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"He is cool, understated and makes everything look easy and natural... Just as a really suave tango dancer seems not to move with feet but on wheels, Ziegler skates the keyboard."
LABEL: Steinway & Sons
COMPOSER: Pablo Ziegler, Astor Piazzolla, Alejandro Dolina, Juan Carlos Cobian
PERFORMER: Pablo Ziegler
1. Alguien sin Nombre (Ziegler)...................3.07
2. La Fundicion (Ziegler)..............................4:47
3. Oblivion (Piazzolla)....................................5:12
4. Murga del Amanecer (Ziegler)................4:29
5. Milonga del Angel (Piazzolla)..................6:04
6. Nana para un Niño Dormido (Ziegler)...3:38
7. Blues Porteño (Ziegler)............................5:24
8. Milonga en el Viento (Ziegler).................5:15
9. Pájaro Angel (Ziegler)..............................3:56
10. La Rayuela (Ziegler)...............................3:04
11. Muchacha de Boedo (Ziegler)................6:05
12. El Vals del Duende (Dolina)...................3:15
13. Nostalgias (Cobián)................................3:53
Playing time 58:17
Solo / Pablo Ziegler
Often stated but not often executed, this solo piano set is well recorded and so direct that it sounds like Ziegler is playing just for you---in real time. The protean, recent Grammy winner cuts to the heart of why his orchestral and group works all work so well.
A stellar, sitting down piano recital in which he recrafts a bunch of his own classics, and of course Piazzolla’s, this is as good as it gets and should be heard by all no matter how they feel about tango, instrumental and other musical types that might not be on their normal radar. Killer stuff throughout.
- CHRIS SPECTOR Editor and Publisher, Midwest Record
Fresh off 2018 Grammy win, Pablo Ziegler releases his first solo piano album for Steinway & Sons
The album comprises brand new arrangements of Ziegler’s nuevo tango pieces, as well as some new compositions and works by Astor Piazzolla, Alejandro Dolina, and Juan Carlos Cobián
Pablo Ziegler, 2018 Grammy Award winner for Best Latin Jazz Album, writes music imbued with Buenos Aires soul. Following up on 2016’s Tango Nuevo with Christopher O’Riley, Pablo Ziegler Solo presents the composer and pianist on his own terms with new arrangements of his nuevo tango works, along with pieces by Juan Carlos Cobián, Alejandro Dolina, and Ziegler’s mentor, Astor Piazzolla.
While Ziegler is accustomed to playing his music with orchestra or small ensemble, this new solo program is a natural extension of his love and affinity for his instrument. He remarks, “The piano is a way to have a conversation for me; I express my feelings through piano rather than words. I always hear music in my mind, and the piano has been always accompanied my journey.” Compositions recorded for the first time on Pablo Ziegler Solo include “Alguien sin Nombre,” a dream of an encounter with an unknown true love; and “Nana para un Niño Dormido,” inspired by Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck.
In choosing works by other composers for the project, Ziegler hoped to emphasize the varying sides of his identity, from classical to jazz to nuevo tango. Two works by Piazzolla – “Oblivion” and “Milonga del Ángel” – represent the time in Ziegler’s life when he and Piazzolla were performing together. Ziegler met Alejandro Dolina in the 1980s, and arranged and re-harmonized his piece “El Vals del Duende,” the album’s penultimate track. Juan Carlos Cobián graduated from the same conservatory as Ziegler and is considered the Chopin of Tango music; his “Nostalgias” closes the album.
“Releasing this solo piano album is a new chapter of my life as a musician,” says Ziegler. “There is always a first time for everything. This album happened to be one of them.”
For decades, Buenos Aires-born, Grammy-winning pianist, composer and arranger Pablo Ziegler has been one of the most important figures in Argentine New Tango, the vibrant musical hybrid of classic tango, American jazz, and European art music. After performing in tango grand-maestro Astor Piazzolla’s legendary quintet for over a decade, and appearing on iconic Piazzolla recordings including Tango: Zero Hour, La Camorra and Central Park Concert, Ziegler has led his own groups for over 20 years, refining and reimagining the bounds of the modern tango tradition.
Ziegler has performed at major venues and festivals including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Muziekgebouw, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, SFJAZZ, Montreal Jazz Festival, the Ottawa International Jazz Fest, Tokyo Jazz Festival, Birdland, Blue Note and many others.
In 2016, for the Steinway & Sons label, Ziegler teamed up with pianist Christopher O’Riley for Tango Nuevo, a love letter to the traditions and culture of Argentina, particularly to the city of Buenos Aires.
Pablo Ziegler is a Steinway Artist.
About Steinway & Sons label
The Steinway & Sons music label was founded in 2010 and has produced many phenomenal albums since its inception. Recordings on the Steinway & Sons record label can be purchased through ArkivMusic.com as well as Amazon, iTunes and other fine retailers around the globe. This collaboration under the umbrella of the historic Steinway & Sons is a perfect vessel for producing the finest quality recordings by some of the most talented pianists in the world.
Bucklesweet Media
Amanda Sweet
amada@bucklesweetmedia.com
www.bucklesweetmedia.com
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Mennonite Alternative Service in Russia: The Story of Abram Duck and His Colleagues 1911-17, by Lawrence Klippenstein and Jacob Dick
"In 1911, at the age of 21, Abram Duck of Schonfeld, Ukraine, was ordered to report to the Azov forestry camp near Mariapol to begin his obligatory term of service. By that year, the forestry service, or Forstei, had been in existence for some 30 years as a Mennonite alternative to military service in Russia. It had played an important role in Mennonite life, both for the communities as a whole in their relationship to the Russian government and the society around them and for the thousands of young Mennonite men whose lives had been touched by the experience. ... Combining a general overview with more individual histories,(Lawrence) Klippenstein's and (Jacob) Dick's book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the place of alternative service in the lives of the Russian Mennonites in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and perhaps gives us a new appreciation of the legacy of that service for the generations that followed."
-Ron Peters, in the Saskatchewan Mennonite Historian
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Pepijn de Groot
Limb deficiency
Partner Nienke de Hoogh
Hoofddorp, NED
Dutch, English
Coaching, Sport Studies - Johan Cruyff College: Amsterdam, NED
He took up Para athletics in 2014 at the AV Haarlemmermeer club in Hoofddorp, Netherlands.
He wanted to find a sport he could compete in at the Paralympic Games, so in 2013 he attended a Paralympic talent day in the Netherlands. He first tried cycling before choosing athletics as he was attracted by the explosiveness of sprinting. "At age nine or 10 I was looking for a sport to practise, I was always rejected, nobody knew what to do with my impairment. Eventually I ended up rowing. I did this for seven years, but there were no opportunities for me to improve with the main team. So I made the choice to go to the Paralympic Talent Day, where I came into contact with athletics. With this sport I try to improve every day and get the best out of myself, to show that practising sport with an impairment is possible and nothing is impossible."
International debut
Berlin, GER
Peppi (Facebook profile, 21 Aug 2018)
He had injuries in the winter of 2017. (Facebook page, 21 Aug 2018)
His 2016 season was disrupted by an inflamed Achilles tendon in his left foot. (pepijndegroot.nl, 2017)
He had injuries that affected his right leg throughout 2015. (pepijndegroot.nl, 2017)
"It is possible to be demotivated, but giving up isn't an option.'' (stichtingpara-atletiek.org, 2018)
He competed in able-bodied rowing for seven years at junior national level. (pepijndegroot.nl, 2017)
He was born without the lower part of his right leg, and with an impairment to his right hand and left foot. (pepijndegroot.nl, 2017)
In April 2019 he announced that he would take a break from Para athletics due to recurring pain and other physical problems. "For months I've been walking with complaints all over my body. Pain to my joints, pain when someone touches me and being tired quickly. This doesn't only stop me when working out, I also have a lot of trouble in everyday life. My health is the primary thing and there are many other things I would also like to do. I'm going to work on my health, the fun in sport and get everything in the right setting for myself. For now I'm releasing the top sport and I'm going to develop myself in other areas." (Facebook page, 15 Apr 2019; LinkedIn profile, 15 Apr 2019)
In 2019 he began studying cyber security at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences [Hogeschool van Amsterdam] in the Netherlands. "As a child I grew an interest in national defence. I wanted to become a soldier. As a person with impairment, it was unfortunately not possible. Now the world is changing. Wars are no longer fought with weapons, terrorism is no longer committed with weapons. Technology is what will soon be the new tool. This made me decide to start studying cyber security at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. I want to serve the country soon." (LinkedIn profile, 15 Apr 2019)
He is a classified fitness coach and has been a youth coach at the AV Haarlemmermeer club in the Netherlands. (LinkedIn profile, 15 Apr 2019)
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Homepage > About Us > People > Jane Hanson
Jane Hanson
Jane is the Academy's Assistant Director and Registrar.
As Assistant Director, Jane supports the logistics and delivery of Academy training, including Managing by Network and Getting to the Core of Conflict and Communications.
She also manages the website and communications platforms. Since joining the Partnership & Community Collaboration Academy in 2013, she has helped promote best practices for live, virtual training, and strives to improve our service delivery each year.
As Registrar, Jane is responsible for managing course applications and registrations, and ensuring a smooth onboarding process for all participants. She works with Academy team members, federal course coordinators, instructors and many others to deliver virtual content for Managing by Network.
As a consultant, Jane also works with Foundations for Families to provide services to the early childhood education community. Working with Head Start and Early Head Start grantees, she collaborates with team members to provide technical assistance, grant writing services, and collect data for community assessments.
Prior to joining the Academy, Jane worked with the National Museum of Forest Service History in Missoula, Montanta to help develop their fundraising and communications capacity. She began her career in development at The Conservation Fund in Arlington, VA rising to the position of Senior Development Associate.
Before all that, Jane learned how to collaborate working in theater. As Assistant Costume Director with the Washingon National Opera, she enjoyed working with a team of seasoned professionals to produce thousands of costumes for hundreds of performers. Never one to leave all that behind, Jane still helps with costumes for her kids' school productions.
Jane grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A. in Literary Studies. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and two sons.
As Registrar, Jane is responsible for managing course applications and registrations, and ensuring a smooth onboarding process for all participants. She works with Academy team members, federal course coordinators, instructors, and many others to deliver virtual content for Managing by Network.
Prior to joining the Academy, Jane worked with the National Museum of Forest Service History in Missoula, Montanta to help develop their fundraising and communications capacity. She began her career in development at The Conservation Fund in Arlington, VA, rising to the position of Senior Development Associate.
Before all that, Jane learned how to collaborate by working on stage crew in high school, and in the costume shop in college. In her first "real job" as Assistant Costume Director with the Washingon National Opera, she enjoyed working with a team of seasoned professionals to produce thousands of costumes for hundreds of performers. She wasn't able leave all that behind, and still helps with costumes for her kids' school productions.
Jane grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A. in Literary Studies. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and two sons. When she's not at her desk, you'll find her pulling weeds or digging up something in the garden.
Partnership and Community Collaboration Academy
703-919-8886 (VA)
jane@partnership-academy.net
www.linkedin.com/in/jane-hanson
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Sam Wreford
Patent Advisor
MPhys (Hons) Theoretical Physics
+44 1332 367 051 Send an email Make an enquiry
Sam is a member of the firm’s tech and engineering practise groups. His work focuses on patent prosecution.
Sam joined Swindell & Pearson after graduating from the University of Durham with a master’s degree in Theoretical Physics. During his time there, he was exposed to a broad range of topics before specialising in theoretical physics for his final two years, granting him the scientific experience required to understand the inventions of the modern tech-filled world.
Sam’s MPhys project, entitled “Numerical Methods for Solving Relativistic Electrodynamics”, enabled him to exercise his mathematical and programming skills to design & build a synchrotron ring inside a computer. This project, in combination with his broader degree, has given him key insight into the physical processes that underpin complex technical devices.
Beyond the world of patents, Sam is a keen musician who enjoys playing the piano and guitar, including composing for both. He also enjoys reading, and can often be found with his head buried in a book somewhere around Derby, where he grew up and lives.
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PlayStation 5 news
Christmas and the Impending Futility of the Gaming Backlog
Richard Walker
It happens every single year: I break up for the holiday season and contemplate making a dent in my gaming backlog. And, inevitably, the endeavour fails miserably, as either life gets in the way or I become hung up on a single game. As first world problems go, it's about as pitiful as you can get, but it's a perennial one, and composing a list of games I need to tackle on an annual basis is all part and parcel of a futile effort to catch up on the things I've yet to play. When it comes to battling the backlog, it’s a fight I can’t win.
Don't worry, this isn't my actual backlog.
“Have you played such and such?” the conversation with numerous friends normally begins, and much of the time I can reply in the affirmative. But, once in a while, when the answer is “no”, it's usually something that everyone has played and I probably should have played, too, and that can be slightly embarrassing. To this day, I own more than half a dozen Zelda games, but I still have yet to play one – as such, it remains a major blind spot in my gaming history; my not-so-secret shame.
But, then, I hear a lot of people lamenting the state of their gaming backlog, and while it's a nice problem to have – being in a position to afford an expansive library of games – it can engender the sense that there will never be enough hours in the day to play everything. Worse still, I have games that are half-finished, some of which I'd have to start from scratch if I wanted to return to them, and enjoy their myriad delights as intended. Last year, I put about eight hours into Cyberpunk 2077 before bouncing off it, but I'll be damned if I can remember all that much of it.
Games like Hitman, in which I've beaten every level but would love to achieve mastery across the board, or attempt some of the Elusive Targets and Escalation Contracts, seem like an impossibility – how or why would I return to a game I've already finished once to play again and again, when the backlog is screaming my name? Considering which games to invest time in is a persistent conundrum, and the likes of Forza Horizon 5, with the allure of its seasonal Festival Playlist objectives, or the constant pull of Deathloop's sandbox, don't much help matters. That’s before you even consider dalliances with the latest must-play indie titles or expansions.
The trouble is, Deathloop is TOO good.
Couple that with a newfound addiction (started during the first covid lockdown) to logging on to eBay to purchase old games and consoles in a bid to play stuff I missed years ago, and the backlog issue is only further compounded. I am fully aware that this enters the realm of pure idiocy, and it's a hobby that also puts a strain on the old bank balance, as well as the amount of time I have to play the teetering pile of games bearing down on me. I am, it seems, a glutton for punishment.
During lockdown, I added a Dreamcast, original Xbox, New Nintendo 3DS, and SEGA Master System II to my collection, and I've spun a handful of games on each of them, before leaving them set up in the spare bedroom, (criminally) gathering dust. Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 is where I do the majority of my playing nowadays (I'm acutely aware of how lucky I am to have both), and Xbox Game Pass, with its constant flow of new titles poses another obstacle to the ever-present backlog. Much like battling a hydra, you complete one game, and another two appear in its place.
To some, this article might read like the churlish whining of someone fortunate enough to be faced with such a ludicrous problem, but it's symptomatic of a period where many of us are blessed with an embarrassment of video game riches, when we have more games than we know what to do with, but not nearly enough time to play them all (despite covid stranding many of us at home). I know I'm not alone when it comes to facing down a towering selection of fantastic games, as it's something I've seen mentioned time and again. It’s less a complaint, more a realisation of our own mortality, the finite time we have on this big blue marble.
Yes, I'm considering doing a New Game+
And while it might not necessarily feel like we're living through a renaissance period for video games, there's no disputing that we, as players, are indulging in a seemingly unending digital feast. Given complications caused by the pandemic, we're especially lucky to have had a slew of new releases over the past two years, many of which are of startling quality – and I could never hope to play them all. This year alone, we've had the likes of It Takes Two, Halo Infinite, Deathloop, Lost Judgment, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Psychonauts 2, Back 4 Blood, Hitman 3, Sable, and Death's Door, to name but a few. And while I'm proud to say I've played most of them (thanks in no small part to it being in my job description), I'm ashamed to say that I’ve bounced off numerous games, like Metroid Dread and Hades, and haven't so much as even looked at Psychonauts 2 or Returnal. And not because I don't want to. There's simply too much good stuff, and so little time to play it all. That’s before you even consider the deluge that 2022 will bring.
Once again, I'll have a go at chipping away at the backlog during the Christmas holidays, but I can only assume that it'll all be in vain. Wish me luck.
PlayStation Game Pass Competitor Reports Heat Up as UK Retailers Stop Selling PS Now Subscriptions
E3 Won't Be Returning as a Physical Event in 2022
Game of the Year 2021 - The Winners
Game of the Year 2021 - The Nominees
EmptyFibers
I'll never understand the point of having "Back Log", but hey, whatever floats your boat and I honestly hope you enjoy all you play! I simply just play games I enjoy if they are out and forget about most all the others. I like the gems, not the masses, so I am picky with what I play and how much time I offer certain games and trophy involvement.
c1ned1ne
Totally unrelatable ... xD
I have long given up on any pretense to manage my backlog. At least I have a wide selection of games to play whenever I want. And pretty good reason not to buy any more. Well, at least in theory ...
Ah the backlog. I still got PS3 games I would like to play someday and I don't even manage to get to my PS4 games.
CobaltWasps
my backlog is longer than my foreseeable livable future
laxminarayanans
Friday, December 24, 2021 @ 03:58 AM
@Richard Walker, I completely agree. Currently having 90+ PS4 games in my backlog, out of which 60 are small PS+ titles, around 25 are must play AAA titles. I feel compelled to try the smaller titles for at least 30 minutes. I just can't ignore them without downloading/trying them. This makes me miss out on bigger/important titles.
GizM0 The Great
My backlog for PS4 alone is well over 1,000.
I simply don’t sell anything anyway, so it’s piled up over time. These days I get even less time to play,
So I just play what I want, and let the rest pile up. I’m sure I’ll eventually get around to completing a few of them
Biison
Saturday, December 25, 2021 @ 11:12 AM
Hahaha yeah my backoog will be enjoyed by someone because its that out of control.
dudezombiekiller
Sunday, December 26, 2021 @ 03:21 PM
I've also created a large backlog of games started but never finished and having 2 kids didn't help...what helped me was never being allowed to play my PS4 due to my bloody kids always playing Minecraft. I set up my PS3 on a small hd display and started to chip away at the backlog. Got the platinum for sports champions recently. Flying through call of Juarez bound in blood at the moment...11.5 years gap in the trophies. I can't resist a old game in a charity shop either. Just bought 15 PS3 games from eBay for £15.
I may need help!
plisken1979
i personally have a massive backlog, the sales are always good and then there is the freedbies on plus that we get. not ever gonna complain though, i'd rather have the choice of loads of games than just a few at my disposal.
Singis123
I have a small backlog of a about 90 games and play mostly the newest releases but I can't make a dent in it even if I beat about 60 games a year, it still sits at 90 games. I've realized there's no point and just play what I enjoy :)
DarkByke
Monday, December 27, 2021 @ 06:44 PM
After I realized that servers shut down I stopped caring so much about completion. It's futile and time is a limited resource to all.
wavecommander
Wednesday, December 29, 2021 @ 09:06 AM
Yeah i try to get into the backlog but i just keep going into my favorite games and playing for hours. Ha. The games i enjoy the most get all my time, the rest are there for me to try and quit as soon as i get stomped.
railroberto
Wednesday, December 29, 2021 @ 07:16 PM
My backlog is great
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Trophy Guide
PlayStation 5 - Is It Really The Future of Gaming? Our Thoughts From The Recent Showcase
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Follow Frontline
Kill/Capture
View film
Stephen Grey & Dan Edge
Dan Edge
ANNOUNCER: Tonight on FRONTLINE—
Pres. BARACK OBAMA: The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
ANNOUNCER: Behind last week's successful mission lies a much wider military campaign, an extraordinary expansion of manhunt missions that have taken out thousands of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: If you're trying to take down an insurgency, you take away its safe havens, you take away its leaders.
— Hit the guy on the road.
LT. COL. JOHN NAGL (Ret.): The Joint Special Operations Command is an almost industrial-scale counterterrorism killing machine.
ANNOUNCER: FRONTLINE investigates the latest U.S. strategy.
DEXTER FILKINS: Bludgeon your opponent. Kill and capture as many as you can. Make them ask for peace.
ANNOUNCER: Its impact and its risks.
--- By launching those attacks, are we creating more militants than, in fact, we are killing?
ANNOUNCER: Can this campaign of killing and capturing make the difference?
DEXTER FILKINS: It could take years. I mean, I don't think anybody knows.
MICHAEL SEMPLE: Bin Laden is gone. That creates a kind of space in which diplomacy might actually be able to make progress.
ANNOUNCER: Tonight on FRONTLINE, Kill/Capture.
[Tonight's program contains graphic images of war and graphic language which has been edited. Viewer discretion is advised.]
Pres. BARACK OBAMA: Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
NARRATOR: On May 2nd, 2011, U.S. special operations forces killed the world's most wanted man in a raid on a house in Pakistan. The operation gave the world a glimpse into a vast and secret campaign being waged by the United States.
It's known as the kill/capture program. It's a campaign that the military says has killed or captured more than 12,000 militants in the last year. Using cutting-edge technology, elite teams are hunting down Taliban and al Qaeda leaders one by one and taking them out.
Lt. Col. JOHN NAGL (Ret.), Pentagon Adviser: We're getting so good at various electronic means of identifying, tracking, locating members of the insurgency that we're able to employ this extraordinary machine, an almost industrial-scale counterterrorism killing machine that has been able to pick out and take off the battlefield not just the top level al Qaeda-level insurgents, but also increasingly is being used to target mid-level insurgents.
NARRATOR: The kill/capture program is veiled in secrecy. Very little has been disclosed about how it operates, or its effects on the ground. But FRONTLINE has spent months traveling through Afghanistan, investigating how this secret campaign is conducted, what it's doing to the Taliban and al Qaeda, and whether it can play a decisive part in ending the war.
[Twitter #frontline]
Our journey begins in Khost province, eastern Afghanistan. This is where al Qaeda trained some of the 9/11 hijackers. It's now the heartland of the Haqqani network, a ruthless branch of the Taliban insurgency responsible for some of the most vicious attacks of the war.
Over the past year, there's been a dramatic escalation of kill/capture missions here. We're with the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division and their Afghan counterparts. They've received intelligence that a wanted Taliban leader is hiding out nearby.
U.S. SOLDIER: We're going after a mid-level insurgent here in the district. Guy's name is Gulab, this guy right here. He's an IED facilitator, kidnapper, just all-around bad guy. We're going to do an air assault on his compound.
NARRATOR: In Khost — and across the country — targeted raids like this have become a defining tactic in the war against the Taliban. Although 30,000 extra U.S. troops were sent to Afghanistan last year, here in Khost there are still not enough forces to keep security outside the major towns. Launching these assaults on Taliban leaders is calculated to keep the enemy on the run.
The troops have been told that the Taliban target is holed up in this compound. They discover their intelligence is wrong. They've raided the wrong place. This is the home of a tribal elder who claims to support the government, not the Taliban.
SHAHZAD JAMIL: [subtitles] This is very bad! This is why people are so upset. This makes me feel like joining the Taliban to fight against you. You're disrespecting me. If I'm a terrorist, or a member of al Qaeda, then show me proof. There is no proof. Why do you disrespect me like this?
NARRATOR: Although the elder appears innocent, the soldiers decide to conduct a search. They risk causing further offense, but if they don't search the compound, there's a chance an insurgent could slip away.
U.S. SOLDIER: Kick the fucking door open!
NARRATOR: The Afghan troops are ashamed to search the house of a man they think is innocent.
[subtitles]
AFGHAN SOLDIER: We woke them from their beds and searched their house.
AFGHAN SOLDIER: Sorry, sir. Our hands are tied.
SHAHZAD JAMIL: They are all over our country. What can we do? There's nothing here. I've told you.
AFGHAN SOLDIER: Don't worry sir. We're on your side.
NARRATOR: They find some weapons. It's not much, but enough to cast suspicion on the elder.
U.S. SOLDIER: Hey, who owns this shit?
U.S. SOLDIER: Ricky Bobby!
U.S. SOLDIER: [on the radio] The owner is saying he uses it for his guards at night, but we're going to go ahead bring him back as well as bring him back to [unintelligible]. Over.
But he is not the target individual. He was not found. Over.
U.S. SOLDIER: [on the radio] Roger. Be advised you got a lot of moving pieces, people coming out. Break.
NARRATOR: The elder was to be released without charge a few hours later.
SHAHZAD JAMIL: [subtitles] This will have consequences. I am a tribal leader. I'm very influential. If my tribe learns about this, they will be so angry with these people. Just as they raided an innocent village, the whole of Afghanistan is innocent. There is nothing here, nothing.
NARRATOR: Kill/capture missions seem a far cry from how this war was once portrayed. When 30,000 extra U.S. troops were sent to Afghanistan last year, the military said they were implementing a counterinsurgency campaign. This was explained publicly as a battle for the hearts and minds of the people.
DEXTER FILKINS, The New Yorker: The overriding goal of counterinsurgency is to make friends. You make friends with the people, you isolate the insurgents. Go where the people are. Go where the population is. Go to the population centers. Get in among the people, protect the people, isolate the insurgents.
NARRATOR: But according to those close to the military command, counterinsurgency also involves hunting down the enemy.
Lt. Col. JOHN NAGL (Ret.), Pentagon Adviser: Counterinsurgency doctrine believes in killing people, it just believes in killing the right people. And what's happened over the past five years is we've gotten far, far better at correlating human intelligence and signals intelligence to paint a very tight, coherent picture of who the enemy is and where the enemy hangs his hat. And we've gotten better at using precision firepower to give those people very, very bad days. And I really think that this is redefining what counterinsurgency means in the 21st century.
NARRATOR: Overseeing the counterinsurgency campaign in the early days of the troop surge was General Stanley McChrystal. After pioneering kill/capture operations in the Iraq War, McChrystal increased their use in Afghanistan.
And when General David Petraeus took command last summer, he stepped them up further. Petraeus has doubled the number of kill/capture missions and issued hundreds of press releases announcing the death or detention of Taliban leaders.
Gen. DAVID PETRAEUS, Commander, U.S. Forces (Afghanistan): The Taliban had the momentum. And when you're faced with a serious deteriorating situation, you have to do something about it. And the best way to do something about it is to use every tool available to you, and that includes everything from the very soft end of things all the way to the hardest of the hard end, which is, of course, targeted raids.
NARRATOR: The kill/capture campaign against the Taliban is waged by both special operations forces and conventional troops. But leading and directing the program is a secretive counterterrorism unit within special forces known as Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC. It was JSOC that carried out the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
Lt. Col. JOHN NAGL: The Joint Special Operations Command has become one of the most important tools General Petraeus has, not just in removing enemies from the battlefield but in reducing the effectiveness of the enemy organizations that survive, sowing distrust, discontent inside the ranks of these insurgent organization, and ultimately persuading them that they don't have any chance of succeeding militarily.
NARRATOR: JSOC exists outside the NATO chain of command. With ranks that include the elite Navy SEALs, its mission is not only the hunt for the world's leading terrorists. In Afghanistan, it's working from a target list that now includes thousands of names.
MATTHEW HOH, Former Official, U.S. Foreign Service: There's a list. There's a list that that's kept and that has grown exponentially over the last couple years. And it covers a host of different types of individuals. Some are bomb makers. Some are actual commanders. They control fighters. Others are logistics people. They facilitate the transport of individuals or money or weapons, et cetera. Others are financiers. The key thing is, once you hit a certain point on that list, there are a lot of really smart men and women with a lot of expensive high-tech equipment looking for you.
U.S. SOLDIER: Hit the guy on the road.
U.S. SOLDIER: Roger. Hit the guy on the road.
Maj. Gen. JOHN NICHOLSON: Well, let me give you an example in southern Afghanistan. So if you look at where the majority of the population is—
NARRATOR: The military leadership says there is no contradiction between protecting the Afghan population and kill/capture operations.
Maj. Gen. JOHN NICHOLSON: We've undertaken, you know, roughly 3,000 operations in the last 90 days, so this is an unprecedented op tempo here in Afghanistan in these types of operations.
NARRATOR: According to Major General John Nicholson, kill/capture missions create space in which conventional troops can improve security.
Maj. Gen. JOHN NICHOLSON, U.S. Army: By maintaining the initiative against the enemy, that enables the majority of the force to focus on securing the population. So the two are essential and complementary. If we did not have this level of operational tempo with special operating forces, then it would be tougher for our conventional forces to secure the population.
NARRATOR: Conventional forces across Afghanistan are fighting hard to secure the major population centers.
[September 2010 Andar District, Ghazni Province]
NARRATOR: When a soldier of the 101st Airborne Division filmed this footage last fall, the district of Andar was a war zone. The Taliban were in control and determined to stop ordinary Afghans from voting in national elections.
Lt. PHILIP DIVINSKI, U.S. Army: We first came in here about seven days before the elections in September. And since we showed up in September, we were here for maybe 15 minutes and then we took contact. And for the next probably seven days straight, we took direct fire and indirect fire from the northwest and the west. And the Taliban was just trying to— to really scare people away and make sure that they— they didn't actually come to vote. And it was effective. No one came to vote.
NARRATOR: On that election day, only three people turned up to vote from a population of more than 100,000.
But over the last six months, kill/capture operations have helped transform Andar's district center into a secure zone. More than 40 raids across the province have killed or captured over a hundred militants. The Taliban have disappeared from the town center. The Afghan government, supported by American troops, have been able to open a school. The hope is now that the locals will choose to back the government over the Taliban.
U.S. SOLDIER: [at school] I want to come back here in a few years on vacation instead of wearing all this, so—
TRANSLATOR: [subtitles] He said, "Next time when I come, I will come on vacation. I won't be wearing this uniform."
NARRATOR: But progress here appears limited. The government runs one school in this district. The Taliban run more than 20. And security here has come at a cost to the hearts and minds campaign. When we go on patrol with the Afghan army, we meet locals who object to the tactics of the kill/capture teams.
1st AFGHAN MAN: [subtitles] These people come in the middle of the night. They break into houses. They bring dogs with them. They drag women out of the house. This is an offense to Islam.
2nd AFGHAN MAN: [subtitles] If the Taliban were hiding in my house, I wouldn't tell you. They don't dishonor our women, but your friends do.
NARRATOR: Night raids are the signature tactic of JSOC's kill/capture campaign. Almost all JSOC operations take place under cover of darkness. The Afghan government says they want these night raids to stop.
[www.pbs.org: The controversy over night raids]
MOHAMMED DAUDZAI, Chief of Staff to President Karzai: Night raids are against our culture. Even if it doesn't cause any harm, that's unacceptable because it's a disgrace to people's dignity in our culture.
NARRATOR: Mohammed Daudzai is chief of staff to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. He is worried that night raids do more harm than good.
MOHAMMED DAUDZAI: You have a village, has a very peaceful life, and in the middle of the night, people come and surround the village and search a few houses and take a few prisoners. And in that scuffle, a few of them are killed, women disgraced. The next day, what do you expect? The entire village youth becomes Taliban. They're searching for the Taliban to recruit them and give them weapons.
NARRATOR: General McChrystal knew that night raids could turn the Afghan population against American soldiers. He restricted conventional troops from conducting them and instead ordered the elite forces of JSOC to take the lead.
Now they are doing six times as many night raids as they were two years ago. JSOC has taken measures to reduce the offense these operations cause by involving locals. This military video shows Afghan soldiers being trained by special forces to conduct a night raid.
TRAINING VIDEO: [subtitles] Attention! Your house is surrounded by the army. Raise your hands and come outside. Otherwise, you will all be killed.
Gen. DAVID PETRAEUS: Afghans accompany our forces on every one of these. They do the call-out— in other words, "Come out, we've surrounded the house." They do it, obviously, in the native tongue that's appropriate to that area.
TRAINING VIDEO: [subtitles] Lift up your shirt. Turn around. Hands behind your head. Come, come!
Gen. DAVID PETRAEUS: They do the entry operation. They do the searches, if it's required, and so on. We make mistakes. What we try to do is to learn from the mistakes, to adjust in the wake of them and to truly turn lessons learned intellectually into actual changes in practices.
NARRATOR: The story of one JSOC operation that took place last September shows how kill/capture missions risk alienating ordinary Afghans. This wasn't a night raid but a daylight air strike in the northern province of Takhar. The military announced that they had killed a prominent Taliban commander and his fighters, but it soon emerged that something may have gone wrong. The aftermath of the strike was filmed by a local police officer.
— Get them out of here. Come on, people!
— Lift him. Lift him. Get him off the ground!
— They hit an election convoy!
— These poor people.
NARRATOR: Locals said the dead were all innocent civilians, election workers on the campaign trail.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates happened to be in Kabul that day. He faced questions about civilian casualties, but maintained that a key insurgent had been killed.
ROBERT GATES, U.S. Secretary of Defense: [September 2, 2010] This is an individual who was responsible for organizing and orchestrating a number of attacks here in Kabul and in northern Afghanistan. This is the first that I had heard that civilians may have been killed, and we will certainly look into that.
NARRATOR: The military conducted a review of the operation. Ten days later, a press release was issued. It said that the attack was "selective, surgical and legitimate" but that the military could not rule out the possibility of civilian casualties.
We traveled to the remote corner of Afghanistan where the strike took place and met with a group of survivors. Ihsanullah is a school teacher who was there that day.
IHSANULLAH: [subtitles] That day was like a celebration. We were campaigning for the elections. We were making friends, inviting them along with us. We had no idea they were all about to die.
NARRATOR: These home videos show some of the election workers out campaigning. For some of their journey before the strike, they had a police escort out of concern that the Taliban might attack them.
IHSANULLAH: [subtitles] Altogether, there were six vehicles. Our vehicle was at the end. Then there was a sound, a huge bang.
NARRATOR: Ihsanullah told us how two explosions destroyed one of the cars. He said helicopters then fired at those who survived the initial attack.
IHSANULLAH: [subtitles] The vehicle was burning. The flames were three meters high. After the attack, the ground was covered with body parts and blood.
NARRATOR: On the scene with local police, we found scraps of election posters.
LOCAL POLICEMAN: [subtitles] The Americans claimed it was not an election campaign. You can see here that this is an election poster for a candidate. Here it says, "for a better future."
IHSANULLAH: [subtitles] They killed ordinary people— elders, students and teachers. That is how it happened.
NARRATOR: The military remains adamant that even if civilians may have died, it was still a successful mission because a key Taliban commander was also killed.
KATE CLARK, Afghan Analysts Network: This is one of the other strange issues of the case because—
NARRATOR: But a group of researchers in Kabul challenge this account. For the last eight months, an organization called the Afghan Analysts Network has been investigating this case.
KATE CLARK: From very early on, we did mini-biographies of the— everyone in the convoy, whether they were killed, injured, escaped unharmed.
NARRATOR: The most prominent of those killed was an Afghan elder called Zabet Amanullah. U.S. officials have confirmed to FRONTLINE that he was the target. But many are convinced he was innocent.
KATE CLARK: He was living openly. He was working on the campaign quite openly, staying with people. He was on the media a lot. Everyone from the governor down were asking, "Why did they kill him?"
NARRATOR: No one from JSOC would talk to FRONTLINE on camera, so FRONTLINE correspondent Stephen Grey raised the case with General Petraeus.
STEPHEN GREY, Correspondent: Can I just ask you how that operation came into being, what made you think this was the man that you were targeting?
Gen. DAVID PETRAEUS, Commander, U.S. Forces (Afghanistan): Well, we didn't think in this case, with respect, we knew. We had days and days of what's called "the unblinking eye," confirmed by other forms of intelligence, that informed us that this— there's no question about who this individual was.
STEPHEN GREY: The man who was killed, who appears to be the target, was living openly in Kabul. And we have Afghan government officials who say this man was innocent. So what gives you confidence that he was who you say he was?
Gen. DAVID PETRAEUS: Very precise intelligence that tells us exactly what he was doing when he was in Kabul, and exactly what he was doing up there. So again, there's not a question about this one, with respect.
NARRATOR: U.S. officials have told FRONTLINE that Zabet Amanullah led a double life as a Taliban deputy governor and that his real name was Mohammad Amin. But many Afghans maintain that the U.S. military made a mistake and that Mohammad Amin is someone else entirely from the man they killed that day.
Michael Semple, a former U.N. official and now a visiting fellow at Harvard, is one of the leading experts on the Taliban. He has lived and worked in the region for 20 years. Semple says he has tracked down and met the Taliban commander Mohammad Amin in person— after the attack that was supposed to have killed him.
MICHAEL SEMPLE, Harvard University: Mohammad Amin is alive. He's somebody who did, indeed, serve as a deputy governor for the Taliban system in Takhar, who's been engaged in the insurgency, somebody who we can place. But the point is, he's flesh and blood. He's real. He's got an identity that can be checked out and that we have checked out, and he's still alive.
NARRATOR: The military remains convinced they killed the right man. A U.S. official with direct knowledge of the operation told FRONTLINE, "The evidence from multiple sources is overwhelming. We know that this man was ordering attacks. And we know that after the strike, insurgents themselves were saying we had killed our target."
But the Afghan Analysts Network has now published its findings and charged that the U.S. military killed the wrong man.
KATE CLARK: You have two people that they confused, and unfortunately for Zabet Amanullah, they targeted him believing he was an insurgent commander. I don't know where the error came into their intelligence, whether they got the names mixed up, whether they got phone numbers mixed up, but they certainly killed the wrong person. They killed an innocent civilian.
NARRATOR: The Afghan government agrees that the U.S. military made a mistake that day.
MOHAMMED DAUDZAI, Chief of Staff to President Karzai: A lot of mistakes are there. And every day, we are shivering that God knows what more mistakes may happen. If there are mistakes in operation, then we provide more opportunities for recruitment for the enemy. And it's in that context that we don't want to tolerate it because we know, in the end, we would all be losers and the enemy will get stronger and stronger in numbers.
NARRATOR: The U.S. military maintains that fewer than 1 percent of kill/capture operations harm civilians. They argue that accurate missions are inflicting unprecedented damage upon the Taliban network.
We make contact with the Taliban and head to the province of Baghlan in northern Afghanistan. JSOC has unleashed a series of night raids and air strikes against insurgent leaders here. We've arranged a meeting with a group of Taliban who have just survived one of these attacks. They are on the run, and the meeting has taken months to arrange.
We find the Taliban gathered at the grave of their former commander, killed in a U.S. air strike on this spot.
KHALID AMIN: [subtitles] God bless him in paradise. He was killed four months ago. But jihad will continue in spite of his death. We are his brothers. We will follow in his path. One day, his child will ask who killed his father, and he will take up arms against the infidels who killed his father. Jihad cannot be stopped. If we are killed, then our children will take up the fight. Jihad will continue until Judgment Day. God is great!
NARRATOR: Until recently, Khalid Amin was a foot soldier. He now controls around 50 Taliban fighters after two senior commanders were killed by special forces.
KHALID AMIN: [subtitles] This is Juma Khan, one of our distinguished commanders. He was killed on the front line. This is Maulvi Jabar, our district chief. He was killed with 30 others in a night raid. When he died, the enemy said the Taliban was finished here. But three months later, our Islamic emirate is still strong. We have many more fighters than back then.
NARRATOR: FRONTLINE was unable to verify the number of Taliban in Baghlan. But what's clear is that attacks by the Taliban have continued across this province since the kill/capture raids began.
KHALID AMIN: [subtitles] These night raids cannot annihilate us. We want to die anyway, so those destined for martyrdom will die in the raids and the rest will continue to fight without fear.
MATTHEW HOH, Former Official, U.S. Foreign Service: We're killing a lot of mid-level commanders, but they get replaced by other mid-level commanders. So it hurts them in the sense that they have to promote new people, but they just promote new people. And the more raids we do like this, the more we upset and aggrieve the Afghan population, the more support they get.
NARRATOR: Matthew Hoh resigned from the Foreign Service in 2009 because he felt that U.S. tactics were only fueling the insurgency.
MATTHEW HOH: It's counterintuitive. You think by killing the bomb makers, you're going win. But you and I can go and kill a bomb maker tomorrow and he'll be replaced within 30 or 40 days. It ain't that hard to teach a guy how to— how to make a bomb and put it on the side of the road. Particularly when you have a large pool of willing participants coming from an aggrieved population, it's not too hard.
NARRATOR: The last year in Afghanistan has been the most violent of the entire war. More U.S. soldiers were killed, more Taliban were killed, and more Afghan civilians were killed than ever before. But U.S. commanders argue that this unprecedented violence could actually be a sign that the strategy is working.
DEXTER FILKINS, _The New Yorker_ This is one of the great paradoxes of the war. What the military commanders will tell you is, "Look, things are going to get worse before they get better. And so right now, they're worse because we're going into places where we haven't— literally haven't been in years. We're killing, capturing people that until now, you know, for years have been enjoying safe havens, freedom of movement, and suddenly that's not possible anymore. " I think at some point — and this is the big "if" — the curve is supposed to go down, the curve of violence. That hasn't happened yet.
NARRATOR: But the U.S. military points to signs of progress in some parts of Afghanistan. They say that the kill/capture campaign is pushing Taliban foot soldiers to defect from the insurgency, a process known as "reintegration."
Gen. DAVID PETRAEUS: These are mid-level fighters and below who have had enough, or are tired of just endless fighting, whatever it may be, the pressure and so on, and essentially come forward and say, "I'd like to lay down my weapon. I would like to be reintegrated into society. I'd like protection as I do that." Not a huge number yet, still we would say below a thousand total in the various reintegration events that have taken place in the course of just recent months. But nonetheless, you see some degree of traction and some degree of momentum.
[www.pbs.org: More from Gen. Petraeus]
NARRATOR: Here in Kunduz province, after an intense targeting campaign, 40 insurgents have decided to leave the Taliban and join the government side. Journalists have been invited to a public reintegration ceremony.
AFGHAN OFFICIAL: Let us pray.
EX-TALIBAN: Amen.
AFGHAN OFFICIAL: May God reward you for joining the peace process.
NARRATOR: One of the defectors is a commander called Abdul Aziz. Along with his fighters, he's been on the run from U.S. special forces for a year. Now he's changed sides, he's being given extra weapons by the Afghan government and asked to help hunt down his former Taliban friends.
[www.pbs.org: Watch on line]
A month after the ceremony, we go back to find Abdul Aziz and his militia. We discover that he is starting to regret his decision to leave the Taliban.
ABDUL AZIZ: [subtitles] When I was with the Taliban, things were different. People used to welcome us. When we came to a village, they would invite us in and they would be very hospitable. The people were so happy to see us then. Now they're not. I don't know why. They're not welcoming any more. Now we have to work with no support.
NARRATOR: Aziz and his men have not been paid by the government since they started working for them. They are cold and hungry. And they are very worried that at some point, they might actually have to fight their former Taliban friends.
Then something happens that none of them want. One of Aziz's men has just been told that there are some Taliban hiding in a house nearby.
MILITIAMAN: [subtitles] I asked an old man if there were any Taliban there. He mistook me for Taliban and said, "Yes, they are here." I asked him where. He said in his house. What should I do now?
NARRATOR: Aziz seems unsure what to do. Aziz tries to persuade the village elder to hand the Taliban over without a confrontation. He forgets he is wearing a microphone.
ABDUL AZIZ: [subtitles] Come this way please, uncle. Right, the Taliban who are hiding here— I was a member of the Taliban myself. About 30 fighters worked for me. I joined the government side about a month ago, but the Taliban are still my brothers. Look, we don't like the Americans. We've had bad experiences with them. They're infidels. They are the enemies of our religion, our nation and our honor. If God makes the Taliban successful, then we will be Taliban again. Do you understand? On that day, we will be Taliban.
NARRATOR: The U.S. military acknowledges that there aren't enough Taliban foot soldiers switching sides to make a real difference in the war. But they argue that the kill/capture campaign might soon drive the Taliban leadership to the negotiating table.
We were offered the chance to meet a senior Taliban leader. Mullah Yunus is high on the list of kill/capture targets and is on the run from U.S. special forces. He is the Taliban head of operations for the province of Baghlan and is said to have been behind an infamous suicide attack that killed 70 people, most of them civilians.
Yunus is a rising star in the Taliban leadership and was promoted to his position after special forces killed his predecessor last year. We ask him if the Taliban are ready to talk peace with the Afghan government.
MULLAH YUNUS: [subtitles] We will never negotiate with the Karzai government. They are the puppets and our enemies. Instead of talking to them, we will try to target them and eliminate them. Negotiations will only be possible when the Americans leave Afghanistan.
NARRATOR: We ask Mullah Yunus if the Taliban will ever be willing to negotiate.
MULLAH YUNUS: [subtitles] No. This war has become like delicious food for us. When a day passes without fighting, we get restless. We are sad when we cannot fight. Negotiations will only be possible when the Americans leave Afghanistan. We will only talk when they compensate us for all our losses. Otherwise we will attack Americans in foreign countries.
NARRATOR: Young commanders like Mullah Yunus have risen to positions of power because of the kill/capture campaign. They appear to have little interest in making peace. Those close to the U.S. military acknowledge there's a danger that the kill/capture campaign may radicalize the Taliban, but they say it's worth the risk.
Lt. Col. JOHN NAGL (Ret.), Pentagon Adviser: Many of them are more extreme, which makes it harder to negotiate with them, but it also makes them sloppier. They haven't had as much time on the battlefield. And so I'm sure they would much prefer us to turn off the kill/capture machine in order to maintain the capacity they have and build a strong mid-level leadership. That's something they don't have and I don't think they're ever going to get back, and that's a fact that they are still coming to terms with.
NARRATOR: U.S. commanders argue that for now, kill/capture is a crucial part of a wider counterinsurgency campaign that is starting to roll back the Taliban.
Gen. DAVID PETRAEUS: We're seeing progress for the first time in many years. Our assessment is that we have halted the momentum of the Taliban in much of the country — not all — and that we have reversed the momentum in some important areas, while noting that there's no question that there's still a great deal of hard work to be done.
NARRATOR: Across Afghanistan, the military admits, the Taliban are still in control of much of the countryside.
Back in Andar district, after a campaign that has seen hundreds of insurgents killed or captured, we join a unit of the 101st Airborne on patrol in Taliban territory. Out here, the insurgents run a shadow government. They tax the population, run schools and have their own courts, and they punish those they suspect to be spies. When the Americans come here, the Taliban slip away.
Sgt. GAVIN ERICKSON: Up here, it's, like, a hatred like you just can't describe. You ask questions about Taliban, you know they're there, but the people lie to you and you know they're lying right to your face. That's probably the most disappointing thing, especially when you're here to help them.
DEXTER FILKINS: I think the most troubling question that hangs over this whole enterprise, for all the money and all the blood that's been spent on it, is we know that NATO and the Americans can go into an area and clear it and kill a lot of Taliban and chase them out of there. They can— they're pretty good at that. They can even hold the town. They can even govern it. They can build stuff. They can build schools. They can build roads. We know they can do that. It costs a lot of money, it costs a lot of lives, but they can do it.
But the one thing that hasn't been demonstrated at all, and we're now in the 10th year of this thing, is can we hand it off to the Afghans?
NARRATOR: The soldiers here say the answer is not yet.
INTERVIEWER: What do you think could happen when you guys leave?
Sgt. GAVIN ERICKSON: Honestly, I think if we left, the Taliban would take it over again.
NARRATOR: It is now almost 10 years since the United States came to this country to drive out the Taliban and al Qaeda. Tens of thousands of Taliban have been killed or captured. The leader of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, is now dead. But it's far from clear what the long-term consequences of this kill/capture campaign will be.
MULLAH YUNUS: [subtitles] We tell the infidels that if you kill us, we become stronger, and the number of our attacks will just increase as time passes. We have launched revenge attacks already, and we will now try to take revenge in foreign countries. We are resolute.
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Lizards might lose their gut bacteria to climate change—and that’s not great
A lizard’s health is in its gut
By Kendra Pierre-Louis | Published May 9, 2017 8:39 PM
Zootoca vivipara, better known as the common lizard, is the sort of reptile that a budding ecologist might bring home to parental horror. At around two and a half inches long, and weighing less than a pencil, the lizard is perfectly sized for hand concealment. The lizard, as its name suggests, is common. Its range begins to the west in Ireland and stretches as far east as Japan, with an expanse that reaches as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far South as northern Italy. With so much of its range unoccupied by humans—and the eco-systems therein intact as a result—it’s no surprise that the IUCN Red List of Threatened species lists Zootoca vivipara as a species of least concern. And yet, a new study in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution suggests that humans don’t actually have to encroach upon the common lizard’s habitat to cause the critter harm. We just have to turn up the heat. Researchers found that a warming climate, which the lizards will likely encounter under climate change, causes a 34 percent loss of the lizard’s microbiome diversity, or gut bacteria.
Researchers are increasingly aware that the bacteria in an animal’s gut—yes, even a lizard’s—play a huge role in everything from digestion to immunity. Wellbeing, at least in part, resides in the gut. While we’re still learning what makes up a healthy microbiome, a diverse microbiome—that is one that has lots of different types of bacteria—is generally considered favorable.
At the same time, researchers know that the profile of a gut’s bacteria is impacted by environment. Population density and diet, for example, affect the health of a lizard’s gut, and in turn potentially affect the health of the lizard. Because lizards are cold blooded and depend heavily on their environment to maintain bodily temperatures, it made sense to wonder what impact, if any, warming temperatures like those predicted to occur under climate change would have. The results aren’t great: lizards exposed to warming temperatures not only had less bacterial diversity, but they also tended to die sooner.
The researchers came to this conclusion through a series of experiments. In the first, they allocated nine lizards to three summer climate conditions—present climate, intermediate climate warming (+2 degrees Celsius) and warm climate (+3)—that are consistent with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections. After exposing the lizards to summer climatic conditions from mid-June to mid-September, the researchers brought them back to the thermal present and sampled the bacterial in their cloacal (a cavity that serves as the opening for the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts in many vertebrae including lizards). They also did a similar study involving a two-month long summer climatic treatment, instead of the four months in the original run. In both, they found that the lizards exposed to warmer climates had less diverse colonies of bacteria in their guts.
Of course, the loss of gut bacteria diversity doesn’t necessarily mean that the lizards were less healthy. Couldn’t it be that the warm climates actually killed off harmful bacteria, leaving the lizards with a less-diverse but ultimately better collection of microbes?
To find out, the researchers kept an eye on their study subjects for a year after the temperature tweaking occurred. The lizards with the greatest gut bacteria diversity (the ones spared the warmest climates) were most likely to survive, suggesting that the loss of diversity really did harm their fellow reptiles.
The authors aren’t saying that this is definitive. It could be that the rapid warming conditions of the experiment put stress on the lizards, and that a slowly warming climate might not have the same result. At the same time, however, climate change is not marked by a steady warming of temperatures—we are not the proverbial frog being slowly boiled to death in a pot. Rather, climate change is marked by relatively quick temperature changes, including things phenomena like the heat waves that rocked Russia in 2010. The experiment didn’t do a bad job of mirroring those conditions.
If the study’s results hold, it could be that this is one more unforeseen way in which climate change is harming the environment. The impacts of these and other indirect effects of climate change—lizards, mind you, play a big role in insect control—might go unnoticed until humans start feeling the heat.
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Sex and the City: The Essential Episodes
Best Sex and the City Episodes
February 21, 2014 by Kate Emswiler
It's hard to believe Sex and the City has been off the air longer than the show was in production. In fact, this Saturday marks a decade since the series finale aired on HBO. Back then, we had no idea Carrie and the ladies would make a comeback on the big screen. The last episode didn't only feel like the end of a pop culture phenomenon, but also the last time we'd ever see our best girlfriends — the ladies who taught us all about modern relationships, sex, and discovering your self worth. And so we did the only thing we could do before Netflix streamed videos online: we fired up the DVD player and watched the episodes over and over. While the entire series is can't-miss television, we're rounding up the best of the best for old times' sake. Keep reading for all the highlights!
— Additional reporting by Nick Maslow
Sex And The CityTV
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WEB EXCLUSIVE: A Discussion with the Late American Composer Robert Ward (from the ST Archives)
Published April 3, 2013 at 6:21 PM CDT
Robert Ward, the highly acclaimed American composer, died today at age 95. Ward won the Pulitzer Prize for his opera "The Crucible" --- based on the classic Arthur Miller play, with a libretto adapted by Bernard Stambler --- which was commissioned by the New York City Opera and had its premiere in 1961. (You can read an appreciative NPR Music obituary for Robert Ward here.) In February of 1995, the great composer participated in a StudioTulsa interview; at that time, Ward was in town for a staging of "The Crucible" by Tulsa Opera. We're pleased to share this special discussion (as a "web exclusive") from the StudioTulsa archives. Enjoy.
StudioTulsaoperaTulsa OperaTheaterClassical MusicAmerican Literature
Philip Seymour Hoffman Is The New Willy Loman
TU Theatre Presents Two Plays about World War II: "Biloxi Blues" and "Waiting for the Parade"
Our two guests on this edition of ST are Michael Wright and Steven Marzolf. Both are directing plays currently being presented in repertory by the TU…
Tulsa Opera Presents "The Most Happy Fella" (Starring Kim Josephson)
On February 23rd, March 1st, and March 3rd, Tulsa Opera will present Frank Loesser's masterful "Broadway opera" --- as some have called it --- "The Most…
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Entertainment and Humor
The 100 Top TV Catchphrases
The 100 top TV catchphrases? D'oh!
NEW YORK (AP) -- Sometimes it takes only a word, or just a few, to become immortalized in television history.
The TV Land cable network has compiled a list of the 100 greatest catchphrases in TV, from the serious -- Walter Cronkite's nightly signoff "And that's the way it is" -- to the silly: "We are two wild and crazy guys!"
The network will air a countdown special, "The 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catch Phrases," over five days starting December 11.
"We have found that television is such a huge part of baby boomers' DNA that it makes sense that so much of America's pop culture jargon has come from TV," said Larry Jones, TV Land president.
The greatest number of moments, 26, come from the 1970s. TV Land identified nine moments from this decade. Ten are from commercials, and 28 from comedies, including six from "Saturday Night Live."
In alphabetical order, TV Land's list:
- "Aaay" (Fonzie, "Happy Days")
- "And that's the way it is" (Walter Cronkite, "CBS Evening News")
- "Ask not what your country can do for you ..." (John F. Kennedy)
- "Baby, you're the greatest" (Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, "The Honeymooners")
- "Bam!" (Emeril Lagasse, "Emeril Live")
- "Book 'em, Danno" (Steve McGarrett, "Hawaii Five-O")
- "Come on down!" (Johnny Olson, "The Price is Right")
- "Danger, Will Robinson" (Robot, "Lost in Space")
- "De plane! De plane!" (Tattoo, "Fantasy Island")
- "Denny Crane" (Denny Crane, "Boston Legal")
- "Do you believe in miracles?" (Al Michaels, 1980 Winter Olympics)
- "D'oh!" (Homer Simpson, "The Simpsons")
- "Don't make me angry ..." (David Banner, "The Incredible Hulk")
- "Dyn-o-mite" (J.J., "Good Times")
- "Elizabeth, I'm coming!" (Fred Sanford, "Sanford and Son")
- "Gee, Mrs. Cleaver ..." (Eddie Haskell, "Leave it to Beaver")
- "God'll get you for that" (Maude, "Maude")
- "Good grief" (Charlie Brown, "Peanuts" specials)
- "Good night, and good luck" (Edward R. Murrow, "See It Now")
- "Good night, John Boy" ("The Waltons")
- "Have you no sense of decency?" (Joseph Welch to Sen. McCarthy)
- "Heh heh" (Beavis and Butt-head, "Beavis and ********")
- "Here it is, your moment of Zen" ("The Daily Show")
- "Here's Johnny!" (Ed McMahon, "The Tonight Show")
- "Hey now!" (Hank Kingsley, "The Larry Sanders Show")
- "Hey HEY hey!" (Dwayne Nelson, "What's Happening!!")
- "Hey hey HEEY!" (Fat Albert, "Fat Albert")
- "Holy (whatever), Batman!" (Robin, "Batman")
- "Holy ****!" (Frank Barone, "Everybody Loves Raymond")
- "Homey don't play that!" (Homey the Clown, "In Living Color")
- "How sweet it is!" (Jackie Gleason, "The Jackie Gleason Show")
- "How you doin'?" (Joey Tribbiani, "Friends")
- "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" (Alka Seltzer ad)
- "I know nothing!" (Sgt. Schultz, "Hogan's Heroes")
- "I love it when a plan comes together" (Hannibal, "The A-Team")
- "I want my MTV!" (MTV ad)
- "I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl ..." (Larry, "Newhart")
- "I'm not a crook ..." (Richard Nixon)
- "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV" (Vicks Formula 44 ad)
- "I'm Rick James, *****!" (Dave Chappelle as Rick James, "Chappelle's Show")
- "Is that your final answer?" (Regis Philbin, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire")
- "It keeps going and going and going ..." (Energizer Batteries ad)
- "It takes a licking ..." (Timex ad)
- "Jane, you ignorant slut" (Dan Aykroyd to Jane Curtin, "Saturday Night Live")
- "Just one more thing ..." (Columbo, "Columbo")
- "Let's be careful out there" (Sgt. Esterhaus, "Hill Street Blues")
- "Let's get ready to rumble!" (Michael Buffer, various sports events)
- "Live long and prosper" (Spock, "Star Trek")
- "Makin' whoopie" (Bob Eubanks, "The Newlywed Game")
- "Mom always liked you best" (Tommy Smothers, "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour")
- "Never assume ..." (Felix Unger, "The Odd Couple")
- "Nip it!" (Barney Fife, "The Andy Griffith Show")
- "No soup for you!" (The Soup Nazi, "Seinfeld")
- "Norm!" ("Cheers")
- "Now cut that out!" (Jack Benny, "The Jack Benny Program")
- "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!" (Stan and Kyle, "South Park")
- "Oh, my nose!" (Marcia Brady, "The Brady Bunch")
- "One small step for man ..." (Neil Armstrong)
- "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" (Grey Poupon ad)
- "Read my lips: No new taxes!" (George H.W. Bush)
- "Resistance is futile" (Picard as Borg, "Star Trek: The Next Generation")
- "Say good night, Gracie" (George Burns, "The Burns & Allen Show")
- "Schwing!" (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as Wayne and Garth, "Saturday Night Live")
- "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" (Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle)
- "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids" (Trix cereal ad)
- "Smile, you're on 'Candid Camera"' ("Candid Camera")
- "Sock it to me" ("Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In")
- "Space, the final frontier ..." (Capt. Kirk, "Star Trek")
- "Stifle!" (Archie Bunker, "All in the Family")
- "Suit up!" (Barney Stinson, "How I Met Your Mother")
- "Tastes great! Less filling!" (Miller Lite beer ad)
- "Tell me what you don't like about yourself" (Dr. McNamara and Dr. Troy, "Nip/Tuck")
- "That's hot" (Paris Hilton, "The Simple Life")
- "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat" (Jim McKay, "ABC's Wide World of Sports")
- "The tribe has spoken" (Jeff Probst, "Survivor")
- "The truth is out there" (Fox Mulder, "The X-Files")
- "This is the city ..." (Sgt. Joe Friday, "Dragnet")
- "Time to make the donuts" ("Dunkin' Donuts" ad)
- "Two thumbs up" (Siskel & Ebert, "Siskel & Ebert")
- "Up your nose with a rubber hose" (Vinnie Barbarino, "Welcome Back, Kotter")
- "We are two wild and crazy guys!" (Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd as Czech playboys, "Saturday Night Live")
- "Welcome to the O.C., *****" (Luke, "The O.C.")
- "Well, isn't that special?" (Dana Carvey as the Church Lady, "Saturday Night Live")
- "We've got a really big show!" (Ed Sullivan, "The Ed Sullivan Show")
- "Whassup?" (Budweiser ad)
- "What you see is what you get!" (Geraldine, "The Flip Wilson Show")
- "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" (Arnold Drummond, "Diff'rent Strokes")
- "Where's the beef?" (Wendy's ad)
- "Who loves you, baby?" (Kojak, "Kojak")
- "Would you believe?" (Maxwell Smart, "Get Smart")
- "Yabba dabba do!" (Fred Flintstone, "The Flintstones")
- "Yada, yada, yada" ("Seinfeld")
- "Yeah, that's the ticket" (Jon Lovitz as the pathological liar, "Saturday Night Live")
- "You eeeediot!" (Ren, "Ren & Stimpy")
- "You look mahvelous!" (Billy Crystal as Fernando, "Saturday Night Live")
- "You rang?" (Lurch, "The Addams Family")
- "You're fired!" (Donald Trump, "The Apprentice")
- "You've got spunk ..." (Lou Grant, "The Mary Taylor Moore Show")
JonathanHunt
Pity south park got in there, blasphemous trash.
ChristopherPaul
Some of these phrases I hear often in everyday life and never realized they were derived from a TV catch phrase until reading this
QueenEsther
I think they forgot about "more cow bell". I hear that one quite often.
Megerator
Well, isn't that special? We like ourselves, don't we? Hmmm...wonder who made up tht list. I just can't imagine, could it be....?
On the Radio, Friday
sastark
Billy Graham's Approval of JPII and the RCC
Mean Old Man
the tracing of Doctrine through history
ModernPuritan?
py3ak
Evidence for sola fide in its infancy stages in the early church
DTK
Veggie Tales creator regrets emphasizing morality over the gospel in his cartoons
ubermadchen
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Lapo Binazzi
27 September - 31 October 2016
82 FRANKLIN ST NY 10013
Lapo Binazzi,
R & Company is pleased to announce designer Lapo Binazzi’s first major overview opening at the gallery September 27th. This survey draws together a compelling body of work that reveals Binazzi’s career over the last four decades and showcases a range of rare works and archives never exhibited before. Examples of Lapo Binazzi’s designs can found in important museums and in private collections around world. This exhibition has been a decade in the making and is a lead up to SuperDesign, the major Italian Radical Design show that opens at R & Company in 2017 and which features some of the most iconic Italian designs over the last five decades. Lapo Binazzi will also be featured in the accompanying book published with The Monacelli Press and a documentary film.
The exhibition is on view September 27th through October 31st. An opening reception will be held on September 27th from 6:00pm until 8:00pm in which Lapo Binazzi will be present.
Lapo Binazzi is a quintessential figure in the Italian Radical movement and a founding member of the collective UFO, one of the “supergroups” of Italian architects. The Italian Radical movement grew in response to the political state of Italy in the 1960’s, when groups of designers congregated together to create works that challenged the current political and economical system. Binazzi’s designs exemplify this movement through their provocative tones, humorous messages and symbolic imagery. Lingering between conceptual and pop art, Binazzi works in a variety of mediums including interior design, fashion, film and performance. “Lapo Binazzi has remained a true radical throughout his career, having never swayed to the rationalist or classical practices of his contemporaries,” states Evan Snyderman, R & Company co-founder.
The exhibition showcases a range of pieces that outline Binazzi’s career starting in the late 60’s through the early 2000’s. On display are some of his most memorable designs alongside rare and never before seen objects and drawings. Included is a selection of UFO’s most iconic lamps created by Lapo Binazzi such as Paramount, MGM, and Dollaro. These designs were made in response to what Binazzi perceived as Hollywood’s false, or impossible to achieve, depiction of the American Dream in the 1960’s and 70’s. Although the designs are playful in their appearance, each lamp contains strong social commentary through their well-known cartoon symbols and provocative narratives. The Paramount lamp plays with the film studio Paramount’s logo by taking the iconic mountain symbol and juxtaposing an umbrella on its peak; similarly, the MGM lamp utilizes the MGM icon yet instead of a roaring lion in the center, there’s an umbrella. The Dollaro lamp references the 20th Century Fox logo by using a similar gold block form but instead of text there’s an American dollar sign and a striking lightning bolt (an alternate version of the lamp incorporates the same design with palm trees and toy cars).
The exhibition also includes a selection of rare works by Lapo Binazzi. On display are drawings and hand- colored prints that have never been exhibited before as well as the playful, large-scale sculptural Doric column seating installation created by Binazzi for UFO’s presentation in Salone del Mobile in Milan in 1971. The boldness and experimental quality of each of Binazzi’s works have resulted in not only beautiful objects but also thought provoking design. The exhibition is an homage to Binazzi’s career and a look into the Italian radical design movement which continues to be a major source of inspiration and important influence for the design world today.
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Whites Won’t Give Up on Racism
Post author By Scot Nakagawa
5 Comments on Whites Won’t Give Up on Racism
Mychal Denzel Smith recently posted an article on The Nation that’s a worthy read. In it, he argues,
…White people have to let go of racism. From the avowed racist, to the anti-racist activists, to the “I’m not a racist, I have two black friends” folks, to the “I don’t see color” people and everyone else between or on the margins…
I loved the article. It raised points we rarely see in print, even in places like The Nation. But, as I’m sure Smith would agree, white people aren’t really going to just give up racism. Why? Here goes.
Smith provides part of the answer when he says,
…the genius of racism is that you don’t have to participate to enjoy the spoils. If you’re white, you can be completely oblivious, passively accepting the status quo, and reap the rewards.
He’s right. Even the most liberal whites have benefited from racism, including the most grotesque forms of it. Think about it, you didn’t need to belong to the KKK in 1950s America to enjoy almost exclusive rights to better schools and the best jobs, not to mention a housekeeper who earned next to nothing while laboring without ordinary worker protections. And I don’t just mean in the South. Racial terrorism under Jim Crow pushed millions of blacks to migrate to Northern cities where they faced lower wages, segregation, and overt, often violent, racism.
Today, whites still passively benefit. For instance, whites aren’t individually responsible for racist drug laws. But white users drive the most lucrative parts of the illegal drug trade. Whites and Blacks use drugs at about the same rate, but whites use more expensive drugs, and blacks constitute a much smaller percentage of the population, making the volume of their illegal drug consumption decidedly smaller.
Yet blacks, not whites, are profiled as drug users and dealers. Because racial profiling causes law enforcement to concentrate their efforts in black communities, more black people are caught. Once caught, blacks are more likely to go from arrest to prosecution to prison, where they suffer, on average, longer sentences.
The protective quality of white skin makes it unlikely whites will give it up until blackness ceases to be so dangerous to one’s health. But white resistance to racial equity is about more than protection. Whiteness is worth cash money. Throughout the world, darker skinned people invest money into skin bleaches and cosmetics to lighten our skin at the risk of illness. We pay the price, and companies reap huge profits, because there’s a real advantage to whiteness.
Historically, the value of white skin is demonstrated by the fact that one could successfully sue for damages related to being wrongly labeled black, but there was no financial value placed on being wrongly labeled white. We live in this history and all that we’ve inherited from it, including our parents estates (or debts) and, for some, companies like Wachovia Corporation, R.J. Reynolds, J.P. Morgan, and Aetna that were created with capital generated from slavery. Just ask the heirs of these companies if racism pays.
Many argue that it’s unfair to put the burden of guilt on ordinary, wage earning whites. It’s true that the capital accumulated through genocide, the slave trade, and slave and coolie labor has been distributed extremely unevenly. But while white people constitute the largest group living in poverty in America, they aren’t the poorest by race, nor is the incidence of poverty nearly as high for whites as for Latinos, Native Americans, African Americans, and the least advantaged Asian ethnic minorities. And per capital income remains higher for whites than any other group by race, including Asian Americans.
When significant redistribution of wealth has occurred, whites have benefited more. For instance, the government redistributed some wealth via the G.I. Bill last century. That Bill provided, among other things, home ownership opportunities to white veterans that many black veterans, particularly in the South, were denied. Massive infrastructure development in the mid-twentieth century produced jobs for many, but these too were often denied to people of color. Because this happened at a time when the U.S. economy was recovering from a devastating depression, these exclusions have an enduring legacy revealed in the racial wealth gap between black and white people. And this gap has worsened since the crash of the housing market, an event precipitated in part by irresponsible lending practices originally invented by banks in order to prey upon people of color.
Most whites may experience the material benefits of racism in the form of crumbs, but they are held in thrall by the tantalizing promise of more, often voting against their own interests, specifically because that promise is more likely to be honored if you have white skin. This promise is fundamental to the mythos of American exceptionalism. For most of U.S. history, social mobility was impossible for non-whites. But until the end of the Civil War, coming to America was a near guarantee of social mobility for European migrants who were given the incentive of Indian land and slave labor to help settle the continent.
Today, that promise still pays off in advantages beyond greater wealth and significantly lower unemployment rates for whites. For instance, in this TedTalk, model Cameron Russell argues that she’s the beneficiary of a cultural legacy that advantages white people. One way she measures that advantage is by pointing out that a 2002 study of models showed that of 677 top models in that year, 27 were non-white, or less than 4%. The industry that defines “pretty” seems to believe that consumers are 25 times more likely to relate to beauty in a white woman as opposed to in a woman of color.
These advantages are everywhere. They are, in fact, so ubiquitous that most of us who are victimized by them, including white women who don’t look like Cameron Russell, don’t even notice. The evidence adds up to big a no to the question, will whites give up racism? Nope, there’s too much at stake. The end of racism, unfair though this reality may be, is up to us.
Tags American exceptionalism, Cameron Russell, GI Bill, Jim Crow, kkk, subprime mortgages, white privilege, white supremacy
By Scot Nakagawa
Scot Nakagawa is a political strategist and writer who has spent more than four decades exploring questions of structural racism, white supremacy, and social justice. Scot’s primary work has been in the fight against authoritarianism, white nationalism, and Christian nationalism. Currently, Scot is co-lead of the 22nd Century Initiative, a project to build the field of resistance to authoritarianism in the U.S.
Scot is a past Alston/Bannerman Fellow, an Open Society Foundations Fellow, and a recipient of the Association of Asian American Studies Community Leader Award. His writings have been included in Race, Gender, and Class in the United States: An Integrated Study, 9th Edition, and Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence.
Scot's political essays, briefings, and other educational media can be found at his newsletter, We Fight the Right at scotnakagawa@substack.com. He is a sought after public speaker and educator who provides consultation on campaign and communications strategy, and fundraising.
← The Stigma of Affirmative Action → Book Review: The Warmth of Other Suns…Now, Go Ahead, Read It!
5 replies on “Whites Won’t Give Up on Racism”
Jeffrey B. Perrysays:
Readers may be interested in the work of the anti-white supremacist, working class intellectual/activist Theodore W. Allen (1919-2005), author of “The Invention of the White Race” (1994, 1997: New expanded edition, Verso Books, 2012) and pioneering writer (beginning in 1965) on “white skin privilege.” Allen argues that European-American workers should oppose “white skin privileges” and that these “white” race privileges are not only “ruinous” to the interests of African Americans and other direct victims of white supremacy, but that they are also “disastrous” for working people. See and also see
Jeffrey B. Perry
See my webpage jeffreybperry.net (right hand column) for additional writings by, and about, Allen.
Hattiesays:
I know perfectly well that my whiteness gives me all kinds of privileges: over women of color, in particular. I don’t have to justify what I do. I don’t have to “come on” in any particular way to get respect or attention. In my generation, at any rate, middle class white girls were entitled to protection from abuse as well as the financial support of their husbands. If we did not have much freedom, we had the right to survive, at least.
Most whites I know refuse to see their privilege and adopt this idea of “color blindness.” But for truly unmarked freedom, there is nothing like being a white man. That is why white women led the feminist movement, orginally: because we saw our inferior status compared to the men in our lives. It has been difficult to find solidarity with women of color. There is still a lot of cross-racial tension. A lot!
Scot Nakagawasays:
Thanks, Hattie. I’m happy to know there are people like you out there trying to reach out across race to address the ways in which most of us are victimized by white male supremacy!
Adeensays:
You are right and it is nice to hear from a White woman like you. We need more Whites who will tell the truth instead of hide behind lies.
This is a very well written article and it is poignant as well. It is nice to expose racism and how it affects Whites and Blacks in America.
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Missing Chinese rights lawyer returns home but ‘still not free’ – wife
'After not seeing each other for 6 years, we were finally able to talk and video chat,' Jin Bianling, wife of Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, tells AFP
BEIJING, China – A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer has reappeared two days after going missing following his release from a jail sentence for state subversion, his wife said Sunday, March 3.
Jiang Tianyong – who took on high-profile cases including those of Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetan protesters – was one of more than 200 lawyers and activists detained in a 2015 clampdown on courtroom critics of Communist authorities.
The 47-year-old had disappeared Thursday, February 28, after completing his two-year jail sentence, before he finally reappeared in his hometown of Xinyang, Henan province, said his US-based wife.
Supporters had said police outside the jail he was released from told them he had been “taken away” but did not specify by whom.
“After not seeing each other for 6 years, we were finally able to talk and video chat,” Jin Bianling told AFP.
But even though Jiang has been released from jail, “he is still not free”, she added.
“He is living at his parents’ home now, but there are police stationed outside. Wherever he goes, the police follow him,” said Jin.
“I am also worried that he could disappear at any time, so I hope he can come to the US as soon as possible to reunite with us.”
It is not uncommon for human rights activists and dissidents in China to remain under surveillance or face ongoing restrictions after they serve their prison sentences.
Hu Jia, a Beijing-based activist who served a three-year jail sentence in 2008, says he has been under intermittent house arrest since 2004.
The disappearance of Jiang, who was charged with “inciting subversion” in 2017, also comes as China continues to clamp down on human rights activists and lawyers in the country.
In January, Wang Quanzhang, another well-known Chinese lawyer swept up in the 2015 crackdown, was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison for “subverting state power”.
Wang, who defended political activists and victims of land seizures, was part of a now defunct law firm called Beijing Fengrui.
The law firm, which specialized in cases involving farmers’ land rights, labor camps and criminal rights saw at least five lawyers detained in 2015. – Rappler.com
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Next US president could reshape Supreme Court
Jun 5, 2012 9:35 AM PHT
Chantal Valery
The U.S. Supreme Court leans conservative today, but the balance is precarious
WASHINGTON, United States of America – The next occupant of the White House, whether it is Democratic President Barack Obama or Republican contender Mitt Romney, will likely have a rare opportunity to reshape the US Supreme Court.
As the top court nears a decision on the constitutionality of Obama’s flagship first term achievement — health care reform — we’re reminded that it was this court that finally put an end to racial segregation, re-established the death penalty, affirmed Americans’ right to bear arms, and probably next year will have the final word on gay marriage.
The court today arguably leans conservative but the balance is precarious and three of the nine judges will turn 80 before the end of the next president’s mandate in 2017.
“President Jefferson said that the problem with the Supreme Court is that they never retire, and they rarely die,” Justice Stephen Breyer, counted among the more liberal members of the bench, told AFP in an interview.
“We’re appointed here for life,” added the 73-year-old senior judge who was appointed by Democratic president Bill Clinton in 1994.
If just one of the three oldest judges decided to retire, the appointment of a replacement from the opposite camp could tilt the balance of the court, and in turn, affect its decisions for a long time.
“Justices tend to retire strategically to permit ideologically sympathetic presidents to name their successors,” wrote Supreme Court expert Tom Goldstein on Scotusblog.com.
Actually, “the Supreme Court is deeply polarized and a 5-4 conservative majority holds sway on most (though not all) controversial and consequential decisions,” Thomas Mann, an analyst with the Brookings Institute, told AFP.
“If Romney wins, that conservative majority could well hold sway for decades.”
The presidential candidates are aware of the stakes too. “In his second term, he (Obama) would remake (the Supreme Court),” Mitt Romney said in a speech to the National Rifle Association.
“Our freedoms would be in the hands of an Obama court not just for the next four years but for the next 40, and we must not let that happen.”
Making a case for her husband’s re-election, First Lady Michelle Obama also reaffirmed at a campaign stop in Nashville in April “the impact the court’s decisions will have on our lives for decades to come, on our privacy and security, on whether we can speak freely, worship openly, and love whomever we choose.”
“That’s what’s at stake. Those are the choices that we are facing in this election,” she said, noting that President Obama had already appointed two women to the top court.
Progressive judge Ruth Ginsburg, a 79-year-old justice nominated by president Jimmy Carter who has survived two cancer operations, is considered most likely to be the first to retire.
Swing vote
“The odds are good that Justice Ginsburg will retire in the third year of a second Obama term,” commented Tom Goldstein on Scotusblog.com.
The justice, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993, “has sent signals that correspond with a likely retirement at that time,” he said. She will be 82.
Ultra-conservative Antonin Scalia, 76, is also set to depart, but only if Romney wins the election.
Anthony Kennedy, also nominated to the bench by a Republican president, at age 75 “might resign.” He is “the most powerful justice in the court now, he’s the guy that always makes the five votes in the majority, he’s the swing vote,” said Clyde Wilcox, a professor at Georgetown University.
“Lot depends on who is nominated, it is not because Obama nominates someone that he would be automatically confirmed” by the Senate, he told AFP.
“If he (Obama) is re-elected, there’s a good chance that the Republicans might block liberal judges at the Supreme Court.” – Agence France-Presse
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Stolen Propery reported recovered
PUBLISHED: September 27, 2013 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 23, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.
KELSEYVILLE — Three arrests were made and stolen property was recovered, according to Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) Public Information Officer Lt. Steve Brooks.
On Sept. 19 a burglary was reported at a home in a Clear Lake Riviera subdivision.
An LCSO deputy reportedly spoke to a homeowner who found numerous items were taken from the home. The items included cash, credit cards, personal and household items, including a sectional couch, according to a LCSO press release.
Also reportedly missing was a 2009 Ford sedan taken from inside the garage. The stolen vehicle was towed the previous day when it was found blocking a roadway in Kelseyville.
A search of the stolen vehicle revealed items reported missing from the home.
LCSO evidence technicians reportedly processed the vehicle for evidence related to the vehicle theft and residential burglary. Evidence located inside the vehicle provided detectives with a suspect lead.
Detectives obtained video surveillance from an area business, where one of the stolen credit cards was allegedly used.
Brooks stated deputies recognized the suspect in the video as David John Meyer, 28, of Loch Lomond.
On Wednesday, at 8:50 a.m. detectives served a search warrant at Meyers” home, finding him allegedly hidden in a bathroom.
Detectives arrested three men at the address, Meyer, Randy Griffin, 50 and Justin Spellman, 30, of Lakeport.
The couch, among other items believed to be stolen, in Meyers” home were seized. Detectives allegedly located and seized bank checks not related to the burglary, which were allegedly in the process of being forged.
Detectives also reportedly located and seized methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia from inside the home.
A Kelseyville storage unit belonging to Meyers reportedly housed more stolen property recovered from the burglary.
Meyer was arrested on charges of burglary, possession of stolen property, possession of a controlled substance, conspiracy and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Spellman was arrested on charges of possession of stolen property, conspiracy and being under the influence of a controlled substance. Griffin was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of concentrated cannabis. They were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.
Anyone with information to assist the task force with this effort is encouraged to call the anonymous tip line at 263-3663.
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Richter > In the news | Consumer & Retail Advisor | Mirella Pisciuneri and Katherine Forbes | What’s critical to succeeding in our changing retail landscape
In the news | Consumer & Retail Advisor | Mirella Pisciuneri and Katherine Forbes | What’s critical to succeeding in our changing retail landscape
By Mirella Pisciuneri, CPA, CA and Katherine Forbes, CPA, CA, CPA (Illinois)
*Mirella and Katherine were guest contributors to McCarthy Tétrault’s Consumer & Retail Advisor blog. The original of this article appeared on the Consumer & Retail Advisor blog in July, 2016.
Roughly one decade ago, there was much speculation as to how Canadian retail brands would fare when international fast-fashion chains began opening stores in Canada. In addition, while new chains have made their presence known across the country and with increasing consolidation and emphasis on e-commerce, the retail market has become increasingly interesting to watch.
Large and established fast fashion brands of significant scale are often vertically integrated, with a sophisticated product development system able to supply fresh and interesting products to consumers at exceptional speed as fast as a weekly change in products (i.e. 52 times per year), as opposed to a seasonal revamp (three times per year).
While some brands such as Jacob and Smart Set have been pushed out of the market in recent years[1], others have been able to stay the course.
In addition to these pressures, financial realities are adding pressure to Canadian retailers. The foreign exchange rate of the USD experienced a greater than 10% swing in the year, reaching a monthly average high of $1.37 in December, 2015[2]. Canadian companies that were not positioned well to hedge against these fluctuations have had limited ability to pass the cost saving along to their customers. Additionally, there have been heightened discussions to raise the minimum wage in some provinces across the country[3]. Store payroll accounts for a significant portion of the cost on traditional retailers. Substantial increases to the minimum wage may impact profitability – although whether this will be the case for sure, is still to be seen.
The following are some steps that Canadian retailers can take to address these pressures in a changing landscape shaped by increased variety and susceptibility to foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
Merchandise planning and inventory control (“OTB”)
These processes are one of the biggest contributors to cash control in tough times. Tighter controls and comprehensive planning help ensure you are getting the best ‘bang for your buck’. Richter has observed that, unfortunately in many of the cases of underperforming companies, they are either not at the right place, or these processes have been implemented too late to be effective or make up for lost ground.
Product development & vertical integration
The need to keep up with the increased cadence of new products coming from fast-fashion retailers creates a challenge for inventory controls, and places pressure on production and design teams (particularly those of smaller brands). However, this also creates an opportunity for such retailers to market their products as being more exclusive in nature. Highlighting this angle as part of your retail strategy could be beneficial.
Occupancy costs
Rent or leasing costs are one of the most significant expenses for retailers with physical store spaces. Retailers should consider their physical store footprint and how it is being used. A strategic retailer should look at all cost areas and make decisions based on the current situation, but also projections long term.
Outsourcing non-core competencies
Outsourcing non-core competencies or even distribution functions, and evaluating cost centre process improvements often allows for an increased or renewed focus on the core business and can also convert fixed costs into variable costs, which make it easier to scale costs to fluctuations in sales volume. A diagnostic into various cost centres can result in previously unseen areas for cost savings, especially for consumer-facing businesses.
It’s important to monitor sales, profitability and costs, proactively. Consider vertical integration as an important element in achieving acceptable profit levels, and think lean. These suggestions for process improvement can help Canadian retailers stay successful in the current landscape and beyond.
Richter compiles a Weekly Retail Sales Summary which provides further insights into the sales and comparative rates of leading retailers.
About Richter: Founded in Montreal in 1926, Richter is a licensed public accounting firm that provides assurance, tax and wealth management services, as well as financial advisory services in the areas of organizational restructuring and insolvency, business valuation, corporate finance, litigation support, and forensic accounting. Our commitment to excellence, our in-depth understanding of financial issues and our practical problem-solving methods have positioned us as one of the most important independent accounting, organizational advisory and consulting firms in the country. Richter has offices in both Toronto and Montreal. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
[1] “Canada’s Retail Exodus.” Financial Post. 15 January 2015. http://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/canadas-retail-exodus-heres-whos-closed-up-shop-in-canada
[2] https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/exchange/
[3] “Minimum wage increases reignite livable income debate.” The Globe & Mail. 1 October 2015. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/five-provinces-hike-minimum-wage/article26618941/
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We performed Christmas carols and other holiday tunes at Ridgewood Guild's Winterfest, on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. Photos by Zigi Putnins.
Live Rehearsals Resume!
On September 8, 2021, Orpheus resumed live rehearsals for the first time in a year and a half. Photos by Zigi Putnins. Join us!
"Walk on . . . though your dreams be tossed and blown."
The singing men of the Orpheus Club Men's Chorus extend warmest wishes for all success to the Class of 2021, be they preschool or grad school.
Additionally, we would be worse than remiss if we failed to acknowledge all who have endured, are enduring or are helping others endure through so much incredible hardship these days. You'll Never Walk Alone. We sing as one!
In May 2021, Orpheus Club Men's Chorus honored two graduating high school seniors with scholarships: violinist Alisa Berenshtein and vocalist Emanuel Singletary.
“Songs We Love to Sing: A Choral Festival” was a virtual event on May 23, featuring the music of:
Hopewell Valley Chorus (Dr. Heather Mitchell, Artistic Director).
Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus (John J. Palatucci, Music Director).
Sharim v’Sharot: People of Song (Dr. Elayne Robinson Grossman, Music Director).
The concert included Orpheus’ new recording of Brothers, Sing On!, preceded, in the same video, by the chorus’ signature song, Salutation (Hail, Friends of Music).
It also featured two of Orpheus’ previous recordings:
How Can I Keep From Singing? (from 2015).
“The Prayer” from Lohengrin, featuring soloist Edward J. Brouillard (bass) (from 2012).
The concert ended with Let There Be Peace on Earth, sung by all three choruses. Free-will donations from the concert garnered approximately $400 for each of the three organizations.
Our video performance of "McNamara's Band" was released on St. Patrick's Day 2021 (March 17).
Our special guest is piccolo player Patty Lazzara.
Many Irish Americans are familiar with the song "MacNamara's Band" (also known as "McNamara's Band"), with music by Shamus O'Connor and lyrics by John J. Stamford. The jovial song was inspired by four Limerick brothers who founded a prize-winning band before immigrating to the United States and recording for a number of labels.
Our in-person concerts for Spring 2021, which usually would have been held in April, were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A School Frozen in Time Manga Volume 1 Review
-Written by: Quinn and Will
Quinn's Review
I love a good suspense thriller, and while the first volume of A School Frozen in Time dedicates a lot of its time to setting up the plot, there are indications that once things start to get rolling, it’s going to be a wild ride. The story centers on a group of six classmates who arrive at school on a snowy day only to realize that there’s no one else in the building. What’s more, they’re locked in and no matter what they do they can’t find any means of escape. Oh, and one of them… might have jumped to their death mere months before.
Everyone realizes they are trapped inside the school (A School Frozen in Time Manga Volume 1, Pg. 47).
ASFiT’s setup is eerily creepy, and is the main reason I wanted to pick this manga up. However, all though it’s expected, a lot of its early material is dedicated to setting up circumstances surrounding Takano, Hiroshi, Mitsuru and the rest. A good chunk of the first volume focuses on getting the group to the aforementioned creepy parts while establishing that doors and windows won’t open, their phones don’t work, and that every single clock has stopped at a very specific time: 5:53pm. Creepy! As that’s the time the suicide took place. Words scribbled on the chalkboard ask, “Do you remember?” and every single one of them realize… they don’t. Theories start getting thrown around and rapidly the teens decide that remembering is their only means of escape!
Whoa, whoa, whoa…hold the non-working phone! Getting to this conclusion seemed a bit rushed and while I took issue with how fast everyone just accepts their fate, I am here for the thrills after all. Seeing them struggling in denial wouldn’t really move the plot along, so I can forgive the storyline for putting things on the fast-track. I just won’t mention some rather cliché moments wrought with disappearing items and random noises freaking everyone out. Hrm… maybe the teens have all seen one too many horror movies and that tipped them off?
Rika makes a startling discovery (A School Frozen in Time Manga Volume 1, Pg. 89).
Joking aside, the characters are a bit pigeonholed into recognizable molds: the delinquent, the soft-spoken kid, the hyper girl, the perfect student, etc. but they still have their own distinct personalities which saves them from becoming just another face in a horror flick. Everyone’s interactions feel genuine too and, while I feel like a bad person for saying this, it’ll be interesting to see how their dispositions clash and breakdown as more… erm... walls get covered in blood. Yeah, that’s right. There’s some implied gore, but if you like some of that mixed in with suspense I think you’ll want to pick up ASFiT for sure.
Honestly, the story didn’t really grab me until only a quarter of it was left, and then all I wanted to do was read more! That cliffhanger… what the heck did they see!? What happened!? And if somebody is a spirit, can spirits die again? I have theories of my own and I’m sure there’ll be some twist that gets those theories broken good… and not to mention the students themselves. Overall, I have high expectations for the forthcoming volumes of A School Frozen in Time so let’s hope that not everything gets ripped to shreds… or do we?
Will's Review
Before Naoshi Arakawa tackled death in Your Lie In April, he teamed up with Mizuko Tsujimura to deal with suicide and memory in A School Frozen In Time. The concept was what initially drew me in and is my main drive to reading the next volume. As someone who has read Drifting Classroom, there really is something special about trapping kids in a confined space and seeing what happens. In that horror manga, it shows that Lord of the Fireflies isn’t too far off. But in the suspenseful A School Frozen In Time it forces the characters to remember memories they would rather forget.
The group finds a trail of blood in a school hallway (A School Frozen in Time Manga Volume 1, Pg. 183).
I would say the concept is the main driver because the main eight characters are a bit shallow in this volume. While some are able to differentiate themselves, most blend into the group. When they do get the spotlight, though, they really shine. Mitsuru looks like an average shy guy, but that isn’t the case. There’s a kindness to him and understanding of people that you can’t tell just from his initial introduction. If there's so much hiding underneath the surface of one character, there must be more to the others as well.
I appreciated the slow-burn, thriller aspect of the manga. Suspense is hard to pull off in manga because of the nature of reading. You can’t control the pace of a person reading it or if their eye catches a panel on the next page. So when my muscles tensed up during a particular scene, I knew Arakawa was doing something right. The horror elements are understated, instead trying to get into the minds of the characters. I was surprised to find out this was Naoshi Arakawa’s first serial manga, as the art is just as good as his later work such as Sayonara Football.
The volume ends with lots of questions and little answers. If the story continues to explore the characters and enhance the suspenseful elements, then the answers will be worth finding out.
A School Frozen in Time Manga Volume 1
A School Frozen in Time manga volume 1 features story and art by Mizuki Tsujimura, the author of Your Lie in April, and Naoshi Arakawa, the author of Anime Supremacy!
On a snowy school day like any other, classmates and childhood friends Hiroshi and Mizuki arrive at school to find the campus eerily empty. Before long, they find themselves trapped inside with six other friends, and even stranger, all the clocks have stopped at a very specific moment—the exact time when a former classmate jumped off the school roof to their death three months earlier.
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Barney Bentall feat. Dustin Bentall – July 7 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival
Broose Tulloch
Photo by Broose Tulloch.
“I never get tired of playing that song,” Barney Bentall beams. “I love it!”
Enough, apparently, to pump out a rollicking six-minute version that brought the crowd to its feet Saturday afternoon at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. That song, the feel-good blue collar anthem from the late 80s “Something To Live For,” is Bentall’s best-known tune, recorded with The Legendary Hearts, though it’s technically not his biggest hit as “Crime Against Love,” “Livin’ In The 90s,” “I’m Shattered,” and “Gin Palace” all charted higher in the 90s.
As eager as they were for that song, the crowd was equally enthusiastic and receptive to newer songs from Barney’s solo albums and side projects. Since the band called it quits in 1997, he has recorded 10 albums, four solo outings, and two each with The High Bar Gang and Bentall, Taylor, Ulrich (with musician Tom Taylor and Juno-winner Shari Ulrich)
While he still plays the occasional show with his hit-making band, the 62-year-old now records as a solo artist and was accompanied by Geoff Hicks on drums, bassist Kirby Barber, guitarist Scott Smith and fiddler Mira Mulholland.
“This is just the best band,” Barney Bentall said about the crack four-piece, the members of which are all young enough to be his children.
In fact, there was one this weekend who actually was, as his son, Dustin, joined the group on guitar and vocals. Not just a sideman, Dustin had his share of solos and took the mic on lead vocals for a number of tracks, including a stirring version of “It Makes No Difference” that hit the audience right in the feels, as the kids say.
“This is the most fun I’ve had,” said Dustin, with an ear-to-ear smile, when asked about playing with his pop.
On a fashion note, both Bentalls were sporting boots made by Dustin, who, in addition to being an up-and-coming roots artist in his own right, is also a designer of leather fashions.
The ever-gracious and cordial Bentall mainly let the music do the talking, but he did have a few kind words for the host city.
“Ever since the first time across Canada, I always got excited to reach Winnipeg,” he said, “as it has always been hallowed music grounds.”
Dispatches from the Winnipeg Folk Festival – ...
The Sutton Fiddle Festival: a recap by Elizabeth Szekeres
Ottawa Bluesfest – July 9: Bluesfest returns to it’s ...
By Christophe Elie
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Kenyan Domestic Workers' Doomed Voyages to the Gulf
By Joyce Chimbi
Trafficked, kept prisoner in Saudi Arabia Wanjiku Njoki was lucky to escape unharmed. She has since found work serving tea for a government parastatal. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 14 2022 (IPS) - Distress calls from vulnerable Kenyan women in Saudi Arabia experiencing mistreatment and torture at the hands of their employers went from 88 in 2019/2020 to 1,025 just one year later.
And this fear is all too familiar for 28-year-old Wanjiku Njoki. The young woman's whose search for greener pastures in the Gulf landed her in the hands of a physically, mentally, and verbally abusive employer.
In 2018, she travelled to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
That year, Wanjiku was one of an estimated 57,000 to 100,000 Kenyans who travel to Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain annually, for unskilled and semi-skilled work, according to the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Services.
"I heard stories of suffering and death, especially from Saudi Arabia, but the recruiting agent told us they only work with employers who have no history of abuse," she tells IPS.
"They also lied about the salary. I received $180 per month and not the $700 promised. My employer would pay me, make me sign a document confirming the payment and then steal the money back. When I told them about the missing money, the man and his wife would slap me and refuse to feed me."
Her life as a shagala, which she says is Arabic for house helper or servant, became a year-long nightmare. With her passport and mobile phone confiscated by her employer, cutting her off from the rest of the world, she saw no way out.
"I worked from 5 am to midnight every day. I spoke only when spoken to and was very depressed. With time, I befriended the gardener who allowed me to secretly use his mobile phone," she says.
Eventually, she connected with Kenyans in Saudi Arabia through social media, who told her how to escape, get arrested and deported. In 2020, Wanjiku returned to her village in Kagongo, Kiambu County, empty-handed but alive.
Saudi Arabia has a modern slavery prevalence rank index of 138 out of 167 countries as per the Global Slavery Index. The index also estimates that 61,000 people live in modern slavery and that 46 out of every 100 people are vulnerable to modern slavery.
Confronted by unemployment rates that are among the highest in the world as per the UN's International Labour Organization (ILO), hundreds of vulnerable women like Wanjiku continue to take, more often than not, a doomed voyage to the Gulf.
The parliamentary committee on labour and social welfare indicate the number of Kenyans working in Saudi Arabia has risen from 55,000 in 2019 to 97,000. The number of deaths and distress incidences has also increased.
In 2019, three deaths were reported to the Kenya embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, rising to 48 deaths in 2020 and, as of September 2021, 41 deaths.
Thus far in 2021, three deaths have been reported in Qatar, one in the United Arab Emirates, two in Kuwait, nine in Oman and two in Bahrain.
"There are at least a hundred backstreet agencies linking workers to the Middle East. Only 29 agencies are government approved and licensed. Many agencies are very greedy and are least concerned with the safety and security of their recruits," says Suzanne Karanja, a Nairobi-based recruitment agent.
"There is money to be made because a prospective employer will pay me $1,800 to $2,000 per head to facilitate travel to their country. Most agents do not intervene when trouble comes. Their work is done once they receive the commission."
Karanja says the slave and master scenario presents itself among female domestic workers and employers in the Middle East mainly because employers incur the entire cost of processing travel documents, training, and travel.
She tells IPS that a potential employer pays at least $2500, split between a recruitment agent in the country of origin and the destination country.
If the recruited domestic worker leaves before the contract is completed, employers insist on a refund.
She says the government must step up and crack down on backstreet agents for violating terms of operation, including not paying a government-stipulated bond of $15,000 and a registration fee of $5,000 every year.
The $15,000, she says, is supposed to be used to rescue distressed women who, so far, are rescued by Kenyans of goodwill when their distress stories circulate on social media.
Additionally, Karanja speaks of Kenyans illegally detained in the Middle East for challenging poor working conditions and others stranded and living on the streets hoping to be arrested and deported.
"All the deaths are among young women, and their employers say they died of cardiac arrest. How is this possible? Young, energetic women who went through and passed mandatory medical tests dying within one to four years of being in the Middle East?" Karanja questions.
Wanjiku says that the Kenya Embassy in Saudi Arabia should be scrapped because it is notorious for turning a blind eye.
"Families of women who died in the Middle East have video and text message evidence of their loved ones crying for help, but the embassy and agents did nothing to rescue them. The women record themselves on mobile phones and send these videos to their families and social media but help only comes through ordinary Kenyans."
Parliament's Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare travelled to the Gulf region in April 2021 to find solutions to the crisis.
Karanja stresses that the situation is dire, prompting the Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau to write to the Ministry of Labour in July 2021, strongly recommending a temporary ban on recruitment and export of domestic workers to Saudi Arabia until protection measures are in place.
Thus far, no concrete actions have come from the recommendation or others made by politicians after the Gulf visit. Meanwhile, blinded by poverty and desperation, vulnerable women continue to make their way to the Gulf.
This story is part of a series of features from across the globe on human trafficking. The Airways Aviation Group supports IPS coverage.
The Global Sustainability Network ( GSN ) is pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 8 with a special emphasis on Goal 8.7, which 'takes immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms'.
The origins of the GSN come from the endeavours of the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders signed on 2 December 2014. Religious leaders of various faiths gathered to work together "to defend the dignity and freedom of the human being against the extreme forms of the globalization of indifference, such as exploitation, forced labour, prostitution, human trafficking".
Related IPS Articles
Once Tossed and Abused, Human Trafficking Survivor Finds Solace
Trafficked and Trapped in Libya: A Nigerian Woman's Story
Fantasy Turned Nightmare for Human Trafficking Survivor who is now Thriving in the US
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Razor-thin NY House race goes to absentee count
Democrat candidate Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, who is running in the special election to fill Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s D-NY, vacant position in New York’s 20th Congressional District for the U.S. House of Representatives votes at A polling place with his daughter Lux Murphy as election Inspector Karen Manuell checks his signature in Glens Falls, N.Y., Tuesday, March 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
( / AP)
By VALERIE BAUMAN, The Associated Press
April 1, 2009 3:27 AM PT
ALBANY, N.Y. —
After a frenzied, bruising special election, a New York congressional race that became linked to President Barack Obama’s economic recovery efforts won’t be decided for at least two more weeks.
Democrat Scott Murphy led Republican Jim Tedisco by a scant 65 votes out of more than 154,000 cast Tuesday.
After the count of machine votes in 610 voting precincts spread over the mostly rural, 10-county district, the unofficial count was 77,344 for Murphy to 77,279 for Tedisco. That puts the focus on the more than 10,000 absentee ballots mailed to voters who are registered in the district but were unable to vote in person on Tuesday.
It can be a laborious process to count all the paper ballots and those being mailed from overseas aren’t due in New York until April 13. A lawsuit filed by state Republicans Tuesday night required all ballots to be impounded to ensure accuracy. It’s not an unusual step in close elections.
Of the ballots mailed out, nearly 6,000 were returned by Tuesday but most had not yet been counted.
The special election was marked by big name support – Obama for Murphy and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele for Tedisco – and negative attack ads that turned voters off, according to polls.
Democrats nationally treated the election as at least a moral victory Tuesday night because Murphy performed so well in the traditionally Republican District that has an edge of 75,000 registered voters.
“The people in Washington said it couldn’t be done,” Murphy said. “And the people in this room and all across the 20th district tonight said something very different.”
Likewise, the White House portrayed the vote as a win for Democrats no matter the outcome because of the inroads they made.
“To even be competitive in a district like that, I think says a lot,” press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One as Obama traveled to London.
Republicans were also optimistic, claiming that their polling showed an advantage of about 1,100 absentee ballots sent to registered Republicans, but that couldn’t be independently verified.
“I believe, when the smoke clears, we’ll have won a tremendous victory,” Tedisco said.
Noting a dismal 2008 election cycle that saw three Republicans ousted from New York’s congressional delegation, Pete Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, looked for the positive in Tedisco’s showing.
“For the first time in a long time, a Republican candidate went toe-to-toe with a Democrat in a hard-fought battle over independent voters,” Sessions said.
The candidates were running to replace Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate, in a race widely viewed as the first electoral test of Obama’s popularity and his economic policy.
Murphy, a businessman and political newcomer, and national Democrats staked his campaign on the strength of Obama and his economic policies, specifically his $787 billion stimulus plan.
Tedisco, an Assemblyman for 27 years, attacked Murphy for supporting the stimulus plan, which he said allowed massive bonuses at the bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc.
Both candidates had financial support from their national parties and political action committees – mostly spent on increasingly negative television ads that seemingly saturated the airwaves, to the dismay of supporters of both candidates.
“I’m tired of candidates telling us what’s bad about the other person instead of what’s good about them,” said Ralph Liporace, a 53-year-old independent who voted for Murphy at the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Department.
Vincent Poleto, 21, of Brunswick, said he voted for Tedisco “because I’ve known him for years.”
“But I’m not happy about the negative campaigning,” he said.
Turnout was 32 percent, respectable for a special election with no statewide offices or big names on the ballot to attract more casual voters.
Murphy, 39, is a venture capitalist multimillionaire from Columbia, Mo. who now lives in Glens Falls, who has lived in New York for more than a decade. Tedisco, 58, is the GOP minority leader in the state Assembly who lives in Glenville, outside the congressional district, a fact used by Democrats during the campaign.
The diverse district stretches from the rural Adirondack Mountains, an hour south of the Canadian border, down to Dutchess County, about an hour north of New York City.
Associated Press writers Jessica M. Pasko in Albany and Jennifer Loven aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.
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How new 2022 real estate laws affect San Diego renters, landlords and homeowners
Large package of housing reforms, including changes to granny flat rules, heading to San Diego council
San Diego cruise passengers share what it’s like to be on a ship with COVID cases
Just a long Sunday walk for Melville, Christie
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Board of Review Appointments
To schedule a Board of Review appointment, please call Peter Stanislawski (269) 857-2603 (Option 1, Option 3) or send an e-mail Peter@saugatuckcity.com.
ASSESSMENT APPEAL PROCESS
Proposal A has not changed the right of taxpayers to appeal their assessments. The first level of appeal is to the Board of Review. The Board of Review is comprised of three members who are City of Saugatuck residents appointed by City Council.
Hearings are by appointment. Please call City Hall at (269) 857-2603 to schedule. Property owners may appeal in writing. All written appeals must be received prior to the last meeting date of the Board of Review.
Subscribe to Board of Review Calendar
BOARD OF REVIEW – 3 Year Terms
CHARTER SECTION 8.6: (a) The Board of Review shall consist of three (3) residents who are electors of the city, but not city officers or employees. The assessor is to be the clerk of the Board of Review and nonvoting. The board shall be entitled to such remuneration as shall be determined by the council. (b) The first such board of review appointed under the provisions of this charter shall be made up of three (3) qualified members appointed for one (1), two (2) and three (3) year terms. The council shall appoint a member for a three (3) year term at the first regular council meeting in January of each succeeding year.
Nico Leo
Term Expires - 01/01/22
Brian B. Stephens
Term Expires - 01/01/24
2021 & 2022 Meeting Information & Links
December 2022
Applicants appearing before the Board of Review are advised to bring information that helps to substantiate claims of over-assessment, such as photographs, appraisals, and listings of comparable sales.
Notification of the Board's decision is provided by mail no later than the first Monday in June. The next level of appeal must be made by June 30 to the Michigan Tax Tribunal (MTT). The MTT is a quasi-judicial body that provides a structured, semi-formal court setting in front of a hearing official. In rare instances, appeals may proceed to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
BASIC STEPS IN MAKING AN ASSESSMENT APPEAL
There are two requirements that must be followed in making an assessment appeal. These are:
1.) PROTEST THE ASSESSMENT TO THE LOCAL BOARD OF REVIEW.
2.) FILE WITH THE TAX TRIBUNAL WITHIN THE PROPER TIME LIMIT (By June 30 of the tax year involved). You must first appeal to the local board of review. It should be noted that the Tax Tribunal has exclusive jurisdiction in assessment appeals.
Assessments are made on an annual basis. Each year the City Assessor places an assessment on every parcel of property. The property is divided into two classes, real and personal.
These assessments are based on the value of the property on "tax day" which is December 31. This gives uniformity to the time for determining the values of the property. This rule is especially important in regards to partially-constructed buildings. If a house is only 25% complete on December 31, then the following year assessment must be based on its value as of that day.
THE LOCAL BOARD OF REVIEW
There are two ways a taxpayer's assessment may be raised:
1.) The assessor may raise the assessment. If so, the taxpayer must appear at the local Board of Review to appeal the assessment.
2.) The Board of Review may raise the assessment. If so, the taxpayer must be given an opportunity to raise his objections.
The Board of Review is in session to hear valuation appeals in March of each year. Appeals are heard by appointment. Please see the March Board of Review notice for dates and times.
PURPOSE OF ATTENDING THE LOCAL BOARD OF REVIEW
The reason for requiring the taxpayer to raise objections to his/her assessment at the local Board of Review is so that disputes can be worked out at the local level. If the taxpayer is not satisfied with the Board of Review's decision (the assessment can be raised, lowered, or affirmed) then the taxpayer can appeal to the Tax Tribunal before June 30. Without the Board of Review appearance, the Tax Tribunal would lack jurisdiction to hear the matter and the taxpayer would have no other remedy.
WAYS OF APPEARING AT THE BOARD OF REVIEW
Within the City of Saugatuck, a non-resident taxpayer may appeal his/her assessment to the local Board of Review by letter. The letter must be timely to constitute an appearance. The deadline for filing written appeals is listed on the March Board of Review Public Notice.
MICHIGAN TAX TRIBUNAL
After appearing at the local Board of Review, the taxpayer can then appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal. The deadline for filing is June 30 of the tax year involved.
There are two main divisions at the Tax Tribunal. They are 1) the Small Claims Division and 2) the Entire Tribunal. It should be noted that the Tax Tribunal is an impartial body that handles these assessment disputes. It is an agency of the state and the state does not receive any of the proceeds from the property taxes (it is divided between the county, cities, townships, and schools).
L-4035 Petition to Board of Review
July/December BOR Alternate Meeting Dates Resolution
March BOR Alternate Meeting Dates Resolution
Resolution authorizing Resident Taxpayer Protest by Letter
State Tax Commission Website
General Property Tax Act 206 of 1893
Poverty Exemption Income Guidelines
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Ex-coal CEO Blankenship asks for delay in start…
Ex-coal CEO Blankenship asks for delay in start of prison
PUBLISHED: May 11, 2016 at 10:13 a.m. | UPDATED: May 17, 2018 at 8:12 a.m.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Attorneys for former coal executive Don Blankenship want to delay his entry into prison this week.
In an emergency motion in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, Blankenship’s attorneys wrote that he’s slated to head to prison Thursday in California. But the court has not ruled on whether the former Massey Energy CEO should stay free until his larger appeal is decided.
Prosecutors replied that Blankenship’s motion is redundant.
Blankenship was sentenced April 6 to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards at Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.
The coal mine exploded in 2010, killing 29 men.
Blankenship’s attorneys say he could serve much, or all, of his sentence before an appellate decision is reached.
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HBO Max: Yet Another Streaming Service Has Been Announced, and It’s Taking ‘Friends’
You can add HBO Max to the list of streaming providers that want you to pay them every month to watch shows and movies.
WarnerMedia has announced the new streaming service which will feature “the best-of-the-best from the WarnerMedia portfolio.” That includes content from TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, DC superhero movies, Tru TV, TNT and other Warner networks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCS4CaZ9dwg
And, along with some new original shows and movies, it will be the new home of Friends, which Netflix paid a small fortune to license in 2019.
The One Where We Have To Say Goodbye.
We’re sorry to see Friends go to Warner's streaming service at the beginning of 2020 (in The US). Thanks for the memories, gang ☕
— Netflix (@netflix) July 9, 2019
Everything You Know About the Afterlife Might be Wrong
Some of the details are a little confusing; it’s not clear how this will effect HBO subscriptions. And, though there will be a lot of classic content (like Friends and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), newer shows will also be available on the platform—sort of. According to Variety, “CW shows going forward will be available on HBO Max beginning 30 days prior to the TV premiere of the next seasons of those shows.” Simple, right?
In a press release, they explained, “Anchored with and inspired by the legacy of HBO’s excellence and award-winning storytelling, the new service will be ‘Maximized’ with an extensive collection of exclusive original programming (Max Originals) and the best-of-the-best from WarnerMedia’s enormous portfolio of beloved brands and libraries.” Get it? You’re paying for “maximized” content. How much more clear could it be.
So far no price point has been announced yet for HBO Max, but keeping up with all of the latest shows could soon get really expensive for consumers. Along with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Video, soon, consumers will be able to subscribe to Disney +, Apple + and NBC’s upcoming streaming service.
Isn’t “cord cutting” fun?
RELEVANT July 9, 2019
Study: White Evangelicals Least Likely to Say the U.S. Has a ‘Responsibility’ to Accept Refugees
So Apparently the Big ‘Breaking Bad’ Reunion Is Just Some Sort of New Booze Brand?
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Navigating the Stream: New Streaming Sources
An educated assessment of the newest generation of streaming entertainment platforms, the Google Chromecast 2, Roku 4, and the new Apple TV, to help you answer the questions your clients will undoubtedly ask.
By Michael Heiss
In our business, new products and services arrive all the time. Some are completely novel concepts featuring new technologies and ideas, while others, such as Google Chromecast 2, Roku 4, and the new Apple TV, are next-generation versions of products already in the market that may offer only incremental improvements. When replacing something that is already in a system in a previous version or was rejected previously for whatever reason by a client, it’s important to know the pros and cons of these updated technologies. I’ve had the chance to study all three products and make assessments that I hope will serve you well with your clients’ questions.
A new streaming product is often a replacement for something already in the market rather than something totally new. Thus, you may either be replacing something already in a system or perhaps trying to sell a product or concept that, when first presented to a prospect, was rejected for whatever reason.
The new Chromecast “stick streamers” at the left and right side here have a unique round form factor that is wider than the (left to right) Roku Streaming Stick, original Chromecast and Amazon FireTV Stick. Note the built-in, longer HDMI cable on the new Chromecast while the others come with an adapter.
To close out the year we are concentrating on those two questions as they apply to new versions of three of the leading streaming brands that have introduced new models this fall. Think of this report not just to gauge if and how you present these new products to clients, but perhaps as part of the decision as to whether you might want to gift them to friends and family or perhaps even buy one as a present for yourself.
For starters, among the many product introductions we’ve reported on in 2015 were the new Chromecast models from Google. Looking at the new “Chromecast 2” and “Chromecast Audio” devices it is natural to ask why they are needed, what they bring to the party, and when a current model is already installed, is there a need to replace it with the new one. Here, it’s a trick question.
I say that because beyond the addition of a slightly faster processor, the inclusion of dual-band 802.11ac wireless and new ID, the new model is very close in functionality to the original version. Yes, the inclusion of a pigtail-length cable from the unit to the HDMI connector eliminates the need to use the previously supplied extender. Yes, the product has a new round shape and comes in yellow and red as well as black. And yes, the dual-band, “ac” version of Wi-Fi is helpful in crowded RF environments. But that’s about it. The true value here comes from the changes made to the Chromecast app and the continued addition of new Chromecast-compatible apps. Because the app is the same for both models, the app-based advancements are available to both new and existing Chromecast users. In some situations, having the dual-band Wi-Fi may deliver a needed change, but for the most part, it would be hard to recommend changing out an existing Chromecast for a new one.
Along with the new HDMI-output, video/audio Chromecast Google also introduced a new product, called Chromecast Audio. If you don’t look closely you may not see where it differs from its general purpose cousin until you see that the HDMI cable/connector has been replaced with a 3.5mm jack that can be used with either analog or digital audio for the output. Operationally, it uses the same app-based system where you use your smartphone, tablet, or PC to select the content from available Chromecast-compatible apps and to control the volume. Then, once the content is playing you can take the phone or similar device out of the room, use it for some other function, or even turn it off. Unlike with Bluetooth connected streaming or AirPlay, the Chromecast reaches out directly to the internet to bring in the streams rather than act as a repeater or content received by the mobile device or computer.
That’s fine, but because Chromecast Audio is a new device, not a replacement, we need to look at the “what does it do?” and “why do we need it?” questions. If the desired content is Chromecast compatible, then it’s a no brainer. But do they need it? That depends, particularly when viewed against the typical BT streaming product or proprietary Wi-Fi systems. From my perspective, Chromecast Audio shines when an existing device (a surround processor, audio preamp, older AVR, clock radio, or non-BT speaker) lacks streaming capability. To remedy that, you plug the Chromecast Audio into an analog audio jack, configure the Wi-Fi connection, and all is good to go. You will then have access to all the available Chromecast compatible audio services. “Available” is the most important thing to be aware of here. While it is easy to see which apps are Chromecast compatible by looking for their logo at the top right corner of an app or browser page, seeing what you can stream within them isn’t quite as obvious. It was nice to see that Spotify is Chromecast compatible, but it was disappointing see that you could only use it with the “premium” version. While using the iHeartRadio app to listen to both of the NPR stations in my area, the app worked and loaded properly, but neither our local nor out-of-area NPR stations were “streamable.” Curiously, switching to TuneIn Radio solved the problem. There, we not only received the live station streams, but were even able to select the station’s individual program or host-driven channels.
The bottom line? Both the HDMI-output video/audio version and the analog or digital output Chromecast Audio products continue as the lowest priced major-brand products in the category. Easy to use, the phone or tablet doesn’t need to be on once a stream is selected, and it offers a reasonable array of available content. Balance that against the content you might want but cannot get (e.g. Amazon Instant Video) and the inability (for now) to use the device in a hotel or similarly authenticated venue.
Turning to Roku
If Chromecast leads the pack in the “streaming dongle” market, Roku vies with arch-competitor Apple for dominance is the “hockey puck sized STB” market (albeit with Amazon FireTV also competing here just as its FireTV Stick does with Chromecast). With new models released for the fourth-quarter sales rush, we took a close look at the latest Roku 4 and “New Apple TV” (also known as Generation 4).
The first thing I did with the Roku 4 was to hook it up to a 4K display to see how the image quality compares with the set’s built-in 4K services. They both looked equally good, though the Roku brought in M-Go for content while my Vizio P-Series did not. At this time, Netflix, M-Go, Amazon, and YouTube will likely be the main 4K sources with the content unique to a set or the Roku somewhat secondary.
Roku 4 is larger that the new Apple TV, but not as high.
Given that many of the added features of the new Roku 4 are actually resident in their new OS 7 (bringing new features such as “Follow Me” and content pricing and availability notifications), it is worth noting that for non-4K applications the current Roku 3 is still a viable choice. In particular, the “Home and Dorm Connect” feature makes any OS 7-equipped Roku model something worth packing in a backpack or luggage to easily bring the device’s incredible range of content to any HDMI-equipped TV.
Roku also has updated its remote app with a host of new features. Among them is a “button” for the Roku 4’s “remote finder” feature. Press a button on the unit’s top or click on the remote app button and the native remote will announce where it is.
Putting this all together, the 4K capability of the Roku 4 combined with an incredible range of “channels” tends to put it ahead of other 4K streamers such as the latest Amazon Fire TV and the TiVo Bolt.
Keep in mind that the Roku 4, as well as the Fire TV and TiVo Bolt, require the sink device to have HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2. Without them, you may as well stick to 1080p devices. This brings up the issue of High Dynamic Range, or HDR, which may soon become as big, or even bigger draw to install new 4K sets as the 2160p resolution. For that, the streamer needs HDMI 2.0a (in most cases) and none of the devices discussed here have that. In response to our inquiry, a Roku spokesperson indicated that HDR compatibility is a possible upgrade, but wouldn’t comment beyond that. Similarly, press reports have been silent as to Amazon’s HDR plans for the current devices even as their Amazon Instant Video service is slated to offer HDR content sooner than later. The compatibility with HDR for any of these devices is something we all need to keep an eye on.
Apple TV, Generation 4
With the $129 Roku 4 having some interesting or unique features, it is worth holding it up to the light against the new Apple TV to see where the differences are. The latest Apple TV is app-driven, which is a major advancement from the second-and third-generation models. Users can select from movie and other streaming services, mirror screens from iOS devices, and “learn-out” the codes from the RF rermote via IR for programming them into an automation system.
Indeed, the remote is one of the major changes. Its black top, built-in mic for voice command using Siri, volume up/down buttons for use with CEC-connected sets, and a non-replaceable battery charged via an included Lightning cable are the cake. The icing is that the traditional direction navigation buttons are replaced with a touchpad not unlike what you might find on a laptop. Swipe to move the on-screen selections and then press to select. Nice, but some users may find it just too hard to get used to.
Remotes for the various Streamers: Left to right, New Apple TV, Roku 4 and Amazon Fire TV Stick.
Anyone familiar with the current Apple TV model will say “just use the iPhone/iPad app,” but at this point it is not compatible with the new Apple TV. One has to believe that Apple will update the app at some point, but it hasn’t done that yet. Other than learning the codes out, a good solution for those who prefer hard button navigation is to simply use a remote for the current Apple TV. Other than not having Siri, it works just fine. Even better, the coin-cell battery is replaceable so that you don’t have to provide 5VDC in the viewing area to charge the new remote.
With the remote in hand, users will find selectable apps a step beyond the current interface. Along with the new on-screen looks has come a straight line, horizontal display for the alpha/numeric on-screen “keyboard” used for search and the content channel authentication. Siri won’t help you when entering the obligatory provider sign-in data.
While not something one would use to replace an Xbox or PlayStation, the new Apple TV offers a wide range of games where the new remote comes in handy. Whether the games Apple offers are more attractive to a user than those offered by Roku or Amazon Fire TV is a personal choice, but current betting is that they will be the best of the lot.
Where does this leave you when a choice has to be made? Those who are heavily invested in iTunes or other Apple-specific content will clearly want to gravitate to the new Apple TV despite the higher cost ($149 for 32GB memory and $199 for 64GB). There, the HDMI 1.4 and resultant lack of 4K is not likely to be a barrier. On the other hand, if the widest range of content among the non-Apple devices is desired, the Roku 4 is the clear winner with 4K as an added bonus. With Google and Amazon promoting their own content services, Roku’s lack of any skin in that game makes them the “Switzerland” of these products.
Given the scale of typical large home theaters, it is not out of the question to consider either a Roku 4 or Amazon Fire TV and a new AppleTV. The cost is likely to be a minor budget item, presuming you figure out the integration issues when mixing voice control, proprietary remotes, and different communication schemes.
Tags ⋅ Apple TV ⋅ Chromecast 2 ⋅ Chromecast Audio ⋅ Roku 4 ⋅ Streaming entertainment
Robert Keeler Joins Portal
Clare Controls Releases Feature-Packed Winter 2022 Update
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Meal of Your Life: Billy Dec talks to David Schwimmer
Restaurateur discusses an impactful meal
Chicago restaurateur Billy Dec is the host of the Meal of Your Life podcast, where distinguished guests — from fellow renowned chefs to athletes to celebrities — talk about a defining meal.
This is the first podcast in Dec’s new series, featuring actor David Schwimmer, most known for his role on the television show Friends. Schwimmer is also a co-founder of The Lookingglass Theater in Chicago. In this edition, Dec and Schwimmer discuss their adventurous meals overseas, what dinner was like at the Schwimmer home growing up and the meal that forever impacted Schwimmer while studying at Northwestern University.
You can subscribe to Dec’s podcast on iTunes.
Billy Dec is an Emmy Award winning television personality and actor and the CEO and founder of Rockit Ranch, which operates seven restaurants, bars and nightclubs in Chicago. For the past three years he has served on the White House Advisory Commission on Asian American & Pacific Islanders and the White House Bullying Prevention Task Force.
SushiSamba parent Orange Brands Management names co-CEOs
Restaurant & Food Group by Informa Connect taps Joe Donnelly to lead growth and digital innovation
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Maureen Nolan to star as Blood Brothers returns to Cambridge
Casey Goodman
Blood Brothers - Credit: Archant
Maureen Nolan is to star in Willy Russell’s multi-award winning musical Blood Brothers as it returns to Cambridge.
Star of family pop group The Nolans, Maureen will reprise the role of Mrs Johnstone having previously played the character in the West End to critical acclaim.
Continuing its UK tour, Blood Brothers will be back at Cambridge Arts Theatre from September 2-6, two years after a successful run at the venue in St Edwards’ Passage.
Set in Liverpool, Blood Brothers tells the moving story of two twin boys separated at birth, only to be reunited years later by a twist of fate and mother Mrs Johnstone’s haunting secret. The score includes hits A Bright New Day, Marylin Monroe, and the emotionally-charged Tell Me It’s Not True.
Affectionately titled ‘the standing ovation musical’, the show ran in London’s West End for 24 years and has been touring the rest of the UK since 1995.
Film producer Bill Kenwright’s version surpassed 10,000 performances in London – one of only three musicals to achieve the milestone.
Blood Brothers has won four awards for best musical in London, and had seven Tony Award nominations on Broadway.
The show is one of a number of successes for writer Willy Russell, who also penned Educating Rita – turned into a movie after running in the West End – and film Shirley Valentine.
Blood Brothers will be performed nightly at 7.45pm, with 2.30pm matinee performances on Thursday, September 4, and Saturday, September 6.
To buy tickets, which range from £15-£35 and are subject to a £2.50 booking fee, visit www.cambridgeartstheatre.com or call 01223 503333.
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Kathryn Thomas
RTE's Kathryn Thomas' life with rarely seen brothers David and Stephen and sister Linda
"I feel so lucky to have had the childhood that we did, there was us and our cousins across the road and we were out on our bikes and outside all of the time"
Kathryn Thomas has opened up about her close bond with her three siblings Linda, David and Stephen.
The RTÉ presenter was the only one of the foursome still living in Ireland until recently meaning that Covid-19 separated a lot them over the last 10 months.
Luckily, her "best friend" Linda decided to make the move from Los Angeles back to Ireland and her youngest brother also swapped life in London for life in Carlow.
Kathryn told RSVP Magazine: "I’m three years older than my sister Linda who is my best friend although we killed each other when we were kids.
Kathryn Thomas says marriage with husband Padraig is cemented after they 'Didn't kill each other' in lockdown
"She moved back from the States in the middle of the pandemic.
"She had been living in Los Angeles for six years and between Trump, the riots, the pandemic and everything appearing to be spiralling out of control around her, she decided to come home.
"She had been thinking about it for a while, but being away from us thousands of miles away in a different country, she realised it was time to come home. It is amazing having her back.
"My brother was living in London, working remotely from home in his apartment with five other people and he thought the same thing. Everyone was getting out of London, so he is home now as well and he is deciding what he is going to do."
RTE's Kathryn Thomas shows off stunning new hairstyle after trip to the salon
Kathryn's other other brother lives in the Isle of Man with his partner and they have a new baby, Jessica, who is 16 months.
She said: "He was all set to come home for Christmas but that is on hold now.
"Jessica and Ellie will have plenty of summer holidays together as they grow up, please God."
The Operation Transformation host grew up in the countryside in Carlow while her two and a half year old daughter Ellie is growing up in the city in Dublin.
Swipe across below to see the full gallery of images for yourself
Inside: Kathryn Thomas and Padraig McLoughlins dream wedding in Kilkea Castle
Kathryn said: "I feel so lucky to have had the childhood that we did, there was us and our cousins across the road and we were out on our bikes and outside all of the time.
"I can’t imagine a time when Ellie is out all day and I won’t see her until she comes home at seven o’clock, but that is how we lived and it was brilliant.
"I would love to think Ellie would have the same sort of freedom in some other way, but I know these are very different times.
"I do believe that freedom of growing up in the country was the making of so many kids, being able to go and do your own thing and experience the freedom to play. Nowadays everything is so structured.
"I was talking to Coleman Noctor, a child and teen psychotherapist recently, and he was telling me that the idea of free play is kind of gone, everything is structured with sport or classes.
"Climbing trees and cycling bikes is not as prevalent as it was. As a mom of a toddler I haven’t had to think about it yet but when I was young there was a sense of freedom to just let kids be kids."
Kathryn went to boarding school in Dublin and she would consider sending Ellie when the time comes but the thought of being away from her is "Gut-wrenching right now".
Kathryn Thomas and daughter Ellie pose alongside her rarely seen brother Stephen and sister Linda
She explained: "The thought of it gives me the fear because she is only two-and-a-half. But, when I think about it logically, it was a great experience for me and it fuelled my sense of independence, built my character and made me more empathetic because when you are living in a room with 10 people you learn to compromise and you learn to accept other people for who they are."
Kathryn learned a lot while living away from home as a teenager.
RTE's Kathryn Thomas breaks down on air as couple share heartbreak over death of their two babies
She said: "You learn that not everyone’s the same as you, thinks like you and has the same routines as you.
"It taught me to be mindful and patient with other people as well. It depends on the child of course and we will make the decision when the time comes.
"My mom didn’t put me into boarding school when I was 13 because she thought I was too wild and not ready at that point so she kept me back a year."
Read the full interview with Kathryn Thomas in this month's issue of RSVP Magazine- on shelves now
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Combitech Systems signs agreement with Nokia
Combitech Systems signs agreement with Nokia Nokia Multimedia Terminals and Combitech Systems AB have closed a deal awarding Combitech Systems principal responsibility for developing the software in Nokia's digital multimedia terminals for tomorrow's digital TV - MediaHighway. The contract is valid for several years, and is initially valued by Combitech Systems at MSEK 30 per year. "This is a key project in the field of digital TV, where the system software is the very heart of tomorrow's products in digital TV. It´s a market where we are facing strong growth both in volume and opportunities such as e-mail, Internetsurfing and e-trade," says Ola Svensson, regional manager at Combitech Systems. Today's agreement between Nokia and Combitech Systems means that Combitech Systems will be developing and maintaining the system software in current and future generations of Nokia's MediaHighway products. In the initial phase, Combitech Systems puts the vaue of the agreement at approximately MSEK 30 a year. Around 25 people currently work with MediaHighway projects at Combitech Systems, and the new agreement will involve recruiting a further ten. MediaHighway, owned by France's Canal+ Technology, is a standard for building software for digital TV. The aim of the standard is to enable the same applications to be used by all manufacturers' digital TV systems, regardless of origin. Mokia and a handful of other major manufacturers now have products for MediaHighway in several countries. Canal+ Technology is currently world in this technology. the system software being supplied by Combitech Systems is an advanced real-time system that deals with all the basic functionality for Internet and digital TV. Applications for a variety of markets and uses are built onto the system software. At the moment, the fundamental applications focus on TV viewing, and contain everything from simple channel changing to electronic program guide handling. Rapid developments are currently under way, which will enable applications such as electronic mail, Internet surfing and e-commerce to be integrated into these systems. Combitech Systems AB is a knowledge-oriented development company with cutting-edge expertise in real-time systems, including e.g. advanced systems and software development, electronics construction, business development and training. Combitech Systems was formed in 1992, and is owned by Saab AB (65%) and Enea Data AB (35%). the company currently has 200 consultants in eight different locations. 1999 turnover was in the region of MSEK 160. Like other companies in the Saab Group, Combitech Systems operates separately and to a large extent independently of its owners, although with easy access to a network of high-tech expertise. Some 80% of orders come from outside the Saab sphere. Customers are development departments at large and medium-sized Swedish companies in the Automotive, Aerospace, Defense, Medical and Data/Telecommunication sectors. Saab AB is active in the aircraft-, space- and defense industry and supplies advanced products and systems based on sophisticated information technology. The business areas are Military Aerospace, Space, Training Systems, Commercial Aircraft and Combitech. For further information, please contact Ola Svensson, regional manager, Combitech Systems +46 708 - 89 51 91 Bengt Rydh, project manager, Combitech Systems +46 708 - 89 51 83 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/02/23/20000223BIT00080/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/02/23/20000223BIT00080/bit0002.pdf
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You are here: Home > The Sherlock Holmes Anniversary Meetup 2012
The Sherlock Holmes Anniversary Meetup 2012
Last year, the fan community of the BBC franchise organised a very successful meetup in London. I was volunteered for the task of organising this year’s gathering, as last year’s organisers were unfortunately otherwise engaged.
The weekend followed closely upon the finale of the BBC franchise’s second series, a modern twist on The Final Problem. Shortly after the broadcast, the internet fan community had started the “Believe in Sherlock” campaign, which emulates the Victorian Holmesians’ mourning.
And so it was that we, a group of over sixty people, found ourselves gathered in North Gower Street outside Speedy’s café on the morning of January 28, 2012, to pay our respects to the greatest man who never lived.
After showing our support, we decided to stop inflicting our presence on the local residents, or at least take it somewhere more civilised. The nearby Bree Louise pub, which had proved excellent last year, was able to accommodate all of us. Many of us had talked to each other online but not met up in person, so this was a great opportunity to put faces to usernames and get to know people better.
With everyone’s needs for food and drink catered for, the group split up. The majority of us went to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons while a slightly smaller group paid a visit to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street.
The Hunterian is a very specialised museum and probably one of London’s best-kept secrets. Apart from a large collection of anatomical specimens, it also possesses galleries with surgical instruments and an exhibit on the history of battlefield surgery. If you want to get a flavour of the kinds of injuries that Doctor Watson would have dealt with as a field medic, whether in Victorian times or in the 21st-century BBC universe, this is the place to go.
The other part of the group fetched up at the 221B museum after a slight Tube misadventure,. According to Curly, they enjoyed the museum thoroughly, spent too much money in the gift shop, and added “I believe in Sherlock Holmes” post-its to a noticeboard that was already overflowing with similar messages.
At six in the evening, we reconvened for the Sherlock Holmes saves The Nation Walk. Guided by the fabulous Richard Burnip of the London Walks Company, we followed the footsteps of Holmes’ more illustrious clients. The walk took us around the gaslit back-alleys of Westminster, past candidates for the Diogenes Club and Mycroft’s lodgings, the London Library, and several filming locations for the Granada show and some of the 1970s Holmes films.
We really enjoyed the walk and Richard’s in-depth knowledge of the Canon. He also deserves a special thanks for dealing with our very large group when, by his own testimony, he was only expecting a dozen of us.
We said goodbye to Richard on the steps of Carlton Place, by the little side door to the German embassy, and went to dine at an Italian in the Strand-less glamorous than Holmes and Watson’s dinners at Simpson’s, but a cut above Sherlock and John’s Chinese take-away meals.
Many people from further away had to leave on the Saturday night, but a smaller group of around 20 people met again on Sunday on the South Bank. Morbid as we are after the apparent suicide of BBC’s Sherlock Holmes, we had a look at unusual coffins in the South Bank Centre.
Seeing the fan community coming together like this, celebrating and sharing our passion for Holmes and Watson in all their forms, was an amazing experience. It was truly a special weekend that I will remember for years to come, and I would like to give heartfelt thanks to everyone who made it what it was.
Now, who’s organising SHAM 2013?
Review kindly provided by Ardy of the Baker Street Babes
← The District Messenger – Issue 319
Lady Gore-Booth →
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SF to open sites to assist thousands of high-needs students during distance learning
San Francisco plans to turn more than 40 public facilities into “Community Learning Hubs” to support thousands of high-needs students...
By Joshua Sabatini S.F. Examiner Staff Writer • July 23, 2020 11:00 am - Updated July 24, 2020 2:31 pm
San Francisco is preparing to open more than 40 “Community Learning Hubs” this fall. (Shutterstock)
San Francisco plans to turn more than 40 public facilities into “Community Learning Hubs” to support thousands of high-needs students during distance learning this fall.
Mayor London Breed announced Thursday that the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families will launch the hubs on Sept. 14 at sites like recreation centers, branch libraries, cultural centers and nonprofit sites.
The sites are intended for children and youth in low-income households, those living in public housing and single-room occupancy hotels, those who are homeless, foster youth and English-language learners.
Breed called the effort an “innovative solution so that students still get the support and education that they need.”
“Many young people in San Francisco are struggling with being away from their friends and the support systems they have outside of their homes, and some students don’t have the space or resources to successfully participate in distance learning from home,” Breed said in a statement. “It will take a village to address the wide range of learning needs for our City’s children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Community Learning Hubs will provide a much-needed resource for our most vulnerable students.”
The announcement comes as the Board of Education is expected to vote Tuesday on the San Francisco Unified School District’s distance learning plan.
The Mayor’s Office estimates the hubs will serve approximately 5,000 to 6,000 children and youth and provide full-day programming with access to technology for distance learning. Nonprofits will staff the sites. Meals would also be served.
Enrollment for the sites, which are intended to exist within walking distance of the students, will run from Aug. 15 through Sept. 4. DCYF will work with public housing, the Human Services Agency and the San Francisco Unified School District to identify the students in need of the support.
The plan requires approval from local and state health officials.
City Librarian Michael Lambert said that “libraries are sanctuaries of learning, and we look forward to welcoming students through our doors and doing our part to ensure a successful academic year.”
Breed also announced the extension of emergency childcare services for frontline workers by invite only.
The Recreation and Park Department will offer emergency child care spaces at five recreation centers for children of health care workers and The City’s disaster service worker. The programs will begin at Aug. 31 at the Glen Park, Richmond, Sunset, Hamilton, and Potrero Hill recreation centers.
For information on the hubs or childcare visit DCYF’s website by clicking here.
jsabatini@sfexaminer.com
Tags: Bay Area News, education, san francisco news
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The Bounty
By Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton
Read by Scott Brick
Book #7 of A Fox and O'Hare Novel
Unabridged Compact Disk
FBI agent Kate O’Hare and charming criminal Nick Fox race against time to uncover a buried train filled with Nazi gold in this thrilling adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton.
Type A special agent Kate O’Hare and international criminal Nick Fox have brought down some of the biggest bad guys out there. But now they face their most dangerous foe yet—a vast, shadowy international organization known only as the Brotherhood.
Directly descended from the Vatican Bank priests who served Hitler during World War II, the Brotherhood is on a frantic search for a lost train loaded with $30 billion in Nazi gold, untouched for over seventy-five years somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Europe.
Kate and Nick know that there is only one man who can find the fortune and bring down the Brotherhood—the same man who taught Nick everything he knows—his father, Quentin. As the stakes get higher, they must also rely on Kate’s own father, Jake, who shares his daughter’s grit and stubbornness.
From a remote monastery in the Swiss Alps to the lawless desert of the Western Sahara, Kate, Nick, and the two men who made them who they are today must crisscross the world in a desperate scramble to stop their deadliest foe in the biggest adventure of their lives.
Chapter One CHAPTER ONE
“The target is approaching the Vatican.”
It was something Agent Kate O’Hare never thought she’d hear, at least not outside a movie theater.
As she stared at the video monitor, Nick Fox leaned down next to her, so close she could feel his breath on her neck. Cologne, hair product, pheromones. Whatever the combination, it tried to have its usual effect on her, but she kept her focus.
“Do you really think this guy is as good as I am?” Nick asked.
“Maybe better,” Kate said. “You’re the one who got caught.”
Nick laughed that off. Even if he was “retired” from the business, he was still loving every minute of this trip to Italy, especially this chance to watch a master thief at work. He had once been a world-class thief himself, and had barely avoided a lifetime stay in the federal ADX Supermax prison. He bartered for his freedom by agreeing to help the FBI run semilegal cons and takedowns on the worst-of-the-worst, technically out-of-reach criminals. Kate tracked him for years and finally brought him down, only to be told by the deputy director himself that her next assignment was to be Nick’s full-time handler, minder, wrangler, manager, babysitter, whatever you wanted to call it. Nick didn’t go to prison in leg irons. He accepted the full-time shadow employment offer from the United States Department of Justice.
Nick was six feet tall, with soft brown hair, intelligent brown eyes, and a boyish grin that brought out the laugh lines around his eyes. He had the agile body of a tennis pro, lean and firm. He was smart, sexy, and playful, and if Nick had once been a world-class thief, he was still and always would be a galaxy-class kisser. From the beginning, it was all Kate could do to keep a professional distance. It was a goal she had thrown out the window on more than one occasion, and even now she wasn’t sure what to call their official “status.” In Facebook terms, it would have to be “It’s complicated.”
Tonight, Kate was six thousand miles from her Los Angeles cubicle, officially on loan to Interpol. She was part of a small international task force assisting the Vatican Gendarmerie’s Gruppo Intervento Rapido, the Rapid Intervention Group, who were acting on dark web intel that the museum complex was being targeted for a nighttime break-in. Her job was to provide Nick Fox’s expertise to the RIG, and make sure he acted like an angel. As exciting as that assignment might sound, she actually felt more like the trainer who brings the gorilla onto the movie set for the big action scene. No one even notices the trainer until the gorilla starts tearing everything up and stealing all of the food from the catering table.
Nick had been on his best behavior so far. He generously led the team through every phase of a high-level professional infiltration, taking them step by step through everything he would do if he were in the mood to break into the Vatican City Museum and steal something incredibly rare and incredibly valuable. The inspector general of the Vatican Gendarmerie was a serious, no-nonsense man named Lorenzo Vitali, a former commander from the Italian Carabinieri. He was essentially half policeman and half soldier, who had answered a higher calling to take over security at the Vatican. He’d been skeptical of everything Nick Fox said, until Nick walked him around the city’s perimeter, pointing out every possible point of “surreptitious entry.”
“You have just over six hundred full-time residents living in this city,” Nick had said. “Yet every day, you open the gates and admit how many people?”
“On a busy day,” Vitali had said, “over twenty thousand.”
“Signore Inspector, you are tempting me back into a life of sin.”
“We have one of the most advanced security systems in the world, Mr. Fox.”
Nick had smiled. “That’s an interesting first response, Signore Inspector. You didn’t say you have a hundred highly trained and heavily armed guards. You didn’t say you have a sniper positioned on every roof. You said you have a system.” Nick leaned in closer to the inspector and said, “I spent my entire professional career absolutely in love with systems.”
Nick and Kate were now stationed in a small room on the third floor of the museum complex, in front of a large bank of video surveillance screens. As a precaution, Pope Francis had been taken by helicopter to the summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, twenty miles away. Forty-two members of the combined Gendarmerie/Interpol force were closely watching every inch of the museum. Kate was the only woman on the team, and if she felt at all uncomfortable working in a city where women were required to cover their arms and knees, at least she was wearing her favorite outfit, a blue windbreaker with the letters “FBI” written across the back, with a black T-shirt under a black Kevlar vest. Her chestnut-brown hair was tied up in her usual all-business ponytail. She had her Glock 9mm handgun tucked into her belt, and her Ontario MK 3 Navy SEAL knife strapped to her leg. Both were technically forbidden here, but Inspector Vitali, who tonight was personally commanding the Rapid Intervention Group, had seen Kate sliding her Glock under her windbreaker. If he was going to object, that would have been the time, but he had done nothing other than raise one eyebrow in appreciation.
The radio on the table squawked again. “The target is climbing the north wall, near the Cortile del Belvedere.”
Nick and Kate watched the video screen directed at the north wall. The image flickered for a moment, then was restored. There was nobody to see.
“He looped the camera feed,” Nick said. “Very smooth. Couldn’t have done it better myself.”
“The target is moving through the Pigna Courtyard,” the radio voice said, “toward the north side of the museum.”
As they stared at another screen, they saw nothing but the brief movement of a single shadow.
“No security guard would ever catch that,” Nick said, nodding in appreciation. “I’m watching a master at work.”
“Don’t get too attached to him,” Kate said. “He’s going to be in handcuffs in about five minutes.”
“You don’t have him yet.”
“We’ve lost visual,” the radio voice said. “Last seen a hundred feet from the Command Center.”
They sat in silence as a full minute ticked by. They waited to pick him up again, but then every video screen went black.
“He took them all offline,” Nick said. “It’s a gutsy move. Makes us blind, but at the same time announces that he’s on the grounds. He’s going to have to move fast now.”
“We’ve got the backup cameras,” Kate said. “On a separate circuit. The team spent all day yesterday installing them.”
She opened a laptop and brought up a multiscreen view.
“There,” she said, pointing to a dark figure moving down a hallway.
The resolution wasn’t nearly as good as the regular security cameras, but Nick and Kate could make out the figure, maybe six feet tall, moving with speed and efficiency. Like UCLA’s beloved basketball coach John Wooden used to say, Be quick but don’t hurry.
“What is he wearing?” Kate asked. She leaned forward, squinting. The thief was dressed all in black, and he appeared to be wearing a thin backpack.
“I don’t get it,” Nick said. “If you’re going for the ring, you just slip it into your pocket. You don’t need a backpack.”
The ring was the diamond-encrusted ring that once belonged to Pope Paul VI, the featured piece in a special exhibit of papal jewelry displayed in glass cases throughout the Galleria dei Candelabri. Worth many millions of dollars, it was the kind of ring that the current pope in all his modesty would never wear, but Pope Paul VI hadn’t seemed to mind a little bling now and then.
Only this ring was fake. The Vatican officials had refused to leave the real thing vulnerable to theft, or even to being touched by an outsider. But this fake ring was so convincing, especially in the semidarkness of the closed museum, the team was sure that the target would take the bait.
They watched as the intruder left one camera’s view, then appeared in another. He was in the Galleria dei Candelabri now, where a trap had been set.
Nick and Kate held their breath as the figure approached the display case. All he had to do was lift the glass and the charges would go from simple trespassing and breaking and entering to grand theft and desecration of a holy artifact and a dozen other charges that would put him away for the rest of his life. If the good Catholics around here had their way, for the rest of his afterlife, too.
The figure came closer and closer to the display case. He paused for one moment, the time it took to let out one breath, then kept moving. Nick and Kate both stared at the screen.
“What just happened?” Kate asked.
Nick didn’t answer.
“Did he know it was a fake?” Kate asked. “Is that possible? He didn’t look at it for more than one second.”
“I saw them put that ring in the case today,” Nick said. “It would have fooled me.” He kept staring at the screen. “Maybe we’re asking the wrong question. Maybe this was never about stealing the ring.”
“What else could he be after?” Kate asked. “What else is as valuable? And as easy to take out of the museum?”
“From the beginning, we’ve been assuming that he’s a world-class thief, looking for a big score. But you said it yourself, if he’s so good, how come we’ve never even heard of him? A thief this good just doesn’t appear out of nowhere.”
“I’m saying, if you’re thinking like a thief, you take the easy score that’s right in front of you. This guy didn’t do that.”
“He’s still moving south,” the radio voice said.
“Don’t lose him!” Another voice, the team commander.
“Let’s go,” Kate said, grabbing the radio and opening the door.
“We’re not supposed to leave this room,” Nick said.
“You heard the man. He said don’t lose him!”
Nick ran out the door after Kate and followed her down the marble stairs. They hit the ground floor in the Galleria degli Arazzi, a long hallway with elaborate tapestries hanging on both sides.
“This way,” Kate said, taking a right and running south down the hallway.
The radio squawked again. “Target is in the Map Gallery.”
Kate burst through the door, into another long hallway called the Galleria delle Carte Geografiche. It had brightly colored maps along the walls and a high arched ceiling with frescoes almost as amazing as the Sistine Chapel’s, but she didn’t pause for even a second to admire her surroundings. Halfway down the gallery, a side door was just closing.
“Side room in the gallery,” Kate said into the radio. “I’m on him.”
“Agent O’Hare!” the voice came back. “You are an observer and you are not to engage! Do you hear me? Do not engage!”
She ignored the voice and kept running, with Nick on her heels. When she got to the door, she turned the knob but it was locked tight. She tried putting a shoulder into it, bounced backward a few feet, and said some words that shouldn’t be said anywhere in the Holy City.
By this time, two members of the Rapid Intervention Group had entered the gallery. They were in Kevlar, helmets, and face shields, and carrying Beretta ARX160 assault rifles. One of the officers put a passkey into the electronic lock and the door opened.
The room was dark. The officers gestured for Nick and Kate to stay back as they turned on the flashlights attached to their assault rifles. They stepped into the doorway, shouting “Sul pavimento, non muoverti!” just in case the thief spoke Italian and also felt like cooperating and lying down on the floor so they could cuff him.
When there was no response, the officers moved into the room. Kate and Nick followed. There were several tables, high file cabinets, bookshelves, and display cases. The smell of strong chemicals hung in the air.
“This is a restoration room,” Kate said. “Why would he—”
She was interrupted by the officers shouting again. They had found the rear entrance to the room. The door was open. The thief was gone, moving toward another part of the museum.
“Let’s go,” Kate said.
Without saying a word, Nick put up one hand to stop her.
“What is it?” she asked.
He pointed upward. High on the wall, between the bookshelves, was a window. It was open, and one of the ladders used to access the top rows of the shelves had been moved just under it.
“He’s got them chasing their own tail right now,” Nick said, again with an undisguised note of appreciation.
Kate climbed up the ladder, saw the rope hanging on the outside wall. She worked her way through the window, painfully scraping her shin against the stone sill, finally grabbed the rope, and was able to slowly work her way down. When she was on the ground, she turned around to see Nick standing next to her. There wasn’t a single wrinkle in his jacket, not a hair out of place.
“I used the door,” he said.
Before she could hit him, she spotted movement in the distance.
“There,” she said, and started running again. She keyed her radio and reported that the target was outside the museum, heading toward the Sistine Chapel.
“Agent O’Hare!” It was the same voice who had told her not to engage the suspect. She was pumping her arms as she ran, making it hard to hear what the voice on the radio was trying to tell her. Not that she was in any mood to listen, anyway. Her heart was beating fast now, that familiar rush she always felt when she was chasing down a suspect on foot.
Kate saw movement again, near the door leading into the cathedral. She ran through the same door, this time with her Glock pulled out from her belt.
She was breathing hard and paused one moment to orient herself. Leading with her weapon, she advanced into the Sistine Chapel. This time, she couldn’t help but sneak a glance up at the ceiling, at the five-hundred-year-old frescoes and especially at Adam and the Big Guy himself, who seemed to be looking down at her, wondering what this crazy woman was doing waving a Glock 9mm semiautomatic in God’s most holy of all holy houses. I’ll do a hundred Hail Marys later, she thought, as she waited to spot another movement, hear some small sound, anything to let her know where the suspect was.
Footsteps behind her. She swung around, pointing her barrel at Nick. He wasn’t breathing hard, and wasn’t sweating. In fact, he looked like he’d just stopped at the Vatican barbershop for a shave and a haircut.
“Do I even have to say how wrong this looks?” he asked. “Although if you’re going to shoot somebody, I suppose this isn’t the worst place to spend your last moments.”
“Quiet,” she said. “He’s in here somewhere.”
She turned to scan the room again, as Nick looked up at the ceiling. There was a long silence, until it was broken by a door closing at the far end of the cathedral. Kate was off and running again, through the same door, until she picked up the intruder in the great expanse of St. Peter’s Square, a hundred yards ahead of her. She grabbed her radio and tried to speak. “He’s heading into the basilica.”
“Moving in,” the radio voice said. “Close off every exit.”
She ran up the steps to the front doors of St. Peter’s Basilica. One of the doors was ajar. She pushed it open. It was dark in the great lobby, the entire building closed down for the night.
Nick slipped in through the same door and stood beside her.
“My bat-sense is tingling,” Kate said.
“Spidey-sense,” Nick corrected. “But don’t worry about it. I’m not here to judge.”
They slowly made their way down the hallway, pausing every now and then to listen. The sound of footsteps came from above. Kate led with her Glock as she climbed the staircase. Every floor of the great basilica was dark and empty. Nick stayed close behind her.
They worked their way up each flight of stairs. A sign pointed them to the final staircase, leading to Michelangelo’s Dome. Kate heard the last echo of footsteps. There was nowhere else for him to go.
“He’s in the dome,” she said into the radio. She was determined to ignore anything that was said next, any order to stand down, because she had tracked this man all the way to the very top of the city and she wasn’t about to step back now.
Nick stayed behind Kate as she bounded up the staircase, which opened to the highest viewing platform in the city. In fact, it was the highest dome in the world. Under any other circumstances, it would have been a perfect night, with a million lights spread out below them, not just from the Vatican but from the city of Rome, which surrounded it.
“It’s over!” she announced to the night air. “If you’re armed, put your weapon down!”
She listened for a response.
Nothing. She picked one direction, went right, circling counterclockwise around the dome.
Nick appeared on the platform a moment later. He stood alone, looking down over the same view, until he heard a noise to his left. He edged around the dome, moving slowly, and saw nothing but the statues of the apostles that lined the platform’s stone rail.
One of the apostles moved.
“It’s time to give up,” Nick said.
Nick wondered where he had heard that voice before.
The intruder had climbed up onto the edge of the stone wall, and now he was facing out over the square.
“Don’t do it!” Nick said. He came forward, determined to grab the man by the waist.
The man turned to look at him. Both men were immediately frozen to the spot. They stared at each other, neither saying a word.
When Kate came around from the other direction, the spell was broken. The man spread out his arms and fell into the night.
Kate arrived at the wall just in time to see the man dropping to the square below.
There was a flash of white. A parachute! It unfurled within a fraction of a second. The air caught it and the man’s fall turned into flight.
He made one great sweep across St. Peter’s Square, then turned. The chute nearly brought him to a stop in midair before it regathered itself and took him toward the southern wall of the city. Kate watched, mesmerized, as the man disappeared over the wall, landing somewhere in the streets of Rome.
Kate stood motionless, trying to convince herself that she had really just seen the thief fly away.
“Why didn’t you stop him?” she asked.
Nick slowly shook his head, looking numb. “That was my father.”
Roland Scarpa
Over the last twenty-five years, #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich has written a staggering twenty-eight novels in the Stephanie Plum series. In addition to the Plum novels, Janet has coauthored the New York Times bestselling Fox and O’Hare series, the Knight and Moon series, the Lizzy and Diesel series, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, and the graphic novel, Troublemaker (with her daughter, Alex Evanovich).
Franco Vogt
Steve Hamilton
Steve Hamilton is the two-time Edgar Award–winning and New York Times bestselling author of the Alex McKnight crime series, the Nick Mason series, and The Lock Artist. He has either won or been nominated for the Shamus Award, Barry Award, Anthony Award, Dashiell Hammett Prize, American Library Association Alex Award, CWA Gold Dagger, and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.
Publisher: Atria Books (March 23, 2021)
Fiction > Thrillers > Crime
Fiction > Humorous
Fiction > Mystery & Detective > General
10 Mystery Novels with Indomitable Female Sleuths
10 Thrillers to Wake You Up Faster Than a Shot of Espresso
Our 16 Most Anticipated New Reads of March
“The duo of Evanovich and Hamilton, each best-selling authors in their own right, start the action on page one and keep up the pace throughout. The dynamic, often-humorous storytelling won’t let readers out of its grip, and there's a compelling romantic subplot, to boot. Fans of Evanovich won’t need any convincing here, but also offer this one to fans of The Da Vinci Code, as ancient symbols and academic sleuthing play a strong part in the unraveling of the mystery.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Fans of Janet Evanovich will not be disappointed; her writing blends perfectly with the award-winning mastery of Hamilton (“Alex McKnight” thrillers). The globetrotting only adds to the enjoyment of what is arguably even better than her “Stephanie Plum” books. Mission: Impossible meets National Treasure in this winner that one hopes will be the first of many more adventures and more collaboration with Hamilton.” —Library Journal
Book Cover Image (jpg): The Bounty
Author Photo (jpg): Janet Evanovich
Author Photo (jpg): Steve Hamilton
More books from this author: Janet Evanovich
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Francesca Dazio
Francesca (Franca) Dazio, a Sicilian immigrant who became a seamstress and made high-end dresses in Brooklyn, passed away peacefully on Tuesday May 11, 2021 at Staten Island University Hospital at the age of 96, after a long illness Born Francesca Licata on March 14, 1925 in Porto Empedocle, Sicily, she was one of six siblings in a fishing family. She married Giuseppe Dazio on July 8, 1950 in Porto Empeodcle. They immigrated to Brooklyn in 1955. He worked as a longshoreman first in Manhattan and then Brooklyn. She was a seamstress in Brooklyn from 1958 until she retired in 1987 after working for more than 30 years. She is predeceased by her husband, Giuseppe Dazio. She is survived by her son, Al and his wife Cathy, her grandchildren Francesca (Bart), Joseph (Darcey) and Lauren (Chris), and great-grandchildren Julianne, Emma, Amanda, Andrea, Cassandra and Ava. Family and friends are asked to gather on Friday from 5-9pm at The John Vincent Scalia Home For Funerals, Inc. 28 eltingville Blvd. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at Our Lady Star Star of the Sea Church on Saturday at 10:00AM. entombment will follow in Greenwood Cemetery. Please be mindful due to the current State mandate that a mask must be worn at all times in the funeral home and social distancing requirements must be followed during the services. Due to the current Pandemic a strict 50 person in room policy is in effect, Please adhere to this policy and allow others to pay their respects as well. Due to the current pandemic circumstances please note: We do not accept deliveries from outside vendors for bakery products, fruit baskets, and floral arrangements until further notice. Floral Arrangements can be purchased from our in house floral designers who work under the most stringent sanitary conditions which include temperature checks, mask wearing, distancing and protective clothing. You can call 718-948-2016 and place your order. We must protect the families we serve, our own families and staff who operate the funeral home
Francesca (Franca) Dazio, a Sicilian immigrant who became a seamstress and made high-end dresses in Brooklyn, passed away peacefully on Tuesday May 11, 2021 at Staten Island University Hospital at the age of 96, after a long illness Born... View Obituary & Service Information
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Regulation of tau expression in Alzheimer’s disease and aging
Wu, Jane (PD/PI)
Advances in our understanding of the significance of regional and cellular (i.e., neuronal v. glial) differences in tangles with has improved our ability to differentiate Alzheimer disease (AD) from primary age-related tauopathy (PART), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), age-related tauopathy of astroglia (ARTAG), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and other tauopathies (1, 3, 15). This knowledge provides a novel platform for molecular and genetic studies. It has been known for nearly two decades that tauopathies are associated with MAPT, but we still do not understand why it manifests as different phenotypes. Surprisingly, Parkinson disease (PD) also has a strong association with H1, but generally minimal tauopathic burden. The odds ratio for these associations vary considerably, with ~5 for PSP, CBD and PART, but 1.5 for AD and PD. Is this because there are different risk alleles that underlie these associations in the context of different diseases or a single mechanism? This question is increasingly important as new clinical trials for primary tauopathies become an NIH focus. The contribution of this proposal will be to translate our expanding knowledge of tauopathy phenotypes to better understand the nature of the genetic risk associated with the H1 haplotype. This contribution will be significant because it will provide a foundation for further mechanistic studies that will elucidate the drivers of disease and pave the way for future clinical studies. This subcontract is essential because of the unique expertise from Dr. Jane Wu's team in studying tauopathies at molecular and cellular levels and in understanding the pathogenetic mechanisms of AD.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (0255-1551-4609//5R01AG054008-05)
National Institute on Aging (0255-1551-4609//5R01AG054008-05)
Tauopathies Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Alzheimer Disease Medicine & Life Sciences 42%
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Medicine & Life Sciences 24%
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Medicine & Life Sciences 14%
Haplotypes Medicine & Life Sciences 8%
Astrocytes Medicine & Life Sciences 8%
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False-colour image of Venus in ultraviolet, imaged by Atatsuki. (PLANET-C Project Team)
Fact Check: What's Going on With That Phosphine Detection on Venus?
Ever since the discovery of a chemical called phosphine on Venus was announced in September last year, the scientific community has been in a tizzy. Scientists have published papers back and forth, trying to debunk or bolster the claim.
With two new papers landing this week, some are claiming the nails are being hammered into the phosphine coffin. We suspect, however, that the detection will continue to be scrutinised and discussed for some time to come.
So what's the actual deal? Read on for a brief primer.
Phosphine on Venus? Why does it matter?
The discovery itself is pretty fascinating. Using two different instruments at different times - the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in 2017 and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in 2019 - a team led by astrobiologist Jane Greaves of Cardiff University in the UK detected the spectral signature of a chemical called phosphine in the Venusian atmosphere, at 20 parts per billion. The findings were published in Nature Astronomy.
As we reported at the time, here on Earth, phosphine has been found in abundance in anaerobic (low in oxygen) ecosystems. It's found in swamps and sludges, where anaerobic microbes thrive. It's found in intestines and, well, farts. Somehow, anaerobic microorganisms produce phosphine. And the clouds of Venus are anaerobic.
Although Greaves and her team ruled out many possible abiotic Venusian phosphine formation pathways, they were very careful to note that there could be other ways the chemical could appear. For one, here on Earth volcanoes produce phosphine, and we have evidence that Venus is still volcanically active. (A volcanic origin was later found plausible in another preprint.)
Either way, the detection was a fascinating one, but the mention of a microbial origin drove a lot of speculation, and a lot of follow-up scrutiny from other scientists.
What happened next?
Well, it all got a bit complicated. First, a team of scientists had a look at historical Venus data, and found that the Pioneer probe could have detected phosphine all the way back in 1978. That paper has not yet been accepted for publication. Another, submitted to the journal Science and also not yet peer reviewed, claimed to have detected the amino acid glycine - a protein building block - on Venus.
Other scientists started looking at the data. Three separate papers - one since published in Astronomy & Astrophysics on the ALMA data, another published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on the JCMT data, and the other reanalysing both datasets and still awaiting peer review - found no significant detection of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus.
Then it turned out there had been an error processing the data from the ALMA observations. Greaves requested that the data be reprocessed; those reprocessed data were made available to the public in November 2020.
Greaves and her team analysed the new data, and found they could still detect phosphine on Venus, but in lower amounts - a global average of 1 to 4 parts per billion, with localised peaks of 5 to 10 parts per billion.
Since sulphur dioxide and phosphine both absorb radiation near the 266.94-gigahertz frequency, some suggested that Greaves and her team may have detected sulphur dioxide (also produced by volcanic activity) and not phosphine. In their new paper, Greaves et al. ruled out sulphur dioxide. The spectral absorption line interpreted as the chemical fingerprint of phosphine, they said, was too wide to be sulphur dioxide, and there wasn't enough of it on Venus to produce the observed signal.
A third paper from Greaves and her team followed, defending the robustness of the phosphine signal.
OK, so why is it back in the news now?
Two new papers have dropped, one of which has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and the other of which has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, reanalysing the data. Both papers contribute to the mounting pile against phosphine.
The first paper reanalysed both sets of ALMA data, before and after they were reprocessed. The team found a spectral line at 266.94 gigahertz in the earlier dataset, but no significant signal after the reprocessing. They also found that sulphur dioxide could appear in at least 10 parts per billion and not be detected by ALMA, suggesting it could be more abundant than Greaves and her team thought.
The second paper used data from decades of Venus observations to model the conditions in the Venusian atmosphere, and determine how phosphine and sulphur dioxide would behave. They found that the 266.94-gigahertz signal best fit an origin at about 80 kilometres (50 miles) in altitude, above the cloud decks, rather than 50 to 60 kilometres, as proposed by Greaves and her team.
At this altitude, phosphine would not last long at all, so the best explanation would be sulphur dioxide, they concluded.
Is that the end of it? Is the Venus phosphine detection dead?
Not even close! For starters, Greaves and her team will likely respond to the new papers, which will spark more responses, with more simulations and modelling and number-crunching and maybe even experimentation to determine what the possibilities and likelihoods are.
In addition, nothing we have seen so far is conclusive. It's more than likely that the only way we will put the controversy to rest is by taking more detailed observations with more powerful instruments. We may be waiting a while for that. There are several proposed missions to Venus in the pipeline, but it's often a long time between proposal and execution.
However, this is science at its absolute best. There is a 'true' and a 'false' here. Either there is phosphine on Venus, or there is not. Scientists will use their creativity to try and solve the problem, which will lead to refined techniques and analysis tools.
Eventually, we will learn the truth. And whatever that truth is, it will teach us something new about our Universe.
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Why orcas go through menopause
dr. dolittle | January 13, 2017
Image of an orca and her calf from Wikimedia Commons Orcas are one of only three species of mammals that go through menopause, including humans of course. A new study published in Current Biology may have discovered why this happens in killer whales. Examination of 43 years worth of data collected by the Center for Whale Research and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, revealed a remarkable finding about the costs of reproduction in orcas. Older mothers tend to spend more time taking care of the family, so to speak, by making sure her offspring know where or when to find food. While this…
Yet again, acupuncture does not work for menopausal hot flashes
Medicine oracknows | April 24, 2016
Arguably, one of the most popular forms of so-called "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) being "integrated" with real medicine by those who label their specialty "integrative medicine" is acupuncture. It's particularly popular in academic medical centers as a subject of what I like to refer to as "quackademic medicine"; that is, the study of pseudoscience and quackery as though it were real medicine. Consider this. It's very difficult to find academic medical centers that will proclaim that they offer, for example, The One Quackery To Rule Them All (homeopathy). True, a lot of…
Once again, acupuncture doesn't work for menopausal hot flashes
Of all the forms of quackery that have been “integrated” into medicine of late, arguably one of the most popular is acupuncture. It’s offered in fertility clinics. It’s offered in hospitals and medical clinics all over the place. The vast majority of academic medical centers that have embraced quackademic medicine offer acupuncture. (Quackademic medicine, for those not familiar with the term we reserve for the study of alternative medicine in academic medical centers that really should recognize it as quackery.) Hell, quite a few that haven’t embraced quackademic medicine offer acupuncture.…
Acupuncture bait and switch: Electrified hot flash edition
Social Sciences oracknows | August 26, 2015
It's always disappointing to see a good journal fall for bad medicine, particularly when it's in your field. For example, the Journal of Clinical Oncology (affectionately referred to by its abbreviation JCO) is the official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and probably the most read clinical journal by those involved in the clinical care of cancer patients. Just as most oncologists, surgeons, and radiation oncologists who specialize in the care of cancer patients belong to ASCO, most of them also at least peruse JCO on a regular basis because major results of large…
The grandmothers effect, paternal or maternal matters (?)
Social Sciences razib | October 30, 2009
I've discussed menopause as an adaptation and the grandmother effect before. I was also pleased to see the responses of Larry Moran's readers when he presented his standard anti-adaptationist line of argument. I don't want to retread familiar ground here, I'm not sure if menopause is an adaptation, but let's assume so for the purposes of reviewing a new paper which has come out and offers a slight but fascinating twist on the grandmother hypothesis. Grandma plays favourites: X-chromosome relatedness and sex-specific childhood mortality: Biologists use genetic relatedness between family…
Menopause as an adaptation
Life Sciences razib | October 12, 2009
I've talked about menopause before. One question in evolutionary anthropology is whether it is an adaptation, a derived trait in our species which emerged due to the force of natural selection, or simply a physiological byproduct of some other phenomenon. The key point is the peculiar asymmetry in male and female reproductive potentials; males decline gradually over time, while the general suite of female reproductive function simply shuts down at during middle age. Eric Michael Johnson reviews a new paper by the redoubtable Virpi Lummaa, Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive…
Genes which affect female development
razib | May 18, 2009
There are several papers and letters in Nature Genetics on the relationship between menarche, menopause, etc. and genetics. Meta-analysis of genome-wide association data identifies two loci influencing age at menarche: We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association data to detect genes influencing age at menarche in 17,510 women. The strongest signal was at 9q31.2 (P = 1.7 10-9), where the nearest genes include TMEM38B, FKTN, FSD1L, TAL2 and ZNF462. The next best signal was near the LIN28B gene (rs7759938; P = 7.0 10-9), which also influences adult height. We provide the first…
Did conflict between old and young women drive origin of menopause?
edyong | April 1, 2008
You could argue that life is all about cheating death and having enough sex to pass on your genes to the next generation, as many times as possible. From this dispassionate viewpoint, human reproduction is very perplexing for our reproductive potential has an early expiry date. At an average age of 38, women start becoming rapidly less fertile only to permanently lose the ability to have children some 10 years later during menopause. From an evolutionary point of view, this decline is bizarre. Other long-lived animals stay fertile until close to the end of their lives, with elephants…
Statement regarding the use of bisphenol A
neurotopia | August 3, 2007
The LA Times has an interesting story about a statement regarding the use of bisphenol A, a compound that has many uses in the plastics industry and also happens to have estrogenic effects. The scientists -- including four from federal health agencies -- reviewed about 700 studies before concluding that people are exposed to levels of the chemical exceeding those that harm lab animals. Infants and fetuses are most vulnerable, they said. This is an important point. Organisms in utero can be exquisitely sensitive to growth factors and hormones, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of times…
Thoughts on Approaching Hormone Therapy Data
neurotopia | July 9, 2007
I recently posted three "Basics"-style blurbs about menopause and hormone therapy (HT). If you missed it, they are here, here, and here. The field has gone through a lot of upheaval since the WHI studies in 2002, and I would just like to share my thoughts on how to approach where we stand now. These are the sorts of questions and considerations that researchers and health care professionals need to keep in mind when they evaluate HT. After the reference-heavy previous posts this one is going to just be my thoughts, and very off-the-cuff at that. We, as humans, have a tendency to put…
The Basics of Menopause and Hormone Therapy III: Cognitive Consequences
Brain and Behavior neurotopia | July 5, 2007
This is the third part in an overview of menopause and hormone therapy. Parts one and two are here and here. This time around I describe changes in cognitive and behavioral profiles for women and animal models of menopause. I may decide to expand on a handful of studies at a later date, but for now I wanted to provide a very brief overview of human studies, problems inherent to human studies, and animal studies. I think the next part of this series will focus on the quality of our animal models and what they have to tell us. But for now, anyone who is interested in these issues knows where…
The Basics of Menopause and Hormone Therapy II: Types of HRT and Physiological Consequences
This is the second of a series that examines menopause, hormone therapy, and consequences of each. Today's installment looks at the makeup of common hormones on the market, physiological consequences of hormone loss and replacement, and the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) studies. A slight emphasis is placed on Alzheimer's Disease as a segway to the next installments, which will focus on cognitive and neurobiological consequences of menopause and hormone therapy. Components of Common Hormone Therapies 17-beta estradiol (E2), the primary circulating estrogen during reproductive years, was…
The Basics: History of Hormone Therapy and Menopause
Life Sciences neurotopia | June 13, 2007
I thought I'd hop on the Basics bandwagon. Here's an oldy of mine with some menopause and hormone therapy background. WARNING: rampant pharmaceutical company sexism ahead. Do not attempt to communicate or reason with Zuska for at least 4 hours after reading. Rumor also has it that Tara is advocating for a beat-down. Parts II and III are here and here. The Transition to Menopause Menopause is defined as the cessation of ovarian function. It occurs at the average age of 50 in women, is accompanied by a decrease in circulating levels of estrogen and progesterone associated with the loss of…
Calls for Mendel's Garden submssions will close Sunday
neurotopia | January 4, 2007
The blog carnival Mendel's Garden got bumped because of the holiday. I've decided to post it this coming Monday, so I'm giving everyone until Sunday at 6pm EST to get their posts in!
And when you're in your bigger room...
neurotopia | June 9, 2006
...you might not know what to do you might have to think of how you got started sittin' in your little room --The White Stripes Welcome to the second incarnation of Neurotopia! The old incarnation can be found here, although lately it has just been a collection of posts where I complain about how Blogger stinks. But no more! Now I'm here on this slick new platform! The SEED overlords pulled a mean trick on me: they set up the new blog launch mere hours before I'm supposed to hit the road and celebrate my 8th anniversary by accompanying Mrs. Evil Monkey to Fallingwater for the weekend.…
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Rogue planets wander the galaxy all alone
The latest of these starless orphans to turn up is about massive as Earth
A newfound planet (seen here in an illustration) is about the mass of Earth and has no sun. Instead, it floats through the galaxy alone.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)
By Christopher Crockett
Not all planets orbit stars. Some zip through our galaxy all on their own. And now astronomers have found the smallest of these rogue planets yet.
The newly discovered wandering world has roughly the mass of Earth. With no sun in its sky, it’s always nighttime on this lonely planet. And that sky is a lot darker and filled with more stars than can be seen from any place on Earth.
“The sky must be marvelous,” says Przemek Mróz. He is an astronomer at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif. He led the team that discovered the planet. But the lack of a sun does come at a cost, he says. “It must be freezing cold, too.”
This drifter joins a small club. Over the last 20 years, astronomers have found fewer than two dozen planets without stars in our galaxy. Most are big balls of gas that are more like Jupiter than Earth. But scientists think these worlds are the tip of an enormous iceberg. In our galaxy alone, there might be billions out there awaiting discovery.
A valuable planet
Finding this tiny planet is “very valuable,” says Diana Dragomir. She’s an astronomer at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She looks for planets around stars other than our sun. This work is helping her figure out how many worlds other than Earth may be home to some type of life. There’s probably nothing alive on this dark, frigid orphan planet. But its discovery gives Dragomir and other scientists information about worlds that are difficult to find.
“The fact that we found it means a lot, even if it’s just floating, because it means it formed in the first place,” she says.
Astronomers think that orphaned planets formed in solar systems like our own. But something kicked the planet out. Maybe the gravity of a larger world gave a planet the boot. Or perhaps a passing star got too close, and its gravity snagged a planet or two.
Dragomir says this newfound world probably formed pretty far from its home star. If it were too close, then the star’s gravity would have kept it from escaping.
Planets, especially small ones, that are far from their stars are often tricky to find. “Even though we think that there are distant planets around many, many stars, we cannot know for sure,” says Dragomir. “Finding even just one like this one, using another technique, is really helpful because it’s adding to a pretty small sample.” She adds that the discovery of this wandering planet is “telling us these small planets at a reasonable distance from their star do form.”
When is a planet not a planet?
Most people think of planets as objects that orbit stars. In fact, the official definition says a planet must orbit a star. Specifically, our sun. Rogue planets don’t meet this definition, which was decided on by the International Astronomical Union, or IAU, notes Jessie Christiansen. She’s an astronomer at Caltech. Like Dragomir, she also is tallying all the types of planets that are out there. The IAU is the group that decides on official definitions and names for things in space.
Explainer: What is a planet?
But many now argue a planet should be defined only by how it formed. The IAU goes on to say that a planet is anything that’s big enough so that its gravity molds itself into a ball. Otherwise it would be a lumpy asteroid or comet. But the object can’t be so massive that it crushes together atoms and starts to glow. Then it would be a star.
Based on their mass, rogue planets pass inspection. But “our institutions have not caught up to the fact that these planets exist yet,” says Christiansen.
“NASA is literally rewriting the definition right now,” she says. NASA keeps track of planets found outside our solar system in a computer database. It’s called the NASA Exoplanet Archive. (An exoplanet is any planet that doesn’t orbit our sun.) But Dragomir says this database does not yet include orphan worlds. “We’re in the process of redesigning our archives so that we can host them,” she says.
Really low odds
Astronomers find most planets by detecting how they influence the stars they orbit. That, of course, won’t work for the orphans. They also don’t emit light, so astronomers can’t see them directly.
This video explains how scientists can use starlight, as detected by telescopes — such as the Kepler space telescope — to detect wandering planets in space.
However, orphan planets can alter the light from stars that are much farther away. The process is known as gravitational lensing.
If something in space passes between Earth and a star, the object’s gravity focuses light from that star onto Earth. “It’s like a magnifying lens,” Mróz says. To someone on Earth, the star brightens as the object passes by. And that’s how researchers discovered this tiny rogue planet.
In June 2016, a faint star in the constellation Sagittarius brightened a bit. It then faded back to normal. Mróz and his team measured how long it took the star to brighten and dim. The change took about five hours. That told them the approximate mass of the passing object. They estimate that its mass could be as little as one-third the mass of Earth or as much as twice as massive as our planet. They shared their discovery November 1 in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Mróz and his team noticed the planet with a telescope called OGLE. That stands for Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The telescope sits in the Atacama Desert of Chile. It stares toward parts of our Milky Way that have lots of stars, such as the center of the galaxy. It then looks for changes in starlight caused by dark objects floating by.
The odds of finding just one object are, well, astronomical. The alignment between Earth, some object and a background star has to be almost perfect. “If you observed only one star, you would need to wait on average a million years” before anything passed by, says Mróz.
No one wants to wait that long. So to increase their chances, instead of watching one star, scientists watch millions. The OGLE telescope monitors the same 200 million stars every clear night, notes Mróz. That lets them find a couple thousand floaters every year, though most are just dim stars.
Researchers found the new rogue planet using the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) telescope, here, in Chile.Krzysztof Ulaczyk/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
This teeny planet pushes the limit of what telescopes like OGLE can do, says Mróz. To find lots more, astronomers need a telescope in space that’s up to the challenge.
That’s where the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope comes in. It’s due to launch around 2025. It will be as large as the Hubble Space Telescope, but it will see 100 times more of the sky at once. The new telescope is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer. In 1959, she wrote that putting a telescope in space would let astronomers find planets around other stars. (Her namesake telescope won’t be the first such planet-finding telescope in space. The Kepler space telescope, for example, found more than 2,700 exoplanets before running out of gas in 2018.)
The Roman telescope will orbit far above Earth’s shaky atmosphere. From there, it will be able to find many roaming planets (and do lots of other science, too).
The Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will search for exoplanets, as well as do lots of other science.NASA
“Right now, we know very little about free-floating planets,” says Samson Johnson. He is an astronomer at The Ohio State University in Columbus. Recently, he and other scientists calculated how many floating planets the Roman telescope might find. They estimate it could find at least 250, some as tiny as Mars. They reported these results in the September Astronomical Journal.
Such discoveries could tell astronomers a lot about how planets form. Some of the solar systems in our galaxy show hints of past messiness. They are home to planets with orbits that are tilted and spaced out in strange ways. But other solar systems are neat and orderly.
“One of the questions going forward is, which is more common?” Christiansen says. If the Roman telescope turns up lots of floating planets, she says, then it may indicate planets get kicked out of their homes often. And that may mean that many young planetary systems are messy.
Even our own solar system was once chaotic. But for hundreds of years, astronomers assumed our solar system has always looked the way it does now: nice and organized. They also thought other planetary systems would be similar to ours. But the variety of worlds we’ve discovered, including orphan planets, shows this isn’t the case. And some scientists now think that that our solar system lost a planet long ago.
“One of the nice, most amazing, and exciting things that came out of exoplanets,” says Christiansen, “is discovering that there are so many different types of planetary systems out there.”
archive: (adj. archival) To collect and store materials, including sounds, videos, data and objects, so that they can be found and used when they are needed. The term is also for the process of collecting and storing such things. People who perform this task are known as archivists.
astronomer: A scientist who works in the field of research that deals with celestial objects, space and the physical universe.
atmosphere: The envelope of gases surrounding Earth or another planet.
atom: The basic unit of a chemical element. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that contains positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons.
average: (in science) A term for the arithmetic mean, which is the sum of a group of numbers that is then divided by the size of the group.
comet: A celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust. When a comet passes near the sun, gas and dust vaporize off the comet’s surface, creating its trailing “tail.”
constellation: Patterns formed by prominent stars that appear to lie close to each other in the night sky. Modern astronomers divide the sky into 88 constellations, 12 of which (known as the zodiac) lie along the sun’s path through the sky over the course of a year. Cancri, the original Greek name for the constellation Cancer, is one of those 12 zodiac constellations.
database: An organized collection of related data.
exoplanet: Short for extrasolar planet, it’s a planet that orbits a star outside our solar system.
focus: (in physics) The point at which rays (of light or heat for example) converge sometimes with the aid of a lens.
galaxy: A group of stars — and usually dark matter — all held together by gravity. Giant galaxies, such as the Milky Way, often have more than 100 billion stars. The dimmest galaxies may have just a few thousand. Some galaxies also have gas and dust from which they make new stars.
gravitational lensing: The distortion of light by an intense gravitational force, such as what can be exerted by clusters of galaxies — the most massive things in the universe. The gravity can bend or focus light, making it appear brighter and in one or more different places in the sky.
gravity: The force that attracts anything with mass, or bulk, toward any other thing with mass. The more mass that something has, the greater its gravity.
journal: (in science) A publication in which scientists share their research findings with experts (and sometimes even the public). Some journals publish papers from all fields of science, technology, engineering and math, while others are specific to a single subject. The best journals are peer-reviewed: They send all submitted articles to outside experts to be read and critiqued. The goal, here, is to prevent the publication of mistakes, fraud or sloppy work.
Jupiter: (in astronomy) The solar system’s largest planet, it has the shortest day length (10 hours). A gas giant, its low density indicates that this planet is composed of light elements, such as hydrogen and helium. This planet also releases more heat than it receives from the sun as gravity compresses its mass (and slowly shrinks the planet).
literally: A term that the phrase that it modifies is precisely true. For instance, to say: "It's so cold that I'm literally dying," means that this person actually expects to soon be dead, the result of getting too cold.
Mars: The fourth planet from the sun, just one planet out from Earth. Like Earth, it has seasons and moisture. But its diameter is only about half as big as Earth’s.
mass: A number that shows how much an object resists speeding up and slowing down — basically a measure of how much matter that object is made from.
Milky Way: The galaxy in which Earth’s solar system resides.
monitor: To test, sample or watch something, especially on a regular or ongoing basis.
NASA: Short for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Created in 1958, this U.S. agency has become a leader in space research and in stimulating public interest in space exploration. It was through NASA that the United States sent people into orbit and ultimately to the moon. It also has sent research craft to study planets and other celestial objects in our solar system.
optical: An adjective that refers to light or vision.
orbit: The curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a galaxy, star, planet or moon. One complete circuit around a celestial body.
planet: A large celestial object that orbits a star but unlike a star does not generate any visible light.
solar system: The eight major planets and their moons in orbit around our sun, together with smaller bodies in the form of dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids and comets.
star: The basic building block from which galaxies are made. Stars develop when gravity compacts clouds of gas. When they become hot enough, stars will emit light and sometimes other forms of electromagnetic radiation. The sun is our closest star.
sun: The star at the center of Earth’s solar system. It is about 27,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Also a term for any sunlike star.
telescope: Usually a light-collecting instrument that makes distant objects appear nearer through the use of lenses or a combination of curved mirrors and lenses. Some, however, collect radio emissions (energy from a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum) through a network of antennas.
Journal: P. Mróz et al. A terrestrial-mass rogue planet candidate detected in the shortest-timescale microlensing event. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Vol. 903, November 1, 2020. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abbfad.
Journal: S.A. Johnson et al. Predictions of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Galactic Exoplanet Survey. II. Free-floating Planet Detection Rates. The Astronomical Journal. Vol. 160, September 2020. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/aba75b.
Journal: N.G. Roman. Planets of other suns. The Astronomical Journal. Vol. 64, October 1959. doi: 10.1086/108038.
HS-ESS1-2, HS-ESS1-4, MS-ESS1-2, MS-ESS1-3
Worlds beyond the solar system
By Stephen Ornes February 22, 2012
Small, distant worlds are either big Earths or little Neptunes
By Lisa Grossman July 12, 2017
Let’s learn about exoplanets
By Bethany Brookshire July 29, 2020
More Stories from Science News for Students on Space
Astronomers may have found first known planet in another galaxy
Let’s learn about the hunt for alien life
By Maria Temming December 7, 2021
Explainer: Calculating a star’s age
By Lisa Grossman November 19, 2021
Let’s learn about auroras
By Trishla Ostwal November 9, 2021
NASA’s Perseverance rover grabbed its first Martian rocks
By Lisa Grossman November 1, 2021
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Scotland and Nationalism cultural and political aspects of Scottish identity from the medieval period to the present
7-9 oct. 2021
Logis du Roy, Université de Picardie Jules-Verne, Amiens - Amiens (France)
http://sfeecorpus.sciencesconf.org
Scottish Parliamentary elections take place on 6 May 2021 and, in the event of victory for the Scottish National Party (SNP), there may be a mandate for a second referendum on independence. This quest for national political identity coincides with wider trends in nationalism, both cultural and political, and exhibits both parallels and marked contrasts with them: thus the question of how culture interplays with politics, in the context of nationalism, is both topical and controversial. ‘Cultural nationalism' arguably seeks to present a coherent vision of a nation's identity, history and destiny. It is often associated with social, cultural and political crises, and especially with the advent of modernity. In contrast to the medieval Church's universalism, and the Enlightenment's emphasis on rationality and cosmopolitanism, it was the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries which saw a resurgence of interest in historical and cultural particularity. Cultural nationalism, and its relationship with political nationalism, has been intensely debated by historians and sociologists (including Ernest Gellner, Eric Hobsbawm, Terrence Ranger, Benedict Anderson, Hans Kohn, Miroslav Hroch, Anthony D. Smith and John Hutchinson). We propose, here, to explore how and why cultural nationalism has (or has not) coincided with political nationalism in the history of Scotland. What are the historical roots of Scotland's contemporary cultural and political identities? How have cultural and political expressions of ‘Scottishness' developed over time? And how do they relate to Scotland's constitution, administration and economy, past and present? By looking at the relationship between political and cultural nationalism from medieval to contemporary times, this conference affords the opportunity for social, political and economic historians, cultural and literary scholars, and historians of art and architecture to engage in the discussion. Presentations might, for example, explore the following themes: • the origins and development of a distinct Scottish cultural and/or political identity; • the relationship between Scotland's national identity and the identities of the UK and Europe, in cultural and/or political terms; • the ways in which Scottishness has been articulated culturally including in literature, art, architecture and heritage; • the relationship between literature, romanticism and nationalism (MacPherson, Burns, Scott, Carlyle, Stevenson, Buchan...); • the relationship between Scotland's sense of itself as a ‘narrow place' and its wider cultural relationships with other parts of the British Isles, Europe and the wider world; • the identity of, and/or relationship between, Highlands and Lowlands in Scottish culture; • why (or whether) there was a distinctively Scottish intellectual culture, and its role within a greater sense of Scottish identity (e.g. Buchanan, Common Sense Realism and the post-war Scottish nationalist intelligentsia); • the relationship between Scotland's economic development and its concern with national identity and/or autonomy; • the role of language in the formation of Scottish identity, including the relative status of, and relationships between, Standard English, Lowland Scots and Gaelic; • contemporary debates over Scotland's political destiny, including relationships within the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the European Union; • the relationship between Brexit and the case for independence; and • the relationship between Scottish and other examples of nationalism, and the reasons for any convergences or divergences.
Discipline scientifique : Architecture, aménagement de l'espace - Art et histoire de l'art - Histoire - Linguistique - Littératures - Héritage culturel et muséologie - Science politique - Sociologie
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Author Archives: Editor
Article author Editor
J Boog set to land here next month
Features - Local EntertainmentBy Editor March 25, 2014 Leave a comment
The Pacific Islands reggae star and international artist J BOOG is set to arrive next month. Organisers, the Heritage Park Hotel announced the arrival much to the excitement of local reggae fans. J Boog was born in Long Beach and raised in Compton, California. He was a man of many influences and who raised up…
SIPTCC gives to Haura SSEC Association
Features - ReligionBy Editor March 25, 2014 Leave a comment
THE Haura South Sea Evangelistic Church Association in east Makira has received a computer set last week to assist their work in the rural district, thanks to SIPTCC. Solomon Islands Peace Traumatic Counselling Centre (SIPTCC) donated the computer along with a printer and a photocopy machine to boost the work of the association. SIPTCC president…
Association inks new deal
Sports - RegionalBy Editor March 25, 2014 Leave a comment
SUVA Volleyball Association has signed a new partnership with Digicel Fiji to promote the development of the sport at club level. The mobile company has invested about $22,000 per year for a period of three years to assist club competition within the association. SVA official Viliame Katia said they acknowledged Digicel for coming on board…
Harmon wins CIFA election
Lee Harmon was re-elected as Cook Islands Football Association President for another term. Lee Harmon was re-elected as President of Cook Islands Football Association for another term over his opponent Raymond Newnham, with overwhelming support as Harmon received almost eighty percent of the votes at the Annual General Meeting. The Annual General meeting was held…
Japan donation boosts recovery effort
The All Whites trip to Japan earlier this month will have a direct benefit for football in Christchurch after the Japan FA donated a portion of the gate takings from the March 5 match to the region’s earthquake recovery effort. The Japan FA has donated $57,000 from the proceeds of the All Whites v Japan…
What’s wrong with the GS post?
National Sports Federations (NFs) have questioned why appointment of a new general secretary for the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI) has been delayed for so long. In a written statement yesterday concerned members of various federations called upon NOCSI to explain why it has taken so long for NOCSI to vote a person…
Warriors wins friendly
Solomon Islands Oceania Club Championship representative, Solomon Warriors FC has won their first friendly match on home soil thrashing the Select side 6-0 at the Lawson Tama Stadium on Sunday Gibson Daudau got the scoring underway for Warriors before the half hour mark from a superb free kick which he placed to the far side…
Plans for promotional clips at airport
News - BusinessBy Editor March 24, 2014 Leave a comment
Local tourism company Sol-Host is taking a lead in trying to set up four large video screens which aims to show promotional clips about the country as part of tourism awareness program. To kick off that deal Sol Host met with five (5) government organisations on Friday to discuss the idea. The plan is to…
Quarantine vows to supports airport project
Quarantine division within the ministry of agriculture and livestock (MALS) is committed to supporting the project undertaken by a private tourism firm Sol Host Project in trying to set–up of four (4) LCD screens at the Honiara’s international and domestic airport. The initiatives was aimed to market and inform visitors both domestic for travelling passengers…
CBSI CLEARS STAND
The Central Bank of Solomon Islands’ (CBSI) has clarified recent media statements regarding the applications of the Pacific Alliance Bank Ltd (PAB) and the Pan Oceanic Bank (POB). In a statement issued on Monday the CBSI said it wishes to disassociate itself from any comments. “First CBSI disassociates itself from comments made that may imply…
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Somaliland lifts the FLY DUBIA ban
By admin on July 2, 2021 • ( Leave a comment )
Hargeisa (SD) – The government of Somaliland has today announced that it has lifted its ban on Fly Dubai airliner.
The company, which is owned by the Emirate but is represented by Somaliland nationals in Hargeisa, is said to have met government requirements.
Somaliland Civil Aviation Authority Director Omar Sayid Abdillahi, confirmed that Fly Dubai, which had been banned for some time, was released after reaching an agreement with the Somaliland government.
“The government of Somaliland has decided to enter into an agreement with every airliner carrying a national flag,” he said.
“The second country that Somaliland has signed an agreement with is the Emirate of Dubai, leading to the decision to lift the ban the airliner, ”he added.
The manager said Fly Dubai was suspended in 2020 for non-compliance, and has now been released following an agreement.
Meanwhile, Air Arabia will remain under the ban imposed by the government of Muse Bihi, and so far there are no indications of any action taken to find a solution to the ban.
US congratulates Somalia on its 61 anniversary of Independence
Somali Independence week: A source for division, Millennials discuss possible way forward
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Librarian/Director of Information Science
Dominican University of California, MA
San Jose State University, MLIS
University of New Hampshire, BA
email: michele.martin [at] sonomaacademy.org
“I love walking into the library first thing in the morning, before classes have started,” says Michele “There are always tons of students hanging out, and the energy is contagious. It's a fun way to start the day and check in with everyone about how they're doing and what they've got going on that day.” Michele helps to make the library a welcoming, useful, and diverse space, a place where students and staffulty can find practical information, camaraderie, and sparks to ignite their curiosity. She has also taught some Humanities elective courses, including a class on science fiction and one on ghost stories.
Michele’s career path wound through some unexpected places on the way to the library. “It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up,” she says. “I have been a grant writer, a public defender investigator, and a program coordinator working with homeless and mentally ill adults. The path seemed random at the time, but all the skills and experiences I picked up along the way have combined to make me a better librarian.”
Not surprisingly, Michele loves to read in her spare time, and she selects her reading list from a wide variety of genres. Each summer, she compiles a spreadsheet of book recommendations for staffulty to share with one another. She also loves to travel—chaperoning Intersession trips abroad is one of her favorite aspects of her job.
The Sonoma Academy experience is very different from the one Michele had as a student. “I went to a large public high school where it was easy to blend into the woodwork,” she says. “Sonoma Academy is very different in that we really get to know each other.” Michele appreciates that our school provides an environment where students work in partnership with adults to be successful students, and community members treat one another with much mutual caring and respect.
I love walking into the library first thing in the morning, before classes have started. There are always tons of students hanging out, and the energy is contagious.
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NFL opportunity forced a change in strategy for BetMGM
In 2015, it was DraftKings and FanDuel pushing daily fantasy. This year, it’s sports betting companies that have been ubiquitous with NFL telecasts. Network execs say they have never seen the NFL ad sales market as robust as it is this season. After two weeks, it’s easy to see why: the huge amount of ads bought by sports betting companies.
BetMGM told my colleague Bill King that when it started conversations with NBC ahead of the May advertising upfronts, it had no plans to begin buying nationally during NFL games. Today, the sportsbook plans 13 more spots during NBC’s "Sunday Night Football" games, as well as some on CBS, King reports. “It’s the first time that we have accepted the fact that we are reaching an audience -- and, frankly, spending to reach an audience -- that will not be able to directly transact with our brands,” said Matt Prevost, CRO at BetMGM. “This has been a fundamental shift for us. It is something that marks a bit of an inflection point in our brand and our advertising strategy to some extent, in that we start to take a strategy that is of a national brand versus a local, spot-by-spot brand.”
The influx of gambling ads may be a cash cow for the networks. But it’s drawing some flak from some network stars. NBC’s Tony Dungy, who SBJ calls “the conscience of the NFL” this week, predicted that the gambling ads are “going to be the one thing that drives me out of this.”
In an excellent profile by SBJ’s Ben Fischer, Dungy says, “Now we’ve got to do 2 or 3 segments about fantasy football, and gambling. I want to talk about the game, and I don’t want to talk about how many yards Nick Chubb is going to have tonight. That might be part of the story, and [NBC Sports executive producer] Sam [Flood] is always saying, ‘Weave that in.’ I’d like to just tell that story, rather than say ‘I think Nick Chubb is going to get 75 yards, so make sure you click there and dial that up so you can make a million dollars.’ I’m very frustrated by that. I think it’s going to nose its way into our business, and I don’t think it’s good.”
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/SB-Blogs/Newsletter-Media/2021/09/20/NBC.aspx
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Comoros vs Gabon Live Score, Where to Watch, Africa Cup of Nations 2022
Match Start Time: 00:30 IST
Match: Comoros vs Gabon Football Match of Africa Cup of Nations 2022
Where and How to Watch Live Streaming of Africa Cup of Nations 2022
Sky Sports and the BBC have agreed a deal with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to air the Africa Cup of Nations. All 52 matches will be broadcast on Sky Sports, with the BBC showing ten games live – including two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final.
Discovery has acquired the exclusive broadcast rights of 2021-22 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Italy. Discovery will stream all 52 matches from the tournament live from Cameroon on discovery+ from January 9 through to the final on February 6.
Sportklub has acquired exclusive media rights in the Balkans region (including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia) for the next two editions of the CAF TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations.
AfroSport TV secured exclusive right to broadcast the 2021-22 Africa Cup of Nations on Free TV and on Digital Terrestrial Television in Nigeria and across Africa. Sport fans can enjoy all the 52 matches via Free-to-air TV networks like the NTA Network Service; selected Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria’s (BON) TV Stations and AfroSport TV Channel 730 on National Broadcasting Commission’s (NBC) digital platform – Free TV.
SuperSport will broadcast live all matches at the tournament. The games will also be available on streaming outfit Showmax. All 52 matches will be broadcast live on DStv. Through Showmax Pro, viewers will be able to watch games on their television, laptop, phone or tablet. SuperSport Variety 1 will feature 43 matches with the other nine on SuperSport Football. GOtv will broadcast 43 fixtures (Select 2) with nine more on Go Football.
Viaplay streaming service has agreed a several-year partnership with and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to show TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Africa Women Cup of Nations, and CAF Champions League football in nine countries.
United Kingdom: Sky Sports, BBC
Ghana: Ghana TV channel, GTV, GTV Sports Plus
South Africa: Super Sports
MENA: DSTV App, Showmax
Italy: Discovery
Balkan region: Sportklub
Nigeria & Africa: AfroSport TV
About Africa Cup of Nations: Africa Cup of Nations 2022 (also known as Africa Cup of Nations 2021) is scheduled to be the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men’s football championship of Africa organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament is scheduled to be hosted by Cameroon, and will take place from 9 January to 6 February 2022. The best 24 African football teams will participate in the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2021-22.
For all the news and updates about Africa Cup of Nations, keep visiting our website SportsNar.
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‘The Wiz Live!’ First Live Entertainment Show Accessible To Visually Disabled People
Wednesday, December 2, 2015 - 1:37 pm
Deadline.com reports that Comcast announced it will include a national video description pilot program with NBC’s broadcast of Broadway musical The Wiz Live! on December 3, making it the first live entertainment program to be accessible to people who have a visual disability in this country. Video description is a narration track that is included between the natural pauses in dialogue that describes the visual elements of a show or movie like facial expressions, settings, costumes and stage direction.
NBC has scheduled the special to premiere on Thursday, December 3 at 8 PM ET. Not coincidentally, December 3 also is International Day of Persons with Disabilities, an international observance that has been promoted by the United Nations since 1992.
“Earlier this year, I attended a theater production of The Wiz and, without description, found it very difficult to follow the characters and action of the play,” Carl Augusto, CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind said in today’s Comcast announcement. “This nationally described television broadcast will not only be a godsend to people with vision loss, but also to those who describe action to people with vision loss, and the general public, who will learn about the importance of audio description.”
Read more at http://deadline.com/2015/12/the-wiz-live-countrys-first-live-entertainment-show-accessible-visually-disabled-people-1201648304/
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Chasing the Asian Century dream: What role can sport play?
Nic Ferraro
It’s less than two years until the launch of the AFC Asian Cup, to be held across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT from January 9-31, 2015.
Held every four years, the pinnacle event in Asian soccer – and the region’s equivalent to the UEFA European (Euro) Football Championship – gives Australia as first-time host a number of unprecedented commercial, cultural, social and economic opportunities as a flow-on effect from the 32-game schedule.
According to the Asian Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC) CEO, Michael Brown, the Asian Cup “presents an outstanding opportunity for Australia to strengthen our cultural, social and economic ties with Asia, including some of our most important trading partners.”
“The federal government’s Asian Century White Paper acknowledged the power of sport to bridge language and cultural barriers and serve as a platform to build relationships. It confirms that events like the Asian Cup offer opportunities for Australia to build on our international reputation for delivering major sporting events, and to promote Australian tourism, trade and other interests in Asia.”
Of course, the ability to commercially leverage the Asian Cup requires the delivery of a successful event measured across a number of key criteria, including getting bums on seats.
The challenge? Whilst Australia’s national soccer team, the Socceroos – one of the most popular brands in Australian sport – are sure to sell out their matches, how do you convince the general public and commercial stakeholders to attend and embrace matches between the likes of Bahrain and Kuwait, or Oman and Syria?
Engage the soccer fraternity
Obviously, engaging the soccer fraternity is vital. This includes working with professional and amateur clubs and governing bodies.
The organising committee must first leverage the huge grassroots following soccer enjoys as the biggest participation team sport in Australia, with over 450,000 registered players. Working with stakeholders, the organising committee must use this “ready to go” market, which gives soccer a big advantage over other professional sporting codes in Australia.
In terms of messaging, a single, unified message should be adhered to which speaks to the passion of these soccer lovers and communicates the lasting legacy the Asian Cup is sure to bring to football in Australia in terms of player development, infrastructure, education, sponsorship and funding.
This message should be built on the excitement and euphoria of this momentous event, and the chance to cement our status as a country able to pull off a successful, globally viewed soccer event, particularly in the face of failing to land the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The tournament needs to be sold to fans as a way for Australia to:
compete with the best teams in Asia;
increase our status within Asia and on a global scale; and
improve the standard of the local game.
The final ‘hook’ for soccer followers is to reward them as avid participators from the very beginning, with a relevant pricing and ticketing structure specific for the soccer fraternity as a consideration – which will be discussed further on in this piece.
Engage non-football followers
The more difficult task is to make the hard sell to the general public and commercial market who are either non-football followers or participators (i.e. those who do not follow, support or have a commercial involvement in soccer but rather are involved with other sports codes) or those who do not have an interest or involvement in any sport at all.
The key here is to appeal to those who are interested in the ‘entertainment’ value of the Asian Cup tournament, those who would go along for the spectacle or to be part of a major event, rather than simply to watch the results on the pitch.
There have been a number of examples where this approach has been used locally to positive effect. For example, during Australia’s hosting of the IRB Rugby World Cup 2003, a couple of matches were held in my hometown of Wollongong in NSW – a regional area traditionally considered a rugby league and soccer heartland. However, during the tournament, I attended a match between Canada and Tonga at WIN Stadium, if for no other reason, than simply to say “I was there”.
Similarly, many found themselves purchasing (or at least applying for) tickets via a general lottery for the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games – without even knowing (or caring!) what event they would be attending.
And this is not only limited to sport, with many people often keen to attend well-publicised cultural events they may know little about.
A few years ago I wrote a paper for the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) where I coined the term “share of leisure time and wallet” with reference to winning the consumer in the sports and entertainment marketplace.
What I was referring to was the fact that everyone – whether it be individuals, couples, families or seniors – dedicates a certain amount of time AND money to spend on leisure activities as a sub-segment of their “disposable income” (i.e. what is left over after all their expenses are covered).
Similarly people have a limited amount of time, when you discount work and other commitments, which they can dedicate to leisure activities.
It is from this that the individual (or group) decides what they will spend their leisure time and money on, whether it is going to the movies, a show or a sporting event.
The key then, is to sell the Asian Cup to non-soccer or sports followers as a once in a lifetime event, a chance for people to say they want to be there to experience the spectacle of the tournament.
From a commercial perspective, Football Federation Australia (FFA) chairman Frank Lowy put it best when he recently said: “It’s often hard for people who don’t love football to understand the magnitude of the game across the world.”
He went on to say that the Asian Cup would reach a TV audience of 2.5 billion people, in a region that is home to 80 million people who played the game, a number that would jump to 380 million by 2022.
Federal Trade Minister Craig Emerson also commented:
“Football is big business, and it’s a driver of business the world over. It’s also a potent vehicle for world diplomacy. Asia’s rise will continue… By 2025 the region would be home to four of the world’s largest 10 economies. The Asian Cup is an enormous opportunity to promote Australia’s brand.”
This is where the opportunity lies to sell the Asian Cup to a commercial market, which traditionally does not follow or participate in football or sports, based not on the action on the field, but the benefits off it.
In my next blog, I will look at the marketing strategies that could be used to ensure the success of the Asian Cup tournament in Australia.
Nic Ferraro is the founder and managing director of the Sports Business Insider website – the leading, independent online source of news, analysis, opinion and information on events on the business side of sport.
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DNA evidence could point to several relatives in Yokine sex assault case, court told
By Cameron Myles and Zarisha Bradley
The lawyer for a 21-year-old man accused of breaking into a home and sexually assaulting a woman on New Year’s Eve has told a Perth court DNA evidence could have come from any one of several family members he lived with.
Investigators put out a call for information about the alleged assault on the morning of December 31, after the woman in her 20s was assaulted in her Yokine home between 12.30am and 1am.
The woman managed to escape after waking up to the assault and ran to a neighbour’s house, while the alleged offender fled the scene.
Joseph Nicholas Anderson was arrested the following day and faces six charges including sexual penetration without consent, indecent assault and aggravated home burglary.
During a bail application in Perth Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, police alleged DNA evidence narrowed the search down to the 21-year-old’s family.
However, Mr Anderson’s lawyer told the court his client was living at a home with five male relatives who shared the same bloodline: his father, two uncles and two cousins.
The DNA evidence did not identify Mr Anderson, his lawyer told the court, instead deeming him a likely contributor – the same as could be said about Mr Anderson’s family.
He argued the accused was anxious to return home to help look after his eight-month-old son, and flagged a significant delay before the case would go to trial in the District Court.
But prosecutors strongly opposed bail, describing the alleged offences as serious and heinous acts, with strong and compelling evidence to back up the case.
Mr Anderson’s residence – a five-minute walk from the victim’s house – also presented a risk, prosecutors said.
Police also alleged fingerprints were found at a neighbouring address near the scene, a fact Mr Anderson’s lawyer told the court he wasn’t aware of, but the analysis was preliminary.
The bail application was adjourned to later this month for Mr Anderson to be considered for home detention.
Cameron Myles is the homepage editor for WAtoday.Connect via email.
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https://www.starsinsider.com/travel/239903/the-uk-and-irelands-most-fascinating-neolithic-sites
The UK and Ireland's most fascinating Neolithic sites - Mystery surrounds most of the UK and Ireland's neolithic monuments, as no one knows how they were built, or exactly what their purpose was. Find out more in the following gallery.
Ballowall Barrow - Ballowall Barrow is a unique Bronze Age tomb on a cliff edge near St Just, Penzance. It has a long and complex history as a sacred site.
Ballowall Barrow - The barrow was excavated in 1878 and is now managed by the National Trust.
Ballowall Barrow - It is one of the largest and most complex of several prehistoric funerary monuments along the West Penwith coastline. They are thought to have been built by local communities to provide striking shrines or tombs for the dead.
Carn Euny - Carn Euny Ancient Village is another fascinating site in Cornwall. Among the best-preserved ancient villages in South West England, it was occupied from the Iron Age until late Roman times.
Carn Euny - It includes the foundations of stone houses from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. At the heart of the village is a stone-walled underground passage known as a fogou. This mysterious type of Iron Age monument is found only in the far west of Cornwall.
Tregiffian Bural Chamber - This early Bronze Age chambered tomb is also close to Ballowall Barrow and the three sites can easily be combined for a fascinating day trip.
Hill of Tara - The Hill of Tara is more than a hill. It is an archaeological complex in County Meath, Ireland, which contains a number of ancient monuments. According to tradition, it was the seat of the High King of Ireland.
Hill of Tara - The site has been in use since the Neolithic era, although it is unclear whether it was continuously used as a sacred or a political centre from the Neolithic period to the 12th century.
Hill of Tara - The site is within an hour's drive of Dublin, making it a fascinating day trip from a longer holiday in Ireland's capital city.
Knap of Howar - This Neolithic farmstead on the Scottish island of Papa Westray is thought to be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe.
Knap of Howar -
Radiocarbon dating has indicated that it was occupied from 3700 to 2800 BC. This means the site is older than the Egyptian pyramids. Archaeological evidence shows that the inhabitants kept cattle, sheep, and pigs, cultivated grains and gathered shellfish and fish.
The remote Orkney island can be reached by ferry or the world's shortest scheduled flight between the islands of Westray and Papa Westray.
Inishmore - This is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, Ireland. It is famous for its strong Irish culture and a wealth of pre-Christian ancient sites.
Inishmore - Dún Aonghasa is the best-known of several prehistoric hill forts on Inishmore, situated at the edge of a 100-metre high cliff.
Inishmore - It is unclear when Dún Aonghasa was built, though it is thought that most of the structures date from the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Today, it is a National Monument of Ireland and a small museum illustrates the history of the fort.
Inishmore - A Neolithic tomb and a small heritage park featuring a traditional thatched cottage and an illegal poteen distillery are other attractions on the island.
Silbury Hill - This is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury, Wiltshire. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Silbury Hill - At 39.3 metres (129 ft) high, it is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. Consider a holiday in Wiltshire exploring the 160 unique 160 scheduled monuments this area has to offer.
Stonehenge - Stonehenge itself is a stone circle in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.
Stonehenge - Archaeologists believe that the circle was constructed from 3000 to 2000 BC and the area appears to be a human burial site.
Stonehenge - Many aspects of Stonehenge remain unclear. Historians do not know how it was built and its original purpose. A number of myths surround the stones and they have become associated with Pagan beliefs.
Stonehenge - It is possible to visit the site as a day trip from London or Bath, but access to the monument itself is only permitted by Special Access arrangement outside public opening hours.
Poulnabrone dolmen - Poulnabrone dolmen is a neolithic portal tomb in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland.
Poulnabrone dolmen - This kind of single-chamber megalithic tomb is common in Ireland. This site has become a popular tourist attraction, located close to the road between Ballyvaughan and Kilnaboy.
Poulnabrone dolmen - Excavations in the 1980s found the remains of 33 people buried under the monument. Personal items buried with the dead included a polished stone axe, a bone pendant, quartz crystals, weapons, and pottery.
Newgrange - This prehistoric monument is also in Ireland, in County Meath. It was built around 3200 BC and consists of a large circular mound with an inner stone passageway and chambers.
Newgrange - The mound is surrounded by a stone circle. It is unclear what the original purpose of the site was, but it is believed to have religious significance. Its entrance is aligned with the rising sun on the winter solstice, when sunlight shines through a 'roofbox' and floods the inner chamber.
Newgrange - Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre interprets and provides tickets to the Neolithic monuments of Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth. It is an easy and fascinating day trip from Dublin.
Swinside - This stone circle is in the Millom area of the Lake District. With no visitor centre and requiring a 2 km hike uphill, this is a quieter option for those wanting some solitude with their history.
Swinside - Although little-visited, this stone circle has been described as one of the finest in Britain. It has 55 stones, each up to 3 metres high.
Long Meg and Her Daughters - The Lake District has several other notable examples of stone circles, including those at Castlerigg and Long Meg and Her Daughters.
Long Meg and Her Daughters - Why not plan a holiday in area and combine your history lessons with charming pubs and pastoral walks?
The UK and Ireland's most fascinating Neolithic sites
Take a day trip back in time at these ancient monuments
TRAVEL History
The UK and Ireland are home to fascinating ancient sites. Take a look at these inspiring images and play your next outing.
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Leafs get Mitch Marner and Pierre Engvall back from COVID-19 protocols, but lose three
The Leafs practised in Arizona on Friday and will head to St. Louis for a game Saturday night.
By Kevin McGranStaff Reporter
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz COVID protocols giveth and COVID protocols taketh away, apparently.
On the same day the Maple Leafs got a roster boost with forwards Mitch Marner and Pierre Engvall back — their time in isolation having ended in time to practise before Saturday night’s game in St. Louis — three more players tested positive for the virus.
Ondrej Kaše, Nick Ritchie and Justin Holl will remain in their hotel rooms in Scottsdale while the rest of the team carries on with this unusual six-game road trip.
“It’s tough to see guys leave the lineup, but that’s life these days,” said Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. “But we’re getting guys back, so the timing, I guess, is good.”
Marner looked like a waterbug at practice — all over the ice, all over the puck, joking with teammates.
“I’m good to go,” said Marner. “Excited to be back with the fellas. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the road and back playing games.”
And back on the right wing with Auston Matthews and Michael Bunting, a spot Kaše had been keeping warm.
“He looked good,” Matthews said. “He had a lot of pep, a lot of energy. He really missed the guys. It’s never easy to just pop back in and start going after all the time off. But if anybody can bounce back and be as much of himself as possible, it’s Marner.”
It has been an uneven year for Marner. He has 21 points in 27 games, having missed time with both a shoulder injury and COVID-19. He can usually be counted on to score at better than a point a game; that’s been true the past three seasons. But he’s taken heat from fans, who seemed to pin the team’s failure in the playoffs on him. More recently, they’ve been on him for failing to score on the power play.
“It’s unfortunate the injuries happened, and then missing a couple of more games with COVID,” said Marner. “I liked my last two games, to be honest. I know I didn’t put points up, but we won the games. We did the right things. I felt like I was doing the right things. I was in the right spots, had chances.”
Marner’s game on offence is patience: hold the puck, make smart plays and try to draw the defence to him.
“But same time, something I always talk about is making sure I’m a threat to score as well, and I know I can score,” said Marner. “I’ve done it a lot of times. I’ve got to make sure I get that mindset in my head. If I can’t score, I can’t be that threat. That’s what I’ve got to start really bringing to my game more.”
It might be a bit much to ask Marner to get back to the top of his game in St. Louis for his first game since Jan. 5. Ditto Engvall, back on the third line with David Kämpf and Ilya Mikheyev. But Keefe said it’s all hands on deck.
“Both guys appear to be ready,” said Keefe. “Talking to them, they both feel real good. They have been able to get some good skates in back home in Toronto; that’s helped their cause.
“It’s also helped them, helped their mindset, that we’ve had other guys come back from this.”
Marner kept busy playing video and virtual reality games until his quarantine passed. Both were technically eligible to play Wednesday’s game against the Coyotes, but without a full practice beforehand the Leafs medical team would not have cleared them.
“Obviously I wasn’t down that road trip where everyone caught it, the Vancouver trip,” said Marner, out with a shoulder injury at that time. “I was a little nervous just thinking I was going to catch it eventually, and obviously it caught up to me.
“I had a sore throat before I tested positive as well. I said (to the team doctor) ‘I’m going to pop.’ And then they texted me in the morning and said, ‘You’re right.’ It’s just unfortunate to miss all that time.”
Watching from home, Marner saw what the rest of us saw: the team was not very good in the third period on the first three stops of the trip.
“Third periods have been a big strength for us this year and that slipped away a bit the past couple of games,” said Marner. “Obviously, we want to finish out games. That’s something we’ve got to get back on track with.”
Kevin McGran is a Star sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @kevin_mcgran
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Find out why these four motorists have now lost their licences after appearing in court...
Drivers from Stoke, Bentilee, Northwood and Bradeley were all given lengthy bans by magistrates
Here are the latest cases of drink-drivers, drug-drivers and defendants who failed to give a sample of breath...
STOKE:
Twenty-two-year-old Joseph Bossons has been banned from driving for 12 months after he was caught behind the wheel with more than three times the legal level of cannabis in his system.
North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard the defendant was stopped in King Street, Longton, after police believed he was driving erratically on The Strand.
Prosecutor Emma Thompson said: “The defendant was spoken to. It became clear there was a strong smell of cannabis. He was asked if he was in possession of any drugs. He said no but he had been having a smoke.
“He provided a positive saliva test and further tests at the police station gave a reading of cannabis in his blood of 6.3 against the specified limit of two.”
Bossons, of Penkville Street, Stoke, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to driving with cannabis in his system above the specified limit on November 6.
Representing himself, the defendant said: “I was just being silly. I have stopped smoking cannabis and I have got rid of my car. I won’t be doing it again. I have learnt my lesson.”
Magistrates fined Bossons £252 and ordered him to pay £135 costs and a £30 surcharge.
Dad-of-two, 21, crashed stolen van before reversing as man clung to door
BENTILEE:
Drink-driver Byulent Hyuseinov was been hit with a 12-month ban after he drove the wrong way down a road without any lights on.
The 30-year-old dad-of-three was stopped in Market Street, Longton, just before midnight.
Prosecutor Emma Thompson told North Staffordshire Justice Centre the defendant provided a positive roadside breath test.
He was taken to the police station where he was breathalysed and gave a reading of 44 micrograms in 100 millilitres of breath, against the legal limit of 35.
Hyuseinov, of Beverley Drive, Bentilee, pleaded guilty to drink-driving on February 11.
Lesley Barnett, mitigating, said the defendant had drunk three small beers at his friend’s house and was driving a short distance home when he was stopped.
Magistrates fined Hyuseinov £322 and ordered him to pay £135 costs and a £32 surcharge.
His ban will be reduced by three months if he completes a drink-drivers’ rehabilitation course.
Motorist Aaron Crawford has lost his licence for 12 months after he failed to provide a specimen of breath for analysis.
Prosecutor Emma Thompson told North Staffordshire Justice Centre the 27-year-old was driving a Vauxhall Corsa in Turnhurst Road, Packmoor, when he was involved in a collision.
He was seen to get out the vehicle but was detained by a member of the public.
Miss Thompson said: “He was taken to the police station. He failed to co-operate with the drink-drive procedure.”
The defendant told police he had been drinking Stella. He said he got out the car and was going to wait for the police. He had no medical reason not to provide a breath sample.
Crawford, of Rose Street, Northwood, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis and driving without insurance on March 23.
Angela Trafford, mitigating, said: “He accepts he failed to provide and he had no insurance. He will say he did attempt to provide but he believes he was panicking. He was stressed. He does not raise any defence.”
She added the defendant, a self-employed painter and decorator, will struggle to find work after losing his licence.
Magistrates fined Crawford £240 and ordered him to pay £135 costs and a £30 surcharge.
BRADELEY
Motorist Shane Gibson has been banned from driving for 12 months after he failed to give a sample of his breath at the police station.
The 29-year-old was stopped by police after they saw a white Transit van ‘cutting up’ other vehicles and hitting a kerb on the A50. They pulled him over at Normacot and the defendant provided a positive roadside breath test.
But at the police station he failed to provide a sample, saying he did not believe the machine was working.
Prosecutor Emma Thompson told North Staffordshire Justice Centre police stopped the defendant just before midnight on March 26.
She said: “He provided a positive roadside breath test. However, he had a passenger who indicated he should not be providing a breath test at the police station. At the station he said he did not believe the machine was working.”
Gibson, of Hayes Street, Bradeley, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis.
Mum, 39, tried to smuggle drugs into prison in her knickers for her TEENAGE son
Heather Drew, mitigating, said he had stopped at the pub after work and had a few drinks.
She said: “He was in a work’s van and it could not be left behind.
“He is possibly going to lose his job. He very much regrets his decision.
“He was very concerned about losing his job. He did endeavour to provide a reading.”
Magistrates fined Gibson £330 and ordered him to pay £135 costs and a £30 surcharge.
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October 9, 2015by Stop The BreaksNo CommentsMedia Relations
In-Depth Conversations: Interview With The Cipher Podcast Host Shawn Setaro
The Cipher is the critically acclaimed hip-hop podcast formerly known as Outside the Lines With Rap Genius.
It was created by host Shawn Setaro while he was Editor-in-Chief of Genius.com. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and expect to hear from your favorite rappers and producers as well as authors, poets, scholars and industry power players.
Shawn is a noted writer and cultural historian. He has written for The Atlantic, The Source, Vibe, Esquire, GQ, and more. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of Rap Genius.
He has been a speaker at Columbia, The New School, and the Schomburg Center for Black Culture, and has been quoted as a hip-hop expert in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, The Dallas Observer, and The Chicago Tribune.
1) So you’ve done pretty major things in your career – written for Forbes and The Atlantic, podcast host, former Editor-in-Chief of RapGenius, speaker at Columbia, and plenty more. Talk to me about your background and come up in the industry.
I spent years in the music industry on the musician side, playing guitar and bass in a bunch of different bands, touring, and doing session work. I also had some experience as a music journalist in college and just afterwards, writing profiles and reviews. While both those things provided valuable background, they didn’t really directly lead to the more recent things you mentioned.
Aside from the founders of the website and their real-life friends, I was the first person to become a dedicated user of Rap Genius. I got very involved and, as it grew, I became EIC and did most of the Rap Genius-branded writing for outside outlets. So if The Atlantic or Vibe or The Source wanted to run something from Rap Genius, I was usually the one doing it.
After I left, I already had a relationship with some people at Forbes, so becoming a columnist there was a natural choice. And I kept the podcast going, which continually leads to cool opportunities.
2) The Cipher was started while you were still at Rap Genius – what made you want to launch a podcast?
I wish I could take credit for it, but it wasn’t my idea. I had gotten in contact with Jean Grae back in 2012 and had her over to the Rap Genius office – ostensibly to do stuff for the site, but mostly because I was a big fan and wanted to meet her. The original idea was to ask a bunch of questions about her songs and cut up the answers into individual annotations on the site.
But once it was over, my partner suggested that I take the entire conversation and turn it into a podcast. I thought about it, and realized she was totally right. That started the ball rolling.
3) You’ve had some pretty big names on the podcast so far – Scarface, Murs, Prince Paul, No Malice, DJ Quik, the list goes on. How do you typically line up an interview? Does the artist reach out to you or vice versa?
There are many different ways I connect with guests. Sometimes publicists or label people who I know will reach out to me and suggest people. Other times I’ll bug them incessantly about an artist until they give in. Sometimes it’s through a personal connection. Sometimes a guest who has been on the show will suggest someone else they know. Other times I’ll reach out to people directly, either in person or over social media. Every situation is a little bit different.
4) Do you find it easier as The Cipher gets bigger to book in artists for interviews?
Yes. Even in just the past few months, I have noticed an uptick in name recognition that makes booking easier.
5) What has been your top 5 favourite moments on the podcast?
Wow. I hardly know where to start. Rather than saying these are my absolute favorite, let me just name five unforgettable moments.
— Hanging out with the 45 King at his house in New Jersey – phone booth, subway turnstile, and other odd artifacts inclusive. I even got to look at the movie script he was writing after we were finished.
— Johnny Rotten. The whole experience was a whirlwind. He is still every bit the outsized personality you would expect. He kicked our photographer out of the room, complained about the heat, and insisted heatedly that I was wrong on points that he turned out to be mistaken on. And looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.
— Spending a long afternoon with Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets, and listening to his stories about the last half-century or so of black arts and history.
— Sitting down with Big Daddy Kane, and having him a. call out Marley Marl for stealing production credit and b. saying that I asked him something he’s never been asked before.
— When Sean Price came by to record his episode, he spent about two hours breaking down lyrics, telling stories, shooting goofy videos, and basically keeping the whole room in hysterics. Then, all of a sudden, in what I would later come to find out was typical P fashion, he just said, “I’m tired,” got up, and left.
6) After observing and documenting the hip-hop culture for all these years, what do you think of the music today and where it’s headed?
One of my main concerns is what the Internet is doing to regional styles. Until pretty recently, hip-hop in Memphis was drastically different than in New Orleans or San Francisco or Newark. In the same way that corporate monoculture is making every city look the same – the same restaurants, attractions, etc. – I wonder if hip-hop will largely sound the same throughout the country.
7) Who are some of your favourite hip-hop artists right now?
If we’re limiting the answer to new-ish artists, I love the Save Money and Pro Era crews. Pretty much anyone affiliated with either of those camps is worth hearing, in my view. I have a soft spot for New Orleans, so Curren$y and Kidd Kidd are both in rotation. Freddie Gibbs is fantastic. Skyzoo consistently impresses me.
8) 2015 has been a pretty awesome year for hip-hop. We’ve had amazing albums from Kendrick, A$AP Rocky, Dr. Dre, Chance The Rapper, Lupe Fiasco and plenty more to come before the end of the year. Any particular projects that you’ve really enjoyed?
I love many of the projects you’ve mentioned above, especially Kendrick’s and Dre’s. In addition to those, I would mention Jean Grae’s iSweatergawd and Gangsta Boo’s Candy, Diamonds & Pills. Also, I got a chance to hear an advance copy of YC the Cynic’s upcoming album. It is incredible – smart, timely, and very powerful.
9) Ok last question – top 5 rappers dead or alive and why?
This question! At the risk of sounding like a cop-out, here are a few caveats. One – this entire list is subject to change. If you ask me later today, it may be a different list than right now. For example, depending on when you catch me, Z-Ro, Pharoahe Monch, Black Thought, and/or Jean Grae are likely to be swapped out for any of the people listed below. Two – these are not the people I necessarily think are “the best” (whatever that means) or the most influential. Instead, they are the five who, for whatever combination of reasons, resonate with me the most.
KRS-One: In addition to his insane catalog, he’s the best live emcee I’ve ever seen.
Boots Riley (The Coup): He’s a world-class rhymer and storyteller. He’s not afraid to be funny. And he manages to get across important political points in ways that are entertaining and musical.
Jay Z: In addition to spelling his first name correctly (“Shawn” with an “h”), I love Jay’s consistency of vision. Every verse he does, even if it’s a freestyle or a guest appearance no one but completists will hear, becomes a part of his larger story. His flow is out of this world. Also, he buries gems so deeply that sometimes they can take years to find – at least for me!
Eminem: Em’s run from 1999 until 2004 or so is matched only by Jay’s from ’96-03 for me. Even now, for all the problems I have with his recent output, Eminem can still make my jaw drop in surprise and admiration more than just about anyone else.
The Notorious B.I.G.: Almost every rapper is good at something. Big, though, was good at everything. It’s insane to me that he could do basically every type of song from radio singles to involved crime narratives, and be incredible at all of them.
I have to add a special shout-out to the other members (besides KRS) of what I call the Mount Rushmore of hip-hop: Kool G. Rap, Rakim, and Big Daddy Kane.
Mindset Of A Champion: An Interview With Hip-Hop Blogger Byron Crawford
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Writer, Editor & Producer Paul Cantor Discusses the Music Business' Future
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Garden Waste subscriptions for April 2022 - March 2023 delayed
Garden waste subscriptions for the period of April 2022 - March 2023 are not yet open and are anticipated to open late February 2022.
The online subscription for 2021/22 are now closed.
Stratford Mop Fair
Archived on 30 September 2021
Stratford District is resorting to medieval methods to help local people find work after the pandemic had a huge effect on the job market.
The Stratford Mop Fair, which is held each year in Stratford-upon-Avon town centre, usually consists of a funfair for the district's residents to enjoy.
But when it started in the 14th century it was used by landowners around the county to meet prospective workers after the Black Death had decimated the population.
Now - in the wake of the Covid pandemic - the first ever 'Job and Apprenticeship Fair' will be held at the Stratford Playhouse in Rother Street to attract workers to fill the many shortages in the prominent hospitality and leisure industries in the district, as well as in several other sectors.
A host of employers and local agencies will be on hand at the free, one-day event on October 12, to speak to would-be staff members, and more are being booked ahead of the fair.
Cllr Matt Jennings, portfolio holder for Tourism and Economic Development at Stratford District Council, said: "The Mop Fair has been a staple in Stratford for a very long time, but it's been many years since it fulfilled its original purpose of recruiting people for work.
"With the pandemic having had a significant impact on businesses in Stratford District and beyond, we thought bringing back old traditions and hosting a Job and Apprenticeship Fair would be a great way for businesses looking to hire to meet people looking for work.
"We'd love to see plenty of people come down this year to not only enjoy the amazing funfair, but to potentially find a new job too."
The Mop was so named because those looking for work would wear an item on their lapel showing what trade they were interested in - such as an ear of corn for farm work - which was known as a 'mop'.
Kate Varvedo, Senior Marketing & Commercial Manager of Shakespeare's England - the leading Destination Management Organisation for South Warwickshire and the surrounding area - added: "Tourism and hospitality are two industries that have been heavily affected by the pandemic, and Stratford's economy has a high proportion of businesses in these two sectors.
"We need to do all we can to help these sectors recover as we emerge out of the pandemic. Bringing back the old traditions of the Mop Fair is a really fun way of helping businesses in the town find the staff they need and ultimately help the region's economy bounce back."
The traditional funfair will still take pride of place at the Mop Fair alongside the recruitment event, with plenty of rides and sideshows for visitors.
It is the second year the event has been impacted by Covid - a single ride was used last year just to ensure the tradition continued, the first time such a measure had been introduced since the Second World War.
Willie Wilson, of Bob Wilson's Funfairs, said: "It's great to be bringing the Mop Fair back at its full capacity after having a tiny fair last year to keep the charter to host the fair alive.
"Our family has been providing the rides and attractions at the Mop Fair for generations, and we were genuinely worried about its future last year, so we're really happy to be bringing it back once again.
"Whether you're coming to the Mop Fair for the rides, or to find work, it's going to be a fantastic event this time around."
The Mop Fair will be held on Tuesday, October 12 from 11am to 11pm, and will be formally opened by the Chairman of Stratford District Council Cllr Edward Fitter.
Anyone looking to take part or for further information should email recruitmentfair@stratford-dc.gov.uk
Stratford-on-Avon District Council
Elizabeth House, Church Street,
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire,
CV37 6HX
Contact: the Communications team
News and Media Information
District Matters
Current News Stories
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Archived Press Releases
Stratford View Magazine
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Renee Zellweger In Love Triangle With Tom Cruise And Colin Firth?
Is Renee Zellweger really in a “love triangle” with Tom Cruise and Colin Firth? That’s the absurd story featured in one of this week’s tabloids. Gossip Cop can confirm it’s nonsense. According to Woman’s Day, Zellweger has been getting close to Cruise over the past year, and even leaned on her Jerry Maguire co-star following […]
January 27, 2020 | 3:35 p.m. CST
Is Renee Zellweger really in a “love triangle” with Tom Cruise and Colin Firth? That’s the absurd story featured in one of this week’s tabloids. Gossip Cop can confirm it’s nonsense.
According to Woman’s Day, Zellweger has been getting close to Cruise over the past year, and even leaned on her Jerry Maguire co-star following her split from Doyle Bramhall II last May. “Renee even flew to the UK on several occasions when Tom was filming there to spend time with him and get away from the painful memories in Los Angeles,” a supposed source tells the outlet. It should be noted, Cruise hasn’t filmed a movie in London since shooting scenes there for Mission: Impossible – Fallout more than two years ago. Additionally, Zellweger and her former co-star haven’t been spotted together overseas.
Still, the anonymous insider insists Zellweger is “open to exploring Scientology” with Cruise and “even attended a meeting with him and his son Connor last year, excitedly telling friends how she was interested in continuing to learn about the religion back in LA.” The unknown tipster adds, “Tom’s recently revealed he’s got feelings for her and is keen to help her fulfill her dream of becoming a mom. After years of fighting off the chemistry and love they both have for one another, he’s open to adopting a child with her.”
From there, the alleged source says Zellweger’s “heart is torn” as she’s also developed feelings for another former co-star, Firth, who recently split from his wife of 22 years, Livia Giuggioli. According to the tabloid, the stars of the Bridget Jones franchise have become close amid his divorce. “Renee’s yearning to have a child and that’s something Colin has made clear he can’t help her with. So pals have urged her to pursue Tom in the hope she’ll fulfill her dream of having a family.”
However, Gossip Cop already busted Woman’s Day last month for falsely claiming Zellweger and Firth were developing a romance. The story was invented because the former co-stars are both single. They haven’t even been spotted together since the release of Bridget Jones’s Baby in September 2016.
As for Cruise, the actor seems to have been thrown into the mix simply because Zellweger thanked her Jerry Maguire co-star while accepting her SAG Award for best actress last week. Giving a shoutout to a former co-star doesn’t indicate she wants to carry his child. Gossip Cop ran the magazine’s storyline by the actress’s spokesperson, who laughed off the ridiculous article. Zellweger’s rep, who’s qualified to speak on her behalf, confirms she’s not in any sort of “love triangle” with Cruise and Firth. Suffice to say, she doesn’t want them to father her children either.
It should be mentioned, Gossip Cop called out Woman’s Day last month for wrongly reporting that Cruise was pursuing a romance with Michelle Dockery. That phony scenario isn’t mentioned in this latest article. The tabloid’s love connections are both fictional and generally arbitrary.
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Home »Death Note Black Edition, Vol. 2 (Paperback)
Death Note Black Edition, Vol. 2 (Paperback)
By Takeshi Obata (Illustrator), Tsugumi Ohba
This is book number 2 in the Death Note Black Edition series.
#1: Death Note Black Edition, Vol. 1 (Paperback): $14.99
Killer 2-for-1 value on hit thriller Death Note!
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal…or his life?
Contains Volumes 3 and 4 of Death Note!
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. Will Light’s noble goal succeed, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?
Born in Tokyo, Tsugumi Ohba is the author of the hit series Death Note, Bakuman and Platinum End..
Takeshi Obata was born in 1969 in Niigata, Japan, and first achieved international recognition as the artist of the wildly popular Shonen Jump title Hikaru no Go, which won the 2003 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize: Shinsei “New Hope” Award and the 2000 Shogakukan Manga Award. He went on to illustrate the smash hit Death Note as well as the hugely successful manga Bakuman, All You Need Is Kill, and Platinum End.
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Publication Date: March 1st, 2011
Series: Death Note Black Edition
Comics & Graphic Novels / Manga / Supernatural
Comics & Graphic Novels / Manga / Crime & Mystery
Comics & Graphic Novels / Manga / Media Tie-In
Paperback (July 5th, 2011): $14.99
Paperback (September 6th, 2011): $14.99
Paperback (November 1st, 2011): $14.99
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Can Ole Scheeren's Unconventional Architecture Change the World?
With his work in Asia, the architect has reimagined the skyscraper for the interconnected age. Is the rest of the world ready for his unorthodox approach?
By Nate Berg
Portrait by Lauryn Ishak March 5, 2018
The top is down on the white Porsche 911 Carrera S Ole Scheeren is driving as we move fast through the hills of Los Angeles. In a crisp white collar and Prada sunglasses over his model-like good looks, the German architect and head of the global architecture firm Büro Ole Scheeren doesn’t have much time. He’s here for about a day, on a short stopover between projects situated at opposite ends of the earth.
Scheeren is on something of a perpetual world tour, dropping in on his firm’s three offices across Asia and in Berlin, and visiting the inventive buildings it has recently completed in Bangkok, Beijing, and Singapore, and the others soon to rise in Vancouver, Vietnam, and Frankfurt. Now 47 and with a sprinkle of gray in his close-shorn beard, Scheeren is constantly cycling through each location, living out of his luggage, stopping just long enough to replenish his supplies. “I’m so much on the move that the notion of a traditional home makes no sense,” he says, accelerating up a curve near L.A.’s Griffith Park. “Once you have nothing, it’s very freeing.”
The sprawling landscape of L.A., with its one-story bungalows and gated low-rise mansions, is unlike the type of architecture he’s been known for. The bulk of his firm’s high-profile work is on the scale of hyper-dense Asian cities, where massive buildings are called on to serve many roles and users. Scheeren’s work has embraced this flexibility, combining residences and offices with community spaces, public plazas, and natural habitats, all bundled into deliberately sensational structures that have, in a very literal sense, bent the rules of the 21st-century skyscraper.
As a counterpoint to skyscrapers that compete on the cityscape with their vertiginous ambitions and strict hierarchies of value (with the best views, and thus, the better properties, up at the top), Scheeren’s buildings take a problem-solving approach to maximizing community and sustainability, often with unorthodox aesthetic results. In Asia, where densely populated hubs demand a diversity of functions within tight spaces, Scheeren has made his reputation on wringing more out of each project. Now, he’s hoping the rest of the fast-changing world is finally ready to adopt his unorthodox approach.
The CCTV tower in Beijing. Photo: Alex Fradkin …
Scheeren first burst onto the scene in 2002, when Rem Koolhaas’s global architecture firm OMA won a competition to design a new headquarters for CCTV, the Central Chinese Television network. Fresh into his tenure as a partner at the unusually ripe age of 31, he managed the project from headquarters in Rotterdam for two years, before moving to Beijing and directing the firm’s practice in Asia.
Externally complete in time for Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympics, the building—a soaring loop of slick dark glass and steel—created a sensation. Two monolithic trunks rise hundreds of feet up, a bit off-kilter, then suddenly jut out into massive cantilevered arms that connect into a bear hug. “It’s like folding a skyscraper in the air,” Scheeren says of the seemingly improbable design, which required then-novel algorithmic analysis to ensure that it would stand. Skyscrapers, up to this point, had risen straight up; CCTV’s design goes up and out. “Five years earlier you could not have even engineered the building because the parametric tools were not far enough developed,” says Scheeren, who is credited, with Koolhaas, as its codesigner.
The experience of leading this complex and high-profile project led Scheeren to venture out on his own, launching his firm in 2010. He kept his base in Beijing to stay embedded in the booming Asian building market and quickly nabbed several significant commissions. The first three have recently been completed.
An arial view of Duo. Photo: Iwan Baan …
Architectural details. Photo: Lauryn Ishak …
The arching facades of Duo. Photo: Lauryn Ishak …
Details at Duo. Photo: Lauryn Ishak …
The largest is Duo, a two-tower project in Singapore shaped with the forces of nature in mind. The concave towers—49 floors of residential and 39 floors of office and hotel space—curve around a circular plaza. As they rise, more unseen circles slice away their edges. These sculpted facades are the result of mapping wind-shear and shade patterns, details that helped the firm stimulate cooling effects, create microclimates between properties, and ultimately do away with energy-intensive air conditioning in an often humid, stifling tropical environment. “We made the thing entirely self-sufficient through intelligent passive designs that only required nature to do its own thing, rather than be controlled,” he says.
In Bangkok, Scheeren recently completed the exterior of Mahanakhon, a 77-story apartment and hotel high-rise that is the tallest building in Thailand and a striking addition to Bangkok’s skyline. Scheeren’s innovation is a spiraling gash of pixelated voids around the tower that pockmarks its smooth face with a ribbon of patios, balconies, and indoor/outdoor spaces, breaking down the barriers between isolated homes and guest rooms and the world that lies outside them. (The rest of the building will be finished later this year.)
And in Beijing, one of Scheeren’s few non-tower projects is the Guardian Art Center, a 600,000-square-foot hall and exhibition space for China’s oldest art auction house. With just eight of its stories above ground, it’s a relatively modest series of small intersecting rectangular volumes stacked atop each other, crowned with a boxy mass that serves as a hotel. Located close to the Forbidden City, the mix of public and private spaces opens up the typically cloistered world of art sales.
For Scheeren, these buildings demonstrate a continuation of the CCTV project’s ethos: Take a relatively straightforward mandate and, with the help of cutting-edge technologies, design a project far more complex. “I find technology particularly interesting in the engineering side of things, but also the social side of things,” he says. It’s a signature of Scheeren’s work that he not only looks for opportunities to make buildings more sustainable, interconnected, and visually unexpected, but fights to act on them. “If we don’t believe in the possibility of change and designing things better, then there’s no point in doing this work.”
The pixelated face of Mahanakhon. Photo: Hufton + Crow …
The Guardian Art Center in Beijing. Photo: Iwan Baan …
Scheeren using his hands to describe his projects. Lauryn Ishak …
Scheeren grew up in the southwest of Germany, near Stuttgart and the French border, in a city called Karlsruhe. His father was an architect, and Scheeren was subsumed into his practice from a young age.
“When I was maybe 17 or 18 my dad went on vacation and I took over to run a few construction sites for a few weeks,” says Scheeren. “It was a total plunge into unknown territory with lots of drama and lots of learning—a super-formative experience.”
By this point, he was set on a future in architecture and wanted to see as much of it as he could. So he left home and drove across Europe, visiting notable buildings from history books and contemporary magazines. This proved enlightening, and a bit of an adventure: Scouting houses by the Swiss architect Luigi Snozzi in the Italian part of Switzerland required some minor trespassing. “I was walking through a private garden to try to get a glimpse of a house when an old lady busted me,” he recalls. After some screaming, she eventually let him in. He spent the whole day with her, learning about the design of her house and how it had impacted her life. Scheeren, who went on to study for a time under Snozzi at the university in Lausanne, says this experience was life-changing. “I thought this was really something, as specific and tiny as it was, that was potentially meaningful in what the role of architecture could be,” he says. Creating that kind of “emotional detail” and human connection—with the built space, as well as others inhabiting it—became his personal objective.
The Interlace in Singapore. Photo: Iwan Baan …
The hexagonal layout of The Interlace. Photo: Iwan Baan …
The Interlace, a 1,040-unit residential complex in Singapore and one of the last projects Scheeren designed while at OMA, is the most effective realization of this ambition so far. Completed in 2013, its honeycomb-like arrangement of horizontal buildings, all stacked and pivoting off each other, contain a few dozen apartments each. Atop the hexagonal tangle are rooftop gardens, and beneath it, generous plazas and pool decks—abundant common areas that encourage human flows and interactions. It’s a clever reinvention of Singapore’s towers-in-a-park stereotype in which the towers themselves become the park. In his book Building Community: New Apartment Architecture, writer Michael Webb lauds the project as a model for multi-family living. “Scheeren’s priorities are community and quality of life,” he writes. At the 2015 World Architecture Festival, the Interlace was named the World Building of the Year.
Scheeren has similar ambitions for his firm’s first North American project, a 43-story residential building in Vancouver that will break ground later this year. His design for 1500 West Georgia rises up and then propels out in a cross-stitch of projecting rectilinear cantilevers that he says will create three-dimensional spaces that connect to the urbanity of the city and its natural surroundings.
“We knew right away that we loved the building,” says Daryl Simpson, senior vice president at Bosa Properties, the Vancouver-based developer that commissioned Scheeren’s firm. “Primarily we loved the degree to which it might stimulate a conversation about altering the paradigm of what a high-rise is,” Simpson says—as if Scheeren’s CCTV tower or Interlace complex had not already started that debate.
But with a high profile comes public scrutiny. The Vancouver-based architecture critic Trevor Boddy is not impressed with Scheeren’s proposition. He says, via email, that the project “will, if built, become our city’s tombstone to the starchitect era. The design for Bosa Properties has all the ham-handedness of the Beijing CCTV tower he co-authored while at OMA, but with none of its lumpy awe.” He suggests the “clumsy” project is an attempt to outdo a different showpiece tower now rising in the city designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group, another global architecture firm known for similarly flamboyant forms. “It would be too kind to describe his tower’s Jenga-block massing as crystal meth in the kindergarten,” Boddy adds.
Widely regarded as his first triumph, not everyone appreciated the CCTV tower’s design. Writing in The New Yorker in 2009, the architecture critic Paul Goldberger noted that “its shape is about as irrational, and as self-consciously bizarre, as you could imagine.” Some locals refer to the building as “Big Shorts,” and others say it resembles a person squatting over a toilet. It was also a target of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2014 proclamation that there should be no more “weird architecture” built in China.
A rendering of 1500 West Georgia, planned for Vancouver, Canada. Courtesy Buro Ole Scheeren …
Critiques like these haven’t dissuaded Scheeren, nor the developers who desire to hire him for projects. (For its part, Bosa Properties has already commissioned him to design a second residential building in the city.) In fact, interest in his approach only seems to be growing, and on a global scale.
Scheeren recently secured his firm’s first project in Europe, a 23-floor apartment building in Frankfurt with sides accented by wide rectangular extrusions and indentations. In a familiar Scheeren motif, the new surfaces these create are rendered in the drawings as lush aerial gardens, patios, and overhangs. The project is also a relatively rare large-scale adaptive reuse of an old concrete office tower, and existing technical floors at the bottom and top will be replaced with new habitable levels and expanded floor plans. Scheeren says that what attracted him to the project was its broader relevance to older cities in Europe, which he says need to think more strategically about updating existing buildings to meet new needs and serve more people as cities become more dense.
“It was important for me to find the right project,” says Scheeren. “To come into Europe and not just say we’ll continue to do the same thing that we did in Asia, but to say everything we’ve learned there we can apply in a very strategic way to the specific challenges that Europe is facing.”
A rendering of Riverpark Tower, planned for Frankfurt, Germany. Courtesy Buro Ole Scheeren …
The Dean & DeLuca Stage. Photo: Julian Faulhaber …
He hints that other major cities—in Europe and beyond—are on his radar. He’s not able to publicly announce several buildings yet, but one, he assures, “will be another extreme and superlative that will set its own very important marker.” The scale, he hints, is even larger than the CCTV project.
And he’ll soon be debuting his firm’s first work in the United States, at the atypically small scale—for him, anyway—of a kitchen and fast-service counter for the food retailer Dean & DeLuca, with locations in New York and Los Angeles. “I think it’s really important not to become the guy [known] for one thing, [in which] you develop a formula and [apply] that formula to every single thing that you’re producing.” He’s hoping more projects stateside will follow and that American cities won’t just serve as stopovers on the way to more ambitious work in familiar locales.
“Asia has been in a position, and in large part still is, to pioneer certain new architectural ideas.” he says. “ But I think the rest of the world is as much in need of them. It’s an interesting moment for me, for us, to become involved.”
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This Robot Hand Is Better Than You At Mario
By Brittany Alva/July 25, 2021 7:26 pm EST
Gaming and technology have long gone together, a relationship researchers at the University of Maryland just took a step further with their newest robotic hand. The robotic hand is exceptional in plenty of ways, but one of the most interesting things it can do is beat the first level of "Super Mario Bros." on the original Nintendo.
The University of Maryland's School of Engineering announced on July 14 that the team had used "soft robotics" to create the hand via 3D printing. If you haven't heard about soft robotics, don't worry. It's basically the side of robotics that focuses on making robots "flexible" and "inflatable" using power sources that aren't electricity, like air and water.
So, why did the team of researchers use such progressive technology with video games? The group was actually testing out something that had never been done before at the same time. "Previously, each finger of a soft robotic hand would typically need its own control line, which can limit portability and usefulness," explained one of the researchers.
However, through testing with "Super Mario Bros.," the team overcome that problem.
The "Super Mario Bros." playing robotic hand could lead to major breakthroughs in multiple fields
The University of Maryland's team was able to control the soft robot hand with one central circuit board compared to one board for each finger. According to the university, the more circuit boards there are, the more it impacts "portability and usefulness."
Using a combination of no, low, medium, and high pressures, the research team was able to program the hand to press the buttons on the Nintendo controller. After telling the hand to cycle through the inputs, it was able to beat the first level of "Super Mario Bros.," an impressive feat considering it did it in less than 90 seconds.
Because of the impact this technology could have across various fields, the team is sharing its research and its files for 3D printing. "It is our hope that this open-source 3D printing strategy will broaden accessibility, dissemination, reproducibility, and adoption of soft robots with integrated fluidic circuits and, in turn, accelerate advancement in the field, "explained one researcher.
There's potential for this to change lives, and the idea that it was tested on "Super Mario Bros." is pretty cool. Maybe one day the robot can take on "Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels."
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Clonezilla review
A free, open-source disk imaging and cloning solution
By Christian Rigg published 7 November 20
(Image: © Clonezilla)
For those familiar with command-line utilities, Clonezilla is a highly adaptable, feature-rich, and very reliable cloning and disk imaging solution, although support options are limited.
Powerful, feature-rich imaging and cloning
Highly customizable, with unattended options
Command-line only
TechRadar Verdict
Clonezilla is a free and open-source partition, disk image and cloning solution, with support for a wide variety of Linux, macOS, Windows, and Chrome OS file systems. While user support is limited, the software is feature rich, powerful, and reliable. Clonezilla is available as a Live CD or USB for single-machine backup and restore, or as a server for massive, multi-machine cloning, with unattended options, encryption, and a high level of customizability.
Want to try Clonezilla? Download it here
All of this places Clonezilla among the best disk cloning software, but there are some limitations that may discourage certain users. We discuss these and more in our Clonezilla review below.
Clonezilla is free and open-source. It’s licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2, which means that you’re free to use the software, modify it, and distribute it.
Clonezilla runs independently of the operating system of the computer being backed up, restored, or cloned. It must first be installed on a CD/DVD or USB in the case of Clonezilla Live, or can be run as a server utility in the case of Clonezilla Server.
The software is Linux-based and has a limited graphical interface (discussed below), so may not be well suited to general users. However, it is a powerful and very reliable backup and cloning tool, widely used by system administrators.
As mentioned above, Clonezilla supports a wide range of file systems, including ext2-4, FAS32, NTFS, and HFS. In total, 19 file systems are supported for Windows, macOS, Linux, Minix, Chromium, and others, so Clonezilla can be used on almost any system.
Those with basic experience using command-line operations will find the backup and restore quite straightforward, although a huge number of options enable advanced users to tweak most elements. Most of the steps can be automated for unattended operation, and many boot parameters can be modified to customize imaging and cloning. That being said, automated cloning is best suited to advanced users, as it requires manually editing configuration files.
Disk images can be stored locally, onto a separate partition or external harddrive, or even onto an FTP or WebDAV server. Users can switch off the GUI to improve speeds, and exclude swap and hibernation files for Windows systems, to save on both time and space. There’s also a large selection of compression algorithms to further reduce total storage volume.
However, there are some limitations users should be aware of. Differential or incremental backups are not supported—a disk image cannot be readily modified or updated with file changes. Furthermore, it’s not currently possible to restore files at a single-file level without resorting to somewhat complex workarounds like loading your disk image onto a virtual machine.
Users looking for this kind of granular backup and restore would be better off with more general backup software solutions.
You will have to assign where the Clonezilla image will be saved to or read from before getting started (Image credit: Clonezilla)
Clonezilla, as the name implies, is a powerhouse when it comes to cloning. A single image can be restored to multiple local devices, and cloning can be done either to an image (“device-image”) or directly to another physical disk (“device-device”).
A variety of cloning utilities exist, although most users will find the partclone utility sufficient. It supports most file systems and has the advantage of only copying sectors with data on them. It also provides more information when running, which can be useful for debugging and troubleshooting.
Finally, Clonezilla Server has great support for mass cloning via multicasting (the simultaneous distribution of data to multiple devices). Clonezilla is, unsurprisingly, widely used by system administrators and IT technicians for multimachine cloning, and is known to be reliable and rapid in this regard. It can be used to backup, clone, and restore multiple computers in a single session.
Clonezilla Server also supports Bittorrent for massive deployment, a protocol which is safer and much faster than other methods for widely distributing disk images.
Interface and in use
As mentioned above, Clonezilla is a Linux-based command-line tool. There is no graphical user interface, so general users may find it unfamiliar and cumbersome. However, the information is well presented, options are often ordered according to what’s best for the system in question, and you can choose between beginner and advanced workflows for most operations.
Getting started with Clonezilla shouldn’t be any trouble for its target audience of system administrators and IT technicians, although lay users may find it somewhat involved. The software is downloaded as a disk image from the Clonezilla website, and then must be loaded onto a bootable external medium, like a CD or USB driver.
Once the bootable device is ready, the user needs only restart the computer and choose to boot from CD or USB, then Clonezilla will load and can be used to clone, back up, and restore.
Clonezilla provides an extensive FAQ and Q&A section on its website (Image credit: Clonezilla)
As free and open-source software, Clonezilla has no official support channels. However, there is ample documentation available on the website, and a forum for asking questions and troubleshooting. General users will find these to be quite technical, but advanced users will appreciate the depth of knowledge demonstrated in most articles and discussions.
Clonezilla supports encryption with the eCryptfs protocol, an open-source and thus well-vetted solution for AES-256 and other encryptions.
The competiton
Clonezilla is powerful and reliable, but lacks polish and will seem daunting and excessive for many general users. Acronis Disk Director, while limited to Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, has an interface many users will find more comfortable and familiar, and, for many tasks, it can be run from within a computer’s operating system. It also supports cloud, local, and hybrid storage, and has built-in malware detection.
For more Clonezilla alternatives, be sure to check out our roundup of the best disk cloning software.
Clonezilla is robust, feature rich, and highly customizable. For those who are comfortable with its very basic user interface, it can be used in a wide variety of cases for backing up and restoring computers, creating disk images, and cloning. It’s especially useful for mass deployment, a feature that’s earned it a wide user base among IT departments and system administrators.
We've also highlighted the best disk cloning software
Christian Rigg
Christian is a freelance writer and content project manager with 6+ years' experience writing and leading teams in finance and technology for some of the world's largest online publishers, including TechRadar and Tom's Guide.
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Home Internet Sony PlayStation TV to arrive in US and Canada this October with...
Sony PlayStation TV to arrive in US and Canada this October with Remote Play support
Sony has finally announced availability details for the PlayStation TV mini console in the US and Canada, stating that it will go on sale starting from October 14. As you already know, the device is priced at just $99 and it lets you conveniently play various PS Vita titles on your HDTV.
As revealed by Sony, there will be around 700 games available for the PlayStation TV console at launch and many more are being planned for launch. You can expect to see titles such as Killzone: Mercenary, Metal Gear Solid, Persona 4 Golden, Borderlands 2, God of War Collection, Rayman Origins and more.
The PlayStation TV is actually a rehashed version of the Vita TV for Japan. It doesn’t have much of a competition in the US expect for the Amazing Fire TV which allows you to play Android games on the big screen.
Also Read: Goat Simulator bleats its way onto Android and iOS devices finally
The Sony console has the upper hand mainly due to the fact that it comes with support for PS Now that lets to enjoy PS3 titles with an internet connection, and Remote Play to stream games from the PS4 to your TV. Old PS One and PSP titles are also supported. Being an adaptation of the Vita, the device has the same hardware as the handheld, but with the inclusion of an Ethernet port and a full-size HDMI slot.
The $99 price is for the standalone bundle, while $139.99 will land you the console with a wireless DualShock 3 controller, an 8GB memory card and a free copy of The Lego Movie game. There’s an exclusive limited time bundle which delivers the same contents as the aforementioned one plus the Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time title at no extra cost.
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2020 Tibbetts Award Winner
Louisiana Technology Transfer Office
LTTO has provided SBIR/STTR assistance to 1,000+ small companies, university faculty & entrepreneurs with 85 Phase I & II awards made to LA small businesses from 2016-2019 – Louisiana has doubled its Phase III success rate, securing $35 million in Phase III federal contracts.
Impact & Achievements
As the only entity with a mission, outreach, and support for the entire state, the LTTO plays a critical role in supporting SBIR/STTR programs and companies, and in building an ecosystem in Louisiana.
Since 1990, the Louisiana Technology Transfer Office (LTTO), operating through the Louisiana Business & Technology Center (LBTC), has been at the forefront of Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) in Louisiana. Designated by the Governor’s Office as the lead entity for SBIR/STTR in Louisiana, the LTTO has offices at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Innovation Park in Baton Rouge, and at the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) John C. Stennis Space Center Federal City in Mississippi. As the only entity with a mission for outreach and support for the entire state, the LTTO plays a critical role in supporting SBIR/STTR programs and companies, and in building an innovative ecosystem in Louisiana.
LTTO also pioneered a unique two-state Federal and State Technology (FAST) partnership leveraging the resources of the Federal City at Stennis Space Center and the NASA SBIR Program. More than 1,000 small companies, university faculty, and entrepreneurs have received hands-on SBIR/STTR assistance from LBTC/LTTO, with 85 Phase I and Phase II awards made to Louisiana companies and entrepreneurs – totaling some $11 million from 2016 to 2019 – and over $100 million since FAST began. As a result of their SBIR-STTR success, LA companies have gone on to secure approximately $35 million in Phase III federal procurement contracts.
The LTTO operates the Louisiana Phase 0 Program, which provides direct financial assistance with awards to companies in Louisiana to help with the preparation and submission of their proposals, with over $500,000 in Phase 0 funds awarded to date. The LTTO at Stennis Space Center provides companies, university faculty, start-ups, and entrepreneurs, laboratory access with agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, and the U.S. Navy. The LTTO also helped create the LA Small Business Innovation Research Coalition (SBIRC) to support the SBIR Program in Louisiana, as well as to pass legislation implementing the SBIR/ STTR State Marketable Tax Credit Program – which allows SBIR awardees to sell their unused tax credits in the marketplace, thus providing direct injections of capital into their companies. The office has also worked closely with the U.S. Congress, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and other national stakeholder groups to secure SBIR/ STTR Reauthorization Legislation including the FAST Program, and has also partnered with the Mississippi SBIR-STTR Program to offer workshops sponsored by NASA, the U.S. Navy, and others.
The LTTO has been recognized for its commitment in reaching out to and assisting under-served groups throughout Louisiana including women-, veteran-, and minority- owned small businesses to help develop their innovative ideas and technologies, and has enabled a nearly 20 percent increase in the number of these companies assisted with SBIR/STTR. The program has facilitated a 35 percent increase in Phase 0 awards and a 30 percent increase in Phase I and Phase II awards providing direct financial assistance to Louisiana companies – nearly 50 percent of which had university collaboration. The number of Phase III awards providing sole source government contracts to Louisiana companies as a direct result of SBIR/STTR has also doubled.
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Fatal shooting raises questions about use of police service dogs
The fatal shooting of an Indigenous man in Campbell River in a confrontation that also left a police service dog dead raises questions about the use of police dogs to apprehend suspects, says a criminal defence lawyer.
Louise Dickson
Jared Lowndes was fatally shot by RCMP in Campbell River last week after officers tried to pull him over for an outstanding warrant. VIA FACEBOOK
Sarah Runyon said she’s concerned there’s a “systemic over-reliance” on the use of police service dogs in situations that call for de-escalation.
“We need to re-evaluate our willingness to accept that a dog can be deployed to not simply trace, but to apprehend and confine, when common sense and experience dictates that the likely result is serious bodily harm,” Runyon said.
Jared Lowndes, a 38-year-old father of two, was shot by Campbell River RCMP just before 9 a.m. on July 8. Police had tried to pull him over for an outstanding warrant but he failed to stop and fled the area.
A short time later, an officer spotted his vehicle in the Tim Hortons parking lot in the 2000-block of the South Island Highway.
A police officer boxed in the vehicle and a confrontation occurred between the suspect and the police officer, who had a police service dog, the RCMP said. During the interaction, police service dog Gator was stabbed and killed, and the suspect was shot and pronounced dead at the scene. The dog handler was treated for a knife wound.
Court documents reveal a warrant for Lowndes was issued on March 21, 2021 for allegedly breaching a conditional sentence order.
In December 2020, Lowndes was convicted in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver of two firearms offences dating to April 2013. He was convicted of possessing a restricted firearm with ammunition and contravening a regulation regarding storage or transportation of a firearm and restricted weapons.
Runyon said that in recent years, she has represented a number of people, most often Indigenous men, who feel police have responded in a way that was out of proportion to what the situation warranted.
Runyon represented Shane Roberts, who was also bitten by Gator, during an arrest on July 30, 2016. Roberts drove away during a traffic stop and was pursued by police. Roberts, who had no previous criminal record, is also Indigenous. He suffered severe complications as a result of the dog bite. He spent several months in the intensive care unit and almost lost his leg.
Runyon has also launched a Charter challenge for another Campbell River man, Ray Sharkey, who was bitten by Gator in January when he tried to run away from police after a domestic incident.
In 2015, the province introduced new guidelines saying police would no longer be able to deploy dogs to bite people suspected of relatively minor crimes. The standards follow a report that found dogs are the leading cause of injury by police forces across British Columbia.
Provincial policing standards say a bite might occur if the person is causing, or about to cause, bodily harm to an officer, a third party or the police dog, or if the person is fleeing or hiding and there are reasonable grounds for immediate apprehension by a police dog bite.
Police dog handlers must also conclude that the bite is justified and that no lesser use of force would be effective. They must consider the seriousness of the offence, the potential risk to people, whether the person could be apprehended at a later time, whether a weapon is involved and whether the person has threatened violence or has a history of violence.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. is investigating police actions in Lowndes’ death, along with actions during the arrest of a Quadra Island resident who received a serious police-dog-bite injury Sunday evening.
On Tuesday, a memorial march by Lowndes’ family and supporters demanding “Justice for Jared” made its way to the Campbell River RCMP detachment, CHEK News reported. Lowndes’ mother, Laura Holland, confronted three RCMP officers, telling them they should be ashamed of themselves.
“This time, we are going to be so loud, Canada will never want to kill another Indigenous person,” she said.
She placed Lowndes’ ashes outside the door of the detachment, then put a bouquet on the memorial to Gator.
Holland is calling for a public inquest, the disarmament of police on Indigenous lands and body cameras for police officers.
“All police forces should end the use and abuse of police dogs for police work. We will never stop seeking justice for Jared. It is in his memory that I will ensure that this does not happen to any other precious Indigenous life,” Holland said.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, supported the Lowndes’ family’s demand for the appointment of an Indigenous investigator and civilian monitor to the IIO. He called for a public inquest into the incident, which he called “but the latest in an unacceptable and racist series of Indigenous people dying through police actions.”
Last week, the First Nations Leadership Council also called for a public inquest in the case.
ldickson@timescolonist.com
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Sarawak to host international events to attract tourists worldwide
By TIN Media | Sarawak Published 2 years ago on 28 November 2019
SARAWAK:
Sarawak wants more international events involving foreign nationals to be organized in the state to make an effort to promote the tourism industry.
Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Sebastian Ting, said organizing international events has the potential to be a catalyst for promoting the Sarawak tourism sector.
He said foreign tourists participating in international events would share pictures and experiences about Sarawak.
“It is one of the most effective ways to boost Sarawak's tourism industry.
"They (foreign tourists) will share interesting experiences of the uniqueness of Sarawak as a must-visit destination," he said.
Sebastian said it was customary for tourists to share pictures with family and friends in their home countries.
"Promotions like this have the highest impact on promoting Sarawak, especially Miri as a tourist attraction," he said.
He praised the Miri International Dance Competition and the show's organizer, Broadway Dance Studio for organizing for the eighth time this year.
In fact, he said, the effort made it one of Miri's tourism products and could directly help boost the tourism industry in the district.
“In the first edition eight years ago, the event started with only a small number of participants from six countries.
“This year, it has been able to attract participation from 10 countries. About 150 participants and a panel of judges from Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Brunei participated in the event, ”he said.
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Rock: Chilli Peppers Hold Modern Hits Record
by Claude Corry | Feb 2, 2016 | Blues Guitar
Most Modern Rock Hits Of Any Group EVER!
The Rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers are a popular band formed in 1983, based out of California. Current band members include: Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals), Michael Balzary, or Flea (Bass), John Frusciante (Guitar/Backing vocals), and Chad Smith (Drums). While the rock band has gone through several line-up changes and personal conflicts, the band has managed to consistently create very diverse music that combines elements of funk, punk, metal, psychedelic rock, rap, and even pop rock. The band holds the record for the most #1 Modern Rock hits with nine under their belt, having sold a combined estimate of 50 million copies of their nine studio albums over the past 23 years.
The band was originally formed for what was going to be a one-time performance in 1983, but would later land a record deal with EMI. 1987’s The Uplift Mofo Party Plan was the group’s first album to enter the Billboard Top 200, but it was not until the band moved to Warner Brothers Records did the group achieve major success. In 1991, the band released their fifth album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which would go on to sell seven million copies in the U.S. A year after its debut, the album still managed to climb to the #3 spot on the U.S. album charts. The band would win a Grammy award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal in 1992 for the album’s single, Give it Away.
Dave Navarro made his first appearance with the band at Woodstock 1994 and would again appear on the band’s album One Hot Minute, released in 1995. The album turned out to be another commercial success, achieving double-platinum status in the U.S. and selling five million copies outside the U.S. The band would later part ways with Navarro in 1998. That same year, the band would come out with another album, Californication, which went on to become an even bigger success than Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The album climbed to #3 in U.S. album charts and several of its songs became major hits, including: the Grammy award-winning Scar Tissue, Otherside, Californication, Around the World, Road Trippin, and Parallel Universe.
In 2001, the band released By The Way, which entered the charts at #2 and produced hit singles, including: By The Way, The Zephyr Song, Can’t Stop, Dosed, and Universally Speaking. The group would later release their Greatest Hits album and also their first ever live album, Live in Hyde Park. In May 2006, the band released their ninth studio album, Stadium Arcadium. The 28-track double album garnered the band their first ever chart topper, debuting at #1 on U.S. album charts and remaining there for two weeks.
One Of Red Hot Chili Peppers First Rock Hits
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Remembrance Sunday Jewels 2020
AARON CHOWN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The Japanese crown prince’s proclamation wasn’t the only big royal event that took place this weekend. The Windsors also gathered (socially distantly) for events in London to mark Remembrance Sunday and the centenary of both the Cenotaph and the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images
The Queen’s commemorations actually began several days before Remembrance Sunday, on Wednesday, November 4. She made a private visit to Westminster Abbey for a special ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. November 11 marks the 100th anniversary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior in the Abbey, and because the Queen was not able to attend the larger service commemorating the anniversary, she made a private appearance instead. For the private visit, which was filmed and later televised, the Queen wore a face mask for the first time in public. She gathered her poppies with the Jardine Star Brooch.
Inside the Abbey, the Queen paid a special tribute to the Unknown Warrior. A replica of her wedding bouquet was created to be placed on the tomb. In 1947, Princess Elizabeth’s wedding bouquet was placed on the tomb, following a tradition begun by her mother in 1923. Every royal bride since has followed suit.
Here’s a look at the Queen’s bouquet on her wedding day in November 1947. After the official photos were taken, the bouquet was returned to the Abbey to be placed on the tomb. Buckingham Palace shared a touching film on social media explaining the tradition and showing the royal bouquets placed on the tomb.
After the Queen touched the replica bouquet, it was gently placed on the tomb by her equerry, Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah.
It was a striking image, the Queen standing alone before the tomb in the empty Abbey. The unidentified British soldier buried in the tomb, who serves as a symbolic representative of all who fell in battle, died on a battlefield in Europe during World War I. His remains were exhumed in 1920 and escorted from France to England, where his casket was placed in a coffin made from oak timbers harvested from the grounds of Hampton Court Palace. King George V personally chose a medieval crusader’s sword from the Royal Collection to be affixed to the top of the coffin.
The coffin of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, before it was taken to France to receive the remains of the Unknown Warrior (Wikimedia Commons)
The Unknown Warrior was buried in Westminster Abbey on November 11, 1920. (Simultaneously, an unknown French soldier was interred beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.) The funeral procession traveled through London to the site of the Cenotaph. There, King George V waited with a large gathering of statesmen, military officers, and other dignitaries that included the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, Prince Henry, and the Duke of Connaught, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury. Queen Mary watched from a nearby balcony with Queen Alexandra, Princess Mary, and Queen Ena of Spain.
The unveiling ceremony at the Cenotaph, 11 November 1920 (Wikimedia Commons)
The new permanent stone Cenotaph, which replaced an earlier temporary monument, was unveiled by the King at the stroke of eleven o’clock. After a long moment of silence, the King and the princes moved to the head of the procession of mourners and continued on behind the gun carriage bearing the Unknown Warrior to the Abbey. Atop the coffin was a steel helmet and a wreath of laurel, placed there personally by the King. He had included a handwritten message with the wreath, which read: “In proud memory of those Warriors who died unknown in the Great War. Unknown, and yet well-known; as dying, and behold they live. George R.I.”
Frank O. Salisbury’s painting of the burial of the Unknown Warrior, 1920 (Wikimedia Commons)
Inside the Abbey, crowds of women waited, including a hundred widows who had lost their husbands and all of their sons in the war. Press reports noted that the women’s “mourning [was] lightened only by the flower and wreaths on their knees.” (After the burial, they placed bouquets and wreaths beside the tomb; some women took flowers from the bunches and threw them into grave.) Four queens were in attendance as well: Queen Mary, Queen Alexandra, Queen Maud of Norway, and Queen Ena of Spain. The coffin was brought into the Abbey with a guard of honor of 100 Victoria Cross recipients, and the unknown soldier was buried among kings and queens.
One writer who covered the procession and funeral for the Guardian allowed himself a moment of emotion in his report: “Who is it who lies there under the flag with field marshals and admirals for his pallbearers? Each member of this huge, quiet crowd gives him a different name, each a different face; he is husband, lover, brother, son to each, and many a woman here would give all her income from dreamland for a touch of his hand to her cheek.” As thousands of Britons filed past the grave after the funeral, the correspondent noted that the public tribute “had in it a feeling of comradeship, understanding, and cheerful goodwill. The unknown man had come back to his friends, and his friends greeted him in the way he would have liked best. Hail, but not farewell.”
Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images
A hundred years later, in the midst of a global pandemic, the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony was held at the Cenotaph on November 8, 2020. This year’s ceremony was closed to the public, but it was televised and can be streamed online as well.
Members of the royal family gathered to participate in the commemorations. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Kent, the Princess Royal, and the Earl of Wessex all laid wreaths at the memorial during the ceremony.
Chris Jackson – WPA Pool/Getty Images
The Queen, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess of Cambridge, Sir Timothy Laurence, and the Countess of Wessex watched from the balcony above.
The Queen secured her poppies with the Dorset Bow Brooch for the occasion.
With her signature pearl earrings and her pearl choker necklace with the large diamond clasp, the Duchess of Cornwall wore a diamond and emerald brooch designed after the cap badge of The Rifles. In July of this year, Camilla became Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles, taking over from the Duke of Edinburgh, who had served in the role for almost seven decades. She’s also the Royal Colonel of the 4th Battalion of the regiment.
The Duchess of Cambridge kept her jewelry very simple for the occasion, wearing diamond and pearl earrings on loan to her from the Queen.
Like her sister-in-law, the Countess of Wessex wore the cap badge of The Rifles. (She’s the Royal Colonel of the 5th Battalion.) Sophie also wore a poppy brooch and a pair of earrings set with multicolored gemstones.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall also took part in two more recent commemorations. On Saturday, November 7, a scaled-back version of the Royal British Legion’s annual Festival of Remembrance was held. The Duchess of Cornwall, as Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Naval Medical Service, attended to pay tribute to the medical personnel who have done so much for the public good this year. She wore the badge of the Royal Naval Medical Service, plus a poppy brooch, as she delivered her remarks.
The Prince of Wales paid tribute to members of the Armed Forces, both past and present, including veterans like Captain Sir Tom Moore who have worked to benefit others during the pandemic.
Jeremy Selwyn-WPA Pool/Getty Images
On Wednesday, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall attended an Armistice Day service at Westminster Abbey commemorating the 100th anniversary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior. During the ceremony, Rhian Morgan, a young member of the Welsh Guards, carried in the Padre’s Flag. This Union Jack is more than a century old, and it has incredible significance. It was owned by the Rev. David Railton (nicknamed “Padre”), the military chaplain who first proposed the idea of burying an unknown soldier in the Abbey. His flag was draped over the coffin of the Unknown Warrior in November 1920 during his funeral procession and after his burial. It’s rather remarkable to see the very same flag as part of the centenary commemorations of the moment.
For the service, Camilla wore a face mask printed with poppies. She also wore the badge of the Lancers, her late father’s WWII regiment.
In an echo of the women who attended the funeral service a hundred years earlier, Camilla placed a bouquet on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior. (Here’s video of that part of the service.) In 2005, her bridal bouquet had also been placed on the tomb, following in the Queen Mother’s tradition. You’ll note that the usual border of red poppies around the tomb was replaced for the occasion. Members of the National Association of Flower Arrangers replaced it this week with a beautiful arrangement of laurel — a visual echo of the wreath that King George V had placed on the coffin a hundred years ago.
Categories // military, military jewels, remembrance sunday, united kingdom
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Christie proposes $33.8B budget
JILL COLVIN and GEOFF MULVIHILL
TRENTON – Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday proposed a massive restructuring of the public employees’ pension system as he presented a state budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year that does not address a judge’s ruling calling on New Jersey to put an additional $1.57 billion into the system in the current fiscal year.
The $33.8 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 would include no tax increases, keep spending flat for key items such as aid to schools and barely budge on overall spending. And it proposes paying $1.3 billion into the pension system next year — a number that, while touted as historic, is far less than the $3 billion the state is on the hook for, per a 2011 agreement that a judge ruled Monday was binding.
But Christie, a Republican who is considering a 2016 presidential run, is appealing that ruling, and his presentation did not reflect its potential impact. Instead, he spent much of his address touting what he described as a “groundbreaking” and “unprecedented accord” with the largest New Jersey teachers union, with which he has repeatedly sparred.
“Together I know we can get this done. We’ve proven time and again that even when we look like we’re not going to make it work and that politics and partisan interests have won, we flip the script. We do it differently. We get it done,” Christie told the Democrat-controlled state Legislature during a speech in which he expressed displeasure with previous governors, the courts and the Legislature over the state’s pension predicament — along with the media for the way it has characterized it.
His so-called Roadmap for Reform would freeze the existing pension plan and have the New Jersey Education Association take ownership of a new pension plan for educators. The state would be required by a constitutional amendment to fund its current obligations over the next 40 years. In exchange, the unions would be forced to realize significant health care cost savings to offset the costs.
But NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer rejected the idea that the union had reached any kind of deal with the administration.
“What we have come to is we have some concepts that we think we can explore further with them and move through,” he said, describing the governor’s mention of health care concessions as “an overreach.”
He went further in a statement.
“Unfortunately, today politics trumped policy. NJEA is deeply disappointed that Governor Christie overstated the nature of the understanding we reached with the commission after many months of conversation,” he said.
Late Monday, a judge ruled that the administration was on the hook for $1.57 billion that Christie delayed paying into the pension system last year in the face of an unexpected revenue shortfall.
Christie’s office has dismissed the ruling as meddling by “liberal judicial activism.” But State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff told reporters in a briefing before Christie’s budget address that if an appeal does not prevail, the decision would have an enormous impact.
“Obviously, finding $1.6 billion in the state budget in the remaining months of the current fiscal year would be, to put it mildly, a challenge,” he said.
A report from a pension and health benefits study commission appointed by Christie says the state would have to take drastic actions to fully fund the pension and health benefits at its current level.
“One possible response to this crisis is, ‘the State should just pay what it owes.’ Given a $3.6 billion annual gap in pension funding at the State level that absent reform will continue to grow, along with even higher increases in health benefits costs, this is not realistic,” the report reads. “There are no plausible solutions for closing the pension funding gap without comprehensive benefits reform.”
Democratic leaders in the Legislature, meanwhile, panned the address, saying that they were disappointed in the governor’s lack of detail and that the court decision means Christie needs to come up with more money.
“The plan is ‘I give up. I can’t fix it, so we’re just going to break our word and not try,’ ” Democratic state Senate President Stephen Sweeney said, characterizing Christie’s approach.
Another public workers union said it was not prepared to make a similar deal. “While we would support analyzing a labor-management approach to govern our pensions, we will never support freezing pensions for our members who have continued paying their required pension contributions while government has skipped their legal responsibility to do so,” said Patrick Colligan, president of the New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association.
Christie will kick off a town hall tour today in southern New Jersey to sell his plan.
Budget by the numbers
Highlights of the New Jersey state budget that Republican Gov. Chris Christie proposed Tuesday for the fiscal year starting July 1, by the numbers:
TOTAL SPENDING: $33.8 billion, up $18 million from the current year. That's an increase of about 1/20th of 1 percent.
PROJECTED REVENUE GROWTH: Nearly 4 percent. The governor projects income taxes to rise by 5 percent, with other major taxes also bringing in more than this year.
PENSION CONTRIBUTION: The state would make a $1.3 billion contribution in 2016. That is less than half of what is called for under a 2011 law Christie signed on pension contributions. He also did not address a judge's ruling from Monday ordering Christie and lawmakers to find a way to make good on the current year's obligation under that law. That would mean coming up with nearly $1.6 billion.
EDUCATION: The state wants to keep aid to schools nearly flat at just over $9 billion. It's a similar story for higher education, where the spending would be stable at $2.2 billion.
HOSPITALS: Christie wants to reduce hospital funding to $864 million from $985 million. His administration says it can afford that because nearly 650,000 additional New Jersey residents have gained insurance coverage over the last two years because of provisions of President Barack Obama's health insurance overhaul. Christie has opposed many provisions of that law.
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Education✕
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Map Your High Line Memories
Maps are mini-stories. They tell a journey. They record history. They define a space. And what’s remarkable is how people can experience that same...
Maps are mini-stories. They tell a journey. They record history. They define a space. And what’s remarkable is how people can experience that same space in completely different ways. We invite you to create your own High Line map....
High Line Magazine: Creating a More Equitable High Line
By Danya Sherman
In this issue of the High Line Magazine, we’re focusing on data. But data, at its heart, tells stories—and sometimes the stories of individuals...
By Danya Sherman | March 1, 2017
In this issue of the High Line Magazine, we’re focusing on data. But data, at its heart, tells stories—and sometimes the stories of individuals can be just as rich and meaningful as a set of numbers. When Friends of the High...
A Note from Robert Hammond
By Robert Hammond
Recently, I did an interview with CityLab about a new initiative we started called the High Line Network. I encourage you to read the entire piece as...
By Robert Hammond | February 16, 2017
Recently, I did an interview with CityLab about a new initiative we started called the High Line Network. I encourage you to read the entire piece as it outlines, rather nicely, a lot of the hard work we’re doing here at the High...
High Line Magazine: Arts & Culture for All
By Andrea Louie
In my mind, the day was hot. I was walking down the street with my Chinese parents in the small Ohio town where we lived. It was the early 1970s....
By Andrea Louie | February 8, 2017
In my mind, the day was hot. I was walking down the street with my Chinese parents in the small Ohio town where we lived. It was the early 1970s. Perhaps we were at an intersection, waiting to cross. Perhaps we were on the way to...
High Line Magazine: A Skyscraper On Its Side
By Anton Egorov
If the High Line ran vertically, it would easily be the tallest building in the world. Here’s a new way to look at the High Line: by the numbers....
By Anton Egorov | February 1, 2017
If the High Line ran vertically, it would easily be the tallest building in the world. Here’s a new way to look at the High Line: by the numbers. This infographic originally appeared last fall in the bi-annual High Line Magazine...
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The Latest Victim of Putin's Purges
By Victor Davidoff
Since Vladimir Putin's third presidential term began, the independent Russian media has compared the current political repression with the repression of the great Stalinist purges. But until recently, this comparison has been something of a metaphor, since the today's repressions are far smaller in scope and exclusively target the political opposition, while in the 1930s Stalin packed off to Siberia thousands of state officials who had at some point deviated from Stalin's party line.
But recently, some facts have surfaced that have called into question the metaphorical nature of the comparison. The site Russkaya Planeta reported that in the past five years, more than 100 mayors have been dismissed from their posts or convicted of crimes. All of them ran against United Russia candidates and won. As Russkaya Planeta commented, "The position of mayor is just about the most dangerous job in Russia."
Not long ago, comparisons between Putin's regime and Stalinism were an exaggeration. Not anymore.
The only significant deviation from the Soviet era is that these mayors didn't face political charges, like "spying for Antarctica." They were repressed by the vaguely worded accusation of "exceeding the authority of their job" or charged with taking bribes.
How weak these corruption charges are can be seen in the recent high profile case against the mayor of Yaroslavl, Yevgeny Urlashov. A lawyer and human rights activist, Urlashov is a popular figure in the city. As an independent candidate, he beat the United Russia candidate last year with such revolutionary slogans as "Give the City Back to the People!" and "Down with Thieves and Crooks!"
On the night of July 3, Urlashov was arrested on a charge of extorting bribes. A plethora of facts indicate the political nature of the case against him. Just about every week Urlashov received anonymous phone calls with the message, "We'll put you in jail no matter what." On July 2, the day before his arrest, Urlashov had organized a demonstration of several thousand people against United Russia, and he was arrested on the way home from a meeting with representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The next morning after a search of the mayor's apartment, the police announced that they had found almost $500,000 and 20 million rubles ($600,000). This, however, was quickly proved false by Urlashov's lawyer, who showed journalists the official report of the search. The report showed that only one thing was confiscated: a smartphone. In fact, it wasn't a Vertu or even an iPhone, but a cheap, Chinese-made HTC. This didn't exactly jibe with the image of a corrupt politician living in the lap of luxury.
Later it became clear that money was, in fact, found — but not in Urlashov's apartment. It was found in his neighbor's. On his Facebook page, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov asked, "How do you like that? They come search your apartment, and when they don't find anything, they go to your neighbor's place, find something, and use it against you."
Urlashov was put behind bars and will remain there at least until Sept. 2. The entire accusation against him rests on the testimony of a local businessman and United Russia member, whose company had a contract with the city to repair roads. He maintains that Urlashov extorted a bribe from him in return for a new contract. Urlashov countered during an interview with Dozhd TV that he refused to sign off on work done by the company because the quality was poor, and he demanded that the contractor "make good on his old debts." This was confirmed by a tape of a phone conversation, during which there was no mention of money. Because of the ambiguity of the word "debts" — work undone or money owed — the tape might be used as evidence in court by either side.
The only testimony about Urlashov's "guilt" is from middlemen: three people who have also been arrested and are behind bars and who cut a deal with investigators. This is a scenario right out of the Stalinist show-trial playbook: voluminous, fallacious testimony by pseudo-witnesses and not a scrap of hard evidence of guilt. Apparently aware of the paucity of evidence, on July 6 the Investigative Committee brought more charges against Urlashov based on a video of a meeting between Urlashov and another city contractor in a restaurant. In the tape, the contractor handed the mayor something wrapped in a newspaper. The Investigative Committee maintains that there was 500,000 rubles ($15,000) in the newspaper, but, again, the only evidence is the word of the contractor.
Journalist Arkady Babchenko wrote on his Facebook page:"Right now before our very eyes, the party of thieves and crooks is destroying the Yaroslavl mayor's office. They are destroying the office of an independent mayor, elected by the public. This is in the best traditions of the NKVD. It's the routing of a 'Trotskyite organization of enemies of the people.'"
And so today the political regime in Russia appears to have much more in common with the Stalinist regime than it seemed to have just yesterday.
Victor Davidoff is a Moscow-based writer and journalist who follows the Russian blogosphere in his biweekly column.
The views expressed in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the position of The Moscow Times.
Victor Davidoff
Victor Davidoff is a journalist, author and former Soviet dissident. His book about Soviet psychiatric prisons Ninth Circle is due to be published by NLO Publishing House this year.
opinion Neil Hauer
Will Turkey and Armenia Reach a Compromise?
The impossibility of discerning true intentions, and the genuine willingness to reach compromise, leaves outsiders guessing.
How Don't I Care? Let Me Count The Ways
It turns out you can say you don't care in dozens of ways in Russian - some even in polite company.
opinion Nigel Gould-Davies
Western Diplomacy on Russia Must Serve Deterrence
The U.S. and Europe need to maintain the agreed negotiating format while planning for the worst case to show Russia it will face a severe response to aggression...
Russia and West Continue to Talk, But Not Necessarily in the Same Language
For Moscow, talks with the U.S. on NATO and Ukraine are like divorce proceedings at the end of a long, increasingly bitter marriage.
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Corwen Cross, Denbighshire
Cross & Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SJ 0787 4340
Simple. The church in the centre of the village across from the T-junction with the A5 is where it’s at!
Cross-base with cup-marks (from Owen, 1886)
At Corwen churchyard we find a number of curious old stone relics — not least of which is this seemingly 12th century christian cross, more than seven-feet tall, on the west side of the church. Not only does this have a curious history in itself, but the base on which the cross stands has what may be at least seven cup-markings etched on it. These were first mentioned – I think – by Elias Owen in his Old Stone Crosses of the Vale of Clwyd, (1886) who wrote:
“The stone basement in which the (cross) shaft is placed is elliptical in form, with transverse and conjugate diameters measuring respectively 64 and 60 inches; it is 12 inches or so thick, is of a slaty nature and might have been procured in the neighbourhood… There are seven peculiar artificial depressions along the surface of the pedestal, strongly resembling the cup-markings which are found occasionally on the capstones of cromlechs, etc. They are irregularly arranged: on the north side there are three, almost in a line; and on other parts of the stone there are four of these marks. They differ somewhat from each other in size and shape, but they are for the most part circular, though one is more of an oblong than a circle. They vary also in depth, one being two-and-half inches deep, while the others are shallow. The largest is three inches in diameter; the others are not so broad.”
Owen makes note of a previous description of the Corwen “cross” by Thomas Pennant in 1784, where sounds as if this stone had a decidedly megalithic precursor. He told us:
“A most singular cross in the churchyard merits attention: the shaft is let into a flat stone, and that again is supported by four or five rude stones, as if the whole had been formed in imitation of, and in veneration of, the sacred Cromlech of very early times.”
Two other crosses are found at Corwen church – one of which has a decidely heathen legend attached to it. The Carreg y Big yn y Fach Rhewllyd monolith is also found here, in the porch wall. A few miles east of here we also find another cup-marked stone, shown on The Old-Fashioned Antiquarian website. Looks a good n’!
Owen, Elias, Old Stone Crosses of the Vale of Clwyd and Neighbouring Parishes, Bernard Quaritch: London & Oswestry 1886.
Crosses, Cup-and-Ring Stones, Denbighshire, Walesancient monuments, antiquarian, antiquities, Archaeology, architecture, carvings, Corwen, Corwen Cross, cross, cup-and-rings, cup-markings, Denbighshire, folk-lore, folklore, medieval history, Petroglyphs, prehistoric rock art, prehistoric sites, sacred sites, stone crosses, Wales, Welsh, Welsh heritage
Studfold Ring, Ampleforth, North Yorkshire
Pathfoot Stone, Airthrey, Stirling, Stirlingshire
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Municipal Leadership Conference for Small Cities
The Municipal Leadership Conference for Small Cities was presented by The Institute of Urban Studies, The University of Texas at Arlington, & Sanchez & Associates, LLC on December 5th and 6th in Sherman Texas. It was a great success!
Municipal Leadership Conference
Dr. Paul Geisel, Professor Emeritus, Urban Planning and Public Policy
UT Arlington
Dr. Geisel is the founding faculty member of the former School of Urban and Public Affairs. A former district governor for Rotary International, he has been honored as a leader in minority relations by the Fort Worth Economic Development Corp. He serves on seven boards and is chair of the Executive Committee for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. His honors include the Sally Kallam Award for volunteer work from Leadership Arlington & the Fort Worth Fellow Award from Leadership Fort Worth.
Alan Klein, Director, Institute of Urban Studies
Alan brings a diverse background and broad perspective to community revitalization, neighborhood planning, real estate analysis, and economic development. Alan’s concentration is on building partnerships to promote community, economic development and revitalization. In his tenure with the Institute, Alan has led in the development of over 50 community planning efforts, ranging from economic feasibility studies to comprehensive plans.
J. Martin Sanchez, CEO at Sanchez & Associates, LLC
Martin has worked in numerous cities and agencies around the state including: Plano, McKinney, Weston, Frisco, Mesquite, McLendon- Chisholm, El Paso, Lancaster, Brownsville and Carrollton to list a few. He has been recognized as a leader in planning and land development by receiving a number of awards and recognitions. Some of the awards include: Outstanding Project of the Year, Development Project of the Year - Craig Ranch, Texas Community of the Year, and Planning Excellence Recognitions just to name a few. He has significant experience in working with elected officials in developing various plans along with an execution strategy and implementation plan.
Rick Chaffin, Director of Municipal Services at Sanchez & Associates, LLC
Rick has served as city manager and deputy city manager in small towns to larger suburban cities. His focus areas are organizational development—building organizations to meet current and future needs, particularly in high growth cities, as well as capital improvement projects, financial management, strategic planning, leadership and community relations. Rick is a member of the ICMA (International City/County Member’s Association) and the TCMA (Texas City Manager’s Association) and past President of TCMA Region 5.
Dustin McAfee, Director of Development Services
City of Celina
Dusty McAfee has experience in Planning & Zoning, Building Safety, Code Enforcement, Permitting, Environmental Health, GIS, and Animal Services. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature & Language from the Honors College at Texas Tech University. He also holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the Graduate School at Texas Tech University. McAfee has won TML awards, contributed to multiple TXAPA award winning projects, placed in several urban forestry and real estate deal project awards, presented at various conferences, and is a certified member of AICP, a registered Code Enforcement Officer, and a member of the Chancellor’s Council at Texas Tech. Prior to Celina, McAfee worked for the City of McKinney, the Town of Little Elm, the City of Sachse, Capitol Hill, and served as the Graduate Student Body President at Texas Tech University in 2003/2004.
Marc Maxwell, City Manager
City of Sulphur Springs
Since the past 24 years, as the City Manager for the City of Sulphur Springs, Marc has served as the chief executive officer responsible for 157 employees and an operating budget of $28 million. Under the vision of Marc and support from the City Council, Sulphur Springs completed “The Celebration District”, a downtown revitalization project. The plaza has over 300 events a year, an interactive lighted fountain, and lots of restaurants, galleries and specialty shops. He graduated from Seattle University with a degree in Business Administration. Marc excels in the area of infrastructure issues and urban planning. He is familiar with the problems that poor planning can lead to and recognizes the increasing demand for efficient
Alan Guard, Local Government Professional
Alan Guard is a seasoned local government professional with more than 30 years of experience. He has worked in cities ranging in size from 5,000 to more than a million and in organizations with 50 employees to over 12,000. Alan has been leading strategic planning sessions for city departments, city councils, churches, chambers of commerce and service organizations such as Rotary for more than 20 years. “Strategic planning is the foundation of every organization. If you don’t plan then you don’t know your purpose. If you don’t know your purpose you’re just wandering around.”
De’Onna Garner, Parks Planning Manager
City of Arlington
VisBon 2025 "Charting Our Progress" Workshop
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FilmBox On Demand now available on HUAWEI Video
SPI/FilmBox and HUAWEI have inked a new agreement that allows FilmBox On Demand content to be featured in HUAWEI’s new platform HUAWEI Video in 23 countries including UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Poland, Turkey and Russia
SPI/FilmBox and HUAWEI, one of the leading global ICT infrastructure providers and smart phone manufacturers, have partnered to bring FilmBox On Demand content to HUAWEI Video in 23 countries, including UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Poland, Turkey and Russia.
Through this collaboration, HUAWEI smart device users will be able to access specially-curated and localized SPI movie titles, ranging from Hollywood blockbusters, award-winning world cinema gems to arthouse classics.
Other VOD content accessible to users through this collaboration include TV series, visually ground-breaking documentaries, lifestyle programming, adrenaline sports entertainment, esports and mixed-martial arts tournaments.
HUAWEI announced today that its entertainment service HUAWEI Video will now be available to more countries together with its new mobile flagship P40 series, which will allow users to access the FilmBox On Demand VOD content easily and efficiently.
“We are very excited to bring the rich and curated catalogue of FilmBox On Demand to many countries across the globe through HUAWEI’s new VOD service HUAWEI Video, available on HUAWEI mobile devices that offer premium viewing and sound experience,” Berkin Ecevit, Sales & Business Development Director at SPI International, said.
“We’re pleased to offer our HUAWEI Video service so people across Europe can easily explore the thousands of videos and movies available from our partners, anywhere and anytime,” Jervis Su, Vice President of Mobile Services, HUAWEI Consumer Business Group, said.
HUAWEI Video has integrated a range of services from multiple international and European entertainment providers, to offer an extensive library housed all in one place and making them natively pre-installed in the app.
Premium content can be enjoyed via subscription, rental or for some news, factual and entertainment content, for free.
FilmBox On Demand allows specially-curated SPI titles, including movies and thematic content, to be served through the OTT extensions of established platforms under a branded corner. The titles could be delivered to meet the needs of each platform.
About SPI International
SPI International is a global media company operating 40 television channels on six continents. FilmBox being its flagship channel, SPI is one of the biggest aggregators of native Ultra HD content in the world. Working with over 1,400 operators worldwide, SPI uses state of the art technology providing its 65 million subscribers with access to SPI’s linear and on-demand content including live streaming of UHD programming and FilmBox channels on any Internet-connected device via major global streaming media players as well as local OTT providers. SPI recently added to its portfolio Film1 premium movie services in the Netherlands, including four movie channels and digital services.
For over 25 years, SPI International has been a leading distributor of theatrical films and television programming in the international market. SPI’s solid alliances with major license suppliers provide compelling content, with strong recognition and high demand.
About HUAWEI Consumer BG
HUAWEI’s products and services are available in more than 170 countries and are used by a third of the world’s population. Fifteen R&D centres have been set up in the United States, Germany, Sweden, Russia, India and China. HUAWEI Consumer BG is one of HUAWEI’s three business units and covers smartphones, PC and tablets, wearables and cloud services, etc. HUAWEI’s global network is built on almost 30 years of expertise in the telecom industry and is dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to consumers around the world.
Home Entertainment Movie movie news
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Industry loses noteworthy ENG tech pioneer
By TVTechnology published 1 March 13
In 1969, Anthony Cuomo Sr., a highly experienced electrical engineer and decorated product design specialist, was part of the original development team at North American Phillips Broadcast responsible for the ground-breaking Philips PC-100 Triax Camera System. It was a technology that for the first time allowed news and sports camera operators in the field to reliably send analog video signals back to a production truck — saving significant time and effort by not having to physically hand the film to someone. A decade later he was employed by Hughes Sports Network and helped develop LDH-1 Triax System TD-20 and later, working for Editel Production, converted the Philips LDH-1 Camera to a portable triax camera system, then called the EN-C1 Hand Held Camera.
In the early '70s, Cuomo founded two pioneering companies, Teledesigns Inc, and later Telemetrics, Inc., both originally located in Cuomo’s Upper Saddle River, NJ house. By 1974, he had landed major contracts with RCA and Hitachi.
Cuomo, aged 85, passed away this week, after a short illness. His wife, Clara, daughter, Mary, and son, Anthony Jr. (who has run day-to-day operations at Telemetrics, now based in Mahwah, NJ, for several years), survive him.
Telemetrics equipment was instrumental in changing the style of network programming during the 1970s and 1980s, and in particular sports coverage such as the Olympics and the Indianapolis 500. Based on these successes, the Triax System was quickly implemented for use at political conventions and other events. In 1991, the Telemetrics Triax Multiplexing Camera Control System was awarded a Technical Emmy by the academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Telemetrics is also credited with initiating and driving development of camera robotics and control systems used by major networks and television stations around the world.
Today, Telemetrics, offers a line of camera control components and systems, including camera robotics systems including programmable computer controlled pan/tilt mechanisms, weatherproof camera robotic systems, motorized camera trolley systems, advanced control software, and a wide variety of programmable controllers. It also makes camera control systems for triax/coax/fiber cable, RF and fiber links and teleconferencing and distance learning systems.
Cuomo was a Bronx native and earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College.
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The firings began nearly immediately after the NFL's inaugural 17-game season ended, from the NFC North to the AFC East.
Antonio Brown has accused his previous team of a cover-up after he was fired by the Buccaneers for abandoning his squad in the middle of a game.
Ben Roethlisberger throws touchdown in Pittsburgh Steelers win
In what could be his final home game for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger threw for a touchdown as his team defeated the Cleveland Browns 26-14 at Heinz Field.
Browns DE Myles Garrett plays through loss with injured groin
With the Cleveland Browns' roster already weakened due to COVID-19, another potentially severe issue emerged.
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Once again, Zoueva has top 2 ice dance teams at Olympics
Nancy Armour
Just like in Vancouver%2C Zoueva%27s teams heavy favorites to win gold -- and silver
Zoueva coaches and choreographs for both Davis-White and Virtue-Moir
Zoueva finds ways to make all of her teams look different
SOCHI, Russia — Marina Zoueva's plans would make even the most detailed-oriented people look like slackers.
The ice dance coach has a big master plan, a blueprint for the four years from one Olympics to the next. Then there's a plan for each season, covering everything from when her skaters get their programs to which competitions they do.
Finally, there's a plan for each week, detailing -- to the minute -- the training schedules for each of her teams, including the times each day that she'll work with them.
"It's a system that keeps them straight, the system of preparation," Zoueva said.
Clearly, it works.
Just like in Vancouver, the gold medal in dance in Sochi is all but certain to be won by one of her teams, Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White or Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, with the other taking silver.
The training partners have been swapping places atop the podium since Virtue and Moir won gold in 2010. Virtue and Moir, the Olympic gold medalists four years ago, won the world championships in 2010 and 2012. Davis and White gave the U.S. its first world title in dance in 2011, and won again last year.
The ice dance competition begins Sunday with the short dance.
"First and foremost, she's an artistic genius," Davis said. "She's always trying to be innovative, which is really exciting for us as athletes. She's an amazing coach in every way, but I think it's mostly her artistic genius that we are just in awe of year after year."
Oftentimes when a coach or choreographer works with several skaters, there are similarities. The way programs are put together, perhaps, or style of music. Maybe the edge quality of the footwork or the intricateness of the spins.
But Zoueva's dance teams all have their own, unique look.
"When I'm doing a program, I'm not doing my program. I'm doing the best program for my skaters," Zoueva said. "No one is the same. They have different personalities, different body proportions, different lines.
"It's always in a process," she added. "The special program that can help my skaters to win, that looks different and looks better. And suits them."
Take her teams' free dances this season. With the Olympics in Sochi, the Russian-born Zoueva wanted each of her teams to have programs that would appeal to Russian fans. But the similarities end there.
Davis and White, whose artistic presence now matches their athleticism, are skating to Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. All Russians know the story of the sultan's wife who told stories to save her life, Zoueva said, and fans will recognize the music from its first bold notes.
Virtue and Moir are using three pieces by Alexander Glazunov, delicate music that tells the story of the seasons and highlights their beautiful lines and emotional connection.
And, finally, Maia and Alex Shibutani are skating to Michael Jackson. Yes, Michael Jackson.
"He's really, really popular for Russians, as well. I learned myself the Thriller movements," said Zoueva, who left her native country in 1991. "All my skaters in Russia, they learned Thriller. But it was difficult to do because it was not on TV. Someone had to bring the tape.
"But it was very, very popular."
Zoueva, a former ice dancer herself, became a choreographer after her competitive career ended, and was best known for creating Gordeeva and Grinkov's memorable programs. In 1991, she accompanied another of her skaters on a tour in Canada, and was asked by a local club to stay and coach.
"I just moved because I think it would be really good for me, because I think it would be interesting to see the North American style of coaching and teaching," she said. "It was a big thing for me to move."
Ten years later, she left Canada for Detroit, joining Igor Shpilband in what was fast becoming the ice dance capital of the world. The two had a falling out in 2012, and their top teams all decided to stay with Zoueva.
Though having competitors train side by side could be awkward, the skaters say it hasn't been a problem for them. Zoueva works with each team individually, as do the rest of the coaches on her staff. So while Davis and White see Virtue and Moir every day, it's not as if they're doing group lessons.
Which explains the need for all those planners.
And much like a parent with more than one child, Zoueva insists she has no favorites.
"The time when I'm with each team," she said, "my focus is with them."
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By USLWLeague.com Staff, 01/10/22, 12:59PM EST
BERGEN COUNTY, N.J.- The United Soccer League (USL) today announced Cedar Stars as the latest club to join the USL W League. The New Jersey-based club will compete in the league’s inaugural season in 2022.
“Cedar Stars is excited to join the USL W League in its inaugural season,” said Juan Santamaria, General Manager and Sporting Director of the Cedar Stars Academy. “We are thrilled to be able to provide additional opportunities for talented young women within our academy, community and beyond.”
With six locations across the New Jersey and New York metro area, Cedar Stars Academy is home to over 2,500 elite athletes in the region. The club is founded on strong family values that center on catering to the needs of each individual player regardless of skill level or social background. Through its open and welcoming training environment, Cedar Stars Academy hopes to allow its players to exercise creativeness on the pitch and encourage ambitious decision making to enhance development and performance in all aspects of its programming.
The club’s mission to instill a love for the game in each of its players is rooted in its core values of commitment, discipline, relentlessness, effort and an “all in” mentality. The club actively searches for ways to improve its offering year over year with the goal of creating evergreen success within its first team platforms. Advancing on this mission, Cedar Stars will now provide its membership direct access to the professional game through the USL’s robust women’s pathway. In addition, through Capelli Sport and its owner George Altirs, Cedar Stars has a direct affiliate link to professional women’s club HB Køge of Denmark. HB Køge recently participated in the Women’s Champions League and will provide additional professional opportunities for players to play overseas.
In joining the W League, Cedar Stars will solidify a commitment to the growth of the women’s game in Monmouth County and its surrounding areas. A cornerstone of this commitment is the club’s access to quality training facilities and a home venue at the new Capelli Sport Complex in Tinton Falls, NJ. The Capelli Sport Complex boasts four outdoor soccer fields, one full size indoor field and one grandstand stadium field that will serve as the home of the Cedar Stars W League team during the 2022 season.
“We are thrilled to welcome Cedar Stars to the W League for the 2022 season,” said Betsy Haugh, USL Director of Women’s Soccer Operations. “The club has an established presence in the Northeast and is looking to build on the success of its programming by adding a development pathway to its women’s side. This new opportunity will provide athletes in the metro New Jersey and New York area more possibilities to reach the next level of their game.”
To learn more about Cedar Stars, visit www.cedarstars.com or follow the club on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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Major Douglas Zembiec, seen here as a captain in Fallujah, led Marines through four tours in Iraq, as well as Kosovo and Afghanistan. The "Lion of Fallujah" died in a Baghdad firefight in 2007.
U.S. Marine Corps (Jose E. Guillen)
The Meditations of a Lion
By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Be a man of principle. Keep your word. Live with integrity. Be brave. Believe in something bigger than yourself. . . . Teach. Mentor. Give something back to society. Be a good friend. Be humble and be self-confident. . . . Appreciate your friends and family. Become the greatest husband and father ever.
Reading these words without attribution, one might reasonably guess they were the writings of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor whose “Meditations” are included in any worthwhile collection of the great works of Western Civilization. But these are actually the words of a man of humbler—if no less noble—origin. Douglas Zembiec was a major in the U.S Marine Corps.
Like the emperor, he kept notebooks filled with thoughts that reflected his ambition to live a meaningful life. Among those many recorded aphorisms we should not be surprised to find such maxims as “Serve your country” and “Fight for what you believe in.” Such aspirations are common among those in service to their country. And ideas such as “Lead from the front,” and “Conquer your fears” are typical of young officers.
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Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
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U.S. Travel Commends State Dept. Action to Alleviate Visa Application Backlog
U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes issued the following statement on the administration’s decision to temporarily waive the interview requirement for returning and renewing immigrant visa holders issued on or after August 4, 2019:
“The travel community appreciates the action by the State Department to streamline the visa application process. It is a step in the right direction and comes at a critical time for rebuilding international travel. The severe backlog in visa applications will require additional focus and resources to help restore inbound travel to its pre-pandemic levels.”
The administration’s latest action to temporarily waive the interview requirement for returning and renewing immigrant visa holders is a positive development in addressing the backlog of nearly 2.6 million visa applicants, which is currently stalling the return of inbound international travel. However, the action also acknowledges that many individuals pose no risk to national security, and similar waivers could be issued to non-immigrant visas to have a greater impact on both the processing of visas and the travel industry’s recovery. The State Department issued approximately 50,000 visas during the period of August 4, 2019, to February 4, 2020, that would be eligible for interview waiver under the new temporary final rule.
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In first, U.S. defense chief to attend Mexican Independence Day events
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HomeAboutUG Affiliates & Partners
University Colleges / Institutions in Ghana Affiliated to UG
The University of Ghana wishes to inform the general public, that, as at February 2021, the under-listed private University Colleges in Ghana are affiliated to the University to run the programmes indicated against their names.
The University of Ghana awards its certificate to students of these colleges who have successfully completed their programmes of study.
Please take notice of the date stated above because new institutions and programmes may be approved for affiliation to the University in future.
It is also important to note that the under-listed private University Colleges may also be affiliated to other Universities in Ghana or abroad, to offer other academic programmes.
AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR PROGRAMMES (AS AT FEBRUARY 2021)
NAMES OF AFFILIATE INSTITUTION
PROGRAMMES THAT ARE AFFILIATED TO UG
African University College of Communication - Accra
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Business Administration
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Communication Studies
Accra College of Medicine - Accra
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB)
Catholic Institute of Business &Technology –Accra
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Religious Studies & Church Administration
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Business Administration and Management
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Public Sector Management and Administration
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Computer Science
Catholic University College of Ghana, Fiapre - Sunyani
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Religious Studies and Education
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Economics and Business Administration
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Banking and Finance
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Public Health and Allied Sciences
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Public Health
Master of Arts (MA) Religious Studies and Pastoral Ministry
Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Public Health
Christian Service University College - Kumasi
Diploma in Theology
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Theology with Administration
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Information Technology
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Communication
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Nursing
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Midwifery
Master of Arts (MA) Christian Ministry and Management
Family Health Medical School –Teshie, Accra
Bachelor of Science in Medical Sciences (BSc. Med. Sci)
Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College - Accra
Ghana Institute of Languages - Accra
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Translation
Diploma in Translation
Institute of Accountancy Training - Accra
Diploma in Public Administration
Diploma in Public Finance and Accounting
Islamic University College Of Ghana – Adjiriganor, Accra
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Religious Studies ( Islamic Option)
Knutsford University College - East Legon, Accra
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Sociology / Psychology
Methodist University College – Dansoman, Tema &Wenchi
Diploma in Music
Diploma in General Agriculture
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Religions, Ethics and Psychology
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) General Agriculture
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) - Economics, Mathematics, Statistics
Bachelor of Arts (BA) - English, French, Music, Psychology
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Social Work
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Actuarial Science
Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Mathematics
Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Guidance and Counselling
Master of Arts (MA) Guidance and Counselling
Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Statistics
Narh-Bita College - Tema
Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology
Nightingale School of Nursing – Adenta, Accra
National Film and Television Institute - Accra
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Presbyterian University College -Tema, Abetifi, Agogo, Akropong-Akuapem & Kumasi
Bachelor of Science(BSc.) Nursing
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Mathematics
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Information Communication Technology
Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Environmental & Natural Resources Management
Bachelor of Science(BSc.) Business Administration
Bachelor of Science(BSc.) Business Economics
Bachelor of Arts (BA.) Rural and Community Development
Regional Maritime University – Teshie, Accra
St. Peters Regional Seminary - Cape Coast
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Theology
St. Paul’s Catholic Seminary – Sowutuom, Accra
St. Victor’s Major Seminary - Tamale
Diploma in Theology Bachelor of Arts (BA) Theology
Western Hill School of Nursing – Ofankor, Accra
Wisconsin International University College- North Legon , Accra
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Computer Science and Management
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Rural Development & Ecotourism
Master of Science (MSc) Environmental Sustainability and Management
Master of Arts (MA) Adult Education
Enrollment Facts
Office of Registrar
UG Partners & Affiliates
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Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques for chronic pain.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 03 16; 3:CD008208.CD
This is an updated version of the original Cochrane Review published in 2010, Issue 9, and last updated in 2014, Issue 4. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques aim to induce an electrical stimulation of the brain in an attempt to reduce chronic pain by directly altering brain activity. They include repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) and reduced impedance non-invasive cortical electrostimulation (RINCE).
To evaluate the efficacy of non-invasive cortical stimulation techniques in the treatment of chronic pain.
For this update we searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, LILACS and clinical trials registers from July 2013 to October 2017.
Randomised and quasi-randomised studies of rTMS, CES, tDCS, RINCE and tRNS if they employed a sham stimulation control group, recruited patients over the age of 18 years with pain of three months' duration or more, and measured pain as an outcome. Outcomes of interest were pain intensity measured using visual analogue scales or numerical rating scales, disability, quality of life and adverse events.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently extracted and verified data. Where possible we entered data into meta-analyses, excluding studies judged as high risk of bias. We used the GRADE system to assess the quality of evidence for core comparisons, and created three 'Summary of findings' tables.
We included an additional 38 trials (involving 1225 randomised participants) in this update, making a total of 94 trials in the review (involving 2983 randomised participants). This update included a total of 42 rTMS studies, 11 CES, 36 tDCS, two RINCE and two tRNS. One study evaluated both rTMS and tDCS. We judged only four studies as low risk of bias across all key criteria. Using the GRADE criteria we judged the quality of evidence for each outcome, and for all comparisons as low or very low; in large part this was due to issues of blinding and of precision.rTMSMeta-analysis of rTMS studies versus sham for pain intensity at short-term follow-up (0 to < 1 week postintervention), (27 studies, involving 655 participants), demonstrated a small effect with heterogeneity (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.29 to -0.16, low-quality evidence). This equates to a 7% (95% CI 5% to 9%) reduction in pain, or a 0.40 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.32) point reduction on a 0 to 10 pain intensity scale, which does not meet the minimum clinically important difference threshold of 15% or greater. Pre-specified subgroup analyses did not find a difference between low-frequency stimulation (low-quality evidence) and rTMS applied to the prefrontal cortex compared to sham for reducing pain intensity at short-term follow-up (very low-quality evidence). High-frequency stimulation of the motor cortex in single-dose studies was associated with a small short-term reduction in pain intensity at short-term follow-up (low-quality evidence, pooled n = 249, SMD -0.38 95% CI -0.49 to -0.27). This equates to a 12% (95% CI 9% to 16%) reduction in pain, or a 0.77 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.99) point change on a 0 to 10 pain intensity scale, which does not achieve the minimum clinically important difference threshold of 15% or greater. The results from multiple-dose studies were heterogeneous and there was no evidence of an effect in this subgroup (very low-quality evidence). We did not find evidence that rTMS improved disability. Meta-analysis of studies of rTMS versus sham for quality of life (measured using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) at short-term follow-up demonstrated a positive effect (MD -10.80 95% CI -15.04 to -6.55, low-quality evidence).CESFor CES (five studies, 270 participants) we found no evidence of a difference between active stimulation and sham (SMD -0.24, 95% CI -0.48 to 0.01, low-quality evidence) for pain intensity. We found no evidence relating to the effectiveness of CES on disability. One study (36 participants) of CES versus sham for quality of life (measured using the FIQ) at short-term follow-up demonstrated a positive effect (MD -25.05 95% CI -37.82 to -12.28, very low-quality evidence).tDCSAnalysis of tDCS studies (27 studies, 747 participants) showed heterogeneity and a difference between active and sham stimulation (SMD -0.43 95% CI -0.63 to -0.22, very low-quality evidence) for pain intensity. This equates to a reduction of 0.82 (95% CI 0.42 to 1.2) points, or a percentage change of 17% (95% CI 9% to 25%) of the control group outcome. This point estimate meets our threshold for a minimum clinically important difference, though the lower confidence interval is substantially below that threshold. We found evidence of small study bias in the tDCS analyses. We did not find evidence that tDCS improved disability. Meta-analysis of studies of tDCS versus sham for quality of life (measured using different scales across studies) at short-term follow-up demonstrated a positive effect (SMD 0.66 95% CI 0.21 to 1.11, low-quality evidence).Adverse eventsAll forms of non-invasive brain stimulation and sham stimulation appear to be frequently associated with minor or transient side effects and there were two reported incidences of seizure, both related to the active rTMS intervention in the included studies. However many studies did not adequately report adverse events.
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There is very low-quality evidence that single doses of high-frequency rTMS of the motor cortex and tDCS may have short-term effects on chronic pain and quality of life but multiple sources of bias exist that may have influenced the observed effects. We did not find evidence that low-frequency rTMS, rTMS applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and CES are effective for reducing pain intensity in chronic pain. The broad conclusions of this review have not changed substantially for this update. There remains a need for substantially larger, rigorously designed studies, particularly of longer courses of stimulation. Future evidence may substantially impact upon the presented results.
PMC Free PDF
O'Connell NE
Department of Clinical Sciences/Health Economics Research Group, Institute of Environment, Health and Societies, Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK, UB8 3PH.
Marston L
Spencer S
DeSouza LH
Wand BM
BrainChronic PainElectric ImpedanceElectric Stimulation TherapyHumansPain ManagementPain MeasurementQuality of LifeRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicTranscranial Direct Current StimulationTranscranial Magnetic Stimulation
Clinical Trial Links
Augmentation of EMDR With MtCS in the Treatment of Fibromyalgia
Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Pain Control in Chronic Painful Total Knee Arthroplasty
O'Connell, Neil E., et al. "Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Techniques for Chronic Pain." The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 3, 2018, p. CD008208.
O'Connell NE, Marston L, Spencer S, et al. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques for chronic pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;3:CD008208.
O'Connell, N. E., Marston, L., Spencer, S., DeSouza, L. H., & Wand, B. M. (2018). Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques for chronic pain. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 3, CD008208. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008208.pub4
O'Connell NE, et al. Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Techniques for Chronic Pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 03 16;3:CD008208. PubMed PMID: 29547226.
TY - JOUR T1 - Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques for chronic pain. AU - O'Connell,Neil E, AU - Marston,Louise, AU - Spencer,Sally, AU - DeSouza,Lorraine H, AU - Wand,Benedict M, Y1 - 2018/03/16/ PY - 2018/3/17/pubmed PY - 2018/5/1/medline PY - 2018/3/17/entrez SP - CD008208 EP - CD008208 JF - The Cochrane database of systematic reviews JO - Cochrane Database Syst Rev VL - 3 N2 - BACKGROUND: This is an updated version of the original Cochrane Review published in 2010, Issue 9, and last updated in 2014, Issue 4. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques aim to induce an electrical stimulation of the brain in an attempt to reduce chronic pain by directly altering brain activity. They include repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) and reduced impedance non-invasive cortical electrostimulation (RINCE). OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of non-invasive cortical stimulation techniques in the treatment of chronic pain. SEARCH METHODS: For this update we searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, LILACS and clinical trials registers from July 2013 to October 2017. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised and quasi-randomised studies of rTMS, CES, tDCS, RINCE and tRNS if they employed a sham stimulation control group, recruited patients over the age of 18 years with pain of three months' duration or more, and measured pain as an outcome. Outcomes of interest were pain intensity measured using visual analogue scales or numerical rating scales, disability, quality of life and adverse events. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently extracted and verified data. Where possible we entered data into meta-analyses, excluding studies judged as high risk of bias. We used the GRADE system to assess the quality of evidence for core comparisons, and created three 'Summary of findings' tables. MAIN RESULTS: We included an additional 38 trials (involving 1225 randomised participants) in this update, making a total of 94 trials in the review (involving 2983 randomised participants). This update included a total of 42 rTMS studies, 11 CES, 36 tDCS, two RINCE and two tRNS. One study evaluated both rTMS and tDCS. We judged only four studies as low risk of bias across all key criteria. Using the GRADE criteria we judged the quality of evidence for each outcome, and for all comparisons as low or very low; in large part this was due to issues of blinding and of precision.rTMSMeta-analysis of rTMS studies versus sham for pain intensity at short-term follow-up (0 to < 1 week postintervention), (27 studies, involving 655 participants), demonstrated a small effect with heterogeneity (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.29 to -0.16, low-quality evidence). This equates to a 7% (95% CI 5% to 9%) reduction in pain, or a 0.40 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.32) point reduction on a 0 to 10 pain intensity scale, which does not meet the minimum clinically important difference threshold of 15% or greater. Pre-specified subgroup analyses did not find a difference between low-frequency stimulation (low-quality evidence) and rTMS applied to the prefrontal cortex compared to sham for reducing pain intensity at short-term follow-up (very low-quality evidence). High-frequency stimulation of the motor cortex in single-dose studies was associated with a small short-term reduction in pain intensity at short-term follow-up (low-quality evidence, pooled n = 249, SMD -0.38 95% CI -0.49 to -0.27). This equates to a 12% (95% CI 9% to 16%) reduction in pain, or a 0.77 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.99) point change on a 0 to 10 pain intensity scale, which does not achieve the minimum clinically important difference threshold of 15% or greater. The results from multiple-dose studies were heterogeneous and there was no evidence of an effect in this subgroup (very low-quality evidence). We did not find evidence that rTMS improved disability. Meta-analysis of studies of rTMS versus sham for quality of life (measured using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) at short-term follow-up demonstrated a positive effect (MD -10.80 95% CI -15.04 to -6.55, low-quality evidence).CESFor CES (five studies, 270 participants) we found no evidence of a difference between active stimulation and sham (SMD -0.24, 95% CI -0.48 to 0.01, low-quality evidence) for pain intensity. We found no evidence relating to the effectiveness of CES on disability. One study (36 participants) of CES versus sham for quality of life (measured using the FIQ) at short-term follow-up demonstrated a positive effect (MD -25.05 95% CI -37.82 to -12.28, very low-quality evidence).tDCSAnalysis of tDCS studies (27 studies, 747 participants) showed heterogeneity and a difference between active and sham stimulation (SMD -0.43 95% CI -0.63 to -0.22, very low-quality evidence) for pain intensity. This equates to a reduction of 0.82 (95% CI 0.42 to 1.2) points, or a percentage change of 17% (95% CI 9% to 25%) of the control group outcome. This point estimate meets our threshold for a minimum clinically important difference, though the lower confidence interval is substantially below that threshold. We found evidence of small study bias in the tDCS analyses. We did not find evidence that tDCS improved disability. Meta-analysis of studies of tDCS versus sham for quality of life (measured using different scales across studies) at short-term follow-up demonstrated a positive effect (SMD 0.66 95% CI 0.21 to 1.11, low-quality evidence).Adverse eventsAll forms of non-invasive brain stimulation and sham stimulation appear to be frequently associated with minor or transient side effects and there were two reported incidences of seizure, both related to the active rTMS intervention in the included studies. However many studies did not adequately report adverse events. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is very low-quality evidence that single doses of high-frequency rTMS of the motor cortex and tDCS may have short-term effects on chronic pain and quality of life but multiple sources of bias exist that may have influenced the observed effects. We did not find evidence that low-frequency rTMS, rTMS applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and CES are effective for reducing pain intensity in chronic pain. The broad conclusions of this review have not changed substantially for this update. There remains a need for substantially larger, rigorously designed studies, particularly of longer courses of stimulation. Future evidence may substantially impact upon the presented results. SN - 1469-493X UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/29547226/Non_invasive_brain_stimulation_techniques_for_chronic_pain_ L2 - https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008208.pub4 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -
Grapherence [↓33 ↑177]
Electric Impedance
Electric Stimulation Therapy
Pain Measurement
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques for chronic pain. A report of a Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis.
Non-pharmacological interventions for chronic pain in people with spinal cord injury.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for improving activities of daily living, and physical and cognitive functioning, in people after stroke.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for chronic pain - an overview of Cochrane Reviews.
Acupuncture for chronic nonspecific low back pain.
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UNHCR concern at xenophobic violence in South Africa
The refugee agency sends team to Durban to assess the situation and identify where the organization can support government and civil society partners in their response.
By Karin de Gruijl | 17 April 2015 | Español | عربي
UNHCR staff meet with displaced people at a site near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. © UNHCR/T. Machobane
PRETORIA, South Africa, April 17 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency on Friday welcomed government efforts to contain a wave of xenophobia in South Africa but said it was "extremely concerned" about the attacks in the past three weeks that have killed six people and displaced more than 5,000 foreigners. Those uprooted include refugees and asylum-seekers.
The attacks in KwaZulu-Natal province began in late March following an apparent labour dispute involving South African and foreign workers. These latest population movements come on top of displacement that took place in January as a result of similar incidents in Soweto, near Johannesburg in Gauteng province.
"UNHCR is extremely concerned. We have welcomed the response by the government in trying to contain the situation and provide assistance," spokesman Adrian Edwards said in Geneva. South Africa's Jacob Zuma told parliamentarians on Thursday that "refugees and asylum-seekers will be accorded support in line with international law and protocols, with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees."
A UNHCR team has been sent to the coastal city of Durban to assess the situation and identify where the organization can support government and civil society partners in their response. The displaced foreign nationals are grouped in four tented shelters for displaced people established by the local Disaster Management Centre.
The number needing shelter is said to be increasing. The first group has been moved to a sports centre in Chatsworth that now shelters around 1,400 people, mostly single men, with few families. The men are separated from the women and children.
In Isipingo, there are nearly 300 people, and in Greenwood Park another 450. On Thursday, some 1,500 displaced people were moved to a new and larger site in Phoenix. Conditions in the community shelters are very basic and more needs to be done to ensure adequate sanitation and health facilities. In addition, an undetermined number of people have sought refuge in mosques, churches and other buildings.
UNHCR had been contacted by refugees who were in fear of being targeted. "People are also very anxious about not being able to earn a living and the loss of their livelihoods," Edwards said, while stressing that "those affected in these xenophobic attacks are refugees and asylum-seekers who were forced to leave their own countries due to war and persecution. They are in South Africa because they require protection."
The Government of South Africa has spoken out against these incidents. It has pledged to do it all it can to protect foreign nationals in the country and reaffirmed its commitment toward refugees and asylum-seekers in line with international law and protocols.
South Africa currently hosts some 65,000 refugees and 295,000 asylum-seekers.
Without documents, women at high risk of gender-based violence
The European Union, UNICEF and UNHCR join efforts to protect children on the move in Central America, Mexico and Southern Africa
Birth registration gaps leave South Africans in limbo
A mother's greatest fear - passing statelessness on to her children
Refugees in South Africa share acts of kindness with their hosts
Refugees and host communities in South Africa spread kindness to beat COVID-19 economic effects
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Posted on October 5, 2021 October 17, 2021 by Matt Williams
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” XVII: What is the “SETI-Paradox” Hypothesis?
Welcome back to our Fermi Paradox series, where we take a look at possible resolutions to Enrico Fermi’s famous question, “Where Is Everybody?” Today, we examine the possibility that we haven’t heard from any aliens is because no one is transmitting!
In 1950, Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi sat down to lunch with some of his colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he had worked five years prior as part of the Manhattan Project. According to various accounts, the conversation turned to aliens and the recent spate of UFOs. Into this, Fermi issued a statement that would go down in the annals of history: “Where is everybody?”
This became the basis of the Fermi Paradox, which refers to the disparity between high probability estimates for the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) and the apparent lack of evidence. Since Fermi’s time, there have been several proposed resolutions to his question, including the possibility that everyone is listening, but no one is broadcasting – otherwise known as the “SETI-Paradox.”
This theory comes down to the noticeable divide between what is referred to as “passive SETI” and “active SETI,” the latter of which is more commonly known today as Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI). These differences in approach have become the focal point of attention in recent years as the two have become more differentiated, and the latter has become more common.
Passive SETI, which is generally characterized by listening to space for signs of radio communications (or other discernible technosignatures), accounts for the vast majority of SETI measures to date. This includes what is arguably the first example of an extraterrestrial radio search, which was performed by Nikola Tesla in 1899 while conducting experiments at his Colorado Springs laboratory.
On this occasion, Tesla believed he had detected an extraterrestrial radio signal because of the way it ceased as soon as Mars set in the night sky. Further analysis proved inconclusive, and explanations included radio interference from a neighboring experimental station, a misreading of the results, and background noise caused by Jupiter’s moon Io passing through its magnetic field.
The first modern SETI experiment, which took place in 1960, was also passive by definition. This was Project Ozma, a survey led by Cornell astronomer Frank Drake that relied on the 26-meter (85-foot) radio telescope at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. The project examined the nearby stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani for signs of radio transmissions in a 400-kilohertz band around the 1.420 gigahertz marker frequency.
In fact, the concept of METI as being distinct from SETI is a relatively recent development. Russian scientist Alexander Zaitsev coined the term METI in a 2006 paper of the same name. As Zaitsev emphasized:
“The science known as SETI deals with searching for messages from aliens. METI science deals with the creation of messages to aliens. Thus, SETI and METI proponents have quite different perspectives. SETI scientists are in a position to address only the local question ‘does Active SETI make sense?’
“In other words, would it be reasonable, for SETI success, to transmit with the object of attracting ETI’s attention? In contrast to Active SETI, METI pursues not a local and lucrative impulse, but a more global and unselfish one – to overcome the Great Silence in the Universe, bringing to our extraterrestrial neighbors the long-expected annunciation ‘You are not alone!'”
History of METI
Meanwhile, the first attempt to send a message was directed at Venus in 1962 by scientists from the Evpatoria Planetary Radar (EPR) center in Crimea. This was known as The Morse Message, which consisted of a radio transmission sent in Morse Code – the letters M-I-R (Mir, the Russian word for “peace”) followed by “Lenin” and “SSSR.” In 1974, the most powerful (and most famous) broadcast was beamed to space from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
This was known as the Arecibo Message, a 1679 bit transmission arranged into 73 lines (23 characters per line) of binary code. The message consisted of simple images of the Arecibo telescope, the Solar System, DNA, a stick figure of a human, and some of the biochemicals of earthly life. The message was aimed at the globular star cluster M13, located roughly 21,000 light-years from Earth, near the edge of the Milky Way galaxy,
Between 1999 and 2003, three transmissions (Cosmic Call 1, Teen Age Message, and Cosmic Call 2) were all made from the Evpatoria Planetary Radar (EPR) center in Crimea to various nearby stars. Whereas Cosmic Calls consisted of code denoting the alphabet, numbers, periodic table, and scientific concepts, the Teen Age Message consisted of a coherent sounding signal, an analog message encoded in Theremin music, and digital data (images and text).
In 2008, NASA transmitted the song “Across the Universe” by the Beatles in the direction of the star Polaris using the Deep Space Network’s (DSN) 70-meter (~230 foot) dish at the Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex. The broadcast marked the 40th anniversary of the song’s recording, the 45th anniversary of the DSN, and the 50th anniversary of NASA. In 2012, on the 35th anniversary of the Wow! Signal, a reply was transmitted from the Arecibo Observatory.
This message, known as the “Wow! Reply,” consisted of more than 10,000 Twitter messages and videos from celebrities. In 2016, the radio message “A Simple Response to an Elemental Message” (ASREM) was transmitted from the ESA’s Cebreros Station (DSA2) towards Polaris. This message consisting of 3775 worldwide responses to the question, “How will our present, environmental interactions shape the future?” and a series of images of Earth.
The Arecibo Message (left), and the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. Credit: Cornell University/Seth Shostak/SETI Institute/Associated Press
In 2016, Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner announced the creation of Breakthrough Initiatives, a non-profit organization dedicated to investigating the fundamental questions of life in the Universe. Among their suite of space science programs is Breakthrough Message, an international competition to create an interstellar message. This program is intended to encourage debate about how humanity could communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence.
At present, there are no plans to send the message until there is a wide-ranging debate among scientists and world leaders about the ethical and philosophical issues involved. However, Breakthrough Initiatives has hinted that once these issues are addressed at length, this might change.
To Listen or to Message?
To date, all attempts at METI (aka. active-SETI) have been very humble compared to traditional (or passive) SETI efforts. As Zaitsev summarized:
“[O]ur civilization is indeed in the communicative phase and it indeed conducts SETI activities. However, our METI/SETI ratio is less than one percent: these data follow from the review of Jill Tarter published in the recently released “SETI-2020” collection of papers (Tarter 2003).
“It lists 100 various SETI programs starting from the first OZMA project to our time. The total time of search is several years, whereas the total transmission time is only 37 hours (Zaitsev 2006). This characterizes the attitude of researchers. However, we must also take into account the METI-phobia inherent to the planetary consciousness as a whole.”
In short, METI efforts have been limited in large part because of the very real fear that broadcasting humanity’s existence to the Universe could have serious consequences. Notable critics include Stephen Hawking and famed scientist and author David Brin. In a 2006 article titled, “Should we be Shouting at the Cosmos,” Brin expressed how many notable scientists objected to METI:
“Let there be no mistake. METI is a very different thing than passively sifting for signals from the outer space. Carl Sagan, one of the greatest SETI supporters and a deep believer in the notion of altruistic alien civilizations, called such a move deeply unwise and immature. (Even Frank Drake, who famously sent the “Arecibo Message” toward the Andromeda Galaxy in 1974, considered “Active SETI” to be, at best, a stunt and generally a waste of time.)
“Sagan — along with early SETI pioneer Philip Morrison — recommended that the newest children in a strange and uncertain cosmos should listen quietly for a long time, patiently learning about the universe and comparing notes, before shouting into an unknown jungle that we do not understand.”
What’s more, Brin argued that Zaitsev’s constituted a modified form of Universal Altruism (UA), a Soviet-era doctrine that states that all advanced civilizations naturally evolve towards the altruistic and socialistic:
“Ironically Dr. Alexander Zaitsev has modified this doctrine to suggest that advanced aliens are not only altruistic but also cowardly — thus explaining their failure (so far) to create beacons or beam messages at Earth. He reasons that the youngest and most ignorant technological race (humanity) is behooved to overcome this universal cowardice by boldly announcing ourselves...
“If aliens are so advanced and altruistic… and yet are choosing to remain silent… should we not consider following their example and doing likewise? At least for a little while? Is it possible that they are silent because they know something we don’t know?”
This is reminiscent of the “Dark Forest” Hypothesis, another possible resolution to the Fermi Paradox (which was covered in a previous installment). According to this hypothesis, ETIs are not in the habit of broadcasting their existence for two major reasons – “Chains of Suspicion” and “Technological Explosions.” Basically, civilizations could essentially be either malevolent, which are likely to attack others for the sake of territory, resources, conquest, etc.
Benevolent civilizations, in contrast, are not likely to attack others unless they feel threatened. Unfortunately, the time lag imposed by interstellar communications prevents open communication from being established. Since the intentions of other species cannot be gauged, this creates a “chain of suspicion” where both sides are left to consider if it would be wise to attack first until one of them finally does.
The other assumption involves technological development, which is exponential in nature (if human history is any guide). Given how long it would take to reach even the nearest stars, any fearful civilization would likely conclude that it would be futile to send a fleet of warships to attack another species. By the time they arrived, the attacker’s technology would not have matured one bit, while the defender would have progressed by decades or centuries.
Under these circumstances, it is entirely reasonable to theorize that most ETIs (who are also contemplating if they are alone in the Universe) have chosen to take the “passive SETI” approach rather than actively seek contact and advertise their existence to the Universe. If this is the conclusion that most advanced species have reached, then the “Great Silence” is entirely understandable.
Like many proposed resolutions to the Fermi Paradox, this hypothesis assumes that the behavior of extraterrestrial civilizations is uniform. Similar to the Dark Forest and Zoo Hypotheses, all that is required for the “Great Silence” to be broken is for one ETI to speak out. And given humanity’s own experiments with crafting interstellar messages, it is hard to believe that one civilization would be able to enforce a “radio silence” policy, let alone many.
In addition, if any civilization were to detect a signal from Earth (much like Carl Sagan explored in his novel Contact), it’s safe to assume that they would want to respond to it. Douglas Vakoch, the president of METI, argued that passive SETI is already an endorsement of active SETI, since “If we detect a signal from aliens through a SETI program, there’s no way to prevent a cacophony of responses from Earth.”
Alas, the fact that we have no signals to go by and are not even sure if the “Great Silence” is real or perceived, no conclusions can be drawn at this time. But as theoretical frameworks go, it has a ring of truth to it. It is entirely possible that we are not picking up signals from extraterrestrial civilizations because they don’t want to broadcast their existence either. After all, if you were an alien civilization, would you want to talk to a species like us?
We have written many interesting articles about the Fermi Paradox, the Drake Equation, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) here at Universe Today. Here’s Where Are The Aliens? How The ‘Great Filter’ Could Affect Tech Advances In Space, Why Finding Alien Life Would Be Bad. The Great Filter, How Could We Find Aliens? The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and Fraser and John Michael Godier Debate the Fermi Paradox.
And be sure to check out the rest of our Beyond Fermi’s Paradox series:
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” I: A Lunchtime Conversation- Enrico Fermi and Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” II: Questioning the Hart-Tipler Conjecture
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” III: What is the Great Filter?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” IV: What is the Rare Earth Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” V: What is the Aestivation Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” VI: What is the Berserker Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” VII: What is the Planetarium Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” VIII: What is the Zoo Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” IX: What is the Brief Window Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” X: What is the Firstborn Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” XI: What is the Transcension Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” XII: What is the Water World Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” XIII: What is the “Ocean Worlds” Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” XIV: What is the Aurora Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” XV: What is the Percolation Theory Hypothesis?
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” XVI: What is the “Dark Forest” Hypothesis?
Astronomy Cast has some interesting episodes on the subject. Here’s Episode 24: The Fermi Paradox: Where Are All the Aliens?, Episode 110: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Episode 168: Enrico Fermi, Episode 273: Solutions to the Fermi Paradox.
Brin, G.D. “The Great Silence – the Controversy Concerning Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life.” Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 24 (1983)
Marsden, P. “Memetics and Social Contagion: Two Sides of the Same Coin?” Journal of Memetics – Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1998)
Gato-Rivera, B. “A Solution to the Fermi Paradox: The Solar System, Part of a Galactic Hypercivilization?” World Mystery Forum 2005 (2005)
Brin, G.D. “Shouting at the Cosmos… Or How SETI has Taken a Worrisome Turn Into Dangerous Territory.” Lifeboat Foundation (2006)
Zaitsev, A. “Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.” arXiv:physics/0610031 (2006)
Arti, D. (et al.) “A protocol for messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence.” Space Policy, Vol. 27, No. 3 (2011)
Deshmuk, G. “The Dark Forest Theory: A Chilling Solution to Fermi’s Paradox.” Gaurav Deshmukh (Medium), Jan. 4th, 2019.
CategoriesAstronomy, Fermi Paradox Tagsactive SETI, Dark Forest Hypothesis, Featured, fermi paradox, Messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence, METI, passive SETI, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, SETI, SETI Paradox
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Chile - Trade Financing
Chile - Country Commercial Guide
Chile Country Commercial Guide
Doing Business in Chile
Agricultural Sector
Labeling & Marking Requirements
Prohibited and Restricted Imports
Distribution & Sales Channels
Protection of Property Rights
It covers payment methods and information on, banking systems, foreign exchange controls, and U.S. and correspondent banking.
In Chile, most of the payments sent to foreign suppliers are submitted using irrevocable letters of credit from Chilean commercial banks. This is done across industries, with no lengthy delays in the remittance of foreign currency, most banks in Chile have Foreign Trade divisions that specialize in international payments and collections. Payments are made upon receipt of notice of shipment of goods. Other methods of payment to suppliers include cash against documents and open account. The credit insurance industry it is developed in the country and major private agencies such as Mapfre, Continental, HDI, Solunion, and Coface have local offices in Santiago. The U.S. Export Import Bank (EXIM) also offers credit insurance products to U.S. exporters.
For more information about the methods of payment or other trade finance options, please read the Trade Finance Guide available at https://www.trade.gov/trade-finance-guide-quick-reference-us-exporters.
Banking Systems
Chile’s banking system offers many of the asset and liability products available in international markets. Foreign trade financing and money exchange operations are particularly well developed and efficient compared to the rest of Latin America.
Chile’s Commission for the Financial Market, an agency under the Ministry of Finance, regulates the financial sector, this public entity oversees and coordinates the action of other financial-related agencies. Chilean Pensions Superintendency is the technical authority responsible for the supervision and control of the institutions involved in the Chilean Pension System. Chile’s Bureau of Consumer Protection is Sernac, its mission is to protect consumers in Chile in a variety of industries, including financial services. For all credit requests in the country, Sernac mandates that quotations must include the CAE index (Carga Anual Equivalente, or Annual Equivalent Cost) to facilitate credit comparison to end users.
Chile’s Central Bank is autonomous from the government in conducting monetary policy and regulating foreign capital movements, its mission is the stability of the currency, and to keep inflation low and stable over time. The bank also regulates the amount of currency and credit in circulation.
Some Chilean banks with direct presence in the United States, including Banco de Crédito e Inversiones, also known as BCI, which controls City National Bank in the U.S. Banco Estado, Banco de Chile, and Banco Itaú also have representative offices in New York.
U.S. banks operating in Chile, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America, concentrate on corporate lending for multinationals and capital market activities, although Banco de Chile (a Citibank joint venture) and Santander are active in retail banking. There are a few business development offices of U.S. commercial banks in Chile offering U.S. Export Import Bank insurance programs.
Foreign Exchange Controls:
Chile has no restrictions on incoming and outgoing foreign capital. Reserve requirements for external capital, and the prior authorization requirement to enter funds associated with external loans, investment, working capital, bonds and ADRs have been eliminated. Limitations on capital and profit repatriation were also eliminated. Foreign trade finance operations (both import and export) are allowed to perform their foreign exchange transactions in the open market. Foreign exchange operations are relatively active and efficient in Chile. As a rule, currency may be freely traded in two markets: the informal and the interbank market (formal). Prior to receiving authorization, Chile’s Central Bank requires confirmation that the trade finance transactions, foreign loans, capital flows, and profit repatriation will be executed through a commercial bank (formal market). Foreigners entering Chile, must declare at Customs if they are bringing more than $10,000 dollars.
U.S. Banks and Local Correspondent Banks:
JP Morgan Chase +56 2 2425 5100
Wells Fargo +56 2 2365 9733
Stock Exchange & Securities
Chilean securities regulator, Comision para el Mercado Financiero (CMF), requires individuals that act as intermediaries, third-party securities managers, brokers, portfolio managers, and trading agents to be registered and to be demonstrate relevant financial knowledge by approving an exam to be authorized to perform these duties. To pass the exam applicants must: possess a high school diploma or GED equivalent, have a Chilean tax identification number (RUT) that must be requested at the Chilean equivalent to IRS, Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII), and must also provide a description of the duties to be performed once accredited. The accreditation period can vary from 2 to 5 years depending on the performed function.
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> Ohio
Related topics: Retail
OH: Retailer Sheetz Expands in Columbus Area, More Stores to Come
Family-owned convenience store retailer Sheetz has opened its first store in the Columbus, Ohio, market. Beginning in 2022, Sheetz plans to open approximately 50 stores in the Columbus area in the next five years, reports the publication Chain Store Age.
The new location, in the town of Delaware, Ohio, offers Sheetz's made-to-order menu where customers can order customized specialty drinks or food items around the clock.
“We are thrilled to officially open our doors to the city of Columbus,” said Travis Sheetz, president and COO of Sheetz. “Over the last several years, we have received an overwhelming amount of inquiries from Columbus residents who were passionate about our brand coming to Columbus.
Based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Sheetz, operates 621 stores across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina.
Columbus Chamber
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India Makes Sweeping Changes in FDI Rules for Aviation, Retail & Broadcasting
New Delhi, 14 September 2012 – In a move that will further change the socio-cultural-economic landscape of India, the government has approved regulatory changes to open up more foreign investment in three critical sectors of the economy: aviation, retail and broadcasting.
The official policy announcement talks up the benefits, viz, create jobs nationwide, promote economic development, promote best practises, raise standards, enhance competition at the grassroots level. At a regional level, it will open up opportunities for ASEAN companies to enhance their presence in India, especially in view of the upcoming bilateral Free Trade Agreement. For the travel & tourism industry, there are huge trickle-down benefits in terms of more travel for business, meetings, incentives, conventions and, as more middle-class jobs are created, leisure.
In order to ensure compliance with due democratic process, the regulations are said to incorporate comments from state governments and small industry associations on the potential impact on local businesses. States have been given the option of deciding the exact nature, sector and composition of the foreign investment they wish to attract.
Whether the short-term gain is accompanied by long-term gain or pain will emerge over time. Although a number of “safeguards” have been included, the jury is out on the extent of the enforcement, compliance and monitoring mechanisms.
The policy-change announcement claims the enhanced competition will drive down consumer prices, and benefit small and medium sized enterprises. However, in their purchasing, the global conglomerates drive down the prices of their suppliers, which affects the SMEs. The conglomerates will also enjoy a strengthened competitive advantage by gaining more choice in terms of sourcing their suppliers, and shifting around their investments accordingly. It also remains to be seen whether India will now seek reciprocal access for its investment opportunities abroad.
In recent years, India has opened up many economic sectors, including telecommunications, banking and infrastructure. The short-term benefits are clear. But the jury is still out on whether these packages are merely acting as steroids or genuinely addressing the root of the country’s challenges. As India knows from its former colonial days, foreign companies which start off merely as trading posts eventually metamorphose into conglomerates with huge political clout.
With elections approaching, the Indian government needs to pull more rabbits out of the hat in order to ensure that it remains in power. That is another short-term steroid boost the policy-makers are hoping to get. All told, the liberalisation package is certainly grist for the mill for students of globalisation in this rapidly-changing new world order.
Here are the full details of the three announcements as posted verbatim on the Indian government websites:
Permitting FDI in multi-brand product retail trading
Cabinet, 14-September, 2012 – The Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion for permitting FDI in multi-brand retail trading, subject to specified conditions. The proposal had earlier been approved by the Cabinet in its meeting on 24.11.2011. However, implementation of the proposal had been deferred, for evolving a broader consensus on the subject.
In pursuance of the aforestated decision of the Cabinet on 7.12.2011, discussions have been held with State Governments, representatives of consumer associations/organizations, micro & small industry associations, farmers’ associations and representatives of food processing industry and industry associations. The Chief Ministers of Delhi, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Governments of the State of Manipur and the Union Territory of Daman & Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, have expressed support for the policy in writing. The Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, through his press statements, has publicly endorsed the policy and asked for its implementation. The State Governments of Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and Odisha have expressed reservations.
During the consultations with the stakeholders, views for and against FDI in multi-brand retail trading were expressed. On balance, however, the discussions generally indicated support for the policy, subject to the introduction of adequate safeguards. Accordingly, the following proposals have been approved:
(i) Retail sales outlets may be set up in those States which have agreed or agree in future to allow FDI in MBRT under this policy. The establishment of the retail sales outlets will be in compliance of applicable State laws/ regulations, such as the Shops and Establishments Act etc.
(ii) Retail sales outlets may be set up only in cities with a population of more than 10 lakh as per 2011 Census and may also cover an area of 10 kms around the municipal/urban agglomeration limits of such cities; retail locations will be restricted to conforming areas as per the Master/Zonal Plans of the concerned cities and provision will be made for requisite facilities such as transport connectivity and parking; In States/ Union Territories not having cities with population of more than 10 lakh as per 2011 Census, retail sales outlets may be set up in the cities of their choice, preferably the largest city and may also cover an area of 10 kms around the municipal/urban agglomeration limits of such cities. The locations of such outlets will be restricted to conforming areas, as per the Master/Zonal Plans of the concerned cities and provision will be made for requisite facilities such as transport connectivity and parking.
(iii) At least 50% of total FDI brought in shall be invested in ‘backend infrastructure’ within three years of the induction of FDI, where ‘back-end infrastructure’ will include capital expenditure on all activities, excluding that on front-end units; for instance, back-end infrastructure will include investment made towards processing, manufacturing, distribution, design improvement, quality control, packaging, logistics, storage, ware-house, agriculture market produce infrastructure etc. Expenditure on land cost and rentals, if any, will not be counted for purposes of backend infrastructure.
(iv) A high-level group under the Minister of Consumer Affairs may be constituted to examine various issues concerning internal trade and make recommendations for internal trade reforms.
Other conditions/safeguards, approved by the Cabinet on 24.11.2012, would remain unchanged. The suspension of Government’s decision taken in the Cabinet meeting on 24.11.2011 to permit FDI up to 51% in MBRT, therefore, stands removed.
The respective State Governments administer the Shops & Establishment Act within their territorial jurisdiction. “Trade & Commerce within the State” is a subject allocated to the State Governments, under the Constitution of India. State Governments are also responsible for aspects ancillary to MBRT, such as zoning regulations, warehousing requirements, access, traffic, parking and other logistics. As such, the policy provides that it would be the prerogative of the State Governments to decide whether and where a multi-brand retailer, with FDI, is permitted to establish its sales outlets within the State. Therefore, implementation of the policy is not a mandatory requirement for all States.
Retail sales outlets may be set up only in cities with a population of more than 10 lakh as per 2011 Census (including an area of 10 kms around the municipal/urban agglomeration limits of such cities). On the other hand, States/ Union Terrritories, which do not have any city with a population exceeding 10 lakhs, but are desirous of implementing the policy, would have the flexibility to do so.
Thus, the revised condition gives primacy to the decision of the States in this regard, recognizing that the FDI policy constitutes, at best, an enabling framework for the purpose.
Adequate safeguards have been built into the policy, some of which have been further strengthened.
A three year timeframe has been fixed for setting up the back-end infrastructure, which includes capital expenditure on all activities, excluding that on front-end units; for instance, back-end infrastructure will include investment made towards processing, manufacturing, distribution, design improvement, quality control, packaging, logistics, storage, ware-house, agriculture market produce infrastructure etc. Expenditure on land cost and rentals, if any, will not be counted for purposes of backend infrastructure. This condition will bind the foreign investors to invest in critical back-end infrastructure, which is a felt need across the country. It would also make the foreign investors accountable for proper implementation of the condition.
The decision would benefit stakeholders across the entire span of the supply chain.
Farmers stand to benefit from the significant reduction in post-harvest losses, expected to result from the strengthening of the backend infrastructure and enable the farmers to obtain a remunerative price for their produce.
Small manufacturers will benefit from the conditionality requiring at least 30% procurement from Indian small industries, as this would enable them to get integrated with global retail chains. This, in turn, will enhance their capacity to export products from India. As far as small retailers are concerned, it is evident that organized retail already co-exists with small traders and the unorganized retail sector.
Studies indicate that there has been a strong competitive response from the traditional retailers to these organized retailers, through improved business practices and technological upgradation. Global experience also indicates that organized and unorganized retail co-exist and grow.
The young people joining the workforce will benefit from the creation of employment opportunities. Consumers stand to gain the most, firstly, from the lowering of prices that would result from supply chain efficiencies and secondly, through improvement in product quality, which would come about as a combined result of technological upgradation; efficient grading, sorting and packaging; testing and quality control and product standardization.
Implementation of the policy will facilitate greater FDI inflows, additional and quality employment, global best practices and benefit consumers and farmers in the long run, in terms of quality, price, greater supply chain efficiencies in the agricultural sector and development of critical backend infrastructure.
The high-level group, to be constituted under the Minister of Consumer Affairs, is expected to look into various aspects relating to internal trade, to make recommendations on internal trade reforms to the Government, whenever required. This is in response to a demand articulated by traders’ associations during the course of consultations. Reforms in internal trade will ensure distributional efficiencies and also that the benefits from trade are available to all sections of society.
Amendment of conditions in the policy on Foreign Direct Investment in single-brand product retail trading
Ministry of Commerce & Industry, 14-September, 2012 – The Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion for amendment of the existing policy on Foreign Direct Investment in Single-Brand Product Retail Trading. Vide Press Note 1(2012 Series) dated 10.1. 2012, Government had permitted FDI, up to 100%, in single brand product retail trading, subject to specified conditions, including, interalia, the conditions that:
(i) The foreign investor should be the owner of the brand.
(ii) In respect of proposals involving FDI beyond 51%, 30% sourcing would mandatorily have to be done from SMEs/ village and cottage industries artisans and craftsmen. ‘Small industries’ would be defined as industries which have a total investment in plant & machinery not exceeding US $ 1.00 million. This valuation refers to the value at the time of installation, without providing for depreciation. Further, if at any point in time, this valuation is exceeded, the industry shall not qualify as a ‘small industry’ for this purpose. The compliance of this condition will be ensured through self-certification by the company, which could be subsequently checked, by statutory auditors, from the duly certified accounts, which the investors will be required to maintain.
The CCEA has approved modification of the above mentioned conditions, for the activity of single brand product retail trading, as under:
(i) Only one non-resident entity, whether owner of the brand or otherwise, shall be permitted to undertake single brand product retail trading in the country, for the specific brand, through a legally tenable agreement, with the brand owner for undertaking single brand product retail trading in respect of the specific brand for which approval is being sought. The onus for ensuring compliance with this condition shall rest with the Indian entity carrying out single-brand product retail trading in India. The investing entity shall provide evidence to this effect at the time of seeking approval, including a copy of the licensing/ franchise/sub-licence agreement, specifically indicating compliance with the above condition.
(ii) In respect of proposals involving FDI beyond 51%, sourcing of 30%, of the value of goods purchased, will be done from India, preferably from MSMEs, village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen, in all sectors, where it is feasible. The quantum of domestic sourcing will be self-certified by the company, to be subsequently checked, by statutory auditors, from the duly certified accounts which the company will be required to maintain. For the purpose of ascertaining the sourcing requirement, the relevant entity would be the company, incorporated in India, which is the recipient of FDI for the purpose of carrying out single-brand product retail trading.
Amendment in the condition relating to brand-ownership has been felt necessary, in view of the fact that, globally, single brand retailers often adopt a variety of business models, wherein the brand owning entity and investor entities are kept separate, even though in some cases, they may be having the same parent.
Some single brand retailers adopt models where there is no link between the investing arm and the brand owning arm. In such cases, the brand owner entity could issue an exclusive licence/franchise to the investor entity, to use the brand for the purpose of retail trading, either globally or for a specific region, through appropriate agreement/(s).
Such business models were not found to be in consonance with the condition that the foreign investor should be the brand owner. In view of the fact that the global business models do not strictly conform to this condition, a number of investors, who would otherwise have looked at investments in India, may not be able to do so. Therefore, keeping in view the constraints being faced by genuine foreign investors with different business models, as mentioned above, it would facilitate investment if this condition is liberalised.
However, in order to address the concern that more than one franchisee/licensee may apply for undertaking SBRT for the same brand, which could lead to difficulties in monitoring compliance and fixing responsibility for non-compliance of the specified conditions, it has been mandated that, only one non-resident entity, whether owner of the brand or otherwise, shall be permitted to undertake single brand product retail trading in the country, for the specific brand, through a legally tenable agreement, with the brand owner in respect of the specific brand for which approval is being sought.
The onus for ensuring compliance with this condition shall rest with the Indian entity carrying out single-brand retail trading in India. The investing entity shall provide evidence to this effect at the time of seeking approval from Government, including a copy of the licensing/ franchise/sub-license agreement, specifically indicating compliance with the above condition.
Regarding the condition that 30% sourcing be mandatorily done from Indian small industry, investors have pointed out that it would be difficult to comply with this condition in the case of very specialized/high technology items. Global single brand retailers are often engaged in the business of retailing specialty/high-tech products.
Such products are niche products, wherein it may not be viable for the foreign investors to build capacities wherever they engage in retailing, owing to the specialized requirements of quality and precision which the local small industry may not be able to provide. Investors are, therefore, of the view that the condition of 30% mandatory sourcing from Indian small industries/ village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen, is acting as a deterrent to the desired foreign investment in this activity.
The other category of products relate to the entire range from household appliances, utensils, furniture, crockery to furnishings, etc. These products are far more amenable to sourcing from MSMEs, village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen. Therefore, the proposed modification of the condition is envisaged to take into account the circumstances of both the specialized/high technology niche products, as well as the general category, covering a wide range of items.
The fact that 30% domestic sourcing is being mandated would imply that the single brand retailers would have to build production capacities in the country, either in existing units, or set up new ones, catering specifically to their sourcing requirements. Hence, even the 30% domestic sourcing is expected to develop production capacities in the country, with the attendant global best practices, relating to design, production and quality.
Since single brand retailers are global players, Indian suppliers and vendors to these retailers would have an opportunity of becoming a part of their global supply chains. Thus, Indian products could find their way in the stores of these single brand retailers located in other countries, thereby augmenting exports from India as well.
Thus, the amended condition relating to sourcing of 30%, of the value of goods purchased, being done from India, preferably from MSMEs, village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen, in all sectors, where feasible, is expected to benefit Indian producers, including the Indian handicrafts sector, which provides livelihood to millions and is important from the point of low capital investment, high value-addition and high potential for export, as also to meet the critical need to integrate Indian producers with the domestic and global markets.
Skill integration with craftsmen abroad is likely to help develop synergies with international brands and generate more employment. The consequential benefits, arising from the integration of global best practices in management, along with global standards in quality, design, packaging and production, would help build capacities of local producers, by making it worthwhile for them to scale-up their production, thereby creating a multiplier effect on employment and income generation. This would also lead to up-gradation of technology, which, in turn, would have a further multiplier effect on the economy.
Review of the policy of Foreign Investment in Companies Operating in the Broadcasting Sector
Ministry of Commerce & Industry, 14-September, 2012 – The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion for Review of the policy on Foreign Investment (FI) in companies operating in the Broadcasting Sector.
Enhanced access to foreign investment is expected to expand the reach of broadcasting services, thereby improving accessibility of these services, and bring in international best practices. The proposal will make the foreign investment policy for the broadcasting sector consistent with that of the telecom sector, because of the convergence of technologies involved in these two sectors, and thereby bring in greater investments into quality infrastructure for the broadcasting carriage services.
The CCEA, after review, has liberalised the policy on foreign investment, for companies operating in the broadcasting sector, as below:
(i) Teleports (setting up up-linking HUBs/Teleports): Direct to Home (DTH); Cable Networks (Multi-System-Operators operating at National or State or District level and undertaking upgradation of networks towards digitalization and addressability):
Currently, foreign investment, up to 49 percent, is permitted in these activities. It has been decided to now increase the foreign investment limit from 49 percent to 74 percent, with the proviso that:
(a) Up to 49 percent be permitted under the automatic route and
(b) Beyond 49 percent and up to 74 percent be permitted under the Government route
(ii) Mobile TV:
There is no specific dispensation under FDI policy for mobile TV. It has now been decided to permit Foreign Investment (FI) up to 74 percent, with the proviso that:
(iii) Headend-in-the Sky Broadcasting Service:
The existing limit of 74 percent foreign investment – automatic route up to 49 percent and Government route beyond 49 percent and up to 74 percent – would continue
(i) In respect of Cable Networks (Other Multi-System-Operators not undertaking up-gradation of networks towards digitalization and addressability and Local Cable Operators), the existing limit of 49% foreign investment, under the automatic route, would continue.
(ii) Similarly, for up-linking of ‘News & Current Affairs’ TV channels / FM Radio, the existing limit of 26 percent foreign investment, under the Government route, would continue and for up-linking of Non-‘News & Current Affairs’ TV Channels / Down-linking of TV Channels, the existing policy of 100 percent foreign investment, through the Government route, would continue.
Foreign investment, in companies engaged in all the aforestated services, will be subject to sectoral and security conditionalities and guidelines, as may be specified from time to time, by the concerned Ministries.
In the case of companies operating in the telecom sector, the calculation of the direct foreign investment limit includes FDI, investment by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), Nonresident Indians (NRIs), Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), American Depository Receipts (ADRs), Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) and convertible preference shares held by foreign entities.
For companies operating in the broadcasting sector, however, the foreign investment (FI) limits for different activities include different components. It has been decided to rationalise the methodology of calculation of direct investment and the methodology, as applicable to the telecom sector, would also be made applicable across the l&B sector.
Accordingly, as in the case of the telecommunications sector, the foreign investment limit in companies engaged in various activities of the I&B sector shall include, in addition to FDI, investment by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), Non Resident Indians (NRIs), Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), American Depository Receipts (ADRs), Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) and convertible preference shares held by foreign entities.
The existing Foreign Investment (FI) limits in companies engaged in the activity of providing broadcasting services are not uniform. TRAI had earlier recommended different Foreign Investment (FI) limits for companies engaged in providing ‘carriage’ and ‘content’ services.
It had also stressed the need for a holistic review of the extant Foreign Investment (FI) limits for companies operating in different segments of the broadcasting sector, in order to bring about consistency in the policy, as also to promote a level playing field between competing technologies, in view of the convergence of technologies across the telecommunication and broadcasting sectors.
At present, it is possible to provide broadcasting ‘carriage services” using either telecommunication networks or broadcasting networks. Keeping in view the convergence of technologies in the broadcasting and telecom sectors, uniformity has been proposed in respect of companies providing carriage services (except cable services). For the same reason, uniformity is necessary in the method of calculation of direct foreign investment, in companies operating in the telecom and broadcasting sectors.
Review of Policy on Foreign Direct Investment in Civil Aviation Sector
Ministry of Commerce & Industry, 14-September, 2012 – The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion for permitting foreign airlines to make foreign investment, up to 49 percent in scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services.
Removing the existing restriction on investment by foreign airlines would assist in bringing in strategic investors into the civil aviation sector. Higher foreign investment inflows are necessary at the present juncture, in order to strengthen the sector. Introduction of global best practices, concomitant with the induction of FDI from foreign airlines, is expected to lead to higher service standards, international best practices and induction of state-of-the-art technologies, in the air transport sector.
Until now, foreign airlines were allowed to participate in the equity of companies operating cargo airlines, helicopter and seaplane services, but not in the equity of an air transport undertaking operating scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services. The Government has now permitted foreign airlines to invest, under the Government approval route, in the capital of Indian companies operating scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services, up to the limit of 49 percent of their paid up capital.
The 49 percent limit will subsume FDI and FII investment. The investments so made, would need to comply with the relevant regulations of SEBI, such as the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements (ICDR) Regulations / Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers (SAST) Regulations, as well as other applicable rules and regulations. Such investment would further be subject to the conditions that:
(i) A Scheduled Operator’s Permit can be granted only to a company:
a. That is registered and has its principal place of business within India,
b. The Chairman and at least two-thirds of the Directors of which are citizens of India, and
c. The substantial ownership and effective control of which is vested in Indian nationals.
(ii) All foreign nationals likely to be associated with Indian Scheduled and Non-Scheduled air transport services, as a result of such investment, shall be cleared from security view point before deployment, and
(iii) All technical equipment that might be imported into India, as a result of such investment, shall require clearance from the relevant authority in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The issue of permitting FDI by foreign airlines in the equity of an air transport undertaking operating Scheduled and Non-Scheduled air transport services has been under consideration of Government for some time. There has been a need to consider financing options available for private airlines in the country, for their operations and service upgradation, and to enable them to compete with other global carriers. Denial of access to foreign capital could result in the collapse of many of our domestic airlines, creating a systemic risk for financial institutions, and a vital gap in the country’s infrastructure.
The total FDI inflows into the air transport sector, during January, 2000 – April, 2012, were US $ 434.75 million, constituting only 0.25 percent of the total FDI inflows into the country.
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How the Washington Post’s TikTok became an unofficial 2020 campaign stop
For politicians, the buzziest new social video app presents a risk and an opportunity.
By Rebecca Jennings@rebexxxxa Updated Nov 22, 2019, 12:04pm EST
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Cory Booker takes a selfie.
Bruce Glikas/WireImage
In 2015, Hillary Clinton was “yas queening” all over the internet. She had an official Snapchat account with a “Yaaas, Hillary!” logo that was also a T-shirt, a posed #yas photo with the stars of Broad City, custom Hillary Bitmoji, ironic cross-stitch art, and other signifiers of “yas” culture that’s since become emblematic of a certain kind of blinkered white feminism. An attempt to reach millennials with a passing familiarity with stan culture, it was also an extremely strategy easy to mock. As Amanda Hess wrote at the time in Slate, “American culture does not exactly appreciate the image of the ‘authentic’ older woman, but boy does it hate the older woman who strains to stay relevant.”
Hillary Clinton lost the election. That fact certainly can’t be attributed solely to a social media voice that many criticized as insincere and pandering, but it had a lasting impact on the ways we expect politicians to behave online.
It also might offer a clue on why so few politicians have a presence on the buzziest social media app of the moment, TikTok. Since its US launch in August 2018, the short-form video app has exploded in popularity, having been downloaded more than a billion times in 2018 and boasting 27 million active American users as of February 2019. Both Facebook and Instagram have launched competitors (or clones, depending on whom you ask), and celebrities like Will Smith, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, and Reese Witherspoon are now flocking to the app en masse.
Politicians, meanwhile, have been understandably hesitant to hop on board. Like all social media apps, TikTok has its own vernacular, and any transgressions of that shared language and sensibility stick out like, well, septuagenarian politicians on a social media app meant for teens. The fear of coming off as insincere or being flooded with “ok boomer” comments is a real one. The other outcome? A TikTok presence that fails to leave a mark, like Julian Castro’s account, which currently only has 470 followers.
Still, that leaves an opportunity. Enter: the TikTok account of an equally stodgy publication that has, against all odds, managed to feel truly native to the TikTok ecosystem. It’s the Washington Post’s, which since its debut this spring has amassed a quarter-million followers and a legion of superfans who praise its goofy premises and unserious tone. So far, four candidates — Andrew Yang, Beto O’Rourke, Julian Castro, and Cory Booker — have appeared on it.
The Washington Post’s TikTok’s success is the direct result of its creator and biggest star, 28-year-old Dave Jorgenson, who previously created humor and satire videos for the newspaper. A scroll through the Washington Post’s TikTok account will show Dave making self-deprecating jokes about being an adult on the app, Dave occupying the role of “the TikTok guy” in meetings, Dave doing silly 15-second sketches with the paper’s fashion, gaming, and economics reporters.
Jorgenson attributes the growth and fanbase of the account to his spending two months watching and listening to videos on TikTok instead of rushing to quickly turn around content. “If you’re gonna launch anything, whether you’re a newspaper or a brand or a company, you need to understand the app, otherwise people will see right through you,” he says. “Especially on TikTok, because the whole thing is that it’s mostly just raw videos set to music.”
The Washington Post, however, has what regular TikTok users don’t: access to very important people. In October, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang just happened to be scheduled to visit the Washington Post’s offices filming an unrelated segment when Jorgenson was able to strike a plan with Yang’s team about filming a TikTok.
Yang’s team was already a fan of the Post’s TikTok account; the campaign has also leaned heavily on the fact that he is a tech entrepreneur. “We didn’t really have to sell it to Andrew Yang,” says Jorgenson. “He was like, ‘If they think it’s great, I’m going to do it.’” It’s a particularly impressive feat considering the resulting video was actually poking fun at Yang’s low polling numbers. “Finally relaxing after a full day of interviews and meeting people,” reads the caption on the first segment, followed by “Still polling at 3 percent” against a backdrop of Yang dancing in celebration.
The paper has since done equally self-deprecating videos with both Beto O’Rourke, who ended his campaign on November 1, and Julian Castro, whose video was a play on how much he looks like his brother, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro. All three videos took off, garnering between 40,000 and 400,000 likes.
Though neither Beto’s nor Castro’s team replied to a request for comment, Yang’s press secretary told Vox, “We’re constantly exploring ways to reach new audiences and voters, and the TikTok video with the Washington Post is certainly one of those ways.”
Since the election of Donald Trump proved politicians could tweet rambling, often nonsensical stream-of-consciousness sentences and still win over voters, politicians have approached social media with an increased candidness. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has posted her skin care routine to her Instagram stories; O’Rourke live-streamed his haircut; Elizabeth Warren posts videos of herself calling small-dollar donors to social media and makes a point to pose for every single person who wants a selfie after her town halls. In an age where we expect to be welcomed into the homes and lives of everyone we follow online, connecting with politicians has never felt so intimate.
Politicians have historically been pretty terrible at social media. A cursory glance at Mike Huckabee’s tweeting habits will illustrate as much — the former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate was once described by Fast Company as “the least funny person on Twitter.” Even cool-ish, young-ish presidential candidates are sometimes bad at tweeting. Cory Booker has made the same joke — a bit of PG-13 wordplay about coffee and sleep — 14 times over the past decade.
There are now more avenues than ever for politicians to embarrass themselves online. Instagram, for instance, has gained popularity among politicians faster than any other social media platform over the past few years, and was also the site of O’Rourke’s now-infamous live-streamed dentist appointment.
Aidan King, a senior strategist at Middle Seat consulting who has worked on presidential campaigns for both Bernie Sanders and O’Rourke, says that there’s a certain degree of apprehension in approaching any new social media platform. If candidates don’t know precisely who they’re speaking to, their message can be warped into something else. “There’s nothing worse for a political campaign than going viral for the wrong reasons,” he says.
TikTok, with its legions of irony-steeped teens, presents a specific danger. “The zoomers can be pretty ruthless, and it’s also clear which candidates they like a lot,” explains King. “Young people are really into Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Elizabeth Warren, so I can understand why other candidates in the 2020 races just don’t really want to mess with [TikTok]. Joe Biden going on a platform that adores Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a recipe for disaster. They know the audience well enough to know they wouldn’t really get along with the people there.”
The Washington Post’s TikTok, though, is a controlled environment where candidates have little to lose, even when the content is unlike anything a political PR team would have typically come up with. “There’s just this very positive feeling around TikTok. Even if they are self-deprecating, they’re pretty wholesome,” Jorgenson says. “While the text in front of Andrew Yang was deprecating, it’s very funny. How could that hurt you?”
Jorgenson hopes to get every 2020 Democratic candidate in a video and has reached out to multiple candidates, but there is one white whale in particular. “I think if we get Bernie, then we have done our job, because I don’t know how we’re going to. But I’d be very proud of myself,” he laughs.
There are concerns over TikTok’s ties to the Chinese government (its parent company Bytedance is based in Beijing) and its willingness to bow to conservative governments by censoring pro-LGBTQ content, but the app has always wanted its content to remain politics-free. It recently announced it would ban political advertising out of a desire to remain a “positive, refreshing environment.” While nothing is stopping politicians from using the app, they may be hesitant to engage with one that will soon be under investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
It’s also likely it simply isn’t worth building a following on an app where a sizeable portion of its users aren’t even old enough to vote. For now, one-off sketches with the TikTok expert over at the Washington Post will do.
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Skip to main content World Africa Americas Asia Europe Middle East Foreign Correspondents
Japan’s premier says he will uphold apology for its wartime aggression
Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, attends a session at the lower house of parliament in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 12, 2015. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg)
By Anna Fifield
Anna Fifield
Former Beijing bureau chief
TOKYO — Japan’s conservative premier said Tuesday that his government will uphold Tokyo’s official apology for the damage and suffering it inflicted on its neighbors during World War II.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assertion comes amid intense speculation in Tokyo — and, to a lesser extent, in Washington — about how he will mark the 70th anniversary in August of the end of the war.
Abe has made it his mission to return Japan to a more “normal” footing, repeatedly signaling that he thinks his country has apologized enough for its wartime actions. He also has indicated that he will seek to revise the largely U.S.-drafted constitution, which renounced Japan’s right to possess the means to wage war, to “match a new era.”
Under questioning in the Diet, the country’s parliament, Abe said his cabinet “upholds the position of previous cabinets regarding recognition of history as a whole,” including the Murayama statement delivered 20 years ago on the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.
In that statement, then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said that after “following a mistaken national policy,” Japan had, “through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations.”
“In the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology.”
Abe said his 70th anniversary statement will be premised on Murayama’s and on a similar statement made 10 years later by Junichiro Koizumi.
“As for what will be in my statement, it will be self-examination of Japan during the last World War, the steps we have taken to become a peaceful country, what contribution Japan will make to the Asia-Pacific region and the world from now on, and what Japan will be like in the next 80, 90 and 100 years,” Abe said Tuesday under questioning from the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
“We will bring together our wisdom to think of what we can disseminate to the world and include it in the new statement,” he said.
However, his position is far from consistent. Just three weeks ago, on a local TV show, he said he wanted his statement to reflect “how the Abe government considers the matter,” rather than just using “the wording we have repeated.”
In particular, he said he wanted to avoid “bits and pieces of argument over whether the previous wording was used or new wording was added.” The words “colonial rule and aggression” are particularly contentious in conservative circles here.
Abe is forming a committee of advisers to work on the statement and consider what role Japan should play in the 21st century. A speech he made in the Australian capital of Canberra last year, in which he expressed remorse but did not offer an apology, is said to be the model for his August statement.
His aides are keeping Washington apprised of his thinking as they begin drafting the statement, said people involved in the discussions. He will visit Washington in late April for a meeting with President Obama and is seeking to address the joint houses of Congress, according to local reports.
Abe, the grandson of postwar Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, who was suspected of war crimes but never indicted, clearly thinks that Japan has paid its dues for its wartime aggression. He has indicated more overtly than ever that he wants to revise the postwar constitution, which says that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation.”
In a parliamentary session Monday, Abe said amending this pacifist clause in the constitution was one of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s highest priorities.
“I want to deepen public discussion about the way the constitution should be, to match a new era,” he said. “And based on such deepening of discussion, I will firmly and steadily work to revise the constitution.”
An ally of the prime minister previously said that Abe would try to revise the document at the end of next year, if the LDP wins a two-thirds majority in the upper house of the Diet. Together with its junior coalition partner, the pacifist Komeito, the LDP already has a two-thirds majority in the lower house.
If both chambers approve the revision, it would be put to the public in a referendum. But it is far from certain that the changes would win majority support. The populace remains wedded to — and proud of — its 70 years of pacifism.
“Abe’s impulse is going to be to move as far and as fast as he can on revision and reinterpretation,” said Sheila Smith, a Japan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But how much opportunity is there for Abe to move?”
Polls show that the public remains bitterly opposed to revising the charter. A survey by NHK, the public broadcaster, this month found that only a quarter of respondents thought Japan’s Self-Defense Forces should be allowed to go overseas to rescue Japanese people, while a third wanted Tokyo to ban such actions, and 36 percent were undecided.
But the recent hostage crisis — in which two Japanese nationals held by the extremist Islamic State were beheaded — has created an opportunity for Abe that did not exist before. The prime minister has said that the crisis showed that the Self-Defense Forces needed to be freed of postwar constraints to protect Japanese people abroad.
Political scientists say Abe’s advisers are testing the waters to see how far the government can exploit the public outrage over the brutal killing of their compatriots.
Yuki Oda contributed to this report.
Anna Fifield Anna Fifield is The Washington Post’s former bureau chief in Beijing, writing about all aspects of China. She was the Post's bureau chief in Tokyo between 2014 and 2018, writing about Japan and the two Koreas. She is the author of "The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un." Follow
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Delta 5's Julz Sale had complete control
By Loren DiBlasi
Courtesy of Kill Rock Stars
With her humor and wit, Julz Sale (center) helped Delta 5 craft a high-voltage sound that, to this day, still rings true.
Julz Sale, singer and guitarist for British post-punk band Delta 5, died in September — but in this live video from 1980, she is a perpetual force. Performing the now cult-classic single "Mind Your Own Business" alongside bandmate Bethan Peters, Sale chants "BUS! NESS!" with a ferocity that suggests she's inventing an entirely new word. In truth, Sale was a mother of invention, because in the crowded Leeds post-punk scene — and for those who discovered her much later — her role was a necessary one. Her impact was such that it only took two years and a small handful of singles for Delta 5 to craft a high-voltage sound that, to this day, still rings true (and is often emulated).
Sale was 63 years old and living in Thailand, where she taught English, when she died after a short fight with cancer. Her brother, Marc, confirmed the news to NPR. After initial reports of her death circulated online in September, Delta 5's labels, Kill Rock Stars and Rough Trade, both confirmed her passing. "Julz Sale's contribution to punk, post-punk and music at large will be felt forever," Kill Rock Stars' statement reads. "She was a delight to know and will be missed immensely." In 2006, the label revived some of Delta 5's most obscure material for the first time with a compilation titled Singles & Sessions: 1979–1981.
Rough Trade's tribute quotes "Mind Your Own Business," originally released by the label in 1979. In a testament to its enduring and timeless appeal, the track experienced a resurgence in popularity after being featured in a 2021 Apple ad about iPhone security.
Fitting, because with its infectious, lightning-quick groove, "Mind Your Own Business" isn't just a song, it's a dare. Sale and Peters deliver dueling vocals with unprecedented attitude and scathing wit. "Can I lick the crumbs from your table?" the two women shout with a sharp, flippant sarcasm. Four decades and many imitations later, the words still cut.
Delta 5 emerged from the same late-'70s Leeds University art scene as close friends and collaborators Gang of Four and the Mekons — but with three women and two basses at the forefront, their brand of angular dance-punk stood out. With "Mind Your Own Business" and subsequent singles like "You" and "Try" the band developed a detached, distinctly feminine style that was cool, confident and unapologetic. As biting as she could be behind the mic, Sale had natural comedic timing; "You" drips with her jagged scorn, turning the concept of cheating on its head. "Who was seen with somebody else? Who likes sex only on Sundays? YOU!" she quips. Her freedom is contagious, her winking resolve, tenacious.
"In Britain, the 1970s felt like one long crisis," Simon Reynolds writes in Rip It Up and Start Again, opening a chapter about post-punk in Leeds. For Sale and Delta 5, that crisis was personal. At the time of the band's inception, far-right sentiment was rising in England, and especially in Leeds, which had become a northern base for the fascist National Front and neo-Nazi organizations. Though the group was transparent in its feminism and active in the Rock Against Racism movement, there were no overt political references in Delta 5's songs. Instead, Delta 5 weaponised cleverness and humor to help make sense of a senseless society; Sale's guitar parts weren't so much riffs as they were electric shocks, jolting bolts of raw energy into music that was singularly honest and joyous for its time.
After Delta 5 disbanded in 1981 — leaving behind just one album, See the Whirl — most of its members, including Sale, who taught Thai children in a government school for more than 25 years, remained absent from public life. Peters has crept up occasionally; she was quoted in Vivien Goldman's 2019 book, Revenge of the She-Punks, reminiscing about Delta 5's "rudimentary approach to everything." But Sale? Perhaps she had said all she needed to say.
Sale's pointed, light-hearted approach to punk still casts a shadow; bands like Shonen Knife, Dum Dum Girls and Habibi have all put their spin on Delta 5 classics, and an endless string of post-punk (and post-post-punk?) revival bands keep borrowing from her fractured guitars and effortlessly evocative vocals. But there's no mistaking Sale's original, defiant voice — made even stronger when she and Peters used theirs together. "Can I interfere in your crisis?" they once asked, examining the chaos around them and maintaining their own defense: "No! Mind your own business."
Loren DiBlasi
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Is humanity just a phase in a robotic evolution?
Mikhail Prokopenko, David M. Budden ,
A new alliance is ensuring responsible global AI, helping improve the lives of billions
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be defined as intelligence exhibited by machines or software. Although the quest for AI remains an elusive moving target, there have been undeniably rapid and significant advancements in the fields of computer science, robotics, neuro-engineering, virtual reality, and other areas that attempt to construct intelligent behaviour or imitate and enhance human intelligence.
These recent advancements have been matched by vigorous discussions and polemics. A campaign to Stop Killer Robots is ongoing, highlighting the concern that the AI technology enabling autonomous weaponry “has reached a point where the development of such systems is – practically if not legally – feasible within years, not decades”. Many futurists also predict and fear the emergence of a technological singularity by 2045, where the sophistication of AI capabilities will remove any distinction between humans and machines. A less intimidating future – a fulfilment of the Millennium Challenge – is scheduled for 2050, when it is predicted a team of RoboCup humanoid robots will be able to defeat the FIFA World Cup champions.
In light of these diverse projections, it is worth taking a few steps back to analyse the evolutionary background of our own species and life itself.
Origin of life
The origin of life remains one of humanity’s greatest mysteries, complicated by an apparent chicken-and-egg paradox: how could primordial, self-replicating chemicals have organized into complex genetic structures if these same structures are necessary for replication to occur? An elegant resolution to this paradox was proposed by Alexander Graham Cairns-Smith in 1985: the self-replication of clay crystals might represent the missing link between biologically inert matter and the emergence of organic life.
Clay crystals preserve their external arrangement during growth and regrowth; it was proposed that this function could supply the means for initial replication cycles of organic molecules trapped upon a crystal substrate. According to the hypothesis, these trapped organic molecules gradually developed the complexity necessary to independently regulate their own replication, eventually setting in motion the Darwinian evolutionary processes that led over millions of years to all life as we know it on Earth.
In the context of recent debates surrounding advancements in AI, a disquieting analogy may be drawn: is humanity simply a stepping stone, much like the clay crystals, catalysing the emergence of a sentient and dominant robot species? In examining this analogy, we suggest tracing the progress of prominent state-of-the-art AI endeavours. Specifically, the RoboCup challenge provides a unique way to evaluate the evolutionary trajectory of both hardware and software systems, allowing us to focus on their crucial distinctions.
Lessons from the Millennium Challenge
RoboCup – the “World Cup” of robot soccer – was first proposed in 1997 as a standard problem for driving advancements in the fields of AI, robotics and computer vision. It has exploded in popularity in the years since, with recent competitions attracting more than 40,000 visitors and participants from over 45 countries.
RoboCup exhibits several characteristics that distinguish it from the previous AI benchmark (chess), namely a dynamic environment, real-time activity, incomplete state perception, non-symbolic sensory data and distributed/multi-agent control. Importantly, RoboCup is partitioned into two complementary endeavours: physical robot leagues, focusing on the development of hardware (fully-embodied AI); and software agent (simulation) leagues, focusing on the development of virtual AI. RoboCup thus provides a unique platform for evaluating the evolutionary trajectory of both hardware and software systems, both of which are necessary to fulfil the Millennium Challenge.
The RoboCup simulation leagues have traditionally attracted the largest number of international teams, reaching 40 in 2015. The ability to simulate soccer matches without physical robots removes many hardware and environmental issues (e.g. motor temperature and breakages), allowing teams to focus on the development of complex team behaviours and strategies for a larger number of autonomous agents.
Figure 1: Physical (top) and simulation (bottom) RoboCup leagues
The purpose of the simulation leagues was to serve as platforms for the initial development and evaluation of software modules intended for later integration into physical robots. Many of these modules have applications beyond the RoboCup domain, promoting extension and replication by researchers in the wider field of industrial robotics and automation – a multi-billion dollar industry where the ability for a robot to “see”, “navigate” and make “intelligent” decisions is critical to both profit and the safety of human co-workers.
Moreover, many novel applications have emerged at the boundaries of seemingly unrelated disciplines. For example, information theoretic models developed to quantify dynamic interactions in soccer games have been applied to better understand swarming behaviour of insects, birds and fish in terms of their collective memory and long-range information cascades. These models have also been applied in computational neuroscience to model the structure and connectivity of the human brain, and to classify diagnostic patterns detected by “electronic noses”.
Despite occasional achievements and the best intentions, the adoption of intelligent behaviours (developed for the RoboCup simulation leagues) by physical robots is uncommon and has, arguably, slowed in pace. Why is this the case? One reason is purely economic, as described in a recent study which found that nations with lower educational funding are significantly under-represented in physical robot leagues. Robots are generally expensive to purchase, maintain and transport, imposing a high entry barrier for these institutions and socioeconomically partitioning the robotics research community. The result is a diversified community contributing to advancements in virtual multi-agent AI, expanding the frontiers of collective distributed intelligence at a pace which exceeds physical robot innovations.
The ghost in the machine
Although socioeconomic barriers are of fundamental importance, this is certainly not the only dimension that continues to separate progress in the RoboCup simulation versus physical leagues.
Crucially, developers involved in the simulation leagues are able to focus much more effort on sophisticated multi-agent AI algorithms, making new ground in the studies of collective distributed intelligence. These developments mirror an important trend underlying AI improvements: virtual AI enclosed within computer networks can advance at a much faster rate than fully-embodied robotic AI.
The reason behind this trend is simple. For an advanced robotic species to evolve, a cycle of self-improvement is necessary for both software and hardware capabilities (including perception, actuation and processing machinery). Although rapid-to-exponential improvements in AI are likely within a perpetually growing cyber-network, it is difficult to envision hardware evolving at a sufficient rate as to enable the embodiment of this intelligence within a physical robot. Such improvements are fundamentally constrained by the laws of nature, and even software improvements will eventually encounter the information thermodynamic limits of computation.
The significance of software embodied within hardware has been recognized by many researchers, including biologists. Davies observed that the chemistry of living systems can be compared to hardware, whereas genetic and epigenetic information are analogous to software. Moreover, the duality of hardware and software is elegantly reflected in the dual role of DNA, which is both the information-carrying unit of the human genome while providing a physical mechanism for this information to be read (Watson-Crick complementarity). Given this and many other parallels between natural and robotic systems, it is perhaps unsurprising that the evolution of physical robots is (by definition) subject to the same physical laws and constraints as those applicable to any other species.
If virtual AI can, in principle, evolve much quicker than hardware-bound robots, an interesting question arises: can AI software be readily uploaded to robotic hardware at any given time? Insights to this question were provided as early as 1949, when British philosopher Gilbert Ryle dismissed René Descartes’ principle of mind-body dualism which assumed that the mind – unlike the body or brain – is a non-physical substance. This “ghost in the machine” analogy can be extended to describe AI: a virtual mind embodied within a distributed body (the computer network), which cannot be extracted into robotic hardware without destroying the essence of its consciousness. Although the capabilities of a virtual intelligence can grow unbounded to fill a perpetually growing network, it will not just be a software mind, but rather embodied by and intertwined with a (distributed) form – the computer network.
Figure 2: Physical embodiment of a RoboCup Simulation League team
The ghost is inseparable from the machine, which leads to a reassuring conclusion: the evolution of the robot species will continue to lag behind virtual software-oriented AI. This conclusion offers sufficient possibilities for shaping an ethical and responsible trajectory for future AI research and the eventual co-evolution of humanity and AI. Many of these paths involve technology being leveraged to augment human intelligence, either in its current form (devices), cybernetic implants, or gene editing technology. In any event, it is of fundamental importance that no virtual entity, reality or construct should become a single point-of-failure in the future prosperity of our physical world.
The Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2015 is taking place in Dalian, China, from 9-11 September.
Author: Prof Mikhail Prokopenko, Director of Complex Systems Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Sydney, Specialty Chief Editor for the section on Computational Intelligence in Frontiers in Robotics and AI; David M. Budden, Ph.D candidate at the University of Melbourne’s Systems Biology Laboratory
Image: A robot falls as others compete in a soccer match at the RoboCup 2015, at an exhibition centre in Hefei, Anhui province, China, July 19, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer
Mikhail Prokopenko, David M. Budden, ,
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More Than 300 In Md. Died From Overdoses Jan.-Mar. Of This Year
DHMH says most were for heroin and other opioids taken with fentenyl.
There are grim statistics from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The agency says 383 people have died from overdoses in the state between January and March, 2016. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing the same trend of fatal overdoses that we’ve been seeing in recent years,” says Chris Garrett, a spokesman for DHMH. “Heroin continues to be a major cause of overdoses as well as fentenyl.
“Fentenyl is, of course, is more potent that heroin, and unfortunately, we’re still seeing that people are consuming fentenyl, sometimes thinking they’re consuming another illegal drug. Unfortunately, because the potency of fentenyl is so strong, people are overdosing,” he says.
The DHMH report also says drug and alcohol intoxication deaths in Maryland increased in 2015 for the fifth year in a row, reaching a high of 1259, which is a 21% increase over the previous year, 2014. 86% if all intoxicated deaths that occurred last year are due to heroin, prescription opioids and non-pharmaceutical fentenyl, according the report.
The number of opioid-related deaths increased by 23% between 2014 and 2015, and have more than doubled since 2010, says DHMH. The number of heroin-related deaths tripled between 2010-2015, the DHMH report says. 29% of heroin-related deaths in 2015 occurred in combination with fentenyl, 24% in combination with alcohol, 20% in combination with cocaine and 13% in combination with prescription opioids.
But DHMH says action has been taken to try to stem the heroin and opioid addiction epidemic. Garrett says naloxone is available without a prescription to citizens who have been trained in its use. “There’s a standing order that was signed by the Deputy Health Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene that enables Maryland-licensed pharmacists to dispense naloxone that’s known to reverse overdoses,” he says. 55 organizations in Maryland conduct training for citizens and issue them certificates to purchase naloxone. Police officers and EMT’s around the state have been trained in the use of naloxone.
Maryland also has a Good Samaritan Law on the books. “The Good Samaritan Law helps protect people from prosecution if they’re acting in a relation to helping someone who is experiencing an overdose,” says Garrett.
A lot of opioid addictions start with prescribed medications which help patients control pain. DHMH has sponsored a Scope-of-Pain seminar. It’s geared toward health care providers to help patients manage their chronic pain without relying on opioids.
Garrett says anyone who has an addiction problem and wants help can call the Maryland Crisis Hotline, which is open 24-hours a day, seven-days a week. The number is 1-800-422-0009.
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I’ve Been Obsessed With This Label for Over 15 Years
by Elinor Block
I remember the first time I picked up an Adidas Originals item: It was a classic blue with white stripes track jacket. This was during the '90s when the label was often worn by the era's biggest stars, such as Liam Gallagher and Kate Moss. I still have that jacket, and wear it often. Thing is, when it comes to the fashion industry, the lure of the three stripes has never really disappeared. At the end of last year, the brand revealed that it was out-performing its competitors, which is in part thanks to its sales of Stan Smith sneakers and its Superstar trainers. But there are so many more reasons why the brand has become so popular. Keep scrolling to read more about the history behind Adidas Originals, how to style it now and where to shop key pieces.
Style Notes: While sponsorships of musicians might be common practice for brands these days, back in 1986 it wasn't. When Run DMC first released My Adidas, it was a real love letter to the brand—brought on by the band's dedication to wearing Adidas Superstars. But this led to the pioneering hip-hop group getting a $1 million endorsement from the sports brand. Following the deal, a limited-edition shell toe Superstar shoe was released (still available today), and "sales skyrocketed." This was just the start of the brand's integration into popular culture.
Style Notes: In the '90s, Adidas's Gazelle trainers really took off. While they were originally created in the '60s, Brit Pop stars such as Oasis and Blur made it part of their uniform. But the one thing that made it the most "fashion" of brands? The fact that Kate Moss loved them and considers herself an "Adidas girl."
Style Notes: The real turning point for Adidas Originals, when it came to the fashion industry, was Céline's creative director Phoebe Philo wearing the Stan Smith sneakers. Cue to this becoming the fashion shoe of the past few years.
Style Notes: These days, it's usual to spot a pair of shell-toe Adidas Superstars in a variety of different colours during fashion week.
Style Notes: The classic track pants have also become super popular among street style stars and editors such as Sarah Harris.
Style Notes: Whether it's sneakers, trousers, or a top, the popularity of Adidas Originals will continue for the fashion industry.
SHOP KEY PIECES
Adidas Women's Originals Europa Track Jacket ( £60) £30
This is exactly the kind of piece to throw on over a floral dress or with a smart pair of trousers.
Adidas Originals Superstar Striped Stretch-Jersey Track Pants (£45)
Buy in a slightly bigger fit that your usual size and wear with a white shirt.
Adidas Originals Printed French Cotton-Blend Terry Hooded Top (£55)
Ideal with a smart blazer.
Adidas Originals Gazelle Suede Sneakers (£75)
If they're good enough for Kate Moss, then we want a pair.
Next up, the biggest spring/summer 2018 fashion trends you need to know about.
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WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION
Nextbite Brands, LLC v. Nextbite LLC, Nextbite General Trading Company
Case No. D2021-3114
1. The Parties
The Complainant is Nextbite Brands, LLC, United States of America (“United States” or “US”), represented by Novian & Novian LLP, United States.
The Respondent is Nextbite LLC, Nextbite General Trading Company, Kuwait, represented by Al Tamimi & Company, United Arab Emirates.
2. The Domain Name and Registrar
The disputed domain name <nextbite.com> (the “Disputed Domain Name”) is registered with GoDaddy.com, LLC (the “Registrar”).
3. Procedural History
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on September 21, 2021. On September 22, 2021, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the Disputed Domain Name. On September 22, 2021, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response disclosing registrant and contact information for the Disputed Domain Name which differed from the named Respondent and contact information in the Complaint. The Center sent an email communication to the Complainant on September 24, 2021, providing the registrant and contact information disclosed by the Registrar, and requesting the Complainant to submit an amendment to the Complaint. The Complainant filed an amended Complaint on September 27, 2021.
The Center verified that the Complaint together with the amended Complaint satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy” or “UDRP”), the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Rules”), and the WIPO Supplemental Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Supplemental Rules”).
In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2 and 4, the Center formally notified the Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on October 4, 2021. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was October 24, 2021. The Response was filed with the Center on October 20, 2021.
The Center appointed Nick J. Gardner as the sole panelist in this matter on November 11, 2021. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph 7.
On November 4, 2021 the Complainant filed a request to file a Reply brief. In this it explained it wished to do so because it contended matters set out in the Response were untrue and were based upon documentary evidence which was forged. On November 11, 2021 the Respondent requested that if the Panel granted leave for the Complainant to file a Reply it should be allowed to file a further Response to it. On November 17, 2021 the Panel issued a Procedural Order (the “Procedural Order”) in the following terms:
“The Panel has reviewed the Amended Complaint and the Response. The Panel notes the Complainant’s request to file a Reply on the basis that it alleges the Response includes evidence which has been fabricated. In view of the seriousness of the allegation and its likely relevance (if shown to be correct, on the balance of probabilities) the Panel will allow a Reply of the type indicated in the Complainant’s Request dated November 4, 2021 to be filed. The Panel will also allow the Respondent to file a further statement in response to the Reply.
The Panel requests that the Complainant’s Reply also addresses the following:
1. The chronological history of the Complainant, its business and its adoption of the term “nextbite” in respect of its business, setting out all relevant dates with supporting evidence where appropriate.
2. The email correspondence produced by the Respondent in Annex 7 to the Response and in particular stating whether or not the Complainant was the substantive attempted purchaser of the <nextbite.com> domain name involved in those emails.
3. All relevant activity shown on ‘www.archive.org’ in relation to ‘www.nextbite.com’ with effect from 2016 onwards (including its apparent redirection on occasion to “www.nextbite.co”).
The Respondent in its further statement may also address any of the above matters.
The Complainant should provide its reply filing by November 26, 2021.
The Respondent should provide its further filing by December 3, 2021.
Accordingly, the Decision due date is extended to December 10, 2021. The Panel reserves the right to take any additional procedural steps as it considers necessary”.
On November 21, 2021 the Respondent requested the Center issue a letter asking the Swiss Embassy to attest to the authenticity of certain documents. On November 23, 2021, the Center replied indicating that as a neutral dispute provider it was not able to issue such a letter.
The Complainant filed a Reply (the “Reply” on November 26, 2021. The Respondent file a further Response (the “Further Response”) on December 2, 2021 with a revised version filed on December 3, 2021. The contents of these filings are discussed below.
On December 7, 2021, the Respondent sent an email communication regarding the numbering of the annexes.
4. Factual Background
The Panel will set out in this section matters derived from the Parties filings and evidence which do not appear to be in dispute.
The Complainant’s origins derive from a company called Ordermark, Inc. (“Ordermark”). It is a company that provides hardware and software for restaurants to receive digital orders from a number of ordering services in a single terminal. This makes it easier for restaurants to receive and process a higher volume of services. In 2018, Ordermark decided that it could offer restaurants an opportunity to sell food from a branded menu. It says this is known as a “ghost kitchen.” The ghost kitchen business began as “Ghost Systems, LLC” on October 12, 2018 and changed its name to Nextbite Brands, LLC (“Nextbite”) on February 12, 2019. Since that time, Nextbite has supplied menus for restaurants to provide (the Panel has no information as to the scale of this business). The Complainant is the owner of US registered trademark no. 6030397 for the word Nextbite (the Complainant’s NEXTBITE trademark”) registered on April 7, 2020. This trademark was filed on “02-06-2019” which the Panel takes to mean February 6, 2019. The trademark claims a date of first use in commerce of “8-00-2019”. The Panel does not understand this reference – it possibly refers to August 2019 but the Panel does not see how a claimed first use date can be after the date of filing. In any event, on the evidence it appears the earliest date on which the Complainant publicly adopted the name “nextbite” was February 6, 2019. This date is important – see below.
The Disputed Domain Name was originally registered on January 14, 2003. The date on which it was acquired by the Respondent is in dispute (see below). It is now linked to a website (the “Respondent’s Website”) which on the landing page contains the slogan “we put food on your table” and which has a login facility. There are also terms and conditions (governed by the law of Kuwait) which say the Respondent’s Website is operated by “Nextbite LLC”. The landing page also has a section headed “our clients” which shows a number of logos which would appear to be those of third party restaurants.
5. Parties’ Contentions
A. Complaint
As originally filed the Complaint is relatively brief and does not do much more than set out the formal requirements under the Policy that the Complainant has to show. It says the Disputed Domain Name is identical to the Complainant’s Nextbite trademark and that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the name “nextbite”. It says the Respondent does not sell any goods or services via the Respondent’s Website. It says the designation “LLC” in the Respondent’s identity as shown on the Respondent’s Website suggests it is a US entity but there is no US entity called Nextbite LLC. It says pretending to be a company that does not exist cannot amount to a bona fide offering of goods or services.
The Complainant says the Respondent has registered the Disputed Domain Name in bad faith because the Respondent is attempting to attract Internet users by falsifying the origin of goods and services. It says the Respondent has used the Disputed Domain Name to intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to its website by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant’s mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the domain). It also says the Respondent is trying to confuse the public by using a similar color scheme as the Complainant as well as claiming the source of the website is a name confusingly similar to the Complainant’s name.
Additionally, the Respondent says the only thing one can do on the Respondent’s Website is enter an email address, which appears to be a phishing scam of sorts. An email received from an email account using the Disputed Domain Name included in its address is likely to mislead users into believing that the email address is associated with the Complainant. In these circumstances, it is clear that the Disputed Domain Name has been registered in bad faith and for the purpose of intentionally attempting to mislead in order to commit fraud.
The Complaint so far as the Panel can see does not provide any information about what domain names the Complainant uses, what its website or websites look like (despite alleging the Respondent is using a misleadingly similar color scheme) or as to when it says the date of the Respondent’s acquisition of the Disputed Domain Name occurred.
B. Response
The Respondent’s case is that it is a bona fide Kuwait entity called “Nextbite LLC”, and it independently derived the name Nextbite and it did so before the Complainant adopted that name. It says it offers a bona fide service to restaurants (see below).
The Respondent says it has operated in Kuwait since 2016. It says “Nextbite” was officially established on September 25, 2016 as a One Person Company (OPC) with the Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
On December 20, 2018 the OPC registration was canceled upon request of Mr. Mohammad Alhamdan to change the registration of the company to a “LLC” by joining another investor Mr. Abdulrahman Alhamdan. Nextbite LLC was officially registered on January 2, 2019. The Respondent says it has used NEXTBITE as a trade name since 2016. The Respondent provides copies of what it says are translated Trade Licenses issued in 2016 and of the “LLC” company issued in 2019 by the Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Annex 3 to the Response.
The Respondent says it acquired the Disputed Domain Name in July 2017, from a company called B52 Media LLC (a US based company) which was before the Complainant was established.
The Respondent says it owns trademark registrations for the NEXTBITE Logo in classes 35, 42 and 43 in Kuwait which were applied for on February 2, 2019, which is more than one year prior to the registration of the Complainant’s US trademark. It says that in addition, the Respondent also owns trademark registrations for the NEXTBITE Logo in classes 9, 35 and 43 in Saudi Arabia since May 2021; in Bahrain (August 2021) and in Oman (September 2021). It provided copies of the Respondent’s trademark registration certificates as Annex 1 to the Response.
The Respondent says it provides innovative cloud solutions for the food and beverage (“F&B”) industry. It says that the first product it launched enabled customers ordering from restaurants tables in a unique and innovative way. It says it collaborates with many restaurants and that its operations are mainly focused on the Kuwaiti F&B market at present.
The Respondent also says it has an active app on the Apple store registered under Nextbite LLC, for customer ordering, and it also offers a mobile app available for download on the Apple Store. This is called NextBite Waiter and is an app developed for waiters (“the App”); the App is used for Restaurant’s floor managements and to receive orders from clients. It says that for instance, between September 18 and October 15 2021, the App had 142,000 users.
The Respondent says that the Respondent’s Website is a B-to-B website, which exclusively provides what it calls Clients Dashboard. The Disputed Domain Name is used for a website available for client’s dashboard login only (Restaurants), for this reason when the public access the home webpage, there is little information publicly available. The Respondent says it is currently working with more than 32 outlets and serves daily an average of 6,000 customers.
As a result, before the Respondent received any notice of the dispute, there was evidence of the Respondent’s use of the Disputed Domain Name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services.
The Respondent denies registering and using the Disputed Domain Name in bad faith. It also says that the Disputed Domain Name was not registered or acquired primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the Disputed domain Name registration to the Complainant for valuable consideration. It says the opposite is true in that the Respondent believes that the Complainant attempted to reach out to the Respondent at least twice to attempt to purchase the Disputed Domain Name. The first negotiation attempt was initiated on September 17, 2020; when the Respondent received a request through a Godaddy Domain Broker, to sell the Disputed Domain Name. The Respondent declined the offer and confirmed not being interested in selling the Disputed Domain Name as it was attached to its business. The broker revealed information about the identity of the purchaser stating “They are also in the restaurant technology space, but in a different market and is not competing with your All in one Restaurant Management System. The client has over 5000 restaurant customers in the US and Canada with plans to expand internationally. Would you be open to a partnership discussion that may involve cash compensation in addition to stock options in the client’s business?” The Respondent replied that such partnership shall have terms and conditions and should involve lawyers aiming to obtain details about the purchaser. The broker replied by offering USD 100,000 USD to purchase the Disputed Domain Name. That offer was declined by the Respondent.
The second negotiation attempt started on May 6, 2021. The Respondent received a request through “[...]@godaddy.com” to purchase the <nextbite.com> and the Respondent again declined the offer.
The Respondent requests a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking on the grounds that the Complainant is harassing the Respondent, making offers to purchase the Disputed Domain Name and filing a baseless Complaint. It says that the Complaint is actually just another means to exhaust available resources so as to enable the Complainant to acquire ownership of the Disputed Domain Name, which the Respondent is refusing to sell.
C. Complainant’s Reply
In its Reply, the Complainant unequivocally alleges that the Response is untrue and is based on documentary material that has been forged. For reasons discussed in more detail below the Panel regards this as an extremely serious allegation. The Panel considers it appropriate to set out verbatim what the Complainant alleges in this regard.
The Reply states: “The Respondent claims it, ‘owns trademark registrations for the NEXTBITE Logo in classes 35, 42 and 43 in Kuwait since February 2, 2019, which is more than one year prior to the registration of the Complainant’s US trademark.’ This is false. Kuwait Trademark Application 2021-6325 was filed in international Class 42 on May 31, 2021. Kuwait Trademark Application 2021-5689 was filed in International Class 43 on May 14, 2021. There is no application in International Class 35. A copy of a trademark search is attached as Annex F. The certificate bearing that date is fraudulent and cannot be verified in any public or private database. A search of the Kuwait trademark records is in Annex G.” The content of the searches in question is discussed below.
The Reply goes on to state “Next Respondent alleges that it, ‘acquired the <nextbite.com> Domain Name back in July 2017, from B52 Media LLC (a US based company); which is even before the Complainant was established.’ The Whois record for the domain shows that Respondent obtained ownership on May 15, 2019. A copy of the historical whois metadata can be found in Annex H. This metadata was extracted from the publicly available website 42metadata which is simply a more detailed version of the Whois metadata in Annex B. Again, Respondent’s allegation is easily provably false and the form is fraudulent as well”.
The Reply concludes with the following submission: “The panel has an obligation to determine if a factual controversy exists between the parties. However, where “one party’s allegations are unsupported by any objective evidence or even fabricated for purposes of thwarting a claim” that evidence may be disregarded for the purpose of resolving the dispute. Edward G. Linsky v. Brian Valentine, WIPO Case No. D2006-0706. A panel in proper circumstances may discount evidence, even sworn testimony, as self-serving or incredible based on other evidence in the case. Salt River Community Gaming Enterprises (d/b/a Casino Arizona) v. Fort McDowell Casino, WIPO Case No. D2007-0416. Here, the Complainant’s evidence exists entirely in publicly available databases. The panel is free to verify any fact stated by the Complainant and can easily do so. Some of the Respondent’s evidence is verifiable, such as some late filed trademark applications. However, all of the relevant evidence regarding use of the domain and the mark is incredible based on the verifiable third-party data in the present case. The panel should discount the evidence of the Respondent and order the domain be transferred to the Complainant”.
The Reply also provides various other information pursuant to the requests the Panel made in the Procedural Order. Further detail is provided as to the establishment of the Complainant. This has been set out in the factual background above. As to information about any purchase approaches made by the Complainant it says “Nextbite did make at least one purchase overture to Respondent” and “A review of the Complainant’s is consistent with Respondent’s emails about the September 2020 purchase request for the domain. There were not records for the early May 2021 purchase request. These emails are attached as Annex B”.
So far as historical use of the Disputed Domain Name is concerned the Complainant says as follows: “No records indicate Respondent used the domain prior to June 22, 2019. From January 12, 2016 to June 24, 2017, Whois record abstracts show that B52 Media owned the domain. These extracts are attached as Annex C. However, the Wayback Machine shows nothing for the Domain prior to September 23, 2017. Records from the Internet Archive taken on September 23, 2017, March 27, 2018, August 5, 2018, and November 4, 2018 show a redirect to <nextbite.co>. Copies of these redirect pages are attached as Annex D. The Wayback Machine shows a splash page for Nextbite.com starting on June 22, 2019 which is similar to screenshots taken on August 10, 2019, and September 11, 2020. These records are attached as Annex E. There are no records that the Respondent made any use of the domain prior to June 22, 2019”.
Finally the Reply goes into some detail about statistics as to how much traffic the Complainant says the Respondent’s Website generates and the nature and accessibility of the Respondent’s associated apps on the Apple store. For reasons discussed below the Panel considers all of this to be ultimately irrelevant and does not propose to analyse it further.
D. Further Response
In the Further Response the Respondent categorically denies the allegations of forgery and untruth and produces a significant quantity of evidence. Where relevant this evidence is detailed in the discussions below.
6. Discussion and Findings
A. Alleged Forgery
The Panel proposes to deal first with the allegation of alleged forgery as determination of that issue is likely to be of overall significance to the Panel’s reasoning and the outcome of this Complaint.
So far as the standard of proof to be applied in this analysis see Total S.A. v. Gustavo Cerda WIPO Case No. D2011-2073: “In all cases under the Policy a complainant must prove its case on the balance of probabilities. The test is no different when fraud or dishonesty is alleged. However, as many legal systems have recognised, the more serious the allegation, the less likely it is to be true and therefore the more cogent the evidence must be before the balance of probabilities test is satisfied”.
The Panel regards the Complainant’s allegation as extremely serious. It has not actually said how it alleges the forgery was effected or who it says did it but it seems to the Panel that the only logical possibility is that the Complainant’s case is that the Respondent acting in collusion with its legal advisers perpetrated the alleged forgery. The Respondent’s legal advisers would appear to be a major international law firm. According to its website Al Tamimi & Company, describes itself as the “leading law firm in the Middle East and Africa region” with 16 offices in 9 countries across the Middle East and Africa and with a staff of some 450 legal professionals. An allegation of forgery (either directed at the Respondent or at this firm), in the Panel’s opinion, should not be made lightly and needs to be taken seriously.
The underlying issue that has led to the allegation is that the official records of the Kuwait Trade Mark office are not available on line. This can be confirmed by visiting the Kuwait Government Ministry of Commerce and Industry website where the procedure to enquire about a trademark is identified as “Visit the Ministry of Commerce, Sharq area, Al Shuhada st., KIPCO tower, Trademark Control Department, Patents Office and submit the documents [i.e. the details of the trademark in question]”.
Pausing at this point the Panel would say that in view of the seriousness of this allegation it would have expected the Complainant to instruct appropriately qualified local agents to make this enquiry in person about the trademarks in issue and provide appropriate evidence as to the result. It has not done so.
Although Kuwaiti trademark records are not directly searchable it is clear those records are replicated into various third party databases. How that happens and how accurate or up to date that process is, is not in evidence before the Panel. The Respondent however says it is a process with significant delays and omissions.
With this background the Panel turns to the alleged forgeries themselves. The Panel proposes to analyse this issue by reference to one of the trademarks relied upon, namely KW1615076 filed on February 2, 2019 in class 35 for the word nextbite together with a spoon and fork device (the “076 trademark”). The same principles are however applicable to the other alleged forgeries.
The document originally placed in evidence annexed to the Response as the trademark certificate appear as a matter of visual observation to look like an authentic trademark certificate. It comprises 4 pages, 2 in English and two in Arabic and all relevant details are present. There is no obvious sign of editing or tampering. The document contains a QR code which if scanned links to an official Kuwaiti webpage (in Arabic). The Complainant has not attempted to explain in forensic terms in what way this document is likely to be a forgery.
The Respondent in the Further Response has now produced a certified copy of the same document and invited the Panel to contact the certifying officer to confirm its authenticity. The Panel does not consider it either necessary or appropriate to do so.
The basis for the Complainant’s allegation is that it says this trademark cannot be found in the database searches it has carried out. It must therefore be a forgery. The Panel is not convinced this is necessarily correct when the searches are carried out indirectly rather than on the official Kuwaiti register. The Panel accepts that the failure to find the trademarks the Respondent relies upon invites further enquiry. The Panel does not however think it justifies an immediate conclusion that the Respondent has produced a forgery. The Panel would also add that trademark searching is a skilled activity where a degree of expertise and experience may be necessary especially in difficult cases. The Panel has not been told who carried out the searches in question or what their experience is. Evidence in this respect would also have been appropriate before alleging forgery.
The Respondent in the Further Response produced its trademark search carried out by third party provider Corsearch via its proprietary “trademarknow” system. It identifies the registries/records searched as follows :- “Amazon appstore: 587,681 Apple iTunes Apps: 2,085,833 Companies: 0 Google Play: 5,238,566 Kuwait MOCI (2021-08-18): 190,956 Steam: 21,776”. That search locates the trademark KW MOCI 2019_000856 in class 35 as registered and shows an application date of February 2, 2019. This is precisely consistent with the certificate the Respondent has placed in evidence.
On the basis of the above analysis the Panel would conclude the Complainant has failed to discharge its burden of proof in showing that the trademark certificates the Respondent relies upon are forgeries. There is however further material that adds to the Panel’s conclusion in this regard. In particular the overall time line as to the Respondent’s activities show clearly that it adopted the name Nextbite in respect of its commercial venture well before 2019. This timeline is considered in more detail below but by way of example the Respondent has produced a Kuwaiti trade licence – this is in Arabic but a translation has been provided and the Complainant has not challenged this – which shows the name nextbite first being adopted in October 2016. The Complainant has not suggested that this document (or others the Respondent has produced in this regard – see below) are forgeries. Also of relevance is the information contained on the “archive.org” database as to historical use of the Disputed Domain Name – see discussion below. The timeline is entirely consistent with the Respondent having applied for the trademarks when it says it did.
Taking all of this in account the Panel rejects the Complainant’s claim that the trademark certificates the Respondent relies upon are forgeries. It will proceed on the basis they are genuine.
The second area where the Complainant alleges forgery relates to the date the Respondent acquired the Disputed Domain Name. The Complainant says “the form is fraudulent as well”. The reference to “the form” is not very clear but the Panel thinks it must mean the signed purchase agreement the Respondent placed in evidence showing purchase of the Disputed Domain Name from a company called “B52Media LLC” dated July 27, 2017. Once again there is no attempt by the Complainant to show forensically what is wrong with this document. The basis for its allegation is that “The Whois record for the domain shows that Respondent obtained ownership on May 15, 2019”. That allegation is based on the fact that the WhoIs data shows an “updated Date” of May 15, 2019. That argument, as the Respondent correctly observes, is fallacious. The “updated Date” shows the date that any kind of change was last made to WhoIs data – whilst a change of registrant would lead to an entry so will any other changes (for example a change of nameserver). On its own an entry under “updated Date” does not prove that is when the Respondent acquired the Disputed Domain Name. The Respondent in its further Response placed in evidence its correspondence with B52media LLC leading up to the purchase and this concludes with up to an email of acceptance dated July 26, 2017. The Respondent has also provided GoDaddy.com LLC receipt no. 1170806611 dated August 5, 2017 showing the Disputed Domain Name transferring to GoDaddy and the ownership of the Disputed Domain Name to the Respondent.
Furthermore the way records for the Disputed Domain Name appear on “www.archive.org” is consistent with the Respondent’s acquisition in July 2017. The Panel raised this in the Procedural Order and invited comment from the parties. The Complainant in its Reply says “Records from the Internet Archive taken on September 23, 2017, March 27, 2018, August 5, 2018, and November 4, 2018 show a redirect to <nextbite.co>”. That is correct. The Complainant appears to think that is consistent with its case that the Disputed Domain Name did not belong to the Respondent at this time. If so it is mistaken. The Respondent in its Further Response has confirmed that it owns <nextbite.co> and it purchased it on July 16, 2016, which is a year prior to its purchase of the Disputed Domain Name, and places in evidence GoDaddy.com LLC Receipt No. 1001442398 dated July 16, 2016. Accordingly a redirect to “www.nextbite.co” from at least September 23, 2017 is consistent with the Respondent acquiring the Disputed Domain Name prior to that date. It says this redirect occurred whilst it was developing its website.
Taking this evidence as a whole the Panel finds the Complainant has failed to establish that the Respondent’s evidence is fraudulent. The evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion the Disputed Domain Name was acquired by the Respondent around July 26, 2017.
B Substantive Application of the Policy
To succeed, in accordance with paragraph 4(a) of the Policy, the Complainant must satisfy the Panel that:
(i) the Disputed Domain Name is identical with or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights;
(ii) the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Disputed Domain Name; and
(iii) the Disputed Domain Name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
A. Identical or Confusingly Similar
The Complainant has rights in the Complainant’s Nextbite Trademark. The Disputed Domain Name is identical to that trademark – it is well established that the generic Top-Level Domain (“gTLD”), in this case “.com”, does not affect the Disputed Domain Name for the purpose of determining whether it is identical or confusingly similar. See, for example, Rollerblade, Inc. v. Chris McCrady, WIPO Case No. D2000-0429.
It does not matter for the purposes of this element that the Disputed Domain Name was acquired by the Respondent before the Complainant’s Nextbite trademark was registered (see below) – the Panel agrees with the consensus approach as explained in WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions, Third Edition (“WIPO Overview 3.0”) section 1.1.3:
“1.1.3 While the UDRP makes no specific reference to the date on which the holder of the trademark or service mark acquired its rights, such rights must be in existence at the time the complaint is filed.
Registration of a domain name before a complainant acquires trademark rights in a name does not prevent a finding of identity or confusing similarity under the UDRP. The UDRP makes no specific reference to the date on which the holder of the trademark or service mark acquired rights. However, in such circumstances it may be difficult to prove that the domain name was registered in bad faith under the third element of the UDRP.” See below as to bad faith issues.
Accordingly the Panel finds that the Disputed Domain Name is identical or confusingly similar to the Complainant’s trademark and hence the first condition of paragraph 4(a) of the Policy has been fulfilled.
B. Rights or Legitimate Interests
Paragraph 4(c) of the Policy provides a list of circumstances any of which is sufficient to demonstrate that a respondent has rights or legitimate interests in a domain name:
(i) before any notice to the respondent of the dispute, use of, or demonstrable preparations to use, the domain name or a name corresponding to the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services; or
(ii) the respondent has been commonly known by the domain name, even if the respondent has acquired no trademark or service mark rights; or
(iii) the respondent is making a legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name, without intent for commercial gain to misleadingly divert consumers or to tarnish the trademark or service mark at issue.
The Respondent argues that (i) applies. It has not sought to argue that (ii) also applies. For reasons that are discussed above in the section related to the Alleged Forgery and below in relation to bad faith the Panel concludes that the Respondent commenced a bona fide business which involved registration and use of the Disputed Domain Name before any notice of the present dispute and indeed before the Complainant had itself adopted the term “nextbite”. In those circumstances the Panel agrees that (i) applies. Accordingly the Panel finds the Respondent has rights and legitimate interests in the Disputed Domain Name and the second condition of paragraph 4(a) of the Policy has not been fulfilled.
C. Registered and Used in Bad Faith
The Panel observes that “nextbite” is formed by conjoining two ordinary English words. It seems entirely possible that the term could be independently derived without knowledge of the Complainant especially in the context of restaurant services.
Under paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy, the Complainant must establish both that the Disputed Domain Name was registered in bad faith and that it has been used in bad faith Registration in this context means the date the Respondent acquired the Disputed Domain Name. If that date was, as the Respondent claims, prior to the Complainant’s adoption of the term Nextbite then (absent certain exceptional circumstances which do not apply here) the registration cannot have been in bad faith – see WIPO Overview 3.0 at section 3.8.1. As indicated above, on the evidence, the earliest date on which the Complainant publicly adopted the term Nextbite is February 6, 2019. As discussed above in the section of Alleged Forgery, the Panel concludes the Respondent acquired the Disputed Domain Name around July 26, 2017.
Once that timing is appreciated it becomes clear the Complaint cannot succeed. All other matters (including the dating of the trademark certificates, the availability of the Respondent’s App, and the amount of traffic generated by the Respondent’s Website) becomes irrelevant.
A further point that is however of some relevance is that following the Procedural Order the Complainant has placed in evidence its correspondence in September 2020 with a broker it instructed at Godaddy when it attempted to purchase the Disputed Domain Name. That shows the Complainant instructing the broker to make a series of increasing offers (culminating in an offer of USD 100,000) on behalf of the Complainant. At no point in this correspondence is there any suggestion by the Complainant that it has any prior rights to the Disputed Domain Name or that there is anything wrong with the Respondent’s ownership of it. It also seems the Complainant may have made a further attempt to purchase the Disputed Domain Name in May 2021 but the evidence on this is unclear.
The Panel therefore finds that the Complainant has failed to establish that the Disputed Domain Name was registered in bad faith.
7. Reverse Domain Name Hijacking
The Respondent seeks a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (“RDNH”). RDNH constitutes “using the Policy in bad faith to attempt to deprive a registered domain name holder of a domain name” – see the Rules, paragraph 1, definition of RDNH. Paragraph 15(e) of the Rules provides that if after considering the submissions the Panel finds that the complaint was brought in bad faith, for example in an attempt at RDNH, or was brought primarily to harass the domain name holder, the Panel shall declare in its decision that the complaint was brought in bad faith and constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding.
As set out in the WIPO Overview 3.0 section 4.16, reasons articulated by panels for finding RDNH include: (i) facts which demonstrate that the complainant knew it could not succeed as to any of the required three elements – such as the complainant’s lack of relevant trademark rights, clear knowledge of respondent rights or legitimate interests, or clear knowledge of a lack of respondent bad faith (such as registration of the disputed domain name well before the complainant acquired trademark rights, (ii) facts which demonstrate that the complainant clearly ought to have known it could not succeed under any fair interpretation of facts reasonably available prior to the filing of the complaint, including relevant facts on the website at the disputed domain name or readily available public sources such as the WhoIs database, (iii) unreasonably ignoring established Policy precedent notably as captured in this WIPO Overview – except in limited circumstances which prima facie justify advancing an alternative legal argument, (iv) the provision of false evidence, or otherwise attempting to mislead the panel, (v) the provision of intentionally incomplete material evidence – often clarified by the respondent, (vi) the complainant’s failure to disclose that a case is a UDRP refiling, (vii) filing the complaint after an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the disputed domain name from the respondent without a plausible legal basis, (viii) basing a complaint on only the barest of allegations without any supporting evidence”.
The Panel considers the Complainant’s conduct warrants a finding of RDNH. It considers the Complaint as filed overstated the Complainant’s case and failed to consider properly the likely evidence as to when the Respondent acquired the Disputed Domain Name. It also made unsubstantiated allegations of “phishing” and fraud and claimed (incorrectly) that the Respondent’s use of the term “llc”. indicated it was a (non-existent) US corporation. Faced with a Response which clearly set out the Respondent’s case and which would, if correct, be likely to succeed, the Complainant then sought to deal with the problems with its case by making allegations of forgery and fraud. These were not properly made out and were not in the Panel’s view sustainable – see discussion above. They should never have been made. The Respondent must have been placed to considerable cost and effort in dealing with them.
It is also appropriate to note that the Respondent in its Further Reply places in evidence further correspondence from the Complainant to the Respondent received whilst the present proceeding was underway, seeking once again to initiate discussions in order to purchase the Disputed Domain Name. Taken as whole the Panel reaches the conclusion this Complaint was brought to harass the Respondent as part of a strategy to acquire the Disputed Domain Name, earlier attempts to purchase it having failed. Accordingly the Panel finds RDNH.
8. Decision
For the foregoing reasons, the Complaint is denied. The Panel finds the Complaint was brought in bad faith and constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding.
Nick J. Gardner
Sole Panelist
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Short Terms and Conditions
The Promotion is open to businesses with stores in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales); store owners/operators must be aged 18+. Open from 09:00 on 04/01/22 – 16:59 on 31/01/22. One entry per business. To enter: Retailers can enter the Ferrero Valentine’s Day competition by ordering a Ferrero Rocher cross-category FSDU unit from www.yourperfectstore.co.uk, or share an image of their boxed chocolate range, via @FerreroYPS on Twitter or emailing FerreroYourPerfectStore@cirkle.com with full contact details including entrants full name, email address, phone number and store address. Prize: 5 winners will each receive 5 Ferrero Rocher inspired flower bouquets to share with their customers ahead of Valentine’s Day, as well as a case of Ferrero T16 each. For full Ts & Cs, visit www.yourperfectstore.co.uk. Promoter: Ferrero UK Limited, 889 Greenford Road, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 0HE.
Your Perfect Store Full Terms and Conditions
By entering this competition, entrants agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions governing this promotion and by any other requirements set out in related promotional materials.
The Promotion is open to businesses with stores in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and store owners/operators must be aged 18+. The Promotion is not open to employees and immediate families of the Promoter, its agents or anyone professionally connected with the Promotion.
The Promotion will begin at 09:00 on 04/01/22 and end at 16:59 on 31/01/22 (“Promotion Period”).
Retailers can enter the Ferrero Valentine’s Day competition by ordering a Ferrero Rocher cross-category FSDU unit from www.yourperfectstore.co.uk, or;
Share an image of their boxed chocolate range via DM @FerreroYPS on Twitter with full contact details including full name, email address, phone number and store address, or;
Emailing an image of their boxed chocolate range as well as full contact details including full name, email address, phone number and store address to FerreroYourPerfectStore@cirkle.com.
Only one entry per business.
Internet or Twitter access is required to enter.
Prizes: The five winning retailers will each win the following two prizes:
5 Ferrero Rocher inspired flower bouquets per winner for their customers ahead of Valentine’s Day
A trade unit/case of Ferrero Rocher T16 per winner
The winners will be selected at random, from all valid entries received after the end of the Promotion Period. The winners will be notified by email Twitter DM or telephone no later than 02/02/22. The winners will then have 2 days to respond to confirm acceptance of the prize, if a winner does not respond to the Promoter within this time, they will forfeit their prize and the Promoter shall select another winner at random from all remaining valid entries.
The Promoter’s decision is final and binding in all matters and no correspondence will be entered into.
The Promoter accepts no responsibility for late, incomplete, incorrectly submitted, corrupted or misdirected entries, claims or correspondence whether due to error, omission, alteration, tampering, deletion, theft, destruction, transmission interruption, communications failure or otherwise.
The winners must, at the Promoter’s request, participate in reasonable promotional activity (such as publicity and photography/filming) surrounding the winning of the prize, free of charge, and they consent to the Promoter using their name and images in promotional material.
The Promoter and its associated agencies and companies will not be liable for any loss (including, without limitation, indirect, special or consequential loss or loss of profits), expense or damage which is suffered or sustained (whether or not arising from any person’s negligence) in connection with this promotion or accepting or using the prize (including to any guests), except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law (including personal injury, death and fraud) in which case that liability is limited to the minimum allowable by law.
The prize is not transferable or exchangeable and cannot be redeemed for cash or any other form of compensation, this also includes the selling of prizes to third parties. In the event for any reason the prize winners do not take an element of the prize at the time stipulated by the Promoter, then that element of the prize will be forfeited by the winners and neither cash nor any other form of compensation will be supplied in lieu of that element of the prize. If for any reason a prize is not available, the Promoter reserves the right to substitute another prize for it, in its sole discretion, of equal or higher value.
If for any reason any aspect of this promotion is not capable of running as planned, including by reason of infection by computer virus, network failure, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any cause beyond the control of the Promoter which corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this promotion, the Promoter may in its sole discretion cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the promotion, or invalidate any affected entries.
The Promoter shall not be liable in any way for the inability to meet delivery timeframes in the event of any national or local lockdowns, or any circumstances resulting from Covid-19 affecting the prize delivery supply chain. Should Covid-19 affect the ability to meet these deadlines, the Promoter will fulfil their obligations as soon as it is reasonably possible.
The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any damage, loss, liabilities, injury or disappointment incurred or suffered by you as a result of entering the promotion or accepting the prize. The Promoter further disclaims liability for any injury or damage to your or any other person's computer relating to or resulting from participation in or downloading any materials in connection with this promotion.
The Promoter reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, this promotion with or without prior notice due to reasons outside its control (including, without limitation, in the case of anticipated, suspected or actual fraud). The decision of the Promoter in all matters under its control is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
If a winning entry from a draw is deemed not to comply with these conditions of entry, the entry will be discarded and a new winner of the prize will be randomly selected.
The Promoter reserves the right to publish the names and counties of residence of the winner(s).
These terms and conditions are governed by English Law and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
The personal information entrants provide will be used by the Promoter for the purpose of conducting this promotion. The Promoter may disclose entrants’ personal information to its contractors and agents to assist in conducting this promotion or communicating with entrants. The Promoter is bound by the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation). The Promoter’s privacy policy is available on the Promoter’s website at https://www.ferrero.co.uk/.
Promoter: Ferrero UK Limited, 889 Greenford Road, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 0HE.
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See how J.R.R. Tolkien envisioned Middle-earth in this new edition of his masterwork, now illustrated with his own artwork.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
From Sauron’s fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.
When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.
The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.
This new edition is illustrated with J.R.R. Tolkien’s own artwork, created as he wrote the original text. It will be packaged with the following features: shrink-wrapped for damage protection, a sewn hardback binding with a ribbon placemark, ink-sprayed edges displaying Tolkien’s runes, two maps loosely tucked, and will be printed on FSC “forest-friendly” paper. The text will be printed in two colours with full-colour illustrations, and the dustjacket will be stamped in two foils with a circular die-cut. The edition sold in the United States is printed alongside and matches the English language editions sold all over the world.
J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892–1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.
Publisher: Mariner Books
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2021
Series: The Lord of the Rings
Fiction / Fantasy / Epic
Fiction / Classics
Fiction / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
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2K announces Goldberg as WWE 2K17 pre-order exclusive
The man they call Goldberg could soon be coming to a gaming console near you.
2K announced Tuesday that the two-time World Champion and WCW legend will appear in WWE 2K17 as a pre-order exclusive. The announcement confirms Goldberg will be available as a playable character on the virtual roster of 2K’s upcoming edition of its venerated WWE video game series.
The significance of being chosen by 2K for this role isn’t lost on Goldberg, who now joins the elite company of past pre-order exclusive characters including WWE Hall of Famers Sting, Ultimate Warrior and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“It's a dream come true,” Goldberg said to WWE.com. “To be able to come back and be included in WWE 2K17, it's a huge honor.”
To be able to come back and be included in WWE 2K17, it's a huge honor.
- Goldberg
Grappling gamers who obtain the WWE 2K17 Pre-Order Bonus will receive two versions of Goldberg and two notable venues where he plied his trade. Each version of Goldberg will be made available as playable characters, one representing his WWE tenure and the other recreating his time in WCW. In addition, players will receive access to arenas recreating WCW Monday Nitro and WCW Halloween Havoc, two historic settings where Goldberg reached new heights in sports-entertainment.
“It's just a really cool deal to be a character in WWE 2K17,” Goldberg said. “Whether it's Nitro or Halloween Havoc, to have me as an available character, it's really cool. It's a tribute.”
Though he last competed in a WWE ring at WrestleMania XX in 2004, Goldberg continues to live in the hearts and minds of the WWE Universe. His resume speaks for itself, from an otherworldly 173-match winning streak to start his WCW career, to his legendary showdowns in WWE with The Rock, Brock Lesnar and Triple H. He also remains regarded as a master of the Spear, a powerful maneuver which has been adopted by everyone from WWE Hall of Famer Edge to current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns.
There are a number of people that I never got to wrestle in an actual ring that I'd love to make happen for the first time in WWE 2K17.
Of course, WWE 2K17 enthusiasts don’t want to just revisit Goldberg’s glory days; they want to recreate them by virtually pummeling new opponents. Though details regarding the full WWE 2K17 roster aren’t yet available, the WCW stalwart is already conjuring up possible dream matches for himself.
“Oh man, there's a list that's a mile long of potential victims,” Goldberg said. “There are a number of people that I never got the opportunity to wrestle in an actual ring that I'd love to make happen for the first time in WWE 2K17. I'd love to wrestle a Bruiser Brody from the past. I'd love to wrestle Andre the Giant from the past.”
How many of these rare Goldberg matches have you seen?
Superstars compete in WWE 2K16 Big Screen Battle at AT&T Stadium
WWE 2K16 salutes Sting's WWE Hall of Fame induction
WWE 2K17 is not yet rated by the ESRB, and is currently scheduled for worldwide release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well as PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in October 2016.
An exclusive interview with Goldberg will appear on WWE.com on Wednesday.
Matthew Artus
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North Carolina winter weather: 'Stay home if you can,' meteorologists say as roads remain icy 1 HR Breaking News: Coronavirus in North Carolina: Maps, graphs, latest cases and restrictions Breaking News: Map of NC shows coronavirus cases in the state Closings There are currently 348 active closings or delays <% if ( weatherAlerts > 0 ) { %> Severe Weather <% var weatherAlertsMessage = "There " + ( weatherAlerts > 1 ? "are" : "is" ) + " currently " + weatherAlerts + " active weather " + ( weatherAlerts > 1 ? "alerts" : "alert" ); %>
How will school closures affect children in the long run? Wars, disease and natural disasters offer clues
Updated: 12:04 PM EST Jan 15, 2021
By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
you say hi parents of students with special needs air struggling to adapt as states decide whether to close schools again as a second wave of cove in 19 hits, the country were expected to be teachers, physical therapists, professionals, you know, they just basically one day announced to us that they're going to close school, and this is what they expect of us. 14 year old Josh. No Sorrow has autism and is nonverbal. When schools closed in March, Josh's progress started to erode and his sometimes aggressive meltdowns unseen for months, returned. This is just to me, a crying shame, because the school that he goes to is excellent when it's in school. It's an excellent, excellent school, but they it's not a program that works. Virtually. Josh's family doesn't blame the school. In fact, they reached out to the school district for help. The best I've gotten them to offer us is a power professional to come for two hours a day, which does no good because he's in school for a lot longer. Both McGregor and Josh's father are essential workers. They have had to take out a home equity loan to hire AIDS to guide him through the remote school day. We are tapped out financially. Um, you know, we've been spending upwards of 3 $4000 a month since March because Josh needs constant care. That's just so that we could work. The family understands the need for virtual learning, but feels the pandemic has put Josh's education on hold. I noticed that they play a lot of games where the teacher asked questions and the students shout out the answer. And there's a whole segment of school that that the non verbal kids can't participate in. The family hopes the need to close schools can be balanced with the need of students like Josh, who not only go to school to receive an education, but for critical services to aid in their development. Joseph Frederick, The Associated Press, New York I'm going around here
Children across the globe have seen their schools closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.According to the World Bank, 1.6 billion students were out of school during the first peak of the pandemic in April 2020, and almost 700 million remained out as 2020 drew to a close.It may take years for the full impact of these months of missed schooling to be known, so what can history tell us about the long-term effects of disruptions to education?Nothing can be directly compared to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, said Alberto Posso, professor of economics at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, but some parallels can be drawn. "As far as learning from history goes, I think the value is in the potential warning signs these things can give us," he said.Posso looked at examples including the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, teacher strikes in Argentina in the 1980s and World War II in a piece for The Conversation.Perhaps the most striking data came from a paper assessing the long-term education cost of World War II for children who were 10 years old during the conflict in Germany and Austria — both participants in the war — and comparable children in Switzerland and Sweden, countries that remained officially neutral.The authors of the 2004 paper, Andrea Ichino and Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, concluded that "individuals experienced a sizable earnings loss some 40 years after the war, which can be attributed to the educational loss caused by the conflict.""Austrian children missed around 20% of classes during the war and their earnings dropped by around 3%. German children lost around 25% of classes and had earnings dropped by around 5%," Posso told CNN, citing their findings.More recent insights can be drawn from the experience of children whose education was disrupted in the early 1990s by the Bosnian War — with the obvious caveat that life during conflict is very different from life during a peacetime pandemic.Arnesa Buljusmic-Kustura, who was born in Sarajevo, was about four years old when the nearly four-year siege of the city began. She should have been starting kindergarten. Instead, she and her family were left sheltering in a basement with their neighbors."The war and genocide in Bosnia was taking place and for us in the city that really meant that we were completely cut off from the rest of the world," said Buljusmic-Kustura, 32, now a writer, researcher working on genocide education, and the deputy director of Remembering Srebrenica UK."We had no electricity, no water, really limited access to food and obviously we were subjected to daily bombing and shelling, as well as ongoing sniper attacks that were really targeting civilians and even children. So going to school was really unsafe," she told CNN.Instead, the adults took it in turns to distract the children from the situation, with a story or by practicing letters, Buljusmic-Kustura said. "We didn't have formal schooling. What we did have was a community that came together and tried to engage us on a very different level."When peace came, Buljusmic-Kustura was able finally to attend the school five minutes' walk from her home. By that time she was seven-and-a-half years old, and about two years late starting first grade.In some parts of the city, impromptu classes had been held under cover for mostly older children as the siege went on, she said.Many, though, were in the same position as Buljusmic-Kustura. "That first day of school I remember not being able to read or write or do those very basic things -- but neither did anyone else," she said."Because everybody had sort of experienced the same thing, there was a huge amount of understanding and a lack of this kind of competition that you now see. Because when you come from a place where you have experienced collectively something horrible, how do we rebuild our lives and how do we move forward?"Buljusmic-Kustura moved to the United States as a refugee at the age of 12. She had to learn English from scratch but, after a few rocky months, she caught up with her peers, became a "straight-A student" and continued into further education.She relocated to London from Chicago at the end of April 2019 and has since seen the education of her daughter disrupted by both the move and the pandemic.Like many countries in Europe, the UK closed its schools to most children in March. They reopened from September to December but have since closed again, except for vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers, as the country endures its third national lockdown.'Really, really inconsistent'Adi Jovovic, now 35, was also living in the heart of Sarajevo during the siege. "When the war started I should have started first grade. I didn't go to school at all for a little while," he said.Eventually, Jovovic -- whose father worked with CNN reporting teams as a driver during the war -- started going to an informal "school" with adults who tried to step in as teachers."One day there would be grenades and bombs going off, so school would be canceled or we wouldn't go for a while, so it was really, really inconsistent -- similar to what kids are going through now, I guess, but even more inconsistent," he said. "I'll be honest with you, I didn't learn anything in that time."Jovovic and his family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in March of 1994, when he was nine. He started in second grade at a school for children with English as a second language, attended summer school, focused on learning English, and by the end of third grade was ready to move to a regular school.Thanks in part to tutoring and a rigorous college prep school curriculum, Jovovic went on to high school and then to the University of Florida, gaining first an undergraduate degree and then a master's degree in chemical engineering. He now lives in Valdosta, Georgia, and is vice president of operations for a pecan processing facility."I still don't read and write Bosnian well, which is obviously a shame," he said. Jovovic blames the early disruption to his education for that lack of facility in a language he speaks fluently."Not having that fundamental education ... probably set me back a little bit. Now, ultimately I was able to catch up here but it's tough and I certainly feel for the kids who are going through it right now," he said."Virtual is nice but it's not the same as being in school. There's the social aspect of it they are not getting, which I argue is as important as the academia."Ebola epidemic showed risk to girlsPosso, the economics professor, agrees the impact of school closures has been lessened where children can access remote lessons using technology like Zoom. But where social inequalities already exist, the pandemic is making them worse, he said."Even within the UK there's going to be some segments of society a lot of the poorer kids may not have access to good internet, a computer or educated parents who can help out with the home schooling. And as a result they can be quite disadvantaged," said Posso."The distinction is not going to be as clear as German versus Swiss kids, but within the UK I think we might see differences that maybe highlight existing social structures that are already unequal -- in other words, making inequality worse in the future."The situation in lower- and middle-income countries where child labor is more prevalent is even more concerning, he said.If parents lose their job because of the pandemic, students whose schools close may feel pressure to look for work and leave education altogether, said Posso. "We already see a big jump in child labor when kids are around 14 or so. If you close schools, it's going to make it very difficult for many children to go back."Recent history suggests school closures can also have a particularly negative impact on girls, Posso said, especially those from poorer families and communities where girls' rights to education are less entrenched.During the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, West Africa, schools were closed and few children were able to access remote learning.A subsequent United Nations Development Programme report into the epidemic found that "gender gaps in education have widened with school closures and because of girls' increased dropout rates, owing to teenage pregnancies and early marriages."With more people at home because of the pandemic, girls may also be expected to stay out of school in order to take on more household chores, said Posso.The World Bank warned last month that the pandemic risks pushing tens of millions more children worldwide into "learning poverty" -- meaning that they are unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10 -- with potentially lifelong effects on their earnings.Mitigating the impactFaced with this unprecedented situation, teachers and education leaders around the world should take action now to try to ease the effects of school closures when children return, said Michelle Kaffenberger, a research fellow on the RISE Programme at the University of Oxford.Her simulations indicate that a three-month school closure could reduce long-term learning by a full year's worth of learning.But if education leaders and teachers take steps to tailor learning to where the children are, rather than picking up where they ought to be, and focus on foundational skills in maths and reading, the impact can be lessened or even overturned, Kaffenberger told CNN."The crisis doesn't end when schools reopen," she said. "The crisis is going to keep going, if adequate remediation is not taken when children come back."Kaffenberger cites research into the impact on schooling of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistani-administered Kashmir as evidence. A study by Tahir Andrabi, Benjamin Daniels and Jishnu Das, published last May, uses survey data collected in 2009 to compare households close to the fault line with similar households that were not affected by the quake."Schools in the affected area were closed for an average of 14 weeks, a little more than three months. However, four years later children in the affected areas were not just three months behind, they were the learning equivalent of 1.5 years of schooling behind," Kaffenberger wrote in her own paper.Households affected by the quake received financial compensation, the paper's authors said, and the data did not indicate higher drop-out rates. But independently measured test scores provide "evidence across the entire age range that persistent developmental deficits can arise in young children due to a large, albeit 'temporary,' shock," they concluded.Catching up whole cohorts of children will be really hard, said Kaffenberger, but existing programs in lower and middle-income countries show that the approach she espouses does work.Buljusmic-Kustura sounds an optimistic note. Most of her classmates -- particularly among the refugee diaspora but also those who remained in Bosnia and Herzegovina -- managed to complete their schooling successfully and are doing well in life, despite their traumatic early childhood, she said.And while she was initially "immensely concerned" for her daughter, now nine, as UK schools closed, Buljusmic-Kustura has since been encouraged by seeing her keep in touch with classmates online and engage well with homeschooling.Last week, she posted words of encouragement on Twitter for worried parents in the UK, saying the "kids will be fine" and will likely catch up on lost learning, given the right emotional and mental support."My education, my learning, even though it stopped, even though there were these huge impediments, there were times I couldn't go to school at all ... it didn't prevent me from continuing to learn, and continuing to get my education and catching up," she said.
Children across the globe have seen their schools closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the World Bank, 1.6 billion students were out of school during the first peak of the pandemic in April 2020, and almost 700 million remained out as 2020 drew to a close.
It may take years for the full impact of these months of missed schooling to be known, so what can history tell us about the long-term effects of disruptions to education?
Nothing can be directly compared to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, said Alberto Posso, professor of economics at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, but some parallels can be drawn. "As far as learning from history goes, I think the value is in the potential warning signs these things can give us," he said.
Posso looked at examples including the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, teacher strikes in Argentina in the 1980s and World War II in a piece for The Conversation.
Perhaps the most striking data came from a paper assessing the long-term education cost of World War II for children who were 10 years old during the conflict in Germany and Austria — both participants in the war — and comparable children in Switzerland and Sweden, countries that remained officially neutral.
The authors of the 2004 paper, Andrea Ichino and Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, concluded that "individuals experienced a sizable earnings loss some 40 years after the war, which can be attributed to the educational loss caused by the conflict."
"Austrian children missed around 20% of classes during the war and their earnings dropped by around 3%. German children lost around 25% of classes and had earnings dropped by around 5%," Posso told CNN, citing their findings.
More recent insights can be drawn from the experience of children whose education was disrupted in the early 1990s by the Bosnian War — with the obvious caveat that life during conflict is very different from life during a peacetime pandemic.
Arnesa Buljusmic-Kustura, who was born in Sarajevo, was about four years old when the nearly four-year siege of the city began. She should have been starting kindergarten. Instead, she and her family were left sheltering in a basement with their neighbors.
"The war and genocide in Bosnia was taking place and for us in the city that really meant that we were completely cut off from the rest of the world," said Buljusmic-Kustura, 32, now a writer, researcher working on genocide education, and the deputy director of Remembering Srebrenica UK.
"We had no electricity, no water, really limited access to food and obviously we were subjected to daily bombing and shelling, as well as ongoing sniper attacks that were really targeting civilians and even children. So going to school was really unsafe," she told CNN.
Instead, the adults took it in turns to distract the children from the situation, with a story or by practicing letters, Buljusmic-Kustura said. "We didn't have formal schooling. What we did have was a community that came together and tried to engage us on a very different level."
When peace came, Buljusmic-Kustura was able finally to attend the school five minutes' walk from her home. By that time she was seven-and-a-half years old, and about two years late starting first grade.
In some parts of the city, impromptu classes had been held under cover for mostly older children as the siege went on, she said.
Many, though, were in the same position as Buljusmic-Kustura. "That first day of school I remember not being able to read or write or do those very basic things -- but neither did anyone else," she said.
"Because everybody had sort of experienced the same thing, there was a huge amount of understanding and a lack of this kind of competition that you now see. Because when you come from a place where you have experienced collectively something horrible, [people think] how do we rebuild our lives and how do we move forward?"
Buljusmic-Kustura moved to the United States as a refugee at the age of 12. She had to learn English from scratch but, after a few rocky months, she caught up with her peers, became a "straight-A student" and continued into further education.
She relocated to London from Chicago at the end of April 2019 and has since seen the education of her daughter disrupted by both the move and the pandemic.
Like many countries in Europe, the UK closed its schools to most children in March. They reopened from September to December but have since closed again, except for vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers, as the country endures its third national lockdown.
'Really, really inconsistent'
Adi Jovovic, now 35, was also living in the heart of Sarajevo during the siege. "When the war started I should have started first grade. I didn't go to school at all for a little while," he said.
Eventually, Jovovic -- whose father worked with CNN reporting teams as a driver during the war -- started going to an informal "school" with adults who tried to step in as teachers.
"One day there would be grenades and bombs going off, so school would be canceled or we wouldn't go for a while, so it was really, really inconsistent -- similar to what kids are going through now, I guess, but even more inconsistent," he said. "I'll be honest with you, I didn't learn anything in that time."
Jovovic and his family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in March of 1994, when he was nine. He started in second grade at a school for children with English as a second language, attended summer school, focused on learning English, and by the end of third grade was ready to move to a regular school.
Thanks in part to tutoring and a rigorous college prep school curriculum, Jovovic went on to high school and then to the University of Florida, gaining first an undergraduate degree and then a master's degree in chemical engineering. He now lives in Valdosta, Georgia, and is vice president of operations for a pecan processing facility.
"I still don't read and write Bosnian well, which is obviously a shame," he said. Jovovic blames the early disruption to his education for that lack of facility in a language he speaks fluently.
"Not having that fundamental education ... probably set me back a little bit. Now, ultimately I was able to catch up here but it's tough and I certainly feel for the kids who are going through it right now," he said.
"Virtual is nice but it's not the same as being in school. There's the social aspect of it they are not getting, which I argue is as important as the academia."
Ebola epidemic showed risk to girls
Posso, the economics professor, agrees the impact of school closures has been lessened where children can access remote lessons using technology like Zoom. But where social inequalities already exist, the pandemic is making them worse, he said.
"Even within the UK there's going to be some segments of society [where] a lot of the poorer kids may not have access to good internet, a computer or educated parents who can help out with the home schooling. And as a result they can be quite disadvantaged," said Posso.
"The distinction is not going to be as clear as German versus Swiss kids, but within the UK I think we might see differences that maybe highlight existing social structures that are already unequal -- in other words, making inequality worse in the future."
The situation in lower- and middle-income countries where child labor is more prevalent is even more concerning, he said.
If parents lose their job because of the pandemic, students whose schools close may feel pressure to look for work and leave education altogether, said Posso. "We already see a big jump in child labor when kids are around 14 or so. If you close schools, it's going to make it very difficult for many children to go back."
Recent history suggests school closures can also have a particularly negative impact on girls, Posso said, especially those from poorer families and communities where girls' rights to education are less entrenched.
During the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, West Africa, schools were closed and few children were able to access remote learning.
A subsequent United Nations Development Programme report into the epidemic found that "gender gaps in education have widened with school closures and because of girls' increased dropout rates, owing to teenage pregnancies and early marriages."
With more people at home because of the pandemic, girls may also be expected to stay out of school in order to take on more household chores, said Posso.
The World Bank warned last month that the pandemic risks pushing tens of millions more children worldwide into "learning poverty" -- meaning that they are unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10 -- with potentially lifelong effects on their earnings.
Mitigating the impact
Faced with this unprecedented situation, teachers and education leaders around the world should take action now to try to ease the effects of school closures when children return, said Michelle Kaffenberger, a research fellow on the RISE Programme at the University of Oxford.
Her simulations indicate that a three-month school closure could reduce long-term learning by a full year's worth of learning.
But if education leaders and teachers take steps to tailor learning to where the children are, rather than picking up where they ought to be, and focus on foundational skills in maths and reading, the impact can be lessened or even overturned, Kaffenberger told CNN.
"The crisis doesn't end when schools reopen," she said. "The crisis is going to keep going, if adequate remediation is not taken when children come back."
Kaffenberger cites research into the impact on schooling of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistani-administered Kashmir as evidence. A study by Tahir Andrabi, Benjamin Daniels and Jishnu Das, published last May, uses survey data collected in 2009 to compare households close to the fault line with similar households that were not affected by the quake.
"Schools in the affected area were closed for an average of 14 weeks, a little more than three months. However, four years later children in the affected areas were not just three months behind, they were the learning equivalent of 1.5 years of schooling behind," Kaffenberger wrote in her own paper.
Households affected by the quake received financial compensation, the paper's authors said, and the data did not indicate higher drop-out rates. But independently measured test scores provide "evidence across the entire age range that persistent developmental deficits can arise in young children due to a large, albeit 'temporary,' shock," they concluded.
Catching up whole cohorts of children will be really hard, said Kaffenberger, but existing programs in lower and middle-income countries show that the approach she espouses does work.
Buljusmic-Kustura sounds an optimistic note. Most of her classmates -- particularly among the refugee diaspora but also those who remained in Bosnia and Herzegovina -- managed to complete their schooling successfully and are doing well in life, despite their traumatic early childhood, she said.
And while she was initially "immensely concerned" for her daughter, now nine, as UK schools closed, Buljusmic-Kustura has since been encouraged by seeing her keep in touch with classmates online and engage well with homeschooling.
Last week, she posted words of encouragement on Twitter for worried parents in the UK, saying the "kids will be fine" and will likely catch up on lost learning, given the right emotional and mental support.
"My education, my learning, even though it stopped, even though there were these huge impediments, there were times I couldn't go to school at all ... it didn't prevent me from continuing to learn, and continuing to get my education and catching up," she said.
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Chinese boats spotted illegally hauling tuna in Indian Ocean
by: JOSHUA GOODMAN, Associated Press
FILE – The Chinese-flagged Lu Rong Yuan Yu 609 prepares to fish for squid on the high seas near the Galapagos Islands on July 19, 2021. Chinese squid vessels were documented using wide nets to illegally catch already overfished tuna as part of a surge in unregulated activity in the Indian Ocean, according to a new report by Norway-based watchdog group that published on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, highlights growing concerns about the lack of international cooperation to protect marine species on the high seas. (AP Photo/Joshua Goodman, File)
MIAMI (AP) — Chinese squid vessels were documented using wide nets to illegally catch already overfished tuna as part of a surge in unregulated activity in the Indian Ocean, according to a new report by Norway-based watchdog group that highlights growing concerns about the lack of international cooperation to protect marine species on the high seas.
The report, published Wednesday by Trygg Mat Tracking, found that the number of squid vessels in the high seas of the Indian Ocean — where fishing of the species is not regulated — has exploded six-fold since 2016.
The vast majority of the vessels sailing in the high seas off the coast of Oman and Yemen were flagged to China, whose overseas fleet, the world’s largest, has been dogged by accusations of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing around the world.
Behind the surge is a lack of oversight and decades of overfishing that has pushed China’s overseas fleet — officially capped at 3,000 vessels but possibly consisting of thousands more — ever farther from home.
Unlike in other parts of the high seas, where countries come together to jointly manage fishing grounds beyond any country’s territorial waters, there’s no such organization regulating the squid caught in the Indian Ocean.
TMT, relying on ship tracking data and an at-sea survey by Greenpeace International, found that all of the squid vessels were fishing with large nets — a practice considered far more harmful than using lures known as jigs because it generates bycatch of non-targeted species.
Among the other fish tangled in the vessels’ nets and spotted on board by drones were large species of tuna — a slow-maturing, top predator whose disappearance can indicate a dying ocean. None of the 341 vessels detected operating in the area this season was authorized to fish for tuna by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, or IOTC, which regulates the catch on the international waters.
Adding to the concerns, TMT said five vessels active in the area later called into a port in Pakistan with 30 metric tons of skipjack and yellowfin tuna, whose population the IOTC is trying to rebuild after years of overfishing.
Another indication of illegal fishing: a significant number of vessels were sailing ‘dark,’ with their mandatory tracking device that gives a ship’s position either switched off, transmitting intermittently, or providing false identifiers.
Some of the same Chinese vessels highlighted by TMT had a history of illegal activity in other parts of the world and were spotted on satellite drifting close to the boundaries of Oman and Yemen, where they did not have permission to fish.
They are also known to fish for squid in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America, where The Associated Press this summerobserved similar tracking device discrepancies.
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WKU Modern Languages Announces Hispanic Heritage Month High School Essay Contest Winners
Cody M. Smith
Thursday, December 2nd, 2021
Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) takes place in the United States every year from September 15 to October 15 and serves as a month in which Hispanic culture and contributions in our country can be observed and reflected upon. WKU Modern Languages recently hosted an event for high school students in Kentucky in which they, too, can observe and recognize Hispanic heritage and culture in their own lives, by writing about a person of Hispanic roots who has positively impacted their life.
There were many submissions from all over the Commonwealth, and three essay writers won the prizes of $200.00 (first place), $100.00 (second place), $50.00 (third place) with essays that demonstrated how Hispanic individuals had a large impact in their lives. The first-place winner of the WKU Modern Languages HHM Essay Contest was Destiny Long, a junior and Yearbook Club member at Cumberland County High School. Her interests include skating, working out, and playing guitar. After high school, Destiny plans to enlist in the United States Army.
The second-place winner was Josh Parsons from Central County High School. In his essay, Parsons shared how a Hispanic individual in his own life served as a mentor and a father.
The third-place winner was David Lopez, a junior at GEO International High School. He has been on the Honor Roll for the past two years and is interested in studying neurology and becoming a neurosurgeon. When not working with his dad, David enjoys playing soccer with his friends. His plan is to continue his studies here on the Hill and has already visited WKU’s campus several times
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Joshua Peguero
Multimedia Journalist
Green Bay, Wis.
Joshua Peguero is a multimedia journalist for WBAY in Green Bay. He moved here in October of 2020 from Fargo where he battled the brutal North Dakota winter, earning his stripes along the way.
Originally from the island of Manhattan in New York City, Joshua has traveled across the United States for TV news jobs landing him in cities such as D.C.; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Abilene, Texas; and Fargo, North Dakota.
His love of journalism came in the third grade at the Emily Dickenson School in New York City. He was encouraged by one of his teacher’s to write and read the paper, as a way to stay informed and engaged about the world.
He's held internships at TV news stations in New York City and at the financial news wire Thomson Reuters.
He's a proud New Yorker, but also proud to have seen much of the United States. He's a graduate of Columbia's Journalism School.
Call him at 920-621-0065 or email him at Joshua.peguero@wbay.com with any news tips or ideas.
You can also Like his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/joshuapegueronews.
Woman with baby attacked by stranger on Wis. trail
Updated: Oct. 5, 2021 at 11:39 PM EDT
By WBAY news staff, Joshua Peguero and Gray News staff
Police acknowledge they’re not sure if the public is safe. Their advice to people is to use caution.
Butler tops Daviess County 13-2, wins first state softball title
Updated: Jun. 20, 2021 at 7:19 PM EDT
Tournament MVP Kyndal Tinnell finished with three homers and 15 RBI in the state tournament.
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Bill Cosby's petition for parole denied
By Julius Young
Bill Cosby has been denied parole and will not be granted a release from his post at SCI – Phoenix in Pennsylvania.
Cosby, 83, has served more than two years of his three-to-10-year prison sentence for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, whom he met through the basketball program at his alma mater, Temple University.
The disgraced actor and comedian had a parole hearing on May 11 and the Pennsylvania parole board decided that Cosby had not yet met the requirements that warranted a release from prison.
The board determined that Cosby failed to "develop a parole release plan" and needs to "participate in and complete additional institutional programs"
He also received a "negative recommendation made by the department of corrections" and that at his next parole hearing, the board will review and consider whether he has "successfully participated in/successfully completed a treatment program for sex offenders and violence prevention."
Cosby must also receive a "favorable recommendation for parole from the department of corrections and the board will determine if he has "maintained a clear conduct record" for the duration of his incarceration.
Bill Cosby is pictured in an inmate photo dated Sept. 4, 2020. (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections)
Reps for Cosby said in a statement obtained by Fox News on Thursday that news his parole has been "denied" by the Pennsylvania State Parole Board is "not a surprise to Mr. Cosby, his family, his friends and/or his legal team."
"It was brought to our attention by Mr. Cosby that over the past months, members of the PA State Parole Board had met with him and empathically stated, ‘if he did not participate in SVP [Sexual Violate Predator] courses that his parole would be denied,’" the memo continued.
"Mr. Cosby has vehemently proclaimed his innocence and continues to deny all allegations made against him, as being false, without the sheer evidence of any proof," the statement added. "Today, Mr. Cosby continues to remain hopeful that the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court will issue an opinion to vacate his conviction or warrant him a new trial."
The funnyman had been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women, and he was deemed a sexually violent predator by his trial judge.
Cosby was convicted in 2018 of assaulting Constand in Philadelphia in 2004 and was also accused of drugging the victim, as well as several other women.
Get updates to this story on FOXNews.com.
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Bhi Bhiman
2Guttersnipe06:41
3Equal In My Tea05:10
4Crazy04:11
5Kimchee Line03:42
There should be a moral to every story. The man or woman with the pen and the paper, or the tongue and the voice should take us somewhere and leave us with a little chunk to chew on. It should be a required part of the process. There can be laughs and puns, violence and heartbreak - all of the proverbial good stuff - but there should be a point to it all. There should be a good and sticky point to all of the hassle of getting from the beginning (all that set-up and background), through the middle (all of the action, sometimes some flowery, circular moments) and on to the end, where the curtains are pulled back and the neon lights are spelling something out in a pretty, bar room cursive lettering. The moral to so many of Bhi Bhiman's stories could use the same neon sign. It would be in flickering, warm pink out front, saying, "Life Can Be Rough," or, "A Thick Skin Has Its Advantages, But It Weighs Twice As Much." Just when you start to think that anything can be chopped and boiled down into one or two little morals though, that's when you get yourself into a lot of trouble.
It's nice when there's one moral to a story, but it's even better when there are dozens and it seems like Bhiman, a former Midwesterner born to Sri Lankan parents in St. Louis, Missouri, who moved out to and has been living in the Bay Area for a while now, is a sucker for those tightly woven stories that still stretch into a myriad of directions. It's sort of like the way that people live in certain places, but might consider themselves to be from so many other places. Everything that they do and think is informed by the various accents that they've been touched with at different points in their lives and it creates a cloudy conscious, though one that's still mostly guided in the same direction. Bhiman, in his rambling man folk songs, comes off as a mister without a home and as a man who believes himself to have one very specific home that he's always making some attempt to get back to. Within his music, and in his head, this writer is a man of the rails, who will throw a rucksack on and split for the clanging clatter of a boxcar whenever the urges strike him, or things have gotten to heavy to deal with in one spot. It's then that he might be trying to get back to somewhere familiar, or he might just be getting to somewhere new, somewhere that's never seen his face, his hide nor hair. A lot of the train-hopping might just be a construct for keeping an agile reference point, never staying rooted anywhere too long, because then it just changes you, wears you down.
Bhiman is an idea man, old-fashioned and just as certainly, as progressive and open-minded as anyone can be. The old presets don't make much sense anymore, for no one has any proper place or should be operating with preexisting conditions or adages. A woman doesn't have to be anything particular and neither does a man. They can and should be allowed new expressions and new forms. He sings about the woman that became the narrator's wife in "Equal In My Tea," explaining how she's hung up on needing a man who meets her staggeringly lofty needs, those that have been handed down over the generations, from one girl who married a doctor to the next. Bhiman sings, "I met a girl today/She tasted like the finest Mexican wine/I like Mexican wine/And I asked this little flower if she would be all mine and she said hell know/I need a man to treat me like a queen all day and night/Need a man with money, style, power, prospects/A man looking for a wife/And I said, 'Bitch, just wanted a kiss. You've got yourself an unrealistic wish, looking for a man who's all that and a bag of chips." The hearts started thumping right then and there and she changed. She heard reason. She got a little churchin', outside of any church, and without any semblance of religion. Just true words and something like sanity biting through. Bhiman is always betting on the morality of sanity getting the best of the day, either that or everything passes.
Bhi Bhiman Stage On Sixth Mar 14, 2013
Bhi Bhiman Paste Studio NYC Mar 12, 2018
Bhi Bhiman Futureappletree Oct 9, 2015
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49ers-Cowboys playoff rivalry resumes after long wait
FILE – Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith (22) makes his way through San Francisco 49ers’ defensive backs Merton Hanks (36) and Bill Romanowski (53), for a 4-yard gain in the second quarter of the Cowboy’s 38-21 NFC championship win, Sunday, Jan. 23, 1994, in Irving, Texas. Few rivalries have had as many big games or star players like Roger Staubach, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders, Steve Young, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Kyle Shanahan was a teenager watching on the sideline when the heated playoff rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers reached a fever pitch with three straight NFC title game matchups.
Now Shanahan will take a starring role when one of the NFL’s great rivalries resumes as head coach of the 49ers instead of son of their offensive coordinator when San Francisco visits Dallas on Sunday in a wild-card matchup.
“I think that’s as cool as it gets because that’s the coolest part of my childhood growing up I feel like,” Shanahan said. “It was seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, ’92, ’93, ’94, every single year. I thought we were the best team in the league. … I remember being on that sideline and just watching how good the Cowboys were and it was unbelievable. And the next year, going to Dallas for the home-field advantage. And we all know what happened there, that one wasn’t even close.”
Shanahan then went into a deep dive on the meeting the next season that San Francisco won as if the game happened last week instead of more than a quarter-century ago.
“As you can tell, those games I still remember them,” he said. “Those are part of my childhood, that was such cool football because everyone knew that for those three NFC championships, those three years were the Super Bowl.”
The 49ers-Cowboys playoff history is a rich one from back-to-back conference title games in the early 1970s, the iconic “Catch” in the 1981 season and then the heated rivalry in the 1990s when the Cowboys won the first two meetings on the way to Super Bowl titles and then the Niners took the third game.
“Boy, were the games close,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on his radio show. “It was just nip and tuck all the way, and it was a play here, a play there, and that’s the playoffs. These things are just razor thin as to how you can end up advancing in these playoffs. In those years, it made a lot of difference.”
This will be the eighth time these franchises have met in the postseason, tied for the second most of any matchup in the Super Bowl era to the nine games between the Rams and Cowboys.
But with six of the previous matchups coming in the conference title game, few rivalries have had as many big games or star players such as Roger Staubach, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders, Steve Young, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin.
“I’m damn fired up, man,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said. “Are you kidding me? The early 90s Dallas-Niners, some of the championship games, for me, coming up and watching those ones, I can hear (John) Madden and (Pat) Summerall talking it through. My first Dallas and Niner playoff game, I’m pretty fired up to do it man. It’s exciting.”
It’s been a long time coming as this will be the first playoff matchup since the 1994 season when the Niners beat the Cowboys in the NFC title game.
In fact, this is the first time since 1998 that both teams are in the playoffs in the same season, meaning the current players don’t have the same nostalgia to the rivalry.
“Not at all,” Shanahan said. “I wish I could say yes, but some of these players were born in the 2000s. So you like to think so, but every day in the quarterback room, when I ask certain questions like, ‘Have you seen Wedding Crashers?’ And they don’t even know that sometimes.”
Here’s a look at the history of the playoff rivalry.
AMERICA’S TEAM
The teams squared off in the first three years after the merger with the Cowboys beating the Niners for the NFC title game in 1970 and ‘71 and again the next year to help launch their status as “America’s Team.”
In the first meeting at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, Dallas used 143 yards rushing and a TD from Duane Thomas and two interceptions of John Brodie to win 17-10.
Dallas’ defense dominated again the next year with three more interceptions of Brodie in a 14-3 win that led the Cowboys to their first Super Bowl title.
The next meeting in the divisional round at Candlestick Park helped Staubach earn the moniker of “Captain Comeback.”
Staubach entered the game in the fourth quarter with Dallas down 28-13 and led the team on three scoring drives. He threw a 20-yard TD pass to Billy Parks with 1:20 left to cut the deficit to 28-23. After a successful onside kick, the Cowboys won it on a 10-yard TD pass from Staubach to Ron Sellers with 52 seconds to play.
The Niners fell off after that three-year run, but got their revenge with a late-game comeback of their own to launch a dynasty in the 1981 NFC championship game.
San Francisco took over at its 11 with 4:54 to play trailing 27-21 when Montana took over. He picked apart Dallas’ Doomsday Defense with a quintessential West Coast offense drive.
Then the Niners faced a third-and-4 at the Dallas 6 with less than a minute to play when Bill Walsh called “Spring Right Option.” Montana rolled right and couldn’t find an open receiver immediately. Then with Ed “Too Tall” Jones and the Dallas defense closing in, Montana launched a high pass that seemed headed out of the end zone.
But Dwight Clark leaped over Everson Walls in the back of the end zone and came down with “The Catch” to give San Francisco a 28-27 lead.
The win was sealed when Danny White lost a fumble and San Francisco won its first of five Super Bowl titles in a 14-year span two weeks later.
“Start of a dynasty,” former 49ers president Carmen Policy said. “I don’t let myself go down the road of what would have happened if he doesn’t make that catch.”
HOW ‘BOUT THEM COWBOYS
While the Niners dynasty was launched with that win, it was the start of Dallas’ demise under coach Tom Landry. The Cowboys bottomed out with a one-win season in Jimmy Johnson’s first season in 1989 before beginning a steady rise.
That helped lead to the Cowboys making it to the 1992 NFC title game in San Francisco against a stacked Niners team led by Steve Young and Jerry Rice.
But the young Cowboys didn’t flinch, getting two TDs from Smith to build a 23-20 lead and then Aikman helped seal it with a 70-yard pass to Alvin Harper to set up another TD.
The rematch the next season wasn’t nearly as tight with the Cowboys building a 28-7 halftime lead on the way to a 38-21 win after Johnson guaranteed victory earlier in the week. Johnson punctuated both wins with his “How ’bout them Cowboys!” proclamation in the victorious locker room.
“I’ve been talking all week,” Johnson told his team. “If you’re gonna talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk. Thanks to you guys, y’all did the walkin.”
YOUNG’S BREAKTHROUGH
After those two losses raised questions if Young would ever win the “big one,” the game the next year helped establish him as one of the greats.
Eric Davis got it started with a pick-6 on the opening possession. Two more turnovers helped San Francisco break out to a 21-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
“Spotting them a 21-point lead was like spotting Carl Lewis 20 yards in a 100-yard dash,” Smith said.
Young did the rest with two TD passes and a TD run and went on to win Super Bowl MVP two weeks later.
“To answer that pressure is one of the great feelings in sports,” he said after that win over Dallas.
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