcers are apparently taking the lead now with respect to this particular SEP holder, and I applaud them for their courage and steadfastness.
It would be great if Apple (which has always been on the good side of FRAND) and Google (which appears to be on the good side by now) could also lend support to one or more initatives of this kind. Google and Cisco have often agreed on patent policy matters. Why not on this one?
EPO labor dispute getting completely out of hand: three union leaders suspended, others pressured
The conflict between the leadership and staff representatives of the European Patent Office appears to be totally out of control now. The latest information would be unthinkable anywhere in the civilized world, but the European Patent Organization simply isn't part of the civilized world around it.
On Monday, the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) published a flyer about what allegedly happened in The Hague (the EPO's #2 seat in terms of the number of employees) on Friday (this post continues below the document):
15 11 16 SUEPO Flyer by Florian Mueller
Let me copy the three key allegations here--they just refer to two of the staff representatives by their first names, with "Jesus" being a typical Spanish first name (with an accent over the "u") and "Laurent" being a common French first name:
Jesus was picked up from his office by President's emissaries. Upon return, he was visibly shaken and appeared to have suffered a nervous breakdown. Medical help was called, and he had to be wheeled out of the office in bad shape. He appears to have been subjected to severe, concerted and wilful pressure, especially intended to harm and destabilise.
Laurent got or was scheduled to get a similar treatment. Noticeably distressed, he had to rush for medical help externally.
The other members of the Staff Committee who witnessed the event were also deeply perturbed.
The last time I read stories like that they referred to Romania under its communist dictatorship. They also picked up people who returned in a perturbed state, though they also made them disappear quite often.
Last night I got a message--from a reliable source I won't disclose but it's nowhere near Munich--that three leaders of SUEPO's Munich chapter have been "suspended," among them Elizabeth Hardon, who recently wrote a letter complaining about the way she was treated. Also, the EPO had threatened legal action against her.
According to what I read on Twitter, TechRights blogger Dr. Roy Schestowitz (whose blog cannot be accessed from the EPO network without the use of software work-arounds for this kind of censorship) has also received legal threats from the EPO leadership. No details have become known yet.
I have not been threatened so far, but I am deeply sorry for those who have been. Rumor has it that Mrs. Hardon and Dr. Schestowitz are not the only ones.
It appears that Mrs. Hardon has decided to rather be proud and "suspended" than bow to lawlessness, corruption, and evil. I am so sorry for her and the other suspended union leaders, and I truly admire them for their steadfastness.
Dr. Schestowitz also deserves the greatest respect for his principled stance. Despite all the bullying, he continues to call out the EPO leadership on its actions and decisions. Most recently, TechRights has started to talk about the unbelievable, extraordinary career path of Mrs. Elodie Bergot. It appears that the juiciest part of the story is actually not even on that blog but hidden somewhere between the lines of that post or the forthcoming one (Part II) on the same topic.
TechRights is a blog I recommend all those concerned about the EPO's corrupt ways to read regularly. I will write about EPO issues from time to time, but not nearly as often. Also, I wish to highlight the IP Kat blog's announcement of forthcoming reports on staff suspensions and other EPO issues for this week.
Hypocritical Red Hat hopes to leverage patents to cement its Linux market leadership: Microsoft deal
This commentary on the Microsoft-Red Hat partnership is a back-to-the-roots post for me. This blog started as a Free and Open Source Software Patents blog--hence the FOSS Patents name-- and only because of all the (ultimately not too meritorious, let alone impactful) patent attacks on Android, it effectively became a smartphone patent wars blog (but by then it was too late to rename it without losing traffic).
While I don't mean to endorse everything Dr. Roy Schestowitz has written about Microsoft on his TechRights blog (and certainly not everything he's ever written about me), I agree with him that media reports on the Microsoft-Red Hat deal could have dug deeper, especially into the patent aspects of that deal. I furthermore agree that Red Hat is apparently happy about making it easier for Microsoft to impose a patent tax on Linux and that Red Hat has simply sold out FOSS values. According to TechRights, Red Hat executives tried to dissuade Dr. Schestowitz from his vocal criticism of the deal, but failed.
I've been saying for years that Red Hat is utterly hypocritical when it comes to patents. It has a history of feeding patent trolls and fooling the open source community. There is, to put it mildly, no assurance that all of its related dealings actually comply with the GPL.
Sometimes I like the positions Red Hat takes in its amicus curiae briefs on patent issues, but more than once I got the impression that those filings were written primarily in an effort to create the appearance of defending the FOSS cause in this context. It was just window dressing.
The fact of the matter is that Red Hat seeks to be a major beneficiary of the software patents mess.
Red Hat is large enough by now that it can just make the trolls go away by paying them off, giving them funds and legitimacy to go after other companies, including other open source companies.
Red Hat has also accumulated a certain amount of patents over the years, which puts it into a better position than individual open source developers and smaller companies in this space to retaliate in the event of a strategic attack by a competitor.
Red Hat now wants to tell Linux users that the way to be protected with respect to patents is to use Red Hat Linux. "Reduce your exposure, buy from us." That is a way of seeking to benefit from software patents.
All of this is no surprise when considering that Red Hat has always just been about taking advantage of something. In terms of its product and licensing policies, Apple may be the very opposite of a "free software" company (no matter what it may do with respect to its Swift programming language). But you have to grant them one thing: they're not fooling anybody about their philosophy. They never even tried. They don't "openwash" anything. They don't pretend to be a charity. They want to make money, more than any company before them. But one could not create products more independently and single-handedly than Apple. And all by themselves they have brought about a revolution that the likes of Nokia and Microsoft would never have created.
By contrast, Red Hat's business model is parasitic (though some like to euphemistically describe it as symbiotic). While Red Hat has been a major contributor to Linux, Red Hat became what it is not because of what it did but because of what Linus Torvalds and others had done. And Red Hat is not nearly as honest as Apple. "Not nearly" may even be an understatement.
The question of whether covenants not to sue over patents (which appears to be the structure of the Microsoft-Red Hat deal and would be consistent with a Microsoft Android patent agreement that was filed publicly last year) violate the GPL v2 has not been addressed by a court of law yet. I would actually like to see someone sue Red Hat for breach of the GPL and obtain clarification, but even the Free Software Foundation and its satellite organizations are not as principled as they pretend to be. They never compromise their values per se, but they have their strategic priorities when it comes to where and how forcefully to defend them. It will be interesting to see their reaction to the Microsoft-Red Hat announcement--not in terms of what they say but in terms of what, if anything, they will do. I guess they won't do anything. Why? Red Hat is a donor, Red Hat is a code contributor, the deal offers benefits for "GNU/Linux" as they call it...
I want to give Simon Phipps (with whom I've often disagreed) credit for distinguishing between the positive and not so positive ramifications of this partnership from an open source point of view. The Open Source Initiative is an organization on whose board Simon Phipps serves with, among others, a Red Hat lawyer.
Without the Red Hat connection, Simon Phipps would presumably have criticized Red Hat clearly as opposed to just making it sound like Microsoft should do more. He says Microsoft should relinquish its patent rights because that's how he defines "love" for Linux. However, he doesn't talk about what Red Hat could have done. Red Hat could have challenged any Microsoft patents that allegedly infringe Linux: in court (declaratory judgment actions) and through reexamination requests. That course of action would have done free and open source software a greater service than a deal.
I, too, have a (past) Red Hat connection, but it's none that I would be proud of. Over the decades I've done work for a variety of companies, and Red Hat is the only one I wish I had never worked with. They supported my NoSoftwarePatents campaign in late 2004 and early 2005, probably because they just thought a sponsorship was useful for currying favor with the FOSS community. They were far larger than MySQL AB but contributed a far smaller amount. In terms of commitment relative to company size, MySQL AB was like 100 times more committed to the cause. But the worst part was that shortly before the European Parliament's decisive vote on a software patentability bill, Red Hat tried to keep the legislative proposal alive. The Red Hat lawyer who did so later responded to that, and he never denied the simple truth that he wanted the legislative process to continue.
On this blog I announced, years ago, working relationships with Microsoft and Oracle. Both are a thing of the past. But I would never say that I wasn't proud of them.
The Microsoft I worked with as a consultant was not the Microsoft under Bill Gates that made artificial scarcity of software a strategic objective and got into serious antitrust troubles. I found Microsoft to be no better or worse than the vast majority of companies in this industry. I overestimated the merit of their allegation that Android infringed on many of their patents, but I corrected that assessment more than a year ago based on the results of numerous Android-related patent lawsuits and, after a second-class settlement between Microsoft and Google/Motorola, declared Google the strategic winner. The number one priority of my work for Microsoft was about giving FRAND meaning, a cause I continue to promote (see today's post on Apple v. Ericsson). In that regard, Microsoft was the victim of abusive tactics by Motorola. Sure, that was just Motorola's retaliation for Microsoft's patent assertions against Android, but two wrongs don't make a right (as Microsoft accurately said in the FRAND context).
Oracle has been a longstanding advocate of reasonableness with respect to standard-essential patents, and of open (and ideally free-of-charge) standards. I'm happy to have helped them in that regard, too. As for their Google copyright lawsuit, everyone can see on this blog that I've always taken the same pro-interface-copyright positions. I took them before (going back to a conference in the European Parliament in 2004) and after working against Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems, and before and after doing work for Oracle. I view Google's position on API copyrights as a wholesale attack on the copyright protection of all computer software. Google doesn't call for the abolition of software copyright, but there appears to be no limit to the collateral damage it's willing to inflict to software copyright only to avoid paying Oracle for using Java in Android.
I am now in the most independent position to comment on IP, antitrust and industry policy issues ever. I'll continue to be consistent, just like I'll continue to draw the necessary conclusions from new intelligence (as I did when all those anti-Android patent assertions turned out to have no merit in most cases and negligible merit in the remaining cases). That's why I can just say what I think about the Microsoft-Red Hat deal. I think it's great for Azure, and I like Azure, though my app development company is using it only to a small extent and will use a different cloud service provider for most purposes. The free and open source software community should, however, be opposed to this and shouldn't trust Red Hat with respect to patents. They weren't trustworthy with respect to the European legislative process on software patents; they weren't trustworthy with respect to various settlements with patent trolls; and they aren't trustworthy now in connection with what appears to be a covenant not to sue, which is a license by any other name, with Microsoft, when the alternative would have been to bring a declaratory judgment action that says "Linux does not infringe a single valid Microsoft patent claim and we're now going to prove it."
It's one thing to be a Linux parasite. It's another to be a Trojan horse. And the worst option is to be both at the same time.
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Mf-Mz
<< M-Me || Index || N >>
Middle Man [2016] The Midnight Sky [2020] Midnighters [2017]
Midsommar [2019] Mile 22 [2018] Mind, Body & Soul [1992]
MindGamers [2015] Mine [2016] Mine Games [2012]
The Mist [2007] Mr. Brooks [2007] Mr. Jones [2013]
Moka [2016] Molly's Game [2017] Mom and Dad [2017]
Monster Man [2003] Monster Party [2018] Monsters [2010]
Monsterz [2014] The Monuments Men [2014] Morgan [2016]
Mortal Engines [2018] The Mortuary Collection [2019] Mosquito State [2020]
Mother [2009]
Mother! [2017] Motherland [2017] The Mummy [1999]
The Mummy Returns [2001] The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor [2008] Murder on the Orient Express [2017]
Mutant Girls Squad [2010] Mutants [2009] Mute [2018]
My Favorite Year [1982] My Psychedelic Love Story [2020] Mystery Road [2013]
Mosquito State [2020]
A peculiar and socially awkward man - who develops financial models for a Wall St. firm - finds his world, both physically and psychologically, falling apart after a encounter with a woman and a mosquito bite. Having a similar pessimistic feel as Pi, this film delivers an extremely dark vision, without a hint of humor, that is disturbingly weird and ultimately incomprehensible. It's also extremely slow and only its unique vision kept me hooked despite my moments of wishing it would hurry up. Some will like it but most will probably just shake their heads in wonder.
The Mummy [1999]
Two parties of explorers are trying to find an ancient city in Egypt and unwittingly set a 3000-year-old mummy loose ...and he is not happy! Took me 2 decades but I got around to watching this one. Exciting, fun adventure ala Indiana Jones, albeit a bit more farcical and slapstick. The characters, who are basically stereotypical caricatures, are played to perfection. Even the bad guys are fun to watch. Great special effects, lots of action and an enjoyable level of levity and humor. No language and good family fair, if you don't mind a little fantasy violence.
The Mummy Returns [2001]
The mummy from the first film returns and is now planning to destroy the Scorpion King in order to control his undead army of Anubis' ...and the O'Connell family is right in the thick of things. This is an exciting grand adventure with one thing after another being thrown at the viewer making this an exciting and fun watch. Lot's of imagination (although the CGI is pretty funky), good characters, a good deal of comic relief all works together to make this a extremely appropriate family film suitable for older children. Grab some popcorn and enjoy the ride.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor [2008]
The discovery of Qin Shi Huang's terracotta army provides the inspiration for this exciting entry in the Mummy series. I don't get the low ratings. Story wise, it's pretty cookie cutter with no surprises and things play out exactly as expected. But, the characters are likable and fun to watch, the dialogue is crisp with a good dose of wit, the spec fx are not the caliber we've seen in the past but quite grand for a smaller budget film and the action was edge-of-your-seat awesome. This is good ole matinee escapist entertainment. Just don't expect more from it.
My Psychedelic Love Story [2020]
This biodoc centers are Joanna Harcourt-Smith's relationship with Timothy Leary as his common-law wife from 1972-77. It's quite interesting, personal and, at times, a fascinating tale of adventure, romance, self-discovery, and, of course, politics and prison. Painfully tragic victims of their time, especially amid the Nixon's so-called "War on Drugs", their actions today would probably go largely unnoticed. Also, enjoyed the fact that the Tarot cards that Leary carried with him (the Aleister Crowley / Thoth deck) is the same deck I've used for nearly 50 years.
The Mortuary Collection [2019]
Marking his feature film directorial debut, Ryan Spindell demonstrates his talents in short horror films with this anthology centered around a new employee at the Raven's End mortuary. The stories are fairly simple but exquisitely presented with outstanding visuals and photography, excellent acting with just a small dose of 'don't take this seriously' that makes them work on several levels. The dialogue is missing the level of wit and quotable lines that would put it in the same league as Creepshow but horrifically good entertainment, nonetheless.
Monster Party [2018]
Three young thieves, with the intent to rob a rich family, pose as temp servers for a party ...a serial killer anonymous party. Almost turned it off as the first 40 mins are pretty obnoxious with nothing happening. But, when things finally did kick in, holy cow! Hang on to your seats. Extra points for never letting the viewer know what's going to happen from one second to the next right up to the totally unexpected ending. Soundtrack by Felix Erskine & Nao Sato is awesome ...and no soundtrack album. What a pity! Quite fun if you can get through the first half.
Monster Man [2003]
I'm surpised this film got as good ratings as it did. This is a ridiculous movie about a psycho who uses a monster truck to terrorize a couple of totally unlikable and unwatchable morons who wouldn't know a good line or an intelligent thought if it slapped them in the face. The guy on a slab near the end of the movie gave me a couple chuckles and it's the only thing that saved this film from being tagged with a Hall of Shame placard.
Molly's Game [2017]
True story of the prosecution of Molly Bloom, the woman who ran one of the most elite poker rooms in the world. I'm usually not that interested in biopics but I saw this one for a number of reasons. I didn't know how the story would turn out, I like poker, I like the people in the film, and it had a good trailer. Was it worth it? Damn, straight! The characters and motivations were sincere, well fleshed out and totally engrossing. A very fine balance of tension, danger, excitement, and people we enjoy watching and care about.
My Favorite Year [1982]
Peter O'Tolle is fantastic performing as Alan Swann, a 1950's motion picture swashbuckler who's been asked to play on a live TV variety show and who has a bit of a problem staying sober. "I'm not an actor. I'm a movie star"! Very funny and an excellent view into the live comedy shows of the 50's. Both thoroughly and equally amusing and quite touching, it's a "must see" classic comedy.
The Mist [2007]
A really good monster movie that got wrapped up in it's own narrative, i.e., too long and I wanted nothing more than for that woman preaching hellfire and brimstone to just SHUT UP!! Regardless, it fully maintained it's level of intensity, the monsters were cool and it was loaded with startling moments. The ending is incredibly ironic and sad. Not a bad ending ...just be prepared for it.
Mile 22 [2018]
A local policeman, who defects to the US Embassy, holds the secret to where stashes of Cesium-129 are hidden but will only reveal them if they get him out of the country. Holy cow, what an adrenaline rush! Reminiscent of The Raid and BuyBust, once things get going, it's a non-stop roller coaster ride of action that is superbly choreographed and intensely realistic at the same time. Although his character got a bit much sometimes, Mark Wahlberg is excellent as the nearly psychotic group leader who thrives in chaos.
Mortal Engines [2018]
Well into a post-apocalyptic future, cities literally roam the countryside swallowing up smaller communities with the story focusing on a megalomaniac bent on recreating the power that destroyed civilization in the first place and a girl who may hold the key to stopping him. The superbly created CGI is the star of the show by creating a future world that is realistic and awe-inspiring despite the ludicrous idea behind it. The characters were well defined, likable, colorful and fun to watch, the action is top notch. No negatives here.
Middle Man [2016]
A guy, who isn't very funny, is traveling to Las Vegas to be a stand-up comedian. He runs into some trouble and the bodies start piling up. I was ready to shut off this dark comedy after about 30 mins but I stuck with it. It did get better but the humor is very, very dry. I would imagine it would suit the Better Call Saul crowd more than a general audience. I also thought the situations were becoming increasingly ridiculous ...albeit humorous. Overall, it had its funny moments, but I was expecting something far more humorous.
Monsterz [2014]
A man, who can mentally control anyone his can see, meets his nemesis in a man who is immune to his control. This film started strong and had a great premise. Unfortunately, the longer the film ran, the worse it got. The filmmakers insisted on turning this into a philosophical dilemma wrapped in guilt and redemption to the point to where any momentum the film had was tossed by the wayside. The ending was an overly-extended exercise in sappy sentimentalism and I couldn't wait for it to get over with.
Mute [2018]
A mute Amish, in future Berlin, goes in search of his missing girlfriend. That's it. This 80 min story, in a 126 min package, featured some beautiful visuals and some fine performances. However, the characters were humorless and pathetic, the story is slow, confusing and depressing, and the fact that our protagonist is Amish and mute and the story takes place in the future has minuscule relevance to the story, at best. Could have been done with a healthy, normal guy in modern day NYC and probably would have been more interesting. Dull and terribly sad.
Mine [2016]
A sniper and his spotter are stuck in the desert after a failed mission and their GPS is broken. Heading to a village, they inadvertently step into a mine field that kills one and leaves the other standing on a mine ...for 52 hours. Basically an endurance film similar to Gerald's Game or Buried, this one is exceptionally tense, emotional, and frustrating. The real prize, however, was the local man who would come by to help, taunt, encourage, and wax philosophical about what it is to be a free man. I'm normally not a fan of endurance films but I thought this one was really good.
Mine Games [2012]
aka The Evil Within
I apparently liked this far more than most, probably because I enjoy movies with parallel time lines overlapping each other. Is there really a time loop going on? ...or is Michael hallucinating the whole thing because he went off his meds? Did the ambiguous ending mean the cycle is broken? You'll have to decide for yourself. Not even close to being as good as Triangle but better than Timecrimes, imo, and it's fun to try and spot all the clues on a second viewing.
Monsters [2010]
When NASA discovered life in our solar system, they sent a ship up to get samples. The ship crashed on the return trip dumping monsters in Mexico. 6 years later, two Americans are trying to get back to the US through the infected zone ...and that's it. Nothing else happens. Calling the film monsters and establishing this major premise around them is incredibly misleading as the monsters only have about 5 mins of screen time. The film is mainly about tagging along with a pair of folks who are generally likable but rather dull and uninteresting.
Mr. Jones [2013]
A couple, living out in the middle of nowhere, discover they're neighbors with a well-known but extremely reclusive sculpturist known as Mr. Jones and they decide to try and make a documentary about him. Things go downhill from there ...both for them and for us viewers. This movie had my attention in a major way and then picked away at it with characters that weren't particularly likable, far too much reaction footage rather than show us what they're seeing, long, extended nightmares that were incomprehensible and ultimately, angrily frustrating.
aka Madeo
A doting mother goes on a relentless trek to prove her dim-witted, memory challenged son did not murder a young girl. But, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. More of a character study than a murder mystery, it ran over 2 hours and felt like 3. However, the characters, the twists and Bong Joon Ho's (Snowpiercer) brilliant film making had me wrapped up in it nonetheless.
MindGamers [2015]
A group of students experiment with connecting people together into a singular consciousness through quantum communication. Quite a lofty premise, indeed ...and I'm sure the filmmakers had a clear picture in their mind as to how the whole story works. Unfortunately, the film, albeit stylish and intriguing to watch, ended up being utterly and completely incomprehensible. I really would like to understand the scientific and philosophical ideas they tried to present but in the end, I'm just baffled beyond measure.
The Monuments Men [2014]
The true story about a group of men heading into Europe during WWII in an attempt to find, preserve, and return artwork that is quickly being collected and hidden by the Germans. The all-star cast makes for some nice performances and it was quite interesting from a historical perspective but overall, I found it rather dull. I think I would have enjoyed it more as a straight forward documentary as I wouldn't have been expecting so much.
Mind, Body & Soul [1992]
A man takes his girlfriend to a satanic cult sacrifice and now they want to kill her. This is basic filmmaking 101. I'd have guessed it was done by a middle school class except for all the boobs and softcore sex. The acting and dialogue were so inane. People just don't act like that and the actors were simply doing what was necessary in a scene to get to the next scene ...many of which don't make much sense. Yet, oddly, at no time did I want to turn it off. How the hell does that work?
Mutants [2009]
French film about a couple's attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse caused by viral infection. Technically and visually, the movie was quite effective at being brutally realistic and quite unpleasant as we watch the virus slowly destroy someone in horribly, gut wrenching ways. Beyond that, there's hardly any story here at all and the pacing was quite slow ...most action takes place in the last 15 minutes. Avoid zombies, survive climactic attack, wait for rescue. That's pretty much it.
Mystery Road [2013]
A cop, whose just completed detective training, returns to his hometown in the outback just in time to deal with a young girl found murdered on a country road. I liked the main character who played the role of a novice detective trying to keep his head above water and it had an excellent and extremely realistic gun fight near the end. But, I could imagine this film being on many 'Top 10 Movies to Fall Asleep By' lists. Up until the last 10 minutes, this movie is ungodly slow and largely uneventful with a whole lot of talking ...slowly.
Morgan [2016]
A corporate risk management consultant is sent to evaluate a test tube being created with synthetic DNA who attacked one of it's doctors. This was an extremely well made film depicting our complete inability on how to deal with an extremely intelligent being who we desperately want to regard as human - and teach how to become human - at our own peril. I had some slight suspicions about the ending but they were so vague the surprise was far from spoiled. Remarkable performances by Anya Taylor-Joy and Kate Mara, and great acting all around.
Mother! [2017]
A writer and his wife (who's renovating their home after a fire) keeps having unexpected, and destructive visitors parading through their house. This film was unsettling and uncomfortable from the word go. I had some idea of what was happening in the opening scene but I rejected that notion as it seemed to obvious. In the end, I was right ...making the whole thing futile and pointless. Plus, there's elements in the film that seem to serve no purpose. A very well made film that I'm sure others will praise but I really disliked it.
Mr. Brooks [2007]
A successful business man, who's addicted to murder, runs into a number of problems with his last kill. This Dexter like psychological thriller is an exceptionally well designed story that gets more complex and complicated as time goes on. Kevin Costner and William Hurt were excellent as they argue with each other throughout the film ...Hurt being Mr. Brooks' inner voice named Marshall, you see. The ending was sufficiently twisted to leave me smiling. A very pleasant and extremely entertaining watch.
Midnighters [2017]
Coming home from a New Years Eve celebration, a couple hits a man on a woodlands road. While looking for ID, they discover their address in the man's wallet. Thus begins a twisted thriller full of hidden agendas, differing motives, and bad decisions among a varied assortment of characters including a psychopath that's so freakin' creepy, he was making my skin crawl ...and that's hard to do. This film never once let's you know where it's going as it drags you along for the ride. I was totally absorbed right up to the satisfying ending.
Murder on the Orient Express [2017]
A passenger is murdered on the Orient Express and Hercule Poirot must solve the case. Agatha Christie purists will probably have some issues with it (I know my wife did) as Poirot is portrayed as a bit of a fighter when a couple altercations ensue. Also, it was obviously updated for today's theater audience but that's as it should be, imo. 9+ people out of 10 know how this ends so it's all in the story and I think they did a good job ...not as good as David Suchet's version, but I liked it.
Moka [2016]
A woman pursues the people who killed her son in a hit-and-run ...and that's it. If you have a choice between watching this or watching grass grow, the grass may provide more excitement. A slightly different course of action and this woman would have had things wrapped up in 20 minutes but they had to drag this out so that we can get totally absorbed in her misery and pain. If you're into this sort of film, the acting was excellent and it was all very dramatic and artsy. As for me, it's time for some Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Mom and Dad [2017]
A very black comedy where parents everywhere inexplicably begin murdering their children as it's the absolute right thing to do with the film centering around one family where a teenage girl, her boyfriend and her little brother are trying to survive an assault from Mom and Dad. Overall, it was a very violent and entertaining film with an unusual wit that made you smile despite the premise. My only real complaint is the need to throw flashbacks right in the middle of highly intense scenes, like I was being cut to commercial. Really difused many of the best parts.
Mutant Girls Squad [2010]
aka Sento shojo: Chi no tekkamen densetsu
On her 16th birthday, Rin discovers that she's not human but rather a Hilko, a race where each member has a mutation, or "treasure", and is hunted by humans with nose guns. Audaciously over-the-top, this ultra goofy and wacky Japanese gore exploitation film provides us with ludicrous 'treasures' like breast swords, a butt chainsaw and a girl with a snorkel face and tentacled arms. This ain't the X-Men. The simple story is just a vehicle to cover the screen with gore and hi-spray jets of blood from every wound that you'll either find amusing or appalling.
Midsommar [2019]
A group of friends go to a secluded village in Sweden to experience the Midsommer festival. Little did they know... Chopping out about 45 mins of film may have given it some much needed energy. Despite the long-winded nature of belaboring a few points beyond their need, this was an immersive and mesmerizing clash of cultures and how it affects the newcomers who're completely out of their depth. This is not a horror film, per se, but there's no denying the ever present insidious tension and anxiety in an apparent Utopian paradise. Gorgeous photography.
The Midnight Sky [2020]
During an unexplained global catastrophe, the last man on Earth is trying to contact a returning space mission ...and take care of a little girl who happens to be there. Beyond that, this is simply one survival scenario after another interrupted by incredibly long sequences of jerking on our heartstrings to the point of numerous cadences of heavy sighs and cries of 'enough is enough' making this twice as long as needed. By the time we got to the end of this 2 hour snooze fest, I didn't care what the characters did just as long as they ended it. Nice visuals, though.
Motherland [2017]
A Mongolian film about some friends celebrating a birthday with an Airsoft war when they suddenly find themselves in the middle of the Japanese invasion of 1939. Although beautifully photographed with descent acting, this movie really went nowhere. It wasn't enough they would tell us where they were going but we had to watch the journey making this long-winded and dull as well as overly melodramatic. Despite all this, I was ready to give it a Mediocre rating right up to the Incredibly absurd last 5 mins rendering the whole thing pointless. Blah!
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Assault on Precinct 13 Review
Another year, another remake. I still get the same moans and groans whenever I hear that from fellow moviegoers. I’ve never been in that same camp though. I figure that if a remake is well made, it can be just as good, if not better, than the original. In 2004 alone, I enjoyed a few decent remakes. I liked both Dawn of the Dead and The Stepford Wives better than the originals (though I am in the minority on the latter), and I liked The Manchurian Candidate (though it wasn’t as good as the original, only because it didn’t have the same shock value for me.) I can add Assault on Precinct 13 to that list, but it may only be that I have never seen the original. I want to though, because one of my fellow critics told me that the original was one of his top 25 favorite films of all time.
Sergeant Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke) is a desk cop waiting out his stay on New Year’s Eve at Precinct 13 in Detroit. He doesn’t want to do anything but that, because, eight months earlier, he was involved in a undercover operation with a drug dealer named Milos (Titus Welliver) that went bad, resulting in two of his partners getting killed. Jake struggles with the memories of the bad bust, drowning himself in booze and pills. He has a couple of women that he flirts with though: police psychologist Alex Sabian (Maria Bello) and precinct secretary Iris Ferry (Drea de Matteo.) Alex is here on this last day of the year to try to counsel Jake one last time about the bust, but he avoids the subject by flirting with her. As for Iris…she wants to just have a good time, getting ready for the celebration of the New Year and the end of the precinct, which is being shut down at midnight (all of the employees will then transfer to the newer, sleeker Precinct 21, since the old Precinct 13, built in the ‘40s, has seen better days.) All veteran cop Jasper “Old School” O’Shea (Brian Dennehy) wants to do is kick back and enjoy his last night at the precinct, because he will be retiring the next day, so he is just babysitting the precinct and partying with Iris. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, crime lord Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne) has a run-in with an undercover cop named Ray Portnow (Fulvio Cecere) in a church and kills Ray. The Organized Crime and Racketeering squad, headed by Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne) and his right-hand man Michael Kahane (Currie Graham), captures Bishop. He is then put on a bus headed for Precinct 21 with other prisoners, including Beck (John Leguizamo), a junkie who thinks that everyone is out to get him; Smiley (Jeffrey “Ja Rule” Atkins), a con man and street hustler; and Anna (Aisha Hinds), a gang banger who swears that she is innocent of the charges brought against her. Bishop can’t make bail because of the holidays, so he has to ride along with the other prisoners headed for Precinct 21. Along the way though, the bus, being driven by officers Rosen (Kim Coates) and Gil (Dorian Harewood), are told that they need to divert the prisoners to Precinct 13 because of the snowstorm. They are followed by a mysterious SUV to the precinct. As beat cops Carlyle (Arnold Pinnock) and Capra (Matt Craven) head out to do some partying, they assist the prisoners to their cells in the basement for the night. Not long after midnight, some masked men break in to the basement and kill one of the bus transfer cops while wounding the other. Jake fights the men back, and everyone assumes that they were just here to spring Bishop out of jail. When Jake successfully kills one of the intruders, he finds out that the intruder was a police officer named Danny Barbero (Tig Fong), so he gets confused. It’s not until Bishop explains to Jake that Duvall is a corrupt cop who wants to kill Bishop so that he won’t testify in court about the bad things that Duvall and his people have been up to. The diversion was the perfect setup to take Bishop out, but it looks like they have to kill everyone who might get in their way, which unfortunately includes Alex, who came from a party and got stuck in the snow, and Capra, who also came back from his party. With no outside communication through cell phones or the police radio, the people inside the precinct are forced to fight the corrupt cops until the morning. They are outmanned and outgunned, so Jake makes a command decision to free the prisoners temporarily so that they can survive the night. With only nine people (ten, if you count the injured cop) fighting a squad of bad guys, it is anyone’s guess who will live to tell the tale.
The original movie was written and directed in 1976 by John Carpenter. Two years later, Carpenter made the now classic Halloween, which effectively put him on the map, but the original Assault got him noticed. The original movie itself is a loose remake of Howard Hawks’s Rio Bravo, starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Angie Dickinson. I’ve heard that the Carpenter movie almost got an “X” rating because of a scene involving one of the bad guys killing a little girl. In these politically correct days, that might seem shocking back then, but there are a few surprising scenes in this version, though I’m guessing not as outrageous as the original. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the fates of the characters don’t go as predictably as I would have thought that they would (except for one character, but again, I don’t want to give anything away. If you are a fan of any of the billion TV movies that this actor has starred in, you might know who I am talking about.)
Hawke reminds me of Richard Gere; he is an actor that I don’t like, so the movies of his that like are good despite him being in them. This movie, along with his Oscar-nominated performance in Training Day, may make me start to like him. It did take an effective collaboration with a better actor in both movies though. In Training Day, that better actor was Denzel Washington, and in this movie, it was Fishburne. It’s odd that Fishburne has only been nominated for one Oscar (for 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do with It), though I’m not saying that this one will get any Oscars. It’s just that he has a presence that commands attention every time he is on the screen.
As for the others, they all play by the numbers, but fortunately, it isn’t too stale. Dennehy plays his millionth Irish cop, but he can still do it. de Matteo is essentially doing her characters from HBO’s “The Sopranos” and NBC’s “Joey,” but again, it is entertaining. Leguizamo and Ja Rule are both the obligatory comic relief, but Leguizamo is a chameleon in his performances, because he can go from drama to comedy at the drop of a hat. Bello doesn’t have a lot of screen time, but at least she finally doesn’t play the sexpot of her earlier films (with the exception that her character changes from her conservative clothes to a slinky dress for her New Years party that she can’t make it to because of her car problems in the snow.)
Assault on Precinct 13 is the first American film for French director Jean-François Richet, and I think that he has made a remake that would have made Carpenter proud. I may have a different opinion once I finally do see the original, but I do think that this one might satisfy some fans of the original, and it might inspire new fans, like me, to seek out the original for themselves. My fellow critic friend doesn’t like to give his opinion of a movie right after seeing it, but he did admit that it wasn’t as good as the original. Whether or not he liked it anyway will have to remain to be seen, but as for me, I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to see the original either in the video store or on cable.
Get the soundtrack score composed by Graeme Revell:
Get the special edition DVD of the original movie:
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African American Women's Studies
Books /// Music/Spoken Word /// Video & DVD /// Links
You will find many more resources related to black women throughout the various subject categories of my African American Studies Toolkit. Though it's designed for grades 6-12, most of the resources are appropriate for adults.
An open statement to fans of THE HELP from the Association of Black Women Historians
Suggested Reading List
This list is by no means exhaustive. I simply provide a list of what I think are basic texts for black women's history, followed by books on specific topics that interest me. For your convenience, I have provided a link to Amazon.com for each title that's still in print. (You'll find reviews and additional information there.)
Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC Available at Amazon.com
Editors: Faith S. Holsaert, Martha Prescod Norman Noonan, Judy Richardson, Betty Garman Robinson, Jean Smith Young, Dorothy M. Zellner
University of Illinois Press, 2010
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was the cutting edge of the Civil Rights Movement. Born out of the student sit-ins that erupted on February 1, 1960 in Greensboro North Carolina, within months thousands of students across the south were engaged in similar non-violent protests against racial segregation, risking their lives in the process. But it was far from a spontaneous uprising; the organizers (though mostly college age) were well trained and deeply committed to building a grassroots movement within the communities of the Deep South, working with local people to bring about change.
This well-organized book shares the personal narratives of 52 women - northern and southern, young and old, urban and rural, black, white and Latina - who served on the front lines of freedom. The narratives are grouped by regional movements, and also by themes such as issues of personal identity.
There are similarities found in some of the narratives - for example, many relate terrifying encounters with the Klan and the public authorities who were supposed to protect them, beatings and deprivations in jail, but also love and overwhelming support from local people who lifted them up, fed them, and sheltered them to the best of their ability in the Jim Crow south. One recurring theme that touched me deeply was how many of these women were just girls, often the first in their family to attend college, terrified not only of being murdered in the Deep South but equally terrified about disappointing their parents by postponing (or sometimes being expelled from) college. Some recount having broken bonds with family which were never mended.
But beyond these similarities each woman’s story is related through a very personal lens. In fact, they are so intensely personal and compelling that at times I couldn’t stop reading, and at other times I had to look away because I was overwhelmed. I especially appreciated the biographical notes, and was heartened by how many of these women continued to work for freedom and peace in some capacity throughout their lives, many as teachers, organizers and activists.
As I write this review, Memorial Day is just around the corner. I hope I live to see the day that veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are honored for their valiant service to this country in the cause of true freedom and democracy. They are heroes and deserve to be honored as such, but it’s now over 50 years later, and time is running out. This book should be on every public library shelf, and I think it would make an inspiring gift for a daughter heading off to college.
Related: American Experience: Freedom Riders Available at Amazon.com
PBS 2011
The powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961 more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.
Hine, Darlene Clark and Kathleen Thompson. A Shining Thread of Hope: History of Black Women in America. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
If I had my way, this book would be required reading in every U.S. History Survey course. It's an exceptionally readable text and quite a page-turner...I found it difficult to put down! The first comprehensive history of black women in America written by a trained historian, it's a celebration of the strength, determination and creativity of black women throughout America's history, as told through the stories (and often, the very words) of hundreds of individual women from all eras and all classes. Give this one to your daughter...or to your mom.
Giddings, Paula. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. 2nd Ed. Morrow, 1996. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
When the first edition was published in 1984, this book provided the first cohesive history of black women in America, and a startling new interpretation to American history. It's a testimionial to the profound influence black women have had on race and gender issues; for example, in 1892 Anna Julia Cooper told a group of black clergymen, "Only the black woman can say 'when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole . . . race enters with me."
Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African American Women Composers and the Music. Now in Paperback! University of Illinois Press, 2007. Amazon.com
This is an essential work providing a historical overview plus a closer look at the life and works of Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989) Julia Perry (1924-1979) Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) Irene Britton Smith (1907-1999) Dorothy Rudd Moore (b.1940) Valerie Capers (b.1935) Mary Watkins (b. 1939) and Regina Harris Baiocchi (b. 1956). Despite having gained national and international recognitoin during their lifetimes, the contributions of many of these women are forgotten today. Includes a selected list of composers and a selected Bibliography/Discography. While the scholarship here is top notch, the writing is compelling and fluid.
Hine, Darlene Clark, Elsa Barkley Brown and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, eds. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press, 1993. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
Originally published in hardcover at about $200, the paperback version is more affordable (around $40) yet has all the same information, including all the illustrations and over 800 entries and 400 signed essays by scholars. Each entry includes bibliographical information. It should be on every library shelf.
Smith, Jesse Carne, ed. Notable Black American Women, Third Edition. Gale, 2002. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
500 biographical entries, 425 of which are contemporary women.
Facts on File Encyclopedia of Black Women in America. Edited by Darlene C. Hine and Kathleen Thompson. Facts on File 1997.
Designed for grades six and up, this series builds upon Black Women in America, with more than 1000 entries profiling 950 women. The writing is clear, lively and accessible. The set is organized by topic, with individual volumes focusing on areas such as literature, business and professions, music, theater and the arts, social activism and politics, and education. Each section also includes an introduction and brief history of the topic.
This can be purchased at Amazon.com as an eleven-volume set for under $400, or individually:
Volume I: The Early Years, 1619-1899.
Volume II: Literature.
Volume III: Dance, Sports and Visual Arts.
Volume IV: Business & Professions.
Volume V: Music .
Volume VI: Education
Volume VII: Religion & Community.
Volume VIII: Law & Government.
Volume IX: Theater Arts and Entertainment.
Volume X: Social Activitism.
Volume XI: Science, Health & Medicine.
Hine, Darlene Clark, Wilma King and Linda Reed, eds. We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible: A Reader in Black Women's History. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson 1995. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
For its title, this book of thirty-two essays borrows the motto of Nannie Helen Burroughs and her National Trade and Professional School for Women and Girls. It provides an introduction to some of the most recent scholarship in the field. The essays are organized within six sections: General theoretical essays; Africa; Caribbean and Canada; US--18th century; US--19th century; and US--20th century.
Topics & Biographies
Several years back I was watching a documentary on Harriet Tubman in which one of her relatives was interviewed. I suddenly realized I had never thought of Tubman as a real person, with actual living relatives! Her legend looms so much larger than life that she hovers somewhere in the realm of Paul Bunyan. After a wait of nearly 60 years for an adult biography, 2004 brought us THREE:
Larson, Kate Clifford. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. New York, NY: Ballatine Books 2004. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
In her introduction, Larson says "We all believe we know Harriet Tubman" yet this knowledge is limited to the heroic myth of children's books. She does not seem real flesh and blood to us. Larson sets out to rectify this, and does so admirably. She spent years combing through primary sources such as court records and private letters to recreate for us a Harriet Tubman who lives and breathes. There's even a family tree. Along the way, some treasured myths are debunked. For example, there was never a $40,000 bounty on her head. Nor (as every school child can quote) did she make 19 trips and rescue 300 people; it's closer to 13 trips and 70 people, and she perhaps provided aid and instructions to another 50. None of which diminishes her heroism, of course. It simply makes her more accessible as a human being by setting the record straight. And what Larson adds to the record far outweighs what she takes away.
This book can be challenging to read at times, because rather than stating her own conclusions as fact (e.g.Tubman's birth date, which she places in February or March of 1822) Larson sometimes presents several possibilities and provides evidence to support each; we are left to draw our own conclusions. But this provides groundwork for future researchers and, I feel, is a more honest than presuming finality where none is present. Larsen maintains an outstanding website Harriet Tubman.
Humez, Jean M. Harriet Tubman: The Life and the Life Stories. Madison, WI: UW Press, 2004. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
This book begins with a traditional biography, presenting the bare bones of Tubman's life. The section called 'Stories and Sayings' puts meat on those bones, breathing life into someone who has nearly been lost to us in legend. It's a fascinating concept, and I think it works. Equally amazing is the Documents section, reflecting 10 years of research and which will be required reading for any future Tubman scholars because, as Humez herself says, '...my retelling of her life story cannot be definitive.' Highly recommended.
Clinton, Catherine. Harriet Tubman - The Road to Freedom. New York, NY, Little Brown. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
Clinton's style is highly readable, and she navigates smoothly through complex material. But she does not take advantage of the most current research in the field. For example, she recycles the myth about the $40,000 bounty. While I'd recommend this book for general readers, I feel academics and anyone with a deeper interest in the subject are better served by Kate Clifford Larson's Bound for the Promised Land or Jean Humez's Harriet Tubman: The Life and the Life Stories.
Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl. Abrams, 2005. Ages 9-12. Read more and Order at Amazon.com
Maritcha Remond Lyon was one of the lucky few black children born not into slavery but as a free citizen. Her parents were educated, well-respected and hardworking people who, in addition to creating a comfortable life for their children, quietly assisted in the efforts of the Underground Railroad. Maritcha overcame illness, segregation and the New York Draft Riots of 1863 to continue her education, becoming the first black woman ever to graduate high school in Rhode Island. She become an educator herself, teaching for nearly 50 years.
This book about her childhood is based upon her unpublished memoir completed shortly before her death in 1929. Delving further into that memoir, other family archives and documents of the time, author Tonya Bolden has recreated the era in which Maritcha lived and thrived. The book is filled with period photographs, maps, illustrations and even documents which bring Maritcha to life: for example, her father's handwritten inventory of property the family lost during the Draft Riots.
This is a marvelous book, thoroughly researched, engagingly written and lavishly illustrated. Though the reading level is for ages 9-12, I think older students would benefit greatly from reading this book to younger children because it offers an exciting window into a period of U.S. history rarely covered: What was it like to be a free black person during the era of slavery?
Boyd, Valerie. Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston. New York: Scribner, 2003. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
It's been 25 years since the last biography, and this complex portrait is well worth the wait. Boyd is an excellent storyteller, and her narrative seamlessly weaves together Hurston's personal and professional life and work. There are surprises and revelations around every corner...for example, the author says that according to Alan Lomax, the most famous picture of Hurston (big floppy hat, head tossed back in a toothy grin) is actually not her at all. But the book is also fascinating for what it reveals about the Harlem Renaissance in general. Highly recommended.
Giddings, Paula J. Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching New York: Amistad, 2008. Read more at Amazon.com
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was born to slaves in Mississippi and began her activist career by refusing to leave a first-class ladies’ car on a Memphis railway. This sweeping biography explores her activism in many arenas - including suffrage - but she is perhaps primarily remembered as the leader of the nation's first campaign against lynching. "History at its best-clear, intelligent, moving. Paula Giddings has written a book as priceless as its subject." (Toni Morrison )
Higgenbotham, Evelyn Brooks. Righteous Discontent: The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
Hull, Gloria T., Patricia Bell Scott and Barbara Smith, Eds. All the Women are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies. Feminist Press, 1986. Essays, bibliographies and more. This is a classic, ground-breaking work. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Harvard University Press, 2000. Edited with annotation and authentification by Jean Fagan Yellin. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
First published in 1861, this book is much more than a narrative about slavery; it addresses many issues of gender as well. To escape the philandering intentions of her master, and to try to win freedom for her children, Harriet Jacobs spent seven years hidden away in an uninsulated garret, three feet high at its tallest point with almost no air or light, with only glimpses of her children to sustain her courage. Until the 1980's, this book was presumed by most scholars to be a work of fiction created by a white abolitionist, but Jean Yellin's groundbreaking research brought the real Harriet Jacobs to life. The book has been published many times since the 1960's, often in inexpensive paperback versions that are much cheaper than the edition I've linked. However, I'd recommend either this edition (which includes the short slave narrative published by Harriet's brother John, "A True Tale of Slavery") or an earlier edition edited by Yellin if you want the full historical background on the book itself.
Knupfer, Anne Meis. The Chicago Black Renaissance and Women's Activitism. Univeristy of Illinois Press, 2006. Read more and Order at Amazon.com
The Chicago Black Renaissance was a revitalization of black expressive arts and community activism rooted in a pan-African identity which blossomed during the 1930's to the 1960's in Chicago's "Black Belt" - or, as residents preferred, "Bronzeville." It was also a tumultuous period in which longtime urban black Chicagoans were faced with assimilating thousands of rural migrants from the South.
The lens through which Knupfer examines the Renaissance is women's activism: as club members and individuals, as reformers of schools and libraries, builders of art and community centers, ministers, writers, politicians and more. They were highly successful in some areas; for example, the nation's oldest WPA arts center, South Side Community Art Center, continues to offer classes and host exhibitions, while the "Special Negro Section" begun in 1932 by the first black librarian in the Chicago Public Library system has evolved in the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History & Literature, one of the largest collections of African American historical documents in the nation. But the book also explores the failures and disappointments, which can be instructive to contemporary activists.
One of the most fascinating chapters for me was "Women's Activism in Public Housing" which explores the neglected topic of women's involvement in tenant associations and other public housing groups. This is a groundbreaking book, but as the author asserts, there is much more research yet to be done. In aid of this she suggests dissertation topics and provides two resources in the appendices: an annotated list of more than 200 women whose names are found in local black newspapers, archives and bibliographic sources, and a list of Chicago Black Southside community organizations and their addresses, 1930-1960. I'd recommend this engaging and highly readable book to those interested in Chicago history in general, and Women's or African American studies in particular.
Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn . African-American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920. Bloomington and Indianapolis: University of Indiana Press, 1998. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
Wesley, Charles H. The History of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs: A Legacy of Service. Washington, DC: The Association, 1984. (This book is out of print. Try your Interlibrary Loan or one of the used book search services mentioned above.)
Yee, Shirley J. Black Women Abolitionists: A Study in Activism. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992. Read more about it or order at Amazon.com
Zora Neale Hurston: Jump At the Sun (American Masters) PBS 2008. Amazon.com
"The first definitive feature-length biography about Zora Neale Hurston was broadcast on PBS' American Masters series to wide acclaim across America." (I haven't seen it yet.) Teacher resources at PBS.
Standing on my Sisters' Shoulders. Directed by Laura J. Lipson. Produced by Joan Sadoff, Dr. Robert Sadoff, Laura J. Lipson. Women Make Movies, 2003. 61 minutes, Color and B/W, Video, Documentary. More information about the movie /// Ordering info from Women Make Movies
This award-winning documentary takes on the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi in the 1950's and 60's from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it and emerged as its grassroots leaders. These women stood up and fought for the right to vote and the right to an equal education. They not only brought about change in Mississippi, but they altered the course of American history. While the historical footage is a stirring reminder, contemporary interviews of the activists show how active and vital many of these women still are. This film will have an impact on high school and college students who think of the Civil Rights Movement as ancient history, since these women could be their grandmothers. Highy Recommended!
Women Make Movies was established in 1972 to address the under representation and misrepresentation of women in the media industry. Women Make Movies provides services to women film and video makers through their Distribution Service and the Production Assistance Program. You'll find several other excellent documentaries and films in their catalog.
Daughters of the Dust. Written, directed and produced by Julie Dash. Geechee Girls, 1991. 113 minutes, Not Rated. Available at Amazon.com
Also: Dash, Julie. Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman's Film. NY: Norton, 1992. Amazon.com
A visual feast, this film defies traditional film narrative style to take the viewer into another time, place and culture. The time is 1902, the place is the Georgia Sea Islands where the Gullah people, descendents of slaves, have lived in relative isolation and therefore developed a rich culture deeply rooted in Africa. Some members of a large family are preparing to leave for the north. This film is for advanced students, and should not be shown without some preparation. I recommend you first visit the Daughters of the Dust Project created by students at The College of New Jersey.
A Woman Called Moses Amazon.com (200 minutes)
This classic is now on DVD! Starting with her "early years of midnight" on a Maryland plantation, this 1978 epic drama re-creates the life of Harriet Ross Tubman: her escape from slavery at age 29, her service on the Underground Railroad conducting hundreds of slaves to freedom, her perilous spying for the Union, and her post-war leadership of the suffragette movement. Based on the novel by Marcy Heidish, the program gives viewers a vivid portrait of this courageous and remarkable woman. Stars Cicely Tyson, Robert Hooks, and Will Geer. Narrated by Orson Welles. Grades 5 and up. Color. Total time: 200 minutes.
A fascinating look at the history and present situation of African-American opera singers in America. Combines rare and contemporary footage of some of the greatest performers of the century and includes interview with many notable black singers, as well as musicologists, directors and historians. (This was the first time I saw complete footage of Marian Anderson singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at the Lincoln Memorial...it will send chills down your spine!)
Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For. American Masters/PBS 2000. 86 minutes. Amazon.com
In addition to historical narrative that places Fitzgerald within the context of her times, this DVD provides lots of archival footage of her performing, a fitting tribute to the First Lady of Song. There are resources for teachers at the PBS website.
American Women's History: A Research Guide: African-American Women
Annotated guide to bibliographies, biographical sources, historical overviews, journals, digital collections and more.
Association of Black Women Historians
The ABWH was founded in 1979 to promote the study of black women's history, and also the professional development of women in the field. They support black women in the
historical profession, disseminate information by, for and about black women and promote scholarship by and about black women. The newsletter, Truth, is available at their web site.
National Black Herstory Task Force, Inc. (Facebook)
The National Black Herstory Task Force, Inc. is a non-profit educational and cultural organization founded to provide vehicles to collect, research, authenticate, document, archive and celebrate the legacy and lives of women of African descent and their alliances. They sponsor an annual conference at Emory University.
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
"...a digital collection of some 52 published works by 19th-century black women writers. A part of the Digital Schomburg, this collection provides access to the thought, perspectives and creative abilities of black women as captured in books and pamphlets published prior to 1920."
Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum
"What One Young African American Woman Could Do." Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown founded the Palmer Memorial Institute in 1902, and transformed the lives of more than 1,000 African American Students. This websitelinks Dr Brown and the Palmer Institute to larger themes of African American women, education, and social history.
Fanny Lou Townsend Hamer Statue Committee
As Henry Kirksey, one of Mississippi's first black senators, told Hamer's biographer Kay Mills, "If Fannie Lou Hamer had had the same opportunities that Martin Luther King had, then we would have had a female Martin Luther King." This site has the biography of this courageous civil rights leader, who became one of the first Black delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and many related resources.
The website is maintained by Kate Clifford Larson, author of Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. Many photos of the places associated with Tubman's life, and newly discovered information on Harriet Tubman. Sample some of her Underground Railroad success stories, family pain and sorrow, her life in slavery and freedom, and personal triumphs. Discover the real life story behind this most remarkable American woman.
Harriet Tubman (Elementary level)
A site by kids, for kids about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad! It has a timeline, character sketches, quiz and a crossword puzzle, all created by the students in Mrs. Taverna's second grade class at Pocantico Hills School in Sleepy Hollow, NY.
Did you know: When Harriet Tubman died March 10, 1913, she was buried with military honors in Auburn, NY. This recognized her service to the Union Army during the Civil War, where for three years she served as a spy, and led commando raids with the all-black Second South Carolina Volunteers.
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
Mary McLeod Bethune founded Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida and served as an advisor on African American affairs to four presidents. The site features the three story Victorian town house which was her home when she was in Washington, DC and housed the offices of the National Council of Negro Women and a carriage house in which the National Archives for Black Women's History is located.
This website of the Sojourner Truth Institute provides detailed biographical information, lesson plans and more.
Madame CJ Walker http://www.madamcjwalker.com/
Entrepreneur, hair care industry pioneer, philanthropist and social activist. This site is owned and maintained by A'Lelia P. Bundles the great-great-granddaughter and biographer of Madam C.J. Walker.
Music and Spoken Word
Download a copy of the Federation Song, sung at meetings of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs.
Watch and Pray: Spiritual and Art Songs by African-American Women Composers
This album appears to be available only in digital format. Twenty-one songs by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Betty Jackson King and Julia Perry.
Every Tone a Testimony: A Smithsonian Folkways African American Aural History. .Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2001. 2 CDs, plus booklet with extensive notes. Available at Amazon.com
This is without a doubt the most exciting American History resource to cross my desk in years! It contains 59 tracks (nearly two and a half hours) of material drawn from the Smithsonian Folkways archive, organized to create a history of African American life and culture in sound. It presents music, poetry, oratory and prose by historically renowned African American musicians, writers and activists spanning two centuries.
Just a sampling of the diverse voices you'll hear include Langston Hughes, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B.Du Bois, Margaret Walker, the Fisk Jubliee Singers, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paul Robeson, Muddy Waters, the SNCC Freedom Singers , Martin Luther King, Jr, Angela Davis, Nikki Giovanni, and Arrested Development. Writers who predate recorded sound are also represented by historical recordings; for example, Arna Bontemps reads writings of Lucy Terry, Ruby Dee reads Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. (I was impressed with the equal representation of women throughout the project.) Folk tracks trace the development of African American music: for example, there's a "field call" by Annie Grace Horn Dodson, a "complaint call" by Enoch Brown. Percy Randolph performs a shoe shining song, and the Inmates Of Ramsey Retrieve State Farms perform a work song.
As if that's not enough for under $25, it also includes an extensive booklet with supplemental material. Anyone who teaches American History or African American Studies cannot afford to be without this CD, and anyone who loves aural history will want it in their collection. It's invaluable.
Ah! Love, But a Day: Songs and Spirituals of American Women. Albany Records, 2000. Louise Toppin (soprano) Jay A. Pierson (baritone) John B. O'Brien (piano). Order or listen at Amazon.com
Includes works by African American composers Margaret Bonds (1913 - 1972), Undine Smith Moore (1905 - 1988), Florence Price (1887 - 1953) and Betty Jackson King (1928 - 1994). Biographies of composers and artists enclosed. Many of the works on this CD were previously unpublished. They cover the parlor songs of Amy Beach to the jazzy accompaniments and lush tunes of Margaret Bonds, presenting exciting contributions to the art song repertoire.
The Unknown Flower: Song Cycles by American Women Composers of the 20th Century. Calvin College Alumni Association, 1999. Program notes, biographies and text enclosed. Performed by Charsie Randolph Sawyer, Soprano, with Susan Keith Gray and Hyesook Kim (piano) Jacqueline Sellers (french horn) Karen Krummel (cello) and Linda Hoisington (bells).
Includes works by these African American composers: Lettie Beckon Alston (b. 1953); Betty Jackson King (1928 - 1994); and Lena McLin (b. 1928) a niece of Thomas A. Dorsey. Throughout history, women composers have achieved very little recognition for their accomplishments. This CD project is part of an ongoing process of researching and bringing to the forefront artists who have contributed to the great body of classical music that is primarily dominated by European male composers due to historical prejudice. The women composers lovingly presented here by Charsie Randolph Sawyer range in compositional styles from atonality to romantic consonant harmonies, with the texts ranging from Paul Laurence Dunbar to Calamity Jane.
Florence Price. The Women's Philharmonic. KOCH International Classics, 2001. Program notes enclosed. Ap Hsu, Artistic Director & Conductor. Features premier recordings of "The Oak," Mississippi River Suite" and "Symphony No. 3." Order at Amazon.com
Florence Price (1888-1953) was American's first black woman composer to achieve international recognition, and she was highly celebrated in her lifetime. She was a neoromanticist who drew freely on African American folk idioms and fortunately, through work by those such as The Women's Philharmonic, she is being restored to her rightful "place among those important composers of the 1930's and 1940's who helped define America's voice in music."
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas barely a generation after the Emancipation Proclamation, she graduated from high school at the age of fourteen and entered the New England Conservatory of Music. She began her career as a music educator in the South at age nineteen, teaching at several colleges over the years before eventually moving to Chicago in 1927 to take advantage of wider opportunities available for blacks in the North. She won prizes in Holstein competitions in 1925 and 1927, and began to achieve fame in the early 1930's when her "Symphony in e minor" won the Rodman Wanamaker Foundation Award. This symphony was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Chicago World's Fair of 1933 and on several subsequent occasions.
"Symphony No. 3 in c minor," which is found on this CD, was premiered in 1940 by the WPA Symphony Orchestra in Detroit. It is solemn and lyrical in places, jubilant in others. It is everywhere rich and beautiful, drawing on European traditions such as French Impressionism but inspired by African American dance rhythms and folk melodies.
I especially enjoyed the haunting "Mississippi River Suite," which sweeps one down the river through various subtle arrangements of spirituals floating in and out of the piece. Simply gorgeous!
Kaleidoscope: Music by African-American Women. Leonarda Productions, 1995. Helen Walker-Hill, Piano, Gregory Walker, Violin. Program notes enclosed. Celebrates the lives and work of fourteen African-American women composers: Irene Britton Smith; Dorothy Rudd Moore (b. 1940); Julia Perry (1924 - 1979); Betty Jackson King (1928 - 1994); Margaret Bonds (1913 - 1972); Lettie Beckon Alston (b. 1953); Undine Smith Moore (1904 - 1989); Rachel Eubanks; Valerie Capers (b. 1935); Lena Johnson McLin (b. 1929); Regina Harris Baiocchi (b. 1956); Dorores White; Nora Douglas Holt (1885 - 1974); and Florence Price (1887 - 1953.)
I enjoyed this CD from beginning to end! It provides a wide and dazzling array of styles, from lush romanticism to pulsing atonal. The first work, Irene Britton Smith's 1947 Sonata, bowled me over with its haunting lyricism. Negro Dance by Nora Douglas Holt is a wonderful piece of classical ragtime composition that rivals anything I've heard by Joplin. (Holt was the first black in U.S. history to receive a master's degree in music.) Sadly, it is the only piece that survived out of some 200 works which were stolen from storage, and only because it had been published in her short-lived journal Music and Poetry (1921.) Margaret Bond's Troubled Water is a concert piece incorporating jazz idioms, based on the spiritual "Wade in the Water." Florence Smith Price's Fantasie Negre (1929), inspired by the spiritual "Sinner, Please Don't Let This Harvest Pass" is dedicated to Bonds, and is an ambitious work combining African-American melodic and rhythmic idoms with classical European forms.
The works are wonderfully performed by Helen Walker-Hill and her son, Gregory Walker, who have been performing as the Walker Duo since 1983. Walker-Hill is the author of a book, Piano Music by Black Women Composers: A Catalog of Solo and Ensemble Works, the editor of an anthology, Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music 1893 - 1990, and editor of the Vivace Press series, Music by African-American Women.
You Can Tell The World: Songs by African-American Women Composers. Senrab Records, 2000. Sebronette Barnes, Soprano, Elise Auerbach, Piano. Order or listen at Amazon.com
Nineteen compositions gorgeously sung. Alas, no program notes or biographical material on the composers (though there are performer bios) so you'll need to supplement this with other resources. Works by Florence Price (1888-1953), Julia Perry (1924 - 1979) , Zenobia Powell Perry (1908 - ) , Betty Jackson King (1928 - 1994), Jeraldine Saunders Herbison (1941 - ) , Sharon J. Willis, Lena J. McLin (1928 - ), Margaret Bonds (1913 - 1972) , Jackie Hairston.
http://creativefolk.com/blackhistory/blackwomen.html
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Holy City, by Guillermo Orsi
MacLehose Press, 2012 (UK)
originally published as Ciudad Santa, 2009
translated by Nick Caistor
(trade paper ed.)
"There aren't any people in this city, Verónica. Only monsters."
Setting down my thoughts about this novel is not an easy task; it has a level of complexity that is not easy to translate into a standard summary or review. Holy City is no ordinary novel of crime fiction -- it is a look not only into the darkness of the Buenos Aires underworld but also its connections to corruption among politicians, the legal and justice systems, and the police of the city, all institutions that are supposed to function as protectors of the city's populace but which have instead carved out their own little niches of power, money and influence. It also provides a glimpse into Argentinian attitudes toward their neighbors, into remnants of Argentina's junta-ruled past and the problems with America's ongoing battle in the war on drugs. This book just screams noir, with its dark, atmospheric undertones, and while it may be a bit confusing with its multiple subplots and characters, overall it is a great read, a bit challenging but one that is unforgettable.
In a brief look at this complex book, the novel opens with the execution of the former right-hand man of Alberto Cozumel Banegas, dubbed "Councillor Pox." Banegas
"rules with an iron fist his twenty blocks in the south of Matanza, an open sewer inhabited by the rejects of the system, zombies who steal and kill for food, ragged foot-soldiers in an army whose only discipline in the certainty that if they disobey orders they will starve to death."
The man who's about to die is Zamorano, who allowed himself to be convinced by Ana Torrente, a former Miss Bolivia with "the face of a cherub floating on a cloud" to double cross his boss. Ana, running scared, turns to lawyer Verónica Berutti for help and some protection; until Berutti can arrange it, she allows Ana to stay in her apartment. But Ana flees, taking along with her Verónica's old pistol. In the meantime, the Queen of Storms, a cruise ship filled with very wealthy passengers, runs aground in the Río de la Plata estuary. The passengers are taken off the ship and hoteliers are vying to put them up in their establishments. On board is also a young man, Pacogoya, who has made himself useful by selling drugs to the foreigners (among other things). Pacogoya meets his dealer who tells him he can only get him half, but gives him an address where he can get the rest. When he arrives he finds a decapitated body, the first of many throughout this book. Eventually Pacogoya is compelled into delivering up a list of names of the most wealthy passengers on the ship, who are eventually kidnapped and held for ransom. One of those couples turns out be extremely important: a Colombian drugs-mafia boss and his girlfriend. Veronica, friends with Pacogoya and still looking for Ana, finds that her life is in danger and is assigned a bodyguard; she also seeks help from Deputy Inspector Walter Carozza of the serious crime squad in the Federal Police. As events progress, Carozza realizes that something huge is going on; that it's not enough to get the small fry behind the operation but to find out just who is running the show. In a police effort to retrieve the passengers he is teamed with Oso Berlusconi, a cop with a penchant for sadistic violence who got into the police partially to finance living the good life. And as the action moves along, looming in the background is a growing number of dead bodies, all with no heads.
Holy City is really one of those books you must read yourself -- a mere description is not enough, and to say more would really wreck it for anyone potentially interested. It's probably one of this year's darker reads, but at the same time it's an eye opener. The story is highly credible and clear cut, often moving in memories between past and present as a way of getting into the lives of the main characters. The best thing about this novel is that as you read it, you get a real sense that Orsi has the ability to get underneath the surface and into the reality of life on multiple levels -- that here's someone who really gets it and not only understands how things work but is also able to convey that reality to his readers. The atmosphere surrounding the stories within the novel is always dark and bleak; the neighborhoods of the city are realistically described so that you feel yourself there. At the same time, the book gets a bit confusing toward the end when all is revealed; although ultimately satisfying, you may have to go back and reread the last few pages before the story really gels.
Definitely a good book, but also not for everyone, Holy City will satisfy anyone's need for a good jolt of serious noir. I'm attracted to the darkness of this book, but it's also a challenging read, not one to rush through. Definitely not for cozy readers or for those who are into lighthearted and redeeming fare; all other serious crime junkies will probably like it.
crime fiction from Argentina
Labels: Latin American crime fiction, MacLehose Press
An excellent review, though you seem to have enjoyed it more than I did.
NancyO April 9, 2012 at 1:14 PM
Thanks! Yours was the first review I saw after finishing mine. I need to get in the habit of posting links to other people's reviews -- memo to self.
Actually I did like it but I'm really drawn to this kind of dark, under-the-surface stuff. I know I'm kind of strange in that regard, but oh well. I just found the end kind of confusing and actually did have to go back and reread a few pages to make sense out of it because it was sort of surreal there for a while.
You are welcome NancyO. Do not feel oblige to post links.
I don't feel obliged, but I think starting with the next book I'm going to make it a regular occurrence from now on.
Liar Moon, by Ben Pastor
She's Never Coming Back, by Hans Koppel
I Will Have Vengeance, by Maurizio de Giovanni
oh me oh my what do I do?
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I AM CURIOUS - YELLOW - #180
The I Am Curious set has been sitting in the "next" position in my queue for a while, having come up in the sequential numbering of my personal viewing (in other words, the first 178 down with no gaps) after I covered My Life as a Dog fifteen months ago. It came to mind again after my review of In the Realm of the Senses, this movie's scandalous reputation seeming to make it a good match for Oshima's porno. I particularly considered it as a good choice after some of the mail I got regarding my opinions about Senses, partially because I expected I Am Curious to be another tempest in a teapot. My personal prudishness and my belief that it would be boring, that age would have rotted its teeth, were the main reasons I kept working around it, and maybe it was time to confront that head on.
So, I start here with the first in the set, I Am Curious - Yellow.
Swedish director Vilgot Sjöman's 1967 film is infamous for the protracted legal battle that its American distributor undertook in order to exhibit the picture, using I Am Curious - Yellow as his bludgeon to whack at U.S. obscenity laws. His crusade failed, then it succeeded on appeal, and then he pushed it too far and got close to a draw, but ultimately lost, and the result is that I Am Curious remained contraband. It's a film known more for its reputation than its content, and watching it now forty years on, the explicitness is incredibly tame (particularly compared to the smut of Oshima). The sex scenes comprise only a small part of the running time, and the details we see are far from gynecological. I Am Curious - Yellow isn't even about sex, it's about so much more, and the what sex there is serves a purpose. The long-dead controversy has done Sjöman's work quite a disservice.
I Am Curious - Yellow is a fun, adventurous film, the Swedish extension of the French new wave, a self-reflexive slice of agitprop that would rest comfortably on a shelf next to Godard's La Chinoise in the way it satirizes trendy young idealists while also giving tribute to their marvelously misguided ideals. The focus of Sjöman's movie is Lena, a girl of 22 playing herself between the blurred lines of fact and fiction. I am sure the question of how much of I Am Curious - Yellow was documentary added to its shock value. Sjöman appears as himself making the film, and though some of the early shots are obviously staged, they are quickly offset by clips of Lena taking to the streets and interviewing her fellow citizens about the class system in Sweden. When Sjöman unceremoniously slips from this to scenes of narrative fiction, the change is imperceptible. It's only later when the film crew returns that we have cause to question what we have been seeing, when we finally see the jealous director choreographing Lena's life and demanding she redo some of her lines.
Sjöman constructs his film by balancing it between various conflicting ideals, not just fact and fiction. There is the argument of class, the haves and the have-nots, the young and the old, conservative and liberal--there is even an implicit disparity between director and star. One scene has them questioning who is using the other more. Is it Sjöman for wanting Lena to star in his film and share his bed, or is it Lena for using her sexual wiles to get the lead? It's an interpersonal clash, and also one between art and commerce that brings to mind the similar portrayal of a young woman in a money-oriented world in Steven Soderbergh's latest, The Girlfriend Experience. This dynamic is also mirrored in the lover Lena eventually takes. Depending on what point of the story we are in, Börje Ahlstedt either works in men's wear retail, sells cars, or is the last crown prince of Sweden. A divergent scene shows he and Lena ushering his father out of the castle, putting an end to the monarchy. Leading up to this, they have public sex in front of the royal palace as a barely adult guard watches. The commentary is clear. Such disrespect!
This collection of background elements makes I Am Curious - Yellow as much a portrait of the changing face of Sweden as it is of Lena. The socialist nation was at a crossroads, the youth questioning the success of the ideology as they embraced the newfound freedom that would come to define the decade. Lena is the liberated 1960s woman, free with her body, demanding of her rights, and politically motivated. She is concerned with justice and nonviolence, equal pay for equal work, and global consciousness. She wants the U.S. out of Vietnam and urges her fellow Swedes to stop taking holidays in Spain until Franco is deposed. Her father (Peter Lindgren) went to fight against Franco, but chickened out and ran back home. Ashamed for him, Lena keeps a running tally of the days he has been AWOL in her bedroom under a portrait of the Spanish dictator, surrounded by images of concentration camps and U.S. atrocities in East Asia. It's under this morbid collage that she has sex with Börje, informing him that he's her 24th lover--though the first nineteen didn't count because they were no fun. So far, that is the only price she has had to pay for her convictions; it's easy to have such strident beliefs when faced with so little opposition.
Börje isn't the smartest match for Lena. He's dishonest and unfaithful, with conservative political leanings. He has no problem with class imbalance, nor does he feel women should make as much money as men. He's all sweetness when he wants something, but he's also forceful, almost brutal, when he wants it a certain way. In other words, he's the living embodiment of the real world, as opposed to Lena's hippy-dippy idealistic one. When she retreats to her own personal commune, where she eats tiny vegetarian meals and indulges in topless yoga, he comes crashing back into her life, shattering the peace, and ultimately making her forsake her beliefs. In one comically irreverent scene, Lena apologizes to Martin Luther King, Jr., who appears in footage Sjöman had filmed the year before, telling him she is sorry, but she is going to get violent all over Börje's cheating ass. This scene is sandwiched between multiple come-ons from men passing her on the road and Lena binging on cake. The girl is a mess.
She's also a pleasure to watch. Lena Nyman does more than play herself here, she manages a complete screen character that I couldn't help but root for despite her naïveté. It made me all the more sad when Börje's abuse pushes her to forsake the little life she's cultivated for herself, and even worse when she relies on his masculine posturing. The actor gets into a tussle with the director, even attempts to hijack his control of the movie--which is really grabbing control of Lena. At one point she had gotten away from both of them, but she's back up for grabs. Her father, her director, and her co-star are all disappointments to her, as modern life apparently was for many a young Swede coming of age back then. The social experiment wasn't all it was cracked up to be, the progression wasn't progressive enough, and too many people--particularly the older ones like her dad, but the younger generation, too--were content to carry on with the status quo. The reward for those who would ask for more? VD!
For all the points he is trying to make, for all the cinematic and philosophical balls Vilgot Sjöman is juggling in I Am Curious - Yellow, he never lets the film get bogged down. His technique is facile, moving between the verite and the more formalistic scenes with determination and control. He does occasionally make a clumsy cut from one element to the next, but his style and the soul of his piece remain potent, unlike say the unmannered clutter of Dusan Makavejev's WR: Mysteries of the Organism. Sjöman's playful experimentation with sound and words on the screen recall Godard's pranks, while his sense of confined drama recalls Ingmar Bergman--whom Sjöman quotes at the outset of the movie. Given that he directed Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie several years before I Am Curious, I think we can safely surmise that Sjöman picked up a few tricks from his countryman.
In the introduction Sjöman recorded for this disc, he explains how I Am Curious arose out of his discontent with the strictures of the Swedish studio system. He somehow convinced a producer to give him some film, some money, and the freedom to shoot whatever came to him. There was no supervision and no script. Eventually, his initial efforts proved not to be enough, and he had to return to the well for more film. Once he was done, however, he had enough footage to make two separate but compatible movies, extending the experiment further by taking Yellow in one direction, and then Blue in another (the colors being the same as on the Swedish flag). I am sorry I took so long to get around to checking out I Am Curious - Yellow, because I was definitely pleased with what I found waiting for me; whether its sibling will offer the same pleasures is a question that will have to wait just a little longer for its answer. [And here it is...the review of Blue.]
Posted by Jamie S. Rich at 3:03 PM
Labels: bergman, Dusan Makavejev, godard, nagisa oshima, soderbergh, vilgot sjöman
I AM CURIOUS - BLUE - #181
MY DINNER WITH ANDRE - #479
THE SEVENTH SEAL - #11
BERGMAN ISLAND - #477
SIDELINE: KUROSAWA IN ART
GREEN FOR DANGER - #375
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Theatrical pastimes with Baroque music
This series of original programmes combines a choice selection of courtly art, including music, dance, acting and poetry. The ensemble Plaisirs de Musique and international soloists are performing on the stage of the Baroque theatre in Valtice (Feldsberg). The event can be combined with a guided tour of the château and a visit to the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site .
All the concerts are held in the château’s theatre . Just before the main staircase up to the château, go around the château to the left (see map). Tickets are sold in the foyer of the theatre.
Sat 22 Jul 2017 17:00
200 Kč / 150 Kč
at box office
advanced sale
Le Roi danse
Ballet and music from the courts of the Sun King Louis XIV and the Emperor Leopold I.
J.-B. Lully, A. Campra, J. Morel, M. Marais, A. Vivaldi, Emperor Leopold I (music) — L.–G. Pécour, R. A. Feuillet, J. Balon (choreography).
Marta Kratochvílová (traverso)
Magda Uhlířová (viola da gamba)
Jan Čižmář (theorbo, guitar)
Lenka Horalová (dance)
A capricious story from the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV.
French Baroque music and dance. — A. Campra, J. Morel, M. Marais, A. Vivaldi (music) — L.–G. Pécour, R. A. Feuillet, J. Balon (choreography).
Alla Danza Brno (dance)
Sat 5 Aug 2017 17:00
A drama of the forbidden love between an English lady and a French knight.
Music, Poetry by English and French authors, Baroque gesture. The plot is set in 1697. See here…
Laila Cathleen Neuman (soprano)
Jean-Sébastien Beauvais (countertenor)
Jan Čižmář (lute, narrator)
Marek Mokoš (staging)
From the Imperial music treasury
Musical gems of the 17th century from the Imperial Court in Vienna.
Emperor Leopold I, Emperor Joseph I, H. I. F. Biber, J. H. Schmelzer, G. Finger, G. Sanz, S. de Murcia.
Petr Wagner (viola da gamba)
Cristián Gutiérrez (guitar)
Jan Čižmář (lute, theorbo)
Programme to be announced.
The concerts enjoy the auspices of the Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic Mgr. Daniel Herman and the Governor of the South Moravian Region JUDr. Bohumil Šimek.
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301 (ex 551) MINJERA
Buzet - Mirna - Petohlebi - Podrebar - Maruškići - Buzet(Most)
Minjera trail runs from Buzet to the abandoned medieval bauxite mines, which is why it is good to take a torch, when setting out on this trail. The torch comes in handy, if you want to explore the impressive old mines.
The trail starts south from Buzet on the bridge over Mirna River next to a parking space of Cimos factory. It heads west, downstream along a footpath which follows the river for about 4.3 km towards a bridge which carries the local road to Sovinjak and Sovinjština. About two hundred meters before the bridge, it reaches Minjera – an abandoned bauxite mine, which consists of up to fifty meters long horizontal excavations. It is believed that the bauxite seam was found by miners from Saxony who used to work in Venetian mines. According to the records, exploitation of the ore began in the 16th century, and the Venetian lieutenant Piretro Turini built here a real plant for processing of bauxite into sulphuric acid and alum, a chemical used for tanning of leather, at the end of the 18th century. The mine was closed in 1865. Still, besides the excavations, there are remains of the mine facilities, as well as the ruins of a nearby church of St. Peter (crkvica Sv. Petra) situated right next to the road to Sovinjak which remind us of the life in Minjera. From Minjera, the trail gradually ascends back to Buzet along a marked path. It runs through the woods for a kilometre and a half in the direction southeast up to a plateau just below Sovinjsko polje, and then it turns north and climbs up to a picturesque village of Podrebas with stone houses typical for the middle part of Grey Istria. Continuing through the village, the trail joins an asphalt road which leads to the bottom of the hill. Following the road, the trail passes cultivated fields, orchards and vineyards on its right, while on its left there is a view of the Mirna valley and a plateau called Veli Mlun which stretches along the opposite river bank. After 7.8 km, the trail leaves the road, turns east and continues along a path uphill up to the highest point of the plateau at 263 m (8.3 km). From this point on, the trail begins to descend gradually in the direction northeast towards the village of Maruškići and then runs through the village of Vrbanac. The village of Maruškići is surrounded by farmland and vineyards. The road then enters a wood, before eventually reaching the end at its starting point next to the bridge.
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Browse \ Tags \ Contract Law
Ivey v Genting Casinos Pt I: Card Counting and Dishonest Gambling
A gambler's attempts to boost his chances of winning big at a casino seem an unlikely basis for a landmark decision. But in the first of a two part series, Connor Griffith examines how the Supreme Court's ruling in such a case could have major ramifications for the criminal law.
12:00, 21st November 2017
The test of reasonableness in the UCTA 1977 has been criticised for its potential to create certainty and undermine the fundamental doctrine of freedom of contract. However, these criticisms overlook the judicial and legislative safeguards that have been put in place to counteract such concerns.
12:00, 31st October 2017
An Expensive Hiccup? Enforcing Drunken Promises in Ashley v Blue
A recent case examined a contract allegedly made by Newcastle United FC chairman Mike Ashley during a night of heavy drinking. It highlights the importance of a fundamental criterion for the creation of a contract - the intention to create legal relations - and how uncertainty can vitiate it.
Love for Labour Lost? The Taylor Review and the Gig Economy
The Taylor Review's conclusions into modern working practices were controversial, dismissed by some as too weak and others as too invasive. But on closer examination, Taylor seems to have come close to striking the right balance between giving workers protection and maintaining market flexibility.
MWB v Rock: Consideration and Promissory Estoppel on the Move
The law surrounding the doctrine of consideration has been in a state of confusion for many years. When the Court of Appeal sought to rectify this last year, mixed results followed. So when the Supreme Court comes to examine the situation, what have they got to resolve and how should they do it?
11:00, 8th September 2017
A Problem of Perpetuity: Reconsidering White & Carter and Repudiatory Breaches
Upon a repudiatory breach, the 'innocent' party to a contract can decide whether or not the contract should be terminated. But this right is subject to limitations, one of which is highly controversial. Fortunately, the Supreme Court will soon have the opportunity to resolve this complex debate.
11:00, 22nd August 2017
Frustration: A New Approach for the 21st Century?
Since its creation in the mid-19th century, the courts have struggled to articulate a satisfactory justification for the doctrine of frustration. However, it appears that the 21st century - via an important judgment from the Court of Appeal - might have provided the long-awaited answer.
Unexpected Item in the Sacking Area? Summary Dismissal in Adesokan v Sainsbury’s
The right of employees to claim for wrongful dismissal is an important limit on the managerial prerogative of employers to run their business how they please. However, as examined in a case from earlier this year, this right is of limited scope and the extent of its application is hotly contested.
11:00, 7th April 2017
Authoritative Guidance or ‘Inspired Discussion’? Lord Hoffman on Implied Terms
It is over a year since Lord Hoffmann's controversial approach to implied terms was overruled by the Supreme Court. The law, having been reverted back to its prior state, is generally considered more satisfactory now. But why?
The Case for Good Faith in English Contract Law
English contract law rests on the assumption that parties are free to contract as they please. This assumption has been qualified by the imposition of ‘implied terms’, one of which is the requirement of good faith. What is good faith, when does it apply and should the implied term be extended?
Penalty Clauses: A Fresh Approach
The penalty rule has for a long time taken a stern approach as to whether or not contractual provisions requiring a particular sum to be paid upon breach are enforceable. After 100 years, the status quo has been broken by the Supreme Court, introducing a fresh, more flexible, approach.
12:00, 16th February 2016
Instant communication services are taking over as the primary means by which people communicate. Contractual negotiations are – like many other interactions – being increasingly conducted online or over the phone, and the postal service is being consequently neglected. Does it still make sense?
12:00, 1st February 2016
Weathering Rough Waters: Navigating the Concept of Unsafe Ports
The question of port safety is historically one which has warranted extensive legal analysis. In modern times, most charterparties will include an express 'safe port warranty', requiring the charterer to nominate only safe ports. However, when can a port be considered unsafe under such a warranty?
12:00, 4th December 2015
A recent European Union case has the potential to greatly increase producers' liability for defective products by awarding damages without it being proven that the actual product was defective. Instead, it only had to be shown the production series had a significantly increased risk of failure.
12:00, 4th November 2015
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Jones and Colleagues Look at the Economics and Health Outcomes of In Vitro Fertilization
July 21, 2016 by Caroyln Shapiro
Heralded a miracle by many infertile couples, in vitro fertilization can pack a painful financial punch for those without insurance coverage for the treatment. This prohibitive cost leads many would-be parents who pursue in vitro fertilization to transfer multiple embryos at once to increase their chances of getting a baby – and reduce the need to pay for subsequent attempts.
Christopher Jones, Ph.D., UVM Assistant Professor of Surgery and Director, Global Health Economics Unit, Vermont Center for Clinical and Translational Science. (Photo: COM Design & Photography)
A new study by University of Vermont (UVM) researchers now suggests that the financial savings from fewer IVF attempts is surpassed by the costs of medical complications from multiple-embryo pregnancies. The rates of cesarean-section deliveries, premature births and low birth weight of babies are greater with two or more embryos transferred into the mother at one time than with a single-embryo pregnancy.
Those are the findings of the team led by Christopher Jones, Ph.D., UVM assistant professor of surgery and director of the Global Health Economics Unit of the Vermont Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and first author Olivia Carpinello, M.D., a UVM College of Medicine 2013 alumna. Co-investigators on the study also included reproductive medicine specialist Peter Casson, M.D., a former UVM professor, and Renju Raj, M.D., UVM instructor in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and Women’s Reproductive Health Research Scholar.
Published recently in the journal Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, their study may be the first nationwide to calculate the differences in infant hospital costs based on the number of embryos transferred at one time. Jones and his team had access to UVM Medical Center records of 116 patients who conceived through IVF and delivered at least 20 weeks into their pregnancies between 2007 and 2011.
The study compared the incidence and costs of adverse perinatal outcomes – preterm delivery (at less than 37 weeks gestation), low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams) and C-sections – resulting from single-embryo transfers, double-embryo transfers and transfers of three or more embryos. They determined that the costs to care for babies born from double-embryo transfers were more than twice as much as costs for babies from single-embryo transfers, and costs for babies from three or more embryos were 1.7 times as high.
It wasn’t only the greater chance of twins or more multiple births with multiple embryo transfers that caused those complications and higher healthcare spending, the authors found. Even when only one baby resulted from a larger number of embryos, the risk of problems increased.
The study provides data to inform public policy as it relates to the development of “personalized medicine” – treatment targeted to the unique characteristics and needs of each patient, Jones says.
“This is personalized medicine at its heart, at its core,” he says, “because nothing is more personal than fertility choices.”
Jones performed similar research for his dissertation at the University of Oxford in England, where he received his doctorate in health economics in 2006. His work there helped lead to current U.K. guidelines that direct the transfer of a single embryo during IVF treatment whenever possible, he says.
The new UVM study encourages similar policy in the United States.
“This work supports the position that IVF cycles involving appropriate embryo transfer policies should be covered by insurance companies,” state the authors.
Among the 11 states that require insurance coverage for infertility treatment, five explicitly cover IVF. Without financial assistance, most patients who choose IVF pay for it out of pocket, increasing the incentive for them to reduce their costs by limiting the number of embryo-transfer attempts.
If states require coverage for IVF, they can also mandate that insurers pay for only single-embryo transfers. Jones’ study concluded that additional IVF attempts wouldn’t cost more than the incremental costs per baby that result from a multiple-embryo transfer.
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The Grace Kelly Dress
Title: The Grace Kelly Dress
Author: Brenda Janowitz
Publication Information: Graydon House. 2020. 336 pages.
ISBN: 1525804669 / 978-1525804663
Book Source: I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.
Opening Sentence: "She hated the dress."
Favorite Quote: "The dress only means something if you want it to. What is important are the people behind it. When it comes to these things that are handed down from generation to generation, each woman leaves her own mark on it, so that it tells ours story, stitch by stitch."
The idea of an heirloom resonates. The idea of the memories, traditions, and stories an object holds is often times what makes it beautiful in my eyes more so than the object itself. "We need to remember the past so that we can more clearly see where we are going."
The "object" in this case is a wedding dress seen through the eyes of three different women. The seamstress in 1958 Paris is Rose. She is the creator of the dress. The mother of the bride, as a bride herself in 1982 Long Island is Joan. The bride in 2020 Brooklyn is Rocky.
Rose comes to be the creator of the dress because of an unfortunate incident. She is a seamstress in a Parisian atelier, known by the name of and for the designs of the atelier owner. An unfortunate occurrence makes Rose part of an illusion to preserve the atelier. Rose is to create a wedding dress that will be deemed Madame's design. The design and the relationship with the bride brings Rose to a place and a life she never dreams of.
Joan is a college girl; her life is full of sorority sisters and wedding dreams. She is engaged to a handsome young gentleman with all the right credentials. She is also the only remaining child of her parents as her sister died a few years previously. Joan places the burden of all their expectations on her shoulders. Her journey is one of discovery - about family secrets, about her sister, and about herself.
Rocky is the woman choosing her own path. She is unconventional, independent, and successful. She is in a strong relationship with someone who is a true partner in life. She is planning her wedding, trying to find a balance between staying true to herself and honoring her mother's dreams. She mourns her father and always feels as if her mother prefers her sister Amanda. She is torn between wanting to make the choices right for her and for earning her mother's approval. Inside the strong independent woman is still a girl wanting her mother's unconditional love.
The books winds chapter by chapter, back and forth through the women's stories. Each one feels like a cohesive whole and, at the same time, it all ties together in a family legacy and in the history of the dress. As the author states, her approach to writing was to try and do each timeline justice. Rocky's story and Rose's story end about where I expect. Joan's story is the surprise. Its ending is the least specified, but it still works. Again, it is interesting to read that this is the story line that challenged the the author the most.
As you might expect, this book does contain a few physical scenes that I could do without. Overall, though, the story stays focused on the strength of these women and on their relationships with the other women in their lives. The strength of the women and the strength they find in each other is the lasting memory of this book.
Brenda Janowitz is the author of five novels, including The Dinner Party and Recipe for a Happy Life. She is the Books Correspondent for PopSugar. Brenda's work has also appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Salon, Redbook, and the New York Post. She lives in New York.
Author Q&A:
Q: You write that you've always loved wedding dresses. What fascinated you about Grace Kelly's dress in particular, and how did you come up with the idea for this novel?
A: Ever since I first laid eyes on this iconic garment, I’ve been in love. To me, Grace Kelly’s wedding gown is the ultimate dress. Beautiful, elegant, and refined-- what more could any bride want? My agent sent me an article from The Today Show about a wedding dress that had been passed down through eleven generations. The moment I heard the story, I knew that I had the idea for my next novel. Once I decided to write about a wedding gown, there was only one thing I envisioned: Grace Kelly on her wedding day. So, when it came time to describe what this heirloom dress looked like, I found myself describing Grace Kelly’s gown-- the lace sleeves, the cummerbund, the full skirt. I quickly realized that the characters in the book should be as enamored of this design as me, and The Grace Kelly Dress was born!
Q: You alternate between three characters' stories. Did you focus more on one before turning to the others, or did you write the novel in the order in which it appears?
A: I like to write in a very straightforward manner, and that usually means writing each chapter in order, from beginning to end. So, I approached this book in this same way, at first. But then, I realized that in order to make each story have the meaningful arc I was looking for, I’d need to focus on one story at a time. So, I broke the book apart into three different documents, and worked on one timeline at a time. This enabled me to fully immerse myself in each protagonist’s life, as well as the time period I was exploring. Once I’d completed all three timelines, the real work began. I wove the book back together, and that was when the book took its true form, as I made sure that the different timelines all spoke to each other in a meaningful way. It certainly made the book take longer to write, but I think that by working on each timeline separately, I was able to do the individual stories justice.
Q: The book is set in the New York area and in Paris. How important is setting to you in your writing?
A: Setting is so incredibly important! Where a character lives and how she interacts with her environment says so much about who she is. Rocky, our protagonist in 2020, lives and works in Brooklyn, and it says as much about who she is as the tattoos she proudly wears all over her body. Joanie, in 1982, lives a sheltered life on Long Island, but when she goes into New York City, she finds a world much larger than the one she was living. And Rose, in 1958, is in Paris, but as a poor orphan, lives a different type of sheltered life, working in a highly regarded atelier during the day, and doing not much else.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’ve loved writing about an heirloom item and the family that owns it, so I’m doing it again! I’ll be focusing on another family and another heirloom that has been passed down. Heirlooms are so incredibly important to me-- I wear one of my Grandma Dorothy’s rings every day, and I love having a piece of her with me as I go through my day to day.
Q: What is one of the biggest challenges you have in a story like this that spans different times in history?
A: One of the biggest challenges for me, was the massive amount of research. When writing in another time period, I underestimated how carefully every sentence would have to be researched. The characters needed to sound like they lived in the time period I was presenting, and every reference needed to be spot on-- from what the characters were wearing, to the types of music they listened to, to the way they styled their hair. Is it any wonder that my current work in progress will take place in the present?
Q: Which character was most challenging to create? Why?
A: I found Joanie, in 1982, to be the most challenging to write. I first created her character while working on the 2020 timeline, at which point we only know her as Rocky’s mother. It took a lot of thought to figure out who she would be at age 20, and how she would grow into the woman we see in 2020. Additionally, since we meet her mother in the 1958 timeline, it was important that the reader see a connection there, too. On the first round of edits, I completely trashed the original 1982 storyline and re-wrote it from the ground up. I think that I needed the first draft to truly learn who she was, and how to create her story.
Q: Were you a young writer, a late bloomer, or something in between?
A: I’ve always loved to write. In fact, it’s the reason I became a lawyer. But I was one of those unhappy lawyers, so for my 30th birthday, my best friend, Shawn, organized a group gift-- she got all of our friends together and sent me to my first writing class. It’s the thing that helped me to take my writing more seriously, and the place where I began writing what would become my first novel.
Q: Any type of writing ritual you have?
A: I wish I could say that I have certain rituals and that I have a process for letting the muse in, but the truth is, I’m just a busy working mom, so I write when I can. Sometimes, I’m dictating full chapters on the voice memo app on my phone. Sometimes, I’m jotting notes on the backs of receipts. I say: do whatever works!
Q: What is your favorite genre to read, and why?
A: I love to read, and I love reading all different types of genres. I think it makes you a better writer to be more widely read. That said, I have a soft spot for upmarket commercial fiction. If Reese Witherspoon can make a limited series HBO drama out of it, I’m in!
Q: What message do you hope readers take away from your story?
A: The main thing is that I want readers to really enjoy the story and have a great reading experience. As for a takeaway, it’s been really moving to have readers reach out to me to discuss the role that heirloom items have had in their own life. I always tell my kids: it’s people who are important, not things. But I do believe that certain things, like these heirlooms that are passed down, have meaning. They show us where our family has been, and each one has a story connected to it. Stories are powerful, and the stories about where we come from are so incredibly meaningful.
Harlequin Trade Publishing
Author website: http://www.brendajanowitz.com/
Facebook: @BrendaJanowitz
Twitter: @BrendaJanowitz
Instagram: @brendajanowitzwriter
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/241404.Brenda_Janowitz
Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.
Labels: 2020s, 3 stars, 300-399 pages, blog tour, Fiction, review
The Sea Glass Cottage
This Tender Land
The Henna Artist
The Doll Factory
Campusland
We Are All Good People Here
The Chelsea Girls
Make Me a City
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A Palestinian pogrom in Jerusalem
http://www.michaelfreund.org/15679/palestinian-pogrom-jerusalem
Yesterday morning, two Palestinian Arabs entered the Kehillat Yaakov yeshiva and synagogue complex in Jerusalem and proceeded to slaughter Jewish men at prayer.
Armed with guns, knives and a meat cleaver, our "partners in peace" shot, slashed and stabbed their victims, leaving pools of blood and horror in their wake, before being eliminated by the police.
It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable deed.
This act of Palestinian brutality was so heinous that even Israelis hardened by decades of terror responded with disbelief. Indeed, anyone still thinking of giving the Palestinians a state should take a long, hard look at the disturbing photos of the synagogue slaughter that are circulating online.
In one such picture, a Jewish man lies dead on the synagogue floor, wrapped in his tallit and tefillin and surrounded by blood stains, evoking scenes reminiscent of the days when the Cossacks massacred our people. It is a startling and distressing testimony to the savagery of our foes, to the bestial depths of inhumanity to which the Palestinians are willing to descend in their war against the Jewish state.
After all, what kind of human being wakes up in the morning, grabs a few weapons, and then walks into a house of prayer intent on maiming and murdering innocent people? Guns were not sufficient for these savages. They employed axes and knives, which are far more intimate and bloody weapons, the kind that require physical contact with the victim rather than the less personal act of pulling a trigger.
If it is possible for a person to strip away the Divine image with which he was created, then the Palestinian terrorists who perpetrated this attack have surely succeeded in doing so.
Make no mistake: this was a pogrom, a premeditated orgy of violence that was fuelled by incitement coming from the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas. For weeks, Abbas has been trying to ignite a religious war, instigating Palestinians to "defend" al-Aksa Mosque and use "any means" at their disposal. He repeatedly harped on the religious symbol of the Temple Mount, attempting to stir up primal passions and ancient hatreds.
Is it therefore any surprise that two Palestinians went ahead and attacked a synagogue? Shortly after the incident came to an end, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch went before reporters and sounded like a broken record, repeating the same empty promises he has made after previous attacks, insisting that we will prevail even as he failed to offer any substantive ideas as to how that will happen.
Frankly, I am tired of the meaningless mantras and barren babble of many of our politicians. The time for tough talk is over. Now is the time for tough action, for measures that will change the course of events and punish those behind this evil deed.
For God's sake, Jerusalem, Israel's capital, is under attack. Stabbings, stonings, premeditated vehicular attacks, rioting on the Temple Mount and now an assault on a synagogue.
The only way to stop this spiral of violence from spinning further out of control is to go to the source, to the root of the problem.
Simply put, it is time to topple the Palestinian Authority (PA ) and declare to the world once and for all: there will never be a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.
Abbas, like his predecessor Yasser Arafat, has used the PA as a springboard to attack Israel in international forums abroad while fomenting anti-Jewish violence here at home. It is the PA that is leading the charge to demonize and delegitimize Israel even as it encourages terrorism against the Jewish state.
Throughout the years, the Palestinians have proven again and again that they do not want peace, are not interested in it and prefer to resort to violence to achieve their aims. How much longer must we tolerate acts of barbarism and terror? For the sake of Israel's future, we cannot and must not allow a hostile terrorist entity to continue to exist in Judea and Samaria. Ever since it was established in 1994, the PA has been a poisonous thorn in Israel's side. Rather than bringing peace to the region, it has incessantly promoted violence and bloodshed. The PA long ago outlived any usefulness that some may have hoped it would serve. It should be demolished forthwith and Israel should assert full control over the area.
Will there be a heavy price to pay diplomatically? Certainly. And will it be difficult to implement? Absolutely. But a government's primary responsibility is to protect its people and ward off threats to their security and well-being. And the Palestinian Authority has shown once again that it is truly such a threat.
So let's stop appeasing the terrorists and start opposing them. The blood of our brothers, of our fellow Jews, is crying out to us from the Kehillat Yaakov synagogue in Jerusalem, and from all the other sites of Palestinian terrorism over the past two decades. Let us finally heed their cry and prevent further suffering by dismantling the Palestinian terrorist entity once and for all.
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The Auld Mug
The Scots and the America's Cup
By Len Paterson
In March 2021 the 36th challenge for the America's Cup will be held off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand. It is possible that the challenger will be INEOS TEAM UK with Sir Ben Ainslie at the helm. It is possibly yachting’s oldest continuously contested trophy, and often referred to in the purple press as 'Yachting’s Holy Grail' and more colloquially as 'The Auld Mug'.. The right to challenge was once regarded as the sole prerogative of sailors from the UK and Ireland who competed for it over the years but in 1887 there was a uniquely Scottish attempt to win the cup. Appropriately, the challenging yacht bore the name Thistle.
This is the story of how Scotland became involved in the challenge before the turn of the 19th century when not only Thistle but also Sir Tommy Lipton's yachts, all named Shamrock, vied for the prize.
It also reveals the little known story of the Barr brothers from Gourock, John and Charlie. John was helmsman of Thistle as a challenger in 1897 and Charlie won the Cup in 1899 for America and successfully defended it on behalf of the New York Yacht Club in 1901 and 1903, becoming the first helmsman to win the Cup three times.
The first published insight into Scotland's contribution to the history and development of the America's Cup.
ASIN: B009ZOKV2O
"This is a well researched historical account and a great human story ... an ideal Christmas present for any Scottish sailor with an interest in our yachting heritage."
Paul Jeffes, Yachting Life, December 2007.
About Len Paterson
Len Paterson was the author of several books on shipping themes, most notably the Scottish puffer (Light in the Glens). He worked for over 20 years in shipping and was considered one of Scotland's leading authorities on nautical and canal transport. He was a founding trustee of the Scottish Maritime Museum.
All Titles by Len Paterson
Len Paterson has also written:
AULD MUG, THE
FROM SEA TO SEA
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Overfished and under-protected: Oceans on the brink of catastrophic collapse
As the human footprint has spread, the remaining wildernesses on our planet have retreated. However, dive just a few meters below the ocean surface and you will enter a world where humans very rarely venture.
In many ways, it is the forgotten world on Earth. A ridiculous thought when you consider that oceans make up 90% of the living volume of the planet and are home to more than one million species, ranging from the largest animal on the planet -- the blue whale -- to one of the weirdest -- the blobfish.
Remoteness, however, has not left the oceans and their inhabitants unaffected by humans, with overfishing, climate change and pollution destabilizing marine environments across the world.
Many marine scientists consider overfishing to be the greatest of these threats. The Census of Marine Life, a decade-long international survey of ocean life completed in 2010, estimated that 90% of the big fish had disappeared from the world's oceans, victims primarily of overfishing.
Tens of thousands of bluefin tuna were caught every year in the North Sea in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, they have disappeared across the seas of Northern Europe. Halibut has suffered a similar fate, largely vanishing from the North Atlantic in the 19th century.
Opinion: Probing the ocean's undiscovered depths
In some cases, the collapse has spread to entire fisheries. The remaining fishing trawlers in the Irish Sea, for example, bring back nothing more than prawns and scallops, says marine biologist Callum Roberts, from the UK's York University. "Is a smear of protein the sort of marine environment we want or need? No, we need one with a variety of species, that is going to be more resistant to the conditions we can expect from climate change," Roberts said.
The situation is even worse in Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, people are now fishing for juvenile fish and protein that they can grind into fishmeal and use as feed for coastal prawn farms. "It's heading towards an end game," laments Roberts. Trawling towards disaster
One particular type of fishing, bottom-trawling, is blamed for some of the worst and unnecessary damage. It involves dropping a large net, around 60 meters-wide in some cases, into the sea and dragging it along with heavy weights from a trawler.
Marine conservationists compare it to a bulldozer, with the nets pulled for as far as 20km, picking up turtles, coral and anything else in their path. The bycatch, unwanted fish and other ocean life thrown back into the sea, can amount to as much as 90% of a trawl's total catch.
Upwards of one million sea turtles were estimated to have been killed as by catch during the period 1990-2008, according to a report published in Conservation Letters in 2010, and many of the species are on the IUCN's list of threatened species.
Campaigners, with the support of marine scientists, have repeatedly tried to persuade countries to agree to an international ban, arguing that the indiscriminate nature of bottom-trawling is causing irreversible damage to coral reefs and slow-growing fish species, which can take decades to reach maturity and are therefore slow to replenish their numbers.
Opinion: Deep sea fishing is 'oceanocide'
"It's akin to someone plowing up a wildflower meadow, just because they can," says Roberts. Others have compared it to the deforestation of tropical rainforests. Bottom-trawling's knock-on impacts are best illustrated by the plight of the deep-sea fish, the orange roughy (also known as slimeheads) whose populations have been reduced by more than 90%, according to marine scientists.
Orange roughys are found on, or around, mineral-rich seamounts that often form coral and act as feeding and spawning hubs for a variety of marine life. "Anywhere you go and try to harvest fish with a trawl you are going to destroy any coral that lives there, and there is example after example of the damage that is done by trawlers," says Ron O'Dor, a senior scientist on the Census of Marine Life. "If I ruled the world, they would be banned, they're just such a destructive method of catching fish. Fishermen have other methods, such as long-line, that cause far less damage.
"The disturbing truth is that humans are having unrecognized impacts on every part of the ocean, and there is much we have not seen that will disappear before we ever get a chance," says O'Dor, who is also a professor of marine biology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.
Acid test for marine species
At the same time fisheries and vital marine ecosystems like coral are being decimated, the oceans continue to provide vital services, absorbing up to one third of human carbon dioxide emissions while producing 50% of all the oxygen we breathe.
Hi-res gallery: Extraordinary creatures of the Great Barrier Reef But absorbing increasing quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) has come at a cost, increasing the acidity of the water. "The two worst things in my mind happening to oceans are global warming and ocean acidification," says O'Dor, "They're going to have terrible effects on coral reefs. Because of acidification essentially, the coral can't grow and it's going to dissolve away."
The ocean has become 30% more acidic since the start of The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century and is predicted to be 150% more acidic by the end of this century, according to a UNESCO report published last year. "There's a coral reef off Norway that was discovered in 2007 and it's likely to be dead by 2020," says O'Dor. "The problem is that the acidification is worse near the Poles because low temperature water dissolves more acid.
Starting from the Pole and working south these reefs are going to suffer extensively." Current estimates suggest 30% of coral reefs will be endangered by 2050, says O'Dor, because of the effects of ocean acidification and global warming.
Higher acidity also disrupts marine organisms' ability to grow, reproduce and respire. The Census of Marine Life reported that phytoplankton, the microscopic plants producing most of the oxygen from the oceans, have been declining by around 1% a year since 1900.
The falling numbers of smaller, but lesser known species and plant life has significant impact further up the marine food chain. For example, seabirds which used to visit and breed on Spitsbergen -- a Norwegian island near the Arctic -- are being wiped out because of changes in their previously abundant food sources.
Bringing law and order to ocean protection
"There's a real lack of public and political awareness of these issues," says Alex Rogers, professor of conservation biology at the UK's Oxford University.
"They're too big to understand in economic terms. We can put a value on the loss of fishing, but how can we put a value on oxygen production or the absorption of carbon dioxide?" he says. The problem is that most of the world's ocean is located outside of international law and legal control. Any attempts to implement rules and regulation come with the problem of enforcement, says Rogers, who is also scientific director of the International Program on State of the Ocean (IPSO).
Marine conservationists estimate that at least 30% of the oceans need to be covered by marine protected areas, where fishing and the newly emerging deep-sea mining of valuable minerals on the seabed, is banned or restricted. Callum Roberts, who helped form the first network of marine protected areas in the high seas in 2010, says on their own they are not enough.
"I could sum it up as: we need to fish less and in less destructive measures, waste less, pollute less and protect more," says Roberts. "This change of course will see us rebuild the abundance, variety and vitality of life in the sea which will give the oceans the resilience they need to weather the difficult times ahead. Without such action, our future is bleak."
Image courtesy of Sir Hectimere via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
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Why Tom Marino Won't be Confirmed as Drug Czar by the U.S. Senate
Marianne Skolek-Perez Salem-News.com Investigative Reporter
Marino's support of Trump in 2016 presidential election may have played into his appointment by the President as Drug Czar
(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - President Trump announced that he was nominating Rep. Tom Marino (R) of Pennsylvania to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy for the second time.
Marino had cited personal reasons for turning down the prestigious position several months ago. His personal reasons "resolved" themselves and Marino was appointed for a second time by Trump. That appointment is now in the U.S. Senate for confirmation.
Since every state in the country is immersed in an epidemic of prescription opioid/heroin addiction and death, a "drug czar" has his work cut out for him.
Photo: MarinoForUSCongress.com
Previous drug czars were attentive to media blitzes, rallies and task force meetings as the numbers of people suffering in the epidemic skyrocketed. Which brings us back to Marino and why he will not be confirmed by the U.S. Senate as drug czar.
Marino and Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, TN introduced Bill HR 4709 "Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2014".
There was a provision that Marino wanted in the bill to make sure that "law-abiding pharmacists aren't swept up in efforts to bust the pill mills that sometimes consist of licensed pharmacies and doctors' offices selling prescription painkillers illegally."
It had been interpreted as a means to "tie the hands of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)": If a pharmacy made a serious mistake with an opioid prescription, the offending pharmacy would not be sanctioned by the DEA; rather, it would only have to provide a remedy to the mistake in writing.
When my articles regarding Tom Marino were published in "Global News Centre" and "Salem-News.com," a congressional aide/press secretary to Marino advised that he was going to "use congressional resources" to investigate not only me, but my newspaper editors. Unfortunately Congressman Marino did not explain the meaning of "abuse of power" to his congressional aide/press secretary. The facts in my article were researched and were accurate.
Also accurate were the facts that in 2011, Congressman Marino introduced a bill that would exempt particular pharmacies from anti-trust laws. Five weeks later, the National Community Pharmacists Association NCPA, (a powerful pharmaceutical association) and ten of its member corporations began contributing a total of $47,500 to Marino’s campaign committee.
A majority (56%) of Marino’s contributions can be tied to groups that either benefit directly from legislation the Congressman has authored or that regularly lobby on issues that come before the subcommittees Marino sits on.
In 2007, Congressman Marino resigned from his position as a U.S. Attorney in Pennsylvania after a Department of Justice investigation was launched against him for giving a reference to a convicted felon to operate slot machines.
Marino claimed he had written permission from the Justice Department to issue the reference — the Justice Department confirmed Marino was being less than truthful. Marino resigned as U.S. Attorney and the internal probe against him was dropped by the Justice Department.
He then took a position, as a convicted felon, earning $250,000 a year — until he was elected to Congress.
The U.S. Senate will not confirm Marino as drug czar as he thumbs his nose at the DEA while the addiction and death statistics spiral out of control throughout the country.
The U.S. Senate would be better served in saving the lives of individuals to this horrific epidemic in determining why the U.S. Senate Finance Committee investigation into the prescription opioid epidemic launched in 2012 was completed and sealed by U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.
Let's start treating a true health crisis in this country seriously. Enough of the political favors, media ops, task force meetings and profiteers feeding off the pharmaceutical industry. We are losing a generation of our children. Where is the outrage?
2012-09-23:http://www.salem-news.com/articles/september232012/pill-deaths-ms.php
2014-10-19:http://www.globalnewscentre.com/congressman-tom-marino-pa-and-congresswoman-marsha-blackburn-tn-prescribe-walgreens-be-unaccountable-for-errors-in-loss-of-lives-why/#sthash.rl1RyUIn.dpbs
2016-12-12:http://www.globalnewscentre.com/president-elect-trump-and-the-troublesome-members-on-his-transition-team/#sthash.9e7RbCBb.dpbs
Pharma | Business | United-states | Fatal | Most Commented on
Marianne Skolek Perez October 3, 2017 8:10 am (Pacific time)
The position in the U.S. is referred to as "drug czar". Take your concern of the title up with our government "Anonymous"
Anonymous October 2, 2017 10:50 am (Pacific time)
We are in the United States. We don't have czars.
Articles for September 30, 2017 |
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actor singer director
I'm an actor, director, singer but also a teacher, community artist, writer, filmmaker, producer and general 'good-for-nothing' ArtyFartyFannyFantastic.
I'm interested in making a difference - that's why I chose to be an actor years ago, why I stopped over fifteen years ago not long after reaching the West End... and why in recent years I've returned to the performing arts with that aim of making a difference.
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From Goodreads ~ First at the crime scene, Andy Carpenter wishes he never saw the folded torso with the large red stain on its back. The victim is Troy Preston, wide receiver for the New York Jets, and the suspect is Kenny Schilling, the New York Giants’ star running back who is clamoring for Andy’s services. The upcoming high-profile murder case will be the benchwarming Andy’s chance to get back into the legal game. It will also prove a handy distraction from the awful possibility that Laurie Collins - the private investigator and living creature Andy adores most next to Tara, his cherished golden retriever - is about to leave Paterson forever.
Digging into the case, Andy stumbles onto some of the seamier undercurrents rushing beneath the large-guy camaraderie, big-buck cushiness and bone-mashing fun that is pro football. And he discovers that Preston’s death is similar to a series of other mysterious murders - all seemingly unrelated yet connected by a horrible secret from many years ago. Despite the crushing evidence, Andy begins to believe in his client’s innocence.
But when danger finds someone close to him, the unperturbed defender knows he’s attracted the attention of a powerful enemy - one who will do anything to take Andy permanently off the field…
A football player is found murdered and the suspect, Kenny, is asking for Andy. Andy gathers his team together to start defending Kenny. Was Troy killed because of a drug deal gone bad? Or did it have something to do with a secret pact that Kenny, Troy and others made when they were in high school?
In the meantime, Hollywood wants to make a movie of Willie's story (he spent seven years in prison and was on death's row for a murder he didn't commit until Andy won his freedom in a retrial). Adam, a writer, is assigned to shadow Andy to get the background story. Andy's investigator and girlfriend, Laurie, went home for a high school reunion. She came back homesick and with a job offer and is considering moving home. Andy doesn't want her to go and it's breaking his heart.
This is the fourth book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it. I liked the writing style as it was funny, sarcastic and amusing. It was written in first person perspective in Andy's voice. It is the fourth in the Andy Carpenter series (and the fourth I've read) and it works as a stand alone (so you don't need to have read the first one to know what is going on).
I like Andy. He's smart and shifty and recognizes his weaknesses. He loves his dog, Tara, and thinks she's the most wonderful dog in the whole wide world. In addition to Laurie, Andy's team is made up of Kevin, his associate who also owns/runs a laundramat, and Marcus, an investigator with persuasive reasoning skills. He calls in favours from his friends, Vince, the editor of the local newspaper, and Pete, a local police officer.
Label(s): Books, Books - 2015, David Rosenfelt, Published 2006
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Execution of Jews in Jedlińsk
Kind of place before :
Number of victims :
Tadeusz S., born in 1929, says: «The Jews hid in the bushes near the canals. Poles brought them food. But, someone denounced them to the Germans who came and surrounded the bushes. However, they didn’t come close. They left some space to make the Jews believe that they could run away. But once the Jews started to run trying to escape the Germans fired and shot some of them dead on the spot. This happened at the time when other Jews had been already confined into the barracks.” (Witness N°699, interviewed in Jedlińsk, on June 13, 2017).
Polish Archives
“Franciszek C., a commander of a local police, participated in the killing of 56 Polish citizens of the Jewish origin in autumn 1943; took away their food and denounced to Germans the cases of illegal slaughter carried out by Poles, as a result of which, some of them were sent to the concentration camps where they died.” [RG‐15.180M,Sąd Apelacyjny w Kielcach (SAK)(Sygn.GK217), 1945‐1966; File 157]
Jedlińsk is a town located 90 km south of Warsaw. The first records about the Jewish community dates back to the 18th century. In 1827, 157 Jews lived in Jedlinsk, but by 1867 its population grew up to 267. According to the 1921 census, the Jewish community numbered 762, making up 50% of the town’s entire population. According to the testimonies of the local residents, only Jews and Poles lived in the town. The Jews were mainly shopkeepers. They sell groceries, textiles and meat. There was a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery. Before the German occupation, there were approximately 1,000 Jews in Jedlinsk.
Holocaust by bullets in figures
Jedlinsk was occupied in September 1939. Immediately after the occupation the Jews fit to work were taken to the forced labor throughout the district by the Germans. All the commercial activities were banned by 1940. A Jewish police and a Judenrat were created. The open ghetto was established in the spring of 1941 and numbered over 1,000 Jews from Jedlińsk and surrounding villages, such as Przytyk and Blotnica. However, according to one of the witnesses interviewed by Yahad, there were two ghettos, one was located on the Pocztowa street and another one- on the Warecka street. There were no guards around. All the Jewish inmates were forced to wear distinctive armbands in form of a Star of David. At the beginning of 1942, it was forbidden to leave the ghetto under threat of death. However, some Jews managed to escape and stayed in hiding. During 1942, several of them were caught and executed afterwards. The liquidation of the ghetto took place in the summer of 1942. During the liquidation aktion the majority of Jews was transported to Bialobrzegi ghetto and then to the Treblinka death camp. The remaining 68 Jews, mostly old and sick, were killed on the spot, in Jedlińsk. According to some sources, in December 1942, a labor camp for “Baudienst” was created, as well as a camp for the Jews. Some 2,000 Poles and Jews were detained there. It was liquidated in February 1944. Before the liquidation, in Autumn 1943, according to the Polish archives, 56 Jews from the camp were shot in Jedlińsk. Today there is no any memorial at the two killings sites identified by Yahad.
Wolska Dąbrowa
Dąbrowa Kozłowska
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'Hotel Del' greets the present with old-fashioned, genteel welcome
The Hotel del Coronado is a landmark in southern California, known around the globe. It was built in 1888.
ON APPROACH, the stately Hotel Del Coronado looks like a setting for "Masterpiece Theatre." It has that lofty look of an important location. Built in 1888 -- the largest wooden structure of its day --
Tourists pause to take a few photos of "the Del" and enjoy the view.
it is know affectionately as "the Del" by legions of fans and return guests around the world. The hotel has history, mystery and a VIP guest list to accentuate its elegance.
A proud landmark of San Diego, the hotel's history is inextricably linked to that of Coronado, referred to as "the island," by natives, but actually connected to mainland California.
When built, the hotel drew attention for its opulence and size. Designed as a Victorian seaside resort, it was large, impressive, grand.
Marilyn Monroe on the beach at the del
in 1957, filming "Some Like It Hot."
PLAYGROUND of the rich and famous, the Del has hosted crews and stars for the making of several movies. The most famous is the 1958 comedy "Some Like It Hot," the Billy Wilder classic. It starred Marilyn Monroe as the sultry but innocent member of an all-girl touring band. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon masquerade as women to escape the mob and -- suspend disbelief here -- the girls buy that they are female.
The setting is supposed to be Florida, but this southern California landmark stood in.
The Del's opulence includes ornate chandeliers.[
The Del's beauty and allure remain, a century plus.
Frank Baum loved the Hotel Del, here relaxing
with his family on the grounds.
JFK and daughter Caroline checking in.
At left below, the traditional winter ice rink.
Since its opening, "The Del" has been the place to stay for diplomats, actors, wealthy tourists, military brass. Frank Sinatra joined its centennial celebration in 1988. Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Ernest Hemingway and Burt Lancaster bunked there. In recent years, Ellen DeGeneres, Jack Nicholson and Oprah Winfrey checked in. Guests range from JFK and Ronald Reagan to royalty, inventors and rock stars.
Liberace is said to have been discovered playing piano in the lounge. Frank Baum, author of "The Wizard of Oz," spent months at the hotel, writing and reading to children. He designed the chandeliers still in the Crown Room, basing them on the crown worn by his "Oz" lion. The Del's most infamous guest is Kate Morgan, who registered under an alias on Thanksgiving in 1892, staying a few days. She killed herself on the steps near the ocean. Was she ill? Heartbroken over an ill-fated romance? Her third-floor room is often requested. People claim to see ghosts and apparitions there and in the gift shop and stairs.
PRICES HAVE gone up since the hotel opened, charging $2.50 for a room, meals included. The hotel cost only $1 million to build with various types of wood, using wooden pegs rather than nails. Today, a room can run upwards from $363 to a plush grand suite for over $1,000.
The property was part of a land grant, originally gifted to a Mexican family who sold it for thousands. The Blackstone Group sold its 63 per cent stake in the hotel for $210 million a few years ago. If you've a yen to get hitched at the Del, and invite 100 friends, figure to spend between $32,000 and $45,000 -- that's for ceremony and reception.
On the National Historic Register since 1977, the Del has become "the talk of the western world" as its founders envisioned. Elisha Babcock Jr. and Hampton L. Story dreamed that the hotel would become famous. So it has.
Michael Lewis Cusimano and Caitie Grady shine in "Once" at Lamb's
Players. Others in the stand-out cast include Manny Fernandes as Billy.
BEST BET: "Once," at Lambs Players Theater, is a terrific rendition of the popular movie. An unlikely couple finds romance through their mutual love of music. Set in an Irish pub, the always lively Lamb's Theatre company puts its all into creating a believable musical world where destiny may not mean being together forever. Wonderful ensemble work, spirited choreography, fine music and engaging characters make a wonderful theater experience. lambsplayers.org
The King Tut exhibition at California Science Center in Los Angeles
is a delightful and fascinating trip back in time -- 3,300 years ago.
UP NEXT: A wonderful show of artifacts found in the chamber of King Tut's tomb -- including the mummy of Tut himself -- is at California Science Center in Los Angeles. The marvels of the discovery are shared on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb in Egypt. Of 150 artifacts, 60 have never been outside Egypt. We take you there -- on a journey into a wealthy, flourishing society of 3,300 years ago. Remember to explore, learn and live and check out whereiscookie each Friday when we post a fresh new look at travel, the arts, nature, family and whatever else strikes our fancy.
Posted by Cookie at 4:59 PM
Labels: California's Best, Food and Wine, Hotels, Mental health, Personal History, Romance, Sailing, San Diego, Travel
San Francisco Celebrants June 16, 2018 at 10:40 AM
What wonderful memories....stayed at the Del as a young girl with my parents.....1960s....have reservation for our anniversary! Thanks for this early gift.
Houston History Buff June 19, 2018 at 5:29 PM
Fun place to stay, as we have a dozen times through the years. The restaurant has had its ups and downs and is again first class.
Pacific Palisaders June 19, 2018 at 9:55 PM
Long live the Del. She is part of southern California and our great architectural legacy. Good job sharing the story.
Gay Men's Chorus delights with concerts, projects,...
King Tut's Tomb: California Science Center celebra...
'Hotel Del' greets the present with old-fashioned,...
Old Town Trolley treats visitors and locals to uni...
Lively Jewish Arts Festival marks silver anniversa...
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HomeThe Vapors
Posts tagged: The Vapors
Throwback Thursday: 1980
Nineteen eighty wasn’t a game changing year on the US pop chart. It wasn’t 1964. It wasn’t 1991. For the most part it was music business as usual. The death of disco was greatly exaggerated. Just ask any member of Lipps, Inc., should you have any idea what any member of Lipps, Inc. looks like. Seventies hit makers stayed on the charts. Paul McCartney. Diana Ross. Stevie Wonder. Barbra Streisand. The Captain & Tennille did it to us one more time, it meaning having a hit single. A few outsiders snuck into the top 40 with sounds unlike the rest – Devo hit with “Whip It,” Gary Numan with “Cars,” and The Vapors with “Turning Japanese.” In the coming years more such weirdos would make their presence known.
While many of 1980’s hits were great singles, many classics were born outside of the mainstream. Releases such as Bob Marley & the Wailers’ “Redemption Song,” Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” Peter Gabriel’s “Biko,” Prince’s “When You Were Mine,” David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes,” and Funky 4 + 1’s “That’s the Joint” are often referred to as classics these days. In 1980, not a single one of them troubled the US Hot 100. Change was on its way. In 1980, rap wasn’t a fixture on the top 40, though its influence was heard in Queen’s #1 smash “Another One Bites the Dust.” The next few years saw #1 hits from Peter Gabriel, Prince, David Bowie and a rap song, plus a top ten reggae song.
Today’s Throwback Thursday playlist shines a spotlight on 1980.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-22-20)
Inspired by Earth Day and the April 22 birthdays of Glen Campbell, Ace/Mike + the Mechanics’ Paul Carrack, Peter Frampton, Von Bondies’ Jason Stollsteimer, silverchair’s Daniel Johns, Larry Groce, Jack Nitzsche, Lipps Inc.’s Cynthia Johnson, UTFO’s Mix Master Ice, Moose Jackson and Eddie Albert.
Top 30 New Wave Songs
by Glenn with No Comment playlists
My friend and fellow improviser Josh asked me to compile a playlist consisting of my thirty favorite new wave songs. This proved challenging, for what is new wave? As a genre there is no clear definition of the term. For some it’s any musical act from England that emerged between 1977 and 1985. For some it includes any band that wasn’t punk that played at CBGBs. For some new wave was defined by the way the synths or guitars were played. For others it was a look.
I decided to not get too caught up on a precise definition; otherwise, I’d make myself crazy. For example, initially I was hesitant to include songs by Cheap Trick, Cyndi Lauper, Kid Creole and the Coconuts and even Pet Shop Boys (the latter because the song I chose was a poppy number that hit in 1988), but then I decided a case could be made for each to be considered new wave.
I limited myself to one song per artist. The limitation imposed by using Spotify to create the playlist proved to not be so bad – only one song I would put in my top thirty is not on the service, that being Yoko Ono’s “Kiss Kiss Kiss.” I see some people writing Spotify thank you notes already.
Herewith are my thirty favorite new wave songs. Did I leave out any of your all-time favorites? Tell me in the Comments.
Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Michael Jackson: Sixty At 60
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Vertebrate animalsInvertebrate animals
AmphibiansArachnidsPoultryCatsInsectsMammalsFishreptiles
Aquatic animalsLand animalsFlying animals
Viviparous animalsOviparous animalsOvoviviparous animals
Herbivorous animalsCarnivorous animalsOmnivorous animals
Domestic animalsDangerous animalsWild animals
Published on July 2, 2019 - Last modified: July 2, 2019
The caterpillar is a invertebrate animal that belongs to the breeding of a butterfly o a moth. After 2-3 weeks it wraps itself in silk, forming a cocoon called a pupa. In this stage it remains for about 2 weeks. After that time, the caterpillar emerges looking so differently, and with wings. This entire process is known as metamorphosis.
Close-up of a caterpillar
2.1 Behavior
3.1 Distribution
4 Food
5 Predators
7 State of conservation
8 Relationship with humans
9 Popular culture
10 List of other interesting animals
10.1 Lizard
10.2 Common emu
10.3 Shrew
10.4 Polar fox
There are more than 20.000 different species of known caterpillars, as it is believed that there are thousands yet to be discovered because new butterflies or moths are still being discovered in regions where not many humans live.
The caterpillar varies in size, color and appearance according to the species to which they belong. The size ranges from 1 mm to 14 cm of some species. Certain caterpillars are brightly colored, while other caterpillars are totally the opposite.
They are soft, hairy and soft. Each caterpillar has a different appearance that seeks to deter predators and prevent them from being eaten. Different markings on a caterpillar can make it appear poisonous, more threatening (because of size), inedible, or camouflage itself by changing color depending on what they eat.
Other species of caterpillars are very toxic, especially those that live in the rainforest. Not all species are permanently toxic, since some are only so during their larval stage and cease to be after they stop being pupae.
Sometimes the larva of the sawfly is confused with a caterpillar but it has certain differences. These larvae lack prolegomena in the abdominal segments, hooks in the prolegomena, a pair of ocelli in the head capsule, and an absence of an inverted "Y" -shaped suture in the front of the head.
Certain caterpillars are shared in a certain way to avoid predators. Aside from their own defenses, as mentioned above, some caterpillars feed in protected environments, such as inside silk stalks, on rolled leaves, or by punching holes between the leaf surfaces. Others have elongated whip-shaped organs attached to the ends of the body that they use to scare away flies and predatory wasps.
Other species associate with ants for protection. They communicate through vibrations or chemical means, to pay for protection, the ants are rewarded with food. The family of butterflies Lycaenidae (lycene) practices this association.
Caterpillar camouflaged behind a leaf
There are also species that create communities that help reduce levels of parasitization and predation. The pine processionary caterpillar (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) It can be seen in large Indian lines (similar to a train) moving through the trees and over the ground.
Many caterpillars are nocturnal. Caterpillars of the family Noctuidae hide under leaves during the day and take heart at night. Other species, such as gypsy mothLymantria dispar) their activity patterns alternate depending on the density and the larval stage, with more diurnal feeding in the early stages and at high densities.
The caterpillar inhabits a wide variety of environments and depending on the species the habitat can change. They can be found in urban, humid areas, forests, deserts, grasslands, and rain forests.
The caterpillar is distributed throughout the world, in any area where there are forest areas.
The caterpillar varies its diet depending on its species, although most species are herbivorous. They feed mainly on leaves, silver and flowers. You can recognize the presence of a caterpillar by looking at the holes in the leaves.
Some caterpillars are carnivorous and eat a wide variety of foods. A kind of Hawaiian caterpillar, it anchors itself to a leaf upright as I wait to capture an insect.
Due to its small size, the caterpillar is the victim of many scrubbers. The main ones are birds, large insects such as wasps, and are sometimes hunted by small mammals and reptiles.
The caterpillar cannot reproduce until it has completed all stages of metamorphosis. If you are interested in knowing how a caterpillar is born you can see the animal file of the mariposa or moth.
As the caterpillar is not a species in itself, and there may be more than 20.000, a conservation status cannot be specified, but most of them are not in danger.
Relationship with humans
The caterpillar is considered a pest in most species as it makes its way through farm fields, leaving thousands of plants lifeless or inedible. The silkworm is a species that devours thousands of hectares of silk in China and is a big problem for the textile industry.
Approximately 12 families of moths or butterflies can cause serious problems for humans, as caterpillar hairs can contain venom, causing everything from urticarial dermatitis and atopic asthma to osteochondritis, consumption coagulopathy, kidney failure and intracerebral hemorrhage. Lonomy is the most common cause of poisoning in Brazil, with about 354 cases between 1989 and 2005, and with a fatality of up to 20% caused by intracranial hemorrhage.
Caterpillar hairs can cause serious problems for humans
Caterpillar hair also causes keratoconjunctivitis, produced by the affiliated barbs that contain the ends of the hairs. These barbs can be inserted into soft tissues or mucous membranes, which can be difficult to remove, causing a greater problem in the injury.
In some cultures, caterpillars are a rich food. In South Africa mopane caterpillars are eaten by the Bushmen and in China silk caterpillars are considered a delicacy.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, caterpillars have appeared to be feared for causing great plagues and were mentioned when they wanted to wish the sea on people.
In the past, the role of the caterpillar as a stage of metamorphosis was not widely accepted among scientists, since it was believed that insects generated spontaneously until in 1679, Maria Sibylla Merian published the first volume of Wonderful Transformation and Strange Floral Food from Las Caugas, which contained 50 illustrations and a description of insects, moths, butterflies and their larvae.
Butterflies were considered as symbols of the human soul since ancient times, and also in the Christian tradition. The metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly was a symbol, and even proof, of the resurrection of Christ. Since then, the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly in Western societies has been associated with countless human transformations in folk tales and literature.
In Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, a blue caterpillar reflects with Alice about the changes they will both undergo. The caterpillar will become a butterfly and she a woman.
List of other interesting animals
Common emu
Animal record
S / N
Morphology:
Hervíboro
Grams (Varies by species)
Average life:
Lifestyle:
State of conservation:
Type of skin:
Favorite food:
Promedia layer:
Peaceful forests and pastures
Predators:
Birds, wasps and mammals
Differences:
Long body shape and fleshy horns
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Justice Minister: Key to future of Europe is EU enlargement
The justice minister insisted that Brussels should stop practices that result in the alienation of member states.
EU enlargement
Justice Minister Judit Varga said the key to the future of Europe is the enlargement of the European Union and it must be understood that the Western Balkans are “a member of the European family” in terms of their geography, history and economy.
Attending the international forum “Dialogue on the Future of Europe: Is enlargement a key to the future?”, the justice minister insisted that Brussels should stop practices that result in the alienation of member states. “The time has come for welcoming new countries in our community and build a stronger EU based on stronger nations,” she told the conference organised by the foreign ministry and the Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law. Minister Varga called for accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia to be started without delay and for consultations with Serbia and Montenegro to be launched before the end of the year.
Olivér Várhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, said enlargement was the “EU’s strategic response to its own development”, adding that good relations with its neighbours were key to the EU’s future. The “European perspective” is an engine of consolidation in the region and contributes to more resilient countries and economic and social welfare, he said. “The EU can only become stronger if it fully integrates the Western Balkans… It was key that the new European Commission has declared enlargement a priority to break the impasse,” he said.
The EU has also developed an economic development plan which will pump 30 billion euros of funding into the region. The flagship projects will be in energy industry, transport, green energy resources and broadband networks, the commissioner said. The EU has also provided 3.3 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to the Western Balkans, he added.
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THE STORY OF: Lady Gaga's Meat Dress - 29Secrets
THE STORY OF: Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress
by Christopher Turner
Part of an ongoing series of 29Secrets stories, taking a deep dive into the history of legendary beauty products and iconic fashion moments…
Illustration by Michael Hak
By the time she stepped onto the red carpet at the 2010 VMAs, Lady Gaga was already one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, famous for her show-stopping performances, outrageous interviews and catchy bops. Another reason Gaga was almost permanently in the headlines during that time was her outlandish fashion choices, and that year’s Video Music Awards saw her stepping out in what was probably her most memorable outfit to date: the raw meat dress designed by Franc Fernandez.
Here is the story – and the political statement you might have missed – behind one of the most recognizable (and outrageous) celebrity outfits of all time.
On Sunday, September 12, 2010, Lady Gaga hit the MTV Video Music Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles for one of the biggest nights of her career. She had been nominated for a record 13 awards – a first in VMA history for a single year. At the beginning of the night, she arrived on the red carpet wearing an extravagant Alexander McQueen gown that featured a bejewelled collar and tulle underlay to give it plenty of volume. She also wore those impossible-to-walk-in Alexander McQueen Spring 2010 armadillo heels and a gold-feathered Philip Treacy hat. The look was truly exceptional.
It was the first of three outfits she would wear throughout the night; the second was a Giorgio Armani number. And her third and final outfit of the evening? A dress, hat, boots and purse all made of raw meat.
Lady Gaga didn’t perform that evening, but she was the top winner of the night: “Telephone” won Best Collaboration and “Bad Romance” won seven separate awards including Video of the Year, bringing her total number of moon persons to eight.
Before the nominees were announced for Video of the Year (by the one and only Cher), Gaga slipped backstage and changed into the raw flank steak ensemble, which was designed by Argentinian designer Franc Fernandez and styled by Nicola Formichetti, her long-time stylist. The dress, bag and even the tiny little beret that she slipped into were all made from Argentinian beef, bought from Fernandez’ butcher in Los Angeles.
Formichetti had approached Fernandez with the idea to create a statement dress for the VMAs, and it was planned out in the week prior to the awards. Fernandez specifically chose cuts to ensure that the asymmetrical dress with a cowled neck kept well.
The night of the awards, Gaga’s crew had the meat dress backstage in several coolers, and when Gaga came backstage before the Video of the Year announcement, Fernandez stitched her into the dress for the very first time. “I knew the dress would be one of other amazing pieces Gaga wore that night,” Fernandez said of his design. “It’s very well made and looked great on her, on and off camera. We didn’t get a chance to have a fitting. The only time she had it on was for the VMAs. Only when I saw it on the monitor did I know it would be big.”
MTV News reported that Ernesto Elias, who had accompanied Gaga to the award show, recalled her exiting her dressing room wearing a red dress. He noticed that the people around her began to stare at her and only then realized that the dress was not made out of a normal fabric.
Gaga returned to the audience wearing the dress until she headed up to the stage to collect her Video Of The Year award from Cher, commenting on stage: “I never thought I’d be asking Cher to hold my meat purse.” The audience went wild, and the following day so did the press.
Gaga kept the meat dress on after the awards show for press photos and an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Gaga explained her interpretation of the dress to DeGeneres, stating, “If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones.” DeGeneres, who was vegan at the time, later wrote, “Now, I love Lady Gaga, but as someone who also loves animals, it was really difficult for me to sit next to Lady Gaga while she was wearing that outfit, but it did make me ask myself, ‘What’s the difference between her outfit and an outfit made of leather?’”
Getting political
Speculations about the purpose behind the dress were as varied as they were wild, with a whole host of different people and organizations taking offence and PETA condemning the outlandish attire. However, Lady Gaga’s meat dress wasn’t just another attention-grabbing outfit: it was actually meant as a powerful political statement highlighting her distaste for the US military’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy. Gaga said the look referred to a speech she made, The Prime Rib of America, which urged the US military not to discriminate against gay men and lesbians who wanted to serve in the army. She said the law prevented the military from enjoying “the greatest cut of meat my country has to offer.”
“You saw the Prime Rib of America speech so you knew it was about equality, but nobody else knew that,” she told Stephen Fry in an interview for the Financial Times. “Everyone just saw pork. It wasn’t pork! It was prime rib and plain steak.”
Gaga’s political statement was mostly missed by the public and the press; they were far too fascinated with the actual meat dress.
Inspiration and appropriation
So what was the inspiration behind the dress? Speaking to Access Hollywood, Gaga revealed that her makeup artist, Val Garland, inspired her. “[Garland] wore meat in the ’70s to go out to parties,” she explained. Earlier this year, Garland herself shared how she created her meat dress in Australia, at a time when punk rock was at its absolute height. “I went to the butchers,” she told 10 Magazine. “I made myself hair out of sausages, I had steaks here [pointing to her chest] and I had them here and put leather through them to make a bra, and I had Viking bacon leggings.… I was dripping blood.”
However, between Garland’s and Gaga’s meat dresses, there was one more, which had been created by Czech-Canadian artist Jana Sterbak in the 1980s. Sterbak designed “Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic” in 1987, which looks shockingly similar to Gaga’s meat dress. Sterbak took raw flank steaks (50 pounds worth) and stitched them together for the dress’s debut at the National Gallery of Canada in 1987. “Vanitas” has been recreated since (in 1991 and 2011), and there were accusations that Gaga and her team were appropriating the meat dress, but ultimately Sterbak didn’t sue Gaga.
Outfit wasn’t thrown straight into the food recycling
Lady Gaga lent her meaty ensemble – boots and all – to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, which has had the outfit on display ever since in its “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power” exhibition.
“Right after the VMAs, the museum contacted Lady Gaga about the meat dress and the plan for the future,” according to Jun Francisco, the director of collections at the museum. “They agreed to send it to us, but at the time it was still raw meat. So we had to figure out – we went back and forth with ideas – and the thing we decided on was to preserve it like a beef jerky. So it’s taxidermied.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame paid $6,000 to taxidermist Sergio Vigilato to preserve the dress. It had been frozen following the VMAs, although Vigilato reportedly discovered signs of decomposition on the dress that had occurred prior to it being frozen, and noted it was emitting an odour once it was defrosted. It was treated with bleach, formaldehyde and detergent to kill any bacteria, and was reconditioned by being dyed dark red once it was preserved, to give it the same appearance as when first worn. However, after the preservation there were several pieces of beef left over and not included in the reworked dress.
And the plan for the future of this famous outfit?
“Nobody has tried anything like this before and so a lot of conservators have never experienced this,” Francisco said. “There was another meat dress in the past, but they actually let it rot. It wasn’t preserved at all. But this one is different since it’s now beef jerky – we’re assuming the lifespan of this dress is the lifespan of beef jerky! We’re looking forward to seeing what that’s like.”
So are we…I think.
Want more? You can read other stories from our THE STORY OF series right here.
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THE STORY OF: Patrizia Reggiani, Who Plotted The...
THE STORY OF: Britney Spears’ “…Baby One...
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Smith, Sir Keith Macpherson (1890–1955)
This is a shared entry with Ross Macpherson Smith
Keith Macpherson Smith (1890-1955), by unknown photographer, c1921
State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 16704 [detail]
Sir Keith Macpherson Smith (1890-1955) and Sir Ross Macpherson Smith (1892-1922), airmen, were born on 20 December 1890 in Adelaide, and on 4 December 1892 at Semaphore, Adelaide, sons of Scottish-born Andrew Bell Smith, station manager, and his wife Jessie, née Macpherson, born in Western Australia. In 1897 Andrew Smith became the manager of the Mutooroo Pastoral Co. and Mutooroo station, a property of some 3000 sq. miles (7700 km²). Both Keith and Ross were educated at Queen's School, Adelaide (as boarders), and for two years at Warriston School, Moffat, Scotland, their father's birthplace.
On returning to Australia, Ross joined the Australian Mounted Cadets and was selected in 1910 to tour Britain and the United States of America as a South Australian representative. He then joined the 10th Australian Regiment, the Adelaide Rifles. Before the outbreak of war in 1914 Ross was employed as a warehouseman in Adelaide for G. P. Harris Scarfe & Co. In August 1914 he enlisted as a private in the 3rd Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force, and on 1 October was promoted sergeant. He embarked for Egypt on 22 October and landed on Gallipoli on 13 May 1915. On 11 August he attained the rank of regimental sergeant major and was commissioned second lieutenant on 5 September. Invalided to England in October, he was promoted lieutenant on 1 March 1916 and three weeks later embarked for Egypt to rejoin his old regiment. With the 1st Light Horse Brigade, 1st Machine-Gun Squadron, his principal action occurred during the battle of Romani on 4 August 1916. In July 1917 he responded to a call for volunteers to join the Australian Flying Corps, the transfer taking effect on 4 August.
Keith's early career was different, yet both were to enter aviation within weeks of each other. Employed by Elder Smith & Co. in Adelaide on the outbreak of war, Keith was rejected for service with the A.I.F. on medical grounds. He underwent medical treatment and paid his own passage to England to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps. Accepted in July 1917 into the Officer Cadet Wing, he was posted in November to No. 58 Squadron, a newly formed bomber unit which left for France in January 1918. Keith, however, was not to see active service. On 24 February 1918 he was posted to No. 75 Squadron, a home-defence formation, as a gunnery instructor. On 1 April he was promoted lieutenant and spent the rest of the war in Britain with training establishments. He was placed on the unemployed list, R.A.F., on 5 November 1919.
In contrast, Ross's air war was most active. Qualifying as an observer in December 1916, and later as a pilot, he served mainly with No.1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps (No. 67 Squadron R.F.C.), a general purpose squadron flying a variety of aircraft in defence of the Suez Canal zone. In January 1918 it was re-equipped with the Bristol Fighter and designated a fighter squadron. As such the squadron was an important element of General (Lord) Allenby's 1918 offensive and took part in the overwhelming air attacks on the Turkish armies in the Wady Fara. By the end of the war Ross had twice been decorated with the Military Cross and three times with the Distinguished Flying Cross. Later he was to add the Air Force Cross for non-operational flying. The first Military Cross was awarded while Ross, still an observer, landed in the face of the enemy to rescue a fellow officer who had been brought down. Bombing and photography and air to air combats brought the other operational awards.
By the end of the war Ross had acquired considerable experience flying the twin-engined Handley Page 0/400 bomber which had been attached to the squadron. He had flown it not only on bombing operations in Palestine but also on long photographic flights. He was consequently selected to co-pilot the aircraft in a pioneer flight from Cairo to Calcutta, leaving Cairo on 29 November 1918 and arriving in Calcutta on 10 December. A tentative attempt was made from Calcutta to survey by sea an aerial route through to Australia. This was abandoned at Timor. Nevertheless the experience gained was of great benefit in the successful attempt later undertaken with his brother to fly from England to Australia within thirty days. The prize of £10,000 was offered by the Australian government for the first aviator to do so.
In a Vickers Vimy (a type similiar to the 0/400 bomber), supplied by the manufacturer, and with Keith as assistant pilot and navigator and accompanied by two mechanics, the attempt began from Hounslow, England, on 12 November 1919. Flying conditions were very poor and most hazardous until they reached Basra on 22 November. From Basra to Delhi, a distance of 1600 miles (2575 km), they spent 25½ hours in the air out of 54. A poor landing-area at Singora and torrential rain almost brought disaster on 3 December. Disaster again almost came at Sourabaya where the aircraft was bogged and had to take off from an improvised airstrip made of bamboo mats. By 9 December, however, they were at Timor, only 350 miles (563 km) from Darwin. The crossing was made next day and at 3.50 p.m. on 10 December they landed in Darwin. The distance covered in this epic flight was 11,340 miles (18,250 km). It took just under 28 days with an actual flying time of 135 hours at an average speed of 85 m.p.h. (137 km.p.h.). Both Ross and Keith were immediately knighted; Sergeants W. H. Shiers and J. M. Bennett, the mechanics, were commissioned and awarded Bars to their Air Force Medals, and the £10,000 prize money was divided into four equal shares.
The next proposal, to fly round the world in a Vickers Viking amphibian, ended in disaster. Both brothers travelled to England to prepare for the trip and on 13 April 1922, while Ross and his long-serving crew member Bennett were test-flying the aircraft at Weybridge near London, it spun into the ground from 1000 feet (305 m), killing both. Keith, who arrived late for the test flight witnessed the accident. Ross had not flown at all for many months and had never flown this type of aircraft. The investigating committee concluded that the accident had been the result of pilot error. The flight was abandoned. The bodies of Sir Ross Smith and Lieutenant Bennett were brought home to Australia and after a state funeral Smith was buried in Adelaide on 15 June.
Sir Keith Smith was appointed Australian agent for Vickers and retained the connexion with this British company until his death. Between the wars, however, Vickers took little interest in the small Australian market and despite Smith's efforts, there was no sale of aircraft until the arrival of the Viscount in 1954. One promising venture strongly supported by Smith in the early 1920s was to employ Vickers-built airships on Imperial air routes. A British airship had successfully crossed the Atlantic in July 1919, but projects failed to materialize. The British government changed and so did policy while the airship itself which had crossed the Atlantic, the R34, was destroyed in a sudden and violent storm.
Keith remained, however, possibly the leading Australian spokesman on aviation matters and travelled extensively on Vickers' behalf. He held firmly to the view that Imperial co-operation was vital in aviation and looked for complete standardization of British and Australian equipment. Superior American aircraft and British indifference were to defeat this aspiration. He was to become, however, vice-president of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, a director of Qantas and Tasman Airways and by the end of his career was in control of the many Australian-based Vickers companies. In World War II he was vice-chairman of the Royal Australian Air Force Recruiting Drive Committee and strongly supported the idea of an Empire air force. In 1924 Keith had married Anita Crawford of Adelaide who survived him when he died of cancer in Sydney on 19 December 1955. He had no children. He left an estate valued in two States at £33,723. Included in his will was a bequest of £100 to W. H. Shiers, the sole remaining crew member of the England-Australia flight. The Vickers Vimy flown on that occasion is displayed at Adelaide airport. Sir Keith Smith was buried near his brother, father and mother in the North Road Anglican cemetery, Adelaide.
The Sir Ross Smith Flight, Official Souvenir (1920)
F. M. Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps (Syd, 1923)
A. G. Price, The Skies Remember (Syd, 1969), and for sources
London Gazette, 11 May 1917, supplement, 26 Mar 1918, supplement, 24 Aug 1918, 8 Feb, 3 June, 26 Dec 1919, 1 Apr 1920
newsclippings and biography, Sir Ross Smith (Australian War Memorial).
Related Entries in NCB Sites
Smith, Ross Macpherson (brother)
John McCarthy, 'Smith, Sir Keith Macpherson (1890–1955)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-sir-keith-macpherson-8478/text14911, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 17 January 2022.
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
airline industry leader
defence forces personnel (British)
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To the UCSD Community:
"I want to share with you the announcement I made yesterday at the
Representative Assembly of the Academic Senate."
I suspect the issue of the Charter School has been as much on your minds as it has on mine. This is one of the most complex issues UCSD has faced in some time. It raises important questions about the role we should play in addressing problems that are beyond the traditional scope of our mission. It is incumbent upon all of us to think these questions through very carefully, for our response has significant implications for the future of the university.
After a year of extensive review and conflicting preliminary votes, the Academic Senate rejected the Charter School proposal placed before it by mail ballot. I accept that verdict and want to state unequivocally that I will not move forward with the proposed plan. Having said that, I also want to thank Cecil Lytle, Bud Mehan, and the others who spent so many hours developing the proposal, for placing before us the issue of UCSD's contribution to the early education of our community's youngsters.
Discussion of the proposed charter school plan is over. But the question of UCSD's role in the preparation of future university students remains urgently before us. I know that you, the members of the faculty, recognize its urgency, for despite the sharply divergent opinions voiced in Academic Senate reviews of the failed charter school proposal, I heard a remarkable consensus about its general goals. Almost unanimously, commentators stated their agreement that the university should reach out to the public school system and become more involved in efforts to enhance its effectiveness. The consensus was again expressed in the motion on outreach that was overwhelmingly passed by the Representative Assembly on May 6.
Today I ask you to reignite this commitment and join me in seeking fresh ideas for a UCSD initiative in preparatory public education. I envision a school or an academy of some kind that would serve as a hope for disadvantaged young people and a stimulus and model to schools around the county, as well as a symbol of UCSD's engagement with the future of San Diego. I have no preconceptions about the form this initiative would take. Its site might be on or off campus or both; it might involve partnership with an existing school or collaboration with another university; it might begin at the elementary school level. I insist only that it be a comprehensive, visible, UCSD-sponsored project designed to bring the possibility of academic excellence to promising but disadvantaged children.
The intensive approach I am calling for would not replace any of UCSD's successful outreach programs, which are indispensable to our shared goal of extending the university's impact on the preparation of future students as broadly as possible. Rather, a UCSD academy, school or partnership would form the keystone that links together and gives visibility to the array of programs through which UCSD contributes to educational efforts throughout the county. Together, the intensive and extensive approaches will enhance one another.
Let me make one final point before I describe my plan of action. I know that a worry many of you might have about the kind of initiative I am proposing concerns its effect on our primary mission at a time when we are still fragile from the enormous budget cuts of the recent past. Though I feel strongly that the objectives to be met are important for the university, for our children and for our community, I will not jeopardize the resources necessary to the university's teaching and research missions. I firmly believe that if we are successful in working with the community in creating a school or academy of some sort, new resources can be found to support this endeavor.
For all these reasons, I have asked Georgios Anagnostopoulos and Darrel Fanestil to join with me in appointing a joint Senate and Administration committee whose charge will be to take a fresh look at the university's outreach objectives and to develop a proposal for an intensive UCSD educational project for underprivileged children. The plan it develops should be ready for Academic Senate review in the fall and be put to a vote by next November. I assure you that I will not move forward with any plan for a school, partnership or academy without the formal approval of the faculty. But I am confident that among us we have the creativity and the commitment to fashion a proposal that we can all enthusiastically support. For the good of the university and the community and our collective future, we must find our way through these complex issues together. I truly believe that in pushing ahead we can come up with a plan that future generations will look back on as one of UCSD's finest ventures.
Robert C. Dynes
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13 & God
Review: Doseone’s G is for Deep
Doseone: G is for Deep (Anticon, 5/29/12)
“End&Egg”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Doseone_EndEgg.mp3|titles=Doseone: “End&Egg”]
If you’re looking for a crash course in left-of-the-dial avant-garde hip hop, there are few better places to start than the incredibly varied discography of Adam Drucker — better known as Doseone. As co-founder of the indie-hip-hop Anticon label and a member of Themselves, 13 & God, and Subtle, Drucker holds an indisputable prominence.
On G is for Deep — his first true solo release in five years — Doseone returns with a record that reaches in new directions while retaining all the unique characteristics that make his music unmistakable.
Review: Jel’s Greenball 3.5
Jel: Greenball 3.5 (Fieldwerk, 4/17/12)
“Ignition Key”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/11-Ignition-Key.mp3|titles=Jel: “Ignition Key”]
Knowing nothing about his sleeping patterns, Just looking at his discography, one would get the sense that producer / rapper Jel – born Jeffrey Logan — lives and breathes on beats alone; that for him, rest is but an afterthought. Ever since the 1997 formation of hip-hop duo Themselves, in which he appeared alongside Adam “Doseone” Drucker, the ever-prolific artist has been putting out multiple releases every year both under his own name and with other projects such as Subtle and 13 & God. Oh, and he co-founded LA-based indie hip-hop label Anticon. No big deal.
Q&A: Jel
Knowing nothing about his sleeping patterns, Just looking at his discography, one gets the sense that producer/rapper Jel (born Jeffrey Logan) lives and breathes on beats alone — that for him, rest is but an afterthought. Ever since the 1997 formation of hip-hop duo Themselves, in which he partners with Adam “Doseone” Drucker, the prolific artist has put out multiple releases every year either under his own name, with Themselves, with other projects such as Subtle and 13 & God, or as producer for other innovative rap artists such as Serengeti. Oh, and he co-founded LA-based indie hip-hop label Anticon. No big deal.
Guest Spots: Antonionian’s top forthcoming film scores
Antonionian: Antonionian (Anticon, 3/15/11)
Antonionian: “Into the Night”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/06-Into-The-Night.mp3|titles=Antonionian: “Into The Night”]
Antonionian, a.k.a. Anticon affiliate and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Dalyrmple, is known for his drumming and production work with Subtle, General Elektriks, and 13 & God. His solo-project name, Antonionian, is inspired by Italian cinema auteur Michelangelo Antonioni. In this piece, penned exclusively for ALARM, Dalrymple picks four upcoming film releases to watch and, more specifically, hear.
Four Forthcoming Film Scores
by Antonionian
1. Cosmopolis by Howard Shore
The general public might know him from the Lord of the Rings movies or, more recently, the Twilight series, but to me, Howard Shore‘s most compelling work has been in collaboration with director David Cronenberg. Starting with The Brood in 1979, Shore helped introduce the “body horror” genre with his dissonant orchestration and spooky synth washes. Videodrome and Naked Lunch wouldn’t be the surreal classics they have become without his otherworldly aural vision. I’m very interested to hear and see what the duo does with a Don Delillo adaptation. Info at www.cosmopolisthefilm.com.
MP3 Premiere: Antonionian’s “Into the Night”
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Handgonnes and cannons of the middle ages
Posted on August 23, 2012 by Peter
We could start this text by telling you about the Chinese origin of black powder, as can be found on dozens of pages on the web. But we won’t, because it’s not relevant. This article is about the use of handgonnes and black powder during the European middle ages, and that is a whole other thing. So we’ll start at black powder as a phenomenon.
In medieval Sweden gunpowder was called just “pulver”, wich translates into “powder”. There are quite a few old powder recipes still around, and the ones that suits our selected historical period
are referred to as, for example, Rouen, Lille, Rothenburg and Marcus Graecus. They all use the same ingredients, but the amounts differ. In the table below, they are compared to a modern “perfect”
gunpowder.
Tests made at the Middelaldercenter in Nyköbing, Denmark show a correlation between higher muzzle velocity and higher amount of salpetre. The ingredients were ground up and mixed, resulting in a so called dry mixed powder. This can be used as it is, but it will be more effective if mixed with alcohol, shaped into bars or pellets and then ground again, producing wet mixed powder or meal powder. The alcohol dissolves the salpetre, and lets the tiny sulphur crystals divide and evenly on the grains of charcoal, making the powder burn more even. It is important to note that there has
been some debate about the use of alcohol in medieval gunpowder, as distilled beverages is barely known at the time. However, sources speak of a “Henricus Brännewattnmakare” (Henricus, maker of burnt (distilled) water, meaning a producer of alcohol) in the city of Lund in the 1350’s, wich means that alcohol was in use at the time. If it was used to make gunpowder we do not know. Sulphur could be collected in volcanic areas in Iceland or Italy, while salpetre was produced by collecting dung and urine from livestock, and processing it, to extract the salpetre. Charcoal was abundant in medieval society.
Bössa?
The name of our group contains the word “Bössor”, and in modern Swedish “Bössor” means some sort of handgun like a rifle or shotgun. In the middle ages the term “bössa” (sg.)/”bössor” (pl.) is applied to both handgonnes and cannons. In other words there are two different types of “Bössor” in the fourteenth century, and it can be used as a very rough measurement regarding calibre and purpose; “Stenbössa” – firing stones, and “Lodbössa” – firing lead shot. The “Stenbössa” seems to stand for larger calibre – possibly a cannon, whilst the “Lodbössa” seems to have had smaller calibre – possibly a handgonne.
The projectile
The handgonne and the medieval cannon fired mainly lead shot (“lod”), stone balls, “grape shot” or arrows. The use of arrows is a bit peculiar – it doesn’t seem to have any obvious advantages in comparison to stone balls. One theory is that the cannon presented an alternative to the so called ballista (a siege engine for firing huge arrows), and that gunpowder was just another method of propelling the projectile. The lead shot was probably cast by the gunner himself, using a cast made of sand stone, soap stone or bronze – as there was no fixed system for calibre, each man had to provide for himself.
A mould for casting lead bullets. From the National museum in Helsinki
The grape shot (Swe: kartesch) , which turned the handgonne or cannon into sort of a shotgun, was used against people and animals (like war horses) at close range. Virtually anything could be used as grapeshot, but shards of flint seem to have been common, as the razor sharp flint shards inflicted massive damage. The grape shot could be free loaded, or put into a triangular container for bigger guns; the Museum of Medieval Stockholm displays some of these, found on a sunken ship. When fired, the walls of the “pyramid” fall away some distance from the muzzle, thus giving the grape
shot a longer effective range before it disperses.
15th-16th century grapeshot containers filled with flint
There is an ongoing discussion about the effectiveness of the medieval handgonnes. A lot of people claim the handgonne was a weapon with a mere psychological effect; that the smoke, sound and fire scared enemies, and that the weapon really didn’t have any tactical use. A battlefield is a horrifying place, with death, fear and suffering all over, and even if loud bangs, smoke and the smell of sulphur probably would increase the chaos and confusion, it wouldn’t make a whole lot of difference. Furthermore, soldiers would not have gone into battle time and again with a weapon they didn’t trust, and was just for “show”, a city would not have bought 500 of them, and the handgonne would not have developed into what it is today. Let’s take a closer look at what a handgonne is really doing.
One of the differences between the handgonne and other ranged weapons of the age is that arrows and crossbow bolts are that the latter do cutting damage, similar to knives or other edged weapons. They harm by puncturing or cutting organs and limbs. The area affected is small, about the size of the arrow head. This means that you have to hit a vital organ or nerve-centre to put an opponent out of action. There is more than one account of people continuing to fight even when pierced by several arrows. The handgonne on the other hand does kinetic damage. The projectile from a handgonne doesn’t pass through the target as easily as an arrow would, and this means it transfers more of its motive energy into what ever is being hit. The motive energy affects a larger area of an opponents body, as it sets the fluids and fat in the human organism in vibrating motion, which in quite a few instances can injure vital organs. How big an area affected depends of the velocity and weight of the projectile – the higher the weight and speed, the worse the effect.
The usual way to evaluate the damage done by modern firearms is to see how many joule of energy it transfers into its target. The higher the amount of transferred energy, the bigger the damage to the tissues of the body. Tests have shown that the energy transferred by a handgonne is about 1000 joule – a modern assault rifle transfers about 1100. Handgonnes also worked like a charm against the armour of professional soldiers and knights. As these were mainly adapted to cope with arrows and sharp weapons, the sheer power of a projectile from a handgonne would strike an unlucky target to the ground, and with great possibility severely injure him, or at least make him unable to continue the fight.
To have a closer look at how effective handgonnes really were, visit Ulrich Bretscher’s page about handgonnes.
Range and accuracy
Surely, the short barrelled handgonnes would not outshoot a longbow? Perhaps not. The above mentioned Middelaldercenter did some scientifically recorded test firing of a replica of the Swedish Loshultbössan in 2002. It was fired several times with different kinds of gunpowder, based on the recipes above. Also, some shots were fired with modern gunpowder. Different projectiles were used; the handgonne was loaded with 50g of gunpowder, and fired at an angle of 40 degrees. The range of the shots averaged between 600 metres up to 950 metres. Two shots travelled over a 1000 metres, with 1100 being the longest, using modern gunpowder. The muzzle velocity was between 150-250 metres per second. This shows that handgonnes could match longbows as far as range is concerned.
The accuracy of the early firearms might not be excellent, but not totally worthless either. According to Ulrich Bretscher’s experiments, an inexperienced hand gunner would score about 80% hits at a man sized target at a distance of 25 metres, but as the weapons fire a round projectile with the help of non consistent gunpowder from a short barrel, the conditions for marksmanship is limited at the least. The handgonnes, however, seems to have been used mainly in greater engagements, where the target was not an individual but a couple of hundreds in a unit. Even a blind shooter would probably hit someone in a unit of hundreds of spearmen.
From the early examples to later specimens
So what do we know about this? To be honest, not a whole lot, especially when we are talking about Scandinavia. This has a lot to do with a great fire in the seventeenth century, when the royal castle of Stockholm was burnt to ashes, along with a huge pile of medieval documents. This forces us to use sources from the rest of Europe. Applying theory, we might be able to get a decent picture.
We know that the Europeans have known about black powder since about 1260. Roger Bacon comments on it, but as far as he is concerned, it is only fit for amusement. He is possibly referring to fireworks. In 1326 the Italian city of Florence orders a manuscript (De Nobilitatibus, Sapientis, et Prudentia Regum), written by Walter de Milemete, said to be a member of the English clergy. The text is believed to be copy of an already existing volume, and shows the earliest known picture of a firearm. We see a gunner standing by a vase shaped gun lying on a table. This so called “pot-de-fer” cannon is loaded with an arrow projectile.
The earliest known European image of a firearm. Circa 1320
1334 cannons are involved in the defence of Meersburg in south west Germany. Next we hear of an English ship carrying guns in 1338. The battle of Crecy in 1346, also saw guns in action. The guns mentioned above, is with great probability cannons rather than handgonnes. In 1360 the Rathaus of Lübeck explodes, probably due to fault handling of gunpowder. Lübeck was a centre for mercenaries, and as all sorts of Germans, mercenaries and merchants, regularly travelled or even moved to Sweden, the use of gunpowder and it’s companion the handgonne, would have been well known in Scandinavia by the time of the Rathaus explosion. In 1362 the Italian city of Pergua purchase 500 handgonnes, giving us a trace to how many handgonnes were used. In the same year, Kristoffer, the son of the Danish king, Valdemar Atterdag, is struck in the jaw by a projectile believed fired by a handgonne, and dies from it the year after. Ten years later, handgonnes are mentioned in a Danish manuscript, and gunners are employed by the German city of Hamburg from at least 1360. 1395 firearms are first mentioned in Swedish sources, when the Swedes “borrow” a big gun from the Germans administering the castle in Stockholm.
Gun evolution
The first guns were cast in bronze. They were often vase shaped, and seems to have been used primarily in some sort of mount. They were fired by sticking a burning match or a piece of red hot iron in a priming hole or sometimes in the front end of the gun. Soon guns made of iron staves held together by iron hoops (much like an ordinary barrel) appear alongside the cast bronze guns. Welding is another known method of making guns – you “simply” take a sheet of iron and fold it into at tube, and weld the seams together. Smaller guns were mounted on wooden shafts and used more or less like rifles by “handgunners”. In England, these devices were referred to as “hand gonnes”. Some of these weapons was constructed with a hook, allowing the gunner to hook his weapon over a wall or the like, so that the recoil of the handgonne wouldn’t affect him. As some gunners operated single handedly, holding the gun with one hand and the match with the other, this support was surely appreciated. In the latter parts of the fourteenth century cannons with free chambers appear (called Föglare in medieval Swedish). This construction allowed a hugely increased firing rate, as pre-loaded chambers could quickly be inserted in the cannon. Another advantage was that the crew was not as exposed when reloading. Some evidence however, seems to point to these guns not being as reliable as muzzle loaded guns; they were more prone to explode.
1411 the first known triggers appear in sources. They are little more than just an s-shaped or z-shaped lever pivoting around its centre, not unlike crossbow triggers. When pressing the part under the stock, the upper part (holding the match) descends to ignite the primer, firing the handgonne. Some time later, the stock evolves from having been just a stick held under the arm or like a pike, with the end of the stock in the ground, or atop the shoulder, like a bazooka, into a “real” stock, made to hold against the shoulder. This model coexists with the earlier type. The barrels tend to get longer with smaller calibre.
The first known possible handgonne to survive to this day is the so called Loshultsbössan (the Loshult gun/cannon), found in the southernmost part of Sweden. It is a small 31 millimeter bore gun cast in bronze. It is dated to the middle of the fourteenth century, and has been extensively examined by Middelaldercenter i Denmark.
The Loshult gun. It is dated to circa 1340-1350. Note the similarity with the earliest known depicted cannon above
Another gun, Mörköbössan (The Mörkö Handgonne), found south of Stockholm, is dated to the last quarter of the fourteenth century.
The beautiful and unique Mörkö handgonne, dated to circa 1380-1400
A third Swedish handgonne, the Borgholmbössan, will soon be presented on this page.
How were gunners organized?
The above indicates that different forms of gunners have been around in Sweden/Scandinavia since the middle of the fourteenth century, but what it doesn’t tell us, is how common they were. They don’t appear in Scandinavian pictorial evidence until the beginning of the fifteenth century, on the brass of bishop Henrik of Finland (at the time, Finland was called “the Eastern half of the realm”, an integrated part of Sweden). We have a very vague idea of how gunners were organized, thanks to European sources; the most common seems to have been in groups, like bowmen.
Some examples: At the battle of Ravenspur 1471, 320 Burgundian gunners reportedly participated. John of Burgundy allegedly had 4000 handgonnes in his armoury, and at the battle of Stoke, the earl of Lincoln is said to have fielded 2000 handgonnes! In Scandinavia it is reported that Karl Knutsson in his campaign on Skåne, had enough gunners to organize them into one separate unit, marching under the flag of saint Erik, national saint of Sweden. Karl Knutsson is also reported to have brought “Wagon guns” (kärrebössor)on the above mentioned campaign.
The naming of guns
Christine de Pisan, a lady who wrote quite a bit on how war was to be waged in the early fifteenth century, clearly states the necessity of naming the guns and cannons. The reason for this, she claims, is that a commander would have a lot of different calibre guns to keep apart, and since the common soldier could not be trusted to remember calibres it was necessary to be able to refer to the gun by its name: “I would like Katrina placed over here, and Anna placed over there!”. The soldier would then know what gun was which, and what kind of ammunition would go with it.
The most famous guns in Sweden was “Diefulen” (“The Devil”) and “Diefuls Mater” (“The Mother of the Devil”), that protected the Stockholm Castle in the sixteenth century. The named handgonnes of Albrechts Bössor is named Örsdöder (Destrier killer), Keterlin Haverblast, Faule Agnes and Mathilda.
The other guns are yet to be named.
This article, written by Johan Käll & Peter Ahlqvist, was previously published on our old webpage.
This entry was posted in Articles and tagged 14th century, Archaeology, Arms, Borgholm, Bössa, Cannons, Handgonnes, Handkanon, Loshult, Mörkö, Stångbössa, Sweden, Warfare, Weapons by Peter. Bookmark the permalink.
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Updated: Jan. 17, 2022, 12:33 a.m.
Location: 葦北郡 (小田浦), N/A
Current AQI: 5.0
葦北郡 (小田浦) N/A, None: 32.347588, 130.504102
Jan. 16, 2022, 10 p.m. 5.0 ppb (5) 1.0 ppb (1) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 5.0
Jan. 16, 2022, midnight 8.0 ppb (8) 2.0 ppb (2) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 8.0
Jan. 14, 2022, 11 p.m. 15.0 ppb (15) 4.0 ppb (4) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 15.0
Jan. 9, 2022, 11 p.m. 9.0 ppb (9) 3.0 ppb (3) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 9.0
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Tag Archives: Morton’s
Feist in the flicks! Zann on the hustings! David Sedaris at Carnegie Hall! (uhhhh, wait a minute …)
NO BIZ LIKE SHOW BIZ: What do Dark Knight scene-stealer Cillian Murphy, pop music queen Leslie Feist and Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall? They all appear on screen in the Canadian Film Centre’s upcoming
FEIST: on film
Worldwide Short Film Festival, opening June 16 at special venues near you … Gallery 888’s 10th Anniversary Spring Fling & Ovarian Cancer Canada Fundraiser runs tomorrow, June 3, to June 21, with works from over 40 artists … Ingrid Bergman’s pre-Rossellini daughter, New York broadcaster Pia Lindstrom, celebrated her new Sirius XM radio show with a dinner at Morton’s in Manhattan … the buzz begins. YTV is all set to welcome a new comedy series this September, That’s So Weird. What’s really weird is that part of the team behind it cut their comedy teeth on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Corner Gas. As street cred goes, not too shabby. Stay tuned … and speaking of comedy, Double Exposure’s weekly podcast sends up Susan Boyle (of course!), Stephen Harper’s discovery of some shocking Michael Ignatieff tapes, and a new epicurean delight from Canada’s Governor General. To hear it, just click here.
ZANN: NDP runner
NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Gossip Girl heartthrob Chace Crawford has taken over the Kevin Bacon role abandoned by Zac Efron in Paramount’s forthcoming remake of Footloose … Lyndsy Fonseca has been added to the upcoming Hot Tub Time Machine (and yes, it’s a comedy) … Zach Braff will write, direct and co-star withCameron Diaz in Swingles (can you guess what it’s about?) … Rosario Dawson will be Kevin James’ love interest in The Zookeeper (ditto) … and when Nova Scotians go to the polls one week from today, don’t be surprised if they elect stage & screen charmer Lenore Zann to represent them. A staple of Canadian and U.S. TV movies and mini-series, and justifiably celebrated for her tour-de-force portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, the gifted actress from the Maritimes is the NDP’s candidate in Truro-Bible Hill, and the opposition is clearly concerned.
ZANN: as Marilyn
On the same day NDP Leader Darrell Dexter announced Zann’s candidacy in Truro, Liberals circulated a bare-breasted photo of Zann as she appeared in an episode of the cable TV series The L Word. Zann says her nude scenes have never been a secret and they have no bearing on her abilities as a candidate. As for Nova Scotia Liberals, she added, “I think it shows their desperation.” Me too.
SEDARIS: at Carnegie Hall
LITERATI: Toronto Star laugh-maker Linwood Barclay reads clues from his new mystery Too Close To Home tonight at the Toronto Reference Library … Joy Fielding reads from her new novel, Still Life, tomorrow night at North York Central Library … Tash Aw’s Map Of The Invisible World goes Luminato at the Al Green Theatre on Thursday June 11 … and Camille Paglia explains her three new Commandments, Break, Blow, Burn, in a three-part lecture series on June 16 at the ROM … who knew? I bought Judy At Carnegie Hall and purchased Rufus At Carnegie Hall but apparently I missed out on the really big one: David Sedaris At Carnegie Hall. And no, I am not making this up. You can buy it online at Indigo/Chapters for only $17.80 plus shipping. Sedaris, the best-selling author of such quirky gems as Me Talk Pretty One Day and When You Are Engulfed In Flames, has become a raconteur to reckon with. And if his Carnegie Hall ‘concert’ is anything like his on-camera stint a while back with David Letterman, it should truly be a CD to remember.
Posted in Actors, Authors, BOOKS, Gossip, Movies, Music, SHOW BUSINESS, Showbuzz, Stars, Television
Tagged 10th Anniversary Spring Fling & Ovarian Cancer Canada Fundraiser, Al Green Theatre, Break Blow Burn, CAMERON DIAZ, CAMILLE PAGLIA, CHACE CRAWFORD, CILLIAN MURPHY, Corner Gas, DARRELL DEXTER, DAVID LETTERMAN, David Sedaris At Carnegie Hall., Double Exposure, Footloose, Gallery 888, Gossip Gitl, Governor-General MICHAELLE JEAN, Hot Tub Time Machine, Indigo/Chapters, INGRID BERGMAN, JOY FIELDING, Judy At Carnegie Hall, KEVIN BACON, KEVIN JAMES, LAUREN BACALL, LENORE ZANN, LESLIE FEIST, Liberal Party of Canada, LINWOOD BARCLAY, Luminato, LYNDSY FONSECA, Mao Of The Invisible World, MARILYN MONROE, MICHAEL IGNATIEFF, Morton's, NDP, North York Central Library, Nova Scotia, Paramount, PIA LINDSTROM, ROSARIO DAWSON, Rufus At Carnegie Hall, Sirius XM, STEPHEN HARPER, Still Life, SUSAN BOYLE, Swingles, TAS AW, The Dark Knight, The L Word, The Zookeeper, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Too Close To Home, Toronto Reference Library, Truro-Bible Hill, Worldwide Short Film Festival, YTV, ZAC EFRON, ZACH BRAFF
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Boo Johnson: Just Having Fun
Alex Khatchadourian June 21, 2017
Boo Johnson’s technique is considered to be modern perfect. With the Long Beach-based skateboarder’s technical, powerful, and precise style fully developed, we’re all starting to realize that he’s got this whole life thing figured out; no worries, just living. Johnson’s got a big bag of tricks that he usually unleashes while wrecking rails and hubbas across Southern California—that is, when he’s not traveling abroad, which lately seems more often than not. Raw power, massive pop, and the ability to make it all seem so effortless. Johnson’s mixture of talent and hard work make him a force to be reckoned with.
And despite his 330K Instagram followers and high-level sponsors—Diamond, DGK, Grizzly Grip, Gold, Weedmaps—Johnson is a pretty unassuming guy. Over the years it’s become clear that no one dislikes him, which is a hard thing to say about anyone in the skateboard industry. The saying that goes, “If you have haters you’re doing something right,” just doesn’t seem to apply to Johnson. He’s the first one to stand up and introduce himself in a group, and refuses to let his continued success and widespread popularity deter him from being who he is and just having fun.
“At the end of the day it’s all love. That’s all we have out here,” says Johnson. “We only live one life. Once you’re out, you’re out. Live life and meet as many good people as you can.”
Johnson’s unflinchingly optimistic personality and outlook on life has acted as one of the main impetuses for the things he’s already achieved and those that he hopes to attain. Recently, the Long Beach-based skater took on a new role outside of just being a skateboarder: A business owner. Just Have Fun started as a crew in Johnson’s hometown. His homie Ryan actually made up the motto and original logo after going through a period of getting frustrated at the skate park. “He was one of those dudes that would get frustrated with his board, throw it and then break it. There are kids at the park that might need a board and they were seeing him doing that kind of stuff. He was on the mindset like, ‘Hold up, I need to switch things up.’ He just started this little skate crew, and it was called Just Have Fun.”
Now, the simple saying has become the basis for Johnson’s new brand, which originally put out a small batch of dad hats, but has since rolled out an array of shirts, hoodies, jackets, hats, pins, and a duffle bag all embellished with three straightforward words: Just Have Fun. They are three words that the once young skater from Tehachapi, California has not only carried with him on his journey to the top, but also that he has been able to embody on a daily basis.
“When I wake up in the morning I’m like, ‘Let’s get it, let’s’ just have fun today. Making sure the vibes are good always; it’s just a lifestyle I want to live and push out to the world.”
Read our full feature with Boo Johnson in issue 11 out June 24th. For more from Boo follow him on Instagram.
All photos taken by Kris Evans.
Boo JohnsonDGKDiamond SupplyGrizzly GripJust Have FunKris EvansLong BeachskateboardingSouthern CaliforniaWeedmaps
Briana King is Living Her Damn Life
Alex Khatchadourian February 27, 2019
Accidentally Tragic: Jerry Hsu’s New Book of Cell Phone Pics, “The Beautiful Flower is the World”
Alex Khatchadourian April 5, 2019
Mad Hawkes’ Funky New Track Is Sure to Be Your “Fantasy”
Sibling Rivalry: Skateboarding & Punk Rock’s Intertwined Narratives
amadeusmag March 20, 2018
Mario Ayala: A Culmination of History, Tradition, Personal Narrative and Newfound Community
The A’Mazing Eric Eckert
amadeusmag July 2, 2015
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High Street, Bristol, Rhode Island, 1907-1914
National Trust Library Historic Postcard collection | Geographical Postcards -- United States, 1893-1970 | Rhode Island, 1900-1920 | Rhode Island -- Bristol | High Street, Bristol, Rhode Island, 1907-1914
High Street, Bristol, Rhode Island, 1907-1914, ntl-021321. Special Collections and University Archives.
High Street, Bristol, Rhode Island, 1907-1914, ntl-021321. Special Collections and University Archives. https://archives.lib.umd.edu//repositories/2/digital_objects/22277 Accessed January 17, 2022.
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Isaiah and Martha Lang papers
Collection 0096-MDHC
Finding Aid View
Box List
This collection consists of the correspondence and business records of Isaiah S. and Martha Lang, New Hampshire farmers. It includes significant groupings of letters from Isaiah Lang's uncle, David M. Sanborn, a Baltimore physician, and from relatives farming on the Minnesota frontier. The letters from Sanborn are especially interesting in light of their particular references to economic and social conditions in a "border state" immediately before and during the Civil War.
Use and Access to Collection
This collection is open for research.
Duplication and Copyright Information
Photocopies of original materials may be provided for a fee and at the discretion of the curator. Please see our Duplication of Materials policy for more information. Queries regarding publication rights and copyright status of materials within this collection should be directed to the appropriate curator.
0.50 Linear Feet
The Isaiah S. and Martha Lang papers span the period 1858 to 1928 and consist of correspondence to Isaiah and Martha Lang from various relatives and a small amount of business records. Approximately one-half of the correspondence is from Isaiah Lang's maternal uncle, David M. Sanborn. All the Sanborn correspondence was written from Maryland locations, including Baltimore City, Marriottsville (Howard County), and Hanover (Howard County). In his letters, Sanborn calls himself an abolitionist, although he mentions Eliza, a woman he enslaved, several times. Federal Census records show that in 1860 Sanborn enslaved a 38 year old woman; however, it is not certain if Eliza and the woman recorded in the Census are the same person or if these were two separate women Sanborn enslaved. He also discusses economic and social conditions in Baltimore during the Civil War.
Additional correspondents of the Isaiah and Martha Lang include relatives who moved to the frontier area of Minnesota: Ann Jane Campbell, A. E. Clay, Elizabeth Clay, James P. Clay and Ursula Stone. These letters contain economic and domestic information about frontier farming in Minnesota. A teacher friend, W. A. Worthen, of Laurel, Maryland also wrote several letters to Isaiah Lang describing his new life in the "South" and providing information about Isaiah Lang's uncle, David M. Sanborn.
Isaiah Sanborn Lang, a farmer, was born in 1823 and lived in Candia Village, New Hampshire. Isaiah Lang married Martha Ladd in 1848, and they had several children. During the 1860s, he farmed the old family homestead with its "stony" ground, while many of his relatives moved to the Minnesota frontier, where one wrote that the "soil is deep and rich - there are no stones and the land don't need manureing." Isaiah Lang's farming activities included raising sheep and making maple syrup. He was also involved in selling real estate and preparing tax returns.
Isaiah Lang corresponded with many of his relatives, particularly cousins and his maternal uncle, David Marston Sanborn of Baltimore, Maryland. Sanborn was born in New Hampshire in 1801 and became a physician after graduating from Bowdoin College. His first wife, Esther, died in the late 1850s. They had one daughter, Martha Sanborn Hood. In 1863, Sanborn married a twenty-year old woman, Amanda Jester, forty years his junior. After several years, they drifted apart, and Jester spent prolonged periods of time with her family in Delaware. Sanborn was a landowner in Baltimore City and Howard County, owning at one time five houses in the city and two farms in Howard County. Federal Census records show that in 1860 Sanborn enslaved a 38 year old woman and in his letters, he writes of Eliza, a woman he enslaved; however, it is not certain if they are the same person or if these were two separate women he enslaved. He died after a prolonged illness on July 24, 1873 and was interred at Elkridge Landing.
Before David M. Sanborn's death, he turned over the deeds and title to everything he owned to Isaiah S. Lang, and named him executor of his estate. When Isaiah Lang arrived in Baltimore, Sanborn's widow and daughter thought that he had come to help them with the affairs of the estate. They were surprised to learn that Isaiah Lang intended to assert his claim and dispose of the property. Amanda Jester Sanborn and Martha Sanborn Hood hired an attorney who brought suit against Isaiah Lang on behalf of Amanda Jester Sanborn and Martha Sanborn Hood asking that the deeds be declared invalid and that the doctor's property be restored to his widow and daughter. In February 1874, the Circuit Court of Baltimore City handed down a decree denying the claims of Jester Sanborn and Sanborn Hood upon the estate of Dr. David Sanborn. Justice Pinckney expressed his condemnation of Dr. Sanborn's acts but went on to say that the deeds were bona fide and within the law and were therefore valid. This decision was appealed to the Maryland Court of Appeals. On July 1, 1874, the Court of Appeals of the State of Maryland, after having read the proceedings of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City and hearing the arguments of both attorneys, overturned the decision of the lower court (Court of Appeals of Maryland 41 Md. 107; 1874). They found that a husband could strip himself and his wife of all his possessions at will but he could not do so with the sole and fraudulent intent to deprive her of the property and to keep her from his estate.
Isaiah Lang died in 1904.
The collection is organized as two series.
Custodial History and Acquisition Information
The University of Maryland College Park Libraries purchased the Isaiah S. and Martha Lang papers from Carmen D. Valentino in 1989.
Digital copies of the letters in this collection are available at http://digital.lib.umd.edu/ in the University of Maryland's Digital Collections.
Information about the court case between Amanda J. Sanborn and Isaiah S. Lang may be found in Maryland. Court of Appeals, Reports of cases argued and determined in the Court of Appeals of Maryland. Baltimore, Md.: John Murphy, 1869-1950. Citation: 41 Md. 107; 1874.
Two series have been created from the papers. All envelopes have been discarded. Paper clips have been removed and replaced with plastic clips. The materials have been put into acid-free folders in an acid-free box.
Agriculture -- Minnesota -- History -- Sources
Agriculture -- New Hampshire -- History -- Sources
Baltimore (Md.) -- Economic conditions -- History -- Sources
Baltimore (Md.) -- Social conditions -- History -- Sources
Farmers -- Correspondence
Maryland -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
Guide to the Isaiah and Martha Lang papers
Processed by Jonathan Jeffrey.
Revision Statements
2003-01: Revised by Jennie A. Levine.
2007-04-15: EAD markup checked and verified using JEdit software by Jennie A. Levine.
2017-07-17: Finding aid checked and verified following ArchivesSpace migration by Nancy Harrison Gage.
2018-04-03: Finding aid reviewed and minor edits made by Caitlin Rizzo.
2021-05-04: Hannah Frisch added information to the scope and content and family history notes about David M. Sanborn's history as an enslaver. She also made minor updates to language regarding enslavement and gender.
Search Within Collection
Isaiah and Martha Lang papers, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.
Isaiah and Martha Lang papers, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries. http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1250 Accessed January 17, 2022.
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Subfonds - Joseph Wood files
Records of Individual Staff Members
Joseph Wood files
WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-20
16.38 linear feet of textual records
Individual Staff Members -- Wood, Joseph
Joseph Wood was educated at Yale, the University of Munich, and Oxford before joining the World Bank in 1968. Wood would eventually serve as the Bank's Regional Vice President for South Asia (SAR) between 1991 and 1997. However, before gaining this position, he held a variety of other roles in the Bank, including: Economist in the East African Department (EAFEA), September 1968 to May 1971; Economist in the East Africa Field Office (EPMEA), May 1971 to January 1972; Economist in the Development Finance Companies Director's Office (DFCDR), February 1972 to January 1974; Division Chief in the Programming and Budget Department Financial Analysis Division (PABFA), April 1974 to March 1976; Assistant Director in Programming and Budget Department Office of the Director (PABDR), June 1976 to March 1979; Director Financial Policy and Analysis Department (FPADR), August 1980 to May 1983; Vice President Financial Policy, Planning, and Budgeting Vice Presidency (FPBVP), September 1983 to May 1987; and Vice President ofthe Financial Policy and Risk Management Vice Presidency (FPRVP), July 1987 to May 1991.
Wood became the Regional Vice President of the South Asia Region (SASVP) in December 1991 and held the position until February 1997. Wood then served briefly as the Senior Adviser to the Office of the President Development Effectiveness Unit (EXCDE) and Senior Adviser to Development Effectiveness Unit (DEU) before retiring from the World Bank in 1998. Subsequently, he was retained as a consultant for the Managing Director Operations Quality Assurance Group (MDOQA) in 1999, and the Quality Assurance Group (QAG) in 2000.
Records were transferred from the SASVP to the World Bank Group Archives using approved records retention and disposition schedules.
This sub-fonds consists of the records generated by Joseph Wood in numerous positions at the World Bank. Included are subject and activity files from when Wood served as Division Chief and later Assistant Director for the Programming and Budget Department Office (PAB). Subject and activity files are also included for Wood's role as the Vice President for the Financial Policy, Planning, and Budgeting Vice Presidency (FPBVP), and Vice President for the Financial Policy and Risk Management Vice Presidency (FPRVP), the successor to FPBVP. Chronological correspondence files are also included for his time in FPBVP and FPRVP, and for when Wood served as Vice President for the South Asia Region (SASVP).
Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.
See Records of the South Asia Regional Vice Presidency, (WB IBRD/IDA SAR).
See Records of the Chief Financial Officer (WB IBRD/IDA CFO).
See Resource Mobilization fonds (WB IBRD/IDA CFOP).
See Financial Planning, Policy, and Budgeting (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_110).
Inventory List PDF
Inventory List CSV
Individual Staff Members -- Wood, Joseph (Creator)
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University Archives Holdings Fine Arts and Applied Arts University Bands 505th Air Force Band of the...
505th Air Force Band of the Midwest Records (Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul, Illinois), 1918-1993 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Title: 505th Air Force Band of the Midwest Records (Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul, Illinois), 1918-1993
Series Number: 12/9/146
Acquired: 12/10/2015.
Predominant Dates: 1963-1985
Organized in four series: Series 1: Scrapbooks (1957-1991), Series 2: Photographs (1918-1992), Series 3: Administrative Records and Sound Recordings (1918-1991), and Series 4: Baton, Drumsticks and Band Uniform. Series 1 is organized into three subseries: Subseries 1: Historical Scrapbooks (1957-1987), Subseries 2: Concert Programs (1963-1991), and Subseries 3: Photographic Scrapbooks (1960-1991), all arranged by volume number. Series 2 is arranged by either music ensemble or subject with photographic prints listed first, followed by slides and negatives. Series 3 and 4 are arranged by type of records or subject.
505th Air Force Band of the Midwest (1941-1991)
The 505th Air Force Band of the Midwest, a multi-faceted military band, was constituted September 24, 1941 and formally activated October 1, 1941 as the Air Force Band, Chanute Field, Illinois (later Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois). The band traces its origin to an unofficial post band founded at Chanute in 1918. It was first designated as the 5th Army Air Forces Band on August 10, 1942 and re-designated multiple times, finally becoming known as the 505th Air Force Band of the Midwest on September 26, 1947. More information on the band's designations and activation records can be found in Series 1, Box 1, Folder 1. Operating for nearly 50 years, the unit was disbanded as part of a reduction in the number of Air Force bands and ahead of the closure of Chanute Air Force Base in 1993. The 505th Air Force Band began as a 45-member unit, and was later downsized to 35 members. Large ensembles consisted of a concert/symphonic band, a ceremonial band, a marching band, as well as a big band-style jazz band, The Pacesetters (initially known as The Highknights). Several chamber music ensembles included the Lincoln Land Brass Quintet (or brass ensemble), a woodwind quintet and a clarinet quartet. The 505th also featured several different pop/rock bands throughout its history, including Horizon, Thyme, and Solo Flight. Well-known throughout the Midwest, the band in its various configurations and ensembles frequently gave concerts and participated in community festivals, parades, school assemblies, educational programs throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, also performing in Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Kentucky. The band and its ensembles produced a number of albums the most notable of which is an album featuring The Pacesetters with Dizzy Gillespie from the 1983 Wisconsin Jazz Festival in Fond du Lac. The final performance of 505th Air Force Band of the Midwest was at the Champaign County 4th of July Freedom Celebration on June 27, 1991 under the direction of Commander Allen C. Sierichs. The 505th Air Force Band of the Midwest's records were previously held by the Chanute Air Museum (1994-2015), received in 1998 following closure of the base. The records were transferred to the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in December of 2015 after the museum closed.
Air Force Band of the Midwest (U.S.)
Big bands
Chanute Air Force Base (Ill.)
Chanute Field (Ill)
Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-1993
Marching bands
Military Bands
Chanute Air Museum
Acquisition Note: Gift
Related Materials: The historical records documenting the general operation of the Chanute Air Force Base were transferred to the Champaign County Historical Archives in May of 2015. These records include blueprints and maps, base publications, oral histories, aerial photographs of the base, subject files, photographs, scrapbooks and video recordings. In addition some records were also transferred from the Chanute Air Museum to the National Museum of the United States Air Force located in Dayton, Ohio.
Archives Research Center, 1707 S. Orchard Box 01-03
Offsite: Prior notice required Box 13
Description: Consists of scrapbooks; color and black and white photographic prints, negatives, slides and contact sheets; correspondence and administrative records; newspaper clippings; concert programs; awards; and sound recordings documenting the general operation and performances of the 505th Air Force Band's different music ensembles between 1957 and 1991, and the band's reunion concert in 1993. Of particular importance is a 1983 album featuring the unit's jazz band, The Pacesetters, performing with Dizzy Gillespie and recorded live at Wisconsin's Fond du Lac Jazz Festival (see Series 3, Box 11). In addition the records also include a copy of a newspaper article and a photographic print ca. 1918 of an early Chanute Field band which the 505th Air Force Band of the Midwest traces its origin.
Access Restriction: No restrictions
Series 1: Scrapbooks, 1957-1991
Series 2: Photographs and Negatives, 1918-1992
Series 3: Administrative Records and Sound Recordings, 1918-1991
Series 4: Baton, Drumsticks and Band Uniform, ca. 1980s
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University Archives Holdings President Selim H. Peabody (1880-1891) Land Tax Receipts
Land Tax Receipts, 1869-1893 | University of Illinois Archives
Title: Land Tax Receipts, 1869-1893
Series Number: 2/2/11
Acquired: 6/1/81
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Office of the University President
The President is the principal administrative officer of the University and a member of the faculty of each college, school, institute and division.1 The original charter designated the chief executive officer of the university as regent but this title was changed to President in 1894.2 The President is elected by the Board of Trustees and is responsible to them for the operation of the university.3 The President prepares budgets for presentation to the board, recommends persons to the Board for appointment to University positions, and is responsible for the enforcement of the rules and regulations of the University.4 On recommendation of the appropriate Senate and by authority of the Trustees, the President issues diplomas conferring degrees.5
This unit covers:
2/0 Reports of the President
2/1 John M. Gregory, April 1, 1867 - June 9, 1880 (Effective September 1,1880)
2/2 Selim H. Peabody, July 27, 1880 (Pro tempore) March 9, 1881 - June 10, 1891 (Effective September 1, 1891)
2/3 Thomas J. Burrill, August 7, 1891 - 1894 (Acting) April 1, 1904 - August 26, 1904 (Acting)
2/4 Andrew S. Draper, April 13, 1894 (Took office August 1, 1894) - April 1, 1904
2/5 Edmund J. James, August 26, 1904 - March 3, 1920 (Effective September 1, 1920)
2/6 David Kinley, September 1, 1920 - July 1, 1930
2/7 Harry W. Chase, July 5, 1930 - January 25, 1933 (Effective July 10, 1933)
2/8 Arthur H. Daniels, July 11, 1933 - June 30, 1934 (Acting)
2/9 Arthur C. Willard, July 1, 1934 - June 30, 1946
2/10 George D. Stoddard, July 1, 1946 - August 31, 1953
2/11 Lloyd Morey, September 1, 1953 (Acting) February 1, 1954 - August 31, 1955
2/12 David D. Henry, September 1, 1955 - August 31, 1971
2/13 John E. Corbally, Jr., September 1, 1971 - August 31, 1979
2/14 Stanley O. Ikenberry, September 1, 1979 ?
1. University of Illinois Statutes, July 18, 1979, Section 2, p. 3.
2. Board of Trustees Transactions, 17th Report, August 1, 1894, p. 269.
5. Ibid., p. 3-4
Music -- Minnesota
Trustees, Board of
Room 146 Main Library, Prior Request Preferred 1-
Description: Land Tax Receipts including county treasurers' receipts for payments of taxes on land in Minnesota and Nebraska owned by the university, filed with University Treasurer, John W. Bunn; bills of sale and correspondence between county officials, university agents, and John W. Bunn relating to university lands and reports of meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Industrial University (1884 - June, 1885) and the University of Illinois (1885-1893) relating to university budgets, building programs, enrollments and curriculum and landholdings.
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Renewed Great Power Competition: Implications for Defense: Issues for Congress (R43838)
Renewing our hope : essays for the new evangelization
Author: Barron, Robert,
Renewing our rivers : stream corridor restoration in dryland regions
Renewing the house : Trajectories of social life in the yucayeque (community) of El Cabo, Higüey, Dominican Republic, AD 800 to 1504
Rent Is Still Due: America's Renters, Covid-19, and an Unprecedented Eviction Crisis: Virtual Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance of the Committee on Financial Services, House of Representatives, One Hundred S
Rent-a-bank schemes and new debt traps : assessing efforts to evade state consumer protections and interest rate caps : hearing before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, second session, February 5, 2020.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Financial Services,
Rente im Dritten Reich Die Reichsversicherungsanstalt für Angestellte 1933 bis 1945
Reopening K-12 schools during the COVID-19 pandemic : prioritizing health, equity, and communities
Reorganization of Executive Departments, Part 1 Overview: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, Ninety-Second Congress, First Session
Reorganization of Executive Departments, Part 2 Department of Community Development: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, Ninety-Second Congress, First and Second Sessions
Reorganization of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Hearing before the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation on reorganization of the Internal Revenue Service, House of Representatives, Eighty-third Congress, first session, on testimony of the Secre
Reorganization of the Government Agencies: Hearings before the Select Committee on Government Organization, United States Senate, Seventy-Fifth Congress, First Session on S. 2700, August 2-7, 9-12, 1937
Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1949 Providing for a Department of Welfare
Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1949 Providing for a Department of Welfare, Individual Views
Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1949 Providing for a Department of Welfare, Minority Report
Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1950, Providing for Reorganizations in the Department of the Treasury, Report Together with the Minority Views
Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1950: Hearings before the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, United States Senate, Eighty-First Congress, Second Session on S. Res. 246 and S. Res. 247, April 11 and 12, 1950
Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1952 (Bureau of Internal Revenue): Hearings before the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, House of Representatives, Eighty-Second Congress, Second Session
Reorganization Plan No. 10 of 1950, Providing for Reorganizations in the Securities and Exchange Commission
Reorganization Plan No. 11 of 1950, Providing for the Reorganization of the Federal Communications Commission
Reorganization Plan No. 12 of 1950, Providing for the Reorganization of the National Labor Relations Board
Reorganization Plan No. 12 of 1950: Hearings before the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, United States Senate, Eighty-First Congress, Second Session on S. Res. 248, April 4, 5, and 6, 1950
Reorganization Plan No. 13 of 1950, Providing for Reorganization in the Civil Aeronautics Board
Reorganization Plan No. 14 of 1950, Coordination of the Administration of Labor Standards
Reorganization Plan No. 15 of 1950, Transferring the Functions of the General Services Administration Relating to Public Works in Alaska and in the Virgin Islands to the Department of the Interior
Reorganization Plan No. 16 of 1950, Transferring the Functions of the General Services Administration Relating to Assistance to Local School Districts and Water Pollution Control to the Federal Security Agency
Reorganization Plan No. 17 of 1950, Providing for Transfer of Advance Planning of Non-Federal Public Works and the Management and Disposal of Certain War Public Works
Reorganization Plan No. 18 of 1950, Building and Space Management Functions
Reorganization Plan No. 19 of 1950, Transfer of Employees' Compensation Functions from Federal Security Agency to Department of Labor
Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949, Transferring the Bureau of Employment Security
Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949, Transferring the Bureau of Employment Security, Minority Views
Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1950 Providing for Reorganizations in the Department of Justice
Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization, Research, and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, Ninety-Third Congress, April 12, 13, and 26, 1973, Part 1
Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization, Research, and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, Ninety-Third Congress, June 1 and 4, 1973, Part 7
Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization, Research, and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, Ninety-Third Congress, May 14, 1973, Part 2
Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization, Research, and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, Ninety-Third Congress, May 31 and June 1, 1973, Part 6
Reorganization Plan No. 20 of 1950, Transferring of Functions from the Secretary of State and the Department of State to the Administrator of General Services
Reorganization Plan No. 21 of 1950, Providing for Abolition of the Maritime Commission and the Transfer of Its Functions to the Department of Commerce
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An Act to Amend Section 442 of Title 18, United States Code, to Exempt Certain Interests in Mutual Funds, Unit Investment Trusts, Employee Benefit Plans, and Retirement Plans from Conflict of Interest Limitations for the Government Publishing Office.
Author: United States,
An Act to Amend Section 6 of the Joint Resolution entitled, A Joint Resolution to Approve the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Act of August 4, 1947 (Commonly Known as the Stigler Act), with Respect to Restrictions Applicable to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act to Extend the Deadline for a Report by the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, to Establish a Congressional Budget for Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021, to Temporarily Suspend the Debt Limit, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 to Authorize the Provision of Payment to Personnel of the Central Intelligence Agency Who Incur Qualifying Injuries to the Brain, to Authorize the Provision of Payment to Personnel of the Department of State Who Incur Similar Injuries and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Communications Act of 1934 to Provide for Enhanced Penalties for Pirate Radio, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to Reform the Procedures Provided under Such Act for the Initiation, Review, and Resolution of Claims Alleging that Employing Offices of the Legislative Branch Have Violated the Rights and Protections Provided to Their Employees under Such Act, Including Protections against Sexual Harassment, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, to Correct a Provision on the Prohibition on the Use of a Reverse Auction, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Controlled Substances Act to Authorize the Debarment of Certain Registrants, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Controlled Substances Act to Provide for the Modification, Transfer, and Termination of a Registration to Manufacture, Distribute, or Dispense Controlled Substances or List I Chemicals, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act to Improve the Prevention of Elder Abuse and Exploitation of Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias.
An Act to Amend the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 to Ensure that the Public Buildings Reform Board Has Adequate Time to Carry out the Responsibilities of the Board, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 to Provide Flexibility with Respect to the Leaseback of Certain Federal Real Property, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to Require Federal Approval for Mergers and Consolidations of Insured Banks.
An Act to Amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to Require Insured Banks to Maintain Certain Records, to Require that CertainTransactions in U.S. Currency be Reported to the Department of the Treasury, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to Extend through 2023 the Authority of the Federal Election Commission to Impose Civil Money Penalties on the Basis of a Schedule of Penalties Established and Published by the Commission.
An Act to Amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Regarding the List Under Section 505(J)(X7) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and for Other Purposes.
An Act to Amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to Give Authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Acting Through the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, to Destroy Counterfeit Devices.
An Act to Amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to Reauthorize User Fee Programs Relating to New Animal Drugs and Generic New Animal Drugs.
An Act to Amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with Respect to the Scope of New Chemical Exclusivity.
An Act to Amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, to Require the Budget Justification and Appropriation Requests of Agencies Be Made Publicly Available.
An Act to Amend the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to Remind Prosecutors of Their Obligations under Supreme Court Case Law.
An Act to Amend the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, to Modify Certain Deadlines Relating to the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking.
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5 Things to Consider Before Moving to Cloud-Based Email
Many startups and small businesses subscribe to cloud-based applications for their email, given the popularity and simplicity of that model. But, many mid-sized to large companies still host their email on on-premise servers. Email servers and software tend to need upgrading or replacing every several years. So, businesses managing email onsite may find themselves in a position where they’re considering moving to cloud-based email.
There isn’t a “right” answer to this predicament, because every business is different. But, below are a few considerations. These can help business leaders decide whether to move email from on-premise servers to the cloud.
Resiliency and Redundancy
In today’s environment, many businesses can’t afford their email being down. The first thing to consider is how resilient your email system would be in each hosting scenario. By resilient, we mean the email system’s ability to withstand disruptive operational problems that range from human error to natural disasters. Redundancy can help make sure there are appropriate failover systems in place, should there be an interruption to the primary email system.
Questions to ask: Will your on-premise email servers be able to withstand a major operational upset, such as a wide-spread power-outage? If not, what would it take – in terms of technology, expertise and expense – to get it there? On the flip side, what level of resiliency and redundancy would moving to cloud-based email bring so that your email will keep running without interruption, regardless of a major event?
Hardware, Software and Licensing Costs
Hardware for on-premise email servers can be pricey, and they typically have a three-to-five-year lifecycle. When analyzing costs, remember that these servers will have to be upgraded or replaced every few years. In addition, running email on-premise means that each individual employee will need purchased and/or licensed email software – such as Microsoft Outlook – installed on his or her computer. Email software also requires upgrades usually every several years, if not sooner, depending on the needs of the business. These expenses should also be estimated for the long-term.
If moving to cloud-based email, businesses pay for a subscription per user. Rather than paying higher up-front charges to purchase software, the costs are spread out over a monthly subscription model. Cloud-based services upgrade software as needed, without additional cost to users.
Questions to ask: How many people need email? What are the estimated hardware, software and licensing costs for on-premise email for the next five to ten years? If you’re moving to cloud-based email, what’s the estimated subscription cost for all users for the next five to ten years?
“Unseen” Operating Costs
Something else to keep in mind with on-premise email servers are what we consider “unseen” operating costs. These include things like the cost of electricity and internet connections that will power the email servers at your desired level of performance and speed. In addition, human resource expenses may be involved. Do you have staff members dedicated to – or involved with – maintaining and managing the email servers? (These costs do not come into play when moving to cloud-based email.)
Questions to ask: How much is being spent – and will be spent in the coming years – on unseen operating costs like electricity, internet and staff to operate on-premise email servers? When unseen operating costs are added to the costs outlined in point 2 above, what are the total costs to host email on-premise? How does this total cost compare to the total subscription cost if you’re moving to cloud-based email?
Other Necessary Software
Most businesses need more than just email software to function. If email is being hosted on-premise, the organization may also need to purchase additional software upfront. This could include software for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and possibly other programs. If the business is moving to cloud-based email, however, offer upgrade options to add various types of software to the email subscription.
Questions to ask: Other than email, what other software do we need now or in the near future? What would it cost to purchase this software and/or licenses and install it on each computer, if email is hosted onsite? If you’re moving to cloud-based email, does the program offers these programs as add-ons? What would it cost to include them in your email subscriptions?
Third-Party Backups for Cloud-Based Email
If you’re considering moving to cloud-based email, know that most don’t have a robust backup system in place, if any. That means that company emails may not be able to be recovered if they are lost due to accidental deletion, cybersecurity breaches, and other internal and external threats.
Third-party business software exists that can integrate into and back up cloud-based email programs to a separate storage solution. In addition to being able to recover lost email – and potentially other data, like contacts, calendars and other apps – these third-party backup programs may fill retention policy gaps and meet legal and compliance requirements.
Questions to ask: Which third-party backup solution can integrate with the cloud-based email software under consideration? How quickly can you recover lost data? And, how granular is the recovery, in terms of getting back full mailboxes, data and documents? What is the cost of this third-party software, and how does it impact the total cost of moving to cloud-based email?
In conclusion, deciding whether or not moving to cloud-based email is right for your business involves cost-benefit analysis. It’s important to look at short-term and long-term costs – both obvious and “unseen” – for each scenario. But it’s also critical to consider what your business needs to operate efficiently. This includes making sure your email service remains uninterrupted, no matter the emergency.
For help with running email on-premise or moving to cloud-based email, contact us today.
business continuity Downtime Emails
5 Things to Consider Before Moving to Cloud-Based Email2019-03-262019-03-26https://atlasps.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/new.pngAtlas Professional Serviceshttps://atlasps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/business-communication-computer-261706-1.jpg200px200px
Team Member Spotlight: Samie ReeseIT Services Tampa
Team Member Spotlight: Jen MoweryIT Services Tampa
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AUP Sustainable Development Practicum in Auroville, India
Engaging through media with local organizations — The American University of Paris
Cyclone Thane Relief 2011-12
AUP Cyclone Thane Relief Fund
Cyclone Relief News Link
Tag Archives: Monsanto
Clothes Aren’t Going To Change The World: Uma Prajapati Is
Posted on January 5, 2015 by aupindia
Uma Prajapati, the founder of Upasana, embodies this quotation to the fullest. Based in Auroville, India, Upasana is the overarching company comprised of multiple different brands of sustainability from organic clothing, tsunami relief, waste management, social responsibility, empowerment and growth. Since working with the brand to increase consumer literacy about organic cotton, I’ve been completely inspired.
Uma Prajapati. Image courtesy of aurovilleradio.org.
I spent some time talking with Uma today and what she had to tell me absolutely overwhelmed me. I wasn’t overwhelmed in the sense that I felt panic or loss of control, but in a sense that I was utterly affected by her story.
Uma came to Auroville in 1996 and after a year founded Upasana. Her aim was to bring India’s textiles to Auroville, so after sourcing from around 16 different states, the company began to develop traditional textile and fashions. It wasn’t until the devastating tsunami hit India in 2004 that Upasana started to transform. This devastating natural disaster killed nearly 230,000 people and affected the lives of 1.7 million in 14 different countries. The company was working to help pick up the pieces through various social projects. Uma ended up working with organic cotton farmers and became profoundly changed with what she learned.
“When I began to work with cotton farmers, I began to know our big brother, Monsanto. I had no idea. I didn’t know there was a seed mafia. I didn’t know that there was a chemical mafia. I didn’t know farmers were committing suicides due to the way the whole economy is structured. They feel so vulnerable. The whole thing hit me so hard,” she said.
Because of this, in 2010 Upasana declared that it was consciously taking the step into becoming organic to support the farming community. She told me that it just blew her mind when she found out that 25% of the world’s insecticides and pesticides get used in one single crop of cotton. She continued to reveal that fashion is corrupt at the very base level, that it can’t even support the people working to produce the crops necessary to create clothing.
Uma questioned her role in all of the mess. “And in that process I chose to align my action and my thought process to the future and the light of the future, not so much thinking about who has to change right now. It’s me who will change and it’s my organization who will change and I will align myself to the future. This is where the sustainable fashion as an option came to me, that if I had to continue doing fashion, it will be only this or I’m done.”
It was this point in the conversation that really made me sit back and examine the world and the people who comprise it. What are we doing to our planet, to our people? If all fashion companies and all of the segments that make it up changed to operate in an ethical and sustainable way the total global carbon footprint could be drastically reduced and countless lives could be saved. If more leaders of companies had Uma’s mindset, the world would be in a much better state.
The future of Upasana lies in international expansion. “It’s time to tell the story to the larger community.” Uma had purposely avoided that route because she wanted to serve her own country and domestic market within India, first. She continued, “now, I’m ready to take this story of a small brand venturing into a fashion and trying to bridge from the farmers to the wearer to the whole line of organic.”
I asked her where she thinks the future of sustainable fashion is headed and without any hesitation asserted “sustainable fashion, it’s the only way!” If we want to we can choose to continue to do what we are doing and destroy the planet, but eventually we have to think about the future. The future lies in sustainability and a conscious lifestyle. It’s not just the fashion industry; many things need to change.
Uma’s passion and dedication to making a difference is exactly the inspiration that the world needs to achieve the larger goal. In a world filled with people and companies whose only concern is to make money over everything else, Uma is so refreshing. But, in addition to her commitment to make this world a better a place, her positivity and optimism for the future makes me hopeful that change can actually happen. I hope my contribution to the effort has even a minor impact upon perceptions of sustainability as a whole. I hope people make the change.
By Alexa Pizzi
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Auroville, India, Monsanto, Organic Cotton, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion, Uma Prajapati, Upasana | Leave a reply
Snapshots from India
AUP Tweets from India
Auroville Finance aupindia.org/2020/01/25/aur… 1 year ago
EcoFemme youtube.com/watch?v=pCL7we… aupindia.org/2020/01/22/eco… 1 year ago
Dahistki Physical Exploration Center aupindia.org/2020/01/20/dah… https://t.co/FF1I1puLpi 1 year ago
EcoPro: Sustainable Toilets aupindia.org/2020/01/20/eco… https://t.co/f9hWu7cjqr 1 year ago
SLI: Sustainable Livelihood Institute aupindia.org/2020/01/20/sli… https://t.co/7bgAaaVRaU 1 year ago
Animal Welfare Board of India
AVAG
British ruled India
cacao industry
cacao tree
gypsy village
https://aupindia.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/img_08531.jpg
LGBT community
Mangrove Forest
National Rabies Control Pilot Project
Non Governmental Organization
pariah dog
Sahodaran Community Oriented Health Development Society
stray dogs
Travelingmad
Uma Prajapati
Upasana
Village Action Group
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Al-Britannia, My Country by James Fergusson
Review published in Country Life, August 2nd, 2017 as "Reapprasing misconceptions: a timely portrait of Muslim Britain"
Published by Bantam Press, Penguin-Random House
James Fergusson is a war reporter whose books chronicle many of the flashpoints of our times - the military occupation of southern Afghanistan, the Taliban, Bosnia and the implosion of Somalia. Last year he turned his attention to his homeland and made a tour of cities that have large Muslim communities, such as Luton, Dewsbury, High Wycombe, Oldham and Bradford. There are now 3 million Muslims in Britain, some 5% of the population. Even without further migration that figure is set to grow to 5.5 million by 2030. Already 1 in 12 primary schoolboys is called Muhammad, which had become the most popular name for boys. Bradford now has 125 mosques while a quarter of the city identifies themselves as Muslim.
The first generation of Muslim migrants typically came to work while the second improved themselves by studying. Three children of Pakistani bus-drivers are now working at the very peak of Britain’s meritocratic society; Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, Baroness Warsi and cabinet minister Sajid Javid.
But side by side with these inspiring stories of personal achievement is the disturbing fact that three of the four suicide bombers of 7th July 2005 and the Glasgow airport attack share this background. And despite being brought up in leafy suburbs and companionable redbrick terraces, thousands of young third generation British Muslims have gone off to fight in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya from. Even more controversial are the criminal gangs who in dozens of cities have been prosecuted for grooming and sexually abusing thousands of vulnerable young white girls. What was once an asset to our society, the arrival of millions of diligent, sober, hard-working, family-minded workers, seems to have planted a number of cuckoo’s in the nest.
We all desperately need to understand what is happening in these emerging centres of Muslim Britain, as it is only the colourful, extrovert, show-man extremists - men such as Abu Hamza and the poppy-burning Anjem Choudary - who attract the attention of the media.
Fortunately James Fergusson has done this task for us, without using undercover camera teams but instead relying on hundreds of face-to -ace conversations over a cup of tea. His surveillance tools are his wit and tenacity, and his decades of experience of the Muslim world, chatting up Mujihadeen on the front line.
He has produced a very fine, detailed portrait of Al-Britannia. It is a nation within the nation, and one that does not share our love of dogs, pork and alcohol, or our recent pride in equality between gender and sexualities. The other essential fact to comprehend is that the Muslim community in Britain is overwhelmingly working class and South Asian in origin, coming from out of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh it is not an homogenous population. Fergusson takes us behind these country labels, to show that most of our mosques are affiliated to either the rival Barelwi or Deobandi networks. The latter was first formed in direct reaction to the failure of the Indian Mutiny/War of Independence and has an innate suspicion of British Imperialism. Fergusson points out the importance of Gujerati intellectuals and the solid middle class identity of a Punjabi family as opposed to migrant workers coming from the wilder political backgrounds of Sind, Baluchistan or the Pathan mountains. He also identifies the case history of the Mirpuri, who were transported en masse to Britain and still retain an extraordinary sense of a community apart.
Fergusson finds that the problem is never about too much Islamic education, but rather to little, leaving young people vulnerable to half-baked notions received in the gym, the prison or off the internet. In a sense the real issues faced by this community are the ones we all face in trying to achieve a proper, balanced, family life: absent or cruel fathers, mothers over pampering their sons and too much of childhood lived through a screen. The stories of young people smoking too much weed and then failing in exams or work are familiar in all cultures. But what the criminal and stupid invasion of Iraq by Blair and Bush did was to provide an instant solution to that loss of self-esteem - terrorism. This is all leavened by a whimsical and enchanting last chapter, where Fergusson becomes a Muslim for a month, during the testing time of Ramadan.
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Yuri Gripas
A Matter of Priorities
It is, of course, a tragically stupid tale:
Little League Baseball has stripped the U.S. championship from Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West and suspended its coach for violating a rule prohibiting the use of players who live outside the geographic area that the team represents, it was announced Wednesday.
Jackie Robinson West must vacate wins from the 2014 Little League Baseball International Tournament — including its Great Lakes Regional and United States championships.
The team’s manager, Darold Butler, has been suspended from Little League activity, and Illinois District 4 administrator Michael Kelly has been removed from his position.
The organization found that Jackie Robinson West used a falsified boundary map and that team officials met with neighboring Little League districts in Illinois to claim players and build what amounts to a superteam.
As a result, the United States championship has been awarded to Mountain Ridge Little League from Las Vegas.
“Quite honestly, we had to do this,” Little League International president and CEO Stephen D. Keener told ESPN on Wednesday. “We had no choice. We had to maintain the integrity of the Little League program. … As painful as this is, it’s a necessary outcome from what we finally have been able to confirm.
“The real troubling part of this is that we feel horribly for the kids who are involved with this. Certainly, no one should cast any blame, any aspersions on the children who participated on this team. To the best of our knowledge, they had no knowledge that they were doing anything wrong. They were just kids out playing baseball, which is the way it should be. They were celebrated for that by many, many organizations, many people. What we’re most concerned about today is that it’s going to be hard on these kids. And that’s the part that breaks your heart.”
(ESPN)
People are, as you might imagine, furious. And they should be. Yet what is it about our society that so many people waste so much energy being furious about the wrong thing?
Posted in Culture, Family, Feminism, Internet, NFL Football, Rape Culture, Social Media, Sports (culture), Strange, Stupid, Tech, White House and tagged Adrian Peterson, Agence France-Presse, baseball, Carolina Panthers, community priorities, Deflategate, domestic violence, ESPN, Facebook, football, Getty Images, Greg Hardy, intimate violence, Jackie Robinson West, Little League, Little League Championship, Little League scandal, Minnesota Vikings, misogyny, National Football League (NFL), NBC Sports, New England Patriots, NFL domestic violence, NFL priorities, Pro Football Talk (blog), Skitt's Law, ThinkProgress, Tom Brady, Tom Brady's empty balls, Travis Waldron, Yuri Gripas on 2015.02.12 by bd. Leave a comment
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Bleu celeste
This article is about the heraldic tincture. For use of the color elsewhere, see Sky blue.
Bleu celeste (/ˌbluː səˈlɛst/, "sky blue") is a rarely occurring and non-standard tincture in heraldry (not being one of the seven main colours or metals or the three staynard colours). This tincture is sometimes also called ciel or simply celeste. It is depicted in a lighter shade than the range of shades of the more traditional tincture azure, which is the standard blue used in heraldry.
Generally considered to be European rather than English or Scottish, after the First World War it started to appear in England in arms and badges relating to the Royal Air Force, though it is still doubtful if any more than a dozen examples could be found in British heraldry, and most British heralds consider it unheraldic. While in the post-World War I period bleu-celeste is depicted as a darker shade, in prior times it was depicted as very light, and has even been treated as a metal, as azure charges have been placed on a bleu celeste field, and vice versa.
Regardless, bleu celeste is still used by heraldic authorities, such as Britain's College of Arms in London, with one example of the arms of Jacob Flamberg being granted in 2016 using bleu celeste in the blazon for the field, mantling and charge, in each case per pale/party with sable.
"Per pale Bleu Celeste and Sable on a Fess wavy between three Plum Trees eradicated Argent a Wolf courant per pale Sable and Bleu Celeste langued and armed Gules" and "Party Bleu Celeste and Sable doubled Argent"[1]
Bleu celeste can also be seen in the arms of Israel and Peru and also in the arms of former Canadian Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn.[2] In the arms of the University of Natal Athletic Union the azure is defined as "sky blue".[3]
The supporters of the arms of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames: On either side a Griffin Gules armed and beaked Azure each supporting an Oar proper the blade of the dexter Dark Blue and that of the sinister Light Blue.
In addition to bleu celeste, there is also an apparently unique example in British heraldry of the use of "light blue" in the Municipal Borough of Barnes, through which the Oxford versus Cambridge boat race passes on the Thames. The arms show the respective blades of the teams' oars, and may be blazoned thus:
Azure, on a saltire or between four ostrich feathers argent, two oars in saltire proper, the blade of that to the dexter dark blue and that to the sinister light blue. (Blue with a yellow saltire "x" between four white feathers, the two paddles crossed and lying along and atop the saltire)
When in 1965 that borough merged with its neighbours to form the Borough of Richmond upon Thames, the coloured oars were transferred to the supporters in the arms of the new borough.
Coat of arms of Argentina.
Tincture (heraldry)
Scott-Giles, C. W. (1958). Boutell's Heraldry (rev. ed.). London & New York: Frederick Warne & Co.
↑ Flambefrg, Jacob. "The Arms of Jacob Simon Flamberg". International Armorial Register. The Armorial Register. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
↑ The Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada - Ramon John Hnatyshyn
↑ National Archives of South Africa
Heraldic tinctures
Rule of tincture
Tricking system
Hatching system
Gules
Purpure
Vair
Murrey
Tenné
Non-traditional1
Cendrée
1 Rarely used – mostly only in some regional traditions or as relatively modern innovations – and considered unheraldic by some.
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Writers, Cafés, & Writing Spaces
Perhaps the characteristic that I enjoy most about Buenos Aires is its abundance of cafés. These are charming places where you can meet a friend or just sit leisurely reading, thinking, and writing. The United States has never been a “café society”, with the relatively recent exception of Starbucks (love it or hate it). Old-fashioned diners in the U.S. (and neighborhood bars, in some cities) often serve the same purpose as a gathering place but they certainly lack the intellecutal ambience of cafés in Buenos Aires.
While the Tortoni is ever popular among tourists I prefer the cafés that are not so fancy. When I walked further down Avenida de Mayo earlier this year and saw that they were remodeling 36 Billares, I was disappointed in the new decor. I remember being there a couple of years ago, sitting in the dim light by the open windows in the front, listening to the clinking sounds of the billiards tables and the shouts of the players. Maybe 36 Billares now is actually more like it was when it opened in 1894 but I prefer just to use my imagination for that. The cynic in me thinks that they are just trying to get a share of the tourist money. Indeed, as I walked by 36 Billares last week, they had tango dancers out on the sidewalk, urgh!
Last month La Nacion ran an article in its Sunday magazine about the places where Argentine writers choose to compose their works. Federico Andahazi, one of Argentina’s best contemporary novelists, describes his past fondness for writing in La Academia on Callao. There he started his first novel The Anatomist.
Regla general: trabajar en los bares. Requisito esencial: ocupar una mesa junto a la ventana. “No me molesta el ruido; ante la inexistencia del silencio perfecto, prefiero un bullicio sostenido. Me resulta imposible concentrarme en una biblioteca: el vuelo de una mosca se escucha como la turbina de un avión; el rechinar de una silla, como un movimiento tectónico, y un susurro, como el coro de una hinchada de fútbol”, dice.
Strangley, in New York City, a new enterprise called Paragraph has started. The business calls itself a “workspace for writers”. Paragraph leases out small desk space for writers at the rate of $100 (US dollars) a month. Or, $132 US if you want access to your desk between 6am and 6pm. Of course, leave it to my fellow US citizens to find a business opportunity that capitalizes on a non-existent need. If one wants quiet, then just go to a library. And are there that many writers whose apartments are so noisy at 3am that they must pay a hundred bucks a month for a place to go and think?! Yet, somehow, I suspect that Paragaph might take off and sprout up all over the country, just like Starbucks or Pottery Barn. (Paragraph‘s members only, application process, gives it a certain elitism that some might ascribe as “cool”.) The company’s web address, paragraphny.com, leads one to believe that they are already planning a paragraphdc, a paragraphla, etc…somehow, I just don’t expect that there will ever be a paragraphba.com. Argentine writers are much too smart for that. After all, Buenos Aires already has its own workspaces for writers in the cafés all over the city.
Filed under Buenos Aires&Literature
Borges & Bioy Casares
It’s well-known that Argentina has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America. One admirable way that reading is encouraged is through low-cost editions published by the newspapers. Both of the main daily papers in Buenos Aires, Clarín & La Nacion, regularly re-release classic works by Argentine writers. Currently, La Nacion is honoring the close friendship between Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)and Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914-1999) with a special edition of twenty books, a separate one every Wednesday. The price of each volume is only $4.90 with the purchase of La Nacion. That’s basically $1.70 US for a high quality piece of literature. What’s more remarkable about the price is that these same titles run about $35 pesos new in the bookstores. While Buenos Aires abounds with used bookstores I’ve seldom seen works by either of these writers in the second-hand shops.
When I came to Buenos Aires I knew that a major part of my time here would be spent reading Borges and Bioy Casares. So, I’m delighted to supplement my existing collection with these titles from La Nacion. The two writers are very different. While Borges now enjoys an immense international reputation, Bioy is probably a more enjoyable read for most people. While Bioy was not as experimental as Borges, Bioy is certainly a major 20th century writer though he is not particularly well-known outside of Argentina. Bioy wrote innovative narratives with intriguing, sometimes fantastical plots, in a clean and crisp prose. Bioy also is fortunate to have a very good English translator in the form of Suzanne Jill Irvine.
In other postings I’m going to discuss each of the works by Borges and Bioy being re-issued by La Nacion. First, though, I want to talk some about their friendship.
Bioy, who came from a very wealthy family, was 18 when he first met the 32 year old Borges. At that time Borges still was a struggling writer, decades from the international fame that he would later achieve. Their friendship would develop over a number of years and last through the rest of their lives, often resulting in collaborative works.
Another person who figures prominently in this friendship is Bioy’s wife Silvina Ocampo, sister of the Argentine cultural matriach Victoria Ocampo. A writer of haunting stories about childhood, Silvinia Ocampo is one of the most underrated writers to come out of mid-twentieth century Argentina. She always was in the shadow of her husband and Borges. Unfortunately, very little of her works have been translated into English.
For many years Borges would spend almost every evening with the Bioys. First at their Recoleta apartment on Ave Santa Fe and then later when the Bioys moved to a larger, more posh apartment on Posadas. On Thursday nights the Bioys often would invite a few guests over to dinner. One of Borges’ biographers described the Bioy’s home as a “congenial haven for Borges at a time when he was acutely unhappy.”
Look for more on Bioy and Borges in the coming weeks.
Our San Telmo Apartment
On the first of this month we finally made our move to San Telmo on a Wednesday night. We are now living in this lovely old building (thanks to our friend Adriana!). Our apartment is the top floor, front, with wonderful windows that open out onto to calle Brasil. It’s an old place that needed a lot of restoration. No one had lived in the apartment had been abandoned for 10 years and, from the looks of it, nothing had been done to apartment for the previous thirty years. Adriana and Ceci spent a lot of time working on it. This photo of the living room is rather dark but it nicely shows the window over the door. Later, I’ll post a picture of the building itself.
One interesting aspect of the building is the staircase. The entrance opens into a small covered hallway, which in turns leads to a long open-air corridor. A spiral staircase winds it way up to the top floor where we live. There’s no elevator so we get plenty of exercise going up and down the stairs. But it’s a lovely staircase, particularly at night when the light cast shadows of the ironwork onto the steps.
The Argentine Pavilion of the 1889 Paris Expo
Clarín, one of the leading daily papers in Buenos Aires, is issuing a special supplement over the next several Sundays titled La Fotografía en la Historia Argentina. The first volume came out today with over 125 photographs from the 1840s up to 1890. The next three volumes will cover the various decades up thru the return of democracy in the 1980s. The set should make for a nice pictorial overview of Argenine history.
This week’s volume is useful for anyone studying the history of photography in Argentina, as it includes a reproduction of the first known daguerrotype that was made in Argentina. There’s a fascinating history behind 19th century photography and I’ll probably be writing about that at some point in the future. But now I want to focus on one particular photograph: the Argentine Pavilion at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition.
One of my favorite spots in town is Plaza San Martín which sits at the end of busy calle Florida and Avenida Santa Fe, surrounded by some of the grandest buildings in Buenos Aires. Sloping down from the Plaza is a nice green space that leads to the Malvinas memorial and the English Tower. Plaza San Martín, with a huge equestrian statue of its namesake, is a nice, leafy spot where the nearby noise of the buses and traffic go almost unnoticed. Yet, the development of the Plaza, 70 years ago, involved the demolition of one of the architectural jewels of Buenos Aires.
The 1889 Paris Universal Exposition was one of the great world fairs and featured the completion of the Eiffel Tower. Argentina was about to enter what is sometimes called its “golden age”. Many of the magnificent buildings now lining the streets of Buenos Aires had yet to be constructed. The country eagerly wanted to adopt “globalization” at that time. National leaders saw the Paris Expo as an opportunity to present Argentina as a sophisticated partner for business, particularly agricultural trade.
The organizers of the Expo, however, viewed Argentina as just another undeveloped country and Argentina was asked to share a single pavilion with other Latin American countries. Argentina balked at this request and demanded a 6,000 square meter lot. They got 1,600 square meters instead. While its location next to the Eiffel Tower now seems an ideal spot, the adjoining areas were assigned to other Latin American countries and African colonies.
Argentina hired French architect Albert Ballu (1849-1939) and spent over 3.2 million francs on the construction of the pavilion. It was considered a masterpiece of iron and glass, 64 meters wide and 34 meters high. By all reports, the Argentine pavilion was a beautiful, highly ornated structure. The pavillion showcased the aspirations of Argentina, being built in the French style that would come to dominate Buenos Aires architecture over the next 40 years.
One scholar, in an excellent article on the pavilion, wrote “Argentina thus rewrote its identity fiction and defined itself as a European country, attractive to immigration….Argentina imagined itself closer to Europe than to Spain, which was erased from its national iconography. This desire to attract the attention of European investors threateningly suggested an interest in being recolonized, not by a ‘second-class’ metropolis – as Spain was then perceived – but by a first-class European colonial empire, such as France or Great Britain.” (Fernandez Bravo, Alvaro. “Ambivalent Argentina: Nationalism, Exoticism, and Latin Americanism at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition”
Nepantla: Views from South – Volume 2, Issue 1, 2001, pp. 115-139)
Inside the pavilion were products that showcased Argentina’s trade goods. According to studies by Fernandez Bravo, the pavilion lacked any trace of culture. Refrigerated meat was one of the highlights.
After the Expo, the pavilion’s future was in doubt. While Ballu had built the pavilion with a flexible, screw-based architecture that could be disassembled for shipment back to Buenos Aires, the government of Argentina initially wanted to sale the building. The city of Buenos Aires eventually intervened and offered to pay half the shipping costs back to South America.
The iron in the pavilion weighed 890 tons. The furnishings and decorations added another 800 tons. Six thousand pieces were shipped back to Argentina. Some of the pieces were lost at sea due to rough waters.
In 1893 the pavilion was rebuilt on top of a ravine on calle Arenales between Maipú and Florida, what is now Plaza San Martín. The pavilion was useful and served as home of the Museo de Bellas Artes from 1910 until 1932.
In a case of serious short-sightedness the city decided to demolish the pavilion in order to create Plaza San Martin. While we can be thankful that it was replaced with a park and not one of those horrible modern skyscrapers that rose up in Buenos Aires during the 1930s, the loss of the pavilion is exemplary of problems with historic preservation in Buenos Aires – both past and present.
After the disassembly of the pavilion was completed in 1935, parts were sold for scrap iron. Other pieces of the pavilion were lost for more than sixty years. In the late 1990s a researcher discovered that some of the pavilion was being used as a shed for a blacksmith in Mataderos. Other pieces are still unknown but believed to have been buried alongside the railroad tracks in Palermo.
Confrontation between Protesters & Police
This posting continues Piqueteros, the Argentine Government, & the Right to March into Plaza de Mayo.
What should have been an anti-Bush rally in Plaza de Mayo turned into a stubborn, violent standoff between police and piqueteros about the right to march down Avenida de Mayo and into Plaza de Mayo.
The march was scheduled to commence at 5pm from Congreso. I was running late and didn’t leave our apartment in San Telmo until a quarter till five. Thinking that the subway would be quick, I walked over to Constitucion station to find that it was packed with piqueteros on their way to the march. Then I realized that the march was on “Argentina time” and probably would start at least an hour late.
I got off the subte at the Av de Mayo stop on the “C” line to find that the exits from the subway to the street were locked. (Ok, Argentina, didn’t you learn anything about fire safety and locked exits from Cromagnon?! Alright, maybe that’s a little harsh but there’s an appalling lack of fire safety awareness in this city…yet another post). Anyway, there were several of us who had gotten off the subte and wanted to exit onto Av de Mayo. At first the official at the station just shrugged his shoulders and suggested that we get back on the subte and get off at another stop. One man in a business suit said to him, “We’re not piqueteros.” Soon, the official led us up the steps and unlocked the gate.
As I walked down Av de Mayo towards the Congreso, I noticed a large number of people walking in the same direction. The Avenue was closed and a few of the people were piqueteros going to join up with the rest of the marchers who were gathering in front the Congreso. But, most were simply ordinary people getting off from work on a Friday afternoon during rush hour only to find that the “A” subway line which runs underneath Av de Mayo was closed due to the protest. None of these people looked too happy. I have to say that I didn’t see any reason for the city to close the subway line, though I’m sure that the city said that they had to do that for safety reasons.
Once I got to Congreso I could tell by everyone sitting around that the march was at least a good hour away from starting. So, I wandered back down Av de Mayo towards the Plaza. As my previous post discussed, there had been significant controversy over the right of protesters to enter Plaza de Mayo and I was pleased to hear that the marchers were going to be allowed to enter freely.
Yet, as I crossed Av 9 de Julio, I saw a massive police presence gathered at the intersection of Av de Mayo and 9 de Julio. Walking around the police, I saw the riot squads lined up against the wall of a cafe and waiting. Parked half-a-block away was an armored police vehicle with two water cannons mounted on top. I stopped to look at that vehicle, glanced around, and realized that the police again had no intention of letting the marchers proceed to the Plaza.
So, I waited around to see what was going to happen. As the marchers got nearer, the police formed a double line of officers that closed off Av de Mayo. A swarm of photographers and news media started gathering in front of the officers to wait for the marchers. Standing next to me was a TV reporter interviewing a senior police official about whether the marchers would be allowed to enter Plaza de Mayo. The official said, “Yes, they can enter Plaza de Mayo but they cannot march down Av de Mayo. They will need to go down Av 9 de Julio, down Av Belgrano, and enter the Plaza from Av Roca.” The reporter asked again, if the marchers could enter the Plaza and the officer re-confirmed that they could if they took this route.
From the point where the police blocked Av de Mayo, it is only 5 blocks to the Plaza. On the new route ordered by the police, the marchers would have to go an extra 4 blocks, for a total of 9 blocks. Not really a long way, but clearly not the most direct path. I heard that an offical reason for this new route was to prevent traffic problems. What?! The new route obviously would cause more traffic jams than just letting the marchers walk down Av de Mayo.
The police roadblock of Av de Mayo seemed clearly to be a message from the Kirchner government to the piqueteros about who was in charge: the government. There was an incredible display of police force present. Indeed, I would say that the police presence was excessive, much more than I had seen at any other march this year. Of course, the police (I’m sure acting on orders of the government) were clearly intending to be confrontational.
If the march would have been allowed to continue, then it likely would have been peaceful. However, the tension escalated into a couple of pushing matches between police and a few protesters. I lost track of time during all this, but it must have been more than an hour, or an hour and a half, that this standoff continued. Reportedly, eleven police officers were injured tonight. For most of the time, I was standing right next to the police line and I’m not sure how that happened. I suspect that several of the injured officers were hurt by their riot police as the riot squad with their clubs swinging came jumping over the regular police. I did see one photographer who ended up with a bloody face.
The police intensified their presence by bringing a second armored vehicle with water cannons pointing towards the protesters. I took a few minutes to walk around to get a sense of the crowd. The protesters towards the front of the march were, actually, mostly students. When I realized this, I became even more dismayed at the police force. So, I started taking photographs of the students in the march. In the event that the police used water cannons on these students, who were obviously being well-behaved, I wanted to document who that they were peaceful. These students, late teens/early twenties, were there to protest George Bush’s visit to Argentina in November and were not part of the piquetero movement. It would have been a shame if these students had gotten injured by the police.
I do not want to fault the police and the government entirely for tonight’s conflict. The piqueteros share some of the blame. Rather than accepting the police invitation to a confrontation, the marchers easily could have gone along the suggested route of Av 9 de Julio, Belgrano, and Av Roca to Plaza de Mayo. Indeed, it would have resulted in a bigger protest by blocking even more streets and causing more traffic problems. In this scenario, the police would have ended up looking silly for creating even further gridlock than was necessary. Yet, the marchers who appeared to be under the leadership of the piqueteros did not do that. They held their ground in the middle of 9 de Julio. In my opinion, that was a significant miscalculation since the issue was not the right to march down Av de Mayo but instead the right to enter Plaza de Mayo.
Well, actually, the focus of the march was supposed to be anti-Bush but that somehow got lost in the tense standoff. Dubya should thank Kirchner for that. I never suspected that Kirchner, who has hosted Chavez and Castro, was so supportive of the Bush administration. The people of Argentina had a chance to send a message to Washington tonight but they let internal politics get in the way. There was some sarcasm on my part in this paragraph. But, I do think that a lot of people in the march knew that tonight’s protest wasn’t about Bush but was more about piquetero-government relations.
As I was standing around watching this all unfold tonight, I had a chance to think about the piqueteros. I’ve never really been bothered by their roadblocks, but maybe that’s because I don’t drive here. Also, I think that people who are clearly impoverished and on the margins of society have a right to protest and to exercise their political voice.
I am disturbed, however, by the potential for violence on the part of the piqueteros. Why do they need to carry those big sticks unless they plan to engage in violence? As I walked around the crowd of student protesters, I also observed several piqueteros who were arming themselves for a violent encounter with the police. One piquetero was standing behind a group of students. Clinched in his hands was a slingshot, made of thick rubber. He was ready to fight. But, he was no schoolyard bully; he was a grown man in his thirties. On the other side of more students were piqueteros breaking apart the sidewalk, taking chunks of concrete. They were ready to fight the police.
As the marchers gave up and moved away towards the Obelisc, a couple of piqueteros hung back and flung stones at the police. Indeed, it was remarkable restraint on the part of the police not to pursue and arrest the them. But, the police, with their riot gear and water cannons let the stone throwers walk off into the night.
Kirchner has called for the piqueteros to stop blocking the streets before the government will sit down and negotiate with them. I have less of a problem with piqueteros blocking the streets, but they need to lay down their sticks and stones. Peaceful, non-violent protests have proven to be remarkably successful as a way of galvanizing international attention on social problems and injustices. There’s a perfectly good example here in Argentina with the Madres de Plaza de Mayo.
Up until now the piquetero marches that I’ve seen have been remarkably peaceful. In looking at the crowds of piqueteros it’s obvious that they are mostly good people. Yet, among them, are an angry violent few that are ruining the reputation of the entire movement.
The piquetero leadership needs to re-examine its tactics. Likewise, the Kirchner government shouldn’t act so stubborn and create unnecessary conflicts that lead to violence.
Filed under Buenos Aires&Social Issues
Piqueteros, the Argentine Government, & the Right to March into Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo always has been a popular gathering spot for political assemblies in Buenos Aires. It’s the historic plaza of the city: on one end of the Plaza is the 18th century cabildo and the city goverment building, on the other side of the Plaza is Casa Rosada, which houses the executive branch of the Argentine government. Leading away from the plaza is Avenida de Mayo, one of the grandest avenues in the city, stretching for thirteen blocks, culminating in the Congreso.
One controversy this week has been the recent decree by Aníbal Fernández, Minister of the Interior, that marchers will need permits to march into Plaza de Mayo. This new regulation came after piqueteros camped out for a week in the Plaza and when marchers were blocked by police last Friday. There was a significant outcry in the city about this new restriction. A lawsuit was filed in the courts stating that such actions have not been seen since the end of the dictatorship. One of the founders of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, the most well-known human rights group in Argentina, stated that the Plaza needs to remain a symbol of freedom for the country. Yet, the restriction was primarily directed against the piquetero movement, a loose confederation of political and social groups comprised of the unemployed and the working class. The piqueteros most common form of political expression are marches and roadblocks, which snarl the already congested traffic in the capital city.
I normally agree with the government of Nestor Kirchner, President of Argentina. However, I was concerned that this new restriction was mostly a political tool. Congressional elections in Argentina are to be held next month and Kirchner has come down hard on the piqueteros recently as a way to appease the middle-class, which is often frustrated by the traffic jams caused by the piquetero roadblocks. (Next month’s elections deserve their own series of postings, particularly the almost absurd senatorial campaign between Kirchner’s wife Christina and previous Argentine President Duhalde´s wife Chiche).
So, it seems like Plaza de Mayo briefly became a political hostage. Earlier this week I saw a small group of protestors (artisans and hippies, not piqueteros) turned away from the Plaza, stopped by the police just a block away at the intersection of calle Florida and Av de Mayo. However, towards the end of the week, Interior Minister Fernandez announced that this evening’s marchers would be allowed to enter Plaza de Mayo. Yet, it turned out that there was a little surprised waiting for them. See my next posting about the march.
Comments Off on Piqueteros, the Argentine Government, & the Right to March into Plaza de Mayo
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Documenting agro-resistance in Palestine
The Project / عن المشروع
The Team / الفريق
A little treasure
“It’s not exactly an English garden of course, but it’s what we can do.”
We picked loquats from the big tree, heavy with fruits in this season. In a few minutes we had a large basket full. We’re surrounded by mint, parsley, rosemary, celery, beets, rainbow chard, lettuce, green onions, leeks, hot peppers, nettles, cucumbers, tomatoes, grape vine and different kinds of flowers scattered in between. Dragica Alafandi pours hot tea into small glasses, made with mint she picked just a few seconds earlier. We sit on a small wooden bench to drink and I can see the top leaves of the fig tree and the olive trees in front of her house.
This lovely sounding garden, full of edible plants, is in reality a small rooftop in a crowded refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. More than 700,000 Palestinians were made refugees during the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias in 1948. 70 years later, Palestinians are still waiting for a political solution that will guarantee their right of return. Built in 1949 to serve 3,000 refugees fleeing from 45 villages, Dheisheh camp is now home to 15,000 people. It sits on 0.33 sq km, with an estimated population density of 45,454 per sq km and is the second biggest refugee camp in the West Bank.
Most Palestinian refugees were farmers, but with no access to land other than their houses, they were disconnected from the earth that was such a big part of their identity. However, they try and plant in any bit of soil their hands can grasp, and we can see here and there fruit trees filling the narrow gaps between the buildings. Pots full of flowers and herbs cover doorsteps. Grape vines climb the walls and reach the roofs. And on some rooftops, the grape vines join micro-farms.
Karama, which means “dignity” in Arabic, is a community-based organisation established in 2002 in the Dheisheh camp. In 2012 they started the rooftop micro-farm initiative, helping women from the refugee camp to create vegetable gardens. In the camps the rooftops are always flat, to store water containers. Karama saw this architectural trait as an opportunity to create urban farms. The organisation provides women with a greenhouse, seeds and farming training, as well as an extra water tank, since having enough water is a challenge in Palestine, especially in the camps.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territories 31.5% of households were food insecure in 2017, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The rooftop micro-farms are an attempt to reduce families’ need for aid by increasing their food autonomy.
“Land is almost impossible to buy now,” says Dragica. She started planting flowers and succulents on her rooftop a few years ago. Then one day Mustafa, her husband, got hot pepper seeds from a friend. “I thought ‘why not plant vegetables?’ We got quite a big crop that year and it was quite nice! Then we started planting tomatoes, green onions, whatever seeds we had.”
Dragica heard about the micro-farm project from a neighbour, who works at Karama. “We were already trying to plant on our rooftop, but the place is very open and the greenhouse would offer a bit of protection for the vegetables.” She got a greenhouse in the middle of 2017, but also still plants in pots, bags, and whatever container she can recycle.
Dragica was born and raised in Bosnia, and she moved to Palestine to live with Mustafa, her Palestinian husband, in 1994. That year Bosnia was being torn apart by war, but it was a time of hope in Palestine. The Oslo Agreements had just been signed and people truly believed they were on the path to self-determination. So for the young couple, who met in Yugoslavia and got married the previous year, moving to Palestine looked like the best option. Mustafa’s family lives in Deheisheh, so they moved there, with their baby son and dreams of a better future.
The promise of self-determination made to Palestinians was never fulfilled and Dragica, Mustafa and their four children are still living under a military occupation that gets more violent every year. Her father-in-law, her brothers-in-law and even her husband were imprisoned by the Israeli army and living conditions in the OTP has worsened considerably since 1994, while people’s liberty and the Palestinian territory itself are constantly shrinking.
The immense pride that Dragica Alafandi feels about her garden is abundantly clear from the moment she starts talking. She refers to her garden as “a little treasure”.
“In Dheisheh I feel cut from everything. But having some plants to take care of, it’s really nice. And having something to put on the table is a big bonus. It’s very therapeutic just to look at them and see how they are growing. It’s beautiful to have something that you grew yourself. Nowadays, the produce you buy is so full of chemicals, it’s more poison than it is nourishment.”
Mustafa joins us for tea and talks about their land. In 2002 his family and neighbours got together and bought a piece of land on the hills of a nearby village called Artas. The Israeli army prohibits them from using tractors or any machine to work their land. As no Palestinian vehicle can access the land, they started walking up the hill every week carrying heavy tools. They built a stone wall and planted fruit and trees. But the Israeli settlers destroyed everything. So they planted it all again. And then the army came and uprooted everything once more. But they didn’t give up and kept planting, even though the army keeps uprooting every single plant they put in the earth. Once Mustafa planted around 40 trees on his plot of land. He tended and cared for them for a couple of years, and for the first time had hopes that his trees would be left alone. “It was hard”, he says, “because I had to pay a taxi once or twice a week to drop me near the land, then I would walk up the hill carrying tools and would do everything by hand. It took a lot of time, energy and money.” Three years ago the army came and bulldozed everything once again. Mustafa, his family and neighbours never got the chance to eat the fruits of their labour.
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Josh Homme Lists ‘Explosive’ Hollywood Home for $4.75 Million
Dave Lifton
Dave Lifton Published: October 28, 2020
The Sanborn Team / Kevin Mazur, Getty Images
Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme has placed his home in the Hollywood Hills on the market, with an asking price of $4.75 million.
The listing, held by Brian Joy of the Sanborn Team, calls the 4,554-square-foot property, which was built in 1964, an "architecturally stunning Modern Mediterranean," singling out the spiral staircase and the "[e]xplosive views from almost every window." The living room is noted by the wood-beamed ceiling, remote-controlled shades and a concrete fireplace.
All four bedrooms are suites, with the three located upstairs having their own balconies. The master is described as having a "hotel vibe" due to its marble backlit fireplace, hidden TV, two balconies (as well as one in the bathroom) and numerous closets.
Its kitchen includes a stainless steel Wolf range and a built-in bench, with the dining room containing a bar. It leads out to the patio, where the yard features a pergola, cafe lights, gas heaters and a large pool with a spa and changing room. The two-car garage adds a storage room and built-in cabinets. For security, the entire 15,589-square-foot property is gated and well-lit, with several cameras.
As Variety notes, Homme and his wife, Brody Dalle, who has occasionally been in Queens of the Stone Age, purchased the house in 2012 for $2.5 million. The couple have since separated. Earlier this year, they sold another place they shared in Palm Desert, Calif., for $976,000, a bit less than the $990,000 they paid for it more than a decade ago.
Next: See More Rock Star Homes
Source: Josh Homme Lists ‘Explosive’ Hollywood Home for $4.75 Million
Filed Under: Josh Homme, Queens of the Stone Age
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XL Group plc Declares Increase In Quarterly Dividend To $0.11 Per Ordinary Share And Dividend Of $32.50 Per Series E Perpetual Non-Cumulative Preference Ordinary Share
HAMILTON, BERMUDA - February 28, 2011
Hamilton, Bermuda – February 28, 2011 - XL Group plc (“XL” or the “Company”) (NYSE: XL) announced today that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend on February 25, 2011 of $0.11 per ordinary share payable on the Company’s ordinary shares. This action increases the quarterly dividend to $0.11 per ordinary share from $0.10 per ordinary share. The dividend will be payable on March 31, 2011 to Ordinary Shareholders of record as of March 15, 2011.In addition, the Board of Directors of XL Group Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, resolved on February 18, 2011 to pay a dividend of $32.50 per share on XL Group Ltd.’s Series E Perpetual Non-Cumulative Preference Ordinary Shares. The dividend will be paid on April 15, 2011 to all shareholders of record as of March 31, 2011.XL Group plc, through its subsidiaries, is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty, and specialty products to industrial, commercial, and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises on a worldwide basis. Its principal executive offices are located at No. 1 Hatch Street Upper, 4th Floor, Dublin 2, Ireland. More information about XL Group plc is available at www.xlgroup.com.
Carol Parker Trott
Communications & Marketing Director Reinsurance & Bermuda
carol.parker-trott@axaxl.com +1 441 294 7290
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THE HUMAN COST OF ETHIOPIA’S SWEEPING STATE OF EMERGENCY: “I NEVER WANTED TO SEE TOMORROW”
bilisummaa December 21, 2016 Leave a comment
Addis Abeba Dec. 19/2016 – On Saturday Dec. 17, Siraj Fegessa, Ethiopia’s minister of defense and the secretariat of the command post tasked to implement the country’s sweeping six-month state of emergency (SOE), had news that should have come as a relief to tens of thousands of Ethiopians. Minister Siraj, a civilian, told journalists mostly drawn from state-controlled and state-affiliated media houses that some 9, 800 individuals who were detained under the SoE will be released by Wednesday Dec. 21 while 2, 449 others “will be brought to justice.”
But the mood among Ethiopians following the announcement is not that of a celebration; for many, the damage their loved ones have sustained while held at one of the half dozen detention facilities (referred to by many as ‘concentration camps’) is too deep to have been undone by the announcement of their release, and rightly so.
By the government’s account, a total of 24,799 individuals were arrested in two rounds under the SoE since October this year. However, this figure doesn’t mention whether those who were detained prior to the decreeing of the SoE on October 9 are accounted for. And, informed by previous brutalities of the security apparatus, Ethiopians are under no illusion that this figure is much higher than what’s being admitted by the government.
Even one is to take the government’s figures to account, it simply means that thousands of university students have missed this academic year’s attendance; thousands others who were the breadwinners of their families and extended family members have failed to deliver on their promises; and thousands have lost their jobs.
But for some, the cost is too personal to recover from. One such Ethiopian is Alemayehu Merga, (name changed upon request), a former clerk at a private Bank in Awash town some 91 km south east of the capital Addis Abeba.
In a letter sent to Addis Standard a few weeks ago, Alemayehu says when he was arrested from his hotel room (name of the hotel withheld) in Merkato, an open market hailed as the largest in Africa, he was preparing for his wedding scheduled to take place on Sunday September 16 in Adama, 100k south east of Addis Abeba.
The intense crackdown by the police that led to Alemayehu’s arrest followed a massive anti-government protest on August 06, 2016. The weekend protest was called by online activists of the #OromoProtest and was dubbed “Grand Oromo Rally”. It ended when regional and federal police have brutally suppressed the protesters, killing hundreds and detaining thousands. But instead of receding, thousands more of protesters raged through the Special Zone of the Oromia Regional State, eight neighboring towns mostly located within 25k radius from the capital Addis Abeba.
The bedrock of these protests was a 10 month persistent anti-government protest that began in Oromia regional state, the largest regional states in federated Ethiopia, in November 2015; it was followed, several months later, by another anti-government protest in Amhara regional state in the north.
The protests in these two regional states have quickly escalated into a large scale anti-government protest that posed the ultimate challenge to the hitherto unchallenged quarter century reign of the ruling TPLF-dominated EPRDF regime in Ethiopia.
A pre-wedding trip gone dreadful
Almayehu’s arrest happened at a time when, reeling from uncontrollable protest flare ups in most parts of the country, the federal and city police began conducting random stop and search and have arrested unknown numbers of individuals from the city. Low-cost hotels throughout Addis Abeba have also received letters from their respective Kebele administrations ordering them to declare the identities of their guests who come from the countryside.
“I came to Addis Abeba from Awash to buy some household materials and pick my wedding suit which was ready at a tailor’s shop in Piassa. But I was arrested on September 10,” his letter narrates.
Alemayehu was then held at a police station commonly known in Addis Abeba as “Sidistegna” Police station located in the heart of the city. He was kept there incommunicado for about a month. No one from his family knew what happened to him. And he missed his wedding.
“I kept telling the police officers that I was only in town to prepare for my wedding, but they kept telling me I was in town to organize young people to protest. I had a few invitation cards that I was planning to give out to my friends and relatives living in the city. I never managed to give them as I was arrested the very next day after I arrived in the city. And even if I kept showing my wedding invitation cards to the police officers, no one wanted to believe me.”
Alemayehu joined hundreds of others detained under similar circumstances. Most of them are young Ethiopians and all of them were held incommunicado at several police stations in the city.
On October 02, the unthinkable happened when police fired shots at a gathering of millions of Oromo who came to celebrate the annual Ireechaa festival in Bishoftu town, 40 km south of the capital.
For many, the death by stamped of yet unverified numbers of Ethiopians at this sacred, otherwise peaceful festival was the turning point of the almost year-long anti-government protests that gripped the nation. A ‘five-day rage’ was called by online activists of the Oromo protests following what was quickly hashtaged as “IreechaaMassacre. It resulted in protesters attacking foreign owned businesses in several parts of the country. It also led to the near collapse of the country’s tourism industry, forced the government to declare the current SoE and to reshuffle the Prime Minister’s cabinet only a year after it was sworn in to the office.
But for Alemayehu and thousands of others detained pre and post the SoE, the ordeal has just began.
Three days after the decreeing on Oct. 9 of the sweeping SoE, which practically suspended most parts of the constitution, Alemayehu and “roughly 2000 others” held in police stations in Addis Abeba were transported to Awash Abra Military camp, not far away from Alemayehu’s birth place in Awash.
The military camp is one of the dozen camps throughout the country where tens of thousands of Ethiopians detained under the SoE are currently held.
The 2013 country report by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor describes these camps as “unofficial detention centers throughout the country, including in Dedessa, Bir Sheleko, Tolay, Hormat, Blate, Tatek, Jijiga, Holeta, and Senkele. Most were located at military camps.”
“None of my family members, including my bride-to-be, knew I was there,” Alemayehu’s 3-pages letter recounts. All of them were told they were arrested by the “orders of the command post”, after they were transported to the camp. By now, the government announced that the command post was led by defense minister Siraj and was comprised of other unnamed senior officials.
“Hell breaks loose”
“Once inside the military camp, we were told we would undergo an ideological training on the current federal arrangement and we will be taught about the illegalities of the protests.”
According to Alemayehu’s letter, in the beginning, there were about 3,000 detains who came from the Oromia regional state. “But after a week, and the weeks that followed our numbers grew, in my estimate, to about 6000. We were told we would only be there for two weeks’ training and be released afterwards.”
Describing the situation inside the military camp, Alemayehu wrote: “It was the moment I experienced how hell breaks loose.”
“The heat is unbearable during day time, and at night the temperature drops to a freezing cold. There was only one meal a day (often bread) and the temporary corrugated iron shacks we were held inside had no running water, no toilets no sleeping places. Sometime in mid-October what looked like a cholera outbreak spread. We have seen many dead bodies being transferred out of the camp at night times.”
“I never wanted to see tomorrow”
The said training didn’t begin during the first week, Alemayehu’s letter further said, “but every night dozens of us would be called for investigations. I was lucky to not have been called for the night time investigations, but many of those who did often come back limping after being tortured beyond words.”
When the training began, it involved hours-long lectures given mostly by military officials on the legacy the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the history of the party he co-founded, TPLF, and the 17 years sacrifices its members had paid to overthrow the military Derg in 1991. It also included the ruling party’s economic ideology of building a developmental state, the concept of federalism and multi-party democracy, according to the letter.
“But most of the time, we would just sit there in the blazing sun, hungry and thirsty, waiting for the officials to arrive. Sometimes, nobody shows up and we would be told to return to the barracks and come back tomorrow morning. But I never wanted to see tomorrow. All I wanted was to die and end my misery.”
Two weeks into his ordeal at the military camp, Almayehu was released after a “police officer who knew who I was and what I did for living in Awash spotted me there.” “After what I think was this police officer’s attempt to help me, I was called one morning and told to pack up and be ready. There will be a car ready to transport me to Adama. That was it; no one to ask for justice; no one to ask for a letter to my employees, nothing.”
Alemayehu is back in Awash, from where he e-mailed us his letter. He is unemployed after the bank he was working for refused to take him back on “administrative grounds. I am now looking for a job.”
And he has since learned the devastating news of the disappearance of his fiancé. “Like me, no one knows where she is at now. I was told that after my mysterious disappearance she was struggling to face the possibilities that I may have simply deserted her. The last time she was seen in the town, where she was living with family members, was on Oct. 13, after that she has simply vanished; it is like she never existed.”
Alemayehu’s story of families torn apart and the hopelessness that follows resonates with hundreds and thousands of others who have been detained and still remain in one of the seven temporary detention facilities throughout the country.
A brief report released yesterday by the Ethiopia Human Right Project sampled 24 individuals, mainly opposition party members, bloggers, and journalists, who are currently detained under the SoE.
The three salient circumstances all the 24 detainees share in common are, according to the report: almost all remained detained without due court process; some have been informed of the reasons for their arrests after they were taken to the detention facilities; and some have not even been informed of the reason for their detention.
By all accounts, it is a story of the human cost in a country under a sweeping State of Emergency; a country where the news of the release of thousands would come too little too late to restore the hopes that were dashed, for some, forever. AS
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Posted by by Jesmarie Macapagal September 10, 2021
Last Updated:September 10, 2021
Ricotta is a versatile type of cheese that is used in various dishes and can also be eaten on its own. It is soft, fluffy, spreadable, and has a mild flavor. A lot of soft cheeses are unsafe for pregnant women to eat. But is ricotta cheese one of them?
Ricotta cheese is safe to eat during pregnancy, as long as it was made from pasteurized milk, like most commercially available brands. Homemade and artisanal types of ricotta may need to be rechecked. Cooking or baking ricotta also make it safe for consumption by pregnant women.
Jesmarie Macapagal, RN, MD, DPPS
What is Ricotta Cheese?
Risks of Eating Ricotta Cheese While Pregnant
Pasteurized vs Unpasteurized Ricotta Cheese
Eating Ricotta During Pregnancy
Tips for Eating Ricotta During Pregnancy
Ricotta is a general term that is used to identify a variety of Italian whey cheeses (Scarano et al., 2019). It is a fresh cheese that is light, spongy and creamy. “Ricotta” in Italian translates to “recooked” in English.
In contrast to most cheeses that are made from milk curds, ricotta is traditionally made from milk whey with the few curds that are left behind. Whey is the fluid portion obtained by separation from the curd after coagulation of milk during the manufacture of cheese (Scarano et al., 2019). After the curds are made into any cheese that a cheesemaker wants, the leftover whey is then repurposed to create ricotta.
Ricotta cheese production is, thus, one of the most applicable ways of reusing cheese whey that were leftover from cheesemaking. Ricotta can be produced from sheep milk, goat milk, a mixture of cheese whey and milk (Wu et al., 2020), or water buffalo milk. However, commercial ricotta is most often made from cow’s milk.
The traditional method of making ricotta involves heating the whey, after adding a small amount of whole milk and some vinegar, citrus juice or rennet, to make the remaining curds coagulate. The curds eventually become larger and more solid, then the pot is emptied into a cheesecloth and strained. The finished product is a fluffy, white ricotta.
In industrial plants, the whey is filtered, heated to 65 degrees Celsius and sent to storage tanks. It is then transferred to large open kettles, where steam or indirect heating rises the temperature to 80 degrees Celsius. This mixture is held for 15 to 20 minutes as the proteins aggregate and start floating on the whey surface (Pala et al., 2016).
The clumped proteins are collected and placed into baskets to drain. The baskets are then placed in cold rooms, with a temperature of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius, where they are made to drain further and rapidly cool down within 12 hours (Pala et al., 2016).
The average composition of ricotta is 70 to 80 percent moisture, 10 to 25 percent fat and 8 to 10 percent protein. Ricotta can be wrapped in food paper or placed in modified atmosphere packaging. It can be consumed as it is or added as ingredient in various dishes (Pala et al., 2016).
However, nowadays, especially in the United States, ricotta is being made from whole milk instead of whey. The same process is completed, with the whole milk heated to coagulate, then strained to separate the curds and produce a soft, fresh, spreadable cheese.
Ricotta cheese, being a soft whey cheese that is high in moisture with a pH lower than 6.0, is also highly susceptible to microbial spoilage and has a limited shelf life even when refrigerated (Wu et al., 2020). Because ricotta is not aged in any way, it remains light and moist, and is more perishable than hard cheeses.
Fresh ricotta is usually added in dollops to dishes or stuffed into pasta. It is often used as ingredient in lasagna and other Italian casseroles. It is also a common stuffing for ravioli, manicotti and other pasta dishes. It can be used to fill cannoli or as a layer cake filling. It can be used in omelets and quiche. In Italy, it is popularly enjoyed as spread on toast with honey, and pairs particularly well with fresh figs.
The composition and intrinsic properties of ricotta, coupled with the absence of preservatives in its production, make this product an excellent substrate for the growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms (Pala et al., 2016). Ricotta cheese is an excellent medium for growth of Pseudomonas species, yeasts, molds, and Enterobacteriaceae (Ricciardi et al., 2020).
There is increased risk of contamination after the curd aggregation process. During molding, chilling and packaging, the cheese is held in environments that are not always supplied with sufficient hygienic protection systems like air filtration (Kousta et al., 2010).
During cold storage of whey cheeses, different microorganisms are able to grow, including coliforms, Staphylococci and Bacillus cereus (Pintado & Malcata, 2000). Bacillus cereus grows favorably in the temperature range between 40 and 10 degrees Celsius (Soni et al., 2016). The cooling phase after heat treatment of ricotta represents a likely step where recontamination can occur (Ricciardi et al., 2020).
Listeriosis is a severe food borne disease caused by Listeria monocytogenes. In pregnant women, listeriosis usually manifests as a nonspecific febrile illness. However, it can result in fetal loss, premature labor, and neonatal sepsis and meningitis (Heiman et al., 2016).
In the United States alone, an estimated 1600 invasive cases of listeriosis occur every year (Scallan et al., 2011). Majority of these invasive infections occur in specific population groups, including pregnant women and newborn babies, who typically present with bacteremia or meningitis. Death ensues in about 21 percent of cases (Silk et al., 2013).
In 2012, a multistate outbreak of listeriosis happened in the United States. Twenty two cases were reported, including four deaths and one fetal loss. Packages of imported ricotta salata were found to yield the outbreak strain. Other cheeses were also found to be cross-contaminated (Heiman et al., 2016).
The public health benefits of the process of milk pasteurization are well established. Pasteurization ensures safety for human consumption of milk (Macdonald et al., 2011). Majority of the brands of ricotta cheese that are available in supermarkets are made using pasteurized milk, and are safe for pregnant women to consume.
The definition of pasteurization is “the process of heating every particle of milk or milk product, in properly designed and operated equipment, to any 1 of the specified pasteurization time / temperature combinations” for the purpose of destroying all human pathogens. The most common pasteurization method is rapidly heating milk to at least 72 degrees Celsius and maintaining that temperature for a minimum of 15 seconds (Lucey, 2015).
Raw milk becomes contaminated by pathogenic organisms through different mechanisms, including direct passage from the blood into the milk of an animal, mastitis, fecal contamination, or contamination from human skin (Lucey, 2015).
Unpasteurized milk can become contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes even before the process of cheesemaking. Cows, sheep and goats can shed the bacterium through their milk. Fecal contamination can also occur during milking (Heiman et al., 2016).
Arcobacter butzleri has been isolated in artisanal ready to eat (RTE) water buffalo ricotta cheese. Arcobacter species have been reported in different steps of the dairy chain from fecal samples of dairy animals, milk filters and raw milk (Scarano et al., 2014). Arcobacter butzleri has been associated with several cases of gastrointestinal disease, and persistent diarrhea is the main symptom in humans (Collado & Figueras, 2011).
According to the UK National Health Service (NHS), the following types of cheese are safe to eat during pregnancy:
All hard cheeses like cheddar, Stilton and parmesan
Pasteurized soft cheeses like cottage cheese, mozzarella, feta, cream cheese, paneer, halloumi, goat’s cheese without rind, processed cheese spreads, and ricotta
Unpasteurized and all other cheeses that were thoroughly cooked until steaming hot
Pasteurized milk, yogurt, cream and ice cream
In contrast, these cheeses are recommended by the NHS to be avoided during pregnancy:
Mold-ripened soft cheeses like brie, camembert and chèvre that were not cooked
Soft blue cheeses like Danish blue, gorgonzola and Roquefort that were not cooked
Any unpasteurized cheese or milk
However, according to the NSW Food Authority from Australia, soft and semi-soft cheeses should not be consumed during pregnancy, unless they were thoroughly cooked to a minimum temperature of 75 degrees Celsius. These include brie, camembert, feta, blue cheese, and ricotta.
To make unpasteurized ricotta safe to eat, pregnant women can cook them to a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (or 74 degrees Celsius) or heat them until steaming hot. Use a food thermometer to accurately measure the internal temperature.
When homemade from pasteurized milk, eat fresh ricotta immediately after making it.
When bought from a grocery store, choose ricotta that is not near the expiration date and eat it immediately after opening
Wrap securely and store unfinished ricotta in the refrigerator
If ricotta looks or smells off and you are in doubt about its safety, do not eat it and throw it out
Cook or bake ricotta until a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit has been reached to kill any potential pathogen like Listeria.
Ricotta is highly perishable. Therefore, it must be kept in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container. Once opened, it should be consumed within 5 to 7 days. Ricotta can also be safely frozen for up to six months, but must be slowly defrosted in the refrigerator before consumption.
Ricotta cheese can be stuffed into ravioli, dropped on top of a pizza, or mixed in desserts. When made from pasteurized milk, ricotta can be a safe addition to your diet during pregnancy. However, avoid the artisanal or homemade varieties that may have used raw milk.
To make it extra safe to eat, ricotta can be cooked to a safe temperature. This should not be a problem since most ricotta appears in cooked dishes anyway.
For the best advice regarding cheese consumption during pregnancy, consult your obstetrician or dietitian. They can give you an individualized approach to all your pregnancy diet needs.
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-is-ricotta-cheese
https://www.thespruceeats.com/ricotta-cheese-recipes-and-cooking-tips-1802376
https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/is-ricotta-cheese-safe#:~:text=Most%20ricotta%20cheese%20you’ll,safe%20to%20eat%20during%20pregnancy.
https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/foods-to-avoid/
https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumer/life-events-and-food/pregnancy/foods-to-eat-or-avoid-when-pregnant
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Can You Eat Imitation Crab While Pregnant? Surimi Safety Explained
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"There’s almost a direct correlation between an intense focus on finance, a dedication to making sure that funds are allocated and distributed in a thoughtful way, and the success of students. When a district focuses on tying strategies and priorities to spending—not just dotting the i's and crossing the t's to have dollars in the right spot—it translates to student growth and achievement."
Written by Allovue
Implementation Specialist Desmond Seymour has experience working in multiple capacities across the education space—in charter schools, as a football coach, an after-school programming director, and advising young parents—and is deeply familiar with the experiences and challenges of teachers, administrators, and district leaders. At Allovue, he helps districts strike a balance between creating a strategic plan and allowing for flexibility when unforeseen issues (think: COVID) arise during the implementation process.
What were you doing before coming to Allovue?
I’ve worked in education for a long time, in multiple capacities. I worked as a Dean of Culture at a charter school in Brooklyn, and then as an after-school STEM director in Washington, DC, where I ran a program to get young folks interested in biological and chemical science, math, and engineering.
I was also a football coach, and had two or three guys who were becoming young fathers. That led me to set up Doula for Dad, where I worked with young men on the road to fatherhood, preparing them to be supportive partners. I loved my work with these young men, and also learned a lot about starting a business, the process of incorporating, and directing operations. We worked with public and charter schools in NYC, so I also worked with the Department of Education, which taught me a lot about working with districts and budget offices.
What’s your role at Allovue?
I am the Implementation Specialist here. My work is mostly focused on getting districts set up, making sure that they have all their information imported into the modules, making sure that all of the modules are set up in the way that they would like—kind of troubleshooting the entire implementation process.
Implementation involves many, many people across our company and the district. With the Data Implementation Manager, I make sure that we get everything set up, focusing on creating a change management strategy, so that we have all the pieces aligned to ensure that our plan mirrors and improves the current budgeting process or financial management process.
What skills serve you best in this role?
In implementation, you have to be flexible: You have to be able to change to fit the customer, but you also have to have a structure in place that allows you to have some guidelines for how you proceed. That is a strong suit of mine.
How do you see Allovue’s impact?
Being able to say, “Here is a clear picture of all of your dollars,” and then being able to respond and adapt and adjust or correct course—that's been amazing.
There’s almost a direct correlation between an intense focus on finance—a dedication to making sure that funds are allocated and distributed in a thoughtful way—and the success of students. I have found that when a district focuses on tying strategies and priorities to spending—not just dotting the i's and crossing the t's to have dollars in the right spot—it translates to student growth and achievement.
Have you developed a pandemic hobby?
When I listen to music I put on my big Beats headphones and I sit in my chair, have some tea, and I zone out for about 20 minutes. I’ve been listening to Natureboy Flako, he makes music that is really beautifully layered with these odd, interesting sounds—it sounds prickly. And I really like that.
I have gotten into making little pieces of music, just recording sounds and doing some looping to create ambient or lo-fi music, using my iPad and an SP-404 sampler. And that’s been fun.
Allovue works with districts and state departments of education across the country to allocate, budget, and manage spending. Allovue's software suite integrates seamlessly with existing accounting systems to make sure every dollar works for every student. Allovue also provides additional services such as chart of accounts and funding formula revisions.
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”Third Point’s Successful Shareholder Activism a Sign of Progress in Japanese Corporate Governance”
”Historically, shareholder activism has rarely been successful at Japanese companies. However, as Japan moves closer to a Western model of corporate governance, shareholders may be playing a larger role in the strategy and leadership of some Japanese companies. This has recently been exemplified by the apparent influence of Daniel Loeb, from the hedge fund Third Point, on the leadership of Seven & i Holdings (“the Company”), which holds its annual general meeting on Thursday, May 26.
Earlier this year, Third Point actively opposed the removal of Mr. Ryuichi Isaka from his current position of president at the Company’s core subsidiary, Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd. The idea of switching the head of the largest convenience store operator in Japan came from Mr. Toshifumi Suzuki, the incumbent executive chairman of the Company and Seven-Eleven Japan, who founded the very first Japanese convenience store back in 1973. Mr. Suzuki was reportedly not satisfied with Mr. Isaka’s performance – despite Seven-Eleven Japan’s increasing profit record for five consecutive years. There were also reports that Mr. Suzuki had plans to nominate his son, who serves as a director and the chief information officer of the Company, as the next president of Seven-Eleven Japan and eventually of the Company, however, Mr. Suzuki denied this rumour.
Source: Glass Lewis
The Board Director Training Institute (BDTI) is a “public interest” nonprofit in Japan dedicated to training about directorship, corporate governance, and related management techniques. It is certified by the Japanese government to conduct these activities as a regulated nonprofit. Read a summary about BDTI here, and see a menu of its services for both corporations and investors here.
Posted by AdminPosted in GovernanceTagged Activism, Engagement, Succession
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