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NBC 5 boss David Doebler adds Telemundo station
posted on November 11, 2016 at 5:00 pm by Robert Feder
NBCUniversal has combined management of its two television stations in Chicago, with one boss now overseeing both NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 and its Spanish-language sister station, Telemundo Chicago WSNS-Channel 44.
David Doebler, president and general manager of NBC 5 since 2013, was named to the additional position of president and general manager of Telemundo Chicago.
The consolidation eliminates the position of Chris McDonnell, who had headed Telemundo Chicago since 2012. Earlier, he had served as vice president of sales and marketing at the station. Employees were informed Thursday that McDonnell had left the company.
Sources said the move was designed to save money and improve efficiency of the two stations, which share studios and offices at NBC Tower, 455 North Cityfront Plaza Drive.
Before joining NBC 5, Doebler spent eight years as president and general manager of WVIT, the NBC-owned station in Hartford, Connecticut.
← ‘Steve Harvey Show’ to leave Chicago for L.A., sources say
Robservations: Layoffs hit Crain’s Chicago Business →
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A Guide to Latin Dance
Posted by rococosystems in Guest Posts, Music
Martha Graham once said in a very succinct and apt way, “Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” Every nation in the world has some form of music and dance as integral parts of their history. However, perhaps no form of dance can enable the soul to speak more eloquently than Latin dance. The sheer energy, frame, grace, power, sexiness and charisma of this dance form, decades ago, took the world by storm and still holds it in-thrall. There are dozens and dozens of dance forms that come under the umbrella of Latin dance so we thought (with it being Strictly season) that we’d take a closer look at five extremely popular Latin dance forms.
Even the name of the dance, Cha Cha Cha, can get the feet a-tapping! This dance originates from Cuba and has its origins around 1952-53. Technically speaking, the dance movements for the Cha Cha Cha start on the second beat and it also had a split fourth beat. Traditionally, this dance is accompanied by good old Cuban music or Latin rock. There are a few variations from country to country as well.
The Samba originated in Brazil in the early 20th century, with a few of its steps first detailed in the early 1910s. This is a partner dance, which is lively and very energetic. The technique behind the Samba involves the bending of the knees, which causes the couple to have a bobbing action.
One dance form that shows the marriage of two different cultures is the Rumba. It has a distinct mix of Cuban and African influences and has a ballroom version. The ballroom version of the Rumba is to a slower beat and even restrained compared to the Afro-Cuban Rumba. One of the signature moves of the Rumba is the hip sway, which takes place when a dancer is balanced on just a foot!
This Spanish term stands for double step and that is the core of this Latin dance form. It is performed by a duo and is a very lively style of dance. Interestingly enough, it has close links to the Spanish tradition of bullfighting. It is a very structured dance form and, as a result, it is mostly performed at competitive levels.
Even though there is some debate about whether this is a true Latin dance form or not, the Argentine Tango is considered by many to be inextricably linked to the history of Latin dance. This is probably one of the slower dance forms among the several Latin dance forms and is marked by a couple dancing in close embrace to nostalgic music.
This article was produced by leading Latin America Tour operator – Journey Latin America who offer superb holidays to Argentina, Brazil, Peru and the whole of the South American continent.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tammylo/424762097
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7636143384
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vdrg/5561136811/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ana_cotta/2711677973
Cha Cha, Dance, Latin, Latin dance, Martha Graham, Performing Arts, Rumba
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Cautious welcome to government plans for fairer school funding in Cambridegshire
Steeple Morden Primary School headteacher Richard Lloyd with a letter sent to parents outlining his concerns over school funding in Cambridgeshire - Credit: Archant
Government plans to address the inbalance in schools funding in Cambridgeshire have been given a cautious welcome by education chiefs.
Last week the Government announced a consultation that would result in Cambridgeshire’s schools per pupil funding – the lowest funded in the country – rising by about £20m in 2015/16 - equating to an extra £275 per pupil.
As reported in The Crow last week, the county’s schools had been urging parents to sign a petition calling for action to be taken against the equality in funding, which sees Cambridgeshire schools receive more than £500 per pupil less than the national average.
Richard Lloyd, head teacher at Steeple Morden primary school, said the news was a step in the right direction.
But he warned: “This doesn’t come into effect this year, and in April a lot of primary schools are going to be struggling.
“There should be equality across the board, every school should get the same amount of money per child regardless of where they are.”
The schools had been campaigning for bridging finance to be put in place for the school year 2014/15.
Cllr David Harty, Cabinet Member for Education and Learning at Cambridgeshire County Council said: “We welcome this news of increased funding for 2015/16. It acknowledges the dire financial situation Cambridgeshire’s schools have been in for many years, as well as the tireless work that has been done by many people and organisations – particularly the Cambridgeshire Schools Forum - to raise the issue at the highest level.
“The extra funding is a step in the right direction – but there is a long way to go. Cambridgeshire has been chronically underfunded for many years and while today’s announcement is good news, we need to continue our work to secure a fairer approach to funding schools in the long term.”
Philip Hodgson, chair of the Cambridgeshire Schools Forum added: “I am pleased the Government has at last recognised the problem – but the extra money is needed now. This only starts to address the underlying low level of funding schools have suffered from for many years. We are also still awaiting the long-promised consultation on the future of funding for schools.”
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Paddy Power Betfair Goes Live with Scientific Games’ OGS
LAS VEGAS – January 16, 2019 – Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ: SGMS) (“Scientific Games” or the “Company”) is enhancing its partnership with long-term customer Paddy Power Betfair by rolling out its Open Gaming System (OGS) content aggregation platform across in new regulated markets including the UK, Ireland and Italy. SG Digital has provided a tailored offering for the group, integrated seamlessly alongside its existing casino platform.
Paddy Power Betfair will have access to over 2,000 casino titles from SG Digital’s in-house games studios and the industry’s leading third-party content providers.
The new deal significantly boosts the close-working collaborative relationship between the two companies, with Paddy Power Betfair already live with OGS in New Jersey, as well as SG Digital’s OpenBetTM sportsbook.
Dylan Slaney, SVP Casino at SG Digital, added: “We’re thrilled to have delivered our OGS service to long-standing partner Paddy Power Betfair for its UK, Irish and Italian operations. They are an established operator with a sizeable offering and the decision to integrate OGS for its key regulated markets is further endorsement of the scalability and quality of our gaming product portfolio.”
Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ: SGMS) is the global leader in technology-based gaming systems, table games, table products and instant games and a leader in products, services and content for gaming, lottery and interactive gaming markets. Scientific Games delivers what customers and players value most: trusted security, creative content, operating efficiencies and innovative technology. Today, we offer customers a fully integrated portfolio of technology platforms, robust systems, engaging content and unrivalled professional services. For more information, please visit www.scientificgames.com.
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ALJAZAM (Al Jazeera)
The Chin Grimes TV News Archive
Al Jazeera America
News : ALJAZAM : August 6, 2015 10:30am-11:01am EDT
by ALJAZAM
trina. the new billion dollars university medical center is being celebrated as full-scale health care finally returning to the city. many hope it will stay true to its mission of caring for all patients including the poor and uninsured. >> i'm thrilled that i'm here. and we have this here. it's a bit shameful that it has taken ten years to happen. >> reporter: for the chief medical officer, opening the doors as the city marks a decade since the storm, makes it tough not to reflect on that frantic week in 2005. he was among the staff and patients trapped in the hospital. >> we moved our patients from the emergency department to a second floor auditorium. >> reporter: it wasn't long before water knocked out basement generators, and the temperatures soared. this doctor was in charge of 50 intensive care patients. >> we ran out of sedatives, so many of the patients that had breathing tubes in were awake and squeezing them with a bag. >> reporter: some infrants and critical patients were air lie
trina. the new billion dollars university medical center is being celebrated as full-scale health care finally returning to the city. many hope it will stay true to its mission of caring for all patients including the poor and uninsured. >> i'm thrilled that i'm here. and we have this here. it's a bit shameful that it has taken ten years to happen. >> reporter: for the chief medical officer, opening the doors as the city marks a decade since the storm, makes it tough not to reflect...
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HomeTagsPosts tagged with "I Don’t Care"
Justin Bieber posts emotional note about depression and child fame
by Kate Brayden
Justin Bieber has opened up about his struggles with fame, drugs and depression in a lengthy post that just might make you a Belieber again.
The personal message was shared to his Instagram page, and he apologises for past behaviour and reflects on his growth from a child star to a confident musician and husband.
Music manager and enemy #1 of Taylor Swift, Scooter Braun, discovered Bieber when he was just 13-years-old on YouTube.
A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Jul 22, 2019 at 12:26pm PDT
The note is opened up by the pop star by addressing recent feelings of depression, linked to the “quite unexplainable” pressure placed on a celebrity who has come from an unstable home to grow up in the chaotic media spotlight.
“It’s hard to get out of bed in the morning…when it feels like there’s trouble after trouble after trouble,” he wrote on Instagram
“You start foreseeing the day through lenses of ‘dread’ and anticipate another bad day. A cycle of feeling disappointment after disappointment. Sometimes it can even get to the point where you don’t even want to live anymore. Where you feel like it’s never going to change.”
A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Sep 2, 2019 at 2:38pm PDT
He had "millions in the bank" by just 18-years-old and “access to whatever I wanted” but “no skills in the real world”, he said.
By 19, the singer was doing “pretty heavy drugs” and “abused” the relationships he was in: “I became resentful, disrespectful to women and angry,” he explained.
He had an epiphany moment at 20, where he had “made every bad decision you could have thought of and went from one of the most loved and adored people in the world to the most ridiculed, judged and hated person in the world.
A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Mar 13, 2019 at 6:48am PDT
The 25-year-old wrote that his life has changed for the better, thanking his faith, marriage to Hailey Baldwin, and the support network of his friends and family for his recovery.
He made sure to add that the biggest dopamine rush you can get is being on stage, and performers turn to drugs to cope with the "huge highs and lows" of life off-stage.
Bieber has teased new music following his hit collaboration with Ed Sheeran, I Don’t Care.
Many of us remember Purpose, his last album which was released in 2015 and delivered bangers like Sorry, What Do You Mean and Where Are U Now?.
Feature image: Instagram/@jailey_addict
child star
scooter braun
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“True Sadness” Avett Brothers
“…an unhelpful amount of cultural journalism is dedicated to attacking works of art that critics deem substandard. Though this may be a diverting spectator sport, it has little to do with the more useful mission of trying to unite a short-time and suffering audience with works that would be of genuine benefit to them.”
Alain de Botton, The News, A users manual
I got into a late-night whisky induced discussion once, with a few friends, on the subject of musical influence – which artist / band has been the most influential of all time, etc…
I hung my hat on Buddy Holly.
And I still do.
Not Elvis, Not The Beatles. Not the Stones.
Buddy Holly.
It’s my opinion and I’m happy with it.
When it comes to reviewing a gig or a body of work by an artist it may also be subjective, but I have always believed that it’s important NOT to criticise ANYONE, unless you can do better, and even then it becomes a respect and dignity thing.
And so…
It was with much excitement that I waited for the new album by The Avett Brothers, a band I’ve followed long and hard since I first heard them in and around 2009.
Listening to them for the first time was a real game changer for me and since, I’ve flown to Glasgow to see them, driven to Dublin and bought tickets for a London gig, and raved about them to anyone and everyone who’d listen to me.
True Sadness released on Monday 24th June is the latest Rick Rubin produced Avett recording and sees the band being led a little bit further away from their Americana roots.
For me that makes the album title almost prophetic.
It’s a certainly a progression since their earliest work but I’m just not so sure that it’s a logical one and with this recording it feels like the band have a greater craving now for the mainstream than ever before.
Scott and Seth Avett had crafted a very hipster brand of Americana with their feet firmly planted in traditional folk, bluegrass and alt-country, with the occasionally out-reach to rock and roll.
“Grunge Country” is how I might have described their earlier work.
In the band, the brothers work closely with Bob Crawford (bass) and Joe Kwan (Cello) and have done so for a number of years now but their trademark is pure AVETT – a mixture of Scott and Seth’s harmonies, Scott’s banjo playing and the jangly acoustic rhythms from his brother, Seth.
All in, they’ve been at this for 16 years and it may well be that True Sadness is their break from their own traditional roots and into the mainstream, but we should have seen this coming some time ago – one of their songs – “You and I” from 2012s’ The Carpenter – has already been used for a GAP commercial.
True Sadness is very much worth a listen, if you are a die-hard fan of the Avett Brothers.
Then you can make up your own mind.
The front cover bears an uncanny and ironic resemblance to Give Them Enough Rope, by The Clash and all the songs are well crafted, melodic and well produced.
And that might just be the problem in that the production by Rick Rubin takes away those rough edges, so evident in their early work.
If you were simply a fan of great music, then I’d point you in the direction of “Emotionalism, (2007) Mignionette (2004), I and Love and You (2009)”
Throughout their back catalogue, there are gems everywhere.
An EP released in 2006 called The Gleaming hosts the beautiful “If it’s the beaches.”
The Gleaming II features “Bella Donna” and “Murder in the city” and from Four Thieves Gone, you could pick any number of stand-out tracks including “Pretend Love”, “Colourshow” and the most incredible “Famous Flower of Manhattan”
If True Sadness is the commercial break they crave, then I wish the Avett Brothers well and whilst the Americana genre has been richer for them it’s probably going to be a whole lot poorer without them.
You don’t always have to keep up with the Joneses
Jump back, what’s that sound
Shawn Jones – The Tap Room, Co Down.
Close Ties – the latest recording from the Houston Kid
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Some comparisons between Italy and the UK for Covid-19: March to April 2020
Written by Giovanni Sebastiani, Julian Stander and Mario Cortina Borja on 21 April 2020 .
With the rapid global spread of Covid-19 in recent weeks, many comparisons have been made between the number of cases in different countries. Italy was one of the first in Europe to be badly hit by the pandemic and imposed a full lockdown on 12 March. The effects of Covid-19 were felt later in the UK, with the lockdown coming on 24 March. It is therefore of interest to compare the progress of the disease in Italy to the countries of the UK. To do this we use publicly available data1,2 and statistical models including logistic growth to address the questions, “Is the increase in the number of documented cases of Covid-19 slowing down?” and “How soon do changes follow from lockdowns?”.
Pandemics and exponential growth
Written by James J. Cochran on 21 April 2020 .
During his 26 March call into "The Sean Hannity Show" on Fox News, President Donald Trump questioned whether New York state would actually need the tens of thousands of ventilators its state's leaders had estimated would be necessary to deal with its expected number of coronavirus cases. Then, three days later during a briefing at the White House, Trump said: "Something's going on, and you ought to look into it as reporters. Where are the masks going? Are they going out the back door? How do you go from 10,000 to 300,000?"
Visualising the pandemic: interviews with data journalists covering Covid-19
Written by Andrew Garthwaite on 21 April 2020 .
In many parts of the world, the outcome of the Covid-19 outbreak has a lot to do with the choices people make about social distancing and obeying restrictions, as well as choices about their own personal care, such as maintaining a more thorough approach to handwashing or, more controversially, when it is appropriate to wear a mask. Those decisions will be influenced by each individual’s knowledge and beliefs, which – in turn – are shaped by the information they receive from government, from healthcare professionals, and from the media.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Italian mobility
Written by Francesco Finazzi and Alessandro Fassò on 16 April 2020 .
The pandemic of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) triggered by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has forced the governments of many states to introduce measures of social distancing that restrict personal mobility. In the absence of a vaccine or effective treatments, limiting the interaction between individuals is one of the few tools available to combat the epidemic and to plan a return to normality.
A statistician’s guide to coronavirus numbers
Written by RSS Statistical Ambassadors on 09 April 2020 .
The Royal Statistical Society’s Statistical Ambassadors have collated an essential guide for understanding statistics about Covid-19. Here, they list definitions, things to look out for, and what you should do about the numbers you are seeing.
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'Earnest' gets a modern twist
Elaine Spencer, Correspondent
The University of Illinois Springfield is experimenting with time travel in its first of two theater productions of the 2015-16 season.
Its production of Oscar Wilde's 1895 comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest", which opens Friday, is set in contemporary London rather than in the Victorian era in which it was written.
Director Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, UIS associate professor and director of theatre, noted that Wilde did not intend "Earnest" to be a period piece, but a commentary on British society as his audience would have experienced it.
"The play takes place in 'the present,’" Thibodeaux-Thompson said. "We reset it to 2015, and we're pretty convinced it holds up" without much change in the script.
The plot turns on the real and assumed identities of two men: Jack Worthing (Alessandro Vazquez), who pretends to be his prodigal, city-dwelling "brother" Earnest, and Algernon Moncrieff (Christopher Vemagiri Marbaniang), who pretends to have a chronically-ill "friend" named Bunbury who lives in the country.
The tangled relationships between the men, their alter egos and the women who love them — or more precisely love the persons they believe them to be — gradually unravel with humorous results.
"This was Wilde's masterpiece, written when he was peaking in his career," Thibodeaux-Thompson said. "He is extremely witty and arguably the most quotable (British) author with the exception of Shakespeare. His quotes are on refrigerators all over America."
Cast members say the main characters are surprisingly easy to envision as milliennials rather than Victorians.
Algernon "is a cool dude with an air of knowing everything" and could be described as a "metrosexual" with refined tastes, said Marbaniang. "He's a young guy who loves extravagant living, and believes in the 'you only live once' thing."
Jack, meanwhile, represents "old money" as opposed to Algernon's "new money," Vazquez said. "He's not really uppity, but kind of stuffy, and likes things to be in order."
The female leads are Diamond Dixon as Algernon's cousin Gwendolen Fairfax, and Beatrice Bonner as Cecily Cardew, Jack's ward. Gwendolen and Cecily fall in love with Jacka and Algernon respectively, whom they both mistake for the elusive Earnest.
Bonner describes Cecily as "a hopeless romantic" who is "very loving and wants someone to love her back."
"The only difference (from the way Wilde envisioned her) is that I play her as more open with regard to displays of affection" than a 19th-century young lady would have been, she added.
Gwendolen, according to Dixon, is "a pretty sensible girl for her age" who tries to overcome her mother's objections to her relationship with Jack/Earnest.
"She is not as naïve as Cecily," Dixon said. "My biggest challenge was to make her character more modern in how she holds herself and how she reacts to other characters." For example, she said the 21st century Gwendolen would not be as easily shocked as the 19th century Gwendolen.
Stage manager Angelina Russo said shifting "Earnest" to the present day made costuming easier, but staging and props were more complex. To portray the lifestyle of contemporary British aristocrats "we used the royal family as a sort of template," she said.
One section of the stage will be fixed, while the other section will rotate on a turntable so that scene changes proceed more smoothly. "It's kind of fun to try something different," Russo said.
Thiboudeaux-Thompson believes "Earnest" has remained popular for more than a century because it has larger-than-life characters and involves timeless situations such as the generation gap, winning the approval of potential in-laws and divisions between social classes.
"It portrays life in a classist society, which America pretends not to be but is," he said. "And it's also genuinely funny."
His wife, associate professor of theatre Missy Thiboudeaux-Thompson, will be directing UIS' spring production, "Distracted" by Lisa Loomis.
First performed in 2007, "Distracted" portrays a family whose 9-year-old son is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Auditions will take place Jan. 24 and 25 and the show will open April 22.
"Some might see it as a satire, but it is very honest about navigating through the medical and mental aspects" of ADHD, she said. "It's not just about ADHD but about our culture in general. Are we more connected technologically, but less connected humanly?"
"The Importance of Being Earnest"
When: 7:30 p.m., Oct. 30-31, Nov. 5-7 (Thurs., Fri., Sat.) and 2 p.m. matinee Nov. 1
Where: Studio Theater, Level 1, Public Affairs Center (PAC) on the UIS campus
Tickets: $14 general admission; $12 Seniors 65 or better; $10 UIS faculty and staff; $8 college students with ID; $6 for youth 17 and younger. Visit: Sangamon Auditorium Ticket Office (M-F: 10-5), Level 2, PAC on the UIS campus.
Information: Call 206-6160 or visitwww.uis.edu/theatre.
A previous version of this story misspelled Angelina Russo's name.
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Creating a comfortable place to live
[b]Minsk has been rapidly developing over the last few years. Housing, roads and enterprises, contemporary business centres, spacious hypermarkets and comfortable hotels are being built. In the post-war years, Minsk became an industrial city and the Soviet Union’s ‘assembly factory’ [/b]Now, in the early 21st century, it has transformed into one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals. Manufacture is gradually pushing services outside the city and international business is arriving. Soon, Belarus’ capital will be notable for its comfort, rationality and aesthetic appearance. Minsk’s general development plan (running until 2030) has recently been approved by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Minsk has been rapidly developing over the last few years. Housing, roads and enterprises, contemporary business centres, spacious hypermarkets and comfortable hotels are being built. In the post-war years, Minsk became an industrial city and the Soviet Union’s ‘assembly factory’
Now, in the early 21st century, it has transformed into one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals. Manufacture is gradually pushing services outside the city and international business is arriving. Soon, Belarus’ capital will be notable for its comfort, rationality and aesthetic appearance. Minsk’s general development plan (running until 2030) has recently been approved by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Capital’s satellites. Buildings and roads don’t appear in Minsk spontaneously. The capital is developing in compliance with its city development plan, meeting the requirements of our time. The first such plan was elaborated in 1800; the most recent was approved in 2003. Specialists have relied on annual population growth forecasts to help them plan ahead, but this figure is already double that expected, leading to amendments.
In September, a revised document was presented to the public. Minskers and city guests can now imagine how the capital will appear in the near future, ready to make their own proposals. In mid-November, Minsk’s corrected general plan — written on 2,500 pages in 8 volumes — was submitted to the President, who approved the architects’ plans. How will the country’s major city look in coming years?
“We’re deeply concerned that Minsk’s population shouldn’t exceed 2m people,” asserts the capital’s Chief Architect, Victor Nikitin. “If over 25-30 percent of the country’s population shifts towards the capital, transport infrastructure will need to be expanded.”
No more than 1.2m square metres will be built in Minsk annually; rather, major emphasis is being placed on the development of satellite towns, located 25-30km from the capital. These will possess their own social and production infrastructure and will be connected with Minsk via motorways, allowing the 2m strong city to be unloaded, released from the ‘diseases’ of a contemporary megapolis: traffic jams, lack of parking and exhaust pollution.
According to the Acting Chairman of Minsk City Executive Committee, Nikolai Ladutko, nine towns will become satellites of the capital: Dzerzhinsk, Zhodino, Fanipol, Smolevichi, Stolbtsy, Uzda, Rudensk, Zaslavl and Logoisk. Smolevichi (with around 15,000 residents) and Zaslavl (with approximately the same number) already have town development and economic assessments. In 2011, the creation of infrastructure outside of Minsk’s ring road will begin.
Road card. The amended general plan envisages the construction of a second transport ring — to appear around Minsk, connecting the Moscow-Berlin and Vilnius-Kiev highways. It will enable better transit cargo flow, with logistics centres operating outside the capital’s borders. The plan envisages coverage of future levels of cargo, making it a 21st century motorway — a high-speed illuminated road, meeting international standards. Belarus is a transit country and the creation of such roads could significantly increase budget revenue.
Transport traffic inside the city is a burning problem and the experience of the world’s megapolises shows that it’s wisest to solve the problem in good time. Alongside constructing traffic interchanges, some restrictions may be introduced on vehicles entering the capital. Of course, this can only be done if parking areas are provided, allowing visitors to ‘park and ride’, ensuring the smooth movement of urban transport.
The city authorities plan to focus on transport connections in Minsk in the coming years. For example, the creation of a city electric train, connecting Minsk Railway Station, Zhdanovichi and Smolevichi, will bring comfortable travel. Meanwhile, an entertainment park may be set up near Logoisk, with a high-speed tram running from Zeleny Lug metro station.
Minsk — a city of sport and tourism. 2014 is the nearest landmark for Minsk city planners. The capital needs to be ready to welcome up to 50,000 guests for the World Hockey Championship. Consequently, Minsk needs new hotels, trade and catering outlets, parking and, of course, sports facilities. Preparations for the championship will cost around
Br7 trillion (from the republican budget, the city’s funds and investments).
Sporting amateurs will be pleased. New facilities are to be added to familiar buildings being reconstructed. Dynamo Stadium won’t be the country’s main football arena any more; it will rather become a track-and-field ground. Its rows of shopping stalls will gradually be replaced by restaurants and cafes and two new hotels will open nearby, alongside an underground parking area. Football matches will be held at a contemporary stadium, seating 45,000, built on the site of today’s Traktor Stadium. With covered stands meeting international standards,
it will cost 100-120m euros.
Minsk’s Chizhovka district is also being revamped, acquiring a cultural and entertainment centre, sports facilities, restaurants, hotels and a parking area. Construction is scheduled for the next few years.
A multi-functional complex with a hotel promises to become the capital’s ‘pearl’. It will be built near Minsk’s Circus, by a famous group of companies — Kempinski. The investor promises that a luxury hotel for 200 will be built, with restaurants and offices, fitting harmoniously into the historical setting of Nezavisimosti Avenue. Minsk’s architectural style will be preserved. By late 2013, the project will be complete.
Another unusual project — worth 1.5bn euros — is the construction of Primorsky sports-tourist and housing complex on the banks of Zaslavskoe reservoir (aka ‘Minsk Sea’). A Czech company is ready to finance the venture, which will be unrivalled in Belarus and its neighbouring states. A hotel complex, guests villas, wooden camp sites, 30-storey blocks of flats, an ice rink, a swimming pool, a universal sports arena, a ski roller track, a yacht club with mooring for 100 vessels, Disneyland-style entertainment facilities for children and bowling are to appear by 2015, just 10km from Minsk.
Sports facilities will be commissioned a year earlier and, according to the First Vice President of the National Olympic Committee, Gennady Alexeenko, the project has already received preliminary approval. It will soon be submitted to the President. The Ministry for Sports and Tourism believes that its implementation will promote tourism into Belarus and will considerably expand opportunities for Minskers’ leisure. Minsk Chief Architect Victor Nikitin even thinks that, in future, Zaslavskoe reservoir could become an inter-city water reservoir. Such a powerful water system will benefit the megapolis, while being environmentally friendly.
Making Minsk more comfortable is a top priority for the capital’s city builders for the next five years. However, the amended plan may receive further changes by 2030. Even the most innovative projects have to remain adaptable.
By Lilia Khlystun
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Priorities of useful actions
[b]Optimistic messages have recently appeared, saying that our foreign trade balance has begun to level out, even becoming positive. This is pleasing, since foreign trade and the export of domestic produce have always been a ‘trump card’ of the Belarusian economy. Many well-established and well-known enterprises are now struggling to ensure our exports meet the high quality of old, worthy of the ‘Made in Belarus’ trademark, to ensure good sales. The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI) is among those guiding our export success. It plays a vital role in attracting foreign investments into the country while influencing the efficient development of joint industrial co-operation. Chairman Mikhail Myatlikov tells us about its readiness to make efficient, contemporary and bold decisions [/b]
Optimistic messages have recently appeared, saying that our foreign trade balance has begun to level out, even becoming positive. This is pleasing, since foreign trade and the export of domestic produce have always been a ‘trump card’ of the Belarusian economy. Many well-established and well-known enterprises are now struggling to ensure our exports meet the high quality of old, worthy of the ‘Made in Belarus’ trademark, to ensure good sales. The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI) is among those guiding our export success. It plays a vital role in attracting foreign investments into the country while influencing the efficient development of joint industrial co-operation. Chairman Mikhail Myatlikov tells us about its readiness to make efficient, contemporary and bold decisions
The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is known to be one of the leading business communities in our country. How great is its potential?
I’d like to say that the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry unites the whole range of domestic entrepreneurship: from representatives of small business to large enterprises and holdings. At present, it boasts over 1,800 members.
The Chamber is a connecting link between business and power, being a reliable assistant and a stable partner for business circles liaising with state apparatus. Moreover, it defends enterprises’ interests - both in Belarus and within the international community. At present, the BelCCI is a member of the International Chamber of Commerce, of the Association of European Chambers of Commerce, of the International Council on Co-operation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, of the Economic Chambers of Eastern and Central European Countries, and of the Council of CCIs for the Central European Initiative and the Hanseatic Parliament.
I should mention that the Chamber’s representative offices are operational in China, Russia and Germany. Moreover, we have thirty public representatives in more than 17 countries, who are ready to provide assistance to anyone wishing to collaborate with Belarus.
The BelCCI has signed over 700 agreements and memorandums on co-operation with national and regional chambers from CIS and non-CIS states. Moreover, taking into account the increasing role of the Chamber in the economic life of the country, business co-operation councils have been set up jointly with over 13 states. The BelCCI is actively liaising with the Belarus-EU Business Council, headquartered in Brussels. Since 2008, the Chamber has annually conducted financial and investment forums.
The BelCCI is also a member of three working parties of the Foreign Investments Advisory Council at the Council of Ministers of Belarus. From time to time, the Chamber publishes proposals on investment projects, familiarising foreign companies with opportunities for working in our Republic.
Since October 2010, the BelCCI has been a participant of the Advisory Council of Heads of CCIs of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. We believe that the Chamber’s potential as Belarus’ leading business community is far from being fully realised. World practice shows that the Chamber should be everywhere where business exists - so one of our tasks is to expand our business community. Only those who boast sufficient representation can truly speak on behalf of business.
Undoubtedly, it’s vital to intensify the work of the entrepreneurial community, which now unites the BelCCI. Accordingly, in the near future, we plan to set up a range of branch and thematic committees at the Chamber, whose activities will support interaction between public, non-commercial and entrepreneurial structures and bodies of legislative and executive power. They will deal with various issues of entrepreneurial activity and will guide us in improving conditions for doing business in Belarus. We aim to form a favourable investment climate and develop private and state partnership.
Undoubtedly, the export orientation of the domestic economy envisages activity from the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. What aspects of your work are most vital?
Promoting the development of Belarusian enterprises’ export supplies is one of the major tasks of the BelCCI, which is also reflected in the Law of the Republic of Belarus and the Chamber’s Charter. At present, this topic is especially acute, since the development of export potential and ensuring a positive balance for Belarus’ foreign trade are essential. Demand is an important factor guiding the development of domestic products; meanwhile, we aim to maintain a high level of employment and ensure economic growth.
The final goal of most areas of our work is dynamic promotion of Belarusian goods and services to foreign markets. To achieve this, we are organising visits by our business circles to foreign states, while receiving delegations from other countries. Our enterprises and organisations are taking part in various exhibitions, international forums and workshops, while training specialists in various branches, including in areas of foreign economic activity. Last year alone, we organised over 500 events — more than one daily. Clearly, the BelCCI is working intensively.
We should add that we organise training programmes, while studying how best to enter foreign markets. We issue certificates, verifying goods’ country of origin, without which exporting would be extremely difficult. Protecting intellectual property rights and mailing commercial proposals to our partner organisations is also important, as is the upholding of the interests of Belarusian legal entities at the International Arbitration Court of the BelCCI. We also hold foreign language courses at the Chamber; at first sight, these don’t appear to directly raise exports but, without knowing foreign languages, it’s almost impossible to conduct export activity.
There are so many areas that it’s difficult to distinguish the most important but, tactically, the greatest effect is reached by exhibitions of Belarusian manufacturers abroad and tкte-а-tкte negotiations. Other areas, as mentioned above, have a strategic effect, depending on how well enterprises use the opportunities we offer them.
How has the Chamber’s activity changed in view of difficult economic conditions, complicated by a whole range of financial problems?
Alongside helping our enterprises to pursue a more aggressive (in the best sense of this word) export policy, we are focusing on working with foreign partners more purposefully. In particular, we are guiding foreign businesses (arriving upon the invitation of the BelCCI) to negotiate sales, while encouraging them to search for joint ventures, injecting money and sharing technologies with Belarus. We are inviting specialised organisations involved in importing to visit our Republic. A recent successful example of such interaction has been the visit of the Korea Importers Association (KOIMA).
Recently, we’ve been introducing consulting services at the Chamber. In particular, we can offer assistance to Belarusian companies seeking foreign business partners - checking their reliability. We can also provide pricing information, as well as data on imports of definite commodities, showing their country of origin — especially where they have come from a nation where the BelCCI has a representative office or public representatives.
The attraction of foreign investment into the Belarusian economy is the second most vital task for the BelCCI. As well as our central office, our regional structures are taking part, annually organising investment forums or conferences jointly with regional executive committees. Potential investors receive full information on investment opportunities in the Belarusian regions. This year, investment forums have been hosted by Gomel, Vitebsk and Lida.
The Central Machinery of the BelCCI, jointly with the Belarus-EU Business Council, annually conducts investment and financial forums in Minsk. Of course, most foreign economic events organised under the auspices of the BelCCI involve giving foreign partners complete information on Belarus’ investment climate. This includes information on state property sites subject to privatisation, as well as preferences and privileges.
Additionally, we’re launching the latest training technologies on how to conduct business under contemporary conditions. A bright example is the ‘EAST-INVEST’ international technical assistance project, which began this summer as a pilot project by the BelCCI and the European Chamber. It’ll become the first event of the EU’s ‘Eastern Partnership’ programme, aiming to develop business ties between Belarusian small and medium-sized businesses and those of EU states. The project’s major task is to train specialists in providing help to enterprises regarding EU export issues.
Representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises who have passed theoretical training will take part in exhibitions in Europe (financed by the project) alongside those from organisations promoting entrepreneurship - from January 2012 to September 2013. This will enable them to solidify their knowledge and skills, seeing foreign economic activity in practice.
How is the Chamber changing its work to reflect today’s economic conditions?
Taking into account the dynamic development of the economy, expansion of export supplies and inflow of injections, the Chamber has begun introducing a range of innovative moves, while preserving its traditional services.
It’s well known that many economic successes are rooted in partnership. However, it’s not easy for a modest company head or an entrepreneur to find a reliable and long-lasting partner. How efficiently does the Chamber act as an intermediary in these matters?
During the years of its existence, the Chamber has accumulated huge experience, embracing wide business ties and contacts. It has gained the trust of BelCCI members and partners, while creating its own unique methods of working.
Taking into consideration the modern requirements of mastering new sales markets, collaboration has been launched with various foreign chambers. Belarus’ traditional partners are Indonesia, Qatar, Malaysia, Mongolia, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the Philippines, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Congo, the SAR, Greece, Israel, Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden. The Chamber is conducting a well-directed search for investors and business partners, while doing marketing research and offering consultations (at the request of Belarusian and foreign enterprises).
The efficiency of our efforts is confirmed by the fact that, last year, 14 companies with foreign capital were set up with help from the BelCCI. In turn, the Chamber is to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for foreign firms wishing to work with our country, helping them find reliable business partners and easily and quickly implementing each stage on the path to trade and investment.
How does the Chamber manage to represent the interests of different groups from the Belarusian community abroad? What role do its foreign representational offices play?
According to the Belarusian law ‘On the Chamber of Commerce and Industry’, we treat every member equally, not distinguishing any groups but assisting everyone who addresses us. However, in some cases, choices have to be made. For the ‘East-Invest’ programme, the BelCCI had to select representatives of small and medium-sized business in six promising areas, showing them how to export their manufactures to EU states. It’s impossible to provide training to every company, so the European Commission project heads joined the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce in Industry in selecting those six areas: agriculture and processing of agricultural products, transport and logistics, tourism, ecological construction, alternative energy sources and energy efficiency, and textiles.
As regards foreign representational offices, their services are certainly in demand by many Belarusian enterprises. They provide information on foreign economic legislation, on statistics of foreign trade (including physical and monetary volumes of exports and imports, regarding certain countries and products), and on exhibitions, while organising presentations, conferences, roundtable discussions and seminars. Moreover, they arrange visits for Belarusian business circles to exhibitions and targeted business trips, while providing information on companies (including sales prices).
Representations help find potential partners, including with the purpose of realising investment projects, while assisting in organising and hosting advertising campaigns for Belarusian products and training courses for Belarusian business circles. They are ready to accompany talks, conduct market research on certain groups of products and branches, and assist in booking hotels and organising fairs and exhibitions.
An important aspect of the Chamber’s work is its organisation and hosting of exhibitions. What are its recent achievements?
It’s worth mentioning that, in 2010, the BelCCI and its exhibition company — Belinterexpo — organised 11 expositions of Belarus abroad, gathering 494 enterprises and companies of various forms of ownership. Belarusian exhibition stands were visited by 20,000 foreign specialists. The national expositions of Belarus at the 43rd International Exhibition in Cairo, the International Hannover Industrial Fair and the 10th International Industrial Fair in Tehran, the 2nd National Exhibition of Belarus in Azerbaijan, the 1st National Exhibition of Belarus in Serbia, and the National Exhibition of Belarus in the city of Dnepropetrovsk were the most significant events.
Of course, the National Exposition at Shanghai’s EXPO-2010 was a landmark event. Having united the efforts of many Belarusian enterprises and organisations, we managed to prepare a pavilion representing the Republic of Belarus to the global community at a high modern level. A record number of visitors came - over 5m people; it’s a figure which is unlikely to be surpassed ever again. We hope that our accumulated experience of participating in such major events will be applied again in future.
National exhibitions organised by Belarus considerably contribute to strengthening of economic co-operation with foreign countries. The National Exhibition of the Islamic Republic of Iran was held last December, serving as a fresh example. The event gathered 90 firms, representing a wide range of industrial fields — including aviation and folk crafts.
The BelCCI is now involved in a new form of national exhibition activity abroad, with Belinterexpo Unitary Enterprise being the largest exhibition operator dealing with the organisation of Belarus’ national exhibitions across the CIS and beyond.
In recent times, we’ve also focused on mastering Belarusian regions. At the initial stage, we plan to arrange events in regional centres which have been previously common exclusively for the capital.
Does the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry enjoy strong ties with its partners from other post-Soviet republics? Does the ‘old friends’ network help in such practical matters?
Naturally, it’s impossible to assert that the BelCCI boasts equal partner relations with all post-Soviet chambers. However, since 2002, annual sittings of the CIS chambers have been organised. The heads of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry have participated as observers in the past five years. The Belarusian Chamber enjoys business and often friendly relations with its colleagues from Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Moldova, Lithuania, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Not long ago, we welcomed representatives from Kyrgyzstan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, organising — at their request — acquaintance with the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange. Kyrgyzstan is studying this with the aim of establishing a similar exchange itself.
Every year, the BelCCI takes part in the International Spartakiada for Belarusian, Moldovan and Ukrainian chamber workers. Sporting events and informal meetings are the best way to build friendly relations, significantly helping in our work.
Which regions are being viewed by Chamber experts as most promising — regarding production co-operation, trade and investment collaboration?
Belarus’ foreign economic ties are an important factor in our economic stability and development. Historically, our Republic has collaborated with many countries worldwide, including with assistance from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Pleasingly, in 2010, Belarus exported to over 150 states, while receiving foreign investments from the CIS (primarily, Russia) and non-CIS states — such as the UK, Austria, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the USA, Lithuania and Latvia. To ensure entry to new foreign markets while maintaining our niche on traditional markets, our domestic enterprises have developed production co-operation with many foreign partners.
In our view — as reflected in the 2011-2015 National Export Development Programme - the most promising regions for the development of foreign economic ties include Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia (both from the point of view of traditional trade and production co-operation development). However, we won’t be neglecting our well- established partners -within the Customs Union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, the EU and China.
The BelCCI is currently preparing to set up a representational office in Australia and New Zealand. We think this region groundlessly lacks attention from Belarusian businesses and we can and should co-operate — not just in matters of trade but in attracting investments. We could also share technologies, setting up joint industrial production for domestic and foreign consumer markets.
By Victor Mikhailov
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Home > Immunology > News Articles
There's Good News In An Analysis Of First Person-To-Person Transmission Of COVID-19 In The US
By News Staff | March 12th 2020 10:07 AM | Print | E-mail
On January 23, 2020, Illinois reported the state's first laboratory-confirmed case (index case) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19, in a woman in her 60s who had returned from Wuhan, China in mid-January. Subsequently, the first evidence of secondary transmission in the USA was reported on January 30, when her husband, who had not traveled outside the USA but who does suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic cough, had frequent, close contact with his wife since her return and while she was symptomatic, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The good news is that testing of 372 contacts of both people, including all those who developed fever, cough, or shortness of breath, as well as a sample of asymptomatic healthcare professionals who had come into contact with the patients, found no no further transmission.
A new paper describes the clinical and laboratory features of both patients and the assessment and monitoring of several hundred individuals with potential exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
How can you help? Flatten the curve. Credit: The Spinoff, illustration by Toby Morris.
In total, 372 individuals were identified as potential contacts--347 of these people were actively monitored after confirmation of exposure to the woman or her husband on or after the day of symptom onset (including 152 community contacts and 195 healthcare professionals). There were 25 people that had insufficient contact information to complete active monitoring. A convenience sample of 32 asymptomatic healthcare personnel contacts were also tested.
These 347 contacts underwent active symptom monitoring for 14 days following their last exposure. Of these, 43 contacts who developed fever, cough, or shortness of breath were isolated and tested for SARS-CoV-2, as well as asymptomatic healthcare professionals. All 75 individuals tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.
On December 25, 2019, the female patient traveled to Wuhan where she visited a hospitalized relative and other family members with respiratory illness. On her return to the USA on January 13, 2020, she experienced six days of mild fever, fatigue, and cough before being hospitalized with pneumonia and testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Eight days after his wife was admitted to hospital, the husband with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic cough was also hospitalized with worsening shortness of breath and coughing up blood, and also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Both patients recovered and were discharged to home isolation, which was lifted 33 days after the woman returned from Wuhan, following two negative tests for SARS-CoV-2 taken 24 hours apart.
Co-lead author of the paper Dr Tristan McPherson from the Chicago Department of Public Health said, "Current CDC recommendations for individuals with high-risk exposures to remain quarantined with no public activities might be effective in reducing onward person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2."
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COVID-19: The Immune Systems Of The Overwhelming Majority Do Quite Well
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New Machines and Gadgets
By Science News
Magazine Issue: Vol. 71 No. #9, March 2, 1957
A version of this article appears in the March 2, 1957 issue of Science News.
By Science News March 13, 1943
By Science News June 15, 1957
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JAZZ LEGEND KENNY BURRELL NEEDS YOUR HELP
When it comes to jazz guitar, the great KENNY BURRELL is right up there in the pantheon of all-time greats alongside fellow fretboardists such as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and Jim Hall.
Opening his account with Blue Note Records in 1956, this NEA Jazz Master went on to record for many other labels, including most notably, Prestige and Verve in the ’50s and ’60s. More recently he has been affiliated with the High Note label but he hasn’t played in public after an accident at UCLA’s Royce Hall in 2016 (in honour of his 85th birthday) which has resulted in a long period of recuperation. Sadly, the guitarist’s escalating medical expenses wasn’t the only problem he had to encounter as both he and his devoted wife, Katherine, also had to contend with identity theft and bank fraud, which damaged their credit rating to the extent that they couldn’t get loans to cover their mounting debts. Now threatened by the possibility of losing their home as well, Katherine Burrell has initiated a GoFundMe campaign and is hoping to raise $100,000 from donations to look afterand care for her ailing husband.
If you’d like to know more and even contribute, go here:
https://www.gofundme.com/support-kenny-burrell
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TV TIME….
If you can manage to tune the telly away from the World Cup, then this Sunday ITV are set to screen what might turn out to be a music extravaganza as tasty as the current football fest.
The programme is The Nation’s Favourite Motown Song, and it’s set to go out at 9.00pm on Sunday 6th July on ITV 1.
We’re told that the programme “will tell the story behind 20 of Motown’s best-loved songs. It will explore the label which became the American soundtrack of the Sixties and beyond, creating a one-stop factory of hit songs and a sophisticated style which set the agenda for generations of pop stars to come. The documentary special will feature new interviews with Motown stars alongside footage of the greatest hits from the label’s iconic artists.”
The programme also features the songwriters, musicians and producers behind Motown’s greatest hits – as well as celebrity Motown fans like Dionne Warwick, Aloe Blacc, John Newman, Gabrielle, Michael Bolton and James Morrison – as it reveals the results of an exclusive ITV poll to find out which Motown classic Britain loves the most.
The show will be narrated by Craig Charles – the self-confessed Northern souler has clearly sorted out his shifts at Street Cars! And to tie in with the show – yep, you’ve guessed it… there’s the album. Universal are releasing a 40 track, 2 CD compilation featuring all the songs from the show and 20 other well-known chestnuts.
We’re guessing that the selected songs will all be predictable so if you really want some Motown low-down, might we recommend the recently published Graham Betts ‘Motown Encyclopaedia’ (see our news archive)… then we can all go back to the footie!
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T.Markvart@soton.ac.uk
Professor Tom Markvart BSc, PhD
Professor of Energy Conversion
Professor Tom Markvart is Professor of Energy Conversion within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton.
Tom Markvart obtained BSc and PhD in Mathematical Physics from the University of Birmingham in 1974 and 1975, respectively. He came to Southampton in 1977 as a Research Fellow in the Department of Mathematics and later Engineering Materials. After brief periods at ONERA/CERT in Toulouse and Instituto de Energia Solar at Universidad Politecnica de Madrid he returned to Southampton as Head of Solar Energy Centre. In 1994, he was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Clean Technology Fellowship, becoming Reader in 2002 and Professor of Energy Conversion in 2009.
Tom Markvart is the UK representative on European Platform of Universities Engaged in Energy where he is member of the Steering Committee. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells and Journal of Photonics for Energy, and has served on a number of advisory boards for international conferences. His Solar Electricity (2nd ed, Wiley, 2000) remains among the most popular textbooks on photovoltaics; Practical Handbook of Photovoltaics: Fundamentals and Applications (with Luis Castañer) was published Elsevier in 2003.
Tom’s research interests span the breadth of photovoltaics, including fundamentals of PV conversion, materials and device aspects, and both stand-alone and grid connected PV systems. His research currently focuses on new concepts in photovoltaics, principally the application of light harvesting to enhance the photoexcitation of silicon, the use of photon frequency management for the capture and concentration of sunlight, and the thermodynamics of light.
Affiliate research group
Light harvesting for high-efficiency low-cost solar cells
The operation of a solar cell bears a remarkable similarity with the most ancient solar energy converter on Earth: the photosynthetic apparatus of plants, algae and photosynthetic bacteria.
Using photonics to improve the capture of solar radiation
This project aims to enhance the operation of solar cells by trapping fluorescent light in the waveguiding modes of dielectric structures – or directly in solar cells.
Aeostat Power Generation
Transmitting power from an aerostat flying above the clouds.
Markvart, T. (2021). Ideal solar cell efficiencies. Nature Photonics, 15(3), 163-164. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-021-00772-4
Fang, L., Danos, L., Markvart, T., & Chen, R. (2020). Observation of energy transfer at optical frequency to an ultrathin silicon waveguide. Optics Letters, 45(16), 4618 - 4621. https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.396906
Markvart, T. (2019). Can thermodynamics guide us to make better solar cells ? IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 9(6), 1614 - 1624. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2019.2938665
Dzurňák, B., Feng, T., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2019). Hot photons and open-circuit voltage in molecular absorbers. Semiconductor Science and Technology, 34(12), [124001]. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6641/ab419f
Markvart, T., Danos, L., Halcovitch, N., Wook, B., Banks, H., Coogan, M., Alderman, N., Fang, L., & Dzurnak, B. (2019). Silicon photosensitisation using molecular layers. Faraday Discussions.
Fragaki, A., Markvart, T., & Laskos, G. (2018). All UK electricity supplied by wind and photovoltaics – The 30–30 rule. Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.11.151
Alderman, N., Danos, L., Fang, L., Grossel, M., & Markvart, T. (2017). Light harvesting in silicon (111) surfaces using covalently attached protoporphyrin IX dyes. Chemical Communications, 53(89), 12120-12123. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7CC04767C
Markvart, T. (2017). Reciprocity and open circuit voltage in solar cells. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2768966
Markvart, T. (2016). From steam engine to solar cells: can thermodynamics guide the development of future generations of photovoltaics? WIREs Energy and Environment, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.204
Parel, T. S., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2015). Application of concentrating luminescent down-shifting structures to CdS/CdTe solar cells with poor short wavelength response. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 140, 306-311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2015.04.026
Markvart, T. (2015). Do we need a solar power breakthrough? The Conversation.
Parel, T. S., Pistolas, C., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2015). Modelling and experimental analysis of the angular distribution of the emitted light from the edge of luminescent solar concentrators. Optical Materials, 42, 532-537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optmat.2015.02.011
Fang, L., Kiang, K. S., Alderman, N. P., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2015). Photon tunneling into a single-mode planar silicon waveguide. Optics Express, 23(24), [A1528-A1532]. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.23.0A1528
Parel, T. S., Danos, L., Fang, L., & Markvart, T. (2014). Modeling photon transport in fluorescent solar concentrators. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 23(10), 1357-1366. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2553
Fang, L., Alderman, N., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2014). Silicon sensitisation using light harvesting layers. Materials Research Innovations, 18(7), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1179/1433075X14Y.0000000257
Alderman, N., Adib Ibrahim, M., Danos, L., Grossel, M. C., & Markvart, T. (2013). Determination of surface recombination velocities of organic monolayers on silicon through Kelvin probe. Applied Physics Letters, 103(8), 081603-[5pp]. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4818768
Fragaki, A., & Markvart, T. (2013). System memory effects in the sizing of stand-alone PV systems. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 21(4), 724-735. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2160
Danos, L., Parel, T., Markvart, T., Barrioz, V., Brooks, W. S. M., & Irvine, S. J. C. (2012). Increased efficiencies on CdTe solar cells via luminescence down-shifting with excitation energy transfer between dyes. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 98, 486-490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2011.11.009
Markvart, T., Danos, L., Fang, L., Parel, T., & Soleimani, N. (2012). Photon frequency management for trapping & concentration of sunlight. RSC Advances, (8). https://doi.org/10.1039/c2ra01160c
Fang, L., Parel, T. S., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2012). Photon reabsorption in fluorescent solar collectors. Journal of Applied Physics, 111(7), 076104-1-076104-3. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3702815
Soleimani, N., Knabe, S., Bauer, G. H., Markvart, T., & Muskens, O. L. (2012). Role of light scattering in the performance of fluorescent solar collectors. Journal of Photonics for Energy, 2(1), 21801. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.2.021801
Markvart, T., & Bauer, G. H. (2012). What is the useful energy of a photon? Applied Physics Letters, 101, 193901-193903. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4766177
Markvart, T. (2011). Beyond the Yablonovitch limit: trapping light by frequency shift. Applied Physics Letters, 98(7), 071107-071108. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3554436
Redi, S., Aglietti, G. S., Tatnall, A. R. L., & Markvart, T. (2011). Dynamic response to turbulence of tethered lighter than air platforms. Journal of Aircraft, 48(2), 540-552. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.C031137
Khu, K., Jiang, L., & Markvart, T. (2011). Effect of finite heat input on the power performance of micro heat engines. Energy, 36(5), 2686-2692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2011.02.009
Redi, S., Aglietti, G. S., Tatnall, A. R. L., & Markvart, T. (2010). An evaluation of a high altitude solar radiation platform. Transactions of the ASME Journal of Solar Engineering, 132(1). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4000327
Markvart, T., Danos, L., & Greef, R. (2010). Comment on “Energy transfer in nanowire solar cells with photon-harvesting shells” [J. Appl. Phys. 105, 124509 (2009)]. Journal of Applied Physics, 108(26105). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3452391
Knabe, S., Soleimani, N., Markvart, T., & Bauer, G. H. (2010). Efficient light trapping in a fluorescence solar collector by 3D photonic crystal. Physica Status Solidi (RRL) Rapid Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.201004047
Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2010). Excitation energy transfer rate from langmuir blodgett (LB) dye monolayers to silicon: effect of aggregate formation. Chemical Physics Letters, 490(4-6), 194-199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2010.03.045
Aglietti, G. S., Redi, S., Tatnall, A. R., & Markvart, T. (2009). Harnessing high altitude solar power. IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, 24(2), 442-451. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEC.2009.2016026
Meyer, T. J. J., & Markvart, T. (2009). The chemical potential of light in fluorescent solar collectors. Journal of Applied Physics, 105(6), 063110-[8pp.]. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3097328
Aglietti, G. S., Markvart, T., Tatnall, A. R., & Walker, S. J. (2008). Aerostat for electrical power generation: concept feasibility. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 222(1), 29-39. https://doi.org/10.1243/09544100JAERO258
Danos, L., Greef, R., & Markvart, T. (2008). Efficient fluorescence quenching near crystalline silicon from Langmuir–Blodgett dye films. Thin Solid Films, 516(20), 7251-7255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2007.12.103
Aglietti, G. S., Redi, S., Tatnall, A. R., & Markvart, T. (2008). High altitude electrical power generation. WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development, 4(12), 1067-1077.
Markvart, T. (2008). Solar cell as a heat engine: energy-entropy analysis of photovoltaic conversion. Physica Status Solidi A-Applied Research, 205(12), 2752-2756. https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.200880460
Aglietti, G. S., Markvart, T., Tatnall, A. R., & Walker, S. J. (2008). Solar power generation using high altitude platforms feasibility and viability. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 16(4), 349-359. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.815
Fragaki, A., & Markvart, T. (2008). Stand-alone PV system design: results using a new sizing approach. Renewable Energy, 33(1), 162-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2007.01.016
Markvart, T. (2008). The thermodynamics of optical étendue. Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics, 10(1), 015008-7pp. https://doi.org/10.1088/1464-4258/10/01/015008
Danos, L., Jones, G., Greef, R., & Markvart, T. (2008). Ultra-thin silicon solar cell: modelling and characterisation. Physica Status Solidi (c), 5(5), 1407-1410. https://doi.org/10.1002/pssc.200777809
Kittidachachan, P., Markvart, T., Bagnall, D. M., Greef, R., & Ensell, G. J. (2007). A detailed study of p-n junction solar cells by means of collection efficiency. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 91(2-3), 160-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2006.08.002
Kittidachachan, P., Danos, L., Meyer, T. J. J., Alderman, N., & Markvart, T. (2007). Photon collection efficiency of fluorescent solar collectors. CHIMIA International Journal for Chemistry, 61(12), 780-786. https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2007.780
Markvart, T. (2007). Thermodynamics of losses in photovoltaic conversion. Applied Physics Letters, 91(6), 064102-[3pp]. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2766857
Abu-Sharkh, S., Arnold, RJ., Kohler, J., Li, R., Markvart, T., Ross, J. N., Steemers, K., Wilson, P. R., & Yao, R. (2006). Can microgrids make a major contribution to UK energy supply. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 10(2), 78-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2004.09.013
Markvart, T. (2006). Comment on “Efficiency limits of photovoltaic fluorescent collectors”. Applied Physics Letters, 88(17), 176101-176102. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2198468
Markvart, T. (2006). Detailed balance method for ideal single-stage fluorescent collectors. Journal of Applied Physics, 99(26101), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2160710
Markvart, T. (2006). Microgrids: power systems for the 21st century? Refocus, 7(4), 44-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1471-0846(06)70622-9
Markvart, T., Fragaki, A., & Ross, J. N. (2006). PV system sizing using observed time series of solar radiation. Solar Energy, 80(1), 46-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2005.08.011
Fragaki, A., & Markvart, T. (2005). Does climate change affect the design of stand-alone PV systems? Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 13(7), 635-639. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.617
Markvart, T. (2005). Media interview: microgrids as peer-to-peer energy. BBC News Online.
Markvart, T., & Arnold, R. (2005). Microgrids: power systems for the 21st century. Ingenia, (24), 24 -27.
Markvart, T., & Greef, R. (2004). Polaron-exciton model for resonance energy transfer. Journal of Chemical Physics, 121(13), 6401-6405. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1786575
Halliday, J. A., Markvart, T., & Ross, J. N. (2003). Battery management for PV systems. Power Engineer, 17(1), 46-46.
Markvart, T., & Landsberg, P. T. (2002). Thermodynamics and reciprocity of solar energy conversion. Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures, 14(1-2), 71-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1386-9477(02)00352-1
Markvart, T. (2001). Solar electricity for the third millennium (feature article). Photovoltaics Bulletin: Elsevier Advanced Technology, (1), 7-11.
Markvart, T., Arnold, R. J., & He, W. (2000). How to build a photovoltaic system. Optoelectronics Review, 8(4), 333-338.
Markvart, T. (2000). Light harvesting for quantum solar energy conversion. Progress in Quantum Electronics, 24(3-4), 107-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6727(00)00003-3
Ross, J. N., Markvart, T., & He, W. (2000). Modelling battery charge regulation for stand-alone photovoltaic systems. Solar Energy, 69(3), 181-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-092X(00)00079-7
Landsberg, P. T., & Markvart, T. (1998). The Carnot factor in solar cell theory. Solid-State Electronics, 42(4), 657-659. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-1101(97)00253-0
Markvart, T., & Castaner, L. (Eds.) (2004). Solar cells: materials, manufacture and operation. Elsevier.
Markvart, T., & Castaner, L. (Eds.) (2003). Practical handbook of photovoltaics: fundamentals and applications. Elsevier.
Markvart, T. (Ed.) (2000). Solar electricity. 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons.
Markvart, T., & Castro, F. A. (2020). Optical to electrical energy conversion: Solar cells. In J. P. Dakin, & R. G. W. Brown (Eds.), a/Handbook of Optoelectronics: Enabling Technologies (Volume Two) Taylor & Francis (CRC Press).
Aglietti, G. S., Redi, S., Tatnall, A., Markvart, T., & Walker, S. J. I. (2010). Aerostat for electrical power generation. In R. D. Rugescu (Ed.), Solar Energy (pp. 399-412). INTECH.
Markvart, T. (2009). Counting sunrays: from optics to the thermodynamics of light. In V. Badescu, & M. Paulescu (Eds.), Physics of the Nanostructured Solar Cells Nova Science Publishers.
Markvart, T., Castaner, L., Ahm, P., Krebs, F., & Risø National Laboratory (2006). Photovoltaics. In H. Larsen, & L. S. Petersen (Eds.), Renewable Energy for Power and Transport (pp. 37-40). (Risø Energy Report; No. Risø-R-1557(EN)). Risø National Laboratory.
Castaner, L., Bermejo, S., Markvart, T., & Fragaki, K. (2003). Energy balance in stand-alone PV systems. In T. Markvart, & L. Castaner (Eds.), Practical handbook of photovoltaics: fundamentals and applications (pp. 531-542). Elsevier.
Castaner, L., Bermejo, S., Markvart, T., & Fragaki, K. (2003). Energy production by a PV array. In T. Markvart, & L. Castaner (Eds.), Practical handbook of photovoltaics: fundamentals and applications (pp. 517-530). Elsevier.
Thornycroft, J., & Markvart, T. (2003). Grid-connection of PV generators: technical and regulatory issues. In T. Markvart, & L. Castaner (Eds.), Practical handbook of photovoltaics: fundamentals and applications (pp. 635-654). Elsevier.
Landsberg, P. T., & Markvart, T. (2003). Ideal efficiencies. In T. Markvart, & L. Castaner (Eds.), Practical Handbook of Photovoltaics: Fundamentals and Applications Elsevier.
Markvart, T., & Castaner, L. (2003). Principles of solar cell operation. In T. Markvart, & L. Castaner (Eds.), Practical handbook of photovoltaics: from fundamentals to applications (pp. 71-94). Elsevier.
Markvart, T., & Castaner, L. (2003). Semiconductor materials and modelling. In T. Markvart, & L. Castaner (Eds.), Practical Handbook of Photovoltaics: Fundamentals and Applications (pp. 95-122). Elsevier.
Markvart, T. (1970). Optical to Electrical Energy Conversion: Solar Cells. In J. P. Dakin, & R. G. W. Brown (Eds.), Handbook of Optoelectronics Taylor & Francis.
Fang, L., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2013). Solar cell as a waveguide: quantum efficiency of ultrathin crystalline silicon solar cell. 31-33. Paper presented at 28th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, France. https://doi.org/10.4229/28thEUPVSEC2013-1BO.10.4
Markvart, T., Danos, L., Alderman, N., Fang, L., & Parel, T. (2012). Harvesting sunshine: solar cells, photosynthesis and the thermodynamics of light. 27th European Solar Photovoltaic Conference and Exhibition, Germany.
Markvart, T. (2012). Solar energy: power to the people. 2012 IET Energy Lecture, India.
Parel, T., Fang, L., Chu, X., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2011). Comparison of fluorescent down-shifting layers for increasing the efficiency of CdS/CdTe solar cells. 87-89. Paper presented at 7th Photovoltaic Science, Applications and Technology Conference C93 (PVSAT-7), United Kingdom.
Fang, L., Parel, T., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2011). Modelling the performance of fluorescent solar collectors. 165-168. Paper presented at 7th Photovoltaic Science, Applications and Technology Conference C93 (PVSAT-7), United Kingdom.
Markvart, T., & Danos, L. (2010). Edge-illuminated ultrathin crystalline silicon solar cell. In Proceedings on 5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion WIP Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur. https://doi.org/10.4229/25thEUPVSEC2010-2DV.1.89
Redi, S., Aglietti, G. S., Tatnall, A. R. L., & Markvart, T. (2010). Preliminary design of lighter than air solar collectors. Paper presented at 8th International Airship Convention, United Kingdom.
Markvart, T. (2010). Solar energy conversion: kinetics, thermodynamics and reciprocity. The Artificial Leaf, Netherlands.
Khu, K., Jiang, L., & Markvart, T. (2010). Thermodynamic modeling of micro heat engines for power generation. Poster session presented at PowerMEMS 2010 - The 10th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications, Belgium.
Redi, S., Aglietti, G. S., Tatnall, A. R., & Markvart, T. (2009). Collection of solar energy at high altitude. In Proceedings of the 24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (pp. 4311-4317). WIP-Renewable Energies.
Redi, S., Aglietti, G. S., Tatnall, A. R., & Markvart, T. (2009). Configuration study of high altitude solar collectors. 1-6. Paper presented at IEEE Electrical Power and Energy Conference, Canada. https://doi.org/10.1109/EPEC.2009.5420773
Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2009). Efficient light harvesting with LB films for application in crystalline silicon solar cells. In Energy Harvesting—Molecules and Materials (pp. 1-4). (MRS Proceedings; Vol. 1120, No. M). Materials Research Society. https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-1120-M01-04
Meyer, T. J. J., Hlavaty, J., Smith, L., Freniere, E. R., Markvart, T., & Lambda Research Corporation (2009). Ray racing techniques applied to modelling of fluorescent solar collectors. In M. Osinski, B. Witzigmann, F. Henneberger, & Y. Arakawa (Eds.), Physics and Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices XVII (pp. 72110-[11pp]). (Proceedings of SPIE; Vol. 7211). Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.810922
Markvart, T. (2009). What is the highest voltage that can be generated by a solar cell?. Paper presented at 21st Worskhop on Quantum Solar Energy Conversion (QUANTSOL 2009), .
Aglietti, G. S., Redi, S., Tatnall, A. R., & Markvart, T. (2008). Exploitation of high altitude solar energy. Paper presented at 2nd WSEAS/IASME International Conference on Energy Planning, Energy saving, Environmental Education (EPESE '08), .
Markvart, T. (2008). Solar electricity for the third millenium. Paper presented at Low Carbon Technologies for Decentralised Power Production, .
Chowdhury, S., Day, P., Chowdhury, S. P., Markvart, T., & Song, Y. H. (2008). Supervisory data acquisition and performance analysis of a PV Array installation with data logger. In 2008 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting: Conversion and Delivery of Electrical Energy in the 21st Century (pp. 1-8). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1109/PES.2008.4596378
Markvart, T. (2008). Thermodynamic concepts in quantum solar energy conversion. Paper presented at 20th Workshop on Quantum Solar Energy Conversion (QUANTSOL 2008), .
Kittidachachan, P., Meyer, T. J. J., Danos, L., & Markvart, T. (2007). Characterisation of fluorescent collectors in terms of fluorescence collection efficiency. 301-305. Paper presented at Proceedings of the 22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, .
Danos, L., Jones, G., Greef, R., & Markvart, T. (2007). Interference effects observed in ultra-thin c-si solar cells: modeling and experiment. 402-405. Paper presented at 22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, .
Kittidachachan, P., Markvart, T., Bagnall, D. M., Greef, R., & Ensell, G. J. (2006). A detailed study of p-n junction solar cells by means of collection efficiency. In Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (pp. 1130-1133). (IEEE Conference Proceedings; Vol. 1). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). https://doi.org/10.1109/WCPEC.2006.279360
Danos, L., Kittidachachan, P., Meyer, T. J. J., Greef, R., & Markvart, T. (2006). Characterisation of fluorescent collectors based on solid, liquid and Langmuir-Blodgett films. Paper presented at 21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, .
Markvart, T. (2006). Fluorescent collectors, photovoltaics and the thermodynamics of light. Second Czech Renewable Energy Conference, .
Markvart, T., & Fragaki, A. (2006). Sizing of stand-alone photovoltaic systems: a new approach. Paper presented at 3rd International Workshop on the Teaching of Photovoltaics (IWTPV'02), .
Markvart, T. (2006). Solar microgrids: a new integration concept for photovoltaic generators. Paper presented at 21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, .
Kittidachachan, P., Markvart, T., Ensell, G., Greef, R., & Bagnall, D. (2005). An Analysis of a "dead layer" in the emitter of n+pp+ solar cells. 1103-1106. Paper presented at 31st Photovoltaics specialist conference, United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488328
Markvart, T., & Landsberg, P. T. (2004). Open circuit voltage enhancement in ideal thin solar cells. 206-207. Paper presented at 19th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, .
Markvart, T. (2004). Thermodynamics of photovoltaic energy conversion. 65-68. Paper presented at International Workshop on Teaching in Photovoltaics ’04, .
Markvart, T., & Landsberg, P. T. (2003). Detailed balance method for thin photovoltaic converters. 206-207. Paper presented at Proceedings of 16th Workshop on Quantum Solar Energy Conversion, .
Fragaki, A., & Markvart, T. (2003). Does global warming affect the design of stand-alone PV systems. 155-156. Poster session presented at Materials Research Group, .
Markvart, T., & Landsberg, P. T. (2003). Everyman's guide to third generation efficiencies. In Proceedings of 3rd World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (pp. 266-269). (IEEE Conference Proceedings; Vol. 1). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Wilson, P. R., Ross, J. N., Markvart, T., & Brown, A. D. (2002). Development of model library for microgrid simulation. Paper presented at Second International Symposium on Distributed Generation: Power System and Market Aspects, .
Markvart, T., & Landsberg, P. T. (2002). Solar cell model for electron transport in photosynthesis. In Proceedings of the 29th Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (pp. 1348-1351). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Markvart, T. (2002). Teaching the physical principles of photovoltaics or solar cell as a quantum converter. Paper presented at International Workshop on Teaching in Photovoltaics (IWTPV '02), .
Markvart, T., & Landsberg, P. T. (2000). Solar cell model for electron transfer in photosynthesis. Paper presented at 12th Workshop on Quantum Solar Energy Conversion (QUANTSOL 2000), .
Markvart, T., Danos, L., Kittidachachan, P., & Greef, R. (1970). Detailed balance efficiency of ideal single-stage fluorescent collectors. 171-174. Paper presented at 20th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, .
Meyer, T. J. J., & Markvart, T. (1970). The chemical potential of fluorescent light. 399-403. Paper presented at Proceedings of the 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, .
Creative Media and Artefacts
Markvart, T. (Author). (2008). Bring me sunshine. Digital or Visual Products, BBC Radio 4.
Letter/Editorial
Kirchartz, T., Markvart, T., Rau, U., & Egger, D. A. (2018). Impact of small phonon energies on the charge-carrier lifetimes in metal-halide perovskites. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 9(5), 939-946. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b03414
Fuel Cells and Photovoltaic Systems I SESM6017 Mechanical Engineering Course leader
Fuel Cells and Photovoltaic Systems II SESM6019 Mechanical Engineering Course leader
Introduction to Energy Technologies SESM6021 Mechanical Engineering Lecturer
Sustainable Energy Systems, Resources and Usage SESM6020 Mechanical Engineering Course leader
Professor Tom Markvart
Facsimile: (023) 8059 3016
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Harley: Theoretically, the digital recording medium has no effect on the sound quality provided there are no uncorrected errors. Do you believe different digital tape transports have different sonic characteristics?
Sax: They do. I don't know why. I don't use Sony decks. I can tell you that any Sony video deck will kill the sound. I've discussed it with Sony and they were about as interested in hearing it as you are in buying New York City for three trillion dollars. They said, "We'll do something about it—go away." I did and they didn't. But it's a major, major factor in degradation. Major factor. It's interesting to take A/D and D/A without tape storage and then put the video recorder in the signal path. It doesn't get better. Then when you put a Sony deck in the loop, you don't recognize it coming out. I've demonstrated it—to a non-caring world. I was hoping somebody would find it and fix it. You know from your CD mastering work what video tapes are like. Why don't we have disc storage for master tapes?
Harley: There is a sigh of relief sometimes after a master tape has been cut and the tape is no longer needed. Many tapes are right on the edge of working and not working.
Sax: If computer storage were on U-Matic, the country would be out of business. Somebody's bank account would suddenly be short $2 million.
Harley: Do you think DAT is an improvement?
Sax: Not as it stands now, no. But it has the potential to do whatever you want. The weakest part of DAT is the storage. I can make a DAT tape that sounds excellent—not using their converters, but my converters. But if you play it 10 times it doesn't sound the same. Look at the density of packing. The 1630 video storage is one thing I talked about in Japan because they know it is not good. I can talk about that without apology and not get into anyone's bailiwick, like why they use six op-amps when two will work. You don't step on any toes talking about the storage. They just don't like to talk about it. Sony sewed up the world. You can send a 1630 tape to any plant in the world. Why rock the boat?
Most record companies will not use "master" tapes for CDs. They run it through their digital faders, clean up the fades, put digital black in, and they're thrilled. But the fact remains that it doesn't sound like the original tape that was made. The consumer has no idea, though. A couple of cuts on our new Clair Marlo CD [Sheffield Lab CD-29] sound about as least CD as anything I know—with resolution and echo. I'm very proud of that. The eighth and ninth tracks on that CD don't sound like other CDs. But that tape was made by me, not on a Sony deck. It was transferred directly from the original tape by Disctronics. It wasn't a copy. Nobody got into it. And it sounds quite excellent. It has resolution. Though it doesn't sound as good as the master tape, which is analog, it sounds right to me.
Harley: You have the opportunity to hear the real musical event and immediately afterward, hear both analog and digital playback of that music. What differences do you hear between the two?
Sax: The digital loses nuance. It doesn't flow as well. I don't know how you would quantify that. It has less echo. Transients aren't as good in the high end. If I had a terrific, linear, A/D it would sound closer. I've gone as far as I can with what's available in one sense. But we're a long way from needing to change the format. I think the oversampling technique is meaningful to get rid of the phase shift and some other problems. The Apogee filters (footnote 6) don't have time delay but they lose resolution. They go through a lot to correct the phase, but they don't have the resolution. To me, it's a bad tradeoff. I'd rather have the resolution and a little bit of artifact than have the artifact removed and a little bit of opaqueness to the sound. That is preferable to something more clear that you can see through. It's in its infancy.
The LP is probably dead except for maybe the tweakos. Harmonia Mundi, in their American productions, record everything analog and the engineer, with whatever converters he can get, transfers to digital. I don't know if they are losing money or not. But the analog tape comes to me and I make an LP of it and the LP is generally believed to sound superior to the CD.
Harley: How do you approach a project differently when making a CD master tape and cutting an LP master?
Sax: Many of the albums done today are made by three different producers, four different engineers, some tracks were done in LA, some in Nashville, and some in London. I make changes that put them in the same ballpark. One is low level, one is high level, one is dark, one is thin. I'll find a medium ground and tweak them into this area. That we do for the music, not for the storage medium. It doesn't matter if it's for cassette, CD, or LP. This intro has got to come up, that song is lumpy and bottom-heavy and has to be trimmed. There are certain things you do to record the disc itself. Maybe a sibilant "s" can pass as it is onto the CD, but would be a problem on the LP—it might be de-essed on the LP. That's about the main thing. But if it's a Harmonia Mundi recording of a Mozart horn concerto, you do nothing to the sound except to get it as cleanly as possible from the tape to the disc.
Harley: Is everything in the signal path tube in your mastering system?
Sax: My tape machines are tube, my cutters are tube, my limiters are tube. My EQ, which is passive, has one class-A solid-state recovery amp. But when I do transfers for Harmonia Mundi, that's not in the circuit at all: I'm not EQ'ing. It comes off the tape and directly into the cutters. I may bring up one selection that they thought was recorded too low, but that's it. It couldn't be done more simply. It's surprising because these recordings, which are quite good (they're done by Peter McGrath), are just better on the LP—with all of its faults. It's much closer to what's on that tape than what has been able to be done digitally. The American head of Harmonia Mundi, Robina Young, still wants to hear the music the best way, and that's not digital. The parent company might disagree with her, but she has autonomy over what she does.
Harley: What tape format do most of your clients send you for disc mastering and CD master-tape preparation?
Sax: These are not budget acts. They can mix to whatever format sounds the best. Cost is not a consideration. 30ips half-inch analog tape with no noise reduction is the preferred format today. There are sonic disadvantages to half-inch over quarter-inch when you get down to the nitty-gritty. But the advantage is quite simple: for the same recorded level, 1/2" is 5dB quieter than 1/4". On an already quiet format, 5dB is quite meaningful. You won't pick up a CD made from half-inch analog and complain about noise. The thing that interests me is that the half-inch, 30ips format that really started to get going about six years ago has only returned the analog tape format to what it started out as in 1948. In '48 the tape speed was 30ips, mono on quarter-inch. There are people who say, "Look, I know digital is not quite there, but look—it's only 10 years old. Look at how much time analog has had to get itself together." And I say if I could get my hands on master tapes made in 1950 I could shock your pants off. The analog format started exactly where it is today.
Harley: And they used tubes back then.
Sax: They used tubes. They started off with 30ips tape speed and quarter-inch track width and a quieter curve than they use today. That's how it came out of the box. When we go back to the Lab, I'll show you the 23rd machine Ampex ever made, delivered to Radio Recorders in October of 1948. So the truth of the matter is that the analog tape recorder was running at its prime when it was introduced in this country. It comes from the Magnetophon that the Germans developed in the late '30s and was brought over here in '46-47. Bing Crosby and a few people put up a bunch of money and it became Ampex. Ampex doesn't make any audio equipment anymore, but they were the world standard for many years. A classic example of an American company checking out of a whole industry.
There are those who feel they can get a better CD coming from an analog tape than they can by putting it live on the digital. I know some people who record the rhythm tracks digitally and record everything else on the analog machine. What is interesting is that the major classical recording companies—DG, Philips—decided en masse that they were going to record only in digital. It is only the American independent companies who, with the artist and engineers, really make the decision on their own how they're going to record. Some record digitally and some record analog. The only thing that can be said accurately is that there is nothing in a professional half-inch analog tape that keeps it from being the best, without hurting the product or making these artists feel they're not getting a great-sounding product. Some of them hate digital. But they are in a position, regardless of what they come out with, to make their own decisions about which format they use.
Mitsubishi now has a 96kHz–sampling-rate digital 2-track that I hear is terrific. Almost every new digital machine that has been raved about has been reviled a year later. It's like you hear this amp is great, then two years later you see it's not on the "Recommended Components" list anymore. And you write a letter and someone says, "Well, we found the coloration of the midrange was not recognized instantly." So you get the amp of the moment and the speaker wire of the moment. It is these type of ventures that lose credibility for the audio magazines.
A funny thing is if the amp is really good, it's good. There are not that many good amps around. It has to be that some of the amps they said were good really weren't. They were new, they liked the bells and whistles. But they have to survive the test of time. In 1958 the very first solid-state amps were offered for sale. I heard one of the first ones. Prior to that I had never heard a solid-state device. I walked into where I went to listen to my audio. Got a call to "Come on down, you won't believe it." Went down with my recordings, which I treasured and knew sounded good. There was one telling recording of a solo violin recorded outdoors, no room acoustics. A very good recording of unaccompanied Bach. I still have the record. I hooked up a big KLH 9, a legendary electrostatic speaker, to this brand new solid-state 100W amp. I put on the record and couldn't believe my ears. Jack, the proprietor of the store, said "What do you think? Have you ever heard anything like it?" And I said "No, not live, not recorded, I've never heard anything like it. It's horrible. It's the worst thing I've ever heard in my life."
Footnote 6: Replacement filters that reduce phase shift in the Sony PCM-1630 are supplied by a company called Apogee (not the loudspeaker manufacturer).
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Another US citizen enters North Korea, slams US govt: CNN
People pose for pictures with the new Friendship Bridge over the Yalu River, connecting China's Dandong and North Korea's Sinuiju, on Nov 9, 2014. North Korea on Sunday, Dec 14, put on display an American who had apparently entered the country illegally and who strongly denounced the US political and economic systems. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea on Sunday put on display an American who had apparently entered the country illegally and who strongly denounced the US political and economic systems.
The man identified himself at a press conference in Pyongyang as Arturo Pierre Martinez, aged 29 and from El Paso in Texas, CNN reported.
He entered the North from China in November, according to a North Korean statement cited by the broadcaster, just two days after the US spy chief James Clapper arrived in Pyongyang to secure the release of two other detained Americans.
Martinez had earlier tried to swim across the Han river between the two Koreas to enter the North, only to be caught and sent back to the US where he was placed in a psychiatric hospital, his mother told CNN.
"But he got out," Patricia Eugenia Martinez said, adding her son was bipolar.
"He...got the court to let him out and instead of coming home to us he bought a ticket and left for China," she said.
At the press conference Martinez admitted the illegal entry but said he was "extremely grateful" for the North to have pardoned him and to have offered him "the most generous reception", according to CNN.
It released images of Martinez obtained from the North's government, showing him wearing a suit and tie and delivering a statement.
The North aired the criticisms by Martinez of his own government at a time when Pyongyang is under growing international pressure to improve its human rights record.
The UN Security Council is expected to meet this month on the North's rights record, following a proposal to refer it to the International Criminal Court on possible charges of crimes against humanity.
South Korean troops in September caught a US man trying to swim across the river border with the North but did not disclose his identity.
The man, reported to be in his late 20s or early 30s, told Seoul authorities that he had wanted to meet the North's leader Kim Jong-Un, Yonhap news agency reported at the time.
CNN said the legal status of Martinez in the North was unclear. It was not known whether he would be able to leave the country, which has a history of detaining US citizens.
The North in October freed 56-year-old US national Jeffrey Fowle, who was detained after allegedly leaving a Bible in a nightclub bathroom.
The following month it freed US missionary Kenneth Bae and another American, 24-year-old Todd Miller, following the secret mission by Clapper.
Bae was arrested in November 2012 and later sentenced to 15 years' hard labour after being accused of plotting to overthrow the isolated state's regime.
Miller was arrested in April after allegedly ripping up his visa at immigration. He was sentenced to six years' hard labour in September.
At Sunday's press conference Martinez denounced the US government, accusing it of operating like "a Mafia enterprise" plundering other nations.
"The democracy of this nation is an illusion and its representatives act as nothing more than powerbrokers for those who can offer them," he was quoted by CNN as saying.
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Tastemaking magazine Monocle opens Singapore outpost with shop, mini cafe
Leslie Kay Lim
https://str.sg/3mx2
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 12, 2014
Global affairs magazine Monocle is sinking roots in Singapore for the first time. The hip, design-centric magazine for the stylish intellectual is launching its first retail shop and mini cafe in Singapore.
Says Monocle founder and editor-in-chief Tyler Brule (photo), in a phone interview with Urban last week from his London headquarters: "South-east Asia is growing at an incredible pace. Our strategy has always been to have hubs to service all of the regions and it really made sense."
The newest Monocle outpost, which opens for preview this weekend and for permanent business on Dec 20, is located at 74 Jalan Kelabu Asap in a 1950s townhouse in Chip Bee Gardens.
The 62 sq m ground floor unit houses the shop and mini cafe, while the 71 sq m second floor will house the Monocle bureau and Internet radio station, due to begin operations early next year.
Mr Brule, 46 and a Canadian, says the traffic of The Monocle Shop in Hong Kong, which receives visitors from around the region, was an encouraging sign. That, and the fact that Singapore has always been one of the magazine's top 10 markets, got the ball rolling.
The Singapore store joins existing Monocle stores in London, New York, Toronto, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Like the others, it will sell the magazine's selection of fashion and design collaborations, including those with Comme des Garcons, Porter, Mackintosh and more.
Exclusive products for the Singapore launch include a Delfonics travel pouch, Monocle x Revo M24 black radio and a Monocle Poster collection.
Asked about the shop's unusual location, the editor mentioned practical and aesthetic concerns. The company was looking for a space that would not need too much costly renovation, he says. "We also like the idea of being in more of a residential area, a little bit off the beaten track."
However, due to licensing restrictions, no cooking is allowed. True to the brand's entrepreneurial spirit, this led to the creation of a coffee bar with La Marzocco beans from the New Zealand company Allpress. Shoppers can leaf through copies of Monocle and enjoy their cuppa in an outdoor garden setting as well.
While the hefty magazine, which comes out 10 times a year, is "the heart of the business", The Monocle Shop and cafe are growing in importance too, adds Mr Brule.
The expansive Monocle group also produces books, radio programmes and annual publications such as The Forecast, a report on the people, places and currents shaping business and politics.
"Retail now accounts for over 10 per cent of our total turnover. If you rewind to five years ago, it wasn't such a significant part of the business then but now it's a proper organisation, with staff to match and a metabolism that very much takes on a life of its own."
The retail operations help pay for the journalists, he notes. The Singapore bureau will probably eventually have three staff, including an editor, researcher and intern. It joins other bureaus in Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Zurich, Toronto and Istanbul.
Founded in 2007, Monocle has become known as a chic guide on issues spanning travel, design, politics and more.
This month's issue (retailing for $19.90) focuses on topics such as soft power rankings of nations, Christmas hot spots in Belgium, a review of the best airlines and hostels, and designer Karl Lagerfeld's take on Berlin.
Mr Brule, a Financial Times columnist, also launched fashion-forward Wallpaper magazine in 1996 .
Though Monocle has grown into an empire extending from shops to radio, he says the brand is actually driven by a certain "conservatism".
"We've never promised meteoric numbers to anybody in terms of what we want to do," he says, on their steady and satisfying 7-per-cent year-on-year growth.
And forget about jumping on all the new online platforms - it is just not Monocle's style.
"We don't do a tablet edition, we don't have to be on every social media channel. We don't believe in contributing to all the digital chatter," says Mr Brule.
"People come to us because they want our editor's view on paper. I think most who know us well enough know we chart our own course."
llim@sph.com.sg
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HOME Newsroom Shire News Releases District Court Upholds FDA’S Grant Of 5-Year Market Exclusivity To VYVANSE®
District Court Upholds FDA’S Grant Of 5-Year Market Exclusivity To VYVANSE®
Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces that the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (“Court”), following extensive briefing by the parties and an oral hearing, has upheld the decision of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to grant 5-year New Chemical Entity (“NCE”) exclusivity to lisdexamfetamine dimesylate—currently marketed by Shire U.S. Inc. for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder under the name VYVANSE®.
On February 23, 2007, after reviewing the requisite clinical studies submitted on behalf of VYVANSE, the FDA determined that VYVANSE qualified as an NCE within the meaning of the governing statutes and regulations. As an NCE, VYVANSE is entitled to 5-year market exclusivity. The FDA therefore appropriately refused to file the Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) submitted by Actavis Elizabeth, LLC for generic lisdexamfetamine dimesylate. On February 24, 2009, Actavis sued the FDA in the District Court of the District of Columbia challenging the NCE decision. On April 13, 2009, the FDA opened a public docket to consider Actavis’s challenge to the FDA’s regulations governing NCE exclusivity and the corresponding award of exclusivity to VYVANSE. On October 23, 2009, following a thorough administrative review, the agency affirmed lisdexamfetamine, the active ingredient in VYVANSE, is a new active moiety and that its prior designation of VYVANSE as an NCE was proper.
Shire is pleased that on March 4, 2010, following the extensive briefing of the parties and an oral hearing, the Court upheld the FDA’s decision (and reaffirmation) that VYVANSE is entitled to 5-year market exclusivity. The Court correctly determined that FDA’s actions complied with federal administrative law standards as a reasonable exercise of the agency’s scientific expertise. The five-year exclusivity period for VYVANSE expires on February 23, 2012, and precludes generic manufacturers from submitting an ANDA to FDA until that time, or until February 23, 2011 should a generic applicant challenge the United States patents covering Vyvanse, which remain in effect until June 29, 2023.
Cléa Rosenfeld (Rest of the World) +44 1256 894 160
Eric Rojas (North America) +1 617 551 9715
Jessica Mann (Rest of the World) +44 1256 894 280
Matthew Cabrey (North America, Specialty Pharma) +1 484 595 8248
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THIS 200-Year-Old Canal Was Drained For The First Time. What Was Revealed Underneath Is Incredible!
Artifacts, Canal, Drained, Historical, Video
image via – youtube.com
You wouldn’t think that draining a canal could be so exciting, but once you hear about all the interesting things that have turned up at the bottom of one in France, you’ll understand why it is quite a big to-do!
The waterway where the magic happens is the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris. It’s well known for the arched bridges that cross it and the surrounding trendy neighborhood that’s filled with new shops, cafes, and bars. A major tourist hotspot these days, the area has come a long way since the canal was first built back in 1825 under the direction of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was looking to prevent the spread of diseases by boosting the clean drinking water supply for the rapidly growing city back then, and his own popularity as well.
Ever since it was constructed almost two hundred years ago, the canal gets a good cleaning about every 10-15 years. The last time it was cleaned and what the video coverage is from, was in early 2016. However, before any cleaning could be done, all the water needed to be drained first. Once the water levels were down to just 20 inches, the workers then had to catch all the fish that lived there and move them to safety. The muddy waters are home to mainly bream, carp, and trout, all of which were found to have surprisingly healthy populations, considering what they live among.
Once the fish were out the remaining water was drained, and the real cleanup began. City workers found all sorts of trash that had sunk to the bottom of the canal over the course of the last 15 years. In true Paris fashion, and surprising to no one, were the thousands of discarded wine bottles littered in the mud. Then there was the usual trash that’s to be expected, plastic bags, aluminum cans and beer bottles, traffic cones, and shopping carts. Bikes were also among the more common items removed, and a fair number of cell phones, chairs, umbrellas, and trash cans were removed.
This time around police had to be on hand in order to take into possession a gun that was found, but in years past there have been much more interesting finds. The last time the canal Saint Martin was drained, in 2001, two World War I shells were found! There were also several gold coins, a car, bathtub, and toilette bowl found that year. Other notable finds from this latest drain and cleaning were a pair of motor bikes, another toilette bowl, and an old school style boombox.
Three months after they started, after moving 2 million cubic feet of water at a cost of over $10 million, the cleanup was finally over. The fish were returned to their home and life around the canal was back to normal. Who knows what the next cleaning will reveal, but it’d be interesting to see if another toilette bowl shows up!
Watch the video below for the full story:
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THIS Lake In Oregon Completely Evaporated and Dried Out! Then a Mysterious and Scary Ghost Town Was Revealed!
Ghost Town, Historical, History, Lake, Nature, Video
In 1955 the town of Old Detroit was officially abandoned, any and all residents were ordered out by the US government. Soon afterwards water flooded in and all of the buildings and whatever else had been left behind was swallowed up by a new reservoir in Marion County, Oregon. From that point on, the town and surrounding area was called Detroit Lake, which today supplies water to the capital city of Salem and other nearby towns.
When the region experiences low rainfall and a prolonged drought, water levels at the lake inevitably drop. In 2015 the lake had reached a record low of 143 feet below capacity and things that had long ago been buried underwater were once again out in the open. One relic from the past that was spotted was a 19th century utility wagon laying on its side in the muck. A still in-tact cast iron plate on it showed that it was made by the Milburn Wagon Company of Toledo, Ohio and historians have estimated it to be about 130 years old.
It stayed in excellent shape all those years because it’d been buried at the bottom of the lake in a low oxygen environment. It’s brief exposure to air and sunlight probably damaged it more than the 100+ years being underwater did and thankfully its location was kept a secret by those who saw it. In addition to the never before seen wagon, a cement lined octagonal pit was also discovered. However, no one has been able to figure out what it could be or what it was once used for.
The history of the lake and surrounding area is just as interesting as the random things that can be spotted in the mud when water levels drop. Founded in 1880, the town of Old Detroit sprung up as a place originally meant to house the men who were working on the Oregon Pacific Railroad. When the railroad went bust, it became a place where primarily farmers, loggers and their families settled to work the land. At one time there was a school and cafes, a hardware store, movie theater, tavern and church all dotting the streets. Life was good in the quiet picturesque rural community, but there were issues.
The main problem facing the area was that the Santiam River, part of the Willamette River basin, often flooded and was unpredictable. Snowmelt from the Cascades and rainfall led to severe floods that raced down the canyon and valleys destroying everything in their path. After years of expensive floods that wiped out families and farms downstream, Congress finally passed the Flood Control Act of 1938. It provided for dams to be built that would control the flooding and generate electricity. Detroit Dam was one of them and by the time it was finished it measured 1,580 long, 360 feet high, and could hold 455,000 acre-feet of water.
However, before Detroit Dam could be put into operation, the town’s several hundred residents had to be relocated. They’d asked the government for land to re-site the city on but were denied and so they turned to a local timber baron, A.B. Hammond, who was more accommodating. He developed an old logging camp in the area and divided it up into lots which he sold to the displaced residents and other newer arrivals.
Finally in 1955 the dam was operational, and the North Santiam River went from being a swift moving, sometimes raging river, to a huge lake that covered the city of Old Detroit. The town has been sitting at the bottom of the reservoir ever since and rarely makes an appearance. Only when the water levels drop off super low does anything from the past appear and 2015 was the last time that happened.
Surrogate Just Gave Birth To Twin Babies.
Man Gets An Awesome Makeover
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Kenny Noyes: “Crashes Are a Part of Racing, but I Wouldn’t Trade Bikes for Anything”
“I know the best way to remember Nicky is getting on the gas.”
On the second anniversary of his career-ending crash the CEV champ talks about life today. Wolf Jay Flywheel
Noyes’ Gofundme account is here. https://www.gofundme.com/KennyNoyes
Interview with the 2014 FIM CEV Spanish-International Superbike Champion on the second anniversary of his life-threatening accident.
On the wall of his office Kenny keeps the poster that his team, PL Racing, sent to him, signed by all team members, after his accident. Across it can be read phrases like “This will be a great comeback,” and “good guys always win.” They are more like predictions than encouraging messages because they had seen Kenny come from far behind to win the title on the last day of the season the year before. Those predictions are slowly coming to pass. Now, two years after the fall that saw him battling for his life for seventy-two critical hours and produced traumatic brain injury, Kenny is making the comeback that his team foresaw. He’s his old self again, complaining as he always did, whenever the temperature drops below 80 degrees, telling stories and working hard so that he can go back to work.
Question: It’s been two years now since you went out for the morning Warm Up on your Kawasaki in Motorland Aragon. What do you remember from that day?
Kenny: Nothing. Three weeks later I woke up in an intensive care hospital room at the Guttmann Institute in Barcelona. I didn’t know who I was, where I was or why. I knew I was a motorcycle racer but I didn’t know who I was! I recognized my wife and later my brother and my parents, but that was it. I couldn’t speak or walk or even sit up and I was being fed through tubes. Slowly I began to recall things, but nothing about the crash. I remember my wife and I driving that morning to the track in the car. Right after the crash they tell me I was stabilized at the circuit clinic and then medevacked by helicopter to the University Hospital Clinic in Zaragoza, but I have no memory of any of that. A few months back I read the medical report and just a week ago I saw a video of the crash. It was just a normal crash but with the bad luck that the bike bounced off the padded wall and came back at me and hit me in the head. The combined estimated speeds produced a direct impact, bike to helmet, of 75 miles per hour.
Q: How are you now?
K: I’m better. I’m improving in every way, but little by little. Getting better, even if it is slowly, is good. The problem comes when recuperation stops, but that’s not my case.
Q: Last year at this time you told us how hard that first year of recovery had been. How would you evaluate this second year?
K: It’s been harder because I am so much more conscious of everything. For me these two years have been the end of one life and the beginning of another…this is my second chance.
Q: What is it like day to day?
K: Pretty routine (laughs). Every day I work on a different form of recuperation. I work on balance, physical strength, I go to speech therapy, sometimes I swim. I am using a walker now and that has helped me a lot, more than I thought it would. I can go out on my own now, go out for a coffee, for example.
Q: I see you are also walking without any support. How does it feel to walk again?
K: I’ll tell you when I can run (laughs).
Q: Last year you said the most frustrating thing was not being able to speak, not to be able to be readily understood and not to have enough balance to walk, but you have made big improvements. Are those areas still the most difficult?
K: It is not so hard for me to talk now. I’m much easier to understand thanks to the work of my speech therapist Ana Belmonte. My balance is improving, something that would not have been possible without the help of los de Step By Step y my physiotherapist Luis Lomba. I had the good fortune to be in the hands, both in Zaragoza and Barcelona, of doctors with lots of experience treating injuries like mine, and I have come to realize the number of specialists necessary for a recovery like mine. In addition to speech therapists and physiotherapists, you have to work with neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, specialized sleep therapists, ophthalmologists…and the hard part is to realize how expensive the whole process is and that I can’t work to pay for it myself. That is the reason I have started a GoFundMe account.
Q: Oscar Ibáñez, one of the instructors at the Noyes Camp racing school, had a crash that left him in coma for several weeks and he needed four years to consider himself fully recovered. Do you see the time very far away when you will feel that way?
K: To know people who have recovered from a big accident, even though not like mine, is encouraging to me and Oscar’s recovery is incredible. For me, these years have seemed very long, but when I look back at medical reports, photos and videos, I see how far I have come and how far I have to go.
Q: What projects are you working on now?
K: I’m still very involved in the Noyes Camp, our riding school. I enjoy contact with hundreds of racing fans each year. They transmit incredible positive energy. I am also, on the second anniversary of my accident, setting up my profile on GoFundMe. The federation insurance only took me through the first eighteen months and now all the expenses have fallen to my family. Our object is first to continue and complete my recuperation and then to create The Noyes Foundation to help people who are, unfortunately, forced to experience what I have.
Q: Besides donations to GoFundMe, are there other ways out there to help you in your rehabilitation?
K: Yes. We are planning merchandising, solidarity Noyes Camp sessions, races, auctions. I want those who want to collaborate with me and my projects to have various, easy possibilities to do so. The best way to know about all this is to follow Noyes Camp and my father, Dennis Noyes, in social media because that is where will announce the activities.
Q: And, speaking of that, how is the Noyes Camp going?
K: It’s going well, but it would seem a lot better to me if I were riding (laughs). The instructors, Alejandro Ros, Oscar Ibáñez and Ferran Sastre, are doing a great job, but I can’t help wanting to get on a bike in every session.
Q: Having seen the bitter side of racing, what message of hope would you send to fans of our sport?
K: Accidents are a part of motorcycle racing, but I wouldn’t trade bikes for anything. There is no denying the negative side, but I always say that Shoya Tomizawa, Marco Simoncelli, Luis Salom, Dani Rivas, Bernat Martinez and the others who have left us (I mention the most recent among riders I knew) would ask us to continue to enjoy bikes the same way they did. The days after Nicky Hayden’s accident were especially hard for me because his injuries were similar to my own even though he wasn’t racing a motorcycle. I had a good relationship with Nicky. We even raced together as dirt track amateurs back in the states, and I know the best way to remember Nicky is getting on the gas.
Q: The family is the base of support for long-term recuperation. What is the role of your family at this stage of your recovery?
K: They are more important now than ever because, as I have recovered awareness of everything around me, the psychological aspect has become the key element in my recovery. Friends are also absolutely necessary. To recover strength after an accident like mine is hard, but staying motivated day after day is even harder.
Q: Has your way of seeing your family changed?
K: Yes. Before my accident, it was all about my racing and I was more selfish with my family, my wife and my friends. Now, with this second chance, I hope I won’t be that way.
Q: Do you still think of yourself as a rider and do you want to stay involved with racing in the future?
K: I don’t want to race again but I do want to continue to be involved in the world of racing. I want to maintain contact but in a different way. With a team, with Noyes Camp, even with a championship as an advisor on safety. I’d like to do something for the common good of the motorcycle racing family.
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Birmingham City Council Reject Plans for 65 Foot Telecommunications Mast
Great news! I write this following tonight’s full Town Council meeting on Wednesday 23rd June. Consequently, I am thrilled to announce that the horrendous plans for a twenty metre (65 foot) telecommunication mast have been rejected by Birmingham City Council. It would have been taller than the trees and houses immediately adjacent to the corner of Honiley Drive and Chester Road North, where this mast was envisaged to stand at the behest of Hutchison 3G UK Ltd.
A great many residents knew about these plans as several of you contacted me to voice your concerns at the scale of the proposal, which would have definitely resulted in the loss of yet more green space. Masts such as these are always accompanied by several unsightly metal cabinets which take up several square metres of ground around these ugly structures. I always say to people, “it’s not the mast alone, it’s the boxes that go with it.”
I was pleased to bring these concerns to the forefront at The Town Council’s planning committee meeting at the beginning of this month, where we were unanimous in raising a formal objection to the City Council in rejecting these plans for the instillation. This shows that our Town Council has a voice and makes a difference, particularly when residents and councillors come together and raise concerns regarding issues such as this.
I can always be contacted by email: alison.jolley@suttoncoldfieldtowncouncil.gov.uk
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Solutions for Higher Education
Episode 88 - Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith are joined by SUU professors Dr. Daniel Hatch and Dr. Tyler Stillman to discuss the first book in the Summer Book Club: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. They discuss their interpretations of the meaning of life, the importance of relationships with others and being honest with yourself, and speculate about Frankl’s motivation in writing this book.
Steve Meredith: Hi again everyone, and welcome to Solutions for Higher Education, a podcast featuring Scott L Wyatt, the president of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah. I'm your host, Steve Meredith, and I'm joined in a little different part of our studio today, as I always am, by President Wyatt. Scott, how are you today?
Scott Wyatt: Terrific, thanks. We had to move out of the smaller studio so we can have six feet between four people.
Meredith: That's right.
Wyatt: Instead of two.
Meredith: So here we are being good examples. If only this were a video podcast, you can see what good examples we are being of social distancing. Anyway, this is a fun time of year for us because we finally...we keep thinking in our daily work about all the hard things, and right now there are some very hard things in our world. But we, every summer, turn to a book club so that we can sharpen our minds and think about other things too and summer seems to be the time to do it since we're all academics. And so, this is our first book for the 2020 book club and I'm really excited. We've got two in-studio guests to talk about one of my very favorite books. Why don't you introduce our guests and the book?
Wyatt: Yeah, happy to do it. We've got two of our outstanding faculty members at Southern Utah University. Dr. Daniel Hatch and Dr. Tyler Stillman. Dr. Hatch has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in Dr. Stillman in social psychology. And with that, we're going to jump into Man's Search for Meaning. I can't think of two better individuals with better background research to talk about this book. We would have invited the author, but he was unavailable.
Meredith: Yeah. Well, and...
Wyatt: [inaudible]
Meredith: Viktor Frankl...yeah.
Daniel Hatch: I think so.
Meredith: Yeah, for a while. So, Scott and I have been talking about the fact, when we decided...I think this was the last book that we put on the list and we put it on here because not only do we both really like this book and find a lot of meaning—not to crib too much from the title—but also because this seems to show up on reading list for high school and college and even middle school. There's something about the message contained in this book that seems to be rather universal. So anyway, I didn't mean to jump in...Tyler, Daniel, we're glad you're here.
Hatch: Good to be here.
Tyler Stillman: Glad to be here. Just before we started, Danny and I were comparing notes and we both have really old, well-used editions that are at least 20 years old.
Hatch: Yeah, I think back...it probably was in college when I first read this. But, had a huge impact and it continues to have an impact in the things that I teach and the focus of the teaching that I have. Wyatt: There's some...yeah. And this is a fun book to read again and again. This is one of those books that...when I went back and went through it this week, everything just kind of jumped out at me. It was like, "Wow, this is really..." And in particular the summer. You know, it just seems like when hardships mount and difficulties arise and, in fact, some social distancing from people that we care about and spend a lot of time with, this book is such a great book to read and think about. Well, let's jump into this.
Hatch: Sounds great.
Wyatt: Who wants to start? Stillman: Well, let me make this observation, which is that the book is inspiring and there's a lot...there's a lot there to appreciate. I don't think this is a downer, but one of the things that I appreciate about this book is that it helps to reorient you as to how bad things can get. Which helps us, I think, appreciate that we are...you know, as bad as things might be, it's nothing compared to how bad things can get. Hatch: Yeah. Yeah, I would echo that. One of my clients—as a therapist, I see clients occasionally—and one of them had a statement on her wall that she would always comment on that, "It's never so bad that it couldn't get worse." I think it's reflected in that. And at first I kind of thought, "That's actually kind of terrible." But the way that she thought about it was in a manner of speaking gratitude, because she could appreciate some of the darker places she had been and that helped her appreciate where she wasn't and where she was. Wyatt: Yeah. And it's always the wrong thing to say to somebody when they lost a child, "It's a good thing you didn't lose two." But I...even today as we were having a whole lot of challenging conversations about the university, I have to pause every time and think, "Whatever our difficulties are, they are not as difficult as so many people around us." Families and small businesses and all of these people that are having greater challenges. So, there is an element of gratitude in that isn't there?
Hatch: Sure. Wyatt: Well, let's jump into the meaning of life. So, what's the meaning of life, Tyler? Stillman: Well, I think the meaning of life is...obviously there's a lot of room for individuals to construct their own ideas for how they find meaning in life, but I think generally speaking, meaning is derived from our relationships from other people. And I say that in part because that's...that was Frankl's observation. His famous observation in what I think is one of the most beautiful passages in the book where he talks about his love for his wife and the peace and joy that that brought him at such a terrible time. But it wasn't...it's not...it wasn't love as a principal so much as it was his affection for an individual, right? And I think...some of the research that I've done in meaning in life, I've done a couple of papers that I think are relevant to this. So, one that I want to mention is we asked students at Florida State when I was at Florida State, "What is it that makes your life meaningful?" And we asked them that in many different ways. Open ended, "What's the most meaningful part of your life?" We can make it multiple choice and have the, you know, the 10 most common sources of meaning where students would rank what's meaningful. And it really doesn't matter how you ask the question; the answer is almost always "family" or "family and friends." That's about 70%-75% of when people respond...it is something...it's somebody. It's not really a principal. It's a person or people. Wyatt: Yeah, is that the way we spend our lives seeking happiness all the time? If we go seeking happiness, are we seeking what's going to bring us the most meaning? It's interesting that that's what they say. Dan, you were talking about some of this positive psychology research, and...
Hatch: Yeah. So, my experience in teaching positive psychology, so the focus of that class would be to use science and the data that it brings us to tell us what is going to bring us the most happiness. And part of that process in the class that I teach is we talked a lot about what things will likely bring us happiness and what things don't seem to. And so, the very first day of class I have my students write down the things that bring them the most joy and inevitably, just like Tyler is talking about, they bring up the relationships, the most meaningful relationships that they have in their lives. And then we have, I think, an interesting discussion about the circumstantial things in life that we think are meaningful and how much time we spend doing those things. So, things that you might think about like your health or how much money you make, even going to school to some degree. And I put up a chart—they have to guess which of the factors are likely to lead to the greatest amount of happiness. And I think the interesting part about it is that the first time they do it, they're almost always wrong. They guess wrong about which thing is going to bring them the most happiness and I think in the book, Dr. Frankl talks about this idea of the "existential vacuum." And that is that we have an idea that we need to find meaning but when we don't have it, it creates a vacuum and our culture rushes in to fill that void and then we end up dedicating our lives to that little or nothing that gets filled by that void. And when we look at the statistics when it comes to things that make us happy, the circumstantial things, even like a new car or, like I said, good health or money that we make, they have an impact on our lives for about a three-month period of time and then it disappears. It's called the "hedonic treadmill." So, one of the more famous studies is when an individual wins the lottery or when an individual becomes quadriplegic or paraplegic; as you might imagine, we think it would have a huge impact on their happiness, and it does for about three to four months and then their happiness goes back to a more stable level. And it's good because it's a circumstantial thing. But about 45% or so of our happiness is accounted for by things like relationships. And the very ideas that in this book they talk about, particularly love, are the things that bring us the most lasting joy and happiness. Wyatt: Why is it that we know that relationships are the most important thing but we end up spending most of our time trying to make money or buy things?
Hatch: That's a really good question. I've got no answer. [All laugh] Well, I think there's sort of that...I think that the book illustrates that idea that we...our culture is sort of set up in a consumer society in that way. And there are a lot of advantages obviously to that kind of idea. However, I think it lends itself well to that kind of vacuum creating scenario. That then we see it because of consumerism and we think that that's what's going to lead to happiness. Things like body image, for instance, and money. On a similar list, when asked, college students rated making money in their top three as the most important outcomes from college, and it beat out things like having a family and having a long-term relationship. So, there's an interesting kind of paradox that occurs, I think, that on the one hand, intuitively we know that's the things that bring us the most happiness, but sometimes we were sort of thinking about what's our goal, sometimes it leads us down a path to circumstances that don't actually fulfill that.
Stillman: It's true that people that, you know, when they say...when they hear money doesn't bring happiness, a lot of people will respond, "Well, I would love to test that hypothesis." Right? And a lot of students when they graduate, I think that's what they do. They set to work making money and it's only once they've achieved that goal that they realize it doesn't have the enduring value that they might expect. And this is something that I've observed in the Entrepreneurship Center at Southern Utah University. We have an Entrepreneur Leadership Council that consists of very successful entrepreneurs who have made a lot of money and who spend their time volunteering on behalf of the university to help student businesses be successful. Their focus is no longer on making money, it's on helping people get...helping students get their startups off the ground, and I think part of that is that what they had initially sought did not provide the lasting value that something like helping students does provide.
Hatch: Yeah. It's interesting, we talk an awful lot about...just the very first day of that positive psychology class about making money. And like you said, it's a problem I wish I had—that I was making too much and had to struggle with that—but nonetheless, there's an interesting relationship with how much money it takes to make happiness occur. And it's interesting because what happens is, when they crunch the numbers—in the U.S. and in particular, in the Western United States—it's around $65,000 to $70,000, you can even put a dollar amount on it, that any less than that and more money would make you happier. But after that point, more money doesn't make you any more happy. So, you can kind of...when you ask the question, "Does money buy happiness?" In a way, it does up to a point. If you think about countries where they don't have potable water and they're thinking about where they're going to get their food for the next day, for sure money would make them a little bit more happy. But again, it just has diminishing returns and at some point, it no longer does. And I think the beauty of this book is in part that it reminds you of how immaterial and ephemeral money actually is and how fast it can be stripped away. That these men and women one day were physicians, in Viktor Frankl's case, and the next day were a number and that in the blink of an eye that way, that stuff became meaningless. So, it kind of re-centers on the things that actually matter most.
Wyatt: I love this quote from Dr. Frankl. And this is going back to the question about the meaning of life. "What's the point?" And I guess you would ask yourself that question a lot while you were in a concentration camp as a Jew in Germany or Austria or Poland or somewhere, "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." I love that idea about stopping asking what life has for us or what the meaning of it is and just start asking, "What does life expect out of me right now?"
Stillman: To me, that quote made me think of what it's like to face a blank page. To me, a blank page...when you set out to write something, to me, the most difficult sentence to write is the first one. I find a blank page really intimidating, in part because it can become anything and a little bit, that's the difficulty of a blank page and that's the difficulty of deciding what meaning life has. The options are sort of endless.
Hatch: Yeah, when I think about that, the task that life puts in front of you, it makes me think a lot...I've done some work with clients who have had traumatic histories and it's a tough question to ask them. You know, "What's the meaning of something as traumatic as, let's say sexual abuse?" And they're forced to confront that question on a regular basis. And the book kind of helps you see, of course they've got to find some kind of meaning in that. And that's a pretty hard sell to help somebody consider or try to find the meaning that might be found in sexual abuse history. And there's a part in the book that I really love that I think really helps capture this idea of once meaning is found, then the suffering is definitely bearable. And he quotes a doctor, he says, "Once, an elderly general practitioner consulted me because of his severe depression. He could not overcome the loss of his wife who had died two years before and whom he had loved above all else. Now, how can I help him? What should I tell him? Well, I refrained from telling him anything but instead confronted him with the question, "What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive you?" "Oh," he said, "for her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!" Whereupon I replied, "You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared her, and it was you who have spared her this suffering—to be sure, at the price that now you have to survive and mourn her." And I think, again, it's, "How would he answer that question?" And in that case, as soon as he turned it around and said, "You're saving her that kind of suffering because you're sort of taking on that burden now" it changed it, it made it meaningful. It made it a definition of his love of his wife that he could do on a daily basis. So, that meaning must be found, and I think that's in part what he might mean by "the tasks that are put in front of you on a daily basis." And I think about one of my clients in particular, she was struggling with this idea and what she eventually came to was that...we do this thing called a genogram and you kind of map out your family tree, and we could see this cycle of sexual abuse that went back at least three generations, and I would suspect more than that even, and what she said is, "It stops with me. That now, that kind of history was nothing that my kids will have to deal with." And she said these words, "I'm cleansing the family tree of that particular problem." And that was all the meaning that she needed. So, suddenly those 18 years were worth it in a way for her and the suffering that she experienced because she could "cleanse the family tree." So, I think when Tyler says it's unique individually, it must be, of course it has to be, because every person has their own set of tasks that life puts in front of them and that's how they must find the meaning of that, or alternately, get sucked into that existential vacuum and look for something that can't possibly provide the meaning.
Wyatt: So, we move a little bit away from the philosophical answer from the wise guy sitting on top of the mountain and just move into the present and say, "What is there that my meaning has right now for somebody?" I think that's what you're saying?
Hatch: I think these kinds of moments in time, they force us to consider those things that matter most to us. There's a theory in psychology we call "terror management theory," in a sense, where you're reminded of your mortality. It forces you to consider the things that matter most, values in a sense, and in a way, that might be one of the best things...I mean, when I think about how much more time I've spent playing board games with my kids and watching Lord of the Rings, as it turns out, I've done that more, we've had more family dinners in the last month and a half than we ever...than we've had in a long time. And so, while there's this massive amounts of pain and trauma that are occurring in the world, it's helped me at least re-evaluate what matters most to me and turn to those relationships like Tyler was talking about earlier.
Wyatt: So, Dan and Tyler, I've got a question that has been on my mind since reading this book and thinking it through again: was Viktor Frankl a happier person because of his time in a concentration camp? Did he come out of that a better person? Or a worse person? Or the same? And that answer, how does that fit into our own lives?
Stillman: My initial response would be that I doubt he was happier having experienced firsthand how cruel people can be, but I think certainly more meaningful and more focused as to what he sought out of his life. The way I've been thinking about this book the past couple of days is that what Frankl did was to...I think that maybe the way to say it is the normative way to handle malice is to respond with malice. When somebody does something unkind, the natural response, of course, is to be unkind. And you see this in sports, an elbow begets an elbow. You see it on Twitter, an insult begets an insult. And somehow, there's a capacity that humans have to, instead of reflecting malice, to receive it, to be the recipient of something horrible, and somehow transform it into something positive, something that has love and gentleness and generosity. That...what he did was sort of miraculous. And then, having done that, he then set out to systematize it and to make it so that other people could go...could instead of reflective malice for malice, take something that...what is the trifecta that he mentions? It's pain, death and guilt. Those are the three things that sort of plague humanity. That those things can be turned into something positive, that's really...I like the word miraculous to describe that.
Hatch: Yeah, I love that. I remember a part in the book where he said the best of us didn't make it out of the concentration camps, and I think...that's interesting to hear given just how amazing the book is and the insights that it delivers, to consider some of those lost lives as well. So, when you ask that question, "Is he a better person for it?" That to me seems like the right way to frame it. Certainly, he's a better person. I like how you mention I don't know that he's happier...that kind of trauma has an impact and in that sense is going to change him forever, but his ability to find the meaning in it I think makes him a better person and has taught him the kind of coping mechanism and depth of understanding that couldn't be acquired in any other way. And so, broadly speaking, because it's the kind of question that you have to...when a client is sitting in front of you asking about something traumatic that's happened to them, I've worked with several combat veterans as well, and it's hard to say to them, "Yeah, you needed to have that particular experience happen." But what you can say is, "What did you gain from that experience?" And I think that's probably the right way to frame it.
Stillman: One way maybe to think about it is if you were to ask Frankl, "You could be the person you were before you went into the concentration camp or you could be the person that you are after—which would you choose, everything else held the same?" And my sense is he would take the person that he became.
Wyatt: Because there was much more meaning in his life because he's made such a positive influence on so many people.
Stillman: Yes.
Wyatt: Which is, in some respects, our definition of happy, right?
Stillman: That's right.
Wyatt: And in a prior life of mine which goes back quite a long time, I was a felony prosecutor and prosecuted child sex abuse cases and homicide and I'm thinking about that in this discussion with some of the people you're counseling with, Dan, and it does seem to me that everybody emerges from significant negative events better or worse.
Hatch: Yeah.
Wyatt: And it's their call, and I think it's part of what Viktor Frankl is saying is, "Even in a concentration camp, you still have freedom to make choices."
Hatch: Yeah, you can become a creature of circumstance or a creator of circumstance based on that attitude that you take towards that kind of challenge. You know, I think about the tasks that are placed in front of us that we must deal with, and I think a lot about how he makes mention of this that if it's avoidable then you should for sure avoid it, but it's...that there is this inherent and unavoidable sense that we are going to experience suffering. And one interesting thing I think that happens...I do a group therapy class, and the first day, everyone in that room kind of looks at each other and says, "Yeah, you guys all look really well put-together. You don't look like you have any problems." And I think there's a tremendous pressure when we have that perception, "Nobody else has any problems" because we all know we do have serious problems, some of us, and for sure we will have some kind of serious problem at some point in our lives, and then we look at everyone else and think, "Well, they don't have any problems whatsoever." And it's this lightbulb moment in that particular class because they start to hear the stories of every person in the class and they realize that everyone is going through something very, very challenging and suddenly, they're not alone and isolated because, while it might not be the same exact pain, it's pain that they can understand and relate to because they're going through something very similar. And so, I guess there is no chance that you'll get through life without that kind of suffering one way or another, so, we're all going to have to figure out how to find meaning in suffering that way.
Stillman: Well said. I think, too, President when you mentioned that...when you said that suffering makes people better or worse, Frankl several times, he refers to saints and swine. Those are not average people and I think that saints and swine is a function of people being pulled either to be better or to be worse.
Wyatt: So, let me take a side step for a quick second. The second book that Steve and I have for this summer is called The Pacific Alone. And Viktor Frankl talks about, "Don't go seeking serious trauma in your life, or stress, whatever, but if you get it then try to make the best out of it." But next month's book is about a guy that intentionally imposed the most extreme amount of stress, anxiety, which lead to I think post-traumatic stress disorder and everything else, by launching off of the coast of California in a 20-foot canoe and spending the next, what is it, 64 days?
Meredith: Mhmm.
Wyatt: 64 days to get to Hawaii. It's an unbelievable story, but it's interesting how some people today will in fact try to find a way to impose the maximum amount of crisis in their lives for the purpose of capturing something beautiful out of it. And how does that fit in with the person who doesn't go seeking that experience but has the functional equivalent of that experience? Does the same beauty and character development and everything come out of it? It's an interesting question for me and I've always wondered about that.
Hatch: I think life has a funny way of turning experiences into meaningful experiences, potentially. So, I wouldn't want to make assumptions about that individual, but I guess I could guess and say in some ways that he sought it and regardless of that choice of seeking it, life, I'm sure, taught him some profound things that maybe he wanted and plenty probably that he did not want to have happen, but because they occurred, made him a better person. So, maybe sometimes it's if we can help it not making those choices, but regardless of the choices that we do make inherently in the things that we do, there's going to be that kind of suffering and it is required of us, I think, in those moments to try to figure out what the meaning that could be had from it.
Wyatt: Yeah, Ed writes that he...or Ed reported that he felt like he was imprisoned, that he wasn't going to get away, that he was probably going to die, he writes a will on the kayak knowing that the kayak will survive and be found, and so he wrote his will on it. It's a very, very small slice of what Viktor Frankl lived through. Very small and different, self-imposed, but I think that both of them felt the same way at times that they're not getting out.
Stillman: On a yet even smaller scale, the institutions in our society that we value as transformative are ones that people opt into knowing that it is going to be very difficult. Two that come to mind are, I would say the military; you know that you're going to have somebody screaming in your face, you're going to be running laps or...this is all I've seen in movies so...[All laugh]
Wyatt: Yeah, but I think that's right.
Stillman: Or if you're getting...if you're becoming a medical doctor, your residency...whatever it is that you go through, these very difficult things that people do opt into knowing that those will be transformative.
Wyatt: It's hard to compare a concentration camp with medical school or a kayak adventure, but there is a small element that is comparable when seeking stress and crisis.
Hatch: I think it's interesting. Our culture in some ways, I think, has moved away from this idea, but we have that kind of thing where we have these rites of passage that we go through and the military would be a form of a rite of passage.
Hatch: I think Utah culture has a rite of passage when young men and young women go on missions, for instance, but they are opportunities, because of their adversity, for that individual to learn and grow in profound ways and they're designed, I think, for that very reason. To help the individual find meaning in their life. And it's one part, again, if I could read just a section that I love, he says, "The existential vacuum manifests itself in the state of boredom." And then he goes on to say that, "Mankind was apparently doomed to vacillate eternally between the two extremes of distress and boredom." And in actual fact, boredom is now causing and certainly bringing to psychiatrists more problems to solve than distress. And that's a social commentary that I think we see a bit in front of us as young men and, I think in some ways to a lesser extent, young women, struggle to figure out what they're going to do with their lives. For some reason, I think there's a bit more direction that women seem to have and that manifests in the percentages of young women and young men who are going to college, for instance, now as that kind of diverges a bit. But I feel like that I've had enough young men in my classes really struggling to figure what they're going to do and I feel like it's that boredom component that for some reason, it may be a gender-specific kind of thing, that they're sort of really drawn to the video games and to the technology kinds of things that inevitably I don't think are fulfilling for them and they get sort of stuck in that eddy. They get stuck in that particular pattern for some time. It's something I've thought a lot about.
Wyatt: Let me read another quote from Frankl. I think this is fun, talking about happiness and all that, "...A human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in the given situation." So, we find happiness not by pursuing happiness itself but by pursuing something that gives us a reason to be happy. The object of our search is different. So, I find a person that I want to make happy and that makes me happy. I think that's how you started this out, Tyler.
Stillman: Right. And I think, too, he captures that in his ideas about hyper intention. That when...if what you're focused on is laughing, it's going to be hard to laugh. That focusing too much on an outcome is really...it becomes an obstacle to that outcome and that it's really by embracing something larger than the self that you can, as a byproduct, experience meaning and happiness.
Hatch: Yeah, that idea of the paradoxical intervention, right? That you try to stay awake...if you have a hard time falling asleep that you try to make sure that you stay awake and as you try to stay awake, you'll find that you can't and fall asleep. And when you said that I thought a lot about processes versus outcomes that we get stuck a lot of times in the outcomes. We want a particular outcome and as we focus so much on the outcome, we sort of miss the process. For instance, if you're skiing, the goal is to get to the lodge maybe at the bottom of the hill, but if you got swept up by a helicopter and got dropped off and didn't get to ski down the hill, it wouldn't be worth skiing, right? I mean, the whole point is to enjoy the process, in a way, the journey, and I think he makes that very clear in his book that it's the process that we use to achieve the outcome that actually is where a lot of the meaning is had.
Wyatt: Steve, we've just kind of left you over in the corner here.
Meredith: That's where I'm at my best. [All laugh] No, honestly...
Wyatt: At your six foot distance.
Meredith: Yeah, I have just really actually been enjoying and soaking up this discussion. I've been actually thinking about a number of relatives from the generation and a half maybe prior to mine that served in World War II and it seemed to me always that the ones that saw more action had less to say about it. That those who were stateside or they were in the...some sort of non-combat role were fine to talk about it and the ones that had served in planes or had served on ships or had seen combat were less likely to talk about it and seemingly, again to me, more driven to make sure that their children never experienced anything like that. That they were...it was clear they were seared by whatever it was. They didn't really want to talk about it, and that was probably a function of male roles and thoughts about psychotherapy and other things that were less than enlightened at the time, but as I've thought about that, I think that there were a few that really personalized that experience and could not...it drove them so hard that it kind of broke them. And there were others that took that and did exactly what we've been discussing here, which is to say, "I do want to provide for my children and I want to make sure that we...that they don't have the kind of hardships that we had to face, but I do also want to teach them the value of work and I want to teach them the value of difficulty." And it's amazing to me how easy it is to see the difference between children who have been taught that, the value of work and to not automatically fear something, versus people who have not had that. Who have been...we have a phrase in higher ed called, "helicopter parenting," right? That they've been just sort of bubbled. And although this is just sort of tangentially related to our discussion, I've been...there is no way in the world that you can say that what we've been through has been even remotely related to WWII or the Holocaust or anything like that in terms of difficulty or even the flu of 1918 that we're going to have a book about, but this has been one of those moments societally and around the world that has caused this kind of stress, although not, again, not as impactful. I don't want to...I'm not trying to draw inferences that this is as hard as any of the things we've been discussing, but what do you think will be the societal result of this based on what we've been talking about? Do you think people will derive meaning from this and propel forward? Or are we going to become scared as a people and pull in and the next time it snows hard, we're going to want to cancel class or whatever? I'm curious, since we're talking about this, what your thoughts are?
Hatch: Just as you were talking about comparison of pain and kind of in a way, struggling, how do we compare the kinds of pain that we're experiencing, that is another common experience in that group class that I teach is, "Is my pain as bad as your pain is?"
Meredith: Yep.
Hatch: And this metaphor that one of the students came up with I thought was amazing, he said, "Whether I'm drowning in 10 feet of water or 100 feet of water, the depth doesn't matter. I'm still drowning." And maybe that's a way to make the comparisons that we maybe sometimes need to make about pain. While it isn't certainly the hundred or thousand feet of water that a Holocaust or a WWII might be, pain is pain and if you're drowning, the depth isn't really as important. But...
Meredith: And there are a number of families right now that are going through, again, I don't pretend to know as much about psychology as either of you gentlemen, but when people list the most stressful things that can happen to a person in their lifetime, divorce, losing a job, all of those...and we're seeing spikes, of course, in all of that right now.
Hatch: Yeah. Tyler and I were talking before we got started today that I've had more clients coming in lately and I would say it's related to COVID-19, although that's not what they're talking about, because I think they're feeling the stress overall in their environment and that stress is manifesting itself in the very individual ways that they have and that's making them seek out services and help. So, I think in a lot of ways...sometimes we try to talk broadly about the stress of COVID, but it's probably, at least in my experience, a more individualized whatever your current stressors are, this thing just makes those things worse. But, to answer your question, man, I wish I could predict that. In the same way that Viktor Frankl maybe had a hard time predicting who was going to respond to their environment and find meaning or who was going to respond by becoming the saint or the swine, so to speak...man, I wish we had that kind of ability to make those kinds of predictions. And in a small way, it's this kind of thing I think that reminds us of the possibilities that could happen if we take advantage of this in the right kind of way. Whether something crushes us or something that hardens us in a very positive way I think remains to be seen as a culture.
Meredith: One of the things...and President, and I say this not at all to be seen as an employee who is seeking to curry favor, but one of my favorite things when working with you is that you are relentlessly optimistic. And as we are going through a budget thing this summer, and I think everybody is aware that higher ed has not been immune to the problems that have affected the rest of the American economy, it's...is it safe to say, President, in your thinking, that there are various levels of optimism versus pessimism among the members of the Cabinet about where we will likely see ourselves?
Wyatt: Yeah, for sure.
Meredith: And it's interesting to me that you always seem to end every conversation with, "We will get through this and we will be stronger at the end." So, to me, very much a Frankl sort of view of the world. Is that...and I think you really believe that.
Wyatt: Well, I do. And part of it, I think, goes back to the beginning of my professional life when I was prosecuting capital murder cases and spent an enormous amount of time with victims, mothers of children who had been murdered and feeling with them and helping them go through their own sense of hell, and ever since then, it's like, "Well, what's the worst problem I'm going to face? It's not that bad." I mean, I think in a very real sense for me, a lot of my optimism has come from working through extremely challenging experiences. Very stressful. When you're doing a capital murder case, you're going up against the very best lawyers in the state. They don't let anybody else take those cases. So, it's professionally stressful, emotionally it's stressful and you worry that if you don't win, that somebody is going to get free and it'll happen again. So, I think that's what it is a lot for me. Every time we have a very, very—and for me, it's a little bit vicarious, it was half vicarious, half stress for me—but I think every time we go through some crisis and come out on the other end seeing the good that then the next crisis is a little bit easier to handle. The worst child abuse case that I helped out with, I had what I would describe as hardened, calloused, cynical big city reporters calling to say, "If you don't...if you can't find someone to take care of this little girl, please let me know because I would love to be her foster mother." And I would think, "Wow, that's amazing that..." And people would come into the office and bring gifts and quilts that they had put together themselves, and I thought, "In the darkest moments of life witnessing humanities most ugly side, I get to see the brightest side." And ugly and dark always makes bright, positive more clear. So, I think that's part of where my approach comes from.
Hatch: Nine or ten years ago there was an experience I was peripheral to; it was a tragedy and it wasn't primarily my loss. And the people who really did lose in this experience were very religious, and the way they talked about it was in very religious language, and my response at the time was to see that as an error. That they were finding meaning where there was none. And I was just convinced that they were finding meaning where there wasn't any. That there was no meaning to be derived from this tragedy. And in a sense, I was both right and wrong. For me personally, having found no meaning in that, there was no growth for me. But I think for the family that did lean on their faith, I think that act of embracing that and finding meaning in that actually did...it did make it more tolerable and they came through that experience better people. I went through that same experience, found no meaning in it, and experienced no growth. And I think that's a little bit what we'll see here; some people will find no meaning in it, and hopefully, others of us will attempt to heed the call that Frankl makes on our behalf and respond.
Stillman: You know, just to piggyback on that a little bit, I think so plug really what is occurring I think right now, the discussion that we have and the ideas that we share are ways that we can make meaning. They build relationships, they build connections. And I think just to make a plug for getting help, one of my favorite researchers, James Pennebaker has a paradigm, a research paradigm where he has students write down the worst thing that's ever happened to them. That's literally what the instructions say. They have to spend 40 minutes every day for five days in a row writing the worst things that have ever happened. Then he had all kinds of outcome measures that he attached to it, and what he found was that they did not like doing it, unequivocally, but 100% of the time afterwards, they benefited greatly because they were able to find meaning in it. That the dialogue itself helped them create meaning. And one of the questions they asked in the instructions was, "How did what happened to you impact who you are, who you were, and who you want to be?" And I think the dialogues that we have like this one and the dialogues that could happen in the context of a therapy environment or with a close friend, for that matter, they're the kinds of things that as we figure out how what happened to us impacted who we were, who we are now, and who we want to be, they change us and they get us the meaning that we want. And in some ways, to go back to what Steve was saying earlier, we don't want to talk usually about the worst things that happen to us and I think that's the great irony, that one of the best ways, and I can say empirically that it works to do it, it's to talk about it. And in that sense, whether it's a professional that you get help from or a close friend and as you consider whatever it is that's occurring in your own life, figuring how it impacted who you are, who you were and who you want to be, I think starts to change it from something that occurred into something that can build you into the person that you want to be.
Wyatt: As we wrap this up, let's bring this home. And I think, Dan, you've kind of been there. But let's bring this home to our listeners and assume that some of the people listening to this podcast and participating in the summer book club have lost a loved one or a job or something, something really significant, and they're struggling. What would you tell them? "Read this book, think about it carefully, and...?"
Hatch: So, I would say that it's important to be honest about the event. I think that's one thing that Frankl said was it was the optimists, the eternal optimists that he found a little bit annoying because they were not rooted in reality.
Wyatt: They died.
Hatch: Right.
Wyatt: They didn't make it.
Hatch: So, root yourself in reality. And then, I think what I take from Frankl's book is to try to turn things that are objectively negative into something that's positive. To, instead of reflecting negativity with negativity, to try to transform it into something that's positive.
Wyatt: You know, this...it causes us to re-evaluate the definition of positive, doesn't it? Because Frankl writes about those that said, "I'm going to be home by Christmas. I know I'm going to be home by Christmas, I know I'm going to be home." The super optimistic person, and then they're not and they're so depressed. So, what you're describing in a healthy optimism is grounded in realism as well?
Hatch: Right. And I think I would add to that rose colored glasses and Pollyannaism isn't going to get you through, because that isn't, just like Tyler is saying, that isn't reality. So, maybe I would make the distinction between optimism and maybe hope. I think hope is something that matters profoundly and is, in a way, different from that Pollyannaism idea that, "I'm going to be home maybe by Christmas." Hope allows you, I think, a lot of latitude to be able to continue to find meaning, even if you haven't found it yet. You might hope that you could find meaning even though right in front of you, you don't see it and maybe you're not even sure how you could see it, but you could certainly hope that you might be able to find meaning. And I think...I don't know when he would say, I would be interested to ask that question, "When is it that you think you found meaning?" And I guess I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't say, "Well, not in that moment. Not in the middle of this moment." That it occurred...I don't know, maybe when he was writing the manuscript or the long conversations that he talked about having with his wife in his mind, maybe that's where some of the hope started to happen and then later some of the meaning, but that you could hope that you could find meaning. And to begin with, that might be enough.
Meredith: You've been listening to Solutions for Higher Education, a podcast featuring Scott L Wyatt, the president of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah. Today, we've been discussion book number one of our 2020 Summer Book Club, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. We've been discussing it with Tyler Stillman and Daniel Hatch, two wonderful members of our SUU faculty and we want to thank Daniel and Tyler for coming in today and spending some time with us. Our next book for June is The Pacific Alone by David Shively, and it chronicles the story of Ed Gillet and his amazing self-powered kayak journey from California to Hawaii. I know you'll enjoy that. As always, we wish that you are well and happy, and we look forward to talking to you again soon. Bye bye.
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Captivating Sessions with Cultural Icons mark the 2 nd Day of Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet
Bhubaneswar, January 11, 2020
The second day of Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet (TSBLM) was marked with incredible performances and enriching dialogues. Returning to the stage after quarter of a century, veteran actor Amol Palekar mesmerised a packed theatre with his play Kusur. Adapted from the Danish crime thriller Den Skyldige, the Hindi play was well received by hundreds of eager fans. Palekar’s riveting performance capped a day filled with engaging sessions on a gamut of subjects.
Acclaimed author Perulam Murugan spoke about his new book Amma, a collection of essays chronicling the life of his mother. The tenderly written essays, now translated into English, capture poignant moments in the life of a strong and independent woman. Murugan’s session, attended by scores of young literary enthusiasts, brought to life his deep admiration for language and how it has helped in this memoir.
Legendary flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia enthralled the audience during a discussion on his memoir Breath of Gold. Together with his biographer, Sathya Saran, Pandit Chaurasia shared intimate anecdotes from his formative years, giving a rare glimpse to his rich life.
Spoken word performer Priya Malik joined British author-poet Rosie Garland on stage to discuss the role of the writer as a performer. Their discussion was punctuated by well-received readings and recitations. The day also had a fair share of the silver screen with the Odisha launch of Satyarth Nayak’s book, Sridevi: The Eternal Screen Goddess. This was followed by Nandita Das’ session on her film Manto. The acclaimed actor spoke about her personal and cinematic journey with the inimitable author and playwright.
Delegates who will be part of the concluding day of this year’s TSBLM include Bachi Karkaria, Anand Neelakantan, Gayatribala Panda, Kunal Basu, Gourahari Das and Biswa Kalyan Rath.
To know more, visit http://bbsrlitmeet.in/2020/
Stay tuned to: https://www.facebook.com/bhubaneswarliterarymeet/
Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 33 million tonnes per annum. It is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world. The group (excluding SEA operations) recorded a consolidated turnover of US $22.67 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2019. In 2018, Tata Steel acquired Bhushan Steel Ltd (now renamed as Tata Steel BSL Ltd)
A Great Place to Work-Certified organisation, Tata Steel Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000. Tata Steel retained the ‘Global Steel Industry Leader’ position in the DJSI 2018. The Company has been recognised as the Climate Disclosure Leader in ‘Steel category’ by CDP (2017). Besides being a member of the World Steel Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel has won several awards including the Lighthouse recognition for its Kalinganagar Plant – a first in India, Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17, ‘GreenPro’ certification for products (Tata Pravesh Steel Doors, Tata Structura, Tata Pipes) by CII, Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) status (Tier 2) by the Directorate of International Customs (Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India), ‘Corporate Strategy Award’ by Mint (2018), Golden Peacock Award for Risk Management (2018) and Best Risk Management Framework & Systems Award (2019) by CNBC TV18. The Company also received the ‘Most Ethical Company’ award from Ethisphere Institute for the eight time (2019), Steel Sustainability Champion (2018) by the World Steel Association, Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards (2019), Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award by Institute of Directors (2018), ‘Best Companies To Work For’ recognition by Business Today, 'Asia's Best Integrated Report' award by the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (2017), among several others.
Last year, the Company launched a corporate brand campaign #wealsomaketomorrow
To know more, visit www.tatasteel.com | Follow us on
Statements in this press release describing the Company’s performance may be “forward looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results may differ materially from those directly or indirectly expressed, inferred or implied. Important factors that could make a difference to the Company’s operations include, among others, economic conditions affecting demand/supply and price conditions in the domestic and overseas markets in which the Company operates, changes in or due to the environment, Government regulations, laws, statutes, judicial pronouncements and/or other incidental factors.
Chief, Corporate Communications-India & SEA
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Tata soars into the top 50 most valuable global brands
The Tata brand has been ranked as the first Indian brand to be in the top 50 club of global brands as per Brand Finance's Global 500 2011 report.
The group’s brand value is pegged at $15.8 billion as compared to $11.21 billion in 2010. As per Brand Finance's Global 500 2007 report, the brand value of Tata was $7.38 billion, indicating there has been 100 per cent appreciation for its brand value.
There has been a steady progress in the Tata brand value to reach the 50th position among the other global brands. In 2007, the Tata brand was ranked 103 and now in 2011 it is ranked among the top 50. The key companies and brands that have been considered by Brand Finance to add the brand value to the group are the Tata Motors group (JLR brand value, Tata Motors India and joint ventures and subsidiaries), the Tata Steel group (Tata Steel and Tata Steel Europe) and Tata Consultancy Services.
R Gopalakrishnan, director, Tata Sons, said, “Tata managers have been focused on doing the right things for the business and the stakeholders. The brand perception is the outcome of their efforts and is not a planned perception change, to that extent it’s a source of satisfaction for the employees.'
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In practical terms, your 100% tax deductible donation can bring world-class exhibitions to our community, conserve important works of art, and support engaging education programs.
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Your generosity ensures that children and adults from all walks of life have the opportunity to engage one-on-one with art that tells stories, challenges thoughts, and launches new ways of thinking. Your gift can spark creativity and build future artists. Your gift can help open eyes, hearts and minds.
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We hope you’ll consider making a gift today. We have no doubt it will change the world.
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Report: Southern Miss Hires Ellis Johnson
By David Wunderlich Dec 20, 2011, 9:32am EST
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The Jackson Clarion-Ledger is reporting that Southern Miss will hire South Carolina assistant head coach for defense Ellis Johnson as head coach, perhaps as soon as today. He missed the Gamecocks' practice yesterday to interview for the job, which is open thanks to previous coach Larry Fedora taking over at North Carolina.
Johnson has spent most of his coaching career in the Carolinas, though he has also coached at Southern Miss (1988-89), Alabama (1990-93, 1997-2000), and Mississippi State (2004-07). He previously was head coach at Gardner-Webb for one season in 1983 and at The Citadel from 2001-03.
He's an interesting hire in this day and age, getting his first I-A head coaching job at age 59. Most schools these days prefer to hire young coaches, and it's almost unheard of for a coach to get his first big time job past age 50. That Johnson is getting his the same week he turns 60 (December 23, thanks for asking) is probably unparalleled. He's not going to be there for 20 years, but who actually stays that long at one school anymore?
Of course, Johnson's performance at South Carolina of late has certainly earned him the chance. In particular, this season was his finest yet in Columbia. Without counting I-AA games, the Gamecocks are 11th nationally in scoring defense and third in total defense. Only Alabama and LSU allowed fewer yards per play, and South Carolina was just 0.04 yards per play behind the Tigers. The Gamecocks are second nationally in yards per pass allowed, behind only Bama.
Johnson leaves large shoes to fill back in Columbia. Steve Spurrier will have a tall task replacing him, and it's a critical hire for the program to remain in annual contention for the SEC East crown.
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Suicide Less Common Among Former NFL Players Than Men In General Population: CDC Study
Rhodi Lee, Tech Times 12 May 2016, 04:05 am
Findings of a new study conducted by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have revealed that suicide is less common among retired National Football League (NFL) players compared with men in the general population.
For the study, which is set to be published in the September print edition of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers looked at the suicide rate among 3,439 retired NFL players who played between the years 1959 and 1988.
Between 1979 and 2013, this group of retired players had 12 suicide deaths, which is less than half of the 25 that would be expected among their counterparts with the general U.S. population.
The findings of the study come at a time when there is heightened concern regarding the effects of brain trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Findings of a small study published last month showed that more than 40 percent of retired NFL players suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Individuals who are exposed to repeated head trauma are at increased risk for CTE with the neurodegenerative disease having been discovered in the brains of ex-NFL players. Wrestlers, boxers and war veterans are also known to be at risk for the condition.
CTE initially causes disorientation and headaches, but as the condition progresses, more serious symptoms emerge such as memory loss, poor judgement, tremors, depression and increased tendencies for suicide.
Suicides committed by former NFL stars, which include Dave Duerson, Junior Seau and Ray Easterling, who were all diagnosed with CTE, have raised concerns that other players may be at risk as well.
Researchers of the new study conducted the research to learn if football players who are at increased risk for concussions than the general population may also have higher tendencies for suicide.
Although the findings suggest that suicide is less common among former NFL players, the researchers said that further studies are still needed to support the results of the study.
"In studying this particular cohort of professional football players, our researchers did not find this to be the case; more studies are needed before further conclusions can be reached," said Douglas Trout, from CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
NIOSH started to investigate the deaths of former NFL players in 1994 prompted by a request from the NFL Players Association.
Tags: Suicide CTE Traumatic Brain Injury Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy NFL Athletes
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Is Addiction To Video Games Tied To Depression, OCD, Anxiety, ADHD?
Cognitive Therapy Based On Mindfulness May Lower Risk Of Depression Relapse
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Tesla Came Out With An Electric ATV For Kids
Tesla has launched a new model that no one expected – a Cyberquad for kids. The $1,900 ATV is currently available to order from Tesla’s website and will begin shipping in two to four weeks. The surprise revelation comes about two years after the clean-energy company announced the original Cyberquad. It was designed to complement the futuristic Cybertruck.
Tesla’s mini four-wheel kids ATV is powered by a lithium-ion battery and runs on electricity just like the adult version. It has 15 miles of range with three configurable speeds of 5mph, 10mph, and 5mph in reverse. The car manufacture says it takes 5 hours to charge completely. Things that affect the battery’s range include the user’s weight, the riding terrain, and the speed setting.
Designed for children 8 years old and up, it is equipped with a full steel frame, a cushioned seat, and adjustable suspension with rear disk braking. The tiny vehicle also has LED light bars to complete the cyberpunk aesthetics. For now, Telsa’s Cyberquad AVT for kids will only ship in the United States. But there’s no guarantee that orders will arrive before the holidays.
But the surprises don’t end there! While you wait for the ATV to be shipped, Tesla fans can deck their kids out in a Cyberquad Bomber Jacket. The uniquely branded jacket features a graffiti-style illustration of the Cyberquad silhouette and wordmark. With three zippered pockets and Tesla’s signature logo printed along the sleeves, the kids Cyberquad Bomber Jacket is perfect for wherever the trail takes your little ones. It is made from 60% cotton and 40% polyester.
Folks were first treated to a glimpse of Tesla’s full-sized ATV at one of the company’s signature promotional events in 2019. After going over the specs of the Cybertruck, Elon Musk said three words the tech world is familiar with – “One more thing.” That turned out to be the very cool all-terrain vehicle, which can charge from the bed of the Cybertruck.
The truck is Tesla’s sixth model since the company was founded in 2003. It was also the most experimental vehicle, but that title has now been taken by the kids ATV. In terms of completion, the truck will face off against the Ford F Series, which has been the bestselling pickup for more than 40 years, followed by General Motors’ Chevrolet Silverado, another formidable vehicle manufacturer (via CNBC). Cybertruck will be available to order as production nears in 2022.
It’s still unclear how successful Tesla’s kids AVT will be in terms of sales. However, the Texas-based company is known for being adventurous. Tesla is one of the world’s most profitable companies and remains the most valuable automaker in the world. With a market cap of nearly $1 trillion, the company had the most sales of battery electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles, capturing 16% of the plug-in market (which includes plug-in hybrids) and 23% of the battery-electric (purely electric) market.
Moreover, through its subsidiary Tesla Energy, the company develops and is a major installer of photovoltaic systems in the United States. Tesla Energy is also one of the largest global suppliers of battery energy storage systems, with 3 gigawatt-hours installed in 2020.
Americans Are Facing Record-Setting Debt
Apple Shut Down Its Flagship Stores In New York City
Firehouse Subs Has Been Bought By Another Restaurant Giant For A Billion Dollars
Apple Has Changed Its Right To Repair Stance
Apple's New Keynote Reveals A Change Customers Have Been Begging For
Popeye's Store Filmed With Rats Swarming Kitchen
Amazon Workers Are Getting Free College
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Everything You Need to Know About Doing Business in Pakistan-Final
In: Business and Management
Submitted By Yawar
1. Introduction 1
2. Cultural Dimensions of Pakistan 2 2.1 Hofstede’s Study 2 2.2 Trompenaar’s Dimensions 5 2.3 GLOBE Study 6
3. Communicating Cross Culturally 7 3.1 Proper Greetings 7 3.2 Introductions 7 3.3 Touch Behaviour 8 3.4 Taboos 9 3.5 Entertaining 9
4. Management Issues in Pakistan 9 4.1 Leading 9 4.2 Motivation 12
5. Negotiating in Pakistan 13
6. Expatriates in Pakistan 15
7. Managing Social and Ethical Issues in Pakistan 18 7.1 Conflict of Development 18 7.2 Conflict of Tradition 18 7.3 Conflict of Interest 19
8. Conclusion 21 References 22 Appendix 1 – Map of Pakistan 23 Appendix 2 – GLOBE Study 24 Appendix 3 - Supplementary Information 26 Appendix 4 - Important Contact Information 28
Pakistan was one of the two original successor states to British India, which was partitioned along religious lines in 1947. For almost 25 years following independence, it consisted of two separate regions, East and West Pakistan, but now is made up only of the western sector. Both India and Pakistan have laid claim to the Kashmir region, and this territorial dispute led to war in 1949, and again in 1965, 1971, and 1999, and remains unresolved today.
Pakistan is situated in the western part of the Indian subcontinent, with Afghanistan and Iran on the west, India on the east, and the Arabian Sea on the south. The name Pakistan is derived from the Urdu words Pak (meaning pure) and stan (meaning country). It is nearly twice the size of California (see map in Appendix 1). Pakistan can be described as the missing link between South Asia and the Middle East. The South Asian side to Pakistan is prevalent in their language and culture. The Middle Eastern side of Pakistan is represented in their religion. If one is selling financial products Pakistan should be viewed as a Middle...
...In The Name of ALLAH, the Most Merciful, the Most Beneficial. MANAGEMENT Presented To: Sir Salman Saif Presented By: Iqra Umer Eram Chaman Iqra Khan Jamal Akram Usman Saddique Department Of Banking & Finance GC University of Faisalabad 1 To Almighty Allah The Most merciful The Most beneficent Who enabled us the ability To Understand And comprehend things Around us. 2 We would like to thank our professor “SIR SULMAN SAIF” who was always there to help and guide us when we needed help. His perceptive criticism kept us working to make this project more full proof. We are thankful to him for his encouraging and valuable support. Working under him was an extremely knowledgeable and enriching experience for us. We are very thankful to him for all the value addition and enhancement done to us. No words can adequately express my overriding debt of gratitude to my parents whose support helps me in all the way. Above all I shall thank my friends who constantly encouraged and blessed me so as to enable me to do this work successfully. 3 Telenor’s Management Project First of all we would like to thank that great entity that helped us to get through this report safely, the one who was always there when no one was! SHUKER- ALL- HUMDULILLAH! Would that we have words to pay tribute to our loving parents and teachers whose invaluable prays salutary admire and embodying attitude kept our spirit alive to strive for knowledge and integrity which......
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...Project Scenario: You are a member of the ‘Global Strategy Team’ in a Firm planning for growth through global expansion. Your team has been asked to consider expanding into “new” international markets. You must prepare a report explaining the motives of internationalisation, the current strategies and how the expansion would fit into the firm’s global expansion plan. The second stage would be to choose a potential market and assess its prospects. You must then make suggestions as to the best means of entering that market and the appropriate organisation structure to manage the global expansion. Requirements: You are required to prepare a report of 2,000 words that addresses the theoretical and practical problems associated with the Board’s decision to expand overseas. Suggestions: 1. Choose a local company with which you are familiar, looking up its basic details on the company website, as well as other sources like the The EDGE, Malaysian Business, Wall Street Journal, financial Times and Fortune websites. You may also want to look at the industry by searching the Library’s statistics collection. 2. Choose a market to-date that has NOT been exploited by your company. a. What is the theory that best explain the motives of internationalisation? b. What is the justification of entering that particular market? c. What strategy (international, localisation, global or transnational) is most appropriate? d. What are the recommendations: i. The appropriate entry mode......
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Abott Human Resource and Management Functionsss
...DEVELOPMENT PROCESS--------IDENTIFICATION OF TRAININGTRAINING PROCESSPERFORMANCE APPRAISAL-----------------------------COMPENSATION----------------------------------------------CONCLUSION-------------------------------------------------- | | ACKNOWLEDGMENT- Every project big or small is successful largely due to the effort of a number of wonderful people who have always given their valuable advice or lent a helping hand. We have tried to put in all of our efforts and knowledge in completing this research. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Ms. Saima Zia whose teachings has a huge impact on our way of observing things. We would like to thank her for providing us with this excellent opportunity to conduct this research as our final project. We are also very grateful for the level of cooperation, assistance provided and the willingness of Senior HR Executive of Abbott pharmaceutical company, Mr. Owais Baig, to make himself available, at a very short notice, to answer multitudinous questions, search for and provide numerous documents and generally provide whatever information we requested....
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Short Story Book
...Waqas Tahir INSIDE OUT Publishing Information If you purchase this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book”. | INSIDE OUT is an original publication of Golden Eyes Books. This work has never before appeared in book form. This work has been done by Waqas Tahir based on his own experiences. GOLDEN EYES BOOKS A division of The Hearst Corporation 1350 Defense Avenue of Lahore Lahore 10019 Copyright © 2012 by Khan Features Syndicate, Inc. /Niazi Pictures Corporation Published by arrangement with Khan Features Syndicate, Inc. /Niazi Pictures Corporation Library of Jinnah Catalog Card Number: 96-96130 ISBN: 0-6583-3254-X All rights reserved, which includes the right to produce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever except as provided by the Pakistan Copyright Law. For information address Golden Eyes Books. First Golden Eyes Books Printing: April 2012. Great people talk about IDEAS Average people talk about THINGS Small people talk about OTHERS Dedication I dedicate my work to my parents, Misbah and Tahir, who are a great source of inspiration for me. Contents * Acknowledgement * Preface * Short Stories * Strength of mind * Hopelessness of Turab * Essay * Reality of life * My school days * Travelogue ...
Socio Culture Changes in Pakistan
...SOCIO CULTURAL CHANGEs IN PAKISTAN Acknowledgement All praises and thanks are for Almighty ALLAH Who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom endowed to mankind and to the humanity as a whole. And a great thanks to our coordinator and instructor, Mr. Mehmood Hussain. The encouragement and assistance of our parents and friends are gratefully acknowledged. Sociocultural changes in Pakistan Question: Make a list of all the recent (last 20 years) sociocultural changes in every aspect/field (Business, Environment, Technology, Education, Politics etc.) of Pakistani Society, which people consider desirable and undesirable? Discuss with logical reasoning and related example from Pakistan. Table of Contents Change in Politics.................................................................................. 3 Change in Family System ..................................................................... 5 Change in Job Opportunities ............................................................... 8 Change in Business ............................................................................. 10 Change in Thoughts About Religious People .................................... 11 Change in the Pattern of Infrastructure ............................................ 12 Change in Marriage Patterns ............................................................. 13 Changes in Social Get Together ......................................................... 14 Changes in Health......
...FINAL PROJECT BRAND LOYALTY Submitted By: Muhammad USMAN Mc070400252 Session 2007-2009 17-04-2009 Submitted To: Project Management Department MKT-619 Department of Management Sciences, Virtual University of Pakistan i DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this project to my respected Khawaja Saleem Warsi who made me able to enter to join MBA Program; He was a Professor in Government Islamia College, Karachi. His kind encouragement, help, and motivation has been supporting me at every stage during MBA, This kind Professor has always step by step with me when ever I faced problem during Study. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Start with the name of ALLAH who is very beneficiary and merciful. I am very Grateful to Almighty ALLAH Who Gave me a Power to research and write on this report. After that I am very Grateful to My respected elder Khawaja Saleem Warsi who made me able to enter in MBA Program, than my guardian, my kind Instructor of Final Project (MKT-619) Whose Guidance and instruction Helped and encouraged me at every Stage of this Project. I will ever memorize this Great personality. I am also Grateful to my honest and sincere friends who provided me suggestions when ever I needed iii EXECUTIVE SUMMERY The background of the project is to analyze Brand loyalty of Toyota Corolla and Honda City Cars that success in the Car Market. I will find out the reasons and factors those make them strengthen and Strong position in the market for that I decided to work on......
Shariah Complaint Data
...UNILEVER | DOVE SOAP | Product: Dove Soap Submitted By:Muhammad Shoaib 25021Bakhtawar Jabeen 20181Gufran Ahmed 24845Shabahat Naureen 24838Submitted to: Ms.Ayesha Aman | Acknowledgement ------------------------------------------------- Alhamdulillah, we are very grateful to the Almighty “ALLAH”, who have bestowed us the will to complete our assignment about “DOVE” which is connected to our scheme Principles of Marketing, Here, we would like to take this opportunity to express our highest gratitude and compliment to the people who are involved directly or indirectly in this report. In this report we examine the importance of the marketing strategies for the Unilever firm like DOVE. We have analysis of how a product’s sales are driven by brand name, weighted for market leadership, stability and ability to cross national borders. Beside, the product’s prices usually reflect its proper value in the eyes of the consumer. It’s always not a good idea that the strategy of offering lower prices is to penetrate the advantaged economies. Thank you to all people who are involved in making our report / assignment a successful one and may all your help and effort are blessed. We give honor and privilege to our respected resource person who helped us in thinking in the right direction by giving us this challenging task. JAZAKALLAH ------------------------------------------------- LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 23rd MAY-2012 SUBJECT: SUBMISSION OF...
...presents the articles on which our study is based, the second section of the study is the introduction of the organization, and the third section shows the passenger survey and questionnaire. Fourth section results explorations and investigates of the challenges and problems which the national carrier PIA (Pakistan International Airline) is facing while implementing TQM. The findings and results advocate that Total Quality Management System should develop itself with the changing internal and external environment. Some strategies have been by us which would improve the performance of the organization and help it to cope up with the challenges. At last, our research conclusion & there also recommendations were made which are helpful for the organization (Pakistan International Airline) for their future perspectives. Article # 1 Published: December 21, 2011 This article is not written with the intent of defending President ASIF ALI ZARDARI or his party. It aims to illustrate how the hyper personalization of politics and governance in Pakistan has created unachievable expectations for quick fixes, based on overly simplistic explanations of state failure. Pakistan...
Pia Problems & Strategies Tqm
...designed to provide you the foundations of Marketing whether you intend to work in field of the marketing or not. Marketing is part of all of our lives and touches us in some way every day. To be successful each company that deals with customers on a daily basis must not only be customer-driven, but customer-obsessed. The best way to achieve this objective is to develop a sound marketing function within the organization. To be understandable and lively means that we need to communicate you. We start every chapter with learning objectives. The most important thing you will get out of this course is the basic skills required to succeed in today’s competitive environment. Marketing is defined as a social and managerial process by which, individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others. Marketing is a key factor to business success. The marketing function not only deals with the production and distribution of products and services, but it also is concerned with the ethical and social responsibility functions found in the domestic and global environment. Introduction of Marketing What image comes to mind when you hear the word “marketing”? Some people think of advertisements or brochures, while others think of public relations (for instance, arranging for clients to appear on TV talk shows). The truth is, all of these—and many more things—make up the field of marketing. The Knowledge Exchange Business Encyclopedia......
Words: 111983 - Pages: 448
...Brand Management (MKT624) VU Lesson 1 UNDERSTANDING BRANDS – INTRODUCTION Brand management as one of the marketing functions has been around for as long as we have known professional marketing. But, it has been a part of the traditional marketing approach in which many functions of today’s brand management were performed in a spread out fashion by the marketing manager and a combination of his team members like the sales manager, the advertising and communications manager, and the marketing administration manager to name a few. The terminology of brand management was not used. Brand management, in its present integrated form, has come into limelight and focus over the last 20 years. The functional execution has undergone transformation in terms of its description as a substantive job under one head. This implies that the overall functions of brand management are full of substance and therefore are described specifically under the head brand management and not as disparate parts of the overall marketing functions. In other words, brand management has not lost its primary roots that are well-entrenched in marketing; it only has acquired explicitly defined dimensions within which the function operates. To further elucidate the point, there have been functional adjustments within the overall marketing functions only to bring into clear and sharp focus the specific functions and job of brand management. Brand management now presents itself as a distinct part of an integrated...
Words: 74458 - Pages: 298
...study on the franchising opportunities and the barriers to it in Pakistan A Proposal Submitted by: Faizan mujtaba malik TP027822 BA (hons).International Business Management In Partial fulfilment of requirements of the programme Bachelors of Arts in International Business Management Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation 06-11-2013 Abstract Recently countries over the world have been in a very fast economic development race with the most modern and appropriate strategies and technologies. However, franchising has been of the most successful and useful strategies that helped in the development and improvement of countries. On the other hand Pakistan is one of the developing countries that suffer from the lack of such strategies and technologies that would play the role in the economic development of the country. This report provides an overview of franchising strategy with its advantages and drawbacks. Moreover the report is about the market in Pakistan and provides a much clear image of the environmental factors and current situation in the country. The aim of research is to study the opportunities of franchising in Pakistan as well as the challenges that organizations face in the market of Pakistan specially in franchising. The research focuses on the environmental factors, political and social and cultural factors and its impact on the franchising market in Pakistan. The report also focuses on how technology and infrastructure can...
...MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FINAL REPORT Online Projects, Reports, Presentations.. :) www.studentsgoonline.blogspot.com PHASE 1 Executive summary: Nestle has been serving this world for over one hundred and thirty years. It has differentiated itself through its high quality product mix and positioned itself as health and Nutrition Company while targeting the health conscious people throughout the world. Nestle started its operations in Pakistan back in1988, by acquiring a diary company MILKPAK LTD, when people of Pakistan actually needed it. Since Pakistan is the fifth world’s largest milk producing country therefore Nestle deals mainly in dairy products. Moreover it also sells juices, chocolates, prepared food like noodles, baby food, infant formula milk and breakfast cereals in Pakistan. Nestle is a low cost leader with its efficient operations hence it provides its customers with high quality products and sells them at a premium price. Therefore it is earning good profits. Nestle has set its manufacturing plants at in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Kabirwala. The milk processing plant at Kabirwala district is the Nestlé’s world largest milk processing plant. When nestle introduced its products in Pakistan people were neither aware nor accustomed to them. Therefore nestle ran an extensive marketing campaign to educate people and create a need for its products. Pakistan is a land where fresh eatables are readily available. Nestle should......
People Meter
...------------------------------------------------- Research Project Date 17th November, 2012 ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF PEOPLE METER ON TELEVISION ADVERTISING IN PAKISTAN AKNOWLEDGEMENT We sincerely thank our advisor Mr. Agha Zohaib for the guidance and help he has given us at every step of the way in completion of this Research Project. We are also thankful to Ms. Sabina Aziz from Mindshare for her time and patience and all the media professionals who consented to our request for interview and gave their valuable time, knowledge and experience in completion of our work. Table of Contents ABSTRACT 6 CHAPTER 1 8 Introduction 8 Gallup: 9 People Meter: 10 Objectives/Aim: 11 CHAPTER 2 12 LITERATURE REVIEW 12 The Global Perspective: 12 Subcontinent Perspective (India): 17 Local Perspective (Pakistan): 19 CHAPTER 3 21 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 21 Research Design 21 Procedure 21 Measurement/Instrument Selection 21 Methodology 22 Sample 22 Software Employed 23 CHAPTER 4 24 People Meter Vs Gallup: Secondary Data Analysis 24 Gallup & People Meter Reach Comparison between Satellite & Terrestrial Channels 25 Gallup & People Meter Rating Comparison between Satellite & Terrestrial Channels 27 Gallup & People Meter Reach & Ratings Comparison for Top 10 Channels 29 Ratings Analysis of Altaf Hussain’s Speech on 9th September 2011 31 GEO NEWS ANALYSIS: 31 DUNYA NEWS ANALYSIS: 33 ARY NEWS......
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Thea Kearney
Dollar Store Riot
Other Music and Art
Political Rants
Singer/Songwriter • Visual Artist
My 2017 Year in Review
Posted on December 31, 2017 February 1, 2018 by @theaksam
Looking Back at 2017 Accomplishments
As a chronic perfectionist and self-critic, I am my own worst enemy. I’m one of those people that tends to look at the half empty glass instead of the half that is full. It’s just the way I’m wired. Blame it on my being a solitary only child or my parent’s separation when I was 4 years old, or some of the subsequent events that unfolded after this. Or, maybe it has nothing to do with any of this and I just enjoy wallowing in self-pity and flirt with the dark side of life. It’s no accident that my favorite authors are Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Dickens. I grew up reading many of their writings and also loved C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia book series and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time. (So excited to see the new movie coming out!)
Last Breath Single and Music Video
So instead of dwelling on all of the things I didn’t get to do last year, I’ve decided to be grateful and focus on the things that I did accomplish. For example, I put out a single called “Last Breath” and wrote/directed a music video for it with the camera and editing help of Julian Brüggemann. This also wasn’t just any single, but a rewrite of an old song that I always felt had excellent lyrics but wasn’t quite working in the format that I had it in. Thanks to the help of a co-writer, David Mambach of Macrosound Studios, who had the brilliant idea to switch the verse and chorus chords around, I was able to improve the song and finally record something that sounded good. He helped me fix the arrangement and assisted with recording, mixing and playing bass and additional guitars on the track, and drummer Will Kramer recorded drums for the final version.
5-Song E.P. with Dollar Store Riot and Two Music Videos
In addition to this single, the band, Dollar Store Riot that I have been in for the past five years, playing rhythm and lead guitar for, as well as singing, finally released a 5 song E.P. Tiny Dirty Houses along with two music videos that I initiated the direction and production of. We previously released a single called, “Proof of Us” that I co-wrote with the band from a rough demo that Brian Boehm brought in for us to work on. It was chosen to be featured in The Rent Party CD 5th Anniversary Collection which was a compilation of tracks from a selection of the bands that played at Rent Party shows since Rent Party’s inception. You can read more about Rent Party here including the great things they are doing to help fight hunger in my local area.
My Son “E” Is Back In-District!
Another BIG SUCCESS this past year for me personally was working diligently to get my son “E” back into his school district and rescue him from the out-of-district school that he should never have been sent to in the first place. Unfortunately, the public school district in our town is having growing pains from the influx of people that have fled NYC to live in a more suburban setting so close to NYC. The district schools are just not equipped to deal with smart kids that just don’t fit the traditional regimented mold of endless worksheets and testing. He’s more of a creative type and just didn’t do well with this drudgery.
Luckily, after fighting to get him back into the local middle school, he is doing much better and thriving with the motivation to stay in his home school and the added independence of moving from classroom to classroom instead of being stuck in one classroom all day doing worksheets. As he puts it, “in middle school the kids are mean, but the teachers are nice. In elementary school, the teachers were mean, but the kids were nice.” I guess the former works better for him although he is having trouble getting used to the endless fighting and horseplay in the hallways, gym locker rooms and cafeteria caused by the surge or prepubescent hormones and the painful transition to adulthood that the middle schoolers are undertaking.
Although this took the better part of my year with endless calls, school tours, research and meetings, paperwork and navigation of two different school districts it was all worth it to see my son be so much happier to be back in the same district with his younger brother “K.” I could go into more details of why this was so stressful with the last minute change of plans and him being part-time at two different schools for the first two months of school and not even knowing where he was going until late July, but most people reading this probably won’t care to know those details, so I will leave it at that.
Web Site and Hiatus from Dollar Store Riot
I also managed to update my music web site and do more soul-searching for this new year of 2018. Although it feels like I have nothing to show for it, I think all of the hard work that I did in 2017 will start to show fruition in 2018.
I’ve also made the brave decision to take an indefinite hiatus from Dollar Store Riot to concentrate on my solo artist efforts and finally finish writing and recording my sophomore release. I plan to put out a full length album of songs, at least 10 or 11, but I refuse to rush things like I did with my first release (partly done because I thought I might die back in 2004 when I had my first major surgery) but that is also another story for another time. I plan to do things the right way this time. It will be ready when it’s ready and not before, so some singles may be in order until I can finish this full album. Tentative title, Companions In The Landfill.
Posted in Dollar Store Riot, Miscellaneous, Thea KearneyTagged 2017, dollar store riot, last breath, music video, singer-songwriter, thea kearney, video, year
← The Most Stressful Decade of My Life!
February: Cover of The Month – Redemption Song By Bob Marley →
This blog is where I post about my musical and artistic life, show reviews, political opinions, and anything else that I feel like writing about!
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Browsing the store - Times Up! South African Edition (Pre-loved)
This game is second-hand
Good condition: Components may show signs of being played but still in very good condition. Box may have wear and tear.
Box has wear and scuff marks
Times Up! South African Edition (Pre-loved)
4 to 18 players
Time's Up! is a charades-based party game for teams of two or more players (and is best with teams of two). Before the game begins, each player looks at several cards featuring famous historical or fictional characters and chooses some of them. Each player's cards are shuffled to form a deck, and this deck of famous names is used for each of the game's three rounds.
In each round, team members take turns trying to get their teammates to guess as many names as possible in 30 seconds. In round 1, almost any kind of clue is allowed, and the cluegiver cannot pass on a card. In round 2, no more than one word can be used in each clue (but unlimited sounds and gestures are permitted); the cluegiver can pass on any card he likes, and the teammates can give only a single answer. In round 3, the cluegiver can use no words at all and can pass as often as he likes; again, teammates are allowed only a single guess. Give good physical clues in round 1, and they'll pay dividends down the road when you need to keep your mouth shut and gesture like a maniac before time's up!
Time's Up! is based on the public domain game known as Celebrities.
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Drama hits House over artistic future
A Tory MP tackled the Government this week over its failure to address a "growing crisis" in funding dance and drama courses and students.
Peter Luff, Conservative member for Worcester, told the Commons that the Central Ballet School, the Laban School of Speech and Drama, and many other performing arts colleges faced severe financial problems.
They should be funded in the same way as other further and higher education colleges and their students entitled to mandatory awards, he said in an adjournment debate on Wednesday.
And he called on the Government to force local education authorities to do more for students pending a longer term solution.
Mr Luff's plea follows a series of reports on the difficulties dance and drama students face in getting discretionary awards.
The latest, published three weeks ago by the Gulbenkian Foundation, revealed that 28 per cent of local authorities have a policy of no support for dance and drama students. The Arts Council has set up a working group to investigate further.
Mr Luff said: "All that matters to me is that we do not lose the next generation of dancers, actors and actresses as a result of underfunding."
But according to Jenny Miccoli, head of drama and performing arts at Barnsley College, students no longer bother to apply for courses in higher education which do not attract mandatory grants.
"The declining grants for drama courses have hit us dramatically," she said.
"As a result of the shortfall we don't even consider courses at drama schools now for our A-level or BTEC students. There is simply no point in looking at them even for those students who would probably do very well. They simply can't afford to go there.
"Our students must either get places on degree courses in higher education or look for employment. Vocational study really is out of the question," she added.
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Advertising, Promotion
& Sponsorship
& Labeling
Cigarette Contents
Last updated: August 27th 2021
Latvia became a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on May 11, 2005.
Smoke Free Places
The law prohibits smoking in most workplaces and public places. However, designated smoking areas are permitted in several places, including prisons, hotel guest rooms, casinos, games rooms, and departure halls of international airports. The law prohibits smoking in most public transport but allows smoking on long-distance trains and passenger ships in separate smoking cars or cabins.
Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship
The law generally prohibits the advertising of tobacco products, with some exceptions for cross-border communications outside of the European Union. Product display is prohibited except at duty-free shops, ships on international voyages, and specialist shops exclusively selling tobacco. There are some restrictions on tobacco sponsorship and the publicity of such sponsorship.
Tobacco Packaging and Labeling
On smoked tobacco products, the law requires rotating pictorial health warnings to cover 65 percent of the front and back of the pack. On smokeless tobacco products, the law requires a text-only health warning to cover 30 percent of the two largest surfaces of the pack. Misleading packaging and labeling, which could include terms such as “light” and “low tar” and other signs, is prohibited.
Cigarette Contents and Disclosures
The law regulates specified contents of cigarettes, including banning characterizing flavors; and ingredients that facilitate nicotine uptake, create the impression of health benefits, or are associated with energy and vitality; among others. The law requires that manufacturers and importers disclose to government authorities information on the contents and emissions of their products.
The law prohibits the sale of tobacco products via vending machines and the internet, small packets of cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco products. In addition, the law prohibits the sale of tobacco products in educational, health, cultural, and sporting facilities. The sale of tobacco products is prohibited to persons under the age of 18.
The retail sale of e-cigarettes is allowed. The law prohibits the use of e-cigarettes in places where smoking is prohibited, which includes most indoor workplaces, indoor public places, and means of public transport. The law restricts e-cigarette advertising, promotion and sponsorship and product display at points of sale. A text-only health warning is required to cover 30 percent of the product package.
Roadmap to Tobacco Control Legislation
The Law on Trade in Tobacco Products, Herbal Smoking Products, Electronic Smoking Devices and Associated Liquids is the primary law on tobacco control and covers many aspects of tobacco control, including but not limited to: restrictions on smoking in public places, production and sale of tobacco products, and tobacco packaging and labeling measures. The 2016 law has been amended several times. This law replaced the 1997 Law on Restrictions Regarding Sale, Advertising and Use of Tobacco Products.
In addition to the Law on Trade in Tobacco Products, Herbal Smoking Products, Electronic Smoking Devices and Associated Liquids, tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship are regulated by the Advertising Law (as amended) and the Electronic Mass Media Law (as amended).
The Regulation on the Requirements for Health Warnings to be Placed on Packaging contains detailed requirements about the health warnings to appear on different types of tobacco products and e-cigarettes.
This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff. No in-country lawyers or tobacco control experts reviewed our analysis.
Policy Fact Sheets
Summary Fact Sheet
Smoke Free Places Fact Sheet (FCTC Article 8)
Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship Fact Sheet (FCTC Article 13)
Packaging and Labeling Fact Sheet (FCTC Article 11)
View All Policy Fact Sheets
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Home Methamphetamine (Meth) Addiction & Abuse Meth Capital of the U.S.
Meth Capital of the U.S.
While much of the nation’s attention is centered around the opioid crisis, meth and other drugs still play a large role in overdose death rates.
24/7 Meth Helpline
Editor Jonathan Strum
Jonathan Strum
Jonathan Strum graduated from the University of Nebraska Omaha with a... read more
Medically Reviewed By Jenni Jacobsen, LSW
Jenni Jacobsen, LSW
Jenni Jacobsen is a licensed social worker through the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family... read more
Article at a Glance:
The media often reports on the opioid epidemic, but methamphetamine overdoses are also on the rise.
The most recent data shows that the highest numbers of meth seizures occur in Michigan.
The Midwest sees a significant number of meth-related incidents, but other parts of the country also have a high availability of methamphetamine.
News outlets often shine the spotlight on the ongoing opioid epidemic, which has been ravaging communities across the United States for decades now. However, there are other dangerous substances causing concerns throughout the country as well. In particular, deaths associated with methamphetamine and other psychostimulant drugs have risen sharply in recent years. According to the most recent data, there were 25,300 deaths from psychostimulants like meth in the 12 months leading up to January 2021. In the 12 months leading up to January 2020, however, this number was 16,888.
According to a report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the increase in meth-related deaths has been especially concerning among non-Hispanic American Indians and Alaskan Natives. For these groups, meth-related deaths more than quadrupled between 2011 and 2018.
The Midwest region of the country is a hotbed for meth-related crimes, but other states and regions have also experienced a surge in meth use and related deaths. These trends show the United States isn’t just experiencing an opioid epidemic; it is also falling victim to a methamphetamine crisis.
Top States With Meth-Related Seizures
Michigan, the Nation’s Meth Capital
Meth Seizures in the U.S.
Meth Use By State: Comparing 2013 vs. 2018
Getting Help for Meth Addiction
Until 2018, the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) compiled data to identify the number of meth-related seizure incidents for every state. A seizure incident includes discovered meth laboratories, chemical equipment, glassware and dumpsites.
The states where meth-related seizures were most prevalent in 2018 were:
Crystal Meth Hotline
Withdrawal When Quitting Meth
How Long Does Meth Stay in Your System?
More on Meth Abuse
Michigan has seen a rise in meth use and incarcerations in recent years. The MSHP report found that Michigan experienced 220 seizure incidents involving meth in 2018 — the most of any state that year. Wexford County Prosecutor Jason Elmore told Interlochen Public Radio, “Crystal meth is cheap. Crystal meth is very prevalent. Because it’s cheaper than heroin, we have a lot more people on that crystal meth.”
Heroin and other opioids have been a hot-button issue for much of the Midwest, but now these substances are being used alongside meth. Unfortunately, this mixture of opioids and psychostimulants is one that can quickly lead to deadly outcomes. According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there has been an increase in overdose deaths involving opioids in combination with meth in recent years.
According to the 2020 DEA National Drug Threat Assessment, the West and Midwest regions of the United States have the highest availability of methamphetamine. However, the Northeast and Southeast are also showing high meth availability.
A report from the Montana Legislative Services Division stated that, in 2018, meth-related federal crimes occurred more often in states west of the Mississippi River. In many federal districts, meth-related crimes comprised less than one-third of drug convictions. In one Montana district, however, meth was involved in 61% of federal drug crimes.
The report also indicated that Montana was one of the leading Western states for meth-related convictions. However, surrounding states like Idaho, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming also recorded high numbers of federal meth convictions in 2018.
According to the 2014 MSHP report, meth seizures were most prevalent in the following states in 2013:
Some states did see a decrease in meth seizures between 2013 and 2018. For example, there were 1,797 meth seizure incidents in Indiana in 2013; in 2018, there were only 114. However, this doesn’t negate the rise in overall psychostimulant death rates in the U.S.
The decrease in incidents is a positive shift, but there is still a clear issue with meth use because meth-related deaths are on the rise. Meth is particularly dangerous when combined with other substances, so education and prevention are key to reducing the number of overdose deaths overall.
Meth is one of the most addictive drugs in the world. Kevin Wandler, Chief Medical Officer at Advanced Recovery Systems, believes meth is so addictive because of the amount of dopamine it releases in the brain. Dopamine is a neurochemical that can produce euphoria, enhance memory and boost mood.
“Where a cigarette or a glass of alcohol releases about 150 units of dopamine, meth is like 1,000 units of dopamine,” Wandler told The Recovery Village. “Usually, it is inhaled; therefore, it goes to your brain so quickly [that] your high is immediate.”
Drugs that produce a powerful high, such as meth, can cause people to continuously use these substances. With continued meth use, a person’s tolerance to the stimulant can rise. When individuals become more tolerant of meth, they can become dependent on the drug. Dependence can eventually lead to addiction.
Anybody can become addicted to meth. If you or someone you know is living with a meth addiction, professional treatment can help. With a medical team led by Dr. Kevin Wandler, The Recovery Village operates several licensed and accredited rehab centers throughout the United States. To learn more about how treatment can help you or someone you love manage an addiction to meth or other drugs, contact The Recovery Village today.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Changes in Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths by Opioid Type and Presence of Benzodiazepines, Cocaine, and Methamphetamine — 25 States, July–December 2017 to January–June 2018.” August 30, 2019. Accessed August 30, 2021.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Vital Statistics Rapid Release Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts.” August 1, 2021. Accessed August 30, 2021.
Drug Enforcement Administration. “2020 National Drug Threat Assessment.” March 2021. Accessed August 30, 2021.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Methamphetamine overdose deaths rise sharply nationwide.” January 20, 2021. Accessed August 30, 2021.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Overdose Death Rates.” January 29, 2021. Accessed August 30, 2021.
Montana Legislative Services Division. “Meth Use: Montana and Elsewhere.” January 2020. Accessed August 30, 2021.
Missouri State Highway Patrol. “Meth Stats.” Accessed August 30, 2021.
Interlochen Public Radio. “Imported crystal meth now a ‘crisis’ in Michigan.” September 27, 2018. Accessed August 30, 2021.
Missouri State Highway Patrol. “2018 Methamphetamine Laboratory Incidents.” January 24, 2019. Accessed September 5, 2021.
Missouri State Highway Patrol. “Nationwide Methamphetamine Incidents Through December 2013.” March 20, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2021.
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Jewish Online Resources 6/4/21
A variety of Jewish groups are offering educational and recreational online resources. Below is a sampling of those. The Reporter will publish additional listings as they become available.
Keshet will hold the virtual program “Pride Panel: 2021 – Reflecting on LGBTQ inclusion in Jewish life around the world” on Wednesday, June 23, at noon. The panel will feature representatives from LGBTQ Jewish organizations KeshetUK, Guimel Mexico, Jewish Outlook South Africa and Keshet in the U.S. Each organization will share its current successes and challenges working towards LGBTQ equality in their respective Jewish communities as well as their hopes for the future. For more information or to register, visit www.keshetonline.org/resources-and-events/register/pridepanel/.
The Jewish National Fund will hold a virtual “JNF-USA Reading Series” hosted by Steven Shalowitz: “Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth” with author Noa Tishby on Wednesday, June 23, at 7 pm; and “Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People” with author Ben M. Freeman on Wednesday, July 28, at 7 pm. Each event can be registered for separately at www.jnf.org/events-landing-pages/jnf-reading-series.
The National Council of Jewish Women will celebrate a 20-year partnership with Tel Aviv University and the co-founding of the NCJW Women and Gender Studies Program on Thursday, June 17, at noon. For more information or to register, visit https://www.ncjw.org/events/save-the-date-celebrate-our-20-year-partnership-with-tel-aviv-university/.
The Museum at Eldridge Street will hold an “Egg Rolls, Egg Creams and Empanadas Virtual Festival” in June. Each Sunday will feature a different theme: food; music and performances; games and cultural exchanges; and folk art. For more information or to register for each event, visit https://mailchi.mp/eldridgestreet/2021festival.
The Jewish Theological Seminary will hold the virtual series “A Wandering People: Jewish Journeys, Real and Imagined” on Mondays, June 7 to August 23 (except for July 5), from 2-3 pm. Each lecture may be taken separately. Topics include “Home and exile, center and periphery: ambivalent journeys in the Torah”; “‘Jewish travel’: Yehuda Amichai on memory, place, and identity”; “Finding HIJAR: a scholar’s quest to uncover the history of her Jewish community through the journey of its books”; and “Traveling to Babylon – for good.” For a complete listing of lectures, more information or to register, visit www.jtsa.edu/events-calendar?cat=16925.
Eric Cohen, executive director of the Tikvah Fund, will hold two virtual conversations that will explore the challenges facing the Jewish people: “America and Israel: A View from the Arena” with Elliott Abrams on Thursday, June 10, at 7:30 pm; and “Jews Without Apology: On Jewish Literature and Jewish Courage” with Ruth Wisse on Thursday, June 17, at 7:30 pm. For more information or to register, visit https://tikvahfund.org/tikvah-leaders-2021/.
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the Bodleian Library will hold the virtual program “Jewish Children’s Literature in Russian and Yiddish” on Tuesday, June 22, at 1 pm. Scholars, archivists and curators will explore the world of Jewish children’s literature in pre-World War II Europe. The webinar outlines the contours of this body of work and discusses its features through the collections of the Bodleian Library and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. For more information or to register, visit www.yivo.org/Jewish-Childrens-Literature.
The Center for Jewish History will hold several book talks: “East West Street and The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive” with Philippe Sands on Tuesday, June 22, at 4 pm (https://programs.cjh.org/event/family-affairs-2021-06-22); “The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams” with Jonathan Ned Katz on Wednesday, June 23, at 4 pm (https://programs.cjh.org/tickets/life-of-eve-2021-06-23); and “David Ludwig Bloch: A German Jewish Artist in Shanghai” on Monday, July 12, at 4 pm (https://programs.cjh.org/tickets/out-of-the-box-2021-07-12).
The Jewish Theological Seminary will present the virtual program “Between the Lines: Jewish Bible Translations: Personalities, Passions, Politics, Progress” on Wednesday, June 9, at 1 pm. Author Leonard J. Greenspoon will discuss his book and speak about the historical, cultural, linguistic and religious contexts of translations in 11 languages. For more information or to register, visit www.jtsa.edu/jewish-bible-translations.
Ritualwell will hold the virtual class “Rise and Rebuild: Tending our Individual and Collective Grief” on Tuesdays, June 22-July 13, at 7pm. The series will explore how all the ways grief manifests in our individual and collective lives. The cost for the class is $144 for the four sessions. For more information or to register, visit www.tickettailor.com/events/ritualwell/519904.
The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy will hold the virtual lecture “This IS The Borscht Belt! Resorts of the Jewish Catskills Part 2” on Monday, June 14, from 7-8:30 pm. One need not have attended part one to register. It will look at Jewish resorts that helped create the mountain communities of New York’s Sullivan and Ulster counties. For more information to register, visit www.nycjewishtours.org/event-log/this-is-the-catskills-part-2-borscht-belt.
The Koren Podcast Network has a new podcast called “Crises and Kings,” which explores the biblical Book of Samuel. For more information or to listen to an episode of the podcast, visit https://korenpub.com/pages/crisis-kings.
The Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative is holding a “Virtual College Road Trip” during the month of June. It offers student-led virtual campus tours, information sessions with college admissions staff and onsite Hillel professionals, webinars, workshops and more. It will also offer interactive learning sessions for both teens and parents on such topics as how to pursue academic, social and emotional success after high school. Past webinars covering the admissions process, accessing financial aid and more are also available to watch on demand on its YouTube channel. For more information, visit www.roadtriptocollege.org/.
The Center City Kehillah will hold two virtual programs in June: “Raising Race-Conscious Jewish Children During the Modern Civil Rights Era” with Imani Chapman and Franny Silverman on Wednesday, June 9, from 7-8:30 pm; and “Creating Radically Welcoming Communities” with Rabbi Sandra Lawson on Wednesday, June 30, from 7-8 pm. For more information or to register, visit https://centercityjews.org/looking-within-for-communal-change/.
The conference “Restoring Jewish Cemeteries of Poland 2021: The Task Ahead” will be held virtually on Thursday, July 1, from 10 am-noon. Simultaneous two-way Polish-English translation will be available. For more information or to register, visit https://jewishheritagepoland.org/conference.html.
Jewish Women’s Archive will hold a “Global Day of Learning” to celebrate the launch of the expanded and renamed “Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women” from Sunday, June 27-Monday, June 28. Six webinars presented by expert scholars will showcase the evolution of the encyclopedia and provide a taste of the new content. People can register once and attend as many sessions as they like. There is a suggested $18 donation for those able to contribute. For more information about individual sessions or to register, visit https://jwa.org/events#globaldayoflearning.
The YIVO Yiddish Club will hold “Yiddish Duolingo and Learning Yiddish Today with Meena-Lifshe Viswanath, Isac Polasak and Dovid Braun” on Sunday, June 27, at 2 pm (https://yivo.org/YiddishClub4), and “Yiddish Theater Music with Miryem-Khaye Seigel” on Sunday, July 25, at 2 pm (https://yivo.org/YiddishClub5).
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism will hold the virtual program “Juneteenth Through the Eyes of Jews of Color: Sharing Stories and Perspectives” on Thursday, June 17, from 8-9:30 pm. The program will feature stories and perspectives on Juneteenth from Jews of Color, including JTS rabbinical student Kendell Pinkney. Juneteenth is a modern holiday marking the date confirming the freedom of the last remaining enslaved people in the American South. For more information or to register, visit https://crm.uscj.org/civicrm/event/info?id=361&reset=1
.For additional resources, see previous issues of The Reporter on its website, www.thereportergroup.org.
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Jewish Online Resources 1/14/22
Jewish Online Resources 12/31/21
Jewish online resources by Reporter Staff 5/21/21
On the Jewish Food Scene: Jewish Summer Food
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Serie A Season Review: Glory for Romelu Lukaku, Inter Milan
Lukaku’s best season in his career helped Inter to a long-awaited league title. Juventus, meanwhile, are turning to a familiar face to reclaim their dominance.
By Musa Okwonga May 28, 2021, 11:22am EDT
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Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte went out on top, leaving the club after winning the title comfortably, powered by Romelu Lukaku’s 24 goals. Here’s the best from the 2020-21 season in Italy:
Player of the Year: Romelu Lukaku, Inter Milan
Watching Lukaku weep as he celebrated Inter Milan’s first Serie A title in 11 years reminded us that this was not only the end of a long journey for his club but the culmination of a grand quest for the Belgian forward. At the start of this season, Lukaku, despite having scored over 300 goals for five different clubs and his country, still had only one senior trophy to his name, the national title that he had won in 2010 with Anderlecht. He ended last season with one of his greatest misfortunes as a professional, an own goal to decide the Europa League Final in Sevilla’s favor. This season, he shared the city and the stadium with one of the best AC Milan teams in several years, whose attack was led by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a man for whom he had a deep and mutual loathing. Lukaku also had his challenges at the edge of the field, with racist chants punctuating several of his performances. Faced with all of that, Lukaku excelled. He formed a superb partnership with Lautaro Martínez, with the Argentine international scoring 17 times in 38 games. Meanwhile, Lukaku found the net 24 times in 36 matches; his crowning glory probably came in the 3-0 win in the Milan derby, a victory he sealed with one of the goals of the season—a turn, surge, and strike as elegant and devastating as almost any that the fixture has seen in its long history.
Spirit of the Year: Lorenzo Insigne, Napoli
This season in Serie A was typified by narrowly unrewarded brilliance: Atalanta, Napoli, and Sassuolo, the three teams that consistently entertained us the most, ended up without the prizes that their efforts perhaps deserved. Atalanta succumbed in the final of the Coppa Italia to Juventus, while Sassuolo and Napoli missed out on Champions League qualification on the final day of the season. That’s why the 2020-21 Spirit of the Year has to be Lorenzo Insigne. In a season when Napoli lost Diego Armando Maradona, their greatest idol, Insigne showed again why he is one of his club’s modern greats. He scored 19 times in 35 matches, including one of the most poignant celebrations in many a year when, the first game after Maradona’s passing, he scored a majestic free kick and then ran to the touchline, holding a shirt bearing Maradona’s name up to the television cameras. Every so often, football produces moments that resonate far longer than trophies ever can, and Insigne did that.
Manager of the Year: Antonio Conte, Inter Milan
The man who has transformed or restored so many players to their former selves should forever be known as “the calcio whisperer.” There is a staggering list of players who arrived at San Siro in need of revitalization and perhaps even repair: Lukaku, Ashley Young, Alexis Sánchez, Matteo Darmian, Christian Eriksen. One by one, Conte coaxed strong appearances from them. As usual, he built his team upon the foundation of a fine defense and relied primarily upon the emergence of Nicolò Barella and the resurgence of Eriksen for creativity in midfield. The only sadness for Inter is that Conte has now left the club since he was not sure his squad would get the investment it needed; he has departed almost as swiftly as he arrived two seasons ago. Perhaps that was to be expected since he never spends much more than a couple of years in any position: Intense as a sandstorm, he works himself and his players far beyond ordinary limits. Yet consecutive top-two league finishes, as well as that aforementioned Europa League Final appearance—Inter’s first in a continental contest since they claimed the 2010 UEFA Champions League—represent an excellent return on investment for the club’s owners. Though Conte will doubtless not be short of job offers, it is a shame that he will not get to continue his work with Lukaku, with whom he shared a rare bond and who penned him a moving farewell on Instagram. It’s unusual to see that depth of affection for a departing manager, and it speaks volumes of the atmosphere of respect and mutual sacrifice that Conte managed to create in such a short time.
Game of the Year: Atalanta 4, Napoli 2
A match between the two most consistently exciting teams in the league delivered—eventually—on all expectations. The first time these teams met this season, Napoli delivered a signature performance, scoring four times in the first half without reply on their way to a 4-1 win. Atalanta would duly get their revenge in some style. Those of little faith may have changed the channel while the game was still goalless in the first half, but Atalanta’s incessant attacks and the ejection of their coach Gian Piero Gasperini for dissent hinted at the chaos to come. Atalanta scored through Duván Zapata seven minutes after halftime and thereafter we saw a breathless procession of thrills and even brilliance: a rousing counterattack ended by Robin Gosens, an exquisite volley from Piotr Zieliński, a sensational solo strike by Luis Muriel, an own goal from Gosens, and then a header to clinch the game for Atalanta by Cristian Romero. The match saw six goals in the space of 27 minutes. It also gave fresh urgency to two principles for deciding which games to follow in Serie A: One, you should always watch Atalanta, and two, you should never ignore Napoli.
Bundesliga Season Review: A Striker for All Seasons
Man City, Jack Grealish, and Jesse Lingard Headline a Trying EPL Season
La Liga Season Review: Atlético Madrid’s Triumph, Eibar’s Sadness
Biggest Surprise: AC Milan
Milan were a fairly young side impressively coached by Stefano Pioli. After finishing sixth last season, Milan emerged as the main title challenger to their city rivals Inter in 2020-21. When they faltered for a crucial couple of months late in this campaign, they attracted some criticism, but in truth, they were due such a stumble: It’s more that their excellent start raised expectations to an unsustainable level. This was a tremendous campaign. They had to contend with the significant absence through injury of Ibrahimovic and the growing pains of Sandro Tonali, a superb midfielder signed from relegated Brescia who never truly found his rhythm. At various points, they received stellar showings from their midfielders and Franck Kessié, their attackers Rafael Leão, Brahim Díaz, and Jens Petter Hauge, and their enterprising left back Theo Hernández, who helped himself to seven goals and five assists. There is plenty for fans of the Rossoneri to look forward to next season.
Biggest Disappointment: Lazio
Compared to their previous campaign Lazio had a disappointing season, but one of the main reasons for that speaks to the moment that we are in. COVID-19 hit them harder than most. In March 2020, Serie A was suspended with Lazio just one point behind league leaders Juventus: This season, when we might have expected them to launch a title challenge, they finished 23 points behind champions Inter and 10 points away from the Champions League places. They started this season in striking fashion, beating Borussia Dortmund 3-1 at home in the Champions League, but then the entire squad was placed in quarantine after several positive tests for the coronavirus. It was difficult to maintain any kind of consistency under such conditions. The club could and should have taken far better precautions at certain points—they allowed three players to attend training after receiving positive coronavirus tests, and they also twice fielded asymptomatic players who should have been isolating. As a result of these breaches of COVID protocols, two of their club doctors were banned for a year, they were fined €150,000 (later increased to €200,000) and club president Claudio Lotito was banned for seven months—which was later increased to a year. When football historians look back over this league table and wonder why Lazio’s performance dropped so dramatically, they should know that many of the problems began beyond the field of play. Given the departure of coach Simone Inzaghi straight after the end of the season, it is anyone’s guess which direction the club will now take.
Biggest Question This Summer
With Massimiliano Allegri returning to Juventus following the dismissal of Andrea Pirlo, the key question seems to be whether they will again become a dominant force in the division. It’s unclear whether Cristiano Ronaldo will return to the club after two seasons in Turin. There is a sense that AC Milan outdid themselves and that Inter Milan may have a drop-off after the departure of Conte: The stage is very possibly set for the Old Lady to reclaim her title. Time will tell whether they and Atalanta, who perhaps lack the squad depth to compete with a newly galvanized Juventus, are innovative enough to resist.
2021 Season Reviews for Europe’s Big Five Leagues
Ligue 1 Season Review: Good Things Come in Lille Packages
Next Up In Soccer
Finishing Games Early, January Signings, Super Cups, and More
Family, the Magic of the Cup, and AFCON
Serie A Supreme, Spiritually Onside, and Will Ed Woodward’s Departure Change Anything at Manchester United?
Freiburg Are This Season’s Fitting Bundesliga Darling
Chelsea Are Keeping Crisis at Arm’s Length—for Now
Is There Too Much Football?
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Gwynne Dyer: Burma: Stick to Non-Violence
Published on : April 7, 2021 April 8, 2021 Published by : Arthur Tanga
Gwynne Dyer is a Canadian-born independent journalist whose column is published in more than 175 papers in 45 countries.
By Gwynne Dyer,
The non-violent democratic resistance in Burma* is living through terrible times, but statistics are on its side: most non-violent movements eventually win. But it’s hard to stay non-violent when you are up against a force as ruthless and brutal as the Tatmadaw.
The Burmese army, known as the Tatmadaw, is distinguished by the fact that in its 73-year history it has never fought foreigners. It has done all its killing at home, and it has become quite good at it.
Since the military coup on 1 February put at least a temporary end to Burma’s ten-year experiment with democracy, the Tatmadaw has shot or beaten to death more than 400 unarmed protesters, and it shows no sign of slowing down.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the coup, clearly believes that he can ride out the resistance if he kills enough people. But the country has now had ten years of more or less democratic government in a power-sharing arrangement between the Tatmadaw and the elected National League for Democracy (NLD), and people have got used to their freedoms.
It was the NLD’s landslide election victory late last year that drove Min Aung Hlaing to seize power in February, but things are not working out as he expected.
Members of the newly elected parliament who escaped arrest have created a rival underground government called the Committee for Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw [the parliament] – and the CRPH is saying that it is a ‘federal’ government. Federalism is the ultimate political heresy in Burma.
The army’s self-assigned task ever since independence has been to uphold the hegemony of the ethnic Bamar majority (about two-thirds of the country’s 54 million people) over the Karen, Shan, Mon, Chin, Kachin, Rakhine, Rohingya and Karenni minorities.
The army’s personnel are almost entirely Bamar, and the country’s border areas have been under semi-permanent military occupation for decades to hold down minorities who have turned to guerilla warfare. Federalism could bring long-term peace and unity to Burma, but the Tatmadaw would die in a ditch to prevent it.
Finding the Burmese army dead in a ditch would not distress many Burmese civilians these days, but a civil war is the last thing any country should wish for. The problem is that Burma’s pro-democratic leaders are starting to talk about not only a ‘federal government’ but also a ‘federal army’ combining the ethnic guerilla armies with pro-democracy militants.
Many high-profile leaders of the NLD, trade unionists and other democratic leaders have taken refuge in the minority areas, so creating such a united force is not impossible. They are doubtless near to despair much of the time, and a ‘federal army’ must sound like a good idea to them. They should resist the temptation.
‘Non-violent struggle’ is rarely non-violent on both sides, but the oppressors find it hard to use unlimited force when the other side is using none at all. Especially when the whole world is watching. That is why non-violent movements succeed so often.
If the protesters turn into just another army (amateurish, poorly armed, ethnically divided), then all limitations on the use of force by the big, professional, well-equipped army are lifted, and the bad guys win. Most revolutionaries elsewhere know that well by now, but Burma was isolated from the rest of the world for a long time.
They had better catch up quickly, or there will be a civil war – which they would probably lose.
Which non-violent revolutions will succeed?
Gwynne Dyer: Burma: Back to Basics
Myanmar – The Saint Who Lost Her Way
The Catalan Dilemma
Categorized in : Columns
McBride council: Ski hill proposal, art display, moose concern & library garden
Amber Light tribute “a moving event”
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Kimberly Potter, the Cop Who Killed Daunte Wright, Had Her First Court Appearance, Was Released on Bond
In this handout provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter poses for a mugshot at the Hennepin County Jail on April 14, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Potter, a 26-year police veteran, was charged with with second-degree manslaughter in the death 20-year-old Daunte Wright who she shot and killed following a traffic stop.
Photo: Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office (Getty Images)
Kimberly Potter, the ex-Brooklyn Center, Minn., police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright, appeared at a court hearing one day after being charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Potter appeared via a virtual conference on Zoom and took issue with her first hearing being broadcast and photographed, a curious complaint given how often the lives of the people cops shoot and kill are interrogated extensively.
She is currently out on bail.
Minnesota District Judge Paul R. Scoggin reminded her she is not allowed any access to firearms, ammunition or explosives. Her lawyer said she would appear in person for her next hearing in one month.
Wright’s family wanted Potter to be charged with murder and said anything less would not suffice. The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a max of 10 years in prison, but Minnesota sentencing guidelines would make her time served closer to four years because she doesn’t have a criminal history, according to the Washington Post.
The charge came unusually fast given how cops are often not charged at all and are almost always found not guilty. Cops kill roughly 1,000 people each year, according to a Washington Post database. Most of these people they shoot are armed; Wright was unarmed.
Tim Gannon, the now-former chief of the BCPD, said that Potter meant to pull her Taser when she pulled her handgun. Gannon also resigned in response to the shooting. Potter served on the force for 26 years and was also the union president and has experience helping cops who found themselves in use-of-force situations.
During a press conference before the hearing, Wright’s family expressed their thoughts on what should happen to Potter, per the Post:
“We can’t get him back, so why should she get back her life?” Nyesha Wright, Daunte’s aunt, asked as the family gathered inside the Minneapolis church where his funeral will be held next week.
Katie Wright, Daunte’s mother, said even the best-case scenario of a conviction will leave the family with an unbearable loss.
“I do want accountability at the highest level, but even then, when that happens — if that even happens — we’re still going to bury our son,” Katie Wright said. “We’re still not going to be able to see our baby boy. So when people say ‘justice,’ I just shake my head.”
Potter’s next appearance is scheduled for May 17, in person, per NPR.
Mohamed Noor, an ex-Minneapolis cop who shot and killed Justine Damond, a white woman, in 2017, is believed to be the only Minnesota cop to be convicted of murder in an on-duty situation.
Next week, the jury in Derek Chauvin’s case is expected to reach a verdict that will hopefully make him the second cop in the state to join Noor in prison.
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Home / Eau d'Italie / Jardin Du Poete
Jardin Du Poete
Size 100ml - £150.00 Sample - £7.00
The inspiration for this fragrance is a tale from a bygone era, when nations were ruled by poets, and poets were sacred to Apollo. In those days Sicily was a Greek colony, Syracuse was a fragrant court, and its gardens vibrated with the scent of citrus orchards and rows of aromatic plants. Thus Jardin du Poete, the poet's garden, a luminous fragrance to evoke Sicily and all things Sicilian.
Head notes: Bitter orange, Grapefruit, Basil
Heart notes: Angelica, Helicrysum, Pink pepper
Base notes: Cypress, Vetiver, Musk
Perfumer: Bertrand Duchaufour
Conception: Positano, Italy
Eau d'Italie. At the end of World War II, four brothers of the noble Neapolitan family of Sersale reunited in Positano and decided to offer the world what they had to share: their sense of hospitality and their beautiful 18th century palazzo. Thus was born Le Sirenuse, the luxury hotel and epitome of Italian style since its opening in 1951. In 2004, to celebrate over half a century of style, Le Sirenuse launched its first fragrance, Eau d’Italie, an instant classic that then became the brand name for a collection of exclusive fragrances and body care products.
Initially a secret between those in the know, from Positano Eau d’Italie quickly travelled the world, the key to its success being a truly Italian ingredient: la passione, that same burning passion that gave the world beauty and excellence in art, fashion and design. At Eau d’Italie we work with the greatest creators in the world – "noses", as they are called in the industry – and we use only top grade materials, to create fragrances and body care products which are always contemporary, always original, always inspiring.
Marina Sersale
Marina Sersale was born in Rome, Italy, to an Italian father and an English mother. Through her father she is part of the family that created and still owns the famous award-winning 5-star hotel Le Sirenuse in Positano, on the Amalfi Coast in Southern Italy. Before working with fragrances, she was a documentary film-maker and producer.
Sebastián Alvarez Murena
Sebastián Alvarez Murena was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of writers, and lived in Spain and Switzerland before settling in Rome, where he has been living for the past 30 years. He is a journalist and an entrepreneur.
Brand Film
Acqua Decima
Au Lac
Eau d'Italie Scent Diffuser
Eau d'Italie Scented Candle
Eau d'Italie Scented Soap
Fior Fiore
Jasmine Leather
Rosa Greta
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Mother Mother dive back into ‘Hayloft’ as TikTok hit gets a fresh video, new chapter
By David FriendThe Canadian Press
Fri., Jan. 14, 2022timer2 min. read
TORONTO - Mother Mother is headed back to the barn for another romp with their TikTok sensation “Hayloft.”
Little more than a year after the Vancouver band’s unyielding 2008 rock song found renewed life on the social media platform, they’ve lifted the lid on plans to expand the narrative into a musical opus.
The “Hayloft” song and video tells the story of two young lovers who sneak away to frolic in a barn before one of their fathers appears with a shotgun. Their fate is never clearly sealed in the lyrics.
That song, now renamed “Hayloft I,” debuted a fresh music video on Wednesday that lays the groundwork for a revisit of the story. “Hayloft II,” set for release later this month, pulls threads from the original’s melody and takes them in grander directions.
The new song will come with its own music video that connects the narrative and offers a visual resolution.
Both clips are directed by Emma Higgins, who won music video of the year for Jessie Reyez’s “No One’s in the Room” at the 2021 Juno Awards.
Rarely does a 13-year-old song inspire a band to revisit their past with a different take, but lead singer and guitarist Ryan Guldemond said some rules have changed in the age of TikTok.
“Initially, it felt like that would be a blasphemous thing to do,” he allowed in a phone interview while on tour in Los Angeles.
“But after sitting with the idea, it felt really exciting ... to take a song that has such a fiction to it, put on a writer’s cap and complete the tale.”
Inspiration for returning to “Hayloft” took shape last summer as Mother Mother ducked into the recording studio, looking to revisit the “quirkiness, wordiness and tangled arrangements” that defined their earlier work.
“One thing that kept being said metaphorically was, ‘Let’s write another ”Hayloft.“’ Not meaning literally of course, but just another song that possessed that fire,” the songwriter recalled.
“At one point, after repeating this desire far too many times, someone just said, ‘Why don’t you just write ”Hayloft II?“’”
Initially reluctant to jump into a sequel, Guldemond turned to the band’s followers on TikTok and Instagram to “present the kernel of the idea” and get their reaction. He said the comments were overwhelmingly positive.
“Not until (the song) was brought to a greater public consciousness did we ever really consider what it meant or if there was more to the story,” he said.
“It was only (by) discovering through the lens of this younger, widespread international generation that it had so much more depth than we intended when we wrote it.”
“Hayloft II” will debut on the deluxe edition of Mother Mother’s 2021 album “Inside,” set for release on Jan. 28. The video comes out the same day.
The band is also slated to embark on a 16-date Canadian tour starting late April that runs across Western Canada before hitting various cities in Ontario.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2022.
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Residents on Isle of Wight fear coronavirus on ferry
Shingi Mararike
Sunday October 04 2020, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
The Red Funnel ferry company confirmed it had carried passengers on their way to Covid tests
Separated from the British mainland, people on the Isle of Wight might have felt confident about avoiding a second wave of Covid-19.
But many islanders are furious that people are being sent on a 12-mile ferry crossing over the Solent to the island to get a Covid test.
David Stewart, the Isle of Wight’s council leader, said: “The mood has been one of frustration really ... There’s a lot of fear at the moment.”
The government has placed a 75-mile limit on the distance people will be asked to travel to have a Covid-19 test. But the system has not recognised that the Isle of Wight is separated from the rest of the country by the Solent, meaning people with Portsmouth and Southampton postcodes are
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Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil and Team Canada are out of the Davis Cup finals, after losing 3-0 to Kazakhstan in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 28. Pospisil lost his singles tie. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Rick Rycroft - file photo)
Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil, Canada out of Davis Cup finals
Tennis squad falls 3-0 to Kazakhstan in Spain; relegated to Qualifiers pool
There won’t be a repeat of Canada making it to the Davis Cup men’s tennis final like they did in 2019.
The Canadian Davis Cup team presented by Sobeys, which includes Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil, was knocked out of the Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals following a 3-0 loss to Kazakhstan in Group B on Sunday, Nov. 28, at Madrid Arena in Spain.
Captain Frank Dancevic made a change to his lineup from Thursday’s tie against Sweden as Brayden Schnur (Pickering, Ont.) replaced Steven Diez (Toronto) for the first singles match against Kazakhstan.
He took on Mikhail Kukushkin in what was the first-ever meeting between the players. Schnur put on a battling display but the first set would be decided by a single break of serve which went the way of his opponent, who claimed it 6-3. However, with Kukushkin up a break and with match point in the second set, Schnur showed great resilience to break back before winning the set-deciding tiebreak 7-5.
The Canadian kept pushing and was hitting a variety of powerful forehands as well as deft drop shots. The third set was an intense affair, with both players dropping serve early. It remained level until, at 6-5 up, Kukushkin broke Schnur again to claim the set 7-5 and the match.
In the tie’s second singles rubber, Pospisil faced World No. 36 Alexander Bublik, who had beaten Mikael Ymer in Kazakhstan’s 2-1 win over Sweden on Saturday. This match in Madrid was the first meeting between the two players.
Two breaks for Bublik in the first set, in which he had a 100 per cent first serve percentage, saw the 24-year-old take it 6-2, despite Pospisil’s best efforts.
The second set was evenly matched and remained on serve meaning a tiebreak was required to separate the two players. It was Bublik who came out on top, claiming it 8-6 to win the match and the tie for Kazakhstan.
“He served well,” Pospisil said to Tennis Canada in his post-match press conference. “I just didn’t play my best. For me, that’s disappointing. I just feel like I’m not as sharp these last few weeks on the court as I’d like to be.
“It’s obviously disappointing for our team to go out the way we did but we fought hard, we tried to do our best and that’s it. Now I’ll go home, have a bit of a break and get ready for next year.”
Dancevic made a change to his doubles lineup before the third match got underway, subbing in Peter Polansky (Toronto) for Pospisil to partner Schnur. They would face Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov. In what was a dead rubber in terms of the outcome of the tie, Schnur and Polansky fought well but we’re ultimately undone by their opponents, losing 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-1.
Sunday’s results mean Team Canada is now out of the Davis Cup Finals and will play a Qualifiers tie in 2022. The draw for the Qualifiers will be made on Sunday Dec. 5 in Madrid.
READ MORE: Vernon tennis player and Canada teammates fall 3-0 in Davis Cup
READ MORE: Vernon player named to Canada’s Davis Cup tennis squad
Newly-weds tie the knot at West Kelowna Warriors BCHL game
Marchand sparks comeback as Bruins rally to edge Vancouver Canucks 3-2
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Modi begins talks for new cabinet
Indian president accepts resignation of PM, ministers; major changes in cabinet expected
Sat May 25, 2019 12:00 AM Last update on: Sat May 25, 2019 05:27 AM
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets President Ram Nath Kovind to tender his resignation along with the council of ministers yesterday. Photo: ANI
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to hold talks yesterday to form a new cabinet to tackle a stuttering economy and other challenges facing his second term after winning a big majority.
According to a statement from office of president of India, President Ram Nath Kovind has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Council of Ministers yesterday. They will continue in office till the new government is formed.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on President Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan,” the president of India tweeted from the official handle, along with a photo of the PM and the president.
Earlier, the union cabinet recommended the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. President Ram Nath Kovind is now expected to dissolve the present 16th Lok Sabha, the term of which is ending on June 3.
The 17th Lok Sabha has to be constituted before June 3 and the process to form a new House will be initiated when the three election commissioners meet the president in the next few days to hand over the list of newly-elected members.
The cabinet met a day after the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP-led alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retained power with a massive mandate.
Official data from the Election Commission of India showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party had won 303 of the 542 seats up for grab, up from the 282 it won in 2014, reported NDTV. The BJP would have the first back-to-back majority in the lower house of parliament for a single party since 1984.
NDA has won352 seats while the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has won 91. The Congress once again fell short of numbers needed to get Leader of Opposition position in Lok Sabha. It won just 52 seats, compared to its worst-ever tally of 44 seats in the last general election.
Newly-elected MPs of the BJP-led NDA will meet today to formally elect Narendra Modi as their leader, setting in motion the process of formation of the new government.
The BJP said the meeting will take place in parliament’s Central Hall at 5:00pm.
Modi has not yet set an inauguration date for the administration, but BJP officials said he was expected to move quickly to put together a new cabinet as focus shifts back to an economy which is slowing.
This handout photograph released by the media centre of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) and BJP president Amit Shah (R) taking blessing at the house of Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi (L), in New Delhi. Photo: AFP
Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, his closest aide, are believed to be keen on including newer faces in the council of ministers. West Bengal, where the BJP has made a phenomenal career advancement, jumping from two to 18 seats, could get big representation.
The PM and Shah have so far not indicated a decision on the “Big 4” ministries - home, finance, external affairs and Defence.
An immediate decision will be whether to keep senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley as finance minister despite his poor health, or assign Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal to the job of leading Asia’s third largest economy.
Goyal, 54, had stepped into the role twice in the Modi government when Jaitley was ill. Goyal presented an interim budget before the election and a full budget is due after the new government takes office.
Amit Shah, who is credited with crafting the political strategy that helped the party retain its base in northern and western India but also advanced in the east, is tipped to be the home minister, a powerful post with control of security and intelligence services.
Smriti Irani, who was textiles minister, is expected to get a weighty reward for emerging as the BJP’s crown jewel of the election season by defeating Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi - the constituency held by his family for four decades. Gandhi himself was elected thrice from Amethi. It took Irani just five years to eject him - she ran against him unsuccessfully in 2014, then reversed that on Tuesday.
Gandhi remains an MP - he also contested the Wayanad constituency of Kerala and won it easily, but the combined disaster of Congress and his unceremonious ejection from Amethi has constructed a new crisis for both his leadership and his party.
The Congress, which has ruled India for the longest time, has drawn a blank in 18 states and Union Territories -- an indicator of its decimation in the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress has been completely routed in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.
“It is astonishing that Rahul Gandhi has not yet resigned as Congress president,” historian Ramachandra Guha said on Twitter.
“Both self-respect, as well as political pragmatism, demand that the Congress elect a new leader. But perhaps the Congress has neither,” he added.
Despite the dominance of the BJP and its allies in the lower house of parliament, analysts say it does not yet have the numbers in the upper house for tougher reforms such as relaxed labour and land laws sought by the business community.
এইমাত্র|ক্যাম্পাস
১০ ঘণ্টা আগে|নারায়ণগঞ্জ সিটি নির্বাচন
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Colorado Springs police to test new technology that alerts officers to location of gunfire
Neighbors may hear gunshots during testing Tuesday
By: Stephanie Butzer
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs police are testing out a new way to combat gun-related violence with technology that will alert the department as soon as it detects gunfire.
The system uses a network of acoustic sensors to detect when a gun is fired, and then quickly pinpoints the location of the gunfire before notifying CSPD. By providing a location, this system helps to speed police response, which has the potential to save lives by directing first responders to potential victims, according to CSPD. This technology can also help increase the likelihood of weapon-related arrests and enhances neighborhood safety.
While this system is effective, CSPD said it still encourages the community to report the sound of gunfire.
The CSPD analyzed reported gun crimes in the city and determined that the area surrounding the Valley Hi neighborhood, near the intersection of Fountain Boulevard and Chelton Road, has the highest concentration of reported gunfire.
The area has been chosen for the initial installation and evaluation of the new gunfire detection system.
Between 1 and 3 p.m. Tuesday, the police department will conduct a live-fire calibration of the system. These tests will include a sequence of gunshots followed by a validation of sound detection from the system. Frangible bullets, which are designed to break up into smaller pieces when it hits a surface, and a bullet trap will be used during the test to ensure public safety.
There is no danger to the public during this time, though residents in the Valley Hi, Park Hill, and Pikes Peak Park neighborhoods may hear gunshots from this calibration process.
Because of its partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Department of Defense, the city of Colorado Springs does not incur any expenses related to this tool.
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You are at:Home»News»Global News»Netflix renews BoJack Horseman for a third season
The streaming service has confirmed that it has commissioned a third season of Raphael Bob-Waksberg's oddball animated comedy.
Netflix renews BoJack Horseman for a third season
By Anneka Honeyball on July 29, 2015 Global News, News
Netflix has renewed BoJack Horseman for a third season.
The first season of the oddball animated comedy series launched in August 2014, with the second season premiering earlier this month. Now, less than a fortnight since the debut of season two, the streaming service has confirmed that Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s creation will return for a third season in 2016.
The series is set in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals live side by side, and follows the self-destructing antics of washed-up TV star, BoJack Horseman (voiced by Will Arnett). The series also includes the vocal talents of Aaron Paul, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie and Paul F. Tompkins as BoJack’s closest friends and colleagues.
Special guest appearances over the first two seasons have come from the likes of Kristen Schaal, J.K. Simmons, Daniel Radcliffe, Paul McCartney, Lisa Kudrow and Ed Helms.
The first two seasons of BoJack Horseman are available to watch on Netflix now, with a third season to air in 2016.
Anneka Honeyball
Editor [2016 - 2017], News Editor [2015 - 2016]. Current record holder for most ever articles written by a single Edgeling. Also Film & English Student and TV Editor for The National Student. Main loves include cats, actors and pasta.
Nostalgic News: Moana Turns Five!
Nostalgic News: Allied was Released 5 Years Ago
Nostalgic News: Space Jam (1996) was released 25 years ago
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Alice Isn’t Dead: Absent Family
Sibylle
Review of Season 2, Episode 8 of Alice Isn’t Dead, “Absent Family”
It’s not often that I can start this review with a major piece of news related to this beloved podcast, and I can’t help myself. It has been recently announced that Alice Isn’t Dead is going to be adapted into a novel (written by Joseph Fink) and that a television series is also in development! This is such a groundbreaking deal for the independent podcast creators of Night Vale Presents that I can barely contain my excitement − and neither can they.
In troubled times, again and again, good pieces of fiction remain essential. This upcoming book, as well as the possibility of a screen adaptation, is evidence that Alice Isn’t Dead is a story very much needed in today’s America. It asks the relevant questions, the hard questions; it provides few answers, and hard to swallow ones at that, but I am beyond delighted that the immense contemplative value of this narrative is now more broadly recognized. I can’t wait for the book to come out so I can actually delve into the actual pages of a story that is fast becoming my favorite piece of fiction currently being produced. I’m sure my volume will be loved and cherished and annotated and abused as soon as I get it.
In light of this wonderful announcement, there is still the rest of the season to review, and I have three episodes left to cover. It was a tight wrap with more than a touch of angst and gore, and the episode I am reviewing today was certainly no exception. “Absent Family” gives us a lot to reflect on.
After last episode’s semi-discussion with the Praxis Oracle, Keisha is left with such a mere blurry picture of the war she’s finding herself caught in. So, she decides to go back to one of the very few elements she has personal experience with and tries to find the Bay and Creek base again to demand answers. Unluckily for her, she finds the secret entrance shut down and no other visible way to enter the underground base. Faced with the failure to confidently confront Bay and Creek as she had planned, she asks herself why they even let her live after she found out about their secret base, if it wasn’t to let her in again.
Her conclusion is that they allowed her to live because she must have a role to play in the war somehow. And that if she still has a role to play on the Bay and Creek side, then it must mean that the Thistle side will continue to track her down as they have so far. Just as she reaches this conclusion, the one who I have dubbed the Officer for sake of consistency (although I have seen people call her Watcher − she has no canon name as of yet) pulls up next to the house and chases Keisha, who barely manages to escape after stabbing the Officer non-lethally. Keisha’s last thought of the episode is that she is bound to be constantly on the run if she wants to stay alive.
This is another episode of a pre-finale confrontation that actually feels earned and relevant to the story. The Officer is terrifying, and more and more like the Thistle Men with each passing scene. In this episode, she again taunts Keisha, a major characteristic of Thistle, mixed with the threat of open violence. She chases Keisha in the most inhumane way. Even descriptions of her appearance line up with the not-quite-human Thistle Men of last season.
“She was dressed haphazardly in something like a police officer’s uniform, but the details were all wrong.”
She claims to have followed Keisha through her sense of smell, which makes sense considering the Thistle Men also seem to have found her scent trail no matter what. And again, as we have heard several times before, she mentions this unnamed side she seems to be sent by, the looming threat of Thistle that seems to be somehow protected by the US government.
“Hey listen! I have a job to do now. Here we go!”
Of course, it’s only a matter of time before the ultimate confrontation, but thank God Keisha escaped her clutches now. The duality of this war, Bay and Creek versus Thistle, is once again underlined. But there is the constant impression that neither side is clearly defined and the whole conflict remains a huge question mark.
Still, her realization is more than a little hard to swallow. She’s no stranger to being on the run, of course. In fact, all of her ponderings during this episode are about her experiences as someone who is constantly traveling. The hard truth she’s confronted with about the war is mirrored in her reflections about the life of a permanent traveler. Just like she can never be truly safe so long as she lives, she also cannot find a true sense of belonging so long as she travels.
But she also emphasizes the silver lining that she has personal experience with the whole of America. I believe her having the past experience of a loving marriage with Alice, which gives her actual personal reasons to be involved in this war, is relevant as well. More will definitely be said about this in later episodes.
Although Alice hasn’t been openly mentioned that many times this season—certainly much fewer than during the first one—she is hidden behind every word of this episode. The title itself, “Absent Family”, is a reminder of the gap she left behind.
“Alice, our paths are different now.”
In many ways, Keisha reaching the epiphany that she must always run has everything to do with her overarching character arc this season of slowly letting go of Alice (and no spoilers on the finale allowed before I finally reach that part of these episodic reviews!). Home isn’t a place, she told us back in season 1. Home was a person. The endless cycle of traveling, jumping from one place to another with complete rootlessness, reminds me of the sadness she finds herself wrapped up in, her grief over Alice’s departure that she constantly pushes past.
“I need to live long enough to figure out what my place is in this war.”
It is, after all, part of the same narrative. Keisha is letting go of the last barrier. She has a role to play in this war, for sure, and she knows that Alice is still out there somewhere. But she also must run away from the danger and with that, give up the hope of reuniting with her wife. And at this point, Keisha has had to find meaning in her life apart from Alice.
As an aside, I’ve seen people call their past relationship dependent and unhealthy. I’m not sure I would go to that length, only because of my personal experience with anxiety, which is a core aspect of Keisha’s personality that affects all her relationships. There are things that mentally ill people are less able to do on their own, and I think that calling a relationship unhealthy because one partner relies on their partner’s help in some measure to live with their mental illness is not the best way to capture that type of dynamic.
Of course, mentally ill people can push too far in that direction, but I don’t think we’ve been presented with evidence clearly proving that this was the case between Keisha and Alice. Keisha sometimes needing Alice’s support during anxiety attacks does not mean that this was a permanent reliance. And just because she was deeply hurt and shocked by Alice’s disappearance and took a very long time to heal those wounds doesn’t necessarily indicate that their relationship was imbalanced. That seems like an expected reaction to one’s wife disappearing from your life with no warning signs.
Back to the main point, there are many small lines in this episode that subtly remind us of Alice’s absense. The house itself, from which the underground base used to be accessible, can be understood as a metaphor for Alice and Keisha’s broken relationship.
“There was the farmhouse, as I had left it. By all appearances, a shell of what had once sheltered people. A family who staked their lives on the health of the fields, only to be undone by age or disease, or those same fields, or a desire to move on and try something else. Or more probably, never a family. Every broken plank of wood, every sagging wall a reconstruction, a fake.”
Keisha shows once again that the pain of Alice’s sudden departure, though dulled by time, is never completely gone. It’s just a burden she must live with. She still resents this woman for having lied to her for so many years (she mentions the lies in a later portion of the episode, and how she resents them). For having made her feel like she had a normal loving wife, but who in reality was lying through her teeth the whole time they were together.
Of course the empty house would represent this feeling of home she had with Alice that is now gone. And of course the house wouldn’t even be a real one, just an external structure that Bay and Creek built to hide their shenanigans. And if the home is symbolic for Keisha and Alice’s marriage, then, when Officer Thistle asks Keisha “Why are you poking around this place again?”, I can’t help but be reminded of Keisha asking herself the same questions. Why is she still hanging onto the hope that Alice is out there? That they can still salvage their marriage one way or another? Throughout the episode, as Keisha asks herself the question of why she is still alive, there is no doubt to my mind that there is the extra layer of what her life means without Alice.
In any case, Keisha’s conclusion is so blatantly Keisha. Of course, she would think that if she’s alive, then it means that she must help in this war one way or another. There is optimism in this, somehow. I can’t help but be reminded of a quote from another podcast by Joseph Fink, the ever-famous Welcome to Night Vale,
“It has to make sense. Otherwise… otherwise it doesn’t make sense!” − Steve Carlsberg (“The September Monologues”)
For all the hope she has gradually lost over the course of the series, Keisha still keeps the certainty in her heart that there is a meaning to all this, that her life must have a purpose. And if that purpose is not Alice, then it must be something else. She still clings to the hope that she’ll find the true reason why she must be here and why this is happening. She still hopes for some sort of justice. Of course, calling it optimism would be a stretch, considering that her second immediate conclusion is that no matter what that goal is, she must flee from the danger that accompanies it. Is it possible for optimism to be pessimistic? Keisha is constantly toying with that line.
At this point, I think that the racial aspect of this narrative should also be mentioned. Now, as a white person, my analysis of it cannot be as insightful as that of a mentally ill black lesbian like Keisha. I’m not stating this as a fact, but just as my personal interpretation. I think they’re doing something right with this. There is this trope of black women having, or more specifically choosing, to support the burden of every single person around them.
Keisha seemed to be on that trajectory earlier in the season because of her kind and generous heart, broken as it is. That involvement showed her good nature, but it also aligns itself with that trope. The emotional burden placed on black women in real life is already so heavy that this kind of portrayal could be unhelpful or even harmful. Keisha choosing to witness other people’s burden, to see this war that perpetually wants to drag her into it, and to run away from it, is brave. She has her own dangers to be wary of and she’s already being brave by protecting herself in any way she can.
Keisha’s narrative is unique in many ways and a lot of that is because her identity and her struggles are never ignored. At the same time, they’re never the sole focus of her character. Stories about mentally ill black lesbians are nowhere near frequent enough. As a lesbian with an anxiety disorder, I’ve always praised their handling of mental illness as a very validating and respectful portrayal. There are some less flattering things to be said about how the narrative has been handling her queerness sometimes, though the criticism is mild and in any case nuanced, but that aspect is best left for this season’s finale.
As a whole, “Absent Family” deals with a question that has always been at the core of this story. What is the meaning of Keisha’s life without Alice in it? What is her life’s goal now? What has changed? Handling grief and change has always been the central point of the narrative, and this episode gives the best answers Keisha could come up with right now. Let us hope that her grief comes to an end soon.
Image Courtesy of Night Vale Presents
In this article:alice isn't dead,Featured,LGBT,night vale
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Fight over Charles Manson’s estate, remains in need of venue
By Associated Press | Monday, January 8, 2018, 12:05 a.m.
This undated file photo provided by MY Entertainment producer, Robin Keats shows Jason Freeman. Freeman is seeking control of Charles Manson’s estate. Freeman’s attorney, Dale Kiken provided The Associated Press with a copy of a 1986 Ohio court ruling saying Freeman is the son of Charles Manson Jr., and a 1993 Colorado death certificate showing Manson Jr. as the son of Charles Manson and his first wife, Rosalie Willis. A Los Angeles judge on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, will begin trying to sort out at least two conflicting wills and claims to his estate by a purported son, grandson and pen pal. (Richard Buckley/MY Entertainment via AP, File)
This Aug. 14, 2017, file photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Charles Manson. The fight over the estate of apocalyptic cult leader Manson has fragmented into at least three competing camps that could cash in on songs he wrote that were used by The Beach Boys and Guns N’ Roses. A Los Angeles judge on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, will begin trying to sort out at least two conflicting wills and claims to his estate by a purported son, grandson and pen pal. Manson died at 83 in November 2017. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP, File)
LOS ANGELES — The battle brewing over the estate of Charles Manson entered court Monday, though it remains unclear where it will ultimately be fought or whether others will join a pen pal and purported grandson laying claim to the cult leader’s possessions and body.
The issue of venue is clouded because Manson, 83, died at a hospital in Kern County in November but was incarcerated in Corcoran State Prison in neighboring Kings County. His body is still being held at the coroner’s office in Bakersfield.
Attorney Alan Davis, representing the proposed administrator of the estate for purported grandson Jason Freeman, said Los Angeles County is the proper venue because Manson lived there before he was imprisoned for orchestrating the 1969 killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and eight other people.
Judge David Cowan said it was premature to make the determination and he scheduled a hearing Jan. 26 to determine the county where the matter should be decided.
Michael Channels, who said became friends with Manson decades ago after repeatedly writing him in prison, challenged the Freeman claim. He holds a will that he said Manson signed and sent him 16 years ago.
The two-page document said Manson disinherited two known sons and any unknown children and leaves Channels the entire estate, which includes potentially lucrative rights to his image and music he wrote and recorded.
Guns N’ Roses 1993 recorded a Manson song, “Look at Your Game, Girl,” though royalties went to victims under a court order. Manson was also an acquaintance of Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson in 1968, and the band recorded a variation of a Manson song under the title “Never Learn Not To Love.”
Channels, a contractor who said he has troves of Manson memorabilia including clothing and letters, and has sold autographed cassettes and CDs of the convict’s music, disputed there’s much value to the estate.
“I feel sorry for the other side if they do win because there’s a lot bad juju that comes along with Charles Manson,” Channels said. “It’s not all roses.”
Others have suggested Channels intends to profit off Manson’s will if he prevails.
Channels, who said he couldn’t find a lawyer willing to take the case and represents himself, said his mission is only to make sure his friend can rest in peace. He said Manson feared his body could be mutilated and tattoos put on display and ashes worn in pendants.
Court documents filed by Davis claim Freeman is the son of the late Charles Manson Jr. and the grandson of Charles Manson and his first wife, Rosalie Willis.
A man who believes Manson fathered him during a Wisconsin orgy in the late 1960s also plans to make a claim to the estate.
Matt Lentz, a Los Angeles-area musician who goes by the name Matthew Roberts, has a will Manson purportedly signed in January 2017 naming him as beneficiary, said his agent, Mike Smith. He said Manson gave the will to friend and memorabilia collector Ben Gurecki, who is named as executor.
Lentz was expected in court, but didn’t show up in court Monday. Smith said Lentz was also having trouble finding a lawyer to take the case.
Vietnam tries former oil executives in widened crackdown
Funeral held for 5 family members killed in NYC fire
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The advertised cost of a constitutional convention
By J.H. Snider, Ph.D. - Other Voices | Thursday, October 18, 2018, 12:05 a.m.
In print and TV ads, Constitutional Convention opponents have been claiming that the cost of voting yes for a state constitutional convention on Nov. 6 would be too high.
The $55 million figure being promoted by Preserve Our Hawaii is highly controversial. Hawaii’s last convention in 1978 cost $2.03 million. In current dollars, that sum would be $7.7 million. Preserve Our Hawaii hasn’t cited a source but is presumably working from the Legislative Reference Bureau’s 2008 report requested by the state Legislature’s leadership to provide ammunition to convention opponents.
That report estimated that in 2012 dollars a convention would cost between $7.5 million and $48.8 million. The $55 million figure presumably extrapolates from the upper bound $48.8 million figure. Even then, Preserve Our Hawaii is only quoting the report’s upper bound. A competing 2008 report published by a workgroup organized by Hawaii’s lieutenant governor found the Legislature’s cost estimates wildly inflated.
But costs per se mean nothing. To mean something, they must be compared to something else. The comparisons that the No Coalition’s political research firms have tested as helping their campaign include comparisons to the average Hawaiian’s personal income (far less than a convention’s cost) and some of the most popular government expenditures, such as fixing potholes and paying for more teacher supplies.
But many other potential cost comparisons could be made. One category of such comparisons compares aggregate government revenue to the average individual’s income. Total government spending in Hawaii is approximately $14 billion a year or $140 billion over the 10-year period between convention referendums. With this comparison, a convention’s cost becomes comparable to a rounding error.
Another comparison category is a large individual project. For example, the current estimated cost of Hawaii’s rail project is approximately $10 billion, of which the cost of a convention would be approximately one thousandth of its cost, or about 100 feet of the project’s length.
Another category is state government waste. Americans believe their state government wastes about 42 percent of every tax dollar, which would be more than $50 billion between the decennial convention referendums. A poll asked Hawaiians: “How well do you feel state government efficiently spends our tax dollars?” Fifty-seven percent replied “not well.” If a convention reduced government corruption and its resulting inefficiency by only 1 percent over a decade, it would have more than a 5,000 percent return on investment.
My own favorite category is the cost of a government without democratic checks and balances. Doing away with costly checks and balances, including the two branches of the Legislature, an independent judiciary, and local elected government, would result in a single elected state official.
Just think of all the potholes we could fix if we got rid of all those wasteful democracy enhancing expenditures! Indeed, when dictator Benito Mussolini took over Italy in the 1920s, that’s what he promised: massive public works! (Note: although the Legislature loves to issue reports on a convention’s cost, I haven’t been able to find a comparable report on its own costs.)
Of course, most Hawaiians would recognize that reducing democratic accountability institutions to this bare minimum —no matter how much money it would save — would be penny wise and pound foolish because democratic accountability costs money.
The same can be said for the democratic accountability a convention provides, which is why Hawaii’s framers included this legislative bypass mechanism in Hawaii’s Constitution.
Hawaii’s framers understood that it was essential to provide a mechanism to allow the people to bypass the state Legislature’s gatekeeping power over state constitutional amendments. In comparison to the cost of Hawaii’s other democratic accountability institutions, a convention’s cost would be a rounding error.
Yet another category is the value of passing a specific popular amendment that the Legislature won’t pass. For example, how much would the people be willing to spend to pass state legislative term limits or the citizen initiative? Would they be worth the cost of Hawaii’s last convention in 1978; that is, $7.8 million in today’s dollars?
The list of such alternate comparisons is endless. The key point is that any discussion of a convention’s costs without a thoughtful discussion of its potential benefits is inherently misleading. Moreover, a good-faith discussion of potential benefits should not focus on fixing potholes but on a convention’s potential to help fix Hawaii’s democracy.
Of course, it is in the No Coalition’s interest to focus on a convention’s potential costs rather than benefits. Accordingly, its ad compaigns over recent decades have refused to acknowledge, let alone discuss in good faith, why Hawaii’s framers created the convention process to propose popular democratic reforms adverse to the Legislature’s institutional self-interest.
As the No Coalition’s ad campaign against a convention gathers steam in the coming weeks, observers should be asking themselves: is it promoting the right cost comparison? And what exactly is it that Big Labor and Big Business, the key financiers and organizers behind the No Coalition, fear from a convention? Might it be that the costs they most fear, such as a reduction of their control over the state Legislature, might actually benefit the great majority of Hawaii?
J.H. Snider, Ph.D., is the editor of The Hawaii State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse.
Indulge for a moment, a rant on the topic of voting
Report of my death is greatly exaggerated
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Merging J&K cadre with AGMUT: Rajya Sabha passes Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill
Feb. 08, 2021 Updated 02:03 pm. IST
New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Monday cleared The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that seeks to replace the ordinance to merge the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) cadre of civil services officer with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre.
The bill was introduced in the Upper House of the Parliament last week.
Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said the Constitution of India is now fully applicable on Jammu and Kashmir, and that the bill will enable availability of officers in Jammu and Kashmir who have experience of running union territory administration.
The Statement of objects and reasons for the Bill read: “There is a huge deficiency of the officers of All India Services in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The developmental schemes, centrally sponsored schemes and other allied activities suffer due to non-availability of All India Officers in the existing cadres of the Jammu and Kashmir as such there is a requirement of merging it with Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Union territories cadre so that the officers in this cadre can be posted in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to meet out any deficiency to some extent.”
He said around 170 central laws are being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the bill will increase the strength of officers in the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Leh.
Hassan Ali shines with twin fifers: Pakistan beat South Africa, take series 2-0
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What We Know About Jonathan Van Ness' New Book
By Brianna Thomas/Dec. 8, 2021 11:52 am EST
On April 12, 2022, Jonathan Van Ness' new book, "Love That Story: Observations from a Gorgeously Queer Life," will release, and excitement is already brewing.
Van Ness, of course, rose to fame through Netflix's "Queer Eye," as they are the hair guru on the reboot that started up on the streaming service in 2018. Previously, they were part of the web series "Gay of Thrones" and have appeared on television shows such as "I Love the 2000s" and "E! Live from the Red Carpet" (via Celebrity Net Worth). Van Ness also has a podcast, "Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness," so it's safe to say that the star is a media mogul in their own right.
In 2019, Van Ness published their book entitled "Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love," which landed them on The New York Times bestsellers list. In addition, Van Ness put out a picture book titled "Peanut Goes for the Gold." Now, fans can look forward to a collection of essays from Van Ness, coming out next year.
Jonathan Van Ness revealed that nothing is 'off-limits' in the new book
Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
When talking with People, Jonathan Van Ness said their new book, entitled "Love That Story," "represents the growth I've experienced as an author, an entertainer, and a person."
"There are so many dimensions to all of our humanity that I've observed through my life that I explore in this book, and I invite everyone to come along for the ride. From my experiences as a hairdresser-turned-entertainer to the HIV social safety net, imposter syndrome, and dealing with TERFs, there's nothing off-limits," they said.
The "Queer Eye" star continued, saying that "when you've stared down addiction, abuse, and trauma, you get bored with small talk" and that they "want to keep learning, keep writing, and keep sharing." In addition to writing and releasing this book, Van Ness also started a haircare line, JVN Hair, on August 31 of this year, as seen on Instagram.
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Inside Nicole Kidman's Relationship With Keith Urban
lev radin/Shutterstock
By Brianne Hogan/Updated: Dec. 18, 2021 7:44 pm EST
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's relationship is one that country love songs are made of. The star couple has been married for 15 years, which is a long time according to Hollywood standards. While they remain crazy for each other after all these years together, their path to true love hasn't always been easy.
Before Kidman married Urban, she was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001. Their divorce made an impact on Kidman, recalling the time shortly after as "the loneliest I'd ever been" (via Entertainment Tonight). On Urban's end, he had been previously involved with model Niki Taylor and engaged to Laura Sigler. He also had a "wild rocker" past, which included partying and struggles with alcoholism, and credits meeting and falling in love with Kidman for his sobriety. "That was how I was able to keep it together," he told Rolling Stone in 2014.
Now, the couple is known for their strong bond and enviable joy they have in each other's company (after all, they're known to sing together, too). For this reason, let's take a closer look inside Nicole Kidman's relationship with Keith Urban.
They met at an event that honored Australians
Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban first met back in 2005 at an event that honored successful Australians. According to Kidman's version of their meet cute, she fell immediately for the Australian country singer. In 2017, she told Ellen DeGeneres, "I remember thinking I had such a crush on him and he wasn't interested in me." She later revealed it took Urban four months from their first meeting for him to finally call her. "I was really, really into him," she told Harper's Bazaar. "He took a little time. And he's like, 'That is so incorrect, Nicole.'"
Urban later explained that he definitely was interested in Kidman but admitted he wasn't in a healthy place when they were first introduced. "I'd never have thought she'd see anything in a guy like me," he said in 2018 in an Australian talk show interview (via The Sydney Morning Herald). "I kept looking at it thinking, 'If I call this number, she's going to answer. I don't know what [to] say'.'"
Keith Urban didn't think he was good enough for Nicole Kidman at first
While Keith Urban's initial lack of interest was confusing to Nicole Kidman, she later acknowledged that "he was just sort of intimidated" by her at first (via Harper's Bazaar). Urban admitted as such and referred to Kidman as someone "way out of my league" in an interview with an Australian media outlet (via The Sydney Morning Herald). He went on to say, "It's not an, 'oh shucks, oh me' story, it's legit – I mean, I'm a kid from Brissie, I went to Nashville ... somewhere along the line I end up meeting Nic."
However, the lack of confidence was mutual. At the gala they attended, per Harper's Bazaar, Kidman recalled being impressed by Urban's speech about his mother but thinking "he's not gonna be interested in me."
Eventually, these two crazy kids got it together, and Urban got the courage to call Kidman, and the rest, as they say, is history. "We started talking and we talked and talked and talked and talked and it was effortless," Urban said (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
The couple was quick to wed
Once Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban finally started dating, Kidman said she knew he was the "love of [her] life" when he stood outside her stoop in New York with gardenias at 5 a.m. before whisking her away on a road trip to Woodstock, New York (via People). "That is when I went, 'This is the man I hope I get to marry.'"
The two married a year later on June 25, 2006, at a romantic wedding in Manly, Australia, in front of hundreds of guests, including close Aussie friends, including Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, and Naomi Watts (via Biography).
According to People, the event was a family affair, with Kidman's father walking her down the aisle and sister Antonia serving as her maid of honor, along with her daughter, Isabella, who was a bridesmaid. On the groom's side, Urban's brother, Shane, was his best man. A guest told People the ceremony was "emotional and beautiful" and that Kidman and Urban sealed their matrimony with "a long, passionate kiss."
Afterward, the couple released a statement to their fans: "We just want to thank everyone in Australia and around the world who have sent us their warm wishes."
They got to know each other better after they married
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban met and married all within one year. In fact, they married after only one month of officially dating. While getting married after dating for a month might seem strange to other couples, Kidman told Elle in 2014 her reason for marrying the singer is simple – she's "spontaneous" (via Entertainment Tonight). "I kind of like getting married and then getting to know each other," she said. "I know that it sounds incredibly strange, but to me, it's a more natural process."
Kidman's loneliness before her marriage might explain her frame of mind at the time, too. As she told Vanity Fair, after winning her Oscar in 2003, she realized she still didn't have a life. "It hit home that I needed to get a life. Who do I jump on the bed with, and celebrate with, and order pancakes with? That was painful, not having that person to share it with."
This might explain why — while admitting they didn't know each other very well before tying the knot — Kidman told Entertainment Tonight that, unlike most couples, "We navigated things but I wanted that and I wanted a partner."
Nicole Kidman helped Keith Urban enter rehab shortly after their wedding
It wasn't the typical honeymoon period for Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban after their nuptials. Urban, who had dealt with drug and alcohol abuse in his past, began going down a dark path again, when Kidman staged an intervention in 2006, just a few months after their wedding. Urban admitted to Rolling Stone in 2016 that his addictions "caused the implosion of my fresh marriage. It survived, but it's a miracle it did." He later said in 2018 that getting clean was something that he "should have dealt with many, many years before I met Nic,” but that it never took because he wasn't ready.
While the intervention was no doubt a strain on their young marriage, there was an upside — the two were bonded like never before. "I was spiritually awoken with her," Urban told Rolling Stone. "I use the expression 'I was born into her,' and that's how I feel. And for the first time in my life, I could shake off the shackles of addiction."
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
The Oscar winner and the country singer became parents together
Debby Wong/Shutterstock
Becoming parents was something on Nicole Kidman's mind as soon as she met Keith Urban. "I wanted to have a baby the minute we met and he was like, 'No,'" she told Entertainment Tonight. "And I got lucky. I got to have a child when I was 41." The couple's first child, Sunday Rose, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2008. According to People, their firstborn was named after Australian art patron and muse Sunday Reed and Urban's grandmother, Rose.
Then, two years later, Kidman and Urban welcomed their second daughter, Faith Margaret, via surrogate. "Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret," the couple announced in a 2011 statement, via People. Kidman told Australia's "60 Minutes" in 2011 (via People) that the couple had gone through a "rollercoaster ride with fertility." "We were in a place of desperately wanting another child" she said. "I couldn't get pregnant."
Reflecting on her struggles with infertility, Kidman said in an interview with Vogue how she wished she and Urban had met sooner so they could have had a larger family together. "I mean, if I could have had two more children with him, that would have been just glorious," she said.
Their daughters are their whole world
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images
It's clear that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were destined to become terrific parents together. While the couple is notoriously private about their daughters, they have shared their love of parenting. Urban shared how his favorite part about being a dad is having someone call him 'dad.' "I'm like, 'Omigosh! I'm her dad! That's amazing.' That's probably [the] ... first thing for me," the singer told his record label (via WBWN). On fatherhood, he said later, "I realize that it's not something that can be explained until you actually sort of have it, so I'm glad I got to experience that." Kidman agreed, telling InStyle how close they are as a family. "We put the time in, and there's no taking that for granted."
Despite their busy schedules, Kidman shared with The New York Times that she and Urban always ensure one of them is home with the girls if the other is away for work (via Hello!). "We never leave the kids, one of us is always there," she said.
They know what it takes to stay connected to each other
Everett Collection/Shutterstock
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have had their fair share of challenges, both together and apart, and so they understand what makes a marriage work. Kidman shared that the couple completely switches off from work and connect when they have downtime together. "Keith and I are very good at immediately clicking off because we have a really good life in Nashville that's very simple, quiet and nourishing because we've made it like that, ” she told Harper's Bazaar. That includes having strict boundaries at home that allow for connection, including not having a TV or computer in their bedroom.
Another secret? Kidman says she and Urban are "old school," revealing they don't text each other when they're apart — instead, they call each other (via Southern Living).
Being with Urban is important to Kidman. As she shared with InStyle, rather than having girls' weekends, she wants to be home. "I want to be with my children and my husband [Keith Urban]," she said. Ultimately, as Urban has said: "We just work at it. We love each other and we work at it. It's beautiful work."
They support each other through life's ups and downs
It's not only the everyday work on Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's marriage that keeps it strong. It's also being each other's rock during the ups and downs of life. Since his 2006 intervention, Kidman has been Urban's support in his sobriety. She told People, "It's not easy, but there's an extraordinary life if you do get there through help."
Urban has also returned the kindness and love for his partner when Kidman was left mourning the death of her father in 2014. She told Ellen DeGeneres the singer "literally" and "physically" carried her at times because she was so distraught. "I recently lost my father and to have my husband just step up that way makes me cry," she said (via USA Today).
Urban was also on hand to support his wife after she doubted her ability to take on her role as Lucille Ball in "Being the Ricardos." Kidman shared with Extra that Urban was encouraging her the entire time, saying, "'I believe you can do it, go for it. What do we need to do to support you?'" Urban, for his part, has said that Kidman's devotion "just makes me want to be a better man" (via People).
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban know how to keep the spark alive
taniavolobueva/Shutterstock
But not everything is work when it comes to Nicole Kidman's relationship with Keith Urban. The star couple definitely knows how to keep the spark alive. Kidman gushed to InStyle how the singer leaves her a love letter for every single night he's away and has done so throughout their relationship (via E! News).
The couple also doesn't hold back on their insane chemistry together. Kidman shared a very sexy pic of the pair in honor of their 15th wedding anniversary. The photo was taken in 2017, and, as Kidman explained to Harper's Bazaar, she had asked him to "'kiss my neck' and he did that."
Then, of course, there's Urban's song "Gemini" that's been confirmed to be about Kidman. You can feel the couple's chemistry with the lyrics, "She's a maniac in the bed, But a brainiac in her head" (per Vogue).
What helps keep the couple feel connected is something a priest told them early on in their marriage: "'Always kiss hello and kiss goodbye,'" Kidman told InStyle. "It just keeps you connected."
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Gulf of Guinea Piracy: Experts Warn on Data, Say Figures Susceptible to Definition Problems
in Crime, News
Some concerned experts are warning against data tumbling out on piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. Piracy in the region appears to be worse than ever, judging by recent headlines.
But a University of St Andrews teacher, Dr Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood, Maritime Project Leader/ Senior Researcher with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Timothy Walker, and the Institute’s Research Officer, Denys Reva, are warning that those accounts and the data they rely on must be approached with caution.
ISS is however, an African non-profit organisation with offices in South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Senegal. It is concerned with enhancing human security as a means to achieving sustainable peace and prosperity.
According to them, ‘’figures on piracy and armed robbery at sea are susceptible to under-reporting and problems of definition. Over-hasty responses could lead to narrow solutions that fail to solve the underlying causes of maritime insecurity.
‘’A snapshot of piracy in the region shows a relatively consistent number of reported incidents. According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), attacks were documented in 15 Gulf of Guinea littoral states over the past three years.
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‘’The IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre recorded 84 attempted and successful attacks in 2020, up from the 64 in 2019, but almost the same as 2018, at 82 incidents. Most assaults targeted the crew to kidnap them for ransom. The region is now the site of over 90% of the world’s reported kidnappings at sea.’’
Writing on ISS Today, a newsletter of the security studies institute, the experts say piracy data is often used as an indicator of general maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, but unless its carefully interpreted, using it could lead to poor responses.
‘’Changing piracy trends could be the result of different levels of maritime awareness and capability among countries, which in turn affects the reporting of incidents
‘’Reports from the IMB, as well as other sources such as the Interregional Coordination Centre in Yaoundé, greatly influence public and policy discourse on the state of maritime security in West and Central Africa. Yet the extent of the threat is disputed and the numbers need to be carefully examined to avoid gaps and pitfalls.
‘’For instance, the Nigerian Navy reports 339 incidents of piracy in 2020. But according to the definition of the crime under international law, 214 out of these would not be considered ‘piracy’ but acts of armed robbery, as they took place in Nigerian territorial waters and not on the High Seas.
‘’Incidents of armed robberies at sea are the responsibility of the coastal state if they occur fewer than 12 nautical miles from the coast. The location of attacks is therefore significant, both to interpreting the data and crafting responses.
‘’Effective law enforcement far out at sea is beyond the capacity of most regional states. This means that any solution to the problem of piracy is a collective one requiring multinational support as envisioned in the Yaoundé Agreement of 2013.
‘’While the numbers may vary, there is a trend of more sophisticated and violent attacks occurring on the High Seas. On 30 January the MV Rowayton Eagle was struck 200 nm from shore – and similar incidents further out to sea are not uncommon. It’s possible that ships on the High Seas are being targeted because coastal law enforcement by Gulf of Guinea states is becoming more effective.
‘’Nevertheless, increased reports of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea have triggered comparisons with piracy off the coast of Somalia, and prompted a global debate on solutions. Shipping companies operating in the Gulf of Guinea are worried as no one seems able to provide them with security. The loudest voices are calling for a greater international naval presence or coalition, and advocating for more armed private security personnel’’, they say.
While both areas have suffered from piracy, they are very distinct, and policy responses should be too. A key difference in the Gulf of Guinea is that any international force would need approval from each of the many countries in the region.
The concave shape of the Gulf of Guinea littoral and the clustering of countries with relatively short coastlines means their maritime areas of interest converge. This increases the number of stakeholders whose consensus is required.
The Horn of Africa, by contrast, is an enormous peninsula jutting into the Indian Ocean. Somalia has one of Africa’s longest coastlines, and the maritime area over which it has responsibility has few neighbours and is surrounded by the High Seas.
The United Nations Security Council has adopted anti-piracy resolutions for both the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Guinea since 2008. The measures permitted in the former had the consent of Somalia’s recognised government and started largely from scratch.
The latter prioritised capacity building for emerging regional institutions, such as those established by the Economic Community of West African States and Economic Community of Central African States under the auspices of the Yaoundé Agreement.
It’s unlikely that the ‘Somalian scenario’ would be endorsed in the Gulf of Guinea. These states would prefer to be supported so they can provide maritime security, rather than abrogate this responsibility to external parties.
A challenge similar in both the Horn and Gulf of Guinea is that a crackdown on piracy can mean offenders switch to other illicit activities to continue their criminal enterprises, or commit piracy in other parts of the region. There’s also the danger that a narrow focus on piracy means policymakers neglect other maritime and security problems that affect livelihoods and the ecological conservation of coastal areas.
‘’Policy and strategy must provide safety to seafarers’ in- and offshore, and deal with threats to the natural environment and livelihoods of littoral communities, such as fisheries crime and marine pollution.
‘’Sustainable security solutions in the Gulf of Guinea should aim to improve the socio-economic well-being of coastal communities so that they are less vulnerable to organised criminal networks.
‘’Piracy cannot be tackled by any government operating alone. States and organisations operating in the region must continue working together to agree on an approach that suits all their maritime security interests.
‘’A rushed response in reaction to sensational reports of attacks at sea may well benefit shipping companies.
‘’But in the long run, it could exacerbate the situation by focusing on symptoms at the expense of root causes.
‘’Grievances among marginalised coastal communities must be addressed so they can pursue sustainable livelihoods and escape the cycle of deprivation that exposes them to crime’’, the experts say.
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UN Pumps Out $150 Million to Boost Under-funded Humanitarian Operations in 13 Countries
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Break It Down: "Use Me" by Bill Withers
What makes you want to listen to some songs over and over again? Maybe it's a catchy guitar or bass riff, a chorus you can sing along to, or a beat you can dance to. But more often than not, it's not just about one element by itself, but how they all work together – in other words, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, something that R&B classic singer-songwriter Bill Withers surely knows a lot about.
The early 1970s saw Withers cranking out smash hit after smash hit, with successful singles "Lean On Me" and "Use Me" from his second album Still Bill topping charts. The latter song, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100, seamlessly combines elements of soul, funk and blues with a laid-back groove. Unusually, "Use Me" lacks a chorus or any repeating lyrics, yet all of the instruments essentially play the same riff all the way through. Funk songs do well with plenty of repetition; "Use Me" isn't a dance song per se, but its constant grooving beat certainly makes it suitable for a dance music playlist.
Listen for the instrumental dropout at 1:52.
Withers' 1972 blues-funk hit may only have two guitar chords – Em7 and A7 – but the catchiest part of the song is the clavinet riff (an instrument also featured heavily in Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" released in the same year), which repeats the moment the song starts and loops through its fade-out ending. Funky and syncopated, it's the one part of the song you can hum, so it stays in your head. The equally repetitive bass guitar riff complements the clavinet nicely, while completely locking in with the drums.
Above all else, the repetition in the instruments provides a very important function: It brings the vocals front and center to emphasize the story of the lyrics. Told in three different verses that don't repeat – except for the song title, in various contexts – the story describes someone who is mistreated in a relationship, but won't leave because he is addicted to the abuse ("It feels this good getting used"). There's even a moment where the guitar, bass and clavinet drop out at 1:52, making the expressive singing and lyrics stand out even more. The dark subject matter (it's still a blues song, after all) ends with a twist, with the narrator admitting that the "using" in the relationship actually goes both ways: "It ain't too bad the way you're using me, 'cause I sure am using you to do the things you do."
The success of "Use Me" goes to show that songs can top charts without following the standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus format. A well-placed looping riff, when layered over other evolving elements, can really make a song compelling and unforgettable.
Leila Abdul-Rauf is a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Oakland, CA. Leila is guitarist and vocalist for metal bands Vastum, Hammers of Misfortune, and ethereal post-punk band Terebellum. She also composes and produces ambient music under her own name, with electronic trio Ionophore, and with synth-folk duo Fyrhtu. She has toured internationally and is a private guitar and voice teacher in her spare time.
"Bill Withers 1976" by Columbia Records is in the public domain.
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Pakistan hosts OIC’s Council of FMs session today
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is hosting the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad on Saturday. The Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) will be preceded by the senior officials meeting.
Prime Minister Imran Khan will deliver the keynote address. Pakistan’s role sees it gathering together members of the international community and the Taliban government on the same platform, hoping that it would prove to be a stepping stone in finding a solution to the looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The Afghan delegation attending the moot is being led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
It has emphasised time and again that lack of prompt response would lead to food shortages for some 22.8 million people and affect about 3.2m children with malnutrition. “The OIC Extraordinary session in Islamabad would prove to be a stepping stone in finding solutions to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and this was also an opportunity for world capitals to know about ground realities from Taliban representatives.
“In case of such a crisis, the country’s neighbours, including Pakistan, and European Union states, would have to prepare for another influx of refugees. We are expecting some financial support from the OIC member states,” said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
In this regard he pointed out that Pakistan was playing a positive role and bridging the communication gap between the world and the Taliban while special representatives on Afghanistan from the United States, Russia, China and European Union would also attend the event.
Besides the foreign ministers from the OIC member states and observers, participants would also include special invitees from the United Nations system, international financial institutions and some non-member states including the US, UK, France, China, Russia, Germany, Italy and Japan.
“Besides expressing solidarity with the Afghan people, the CFM is expected to explore avenues for containing and reversing the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, especially in terms of food shortages, displacement of people and a potential economic collapse,” said the Foreign Office.
OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, reached Islamabad on Thursday night and while speaking to official media said, “The world must not abandon Afghanistan and it is now high time that Muslim countries consider ways to help their Afghan brethren at this critical time.”
Later a meeting of Troika Plus – comprising Pakistan, China, Russia and the United States — P5 countries and Germany, Japan, Italy and Australia would also be held in Islamabad to discuss the Afghan situation.
While a delegation from Saudi Arabia including Afghan affairs department head Prince Abdullah bin Khalid bin Saud al-Kabir and Prince Jiluwi bin Turki have arrived. Official sources say that the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will also attend the conference.
On the eve of the conference, the Foreign Office said that Pakistan has always maintained that continued engagement of the international community with Afghanistan is imperative and hosting of the CFM is another manifestation of Pakistan’s intense diplomatic outreach to consolidate support for the people of Afghanistan.
“The 17th Extraordinary Session reflects Pakistan’s abiding commitment and consistent efforts to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan and the continued well-being of the Afghan people. The Extraordinary session would provide an opportunity to consider practical and concrete steps to help address the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people,” said the spokesperson.
According to the tentative programme for Saturday, the conference will included statements from Foreign Minister Qureshi, Saudi Foreign Minister Farhan Al-Saud, who is also the OIC Summit Chair, Hissein Brahim Taha, Secretary General of the OIC, statements on behalf of OIC Regional Groups (Asia, Africa, Arab) and a final statement by President Islamic Development Bank, Dr Muhammad Al-Jasser.
Tags: Afghanitan, OIC, Pakistan
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/ Guest Articles
Mary Queen of Scots: A Film Review
by Dr Linda Porter
Published 25th January 2019
Dr Linda Porter is a Tudor and Stuart historian. Her book, Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots, was published in 2013.
The film, Mary Queen of Scots, was first released in the US in December 2018 and the UK in January 2019. As with all our guest reviews, the opinions are those of the writer, and we welcome the thought-provoking and wide-ranging views of experts.
Dr Linda Porter gives an historian’s view of the recently-released film, Mary Queen of Scots.
As someone who has written a book (Crown of Thistles: the Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots) which looks at the wider rivalry between the Tudors and the Stuarts, I was naturally interested in the latest film version of Mary’s story. Though not without interest, and boasting a bravura performance by David Tennant as the Scottish firebrand religious reformer, John Knox, overall the film left me feeling curiously unsatisfied. It is not so much the historical inaccuracies, which, apart from the fact that Mary and Elizabeth never met, however much writers from Schiller onwards may have wanted them to, are less intrusive than might have been dreaded. Nor is it the performances of the two leads, Saoirse Ronan as Mary and Margot Robbie as Elizabeth, which are professional and even touching, though neither is entirely convincing, perhaps because of the screenplay. The Scottish scenery is stunning and the sense of period reasonably well conveyed, especially in the dark interiors of Scottish palaces in winter, though the hairstyles are decidedly odd and look more like something out of late Imperial China.
Overall, my reservations are largely about the lack of a coherent narrative that must make it hard for viewers who do not understand the complexity of Scottish politics in the mid-16th century to understand how Mary, a young woman, who is initially represented as strong and determined, can so suddenly lose her throne and make the ultimately fateful decision to seek sanctuary with her far from welcoming cousin, Elizabeth, in England. The film is really nothing more than a series of set-pieces disjointedly presented, with a fair amount of gratuitous sex and violence to spice it up a bit. Overall, it bears more than a little resemblance to Game of Thrones. Presumably this was intentional but it takes the film a long way from John Guy’s biography, My Heart Is My Own, on which it is very loosely based. The one area in which, as an historian, I did find something to cheer is the entirely unromantic portrayal of Mary’s relationship with that opportunistic thug, the earl of Bothwell. Mary is no fool for love (as John Guy had described her) here but a woman forced into marriage against her will.
The reactions that I have seen so far from other historians of the period are mixed. One of the most helpful was by Glasgow University historian Dr Stephen Reid, who gave a useful overview of how Mary’s story has been represented over the centuries. More controversial, I would suggest, is the comment (possibly quoted out of context) by the doyen of Scottish historians, Professor Tom Devine. He calls Mary ‘an insignificant historical figure’ which is even more dismissive than the late Jenny Wormald’s view of Mary as a study in failure. Though I can understand why many historians rightly challenge the over-emphasis which television and popular history have put on the personalities of kings and queens, at the expense of understanding the wider social and economic context in which they inevitably functioned, it cannot be right to call Mary insignificant. True, she only ruled directly for six years in Scotland, but her reign, despite her efforts to hold her fractious nobles together, led to civil war which plagued Scotland for years. And surely her main significance is to be seen in the wider European context. Her presence as a prisoner in England made her a focus for Catholic discontent within and foreign interference from outside. It is no coincidence that the Spanish Armada, the greatest external threat to Elizabeth I, was launched a year after Mary’s execution.
Mary Queen of Scots may not be good history or even a very good movie, but I hope it does inspire those who would like to know more, and are open-minded, to read more about her. One critic called it ‘soft porn for the Instagram generation.’ This is somewhat harsh, but contains more than a grain of truth. And I do fear for a balance understanding of history in the age of alternative facts. Coming out of the cinema I met a lady (definitely not of the Instagram generation) who asked me what I thought of the film and whether it was historically accurate. I mentioned the fictional meeting between Elizabeth and Mary which never took place. She bristled, demanding: ‘how do you know it never took place?’ I must admit to being temporarily floored by this question since I myself would not challenge someone who has just told you that they have written a book on the subject of the film. Perhaps I come from a time when people were more deferential. I told her that there was no record of such a meeting ever taking place and that Elizabeth had consistently refused to meet Mary, indeed, it would not have been in her interest to do so. She still seemed to think that, in an age when monarchs couldn’t even use a toilet in private, it might have been possible for two queens to hold secret meetings that no one could have known about. So I appeal to all readers of Tudor Times to consider seriously the well-worn statement that the past really is a foreign country and they did not have social media there.
Pair of Seymour Cushions
Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart
Mary, Queen of Scots: Life Story
Mary, Queen of Scots: Following the Footsteps
Mary, Queen of Scots: Road to Fotheringhay
Mary, Queen of Scots: Appearance and Character
Mary, Queen of Scots: In Fact and Fiction
The Four Marys
James V
Elizabeth (Bess) Hardwick
Sir James Melville of Halhill
Mary Queen of Scots House
Linlithgow Palace
Fotheringhay Castle & Church
Bolton Castle
My Heart is My Own
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/ Politics & Economy
Weights & Measures in Tudor & Stewart Times
Published 22nd December 2016
Chapter 1: England
Although few people in Britain under the age of about 60 will have a comprehensive understanding of the Imperial system of measurement that was used before metrication, traces are still in everyday use, particularly for travelling distances, weights of people, and measures of beer.
However, even those older people probably only retain the most widely used weights and measures. In the period 1485 – 1625, the system of weights and measures was far more complex.
It was the responsibility of local justices of the peace, or the town corporation both to set local trading standards and enforce them.
Bear in mind that the weights and measures differed from town, and all the modern equivalents given below are only to provide a general idea.
There were three basic systems of weight measurement. Standard was the Avoirdupois Scale, in which a pound, designated lb from the Latin ‘libra’, was divided into 16 ounces (oz). The ounce was sub-divided into 16 drams.
14 pounds made a stone, two stones were a quarter, four quarters (112lb) equalled a hundred weigh (cwt, where c is the Latin symbol for 100), and, finally, 2240lb or 20 cwt was a ton.
Avoirdupois was used for most everyday goods – grain, lead, stone, sand etc.
For fine metals, the Troy Scale was used. A troy pound was lighter than an avoirdupois pound and was used for precious metals and gemstones. The troy pound consisted of 12 ounces, each of 20 pennyweight (there is a link here to the relationship with the monetary pound – more here – hence the symbol dwt with the d standing for the Latin denarius), and a pennyweight could be sub-divided into 24 grains. In total, a troy pound was the equivalent of 5,760 grains, whilst an avoirdupois pound was a full 7,000 grains.
Finally, there was the Apothecaries’ Scale. This was the same as troy weight, but went down to even smaller measures. The ounce consisted of 8 dra(ch)ms, which in turn were each equal to 3 scruples, whilst a scruple was 20 grains.
Linear Measurement
Whilst most of us are familiar with the 12 inches to a foot still used in daily life, these two measurements are part of a larger scheme. The inch, a Roman measurement, is approximately the length of the thumb from the first knuckle to the tip. Occasionally, it might be measured as three barleycorns in a row, but usually, the thumb was taken as indicative.
3 feet made up a yard, 5 1/2 yards were a pole, sometimes called a perch or a rod, 40 poles equal a furlong, after which distance a ploughing ox needs a rest, and 8 furlongs make a mile. 3 miles make a league. Another way of subdividing the mile was into 80 chains, each of 100 links, where a link was equal to 4 poles.
It should be noted that miles and leagues were differently measured across Europe.
Land Measurement
The basic unit of measurement was the acre. A standard acre consists of a strip of land 1 furlong in length, by 4 poles in depth. In theory, this was the amount of land that could be ploughed by a team of eight oxen in a day. Because land does not come in neat blocks of 1 furlong in length, the other way to measure was to divide into square feet, which multiplied up to square yards, square perches (30 ¼ square yards) and roods (4 perches).
Whilst an acre could be ploughed in day, it was not sufficient land to keep a family. Yields were much lower before the introduction of rotation in farming, and artificial fertiliser. It was estimated that a family required 120 acres to subsist for a year. This was sometimes measured as a ‘hide’, a carucate or a ploughland. The hide was, in turn, divided into 8 oxgangs or bovates, or 4 virgates. Obviously, a hide will differ depending on the quality of land.
Volumetric Measurements
These are even more complex, and difficult to comprehend, as items that we would now think of measuring by weight, were often measured by cubic capacity. For example, corn was sold by the gallon. Depending on where you were in the country, the gallon might consist of different amounts. It was not standardised until 1826.
A gallon of corn had different cubic capacity from a gallon of ale (282 cubic inches), which was different from a gallon of wine (231 cubic inches).
Liquids were more consistent. The terminology was the same as the Apothecaries weights, but with 20 minims equal to 1 fluid scruple, 3 fluid scruples to the fluid dram, 8 drams to the fluid ounce, 5 fluid drams to the gill, and four gills to the gallon.
For grain and other dry goods, 4 gills equalled a pint, 2 pints were a quart, and 4 quarts were gallon.
Over a gallon of dry goods, there were the peck (2 gallons), the bushel (4 pecks), the strike (2 bushels), the quarter (8 strikes) the wey or load (5 quarters) and the last (2 weys.)
Next Chapter:
Scotland →
Cavendish Tote Bag
5. The Astronomical Clock at Hampton Court Palace
7. The Clock on the Church of Santa Maria Novella
10. Iron Measuring Jug
Money in Stewart & Tudor Times
Markets & Trade
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Lucas Theatre
Arthur Lucas was a brilliant marketer. After the opening of his namesake theater in Savannah in 1921, he kept track of the wedding, birth and birthday announcements that appeared in the paper. Then, he sent free tickets to residents on their birthdays, anniversaries and as wedding and congratulations gifts. For more than 40 years, people from all across the city came to the Lucas Theater to see the various films, shows and concerts. After closing in 1976, the historic theater was threatened with destruction on several occasions.
Luckily, a small group of local Savannah history buffs bought the building in 1986 and began making plans to rejuvenate and reopen the movie palace. Today, the Lucas Theater for the Arts, after a multi-million dollar restoration, is a lively, vibrant center for opera, orchestras, country music concerts and film festivals. More than 1,000 people each week come to enjoy entertainment at the theater while countless others stop in to get a good look at the splendid architecture and mastery that this building represents.
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Current pageStudy Finds Most Millennial Women Downplay Effort Put Into Their Look
Study Finds Most Millennial Women Downplay Effort Put Into Their Look
When Did Caring About the Way You Look Become a Bad Thing? TRESemmé Encourages Women Who 'Work It' to Embrace Their #HairStatement
NEW YORK, NY (August 23, 2017) - In today's world of "woke up like this" social selfies, it's easy to feel like putting in effort to look great is going out of style. TRESemmé knows that putting effort into your appearance doesn't mean you're high maintenance or that you don't mean business, yet 70% of millennial women said they feel the need to downplay the time and effort they put into their look.
TRESemmé, the #1 Styling Brand in the U.S., has launched "Work It," a celebration of women who unapologetically value putting in 'the work' to their look because it translates to them feeling empowered at work, in relationships, and beyond.
The brand partnered with clinical psychologist and confidence expert Dr. Judy Ho to poll millennial women and found that hair can actually give women the confidence to walk taller every day. "68% of women feel there is a stereotype about women who spend time on their appearance*.
The hesitation seems to come from the belief that women may be taken less seriously if they look 'done-up,' especially in a professional setting. However, we know that most women believe that their hair and beauty routine contributes greatly to their confidence, which leads them to feel more effective in work and social settings," explains Dr. Ho.
Women today view their hair as a personal statement about their attitude—their look is not just for show. TRESemmé wanted to reflect this and celebrate the women who proudly acknowledge 'the work', and is working with women across beauty, tech, design and fashion to share what their #HairStatement is.
The brand has joined forces with women who 'Work It' – from fearless NYFW designers such as Rebecca Minkoff and Cushnie et Ochs, to a beauty app innovator such as Cara Santana – to share their personal Hair Statements and to channel the confidence that comes with 'the work' that goes into their look. Other women who are part of the campaign include: TRESemmé Global Stylist, Justine Marjan; Designer, Adriana Castro; Artist & Model, Anastasia Lovera; Illustrator, Meghann Stephenson; Hip-Hop Yoga Pioneer, Sarah Levey and Professional Dancer, Stevie Dore.
"As the #1 haircare brand in the U.S., it was important to us to be able to give every woman an opportunity to use their unique hair and style to make a statement, and we thought there was no better way to do that than by bringing them a personal hair stylist who could help them get there," says Unilever Vice President of Hair Care, North America, Piyush Jain.
Starting today through September 23rd, 2017, women across the country can create their own unique Hair Statement through The Glam App, compliments of TRESemmé. Women can simply download The Glam App, choose TRESemmé's Work It Waves Style and input the code "TRESWorkIt" to cover the cost of creating their own Hair Statement with a professional stylist.**
Join the conversation by sharing your #HairStatement and follow the campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for live updates.
About TRESemmé
As the #1 haircare brand in the U.S., TRESemmé understands how great hair gives her the confidence to conquer the world and make a statement, because when she looks her best, she feels empowered to be her best. Founded by beauty trailblazer and innovative businesswoman Edna L. Emmé in 1948, TRESemmé brings salon-quality hair to users at home through a range of wash & care, treatments and styling products which are used by some of the world's leading professionals in haircare.
TRESemmé offers high-quality products at value-pricing and are available at food, drug and mass market retailers nationwide and can be found at online retailers via TRESemme.com. TRESemmé is a registered trademark of the Unilever Group of Companies, one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Home Care, Personal Care and Refreshment products with sales in more than 190 countries and reaching 2.5 billion consumers a day.
About Unilever United States, Inc.
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Home Care, Personal Care and Refreshment products with sales in more than 190 countries and reaching 2.5 billion consumers a day.
In the United States, the portfolio includes brand icons such as Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Caress, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Country Crock, Degree, Dollar Shave Club, Dove, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Promise, Q-tips, Seventh Generation, Simple, St. Ives, Suave, Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, TIGI, TONI&GUY, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.
Unilever employs approximately 8,000 people in the United States – generating more than $9 billion in sales in 2016.
The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan commits to:
Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being by 2020.
Halving the environmental impact of our products by 2030.
Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.
Unilever ranked number one in its sector on the 2016 Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
For more information on Unilever U.S. and its brands visit: www.unileverusa.com
To connect with Unilever U.S. via Facebook visit: www.facebook.com/unileverusa
To connect with Unilever U.S. via Twitter follow: @unileverusa
About The Glam App
The Glam App was started by actress/fashion tastemaker Cara Santana and longtime friend and celebrity stylist, Joey Maalouf. Born out of the desire to help cultivate the craft of emerging local artists, while at the same time providing an affordable, luxurious beauty experience for everyone, The Glam App was officially launched in 2015.
What started as a passion project has quickly skyrocketed into national success – with locations now offered in over 21 cities. The beauty of the platform is that it allows you to choose from a range of services – from blow dry, to makeup applications, to a simple polish change. There's never a need to leave your house; The Glam App brings the salon to your fingertips.
Allison Goldberg / Edelman
Allison.Goldberg@Edelman.com
*TRESemmé Study Conducted by Edelman Intelligence, New York, May – June 2017
** From August 23, 2017 through September 23, 2017, these complimentary styling sessions will be available in all 21 markets where The Glam App operates: (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Jersey, New York City, Orange County, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington DC).
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LEC to start 2022 season remotely due to rising COVID-19 cases
With the Omicron variant surge, teams will compete from their practice facilities for the foreseeable future
Photo by Michal Konkol. Provided by Riot Games The LEC Studio will be empty for the start of the LEC 2022 spring split due to COVID-19.
Just days before the start of the League of Legends European Championship 2022 spring split, the league announced that teams will be kicking off the new year remotely. All 10 teams will play their matches as scheduled, but they will be from their own training facilities, rather than the LEC Studio in Berlin, Germany.
The LEC 2022 spring split was highly anticipated, with many revamped rosters. Team Vitality developed a super team with the return of EU legends Luka “Perkz” Perković and Barney “Alphari” Morris. Fan-favorite teams like Fnatic and G2 Esports are bringing in new-look rosters as well.
Important update about the #LEC pic.twitter.com/yWgTKRDOcG
— LEC (@LEC) January 6, 2022
The announcement comes in the wake of the increase in COVID-19 cases across the world due to the Omicron variant. According to the John Hopkins Center of Systems Science and Engineering — which tracks data of COVID-19 transmission across the world — Germany, like the rest of the world, has seen a huge uptick in cases. On Jan. 5 alone, Germany reported 67,337 new cases, according to John Hopkins University. In July of 2021, the number of new cases was under 1,000 a day.
In the official statement, the league said that their No. 1 priority is always “the health and wellbeing of the players, coaches, team personnel and our staff.” The league went on to say that they will continue to monitor the situation on a weekly basis. Their goal is to get the teams together as soon as it’s safe to do so. This means that there is currently no set-in-stone timeline to bring the teams to Berlin.
In the summer of 2021, when the Delta variant was at its peak, the teams started the 2021 LEC summer split remotely. But in Week 5.
The 2022 LEC spring split kicks off Friday, Jan. 14.
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Vera Institute of Justice | Thirty-Five States Enacted Reforms to…
Newsroom / Press Release July 16, 2014
Thirty-Five States Enacted Reforms to Reduce Prison Populations, Lower Costs, and Improve Public Safety in 2013, New Review Says
NEW YORK – In response to the changing views of many Americans concerning the appropriateness of incarceration, state legislators have focused their attention on changing criminal behavior, the goals of incarceration, and the high financial cost of criminal justice policies that have done little to reduce recidivism. As a result, the majority of states in recent years have embarked on criminal justice reforms to reduce prison populations, strengthen community corrections, and improve budgets and public safety.
These trends continued in 2013, as states embraced legislation consistent with the growing body of research demonstrating that carefully implemented and well-targeted community-based programs and practices can produce better outcomes at less cost than incarceration.
A review of 2013 legislative reforms from the Vera Institute of Justice’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections,Recalibrating Justice: A Review of 2013 State Sentencing and Corrections Trends, aims to be a practical reference for state and federal policymakers looking to enact similar reforms and create stronger communities with less crime and fewer victims.
“These changes reflect the growing realization that reforming our criminal justice systems can protect public safety while reducing prison populations, reducing the financial burden on taxpayers, and supporting stronger communities,” said Peggy McGarry, director of Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections.
The report examines 85 pieces of legislation passed in 35 states pertaining to one or more of the following areas:
Reducing prison populations and costs. States repealed or narrowed mandatory sentencing schemes, reclassified offenses, or altered the default sentences attached to certain offenses. States also sought to expand access to early release mechanisms—such as good time credits—designed to accelerate sentence completion.
Example: Oregon’s HB 3194 gives judges the discretion to sentence certain repeat drug offenders to probation and repeals a prior ballot measure that mandated a minimum sentence of incarceration for these offenders by prohibiting judges from ordering probation.
Expanding or strengthening community-based sanctions. Community corrections strategies and programs proven to reduce recidivism—including creating or expanding eligibility for diversion programs and expanding community-based sentencing options—were introduced or strengthened in a number of states.
Example: Illinois’ SB 1872 permits those charged with prostitution to be admitted into a mental health court program. The law directs programs to partner with advocates, survivors, and service providers.
Implementing risk and needs assessments. Several states passed laws requiring assessments of an offender’s risk of recidivism as well as his or her criminogenic needs—personal characteristics associated with criminal behavior, such as anti-social attitudes and associates, drug addiction, or mental illness, that when addressed can reduce that risk. States incorporated these assessments at different points in the criminal justice process—at the pretrial stage, at the pre-sentence stage, or to inform supervision and programming, whether in prison or in the community.
Example: Texas SB 213 requires the Department of Criminal Justice to perform a risk and needs assessment for each offender within the adult criminal justice system, identify available transition services and the inmates eligible to participate, coordinate the provision of reentry services, and evaluate the outcomes for offenders who utilize them. The risk and needs assessment must later be repeated by the community supervision department when an offender is placed on community supervision.
Supporting the return of offenders into the community. To mitigate the collateral consequences of criminal convictions—such as housing restrictions and exclusion from employment—that hinder the successful reentry and reintegration of the formerly incarcerated back into the community, states passed laws that clarify, expand, or create ways to seal or expunge criminal records from the public record and help offenders transition from prison or jail.
Example: California AB 218 requires all state and local agencies (except criminal justice agencies) to determine whether a job applicant meets the minimum employment qualifications for the position before asking about the applicant’s criminal history. Similar “ban the box” legislation was passed in Maryland, Minnesota, and Rhode Island.
Making better informed criminal justice policy. A number of states looked to external groups—such as sentencing commissions, oversight councils, or working groups comprised of key criminal justice experts and stakeholders—to collect and analyze data, formulate policy recommendations, and debate proposals. Some states passed legislation requiring fiscal or social impact statements in order to help legislators consider the ramifications of proposed criminal justice reforms.
Example: Georgia HB 349 creates the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform, which is tasked with conducting periodic comprehensive reviews of all aspects of the state’s criminal justice system, monitoring the implementation of reforms, and proposing further system changes to reduce recidivism, lower costs, and promote public safety.
Many of these reforms, and others noted in previous years, are to policies adopted between 1994 and 1997, in the years following the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (also known as the “Crime Bill”). The law—one of the biggest pieces of legislation ever enacted by Congress—included the Violence Against Women Act and established the COPS Office, but it also rewarded states (with a total of $2.97 billion in grants for prison construction) for passing sentencing laws that increased the time that most felons would serve in prison. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Crime Bill, and to examine its legacy, the lessons learned, and the path ahead, Vera is convening a series of conversations with experts and policymakers in Washington, DC, as well as issuing a series of reports on sentencing trends—where the states stand on mandatory minimums and other sentencing practices and the resulting collateral consequences. This report is the third in that series. Look for updates on our website.
Toward a Fairer Parole Process
Examining Parole Denials in New York State
Every year in New York State, roughly 10,000 people appear before the Board of Parole to make their cases for release. In 2019, only 40 percent of people were granted parole, and in 2020—a year that demanded decarceration in the name of public health and safety given the risk of spreading COVID-19 in congregate settings—the release rate rose by onl ...
Benjamin Heller, Cherrell Green, Shirin Purkayastha, Alex Boldin, Brian King
How to Use Budgets to Understand Criminal Justice Fines and Fees
Local and state governments charge people caught in the criminal legal system a range of fines and fees. These costs can easily add up to thousands of dollars for people stuck in the system, creating a major financial burden for households that are often already cash-strapped. It’s hard to find out who is paying fines and fees and who is collecting ...
Arrest Trends
Interactive data tool on policing trends at the national and local levels
Resource Site
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What to Know About Gestational Surrogacy, Now Legal In New York
Family and Parenting News
Sarah Fielding
Sarah Fielding is a freelance writer covering a range of topics with a focus on mental health and women's issues.
Updated on April 23, 2021
Nicholas Blackmer
Fact checked by Nicholas Blackmer
Nick Blackmer is a librarian, fact checker, and researcher with more than 20 years’ experience in consumer-oriented health and wellness content.
Alex Dos Diaz / Verywell
As of February 15, 2021, gestational surrogacy is legal in New York State.
Gestational surrogacy is when a surrogate is not biologically related to the baby they are carrying and is an option for parents who are unable to carry the baby to term themselves.
The new legislation provides protections for both intended parents and surrogates.
Celebrities such as Anderson Cooper, Kim Kardashian West, and Elizabeth Banks have all spoken openly about their experience using surrogacy to have children. Now, New Yorkers can more easily pursue surrogacy themselves.
After years of work, the Child-Parent Security Act (CPSA) passed on April 2, 2020, legalizing gestational surrogacy in New York State. The law went into effect on February 15, 2021, paving the way for residents to hire and act as surrogates with protections in place.
If you’re unfamiliar with the process, gestational surrogacy is when the surrogate does not provide an egg and has no biological relationship to the child they’re carrying. Genetic surrogacy — when the surrogate provides an egg — does exist, but it is still illegal in New York State.
Understanding Gestational Surrogacy
In the case of gestational surrogacy, the intended parents may provide an embryo made with their sperm and egg or one or both from a donor. The latter may be the case for same-sex couples, people who cannot provide sperm or an egg due to health reasons such as age or past medical history, or single parents.
In any case, the CPSA requires a single pre-birth court visit to legally recognize intended parents on the child’s birth certificate.
One person who acutely understands the opportunities surrogacy creates is state senator Brad Hoylman, a sponsor of CPSA. “My husband and I had our two daughters through surrogacy—but we had to travel 3,000 miles away to California in order to do it. As a gay dad, I’m thrilled parents like us and people struggling with infertility will finally have the chance to create their own families through surrogacy here in New York,” said Hoylman in a statement when the legislation passed.
Brad Hoylman, NY State Senator
As a gay dad, I’m thrilled parents like us and people struggling with infertility will finally have the chance to create their own families through surrogacy here in New York.
— Brad Hoylman, NY State Senator
CPSA not only aids intended parents but also protects surrogates in New York State. The act established a Gestational Surrogates’ Bill of Rights, which includes, among other things, that a gestational surrogate has the right to:
Make all health and welfare decisions during the pregnancy, such as consenting to a cesarean delivery and deciding to reduce the number of embryos they are carrying.
Legal counsel, paid for by the intended parents.
Health insurance during the entire period of acting as a surrogate and for 12 months after the birth, paid for by the intended parents.
A life insurance policy, paid for by the intended parents.
Terminate the agreement before becoming pregnant.
The Surrogacy Process For New York Residents Before CPSA
Before February 15, surrogacy was illegal in New York State, meaning any resident who wanted to have a legally binding surrogacy contract needed to go to another state. Such was the case for Kimberly and her husband, New York residents who had two children via surrogacy.
After being unable to conceive on their own, Kimberly and her husband began to pursue surrogacy about a decade ago. An agency in New Jersey first matched them with a 20-year-old from Texas. After the couple flew the surrogate and her husband out to meet them, the potential surrogate backed out.
Eventually, the agency matched them with a Florida-based woman who carried their first child. Due to the distance, they were only able to attend one doctor’s appointment during the pregnancy, and Kimberly’s husband was unable to arrive in time for the birth of their child.
“You miss out on a lot of stuff because you're not close by,” says Kimberly.
Another issue for anyone having a baby via surrogacy in another state: Kimberly and her husband couldn’t take their children home to New York without being named parents on the birth certificates.
The couple got a pre-birth order in Florida for the first birth, meaning they were immediately listed as parents on the child’s birth certificate. However, they could not secure a pre-birth order for the second birth in Minnesota and had to appear in court with their baby at two days old to have the birth certificate amended to list them as the parents.
Since the couple used an egg donor, Kimberly recalls added confusion around listing her as the mother. At one point, someone told her she might have to adopt the baby after her husband was put on the birth certificate, even though they had gone to Minnesota specifically so that adoption wouldn’t be necessary. Eventually, the court added both parents to the birth certificate, and the couple took their baby home to New York.
CPSA should take this specific headache out of the surrogacy process. “This law brought us up to the current times in terms of the law matching the science, and then provided an incredible opportunity for so many families to be able to use surrogacy to build their family without having to go out of state with the extra cost and uncertainty that adds to the process,” says Casey DiPaola, an attorney and director of intended parent services at New York Surrogacy Center, who joined the fight to pass CPSA a few years ago. She helped with yearly revisions and lobbying for the act.
According to DiPaola, New York’s law took all the best practices from across the country and made them mandatory.
Ian and his husband, also New York residents, traveled across the country for the births of their two children. “We began our surrogacy journey over eight years ago and went in with eyes wide open, knowing it would be a complicated process to navigate,” says Ian. “As a same-sex couple, we needed to research all steps—finding an egg donor, an IVF doctor, attorney, and surrogate agency.”
With the help of a New Jersey-based attorney, the couple learned how surrogacy laws vary state-to-state and which places are most friendly to same-sex couples. Unlike Kimberly, Ian and his husband were fortunate to have a smooth process of finding a surrogate in one of their preferred states. Their first surrogate lived in Nevada and the second was in Wisconsin.
The Difference Between a Surrogate and a Gestational Carrier Is...
What To Know And Expect Before Starting The Surrogacy Process
Surrogacy is a complicated and lengthy process to undertake but, when done carefully, can end in bringing home a new baby. After having a problematic surrogacy experience herself, Susan Baldomar started Chelsea Surrogacy Advisors to provide insight and education for people looking into surrogacy.
Advisors such as Baldomar inform clients on everything from how to vet an agency to ensuring your surrogate’s medical papers are authentic. While she believes her role will be more straightforward with the new precautions in New York, she cautions that there is still leeway, and potential parents must do their due diligence.
Here are some points to consider before starting the surrogacy process.
Surrogacy Is Costly
While CPSA means the cost of travel during surrogacy is likely less for potential parents, there are many other pricey aspects to keep in mind.
DiPaola tells her clients to expect to pay anywhere between $85,000 and $150,000 for surrogacy. The total cost depends on factors such as how many embryo transfers are needed, if an egg or sperm donor is used, and the cost of your surrogate’s health insurance.
Find A Surrogate With Similar Ideals
Under the surrogates’ bill of rights, a surrogate controls health and welfare issues, delivery, and whether to terminate the pregnancy. “It's not enough to just match with a gestational carrier that has passed medical and psychological screening," says Andrew Vorzimer, an attorney focused on third-party reproduction, surrogacy, and egg donation at Vorzimer/Masserman - Fertility & Family Law Center.
Andrew Vorzimer, reproduction attorney
It's also critically important that the intended parents have selected a surrogate who has similar values, religious beliefs, and share a vision for what a healthy pregnancy is going to look like.
— Andrew Vorzimer, reproduction attorney
Vorzimer continues, "It's also critically important that the intended parents have selected a surrogate who has similar values, religious beliefs, and share a vision for what a healthy pregnancy is going to look like." He advocates for clients and helps them put together the needed team for pursuing surrogacy.
On the surrogate’s side, this is equally important to ensure the intended parents don’t pressure you into doing something that makes you uncomfortable.
Should You Offer to Be a Surrogate for Your Infertile Friend?
Carefully Screen Agencies
Unfortunately, an agency may not always have your best interest at heart. If things become difficult between you and your surrogate or it doesn’t work out, they may not assist.
During Kimberly’s first surrogacy experience, she worked with an attorney affiliated with the agency she went through. She says this became a conflict of interest and, when problems arose with her surrogate, both agency and attorney refused to get involved. Baldomar emphasizes the importance of having counsel separate from your agency.
The same precautions are needed for egg donation agencies. The egg donor agency Ian worked with refused to refund their $10,000 after their first donor failed her medical screening and the second failed her psychiatric screening.
Surrogacy is complicated and consulting with advocates at the beginning of the process can help you have a positive experience. Understanding the emotional and financial costs can help determine if surrogacy is the right option for you.
New York is the first state to require licenses for gestational surrogacy programs, which may help with some of the issues mentioned above. DiPaola recommends working with attorneys familiar with surrogacy and assisted reproduction versus general family law attorneys.
As for agencies, make sure they’re familiar with CPSA and not trying to use a one-size-fits-all approach across all states where surrogacy is legal, as New York’s rules are unique, she adds.
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Jessi Slaughter's Internet Infamy
Doug Bernard
It wasn’t all that long ago that Jessi Slaughter was just like so many other American tween-aged girls: chatting about boys, interested in clothes, and hoping for a little attention. She got what she wanted. But attention in the Internet world can often become unwelcome. VOA's Doug Bernard has this look at the story of Jessi Slaughter.
“Jessi Slaughter” is not her real name – it’s an alias the 11-year-old chose when surfing the internet. While living with her parents in Florida she used her online alias when posting some revealing photos and profanity-laden videos - via the live-stream social network Stickam.
The language in her videos would be considered vulgar coming from an adult, let alone a seventh-grader. Reaction was swift and uniform: her YouTube and MySpace accounts were soon flooded with people condemning her, often using similarly offensive language.
Jessi responded by posting more videos where she dismissed "hater-b*****s"as merely jealous, and threatened to "...pop a Glock in your mouth and make a brain slushy." Her critics pounced.
Lead by the anonymous online 4chan community, the online mocking soon made its way into Jessi Slaughter’s off-line life. Users posted her real name and address, the name and workplace of her boyfriend, and other personal information. They circulated unfounded rumors of Jessi's sexual activity and drug use. Reduced to tears, Jessi railed live online at her tormentors. Even her father joined in her video rants against her critics. But the family’s push-back only encouraged the cyber-mob.
The resulting storm of unwanted attention made "Jessi Slaughter" the most searched for phrase on Google for a time. Encouraged by child welfare authorities, she quickly pulled her web accounts offline and stopped responding to the taunts. The mob moved on to other mischief. But for many, Jessi Slaughter's story does not end there.
"We're all just really one step away from being a bully, or a victim, and I think this demonstrates that well," says Robin Young, cyber-bullying program coordinator for the National Crime Prevention Council.
Young heads up the "Circle of Respect", a project that aims to stop cyber-bullying from spreading and help its victims. And while she agrees that Jessi acted in a poor manner - provoking her bullys instead of ignoring them - Young casts responsibility at both those who actively harrassed Jessi, and the many more who watched the videos online.
"Because cyber-bullying has that element of anonymity, we all can be guilty at any time," says Young. "All it takes is for one of us to forward it, or say 'Hey, go check out that website!', and then next thing you know, you've spread it. We can all be potentially guilty of it."
The best response to online bullying, she advises, is simply not to respond. But that may be far easier said than done, especially if the bullies number in the hundreds or thousands. The rules are different, she says, for cyber-mobs. That's the time to get the Internet service providers involved and see what they can do to remove some of that material.
Just like real-life bullying, the effects of cyber-bullying can be severe, and long-lasting. "Depression. Anxiety. People withdraw from their activities, things that they love to do, particularly with cyber-bullying because it's on such a large scale," says Young. Children and teens are especially vulnerable.
"Young people often feel like they can't get a handle on it. Once it's out there, it's really hard to erase it. And that, as a young person, is devastating; you feel like you're fighting the world on this."
Phoebe Prince, shortly after moving from County Claire, Ireland to a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. On January 14, 2010, after months of online bullying, she took her own life at her home. Her case, and others like it, have brought pressure on lawmake
Those feelings have even lead a few tormented teens to take their own life, such as in the case of Phoebe Prince. A young girl who moved from Ireland to Boston, Phoebe was teased at school. As bad as that was, her bullies took their attacks online, eventually driving the 15-year-old to suicide.
There haven't yet been any reported cases of international cyber-bullying, but Young says that may only be a matter of time. Still, she says, there are things that can be done to slow, or stop the abuse.
"When we hear about someone who's committed suicide, or somone whose parent has gotten involved in a negative way, we go 'oh gosh, is anything working?' But it is working, because we're still talking about it, and we're keeping it at the forefront."
In the meantime, Jessi has has pulled down all her videos and accounts. She is no longer responding to her bullys and is said to be undergoing counseling. Her critics have mostly moved on, although hundreds of videos remain - teasing, mocking or even threatening Jessi. It's a legacy she will never be able to erase.
One thing hasn't changed however: Jessi's interest in clothes. She said in a recent post she intends to start working on a new clothing line...a lofty goal for a seventh grader.
Doug Bernard covers cyber-issues for VOA, focusing on Internet privacy, security and censorship circumvention. Previously he edited VOA’s “Digital Frontiers” blog, produced the “Daily Download” webcast and hosted “Talk to America”, for which he won the International Presenter of the Year award from the Association for International Broadcasting. He began his career at Michigan Public Radio, and has contributed to "The New York Times," the "Christian Science Monitor," SPIN and NPR, among others. You can follow him @dfrontiers.
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The making of Sean Hannity: How a Long Island kid learned to channel red-state rage
By Marc Fisher
Senior editor reporting on a wide range of topics
Email Bio Follow
The president and his favorite prime-time pundit are both New Yorkers of significant means who talk like they grew up in the tough part of town. One drenches his well-done steaks in ketchup and the other favors Coors on ice. Both have long traveled by private jet, yet both feel somehow spurned by the elites.
Donald Trump and Sean Hannity champion the little guy, the forgotten men and women, the audience that has cheered Hannity on as he emerged in the past nine months as perhaps the most dependable pro-Trump voice in the mainstream media, as well as a friend and adviser to the president.
In the process, Fox News’s top-rated host has regained ratings supremacy, pushed back against an organized boycott of his advertisers and quieted rumors of his impending departure from the network.
Hannity, long a movement conservative, nonetheless embraced Trump, who is largely allergic to ideology. Like the president, who has been a Republican, a Democrat and an independent through the years, Hannity isn’t necessarily what he appears to be.
He denies being a journalist, but has said, “I think a lot of the reporting we do is better than the mainstream media.” He covets being in a position of authority, leading a movement, yet he repeatedly embraces storylines that prove to be inaccurate. He’s not a politician, but he takes positions, which have, as he puts it, a way of “evolving.” He was, for example, against amnesty for illegal immigrants, and then he was for creating “a pathway to citizenship,” and then he was against that idea.
What Hannity has stood for — at least for the past couple of years — is Trump. Rival TV host Joe Scarborough calls him Trump’s lap dog. Hannity, a still-rambunctious 55, insists he’s not; he’s pushed back against the president on tax reform and health care, for example.
But the president instinctively understands that his people are Hannity’s people and vice versa. At an August rally, when Trump bashed the media as “the source of division” in the nation, he made a single exception: “How good is Hannity?” he said to rising cheers. “How good is Hannity? And he’s a great guy and an honest guy.”
When the president was still opening casinos in Atlantic City, Hannity was systematically building a following, identifying the issues that could stir up listeners (homosexuality, he declared in his first radio gig, is “disgusting”) and portraying himself as a brash truth-teller whose plain talk was too blunt for the entrenched and the powerful.
Sean Hannity at UCSB KCSB radio station May of 1989. (Christopher Gardner)
April 1989: The voice on the answering machine at the Santa Barbara chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union had a distinctive New York sound. The young man seeking help had just been thrown off his show on the radio station at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He was being discriminated against because he's a conservative, the voice said. Could the ACLU help Sean Hannity get his show back?
Stewart Holden, a local lawyer who volunteered for the ACLU, was intrigued. He asked his local board to take the case, even if Hannity’s show, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” had already achieved some notoriety. People had heard about the rookie host’s inflammatory style, how he railed against “liberal fascists” and hung up on callers he didn’t like.
Every Tuesday at 9 a.m., Hannity, then 27, spent an hour figuring out how to build an audience, how to connect with the bedrock conservative Americans he knew were out there, even in a solidly liberal college town like Santa Barbara.
“It’s my hope to make radio a career at some point,” Hannity wrote in his application for a no-pay position at KCSB in 1989. He wrote that he had “developed alot of dicipline and good-working habits.”
Hannity had come to Santa Barbara in part because his sister lived there. He supported himself as a house painter, wallpaper hanger and contractor, all the time listening to talk radio. He told people that he was “a serious intellectual” who was studying political science. In fact, Hannity attended three colleges — Adelphi, New York University and UC-Santa Barbara — but never graduated.
In his first months on the air, Hannity developed themes that would sustain him for decades — blasting the news media, lending credence to fringy theories, speaking up for the little guys who felt overrun by the elites. “America’s lost its virtue,” he said.
That April, Hannity shared his theories about AIDS, as a tape of the show reveals: “What is the coverup all about that the media is hiding from the general public? Contrary to what we hear in the general media, you can get AIDS from saliva, from tears. . . . They won’t let you say it’s a gay disease.”
More listeners called to complain about Hannity than about all of KCSB’s other shows combined, according to former managers. But the calls really spiked after Hannity’s show about AIDS. He said he wouldn’t want a gay teacher telling his child that homosexuality “is an alternative lifestyle.” He egged on a guest who claimed that AIDS was spreading among gay men because they consumed each other’s feces.
Jody May-Chang, who also had a show, “Gay and Lesbian Perspectives,” on KCSB, heard Hannity’s AIDS episode and felt compelled to call.
“I have a son, okay?” she said on the show. “I just gave birth to him about eight weeks ago and I certainly hope he doesn’t grow up to be like you.”
“Artificial insemination,” Hannity replied. “Aren’t you married to a woman, by the way?”
When May-Chang confirmed that she was, Hannity and his guest, Gene Antonio, an anti-gay activist, bantered about how her son came to be.
“Turkey baster babies,” Antonio said.
“Yeah, isn’t that beautiful?” Hannity said. “I feel sorry for your child.”
Santa Barbara Independent article from June 22, 1989 on Sean Hannity being kicked off the air at KCSB. (Santa Barbara Independent )
Later in the hour, Hannity added that “anyone listening to this show that believes homosexuality is just a normal lifestyle has been brainwashed. . . . These disgusting people.”
May-Chang asked the station to silence Hannity. “For me, the goal was ‘Get this guy off the air, he’s fomenting hatred,’ ” she said. “In retrospect, the higher thing was the First Amendment, but at the time, what he was saying was just abhorrent.”
The station’s student manager told Hannity he was being taken off the air. The young host did not take the news well. “He was extremely upset,” recalled the manager, who declined to have his name published. “I thought he was going to hit me.”
Even though some of its leaders found Hannity’s message reprehensible, the ACLU took his case and informed the university it would sue, alleging discrimination against Hannity’s conservative views. Hannity was called before a university board that governed the station.
“The station did not like my opinions,” Hannity argued, according to a transcript of the board hearing. “I stood for conservative, traditional, loving family values.”
Under pressure from the ACLU, the university counsel “just wanted us to do whatever Sean wanted,” said Elizabeth Robinson, the KCSB manager. “They didn’t want to be on the wrong side of a First Amendment case.” The board concluded that Hannity had been improperly removed and offered to put him back on the air. But Hannity demanded a public apology and double his old airtime. The station stuck with its initial offer, which Hannity rejected.
“We were gleeful,” May-Chang said. “We thought that was the end of him.”
Finished with Santa Barbara, Hannity put an ad in the trade magazine Radio & Records, promoting himself as “the most talked-about college radio host in America.”
From then on, Hannity, who declined to be interviewed for this article, would portray the KCSB chapter as a symbol of liberal intolerance. The ACLU’s role was written out of the story, unmentioned in his own account.
Years later, Hannity accused his liberal foil on their Fox News show, Alan Colmes, of being “a card-carrying member of the ACLU.” Colmes said he was proud to be a member, “because they defend all free speech.”
“No, they don’t, actually,” Hannity replied.
Robinson lost track of Hannity. Seven years later, when she saw him for the first time on Fox News, she said she saw “nothing surprising. The older we get, the more we become who we were.”
Hannity during the "Hannitization Tour '03 Sean Hannity Live!" in March 2003 in Redondo Beach, Calif. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
In 1990, Bill Dunnavent was trying to bring a relatively new concept to northern Alabama — highly opinionated political talk radio. Three years earlier, the Federal Communications Commission had repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which for nearly four decades had required broadcasters to provide equal time to people who disagreed with views expressed on the air. The rules kept political talk on the airwaves within civil bounds, some people said. Others said it unfairly limited debate, keeping it dull and centrist.
Dunnavent advertised for show hosts, got more than 50 tapes from eager young talkers, and narrowed the field to two candidates. One had a distinctive New York accent, a Joe Sixpack affect, and a collection of headlines from California that proved he could win attention.
“I hired Sean because he had enough guts to stand up for his convictions and because he sounded different from everybody else in our area,” said Dunnavent, who put Hannity on WVNN in the afternoons and paid him $19,000 a year.
The station owner told his new hire he had only two rules: “We don’t talk about religion, and we don’t talk about abortion.”
One day soon after Hannity had started work in Huntsville, Dunnavent flipped on his car radio to hear the kid interviewing a madam from the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada.
“I found a pay phone and told him, ‘Don’t ever do that again!’ ” the owner recalled. “He was doing what he does, pushing the envelope. Sean understood that the job is to say something that evokes someone’s emotions.”
Hannity started out “very raw,” Dunnavent said, but improved dramatically over a couple of years, becoming the area’s top-rated host. His official station biography said that he “made a proud name for himself by insulting lesbians.” (“Over the years, I have evolved into more of a libertarian when it comes to people’s personal lives,” Hannity said in 2013.)
Hannity met his future wife, Jill Rhodes, in Huntsville, where she was a newspaper columnist. At a prenuptial meeting, Hannity lit into their minister, arguing that the church had become too liberal. The pastor suggested that Jill was “crazy to be marrying this guy” and she left the session in tears, Hannity later said.
In 1992, a salesman who’d been driving through northern Alabama called up Eric Seidel, the station manager at WGST in Atlanta, and told him about a great guy on the radio in Huntsville.
Seidel happened to have a cassette Hannity had sent him. The manager popped it into his tape deck and heard an eager talent with strong conservative views and a knack for landing big-name guests, including the voluble local congressman, Newt Gingrich. Seidel hired the kid just as right-wing radio voices were becoming an alternative to traditional news media, a battalion arrayed against Bill Clinton, his wife, and their liberal, multicultural vision.
Hannity’s show had a lot of rough edges at first. He would get angry at callers and hang up on them. His righteousness, blue-collar Long Island diction, and plain-spoken rhetoric struck his Georgia audience as refreshingly authentic, Seidel said: “Sean’s not somebody who’s going to make you laugh a lot. He’s not like Rush. There was a blue-collar nature to his family.”
Hannity was also extremely competitive. In Atlanta, he’d listen to promos for his main competitor, Neal Boortz at WSB, and counterprogram his own show. When Boortz booked Robert Shapiro, O.J. Simpson’s lawyer, for a 10 a.m. interview, Hannity called the lawyer’s PR rep and begged for a 9 a.m. slot with Shapiro. He not only beat the competition by an hour, but Hannity kept extending the interview, making Shapiro late to the Boortz show.
Boortz and Hannity competed for the same audience — conservative men — but their approaches were radically different. “I would tell Sean, ‘I am here to attract a large audience so the station can play commercials for them,’ ” Boortz said. “Sean is truly, truly there to save the country. . . . His whole appeal is two words: Earnest and honest. I have never heard Sean say anything off the air that was different from what he’s said on air.”
Hannity interviews Sarah Palin in 2009. (Shealah Craighead/FOX NEWS CHANNEL)
Few listeners feel a connection to the personal lives of Rush Limbaugh, with his stories about his Palm Beach, Fla. estate and private jets, or Glenn Beck, with his armored cars and guard dogs. But when Hannity talks about his martial arts practice or his beer drinking or his afternoons spent hauling his kids to sports practice, he makes a regular-guy connection that sticks.
“He’s easy to listen to,” said Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog group that has tracked Hannity for decades. “There aren’t a lot of complicated narratives like Beck or Limbaugh. He doesn’t claim to be the expert on anything. He’s just kind of a guy.”
Hannity proudly says he never backs away from a battle, but he leavens his aggressive side with the occasional you-got-me shrug. In September, Hannity asked a guest, a radio psychologist, to diagnose Hillary Clinton's mental health.
“You can’t do that,” interrupted another guest. “You don’t like it when people say Trump is insane.”
“Okay,” Hannity said — flashing his impish smile — and dropped the topic.
Though he's fixed in the public mind as a TV talker, Hannity is the nation's second-highest-rated radio host, behind only Limbaugh. He's No. 1 in the key 25-54 audience among cable news shows. He makes $36 million a year, according to Forbes, which ranked him No. 77 among the world's top-paid celebrities. (Two other radio hosts, Howard Stern and Limbaugh, made the top 100, both way above Hannity's pay grade.)
But like the president, Hannity retains enough blue-collar cred to position himself as a scrappy fighter for the regular guy. “My overpaid friends in the media, well, they have their chauffeur-driven limousines, they like their fine steakhouses and expensive-wine lifestyles,” he told viewers last fall. “The people you’re watching on TV” do not feel your pain. “And therein lies the contempt.”
Hannity grew up on Long Island, son of a probation officer and a homemaker. Something of a troublemaker as a kid, he and his pals would go “skitching,” grabbing onto the bumpers of passing cars to hitch a ride.
He was a news junkie, delivering the New York Daily News and Long Island Press, listening deep into the night to the pioneers of raucous talk radio. His heroes were rabble-rousers such as Bob Grant, famous for shouting “Get off my phone!” and dumping callers who annoyed him. As a teenager, Hannity would call in to the shows, testing his conservative arguments.
Gingrich, who got to know Hannity in 1990 and has remained a frequent guest, said the connection Hannity forged with Trump “is the New York thing. They talk the same language. I can’t possibly interact with the president in that same way that Sean can.”
Hannity’s big move up came courtesy of a fellow talk-radio fan, Roger Ailes, who created Fox News for owner Rupert Murdoch in 1996 and essentially translated conservative radio to a TV format. Ailes hired Hannity to host a debate show that the new network initially referred to internally as “Hannity and LTBD” — “liberal to be determined.” That turned out to be Alan Colmes, who shared the 9 p.m. hour with Hannity until 2009, when Hannity went solo.
Hannity has done one hour of TV and three of radio every day for 21 years. Through the George W. Bush years, he loyally supported the president's policies. Then, during the Obama presidency, Hannity's tone shifted. He leaned more heavily on stories he believed were being given short shrift by the "liberal media" — stories about where Obama was born, and who deserved blame for the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya.
It wasn’t winning over a new audience. By 2013, Hannity’s audience was shrinking; it was the year after a presidential election, when cable news numbers typically droop, but Fox News, still under Ailes’s iron leadership, was talking about changing the channel’s approach.
“We are beginning to dramatically change the way news is presented to the public,” Ailes wrote in a memo announcing that Hannity would move from 9 p.m., the heart of prime time, to 10 p.m., losing the cherished time slot to Megyn Kelly, who, Fox hoped, might lure a younger audience. Kelly’s numbers soared. Hannity’s fell by a quarter between 2009 and 2014.
Four years later, Kelly is gone, moved to NBC; Ailes is dead, having spent his final months denying sexual harassment allegations, which also felled former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. Hannity is the only remaining original prime-time talk show host from Fox’s launch.
Last month, he returned to his 9 p.m. home, making way for Laura Ingraham to take over the 10 p.m. slot. His numbers are back, and a drive last spring to get his advertisers to dump him seems now to have been a bump in the road.
Hannity’s comeback coincided with his early, eager embrace of his fellow New Yorker. As early as the fall of 2015, Hannity wore a Trump-brand necktie to interview the upstart candidate at the CPAC convention in Maryland. As some conservative talk hosts pronounced themselves Never Trumpers or came to his side late and halfheartedly, Hannity went all in.
Hannity had come to see conservatives as not just a political movement, but a cultural tribe. In 2008, he launched Hannidate, an online dating service “where people of like conservative minds can come together to meet.” It didn’t last long, but Hannity’s sense of his audience as vanguard of a crusade to restore a fading culture only strengthened. Hannity made his name as a movement conservative, but he was loyal to the first rule of talk shows: As radio host Mark Levin put it, “In this business, you don’t get out ahead of your audience.”
When Hannity “hitched his wagon to Trump,” Carusone said, “he got access and access brought ratings.” Trump insiders used Hannity’s show as their safe space. When things got hot, Donald Trump Jr., Sebastian Gorka and the candidate himself went on Hannity.
Trump attacked the Gold Star father, and Hannity stood by him. Trump went after a federal judge of Mexican descent, and Hannity backed him. Even after the "Access Hollywood" tape emerged of Trump boasting about grabbing women, Hannity defended his guy: "King David had 500 concubines, for crying out loud."
After the inauguration, the first interview the new president gave to a cable news channel went to Hannity.
Hannity with former White House press secretary Sean Spicer in January 2017, days after President Trump’s inauguration. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Hannity's "advocacy journalism" sometimes entails passing along stories that never quite check out. He used his TV show last year to promote the false rumor that Hillary Clinton was hiding a severe health crisis. He let Trump push the baseless idea that Ted Cruz's father was somehow involved in the John F. Kennedy assassination. "I saw that somewhere on the Internet," Hannity said.
After the election, Hannity doubled down on his loyalty. He defended the administration’s false contention that Trump’s inauguration crowd was the biggest ever.
And Hannity spent many hours hawking a discredited theory whereby a murdered Democratic National Committee employee, Seth Rich, was said to have been killed by Democratic operatives because he supposedly had leaked emails that were embarrassing to Hillary Clinton. Fox News retracted its report that had lent credence to the theory, and police affirmed that the scenario had no validity; the murder was the result of a robbery gone bad.
Through much of the spring, Hannity kept at the story, backing off only after Media Matters urged his advertisers to pull their ads. Several did, though one, USAA insurance, returned to his show because “we heard from our members, and . . . the lines between news and commentary are increasingly blurred,” a company statement said.
In late May, Hannity, facing pressure from Rich’s parents, dropped the story. “Out of respect for the family’s wishes for now, I am not discussing this matter at this time,” Hannity said on TV. Fox News and Hannity declined to comment on the Rich coverage.
The Rich debacle led some people who know Hannity to believe that his time at Fox was nearing an end, that the next generation of the Murdoch family was looking to tone down the sensationalism. But Hannity has told friends he would never cave to those who want to take him down.
“I’ve told you for years what’s going on here,” Hannity said on the radio in May. “I’ve told you that every single conservative host on radio that you like and you listen to is being recorded every second of every day by these losers in their bathrobes or in their underwear . . . being paid to do it in the hope that we conservatives say one word, one sentence, one phrase that they don’t like and that they can then use to attack our advertisers in the hopes that our advertisers will bail out, the show becomes financially unfeasible and that the host gets fired.
“This is a kill shot. . . . This is to silence me.”
When Ted Koppel interviewed him in March, Hannity asked the CBS newsman, "You think I'm bad for America?"
“Yeah,” Koppel replied, “because you have attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts.”
Like Hannity, Chip Franklin, a radio host at KGO in San Francisco, started out in the business as a conservative, but Franklin switched sides and now runs a liberal show. “I know Hannity knows that Koppel was right,” Franklin said.
“I’ve seen what happens to people like Hannity because I was seduced in the ’80s and ’90s when I was yelling about what Clinton did to Monica Lewinsky and things like that. I know Hannity knew that Obama was born in the United States. I know Hannity has the same facts we all do about the crowd size at the inauguration or the Russian connection. I know that because I knew him in New York and he was always a conservative, but not like this.
“And then he got in this boat and didn’t realize how strong the current was, and he couldn’t get off. Because people adore him now. Nobody around him wants him to change. So he doubles down. He can’t go against his audience because he’ll lose millions of dollars.”
WEBSean Hannity one time use only** (Stavros Damos/For The Washington Post)
"Donald Trump and Sean Hannity are both disrupters of the status quo," said Kellyanne Conway, counsel to the president and an architect of the administration's communications approach. "Disrupters project a strength and moxie that fascinates some people and causes envy in others."
Trump watches and values Hannity’s show, she said: “Hannity’s monologues have caught our attention. There’s a deeper, investigative component, and in this predictably vanilla and mediocre media environment, somebody like Hannity can break through with a steady stream of undercovered stories.”
The administration uses Hannity’s show because that’s where Trump’s base is. “Sean gets programming and the president gets a platform for his message,” said a senior White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to be candid. “But between the two men, it’s not a transactional relationship. They’re genuinely friends.”
Last spring, Fox News’s Howard Kurtz asked Hannity if there was “anything so far in the Trump presidency that’s disappointed you?”
"Not yet," Hannity replied.
Marc Fisher Marc Fisher, a senior editor, writes about most anything. He has been The Washington Post’s enterprise editor, local columnist and Berlin bureau chief, and he has covered politics, education, pop culture and much else in three decades on the Metro, Style, National and Foreign desks. Follow
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In 'Wine Girl,' Taking On The Old Boys Of The Wine World
By Rachel Martin
I just constantly felt as if there was nothing I could do to get ahead, or to have anyone take me seriously.
Victoria James discovered the book Wine for Dummies during her bartending days in New York, and she was hooked.
"I found myself purchasing another wine book, and another wine book — and I eventually came across this word 'sommelier,' and I Googled it, and I realized this could be a profession. You could drink wine for a living"
So she all the money she made from working in high-end restaurants to pay for wine classes, and at 21 — the legal drinking age — she became America's youngest sommelier.
James writes about all the challenges she faced in her new memoir, Wine Girl: The Obstacles, Humiliations, and Triumphs of America's Youngest Sommelier. She faced all kinds of challenges — outright discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault. But through it all, she was determined to find her own way. "The wine world is still is an old boys club," James says. "A lot of guests would say, 'Oh, the wine girl. I guess they only send over the real sommelier when you buy big bottles." Or worse, they would sexualize me. You know, they would invite me over to their house for a private wine tasting. They would ask for the bottle of wine to be opened if I sat on their lap."
On having the perfect comeback to sexist customers
That's, you know, what you always hope to do in your own head. But at the time — you have to understand, I was so isolated and I didn't really have anyone. And the fact that I was young and a woman made it even worse. A lot of people didn't want to have anything to do with me in the sommelier community, and the restaurant world as well. And I thought that if I kept working in better restaurants, if I progressed from diners to these fancy fine-dining places, that the culture would become better and better. In fact, it seemed the opposite. It seemed worse. There was more humanity and warmth in the diners of my childhood than ... a lot of these fine dining restaurants, they put women in these places as bartenders or hosts, or in my case, I was lucky to be a sommelier, but they don't do anything to protect their women. And I was so vulnerable and I had no one to go to because management always said that the customer is always right. And if I complained and I said something, you know — they would call me the same thing, they'd say, "Uck, wine girl is being such a bother."
On being sexually abused by a boss
I had one boss in particular who, you know, he not only targeted me and forced me to have sexual relations with him, but at the same time, also blackmailed me and took these naked photos of me and said that, "if you tell anyone, I'll show everyone in the sommelier world how much of a slut you really are." And so I just constantly felt as if there was nothing I could do to get ahead, or to have anyone take me seriously.
On the effect of #MeToo on the restaurant industry
I think these conversations are so important, and I'm so glad that we're starting to have them. But I do think this is just the beginning. You hear of persons like Mario Batali and Ken Friedman, and those are big figures with a lot of power and influence who have done bad things to a lot of people. But unfortunately, I think that what's less talked about are the people that do this everyday, that aren't famous names. And I know in my situation a lot of these persons that, you know, belittled or sexualized me or sexually assaulted me were not famous people. And you'll never see their name in newspapers. I think that the #MeToo movement has not gone far enough in the restaurant world. And there are so many persons still suffering.
On sticking with it
When things get, you know, that difficult, you often think about just escaping and getting away. But I really had nowhere else to go. I had no financial means. I had no support system. And in addition to that, I loved restaurants. Although it was difficult, I loved serving people and using wine as a tool in hospitality. And that's why I was so passionate about it.
On how she learned to love inexpensive wine
So my now-husband, Lyle Railsback, is fantastic because when I first met him — he works for an importer of wine called Kermit Lynch, and they have some of the most amazing wines in their portfolio, and quite expensive ones as well. And so on our first day, I thought for sure this guy is going to try to impress me with these big bottles, with huge price tags. But instead, he pulled out a bottle of Domaine La Tour Vieille, from Collioure in the south of France, right where the Pyrenees Mountains fall into the Mediterranean Sea. And the bottle of wine was around $20. And what was so impressive about it was that I realized there could be just as much joy in a $20 bottle as there can be in a $2000 bottle.
And I think that's one of the biggest mistakes a lot of sommeliers make is that they acquire all of this knowledge, and they further isolate themselves with snobbery. And all I wanted was to be included, and to be a part of a community. And wine, like food, brings people together. And it doesn't have to be expensive. It shouldn't be maybe $2, because that means there's some funny additives in the wine. You can get a really amazing bottle for $20. And the beauty is that you can share it with others.
This story was edited for radio by Victoria Whitley-Berry and Reena Advani, and adapted for the Web by Petra Mayer
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U.N. Security Council Demands Cease-Fire In Conflict Areas, Due To COVID-19
Published July 1, 2020 at 2:31 PM EDT
On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council approved a 90-day cease-fire in global conflict zones due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Security Council is seen here in February at U.N. headquarters in New York City.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday that demands an "immediate cessation of hostilities" in conflict zones around the world, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. It is the first resolution related to the coronavirus that the council has passed.
The text calls for "all parties to armed conflicts to engage immediately in a durable humanitarian pause for at least 90 consecutive days" to allow for delivery of humanitarian assistance and medical evacuations.
The resolution, which was introduced by France and Tunisia, does not apply to military operations against ISIS and al-Qaida. It will pertain to conflicts including those in Syria, Yemen, Libya, South Sudan and Congo, The Associated Press reports.
The Security Council has struggled for months to pass a resolution related to COVID-19, due largely to tussling between the United States and China over a reference to the World Health Organization, which is an agency of the U.N.
In April, President Trump suspended U.S. funding of the World Health Organization, and he announced in May that the U.S. would withdraw its membership.
The State Department pushed for any references to the organization to be removed from the ceasefire resolution. The U.S. wanted the resolution instead to speak of "transparency." China, meanwhile, wanted to specifically mention the WHO.
The resolution that passed Wednesday is apparently a compromise: It makes no reference to either the WHO or transparency.
In an interview last month with NPR, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres lamented the Security Council's gridlock in a time of global crisis.
"We see that the very dysfunctional relationship that exists today between the United States-China, United States-Russia, makes it practically impossible for the Security Council to take any meaningful decision that would be fundamental" to fight COVID-19 effectively, Guterres said.
Unlike resolutions of the U.N. General Assembly, resolutions of the Security Council are legally binding.
"The point is that we have multilateralism, but the multilateralism we have has no teeth," Guterres said. "We need mechanisms of cooperation, with mechanisms of governance, that simply do not exist. And even where we have in the multilateral system some teeth, as is the case of Security Council, it has shown very little appetite to bite."
NPR Diplomacy Correspondent Michele Kelemen contributed to this report.
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In the Triangle: Glenwood Avenue reopens after flooding near Creedmoor Road
Hurricane Florence made landfall in Wilmington Friday as a Category 1 storm, and its impact will be felt all of Friday, much of Saturday and into next week.
The Triangle will feel the strongest effects from Florence throughout the day on Friday, including tropical storm force winds and several inches of rain.
The heaviest rain in Raleigh will be around noon, WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner said, and we could see wind gusts up to 50 mph by that time.
Fayetteville will see winds up to 60 mph.
Wake County is currently under a flash flood warning, a tornado watch and a tropical storm warning.
By 5 p.m., the rain bands and strongest winds will be moving north, but the Triangle will experience wet and windy weather for days.
The latest updates from our viewing area:
3 p.m.: No flooding has yet been reported at the parking deck at Crabtree Valley Mall, which is prone to flooding. The mall is closed Friday.
Glenwood Avenue was closed in both directions Friday near Creedmoor Road, but the road has since reopened.
2:50 p.m.: A flash flood warning has been issued for Johnston County. Officials expect the Neuse River to crest in Clayton on Monday at 2 a.m. at 10.4 feet and in Smithfield on Monday at noon at 18.75 feet.
In Apex, N.C. Highway 55 is closed between Salem Street and Hughes Street due to flooding, according to police. Wake County is under a flash flood warning until 8 p.m.
2:02 p.m.: The tornado watch for Wake County expires at 5 p.m. and the flash flood warning expires by 8 p.m. Heavy rain continues to fall in the Triangle, and thankfully few cars are on the roads.
In Fayetteville, the roof blew off an ABC Store. “This is the power of the wind,” tweeted Sheriff Ennis Wright. “If you don’t have to be out, please stay indoors.”
1:49 p.m.: The flash flood warning has been extended to include Wake County. “Be careful when driving around,” said Gardner. “Flooding is imminent.”
1:45 p.m.: Tornado warnings for Franklin and Nash counties have been allowed to expire.
In Raleigh, our reporters pulled over on Creedmoor Road in time to capture a transformer blowing out.
Wake County is under a flash flood warning through 7:45 p.m.
1:40 p.m.: A tornado warning has been allowed to expire for Edgecombe County.
1:15 p.m.: Strong winds have ripped the roof off a mobile home in Clayton. The resident was not at home.
1:07 p.m.: The tornado warning now also includes Franklin and Nash counties.
12:45 p.m.: A tornado warning has been issued for Edgecombe County until 1:15 p.m. The storm is moving at 45 mph near Tarboro and Princeville. Residents there are asked to take shelter away from windows.
12:43 a.m.: A whopping 557,793 are without power in North Carolina.
12:13 a.m.: The flash flood warning for much of central North Carolina now includes Robeson, Hoke, Moore Cumberland, Harnett, Johnston , Duplin, Lenoir, Bladen Sampson, Wayne and Wilson counties.
11:57 a.m.: A large tree was blocking all lanes of Crowder Road in Garner.
11:56 a.m.: Elizabeth Gardner said steady, strong winds will be felt in Raleigh throughout Saturday, and the rain could last until Tuesday.
11:44 a.m.: A family of five had to leave their home on Misty River Drive in Raleigh when a tree collapsed part of the roof. The parents and three kids are safe but say they are devastated, as they just moved into the home this month.
11:30 a.m.: High winds blew out a transformer, downed trees and damaged a parking deck at Raleigh’s Cameron Village shopping center.
11:26 a.m.: Widespread power outages are were reported in Hillsborough when a large, centuries-old tree fell on power lines along Calvin Street.
10:42 a.m.: A family has has to leave their Wake County home because a tree fell and damaged it.
10:18 a.m.: Tropical storm force winds of 40 mph have already been reported in Raleigh, but the rain didn’t become heavy until recently. In the WRAL Gardens, meteorologist Kat Campbell described it as “raining sideways.”
10:17 a.m.: A flood warning has been issued for Wayne and Johnston counties. Wake County remains under a flash flood watch.
10:12 a.m.: Johnston County has already seen 2 to 4 inches of rain, and with more rain to come for days, flooding is a major concern.
9:55 a.m.: Some roads are impassable in Holly Springs, including Cass Holt Road near Holly Springs High School, due to downed trees and power lines. Crews are responding.
9:51 a.m.: JetBlue has canceled all flights at RDU for Friday. With the lower number of flights in Terminal 2, several shops and restaurants are closed on Concourses C and D. There are no shops and restaurants open in Terminal 1.
9:25 a.m.: FEMA officials are asking people to “stay where they are” at this point.
9:04 a.m.: The statewide power outage has jumped to 475,022.
9:02 a.m.: A photo sent to WRAL by a viewer showed a tree that has been split down the middle in Cary.
8:50 a.m.: The Town of Garner stated that it is getting reports of power outages, which are being addressed by Duke Energy. Some intersections may lose power, making it all the more important for people to stay home if they have a choice.
8:41 a.m.: “Stay at home unless you have no choice,” said Chatham County Emergency Management. Hurricane Florence is a huge storm, and it will bring heavy rains and strong winds to central North Carolina.
8:21 a.m.: 547 people have reported to the seven emergency shelters open in Cumberland County. Buses have transported 68 residents to shelters.
8 a.m.: A flash flood warning is in effect for Wayne and Wilson counties until 2 p.m.
7:56 a.m.: Greenville was seeing heavy rain and officials say the Tar River is at risk for flooding.
7:36 a.m.: The heaviest rain in Raleigh will be around noon, Gardner said. By 5 p.m., the rain bands will be moving north.
7:23 a.m.: A homeowner in Durham has reported a large tree down in his yard.
7:09 a.m.: Two storm-related injuries have been reported in Edgecombe County. Gov. Roy Cooper said no storm-related deaths have been reported in North Carolina.
7:01 a.m.: The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for most of our viewing area, including Wake, Edgecombe, Franklin, Harnett Johnston, Nash, Sampson, Wayne and Wilson counties. This means the conditions are right for a tornado to form. The tornadoes may be weak and short-lived but can cause significant damage.
6:58 a.m.: Impacts from Florence are beginning to show around the Triangle, including heavy rain and tropical storm force winds. “If you are heading out, be careful,” said WRAL Brian Shrader. “The worst is yet to come.”
By Friday afternoon, the Triangle’s roads could see flooding.
6:38 a.m.: A flood advisory has been issued for Johnston, Wilson, Harnett and Edgecombe counties, meaning there is minor flooding reported in the area. Wake County is currently under a flash flood watch.
6:29 a.m.: The City of Raleigh is tweeting out important reminders to citizens. The non-emergency call center for Hurricane Florence is 919-996-2999.
6:07 a.m.: Trees are down in Johnston County due to rain bands and heavy winds moving through the area. The top wind gusts were reported in Raleigh are at 39 mph. Winds will continue to increase throughout the day and will remain strong for much of Saturday. Rain could continue through Tuesday.
6 a.m.: The eyewall of Hurricane Florence is onshore on North Carolina and landfall is expected soon near Topsail Beach.
5:22 a.m.: More than 550 people are currently in seven shelters in Cumberland County.
5:05 a.m.: Over 8,000 customers are now without power in Wake County.
5 a.m.: The latest update from the National Hurricane Center shows little change to Florence’s path or strength. The Category 1 storm has maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and is moving slowly, at 6 mph.
4:49 p.m.: 50 mph wind gusts have been reported in Cumberland County, where some trees are down. Fayetteville could see up to 15 inches of rain and wind gusts up to 80 mph.
4:44 a.m.: Isolated tornadoes are likely in our viewing area this morning as Florence narrows in on the coast. Wake County is not yet under a tornado watch, but it will remain under a flash flood watch until 8 p.m. Sunday and a tropical storm warning until further notice.
4:37 a.m.: A whopping 280,000 customers are without power in North Carolina. The highest numbers are being reported in New Hanover County.
4 a.m.: The Triangle is already seeing some strong winds, with gusts of 40 or 45 being reported in Raleigh. “From 8 a.m. to noon, the center will drift inland across southern North Carolina, and that is when we will see the strongest winds,” said WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner.
3:39 a.m.: Winds were beginning to pick up in Wake County and about 50 power outages have been reported in Cary, but crews were responding to reports quickly.
3:33 a.m.: The number of power outages reported across the state has actually decreased, with state officials saying 180,096 customers are without power. That number is about 5,000 less than what was reported by state officials an hour ago.
Carolinas can expect major help from David Tepper, Panthers after Hurricane Florence
Hurricane Florence: How to get help during the storm
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Mark E. Lavallee
Mark E. Lavallee, born April 27, 1965 passed away unexpectedly at his home on Robin Street in Providence on March 11, 2021. Mark was a bartender/waiter in the Providence area over the past 30 years. The last several years, he was the manager of the Providence Eagle. Mark loved his family, especially his nieces and nephews. He was an avid advocate for children. Every year he raised money to donate to a charity that benefited children; recently he donated to a school in Central Falls for the backpack snack attack program. He was also an advocate for animals and often donated to the Providence Animal Rescue League. Mark was also a very proud member of the LGBTQ+ Community and was very involved in the PRIDE events that took place in Providence. Mark was the son of the late Patricia K (Fortune) and Ovila Lavallee of Providence. Mark is survived by his siblings and many nieces and nephews. Cheryl Lavallee of Charlotte, NC; Jeannine Lino of Providence and her children, Alex, Chris and Marie; Peter Lavallee of Johnston and his children, Amanda, Peter Jr. and Meaghan; Donna Johnson of Georgia and her children, Curtis, Khayla and Ryan; Dianna LaCanfora and her husband Bob of Harrisville and their children, John, Nicole and Brianna; and Betty Ullman and her son Cory. He is also survived by his great nephews, Damien, Kaiden and Sean; and great nieces, Louisa and Ophelia. Mark also leaves behind his beloved dog, Digger. As a family, we would like to recognize Mikey DiGioia and Jose Monge. They were like family to Mark. If you would like to make a donation in Mark’s memory, please consider Hasbro Children’s or the Providence Animal Rescue League. A Celebration of Life will be planned at a later date.
Mark E. Lavallee, born April 27, 1965 passed away unexpectedly at his home on Robin Street in Providence on March 11, 2021. Mark was a bartender/waiter in the Providence area over the past 30 years. The last several years, he was the manager... View Obituary & Service Information
The family of Mark E. Lavallee created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories.
Mark E. Lavallee, born April 27, 1965 passed away unexpectedly...
Share and view memories of Mark...
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American serviceman killed in Iraq
Updated: 8:41 AM EDT May 3, 2016
STUTTGART, Germany (AP) - An American serviceman has been killed near Irbil (ur-BEEL') in Iraq. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who's in Germany consulting with European allies, says it's "a combat death." Another U.S. military official says the American was killed by "direct fire" after Islamic State forces penetrated the front line of Kurdish Peshmerga troops. The official says the U.S. soldier was advising Kurdish forces.
STUTTGART, Germany (AP) - An American serviceman has been killed near Irbil (ur-BEEL') in Iraq. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who's in Germany consulting with European allies, says it's "a combat death."
Another U.S. military official says the American was killed by "direct fire" after Islamic State forces penetrated the front line of Kurdish Peshmerga troops.
The official says the U.S. soldier was advising Kurdish forces.
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No Fast Music Or Fast Running: COVID Rules In Seoul Force Gym-Goers To Slow Down
By Sharon Pruitt-Young
Published July 13, 2021 at 11:17 AM CDT
People exercise at a gym in Seoul on Tuesday as South Korea announced implementation of level 4 social distancing measures amid concerns of a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some in South Korea may be stuck listening to slow ballads during their next high-energy workout. In an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus, health officials have banned fast music and even fast running at some fitness clubs.
Gyms in the capital Seoul and other nearby areas are no longer allowed to play music faster than 120 beats per minute (the speed of "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen) during group fitness classes.
Treadmill speeds may not surpass 6 kilometers per hour (or 3 miles per hour).
The concern is that intense exercising, especially in a group setting, could increase the likelihood of stray respiratory droplets and that all the sweat-and-spit slinging could lead to more COVID-19 cases.
Some gym-goers are expressing frustration.
"Hardcore cardio has marked the start and end of my daily exercise routines, and now they want me to run slower, but they ask us to leave in two hours," Jang, an office worker who frequents the gym, told The Korea Herald. "What do they want from us? Does the government want me to get fat and give up our lifestyle for the sake of these dumb rules?"
Still, it's not hard to understand why health officials are concerned: the greater Seoul area has seen a marked increase in COVID-19 cases, hitting a record daily high this past weekend, according to the Yonhap News Agency. Stringent social distancing protocols have been implemented and will be in place for the next two weeks, with gatherings of more than two barred after 6 p.m., in a bid to get the situation under control.
Son Young-rae, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, defended the new measures on Monday, according to the Herald. While acknowledging the effectiveness of masks, the Delta variant is more easily transmittable, he pointed out.
"When you run faster, you spit out more respiratory droplets, so that's why we are trying to restrict heavy cardio exercises," Son said.
That's one excuse to skip the gym, at least.
Sharon Pruitt-Young
See stories by Sharon Pruitt-Young
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Spain approves COVID vaccine for children in 5-11 age group
People wearing face masks ride a tram in downtown Lisbon, Monday, Dec. 6, 2021. Despite having one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe, with 86.6% of its 10.3 million people inoculated, Portugal is scaling up its pandemic response amid the emergence of the omicron variant. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
MADRID (AP) — Spain’s health ministry gave the go-ahead Tuesday for children between ages 5 and 11 to be vaccinated against COVID-19 amid a rise in coronavirus infections in recent weeks.
The Spanish health ministry tweeted news of the approval, following the decision of an expert committee. The rollout is due to begin Dec. 15, two days after the first of 3.2 million child vaccines arrive in Spain.
Austria has been inoculating children since the European Union’s drug regulator on Nov. 25 authorized Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for use on that age group. Greece will also begin on Dec. 15 and Italy will start on Dec. 16, among others.
The European Medicines Agency’s decision opened the way for jabs to be administered to millions of elementary school pupils across the continent.
Portugal, Spain’s neighbor on the Iberian Peninsula, is expected to follow suit, with pediatric jabs due to arrive there in two weeks’ time. Portuguese officials say more than 90% of the 12-17 age group have received jabs.
Both Iberian countries have high vaccine uptakes, with close to 90% of people eligible for the jabs receiving them. While the two countries’ new daily infections have risen in recent weeks, neither is feeling a strain on hospitals.
The WHO’s Europe director, Hans Kluge, said Tuesday that “it is not unusual today to see two-to-three times higher incidence among young children than in the rest of the population.”
Apart from helping prevent infections among the rest of their family, vaccinating children can help avoid further school closures and home learning, Kluge said in a statement.
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You are here: Home / Badgers / Badgers' Johnson named to coach Four Nations squad
Badgers' Johnson named to coach Four Nations squad
September 27, 2006 By WRN Contributor
Wisconsin women's hockey coach Mark Johnson was today named by USA Hockey as the head coach of the 2006 U.S. Women's Select Team that will compete in the Four Nations Cup from No. 7-11 in Kitchener, Ontario. Johnson, who was also recently appointed as the head coach of the 2007 U.S. Women's National Team, will not miss any UW games to take the assignment with USA Hockey. Johnson, who is in his 5th year at Wisconsin, led the Badgers to their first NCAA championship in 2005-06.
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Pitt's reward for ACC title is Peach matchup vs Michigan St
A milestone season for Pittsburgh and quarterback Kenny Pickett is continuing with a Peach Bowl matchup against Michigan State.
Updated: 10:56 PM EST Dec 5, 2021
UNDER INVESTIGATION. MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH MEETING WITH AN INSURANCE ADJUSTER HERE TONIGHT SAID THEY WANT TO SAVE THE BUILDING AND DO IT SAFELY. CHANDI: PITT PANTHERS ARE THE NEW ACC CHAMPIONSND A NOW THEY HAVE BEEN REWARDED WITH A BOWL GAME. THEY EXCEPDTE THEIR TROPHY AND TODAY, THE TEAM GOT AN INVITATION TO PLAY IN THE PEACH WLBO. THE
A milestone season for Pittsburgh and quarterback Kenny Pickett is continuing with a Peach Bowl matchup against Michigan State.No. 13 Pitt's reward for its first Atlantic Coast Conference championship is the Panthers' first New Year's Six bowl since 2004 in the Dec. 30 game in Atlanta against No. 11 Michigan State.Pitt (11-2) moved up four spots to No. 13 in Sunday's AP Top 25 following its 45-21 win over Wake Forest in the ACC championship game on Saturday night.Pickett threw for two touchdowns but his highlight was a 58-yard scoring run that included a fake slide.Pitt lost to Utah 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl following the 2004 season in its last New Year's Six game.Michigan State (10-2) closed its regular season by beating Penn State 30-27 on Nov. 27 as Payton Thorne threw two touchdown passes and ran for another. The Spartans feature a strong running game. Kennett Walker III rank for 138 yards in the win over Ohio State.RECORDS FOR PICKETTPickett has boosted his NFL stock and could be one of the Heisman Trophy favorites following his record-setting season. He passed Dan Marino's school record of 79 career touchdown passes on Saturday night. Pickett now has 81.Pickett also set an ACC record for most scoring passes in a season with 42. Clemson’s Deshaun Watson had 41 in 2016.SPARTANS TURNAROUNDSecond-year coach Mel Tucker has led the Spartans to a dramatic turnaround from a 2-5 finish in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The eight-game jump in wins is the most dramatic improvement in school history.Michigan State recovered from a 56-7 loss at Ohio State to finish its regular season by beating Ohio State. Michigan State finished undefeated at home for the first time since 2015.WELCOME TO ATLANTAEach team will be making its first Peach Bowl appearance.Michigan State is the first Big Ten team to play in the game since Michigan in 2018. Pitt is the ACC's first team in the Peach Bowl since Florida State in 2015.BIG TEN VS. ACCIt is the first Big Ten-ACC matchup in the game since 1988, when North Carolina State beat Iowa 28-23.
ATLANTA (AP) —
No. 13 Pitt's reward for its first Atlantic Coast Conference championship is the Panthers' first New Year's Six bowl since 2004 in the Dec. 30 game in Atlanta against No. 11 Michigan State.
Pitt (11-2) moved up four spots to No. 13 in Sunday's AP Top 25 following its 45-21 win over Wake Forest in the ACC championship game on Saturday night.
Pickett threw for two touchdowns but his highlight was a 58-yard scoring run that included a fake slide.
Pitt lost to Utah 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl following the 2004 season in its last New Year's Six game.
Michigan State (10-2) closed its regular season by beating Penn State 30-27 on Nov. 27 as Payton Thorne threw two touchdown passes and ran for another. The Spartans feature a strong running game. Kennett Walker III rank for 138 yards in the win over Ohio State.
RECORDS FOR PICKETT
Pickett has boosted his NFL stock and could be one of the Heisman Trophy favorites following his record-setting season. He passed Dan Marino's school record of 79 career touchdown passes on Saturday night. Pickett now has 81.
Pickett also set an ACC record for most scoring passes in a season with 42. Clemson’s Deshaun Watson had 41 in 2016.
SPARTANS TURNAROUND
Second-year coach Mel Tucker has led the Spartans to a dramatic turnaround from a 2-5 finish in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The eight-game jump in wins is the most dramatic improvement in school history.
Michigan State recovered from a 56-7 loss at Ohio State to finish its regular season by beating Ohio State. Michigan State finished undefeated at home for the first time since 2015.
WELCOME TO ATLANTA
Each team will be making its first Peach Bowl appearance.
Michigan State is the first Big Ten team to play in the game since Michigan in 2018. Pitt is the ACC's first team in the Peach Bowl since Florida State in 2015.
BIG TEN VS. ACC
It is the first Big Ten-ACC matchup in the game since 1988, when North Carolina State beat Iowa 28-23.
WTAE Pittsburgh
©2022, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WTAE-TV.
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In Season 4, 'Fargo' Tells A Story Of American Crime And Greed In Kansas City
The hit movie "Fargo" came out almost 25 years ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FARGO")
FRANCES MCDORMAND: (As Marge Gunderson) So what's the deal now? Gary says triple homicide.
BRUCE BOHNE: (As Lou) Yeah. It looks pretty bad. Two of them are over here.
MCDORMAND: (As Marge Gunderson) Where is everybody?
BOHNE: (As Lou) Well, it's cold, Margie.
SHAPIRO: Since then, the brand has found new life as an award-winning TV show. "Fargo" is an anthology show where each season has its own story arc and an entirely new cast of characters. The fourth season, out now, is set in Kansas City in the 1950s. It's about rival organized crime families - one Italian, one Black. Comedian Chris Rock plays one of the crime bosses.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FARGO")
CHRIS ROCK: (As Loy Cannon) And I know you think part of being an American is standing on my neck. But I see the window signs - no coloreds, no Italians. So we're both in the gutter together, like it or not.
SHAPIRO: The creative mastermind behind all four seasons of the show is Noah Hawley, who joins us now. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
NOAH HAWLEY: I like the mastermind title. I'm going to put that on a business card.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter) This season is a big leap for you. It's set in Kansas City in 1950, which is different from the other stories you've told with "Fargo." So to you, what makes this a "Fargo" story? Like, what do all these plots have in common?
HAWLEY: Well, it's interesting because when I first talked with FX about doing the show, I said, why is the movie called "Fargo?" Because it takes place in Minnesota. And Fargo, of course, is a city in North Dakota.
SHAPIRO: I was born there and lived there until I was 8, so it was a big deal that the whole thing was in Minnesota to my family.
HAWLEY: Right. I'm sure it's a grudge you hold to this day.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter) Deeply.
HAWLEY: But, you know, the word Fargo is evocative of a place, what Joel and Ethan Coen called Siberia with family restaurants. And...
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
HAWLEY: But since the movie, it's also evocative of a type of story - right? - a true crime story that isn't true. Every year I try to figure out, OK, well, this is "Fargo," but is this also "Fargo?" Can we do a kind of one-to-one translation in the first year? And then in Season 2, can we tell more of a crime epic set in 1979, or this year, which is a 1950s story about what it means to be an American?
SHAPIRO: In 1950s Kansas City, Black and Italian people both experience different kinds of discrimination. And so as you were trying to answer this question of what it means to be an American, was there something appealing about pitting two groups of underdogs against each other and looking at the - comparing their experiences?
HAWLEY: Well, I had this idea - I don't know where it came from - of these two crime families. And the head of each family was trading his youngest son to the other boss as a kind of insurance policy.
SHAPIRO: That's the premise of the season. And that's where Episode 1 begins.
HAWLEY: Yeah. You raise my kid, I'll raise your kid. And as such, neither of us will step over the line for fear of losing a child. And what was interesting about this to me is that it provided an opportunity to think about assimilation in a way that wasn't abstract. What does it take for this boy, Chris Rock's character's son, to become part of this Italian American family? How do they treat him? How does Chris and his family treat the young Italian American boy who was given to them?
SHAPIRO: Did you set out to explore larger societal issues in this season than you had before? I mean, you kind of talk about where you started with Season 1 and where it progressed to now, but it does feel much bigger and more sweeping. And it's less about everyday people and more about people with power.
HAWLEY: I mean, on some level. Maybe I said the quiet part out loud a bit more this year. You know, for me, you know, I go back to Marge's line in the movie where she says, and here you are. And it's a beautiful day. And for what? A little bit of money?
SHAPIRO: (Laughter) Yeah.
MCDORMAND: (As Marge Gunderson) There's more to life than a little money, you know? I just don't understand it.
HAWLEY: There's always some part of "Fargo" for me that's a story about the crimes that people commit for money and what money does to our morality. And this time, I guess in thinking about it, I thought, well, if we're going to talk about that role of money in our lives, then maybe we need to go back to the original crimes of capital in America, which were the exploitation of free and cheap labor and slavery and immigration and, you know, this level of exploitation that pits people against each other, fighting for a way to get in to a country that doesn't want them. And that became a way to have this conversation about this alternate economy, which is crime.
SHAPIRO: I think my favorite character is a Minnesota nurse played by the Irish actress Jessie Buckley, who is really having a moment right now. And this character just kind of, like, defines dark comedy.
JESSIE BUCKLEY: (As Oraetta Mayflower) I am no goat, Mr. Sneed (ph). Oraetta Mayflower, she is no goat.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Now, nurse...
BUCKLEY: (As Oraetta Mayflower) Call the police if you're so concerned about malfeasance, about medicines removed without dotted I's. Heck, pick up the phone. Tell them to send the paddy wagon. Take this woman away in silver bracelets. Or what about call the newsboys?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Now, hold on. There's no...
BUCKLEY: (As Oraetta Mayflower) This is America, sir, last time I checked, not Soviet Russia, where a man gets rationed a quarter of a potato and has no rights under the law.
SHAPIRO: We should mention she steals drugs and kills her patients (laughter).
HAWLEY: Just that, though.
SHAPIRO: Who hasn't done that? Did you feel like setting this season in Missouri, you had to take one of the characters (laughter) and make her from the upper Midwest?
HAWLEY: It did feel like that accent needed to be represented and that Minnesota nice quality needed to be represented, although we've certainly corrupted it beyond most recognition. But, you know, I thought, you know, Oraetta, for me, represented a certain kind of American madness - right? - where people are something and then deny that they are that thing. This is a woman who kills her patients and denies that she does it. She's an angel of mercy in her mind.
BUCKLEY: (As Oraetta Mayflower) And if we have failed in our devotion to him, then you and I are going straight to the hot place. And Oraetta Mayflower has no intention of sweating out eternity at the end of the devil's pitchfork. Good day, sir.
HAWLEY: You know, there is a certain madness that comes from being a thing and then denying with your last breath that you are that thing.
SHAPIRO: You were, if I'm not mistaken, just a couple weeks away from finishing shooting this season when the pandemic hit and you had to shut everything down. So how did you get it across the finish line?
HAWLEY: Well, we did it very carefully and meticulously and in the end, thankfully, flawlessly.
SHAPIRO: So you, like, shut down for six months, brought everybody back and quarantined them and then did the rest of the filming. Is that what happened?
HAWLEY: Yes, including actors from Italy, actors from Ireland. We had something like a 40-page prospectus on COVID practices that we had to invent and put into place. The people who could come in contact with the actors were a bare minimum because, of course, the actors can't wear masks when they're on set. And you are forced to rethink everything from how are we going to feed people to how are we going to get people from one location to another - you know, all of the challenges we have as ordinary citizens, but then take a production of 150 to 200 people. And we didn't have a single infection, and we got it done.
SHAPIRO: How stressed out were you during those last few weeks?
HAWLEY: (Laughter) You know, I carried some stress.
SHAPIRO: Well, Noah Hawley, as somebody who was born in Fargo and spent the first eight years of his life there, let me just say it's been real nice having you on the show.
HAWLEY: Thank you so much.
SHAPIRO: "Fargo" is now in its fourth season on FX. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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Democrats Question Whether Postmaster General's Hiring Skirted Background Checks
By Kelsey Snell
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, left, visits Capitol Hill earlier this month. DeJoy is set to testify before Senate and House panels in the coming days over his controversial plans to cut costs at the U.S. Postal Service. Many Democrats fear these changes could slow the delivery of mail ballots this fall.
A pair of House Democrats are raising questions about whether a member of the U.S. Postal Service board of governors skirted typical practices to influence the hiring of Louis DeJoy as postmaster general.
Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Katie Porter, D-Calif., sent a letter to USPS board member John Barger raising questions about his role in recommending DeJoy for the position, according to a copy of the letter obtained by NPR. The letter cites reports that DeJoy was not included in a pool of candidates cultivated and vetted by an outside hiring firm contracted to fill the job.
"According to individuals familiar with the process, Mr. Louis DeJoy was never recommended by this firm but was rather introduced by you to the selection committee," the letter reads. "It would have been irregular for a member of the USPS Board of Governors, such as yourself, to recommend Mr. DeJoy without the consultation, research, or support of the contracted hiring firm Russell Reynolds Associates."
The letter comes amid controversy over steps DeJoy has taken to alter Postal Service processing, staffing and facilities. Those changes have slowed mail delivery and caused concerns about the agency's ability to process a surge in mail-in-ballots ahead of the November election.
In comments last week, President Trump seemed to tie USPS funding to his hope of hampering mail-in voting expansions nationwide, increasing concerns that DeJoy's changes to the Postal Service may be politically motivated.
Earlier this week, amid bipartisan criticism and a series of lawsuits, DeJoy announced he would halt some of his cost-cutting efforts, although it's not clear whether he would restore service to previous levels.
DeJoy is set to testify Friday before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and Monday before the House Oversight Committee.
Democrats have questioned DeJoy's qualifications for the job and accused the postmaster general of intentionally delaying mail to disenfranchise voters. DeJoy was a major donor and fundraiser for Trump and the Republican National Committee. DeJoy's wife, Aldona Wos, has been nominated to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Canada.
"The appointment of Mr. Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General was highly irregular and we are concerned that his candidacy may have been influenced by political motivations," Krishnamoorthi said in a statement. "We need to get to the bottom of why Mr. DeJoy was considered, given that he apparently was not one of the candidates recommended by the firm contracted to make such recommendations, and did not undergo a background check."
Porter said, "It's clear that Louis DeJoy isn't qualified to be the Postmaster General. He's one of the few in history, if not the only in history, who didn't come up through the Postal Service. So I want to know why he was chosen for this role, and if this was a political decision, rather than a policy one."
In the letter sent Thursday, Krishnamoorthi and Porter ask Barger to explain whether he recommended DeJoy without the research conducted on other candidates for the job. They also ask Barger if he discussed DeJoy with any Republican Party officials.
Trump appointed Barger to the USPS board of governors in 2019. He is the managing director of NorthernCross Partners, a Los Angeles-based private investment firm, and a frequent donor to Republican candidates.
Barger did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Democrats began raising questions after multiple individuals shared concerns that the outside firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, and its background process were circumvented for DeJoy, according to a Democratic aide. The agency was hired to find candidates and vet their backgrounds, including any potential conflicts of interest.
The letter goes on say that David Williams, a former USPS inspector general and USPS board member, told Democratic staff that he expressed concerns about DeJoy during the interview process and requested a background investigation. Williams resigned from the board on April 30, less than a week before DeJoy's appointment.
Williams told committee staff that he cited the background check conflict as part of his decision to leave.
"I had expressed concerns after each of the interviews with Mr. Louis DeJoy," Williams said. "I urged that a background investigation be conducted. And when I resigned, I cited it as one of my reasons for submitting my resignation to Chairman Robert Duncan."
Kelsey Snell is a Congressional correspondent for NPR. She has covered Congress since 2010 for outlets including The Washington Post, Politico and National Journal. She has covered elections and Congress with a reporting specialty in budget, tax and economic policy. She has a graduate degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. and an undergraduate degree in political science from DePaul University in Chicago.
See stories by Kelsey Snell
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Woodstock receives fireworks petition
Posted By National Wind Watch On September 8, 2012 @ 7:13 am In Maine | Comments Disabled
Woodstock selectmen Tuesday received a petition asking for a ban on fireworks.
The seven-signature petition was submitted by Don McInnis.
It asks for a ban, but continues, “At a minimum, we would like to have you consider banning them within 300 yards of a lake or pond,” noting that a lake acts as an “echo chamber,” causing the sound to reverberate.
Petitioners said on the nights of July 3 and 4, “fireworks seemed to be going off from four or five locations simulataneously around Bryant Pond. It almost seemed like we were in a war zone.”
Town officials said that while complaints earlier in the summer centered around Lake Christopher and North Pond, there have been more recent complaints about fireworks noise from camp owners on Concord and Shagg ponds.
“For me it’s starting to rise to a level of maybe we ought to have a real serious discussion about this,” said Selectman Ron Deegan.
“I think the time is the big thing,” said Rick Young, who lives on Lake Christopher. He said fireworks there often don’t start until 9:30 p.m., stop around 10 and then start again at 10:30 – past the state law deadline of 10 p.m. “I was hoping the newness would wear off,” he added.
Deegan asked Fire Chief Geff Inman’s opinion.
“The Legislature let the cat out of the bag on this, and they’re the ones who are going to have to put it back in,” he said, adding that local enforcement would be very expensive and nearly impossible.
Selectman Steve Bies said pond residents have pointed out that years ago, an ordinance against jet skis was approved without specific enforcement behind it, but the move was enough to stop use of the craft.
“It becomes public knowledge and people are shamed into it,” he said.
But, countered Inman, “You can probably hunt down a jet skier. Once fireworks go off, no one will take responsibility.”
Town Manager Vern Maxfield said later that while the number of signatures on the petition does not automatically require action from selectmen, they will likely discuss at their next meeting whether to pursue an ordinance.
Wind ordinance committee
The board also met with members of the Woodstock Wind Ordinance Committee for an update on their work in writing a new ordinance to guide future wind projects.
Chairman Bob Elliott said the committee is on track to present a final draft of an ordinance to the board before the next selectmen’s meeting on Sept. 18.
Members of the two groups also sought to clear the air regarding comments at an August selectmen’s meeting that the wind committee had lost focus on its goal, and was being sidetracked by wind project opponents.
Elliott cited repeated efforts by the committee to solicit public opinion on its efforts. “I think we’ve made a good faith effort to get the word out to invite wide public input,” he said.
He also said the committee is not anti-wind, but simply believes from its research that stricter sound regulations should be put in place in the future to protect citizens.
Elliott said that while the group of citizens currently affected by the existing Spruce Mountain Wind project is not large, “they are the people who are bearing the brunt of it. We should be about watching after all of our people.”
He characterized the recommendations the committee is working on as “moderate” compared to other towns in Maine.
The committee plans to discuss its final ordinance draft at the board’s Sept. 18 meeting.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, selectmen:
Agreed to craft an article within a month for a town meeting vote to open the lower portion of the Billings Hill Road to winter maintenance, to be done through town bid;
Accepted a bid of $1,726 from Betty Young of West Paris for the Fire Department’s old 1990 squad truck;
Learned that work on the Shackley Hill and Concord Pond roads has been completed;
Learned the town has collected 67 percent of taxes owed, for a total of $1.4 million, and has used $27,000 to pay for discounts for early payment.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/09/08/woodstock-receives-fireworks-petition/
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Yokogawa Wins LNG Carrier Control System Order for Ichthys LNG Project in Australia
- A boost to Yokogawa's marine control business -
Tokyo, Japan - February 17, 2014
Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it has received an order from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. to supply the control system for an LNG carrier that is being built for the Ichthys LNG project* in Australia.
The ship will be the world's largest Moss-type LNG carrier and will be used for transporting LNG from an onshore LNG processing plant that is being constructed as part of the Ichthys LNG project. The ship is scheduled to enter service by the end of 2016, in time for the completion of the plant. The ship is also the first Moss-type LNG carrier equipped with a dual fuel diesel engine (DFDE), which burns both fuel oil and gas.
Yokogawa will deliver the CENTUM® VP integrated production control system for monitoring and controlling the LNG carrier's LNG tanks and loading/unloading facilities as well as the supply of gas to the DFDE and the supply of power to other driving units. Yokogawa will also be responsible for the engineering and commissioning of the control system.
Yokogawa believes that the following factors were key considerations in the decision to give it this order:
The company has already delivered control systems for other DFDE ships.
The company has a global service network, ensuring that vessels can undergo maintenance at any LNG port.
Yokogawa won the control systems order for other Ichthys LNG project facilities in 2012. These include the onshore LNG processing plant, offshore production/process facilities, and the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. With this contract, the CENTUM VP system will cover all project facilities, from production to LNG transport.
Globally, the construction of many LNG carriers is planned for the transport of LNG from North America, Russia, Africa, and other regions. Backed by this order, Yokogawa will expand its control business for marine resource development facilities, including LNG carriers, FPSO vessels, floating LNG (FLNG) vessels, and floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRU).
* This project is being carried out by a joint venture between INPEX (operator), Total, and several other companies. Gas from the Ichthys field, which is located offshore of northwestern Australia, will undergo preliminary processing at sea to remove water and impurities, and extract condensate. The gas will then be transported by undersea pipeline to onshore processing facilities in Darwin. The project is expected to produce 8.4 million tons of LNG and 1.6 million tons of LPG per year, along with approximately 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak.
YOKOGAWA has been engaging in LNG automation by supplying the latest sensors, analyzers, control and information systems for more than 50 years since LNG was first imported to Japan. YOKOGAWA is one of the biggest automation suppliers to the worldwide LNG supply chain, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification.
CENTUM VP has a simple and common architecture consisting of human machine interfaces, field control stations, and a control network.
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Buzz is growing that Nicky Henderson’s charge will be fit for Cheltenham Festival
Dean Hoyle reveals financial input prevented administration for Huddersfield Town
SportCricket
Flower blasts complacency accusation aimed at England
Andy Flower rejects the suggestion that England paid for complacency in their drawn Test series against New Zealand.
Thursday, 28th March 2013, 8:31 am
Alastair Cook’s team had to fight to the very last ball, with nine wickets down, to secure even the solace of a 0-0 stalemate at Eden Park on Tuesday.
It was an uplifting finale for England, and deflation for their hosts, but will not erase memories of a largely off-colour performance from the tourists over three Tests. Faulty batting in the first innings, in both Dunedin and Auckland, cost England in the first and final matches.
Rain intervened to prevent a result in the first two Tests, but only England’s redoubtable determination – Matt Prior in particular with an unbeaten second-innings 110, 183 runs in the match altogether and five catches behind the wicket – kept the series level yesterday.
Mutterings of complacency have been aired by observers almost since before the first ball was bowled against hosts ranked six places below England in the ICC Test table.
The grumbles gathered volume after a sticky start in Dunedin and were at their loudest perhaps by the time England began Tuesday needing to eke out six wickets to prevent a first defeat in New Zealand since 1983-84.
Flower, however, is a renowned hard task-master and is having none of that theory.
“There was no complacency in our camp at all – none whatsoever,” he said.
“Your reference to the media talking about the fact we should win easily, or comfortably, is probably where you draw that information from.
“It’s certainly not within our dressing room. We knew when we came here we had a real fight on our hands, and we prepared for that.
“We respect the New Zealand cricket team.”
Flower does not deny England fell short over the past month of the standards that were set, for example, in their historic series victory in India before Christmas.
He is looking forward already, though, to setting the record straight in two home Tests against the Kiwis at Lord’s and Headingley in May.
“We have not played great cricket out here in New Zealand,” he admitted. “But I would say New Zealand have played well. Their bowlers swung the ball continually, and it should make for an interesting series.”
England’s durability to salvage a draw with nine wickets down is no rarity in Flower’s reign, after three similar great escapes in 2009 – against Australia and South Africa.
“It’s great to have close games,” he said. “It’s really good for the public and exciting for us. What I would like to see is the same sort of determination, same sort of skill, shown at the start of games – then we can get into winning positions more often.”
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1 comment | Print | Email | Facebook | Twitter
Excellent Sheep author faces the flock
After roasting the Ivy League, a former Yale prof returns.
By John Dillon | Nov/Dec 2014
A provocative New Republic cover brought attention to William Deresiewicz's book this summer. View full image
When William Deresiewicz arrived at a Morse College master’s tea in September to discuss his new book—which argues that elite colleges are recruiting and producing soulless students—he was still licking the wounds from a hostile Harvard visit two days before.
“It was an ambush,” he said. “It was appalling.” He was hoping for a warmer reception at Yale—maybe a legacy discount, since he taught at Yale before being denied tenure in 2008, and since his presenter was Morse master Amy Hungerford, his former colleague in the English department.
Deresiewicz got what he wanted: a challenging but polite discussion with an audience of about 120 students—or 120 “excellent sheep,” as he calls students in the title of his book. Subtitled “The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life,” it contends that Ivy League and other top-tier colleges are turning out talented students who are also “anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose.”
An excerpt from the book in the New Republic went viral over the summer, helped in part by a cover image of Harvard’s flag in flames. It didn’t go unnoticed at Yale, where some wondered who Deresiewicz was talking about.
“He paints these sort of broad-brush generalizations,” says Davenport College master Richard Schottenfeld ’71, ’76MD. “What I hear and see [from the students] is just excitement about learning. And it’s so contrary to this bleak, monolithic view of these deadened, sheep-like students who are marching toward careers.”
Schottenfeld rejected Deresiewicz’s contention that the Ivy League schools now exist to perpetuate the elite class. That hasn’t been true for decades, he says, since Yale began need-blind admission and accepting students worldwide. “It’s going to change the elite,” he said.
At the master’s tea, Deresiewicz repeatedly urged students to follow their passions, arguing that elite schools should help students to do that instead of sending half of them off to only four professions—law, medicine, consulting, and business. A leader needn’t necessarily be a “big shot,” he said, but someone willing to be unpopular when the need arises.
When Marissa Medansky ’15 wondered aloud whether Deresiewicz was presenting himself as “a guru,” he replied, “It sounds kind of puke-y, right?… I recognize that, in some sense, what I’m writing is self-help.” But, he added, “I think people need help.”
Nitika Khaitan ’16 said she wasn’t sure if what Deresiewicz sees as a de-emphasis of the liberal arts was anything new. Had she gone to college in her native India, she would be expected to choose a preprofessional track. “All I found at Yale is people who push against this. Yale gives so many spaces to do that,” she said. “What else can the institution do? Maybe it’s just the students.”
Kevin Ogunniyi ’16 wasn’t convinced one way or the other by Deresiewicz’s argument. “I don’t think we students put him on a pedestal, just like we shouldn’t put Ivies on a pedestal,” he said.
Schottenfeld might have recognized that reaction. “Sometimes I wish they were a little more sheep-like,” he jokes.
Kevin Ogunniyi, 8:14am November 09 2014 | Flag as inappropriate
To clarify, I think that we should not put Ivy League schools on pedestals, but putting liberal arts colleges on pedestals is also ridiculous. When I read Prof. Deresiewicz saying that "liberal arts colleges provide better educations," I'm perplexed, because the Ivy League is not monolithic, and liberal arts colleges are not monolithic. Moreover, higher education is so incestuous that I cannot see a Swarthmore or a Reed as a solution to Harvard and Yale. I see two solutions to this inconsistency: place "Ivies" on the same level as other schools (i.e. don't set the Ivy League apart at all, whether as a collection of singularly good or singularly bad schools) or advise students not to go to college at all.
Vol LXXVIII, No 2
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Posted inWorld
Bachelet strongly condemns mass executions in Saudi Arabia
by UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights April 24, 2019
GENEVA April 24, 2019 – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday strongly condemned the beheading of 37 men in spite of repeated appeals by the UN human rights system about the lack of due process and fair trial guarantees, allegations that confessions were obtained through torture – and the ages of some of those executed. One of the men’s bodies was subsequently put on public display.
According to available information, at least three of those executed were minors at the time they were sentenced to death in relation to their involvement in anti-Government protests. Most of the 37 men belonged to the Shi’a Muslim minority, and some had also been involved in protests. In several of the cases, various UN human rights experts had raised serious concerns with the authorities.
“I strongly condemn these shocking mass executions across six cities in Saudi Arabia yesterday in spite of grave concerns raised about these cases by numerous UN Special Rapporteurs, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and others,” High Commissioner Bachelet said.
“It is particularly abhorrent that at least three of those killed were minors at the time of their sentencing. I urge the Government of Saudi Arabia to immediately launch a review of its counter-terrorism legislation and amend the law to expressly prohibit the imposition of the death penalty against minors.”
Bachelet also expressed deep concern for the fate of those who remain on death row, including Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdulla al-Zaher, whose cases have also been taken up by the UN human rights system.
“I appeal to the authorities to halt the pending executions and to engage constructively with the UN Human Rights Office and independent experts on the many concerns related to the imposition of the death penalty in the country,” she said.
The High Commissioner reminded Saudi Arabia of its obligations to respect international human rights law, particularly as a State party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention Against Torture.
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Unitsky String Technologies
EcoTechnoPark object: communication system for high-speed transport complex
The communication system is developed for all types of SkyWay complexes. It is, in fact, an intellectual system designed for timely and reliable provision of all users with necessary information.
From the point of view of its architecture, the system looks like a network of wireless base stations combined with each other by means of fibre optic data-transmission lines. The communication system is connected to the worldwide network Internet and to SkyWay Safety and Control System.
At present, there is created a range of variants for wireless communication, the task of which is to provide uninterrupted information exchange between base stations and high-speed unibuses and unicars. This allows to significantly reduce costs for network construction and operation as compared to other technologies, providing similar motion speed for receiving equipment (up to 500 km/h). In addition, there will be ensured high speeds of data transmission (up to 20 Mbit/s), as well as envisaged backup dispatching and communication systems. These systems provide data streaming with guaranteed speeds and batch transmission. Introduction of a backup system with a high level of own failure reliability will allow to minimize any risk of communication failure with a dispatching station.
The designed communication system SkyWay will allow to provide reliable data transmission channels for all types of SkyWay complexes, with considerably less costs for its deployment and operation as compared to mobile and wireless communication systems. This solution will provide passengers of all types of SkyWay transport with high-speed Internet, mobile telephone communication and necessary information. Apart from that, due to a powerful basic communication network there appears an opportunity to sell traffic through own communication system to third persons. Thus, SkyWay Group will be able to provide services for forming super-power information flows in the future and, consequently, to earn a significant profit, compared to the service of passenger and cargo transportation.
Arrangement of communication system components inside the protected rail-string track structure allows to apply less expensive optical fibre, but one of a higher quality with a smaller protection class. Obviously, this fact will influence the transport complex economic efficiency in a very positive way.
A high degree of failure reliability and uninterrupted operation, back-up system and multiple safety factor as to its carrying capacity will eventually allow for a network of SkyWay overpass tracks to replace other communication systems: telephone, Internet and others.
It may be said that when heading for any place in the world, SkyWay track makes available all types of communication:
energy service (delivery of electric and other types of energy to consumers),
information service (transmission of information data of any kind),
physical service (people and cargo transportation),
modifying and transforming a human's life and taking it to a new level of quality as to safety, affordability, comfort and environmental friendliness.
Main page → Section in English → News archive → 18 December 2015
© 1977—2017 Anatoly Yunitskiy. All Rights Reserved.
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Analysis: Population by age and sex
Annual Demographic Estimates: Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2018
This page has been archived on the Web.
For the purposes of this article, various indicators will be used to measure population aging. These include the number, proportion and distribution of the population aged 0 to 14 years and 65 years and older, the demographic dependency ratio, and the median age. The median age is age “x”, as it divides a population into two groups of equal size, one with individuals older than “x” and the other with individuals younger than “x”.
This section presents an analysis of the population estimates by age and sex for Canada, the provinces and territories on July 1, 2018, compared with July 1 estimates in previous years.
Canada’s population aging is fuelled by the advancing age of baby boomers
Population aging represents one of the major changes associated with Canada’s age-sex structure, and it continues to shape the transformation of the country’s population. It is the result of baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1965) reaching more advanced ages, combined with a fertility rate below the replacement level (2.1 children per woman) since 1972Note 1 and an increase in life expectancy for both men and women.Note 2
The age pyramid opposite shows the aging of Canada’s population in recent decades by comparing the age-sex structure of the population on July 1 in 1998 and 2018. On July 1, 1998, baby boomers were in their 30s, 40s and early 50s, as can be seen in the bulge in the pyramid at these ages. On July 1, 2018, individuals in the baby boom generation were between 52 and 72 years of age, as illustrated by the upward shift in the largest bulge in the pyramid observed 20 years earlier. Therefore, the number of people aged 52 and over was proportionally higher in 2018 (35.5%) than in 1998 (24.5%). In contrast, the number of younger people, particularly people in their 30s and early 40s, as well as individuals aged 0 to 19, has proportionally decreased.
Description for Figure 2.1
This stacked column graph or age pyramid compares the age structure of the 1998 and the 2018 population at July 1st in relative value.
The left side shows males and the right side shows females.
The horizontal axis shows the population in relative value and the vertical axis shows age.
This table displays the results of Pyramid data table 1. The information is grouped by Age (appearing as row headers), 1998, 2018, Males and Females, calculated using per thousand units of measure (appearing as column headers).
per thousand
Source: Statistics Canada, Demography Division
Canada remains younger than most G7 countries
Population aging is a widespread phenomenon in the whole world, and is currently more important in the industrialized countries. In recent years, the proportion of persons aged 65 and older has increased in every G7 country. Of these countries, Canada has the second-lowest proportion of persons aged 65 and older (17.2%), just behind the United States,Note 3 with 15%.Note 4 Conversely, Japan’s population is among the oldest in the world, with the highest proportion of persons aged 65 and older among the G7 countries (28%), or just over one in four people.
The proportion of children aged 0 to 14 is higher in Canada (16.1%) than in Japan (12%), Germany and Italy (13% each). A higher fertility rate in Canada than in these countriesNote 5 is the main reason why Canada has a higher proportion of children aged 0 to 14 years.Note 6 However, the proportion of children is lower in Canada than in the United States (19%), France and the United Kingdom (18% each), where the fertility rate is higher than in Canada, though below the replacement level in the last decade.
Moreover, Canada is the G7 country with the largest proportion of working-age people; two-thirds of its population (66.7%) is in the 15-to-64 age group. Japan has the lowest proportion in the G7 (60%). The fact that the baby boom was greater in Canada than in most other G7 countries explains why it has the highest proportion of people in this age group.Note 7 As all Canadian baby boomers turn 65, the proportion of the working-age population in Canada should move closer to the levels observed in the other G7 countries.
Text table 2.1
Age distribution of the population, Canada and other G7 countries, 2018
Table summary
This table displays the results of Age distribution of the population 0 to 14 years, 15 to 64 years and 65 years and over, calculated using percentage units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Note: Figures in percent may not add up to 100% as a result of rounding. Data for countries other than Canada are rounded to the unit as shown in the source used.
Source: International data come from the 2018 World Population Data Sheet of the Population Reference Bureau (http://www.worldpopdata.org/table), visited on November 8th, 2018.
The gap widens between children and seniors
Since 2011, baby boomers have played a significant role in the increase in the number of people aged 65 and older. In fact, people aged 65 and older outnumbered children under 15 years between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016. In the last annual period, the difference between the number of people in these two age groups increased. On July 1, 2018, a record number of Canadians—6,358,220, or more than one out of six people (17.2%)—was at least 65 years of age, compared with 5,972,733 children aged 0 to 14 (16.1%). In other words, there were an additional 385,487 people in the 65-and-older age group than in the 0-to-14 group. By comparison, prior to 1987, there were two to three times more children aged 0 to 14 than people aged 65 and older.
According to the medium growth (M1) scenario in the most recent population projections, the proportion of people 65 and older should continue to grow, increasingly widening the gap with the proportion of children aged 0 to 14.Note 8 The proportion of people aged 65 and older should reach 20% in 2024 and 25% in 2055, while the proportion of children aged 0 to 14 should remain stable at around 15% to 16% over the same period. Thus, the proportion of working-age people (aged 15 to 64) should decline over the next few decades. It is currently estimated at 66.7% and is expected to fall below 60% in 2051.
Data table for Chart 2.1
Data table for Chart 2.1
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.1. The information is grouped by Year ending June 30 (appearing as row headers), 0 to 14 years (population estimates), 0 to 14 years (population projections based on M1 scenario), 65 years and over (population estimates) and 65 years and over (population projections based on M1 scenario), calculated using number units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Year ending June 30
0 to 14 years (population estimates)
0 to 14 years (population projections based on M1 scenario)
65 years and over (population estimates)
65 years and over (population projections based on M1 scenario)
5,958,467 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 3,724,074 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period
Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 6,060,400 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 6,616,600
Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 6,697,100 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 10,115,500
.. not available for a specific reference period
Note: From 1998 to 2018, population estimates. From 2019 to 2038, Population Projections for Canada (2013 to 2063), Provinces and Territories, (2013 to 2038), Catalogue no.91-520-X.
Source: Statistics Canada, Demography Division.
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.2. The information is grouped by Year ending June 30 (appearing as row headers), 0 to 14 years (population estimates), 0 to 14 years (population projections based on M1 scenario), 15 to 64 years (population estimates), 15 to 64 years (population projections based on M1 scenario), 65 years and over (population estimates) and 65 years and over (population projections based on M1 scenario), calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
15 to 64 years (population estimates)
15 to 64 years (population projections based on M1 scenario)
19.8 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 67.9 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 12.3 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period
Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 16.3 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 66.0 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 17.7
Note: From 1998 to 2018, population estimates. From 2019 to 2038, Population Projections for Canada (2013 to 2063), Provinces and Territories, (2013 to 2038), Catalogue no. 91-520-X.
In the latest annual period, the growth rate of the 65-and-older population was 3.6%, or about two-and-a-half times the growth rate for the entire population (1.4%). Children aged 0 to 14 had a growth rate of 1.0% in the last annual period. While this group grew by 1.0% on average in the last three years, which has not been seen since the end of the echo boom generation (1989 to 1992),Note 9 its growth rate is still lower than that of the 65-and-older age group, thereby contributing to population aging.
Children still outnumber seniors in the Prairies and the territories
At the provincial and territorial level, the number of people 65 years and older and the number of children 0 to 14 years vary widely. In Canada’s eastern and central provinces and in British Columbia, the number of people 65 years and older was higher than the number of children 0 to 14 years on July 1, 2018. However, the Prairie provinces and the territories had more children aged 0 to 14 than people 65 years and older. In 2009, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were the top two provinces where the number of people aged 65 and older exceeded that of children aged 0 to 14.
On July 1, 2018, New Brunswick had the highest proportion of people aged 65 and older (20.8%) among the provinces, and Alberta the lowest (12.8%). Moreover, the highest proportion of children aged 0 to 14 years was observed in Saskatchewan (19.6%) and the lowest in Newfoundland and Labrador (13.9%). The last finding is explained by, amongst other things, higher fertility in Saskatchewan than in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The situation in the territories is unique, in that the populations are considerably younger than in the rest of Canada, with fertility levels among the highest in the country.Note 10 Nunavut stood out in particular, with children aged 0 to 14 making up 31.8% of the population, while people aged 65 and older represented 3.9% of the population.
Currently, almost half of all seniors are baby boomers
Both the proportion of people aged 65 and older and the annual growth of this age group have been increasing rapidly since the start of the decade, specifically since 2011 when the first baby boomers turned 65. On July 1, 2018, almost one in two people aged 65 or older (46.3%) was a baby boomer, compared with 41.3% in 2017. This proportion is rising quickly.
Moreover, nearly one-third of baby boomers (31.0%) were 65 and older in 2018, compared with 26.5% in 2017. In 2031, the last of the baby boomers will have turned 65.
Canada has one child or senior for every two working-age people
The demographic dependency ratio represents the number of children (0 to 14 years) and seniors (65 years and older) per 100 working-age people (15 to 64 years). On July 1, 2018, the ratio was 49.9. This indicator has been rising steadily since 2009 (44.1), and more prominently since 2011 (44.6) when the first baby boomers started turning 65. It will continue to rise until 2031 and even beyond. According to the medium growth (M1) scenario in the most recent population projections, the demographic dependency ratio should be 64.2 in 2031.
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.3. The information is grouped by Year ending June 30 (appearing as row headers), Persons aged 0 to 14 years and Persons aged 65 years and over, calculated using per 100 persons aged 15 to 64 years units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Persons aged 0 to 14 years
Persons aged 65 years and over
per 100 persons aged 15 to 64 years
The current trend in the demographic dependency ratio is the opposite of what was observed in the 1970s. Between 1971 (the beginning of the period covered by the current demographic accounting system) and 1986, the demographic dependency ratio fell from 59.5 to 46.0. This phenomenon was also due to the baby boom, people born over this period having successively turned 15 years old from 1961 to 1980. Canada has therefore seen years when the demographic dependency ratio was much higher than in 2018. The main difference lies in its age composition: in 1971, children (aged 0 to 14) represented 78.5% of the non-working-age population, compared with 48.4% in 2018.
The demographic dependency ratio recorded in 2018 (49.9) was the highest since 1978, when Canada had 49.3 children or seniors per 100 working-age people. Since 1978, the demographic dependency ratio has remained below 50, at a relatively stable level, because the majority of baby boomers have been of working age.
The number of people aged 55 to 64 exceeds those aged 15 to 24 years
Generally speaking, individuals aged 15 to 24 years have recently, or are about to enter the labour market for the first time. In contrast, people aged 55 to 64 are often on the cusp of, or in retirement. On July 1, 2018, there was less than one labour market potential entrant (0.9) for each person potentially leaving. By comparison, in 1984, Canada had two people aged 15 to 24 per person aged 55 to 64. Subsequent years were marked by a steady decrease in this ratio, such that starting in 2013, the number of people potentially leaving outnumbered the number of those potentially entering the labour market. According to the most recent population projections, this ratio should remain stable in the coming decades.
A generally younger population from Central to Western Canada and in the territories
The demographic dependency ratio by province and territory differs from one jurisdiction to another. In 2018, the Atlantic provinces and Quebec had a higher dependency ratio than the national average (49.9) due to a high proportion of people aged 65 and older. Manitoba and Saskatchewan also exceeded the national dependency ratio with 52.2 and 53.8 respectively. This was mainly due to high proportion of children aged 0 to 14 years. Among the provinces, the only exception was Alberta, which had not only a lower dependency ratio (46.5) than the Canadian average, but also a larger proportion of children aged 0 to 14 (18.9%), reflecting a younger population overall. A similar situation was noted in Yukon (40.1) and the Northwest Territories (39.5). At the other end of the spectrum, Nunavut had 49.4 children aged 0 to 14 per 100 working-age people, and only 6.0 people aged 65 and older per 100 people aged 15 to 64.
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.4. The information is grouped by Provinces and territories (appearing as row headers), 0 to 14 years and 65 years and over, calculated using per 100 persons aged 15 to 64 years units of measure (appearing as column headers).
N.S.
Ont.
Sask.
Alta.
Y.T.
N.W.T.
Nvt.
Population estimatesPopulation estimates1, Note 1, age distribution and median age as of July 1, 2018, Canada, provinces and territories
This table displays the results of Population estimates Population, 0 to 14 years, 15 to 64 years, 65 years and over and Median age, calculated using number, % and years units of measure (appearing as column headers).
37,058,856 16.1 66.7 17.2 40.8
525,355 13.9 65.6 20.5 46.5
8,390,499 15.8 65.4 18.8 42.5
40,476 16.8 71.4 11.8 38.9
44,541 20.4 71.7 7.9 34.8
Preliminary postcensal estimates.
Return to note 1 referrer
Note: Figures in percent may not add up to 100% as a result of rounding.
The number of centenarians continues to grow
Because of increased life expectancy and population aging, more and more Canadians are reaching the age of 100. On July 1, 2018, preliminary estimates indicate that there were 9,968 centenarians in Canada, or 26.9 per 100,000 population. In 2001,Note 11 the proportion was 11.4 centenarians per 100,000 population. By comparison, in Japan, which has one of the oldest populations in the world, there were about 56 centenarians per 100,000 population in May 2018.Note 12
Low female mortality is a factor in population aging
The main population aging indicators are all higher for females. On July 1, 2018, the proportion of women 65 and older (18.5%) was higher than the corresponding proportion of men (15.8%). The median age was also higher for women (41.8 years) than for men (39.7 years). Furthermore, the centenarian group was still comprised mostly of women (82.2%). These differences are mainly due to the fact that women, at all ages, have lower mortality levels than men. These mortality levels create a persistent, yet narrowing gap in life expectancy in favour of females. The most recent data (2014-2016) show that the life expectancy at birth of females was 84.0 years, compared with 79.9 years for males, with females living an average of 4.1 years longer than males. Twenty years earlier, this gap was 5.8 years.Note 13
One in two Canadians is at least 40 years of age
In 2018, one out of two Canadians was at least 40.8 years. The median ageNote 14 has increased by just over 10 years since 1984, when it was 30.6 years.
Median age varies considerably from province to province. On July 1, 2018, there was a difference of 9.6 years between the province with the highest median age (46.5 years in Newfoundland and Labrador) and the lowest median age (36.9 years in Alberta). Taken the territories into consideration, Nunavut had the lowest median age at 26.1 years.
In 1998, the differences between the provinces were much smaller, with a gap of 3.2 years. The highest median age was in Quebec (37.1 years) and the lowest in Alberta (33.9 years).
The situation in Newfoundland and Labrador indicates an especially rapid aging of its population. Between 1993 and 2005, it province went from having the lowest median age (31.8 years) to the highest (40.7 years). During this period, Newfoundland and Labrador experienced negative population growth. The main contributing factor is the departure of many young adults to other provinces and territories. Consequently, the province registered fewer births.
Conversely, the Prairie provinces now top the list of the youngest provinces. This is mainly on account of a higher proportion of Aboriginal people (Manitoba, Saskatchewan),Note 15 younger populations with higher fertility rates, and more young adults and families moving from other provinces and countries (Alberta).
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.5 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018 (appearing as column headers).
23.7 26.2 29 31.8 35.9 39.4 42.3 44.3 46.5
6 6 7 8 9 10 9 8 8
26.5 28.9 31.5 33.9 36.5 39.3 42 44 45.9
28.4 30.5 32.8 34.9 37.1 39.3 41 41.8 42.5
7 8 9 10 10 8 6 6 6
29.2 31 32.4 33.9 35.8 37.5 39 40.3 40.6
28.7 30.2 31.7 33.5 35.4 37 37.8 37.8 37.3
27.8 29.1 30.9 33.3 35 37.1 37.9 37.2 37.3
26.4 27.6 29.9 32 33.9 35.1 35.6 36 36.9
10 10 10 10 8 6 5 5 5
Women outnumber men slightly
On July 1, 2018, the sex ratio for the entire Canadian population was estimated at 98.6 males per 100 females. This ratio has changed very little over the last 20 years, with 98.0 males per 100 females observed in 1998. Males outnumber females in ages 0 to 34 years, mainly because of the sex ratio at birth, which averages 105 males per 100 females. When people reach their early-60s, the number of men starts to fall significantly below the number of women because of excess mortality among males. This gap widens at more advanced ages: in the 65-to-79 age group, there were an estimated 91.8 males per 100 females on July 1, 2018. However, the gap between the sexes seems to be narrowing. Twenty years ago, for every 100 females aged 65 to 79, there were 82.1 males. In the population aged 80 and older, there were an estimated 66.2 males per 100 females on July 1, 2018, compared with 51.3 males per 100 females on July 1, 1998. The estimate for centenarians in 2018 was 21.6 males per 100 females.
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.6. The information is grouped by Age group (appearing as row headers), 1998 and 2018, calculated using number of males for 100 females units of measure (appearing as column headers).
number of males for 100 females
The sex ratio varies from one province and territory to another
There are some regional differences in the sex structure in Canada. On July 1, 2018, the lowest sex ratio in the country was in Nova Scotia, with 95.8 males per 100 females, and the highest was in Saskatchewan (101.6 males per 100 females). The sex ratios in the Atlantic provinces were below the national average (98.6 males per 100 females), while in the Prairie provinces, they were all higher. Among other factors, this situation can be attributed to differences in the aging of Canada's regions: a younger population is usually a more masculine population, and an older population is usually a more feminine population.
In 2018, males outnumbered females in all the territories. The main differences between the sex structure in the territories and in Canada as a whole are at higher ages. At age 50 and older, Yukon and the Northwest Territories had 105.0 and 112.0 males per 100 females, respectively, compared with 92.0 males per 100 females nationally. In Nunavut, it was even higher, with 113.7 males per 100 females.
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.7. The information is grouped by Provinces and territories (appearing as row headers), Total, 0 to 14 years, 15 to 64 years, 65 years and over, Total (Canada), 0 to 14 years (Canada), 15 to 64 years (Canada) and 65 years and over (Canada), calculated using number of males for 100 females units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Total (Canada)
0 to 14 years (Canada)
15 to 64 years (Canada)
65 years and over (Canada)
98.0 106.4 98.8 90.3 98.6 104.3 101.2 84.7
98.0 104.3 100.8 85.6 98.6 104.3 101.2 84.7
101.6 103.4 105.4 85.2 98.6 104.3 101.2 84.7
103.5 110.5 100.8 110.5 98.6 104.3 101.2 84.7
Mobile individuals are much younger than the entire population
The age pyramid opposite highlights the differences in the age-sex structure of interprovincial migrants, immigrants, non-permanent residents and the total population.Note 16 On July 1, 2018, the proportion of the working-age population (aged 15 to 64) was considerably higher among immigrants (78.2%), interprovincial migrants (77.5%) and non-permanent residents (95.4%). These subgroups also had a high concentration of young adults. A majority of non-permanent residents (61.0%) were between 18 and 29 years of age. Immigrants were slightly older and less concentrated in some age groups, since 57.3% were in the 25-to-44 group. Lastly, 54.9% of interprovincial migrants were aged 20 to 44. Similarly, the median age of interprovincial migrants (31.0 years), non-permanent residents (25.5 years) and immigrants (30.6 years) was below the national level (40.8 years) on July 1, 2018.
This stacked column graph or age pyramid compares the age structure of the population and of non-permanent residents as of July 1st, 2018, as well as of interprovincial migrants and immigrants who migrated between July 1st, 2017 and June 30th, 2018, in relative value.
This table displays the results of Pyramid table 2. The information is grouped by Age (appearing as row headers), Interprovincial migrants, Non-permanent residents, Immigrants, Population, Males and Females, calculated using per thousand units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Interprovincial migrants
Non-permanent residents
3.8 3.3 0.2 0.2 1.4 1.4 5.3 5.1
4.9 5.2 18.1 16.7 4.5 4.0 6.1 5.8
10.5 11.1 34.1 26.3 5.5 6.5 7.1 6.4
14.1 14.3 30.6 24.1 11.3 14.2 7.1 6.6
13.4 12.4 13.4 9.7 19.6 19.9 7.0 6.9
10.5 9.7 10.8 7.3 15.8 15.2 6.9 6.9
9.8 9.1 9.7 6.6 14.3 13.6 6.8 6.9
Immigrants stood out for having a higher proportion of children under 15 years of age (18.3%) than the total Canadian population (16.1%). However, the proportion of immigrant children aged 0 to 14 was down from the previous year (20.0%). By comparison, in 2018, 4.2% of non-permanent residents were in the 0-to-14 age group. The distinct age structure of non-permanent residents is mostly due to the fact that these people come to Canada mainly for the purpose of work or study, which mostly involves young adults and applies less to children.
Females slightly outnumber males among immigrants, contrary to non-permanent residents
The sex structure of the three subgroups also differs. Males were slightly underrepresented among immigrants (98.4 males per 100 females), but were significantly overrepresented among non-permanent residents (132.6 males per 100 females) and to a lesser degree, among interprovincial migrants (102.8 males per 100 females). By comparison, the sex ratio for the entire Canadian population is almost equal, with 98.6 males per 100 females. More careful analysis of the sex ratio in each subgroup by age reveals that men are generally overrepresented among interprovincial migrants under 62 years of age,Note 17 among immigrants under 19 years as well as those aged 32 to 52 years, and among non-permanent residents of all ages, with some exceptions.
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.8 Total, 0 to 14 years, 15 to 64 years and 65 years and over, calculated using number of males for 100 females units of measure (appearing as column headers).
98.6 104.3 101.2 84.7
102.8 107.1 103.7 83.7
98.4 107.3 97.1 83.0
Non permanent residents
132.6 107.9 133.6 164.5
Footnote 1.
“Fertility: Overview, 2012 to 2016.” Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 91-209-X.
“Mortality: Overview, 2014 to 2016.” Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 91-209-X.
Population Reference Bureau, 2018 World Population Data Sheet (accessed on November 8, 2018).
Data on the age distribution of the population for countries other than Canada are rounded to the nearest unit, as shown in the source used.
Except Germany in 2016.
OECD (2018), Fertility rates (indicator). DOI: 10.1787/8272fb01-en (accessed on November 9, 2018).
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017), table Annual Population by Five-Year Age Groups - Both Sexes. De facto population as of 1 July of the year indicated classified by five-year age groups (0-4, 5-9, 10-14, ..., 95-99, 100+) (Data are presented in thousands) (accessed on January 11, 2019).
Statistique Canada, Projected population, by projection scenario, age and sex, as of July 1, Canada, Provinces and Territories, annual (x 1,000), table 17-10-0057-01 (accessed on November 8, 2018). Calculations made by the author. The M1 scenario (medium growth, trends 1991/1992 to 2010/2011) was considered.
Generations in Canada, Age and Sex, 2011 Census, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-311-X2011003.
Footnote 10.
“Fertility: Overview, 2012 to 2016.” Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 91-209-X.
Return to note 10 referrer
2001 is the first year for which population estimates for centenarians are available.
Author’s calculation using data from Population Estimates by Age (5 Year Age Group) and Sex – May 1, 2018 (Final estimates). Japan Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (accessed on November 14, 2018).
Statistics Canada. Elements of the life table, Canada, provinces and territories, annual (number), 1980/1982 to 2014/2016, Table 13-10-01114-01 (accessed on November 8, 2018).
The median age is an age “x”, such that exactly one half of the population is older than “x” and the other half is younger than “x”.
Statistics Canada. Aboriginal identity population by both sexes, total - age, 2016 counts, Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 Census – 25% Sample data (accessed on November 15, 2018), author’s calculations.
Interprovincial migrants and immigrants are those who migrated between July 1, 2017, and July 1, 2018, while non-permanent residents and the population are those accounted for on July 1, 2018.
With the exception of the 14 to 24 age group and the 52 to 54 age group on July 1, 2018.
Note of appreciation
Canada owes the success of its statistical system to a long-standing partnership between Statistics Canada, the citizens of Canada, its businesses, governments and other institutions. Accurate and timely statistical information could not be produced without their continued co-operation and goodwill.
Standards of service to the public
Statistics Canada is committed to serving its clients in a prompt, reliable and courteous manner. To this end, the Agency has developed standards of service which its employees observe in serving its clients.
Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2018
All rights reserved. Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.
Catalogue no. 91-215-X
Frequency: Annual
Main page / Highlights
Analysis: Total population
Statistical tables
Data quality, concepts and methodology
Explanatory notes for the tables
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Bartholomew Dillon
Sir Bartholomew Dillon (died 1533) was a leading Irish judge of the sixteenth century who held the offices of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland.
He was born at Riverstown, County Meath, eldest son of Sir James Dillon, Baron of the Exchequer, and his wife Elizabeth Bathe, daughter of Bartholomew Bathe of Dollardstown Castle, Athy, County Kildare.
He married twice: his first wife was Elizabeth Barnewall, daughter of Thomas Barnewall of Irishtown, and his second wife was Elinor Plunkett, daughter of Edmond Plunkett, 4th Baron Killeen.[1] He had one son, Thomas, and a daughter, Ismay, who married James Fleming, a grandson of James Fleming, 7th Baron Slane, and was the mother of Thomas Fleming, 10th Baron Slane.
His younger brother founded the branch of the family which held the title Earl of Roscommon. By birth and marriage the Dillon brothers belonged to the small Anglo-Irish ruling class of the Pale.
He was an official in the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) by 1505 and became a Baron of the Exchequer in 1507. He was appointed Chief Baron in 1514 but removed after a year, for reasons which are unclear. He was Deputy Treasurer of Ireland from 1516 to 1522, when he became a judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). In 1533 he was made Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland but died suddenly soon after.[2]
According to Elrington Ball, at a time when the Irish ruling class were deeply split between supporters (the so-called Geraldines) and opponents of the 9th Earl of Kildare, Dillon was one of the most prominent Geraldines, and spent much of his time in England defending the Earl of Kildare's interests.[3]
Lodge, John and Archdall, Mervyn "Peerage of Ireland" Dublin 1789
Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926
Judges in Ireland
Legal offices
Patrick Bermingham Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
1533 Succeeded by
Patrick Finglas
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David Byrne's AMERICAN UTOPIA Nominated For Best Alternative Album Grammy Award
Blu-ray Review: At Last, American Masterpiece 'True Stories' Gets The Home Release It Has Earned
David Byrne Creates a Playlist of Eclectic Music for the Holidays: Stream It Free Online
Via Open Culture
Whose music do you put on when the holiday season comes around? Perhaps musicians like Lonnie Holley, Gurrumul, Erkin Koray, and Juan Luis Guerra? Maybe you've just thrilled with recognition at one or more of those names, or maybe you've never heard of any of them — but in either case, you should get ready for a highly unconventional holiday experience featuring their songs and those of many others, all of them curated by David Byrne. Each month the peripatetic, oft-collaborating musician and former Talking Heads frontman posts a new playlist on Radio David Byrne, and the latest, "Eclectic for the Holidays," will get us into a kind of seasonal spirit into which we've never got before.
"So... who recommends this stuff to me?" Byrne asks. "I’ve known Lonnie Holley as an artist for quite some time. I saw him do a show at National Sawdust not too long ago with trombonist Dave Nelson, who toured with St. Vincent and I a few years ago."
"I heard an orchestral interpretation of this song by Gurrumul when I was waiting to do an interview at the radio station in Melbourne, Australia. I asked, 'Whose music is that?'" "Erkin Koray I heard after first hearing Barış Manço, who may have been recommended by some friends in Istanbul when I was there years ago... Turkey had a serious psychedelic period." "Juan Luis Guerra may have been recommended many years ago by music journalist Daisann McLane at a music festival in Cartagena, Colombia."
The 41-song journey that is "Eclectic for the Holidays," which you can take on Spotify or on Byrne's official site, offers not just a chance to happen upon intriguing artists you'd never come across before — as happened to Byrne in all those chance encounters that went into its construction — but a break from the same fifteen or twenty songs that have long dominated the holiday-season rotation in homes and public spaces around the world. The holidays themselves teach us that tradition has its place, but Byrne, whose compulsion to discover new music from an ever farther-flung range of societies and subcultures, shows us that you can't let them get you comfortable enough to close your ears.
via BoingBoing
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& Chair Snowman Pear
by kazanec | Oct 14, 2020 | Technology | 0 comments
AMB Security Patrol Services in San Fransisco. > Technology > & Chair Snowman Pear
Decode the “& Chair Snowman Pear” to link here. shorturl.at/pAGJ8
Some Fun Facts about the Chair:
The first chair dates back around 5000 years, back to the times of Ancient Egypt. During this time, only VIPs used them
The word ‘chair’ comes from the Latin word ‘cathedra’, which means to sit
Chairs didn’t become popular until the 16th century; before that, people used to sit on the floor at all times
Sitting for too long, be it at reception seating or on any other type of chair, is actually bad for your health
Charles Darwin accidentally invented the office chair; he put wheels on his regular chair because he didn’t want to keep getting up and down to fetch things!
When working out your new office desk design, make space for ergonomic chairs. These have a range of features which are designed for comfort – most of these features aren’t used by the majority of people
Atlanta’s Dennis Easterling set the record for the longest amount of time moving in a rocking chair – 20 days in one stretch!
It seems Shakespeare loved his chair – he mentioned chairs three times in Henry VI, part 3
Germany held the first office chair race in 2009
Some Fun Facts about the Snowman:
The first-ever snowman documented was in the illustration from work that was entitled Book of Hours, way back in 1380 – and it was found in Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague. The biggest snowman of all time was created in Bethel, Maine, in 2008. The snow-woman was a whopping 122 feet tall in height and was called Olympia, in honor of the US senator representing the state of Maine, Olympia Snowe. The previous record was also set in 2009 in Bethel, Maine, and was called Angus, King of the Mountain, in honor of the governor of Maine, Angus King – who was 113 feet 7 inches.
The people of Zurich, Switzerland, love a good snowman – love blowing them up, that is! Every single year since 1818, the city celebrates the start of spring by blowing up a snowman – and the holiday is known as Sechseläuten. To begin the celebrations, on the third Monday of April, a cotton snowman named the Böögg is stuffed with dynamite and is paraded through the town by blacksmiths, bakers, and various other tradesmen, who throw all sorts of sausages and bread to the crowd.
At the end of the parade, Böögg is placed on a 400ft high pile of scrapped wood. The bells of the Church of St. Peter chime six times, which represents the passing of winter and the start of spring. Winter is officially over as soon as the snowman is blown up – and the shorter the combustion, the long summer is supposed to be.
Since 2005, private resident Billy Powers erects Snowzilla every pre-Christmas season in his front yard. Snowzilla is a giant snowman that attracted attention on its first appearance, and so has returned every year due to popular demand.
Not everyone likes Snowzilla, though. One of Billy’s neighbors complained that the 22ft snowman, which features beer bottle eyes, a carrot nose, and a corncob pipe, was resulting in heavy traffic and warned of safety concerns in 2008. City officials issued a cease and desist, which prevented Snowzilla from being completed – but just a few days later, Snowzilla was completed on the lawn, although Billy Powers denied making it. The next year, following public outcry, Snowzilla returned with interference. The above image is the earliest known photograph of a snowman and has been recorded in The National Library of Wales. The photo was taken in 1853.
Japan holds the Guinness World Record for the most snowmen built in one hour. An incredible 2,036 snowmen were built in just sixty minutes by Drama 24 Unhandyman on Zuriyama Observation Field, in Akabira, Hokkaido, Japan, on 28 February 2015.
The group consisted of 1,406 participants and the event took place during the filming of a TV drama, with even the actors participating in the record.
It took a Guinness World Record adjudicator and 4 witnesses two hours to measure and count the snowmen, whilst thirty stewards ensured participants used no tools and stopped on the adjudicator’s signal.
Karen Schmidt from Minnesota, USA, owns the largest collection of snowmen in the world, according to the Guinness World Records. The American collector owns 5,127 snowmen items and counting and started her snowman collection back in 1980. Karen loves all her snowmen, but her favorites have to be the pink snowman that sings the festive song “Santa Baby” and a red bird making a snowman.
Some Fun Facts about the Pear:
Asian pears were cultivated in China as early as 1134 B.C.
There are over 3000 varieties of pears grown around the world.
The first pear tree was planted in the North America in 1620 in the Massachusetts Bay colony.
The Chinese considered the pear, which they call “li,” to be a symbol of immortality. The destruction of a pear tree symbolized tragic or untimely death.
Before tobacco was introduced in Europe, pear leaves were smoked.
March 15th is National Pears Helene Day.
Most pears (about 95%) sold in the U.S. are grown on the west coast, in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.
The Bartlett is the most popular variety of pear in the United States.
Pears were used as a natural remedy against nausea in ancient Greece.
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The artist scientist
Date of Birth-Death :1791-1872
Country of Birth :USA
Major Invention:Telegraph
Samuel Morse, was born in Massachusetts, USA. He started off his career after his graduation as a painter and sculptor. He even earned a gold medal from the famous Adelphi Society of Arts for his first effort in sculpture, the "Dying Hercules." He became the first president of the National Academy of Design, and was appointed Professor of the Arts of Design in the University of the city of New York.
Yet, this painter, turned to inventing to make his fortune during a sea voyage. On this journey, Samuel Morse heard about many attempts to create usable telegraphs. He was fascinated by this problem and began to study books on physics for two years to acquire scientific knowledge. He realized that pulses of electrical current could carry information over wires.
Thus the world's first working model of a telegraph was born. His signaling device was quite simple. It consisted of a transmitter (containing a battery and a key), a small buzzer as a receiver and a pair of wires connecting the two. Samuel Morse improved it by adding a second switch and a second buzzer to enable transmission in the opposite direction as well.
On May 24, 1844 Samuel Morse sent the first electronic message between Baltimore and Washington: "What hath God wrought," or in other words, "Look what God has enabled us to build, and benefit by."
By 1861 the two coasts of the United States were linked by telegraph.
Telegraph continued to enjoy the status of being the fastest and reliable mode of communication for almost 140 years since its first inception.
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Mantronix - Mantronix: The Album (Deluxe Edition)
Artist: Mantronix
Album: Mantronix: The Album (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Traffic Entertainment
Review date: Aug. 22, 2008
Kurtis Mantronik is one of the direct descendents of Afrika Bambaataa’s 808 electro-funk collages. The latter’s adoption of synthesizers half a decade prior to Mantronix: The Album added another dimension to hip hop, which Mantronik expanded on by letting the decks (not the MC) master the ceremony, curating robotic soundscapes designed specifically for the club. The duo’s “Bassline” was one of the first hip hop singles to chart abroad, thanks in no small part to the foundation laid by “Planet Rock.”
By the time Mantronik met Haitian-born M.C. Tee at Manhattan's Downtown Records (Frank Ramos’ store, not the current record label of the same name), he was absorbing the Eastern digitalis of Ryuichi Sakamoto. He wasn’t the only head looking in that direction; Whodini’s Thomas Dolby-assisted “Magic’s Wand,” Melle Mel & Duke Bootee’s “Message II (Survival)” and Twilight 22’s “Electric Kingdom” had all incorporated squelchy bounces and mechanic beats. Influenced equally by the dick grabbing of T La Rock and Larry Levan’s crates, Mantronix signed to the venerable Sleeping Bag Records on the strength of their “Fresh is the Word” demo.
Manipulating only two 1200s, an SP-12 and the Rhythm Composer, Mantronik adroitly slowed the tempo of electro’s pioneers, giving the drums a saturated boom. Lead take “Bassline” establishes the focus; light saber thrusts bring Hawkwind’s space rituals to mind before M.C. Tee plays off the buoyant bass. “Get Stupid” continues the skyward gaze, sampling Billy Cobham’s “Stratus” while cowbells keep the rhythm. Considering the apparatus, “Fresh is the Word”’s gestalt runs deeper than it should, with Mantronik wielding the cross-fader like a weapon. The Beasties would later lift the all-inclusive refrain for Check Your Head’s “Jimmy James.” Programming crisp workouts that refined the Kraftwerk/Sly template and deploying analogous vocoder droids to help direct the crowd, these NightGlo tracks incited B-boy unrest at places like The Roxy.
The backdrop being the show, M.C. Tee’s presence is more of an afterthought – think a lower-pitched Shan cadence or a pre-Five Percent Wise Intelligent. Aside from the suggestive “Ladies,” the subjects never veer too far from reminding you that he’s on the mic and how nice his producer is. His most vital contribution is keeping the proceedings grounded in hip hop, making the unreleased a cappellas seem a bit pointless. This deluxe edition also tacks on an assortment of 12” versions, instrumentals and remixes, most notably the spiked club rendering of “Bassline.”
That The Album was released the same year as LL Cool J’s Radio and Run DMC’s King of Rock gives you an idea of what kind of other shit Mantronik was really on. By 1986, he’d graduated to a 909, as illustrated by graffiti legends Gemini and Gnome’s cover of Just-Ice’s Back To The Old School. Incidentally, his production on that record is the real jewel of his discography, but it’s fitting that The Album, which still sounds ahead of its time, is what he’ll be remembered for.
By Jake O'Connell
View all articles by Jake O'Connell
Find out more about Traffic Entertainment
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Better Results Through Critical Thinking - Jay
Interview with Dr. Mat-Thys Fourie - Chairman of Thinking Dimensions Global, Managing Director of Thinking Dimensions, USA
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
Samuha, Kanakagiri, Karnataka
Our daily lives consists of making key decisions pertaining to our personal and/or professional front which may be right or wrong. World over management gurus and psychologists have discussed and studied the ways, tools and techniques to make decisions and solve problems and have attempted to come up with a logical way to cope with a given situation. However, decision making is only a ripple in a stream of thoughts combined with uncertainty and risks that a given situation poses amid various alternatives. The right decision can save the day. On the other hand, bad decisions can often be traced back to the way the decisions were made - the alternatives were unclear, the right information was not collected, the costs and benefits were not accurately weighed, etc. Even if one has the experience to cope and come up with solutions to similar situations tackled in the past, this may not help when it comes to business situations; the same solution may not work given the dynamism of the environment in which we operate in today.
ET this month delves on the theme Problem Solving, Decision Making and its Impact. People have long preached the benefits of deploying modern techniques such as derivatives, scenario planning, business forecasting, and real options. But at a time when change and chaos so often triumphs over control in the business world, even these can do only so much. All is not lost. Faced with the imperfectability of decision making, theorists have sought ways to achieve, if not optimal outcomes, at least acceptable ones.
With the festival of lights just around the corner, here's wishing your family and you the very best of Diwali 2015!
In the Thinking Aloud section, Jay speaks of rational and critical thinking and is of the opinion that the latter helps in better decision making despite the many challenges to the term. Keeping in mind the various needs of stakeholders, there are tools and techniques that can enable one to tackle problems and arrive at better decisions in a collaborative manner.
On the Podium, Dr. Mat-Thys Fourie talks about how we can break the cycle of making mistakes and opines that when individuals are pushed further for more ideas they produce more creative and innovative alternatives. He shares thoughts on Continuous IT Service Improvement, especially in the context of identifying Technical Cause & Root Cause Analysis.
In We Recommend, Prasad shares his thoughts on Daniel Kahneman's book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow.' The book summarizes research that Kahneman has conducted over the years in collaboration with Amos Tversky. The central theme being between two modes of thought: System 1 and System 2. He also offers explanations of why humans struggle to think statistically. Kahneman explains this phenomenon using the theory of heuristics.
In Standing Ovation, we feature Karnataka based NGO - Samuha. Since its inception in 1987, it has been working with disabled people through its Community Based Rehabilitation programmes. It also aims to improve the quality of life of agricultural and backward communities by running projects in education, health, poverty alleviation and water management.
In Figures of Speech, Vikram's toon tries to solve a problem at the right nick of time!
WINTER ASCENT TO MT. PATALSU
Empowered Learning Systems is offering an unique Leadership Expedition for Learning In the Outdoors called 'The Leadership Crest.'
Expedition Dates: 21 - 28 January, 2016
Summit Day: 26 January, 2016 (unfurl our National Flag atop on Republic Day)
Range: Pir Panjal, the Himalayas
Altitude: 4,200 mts. / 13,451 ft.
Location: Solang - Manali, Himachal Pradesh
This learning workshop is also our tribute to the spirit of Malli Mastan Babu.
For details, contact ROHAN SHAHANE: rohan@empoweredindia.com / +91-95525 98909, or click here.
As always, we value your opinion, so do let us know how you liked this issue. To visit our previous issues you can visit the Resources section on the website or simply Click Here. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In & Google+ - where you can join our community to continue the dialogue with us!
In a world where emotions rule, strange as it may seem, there are still those who believe in rational thought.
Most of us would argue that rational thought is impossible when we are seized with multiple series of issues accosting us - sometimes minute to minute - in a jam packed day. Decision making under pressure can test the best of us & compel us into knee jerk reactions as the primitive brain inside us takes recourse to the easy way out when faced with the classic 'fight or flight' dilemma.
In the words of the radical Kupferberg, 'When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.' And, we hardly need to be reminded that in today's VUCA world, patterns are changing much too rapidly to allow us to come to grips with situations. In a well-known Harvard Business Review article, the authors noted that 'not all leaders achieve the desired results when they face situations that require a variety of decisions and responses. All too often, managers rely on common leadership approaches that work well in one set of circumstances but fall short in others. Why do these approaches fail even when logic indicates they should prevail? The answer lies in a fundamental assumption of organizational theory and practice: that a certain level of predictability and order exists in the world.' The authors, Snowden & Boone, then went on to offer the Cynefin framework as a methodology to make sense of a fast changing environment where fluidity is normal, particularly in the socio-political fields.
The ability to think critically in the face of multiple challenges is much valued despite the definitional challenges of the term. 'You know it when you see it', said an academician explaining Critical Thinking. The definition that appeals to me the most is 'the ability to take information and make informed decisions without being influenced by your own opinions' (Pearson). This is feasible by first of all identifying & analyzing assumptions, and then evaluating information carefully, and, finally, by arriving at appropriate conclusions. Easy as it seems, it is not so, as our mind is a mine field of biases and fallacies aggregated through years of social conditioning & stimuli, besides the natural variation and deficiency in biological intelligence in any group of people.
In the world of business too, there are tools and techniques that can enable us to tackle problems and arrive at better decisions in a collaborative fashion, keeping in mind the needs of multiple stakeholders. An important one is the KEPNERandFOURIE® (K&F) framework. Complexity in today's world cannot be wished away and only those who are well equipped with appropriate tools will be ready to manage successfully and achieve better results. The bedrock of this method is the interplay between Divergent & Convergent Thinking.
Doyle's Sherlock Holmes famously said that, 'The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes', and come to think of it, it is so true, isn't it? Therefore, we require simple tools to aid us to be rational in resolving vexatious problems. In the systematic approach of the K&F process you are asked to begin by identifying the objective of any exercise. Thereafter, there are clear steps for gathering information through critical questioning. Having accomplished this, the logical next step would be to organize, evaluate & analyse this information, leading to the final conclusion and appropriate action (be it setting priorities, making decisions, making further & deeper risk analysis, etc.).
Can we learn to be better decision makers? The cost of poor decisions is rising in today's competitive world, and this can be rectified. Yes, thinking is a muscle that can be developed through practice. Our ability to think critically can be shaped by becoming aware of techniques like the K&F approach outlined above. However, mastering this approach and making it intuitive to oneself requires repeated and dedicated practice. The fact is that investing and creating a community of expert problem solvers in your firm who can think critically and resolve issues with speed could be one of the best decisions that a leader can make!
Interview with Dr. Mat-thys Fourie - Chairman, Thinking Dimensions Global
Dr. Mat-thys Fourie is currently Chairman of Thinking Dimensions Global and Managing Director of Thinking Dimensions, USA and Thinking Dimensions, Singapore and still works selectively with some of his clients. He is also co-author and co-designer of the KEPNERandFOURIE® methodologies. He has over 30 years of problem solving and decision making experience helping organizations across the world solve some of their most vexing and seemingly unsolvable problems. He has worked with companies such as Macquarie Group, SASOL, Unisys, SITA, Barclays, RBS, NCS, Singapore Stock Exchange, BMW, VW, Cadbury Schweppes, Westpac, National Australia Bank, Kimberly Clark, Hollister, Stihl Inc. and the US Navy.
ET: Human beings are born problem solvers, it is said. Yet, we find that managers in organizations repeat the same mistakes again and again. What can we do to break the cycle of mistakes?
MF: Unfortunately human beings only learn from their mistakes and rarely improve their problem solving and decision making abilities proactively. Most successful people learn about how to solve problems through trial and error and some were lucky to be mentored by their parents and/or an official mentor. Over a period of 30 years in the problem solving business we've learned that most business people need to receive training in problem solving techniques to become more effective.
ET: The legendary problem solving expert Chuck Kepner has famously said that, 'Very often, the first alternative suggested is greeted with open arms. 'Hey, that's a good idea,', and the search is over. The best ideas usually come later, after people have had a chance to think about it.' What is the method to generate more ideas for problem solving & decision making so that we do not make better decisions?
MF: This is correct. The first ideas are always the obvious ideas or also known as the "same old, same old". Only when pushed for further ideas will individuals become more creative and produce innovative and exciting alternatives. The method to use is to break down the requirements for a decision and then to generate specific suggestions per requirement. This method allows the decision maker to generate specific innovative actions and when put together would produce an answer that they would not have thought of originally.
ET: Quality of information is the key input to problem solving. How does one gather information & ensure the authenticity of this critical input?
MF: By breaking down the problem into components and then to restate those components in as specific as possible terms. This would enable the problem solver to structure specifically worded questions that will cut through to the core issue and thus improve the date and information regarding a specific issue.
ET: The IT industry is committed to continuous process improvement. Please share with us your thoughts on Continuous IT Service Improvement, especially in the context of identifying Technical Cause & Root Cause Analysis?
MF: One of the components of Continual Service Improvement is to reduce recurring incidents on a consistent basis. This does not always happen because the average IT Professional does not understand that there are at least two answers to an incident. There is a technical cause, which would represent what happened technically. In other words, what change or event in time caused the eventual deviation from the standard? Then there is also at least one root cause and this represents a condition that exists. This is the company environment condition, unless removed will produce technical causes and incidents in perpetuity. The bottom line is that you need to find the specific technical event first before you would even have a chance to find the root cause. Without this philosophy you cannot really cause an improvement in your IT environment.
ET: Please share with us the essential and core principles of the Kepner&Fourie® framework of problem solving & decision making.
MF: The core principles are the following:
Use a framework to gather factual information about the incident or the solution needed.
Ask the right question from the right person to get a right answer.
Verify the validity of information or data offered.
Test assumptions by testing SME inputs against your factual snapshot of the incident or solution needed.
ET: Tell us about the Institute of Professional Problem Solvers?
MF: The IPPS is an institute to raise the level of corporate awareness about the importance of good problem solving and decision making skills. This institute is trying to create a framework that would recognize the different proven skills levels of individual in problem solving in the work place. These levels could be attained through formal training and application or through experience. There are three levels:
Level One - The Foundation Level - basically learning about decision making and proving that he/she can apply the principles and practices of sound problem solving and decision making.
Practitioner Level - This is the level where the individual proves they have the ability to apply these skills in a normal working environment.
Professional Level - This is the ultimate level and at this level the individual proved they can apply their professional problem solving skills with any team in any environment at any level in the organization.
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahnemann
This is a brilliant book, a tour de force from one of the deepest thinkers and psychologists of our time. This is a book that explains clearly why we do what we do and why we make the choices we make. And how can we perhaps steer ourselves clear of some of the more obvious obstacles in our path by being more aware of our own biases and fallacies.
This is a book about understanding how the mind works and how this understanding, helps each one of us make better decisions by improving our ability to identify and understand errors of judgement and choice, in others and eventually in ourselves, by providing a richer and more precise language to discuss them. This is Daniel's biggest contribution. You cannot understand what you cannot articulate. In this book, Daniel introduces a language for thinking and talking about the mind.
Daniel and Amos worked for many years together to document the 'short cuts' or heuristics in our intuitive thinking that manifest as biases that skew the way we interpret the situation and take decisions. Heuristics such as the availability heuristic explains why some issues are very important in the public's mind and while others are neglected. People tend to assess the relative importance of issues by the ease with which they are retrieved from memory and this is largely determined by the extent of coverage in the media.
How does the mind work? The title is actually the dead giveaway. Daniel explains in fascinating detail, with lots of insightful examples how we use two types of thinking which he calls as System 1 and System 2 thinking. The intuitive System 1 or fast thinking which operates automatically, quickly with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control and System 2 is the slower more deliberative thinking which allocates attention to effortful mental activities. The interaction of the two systems is the recurrent theme of this book and simply understanding how these systems interact would be enormously beneficial to the reader.
This is not an easy book to read though it is extremely readable. The book moves on from the two systems approach to judgement and choice to the study of judgement heuristics. It answers the question 'why is it so difficult to think statistically?'The book then explores the puzzling aspect of our mind - our propensity to overestimate what we think we know and our inability to acknowledge the full extent of our ignorance.
At the close, one of the most fascinating distinctions drawn by Daniel in his book is the distinction between our experiencing self and remembered self. The distinction is crucial to our measurement of well-being. What makes the experiencing self happy is not quite the same as what satisfies the remembering self. The decisions that we take and our overall happiness depends on how our two selves pursue happiness.
As Kahneman says 'Like medicine, the identification of judgement errors is a diagnostic task, which requires a precise vocabulary'. Labels such as 'anchoring effect', 'halo effect', 'narrow framing' bring together in memory everything we need to know about a bias.
Finally the book is really about providing a richer language so essential to the skill of constructive criticism. A remarkable book and a seminal work, this is a must read for every one as we all fight the same fight - how to make better decisions inspite of ourselves.
Samuha is a development organization which began work in January 1987. Its goal is to improve the quality of life of vulnerable people. The core of Samuha's operational areas are presently focused around 90,000 households in over 500 villages and hamlets in the Raichur and Koppal districts of North Karnataka.
The NGO primarily focuses on children, women, people with disabilities, people living in rain-fed, agricultural economies, people with distinct cultural identities, and the digitally disadvantaged. It conducts surveys and research on developmental issues. Apart from this, it also generates awareness building activities and encourages groups and institution building activities.
Mission/Vision:
To help vulnerable people improve their quality of life.
Till date, Samuha has incubated the following independent entities that continue to work in the society's developmental process:
Mahiti, an internet resource group for NGOs.
Suvidhya, an educational resource group.
Jana Sahayog, an organization of people living in slums.
Samraksha, an organization working in health and development with special focus on reproductive sexual health and HIV
iSquareD, an organization focusing on social enterprise. iSquareD or i2D takes its name from the 3 words 'Innovation, Internet and Development'.
Samarthya, an organization working with people with disabilities. It takes its name from 'Potential'.
Its international presence consists of Samuha International - Samuha Overseas Development Association (SODA), which was initiated by Hilary Crowley, a returned ActionHealth 2000 volunteer, in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Side by side, Samuha Germany e.V. is being initiated by a group of returned SCI Germany volunteers.
For more information on the activities undertaken by Samuha, please visit http://www.samuha.org/.
Samuha, for their noble contribution to the society, deserves a Standing Ovation!
We feature our in-house Photographer Rupesh Balsara's floral picture of daylilies in full bloom taken in mid-August on the Keylong-Manali-Leh route. Also known as the "perfect perennial" due to its brilliant colours, the ability to tolerate and thrive in different climate zones, these flowers typically last no more than 24 hours. The flowers of most species open in early morning and wither during the following night, possibly replaced by another one on the same scape (flower stalk) the next day.
Rupesh Balsara is a well-known naturalist, outdoor specialist and wildlife photographer.
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Medical drones set to take off in Top End
Aaron Bunch
Scientists have teamed up with the Northern Territory government to investigate if drones can help deliver health care in remote communities.
It’s hoped drones will also be able to drop off medical supplies and collect pathology samples from the Top End’s 80 remote health clinics.
NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles says drones could potentially make daily health care deliveries to isolated communities that currently rely on fortnightly plane services during the wet season.
“If you’re a community that’s cut off this could be a quick way for a clinic to get pathology back into a regional centre to get information,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
“This is an exciting project for the NT. It’s the next step in medicine.”
But first, researchers at Charles Darwin University need to test the financial feasibility of using drones and their technical capabilities in the Top End’s harsh environment.
Spatial scientist Hamish Campbell said drones could lower the cost of transporting medical supplies to communities and improve healthcare outcomes.
“We know that integrating drones into health care is effective but we need to understand where drones are going to make a difference,” he told reporters.
“We already have many sealed roads and CareFlight and patient transfer services, so there’s already a really good transport infrastructure set up in the NT for remote communities.
“There’s no point substituting an existing health care service with something that’s more expensive.”
Drones are already in use delivering medical supplies to communities in Africa but the NT presents unique challenges, such as long distances.
Problems caused by monsoonal rain, cyclones, extreme temperatures and humidity will also have to be solved by researchers.
They’ll also have to navigate Australia’s robust civil aviation regulations and negotiate with the Department of Defence.
The financial feasibility of the project may also be tested by the high cost of using satellites to communicate with the drones in areas where Telstra’s 4G network doesn’t reach.
The drones are likely be able to travel up to 250 kilometres and carry weights up to 25 kilograms with pilots stationed in regional centres, such as Jabiru in Arnhem Land.
But only non-pharmaceutical medical supplies that don’t require prescriptions will be able to be delivered under Australian law.
The drones also come with a hefty price tag of up to $500,000.
The NT government and federally funded transport research group iMOVE have contributed $1.4 million to the three-year study.
Categories: Health, Technology
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Pixel Scroll 8/18/21 Science Fiction Grand Pixel Banned From Scroll
Posted on August 18, 2021 by Mike Glyer
(1) WHEN SHALL I MAKE AN END. Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the authors who answers the question “When should writers return to old, abandoned work?” for The Writer. Can you guess the story she’s discussing? Click through to see if you’re right.
Mood as a factor
Mood can take two forms – the mood of the story or novel you abandoned and the mood you’re in when you try to get back into it – that is, your emotional state of mind. As any writer can tell you, the mood you’re in makes a great difference when you tackle any work of fiction. But let’s say this project’s been gathering dust for several years. Are you charged up enough to take it on? Do you have the right inspiration?
Lois McMaster Bujold, speculative fiction writer and four-time winner of the Hugo Award, can speak to these very questions. She returned to an abortive novella after a seven-year hiatus. In 2011, she had completed 15,000 words on a “high-concept tale” about bioengineering, which she nicknamed Radbugs! Then she ran into a brick wall: “Radbugs, and then what?”
Plot-wise she had drawn up short: “The internal problem was that of making the Radbug bioengineering project central, as semi-realistic science (fiction) – it didn’t have a novella-like time frame or structure.” She considered two options, the first being a story that concentrated more on the research. “But scientific research like that is just a whole lot of tedious back-and-forthing on experiments and data collection for several years until the concept either becomes viable or is proved not to work.” Her second option didn’t seem viable, either. “Letting the story focus instead on some of the human problems encountered in those first 15,000 words seemed too much like another story I’d written. I eventually stopped and went on to other things, thinking I’d finally own a trunk story. But it itched. It was half done.”
In 2018, she was in the right frame of mind to return to it….
(2) FIFTY SENSE. NPR has posted its choices for “The 50 Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books Of The Past Decade”. I’ve read 17 of these. Which doesn’t sound like a good score, yet is higher than I expected. My favorite book of them all happens to be the first one listed, Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice.
…This year’s summer reader poll was also shaped by a series of “what ifs” — most importantly, what if, instead of looking at the entire history of the field the way we did in our 2011 poll, we only focused on what’s happened in the decade since? These past 10 years have brought seismic change to science fiction and fantasy (sometimes literally, in the case of N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series), and we wanted to celebrate the world-shaking rush of new voices, new perspectives, new styles and new stories. And though we limited ourselves to 50 books this time around, the result is a list that’s truly stellar — as poll judge Tochi Onyebuchi put it, “alive.”…
How We Built This
Wow, you’re some dedicated readers! Thanks for coming all the way down here to find out more. As I said above, we decided to limit ourselves to 50 books this year instead of our usual 100, which made winnowing down the list a particular challenge. As you may know, this poll isn’t a straight-up popularity contest — though, if it were, the Broken Earth books would have crushed all comers; y’all have good taste! Instead, we take your votes (over 16,000 this year) and pare them down to about 250 semifinalists, and then during a truly epic conference call, our panel of expert judges goes through those titles, cuts some, adds some, and hammers out a final curated list….
(3) SHAUN TAN ART. Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book Week runs August 21-27 with the theme “Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds.” The campaign includes this poster by Shaun Tan.
(4) DODGY PRACTICES. Smashwords informed Nigerian writer and editor Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki that they cannot pay him outstanding e-book royalties, because he doesn’t have a PayPal account – which is due to PayPal not operating in Nigeria.
Folks be like you're from Nigeria so you don't deserve to be paid. Smh. Lol, nice try. pic.twitter.com/Hh4gRZGhOv
— Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (@Penprince_) August 17, 2021
(5) WRITING MODULE. Speculative Literature Foundation’s video interview “Paolo Bacigalupi: Values Fiction” comes with a set of discussion questions.
In this clip, author Paolo Bacigalupi discusses how he writes fictional solutions into the personas and experiences of the characters that populate his novels
(1) Ecological message fiction provides a space for authors to imagine inspired, inventive technology for the future. Bacigalupi believes that crafting these ideas for a better life within dystopian settings ultimately creates a more powerful message for his readers. Do you agree? Why or why not? Can you think of any examples of message fiction that are not set within a dystopian context?
(2) The focus on a ‘chosen one’ or set of heroes as the solution to the problems presented in values fiction can be limiting for a narrative’s overall message. Why do you think this would be? Are there any broader societal implications for ‘chosen one’ style-plots? Is there a situation in which this narrative structure would be useful?
(3) Bacigalupi says that writing fully “lived-in”, interesting characters with varied perspectives on the topic at hand is more effective in getting your message across than creating characters who specifically espouse your values. Do you agree with Bacigalupi? As a reader, what do you find you relate most to in the characters you read?
(4) Bacigalupi cites Gene Wolfe’s claim that those who want to write values fiction need to be able to argue all sides of the argument they’re engaging with in order to make their own point as strong as possible. Can you think of any topic in which arguing all sides would completely contradict your own values as a writer? Would you do it anyway?
(6) ARC MARKET. The return of the sale of of ARCs. From the Wall Street Journal: “Stephen King, J.K. Rowling and Others Whose ‘Not-for-Sale’ Books Are Fetching Thousands”. Andrew Porter recalls, “I sold a bound galley of a Stephen King Doubleday book for $500 in 1984.” (The WSJ is usually paywalled, but this was open to read today.)
“Not for sale,” reads the fine print on the back of an advance reader copy (ARC) of Sally Rooney’s forthcoming novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, which days ago sold on eBay for $79.99 (with tote bag). Another advance copy sold earlier this summer for around $200—roughly 10 times what it costs to preorder the hardcover. An ARC of Jonathan Franzen’s forthcoming Crossroads was recently listed on eBay for $165.
Free copies of forthcoming books—in the form of ARCs, galleys and uncorrected proofs—are typically sent by publishing houses to authors, reviewers, bookstores and, increasingly, celebrities and influencers months before publication. The copies can draw a bidding frenzy, especially inside the literary world. One publicist described Rooney’s galleys, along with Ottessa Moshfegh’s, as “almost like trading cards” among junior publishing employees.
Early, unfinished versions of classic novels have long been collectible, with some fetching astronomical prices. This is especially true for early-20th-century books, when advance copies were rare and tended to be made with higher-quality materials. They can also provide a window into a canonical author’s process—highlighting revisions made between drafts, say—and may include handwritten corrections.
An uncorrected advance copy of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row is currently available for $35,000; an early version of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is on sale for $28,000. More recent releases from bestselling authors—such as an uncorrected proof of Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie, on sale for $3,000—typically sell for less. And then there’s Harry Potter. This May, an uncorrected version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone sold for over $29,000….
(7) NEW B5 COMMENTARY. J. Michael Straczynski has released another Babylon 5 commentary, on the episode “Signs and Portents”. These commentaries originally were only available through his Patreon page.
(8) YOUNGSON OBIT. Jeanne Youngson, founder of the Vampire Empire (originally the Count Dracula Fan Club), has died reports Nancy Kilpratrick. The Free Dictionary’s article about her accomplishments notes:
…In 1960 she married Robert G. Youngson, a renowned movie producer and historian, and that same year she launched a career as an independent filmmaker, winning numerous prizes as an animator. She also produced medical documentaries, including “My Name Is Debbie,” about the life of a post-operative male to female transsexual. The film is still being shown at Gender Identity conferences in tandem with a Canadian documentary featuring the actual operation.
The idea for a Dracula Club came to Youngson in 1965 while on a trip to Romania. Society Headquarters were set up in London, England, and New York City upon her return; and by the beginning of the 1970s the club had become a growing concern. In the meantime she found it necessary to give up filmmaking to devote her energies to the Dracula and Bram Stoker genres….
(9) MEMORY LANE.
1950 – Seventy-one years ago on this date, Destination Moon, produced by George Pal, premiered in the United Kingdom. It would be voted a Retro Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation at the Millennium Philcon. It was directed by Irving Pichel from the screenplay by Alford Van Ronkel and Robert A. Heinlein and James O’Hanlon. It’s based off Robert A. Heinlein‘s Rocketship Galileo novel. It starred John Archer, Warner Anderson, Erin O’Brien-Moore, Tom Powers and Dick Wesson. Mainstream critics usually didn’t like it but Asimov said In Memory Yet Green that it was “the first intelligent science-fiction movie made.” Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes give it a mediocre 48% rating though the critics overall give a sixty four percent rating there. It is not in the public domain but the trailers are and here is one for you.
Born August 18, 1925 — Brian Aldiss. Fiction wise, I’ll single out his Helliconia series, Hothouse and The Malacia Tapestry as my favorites. He won a Hugo at Chicon III for “The Long Afternoon of The Earth”, another at Conspiracy ’87 for Trillion Year Spree which he co-authored with David Wingrove. He’s edited far too many collections to know which one to single out. (Died 2017.)
Born August 18, 1929 — Joan Taylor. Her first genre role was Earth vs. the Flying Saucers as Carol Marvin, and she followed that with 20 Million Miles to Earth as Marisa Leonardo. Her last genre role was as Carol Gordon in Men into Space, a late Fifties series about a USAF attempt to explore and develop outer space. She retired from acting in the early Sixties. (Died 2012.)
Born August 18, 1931 — Grant Williams. He is best remembered for his portrayal of Scott Carey in The Incredible Shrinking Man though he did have the role of the psychopathic killer in Robert Bloch’s The Couch. Of course he shows up in Outer Limits where he plays Major Douglas McKinnon in “The Brain of Colonel Barham”. And he’s Major Kurt Mason in The Doomsday Machine. (Died 1985.)
Born August 18, 1934 — Michael de Larrabeiti. He is best known for writing The Borrible Trilogy which is noted by several sources online as being an influence on writers in the New Weird movement. Ok folks, I’ve not read it so please explain how The Borrible Trilogy influences that literary movement as it doesn’t seem like there’s any connection. (Died 2008.)
Born August 18, 1954 — Russell Blackford, 67. Writer resident in Australia for awhile but now in Wales. Author of Terminator 2: The New John Connor Chronicles, and editor of the Australian Science Fiction Review in the Eighties. With Van Ikin and Sean McMullen, he wrote Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction, and Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics which is just out.
Born August 18, 1958 — Madeleine Stowe, 63. She’s in the Twelve Monkeys film as Kathryn Railly, and she’s in the Twelve Monkeys series as Lillian in the “Memory of Tomorrow” episode. Her only other genre work was a one-off in The Amazing Spider-Man which ran for thirteen episodes nearly forty years ago. She was Maria Calderon in “Escort to Danger” in that series, and she also played Mia Olham in Impostor which scripted off Philip K. Dick’s “Impostor” story.
Born August 18, 1966 — Alison Goodman, 55. Australian writer who’s won three Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Speculative Fiction for Singing the Dogstar Blues, The Two Pearls of Wisdom and Lady Helen and the Dark Days Pact. The Two Pearls of Wisdom was nominated for an Otherwise Award.
Born August 18, 1967 — Brian Michael Bendis, 54. He’s both writer and artist, a still uncommon occurrence. Did you know he’s garnered five Eisner Awards for both his creator-owned work and Marvel Comics? Very impressive! He’s the primary force behind the creation of the Ultimate Marvel Universe, launching Ultimate Spider-Man which is an amazing series which I read on the Marvel Unlimited app.
The Argyle Sweater shows a robot leaving an autograph in an unexpected place.
Half Full is about a kind of house that I didn’t think needed an energy saving plan.
(12) VOTING WITH DOLLARS. “Tabletop Game Makers Crowdfund New Projects” Publishers Weekly charts the successes.
…Anya Combs, director of games outreach at Kickstarter, says one of the key reasons that 2020 was such an explosive year of growth for tabletop gaming was the Covid pandemic, which forced everyone indoors for months on end.
Last year, the global board games market grew by 20% over 2019, according to DW, an international news and media site. The market research firm Arizton Advisory and Intelligence predicted that board games would see a compound annual growth rate spurt of approximately 13% from 2020 to 2026—a surge driven in part by Covid-related lockdowns.
But to chalk up all of tabletop’s recent success to the pandemic would be shortsighted. Tabletop gaming has been enjoying expansion for years. In 2019, Grand View Research estimated that the playing cards and board games market would reach $21.56 billion by 2025.
“Tabletop has been having a moment for a long time,” Combs says. “A lot of it stems from this retro nostalgic aspect, and many point to Stranger Things and the resurgence of role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Tabletop provides a level of play that people needed during Covid. There’s something very genuine about sitting with your friends and sharing in a communal way.”…
(13) PICARD TO ENTERPRISE. You don’t have to wait for Starfleet to issue yours if you’re willing to order it from Amazon: Star Trek Next Generation 2021 Bluetooth Communicator Combadge with Chirp Sound Effects, Microphone & Speaker. And there are several styles.
Presenting the Star Trek the Next Generation Bluetooth Communicator Badge! Since its debut in 1987 the TNG Communicator Badge has been a sought-after future tech we all wish we had. Now available, a few centuries early, connect to your phone, tablet or computer to enjoy hands and ear. The Star Trek TNG ComBadge features an accurate on-screen matte gold with black outline & silver delta plate. High quality ABS & Zinc materials.
The Star Trek Communicator connects to all phones or tablets that have Bluetooth (any modern phone) with Bluetooth version 5 for longer range and extended payback time. It features a built-in Microphone and Speaker for phone calls and music playback. Strong magnet backplate so no holes in your clothes! | 2 hours constant music or phone usage / 48 hours Cos-play “Chirp” mode.
HIGH QUALITY SOUND | Plays the classic Star Trek TNG ComBadge chirp sound effect when you press it for Cosplay, when you receive phone calls or enable Siri, Google, Cortana or Alexa! With 30 to 300 foot Bluetooth “Badge to phone” range you can keep your phone in your pocket while you make phone calls, listen to music or use voice your voice assistant.
(14) FLIPPER. A pair of Boston Dynamics robots run a complicated course.
Parkour is the perfect sandbox for the Atlas team at Boston Dynamics to experiment with new behaviors. In this video our humanoid robots demonstrate their whole-body athletics, maintaining its balance through a variety of rapidly changing, high-energy activities. Through jumps, balance beams, and vaults, we demonstrate how we push Atlas to its limits to discover the next generation of mobility, perception, and athletic intelligence.
(15) KEEPS ON TICKING. Ars Technica says Ingenuity is still buzzing Martian skies: “After a dozen flights, NASA’s chopper has yet to come a cropper”.
NASA’s tiny Mars helicopter, which has a fuselage about the size of a small toaster, has successfully flown above the planet for the 12th time.
Nearly half a year after the Perseverance rover landed on Mars, the Ingenuity helicopter is still going strong on the surface of the planet. The small flyer has done so well that it has been separated from Perseverance for some time as it scouts ahead on the red planet….
(16) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [By Martin Morse Wooster.] In the spoiler-filled “Old Pitch Meeting” on YouTube, the producer, when he learns that the aging powers of the mysterious beach enables two six-year olds to mature so fast that they have a baby that dies 20 minutes after it is born, says “I could have been a doctor!” The shocking third act plot twist is SO ridiculous that George makes you very glad you didn’t spend any money on this stinker.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Olav Rokne, Cliff, Chris Barkley, Andrew Porter, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, and Michael Toman for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to contributing editor of the day Jon Meltzer.]
This entry was posted in Pixel Scroll and tagged Babylon 5, Count Dracula Fan Club, Destination Moon, Ingenuity, J. Michael Straczynski, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mars Exploration Rovers, NPR, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Paolo Bacigalupi, robots, Ryan George, Shaun Tan, Speculative Literature Foundation, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Vampire Empire by Mike Glyer. Bookmark the permalink.
54 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 8/18/21 Science Fiction Grand Pixel Banned From Scroll”
StephenfromOttawa on August 19, 2021 at 1:53 pm said:
2) I was glad to see “American War” and “The Buried Giant”, sort of outliers I think in terms of popularity with fans. (Or maybe I’m wrong about that.)
Also glad to see Valente’s “Radiance”.
I’m not much for making listsl but I would include “Aurora”, for one.
In most of the cases where I only read one book of a series, I just wasn’t fired up enough to want to read more.
Lenora Rose on August 19, 2021 at 5:19 pm said:
I didn’t count how many I personally read, especially when I realised how many were going to be series’, but I do dispute the person who says anything on that list doesn’t deserve to be on the list.
There’s not a single book on there, even the one that really didn’t work for me of the ones I read, that didn’t have someone, somewhere in the last few years passionately raving about how much they loved it. Not one of them was universally loved, I suspect — though I cannot recall any non-puppies who didn’t have anything nice to say about the Imperial Radch trilogy, and nobody at all who didn’t at least enjoy the Murderbot books — and I can definitely recall a few cases of “I kind of see why others liked it, but meh.”
Still, none of them had me go “Who?”; they were all talked about in some positive sense. Even the marmite authors like Valente have had multiple people of my acquaintance delighted at their progress as an author.
Xtifr on August 23, 2021 at 1:20 am said:
One book to recommend? Before I did that, I’d have to ask some questions, to try to find out what sort of the thing the person might like. How do you feel about being unsettled? Do you want something to help you relax, or do you enjoy a work that might get you riled up? How do you feel about humor? About snark? About blood and gore? Do you prefer a page-turner or a book that makes you stop and think?
John A Arkansawyer on August 24, 2021 at 3:08 am said:
Thanks to all who answered, especially those who named works, and particularly Kyra for reminding me Daryl Gregory has written more than just that one perfect story.
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Posted by kachalo on 27 ноября, 2021 in devaporate | Short Link
The headline is initially provocative, since the «disposal problem» is only in the minds of those who do not know anything about this topic and do not understand. But at
And this is how the topic finds its solutions from the point of view of the Bavarian automakers.
In a previous article, I talked about the company’s plans after opening a modernized factory in Munich. 7 million EVs by 2030 is not really that many compared to #volkswagen or #tesla
But this is still a large number, and since it will include both pure battery electric cars and hybrids (the BMW Group plans to expand its range of electric vehicles to 25 models by 2023, more than half of which should be fully electric models), this means a significant production of battery packs. And it also means that in a few years, in about 10 years, these batteries will need to be replaced on the car. And what will happen to them, with these batteries, then?
It is naive to assume that the companies, which are now producing electric vehicles, do not think what will happen to their battery assemblies in the future. And BMW in particular has a solution.
Again, you learned from the last article that in order to «green» the energy balance of its production, the company is beginning to actively use renewable energy — the sun and wind. Naturally, the structure of these power plants should contain massive energy storage units, consisting of the same assemblies of lithium batteries.
Why produce
And BMW is now developing and creating similar storage devices in which car batteries get their «second life».
The BMW Group is doing this in collaboration with Swedish battery manufacturer #northvolt and Belgian battery materials developer #umicore.
Together, the partners of this consortium are working to create a fully sustainable battery cell value chain in Europe, spanning all aspects from design and production to recycling.
From 2024 Northvolt will produce
The chemistry and components of the cells themselves will be critical to ensure that raw materials are reused as fully as possible and that they complete their physical cycle as demand for battery cells grows. And here, too, partner companies are closely cooperating.
Also, in collaboration with recycling specialist Duesenfeld, the BMW Group has developed a process that is 96 percent recyclable, including graphite and electrolyte.
When a car reaches the end of its life cycle, or an accident occurs without the possibility of rebuilding the body, the lithium-ion battery inside the battery assembly is far from ready to be sent for recycling.
In fact, battery packs can still be used for quite some time. Removed from the car, according to laboratory tests of the German automobile club ADAC, they can be used to create a stationary energy storage, the service life of which will be equal to another 10-12 years! That is, having worked on the car for about 10 years, the batteries can work at least as much with a new working role, in the SNE.
And you need to understand that when working on a car, the battery is exposed to high charging currents, frequent discharges, up to zero, possible overheating or vice versa freezing (anything can be). Not quite optimal operating modes. But in the SNE all these «sinusoids» will not be, this is a place of quiet and calm work, with a smooth charge / discharge.
As the energy transition continues, the topic of temporary storage of energy continues to gain in importance.
The BMW Group believes that this sector will continue to evolve and significant demand is expected for short-term energy storage solutions, including to compensate for peaks in power grids. In addition, preparations are underway for the use of electric vehicles themselves as a temporary storage of energy — for the so-called «bidirectional charging».
One notable example of battery recycling is the battery farm at the BMW Group plant in Leipzig, where production is powered by wind and solar energy generated locally. However, renewable energy sources are not always available when needed, so temporary storage is required to maintain stable supplies. In Leipzig, this is provided with old batteries from former BMW i3 test vehicles. Batteries are plugged into the grid to help stabilize it. By storing excess electricity and transferring it to the grid when needed, the blocks act as buffers. By combining them with each other, they turn into large energy storage devices.
Another example can be found in Hamburg, where a 2-megawatt storage facility constructed from BMW i3 battery packs compensates for peaks in port networks.
But large storage systems are not the only solution for a «second life» of batteries. They can also be used as storage devices in private homes, since a power of only 20 kWh will be more than enough to power the house, and even recharge an electric car.
Now all developers are trying to make a battery with a lower cobalt content, and with a greater possibility of almost 100% recycling at the final stage of its cycle.
Optimizing EV batteries for new EVs is a top priority in this regard. However, it’s not about size, it’s about technology, or rather efficiency.
The range (range per charge) of electric vehicles in the region of 600 km is now becoming the standard, and there is a tendency to increase this indicator. At the same time, the service life of a car battery largely depends on the behavior of the driver, for example, frequent use of fast chargers increases the load on the batteries.
The ambient temperature during the operation of an electric vehicle also matters (but here it is not so important, because most motorists in Russia still do not live in the Arctic Circle, or in the deserts), the number of cycles, the level of discharge and the age of the battery (regardless of use), are also factors that affect battery life.
And at this stage, it takes about ten more years to completely exhaust the resource reserve of the battery cell.
The loop closed and started again. Nothing ended up on a roadside dump, polluting nature with products of decomposition and decay.
As the saying goes: it is clean not only where they clean, but also where they do not litter.
Elon Musk dispels rumors and fog around information on Apple’s electric vehicle
SpaceX is preparing to launch a new cargo ship Cargo Dragon V2
The new Audi E-Tron GT is ready to compete with Tesla both on the track and at the charging station.
Freedom — Main Principle of Volkswagen Id Crossover Principle
Every New Month for NIO Becomes Record Sales in China
New DTM Electric Racing Series Launches 2023
Eleavor — Electromobile Supplier of the Moscow Kremlin from Crimea
Simargl V5 electric motorcycle review
Renault 5 — New wave of French Renaulution Renault
Drive 28 198 km in a Volkswagen ID.3 Pro S electric car in 65 days.
Speech by the Cheerleaders at the opening of Moscow Electrofest Racing 2020
Starlink kit unboxing and first satellite internet test results from users
Tesla Invests in China Supercharger V3 Equipment Manufacturing
What actually happens when an electric vehicle explodes: Experiment
Presentation of Russian electric scooters at the Moscow ElectroFest Racing 2020 festival
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From March 27th to April 6th 2019, a delegation from the Vietnam Women's Union led by Vice President – Mme.Nguyen Thi Tuyet took part in a study visitto the United States focusing on gender equality and women’s development.
The delegation met and worked with many American organizations, leaders and social activists to learn about promoting women's political and economic rights, and supporting female workers, immigrant workersand victims of domestic violence. The delegation was organized by the Asia Foundation and by the members of the 2017 U.S. Women’s Delegation to Vietnam and other American friends.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Overall we learned that, while U.S. women have made some progress in achieving equality, they still face many challenges including women’s under-representation in leadership and management, a wage gap between male and female workers; a serious problem of domestic violence, sexual harassment and racial discrimination against immigrant workers and Black, Latino, Asian and indigenous workers and women. The organizations and models we visited showed both the promise and the challenges of organizing U.S. women.
Working with the National Organization for Women (NOW)
In studying women in politics, leadership and management, the delegation learned about some of the many organizations that support women in running for electoral office at local, state and federal levels including the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the League of Women Voters. The delegation studied their methods of mobilizing resources for election campaigns, providing information, reaching voters, as well as organizing voter meetingsand improving women candidates’ skills and capacity.
Meeting with Ms. Sheng Thao, city council member, Oakland, California
The delegation worked with Ms.Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President, on the city's policies to promote gender equality, increase the proportion of women’s participation in electoral commissions and as staff experts and to facilitate the electoral process to increase female voters’ participation. The delegation also met with Ms. Sheng Thao and Ms. Nikki Fortunato Bas, members of the City Council of Oakland, California about the process of preparing and participating in the election of city council members as well as their support for the rights of poor, and working class women.
Meeting with VietUnity and other grass roots community development organizations
In studying women worker organizing, particularly focusing on immigrant workers and domestic workers, the delegation met with the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and their affiliates (MUA and La Collectiva) in San Francisco; VietUnity and other community organizations in Berkeley; 1199 United Healthcare Workers East (1199 SEIU) and other unions and workers organizations (Laundry Workers Center, DRUM, New York State Nurses Association, Dominican Women’s Development Center, Local 32BJ and Mekong) in New York and Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) in Washington D.C. The delegation heard presentations about how the women led unions and workers organizations protect the rights of women in the workplace. From these presentations, the delegation understood more about how our sisters in the U.S. recruit women, and organize members to fight for their own interests and gain support from the broader public through labor community alliances.The delegation learned about how these organizations amplify women’s voices and empower them to build economic and political power in their industries and about the campaigns for better wages and working conditions they have won as well as their specific victories against sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.
Visiting the Women's Daytime Drop-in Center in Berkeley, California
In studying domestic violence prevention, the delegation visited the Women's Daytime Drop-in Center (for the homeless and victims of domestic violence) in Berkeley, California. At the center, women are supported with daytime accommodation, psychological, legal and referral counseling, training in self-defense/protection and parenting skills, etc. The center’s fundsare partly provided by the city government. The rest depends on fundraising. The center's activities rely heavily on a network of nearly 100 volunteers who are enthusiastic students, retirees, lawyers and social workers.
Working with the Asia Foundation in Washington D.C.
In addition to women's organizations and the social movements for the rights of women, women workers and women in communities of color, the delegation had an opportunity to work with development organizations such as the Asia Foundation and the Asia Group to promotewomen’s economic status, safety for women and girls, as well aswomen in politics, management and leadership in Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific region.
Meeting with U.S. friends and movement leaders who have supported Vietnam
While in the U.S, the delegation had chance to meet with close American comrades and friends who have worked together to support Vietnamese independence and development including leaders in the peoples’ movement.
At the meetings and exchanges, the delegation actively shared with our U.S. sisters the development process in Vietnam, progress on gender equality, women's development and activities of the Vietnam Women's Union.The delegation explained the current challenges facing Vietnamese women and the VWU’s activities to advance women’s empowerment. These exchanges helped partners, and friends to understand more about Vietnam and the social advancement and gender equality that Vietnam has achieved until now. The delegation expressed the desire to strengthen solidarity and cooperation for the development of women of our two countries, especially in response to current and developing global challenges.
Working with the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and their affiliates (MUA and La Collectiva)
The delegation’s U.S working visit was successfully completed, contributing to strengthening the understanding and solidarity between the women and the people of the two countries, while promising a number of opportunities for cooperation on women’s development
Translate by International Relations Department
Vietnamese and Cuban women strengthen solidarity, cooperation for mutual development
Promoting cooperation between women of Vietnam and United Arab Emirates
Businesswomen resilient during pandemic: VAWE Chairwoman
Opportunities opened up for women in digital transformation amid Covid-19 pandemic
Embassy of Russia in Vietnam responds to program “Million gifts of great solidarity for the South to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic”
3,800 food kits worth more than 2 billion VND for women and children in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong
VWU’s Merit Medal “For the Development of Vietnamese Women” awarded to UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam
KOICA Deputy Country Director in Vietnam awarded with VWU Merit Medal
Strengthening connection and cooperation between Vietnam Women's Union and Korean Socialist Women’s Union
Vietnam – Korea discuss effective models and practices to support migrant women
Digital literacy for women in the context of international integration
Affiliated units Vietnam Women's Academy Vietnam Women's Union Vietnam Women's Museum Center for Women and Development One Member Limited Liability Microfinance Institution (TYM) Vietnam Women's Newspaper Vietnam Women's Publishing House Peace Tour Company
Member organizations Vietnam Association for Intellectual Women Vietnam Association of Women’s Entrepreneurs
Municipal/ Provincial Women's Union Bac Lieu Women's Union
@CopyRights Vietnam Women’s Union. All Rights Reserved
Address:39 Hang Chuoi Street, Hanoi, Vietnam;
Tel:(84-24)9713436 - Fax:(84-24) 9713143 - Website: http://hoilhpn.org.vn
Indicate source ©hoilhpn.org.vn when reissue information from the port Vietnam Women’s Union
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Graham Clark’s Quiz Show
Fri April 27 & Sat April 28, 7pm
$10 adv/$12 door
at Comedy Bar, Toronto
April 27 & 28
at Comedy Bar in Toronto
Award winning comedian Graham Clark host’s Graham Clark’s Quiz Show at Comedy Bar (945 Bloor St W, Toronto). This comedy show cherry picks the best segments of game shows, plus a few new favourites, and presents them all in one bizarre event! Comedians are the “contestants” with prizes for the audience. Brought to you by Hot Art Wet City.
April 27 guests: Nicole Passmore, Faisal Butt, Pete Johansson, and Sarah Szloboda.
April 28 guests: Kayla Lorette, Evany Rosen, Mark Forward, and Pat Thornton.
Graham Clark resides in Vancouver, BC. He is a 3-time Canadian Comedy Award winner, winner of several Vancouver comedy awards, and co-host of Maximum Fun’s Stop Podcasting Yourself. Clark is a regular on CBC’s The Debaters and has appeared at Just for Laughs, Halifax Comedy Festival, Winnipeg Comedy Festival (where he won best stand up in 2016), and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He is a winner of the Yuk Yuks “Great Canadian Laugh Off” and has appeared on HBO’s Funny As Hell. He has filmed his own hour-long Comedy Now special for CTV. Graham is also the creator of beardpaintings.com, where he sells paintings made using his beard as a paintbrush, and donates the proceeds to charity.
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GSL - GSL - Records of the Geological Society of London
Ref No GSL
Title Records of the Geological Society of London
Date 1807-present
Level Collection/Fonds
Extent [100 shelves]
Format Document
Description Records of the Geological Society of London, 1807-present, notably comprising:
Minutes and papers of Annual General Meetings, 1809-present; minutes, correspondence and papers relating to meetings of the Council, 1810-present; minutes and papers of Ordinary Meetings, 1807-present; minutes and papers of Special General Meetings; 1834-2003; Minutes and papers of Standing and Ad Hoc committees of Council, [1810]-present; Charter and Bye-laws, 1810-2005;
Correspondence and other administrative papers relating to the running of the Geological Society, including: Presidents' Papers, 1976-2004; Elected Officers' papers, 1956-1995; Executive Secretary's papers, 1950-present; Financial records, including bequests, trust funds, 1820-present; Letterbooks of the Assistant Secretary and other Officers, [1807]-1960;
Administrative records of departments, including: Membership, 1807-present; Conferences and scientific meetings, 1932-2014; Library, 1835-present; Archives and conservation, 1971-2004; Education Department, 1993-1998; Society's Museum, 1808-1911; Publications, 1906-2009;
Portraits and photographs of Fellows, 1792-2011; Images of the interior and exterior of Burlington House, 1873-[1995]; Plans of the Society's apartments at Somerset House and Burlington House, 1828-[1982]; Obituaries & biographical information on Fellows, [1895]-present; Records of the Society's Centenary celebrations, 1907-1908; and Bicentenary celebrations, 2004-2007;
Records of the Geological Society Club, 1824-2006; Records of the Society's Specialist Groups and Joint Associations, 1964-present.
Administrative History The Society has its origins in a series of meetings convened at the beginning of 1807 by four amateur mineral enthusiasts - physician William Babington, pharmaceutical chemist William Allen and the Quaker brothers William and Richard Phillips - to organize the publication of Jacques-Louis, Comte de Bournon's monograph on mineralogy. Meeting in Babington's house the group, along with ten other friends who were also active in London's flourishing scientific scene, resolved to each contribute the sum of £50 to cover the cost of the monograph's publication. (Published in the three volumes as 'Traité complet de la Chaux Carbonatée et de l'Arragonite', in 1808.)
Having enjoyed the meetings so much, many of the group continued to hold mineralogical discussions at Babington's house in Aldermanbury, London, usually at 7am before the physician began his rounds at Guy's Hospital. Other interested parties also joined the meetings and on the 13 November 1807, the new society was inaugurated at a dinner at the Freemasons Tavern, Great Queen Street, Covent Garden (the meetings being moved from breakfast to dinner time at the suggestion of Humphry Davy).
The minutes of the meeting record that there were thirteen founder members: Arthur Aikin (1773-1854), William Allen (1770-1843), William Babington(1756-1833), Humphry Davy (1778-1829), Comte Jacques-Louis de Bournon (1751-1825), James Franck (1768-1843), George Bellas Greenough (1778-1855), Richard Knight (1768-1844), James Laird (1779-1841), James Parkinson (1755-1824), William Haseldine Pepys (1775-1856), Richard Phillips (1778-1851) and William Phillips (1773-1828). The meeting resolved 'That there be forthwith instituted a Geological Society for the purpose of making geologists acquainted with each other, of stimulating their zeal, of inducing them to adopt one nomenclature, of facilitating the communications of new facts and of ascertaining what is known in their science and what remains to be discovered.' These aims were incorporated in the first constitution of the Society, formally adopted at a meeting on 1 January 1808.
Soon after its foundation the Society began to accumulate a library and a collection of minerals, rocks and fossils. In 1809 the Society moved into rented premises at 4 Garden Court, Temple, and in 1810 to 3 Lincoln's Inn Fields, where it shared larger premises with the Medical and Chirurgical Society, another society which Babington co-founded.
On 1 June 1810 the Society's first Trustees were appointed and later in the same month, 14 June, the first meeting of the Council took place. The Council resolved that the most important communications made to the Society should be published. Accordingly the first volume of the 'Transactions of the Geological Society' was issued in 1811.
With the increase in membership and activities of the Society it was found necessary to appoint the first permanent officer, Thomas Webster, in 1812. Although only part time, his duties included care of the Society's Library and Museum collections as well as those of draughtsman and secretary to the Council and Committees. The continual growth in the membership and of the collections of maps, sections and mineral specimens necessitated a further move in 1816 to 20 Bedford Street, Covent Garden.
In 1824 the Council decided to apply for a Royal Charter in order to allow it to bestow fellowships of the Society. The charter was granted on 23 April 1825 and the Rev William Buckland, Arthur Aikin, John Bostock MD, George Bellas Greenough and Henry Warburton were nominated as the first Fellows. At the following meeting of Council, the other 367 Society members were also granted Fellow status. Ironically many of these new Fellows, such as Greenough, held republican views hence why 'Royal' was never adopted into the Society's name.
The Society continued to meet at 20 Bedford Street until 1828 when it moved to apartments in Somerset House, Strand, which had recently been rebuilt by the Government for use as public offices and to house the Royal Academy and the Royal Society. The Society's apartments, including the two rooms of the museum, were fitted out to designs of Decimus Burton, architect of the Temperate House at Kew Gardens and Fellow of the Geological Society. The first meeting at Somerset House was held on 7 November 1828, and the Society remained there until removal to the present apartments at Burlington House in 1874.
The care of the Society's large mineral and fossil collections was always problematic. The Museum's first Keeper, Thomas Webster, was unhappy with the work load and also unpopular with the other Fellows. He resigned in 1827 and was replaced in 1829 by the first official Curator, William Lonsdale, whose health broke down from overwork in 1836. During the following nine years there were another five curators who all resigned. In 1869, it was decided to abandon attempts to form a comprehensive collection, instead specimens should directly relate to papers read at the Society. Although the move to Burlington House meant that the collection was thoroughly weeded and catalogued again, after 1876 (following another resignation) the collection received only cursory attention. A Special General Meeting was called by a group of palaeontologists in 1901 to try and force the Council to take better care of the Museum. However their plan backfired and instead a motion was carried that the Museum should be disposed of. The contents were divided in 1911 between what we now know as the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Practical Geology (part of the Geological Survey) in Jermyn Street. The British Museum (now Natural History Museum) received the foreign specimens, while the domestic collection was given to the other institution.
The Society officially started its existence as a dining club but with the steady increase in the number of members (341 in 1815 to 400 in 1818), and the acquisition of its own apartments, this aspect of its activities had stopped by around 1811. It was revived in 1824 with the foundation of the Geological Society Club which continues to hold dinners to the present day.
Today, the Geological Society of London is the UK national professional body for geoscientists. It provides a wide range of professional and scientific support to its c.12,000 Fellows, about 2000 of whom live overseas. As well as boasting one of the most important geological libraries in the world, the Geological Society is a global leader in Earth science publishing, and is renowned for its cutting edge science meetings. It is a vital forum in which Earth scientists from a broad spectrum of disciplines and environments can exchange ideas, and is an important communicator of geoscience to government, media, those in education and the broader public.
Arrangement Legacy archive arrangement has been retained except where items could be more logically placed.
Access Conditions Some files may contain information which is restricted under the Data Protection Act or for business purposes. Please contact the Archivist in the first instance.
Language Mostly English but some material in German, French, Russian, Chinese
Related Material For origin of the professional geological body of the UK, see records of the Institution of Geologists, 1973-1991 (ref: IG).
ArchNote Sources: Herries Davies, G. 'Whatever is under the earth'. London: Geological Society, 2007; Lewis, C L E & S J Knell. 'Making of the Geological Society of London'. London: Geological Society, 2009; 'The Society - History' (www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/society/history) accessed November 2010. Description by Caroline Lam
CreatorName Geological Society of London | 1807-
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Professor David Walker
David Walker is an architect, designer, and specialist in innovation and new product development. Most of his professional work has been in the realm of building bridges between two tribes – managers and designers. While a fair proportion of his work has been as a professional consultant and writer on design and innovation, he is convinced of the prime importance of visual thinking and visual communication. Verbal analysis of design can only set up frameworks; real quality and know how is embedded in visually led processes.
David has a first career as an architect in the UK (mainly in social housing) He worked for private practices (Tom Hancock. Max Lock) local government (Lambeth Council) and National government (DoE).
David moved to the Open University as a member of the Faculty of Technology in 1979. There he was course team chair of a pioneering course Design; Processes and Products and a lead author on both Design and Innovation, and the Technology Foundation course.
Within the Open Business School he was chairman of Managing Design and was lead author of Creative Management for the OU MBA. He is a co founder of DIG Design Innovation Group; Open University and UMIST.
Both of these courses are thought to be benchmark courses within the OU. He is the author of around 50 OU units (50 page monographs with support materials). While at the OU he constructed and delivered, the MA in Design Management at the Royal College of Art (RCA) over the period 1989 –1992.
Publications outside the OU include Managing Innovation Sage (with Jane Henry) and Creativity for Engineers Woodhead (with Barry Dagger).
David has lived and worked for extended periods abroad: in Boston as Research Fellow at the DMI, and in Toulon, Hong Kong, Sydney and Auckland. In Australasia he has co-constructed and variously contributed to post–graduate programmes in Design Management and Innovation. In the UK he was the founder and main editor of the cross disciplinary Journal co–design.
David Walker is working with alt.group NZ to support the Better by Design Campaign which is funded by NZTE the New Zealand equivalent of BERR. Also see their excellent CEO Summit on sustainability: featuring…Michale Braungart, Janine Benyus, Ray Anderson and Alex Steffen.
Check out David Walker’s piece on Sustainable Innovation here on the BBD site.
© 2022 Giraffe Innovation. | Site by Speed of Sound
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Category Archives: Electric Vehicle Reviews
CleanTechnica, Electric Vehicle Reviews, Electric Vehicles
24 Hours With The New, Longer Range 2017 BMW i3
July 28, 2017 Kyle Field Leave a comment
This review summarizes my early learnings in my first day with the new longer range BMW i3. A comprehensive review will follow, but I have found that some of the most important and impactful learnings about a vehicle arise very early on in vehicle use, as that is generally the time in which prospective buyers will make their decisions.
My comments include the background of time I’ve spent with the vast majority of electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles available in the United States (including owning at various times the Nissan LEAF, Tesla Model S, and Mercedes B250e).
Power: 125 kW (168 bhp) electric motor
Torque: 184 lb-ft
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Configuration: Rear-wheel drive
0-100 km/hr (0-62 mph): 8.1 seconds
The BMW i3, released in 2014, was one of the first purpose-built production electric vehicles in the current generation of electric vehicles. BMW poured billions of dollars into electric powertrain technology, with the BMW i3 one of its first resulting products. The German company also invested heavily in a complete transformation of the core of its vehicle bodies, funneling factories worth of cash into the development of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic).
We spent a week with the most recent iteration of the i3, which cranks up the capacity of the battery to an impressive 114 miles of all-electric range.
With the i3, BMW masterfully wove its passion for sporty luxury vehicles together with the torquey acceleration of electric vehicles. BMW took a leap into the future with the i3, which maps out the aesthetics of a vehicle that comes from the future, as if it travelled back in time from 2030 to today. The futuristic exterior leaves only the signature kidney grill and bold BMW logos, but upgraded seemingly everything else. The future of BMW shines inside the cabin as well, with the threads of carbon fiber exposed along the frames of its split doors.
A gentle tap on the start button brings the vehicle to life — though, you wouldn’t know it, as no engine revs up to shake the driver awake. Easing onto the accelerator reveals a finely tuned electric powertrain that beautifully rounds off the sharp edges of the poor traction control and jerky acceleration that plagues many EVs. Instead, BMW replaces such shortcomings with a dreamlike, silent, yet sporty grace.
Following the seamless integration of classic BMW themes and the future of the brand, the interior has been leveled up thanks to the electric drivetrain — as a result, it is quieter than any BMW I have had the pleasure of riding in to date. The combination of the classic build quality of a luxury BMW and the electric powertrain make for an extremely peaceful experience in the cabin.
Don’t let all this talk of peace and quiet leave you under the impression that the i3 is a spineless economy box. If anything, it is quite the opposite. The accelerator pedal, while controlled, packs more than enough torque with its 184 ft/lb. The power behind the pedal all but guarantees an exhilarating ride around town when the time comes for a bit of speed. Its 168 bhp is further magnified by the lightweight build of the vehicle, which allows for quick moves that defy more traditional builds.
A New Breed of BMW
BMW invested heavily into its BMW i program with the design for the i3 similarly starting from a blank sheet of paper. Doing away with legacy combustion engines, transmissions, drive shafts and emission control equipment allowed for new design options like building in a crumple zone in the front of the vehicle and opening up the passenger cabin with the elimination of the transmission and drive shaft.
The BMW i team took the design to the next level with the introduction of lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). The wonder material is just as strong as steel at half the weight. CFRP can also be crafted into completely new form factors without the need for structurally compromised welds to hold it together.
Due to the relatively high price of lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles have historically commanded premium pricing for relatively spartan offerings. Tesla turned that game on its head with a luxury vehicle that boasted sufficient margins to absorb the incremental cost of the batteries with a ground-up design that reimagined the luxury sedan, and later, the luxury sport utility vehicle.
The i3 design similarly started with a blank sheet of paper and resulted in a vehicle that is years ahead of its oil-powered peers. It too relies on pricey lithium-ion batteries and rolls them into a luxury design flush with carbon fiber, sporty handling, and a high-tech driving experience that naturally comes at a cost. It retails for $42,400, with options that take the price all the way up to $52,600 for a fully optioned vehicle with custom paint and an integrated range extender (REx) that brings the total range up to 190 miles. Regional rebates can bring the price back down considerably, resulting in a luxury electric vehicle that costs about the same as a standard luxury internal combustion vehicle.
The fully electric BMW i3 is eligible for the full $7,500 federal tax credit as well as the $2,500 California EV rebate, bringing the cost down a full $10,000. Certain California air districts, counties, and even electric utilities are now offering incremental rebates that stack on top, like the recently launched $450 Southern California Edison (SCE) rebate that brings the cost down even further. At a time when electric vehicles are taking off with longer ranges, faster charging times, and lower MSRP prices, they are now more affordable than ever.
For a full list of rebates in your area, head over to the Plug In America incentives page or the EV incentives page at Energy.gov — they have all the juicy details. I also highly encourage you to dig into what may be available in your local region, as these rebates tend to get less publicity and last for shorter periods of time.
The Ultimate Driving Machine, Redefined
The bottom-up design of the i3 is evident in just a single glance. The exterior screams loud and proud that it is the teenage rebel of the BMW family, intent charting a new course forward for the BMW family while still undeniably one of the family. It sports the signature kidney-shaped grill, bold BMW logos in all the right places, and the same classic climate control design queues as its ancestors.
BMW is not shy about its bold vision for the future of the brand, with dramatic and beautiful carbon fiber left exposed around the interior of each door.
The i3 comes standard with DC fast charging (DCFC) capability via its integrated CCS charging port. This allows for charging on the existing network of CCS chargers around the world. While the average driver will primarily charge at home, with fast charging reserved for the rare road trip, there are many drivers around Southern California who put DCFC capability to heavy use, as evidenced by the comments on charging station mapping service PlugShare. I mention this service in nearly every review I write not because we’re paid for it (we’re not) but because I use it so much in my day-to-day life.
The DCFC network is currently very minimally deployed as potential investors wait to see how the battle between charging standards plays out. As more and more EVs hit the roads around Southern California, the network will be hit hard — as is already being seen in some areas. Norway should be looked to as an example of what a robust public charging network should look like, as many innovative solutions and business models have already surfaced there that the rest of the world can learn from and reapply.
Supercharging speeds are still out of reach for the i3. Though, this is true of every other non-Tesla EV out there today. Look for capability to charge at 150 kW and faster as a key indicator for which EV manufacturers truly understand what a fully capable EV looks like.
The i3 makes very efficient use of every kWh that comes in, with a rating of 124 MPGe for the 60Ah model, 118 MPGe for the 94Ah model, or 111 MPGe for the 94Ah model with the gasoline range extender. Adding more weight to gain the extra range clearly comes at a penalty for all miles driven.
The i3’s high rating is largely attributable to its lightweight design and results in a lower cost to drive than its peers, and more effective mileage per hour charging than less efficient competitors.
Charging my wife’s Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive for 3 hours on a Level 2 charger (@6.6kW) with an efficiency of 2.9 miles per kWh, we would be able to drive about 57 miles. At the same charging rate and duration, the i3 would be able to travel an impressive 81 miles. That means less charge time to go the same distance … not to mention a lower cost.
The BMW i3 remains an impressive vehicle and the incremental boost in range makes it that much more formidable for commuters and families looking to go electric in stylish luxury.
With all its allure, though, the i3 will struggle to remain competitive when pitted up against EVs with double the range and with capability to charge up in half the time (like the Chevy Bolt and the Tesla Model 3).
I’ll share further details and commentary in a more in-depth review article in the coming days.
BMW i3BMWiCleanTechnica
How Does The Chevy Bolt Compare To The Tesla Model 3?
The reality of electric vehicles is that there are many more people who would love to drive an electric vehicle (EV) but aren’t doing so today for a number of reasons. Cost and range are the top 2 reasons, with charging being an issue for some buyers as well. The Chevy Bolt was the first mass-produced, widely available, affordable, long-range EV in the US that also happened to offer fast charging. Right on its heels is the Model 3.
Having owned a Tesla Model S for a few years and having spent some quality time with a 2017 Chevy Bolt loaner, I spent some time to compare the two in the categories I felt were most impactful based on my years as an EV driver (owning or having owned a Mercedes B250e, Nissan LEAF, and Tesla Model S).
Drivers are split into two categories — those who have owned and lived with an electric vehicle and those who have not. To those who have not owned an EV, they may appreciate the benefits of driving one and have an idea what charging might look like if they were to buy an EV, but it is a different thing altogether to own an electric vehicle. Living with an EV with fewer than 100 miles of range forces the owner to work the kinks out of the system where the rubber meets the road.
Those who have taken a journey that is longer than the range of their EV understand what it is like to really, truly have to rely on public charging in their area. The Chevy Bolt is a big step for electric vehicles with regards to charging, as it has an option for a DC Fast Charging CCS port that enables much faster charge rates. While CCS chargers are not as prevalent as Tesla Superchargers, there are not as many vehicles looking to use a CCS charger to refill.
[Editor’s note: It’s important to understand that Tesla’s Superchargers allow a driver to add about 170 miles of range in ~30 minutes, whereas the Bolt is more likely to max out at about 90 miles in ~30 minutes. However, again, the faster charging stations the Bolt would need to charge this fast can probably be counted on one hand. They will be increasing in number, but not nearly as fast as Tesla’s Superchargers.]
Chevy Bolt DCFC @ 21 kW. Image Credit: Kyle Field
Here in progressive Southern California, there are generally one or maybe two 50 amp DC Fast Charging stations in each city. They are typically bundled with a CCS and CHAdeMO port, which makes it easier for the stations to charge up a DCFC-capable vehicle but can also further restrict the charging station’s ability to deliver a charge to more than one vehicle at a time. In my time with the Bolt, I fast charged via DCFC stations several times and found the experience better than I expected, but I also realized that range anxiety came back. With just one station, it was all too easy for the station to be ICE’d with a gasmobile parked in the charging spot or found to be non-functional, which would have left me stranded.
Tesla’s foresight and upfront investment in building multi-station Level 4 Supercharging stations serves the company well in this regard. Most stations include 8 or 10 stalls, and (almost) no station has fewer than 4 stalls. Tesla is also adding stalls to high-traffic stations in advance of the flood of Model 3s that are expected to hit the road in the next 12 months.
Oxnard Supercharger expansion from 10 to 18 stations. June 6th, 2017. Photo Credit: Kyle Field
On my 2,600 mile road trip across most of the United States in my Tesla Model S, I never worried about whether a Supercharger would be available when I arrived or even where it was, as they are built in as stops by Tesla’s integrated navigation by default. This highlights the difference between Tesla and Chevrolet. Tesla is run by people who drive electric. They understand the real barriers and benefits of electric vehicles and operate with that in mind. No other automotive manufacturer has had the foresight into electric vehicles to invest in a charging network like Tesla has … and no, VW’s dieselgate-mandated Electrify America initiative does not count.
In my mind, the first major automotive company that forces all of its executives to drive electric cars will be the first one to truly make an intelligent push into the electric vehicle market.
The Tesla Model 3 wins the charging wars with its massive network of ~130 kW Tesla Superchargers boasting multiple charging stations in an intentionally deployed, integrated charging network that spans most of the US, Europe, and several other regions around the globe. Yes, any other manufacturer could do this, and it’s just a matter of a few billion dollars … but they have not done it to date and suffer because of this inaction.
Affordability of a long-range electric car was, until recently, a major constraint for those wanting to drive electric. The new $30,000 Chevy Bolt (after the US federal tax credit for ZEVs) is a major accomplishment and evidence that Tesla has indeed scared mainstream manufacturers into bringing long-range, affordable electric vehicles to market. It was clearly a response by GM to the threat of Tesla’s Model 3 and I’m sure Tesla is excited about its existence.
Before rebates, the price of the Bolt at $37,500 is slightly higher than the Model 3 at $35,000. Federal tax credits for Tesla vehicles are expected to run out in the next 12 months, meaning that anyone who is not already in the reservation queue for the Model 3 will likely not get a tax credit for it. Chevrolet has similarly produced numerous plug-in vehicles over the years and is thought to be nearing the end of the 200,000 plug-in vehicles that are eligible for the $7,500 US federal tax credit. Though, with lower demand for the Bolt (available in showrooms today), a tax credit is all but guaranteed for buyers.
Chevrolet Bolt specs at CES reveal. Image Courtesy: Chevrolet
The base Tesla Model 3 does not include important add-ons like the current Autopilot suite and full self-driving software, features expected to add thousands to the price of the vehicle. Based on data gathered by the Model 3 Owners Group, the average selling price of the Model 3 is expected to be around $50,000. That’s not to say that you have to spend that much, but most buyers will add options. Bolt does not have as many options in this regard and many buyers are comfortable with the base model with the exception of the missing DC fast charging option at $750.
I’m calling the price category a wash. Though, technically, Model 3 beats the Bolt at the base price.
For drivers who are just done driving a gasmobile, the Bolt can be purchased today, and as some of our single-car readers are aware, it meets the vast majority (if not all) of the needs of the average driver. (More on that later, though, when some of our Bolt-driving readers publish their own reviews of the car.) Deliveries of the Bolt started in December, while Model 3 will not be delivered to the first people in the reservation queue until July. Having said that, if you are not in the reservation queue for Model 3, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that you should expect to wait until late 2018 to get your Model 3.
This gives the Bolt a sizeable advantage with the average consumer, as it can literally be driven off the lot today, whereas that same luxury for Model 3 is around 18 months away for most prospective buyers — and even then, we don’t know how long demand will outstrip production capacity and force consumers to wait a bit for their cars.
While not specifically cleantech focused, autonomous driving technology has become synonymous with Tesla. Its Autopilot suite of technology changes the driving experience for drivers today, with nearly hands-free freeway driving in most regions and Elon Musk committing the company to performing a fully autonomous hands-free cross-country road trip by the end of this year.
Zach testing Autopilot in a Tesla Model X. Image Credit: Kyle Field
Chevrolet, on the other hand, has developed a healthy suite of autonomous driving technology that it has demonstrated in San Francisco but with none of the features included in the production version of the Chevy Bolt EV. In response to Tesla, Chevrolet has escalated the pace of its development of autonomous vehicle technology — but, again, the technology is absent in the production version nor has Chevrolet committed to bringing it to market in any future vehicles.
Model 3 will have all the hardware necessary for full self-driving functionality and clearly comes out on top for autonomous driving technology.
The Chevy Bolt is no slacker when it comes to performance. Stomp the pedal and even with its impressive traction control it is possible to chirp the tires. It boasts an impressive 0–60 mph time of 6.5 seconds and is a blast to drive. Most people do not care about a 0–60 time, and in my 7 years of owning my Prius, I had and still have no idea what it was. Performance for most is about the day-to-day driving experience, and in that regard, the Bolt delivers a peppy pedal with all the torque one could want.
Matte Black Tesla Model 3. Image Courtesy: Tesla
The Tesla Model 3, on the other hand, will have a 0–60 time of around 6.0 seconds, with Tesla’s famous Ludicrous mode being available as an (expensive) option farther down the line. The addition of a second motor also promises to offer an incremental performance boost for those who want a faster vehicle but want to retain the ability to breathe during acceleration. Tesla has always had a sweet tooth for performance, clearly claiming it as one of the top selling points of its vehicles (example: the Tesla Model S boasts the fastest 0–60 time of any production sedan at just over 2.2 seconds!!!).
For the average driver, these two cars will feel about the same in terms of acceleration, but with Model 3 offering extra options to step it up, Tesla takes the cake for performance.
Dealership Experience
When I bought my Model S, I was very impressed by the “dealership experience” Tesla provided. It had been a few years since I had visited a dealership, as I bought my Nissan LEAF online (which was also a very satisfying, low-stress purchase). Unrelated, unsolicited, and unpaid aside: we bought our LEAF from John Dibella at Wayzata Nissan. They had (have?) LEAFs from the factory that had/have not been titled but do have a few miles on them at great discounts. I highly recommend them.
Tesla is known for its all-out customer service and held up to that high standard in spades. I was VERY impressed and enjoyed every aspect of it. Knowing that prices are not negotiable at any Tesla store anywhere in the world at any time is nice. Tesla vehicles can also be configured and purchased online, which is handy in states where Tesla still cannot operate a physical sales center.
Tesla Santa Barbara. Image Credit: Kyle Field
And then we have … Chevrolet dealerships. I went into a few to test drive the Bolt before I took possession of the loaner Chevrolet that provided to me to review for CleanTechnica, and it was an eye-opening experience. To be fair, this is not a Chevy thing — it’s a dealership thing for all major automakers with very few exceptions. The salesmen were high-pressure sales people, were uneducated on the product, and left me feeling gross. I was pressured with follow-up phone calls to the point that I had to threaten to escalate to the manager to get him to stop calling (harassing) me. This is an issue with all dealerships, not just Chevrolet, but it is a HUGE disadvantage. (Editor’s note: Automakers would do well to understand and try to solve this sooner rather than later. And, no, fighting Tesla in the courts regarding its right to sell directly to customers is not the solution.)
Similar to how conventional vehicle manufacturers should force executives to drive electric, they should also be forced to buy a car from a handful of their dealerships … and from Tesla. The contrast is stark. I like going to the Tesla dealership even though I have no reason to go there. Granted, I’m a fan, but it goes beyond that. The experience was so positive and the approach is so different. (Editor’s note: I’ve heard of other Tesla stores being places for Tesla enthusiasts to hang out as well, almost like clubhouses.)
Tesla has redefined the car-buying experience in a way that makes it a competitive advantage. If I had to choose between buying another Tesla from a dealership or having to negotiate at a Chevrolet dealership for a car … even if it were free in the end, I would be hard-pressed to not choose Tesla.
The foundation of the autonomous driving technology is a base of sensors and cameras that, even on the base Model 3, provide a brilliant array of active safety features that will enable Model 3 to perform feats like “Automatic Emergency Braking,” swerving and dodging — and even accelerating — to avoid incoming vehicles. These features truly raise the bar for what it is to be a safe vehicle. Model S and Model X are the safest vehicles in their respective classes, and with safety as the #1 priority for Tesla, all signs point to Model 3 being an extremely safe vehicle as well.
Bolt Airbags. Image Courtesy: Chevrolet
While Chevrolet offers many of these active safety features, they are only included on higher-optioned vehicles, meaning most buyers will not benefit from them. Chevrolet has high hopes for a favorable safety rating for the Bolt, and based on the performance of the Volt with its Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Pick rating, I am hopeful that the Bolt will earn high marks.
Because of Tesla’s proven track record of delivering safe vehicles, the inclusion of active safety features in all current Tesla vehicles, and its safety-first focus, I’m going with Model 3 for the safety category.
The Tesla Model 3 and the Chevy Bolt EV are neck and neck in just about every area, and everyone will weight each of the categories differently, which makes it difficult to compare the two. With the massive advantage of the Tesla Supercharging network and the autonomous vehicle technology the Tesla Model 3 will arrive with next month, I’d say the Model 3 takes the cake. Buying a car is often an emotional decision not driven by categories or data, so take this comparison for what it is — my perspective — and do your own research. Become an expert and, most importantly, Drive Electric!
Chevrolet BoltChevy BoltTesla Model 3
24 Hours With The 2017 Chevy Bolt (CleanTechnica Review)
Many electric vehicle designers felt the need to stand out, to create a design that flies a bold flag to everyone around that proclaims “I’m modern and different!” While this is great for individuals or businesses looking to make a bold proclamation, most people are looking for a car that looks normal, that drives like a normal car with cool features inside that make day-to-day life just a little bit easier.
Being an electric vehicle advocate, I find myself in the first group, wanting my vehicle to scream out that it is different and that it doesn’t use any gasoline, which is why I paid just a bit extra to get a custom license plate that reads “NOGAAAS”. Having said that, I fully realize that for electric vehicles to achieve mainstream adoption and to usurp petroleum-fueled vehicles, we need vehicles that appeal to the masses to replace the Chevy S10 trucks and Toyota Corollas that sell by the millions.
It’s clear that this is what the team that designed the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt had in mind. On the outside, it looks very much like many modern subcompact cars on the market today. It features styling cues that place it right in line with the current Chevrolet brand identity. It looks and feels just like a “normal” car, a great feat.
The shiny exterior, the normal look and feel, and maybe even the new car smell are all part of an elaborate ruse to camouflage what is in all likelihood the most technologically advanced vehicle ever to set rubber on the floor of a Chevrolet showroom. The hard work done by the Chevy team in such a short period of time to develop the Bolt and move it to production shines through, and that work set the new high bar for what it means to be an affordable, long-range electric vehicle. Nothing on the market today comes close to the Bolt.
The Bolt is a breakthrough first and foremost because of its range. With an estimated range of 238 miles per charge, it gives drivers more all-electric miles per charge than any vehicle in its class by a large margin. To put that range to the test, I took the Bolt out from the sunny beach town of Ventura, California, to the hilly wine country of Central California to see how it would handle long jaunts of freeway driving paired with a serious climb up the coastal range.
Over nearly 200 miles, the Bolt maintained an impressive efficiency of 3.9 miles per kilowatt-hour. This is an impressive achievement considering its official rating is 3.6 miles per kilowatt-hour. I attribute this to the efficient regeneration capability of the car. Given my initial results, I plan to put this to a more scientific test later in the week.
The efficiency is a noticeable improvement over the 3.0 miles per kilowatt-hour my Tesla Model S achieves on normal roads. Higher efficiency translates into faster effective charging rates that allow the vehicle to absorb more “range per hour” of charging than the Model S.
The Bolt is not a big car but the interior does not feel cramped. The cab-forward design enabled by the electric drivetrain puts the driver and passengers farther forward and in higher seating positions to allow for great visibility from any seat. The absence of a drive shaft and tunnel open up the center of the interior, which Chevrolet fitted with a number of roomy compartments that give drivers plenty of options for smartphones, chargers, and hand sanitizers to be stashed.
Asking my kids what they thought about the car from the back seat, they said they liked that the ride was smoother than our Model S and that it left a lot more room in the garage. I have to agree and both are nice features. For those who don’t want a large vehicle, the Bolt offers the interior features of a large car without leaving the passengers feeling cramped. I’m 6 foot 2 inches tall and fit in the car very comfortably.
Throttle Response
The first thing one notices when driving the Bolt is that the throttle response is extremely impressive. For those who have driven an electric car before, they are blown away with the snappy pedal that immediately throws your head back when punched. The EV smile comes out quickly as drivers realize that the Bolt accelerates with the speed and finesse of the famous Roadrunner from childhood cartoons, just without the “meep, meep” sound.
With the car weighing just 3,500 pounds (1,590 kilograms), mashing the pedal off the line throws you back into your seat and makes you question whether pounding the pedal was a good idea or not. The tires will squeal if you’re not careful, as the power overcomes the otherwise well tuned traction control. The torque from the motor also has the unhealthy tendency to pull the car to the right as it takes off, which is something to watch out for and potentially unsafe.
After slamming the pedal to the floor off the line a few times, it became clear that the steering is a bit squirrely after launch in general. Granted, I am not talking about the usual pace of driving around the neighborhood or on the way to get groceries, but it is worth noting. The design of the vehicle leaves the front wheels surprisingly light on the ground, and thus jittery through the acceleration of a launch. Having said that, it is a ton of fun to drive and that same 266 foot-pounds of torque all ready and waiting at zero RPMs makes this the most sporty subcompact I’ve driven — electric or not.
One-Pedal Driving
The Bolt diverges from the EVs of times gone past because of how it uses regeneration. First, the Bolt has the addition of a regeneration paddle that allows the driver to turn heavy regen on at the pull of a paddle. This paddle serves as another way to brake and can bring the vehicle to a complete stop but slows the vehicle at a more moderated rate than the actual brake pedal. On the downside, the regen paddle is either on or off. There’s no easing into it, which can make braking with the paddle nauseating if not used carefully.
The Bolt also has a “Low Drive” setting that allows for the famed one-pedal/single-pedal driving style. For drivers familiar with a Tesla, this is similar to driving with regeneration set to standard except that, in the Bolt, it can bring the vehicle all the way to a stop when the accelerator pedal is released — no need for the brake at all. Low Drive mode essentially activates aggressive regeneration when the accelerator pedal is let up.
In contrast with the regen paddle, single pedal driving in Low Drive allows the driver to throttle how much acceleration or regeneration they want based on how far the pedal is depressed. This mode admittedly takes some getting used to and can then enable mostly single pedal driving all the time. In my time with the vehicle so far, I’m a recent convert to the world of single-pedal driving and plan to use it exclusively moving forward. In summary, push pedal down = go, go, go. Release pedal = slow, slow, slow.
The Bolt packs a traction control system that is comparable to the system in Tesla’s Model S and X. Under normal driving conditions, it maintains solid traction and keeps the power going to the ground instead of to squealing the tires as many other EVs are prone to do.
Taking off around a right turn at full throttle or attempting what could have been interpreted as a drift slide around broad turn brought the system into question as the tires screamed in opposition, but those cases were extreme and not representative of normal driving conditions. My Tesla Model S was also able to be convinced to break traction with the ground but far less frequently. Having said that, the Bolt is the only other EV I have driven that even comes close to the traction control system in the Tesla … and at half the price.
The infotainment system in the Bolt is a huge step beyond just about every other car on the road today, with a few exceptions. The 10.2″ color touch screen is beautiful and relatively intuitive to use. Users are able to customize it to their liking, but not so much as to confuse users who aren’t too tech savvy. For example, it allows users to change the color scheme, but only has 3 options. The panels on the home screen display can be rearranged, but only with a preselected set of panels.
On the awkward side, the angle of the screen is a bit strange. It is almost as though the screen were laid down at an angle to make it seem like more of a tablet, but it results in the screen looking and feeling a bit counterintuitive, just based on its physical placement.
Navigation in the Bolt is similarly awkward. I wasn’t able to find the map on the infotainment system so called the integrated On Star service to help find it. The representative I spoke with confirmed that the Bolt does not have a built-in map-based navigation system but that it was able to offer turn-by-turn directions through On Star. I gave my representative my destination and he was able to download the turn by turn directions to the vehicle.
After years of using integrated map-based navigation systems, it felt strange navigating to a destination with just the arrows and instructions. It was as if I were only driving with one eye open or with earplugs in. Something was missing. A bit of digging revealed that the integration of Apple Play and Android Auto were meant to solve this, giving connected drivers the ability to display maps from their phones on the infotainment screen.
This approach ensures that the maps being used are always current. Though, it requires the user to have a smartphone and a data connection. I see where they’re going with that … but for me, it’s a bummer. Perhaps that’s something Chevy will fix with an over-the-air update sometime in the (near) future.
Stay tuned here on CleanTechnica for more details on the 2017 Chevy Bolt as our exclusive in-depth review continues next week.
Images Credit: Kyle Field | CleanTechnica
Chevrolet VoltChevy BoltReview
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Rescue and Resistance
November 14, 2006 Wyman Institute Articles Comments Off on Rescue and Resistance
by Jeremy Ben-Ami
(Jeremy Ben-Ami is a former senior advisor to President Bill Clinton and a member of the Board of Directors of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.)
Sixty-eight years ago this week, Adolf Hitler unleashed the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom. Savage mobs beat and murdered Jews, smashed their stores, and burned down synagogues throughout Germany and Austria. My father barely eluded this hurricane of destruction: he was on a boat just down river from Vienna, leading five hundred and fifty Jewish refugees to safety.
Most Kristallnacht commemorations – like most Holocaust education – focus on German perpetrators or Jewish victims. However, we would do well to remember as well stories of Jews who took action in those years, desperately working to save Jewish lives.
One such story is my father’s. Yitshaq Ben-Ami, 25, was the first Jew born in the modern city of Tel Aviv. Growing up in Palestine under British rule, he joined the Irgun Zvai Leumi, an underground militia that sought Jewish statehood. As the Nazis’ anti-Jewish persecution intensified in the late 1930s, the Irgun sent my father and other young Zionist activists to Europe to smuggle Jewish immigrants to Palestine.
This was risky business. The British were clamping down on Jewish immigration in response to Arab rioting. Reneging on the promise of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, by the late 1930s, the British were patrolling the Palestine coast and intercepting “illegal” Jewish refugees. A lengthy prison term awaited those who were caught engaging in illegal immigration.
That was not the only risk he faced. While official German policy encouraged Jews to emigrate, Jewish lives were always subject to the whims of individual Nazi officials with whom they came in contact. My father had a particularly harrowing moment in Vienna with the infamous Adolf Eichmann just days before Kristallnacht, as he helped Jewish immigrants board the S.S. Melk on the Danube River.
Eichmann was one of several Gestapo officers supervising the emigration. A shipping company official who was there later told my father that an argument erupted among the Germans because Eichmann suspected that one of the European countries through which the boat had to pass might send them back to the Reich. “Eichmann was threatening to deport all of us to [the] Buchenwald [concentration camp],” my father recalled. But other views prevailed, and the ship sailed.
If you could call it a “ship,” that is. The cash-strapped Irgun could never afford to purchase normal boats, so my father and his colleagues bought whatever they could find–typically rickety old vessels that were barely seaworthy. Designed to hold eighty people, the Melk was packed with five hundred and fifty desperate refugees.
The boat was just a few miles down the river from Vienna on the day Hitler sent mobs to attack Jews throughout Germany and Austria killing one hundred and sending 30,000 to concentration camps.
Soon after the Melk reached Palestine in safety, my father was sent to the United States to seek funds and political support for refugee-smuggling operations. At about the same time, David Ben-Gurion, leader of the Labor Zionists in Palestine, arrived in the U.S. to persuade Jewish leaders to support an “aliyah [immigration] war” – bringing large numbers of Jews to Palestine in defiance of the British, “and confront England with the need to combat aliyah with force.”
Neither my father’s efforts nor Ben-Gurion’s found much support among Jewish leaders. One opponent was Rabbi Stephen Wise, longtime leader of the Zionist Organization of America and American Jewish Congress. Wise, who was deeply loyal to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, believed American Jews should support FDR’s pro-British policy, and refrain from “anti-British agitation” on the Palestine issue, “even if the Zionist cause suffered.”
My father did not know at the time that he had support in some very high places for his view that resistance to the British was justified. Recent research by The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies has uncovered documents showing that Louis D. Brandeis, then recently-retired from the Supreme Court, supported the refugee-smuggling campaign. At a meeting of Jewish leaders in the summer of 1939, Brandeis slapped down a suggestion that bringing Jews to Palestine in defiance of the British was “illegal.” “It may be considered illegal by Great Britain, but we Jews consider it to be legal,” Brandeis said.
It may seem odd that a venerated Supreme Court Justice would endorse breaking the laws of an American ally. But the “Jewish Underground Railroad” that my father and others ran in Europe in the 1930s was based on the same moral principle that energized the original Underground Railroad, which helped black slaves illegally escape the South. Even a former Supreme Court Justice recognized that sometimes the stakes are so high that we must have the courage to act in accordance with our moral principles even at the cost of violating the law.
On this anniversary of Kristallnacht, the courage of those who resisted is also a lesson worth remembering.
(As published in The Forward – November 10, 2006)
Adolf EichmannBuchenwaldDavid Ben-GurionIrgun Zvai LeumiKristallnacht pogromS.S. MelkYitshaq Ben-Ami
Previous Post:Father Didn’t Know Best–When it Came to the Holocaust
Next Post:Sophie’s Choice–and Roosevelt’s
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May 2010: The archives of the former Alliance ML site are once again available online. Restoration and improvement of the site is ongoing. Migration to our new domain resulted in broken links, aesthetic issues and other anomalies. We are aware of these issues and we sincerely hope any such problems will be rectified in due course as we continue to improve the organization and presentation of all respective documents.
View the Alliance Subject Index
Welcome to Alliance, at the web-site of Marxist-Leninist Review (MLR).
The Alliance M-L site started July 2001 through ‘Yahoo! Geocities’.
Our pages were pulled suddenly, with no explanation in June 2001 after having received over 15,000 visitors at that site.
In 2003 we obtained the domain site name of www.allianceml.com.
In 2009 our domain was purchased with no notification to us, by a company. This has led to a vacuum of our web-presence for several months, and we apologise for this.
However, in January 2010 we migrated our files to a new server under the title:
“Marxist-Leninist Review” (MLR), which has a set of web-pages. We explain on the web-pages for MLR, our reasons for a change of name of this organisation.
We have not changed our overall purpose and retain the goals of Alliance as set out below.
Catalogue of Writings from Alliance (1989 to present)
The archives of Alliance ML are under reconstruction. We are working to re-post as much material as possible from all previous incarnations of the Alliance ML site.
We were established in 1989, by former members of the Albania-USA Friendship Society and have regularly published the newspaper Alliance. This examines the politics and history of the Marxist-Leninist Movement for the purpose of re-building a Marxist-Leninist movement in both North America and internationally. Our purpose is to promote a principled, non-sectarian unity between Marxist-Leninist forces in both the USA and Canada.
We are strongly linked to the Communist League of Britain (CL), which arose to fight the so-called "Peaceful Road To Socialism"; in which the revisionists of the British CP cravenly followed in the steps of Khruschev. This was formed and was lead by Comrade Bill Bland up till his death in 2001. We include several key CL articles.
Both the CL and Alliance have long argued that a dispassionate international debate amongst Marxist-Leninists is essential to clarify the historical positions of Marxist-Leninists.
Consistent with those aims, the CL began to work with the "National Committee for Marxist Leninist Unity"; (NCMLU)(UK) and we will feature some of their materials on this site. Both the CL and Alliance have long considered that Albania under Enver Hoxha's leadership did develop socialism. Consistent with that, the CL and Allliance have fully supported the former People's Socialist Republic of Albania.
Unless we can collectively understand OUR past -- and especially how and when international revisionism was able to finally destroy the two socialist states of the Soviet Union following the death of Stalin, and the People's Socialist Republic of Albania after the death of Hoxha -- we will not successfully build a new Marxist-Leninist International.
In Canada, Alliance has a sister organization, Canadian Class Struggle.
It should be noted that we are a supporter of the international grouping named International Struggle Marxist Leninist (ISML). ISML is a non-sectarian grouping open to all who believe themselves to be Marxist-Leninists. Their Founding Principles call explicitly for a principled debate amongst the world's Marxist-Leninists. It is to be found on their home page.
ML Review | Alliance ML | Albania Society | WB Bland Archive
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1,800 Germans found
Remains of 1,800 German civilians found
in wartime mass grave
Workers unearth bodies of men, women and children believed to have been killed as Red Army captured town at the end of the second world war
Human remains are seen after they were unearthed by construction workers in Malbork,
northern Poland. Photograph: Adam Bielan/AP
A mass grave dating from the second world war and containing the bodies of at least 1,800 German men, women and children has been unearthed by construction workers in northern Poland.
The discovery was made in the town of Malbork, which was called Marienburg and was part of Germany during the second world war, by workers building a luxury hotel at the foot of the town's 13th-century fortress.
The bodies are believed to be German civilians who disappeared after the Soviet army captured the town as it marched on Berlin in 1945. Many skulls were found with bullet holes in them, suggesting executions had taken place, a local official said.
A small number of bodies were found in late October, and digging was halted to allow an investigation. After resuming work weeks later, the workers turned up the remains of dozens, and then hundreds, more people.
Polish and German experts have concluded they are the remains of German citizens still classified as missing, said town official Piotr Szwedowski. He said it was believed more bodies might yet be found.
Many of the millions who disappeared in the chaos of wartime Europe are still unaccounted for.
"Examination of the remains and the circumstances confirm that these are the missing German inhabitants of Malbork," Szwedowski said. "I have no doubt it is them."
The residents were ordered to evacuate as the Red Army advanced in 1945. Some refused, while others were prevented from doing so by the general chaos of the front.
The Soviets shelled the city, forcing German troops to retreat. The remaining civilians found themselves at the mercy of Red Army troops. There were no known living witnesses of what happened, Szwedowski said.
The bodies were buried naked without any possessions, he said.
"We found no trace of any clothes, shoes, belts, glasses not even dentures or false teeth," he said.
Some 100 skulls, mostly of adults, had bullet holes in them.
"We don't know if these are direct or indirect victims of the artillery barrage, but the bullet holes suggest executions in some cases," he said.
More forensic tests would be carried out before the remains were laid to rest either in Malbork or a German military cemetery in Stary Czarnow, near the north-western city of Szczecin.
"These people died in such an inhuman way, were dumped so inhumanely, that we need to bury them in dignity and respect," Szwedowski said.
Associated Press, guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 January 2009, Article history,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/13/mass-grave-poland-german-war
Further Information: / weitere Informationen
Deutsch / German / allemand
Fotos vom Massengrab in Marienburg 2008/2009
Fotos von Marienburg 1945
Dokumente: Keine Bomben auf Marienburg während WK2
Fotos vom alten Marienburg vor 1939
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