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This is a reprint of the Journal on Postsecondary Education and Disability, volume 10, #3, 1993, published by the Association on Higher Education And Disability.
Self-Reported Written Language Difficulties of University Students with Learning Disabilities
Judith Osgood Smith
Purdue University Calumet
The current descriptive study used structured interviews to explore the nature of written expression problems experienced by 31 university students with learning disabilities. Participants commented on (a) perceived postsecondary setting demands for written expression; (b) specific areas of writing difficulty; (c) strategies used to complete written requirements; and (d) writing accommodations requested and received. Primary areas of difficulty included proofreading/detecting errors, spelling, grammar, and writing speed and legibility. Eighty-one percent who requested accommodations said professors were usually willing to grant their requests. Suggested accommodations and implications for university faculty are presented.
Empirical studies indicate that limited written-language competency may impede the academic success of university students with learning disabilities (Gajar, 1989; Gregg & Hoy, 1989, 1990; Leuenberger & Morris, 1990; Morris-Friehe & Leuenberger, 1992; Richards, 1985; Vogel, 1985b; Vogel & Moran, 1982). This research has repeatedly found written expression of university students with learning disabilities (LD) to be both quantitatively and qualitatively inferior to that of non-LD college students. Several publications suggest strategies and guidelines for working with students with writing disabilities (Gregg, 1983; Raskind & Scott, 1993; Vogel & Konrad, 1988). However, there remain practically no studies reporting effective interventions for this population (Hughes & Smith, 1990).
Self-report studies comprise an area of research that may help secondary-level transition planners and postsecondary service providers identify potentially successful interventions. Group comparisons of students with and without LD seem less beneficial than documentation of successful strategies used by the students themselves to overcome and compensate for academic problems. A review of previous self-report studies indicates that many students with LD are aware of their problems with written expression, including mechanics, organization, and handwriting (Bireley, Landers, Vernooy, & Schlaerth, 1986; Cowen, 1988; Vogel, 1985a). However, these studies provide limited information concerning the writing demands encountered by these students, the identification of specific components of the writing process that cause them difficulty, and strategies they use to overcome or compensate for these problems. The current exploratory study used structured interviews of university students with LD to describe: (a) perceived postsecondary setting demands for writing; (b) specific areas of difficulty with written expression; (c) strategies used to complete written requirements; and (d) writing accommodations requested and received.
All students identified as having learning disabilities (n=50) at a large northeastern state university were sent a letter soliciting their participation; 31 students (21 males and 10 females) representing 21 different majors consented to participate. Identification as having a learning disability was based on a severe discrepancy between achievement and ability as determined by performance on the Woodcock Johnson Psychoeducational Battery (n=27). Mean cluster scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement were: Reading, 97 (SD=12.68); Math, 103 (SD=14.80); Written Language, 94 (SD=11.77); Knowledge, 105 (SD=12.37).
Of the 31 participants, 26 had Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) scores on file. Mean scores were as follows: Verbal IQ, 101 (SD=22.37); Performance IQ, 103 (SD= 12.62); Full Scale IQ, 104 (SD= 11.54). Mean age of participants was 23.5 (SD=6.62); mean grade point average was 2.7 (SD=.51) on a 4-point scale, and average semester standing was 5.0. Fifty-five percent (n=17) had been diagnosed as having learning disabilities by public school personnel, 16% (n=5) by private clinics, and 29% (n=9) via a diagnostic battery conducted through the university educational psychology program. At the time of the study, 21 were receiving tutorial services in a program run by the Office for Disability Services and the Special Education program, five were receiving services such as recorded texts and untimed tests, and the remaining five were not receiving any support services.
A structured interview form was developed (Hughes, Smith, & Suritsky, 1989) to sample frequency of university setting demands, as well as perceived areas of difficulty, coping strategies, and accommodations used to meet these requirements. Content areas within the interview included taking tests, studying for tests, time management, lecture-notetaking, reading, writing, speaking, and foreign language. Hughes (1991) and Suritsky (1992) have reported results of the test taking and notetaking aspects of these interviews. The portions reported here pertain to participants' perceived writing demands, related areas of difficulty, coping strategies, and accommodations for written requirements. A structured interview format was chosen to facilitate information gathering from students who may have difficulty with reading and writing. Consistently worded questions and specific prompts were designed to elicit responses that would be comparable across all participants.
Writing demands. Participants were asked to rate the frequency of various writing requirements (i.e., out of class papers/reports, questions based on readings, and other written assignments such as lab reports and article critiques) on a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (almost always). In addition, each subject was asked to rate the degree of difficulty experienced with meeting these requirements using a scale of 1 (not difficult) to 5 (most difficult). For items rated four or five, participants were asked to explain the type of difficulty experienced.
Areas of writing difficulty. Using the same rating method described above, each subject was asked to rate the degree of difficulty experienced with various aspects of preparing a major written assignment such as a term paper. Similarly, subjects were asked to explain why they had difficulty with areas rated four or five.
Next, the following scenario was read: Suppose I gave you an assignment to write a five-page paper on nuclear disarmament. I will grade on grammar and spelling as well as content. How would you approach the task? What would you do first? What would you do next?
Writing accommodations. Subjects were asked what things professors could do to facilitate managing written assignments, whether they asked for accommodations or alterations in meeting written requirements for any courses and, if so, whether professors were willing to make these accommodations.
The instrument was pilot tested for clarity and content on three students with learning disabilities and three persons without learning disabilities. Interviews were conducted on an individual basis by the three authors of the structured interview form (Hughes et al., 1989). Responses to Likert-type items were recorded directly on the interview form. Open-ended questions were transcribed and categorized; interrater reliability was established by randomly selecting eight audiotaped interviews and calculating point-by-point agreement of response categorization by two reviewers. Agreement ranged from 95% to 100%, with a mean agreement of 97% (Hughes, 1991).
Writing Demands
Median demand and difficulty ratings, as well as the percent of participants rating a component as four or five, appear in Table 1. The median, rather than the mean, was chosen as a measure of central tendency because the data are ordinal level.
Demand and difficulty of writing requirements. Twenty two of the 31 participants (71 %) reported they sometimes, often, or almost always are required to complete major term papers as out-of-class assignments. Twenty (64.5%) indicated they experienced extreme difficulty meeting this requirement. Most frequently reported problems included organizing ideas, spelling and grammar, and carrying out multiple revisions. Other difficulties included getting started, finding/locating information, and/ or translating ideas into a written product.
Table 1 Demand and Difficulty Ratings for Writing Requirements
|Area of Difficulty |Median |Median |Participants |Participants |
| |Demand |Difficulty |Rating |Rating Item |
| |Rating(a) |Rating(b) |Difficulty at |Difficulty at |
| | | |4 or 5 |4 or 5 |
| | | |N |% |
|Writing Requirements |
|Out of Class papers/reports |3.0 |4.00 |20 |64.5 |
|Questions based on readings |2.0 |2.75 |6 |19.4 |
|Other (e.g. article critque) |3.0 |3.00 |6.0 |19.4 |
|Aspects of Writing Difficulty |
|Detecting errors/Proofreading | |5.00 |22 |71.0 |
|Grammar | |4.00 |20 |64.5 |
|Spelling | |4.00 |17 |54.8 |
|Writing (speed/legibility) | |4.00 |16 |51.6 |
|Organizing thoughts | |3.00 |15 |48.4 |
|Locating relevant information | |2.00 |6 |19.4 |
|Typing/Word Processing | |2.00 |6 |19.4 |
Note: a=1-5 scale (1 =never,5=always); b=1-5 scale (1 =not difficult,5=most difficult)
The least frequent class requirement for this group of students was answering questions on readings (e.g., study questions). However, participants who rated this requirement as difficult (n=6,19.4%) gave reasons relating to organization, motivation, reading comprehension, mechanics, and translating thought into written words. Similarly, six participants (19.4%) who reported difficulty with other types of written assignments such as lab reports and article critiques related it to problems with organization, time, and reading in the content area.
Aspects of Writing Difficulty
Detecting errors/proof reading. The area with which participants experienced the most difficulty was proofreading (n=22; 71%). Eleven individuals (35.5%) stated they cannot see or recognize errors. Inability to proofread was blamed on poor spelling, poor language structure, difficulty reading, and poor grammar. Coping strategies mentioned were use of other people to proofread, and use of computers with spell checkers.
Grammar. Twenty participants (64.5%) rated grammar as very or extremely difficult. Specific problems included: dislike of English; inability to learn; poor or limited training in high school; and problems with specific mechanical aspects of writing (e.g., commas, sentence structure, tenses, capitalization). As one student stated, "To me writing is a different language than speaking."
Spelling. Over half of the participants (n=1 7; 54.8%) found spelling very or extremely difficult. Nine individuals (29%) simply stated that they had always had difficulty in this area. Reasons for difficulty included inability to remember or apply spelling rules, problems with memory, and an inability to sound out words. Two individuals apparently felt they were not in control of their spelling performance. One said that sometimes "the pen knows how to spell;" another stated that he would begin to spell easy words correctly but then just "keep on going."
Writing speed and legibility. Sixteen subjects (51.6%) rated writing speed and/or legibility as very difficult. Ten participants (32.3%) commented on slowness as a problem; eight (25.8%) mentioned that the legibility of their work deteriorated as they increased writing speed. Several students mentioned that the process of trying to put ideas down on paper often resulted in frustration. For example, one student said his head was running at 600 miles per hour, but he could only put down three words per minute. Specific problems pertained to letter size and proportion, motor control, sloppiness, spelling, small handwriting, and switching between manuscript and cursive.
Organizing thoughts. Nearly half of the participants (n=15; 48.4%) reported they had difficulty organizing their thoughts when preparing a paper. Problems were reported with keeping the topic in focus, simplifying and condensing information in an organized manner, as well as determining how thoughts go together or whether the paper would appear organized to someone else. Several individuals noted difficulty transferring their thoughts to paper (e.g.,"I know what I want to say, but it is not getting on paper.").
Typing/word processing. Typing may be an area of relative strength for individuals with written language difficulties. Only six people (19.4%) found typing or computer use very difficult. However, several indicated that they had limited training/practice in this area, and one individual had difficulty locating typographical errors.
Locating relevant information. Similarly, six subjects (19.4%) reported difficulty locating relevant information. Reasons included not knowing where to look for information, difficulty selecting/narrowing the topic, and problems choosing the relevant information from all that was available.
Writing Strategies
Specific strategies used by participants when writing papers are presented in Table 2. The most common strategy reported (n=25, 81%) pertains to collecting information on the topic; most participants said they would go to the library for information. However, students varied concerning the quantity of information they felt they should obtain on a topic, with some saying they located as many sources as possible and others deliberately limiting the amount of information they would use, Two persons said they would seek help in locating and screening information.
Other strategies reported were: asking someone else to proofread; outlining or otherwise organizing ideas before writing a first draft; revising; writing the paper on a computer/word processor; using a spell checker; taking notes/ using notecards. Less frequent responses included: dictating or getting someone to transcribe the paper; circling words that look wrong; and asking the professor if the paper was "on the right track."
Writing Accommodations
Accommodations requested/received. Participants were asked whether they requested accommodations or alterations in meeting written requirements, the type of assistance requested, and whether professors consented to their requests. Fifty-two percent (n=16) had requested accommodations including: (a) more time to complete written assignments; (b) grading emphasis on content rather than spelling; (c) feedback or direct assistance; and (d) further explanation of assignment criteria. Eighty-one percent of the 16 students who requested
Table 2 Percent of Respondents Reporting Use of Specific Strategy for Writing
|Writing Strategy |Respondents |Respondents |
| |reporting Use |reporting Use |
| |of Strategy % |of Strategy N |
|Gather information on the topic |81 |25 |
| Get a variety of sources |29 |9 |
| Limit the number of sources |6 |2 |
|Ask someone else to proofread |65 |20 |
|Outline/organize ideas before writing first draft |58 |18 |
|Revise/correct errors |52 |16 |
|Write on computer/word processor |29 |9 |
|Use spell checker |13 |4 |
|Take notes/use note cards |13 |4 |
|Get help locating/screening sources |6 |2 |
|Dictate/get help locating someone to transcribe paper |6 |2 |
|Circle words that look wrong |3 |1 |
|Ask professor if I am on the right track |3 |1 |
accommodations (n=13) said that professors usually were willing to grant their requests; however, five individuals reported that at least one professor was not willing to do so.
Participants' suggestions for university faculty. Subjects were asked to indicate how professors could help them deal with writing requirements. The following suggestions were made: (a) grade on content more heavily than mechanics; (b) give clear criteria for assignments; (c) provide individual feedback; (d) break assignments into small components rather than one large assignment due at the end of the semester; (e) allow oral rather than written tests and don't rely heavily on essay tests; (f) allow increased time to complete assignments and more lead time for assignments; (g) allow proofreading; and (h) give more interesting assignments.
Discussion and Recommendations
The recommendations that follow are categorized as accommodations, compensatory and bypass strategies, and intervention strategies. Most recommendations from participants fall into the categories of compensatory or bypass strategies and accommodations. Raskind and Scott (1993) posited that basic skill remediation may meet with resistance by postsecondary students with learning disabilities who may not have the extensive time required for remediation of skills needed to meet their immediate demands. Additional resistance may occur because of "remediation burnout" by students who have received extensive, but unsuccessful, basic skill instruction prior to college.
Accommodations by University Faculty
Participants listed assigned papers and reports as their most frequent and most troublesome written assignments. Relatedly, their most frequently occurring suggestion for university faculty was that professors be very clear about criteria for written assignments (e.g., give very precise instructions and explain the format required). Undoubtedly all students would benefit from such explanations; in addition, the instructor is likely to be rewarded by receiving more satisfactory finished written assignments. Another suggestion, likely to be met with varied reactions from university faculty, pertains to giving separate grades for content and mechanics. The issue may be resolved more easily if instructors determine whether demonstration of technical written competence is an essential component of the assignment and, if so, whether it actually can be separated from content.
Organization of thoughts. Given the difficulty students reported with organization, some of the recommendations of individual participants seem appropriate. For example, one student suggested that instructors work with students individually to discuss ideas and "flow" of a paper. Other suggestions included giving feedback on rough drafts, helping students narrow topics that are too broad, and assigning component tasks for a major project throughout the semester.
Extended time to complete assignments. Over half of the participants experienced difficulty with speed and/or legibility of handwriting. As noted previously, legibility may deteriorate as students try to write faster. An obvious recommendation, based on this information, would be to allow students with learning disabilities extended time to complete written assignments, or alternative methods of demonstrating their mastery of course content (e.g., audiotaping). Extended time to complete assignments is likely to pose problems for faculty who read papers as a group so that grading will be consistent. If extension of deadlines is not feasible, an alternative accommodation might be to give students assignments earlier in the semester, thus providing more "up front" or lead time for students who need it.
Compensatory and Bypass Strategies
Proofreaders. The most difficult aspect of writing for participants in this study was proofreading or locating errors in their own work. As a method of compensation, 65% noted that they usually asked others to proofread their written work. This is comparable to the findings of another study by Cowen (1988), where 79% of subjects who were also university students with LD relied on others to proofread their papers. Proofreading is likely to create problems for professors who may view this practice as plagiarism (Chase, 1987). In a study of faculty at a small public university, Matthews, Anderson, and Skolnick (1987) found that they were willing to allow students to use proofreaders, but disagreed as to whether or not to allow proof readers to substitute higher level vocabulary for the student's own words. Faculty's concerns may not be unfounded. One subject acknowledged that he had to be wary to ensure that the finished paper was his own work because he sometimes had problems with proofreaders trying to change the content of his writing. With the advent of computers with voice recognition capability, the problem of text alteration by proofreaders may eventually disappear (Rose, 1986). However, orally transcribed text is not error free, nor will it alleviate the need to check for grammatical and organizational errors. Therefore, one of the most effective strategies for university students to cope with inadequate mechanical skills may still be to ask others to look for the errors they cannot detect themselves.
Word processors with spelling checkers. Generally, word processors with grammar and/ or spelling checkers may be useful tools for students who have difficulty with handwriting speed and legibility as well as grammar and spelling (Collins & Price, 1986; Vogel, 1985a). However, limitations inherent in spell checkers may decrease their usefulness for the student who so grossly misspells words that the computer can't generate a correct spelling, or in situations where actual but inappropriate words appear (e.g., "form" for "from" or homonyms). In addition, a certain amount of technical expertise is required to use a computer and spelling checker. In the words of one participant, "My computer has a spell checker which I can't figure out how to run; it doesn't help me a lot." Typing and computer use were areas of relative strength for participants in this study; however, several commented on their lack of experience with computers and difficulty typing. Based on this information, a logical recommendation for educators working with college-bound students with learning disabilities is to incorporate word processing/typing skills into the student's transition plan. University students who lack computer expertise might try commercially available typing tutorial programs, enroll in word processing courses or workshops, or use writing laboratories that provide tutorial assistance in the use of word processing software.
Intervention Strategies
Given the reported difficulty using computers and spell checkers, universities with computerized writing laboratories might consider providing instruction in word processing and use of spell checking and proofreading programs. This service might be helpful for all students, not just those with learning disabilities, Also, the following interventions might be undertaken to assist with spelling and grammar difficulties (Hoy & Gregg, 1987; Richards, 1985): (a) instruction in self-monitoring of errors; (b) maintenance of an individual dictionary of vocabulary and spelling words that are frequently used and troublesome; (c) use of spelling dictionaries or lists; and (d) instruction in paragraphing, sentence structure, and organization.
Self-advocacy. Shaywitz and Shaw (1988) noted that university students with LD who self advocate are most successful academically. Secondary and postsecondary educators might consider teaching students appropriate self advocacy techniques to use in requesting accommodations. For example, in courses with demanding written requirements, students should provide appropriate documentation and requests for accommodations to instructors at the beginning of the semester, rather than waiting until they are in trouble or a deadline is near.
Similarly, students with writing difficulties need to be aware of their strengths and limitations and plan their course loads accordingly. They should inform their advisors and ask for help in matching courses to their strengths. For example, advisors may assist them in avoiding courses with technical writing or those in which writing performance comprises the majority of the grade. If such courses are not avoidable, students should be careful not to schedule too many in one semester.
Results must be interpreted cautiously, given two obvious limitations: (a) the limited sample size of 31 subjects; and (b) the questionable validity of self-reported responses (i.e., whether students actually use the strategies they describe and whether their perceptions of their strengths and weaknesses are accurate). With regard to the former, the WAIS-R and Woodcock-Johnson scores of this sample are similar to intelligence and achievement test scores of subjects described in other studies of university students with learning disabilities (Cowen, 1988; Gajar, 1987; Ingram & Dettenmaier, 1987; Hoy & Gregg, 1986; Vogel, 1986). Concerning validity of responses, the reported written language difficulties of this sample are corroborated by the fact that the lowest mean score (94; SD= 11.77) on the Woodcock-Johnson for this group was on the Written Language cluster. Nevertheless, future research might replicate this study and compare the self -report data to direct observations of students as they undertake writing assignments.
Results of the current study indicate that this particular group of university students with learning disabilities experienced extreme difficulty with several aspects of meeting the written requirements for college courses. Their major difficulties were related to proofreading, writing mechanics (e.g., spelling and grammar), speed and legibility of writing, and organization of thoughts.
Whenever possible, university faculty should be encouraged to: (a) give clear descriptions of assignment components and grading criteria; (b) allow additional time for completion of written assignments; (c) provide alternative means of assessing student mastery of content material; (d) focus on writing content rather than mechanics; and (e) provide encouragement and feedback to students with learning disabilities. Many of the accommodations suggested would be helpful to all students, whether or not they have learning disabilities.
Finally, given the limitations of sample size and concerns regarding the validity of student self-reports, more research in this area is advisable. Interventions based on learning strategies, as well as strategies for self-advocacy and self-management of writing requirements, are areas that might be explored. Based on this study and prior research, ongoing investigation is needed to determine ways to assist university students in meeting the written requirements they encounter.
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A New Model for Access
Lea Van Meter
In the summer of 1991, an article entitled "Access in Education: Assisting Students from Dependence to Independence" was published in the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability (Volume 9, pp. 264-268). In this article, Brown, Clopton, and Tussler discussed two models of service delivery: the Traditional Service Delivery Model and the Student Development Model. The former relies heavily on the professional for knowledge, control, and decision-making, which leaves the student to passively and gratefully receive the benefits of the professional's efforts. By contrast, the Student Development Model emphasizes the independent student with the professional as the facilitator. Their article struck a deep, resonating chord with me as the Director of Disabled Student Services (DSS) for the past nine years. Borrowing from the principles of student development and current organizational theory, my staff and I have worked to create a third model on our campus: an Integrated Access Model of service delivery to students with disabilities. The purpose of this position paper is to discuss this model and its implications for our campuses.
Why a New Model?
Before 1973, when the concept of educational access was limited largely to architectural accessibility, and students became radicalized in pursuit of their civil rights, programs serving students with disabilities were rare. In 1993, we are at a very different place, both in terms of understanding the multidimensional nature of educational access, and in campuses' perception of our professional value. We have evolved from fledgling offices to ones with greater campus recognition, institutionalized resources, and, thus greater potential to effect change. In 1993 we serve a much larger and broader student constituency that is increasingly aware of disability rights and more ready to articulate them. We have new and powerful federal laws protecting these rights, and our institutions are wiser about their responsibilities under the law. Academic accommodation has replaced inaccessible architecture as the chief area of concern on many campuses. Given these new circumstances, we must renew our commitment to two broad goals: empowering students to become independent of us, and teaching our institutions how to become accessible without our Interventions. To achieve these goals, we must assist students to incorporate the professional skills of their service providers. As importantly, we must help our institutions become less reliant on those same skills. If we are to truly advance the larger purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act, that of changing the nature of society into an accessible one, we must change the nature of our colleges and universities into accessible institutions.
The Integrated Access Model
The Integrated Access Model, which I propose, is in harmony with current organizational theory as articulated by Deming (1986), Peters (1992), and Bennis (1993 a & b). This newer theory stresses integrated, boundary-less forms in which each person is expected to be more knowledgeable about the whole, that is, more flexible. This theory moves away from earlier ones in which there were high levels of differentiation and specialization, where the whole picture was unclear to individuals, and where persons did not see their relationship to the entire organization.
A theory that decentralizes expertise and enlarges each person's scope translates itself well into the Integrated Access Model wherein all institutional units and persons have knowledge and skills in accommodating students with disabilities.
How can we move away from the Traditional Service Delivery Model, with an office for services to students with disabilities as its centerpiece, toward a model where the campus at large is empowered to assist students in meeting their own disability-related needs? How can we enlarge on the Student Development Model to create an institution where accommodation becomes an instinctive response to students' self-advocacy? Some specific rationales and suggestions toward that end are offered.
Work to ensure that educational access to students with disabilities is viewed as the responsibility of the entire college or university, and not just that of one office. Students must receive appropriate and necessary assistance and accommodations from the department or person from whom they are receiving the service. For example, students needing large-print handouts and exams should expect that their professors routinely provide enlarged copies.
Similarly, students having disability-related expenses should expect that their financial aid advisor will be able to utilize that information and professional judgment in order to fairly package that student's financial aid. Likewise, a computer center should expect to provide voice recognition software in order to accommodate a student's needs. Sharing information and sources of information should be the major role of the disabled student services staff; other offices should provide needed accommodation.
Build a community of experts in order to accomplish this more undifferentiated knowledge and sensitivity base. Aggressively teaching (informing, sensitizing, and being a resource for) all campus units about appropriately responding to students' requests for accommodation is the essential task. On our campus, we have requested time on the agenda of faculty, administrators' and other staff meetings, conducted seminars during teaching assistant orientations, and planned a brown bag luncheon through our Center for Teaching, to which I invited faculty to address various disability-related topics. We look for ways to connect students with disabilities to the academic interests of faculty. For example, we helped to recruit hearing-impaired students for a senior faculty's research in speech-reading. To help students locate faculty role models, DSS hired a free-lance writer who interviewed faculty who have disabilities. Their stories will appear in a campus wide publication. Payment for writing these stories came from the Center for Teaching.
Determine the most appropriate place for a service or accommodation to reside. Questions we need to ask: who should be responsible for providing a service? Who is already providing a similar service for other students? Who could provide the service with little modification to existing procedures? On our campus this is done through discussion among DSS staff, with the advice and counsel of its advisory committee made up of faculty, staff and students. For example, with adequate student notification, academic accommodations can be made directly by a faculty member, teaching assistant, or departmental staff with little or no intervention by an office specializing In services to students with disabilities. Using our campus as an example, the Office of Disabled Student Services had, for many years, arranged for special testing space, hired test proctors, and negotiated accommodations with faculty. Using the Integrated Access Model our staff determined that since testing is a faculty function, faculty and their staffs should be sensitized and given information so that they could provide necessary accommodation. Extensive groundwork was laid for these major policy and procedural changes. A draft letter introducing the changes and their potential benefits to both students and faculty was written by the Director of DSS to the Academic Vice Chancellor to be sent to faculty and their staff under his name. Meetings followed with the academic deans and academic departmental staff. Simple forms were generated by DSS to communicate the accommodations requested by the students and supported by DSS, and hand-carried to each faculty member by the student. Several conversations followed with individual professors who wanted clarification as mid-term examinations were underway. While this process seemed daunting and its outcome uncertain, the process went smoothly with few problems.
Another example of the Integrated Access Model applies to transportation. DSS has, from its beginning, operated a van transportation system, using two lift-equipped vans to transport students needing adaptive transportation to all campus locations. In fall of 1993, the plan to relocate this modified demand-response paratransit system to the Office of Transportation Services (TSM) and integrate it with all campus transportation services is in progress. The transition will require training of new personnel currently unfamiliar with riders who have special needs, and the orientation of student users to any changes in service procedures the relocation will bring. The change will expand the information base of all TSM staff.
Become politically involved with institutional policymaking and long-range planning decisions, and the effects those decisions might have on members of the campus community who have disabilities. Change the way the institution operates. Seek invitations to serve on critical campuswide planning and policy committees, providing your perspective on issues that may have an impact on students, faculty, and staff with disabilities. Our staff have requested and accepted invitations to serve on such important committees as that of a division-wide budget committee, campuswide transit oversight and transportation committees, as well as search committees for key campus personnel. Review existing campus policies to determine if an adverse effect on persons with disabilities exists. Recommend changes. Make initiatives. Build coalitions. Identify unmet needs. A survey of students, faculty and staff to determine the climate of campus accommodation is useful, opening the way to continued dialogue, Find others on your campus and in your community who can problem-solve, advocate, and find resources to meet the need. Join them. Lead them.
Keep pressure on high-level campus administrators to state boldly policies regarding the accommodation of students with disabilities. Refer to those policies, and designate personnel responsible for implementing these policies. Two years ago, our office supported the campuswide change of policy leading to a smokefree campus. This year, with the approval of the campus Committee on Educational Policy and the support of our Registrar's Office, our campus codified and published campus policy requiring accommodation in examinations for students with verifiable disabilities. This policy assigns joint responsibility among DSS, faculty, and students for arranging accommodations. It also states that students may make those arrangements directly with their faculty.
Assist students to become excellent self advocates. To begin this process, they must understand the implications of their disabilities in their academic lives, and their rights and responsibilities as persons with disabilities. Teach students how to be effective self-advocates. These skills can be learned in a variety of situations: in one-on-one advising sessions, through role-play, analyzing their interactions on campus, and in workshops with students on such topics as problem-solving, working with complex bureaucracies, and dealing with difficult people. Students who have achieved these skills can teach other students. This year we are planning a jointly sponsored workshop with the Office of Ombudsman, Women's Center, and the Student Affirmative Action Office that will provide students with strategies to become more confident and resourceful self-advocates.
Heretofore, we have looked toward building the resources of our programs in order to create access for students with disabilities. We have gained the expertise to serve them well. The next step is to share that expertise with our campus departments and strongly encourage them to use it to serve students and teach others. Adopting this focus will, for many offices serving students with disabilities, represent a shift from providing accommodation to teaching others how to accommodate. Doing this will require us to adjust our thinking from "us" as the experts and providers, to the notion that all campus personnel can become ready and able to meet the needs of students with disabilities. As we do this we expand the creativity and freshness of approach that others bring. Recognizing that although some campuses have more experience with the model which I have just described, every campus can look for new ways to incorporate its elements to a greater extent. As with all educational access programs, the goal is to create a campus environment where we are no longer necessary.
Deming, W. E. (1986). Out of crisis. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Peters, T. (1992). Liberation management: necessary disorganization for the nanosecond nineties. New York: AA Knopf.
Bennis, W. (1993a). An invented life: reflections on leadership and change. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
Bennis, W. (1993b). Beyond bureaucracy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Project Excel: A Demonstration of the Higher Education Transition Model for High-Achieving Students with Disabilities
Riqua Serebreni, Phillip D. Rumrill, Jr., James A. Mullins, Jr. and Suzanne E. Gordon
Project Excel, a six-week summer transition program for high-achieving students with disabilities at the University of Arkansas, demonstrated the usefulness of the Higher Education Transition Model as an organizational concept and framework for the administration of the transition process. The model includes psychosocial adjustment, academic development, and university and community orientation as essential considerations for students with disabilities as they enter and adjust to college life. The twelve students who participated in Project Excel received academic advising and personal counseling, enrolled in six hours of college credit, and participated in a wide range of social and recreational activities. Overall, students rated the program as a good- to -excellent college preparatory experience.
The process of transition from childhood to adulthood has been a topic of keen interest among educators and social scientists for many years. Recent initiatives within special education and rehabilitation service delivery systems for individuals with disabilities suggest that students with disabilities require more support than their nondisabled peers to progress through the often traumatic adolescent years. School-to work transition programs coordinate educational and vocational rehabilitation services for youths with disabilities, which enables them to initiate the career development process within school curricula (Turner & Szymanski, 1990).
Unfortunately, that transition model has not yet been fully applied to higher education, where students with disabilities often encounter a void in vocational rehabilitation where special education left off, with inadequate institutionalized services in place to meet their college transition needs. In other words, choosing to attend college rather than going directly to work after high school puts the student with a disability at a disadvantage, because no formalized transition policies have been established to address the former option.
That disadvantage is expressed in research and programs that have documented the difficulties experienced by college students with disabilities. Evenson and Evenson (1983) noted that attitudinal barriers often result in delayed vocational development, unsatisfactory career development, and lowered expectations among college students with disabilities. Cordoni (1982) considered psychosocial adjustment to be a major impediment to effective transition among students with learning disabilities, and maintained that colleges and universities do not provide adequate support for personal, social, or academic adjustment. Rosenthal (1989) also reported that college students with learning disabilities have unique needs that are frequently unrecognized and, consequently, unmet by postsecondary institutions. Similarly Brandt and Berry (1991) reported that academic preparation, personal/social skill development, and individualized transition planning are common problem areas for students with learning disabilities who plan to attend college.
Siperstein (1988) proposed a three-stage service delivery model that enabled colleges to address the needs of students with learning disabilities as they enter, attend, and exit college. Aune (1991) described a transition model for preparing students with learning disabilities for the transition to postsecondary education. Retention rates of students with disabilities increased under this model when compared to the general student population.
In an effort to gain information on the transition from high school to adult life, Knox and Parmenter (1990) interviewed 73 young people with a range of disabilities. The most frequently made suggestion by these individuals was the need for linkages between school and community agencies. Social and personal issues (e.g., recreation, friendship) were seen as equally important in transition.
Students with disabilities generally lack awareness of their rights and responsibilities regarding support services (Baker & Blanding, 1986), find it difficult to advocate for themselves (Shaw, Brinckerhoff, Kistler, & McGuire, 1991), and encounter perceptions that people with disabilities need help in all areas of life (Baker & Blanding, 1986). These and other problems might be traced to the unavailability of proactive transition interventions at the postsecondary level.
Colleges and universities have recently begun to recognize the lack of effective transition services for students with disabilities. A number of postsecondary institutions offer summer programs that promote transition experiences for incoming students with learning disabilities (Dalke & Franzene, 1988; Goldstein, 1988; Sandperl, 1989; Seidenberg, 1986). As noted in a list of 14 pre-college summer programs compiled by the HEATH Resource Center (1992), many of these provide information to students with learning disabilities looking for ways to enhance their college performance. These programs are held on campus and offer high school students an opportunity to preview the college experience through activities which include college orientation, study skills, self-advocacy training, computer training, and leisure/recreational activities. Four of the 14 programs provide transition activities for enrolled freshmen, whereas others serve students who plan to enroll in a program at any college or university. A review of the literature suggested that prior to Project Excel, no program had addressed the transition needs of high-achieving students with physical, sensory, and learning disabilities.
Promoting Access and Academic Excellence through the Higher Education Transition Model
Jointly sponsored by the Office for Continuing Education and the Division of Student Services at the University of Arkansas, Project Excel, an intensive six-week summer program, was designed to: (a) facilitate the transition to college for incoming students with disabilities, and (b) promote academic excellence.
Program activities were clustered into three categories: (a) psychosocial adjustment, (b) academic development, and (c) university and community orientation. These categories, which emerged from a series of summer workshops and college transition programs for students with disabilities, provided a comprehensive framework for the development of a Higher Education Transition Model for working with high-achieving students with disabilities.
Project Excel recruited high-achieving students with disabilities, defined by high school grade point averages of 3.0 or higher and /or ACT (American College Testing Program) composite scores of 22 or higher.
Implementing Project Excel
Planning and Recruitment
As the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 recognizes people with disabilities as a minority group that deserves antidiscrimination civil protection, Project Excel dealt with barriers similar to those reported by Oliver and Brown (1988) in their effort to equalize educational opportunities for minorities. These included: (a) the need for involvement of the majority populous; (b) the impact of false assumptions by faculty and administrators that they are interested in and knowledgeable about minority issues; (c) the need for formation of networks within and among minorities; (d) the need to include diverse activities, which would therefore increase the majority populous in the overall effort of integration; (e) the importance of providing access to service components for students; and (f) the need for systematic retention efforts as important issues in minority recruitment.
Recruitment for the summer, 1992, program began in December, 1991. A program brochure was developed and sent to Arkansas rehabilitation counselors, Arkansas public school guidance counselors, and all students who had been admitted to the University of Arkansas for fall, 1992 and had identified themselves as having disabilities. Project recruiters then telephoned students who met the program's eligibility criteria as stated in the brochure (3.0 high school grade point average, 22 composite ACT scores, and/or outstanding achievement in extracurricular activities).
Parents, teachers, and counselors participated actively in Project Excel's individualized recruitment approach.
Students and Their Academic Characteristics
Project Excel's selection committee chose 12 high-achieving students with disabilities from Arkansas, Texas, and Illinois as participants in the program. Disability types represented among those students were blindness (2 students), deafness (1), learning disability (7), spinal cord injury (1), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (1). The students with legal blindness had low vision (L6/200 R20/400; L20/400 R20/200) and were accommodated by enlarged print, taped texts, readers, paratransit services, centrally located residences and mobility training on campus. The student who was deaf (hears less than five percent of sounds) used an interpreter in the classroom, in some tutoring sessions, and in most extracurricular and community activities. She was encouraged to help residence hall managers, newly made friends, and program participants to learn some sign language and to use some accommodations (e.g., telecommunication device for the deaf [TDD] ).
The university provided paratransit services, a scribe, and physical access to the classroom for the student with a spinal cord injury (C2/C3 level). Residence life staff and others worked closely with Project Excel staff to ensure that this student was not exposed to extreme temperatures or without power for his life support system. Rehabilitation Services provided a voice-activated computer, which the student used to control his home environment (e.g., phone, lighting, television). Employing and managing persons to provide personal assistance presented major transition concerns for this student and his parents.
Five of the seven students with learning disabilities had specific disabilities in reading, written expression, and math. One student had a disability that affected his processing of verbally presented information. Six of the students with learning disabilities qualified for extended time and a reader for tests. Five students were accommodated by a scribe. The student with the attention-deficit disorder was accommodated by extended time for tests, which were given in a less distracting environment than the class room. All students were provided with class notes and specialized tutoring.
Few students were proficient in the use of technology. Several students had no skills in computer technology, and their instruction began with keyboarding. None of the students who qualified for taped texts knew how to use them effectively.
Most students were of middle to upper-middle class socioeconomic status. Eleven students were of European-American descent, and one African-American student participated. This ethnic distribution is consistent with the University's eight percent minority enrollment rate.
Project Excel's 12 students demonstrated a mean high school grade point average of 2.76 with a mean composite ACT score of 21.5. Four students had been awarded university scholarships for the fall of 1992. The majority (8) of Project Excel students were unconditionally admitted to the university, while four were provisionally admitted, pending remediation of course deficiencies. Eleven students were admitted as freshmen, while one was accepted for transfer enrollment.
Personnel and Budget
Project Excel, a low-cost, self-supporting program, was implemented by existing disabled student services staff. Graduate assistants and interns assisted with program administration, academic instruction, counseling, university orientation, special events, and other activities. Personnel involved in the project included full year staff: the program director, a certified school psychologist, an English instructor, and "accommodators" (readers, notetakers, and sign language interpreters). Faculty consultants were used in the evaluation of students' needs for accommodation and the daily assessment of program activities.
Two doctoral level interns from Rehabilitation Education served as the program coordinator and program counselor. Graduate assistants helped with special events, the technology lab, and tutoring. Four students were employed as clerical assistants and peer helpers. One student was employed as an accommodator for a member of the summer staff. The program director and program coordinator taught the assistive technology course. Program fees ($3,000 for in-state residents and $3,684 for out-of-state) included tuition (six credit hours), room and board, university new-student orientation, workshops, seminars, special events, transportation to and from program events, and books and supplies. Accommodations were the responsibility of the year-round university program of services. The emphasis on existing campus resources was cost-effective, and allowed most expenditures to be allocated for direct services for students. The Arkansas Vocational Rehabilitation program sponsored four Project Excel students, and one student was a Texas Vocational Rehabilitation client.
Components of Project Excel
Psychosocial Development
As "college is an important time of growth and development, a time of transition from dependence to independence, and especially so for individuals with disabilities" (Benshoff, Kroeger, & Scalia, 1990, p. 43), psychosocial adjustment must be considered as a paramount issue of this important transition process (Cordoni, 1980). In fact, Chelser (1982) found the need for social skills training and the need to overcome dependence among the most pressing concerns for adults with disabilities. Brinckerhoff, Shaw, and McGuire (1992) exhorted postsecondary service providers to prioritize service delivery options that promote independence. Accordingly, the Higher Education Transition Model included psychosocial adjustment as an essential consideration. Every program activity focused on enhancing independence.
Project Excel employed a counselor who assisted students in identifying personal transition needs and in considering issues of psychosocial adjustment. The program counselor also participated in staff training, facilitated appropriate student interventions, and provided direct student consultation in the following areas: (a) goal attainment, (b) career exploration, (c) problem-solving, and (d) socialization. In individual counseling sessions, students expressed a broad range of psychosocial adjustment concerns. Issues included attendant care, medical needs, roommate concerns, fear of academic failure, test anxiety, peer rejection, time management, familial expectations, self-concept, and participation in intercollegiate athletics, Greek organizations, and other social activities.
Project Excel students enrolled in six hours of college credit coursework, three credits each in "English Composition" and "Techniques in Assistive Technology." A comprehensive academic development model, including individualized assistance, writing consultation, tutoring, individual educational evaluations, personalized technology sessions, and examination accommodations (Sandperl, 1989) facilitated student participation in these courses. Program staff participated in this process by (a) assessing students' academic histories, (b) monitoring students' performance in college courses, (c) teaching academic strategies and technology skills, and (d) providing technical assistance to faculty and university staff.
Assessing Academic Histories A certified school psychologist compiled educational, personal, and medical histories for each student prior to the summer program. These histories were used to assess the degree of each student's disability, and to determine the expected impact of the disability on college success. The examiner's assessments and recommendations constituted the basis for each student's individualized accommodation plan (IAP). The IAP, a signed agreement between a student and the university, summarized the student's need for accommodation and facilitated the transition process. Content of IAP's in Project Excel varied widely according to individual needs. For example, the IAP of one student with low vision called for enlarged printed materials (classroom handouts, program agendas, and menus). The IAP for the student who was deaf called for such accommodations as interpreter services and residential modifications (flashing light knocker, and flashing emergency system). The IAP's of students with learning disabilities varied with the type and degree of severity of the disability. For example, one student with a math disability required accommodations only when he worked with numbers. Accordingly, his IAP would be in effect only when he was enrolled in math or in a class that included math. The IAP of another student with a learning disability called for a notetaker, a reader, a scribe, and extended time for tests. A third student, whose disability affected written expression, required the accommodation of a scribe. The IAP directed the services and accommodations that each student received during Project Excel.
Monitoring classroom performance. Each participant's academic performance was monitored and evaluated on a daily basis by Project Excel's interdisciplinary team. Accommodations that were implemented to equalize opportunities for success included sign language interpreters, notetakers, readers, enlarged print, taped reading materials, scribes, extended time, alternative testing conditions, modified housing, specialized transportation, electronic editing and communication adaptations, and modified instructional formats. Other out-of-class support services included study sessions, tutoring, exam reviews, goal establishment, research assistance, and writing consultation. Each student was encouraged to evaluate the effectiveness of his or her individual accommodations on a daily basis and to request an IAP review conference if significant changes were needed.
Teaching academic strategies and technology skills. In a laboratory component of the "Techniques in Assistive Technology" course, students explored and developed a clear understanding of academic strategies and appropriate technological alternatives. While course lectures presented different disability types and technological procedures that benefit those with specific disabilities, the laboratory provided opportunities for hands-on interaction with personally relevant assistive technology. Laboratory sessions included explanation and demonstration of such assistive devices as four-track, variable-speed cassette recorders; keyboard activated telecommunication systems; voice activated computers; voice-output synthesizers; Braille devices; augmentative speech devices; independent living aids; prostheses and orthotics; closed-circuit magnification machine; large-print computer programs; hearing amplification systems; electronic spellers; word processing aids; and information management systems. Students were also oriented to university wide computer networks, laboratories, and operations, particularly those used in their degree area.
Providing technical assistance to faculty and university staff. Project Excel's planning phase included collaboration with university agencies such as residence life and dining services, transit and parking, physical plant, university health services, financial aid, and academic affairs. Faculty representatives from rehabilitation, special education, counselor education, psychology, English, and educational technology also participated in Project Excel's development.
During Project Excel, technical assistance was provided for instructors in the English and technology courses. Instructors met with program staff to define student accommodation needs. As all Project Excel students had been admitted to the university for the fall, 1992 semester, program staff provided technical assistance to faculty advisors in formulating course schedules. Project Excel staff facilitated the student-faculty advising process through such recommendations as course load and scheduling modifications. Students met with their respective advisors and were introduced to their major faculty professors during their participation in Project Excel.
University and Community Orientation
Project Excel's university and community orientation component provided a structured opportunity for students to acquaint themselves with their new surroundings. Program activities designed to facilitate transition to the university environment included (a) special events, (b) New Student Orientation, and (c) peer interaction.
Special events. Project Excel featured workshops, seminars, and social events that provided associations with campus resources and student groups. Self-advocacy and problem solving seminars helped students to develop strategies for identifying and requesting on campus accommodations. Representatives from numerous university offices participated in a campus resources seminar, which gave students a chance to learn about financial aid, Greek organizations, university health services, residence life and dining, parking and transit, student services, campus activities, and student government.
In another seminar, a panel of successful University of Arkansas students with disabilities presented peer perspectives on the college experience. Informal recreational and leisure activities included a picnic at a city park, dinner at a local restaurant, Sunday night pizza parties, and casual sports events. Students also took part in a preregistration workshop, where New Student Orientation staff members offered suggestions for orientation and fall registration.
New Student Orientation. Project Excel participants enrolled in the University of Arkansas' one-day New Student Orientation program. Students registered for fall courses, met faculty advisors and deans, toured the campus, completed placement examinations, and participated in social activities. Parents were invited to share the orientation experience with students.
Peer interaction. An important part of Project Excel's underlying structure was group participation and peer interaction. Students formed a cohesive group, and friendships developed among those with different disabilities and socioeconomic backgrounds. Living in an on-campus residence hall offered opportunities for social interaction in the college milieu, and students established many associations outside of Project Excel.
Student Performance
Students chose majors ranging from studies in the humanities, such as journalism and music, to technical fields, such as architecture, engineering, and athletic training. Provisionally admitted students removed all deficiencies during Project Excel, except those deficiencies in mathematics. Each student earned an A in "Techniques in Assistive Technology," and "English Composition" grades included three Cs, six Bs, and three As. Students entered the fall semester with a mean grade point average of 3.5.
On a post-program Likert scale evaluation questionnaire, students rated Project Excel as a good-to-excellent college preparatory experience. One student remarked, "Project Excel has been a very good experience for me, because I've met lots of people and I'm more prepared for the fall than I would have been." Another noted, "Project Excel has been very helpful in introducing the university's resources to me." Most considered the opportunity to meet new people as the most beneficial aspect of the program, followed by earning six hours of college credit and introduction to campus resources.
Difficulties reported by students focused on adjustment to residential life, anxiety concerned with Greek "rush" activities, time management, stress related to test taking, grades, and learning to use accommodations in a college setting. Project Excel staff noted that students were not fully aware of their need for academic accommodations and therefore, tended not to articulate those to advisors, professors, and other college professionals.
Student participants' favorable reactions to Project Excel are even more encouraging when viewed in light of their first semester academic performance. Students' mean grade point average was 2.84 in their first semester of courses, which was markedly higher than the 2.34 mean grade point average for all first semester freshmen at the University of Arkansas.
Due to Project Excel's small sample size and in the absence of an equivalent comparison group, inferential statistics would not be an adequate tool for evaluation.
Project Excel, an effective demonstration of the Higher Education Transition Model, provided a comprehensive transition experience for 12 high-achieving students with physical and learning disabilities. Program activities enabled students to develop friendships, successfully complete two college courses, and acquaint themselves with the university and surrounding community.
As postsecondary institutions strive to improve access for people with disabilities, and professionals from education and rehabilitation continue to emphasize transition from public schools to career opportunities, Project Excel underscored one university's commitment to academic excellence and equalized opportunity, and provides an example for adaptation in other settings.
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Case-Managed Support Services for Students who are Deaf or Hearing Impaired
Elizabeth T. McNeil
Susan Kelley
University of Southern Florida
The population of college students who are deaf or hearing impaired on mainstream campuses has grown in recent years. Although support services have expanded in an effort to meet the needs of students with hearing impairments, the range of services provided and program retention rates have been sources of concern. This article presents an overview of case-managed support services program developed specifically to serve this population at major southeastern university. Program components and processes that are integral elements of this model are described.
Providing support services to students who are deaf or hearing impaired in mainstream university settings requires an understanding of deafness, rehabilitation counseling, student personnel services in higher education, and the university culture. Multiple resources and supports need to be accessed, then coordinated in an ecologic, systemic manner to facilitate the interaction between students and components of the academic environment. The purpose of this article is to describe a case-managed support services program that effectively addresses and resolves many of the academic issues and needs of such students in an integrated university environment.
Higher Education and Disability
Access to educational opportunity is a precursor to access to social participation (Biklen, Ford, & Ferguson, 1989). With regard to persons with disabilities, when educational opportunities are impeded by lack of accommodation, then access to social opportunities is impeded as well. This is particularly salient for youth with disabilities for whom the single most important means of achieving social integration is education (Burton, 1979). Research has demonstrated that postsecondary education instills in persons with disabilities, "... a broader perspective on life, a much wider variety of career options, and an appreciation for a greater range of avocations" (Welsh, Walter, & Riley, 1989, p. 11).
In the last decade, the number of students with disabilities on the nation's college campuses has tripled. They now account for slightly more than 10% of all college students (Rothstein, 1991). As this population has expanded, so has the number of programs developed to meet their needs. Today, many major universities and smaller colleges offer a broad array of services for students with disabilities (Wilson, 1992). Although such programs are intended to facilitate the access of students with disabilities to appropriate educational opportunities, full integration has been slow to evolve. For example, despite passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a benchmark for disability rights legislation, unconditional inclusion of persons with deafness or hearing impairments in mainstream universities has been a difficult goal to achieve (Brown & Foster, 1991). The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has revitalized the challenge for colleges and universities to integrate and accommodate such students. Historically, college students with deafness or hearing impairments have gravitated to post-secondary institutions such as Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, both renowned for exemplary services for such students. These institutions have demonstrated clearly that policies, programs, and instructional methods developed for students with hearing impairments are vital and effective in helping these students advance educationally and economically. For students with deafness or hearing impairments, postsecondary education that is tailored to meet their needs acts as a deterrent to the under- or unemployment that is typical among these young adults (Kasen, Ouellette, & Cohen, 1990).
Support Services for College Students who are Deaf
As the population of deaf students has grown in recent years, programs developed to meet their academic needs on college campuses have expanded (Rawlings, Karchmer, & DeCaro, 1988). But the range of services offered by such programs and their retention rates have been problematic (Schroedel & Watson, 1991). Several authors attribute these problems to multiple interacting factors. Aside from funding constraints, these factors include: (a) strong faculty needs for training that facilitates their interactions with students who have minimal or no usable hearing (Lang & Conner, 1988; Sass-Lehrer, Cohen-Silver, & Bodner-Johnson, 1990); (b) classroom environments and university cultures that are less receptive to the communication needs of students who are deaf or hearing impaired (Saur, Layne, Hurley, & Opton, 1986); (c) deficits in the social competencies of such students; (d) absence of a support services counselor who signs (Davie, 1990); and (e) lack of integration of services and resources within the university. Clearly, the synergistic effects of these factors influence educational outcomes.
Hameister (1984) observed that students with disabilities enrolling in postsecondary education often need support in developing social skills, leadership skills, and a positive self-concept. Garland (1985) concurred and suggested that such support be formally structured through cooperative efforts of faculty and staff responsible for student affairs. By identifying evolving student needs and expectations, and by developing strategies to meet those needs, a formal program of support services can play an important role in linking students with disabilities to faculty and peers in the academic environment. Successful linking is best accomplished through case management, a process that has proved to be effective and practical in a wide array of human services endeavors (Anthony & Blanch, 1989). Case management services have resolved problems arising from fragmented services, provided by too few or too many professionals, in settings that are markedly different from the academic communities where students must f unction on a day-to-day basis (Rapp & Chamberlain, 1985). When applied in the mainstream university, case-managed support services also promote a trusting relationship with a counselor who can help instruct the student on how to negotiate the academic system.
This article presents a model program developed specifically to accommodate the needs of deaf students in an integrated academic environment of a major southeastern university. By applying the principles of sound case management, the program successfully bridges the service, resource, and support gaps between students who are deaf or hearing impaired and components in the academic environment.
Enhancing Access to the University Community through Case Management
The university, which is the site for this approach to service delivery, is known for comprehensive services for students with mobility, sensory, and learning disabilities. The program is part of a larger support services structure, administered by the Dean of Student Affairs, which provides services to 175 students who have disabilities. These services encompass academic advisement, academic accommodation such as tutoring and notetaking, technological assistance including wheelchair repair, and supportive counseling. The constellation of support services is viewed as a pool of important available resources that play an active role in facilitating the meaningful participation of students with disabilities in the campus community.
In 1991, the Student Support Services program (SSS) expanded to include services for students who are deaf or hearing impaired. The expanded program was designed to have a dual focus - both on students and on the academic environment. A rehabilitation counselor who has interpreting skills was employed to collaborate with faculty, staff, and students in managing the system of 10 integrated services that is shown in figure 1. These services represent those components which are essential for deaf students on a hearing campus.
Program implementation rests in the hands of the SSS Counselor for the Deaf, whose role calls for a blending of clinical and managerial functions and environmental interventions such as identifying and coordinating the multiple resources available within the university; advocacy; social skills teaching, mentoring, and coaching; and personal counseling. When students who are deaf or hearing impaired are not knowledgeable about how to access resources available in the university setting, the SSS Counselor steps in to: (a) match student needs with opportunities and resources in the academic environment, (b) teach students how to access these resources, (c) monitor their interaction, and (d) intervene when necessary. The SSS Counselor for the Deaf performs five fundamental functions in this case-managed support services system, all of which must mutually involve the Counselor and the student to be effective. Each is described along with illustrative case study anecdotes.
The purpose of assessment is to determine students' eligibility for academic support services. Methods used in this process range from intake interviewing to reviewing audiological reports. During the intake interview, it is important to ask about strengths, limitations, previous academic difficulties, previous support services, and study habits. Audiological reports provide important information regarding the degree and severity of hearing loss and can be used to assess classroom needs and housing accommodations. The SSS Counselor should use many assessment techniques as well as personal accounts from students as a basis for eligibility determination and service planning. Audiological reports alone are not sufficient for this purpose. For example, one student preferred to communicate manually even though he had some usable hearing. In this instance, the student's preferred communication mode was given priority.
Once eligibility is established, planning the services necessary for academic success is important to ensure their availability. Delineation of services is accomplished with student participation. The types of services that may be needed include interpreters (oral or manual), notetakers, tutors (content and instructional), and taped or transcribed lectures. Beginning to plan services during the assessment phase allows the SSS Counselor to recruit volunteers, hire personnel, and coordinate their activities, all in a timely manner. Interpreters re obtained from Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) sources or from a local or regional Directory of Certified Interpreters to ensure quality interpreting for students. Content tutors may be needed for students who have vocabulary limitations or trouble with certain concepts discussed in classes. Documentation of the delineation of services is essential for future planning. By documenting services, the SSS Counselor can maintain a record of what services were beneficial, or not, to the student and use this record for future planning.
The SSS Counselor plays an important role as the link between the student and the university community. The SSS counselor provides technical assistance in situations where questions arise concerning the use of assistive listening devices (ALDs), telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDDs), or the role of interpreters in the classroom. When students with hearing impairments are unaware of the availability of ALDs and look to the SSS Counselor for information, the Counselor shares information, and then refers the student to VR. The SSS Counselor also may be called upon to link students to speech and hearing centers where students can be tested for and fitted with ALDs. The university looks to the SSS Counselor for Deaf as a resource for other personnel that is, the Counselor may be called upon to train incoming counselors, provide guidelines for serving this population, and orient incoming freshmen who are deaf or hearing impaired to the university. Finally, the SSS Counselor is instrumental in facilitating the formation and continuation of support groups for these students.
The purpose of monitoring is to maintain the student's appropriate academic progress and personal well-being. Evaluations at midterm and final periods of the academic year document performance in coursework and provide indications of difficulties. Regular meetings with the student are necessary for feedback on their academic progress. They are encouraged to share specific information such as test scores with the Counselor. Faculty are encouraged to monitor progress as well, contacting the SSS Counselor at the onset of perceived problems. Addressing personal needs via individual counseling allows the counselor to help students with the social, relational side of life in the university. In one situation, a student was experiencing distressing problems with a roommate who complained about the student's need to turn up the volume on a television they shared. The SSS Counselor mediated their dispute, taking care to consider both sides, then provided information about closed-captioned televisions and economical captioning decoders. The students decided to purchase a decoder, installed it, and resumed watching their favorite programming in mutual comfort.
Perhaps the most important function is that of advocating for the academic and personal rights of students with hearing impairments. The purpose of this function is to ensure reasonable accommodations in the university and community. "Dave's" dilemma illustrates how essential advocacy is in this case-managed system. Dave entered the university as a freshman in 1991 . He had a profound hearing loss and wore bilateral hearing aids; his aided speech recognition was 40-60 percent. During the semester, Dave encountered difficulties in a class in which instructional materials were presented as slides. To complicate matters, Dave's professor, who wore a full beard and mustache, totally dimmed all lights during his presentation and moved about the classroom while discussing the slide material. Dave could not lip-read under these conditions. The SSS Counselor went to the professor with Dave, explained why Dave was experiencing difficulty, and suggested reasonable accommodations. The professor agreed to stand at a lighted podium while presenting slides and even trimmed his mustache and beard so that Dave could better read his lips.
This article has described an innovative case managed program designed to meet the needs of students who are deaf or hearing impaired in a mainstream university setting. The success of such a program relies first and foremost on the clinical knowledge and managerial skills of program staff. It is essential that the SSS Counselor for the Deaf have a working knowledge of hearing impairments, including associated medical and psychosocial implications. Several students have offered their insights regarding the benefits of the program. One student reported her appreciation for knowing that someone in the university setting understood why it upset her when she would ask for something to be repeated and was told, "I'll tell you later." Another student, who is deaf and blind, was appreciative of the Counselor's knowledge of ALD's. In this instance, the Counselor introduced the student to a Personal FM System, which greatly aided his speech recognition in the classroom, and successfully advocated for VR to purchase one for him.
Numerous publications and training programs can contribute to staff's fund of knowledge about deafness or disabilities in general. Training programs for postsecondary service providers are located at Regional Resource Centers for Deafness throughout the nation. If in-service training is not an option because of funding or geographic constraints then many informative and useful publications can be requested from institutions such as the National Technical Institute on Deafness or Gallaudet University.
The integration of students with minimal or no usable hearing on a mainstream university campus involves not only the obvious academic accommodations, such as interpreting and notetaking, but also the consideration of the relational side of life in academia. Social interaction and supportive relationships constitute a substantive dimension of college life that can be facilitated by a case-managed approach to support services for deaf students.
The process of integrating students who are deaf or hearing impaired on a hearing college campus requires careful planning, patience, perseverance, and the mobilization of resources and supports. As this model program demonstrated, attention must also be given to the coordination of multiple, simultaneous services in order to ensure continuity in the academic experience.
The system of services in this model creates the capacity for successful integration; but, it is the SSS Counselor who nurtures those clinical and environmental strategies that are essential to ensure opportunities for integration. For example, by successfully advocating for an ALD for 'Dave', his grade rose from a 'D' to a final of 'B' simply because he could better understand the lectures. By applying the principles of sound case management, the SSS Counselor can successfully serve as a partner with students who are deaf or hearing impaired in negotiating the university system. Monitoring and advocacy are necessary to ensure that such students obtain the help they need.
More mainstream universities need to incorporate case-managed functions into existing or developing support services programs so that there can be increased opportunities and choices for students who are deaf or hearing impaired. In order to fully live up to the expectations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, there needs to be an increase in the number of mainstream support service providers who are knowledgeable in the aspects of deafness and can effectively serve this population.
National Technical Institute on Deafness
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Anthony, W., & Blanch, A. (1989). Research on community support services--what we have learned. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 21 (1), 55-81.
Biklen, D., Ford, A., & Ferguson, D. (1989). Elements of integration. In D. Biklen, A. Ford, & D. Ferguson (Eds.), Schooling and disability. 88th yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (pp. 256-271). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Brown, P., & Foster, S. (1991). Integrating hearing and deaf students on a college campus. American Annals of the Deaf, 136 (1), 21-27.
Burton, L. (1979). A service provider's guide to federal disability law. Berkeley, CA: Center for Independent Living, Disability Law Resource Center.
Davie, A. (1990, Fall). Students who are deaf or hard of hearing in postsecondary education. (available from the HEATH Resource Center)
Garland, P. (1985). Serving more than students: A critical need for college student personnel services. Monographs of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (Report No. 7).
Hameister, B. (1984). Orienting students to college. In M. Upcraft (Ed.), New directions for student services (pp.123-128). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Kasen, S., Oullette, R., & Cohen, P. (1990). Mainstreaming and postsecondary educational and employment status of a rubella cohort. American Annals of the Deaf, 135 (1), 22-26.
Lang, H., & Conner, K. (1988). Faculty development: Meeting the needs of postsecondary educators of deaf students. American Annals of the Deaf, 133 (1), 26-29.
Rapp, C., & Chamberlain, R. (1985). Case management services for the chronically mentally ill. Social Work, September-October, 417-422.
Rawlings, B., Karchmer, M., & DeCaro, J. (1988). College and career programs for deaf students. Washington, DC & Rochester, NY: Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.
Rothstein, L. (1991, September 4). Campuses and the disabled. The Chronicle of Higher Education, pp.B3, B10.
Sass-Lehrer, M., Cohen-Silver, L., & Bodner-Johnson, B. (1990). Training for equity and excellence for college teachers of hearing-impaired students. American Annals of the Deaf, 135 (1), 54-58.
Saur, R., Layne, C., Hurley, E., & Opton, K. (1986). Dimensions of mainstreaming. American Annals of the Deaf, 131 (5), 325-329.
Schroedel, J., & Watson, D. (1991). Enhancing opportunities in postsecondary education for deaf students (Research Report Nos.GO08300153 & G0086C3501). Little Rock, AR: University of Arkansas, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Deafness and Hearing Impairment.
Welsh, W., Walter, G., & Riley, D. (1989). Providing deaf people with the opportunity for a degree: Benefits to individual and society. Journal of American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, 23 (1), 7-11.
Wilson, D. (1992, January 29). New federal regulations on rights of the handicapped may force colleges to provide better access to technology. The Chronicle of Higher Education, pp.A1, A22-A23.
Learning Disabilities in Adult Basic Education: A Survey of Current Practices
Ann Ryan and Lynda Price
The purpose of the study was to explore a number of issues critical to the effective service delivery and skill education of adults with learning disabilities in Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs in all 50 states and two American Territories. Adult Basic Education directors answered brief questions in the following areas: the prevalence of students with learning disabilities in their ABE programs; what definitions of learning disabilities were currently in use in their local ABE educational programs; how ABE students were diagnosed for learning disabilities in conjunction with these programs; and how important and what type of training ABE instructors were currently receiving about learning disabilities. Data describing these areas are summarized in five tables. Recommendations based upon the study are discussed and include: increasing staff training for ABE instructors and paraprofessionals; wider dissemination about the effectiveness of ABE programs as an option for individuals with learning disabilities; and further research to explore the relationship between ABE and learning disabilities in adults.
In 1989, Adult Basic Education provided a variety of services for over 3.3 million Americans in programs based on adult basic education, adult secondary education, and English as a second language (U. S. Department of Education, 1992a). These programs were designed to provide learning opportunities for persons over sixteen years of age in two general categories: high school equivalency training to prepare for the General Education Development (GED) tests and literacy skill building (Mocker, 1986). Prompted by legislation such as the Adult Education Act (P.L. 100-297) and the National Literacy Act (P.L. 102-73), programs for Adult Basic Education currently exist for persons with and without disabilities in 57 states and territories (U.S. Department of Education, 1992b).
The justification for Adult Basic Education (ABE) as a primary source for literacy development is firmly supported on both state and national levels. For example, the state of Minnesota reported almost 700,000 persons 16 and older did not have a high school diploma and were not currently enrolled in an educational program (Literacy Coalition, 1987). This same report estimated that over 26 million adults, or one in every five Americans, have marginal literacy skills that require basic skill development (i.e., 4th-6th grade reading level).
Currently, little information is available addressing the relationship between persons with disabilities and their participation in Adult Basic Education. The relationship between ABE and students with learning disabilities who have dropped out of high school has largely been unexplored, though some studies have tried to address this topic. For example, Zigmond and Thornton (1985) have reported a high school dropout rate among students with learning disabilities to be 54%. No data currently exist, however, as to whether these former students subsequently pursued the equivalence of high school diplomas through GED testing or other nontraditional programs.
In 1989, preliminary available data indicated that six percent of the 3.3 million students enrolled in ABE programs reported having one or more disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 1992a). Although this report did not provide information regarding enrollment according to area of disability, individual authors have attempted to approximate this figure. For example, Travis (1979) estimated that as many as 80% of all students currently enrolled in ABE programs across America may have learning disabilities. The staff of Project Literacy U.S. (U.S. Department of Education, 1992c) projected 30-40% of the 23 million functionally illiterate adults to have either English as a second language (ESL) or learning disabilities. Ross (1987) proposed determining the number of students with learning disabilities in ABE by extrapolating figures from the general school age population (eg., determining the percent of school-age students enrolled in ABE programs and then calculating the percent of school-age students with learning disabilities). This, she asserted, could determine a maximum level at which learning disabilities could be predicted in ABE. She also asserted, "...it is reasonable to assume that the ABE instructor is more likely to encounter learning disabled students than adult educators in other environments" (p. 6).
Specific points should be considered in light of this information. First, if significant numbers of adults with disabilities, especially learning disabilities, are seeking assistance from local ABE programs, information should be collected related to how policymakers, teachers, and others assisting in these programs are prepared to address the multiple issues typically presented by these students. Specifically, how are students with this disability identified in ABE programs? Second, since many adults with learning disabilities may have been passed through education without receiving the benefits of PL 94-142 (Ryan " Price, 1992), what options currently exist for ABE students who request adult diagnoses or assistance in understanding their learning patterns? The focus of this article is to provide information from a recent survey which begins to address these critical questions. The purpose of the study was to explore a number of different issues critical to the effective service delivery and skill education of adults with learning disabilities in all 50 states and two American territories who attend ABE programs.
Fifty-two directors of Adult Basic Education were administered a survey at their national meeting. Follow-up telephone calls were made to directors not responding to the initial request. Responses were received from 100% of the state directors of ABE and two directors of U.S. territories. Directors were selected as respondents in this survey because of their roles as policy makers.
A two-page survey was developed by the authors of the study to focus on six questions related to ABE and learning disabilities. The topical areas explored were: the projected prevalence of ABE students with learning disabilities in each state/territory; the procedures used by ABE personnel for diagnosing learning disabilities; and the type of training ABE instructors are receiving about learning disabilities.
Respondents were asked to mark answers in a variety of ways. Each director wrote the predicted percent of ABE students with LD (identified and unidentified) in their state. Next, were four forced-choice options. Respondents were asked to identify the definition, model of diagnosis, or style of in-service on learning disabilities which were most likely utilized in their state. The final question consisted of a 5-point Likert-type scale (5 = maximum priority to 1 = not a priority) designed to solicit each director's perception of the priority placed on educating ABE instructors regarding learning disabilities in adults.
Data collected from this survey are categorized into four basic areas which correspond to Tables 1 through 5. Each table provides information about how ABE programs are currently functioning with respect to learning disabilities. The tables include data on prevalence, definition, provisions for diagnostic services, and the degree to which in-service activities are available to instructors as well as priority of in-service training.
The estimated prevalence of students with learning disabilities was the first area explored by this survey. Each respondent was asked to estimate the percent of students in ABE programs in their state with learning disabilities. It should be noted that this estimate includes students who either had previously diagnosed learning disabilities or who were suspected as having undiagnosed learning disabilities. As Table 1 illustrates, the perceived prevalence of LD varied greatly among the states. Forty-eight of the 52 directors were able to respond to this question. Among them, 60% (n=29) estimated 15-40% of their ABE students to have learning disabilities. In contrast, 21% (n=10) of the respondents predicted that half or more of their students had or were suspected of having LD, while 19% (n=9) projected their state's prevalence to be 10% or less. Directors from three states and one territory were unable to estimate what percentage of students they worked with had some type of identified or unidentified learning disabilities.
The second area critical to describing policies and procedures of ABE programs with respect to students with learning disabilities involved the definition adopted by each state or territory. These data are summarized in Table 2 according to two sub-questions: (a) Does the state have a definition for adult learning disabilities?; and (b) if yes, what is the source of that definition? Of the 52 states and territories, 62% (n=32) reported a definition for adult learning disabilities had not been adopted as of 1992. Twenty five percent (n =13) said their states had in place a formal definition for learning disabilities which could be used by local ABE programs. Thirteen percent (n=7) indicated their states planned to adopt a definition in either 1992 or 1993 or the definition was currently "under discussion." Of the 13 states reporting a definition of learning disabilities, six indicated using P.L. 94-142 (since reauthorized as P.L. 101-36, IDEA) as the definition for learning disabilities; two respondents were using a formal state-developed definition; and five were using a definition created specifically at the site (local) level.
One important service delivery component for students with disabilities is the provision of diagnostic service including the delineation of learning patterns and interpretation of findings in practical ways. ABE directors were asked which of the following would likely be recommended to a student seeking adult diagnosis for learning disabilities: diagnosis on-site for a fee or free of charge, diagnosis off-site through a state agency or private agency, or "other." Table 3 summarizes these results.
Half (n=26) of the directors reported the referral of students to state agencies such as the Rehabilitative Services, and 27% (n=14) reported that diagnostic assessment would likely occur on-site free of charge. Only 4% (n=2) reported that students would be directed to private agencies. No states or territories indicated that students were charged on-site fees for diagnostic services. Nineteen percent (n=10) of the directors selected the "other" category and offered written responses. These responses included comments from one director that adult diagnosis was not required since traditional
Table 1 Estimated Prevalence of Learning Disabilities in Adult Basic Education
|State |Estimated |State |Estimated |
| |Prevalence | |Prevalence |
|Alabama |20 |Nebraska |10 |
|Alaska |40 |Nevada |20 |
|Arizona |15 |New Hampshire |15 |
|Arkansas |35* |New Jersey |10 |
|California |25 |New Mexico |50* |
|Colorado |50 |New York |40* |
|Connecticut |15 |North Carolina |3 |
|Delaware |50 |North Dakota |55* |
|Florida |20 |Ohio |25 |
|Georgia |25 |Oklahoma |25 |
|Hawaii |1 |Oregon |15 |
|Idaho |55* |Pennsylvania |20 |
|Illinois |10 |Rhode Island |20 |
|Indiana |35 |South Carolina |75 |
|Iowa |40 |South Dakota |5 |
|Kansas |35 |Tennessee |20 |
|Kentucky |DK |Texas |20 |
|Louisiana |15* |Utah |10 |
|Maine |25* |Vermont |50 |
|Maryland |30* |Virginia |50 |
|Massachusetts |15 |Washington |10 |
|Michigan |23 |West Virginia |DK |
|Minnesota |90 |Wisconsin |DK |
|Mississippi |20 |Wyoming |20 |
|Missouri |50 |American Samoa |DK |
|Montana |25 |Puerto Rico |5 |
Table 2 Responses Related to Issues of Definition
|1. Definition of Learning Disabilities |2. Source of Definition Among States Reporting |
| |Definition of Learning Disabilities (n=13)" |
|State or Territory Has Adopted a |Number |% |Source of |Number |
|Definition of Learning Disabilities |of States | |Definition |of States |
|No |32 |62 |PL 94-142 |6 |
|Yes |13 |25 |State Authored |2 |
|Under Consideration |7 |13 |Site Authored |5 |
Table 3 Provision of Diagnostic Services for Students Suspected of Having LD in ABE Programs
|Place |Number |Percent |
|On-site For a Fee |0 |0 |
|On-Site Free of Charge |14 |27 |
|Referred to State Agency |26 |50 |
|Referred to Private Source |2 |4 |
|Other |10 |19 |
Table 4 Availability of In-service, Activities on Learning Disabilities
|Initiative |Number |Percent |
|Individual Seeks on Own |4 |8 |
|Regional |20 |38 |
|Provided by State |24 |46 |
|Other (all of the above) |1 |2 |
|Unknown |3 |6 |
Table 5 Priority for In-service Activity of Learning Disabilities
|Priority Rating |Number (N=52) |Percent |
|Maximum |6 |12 |
|High |29 |56 |
|Moderate |15 |29 |
|Low |2 |4 |
|Not a Priority |0 |0 |
school-age (K-12) diagnosis had been available. Additionally, 10% (n=5) of the directors responding "other" reported that state or on-site diagnosis could be accessed. Of the 10 respondents checking other, 40% reported all options being available to students.
Additional information collected from the survey focused on the needs of ABE professionals and paraprofessionals for information on learning disabilities. Two related questions were asked pertaining to the in-service activities of ABE instructors throughout the United States and territories. First, the respondents were asked if in-service activities on learning disabilities had been available to these educators. Second, the respondents were asked what kind of priority they would assign this kind of activity. Information from this portion of the survey is summarized in Tables 4 and 5.
Of the 52 states and territories, 85% (n=44) of respondents indicated in-service had been systematically provided. Twenty respondents (38%) reported in-service training was held on a regional basis for ABE instructors. Twenty four respondents (46%) indicated in-service training had been provided on the state level. Four states (8%) responded that individuals themselves were responsible for learning about this area of disability since neither state nor regional programs had been provided. One respondent (2%) reported that, indeed, all options had been made available to ABE instructors in the state, while the remaining three directors (6%) did not know what options were available to provide in-service training on learning disabilities to ABE personnel.
Finally, directors were asked to indicate a priority level for the implementation of activities that would educate instructors on learning disabilities. As illustrated in Table 5, 67% (n=35) of the respondents indicated that the in-service of ABE instructors was either a "high" or "maximum" priority. Twenty nine percent (n=15) perceived in-service activities as a "moderate" priority, and 4% (n=2) rated it a "low" priority. None of the respondents surveyed said in-service training on learning disabilities was not at all a priority for their staff in ABE programs.
The focal point of this study was to describe several issues related to Adult Basic Education and learning disabilities. Adult Basic Education is perceived as a significant and perhaps final educational option for some adults with learning disabilities. Because scant literature is available on this topic, the survey was intended to examine four important areas: prevalence, definition, diagnosis, and in-service training. Each is discussed in further depth.
One impression emerging from the literature is the lack of definitive information concerning the prevalence of students with learning disabilities in ABE programs. The findings of this study underscore this confusion by yielding a projected range of LD incidence between 0-90 percent. This phenomenon may be the result of several factors. First, there appear to be few procedural guidelines in place for the diagnosis and identification of students with learning disabilities in ABE; second, there are no systems for tracking the prevalence of students with LD; third, and most fundamentally, there remains a general lack of clarity regarding the definition for learning disabilities as it applies to adults.
Ross and Smith (1988) investigated the opinions of 306 ABE staff members. They reported that teachers and counselors of ABE/GED programs also expressed difficulty identifying formally diagnosed adults with learning disabilities in this setting. The authors indicated surprise at experiencing such difficulties since ABE teachers in their study perceived a high prevalence of learning disabilities among their students. The findings of the present study support Ross and Smith's (1988) conclusions that "although neither teacher nor counselor estimates permit any precise determination of the number of learning disabled students ... these data suggest that: (a) LD students are enrolled in many ABE... programs..., [and] (b) a significant number of additional students are suspected to have learning disabilities" (p.20).
As noted above, one primary reason for difficulty obtaining a reliable estimate of the national prevalence is the lack of consensus regarding the definition of adult learning disabilities. The data from this study indicate that most states and territories (62%) have not adopted a definition for this disorder pertinent to adults and adult service providers. This situation is further confounded by the finding in this study that only 13% (n=7) of the remaining states are currently considering implementing such a framework. These findings may hold significance for adults in ABE. The recognition of students with unique learning needs and the student's ability to access multiple levels of support may, indeed, depend on the skills of adults with disabilities and their service providers to accurately articulate the disorder.
Historically, few definitions of learning disabilities have included reference to adults. In an analysis of the 11 most widely recognized definitions of learning disabilities in existence since 1962, Hammill (1990) noted that the definitions could be categorized as either conceptual (theoretical) or operational. He reported that five of the conceptual definitions contained elements that include or imply learning disabilities throughout the lifespan (Kirk, 1962; U.S. Office of Education, 1977; Association for Children with Learning Disabilities, 1986; Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities, 1987, National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, 1988). Further analysis found only one definition intentionally included language specific to adults (ACLD, 1986) while the remaining four inferred the possible inclusion of long-term manifestations of the disorder by excluding reference to a specific age group. Hammill (1990) and Brinckerhoff, Shaw, and McGuire (1993) recommend the NJCLD definition as the conceptual definition of choice for postsecondary institutions.
The importance of establishing a definition that best applies to the multiple needs of adults with learning disabilities cannot be underscored too emphatically. The question remains, how ever, whether the answer to this need exists in yet another theoretical definition for learning disabilities. It may not be necessary for each state and territory to devise for itself the links between theory and practical application. Perhaps what is needed now is an operational definition of learning disabilities; a definition that can be both recognized and implemented by teachers and service providers in an array of postsecondary settings. An example of such an operational definition is found in the four-level operational interpretation proposed by Brinckerhoff, Shaw, and McGuire (1993).
The findings of this study indicate that diagnostic services for adults with suspected learning disabilities are currently available through a variety of sources. These range from assessments offered through state agencies to those provided by private examiners. The variability of these services, however, are undoubtedly impacted by other issues previously addressed in this report: the current lack of consensus regarding an operational definition for adults with learning disabilities, and the lack of procedural guidelines for adult diagnosis. Confounding these issues is the lack of agreed upon criteria for the identification of learning disabilities in adults. While individual diagnosticians may, indeed, apply their own criteria to the identification of adult learning disabilities, there are no provisions that these same criteria "fit" with the needs or philosophies of Adult Basic Education, or that the instruments used in the identification of learning disabilities have, in fact, been standardized on the adult population.
Though confusion may exist at the state level of government, there is some evidence that teachers of ABE are aware of the need for more sophisticated diagnostic services. For example, Ross and Smith (1988) reported over two-thirds of ABE teachers surveyed indicated a clear need for more information on assessment procedures for adults with suspected learning disabilities.
This concern for more information must be addressed in ABE programs as the accurate diagnosis of learning disabilities can have utility both for students who are accessing support and instructors who work with them. Adults cannot advocate for themselves in the classroom or workplace if they do not understand themselves and the ways in which they learn. If, indeed, "disability self-awareness" is to become a key phrase for the 1990's (Ryan " Price, 1992), then these issues must be addressed within logical contexts.
Additional rationales for appropriate diagnosis of learning disabilities in ABE settings were addressed in the following statement of the U.S. Department of Education (1992c):
Why diagnose for learning disabilities in our adult learning center students? Why not treat every ABE/GED student alike and do our best to remediate the specific weaknesses? ... Readers will need to arrive at their own answers to these questions; however, most will concur that the learning disabled adult is not like other students who come into the center. The uneven performance and pattern of frustration these students have experienced requires knowledge and understanding by the facilitator to help the student understand him/herself, as well as to appropriately refer the student to other agencies if needed. (p.1)
As reported here, an array of options are currently available to adults seeking diagnosis of learning disabilities. Questions remain, however, about the costs of these options and the extent to which they are viably accessed by adults in our society.
As recognition of the enrollment of adults with learning disabilities in ABE expands, questions regarding the preparation of personnel to deal with these students and their complex learning patterns have also increased. These questions become more pertinent as only some states currently require teaching licenses in Adult Basic Education for their instructors, suggesting a need for training programs which could include topics such as instructing adults with (learning) disabilities. Yet again, Ross and Smith (1988) reported most teachers surveyed perceived a general unavailability of support and in-service training for working with students with special learning needs.
As this study indicates, the majority of ABE directors perceive a high to maximum degree of need for in-service training in the specific area of learning disabilities. In addition, the following comments were offered by state or territorial directors:
"We give this a high priority; LD is one of the top three major concerns for ABE instructors."
"Instructors identify in-service as a strong need, but we are unsure about what are the best practices in adult ed."
"We would like to know who are professional development experts in this area."
"We're not really doing as much as we should be in this area, but resources are slim and conclusions are inconsistent."
"It's a problem not having the expertise to find the answers about how and where we should go with this."
The data collected from this survey and the written comments of the directors indicate most states and territories are willing to address the multiple issues associated with understanding learning disabilities in ABE settings. Some confusion exists, however, regarding who are the experts and how their support can be accessed. As the topic becomes more pertinent, perhaps information sharing will increase among the directors and their state/territorial personnel through formal (e.g., conference formats, policy statements) and informal means, and available literature.
Although the fifty state and two territorial directors of ABE generally acknowledged students with learning disabilities in literacy and GED programs, much work needs to be done. Indeed, this awareness represents only a readiness to begin addressing the multiple interlocking issues associated with complex learning disabilities in adults.
To date, disappointingly few field-based studies have been conducted. This study, and others cited in this article, represent only introductory surveys on this complicated topic. For example, no information was found regarding the attributes of students in Adult Basic Education or their reasons for enrolling in these programs. Nor was information available regarding their motivation for attending ABE programs or their anticipated outcomes. With so much emphasis today on outcome-based education and the need to articulate what students should know, policymakers in ABE would be wise to consider the impact of learning disabilities on both the student and instructor in ABE.
It should be noted, however, that some directors expressed inadequacy regarding their understanding of learning disabilities and the extent to which their states are involved in the issues presented here. Interpretation of this study should be conducted within the limitations of this understanding.
As more and more adults with unique learning styles request assessment for a diagnosis of suspected learning disabilities, the leadership of Adult Basic Education may consider the need for systematic change. If ABE directors are in the position of knowing how to create change, then attention can ultimately be shifted to knowing what to change. Scales (1986) asserted, "the ability and willingness of institutions to respond actively to the challenge of providing services to disabled students is linked to the size of their base of knowledge in how to approach the issues involved" (p. 31).
Adult Basic Education programs may be it coming of age" at a prime time in the history of education and, indeed, special education and learning disabilities. The current emphasis on life-long learning, "learning-how-to-learn", selfadvocacy, equal access to employment and other areas of adult life creates an ideal climate for expansion of this investigation. Now is the time for support to come forward for students, their instructors, and indeed the policymakers who influence the structure of programs for adults with learning disabilities.
Association for Children with Learning Disabilities. (1986). ACLD description: Specific learning disabilities. ACLD News briefs, pp. 15-16.
Brinckerhoff, L. C., Shaw, S. F., " McGuire, J. M. (1993). Promoting postsecondary education for students with learning disabilities: A handbook for practitioners. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Hammill, D. D. (1990). On defining learning disabilities: An emerging consensus. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23 (2), 74-84.
Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities. (1987). Learning disabilities: A report to the U.S. Congress. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health.
Kirk, S. A. (1962). Educating exceptional children. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Literacy Coalition of the Minnesota Adult Literacy Campaign. (1987). Adult literacy in Minnesota: Questions and answers. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Adult Literacy Campaign.
Mocker, D.W. (1986). Adult basic education in the United States. Paper presented at the Sixth International Seminar on the Education of Adults, Guildford, England, University of Surry.
National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. (1988). [Letter to NJCLD member organizations].
Ross, J. M. (1987, August). Learning and coping strategies used by learning disabled students participating in adult basic education and literacy programs: A final report of the 310 Special Project 87-98-7014. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, College of Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 306 397)
Ross, J. M., & Smith, J. 0. (1988, July). ABE and GED staff perceptions regarding learning disabled students: A final report of the 310 Special Project 87-987014. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, College of Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 321 091)
Ryan, A. G., & Price, L. (1992, September). Adults with LD in the 1990's. Intervention in School and Clinic, 28 (1), 6-20.
Scales, W. (1986). Postsecondary education for disabled students: Written testimony. Bulletin of the Association on Handicapped Student Service Programs in Post-Secondary Education, 4, 20-22.
Travis, G. (1979). An adult educator views learning disabilities. Adult Literacy and Basic Education, 8 (8), 16-18.
United States Department of Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy. (1992a). Fact Sheet #9: Adult basic education programs for adults with disabilities. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy.
United States Department of Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy. (1992b). Fact Sheet #6: The clearinghouse on adult education and literacy. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy.
United States Department of Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy. (1992c). The federal adult education and literacy program. Washington, D. C: U. S. Department of Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy.
United States Office of Education. (1977). Definition and criteria for defining students as learning disabled. Federal Register, 42:250, p. 65083. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
Zigmond, N., & Thornton, H.S. (1985). Follow-up of postsecondary aged LD graduates and dropouts. Learning Disabilities Research, 1(1), 50-55.
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Bullitt County Library District
Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line
Diller Scofidio + Renfro has long been at the forefront of design. The interdisciplinary design firm, founded in 1979, first stirred interest with its provocative exhibitions of theoretically based projects that blurred the...
Diller Scofidio + Renfro has long been at the forefront of design. The interdisciplinary design firm, founded in 1979, first stirred interest with its provocative exhibitions of theoretically based projects that blurred the boundaries between art and architecture. In 1999, Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, the firm's founding principals, were awarded the prestigious "genius" grant by the MacArthur Foundation, in recognition of their commitment to integrating architecture with issues of contemporary culture.
With the almost simultaneous completion of two large-scale projects in New York City -- the renovation of the High Line and revitalization and expansion of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts -- Diller Scofidio + Renfro has galvanized the public's attention. Between 2004 and 2011, the firm, in collaboration with James Corner Field Operations, converted the derelict High Line railroad tracks on the city's West Side (from Gansevoort to 30th streets) into a sophisticated 1.5 mile elevated urban park.
From early 2003 to 2010, DS+R redesigned Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and the Juilliard School, built a free-standing, grass-covered pavilion that houses a destination restaurant (the Lincoln) and a public lawn, and inventively modified the public spaces connecting the complex's existing buildings. As architecture critic Martin Filler states in the film, "Both the High Line and Lincoln Center have had a really euphoric effect on life in New York. So it's populism of a very high order." In this 54-minute documentary, intelligent commentary from the architects is complemented by remarkable cinematography and interviews with New York City planning commissioner Amanda Burden and other civic figures. Critics and theorists Mark Wigley, Anthony Vidler, and Mr. Filler, offer insights into the firm's history, previous completed projects, and their unique process of reimagining the public identities of two major New York urban spaces.
Checkerboard Film Foundation
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Everything You Need to Know About Cannabis News & Research
Cannabis isn't only at the forefront of culture and entertainment these days, but news and research now too. It’s very likely you've seen countless cannabis news articles clogging up your feed, especially if you’re a consumer.
Typically, those news articles are about some discovery involving cannabinoids or results from a clinical trial. There's endless interest in cannabis research lately, and many research institutions are being bankrolled to find out as much as they can.
However, media outlets and research institutions weren't always friendly towards cannabis. Contrarily, most news and research articles back in the day vilified cannabis.
So how did media outlets and research organizations change their collective mind? Continue reading below to see how weed laws changed over the years and how that impacted cannabis news and research.
Cannabis "News" and "Research" of the Past
In the early 1900’s, partaking in cannabis was not yet common throughout the USA. Cannabis was available at pharmacies as a medicine and only used recreationally, mostly as hashish by a small group of people.
It wasn't until Mexicans fleeing the civil war (starting around 1910) that cannabis became demonized. Mexican migrants began to settle in the US, and many xenophobic Americans weren't too pleased.
Weed may or may not have been the drug of choice among Mexicans at the time, but the press began to associate the drug with them anyway.
Of course, all reports about cannabis in the press weren't facts, but mostly lies because of rampant racism and xenophobia. The press specifically used the term “marijuana” to make cannabis sound more dangerous than it was.
The press continued to spread false rumors about cannabis use causing violent and deviant social behavior to keep Americans afraid of immigrants.
However, none of this falls in line with what researchers at the time thought about cannabis. They knew that it had medicinal and other interesting properties worth researching, and it would continue to be in pharmacies until the 1930’s.
The Beginning of Prohibition
The lies and misinformation were so convincing, that by 1937, cannabis was outlawed entirely. Most states had already banned the drug before the national law came into effect.
Harry Anslinger and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics also doubled down and spread misinformation and propaganda for years to come.
Although there was still interest in cannabis for medicinal use, cannabis was removed from the US pharmacopeia in 1942.
However, there were reports made in the early days of prohibition that pointed to the fact that cannabis was not as dangerous as it had been made out to be. In 1944, the Laguardia Report came out, a study conducted by police to go undercover and learn more about the social effects of cannabis.
However, the report found that cannabis was not very dangerous and one investigator, Olive Cregan, said:
"The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marihuana smoking in New York City is unfounded."
However, reports like these were regularly buried or ignored. In the decades to come, cannabis laws would only become more strict.
In 1964, a professor in Jerusalem named Dr. Raphael Mechoulam was the first to identify THC as the main psychoactive component in cannabis and synthesize it.
Nixon and the 1970's
The 1970’s were a turning point for cannabis news and research in both positive and negative ways. Cannabis reform began to pick up steam, but the powers in charge were not going to budge.
A significant setback for cannabis was the creation of the Controlled Substances Act, passed in 1970. The act categorized cannabis as a Schedule I drug, claiming that it's dangerous, which slowed research significantly.
However, Nixon had appointed the Shafer Commission in 1970 to investigate cannabis. In 1972, the report from the Shafer Commission to congress was that cannabis needed to be decriminalized.
In the final report, the commission stated:
"A coherent social policy requires a fundamental alteration of social attitudes toward drug use, and a willingness to embark on new courses when previous actions have failed."
Despite the strong report and pleas from the commission, Nixon doubled-down and stated:
"I can see no social or moral justification whatsoever for legalizing marijuana. I think it would be exactly the wrong step."
After that, Nixon would begin the war on drugs and declare them public enemy number one.
Despite the backlash against cannabis, usage of the drug was at an all-time high. Cannabis research intensified during the 1970’s, but was focused mostly on the psychoactive effects of THC.
News and Research Now
Public opinion about cannabis was at an all-time low in the 1980’s, but began to rise in the 1990’s. Most of the media reports about cannabis were anti-drug ads from anti-drug campaigns from the Regan administration.
The breakthrough for cannabis research was in the mid 1980’s when conclusive evidence proved endocannabinoid receptors' existence. It wasn't until the 1990’s that both CB1 and CB2 receptors were finally identified.
Since the identification of endocannabinoids, interest in cannabis research began a meteoric rise. Whole new chemicals and pathways were discovered thanks to the revelation of endocannabinoids’ existence.
Clinical research also began to rise significantly, and the public was becoming aware of cannabis' medicinal effects as states started to opt for legalized medical cannabis.
In our present day, we have high amounts of public interest in cannabis discoveries and more positive press. Terpenes, flavonoids, and minor cannabinoids are all being researched to discover new medicines.
The End of Prohibition
Starting in the early 2000’s, public opinion on weed began to climb higher as more positive news and research flowed to the public. The major turning point began around 2010. Ever since the beginning of the new decade, public support for legalized cannabis only grew higher.
Cannabis has received so much support from younger generations because of more favorable cannabis news and research. Millennials are the most supportive, while the silent generation (people born from 1928-1945) is still the most against it.
The propaganda, misinformation, and unknowns about cannabis from decades past have persisted until this very day.
Unfortunately, older generations are still in charge of the government, and they are still hindering cannabis research. Government funding for cannabis research has topped $1 billion dollars, but most of that money is spent on research against cannabis.
Luckily, time is on our side. Eventually, the government will legalize cannabis. Once that happens the door will be wide open to more research and, most likely, more good news.
Now that you know the state of news and research on cannabis, check out our article on the history of the war on drugs here!
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Anything from jazz to hard rock utilizes the sound of a solid drum set, which is why BCP offers drum sets for the heavy hitters. The Foldable Electronic Drum Set lets any beginner jam out on a kit that’s small enough to take anywhere. While it’s small in size, it’s fully equipped with a snare, toms, cymbals, and more. This drum set is crafted with a USB MIDI connection, so you can record beats and progressions, then upload them to your computer.
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Filipa César Quantum Créole
WE 02.03 20:30
In the beginning was the weave, and the transmission of its workings, a curse of mortality – so ends Quantum Creole with the fabulous words of the Papel weaver, Zé Interpretador. The punch-card technology, designed for the textile loom, was fundamental for the development of the computer – the binary code is thus closer to the ancient act of weaving than to that of writing. Quantum Creole is an experimental documentary film collectively researching creolization and addressing its historical, ontological and cultural forces. Referring to the minimum physical entity in any interaction – quantum – the film utilizes different imaging forms to read the subversive potential of weaving as Creole code. West African Creole people wove coded messages of social and political resistance into textiles, countering the colonists’ languages and technologies. As the new face of colonization manifests itself as a digital image, upgrading terra nullius in the form of an ultra-liberal free trade zone in the Bissagos Islands, it also marks the continuation of the violence that erupted several centuries ago with the creation of slave-trading posts in the place then known as the Rivers of Guinea and Cape Verde.
An artist and filmmaker, Filipa Cesar (Porto, 1975) is interested in the porous boundaries between the moving image and its reception, exploring the fictional dimensions of the documentary and the economy, politics and poetics of cinematic practices. A large number of her films are focused on the ghosts of resistance that lie at the center of Portugal's geopolitical history. Through the creation of performance spaces she proposes a subjective approach to knowledge and questions the production mechanisms of epic national tales, such as the erasure of events concerning minority populations. Since 2011 she has made several films that use as a matrix the first steps of resistance and liberation cinema in Guinea Bissau, such as the fragments of a lost heritage for which she endeavors to resuscitate its potential via a process of collective research (“Luta ca caba inda”, “The Struggle is not yet over”). In 2017, “Spell Reel”, her first feature-length film, which follows this adventure, was presented in a world premiere at the Berlinale (Forum), and then in nearly twenty festivals and museums around the world, receiving many prizes. With “Sunstone”, (2018), directed in collaboration with Louis Henderson, she explores a cinema that interrogates the visual technologies of power and the materiality of observation, in the spirit of the works of Harun Farocki.
with: Chico Indi, Diana McCarty, Fátima Silva, Filipa César, Joana Barrios*, Marinho Pina, Mark Waschke*, Muhammed Lamin Jadama, Nelly Yaa Pinkrah, Odete da Costa Semedo, Olivier Marboeuf, Rampa, Sadjo Sambu, Saliha Podingo von Medem, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun · Zé Interpretador.
produced by Volte Films, Spectre Productions, co-commissioned by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Das Neue Alphabet), Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Tabakalera, supported by Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Tabakalera, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, DICRéAM, CNC, Instituto Camões Berlim, Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap), IBAP - Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas.
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by Queen's University Belfast
from MedicalDaily Website
Members of the public could form the backbone of powerful new mobile internet networks by carrying wearable sensors.
According to researchers from Queen's University Belfast, the novel sensors could create new ultra high bandwidth mobile internet infrastructures and reduce the density of mobile phone base stations.
The engineers from Queen's renowned Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), are working on a new project based on the rapidly developing science of body centric communications.
Social benefits from the work could include vast improvements in mobile gaming and remote healthcare, along with new precision monitoring of athletes and real-time tactical training in team sports.
The researchers at ECIT are investigating how small sensors carried by members of the public, in items such as next generation smart-phones, could communicate with each other to create potentially vast body-to-body networks (BBNs).
The new sensors would interact to transmit data, providing 'anytime, anywhere' mobile network connectivity.
Dr Simon Cotton, from ECIT's wireless communications research group said:
"In the past few years a significant amount of research has been undertaken into antennas and systems designed to share information across the surface of the human body. Until now, however, little work has been done to address the next major challenge which is one of the last frontiers in wireless communication – how that information can be transferred efficiently to an off-body location.
"The availability of body-to-body networks could bring great social benefits, including significant healthcare improvements through the use of bodyworn sensors for the widespread, routine monitoring and treatment of illness away from medical centers. This could greatly reduce the current strain on health budgets and help make the Government's vision of healthcare at home for the elderly a reality.
"If the idea takes off, BBNs could also lead to a reduction in the number of base stations needed to service mobile phone users, particularly in areas of high population density. This could help to alleviate public perceptions of adverse health associated with current networks and be more environmentally friendly due to the much lower power levels required for operation."
Dr Cotton has been awarded a prestigious joint five-year Research Fellowship by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering and Physical Research Council (EPSRC) to examine how the new technology can be harnessed to become part of everyday life.
"Our work at Queen's involves collaborating with national and international academic, industrial and institutional experts to develop a range of models for wireless channels required for body centric communications.
These will provide a basis for the development of the antennas, wireless devices and networking standards required to make BBNs a reality.
"Success in this field will not only bring major social benefits it could also bring significant commercial rewards for those involved. Even though the market for wearable wireless sensors is still in its infancy, it is expected to grow to more than 400 million devices annually by 2014."
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REVIEWING "THE NEW CYCLE"(1)
WE HAVE already said in the Theosophist: "Born in the United States of America, the Theosophical Society was constituted on the model of its mother country. The latter, as we know, omits the name of God from its constitution, lest, said the Fathers of the Republic, this would someday afford the pretext for a State religion; for they wanted to grant absolute equality in its laws to all religions so that all would support the State and all in their turn would be protected."
The Theosophical Society was established on this beautiful model.
Each branch as well as each member, having the right to profess the religion and to study the sciences or philosophies it or he prefers, provided that the whole remains united by bonds of solidarity and fraternity -- our Society may be truly called the "Republic of Conscience."
While being free to engage in those intellectual pursuits that please him the most, each member of our Society must, however, give some reason for belonging to it, which means that each member must do his own chosen part, however small it may be, by way of mental work or otherwise, for the good of all. If he does not work for others, he has no reason for being a Theosophist. All of us must work for the liberation of human thought, for the elimination of selfish and sectarian superstitions, and for the discovery of all the truths that are within the reach of the human mind.
We are now facing all the glorious possibilities of the future. Once again the hour has struck for the great periodical return of the rising tide of mystic thought in Europe. We are surrounded on all sides by the ocean of universal science -- the science of life eternal -- bringing in its waters the buried and long forgotten treasures of vanished generations, treasures still unknown to the modern civilized races. The powerful current rising from the submarine abysses, from the depths where lie the learning and arts engulfed with the antediluvian Giants -- demi-gods, though mortals hardly yet formed; this current blows us in the face, murmuring: "That which was, still is; that which is forgotten, buried for æons in the depths of Jurassic strata, may once again reappear on the surface. Prepare yourselves."
Happy those who understand the language of the elements. But, where are those heading to whom the word element conveys no other meaning than the one given to it by materialistic physics and chemistry? Will the great waters carry them toward familiar shores when they will have been swept off their feet in the on-coming flood? Will they be carried toward the summit of a new Ararat, toward the heights where are light and sun and a safe spot to stand on, or toward a bottomless abyss that will engulf them as soon as they attempt to fight against the irresistible waves of a new element?
It is useless to rely on chance, and to await the approaching intellectual and psychic crisis with indifference if not with total incredulity, saying to oneself that if worse comes to worst, the tide will carry us quite naturally to the shore; for there is a strong likelihood of the tide stranding but a corpse! The battle will be fierce, in any case, between brutal materialism and blind fanaticism on the one hand, and on the other philosophy and mysticism -- that more or less thick veil of the Eternal Truth.
It is not materialism that will have the upper hand. Everyone fanatically clinging to an idea isolating him from the universal axiom, -- "There is no Religion higher than Truth" -- will find himself separated like a rotten plank from the new ark called Humanity. Tossed by the waves, chased by the winds, buffeted by this element so terrible because unknown, he will soon find himself swallowed up.
Yes, thus it must be, and it cannot be otherwise when the flame of modern materialism, artificial and cold, will be extinguished for lack of fuel. Those who cannot conceive of a spiritual Ego, of a living Soul, and of an eternal Spirit, within their material shell (which owes its illusory life only to these principles); ... those will do well to be prepared for the keenest of disappointments the future could have in store for them. For, from the depths of the muddy black waters of matter, hiding from them on all sides the horizons of the great beyond, a mystic force is rising towards the closing years of this century. A mere touch, at the most, until now, but a superhuman touch, "supernatural" only for the superstitious and the ignorant. The Spirit of Truth is at this moment moving upon the face of these black waters, and, separating them, forces them to yield their spiritual treasures. This spirit is a force that cannot be either checked or stopped.
But whether the man of today be a fanatic, a skeptic, or a mystic, he must realize that it is fruitless to struggle against these two moral forces now unleashed and engaged in a fight to the finish. He is at the mercy of these two adversaries and there is no intermediary power capable of protecting him. It is but a matter of choice: to let oneself be carried away naturally and without struggle by the flood of unfolding mysticism, or else to struggle and react against the stresses of the moral and psychic evolution and to feel oneself swallowed up in the Maelstrom of the new tide. At this very time the whole world with its centers of great intellect and of human culture, with its political, literary, artistic and commercial centers, is in turmoil, everything is tottering, falling apart, and now tending to reform. It is useless to blind oneself to this, useless to hope one will be able to remain neutral between these two warring forces; one can only be crushed, or has to choose between them. The man who thinks he has chosen freedom and who nevertheless remains submerged in this seething and foaming cauldron of filth called social life, utters the most terrible lie to his Divine Self; a lie that will blind this Self through its long series of future incarnations. All of you who waver on the path of Theosophy and of the occult sciences, who tremble on the golden threshold of Truth, the only Truth still open to you, since all the others have failed, one after the other -- look the Great Reality now offering itself to you straight in the face. These words are for the mystically inclined only, for them alone they will be of some importance; for those who have already made their choice they will prove vain and useless. But you Occultists, Kabalists and Theosophists, you know well that a word as old as the world, though new to you, has been sounded at the beginning of this cycle, and lies potentially, although not articulate for those others, in the sum of the ciphers of the year 1889; you know that a note, never before heard by the men of the present era, has just been sounded, and that a new kind of thought has arisen, fostered by the evolutionary forces. This thought differs from all that has ever been produced in the 19th Century; yet it is identical with what was the keynote and the keystone of every century, especially the last one: "Absolute Freedom of Human Thought."
Our century must be saved from itself before its last hour strikes. Now is the time for action by all who see the sterility and foolishness of an existence blinded by materialism and so ferociously indifferent to the fate of others. It is for them to devote their best energies, all their courage and all their efforts to bring about an intellectual reform. This reform cannot be accomplished except through Theosophy, and, let us say it, Occultism, or the Wisdom of the East. Many are the paths leading to it, but Wisdom is forever one. Artists foresee it, those who suffer dream of it, the pure in spirit know it. Those who work for others cannot remain blind before its reality even though they do not always know it by name.
No one is so busy or so poor that he cannot be inspired by a noble ideal to follow. Why hesitate to blaze a trail toward that ideal through all obstacles, all hindrances, all the daily considerations of social life, and to advance boldly until it is reached? It is true that the first requisites for getting there are absolute unselfishness and unlimited devotion to the interests of others, and complete indifference as to the world and its opinions. To take the first step on this ideal path requires a perfectly pure motive; ... Yet, there are men and women perfectly capable of all this, and whose only desire is to live under the aegis of their Divine Nature. Let these, at least, have the courage to live this life and not to hide it from the sight of others! No one's opinion could ever be above the rulings of our own conscience, so, let that conscience, arrived at its highest development, be our guide in all our common daily tasks. As to our inner life, let us concentrate all our attention on our chosen Ideal, and let us ever look beyond without ever casting a glance at the mud at our feet....
Those capable of such an effort are true Theosophists;...
--H. P. BLAVATSKY
There is a faculty of the human mind, which is superior to all which is born or begotten. Through it we are enabled to attain union with the superior intelligences, of being transported beyond the scenes and arrangements of this world, and of partaking the higher life and peculiar powers of the heavenly Ones. By this faculty we are made free from the dominations of Fate (Karma), and are made, so to speak, the arbiters of our own destinies.
--IAMBLICHUS
[Note: As I mentioned in the footnote, here's the link to HPB's article that the above article was collated from: "The New Cycle".--Compiler.]
REVOLUTIONS OF LIGHT AND LIFE
(1) NOTE--A collation of excerpts from H. P. Blavatsky's article, "The New Cycle," first published in La Revue Theosophique, March 21, 1889. Reprinted in H.P.B. Articles, I, 397-408. [Note: Just in case you may want to read "The New Cycle," after reading this collation from it, I have put a link to it at the end of this article.--Compiler.]
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Farewell from Technical Director William Ulate
The dawn of a new year is an exciting time – a time to look forward to new possibilities and embark on new initiatives. Sometimes, however, it can also be tinged with sadness as these new beginnings may require us to say goodbye as well. For us at BHL, 2016 will also mean saying goodbye to William Ulate as our Technical Director.
December 29, 2015byWilliam Ulate
Quello che era nuovo in TDWG 2013?
I also had the luck to attend the TDWG Annual Conference in Florence, Italy this past October/November 2013. This year’s topic was “Virtual Communities for Biodiversity Science”, a very relevant topic for BHL and one notable difference of this year’s meeting, compared to the last three years I have attended, was the numerous Symposia and Workshops organized by several communities within biodiversity informatics.
November 29, 2013byWilliam Ulate
Tis the season to be thankful!
BHL is a collaborative endeavor, no doubt about it; and it’s been thanks to these collaborations that we have the technical achievements we have. For many reasons, this is a good time to be thankful. So as the BHL Technical Director, I would like to start by thanking my colleagues.
Global BHL at TDWG 2012
Nǐ hǎo! Last month, I attended the Annual Meeting of the Biodiversity Informatics Standards Organization (www.tdwg.org), one of my favorite meetings of the year because it provides a thorough view of the current advances in the field of Biodiversity Informatics. TDWG 2012 was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, on Oct. 22-27.
Introducing the BHL Technical Advisory Group
William Ulate, BHL Technical Director and I are pleased to announce the creation of the BHL Technical Advisory Group (BHL TAG). The BHL TAG will work with William and the Technical Development team at the Missouri Botanical Garden (Mike Lichtenberg and Trish Rose-Sandler) in an advisory capacity.
November 7, 2012byMartin R. Kalfatovic
Another Way for You to Help BHL: Make a Donation
Funding for the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) comes from a number of sources. Over the past few years, we have been reliant on the generous support of a number of different foundations, directly or through grants to individual BHL members. These foundations include the MacArthur Foundation, the Moore Foundation, the Lounsberry Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Keck Foundation. A number of the BHL members have also received grants from the United States government, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Science Foundation.
September 20, 2011byNancy Gwinn
New Features, New Logo
BHL has made some big changes today. Our site now features a new logo, a new “Donate” button and enhanced social media functionality that significantly improves the way you can interact with and share BHL content.
September 1, 2011byBianca Crowley
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Line Baugstø
Original title: Regntid
NORLA Selection
As a teenager Gro lived a few years in Tanzania with her family, where she fell madly in love with John. Although she has not seen him again since, she has never managed to forget about her high school sweetheart.
Her stay on the African continent marked the young woman on several levels, and Gro has since had a dream of doing development work of some sort – the intense feeling of being needed somewhere in the world, never left her.
One spring afternoon in 2005, Gro, now a 37 year old freelance journalist and mother of two, receives a phone call from Sri Lanka. An NGO is building a large peace centre on the east coast, in an area badly ruined by the tsunami, and Gro’s husband, who is an architect, is offered a job.
Gro is delighted by this opportunity, and so the family moves to Sri Lanka a few months later. However, Gro has an ulterior motive: She has reason to believe that John lives in the country, and harbours a secret dream of meeting him again.
In Sri Lanka, the political situation is taking a turn for the worse, and not everyone welcomes the idea of a Norwegian peace centre. The Norwegian aid workers complain about corruption and unreliable maids – and Gro has no idea of how to get in touch with John.
Rainy Season is a gripping love story, a naked portrayal of a rootless and confused woman who is seduced by her own good intentions, and a sharp and insightful analysis of what Western aid can – and cannot - achieve under unfamiliar conditions.
Photo: Torunn Nilsen
Line Baugstø made her literary debut with the novel Reise i gult lys (Travelling in Yellow Light)in 1986. Since then she has published two short story collections, five novels and three children's books.
Oslo Literary Agency
Henrik Francke
Literary Agent, Literary fiction /
Edited December 21, 2017 by Oslo Literary Agency
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FSCast #182
GLEN GORDON: In this era of COVID-19, blind and low-vision people around the world are facing a variety of special challenges. We’ll check in with Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind; and Dan Spoone, President of the American Council of the Blind, to find out what these U.S.-based advocacy organizations are doing to help. That and more upcoming on FSCast 182 for April 2020.
Hello everybody, and welcome to FSCast. You’ve probably realized by now that I am neither John nor Larry Gassman. I am in fact Glen Gordon, filling in this time around. They both are absolutely fine and will be back soon. But I am taking control of the reins for this edition of FSCast.
We’re living in interesting times. Many, many of us around the world are sheltering in place. Here in Wisconsin we’ve been doing it for close to three weeks now. My wife and I realized just how odd these circumstances are when we were able to finally schedule an online grocery delivery. And when we got that appointment, it felt like we had won the lottery. I’m sure many of you have stories like this. And we’re hoping that this podcast and some of the things we discuss with our guest will be a little bit cathartic for all of us because we’re all going through these things, at one level or another. These are not normal times.
And while you’re most likely sequestered at home, feel free to drop us an email. That’s fscast@vispero.com, V I S P E R O dot com, or leave a message for us on the listener line. That’s area code (727) 803-8000, extension 1010.
Interview with Richard Tapping
GLEN: First up on the podcast today is Richard Tapping. He’s our Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing, joining us from his own personal place of seclusion, complete with children, dogs, and of course a computer. Richard, welcome.
RICHARD TAPPING: Thank you. Good to be here.
GLEN: So tell me what Freedom Scientific is doing to try to help all the people who are suddenly finding themselves at home and perhaps in need of our software?
RICHARD: On coming back from CSUN, we recognized that there would be an issue with students initially being forced to study at home, potentially without accommodations, and similarly for employees as the pandemic spread. It was becoming more and more obvious that we would also have to try and accommodate employees at home for the same reason. So, you know, last week the team went into overdrive mode and came up with a platform to provide free access to JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion through the end of June 30th, which at the very minimum will take us through the end of the school year.
GLEN: And no strings attached; right? You just – you simply go to our website, and we will direct you to the right spot?
RICHARD: If you go to the Freedom Scientific home page, you’ll see a message from our CEO. There’s a link there that says “Free Home License.” If you click that, it will take you to what we call the “Student Portal,” which allows students to check whether they are eligible for a free license through their organization or institution that they’re a part of. So if they are, there’s a benefit there to the student because it means that they will get a 12-month access license as part of that program. If they are not validated, if they are not part of that program, they will be presented with another page that simply says “Register here for your free access.” And once the person registers, they’ll get access to the free license.
GLEN: And although you mentioned students, you also mentioned a minute ago that this is available to basically anybody who’s at home for whatever reason for the next few months.
RICHARD: Anybody at home is welcome to use this portal and get access to the software, exactly right.
GLEN: We should stress that this is for North America; right? This is U.S. and Canada?
RICHARD: Yeah. The platform that we have allows access within North America, in terms of getting kind of the automated download page, so to speak. We did have technicalities in order to offer this globally. And there are, you know, complications in terms of localization for the rest of the world. However, we are working with all of our distributors across the globe, and I’ve already seen posts from the likes of Sight and Sound in the U.K. I noticed our Italian partner had posted social media updates about them offering the similar programs that we’ve done in North America. And that will be everywhere. Just we have to encourage you to contact your local distribution, our local distribution partner in your territory. And if you’re not sure who that is, we do have a dealer lookup tool on the Freedom Scientific website. So that will help direct you to the right place, and then they can accommodate you with the free software.
GLEN: And this is North America, as long as it’s the U.S. or north.
RICHARD: Yes, let’s clarify that, U.S.A. and Canada. That’s right. If there are students out there that need, not just software accommodations, but some hardware, i.e., laptops, I do want to make reference to Computers for the Blind, a nonprofit 501 organization. They’re located in Texas, and they provide refurbished computers with assistive technology for persons who are blind or have low vision. So it’s really low cost. There’s a processing fee, as we understand it. You have a desktop for, like, 130 bucks, or a laptop for 185 bucks. And for that obviously they get the hardware, and it will also come with their software of choice, their assistive technology software of choice. So they can get JAWS 2020, the screen reader, or ZoomText 2020, preinstalled and activated on that hardware. It’ll also come with a JAWS training bundle.
So this is a really important tool for folks that, you know, are students that perhaps might be studying from home, don’t have the means to go out and buy new hardware, and obviously need the hardware and the software accommodation. So Computers for the Blind in Texas is a really good resource.
GLEN: I second that one. We’ve been working with them for a couple of years now, and they’re a great organization and doing a great service.
RICHARD: Doing all the right things, exactly right.
GLEN: So most people at Freedom Scientific are working at home, but that doesn’t mean we’re not working; right?
RICHARD: That’s right. In parallel to us working on delivering this free Home Annual License, we also made some significant changes with our employee base. Our IT department helped deploy the accommodations for all nonessential workers to basically be relocated at home, which has largely been done at this point. And we got creative within our manufacturing and logistics plant. We actually split the shifts up to further reduce social interaction. So we’ve made some really, really good inroads there, too. So we are fully operational. Our customer service is operational. Shipping, manufacturing. Our tech support, very important at this point, fully operational. So we are at 100 percent operational. We just got very creative in terms of how we’re doing this.
GLEN: Well, Richard, thanks. Thanks for joining us on FSCast.
RICHARD: My pleasure.
Interview with Rachel Buchanan
GLEN: Joining me now is Rachel Buchanan, a voice that’s no doubt familiar to those of you who listen to FSCast. She’s our co-host on FSOpenLine. But her day job is Product Manager for User Training and Outreach. Rachel, welcome.
RACHEL BUCHANAN: Hey, Glen, how are you?
GLEN: I’m good. How are you?
RACHEL: Doing really well.
GLEN: So I have noticed that training has stepped up a little bit in this era of COVID-19.
RACHEL: Well, we buckled down last week, and we’re really looking to what we could do for our customers and users in light of the global crisis that’s going on, and have decided to offer these ongoing training sessions every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. And we’re really looking to our participants to guide us and give us topics and just point us towards the areas where they really need support, the question-answers, whether it be TVIs working with students who are connecting via a Focus display and accessing remote learning, or someone who may be in the workplace and needs to master remote access.
GLEN: We should probably clarify that TVI is Teacher of the Visually Impaired, for those who aren’t.
RACHEL: Right. Yeah, absolutely. And those Teachers of the Visually Impaired are all around the United States and working hard to connect with blind and low-vision students who are at home and may or may not have access to all of the assistive technology that they do at school. So those TVIs are really on the frontline for our students who are trying to get access.
GLEN: And we’re in an interesting spot; right? Because we want to do as much training as people need and want. But on the other hand, we don’t want to do training if people aren’t interested. And so this, in the next couple of weeks, is really the time for folks to let us know what they’re interested in learning about and also indicate that they have an interest by showing up.
RACHEL: Definitely. And sending, if you have suggestions, send an email to training@vispero.com. We’re really responsive on that inbox, and we want to see people’s suggestions, what you’re struggling with. And we’ll help with – even if it’s not something we can hold an entire class on, we’ll try to help out with step-by-step instructions in your specific situation.
GLEN: Are you getting more questions about collaborative platforms this go-round?
RACHEL: Definitely, yes. In fact, that’s probably above and beyond getting connected with the Focus and mastering, you know, the typing practice for parents and TVIs. Another really common question we’ve had is, you know, what are the commands for Google Classroom? How do my students access Google Docs? And we’re lucky enough that some of that work’s already been done because we have G Suite training already out there and archived. And we do have some work to do left with Google Classroom.
GLEN: What about Zoom? Zoom, amazingly to me, has really taken over the imaginations of a whole bunch of people. It seems really popular now, where three years ago it was hardly used.
RACHEL: Yeah. I’ve heard it talked about quite a bit. I’ve seen it on the news. It’s been quite the buzzword lately. And we do have a training on that already available, if people visit our archives page. You can download, I think it’s about a 25-minute training with several task demos. And that will be good if you’re participating in Zoom meetings. Now, you may need a little bit extra training if you’re going to be hosting a meeting yourself and using JAWS.
GLEN: And I have just the resource for you.
RACHEL: Oh, tell us about it.
GLEN: Jonathan Mosen, who wrote a book several years ago called “Meet Me Accessibly,” how to use Zoom...
RACHEL: Yes, I have that.
GLEN: He has made it available for free.
RACHEL: Excellent. That is so helpful.
GLEN: I think it’s about three hours long. It covers both using Zoom with JAWS and using it with an iPhone to both attend a meeting and to present a meeting.
RACHEL: Right, and this is a book I relied on a lot when I first started doing the webinars. It was one that I immediately knew I needed as a resource, and I read it, and it was really helpful.
GLEN: Have you contacted him to demand your money back?
RACHEL: No, I have not.
GLEN: Okay, good. He appreciates – he appreciates that.
RACHEL: I think it was an honest sale. It was long enough ago.
GLEN: That book is available at Mosen.org/zoom, and available for a free download. So it’s a great resource. I wanted to mention it on the podcast, and you provided the perfect opportunity.
RACHEL: Great. Yup.
GLEN: If people want to know when our webinars are scheduled and find out about specifics, how do they do that?
RACHEL: We’ve been posting all of that information on our blog at blog.freedomscientific.com. We’ve been blogging twice a week. So check it out and stay up to date with what we’re doing.
GLEN: Sounds great. Thanks, Rachel.
RACHEL: Thanks so much, Glen.
Interview with Dan Spoone
GLEN: With me now is Dan Spoone. He is the President of the American Council of the Blind. Dan, I realize this is a busy time, and there are lots of things you could be doing. Thanks for taking the time to join us.
DAN SPOONE: Well, thank you, Glen. Glad to be here.
GLEN: So how well do you think blind people are prepared to face COVID-19?
DAN: That’s a very interesting question. I think in some respects our community is actually better prepared to handle COVID-19 in that, you know, we as a group are people that have – we have learned to be patient. We have learned to take our time to do things. I think in some aspects we’re not maybe quite as mobile on a day-to-day basis, just as a general population. You can’t, of course, generalize from any one individual. But as a community, I think we’re fairly comfortable staying in our homes. So I think that part of it, of doing this stay-at-home, the isolation piece, from our psyche, I think we’re almost better prepared to handle that than a lot of other communities.
On the other hand, I think it does create some just, you know, inherent challenges for our population in that, you know, things like getting to the grocery store and picking up essential food items or getting to the drug store for your needed prescriptions, those items can become more tricky with our population. So I think there are some pluses and some minuses.
The other thing we’ve learned inside of the American Council of the Blind is our community is really good at getting on conference calls and Zoom calls and having conversations with each other. We’re just very skilled at that because we’re a national organization, and that’s how we do our day-to-day business today.
GLEN: That’s the good side. I think the bad side is we often touch things. Touch things extensively.
DAN: Oh, it’s true.
GLEN: Take the arms of sighted guides.
DAN: Oh, we are the, if you wanted to pick a population that would be the perfect Petri dish for germ transmission, I think it’s a group of blind people in a confined area; right? I mean, you know, we form trains to go to, you know, to venture to restrooms and all that type of thing. We touch about every surface we come in contact with. It’s really hard for us to do spatial distancing. You know, when are we six feet away from all of our colleagues? And so these really make meeting in person very much a challenge.
GLEN: And do you think people are getting it? I mean, having readers in the house, potentially, you know, following sighted guides, all that stuff.
DAN: Oh, all that kind of stuff. Most definitely. And I’m, you know, today my sister came in and helped my wife and I read a few hard pieces of mail to get through. And again, so what did we have to do? You know, we kind of stood back while she read the mail, and then she left, and we came in and got our Lysol wipes out and wiped down the counter and wiped down the doorknobs. And you feel terrible, I mean, it’s your sister. But, you know, on the other hand, you really – it’s very difficult to keep that safe distance. I know when we were at the grocery store I was holding onto her shoulder. You know, how else am I going to navigate? It’s very difficult.
GLEN: It does sort of talk about technology a little bit; right? Because if people are good with an iPhone and something like Seeing AI, it would be possible to take a picture of the mail and then send it to somebody else, if OCR wasn’t good enough, and perhaps allow them to do it at a distance.
DAN: Yeah, I really do believe that’s the case. We’re going to, you know, the more you can take advantage of technology, you know, ordering groceries through an online service, or using technology like you’re saying, to read your mail or really to use Uber Eats to get a delivery in. I mean, there’s all kinds of opportunities out there, I think.
GLEN: What are you hearing from people about taxis and Uber and other things which blind people, if you need to go out, you don’t necessarily have the choice of sequestering yourself in your own car and driving somewhere.
DAN: Right. Right, right. That kind of seems to be the safest place for the general population. They get in their car, you know, where they’re not with anyone else. But for us, if we’re going to take transportation, you know, the autonomous vehicle is not quite here yet. We keep our hopes up. But right now we’re going to be in the car. And if it’s an Uber or taxi, it’s somebody that we don’t know. And so you don’t know where they’ve been and who was in the vehicle before you.
And so, you know, the last time I used an Uber, which is a little over a week ago, you know, I took my Lysol wipes and wiped down the handles when I got in. And the driver, I was worried that maybe he might feel a little offended. He said, “Sir, you don’t really have to do that because I’m wiping down the vehicle every time a passenger leaves my car because I’m as worried about the passengers as the passengers are worried about me.” And so that was kind of interesting, that the drivers themselves I think are trying to take the steps, the conscientious ones, to really make sure their vehicles are safe.
GLEN: So am I correct in assuming that a lot of what ACB is doing is trying to make sure that people are connected in new and creative ways.
DAN: Most certainly, Glen. What we’ve tried to do over the past several weeks is set up different Zoom meetings, some of them broadcast live on our ACB radio streams, where we’re talking about a variety of topics, everything from how to have, you know, what are your good recipes that you’d like to share, you know, how do you deal with the census that’s coming up this year, the 2020 Census. We’re going to have a call in the future about sports, and let’s talk sports, and just bring your adult beverage and let’s have some fun and share stories about sports. We’re going to have a session on Audio Description and how to connect with streams and get the most value out of the Audio Description programming that’s available during this point in time.
So we’re just having all kinds of different things. I mean, some of them are just simply afternoon sessions where you can grab a cup of coffee and come and share your feelings; you know? So they’re just all over the place. We’re involving our committees. We’re involving our special interest affiliates. What we’ve learned is there’s just a tremendous wealth of knowledge inside of our membership that we’re able to tap into, at a time when everybody needs a little, you know, needs a little cheering up and needs a little something to fill their days.
GLEN: And are you finding that people are more likely to attend these than they might have been a month ago or two months ago, even though probably at that point there were fewer of them?
DAN: Oh, most certainly. I mean, it’s off the charts. We’re getting, you know, we’re getting 50, 100 people calling in at one point in time for these community meetings. It’s just amazing the interest level. And they’re engaged. And what else we’re finding is you kind of get the phone calls, you know, the Zoom meeting started, and then they’re sharing with each other. You know, it’s just really created this peer-to-peer support network, and they’re sharing each other’s phone numbers and email addresses and making contact with each other outside of the community meetings. So it’s just really been, I think, very uplifting. It’s just been great to see our membership come together in this way.
GLEN: You mentioned the Audio Description project. And I’m curious if you can talk a little bit more about it because I didn’t realize how actively the ACB has been behind that.
DAN: You know, we’ve now formed American Council of the Blind to nine key programs and services. And Audio Description is one of those nine key programs and services. We have a wonderful website, ACB.org/adp. And on that website you will find all kinds, there’s over a hundred pages that make up the website now. Our most popular page is we have a combined listing that lists all the audio-described content that’s available on the key, you know, the four broadcast channels, the five major cable channels that offer Audio Description, plus all of the streaming platforms, whether it be Netflix or Amazon or iTunes or Apple+, Disney+. They’re all there. And right now I think we’re about ready to top the 4,000-title level. So I think we’re at a little over 3,900 titles that we can now definitively validate that are available with Audio Description.
Here in Florida, Spectrum, which is, you know, the Charter Corporation, they actually, on their accessibility pages, they point to ACB.org/adp as the definitive source for audio-described information. So it’s pretty exciting, what we’ve been able to do.
GLEN: Yeah. And it’s a great time for people to catch up on content.
DAN: Oh, it really is, you know. There is, with time on your hands, there’s just a plethora of content that’s out there.
GLEN: It seems like there’s a little bit of a conundrum for people who are older because they’re the ones who are, as a group, less likely to go to the website and find out all the stuff that’s going on.
DAN: It is true. And we’ve also put together, we have a new Membership Services Coordinator, Cindy Van Winkle, that has just been onboard here for nine months now. And she’s gotten a group of volunteers from across our organization that she calls her “posse.” And they are taking time to actually reach out and call members, especially members we haven’t heard from in a little while, just to check in with them and see how they’re doing. And she’s put together things, like she has Hump Day Happy Hour every Wednesday, where people can call in and talk about their – all our ACB affiliate presidents can call in and talk about, you know, what their issues are.
You know, American Council of the Blind is kind of a three-tiered organization. So we have the National Board of Directors and leadership staff. And then we have a series of about 68 state, geographical state and special interest affiliates across the country. And then we have about 250 local chapters that work inside of those affiliates. So what we’re finding is for most of even our local chapters right now, they’re not planning on having face-to-face meetings here for the next month or two. So they’re reaching out through their phone trees and calling their members.
My wife Leslie, she reached out and called half of our chapter list just last Wednesday. And what was very interesting there, she said to me that, “Dan, normally I would get through that half of the list in about 45 minutes.” It took her two and a half hours because people just wanted to talk. They wanted to share their feelings. And they were so appreciative that she had reached out and just, not scheduling a meeting or anything else, just reached out to see how they were feeling.
GLEN: That’s great. What have you been hearing about students who are trying to study at home using remote techniques that they may not have needed to experience before?
DAN: Well, you know, as always it’s a little bit of a challenge. You know, everybody’s trying to get it right for the general population. And maybe at times they don’t forget about the accessibility features that make it inclusive for all of their students. So that’s something that parents have to advocate for. One thing that’s very interesting to us, we have several of our members that are blind parents with sighted children. And they’re going through the challenges of just receiving the materials that they’re now supposed to use to teach their kids, and it’s not coming to them in an accessible format. So how do they then learn what they need to learn to help teach their children? And so it’s kind of a double-whammy. You know, it can be the student, a blind student that’s having an accessibility issue, or it could be a blind parent who needs the material in accessible format in order to teach their child. So we’re working on both of those areas.
GLEN: So I would not have thought about that in terms of parents. And I might have thought about it, but I wouldn’t have thought it would be a whole lot different based on whether or not this was online or in person because I think in both cases the parents either could or couldn’t get the material. But maybe it is that the online material is not necessarily the same as what would have been handed out as handouts. Is that partially it?
DAN: Right. That’s partially it. Or it’s now a lot of these school systems are now scrambling to put an online application together that they’re sending the materials out in; so the teacher posts it and puts it out on a website that now the parents can go download the materials. But guess what? That website’s not accessible. So we’re running into that kind of an issue over and over again.
GLEN: Where in previous generations there would be a handout, conceivably, that they could take home and scan, if worst comes to worst.
DAN: That’s right. That’s right. And so then you follow back up, that maybe the only alternative that they have, to snail mail the materials. But then, you know, they haven’t got around to doing that yet. So is their child missing out on a few days of curriculum while they’re waiting to get the materials? So it’s always interesting to see, you know, changes tend to bring about opportunities for advocacy for our community because a lot of times it’s just not totally thought through.
GLEN: Yeah. And there’s a lot going on. There are a lot of balls in the air.
DAN: Yeah, there really are. In fact, one of the advocacy issues we’ve been really working very hard with, I don’t know if you saw this, but Senator Alexander actually proposed an amendment to the bill that may be passing the Senate soon, it’s hard to know. But in that legislation there was an actual adjustment to the legislation to not require IDEA, I D E A, the Individuals with Disability Education Act, to require – you could get a waiver and not have to follow those guidelines for a period of time due to the coronavirus. So again, if we’re not careful, leaving our blind and visually impaired students behind the rest of the population.
GLEN: I appreciate your efforts on behalf of this, and all the other things that ACB does. Dan, I really want to thank you for being with us on FSCast this time.
DAN: Well, thank you, Glen. I enjoyed it. And Vispero, keep up the great work. We appreciate it. Thank you.
GLEN: All right. Thanks a lot.
GLEN: This podcast is turning out to be focused primarily on the United States. It just sort of turned out that way. We reached out to the presidents of the American Council of the Blind and National Federation of the Blind. They were available to talk to us, and so we jumped at the opportunity. If you’re listening to us in another country, and you’d like help promoting what your blindness organizations are doing, we’re happy to do that, either on our blog – that’s the place where we can make the quickest changes – or perhaps on a future FSCast. Write to us at fscast@vispero.com, and we’ll do our best to help you out.
I also want to mention that I had extended conversations with our two guests, and we’re playing portions of those two interviews. So don’t take what you’re hearing either Dan Spoone or Mark Riccobono saying as all that they have to say on these topics. Your best option is to go to ACB.org or NFB.org, where you can find out all the things that these two advocacy organizations are doing to help.
Interview with Mark Riccobono
GLEN: And speaking of the President of the National Federation of the Blind, Mark Riccobono is on the line with me now. I realize it’s a busy time for everybody and very much appreciate you taking the time to join us.
MARK RICCOBONO: It’s my pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
GLEN: So am I correct in assuming that NFB is well ensconced with everyone working at home, and it is far from business as usual?
MARK: Yeah, I’d say far from business as usual because the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, which is our beautiful headquarters building in South Baltimore, is, well, unoccupied, at least right now. And we’ve of course done things via teleconference and using other means for a long time. But right now there’s really no choice in that. So we’ve been spinning up a lot of things very quickly, and it’s been quite interesting to also then provide training to folks who haven’t used some of the distance learning technology.
GLEN: Got it. So we’re recording this on Wednesday afternoon, the 25th of March. And this is right after the Democrats and Republicans seem to have come to an agreement on essentially a COVID-19 bailout bill. I’m curious. Are there things in the bill that concern you? Or things that have been left out of the bill that are troubling?
MARK: Well, that’s a good question. I have not gotten a full analysis from our team yet about that. And, you know, the negotiations in Congress moved at a very strong pace. But there are things we’re concerned about, whether they’re fully addressed in the bill or not, first and foremost protecting blind people who are in small businesses, especially blind people who are part of the Randolph Sheppard program. You know, they pretty much have lost all of their business because of the shutdown of government buildings and that sort of thing.
So when we talk about small business and small business recovery, we have been advocating to really protect and make that group whole. But it extends beyond that. There are unique training programs for blind people that have been similarly impacted. Also we have been encouraging Congress to waive the normal waiting period for Social Security Disability Income and Medicaid, recognizing that there are going to be people that are going to be adversely impacted employment-wise. Numbers are small as they are, blind people that we have employed. But there are blind people that are going to lose their jobs.
GLEN: Absolutely.
MARK: And we don’t want them to have to wait, you know, to get on disability income. And then of course, you know, there might be people who, for whatever reason, are going blind in this time period, and they’re going to be adversely impacted.
GLEN: I had heard that there was some discussion about allowing the Department of Education to relax some of the IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Have you heard more about that lately?
MARK: Yes. So that was a proposal that came up in Congress last week. The National Federation of the Blind came out pretty strongly against that, obviously. The idea was that there should be a waiver to really allow schools to get out of their obligations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act because of the urgent and fast-paced nature of what’s happening. Obviously, our organization, we’re always against that. Their proposal as it was offered didn’t go anywhere. And I think we played a big part in that, working with other disability organizations.
I had heard, and again I haven’t seen the analysis of the final bill, that the final bill may ask the Secretary of the United States Department of Education to produce a report about what waivers might be necessary. Well, the Secretary of Education already has authority to issue and ask for waivers from the Congress for various situations. So that doesn’t really create anything new. And Congress would still have to take action. So we feel pretty good that we were able to push back on that. But obviously, in this situation, one of the things that we’re doing just generally, not just at the federal level, but working with the state and local programs, is to make sure that blind people are not adversely impacted or being exempted from the programs that are happening.
A good example is, you know, there’s all these drive-up testing centers, and our affiliates have been talking with state officials about, okay, if you’re a person that doesn’t drive, and you need to be tested, how are you going to get equal access to this? You know, you’re not going to call up a ridesharing program and say, by the way, I’m going to get tested for COVID‑19. They’ll know that by where you’re going. So we need other ways to have equal access. And, you know, various local authorities have been figuring out innovative ways to do that with the help of the National Federation of the Blind.
GLEN: So, I mean, it’s a time of crisis. I’m sure officials are overwhelmed. They’re getting pushed from a variety of different angles. How are you able to make sure that the voices of the blind are actively heard, and that people pay attention?
MARK: Well, yeah. Well, that’s a good – it’s a good question. Well, I think it really speaks to the fact that we have a strong network and brand that we’ve built over the last 80 years that people know. Public officials already know the National Federation of the Blind and that our leaders are elected by blind people to represent blind people.
The second part, besides the brand, is the network. You know, we have this dynamic network of affiliates in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico that come together in this national organization. And so we have people on the ground in the right places, and we support them with this national network.
So our advocacy team, you know, they’re monitoring what’s happening in Congress. They’re talking to folks. Government officials know to call on us. But at the same time, we’re being proactive. A couple days ago we put out a news brief calling on governors and other public officials to put their executive orders out in accessible form because apparently some of the governors got the idea that it was really important that people see the governor’s signature on a document. So they were putting out these emergency orders, and it was, you know, it was just a picture of the order so that you could see the governor’s signature. And then some of them, apparently trying to be somewhat progressive, were going in later and doing OCR on those scanned documents. And you’re thinking, folks, you created this electronically. You already have the text. And who cares about the signature? We just want to know what the requirements are. What are we supposed to do?
So it’s a combination of already having a network that has people and a communications system in the right place where we communicate and we coordinate the work. But it’s also being proactive about pushing on some of the things even before the government figures out they’re doing it wrong. And that comes from blind people coming together and saying, hey, you know, this is an issue, and then we have the mechanism to do something about it.
GLEN: So lots of people are sheltering at home. That means lots of kids are going to school online. That’s great that we have the technology to do that. But how well advanced are school districts in terms of making sure that this online activity is actually accessible?
MARK: Yeah, well, you know, no surprise, they’re not. And this has been one of the areas of, in one sense, emergency action. But in another sense, we’ve already been doing this work, advancing resources and pushing information into the Congress to try to get a bill passed. But we recognized early on that a lot of school districts, a lot of universities are going to online-only for the rest of the semester, and that we needed to make sure that we were pushing out resources on how to make sure that the platforms are accessible, helping professors know that they have a role to play in posting accessible content. And then really helping blind students network which platforms are accessible; how do you get access to them; and, if they’re not accessible, how do you file complaints? Because there’s a fairly short timeline here. And when you’re a blind student that’s maybe looking at graduating this May, and this is your last set of courses, you hate to have that be delayed just because the online platform that a university’s using is not accessible.
So we have a lot of activity going on in that regard, students working with students to share, you know, what works, what doesn’t, doing outreach to universities. We had a Twitter chat the other day to allow people to share what they knew, again, just creating community and coordinating resources. And so that’s really the power of the network that we’ve built in the National Federation of the Blind. And I think we’ve also seen in this process, you know, some universities and schools taking that on by mentioning accessibility early on, which is nice to see. Not that everybody’s getting it right. There are some that just really aren’t getting it right. They weren’t getting it right before.
I’m hopeful, though, that this tsunami of online learning and engagement is really going to, maybe more than anything else we’ve done, allow us to get the tipping point on accessibility being a requirement in online environments and as important as security, and that the two go hand in hand, and that they should just flatly be requirements before anybody uses one of these systems.
GLEN: Absolutely. It does feel that there may be a little bit of a sea change after all of this in terms of online education, but also virtual working, people working from home, where folks are being forced to try it as companies, and they may be finding that it’s working out better than expected.
MARK: Yeah, I think that’s going to be interesting. I think it is going to have an impact on society. But I think it’s also going to be useful the other way. I think maybe the side benefit of people being cooped up is that it will help to emphasize the real value in people getting together in person. I mean, I love online tools. I use a lot of them. But, you know, when you can sit across from someone and have a conversation that’s not influenced by a screen or a glitch in your technology, it’s different. It’s just different.
And I think one of the things we’re going to find is that people will really understand the value of that side of the equation, as well. And we need both sides; right? We need the tools and the remote technologies because it does empower a lot of things, whether it’s work at home for any variety of circumstances or, you know, connecting people who are isolated. But we also need those in-person experiences. And if we can harness the power of both of those, that’s really the world that I think we want to live in. Accessible technologies that allow us to do the things we want to do remotely, but then that also give us the opportunities to get together in person.
GLEN: Well, I’m really glad you mentioned that. As a Luddite who refuses to do Facebook, and actually wants to talk to people on the phone or see them in person, I appreciate your push to a center.
MARK: Yeah, people are one way or the other. And, I mean, I think that’s the silver lining of the current situation, right, is you do see people reaching out to people, not just via text, but picking up the phone and calling people and seeing how they are because they need that actual voice on the other end, not just 140 characters or whatever.
GLEN: One of the things that I have noticed is that blind people are forever creative and resourceful. I’m curious if anything comes to mind for you in terms of what NFB members have done in light of COVID-19 to really help others and move things forward.
MARK: Yes, I mean, we have, you know, our organization of course is built on local chapters, and local chapters are used to getting together. And all sorts of interesting things have been happening with our chapters doing virtual events, either via telephone or Zoom or some other platform, both to continue to provide programming, but also to, you know, again, make that social connection. A number of our affiliates have been collecting the resources that are out there, both the same resources that are really there to help everybody, but then also some of the unique blindness resources that are out there. And we’ve put some of these together. We have made our NFB-NEWSLINE system free everywhere. We had five states plus Puerto Rico did not have access to the NFB-NEWSLINE system. We opened it up so that all blind people can have equal access to the COVID-19 breaking news.
GLEN: One of the things that I was very impressed with, and it turns out there’s an intersection. He’s been a developer on JAWS for the last couple of years. He’s also an NFB member. Tyler Littlefield decided that there was a need for accessible COVID-19 information because most of the other information available has been in graphical and other visual forms. He spent his weekend developing a website that really aggregates a bunch of the information, both nationally and internationally. It’s CVstats.net.
MARK: Yeah, yeah. It is a great site. I a couple days ago sent an email to him myself, thanking him for creating that resource. And, you know, folks have been figuring out interesting ways to make graphs of the curve, you know, the whole flattening the curve concept, to create tactile graphics and other ways so that blind people could really be part of the conversation. Well, what does this mean? What does it look like? What are we trying to do? And, you know, the best of those things that are being done are being generated by blind people who want to share their ideas about what equal access looks like.
GLEN: We should probably mention NFB.org as a place that folks can go to get information; right? That is sort of the starting point?
MARK: Yes, NFB.org is our website. There are many, many branches there. But that’s where you could find any of the information about the National Federation of the Blind, the programs we have.
GLEN: Is there a place that people can go to get COVID-specific information on your site?
MARK: Yes. We have pulled together all of our COVID-19 related resources and even some of the ones that aren’t ours, just ones we like, ones that are accessible, like Tyler’s little tool that was mentioned earlier. You can go to NFB, as in National Federation of the Blind, NFB.org/covid19, C O V I D 1 9, and you can find all the information, including you can go to a link where you can get to our state affiliates. And many of our state affiliates have pulled together state-specific resources around COVID and accessibility. So I’d encourage you to take a look at that. It’s changing, well, probably every hour at this point. And if you find great resources that you think would be helpful to blind people, send us an email at communicationsteam@nfb.org, and we’ll try to put them up there.
GLEN: Mark Riccobono, I jumped in as the host of FSCast this month. One of the reasons was because I wanted to talk to you. And you definitely did not disappoint. So thanks very much for joining us.
MARK: Well, thank you very much, and keep up the great work.
Accessible Statistical Software from SAS
GLEN: Before we go, I want to talk a little bit about accessible statistical software. If you heard our replay of FSOpenLine from February, you heard the topic of accessible statistics come up. And my answer turns out to have been completely inadequate because I failed to mention software available through SAS. After the podcast I heard from Ed Summers, who’s the Director of Accessibility there. He’ll be on FSCast in the next month or so to talk more about what they have to offer. But they’ve done something specific related to COVID‑19.
For the past few years they’ve been offering a free Chrome extension called the Accessible Graphics Accelerator. And the purpose of it is to allow those of us who can’t see graphs and charts to hear them. So you can take tabular data, and you’ll actually be able to hear a sonified version of that data. They’ve used the Graphics Accelerator to take COVID-19 data and come up with something they’ve called “COVID-19 by the Numbers.”
So if you want to experiment with this, the best thing to do is to go to your favorite search engine, search for SAS Disability Support Center, and from there you’ll be able to see all things accessible at SAS, and in particular find out about COVID-19 by the Numbers. To keep up with all things Freedom Scientific, we have our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, and of course our blog: blog.freedomscientific.com.
Signing Off on FSCast 182
GLEN: That’s going to pretty much do it for this month’s edition of FSCast. I’m Glen Gordon. We’ll see you next month.
Transcript by elaine@edigitaltranscription.com
edigitaltranscription.com • 03/31/2020 • edigitaltranscription.mobi
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Home » General » The World’s Biggest Diamonds
The World’s Biggest Diamonds
by Nadine Vermeulen | posted in: General | 0
The world’s biggest diamonds.
Diamonds dates back billions of years, and tells a tale of beauty, wealth and spirit. The word ‘Diamond’ originated from the Greek word ‘adamas’, which means unconquerable or unbreakable. For thousands of years diamonds have stood for far more than just a beautiful sparkly gem.
The Pharaohs believed that diamonds represented the sun (a symbol of power, courage and truth). In Ancient India it symbolized clarity and invincibility. Ancient Greeks believed diamonds to be the tears of the gods. In the middle ages it was believed that the diamond was a miracle stone, having exceptional healing abilities. In Europe, 322BC, diamonds were reserved only for Kings as it stood for strength, courage and invincibility and by the 1600 – 1750 diamonds symbolised ultimate prosperity and wealth among woman and men.
The tale of the modern diamond market really begins with the discovery of diamonds in Kimberly round about 1866. South Africa plays one of the most important roles in the history of diamonds as 65% of all diamonds were mined in SA and some of the world’s most famous diamonds have been discovered in SA.
Here are 8 of the world’s biggest diamonds ever to be discovered:
Sergio (3,167 carats)
The Sergio is the largest carbonado (black) diamond ever found. It is also the largest rough diamond ever found. This very rare diamond was discovered in the state of Bahia in Brazil in 1895. Carbonado is the toughest form of natural diamond which is an impure form of polycrystalline diamond consisting of diamond, graphite, and amorphous carbon. Like many other carbonado diamonds, it’s believed to be of a meteoritic origin. The diamond was discovered by Sérgio Borges de Carvalho. The diamond was broken up into smaller 3-6 carat pieces as industrial diamond drills.
Cullinan Diamond (3,106.75 carats)
The Cullinan Diamond was discovered by Sir Thomas Cullinan in 1905. This largest gem quality rough diamond which was ever found was discovered in the Premier No. 2 mine in Cullinan, South Africa. The Cullinan was placed on sale in London in April 1905 and despite a large amount of interest stayed unsold after 2 years. The Transvaal Colony government bought the Cullinan in 1907 and presented the diamond to King Edward VII on his 66th Birthday. The Cullinan was cut into various sizes such as Cullinan I (also known as the Great Star of Africa) and is the largest clear cut diamond in the world and is mounted in the head of the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross. Cullinan II is the second-largest (also known as the Second Star of Africa) and is mounted in the Imperial State Crown. Both these diamonds form part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II privately owns 7 other major diamonds which was cut from the Cullinan. These diamonds she inherited from her grandmother, Queen Mary in 1953.
Excelsior Diamond (955.20 carats)
This diamond was known as the largest gem-quality diamond in the world from the time it was discovered on 30 June 1893 until 1905 when the Cullinan Diamond was discovered. The Excelsior diamond was discovered at Jagersfontein Mine, South Africa, in a shovelful of gravel that was being loaded into a truck by a worker. The diamond was unsold for many years before the owners of the diamond made the decision to cut the stone in the several smaller stones, which meant that it would never be a single large spectacular stone. The diamond was of a blue-white tint colour.
Star of Sierra Leone (968.9 carats)
With the discovery of this Diamond in the Diminco alluvial mines in the Koidu area of Sierra Leone on 14 February 1972, it was ranked the fourth largest diamond found. This diamond was also ranked as the largest Alluvial diamond ever to be discovered, which is the term used to describe diamonds which has been removed from the primary source (the kimberlite pipe) by natural erosive action over an extended period of time and finally deposited into a new environment such as a river bed. The diamond was cut into an emerald shaped stone, but was re-cut at a later stage due to an internal flaw. This resulted in 17 separate diamonds of which 13 were deemed to be flawless.
The Incomparable Diamond (890 carats)
Discovery of this Diamond was near MIBA Diamond Mine, Democratic Republic of the Congo and was found in a pile of rubble from mine dumps by a young girl in 1984. The rubble was considered to be too bulky to contain any diamonds and therefor had been discarded. The young girl gave the diamond to her uncle, who then sold it to a diamond dealer. Once the diamond was transported to Belgian, it took years of master craftsmen to cut this diamond into a gorgeous yellow-brown diamond.
Millennium Star (777 carats)
This near to perfect diamond was discovered in the Mbuji-Mayi district of Zaire in 1990 and is currently owned by De Beers Company. This pear-shaped stone is stunningly flawless internally and externally and is known to be the second largest top-colour rating diamond in the world. This diamond is one of the most beautiful diamonds in the world, and experts have declared it to be priceless.
The Woyie River Diamond (770 carats)
This beautiful diamond was discovered in Koidu, Sierra Leone in 1945 and at the time was the largest alluvial diamond ever to be found. The rough diamond was brought to London in 1947 where it was viewed by Queen Mary and later exhibited in 1949 at the British Industries Fair.
The Golden Jubilee (755 Carats)
This gorgeous yellow-brown coloured gem was discovered in South Africa in 1985 and was first known as the “Unnamed Brown” due to its colour. The diamond remained unknown to the outside world until 1990 and required 2 years work to bring this beauty to its current state. The diamond was purchased by a group of Thai business people led by Henry Ho in 1995. It was arranged for the diamond to be given as a gift from the people to King Bhumibol to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the King’s accent to the throne. It was received on his behalf in 2000 by his daughter, Princess Matia Chari Sirindhom and is now on display in the Royal Museum at Pimammek Golden Temple Throne Hall in Bangkok as part of the crown jewels.
As one of the world’s most precious substances, diamonds have been greatly desired across the globe for countless ages. They are changeless and astonishingly durable. The powerful symbolism they embody only adds to their tremendous worth.
Diamonds don’t get old, they only become more valuable.
That’s why they perfectly represent love, power, and the majesty & mystery of the universe.
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About Nadine Vermeulen
I started working at Leads 2 Business in October 2014 in the Leads 2 Quotes Department. I managed all the Daily Tender Bill Requests and followed up on BoQ's for our Daily Tender Subscribers. In 2017, I was promoted to L2Q Assistant and now work with Bill of Quantities for Contractors. 🙂
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How Countries Can Diversify Their Exports
Four economy-wide factors—governance, education, infrastructure, and trade policy—relate closely to more varied and complex exports across countries.
China and Africa: Will the Honeymoon Continue?
IMFBlog2019-03-27T13:04:17-04:00December 21, 2015|
By Wenjie Chen and Roger Nord
(Versions in عربي, 中文, Français, Português, and Español)
China’s President Xi Jinping’s recent pledge of US$60 billion in financial support over the next three years illustrates the depth of the partnership between China and Africa.
However, China’s shift from an investment-heavy, export led growth strategy to an economic model that relies more on domestic consumption has led to a dramatic decline in commodity prices. Lower commodity prices and lower volumes of trade have hit sub-Saharan Africa’s commodity exporters hard. But over the medium term, this shift may offer sub-Saharan African countries the opportunity to diversify their economies away from natural resources, and create jobs for their young populations, provided they pursue the right policies to foster competitiveness and integrate into global value chains.
How Low-Income Countries Can Diversify and Grow
By Chris Papageorgiou, Lisa Kolovich, and Sean Nolan
(Version in Español)
Low-income countries have spent a lot of time thinking about how they can achieve faster growth, and we have done some research to help them. We found that pursuing export diversification is a gateway to higher growth for these economies. Using a newly constructed diversification toolkit, our empirical analysis shows that both the range and quality of the goods a country produces has a direct impact on growth
Country trends
Low-income countries have historically depended on a narrow range of primary products and few export markets for the bulk of their export earnings.
But export diversification is associated with higher per capita incomes, lower output volatility, and higher economic stability—relationships that can be tracked using our new publically available dataset, which gives researchers and policymakers access to measures of export diversification and product quality for 178 countries from 1962-2010.
We have looked at two measures of export diversification and their impact on economic growth. One measure captures diversification into new product lines, the other development of a more balanced mix of existing products. Analysis using these measures shows that export diversification in low-income […]
U.S. Housing and Labor Pains—Central America and the Caribbean Feeling the Pinch Too
IMFBlog2017-04-15T14:16:00-04:00November 11, 2011|
If housing and labor market woes aren’t bad enough in the United States, they’re hurting Central America and the Caribbean too. It has been five years since the U.S. housing bubble burst and three years since the onset of the global financial crisis. And still, in the world’s largest economy—which in the past quickly and vigorously recovered from downturns—jobs and output are barely growing. In fact, output is just 1.6 percent higher than a year ago, and almost 14 million people remain unemployed. True, some of this lackluster economic performance reflects global factors, particularly the uncertainty surrounding the lingering European crisis, but also temporary factors related to the Japanese earthquake. However, on the domestic front, fragile household balance sheets and stubbornly high unemployment have been major factors impeding growth. This latter development is having negative spillovers on many Central American and Caribbean countries, where remittances and tourism flows from workers in the United States are important for their economies (see our most recent Regional Economic Outlook for Western Hemisphere).
Latin America’s Commodity Dependence: What if the Boom Turns to Bust?
As a commodity exporting region, Latin America has greatly benefited from the commodity price boom of the past decade. But with talk of a new global recession, what will happen to the region if the boom turns to bust? The IMF’s October 2011 Regional Economic Outlook: Western Hemisphere sheds light on Latin America’s reliance on commodities from a historical perspective. Our study also looks at the effect of a sharp decline in commodity prices on emerging market economies and on the policies that could shield countries from that shock.
Africa’s New Janus-Like Trade Posture
IMFBlog2017-04-15T14:16:21-04:00October 30, 2011|
It wasn’t all that long ago when virtually all of sub-Saharan Africa’s exports were destined for Europe and North America. But the winds of Africa’s trade have shifted over the past decade. There has been a massive reorientation towards other developing countries, in particular China and India. Like Janus, the Roman god, Africa’s trade is now, as it were, facing both east and west. Our latest Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa looks closely at these developments and its policy implications. In addition to the well-known gains from international trade, Africa’s trade reorientation is also beneficial because it has broadened the region’s export base and linked Africa more strongly to rapidly growing parts of the global economy. These changes will help reduce the volatility of exports and improve prospects for robust economic growth in Africa.
India: Linked or De-linked from the Global Economy?
With economic growth expected to continue at a reasonably good clip this year and next, it’s all too easy to think there’s not much to worry about. Even as Diwali celebrations begin across India, the outlook for the world economy is fairly uneven and uncertain. More worrisome than the subdued global growth outlook, risks are building up especially in Europe—and these include an extreme scenario with financial disruption. Although India’s economy has generally been less prone to external forces than many others, we still need to contend with the larger than typical risks in the global economy. These risks harken the need for a new wave of reforms. What does the more somber darker global outlook mean for India? And exactly what policies are needed?
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alexblog
"The Russian colossus…has been underestimated by us…whenever a dozen divisions are destroyed the Russians replace them with another dozen." General Franz Halder – German Army Chief of Staff – August 1941
Posted on September 10, 2018 by alexrl97
Russian Avant-Garde was a large wave of modern art that directly clashed with the state sponsored form of Socialist Realism. Beginning in the late 1800’s in Imperial Russia, the broader Avant-Garde topic included smaller movements such as Suprematism, Constructivism, and Russian Futurism The movement reached its peak popularity during the Russian revolutions of 1917 and 1932. Many of the most popular artists emerged from the Ukraine area.
Futurism was an artistic movement that followed the principals of the “Manifesto of Futurism” which emphasized modernism and a rejection of the past. Prominent themes in these artworks included industry, machinery, violence, and youth.
The piece Revolution, (1917) is by David Burliuk who is also the co-author of A Slap in the Face of Public Taste which is said to be the start of the Russian Futurism movement. Burluik grew up in the Ukraine and trained at the Royal Academy in Munich. It is said the two things most important in Burluik’s life were his wife and his country. His focus was in art, architecture, and poetry, he was also involved in many art groups.
This piece is interesting because it features different shapes and textures. I believe the metal objects speak to the modernization and industry themes of the Russian Futurist movement. The title Revolution most likely has something to do with the figures at the bottom trying to kill each other.
Exhibition Futurism and After: David Burliuk, 1882-1967 The Ukrainian Museum in New York, USA. October 31, 2008 – April 26, 2009
David Burliuk. Russian Art in America. New York, 1928.
2 Replies to “Russian Avant-Garde”
A. Nelson says:
I love the mixed media of that Burliuk piece you focused on. He really mixes the ordinary (metal nuts) with the artistic (paint) to express a new kind of perspective on the revolutionary future. Check back, though — the Socialist Realism is not a thing before the revolution. Maybe talk about how the Futurists opposed and made fun of the traditional aesthetics of the Realists?
I find it super interesting that a lot of the artists that emerged from within this wave of art came from Ukraine. I feel a trend could be possible of artists that established themselves in areas under stress
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Hollywood’s tribute to Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis
Victor Brown
Hollywood and the theater community paid tribute to Olympia Dukakis who passed away on Saturday aged 89. The news came from her brother through his Facebook handle. People honored the actress by excessively sharing on social media a video showing her Clairee role. He said, “After many months of...
Fans’ Petition to Keep Johnny Depp in Pirates of Caribbean is nearly 600k signatures powerful
Disney heads will have to perceive the future of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise irrespective of Jack Sparrow, i.e., Johnny Depp, as there is no choice left. However, fans of the Fantastic Beasts’ actor don’t feel so and wouldn’t want to enter the studio without Johnny as a...
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BuzzyUSA
All The Buzz Without The Fuzz
Video Game Careers are Awesome! Here’s Why
Many students are turning their love for playing video games into a career. The professionalism of developing video games comes with enjoyable work environments and good salaries. If you’re serious about gaming but not sure how to make it anything more than a hobby, we’ve compiled some need to know information to get started.
Videogames Tester Degrees Online
Game Tester Jobs
Video Game Tester Jobs
Video Game Tester Jobs at Home
However, game development is a challenging process. This is why students in the United States need to be familiar with the specialization and diversification of creating video games. Moreover, the degrees of creating games are positioned around the stages of production. This makes the development a mixture of several disciplines, including graphic design, mathematics, software engineering, and programming.
1) Career Opportunities
Some of the career opportunities in the games industry include:
Game designing is a wide field. It entails graphic designing, creative writing, and computer programming or science. The role of a game designer varies, but the primary responsibility of this expert is to create and design games.
Game Developing
Game development refers to the science and art of creating video games. The process of game development starts from generating an idea to writing game codes. It also involves the steps of fixing and finding all bugs before games are launched for people to play.
Game Testing
Game testing refers to the process of testing software. Its primary function is the documentation and discovery of software bugs or defects. As video games become complicated, the field of game testing requires what is called quality assurance. Basically, quality assurance[ii] is essential when it comes to game testing.
However, the process becomes nearly impossible because the industry lacks a standard technique. This is why game testers come up with their own methodologies to carry out the testing process.
Game programming involves the writing of codes, which bring a computer or video game to life. Initially, programmers used to focus on the development or designing of a game. Now, game programmers work hand in hand with producers as well as other departments to translate the vision of projects into a playable game.
2) Salaries
Working in the gaming industry earns as follows for each above-mentioned career;
A game designer may get a salary ranging from $40,000 to $60,000, but this depends on the tenure level. However, the most earning designer in Washington, DC, goes home with around $70,000.
The salaries depend on the type of game developer[iii]. Basically, there are three types of game development; they include:
– Entry-level game developer – This specialist earns around $5,000 per month.
– Junior game developer – Earns approximately 7,000 per month.
– Senior game developer – This expert parts with 10,000 per month.
The average earning for game testing in the US is around $13 per hour. The salary estimate is based on the average earnings from game testing users and employees. However, the salaries may range from $25,000 to $59,500.
An entry-level for game programmer with an experience of less than one year should expect an average salary of $52,414. This includes overtime pay, bonus, and tips. However, an expert with more experience can part with a salary ranging from $64,593 to $85,000.
3) Education
To venture into various careers in the gaming industry, you must take the following courses;
Education: Game Design
A typical student can study the game design degree for a period of between 18 to 24 months. Though this will depend on the academic and schedule plan of students. Graduating does not guarantee you a job immediately. This is why you need to go for an internship to gain experience of one year or so.
Education: Game Developing
Game developers have a degree in computer engineering, computer science, or game designing. Scholars who enrol in the course take around four years in schools. However, you can still enrol in a virtual program to study in the comfort of your home. Securing a position in this field will require you to have some experience. Hence, it may be necessary to consider an apprenticeship[iv] with one of the reputable designing companies.
Studying a game testing degree takes around four years. However, some colleges may provide students with different accelerated options, which may be completed within three years. Some of these options include online programs. Thus, students can study anytime they want. Getting a job depends on the requirements of various organizations.
Hence, most of the companies expect candidates to have experience of two years or more. Though some firms may need you to have experience in specific courses, such as:
– Unreal Engine 4
– 3D applications
A degree in game programming offers in-depth knowledge and skills of engine development, graphic elements, and computer languages. You can study this course online, and for you to acquire a job, you will need to be experienced with fields, such as multimedia development, artificial intelligence, web, and scripting. Hence, experienced programmers have an added advantage of getting a job in a game programming company.
Indeed, Game Creation is Lucrative!
Students who are looking for a field with many job opportunities and high starting wages should consider video game development. Careers in the above fields are many, and their advantages are indeed impressive. Therefore, game development, programming, designing, and testing will always remain to be rewarding fields in the United States.
[i] “Careers In Video Game Development In The US”. 2020. International Student.
[ii] “Game Testing”. 2020. En.Wikipedia.Org.
[iii] “Guide To Video Game Developer Salary: Explore The Numbers”. 2020. Bitdegree Tutorials.
[iv] Garden, Home, HowStuffWorks, Tech, Electronics, Gear, and Development. 2020. “How Becoming A Video Game Designer Works”. Howstuffworks.
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We the People!
Public Policy and Ideas
Category Archives: Rafael Correa
Lenin Moreno´s Referendum: the Chronicle of a Political Crisis Foretold?
“Constitutional questions are first and foremost not questions of right but of power” (Ferdinand Lassalle)
“…But what is left of democracy?” (Wendy Brown)
After ten years of political stability and one of the broadest social reform agendas implemented in its history under President Rafael Correa government, Ecuadorian people voted in a historic referendum, which will have an enormous impact on the country´s institutional and social future. Thanks to President Correa´s, the quality of Ecuadorian democracy was strengthened in areas of equity between 2007 and 2017; the rate of poverty dropped from 37.6% to 22.5% and according to the Gini index the rate of inequality dropped from 0,54 to 0,47.
During the Correa administration, there existed a strong political will to recover and rebuild the State from the ashes of the neoliberalism era and to foster a more participatory democracy.
After Lenin Moreno, once the former Vice President of Correa became elected in April 2017, the political spectrum turned to the right as President Moreno started to descorreizar the country. To “descorreizar” Ecuador, President Moreno launched his referendum initiative arguing that his reasons were mainly to fight against corruption in State institutions and to reactivate the economy, so then he initiated an entire reform of “control” institutions.
It is difficult to define what descorreizar the country means precisely. This has been a term used by those political forces against former President Correa to says is aimed to dismantling the institutional arrangement created by the Constitution of 2008, which is associated solely with President Correa´s style of government. Moreover, President Moreno has begun to dismantle the economy and social policies implemented by former President Correa´s coalition, which are focused on inclusion and redistribution of wealth and social resources. In addition, it has been claimed that corruption was widespread during the Correa administration because all the power had concentrated in his hands.
The referendum issued by President Moreno consisted of seven questions in total, including one a presidential reelection ban, one on the elimination of the Plusvalia Act, and one on a substantial reform of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (“CPSC”).
The Government received a positive response to seven questions of 60% while 36 % of electors voted “No” on the three questions mentioned in the previous paragraph. Currently, the new referendum policies are being executed diligently by the different state actors with the full support of mass-media as well as and traditional political forces of all political spectrums and the elites.
In spite of the positive “public opinion” regarding President Moreno´s proposed changes, reforming the CPSC which Montecristi´s Constitution consider as the “holy grail” of the new accountability and “check and balance” system, is simply a means for President Moreno to gain full control of the State power, at which point he can become the leader of an authoritarian regime.
The reform of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control and its Transition
The government´s reason for the proposed amendment to the Constitution is that the Council for CPSC needs to be reform because the former Council has not fulfilled its mandate. The proposal indicates that, through the amendment, new council members will be elected by the people thereby increasing the legitimacy of this branch of government.
In the meantime, the Council has to be replaced by a transition Council in which members are nominated entirely by the executive and designated by the Assembly and will have the complete authority to replace the control authorities over a period of six months -Ombudsperson, Public Defender, National Prosecutor, Comptroller, Electoral Council, Electoral Court.
The CPSC was an innovation in terms to give citizens’ voice an institutional channel to increase the participatory democracy and as a different way to design the accountability and check and balances mechanisms (1). In this sense, the Ecuadorian Constitution reflects Bolivarian constitutionalism, in which Simon Bolivar suggested such a social contract was necessary as it as the necessity to create and develop a moral power in the society capable of promoted and cultivated cultural transparency sense among citizens. Bolivar believed that our Republics had to promote the common good through its political arrangements: “let us give our Republic a four branch of government aimed to educate the kids and the people hearts, the public spirit, the customs and the republican moral.” (2)
Under the Constitution, the CPSC has to fulfill three crucial functions: promote the participatory democracy mechanism; promote the transparency and social control among common people; enable a process in which the control authorities, electoral branch, and judicial council are selected on merits and citizens base on approval mechanisms.
When this “transition” mechanism was criticized, President Moreno simply replied in an interview “The Ecuadorian people know I am not a liar. So I ask them to have faith in me”. However, one of the citizen´s main concerns has been was how this situation might represent a threat to horizontal accountability mechanisms, as the executive branch will directly nominate the new transition Council members.
The new Council members have now been chosen, and the Council for the transition has started its work. In contrast to the former Council where there was greater diversity, the new Council is composed of six males as well as only one indigenous male and just one female.
As mentioned above, this Transition Council will have the authority to evaluate current control authorities and to designate new ones. Hence, one of the main concerns of this proposal is, as there is a link between the members’ designation and the Government, the new control may not be able to fulfill their duties independently and ethically. Ironically, this was one of the main criticisms of the Council during President Correa´s administration– its attachment to the executive.
With that said, the second part of reform could eventually be beneficial in terms of democratic participation. One of the positive aspects of the government’s proposal is that new Council members should be elected every four years through popular vote. The success of the reform will depend on its implementation, and on how political actors, citizens, and social organizations will respond to it. This new election mechanism could potentially give more legitimization to the Council and give citizens the opportunity to citizens to engage and learn more about the new participatory framework. However, one of the risks associated with the electoral mechanism could be how to ensure that not only the powerful and elite can have a seat on the Council.
It is important to stress that the CPSC was designed as kind of “holy grail” in the 10-year-old Ecuadorian constitutional system, and served independently to ensure checks and balances were maintained. Today, it is difficult to envision a scenario where Ecuadorian political parties -starting with the Moreno government will not be tempted to seize greater power for their own benefit. Ecuadorian political history shows a pattern where political actors were not respectful of their power limitations and tried to reshape other branches of government to serve their agendas. If that pattern repeats itself once again, the “medicine” proposed to deal with the “politicization problem” of this Council is likely to be worse than the alleged illness.
The new transition Council has started its functions facing severe challenges. The first problem has revolved around the extension of its current power. Here, public and scholarly opinions are divided. Some people argue that because this is a “transition” time, the transition Council must have extraordinary powers. Other sectors say the Council must fulfill what people voted for in the Referendum, and there is no signal of people will give the transition Council extraordinary powers.
Indeed, the Council members – except for one its members- currently stated they have extraordinary powers, and they have started to evaluate even the Constitutional Court, launching a warning to the highest tribunal that if the Court does not accept the CPSC ´s evaluation, members of the Constitutional Court will be replaced. However, the Constitution states that the CPSC does not have the power to replace members of the Constitutional Court. Similarly, when the CPSC fired the Ombudsperson after his show of opposition, the Council designated a new Ombudsperson without any public input as was required on the Referendum.
Despite this constitutional debate, the Council President -an old guard conservative politician- says that because of this “transition” time, he has “extraordinary” powers, even if the Constitutional norms do not support his thesis, the CPSC norms will prevail. This constitutional interpretation is completely arbitrary and even was opposed by one of the council members. What the new Council president is saying is that the CPSC could be above Constitutional order and the Rule of Law, and could start to exercise its power in an authoritarian manner.
The bypass of horizontal accountability mechanisms and some procedural problems associated with this Referendum initiative
Despite the Presidential constitutional faculty to announce a Referendum this particular initiative of President Moreno spurred a controversial debate regarding its constitutional legitimacy because the Constitutional Court – a crucial institution of horizontal accountability– was bypassed and not allowed to exercise control over the whole process (3).
Generally, Referendums are a way to engage citizens in Direct Democracy logic and are used to achieve different goals, sometimes to vote on sensitive issues, however, bypassing institutional checks and balances through executive powers can be problematic. Referendums initiatives should be designed as a way to strengthen citizens´ voice and power (4).
One of the problems associated with Referendums that scholars have detected is that complex political topics may be reduced to yes and no questions, as in the recent Ecuadorian Referendum case. In addition, the government and its new political allies were afraid of President Correa´s influence during the campaign, so they did not spend adequate time promoting a serious debate in order to engage citizens. Moreover, the way questions were framed in the Referendum was misleading, which shows a lack of fair play.
The OAS electoral mission prepared a report highlighting the lack of constitutional control over this Referendum initiative: “if this referendum initiative would have a constitutional control before many of the challenges would have been avoided”.
Chronicle of a Political Crisis Foretold?
Was the Referendum really meant to strengthen either the participatory democracy and social transparency mechanisms in Ecuador, or was mainly used as a legitimization strategy to boost government power and its allies in pursuit of their political agendas and interests? It is too early to determine these answers with 100 percent accuracy.
At this moment, it is a fact that President Moreno´s Government, the new Council, the mass-media, the elites and the new majority at the Assembly are working aggressively to fulfill the plan to “descorreizar” the country. We could observe how Moreno and his allies have designed and are implementing a sophisticated strategy to fulfill the main objective, where there is no difference between the discourse of the Government´s secretary of communication and the editorials or interview show across mass-media. Private mass-medias want to get rid of the Communication Act or any democratic regulation over their power so they will support the Government agenda wholeheartedly.
As part of this plan, the governing coalition hasn´t had any problems challenging the Constitution or the democratic norms. Indeed, in one short year, we have observed how a democratic elected vice-president was “guillotined” under a clear case of “Lawfare”, the President of the Parliament was also replaced in an illegal way; the Ombudsperson was fired after asking the CPSC to respect the due process of law. Lastly, the comtropller started a legal persecution against President Correa for his sovereign policies surrounding the external debt.
This kind of Blitzkrieg (“Guerra relámpago”) strategy against Rafael Correa´s social and democratic legacy seems to be working at the perfection until now. However, the Council could face its biggest proof when it challenges the Constitutional Court.
As pointed out before, if the transition Council assumes the extraordinary power to evaluate and reorganize the Constitutional Court, this could lead to an intense power struggle (“Choque de trenes”) between the two institutions. At this moment, the Constitutional Court has to decide when to give in Council ´s power or to rescue the Constitutional order from an authoritarian path that Moreno and his coalition started to walk. We could observe two possible scenarios here:
Scenario one: the Constitutional Court decides to exercise its full control and take an ex-post constitutional control. Here the goal would be aimed at assessing whether the whole Referendum was or not Constitutional or just issue a decision limiting the power of the transition Council. The first situation could lead to a the political crisis because the actions of the Government and its allies may be declared unconstitutional. In this casem we could enter into a very uncertain political arena. If the second action were taken, the Council will see limitations to its power and seriously affected President Moreno agenda.
Scenario two: The Council decides to use its “extraordinary” attributions to end the mandate of the Constitutional Court, and to start designating new members directly. This move has the full support of President Moreno who has indicate in tv message connection he will support every decision taken by the Council. However, from a constitutional point of view, this would represent one of the worst breakdown of the Rule of Law in Ecuadorian history. In this case, from a legal point of view only an emergency mechanism review by the Interamerican Human Rights Court could save Ecuadorian from the authoritarian regime.
At the parliamentary level, Moreno has lost his early political allies since he decided to break with his electoral constituents and shift toward the support of right-wing parties. This is also problematic in terms of the stability of his government. Because of the new alliance with the right-wing parties, Moreno has to make serious concessions in his governmental plan, the one which won the elections. In other words, this represents another constitutional infraction, which could open the door to a possible “recall” during the second year of his mandate.
We have observed in Ecuador a very catastrophic political scenario over the past year, which leads to the question: Are we facing the chronicle of a political crisis foretold? Everyone who knows the Ecuadorian political history and the way our elites and right-wing forces operate can agree with Gabriel García Marquez “There Had Never Been a (Political Crisis) More Foretold”.
(1) New Institutions for Participatory Democracy in Latin America: Voice and Consequence. Cameron, Maxwell.
(2) Angostura Speech. Bolivar, Simon.
(3) Mauricio Guim & Augusto Verduga, Ecuador’s “Unstoppable” Constitutional Referendum, Int’l J. Const. L. Blog, Dec. 16, 2017, at: http://www.iconnectblog.com/2017/12/ecuadors- unstoppable-constitutional-referendum
(4) The Rise of Referendums: Elite Strategy or Populist Weapon?, Topaloff, Journal Of Democracy.
Posted in Direct Democracy, Ecuador, Latin America, Lenin Moreno, Rafael Correa, Referendum | Leave a comment
GP2 “Towards Equitable and Sustainable Integrated Water Resource Management policies in Peru”– Reflection paper 1
Ecuadorian Youth Employment Plan: An examination Through The Policy Cycle Framework
Interview with Professor Maxwell Cameron: Latin America as a region for democratic innovation.
The Entrepreneurial State Book Analysis
Living Good
Right to Water
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Tag Archive | "Lincoln Hospital"
Bronx acupuncture center for addiction fighting to survive
Posted on 15 October 2019. Tags: acupuncture, drug addiction, Lincoln Hospital, Mott Haven, New York, nyc health and hospitals, South Bronx
In a dimly lit room at Lincoln Recovery Center in the South Bronx one September morning, six middle-aged men were sound asleep, five needles poking out each of their ears. Meditation music played from a 1990s cassette recorder.
This was acupuncture therapy, the first on the center’s agenda every weekday at the East 142nd drug treatment location. Next comes group therapy and reiki sessions.
Nearly a decade ago this center was a thriving community service hub and a crucial therapeutic refuge for those afflicted by rampaging heroin addiction in the South Bronx.
But two weeks ago, a dozen chairs in the acupuncture room remained empty. Apart from the occasional banter between patients, the waiting room was eerily quiet throughout the day.
“The center used to be more community-based,” said Angela Torres, the clinic’s supervisor and senior addiction counselor. She has been working for the program for 24 years. “We tried to keep it in the community, but there have been more regulations from the hospital.”
Lincoln Recovery Center began as a grassroots organization, developing into a core neighborhood service treating drug addiction with experimental holistic methods. But, the treatment center has since disappeared from the heart of the community, and its patient census continues to decline.
In December 2011, Lincoln Hospital administrators relocated the center from a four-story building on East 140th Street, to the basement of the Segundo Ruiz Treatment Center half a mile away. Since then, the center has seen fewer patients every year. This current August, clinicians had 21 patients, less than a quarter of its monthly average of approximately 120 before the move.
Yet, opioid overdose rates have been increasing over the last decade, particularly in the South Bronx, which has become the epicenter of a growing supply of prescription opioid drugs.
In 2018, the borough had the highest rate of overdose rates in New York City. Nearly 400 residents died, up 9% from the previous year, according to a recent report by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Mott Haven-Hunts Point had the second highest rates in the borough.
Lincoln Recovery Center was established as part of a community activism in the 1970s to combat an epidemic of drug addiction in the area. At the time, the New York Times reported 20,000 drug addicts were roaming the streets of the South Bronx. The activist and militant groups of the Young Lords and the Black Panthers made headlines by marching into Lincoln hospital and taking over the sixth floor to implement a drug program that became known as “Lincoln Detox.”
“The detoxification program came out of desperation because the healthcare was substandard and there were no drug programs to help addicts in the Bronx,” said Carlos Alvarez, who started working for the program when it began.
Activists began treating patients with holistic practices and methadone, a synthetic opioid receptor that is prominently used today in medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms. Concerned about the addictive nature of methadone, counselors began to experiment with acupuncture after hearing about the work of Dr. H.L Wen in Hong Kong, who found that acupuncture combined with electrical stimulation could relieve opioid withdrawal signs in addicts.
Conflicts between the program and hospital administration resulted in the unit being shut down in 1978 by city hospital officials from NYC Health and Hospitals, led by then-Mayor Ed Koch. It was then relocated to an abandoned 21,000 square-foot building on East 140th Street, which the corporation bought for one dollar.
A patient receiving the standard NADA protocol at Lincoln Recovery
Acupuncture became the center’s main treatment method, pioneered by Dr. Michael Smith, founder of the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA). The association set the protocol known as “acudetox,” a non-verbal therapy approach, often set in a group setting that involves the gentle placement of five small, sterilized, disposable needles into specific sites in the ear.
The acupuncture association estimates that approximately 25,000 people have since been trained in this method worldwide, which continues to expand as a modality within addiction and behavioral health treatment, including prisons, military medicine and disaster relief.
Nancy Smalls began working from the program in 1973.“It was like a big family affair, it was wonderful,” she said. The center had a game room, a big backyard and would run weekly activities and trips. “We had clients coming out of the woodwork. The acupuncture had to be doing something.”
Smalls also launched the Maternal Substance Abuse program as part of the centre’s services in 1987. “No one was handling the drug treatment of women,” she said. “We found out that acupuncture worked even better for pregnant women who were withdrawing. It removed the want to get high.”
Studies on the science behind acupuncture remain varied and often inconclusive.
“Acupuncture can be helpful to any type of withdrawal, simply because it calms the sympathetic nervous system related to the fight or flight response,” said Pooja Shah, doctor of integrative and family medicine and a licensed acupuncturist. “It’s hard to research the effects, because there is a lot of variability that can change the outcome, such as the group dynamics and the relationship between the patient and the practitioner.”
A 2012 systematic review concluded that after 35 years of research by both Asian and Western scientists, the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of opiate addiction had not been established. A 2017 study on NADA protocol states that is not a standalone intervention as a treatment for substance abuse.
Research into acupuncture’s mechanisms is currently being conducted in Brigham Young University. “Right now it can only be used as an adjunct therapy, but it has potential,” said Scott Steffensen, professor of cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. “If you activate certain receptors in the body without using drugs, you can modify the whole nervous system in a way that it could be used to reverse the craving associated with opioid withdrawal.”
The relocation of the Lincoln Recovery Center in 2011 came as a shock to the local community and former employees. The building has been abandoned since then but is still under the ownership of NYC Health and Hospitals.
“They said the rent was too high,” said Angela Torres. “We could all have chipped in to pay a dollar.”
After the women’s program was closed down in 2013, Nancy Smalls retired. “Everybody we serviced, we made a difference in their lives,” she said. “I just don’t understand why they are not using that building. The city did a huge disservice to the population when they got rid of Dr. Smith.”
Numerous attempts to reach the communications department at Lincoln Hospital in person and by phone were unsuccessful.
Currently, 22 recovery services across New York offer acupuncture, according to the 2019 National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Facilities. Lincoln Recovery Center is the only facility listed in the Bronx.
The unveiling of the mural at September 7 event
Activist group South Bronx Unite has since been campaigning for the hospital agency to hand the building over to the local community. On September 7, plans were showcased to transform it into a H.E.A.R.T (Health, Education and the Arts) Center to house local non-profit organizations and a mural was unveiled on the side of the building.
The Lincoln Recovery Center has changed from a community hub to a more structured medical service.
“It used to give people somewhere to be, it had a homey kind of atmosphere,” said Dorine Seabrook. “Now it’s much more appointment driven, we are required to people in and out of treatment faster.”
Patients at the Lincoln Recovery Center are now referred by the Consult for Addiction and Care Team in Hospitals team (CATCH) at Lincoln hospital, the courts, or by the city’s Human Resources Administration.
Dr. Mark Sinclair is Medical Director of the CATCH program and the Lincoln Recovery Center. “We try to encourage patients who need treatment to go there,” he said. “The services at the Lincoln Recovery are great but they need to be more integrated here in Lincoln Hospital with the other patient’s healthcare needs.”
Patients are referred depending on their needs, either using the center as their sole service or on top of their methadone program.
But employees cite the location as the main reason for the lack of patients and their frustration with the administration.
“Our biggest problem is that the program is a mile away from Lincoln hospital,” said Program Director Christina Laboy. “I have pushed to set up a transportation service. People don’t end up coming here.”
“We need exposure,” said Serge Ernandez, the licensed acupuncturist at the center. “No one knows we exist here anymore.”
Posted in Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Community Resources, Featured, Health, Mental Health, south bronx, Southern BronxComments (0)
Morris Heights double shooting leaves 20-year-old dead, NY1
Posted on 25 September 2011. Tags: cedar avenue, john vasquez, Lincoln Hospital, Morris Heights, sedgwick avenue, shooting
Police responded to a 911 call just before 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning in Morris Heights, finding 20-year-old John Vasquez and a 56-year-old with gunshot wounds, reports NY1. Vasquez was pronounced dead. The 56-year-old, as yet unidentified, is in stable condition at Lincoln Hospital.
The shooting occurred at the intersection of Cedar and Sedgwick Avenues. Police are investigating.
Posted in NewswireComments (0)
16-year-old fatally shot in the Bronx, reported by the New York Post
Posted on 17 September 2011. Tags: Bronx, candlelight vigil, Jose Webster, Lincoln Hospital, shooting, youth
Thursday night a young Bronx man was walking his girlfriend home when he was fatally shot. The New York Post, on September 16, reported that Jose Webster, age 16, was walking down Teller Avenue when two men approached him and picked a fight. The fight resulted in a shot to Webster’s chest. Webster’s girlfriend, Aniik Wallace, crouched over his body and begged him to stay with her, witnesses said. Webster died at Lincoln hospital. His mother and Wallace are planning a candlelight vigil for Webster this Sunday at the basketball court on Webster Avenue at 169th Street in the Bronx.
Community in Disbelief After 9-month-old Baby’s Brutal Death
Posted on 30 March 2010. Tags: 9-month-old baby, Baby death, Eno Alfred, Eric Jackson, Jennifer Brito, Lincoln Hospital, Neveah Jackson
The parents of murdered nine-month-old Neveah Jackson are being questioned by police. (Courtesy of NY Daily News)
The familiar sounds of 9-month-old Neveah Jackson playing and making noise in apartment 6B at 521 E. 145th St. in the Bronx could not be heard on Monday afternoon. Her father, Eric Jackson, who had been unable to contain his excitement when he found out he would be a dad, was completely out of sight. Neveah’s 19-year-old mother, Jennifer Brito, who was often seen by neighbors dropping her wide-eyed baby with curly dark brown hair and caramel skin at Jackson’s apartment did not bump into anyone on her way back to her nearby home.
The weekend’s events had changed these three lives forever.
The police responded on Saturday to Neveah Jackson’s Mott Haven home to a call just after 11p.m. of a baby not breathing. After traveling to the sixth-floor flat, they found Neveah unconscious.
Neveah was evacuated by emergency medical services and rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She died of skull fractures and brain injuries, medical examiners determined Sunday.
According to the Daily News, Neveah’s father, who hasn’t been charged, told investigators that he had been downloading music on his computer with his daughter on his lap moments before the accident. When he leaned forward, he said, she fell and hit her head on a desk.
Neveah’s family is skeptical about Jackson’s story. On Monday, Jackson’s aunt Darlene, who declined to give her last name, spoke to The Bronx Ink while walking to the apartment Jackson shares with his mother. Darlene was on her way to visit her sister, Jackson’s mother, for the first time since finding out through Channel 12 on television that Neveah had been beaten to death.
“If she fell that wouldn’t have killed her,” Darlene said. “Someone must have bashed her head.”
A medical examiner ruled Neveah’s death homicide.
Darlene who lives in the building next to Jackson, last saw Neveah the day of her death. She desperately wanted to know what had happened.
But no one at the apartment answered Darlene’s frantic knocking Monday afternoon. She stood teary eyed before walking over to the neighbor’s door and knocking.
Joey Cappas, 26, has lived in Jackson’s building at number 6A for the last six years. He doubted that Neveah died the way her father said she did but did not think the man his nephews liked so much was capable of hurting his own daughter.
“I’m surprised what happened — it has to be an accident,” Cappas said standing by his door after opening it for Darlene. “He used to spoil her and would carry her around a lot. He never would be abusive – never.”
Neveah’s father was used to looking after children. Cappas said Jackson had worked for a few years in a company that recruits young people to work with handicapped children. When Jackson stopped working there, he collected unemployment benefits, which helped pay for all the food Cappas recalled that Neveah loved to eat.
Investigators from the 40th Precinct questioned both parents but Neveah’s mother Brito was eventually released.
The investigation continues.
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Bill Order » Executive Department
Executive Department
42 Administrative and Support Services $1,900,998 $1,901,741
43 Historic and Commemorative Attraction Management $427,856 $427,856
44 Executive Discretion $50,000 $50,000
45 Disaster Planning and Operations sum sufficient
46 Administrative and Support Services $336,262 $336,520
Attorney General and Department of Law
47 Legal Advice $19,960,536 $19,877,907
48 Medical Assistance Services (Medicaid) $1,186,521 $1,196,990
49 Regulation of Business Practices $2,162,508 $2,162,561
50 Language Only
Division of Debt Collection $952,780 $953,457
51 Collection Services $952,780 $953,457
52 Central Records Retention Services $1,473,918 $1,476,271
Virginia Liaison Office
53 Governmental Affairs Services $345,288 $345,513
Interstate Organization Contributions
Office of Administration
Secretary of Administration
Charitable Gaming Commission
Commission on Local Government
Commonwealth Competition Council
59 Management Analysis Services $322,700 $322,958
Compensation Board
$528,555,150 $522,848,795
61 Crime Detection, Investigation, and Apprehension $336,529,478 $336,437,701
63 Pre-Trial, Trial, and Appellate Processes $42,745,419 $42,746,806
64 Financial Assistance for Confinement in Local Facilities $46,861,938
65 Financial Assistance to Localities-General $5,238,059
66 Revenue Administration Services $24,417,878 $24,660,573
67 Tax Value Assistance to Localities $18,040,934 $18,041,540
Council on Human Rights
68 Personnel Management Services $385,440 $386,107
Department of Employee Relations Counselors
Department of Employment Dispute Resolution
69 Personnel Management Services $1,598,339 $1,607,411
Department of General Services
73 Laboratory Services $13,402,021 $13,392,599
74 Physical Plant Acquisition and Construction $2,672,666 $2,674,726
75 Procurement Services $5,766,763 $5,557,349
76 Physical Plant Maintenance and Operation $5,536,932 $5,537,340
77 Printing and Reproduction sum sufficient
78 Warehousing and Distribution Services sum sufficient
79 Property Disposal Services sum sufficient
82 Investment, Trust, and Insurance Services $519,251 $523,279
Department for the Rights of Virginians with Disabilities
83 Social Services Research, Planning, and Coordination $691,411 $688,762
84 Protective Services $938,739 $938,233
85 Individual Care Services $199,575 $199,265
87 Continuing Income Assistance Services $3,328,025 $2,995,993
State Board of Elections
88 Electoral Services $12,373,388 $10,294,016
Virginia Public Broadcasting Board
$8,893,916 $11,398,916
89 Financial Assistance for Cultural and Artistic Affairs $5,210,866 $7,715,866
90 Financial Assistance for Public Education (Categorical) $3,683,050 $3,683,050
Virginia Veterans Care Center Board of Trustees
91 State Health Services $189,151 $189,265
Office of Commerce and Trade
Secretary of Commerce and Trade
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
94 Nutritional Services $1,985,225 $1,985,621
95 Agricultural and Seafood Product Promotion and Development Services $5,050,988 $5,051,747
96 Animal and Poultry Disease and Pest Control $4,713,914 $4,716,865
97 Commerce and Agricultural Markets Development and Improvement $8,778,723 $8,782,906
98 Plant Pest and Disease Control $3,770,670 $3,772,246
99 Consumer Affairs Clearinghouse Services $1,580,966 $1,581,872
100 Regulation of Business Practices $2,156,386 $2,157,947
101 Regulation of Food $6,165,475 $6,169,676
102 Regulation of Products $5,100,204 $5,119,842
Department of Business Assistance
103 Industrial Development Services $22,485,137 $22,306,635
Department of Forestry
104 Forest Land Management $25,256,878 $24,867,737
105 Administrative and Support Services $2,042,602 $2,051,111
106 Housing Assistance Services $41,862,898 $41,706,411
107 Economic Development Research, Planning, and Coordination $63,427,674
108 Industrial Development Services $1,985,000 $2,200,000
109 Regulation of Structure Safety $3,342,331 $3,343,948
Department of Labor and Industry
111 Industrial Development Services $765,157 $765,753
112 Regulation of Business Practices $896,056 $896,767
113 Regulation of Individual Safety $6,274,348 $6,287,718
114 Regulation of Structure Safety $465,540 $465,860
Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy
116 Land Management $13,969,869 $13,975,153
117 Minerals Management $4,689,565 $4,692,391
118 Resource Management Research, Planning, and Coordination $2,842,421 $3,317,742
Department of Minority Business Enterprise
Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
121 Regulation of Professions and Occupations $10,482,620 $10,482,618
Milk Commission
122 Commerce and Agricultural Markets Development and Improvement $739,725 $740,200
Virginia Agricultural Council
123 Agricultural and Seafood Product Promotion and Development Services $340,334 $340,334
Virginia Economic Development Partnership
125 Employment Assistance Services $404,518,899 $403,485,442
127 Language Only
Virginia Racing Commission
129 Regulation of Horse Racing and Pari-Mutuel Betting $1,944,382 $1,944,872
Virginia Tourism Authority
130 Tourist Promotion $21,008,141 $20,036,356
131 Administrative and Support Services $879,257
Department of Education, Central Office Operations
132 Administrative and Support Services $29,765,367 $29,822,137
133 State Education Services $40,849,318
134 Adult Literacy Services $83,695 $83,761
135 Nutritional Services $1,281,586 $1,284,195
136 Employment Assistance Services $1,093,243 $1,093,454
137 Regulation of Professions and Occupations $2,024,483
138 Regulation of Public Facilities and Services $145,806 $145,873
139 Ground Transportation Regulation $302,869 $302,968
Comprehensive Services for At-Risk Youth and Families
Direct Aid to Public Education $4,356,759,418
$4,296,841,347 $4,453,239,569
141 Financial Assistance for Public Education (Categorical) $328,487,728
142 Financial Assistance for Public School Employee Benefits $270,771,900
143 Financial Assistance for Public Education (Standards of Quality) $2,505,765,296
144 Financial Assistance for Special State Revenue Sharing $1,093,984,538
145 Adult Literacy Services $7,655,000 $7,705,000
146 Instruction $11,093,206 $11,549,289
147 Nutritional Services $130,801,750 $130,801,750
Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Hampton
Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton $6,988,386 $6,995,499
157 Instruction $2,987,027 $2,988,803
Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton $6,797,382 $6,817,151
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
160 Higher Education Student Financial Assistance $47,524,935 $50,140,888
161 Financial Assistance for Educational and General Services $9,145,517 $8,790,167
162 Higher Education Academic, Fiscal, and Facility Planning and Coordination $8,657,037 $9,003,040
163 Higher Education Federal Programs Coordination $1,250,000 $1,250,000
164 Financial Assistance for Health Research $800,000 $800,000
165 Educational and General Programs $33,271,581 $33,660,173
166 Higher Education Student Financial Assistance $1,937,857 $1,888,697
168 Higher Education Auxiliary Enterprises $11,847,214 $11,847,214
The College of William and Mary in Virginia
Richard Bland College $7,645,931 $7,735,488
173 Educational and General Programs $6,818,005 $6,907,562
174 Higher Education Student Financial Assistance $192,816 $192,816
175 Financial Assistance for Educational and General Services $35,110 $35,110
176 Higher Education Auxiliary Enterprises $600,000 $600,000
Virginia Institute of Marine Science $30,577,166 $30,947,325
178 Financial Assistance for Educational and General Services $12,163,987 $12,163,987
179 Educational and General Programs $186,154,825 $193,858,921
Longwood College
193 Financial Assistance for Educational and General Services $785,224 $785,224
Melchers-Monroe Memorials $683,738 $684,027
195 Museum and Cultural Services $390,584 $390,800
196 Historic and Commemorative Attraction Management $293,154 $293,227
Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center
212 Financial Assistance for Educational and General Services $175,470,136 $184,242,136
University of Virginia Medical Center $515,912,113 $529,651,129
214 Administrative and Support Services $161,489,298 $162,350,511
215 State Health Services $354,422,815 $367,300,618
University of Virginia's College at Wise $19,758,245 $19,955,936
221 Higher Education Auxiliary Enterprises $4,511,376 $4,511,376
225 State Health Services $52,414,676 $55,214,676
Virginia Community College System
227 Educational and General Programs $430,095,468
Virginia Military Institute
237 Unique Military Activities $5,026,353 $5,092,853
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
242 Higher Education Auxiliary Enterprises $111,560,070 $116,067,247
Virginia Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station $77,670,524 $78,390,683
Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Research Services $5,587,111 $5,590,666
Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia
249 Museum and Cultural Services $2,229,174 $2,230,218
Gunston Hall
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
251 Museum and Cultural Services $11,225,599 $10,925,044
254 Archives Management $6,401,782 $6,420,475
255 Statewide Library Services $7,187,297 $9,027,988
256 Financial Assistance for Cultural and Artistic Affairs $21,240,201 $21,240,201
The Science Museum of Virginia
Virginia Commission for the Arts
258 Financial Assistance for Cultural and Artistic Affairs $4,711,457 $4,911,457
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Medical College of Hampton Roads
Roanoke Higher Education Authority
263 Administrative and Support Services $662,500 $662,500
Southeastern Universities Research Association, Incorporated
Virginia College Building Authority
Secretary of Finance
Department of Accounts
268 Financial Systems Development and Management $2,162,507 $2,164,085
269 Financial Assistance to Localities-General $72,480,280
270 Revenue Stabilization Fund $103,345,741 $163,053,477
271 Virginia Education Loan Authority Reserve Fund $2,044,778 $2,044,778
272 Accounting Services $4,052,077 $4,054,908
273 Line of Duty $475,000 $475,000
274 Service Center Administration $471,407 $471,721
Department of Planning and Budget
278 Planning, Budgeting, and Evaluation Services $6,663,235 $5,672,698
Department of Taxation
281 Revenue Administration Services $46,090,008 $45,687,658
282 Tax Value Assistance to Localities $1,164,569 $1,165,169
283 Public/Private Partnership $29,335,000 $32,508,400
Department of the State Internal Auditor
285 Planning, Budgeting, and Evaluation Services $759,141 $760,155
286 Investment, Trust, and Insurance Services $6,906,683 $6,909,533
287 Revenue Administration Services $8,479,007 $8,487,777
Treasury Board
289 Financial Assistance for Confinement in Local Facilities $3,631,097 $3,630,367
290 Industrial Development Services $2,189,277
291 Bond and Loan Retirement and Redemption $244,004,037
Office of Health and Human Resources
Secretary of Health and Human Resources
$999,036 $1,007,166
293 Administrative and Support Services $999,036 $1,007,166
293.10 Protective Services $154,586,836
Department for the Aging
295 Individual Care Services $19,795,942 $19,856,442
296 Nutritional Services $13,476,451 $13,501,451
Department for the Deaf and Hard-Of-Hearing
298 Social Services Research, Planning, and Coordination $1,605,496 $1,605,905
301 Emergency Medical Services $12,381,055 $12,382,163
302 Medical Examiner and Anatomical Services $5,805,139 $5,843,722
303 Vital Records and Health Statistics $4,489,075 $4,491,272
304 Communicable and Chronic Disease Prevention and Control $48,227,284 $48,244,396
305 Health Research, Planning, and Coordination $2,661,496 $2,662,209
306 Special Health Improvement and Demonstration Services $7,334,134
308 Community Health Services $165,417,674 $165,479,680
310 Environmental Resources Management $34,945,977 $34,650,342
313 Regulation of Public Facilities and Services $6,825,300 $6,878,593
Department of Health Professions
314 Higher Education Student Financial Assistance $65,000 $65,000
316 Administrative and Support Services $83,072,842
317 Pre-Trial, Trial, and Appellate Processes $7,370,091 $7,370,091
318 Virginia Children's Medical Security Insurance Plan $65,256,915
319 Medical Assistance Services (Medicaid) $2,870,084,601
320 Indigent Health Care Trust Fund $12,000,000 $12,000,000
321 Continuing Income Assistance Services $1,583,027
322 Medical Assistance Services (Non-Medicaid) $14,300,044 $14,306,044
Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services
325 Community Health Services $23,549,123 $23,551,894
326 Financial Assistance for Individual and Family Services $16,061,871 $16,061,871
328 Personnel Management Services $559,248 $559,248
Grants to Localities $225,457,669 $226,257,669
329 Financial Assistance for Health Services $225,457,669 $226,257,669
Catawba Hospital $16,840,004 $16,850,928
Central State Hospital $49,133,813 $49,162,133
333 Instruction $18,540 $18,540
334 Secure Confinement $17,184,294 $17,190,186
Central Virginia Training Center $68,624,279 $68,670,146
DeJarnette Center $7,616,532 $7,620,988
341 State Health Services $6,313,376 $6,316,823
Eastern State Hospital $63,034,457 $63,077,393
343 Instruction $141,203 $141,203
Hiram W. Davis Medical Center $15,228,797 $15,566,078
Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute $26,195,547 $26,210,217
Northern Virginia Training Center $27,276,953 $27,295,860
Piedmont Geriatric Hospital $17,545,030 $17,555,625
Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute $9,178,610 $9,184,801
Southside Virginia Training Center $60,097,924 $60,137,329
Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute $26,591,639 $26,608,911
360 Instruction $5,000 $5,000
Southeastern Virginia Training Center $17,126,791 $17,137,936
Southwestern Virginia Training Center $16,398,602 $16,409,950
Western State Hospital $46,962,099 $46,991,005
371 Vending Facilities, Snack Bars, and Cafeterias $205,202 $205,323
Department of Rehabilitative Services
374 Rehabilitation Assistance Services $80,156,467 $79,772,448
375 Continuing Income Assistance Services $21,251,162 $21,261,436
Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center $24,944,449 $24,958,341
Department of Social Services
380 State Administration for Standards of Living Services $40,114,932
381 Temporary Income Supplement Services $131,001,753
382 Protective Services $75,134,131
383 Financial Assistance to Local Welfare/Social Service Boards for Administration of Benefit Programs $132,757,698 $132,757,698
384 Continuing Income Assistance Services $21,993,024
385 Employment Assistance Services $72,303,684 $71,268,684
386 Child Support Enforcement Services $448,732,923 $491,262,432
387 Financial Assistance for Individual and Family Services $236,795,207 $234,708,870
388 Regulation of Public Facilities and Services $10,762,291 $10,589,341
Governor's Employment and Training Department
Virginia Board for People with Disabilities
393 Social Services Research, Planning, and Coordination $462,533 $462,982
394 Financial Assistance for Individual and Family Services $1,215,258 $1,215,258
Virginia Department for the Visually Handicapped
Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired
397 Financial Assistance for Public Education (Categorical) $509,328 $509,328
398 State Education Services $515,469 $515,940
399 State Administration for Standards of Living Services $1,979,489 $1,981,403
400 Rehabilitation Assistance Services $7,824,960 $7,829,151
402 Rehabilitative Industries $6,353,308 $6,353,308
Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind
Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Vision Impaired $1,934,345 $1,935,407
Office of Natural Resources
Secretary of Natural Resources
Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department
406 Land Management $2,626,318 $2,628,411
Chippokes Plantation Farm Foundation
409 Land Management $34,748,930
410 Leisure and Recreation Services $36,179,996 $30,717,848
Department of Environmental Quality
413 Environmental Research and Planning $4,084,864 $3,081,806
414 Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation $8,959,261 $8,917,218
415 Environmental Technical and Financial Assistance $64,249,468 $42,070,440
416 Environmental Policy and Program Development $1,150,273 $1,150,790
417 Environmental Information, Education, and Assistance $1,812,800 $1,813,367
418 Environmental Response and Remediation $23,476,734 $23,481,930
Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
420 Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Management $30,689,486 $30,382,690
421 Boating Safety and Regulation $6,451,936 $6,458,408
Department of Historic Resources
424 Historic and Commemorative Attraction Management $2,563,710 $2,568,598
Marine Resources Commission
426 Marine Life Management $11,530,603 $11,320,417
427 Coastal Lands Management $938,519 $923,519
428 Tourist Promotion $205,000 $205,000
Virginia Museum of Natural History
Office of Public Safety
Secretary of Public Safety
Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council
431 Adjudication Training, Education, and Standards $639,510 $622,145
432 Crime Detection, Investigation, and Apprehension $12,970,567 $12,985,586
433 Alcoholic Beverage Merchandising $252,642,422 $252,517,794
434 State Lottery Operations $7,009,283 $7,009,283
Department of Correctional Education
436 Instruction $46,976,286
Department of Corrections, Central Activities
438 Criminal Justice Training, Education, and Standards $3,343,913 $3,346,147
439 Confinement and Custody Research, Planning, and Coordination $973,888 $974,511
Division of Community Corrections $90,734,047 $93,725,587
443 Community-Based Custody $7,677,496 $7,837,687
444 Probation and Reentry Services $58,056,338 $60,815,111
446 Financial Assistance for Confinement in Local Facilities $33,619 $0
Division of Institutions $661,242,730 $663,626,631
451 Community-Based Custody $410,751 $411,050
452 Secure Confinement $398,432,980 $400,212,484
453 Classification Services $7,069,328 $7,074,544
454 Corrections Special Reserve Fund $2,236,500 $0
455 Agribusiness $5,624,262 $5,627,224
Virginia Correctional Enterprises $33,457,821 $33,463,569
458 Rehabilitative Industries $33,457,821 $33,463,569
Department of Criminal Justice Services
460 Criminal Justice Information Systems and Statistics $560,644 $560,644
463 Criminal Justice Research, Planning, and Coordination $293,787 $293,787
464 Asset Forfeiture and Seizure Fund Management and Financial Assistance Program $2,202,709 $2,202,709
465 Financial Assistance for Administration of Justice Services $65,312,070
466 Regulation of Professions and Occupations $1,347,402 $1,347,402
467 Financial Assistance to Localities-General $176,697,829
Department of Emergency Services
Department of Emergency Management
469 Disaster Planning and Operations $12,944,103 $7,846,658
Department of Fire Programs
471 Financial Assistance to Localities-General $10,431,175 $10,431,175
472 Fire Services Assistance $2,900,768 $2,901,823
475 Crime Deterrence $2,194,370 $2,018,732
476 Community-Based Custody $14,993,500 $15,194,387
478 Confinement and Custody Research, Planning, and Coordination $11,949 $11,949
479 Financial Assistance for Confinement in Local Facilities $74,359,211 $54,552,282
483 Protective Services $2,220,000 $2,220,000
Department of Military Affairs
487 Defense Preparedness $18,089,431
488 Disaster Planning and Operations sum sufficient
489 Auxiliary Enterprise for National Guard Operations $186,206 $186,206
Department of State Police
491 Criminal Justice Information Systems and Statistics $31,387,034 $26,207,350
493 Crime Detection, Investigation, and Apprehension $146,778,118 $146,846,345
494 Ground Transportation System Safety $15,063,112 $15,082,301
Virginia Parole Board
497 Probation and Reentry Services $861,759 $862,263
Office of Technology
Secretary of Technology
499 Administrative and Support Services $0 $0
500 Automated Data Processing Services sum sufficient
501 Telecommunications Services sum sufficient
Department of Technology Planning
502 Information Systems Management and Direction $2,593,495 $3,924,555
502.10 Emergency Communication Systems Management and Direction $0 $35,500,000
Innovative Technology Authority
503 Economic Development Research, Planning, and Coordination $0 $1,000,000
Virginia Information Providers Network Authority
Office of Transportation
Secretary of Transportation
Department of Aviation
508 Air Transportation Regulation and Safety $89,990 $90,026
509 Air Transportation System Maintenance and Operation $2,171,091 $2,171,631
510 Air Transportation System Planning $1,389,505 $1,390,046
511 Airport Assistance $18,022,265 $18,725,765
513 Land Management $450,000 $450,000
514 Ground Transportation Regulation $105,912,700 $105,964,705
515 Ground Transportation System Safety $6,313,479 $6,314,541
Department of Rail and Public Transportation
518 Mass Transit Assistance $126,452,415 $124,878,115
519 Rail Assistance $4,075,000 $4,075,000
523 Ground Transportation Regulation $8,438,100 $8,765,500
524 Ground Transportation System Planning and Research $20,759,647 $21,218,314
525 Highway System Acquisition and Construction $1,608,354,038
526 Highway System Maintenance $821,362,500 $847,939,000
528 Toll Facility Operations $51,923,500 $53,402,100
529 Financial Assistance to Localities for Ground Transportation $215,604,500 $222,097,500
532 Transportation Pool Services sum sufficient
Motor Vehicle Dealer Board
Virginia Port Authority
537 Commerce and Agricultural Markets Development and Improvement $8,426,511 $8,428,504
538 Port and Port Facility Management $36,534,411 $37,748,666
539 Water Transportation System Planning $586,978 $588,760
Central Appropriations
$729,308,054 $1,028,578,042
541 Reversion Clearing Account - Miscellaneous -$2,056,436
-$59,029,791 -$94,534,917
-$111,799,321
542 Legal Defense $50,000 $50,000
543 Personnel Management Services $82,940,427 $79,353,835
544 Revenue Administration Services sum sufficient
545 Financial Assistance From Tobacco Settlement $77,335,967
546 Personal Property Tax Relief Program $572,392,514
547 Compensation Supplements (State) $9,660,286
-$21,133,377 $44,227,851
548 Economic Contingency $40,500,000
549 Deferred Compensation Match $14,240,628
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Exploring Synergistic Solutions for Sustainable Development 2018
Proposal: ClimeDoc to achieve SDGs
ClimeDoc to achieve SDGs by Climate Advocacy International
A documentary on impacts of climate change significantly contributes promotion of appropriate actions to achieve SDGs in developing nations
Manang, popularly known as a district behind the Himalaya, is rich with natural as well as cultural heritage. Anyone once reached there are lured by its enthralling beauty, spectacular views of the Himalayas in 360 Degree direction, cultural diversity and welcoming people. Impacts of the climate change are evident and people are facing serious consequences, and if prompt action is not taken the nature and the people will be victimized by its devastating effects in future. “A Himalayan Agony” (possible name of the documentary) is the testament to the negative social, economic, environmental and cultural consequences of climate change, people’s movement to adapt and create a resilient society to their road to better livelihood in a Himalayan district of Nepal, and its story is based on the real events and consequences.
Although the documentary's major focus would be in SDG 13, it widely covers the objectives of all SDGs except the goal 14. The experiences people and the nature are facing for long period will be filmed and it would be linked with the impact of climate change and justified by scientific evidences. It is essential to let the concerned parties specially the major emitters and developmental partners know about the devastating problems facing by the local people and its social, cultural and economic impacts. It will highlight the theme that it would be injustice if the innocent people are victimized by the impact of the phenomenon that they have not involved. The impacts of climate change in downstream will be also covered in the documentary. We believe it will significantly help to raise awareness on climate change globally and create more moral pressure on developed countries to act promptly on climate change issues.
Although the concept and action (documentary production and promotion) of this proposal is different with other proposals in previous contests, the theme and objective of the proposal matches with several proposals already participated in the Climate CoLab contests. Some of the proposals that could bring synergy are listed below;
1. DearTomorrow, a promise to the future about climate change
2. What is climate change and what do I have to do with it?
3. Clean cooking solutions and development of a climate change mitigation p...
4.Youth Action for Climate Change Awareness, Education and Research
5. Generations working together: Elders, farmers, children and adaptation
6. Activating people through discovery, engagement & awareness
Scientific evidences show that the temperature of the world is being increased and the main precursor of it, according to scientific findings, is emissions from anthropogenic sources. Melting of glaciers, unexpected change in weather pattern and sea level rise are some visible effects of it. Though Nepal contributes very negligible amount of greenhouse gas emissions, it is one of the most vulnerable country to the impact of climate change. Manang, a district in the Himalayan region, is an evident of the serious impact of climate change.
It is essential to let the concerned parties specially the major emitters and developmental partners know about the devastating problems facing by the local people and its social, cultural and economic impacts. It would be injustice if the innocent people are victimized by the impact of the phenomenon that they have not involved. This documentary will demonstrate the real problems caused by climate change, adaptation strategies adopted by local people, impacts on culture and socio-economy, and responsibility of government, public and private sectors and development partners to improve the livelihood by creating resilient society and mitigate further impact on overall environment and cultural heritage.
The documentary will be filmed by covering the real changes happened in the Himalayan region because of climate change. Snowcapped mountains are gradually converting to bald mountains and area covered with jungle are now being barren land without any vegetation. Several varieties of flora and fauna, birds and animals are being disappeared due to the lack of their food and shelter. Because of change in weather pattern people have experienced decrease in crop production and many crops which could be grown earlier have disappeared now. There were huge animal farms and when time passes animal husbandry became impossible due to lack of grasses and fodders resulted from the water scarcity and change in weather pattern. A ninety-six years old man in a village told a story of his village and his experiences which was really heart-touching. According to him, they used to grow barley, wheat, buckwheat and potato etc. that were sufficient for them to eat year around but now they have to import more than 75% of food stuffs from southern part of Nepal due to drastic decrease of crop production. The mountains which are just in front and behind of his home used to be covered by snow year-around but now he could rarely see snows in those mountain. Earlier they could figure out the day when snowfall starts and when it ends but now it is unpredictable. This year along a significant number of sheep, yaks and chauri were killed in pasture due to unexpected heavy snowfall in late March which is not a snowfall season.
Fig. 1. Yaks and Chauri Cows grazing at 3700m height
Fig. 2. A farmer sowing barley in the Himalayan Region
Another person in another village who is now active for environment conservation told that, in a single mountain range, facing towards his village and a famous Buddhist stupa, there were 108 natural springs, which had religious values too, and almost all of them dried up now. He also explained that the rate of deforestation in the past was high as people used to use about 200 trees to build their traditional homes but the house thus built were abandoned and people were compelled to migrate to other places as their life became harder because of serious consequences of climate change. Not very long but about 3 decades ago people could notice glaciers from Mt. Annapurna flowing up to the Marshyangdi river but it completely disappeared now.
According to the local inhabitant, people could normally figure out weather pattern and follow it to prepare agricultural lands, plant crops, harvest them, moving their animals in pastures in various locations etc. but now they cannot predict it and compelled to face serious consequences of unpredictable climatic shift.
Fig. 3. Local variety of apple which is now almost disappeared due to change in weather
Although people heavily migrated to other places but they have love and affection of their place and culture in their heart so some villagers decided to return to their village to spend their remaining life there and contribute for environment and cultural protection. Environmental activism such as saving trees through awareness, plantation is already initiated. People are reusing the woods of abandoned houses to construct new houses, resorts, museum etc. which not only benefit them personally but also assist on protection of environment as well as promote tourism.
Fig. 4. An example of in environmental activism to save trees
A smart way of adaptation, utilization of walls and floors of abandoned house to create greenhouse for the production of green vegetable, is very noticeable example besides others. Many animals, specially yaks and sheep were died in last few years due to unpredictable snowfall pattern, people now have constructed temporary shed in various parts of pasture lands by expecting that cattle can be saved from unexpected snowfall. To increase the number of animals, they have also started religious movements in which people donate number of animals to Buddhist stupas and they will not be sacrificed hence the number started to increases each year. Earlier there were huge apple farms filled with local variety but they gradually disappeared and people now have started to plant hybrid variety of apple imported from Europe which can grow well in the new environment. People are trying to restore their culture and festivals with the help of old Monks.
Fig. 5. A Himalayan village which is facing devastating consequences of climate change
In summary, the same generation has experienced such extreme weather, social, cultural and environmental changes and trying to adapt accordingly. The documentary will make comparison between environmental, physical, economic, social, cultural conditions of the past and the current and relate it with the pattern of climate change
Who will take these actions and which types of actors are involved?
The documentary would be produced by Climate Advocacy International (CAI) (www.climateadvocacy.org). Climate Advocacy International (CAI) is a youth driven non-profit / non-governmental organization established by a group of experts in various sectors and it is committed to providing both professional and social services to its valued clients, people and societies in need. It is engaged in activities that support, promote and enhance to achieve the sustainable development goals and provide practical solutions to the real world problems, and this in turn increases the sustainability of the nature. The organization mainly advocates and works in various aspects of climate change, clean energy, green growth, eco-innovation, cleaner production, clean water & sanitation, food and forest, environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility, resilient society, social justices, capacity building and knowledge sharing. It is also a platform for empowering youth and women and mainstreaming them in climate change and sustainable development activities. ClimeDoc (filming a documentary on issues related to climate change, energy and environment) is one of its important strategic initiatives and this documentary is a part of it.
CAI will hire filming director, researcher & script writer, cameramen, editor, sound director, director of photography, music composer and story teller, and make an expert group who could produce a world class eye-opening documentary. Mr. Dharma K.C, executive director of the CAI will lead the team of expert.
Where will these actions be taken and how could they scale?
The documentary will be filmed in various parts of the Annapurna Himalayan range in Manang District of Nepal but it will be promoted throughout the World. Some part of the documentary will be filmed in other the Himalayan ranges and downstream to demonstrate the impact of climate change in a wider area and social, cultural activities people are carrying out to mitigate and adapt with the changes.
The documentary will be filmed locally and internationally to raise awareness in all level.
In addition, specify the countries where these actions will be taken.
No country selected
Impact/Benefits:
What impact will these actions have on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and/or adapting to climate change?
As the major objective of the proposal is to film a documentary by capturing devastating consequences of climate change in the Himalayan range and downstream, it is not a direct action on climate change mitigation & adaptation. It rather raises awareness locally and give a message to the world to act promptly against climate change in many developing and least developed countries. We have seen the tremendous impact of a movie "An Inconvenient Truth" produced by the former US Vice President Al Gore. We believe this documentary and similar other documentaries which we will produce in future will bring similar results.
The documentary will show issues on energy consumption, agriculture, farming, cultural activities to protect environment etc. and by watching these, we believe, international communities may start to cooperate with the concerned communities and government and fund actions and policies that could significantly help to reduce GHG emissions and promote adaptation practices.
What are the most innovative aspects and main strengths of this approach?
We aim to produce at least one documentary longer than an hour (about 75 – 90 minutes), and some short documentaries on issues related to technical, economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects of climate change in a calendar year. Bringing the bitter climate reality, action taken to mitigate the harmful impacts and adaptation practices to public via documentaries or films opens eyes of various stakeholders and encourage them to contribute directly or indirectly for the betterment of the situation. ClimeDoc, which literally means climate documentary, is a program of producing climate change related documentary in various regions of the world, which are facing devastating impacts of climate change, through the involvement of various parties and show it to a wider public to disseminate awareness and reality, and also encourage the activities to retard the environmentally unfriendly moves and overcome negative consequences of climate change.
Costs/Challenges:
What are the proposal’s projected costs?
The total expected budget for the documentary production is about USD 65,000. The activities that require the budget are;
A. Pre-production cost
Research and script writing
B. Production cost
Equipment, logistics, allowances
C. Post-production
Voice over/ narration, animations and info graphics and music, archival footage and music, editing and promotion
D. Miscellaneous
Arrangement of documentary production unit:
We have already talked to the experienced people working on documentary filming and production, and also signed the Memorandum of Understanding with most of them. They include; director, script writer, cameramen, editor, sound director, director of photography, music composer and story teller. Purchase agreement of necessary video footage taken for last 15 years is also signed with a journalist who has been working in the region.
Besides, we have captured very useful videos of impact of unexpected snowfall on animal farming and agriculture, cultural programs related to saving nature, interviews with local people who have witnessed and become victims of climate change.
Regarding arrangement of necessary fund, we are talking with some international developmental agencies who are working on climate change and mountain environment. Some international documentary film festivals organizers are also interested on our concept so we believe, we will be able to collect necessary fund. We will also correspond with other related agencies such as National Geographic, Discovery, HBO, Amazon, Netflix and BBC, and will explain about the win-win situation. We have not observed any significant challenge to implement the proposed action rather we will get support from wider communities as well as governments.
To avoid challenge related to marketing and distribution we have already talked to some media and we will promote it through these media (TV, FM radios, print media and online medias). Besides, we will promote it through recently very popular social media such as facebook, twitter, instagram, and youtube. We have also requested some celebrities to assist on promoting our project us for the good causes and there are good responses from them.
Once the documentary is ready we will participate in various international documentary film festivals and we also have a plan to organize an international film documentary film festival in Nepal by inviting concerned organizations, directors, producers and media. To increase awareness in local level, we will work together with local municipalities, village councils and community based organizations and organize several documentary shows locally by inviting local people. Although many local people have already initiated actions on climate change mitigation and adaptation, we believe our project and related campaigns will surely increased such activities and bring positive results locally as well as internationally due to the more actions of international organizations on climate change.
Dharma K.C (Mr.), Founder and Executive Director of Climate Advocacy Internationalwww.climateadvocacy.orgis enjoying working with full of passion in climate change, energy, environment sectors, and development of innovative policies, strategies and plans to support the current and future needs of addressing climate change, energy and environmental issues considering the norms of sustainable development. Graduated in Environmental Engineering (M Sc.) and with about 15 years of experience in various capacity, Mr. K.C has learned a lot about emerging global market of energy and environment, focusing for the last 10 years on global climate markets, RE, green growth, industrial eco-innovation and corporate sustainability development. Besides, as a capacity development specialist, he has already provided more than 250 capacity building training programs, in many developing countries, on several aspects of climate change, GHGs inventory management, RE technology / project development and implementation, safeguards, green industrialization etc. International experiences mainly in Asia and the Pacific and a strong network with governments, development agencies, public and private companies throughout the World are also some of his professional assets that are making him able to achieve the organizational goal through successful implementation of projects.
A particular interest of Mr. K.C is bringing the technical, political, economic and social aspects of climate change, RE and green growth policies together to provide a foundation for sustainable development through public and private partnership. Mr. K.C has received sufficient professional trainings from several international agencies such as World Bank Institute, KEMCO, ENECO Energy, SEQM UK.
Project experiences in: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and some EU member states. He is very familiar with energy and climate policy and technology development in the North America.
Prativa Bastola (Mrs.) has completed Master of Science (Environmental). After completion of her Master Degree, she joined in the Center for Energy Studies, Institute of Engineering, TU as a “Researcher cum Trainer” where she conducted a wide range of researches related to feasibility study of renewable energy projects, climate change, technology transfer for GHG mitigation, environmental impact assessment etc. While working in Ernst and Young, Seoul, Korea she involved in various projects such as; Green Growth in Vietnam, Green Industry Mapping Strategy in Indonesia, and CDM methodology development of real time navigation system in Korea. Besides, she also worked as a researcher in Ecoeye, and involved in due diligence of green brick and biomass energy generation CDM PoAs in Vietnam. Currently, as a Programme Manager - Climate Change and Sustainability, CAI, she is taking care of projects related to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
What enabling environment would be required in order to implement this proposal?
Although some organizations have already produced and promoted films and documentaries related to environment, energy and climate change, we have realized that many people, developmental organizations and governments still consider the films or documentaries are means of entertainment. This has to be changed, and promotion of environmental activities and raising awareness through through various means and media including documentary and film should be included in national energy and climate change policy.
If policy clearly indicates such requirements, we believe, such activities will be promoted exponentially and this in turn facilitate activities on climate change mitigation and adaptation both in local level and national level as well as internationally. Financial, in-kind or policy support from the government is very essential to implement not only this project but also to meet national target of achieving sustainable development goals.
Activities related to filming documentaries on various social, cultural, economic and environmental issues will also assist to develop or transfer innovative technology.
ClimeDoc to achieve SDGs
By: Climate Advocacy International
Contest: Exploring Synergistic Solutions for Sustainable Development 2018
What combinations of Climate CoLab proposals could help achieve multiple Sustainable Development Goals?
DearTomorrow, a promise to the future about climate change
What is climate change and what do I have to do with it?
Clean cooking solutions and development of a climate change mitigation programme
Youth Action for Climate Change Awareness, Education and Research
Generations working together: Elders, farmers, children and adaptation
Activating people through discovery, engagement & awareness
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Al Lucas Memorial Scholarship Fund
The Al Lucas Memorial Scholarship Fund was created in memory of Al Lucas, who passed away from an injury he suffered during a Los Angeles Avengers arena football game. Al was a strong athlete, with a heart of gold, who believed in giving back to the community that supported him over the years, primarily through working with children. Al Lucas exemplified the characteristics of a student-athlete. He excelled on the football field, and in life. The Al Lucas Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to scholar athletes who reflect Al’s ideals and carry on his legacy of excellence.
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Daily Caller: Kochs Won’t Buy LA Times
It appears that the nightmare scenario of two of the country’s most influential newspapers falling under the control of right-wing extremists David and Charles Koch won’t become reality. The Daily Caller today reported that sources are saying the brothers are no longer in negotiations to buy the papers.
Koch Industries will not be buying the Tribune Company’s eight newspapers, which include the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times, The Daily Caller has learned.
Sources with knowledge of the business proceedings told The Daily Caller that Koch Industries, after conducting its due diligence, has not been interested in buying the newspapers for “a couple months.”
If this report turns out to be true, it’s great news for defenders of journalistic integrity. No doubt that the Kochs sought to use the Tribune Co. as a megaphone for their anti-worker, anti-environment agenda. The effect of such an acquisition by the Kochs would have been devastating.
Today’s report comes after labor and progressives waged a spirited campaign in recent months to highlight the dangers of the Kochs taking control of the Times and other media outlets. The California Labor Federation, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, SEIU, the AFL-CIO, the Courage Campaign and others spoke out vigorously against the possible sale, raising important concerns about its implications for a free and democratic press.
While this is certainly a positive development, we’re not out of the woods yet. The Kochs could still have a change of heart. There’s also speculation that other right-wing moguls like Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch may be interested in the Tribune Co. Bottom line is that we must remain vigilant in the coming months to ensure valued journalistic institutions like the LA Times don’t fall into the hands of those who would use them to advance an agenda that harms working people.
UPDATE: A Koch Industries spokesperson confirmed to Politico that the Koch Brothers will not purchase the LA Times. Learn more.
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sicwpadmin
Home/sicwpadmin
About sicwpadmin
So far sicwpadmin has created 164 blog entries.
With over 550 metres tall, CN Tower is a fantastic attraction in Toronto!
Woodbine Beach
Woodbine Beach is Toronto’s largest and most popular beach along Lake Ontario.
An awesome place to play volleyball, barbecue or just relax and enjoy the summertime.
Laser tag Game
A live-action escape room where students always have a blast!!
Blue Jays Game
It’s baseball time at Rogers Centre stadium!
Quest students always have a great time watching a professional baseball , with game the Toronto Blue Jays team.
In addition, it’s an awesome activity filled with laughter, cheering, shouting and fun.
*Fun fact: The name “Blue Jays” comes from a bird found in Canada called “the blue jay.”
Located in Lake Ontario, it is a group of 15 islands connected to each other by pathways and bridges.
Toronto Island is a fantastic place to walk, run, have a picnic, ride a bike and take a lot of pictures enjoying the perfect view.
*Fun fact: Originally, Toronto Island was a peninsula but in the 1850s some storms flooded the peninsula’s sand pits and then permanently separated the peninsula from the mainland, creating the Eastern Gap and the Island that we love nowadays.
Salsa in Toronto Festival
One of the largest salsa festivals happened on St. Clair Avenue on July 7th and 8th!
The Salsa in Toronto Festival is one of the best places to enjoy Latin music, authentic cuisine, art exhibitions, salsa dance
lessons and much more.
About 130 km away from Toronto, Niagara Falls is one of the most recognized waterfalls in the world.
The falls are approximately 12,000 years old and are actually made up of three separate waterfalls: the American falls, the Bridal Veil Falls (named for its resemblance to a bride’s veil) and the largest, the Horseshoe Falls.
*Fun fact: The waters of the Niagara River are used by a combined Canada/United States population of more than 1,000,000 people for a wide range of purposes such as drinking, fishing, recreation and hydro-power generation.
Opened in 1981, Canada’s Wonderland is ranked second in the world by number of roller coasters.
It is considered a must go attraction for anyone who is visiting Toronto. This year, the students had the opportunity to enjoy the new roller coaster: Yukon Strike. A freaking amazing experience over a 90-degree drop and reaching speeds of 130 km/h.
*Fun Fact: In 2017, Canada’s Wonderland was the most visited seasonal amusement park in North America with an estimated 3.76 million visitors.
Royal Ontario Museum
A huge place where spectacular displays of art, culture, and nature are combined.
One of the largest museums in North America, and Canada’s largest museum of World Culture and Natural History.
*Fun fact: ROM was created in 1912 and is Canada’s largest museum of history and world cultures with over six million objects in its collections and galleries.
The icon of Toronto, in 1995, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World
by the American Society of Civil Engineers. (repeats the previous point).
The CN Tower is a communication and observation tower located in Toronto.
The original building was completed in 1976 and held the record for the world’s tallest free-standing
structure for 32 years until 2007.
*Fun fact: In 1995, the CN Tower was classified as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
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RapidIdentity Intros SafeID Feature for Monitoring User Credentials
Report: California Universities Need to Simplify Online Cross-Enrollment
All but one California State University campus offers online courses. (The exception is the Maritime Academy.) By state law, the 23 institutions that make up the CSU system are expected to improve students' access to online coursework and the transparency of available programs. However, according to a new report for the legislature, the system could do a better job of tracking enrollment and outcomes and helping students know what's available online.
In 2009, the state university system set about trying to boost its undergraduate completion rates, which hovered below 50 percent for six-year graduations and below 15 percent for four-year graduations. Among its multiple efforts was promoting the use of online education, which was thought to be more convenient for some students while also minimizing demands on classroom space.
By 2013-2014, however, California lawmakers began showing concern that CSU's online education programs weren't addressing the basics: tracking enrollment or outcomes or helping students understand how they could "cross-enroll" in online courses delivered by other institutions. Those concerns spurred passage of Chapter 363, which had several requirements, such as developing a database of courses across the system, streamlining registration to work across campuses, reporting enrollment and performance, and studying the feasibility of online bachelor's degree completion programs.
The latest analysis reported that during the 2015-2016 academic year, 80,000 undergraduate students (19 percent of the total enrolled) and 6,600 graduate students (12 percent) took at least one fully online course. Those numbers could be much higher, the report suggested, if only students could find the courses they needed. And only a handful of students take advantage of cross-enrollment: "To date very few students have enrolled in online courses at other CSU campuses — an average of just two full-time equivalent students per campus in fall 2015," reported Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor in his write-up.
On top of that, Taylor wrote, the CSU campuses use "various [learning management system] platforms," making schoolwork more complex for students who want to cross-enroll. Even when students do cross-enroll, the Chancellor's Office doesn't track how well the courses were completed or the types of credits that were received.
The report offered several recommendations for the institutions:
Revamp the online course database to make it "more student-friendly";
Settle on a common learning management system to simplify course participation by cross-enrolled students;
Bump up enrollment and performance data collection, so lawmakers can review the outcome of cross-enrollment and track which campuses are doing the most effective jobs; and
Deepen their efforts to use the online programs to reach and serve "former students who started college but never earned a bachelor's degree."
If these changes are made, the report noted, student access to online courses would be improved, and the system would gain "cost efficiencies and more transparency" for its online efforts.
The report is openly available on the State of California website.
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Battling everyday, casual racism in Canada
October 31st, 2018 Kaitlin Jingco Community, Featured, Living comments
The effects of stereotyping versus outright discrimination
Janice Tinio was having a standard phone conversation with a client when things took an uncomfortable turn.
“I was working on his account when he said to me, ‘Oh, you have an accent. Where are you from? You French?’ … I said, ‘Oh, I’m from Jamaica.’ Then he said, ‘Really? You’re not like regular Jamaicans. You’re smart,’” recalls the Toronto-based technical sales expert.
Tinio was offended by what her client was implying, though she says she’s grown used to hearing these kinds of “dumb comments” as they happen “all the time.”
Henry Huang, who moved to Canada from China as a child, can relate. From what he does for a living to his communication skills, he says, “People just make assumptions about the way I live or the type of person I am.”
Huang, who works at a university in Ontario, remembers one instance in a workshop when he told the administrator that he is a graphic designer, but was still later referred to as an IT employee. He also recalls times when people have asked him to read Japanese or Korean, while knowing that he’s a Chinese Canadian.
“It’s just assumptions and general ignorance,” he says.
Tinio and Huang both say they’ve had many encounters with this casual or everyday racism, which is described by the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) as “the many and sometimes small ways in which racism is experienced by people.”
Other examples include the slight movement away from a person of colour in an elevator and the extra attention paid to a Black customer in a store. According to OHRC, “sometimes it is not even consciously experienced by its perpetrators, but it is immediately and painfully felt by its victims.”
Does intent matter when it comes to racism?
In this era of overt racist confrontations going viral on social media, some may think the everyday type of racism is not that harmful — at least it isn’t meant to be purposefully harmful. After all, doesn’t every community have its assumptions and jokes about other cultures?
Iman Bukhari.
“But, in the end, they all lead to the same thing,” says Iman Bukhari, CEO of the Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation, a Calgary-based non-profit organization that works to mitigate racism through education, technology and the arts.
“Subtle forms of racism really build up and can cause a lot of frustration, depression and anxiety because it keeps coming back to you on a daily basis, and you are constantly reminded of the fact that you’re different than others.”
Bukhari adds that such common assumptions and stereotypes in the mainstream community can lead to policies and practices that negatively impact diverse people.
An example of this, according to the Canadian Labour Congress, is that employers are 40 per cent more likely to interview people with “English-sounding names” among candidates who have equivalent resumés.
“When you apply for a job, if people have these [stereotypical] ideas, it’s not intentional, but they ignore you,” says Goli Rezai-Rashti, a professor at Western University in Ontario whose expertise includes anti-racism, race and education.
In a school setting, Rezai-Rashti says that teachers’ subtle comments to students — like assuming some children are from Canada while asking children of colour where they’re from —can communicate a message that some kids don’t belong.
“It affects children in a dramatic way,” she says. Especially when these experiences of everyday racism start at a young age, it causes people to “function differently in society.”
READ MORE: Dealing with anti-immigrant sentiment
Battling stereotypes
For Huang, he says the stereotypes facing Asians have given him a heightened need to be accomplished in certain areas. Pointing to the assumption that “all Asians should be smart,” he says many feel pressure living up to this ideal, lest people will think there’s something wrong with them.
“We’re working our butts off trying to meet these expectations put on us,” he says. “And we are held more accountable than others for having to accomplish those things.”
In contrast to Asian stereotypes, Tinio says, “The stereotypes about Black people are more along the lines of gangs and drugs and violence. Delinquency.”
Having had false assumptions made about her in the past, she says it has affected how she meets new people. “When you expect that someone’s going to treat you unfairly or unkind, even if it’s in a casual way, I’m going to prepare myself,” she says. “It’s almost like a subconscious protection of yourself and of your feelings.”
With expectations coming from both ends, she says, “It becomes a vicious cycle.”
So, how can this cycle be broken?
While there is no easy solution to this complicated and multifaceted matter, Rezai-Rashti and Bukhari agree with the OHRC that one of the most important strategies is education.
“We have to really engage people more in a reflective kind of thinking,” says Rezai-Rashti. “[Help people] to think about their own ideas and attitudes and how we can change them.”
Some ideas they suggest include: informing people that race and genes do not determine a person’s skills or behaviour; increasing programming about anti-racism and multiculturalism; teaching people to celebrate differences; and encouraging others to look at immigrants in a positive light.
Another way to address everyday racism, and racism in general, is to call it out.
When it comes to everyday racism, Bukhari acknowledges that it can actually be more difficult to address than more overt kinds of racism.
“It’s hard to call out because people might not be aware [they’re doing it],” she says. “It is so subtle, and people may say, ‘Oh, you’re pulling out the race card, you’re getting too sensitive, you’re getting too politically correct.’”
To this end, Bukhari helped create Language De-Coded, an app that lists racist, sexist and other potentially harmful terms that lend to everyday racist language.
Huang’s personal strategy is to be empathetic. He thinks about how society may have groomed someone to have uninformed beliefs, and then he approaches the situation with kindness.
“I think what works for me is just being invitational. I’ll say ‘Here’s some stuff about Chinese culture if you want to know more. I’m always here to talk about it,’” he says. “It’s making yourself available and making it feel welcoming [for people to] want to talk about those things.”
It’s not always easy and requires some patience, but Huang says important changes take time. And he’s optimistic that we’re moving in the right direction in Canada.
Tinio remains hopeful as well, and she looks forward to a time where new people can be looked at with a blank slate, where opinions are formed after people get to know each other, not before.
“Stop forming conclusions in your head because someone eats different types of food or dresses a different way than you do,” she says. “Ignorance blocks us from being able to get to know all the awesome things that we have in common. Let’s take down these barriers, take down these walls and get to know people.”
casual racism
everyday racism
racism in Canada
stereotyping
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Kaitlin Jingco is a contributing writer with Canadian Immigrant. You can reach her at kaitlinjingco@gmail.com.
Tips to maximize your experience as a mentee
Take these six helpful steps to your New Year goals
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Yes in occupation-mentioned
Yes in residence-mentioned
Yes in social-network-recorded
Recorded (1)
Sex, family and generation (1)
Household staff (2)
Residence: ‘Fenny Stratford (now part of Milton Keynes)’, c. 15 September 1599
Old Sir William Andrews [Young Mr William Andrews] (PERSON9144)
Male, b. 1552-04-13-1552-11-20 (est.), d. 1625-12-04
Occupation: ‘Soldier’, c. 16 December 1606
Residences: ‘Lathbury (village)’, c. 12 April 1600, 22 April 1600, 24 April 1600, 25 April 1600, 25 May 1600, 31 May 1600, 13 June 1600, 3 August 1600, 11 November 1600, 19 March 1601, 25 August 1601, 3 April 1602, 7 August 1602, 13 August 1602, 30 January 1603, 29 September 1603, 17 October 1603, 25 January 1606, 15 March 1607, 3 June 1607, 28 May 1610, 23 September 1610, 19 September 1612, 6 August 1616, 7 November 1616, 23 May 1617, 22 March 1618, 4 July 1618, 20 June 1620, 6 November 1621, 24 September 1622, 5 August 1623, 19 March 1624, 7 April 1625 & 10 July 1625; ‘Newport Pagnell (town)’, c. 25 November 1603 & 24 June 1616; ‘Stoke Goldington (village)’, c. 24 May 1610; ‘Tickford End, Newport Pagnell’, c. 2 January 1617; ‘North Crawley (village)’, c. 21 June 1617; ‘Hanslope (village)’, c. 4 March 1621
Mr William Lucas (PERSON13824)
Occupations: ‘Soldier’, c. 16 April 1600; ‘Servant’, c. 17 April 1600
Residences: ‘Wolverton (village)’, c. 15 April 1603, 20 July 1609, 10 December 1628, 16 October 1630, 10 November 1630, 16 November 1630, 9 December 1630, 21 December 1630, 23 December 1630 & 29 December 1630
Mr James Eastland (PERSON48273)
Occupations: ‘Soldier’, c. 2 September 1630; ‘Waiting gentleman’, c. 25 April 1631
Residence: ‘Great Linford (village)’, c. 2 September 1630
Cite this as: Lauren Kassell, Michael Hawkins, Robert Ralley, John Young, Joanne Edge, Janet Yvonne Martin-Portugues, and Natalie Kaoukji (eds.), The casebooks of Simon Forman and Richard Napier, 1596–1634: a digital edition, https://casebooks.lib.cam.ac.uk/search?f5-event-mentioned=No;f8-occupation-mentioned=Yes;f9-occupation=Military%3A%3ASoldier;f10-residence-mentioned=Yes;f13-social-network-recorded=Yes;f14-document-type=Identified%20entity;f15-person-sex=Male, accessed 17 January 2022.
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The Library: the Resources You Need to Succeed
Answers To Your Questions About Campus Technology
Seek Advocacy, Support or Resources through your Dean of Students
Academic Advisement to Keep You on Track
Maximize Your Academic Performance
Need Help With Math?
Improve Your Writing Skills
Supporting The Academic Success Of All Students
Ensuring That All Students Feel Welcome
Is English Your Second Language?
Welcoming Members of Our International Community
Support Your Physical Health
Support Your Mental Health
Helping Athletes Meet Academic Goals
Prepare For Future Success With Career Services
Standardized Testing: Advanced Degree and Certification
Pursue Personal Wellness
Interpretation of the Course Listings
The Library, Museums and Press (the Library) provide access to electronic resources 24 hours a day via library.udel.edu. Library users may visit the hours website or call 302-831-BOOK(2665) for Library hours.
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The University of Delaware Library includes the Hugh M. Morris Library, the main library; the branch libraries in Newark: the Chemistry Library and the Physics Library; and the Marine Studies Library, located in Lewes, Delaware. During the academic year, exhibitions can be viewed in four campus venues: the Special Collections Gallery in Morris Library, Old College Gallery, Mechanical Hall Gallery and the Mineralogical Museum in Penny Hall. All exhibitions and accompanying programs are offered to the UD community and general public without charge.
The University of Delaware Library is a depository library for U.S. government publications; a patent depository for U.S. patents; and a repository for state of Delaware publications.
The Library has an Institutional Repository, “UDSpace,” which uses open source software to capture, store, index, preserve and redistribute the intellectual output of the University of Delaware community in digital form.
The Morris Library provides seating for 1,500+ people in a variety of individual and collaborative spaces, including 30+ reservable group study rooms; graduate carrels, which UD graduate students may reserve; a Graduate Student Research Room; the Multimedia Writing Center, where one may schedule sessions with writing tutors or Oral Communications Fellows; and the group links tables, where students in a group can easily collaborate on digital projects. There is wireless access throughout the public areas, access to electric outlets and 245+ computers, scanners and copiers. Bleecker Street café, which is operated by the UD Dining Services, is located in the Commons just inside the Morris Library entrance.
Special Collections and Museums has a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary collection encompassing books, manuscripts, art, archival materials, minerals and much more. Subject strengths of Special Collections include history, Delawareana, science and technology, art and literature; political papers, family papers and ships’ logs. The Mark Samuels Lasner Collection greatly enhances the collection’s strengths in British Literature of the 19th and early 20th century. American art of the 20th century (especially prints, photographs and work by African American artists), European prints, Inuit art, Pre-Columbian art and minerals are among the strengths of the Museums’ collections.
For information about Special Collections and Museums, please visit: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/ and http://www.udel.edu/museums/.
The Student Multimedia Design Center on the lower level is designed to meet the current and future needs of the large number of classes which involve creation of multimedia projects and presentations as a course requirement. The Center offers the space, computer hardware and software, video production equipment for loan and expertise for all steps of multimedia creation. The Student Multimedia Design Center with its focus on multimedia creation is the largest such facility in an academic research library in the nation.
The University’s commitment to providing a robust technological environment enables students and faculty to pursue academic studies and conduct the business of campus life easily and effectively.
Students communicate with their professors and peers, conduct research, and submit assignments using a wide range of technologies.
General access computing sites and printing kiosks are located conveniently across campus, and UD Wi-Fi reaches into residence halls, academic buildings, student centers, and other places students congregate. All University classrooms are connected to the campus network, which enables faculty and students to use a variety of multimedia and network services and devices during class time. Many faculty use web tools, clickers, social media, automated lecture capture systems, and other technology to enhance their students’ experience and to foster collaborative or problem-based learning.
Central UD Information Technologies provides technology used by everyone at the University (www.it.udel.edu). In addition, many other parts of the University provide specialized technology resources for students. For example, the Student Multimedia Design Center (library.udel.edu/multimedia/) in the Morris Library enables students to create multimedia projects for course work as well as for personal use. Also, the Language Resource Center (http://www1.udel.edu/fllt/LRC/) in Jastak-Burgess Hall provides technology and multimedia resources for learning foreign languages, including free access to Rosetta Stone software.
What do I need to know about computing and other technology at UD?
Everything you need to know about computing, cable TV, Wi-Fi, and other technology is contained in the UD IT 101 pages linked from the IT home page (www.it.udel.edu).
How can I get help for general computing problems?
Step-by-step instructions for installing and using UD-supported technology can be found on IT’s website (www.it.udel.edu). For questions about general problems with computing or other technology, contact the IT Support Center by sending email to consult@udel.edu, texting (302) 722-6820, or calling (302) 831-6000.
What computer should I bring to campus?
You should bring a computer that meets the University’s current minimum system requirements. IT staff can help you decide which computer and technology products are best suited to your needs. Recommended computer configurations are linked from IT’s website (www.it.udel.edu). Feel free to ask questions or schedule a consultation by sending email to consult@udel.edu, texting (302) 722-6820, or calling (302) 831-6000. For your convenience, the University also recommends that you bring a printer to campus.
How do I connect my computer and other devices to the campus network?
On campus, you can connect your computer and other devices to the campus network using either a wired connection or a secure Wi-Fi connection. University students can use the internet to access campus resources from off campus. Instructions for connecting your devices are linked from IT’s website (www.it.udel.edu).
It is often said that if you have a question, concern or problem to solve and you are not sure where to begin, the Office of the Dean of Students is a great place to start. ODS can be reached at 302-831-8939 or via email to deanofstudents@udel.edu. Visit the Student Life, Campus Activities, and Dining section to learn more about how the Office of the Dean of Students advocates for all UD students, provides support and connects you with the resources you may need at UD.
Undergraduate Advisement
Academic advisement is available to all students, and students are strongly encouraged to seek regular advisement by contacting their assigned advisor. Assignment of students to advisors is coordinated by their college or major department. Each students’ academic advisor is listed in UDSIS.
Academic advisors can help students with course selection, choice of major, maintaining progress toward a degree, career goals, and selection of graduate or professional schools. Freshmen are encouraged to consult with an academic advisor to choose courses prior to their registration appointment. Students who have been placed on academic probation are required to consult with an academic advisor prior to selecting courses for the subsequent term. Academic advisors can also provide referrals to support services for students who need help with personal, medical, or other issues. Successful undergraduate students tend to be those who meet with their advisors at least once each semester.
More information can be found on the Academic Advisement page: www.udel.edu/students/.
University Studies Program
The University Studies Program provides academic planning and advisement for students who have not declared a major or are in transition from one major to another. UST students are provided guidance with course selection for each term and eventual choice of major. The UST Program’s professional advisors provide a full range of services to students from the time that they enter the University until the time that they declare a major, when they will be assigned an advisor from within their new program. UST students are expected to declare a major by the end of sophomore year. The website of the University Studies Program includes extensive resources to help University Studies students explore their interests and choose courses appropriate for majors that they may be considering - please see www.ust.udel.edu.
Undergraduate Advisement Tools
Undergraduate students who log into their Student Center in UDSIS have access to advisement tools created to supplement in-person advisement. Students are encouraged to review these tools before meeting with their advisor in order to make the meeting more effective. Although they are not intended to replace in-person advisement, it is also helpful to review these tools before registration. The Degree Audit allows a student to review their degree requirements to see how courses that they’ve enrolled in satisfy those requirements and to see what requirements have not yet been met. The What-If tool is a variation of the Degree Audit that allows a student to see how a change of major or minor would affect their progress, or how a specific course that they haven’t enrolled in yet would fall into their requirements. Additional information on these tools and how to use them can be found on the Registrar’s website: http://www.udel.edu/registrar/course-info-registration/register-for-classes/regtools.html.
Students in the University’s Associate in Arts Program are served by professional advisors who maintain office hours in Newark as well as at the UD Academic Centers in Wilmington, Dover, and Georgetown. The Associate in Arts advisors ensure that students maintain timely progress toward completion of their Associate degree, and also work with them to facilitate their transition to the Newark campus as juniors pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
Students Who Have a Declared Major
Students who have a declared major and are affiliated with a specific college usually seek the assistance of their faculty advisor or the Assistant Dean of their own college, but if in transition, students are welcome to consult with professionals from the University Studies Program for referral to the appropriate office. Advisors in the University Studies Program are happy to assist students who are considering a change of major from one UD college to another and want more information on opportunities available to them.
Graduate Advisement
Graduate students usually work one-to-one with their faculty advisor or thesis/dissertation director. In some departments, the student’s thesis/dissertation committee members may also provide advisement. The graduate student’s advisor is generally agreed upon at the time of admission or soon after.
Advisement for Continuing Education Students
The Division of Professional and Continuing Studies ACCESS Center provides academic advisement, career exploration and assessment, and registration assistance to current and prospective Continuing Education students, as well as members of the community. In-person and telephone appointments may be arranged by calling 302-831-8843. Day and evening appointments are available.
The Office of Academic Enrichment (OAE) offers activities that provide undergraduates with extensive academic assistance through individual and group tutoring, academic success and study skills workshops, and one-on-one academic support including referral assistance, throughout the year. These programs and activities are designed to help students maximize their academic performance while pursuing degree programs.
ACADEMIC SUPPORT: OAE professionals are available to meet individually with students to assess their current academic strategies and to assist in identifying supportive resources at the University of Delaware. In addition, in-person and online study skills/time management workshops are offered to assist students in developing and strengthening college-level strategies for academic success.
TUTORIAL SERVICES: Individual and group tutoring are available in a wide range of subject areas. All tutors have faculty recommendations and are screened by the OAE. In addition to the services mentioned above, the OAE provides a directory of tutors for students who wish to select and pay for their own tutors.
GET AHEAD PROGRAM: An academically intensive five-week program for incoming first-year students admitted to the University who wish to get an early start on their academic careers. The program enables first-year students to become acclimated to campus and to the academic rigors of college by taking seven credits during the summer immediately preceding their first semester at the University. In addition to coursework in math, English, and a one-credit Academic Self-Management course, students participate in a variety of informational meetings (student activities, study abroad, etc.) and personal, social, and recreational activities. Get Ahead takes place during the University’s second summer session (mid-July-mid August).
For more information, please contact the Office of Academic Enrichment, 148-150 South College Ave., Newark, DE 19716, (302) 831-4555 or visit: http://ae.udel.edu
The Math Tutorial Site provides free tutorial assistance and other resources for students of Intermediate Algebra (MATH 010 ), most one hundred level math courses and Calculus (MATH 221 , MATH 241 ). The Tutorial Site provides math problem assistance (limited tutorial assistance in mathematics by qualified undergraduate students, and graduate students). It also has solution manuals to most of the math textbooks of courses mentioned above, and a library of Algebra, Precalculus, and Calculus textbooks. The Tutorial Site is located in 106 Ewing Hall. Students who would like information about private math tutors should contact the Academic Enrichment Center at (302) 831-2805.
The University Writing Center offers individualized writing consultations. Student writers at any level and from any discipline may use the center at no charge. Center tutors are prepared to discuss any aspect of writing. They can help writers decide on topics, how to organize information, revise a draft, document sources or self-edit. In addition, the center offers advice on prewriting strategies, essay exams, documentation styles and thesis or dissertation writing.
The Writing Center is located in 016 Memorial Hall and the Multimedia Center in 017 Morris Library. Students make an appointments by visiting www.english.udel.edu/wc/.
The University is committed to creating an educational community that is intellectually, culturally, and socially diverse, enriched by the contributions and full participation of people from different backgrounds. As part of its strong commitment to support a diverse student population, the University offers a number of programs and services for students in particular fields of study. These programs have been highly successful in supporting the success of students from underrepresented groups and those who face challenging social, economic, educational, or other life circumstances.
The AGCELERATE ENRICHMENT PROGRAM promotes retention, academic success, and career preparedness for students within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Initiated in 2013 through the President’s Diversity Initiative, AGcelerate supports underrepresented students but is open to all undergraduates within the college. Students grow, lead, and succeed through dynamic programming including service learning, leadership development, and career networking both on and off campus. Students also are supported academically through optional group and individual tutoring, skill-building seminars, and connection with campus-wide resources. To foster a sense of community, all AGcelerate participants are paired with a peer mentor within their major and can request additional career-focused faculty mentorship.
For additional information, please contact agcelerate@udel.edu or visit http://ag.udel.edu/agcelerate.
ASPIRE (Academic Support Program Inspiring Renaissance Educators) is housed within the College of Education and Human Development to encourage and support underrepresented students seeking careers in Education and Human Services. The program engages students from six colleges in activities that provide opportunities for academic and professional development. The ASPIRE network of students and alumni is an energized force that is dedicated to the development of effective teachers and leaders for schools and areas of human service in Delaware and beyond.
For additional information, call (302) 831-2396 or visit http://www.aspire.udel.edu/.
NUCLEUS. The NUCLEUS program in the College of Arts and Sciences is an undergraduate academic support services program. The mission of NUCLEUS is to ensure the academic success, retention, and graduation of students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
For additional information, please email nucleus-info@udel.edu or visit http://www.cas.udel.edu/nucleus.
RISE (RESOURCES TO INSURE SUCCESSFUL ENGINEERS) is a comprehensive academic enrichment and support program for students in the College of Engineering. A key component for students of the RISE program is participation in the Get Ahead Program, a summer bridging experience which takes place before the freshman year to provide a transitional period for incoming freshmen through a strictly regimented schedule, mandatory study halls, and tutoring. Throughout their college experience, RISE Program participants receive tutorial assistance, as needed, as well as guidance in time management, academic mentoring, career and professional development workshops, interaction with faculty, student organizational participation, and academic achievement recognition. These services are designed to promote academic and career-related success. For further information, call (302) 831-6315 or visit www.engr.udel.edu/rise.
THE STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAM (SSSP) is a comprehensive support service that combines academic, personal and career counseling, tutoring, cultural enrichment, personal advocacy and mentoring for students who meet program eligibility guidelines. The primary objective of the Student Support Services Program is to equip qualified students with the skills and resources necessary for academic success and, ultimately, college graduation. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. University of Delaware undergraduates with potential to be in the first generation of four-year college graduates in their families, students who come from limited-income backgrounds, or students who have a documented disability are encouraged to apply for the program. See: http://sssp.ae.udel.edu/.
THE UDREAM PROGRAM is a comprehensive academic coaching and support program that is available to all students in the Lerner College of Business and Economics upon request. UDREAM will help “yoU Develop Resources for Excellence in Academic Management”. Students meet with UDREAM advisors frequently throughout each semester to set long-term and short-term goals, manage time more efficiently, develop organizational strategies, enhance study skills, monitor progress in individual classes, receive referrals to connect with other university support services, and access free individual tutoring services (funded through the program if eligibility guidelines have been satisfied).
Students interested in participating in this program should contact the Lerner Undergraduate Advising Office at (302) 831-4369 to schedule an appointment and visit our website: http://www.my.lerner.udel.edu/undergraduate-students/undergraduate-advising/udream-program.
The University of Delaware’s educational mission is to prepare students to live in an increasingly interconnected and diverse world. To do so, we are committed to fostering a robust educational environment that supports critical thinking, free inquiry, and an understanding of diverse views and values. We see diversity as a core value and guiding principle for our educational mission and thus must work to make diversity an integral part of everyday life on campus. To this end, the University is committed to creating an educational community that is intellectually, culturally, and socially diverse, We take diversity to mean both the recognition and appreciation of the different backgrounds, values, and ideas of those who comprise our campus, as well as a commitment to ensuring that all people on our campus are treated according to principles of fairness, civility, dignity, and equity. We are committed to building an educational community that understands people from different backgrounds and economic circumstances, with different needs, and from diverse personal and philosophical beliefs. We want to make all people who are part of the University feel welcome and valued in campus life.
UD’s commitment to diversity is long-standing. Years ago, the UD Faculty Senate adopted a resolution that stated our commitment to treating everyone with respect and dignity. In 2007, President Harker unveiled UD’s Strategic Plan– the Path to Prominence™ - featuring diversity as a guiding principle. The University of Delaware has made significant progress in its commitment to diversity. University of Delaware students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds come to this community and achieve. We are very proud of our accomplishments. We invite you to explore our offices and programs designed to present and celebrate the contributions and perspectives of our diverse community of students, scholars, and employees by visiting www.udel.edu/diversity.
The University Diversity Initiative was established in 2012 to add to the diversity of faculty, students, and staff at the University and to coordinate efforts across campus that are designed to enhance diversity. This office works with the Diversity & Equity Commission to identify the information needed to monitor and guide institutional change. The office is located in 109 Hullihen Hall; for further information, please visit www.udel.edu/diversity.
The Office of Equity & Inclusion (OEI) works to ensure that all members of its community, irrespective of their differences, are understood, respected and valued. OEI develops, promotes, and assesses an equitable, diverse and inclusive working and learning environment. OEI is responsible for:
Managing the non-discrimination policy and compliance to include sexual misconduct/Title IX;
Monitoring affirmative action compliance;
Managing the protection for minors on campus policies;
Supporting university diversity initiatives; and
Providing on-going multicultural education and awareness for the campus community.
The office is located in 305 Hullihen Hall; to learn more about this office, visit their website at http://sites.udel.edu/oei/
The English Language Institute is a University support service for foreign students who need to improve their language skills for graduate or undergraduate study. The Institute offers six levels of intensive language instruction, which address listening, speaking, reading, vocabulary, and writing skills. For graduate and undergraduate students, the Institute offers two courses in English for academic purposes. One focuses on developing the oral/aural skills necessary for such academic activities as note taking, test taking, oral presentations, and seminar discussions, and the other emphasizes composition skills necessary for research and college writing and reading skills for improving speed and comprehension. Students in the Institute receive tutoring as well as access to computer-assisted instruction. Additional programs offered by the Institute include a testing preparation course to develop skills and strategies for taking the language proficiency sections of such tests as the TOEFL, GRE, and GMAT. The ELI also offers business English courses, a semi-intensive evening program, a Prelaw, and a PREMBA program. Private tutoring in language skills also is available. Discounts are available for spouses of graduate students and visiting scholars; fee waivers are accepted for full time employees and their qualified family members. The Institute is located at 189 West Main Street, Newark, DE. For further information, call (302) 831-2674 or visit www.udel.edu/eli.
The Office for International Students & Scholars (OISS) is the designated office at the University of Delaware that provides immigration advising and support services to more than 4,000 international students, scholars, and family members from over 95 different countries. Throughout the year, the office also offers a series of workshops, sessions, and programming events for the international community at UD.
For more information, please visit the OISS website, which provides comprehensive information and resources on how to navigate issues that are most common to international students and scholars in the United States. The office is located at the Wright House at 44 Kent Way and can be reached by email at oiss@udel.edu or by phone at (302) 831-2115.
Student Health Services, located at the base of the Green in Laurel Hall, provides a full range of primary health care, urgent care, medical treatment, referral services and related health education. Visit the Student Life, Campus Activities, and Dining section to learn more about the services offered through SHS, many of which are covered through the mandatory Student Health Fee that all full-time matriculated students pay.
The Center for Counseling and Student Development is the primary mental health unit on campus providing individual and group counseling, psychiatric services, consultation, workshops and assistance with off-campus referrals. Visit the Student Life, Campus Activities, and Dining section to learn more about the services available through CCSD, many of which are covered through the mandatory Student Health Fee that all full-time matriculated students pay.
Student Services for Athletes is a comprehensive program of support services and life skills development that assists student athletes in making the best possible academic and personal adjustment to life at the University of Delaware. Visit the Student Life, Campus Activities, and Dining section to learn more about the University’s commitment to supporting student athletes.
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the University of Delaware is committed to providing equal access for students, employees and visitors with a disability. The Disabilities Support Services (DSS) office provides reasonable accommodations and ensures equal access to University programs and services. The DSS office works with individuals who have physical, medical and/or psychological disabilities, as well as learning disabilities and ADHD.
Anyone requiring an accommodation from the University based on a disability should contact the DSS office directly. It is the individual’s responsibility to inform the DSS office of the disability and need for accommodation. The DSS staff works in conjunction with other University departments to assist individuals with disabilities. Eligibility for reasonable accommodations is determined on a case-by-case basis utilizing established documentation guidelines. Please contact a DSS professional by phone at 302-831-4643; by TDD at 302-831-4563; by fax at 302-831-3261; by email at DSSoffice@udel.edu; or visit the website at www.udel.edu/DSS.
The University of Delaware has designated Thomas Webb, Director of the Office of Disabilities Support Services, as its ADA/Section 504 Coordinator under federal law. Inquiries concerning Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, Section 504 compliance, campus accessibility, and related issues should be referred to Thomas Webb in the Office of Disabilities Support Services. The office is located at 240 Academy Street, Alison Hall, Suite 130, Newark, DE 19716.
Students with temporary disabling conditions should contact the DSS office to discuss accommodations. University visitors with a disability are asked to contact the sponsoring department in advance to ensure appropriate arrangements can be made.
The Career Services Center and the Lerner College of Business and Economics’ Career Services Center help students identify strengths, motivations and purpose, and translate their ambitions into opportunities through professional, educational and UD connections. Visit the Student Life, Campus Activities, and Dining section to learn more about workshops, services, and career preparation tools offered through CSC.
About the Computer Based Testing Center (CBTC)
The University of Delaware provides a site for the University community as well as the general public to take high-level standardized tests offered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The following tests are offered per testing dates on website.
GRE: www.ets.org/mygre
MCAT: call the Association of American Medical Colleges at 1-202-828- 0690
PRAXIS I & II: online Registration at www.ets/org/praxis
TOEFL: www.ets.org/TOEFL
In addition, the following paper and pencil tests are offered periodically on campus:
ACT: call 1-319-337-1270 or go to the ACT website
LSAT: call The Law School Admissions Council at 1-215-968-1001 weekdays 8:30am - 7pm (ET) September through March; or 8:30am - 4:45pm (ET) April through August
MPRE: call the Law School Admissions Council at 1-215-968-1001 weekdays 8:30 am - 7 pm (ET) September through March; or 8:30 am - 4:45 pm (ET) April through August
GRE Subject Tests are offered twice a year, www.ets.org/mygre
Registering for Tests
Contact specific test via phone or website (listed above)
For additional information about the University of Delaware Computer Based Testing Center:
Call 302/831-6717 or http://www.udel.edu/registrar/ud-facts-resources/cbtc.html.
Student Wellness and Health Promotion creates a foundation for lifelong wellbeing by providing Blue Hens with the wellness tools to make healthy choices. Visit the Student Life, Campus Activities, and Dining section to learn more about wellness groups, programs and opportunities offered through SW&HP.
IFST 445 (A.) Parent Resources (B.) 2 (C.1.) ___ (D.1.)
Emphasis on techniques in working and communicating with parents, understanding parent-child relationships and
effectively utilizing parent, teacher, home, school and community resources. (E.)
PREREQ: HDFS101. (F.)
COREQ: HDFS459 or EDUC400 (G.)
HDFS 449 Internship in Community Services 3-9 (C.2.) PF (D.2.)
On-the-job experience in a community and family service agency.
RESTRICTIONS: Requires permission of instructor. (H.)
Subject area and catalog number
When only one number is listed it is a fixed credit hour course
When two numbers are listed it is a variable credit hour course. The lower number is the minimum credit that a student may take in a section of this course in a semester. The higher is the maximum credit that a student may take in this courses in a semester. A department may choose to offer a variable credit hour course as fixed in a particular semester, as long as the number of credit hours is within the range of the minimum and maximum for the course.
Grade types:
When blank, the course is a letter graded course.
Course for which the grade is either pass or fail.
R, RP - Not for baccalaureate credit.
NR - No grade required.
Brief description of the course.
Prerequisites may be satisfied by the course or courses indicated or by equivalent preparation, to be satisfied prior to enrollment in the course.
Corequisite course or courses should be taken in the same semester as the course.
Special requirements for the courses. Some courses only offered during specific semesters have those semesters identified here. Questions about when a course will be offered should be directed to the department.
Interpretation of the course numbers:
001-009 Below baccalaureate degree
100-199 Introductory-level courses
200-299 Introductory and intermediate courses, usually requiring some previous knowledge or experience in the discipline
300-399 Courses with a more concentrated focus on the subject matter in a particular discipline
400-499 Advanced courses for majors and other qualified students
500-599 Graduate-level courses for the nonspecialist
600-699 Graduate-level courses, also open to advanced undergraduates
700-799 Graduate-level courses
900-999 PhD-level courses
X66 Special problems and independent study
X67 Experimental course (may be offered twice)
Courses numbered 500-599 may not be taken for graduate credit in a student’s major. With the approval of the graduate student’s major department, 500-level courses taken outside the student’s major may be counted toward graduate degree requirements.
Courses numbered 600-699 are graduate-level courses, also open to qualified advanced undergraduate with the consent of the instructor. There should be a single standard of expectation and grading for all students registered at this level.
In those few cases where the number of either undergraduate students or graduate students does not permit adequate offerings of both a 400-level and a 600-level course, a graduate 600-level course may be combined with a separately numbered 400-level undergraduate course in the same section. The graduate component must then be offered with a graduate standard of expectation and grading.
The appropriateness of 600-numbered courses for undergraduate credit is subject to review by the Committee on Undergraduate Studies.
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Star Wars Bureaucracy
By Conor Norris
George Lucas’ Star Wars sage may have been inspired by ancient myths, World War II, and old samurai movies, but this space opera also contains insights about how bureaucracies operate.
This December, Star Wars concluded the Skywalker saga, which gave me the perfect excuse to re-watch all 9 movies. What you might not have noticed, mixed in with the action and adventure, is an example of the inherent weaknesses in bureaucracies. Bureaucratic management reduces innovation and fosters groupthink, which prevents the adoption of new ideas and hampers the performance of the organization.
In the much-maligned prequel trilogy, the Jedi, defenders of the Republic, are defeated and driven into hiding by the evil Sith. While the Jedi appeared much more powerful, by the prequels they had ossified into a bureaucracy, which helps explain their failures.
First, let’s look at how bureaucracies function in our galaxy. Private firms are guided by profit and loss to make decisions, but organizations that do not operate in a market cannot rely on those signals. Lacking that performance metric, bureaucracies use other methods.
Within bureaucracies, management limits the discretion of employees to ensure that their goals are reached. Procedure becomes codified and performance is measured by adherence to procedure. Employees are rewarded for complying with rules and carrying out the will of supervisors, “no matter how unreasonable or contrary to what is intended,” according to the economist Ludwig Von Mises. That’s why the DMV will not accept your birth certificate if there is an extra space in your name that doesn’t appear on your social security card.
The length of the procedure reduces the ability to respond to sudden changes or innovation. For instance, NASA’s procurement cycle was so long that new technology became obsolete by the time they could approve it. Building new infrastructure takes years of permitting applications, environmental impact studies, rounds of bidding, and other procedural hurdles to begin construction, even if the need is immediate.
Predictably, this management style encourages conformity within the organization and destroys incentives to innovate. Procedure remains the same, even if old methods become obsolete. To illustrate, 63 percent of the acquisition personnel polled in the US military are not confident that reform efforts will succeed in overcoming the administrative roadblocks which decelerate the process.
But how does the Jedi order of the prequels exemplify a bureaucracy? It had existed in its modern form for over a thousand generations. During that entire period, the Jedi Code provided a structure within which the Jedi could function and maintain peace and justice in the galaxy. The code represented the culmination of all the knowledge gained through the past experiences of the Jedi, remaining largely unchanged until their defeat.
Unfortunately, this stability came at the expense of adapting, or learning from new experiences. Instead, the Jedi clung to their old dogmas despite significant changes in the galaxy and their enemies.
The Jedi code placed strict limits on what force powers the Jedi could use, a policy which could be detrimental when battling a Sith who would use any power necessary to win. Not only did they forbid using certain powers, they forbade their study entirely. It was this ban on studying the nature of the dark side of the force that opened the door for Anakin Skywalker’s temptation.
In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn did not conform to Jedi orthodoxy, which made him practically a heretic. By opening himself to the will of the Living Force rather than solely following the will of the Jedi Council, Qui-Gon was able to see more clearly than the other Jedi. However, as is often the case in a bureaucracy, his refusal to align with the wishes of the council and strictly adhere to the Jedi Code resulted in conflicts with the council. Obi-Wan Kenobi, his Padawan, told him as much, saying “If you’d just follow the code you’d be on the council.” Clearly, only those who adhered to the code—i.e. followed procedure—would advance in the order. For most Jedi, deference to the council was absolute.
Despite the prophesy that he would bring balance to the force, the Council initially refused to allow Anakin to be trained because he was older than their standard. Policy must be adhered to absolutely, from Jedi training to the DMV, despite the potential gain. Had the Jedi Council not acquiesced to Qui-Gon’s dying wish to train Anakin, the Jedi would not have been ultimately victorious. In this case, following procedure would have worsened the outcome, despite the best intentions. When the realities facing the Jedi changed as the Clone Wars raged, they did not adapt their procedures, refusing to promote Anakin to master because he had not met all the prerequisites.
The Sith took the opposite approach, completely redesigning their order after their defeat in the Great Sith War. Under Darth Bane, the Star Wars universe’s ultimate entrepreneur, they changed their structure to the Rule of Two seen in the saga to overcome their flaws and exploit the Jedi’s weaknesses. They were eventually successful, defeating the Jedi and establishing an empire under their control.
While they may have existed a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the Jedi Order of the prequels provides a great example of some of the shortcomings of bureaucracy. While American bureaucracy is unlikely to lead to the formation of an evil galactic empire, it does have inherent flaws. It is important to remember these flaws when we find ourselves designing a public policy that requires bureaucracy for its implementation.
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Ukrainian priests appeal for support as Russian threat grows
Court acquits Indian bishop of rape; nun to appeal
Spanish bishops assure pope of sex abuse probes
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Pope urges Muslim leaders to condemn violence done in name of Islam
Pope Francis answers questions from journalists on his flight to Rome after a three-day trip to Turkey Nov. 30. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
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By Francis X. Rocca • Catholic News Service • Posted December 1, 2014
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM ISTANBUL (CNS) — Pope Francis called on political and religious leaders across the Muslim world to condemn violence done in the name of Islam.
The pope said he told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Nov. 28 that “it would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders — whether they be political leaders, religious leaders, academic leaders — would say clearly that they condemn (terrorism), because that will help the majority of Islamic people to say, ‘that’s true,'” and show non-Muslims that Islam is a religion of peace.
“I sincerely believe that you cannot say that all Muslims are terrorists just as you cannot say that all Christians are fundamentalists; every religion has these little groups,” the pope said.
The pope made his remarks Nov. 30 during a 45-minute news conference on his flight to Rome after a three-day visit to Turkey.
In response to other questions, Pope Francis said:
— During a televised moment of silent prayer in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque Nov. 29, alongside the city’s grand mufti, “I prayed for Turkey, I prayed for the mufti, I prayed for myself because I need it, and I prayed above all for the peace and an end to war.”
— The “substance” of controversial language on “welcoming homosexuals” in the midterm report at the October 2014 extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family survived in the corresponding section of the final document, even though the latter was widely considered more conservative. He said the synod was not a parliament but an “ecclesial space where the Holy Spirit can work” and was just part of a process to be continued through the coming year of preparation for an October 2015 worldwide synod on the same subject.
— Although difficulties remain in relations between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches, the pope is ready to meet with the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow as soon as the patriarch wishes to invite him.
— Both the Catholic and Orthodox churches include conservative members resistant to ecumenism, who must nonetheless be treated with respect: “A conservative has a right to speak, you don’t expel him.”
— The pope would like to visit one of the camps housing refugees from the civil wars in Syria and Iraq but cannot do so now because of security concerns.
— He speculated, without naming names, that at least one of the governments that denounced the use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war may have been the source of those very weapons.
— He praised Erdogan’s 2013 statement on the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces — a statement criticized as inadequate by many Armenians, who consider the massacres a “genocide” — as an “outstretched hand.” The pope voiced hope that other gestures over the coming anniversary year would bring the two nations nearer, and he specifically voiced hope that Turkey would open its border with Armenia.
PREVIOUS: Pope, Turkish leaders trade concerns about religious discrimination
NEXT: In Turkey, Pope Francis got a look at Christianity on the margins
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Multifuction communal center MCC
Arzier
The village of Arzier-Le Muids, on the slopes of the Vaud Jura, has experienced strong growth over the last thirty years, notably through an extension of its villa zone. With its 2'220 inhabitants, spread between 600 and 1000 meters of altitude, the need to complete the offer in public facilities became obvious. In parallel with the renovation of its hostel, in 2008 the municipality launched an architectural competition for the construction of a new multi-functional and multi-generation community center, designed to accommodate under one roof 21 children in a crèche/daycare center, 24 children in a UAPE (early childhood care unit), the community library, the senior citizens' club and rooms for companies.
CCHE Nyon SA (ex-Suard Architects SA)
Commune of Arzier
Construction of a multifunctional MINERGIE ECO communal centre for the library, the UAPE, the reception of societies and the seniors' club.
Floor area (GFA)
Volume (SIA)
3,420 m³
The center of the village is looking for its limits. The building proposes to better contain it by its implantation, by participating in the definition of its upstream facade. The recognition of the public space is thus placed at the heart of the project. All the driving functions of the program, as well as the building's entrance, are oriented towards the village square, then the lake and the Alps. They are then distributed between the different levels, according to their needs for accessibility, privacy or use. Thus, past the entrance esplanade downstream, the lower ground floor hosts the library and then the seniors' club with a beautiful terrace with a view. The crèche, the daycare center and the UAPE occupy the upper ground floor in order to benefit from private yards on the same level upstream. The attic then offers two rooms for companies; one of them functioning as a refectory for the school reception structure, with a semi-professional kitchen and laundry room.
In the same spirit, the facades of the building recall the surrounding built context, offering a contemporary interpretation of the traditional language dominant on the outskirts of the square. The new building could thus be completely confused with the careful renovation of an old building.
The CCM is a perfect example of building design according to the 3 pillars of sustainable development. By the generational mix that it hosts and the rich exchanges that it induces. By the economy of means implemented by bringing together its various functions in a compact volume. By its accessibility to all and its location in the center of the village and in the immediate vicinity of soft mobility networks. By its efficient and ecological construction.
MINERGIE ECO certification has been achieved by respecting current energy concerns and the comfort of future users. The premises are heated by an air-to-water heat pump, pending connection to the future communal district heating network currently under construction. Domestic hot water is mainly obtained by solar thermal collectors on the roof. A double flow ventilation system with energy recovery completes the installation.
The choice of materials is mainly oriented by the targeted certification. The interior load-bearing structure and the substructure are thus made of recycled concrete, which is used in 87% of the cast concrete used. The 2 gable façades are in monolithic construction made of aerated concrete bricks.
In a forest community, however, wood has not been forgotten. The framework and the interior cladding of the roofs and the Lac et Jura façades are made of communal white fir. The exterior cladding of the façades is made of larch from the neighbouring commune of La Rippe while the roof is covered with local terracotta tiles. Wood fiber and rock wool constitute the added thermal insulation.
The interior lighting is optimized by large bay windows and light coverings. The different spaces are animated by touches of bright colors in 4 tones through earthenware, paint, glazing or furniture. Particular care is also taken to ensure sound comfort between the different functions and acoustics of the spaces.
The library and the senior citizens' club are located on the lower ground floor next to the entrance, while the UAPE is located on the upper ground floor to benefit from a private courtyard. The facades recognize the built context by proposing a contemporary interpretation of the dominant language on the periphery of the square.
International School of Lausanne
Henchoz middle school
Habitat de l'ancienne Forge
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"Lately I've been imagining a life of showing up for others, celebrating them, when they reach certain milestones. And then those people never showing up to celebrate mine."
“I don’t want to be a shitty friend to you,” he said. I paused.
A few weeks earlier, I had invited the people I loved most to celebrate a milestone in my relationship with my partner, a move towards formalizing our commitment. I’m not sure what I expected. A significant proportion of those invited were what many would identify as “conservative” Catholics. Some had already expressed discomfort with our relationship, despite my having told them that we weren’t planning on getting married and my vocal commitment at the time to seek to live by Church teaching. A part of me did fear they wouldn’t come to our little celebration, but I wasn’t emotionally prepared for the reality of it. I showed up at the brewery to celebrate, and, struck by the close friends who chose not to come, I felt like I had been slapped in the face a dozen times.
The Celebration
I had grown up a very “conservative” Catholic myself. I desperately wanted to be a “good Catholic man,” to live by my Church’s teachings in a way that was full and integrative. I think this is partly what drove my intense commitment to friendship and community in my late teens and early twenties. I saw these as the only possible spaces for love, intimacy, and commitment. I structured my life around hospitality, a home shared with others, and a commitment to show up for my friends. It was a life I really liked. It was a life I loved. I loved my friends. I celebrated them. Birthdays, promotions, engagements, weddings, births. Their joys were my joys.
Then I invited them to celebrate me. The memory of it still makes my stomach turn. I heard from a number of attendees who couldn’t make it but wanted to share that they were happy for us and that they loved us. Then I heard about the attendees who had discussed amongst each other whether celebrating a commitment between my partner and me (not even a marriage, mind you) would involve “complicity in sin.”
Josh fell in that latter group. He chose not to come, out of his moral discomfort. We had no contact for a few weeks after the celebration. When he texted me, asking to get a drink or coffee, I was still hurt but had cooled off from the anger. I still valued our history as friends and wanted to be able to have some kind of positive relationship. I proposed cocktails.
It’s hard for me to underscore how much Josh is a good person. He’d supported me through very difficult times in my life. He’s generous to an extent that can be irresponsible at times. He tries.
He asked me how things were going in my relationship. I knew he didn’t approve of same-sex relationships generally. But I shared anyways. I talked about questions for the future. I imagined the possibility of adopting children. That possibility caused something to happen on Josh’s face, a slight grimace creeping at the edges of a smile that seemed a bit performative. I felt a discomfort breaking out at his seams.
“Well,” Josh said, “That’s not what I want for you.”
Of course, I thought. He doesn’t approve of the relationship, and he probably doesn’t approve of same-sex couples adopting either.
“But,” he continued, “I hope I’d have a role in their life.”
I think I was much better at holding back my own grimace, keeping my discomfort deep beneath the surface. I don’t think my face changed. As a gay Catholic who had spent much of my life in communities of Joshes, I had learned how to hide reactions to comments that hurt me. I set aside the shock, the flashing inconsistencies between Josh’s statements. I changed the topic.
I now wonder, “Why would I want my child to be around someone who would prefer they not be with their parents? Under what conditions would I consider that good for my kid?”
A few other things stand out to me from that conversation. One thing stands out in particular.
We talked a bit about the celebration. I told him that his decision not to come had hurt me deeply, that it made me angry.
“I couldn’t go,” Josh said.
No, you chose not go to, I thought. But I knew what he meant. He felt that his religious convictions prohibited him from celebrating our relationship.
“I just,” I said, “I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the course of my life. And I think about relationships, and milestones, and celebrations. Lately I’ve been imagining a life of showing up for others, celebrating them, when they reach certain milestones. And then those people never showing up to celebrate mine.”
The creeping grimace on Josh’s face changed into something different, something characterized more by sadness.
“I know, I know,” he said. “I don’t want to be a shitty friend.”
Shitty friend. I hadn’t really thought about it in those terms. But I realized that this was what I had described to Josh. Josh had named it. Shitty friends.
I didn’t know what to say. I mused about heaven, “You know, it’ll be nice one day, after this life, when all these things are finally made clear.” It was my way of moving away from that topic, and trying to inject some kind of hope into what I was starting to worry was a shitty friendship.
Mutuality
Every year I learn more the importance of mutuality. Aristotle says that this feature distinguishes friendship. Where you love and give to another, but there isn’t love and gift in return, one doesn’t have a “true friendship.” Rather, one has a relationship of “goodwill,” as Aristotle puts it.
In Christian terms, we might think of the distinction as that between “true friendships” and “relationships of charity.” True friendship has mutuality. Charitable relationships involve one person giving to the other, without that mutuality which is the requisite of true friendship.
This is partly what makes Christ call for friendship with us so astonishing. He is God, a being who infinitely surpasses us. And yet he chooses to have a sort of equality with us, enabling friendship. He comes down to us and calls us friends because “everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” We can become friends with Christ, because in a mysterious way he allows us to be equals in his knowledge. He makes us able to share in mutuality what the Father has made known.
Some have pressured me to just let go of my “shitty friendships.” But for Christians, we don’t have to choose between “true friendships” and “shitty friendships.” We can, instead, frame these as true friendships and relationships of charity. In contrast to “shitty friendships,” relationships of charity are good. Christians are called to live lives of charity. It is good to give where we do not receive. It is holy to do so. But it is also good to know when this is happening, when friendship isn’t really true friendship, but is rather something else. I hope that seeing these relationships in this way can help queer Christians bring strength, compassion, and joy to them, rather than fear, anxiety, and insecurity.
As I consider the place of queer Christians in Christian communities, I realize that we tend to be frequent conduits of charity, of goodwill, offering much more than we are offered in return. This should be seen as a testimony to the strength of the queer Christian community. But the Christian life needs more than this. It needs (it demands) friendship as well. So even if we maintain what we can see now in many ways as relationships of charity, we also should go out and find true friends. We should find the people who we will show up for, and who will show up for us in return.
is a writer, speaker, attorney, and business professional living in the Twin Cities. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. and M.A. in Catholic Studies from the University of St. Thomas. His writings focus primarily on Catholicism, homoeros, and law, and have appeared in Logos, Commonweal Magazine, Church Life Journal, and other publications. In his free time, he enjoys hosting seminars, creative writing workshops, and dinner parties.
more about Chris
3 comments on “On shitty friendships”
kwniel
Thanks Chris. You gave me a different paradigm I plan on adopting for all the “shitty friendships” currently in my life.
Friends will come and go but your family is there for life. You are loved beyond measure.
Lorraine Kim
This blog was lovely, heartfelt, and poignant. I’m the (straight) leader of our church’s LGBTQ+ group, and I think this topic of “shitty friendships” would make for good discussion. It is funny, sad, and very real. Friendships of charity? Yes! That makes sense, too. I think I’m going to enjoy this blog.
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Member Colleges & Universities
President Lola W. Brabham
History of Independent Higher Education in New York
Economic & Community Impact
Facts About New York State’s Independent Colleges and Universities
Download information about the Independent Sector:
Direct Institutional "Bundy" Aid
TAP Makes College Dreams a Reality for New Yorkers
HECap Matching Grants Program
CICU's 2020-21 Fact Sheet
Developing Talent
Private, not-for-profit colleges and universities enroll 40 percent of the 1.2 million students enrolled in postsecondary education in New York State.
Sixty-eight percent of students pursuing graduate degrees in New York State attend private, not-for-profit institutions.
Considering the Independent Sector’s undergraduate population:
21 percent are age twenty-five or older
57 percent are female
18 percent attend classes part-time
New York State’s Independent Sector is the largest in the country.
New York State is the leading destination for first-time students who leave their home state to attend private, not-for-profit colleges. More of these students choose New York than any other state.
Within New York State, students from every county attend New York's private, not-for-profit institutions.
From Niagara Falls to the sprawling Adirondack Mountains to the busy streets of New York City, New York State boasts a diverse geographic landscape—and a diverse collection of private colleges, too.
Degree Production
In 2019-20, New York State's Independent Sector awarded 59 percent of the bachelor's and graduate degrees awarded in New York State.
In New York State, 67 private, not-for-profit colleges and universities produce 58 percent, or 10,615 of the bachelor's and graduate degrees earned by students who become educators.
In New York State, 49 private, not-for-profit colleges and universities produce 58 percent, or 9,253 of the 16,027 degrees earned by students who become nurses. This includes 68 percent of bachelor's and 64 percent of graduate degrees.
The Independent Sector outpaces other sectors in the production of degrees in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This includes 52 percent of the bachelor’s degrees, and 76 percent of graduate degrees earned in STEM fields in New York State.
In good economic times or bad, those with bachelor’s and graduate degrees fare far better in the job market. Those who have not attended college are unemployed at more than twice the rate of those who have earned a bachelor’s or graduate degree.
Driving Economic Impact
In 2019, total statewide economic impact of New York’s Independent Sector of higher education was $97.6 billion, which represents a 10 percent increase over 2017.
Total employment in 2019 was 432,600, which includes direct campus jobs, campus construction jobs, and spillover jobs in communities.
Empowering Students
The Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) helps nearly 300,000 students pay their tuition at a New York State college or university. In 2019-20, students at independent colleges and universities received $167 million in TAP funds.
Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of Independent Sector TAP recipients have incomes below $40,000; half (50 percent) earn less than $20,000.
In 2019-20, 88 percent of first-time, full-time students at Independent Sector colleges and universities received some form of financial aid: federal, state/local, or college-funded.
Of the total amount of aid for Independent Sector students, 89 percent was college-funded.
In 2019-20, Independent Sector institutions provided $6.7 billion in college-funded financial aid, and have increased this amount by an average of 8 percent each year since 2000.
In 2018-19, more than 36 percent, or about 18,000 of the 49,000 first-year Pell Grant recipients attending four-year institutions enrolled at private, not-for-profit colleges and universities, and received nearly $90 million in Pell Grant awards.
Educating Students of Color
Forty percent of African-American and Latinx students who attend four-year/graduate colleges in New York State, attend a private, not-for-profit institution.
Forty-five percent of African-American and Latinx students who attend college in New York State receive their bachelor’s and graduate degrees from private, not-for-profit colleges and universities.
Sixty-six percent of African-American and Latinx students who attend college in New York State receive their master's and doctorate degrees from private, not-for-profit colleges and universities.
Committed to Discovery
New York State ranks second among the states, with total public and private higher education R&D expenditures of $7.1 billion.
Independent colleges and universities account for 77 percent of R&D spending among higher education institutions in New York State ($5.5 billion of $7.1 billion).
Between 2015 and 2019, Independent Sector institutions increased their total R&D spending by 26 percent ($4.35 billion to $5.47 billion).
In 2019, there were 505 new patents issued to colleges and universities in New York State. Eighty-three percent of the new patents were issued to Independent Sector colleges and universities.
Sixty-four new startup-up companies were created in 2019 by New York colleges and universities. Ninety-two percent (or, 59 of the 64) of the new start-ups originated at Independent Sector institutions.
CICU’s latest economic impact analysis of New York State’s Independent Sector estimates that there are 14,900 off-campus (spinoff) jobs attributed to research spending by private, not-for-profit colleges and universities in New York State.
Notable Distinctions
The Independent Sector is well represented in U.S. News and World Report college rankings: six institutions are listed in the top 50 Liberal Arts Colleges; four are listed in the top 50 Best National Universities, and five are listed in the top 50 undergraduate Engineering Schools.
Explore our Tableau dashboards for additional perspective. Contact Keith Cushing for additional information (keith@cicu.org).
2021 CICU | Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities
New York's 100+ private colleges and universities
17 Elk Street, Albany, NY 12207
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Modern Bromeliad Plant Cats
bromeliad plant cats - In this article, we'll discuss the essentials of creating a beautiful and relaxing garden. We'll also cover some of the things to keep in mind when you start planting, with ideas about the kind of plants you can plant, as well as which plants work well together.
The capacity of plants to adapt to the environment is contingent upon a variety of factors, including the relativeimportance of light, water, oxygen, nutrients, and the temperature of the surrounding. The capacity of a species of plant to move across an area is dependent on its capacity to adapt to the biotic and abiotic elements of the area.
A plant's ability to adapt to its surroundings is contingent upon a variety of variables, such as the relative importance of water, light, air, nutrients, as well as the temperature of the conditions. The capacity of a plant species to spread through an area depends on its capacity to adapt to the biotic and abiotic components of that area.
The ability of a plant to adapt to its surroundings is dependent on a myriad of factors, including the relativeimportance of water, light, oxygen, nutrients, and the temperature in the area. The capacity of a species of plant to expand across an area is contingent on its ability to adapt to the biotic and abiotic components of that region.
There are many elements that affect competition between plants such as the weather, soil conditions, and the availability in other sources. Competition is the primary interaction between plants. The species of plant that has the best chance of success in a given zone is the one that makes use of the resources in that region most efficiently.
The light that hits the surface of plants is either absorbed, reflected or transmitted. Energy from sunlight is one of the main driving factors in the chemical reaction referred to as photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the method by the green plants make food, most notably sugar, from carbondioxide and water with the help of chlorophyll. This process makes use of sunlight to generate energy and release oxygen and water.
The most crucial necessity for the life of plants. It is among the most important needs for growth of plants. It keeps the plant healthy and is utilized in photosynthesis, and transfers nutrients throughout the plant. It also lowers leaf temperature, increases mineral absorption, and pulls water from the roots to the upper part of the plant through the process known as transpiration.
Wind is the movement of air which is generally beneficial for plants. It enhances the transfer of heat from leaf surfaces, increases circulation in areas susceptible to fungal growth, and is often essential to transport airborne seeds. Wind can be harmful to plants, drying out leaves, scattering weed seeds and sometimes even killing plants.
The average temperature of the earth's atmosphere fluctuates depending on altitude, latitude and topography. Temperature and climate affect the kinds of plants that will grow. The capacity of plants to withstand low temperatures and thrive in cooler climates is called cold toughness. Plants that can't tolerate cool conditions are known as fragile.
Soils are made up of a mixture of minerals, organic matter, water, and air in various proportions. The small particles of minerals are formed from rocks that have been broken down over long durations of time due to the effects of weathering. Organic matter consists in living cells, the waste they produce, and decay products.
The term "texture" refers to the particles which dominate. Texture of a soil will determine the amount of water, air, and nutrients held within the soil. Generally, the penetration of air, water, and roots occur more readily through soils where larger particles are dominant.
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Week Ending June 5th 1999
Underworld Jamiroquai Chicane Shed Seven Mike and The Mechanics Supergrass Garbage Gay Dad DJ Sakin and Friends Shanks & Bigfoot Precious Wiseguys
1 SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE (Shanks & Bigfoot)
After selling over a quarter of a million copies last week, Sweet Like Chocolate continues to fly off the shelves and this week does enough to spend a second week at the top of the chart. The annoyingly catchy single is now the sixth Number One record to spend a fortnight at the top of the chart in 1999. Most of the media coverage of the single in the last week has centred around the exact identities of the duo - Langsman and Meade are still only identified by their credits as writers of the track. Whilst the single continues to cross over and will almost certainly still be in the Top 3 next week it is highly unlikely that it will become the first single this year to spend a third week on top of the pile. The reason for this is the imminent release of the single that is equally certain to wind up one of the biggest-selling records of the year.
2 OOH LA LA (Wiseguys)
Close your eyes and conjure up the following images. Think Budweiser TV advert. Think of the famous frogs taking a ride on an alligator. Think alligator invading a packed bar to general alarm. Think alligator emerging from other end of the building with frogs still in tow only now with a crate of beer strapped to its back. Alligator and frogs groove to big beat track. The track in question is Ooh La La, a product of the talents of Theo Keating who released the single under the name of The Wiseguys exactly a year ago this week. The single bombed out at Number 55 and the followup single Start The Commotion fared even worse at Number 66 a few months later. Cometh the hour, cometh the TV ad and cometh the Top 3 hit as the re-released dance single capitalises on the exposure and finally becomes a massive chart hit. Doubtless Norman Cook is asking himself why he didn't make this record.
4 CANNED HEAT (Jamiroquai)
Oh come on, how can you pass anything approaching rational comment on this? The first single from the long-overdue new Jamiroquai album shows Jason Kay et al at the very height of their creative powers with this immaculately produced slice of retro-disco. Canned Heat is plainly and simply an ode to dancing, as good a love song to the power of the disco as anything the Bee Gees ever wrote. After hitting Number One for the first time ever with the song from the Godzilla soundtrack Deeper Underground last July the stock of the band has never been higher and they prove it here with the third Top 5 hit of their career - Canned Heat just falling short of the Number 3 peak scaled by Virtual Insanity in 1996. If you search the web hard enough you will find a Jamiroquai tribute site that carefully archives everything I have written on the band since the launch of dotmusic, almost all of it positive. Lest you think I'm some kind of acolyte I should point out I've never been motivated to buy a Jamiroquai record, it is simply a case of it being hard to find fault with the way they present their music. Their brand of one foot in the past soul-funk and Jay Kay's squeaky vocals are a combination you either love or hate but their chart record over the past few years (12 Top 20 hits since 1993) are a fair indication that they appeal to a great many people.
6 SALTWATER (Chicane featuring Marie Brennan)
That Bryan Adams' Cloud #9 was such a big hit a few weeks ago was due in no small part to the contribution of Chicane in transforming the original ballad into a sublime dancefloor hit. Now they capitalise with a hit in their own right and with a single that neatly surfs the current wave of Hi-NRG trance hits. The production is simply Robert Miles at twice the speed coupled with the breathy vocals of Marie Brennan - famous of course for being the older sister of Enya and for years the dominant voice of ethereal Celtic folksters Clannad. The vocals are in fact the original lyrics to the old Clannad hit Theme From Harry's Game except that rather than sampling them Chicane invited her back into the studio to rerecord the vocal track from scratch. Saltwater is easily the biggest Chicane hit to date, beating the Number 14 peak of the original instrumental mix of Offshore which charted just before Christmas 1996. Marie Brennan has only once before had a direct chart credit - this was for her one and only solo hit Against The Wind which made Number 64 in May 1992. As a singer with Clannad she has of course had plenty of other chart hits. Clannad's biggest and most famous was the aforementioned Theme From Harry's Game which made Number 5 in 1982 and which is guaranteed a place on just about every "relaxing moods" compilation ever made. The only other Clannad hit to reach the Top 40 was In A Lifetime, a collaboration with Bono which made Number 20 when first released in 1986 and then climbed to Number 17 when re-released three years later to promote a greatest hits collection.
8 SAY IT AGAIN (Precious)
Now technically the voting in the Eurovision Song Contest is supposed to be based on the quality of the song but with the judging now being conducted by means of a pan-European telephone vote it is certainly possible that the nervy and slightly off-key performance by the girls in Jerusalem on Saturday night contributed to their rather dismal showing in the final voting, their total of 38 points and 14th place ranking alongside that of Love City Groove in 1995 as one of the UKs worst performances of recent years. As if in sympathy Say It Again makes a small slide down the chart this week although bear in mind that this chart listing counts sales up to midnight on Saturday and that the effect of their performance in front of the TV millions will not register until next week. Meanwhile. we wait to see who will pick up the UK licence for the winning song - Take Me To Your Heaven by Charlotte Neilsen of Sweden.
11 PUMPING ON YOUR STEREO (Supergrass)
So which version of Supergrass does the public prefer. Is it the cartoonish fun-loving pop stars that took Alright to Number 2 in 1995 and who allegedly inspired Steven Spielberg to want to turn them into a real-life cartoon? Or is it the crop haired acid-rockers who had hit singles in 1997 with Richard III and the summertime cruising classic Sun Hits The Sky? Believe it or not both images of the band spring to mind for this first single release from their long-awaited third album as Gaz Coombs does his best Mick Jagger impression over a glam-rock inspired backing that must surely have Gay Dad drooling with envy. Despite a strong showing at the start of the week the single just fails to become their sixth Top 10 hit - something of a comedown when you consider that Richard III (the first single from their last album In It For The Money) entered at Number 2. Nonetheless it is good to see the trio back and still firing on all cylinders after two years away and their re-emergence just in time for the summer festival season is a timely piece of marketing. Those who watched the recent BBC drama The Passion cannot fail to have noticed that most of the track from In It For The Money made an appearance on the soundtrack at one time or another, proving if nothing else that they have some fans in some very unusual places.
13 DISCO DOWN (Shed Seven)
Since their chart debut in 1994 Shed Seven have 12 consecutive Top 40 hits so a Greatest Hits collection seems quite an appropriate gesture. To herald the album Disco Down becomes hit Number 13 and in the process becomes their fourth biggest ever. Disco Down delivers just what the title suggests, a full tilt heads down boogie that is certain to inspire some energetic frugging at live gigs, even if clubland will certainly remain unmoved. Their only Top 10 hit to date was Going For Gold which reached Number 8 in March 1996 and this entry now means they have charted singles at Numbers 11 (She Left Me On A Friday), 12 (On Standby), 13 (Disco Down) and 14 (Getting Better), quite a model of consistency you will agree.
14 NOMANSLAND (DAVID'S SONG) (DJ Sakin)
After the Number 4 smash hit of Protect Your Mind, Herr Sakin makes a quick return to the chart with his second hit single. Those with a mind to play spot the sample can award themselves double points if they spot which melody has been borrowed for Nomansland as the track is inspired rather obscurely by the theme to the 70s adventure series The Adventures Of David Balfour (hence the "David's Song) subtitle of the single). More of the same means there is nowhere near the sensation that Protect Your Mind caused back in February but this Top 20 entry will hardly be a disappointment.
19 YOU LOOK SO FINE (Garbage)
After over a years worth of singles from Version 2.0 it is good to see Garbage's chart positions remaining healthy. You Look So Fine slides nicely into the chart to become their fifth Top 20 hit in the last thirteen months and their eighth such chart hit since 1995. The fact that a track which has been avalable for a year to dedicated fans can chart so high is undoubtedly due to the remixes that accompany it on the CD single - take special note of the work of the Fun Lovin' Criminals who make you wish Shirley Manson, Butch Vig et al sounded like this all the time.
21 JUMBO (Underworld)
The followup to Push Upstairs fails to repeat the Top 20 storming performance of its predecessor and instead has to settle for landing just outside, nonetheless maintaining Underworld's consistent chart record and becoming their fourth straight Top 30 hit (or their fifth if you count the two chart appearances of Pearl's Girl in 1996 as two separate hit singles).
22 JOY (Gay Dad)
The second Gay Dad single has been several months coming, during which time it is quite possible that the sensation that surrounded their first release has been forgotten. To refresh your memory To Earth With Love was probably the most celebrated debut single from any band since Babylon Zoo, a wonderful melange of influences ranging from glam rock to power pop and beyond. Much was made at the time of the way the printed chart listings credited the producer of the track as "Information Witheld By Label" - it later emerging that the single was actually an edit of about five different recording sessions with a variety of people in the chair and that for a while it was unclear exactly whose work the finished product was. Anyway, back to the present and their album is set to hit the stores in the wake of its second single hitting the chart. Not that Joy is a less worthy piece of music than To Earth With Love (although despite the title it has half the energy and little of the er... joy) but without the hype it is possible to take a more rational view of the abilities of the band. One suspects that their failure to reach the Top 20 this time round is a more realistic reflection of their long-term appeal. [This would be their final chart appearance, the hype around Gay Dad evaporating to nothing in short order. Joy would have a longer lifepsan than the band themselves, resurrected for a series of Mitsubishi adverts a year later].
35 NOW THAT YOU'RE GONE (Mike and the Mechanics)
All three members of Mike And The Mechanics will quite freely admit that they are a hobby band, something for Mike Rutherford to do in between the latest instalments of the currently stuttering career of Genesis. That doesn't mean they don't make some immaculate MOR records as this latest single proves. Now That You've Gone, complete with a production that ups the bpm rate by a factor of ten is a prime example of this. Musically there is nothing at all wrong with the track, right down to the killer singalong chorus but Mike And The Mechanics' main problem is that of their relevance and in the current chart climate you can argue that three middle-aged men making music that appeal to other middle-aged men have none at all. Occasionally, as their three Top 20 hits from past years show, they come good and release a single with widespread appeal (for further details see The Living Years, Word Of Mouth and Over My Shoulder). Sadly this isn't one of them and Now That You've Gone will join the list of very very good Mike And The Mechanics singles to be more or less totally ignored.
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Pre Departure Services
Why is the University of Florida so well-renowned?
Collegepond August 21, 2019 0 Comments
The University of Florida (commonly referred to as Florida or UF) is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) campus in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906.
The University of Florida is one of sixty-two elected member institutions of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the association of preeminent North American research universities, and the only AAU member university located in Florida. UF is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Following the creation of performance standards by the Florida state legislature in 2013, the Florida Board of Governors designated the University of as one of the two “preeminent universities” among the twelve universities of the State University System of Florida. In 2015, U.S. News & World Report ranked UF as the
fourteenth best public university in the United States.
The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It is the third largest Florida University by student population, and is the eighth largest single-campus university in the United States with 49,913 students enrolled for the fall 2012 semester. The U F is home to sixteen academic colleges and more than 150 research centres and institutes. It offers multiple graduate professional programs—including business administration, engineering, law, dentistry, medicine, and veterinary medicine—on one contiguous campus, and administers 123 master’s degree programs and seventy-six doctoral degree programs in eighty-seven schools and departments.
The Universirty of Florida’s intercollegiate sports teams, commonly known by their “Florida Gators” nickname, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the South-eastern Conference (SEC). In their 108-year history, the university’s varsity sports teams have won thirty-five national team championships, thirty of which are NCAA titles, and Gator athletes have won 275 individual national championships.
In its 2016 edition, U.S. News & World Report (USN&WR) ranked the University of Florida as tied for the 14th-best public university in the United States, and tied for 47th overall among all national universities, public and private. The 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities list assessed the University of Florida as 83rd among world universities and 44th in the United States based on overall research output and faculty awards.
The University of Florida has more than 330,000 alumni. Over 57,000 are dues-paying members of UF Alumni Association. Florida alumni live in every state and more than 100 foreign countries. Florida alumni include two Nobel Prize winners, ten U.S. Senators, forty-two U.S. Representatives, eight U.S. ambassadors, eleven state governors, eleven state Supreme Court justices, and over fifty federal court judges. UF graduates have served as the executive leaders of such diverse institutions as the U.S. Marine Corps and the National Organization for Women.
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Posts Tagged ‘Boards of Canada’
Belle and Sebastian, Bettie Serveert, Boards of Canada, Cat Power, Chavez, Guided by Voices, Helium, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Liz Phair, Matmos, Mogwai, Pavement, Pizzicato Five, Spoon, Stephen Malkmus, Yo La Tengo
Ignored 117: Matador 500
In Graphic on October 30, 2016 at 12:55 am
Boards of Canada, D'Angelo, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Guns N' Roses, Kate Bush, My Bloody Valentine, Portishead, Rihanna, The Arcade Fire, The National, The Strokes, Vampire Weekend
Ignored 9: Go away… stay away… profit!!!
In Uncategorized on June 3, 2013 at 7:22 pm
Bold statement: The most effective means of promoting music in 2013 is to stay invisible and authentically allow the fans to come to you.
Whack Scottish electro duo Boards of Canada haven’t released a full-length studio album in close to eight years. Until right now.
Tomorrow’s Harvest arrives amid a seismic wave of hype, at least compared to where this outfit left off in 2005. Boards of Canada were always popular, no doubt. But their woozy take on electronic music always seemed to be a bit more of a “nice to have” rather than a “must have”. Even their lauded 1998 debut Music Has the Right to Children is probably best positioned as background music if we’re being completely honest with ourselves. As us “serious” music fans typically aren’t.
Boards of Canada and their minders used a decidedly modern approach to hyping Tomorrow’s Harvest, “hiding” song snippets out-of-doors and across the Internetz and seeding various bloops and bleeps with tastemakers over at NPR. Seems and sounds pretty effective as it’s positioned the album as one of 2013’s most anticipated (until the next one) and really helped Boards of Canada jump a layer or two in terms of (perceived) notoriety. It remains to be seen if this is parlayed into lucrative live appearances (uh, Boards of Canada isn’t good at touring) and/or things of this nature.
… and yet while the Boards of Canada hype machine has been churning for much of the last few months, it was pretty much dormant for years upon years prior. Partially or entirely by design.
A great way to build buzz is to shut your goddam face and let your disciples come to you, let them pine for you, let them yearn in their hearts and their souls and their wallets.
No doubt, it’s chancy but it does speak to the fact that there are two exceedingly popular approaches for musicians to stay viable in 2013 and that we’re seeing each employed more and more.
1. Speak early, speak often and never, ever go away
There are a variety of approaches to stickin’ around, whether that’s guesting on other artist’s tracks, high-profile production gigs, touring when you don’t have anything active to promote (Courtney?), being a jerk, having somebody else be a jerk (or a-hole) to you or generally being around places where there are lots of cameras. The example of this approach are probably Rihanna, who literally has not left us for more than a couple of weeks at a time since 2005. Check her discography and you’ll see we’re entering into Cal Ripken Jr. territory: an individual who is consistently good-to-very-good on a daily basis and maintains this level of performance for years on end without any legit threats to the throne (Manny Alexander notwithstanding, obviously).
Yeah, “girlfriend” is on a sick run that is now approaching the decade mark and she doesn’t really show any signs of slowing down. Time will tell but the sheer magnitude of what Rihanna has done since 2005 quite trumps Whitney, Mariah, Beyonce, Diana Ross, etc. in terms of density AND volume. Big picture: she probably doesn’t get enough recognition considering. Ironically, Rihanna’s 2005 debut Music of the Sun (terrible album art BTW) was released August 12 of that year, a precise two months (well, two months and five days) prior to Boards of Canada’s last full-length The Campfire Headphase, which birthed of October 17. Full circle, dude!
2. Leave and be vague about when/if you’re coming back
Again, this is the approach Boards of Canada used when they went AWOL circa 2007-2012 and it has been employed by a variety of other artists in recent years with varying levels of success: David Bowie, Daft Punk, My Bloody Valentine, Kate Bush, D’Angelo, Guns N’ Roses, Portishead, even the Arcade Fire in a far more micro sense. The irony is in most or maybe all of these cases, the chasms between albums isn’t a marketing ploy at all. It’s more a product of disinterest or legal matters or substance abuse. Furthermore, I guarantee you in each instance, it’s largely a result of the artist not having anything new or interesting to say. That’s seriously not a bad thing: showing the restraint to stay away until you’re ready to speak when not spoken to.
It’s been well documented that the record industry itself is essentially flatlining but the community still bears pock marks from its “salad days”. The standard two year “record-album-tour-rinse-repeat” cycle is still very much a thing even though albums don’t mean very much at the moment and everything that isn’t nailed down or firewalled is ultimately lifted.
Take a band like the Strokes, who seemed like they might be encroaching on “so overrated, they’re underrated” territory when they released their kinda-fantastic 2005 effort First Impressions of Earth. That was their third full-length. What have we seen since? A couple of tepid follow-ups and a band that conveys a wild degree of disinterest, now paired with their stylized disinterest.
We’re now seeing the next generation of hipster-approved outfits hitting THAT phase in their discography including future Coachella headliners the National and Vampire Weekend. These bands have been steadily “around” for a while now (the National… much longer than a while but in terms of general consciousness, a while).
It appears their respective ascents are still in progress but given their active touring schedules and the ubiquity of their output in certain circles, it’ll be telling to see if people will start to lose interest some time soon. Possibly by the end of 2013?
There hasn’t really been a extended stretch where people had an opportunity (the pleasure?) to yearn for Vampire Weekend or the National since they’re always playing live or talking with Pitchfork or chumming around with Steve Buscemi or Hayden or whoever. So it’s tough to gauge whether they’re yearn-worthy at all. Boards of Canada have passed the yearn test. Time will tell with these other bands.
So what did Boards of Canada do during their hiatus? Not sure. What we do know is that their Reddit fans spend a lot of time sharing and speculating while various music blogs played their part in elevating the band into uncharted waters. Again, this pattern carried on for years and the result is an inflated sense of actuality that can allow ordinary bands to jump to soft-seater status and GOOD bands to effectively become legends (or headline festivals named after sauces).
This isn’t a comment at all on the quality of Boards of Canada’s music…. even though it totally is. It’s more a comment on the fact that perhaps the best hype-fuelling device in modern music is a complete swing of the pendulum to everything else happening in the industry.
If you ignore everything and everybody, it’ll only make people want you more.
It takes a certain calibre of artists to turn the trick but when you look at the reception that Boards of Canada, Bowie, MBV and Daft Punk have received in 2013, you’ve gotta imagine that more artists will be opting to STFU for prolonged stretches going forward.
Thankfully. There is way too much music as is.
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Consumers’ Research Events
DC Events
EMPs Pose Serious Threat: Consumers’ Research Releases Major White Paper
Washington, DC, May 17, 2016 — Today, Consumers’ Research will release a comprehensive analysis of the threats posed by Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) events and what is being done to protect against them. EMPs, which can be caused by a nuclear detonation or solar storms, can wipe out electrical grids and other critical infrastructure. Despite widespread recognition that an EMP event is inevitable, little has been done to guard against one.
The timely release of this paper coincides with Congressional hearings into the effectiveness of federal preparation for EMPs, the new Consumers’ Research white paper:
Analyzes the risks posed by EMPs caused by high-altitude nuclear detonations and solar superstorms;
Identifies the infrastructure systems most susceptible to EMP events, including electrical power, telecommunications, fuel/energy, and banking/finance;
Discusses the best mitigation strategies for government and private-sector stake holders;
Assesses the reasons behind the poor state of EMP preparedness and lack of federal action.
“EMP events, whether caused by a nuclear detonation or extreme solar activity, pose a very real threat to the security and well-being of Americans,” said Joe Colangelo, Executive Director of Consumers’ Research and former Naval officer. “This white paper educates the public about this under-studied subject, and offers suggestions to help ensure that the government and private sector work together to protect our electrical grids and critical infrastructure.”
Consumers’ Research, founded in 1929, is the nation’s oldest independent consumers’ organization. It seeks to increase the knowledge and understanding of issues, policies, products, and services of concern to consumers—and to promote the freedom to act on that knowledge and understanding. Its magazine, Consumers’ Research, is published quarterly. Visit www.consumersresearch.org for more information.
For an interview with Joe Colangelo or a copy of the new EMP white paper, contact Chris Scalia: cscalia@crcpublicrelations.com; 703-683-5004 (ext. 103)
info@consumersresearch.org
1801 F Street
CR Events
© Consumers' Research, All rights reserved
Follow CR
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Target Commits an Additional $3 Million to Aid in Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts
MINNEAPOLIS - September 5, 2017
Jenna Reck, Media
Target Media Hotline
Target (NYSE: TGT) today announced it has committed $3 million to aid in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, in addition to the $500,000 the company donated on Aug. 28 to national disaster relief organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and Team Rubicon. These efforts are part of Target’s longstanding commitment to supporting its team and communities before, during and after disasters. The additional funds will be provided to support impacted Target team members and the Gulf Coast community.
"While Hurricane Harvey marks one of the worst natural disasters in American history, it’s also shone an incredible spotlight on the very best qualities of our communities. The stories of loss and suffering are heartbreaking, but the stories of courage, generosity and selflessness are nothing short of remarkable,” says Target CEO and chairman Brian Cornell. "As a company, Target initially provided $500,000 financial support to relief organizations as we were assessing the damage. And today, we are committing another $3 million to be there for our team and help address the community’s needs."
The additional $3 million will be provided to several organizations that support Target team members and the Gulf Coast community. First, the company set up a disaster relief fund with non-profit partner Global Impact to support Target team members and their families, and will match employee donations dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million. Additionally, Target provided $100 Target gift cards to more than 10,000 of its team members in the impacted areas to help them get the supplies that they need to take care of themselves and their families. Lastly, an additional $500,000 in cash and products will be donated across several different organizations that provide community support, including a food donation to Feeding America and additional funds to Target stores to use for supporting local non-profits.
Target teams have been volunteering in ongoing recovery efforts, from working to reopen closed stores and keep much-needed supplies on Target’s shelves, to bussing team members from across Texas into Houston to pitch in and cover shifts. After Hurricane Harvey made landfall, Target closed more than 30 stores. While most stores have safely reopened, two stores remain closed indefinitely for the safety of Target’s team and guests:
Humble, 20777 Hwy 59 N, Humble, TX
Houston South, 8503 S Sam Houston Pkwy E, Houston, TX
Learn more about Target’s response efforts and its team members who have helped throughout the community.
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) serves guests at 1,816 stores and at Target.com. Since 1946, Target has given 5 percent of its profit to communities, which today equals millions of dollars a week. For more information, visit Target.com/Pressroom. For a behind-the-scenes look at Target, visit Target.com/abullseyeview or follow @TargetNews on Twitter.
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Beginning with his mid-1950s recordings for Sun Records, John R. “Johnny” Cash established an international profile as an ambassador of American roots music.
Birth: February 26, 1932 - Death: September 12, 2003
Birthplace: Kingsland, Arkansas
He overcame personal demons to reach superstar status in the late 1960s and continued to hew his own path musically into the twenty-first century.
With extensive hit recordings on the country and pop charts—both singles and albums—he extended the scope of country music and helped broaden its audience through his exploration of many themes and types of songs.
Cash left Sun and signed with Columbia in mid-1958. Hit singles such as “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” (1959) and “Ring of Fire” (1963) followed, but Cash turned his attention increasingly to recording concept albums such as Ride This Train (1960), Blood, Sweat and Tears (1962), Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian (1964), and Ballads of the True West (1965). Producer Don Law encouraged Cash to venture out in new directions to connect with the burgeoning folk music revival of the times. This direction seems to have been natural for Cash as he explored cowboy songs, gospel and traditional spirituals, songs of social conscience and protest, and adaptations of folk material. Appearing at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival and connecting with Bob Dylan, Cash kept widening his appeal and deepened his creative sources. His new directions did not always find favor with country’s old guard, however. In 1964, when his recording of “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” (about the tragic end suffered by a Native American hero of World War II) received an initially lukewarm reception at radio, Cash took out a full-page ad in Billboard demanding of programmers, “Where are your guts?”
The late 1960s witnessed Cash suffering from addiction to pills while his first marriage failed. In 1965 he was arrested for carrying a large quantity of pills across the Mexican border at El Paso. But with the help of June Carter (of the Carter Sisters), with whom he recorded several hit duets, and whom he married on March 1, 1968, Cash was able to overcome his addiction.
On January 13, 1968, Cash recorded his masterly live album At Folsom Prison, from which came a new #1 hit version of “Folsom Prison Blues.” This album and the follow-up 1969 live recording At San Quentin pushed his career to new heights. Taken from the San Quentin album, “A Boy Named Sue” (#1 country, #2 pop) became his biggest-selling single and the Country Music Association Single of the Year (1969). Cash was also voted the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year for 1969.
From 1969 through 1971, Cash hosted a prime time network television variety show that showcased his status as a national icon while featuring an eclectic mix of guest performers. A live cut from this show, “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (written by Kris Kristofferson), was a #1 country hit. Increasingly, Cash recorded and featured on his television show the work of new songwriters drawn to country from folk and rock music backgrounds. His younger brother Tommy (b. 1940) had also established a successful singing career around this time and scored several hits, including “Six White Horses” (1969) and “Rise and Shine” (1970).
From the late 1960s, and into the 1970s and 1980s, Cash toured with his powerful road troupe—which included at various times Mother Maybelle Carter, the Carter Sisters, (Helen, June, and Anita), and the Statler Brothers. He also broadened the range of his pursuits to include acting. Outstanding among his credits have been the feature film A Gunfight (1971) with Kirk Douglas, the made-for-TV movies Thaddeus Rose and Eddie (1978, with June Carter) and The Pride of Jesse Hallam (1981), and a guest-star appearance in an episode of Columbo.
As the 1970s progressed, Cash’s hit records grew more infrequent. By the early 1980s his daughter Rosanne Cash was having more success as a recording artist than he was. But with his old friends Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson, Cash had a #1 hit with the title cut of the Highwayman album in 1985. The foursome did a series of special limited concert tours and recorded two more albums: Highwayman 2 (1990), and Highwayman: The Road Goes on Forever (1995).
After Cash left Columbia Records in 1986, he recorded for Mercury until 1992, though again with minimal commercial success. But signed subsequently to the American label, and working with producer Rick Rubin, he released the widely acclaimed American Recordings (1994), an album consisting of Cash’s voice accompanied only by an acoustic guitar. The thirteen songs—some his own, some adaptations of folk pieces, and some from songwriters like Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, and Loudon Wainwright—are often searing explorations of loss and sorrow. For American Recordings, Cash received the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. His 1996 American album Unchained featured a similarly eclectic mix of material, but with Cash backed by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and other guest performers. It was awarded a Grammy for Best Country Album.
Health problems forced Cash to stop touring in the late nineties, though he made occasional public appearances and continued to record with Rubin. Tracks from American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002) earned Grammys for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. In 2001 Cash received the National Medal of Arts, the country’s highest award for artistic excellence. His stark video for “Hurt,” a song by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, won the admiration of a new generation of music fans, earning six nominations for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and winning one (Best Cinematography). —Fred Danker
Cash died in 2003. Two years later his life became the subject of a biographical film, Walk the Line, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. Phoenix and Witherspoon both won Academy Awards for their performances. American V: A Hundred Highways (2006) and American VI: Ain’t No Grave (2010), further strengthened Cash’s reputation as a cultural hero.–Fred Danker
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Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria
Karen L. Casciotti, Bettie Ward
Nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are climatically important trace gases that are produced by both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria. In the denitrification pathway, N2O is produced from nitric oxide (NO) by the enzyme nitric oxide reductase (NOR). The ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea also possesses a functional nitric oxide reductase, which was shown recently to serve a unique function. In this study, sequences homologous to the large subunit of nitric oxide reductase (norB) were obtained from eight additional strains of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, including Nitrosomonas and Nitrosococcus species (i.e., both β- and γ-Proteobacterial ammonia oxidizers), showing widespread occurrence of a norB homologue in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. However, despite efforts to detect norB homologues from Nitrosospira strains, sequences have not yet been obtained. Phylogenetic analysis placed nitrifier norB homologues in a subcluster, distinct from denitrifier sequences. The similarities and differences of these sequences highlight the need to understand the variety of metabolisms represented within a "functional group" defined by the presence of a single homologous gene. These results expand the database of norB homologue sequences in nitrifying bacteria.
FEMS microbiology ecology
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.femsec.2004.11.002
Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria
Nitric oxide reductase
Nitrifier-denitrification
Nitrite reductase
10.1016/j.femsec.2004.11.002
Dive into the research topics of 'Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
nitric-oxide reductase Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
nitric oxide reductase (cytochrome c) Agriculture & Biology 88%
Nitrosomonas europaea Agriculture & Biology 64%
Ammonia Medicine & Life Sciences 63%
nitric oxide Earth & Environmental Sciences 62%
nitrous oxide Agriculture & Biology 47%
ammonia Agriculture & Biology 46%
phylogenetics Earth & Environmental Sciences 46%
Casciotti, K. L., & Ward, B. (2005). Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. FEMS microbiology ecology, 52(2), 197-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.femsec.2004.11.002
Casciotti, Karen L. ; Ward, Bettie. / Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. In: FEMS microbiology ecology. 2005 ; Vol. 52, No. 2. pp. 197-205.
@article{290df352c241489da94317e162a4ed92,
title = "Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria",
abstract = "Nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are climatically important trace gases that are produced by both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria. In the denitrification pathway, N2O is produced from nitric oxide (NO) by the enzyme nitric oxide reductase (NOR). The ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea also possesses a functional nitric oxide reductase, which was shown recently to serve a unique function. In this study, sequences homologous to the large subunit of nitric oxide reductase (norB) were obtained from eight additional strains of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, including Nitrosomonas and Nitrosococcus species (i.e., both β- and γ-Proteobacterial ammonia oxidizers), showing widespread occurrence of a norB homologue in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. However, despite efforts to detect norB homologues from Nitrosospira strains, sequences have not yet been obtained. Phylogenetic analysis placed nitrifier norB homologues in a subcluster, distinct from denitrifier sequences. The similarities and differences of these sequences highlight the need to understand the variety of metabolisms represented within a {"}functional group{"} defined by the presence of a single homologous gene. These results expand the database of norB homologue sequences in nitrifying bacteria.",
keywords = "Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, Nitric oxide reductase, Nitrifier-denitrification, Nitrite reductase, Nitrous oxide",
author = "Casciotti, {Karen L.} and Bettie Ward",
note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to M. Voytek and J. Kirshtein for assistance in sequencing Nitrosospira PCR products. Insightful comments from C. Francis, G. O{\textquoteright}Mullan, M. Voytek, and two anonymous reviewers improved earlier versions of the manuscript. This work was supported by NSF award (CHE-9810248) to B.B.W. and Princeton University Harold W. Dodds Fellowship to K.L.C. ",
doi = "10.1016/j.femsec.2004.11.002",
journal = "FEMS Microbiology Ecology",
Casciotti, KL & Ward, B 2005, 'Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria', FEMS microbiology ecology, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 197-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.femsec.2004.11.002
Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. / Casciotti, Karen L.; Ward, Bettie.
In: FEMS microbiology ecology, Vol. 52, No. 2, 01.04.2005, p. 197-205.
T1 - Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria
AU - Casciotti, Karen L.
AU - Ward, Bettie
N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful to M. Voytek and J. Kirshtein for assistance in sequencing Nitrosospira PCR products. Insightful comments from C. Francis, G. O’Mullan, M. Voytek, and two anonymous reviewers improved earlier versions of the manuscript. This work was supported by NSF award (CHE-9810248) to B.B.W. and Princeton University Harold W. Dodds Fellowship to K.L.C.
N2 - Nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are climatically important trace gases that are produced by both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria. In the denitrification pathway, N2O is produced from nitric oxide (NO) by the enzyme nitric oxide reductase (NOR). The ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea also possesses a functional nitric oxide reductase, which was shown recently to serve a unique function. In this study, sequences homologous to the large subunit of nitric oxide reductase (norB) were obtained from eight additional strains of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, including Nitrosomonas and Nitrosococcus species (i.e., both β- and γ-Proteobacterial ammonia oxidizers), showing widespread occurrence of a norB homologue in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. However, despite efforts to detect norB homologues from Nitrosospira strains, sequences have not yet been obtained. Phylogenetic analysis placed nitrifier norB homologues in a subcluster, distinct from denitrifier sequences. The similarities and differences of these sequences highlight the need to understand the variety of metabolisms represented within a "functional group" defined by the presence of a single homologous gene. These results expand the database of norB homologue sequences in nitrifying bacteria.
AB - Nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are climatically important trace gases that are produced by both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria. In the denitrification pathway, N2O is produced from nitric oxide (NO) by the enzyme nitric oxide reductase (NOR). The ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea also possesses a functional nitric oxide reductase, which was shown recently to serve a unique function. In this study, sequences homologous to the large subunit of nitric oxide reductase (norB) were obtained from eight additional strains of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, including Nitrosomonas and Nitrosococcus species (i.e., both β- and γ-Proteobacterial ammonia oxidizers), showing widespread occurrence of a norB homologue in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. However, despite efforts to detect norB homologues from Nitrosospira strains, sequences have not yet been obtained. Phylogenetic analysis placed nitrifier norB homologues in a subcluster, distinct from denitrifier sequences. The similarities and differences of these sequences highlight the need to understand the variety of metabolisms represented within a "functional group" defined by the presence of a single homologous gene. These results expand the database of norB homologue sequences in nitrifying bacteria.
KW - Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria
KW - Nitric oxide reductase
KW - Nitrifier-denitrification
KW - Nitrite reductase
KW - Nitrous oxide
U2 - 10.1016/j.femsec.2004.11.002
DO - 10.1016/j.femsec.2004.11.002
JO - FEMS Microbiology Ecology
JF - FEMS Microbiology Ecology
Casciotti KL, Ward B. Phylogenetic analysis of nitric oxide reductase gene homologues from aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. FEMS microbiology ecology. 2005 Apr 1;52(2):197-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.femsec.2004.11.002
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British government now reports 524 deaths following COVID vaccination
The Crazz Files March 18, 2021
READ MORE AT LIFE SITE NEWS
LONDON, England, March 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The number of deaths listed as possible side effects of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.K. has doubled since January.
On March 11, the British government released the latest updates to the nation’s “Yellow Card” reporting on potential side effects arising from the Pfizer/BioNTech and the Oxford/AstraZeneca injections. By January 31, 2021, there were 244 deaths reported, eight of which were listed as “spontaneous abortions.” The update, which covered the period from December 8, 2020, to February 28, 2021, reported 524 deaths, 22 of them described as “spontaneous abortions.” One death was attributed to premature birth.
In the introduction to the separate reports for the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca vaccines, the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) underscored that “nearly 125,000” people in Britain had died within 28 days of receiving a positive test for the COVID-19 coronavirus. The MHRA still clearly believes that the benefits of either the Pfizer or the Oxford vaccine outweigh their disadvantages. These include side effects, some of which occur quite often. The MHRA repeated that during the clinical trials for both medical products, over 1 in 10 people suffered from the most common side effects.
Although the MHRA does not dwell on the details, it states that side effects of both vaccines are both reported more frequently and are also more serious in those under 65. It repeated later in the document that side effects were more frequently reported “in younger adults.”
In the same preamble, however, it suggests both that some side effects listed are not proven to have been caused by a vaccine, and that the high number of incidences of side effects can be attributed in part to the predominance of the elderly among those vaccinated.
“The nature of Yellow Card reporting means that reported events are not always proven side effects,” the MHRA wrote.
“Some events may have happened anyway, regardless of vaccination,” it continued. “This is particularly the case when millions of people are vaccinated, and especially when most vaccines are being given to the most elderly people and people who have underlying illness.”
As of February 28, 2021, 10.7 million people in the U.K. had been given their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and 9.7 million had been given a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Only 0.8 million had had a second dose so far, mostly of the Pfizer vaccine. Nevertheless, there were only 33,207 Yellow Card incidence reports for the Pfizer vaccine, whereas there were 54,180 for the AstraZeneca vaccine. There were 251 additional Yellow Cards submitted that did not specify which vaccine may have triggered the adverse reaction.
The preamble noted that there had been, in a single week, an increase of 3,492 Yellow Cards for the Pfizer and 11,263 for the AstraZeneca injection. Regarding the high number of cards, the MHRA stressed that over 20 million people in Britain had been inoculated with the vaccines and that there were only “3-6” Yellow Cards per 1,000 vaccinated people. It stated also that any suspicion that a COVID-19 vaccine might have played a role in a patient’s illness is reported and that these are “often coincidental.”
The Yellow Cards should not be taken as proof that the COVID-19 vaccines have caused serious side effects, the MHRA advises. Bell’s Palsy, which causes facial muscles to weaken and droop, has been associated with the vaccines, but the MHRA says that the number of cases of Bell’s Palsy occurring in vaccinated people is “similar to the expected natural rate.”
Nevertheless, the MHRA now advises that people who take a COVID-19 vaccine should be “monitored for at least 15 minutes afterwards.” It continues to advise people with allergies to any of the ingredients in a vaccine not to take it.
There are separate Yellow Card reports for each of the two vaccines. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was associated with 227 deaths of post-natal people, and the Oxford/AstraZeneca with 275. The Pfizer vaccine was associated with more miscarriages, however, for its Yellow Card report lists 18 “spontaneous abortions,” whereas there were only 4 listed for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Among the 227 post-natal deaths associated with the Pfizer vaccine, 114 were caused by “general disorders” (including 14 “sudden deaths”), 38 from “infections” (including 25 from COVID-19 or COVID-19 pneumonia), 26 resulted from “cardiac disorders”, 17 from “nervous system disorders” (including different kinds of strokes), 14 from respiratory disorders, 12 from “gastrointestinal disorders,” 2 from diabetes, one from thromocytopenia (insufficient white blood cells), one from injuries sustained from a fall, one from hemorrhaging, and one from “toxic epidermal necrolysis”, a fatal skin reaction normally caused by medication.
Among the 275 post-natal deaths associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 153 were caused by general disorders (including 9 “sudden deaths”), 39 resulted from cardiac disorders, 38 from infections (including 14 of COVID or COVID pneumonia), 19 from nervous system disorders (including different kinds of strokes), 11 from respiratory disorders, 5 from gastrointestinal disorders, 3 from vascular disorders, 2 from diabetic ketoacidosis, one from immune thrombocytopenia, one from injuries sustained in a fall, one from a malignant tumor, one from having been born prematurely, one from renal failure, and one bluntly listed as “COVID-19 immunisation.”
The most common side effects associated with the vaccines were relatively (usually) minor conditions.
Regarding the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, there were reports of 4,423 cases of nausea (1 fatal) and 1,201 cases of vomiting (2 fatal). There were 6,438 reports of fatigue, 5,153 of fever, 3,364 of chills, 2,019 of “pain” in general, and 1,492 of injection site pain. There were 3,888 reports of muscle pain, 3,152 of a sore extremity, and 2647 of joint pain. There were 8,571 headaches reported, as well as 2,534 bouts of dizziness. Rashes numbered 1,367, and 1,360 cases of itching were reported.
Regarding the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, there were reports of 10,498 cases of nausea and 3,777 cases of vomiting (2 fatal). There were 2,517 cases of diarrhea, 1,212 of upper abdominal pain, and 1,158 of abdominal pain. There were 1,130 cases of palpitations. There were 18,640 reports of fever, 14,442 of chills, 13,202 of fatigue, 4,018 of pain, 3,631 of malaise, and 1,172 of hands or legs swelling. There were 8,308 reports of muscle pain, 6,317 of joint pain, 4,297 of pain in the extremities, and 1,499 cases of back pain. There were 23,454 headaches and 1,520 migraines. There were 5,513 cases of dizziness, 1,344 of lethargy, 1,413 of parasthesia (a prickling sensation). There were 1,490 cases of itching reported, and 1,417 rashes.
The preamble to the Yellow Card report said that the most common side effects happened “shortly after the vaccination and are not associated with more serious or lasting illness.” Nevertheless, the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been temporaliy suspended by a growing number of countries after it became associated with blood clots and a number of fatalities.
LifeSiteNews has produced an extensive COVID-19 vaccines resources page. View it here.
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Source: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/british-government-now-reports-524-deaths-following-covid-vaccination
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Journalists safety
Mashaal Gauhar
The recent assassination of India’s courageous journalist Gauri Lankesh outside her home in Bangalore sparked widespread indignation in India. Editor of the independent Kannada language newspaper Lankesh Patrike, Lankesh was an ardent campaigner for India’s minorities and a vociferous critic of far-right nationalist groups. Hours before being killed, she had posted a message on Facebook condemning the planned deportation of Rohingya refugees by the Indian government. She drew the ire of the Modi government for speaking out against the ruling BJP. Undeterred, she continued to champion the cause of India’s vulnerable communities in spite of receiving regular death threats from hardline elements.
On both sides of the border, the ascendancy of fundamentalist groups must be addressed not only to protect those speaking truth to power, but also for both countries to retain their democratic credentials
In the wake of her murder, the Press Club of India stated that Lankesh was ‘a fearless and independent journalist who gave voice to many causes and always stood up for justice has been shot dead in the most brutal manner in order to silence her voice.’
This is a reality that Pakistan understands all too well. A recent report from the Committee to Protect Journalists puts India ninth on the 20 deadliest countries list as far as journalists’ killings are concerned. Pakistan stands at the sixth place. Geo journalist Wali Babar, Haji Abdul Razzak Baloch, Saleem Shahzad and Taimoor Khan from Samaa TV are just a few of the journalists who have lost their lives in the course of their work.
In May this year, International Freedom of Expression Exchange Executive Director Annie Game recommended Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to respond to the UNESCO director general’s 2017 request seeking information on the status of judicial inquiries into the killings of 55 journalists in Pakistan from 2006 to 2016.
A truly democratic system must guarantee the protection of free speech in recognition of the fact that criticism, scrutiny and a plurality of views are an essential part of democracy. This is enshrined in Article 19 of the Pakistan Constitution yet members of the press still routinely face death threats and intimidation.
Such is the importance of freedom of expression that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) states that free speech is ‘one of the most precious rights of man.’
The rising tide of religious extremism and intolerance in Pakistan has created a toxic environment where journalists fear for their lives. The assassination of this newspaper’s founder, the late Salmaan Taseer, who so courageously championed the rights of vulnerable minorities, is indicative of the malaise that has taken hold within the country.
On both sides of the border, the ascendancy of fundamentalist groups must be addressed not only to protect those speaking truth to power, but also so that both countries can credibly claim to be real democracies.
The writer is the founding editor of Blue Chip magazine. She tweets @MashaalGauhar
Published in Daily Times, September 12th 2017.
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Home » Articles » Updated KTM 390 Adventure Coming to the USA for 2022 – $6,600 MSRP
Updated KTM 390 Adventure Coming to the USA for 2022 – $6,600 MSRP
Fans of small-displacement ADV bikes will rejoice to hear that the KTM 390 Adventure is getting some updates for the 2022 model year.
Looking skin-deep, we can see that the 2022 KTM 390 Adventure get a bodywork revision for the new model year, which includes some new graphics and color choices.
However, it is the changes beyond the outer layer that are perhaps the most intriguing, as the Austrian brand has brought some key upgrades and refinements to its base ADV offering.
First item is that the 2022 KTM 390 Adventure now has a focused traction control setting for both street and off-road riding, which allow different amounts of rear-wheel slip on dry, loose, or wet terrains.
The traction control is lean-sensitive, and the TC settings are now maintained in the event of a tip-over or stall of the engine, making it easier to get going quickly on the trail after a mishap.
The ABS is also lean-sensitive, and in its off-road setting, the rear brake ABS actuation can be disabled – as it should be on a dual-sport machine.
Addressing complaints from the previous generation of machine, the cast aluminum wheels on the KTM 390 Adventure have been upgraded to be stronger and more robust for off-road use.
Accordingly, the wheels now use a five-spoke layout, rather than the previous six spokes, which KTM says allows for increased stiffness and impact resistance.
Similarly catering to customer needs, the rear subframe is attached with just four screws, and can easily be replaced if it gets bent beyond repair. KTM also boasts of its adjustable WP suspension, as well as its 3.8-gallon fuel tank (14 liters), which is good for up to 250 miles (400 km).
At the core of the machine is the same 373cc single-cylinder thumper, though now in a Euro5 configuration. Power comes in at 43hp with 27 lbs•ft of torque on tap.
Pricing in the United States starts at $6,599 MSRP, with availability starting this month, January 2022.
Photos: KTM
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Danielle Yoch
More Funding and Services to Victims of Childhood Sexual Assault
Posted to Politics September 14, 2021 by Annalisa Vivona
A report by the National Institute of Justice showed three out of four children who were sexually assaulted were abused by someone they knew well. It is a situation Family Support Line board member Danielle Yoch of Delaware County understands too well.
Yoch is a former FSL client and told her story to Delaware Valley Journal in hopes of bringing awareness to the issue.
“The abuse happened to me when I was a kid, like five to seven years old, by my grandmother’s brother,” Yoch said. “He was definitely creepy. Everyone thought he was creepy, but none of the adults in the family thought to keep us away from him. He lived with my grandmother so it happened at my grandmother’s house and also my grandmother had a shore house. It happened there, too. And it happened in the car between Pennsylvania and the shore house.”
A new Delaware County $2 million grant aims to help victims struggling in the aftermath of abuse, bringing the expertise of the Joseph J. Peters Institute (JJPI) to Delaware County. That organization, based in Philadelphia, is one of the few offering treatments for the entire cycle of abuse, from the victims to the parents, to those who show signs of Problem Sexual Behavior (PSB). It will partner with the Family Support Line (FSL). Located in Media is the Child Advocate Center for Delaware County. It offers various services such as comprehensive prevention programs, specialized treatment, professional training, and advocacy.
The executive director of JJPI, Ivan Haskell, and the executive director of FSL, Sarah Gibbons, came together to find the gaps in treatment that were missing in Delaware County. The collaboration resulted in the recent grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which will allow JJPI and FSL to add new services to victims and those who portray PSB.
“There is no Joseph J. Peters Institute equivalent in Delaware County,” Haskell said, “and [FSL] would refer [families] to Philadelphia, but most families weren’t willing to make the trip. We’re in Center City so it’s a little bit of a hassle to get here. So we started to think, ‘Hey, maybe we can potentially partner so we can actually be at your location.’”
The statistics for child sexual abuse are staggering. According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center studies, one in five girls and one in 20 boys are victims of childhood sexual assault. Children are often the abusers and they require treatment as well, which can be forgotten when dealing with the victim of the abuse, Gibbons said.
“This [grant] fills a huge gap. With one-third of our kids, the alleged abuser is a child themselves. So, in these cases, we usually see it’s somebody who’s part of the familial group, whether it’s a cousin, or brother or sister, so oftentimes law enforcement doesn’t know what to do. Because they are exhibiting problematic youth sexual behaviors, but it’s not necessarily deemed as abuse in the formalized way as we see it, where there is an adult perpetrator that is committing a crime.”
Yoch said parents or other family members don’t always help in incest cases. Once her father walked in on an instance of the abuse. Although threats were made to take her uncle to the police it never happened and the abuse continued.
“So, a lot of failures in the family system allowed for that to happen,” Yoch said. “And so with my father catching him and not doing anything, I sort of internalized like, ‘Well, I guess they don’t really care about this.’ So, I just didn’t do anything. I didn’t feel like I could do anything.”
Eventually, Yoch believes she aged out of the abuse. Her younger sister became a target for the abuse as well. Yoch also said she didn’t recognize it as abuse until she was an adult.
“When I was 20, I had my first intimate relationship in college and I started having flashbacks. That was a time when you’re sort of separating from your parents anyway and I started seeing that maybe these people weren’t making the best choices. So, when I graduated [at age 21], I started going to therapy.”
While Yoch was an adult by the time she reported the abuse, her younger sister and her parents could use the services of FSL to heal.
“Family Support Line has been around almost 35 years,” Gibbons explained, “and we started off as an agency that provided treatment services and support to families that had been affected by childhood sexual abuse. So, it started off as a mental health agency and then five years ago we got the accreditation to be a Child Advocacy Center. So, that’s another one of our programs. Now we are a holistic organization that from start to finish helps with child sexual abuse all around.”
In addition, FSL provides prevention education to the community. They also provide treatment to victims, and with the collaboration from JJPI, they’ll be able to help the entire family heal.
“The other thing that we’re adding that nobody else in Delaware County is doing is the treatment for the children who have a problem with sexual behavior themselves,” Haskell added. “We offer an evidence-based therapy for that called Problem Sexual Behavior Cognitive Behavioral Therapy so that will be new to the county. JJPI is actually one of only two providers in the whole Philadelphia region that offers that.”
The grant also includes additional funding for translation and transportation services. It will be used to help families that may have trouble getting to the office in Media, as well as for families where English isn’t their first language.
Annalisa Vivona
Annalisa Vivona is a US Army veteran who has a graduate degree in creative writing and enjoys spending her free time with her son. She wrote this for Delaware Valley Journal.
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LGBT Global Rights Initiative
In 2014 the Democracy Council (DC) launched its new LGBT Global Rights Initiative. The initiative builds capacity and security for LGBT activists in some of the world’s most repressive environments.
While LGBT equality is advancing here at home, we all know that persecution has increased in other countries: in Russia, where pride marchers are attacked and police do nothing; in Iran, where gay and trans people are arrested and tortured; in Uganda, where American religious fundamentalists inspired and authored an “Anti-Homosexuality Law” that, since its passage in January 2014, has led to a tenfold increase in violence against LGBT people.
The LGBT Global Rights Initiative gives grassroots organizations around the world the tools and resources they need to safely and securely fight for LGBT equality. Our activities include training activists in secure communications skills, providing basic capacity-building consulting and resources for fledgling LGBT organizations, and linking LGBT CSOs to other civil society organizations in their home countries.
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Out of the Gutter
He walked slowly along Wharf, came onto Vernon Street, then walked west on Vernon toward home. The slimy water in the gutter was lit with pink fire from the evening sun, and he looked up and saw it big and very red up there, the flares shooting out from the blazing sphere, merging with the orange clouds, so that the sky was like a huge opal, the glowing colors floating and blending, and it was really something to look at. He thought, It’s tremendous. And he wondered if anyone else was looking up at it right now and thinking the same thing.
But as his gaze returned to the street he saw the dirty-faced kids playing in the gutter, he saw a drunk sprawled on a doorstep, and three middle-aged men sitting on the curb and drinking wine from a bottle wrapped in old newspaper.
— The Moon in the Gutter (1953)
WHEN DAVID GOODIS DIED in January 1967, he was forty-nine years old and a decade past his best work. He hadn’t published a book since 1961. Goodis was a popular novelist, and without new titles to keep his name on readers’ minds, he was doomed to return to obscurity. His final novel, Somebody’s Done For, was published months after his death, but he didn’t leave a substantial backlog of work to sustain his reputation. His estate won an appeal in a lawsuit against the producers of The Fugitive television series in 1972, claiming the premise was stolen from Goodis’s novel Dark Passage (1946), but by that time he was practically a relic. Perhaps Goodis’s legacy suffered most for lack of a single, truly iconic character one could identify with his work. His protagonists are nearer Simenon’s Monsieur Hire than Hammett’s Sam Spade.
Yet there was a time — roughly from 1947 to 1957 — when Goodis enjoyed a wide following among readers of American noir fiction and, whether they realized it or not, American moviegoers. Dark Passage, his second novel, was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1945 and appeared as a film two years later, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Another novel, Cassidy’s Girl, sold a million copies in its original paperback release. He published fourteen novels in that span of ten years, a steady output but nothing unheard of in the annals of pulp writers.
Goodis did a stint in Hollywood, signing a contract with Warner Brothers for one year, with five renewal options, on the heels of a $25,000 payday for the rights to Dark Passage. He cashed in again by working on the script adaptation of the book. He also wrote the screenplay based on Somerset Maugham’s story “The Unfaithful,” and was rewarded handsomely for his studio work on the whole. His starting salary was $750 per week, a tidy sum for 1946, and it climbed steadily. His contract with Warner Brothers was eminently fair: it stipulated six months of film work and six months during which he could return to Philadelphia and write fiction. Despite these generous terms, Goodis never settled into the Hollywood lifestyle. He opted to sleep on friends’ sofas and in LA flophouses like the Crown Hill Hotel. There was a period when he took an apartment in the fashionable Hollywood Tower Apartments, but this was an aberration. His friends from Philadelphia remember his studied avoidance of the film industry’s glamor. He refused to attend parties and preferred to dine in hole-in-the-wall restaurants.
In the end, his writing for the screen wasn’t a great success. Warner Brothers requested eleven treatments for Of Missing Persons in 1948 alone. They later granted Goodis permission to publish the story as a novel, but it’s easy to see the difference in the two sides’ visions. Though there is a crime at the heart of many Goodis novels, that crime is more a catalyst for the protagonist’s spiralling hardships than a mystery to unravel. The studio seems to have worried that the Goodis model wouldn’t translate to box office success, despite their interest in Dark Passage. That judgment appears dubious, considering the number of films based on Goodis’s work released after he and the studio parted ways. But by 1950, he was either disillusioned with writing for the screen or had fallen out of favor at Warner Brothers. Accounts vary.
He moved back to Philly in 1950, and lived out his final seventeen years in his parents’ house. His work in those years appeared as paperback originals, mostly from Gold Medal, a measure which no doubt ensured a wider readership. But Goodis’s public profile diminished radically after 1957. He was more respected as a literary figure in France than the United States. The only book-length biography of the author is Phillipe Garnier’s Goodis, la vie en noir et blanc (1984), and the French remained devoted Goodis readers long after his books went out of print in America. Francois Truffaut adapted Down There (1956) as Tirez sur le pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player) in 1960, but even this show of international esteem didn’t prompt a new wave of admiration at home. Goodis’s downward trajectory was steep and inexorable. His mother’s death in 1966 didn’t help matters. It was a serious blow to Goodis, who briefly committed himself to the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center. His physical health was failing, too. He told his family he suffered from a heart condition, and the aftermath of a mugging around that time left one of his eyes incurably bloodshot. He died less than a year later, of a cerebral vascular incident.
Readers quickly forgot Goodis and what had drawn them to him in the first place. There were his uniquely riveting depictions of grim, hard post-war Philadelphia in books like Nightfall (1947). And then there was his mordant wit. Take his beautifully turned observation in Street of No Return (1954), when Whitey, a crooner-cum-Skid Row bum, needs to scrounge up some change for a drink. Goodis recounts Whitey’s excesses during his fall from the heights, the awful drinking jags and huge gambling losses. When he reaches bottom, all he needs is a bed and wine. “Twenty nine cents for a bottle of muscatel,” Goodis writes, summing up the man’s tastes and means. “It was the outstanding value in the universe.” And no one could hit that note of stark fatalism like Goodis, as when Whitey thinks of running into a particular prostitute: “It would be like a meeting of two mongrels in the street, no preliminaries necessary… Yet somehow it was ecstasy, a sort of rummage-sale brand, but ecstasy nonetheless.”
At other times, though, Goodis missed his mark badly. His style was often inelegant. He presented needlessly thorough lists of actions and mundane details in novels short of two-hundred pages. Consider a scene in Nightfall, when police detective Fraser comes home to his wife:
In the kitchen he sat down at a small white table and she began preparing a salad. It looked good to her and she added things to make it enough for two. There was a pitcher of lemonade and she put more ice and sugar and water in it and sat down at the table with him. She watched him as he tackled the salad. He looked up and smiled at her. She smiled back. She poured some lemonade for him and as he lifted a forkful of lettuce and hard-boiled egg toward his mouth, she said, “Didn’t you have dinner?”
Given the particulars of Goodis’s biography — especially his difficulties in married life — the tenor of the scene gains a kind of poignancy. Vanning doesn’t enjoy anything similar, nor did Goodis, at least not on a regular basis. There’s probably an argument that this lack informs the awkwardness here, that, odd as it sounds, the mundane contentment Fraser enjoys was more difficult for Goodis to render than the frantic calculations of a man on the run.
Worse are his celebrated “silent dialogue” in Dark Passage, which reads like a silly gimmick. Here’s Vincent Parry’s conversation with his friend George Fellsinger, whose body he has just discovered:
Without sound, Parry said, “Hello, George.”
Without sound, Fellsinger said, “Hello, Vince.”
“Are you dead, George?”
“Yes, I’m dead.”
“Why are you dead, George?”
“I can’t tell you, Vince. I wish I could tell you, but I can’t.”
“George, you were my best friend. You were always a real friend.”
“You were my only friend, Vince. My only friend.”
“I know that, George. And I know I didn’t kill you. I know it I know it I know it I know it I know it.”
None of this is to say that Goodis deserved to be cast off of readers’ shelves. The accumulation of mundane details eventually weaves a spell, hypnotizing the reader. The silent dialogue is not so egregious or frequent that it robs the narrative of its exhilarating momentum (another Goodis hallmark). His work continued to attract a small, discerning coterie of readers. Fortunately, that group included publishers willing to bring Goodis back into print.
The first Goodis revival in the U.S. came in the 1980s, courtesy of Barry Gifford’s Black Lizard press. His books have been in and out of print since, though a moment of serious recognition came when the Library of America included Down There in its two volume set of crime fiction classics in 1997, alongside titles by Patricia Highsmith, Chester Himes, Jim Thompson, and Charles Willeford. A decade and a half later, the Library has finally devoted an entire volume to Goodis, collecting five of his finest from the forties and fifties: Dark Passage, Nightfall, The Burglar (1953), The Moon in the Gutter, and Street of No Return. This is Goodis in full cry, elegizing his wrongly accused and hopelessly addled misfits. His induction into the Library is not only an acknowledgement of his importance among the noir writers of his day, but a long-delayed recognition of his place in the broader American canon.
Critical responses to Goodis since his death often devote a disproportionate amount of attention to the particulars of his life. His biography is tantalizingly imprecise. What we do know is tailor-made for speculative connections between the writer’s life and work. His relationship with and marriage to a woman named Elaine was grounds for much conjecture, including the notion that her mistreatment of Goodis served as a template for the heartless, manipulative female characters he often employed. The relationship gets a thorough sounding in the 2010 documentary, David Goodis: To a Pulp. While living in Hollywood, he behaved in a peculiar fashion, dressing in a tattered bathrobe and claiming to be an exiled Russian prince, or stuffing the red cellophane wrapping from Lucky Strike cigarette packs in his nostrils in order to give the impression that his nose was bleeding. He sewed false tags in his suits and wore them until they were threadbare. Rather than replacing them, he would dye them another shade. For entertainment, he spent evenings out in Watts, where he’s rumored to have paid large black women to assault him verbally and perhaps physically, a proclivity he may have indulged in Philadelphia as well. Most confounding was his decision to retreat from Hollywood not simply to regroup, but to live at home with his parents and disabled brother, when he clearly had the means and ability to carve out a more independent existence. None of this makes his novels more or less worthy of our attention, but it does risk stealing attention from what is, on balance, a significant body of work.
All the more reason to applaud one of the most striking features of the new Library of America edition — editor Robert Polito’s decision to forego a prefatory essay. Polito sets aside whatever scandal and curiosity attended Goodis’s life, allowing the novels to stand on their own. And they stand up well. Goodis’s work is the product of a singular vision, and though it may be flawed and sometimes clumsily executed, its distinctive sensibility makes a far stronger impression than its shortcomings. The first title is Dark Passage. Goodis buttonholes the reader from its opening lines:
It was a tough break. Parry was innocent. On top of that he was a decent sort of guy who never bothered people and wanted to live a quiet life. But there was too much on the other side and on his side of it there was practically nothing. The jury decided he was guilty. The judge handed him a life sentence and he was taken to San Quentin.
Add a few, deft brushstrokes, and we have an effective portrait of the quintessential Goodis protagonist:
He didn’t look as if he could handle trouble. He was five seven and a hundred and forty-five, and it was the kind of build made for clerking in an investment house. Then there was drab light-brown hair and drab dark-yellow eyes. The lips were the kind of lips not made for smiling. There was usually a cigarette between the lips. Parry had jumped at the job in the investment security house when he learned it was the kind of job where he could smoke all he pleased. He was a three-pack-a-day man.
Like all of Goodis’s accused men, Parry insists upon his innocence, but faces insurmountable suspicion. He escapes from prison, beats up the man who offers him a ride, and falls in with an attractive young woman named Irene, who offers to buy him clothes and let him hide in her apartment. Irene’s motives seem dubious, and Parry is desperate to get away on his own, but, gradually, circumstances force him to trust her. James Sallis, whose Difficult Lives remains the best English-language source on the author’s life, calls Goodis’s plots “closed circuits,” and indeed there is a sense that, try as they might, his protagonists are relegated to a small, proscribed range of possibilities. He also suggests that, “the more one reads Goodis’s books […] the more insistent is the hint of something beyond simple preoccupation or reprisal, something like real madness.” A sunnier view might invoke Vladimir Nabokov’s response to Clarence Brown, who considered the master’s work to be “extremely repetitious”: “Artistic originality,” Nabokov countered, “has only its own self to copy.” Whether we ascribe it to madness, genius, or some measure of both, Goodis’s novels run on the oppressive atmosphere he mastered, and his particular fixations recur with striking intensity.
Street of No Return, for instance, chases up thoughts of Tom Kromer’s Depression-era portrait of life on the skids, Waiting for Nothing (1935). Goodis writes of
all the gray Novembers of getting up early to distribute circulars door to door. It had to be that kind of job. It didn’t take much thinking. It paid two dollars a day, and sometimes three dollars when the weather was bad and the pavements were icy. On some mornings the sign was out, ‘No Work Today’ and if the sign stayed there for three days in succession it was a financial catastrophe; it meant a long cold wait in the soup lines.
But when a race war breaks out between a white faction and a Puerto Rican group, Whitey the bum reflects on his former life, the type of activity Kromer cautions against. “A guy can’t always be thinking,” Kromer writes. “If a guy is thinking all the time, pretty soon he will go crazy. A man is bound to land up in the booby-hatch if he stays on the fritz.” It’s a warning both Goodis and his protagonists might have done well to heed, not that Kromer offers any sophisticated solutions. He prescribes drink as a means of quieting the mind, and Whitey bookends his foray into the past with intense, committed drinking. But for the 160-odd pages in between, he follows the Goodis path, confronting sudden hardship and reflecting on the events that brought him to this critical moment. Street of No Return was written after Goodis returned from Hollywood, and it shows a cinematic influence on his style, particularly on his visual descriptions. The dialogue is as sparkling as ever, which makes it an even greater shame that he engineers a convoluted resolution to the race war that had driven the tension around Whitey throughout the book.
Though Whitey has a more glamorous past than the average Goodis hero (if one may call them that), they’re all tethered to the past. In Dark Passage, Vincent Parry escapes from San Quentin, but no matter how far he runs, the specter of his wife’s murder, of which he was wrongly convicted, trails him. Bill Kerrigan spends the whole of The Moon in the Gutter circling around the events that led to his sister’s murder. James Vanning tries to live a quiet life as a commercial artist in Nightfall, but a lost satchel of stolen money hangs around his neck. The Burglar follows a small criminal gang led by Nat Harbin, whose ties to the past are figured by a human bond: he acts as a sort of surrogate father to Gladden, a young woman who works with him. He knew the girl’s father, and first accepted his obligation when Gladden was “a tiny, sad little girl whose mother had died while giving birth to her.” He had her paperwork fixed and she was “officially designated as his kid sister.” And so, when other members of the gang suggest to him that no good will come of including a woman in their work, he “couldn’t convey to [them] the reasons why they had to retain Gladden. The reasons were deep and there were times when he tried to study them and could not figure them out himself.” Wrapped up in those reasons is a nascent attraction to the girl, which speaks to the emotional and psychological complexity of Goodis’s universe.
Near the end of his life, Somerset Maugham was asked about his legacy. “I know just where I stand,” he said, “in the very front of the second rate.” It’s unclear how Goodis rated his own talent, or if he even considered such a question. He was a working writer, able to parlay stories into a solid living. Despite speculation to the contrary, he died with a tidy sum in the bank. Any loftier aims probably came second. Down There is perhaps the best of Goodis, but the five novels here make a compelling case that there was more to him than the one good book. They are a strong argument for his elevation to the highest ranks of noir writers and — with their eloquent, obsessive bleakness — form a unique contribution to twentieth-century American literature. Goodis struggled to balance his urge for privacy with his rising public profile. Had he done a better job, his name might be more familiar today. Nonetheless, he deserves a seat at the table, with the greats of the genre. Maybe he’ll finally be comfortable at it.
Recommended Reads:
“The Incomplete Cain”: Boris Dralyuk on the short stories of Paul Cain
“Doors Closing Slowly”: Patrick Millikin on Derek Raymond’s factory novels
The Noir page
David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s
By David Goodis
Knowing It Has to End
By Boris Dralyuk
Doors Closing Slowly: Derek Raymond’s Factory Novels
By Patrick Millikin
The Incomplete Cain
Pure Cain
By William Marling
By Georgia Jeffries
The Criminal Kind: Sara Gran
Tall Redhead Syndrome
By Miles Corwin
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Mark chapter 1
April 6, 2009 April 6, 2009 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment
“What is this? A new teaching with authority!” – Vs 27
Mark records the ministry of Jesus and, unlike the other gospel writers, he leaves out His birth and any reference to His genealogical record. Instead Mark starts off with the baptism of Jesus, briefly touches on His temptation in the wilderness, and moves right into His preaching ministry. He records that Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Vs 15). Jesus was teaching, preaching, and healing. He was going into the synagogues and teaching. But His was a different kind of teaching. It was like nothing these people had ever heard before. Mark says those who heard Jesus were “amazed at His teaching” (Vs 22). Why? Because He taught as one who had authority. He didn’t teach like the scribes, who merely quoted the writings of former scribes. Their authority or power was based on the sayings of men. Jesus came with a different kind of authority. He spoke with power and confidence.
The word Mark uses that is translated “authority” here is a typical Greek word that carries a lot more weight than any English word can convey. It literally means, “the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege); the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed).” Jesus did not come rehashing the thoughts and principles of men, but the Word of God. What He said was viewed as a “new teaching” because these people had never heard anything like it before. It wasn’t the same old thing they had heard for generations. It was a verbal wake-up call, announcing that the kingdom they had long been waiting for was close at hand. All the promises of their ancient writings were about to be fulfilled. That was the good news. The Messiah had arrived.
Jesus’ words carried weight. They conveyed power. They demanded attention. They required action. When He said to Simon and Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men,” they didn’t delay, but immediately left their nets and followed Him. When He met James and John, He called them, and “they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him” (Vs 20). When Jesus commanded the demon to come out of the man in verse 25, it had to obey. When He spoke the words, “Be cleansed” to the lepor in verse 41, “immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed” (Vs 41).
Jesus taught with authority. He spoke with power. His words were to be listened to and obeyed. He was not just another teacher. He was the Son of God. He had authority over sickness and disease. He had power over demonic forces. He had the divine right to speak authoritatively, expecting His words to be listened to and His commands to be obeyed. But then as now, men were more interested in what Jesus could do for them, than in what He expected of them. The crowds were attracted by His miracles than His message. They came to be healed, not to hear what He had to say. The crowds began to grow. His reputation spread. But His words fell on deaf ears. They were more than willing to take advantage of His power, but refused to “repent and believe in the gospel” (Vs 15). The Jews would ultimately refuse Him as their Messiah. They would reject His message of hope and salvation. They would kill the Messenger, but not the message.
A new teaching with authority. How much weight do the words of Jesus carry in my life? How authoritative is His teaching for me? Am I more interested in what He does for me than what He expects of me? Do His words only carry weight with me if they fit into my agenda or plan for me? Do I listen only as long as they say what I want them to say? The Jews were right. His words did have authority. They were powerful. They were impactful. Because Jesus was and is the Son of God. He has the right to speak into my life and demand a response. He has the authority to command obedience. But am I willing to obey?
Father, help me to listen to the words of Your Son, then give me the ability to obey. I know His words have power and authority over my life, but I tend to want to pick and choose which words I will obey. I even want to choose which of His words I will hear. But You haven’t given me that choice. You told the disciples at His transfiguration, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5). Give me ears to hear and a heart to obey all that He says. Amen
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org
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Cannes: Sony Pictures Classics On A Roll As ‘Mr. Turner’ Becomes Instant Oscar Contender
By Pete Hammond
Pete Hammond
Awards Columnist/Chief Film Critic
@DeadlinePete
More Stories By Pete
Notes On The Season: Daniel Craig, Amy Pascal On Bond, Spidey And Oscar; Branagh And Campion Out At WGA
Critics Choice Live Telecast Rescheduled For March 13, Same Date As BAFTA Film Awards; Might Be Major Conflict For Some Nominees
SAG Awards Film Analysis: With ‘Belfast’, ‘King Richard’, ‘CODA’, And ‘Gucci’, The Actors Are All About Family
May 15, 2014 6:36pm
Now that opening night is behind us and all the unnecessary vitriolic venom from some critics toward the Cannes Film Festival‘s choice for opener, Grace Of Monaco, the main official competition got underway tonight. The first film eligible for awards to screen was Mr. Turner from Mike Leigh, who has been in the hunt on the Croisette four times before and won the coveted Palme d’Or in 1996 for his masterpiece, Secrets & Lies.
Related: Cannes: Matthew McConaughey Hits Croisette To Talk First Movie Since Oscar Win – “This One Scares Me”
After seeing his latest, an uncharacteristic period piece, screen to an enthusiastic black-tie crowd at the Grand Lumiere Theatre at the Palais, I would venture to say he has just unleashed yet another masterpiece in Cannes. And given what you hope to see here at the festival, I would bet right now this one will be a major Oscar contender in several categories after it is released stateside December 19 by Sony Pictures Classics. It’s that good in terms of costume and production design, makeup, music, writing, directing and particularly acting. If there aren’t nominations for star Timothy Spall and supporting actress Marion Bailey, then something is terribly wrong with the Academy. Acting just doesn’t get better than this. Spall is simply extraordinary as 18th century English painter J.M.W. Turner in a performance that has got it all and drew early raves from critics and big applause from tonight’s audience. Yet Spall himself is modest about the whole thing and doesn’t seem to know what he has accomplished, at least according to what he told me at the film’s private dinner party at the Film Four (which financed) headquarters in Cannes. “I am so inside the movie, I don’t have any objectivity about it,” he said. “Yes, it’s fantastic every time I’ve seen it, but I don’t understand it all.” He added about the total transformation he makes in this film, I look at it and say, ‘Who’s that?'” No doubt we will be encountering him on the awards circuit many times during the next nine months. This is just the beginning. It’s a long road, but I can’t imagine Spall won’t be on it the whole time. (more…)
This article was printed from https://deadline.com/2014/05/cannes-sony-pictues-classics-on-a-roll-at-fest-as-mr-turner-becomes-instant-oscar-contender-731354/
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Justine Greenwood
Persistent URL for this entry
http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/tourism
To cite this entry in text
White, Richard, Greenwood, Justine, Tourism, Dictionary of Sydney, 2011, http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/tourism, viewed 17 Jan 2022
To cite this entry in a Wikipedia footnote citation
cite web | url= http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/tourism | title = Tourism | author = White, Richard, Greenwood, Justine | date = 2011 | work = Dictionary of Sydney | publisher = Dictionary of Sydney Trust | accessdate = 17 Jan 2022
To cite this entry as a Wikipedia External link
cite web | url = http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/tourism | title = Tourism | accessdate = 2011 | author = White, Richard, Greenwood, Justine | date = 2011 | work = Dictionary of Sydney | publisher = Dictionary of Sydney Trust
[media]Sydney has been shaped by tourism, but in a large metropolis where tourist experiences so often overlap with everyday activity, tourism's impact often escapes attention. Urban tourism involves not just international visitors, but people from interstate and regional New South Wales and even day trippers, who all see and use the city differently and are often indistinguishable from locals engaged in leisure activities. The tourist's mental map of Sydney has never been the same as workaday Sydney – the harbour, beaches, city centre, the Blue Mountains and national parks to the north and south loom disproportionately large in the tourist gaze, while vast swathes of suburbia remain invisible.
Tourism is defined in various ways, but is perhaps best understood as a phenomenon that emerged in Europe during the eighteenth century, when people who were normally attached by strong ties to a particular location began to take pleasure in travelling by choice outside their usual environment for the sake of what particular places offered: entertainment, society, curiosities, architectural wonders, natural beauty. In other times and in other cultures, people enjoyed travel experiences: other forms of travel – pilgrimages, voyages of exploration, travels for trade or education – could also be enjoyed for the pleasures they provided along the way. Until the eighteenth century however, it was rare for people to travel for the sole purpose of pleasure. When the educational and health justifications of the aristocratic Grand Tour and spa culture gave way to pleasure in the late eighteenth century, tourism was born. Tourism essentially involves travel for the pleasures on offer, rather than for economic, spiritual, health or educational reasons, although it is often difficult to separate the strands. It expanded when more and more people acquired identifiable leisure time and sufficient disposable income to enjoy it.
Thus while Aboriginal Australians were always great travellers and enjoyed their travels – crossing their country back and forth on what became known to European settlers as 'walkabout' was an essential part of their being – it would be inappropriate to think of their travels as tourism. Different Indigenous groups from far and wide visited the Sydney basin for a variety of spiritual and economic reasons, but without sharp distinctions between leisure and work, and without a fixed sense of 'home' to escape from, they were not tourists. Ironically, Aboriginal visitors to Sydney harbour might have only become tourists when they travelled to Sydney for the sake of being amused by the antics of the very strange people who had arrived in 1788.
Convict society before 1850
On the other hand, those Europeans who established the convict settlement at Sydney were a product of the very time and place that saw tourism emerging. None of them were tourists either – all were expected to work, many looked to how they could turn a profit, and the convicts, of course, had no choice in their travel. Yet the forces that were creating tourism on the other side of the world were also touching them. It can even be argued that Joseph Banks, who had seen his voyage to the Pacific with Cook in 1770 as an alternative to a Grand Tour and in many ways a pleasure excursion, brought a tourist's eye to his influential promotion of Botany Bay as a site for a convict settlement. [1]
Once the First Fleet landed and they looked around them, the officers at least could adopt a 'tourist gaze'. The attractiveness of Watkin Tench's journal to the modern reader derives from his enthusiastic tourist's perspective: he had an eye for the curious and a willingness to be entertained. And even in 1788, George Worgan was indulging his 'Inclination to ramble' into the bush, perhaps qualifying as Australia's first European 'bushwalker'. [2] Many of the names they bestowed on the Sydney area evoked places they knew in Europe that had established tourist credentials: Brighton, Cheltenham, Rydalmere, Ramsgate, Clovelly, Cremorne, Queenscliff, Clontarf, Como, Engadine, Longueville, Sylvania, Vaucluse, Lugarno, Pyrmont, Sans Souci. Other names suggested the tourist perspective: Bellevue Hill, Riverview, Fairview, Bayview, Seaforth. [3]
The new arrivals also examined the locals with the gaze of tourists, at least initially: later the tourist's curiosity would give way to the colonist's more destructive desires. [4] They collected souvenirs: indeed such was the 'rage for curiosities' that the theft of Aboriginal spears and tools caused ill-feeling (though it seems it was World War I that gave rise to the peculiarly Australian use of the verb 'souvenir', meaning to thieve or pilfer [5]). It was not long before local people were manufacturing artefacts or performing corroborees specifically for the entertainment of the intruders. Captain Hunter watched a corroboree within two years of the First Fleet's arrival:
They ... would apply to us for ... marks of our approbation of their performance; which we never failed to give by often repeating the word boojery. These signs of pleasure in us seemed to give them great satisfaction.
It was, he said, 'well worth seeing'. [6] It was also, in the commoditisation of Indigenous culture, indicative of the uneasy relationship that tourism would continue to have with imperialism into the twenty-first century.
Perhaps what most struck the tourist in the colonist was the harbour. It was of course a working harbour – a transport artery, a source of food, a means of defence. Governor Arthur Phillip's famous comment – 'one of the finest harbours in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line might ride in perfect security' [7] – was the response of a naval strategist with an imperialistic perspective. But soon there were expressions of delight. After he arrived in 1810, Governor Macquarie had convicts carve a seat for his wife at her favourite spot to view the harbour, Mrs Macquarie's Chair. As we will see, while other tourist sights rose and fell in the tourist's estimation over the centuries, the harbour would remain the focus of tourist Sydney: for Geoffrey Moorhouse, writing his account of Sydney for the Olympics in 2000, the harbour was still 'the key to Sydney, its alpha and its omega'. [8] Water sports, regattas and picnics around the harbour were popular pastimes for all classes but perhaps more for the elite, for whom a romantic appreciation of natural beauty was becoming a test of sensibility, on their carriage trips along South Head Road (built in 1811), or their visits to the villas that began to take advantage of views. [9] They almost immediately applied the new language of the 'picturesque' and the 'sublime' to the harbour and these words continued as tourist clichés long after they were drained of meaning.
For convicts the town itself offered more in the way of pleasure. Though they were forced labour, the convicts came to have a definite sense of their rights to leisure. [10] Particularly for those convicts who were assigned away from the main settlement, as for their masters, the growing town, with its taverns, theatres, gambling dens, shops and brothels, provided escape from the drudgery of hard labour. Even for convicts, a trip to town could look like a holiday: Gregory Blaxland complained that after the Sunday muster – their one day off – they 'resorted to houses of ill-fame and drinking, not returning to their master until night or the following day'. [11] The attractions of Sydney also appealed to female convicts: 'All they want is to get down to Sydney and … dress themselves up and go to the flash houses, and at night to the dancing houses, and then they are happy.' [12] The delicate balance between the natural beauty of the harbour and the excitement generated by a growing urban centre would be the dominant element in Sydney's tourism history.
As the town grew, it catered increasingly for visitors, including tourists. Basic inns gave way to notable hotels, culminating in the opening of the Hotel Australia in 1891, alongside less pretentious guest houses and lodgings. Probably a majority of visitors stayed with family and friends. At the same time, the development of dependable, regular steamship services and the emergence by the 1880s of a widespread Sydney-centric rail network ensured Sydney became a focus for visitors, some from overseas but more from other colonies or from up the country, many of course on business. One significant drawcard was the Easter Show (Royal from 1891), created when the Royal Agricultural Society moved its annual competition to the showground at Moore Park, where it remained until 1998. [13] By 1907 the Sydney Morning Herald was noting that the Easter Show was attracting 'many thousands of ... hard working folk on the land' to Sydney for their yearly holiday. [14] The hotels, the big steamship companies such as Burns Philp, and the government-owned railways became the dominant tourism promoters. Thomas Cook – the company which was most associated with the development of mass tourism in mid-nineteenth-century Britain – had established an office in Sydney and published a guidebook to New South Wales by 1895. [15]
In [media]this we can see the beginnings of tourist infrastructure. Seaside 'resorts' on the English model began to spring up, though they catered more for day trippers. From the 1840s Botany Bay boasted the Sir Joseph Banks Hotel, which had various attractions for holiday-makers including pleasure grounds, dancing, sporting fixtures and by 1850 a zoo. Cremorne Gardens were opened in 1856 – 'among the best of those places of a holiday resort of a superior order in Sydney'. By the 1870s, Balmoral, The Spit, Athol Gardens, Clontarf and Clifton Gardens had followed suit. Watsons's Bay, Mosman's Bay and Chowder Bay were also popular ferry rides: ferries had turned from being merely commuter craft to pleasure craft, and introduced tourist services on weekends. After the Harbour Bridge made a number of large ferries redundant in 1932, they were converted into 'showboats' which survived until 1963. [16] The most ambitious development was Henry Gilbert Smith's scheme from 1853 to turn Manly into 'the Brighton of the South', with residential developments and accommodation for holiday-makers: Manly would long be a favourite holiday destination for country people. [17] Ferry [media]advertising promised that Manly was 'Seven Miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care', marking it out as a leisure destination. [18] These harbour resorts, with their easy access by ferry or tram from Sydney's most densely populated suburbs, allowed Sydney's workers to become tourists on their days off. Leisure time was gradually increasing for ordinary workers: the 1909 Royal Commission into the Saturday Half Holiday noted the importance of allowing workers more leisure time, and authorities noted the 'unmistakable tendency on the part of local residents to see the beauty spots of their own State'. [19] At the same time there was concern about the presence of 'larrikins' at these harbour resorts. The new Sydney Bulletin made its name in 1881 with a lurid account of a larrikin 'orgy' at Clontarf and the libel case that ensued.
Attractions were piled up at the ocean beaches, as cheap tram travel brought them within reach: aquariums, swimming baths, zoos, sideshows, amusement rides and pleasure grounds were provided at Coogee and Bondi. Judy, the famous protagonist of Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians, summed up the fun on offer: 'skating, boats, merry-go-round, switchback threepence a go!' [20] Wonderland City at Tamarama opened in 1906, and 1928 saw the opening of Coogee pier, although it was demolished in 1934 after being damaged by heavy seas. Manly Fun Pier was opened in 1931, one of the many attractions built by The Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company to encourage patronage on its run to Manly. Few of the fun piers and amusements grounds survived long into the twentieth century, unlike their English counterparts, partly because beach culture began to take a different trajectory in Sydney. Sydney's beaches were local amenities used regularly by a relatively small population rather than holiday destinations used sparingly by a large one. The result was that elaborate man-made attractions soon palled for regular visitors, who were not trapped at resorts during bad weather and who were primarily interested in the beaches' natural (and freely available) attractions of sun, sand and surf. [21] Even in 1883 Richard Twopeny preferred Sydney's attractions because they were 'rather natural than artificial', a primitivism that seemed to many to be reflected in the Aboriginal names of Bondi, Coogee, Maroubra, Narrabeen, Bilgola, and Cronulla.
Once regulations made surf-bathing acceptable after 1902, and surf lifesavers made it safe from 1908, Sydney's beach culture flourished. It represented an evolving balance between the formality of the seaside resort and the natural appeal of the romantic landscape, though some beaches were also 'improved' regularly. Bondi's pavilion and Marine Parade were products of the 1920s. [22]
The tourist gaze
The sense that Sydney was a collection of tourist sights was reinforced by the postcard boom of the late nineteenth century. Local photographers such as Charles Kerry and WH Broadhurst provided tourist images of Sydney's beauty spots and significant buildings. While postcards were simply a popular form of communication, not limited to tourists, they contributed to the process by which a 'tourist gaze' and self-consciousness about how the city looked permeated everyday life. Guidebooks too gradually packaged the city for consumption, turning the city into a convenient list of [media]sights to be ticked off. [23] James Waugh published the first local guidebook, The Stranger 's Guide to Sydney, in 1858, and others by Maddock, Fuller's, Gibbs Shallard and Dymock's followed. Many of the hotels, Pfahlert's, the Grosvenor, the Metropole, Aarons, the Empire, Tattersall's and the Wentworth, had produced their own guides by the end of the century, all freely borrowing from each other, alongside the elaborate guides produced by the New South Wales Railways. Then from 1905 the newly established New South Wales Government Tourist Bureau began producing tourist guidebooks.
The harbour remained the focus of the tourist gaze. Sydneysiders' pride in 'our 'arbour' became a running joke among foreign visitors and locals, who nevertheless also sang its praises. The much lionised Anthony Trollope, who visited in 1871, would write
I despair of being able to convey to any reader my own idea of the beauty of Sydney Harbour. I have seen nothing equal to it … It is so inexpressibly lovely. [24]
The praise would be much quoted; his warnings about the habit of boasting were heeded less. [25] The more formal setting of the Botanic Gardens – they had it on Trollope's authority they 'beat all the public gardens I ever saw … impossible not to love' – were also admired by overseas visitors. They were still a 'miracle of tranquillity' in 1999. [26] Another attraction that made the most of its setting was the zoo, which was moved from Moore Park to its harbourside setting at Taronga in 1916.
But it was not just the harbour and its natural setting. The busyness of ferries and sailing boats, the industry and the growing town also attracted comment. Over time there was a shift from seeing the city as a triumph of British imperialism to looking on it with national pride: Trollope and others were quoted less and there was more conviction of its 'world renown'.[27] The praise was not unanimous: Richard Twopeny was 'quite angry' that the town was 'so unworthy of its site', [28] but Mark Twain – who brought a tourist's eye to his visit in 1895 – was more generous. He wrote that the harbour
would be beautiful without Sydney, but not above half as beautiful as it is now, with Sydney added … The city clothes a cluster of hills and a ruffle of neighbouring ridges with its undulating masses of masonry, and out of these masses spring towers and spires and other architectural dignities and grandeurs that break the flowing lines and give picturesqueness to the general effect. [29]
For international [media]visitors, the harbour and the relationship between nature and culture was generally Sydney's great attraction, but international tourists were a minority. Most tourists were Australian: for many of them Sydney was the largest city they would ever experience, and so, while enjoying the natural amenities, it is probable that the metropolitan and cosmopolitan attractions of Sydney were always the greater source of wonder. For tourists from Melbourne, on the other hand, the tourist experience was constantly seen through the prism of the rivalry between Australia's two largest cities, and the factors that most differentiated them – climate, town planning, the harbour – were the focus, for better or worse.
Aboriginal tourist attractions
As part of the effort to make Sydney modern, surviving Aboriginal inhabitants who congregated at Bennelong Point were removed to the reserve at La Perouse at the end of the nineteenth century. Officially day trippers to La Perouse were prohibited from entering the Aboriginal Reserve. With the opening of a tram terminus at La Perouse in 1902 however, the area increasingly began to attract tourists, who came not only for a trip to the seaside but also for the 'fascination of looking at the Aborigines'. [30] The Aboriginal residents quickly developed their own tourist economy, making boomerangs, shields, shellwork and other souvenirs, charming snakes, the children diving for coins. For many visitors they represented a baseline of 'primitivism' against which Sydney's 'progress' could be measured, but there they had some control over how their culture was put on display for tourists. [31]
[media]The balance between nature and culture can also be seen in two significant tourist events of 1879. That year saw the proclamation of Sydney's 'National Park' (later, following the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1954, the Royal National Park), generally accepted as the world's second national park, after Yellowstone. In 1894 Sydney acquired a second, Ku-ring-gai Chase, to the north. These large expanses of relatively untouched bushland were intended to provide 'a national domain for rest and recreation' for 'the jaded citizen of Sydney or her suburbs'. [32] The tourism they provided was democratic. They were much larger than the recently conserved Hampstead Heath for example, and much more convenient to a large population than Yellowstone. Being easily accessible by rail (National Park station was opened in 1886) meant rejuvenation in a bush setting was a possibility for 'the people'. And the people came: in 1903, there were 170,000 visitors to the National Park. Lane Cove National Park was opened in 1938. Attempts to 'over-develop' the parks were resisted through the twentieth century: the attraction was quiet recreation – picnics, boating, walking – immersed in a romantic natural setting. The natural landscape around Sydney – its wattles, Christmas bush, angophoras, lilies and Port Jackson figs – was increasingly understood as something to admire.
The International Exhibition
[media]If nature in its most primitive state was the attraction in national parks, then modern industry was the attraction at the Sydney International Exhibition, also opened in 1879, the ninth since the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London's Crystal Palace. Housed in the magnificent Garden Palace, a technological feat in itself with the world's sixth largest dome, it displayed products, art and technological innovation from around the world. It attracted over 1,100,000 visitors (the Australian population was about 2,200,000), mostly local, though its international significance led to a consciousness that Sydney was being put on display. The organisers were anxious to emphasise Sydney's modernity to the world, and the progress achieved in less than a century of what they fondly called 'civilisation'. The exhibition building itself, constructed in just eight months, contained Australia's first hydraulic passenger lift in its north tower, where the view over the harbour with still remnant pockets of bushland was a lesson in nineteenth century progress. [33] A modern tram service was built to link the exhibition directly to the hub of the rail network at Redfern. Perhaps Sydney's greatest pride lay in having its exhibition one year before Melbourne's.
[media]The exhibition can be thought of as the beginning of 'event tourism' in Sydney, though sporting fixtures were already proving popular tourist draws. A desire to cater for the exhibition visitor had stimulated many of the guides to Sydney. Sydney would also prove a focus for later events in which the city performed for visitors: the Centennial celebrations of 1888, the Federation proclamation in 1901, the visit of the American 'Great White Fleet' in 1908, the Sesquicentenary celebrations in 1938, the 1988 Bicentenary and then, the biggest of them all, the 2000 Olympic Games. [34]
[media]The Garden Palace was the city's tallest building and also arguably Sydney's first recognisable man-made tourist sight but it did not survive long: a spectacular fire destroyed it in 1882. Other tall structures (as well as balloon rides) catered for the tourist's desire for a high vantage point: the town hall of 1878, the General Post Office clock tower completed in 1887 (clock and bells installed 1891) and Central Station (opened in 1906 but not acquiring its clock tower until 1921). In 1939 the city's tallest structure, the AWA tower, also had a viewing platform. But none of these modern structures quite had the impact of the Harbour Bridge, which became a popular tourist icon as the world's widest and heaviest steel arch slowly materialised in the 1920s. Its opening in 1932 attracted attention around the world and the government took the opportunity to publicise Sydney's other tourist attractions – the harbour, the surf beaches and the zoo – as if it were inevitable the bridge would surpass them all. [35] In providing such a recognisable symbol of modernity, the bridge not only cemented the harbour as Sydney's premier tourist site, but cemented Sydney as Australia's premier tourist city. As all tall structures must, the bridge too provided a viewing platform. The Pylon Lookout became a major tourist attraction, again offering magnificent views of the harbour along with pride in visible progress, especially as buildings began to edge upwards. It lost popularity once Sydney's first skyscraper, the AMP building, was opened in 1961, with its own viewing platform.
Touring the past
The flip side of Sydney's self-conscious modernising was the beginnings of an interest in Sydney's past (or a particular version of the past) as an object of the tourist gaze. Some monuments were erected early – in 1822 Barron Field had arranged for a plaque to commemorate Captain Cook's landing place at Botany Bay, and in 1870 an obelisk was erected on the site [36] – but it was only in the late nineteenth century that the past began to be seen as of tourist interest more generally. Though it remained a distinctly minority interest, visits to older districts such as Parramatta, Richmond and Windsor began to be valued as a way to see the 'antiquities' of the colony. [37] In 1901 the Royal Australian Historical Society was established. It produced a series of postcards of, and conducted excursions to, historic sites from 1903 [38] and campaigned for preservation of historic houses. Vaucluse House was resumed by the government in 1910 and began to be opened to tours – especially school children. [39] In the 1920s Hardy Wilson and Sydney Ure Smith established an honourable tradition, later taken up by Sali Herman, Unk White and Cedric Emanuel, of producing sketches and etchings of Sydney's fast disappearing historical fabric. By the 1920s there was a well-established understanding that parts of Sydney were 'quaint', 'charming' and 'old-world', particularly those with vestiges of a Georgian past: both inner suburbs with higgledy-piggledy streets and Macquarie's 'five towns' on the fringe, which began to attract motor tourists in search of historical sites. [40] However the growing interest in the past competed with the inexorable desire to be modern. Many significant buildings were razed in the name of progress – despite campaigns such as those around Burdekin House in 1922 (demolished 1933) and St Malo from 1948 (demolished 1961). [41]
[media]With the outbreak of war in 1939 and increasing rationing and travel restrictions, conventional tourism diminished. No more potent symbols of the war's seriousness were the appearance of barbed wire on that tourist icon, Bondi Beach, and the dismantling of the GPO clock tower. However the war also gave tourism a boost with the presence of soldiers in Sydney looking for things to do: in particular the arrival of large numbers of American troops from 1942 on their way to the front. They represented the largest contingent of foreign visitors Sydney had seen, and in catering for their tourist needs, in everything from the provision of guides and the increased worldliness of taxi drivers to the relaxation of drinking laws and the consolidation of Kings Cross as a brothel district, Sydney was subtly reshaped to cater to the international tourist. [42]
Postwar international tourism
Despite the [media]best efforts of tourism promotion, both public and private, international tourism had never been a major feature of tourist Sydney. However with postwar affluence, the rise of air travel and a world-wide tourism boom, inbound tourism increased significantly. In the space of a 60-year period the number of international visitors to Australia grew from 43,692 in 1950 to over 5.9 million by 2010. Of those, about 2.7 million visited Sydney, making it Australia's top tourist destination. [43] Sydney's international profile gradually developed during this period, flourishing in the first decade of the twenty-first century as the city regularly began to feature in 'top ten' lists of the world's best cities and most desirable travel locations. [44] [media]While initially Sydney benefited from being the 'gateway' to an Australia promoted largely for its outback, natural features and, especially following a major 1965 report by Harris, Kerr, Forster, its Aboriginal heritage, increasingly Sydney itself was promoted as a destination in its own right, a crucial element in its transformation into a 'world city'. Where industrialisation was the sign of modernity in the early to mid twentieth century, by the 1970s there was a developing sense that modernity was judged by how well a city catered for international tourists.
R and R
Three important changes took place in the 1960s and 1970s in the way Sydney appeared to the world. The positioning of Sydney as a destination for about 300,000 American troops on 'rest and recreation' (R & R) during the Vietnam War created a ready-made tourist market that had to be catered for. [45] Kings Cross had already become a cosmopolitan and artistic hub, but the American presence marked it out as a particular tourist precinct – the city's red light district – and considerably boosted the illegal drug and prostitution businesses. The very obvious presence of this influx of tourists encouraged ordinary people to become more conscious of themselves and their city as an object of a tourist gaze. [46]
History tourism
Also important was a widespread discovery of Sydney's past. Perhaps the crucial turning point was the Rocks, which was earmarked for a massive redevelopment until the Builders' Labourers Federation imposed a 'green ban' in 1971, in the interests of both heritage and the local community. It too was turned into a tourist precinct, with a 'pleasant, if haphazard process of rustication' ironically displacing its old reputation for crime and disease. [47] The initial attempts to market it to families as 'the birthplace of the nation' were less successful than a later combination of backpacker and upmarket food and retail tourism, which eventually attracted 14 million visits a year and proved as much of a threat to the local residents as office towers. The charms of Paddington's 'iron lace' had already been discovered and were attracting tourists as much as home-buyers.[media] In 1986 the Queen Victoria Building was reopened after extensive restoration and refurbishment as a 'high-quality retail centre in a restored Victorian setting', and it too was a favourite with tourists. The 1898 building was in danger of demolition in 1959, when it was widely seen as a Victorian monstrosity, but was saved by the city council's 1971 Strategic Plan, which recognised the value of the city's historical fabric. The QVB was always meant to be a shopping centre. More controversial redevelopments were the 1985 InterContinental Hotel in the 1851 Treasury building and the 1999 Westin Hotel in the 1874 General Post Office building, where the original uses of the buildings were erased in the interests of up-market tourism. Other areas that became popular as tourist precincts depended on their heritage being saved: Glebe, Balmain, 'bohemian' Newtown, Surry Hills and Woolloomooloo (most of them subject to Green Bans). Yet at the same time rapidly expanding suburbia swallowed up the historic towns of Parramatta, Liverpool and Campbelltown, once enjoyed by those heading out of the city for a Sunday drive in search of 'old world charm'. Other suburbs attracted tourists because of the character bestowed on them by particular migrant groups: Leichhardt's Italians or Cabramatta's Vietnamese. The most extreme example of such a precinct is Chinatown, which had attracted tourists from the late nineteenth century but was thoroughly made over as a tourist precinct in 1980: lion gates and ceremonial arches gave an instantly recognisable and internationally acceptable 'traditional' notion of Chineseness to Dixon Street. [48] These areas remained vibrant local communities despite the tourists. [49] But whose past was being saved? A historical past that was not readily apparent in an aesthetically pleasing building or streetscape was often ignored. [50]
Perhaps the most dramatic contribution to tourism was the advent of a determinedly modern building that was a dramatic break with the past: the Sydney Opera House. It initially gained international attention because of the controversy surrounding its construction but once it was opened in 1973 it became an enormously potent symbol of Sydney internationally, one of the world's most recognised and admired buildings. [51] Every tourist had to have their Opera House moment. As a member of the American indy band No Age put it, 'It really does feel like you are hanging out in a postcard'. [52]
Despite the tourism boom, purpose-built tourist attractions, often with significant government funding, tended to struggle as had the old beachside amusement parks. Old Sydney Town opened in 1975 and closed in 2003; Australia's Wonderland survived from 1985 to 2004; Fox Studios opened in 1998 but its theme park element closed down in 2001. The one survivor was Luna Park, which had opened in 1935 under the Harbour Bridge and survived, sometimes precariously, largely because it came to generate affectionate nostalgia as a heritage site.
The development of wildlife-focused tourism attractions was more successful, perhaps because they catered to those tourists, both international and domestic, with a desire to see something of the 'real' Australia without having to go too far from the comforts of the city. The first of these parks were built on the outskirts of Sydney, taking tourists out of the city centre and into the suburbs. In the west, Koala Park Sanctuary opened in 1930 and Featherdale Wildlife Park in 1972. The conservation and educational aims of both parks were funded by tourists' desire to 'cuddle, pat and get a photo' with a koala or kangaroo. [53] To the north, at the very limits of the Sydney metropolitan district, the Australian Reptile Park opened in Gosford in 1958 (in 1993 it moved to Somersby, near Old Sydney Town). [54] However, the ability of the suburban parks to entice tourists out of the central district was challenged in 2006 with the opening of Sydney Wildlife World, an enclosed and air conditioned facility boasting around 6000 animals, in the heart of the tourist district of Darling Harbour. Its opening illustrated the long running and ongoing struggle of tourism attractions in the outer suburbs to compete with the heavily marketed, developed and well-funded inner city.
The Sydney brand
But in [media]other ways the lived city itself was made over to tourism as manufacturing declined and the meaning of the city shifted from a place of work to a place of pleasure and spectacle. [55] Sydney became a 'brand' to be sold to tourists. This represented a move away from the marketing strategies of the late 1980s and early 1990s where Sydney was presented as a gateway to New South Wales and Australia: 'Tourists come to see Sydney and travellers go beyond', declared a 1992 Australian Tourism Commission brochure distributed throughout Asia. [56] The 1990s saw the Tourism Commission of New South Wales (later Tourism New South Wales) alternate between promoting regional tourism and emphasising Sydney, ending the decade with a strong focus on Sydney for New Year's Eve 1999 and the 2000 Olympic games. [57] In the first decade of the new millennium, 'brand' Sydney was heavily promoted by Tourism Australia and Tourism New South Wales both internationally and domestically in a series of campaigns: in 2004 'There's no Place in the World like Sydney', in 2007–08 'City of Celebrations', in 2009 'Vivacity' and, in 2010, 'Sydnicity', a word devised by Tourism New South Wales to describe, 'the unique combination of natural beauty, vibrancy and energy that can only be found in Sydney'. [58]
[media]With more than 125,000 tourism-related businesses located in the Sydney region by 2009/10, tourism had remade the city in all sorts of ways; [59] new structures were built around spectacle, festivity and consumerism, with tourists in mind. Tourism was also used to justify changes to more 'flexible' working conditions, especially for hospitality workers, to shopping hours and to licensing laws and an advertising campaign encouraged Sydneysiders to smile at tourists. Festivals too were developed with an eye to the tourism market.[media] The old Waratah Festival disappeared and the month-long Sydney Festival arrived, to be further expanded with food and wine festivals throughout the year including the Sydney Good Food & Wine Show launched in 2002, followed by the Crave International Food Festival in 2010. [media]The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras developed from a protest march in 1978 to a major tourism event by the 1990s, attracting large numbers of interstate and international visitors keen to follow the advice of the Bruno Gmünder gay travel guide, which declared it to be 'an absolute once-in-a-lifetime must for every gay travelling man'. [60]
Postmodern tourism
Perhaps the first indication of a new postmodern aesthetic was Sydney Tower (Centrepoint), opened in 1981 as 'The Eiffel Tower of the Southern Hemisphere' and a sign that Sydney was now a 'world-city'. Its explicit, self-reflexive celebration of tourism turned Sydney residents into 'citizen-tourists' who, alongside foreigners, gazed at their city and themselves. [61] The last goods train left Darling Harbour in 1984, and the whole precinct was transformed from 'derelict docklands to sparkling international playground' for the 1988 Bicentennial celebrations, and a host of attractions were added: the Entertainment Centre, the convention centre, the Chinese Garden, Sydney Aquarium, IMAX, the casino, Cockle Bay Wharf and lots of shopping. In 2011 a portion of Darling Harbour was ‘rejuvenated’ and relaunched as ‘Darling Quarter’; the area, containing the city’s largest public playground, was described as both a ‘community precinct and tourist destination’, again contributing to the blurring between local and tourist. [62] Major museums, the Powerhouse and Maritime Museum, were developed: museums always balanced their research, educational and entertainment roles but they became increasingly judged by their capacity to attract tourists. The controversial monorail, also opened in 1988, was seen by its detractors as turning the centre of the city into a tourist theme park. The 'working harbour' had gradually been giving way to a 'leisure harbour' for more than a century. [63] Captain Cook Harbour Cruises was established in 1977 and the last container terminal closed in 2008, to make way for the Barangaroo development. Ever more elaborate ways of entertaining and profiting from tourists were devised. In 1998 Bridgeclimb began and was a phenomenal success, attracting nearly 2 million climbers in 10 years. Sydney Tower skywalk opened in 2005.
Sydney has welcomed tourists with, as Germaine Greer put it in 1982, 'open arms and parted thighs'. [64] In catering for tourism, the city can be changed for better and for worse: the interests of locals and visitors can overlap in the provision of better transport and public spaces, the protection of natural and cultural heritage and generally creating a liveable city. But it can also create a somewhat unreal place alien to those who have always lived in it. The balance is always a tricky one.
[1] Richard White, On Holidays: A History of Getting Away in Australia, Pluto, Melbourne, 2005 (with Sarah-Jane Ballard, Ingrid Bown, Meredith Lake, Patricia Leehy and Lila Oldmeadow) pp 14–15
[2] Melissa Harper, The Ways of the Bushwalker: On Foot in Australia, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2007, p 3
[4] Inga Clendinnen, Dancing with Strangers, Text, Melbourne, 2004
[5] W S Ramson (ed), The Australian National Dictionary: A Dictionary of Australianisms on Historical Principles, Oxford, University Press, Melbourne 1988, p 613
[6] John Hunter, An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island… John Stockdale, London, 1793, pp 194–5, 213
[7] Arthur Phillip, The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay, John Stockdale, London, 1789, p 47
[8] Geoffrey Moorhouse, Sydney: The Story of a City, Harcourt, New York, 1999, p 6
[9] Clive Faro, '"To the lighthouse!" The South Head Road and place-making in early New South Wales', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, December 1998
[10] Graeme Davison, The Unforgiving Minute: How Australians Learned to Tell the Time, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1993, pp 16–20
[11] cited in Richard White, On Holidays: A History of Getting Away in Australia, Pluto, Melbourne, 2005 (with Sarah-Jane Ballard, Ingrid Bown, Meredith Lake, Patricia Leehy and Lila Oldmeadow) p 30
[12] cited in Richard Waterhouse, Private Pleasures, Public Leisure: A History of Australian Popular Culture since 1788, Longman, Melbourne, 1995, p 22; see also Grace Karskens, The Colony: A History of Early Sydney, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2009, pp 180–182
[13] Brian Fletcher, The Grand Parade: A History of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales, RAS, Sydney, 1988
[14] 'The Easter Holiday', Sydney Morning Herald, 23 March 1907, p 12
[15] Julia Horne, The Pursuit of Wonder: How Australia's Landscape was Explored, Nature Discovered and Tourism Unleashed, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2005, pp 58, 139; Jim Davidson and Peter Spearritt, Holiday Business: Tourism in Australia since 1870, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2000, p 67
[16] John I Richardson, A History of Australian Travel and Tourism, Hospitality Press, Melbourne, 1999, p 119
[17] Leone Huntsman, Sand in our Souls: The Beach in Australian History, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2001, pp 37–43; Pauline Curby, Seven Miles from Sydney: A History of Manly, Manly Council, Sydney, 2001; Paul Ashton, 'Inventing Manly 1853–90', in Max Kelly (ed), Sydney: City of Suburbs, New South Wales University Press in Association with the Sydney History Group, 1987, pp 149–168
[18] Anthony M Prescott, 'The Manly Ferry: A History of the Service and its Operators, 1854–1974', PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 1985; 93/312/13 Display card, advertising, 'Manly, Australia's premier seaside resort', cardboard, Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Co, Australia, 1940–1950, Powerhouse Museum Collection, http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=133677&search=transport&images=&c=&s=1, viewed 27 April 2011
[19] Peter Spearritt, State of Play: 100 Years of Tourism in New South Wales, 1905–2005, Sydney, Tourism New South Wales, 2005; 1911 Annual Report of the Immigration and Tourist Bureau, p 9
[20] Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians, Puffin Books, Melbourne, 2001 (1894), p 32
[21] Caroline Ford, 'The battle for public rights to private spaces on Sydney's ocean beaches, 1854–1920s', Australian Historical Studies, vol 41, no 3, 2010; Caroline Ford, 'A summer fling: the rise and fall of aquariums and fun parks on Sydney's ocean coast 1885–1920', Journal of Tourism History, vol 1, no 2, 2009, pp 95–112
[22] Caroline Ford, 'Gazing, strolling, falling in love: culture and nature on the beach in nineteenth century Sydney', History Australia, vol 3, no 1, 2006; see also Caroline Ford, 'The First Wave: the Making of a Beach Culture in Sydney, 1810–1920', PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 2008
[23] Sascha Jenkins, 'Sydney Harbour: a leisure landscape, in Lynette Finch and Chris McConville (eds), Gritty Cities: Images of the Urban, Pluto, Sydney, 1999, pp 201–216; see also Sascha Jenkins, 'Our Harbour: a cultural history of Sydney Harbour 1880–1938', PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 2004
[24] Anthony Trollope, Australia and New Zealand, London, 1873, vol 1, p 25; see also Sascha Jenkins, 'Our Harbour: a cultural history of Sydney Harbour 1880–1938', PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 2004 p 207–08; Ian Hoskins, Sydney Harbour: A History, New South Wales University Press, Sydney, 2009, p 169
[25] Anthony Trollope, Australia and New Zealand, London, 1873, vol 1, p 387
[26] Geoffrey Moorhouse, Sydney: The Story of a City, Harcourt, New York, 1999, p 107
[27] Sascha Jenkins, 'Our Harbour: a cultural history of Sydney Harbour 1880–1938', PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 2004, p 213
[28] REN Twopeny, Town Life in Australia, London, 1883, p 20
[29] Mark Twain, Following the Equator: A Journey Round the World, American Publishing Co, Hartford, Connecticut, USA, 1897, p 113
[30] Peter McKenzie and Ann Stephen, 'La Perouse: an urban Aboriginal community', in Max Kelly (ed), Sydney City of Suburbs, New South Wales University Press in Association with the Sydney History Group, 1987, pp 177–179
[31] Maria Nugent, Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005; Members of the Aboriginal community, La Perouse, the Place, the People and the Sea: A Collection of Writing, Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1988; Felicity Errington, 'Boomerang', in Melissa Harper & Richard White (eds), Symbols of Australia, University of New South Wales Press and National Museum of Australia, Sydney, 2009; Peter McKenzie and Ann Stephen, 'La Perouse: an urban Aboriginal community', in Max Kelly (ed), Sydney: City of Suburbs, New South Wales University Press in Association with the Sydney History Group, 1987, pp 173–191
[32] New South Wales National Park Trust, Official guide to the National Park of New South Wales, Government Printer, Sydney, 1902, pp 7–10; see also Wendy Goldstein, Australia's 100 years of National Parks, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney, 1979; Caroline Ford and Richard White (eds), A History of Recreation in New South Wales National Parks, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 2012
[33] Peter Proudfoot, Roslyn Maguire and Robert Freestone (eds), Colonial City, Global City: Sydney's International Exhibition 1879, Crossing Press, Sydney, 2000, p x; Graeme Davison and Kimberley Webber (eds), Yesterday's Tomorrow: The Powerhouse Museum and its Precursors 1880–2005, Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, 2005
[34] Clement Semmler, 'The Centennial's hope and despair. The Centennial celebrations of 1888', Bulletin, 26 January 1988, pp 137–139; Gavin Souter, Lion and Kangaroo: the Initiation of Australia, Collins, Sydney 1976; DB Waterson, 'Above and behind the arches: Aboriginals and the 1901 Federation celebrations', Federalist, no 6, December 2000, pp 40–48; Justine Greenwood, 'The 1908 visit of the Great White Fleet: displaying modern Sydney', History Australia, vol 5, no 3, 2008, pp 78.1–78.16; Julian Thomas, '1938: Past and present in an elaborate anniversary', in Susan Janson and Stuart Macintyre (eds), Making the Bicentenary, a special issue of Australian Historical Studies, vol 23, no 91, October 1988, pp 77–89; Peter Spearritt, 'Celebration of a Nation: the triumph of spectacle', in Susan Janson and Stuart Macintyre (eds), Making the Bicentenary, a special issue of Australian Historical Studies, vol 23, no 91, October 1988, 3–20; Gordon Waitt, 'The city as tourist spectacle: marketing Sydney for the 2000 Olympics', in David Holmes (ed), Virtual Globalization: Virtual Spaces/Tourist Spaces, Routledge, London and New York, 2001, pp 220–244
[35] Peter Spearritt, State of Play: 100 Years of Tourism in New South Wales, 1905–2005, Sydney, Tourism New South Wales, 2005; Sascha Jenkins, 'Our Harbour: a cultural history of Sydney Harbour 1880–1938', PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 2004
[36] Maria Nugent, Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005
[37] Julia Horne, The Pursuit of Wonder: How Australia's Landscape was Explored, Nature Discovered and Tourism Unleashed, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2005, p 193; see for instance: 'The tourist: in and around Parramatta', Sydney Mail, 13 October 1888, p 68; 'The Orange Groves and Orchards around Parramatta', Australian Town and Country Journal, 28 January 1870
[38] Jeremy Steele, 'The Excursions Story', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol 87, no 1, June 2001, pp 123–127
[39] Susan McClean, 'Negotiating the Nation: Audiences at Vaucluse House, 1915–1950s', unpublished paper, Australian Historical Association conference, Armidale 2007
[40] Justine Greenwood, 'Driving through history: the car, The Open Road, and the making of history tourism in Australia, 1920–40', Journal of Tourism History, vol 3 no 1, 2011
[41] Susan McClean 'Burdekin House: a turning point in preservation history', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, June 2007
[42] See also Richard White, 'The outsider's gaze and the representation of Australia', in Don Grant and Graham Seal (eds), Australia in the World: Perceptions and Possibilities, Black Swan Press, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, 1994, pp 22–28; Rebecca Mann, 'Thrills, Spills and Romance: Sydney's Luna Park in World War Two', History IV Honours thesis, University of Sydney, 2010
[43] Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, 'Migrants classified according to intended residence: Australia', Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia, p 355; Tourism Australia, 'December 2010' , http://www.tourism.australia.com/en-au/5236_5263.aspx, viewed 18 April 2011; Tourism New South Wales, 'Travel to Sydney: Year Ended March 2006', p 2
[44] For instance, Sydney has been voted 'world's best city' for eight consecutive years since 2001 in the Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards
[45] 'Rest and Recreation in Sydney – "R and R"', Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs, http://vietnam-war.commemoration.gov.au/all-the-way-with-lbj/rest-and-recreation.php, viewed 20 April 2011
[46] Lila Oldmeadow, 'Six Days to Live: American Servicemen in Australia on Rest and Recreation during the Vietnam War', History IV thesis, University of Sydney, 2003
[47] Paul Ashton, 'Place', Parallax 1: The Rocks, no 1, 1988; see also John Rickard and Peter Spearritt Packaging the Past: Public Histories, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1991
[48] Anna-Lisa Mak, 'Negotiating identity: ethnicity, tourism and Chinatown', Journal of Australian Studies, no 77, 2003, pp (93)–100,194–195
[49] Stephanie Hemelryk Donald and John G Gammack, Tourism and the Branded City: Film and Identity on the Pacific Rim, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2007, p 110
[50] Gordon Waitt and Pauline M McGuirk, 'Marking time: tourism and heritage representation at Millers Point, Sydney', Australian Geographer, vol 27, no 1, May 1996, pp 11–29
[51] Richard White with Sylvia Lawson, 'Sydney Opera House', in Melissa Harper & Richard White (eds), Symbols of Australia, University of New South Wales Press and National Museum of Australia, Sydney, 2009
[52] No Age – No More R&R, http://noagela.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html, viewed 7 April 2009
[53] Koala Park Sanctuary, 'The legend of Koala Park Sanctuary', http://www.koalaparksanctuary.com.au/myweb2/default.htm, viewed 19 April 2011
[54] Kevin Markwell and Nancy Cushing, Snake-Bitten: Eric Worrell and the Australian Reptile Park, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2010
[55] John Connell, Sydney: The Emergence of a World City, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2000
[56] 'Sydney & beyond: Australia', Sydney: New South Wales Tourism Commission in co-operation with Austravel, 1992; Peter Murphy and Sophie Watson (eds), Surface City: Sydney at the Millennium, Pluto Press, Sydney, 1997, pp 40–44
[57] John Wilkinson, 'Tourism in New South Wales: prospects for the current decade', Briefing Paper no 8/06, New South Wales Parliamentary Library Research Service, 2006, pp 15–16, http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/publications.nsf/0/A5480D46A9CE0129CA25717D00161D52/$File/Tourism%20in%20New South Wales&Index.pdf, viewed 20 April 2011
[58] Peter Spearritt, State of Play: 100 Years of Tourism in New South Wales, 1905–2005, Sydney, Tourism New South Wales, 2005, pp 8–9; 'Past Campaigns', Tourism New South Wales, http://corporate.tourism.nsw.gov.au/Past_Campaigns_p1560.aspx, viewed 20 April 2011
[59] 'Regional Tourism Profiles 2009/2010 – Sydney Region', Tourism Research Australia, January 2011, http://www.ret.gov.au/tourism/Documents/tra/Regional%20tourism%20profiles/2009-10/New South Wales_Sydney_acc.pdf, viewed 20 April 2011
[60] Bruno Gmünder, Spartacus: International Gay Guide, 1995
[61] Meaghan Morris, 'Metamorphoses at Sydney Tower', Australian Cultural History, no 10, 1991
[62] Urbanalyst, ‘Sydney’s new Darling Harbour precinct opens’, 4 October 2011, http://www.urbanalyst.com/in-the-news/new-south-wales/805-sydneys-new-darling-harbour-precinct-opens.html, viewed 21 November 2011
[63] Sascha Jenkins, 'Our Harbour: a cultural history of Sydney Harbour 1880–1938', PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 2004
[64] Germaine Greer, London Observer, 1 August 1982
White, Richard
Richard White teaches history at the University of Sydney
Greenwood, Justine
Justine Greenwood is a PhD student at the University of Sydney
Sydney's Week: A guide for interstate and overseas tourists 17-24 April 1954
New South Wales Government Tourist Bureau
Banks, Joseph
Botanist on the Endeavour who recommended Botany Bay for penal settlement.
Navigator who led the first European expedition to visit Botany Bay in 1770, after observing the transit of Venus near Tahiti.
Botany Bay
Large bay south of the city of Sydney, into which the Cooks and Georges rivers run.
Tench, Watkin
Marine officer and writer whose accounts of the early colony were among the first published.
A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay
One of the earliest published accounts of life in the first days of the settlement, recorded by Watkin Tench.
Worgan, George
First fleet surgeon who kept a journal for six months in the early settlement.
Southern residential suburb on the western shore of Botany Bay, named for the English resort by tramway entrepreneur and developer Thomas Saywell. Development followed the construction of the railway to Hurstville and a tramline from Rockdale to the beach at Brighton.
North-western residential suburb. Built on part of the Field of Mars Common, it was named by landowner William Chorley, who put a covenant on the land to ensure it would retain its bushland character after subdivison.
Rydalmere
North-western industrial and residential suburb on the northern banks of the Parramatta River, where merino sheep were first successfully bred in Australia in the early 19th century. In 1886 the orchardist Thomas O'Neill subdivided it and named it after his home town of Rydal in the English Lake District.
Southern residential suburb on the peninsula between Botany Bay and Kogarah Bay, named after the seaside town in England. It was separated from Ramsgate Beach in 1993.
Eastern residential suburb on the coast between Bronte and Coogee, which was subdivided from 1909. Its beach, at the end of a long narrow bay, is small and picturesque.
Residential suburb on the north shore of Sydney Harbour. It was a picnic place in the nineteenth century, taking its name from the Cremorne Gardens in London.
Residential suburb on the northern shore of Middle Harbour, between Seaforth and Balgowlah Heights. In 1868 it was the site of an attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria's son, Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Residential suburb on the southern shore of the Georges River, east of the Woronora River. Named after the lake in Italy, it grew from the camp set up for the building of the Illawarra rail line in the 1880s.
Engadine
Far southern suburb to the west of the Royal National Park, which remained a rural and holiday place until subdivision for returned soldiers after the First World War. Early landowner Charles McAlister named it in the 1890s after the Engadine valley in Switzerland, which he thought it resembled.
Affluent northern residential suburb occupying a peninsula on the Lane Cove River. There were only two houses on the point until the first subdivision began in 1884.
Southern residential suburb, on the southern shore of the Georges River. It is believed to have been named by James Murphy in the nineteenth century because of its 'sylvan' appearance.
Lugarno
Southern peninsular residential suburb on northern bank of Georges River, named by Surveyor-General Major Sir Thomas Mitchell after the lake in Italy. It began to be developed when blocks were released by the crown for sale as home sites in the late 1960s.
Peninsular inner-west suburb between Darling Harbour and Johnston's Bay. Quarried for its sandstone, it later became a heavily industrialised working-class enclave, then gentrified as industry declined.
Southern residential suburb named for the palace of Prussian king Frederick the Great in Potsdam, Germany. It was the name of the house built by Thomas Holt (1811-1888) for his German wife, and is French for 'without care'.
Affluent suburb overlooking the harbour five kilometres east of central Sydney. In the nineteenth century it was home to villas built by the colony's emerging plutocracy. Mass suburban development was helped by the extension of the tram line to Bondi Beach in 1914.
Northern residential suburb overlooking Lane Cove River. It is home to the Jesuit school St Ignatius' College, built in 1880.
Fairview Estate
Residential subdivision of 1886 at Fairlight.
Northern residential suburb on the southern shore of Pittwater. The name dates from 1882 when a post office was opened.
Residential suburb on the northern shore of Middle Harbour, west of the Spit Bridge. It was subdivided in 1906.
International war between the Allies (Britain and its dominions, France, Russia, Italy and the USA) and Central Powers (Germany and Austria–Hungary,Turkey and Bulgaria) that was fought mainly in Europe and the Middle East. It began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918. Australia's involvement in the war began on 4 August 1914 when Britain and Germany went to war and Australia, as one of Britain's dominions, pledged full support. Australians fought in the British and Australian armies.
While no battles took place on Australian soil, Australian involvement in the conflict had both immediate and long term impacts on the local community.
Hunter, John
Naval officer who accompanied Arthur Phillip in the First Fleet, and returned as Governor of the colony from 1795 to 1800.
Phillip, Arthur
British naval officer who became first Governor of New South Wales, leading the colony for five difficult years.
Macquarie, Lachlan
British military officer who became the fifth Governor of New South Wales and was responsible for extensive social, economic and architectural development in the colony.
Macquarie, Elizabeth
Accomplished and active wife of Lachlan Macquarie who was a supportive and influential spouse during his governorship.
Mrs Macquarie's Chair
Sandstone bench carved into the rock at Mrs Macquarie's Point, which was used by Mrs Macquarie.
Moorhouse, Geoffrey
English journalist and author who wrote many books based on his travels.
Sydney: the Story of a City
Book tracing Sydney's development from colonial outpost, written by Geoffrey Moorhouse in 1999.
International sporting event that prompted the construction of new sporting facilities and brought thousands of visitors to the city.
Blaxland, Gregory
Farmer, speculator and explorer who crossed the Blue Mountains with Lawson and Wentworth in 1813.
Hotel Australia
Glamorous hotel in Castlereagh Street built in 1890 which was extended in the 1920s with an Art Deco entrance from Martin Place. It was demolished in 1971 and is now the site of the MLC Centre.
Royal Easter Show
Agricultural show held annually in Sydney annually since the 1850s.
Sydney Showground Moore Park
Venue for the Royal Easter Show, run by the Royal Agricultural Society, from 1882 until 1997. The grounds incorporated a range of pavilions, sporting venues, animal quarters and judging rings, and in the twentieth century hosted other events such as sporting competitions and musical performances.
Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, it is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia.
Burns Philp
Shipping and trading company that was headquartered in Sydney from 1876 and became a multinational enterprise across the South Pacific.
Travel and publishing company established in England in 1873.
Botany Pleasure Grounds 1855
Walter G Mason
[TN115]
(Illustrated Sydney News, 30 June 1855)
Sir Joseph Banks Hotel
Hotel begun in 1840 as a two storey Georgian building and added to in stages over many years. The estate included sporting grounds and a zoological garden. Situated in what is now Anniversary Street, the building remains virtually intact. In 1921 the complex was sold and the hotel eventually converted into apartments. The license was transferred to a new 'Sir Joseph Banks Hotel' built on Botany Road.
Sir Joseph Banks Pleasure Gardens
Gardens, sporting fields and zoo established beside the Sir Joseph Banks Hotel in Botany, which became a tourist attraction for Sydneysiders who travelled there, first by horse-tram and then electric tram.
Cremorne Gardens
English-style pleasure garden on Cremorne Point opened in 1856.
Harbourside locality in the suburb of Mosman.
The Spit
Sandspit protruding from Beauty Point in Mosman into Middle Harbour. From 1834 a ferry operated across to Manly Road on the northern side and in 1924 a bridge opened. The Spit has been enlarged by land reclamation.
Clifton Gardens
Harbourside locality on the eastern side of Mosman.
Suburb on the outermost shore of the southern side of Sydney harbour which, since colonial times, has been an important naval and civil maritime precinct, as well as a destination for Sydneysiders and tourists.
Mosman Bay
Sheltered bay on Sydney's north shore, named for Archibald Mosman, whaler. Earlier known as Great Sirius Cove after the HMS Sirius that was careened there in 1789.
Chowder Bay
Bay on Sydney Harbour south of Georges Head. Named for the preferred food of the American whalers who used the area in the nineteenth century.
As a harbour and river-based city, Sydney has relied on ferries from the earliest days of the colony's history. In the twentieth century, faster road transport reduced the usage of ferries, but they remain a feature of Sydney life.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Steel through arch bridge from Sydney business district to the North Shore, constructed between 1923 and 1932.
Smith, Henry Gilbert
Businessman who became a founder of Manly after retiring to his estate at Fairlight. He helped shape the look of Manly by supporting the planting of Norfolk pines on the ocean front.
Peninsular suburb at the northern entrance to Port Jackson, which faces both the harbour and the ocean. Its name comes from the 'confidence and manly behaviour' of the Aboriginal people encountered there by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1788.
Manly, Australia's Premier Seaside Resort c1945
Manly and Port Jackson Steamship Company
[nla.aus-vn3304093-13x]
Royal Commission into Saturday Half Holiday 1909
Royal commission chaired by Mr Justice Street which investigated the proposal to close shops at 1pm on Saturdays.
Weekly magazine influential in Australian literature and culture, particularly before World War I.
Eastern beachside suburb which has long been a destination for seaside recreation for Sydneysiders and tourists. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning 'stinking place', probably from the smell of rotting seaweed washed up on the beach.
Inner-eastern suburb adjacent to Bondi Beach, largely a working class suburb for much of the twentieth century and also home to a large population of Jewish immigrants. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word for 'sound of waves breaking on a beach'.
Turner, Ethel
Novelist and children's writer who lived on Sydney's north shore.
Seven Little Australians
Children's novel by Ethel Turner relating the adventures of the Woolcot children, set mostly in Sydney, during the 1880s. It was hugely popular, filmed several times and has remained in print since 1894.
Bondi Aquarium
Aquarium and amusement park in the valley of Fletcher's Glen at Tamarama beach.
South-eastern beachside suburb, with an Aboriginal name believed to mean 'storm'. Its beach has been described as the most hazardous patrolled beach in New South Wales.
Coogee Pier
English style amusement pier 180 metres long complete with a 1400-seat theatre, a 600 capacity ballroom, a 400 seat restaurant upstairs, small shops and a penny arcade.
Manly Fun Pier
Amusement park which operated on a converted cargo wharf in Manly Cove.
Company that operated ferries from Sydney to Manly, coined slogan 'Seven miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care'.
Twopeny, Richard Ernest Nowell
Journalist and author who wrote a guide to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Town Life in Australia, that was published in London in 1883.
South-eastern beachside suburb. Its name is believed to come from a tribe that lived there, or from a Dharuk companion of Bennelong. Another conjectured meaning is 'like thunder', referring to the sound of heavy surf.
Northern beachside suburb between the ocean and the Narrabeen Lakes. It is the site of the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation.
Bilgola
Northern beach suburb between Pittwater and the Pacific Ocean, separated into Bilgola Beach and Bilgola Plateau in 2012.
Cronulla
Southern beachside suburb located on a peninsula south of Botany Bay. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning 'place of pink seashells.'
Bondi Pavilion
Surf pavilion at Bondi Beach, built in the 1920s when surf bathing had become a mass leisure pursuit.
Charles Kerry and Company
Photographic studio opened by Charles Kerry in 1892 which produced over 2900 glass plates and many early postcards of country life and significant early events from the 1900s until its closure in 1917.
Broadhurst, William Henry
Photographer who published charming views of the North Shore between 1900 and 1927, often hand coloured by his daughters.
Title page of 'Select Views of Sydney, New South Wales' 1829
[a3679003 / Dixson Library Q82/19]
Waugh, James William
Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer in Sydney who wrote and published The Stranger's Guide to Sydney and the Australian Almanac.
Waugh migrated to Australia with his parents and sisters in 1840 to join his brothers David and Robert. The family settled in the Illawarra region. Waugh planned to become a publisher as his father had been in Edinburgh, and moved to Sydney where he worked for bookseller William Piddington before setting up on his own in November 1851, initially at 14 Hunter Street. He published, among other things, a volume of Henry Parkes' poetry, religious, science and art magazines, almanacs and tourist guides as well as a commercial directory to Sydney. He married Mary Lee Stobo in 1856. In late 1862, Waugh closed the business and moved to Bowenfels with his growing family. Waugh was insolvent by 1866 and the family moved to Kiama where they ran the fashionable boarding house Waratah House on Teralong Street. Waugh was also offering his services as a bookkeeper and Latin tutor, and was involved in the Kiama School of Arts. He died at home from 'pulmonary consumption', or tubercolosis, at the age of 48.
Travel guide by book seller James Waugh that was arranged as a series of walks with maps and suggested excursions, first published in 1858, and an enlarged second edition in 1861.
Maddock, William
Bookseller, publisher and stationer at 383 George Street in the 1880s.
Publishing company of the late nineteenth century.
Gibbs Shallard & Co
Publishing, printing and lithography company in Sydney in the 1870s and 1880s , and the publishers of the Illustrated Sydney News between 1881 and 1894. After a disastrous fire in their premises on Hosking Place in October 1890, the business did not recover and closed in 1893 when it was taken over by McCarron, Stewart & Co.
Bookselling business begun by William Dymock in the 1880s in Pitt Street as Dymock's Book Arcade. He moved to larger premises on King Street and then again in 1890 to George Street, in the southern wing of the Royal Hotel on the eastern side of the road between King and Market Streets. The flagship store remained in the same location after the original George Street store was demolished and replaced by 'The Block', or 'The Dymock's Building' in the 1920s.
Pfahlert's Hotel
Hotel at Wynyard that originally stood on the corner of Carrington and Margaret Streets, which published its own visitor's guide in 1879. The original Pfahlert's hotel building was sold and demolished in 1930 and the license transferred to premises in the former Arnott House at 50 Margaret Street, opposite Wynyard Square. The hotel ceased trading on 21 July 1972 and the building in Margaret Street was demolished.
Grosvenor Hotel
Hotel constructed in 1874.
Metropole Hotel
Hotel, with frontages on Young, Bent and Phillip streets, was built by the Australian Coffee Palace Company at a cost of 150,000 pounds and opened on 14January 1890.
Aarons Exchange Hotel
Hotel in Gresham Street purchased by Lewis Aaron in 1878.
Hotel which published its own travel guide to Sydney.
Tattersall's Hotel
Hotel on Pitt Street, on the present site of the Hilton Hotel, that was the headquarters of the Tattersall's gambling club. The club has been meeting at the Mayor Inn run by licensee William John O'Brien when he built a public room for them to meet in 1858 and changed the name of the hotel to Tattersall's. In 1878 the hotel was purchased by friends for George Adams, a keen gambler from Kiama. Subsequently also known as Adams' Hotel, under Adams' management it went on to become the home of Tattersall's betting and lotteries after Adams started holding sweeps in 1881 for members of the public, in addition to those being held by the Tattersall's club. In 1891 the building was substantially renovated to plans by Varney Parkes that included the construction of the Marble Bar and an arcade that ran between George and Pitt Street. The remodelled hotel was reopened in December 1892, described in the press at the time as "an hotel superior in its appointments to any in the city". The hotel ceased trading in February 1969 and was demolished, to be replaced by the Hilton Hotel. The Marble Bar was dismantled and rebuilt in the new hotel.
Wentworth Hotel Church Hill
Hotel on Church Hill near Wynyard Square which evolved from a row of terrace houses in Lang Street built in 1824. It was destroyed in a fatal fire on Christmas Day in 1888 and a new building was erected and reopened in July 1890. In 1950 the 185 room hotel was purchased by Qantas Empire Airways as accommodation for passengers and an air terminal opened next door in 1951. The hotel closed on 13 December 1966, the day before the company's new Wentworth Hotel in Phillip Street opened.
Trollope, Anthony
English civil servant and writer who visited Australia, and Sydney, twice during the 1870s and used his experiences in a number of his books.
Harbourside gardens that combine scientific research with recreation for Sydneysiders.
Taronga Zoo
Zoo on Sydney's north shore, opened in 1916, which housed the animals from the earlier Moore Park Zoo, and developed new attractions. From the 1970s the zoo focused more on education and research than entertainment.
Places to visit in and near Sydney 1916
[nla.aus-vn587240-24]
Bennelong Point
Rocky outcrop to the east of Sydney Cove, which was a tidal island when Europeans arrived, but was joined to the mainland with rocky rubble in 1818 to provide a basis for Fort Macquarie to be built there. The point is named for Bennelong, who lived in a house on the point in the 1790s.
La Perouse
South-eastern residential suburb on Botany Bay, named after the French explorer who landed there in 1788. It has a large Indigenous population, including those who can trace their ancestors back to the Kameygal people in pre-contact times.
Lady Carrington Road, National Park 1886
JS Wigram
Graham Trevena
[Page 12b]
(from the album 'Works by Members of the Amateur Photographic Society of N.S.W presented by the Society to His Excellency Lord Carrington August 1886')
Royal Tour 1954
Tour by the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth II who became the first reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil, accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. During the tour the Queen and the Duke spent February 3-13 in New South Wales, about half of it in Sydney.
Royal National Park
Australia's first national park, on the coast south of Sydney.
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
National park in Sydney's north created in 1894 largely because of the work of Eccleston du Faur.
Royal National Park railway station
Terminal station in the Royal National Park that opened on 9 March 1886 to provide access to a miltary training camp. The line and station was subsequently used by tourists and visitors to the park The platform is currently used as a tramway stop for the Sydney Tramway Museum.
Lane Cove National Park
Small national park in northern Sydney, based on the Lane Cove River bank land set aside for a park in the 1920s.
Garden Palace, Sydney c1879-1882
JT Richardson
[a128953 / XV1/ Pub/ Gar P/2]
International Exhibition 1879
Exhibition of world industries and arts held in the Garden Palace built in the Domain. A million people attended over seven months.
Garden Palace
Building in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens which hosted the spectacular International Exhibition in 1879 before its equally spectacular destruction by fire in 1882.
Inner-city suburb located immediately south of the central business district whose sandhills were first settled by Chinese market gardeners and later by Aboriginal people who migrated to work in the local factories. Today it is a rich blend of public housing, renovated terraces, light industry and arts precincts.
Float in the sesquicentenary parade 26 January 1938
[a389009 / PXA 907 Box 21, 51-57]
Inauguration of the Commonwealth celebrations Centennial Park 1901
Ceremony and mass celebration held to honour the achievement of Federation in 1901.
Sesquicentenary of European settlement of Australia 1938
Celebration of Australia Day to mark 150 years since the arrival of Governor Phillip and the First Fleet. It consisted of a re-enactment and flag-raising at Sydney Cove, followed by a pageant with 120 motorised floats.
Sydney Bridge Celebrations, 1932
Douglas Annand
Arthur James Whitmore
State Archives & Records New South Wales
[SR Document No.65]
Garden Palace fire 1882
Fire which destroyed the Garden Palace on 22 September 1882, three years after its construction for the International Exhibition.
Built on the site of Sydney's first official European cemetery, the Town Hall was designed by architect JH Willson in High Victorian style and constructed of Pyrmont sandstone. The highly ornate interiors have seen pomp and ceremony, protests and performance, and the building remains a significant focus for the city.
General Post Office
Renaissance Palazzo style building in Pyrmont sandstone on the corner of George Street and Martin Place. The building was constructed on the site of the earlier George Street General Post Office in two stages from 1866 to 1892 as the headquarters of the Government's growing postal services. In the mid 1990s part of the building was sold and converted for use as a hotel, with the remainder of the building being sold to the hotel's operators Far East/Sino Land in 2017.
Central Railway Station, opened in 1906, is Sydney's main rail terminus. Built on the site of the Devonshire Street Cemetery, it replaced a nearby terminus on Devonshire Street.
AWA Building and Tower
Communications tower that was Sydney's tallest building from the time it was built in 1939 until the 1960s. AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia) was a household name from the 1930s to the 1950s as both a broadcaster and a manufacturer of radios, record players and other electrical equipment. The tower was modelled on Berlin's Funkturm Tower, built a few years earlier, and both took inspiration from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The building is decorated with appropriate symbols of communication, including a winged Pegasus, and the light fittings in the entrance in the shape of radio valves.
AMP Building
Post War International style office building which at 25 storeys was the first to officially break the 1912 Sydney height of Buildings Limit of 150 feet and thus become the tallest building in Australia at the time of its construction.
Field, Barron
Judge of the Supreme Court whose early high regard and wise counsel in the colony was soon seen as elitist and fractious.
Western suburb built on the land of the Burramattagal people. Sydney's second European settlement, it began as a government farm in 1788 and has many heritage listed sites. It is now the commercial hub of Greater Western Sydney.
North-western town on Hawkesbury River named after the 3rd Duke of Richmond, Master General of the Ordnance. One of five townships in the region established by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, it contains many historic buildings and is the location of a Royal Australian Air Force base. In 1829 the name used for the area by the local Aboriginal people was recorded as being Marrangorra.
North-western town on the Hawkesbury River, named after Windsor in England. It was one of the five towns named in 1810 by Governor Macquarie and contains many heritage-listed buildings. In 1829 Rev John McGarvie recorded the local Aboriginal people's name for the area was Bulyayorang.
Royal Australian Historical Society
Founded in 1901 as the Australian Historical Society, the society aimed to encourage Australians to understand more about their history. Itcontinues to hold lectures, publish new scholarship and maintain a research library at History House in Macquarie Street.
Vaucluse House
Large Gothic-style residence surrounded by a nineteenth-century garden and outhouses on the harbour in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The original cottage was built by Irish convict Henry Browne Hayes in 1805, and he named it and the estate Vaucluse after the village of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse near Avignon in southern France. The house was greatly expanded by William Charles Wentworth after he purchased the estate in 1827. It is now a house museum run by the Historic Houses Trust.
Wilson, William Hardy
Architect, painter and author best known for his domestic architecture including Eryldene at Gordon.
Smith, Sydney Ure
Publisher and artist who sought to incorporate quality art and design with technically advanced printing in the advertising agency he founded in 1906 with Harry Julius. He also established the publishing company Art in Australia Ltd in 1920.
Herman, Sali
Painter who recorded the terraces and lanes of the inner city. He won the Wynne Prize in 1944, 1962 and 1965 and the Sulman Prize in 1946 and 1948.
White, Unk
Painter and cartoonist who recorded the Australian landscape and much of historic Sydney in a series of sketchbooks.
Emanuel, Cedric
Painter who recorded the rapidly changing landscape of the inner suburbs of Sydney.
Burdekin House
Nineteenth-century Sydney's 'finest private residence' in Macquarie Street. Built by merchant Thomas Burdekin in 1842, its demolition in 1933 was an early catalyst for the heritage movement.
St Malo
House on the Parramatta River at Hunters Hill on part of the original land grant to Mary Reibey. When Burdekin House was demolished the Ionic pillars were installed at St Malo. The house was demolished in 1961.
In the nineteenth century one of Sydney's most prestigious suburbs, it became home to a vibrant bohemian community and later Sydney's red light district. Named for the intersection of Darlinghurst Road, William and Victoria Streets and once called Queens Cross, the area is now a neon lit mecca for tourists and Sydneysiders.
'No, darling, this is not Mr Hilton. Captain Cook also discovered Australia' 1960
George Molnar
American tourists in the entrance to St Mary's Cathedral, 5 September 1962
John Aloysius Mulligan
Harris, Kerr, Forster & Co
American accountancy company.
Australian involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1962 and officially ended in 1973, although the war continued until 1975. More than 60,000 Australians served in the conflict of whom 521 died and more than 3,000 were wounded. The war caused considerable social and political dissent in Australia.
Suburb located north of the central business district on the western shore of Sydney Cove. Characterised by a precinct of restored nineteenth-century buildings which are a major tourist attraction, it was recognised as a separate suburb in 1993.
Builders Labourers Federation
Union formed to improve safety, working conditions and wages for the least skilled building workers. During the 1970s the BLF placed 'Green Bans' on socially undesirable demolition or development, and without builders' labourers the work could not proceed.
Work bans placed on specific sites for environmental or conservation reasons, part of a campaign carried on from the 1970s by the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation in support of residents' groups.
Inner-east residential suburb, named for the London borough, with 3,800 terrace houses built between 1860 and 1890. It was one of the earliest Sydney suburbs to be valued for its heritage buildings, many of which have been restored.
View of the crowd at the opening ceremony at the Queen Victoria Building 18 November 1986
City of Sydney Archives
[052013 (CRS 422/3/259)]
Queen Victoria Building
Grand domed sandstone arcade in the centre of the city which was saved from demolition in the 1980s and restored to its Federation Romanesque glory. Previously the site had been the municipal markets designated by Governor Macquarie and its current retail tenants continue the tradition.
Treasury Buildings
Sandstone office blocks in the Italian Palazzo style built on the site of the first Government House garden. It was occupied by a series of government departments before the conversion to an hotel in 1985.
Inner-city suburb named for its original status as Anglican church land granted to Richard Johnson, chaplain of the first fleet in 1790. The Glebe Point area became fashionable in the nineteenth century, while the southern part of Glebe became a working class district.
Harbourside suburb on a peninsula west of central Sydney, named after the First Fleet assistant surgeon, with a working-class and industrial history. From the 1960s, as industry waned, it became popular with professional and business people who wanted to live close to the city.
Inner-west suburb which developed along the main road south from Sydney. It became a prosperous shopping district in the late 19th century, and later a working-class and migrant suburb, now gentrified.
Inner-city suburb located immediately to the south east of the central business district. After explosive growth in the second half of the nineteenth century it came to be seen as a slum, then experienced gentrification from the late 1960s.
Once a desirable bayside address east of central Sydney, the area grew more congested and grimy as the wharves expanded and the boarding houses and pubs gave refuge to larrikin gangs and petty criminals. Though now bisected by freeways and rail it is slowly reclaiming its heritage and character with extensive residential development and sympathetic landscaping.
Green Bans movement
When builders labourers, organised by their union, refused to work on projects they found socially or environmentally undesirable, in Sydney in the 1970s, they started a new form of environmental activism. The Green Bans were to change the way Sydney developed
South-western suburb based around the town founded by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810, which remained a satellite town of Sydney until suburban development incorporated it into the city in the mid-twentieth century.
Suburb on Sydney's south-western fringes which grew from a township founded in 1820 by Governor Macquarie that commemorates his wife Elizabeth's maiden name. Rural in nature until the 1960s, the suburb has since grown into a major population centre.
Inner-western residential suburb with a prominent population of Italian migrants.
There were Italians in Sydney before the proclamation of Italy in 1861 and stonemasons, fishermen, market gardeners and manufacturers have left their mark on the city. Expanded Italian immigration after World War II brought a strong sense of community and culture that has enriched and enlivened Sydney's cuisine and city life.
South-western suburb which began as an agricultural township. It evolved into one of Sydney's most multicultural suburbs after the Second World War when it was settled by successive waves of European and Asian migrants.
One of the largest and most visible migrant communities in Sydney, the Vietnamese were the first large group of Asian immigrants to settle in Sydney after the White Australia policy. Despite initial racism from Anglo-Australians, and the difficulties of a transplanted and initially a refugee group, the community has built thriving commercial and cultural centres in Sydney's south-west.
The cultural centre of Sydney's Chinese community. Between 1909 and 1915 the Council built a new market complex at the head of Darling Harbour. Chinese traders and importers rented market space and stores, shops and restaurants followed. Rooms above these shops sometimes became home for the Chinese traders and for retired gardeners who were unable to return home. The precinct became run down by the mid 20th century; the numbers of Chinese dwindled and the markets moved out of the city. Chinatown was refurbished in the 1980s.
Chinese settlers arrived in Sydney from 1818 and their compatriots followed, especially after gold was discovered in New South Wales. Despite harrassment from governments and intimidation from other Sydneysiders, Chinese immigrants continued to come and to stay throughout the 19th century, until the relaxation of racist laws in the mid-20th century. With renewed Chinese immigration in the 21st century, Sydney's Chinese community is rapidly changing.
Jorn Utzon's Sydney landmark.
No Age
American Indy band which toured Australia in 2008.
Australia's Wonderland
Theme park at Eastern Creek which operated between 1985 and 2004, and was the largest in the southern hemisphere.
Fox Studios Australia
Complex of film and television production studios, craft shops and independent businesses opened in 1998 on the site of Royal Agricultural Society's Sydney Showground.
Amusement park built on the site of the Dorman Long workshops at Milsons Point after the Sydney Harbour Bridge was completed in 1932. It closed in 1979 after a fatal fire on the Ghost Train ride, but reopened in 1982.
Koala Park Sanctuary
Wildlife sanctuary founded by Noel Burnet at West Pennant Hills in the 1920s and still managed by the family.
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Wildlife sanctuary and tourist destination at Doonside which also participates in an extensive captive breeding program.
Sydney Wildlife World
Tourist showcase for Australia's wildlife at Darling Harbour.
Revolving Summit Restaurant on 47th floor of 50 storey Australia Square tower 1968
William (Bill) Brindle
Waratah Spring Festival parade, College Street 1960s
(SRC18259)
Back cover of guide to 1978 Festival of Sydney events
[The Australian Women's Weekly, 28 December 1977, p43 via Trove]
Waratah Spring Festival
Festival and parade held in Sydney between 1956 and 1973. Organised by Sydney City Council and the Sydney Committee, which was made up of council, state government and city business representatives, the aim of the festival was to enliven the city each spring.
Festival of Sydney
Festival of art, music and performance held in Sydney in January.
Albury Hotel float, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, 1983
William Yang
With kind permission of
Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
Annual parade and festival celebrating gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer culture.
Centrepoint Tower
Landmark and tourist attraction that rises high above the city skyline.
Waterway to the west of the city once surrounded by wharves, goods yards, woolstores and factories which contributed enormously to the city's economic wealth. The former rail lines and goods yards were transformed from commercial port to a recreational and pedestrian precinct in the 1980s.
Sydney Entertainment Centre
Large entertainment venue at Darling Harbour opened in 1983 and demolished in 2016.
Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
Convention and exhibition centre at Darling Harbour designed by Philip Cox. The mast and cable construction of the Exhibition Centre reflects its maritime environment. During the 2000 Sydney Olympics the complex was used for wrestling, boxing, judo and fencing events.
Chinese Garden of Friendship
Tranquil Chinese garden that was a gift to Sydney from the city of Guangzhou, the region in southern China where most of Sydney's early Chinese came from.
Sydney Aquarium
Aquarium and tourism complex at Darling Harbour.
Theatre at Darling Harbour which screens large format 2D and 3D. Demolished in 2016 to be rebuilt.
Star City Casino
The only legal casino in Sydney, the complex also contains theatres, restaurants and a hotel.
Cockle Bay Wharf
Restaurant and shopping precinct on the eastern side of Darling Harbour.
Wide-ranging museum of human ingenuity housed in a repurposed power station in Ultimo, which grew out of the Technological Museum, whose collection was based on the International Exhibition of 1879, and the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.
Museum established in 1991 to explore Australia's links to the sea. Its high walls and diving roof forms were designed to accommodate the masts of boats inside the museum. It also contains floating attractions including the ex-RAN Oberon class submarine Onslow, moored next to the Daring Class destroyer Vampire. Historic vessels visiting Sydney tie up here.
Single loop, elevated monorail connecting Darling Harbour and Sydney's central business district. Always a controversial structure, in 2013 it was finally demolished and the structure removed to allow expansion of the entertainment precinct at Darling Harbour.
Captain Cook Cruises
Cruise ship company begun by Trevor and Geraldine Haworth in the 1977.
Waterfront urban renewal precinct on the site of some of Sydney's earliest wharves between Darling Harbour and Millers Point, named in honour of Cammeray woman Barangaroo.
BridgeClimb
Tourist company which conducts guided tours onto the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Greer, Germaine
Author and academic whose assertion that women's liberation means embracing gender differences in a positive fashion, has created controversy and bought international acclaim over a long career.
Global conflict during the years 1939–1945. Australia's involvement in the second world war began with Prime Minister Robert Menzies' radio announcement on 3 September 1939 that the country was at war, and ended with Japan's unconditional surrender on 14 August 1945. As a member of the British Commonwealth, Australia fought with the alliance of powers known as the Allies (Great Britain, France, United States of America, the Soviet Union and China) against the Axis powers (Germany, Japan, Italy). More than a million Australians served, and for the first time the country came under direct military attack.
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Adaptation of Dune to the cinema: “It is the literary work which inspired Star Wars the most”, underlines a specialist
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Music of the song ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ played at Apple’s launch event, also played in the video of iPhone 13
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In the Scindia royal family, food was served by a silver train, the Maharaja was embarrassed by the accident
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At the trial of the attacks of November 13, the first words of the accused
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Athletics Hall of Fame Inductees
Emanuel F. Tramontana
Title Emanuel F. Tramontana
Identifier HOF_EmanuelFTramontana_1080.jpg
Description Head Coach of Varsity Baseball for More than 30 Years Manny Tramontana has been coaching a team since 1964, when he joined the Pingry faculty. Early in his Pingry career, he coached freshman soccer, freshman basketball, and freshman baseball, and then he spent 12 years coaching junior varsity basketball and 10 years coaching junior varsity baseball. He started to coach junior varsity soccer in the fall of 1966 and became head coach in 1969. That same year, the team scored 53 goals to set a new school record. In 1972, the team finished the season 14-1-1 and became co-champions of Union County. Four years later, the team won its first Union County Championship. Also in 1976, Manny began his 32-year tenure with the Varsity Baseball Team. Under his leadership, the team enjoyed 30 consecutive winning seasons from 1978 to 2007. In 1986, they defeated Lawrenceville to become champions of the State Prep A Division, and they repeated as division champions in 1992. In 1994, the team became Parochial B state champions. The Varsity Baseball Team was a three-time champion of the Colonial Hills Conference, in 1999, 2000, and 2002, and they went to the Somerset County finals in 2004 and 2007. Manny enjoyed a landmark year in 2004, when he was named Somerset County “Coach of the Year” by The Star-Ledger and the Courier News and was selected to the New Jersey Coaches Hall of Fame. Currently head coach of junior varsity soccer and assistant coach of varsity baseball, Manny has been chair of the mathematics department since 1984.
Extent 1 p.
Item Language en_US
Rights This resource may be copyright protected. You may make use of this resource, with proper attribution, for educational and other non-commercial uses only. Contact the contributing organization to obtain permission for reproduction, publication, and commercial use.
Inductee
Inductee Type Individual
Decade(s) Active 1960s
Name Tramontana, Emanuel, (Manny)
Genre declaratory documents
Location Library archive
Digitization specifications 600 dpi; 24 bit color; tif
Operating system OS X Yosemite 10.11.5
Creating software Adobe Photoshop CS6 13.0.6 x64; EPSON Scan Ver. 3.49A (Universal)
Creating hardware EPSON Expression 11000XL
Identifier (URI) http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11795/351
Date Accessioned 2016-08-12T19:48:40Z
Date Available 2016-08-12T19:48:40Z
HOF_EmanuelFTramontana_1080.jpg
presentation jpg
HOF_EmanuelFTramontana.jpg
high quality jpg
HOF_EmanuelFTramontana.tif
TIFF image
archival tif
The 100 individuals and 40 teams that have been inducted in to the Pingry Athletics Hall of Fame
Edit this item
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Tommy Johnson Jr Gets a Rain Check; Hagan Zero Points
On Friday, things were looking up for Tommy Johnson Jr, the semi-retired Funny Car driver, who had finished second in the 2020 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series but was released by Don Schumacher Racing at the end of season. The former driver of the Make-A-Wish funny car that carried The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center sponsorship was sitting at home about 15 minutes from Lucas Oil Raceway when he got a call from his former team. As the DSR team was preparing to take to the staging lanes for Friday qualifying at the Dodge//SRT NHRA U.S. Nationals, it was announced that defending Funny Car World Champion Matt Hagan had tested positive for COVID-19 and would not be competing at The Big Go. Having won the U.S. Nationals in 2016, Hagan’s quest to maintain his...
Torrence and Hagan Back on Top at Lucas Oil Nationals
The best of the best in the National Hot Rod Association’s nitro classes arrived at the twelfth stop of the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series in Brainerd, MN, with one thing in mind; claim as many points as possible before the Countdown to the Championship begins. The 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway is the penultimate race of the regular season, and a solid performance is crucial for drivers and teams trying to win a world championship. In addition, it was the first Brainerd appearance for the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service and the 800+ cubic inch Mountain Motor Pro Stock class. Best of all, after the Brainerd event was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, racing fans were...
Carr and Gonzalez Win at Brainerd NHRA Nationals
After missing the 2020 season due to COVID-19 restrictions, the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series returned to Brainerd International Raceway over the weekend. However, the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals looked different than it did in 2019, when Minnesota native Jason Line won a Pro Stock Wally. This season, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle are part of the National Hot Rod Association’s rotational classes with an alternating schedule designed to expose racing fans around the country to new events. Both of the Pro Stock classes were cut to seventeen events from twenty-four races to relieve some of the time commitments and financial burden on racing teams in those classes. In 2021, the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Drag Racing Series as well as the Mountain Motor Pro Stock divisions were...
Tour de Force Doubles Up at NHRA Menards Nationals
History was made Sunday, when the Godfather of Funny Car shared the podium with his daughter at the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, KS. Although John and Brittany Force had shared Number One qualifying positions at past events, Topeka was the first time in history a father and child posted wins the same NHRA Nationals event. To no one’s surprise, John Force knows all about breaking records and, as one of the most dominant drag racers in the world, he reached his 260th final round at the House of Speed. “We doubled up, we doubled up,” shouted an exuberant John Force as he watched live on a runoff area monitor as Brittany claimmed victory in Top Fuel. It was daughter Brittany’s first Wally of the 2021 season. As the...
Why NHRA Nationals Raced in the Summer Heat
Drag racing fans have flocked to Pomona, California, since the gates opened at Auto Club Raceway in 1961. Moreover, the NHRA-operated facility has a rich history for drag racers that dates back to 1952. That’s when a young police officer, Sergeant Bud Coons, convinced his Chief and members of the city government that using the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds to give young people a place to race would ultimately save lives. Statistics proved Officer Coons was correct and drag racing in the Redlands had a home. Pomona Raceway was nicknamed “The Fairplex”, and by 1984, the fan-centric track was hosting the opening round of the NHRA National Championship Series known as the Winternationals. In addition, Auto Club Raceway also hosted the last NHRA national of the season....
Pruett and Capps Sweep Nitro Classes at Winternationals
Drag racing fans flocked to Auto Club Raceway in Pomona CA for the 61st annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com. The legendary event is traditionally held in February at the historic track, but Auto Club Raceway was still being used as a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination site when the NHRA Camping World Series was scheduled to launch. Both the NHRA and track management continued to work closely with state of California health officials to ensure the event would run as part of this season and before the NHRA Countdown to the Championship. Although the State of Washington loosened its coronavirus restrictions earlier this year, conducting a large event with race fans in the stands was still up in the air. When organizers decided to cancel the Flav-R-Pack...
Stanfield and Smith Winners at Lucas Oil Winternationals
Drag racing at Pomona began in the 1950s after the local police department worked with city officials to build a drag strip next to the Los Angeles Fair Grounds. The goal was to get young drivers off the streets by providing a safer place for them to race their hot rods. The ingenuous program proved successful and a decade later Auto Club Raceway became a Southern California hotspot. Nestled in the shadow of Mount Baldy and the San Gabriel Mountains, the track was nicknamed “The Fairplex” and has been hosting national events for the National Hot Rod Association for four decades. Last year Pomona hosted the opening round of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series but the final race of the 2020 season was moved to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to coronavirus...
Capps & Force Fastest; Hight & Torrence Victorious
In qualifying rounds, Brittany Force and Ron Capps were the number one qualifier in their respective Top Fuel and Funny Car divisions at the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series in Sonoma, CA. Nitro classes were entering the ninth race of season and the second of the famed NHRA three-race Western Swing. Driving the 11,000-horsepower Flav-R-Pac dragster for John Force Racing, Brittany posted an impressive run with a 3.694 ET at 329.42 mph on Friday. She also qualified atop the field at the last event the Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Raceway. Force has been fast all season with four top qualifiers and posted a 3.716 ET at 330.31 mph, which was the fastest run recorded in qualifying at the Sonoma Nationals. Capps’s run of 3.897-seconds at 328.78 mph was his third number...
Stanfield and Stoffer Win Pro Stock Classes at Sonoma
Greg Anderson remained dominant in Pro Stock qualifying, as the veteran driver continues to set a torrid pace in qualifying. Anderson earned his seventh number one qualifier in eight races over the weekend at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. Driving the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, Anderson claimed the top spot in Pro Stock qualifying for the 113th time in his career with a 6.513 ET at 210.44 mph. On Sunday, he will try again to earn his 97th career win, which will tie Warren Johnson for the most in NHRA Pro Stock history. Kyle Koretsky was the second fastest qualifier followed by four-time Pro Stock NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series world champion Erica Enders. Enders joined the Elite Motorsports team in 2014 and has become a class sensation driving the Melling Chevrolet...
Torrence, Hagan and Smith Win at Bandimere
As the NHRA’s Western Swing kicked off at Bandimere Speedway outside Denver, a near-capacity crowd welcomed drivers and teams to this year’s Dodge//SRT Mile-High Nationals presented by Pennzoil. The annual kick-off for the three-race event for the National Hot Rod Association was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. To no one’s surprise, eager fans not only filled the stands for Sunday’s finals at Thunder on the Mountain, but they were also hooting and hollering both Friday and Saturday night under the lights as race teams staged their cars for qualifying rounds. After missing the nitro classes last year, it didn’t surprise anyone that the local drag race fans stayed late into the evening to watch jet dragsters close the show. Top Fuel...
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When Free College Scholarships Aren’t Enough: Confronting Generations of Poverty, Cleveland Schools Partner With Businesses to Connect Thousands of Students With Good Jobs
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When the Cleveland School District launched an ambitious $125 million college scholarship program two years ago, the hope was that it would transform the lives of students in a city with the highest poverty rate in the country.
But Eric Gordon, the district’s chief executive, knew scholarships and diplomas wouldn’t be enough for many Cleveland students who come from families who earn less than $20,000 a year and never go to college.
Although cheers continued to reverberate in celebration of the scholarship, Gordon was mobilizing business and non-profit groups in his attempt to attack the intergenerational poverty and unemployment plaguing Cleveland—a program to connect thousands of high school students to real jobs with a living wage and a shot at a fulfilling life. .
Working mostly on Zoom during the pandemic, a team of more than 115 Cleveland leaders has built Career Planning and Exploration (PACE): Here to Career, which is designed to create clear pathways to middle-class careers for all students through internships, internships, and job shadowing. and company visits.
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“We have a whole gap between people who have access and awareness of all the professions that can keep them out of poverty, and people who don’t have access and don’t have awareness of the things that can lift them out of poverty,” Gordon said. . “PACE is our attempt to bridge that divide.”
Already, more than 70 companies in Cleveland have signed up to be part of the program, including hospitals and a major banking chain.
The effort comes at a time when companies are facing a labor shortage as the country emerges from the pandemic, which could be an incentive for Cleveland companies to train students.
But Cleveland’s program faces severe challenges. Similar programs in other US cities have not reached large numbers of students. PACE must overcome business concerns related to training costs, student behavior, and the logistical sources of having students in the workplace.
It is also a change in the mentality of the region. The long-term goal of preparing students for the distinct seclusion of college or profession, which later merged into college and career. narrows more.
“College, two-year college, trade school is a path to a career,” Gordon explained. “But it is the same for vocational training, training, learning to make money, (going) directly into the workforce. And so the goal should be ‘the profession’.”
A key component of the PACE program is to make workplace learning a standard part of high school for all students, not just students in professional programs or top academic students.
“We built it as a universal goal — everyone should own these things,” said Anthony Battaglia, executive director of the College’s Career District and Pathways.
Cleveland’s PACE program will start teaching students about jobs early on, then gradually increase to WBL – work-based learning – in high school, so students can test jobs before graduation to see if they are a good fit. (Cleveland Municipal School District)
This is a major challenge and requires a change in school and business culture that will set Cleveland apart from other cities. Workplace learning programs in American cities have not been able to succeed for large numbers of students.
In Nashville, for example, where an extensive career exploration program has been in place for more than a decade, only about 20 percent of seniors have a chance to train before graduation.
Although European countries have a corporate culture that trains young people, US companies avoid it for a range of reasons — including insurance issues, concerns about students who lack the skills to do jobs, and school schedules that conflict with working hours. Transportation is also a handicap, especially for students who rely on limited public transportation systems. Companies also do not have a guaranteed return on their investment.
But many American cities need to better connect students to high-paying jobs that provide economic security and middle-class life.
The nation suffers from a “skills gap”, with many job seekers lacking the credentials for well-paying jobs. Others view it as an “opportunity gap”, in which too many disadvantaged groups have not had the opportunity to learn what they need to compete.
“Many low-wage workers—particularly black, Hispanic, Hispanic, and Indigenous workers—are trapped in multigenerational lower-class jobs without access to job opportunities, premium education, or professional networks,” Brookings Institution researcher Anneliese Goeger wrote. “We must focus on job creation and educational investments that offer all residents broad career options and multiple ways to access new jobs.”
Helen Williams, who directs educational programs for the Cleveland Foundation and helped lead the creation of PACE, said her visits to the Netherlands and Finland in 2014 inspired her to bring parts of the European model here.
“We want students to delve deeper into what a professional life looks like,” she said. “Employers get a chance to interact with their students and think of those programs not as a handout, but really helping to develop the workforce of the future.”
She hopes that the PACE program can bring about a gradual change in the business culture here.
“How do you make this part of DNA?” asked Williams. “How do you bring people together so that it is seamless? It really is a rethink.”
Cleveland School Board President Ann Bingham and Helen Williams of the Cleveland Foundation explain the PACE program at a recent program launch event. (Patrick O’Donnell)
Even before the pandemic, Cleveland needed to connect students to jobs more than other cities. It has the highest poverty rate – 30.8 percent – in the United States and the worst child poverty rate in the country, with 46 percent of children living below the poverty line.
Cleveland families made about $26,600 a year, compared to the region’s median household income of $52,100 and the national median of $57,600.
Census data shows that only 16 percent of adults in Cleveland have earned a bachelor’s degree, well below 30 percent or more for a region, state and nation.
PACE aims to address those issues starting in the sixth grade as students will learn about jobs and finances, and eventually put high school students in the workplace.
The hope is that students from poor Cleveland families will be exposed to the ideas and concepts that wealthy, suburban parents often teach their children—the careers available to graduates, jobs that fit their interests, and how to earn degrees or certifications to succeed.
At each stage, companies can choose how involved they want to be: at one end, companies can have tables at career fairs or allow students to confront employees. In high-end companies they can offer paid internships or apprenticeships. The district hopes to eventually offer jobs to all 4,600 high school students and seniors each year.
Here’s how Cleveland Schools seek employer assistance in educating and training students about jobs that can earn a living wage. (Cleveland Municipal School District)
PACE also prioritizes the three sectors most in need of employees in the region: healthcare, manufacturing and information technology.
Gordon has seen the needs of the workplace in Cleveland for years and has tried to show students what jobs are available to them, other than the low-paying retail and fast food jobs that many already have.
The district has set up specialty high schools, including one based at the District Hospital and one focused on aviation and naval careers, that do much of PACE’s work by immersing students in those areas while also taking college preparatory classes.
PACE will provide these types of opportunities to many students, while also making sure that work experiences really help students. You expect students to do or be trained on the real work of a job, rather than just watching or answering phones.
“We all hear about the internship where all you do is have coffee,” Battaglia said. “We want more high-quality internships.”
Driven by grants, innovative apprenticeship programs in the US will attract school-leaved youth to return to school after COVID — starting in middle school
Paid internships are also a particularly important piece of the puzzle. Gordon said many of his students are already working long hours in fast food jobs because they need the money right away.
“We have kids and I had this conversation live: Mr. Gordon, do you want me to quit this job at McDonalds and Dave’s (supermarket) when I know we’re going to eat?” He said. “We have a lot of children working in food-related industries because of the scarcity of food.”
How quickly the program provides opportunities remains to be seen.
Some companies are trying it. The Cleveland Clinic, the city’s largest private employer, has committed to offering students paid internships, making staff mentors, and helping students with resumes and mock job interviews.
PNC Bank is adapting a PartnerUp program it runs at its Pittsburgh locations that allow students to apply for work and internships in entry-level banking jobs. Students are guaranteed at least an interview, if not a job, after the programme.
PACE’s growth continues to depend on the success of Cleveland’s business with area students. Part of that will mean alleviating employer concerns about bad behavior and delays from Cleveland students, the so-called soft skills that are often a barrier to employment.
“We have to change the concept of the district graduate or student,” said school board chairperson Ann Bingham. “I think at least in the downtown business community there is a misunderstanding of what our students are and what they bring to the table.”
“I think we’ll get there,” she added. “I think it’s going to be slow, but I think we’ll get there.”
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Justia Dockets & Filings Fifth Circuit Texas Western District Waters v. McCraw et al Filing 6
Waters v. McCraw et al
ORDERED that Waters's Petition for Writ of Mandamus (Dkt. No. 1 ) is dismissed without prejudice for want of jurisdiction. Signed by Judge Robert Pitman. (td)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS AUSTIN DIVISION TERESA ANN WATERS, V. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, and TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES § § § § § § A-17-CV-0447-RP ORDER OF DISMISSAL Before the Court is Plaintiff Teresa Ann Waters’s Writ of Mandamus (Dkt. No. 1), and Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (Dkt. No. 2). The Court HEREBY GRANTS Waters’ Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (Dkt. No. 2). Waters’ Writ of Mandamus (Dkt. No. 1) is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Waters requests the Court to issue a writ of mandamus against Steve McCraw, Director of the Department of Public Safety, and John Hellerstedt, Commissioner of the Department of State Health Services. In 2003 Waters pled guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child, and was sentenced to ten years in state prison. (Dkt. No. 1 at 2); Texas Penal Code § 22.021(a)(2)(B). Waters was paroled in 2012 with the lifetime requirement the that she annually register as a sex offender. In 2016, Waters applied to be deregistered as a sex offender. (Dkt No. 1 at 2). Defendants subsequently denied Waters’ request because her conviction did not involve consensual conduct, which is the only basis for deregistration in the instance of a conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child. Consensual conduct requires the victim be “at least 13 years of age at the time of the offense and the perpetrator no more than 4 years older than the victim at the time of the offense.” (Dkt. No. 1, Ex. B). The TDSHS denied Waters’ request because, at the time of her offense, the victim was 12 and 1 Waters was 29. Id. Waters’s request for a writ of mandamus is an appeal of this decision to a federal court, over which this Court lacks jurisdiction. Although the writ of mandamus was abolished by Fed. R. Civ. P. 81(b), federal courts may issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law. 28 U.S.C. § 1651. Actions in the nature of mandamus are provided for in 28 U.S.C. § 1361, which states as follows: The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any action in the nature of mandamus to compel an officer or employee of the United States or any agency thereof to perform a duty owed to the plaintiff. Federal district courts do not have jurisdiction to issue the writ against a state actor or agency. See generally Moye v. Clerk, DeKalb County Superior Court, 474 F.2d 1275 (5th Cir. 1973); accord, Noble v. Cain, 123 Fed. Appx. 151 (5th Cir. Feb.16, 2005) (available at 2005 WL 361818) (citing Moye to hold federal mandamus relief is not available to direct state officials in the performance of their duties). As such, mandamus relief is not available to compel or direct the actions of state officials or other non-federal employees. Davis v. Lansing, 851 F.2d 72, 74 (2d Cir. 1988); Gurley v. Superior Court of Mecklenburg Cnty., 411 F.2d 586, 587 (4th Cir. 1969). Thus, the Court is without jurisdiction over Waters’ Mandamus Petition. It is therefore ORDERED that Waters’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus (Dkt. No. 1) is dismissed without prejudice for want of jurisdiction. SIGNED on May 18, 2017. __________________________________ ROBERT PITMAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 2
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MRS Title 35-A 4131. CREATION of MAINE MUNICIPAL and RURAL ELECTRIFICATION COOPERATIVE AGENCY
MRS Title 35-A §4131. CREATION OF MAINE MUNICIPAL AND RURAL ELECTRIFICATION COOPERATIVE AGENCY
Maine Revised Statutes
Title 35-A: PUBLIC UTILITIES
Chapter41: MAINE MUNICIPAL AND RURAL ELECTRIFICATION COOPERATIVE AGENCY ACT
§4131. CREATION OF MAINE MUNICIPAL AND RURAL ELECTRIFICATION COOPERATIVE AGENCY
1.Establishment. The Maine Municipal and Rural Electrification Cooperative Agency, as established pursuant to Title 5, chapter 379, is a body politic and corporate and political subdivision of the State with the duties and powers set forth in this chapter. The agency is constituted as a public instrumentality and as a quasi-municipal corporation, and the exercise by the agency of the powers conferred by this chapter is held to be the performance of public and essential governmental functions of the State.
[ 1987, c. 141, Pt. A, §6 (NEW) .]
2.Powers. The powers of the agency shall be exercised by a board of directors.
3.Appointment of directors. Directors shall be appointed as follows.
A. The governing body or board of directors of any municipality and the board of trustees or directors of any cooperative shall each select a single director to serve on the board, provided that no director may be selected by more than one cooperative or municipality. [1987, c. 141, Pt. A, §6 (NEW).]
B. The Governor shall also appoint as a member a person who is not affiliated with any municipality or cooperative, as defined in section 4103, subsection 5, to represent the general public. [1987, c. 141, Pt. A, §6 (NEW).]
C. The Director of the Governor's Energy Office, or another employee of that office, as the director may from time to time designate in writing filed with the clerk of the agency, shall serve as a member of the board of directors. [2011, c. 655, Pt. MM, §17 (AMD); 2011, c. 655, Pt. MM, §26 (AFF).]
[ 2011, c. 655, Pt. MM, §17 (AMD); 2011, c. 655, Pt. MM, §26 (AFF) .]
4.Oath. Each director, before entering upon his duties, shall take and subscribe an oath to perform the duties of office faithfully, impartially and justly to the best of his ability. A record of the oaths shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State.
5.Term. Directors shall serve for terms of 5 years each. The terms shall end on July 1st each year as follows: Two in 1982 and every 5 years thereafter; 2 in 1983 and every 5 years thereafter; 2 in 1984 and every 5 years thereafter; 2 in 1985 and every 5 years thereafter; and the balance if any in 1986 and every 5 years thereafter. Each director shall hold office until his successor is appointed and qualified. A director is eligible for reappointment.
6.Vacancy. Any vacancy in the office of director occurring other than by expiration of term shall be filled by a successor director, who shall serve for the remaining term of office so vacated.
7.Removal. Each director may be removed from office by the Governor for cause, after a public hearing, and may be suspended by the Governor pending the completion of the hearing.
8.Quorum. A majority, but not less than 3, of the directors then in office constitutes a quorum for the transaction of any business or the exercise of any power of the agency. Action may be taken and motions and resolutions adopted by the agency at any meeting by the affirmative vote of a majority of directors of the agency then in office. No vacancy in the office of director of the agency may impair the right of a quorum of the directors to exercise all powers and take any action.
9.Bylaws. The board of directors of the agency shall adopt bylaws or other rules and regulations for the management of the affairs of the agency and carrying out the purposes of this chapter.
10.Officers. The board of directors shall also elect one of its member directors as chairman of the agency and shall also elect a treasurer and secretary who may be, but need not be, directors. It may elect other officers and agents as necessary to perform those acts commonly delegated to the officers and agents of a business corporation and shall set their compensation.
11.Voting; conflict of interest. A director or officer of the agency who is also an officer, employee or member of a legislative body of a municipality or other public body or the State may not be precluded from voting or acting on behalf of the agency on a matter involving the municipality or public body or the State. Neither shall service as a director or officer of the agency constitute a conflict of interest for an officer, employee or member of a municipality or public body or the State.
12.Agency existence. The agency and its existence shall continue as long as it has notes, bonds or other obligations or indebtedness outstanding, including notes, bonds or other obligations or indebtedness issued or incurred, and until its existence is terminated by law. The net earnings of the agency, beyond that necessary for retirement of its notes, bonds or other obligations or indebtedness or to implement the public purposes and programs authorized in this chapter, may not inure to the benefit of any person other than the State. Upon termination of the existence of the agency, title to all of the property owned by the agency, including any net earnings of the agency, shall vest in the State. The State reserves the right at any time to alter, amend, repeal or otherwise change the structure, organization, programs or activities of the agency, including the power to terminate the agency, subject to any limitation on the impairment of the obligation of any contract entered into by the agency.
1987, c. 141, §A6 (NEW). 1991, c. 855, §§1,2 (AFF). 1995, c. 254, §12 (AMD). 2011, c. 655, Pt. MM, §17 (AMD). 2011, c. 655, Pt. MM, §26 (AFF).
The State of Maine claims a copyright in its codified statutes. If you intend to republish this material, we require that you include the following disclaimer in your publication:
All copyrights and other rights to statutory text are reserved by the State of Maine. The text included in this publication reflects changes made through the Second Special Session of the 128th Maine Legislature and is current through November 1, 2018. The text is subject to change without notice. It is a version that has not been officially certified by the Secretary of State. Refer to the Maine Revised Statutes Annotated and supplements for certified text.
The Office of the Revisor of Statutes also requests that you send us one copy of any statutory publication you may produce. Our goal is not to restrict publishing activity, but to keep track of who is publishing what, to identify any needless duplication and to preserve the State's copyright rights.
PLEASE NOTE: The Revisor's Office cannot perform research for or provide legal advice or interpretation of Maine law to the public. If you need legal assistance, please contact a qualified attorney.
Generated 12.12.2018 / | 1
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Dyersburg High School, Dyersburg, TN Learning from Six High Poverty, High Achieving Blue
Spring Camp Cheerio 2015 Registration
OAT151 Access Level I
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Peter Dziewulski, MBBS, FFICM, FRCS UTMB Health Provider
Specialties: Plastic Surgery
Plastic Surgery - Reconstructive
No Location details to display.
Dr. Peter G. Dziewulski is a Professor of Plastic Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. He has over three decades of experience in plastic, reconstructive, and burn surgery.
Dr. Dziewulski earned his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 1984 at the Westminster Medical School, University of London, U.K. He then became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) in general surgery in 1989 and then a FRCS in plastic surgery in 1997. He also earned his Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training in 1997 and began his practice as a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at St. Andrews Centre for Plastic Surgery and Burns in Chelmsford, Essex, U.K.
While at St. Andrews Centre, Dr. Dziewulski worked in a variety of leadership positions, including the Clinical Director of Plastic Surgery and Burn Services, and served as the Developer and Director of the Burn Surgical Fellowship.
Dr. Dziewulski has published on burn care, skin malignancy, cosmetic surgery, and risk prediction following burn injury. He has authored over 120 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and 14 book chapters in scientific textbooks. He is a member of numerous professional medical societies, and is an editorial board member and journal reviewer for several scientific journals. In his career, Dr. Dziewulski has constantly remained active in teaching and training surgery fellows, residents, and medical students.
MBBS, Westminster Medical School, Imperial College London - London, 1984
Plastic Surgery, Royal Victoria Infirmary and Newcastle Hospital - New Castle on Tyne, 1997
Plastic Surgery, Shriner's Burn Hospital - Galveston, TX, 1998
Easy Instructions
Rate Provider 0-10
Spending Time
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Canada Press
NB-Dump-Enviro-Canada
by Broadcast News
Environment Canada has laid charges against the city of Moncton, New Brunswick, accusing it of violating the federal Fisheries Act.
The city is accused of unlawfully depositing a harmful substance into water inhabited by fish.
The charge relates to a former city landfill located on the banks of the Petitcodiac River.
Environment officials say rainfall has caused contaminated water to seep out of the landfill — enough to kill fish.
A city employee and an engineering consulting firm have also been charged.
They will appear in provincial court April 3rd.
Moncton Mayor Brian Murphy says he doesn’t believe the city has done anything wrong.
He says it’s a concern for the image of the city. (CP) — stl
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June 29, 2021 In Rachel Meystedt
The Cheerleader Case: Free Speech and Substantial Disruption
In June 23, 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Mahanoy Area School District v. B. L., 594 U.S. _ _ _ (2021). The case involves B. L., a freshman student who was frustrated by not making the varsity cheerleading squad at her high school, among other things. While off-campus and over the weekend, B. L. posted a Snapchat rant that included a picture of herself and a friend flipping off the camera, with the caption “F* school f* softball f* cheer f* everything.” The second image she posted was blank, but had the caption, “Love how me and [another student] get told we need a year of jv before we make varsity but tha[t] doesn’t matter to anyone else?” with an upside-down smiley face emoji.
The pictures were viewable by B. L.’s approximately 250 Snapchat followers, including a few of her cheerleading teammates. B. L.’s teammates took pictures of others’ phone screens to capture the photos (since Snapchat would have notified B. L. if anyone had taken screenshots of the photos), and one teammate showed her mother, who was a cheerleading coach.
After viewing the photos, the district suspended B. L. from the junior varsity cheerleading squad for the year because the district determined the post violated team and school rules.
Both the Federal District Court and a panel of the Third Circuit determined that the discipline violated B. L.’s right to free speech under the First Amendment, based on the fact that no “substantial disruption” occurred, under the Tinker v. Des Moines standard. The Third Circuit also went so far as to say that school districts do not have the ability to discipline any off-campus speech. As a result, the school district filed a petition for certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to determine whether Tinker allowed school district officials to regulate off-campus student speech that materially or substantially disrupts the school district.
The Supreme Court determined that Tinker does allow school districts to regulate off-campus student speech in some instances, especially when the speech includes serious or severe bullying or harassment, threats, failure to follow rules regarding classwork, and breaches of school security.
In reviewing whether a “substantial disruption” under Tinker occurred in this case, though, the Court looked at the evidence presented within the record based on B. L.’s speech. The evidence showed that discussion of the matter at school took, at most, 5 to 10 minutes of an Algebra class for a couple of days, and that some members of the cheerleading squad were “upset” about B. L.’s Snapchats. The Court determined that the disruption outlined in the case did not meet the Tinker standard of a material or substantial disruption and did not support the district’s claim that it had the ability to regulate B. L.’s speech. The Court also made clear that “courts must be more skeptical of a school’s efforts to regulate off-campus speech, for doing so may mean that the student cannot engage in that kind of speech at all.”
Of note, the Court focused on whether there actually was a material or substantial disruption to the school district as a result of B. L.’s speech, and did not make any determination as to whether such a disruption could have been forecasted. The Court left open the door for districts to take action due to forecasted disruption based on students’ off-campus speech, but it wasn’t explained in detail within the decision. Regardless, the likelihood of the potential disruption should be clear, significant and well-documented and should exceed the “disruption” that took place in B. L.’s case.
Within its discussion, the Court also outlined that when a student speaks off campus, the school district does not stand in loco parentis to the student, which would weigh in favor of the district’s position if it were; the school district’s interest in teaching good manners and punishing vulgar language was weakened by the fact that B. L. spoke outside school on her own time; and there was no evidence of a decline in team morale, and certainly not one that overcame B. L.’s right to freedom of expression.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court determined that the school district violated B. L.’s First Amendment rights to free speech by suspending her from junior varsity cheerleading for one year. B. L. was awarded nominal damages and attorneys’ fees, and the school district was ordered to expunge her disciplinary record.
What does this decision mean for districts when regulating off-campus speech?
Districts need to have good evidence of a substantial disruption (or likelihood thereof) before disciplining students for off-campus speech and maintain all documentation of that disruption. Documentation of disruption could include:
• A substantial amount of an administrator’s time investigating a matter;
• Concern from multiple patrons and/or parents (meetings, phone calls, emails, news articles, etc.);
• Significant disruption to classwork (classes are canceled, multiple students don’t attend class, etc.); and
• According to Tinker, other things that “materially disrupt[] classwork or involve[] substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.”
Based on the B. L. case, (at best) two 10-minute disruptions to class and upset cheerleaders weren’t enough—but what is?
o All instances will need to be considered on a case-by-case basis, but there needs to be some higher level of actual disruption, and likely an even higher level of forecasted disruption, to justify regulating a student’s speech.
Certain types of speech will very likely meet the “substantial disruption” standard, according to the Court:
o Serious or severe bullying or harassment;
o Threats aimed at teachers or other students;
o Failure to follow rules concerning lessons, the writing of papers, the use of computers, or participation in other online school activities;
o Breaches of school security devices, including material maintained within school computers; and
o Other items on a case-by-case basis.
Free Speech rights outweigh creditable citizenship requirements for extra-curricular activities.
o MSHSAA requires that students act as “creditable citizens” to maintain eligibility to participate in extra-curricular activities. Creditable citizenship requirements mandate that students conduct themselves in such a way, in and out of school, that will not reflect discredit upon themselves or their school. It is clear that sending other students a profanity-laced Snapchat video would not equate to being a “creditable citizen;” however, based on the Court’s determination in this matter, creditable citizenship rules do not outweigh a student’s Freedom of Speech rights. Additionally, regardless of the fact that participation in extra-curricular activities is a privilege and not a right, removal from an extra-curricular activity due to a student’s protected speech infringes on the student’s First Amendment rights.
Given the lack of clear guidelines from the Court regarding what does constitute a substantial disruption, outside of the enumerated examples in which school districts have the ability to take action to respond to threats or bullying, for example, it will be important for districts to clearly document all factors considered, and all disruption forecasted or experienced, when disciplining students for off-campus speech.
If your district plans to discipline a student for off-campus speech and you’d like to discuss the specific circumstances, or if you’d like to talk through any changes to your district’s policies or procedures as a result of this decision, one of the attorneys at EdCounsel will be happy to help.
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Mitsubishi Electric 1st Among Japanese Firms and 3rd Globally in International Patent Applications Filed in 2020 Using global intellectual-property initiatives to sustainable growth
Mitsubishi Electric 1st Among Japanese Firms and 3rd Globally in International Patent Applications Filed in 2020
TOKYO, March 3, 2021 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it ranked first among Japanese firms and third globally in terms of international patent applications filed in 2020 according to an announcement by the Switzerland-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on March 2. The high rankings reflect Mitsubishi Electric's strategic positioning of intellectual property (IP) as a crucial business resource, including for R&D to support the company's sustainable growth.
Mitsubishi Electric has been actively filing international patent applications in line with its globalizing business. The company has ranked first among Japanese companies for six consecutive years within the top five internationally for seven consecutive years. Mitsubishi Electric has been particularly active in filing patent applications related to IoT- and AI-supported solutions in recent years.
Mitsubishi Electric's international patent applications and rankings
Mitsubishi Electric's IP-development Initiatives
1)IP targeted at business and R&D strategies group-wide
IP and technical-standards initiatives are closely integrated with business and R&D strategies.
IP Division under president's direct control at head office coordinates activities of IP divisions in factories, R&D centers and affiliated companies worldwide.
2)Global IP activities and international-standards strategies
Crucial IP-related initiatives support mainstay businesses and important R&D projects.
IP patents in promising emerging countries are filed early and proactively.
Resident officers are assigned to manage IP activities in the U.S.A., Europe, China and Southeast Asia.
Patents are acquired for international standards ("standard-essential patents") and in fields where competition is intensifying, helping to strengthen product competitiveness and market share.
For more information, please visit https://www.MitsubishiElectric.com/en/about/rd/ip/index.html
PDF Version (PDF : 310KB)
Patent Planning Dept. Corporate Intellectual Property Division Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
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EULEX’s Rorschach Test
“It is regrettable that respect for the rule of law itself makes it difficult for the Mission to defend itself… Under these conditions, how can the Mission respond to the press except to say that a judicial investigation is underway? A response which I fully understand is not sufficient for investigative journalists or for the public. But that is the price of the rule of law.”
- Professor Jean Paul Jacqué, from the report to HR/VP Mogherini regarding recent allegations against EULEX
Within EULEX, we had been looking forward to the completion of the report that HR/VP Mogherini had requested from the independent expert that she had chosen, Professor Jean Paul Jacqué. Professor Jacqué was charged with investigating EULEX’s response to serious allegations against it made by one of its own staff people. The report was released on 13 April, and in the two weeks since the release of the report of Jean Paul Jacqué, which reviewed the implementation of the EULEX mission’s Executive mandate, many have offered their analysis of the report’s contents.
For those of us within EULEX, the price of rule of law is that there are truths that we cannot say publicly. We knew that the allegations against us didn’t match our own observations and experiences, and we hoped that Jacqué, through his independent investigation, would see these truths as well. Professor Jacqué‘s mandate was not to investigate the substance of the allegations- that is something for the judiciary. Nonetheless, we were relieved - but not surprised - to read that he did not come across any evidence of a cover up at EULEX. Professor Jacqué‘s report also confirmed that no cases were blocked, determined that EULEX prosecutors were functioning independently, and verified that EULEX has unequivocally supported the investigation into the allegations against its former staff member.
As part of an overall set of “observations and recommendations”, Professor Jacqué also made suggestions for addressing structural and procedural issues within EULEX’s judicial functions and management of judicial personnel, and we intend to follow these recommendations to the fullest extent that our mandate allows. In the same way that psychologists administer the famous Rorschach (inkblot) test in order to gain insight into the thoughts and proclivities of their patients, the varied interpretations of the Jacqué report give insight on the differing agendas of its readers. Despite the generally positive tone of the report, many commentators focused on these 21 recommendations and used them to craft an argument about EULEX’s ineffectiveness and need for reform, largely ignoring the set of recommendations on the future of the Mission’s Executive mandate.
With this report, others may see what they want, but I believe that this cannot become just an inkblot test for the mission. The EU taxpayers fund this mission; and we cannot be blind to Professor Jacqué’s criticisms. Frankly, I agree with many of them. We have not yet achieved our objectives in the fight against corruption. We’ve not been able to sufficiently track our judicial activities, and this has made evaluating performance and offering statistics difficult. It’s clear to us that our judges and prosecutors are “independent” and we cannot interfere in a judge’s judgment or a prosecutor’s ongoing case, but how does this impact with providing oversight or discipline for judicial employees?
Under the current mandate, which was agreed upon with Kosovo authorities, EULEX will not open new investigations or prosecutions except under extraordinary circumstances. We work side by side with local judges and prosecutors, but Kosovo law no longer provides for formal mentoring and advising of judges and prosecutors by their EULEX colleagues. In new cases for judge panels, EULEX judges are the minority. These changes, which have been in effect since mid-2014, are intended to allow Kosovo to step forward and prove that it has the capability to provide Justice and Rule of Law fairly, and with formats and rules which operate independently of politics.
Jacqué notes in his report that “progress has certainly been made thanks to EULEX”, but I also agree with Jacqué’s assessment that there is no point in EULEX staying just to keep doing the same thing. Jacqué has made his recommendations; we must change, and so must Kosovo – everyone has work to do. So, instead of working individually, looking for evidence to reinforce our own points of view, I hope that Kosovo’s government and citizens will join me in moving forward and focusing our efforts on addressing, together, the tasks at hand.
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CEU Short Film Showcase
Thursday, October 14, 2021, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
The Visual Studies Platform (VSP) and the CEU Library cordially invite you to a screening of exceptional short films produced by CEU students. These come from courses that are part of the Advanced Certificate in Visual Theory and Practice (VTP) and are facilitated by the resources and support of the CEU Library’s Media Hub.
The program highlights how students from a number of different departments are communicating knowledge and exploring themes of their chosen disciplines through the visual medium of film. It also serves as a chronicle of sorts of the turbulent events of recent years, as witnessed and interpreted by our students. It will be followed by a Q&A with some of the filmmakers, who will attend via Zoom.
This annual showcase is the first in a series of events hosted by the Visual Studies Platform throughout the year, which include screenings, workshops, and guest presentations that engage with the exhibition, analysis, and discussion of visual and aural media. After a year and a half of online-only screenings, this will be the first on-site at our new Vienna campus and will simultaneously be available for an online audience as well.
Due to capacity regulations, the on-site screening is open only to members of the CEU community. In accordance with Covid regulations, guests attending on-site must register in advance for the screening by Wednesday, October 13th at the following link.
Please note that proof of vaccination is required to enter CEU premises, and wearing a mask is obligatory in all common areas. Read more about CEU’s Covid-protocol here.
For the online audience: Zoom Meeting ID: 926 4100 3934 I Passcode: 558402.
SCREENING PROGRAM:
WIR SIND ALI (7:05)
Sena Uslu and Johana Cernochova
Course: Fundamentals of Documentary Filmmaking, Fall Term 2020
The documentary raises awareness against racism against Turkish origin people living in Austria.
A HOUSE FOR THEIR FUTURE (5:30)
Tamar Giorgobiani
Course: Documentary for Social Change, Winter Term 2021
People with disabilities in Georgia do not have many opportunities to feel like proper members of society, especially if it comes to the regions outside of the capital city, Tbilisi, and especially if these people are adults. The video was made as a part of the fundraising campaign #AhouseForTheirFuture of the Parents' Organization for the People with Disabilities in the Sighnaghi region (Eastern Georgia) to buy a house that will serve both as a day-center and as a social enterprise for adults with disabilities.
THE HOME IS A PRIVATE MUSEUM (13:00)
Derek Basler
Course: Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Filmmaking, Winter Term 2021
This piece explores the concept of home; the objects and images by which we recognize it, the sensory experiences so integral to it that often go overlooked, the memories which inhabit it. I center this examination of home around that of my grandparents, as it is a space that, despite the itinerancy of my life, has been one of constancy. In the darkest moment of my childhood, this became another home. And, once the pandemic uprooted my life, it was where I returned when I needed somewhere to go. This time returning corresponded to the period just before the house was sold. With this in mind, the film also partially serves as a eulogy to this space, cognizant that it will pass on to another, with their images and memories soon occupying the space.
DON’T COME HOME THIS YEAR (8:29)
Stefan Voicu
This short video shows the social media reactions regarding the Romanian diaspora traveling home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
NEW NORMAL (2:16)
Salome Kobalava
A story brought to life during the 2020 global pandemic lockdown which disrupted our daily lives and more.
SZABAD EGYETEM (9:18)
Ifra Asad and Makenzie Nelson
With CEU under threat, students take a stand.
Thursday, October 14, 2021 - 4:00PM - Thursday, October 14, 2021 - 5:30PM Add to Calendar 2021-10-14 16:00:00 2021-10-14 17:30:00 CEU Short Film Showcase The Visual Studies Platform (VSP) and the CEU Library cordially invite you to a screening of exceptional short films produced by CEU students. These come from courses that are part of the Advanced Certificate in Visual Theory and Practice (VTP) and are facilitated by the resources and support of the CEU Library’s Media Hub. The program highlights how students from a number of different departments are communicating knowledge and exploring themes of their chosen disciplines through the visual medium of film. It also serves as a chronicle of sorts of the turbulent events of recent years, as witnessed and interpreted by our students. It will be followed by a Q&A with some of the filmmakers, who will attend via Zoom. This annual showcase is the first in a series of events hosted by the Visual Studies Platform throughout the year, which include screenings, workshops, and guest presentations that engage with the exhibition, analysis, and discussion of visual and aural media. After a year and a half of online-only screenings, this will be the first on-site at our new Vienna campus and will simultaneously be available for an online audience as well. Due to capacity regulations, the on-site screening is open only to members of the CEU community. In accordance with Covid regulations, guests attending on-site must register in advance for the screening by Wednesday, October 13th at the following link. Please note that proof of vaccination is required to enter CEU premises, and wearing a mask is obligatory in all common areas. Read more about CEU’s Covid-protocol here. For the online audience: Zoom Meeting ID: 926 4100 3934 I Passcode: 558402. SCREENING PROGRAM: WIR SIND ALI (7:05) Sena Uslu and Johana Cernochova Course: Fundamentals of Documentary Filmmaking, Fall Term 2020 The documentary raises awareness against racism against Turkish origin people living in Austria. A HOUSE FOR THEIR FUTURE (5:30) Tamar Giorgobiani Course: Documentary for Social Change, Winter Term 2021 People with disabilities in Georgia do not have many opportunities to feel like proper members of society, especially if it comes to the regions outside of the capital city, Tbilisi, and especially if these people are adults. The video was made as a part of the fundraising campaign #AhouseForTheirFuture of the Parents' Organization for the People with Disabilities in the Sighnaghi region (Eastern Georgia) to buy a house that will serve both as a day-center and as a social enterprise for adults with disabilities. THE HOME IS A PRIVATE MUSEUM (13:00) Derek Basler Course: Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Filmmaking, Winter Term 2021 This piece explores the concept of home; the objects and images by which we recognize it, the sensory experiences so integral to it that often go overlooked, the memories which inhabit it. I center this examination of home around that of my grandparents, as it is a space that, despite the itinerancy of my life, has been one of constancy. In the darkest moment of my childhood, this became another home. And, once the pandemic uprooted my life, it was where I returned when I needed somewhere to go. This time returning corresponded to the period just before the house was sold. With this in mind, the film also partially serves as a eulogy to this space, cognizant that it will pass on to another, with their images and memories soon occupying the space. DON’T COME HOME THIS YEAR (8:29) Stefan Voicu Course: Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Filmmaking, Winter Term 2020 This short video shows the social media reactions regarding the Romanian diaspora traveling home during the Covid-19 pandemic. NEW NORMAL (2:16) Salome Kobalava Course: Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Filmmaking, Winter Term 2020 A story brought to life during the 2020 global pandemic lockdown which disrupted our daily lives and more. SZABAD EGYETEM (9:18) Ifra Asad and Makenzie Nelson Course: Fundamentals of Documentary Filmmaking, Fall Term 2018 With CEU under threat, students take a stand. vsp@ceu.edu UTC public
RSVP required
Quellenstrasse 51
Room : D-001 Tiered
Visual Studies Platform
CEU Library
Invited Guests
CEU Employees
CEU Students
CEU Alumni
vsp@ceu.edu
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Pakistani Taliban Ambushes Army Vehicle, Killing Seven
Militants have ambushed an army vehicle on patrol in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, killing seven soldiers before fleeing back to neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistani security officials say.
The attack occurred in North Waziristan on May 13, the two officials said on May 14, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, has issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.
The cross-border attack came after 10 people were killed and more than 40 injured in neighboring Afghanistan on May 13 in a coordinated attack by suicide bombers and gunmen at a government building in the city of Jalalabad.
The extremist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq news agency said without providing any evidence.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and dawn.com
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Last day of BTS' live concerts in Los Angeles
General 21:13 December 03, 2021
Fans of South Korean pop group BTS wait in line to enter the last of the group's four in-person concerts at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 2021 (U.S. time). (Yonhap)
21:13 December 03, 2021
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View source for Paolo Veronese
← Paolo Veronese
[[File:Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (Italian - Portrait of a Man - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|alt=caption|''Portrait of a Man'', Paolo Veronese (c. 1577), thought to be a self-portrait]] Paolo Veronese was an Italian Renaissance painter, a previous embodiment of the ascended master Paul the Venetian. == Early life == Born in 1528, Paolo Caliari became known as Veronese after his birthplace, Verona, Italy. The Caliari ancestors were artists, and Paolo’s father determined that his son should become a sculptor. So Paolo was first apprenticed as a stonecutter, his father’s trade. With unusual dexterity for one so young, he changed mere clay into remarkable statuettes. Then, at the age of fourteen, he showed such a marked interest in painting that he was apprenticed to a painter named Antonio Badile, whose daughter Elena he later married. From Badile, Veronese derived a sound basic painting technique as well as a passion for paintings in which people and architecture were integrated. He had found his vocation in painting and devoted himself to master the techniques of Dürer and other renaissance artists. [[File:Temptation of St Anthony by Paolo Veronese.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=caption|''Temptation of Saint Anthony'']] His fellow artists soon recognized his skill. He was commissioned, while a young lad, to paint a Madonna for the church in San Bernardino. Cardinal Gonzaga was so impressed by the masterpiece that he asked Paolo to compete with the distinguished painters of Verona to decorate the cathedral at Mantua. His painting, ''Temptation of Saint Anthony'', was so magnificent, that he was established as a peer among the artists of Verona. == Move to Venice In 1553, at the age of twenty-five, Veronese went to Venice and launched on a long collaboration with the Venetian authorities in connection with the decoration of different parts of the Palazzo Ducale. The walls of the imposing palaces in Venice were often adorned with murals and works of art by Venetian masters. At that time, Venice, the Queen City of the Adriatic, was at the height of its cultural glory. It offered greater opportunity for artistic expression as the emphasis shifted from religion to the classical culture reflected in the painting, sculpture and architecture of the period. The Polo brothers had returned from the East with a bountiful supply of extravagant goods—spices, fine silks, precious jewels and oriental carpets. A lively trade had sprung up between the merchants of Venice and Cathay. One might suppose that in this atmosphere the sensitive Paolo would naturally absorb and imitate the accomplishments of his contemporaries who had set the standard for the world. But not so! Veronese was a spiritual revolutionary who waged battle against the forces of anti-life in the arts. He did not conform to tradition but was an exponent of a beauty distinctively his own. It was a momentum gathered from many embodiments of the remote past. [[File:Paolo Veronese - Coronation of the Virgin - WGA24795.jpg|thumb|alt=caption|''Coronation of the Virgin'']] In 1555, Veronese began the decoration of San Sebastiano, the church that was to become his burial place. His painting ''The Coronation of the Virgin'' rated him second to none among Venetian artists. From this time on, successive masterpieces emanated from his brush without interruption. All of Venice was astounded by his genius. He became a painter of mythical and historical figures as well as religious scenes. His biblical characters were beautifully garbed and set against a background of Venetian grandeur. == The pursuit of pure color == Veronese’s ornamentations soon led to dramatic experiments with new colors. In his quest for beauty, he freed himself from the dull browns and grays of his predecessors by modeling in full light, making his already graceful figures iridescent and nearly transparent. He developed glistening pastel hues of azure, coral, pearl, lilac, and lemon yellow that startled and fascinated his patrons. He loved deep, bold contrasting colors and he combined shades never used before—ruby and rich velvety green, pink and emerald, aquamarine and violet. As if to stress that true beauty endures forever, Veronese searched for and discovered a technique of pigment preparation that is unsurpassed for preserving paint. His magnificent colors still radiate brilliantly today—compared with the fading ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and even Tiepolo’s now-deteriorating frescoes painted two centuries later. An adept of color, its creation and its preservation, Veronese earned from one biographer the title “The Magician of Light.” == Heaven on earth: man’s domain == [[File:Paolo Veronese - Mystical Marriage of St Catherine - WGA24821.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=caption|''Marriage of St. Catherine'']] The striking use of color was not Veronese’s only gift to Renaissance art. Paul saw beauty as the most powerful catalyst for enlightenment, and he endowed the figures of Jesus, the apostles and saints with lifelike expressions. By associating them with easily identifiable places and things, he put them within the reach of the common people. With fresh perspective, he approached serious and sacred subjects with a simple familiarity that shattered the idolatry inherent in previous medieval and Renaissance painting—an idolatry which had separated the common people from God and his saints and oppressed them with a sense of their own sin. Veronese opened the world of the holy to all, portraying it with a delight and a sense of mirth. In his ''Annunciation'', for example, the Virgin Mary is greeted by a beautiful, shimmering-robed Archangel Gabriel, while her dog trots out to investigate the heavenly being. His ''Marriage of St. Catherine'' shows two angels in the lower left corner apparently disputing a book of scripture—vying with Catherine’s mystical ceremony for the viewer’s attention. This seeming frivolity in Veronese’s work does not indicate his mockery of religion. On the contrary, it brings religion from stiff pomposity and fearful worship back into man’s domain, imparting the experience of the sacred to all. The study of his paintings will reveal the love with which he painted the face and attitude of man in the garb of heaven. His conviction that heaven is man’s destiny shines from his faces and figures and speaks of his hope for man’s elevation. But the approachability of his saints, their faces and their gestures baffled and even infuriated some of his religious contemporaries who accused Veronese of a lack of sanctity, a disrespect for God and the saints. == Defiance of the Inquisition == [[File:Paolo Veronese 007.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|alt=caption|''Feast in the House of Levi'', Paolo Veronese]] Inevitably, Veronese’s controversial views drew the attention of the Inquisition. At the very heights of the Renaissance, the inquisitors scanned the flourishing world of Italian art for heretical contents. They exacted conformity in religious scenes, banned nudity, and required ecclesiastical approval for the contents of major compositions. Untempered zealots roamed Italy, destroying paintings, decapitating statues, and threatening artists. Pope Pius V and the Spanish painter El Greco even advocated the destruction of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel because of the nude figures upon its ceiling. Veronese was summoned before the tribunal of the Inquisition under suspicion of heresy for the “irreverences” and “fantasy” in his painting of the Last Supper, which included in it a dwarf, a parrot, guards in German armour, dogs and a jester. Veronese staunchly defended the artist’s right to freedom of imagination. He was wholly innocent that there was any disrespect for the Deity expressed in his externalization of beauty. “Others,” he pleaded, “expressed what to them seemed beautiful without sanction of the orthodox.” The tribunal acquiesced and elegantly resolved the question by suggesting that the theme be changed to a Feast in the House of Levi. Veronese inscribed on the painting the new title and a fitting Bible quote directed to his persecutors: “But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” By disregarding the Inquisition’s demands, Veronese embodied the spirit of the Renaissance in his determination to create without Church controls. In this, he effectively demonstrated the power of creative genius over the confines of blind dogma. == Art for enlightenment == [[File:Paolo Veronese - The Family of Darius before Alexander (detail) - WGA24968.jpg|thumb|alt=caption|''The Family of Darius before Alexander'']] Public attention on Veronese’s trial caused a great increase in his popularity, and his commissions rapidly multiplied. Yet fame and wealth did little to affect his simple and affectionate nature. He was once contracted by the Pisani family to paint ''Family of Darius''. It is said that Paolo hid the painting from the Pisani family, so that he might escape from the premises before his host discovered it, so that the latter would feel no obligations to thank the donor with either words or coin. (The painting now hangs in the National Gallery of London. The figures in the composition depict members of the Pisani family.) In private life, Paolo was a man of economical and well-regulated habits. He rejected commissions from royalty, choosing rather to stay in Venice with his family and enthusiastic students. That Veronese was an excellent teacher known for his “indescribable care” establishes his concern for communication and education and the purity of his motive as an artist. He was also profoundly interested in his two sons, to whom he entrusted the brush as soon as they were old enough to hold one. == A legacy of beauty == [[File:Paolo Veronese - Conversion of Mary Magdalene - WGA24761.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=caption|''The Conversion of Mary Magdalene'']] Paul became one of the major artists of the sixteenth-century Venetian school. Today, his masterpieces grace the galleries of many of the nations of Europe, as well as the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. As an observer, we might look upon each magnificent canvas and say, “What a genius!” Yet, we may not realize how many times Paolo struggled and erased, struggled and erased, and experimented with various media to capture on canvas a particular angelic form that existed in the etheric realm of heaven. For eighteen years, he persisted with one painting, until, one day, he stood before the canvas and knew that, at last, to the best of his ability, he had executed below, that which was Above. Yes, as onlooker we often do not take into account, that each one of us, is also an artist in some particular field of human endeavor. Every man has his own heritage—an equal potential of genius. If it has not been externalized, it is because we have not exercised the third-ray quality of application. To Paolo, his work was his way of expressing gratitude to the Deity for his heritage of Sonship from the Father. Labor was an obligation, an opportunity to fulfill his contract with life. To him labor was worship. Veronese, though little celebrated today, was a pivotal artistic genius in sixteenth-century Renaissance Italy. His creative talents yielded innovative and astonishing uses of light, color, form, and composition. He was the first to capture on canvas the graceful movement of an angel in flight, the purity of pastel coloring, and the joy and delight of the divine kingdom which had formerly been cloaked in somber awe. Veronese’s transcendent sense of beauty distinguishes him from other Renaissance artists. Rome produced Michelangelo, whose studies of human anatomy led to outstanding sculptural masterpieces but whose brooding frescoes were filled with a weighty sense of sin. Florence’s da Vinci with his scientific and philosophical genius launched a new era for man, yet his painting retains a pensive and enigmatic tone. Venice produced Titian, whose attempt to make the divine world human steered his art into the sensual, away from the exceptional and the saintly. But Veronese—in his expression of refined innocence, of joy and the sweeping grandeur of the celestial—reached an apex of artistic and spiritual insight that helped catapult Western art beyond the heights of the Renaissance. == The ascension of Paul the Venetian == [[File:Paolo Veronese bust at his grave.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=caption|Bust of Paolo Veronese above his tomb]] Near the close of his earthly life as the Venetian artist, he was advised by his guru, that he, Paolo, had earned his release from the schoolroom of earth and was ready to enter the realms of immortality. In 1588, Paolo contracted a fever and, after a few days of illness, died on April 9. His brother and sons buried him in San Sebastiano, where a bust was placed above his grave. Paul’s embodiment as Paolo Veronese, culminated in his reunion with God in the ritual known as the ascension. From the ascended state, he has described the process of the ascension: : If you are victorious on this path, the day and the hour of your ascension will come, when the sacred fire shall rise on your spinal altar with an intensity so great as to almost overwhelm you. Your I AM Presence and [[Holy Christ Self]] shall then draw you up into the arms of everlasting Love, and you shall make the transition from mortality to immortality. : And you shall hear the words of the Father: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.<ref>Matt. 25:21.</ref> Rise to the levels of the kingdom of God and let others follow in your wake!”<ref>{{POWref|38|34|, August 6, 1995}}</ref> This is precisely what Paul did at the conclusion of his embodiment as Paolo Veronese. He accelerated consciousness and reunited with his God source, ascending from the Retreat of the Liberty Flame in the heaven world over southern France on April 19, 1588. The consensus of human appraisal in the mid-sixteenth century considered that Veronese’s ''Triumph of Venice'' was the acme of his expression in painting. But this was not to be. Within the majesty of his being, greater majesty was pulsating for expression. Here, at the Cháteau de Liberté, after his passing and yet prior to his ascension, Paul began the most important of his works, The Holy Trinity. The canvas has the unprecedented distinction of conveying the vibrations of both dimensions of activity—the earthly and the heavenly—for the canvas was completed after his ascension. == A reflection on his life by the ascended master == [[File:Veronese-Triomphe de Venise.jpg|thumb|alt=The Triumph of Venice|''The Triumph of Venice'' In an unsurpassed demonstration of contrasting color, Paolo Veronese draws the viewer’s eye from the glowing ambers below to the translucent blues and mother-of-pearl skies which frame the Lady Venice. Plush clouds and marble pillars unite heaven and earth. The perspective of the ceiling painting is tilted from bottom to top so that the foreground quarrel of armored knights, horses, and trumpets is downplayed and the viewer’s eye is irresistibly drawn along the swirling columns upwards to the coronation of Venus. Veronese’s use of pastel shades here, as in the coral-robed angel bearing the crown, also accentuates the heavenly event more than the dimmer browns and grays of the harsh scene below.]] The master Paul has also spoken of his own artwork as Paolo Veronese: : Now I speak to you because of some of the canvases that I created. There were times when I felt pressed, through the need for my livelihood, to create on canvas some wondrous object in order that mankind might be able to glory in it. And yet I was driven, in a sense, to a pensive mood whereby I could create at will a masterpiece only to find that when I came to create it, the inspirational spark was not present. And I found it could not be invoked. I found that the harder I tried, the more difficult became the decision as to just what I could paint, for I could not paint a commonplace item. It must be stirring and magnificent. This, then, is why I so well understand how the human hearts of men, at various times when the crossroads of life seem particularly difficult, stand in wonder and amazement as to just which way they shall turn. : Beloved ones, at times such as those, I myself, finding that I was indeed stymied, ceased to resist the condition, and not with a sense of indifference or aloofness or despair but with a sense of realization that God works in strange ways, mysterious and wondrous to perform his will. I determined to cease and desist in the struggle and to rest in his compassionate consciousness, knowing that, with the tides of time, I would find an answer to the searching and probing question of the hour. : And then, my peace would come in great flowing waves. And with the coming of my peace and my quietude, there was reestablished a contact between myself and those masterful divine beings who ensouled in my pictures the very essence of their own life. My angelic friends of light—those messengers of hope who guided my hand in its craftsmanship and artistry—were able to express, then, in the stilled muscular control that which they could never do when the tensions of the hour took their toll over my mortal frame. : I therefore urge all the students to recognize that there is a time to tense and a time to relax; there is a time to pray and a time to wait; there is a time to be devotional and a time to repose in God’s devotion. : I would like to remind all who are here that, after you have poured out all of your love to God—according to the capacity of your own soul—then is the hour when you should await, expectantly, to receive the love of God in return. It is as though an emptiness comes to you, for you have given your all; and then that all comes back to you charged with his love. The love of God flows in mighty waves, sweeping o’er you as the beating sea against the cliffs of being. And the foam intrigues your consciousness as its breakers of many patterns unfold multitudinous and wondrous spraylets of beauty.<ref>Paul the Venetian, July 6, 1963.</ref> == Sources == Elizabeth Clare Prophet, October 2, 1987. ''Paul the Venetian'' (The Summit Lighthouse, 1965). “Paolo Veronese: Magician of Light,” ''The Coming Revolution'', Spring 1981.
Template:POWref (view source)
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09.12.21 Dynamics of the Chinese car market in Russia in 2021
For 10 months of 2021, more than 90 thousand new Chinese cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Russia. This is 109% (more than double) higher than the previous year's result. The experts of the agency "AUTOSTAT" came to this conclusion, having analyzed the data of the AEB.
35% of all electric cars in Russia are in three regions
As of mid-2021, the car fleet of our country had 12,290 electric cars, 35% of which are concentrated in only three regions. Such data are contained in the new report of the analytical agency "AUTOSTAT" - "Electric cars and hybrids in Russia". Agency experts noted that the Russian fleet of electric vehicles is so small that it is lower than 0.03% of the total number of passenger cars. Among all the subjects of the Russian Federation, most electric cars are registered in the Primorsky Territory. Here, in the middle of this year, 1572 such vehicles were registered, i.e. approximately every eighth electric car in the country.
Leadership of Primorye in the regional rating is largely due to the import of electric cars (almost all of them are Nissan Leaf with right-hand drive) from neighboring Japan. The second place in terms of the volume of "electric fleet" is held by the Irkutsk region, which has 1,381 electric cars. Moscow is lagging behind (1,360 units), which ranks the third in the regional ranking. Note that only the above three subjects of the Russian Federation have a fleet of electric cars exceeding one thousand units, and in total they own 35% of the total volume. In the Khabarovsk Territory, there are 812 such vehicles, in the Krasnodar Territory - 596.
In addition to them, the TOP-10 of regions in terms of the number of registered electric vehicles include: Moscow Region (521 units), Novosibirsk Region (516 units), St. Petersburg (417 units), Amur Region (393 units) and Krasnoyarsk Territory (377 units). In each of the remaining subjects of the Russian Federation, the number of electric cars does not even reach 250 units, and their share is lower than 2%.
Tags: automotive market, sales, russia, electric cars
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Catalonia’s new space program will begin with nanosatellite launch from Kazakhstan
The Spanish region is investing €18 million in a controversial initiative to develop a promising economic sector
Nanosatellites launched in February from the International Space Station.NASA
Josep Catà Figuls
Barcelona - 28 Jan 2021-07:51 UTC
A date has been set for the launch of Catalonia’s first nanosatellite.
On March 20, at 7.07am Spanish time, a rocket will lift off from Baikonur, in Kazakhstan, to release the first spacecraft built as part of the New Space strategy developed by the Catalan government, which is expected to pour €18 million into the program over the next four years.
This first launch will improve connectivity in the Spanish northeastern region, while a second nanosatellite due to go into space late this year or in early 2022 will provide images of the Earth and help fight climate change.
In late October the Catalan government announced plans to create its own space agency and develop a new sector that is expected to create 1,200 jobs. The tiny satellites, which are the size of a shoebox, weigh between one and 10 kilograms, and cost a fraction of conventional ones, are packed with technology and have become very popular since 2014.
Some countries have been investing significantly in the new space economy for some years, and Catalonia cannot remain on the sidelines, we need to be pioneers on this issue
Catalan chief of digital policy, Jordi Puigneró
But the decision to create a Catalan space program at a time of economic crisis has drawn criticism. At a news conference on Wednesday, the Catalan chief of digital policy, Jordi Puigneró, defended the initiative.
“Some people may wonder if, against the backdrop of the [coronavirus] pandemic, it is necessary for the [Catalan] government to spend its time launching nanosatellites,” he said. “The answer is yes: we have to do it because we need to transform the country’s economy. We are also told that this money would buy untold amounts of school lunch subsidies, but what we need to do is to create wealth so that we do not have to hand out so many.”
“Some countries have been investing significantly in the new space economy for some years, and Catalonia cannot remain on the sidelines, we need to be pioneers on this issue,” he added.
The Catalan government estimated that the space industry would create 1,200 new jobs and represent turnover of around €300 million by 2025. The New Space program envisions the launch of up to six satellites in the next four years. The northeastern region is already home to 30 companies that work in the space industry, and Catalan officials are hoping to double this amount.
Nanosatellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 520 kilometers (compared with 36,000 km for conventional ones), and they are in high demand to meet the needs of 5G connectivity and the so-called “internet of things.” Catalonia’s first nanosatellite will serve both of these purposes, as well as monitoring rivers, wildlife and cattle, and receiving weather data. The second nanonsatellite will be used for Earth observation as part of the fight against climate change.
Both devices will be monitored from the Montsec Astronomy Park in Pallars Jussà, in Lleida province. Children have been asked to come up with names for the spacecraft through a television program aired on the regional station TV3.
English version by Susana Urra.
Antiviral drug made in Spain is 100 times more potent than current coronavirus treatment
Nuño Domínguez
Fireball lights up Madrid’s night sky
Agencias | Madrid
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IPL 2022 Mega Auction: CSK got new captain, will take over after Dhoni
CSK New Captain: CSK has retained four of its players for IPL 2022. It includes captain MS Dhoni, as well as Ravindra Jadeja, Rituraj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali. These players were expected to be retained and the same thing happened. However, like other teams, it was not easy for CSK to take this decision. The team which is the champion of IPL 2021 and has won the IPL title four times till now, it is not easy for him to choose four players from his team. But even after this, the team selected its four players under the rules of BCCI and got them out. However, many players of the team have been left out and from the news that is coming, it is clear that CSK will leave no stone unturned to bring back their old players again. But the biggest question is who will be the new captain of CSK after MS Dhoni.
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Fairytalez.com » Clara Stroebe » Queen Crane
Queen Crane
Clara Stroebe August 6, 2015
Once upon a time there was a poor, poor boy. He went to the king and begged to be taken into service as a shepherd, and all called him “Sheep-Peter.” While he was herding his sheep, he used to amuse himself with his crossbow. One day he saw a crane sitting in an oak-tree, and wanted to shoot her. The crane, however, hopped down further and further, and at last settled in the lowest branches. Then she said: “If you promise not to shoot me, I will help you whenever you are in trouble. You need only to call out: ‘God aid me, and Queen Crane stay by me, and I will succeed!'” With that the bird flew away.
At length war broke out and the king had to take the field. Then Sheep-Peter came to the king and asked whether he might not be allowed to go along to war. They gave him an old nag to ride, and he rode into a swamp along the highway, and there the horse died. So he sat down and clicked with his tongue; but the horse would not move. And the people who rode by had their sport with him; while the youth pretended to feel sad.
When the people had all passed by, the youth went to the oak in which the Queen Crane dwelt. Here he was given a black steed, a suit of brazen armor, and a silver sword. Thus he rode to battle and got there as quickly as he could wish. Then he said: “God aid me, and Queen Crane stay by me, and I will succeed!” With that he killed all the enemy and rode away again. But the king thought that an angel had come to help him, and wanted to hold him back. The youth, however, rode quickly back to the oak, took off his armor, went down to the swamp, and once more began to click to his horse. When the people rode by they laughed and said: “You were not along to-day, so you missed seeing how an angel came and killed all the enemy.” And the youth pretended to feel sad, so sad.
The following day the king once more had to take the field. And Sheep-Peter came to him and said he wanted to go along. So they gave him an old nag to ride, and he rode into a swamp beside the highway. Then he sat down and clicked with his tongue; but the horse would not move. When the people rode by they had their sport with him; but the youth pretended to feel sad, so sad. When the people had gone by, he went to the oak in which the Queen Crane dwelt, and was given a white steed, a suit of silver armor, and a golden sword. Thus equipped he rode to battle. When he arrived he said: “God aid me, and Queen Crane … and I will succeed!” But he had forgotten to say “stay by me,” and so he was shot in the leg. But the king took out his handkerchief, and tied up his leg. Then the youth said once more: “God aid me, and Queen Crane stay by me, and I will succeed!” And he slew all of the enemy. Then the king thought he was an angel from heaven, and wanted to hold him. But the youth rode quickly to the oak, took off his armor, and then went down to his nag in the swamp and tried to get it to move, while the soldiers were passing. They laughed and said: “You were not along to-day, and did not see how an angel came from heaven and killed all of the enemy.” The youth pretended to be very sad.
On the third day all happened as before. The king took the field. The youth was given a wretched nag and rode it into a swamp beside the highway. Then he began to click with his tongue but the nag would not go on, and the people who rode past laughed at him. He pretended to feel very sad; but when the people had passed, he went to the oak in which Queen Crane dwelt, and she gave him a red steed, a golden sword, and a golden suit of armor. Thus equipped he rode to war, and all happened as before. He said: “God aid me, and Queen Crane stay by me, and I will succeed!” and slew all the enemy. The king thought he was an angel from heaven and wanted to hold him back by all means; but the youth rode quickly to the oak, took off his armor, and rode down to the swamp where he had his three nags. He hid the king’s handkerchief, and when the people passed by he was clicking with his tongue as usual.
Now the king had three princesses, and they were to be carried off by three meer-women. So the king had it proclaimed that whoever could rescue them should receive one of them for a wife. When the day came on which the oldest princess was to be carried away, Sheep-Peter received a steed, a suit of armor and a sword from Queen Crane. With them he rode to the castle, fetched the princess, took her before him on his steed, and then lay down on the sea-shore to sleep. He had a dog with him as well. And while he slept the princess wove her hair-ribbon into his hair. Suddenly the meer-woman appeared, and she awakened him and bade him mount his steed. Many people had been standing there; but when the meer-woman appeared they all took fright, and climbed into tall trees. But the youth said: “God aid me, and Queen Crane stay by me, and I will succeed!” And then he slew the meer-woman. Thereupon he rode quickly back to Queen Crane, took off his armor, and herded his sheep again. But among the on-lookers had been a nobleman, who threatened the princess, and forced her to say that he had rescued her. And from Sheep-Peter no one heard a word.
On the following day the second princess was to be carried off. So Sheep-Peter went to Queen Crane, who gave him a steed, a suit of armor and a sword, and with them he rode to the castle, and fetched the second princess. When they reached the sea-shore the meer-woman had not yet appeared. So the youth lay down to sleep and said to the princess: “Wake me when the meer-woman comes, and if you cannot wake me, then tell my horse.” With that he fell asleep, and meanwhile the princess wove a string of pearls into his hair. When the meer-woman came, the princess tried to wake him; but he would not wake up at all, and so she told the horse to waken him. And the horse did wake him. The great lords, however, who were standing about, climbed into the trees out of pure fright when the meer-woman appeared. The youth took the princess on his steed, cried: “God aid me, and Queen Crane stay by me, and I will succeed!” and with that he slew the meer-woman. Then he rode quickly back to Queen Crane, took off his armor, and led his flock out to pasture. But among the on-lookers had been a count, who threatened the princess, and said he would thrust her through with his sword if she did not swear he had rescued her. The princess did so out of fear; but from Sheep-Peter no one heard a word.
On the third day the same thing happened. Sheep-Peter was given a suit of armor, a sword and a steed by Queen Crane, and fetched the youngest princess. When he lay down on the sea-shore to sleep, he said to her: “When the meer-woman comes, wake me, and if you cannot wake me, then tell the horse to wake me, and if the horse cannot wake me, then ask the dog to wake me.” When the meer-woman came, neither the princess nor the horse was able to wake him, and they had to call the dog to help them. At last he woke up, took the princess on his horse, cried: “God aid me, and Queen Crane stay by me, and I will succeed!” and slew the meer-woman. Then he rode back again to Queen Crane, took off his armor and let his flock out to pasture.
Not long after, the deliverers of the princesses were to come to the castle and be married. But first the king asked his daughters which of the three each wanted to have. So the oldest said: “The gentleman from court,” and the second said: “the count,” but the third said “Sheep-Peter.” Then the king was very angry with his youngest daughter; for he did not believe for a moment that Sheep-Peter had delivered her. But she insisted and said she would take no one else. The king then presented an apple of pure gold to the count and the court gentleman; but Sheep-Peter got nothing.
Now all three of them were to hold a three-days’ shooting-match, in order to see which was the best shot; for the king hoped that Sheep-Peter would make a proper laughing-stock of himself, and drop far behind the others without any effort on their part. But Sheep-Peter was so good a marksman that he hit everything at which he aimed. And the very first day he shot a great deal, while the others shot but little. Then they bought the game he had shot from him, and gave him a golden apple for it. The same thing happened the second day, and thus he got the other gold apple. But when Peter came home on the evening of the first and second day, he had only a crow dangling from his blunderbuss. And when he met the king, he threw the crow to the ground and cried: “There is my whole bag!”
On the third day all went as before. Sheep-Peter hit everything at which he aimed; but the others scored no hits. Then Sheep-Peter promised them all he had bagged, if they would let him write what he chose on their necks. They agreed to the bargain, and he wrote on the neck of each: “A thief and a rascal.” Then all three went home, and again Peter had no more than a crow to show.
At night all three of them slept together in one room. When they woke in the morning, the king came in to them, said good-morning, and asked how they were. But he was much surprised to see that Sheep-Peter was keeping them company. Then the youth said: “I was in the war, and slew all of the enemy!” “Ah!” said the king, “you did not do that, it was an angel from heaven; for you were sitting in the swamp.” Then Sheep-Peter drew out the king’s handkerchief, and then the king recognized him. Then the herdsman said: “I also delivered the princesses!” But the king would not believe that, and laughed at him. And then the youngest princess came along and told how it all had happened.
And the youth took out the ribands of the other princesses, and the king had to believe that this, too, was true. Then, Peter continued: “I also shot all the game!” And again the king would not believe him and said: “Nonsense, why you never brought home anything of an evening but a wretched crow!” Then Peter produced the golden apples: “I was given this one for the first day, and the other for the second.” “And what did you get for the third?” asked the king. Then the shepherd showed him what he had written on the necks of the other suitors. And when the king saw that, he had to believe him. And so he really got the youngest princess, and with her half of the kingdom, and after the king’s death, all of it. But the two sham heroes got nothing at all, and had only their trouble for their pains.
Princess and the Glass Mountain
Prev Story Tales of the Trolls
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ABOUT THE SANCTUARY
The sanctuary in Russia
The Icon of Fatima
Russian rite catholics
THE SANCTUARY IN RUSSIAFatimarus2021-02-15T11:51:20+01:00
It was July 13, 1917 during Her third appearance to the little shepherds in Fatima, Our Lady spoke about Russia.. She said that Russia would spread its errors throughout the world, but in the end Her Immaculate Heart would triumph.. She added that She would return to ask for the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, what She did some years later: On June 13, 1929 She appeared to Sister Lucia in Tuy and asked that Russia be consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart.
As you know, John Paul II fulfilled this consecration on March 25, 1984, and from that moment on more than 20,000 Churches have been built in Russia and about 70 percent of its people have been baptized. Although the consequences of atheist communism remain enormous and the percentage of the practicing faithful is not high, Russia can no longer be said to be an atheist country, but rather a religious country that favors the practice of religion. In that sense we can say that Russia has converted, although not in fully.
The Fatima Sanctuary in St. Petersburg is planned to make it possible for the Russians and the Russian Catholics at the first place to show their gratitude to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for all Her mercies and also to help that Heart’s triumph be fulfilled. The project was approved by Bishop Joseph Werth, ordinary for Eastern Rite Catholics in Russia, on consulting with the Holy See.
The Sanctuary has an ecumenical and a universal value. There are many Orthodox brothers who highly appreciate the Apparitions of Fatima. For example, the Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, has recently visited Fatima, as did his predecessor – Nikodim Rotov, who died later after that visit in the arms of His Holiness John Paul I.
The Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I blessed a copy of the Icon of Fatima in his residence. We hope that our Orthodox brothers will join this thanksgivingto the Mother of God of Fatima.
In addition, the Sanctuary will give an opportunity to many believers around the world who love the Blessed Virgin especially in regards to Her Fatima invocation to go to St. Petersburg and thank Her for the change in Russia and pray for the complete triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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Home Society Politics Meet The 6 Women Politicians Who Have Become 2019 Cabinet Ministers
Meet The 6 Women Politicians Who Have Become 2019 Cabinet Ministers
Megha Jha
Meet the 6 Women in the Council of Ministers
In the oath-taking ceremony held on the 30th of May, six women swore in as Cabinet Ministers. Here is a list of women in the council of ministers with their portfolios and a brief account of their political careers.
1. Nirmala Sitharaman
Source: www.livemint.com
After serving as the Defence Minister in the last cabinet, Nirmala Sitharaman returns to the cabinet as the Finance Minister. She holds a graduate degree in economics from Ramaswami College in Tiruchirappalli and a post-graduate degree in the same from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). She has also worked as a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, London. A member of the Rajya Sabha since 2016, she started her political career with BJP in 2008. She was assigned as the party spokesperson in 2010. In 2014, she joined the finance ministry as the minister of state for Finance and Corporate Affairs. Sitharaman has also served as a Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce & Industry.
After serving as India’s first full-time female defence minister, she has now become the first full-time female finance minister.
She is only the second woman after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to fully take charge of the finance ministry. After serving as India’s first full-time female defence minister, she has now become the first full-time female finance minister. Before her, Indira Gandhi had held both of these portfolios. However, she did so along with her charge as the Prime Minister, and not in a full-fledged manner.
2. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
Harsimrat Kaur Badal returns to the cabinet, continuing as the Minister of Food Processing Industries. She is the only minister in the cabinet from the BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Harsimrat started her political career in 2009 by contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Bathinda constituency. After her victory in the 2014 elections from the same constituency, she was appointed as the Minister of Food Processing Industry. In the 2019 elections, she got elected from Bathinda for the third time in a row. She defeated the Congress candidate Amrinder Singh Raja in a close margin of around 21000 votes.
3. Smriti Zubin Irani
Source: www.indiatoday.in
Smriti Irani returns to the cabinet as the Minister of Women and Child Development and the Minister of Textiles. She had held many different portfolios in the previous cabinet– the HRD, Textiles, and Information and Broadcasting. She was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2011 and re-elected in 2017. She had first contested a Lok Sabha election in 2004 from Chandni Chowk in Delhi but lost to Congress’s Kapil Sibal. And though she had lost in the general elections of 2014 while contesting from Amethi, which happens to be Congress’s strong turf, she succeeded in bringing down the victory margin of Gandhi to only 1.07 lakh from 3.7 lakh in the previous election. Consequently, she was given the highly-sought Human Resource Development Ministry. During the last tenure, her sustained efforts in Amethi brought her an overwhelming victory in the 2019 polls.
4. Renuka Singh Saruta
Source: Freepressjournal.in
Renuka Singh Saruta was assigned as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. She is a BJP MP from the Sarguja constituency in Chattisgarh, which happens to be one of two major tribal belts of Chhattisgarh, Bastar being the other. Saruta, who comes from the Gond community serves as the vice-president of the BJP’s ST cell. Previously, she has served as the minister of women and child development minister in the state cabinet of Odissa from 2003 to 2005. In Chattisgarh, she has served as the vice-chairperson of the Surguja Development Authority.
Also read: These Women MPs Made History By Getting Elected In 2019
5. Deboshree Chowdhury
Source: The Hindu
Deboshree Chowdhury was assigned as the Minister of State for the Ministry of Women and Child Development. She is the Member of Parliament from Raiganj parliamentary constituency of West Bengal. Chowdhury, who served as the secretary of BJP’s state unit in West Bengal, won the 2019 Lok Sabha election with 5.11 lakh votes. She defeated the Trinamool Congress candidate Agarwal Kanaialal with a margin of 60,574 votes. This is her first time as a Member of Parliament. In 2014, she had contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Burdwan-Durgapur seat in West Bengal but had lost to Trinamool Congress’s Mamtaz Sanghamita.
6. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti returns to the council as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development. In the previous council of ministers, she held the portfolio of Minister of State for Food Processing Industries. She returns to the parliament after winning from the Fatehpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh. She improved her victory margin from the last time in 2014 by winning over 70,000 votes. Before entering into the parliamentary polls, from 2012-14, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti was an MLA from the Hamirpur assembly constituency from the BJP.
In 2014, she sparked off a controversy by making a comment wherein she drew a distinction between “Ramzadon ki sarkaar” (government of those born of Ram) and “Haramzado ki sarkaar” (government of illegitimate children)”
In 2014, she sparked off a controversy by making a comment wherein she drew a distinction between “Ramzadon ki sarkaar” (government of those born of Ram) and “Haramzado ki sarkaar” (government of illegitimate children)” saying, “Apko tay karna hai ki Dilli mein sarkar Ramzadon ki banegi ya haramzadon ki” (You have to decide whether you want a government of those born of Ram or of those born illegitimately). She later had expressed regret about the same in the Lok Sabha.
Also read: India Needs More Women In Parliament And Here’s Why
With only 6 women in the council of 58 members, only three are cabinet ministers. There are only three women Ministers of State and none with Independent Charge. The 2014 Council of Ministers had 7 women in it. The number was even lower in the earlier councils. Unfortunately, this is only one instance among many which tell us that equal representation of women in politics is still a long way ahead.
Female politicians
Women in the Council of Ministers
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Home History R. Kalyanamma: Karnataka’s Pioneer Journalist Who Wrote On Women’s Issues | #IndianWomenInHistory
R. Kalyanamma: Karnataka’s Pioneer Journalist Who Wrote On Women’s Issues | #IndianWomenInHistory
Shruti Sharada
R. Kalyanamma
R. Kalyanamma, a pioneer journalist and activist from Karnataka, wrote in an era where women’s voices were never given the centre stage, policed, and often, silenced. Despite the pervasive patriarchal norms, R. Kalyanamma not just defied societal expectations, but through her work, set a new standard for women working outside of their homes and for journalism itself.
While R. Kalyanamma’s achievements stand brighter because she took pioneering steps for women, her works would be no less bright, and indeed deserve to be looked at, as standalone and exemplary journalistic and community service achievements. Her social work became more prominent in her later years, drawing great praise from the former Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, for her role in promoting children’s welfare in Karnataka, an effort which provided an initial platform to many famed journalists and writers from the state. Admirers of her work are said to have included the former President of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy as well. Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV of Mysore is also on record as being one of the high-profile donors supporting her work with children.
Be it her personal writing, her literary entrepreneurship, or her social service, R. Kalyanamma’s approach was defined by a need to empower others and have them take over the reins as leaders themselves. She was a leader who wanted to create more leaders.
Also Read: How Is Women Writing A Form Of Protest In A Male-Dominated World?
R. Kalyanamma was born in 1894 (though this date can be disputed, with at least one other account stating it to be 1892). Child marriage being an accepted practice of the times, she was married off by the age of nine and, was widowed just 45 days into this marriage. She abided by the dictates of an era which considered re-marriage of widows blasphemous, but early on showed a disinterest in following most other conventions. By the age of 13, she had received lower secondary education covering Kannada and English, which further sharpened her literary interests.
Spurred by a need to be heard and to bring about social change, she started a magazine called Saraswathi in 1921. In its run of over four decades, the unique publication veered into topics concerning women’s lives like never before, including about health and politics, and the copies were often hand-delivered door-to-door by the founder herself. She fought against the dowry system assiduously (a radical effort for the time), viewed it through the lens of marriage, and asserted that love marriages were a solution to this morass. She established the Sharada Stree Samaj at Chamarajpet in 1913, and won the Vidya Vinodini Award in 1918.
Journalism and Social Service
R Kalyanamma’s compassion came wrapped in literary pursuits, so when it came to engaging children, she started dedicating a special section for them in the magazine. Makkala Bavuta, her magazine, featured works that were written and edited by children. But her most long-lasting legacy has been of Makkala Koota. Located in the city of Bengaluru near another significant establishment, the Kannada Saahithya Parishath (Kannada Literary Council), Makkala Koota is the fond name for The All Karnataka Children’s Association and was founded in 1938. Over the following decades, it became a state-wide phenomenon with its one-month-long summer camps and nominal charges remaining popular till date. Its annual children’s festivals have included large processions and gatherings, with state departments pitching in to arrange for stay and transportation services for the persons involved. The stage events would centre children not just as participants but as leaders and overseers of the proceedings. A two-acre playground at the Koota compound today is named after her – Kalyanamma Makkala Aatada Maidana. The space also challenged caste and class dictates of the times by opening up the space for all children, winning the Rajyotsava Award in 1985 for its work.
R. Kalyanamma was nominated twice to the Municipal Council and was a member of the Mysore University Senate. She was also an Honorary Bench Magistrate (1933), President of the Municipal School Board, the President of the Kannada Journalist Congregation at the Kannada Saahithya Parishath (1940), a member of the Muslim Education Committee (1937), and and the vice-president of the Bangalore City Corporation in 1938. She also received the Golden Award for Public Service in 1938. During this time, she worked with another visionary social worker, H.Y. Saraswati, who went on to set up the Mysore Makkala Koota. R. Kalyanamma was also the President of the Women’s Peace League from 1953-55.
Also Read: Rajeshwari Chatterjee: First Woman Engineer From Karnataka | #IndianWomenInHistory
R. Kalyanamma was born into a period that did not value the voice of a woman and women’s writings were considered ‘inferior’. R. Kalyanamma’s determination cut through this disdain. She was not just a woman who was writing, she was a widow who was writing, effectively re-imagining her role in society even as she remained socially humble in the absence of a husband. This was also a woman who understood the mileage an elevated government position could provide and used it brilliantly to fulfil higher goals in her social service pursuits.
R. Kalyanamma passed on in 1965 and left behind a body of work so rich that it is an indelible part of Karnataka’s history.
1. Bangalore Mirror
2. Makkala Koota
3. Women’s Peace League
4. revelationsxx.wordpress.com
Featured Image Source : Kamat.com
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https://shrutisharada.contently.com/
Shruti Sharada is a freelance writer, editor, communications strategist, podcast host and queer feminist based in Bengaluru.
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Taylor 3M Earplug Injury Lawyer
3M is a well-known technology corporation that manufactures industrial, safety, and consumer goods for millions of people worldwide. One of their popular products was the dual-ended 3M Combat Arms Ear Plugs, which were issued to every branch of the US Armed Forces from 2003 through 2015. Unfortunately, their defective design may have caused thousands of service members to suffer noise-induced deafness, tinnitus, and other permanent hearing loss.
If you or a loved one has suffered hearing loss as a result of using faulty 3M Combat Arms Ear Plugs, you’re not alone — and you need trusted counsel to help ensure that your rights are protected. At the Lopez Law Group, we care about your case and your recovery. We’re the trusted ally who will advocate for your legal rights when you need them most. Our Taylor, Texas personal injury attorneys will build the strongest case possible to hold the negligent party accountable and recover the settlement you deserve.
What to Know About 3M Earplug Injury Cases
3M’s dual-ended Combat Arms Ear Plugs (version 2) were designed to fit most ears, offering two levels of ear protection. However, they contained a defect that resulted in the earplugs being too short for proper insertion into users’ ears, which caused the earplugs to loosen and, therefore, not offer the proper amount of protection.
After a whistleblower came forward in July 2018, the 3M company agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations that it knew about the design flaw but continued to issue the product. This conclusion revealed that the earplugs were, in fact, defective, and contributed to various levels of damage, including:
The ringing of the ears
Significant hearing loss
Trouble hearing consonants
Why Hire a Defective-Product Attorney in Taylor to Help with Your Case?
If you or a loved one in Taylor was part of the active military and are now suffering from hearing loss or tinnitus due to defective 3M earplugs, you may be entitled to compensation. However, it’s important to fully understand your rights and options before going up against a large corporation. Even if you decide not to hire an attorney to resolve your case, consulting with an expert defective-product attorney can significantly improve the outcome of your case.
That’s because an attorney will have experience negotiating with insurance companies, who are trained to offer victims less compensation than they’re entitled to by law. A defective product lawyer in Taylor will be able to provide full legal counsel, communicating with all relevant parties on your behalf as well as offering support with finances, medical care, and other issues relevant to your case.
When you partner with the attorneys at the Lopez Law Group, your case and your recovery are our top priorities. If you’re in need of a personal injury lawyer in Taylor, Texas to represent you in a 3M earplug injury case, we’re here to guide you through every step of the legal process. When you partner with us, you get tough representation as well as compassionate support, including:
Detailed, one-on-one communication
A free initial case evaluation
In-depth updates on the status of your case
Aggressive legal representation
Assistance in English or Spanish
The Lopez Law Group is a firm of dedicated and experienced Texas personal injury attorneys who serve the Weslaco, Tyler, Spring, Mission, McAllen, Laredo, Houston, Edinburg, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, and Harlingen areas. If you’re in need of a defective-product lawyer to represent you in a 3M earplug injury case, we can help you achieve the fair outcome you deserve.
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Seabrook Maritime / Offshore Accidents Lawyer
Workers on ships, tugs, offshore platforms (rigs), and other vessels covered under maritime law have some of the most difficult and dangerous jobs in the world. This means maritime workers and maritime workers throughout Texas are at risk every day for experiencing potentially devastating injuries while simply tending to their day-to-day job duties.
The BP Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explosion and subsequent oil spill brought the dangers of maritime work into the international spotlight and revealed the reality of the dangers facing offshore and maritime workers every single day. And yet maritime workers and maritime workers continue to face the possibility of potentially catastrophic injuries every day.
Whether an injury occurs on a boat, a dock, an oil rig, or even while being transported to a vessel via helicopter, the potential for a permanently disabling, life-changing injury — including death — is a very real risk for offshore workers.
What to Know About Offshore Accident Cases
Because of the nature of the industry, there are a variety of dangerous accidents that can occur in an offshore or maritime worker’s daily job. Common offshore accidents can include slips, falls, falling objects, fires, explosions, or water accidents.
Offshore injuries incurred from these accidents can include:
Severe burns
Spinal or back injuries
Why Hire an Offshore Accident Lawyer in Seabrook to Help with Your Case?
If you’re an injured maritime worker or a family member in Seabrook is a victim of an offshore accident, it’s important to speak with a Texas offshore accident lawyer who understands maritime law.
Maritime work is regulated by federal laws and international law, which can include general maritime law, the Jones Act, the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), and the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act (LHWCA).
The Jones Act was enacted to protect the rights of injured seamen, crew members, and workers on vessels. The Jones Act definition of a vessel includes not only ships, but barges, oil rigs, and anything else that is used to transport goods or people on navigable waters. A worker covered by the Jones Act includes anyone who spends more than 30 percent of his time working aboard a vessel on navigable waters.
A maritime worker in Seabrook who has been injured may be able to recover compensation for damages from their employer when their injuries are caused in part by negligence. A maritime lawyer will help the worker or their family show that the vessel owner or operator was negligent, or prove that there was a defect in the ship or its appurtenances. The Jones Act provides injured maritime workers the right to maintenance and cure, compensation for lost wages, and medical expenses after a work injury.
Experienced offshore accident attorneys in Seabrook understand the complex details and regulations of maritime law so they can fight for their client’s best interests.
If you or a loved one has sustained serious injuries or lost a family member due to a maritime or offshore accident, The Lopez Law Group can help. Our talented lawyers have the necessary knowledge of maritime law to fight on behalf of your right to compensation.
Whether you are an injured maritime worker or a family member of the victim of an offshore accident, you need an attorney who has the legal skill, professional experience, and quality resources to stand up for your rights and best interests. Our lawyers are committed to helping victims and their families recover money from:
Emergency and ongoing medical care
Medication and physical therapy
The Lopez Law Group is experienced with handling Jones Act cases and other offshore accident cases related to maritime law. A Jones Act claim must be brought within the statute of limitations, which will vary depending upon where and how the accident happened. By contacting us as soon as possible, you can ensure your case is handled quickly and effectively in order to recoup the damages you are entitled to.
Our team proudly serves clients in Houston, Weslaco, Tyler, Spring, Mission, McAllen, Laredo, Edinburg, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, Harlingen, and other locations throughout Texas.
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Is Squid Game Based on a True Story? Is it Real in Korea?
By Hrvoje Milakovic / October 3, 2021 October 3, 2021
Squid Game has garnered attention throughout the internet for its deep and disturbing storytelling. The Netflix original has left fans intrigued about the possibility of a second season, and many people want to know what motivated screenwriter Hwang Dong-Hyuk to create the storyline. Therefore, the real question lies; is Squid Game based on a true story, and is it a real game in Korea?
The show Squid Game is not based on a true story, but it is a real game, although with different depictions in Korea. The series’ director said that he was mostly motivated by survival comics like Battle Royale and a personal experience with debt at the time the screenplay was written.
However, designer Hwang Dong-hyuk acknowledged that many aspects were actually inspired by the kid’s Squid game, played in Korea. The show’s competition is akin to a battle royale game, in which hundreds of participants are crammed into an arena, with only one emerging victorious. While the idea has been done many times before, Squid Game stands out for its storytelling and execution. Therefore, read on as I explain to you all about the Squid Game and the originality of its idea.
Is Squid Game based on a true story?
What is a Squid Game in Korea?
What are the Rules Of the Real Squid Game in Korea?
Differences Between the Real Squid Game and Netflix Version
First Round: Red light, Green Light
Second Round: Dalgona Candy Challenge
Third Round: Tug of War
Fourth Round: Marbles
Fifth Round: Stepping Stone Bridge
Final Round: The Squid Game
Squid Game is not based on a true story, since no participants have been compelled to participate in lethal versions of kiddie games in real life.
Rather than that, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk took inspiration from Japanese manga and anime, with themes of survival striking a chord with the writer-director amid a difficult financial position, creating an allegory about contemporary capitalist society and the rivalry it fosters. However, Dong-hyuk stated that the title and climactic final challenge of Squid Game were inspired by a childhood favorite game that was mostly available in Korea.
Hwang said in an online press conference that he was inspired to create the program after reading about survival games in comic books.
“After debuting with ‘My Father,’ I read a lot of comics and was mesmerized by survival games. With an attempt to create a Korean version, I started planning out the work in 2008 and finished the scenario in 2009.”
According to him, it took him so long to create the idea because recruiting performers and securing financing in the late 2000s were tough procedures. “The idea of a game-winner who strikes it rich was unwelcomed. The brutality and cruelty of the games were of concern. I had to put the scenario on the shelf,”
However, things changed over the next decade, and Hwang found widespread interest in his concept. He eventually decided to produce it as a Netflix series. When asked why he chose the name Squid Game for the program, Hwang said that it was his favorite game as a kid and he enjoys how physically demanding it is.
“I thought the game was a perfect metaphor for our highly competitive society, so ‘Squid Game’ was a perfect name for this series.”
RELATED: Best Squid Game Quotes & Dialogues
Many accused Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk of plagiarizing previous films and television programs with similar ideas. Dong-hyuk denied the allegations, claiming that most of his inspiration came from the Japanese comics and anime he devoured throughout his childhood.
Dong-hyuk was previously in a financially precarious position. He read many comics on the same subject during that period. Squid Game was created by using what he learned from them and his own real-life experiences.
Many were able to get insight into the production of the violent thriller via the show’s official press release. Hwang Dong-hyuk and the production crew discussed some of the thinking processes and nuances that went into creating the sets.
While Squid Game’s portrayal of squid game is unique, the game itself is authentic. During the 1970s and 1980s, the real-life Korean version of Squid Game was a popular children’s game. It is defined as a “kind of tag in which the attack and defense utilize a dirt-drawn squid-shaped board.”
The squid game is a variant on the tag in which participants are split into two teams, one offensive and one defensive. The objective of the game is for those on offense to tap their foot on the tiny region known as the squid’s head. The defense, on the other hand, is compelled to remain inside the squid-shaped limits of the dirt lines and try to tag those on the attack.
In the squid game, attackers are only permitted to jump on one foot until they successfully cut through the squid’s midsection. The squid game then advances to the ultimate fight, in which the remaining attacking players must rush from the squid’s entrance to its head without being touched. However, if they are driven out of limits by a defender, they will perish.
Squid Game’s portrayal of the actual squid game’s rules is quite accurate, but the Netflix program adds some new wrinkles. Even though Squid Game is a legitimate game in Korea, and a variation of it is shown here, viewers are sure to have some concerns about the rules. Even though it is widely accepted that Squid game is a genuine Korean game, detailed information on the rules and how to play are tough to come by outside of what Squid Game provides.
There is a huge difference between the real Squid Game and the Netflix version. First of all, the real Squid Game is depicted only in the final round of the competition in the Netflix version. There are six rounds in the Netflix version, as explained below:
The series began with a Korean adaptation of Red Light, Green Light, a famous children’s game in other nations. The Korean title translates as “The mugunghwa blossom has bloomed.” Mugunghwa (in English, Sharon’s rose) is South Korea’s national flower.
RELATED: 15 TV Shows Like Squid Game You Need to Watch
The K-drama series places all 456 participants in a simulated open field environment, where they must work their way closer to a finish line near a huge robotic doll resembling a little child. The participants were only permitted to move until they heard the words “The mugunghwa flower has blossomed” (which are ominously transmitted in a child-like voice), after which they were required to remain immobile. Those who moved during the stillness were shot and removed from the game.
In the competition’s second round, participants were charged with carving various forms from Dalgona sweets, a kind of honeycomb biscuit.
Additionally referred to as bbopgi in Korean (which translates as “plucking” or “picking out” in English), the vintage crispy street snack made from melted sugar and baking soda was popular with children in the 1970s and 1980s.
It comes with a form-pressed into it, and youngsters often attempt to eat around the shape without breaking it, which was the task set for players in the Squid Game series—except they were each given a small needle pin to do this.
Players who violated the outline of the form they were assigned (a circle, triangle, star, or umbrella) were instantly shot dead.
This globally popular children’s game was the competition’s third obstacle.
The competitors were split into groups and forced to compete in tug-of-war matches against one another. The game is played on an elevated platform with a wide gap in the center separating the two teams. The players’ wrists are tied to the tug of war rope.
Once the losing team was pushed over the edge of the platform and fell through the gap, a huge guillotine severed the rope, allowing the defeated players to plummet to their deaths.
RELATED: Is Squid Game Scary and How Gory is It?
The competition’s fourth game was based on marbles, another famous vintage childhood pastime worldwide.
For this round, participants were divided into pairs and competed against one another inside the pair. They were permitted to play whatever marble game they pleased, and some were seen estimating how many marbles the other person had in their hand, while others tossed the marbles on the ground toward a target.
Each participant was handed ten marbles, and to win the game, one person needed to take all ten of the other player’s marbles, with the loser being instantly shot dead by a staff member.
The subject of the final match of the survival tournament was the stepping stone bridge game, which involves youngsters walking over stones sticking out of a stream or river to reach the other side.
The series’ stepping bridge was made of glass panels rather than stones and was positioned at a dangerously high height. Each player has to go over the bridge. Some of the panels were tempered glass, while others were composed of regular glass. As a result, depending on whatever panel they stood on, some gamers fell to their deaths.
The final round of the competition was the Squid Game, a children’s street game that was played by many Koreans in their childhood, including the series’ director Hwang Dong-hyuk.
The game pits two individuals (or teams) against one another inside a grid painted on the ground that resembles the shape of a squid. Before the game beginning, it must be determined who or which team will play attacker (offense) and who will play defense, since each position has certain limitations.
The narrator explains the rules of the retro game in the first scene of the Squid Game series, which features children playing the game. “In order to win, the attackers must tap the small closed-off space on the squid’s head with their foot. But if someone on the defense manages to push you outside the squid’s boundary, you die,” as the narrator puts it.
Each participant also uses a knife in the current series’ edition of the game as they fight it out in the competition’s bloodiest round.
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"Enchanted Islands is a similar blend of truth and fiction."
Reviews | June 09, 2016
Enchanted Islands, by Allison Amend
"Amend does a remarkable job making Frances’s story feels less like a novel and more like a real life": Tyler McMahon on Allison Amend's new novel, Enchanted Islands.
by Tyler McMahon
Allison Amend’s new novel, Enchanted Islands (Nan A. Talese), begins about as far away from a remote tropical island as possible: Duluth in the late 1800s. The child of recent Polish immigrants, Frances Frankowski idolizes her best friend, Rosalie, in part because of her more comfortable upbringing and sophisticated family. But their friendship is hardly perfect, especially as Rosalie becomes more fickle and unpredictable. Still, when Rosalie decides to run away to Chicago, Frances doesn’t think twice about coming along. There, the two fifteen-year-olds rent a small room and share a bed. Rosalie dreams of show business, but does little to support herself, while Frances finds a job and pays both their bills. Finally, Rosalie goes too far and commits a betrayal that can’t soon be forgiven. Frances leaves her friend, and she spends the next few decades drifting her way westward, finally settling in San Francisco. She works for several years as a teacher but eventually burns out, and ends up a secretary for the Office of Naval Intelligence.
Frances settles into middle age early in the novel, and it is then that she is tapped for her greatest adventure. Hitler gains power and America ponders the possibility of war. The Navy discovers several suspicious Germans living in the Galapagos, on a barely inhabited island called Floreana. American intelligence decides to send Ainslie Conway—a colleague of Frances’s at the San Francisco office. But there are concerns about his cover; it’s suggested that a wife might make him less conspicuous. Now in her fifties, Frances is asked to marry Ainslie and ship off to Floreana—to become America’s most unlikely spy.
Frances hesitates at first. But a chance encounter with Rosalie—now married with children—gives Frances the nudge she needs. All of her decisions, it seems, can still be traced back to her childhood friendship. She marries Ainslie and heads to Ecuador.
After a long ocean voyage, the newlyweds arrive at their destination. Frances describes it this way:
Floreana is shaped like a sphere, about eight miles wide, but it is impossible to cross without a team of Indios machete-ing the way for you…The landscape is desert from the beach up about two miles to higher ground, called arriba, where it becomes abruptly green thanks to the garúa, the mist that lingers even in the dry season.
The two of them do their best to eke out a living without modern conveniences. The lion’s share of the housework falls on the ever-practical Frances, while Ainslie grows obsessed with the widening and improving of a dirt path. Of this project, she notes: “It was a perfectly worthless and insane endeavor, as there were no travelers but ourselves, and there would likely never be any. But I suppose men must spend their time doing something, and God forbid that something should be helping women.”
Their spy craft is equally hapless. They keep track of ships, get acquainted with the handful of German settlers on the island, and wait around for anything noteworthy. At first, Frances isn’t sure if her marriage is real or fake. Her husband gets around to consummating it—once. And though it’s obvious that Ainslie’s passions lie elsewhere, Frances is still shocked to catch him with another man. It echoes the betrayal that Rosalie committed so many years ago. But this time, Frances has nowhere to run.
The novel’s third act begins as their island life comes to an abrupt end. Once war is formally declared, Frances is returned to San Francisco, where she continues to work at the Office of Naval Intelligence, while Ainslie stays on as part of the Allied presence in the Galapagos. During this period, however, Frances is surprised by how much she misses Floreana—and Ainslie. When asked about her passions and interests, she can only refer to those days. Though once the war ends and Ainslie returns, he has surprising news: the Navy has asked both Conways to return to Floreana for another tour.
Not pretending to be a spy anymore, Frances is free to enjoy “two glorious years on Floreana,” what she calls “the best years of my life.” It’s an unlikely happy ending: Frances finds peace in the place of her greatest suffering and frustration.
Frances’s story is of a piece with Allison Amend’s two previous novels—Stations West and A Nearly Perfect Copy—as well as her collection Things That Pass for Love. Readers familiar with her work will recognize the tendency to begin with a factual seed—be it an obscure piece of history, a small scientific breakthrough, or an absurd bit of news—and to grow a lush story out of it.
Allison Amend
Enchanted Islands is a similar blend of truth and fiction. There was an actual Frances and Ainslie Conway who lived in the Galapagos for brief stints in the thirties and forties. An author’s note explains that Amend was inspired partly by the little-known memoirs Frances wrote while there—mostly diaries of her daily life. The espionage, the affairs, and the years spent off the island, however, are all inventions of the author’s.
Amend does a remarkable job making Frances’s story feels less like a novel and more like a real life: the unpredictable fits and starts, the people from the past that reappear when least expected, and the great gaping distance between plans and outcomes. Unlike the memoirs, the novel doesn’t pretend to be a historical document. It embraces the power to zoom into certain moments of Frances’s life, and fast-forward through others, decades at a time.
As a narrator, Frances is straightforward and slow to make assumptions. She’s constantly beset by unsettled questions—about war and sexuality, but also about friendship and marriage. She is earnest in her attempts to serve her country and the war effort—even if it’s with bumbled German and boiled sweet potatoes. There’s a particular charm to the way that the wheels of history seem to brush against her.
The result is a smart, beautiful novel that celebrates both the wonder and the banality of a life, a time, and a faraway place.
Allison Amend, enchanted islands, Nan A. Talese, Tyler McMahon Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Save Instapaper Pocket
Tyler McMahon
Tyler McMahon is author of the novels How the Mistakes Were Made (St. Martin’s Press, 2011) and Kilometer 99 (St. Martin’s Press, 2014). He lives in Honolulu and teaches at Hawaii Pacific University. Learn more about him at tylermcmahon.net.
Also from Tyler McMahon
West of Sunset, by Stewart O’Nan Sea and Sky and Coastline: An Interview with Jon Keller Elegant Plotting: An Interview with David Bajo
Fictionalizing the Real: A Conversation Between Allison Amend and Michelle Hoover
West of Sunset, by Stewart O’Nan
Sea and Sky and Coastline: An Interview with Jon Keller
Eric McDowell
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Jeremiah Chamberlin
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Towards the end of the 19th century, America’s westward expansion was nearly complete. Aided by the sensational stories of life in the American West by writers such as Owen Wister and Teddy Roosevelt and before them, James Fenimore Cooper and Francis Parkman fascination with the West, the land, the Native Americans and those who explored and settled there had never been greater. By 1900, popular illustrated magazines such as Harper’s Weekly, were foremost in promoting the excitement and drama of frontier life.
Artwork by some of the greatest illustrators of the period frequently accompanied serialized stories of cowboys and cavalry, settlers and Indians. Perhaps more than any other artist or illustrator, Frederic S. Remington (1864-1909), was able to capture in art a view of the American West that thrilled the readers of the many publications in which his images and stories appeared. When Remington turned to sculpture at the urging of a fellow artist, it was no surprise that the “authenticity” of his illustrations was also evident in his bronzes. Remington’s sculptures were acclaimed almost immediately.
The public’s embrace of the Western genre would continue throughout the 20th century through film, comic strips and later television. By 1953 when the abstract expressionist artist Harry Jackson (1924-2011) walked away from a short but successful career, the love of the West was at fever pitch. Though critics would wonder whether Jackson would be as successful as he had been previously, figurative art was his calling and since he was a child, the West was the subject he knew the best. This small exhibition features some of the most iconic bronze works by Jackson and includes a rare “heroic bronze” of the Bronco Buster, 1909, by the artist whose work inspired him most, Frederic S. Remington.
On view October 10, 2015-January 31, 2016
Frederic Remington, Bronco Buster, modeled 1894/cast before 1918, bronze, City of Davenport Art Collection, Gift of Mrs. Alfred C. Mueller in memory of her husband, 1963.1071
New Photography
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Am As Av
Home » Entry » Asmus, Valentin
April 21, 2019 deblasia Thinkers No Comments
Keywords: History of Philosophy | Logic | Marxism | Pedagogy
Other relevant keywords: Aesthetics; Literature
Valentin Asmus (1894–1975)
Valentin Ferdinandovich Asmus was a philosopher, historian of philosophy, and teacher who played an important role in the development of Russian philosophy of the twentieth century. He specialized in the history of philosophy, logic, and aesthetics and was also a literary critic. He is the author of more than 200 publications (about 20 of them are monographs and textbooks) and a large number of entries for the Philosophical Encyclopedia (Filosofskaia entsiklopediia), the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Bol’shaia sovetskaia entsiklopediia), and the Literary Encyclopedia (Literaturnaia entsiklopediia). He was among the authors of the three-volume History of Philosophy (Istoriia filosofii,1941-1943), for which he was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1943. His works have been translated into a number of European languages. In 1958 he was elected a full member of the International Institute of Philosophy in Paris. Asmus was one of a few Russian philosophers who grew up in the pre-revolutionary era and had a long career under the Soviet regime, avoiding both arrest and exile.
Asmus was born in Kiev in 1894 and was baptized according to the laws of the Russian Empire of that time, since his mother Pelageia Ivanovna (born Tishchenko) was an Orthodox Russian woman. He spent his childhood years in the Donbass in the village of Konstantinovka, where his father—Ferdinand Heinrich Vilgelmovich Asmus, who came from a Russified German Lutheran family—was an employee of one of the factories built by the Belgian joint stock company. Asmus became interested in philosophy during his studies at the German St. Catherine Real School in Kiev (1903-1914). In 1914, his interest in the humanities led him to the Department of History and Philology at St. Vladimir University in Kiev, from which he graduated in 1919. Among his teachers were the prominent scholars Aleksei Giliarov, Vasily Zenkovsky, Evgeny Spektorsky, and Genrikh Yakubanis. Asmus detailed his сhildhood and university years in his memoir, published in 2010 in a volume dedicated to him in the series “Russian Philosophy of the Second Half of the 20th Century” (see: Valentin Ferdinandovich Asmus).
Asmus began publishing philosophical works as a student. In 1916, he published “On the Tasks of Music Criticism” (“O zadachah muzykal’noi kritiki”); in 1917 he was awarded the Tolstoy Prize for the essay “The Dependence of L. N. Tolstoy on Spinoza in His Religious Philosophical Views” (“Zavisimost’ L. N. Tolstogo ot Spinozy v ego religioznyh filosofskikh vozzreniiakh”). Asmus’ student years coincided with war and revolution. Kiev had been alternately occupied by red and white troops and in 1919, Asmus published an anti-Soviet article in the newspaper Life (Zhizn’) where he condemned the teachings of Marxism and the ideals of the Enlightenment. After graduation, Asmus taught philosophy and aesthetics at Kiev University. His hopes for the imminent liberation of Russia from the “Soviet captivity” expressed in his1919 article did not come true, and in his other works from the 1920s (and in later works) we do not find that critical stance towards Marxism, but instead find many references and quotations to the classical works of Marxism, as well as assessments and conclusions in the spirit of the Marxist approach. In Marxism, Asmus saw the expression and continuation of the fundamental traditions of classical philosophical thought. He pursued this line in his further lectures and writings. At the same time, Asmus managed to combine a series of other ideas with the succession of prevailing Soviet worldviews: a commitment to the development of culture as a whole; an aversion to the mechanistic approach to social, cultural and philosophical life; and a negative attitude toward the direct reduction of spiritual processes to economic relations.
In fact, the evolution of Asmus’ ideas, including his theoretical and methodological principals, was complicated. We must not lose sight of the time and ideological situation in which the philosopher lived and worked. In the Soviet Union, the discipline of philosophy served the interests of the Party. As a thinker who continued to pursue philosophy without leaving Soviet Russia, Asmus found it necessary to compromise more than once in accordance with the era, adhering to the scholarly templates and standards imposed upon him: the requirements to criticize “reactionary bourgeois philosophy,” and to root out and attack philosophical enemies. Soviet power did not deprive Asmus of his life (as it did many other prominent scholars), but it did deprive him of the opportunity for free and independent work.
In 1924 Asmus’ first monographic study appeared: Dialectical Materialism and Logic: An Essay on the Development of the Dialectical Method in Modern Philosophy from Kant to Lenin (Ocherk razvitiia dialekticheskogo metoda v noveishei filosofii ot Kanta do Lenina). Here we see the full expression of both Asmus’ talent and his compromise. As Nikolai Berdiaev wrote: “the author of this book possesses a high philosophical culture, he knows the history of philosophy, has a taste for philosophizing … however, he freely and truly philosophizes only when he forgets Marxism, and the Soviet authorities expect materialistic views from him” (Berdiaev 356).
During 1920s, an intense philosophical dispute broke out between the Mechanists and the Dialecticians, the latter of whom were supporters and followers of academician Abram Deborin. In 1926, Asmus intervened against mechanicist Aleksandr Varjas in an essay entitled “Сontroversial Questions of the History of Philosophy” (“Spornye voprosy istorii filosofii”), by sharply criticizing his attempts to deduce concepts and theories of modern philosophy from the production process and reduce all explanations of events and ideas to conditions (see: Steila 226-229). The dispute between Asmus and Varjas resonated. In 1927, Asmus moved from Kiev to Moscow and joined the philosophical school of Deborin, i.e., the Hegelian neo-Marxist school, which was left-communist in its orientations. Sergei Korsakov, a contemporary reviewer of Asmus’ intellectual biography, discusses Asmus’s relationship with the Deborinist school (Korsakov). For his collaboration with the Deborinists, Asmus later received the dangerous label of “Menshevist idealist” (men’shevistvuiushchii idealist), since the Mechanists argued that the Deborinists were neither Marxists nor materialists, and that they held a neutral position towards idealists (e.g., Aleksei Losev), and were therefore themselves idealists. Many Deborinsts were arrested in the early 1930s and the majority died in the GULAG. Asmus escaped such a fate.
In the 1920s-40s, Asmus collaborated with several academic journals, including Under the Banner of Marxism (Pod znamenem marksizma), Soviet Music (Sovetskaia muzyka), and The Banner (Znamia). He taught at the Institute of Red Professors; the Philosophical Section of the Communist Academy; Moscow Institute of History, Philosophy, and Literature (MIFLI); and Moscow State University. In the late 1920s – early 1930s he published several monographs: Kant’s Dialectics (Dialektika Kanta, 1929), Essays on the History of Dialectics and Modern Philosophy (Ocherki istorii dialektiki i novoi filosofii, 1930) and Marx and Bourgeois Historicism (Marks i burzhuaznyi istorizm, 1933). In the mid 1930s, Asmus was actively involved in the history and theory of aesthetics and in 1940 he defended his doctoral dissertation on classical Greek aesthetics.
In the 1950s-70s, Asmus continued to teach at MGU, and also became a research fellow at The Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1956) and at the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968). He published a number of monographs devoted to important thinkers and philosophical problems, including on Descartes (1956), Kant (1957, 1973), Democritus (1960), Rousseau (1962), German aesthetics of the eighteenth century (1962), the philosophy of mathematics (1963), ancient philosophy (1965), and Plato (1969). He taught many famous Russian philosophers and writers, as well as mingled with Boris Pasternak, Aleksandr Tvardovsky, Aleksei Losev, Heinrich Neuhaus, and other cultural figures. University authorities tried to condemn Asmus for the sympathetic speech he delivered at Pasternak’s funeral, but this initiative did not gain momentum and Asmus did not lose his job at MGU.
Asmus died in 1975 and was buried in the Peredelkino cemetery. The complex legacy of his life and work demonstrates that philosophical thought cannot be extinguished, and that even in the most difficult moments of its past, philosophy in Russia continued to exist.
Asmus was one of the most competent Marxist historians of philosophy in the USSR and a true connoisseur and preserver of the history of philosophy. Even in his early publications, he highlighted how “a world-view that opens up things into processes, and processes into tendencies, cannot be indifferent to the link between the present and the past” (“Spornye voprosy istorii filosofii” 206). Asmus’s works served as “soft” introductions to the complex philosophical views of important thinkers.
Asmus specialized primarily in the history of western philosophy, in particular classical German philosophy. Most of his work was devoted to specific historical problems (the development of the dialectical method, the problem of intuition) or figures (Kant, Descartes, Spinoza, Rousseau, Marx, Bergson). Asmus was especially committed to Kant and wrote several monographs on him. In 1973, his works on Kant were published together in a collection entitled Immanuel Kant, in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the German thinker. In this work, Asmus examined the main components of Kant’s philosophy: his theory of knowledge, ethics, the study of expediency in organic nature and aesthetics, etc. Like his favorite philosopher Kant, Asmus was fond of astronomy and admired the starry sky above with his telescope.
Asmus was also a specialist in the field of ancient philosophy. In 1965 he published the first textbook on the history of ancient philosophy in the USSR. This textbook is written according to Soviet standards, and in it we find: the absence of a concrete approach, no references to contemporary western studies, and few if any citations. His subsequent works on Plato and Democritus were accessible interpretations of philosophical theories, written for a broad audience; as such, they did not add any new insights to understanding of the complex heritage of these figures. In his work on Plato, Asmus upheld the spirit of the Marxist-Leninist tradition when he revealed the idealistic dialectic of the ancient philosopher as “the predecessor of the idealistic dialectic of Hegel, its philosophical prototype” (“Platon” 206). Here we can see the “genetic” idea of the Soviet theory of history of philosophy at work: the aim to represent Marxist-Leninist philosophy as a theoretical summing-up of the history of philosophy, and which necessarily assumed the continuity of the historical-philosophical process. This continuity is guaranteed insofar as each new system does not simply negate the previous one but “overcomes” it and includes within itself its re-elaborated form (i.e., the idea that Hegel’s system included Platonism). Asmus often employed the logic of “the sustainable development of knowledge” in his works. In his book on Plato, for instance, the implementation of this logic left out the latest achievements in Plato studies; Asmus mentioned only Losev’s achievements as the authentic way of interpreting Plato, and in 1968 Asmus and Losev edited three volumes of Plato’s works together. What this logic offered both Asmus and philosophy during the Soviet era, however, was the ability to systematically study all aspects of different philosophical ideas and to present to readers a more or less unadulterated image of thinkers and their ideas.
In the USSR, the principle of Party-mindedness was a dominant force in philosophy. Soviet Marxism included the history of philosophy in the sphere of ideological struggle and endowed it with ideological functions. Soviet scholars were obliged to consider the history of philosophical thought in terms of the struggle between materialism and idealism, dialectics and metaphysics (which was understood as “anti-dialectics”), and they were expected to “root out” and criticize idealistic tendencies in the views of the philosophers of the past. Those who did not want to compromise their work in this way, like Vladimir Bibler, were extremely limited in their abilities to publish during the Soviet era. Although Asmus’ work includes the official jargon of Marxism-Leninism and the derogatory ritual phrases and judgments against “bourgeois philosophers” (especially in the 1930s), his publications and lectures were nonetheless significant events in Soviet philosophy. First of all, he criticized the prevailing sociological methodology of his day, and presented in opposition another methodology, one based on the immanent course of the historical-philosophical process and the role of social and political factors in this process. Secondly, due to attention he paid to the internal logic of the development of philosophy, Asmus sought to demonstrate the relatively independent status of historical and philosophical research. Finally, he based his studies on thorough examinations of primary sources, which served to protect the thinkers under analysis from imaginary accusations, clichés, and ideological distortions. Asmus’ professionalism in this regard was an act of courage under Soviet rule. In particular, one of the lectures Asmus delivered at the IRP in 1936 (lectures were diligently transcribed by stenographers and some are kept in the State Archive of the Russian Federation) was dedicated to the works of Nietzsche, a philosopher sharply criticized and even banned during the Soviet era (especially during the period of confrontation between Soviet Russia and Hitler’s Germany). As Yulia Sineokaya points out, Asmus “managed to analyze and comment on those principle propositions of Nietzsche’s doctrine that were inconsistent with fascist ideology” and, through a brilliant use of official rhetoric, “conveyed important meanings that would otherwise be fraught with the risk of repressions” (282-283). Asmus would repeat this thesis about the distortion of the teachings of the German classics in “The Fascist Falsification of Classical German Philosophy” (“Fashistskaia fal’sifikatsiia klassicheskoi nemetskoi filosofii,” 1942), where he took a strong critical position against National Socialism and its distortion of different philosophical conceptions.
The science of logic was among Asmus’s scholarly interests beginning with his work at Kiev University, where in 1922 he gave a lecture pro venia legendi entitled “The Philosophical Problems of Logic” (“Filosofskie zadachi logiki”). Asmus was an adherent of classical logical thinking, but was also thoroughly engaged in the study of non-classical logic and supported the development of mathematical logic. In 1924, he published Dialectical Materialism and Logic (Dialektichiskii materialism i logika), which received a positive review from Nikolai Berdiaev. In the 1930s, he began to investigate the logical, methodological, and philosophical problems of the foundations of mathematics. The field of logic was under the strong pressure from Soviet ideology in those years, and therefore only a few enthusiasts were engaged in work in logic. In the second half of the 1920s, the leading positions in Soviet philosophy were occupied by the Deborinists; they began to develop the practice of dialectical logic, which opposed formal logic. This led to the cancellation of formal logic as a subject of study in Soviet schools and universities in the late 1920s. The revival of logic in the USSR as a field of research and a school subject began only in the first half of the 1940s, and Asmus was actively involved in this process. He began teaching at the newly created Department of Logic in the Philosophy Department at Moscow State University, where he led courses in the history of logic, formal logic, and the logic of relations; he also taught logic at the qualification courses for high school teachers and participated in discussions on the subject of logic in the late 1940s-early 50s. During WWII, Asmus prepared one of the first Soviet textbooks on philosophical (non-mathematical) logic, published in 1947. This textbook was accused of formalism, and its author criticized for illustrating logical patterns using “apolitical” examples. In 1948, Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was published in the USSR in Russian translation, with an introduction by Asmus. He continued to develop problems of logic in his subsequent works: The Doctrine of Logic on Evidence and Refutation (Uchenie logiki o dokazatel’stve i oproverzhenii, 1954) and The Problem of Intuition in Philosophy and Mathematics (Problema intuitsii v filosofii i matematike, 1963).
Asmus began his teaching career at Kiev University following his graduation. In 1927, he began teaching regularly in Moscow: at the Institute of Red Professors, the Academy of Communist Education, MIFLI, MGU, and the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute. Multiple generations of Russian philosophers came of intellectual age at his lectures and seminars on the history of philosophy and logic. With his boundless erudition and deep understanding of his subject, knowledge of classical and European languages, and references to primary sources and quotations from the work of European philosophers (including those not yet translated into Russian and which were almost unknown or forbidden in Soviet Russia), Asmus stood out against the background of the Soviet philosophical professorship. According to the recollections of many of his students, he embodied a connection to modern European thought and served as an intellectual bridge between Soviet philosophy and the tradition of Russian philosophical culture that had been cut off by the revolution. Among his students were Arseny Gulyga, Teodor Oizerman, Zakhar Kamensky, Nelli Motroshilova, Piama Gaidenko, Gennady Maiorov, Vasily Sokolov, and other eminent scholars. For these thinkers, who came to philosophy at the end of Stalinism and the early years of the Thaw, the figure of Asmus acquired a special, symbolic importance, as the guardian of pre-revolutionary philosophical traditions. Asmus supported many graduate students in their desire to engage new topics and objects of study.
Asmus spent more than thirty years working at Moscow State University, both in the Philosophy and Philology faculties. In the 1940s-50s, he was professor in the Department of Logic in the faculty of Philosophy. In the late 1950s, Asmus was relocated to the Department of the History of Foreign Philosophy, where he continued his research and teaching in the history of philosophy, which he conducted until the end of his life. In the last years of Asmus’ life, when it became difficult for him to travel to the university, the students themselves traveled to attend his seminars at his house in Peredelkino, located outside Moscow.
Olga Kusenko, April 2019
Asmus, Valentin. “O velikom plenenii russkoj kul’tury.” Istoriko-filosofskii ezhegodnik, 2004, 2005, pp. 350-356.
—. Platon. Mysl’, 1975.
—. Sobranie sochinenii (v semi tomah). URSS, 2014.
—. “Spornye voprosy istorii filosofii.” Pod znamenem marksizma 7-8, 1926, pp. 206-225.
Berdiaev, Nikolai. Retsenziia na knigu: V. F. Asmus. ‘Ocherki istorii dialektiki v novoi filosofii.’” Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1929.
Korsakov, Sergei. V. F. Asmus: korrektivy k obrazu. SFK-ofis, 2017.
Sineokaya, Yulia. “The Prohibited Nietzsche: Anti-nietzscheanism in Soviet Russia.” Studies in East European Thought 70 (4), 2018, pp. 273-288.
Steila, Daniela. “History of Philosophy in the Early Soviet Epoch.” Rivista di storia della Filosofia 2, 2018, pp. 217-234.
Valentin Ferdinandovich Asmus. Ed. V.A. Zhuchkov and I.I. Blauberg. ROSSPEN, 2010.
Faith God Culturology Christianity Ethics Marxism History of Philosophy Science Religion Culture Existentialism Literature
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Did EPO use really kill some riders?
Thread starter Merckx index
Merckx index
I stumbled across this while looking for something else. Interesting stuff. Don’t know if anyone has any better evidence for EPO-related deaths.
In the wake of previous contributions by scholars like Verner Møller and Paul Dimeo, which have demonstrated the mythical nature of the accounts concerning two famous ‘doping deaths’ (the cyclists Arthur Linton and Knud Enemark Jensen), this article thoroughly examines the existing evidence (both anecdotal and scientific) concerning the much repeated claim that EPO ‘killed’ 18 Dutch and Belgian cyclists in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This examination shows that these claims almost absolutely lack empirical evidence, and that in fact the existing truly experimental and epidemiological research downplays or even rules out the existence of a casual link between EPO intake and sudden death in healthy adults. It is therefore concluded that EPO has been constructed by the expert literature and the lay press as the ‘drug of mass destruction’ of the war on drugs in sport, and that the story about the ‘EPO deaths’ is to be seen as anti-doping propaganda.
A search for journalistic texts reporting on these facts has been conducted using the LexisNexis database and accessing the online archives of some newspapers. Twenty-four news reports have been retrieved,35 in addition to a chapter from the journalistic book by Paul Kimmage. An analysis of these texts reveals an even higher degree of dispersion and imprecision. The number of victims range from ‘half a dozen’ to ‘around 40’ (other figures mentioned: 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 24 and 34). The most often quoted countries of origin are again Holland and Belgium, but Spain, Germany and Poland are also mentioned, with many texts simply referring to ‘European’ cyclists. And the time span can be as broad as 1970–1990, or as narrow as 1988–1990.
According to several sources, EPO began to circulate in Europe in 1987,48 when 3 of the victims recorded in Table 1 had already been retired for a long time. This reduces the number of potentially suspicious deaths to 14. The case of Bert Oosterbosch, who had retired in late 1988, the year before his death, should also be withdrawn from the list: if he had taken the drug during his professional career, its alleged deleterious effects would have faded long before his death.49 The list has now been reduced to 13. Four other victims died between October and February in the cycling off-season, when there was no point in charging up with such an expensive, cutting-edge drug.50 Of the remaining 9, 7 were amateur riders, who for the reasons just stated would be very unlikely consumers of the drug.51 This leaves the list with just 2 potentially suspicious riders: 1 low-profile young professional (only 23 when he died) and a cyclo-cross rider, neither of them the kind of usual suspect52 for such a hi-tech practice as EPO doping would have been at the time. These data therefore show little, if any, trace of the ‘about twenty world-class Dutch and Belgian cyclists’ killed by ‘rhEPO-induced erythrocytosis’.53 Of course, all this is not watertight scholarship, but at least it is based on some kind of empirical evidence and rational analysis. Perhaps the scientific literature can provide us with stronger counter-evidence concerning the claimed link between these deaths and EPO doping.
I have reviewed 35 academic texts referring to the alleged deleterious effects of EPO abuse: most of them are supportive of Eichner's contentions, in fact some of them citing Eichner himself as their original source.76 Of these articles/book chapters, 19 fail to provide empirical evidence or to quote any source for most or all of their claims concerning the fatal side-effects of EPO intake. Two of them77 just mention, as their only source, the statements or opinions, lacking empirical evidence, of anti-doping experts such as Eichner, Don Catlin and Robert O. Voy. Eight more articles refer some or all of their claims to other reports that either fail to quote a single source or piece of evidence, do not mention these side-effects, are based on literature reviews (not on original research) or quote some of the aforementioned experts. One article78 provides evidence for a sing le case of an elite cyclist in which thrombosis coincided with an intake of EPO and growth hormone. But the authors fail to provide proof of the causal link between the two, despite claiming that ‘the use of EPO to increase PCV [haematocrit] in athletes suffering from other predisposing factors to thrombosis … could lead to serious side effects’.79 So this leaves the list reduced to eight articles quoting original research and only six directly reporting original research conducted by the authors themselves, one of which is not based on actual experimentation but theoretical modellization.80
This article has shown that the story about the 18 Dutch and Belgian cyclists who allegedly died between 1987 and 1990 due to EPO abuse has no empirical basis. The available evidence rather suggests that this series of deaths has been artificially concocted and even inflated in absolute terms and, most importantly, that it is highly improbable that EPO had anything to do with these cases, principally because there is very little, if any, scientific evidence that EPO causes sudden death. It should therefore be considered more of a myth or an invention than a historical fact. A myth which in the last years has played a central role in the ‘scaremongering tactics’111 of the anti-doping campaigners, who until the early 1990s were rather short of casualties that might be attributed to doping ‘abuse’. In this sense, EPO could be labelled as the drug of mass destruction in the war on doping.
Dear Wiggo
IV EPO clears far faster than subcutaneous EPO.
Any idea if EPO delivery impacts on clearing %?
5000IU EPO IV clears in 6 hours. Not all of it is used - some is also passed in the urine. What %?
Is the % the same for subcutaneous?
I think this study says it is: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1873985/
I have been saying this for some time, atleast on other non-cycling fora. It is much touted, but I always wanted more than anecdotal evidence.
I am the king of the apocyphal tale. It takes on to spot one.
Now, I am almost engaging in a logical fallacy myself, to assume that no evidence = did not happen, or equating anecdotal evidence =/= evidence
rhubroma
What incentive did the UCI have, then, to establish a 50% hematocrit rule if it did not feel EPO was behind the death of those cyclists in the late 80's early 90's?
The Hitch
Brilliant find there MI.
These themes of things being massively exaggerated, taken out of context, and accepted as truth without any real argumentation even, are very common in cycling and anti doping discourse.
Also this about EPO being made at times to sound as if it was the only drug in sport. Though, yes, of course it was the worst.
It is therefore concluded that EPO has been constructed by the expert literature and the lay press as the ‘drug of mass destruction’ of the war on drugs in sport,
mewmewmew13
Well you know what Ferrari said...
rhubroma said:
Rube, I read about your horrific accident on a bike. Hope for a speedy recovery, and don't be afraid to take the PEDs for this. Is there going to be a lawsuit involved?
To your question, I think much of the rationale was an attempt to level the playing field, reduce the potential advantage riders could gain (though ironically, when everyone started taking it, the field was probably less level, as riders with low HTs were favored).
They may have also believed the stories of EPO deaths. I did, they sounded quite plausible to me at the time. It's only recently, when I have read of people, and animals, with natural HTs in the 60s, that I have wondered if the viscosity argument was overblown.
The author also mentions Lyle Alzado as another myth.
I read somewhere in here that the true initiative came from a doping Doctor (don't remember which one) just because by looking at the tendency of doping He was afraid that some deaths were going to happened in the future. People were pushing the limits by going well over 60%. Stories about the hematocrits of some riders going into the hospitals being over the roof. So I guess it was safety of the riders one of the main reasons.
DirtyWorks
I recall reading of Dutch under-23 heart attacks with not a peep from the UCI. As in, suddenly, for the first time ever in the history of the sport, young riders are dying of heart attacks and the cycling federation did nothing. It just so happens Hein Verbruggen was President of the Road commission going onto President of the UCI.
Part of the problem with his data is there was no on busting out the autopsy investigation budget to figure it out. Not that it was a heart attack of some kind, but figuring out exactly *how* the heart attack came to be. Which, would be the equivalent of a needle in a haystack at the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_De_Vlaeminck (Roger's brother, one of the greatest cyclocrossers.)
De Vlaeminck's son Geert died of a heart attack in a cyclo-cross race while his father was watching.
EPO? The researcher would treat that as no evidence of EPO abuse. I really don't know either way. But, right time, right place, right family. Patrice Bar is another one to examine.
Forum member Esafosfina was a Pro during the era and contributed the opinion that no one "knew." I agree. But, I'm just some anonymous joker.
Also check this thread for a similar discussion. I've still got a list of deceased elite riders from the era that I never finished filling out. http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=9589
RobbieCanuck
Merckx index said:
Here is the problem with your analysis. It focuses on whether or not EPO was the direct cause of the deaths of an unascertainable sample of cyclists. The ONLY way to know this is to obtain the autopsy reports of each and every rider for whom it is claimed or is suspected of dying due to the effects of EPO. Your "Abstract" does not even come close to dealing with this fundamental and seminal issue.
Secondly, you did no research and have not presented any research as to the effects of EPO on the blood and how it stresses the heart, both at rest and at play. Where are the cardiology research studies? We know that EPO increases the number of red blood cells, but what you fail to add to the discussion which is absolutely essential is those studies that describe the physiological effects of EPO on the blood and the heart.
Without this scientific data your post is interesting, but useless.
RobbieCanuck said:
From memory EPO stimulates heart muscle growth, angiogenesis, but there were also studies on EPO effect on heart lesions (?) Very dim, distant memory.
1) this was not "my" research, and I didn't take a position on its validity
2) the author very explicitly pointed out the problem of not having access to autopsies. This doesn't mean he can't make any contribution to the problem. You work with what you have.
3) The author never concluded that EPO did not cause these deaths, at least in the end he concluded that the evidence that they didn't was (much) better than the evidence that they did. When people make a claim that something is the cause of death, the burden of proof is on them to show this, not on others to show that this is not the case. The author is not saying, "EPO was not the cause." He's saying, "you can't conclude that EPO was the cause." When in fact a large number of people, including scientists, have been concluding this, citing papers that contain no research of their own, this is a very important conclusion to make. I would definitely disagree that this conclusion is useless, it's very useful in showing how unsubstantiated conclusions get passed on to the point where almost everyone assumes they are supported by evidence.
4) He did cite studies of EPO on cardiac function. albeit only at 50% HT. He also cited one study reporting structural damage to the heart in mice with an elevated HT, but in addition to having a level far beyond that reported for any cyclist (80%!), this was a chronic condition, contrasting with cyclists, who do not take EPO all the time. I have seen other studies of animals with HTs in the 60s with no apparent adverse effects, though they may have naturally occurring adaptations that allow such levels chronically.
I think I understand your point, though. Some people, like these idiot fatty masters dopers, may read this article and say, hey, EPO is safe, I can jack up to 60%, and there will be no problems. And that would be unfortunate. From that point of view, you could argue that there is a greater burden of proof on those who say it probably didn't cause these deaths than those who insist it did. But if anti-doping officials really want to keep making this message, they ought to do studies to support it. It's not healthy to be promoting unsubstantiated claims, even if these claims are intended to protect people from themselves.
In any case, this guy is a historian. He's concerned not with getting some message out, but in understanding why a certain notion that is mostly unsupported came to be taken as gospel by so many. And as i said before, I think it's very useful to understand this.
frenchfry
Here is a list of cyclists who died mysteriously of heart related problems in the early 2000s. This is not proof they died of EPO use, could just be coincidence.
Denis Zanette (Italy)
Died January 11 2003, aged 32
Zanette, right, collapsed after visiting the dentist. Instantly linked to the use of the blood-booster EPO, which led to an outcry in Italy and demands for stricter drug controls.
Marco Ceriani (Italy)
Died May 5, aged 16
An elite amateur, Ceriani experienced a heart attack during a race, was admitted to hospital in a coma, and failed to recover consciousness.
Fabrice Salanson (France)
Died June 3, aged 23
Died of a heart attack in his sleep. Was found by his room mate in their team hotel. Had been about to compete in the Tour of Germany.
Marco Rusconi (Italy)
Died November 14, aged 24
Rusconi was leaving the party of a friend last November when he collapsed and died in a shopping centre car park.
Jose Maria Jimenez (Spain)
Died December 6, aged 32
Died from a heart attack in a psychiatric hospital in Madrid. Had retired two years previously but consistently claimed a comeback was imminent.
Michel Zanoli (Netherlands)
Died December 29, aged 35
Zanoli, who retired in 1997, was 35 when he suffered a fatal heart attack.
Johan Sermon (Belgium)
Died February 15 2004, aged 21
Suffered an apparent heart failure in his sleep. Had reportedly gone to bed early to prepare for an eight-hour training ride.
There were certainly a number of Dutch and Belgian amateurs dying of heart attacks in the spring of 1990. It was the first time I had ever heard of EPO. If someone has some old editions of Winning from Feb/Mar/Apr 1990 I'm sure it was being reported there. The deaths were certainly news, whether the cause was definitively attributed to EPO I can't remember for certain. It was the impression I was left with though, scared me at the time in a wtf way.
D-Queued
frenchfry said:
Thanks, but these are post 2000.
In terms of deaths in the early 90s, to the list of Dutch and Belgian cyclists (which I do not have), we can add:
Philippe Casado
Born: Feb 1, 1964
Died: Jan 21, 1995
Age 30, apparent heart attack (in his backyard playing soccer with his son). He was still under contract with Jolly having switched in 1994.
Le breton
I am surprised that Fabrice Salanson's death should so often appear in such lists as I am under the impression that the autopsy had concluded to some sort of heart malformation.
Added later concerning Salanson:
http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=3291
Casado's case is mentioned above.
Halupzcok also comes to mind.
In the case of Draaijer, an autopsy was requested by his widow and soon after there was an article in L'Equipe where his wife, quoting the Doctor, said that Draijier's heart look like the heart of an old man (whatever that means).
In Gaumont's case the link would be harder to substantiate.
POST 2000http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessio_Galletti
The Hitch said:
when i was posting on this stat about the lowlands in the 80's, or early 90s, it did not read true, intuitively.
1. only lowlands? this was post-Barca Olympics, or around the time. No Italian riders?
2. they managed to go from epidemic numbers, in one locale, to 0.
how many have died in their sleep since? Fabrice Salanson at Le Brioche Boulangerie, and Kim Kirchen at High Road almost.
never met the smell test, when one turned on their cognitive faculties. And I just assumed it was true for about half a dozen years meself.
spalco
It may well be that there's no evidence behind this story, but I disagree with some of the authors assumptions; for example a simple answer why an amateur, a cyclocrosser or a rider in the offseason might have been using EPO could have been to use them as lab-rats.
Or more generally: Just because the author doesn't think it makes sense for a specific athlete to have used EPO doesn't mean he wasn't using it.
recently, there have been multiple footballers in Europe who have keeled over on the pitch.
It might be a 24 hour news cycling, and international sports news beeming into living rooms, and as such, produces the confirmation bias.
or it could be a cocktail of androgens, that will be nigh impossible to track down and pinpoint in a double blind study with placebo(s).
Compare cycling to football, and have a function according to professional athlete participation numbers. Cos football has manifold more pros on the continent and in UK.
thanks Merckx for the contribution
SundayRider
Impossible to tell, very rare that a cyclist is taking EPO and absolutely nothing else. So far many of the Armstrong generation and the generation just previously to that do not seem to have a great deal of health problems, although I'm sure there might well be be posts to correct me on this. Maybe they just keep these problems quiet. Pantani was supposedly facing a lifetime of blood related health issues.
lllludo
You can add to the heart attack list of the late 90s-2000 : Bert Osterboosch, Geert Van de walle, Connie Meijer, Johan Sermon 21 ans, L'Italien Marco Ceriani, 18 ans. Kenny Vanstreels, 20 ans. L'Italien Denis Zanette, 32 ans. Johan Mannaert, 20 ans. Marc Siemons le 17 avril 2002, 36 ans. Kim Van Bouwel, 21 ans. Glenn Fockaert, 20 ans. Le Portugais Manuel Abreu, 34 ans. Paul Haghedooren, 38 ans.
Thanks Merckx index and yes I will be sueing the delivery truck driver, as it was entirely his fault.
Thanks to the others for responding to my inquiry. I certainly can't figure it out. Years ago some cyclists I know were on a training ride somewhere I'm quite familiar with and, one of the guys who was about 40 years old at the time suddenly dropped dead on his bike. It was rumored that his heart "exploded" because his blood was like sludge from heavy EPO use.
While this may be just a rumor, my sources believed that's indeed what happened.
therhodeo
I was going to point out that undiagnosed congenital heart defects aren't uncommon (my son has a CHD) but normally when that manifest itself its during exertion not after.
More Strides than Rides
I don't like the way he is so dismissive the off-season and amateur use of epo. The off season and amateur ranks are the perfect time to practice, experiment and hone one's use with even less control than the pro competition season.
Also, as seems to be pointed out by others, he missed many other deaths of seemingly related causes.
He may be right that there is no direct evidence that epo caused these deaths, but the implication of his writing is to say the original conclusion was wrong, which cannot be said.
Unnamed rider at unidentified race busted by KNWU in 2019 for a Salbutamol level of 1,900 ng/ml, gets four years on naughty step in January 2021 The Clinic 11 Jan 24, 2021
Unnamed rider at unidentified race busted by KNWU in 2019 for a Salbutamol level of 1,900 ng/ml, gets four years on naughty step in January 2021
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Scandal and the Hyde Amendment
SCANDAL - "The Other Woman" - When a public figure is caught in a compromising position, Olivia and her team must do some heavy lifting, literally, in order to clean up the mess. But Olivia is still dealing with the ramifications of the judge's jaw-dropping verdict, and Abby continues to push for answers. In the White House, Cyrus and Fitz are forced to deal with a serious foreign policy emergency, on ABC's "Scandal," THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/RICHARD FORMAN) KERRY WASHINGTON
Yamani Hernandez
Like other dedicated Shondaland viewers at the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), I was excited to see last week’s episode of Scandal tackle the very important topic of rape and abortion in the military. The episode, titled, “A Few Good Women” continues the show’s trend of exploring the complex relationships and power dynamics at play with regard to race, sexuality and systemic lack of power.
Television can be frustrating because there is a tendency for people and problems to be oversimplified. Scandal is not always an exception to this, but we’ve seen time and time again compelling ways that current problems in American life are lifted up, carefully critiqued and addressed by the end of the episode. The abortion in last week’s episode is a great example of this. I cheered to see abortion portrayed on television the way it so often is in real life: as a decision that Ensign Amy Martin is sure about and knows she wants. As a result of her sexual assault, Martin becomes pregnant and knows she wants her abortion as soon as possible. She’s able to get her abortion, supported by Olivia, who’s holding her hand in the groundbreaking scene. I can’t overstate the importance of a network TV scene featuring people supporting each other through an abortion, and the difficult life experiences before and after. Collectively, we’ve been starved of that vision of a very common procedure, and that allows the stigma around abortion to flourish. Media representations can both reflect and shape the culture around it, and our cultural products have long been silent, or disparaging of our reproductive options.
Read more at EBONY
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THE POWER OF SWEET SINGING
Isaiah 11:1-9 & Luke 2:13-14
Tommy Langejans
For Advent this year, we are doing a series of sermons called “Songs of the Season,” where we look at songs throughout the book of Luke that point us towards the assurance of Jesus’ birth. Last week we talked about faith in Zechariah’s song, and this week, our theme of peace is captured in the song that the angels sing to the shepherds shortly after Jesus’s birth. And this song stands out from the others because we actually still sing part of it regularly during the season of Advent, through the song “Angels We Have Heard on High.” It’s a traditional French carol that was later paraphrased into English in 1862 by a Catholic bishop, and after this translation, it didn’t take long for the iconic song to begin popping up in hymnals and songbooks. One of my favorite versions of the song is the exciting Pentatonix version (although I could honestly say the same about a lot of Christmas songs). However, there’s something to be said for the flowing, almost lullaby-like nature of the original song that welcomes the listener to focus on peace. The refrain, “gloria in excelsis deo, glory to God in the highest,” is not proclaimed loudly and boisterously as it is in other worship songs, but with a melody that floats slowly downward, becoming softer and calmer as it goes on. It floats down so softly and calmly that the ending of each refrain feels almost like a sigh of relief for Jesus’s birth.
I don’t know about you, but “Angels We Have Heard on High” and most other Christmas songs-even the more energetic ones-bring me a sense of peace whenever I hear them. I’ll turn on Spotify and find a favorite Christmas album to listen to whenever I’m driving somewhere or studying, and get an immediate feeling of comfort and warmth. I hear these songs, and feel like I’m curling up by a fire, and there’s this assurance that somehow, everything is going to be okay. And then, the drive ends. I have to turn off the music, and I am thrust back into the biting cold of responsibilities and busyness. Especially in busy seasons of life, those moments of peace can feel so brief even when we know in our heads that Christ is the Prince of Peace, that his birth, his life of ministry, and his eventual death and resurrection are a source of peace for us as followers of Christ. But that feeling of deep peace doesn’t always seem to stick around for very long, does it? Sure, Jesus came and brought the good news, and he is coming again in glory to establish final, perfect peace, but how do we live into this peace right now while we are surrounded by chaos and disquiet in the world and in ourselves? How can we plant our feet on the peace we receive from Christ’s birth when everything feels like it’s pushing and pulling us away from remembering it?
Our scripture passage for this morning is not afraid to sit in the contradiction between peace and chaos. Isaiah proclaims that Jesus will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and he will slay the wicked with the breath of his lips. There is a similar duality in “Angels We Have Heard on High.” The angels are singing, not in a grandiose or magnificent way, but sweetly over the plains, yet grand mountains proudly echo their refrain. Scholars argue that Isaiah was thought to have been conjuring up images of a king like David, who was a powerful, mighty warrior, one who could destroy nations simply by using the rod of his mouth and the breath of his lips to utter the command to do so. Furthermore, the belt of righteousness and sash of faithfulness that the king is said to be wearing might conjure up images of war garments. This king will bring peace to the world, but only through conflict, battles, and bloodshed, it seems.
And yet, when Jesus comes to earth, he does not do anything to suggest that he will bring peace through war. Jesus doesn’t become a mighty warrior king, but a humble servant to everyone around him. He does not fight with those who persecute him, but heals the ear of a man trying to capture him. He doesn’t take the lives of others, but raises three people from the dead. His “army” consists of 12 men, one of which betrays him and all of whom repeatedly show that they don’t understand his teachings while he is alive. So what happened? Did Isaiah get it wrong? Actually, I think it captures Jesus’s approach perfectly. It conveys that Jesus will not literally strike down the unrighteous with a rod, or physical violence, but with his words and his breath. In other words, the transformation comes about through peaceful means. When Jesus returns in glory, it will be the defeat of sin that occurs rather than the defeat of people, because it is only when our separation from right relationship with God, or sin, is defeated that we can come to be in true peace with God.
There is immense power in peace. The sweet singing over the plains is beautiful and strong and transformative enough that the mountains can echo them magnificently in reply, and we see the results of this power in the next part of the reading. We receive Isaiah’s vision of what the world will look like after Jesus’s second coming through dramatic vignettes of lions being led by children, and of infants playing near the dens of cobras. Now, parents, does the thought of your child hanging out with lions and petting snakes immediately put you at peace? It’s an extreme image for sure because this image goes against everything we would expect given what we know about the world. Lions hunt down and eat their prey. Cobras bite. Wolves attack. To know that Jesus will not only protect infants from these creatures, but that he will have children sitting next to them in peace and leading them shows that God’s coming kingdom is something that does not wipe out or destroy creation, but sees all members of creation living in harmony with one another. Influential bishop and theologian Eusebius of Caesarea extends the message of the metaphor, arguing that the children in the vision are Christians, who in their childlike wonder and love of God lead the vicious, wolf-like people. Those who use their power and knowledge to oppress others and use them for their own benefit, who fail to steward creation and perpetuate unjust systems will come to listen and learn from childlike followers of Christ.
I love both the literal and metaphorical readings of this passage because both of them help us begin to understand how we can hold onto the peace of Christ each day. I would guess that the fact that these examples are so different from our present situation is precisely why we have trouble remembering them. We receive these promises from scripture, feel comforted by them, and then we re-enter a world where this peace is not fully present. However, if we can remember that Christ lived a life of peace and that Christ will eventually come to bring this beautiful perfect peace to the world, we can also have faith that he can work through us to bring peace to the world right now. After all, Christ may no longer be with us physically on Earth, but Christ is still with us in every moment speaking in a still, small voice “do not be afraid, I am with you.” If we remember Jesus’s birth as the good news of peace, and the start of a life of peacemaking in every sense of the word, then maybe we can believe in Christ’s ability to bring peace to our lives and the lives of those around us.
So as we prepare to leave worship and plunge back into the busyness of work, school, meetings, and everything else, I invite you to ask yourself these questions: what parts of my life feel disconnected from the peace of Christ? What would it look like to welcome Christ into these moments? What does it mean that whatever is going on around me, Christ is with me right now, loving me unconditionally in this very moment? As you reflect on these questions, may you hear the angels sweetly singing the good news of peace to the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.” Amen.
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Revision as of 15:52, 11 November 2021 by 196.249.103.203 (talk) (→Protection of freedoms)
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Fox News Host: Maybe the Las Vegas Shooter Just “Didn’t Believe in God” October 3, 2017 Hemant Mehta
Fox News Host: Maybe the Las Vegas Shooter Just “Didn’t Believe in God”
This morning, on Fox & Friends, host Ainsley Earhardt offered her theory as to the motives of the man who killed 59 and injured several hundred more in Las Vegas.
Maybe, she said, he just didn’t have enough God in his life, and that made him hate people who do.
… what’s interesting, our last guest, the forensic psychiatrist said, “When you have someone who’s young that does something like this, they do it for notoriety; when you have someone who is older, they do it for a cause.”
And maybe this guy heard that song, God Bless America. His brother said he didn’t believe in God, or didn’t have a God, or didn’t have faith in his life, so maybe this is all speculation, but that possibly could be the reason, because he knows country musicians or country music fans are normally pro-God and go to church on Sundays. Maybe he has a problem with that or had a problem with that.
Then there was a long awkward pause while even her co-hosts seemed to wonder what the hell she was talking about…
Earhardt’s speculation — and that’s all it is because there’s absolutely no evidence confirming any of her bullshit — makes no sense at all.
Just on the surface, if she’s right, then the shooter heard Big & Rich sing “God Bless America” an hour before the shooting, found a way to buy nearly two dozen weapons, got them into his hotel room, then unleashed a lethal tirade against those Christians who spend their Sunday nights at a concert in Las Vegas. As religious people do.
No. This was pre-meditated. He wasn’t triggered by a religious song.
Also, there’s a huge difference between someone who doesn’t practice religion, as his brother apparently suggested, and someone who’s actively non-religious or anti-religious. I know a number of atheists who enjoy country music. The religious references aren’t a deal-breaker for them.
And even if this person had an animosity against religion, why the hell would he shoot up a random country music festival in Las Vegas and not, say, a megachurch in Mississippi?
Ugh… look at me, trying to make sense of an absurd theory. The point is that there’s no reason to think the shooter was motivated by anti-religious sentiments, and it’s downright irresponsible for a news anchor — even one on Fox News — to blame atheism for this tragedy.
We don’t know what the motive was. That’s why someone with Earhardt’s megaphone shouldn’t be making wild guesses based on her own prejudices.
(Thanks to Ken for the link)
Mother! Shows Us What Toxic Forgiveness Looks Like in the Evangelical World
October 3, 2017 This AL High School Marching Band's Halftime Show Resembles a Church Service
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Miscellaneous - Government and Law - Florida - FL
1. Franklin County Florida Official Website
2. USGS - Coastal and Watershed Studies
3. Florida Department of Environmental Protection
4. Online Office of Congressman Alcee L. Hastings
5. NASA - Kennedy Space Center
6. Florida Government Information Locator Service
7. The Janosek Agency Inc.
8. The Florida Department of Citrus
9. Register to vote in Florida
10. Florida State Courts
Florida > Government and Law
Courts (1) Law Enforcement (2) Law Firms and Legal Services (124)
Local Municipalities (104) Military Miscellaneous (11)
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is the lead agency in state government for environmental management and stewardship....
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/
Florida Government Information Locator Service
Introduction to Florida Government......
http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/fgils/government.html
Florida State Courts
Florida State Courts information and links....
http://www.flcourts.org/
Franklin County Florida Official Website
The offcial web site of Franklin County Government Services......
http://www.franklincountyflorida.com/
NASA - Kennedy Space Center
NASAs John F. Kennedy Space Center, our nations gateway to exploring, discovering and understanding our universe....
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html
Online Office of Congressman Alcee L. Hastings
The official website of Floridas 23rd District. It is an honor to represent the people of South Florida in Congress, and I hope that you find your stay to be helpful and informative....
http://www.alceehastings.house.gov/
Register to vote in Florida
Voter Registration in Florida. Who Can Register to Vote? In order to register to vote in Florida, you must......
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voter-registration/voter-...
The Bail Bond Firm
The Bail Bond Firm is a licensed Miami bail bonds agency providing fast, reliable service to residents of Florida and other states. Address: 1390 NW 16th St, Miami, FL, 33125, USA Phone: (305) 545-9888...
http://www.thebailbondfirm.com/
The Florida Department of Citrus
The Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) is an executive agency of Florida government charged with the marketing, research and regulation of the Florida citrus industry....
http://www.floridajuice.com/
The Janosek Agency Inc.
A licensed Florida private investigation agency......
http://www.flaprivateye.com/
Horizon Dehumidifiers
Dehumidification systems for home or office. Free Shipping....
Jamrock Entertainment, Inc.
Celebrity Disc Jockey Service owned by Radio personality Michael Jamrock. Our web site offers unique...
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Lyttelton Petanque Club
A community space featuring pétanque pitch that was built from the ground up on a prominent corner site in Lyttelton providing a much-needed gathering space in the post quake times.
The other LPC* in town!
The Lyttelton Pétanque Club (or LPC) was a temporary project on the corner of London and Canterbury Streets, in Lyttelton, Christchurch’s port town. Created in July 2011 by a bunch of Lyttelton locals and a few folk from over the other side of the hill from Gap Filler, it took on a life of its own. This temporary project sowed the seeds for the permanent project, Albion Square, that fills the space today.
In mid-2011, a small group of Lyttelton locals wanted to do something positive to bring energy, life and activity to one of Lyttelton’s vacant sites. Lyttelton had been badly affected by the major quakes of 2010 and 2011. The owners of the former Albion Hotel site – Tom Jones and Helen Hobson – were keen for something to happen on their land. They connected with Gap Filler who in turn connected with four locals and Lyttel Gap Filler was born. A few meetings were held in May and June of 2011 and the idea for the Lyttelton Pétanque Club took shape. The Lyttel Gap Filler group decided that a place for people to gather, sit, talk, perform, or just hang out was needed, and thought the idea of pétanque in Lyttelton would be rather fun. Two working bees were held in late July 2011 to create the space. Volunteers young and old cleaned up the site, made seating from pallets and tables from cable spools, created the pétanque pitch, cleared the ‘stage’ (a small piece of the residual foundation from the kitchen of the Albion Hotel), and planted a garden. The Lyttelton Pétanque Club was born.
*LPC is usually used in Lyttelton to refer to Lyttelton Port Company
A true community effort
Over two years the LPC hosted a wide variety of events and evolved into a community hub and an informal town square. Poets and musicians performed thanks to power lent by the neighbour. It was significant that the site hosted the first anniversary of the February 22, 2011 quake. Over the months the site hosted countless impromptu gatherings, BBQs, a few pétanque tournaments and more. Interestingly, the site accumulated things that people gifted to it. A sandpit with kid’s toys, plants, furniture, a hose; people added to the site over time. People weeded it, picked up rubbish and watered the garden. And of course, at times, it got messy and it felt like people were not caring for it, so a sign was put out and a renewed effort to engage people was made. People had a stake in the space because so many had been involved in creating it. And there was a honesty about the space. It looked like a hotch-potch of random stuff. It looked like local people had created it. And that’s why people loved it. Not everyone loved it, some thought it messy, but many did feel connected to it. And one must remember that Lyttelton, until now, had lacked any large public space on the main street beyond a few benches here and there.
A permanent impact
Across 2011 and 2012 Christchurch City Council (CCC) ran public consultations as part of the Master Plan process for the rebuild of Lyttelton. Something they were hearing from the local community was that they wanted places to gather; in other words public space. This desire for space arose from circumstances after the quakes – people needed to gather but there was not much suitable space to do so. People suggested various sites that CCC could purchase and develop for this purpose. One was the LPC. In response to the feedback locals were providing, CCC purchased the land guaranteeing this essential public space a permanent home. In 2012 the site changed yet again when CCC called for proposals from locals for temporary street furniture, artworks, seating and lighting installations for the site. Around 15 proposals were received and 7 were selected, funded and realised. Three of those projects (a sculpture, a tiled mandala and a mosaic chair) remain on site today as part of the final design, having been relocated as part of the development process. The site has now evolved to become Albion Square and was opened officially to the public on November 8, 2014 as a permanent community space. The project was undertaken by a construction company across 2014. The cenotaph commemorating Lytteltonians lost in the wars of the 20th Century was relocated from another part of the town to the upper section of this site. There is a stage, amphitheatre-style seating, play equipment, a water feature and a grassed area. For the Lyttel Gap Filler crew, it feels satisfying to have played an important part in helping to make this happen. Out of the rubble and confusion of the quakes, something special took place here.
Date: July 2011 – 2014
Locations: London Street, Lyttelton
Key people: Trent Hiles, Ciaran Fox, Rich Humphries, Kerry Donnelly, Carmel Courtenay, Ryan Reynolds, Coralie Winn
Values: Resourcefulness, Collaboration
Volunteers: Trent, Carmel, Simon, Ludo, Kerry, Ciaran, Spud, Lauren, Clara, Simon, Richard, Jen, Simon, Caro, Camille, Lewis, Ihorangi, Coralie, Ryan, Fiona, Michelle, Courtenay, Rico, Dave, Sarah, Helen, Emilie, Miki, Maxime. Apologies if we’ve missed anyone.
Support/Sponsors: Dave Watchorn, Maree Henry, Tom & Helen Hobson (landowners).
The Lyttelton Petanque Club project is the living definition of community development principles in action. What made this project extra special though, was the playful, artistic intention and the full-trust approach to working with a creative, passionate and motivated community. An approach embodied by the question ‘what’s important to our community right now?’ rather than ‘what’s broken in our community?’ The outcome was a space used by, cared for and expanded on by the local community. So much so that it eventually informed and became the centrepiece of the City Council Master Plan for Lyttelton. For the community it is a multipurpose space for gathering, playing, remembering, performing, and enjoying. The heart of the town.
Ciaran Fox
Lyttel Gap Filler crew
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Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/17/2009
Posted on January 17, 2009 by Baron Bodissey
Inflation in Zimbabwe has made a 100 trillion dollar note necessary. Those are Zimbabwean dollars, needless to say. There’s not much you can buy with them.
Also, there’s a proposal afoot in Congress to repeal the 22nd Amendment so that Barack Hussein Obama can be re-elected every four years until… whenever.
Thanks to Abu Elvis, C. Cantoni, CB, Fausta, Insubria, JD, Tuan Jim, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
A North Texas Imam is Calling on Muslims to Take Up Arms
Hail King Obama: President for Life
Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean You’re Wrong
Obama to Put World Ahead of America
Secret List of U.S. Military Bases to Replace Gitmo
Texas, DOT, Playing Possum Over “Trans Texas Corridor”
The Big Money Behind Geithner
‘Die Jews!’. the Transition From Peace Demonstration to Anti-Semitic Rally
France Condemns New Anti-Semitic Attack: Jew Stabbed in Paris Suburb
Greece: Police Protest Outside Parliament
Holocaust:100 Photos of the Children of the Ghetto of Lodz
Italian Parliamentarians Rally for Israel
Italy: Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants in Venice
Museum of Jewish Refugees in Italy Opens
Pirates Tried Under Never Used Dutch Law
Poking Fun at Europe: Czech Sculpture No Laughing Matter in Brussels
UK: Convicted Paedophile Can Continue Naked Alton Towers Trips, Rules Judge
UK: Muslim Civil Servant Suspended Over ‘Killing British Troops is Justified’ Blog
Security: Italian Police Chief Meets Albanian Premier
Council of Europe: Integration White Book in Arabic
Captured Hamas Terrorists Admit Israel’s Offensive is Striking Fear Into Them
Israel: “Iranian Unit” Destroyed, Hamas Was Suprised
Israel: the War Against Hamas: Why Does it Matter?
Israel: Iran Green Lights ‘Escalation’
Italian Journo Walks Off ‘Biased’ Show
Soldiers Turn to Secret Weapon: Jewish Spirituality
Mosul: Fresh Anti Christian Violence. Murder and Torture
Turkey: Whole Family Jailed for Honor Killing Act
Russia: Moscow Denies Naval Bases in Syria, Libya, and Yemen
Pakistan: Taliban Forces Closure of Girls’ Schools in North
Africa: Somali Executed for ‘Apostasy’
Africa: Zimbabwe Rolls Out Z$100tr Note
Kenya: Kidnapped Nuns: Progress in Talks for Release
Kenya: Italian Missionary Killed in Nairobi
Sudan: Accusations Against Presidente: Peace Process in Peril in South
Morocco Shutting Embassy in Venezuela in Dispute
Venezuela: Reform on Re-Election of President Approved, Now Referendum Test
D.C. Orgy Confirmed by Homosexual Newspaper
Obama’s ‘Gay’ Agenda for the Military
Three Million Hit by Windows Worm
‘Fatwas on Gaza’
A North Texas imam is calling on Muslims to take up arms in defense of Palestinians in Gaza. Sheikh Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti, director of the Islamic Center of South Plains in Lubbock, Texas, participated in an online chat, “Fatwas on Gaza,” at the web site IslamOnline.net.
El-Shinqiti encouraged readers to fight — or if they can’t, to send money to those who are fighting — in response to six out of the eight questions posed to him in the online chat. When asked what can be done to help the people in Gaza, El-Shinqiti emphasized war over sending food or medicine or other supplies that might directly help people:
“For Muslims who have access to the battlefield, their duty is to join the resistance to defend the oppressed. For those who don’t have access to the battlefield, their duty is to use all possible ways of lending support for the oppressed such as donation, the media, communication and first and foremost du’a’“. . . .
Taking El-Shinqiti’s advice would mean joining forces with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Israel’s incursion into Gaza is in its third week, prompted by a new wave of rockets sent by Hamas into Israeli cities. The fighting has left more than 900 Palestinians dead — most of them Hamas fighters — yet Hamas continues to fire rockets at Israeli towns..
U.S. law prohibits providing material support to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Last November, five men who worked with a Dallas-area charity [Holy Land Foundation] were convicted on 108 counts of illegally supporting Hamas.
Such speech is well within First Amendment protections, said Bob Blitzer, who served as the FBI’s domestic terrorism chief in the 1990s. The line is crossed when the suggestions advance into providing instructions on how to join the fight or whom to contact.
El-Shinqiti never mentioned Hamas by name. But in response to a reader’s question, he said Hamas “resistance” was not the problem: “The oppression of the Palestinian people did not start today. It started six decades ago. And if we suppose that the resistance stops now, the oppression will continue, in the form of an ugly occupation and starving siege.
What the world does not know, because of the Zionist propaganda, is that 70% of Gazan people are refugees from other parts of Palestine that were swallowed by the Zionist state, and they have been living in desperate situation for decades. Moreover, the indigenous Gazans themselves have been under occupation since 1967.
Therefore, what is needed today is to stop the oppression, not to stop the resistance.”
Attending rallies and issuing statements of support are important, he wrote, but: “anyone who can move from expression to action in support the oppressed Gazan people, he or she has to do so.
Allah asks Muslim [sic] to use their own souls and their property in the defence of the oppressed: “And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who being weak are ill-treated (and oppressed)? Men women and children whose cry is: Our Lord! rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from Thee one who will protect; and raise for us from Thee one who will help!” (Holy Qu’ran 4:75) (Emphasis original)
An Egyptian reader asked whether it would be considered suicide, against Islamic law, to try forcing open the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Such an effort likely would end in death. But El-Shinqiti said such an action was an obligation:
“It is not only allowed for Egyptians to march out to open Rafah crossing point by force, it is their Islamic obligation. Even if some of them get killed, people of Egypt have no option but to break the siege on Gaza.. What would be the response to Allah Almighty if 75 million Muslims of Egypt continue watching the atrocities of Gaza, while they are the only people on earth who can break the siege?”
Women should be a part of the fight, too, he said. “The role of Muslim woman is this crisis in exactly the same like the role of men. The consensus of Muslim scholars is that if Muslims are attacked in this lands, women can join the battlefield if this is applicable,” or they should engage in financial and political support.
Previously, El-Shinqiti expressed some fairly open-minded views, including an acknowledgement to the local Lubbock newspaper that he didn’t feel comfortable earlier in his career teaching at a strict Wahhabi school in Yemen.
“I am totally against punishing someone for apostasy,” he told the newspaper. Forcing others to say they believe a certain way “can only make them hypocrites, but not believers.”
However, in past writing, El-Shinqiti has defined “holy war” as something rooted in the Torah and used originally by Jews: “Thousands of innocent people, including women and children, were indiscriminately slaughtered in order to prepare the ground for the Israelites’ entry into the Holy Land. These Israelite wars of extermination were not in any sense justifiable self-defense, but an offensive war at the order of God —— a God Who is presented in the Torah as a warrior.”
As Inauguration Day approaches and Barack Obama prepares to assume his first term as president, some in Congress are hoping to make it possible for the Democrat to not only seek a second term in office, but a third and fourth as well.
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary is considering a bill that would repeal the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment prohibiting a president from being elected to more than two terms in office.
Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., earlier this month introduced the bill, H. J. Res. 5, which, according to the bill’s language, proposes “an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.”
In the past, some presidents have been critical of the 22nd Amendment, including Eisenhower, Clinton and Reagan.
In 1807 Thomas Jefferson, however, warned that presidents not bound by term limits could use their popularity and power to become kings.
“If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution or supplied in practice,” Jefferson wrote to the Legislature of Vermont, “his office, nominally for years, will in fact become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance.”
H. J. Res. 5 is not the first attempt by Serrano to repeal the 22nd Amendment. In 2003, Serrano introduced H. J. Res. 11 to the 108th Congress to accomplish the same purpose. A similar resolution, H.J. Res. 25, was also proposed the same year and received co-sponsorship from a bipartisan group of six other representatives. In 1987, during Reagan’s term of office, Earl Michener, R-Mich., also proposed a repeal of the 22nd Amendment.
At the current time, H.J. Res. 5 has not tallied any cosponsors and has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Patrice Lewis shouts it out: Guns are to protect us from the state
Recently, a friend sent me a sobering video clip. It features Texas State Rep. Dr. Susan Gratia-Hupp testifying before the U.S. Senate on the Second Amendment. It was sobering because Ms. Gratia-Hupp described the fatal mistake of not carrying her handgun the day she went with her parents to a cafeteria. An insane gunman burst in, spraying gunfire and killing both her parents along with many others.
When something tragic like this happens, people interpret it in one of two ways. Politicians and liberals think, “Aha. An insane gunman burst into a cafeteria and sprayed it with gunfire, killing many people. We need to ban guns. Of course, this won’t keep insane gunmen from getting guns, but that’s OK.” Constitutionalists and (ahem) normal people think, “Aha. An insane gunman burst into a cafeteria and sprayed it with gunfire, killing many people. We need to make it easier for law-abiding citizens to carry guns so this guy could have been taken down.”
There is a fundamental difference between these two responses. Unfortunately, it’s the former and not the latter response that gets turned into laws. This is because the latter position gives power to the people. The former position gives power to the government. Of course the government will choose the former. Duh.
[JD: Read the full article for details on more policies that are in the Obama pipeline.]
Most of the world is giddy about the inauguration of the first black president of the United States. The media have invested unprecedented airtime to transform this man into a modern messiah. The celebration is not because he is black. Far better qualified black candidates, such as Condoleezza Rice, Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell would not be celebrated, nor even welcomed as president. In fact, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, both black secretaries of state, were ridiculed as “Uncle Tom” and “Aunt Jemima” by many of the same people who celebrate Obama.
Obama’s color may be a bonus, but it is his philosophy that much of the world celebrates.
Much of the world sees Obama not simply as the first black president, but as the first president to accept global governance to be more important than U..S. governance. His Berlin speech last July promised “a new global partnership” and a new “global commitment” to “save the planet.”
To implement his commitment to global governance, Obama has nominated Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state. In addition to her book, “It Takes a Village,” Hillary is on record in support of the World Federalist Association’s efforts to establish a world government, and publicly applauded Walter Cronkite’s receipt of the WFA “Global Governance” award.
Obama has named Carol Browner to the new position of energy czar. This woman, until last week, was a commissioner for the Socialist International Commission for a Sustainable World Society. Browner’s new position requires no confirmation and is beyond congressional oversight. She will be empowered to administratively implement Obama’s philosophy across all federal agencies.
Obama chose Erick Schwartz to coordinate his transition team’s interface with agencies that deal with the United Nations. Schwartz is, among other things, the person in the Clinton administration who “managed the White House review that resulted in the U.S. signature of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.” In an effort to influence the Obama administration’s global governance agenda, Citizens for Global Solutions set up a conference call with the transition team. These organizations are advocates of global governance and are deeply embedded throughout the Obama administration. […]
Pendleton, Leavenworth, Miramar Included as Possible New Home for 250 Detainees
The U.S. military has prepared a list of U.S. military bases that could be used to house as many as 250 detainees currently being held at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, military officials tell ABCNews.com.
The list — which includes Camp Pendleton in California, Fort Leavenworth in Kansas; the Marine Air Station in Miramar, California; and the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in South Carolina — has been circulated in a classified brief to members of Congress and was prepared by the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
[JD: This method of renaming then hiding the agenda is always used by elites. Just look at the case of the EU constitution being hidden and renamed as the Lisbon Treaty.]
Key to the real agenda is this quote from the news report: “Each of the dozens of projects that were linked together under the rubric of the TTC — including the Loop 9 project in Dallas and the I-69 project in the south — will remain as stand-alone projects.” That’s an obvious smokescreen to make Texans think the TTC is dead.
TTC opponents are not falling for the TxDot claim of surrender. Terri Hall, Founder/Director of “Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom” (TURF) and a major activist against the TTC said, “It’s clear from the TxDOT Director’s speech, that it’s only a name change and the Trans Texas Corridor is, in reality, going underground. Hall cited a quote from the Austin American Statesman newspaper which said “Those ‘smaller projects’ will apparently include the 300-plus miles of what has been called TTC-35 from San Antonio to the Oklahoma border and the I-69 project from the Rio Grande Valley to Texarkana. But they will not be called the Trans-Texas Corridor.”
As The Houston Chronicle put it, “The renewed effort now will operate under the name ‘Innovative Connectivity Plan.”
Said Hall, “No law has been changed, no minute order rescinded, no environmental document re-done (as is required by federal law), and there are still two contracts signed giving two Spanish companies the right of first refusal on segments of the corridor previously known as TTC-35 & TTC-69. So by every real measure, the Trans Texas Corridor goes on full steam ahead. What today’s hype was about is a political ploy to make the public go back to sleep while it gets built under a different name. While we welcome genuine responsiveness from TxDOT and a true repeal of the Trans Texas Corridor, this hardly qualifies.”
A guy who can’t figure out his own taxes is supposed to fix the economy? This is the absurd rationale being offered by media figures such as Andrea Mitchell of NBC News for confirming Timothy Geithner as Obama’s Treasury Secretary after it was disclosed that he was a serial tax evader. He did his own taxes for a couple years and got into trouble, Mitchell chuckled. And everybody can relate to that, right? Mitchell is the one who deserves to be laughed at. This guy is supposed to be so smart we can entrust him with managing the entire U.S. economy? She must be kidding. Does she seriously expect us to believe that?
Anybody watching this bizarre spectacle unfold has to suspect there is something more to the story. Who is behind Geithner and why? And why does Obama want him? This is where the media fear to tread. As we have pointed out, major media companies such as GE (parent of NBC News) and the Washington Post Company have their own connections to Geithner through their own officials and board members. They have a conflict of interest that will never be reported by the news organizations themselves.
The real story, which can only emerge through talk radio and alternative media, is that Geithner has very powerful political and financial connections, not only to the media but the banking interests and lobbies that try to orchestrate U.S. policy behind the scenes.
The President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the Chinese-speaking Geithner is an associate of Henry Kissinger who can be counted on to convince the Chinese Communists to continue to buy U.S. debt and finance Obama’s massive expansion of federal government power. That is why Obama and his fellow Democrats are putting so much faith in him.
As Henry Kissinger recently put it, when he was celebrating U.S.-China relations on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Obama’s mission is to usher in a “New World Order.” He forgot to mention, of course, that it is a China-dominated New World Order in which the U.S. has become a subsidiary of China Inc. […]
Jungle World 16.01.2009
The transition from peace demonstration to anti-Semitic rally has become seamless, writes Alex Feuerherdt in response to the protests against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. “In Berlin around 7000 overwhelmingly Palestinian demonstrators marched through the Mitte district. According to eye-witness reports, 100 or so of them at the tail-end of the demonstration were performing the Hitler salute and shouting: ‘Die Jews!’ During a demonstration in Hanover, in which around 3000 people participated, an Israeli flag was burned to enthusiastic applause and shouts of ‘Death! Death to Israel!’ as well as ‘Juden raus!’ (Jews out). And when individual demonstrators performed the Hitler salute, the police saw no reason to intervene.”
PARIS (AFP)—-A Jewish man was stabbed four times in a Paris suburb in an anti-Semitic attack, officials said Friday, as the Israeli offensive in Gaza continued to stoke tension in France.
The 24-year-old man was beaten up late Thursday by two robbers who wanted to steal his car and, after they discovered he was Jewish, pulled out a knife and stabbed him, in the latest in a spate of such attacks.
“After noticing he was wearing a Jewish religious symbol, the aggressors made anti-Semitic threats and stabbed him four times with a knife,” Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in a statement..
The man suffered minor wounds from the attack in Fontenay-sous-Bois, southwest of Paris, according to police sources.
Alliot-Marie condemned the assault and vowed: “Everything will be done to arrest the perpetrators. All acts of racism and anti-Semitism are contrary to the values of the republic.”
Home to Europe’s biggest Muslim and Jewish populations, France has recorded scores of anti-Semitic incidents since Israel launched its Gaza offensive late last month, drawing appeals for calm from politicians and religious leaders.
Three synagogues have been fire-bombed in the past two weeks and vandals have daubed anti-Israeli graffiti on at least two more.
Vandals wrote “Israel Nazi” and other graffiti overnight near a kosher restaurant in the southern city of Toulouse where a synagogue was attacked two weeks ago.
‘Zero tolerance’
President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed “zero tolerance” for hate violence and warned against attempts to import the Arab-Israeli conflict in Gaza.
But as reports of violence continue, the Jewish central Consistoire, the umbrella representative of religious institutions, called on France to take action to end anti-Semitic attacks, saying 66 incidents had been recorded over the past three weeks.
“Are we waiting for the irreparable to happen before we act?” asked the top Jewish body.
Muslim members of the Jewish-Muslim Frendship Association resigned on Friday after accusing their Jewish counterparts of remaining silent in the face of Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza, said co-president Djelloul Seddiki.
“All of the Muslim members left on Thursday,” he said, confirming that those leaving included the head of the Paris Grand Mosque, Dalil Boubakeur.
“We aren’t talking to each other anymore,” confirmed rabbi Michel Serfaty.
But 15 other anti-racism organisations banded together and issued an appeal for French residents of all faiths to “live together” and to “oppose hate”.
“Ramming a car into the gates of a synagogue or attacking north African students is not the way to help Palestinians or Israelis live together,” the authors of the appeal said.
Around 600,000 Jews live in France.
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JANUARY 15 — Two separate demonstrations took place today in the centre of Athens, by two diametrically opposite groups, the police unions and groups of left-wing radicals and extraparliamentary left-wingers. The police unions protested outside the Greek parliament calling for an end to violence against them and against violence in general “wherever it comes from”, while not far away, in the main square of the University of Athens students were protesting against the Government’s education policy and the law which would allow private universities in Greece. (ANSAmed).
(by Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 15 — One hundred photographs taken in the in the Jewish ghetto of Lodz, Poland, to remember the horrors of the Shoah and tell the life story of adults and particularly children, a prelude to hell. Sixty-five years after the liberation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto — as Hitler renamed the Polish city — the Cultural Association Polandia bezGranic and the Roman School of Photography (which hosts the event) organise from January 24 to February 7, in the capital, an exhibition to remember the tragic deportation of its inhabitants. The exhibition is titled “The children of the ghetto of Lodz. Memory of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto”. The photos have been made by two official photographers, Mendel Grosman and Henryk Ross, from April 1940 (when the quarter was completed) to June 1944 (when the Germans decided to start deportations to the concentration camps of Chelmno-on-Ner and Auschwitz — Birkenau). The images tell the story through the years from the old city to the arrival of the Nazi in Lodz, from the decree against Jews at the start of the occupation to their move to the ghetto in the winter of 1940. A story of hunger, the schools, the arrival of new deported, the ‘big roundup’ of September 1942 — as the action prepared by the Germans to eliminate the weakest and those unable to work was called: the old, the sick, the children — the last goodbye, the work. “ 200,000 Polish Jews and more than 20,000 Jews from Germany, Luxemburg, Austria and Czechoslovakia were moved to Lodz” said curator of the exhibition Agnieszka Zakrzewicz. “For the first time in Italy” she adds “the photos kept in the State Archive of Lodz, one of the most important of Europe, will be presented”. Not only the photos are unique, also the many written testimonies: diaries, poems and drawings in which the young of the ghetto — the second-biggest after the ghetto of Warsaw — tried to create their own world. Among the exposed documents, translated into Italian, are the stories and poems of Abram Cyran — today kept in the Wiesenthal Museum in Los Angeles — and those of Abram Koplowicz — normally in Jerusalem in the Yad Vashem Memory Institute -, both died in Auschwitz in 1944. There are also the diaries of David Sierakowiak who died with hunger in August ‘43. ‘‘Despite the human tragedy, famine, cold and inhuman labour” said Agnieszka Zakrzewicz “the children of the ghetto of Litzmannstadt studied, played, laughed, read, wrote poetry and made drawings. Looking at the future and life they continued to dream of a better world. We dedicate the second edition of this exhibition realised in Lodz in 2004 to them”. The little Sara Ziskind who miraculously survived the concentration camps wrote in the years in Lodz: “Then I was no longer the little innocent girl who believed the bad people would be punished and that the earth would burst open below their feet and swallow them up. The earth opened below our feet. We were the bad people, because we were the Jews”. (ANSAmed).
Around 100 Italian Parliament members rallied in Rome at the Piazza Montecitorio for Israel.
A friend passed this on—
Fiamma Nirenstein, a journalist and some-time resident of Jerusalem, is a new Member
of the Italian Parliament who is outspoken on Israel’s behalf. She writes below that there is increasing understanding of what Israel is facing in its current war.
We didn’t expect what you see now in the picture. This is the square of the Italian Parliament in Rome, Piazza Montecitorio: you can see the Palace on top of the square, and in front a lot of Israeli flags. That was yesterday night from 6,30 to 9,30 pm. What you cannot see here, is the extraordinary number and variety of members of the Parliament, about 100 from all political sides, that took the stage during our marathon: for about three hours we have been speaking about the role of Israel, its right to self defense, its moral height, its fight in name of all of us, of our civilization and values, against the wild hate of the Islamic jihad represented by hamas. It seems to me that for the first time in the too long history of the arab Israeli conflict, apart from a minority of crazy leftists and fascists that took the street on anti-Semitic slogans, we have obtained a huge consensus about one critical point: this is not an episode of a local conflict, there is nothing in it that reminds the land for peace theme that has characterized the Palestinian issue. This is an episode of the attack agains the western world, and Iran has a lot to do with it.
The change of attitude is great: the dictatorial religious nature of Hamas and the democratic, civilized nature of Israel are seen face to face for what they are at least by the European elite at large, dead and wounded notwithstanding, and there rises an identification with Israel against a regime that uses human shields and promises slaughters of Jews in its charter.
What happens today, at least in Italy, is the defeat and fall of the leftist ideologies: ideology has been the fig leaf that has allowed to justify all the most violent crimes and most disgusting verbal attacks. If Arafat launched the terrorist Intifada, if he promoted the martyrdom of children in public speeches, the ideologists were ready to justify him with the issues of occupation, the Palestinian misery and loss of any hope. Not the same with Hamas. History, in Italy, has brought to a profound crisis the ideology of revolution and the justification of any cruel attack against a pretended unjust imperialist order. That time is in good part over, nobody will see Hamas as the resolution of the problem and not as the problem itself. I also think that the word “peace” has lost that healing meaning that it had until yesterday. The new non-ideological point of view sees that there is no peace when one of the contenders doesn’t want it, and that even if the world in the short run asks for a truce, in the long run requests a defeat of Hamas.
Well, yesterday night many people, Ministers and Members of Parliament, composed a very new, interesting puzzle of opinions. I think that when you are not overwhelmed by exotic thirdworldism, the images of children educated as hate machines, the speeches of jihad leaders, from Ahmadinejad to Nasrallah, to Hanje, that deny the holocaust and promise death to Jewish and Christians too, have on us a result of great disgust. Westerners, thanks God, can still be disgusted by an uncivilized level of political speech.
But most of all, in the Parliament square, many of the Parliament Members said: “I love Israel”. You can’t imagine how many.
Fiamma Nirenstein
Venice, 16 Jan. (AKI) — Police in the northern Italian city of Venice hunted down illegal immigrants on Friday in an operation codenamed ‘Hospitable East’. Over 40 police aboard took part in the operation which also targeted slum landlords who are exploiting immigrants.
Police launched ‘Hospitable East’ after they uncovered Chinese-run rental apartments turned into dormitories in the area around the lagoon city’s landmark, St Mark’s Square earlier this week.
Police investigators found the landlords had filled each apartment with dozens and dozens of beds that they were renting out individually, cramming many immigrants into each room. The landlords were also running internet cafes.
Many immigrants seek work in the Veneto region, one of the wealthiest and most industrialised in Italy.
(ANSAmed) — NARDO’ (LECCE), JANUARY 14 — A new museum dedicated to thousands of concentration camp survivors who travelled through Italy on their way to Israel after WWII. It is the Museum of Memory and Welcome which was opened today in the small town of Nardò, near Lecce in Puglia, through which some 150,000 Jews passed between 1943 and 1947. The town is twinned with the Israeli coastal town of Atlit, where most refugees first stayed after making the sea crossing from Italy. The museum houses all the material relating to the time from the town council archives, including witness reports, photographs and videos, as well as a multimedia room and a library. Taking pride of place in the collection are three restored murals found in an abandoned building that were painted by the Romanian Jew Zivi Miller, who lost his wife and daughter in concentration camps. One mural shows a menorah with candles lit, another the voyage of the Jews from southern Italy to Israel, and a third a Jewish mother with her baby asking an English soldier permission to enter Israel. Nardò received the Civil Protection Gold Medal from then Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in 2005 in recognition of the hospitality it provided to the Jewish refugees. Ciampi said at the time that the medal commemorated the “religious and cultural tolerance” of the town, and the fact that “it worked to alleviate the suffering of the exiles and offer them buildings where they could freely practice their religion”. The new museum has been created by Italian architect Luca Zevi in a former 1970s school building. Together with another Italian architect, Giorgio Tamburini, Zevi is also involved in the creation of a National Shoah Museum in Rome, for which a city council board gave the definitive go-ahead last year. The museum is to be built in the landscaped gardens of Villa Torlonia, the grand neoclassical residence where Mussolini and his family lived between 1925 and 1943. The museum will have the names of Italian Jews deported to Nazi concentration camps during WWII etched on the walls. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno has said he hopes the museum would be completed by 2011. (ANSamed).
Many countries are currently struggling to decide what to do with pirates after their capture. The Netherlands thinks it can try those who attacked a ship sailing under the Dutch Antilles flag. The suspected pirates are currently held on a Danish navy ship.
The Netherlands aims to bring five Somali pirates who recently attacked the cargo ship Samanyulo in the Gulf of Aden to trial. That would involve calling upon an article in the Dutch criminal code which has never been used before, the public procecutions office told Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
On January 2, the crew of the Dutch-Antilles vessel had managed to foil an attack by firing flares at the small pirate vessel which then caught fire. The pirates jumped overboard and were later picked up by the Danish navy. Now the Netherlands has asked Denmark to extradite the pirates to bring them to justice.
Pirate law
Never before has anyone in the Netherlands been tried for piracy, RNW reports. This means that the country might soon see article 381 of the criminal code, which outlaws piracy, being put to use for the first time. According to this article, the captain of a pirate ship can be sentenced to up to 12 years, while crewmembers can receive up to nine years.
Wim de Bruin, a spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office, believes the Somali pirates will be able to be tried based on this law. “This is about piracy and that is illegal in our criminal justice system. Because the merchant ship was sailing under a Netherlands Antilles flag, that means that the Netherlands can start preparing a case for trial,” Bruin says…..
— Hat tip: Tuan Jim [Return to headlines]
A new sculpture in Brussels, commissioned by the Czech Republic in honor of its stint as holder of the European Union presidency, has rankled some EU members. The artwork depicts countries using stereotypes, not all of them terribly flattering.
It’s no secret that the Czech Republic is one of the more euro-skeptic members of the European Union. The country’s president, Vaclav Klaus — who, as it happens, is the current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency — called in 2005 for the bloc to be “scrapped” and was a vocal opponent of the Lisbon Treaty, which was rejected by Irish voters in 2008 before the Czech Republic had a chance could torpedo it.
PHOTO GALLERY: A SCULPTURE OF EUROPEAN STEREOTYPES
Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (11 Photos)
Still, a new art project commissioned by Prague in honor of its six-month stint at the head of the 27-member bloc has caused the Czechs to blush with embarrassment. Called “Entropa,” the piece is a €373,000 over-sized mosaic map of Europe that relies on stereotypes to depict each country. And a number of countries are furious about it.
“It is preposterous, a disgrace,” Betina Joteva, press officer for Bulgaria’s permanent representation in Brussels told the euobserver Web site. “It is a humiliation for the Bulgarian nation and an offence to national dignity.”
Joteva has, perhaps, reason to be upset. Her country is depicted in the eight-ton sculpture as a Turkish toilet. Many speculated that the reference might be to the centuries Bulgaria spent under Turkish rule.
But in a conversation with SPIEGEL ONLINE, the artist responsible for the sculpture, David Cerny, said it was intended to point to one of the things that is most obviously different for people who travel to Bulgaria. “No other country in Europe has those kinds of toilets,” he said, before adding that he had officially apologized to Bulgaria for offending them.
Bulgaria’s depiction, though, wasn’t the only part of the sculpture that created controversy. Germany is shown as being criss-crossed by autobahns — and some thought they recognized a slightly deformed swastika in the resulting design.
Cerny was categorical in his denial. “It has nothing to do with the swastika,” he said. It is about highways and Germany’s obsession with cars. Nothing else.” Cerny said that the autobahn belts on the sculpture will move once turned on, meaning that the pieces had to be straight, thus leading to the misunderstanding.
Still, other depictions make it clear that flattery was not one of Cerny’s goals. Romania is shown as a Dracula theme park; Spain is merely a slab of concrete, in reference to its recently burst real-estate bubble; Holland is shown as being flooded over with only a few minarets poking out above the waves; Luxembourg is a gold nugget with a huge “For Sale” sign sticking out of it; and France is covered with a large sign reading “strike,” an allusion to that country’s frequent labor battles.
The Czech government commissioned the work in the belief that it would be completed by artists from the 27 EU member-states. That, at least, is what Czech artist David Cerny promised in his project application. Instead, Cerny made up the names of the European artists supposedly participating in the project and put it together with a couple of friends.
“We were hoping that it wouldn’t be taken with the kind of seriousness that it has been and that it would be fun,” Cerny said. “It wasn’t about insulting anyone. I am shocked that certain states don’t have a sense of humor.”
The piece was unveiled on Tuesday after having been carted to Brussels in three trailer trucks. But it is unclear how much longer it will remain on display. Bulgaria has demanded that it be removed from the sculpture and Czech Republic Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said his government would be deciding on Thursday how to proceed. “The full responsibility for violating this assignment … lies with David Cerny,” he said.
Not all countries are angered by the piece. Sweden is depicted by an IKEA cardboard box and Belgium is a box of chocolates, both references to popular exports from those countries.
Responses from Great Britain, Cerny reports, have likewise been quite positive. The historically euro-skeptic country was left off the sculpture altogether.
A convicted paedophile has been told by a judge that he can carry on going on naked trips to the Alton Towers theme park.
The decision has “disappointed” police who wanted to prevent Robert Enright, 51, from mixing with younger members of British Naturism.
Enright, the one-time head of an engineering company, has convictions for indecent assault and the making of indecent photographs of children.
Detectives learned of his involvement with British Naturism after raiding his home and finding details of his membership.
Subsequent enquiries revealed that he had gone on organised trips to both Alton Towers and Waterworld in Stoke-on-Trent.
But Judge Beverley Lunt, sitting at Burnley Crown Court, ruled that that there no evidence he had associated with children under 16. She therefore rejected the prosecution claim that he had breached his sexual offences order.
A senior Muslim civil servant has launched an astonishing verbal onslaught against the Government over its response to Israel’s military strikes in Gaza — and has suggested that killing British troops in Iraq is justified.
Treasury official Azad Ali, president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, now faces the sack over the remarks.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell — who is the patron of the society — acted immediately after being alerted to the comments by The Mail on Sunday.
Shortly after this newspaper contacted the Cabinet Office, a senior official disclosed that Mr Ali had been suspended for the remarks made on his personal internet blog.
In it he:
Quotes an Islamic extremist who says it is his ‘obligation’ to kill British and American soldiers in Iraq;
Accuses the Government of failing to condemn the ‘Zionist terrorist state of Israel’; and
Attacks moderate British Muslims as ‘self-serving vultures, feeding on the dead flesh of the Palestinians’.
The Treasury lists Mr Ali’s title as ‘Business Partner’. He is understood to work as an IT administrator.
On the Civil Service Islamic Society’s official website, Mr Ali declares that it is bound by strict rules that say Whitehall special-interest groups must be ‘non-partisan and non-political’ and act with ‘honesty, impartiality and integrity’.
But there is no such restraint on his personal blog, which highlights his civil service role and provides a link to its Whitehall website.
Azad Ali’s blog suggests that the killing of British troops is justified (file picture)
He takes a far more hardline approach, using the most provocative language, and appears to challenge the Whitehall code of practice that restricts mandarins’ political activities.
In one posting, ‘Defeating extremism by promoting balance’, he appears to condone the killing of British and US troops in Iraq.
He said there was ‘much truth’ in an interview with an Islamic militant who said: ‘If I saw an American or British man wearing a soldier’s uniform inside Iraq I would kill him because that is my obligation.
‘If I found the same soldier over the border in Jordan I wouldn’t touch him. In Iraq he is a fighter and an occupier, here he is not. This is my religion and I respect this as the main instruction in my religion for jihad.’
Last week Mr Ali wrote on the ‘Between the Lines’ site: ‘We are the Resistance. The Zionist terrorist state of Israel had only one aim, to destroy all semblance of resistance. We have yet to hear any condemnation from our government.’
He pours scorn on the British Government’s call for a ceasefire and mocks official representatives of moderate British ‘Muslims’ (his quotation marks) who support them.
— Hat tip: CB [Return to headlines]
(ANSAmed) — TIRANA, JANUARY 14 — The coordination centre for all the offices of the Italian police and European police in the western Balkan states is to be in Tirana; mixed Italian-Albanian investigatory teams to tackle organised crime; the setting up of a team of police for the Balkans: these are the proposals presented in Tirana by the Italian chief of police, Antonio Manganelli during meetings with the Albanian authorities and with police chiefs from Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo. ‘It has been an intensive day’’ said Manganelli at a press conference in Tirana, adding that ‘today the will to give greater strength to cooperation between the police forces of the Balkan countries has been confirmed’’. He wanted to highlight the results achieved by the Albanian police ‘with figures that cannot be compared with other countries in the area’’. The bilateral cooperation agreement in the fight against crime which came into effect last December will help to give a new boost to the already close relationship between Albaniàs and Italy’s security forces. The idea of creating mixed teams has been discussed for some time, but Manganelli explained to ANSA that now the project should be complete in a short time. The same wish was also expressed by the head of Albaniàs police force Ahmet Prenci, who thanked Italy for its consistent support towards the Albanian police force, noting in particular ‘the excellent role played by the Interforce office for the Italian police in Tirana. An office which should become the focal point for the Italian offices in the western Balkans. ‘Albania will be the epicentre for strategies to tackle organised crime” said Manganelli during a meeting with Premier Sali Berisha, accompanied by Italy’s Ambassador in Albania Saba d’Elia. The same office in Tirana should serve as a coordination centre for other European police forces present in the region. ‘I have also asked European countries to unite their forces and move together with the same will and determination’’ said the head of the Italian police force. (ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 15 — To exceed models of assimilation and “parallel development” of minorities in European countries: this is one of the objectives of the White Book “Living together in equal dignity” published by the Council of Europe and presented this morning in a press conference at the Italian House of Parliament. The White Book — already translated into Arabic at the initiative of Isesco (Islamic Organisation for education, cultur and science) — is a “fundamental document for understanding the situation in which we live and for defining a different future” said Minister for for Cultural Heritage and Activities Sandro Bondi at the presentation. The translation of the book into Italian, which was previewed in Rome, was done by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage. An initiative which gained the support of the Foreign Minister. Riccardo Guariglia, vice director general for Europe of the Foreign Office expressed “appreciation” for the effort by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage which “is fully in line with Italian foreign policy”. The translation into Arabic, explained Gabriella Battaini Dragoni, the coordinator for intercultural dialogue at the Council of Europe “was an autonomous initiative by Isesco, which is a sort of Muslim Unesco which includes many more countries from the Arab Leagu, all the countries of the south shore of the Mediterranean, including Libya and the whole of the Middle East, except for Israel, of course”. Jordan was ahead of everyone, translating the book first on the initiative of the Minister for Culture in Amman. These countries, added Battaini Dragoni “were enthusiastic about our work. Now we need to move towards putting the various recommendations into action”. (ANSAmed).
Captured Hamas terrorists are apparently speaking some truth while in custody, revealing Israel’s effectiveness in this latest reluctantly fought defensive war. According to an article published by Arutz Sheva Israel National News,”Iranian Unit Destroyed, Hamas was Suprised,” captured terrorists are stating that they did not expect the level of intensity Israel was prepared to fight them with:
“Hamas took a gamble. We thought, at worst Israel will come and do something from the air — something superficial. They’ll come in and go out. We never thought that we would reach the point where fear will swallow the heart and the feet will want to flee. You [Israel] are fighting like you fought in ‘48. What got into you all of a sudden?”
Israel has once again confounded its enemies by defending itself with greater vigor than it has in many years. Obviously, this is a positive development for Israel and Jews world-wide…
For if Israel’s enemies realize that the country will not surrender to the illegal, immoral aggression and war crimes used against her, perhaps Israel will be able to start rebuilding a once very positive national image that was weakened substantially by years of the false peace process. Just as Israel is finally demonstrating that after a certain point it will defend itself in a serious way, Jews still in the Galut must also show that we will also not be intimidated and will exert force when necessary to defend ourselves. Judging from the positive responses JDL has been getting at anti-Hamas protests, it appears that many more Jews are starting to see that JDL’s ideology is correct. All Jews need to wake up to the myriad of threatening world events and the domestic threats posed by those who dare to openly show their support for Hamas terrorism and realize that the typical establishment response has always failed in the past and will fail in the future. JDL is the answer.
The so-called “Iranian Unit” of Hamas has been destroyed, according to Gaza sources cited Thursday by the Haaretz daily. The sources said most of the unit’s 100 members were killed in fighting in the Zeytun neighborhood of Gaza City.
The terrorists had been trained in infantry tactics, the use of anti-tank missiles and the detonation of explosives, among other skills, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Hizbullah camps in Lebanon’s Beka’a Valley, as well as sites in Iran.
Two captured terrorists interviewed by Maariv/NRG say that Hamas was not expecting Israel’s response to the escalation in missile attacks on Israeli targets that preceded Operation Cast Lead. One of them, a 52-year-old victim of a premature detonation who had already done time in an Israeli jail, said, “Hamas took a gamble. We thought, at worst Israel will come and do something from the air — something superficial. They’ll come in and go out. We never thought that we would reach the point where fear will swallow the heart and the feet will want to flee. You [Israel] are fighting like you fought in ‘48. What got into you all of a sudden?”
In these perilous times, it isn’t often that the EU, the U.N. and the U.S. agree on foreign policy issues, especially those related to defining terrorism and/or the threat of global jihad. For example, the U.S. considers Hezbollah (both civilian and military) a global terrorist organization, while the EU and U.N. do not. However, all three do agree (at least reluctantly) that Hamas is truly a “terrorist entity.”
For its part, Hamas has made no secret of its purpose for existence ? the destruction of Israel. As stated explicitly in the preamble of its 1988 Charter, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” What is often overlooked is the Charter’s declaration that Hamas is “one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine,” and that the “Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times.” It is important to recognize that Hamas — one among many active progeny of the malignant Brotherhood (Ikhwan) — has emerged as the pre-eminent, idealized representative of the global jihadist movement.
Why? Because Hamas stands at ground zero, at the epicenter of the jihadist theological universe, and it is directly engaged in the valiant existential (spiritual) battle that all jihadist groups yearn for. These “roaring lions of Hamas” personify a modern-day Salah Al-Din (Saladin) — as the new liberators of holy Al-Quds (Jerusalem) — while being conveniently appointed as the democratically legitimized arbiters and guardians of a new Islamic Millennium.
In other words, Hamas is the premier jihadist organization in the world today, primarily because of its ongoing face-to-face fight with Israel — Islam’s eternal enemy.
Fears Hamas will be severely damaged if truce not reached
JERUSALEM — Palestinian organizations in Lebanon were given a green light by Iran, Syria and by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia to escalate tension along Israel’s northern border if a truce is not reached over the weekend and if Israel’s continued war in Gaza begins to severely damage Hamas in the coming days, according to informed Israeli defense sources.
Hamas’ chief Kheled Meshaal announced yesterday at an Arab conference his group will not accept Israeli conditions for a cease-fire in Gaza and would continue attacking the Jewish state until the Israeli offensive in Gaza ends.
ROME (JTA) — A leading Italian journalist walked off a TV talk show after denouncing the host for a program she said was “99.9 percent pro-Palestinian.”
Lucia Annunziata, a former president of the state broadcaster RAI, was a guest Thursday night on an episode of the RAI show Annozero dedicated to the situation in Gaza.
At one point she interrupted host Michele Santoro and sharply criticized him for the tone and bias of the show and its guests.
“So far, except for one girl, it has been 99.9 percent pro-Palestinian,” she said.
Santoro in turn shouted at Annunziata, calling her criticism “idiocy.” She stood up, detached her microphone and walked off the set.
The incident touched off a political firestorm. Both Santoro and Annunziata are leftists. Rightwing leader Gianfranco Fini, the president of the chamber of deputies, expressed “solidarity and appreciation” to Annunziata and said the Annozero show “surpassed the level of decency.”
Israeli Ambassador Gideon Meir also sent a protest over the show’s content to RAI management, saying it was a “shameful spectacle.”
Two soldiers made their way through the winding streets of Gaza City, carefully watching for booby traps. Their objective was to hunt down Hamas terrorists and locate caches of Kassam and Grad rockets and other arms.
As they deliberated whether to turn left or right at an intersection, a woman dressed from head to foot in black appeared from out of nowhere.
“Go this way,” she said, pointing to the right. For some reason, the two soldiers listened to her.
After proceeding for a few seconds, the pair heard a large explosion behind them, in the direction they had almost taken. A rigged house blew up, destroying everything in the vicinity.
The two soldiers asked the woman dressed in black who she was.
“I am the Matriarch Rachel,” she said, referring to the beloved wife of Jacob.
This story, whether true or not, is being circulated in religious circles — via Internet forums, SMS, e-mail and word of mouth — and is fast becoming an urban legend.
There is a tendency among the faithful to introduce metaphysical dimensions to the fighting in Gaza. Two-and-a-half weeks into Operation Cast Lead, religious faith has been integral to many soldiers’ morale.
“We are being swamped with demands, from religious and secular, kibbutzniks and yeshiva students, Sephardim and Ashkenazim,” for the names of soldiers to pray for, said Rabbanit Grossman, director of the Jewish Information Center in the capital’s Mea She’arim neighborhood. The haredi organization has created a special “prayer hotline” for soldiers…
— Hat tip: Abu Elvis [Return to headlines]
36-year old Chourik Bagrad, was massacred with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Another believer was kidnapped New Years eve: he was released on payment of a ransom of 50 thousand dollars. AsiaNews sources relay that Mosul is a “volcano about to explode”.
Mosul (AsiaNews) — The lifeless body of a young Christian was found yesterday by the army in Mosul (Northern Iraq). The abandoned body uncovered in a street in the east of the city was that of 36 year old Chourik Bagrad.
AsiaNews sources in Mosul — a city with one and a half million inhabitants, 360 km north of Baghdad — confirmed that it was a an execution style killing: multiple gunshot wounds to the head. His body was later discarded in al-Bakr district, where it was found by police and brought to the morgue for an autopsy. Chourik Bagrad was a Christian from the Armenian Church and his brother works in Mosul University.
The same sources refer that a Christian was also kidnapped New Years Eve in Mosul. The man, whose name we choose not to publish for security reasons, was kidnapped and held hostage for four days. He was only freed after the payment of 50 thousand dollars ransom. During his detention he was tortured over and over again. “If we hadn’t paid the ransom — the source confirms — they would certainly have killed him. They are criminal gangs, who kidnap for money. The want the Christian’s money”.
Despite government claims and reports proclaiming that security standards have improved, Mosul remains “a volcano ready to explode at any moment”.
The situation for Christians there is still tragic. In October alone 16 faithful were killed and 2000 families forced to flee. Groups linked to Al-Qaeda are operative in the area, targeting Christians in killing sprees, destroying their homes and properties, threatening them with letters, abductions and attacks. A hate campaign perfectly constructed to drive them from the land of their birth.
In 2007 Msgr. Paulo Farj Rahho, the Chaldean bishop of the diocese was killed, his body found on March 13th in abandoned land outside the city limits. During the attack that led to his kidnap the three men who were with him for his safety were killed. In 2007 the death toll of Mosul’s Christian community was 13: among them we remember Fr. Ragheed Gani massacred on June 3and another two priests. (DS)
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JANUARY 15 — A Turkish court has sentenced five members of the same family to life imprisonment for the honor killing of Naile Erdas, 16, who fell pregnant as a result of rape, Hurriyet daily reports. In its verdict the court of the eastern city of Van, sentenced the murder victim’s brother to life imprisonment for the 2006 murder said to have been committed to “cleanse the family honor”, the Van Women’s Association said. The girl’s father, mother and two uncles were also given life sentences for instigating the murder, while a third uncle was jailed for 16 years and eight months for failing to report the murder in one of the heaviest sentences handed down in Turkey for such a killing. Zelal Ozgokce, of the Van Women’s Association, welcomed the sentence as an appropriate deterrent. “It is very good that the entire family was punished for the crime”, she said, adding that “people will become aware that they will face the consequences of an honor killing”. Erdas fell pregnant as a result of rape but concealed her condition until she was hospitalized for a severe headache during which doctors discovered she was pregnant. When the family made threats and offered bribes to get the girl back, doctors decided to keep her in the hospital and informed police and the prosecutor’s office. One week after Erdas gave birth, the prosecutor agreed to send her home after the girl’s father promised she would not be harmed. But she was shot dead by her brother a few hours after returning home. (ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed) — MOSCOW, JANUARY 16- The spokesperson for the head of the Russian Navy, Igor Digalo, has denied news circulating that Moscow intends to build naval bases in Syria, Libya, and Yemen. “These statements do not represent the official position of the Defence Ministry or the Navy, and therefore are not reliable”, said Digalo, cited by Interfax. The news was released by state agencies Itar-Tass and Ria Novosti, citing an anonymous official of the General Staff of the Navy. Both agencies then spoke with the vice-chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Anatoli Nogovitsin, according to whom “it is premature to indicate a country for certain”. “It is still early to speak about the location of such bases, negotiations are ongoing with foreign government and such news can have negative effects on these negotiations”. (ANSAmed)
Mingora, 16 Jan. (AKI) — Around 400 private girls’ schools in Pakistan’s restive northwestern Swat district have closed to comply with a Taliban deadline which expired on Thursday. Some parents have even begun moving to other parts of the country where their girls can attend school, Pakistan’s Geo News reported on Friday.
The closure of the private schools will deprive more than 40,000 students of their basic right to education. In addition, 84,248 girls students in state-run schools are unlikely to attend class because of fear of attacks by militants.
Private school owners in Swat say the schools will not reopen until the unrest in the picturesque valley ends or the Taliban revokes the ban.
School owners in Mingora, Swat’s central administrative district, say that even if they kept the schools open, parents would be unlikely to send their children there.
There are over 350 privately-owned schools in Swat, each with separate sections for boys and girls, according to data available from a local association of schools.
Over the past year, the Taliban has ordered most of the schools to close and destroyed nearly 150 schools.
Pakistani daily The News reported that following appeals to the Taliban, it has softened its stance, allowing girls to attain education up to the fourth grade.
However, local militant leader Maulana Fazlullah has renewed the Taliban’s threat to bomb educational institutions including 20 colleges, if any school continues to provide secondary education for the girls.
The Taliban’s central spokesman, Maulvi Omar, has distanced his movement from Taliban militants in Swat over their ban on girls’ schooling and urged Fazullah to withdraw the ban, The News reported.
Private schools also urged to the militants to withdraw the ultimatum in the interests of hundreds of female teachers, most of them lone breadwinners, as well as those of many thousands of female students affected by the ban.
An Islamist militia has executed a Somali politician who they accused of betraying his religion by working with non-Muslim Ethiopian forces.
An Islamist spokesman in the port of Kismayo told the BBC that Abdirahman Ahmed was shot dead on Thursday.
Mr Ahmed was also accused of spying for Ethiopian forces, said to be backing the forces of warlord Barre Hiraale in trying to recapture Kismayo.
He is believed to be the first politician executed by the Islamists.
Zimbabwe is introducing a Z$100 trillion note, currently worth about US$30 (£20), state media reports.
Other notes in trillion-dollar denominations of 10, 20 and 50 are also being released to help Zimbabweans cope with hyperinflation.
However, the dollarisation of the economy means that few products are available in the local currency.
Kenyan sources have told MISNA that there has been some progress in the past few hours concerning the talks to secure the release of sisters Maria Teresa Olivero and Caterina Giraudo, who were kidnapped in Elwak, northern Kenya, last November 9, and then taken to Somalia by an unidentified armed group. The sources said that an official channel has been established — backed by the Italian government — through which to conclude the talks; the two missionaries from the Contemplative Movement ‘Charles de Foucauld’ in Cuneo, are said to be in good health and having limited freedom of movement within the area where thy are being held. The progress comes days after Italian MP Margherita Boniver led an Italian delegation to Kenya, where she had meetings with local political and civil leaders. Yesterday, the EU parliament appealed to the Somali government to work in favor of the release of the two nuns, condemning that which has happened; the appeal was part of a resolution over the situation in Somalia, in which it also asked the EU Council and Commission to support Somali institutions as well as the peace process heralded by the Djibouti accords last October.
Church and Mission, Standard
“This morning between 11 and 12 two thieves entered the administrations office of the Philosophy Institute of the Consolata Missionaries, killing the administrator and founder Father Giuseppe Bertaina, after beating and gagging him”, said to MISNA from the Kenyan capital Father Luigi Anataloni, a confrere of the victim, confirming the circumstances of the death of the missionary in Langata, around 20km from Nairobi. “His body was discovered by one of the around 300 students of the Institute, who went to the administrations office for some documents”, explained the missionary, adding that based on a first reconstruction “the murder appears to have taken place in a robbery attempt: we are at the beginning of the trimester and the thieves probably thought they would find student inscription fees, without knowing that payments are made by check and that there is never any cash in the office”. Born October 3, 1927 in Madonna dell’Olmo, in the northern Italian Cuneo province, Fr. Bertaina was in Kenya since the 50’s, where he taught generations of students, especially among the Kikuyu people. He served as headmaster of St. Mary’s Secondary School of Nyeri and at the Sagana Technical Institute, and since the 90’s contributed to the foundation of the Institute of Philosophy (Consolata Philosophicum).
[BO]
“What effects would the incrimination of president el-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) have on the peace process?”, asks Salva Kiir Mayardit, Sudanese vice-president and president of South Sudan, during a conference in Juba, while the country awaits the conclusions of the ICC, expected by the end of January, over accusations of genocide and war crimes launched against the head of state last July by the prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo. “What will happen to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) concluded between Sudan and South Sudan in 2005? Will the accords be pushed ahead even in the absence of el-Bashir?” said Kiir, who noted that there issues that the world “appears not to be asking even as they matter to millions of people in our country”. The ‘Sudan Tribune’ reported these first official positions by part of the South Sudanese government concerning the crisis between the ICC and president Omar Hassan al Bashir. “We exhort the National Congress of the People (NCP) to abide by the accords and work toward the common goal of maintaining stability in the country, no matter what happens” said Kiir, who noted that the CPI accords — which have provided for the formation of a national unity government ending over 20 years of war — provide for the organization, by the end of 2009, of general elections and by 2011, a referendum over the self-determination of South Sudan. The start of the crisis with the ICC began last July 14, when Ocampo issued a file containing accusations against the president, believed to be political in nature by many international diplomats, especially those from Arab and African countries who have expressed criticisms toward a justice system calibrated with” two sets of measures and weights” toward the North and South of the World. [AB]
RABAT, Morocco: Morocco is to close its embassy in Venezuela because of a dispute over the North African kingdom’s control of the disputed Western Sahara.
Morocco’s Foreign Ministry cited the “growing hostility” of Venezuelan authorities toward Morocco’s territorial integrity, a reference to the Western Sahara.
An Algeria-based rebel group known as the Polisario Front is trying to secure independence for the local Sahrawi population of Western Sahara and create a republic. Both the rebels and Morocco lay claim to the mineral-rich region in a dispute that has lasted more than 30 years.
Morocco also pointed to unspecified measures taken by Venezuela’s government “to support the phony SADR” — the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic proclaimed by the rebels — in its statement Thursday. Morocco’s Foreign Ministry said it was moving the embassy in Venezuela to the Dominican Republic.
— Hat tip: Fausta [Return to headlines]
Venezuela’s parliament widely approved a constitutional amendment to the electoral charter lifting term limits for the President and other elected officials. The amendment will be submitted today to the National election board for the convocation of a referendum within 30 days. According to officials of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) of President Hugo Chavez, the amendments to articles160, 162, 174, 192 and 230 of the Constitution, “widen political rights of citizens”. Opposition parties instead reject the measure, indicating the risk of “institutionalising the monopoly of power”. Some aspects of the reform are different in respect to the version approved in a first review of Parliament last month; on January 5, the PSUV modified the law extending the principle of unlimited re-election of the President to all elected officials. In December 2007, a complex and articulate constitutional reform that also foresaw the immediate re-election of the Head of State was rejected by 50.7% of voters.
Health officials asked to investigate possible risk from public sex
Caution: The following contains a report on activities many will find objectionable.
A Washington, D.C., inaugural week event that originally was described in an e-mail as a “pig sex” event has been confirmed by a homosexual publication as opponents ask the public health department to investigate the threats from the sex activities that apparently will take place.
WND reported the event was planned at a Washington hotel for three days culminating with Tuesday’s inauguration for President-elect Barack Obama. The first report came from Peter LaBarbera at Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, who obtained the information via e-mail from a source within the homosexual community.
“This Maneuvers is a PRIVATE and INVITATION-ONLY event. It will be held at the nearby Doubletree Hotel, located at 1515 Rhode Island Avenue NW. Go to the Second Floor, which is where all the Convention Rooms are,” said the instructions.
While hotel managers repeatedly have denied any such event is being held, a reporter for the Washington Blade confirmed in his report the plans for a “leather S&M party” at the hotel this weekend.
The original e-mail about the event said, “We’ve now got a KILLER line up of DEMOS, including super skilled rope bondage, sounds play, and flogging. LIVE Music and Sound is gonna be provided by THE BLACK PARTY DJ Rich King. So you can s—-, fist, rim, and [f—-] TO THE BEAT.”
Among a variety of features were “a bondage cross,” “a flogging station” and “rimming stations.” LaBarbera said the references to “fist” and “rim” refer to specific homosexual behaviors, which he explains graphically on his website.
“Doors open at 10 p.m. and will close at 12 midnight. No admission after 12. Play continues until 4am. “ said the e-mail.
The requirements, AFTAH said, included, “Masculine, friendly, and ready to play. Spectators who wanna run their mouths and socialize are not welcome at this event. We are here to enjoy the company of MEN.”
The online Urban Dictionary defines “pig sex” as “outrageously dirty such as water spots, defecation, male on male bondage, group-sex and bestiality,” although there was no indication that this event would involve animals.
As Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in as commander in chief on Jan. 20, homosexual-rights activists are gleeful about changes he will bring to the armed services. Based on his campaign promises, Obama is expected to overturn the military’s policy regarding sexual conduct. Commonly referred to as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military prohibits the service of openly practicing homosexuals. This policy was created early in the Clinton administration after a long and divisive fight, and the hard-fought compromise has drawn the ire of liberals such as Obama ever since.
“It’s time to turn the page on the bitterness and bigotry that fill so much of today’s LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) rights debate,” Obama said while campaigning. “The rights of all Americans should be protected ? whether it’s at work or anyplace else. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ needs to be repealed because patriotism and a sense of duty should be the key tests for military service, not sexual orientation.”
Not reported in the media or discussed by advocates are the opinions of the men and women actually serving our country that would be affected by this change in policy. A poll of some 2,000 active-duty military taken in December by the Military Times found that 58 percent opposed a policy change. Of those polled, 10 percent said they would not re-enlist, and 14 percent reported they would consider not re-enlisting if the policy is changed to please homosexual activists.
Essentially, the United States military, the greatest fighting force ever assembled, has had a policy in place against homosexual conduct since its formation. This policy annoys certain liberals who want to force their social agenda on the rest of the country and ignore those affected.
A worm that spreads through low security networks, memory sticks, and PCs without the latest security updates is posing a growing threat to users.
The malicious program, known as Conficker, Downadup, or Kido was first discovered in October 2008.
Although Microsoft released a patch, it has gone on to infect 3.5m machines.
Experts warn this figure could be far higher and say users should have up-to-date anti-virus software and install Microsoft’s MS08-067 patch.
One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/17/2009”
Nilk on January 18, 2009 at 6:51 am said:
I’ve not seen the news reports yet from today’s rally in Melbournistan, but I do have a few pics here.
From what I hear, the msm are saying around 12000 people, but I can tell you now that is a complete crock of the proverbial.
There would have been a few thousand – 3000 max if you ask me. The fact that we could wander through the crowd at the State Library for the beginning of the march indicates that much.
It was a far from pleasant sunday afternoon, but one I am glad I got to see.
At least the only people who abused me were white! And they called themselves christian, but apparently if you support Israel you’re evil and aren’t allowed to call yourself christian.
Just as well I didn’t carry my own signs.
I’ll be getting more pics from my mates, and posting those in the next few days.
Oh, and I saw 3-4 policemen.
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Baron of the Exchequer
See also: Chief Baron of the Exchequer
The Barons of the Exchequer, or barones scaccari, were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (i.e. puny or junior) Barons. Together they sat as a court of common law, heard suits in the Court of equity, and settled revenue disputes. A puisne baron was styled "Mr Baron X" and the chief baron as "Lord Chief Baron X".
They were originally the same judges as those of the Court of King's Bench, only becoming independent positions after the Exchequer's separation from the curia regis.[1] In the early years of the Exchequer's existence, the Barons were the chief auditors of the accounts of England, a role passed to dedicated auditors during the reign of Edward II.[2] With the Exchequer's expansion during the Tudor era, the Barons became more important; where previously only the Chief Baron had been appointed from the Serjeants-at-Law, with the other Barons mere barristers, it became practice for all Barons of the Exchequer to be Serjeants. This further increased the Exchequer's standing, since for the first time it put the Exchequer at the same level as the Court of Common Pleas and Court of King's Bench, where all judges were already required to be Serjeants.[3]
From 1550 to 1579, there was a major distinction between the chief baron and the second, third and fourth puisne barons. The difference was in social status and education. All of the chief barons had been trained as lawyers in the inns of court. With the exception of Henry Bradshaw and Sir Clement Higham, both barristers-at-law, all of the chief barons who served Queen Elizabeth I, had attained the highest and most prestigious rank of a lawyer, serjeant-at-law.
By 1272, individuals were nominated to the office of Baron of the Exchequer from time to time. From 1278, there were three Barons, with a fourth being appointed in 1296 and a fifth in 1299. By 1308, one of the Barons was recognised as Chief Baron. From then until 1478, it was recognised that there should be four puisne Barons. One was frequently named as Second Baron and rarely appointments were named as Third Baron and Fourth Baron. From then until 1547, the three puisne Barons were always appointed to numbered offices, but in 1549, Edward Saxleby as successor to John Darnall was merely appointed as 'one of the Barons of the Exchequer'. However, he and his successors held the office of Cursitor Baron. An additional Baron was appointed in 1604. The number of puisnes generally remained at three until the 19th century, but there was a fourth from 1708 to 1725 due to John Smith having leave of absence to attend to the office of a Baron of the Scottish Exchequer. A fourth puisne Baron was appointed in 1830 and a fifth in 1868.[4]
Puisne Barons
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
↑ Thomas (1848) p.3
↑ Guth (2008) p.151
↑ Sir John Sainty (comp.) The Judges of England, 1272-1990: a list of the judges of the Superior courts (Selden Society: Supplementary Series 1993, 10), 103-6.
English Exchequer
Auditor of the imprests
Auditor of the Receipt of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chamberlain of the Exchequer
Chief Baron of the Exchequer
Clerk of the Pells
Comptroller General of the Exchequer
Lord High Treasurer
Queen's Remembrancer
Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer
Court of Exchequer Chamber
Exchequer Bill Loan Commission
Exchequer of Pleas
Exchequer of the Jews
Pell Office
Exchequer Standards
Exchequer of Chester
Dialogus de Scaccario
Red Book of the Exchequer
Stop of the Exchequer
Taxation in medieval England
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President | Vice President | First Lady | Mrs. Cheney | News & Policies
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Office of the Press Secretary
Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En route Cleveland, Ohio
Meeting with Luxembourg Prime Minister/Iran
Bankruptcy bill
Members of Congress aboard AF1
10:57 A.M. EDT
MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning, everybody. Let me kind of go through the President's day to begin with. He had a meeting with the Secretary of Defense this morning, one of his regular meetings with him. And he received -- he also was able to receive an update on his recent trip. And then he had his usual briefings. He had his usual briefing, and then the President met with Prime Minister Junker of Luxembourg, and that was an opportunity to talk about the upcoming EU -- or U.S.-EU summit, and to also reiterate our commitment to working together with the European Union to address common challenges and advance the -- support the advance of freedom in the world.
And following that, the President met with President Kagame of Rwanda, and they had a good visit. The President expressed our appreciation for President Kagame's leadership and Rwanda's participation in the African Union's peacekeeping role in Sudan. And they also talked about some regional issues. The President expressed our continued support for Rwanda as it continues to strengthen its democracy and economy. And they also discussed Rwanda's efforts to move forward on its -- move forward from its past and heal old wounds and divisions. And the President reiterated his commitment to Africa and our continued support -- or our continued focus on Africa.
And, let's see, then when we arrive in Ohio, the first event will be a coffee with some small business owners. This will be an opportunity for the President to mark tax day. The pool -- you all will be there for the entire time he is there, to cover it. As families and small businesses and other Americans all across the country are filing their tax returns, this is an opportunity to highlight the importance of tax relief. And every American who is paying federal income taxes is receiving tax relief because of the actions that we have taken. And the economy is seeing strong and sustained growth because of the action that we took, as well. And that's the purpose of that event.
Then following that, the President will participate in a roundtable briefing on Social Security. This is a little bit different from the conversations that he has participated in. The President will receive a briefing from Ohio officials about their public employee retirement programs. They really have two systems and he'll hear more about that. And there are a number of state -- or millions of state and local employees around the country who have opted out of the Social Security system and are participating in alternative programs. And one thing that I think the President -- well, the President will talk about the importance -- I expect, talk about, emphasize the importance of permanently fixing Social Security. But this is an opportunity also to talk about providing younger workers with choices and giving them more ownership.
And some of the things that he'll hear about that are going on in the Ohio programs meet some of the same principles that he believes ought to be part of any plan to strengthen Social Security. And one of those is voluntary personal retirement accounts. We want to give younger workers the option of investing a portion of their own retirement savings in personal accounts. And this gives -- what he'll highlight here, I suspect, is that Ohio employees have had the option of investing in personal accounts and realizing a greater rate of return on their retirement savings. And that's one of the -- that's why the President feels so strongly about personal accounts, that it's a voluntary option, and it gives younger workers the ability to realize a greater rate of return on their retirement savings, and to build a nest egg that is theirs to keep that the government can't touch. And so that's the focus.
Now, we'll have a fact sheet out on that shortly, hopefully by the time we arrive. And, let's see, we'll get you the conversation participants and all, as well. And then after that, the President heads to Camp David for the weekend. And I've got the week ahead whenever you all want it.
Q Did the President and the Luxembourg Prime Minister discuss Iran? And does the President think the EU initiatives that he backed are having any effect?
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, their visit was only a brief visit. I'll check and see if it came up. I was in the later meeting, but I wasn't in that one. It was a brief, I think, about 15-, 20-minute visit. The real purpose of it was how I described it. I'll see if there's anything to add to that.
But I think in terms of our views on Iran, I mean, they are well known. And our support for the European efforts are well known, as well. So, I don't know, do you have a specific question?
Q Do you think they're getting -- they're making any progress?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we continue to support the efforts of the Europeans to make sure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Those discussions continue, and we believe it's important that Iran -- that the focus needs to be on Iran, because Iran's the one who has to make the decision to fully comply with its international obligations. And that's where the focus is -- Iran needs to change its behavior. And we are continuing to support those efforts.
Q Scott, how serious is this idea that the economic advisor mentioned in this breakfast with reporters about making the retirement accounts an add-on --
MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think -- you're talking about Al Hubbard, and by the way, he'll be on the -- be a participant in the roundtable briefing, as well. But I don't think he said anything really differently from what we've said before. The President made it clear that we're not going to get into ruling things in or out. We have put forward ideas that ought to guide us as we move forward on strengthening Social Security. We believe that the personal retirement accounts are an important part of strengthening Social Security. They're an important part of any solution, for the reasons I stated a minute ago.
And now is the time to be welcoming all those who are talking about ways to come up with a bipartisan solution. And unfortunately, we have too many Democratic leaders who are trying to -- who are simply saying what they're against and ruling things out. Now is not the time to be getting into ruling things in or out. Now is the time to be discussing about how we can move forward in a bipartisan way to permanently fix Social Security, and also make it a better deal for our children and grandchildren. And that's why personal accounts are so important.
And you heard the President state very early on in this discussion that he welcomes all ideas. We've been talking about what we're for, and that's what we're going to continue to do. But we're also going to say we welcome other ideas, as well. And that doesn't mean we're ruling them in, it doesn't mean we're ruling them out. We're saying that in order to get to a bipartisan solution, we ought to be talking about what we're for and putting ideas on the table, not getting into ruling things out.
And we would hope that Democratic leaders would start talking about what they're for instead of what they're against, and not playing the game of ruling things out. It appears they're more interested in trying to block a bipartisan solution than they are in solving this problem.
Q Scott, on this developing fight over the filibuster rule, how does the White House feel about making this a debate on whether people are hostile to people of faith if they take a different stand than the Republican leadership on this?
MR. McCLELLAN: The President believes -- I mean, in terms of --
Q Is this a faith issue?
MR. McCLELLAN: In terms of the issue that you brought up, that's a matter for the Senate to address. We don't get involved in procedural matters in the Congress.
The President's view is very clear. He believes that all judicial nominees should have an up or down vote. There are some Senate Democrats that are playing politics and trying to block some nominees from having an up or down vote on the floor. These are nominees that are highly qualified and that have the support of the majority of the Senate, and Senate Democrats have taken the unprecedented step of blocking these nominees from receiving an up or down -- from receiving an up or down vote.
The President believes that judicial -- that nominees to the bench ought to be people that strictly interpret the constitution, and that's the kind of nominees that he's -- that's the kind of nominees that he's sent forward to the United States Senate. The Senate has a responsibility, a constitutional responsibility, to give those nominees an up or down vote, and --
Q But is this -- is there a danger in making this a faith issue?
MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know -- I don't know what you're referring to that we've done. The President's views --
Q Well, no, I mean --
MR. McCLELLAN: The President's views --
Q -- it's going to be made a faith issue this weekend.
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the issue here is that Democrats are not giving these nominees an up or down vote. They're blocking up or down votes on the nominees. That's what the issue is here, and some want to take attention away, try to divert attention away from that. The issue here is that Senate Democrats need to stop playing politics and allow these nominees to have an up or down vote.
Q Want to do the week ahead quickly?
MR. McCLELLAN: That's the President's view.
Q Week ahead?
Q Is he actually going to talk about how many states have that option on Social Security?
MR. McCLELLAN: We can get you more information, but I think it gets into -- it gives a general overview of that. We can get you information on that.
Q Thanks.
MR. McCLELLAN: Let's see. On Monday, the President will go to Columbia, South Carolina, where he'll make remarks on strengthening Social Security. On Tuesday, the President will go to Springfield, Illinois, where he will tour the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and then make remarks at the dedication of the library and museum. And also on Tuesday, the Vice President will deliver the keynote address at the Oklahoma City National Memorial ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building there.
And on Wednesday, the President makes remarks to the 2005 National and State Teachers of the Year in the Rose Garden. And then he'll make remarks at the U.S.-Hispanic Chambers of Commerce Legislative Conference. Those remarks will be on energy, as I mentioned. And the President will then present the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the United States Naval Academy football team in the East Room.
On Thursday, he'll make remarks on strengthening Social Security to the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America in Washington. He'll also make remarks at the President's Environmental Youth Awards in the East Garden.
And on Friday the 22nd, the President will participate in a service project. As you're aware, we put out a proclamation the other day commemorating Volunteer Week. And then he'll make remarks on Earth Day. And both those events are in Townsend, Tennessee. Then he goes on to the ranch in Crawford, where he'll remain for the weekend.
On Monday, as you all are aware, he'll meet with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the ranch. And then on Tuesday, we will go to Galveston to participate in a roundtable on strengthening Social Security. This was the event that had been postponed because of the Pope's funeral.
Q When is he signing the bankruptcy bill?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'll keep you posted on that -- soon. I mean, he does intend to sign it. I'll get your more information on that once it's final. We're working all that out with members, too.
Q Any members on board, or in attendance?
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, Congressman --
MS. GODFREY: LaTourette. Steven LaTourette.
MR. McCLELLAN: Congressman LaTourette.
END 11:10 A.M. EDT
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American Baptist Pastor in Palin’s Hometown Says Her Election Would Be a ‘Disaster’
by Bob Allen | Sep 17, 2008 | News
Sarah Palin is a front-line culture warrior whose election as vice president would be a “disaster” for the country, says an American Baptist pastor and longtime nemesis in local politics in the governor’s hometown of Wasilla, Alaska.
Howard Bess, who earlier this year retired as pastor of Church of the Covenant in nearby Palmer, has recently made news as author of a 1995 book promoting non-judgmental ministry toward homosexuals that he says Palin tried to get removed from the Wasilla Public Library when she was mayor.
Bess, 80 and an American Baptist minister for 50 years, said he and Palin have consistently been on opposite sides in the local culture wars.
In an e-mail to EthicsDaily.com, Bess said both Palin’s former and current churches are fundamentalist. “I am making a clear distinction between Fundamentalist and Evangelical,” he said. “I am an Evangelical ¦. I hold Tony Campolo and Rick Warren in high regard. Her churches are literalists and are into inerrancy.”
“My central concern is her brand of Christian faith,” Bess told EthicsDaily.com. “She embraces Christian triumphalism. She sees the world as a dualist. Life is a battle between good and evil. She draws a hard line between the two. In some situations it makes her a genuine hero. In her view good does no business with evil. Evil is to be confronted, fought and defeated. It is this side of her world view that makes me very nervous.”
Her present church, he said, “is dispensational in theology and embraces end-of-the-world theology.”
Bess said he has been asking reporters to “take a hard look at her churches to understand her understanding of life and her personality make-up.”
“She scares me,” Bess told Salon.com. “She’s Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.”
Palin, who grew up in Wasilla, rose to political prominence with help of socially conservative Oklahomans and Texans who moved to the oil fields of Alaska over the last three decades, filling evangelical churches and reviving the Republican Party in the traditionally Democratic stronghold.
“It wasn’t just a matter of her using the Religious Right to get elected. She was one of them,” Bess told ABC News. “This whole thing of controlling information, censorship, that’s a part of the scene.”
Bess’ first confrontation with Palin’s religious community was when he decided to write a book, Pastor, I Am Gay, based on his own soul-searching after a member of his former church in California in the 1970s sought his counsel in deciding to come out as a homosexual.
Controversy over the book prompted the American Baptist Churches of Alaska to withdraw fellowship from Bess’ church, which remains in good standing with American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.
Palin has denied reports that she tried to censor books, but Bess told Salon his book was on a “hit list” that Palin wanted removed from the library. “I’m as certain of that as I am that I’m sitting here,” he said. “This is a small town, we all know each other. People in city government have confirmed to me what Sarah was trying to do.”
Later Bess and a local obstetrician/gynecologist sued to stop evangelicals from taking over the community’s hospital board and banning abortion. Palin was reportedly part of a boisterous picket line attempting to disrupt the physician’s practice that prompted the doctor’s 16-year-old daughter to write: “My mother no longer talked about managed care and AIDS; she talked about buying a bulletproof vest.”
“Her personality is not different from that of a Muslim Fundamentalist,” Bess told EthicsDaily.com. “How does this black and white understanding play out on a world stage?”
Bess’ criticism contrasts with widespread enthusiasm for Palin on the Religious Right. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission said he was “ecstatic” over her selection as John McCain’s running mate. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council called it an “outstanding” pick. James Dobson of Focus on the Family said choosing Palin was enough to convince him to “pull that lever” for McCain.
In 2007 Gov. Palin issued a proclamation emphasizing America’s “Christian heritage,” which drew praise from CBN’s David Brody. “I’m telling you folks. The Evangelical base is revved up about this pick,” Brody wrote. “A McCain campaign source told me that there is so much excitement from the Evangelical community about this pick that it’s making their head spin. This source told me, ‘The event at Saddleback was the baking of the cake. Sarah Palin is the frosting.'”
Bob Allen is managing editor of EthicsDaily.com.
Bob Allen
Managing editor at EthicsDaily.com from 2003-2009, Allen wrote more than 1,500 news stories during his tenure.
Tags: Baptists, Bob Allen, Politics
Find a Way or Make One: A Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Skye Perryman September 19, 2020
A Eulogy of Sorts for the Mother I Knew Too Briefly by Laura Landgraf April 3, 2020
Four Reasons People of Faith Become Disillusioned by Michael Chancellor September 30, 2021
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Digital · Wellness · Feb 07, 2021
Big Dreams: Kanoa Greene plus-sized surfer
Words by Christine VanDyk
Photos by Carlos Palacios
After a morning battling the waves, the surfers returned to the shore. Wrung out and weary, they shook the sand from their tangled hair and tossed their boards into the backs of old Jeep Wranglers. They had golden tans from a life in the sun and a laid-back vibe that seemed effortlessly cool. Most of all, they were unbelievably fit.
“Born in Hawaii and raised in Florida, I spent my life near the ocean,” Kanoa Greene said. “And like every beach baby, I dreamed of riding my own waves, especially after hearing the stories of my Uncle Lopaka, a legendary surfer with a surf spot named after him on Oahu.”
But Kanoa never tried.
“I didn’t think it was possible,” she said, “because the people on those boards didn’t look like me. No one ever said it, but I always thought, Fat girls can’t surf!”
The problem was the pop-up. With both hands on the rails of the board, you have to push your butt into the air and jump your body into a crouched position—all while balancing on a sliver of fiberglass.
“It’s hard for anyone,” Kanoa says, “but seemingly impossible for someone my size.”
She was “hyperaware” of her body, self-conscious of how she looked and what she could do—until she almost went blind.
A former opera singer, Kanoa was living in New York City when what she thought would be a routine surgery left her blind in one eye.
“It took me losing my sight to gain vision,” she said. “I had to ask myself what really mattered. When I lost something I was so reliant on, I decided I needed to build my body into something I could always rely on.”
Partially blind, she left her corporate career and moved home to Hawaii where life was slower and she could heal. That’s when she began to hike and paddleboard and challenge herself.
“I learned I could do more than I’d ever thought,” Kanoa said. “My body was amazing, and I couldn’t care less what it looked like, only what it could do.”
Bolstered by her new-found strength, she decided to try surfing and began to look for the basics: gear and know-how.
“I knew the pop-up would be challenging, so I did burpees to mimic the motion,” Kanoa said. “However, I also wanted to look cute. I knew most surf shops wouldn’t have my size, but I thought I could find something online—I couldn’t. The realization hit me like a ton of bricks: women like me don’t surf.”
It would be another two years before Kanoa found herself on a board.
That was when a surf company introducing a size-inclusive line noticed her Instagram. Amidst all the sweaty workouts, food chats, and cheerful inspiration, she talked about her desire to surf.
“Even with all I’d accomplished, it was still the dream,” she said. “I thought, If I can do this, I can do anything.”
So, she flew to Costa Rica for a photo shoot that included would-be surfers of all shapes and sizes.
“I said yes because someone was going to make a suit for girls like me,” Kanoa recalls. “Plus, I was finally going to learn to surf.”
It took her five days of struggling with techniques suited for smaller bodies, and falling again and again. On the last day, she said “Screw it—I’m doing this my way.” With her own moves and a larger board, she was finally hanging ten.
Kanoa has since become the face of many plus-size brands, modeling and advising companies around the globe. Most recently, she partnered with Fabletics as a plus-size fitness coach shown in active movement.
“It’s an important distinction,” she says, “because even body-positive brands often only show larger shapes posing in active wear, not actually working out. The decision has had some haters, but overall the response has been extremely positive.”
Today Kanoa is curating a series of plus-size adventures which will include a surf retreat. It will feature instructors who are comfortable teaching larger body types, longboards for stability, and of course, cute rash guards so each athlete looks the part. Future trips are in the works for snowboarding, hiking, and stand-up paddleboarding.
“I want people to discover what they can do with their bodies today, and to give themselves permission to start the journey now,” she says.
Kanoa’s own journey is still in progress.
“I haven’t stopped showing up,” she says. “Will I still be here in a year, even if I haven’t reached all my goals? Yeah, I will. I’ve learned that success is possible, even when it’s not easy. There’s no reason big girls can’t lead big lives.”
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GWEA Monthly Messages
REVEREND GORDON WILLIAMS, MARCH 2013
"Happy Easter!” is our constant reminder that Jesus Christ came to save us died on the Cross of Calvary. He was raised from the dead three days later and He walked out of a borrowed tomb (Jn. 19:41). 2,013 years later, Jesus still lives. He is God in the Flesh (Jn. 1:14). Jesus, who was raised physically from the dead, startled and frightened His disciples who mistakenly thought that He was a spirit or ghost. He explained that "a spirit (pneuma) has not flesh and bones as you see that I have" and invited them to touch Him. He took a piece of broiled fish and ate it (Lk. 24:39-42). It’s one thing for Jesus to talk about being raised from the dead but it was another thing for Him to actually do so. He appeared first to Mary Magdalene at (Jn. 2:11:18), to Cephas (Peter), to the twelve disciples, to more than 500 brethren at one time, to James, to all the apostles and to Paul (1 Cor. 15:1-9). History has been marked where Jesus appeared physically from the dead to call people to follow Him.
Ernest Gordon, who became a Christian in a Japanese prisoner of war camp and later Chaplain at Princeton University, described in his book, "The Fact of Miracle" people whom Jesus had visited in the flesh and were serving Him. Peter Marshall, the former Chaplain to the USA Senate, met Jesus one night on the moors of Scotland and called him into ministry. I reminded myself every Easter of that crucial night in my life when Jesus visited me in my bedroom. He asked me, "I want you to come and work for me. I want you to become a fisher of men. And if you will come and work for me, I will supply all your needs according to my riches in glory."
For those who have not met Him physically, He wants us all to have the proof of His Resurrection and of ours to come by Baptizing all of us with the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3:5) with the "Signs Following” (Mk. 16:17-20) just as He did with the first 120 people in the Upper Room. As Paul writes, "In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:13-14).
We all must have our "Personal Day of Pentecost” with the same proof as those received in the Upper Room. Peter explained that, "God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34; 11:15). The only people who cannot receive the Holy Spirit (with the evidence of speaking in tongues) are those who do not want to. Paul pointed this out when he referred to unbelievers (apistoi) and those who were not full-fledged Christians (idiotai) (1 Cor. 14:23) who wanted salvation without the authentic Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The greatest Easter Gifts are Salvation and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit so you can be an authentic full-fledged believer doing the "works of Jesus” (Jn. 14:12). If you would like to receive them come to one of our meetings or contact me.
http://www.gordwilliams.com/
© GWEA, 2013
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Quixote of the Rio Grande: Jay J. Johnson-Castro
Houston Chronicle reporter James Pinkerton calls it a “quixotic trek”. We say it’s about time. Here is a collection of clips about J. Jay Johnson-Castro and his walk of conscience from Laredo to Brownsville, along a line that Congress says is to be double-fenced.–gm
Oct. 12, 2006, 10:54PM
Opponent of border wall begins 200-mile protest
Innkeeper feels the viewpoint of South Texans is disregarded, so far
By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
LAREDO – “We’re heading out,” said Jay J. Johnson-Castro, speaking to nobody in particular.
As day laborers watched, the stocky South Texas innkeeper strode across the historic San Agustin plaza shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday, swinging a brass-topped walking stick and trailed by more than a dozen journalists and several friends.
And with little fanfare or planning, Johnson-Castro began a quixotic trek from Laredo to Brownsville. During the next 15 days or so, he’s hoping to rally border residents and topple Washington’s plans to erect a controversial security fence along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
“This is my personal expression against an idea that is as ugly as a wall,” said Johnston-Castro, as he walked south on Chihuahua Street toward Laredo’s city limits. “Think of how we rejoiced when the Berlin Wall came down. It separated families.
“And we’re going to do the same thing? We can’t allow it.”
Johnson-Castro, 59, who owns a bed-and-breakfast in Del Rio, says he thinks Washington leaders have ignored the viewpoint of border residents.
“We cannot allow the ruling class to come into our community and divide us,” he said. “My appeal is ‘Walk with me a mile if you oppose the fence.’
” ‘If you’re opposed to the insult to our neighbors across the river, walk a mile.’ ”
As Johnson-Castro headed out of town, few joined his walk. But there were frequent signs of support as passing motorists honked their horns and shouted encouragement.
‘Are you the walker?’
Maria Arce, a Laredo homemaker, pulled her maroon Toyota over to the curb and asked Johnson-Castro “are you the walker?”
Arce then handed him $5, and wished him good luck.
Others watched Johnson-Castro with interest, but not approval.
On the front steps of the Falcon National Bank, Ricardo Sandoval said he favored a wall because “there’s too many immigrants coming in.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Sandoval, a Laredo native who lives in Evansville, Ind. “It would keep us working here, and the violence out. All that drug trafficking, it will slow it down and save us tax money.”
No use for the wall
Still, many others voiced support for Johnson-Castro’s effort.
“The commerce and tourism between Mexico and South Texas is very good. A wall would hurt a little bit of everything,” said Robert Stanfield, general manager of the well-known La Posada hotel. “I’m trying to look at what the positives would be, but I can’t find it.”
As the afternoon wore on, and the heat increased, Johnson-Castro and his small entourage walked past the Paleteria Chueca, a Popsicle outlet on the outskirts of Laredo.
The company’s owner, Hector Gonzalez, invited the group in for free Popsicles.
“What do you think of the wall?” Johnson-Castro asked him.
“No, it’s bad,” Gonzalez replied, and he was invited to walk a mile.
He declined with a hearty laugh, but Johnson-Castro did persuade him to walk with him down to the next block before the Popsicle entrepreneur got back to work.
Though Johnson-Castro said he had the support of many border politicians, none showed up to support him as he started out.
But that doesn’t mean they want the fence.
“The fence ain’t gonna work. It’s a silly, silly idea,” said Laredo Mayor Raul G. Salinas, a veteran FBI agent. “At the time we’re knocking down walls all around the world, and we’re building new ones? Why don’t we just close the (international) bridges?”
Trek being filmed
The walk along the border is being filmed by Jesse Salmeron, a 28-year-old Houstonian who directed a documentary called Undocumented, an account of the pro-immigration protests that took place earlier this year.
Salmeron said he came illegally to Houston from El Salvador as a child.
“There is kind of a lull in the immigration movement right now, so when I read the story in the Houston Chronicle, I packed my bags and came down here,” the filmmaker said.
By the end of the day, Johnson-Castro had canceled plans to sleep outdoors in a tent after getting an offer of lodging from a South Texas immigration clinic.
He said the “word is really getting out in Laredo” as more and more cars honked at his small group, moving south toward Zapata.
“We’re doing good as long as I keep moving,” he said.
james.pinkerton@chron.com
Border walker hits the road
Del Rio man walking from Laredo to Brownsville to protest fence
By SARA INÉS CALDERÓN
The Brownsville Herald
October 11, 2006 — Jay Johnson-Castro is on the road and accompanied by a handful of journalists as he walks along Highway 83 from Laredo to Brownsville to protest the planned construction of a fence along that stretch of the border.
“We’re on the walk,” Johnson-Castro said on his cell phone Tuesday from the road side in the outskirts of Laredo.
He was scheduled to begin his walk at 10 a.m., but he eventually got going with “quite a few people” around 10:45 a.m., he said.
He walked this morning with a group of mostly media, a documentarian from Houston and his assistant, Sara Boone from Del Rio. There was a good crowd in Laredo, Johnson-Castro said. Reporters came all the way from Mexico City.
The group stopped at convenience stores along the way, he said. Johnson-Castro calls the border fence “an atrocity” and is walking to send that message to its proponents. He estimates it will take him 15 days to walk the entire 200 miles.
For more information about the “Texas Border Wall-k” contact Sara Boone at (830) 768-1100 or visit www.tourtejas.com.
sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com
Clipped from teherantimes.com
Laredo-to-Brownsville Border Walk planned to protest border fence
By Steve Taylor
LAREDO (Rio Grande Guardian) — The Secure Fence Act passed by Congress last week and now awaiting the signature of President Bush proposes 176 miles of fencing from Laredo to Brownsville.
Jay Johnson-Castro, Sr., a member of the Border Tourism Subcommittee, is planning a 176-mile walk from Laredo to Brownsville in protest against the fence.
The Border Tourism Subcommittee reports to the Tourism Advisory Council, which is part of the economic development and tourism department in Gov. Rick Perry’s office.
Johnson-Castro said he wants thousands of others who live along the border and who are opposed to the fence to join him on the walk, which is slated to begin next Tuesday.
“We are calling this the ‘Texas Border WaLL-k’ and we are doing it so those in Washington get the message that we do not want any more divisions between ourselves and our neighbors across the Rio Grande,” Johnson-Castro said. “When our so-called leaders come down from Washington they get treated like VIPs and are given the red carpet treatment. They don’t get to hear from the grassroots. Now they will.”
Johnson-Castro said he has received plenty of encouragement from the border elected officials he has so far contacted. He said more will be cont
acted over the next few days.
As well as moral support, he and the organizing committee are hoping to get food, refreshment, and accommodation along the way, as well as protection from traffic on the highways. He said the Border Walk could take ten days to complete.
Johnson-Castro owns a bed and breakfast in Del Rio. He said if the march from Laredo to Brownsville is a success, he might organize one in his hometown. He explained that his passion is protecting the Rio Grande River and he is concerned that the people and ecology of the Rio Grande Corridor will suffer if a border fence is erected.
“We have a unique culture along the Rio Grande. The river is no more a division between the people that live either side of it, than those that live either side of the Guadalupe, the Brazos, or the Colorado rivers that flow through this state. The powers in Austin and Washington, D.C. do not seem to recognize that,” Johnson-Castro said. “We who live along the Rio Grande Corridor, on both sides of the river, are related culturally, through our families, through business and commerce. What is never recognized is that we are a culture within ourselves.”
Johnson-Castro said he realized President Bush could sign the Secure Fence Act any day. Bush has already signed a bill committing $1.2 billion in federal funding for a border fence.
Regardless of whether Bush signs the Secure Fence Act, Johnson-Castro said the Border Walk would go ahead.
“We are offended and insulted by a border fence and we want our voices to be heard,” he said.
Oct. 9, 2006, 9:56AM
Man plans border walk to protest U.S.-Mexico fence
By TRACEY EATON
He doesn’t know where he’s going to sleep or eat. “I’m more concerned,” he admits, “where I’m going to go to the john.” But a South Texas bed-and-breakfast owner is determined to walk nearly 200 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border to protest Washington’s plans for a new fence.
“It’s going to be a long, hot walk,” said Jay Johnson-Castro, 59, of Del Rio. “But this is what needs to happen. People on the border have been ignored.”
Lawmakers last week passed a bill to build 700 miles of new fencing along the border. And President George Bush signed a homeland security bill that could provide initial funding for part of the barrier, expected to plug some of the most vulnerable gaps along sections of the border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Upset about the fence, Johnson-Castro decided to let his feet do the talking. He hopes others will hear about his trek and walk with him.
He sets off from Laredo on Tuesday and hopes to make Brownsville some 176 miles away.
“The more people who join us, the bigger the statement,” he said. “A lot of people want to join. I don’t know how many will.”
The planned border fence — which could cost $9 billion to built — also has strong supporters.
U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Tx, praised the fence plan during a debate on immigration in at the Houston Club last week.
“Border security today has to be framed in terms of the war on terror,” he said. “The day will come when they attack us in Houston. I don’t know why the terrorists haven’t hit us, but it will come.”
Johnson-Castro said he disagrees, and doesn’t believe the danger of terrorists slipping across the southern border is so great.
“When a politician comes along and says the border is a terrorism pipeline, I get offended,” he said.
The border fence has become a “political football,” he contends, and politicians in Washington aren’t listening to voterson the Texas-Mexico border.
“We’ve been ignored,” he said. “We feel we have a right to be heard. We are challenging the voice of the president, of congress.”
Nuevo Laredo, the Mexican town across the border from Laredo, has a tremendous drug violence problem, Johnson-Castro concedes. But for that, he said, “the U.S. government is penalizing the entire border.”
As for what to do about illegal immigration, he contends that America is hooked on immigrant labor, but won’t admit it.
“I’d like for the United States to get out of denial,” he said. “Our country would collapse without Latin American labor. We complain about these folks, but they’re here to work. The Mexican people are maintaining our country.”
He’s not sure how long his trek will take. Nor does he know where he’ll stop or rest.
Things are happening a bit too fast, he said, for much planning.
The idea for the walk came to him on Oct. 2. And it wasn’t until Oct. 5 that he decided for sure to do it.
He figures the trek will take 15 days or so. Maybe more.
“I don’t know where I’m going to sleep. I don’t know where I’m going to shower. But my biggest concern is, ‘where’s the port-o-potty?'”
tracey.eaton@chron.com
Carlos Guerra: Prospect of 700-mile wall along border sends one man walking
Web Posted: 10/10/2006 12:02 AM CDT
LAREDO — Jay J. Johnson-Castro was born in Oregon and grew up in Alaska. But today, he wears his light felt hat and boots as if he were a Texas native.
An entrepreneur since college, his ventures ranged from eateries to real estate to historic buildings. And he traveled, visiting all the U.S.-Mexico border crossings until the last one, Del Rio-Acuña, captured his heart.
Real estate dealings led him into historic restorations, which required research, and “I learned a lot about Texas history and border relations,” Johnson says. “We’re the only Americans who have to prove we’re American when we go north.”
And his conversations are peppered with comments about “living inside the checkpoints,” the areas between the border and the secondary immigration stations both nations maintain a few miles inland.
Within this bi-national strip, the bed-and-breakfast operator says, is a world that is neither American nor Mexican, but a meld of both. It is also an area — and a way of life — that few outsiders know exists, much less understand or appreciate.
Almost 60 percent of Mexico’s north borders Texas, Johnson says, and that section accounts for about three-fourths of the frontera’s population.
“You have checkpoints on the U.S. side and on the Mexico side, and people who live inside those checkpoints think of ourselves as a community,” he explains. “We live in sister cities and have families that cross over; workers and employers go across the border to work; we network and promote our regions together.
“And get along,” he says. “But now, those people in Washington who don’t get along, who are divided and divisive, are coming down here to try and impose their divisive mindset on us.”
“Texas’ No. 1 trading partner is Mexico, and I find it profoundly disturbing that we are slapping our neighbor with this border wall,” he bristles. “It is the ultimate insult; it is immoral.”
After the U.S. House approved the construction of a 700-mile border wall, Johnson says, he was sure the more temperate Senate would not accept it.
“But a week and a half ago, they did,” he says, shaking his head, “and the Texas president who has been campaigning for immigration reform has signed the down payment for the darned wall!
“I’m nauseated and asking, ‘When did they ever ask us? When did we have a voice?'” he says. “We’ve got 1,200 miles of border with more people living there than some states have population and we don’t have a voice.”
Senate approval prompted him “to scream at somebody,” the 60-year-old says, “so I’m taking two or three weeks to walk 200 miles, to places I’m not invited to go; I’m one person, I’m a nobody in Washington;
I’m no CEO or lobbyist, and don’t have the money to buy a vote. They’ve already handed Boeing a contract for the high-tech fence. Will Halliburton get another job?”
So, at 10 a.m. today, Jay Johnson will start walking from Laredo’s historic Plaza San Agustín to Brownsville to protest the construction of the first part of the border wall.
If no one else expresses revulsion of this wall, he says, he will.
“Remember when we all celebrated the victory over oppression and totalitarianism when that wall that separated Berlin, that separated friends and families, came down,” he says. “And our country is going to do something like that?”
To contact Carlos Guerra, call (210) 250-3545 or e-mail cguerra@express-news.net. His column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A man and his mission
By Karen Gleason
Del Rio News-Herald
Del Rioan Jay Johnson Sr. has talked the talk, but, starting Tuesday, he’s going to see if he can walk the walk.
Johnson, owner and operator of the Villa Del Rio bed-and-breakfast, plans to make a 176-mile trek from Laredo to Brownsville to protest the proposed construction of a fence between the United States and Mexico.
“A year ago, the idea of a border fence was a joke,” Johnson said in an interview earlier this week. “Then the House passed it and we said, ‘The Senate will never allow something like this to go through,’ but then the Senate approved it.”
Johnson said he was driving to San Antonio for a conference Sept. 28 when he “heard Sean Hannity talking about it.”
“I was just stunned,” Johnson recalled.
After the shock wore off, Johnson said the thought of the fence began to anger him.
“(U.S. Rep. Henry) Bonilla voted for it; (U.S. Sen. John) Cornyn voted for it; (U.S. Sen.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison voted for it, and Bush signed it. I couldn’t believe it,” Johnson said.
“I think that a fraction of a percentage of the people who actually live here on the border would want a wall or a fence, but we who live here on the border, we who love the bi-national, bi-cultural, bi-lingual lifestyle; nobody asked us if we wanted this,” Johnson said.
“So I started thinking, if the government is going to build a wall between ourselves and our friends and neighbors, where is the collective voice of the border? Who is speaking for us?” he said.
Johnson blasted the Democrats and the media for not “speaking out” against the fence proposal.
He pooh-poohed recent reports that federal legislators now are asking for local input about how and where the fence should be constructed. “Now that a fence has been imposed on us, they’re basically saying, ‘Would you like for it to be pink or would you like for it to be orange?’” he said.
As his outrage grew, Johnson said, “I wanted to do something. I had to do something.”
He said his entire point in making the walk “is to shame the people who signed the bill.”
“It’s shameful what we’ve done,” Johnson said. “The only reason we have any problems with Mexico in the first place is that we’ve treated them like this for so long.”
Johnson said he will start his long walk Tuesday morning after checking out of La Posada hotel in Laredo then “walk south on Highway 83 to Brownsville.”
Johnson said he estimated the trek will take at least two weeks.
“I hope I’ll come back a little trimmer,” Johnson joked, patting his stomach with both hands.
Johnson said he doesn’t know who, if anyone, will join him on his walk, but he is inviting the world. “I’m inviting those legislators that signed the bill. I’m inviting Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, all the people who talk about this border and this culture and who have never walked in it,” he said.
Regional media, including television, radio and online news sources such as the Rio Grande Guardian already have picked up Johnson’s story and are broadcasting it throughout the Valley.
Johnson, who is well-known in Del Rio, is using the name “Johnson-Castro” with regional and national media.
He told the News-Herald that the name is, in part, a nod to his Hispanic roots.
“Both my grandparents on my biological father’s side came from two different islands in the Azores and ended up in California,” Johnson said.
He said he was not raised by his biological father and didn’t even know he had siblings until 2001.
“I’m using the name professionally more and more. It’s an acknowledgment to them,” Johnson said.
VALLEY WIDE
Man Gets Creative In Protesting The Border Fence
Reported by Ryan Wolf
[KGBT-4]
“Shameful.” A “travesty.” “Anti-Texas!” A man who calls himself the ultimate grass roots guy is doing more than speaking out against Washington’s billion dollar border fence, he wants to walk all over it!
“Lets send a message back to Washington D.C. that we who live along the border that those who want the fence don’t have a clue.”
Jay J. Johnson-Castro out of Del Rio is organizing a historic walk with international implications. He’s planning on walking from Laredo to Brownsville, 200 miles over 15 days.
The length covers the Texas portion of the proposed U.S.-Mexico border fence approved by Washington and the President to keep illegal immigrants out.
“Our voice was never heard, it was never listened to– the system broke down and failed us.”
The event is dubbed the “Texas Border WaLL-k.”
Only in this case, walk is spelled with 2 letter L’s. That’s to signify, Jay J. says, the wall he’s against.
Congressman Henry Cuellar fully supports the demonstration.
“I admire people that are creative and who come with ideas to show their displeasure with this fence.”
The District 28 Representative voted against a border fence pushing instead for more manpower and technology.
He believes the fence’s impact will directly effect trade and tourism in the valley and spawn lawsuits from private property owners and environmentalists.
Cuellar not only fully backs the walk but plans to join the protest.
“I say go ahead and go with it!”
It’s the kind of support the event organizer wants from everyone here in the Valley… even if only for a few miles… even if only for a few steps.
“Any American who is opposed to the mentality of dividing a people join me!”
We also spoke to Henry Cuellar’s opponent for the upcoming District 28 race.
McAllen Attorney Frank Enriquez says he too supports the “Texas Border WaLL-k” and plans to join the cause.
The walk by the way is planned for Tuesday.
Previous PostPrevious Call for Emergeny Attention to Prison Heat
Next PostNext Our Hero Jay Johnson-Castro Walks Again
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Desmond Tutu was a black, South African, Christian male but in a world where colour, caste, class, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, sexuality and gender matter, he transcended all of that to be a…
Ruki Fernando on 12/31/2021 12/31/2021
Human Rights, Human Security, Media and Communications, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Reconciliation
2020 flowed into 2021 with a continued air of uncertainty due to the unrelenting spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The third wave saw cases and deaths rise exponentially, taking the country’s healthcare…
Colombo, Economy, Environment, Politics and Governance
Making Cash from Trash
The organic fertilizer ship from China was one of the hotly debated topics in Sri Lanka. The quality of the fertilizer shipment, which resulted heated exchanges between the stakeholders, almost sparked a…
Prof. Hiroshan Hettiarachchi on 12/30/2021
Colombo, Human Rights, justice, Peace and Conflict, Reconciliation, Transitional Justice
Desmond Tutu: The Man Who Revived the Moral Universe
Archbishop Desmond Tutu who passed away this week will be counted among the great human beings who contributed to the political transformation of his own country and a person who revolutionised the…
Basil Fernando on 12/29/2021
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Home»Topic Guide»The characteristics of poverty
Tackling poverty is often framed as an issue of social justice and altruism. If poverty is not eradicated, millions of people will continue to go hungry, die prematurely, live insecure and precarious lives, suffer from lack of education, and fail to achieve their full potential (Hulme, 2010). High levels of poverty may also be bad for development because countries starting out with a higher incidence of poverty tend to face worse growth prospects (Ravallion, 2009).
In 2015, extreme poverty was found to be concentrated among the most disadvantaged people: those in rural areas, those at risk of climate change, the young, the old, those from ethnic minorities and those with some form of disability (Greenhill et al., 2015). This builds on previous findings. For example, an ODI report based on two measures of poverty, child mortality and primary school non-completion, in 33 countries (1998 – 2007), suggests that poverty was overwhelmingly concentrated in households: (i) in rural areas; (ii) where the head of the household has ‘no education’ or ‘incomplete primary education’; (iii) where the head of the household is ‘not in work’ or is ‘working in agriculture’ (Sumner, 2013, p. v). A study by the International Food Policy Research Institute also found that the very poorest people tend to be from socially excluded groups, or live in remote areas with little education and few assets, or be landless.
The poorest are likely to have experienced severe ill health or the death of an adult family member or to have suffered from conflict or environmental shocks (von Braun et al., 2009). Disability is significantly associated with higher levels of economic and multidimensional poverty (Mitra et al., 2013; Morgon Banks & Polack, 2014). Research by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (2009) shows that the chronically poor (people who remain poor for many years, if not their whole lives) include people who are discriminated against; socially marginalised; members of ethnic, religious, indigenous, nomadic and caste groups; migrants and bonded labourers; refugees and internally displaced persons; disabled people; those with ill health; and the young and old. Studies suggest that a substantial proportion of the chronically poor live in remote rural areas (Bird et al., 2002). In many places, poor women and girls are most likely to experience lifelong poverty. The chronically poor often die prematurely; have a very low income; and face multiple deprivations including, hunger, undernutrition, illiteracy, unsafe drinking water, lack of access to basic health services, social discrimination, physical insecurity and political exclusion (CPRC, 2009). Poverty can be transmitted across generations (Behrman et al., 2013).
Currently most of the poorest people live in fragile states, with increasing numbers in middle-income countries.
Bird, K., Hulme, D., Moore, K., & Shepherd, A. (2002). Chronic poverty and remote rural areas (CPRC Working Paper 13). Manchester: Chronic Poverty Research Centre.
Chronic Poverty Research Centre. (2009). The chronic poverty report 2008-09: Escaping poverty traps. Manchester: Chronic Poverty Research Centre.
Hulme, D. (2010). Global poverty: How global governance is failing the poor. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Mitra, S., Posarac, A., & Vick, B. (2013). Disability and poverty in developing countries: A multidimensional study. World Development, 41, 1-18.
Morgon Banks, L. & Polack, S. (2014). The economic costs of exclusion and gains of inclusion of people with disabilities: Evidence from low and middle income countries. CBM, International Centre for Evidence in Disability, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Ravallion, M. (2009). Why don’t we see poverty convergence? (Policy Research Working Paper Series 4974). Washington, DC: World Bank.
Sumner, A. (2013). Who are the poor? New regional estimates of the composition of education and health ‘poverty’ by spatial and social inequalities (Working Paper 378). London: ODI.
Greenhill, R., Carter, P., Hoy, C., & Manuel, M. (2015). Financing the future: How international public finance should fund a global social compact to eradicate poverty. London: ODI.
« Understanding and addressing extreme poverty and inequality
The impact of inequality »
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Home Encyclopedia Codependency
Healthiack.com Editorial Team
Codependency is a term for a set of problem behaviors in dysfunctional relationships. There is no common agreement about how to define this term. It is used in many different ways to describe many different experiences.
The idea of codependency was first formed by therapists working with people dependent on alcohol or drugs and their families. These therapists noticed that many of the substance-dependent people had partners with similar behaviors. The partners seemed to be unable to remove themselves from the problems of their impaired loved ones. They were bound to them by their determination to change or protect them. As a result, they became part of the problem.
It is unclear whether codependency is an illness or a normal response to being in a relationship with a substance-dependent person. But it is clear that treatment for substance dependence will not be successful unless both the substance abuser and the partner are willing to change their behavior.
What is going on in the body?
John’s wife, Mary, has an alcohol problem that has caused her to act foolishly in social situations. She has alienated friends, lost jobs, and wrecked cars. John responds to these incidents by trying to repair the damage she has done. Then he criticizes her and lays down harsh rules for her. She agrees to these rules at first. But eventually she violates them and returns to drinking. This just leads to another round of this seemingly endless pattern between them. She drinks, he fixes the problem. He criticizes her and sets rules. She agrees, then starts drinking again. On and on it goes.
Why would they both continue this painful and futile pattern of behavior? John feels anger at Mary for her drinking, but at the same time, he feels better about himself. He feels good about being a helper. His focus on her problems allows him to avoid thinking about his own. She is the sick one and he feels like the healthy one. Mary may resent and feel humiliated by his criticism and rule setting. But she feels powerless to change the pattern. She returns to alcohol as a quick and easy way to feel better about herself. His behavior gives her an excuse to return to alcohol.
Therapy for Mary can only succeed if John is willing to change his behavior. He needs to accept that he can never really control her drinking. When he protects her from the consequences of her drinking and then treats her like a bad child, he has only succeeded in enabling her alcohol problem. John must stop repairing the damage Mary has done with her drinking. He needs to allow her to suffer the consequences alone. If she continues to drink anyway, he either must find a way to live with her drinking or be willing to walk away from the relationship. Treatment will succeed only if this cycle of codependent behavior is broken.
What are the causes and risks of the condition?
We know very little about what causes people to fall into a pattern of codependent behavior. Some believe that it is a normal response to having a partner with an alcohol or drug problem. Others believe that some people are just more vulnerable to falling into this pattern.People who see themselves as helpers may be more vulnerable. People who have grown up with parents who have drug or alcohol problems may be more susceptible. Having a codependent partner makes it unlikely that someone addicted to drugs or alcohol will be able to recover. Violence is a common problem in codependent relationships.
What are the signs and symptoms of the condition?
A codependent person may show some of the following behaviors:
has a high energy level
has low self-esteem
has very good organizational skills
is competent at a wide variety of tasks and able to learn new ones quickly
is loyal and willing to put the needs of others before his or her own
never asks, “What’s in this for me?”
tends to overachieve
Diagnosis & Tests
How is the condition diagnosed?
Usually this pattern is better recognized by someone outside the relationship. That could be a therapist, friend, or family member.
Prevention & Expectations
What can be done to prevent the condition?
The best way to prevent codependency is to recognize and treat a drug or alcohol addiction as soon as possible. The longer the pattern goes on, the more difficult it is to change.
What are the long-term effects of the condition?
Codependent relationships often last for many years, leading to very chaotic home situations.
What are the risks to others?
Children in households with codependent behavior are often severely affected. In some cases, they are physically abused or neglected. They almost always suffer long-term emotional scars as a result of their parents’ behavior. Many will recreate these experiences in their adult relationships.
Treatment & Monitoring
What are the treatments for the condition?
Treatment of people who are dependent on drugs or alcohol almost always includes the partners and affected family members. Therapists will guide the person to change the substance-dependent behavior. They will also help partners and family members understand how their own behaviors may be making the problem worse. They help them move to behaviors that can support recovery from substance dependence.
What are the side effects of the treatments?
There are no side effects to the treatment.
What happens after treatment for the condition?
Effective treatment usually leads to much better relationships and a healthier family life. But the risk of relapse from alcohol and drug dependence is high. It can be very important for people with these problems to stay involved in some type of treatment. Many people attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous on a long-term basis. These groups are very useful in helping people maintain sobriety. Family members often find Alanon a very helpful group. This is a self-help group just for family and partners of addicts. Working with groups like Alanon can help identify and reduce codependent behavior.
How is the condition monitored?
For most people, long-term psychotherapy is not necessary. Groups such as Alanon can help people recognize when they are returning to their codependent behavior patterns. Any new or worsening symptoms should be reported to the healthcare provider.
Article type: xmedgeneral
Our team has been providing relevant and well researched medical information since 2012. We strive to provide relevant and accurate information, therefore we perform quarterly revisions of all articles to ensure that information provided is accurate and updated with latest trends and discoveries in modern medicine.
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You are here: Home Archive Science Journal of VolSU. History. Area Studies. International Relations. 2021. Vol. 26. No. 1 DIPLOMACY AND MILITARY CONFLICTS RABUSH T.V. Involvement of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the Events in Afghanistan in the Late 1970s
RABUSH T.V. Involvement of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the Events in Afghanistan in the Late 1970s
Taisiуa V. Rabush
Candidate of Sciences (History), Associate Professor,
Department of Social Sciences, Saint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design,
Bolshaya Morskaya St, 18, 191186 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
Abstact. Introduction. In this article, the author examines the position of the countries of the Middle East region in the late 1970s with regard to the armed conflict in Afghanistan. The emphasis is on the period on the eve of the entry of the Soviet troops to Afghanistan – from the April Revolution of 1978 until December 1979. The author’s focus is on two states: Pakistan directly bordering on Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia, which is a major geopolitical actor in the region.
Methods and materials. The author relies on documentary sources such as “Department of state bulletin”, documents of secret correspondence of the U.S. foreign policy agencies, documents of the U.S. National Security Archive, and special volumes on Afghanistan and the Middle East in “Foreign Relations of the United States. Diplomatic Papers, 1977–1980”. Thanks to these sources, it is possible to prove that the involvement of the states of the region in the Afghan armed conflict and its internationalization began even before the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan.
Analysis. First, an overview of the objectives pursued by these states in Afghanistan and in the internal Afghan armed conflict is given. Following this, the author consistently reveals the position of these states in relation to the April Revolution of 1978, the ever-increasing Soviet involvement in the Afghan events (1978–1979) and the civil war that started against the Kabul government.
Results. In conclusion the article reveals the role of these states in the process of internationalization of the Afghan armed conflict, which, according to the author, began before the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan.
Key words: Afghan war, Afghan armed conflict, Cold War, Middle East, Afghan-Pakistani relations, Muslim countries in the late 1970s.
Citation. Rabush T.V. Involvement of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the Events in Afghanistan in the Late 1970s. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 4. Istoriya. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 2021, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 133-144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2021.1.12.
Involvement of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the Events in Afghanistan in the Late 1970s by Rabush T.V. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2_Rabush.pmd.pdf
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Hillside Cannibals (2006)
GENRE: CANNIBAL, SURVIVAL
SOURCE: STREAMING (NETFLIX INSTANT)
At first I thought Hillside Cannibals might end up being the rare Asylum mockbuster that actually turned out pretty decent (all things considered), with the admirable slaughter of most of the cast in the first 15 minutes and some decent FX to boot. I find that their "originals" tend to be of better quality than their mockbusters, but even though this was clearly a cash-in on the Hills Have Eyes remake, this first reel displayed some semblance of a real horror movie.
Sadly, it all collapsed after that, and is ultimately just as bad as their other copycat films. Worse, it's what I originally liked that proved to be its biggest problem: they kill most of the teens right off the bat, and then spend the rest of the movie either going in circles or introducing new characters out of nowhere that are killed just as quickly. See, at first I figured they were trying to pull off the "this is not our main group" twist, not unlike the Friday the 13th remake (but with the bonus of a no-name cast not spoiling the "surprise" right off the bat). So when everyone started getting knocked off, I was like "OK, good job Asylum! You tricked me! Now, where's the real group?" But there isn't one, and thus the rest of the movie is little more than our surviving final girl getting captured, escaping, getting captured, escaping... By the 40 minute mark I was pretty goddamn bored, and there was just as much time to go.
Attempts to mix things up aren't much help. A revenge seeking dad shows up somewhere in there (in a scene set in a forest - I thought they were in the desert?), and kicks a little ass, but he's dead before long too. They even finally DO introduce a new car full of teens at the top of the 3rd act, which of course is too late to help much, but again, at least the FX are pretty decent when they too are killed 5 minutes later. It's as if screenwriter Steve Bevilacqua couldn't be bothered to plot out his movie in advance, raced through every idea he had in the first 25 pages, and then just grasped at straws to meet a minimum page count.
It's also impossible to care about anyone on either side of the "battle", because they can barely be bothered to let us know the characters' names, and the murky cinematography was no help - more than once I thought a character had died only to realize that it had to have been someone else once he/she "returned" in better light a few scenes later. The ending is supposed to be a shock twist, and it IS admirably grim/darkly funny, but again, it's so hard to see who is who, I almost missed the point of it entirely.
Plus everything just drags. One of the cannibals gets an iPod, and there's like 3-4 minutes of him playing with the damn thing; our girl seemingly spends half the movie either running out of harm's way or running back into it to save her boyfriend, and even the aforementioned "twist" ending goes on way too long. Basically one of the cannibals is screwing one of his "sisters" while she wears the face of a victim, but it goes on so long that even if I could make any of their faces out, I wouldn't be stunned by the reveal. Mostly I just sat there wondering if this cannibal had practiced tantric sex or something since he seemed to be able to hold off unusually long for a movie character. Hasn't he seen Halloween? Those guys knew how to get in and out of there so we can move things along!
Not content to merely steal from Hills, they also toss in some Texas Chainsaw plot points, plus a cop who turns out to be working with them, something that we've seen in a dozen or so of these movies. But like the other would-be heroes, the cop subplot seems tossed in when they realized the movie was coming up short, and amounts to absolutely nothing. He doesn't even die - he features in the penultimate scene and then the next just shows the sex - it's like they skipped a scene in between. I guess they figured it'd work better to preserve the surprise, but instead it just feels abrupt and awkward - you've been dragging things out for over 70 minutes, and NOW you're going to speed it up? Hilariously, the end credits run for like 7 minutes; I had time to read the first one 5 times before the second name appeared.
Glad Netflix saw fit to get this on their streaming program though. All the great movies that aren't even available on DVD yet, but this fucking thing is accessible no matter where you are!
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Search 2022
Latest News - July 2013
Apple Continues Building Its Maps Portfolio With HopStop Acquisition
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All News for July 2013
by Seth Colaner - Sun, Jul 21, 2013
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by Ray Willington - Sat, Jul 20, 2013
Here's a strange one: Apple recently published a page on its developer portal that openly apologized for maintenance that was "taking longer than expected." Of course, it's hard to fault a company for taking time to ensure something is done correctly, but the notice has now been up for several days. That's unlike... Read more...
by Rob Williams - Sat, Jul 20, 2013
When we posted our look at Windows 8.1 earlier this month, we covered a lot that was new to the OS, and admittedly, there was a lot more packed in than we originally anticipated. Despite that, we still managed to miss a couple of major DPI improvements that were added to the update, and for those sporting 4K... Read more...
The market is hardly devoid of remote desktop apps, but it is rather lacking in good ones. Google has for a couple of years offered a solution for Chrome desktop users which is decent, called Chrome Remote Desktop, and in the future (how far, we're unsure), it'll be bringing the same sort of functionality to... Read more...
With the release of Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, we were led to believe that Borderlands 2 would be seeing no more DLC. As it turns out, we're just not going to be seeing more DLC that introduces vast new worlds. At PAX Australia, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, who just last month showed us around the Gearbox... Read more...
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Your eyeballs are valuable commodities. No, we're not talking about scooping them out and selling them on the black market -- please don't do that -- but for advertisers, their goal is to get their goods and services in front of your face however possible. A new app called Locket wants to help them do that by beaming... Read more...
If you believe everything that took place in the docudrama The Social Network, then Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was originally opposed to the idea of implementing ads into his social network, claiming they're not cool. Today, Facebook has ads, supposedly targeted ones, though we often we run into sponsored posts... Read more...
News, Social And Internet
by Seth Colaner - Sat, Jul 20, 2013
Apple recently hit the 50 billion app download mark with its App Store; Google just did the same. Apple did it in five years; Google did it (between the Android Market and Google Play store) in four. Further, Mashable says that Google CEO Larry Page noted that the company has paid out more money to Android app... Read more...
Google has been tinkering with Gmail’s look and features, and even after a major overhaul this spring, not everyone was satisfied, so even more changes are coming down the pike. Specifically, Google is tweaking the compose to give it a full-screen option. It’s a welcome change. Currently, you must write your email messages in a... Read more...
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by Seth Colaner - Fri, Jul 19, 2013
The U.S. government has stated that it’s concerned about China-based Huawei and its ties to the Chinese government and military, and the UK shares that concern. After Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) issued a report stating that a great deal more oversight was needed regarding foreign... Read more...
by Marco Chiappetta - Fri, Jul 19, 2013
Thanks for tuning in to our weekend edition of the web's hottest deals. Topping this weekend's offers is a Dell Inspiron 660s Dual-core Windows 7 Desktop under $350. We also found a 7" HP Android Tablet for just $139.99, the lowest price we've seen for it. Also don't miss a rare $50 coupon on Dell XPS 18 All-in-one... Read more...
As the Internet evolves, so too has the domain name. For years, everything was a .com, .net, .org, .edu, and so on, but now the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has enabled a greater variety of top-level domains (TLDs). Amazon, which has been accused of hoarding the new TLDs, was obviously... Read more...
What’s going on with Apple? Earlier this week, a rumor broke that Apple had to push back the release of its 2nd-generation iPad Mini to as late as next year--production allegedly won’t even begin until Q4 2013--and now, it seems that the company will have to push back the release of the iPhone 5S, too... Read more...
At this point, it's hardly a "rumor." The Motorola X is very, very real. Numerous executives have confirmed it slyly over the past few months, Google's own Eric Schmidt was seen using it in public earlier this month, and now we have yet another nugget to solidify things: Google CEO Larry Page recently stated the... Read more...
by Paul Lilly - Fri, Jul 19, 2013
There's no better time to shop for a Mac than during the back-to-school shopping season. As we recently reported, Apple is offering college students up to $200 off select Mac systems plus a $100 App Store gift card, however you don't have to go through Apple to get a discount, nor do you need to be a student. Best Buy... Read more...
While Yahoo! has become the undisputed king of start-up acquisitions over the past year or so, Apple has definitely been on a fairly steady buying spree as well. While Apple never makes public its acquisition targets, huge innovations in the company's portfolio have began as ideas that were born outside of Cupertino... Read more...
Coincident with the launch of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 700 series of products, EVGA unveiled a new invention of its own: the ACX cooler. ACX is an acronym for "Active Cooling Extreme" and as the name suggests, it’s a cooling solution for high-end graphics cards. To date, we have looked at two ACX-equipped graphics cards, the EVGA GeForce... Read more...
by Rob Williams - Fri, Jul 19, 2013
Tired of changing passwords yet? Well, if you're a member of the NASDAQ OMX Group forums, your wish is still pending. The forum, where users can discuss stock happenings throughout the day, has been revealed to have been exploited, with an unknown number of usernames and passwords at risk. NASDAQ's OMX Group has said that it's reset all user... Read more...
Next-Gen ATM Machines to Use Facial Recognition for Security
There are no boundaries to technology, which continues to reach into all facets of our daily regimen. The world will look and function decidedly different in 10 years compared to today, and while we don't know exactly what life will be like, we know that banking at ATMs is one area that will see plenty of change... Read more...
Google Sees 1.5 Million Android Activations Daily as Platform Fast Approaches 1 Billion Devices
Things are going well for Google, if you'll allow us the understatement of the year. As we reported yesterday, Google might as well have a license to print money, having earned over $14 billion in the second quarter, up 19 percent from a year ago. Google-owned sites generated over half of that, contributing $8.87... Read more...
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Historical and moral arguments for language reclamation
Posted on 26 June 2013 by Ghil'ad Zuckermann — 15 Comments
Ghil‘ad Zuckermann
Language is an archaeological vehicle, full of the remnants of dead and living pasts, lost and buried civilizations and technologies. The language we speak is a whole palimpsest of human effort and history.
Russell Hoban (children’s writer, 1925-2011 – cf. Haffenden 1985: 138)
Linguicide (language killing) and glottophagy (language eating) have made Australia an unlucky country. These twin forces have been in operation in Australia since the early colonial period, when efforts were made to prevent Aboriginal people from continuing to speak their language, in order to ‘civilize’ them. Anthony Forster, a nineteenth-century financier and politician, gave voice to a colonial linguicide ideology, which was typical of much of the attitude towards Australian languages (Report on a public meeting of the South Australian Missionary Society in aid of the German Mission to the Aborigines, Southern Australian, 8 September 1843, p. 2, cf. Scrimgeour 2007: 116):
The natives would be sooner civilized if their language was extinct. The children taught would afterwards mix only with whites, where their own language would be of no use – the use of their language would preserve their prejudices and debasement, and their language was not sufficient to express the ideas of civilized life.
Even Governor of South Australia George Grey, who was relatively pro-Aboriginal, appeared to partially share this opinion and remarked in his journal that ‘the ruder languages disappear successively, and the tongue of England alone is heard around’ (Grey 1841: 200-201). What was seen as a ‘civilizing’ process was actually the traumatic death of various fascinating and multifaceted Aboriginal languages.
It is not surprising therefore that out of 250 known Aboriginal languages, today only 18 (7%) are alive and kicking, i.e. spoken natively by the community children. Blatant statements of linguistic imperialism such as the ones made by Forster and Grey now seem to be less frequent, but the processes they describe are nonetheless still active, let alone if one looks at the Stolen Generations between approximately 1909 and 1969.
There are approximately 7,000 languages currently spoken worldwide. 96% of the world’s population speaks 4% of the world’s languages, leaving the vast majority of tongues vulnerable to extinction and disempowering for their speakers. Linguistic diversity reflects many things beyond accidental historical splits. Languages are essential building blocks of community identity and authority. However, with globalization, homogenization and Coca-colonization there will be more and more groups added to the forlorn club of the powerless lost-heritage peoples. Language reclamation will become increasingly relevant as people seek to recover their cultural autonomy, empower their spiritual and intellectual sovereignty, and improve their wellbeing.
Revivalistics – including Revival Linguistics and Revivalomics – is a new interdisciplinary field of enquiry studying comparatively and systematically the universal constraints and global mechanisms on the one hand (see Zuckermann 2009), and particularistic peculiarities and cultural relativist idiosyncrasies on the other, apparent in linguistic revitalization attempts across various sociological backgrounds, all over the globe (Zuckermann & Walsh 2011).
Interview with Ghil‘ad Zuckermann about Hebrew revival on Fry’s Planet Word: clip 1 at AIATSIS, clip 2 on BBC
Revivalistics combines scientific studies of native language acquisition and foreign language learning: language reclamation is the most extreme case of foreign language learning. Revivalistics is far more than Revival Linguistics. It studies language revival from various angles such as law, mental health, sociology, politics, education, colonization, missionary studies and architecture.
Why should we invest time and money in reviving languages?
1. Ethical reasons
Australia’s languages have not just been dying of their own accord, as many Australians and non-Australians believe. Many of the languages were destroyed by settlers of this land. We owe it to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to support the maintenance and revival of their cultural heritage, in this instance through language revival. To quote Nelson Mandela: ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.’ Every person has the right to speak their mother tongue, to express themselves in the language of their ancestors, not just in the language of convenience that English has become.
Language death means not only the loss of cultural autonomy, but also of spiritual and intellectual sovereignty. Cultural knowledge perishes, and therefore the direct connection to ancestors through language, often resulting in feelings of anger or isolation. Through the prejudices of colonists, so much pride and cultural autonomy was lost along with heritage that can never be reclaimed. Through supporting language revival we can right some small part of the wrong against the original inhabitants of this country and support the wishes of their ancestors with the help of linguistic knowledge. We can appreciate the importance of Indigenous languages and recognize their importance to Indigenous people and to Australia.
An enactment of a new governmental statute-based ex gratia legislation ought to be established in order to pay compensation for the lost Aboriginal languages (Zuckermann and Shakuto, forthcoming). The proposed legislation can be colloquially called Native Tongue Title, modelled upon the established concept of ‘Native Title’, the recognition by Australian law that some Indigenous people have rights to, and interests in, their land that come from their traditional laws and customs. Deontologically, the Australian government ought to compensate Indigenous people not only for the loss of tangible land, but also for the loss of intangible langue (language). Such legislation will recognize the Indigenous people’s rights to revive or maintain their languages, and the compensation money can be used to support reclamation and linguistic empowerment efforts. The enactment of new legislation would help reinstate the Indigenous peoples’ authority and ownership of their cultural heritage. One should also note that in case of linguicide, it is much harder to prove continuity in Native Title cases.
Despite being aware of the people-land-language trinity, I propose that ontologically, the loss of language is more severe than the loss of land. When the land is lost, it is still there, albeit mined or abused by others. When a language is lost, even though the ownership (rather than usership) still exists, the language is not there anymore, let alone the loss of cultural autonomy, spiritual and intellectual sovereignty, ideas, values and experiences.
Australia ought to learn from New Zealand:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander vernaculars should be defined as official languages of their state/territory/land.
Signs (Linguistic Landscape) should be both in English and in the local Indigenous language.
Full 17 minute interview on Marae investigates
2. Aesthetic reasons
Australia was once linguistically diverse, but this diversity has been vanishing rapidly. Most of Australia’s approximately 250 original languages are falling asleep, or have already become ‘sleeping beauties’. The linguist Ken Hale, who worked with many endangered languages and saw the effect of loss of language, compared losing language to bombing the Louvre.
When you lose a language, you lose a culture, intellectual wealth, a work of art. It’s like dropping a bomb on a museum, the Louvre.
(Ken Hale, The Economist, 3 November 2001)
A museum is a repository of human artistic culture. Languages are even more important since they store the cultural practices and beliefs of an entire people. In Australia, information relating to food sources, surviving in nature and dreamtime often passes away when language perishes.
A study by Boroditsky and Gaby (2010) found that speakers of Kuuk Thaayorre, a language spoken in Pormpuraaw on the west coast of Cape York, do not use ‘left’ or ‘right’, but always cardinal directions. Kuuk Thaayorre speakers are constantly aware of where they are situated, and this use of directions affects their awareness of time.
Different languages have different ways of expressing ideas and this can indicate which concepts are important to a certain culture. To demonstrate this variety, here are a few unique words from around the world:
Mamihlapinatapai is a word in the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego in Chile and Argentina. It refers to ‘a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will offer something that they both desire but have been unwilling to suggest or offer themselves’. This word can be broken down into smaller parts, or morphemes, thus: ma- is a reflexive/passive prefix (realised as the allomorph mam- before a vowel), ihlapi [iɬapi] ‘to be at a loss as what to do next’ (the lexical root), -n stative suffix, -ata achievement suffix, and -apai, a dual suffix, which has a reciprocal sense with ma- (circumfix).
Persian nakhur is a ‘camel that will not give milk until her nostrils have been tickled.’
Tingo, in Rapa Nui (Pasquan) of Easter Island (Eastern Polynesian language), is ‘to take all the objects one desires from the house of a friend, one at a time, by asking to borrow them, until there is nothing left’ (De Boinod 2005).
Such fascinating words should not be lost as they are important to the cultures they are from and beautiful to outsiders. Through language maintenance and reclamation we can keep important cultural practices and concepts alive.
3. Utilitarian benefits
Language revival benefits the speakers involved through improvement of wellbeing, mental health and cognitive abilities. It reduces delinquency and increases cultural tourism. Language revival has a positive effect on the mental and physical wellbeing of people involved. Participants develop a better appreciation of and sense of connection with their cultural heritage and tradition. Reacquiring their ancestors’ tongue can be an emotional experience and provide people with a strong sense of pride and identity. As the Aboriginal politician Aden Ridgeway said, ‘language is power; let us have ours!’ (Ridgeway 2009). Small changes can impact people in big ways. A participant at a Barngarla Aboriginal language reclamation workshop in May 2012 (Port Lincoln, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia) wrote that she found learning the language ‘liberating’, that it gave her a ‘sense of identity’ and that ‘it’s almost like it gives you a purpose in life’. Another participant said: ‘Our ancestors are happy.’
There are various cognitive advantages to multilingualism. Several studies have found that bilingual children have better non-linguistic cognitive abilities compared with monolingual children (see, e.g., Kovacs and Mehler 2009) and improved attention and auditory processing (see, e.g., Krizman et al. 2012):
The bilingual’s enhanced experience with sound results in an auditory system that is highly efficient, flexible and focused in its automatic sound processing, especially in challenging or novel listening conditions.
Evidence shows that being bilingual or multilingual can slow dementia, improving quality of life for many and reducing money spent on medical care. In a recent study it was also found that decision-making biases are reduced when using a second, in this case non-native, language (Keysar et al. 2012):
Four experiments show that the ‘framing effect’ disappears when choices are presented in a foreign tongue. Whereas people were risk averse for gains and risk seeking for losses when choices were presented in their native tongue, they were not influenced by this framing manipulation in a foreign language.
Two additional experiments show that using a foreign language reduces loss aversion, increasing the acceptance of both hypothetical and real bets with positive expected value. We propose that these effects arise because a foreign language provides greater cognitive and emotional distance than a native tongue does.
There are severe problems with mental health amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. According to the National Survey of Mental Wellbeing, 40% of Australians (not necessarily Indigenous) suffer from a mental disorder at some stage of their life. Furthermore, 20% of participants experienced some kind of mental disorder in the past 12 months. In comparison, 31% of respondents aged 15+ participating in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS, Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008) had experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the four weeks leading up to the interview alone (ABS Publication 4704.0). This is 2.5 times the rate for non-Indigenous Australians. Language reclamation increases feelings of wellbeing and pride amongst Indigenous people. Many of them are disempowered because they ‘fall between the cracks’, feeling neither whitefellows nor in command of their own Aboriginal heritage. As Fishman (1990 – see 2006: 90) puts it:
The real question of modern life and for RLS [reversing language shift] is […] how one […] can build a home that one can still call one’s own and, by cultivating it, find community, comfort, companionship and meaning in a world whose mainstreams are increasingly unable to provide these basic ingredients for their own members.
It has been shown that people involved in Indigenous language reclamation see an improvement in non-language subjects, linked to educational empowerment and improved self-confidence. Educational success directly translates to improved employability and decreased delinquency. Approximately $50,000 per language per year was provided in 2010-11 by ILS (Indigenous Language Support) to 78 projects involving 200 languages. The cost of incarceration is $100,000 per person per year and the cost of adolescent mental health $1,395 per patient per day.
Cultural tourism already represents an important part of Australia’s economy with many tourists wishing to learn about Indigenous cultures during their stay. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures represent part of Australia’s image overseas and greatly contribute to the tourist dollar. We need to help preserve and revive these languages, and protect cultural knowledge in order to maintain this point of attraction. This tourism not only benefits the economy, but can also provide work and opportunities for Indigenous people.
Establishing Revivalistics in Australia is turning Indigenous Australians into experts of language revival, making language revival part of their cultural identity. They will then be able to assist others in language revival. Language revival itself has therefore the potential to become an important part of Indigenous pride, bringing many benefits to the wider community. It can help promote awareness and understanding of Indigenous languages and cultures. By improving mental health and social cohesion through language reclamation projects, we can decrease the amount of money spent on ill health and social dysfunction. Language revival can aid in ‘closing the gap’ and encourages cultural tourism whilst enriching Australia’s multicultural society.
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2012/10/lin_20121020_1545.mp3 Interview with Ghil‘ad Zuckermann on Lingua Franca, ABC Radio National, 20 October 2012
Boroditsky, Lera and Gaby, Alice. 2010. ‘Remembrances of Times East: Absolute Spatial Representations of Time in an Australian Aboriginal Community’. Psychological Science. vol. 21 no. 11, pp.1635-1639
De Boinod, Adam Jacot. 2005. The Meaning of Tingo: And Other Extraordinary Words From Around the World. The Penguin Press: London.
Fishman, Joshua A. 2006. Language Loyalty, Language Planning, and Language Revitalization: Recent Writings and Reflections from Joshua A. Fishman, edited by Nancy Hornberger and Martin Pütz. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Haffenden, John 1985. Novelists in Interview. London – New York: Methuen.
Hallett, Darcy; Michael J. Chandler and Christopher E. Lalonde. 2007. ‘Aboriginal Language Knowledge and Youth Suicide’, Cognitive Development 22: 392-399.
Keysar, Boaz, Sayuri L. Hayakawa and Sun Gyu An. 2012. ‘The Foreign-Language Effect: Thinking in a Foreign Tongue Reduces Decision Biases’. Psychological Science. Vol. 23 no. 6 pp. 661-668.
Kovács, Ágnes Melinda and Mehler, Jacques. 2009. ‘Flexible Learning of Multiple Speech Structures in Bilingual Infants’. Science. Vol. 325 no. 5940 pp. 611-612.
Krizman, Jen, Marian, Viorica, Shook, Anthony, Skoe E and Kraus, Nina. 2012. ‘Subcortical encoding of sound is enhanced in bilinguals and relates to executive function advantages’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol 109 no. 20 pp. 7877-7881. http://www.soc.northwestern.edu/brainvolts/documents/Krizman-2012-Subcortical%20encoding.pdf
Ridgeway, Aden. 2009. ‘Language is power; let us have ours’, Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/language-is-power-let-us-have-ours-20091125-jrsb.html
Scrimgeour, Anne. 2007. Colonizers as Civilizers: Aboriginal schools and the mission to ‘civilise’ in South Australia, 1839-1845. PhD thesis. Charles Darwin University, Darwin.
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad. 2009. ‘Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns’. Journal of Language Contact Varia 2: 40-67. http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad & Walsh, Michael. 2011. ‘Stop, Revive, Survive!: Lessons from the Hebrew Revival Applicable to the Reclamation, Maintenance and Empowerment of Aboriginal Languages and Cultures’. Australian Journal of Linguistics 31: 111-127. http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Revival_Linguistics.pdf
Also published as Chapter 28 of Making Sense of Language Readings in Culture and Communication (2012), Second Edition, edited by Susan D. Blum: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/he/subject/Anthropology/CulturalandSocialAnthropology/LinguisticAnthropology/?view=usa&sf=toc&ci=9780199840922
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad & Monaghan, Paul. 2012. ‘Revival linguistics and the new media: Talknology in the service of the Barngarla language reclamation’, pp. 119-126 of Foundation for Endangered Languages XVI Conference: Language Endangerment in the 21st Century: Globalisation, Technology & New Media. Auckland, New Zealand. http://adelaide.academia.edu/Zuckermann/Papers/1971557/Revival_Linguistics_and_the_New_Media_Talknology_in_the_service_of_the_Barngarla_Language_Reclamation
How to cite this post:
Zuckermann, Ghil’ad. 2013. ‘Historical and moral arguments for language reclamation’. History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences. https://hiphilangsci.net/2013/06/26/historical-and-moral-arguments-for-language-reclamation
About Ghil'ad Zuckermann
D.Phil. (Oxford), Ph.D. (Cambridge) (titular), is Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages at the University of Adelaide. A native speaker of a reclaimed tongue (Hebrew) and fluent in 10 other languages, he is an expert of Revivalistics (including Revival Linguistics and Revivalomics), language contact, borrowing, lexicology and the study of language, culture and identity. He has launched together with the Barngarla community the reclamation of the no-longer-spoken Barngarla language of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Professor Zuckermann is Visiting Professor at the Pilpel Genomics Lab, Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), and Distinguished Visiting Professor and Oriental Scholar at Shanghai International Studies University (China). He serves as editorial board member of the Journal of Language Contact and consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. He is the author of the revolutionary bestseller Israeli – A Beautiful Language (2008), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment (2003) and Revival Linguistics (forthcoming by Oxford University Press); co-author of Tingo (2011, Tel Aviv), and editor of Burning Issues in Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (2012) and Jewish Language Contact (in press), a special issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language. He has published more than 100 articles in Israeli (Revived Hebrew), English, Italian, Yiddish, Spanish, German, Russian, Esperanto and Chinese. He was an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Fellow in 2007–2011 and Gulbenkian Research Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge in 2000–2004. He has taught inter alia at the University of Queensland, University of Cambridge and National University of Singapore, and has been a Research Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Conference Center, Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio, Italy; Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Research Centre for Linguistic Typology (RCLT), Institute for Advanced Study, La Trobe University; Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin; and Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyūjo, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Tokyo.
‹ The creation of ‘parts of speech’ for Chinese: ‘translingual practice’ across Graeco-Roman and Sinitic traditions
Early writing and printing in the Philippines ›
Tagged with: aesthetics, Australia, Barngarla, deontological, ethics, Hebrew, Indigenous mental health, Linguicide, Native Tongue Title, Pama-Nyungan languages, philosophy, Revival linguistics, Revivalistics, South Australia, Stolen Generation(s), Thura-Yura languages, utilitarian morality, wellbeing
Posted in Article, Australia, Philosophy, Revival linguistics, Revivalistics
15 comments on “Historical and moral arguments for language reclamation”
26 June 2013 at 11:56 am
Reblogged this on The DMZ Linguist.
Bernadette le Goullon says:
Ghil’ad’s article is a good case for language reclamation in Australia. Indigenous language is part of Australia’s heritage, as is every animal, plant or feature of this sacred country. Indigenous language is important to all Australians because it revives the identity of the country as it re-connects us with place. It is of great assistance to indigenous people who wish to explain the unique qualities of this land and the importance of its natural law.
rabia says:
This is a good article describing the causes of the revival of indigenous languages discussing particularly the situation in Australia….this is the situation common in all over the world here in Pakistan too we are facing this very situation
James McElvenny says:
Thanks for a great post! It’s really good to see this blog publishing pathbreaking programmatic material alongside studies of existing approaches made from the outside.
Could you say a little more about the status of revivalistics? Are there, say, any journals, textbooks or conferences that focus on revivalistics? And are there efforts to revive cultural institutions other than language?
What exactly is ‘revivalomics’ and how does it relate to revivalistics and revival linguistics? I couldn’t quite glean this from your post.
nickriemer says:
I agree with lots in this post, Ghil’ad, including the idea of compensation for lost languages, but I’ve got a concern which I think it’s worth airing. We clearly need to distinguish between reviving languages which are still partly spoken, and resurrecting ones which are now purely heritage items. I wasn’t always clear in your post whether you had in mind one or the other – or both – but the political and ethical questions in the two cases seem to me quite different. Isn’t there a risk, for instance, that putting the stress on the ‘resurrection’ of wholly extinct languages may have the counterproductive effect of devaluing indigenous people’s current linguistic practices, and locating the source of their cultural authenticity in a past which they’re unlikely ever to be able to fully recapture? Languages spoken by previous generations are clearly part of the cultural heritage of any community and, as such, deserve recognition of some kind. But in the case of many Aboriginal languages, they’re now, tragically, no longer anyone’s mother-tongue. It seems to me that if our interest is in helping Aboriginal people to ‘recover their cultural autonomy, empower their spiritual and intellectual sovereignty, and improve their wellbeing’, then a good first step would be to try and valorize their contemporary culture, including their current languages – and that this is a higher priority than trying to draw them back to a precontact status about which, ironically, the experts are mostly white. In short, language-resurrection seems a rather more ambiguous political project than you present it as. I wonder whether this question has ever been raised by or in the communities concerned by language-resurrection projects. Have the Aboriginal people in question often been presented with a choice between the restoration of no longer spoken languages and the valorization of current ones ? Carmel O’Shanessy’s recent appearance in a long article in the New York Times on ‘Light Warlpiri’ (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/science/linguist-finds-a-language-in-its-infancy.html?_r=0) is, perhaps, a good example of the way that European linguists’ involvement can lead to the positive valuation of current non-traditional linguistic practices.
Mohammad Ali Salmani Nodoushan says:
Ghil'ad Zuckermann says:
Thank you, all, for your perspicacious comments.
Language revival is obviously on a continuum. It includes the (1) RECLAMATION of sleeping beauty tongues (i.e. no-longer spoken languages such as Hebrew in 135-1886 AD, Barngarla and Kaurna), (2) REVITALIZATION of severely-endangered languages (i.e. languages spoken natively by some elders. Adnyamathanha), and (3) RENEWAL of endangered languages (e.g. Māori).
To ask a Barngarla Aboriginal person to adopt Warlpiri as his/her heritage language is like to ask a Welshman to adopt Russian as his/her language because it is stronger than Welsh, or to ask fin-de-siècle Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (father of Israeli, or Revived Hebrew) to adopt Arabic.
Of course the 18 Indigenous Australian languages that are alive and kicking ought to be maintained! Of course the dozens of Aboriginal tongues that are spoken only by several elders must be kept! But these crucially-significant activities have little to do with Stephen Atkinson (Barngarla) or Geoff Anderson (Wiradjuri) – see
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3810408.htm
And it is NEITHER zero-sum NOR a game!
Yours respectfully, Ghil‘ad
Alison Fay says:
Dear Prof. Zuckerman,
I am intrigued by your statement, “Of course the 18 Indigenous Australian languages that are alive and kicking ought to be maintained! Of course the dozens of Aboriginal tongues that are spoken only by several elders must be kept!”
I don’t doubt your zeal, but would you please explain the “of course?” I have a number of Spanish speaking students from indigenous language backgrounds who have asked me why this opinion is so automatically understandable and immune from question. After all, haven’t countless languages bitten the dust in the last 5,000 years while the world has managed to survive? Nobody speaks Old English anymore, but their descendants are doing quite well some 1500 years later. The same can be said for a number of other languages, too. There are no heritage speakers Etruscan, but the inhabitants of that part of central Italy do quite well. My students asked me about my own situation, and I told them that despite my ancestry, I am not willing to undertake the study of Gaelic. The last Gaelic speaker of my family probably died 400 years ago.
I have not arrived at a satisfactory answer to my students’ question about the “of course,” so would you please provide one? We would all like a logical argument based on demonstrable facts and deduction, one which is not based on emotion, anecdotal evidence, rhetorical question or assertion. In other words, they want quod erat demonstrandum. Kindly oblige.
South American Prof
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Old School Skills: Erica Mattingly
by Zachary Dodson
(July 7, 2014) — When University of Kentucky student Erica Mattingly enrolled in one of Andrew M. Byrd’s linguistics courses, she had no idea she would be rewriting history — or at least re-speaking it.
Byrd, assistant professor of linguistics in the College of Arts and Sciences, and his students have drawn national attention for their groundbreaking work to reconstruct and understand prehistoric languages.
Byrd has devoted much of his research time translating the language known as Proto-Indo-European (PIE). The language is thought to have been first used over 7,000 years ago, with some suspecting it was spoken even earlier. Byrd’s work focuses on the sounds and structure of the PIE language, aiming to understand what it sounded like when spoken a millennia ago.
“To figure out what PIE sounded like, we must compare it to the most ancient Indo-European languages, like Latin, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit,” Byrd said.
While the nuts and bolts behind reconstructing stories in PIE is quite complicated, Byrd describes the translation process as fairly straightforward. The difficulty, he says, comes from knowing which words the PIE speakers used, which requires study and knowledge of the culture.
“For each sentence you want to write, you must consider the words the PIE speakers used to convey concepts as well as the word order. Once you have those, you’ve got yourself a reconstructed sentence,” said Byrd.
Mattingly, a linguistics and Spanish senior, took Byrd’s Indo-European course last year. She says her experience in the class played no small part in her decision to pursue a career in linguistics. After a study of the culture of the PIE speakers and the makeup of their language, Byrd issued a unique challenge to his class: To translate the third-ever fable into PIE.
When Byrd told his class that they would be reconstructing a fable into the PIE language, no one knew what an undertaking it would become. Mattingly recounts the pressure to reconstruct the language accurately.
“It was so, so difficult at first, because we wanted so badly to do it correctly,” she said. “These are words our linguistic ancestors spoke. So to bridge that gap in class was very meaningful to me.”
Byrd keeps his dynamic classroom environment full of challenge and opportunity, offering up research studies to his students interested in translating other works written in PIE and other ancient languages. These independent studies are flexible, chosen based on consideration of student interest and Byrd’s work.
“The work that comes out of these studies is stellar,” Byrd said.
Last year, Mattingly had the opportunity to complete an independent study with Byrd. Knowing her strengths after having her in class, Byrd pushed Mattingly to take a leap and work on something new. She chose to look at the adaptation of the Spanish language between the years 711 and 1400 and how it shifted as a result of an influence from Arabic.
“Dr. Byrd inspired me to work on something that incorporated both languages that I speak," she said. "Before working alongside him, I hadn’t thought about Islamic conquest in terms of how it affected the evolution of the Spanish language.”
Byrd says he likes to make his classes stand out from other linguistics courses so that his students learn the material they need while having fun.
“While students are asked to undertake lots of linguistic analysis, I always like to bring a little bit of fun and silliness into it, whether it’s translating a fable into PIE or analyzing the made-up language of Ramma Lamma Ding Dongian,” he said.
It’s that environment that encouraged Mattingly to further pursue her linguistics passion. She emphasizes the value of having Byrd as a mentor who can check in on her and she can approach with questions or concerns, as she recalls not always having the answers as a first-year student.
“Dr. Byrd knows his craft really well," she said. "If I have a question, he will either have a hard answer or he’ll know exactly where to send me. He’s a great asset as a resource.”
For incoming linguistics students, Byrd recommends a strong desire to learn other languages and a willingness to look at things from other perspectives, which, he says, go hand in hand.
“My advice is to take courses in both ancient and modern languages from the wonderful faculty in the MCLLC department and Hispanic Studies Department here at UK,” he said.
After she graduates, Mattingly plans to pursue a master’s degree in linguistics and later start a career in translation and linguistics for the federal government. Byrd’s teaching style, in which he compares translation to solving a riddle, allowed her to see how much she enjoyed the process.
“It really opened me up to realizing how much I love linguistics,” she said. “I love finding the answer and doing research that has never been done before, whether it’s PIE, Bengali or Swahili. It gives us insights not only into those cultures but our own as well.”
To read the translated fables and other student work, visit the linguistics blog.
Photos by Dana Rogers
andrew byrd
proto-indo-european
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erica mattingly
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20 Years of Pokemon: Which Generation Is Your Favorite?
Arthur Bianchini
20 Years of Pokemon
Last year, the Pokémon franchise completed 20 years of existence. Throughout those 20 years the franchise has evolved with its audience, going from a very simple graphics to 3D animation. Even though the franchise has been constantly changing throughout those 20 years, one variable that has remained the same is how you play the game.
From generation 1 to the current generation, the player has the option of choosing between a fire starter, a water starter or a grass starter. On those games, the opponent's player will select their starter based on your choice, in which is a classic case of Rock-Paper-Scissors.The only game that does not follow that pattern is Pokémon Yellow in which the player's starter is Pikachu because it follows the journey of the first season of the anime. With that only exception to the franchise, the player usually chooses their starter based on type or favorite final evolution.
Regardless of which starter you choose in each generation, throughout those 20 years of Pokémon there must be one generation that you enjoy more than others. Throughout this blog I will list my favorite generations of Pokémon, and the main reasons why I have them as my favorites.
XY... Z
Every franchise has to endure some type of reboot and it is no different with the Pokémon franchise. The previous generation of Pokémon was a complete let down for me as a fan, because it had a lot of potential that got ruined on the first episode of the series. By fixing the mistakes that occurred in the Black and White series, the XYZ generation is by far one of the best generations of the franchise. There are three aspects about the XYZ series that makes this season stand out, which are the addition of mega evolution to existing Pokémon, much improved graphics within the game as well as the anime, and a much improved writing.
Mega evolution is a crucial component of the XYZ series throughout both the game and the anime. Mega evolution allows the player to increase their Pokémon's power throughout a battle, and once battle is over the player's Pokémon returns to its normal evolution state. Two things I like about the mega evolution concept is that it is a nostalgia from generation one of Pokémon, because it introduced different evolution forms from the original 151. Also, the mega evolution was crucial to the character development of the main protagonist of the show, because it allowed the protagonist to grow closer to its pokemon and go further in their journey on the Pokémon league. Even though, Mega evolution was one of my favorite aspects , it was not the only component that made XYZ one of my favorite generations.
When the Pokémon franchise was first introduced the graphics were very simple because of the technology that was being utilized 20 years ago. However, through those 20 years the graphics have improved drastically. Pokémon XY was the first game to be played in 3D graphics, which shows how far the franchise has evolved. The amazing graphics from the XY series also were displayed on the anime, which made the show a lot more enjoyable to watch. Along with the graphics of the show, another aspect that made the show enjoyable was the writing.
For the first time throughout the whole franchise history, the main protagonist reaches the final of the Pokémon tournament even though the main protagonist still loses in the tournament the viewer can see there were some changes to the script of the anime. Even though, the main protagonist may still be 10 years old, there is a certain type of maturity to Ash that has not been witnessed before. Also, the relationship of Ash and its Pokemon in this season is much stronger especially with Greninja. The last time we saw this type of bond was during Diamond and Pearl. Generation 7 was one of my favorites, but lets travel to Johto and understand why it is one of my favorites.
It's a Whole New World
In the end of the year of 2000, Pokémon had reached its peak of popularity with the new merchandise as well as new products. American fans witnessed a whole new world of Pokémon in the end of 2000. Fans were introduced to newer Pokémon to catch as well as a whole new land to explore. Just like its predecessor, the Johto series contained two games (Gold and Silver) in which the player could only catch certain Pokémon and would have to trade with friends to collect all Pokémon. Gold and Silver were introduced on the Game Boy Color which provided more detail to the animation as well as color to the game moving away from the green coloring from the previous generation. Another aspect that made the game enjoyable was the introduction of the day and night concept, in which allowed the player to catch different Pokémon throughout different parts of the day. One last thing about Gold and Silver that has not been seeing in recent games is the player can return to the first region where the game takes place unlike other games. I will explore those three key points in the following paragraphs.
Gold and Silver introduced the players to colors, if I remember correctly it was an additional 16 pixel for coloring moving away from the bland colors from the original games. Believe it or not introducing that simple aspect to the game gave another depth for the graphics of the game even though it is a very minor aspect to the game. Along the same lines of adding colors to the game , another aspect that made the game so enjoyable was the introduction of the day and night setting which was a game changer for certain players.
Introducing Day and Night concept to the game for me was a game changer, because you could catch some interesting Pokémon early in the morning as well as early evening. By utilizing this whole new concept it could give the player a slight advantage on their opponents because the gamer would get expose to stronger Pokémon instead of just relying on weaker members for your team. The Day and Night was something I really enjoyed because I caught some great Pokémon at night in comparison if I played the game in the morning. Also the Day and Night setting helped me travel through both the original region of the game and the Johto region.
After the game was completed the player could actually return to the region of the previous generation and actually defeat the gym leader of the Kanto region. However, there are some few modifications when you return to the Kanto region. Being able to fight against the original gym leaders is quite enjoyable and also provides that sense of nostalgia to the player because it reminds us why we play the Pokémon games in the first place. Also, in the Gold and Silver games the player has the ultimate showdown with the protagonist of the first games, which is something quite enjoyable. Speaking of first games, there is one generation that I could not forget which is the original generation.
On February 27, 1996 the Pokémon franchise was born with the introduction of Pokémon Red and Green. The green version was only introduced in Japan, for gamers in the United States it is the blue version of the game. The success of those games were so huge that soon enough Pokémon was getting an anime version, in which follows a 10 year old Ash Ketchum in his quest to become a Pokémon master. Just like I mentioned before the anime follows a different formula then the games, in which your starter is an electric instead of the Rock-Paper-Scissor approach.
Even though the earlier games are not 3D and the animations are not as sharp, it is still one of my favorite generations of the franchise, because there are some unforgettable characters as well as Pokémon. I remember that the first Pokémon game that I played was the yellow version which follow the anime's footsteps and looking back it was very hard game since I did not have an advantage on the first gym. Other fond memories of the first generation was playing the game for hours no stop just in order to beat the game, nowadays I cannot spend that much time on a single game.
Besides the games itself, the first seasons of the anime are very enjoyable to watch because the viewer is growing with the protagonist and understanding the importance of bonding with your friends. That is one of the main reasons why the first generation is by far one of my favorites, because allows us to find joy in this world. There you have it, my favorite generations of Pokémon throughout the 20 years. What is your favorite and why? Thanks for reading.
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