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Comic Art in the Academy
Paul Buhle New Politics
Once the provenance of teens, counterculturalists or authors who were fans, comics are now entrenched in academic discourse in what the essayist calls, "the theorizing of a kind of artistic poetics." The book under review ably looks at nonfiction comics as apt reflections on modern social ills.
Upstart Parties Crash the Ball in Spain
Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus
A new progressive coalition seeks to end Spain's punishing austerity regime and confront the country's staggering unemployment. The new kid on the block has raised the pressure on the center-left Socialists to make a choice: follow the lead of Portugal, where the Socialist Party formed a united front with the Left Bloc and the Communist/Green alliance, or imitate the Social Democrats in Germany and join a "grand coalition" and make common cause with the right?
Batman Confronts Police Racism in Latest Comic Book
Spencer Ackerman The Guardian
Comics critics say they are hard pressed to remember Batman ever addressing institutional racism and its socio-economic dimensions as bluntly as this in the character’s 75-year history.
New Releases in African American Intellectual History
Chris Cameron African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS)
New books and research in African American history and culture. Recent or soon-to-be published books, which the African American Intellectual History Society feels would be of interest to readers. Regrettably the cost for some puts these out of reach of many - but there is always your public or school library. Suggest that these be ordered.
Lucy McKeon Boston Review
Popular culture may be getting more diverse in terms of gender and skin color, but it's still mostly flat in presenting diverse human qualities and differences. Few characters play against type, which makes the exceptions all the more remarkable. Part of the power of characters playing against type is simply their insistence, humorous and without qualified explanation, of their existence. In other words, like most of comedy, its power is better experienced, not explained
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Golden Kamuy – 14 »« Golden Kamuy – 12 (END)
Golden Kamuy – 13
Filed under First Impressions, Golden Kamuy by Passerby | 9 Comments
「江渡貝くん」 (Edogai-kun)
“Edogai-kun”
It hardly seems that we’ve gone, does it? After a short one season break Golden Kamuy returns, picking up basically where we left off, with Asirpa and gang, after 12 episodes of winter, freshly experiencing the Hokkaido spring. It’s ironic that although spring is the season of new beginnings Golden Kamuy does not seem to be in a hurry to reinvent itself, even as it launches into a new chapter. Instead, the first thing Golden Kamuy does is remind us what it really is all about.
One may mistakenly get the general impression, from promotional materials and elsewhere, that Golden Kamuy was all about gritty violence. Super edgy, super bloody. And yeah, sure, Golden Kamuy is capable of some stomach-turning stuff from time to time, and I’m sure some of you watching it are here for hard-boiled action sequences, and that’s all good. But that’s not how the second season of Golden Kamuy has chosen to open. Instead, it’s all sunshine, greenery, and Ainu culture, a stark contrast to the first season. There, we were greeted with war and Sugimoto stabbing some guy in the face. Golden Kamuy is a show of two halves, one about humans coexisting with nature while enjoying its bounties and one about humanity’s internal conflict as we destroy each other, and while traditionally conflict is the fuel of all stories it’s curious how Golden Kamuy keeps coming back to and even emphasises its more positive side. I’m glad for that; not only is cultural Ainu stuff simply interesting, Golden Kamuy would be a rather nihilistic show without it.
Violence and nihilism in anime is often associated with maturity. While there is certainly a correlation, in that they’re the kind of things we keep away from the immature, nihilism is more an adolescent thing that most adults manage to grow out of. Indeed, while Golden Kamuy‘s outlook on humanity is hardly idealistic, it never descends into nihilism. Its violence, brutal though it can be, always has a greater purpose and it’s never murder for the sake of a body count. In fact, in this episode nobody was killed at all (nobody who wasn’t already dead, anyway). There is nuance here, an additional layer to the character of Lt Tsurumi, showing that he knows that he can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar (even though just tatooing random people and skinning them would be more expedient). He’s not just a maniac, he has a charisma, and there is a reason why his men follow him. And in an obvious homage to Alfred Hitchcock it is a study in madness, in extreme obsession. And we are left wondering if Tsurumi is able to form a bond with Edogai because he is the voice of reason, or because he is, deep down, just as mad.
These are all things that we’re accustomed with in Golden Kamuy. Again, it’s not in a hurry to change its formula. But it does want to give a sense of progression, it seems, so rather than changing the script it settles for muddying the waters. The possibility of betrayal is raised, with all characters seeming to possess their own agenda. Honestly, the only characters I feel like I can 100% trust is Asirpa and Sugimoto — and maybe even that is naive on my part. But I’m glad to see that Golden Kamuy is keeping to its core while mixing things up, and as the plot thickens I’m excited to see where this second season is going to take us.
October 9, 2018 at 11:47 amZaiden
link | my site | registered
Golden Kamuy is back… hinna hinna! Edogai is a really entertaining psycho who Tsurumi has intelligently wrapped around his finger and Inkarmat should certainly not be trusted, though her predictions are rather ominous. Let’s see where this new season will take us, and I’m certain it will be anything but boring :3
October 9, 2018 at 9:58 pmHaru
Why doesn’t someone just blog about Ulysses:Jeanne d’Arc.
October 10, 2018 at 12:03 amBambi
Yay! Why should be talking about Edogai’s avant garde kitty walk fashion show
I feel the story tries to show humanity as two sides of a coin as we often see it, the life and death of it. Kind of like how in Ainu culture, they will obviously hunt and utilise things to survive, but they don’t forget to have gratitude for the power that nature is providing. Obviously the duo want answers to their quest (Asirpa regarding the Ainu gold heritage; Sugimoto with helping that woman whose name I can’t remember), but in the midst of war hopefully Asirpa will show Sugimoto that they can obtain happiness through what’s already theirs, rather than becoming consumed with greed and trying to achieve their desires through any means like one-sided slaughtering.
October 10, 2018 at 1:53 amcvb
But greed is not their motivation. Like you said Sugimoto needs money to support his best friend’s wife and former first love and Asirpa flat out rejects using the gold because it’s the river kamui’s property, she wants to give it back to the village like it was before. Unlike the others, they are on a quest for what their own most imporant things.
October 10, 2018 at 12:39 amBROOKLYN otaku
im SORRY…but whenever i look at mask dudes eye area i get a SEVERE craving for FLANK steak.
October 10, 2018 at 10:35 amsnappy
Surely you mean skullplate dude? Because there is another dude with a mask, and I’ll really be creeped out if you think those thing around his eyes makes you hungry…
https://randomc.net/image/Golden%20Kamuy/Golden%20Kamuy%20-%2013%20-%2014.jpg
October 10, 2018 at 10:13 pmLoliHat
link | my site
If you ever wondered what would happen if Norman Bates from “Psycho” and Jame Gumb from “Silence of the Lambs” were to raise a child together… wonder no more.
October 11, 2018 at 2:43 amdilutedwater
“boner” makes a comeback too.
October 11, 2018 at 12:10 pmewok40k
Yay! I loved the show’s gallery of – mostly twisted – characters contrasted with amazing nature of Hokkaido…
And now more mysteries are added to the mix, from true identity of Asirpa’s father to hidden (beyond being agent of lieutnant) agenda of the mysterious fortune telling woman…
Carole & Tuesday – 13 (4)
Worldwidedepp: Well Dann did know them both, he saw them on the...
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Updated NICE guidance on dementia care
Erin Dean
First update in a decade says staff working with people who have dementia need extra training
Essential facts
There are about 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, and the number is expected to rise to more than one million by 2025, according to the Alzheimer’s Society. The term dementia covers various brain disorders that trigger a loss of brain function. These conditions are all usually progressive and eventually severe. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form, affecting 62% of those diagnosed with dementia.
Staff working with people with dementia need additional training in the condition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says in its first update in a decade to guidance on dementia care. It calls for more face-to-face training for health and social care staff, and for people with dementia to be involved in discussions about their care. The Alzheimer’s Society describes the new guidance as a ‘starting point’ but says more support is needed for the recommendations to become reality.
RELATED: Many patients failing to receive follow-up care after dementia diagnosis, charity says
Symptoms of dementia include memory loss, confusion and problems with speech and comprehension. It can cause depression, anxiety, loss of concentration, behavioural changes, difficulty with familiar tasks and aggressive behaviour.
Age is the biggest known risk factor for dementia, and some genes place people at higher risk. Women are at higher risk than men of Alzheimer’s disease. People from some ethnic groups seem to be at higher risk, with of south Asian ethnicity more likely to develop dementia – particularly vascular dementia – than white Europeans. Smoking, drinking too much alcohol and having high blood pressure all increase risk. Taking regular physical exercise appears to be the best way to reduce risk, research suggests.
RELATED: RCNi’s dementia series – clinical articles
How you can help your patient
The NICE guidance says:
Everyone with dementia should have a care and support plan.
They should be offered early and ongoing opportunities to discuss the benefits of planning ahead, lasting power of attorney and an advance statement about their wishes, preferences, beliefs and values regarding their future care.
Care providers should give staff additional face-to-face training and mentoring. This should cover promoting freedom, minimising use of restraint and safely reducing the use of antipsychotics.
Individuals should be offered a range of activities to promote well-being that are tailored to their preferences. Staff should offer group cognitive stimulation therapy and consider group reminiscence therapy and cognitive rehabilitation for people with mild to moderate dementia.
Rachel Thompson, Admiral Nurse and professional and practice development lead at Dementia UK
‘The updated NICE dementia guideline sets out clearly how someone should be supported through and after diagnosis. This includes access to a named person who will coordinate care, an individualised care plan including support with advance care planning, and managing co-morbidities.
It also includes access to a range of psychological interventions and activities, appropriate pharmacological treatment, support with transition between services, flexible palliative care support and dedicated support for family carers.
The training recommendations are positive but we need to ensure that training is good quality, relevant and supported in practice by those with specialist expertise and leadership positions.
Admiral Nurses have a key role to play in supporting this. While diagnosis rates are improving, access to good quality, informed post-diagnostic support is vital. Experiences drawn from our Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline indicate that far too many people still struggle both to access this and find support when they need it.’
NICE guidance – Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers
Admiral Nurse provider Dementia UK
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GOLDEN SON by Pierce Brown
Posted on January 21, 2015 January 21, 2015 by Matt Craig
Pierce Brown (pierce-brown.com)
Hodder & Stoughton (www.hodder.co.uk)
Two years after his victory at the Institute, Darrow au Andromedus, the Red who now lives the life of a Gold, is on the cusp of repeating the trick at the Academy, and gaining command of a fleet of Gold vessels. It is a surprise to everyone, then, when he is defeated in the final battle, and a bigger surprise to Darrow to learn that his sponsor and protector will be cutting him free following his failure to gain control of the fleet. In a race against time, Darrow must find a way to remain under the protection of House Augustus in order to stay alive long enough to progress his true mission: the downfall of the Gold’s Society from the inside. As civil war looms, Darrow will find his loyalties tested, and his own sense of identity increasingly blurred.
Returning to the world and characters he created in Red Rising, Pierce Brown takes us once again into the head of Darrow, the Red miner who has turned Gold in order to help free his people. Within a handful of pages, the reader will feel comfortable with this familiar world, with the idiosyncrasies of the language, and with the relationships between the characters. Of course, it is imperative to read Red Rising first, or very little will make sense. What Brown began sketching out in that first novel on a small scale, we now see on a much larger canvas, as the author expands the scope of the story out into the solar system, much of which has been colonised by the Golds. From the old ways that we grew used to on Mars – the ancient Roman setting an effect broken only by the occasional glimpse of technology – we move into epic space opera, fleets of gleaming spaceships, giant behemoths that make Battlestar Galactica look like a lifeboat, and the threat of looming war is apparent from the outset.
Much has changed in the intervening two years, and Darrow finds himself the centre of an odd circle of friends. Relations with Mustang, the girl to whom he grew close during their time in the Institute, and the daughter of his patron, are strained following his decision to enter the Academy. This is the first sign we, the reader, see that the transition from Red to Gold may have affected more than just Darrow’s body: there is a hunger for power (admittedly, we are fairly certain that it is all for the greater good, but there is still plenty of room for doubt), something that we might associate more with the Golds than with the lowReds from whence Darrow came. This is a theme that recurs throughout the novel, and Darrow frequently questions his own motives, seeing in himself a man he has no desire to be, a man his wife would not – could not – ever have loved.
As the story progresses, Brown begins to drip-feed us answers to some of the questions that remained unanswered at the end of the first book: who are the Sons of Ares, for example, and what, exactly is their game plan? As friendships shrivel and die, Darrow quickly comes to understand that he has some very dangerous enemies who know a little bit too much about his origins. It becomes difficult to know who can be trusted, who is waiting to plunge the knife once his back is turned, and the reader feels as helpless as Darrow since we know only what he knows. In a shocking revelation as the story heads towards a stormy and cliff-hanging climax, Brown pulls the carpet from under our feet and completely changes the nature of the game; everything we thought we understood about what Darrow is doing, what his mission is all about, is called into question in a single moment of magic.
All of the elements that made Red Rising such a special book are present and accounted for in this second outing, but the increase in scope allows Brown to play around a bit more with the ideas and concepts that make up this world he has created. Edge of the seat thrills coupled with scenes that take place on a cinematic scale make this an entirely engrossing read. Darrow, although changed from our first encounter with him, is still as engaging as ever, and it is his journey that we keep coming back for. In the tradition of the finest “middle volumes” of classic trilogies, Golden Son builds on the world created in the first volume, makes us rethink what we thought we knew, and finishes on a bang that will ensure we’re all waiting impatiently for the trilogy’s final instalment.
A stunning space opera of epic proportions, Golden Son is gripping and intense at times, tender and funny at others. It takes the story begun in Red Rising in unexpected directions and manages to be that most rare of beasts: the sequel that surpasses the original. If you enjoyed Red Rising, Golden Son will knock your socks off. If you’ve yet to experience Pierce Brown’s multi-coloured world, you will definitely want to be caught up before the third volume drops next year. Either way, you won’t be disappointed.
Tags: civil war, darrow, gold, golden son, hodder & stoughton, hodderscape, mars, pierce brown, red, red rising, sons of ares, spaceshipsCategories: Action-Adventure, Science Fiction, War
One thought on “GOLDEN SON by Pierce Brown”
bookshelfbattle says:
Pierce Brown is an excellent writer. I’m a bit behind, only starting to read Red Rising now!
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Is private sponsorship a sustainable policy option for the resettlement of refugees? In this piece Hannah Collins compares government-led resettlement programmes and private community sponsorship schemes (CSS) for displaced Syrian families resettled in the UK. Based on interviews with both host communities and Syrian families, Hannah reviews the schemes and examines both the positive aspects of these schemes and the potential problems they may create. Hannah also explores and problematises the concept of integration and the creation of identities by and for newcomers and their host communities. In doing so Hannah contributes to the ongoing work of the Refugee Hosts’ research project which seeks to develop a more nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities that arise when local communities engage in activities designed to enhance the quality of life of displaced populations.
If you find this piece of interest please visit Refugee Hosts Representations of Displacement series or the suggested reading at the end of this post.
This piece was posted on 27 February 2019.
Community-sponsorship in the UK: breaking down barriers to diversity.
By Hannah Collins, DPU-UCL
With Brexit, and the rise of populist politics, opinions relating to migration are dividing societies. Distrust is exacerbated by dominant media, political and social rhetoric which perpetuates misinformation and negative stereotypes. The so-called ‘refugee crisis’ is being grossly distorted by the language that we use – hence, we use the term ‘newcomer’ to refer to people who were once refugees but have now been resettled in a host country through the UNHCRs resettlement programme.
There are 25.4 million registered refugees in the world. Only 10,500 have been welcomed into the UK since the government promised 20 000 by 2020 in 2015. Forced mass displacement and migration is not a new issue or anomaly. It is a fact of human existence. As such, migration policies must be sustainable and long-standing unlike the reactive and ad hoc policies that have arisen, mainly in Europe, since 2015.
Resettlement is one of three ‘durable’ solutions for refugees mandated by the UNHCR (the other two being voluntary repatriation and local integration). It is not a solution for all refugees as the numbers and places available are low and it does not help to address the root cause of their displacement. Resettlement policies change according to the country who accepts refugees and can be inherently discriminatory with selection criteria such as ‘women at risk’ or ‘family reunification.’ Resettlement is a life-changing experience for people who are forced to make a home where the society, culture and language are often different from their own. About 1.2 million refugees need resettlement but there is a decline in refugee resettlement worldwide.
Private sponsorship is promoted by policy makers globally as an opportunity to provide refugees a chance for a better life and is a sustainable policy option for refugee resettlement. It enables communities to take on the costs of integrating refugees who need a safe haven. Until recently Canada was the only country to offer private sponsorship of refugees which has helped resettle 300,000 people since the mid-1970s. Advocates for private sponsorship argue that its primary benefit is not to reduce government costs and commitments but to enable more refugees to be resettled, complementing the government’s role. At the core of successful private sponsorship is a respectful partnership between the government and civil society. They argue that the scheme strengthens host communities, builds powerful bonds between sponsors and newcomers and fosters positive attitudes towards refugees.
Last year a colleague and I, with the support of UCL’s Development Planning Unit and Citizens UK, compared government-led resettlement and the newly instated community-sponsorship scheme (CSS) for newcomers in the UK. Modelled on the Canadian private sponsorship scheme, in CSS community groups in the UK sign up to sponsor and support a family displaced by the Syrian conflict to resettle in their local community. They are responsible for the newcomers from the moment of their arrival, providing airport pick-up, housing, access to medical and social services, English language tuition, schooling, and support towards employment and self-sufficiency. In this sense, sponsors take on the same role as local authorities in many government-led resettlement programmes.
We travelled around the UK speaking with volunteers, community groups, local councils, NGOs and newcomers who had experiences with either scheme. While my colleague focussed on the experiences and perspectives of the newcomers I looked at those of the host communities. Only 10 families had arrived through the CSS when we were investigating, so while our research offers insights into the schemes it is not an exhaustive study.
Central to the resettlement process is the complex concept of integration. Integration involves the active engagement by policy makers, state institutions, local communities and the newcomers, with all groups interacting with and adapting to diversity. As integration is a process and the newcomers and host communities we spoke with had only been involved with the schemes for a year or less, they were in the beginning phases of integration.
We found that the participation of host community members leads to positive impact on the process of integration. Such participation occurs in different ways in CSS and government-led resettlement. Under CSS the role of the host community is structured, which encourages an efficient management of resources, accelerating the integration process through clear communication channels, well planned flexible interventions, and a sense of responsibility of the host community.
In the words of a host community member,
“I don’t think local authorities have that capacity, even with the funding they have, to offer that level of support. They generally offer one worker to look after five families, that’s what I understand, in most places. One full time worker to do all of that. We have team of 15 looking after one family…we have different roles for each person… I think CSS offers a wider opportunity for support and more knowledge base coming in and people with real expertise on different areas.”
Under current cuts and increased stress on public services, navigating the system of entitlements is increasingly difficult for people whose situation is already precarious, creating further marginalisation
By framing people as the ‘most vulnerable’ or the ‘worthiest of protection’, the system can work to further exclude others, usually young men, who have become vulnerable due to the framing of what constitutes ‘vulnerability’. In the words of one newcomer we interviewed,
“Apart from the current problems we have such as language, cultural shocks, and vulnerability, we have too many other problems and concerns, we all suffered from war and bloodbath and persecution, some of us have trauma, family members at risk, loss of loved ones to war, our suffering started seven years ago and is still going on, even if we are safe here. Please do not compare us with others. I understand and really appreciate we have same rights as citizens, but sometimes we need more consideration, attention, and flexibility when accessing services.“
Extra support is required for the ‘most vulnerable,’ beyond what the government provides, and a rethink needed to address those who are not seen as ‘vulnerable’ to access their rights. CSS is more adaptable to respond to individual needs and differences with the help of their sponsor group.
An effective response to the newcomers needs is crucial and depends upon treatment, communication, time and flexibility. Our findings show that CSS has more capacity to respond to these issues because it does not depend on overstretched, bureaucratic and rigid state institutions or outsourced NGOs. However, in both schemes engaging the host community in accessing services can be beneficial and there are examples of host community engagement in access to services in both schemes, but in CSS the role of the host community is structurally built into the scheme.
When we live in and engage with only our own private spaces and circles we exacerbate and actively contribute to the dilution of public goods and lose a sense of common interest and shared values. Populists get around the human values of empathy and solidarity by propagating falsities to discredit facts and stoke fear rather than compassion for the benefit of no one but themselves and those ‘like’ them. CSS is an opportunity to move beyond this, to help those in need, to challenge the status quo bias and to create a functioning society through diversity. So far about 138 refugees have come through the community-sponsorship scheme sponsored by 24 community groups.
Our interviews showed that, with CSS, host communities work with newcomers to show them how things work so newcomers build trust and understanding of the systems of their new government. At the same time the host community changes; stereotypes are broken and the community cultures adapt and are strengthened by their new members. For example, a host community member remarked,
“the effect [CSS] has had on us is probably the biggest success of the whole thing really… you are supporting the family and you can see the effect it’s having on them, but on many levels it has given us a common purpose as a group… we have interacted with all sorts of people that we haven’t met before. Taxi drivers who brought us back from the airport who heard what we were doing and then didn’t charge us the bill… the local Lebanese restaurant gave us all this food for free and they kept saying thank you to us… it’s just created community.”
CSS offers opportunity for individual change and engagement with diversity. It may be a policy, however, that actually helps expand neoliberal ideologies as states become further removed from providing social support. After witnessing individual journeys, success stories and some proud community groups I feel hopeful for the opportunities to take action that CSS provides, while recognising that this may obscure a further devolvement of social responsibility from the state.
This research was undertaken by Mahdy Alraie and Hannah Collins, supervised by Dr Andrea Rigon at the Development Planning Unit, UCL.
Rayes, D. (2018) In God we trust: Faith communities as an asset to refugee youth in the United States
Thieme, T. 2018 World Refugee Day – DIY Humanitarianism in Paris
Jordan, Z. (2018) Why host refugees?
Rowlands, A. (2018) Turkey – crossroads for the displaced.
Weatherhead, K.T. (2017) Thinking though the concept of ‘welcoming’.
Featured image: Resettlement houses in central Port Charlotte – geograph.org.uk. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Posted in: Blog | Tagged: Blog, hosting, hosts, Politics, refugees, resettlement, syria
Expectations and the Politics of Resettlement: Colombian and Palestinian refugees in Chile and Brazil
One thought on “Community-sponsorship in the UK: breaking down barriers to diversity”
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Tista' Tkun Int!
Set up in the year 2000 Timelime’s aim is to produce media products in various formats - vision, sound and print. Originally, Timeline Entertainment Limited was set up by the Vella family with the sole scope of providing in-house marketing consultancy and as a production house to the subsidiary companies. Timeline proved to be a very successful tool. Over the years Timeline Entertainment has managed to become a leader in the local TV industry by consistently producing the most popular TV Show - Tista’ Tkun Int! and managing Malta’s largest advertising accounts.
Timeline produces a wide range of imaginative, distinctive and, most of all, effective television commercials and public service announcements. Productions include marketing and public relations strategies, corporate videos and audiovisual productions, commercials, turnkey television productions, logo creation and animation, broadcast design including openings, glosses and jingles, radio adverts, public service announcements and print design.
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MAP IT series: Seeing Sound: Mapping Florentine Soundscapes, 2/15 in White Hall 111
Niall Atkinson (University of Chicago) will deliver the third lecture of the MAP IT | Little Dots, Big Ideas series on Monday, 15 February, at 5.30 PM in the White Hall 111. (**please note this new location**) He will discuss Seeing Sound: Mapping Florentine Soundscapes, a DH project that focuses on Renaissance Florence, taking inspiration…
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**The Open Data Information Fair on Feb 11 has been canceled due to illness. Check back for a rescheduled date later in Spring 2016.** As part of Love Your Data week (#LYD16), librarians and informationists from Emory Libraries will be at the Rollins School of Public Health Café this Thursday, February 11, from 11 a.m….
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Got data? Emory Libraries invites you to join us as we celebrate one of our university’s most important scholarly outputs: research data. During the week of February 8-12, 2016, we will participate in a national conversation on Twitter (#LYD16) highlighting effective ways to “Love Your Data.” Tune in as we share daily tips and tricks…
MAP IT series: Enchanting the Desert lecture Feb. 1st at 5:30pm, Jones Room
Nicholas Bauch (Ph.D., UCLA, 2010, Geography) from Stanford University will deliver the second lecture of the MAP IT | Little Dots, Big Ideas series on Monday, 1 February, at 5.30 PM in the Woodruff Library Jones Room. He will discuss, Enchanting the Desert: Visualizing the Production of Space at the Grand Canyon. The MAP IT…
MAP IT series: Tracing The Arctic Regions lecture Jan 25th at 5:30pm, Jones Room
George Philip LeBourdais of Stanford University will deliver the first lecture of the MAP IT | Little Dots, Big Ideas series on Monday, 25 January, at 5.30 PM in the Woodruff Library Jones Room. He will discuss, Tracing The Arctic Regions: Mapping Nineteenth-Century Photographs of Greenland The MAP IT series features six public lectures. See: https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/dmh/…
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Welcome EaglePrint!
In this digital age, academic life at Emory and most other universities still relies heavily on paper printing. EaglePrint was officially launched on June 1, 2015 as the next evolution of student printing at Emory. Compared to the previous years of the Student Printing service at Emory, EaglePrint is greatly simplified. In previous years, there…
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How does Gandalf know that the ring's destruction will imply Sauron's “death”? [duplicate]
Did the Council of Elrond know that destroying the Ring would destroy Sauron? 4 answers
During the last debate, Gandalf says:
"Concerning this thing, my lords, you now all know enough for the understanding of our plight, and of Sauron's. If he regains it, your valour is vain, and his victory will be swift and complete: so complete that none can foresee the end of it while this world lasts. If it is destroyed, then he will fall; and his fall will be so low that none can foresee his arising ever again. For he will lose the best part of the strength that was native to him in his beginning, and all that was made or begun with that power will crumble, and he will be maimed for ever, becoming a mere spirit of malice that gnaws itself in the shadows, but cannot again grow or take shape. And so a great evil of this world will be removed."
How does Gandalf -or any other of the wise- know that Sauron will indeed be crippled to such an extent if the ring is destroyed (and why is this not already mentioned during the council of Elrond)?
To understand where this question comes from, it may be useful to know that Peter Jackson's depiction of Sauron's incapacitation at the end of the Second Age is controversial. It is not said in the books that a fit Sauron has his ring-finger cut of and then suddenly disintegrates. The text rather suggests that Gil-Galad and Elendil maim Sauron, whereafter Isildur cuts the ring off a near-incapacitated Sauron.
It was brought to my attention that this question may superficially be viewed as a duplicate of this one. However, that question does not ask after the method by which the wise determine that Sauron will be crippled by the ring's destruction. That is, it asks whether, not how. I find this important because during the last debate Gandalf urges the leadership of Gondor and Rohan basically to bet everything on this single assumption. So one would think/expect that Gandalf has solid proof for his assertion.
tolkiens-legendarium the-lord-of-the-rings gandalf
Galastel
Thibaut DemaerelThibaut Demaerel
marked as duplicate by Edlothiad, TheLethalCarrot, Bellatrix, Rebel-Scum, ibid Jul 31 '18 at 22:22
Side note, I never interpreted, "none can foresee his arising ever again" to mean, "he'll be essentially dead forever". I just thought it meant, "he will be so permanently weakened that if he does ever arise again, it will take him so long that we can't possibly estimate how many eons in the future it will be". – Todd Wilcox Jul 31 '18 at 18:27
@Todd, phrases like "while this world lasts", "maimed for ever", "cannot again grow or take shape" suggest otherwise, IMO. Anyone know whether Tolkien ever addressed this point directly? – Harry Johnston Jul 31 '18 at 18:54
@Edlothiad - The way I read it, the possible duplicate indicates that Gandalf (actually, the Council of Elrond) knew destroying the ring would take down Sauron; I do not see any information as to how they knew this. – RDFozz Jul 31 '18 at 20:05
@Adlohiad: I concur with RDFozz: note that the answers given to the cited question do not say by which method the wise know what they know. – Thibaut Demaerel Jul 31 '18 at 20:39
@Edlothiad - None of the answers currently on the "duplicate" question ("did they know") currently provide an answer to this question ("how did they know"). If the two questions are duplicates, I'd have to say that the general was a duplicate of the specific - "How did they know" has to cover "did they know', while "did they know" requires no such explanation by nature. I considered opening a meta on this, but I did that already not long ago, and the resounding favorite answer was "the questions aren't duplicates". – RDFozz Jul 31 '18 at 23:12
To start with, Celebrimbor -- the Noldorian smith who made the Three, the Seven and the Nine -- was very learned in ringlore. (Though not quite so learned as he thought, it seems!) It seems highly likely that he knew what Sauron must have done to create the One and he undoubtedly told the holders of the Three, at least. (When I say "must have done" I'm talking about how a skilled practitioner in a craft can understand how an even more skilled practitioner did something without being able to do it himself.)
In general, in Morgoth's Ring Tolkien writes at length about how Morgoth poured his spirit? essence? being? into Middle Earth at its creation and thus marred it and that Middle Earth was to Morgoth as the One was to Sauron. Some or all of this was known to the Wise either because the Noldor learned it in Valinor before their rebellion, from the Valar or Maia during the War of Wrath, or because the Istari brought the knowledge from Valinor. (You'll remember that Saurman was a master of ring lore and while he was probably always rather arrogant, he was not at first an enemy and doubtless shared some of his more general knowledge with the rest of the Wise.)
So: While there's no evidence that any of the Wise at the time of LotR (with the maybe just barely possible exception of Saruman) could make a Ring of Power, there was a lot of knowledge about how they worked and what they could do and what they did to those who used them. (Many of us know how to use computers and even how to program computers, but few of us can do chip design.)
Gandalf could thus be certain that the destruction of the Ring would cripple Sauron without being sure it would destroy him. He may only have foreseen as a certainty that the Ring's destruction would put Sauron in the the category of "Defeatable by Mortal Men" -- even only that would have been a big step forward.
(Though it does seem like the Council of Elrond came to a decision rather quickly.)
Mark OlsonMark Olson
You may want to copy your answer to the duplicate, as none of the answers there currently answer this question. – RDFozz Jul 31 '18 at 23:00
@RDFozz: Thanks! – Mark Olson Jul 31 '18 at 23:29
There is a story in the Unfinished Tales: The Faithful Stone, in the Drúadain chapter. In this story, a Drûg transfers some of his power into a stone watchman, to keep guard over a friend's house:
'See, I have left with it some of my powers. May it keep you from harm!'
The stone statue comes to life when the house is attacked, kills some orcs and stomps out a fire the orcs started. When the Drûg comes back, his legs are blistered, and he comments
Alas! If some power passes from you to a thing that you have made, then you must take a share in its hurts.
Tolkien quite explicitly comments on this story:
The takes, such as The Faithful Stone, that speak of their transferring part of their "powers" to their artefacts, remind one in miniature of Sauron's transference of power to the foundations of the Barad-dûr and to the Ruling Ring.
This appears to be a rule on which Middle-earth operates. As such, it is not unreasonable for Gandalf, a Maia coming from Valinor, to know it. Gandalf can thus safely assume that if the Ring is destroyed, part of Sauron will be destroyed with it. Indeed, if it is a "law of nature", others who care to study such laws, Elrond and Galadriel, for example, might well also be aware of it.
The question thus becomes "how did Gandalf know enough of Sauron would be destroyed that he would be unable to recover?
I think the answer to this question is, at least in part, what @MarkOlson says: Celebrimbor might well have known how much power must be put into the Ring for it to produce the effects it did. Supporting this claim is the fact that Elrond and Círdan both counselled Isildur to destroy the Ring at once:
Isildur took it, as should not have been. It should have been cast then into Orodruin's fire nigh at hand where it was made. But few marked what Isildur did. He alone stood by his father in the last mortal contest; and by Gil-Galad only Círdan stood, and I. But Isildur would not listen to our counsel. (LotR II 2 - The Council of Elrond)
(The knowledge of where the Ring was made had to come from Celebrimbor too, no doubt.)
Gandalf too would know how much power Sauron would have had from the start, and how much he'd need to put in the Ring to produce the desired effects, but he'd have to rely on other sources for description of the Ring's effects, since he wouldn't have actually seen the object until the events of The Hobbit and the LotR.
GalastelGalastel
Council of Elrond knew a lot about Maiar
They certainly knew Sauron is a powerful Maia, a lieutenant of Melkor (Morgoth) from the First Age, and therefore essentially immortal. They knew that he, like his master, could take physical form. They knew that this physical form is vulnerable (in fact, Sauron was defeated a few times in the First Age, and at the end of the Second Age). They knew that Sauron, like his master Melkor, could put his powers into objects or beings. This would bound them to him. Examples are Melkor's fortresses like Utumno and Angband, and Sauron's fortress of Barad-dûr.
They knew that power of Ainur is not limitless. Indeed, Melkor (mightiest of Vala) put so much power into Arda that in the end he could not even heal his own leg, not to mention change shape. Of course, they understood this would also happen to Sauron who lost the ability to change shape after the fall of Númenor. That Númenorians managed to capture Sauron and that he latter corrupted them was also a known fact because many kingdoms of Men in Middle Earth were founded by refugees from Númenor.
Finally, it was known to them what happened with Sauron at the end of the Second Age. He lost his ring and his body, but was not totally destroyed. Of course, they understood ring lore, and knew that the One Ring (control ring) would need enormous power to subjugate the other rings. Therefore, they correctly assumed what Sauron sacrificed to ensure this. Note that the One Ring was for some time possessed by Isildur (2-3 years), although he kept it jealously some knowledge about it must have survived.
cpburnz
rs.29rs.29
'some knowledge about it must have survived.' At least in the form of Elrond :). – Mixxiphoid Jul 31 '18 at 19:22
@Mixxiphoid Good point, although I'm not sure did Elrond actually had a chance to physically inspect the ring, because of its effect on Isildur. – rs.29 Aug 1 '18 at 5:09
He could for sure physically inspect the effects on Isildur, perhaps that was enough. – Mixxiphoid Aug 1 '18 at 5:38
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged tolkiens-legendarium the-lord-of-the-rings gandalf or ask your own question.
Did the Council of Elrond know that destroying the Ring would destroy Sauron?
How does Galadriel know that Gandalf 'survives' his encounter with the Balrog?
How did Sauron not know about the Ring?
Did Gandalf know that the One Ring still existed during the events of the Hobbit?
How did Gandalf and Mordor come to know about Gollum?
How could Gandalf beat the Balrog?
Why didn't Gandalf carry the Ring in Maiar form?
Could Gandalf have defeated Sauron?
How many times did Gandalf touch the One Ring in the books?
Is it stated in Shadow or Mordor / War (outside the appendix) that Celebrimbor gave Sauron's One Ring it's own will
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Family & Youth
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The Mowed Meadow:
An Extended Meditation
By Gail Collins-Ranadive
“Whatever preserves and enhances the meadow in its natural cycles of transformation is good; whatever opposes the meadow or negates it is not good.” – Father Thomas Berry
The meadow was mowed this morning sometime between the morning dew and noonday heat. Initially, I blocked out the drone reverberating through the neighborhood. But now I am standing on the edge of the field where a vibrant ecosystem once bloomed and buzzed amid red-orange Indian paintbrush.
All that’s left are clumps of death, drying to straw in the summer afternoon sun.
An inexplicable sense of betrayal roots me to the spot, and I am my 10-year-old self again, watching a bulldozer clear out the vacant lot dotted with trees and weeds that we children had secretly claimed. It was our open space, apart from the chaotic confusion and congestion of the veterans’ housing project where we all lived crammed in together. Of course, no one knew what the spot meant to us, so how could we begin to speak up for that special, singular place of suburban wilderness?
Besides, what could we have said back then to counter our parents’ excitement that a pharmacy and convenience store was locating in a neighborhood where the men drove the family car to work, leaving us to bike or walk for whatever we needed during the week…or simply do without?
Back then was before I became a psychiatric nurse who understood that, above and beyond pills, people need natural spaces for optimal mental health.
Back then was before I became an interim minister co-creating ‘seasonal walks’ in each congregation I served because I knew that people need Nature to feed their spirits.
Thus, back then I was voiceless, and powerless to protect what I have always intuitively known to be the Baseline of Life.
In my perfect world, independent red, white, and blue shoots would boldly declare their inalienable right to Life, regardless of any usefulness to humans.
The meadow was mowed this week. I rummage through the stubble until I find one scarlet spear of Indian paintbrush bowed over; I gently straighten its stem until it is upright again.
While my younger-self clings to the hope that the meadow will naturally rejuvenate itself, my elder-self wonders whether as young children we are the reinvented humans that Thomas Berry was calling for with his claim that:
The historical mission of our times is to reinvent the human – at the species level, with critical reflection, within a community of life-systems, in a time-developmental context, by means of story and shared dream experience.
For as children, we already know in our bones that we are part of, not apart from, the wider community of planetary Life.
And that intuitive childhood knowing has been reaffirmed from my subsequent life experiences as a mother of two, the author of two children’s books, a volunteer educator, and as writer-in-residence for four combined fifth grade classes as they planned their field trip to the Grand Canyon.
When I first met with the children I handed out notebooks the size of smart phones, then sent them out into their Las Vegas schoolyard to simply be mindful.
It was their passport into a magic kingdom, one in which they were not princes or princesses, but part of the larger pageant that they were to record in their tiny notebooks:
“It is hot. I see mountains. I feel wind. I smell fresh air. It is quiet outside.” – Guadalupe
“There is a light breeze on my skin. The sun is hot on my skin. I sit on prickly grass. There’s a pigeon soaring, birds chirping, insects flying, and dandelions dancing in the breeze, a cloudless blue sky and a fresh water smell.” – Emily
“There are mountains: I wonder how long it took for the mountain I am looking at to form. That mountain represents life on earth. There’s lots of nature, and birds tweeting. The grass feels soft enough to jump on like a pillow. I can see bugs in the grass with the tall dandelions moving in the wind.” – Hannah
“The classroom feels trapped and outside I feel free. In the room when I look up I see lights; when I look in the sky I see clouds. Inside it feels like the walls are closing in but outside there is space. The sun feels good. The lights don’t make me feel alive. Outside it feels like I can do anything, but inside I feel like I am in jail. Out here there is grass, a breeze, lots of smells, and I can hear a lot of different things.” – Jalen
“When I am outside I see not just trees and bushes, I see birds and their nest. I feel relaxed and not pestered. The day is cool and calm. A slight breeze is blowing that is nice at times.” – Jimmie
For ‘homework,’ they were to do likewise in their own backyards. Thus, by the time they arrived at the Canyon, they were ‘primed.’
“It looks a lot better here than in my imagination; it has many colors and layers. It’s amazing how much a river can do to land. It’s really cold and since the elevation is high we’re partly in a big cloud. The sun is shining on the rocks and it makes it look like the heavens are shining on this beautiful wonder. The color of the rocks is changing and kind of turning golden. Some rocks are scarlet instead of red. The river is turquoise. As the sun sets, the canyon is turning darker and darker but some colors are shining. It looks beautiful and has the colors of the sky. My body takes it all in emotionally. I don’t cry but I see it seems like heaven. The best thing on earth is earth. Everything is wonderful when it is earth.” – Hannah
“It is huge, cold, has lots of layers in different colors: it looks like a skateboard ramp. It has different shapes and sizes. It is deep and the clouds look like they are falling into the canyon. Being here is exciting. The Canyon is enormous. The colors look like a painting.” – Palomar
“I did not expect how picture perfect it is.” – Jimmie
But then something else began to stir in their awareness …the human impact on this priceless place. The haze over the Canyon decreasing the visibility by several miles came from the coal-fired power plant that supplied their school’s electricity. The river at the bottom of the Canyon was Rocky Mountain snowmelt drained by multiple desert cities, thus dropping the water levels in Lake Mead before it got to their home faucets. And the California condor that had been snatched from edge of extinction was now being poisoned while eating the shiny lead bullets left in the carcasses of legally hunted large animals.
Such growing realizations can subvert the very cultural conditionings that Thomas Berry claimed we need to revisit.
And set-aside public places can provide space for this critical thinking to take shape. Is that the real hidden agenda behind the relentless political efforts to diminish public lands at the hands of private profit from ranching, grazing, mining, fracking and resort development?
Does diminishing open space also serve to diminish open ideas, insights, imagination, interconnection, perspective, i.e. human consciousness and collective wisdom?
For point of fact, Berry first encountered ‘his’ meadow as a young boy of eleven, when his family moved out to the edge of their North Carolina town. As he described it in his book, The Great Work, the unfinished house was on an incline above a small creek, and across the creek was a meadow of white lilies rising above the thick grass. A magic moment, this experience gave to my life something that seems to explain my thinking at a more profound level than almost any other experience I can remember. It was not only the lilies. It was the singing of the crickets and the woodlands in the distance and the clouds in a clear sky.
“It was not something conscious that happened just then. [But] this early experience has become normative for me throughout the entire range of my thinking.”
The meadow was mowed this month. But unlike in previous years, this time it happened after the summer solstice. By then the field was tall with weeds and lush with wildflowers and I was daring to hope that THIS year it would be left alone. But apparently in the distant past there was a wildfire out here, so now neighbors push for this mowing, especially those in the newest mega-mansions rimming the meadow.
In another year, right after the Paintbrush had poked up in late spring, my partner and I tried to ‘save’ one. Two elders at risk of being branded as eco-terrorists for defying the powers that be, and ‘armed’ with a backpack and a trowel, we dug up and transplanted a singular ‘brush.’ Of course it didn’t make it in our backyard: it needed its entire eco-system in order to survive. The implicit message here is that ‘so do we.’
Yet our climate-change-denying political systems are propelling us towards the sixth mass extinction that will include us. Despondent, I frantically search for the singular spear of Indian Paintbrush that I up-righted last week. While it remains elusive, I notice other life reappearing, in particular pink tinged tiny daisy-like blooms: the day’s eyes! Together we’ll witness the bugs coming back. Can butterflies be far behind?
Hope teases then taunts me, reflecting my climate activism roller-coaster ride. We seem to almost reach some pinnacle of success, then either get pushed backwards into the misinformation from where we started the climb, or plunge over the top and down into yet another morass of political corruption, media corporatism, and public complacency.
In my meadow meditations, I hold ‘in the light’ the hope that one day soon this ‘empty’ space will not be mowed for the convenience of humans, and instead left to simply be.
Meanwhile, my money is both literally and legally on the group of young people who are currently suing the government for not keeping faith with its Constitutional mandate to protect the commons for the coming generations.
Although unable to vote, they are not as voiceless as I once was. Now I manage a Facebook group of eco-elders who signed onto the amicus brief on their behalf through Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit ‘advocating for urgent emissions reductions on behalf of youth and future generations by spearheading a federal, state, local, and international human rights and environmental justice campaign to establish the legal right to a healthy atmosphere and a stable climate.’
Still, it hurts my heart that today’s children feel compelled to pressure our government over its complicity in climate change and species extinction because grownups have failed to.
Now as I wander over the regenerating meadow, I worry that some day it simply won’t come back; pesticides have been sprayed along the path beside it.
Yet this insignificant little suburban meadow is exactly the right size for a drilling pad and could thus take its place amid the other 25,000 oil and gas well pads popping up like poison mushrooms along the Front Range. Because this whole area was once a vast inland sea, oil, gas, and coal lie buried beneath our feet and throughout much of Colorado. The historical boom/bust mindset of the American West drives the current frenzy for the very fossil fuels that we have to leave in the ground if we want to sustain a habitable planet.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that we the people need to withdraw our foot from the neck of the natural world so that it can renew itself, and with it, us.
The meadow was mowed repeatedly this summer. But whenever stalks of Indian paintbrush shoot up through the stubble, I think of Aldo Leopold’s land ethic that ‘changes the role of homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it.’
Like the Indian Paintbrush, this ethic has spread ‘underground’ to reappear via Thomas Berry, and now it rises again in the newest insights by famed biologist E.O. Wilson, who has calculated that the only way humanity can stave off the coming mass extinction that will parallel what happened to the dinosaurs 65 million years ago is to set aside a half the earth for the other than human species.
But meanwhile, as I stare out over the devastated meadow from which I have just retrieved a dying severed stalk of Indian paintbrush, I renew my resolve to fiercely protect what I can for as long as I am able… not only on behalf of that inner child who lost her sacred space so many years ago, but for today’s children of all the species across the planet. Amen.
Gail Collins-Ranadive
Over her lifetime Gail Collins-Ranadive has been a psychiatric nurse, a military wife, a private pilot, a children’s writer in residence, a religious educator, a writing teacher, a workshop facilitator, an adjunct professor, a retreat leader, an ordained minister, and an environmental activist. She has two daughters and five grandchildren, all on the east coast. Her books include If You’d Been Born in India and Hopi Birth Morning (for children), plus Finding the Voice Inside, Writing as a Spiritual Quest for Women; Light Year, A Seasonal Primer for Spiritual Focus; Chewing Sand, An Eco-Spiritual Taste of the Mojave Desert; Inner Canyon, Where Deep Time Meets Sacred Space; and Nature’s Calling, the Grace of Place. Poems and essays have appeared in a variety of publications. She currently hosts the Environmental Column for The Wayfarer Magazine. She and her partner winter in Las Vegas and summer Denver, where they get to work on climate issues and actions in both places. Retiring early in order to focus full time on her writing, she has three more manuscripts in process. Her website is www.gailcollinsranadive.com.
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Department of Media and Communication /
Vaccine: X /
R.O. Lutkenhaus (Roel), J. Jansz (Jeroen) and M.P.A. Bouman (Martine)
Mapping the Dutch vaccination debate on Twitter
Identifying communities, narratives, and interactions
Vaccine: X , Volume 1 p. 1- 10
In recent years, vaccination rates in the Netherlands have declined slightly, but steadily. The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) commissioned a Committee for Vaccine Willingness (VWC) to study the societal context of the decline. One of the societal contexts is the Internet, where audiences discuss vaccination and refer to sources of health-related information of varying quality. Working for the VWC, we have explored the Dutch vaccination debate on Twitter in order to: (1) identify online communities in the vaccination debate, (2) identify vaccine-related narratives; and (3) understand how the online communities interact with each other. We identified seven different communities, including (public) health professionals, writers and journalists, anti-establishment, and international vaccination advocates. The debate is spearheaded by the writers & journalists community, while the health- and anti-establishment communities try to influence it. The health community circulates facts, figures and scientific studies, while negative messages about vaccination – either from a homeopathy or conspiracy perspective – are most prevalent in the anti-establishment. The facts and figures shared by the health community hardly reach other communities, whereas the myths introduced by the anti-establishment do spill over to other communities. Our study provides further evidence that negative perceptions about vaccination might be rooted in a wider sentiment of distrust of traditional institutions. We argue that Dutch health organizations should try to address questions, doubts, and worries among the general audience more actively, and present scientific information in a simpler and more attractive way.
Persistent URL dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvacx.2019.100019, hdl.handle.net/1765/115869
Journal Vaccine: X
Lutkenhaus, R.O, Jansz, J, & Bouman, M.P.A. (2019). Mapping the Dutch vaccination debate on Twitter. Vaccine: X, 1, 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.jvacx.2019.100019
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Map of Israel http://www.blueletterbible.org/
Based on old maps all of these names were in ancient Turkey, North of Israel. (Gen 10; (Table of Nations)), Ezek 27; Ezek 38; and Revelation). Once again Israel is shown as ‘Canaan’?
8/22/14 http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0814/glick082214.php3 Hamas is ideologically indistinguishable from Islamic State. Like Islamic State, Hamas has developed mass slaughter and psychological terrorization as the primary tools in its military doctrine.
Gog and Magog on this map seem to be where Azerbaijan is today. Ayatollah Khemeni is from Azerbaijan. Interesting isn’t it.
http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2011/08/29/irans-two-front-war/ (Had to google this article to find it)
The Azeris are — by far — Iran’s biggest tribe. About half of the population is ethnic Persian, and half that number, a quarter of Iranians, are Azeri. We’re talking 15-20 million people, many of whom speak their own language in addition to Farsi. In the videos linked below, most of the chants are in Azeri. The Azeris matter a lot: to take the two most famous examples, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is one, as is Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Moussavi. So when they get upset, it’s worth noticing. Azerbaijan is over in the northwestern part of the country, a hot spot for other reasons as well. (Remember the Kurds?)
For those who aren’t used to reading such subtleties, it’s intended as a warning to anyone contemplating a replay of the Libyan scenario in Syria. Never mind all the diplomatic chit-chat, the regime knows that the fall of Syria would be a disaster. The supreme leader and his band of morose men can do their best to gull the gullible, but the whole world sees that the regime is going all out to save Assad. Even Turkey, which sometimes acts in tandem with Iran, has seized Iranian weapons shipments headed for Damascus, and in the last few days the Turks have permitted the creation — on their own territory — of a Syrian opposition organization clearly modeled on the Libyan National Transition Council.
Iran’s Two-Front War This has not changed much since 2011, has it?
ISIS – A little horn rising
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Richard J. Koehler
February 15, 2018 richkoehler99
ProGrade Digital: A New Memory Card Brand by Ex-Lexar Execs
Say hello to ProGrade Digital, a new brand of pro-grade memory cards and card readers for photographers. The company was founded by former Lexar executives who are aiming to offer the highest quality memory cards on the market.
Micron shocked the photo world in June 2017 when it unexpectedly announced the end of Lexar-brand memory cards. A few months later, Lexar as given a new shot at life when the brand was acquired by the Chinese flash storage company Longsys.
A group of former Lexar executives has now banded together to compete against the likes of SanDisk and Lexar in the camera storage space. The founding leadership team all held managerial or technical leadership positions at Lexar and have over 60 years of combined experience in the memory card niche.
“Leveraging its experience and industry relationships, the team will focus exclusively on developing and marketing memory cards, card readers and software optimized for use within professional cinema and photography markets,” ProGrade Digital says.
“Our goal is to be the professional’s source for top performing, professional grade memory cards and workflow solutions,” says founder and CEO Wes Brewer. “We will be committed to focusing our efforts on the digital imaging pro who is meticulous about his equipment and workflow-delivering the best service, plus best product quality and reliability.”
The company will start out with lines of CFast 2.0 (550MB/sec) and SDXC UHS-II (200MB/sec) cards at pro-level capacities. The controllers in the cards are optimized for pro-grade cameras, and each card will undergo rigorous full-card testing (component-level down to individual memory chips) for “the highest quality control.”
Each card will also ship with a 3-year warranty when they hit store shelves later this month through the company website, B&H, and Amazon.
The CFast 2.0 cards will be available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB capacities for $230, $350, and $700, respectively.
The SDXC UHS-II cards will be available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities for $55, $95, and $190, respectively.
The ProGrade Digital memory card reader features dual slots for both CFast and SDXC, and it uses USB 3.0 Gen 2 for transfer speeds of up to 10Gb/second. You’ll be able to multi-task thanks to the fact that the reader supports full-speed data flow concurrently from cards in each slot.
Each reader comes with two 18-inch-long cables (a Type A to Type C cable and a Type C to Type C cable) and a 2-year warranty.
You’ll be able to purchase the ProGrade Digital card reader later this month for $80.
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Alternative News - Conspiracy News
Gun Page
Left & Right
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Right Edition
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Right Jokes
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Tag Archive: Integration and Multiculturalism
on December 31, 2018 in Right Edition Videos
Integration and Multiculturalism
Trudeau government goes silent on Syrian refugees Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election promise to welcome 25,000 refugees from Syria was aimed at showing voters his compassion. The followup photo opportunities he arranged in 2015 with smiling Syrian refugees, such as doctors, drew international headlines. Once in power, Trudeau’s Liberals switched the name of the Immigration Department to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, to highlight their concern for those forced to leave chaotic home countries, especially Syria. https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-trudeau-government-goes-silent-on-syrian-refugees Why diversity isn’t “Canada’s strength” According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “Diversity is Canada’s Strength.” This assertion is repeated by various Canadian...
Trudeau government goes silent on Syrian refugees Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election promise to welcome 25,000 refugees from Syria was aimed at showing voters his compassion. The followup photo opportunities he arranged in 2015 with smiling Syrian refugees, such...
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Monte Carlo calculation of dosimetric quantities
Monte Carlo treatment planning (MCTP)
Monte Carlo simulations in radiotherapy dosimetry
Pedro Andreo1Email authorView ORCID ID profile
Received: 30 April 2018
The use of the Monte Carlo (MC) method in radiotherapy dosimetry has increased almost exponentially in the last decades. Its widespread use in the field has converted this computer simulation technique in a common tool for reference and treatment planning dosimetry calculations.
This work reviews the different MC calculations made on dosimetric quantities, like stopping-power ratios and perturbation correction factors required for reference ionization chamber dosimetry, as well as the fully realistic MC simulations currently available on clinical accelerators, detectors and patient treatment planning.
Issues are raised that include the necessity for consistency in the data throughout the entire dosimetry chain in reference dosimetry, and how Bragg-Gray theory breaks down for small photon fields. Both aspects are less critical for MC treatment planning applications, but there are important constraints like tissue characterization and its patient-to-patient variability, which together with the conversion between dose-to-water and dose-to-tissue, are analysed in detail. Although these constraints are common to all methods and algorithms used in different types of treatment planning systems, they make uncertainties involved in MC treatment planning to still remain “uncertain”.
Radiotherapy dosimetry
Monte Carlo treatment planning
The use of the Monte Carlo (MC) method to solve problems in the field of radiotherapy dosimetry has increased almost exponentially since the 1970s [1–3]. The range of MC applications spans from the calculation of fundamental dosimetric quantities to simulations of radiotherapy treatment planning. Although computer power requirements restricted early applications to simple geometries, like infinite parallel slabs or cylinders, today’s availability of computing power allows the simulation of detailed 3-D geometries like those used for clinical accelerator treatment heads, ionization chambers and other detectors, and patient treatments using CT data. In all cases the complete phase-space that characterizes the energy, position and direction of the particles reaching a detector or a given organ within a patient, including all particle generations, can be determined. Hence, absorbed dose and other dosimetric quantities like fluence, kerma, etc can be calculated directly or performing subsequent analytical calculations.
This paper describes important MC applications in the different areas of radiotherapy dosimetry. It is initiated with a background on basic dosimetric expressions and key quantities, followed by fluence-based calculations like stopping-power ratios and mass energy-absorption ratios. Presented next is the influence of a detector placed within a homogeneous medium, causing deviations from Bragg-Gray theory, which is followed by a description of calculations on perturbation correction factors. The so-far generally accepted approach to deal with perturbation effects has raised issues in relation with the dosimetry of small megavoltage photon beams; they have led to a widely accepted alternative that avoids computing perturbation factors, an issue also discussed. The general aspects and developments on MC in radiotherapy treatment planning are summarized, followed by a short discussion on the controversy between dose-to-water and dose-to-tissue and the conversion between these two quantities. Finally, some conclusions are drawn.
Basic dosimetry expressions
As is well-known, dosimetry is based on cavity theory (c.f., ref. [3] and references therein). Its goal is to determine the conversion factor between the absorbed dose in two media, in particular between the dose ‘measured’1 in a detector and that in a homogeneous medium where the dose is to be determined for a given radiation beam quality Q. The conversion is usually denoted by a factor f, defined as
$$ f_{\text{med,det}}(Q) = \left(\frac{D_{\text{med}}(P)}{\bar D_{\text{det}}} \right)_{Q} $$
where Dmed(P) corresponds to the dose at a point of interest in the homogeneous medium and \(\bar D_{\text {det}}\) is the mean absorbed dose within the detector. In a MC calculation it is relatively straightforward to calculate \(\bar D_{\text {det}}\) as the average energy deposited by all charged particles within a volume divided by its mass, but calculating the dose at a point, Dmed(P), requires considering an infinitesimally small volume, an approach that relies on some kind of interpolation process.
Absorbed dose is usually derived from the energy loss along a given particle track-length segment, and is thus directly related to the dosimetric quantity particle fluence, Φ. The latter is calculated as the sum of particle tracks within a given volume, divided by the volume, hence with units cm −2. It is common to compute the fluence differential in energy, Φ E , which has units cm −2 MeV −1. When this quantity is calculated by a MC simulation, either for charged particles or for photons, the absorbed dose in a medium can be determined as
$$ \begin{aligned} & D_{\text{med}} \mathop =^{\text{CPE}} \int_{0}^{E_{\max}} \left[ \Phi_{E} \right]_{\text{med}} \left[S_{\text{el}}(E)/\rho \right]_{\text{med}}\,\mathrm{d}E \,\,\,\,\,\,{\text{for charged particles}}\\ & D_{\text{med}} \mathop =^{\text{PCPE}} \int_{0}^{k_{\max}} k \, \left[ \Phi_{k} \right]_{\text{med}} \left[ \mu_{\text{en}}(k)/\rho \right]_{\text{med}}\,\mathrm{d}k \,\,\,\,\,\,{\text{for photons}} \end{aligned} $$
where Sel(E)/ρ is the mass electronic stopping power (formerly called collision stopping power, see ICRU Report 85 [4]) at the charged-particle energy E, μen(k)/ρ is the mass energy-absorption coefficient of the material at the photon energy k, and Φ E and Φ k are the charged-particle and photon fluence differential in energy in the medium, respectively. Identical expressions can be formulated for the absorbed dose within a detector replacing “med” by “det”. The acronyms over the equal signs refer to the type of charged-particle equilibrium, either that of all type of charged particles generated in the medium (CPE), or to “partial charged-particle equilibrium” (PCPE) (often referred to as transient charged-particle equilibrium, TCPE). These are important remarks, because if there is no CPE the quantity determined is not absorbed dose, but cema, C, or restricted cema, C Δ , and if there is not PCPE the quantity approximates kerma (note that strictly K involves \(\mu _{\text {tr}}(k) = \mu _{\text {en}}(k)/(1 - \bar g)\), \(\bar g\) being the mean fraction of the kinetic energy of liberated charged particles lost in radiative processes, which depending on the photon energy might be non-negligible).
To determine the cavity-theory conversion factor f, which in what follows will always be averaged over the relevant charged-particle or photon spectrum, there are basically two different cases:
The cavity is small compared to the charged-particle ranges involved.
In this case f is identified with the stopping-power ratio, and charged-particle tracks are assumed to cross the cavity. Assuming also that the cavity does not perturb the primary charged-particle fluence \(\Phi _{E}^{\text {prim}}\), i.e., that it conforms the fundamental Bragg-Gray approximation Φmed≈Φdet, the so-called Bragg-Gray stopping-power ratio is defined as:
$$ {}f_{\text{med,det}}(Q) \equiv s_{\text{med,det}}^{\text{BG}} =\frac {\int\limits_{0}^{E_{\max}} \left[ \Phi_{E}^{\text{prim}}\right]_{\text{med}} \left[ S_{\text{el}}(E)/\rho \right]_{\text{med}} \, \mathrm{d}E } {\int\limits_{0}^{E_{\max}} \left[ \Phi_{E}^{\text{prim}}\right]_{\text{med}} \left[ S_{\text{el}}(E)/\rho \right]_{\text{det}} \, \mathrm{d}E } $$
which is a quotient of fluence-weighted average mass stopping powers resulting in a ratio of absorbed doses (or of cemas if there is no CPE). Note that whereas the fluence is the same in the numerator and denominator, mass stopping powers correspond to each material, “med” and “det”, respectively. It is also emphasized that the primary charged-particle fluence does not include knock-on electrons (delta rays) or the secondary and higher-order charged particles created by the primary particles.
A refinement in the theory is made for Spencer-Attix stopping-power ratios, where the charged-particle fluence, differential in energy, includes knock-on electrons and any other generated charged particles having energies higher than a given threshold energy, Δ, related to the cavity size (its mean chord length), in addition to the primary particles. In this case the fundamental Bragg-Gray approximation is \(\left (\Phi _{E}^{\text {tot}}\right)_{\text {med}} \approx \left (\Phi _{E}^{\text {tot}}\right)_{\text {det}}\). Additionally, a so called track-end term is added that accounts for the energy deposited by electrons with energies below Δ. The Spencer-Attix stopping-power ratio is defined as:
$$ \begin{aligned} &f_{\text{med,det}}(Q) \equiv s_{\text{med,det}}^{\text{SA}} =\\ & \frac {\int\limits_{\Delta}^{E_{\max}} \left[\Phi_{E}^{\text{tot}}\right]_{\text{med}} \, \left[S_{\text{el}}(E,\Delta)/\rho\right]_{\text{med}}\, \mathrm{d}E \,+\, \left[\Phi_{E}^{\text{tot}}(\Delta)\right]_{\text{med}}\, \left[S_{\text{el}}(\Delta)/\rho\right]_{\text{med}} \, \Delta } {\int\limits_{\Delta}^{E_{\max}} \left[\Phi_{E}^{\text{tot}}\right]_{\text{med}} \, \left[S_{\text{el}}(E,\Delta)/\rho\right]_{\text{det}}\, \mathrm{d}E \,+\, \left[\Phi_{E}^{\text{tot}}(\Delta)\right]_{\text{med}}\, \left[S_{\text{el}}(\Delta)/\rho\right]_{\text{det}} \, \Delta } \end{aligned} $$
which is a quotient of fluence-weighted average restricted mass stopping powers resulting in a ratio of absorbed doses (or restricted cemas, C Δ [5] 2, if there is no CPE), and the track-end terms include the fluence and the relevant (unrestricted) stopping power at the threshold energy Δ. Note that as the fluence includes now all kind of charged-particles, is termed \(\Phi _{E}^{\text {tot}}\).
It should be emphasized that, according to the definition of linear energy transfer (LET) given in ICRU Report 85 [4], the restricted stopping power is not identical to the LET, L Δ , for very low values of the energy threshold or cut-off Δ, as is often formulated.
It is of interest to recall that the restricted electronic stopping power Sel(E,Δ) provides the component of a charged-particle kinetic energy lost in inelastic collisions with atomic electrons that is deposited “locally”. This corresponds to a volume whose dimensions are limited by the range of ejected secondary electrons having an energy Δ. The energy loss \(\mathcal W\) is then restricted to a maximum value Δ. Hence, while the unrestricted stopping power, Sel(E), considers the sum of all energy losses \(\mathcal W\) up to a maximum value \({\mathcal {W}}_{\text {max}}\) (E/2 for electrons and E for positrons), Sel(E,Δ) excludes energy losses in the interval \(\Delta < {\mathcal {W}} \le {\mathcal {W}}_{\text {max}}\). A secondary electron ejected from the atomic i-shell has a kinetic energy \(\varepsilon _{i}={\mathcal {W}} -U_{i}\), where U i is the electron binding energy of the shell. Note then that Sel(E) includes the sum of all the kinetic energies of secondary electrons, εke, plus their binding energies UB, i.e.,
$$ S_{\text{el}}(E)=\varepsilon_{\text{ke}}+U_{\mathrm{B}}, $$
whereas Sel(E,Δ) includes the sum of secondary-electron kinetic energies below Δ, εke≤Δ, plus their binding energies, i.e.
$$ S_{\text{el}}(E,\Delta)=\varepsilon_{\text{ke} \le \Delta}+U_{\mathrm{B}}, $$
The new definition of LET, L Δ (E), given by ICRU-85 excludes from Sel(E) the kinetic energy of secondary electrons when is higher than Δ; it does not exclude their binding energy. Hence,
$$ L_{\Delta} (E) = S_{\text{el}}(E) - \varepsilon_{\text{ke} > \Delta}, $$
where εke>Δ is the sum of the kinetic energies of secondary electrons above Δ. As a consequence, L Δ (E)=Sel(E) for E≤Δ, and for low energies L Δ (E)>Sel(E,Δ). Reference [3] could be consulted for further details. Figure 1 shows ratios L Δ (E)/Sel(E) and Sel(E,Δ)/Sel(E) for different values of Δ, as a function of the incident electron kinetic energy, where significant discrepancies between the two ratios can be observed for values of Δ below 10 keV.
Ratios to the unrestricted stopping power in water, Sel(E)w, of the LET L Δ (E) (solid lines), and of the restricted stopping power Sel(E,Δ) (dashed lines), for different values of Δ, as a function of the incident electron kinetic energy. Adapted from ref. [3] using data from ref. [60]
The cavity is large compared to the electron ranges involved.
In this case f can be identified with the ratio of mass energy-absorption coefficients averaged over the photon spectrum, and charged-particle tracks are assumed to be inside the cavity. Assuming again that the cavity does not perturb the photon fluence, i.e., (Φ k )med≈(Φ k )det, the mass energy-absorption coefficients ratio, [μen(k)/ρ]med,det, is defined as:
$$ \begin{aligned}f_{\text{med,det}}(Q) \equiv \left[\mu_{\text{en}}/\rho \right]_{\text{med,det}} =\frac {\int\limits_{0}^{k_{\max}} k \, \left[\Phi_{k} \right]_{\text{med}}\, \left[\mu_{\text{en}}(k)/\rho \right]_{\text{med}}\,\mathrm{d}k} {\int\limits_{0}^{k_{\max}} k \, \left[\Phi_{k} \right]_{\text{med}}\, \left[\mu_{\text{en}}(k)/\rho \right]_{\text{det }}\,\mathrm{d}k} \end{aligned} $$
where the different quantities have been defined above. Note that [μen(k)/ρ]med,det is a quotient of energy fluence-weighted averaged mass energy-absorption coefficients.
Recall that the mass energy-absorption coefficient, μen/ρ, accounts for the local energy deposition by photon-generated charged particles, i.e., it excludes the radiative energy that escapes the local volume. The latter is, on the other hand, included in the mass energy-transfer coefficient, μtr/ρ, which accounts for the photon energy transferred to kinetic energy of the generated charged particles (see, e.g., ref. [3]).
A third option exists for intermediate cases, based on Burlin’s cavity theory, which combines the approaches (i) and (ii) described above, but, from a MC calculation point of view, there is no difference in the way in which smed,det and [μen/ρ]med,det are evaluated.
Dosimetric key quantities
From the previous section one can infer that the key quantities needed for cavity theory are mass stopping powers, restricted Sel(E,Δ)/ρ and unrestricted Sel(E)/ρ, for different types of charged-particles, and mass energy-absorption coefficients μen(k)/ρ, although Monte Carlo calculations involve also mass radiative stopping power Srad(E)/ρ. Both Sel(E)/ρ and Sel(E,Δ)/ρ have an appreciable dependence with the fundamental quantity mean excitation energy, the so called I-value. Interested readers can find a detailed description of the formulation of the mean excitation energy in ICRU Report 90 [5]; the impact of the I-value in radiotherapy dosimetry has been discussed at length in refs. [3, 6, 7].
Involved also in certain dosimetric expressions, like in the beam quality factor \(k_{Q,Q_{0}}\) for reference dosimetry (e.g., in the Code of Practice IAEA TRS-398 [8]), is the mean energy to create an ion pair in air, the Wair-value, which for high-energy electrons and photons has the value Wair=33.97 eV or Wair/e=33.97 J C −1, e being the elementary charge.
All the quantities above have recently been updated for water, air and graphite by ICRU Report 90 [5], superseding the values given in ICRU Reports 37 [9] and 49 [10], and now being adopted by standard laboratories. As a consequence, the basic data used in MC simulations, and for most of the available stopping-power ratios smed,det and ratios of mass energy-absorption coefficients [μen(k)/ρ]med,det, should be updated to avoid breaking the consistency of the dosimetry chain. (Note that there is an on-going IAEA project to update TRS-398 on this regard).
Stopping-power ratios for reference dosimetry
Once the dosimetric key quantities have been adopted, both in the MC code at hand and for solving the cavity integrals, the problem basically is restricted to the calculation of the relevant charged particle (primary or total) or photon fluence, differential in energy, by scoring track-length spectra.
It is not an overstatement to claim that many of the MC advances in the field have been related to developments on electron transport algorithms, especially in the presence of interface boundaries, where track-length segments may become so short that multiple scattering theories are no longer valid under the so-called condensed history technique developed by Berger more than 50 years ago [11]. Many of the current MC systems include such technique, rather than the interaction-by-interaction (single scattering) type of simulation often used for low-energy transport simulation. An extreme case to deal with is that of an air-filled ionization chamber, whose detailed simulation has posed a considerable challenge for years, to the extreme that only two of the MC systems generally available, PENELOPE [12] and EGSnrc [13], can yield accurate results3. Computer codes based on these systems can switch from multiple- to single-scattering physical models whenever track-length segments shorten at the proximity of an interface boundary. Except at low photon energies, where photoabsorption and atomic radiative and non-radiative transitions need to be accounted for properly, photons are in principle simulated in a rather straightforward manner, interaction-by-interaction. However, the large number of generated secondary and higher-order electrons brings us to the beginning of this paragraph: there is no reliable photon transport simulation without an accurate treatment of electron transport.
The calculation of dosimetric quantities and correction factors for radiotherapy measurements can be considered to have been initiated by the work of Berger and Seltzer [14], whose results served to benchmark other MC codes in the early days. As is well-known, a basic dosimetric quantity for absorbed dose determination using ionization chambers is the water-to-air stopping-power ratio, sw,air, which is determined from MC-calculated electron fluence using Eqs. (3) and (4). This type of calculations was pioneered by Berger et al. [15] for electron beams using slowing-down spectra at different depths; they were later improved by Nahum [16] for the evaluation of Spencer-Attix sw,air values including the track-end term. For photon beams, Nahum [16] calculated for the first time stopping-power ratios, scoring electron fluence spectra at various depths and solving subsequently the relevant cavity integrals introducing the track-end term. Values of sw,air correlated with clinical photon beam quality specifiers were computed by multiple authors (see, e.g., refs. [17–20]), as well as for electron beams [21], providing the data included in most dosimetry protocols like IAEA TRS-398 [8] and AAPM TG-51 [22]. It should be pointed that most of the currently available sw,air data performs the calculations internally during the MC simulation, rather than computing Φ E first and evaluating subsequently the cavity integrals described above.
Figure 2a shows MC-calculated electron fluence spectra for a 10 MeV electron beam, where primary and total electron spectra are plotted at three depths. The total electron spectra at a large number of depths is used to compute sw,air-values using Eq. (4) for different clinical beams, of quality expressed by their half-value depth, R50, see Fig. 2b. The large variation of the electron spectra with depth should be emphasized, which results in the strong depth dependence of the sw,air values.
a Monte Carlo calculated electron fluence spectra for a 10 MeV broad electron beam at three depths (solid lines: total spectra; dashed lines: primary electrons). b Depth variation of Spencer-Attix (Δ=10 keV) stopping-power ratios, water-to-air, for clinical electron beams as a function of R50. Note the large variation of the electron spectra with depth, resulting in the strong depth dependence of the sw,air values. Adapted from ref. [3]
The corresponding case for photons is illustrated in Fig. 3, where primary and total electron spectra generated by a 10 MV photon beam are plotted at three depths, see Fig. 3a. Stopping-power ratios are calculated with Eq. (4) for different clinical beams, of quality expressed by the tissue-phantom ratio at 10 and 20 cm depth, TPR 20,10, in Fig. 3b. In this case, the small depth dependence of the electron spectra results in practically depth-independent sw,air values except at the highest energies.
a Monte Carlo calculated electron fluence spectra for a 10 MV broad photon beam at three depths (solid lines: total spectra; dashed lines: primary electrons). b Depth variation of Spencer-Attix (Δ=10 keV) stopping-power ratios, water-to-air, for clinical photon beams as a function of TPR 20,10. Note the almost constant depth dependence of the electron spectra, resulting in practically depth-independent sw,air values. Adapted from ref. [3]
Influence of the detector: perturbation factors
As emphasized for Eqs. (3) and (4), the calculation of stopping-power ratios is based on the fundamental Bragg-Gray CPE approximation Φmed≈Φdet for the electron spectra. Inserting a detector in the medium results in a change in the electron spectrum within the detector radiation sensitive volume relative to that in the homogeneous medium, i.e., CPE strictly fails due to the influence of the detector size, shape and construction materials. The effect is known as a perturbation.
Classically, the departure from Bragg-Gray conditions has been dealt with introducing a so-called detector perturbation correction factor and assuming that the approximation Φmed≈Φdet is still valid for stopping-power ratios. Hence, the corrected expression for fmed,det(Q) becomes
$$ f_{\text{med,det}}(Q) = s_{\text{med,det}}(Q) \; p_{\text{det}}(Q) $$
which leads to
$$ D_{\text{med}} = \bar D_{\text{det}} \; s_{\text{med,det}}(Q) \; p_{\text{det}}(Q) $$
The major advantage of this approach is that one can still rely on conventional stopping-power ratios based on the assumption of unperturbed electron fluence. There is, however, a major constraint imposed by the conditions for the validity of the approximation, as perturbation correction factors must be small, and be then assumed to be independent of each other. Under these conditions, various types of perturbation factors have been proposed to describe the influence of the different detector components or effects, by writing
$$ p_{\text{det}}(Q) = \prod\limits_{i} p_{\text{det,i}} = p_{\text{dis}}\, p_{\text{wall}}\, p_{\text{fl}}\, p_{\text{cel}}\, p_{\text{stem}} \ldots $$
where pdis accounts for the effect of replacing a volume of water by that of the detector, pwall accounts for the presence of non-water-equivalent materials in the detector body and walls, pfl corrects for the intrinsic difference in fluence between water and the detector volumes, and pcel and pstem correct for the presence of a central electrode and stem, respectively, if they are relevant to the type of detector involved.
The MC calculation of perturbation correction factors for ionization chambers and other types of detectors has received special consideration due to the electron simulation difficulties mentioned in the previous section. The first MC calculations on ionization chamber correction factors were made for 60Co in-air measurements, and the simulations by Bond et al. [23], Nath and Schulz [24] and McEwan and Smyth [25] deserve being mentioned. Their results showing a dependence with the chamber dimensions contradicted, however, Bragg-Gray theory and prompted critical publications by others that revealed the importance of interface effects (mostly related to multiple scattering). These led to the development of an algorithm termed EGS4/PRESTA [26] that made simulations of chambers more accurate, obtaining uncertainties of the order of 1%, a very good figure in the late 1980s. The approach was improved later on by a PRESTA2 algorithm, which is included in the EGSnrc MC system). The PENELOPE system, on the other hand, uses a different approach and has never been affected by the kind of interfaces effects shown by the EGS4 system.
At the time when the interface effects were realized, Smyth [27] demonstrated that the conditions required by Fano’s theorem for CPE conditions in a medium could be simulated with a fictitious experiment. This considered a cavity filled with the same material as the surrounding medium, but in a gas-like form, i.e., having the same cross sections but a very large difference in mass density. Simulations of this experiment were made by Seuntjens et al. [28] using EGSnrc and by Sempau and Andreo [29] using PENELOPE. The agreement with Fano’s theorem was of the order of 0.1%, a level that no other MC system has been able to achieve so far. The state-of-the-art for this type of calculations is that linacs phase-space data (see next section) are used as radiation sources to simulate the response of ionization chambers based on the detailed description of their geometry.
An interesting development for the MC calculation of perturbation correction factors has been the work of Wulff et al. [30], where a chain of dose ratios, which includes the effect of different chamber components, is used to derive the different pdet,i factors in Eq. (11); the technique is illustrated in Fig. 4.
Chain of dose ratios to calculate ionization chamber perturbation factors. Dose ratios in the chamber cavity are defined in steps that include different chamber components (D1−D4). The final step includes the dose to a small volume of water (D5). Adapted from ref. [30]
It is implemented in Wulff’s egs_chamber user code, which includes an ample set of variance reduction techniques like, e.g., correlated sampling and local photon cross-section enhancement. The latter increases the density of electron tracks within the chamber and a surrounding volume, leading to an overall efficiency gain of up to 104 that allows relatively fast calculations with type A uncertainties of the order of 0.1%. Examples of track simulations obtained with this code are illustrated in Fig. 5, where panel (a) shows tracks under normal particle transport during the simulation of a ionization chamber within a phantom irradiated by 103 6 MV photons, their extracted electron tracks being shown in panel (b); panels (c) and (d) show the dramatic increase in electron density tracks within a volume surrounding the chamber following the transport of only 102 photons with cross-section enhancement in that volume.
Examples of track simulations obtained with the MC code egs_chamber using cross-section enhancement. a Normal particle transport during the simulation of a ionization chamber within a phantom irradiated by 103 6 MV photons; b secondary electrons tracks in panel (a). c Transport of 102 photons using cross-section enhancement in a volume surrounding the chamber; d secondary electrons tracks in panel (c). Courtesy from J. Wulff
In recent years a large number of calculations similar to those described above have been made for the dosimetry of small megavoltage photon fields, where other types of detectors have been simulated. Correction factors have been calculated using MC for mini and micro ionization chambers, silicon diodes, natural and synthetic diamonds, etc. The resulting data have been included in the IAEA TRS-483 Code of Practice for the dosimetry of small static megavoltage photon beams (c.f. ref. [31] and references therein).
Issues on calculated perturbation factors
The applicability of the Bragg-Gray approximation commented above raises a rather special type of issue in the MC calculation of perturbation factors.
It should be stated first that an absorbed dose calculation made with MC does not require CPE. However, our current formulations for fmed,det(Q) (e.g., stopping-power ratios) rely on CPE-based expressions. The condition for the current Bragg-Gray approach, i.e., assuming that Φmed≈Φdet and that the different perturbation corrections pdet,i in Eq. (11) are independent, still requires small perturbation correction factors to be able to assume that they are independent of each other.
In recent years it has been realized that, in small megavoltage photon beams, the MC calculated correction factors for many specific detectors can be very large (up to ∼ 10% for small ionization chambers) and often CPE is lacking. This means that the Bragg-Gray assumptions used so far break down.
For MC calculations simulating ionization chambers, Sempau et al. [32] proposed computing directly within the simulation the factor
$$ f_{\text{ch}}(Q) = \left[ \frac{D_{\mathrm{w}}(P)}{\bar D_{\text{ch-air}}} \right]_{Q} $$
where \(\bar D_{\text {ch-air}}\) and Dw(P) are the MC-calculated mean absorbed dose in the chamber cavity and the dose to a point in water (a very small volume), respectively. Note that for conventional field sizes (i.e., non-small beams) Eq. (12) corresponds to Eq. (9), and that no specific perturbation correction factors are explicitly included.
It can then be concluded that solving the fluence-based cavity integrals (always assumed to be under CPE), discussed in the Background section, is no longer needed for practical dosimetry. In addition, it can also be stated that the assumption of small and independent pdet,i should no longer be needed in dosimetry.
The procedure in Eq. (12), which can be referred to as a global fch(Q) that includes sw,air and all possible perturbations, irrespective of their size or interrelation (e.g., not being completely independent), has become the currently accepted MC calculation approach. It differs from that used by other authors (e.g., refs. [33, 34]), where instead of the dose to a point, Dw(P), the dose to water was calculated in a volume identical to that of the chamber, Dw(vol); it should be recalled, however, that Bragg-Gray theory yields the absorbed dose at one point in the medium.
Detailed fluence spectra and subsequent perturbation-correction calculations will, however, continue to be useful for analysing the influence of different components in the design of detectors (or for pedagogic purposes). For this purpose, electron fluence inside detectors where the composition of certain components can be varied (see, e.g. ref. [35]), provides a very efficient MC tool.
Since the 1990s, a number of fruitful MC developments have been made for the direct calculation of dose distributions within a patient using linacs phase-space data impinging on 3-D CT images. There were some early developments (see, e.g., an early MC review by this author [1]), but realistic MCTP could not be implemented and become a reality as a clinical tool until today’s considerable computing power was available.
At this point it is interesting to recall that the simulation of accelerator treatment heads was pioneered by the work of Petti et al. [36], Mohan et al. [37] and Udale [38], all using the EGS4 system [39]. Currently, the EGSnrc-based BEAM user code [40] is probably the most widely used piece of software for this purpose; it was developed within a major project called OMEGA, designed for treatment planning purposes [41, 42]. Other MC systems incorporating accurate geometry packages like MCNP6 [43], PENELOPE [12] and GEANT4 [44] have been used to simulate specific accelerator models, and user codes like the GEANT4-based GAMOS [45], and the PENELOPE-based PENLINAC [46], PENEASYLINAC [47] and PRIMO [48] have been developed and are in current use.
“Contemporary” developments in MCTP include the already mentioned OMEGA project, the Macro MC (MMC) code designed for electron treatment planning [49], the VMC and XVMC codes [50, 51]), the PEREGRINE system [52] focused on photon calculations, and the PENELOPE-based DPM [53] and PRIMO [48]. The latter is rather unique in the sense of being a comprehensive system that includes in a single package the simulation of linacs and patient dose-planning calculations (plus a number of beam analysing graphical tools). Some of the MC codes or systems mentioned are implemented in commercial treatment planning systems (TPS), while DPM and PRIMO are free-software packages.
Since its early development, MCTP is generally based on three calculation steps: (i) determination of the phase-space data after the primary set of linac collimators, which is a machine but not patient-specific calculation; (ii) phase-space data after the secondary or multileaf collimators, which define the radiation field for a given treatment; and (iii) simulation of the patient-specific CT geometry where the dose-planning distribution is computed. Figure 6, adapted from the PRIMO project, illustrates the three steps.
Illustration of the three general calculation steps used in Radiotherapy Monte Carlo Treatment Planning (MCTP). S1 determines phase-space data after the primary linac collimators, S2 computes phase-space data after the secondary or multileaf collimators defining the radiation field, and S3 calculates the dose distribution for the patient-specific CT geometry. Adapted from the PRIMO user’s manual [61]
In favour of the use of MCTP it could be argued that while most analytical-based algorithms for treatment planning are adequate for calculations in homogeneous media, they have been shown to be rather crude approximations whenever inhomogeneities are present. MC simulations are not constrained a priori by the composition and/or density of the medium, and their superior dose distributions over analytical-based calculations have been thoroughly demonstrated (see the textbook [54] and references therein). Additionally, cost-free MC packages and sufficient computer power are available today at most desks. MC has then become an ideal tool for the simulation of radiation transport using any media and geometry, and MCTP is claimed to yield results within the requirements for TPSs even with inhomogeneities (experimentally verified dose differences are smaller than 2%).
Unfortunately, for sake of speed, some of the commercial MCTPs are based on MC codes trimmed for low-Z media, limiting for instance the number of materials they can handle (i.e., grouping similar tissues). A related issue is that of the ALARA uncertainty in MCTP, which will be discussed next.
Issues on MCTP
There are three major questions that can be posed on MCTP, some of them being also applicable to all kind of TPSs (see, e.g., refs. [55, 56] and references therein):
Should MCTP calculate absorbed dose-to-tissue (Dtis) or dose-to-water (Dw)?
Does MCTP inherently calculate Dtis accurately?
How accurate is the conversion between Dtis and Dw?
On the question about calculating dose-to-tissue or dose-to-water, different arguments have been provided in the literature:
In favour of using dose-to-water:
Dw is the basis for current clinical experience and trials, meaning that compliance with experience, mainly developed with conventional TPSs, and with established criteria for therapeutic and normal-tissue tolerance, is required.
The calibration of radiotherapy beams is always made in terms of the reference absorbed dose to water, which is used for any TPS dose normalization.
In favour of using dose-to-tissue:
Dtis is the quantity inherently computed exactly by MCTP.
Differences between Dtis and Dw for “water-like tissues” is small and likely to have minimal clinical impact.
Converting between Dtis and Dw introduces additional uncertainty in the treatment planning process, but a relation between Dtis and Dw is still necessary because of the normalization to the beam calibration reference dose to water.
The text above shows some words that have been emphasized and deserve a detailed discussion.
With regard to the inherently exactcharacterof MCTP calculations one could argue that, in addition to the sometimes over-simplified physical models implemented in certain MCTP systems, all existing methods for tissue segmentation, where densities are obtained from CT data, and used on a look-up table to assign different tissue types, neglect patient-to-patient variation of tissue compositions, and assume that these are patient-independent (they use ICRU or ICRP compositions). This approach, used by practically all TPS types, collides with the statement by ICRU Report 44 [57]: “It is imperative that body-tissue compositions are not given the standing of physical constants and their variability is always taken into account”. The rationale for this categorical statement is that tissue compositions given in ICRU or ICRP reports are average values obtained from a reduced set of human-body samples, and is the main reason why stopping powers for tissues, tabulated for example in ICRU Reports 37 [9] (electrons and positrons) and 49 [10] (protons and alpha particles), are estimated to have an uncertainty of the order of 10–15%.
To understand this uncertainty estimate, one should recall that mass electronic stopping powers, Sel/ρ, unlike photon mass energy-absorption and energy-transfer coefficients, depend on the material density entering into the density-effect correction, δ, but, in addition, the full dependence of δ for a given medium is through \(\delta _{\text {med}} = \text {function} \left [(\rho \,Z/A)_{\text {med}},I_{\text {med}}^{2},E\right ]\), which shows that Sel/ρ depends considerably on the mean-excitation energy of the medium [7]. Obtaining this I-value requires the detailed atomic composition of the medium (electron distributions per shell) for a theoretical calculation, or an experimental determination using measurements with heavy-charged particles, an approach unrealistic to accomplish for individual body tissues as is done, for instance, for some compounds. Furthermore, even if tissue compositions were known, for example through MR-spectroscopy, the usual Bragg-additivity rule is a crude approximation that ignores aggregate effects, justifying the large uncertainties estimated for body-tissues stopping powers.
Calculations reported in ref. [55] for certain tissues, where their I-values were changed by ± 15 % with respect to the nominal values given in ICRU-37, showed substantial discrepancies in the respective stopping powers; they are illustrated in Fig. 7a. The differences, shown for a change in Iadipose from 63.2 to 55 eV, in bone for Ibone values of 91.9 and 106.4 eV (as given by ICRU and ICRP, respectively, both for the same ρbone=1.85 g cm −3), and in water for Iw from 75 to 86 eV plus a fictitious case for water with ρw=2.0 g cm −3, are evident and reach up to several percent. The differences are clearly higher at low electron energies but, as is shown in Fig. 7b, for a 6 MV photon beam 50% of the dose in a water cylindrical volume of 5 cm diameter and 1 cm height at 10 cm depth is due to electrons below 0.75 MeV approximately.
a Ratios of total mass stopping powers for different tissues to those for water, including values with I-values changed for adipose tissue, bone and water, and for ρwater=2 g cm3 (see text), as a function of the electron kinetic energy. b Monte Carlo-calculated total electron fluence differential in energy (per incident fluence) in a ∼20 cm3 water volume at a depth of 10 cm for 6 MV photons (left ordinate axis); the right axis corresponds to the cumulative dose fraction (CDF), showing that electrons below ∼ 0.75 MeV contribute to 50% of the absorbed dose. Adapted from ref. [55]
The answer to the inherently exact character of MCTP calculations is therefore negative. Generic I-values represent a major limitation on any MTCP (and even on full MC systems), as individual body-tissue stopping powers are required. One can only state that MCTP has an intrinsic uncertainty (type B) which is ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable), or rather, ALAHBA (As Low As the Human Body Allows). Hence, this issue questions the claimed low-uncertainty of MCTP, even if the method is still superior to that of analytical algorithms.
The remaining important issue is the conversion between Dtis and Dw, applicable to MCTP or to any other type of TPS, to relate a calculated Dtis to the reference dose to water obtained at beam calibration. The ratio between the two absorbed doses can be written as:
$$ \frac{D_{\text{tis}}}{D_{\mathrm{w}}} \approx \frac {\int\limits_{0}^{E_{\max}} \Phi_{E,\text{tis}}^{\text{prim}}\; \left[S_{\text{el}}(E)/\rho\right]_{\text{tis}}\;\mathrm{d}E} {\int\limits_{0}^{E_{\max}} \Phi_{E,\mathrm{w}}^{\text{prim}}\; \left[S_{\text{el}}(E)/\rho\right]_{\mathrm{w}}\;\mathrm{d}E} $$
which is strictly a ratio of cemas, and only under CPE conditions the approximate sign can be replaced by equal (note that cema is used instead of restricted cema for simplicity in the formulation). This equation should not be confused with a Bragg-Gray stopping-power ratio, see Eq. (3), as it now includes the electron fluence in tissue and in water in the numerator and denominator, respectively, as fluence is different in water and in “not so water-like tissues” like bone or adipose matter. Hence, there is an implicit statement on \(s_{\text {tis,w}}^{\text {BG}} \ne D_{\text {tis}}/D_{\mathrm {w}}\).
Equation (13) points at that the widely used conversion of Siebers et al. [58], where the “converted dose-to-water” is calculated as \(D_{\mathrm {w}}^{\text {conv}} = D_{\text {tis}}^{\text {MC}}\; s_{\text {w,tis}}\), does not seem to be correct. To illustrate this statement, one can be write
$$ \begin{aligned} s_{\text{w,tis}} \,=\, \frac{\bar s_{\mathrm{w}}}{\bar s_{\text{tis}}} \!= &\frac{{\int\limits_{0}^{{E_{\max }}} {\Phi_{E,{\mathrm{w}}}^{{\text{prim}}}{{\left[ {{S_{{\text{el}}}}(E)/\rho} \right]}_{\mathrm{w}}}{\mathrm{d}}E} \;{\Big /}\;\int\limits_{0}^{{E_{\max }}} {\Phi_{E,\mathbf{w}}^{{\text{prim}}}{\mathrm{d}}E} }}{{\int\limits_{0}^{{E_{\max }}} {\Phi_{E{\mathrm{,tis}}}^{{\text{prim}}}{{\left[ {{S_{{\text{el}}}}(E)/\rho} \right]}_{{\text{tis}}}}{\mathrm{d}}E} \;{\Big /}\;\int\limits_{0}^{{E_{\max }}} {\Phi_{E,{\text{tis}}}^{{\text{prim}}}{\mathrm{d}}E} }}\\ \!= &\frac{{\int\limits_{0}^{{E_{\max }}} {\Phi_{E,{\mathrm{w}}}^{{\text{prim}}}{{\left[ {{S_{{\text{el}}}}(E)/\rho} \right]}_{\mathrm{w}}}{\mathrm{d}}E} }}{{\int\limits_{0}^{{E_{\max }}} {\Phi_{E,{\text{tis}}}^{{\text{prim}}}{{\left[ {{S_{{\text{el}}}}(E)/\rho} \right]}_{{\text{tis}}}}{\mathrm{d}}E} }}\;\frac{{\int\limits_{0}^{{E_{\max }}} {\Phi_{E,{\text{tis}}}^{{\text{prim}}}{\mathrm{d}}E} }}{{\int\limits_{0}^{{E_{\max }}} {\Phi_{E,{\mathrm{w}}}^{{\text{prim}}}{\mathrm{d}}E} }} \equiv \frac{{{D_{\mathrm{w}}}}}{{{D_{{\text{tis}}}}}}\;\frac{{\Phi_{{\text{tis}}}^{{\text{prim}}}}}{{\Phi_{\mathrm{w}}^{{\text{prim}}}}} \end{aligned} $$
which shows that a fluence correction factor is required for converting between Dtis and Dw, leading to
$$ D_{\mathrm{w}}^{\text{conv}} = D_{\text{tis}}^{\text{MC}}\; s_{\text{w,tis}}\;\frac{\Phi_{\mathrm{w}}^{\text{prim}}}{\Phi_{\text{tis}}^{\text{prim}}} $$
This is a conclusion that parallels the well-known expression for reference dosimetry given in Eq. (10), where the corresponding perturbation factor can now be identified with a ratio of fluences in both media. The fluence correction factor, written as
$$ k_{\Phi} = \frac{\Phi_{\mathrm{w}}}{\Phi_{\text{tis}}} $$
is shown in Fig. 8 for a 6 MV photon beam onto various media and tissues, including those mentioned above where their I-value was modified. It also includes values for “fictitious water” having densities of 2 and 10 g cm −3, demonstrating that, like the mass stopping powers discussed above, fluence does not depend substantially on the density of materials provided they have identical composition.
The magnitude of the correction factors, particularly for bone, and to a lesser extent for adipose tissues, points at the need for using a fluence correction factor, k Φ , if differences of up to approximately 5% are clinically relevant. Hence, the argument on differences between Dtis and Dw “being small and not having much clinical impact” is a clinical decision based on the degree of accuracy required at a given radiotherapy facility.
Monte Carlo-calculated fluence correction factors, k Φ , for the conversion between dose-to-tissue, Dtis, and dose-to-water, Dw, for various tissues and water media using a 6 MV photon beam. Adapted from ref. [55]
Similar calculations to those described for high-energy photons have been done in ref. [59] for dose conversions in brachytherapy dosimetry with 125I, 131Cs and 103Pd sources, where the short electron ranges involved (corresponding to the case of a large detector in the Background section), make the correction factor to be in terms of an energy-fluence ratio, i.e.,
$$ \begin{aligned} D_{\mathrm{w}}^{\text{conv}} =& D_{\text{tis}}^{\text{MC}}\; \left (\bar \mu_{\text{en}}/\rho \right)_{\text{w,tis}}\;\frac{\Psi_{\mathrm{w}}}{\Psi_{\text{tis}}}\\ k_{\Psi} =& \frac{\Psi_{\mathrm{w}}}{\Psi_{\text{tis}}} \end{aligned} $$
The use of the Monte Carlo method for calculations in radiotherapy dosimetry has become the most efficient and consistent tool for simulations in most of the fields related to the speciality, from basic dosimetric quantities, like stopping-power ratios and perturbation correction factors for reference ionization chamber dosimetry, to fully realistic simulations of clinical accelerators, detectors and patient treatment planning. Its accurate use requires consistency in the data throughout the entire dosimetry chain, and the recent updates of key dosimetric data by ICRU Report 90 are necessary in reference dosimetry. Although data consistency is probably less critical for treatment planning, their implementation also in this field is advised. There are, however, a number of other issues raised throughout this work to conclude with the recommendation that no MC calculation should be considered free of errors. This is particularly important with regard to applications in MC treatment planning, where the uncertainties involved still remain “uncertain”, a general problem that is also applicable to other methods and algorithms used in different types of treatment planning systems.
Recall that, strictly speaking, the quantity absorbed dose cannot be measured; it is always determined from measurements of related quantities, like charge, current, heat, chemical changes, etc., using appropriate correction and conversion factors.
It should be noted that ICRU Report 85 [4] included an incomplete definition of the quantity restricted cema, which did not consider the track-end term; this definition was, however, updated in ICRU Report 90 [5].
A description of PENELOPE, EGSnrc and other general MC systems like FLUKA, GEANT, MCNP, etc, as well as their applications in radiation dosimetry in the fields of radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and radiodiagnostics can be found in Chapter 8 of ref. [3].
Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated during the current study.
The author read and approved the final manuscript.
The author declares that he has no competing interests.
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Department of Medical Radiation Physics and Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, and Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, SE-171 76, Sweden
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Neoadjuvant versus definitive chemoradiation in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus
Stefan Münch ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1745-41271,2,
Steffi U. Pigorsch1,
Michal Devečka1,
Hendrik Dapper1,
Marcus Feith3,
Helmut Friess3,
Wilko Weichert2,4,
Moritz Jesinghaus4,
Rickmer Braren5,
Stephanie E. Combs1,2,6 &
Daniel Habermehl1
Multimodal treatment with neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by surgery (nCRT + S) is the treatment of choice for patients with locally advanced or node-positive esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (E-SCC). Those who are unsuitable or who decline surgery can be treated with definitive chemoradiation (dCRT). This study compares the oncologic outcome of nCRT + S and dCRT in E-SCC patients.
Between 2011 and 2017, 95 patients with E-SCC were scheduled for dCRT or nCRT+ S with IMRT at our department. Patients undergoing dCRT received at least 50 Gy and those undergoing nCRT + S received at least 41.4 Gy. All patients received simultaneous chemotherapy with either carboplatin and paclitaxel or cisplatin and 5-fluoruracil. We retrospectively compared baseline characteristics and oncologic outcome including overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and site of failure between both treatment groups.
Patients undergoing dCRT were less likely to have clinically suspected lymph node metastases (85% vs. 100%, p = 0.019) than patients undergoing nCRT + S and had more proximally located tumors (median distance from dental arch to cranial tumor border 20 cm vs. 26 cm, p < 0.001). After a median follow up of 25.6 months for surviving patients, no significant differences for OS and PFS were noticed comparing nCRT + S and dCRT. However, the rate of local tumor recurrence was significantly higher in patients treated with dCRT than in those treated with nCRT + S (38% vs. 10%, p = 0.002). Within a multivariate Cox regression model, age, tumor location, and tumor grading were the only independent parameters affecting OS and PFS. In addition to that, proximal tumor location was the only parameter independently associated with an increased risk for local treatment failure.
In E-SCC patients treated with either dCRT or nCRT + S, a higher rate of local tumor recurrence was seen in patients treated with dCRT than in patients treated with nCRT + S. There was at least a trend towards an improved OS and PFS in patients undergoing nCRT + S. However, this should be interpreted with caution, because proximal tumor location was the only parameter independently affecting the risk of local tumor recurrence.
In patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (E-SCC) trimodal therapy including neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by surgery (nCRT + S) demonstrated its potential to improve overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared to surgery alone [1,2,3]. Therefore, it has been established as the treatment of choice for patients with non-cervical E-SCC who are suitable for surgery [4]. In contrast, patients with locally advanced E-SCC who decline surgery, are medically inoperable or have unresectable tumors should undergo definitive chemoradiation (dCRT). Because of this, patients undergoing dCRT, show in general more advanced tumors and are in a worse general condition than patients who are treated with nCRT + S. Therefore, a meaningful comparison of both treatment options is difficult. Up to the present there are only two randomized trials comparing dCRT and nCRT + S in patients with esophageal cancer (EC) [5, 6]. The study by Stahl and colleagues, which was terminated early, revealed no significant difference for OS between both treatment groups, while nCRT + S was associated with a significantly increased local progression-free survival [5]. However, all patients in this trial received induction chemotherapy, which is not in line with current treatment recommendations and therefore compromises the interpretation of the results. In accordance with that, a French study also found no difference in OS between surgery or continuation of chemoradiation (CRT) in patients with good response to CRT [6]. Furthermore, there was no significant difference regarding local control rate. One of the major problems of this study is that only patients with good response to CRT were randomized to continuation of chemoradiation or surgery. Therefore, the results are only applicable to a specific subgroup of patients. These results are in line with a recently published retrospective trial by Haefner et al. [7] that compared nCRT + S and dCRT in patients with locally advanced EC. After a median follow-up time of 20.4 months, no significant differences were seen regarding progression-free survival (PFS) and OS between both treatment regimes. In contrast, a recent retrospective cohort study by Barbetta et al. [8] demonstrated an improved OS and DFS after nCRT + S compared to dCRT in patients with thoracic or distal E-SCC. In addition, further retrospective trials also demonstrated an increased survival after nCRT + S in EC patients [9,10,11]. One major problem with the studies mentioned above is, that most of them included patients with both, adenocarcinoma (AC) and E-SCC. This clearly affects the results because the effect of CRT is higher for patients with E-SCC than for patients with adenocarcinoma [2] and in general these two tumor types – although occurring at the same location - are biology-wise completely different tumor entities. Moreover, many patients were treated with 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT). Although no significant differences regarding progression-free survival (PFS) and OS were seen in two retrospective trials comparing 3D-CRT and modern radiation techniques like intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for nCRT + S or dCRT in patients with EC [12, 13], the use of modern radiation techniques is at least associated with lower doses to the organs at risk in patients undergoing nCRT + S [12]. Due to the incoherent results of previous trials, our aim is to report the results for patients with only E-SCC, who underwent dCRT or nCRT + S with modern radiation techniques.
This study includes 95 patients with E-SCC who were treated with either dCRT or nCRT + S at our department between 2011 and 2017. Inclusion criteria were histologically proven E-SCC, curative treatment approach with either dCRT or nCRT + S, simultaneous chemotherapy, the use of IMRT and at least one follow-up after the end of therapy. Exclusion criteria were distant metastases (M1) at the time of diagnosis, simultaneous radiotherapy or CRT of a second cancer, discontinuation of therapy due to any reason and a total radiation dose < 50 Gray (Gy) for patients undergoing dCRT or < 41.4 Gy for patients undergoing nCRT + S. All patients were staged with 18Fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (18FDG-PET/CT) (95%) or computed tomography alone (5%). Whenever possible, endoscopic ultrasound was also used to assess T- and N-stage.
A total of 40 patients were treated with nCRT + S and 55 patients were treated with dCRT. Thereby, dCRT was most commonly used for patients with cervical tumors (47%), patients who refused surgery (27%) and patients who were inoperable due to underlying internistic medical conditions (11%). Additionally, irresectable tumors or high age of patients with reduced general condition were the reasons for choosing dCRT in 7% and 7% of patients, respectively. Treatment planning was based on planning computed tomography (CT) in supine position. All available diagnostic information (esophagogastroduodenoscopy with or without endoscopic ultrasound, 18FDG-PET, and CT scans) were used to identify the gross tumor volume (GTV), defined as the macroscopic primary tumor and all putative lymph node metastases. For the planning target volume, a longitudinal safety margin of 4–5 cm and a radial safety margin of 1.5–2 cm were added to the GTV. Due to the long time interval in which patients were included for this analysis and the lack of guidelines regarding elective inclusion of regional lymphatic pathways into the clinical target volume, there was no standardized regional lymphatic coverage policy. In general, the periesophageal and mediastinal lymphatics were at least partially covered by the axial safety margin around the primary tumor. Further coverage of periesophageal and mediastinal lymphatics was done on an individual base, depending on the individual expertise of the treating radiation oncologist. However, additional inclusion of the cervical or abdominal/ coeliac lymphatics was seen in 68% of patients undergoing nCRT + S before 2014 and no patient undergoing nCRT + S after 2014. This difference is caused by the fact, that since 2014 patients were treated analogously to the CROSS-Trial. In patients treated with dCRT, elective nodal irradiation (cervical and/or abdominal/coeliac) was done in 65% of patients. In all patients, irradiation was applied using 6−/or 15 MeV photons delivered with IMRT. Median total radiation dose was 41.4 Gy (range 41.4–45 Gy) for patients treated with nCRT + S and 54 Gy (range 50–64.8 Gy) for patients treated with dCRT, respectively.
In patients undergoing nCRT + S, median radiation dose was 43.2 Gy for patients with cervical tumor location and 41.4 Gy for patients with thoracic or abdominal tumor location. In those undergoing dCRT, median radiation dose was 54 Gy in patients with cervical tumor location, 56 Gy in patients with thoracic tumor location and 55.8 Gy in patients with abdominal tumor location. Thirty-nine patients (98%) who underwent nCRT + S received simultaneous chemotherapy with either carboplatin and paclitaxel or cisplatin and 5-fluoruracil. One patient received simultaneous chemotherapy with only cisplatin. Of patients who underwent dCRT, 48 (87%) received simultaneous chemotherapy with either carboplatin and paclitaxel or cisplatin and 5-fluoruracil (5FU), while one patient (2%) received simultaneous chemotherapy with carboplatin and 5FU, one patient (2%) received carboplatin only, two patients (4%) received cisplatin only and 3 patients (5%) received only fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy.
In patients who underwent nCRT + S, the median time interval between neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgery was 42 days (range 25–86 days) and complete tumor resection was achieved in 97% of patients. Histopathologic tumor response to neoadjuvant treatment was assessed according to the classification published by Becker et al. [14]. Thereby, complete tumor response, less than 10% vital tumor, 10–50% vital tumor and more than > 50% vital tumor was seen in 38%, 43%, 7% and 12% of patients, respectively. Regarding post-surgical morbidity, anastomotic insufficiency was seen in 9% of patients after nCRT + S. No cause of death was seen within the first four weeks after treatment (dCRT or nCRT + S).
After completion of treatment, all patients were regularly invited to follow-up examinations according to our institutional standard. The first follow-up was scheduled approximately 6–8 week after treatment and included clinical examinations, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and thoracic computed tomography, thereafter in 3-months intervals or as needed clinically.
Comparison of nominally scaled baseline parameters was done using chi-square test. For ordinally scaled parameters, the Fishers-exact-test was used to compare treatment groups, while Mann-Whitney-U-test was used for interval scaled variables. OS was defined as time between the beginning of treatment and death. Patients lost to follow-up were censored. PFS was defined as the period of time between beginning of treatment and any proven tumor recurrence or death for any reason. Overall survival and progression-free survival where compared using the log-rank test. To analyze the effect of different parameters on OS, PFS and local, regional or distant tumor recurrence we also performed univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. All statistical tests were conducted in an exploratory manner on two-sided 5% significance levels using the software SPSS Statistics 18 version 18.0.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, U. S.).
Patients’ baseline clinical data and tumor parameters can be seen in Table 1. Within the dCRT group, patients were slightly older (68 years vs. 65 years) and the rate of male patients (73% vs. 55%) was higher than in the group of patients treated with nCRT + S, but these differences were not statistically significant. In both treatment groups most patients had T3 tumors with moderate or poor tumor cell differentiation (G2/G3). In addition, median tumor length was 5 cm in both groups. The rate of clinically suspected pretherapeutic lymph node metastases was higher in patients undergoing nCRT + S than in patients undergoing dCRT (100% vs. 85%, p = 0.019). Tumor location was classified according to the position of the tumor as it was seen in the esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). If the oral tumor margin was seen within the first 3 cm of the esophagus, the tumor was classified as cervical. If the center of the tumor was not more than 3 cm away from the cardia, the tumor was classified as an abdominal tumor. All other tumors were classified as thoracic. While there was a comparable rate of patients with abdominal tumor location in both treatment groups, a higher rate of cervical tumor location (47% vs. 10%) was seen in patients treated with dCRT.
Table 1 Patients’ baseline and tumor parameters
After a median follow-up of 25.6 months for surviving patients, median OS was 43.3 months for patients undergoing nCRT + S and 23.2 months for patients undergoing dCRT (p = 0.228). 1y-OS, 2y-OS and 3y-OS was 76.6%, 65.0% and 57.2% (nCRT + S) and 72.6%, 49.3% and 38.6% (dCRT), respectively (Fig. 1).
Overall survival
No significant difference was seen after exclusion of patients with cervical tumor location. After a median follow-up of 28.9 months for surviving patients, median OS was 43.3 months for patients undergoing nCRT + S and 20.8 months for patients undergoing dCRT (p = 0.211) (Table 2).
Table 2 Oncologic outcome for the whole cohort and for patients with thoracic or abdominal tumor location only
Median PFS was 18.3 and 12.7 months in patients treated with nCRT + S and dCRT, respectively (Fig. 2, p = 0.108). Corresponding 1y-PFS, 2y-PFS and 3y-PFS were 67.6%, 42.6% and 42.6% in patients undergoing nCRT + S and 51.0%, 29.9% and 26.6% in patients undergoing dCRT.
Progression-free survival
After exclusion of patients with cervical tumors, median PFS was 19.3 months for patients treated with nCRT + S and 14.0 months for patients treated with dCRT (p = 0.231) (Table 2).
In summary, local or regional treatment failure was seen in 23% of patients, who were treated with nCRT + S and in 40% of patients, who were treated with dCRT (p = 0.081). Table 2 demonstrates patterns of failure for patients treated with dCRT or nCRT + S. While no significant difference was seen for the rate of regional treatment failure (23% (nCRT + S) vs. 13% (dCRT), p = 0.269), dCRT was associated with an increased risk of local recurrence (10% (nCRT + S) vs. 38% (dCRT), p = 0.002). Distant treatment failure occurred in 10% (nCRT + S) and 16% (dCRT) of patients, respectively (p = 0.547). In patients with treatment failure, the first site of recurrence was local/regional, distant or both in 70%, 10% and 20% in patients treated with nCRT + S and 71%, 25% and 4% in patients treated with dCRT (p = 0.115). Regarding failure pattern, out-of-field locoregional recurrence was seen in 2 patients (13%). Thereby, one patient underwent nCRT + S without elective nodal irradiation, while the other patient underwent dCRT. Elective nodal irradiation was done at the height of the primary tumor and the longitudinal safety margins in this patient.
When excluding patients with cervical tumor location, there was still a trend towards an increased rate of local tumor recurrence in patients undergoing dCRT (28% vs. 8%; p = 0.051). Comparable to the results for the whole cohort, no significant difference was seen for the rate of regional tumor recurrence (10% vs. 19%, p = 0.491) or distant treatment failure (14% vs. 8%, p = 0.691) between both groups (Table 2).
After treatment failure, 15% of patients received local salvage treatment with either surgery or radio(chemo)therapy, and 59% of patients underwent systemic chemotherapy with palliative intent. 27% of patients received no further specific treatment, but only best-supportive care.
Results of univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses are demonstrated in Table 3 and Table 4. In the univariate Cox regression model, treatment regimen (nCRT + S vs. dCRT) significantly affected the risk of local recurrence, but not OS or PFS. Grading was the only parameter significantly affecting OS, while tumor location significantly affected PFS and risk of local tumor recurrence. However, in the multivariate model, treatment regime did not significantly affect OS, PFS or local recurrence. Increasing age and good tumor differentiation (G1/2) were associated with worse OS (Hazard ratio (HR) 1.064, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.019–1.110, p = 0.005 (age); Hazard ratio (HR) 2.674, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.299–4.503, p = 0.008 (G1/2 vs. G3)) and PFS (HR 1.054, 95% CI 1.016–1.093, p = 0.005 (age); Hazard ratio (HR) 2.034, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.098–3.768, p = 0.024 (G1/2 vs. G3)), while an increasing distance of the dental arch to the cranial tumor border was associated with increased OS (HR 0.939, 95% CI 0.884–0.998, p = 0.043), increased PFS (HR 0.925, 95% CI 0.876–0.976, p = 0.005) and a lower rate of local recurrence (HR 0.843, 95% CI 0.760–0.935, p = 0.001).
Table 3 Univariate Cox regression analysis
Table 4 Multivariate Cox regression analysis
In this analysis, we compared outcome of nCRT + S and dCRT in patients with E-SCC. Thereby, we only included patients who were treated with IMRT, to represent current clinical practice. While no significant differences were seen for OS and PFS, the rate of local tumor recurrence was significantly higher in patients treated with dCRT than in those treated with nCRT + S. However, in a multivariate Cox regression analysis, treatment regime was not independently associated with OS, PFS or rate of local tumor recurrence. Instead, the only parameter independently affecting OS, PFS, and rate of local tumor recurrence was tumor location, while patients’ age and tumor grade were independently associated with OS and PFS.
While our absolute data for OS and PFS are comparable with two other recent studies [7, 8], there are conflicting results in terms of the relative difference between patients treated with nCRT + S and patients treated with dCRT. Haefner and colleagues [7] compared dCRT with nCRT + S in patients with esophageal cancer. In contrast to our study, the authors included patients with AC and patients treated with dCRT received two cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil. After a median follow-up of 20.4 months, no significant differences were visible for median OS (25.9 months vs. 20.6 months) and PFS (14.9 months vs. 15.6 months). In contrast to that, Barbetta and colleagues [8] reported an improved OS (median OS 2.3 years vs. 3.1 years) and DFS (median DFS 1 year vs. 1.8 years) after nCRT + S. The most obvious difference to the present study is the exclusion of patients with cervical or upper thoracic tumors. In our study, a more proximal tumor location was associated with shorter OS and PFS within multivariate Cox regression analysis. While we found no data evaluating the impact of tumor location after nCRT + S or dCRT in E-SCC patients, proximal tumor location was associated with decreased OS in patients with pT2-3N0M0 carcinoma after surgery alone [15]. As patients with cervical tumor location are typically treated with dCRT [16], and therefore the rate of patients with cervical tumor location is frequently higher within the subgroup of patients treated with dCRT, this might explain the improved OS after nCRT + S in some trials. Interestingly, the only study that excluded patients with cervical or upper thoracic tumor location and performed a propensity score-matched analysis, also reported an improved OS for E-SCC patients undergoing nCRT + S [8]. One can speculate that especially after exclusion of patients with cervical or upper thoracic tumor location the number of patients in most trials would be too low to reveal any significant differences in OS. Another factor which might affect the results is the fact that patients who underwent dCRT in our study had a significantly lower rate of lymph node metastases. This might impact the results since it is well established that lymph node involvement is an important and independent prognostic factor in EC patients [17,18,19].
In accordance with other studies [5, 8, 10], dCRT was associated with an increased rate of local tumor recurrence in our study. However, Stahl [5] and Liao [10] included patients with different tumor locations including patients with tumors of the cervical esophagus. Based on our results, it is conceivable that the difference in the rate of local tumor recurrence in these studies is biased by differences regarding tumor locations between both cohorts. Although, after excluding patients with cervical tumors, we still recognized a strong trend towards an increased local tumor control after nCRT + S compared to dCRT (p = 0.051). In addition, in a recent trial by Barbetta and colleagues [8], which also demonstrated an increased risk of local tumor recurrence after dCRT compared to nCRT + S, this kind of bias was ruled out by performing a 1:1 propensity score-matching approach and excluding patients with tumors of the upper esophagus.
In accordance with the studies by Haefner et al. [7] and Barbetta et al. [8], the most common reason for treatment failure in patients undergoing dCRT was local or regional tumor recurrence. The absolute rate of local and regional recurrences after dCRT in our study was slightly higher than in the study by Haefner and colleagues (local 38% vs. 24%; regional 13% vs. 4%). This difference might be explained by the fact, that patients treated with dCRT were were more likely to have tumors of the cervical esophagus (47% vs. 16%) and were also more likely to have lymph node metastases (85% vs. 77%). Interestingly, our results for local and regional tumor recurrence are comparable to the results by Barbetta and colleagues, despite patients with upper esophageal carcinoma were excluded in their study. The higher rate of regional tumor recurrence in patients undergoing nCRT + S in the study by Barbetta et al., might be explained by the higher rate of patients with lymph node metastases (100% vs. 85%), which is an independent risk factor for both, locoregional and distant recurrence after nCRT + S [20]. Therefore, the difference in terms of the rate of lymph node metastases might also explain the higher rate of regional recurrence after nCRT + S in our study compared to the results by Haefner et al. (23% vs. 5%) [7].
For both, patients treated with nCRT + S and patients treated with dCRT, the rate of distant disease recurrence in our study is remarkably lower than in other recent trials [7, 8]. While the exclusion of patients with AC, who have a significantly higher risk of distant tumor recurrence after dCRT compared to patients with E-SCC [21], might partially explain the higher distant recurrence rate in the study by Haefner and colleagues [7], the reason for the higher rate of distant tumor recurrences in the study by Barbetta et al. [8] remains unclear. However, we have to point out, that the rate of distant recurrences in our study might be slightly underestimated. Due to the retrospective nature of our study, not all patients underwent periodic computed tomography during follow-up. While survival data of patients were completed by contacting the local registration offices, these data provided no further information about tumor recurrence. The use of different chemotherapy regimens (cisplatin/ 5-fluorouracil or carboplatin and paclitaxel) in our study should not affect results, because two retrospective trials did show significant differences regarding oncologic outcome between those two regimens for E-SCC patients undergoing dCRT or nCRT + S [22, 23].
As it was mentioned before, our study has some limitations. One important limitation of this study is its retrospective nature. Also the moderate imbalances regarding tumor parameters between the patient cohorts (rate of lymph node metastases and tumor location) might affect the results and should be kept in mind. However, we also want to mention some strengths of our study. We only included patients with a curative treatment approach and who received complete treatment. That means that patients in the nCRT + S group had to receive at least 41.4 Gy radiation dose and patients within the dCRT group underwent radiation therapy with at least 50 Gy. In addition, all patients received simultaneous chemotherapy.
3D-CRT:
3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy
5FU:
5-fluoruracil
AC:
CRT:
Chemoradiation
dCRT:
Definitive chemoradiation
DFS:
Disease-free survival
EC:
E-SCC:
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
18FDG-PET/CT:
18Fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography
GTV:
Gy:
Intensity-modulated radiotherapy
nCRT + S:
Neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by surgery
PFS:
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Munch S, et al. Comparison of neoadjuvant chemoradiation with carboplatin/ paclitaxel or cisplatin/ 5-fluoruracil in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Radiat Oncol. 2017;12(1):182.
Munch S, et al. Comparison of definite chemoradiation therapy with carboplatin/paclitaxel or cisplatin/5-fluoruracil in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Radiat Oncol. 2018;13(1):139.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany
Stefan Münch
, Steffi U. Pigorsch
, Michal Devečka
, Hendrik Dapper
, Stephanie E. Combs
& Daniel Habermehl
German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Munich, Munich, Germany
, Wilko Weichert
& Stephanie E. Combs
Department of Surgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany
Marcus Feith
& Helmut Friess
Institute of Pathology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany
Wilko Weichert
& Moritz Jesinghaus
Institute of Radiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany
Rickmer Braren
Helmholtz Zentrum München, Institute of Radiation Medicine (IRM), Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764, Oberschleißheim, Germany
Stephanie E. Combs
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SM developed the study design, collected, and interpreted data, performed statistical analysis and drafted the manuscript. SP and MD made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, interpreted data and revised the manuscript. HD, MF, HF, WW, MJ, RB and SC contributed significantly to the discussion and interpretation of the results. DH made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, analyzed and interpreted data and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Stefan Münch.
The study was performed in accordance with the ethics standards at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) (ethical vote N° 250/18S).
Squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus
Neoadjuvant chemoradiation
Modern radiation techniques
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Radiation therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, a treatment option that must be considered in the management of a devastating malignancy
William A. Hall1Email author and
Karyn A. Goodman2
Received: 19 December 2018
Clinical outcomes for patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) remain dismal. Local recurrences, proportions of margin positive surgical resections, and overall survival outcomes remain inferior in PAC than any other solid tumor. This stems from a current standard of care management approach that needs to be inspired and transformed with modern treatment techniques and novel therapeutic options. Radiation therapy has historically been a central component in the treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma; however, the role of radiation therapy has been called into question based on the publication of clinical trials with conflicting results. We present an overview of the rationale for radiation therapy in resectable, borderline resectable, and unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma. We further present a summary of emerging clinical data and future directions to improve outcomes in this devastating malignancy.
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma
Pancreatic radiation therapy
Pancreatic SBRT
PRODIGE trial
PREOPANC-1 trial
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) remains one of the single most devastating malignancies in existence. Median overall survival remains dismal for the vast majority of patients afflicted with PAC. It has risen to the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States (US) [1]. Moreover, in the next fifteen years, the projected impact of PAC is expected to increase, placing it as one of the top three causes of cancer death by 2030 [2]. The reasons for this are multifactorial. One of the dominant factors is that only a minority of patients with PAC fall into the most favorable category of surgically resectable, without clinical evidence of metastatic disease. Yet even for patients with resectable disease, the only subgroup with a potential for cure, oncologic outcomes remain abysmal. The presence of such poor outcomes requires careful consideration and examination of current management approaches to this malignancy. Current strategies for PAC, even for patients with the best prognosis, are simply not working.
Treatment for PAC has been the subject of controversy for decades. Despite, and often because of, the results of multiple contradictory clinical trials that have examined various management strategies, oncologists remain confused, conflicted, and opinionated as to the optimal manner in which PAC should be treated. At the center of much of this controversy is radiation therapy. In this article we attempt to articulate the changes to radiation therapy that have taken place over the past decade, to critically review the current literature assessing the use of radiation therapy in older trials, to present comparative data supporting its use, and we advocate for continued close examination of radiation therapy by oncologists for the management of PAC.
Evolution of radiation therapy and its critical relationship with the therapeutic index in PAC
Radiation therapy represents a highly complex and technical treatment that is rapidly evolving. The modality has undergone, and continues to undergo, dramatic transformations with advances in computational modeling and medical imaging. These advances will only continue to accelerate in the coming years, and will likely follow a “double exponential” growth pattern leveraging advances in both hardware and software capabilities. While radiation therapy has historically been described as a singular category in oncologic management, in reality, it represents a broad treatment class, inclusive of a wide range of treatment procedures and methods. Despite the spectrum of potential treatments under the category of radiation therapy, the all-encompassing nomenclature often leaves other oncologic specialties confused as to the heterogeneity that exists within the term radiation therapy. This leads radiation oncologist to ask numerous questions: was the entire tumor treated to the prescription dose, what about regional lymph nodes, what type of daily imaging was used to align the patient, what normal structure tolerances and variations did the planning allow, what were the margins used, and treatment modality? While this type of variability may seem purely academic, it has critical implications on endpoints, such as overall survival. In one of the first examinations of the importance of protocol specified radiation guidelines in PAC, Abrams et al., presented that deviations from protocol specified guidelines significantly impacted the overall survival of patients treated on RTOG 9704 [3]. These variations were despite clear guidelines in the RTOG 9704 parent protocol as to how radiation oncologists should be applying radiation therapy. The critical influence that even subtle deviations can have on survival outcomes for patients treated with radiation therapy requires careful attention. Such a significant impact highlights the narrow therapeutic index associated with the use of radiation therapy in PAC. When radiation oncologists dismiss or criticize poor clinical trial results secondary to an absence of quality assurance, radiation compliance data, or central review of treatment plans, it stems from the understanding that even minor deviations in plan quality can substantially impact patient outcomes in this malignancy. As radiation therapy complexity exponentially improves with advances in delivery methods this type of data will become increasingly important for future clinical trials.
The role of radiation therapy in resectable PAC
When considering the most favorable patients with PAC the outcomes should be excellent, unfortunately they remain dismal. Currently, the role of radiation therapy is controversial in patients with resectable PAC due to the lack of definitive data evaluating the use of adjuvant therapy using modern radiotherapy techniques. The initial study evaluating adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation for PAC, the Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group (GITSG) clinical trial, established adjuvant radiotherapy to be superior to observation in patients with resected PAC [4]. The study was stopped early due to poor accrual (43 patients in 8 years). It showed, however, that the treated group experienced a survival benefit with longer median survival (21.0 months vs. 10.9 months; p < 0.05) and 2-year survival (43% vs. 19%). This study was criticized for its small sample size and low radiation dose (40Gy split course) [5]. Following the publication of the GITSG trial, the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer 1 (ESPAC-1) trial was conducted, this was a pivotal historic moment in the management of patients with PAC, particularly with regard to the role of radiation therapy. Notable is that this trial has been widely criticized, particularly with regard to the radiation therapy delivered [6, 7]. In this multi-center, 2 × 2 factorial design, 73 patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma were assigned to chemoradiation therapy alone, 75 patients to chemotherapy alone, 72 patients to both chemoradiation therapy and chemotherapy, and 69 patients to observation. Again, the critiques of this study abound, particularly with regard to the radiation therapy [8]. The radiation delivered in this study was antiquated and a wide range of doses and techniques could have been employed. The critiques of the ESPAC-1 trial have been the subject of multiple editorials and a detailed review of these is beyond the scope of this article. In summary, it is well understood, by modern standards, that such radiation therapy doses and treatment strategies applied in either the GITSG trial or the ESPAC-1 are woefully inferior to contemporary radiation standards. The recommended radiation dose for the trial, 40 Gy delivered in a split course fashion with a break between the delivery of the first and second half of treatment, is clearly a biologically ineffective dose and delivery method. In fact, the split course has been shown to be inferior in many other cancer types, and may actually allow for accelerated repopulation of tumor cells that could lead to worse outcomes [9–11]. Judgements regarding the use of radiation therapy for patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma based on the ESPAC-1 trial should be made with extreme caution. Nevertheless, the publication of the ESPAC-1 trial has led to subsequent omission of radiation therapy from most European adjuvant trials, including ESPAC-3 [12] and ESPAC-4 [13]. In North America, radiation therapy has remained part of the adjuvant treatment strategy, and several trials have been presented since then, including RTOG 9704, however none have examined, in a randomized fashion, the role of modern era radiation therapy [14]. The successor trial to RTOG 9704, RTOG 0848, will help to answer the question regarding the role of adjuvant chemo-RT. RTOG 0848 has completed enrollment and results are anticipated in the coming years. Although the RTOG 0848 addresses the adjuvant radiotherapy question, the recent publication of the PRODIGE trial which demonstrated a significant benefit for adjuvant FOLFIRINOX over gemcitabine alone, has established FOLFIRINOX as the standard of care for adjuvant chemotherapy. Thus, the impact of adjuvant chemoradiation after gemcitabine-based chemotherapy may be less relevant. Nonetheless, local failure rates were still high on the PRODIGE study with a component of local/regional present in over 20% of cases [23]. To date the question as to the role of post-operative radiation in PAC, as addressed in a phase III trial, using modern era RT with robust quality assurance, remains unanswered.
Neoadjuvant treatment in PAC
Highly perplexing in the management of PAC is the commitment of oncologists to the paradigm of upfront surgical resection. This treatment approach for patients described as “resectable” seems to defy nearly all other oncologic standards applied to other solid tumors throughout the body. Consider the ESPAC-4 clinical trial in which patients were randomized to two different chemotherapy schedules after treatment with upfront surgical resection. A staggering 60% of patients had surgical margins that were defined pathologically as “positive.” Tragically, half the patients on this trial went on to develop a local recurrence, which can often be a morbid and life threatening event [13, 15]. The presence of margin positivity in 60% of patients is simply unprecedented in any other extra-cranial solid tumor managed with upfront surgical resection. Even for these resectable patients, who represent the rarest and most favorable patients with PAC, the outcomes remained poor with a median overall survival of 28 months. Not surprisingly, patients with positive margins had particularly poor outcomes [15]. We challenge oncologists to identify a solid tumor elsewhere in the body with margin positivity rates of 60% and local recurrence rates of 50% that does not routinely undergo treatment with neoadjuvant therapy. Upfront surgical resection for PAC, even in those patients considered “surgically resectable”, should be given careful consideration as to the oncologic rationale supporting this treatment approach. It is in the neoadjuvant setting that radiation therapy likely has the most benefit given the intact tumor microvasculature and more favorable environment to radiation therapy induced cell kill. While cross trial comparisons are fraught with challenges, Table 1 compares pathologic outcomes for patients managed with neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy as compared with upfront surgical resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.
Summary Rationale For Neoadjuvant Chemo-RT Versus Adjuvant Chemo For Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma
Comparator Variable
Neoadjuvant Chemo-RT
Up-front Surgery + Adjuvant Chemo
Citations to Support
Rate of Positive Margins
Incidence of Node Positivity
[13, 16, 17, 20]
Successful Treatment completion
[17, 21, 22]
Rates of Local Recurrence
The recently presented trial titled: Preoperative chemoradiotherapy versus immediate surgery for resectable and borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: A Randomized, Controlled, multicenter, phase III trial (PREOPANC-1) provided some additional insight on the potential importance of neoadjuvant therapy for PAC. This trial (not yet published in manuscript form) randomized 246 patients to immediate surgery (arm A-127 patients) as compared with preoperative chemoradiotherapy (arm B- 119 patients). Both of these arms were followed by adjuvant gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. While the results are preliminary, it appears that preoperative chemoradiotherapy demonstrated an improvement in overall survival with 13.7 months as compared with 17.1 months, p-value of 0.074 [24]. In addition, the R0 resection rate was significantly improved with neoadjuvant therapy from 31 to 63%, and disease free survival was also improved from 7.9 months to 9.9 months (p = 0.023). The final manuscript publication from this work is eagerly awaited, yet lends support to the role of neoadjuvant therapy. Additional randomized trials are needed in the neoadjuvant setting to better understand the role of radiation therapy, given neoadjuvantly, as compared with chemotherapy. Fortunately the ongoing ESPAC-5 trial is examining the role of various combinations of neoadjuvant therapy with upfront surgical resection. Additional trials are needed to explore variations in radiation therapy (including dose, fractionation, and treatment volumes) given pre-operatively for patients with PAC.
Locally advanced pancreatic cancer
Locally advanced, or surgically unresectable, PAC remains one of the single most deadly malignancies in existence. Unfortunately, options for patients with unresectable PAC remain limited and relatively ineffective. Whenever possible, patients with locally advanced PAC should be treated in a clinical trial. When examining the role for radiation therapy, it seems increasingly clear that historic radiation treatment strategies, using conventionally fractionated radiation, need improvement. This was highlighted in the LAP-07 Phase III trial in which patients with locally advanced PAC were randomized after neoadjuvant chemotherapy to either continuation of treatment with chemotherapy or to treatment with concurrent chemoradiation [25]. The radiation therapy was to a total dose of 54 Gy over 30 fractions with concurrent capecitabine. This was given using 3D conformal radiation, and prophylactic regional nodal radiation was not included. Median overall survival was not improved by the addition of chemoradiation. Chemoradiation was associated with decreased local progression. The LAP-07 trial conflicted with the smaller Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) that did demonstrate an improvement in overall survival with the use of chemoradiation as compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with unresectable PAC [26]. These two trials seem to highlight the narrow therapeutic index associated with the use radiation therapy in patients with PAC, and also illustrate the failure of historic radiation techniques to yield any promising results for this devastating malignancy. With median overall survivals ranging from 9 to 13 months these trials further highlight the need for considerable investigation into manners by which outcomes can be improved in patients with locally advanced PAC. Novel radiation techniques, such as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), may offer a more convenient and possibly more biologically effective alternative to conventionally fractionated radiation therapy, however additional research is needed to understand the optimal dose and delivery strategy [27]. This is particularly the case as the overall survival in many modern SBRT clinical trials for PAC have not demonstrated marked improvement over historic fractionated chemo-RT trials, or recent publications of dose escalated radiation therapy [22, 28]. In addition, the potential for marginal miss, or local recurrence, is something that should be carefully considered when using SBRT for PAC. Given that approximately 30% of patients with locally advanced PAC die from isolated locally destructive pancreatic cancer it seems that improved patient selection could help to identify those patients optimally suited for local-regional therapy [29]. Novel methods to identify patients at particularly high risk for local recurrence are considerably needed.
Advanced methods of radiation therapy, such as real-time MR guidance, may improve the ability to target PAC while reducing radiation dose to the small bowel, thereby improving the therapeutic index of radiation therapy (PMID 30932367) [30]. It is imperative that radiation oncologists conduct high quality, prospective clinical research evaluating this novel technology to prove its efficacy. This technology presents tremendous potential advantages for PAC, but must be robustly evaluated and proven. As radiation therapy exponentially advances in the coming decade, the opportunities to improve outcomes in this devastating malignancy will only continue to increase.
In order to create a more promising future for PAC patients there is a need for new clinical trials. Such trials should have a focus on neoadjuvant therapeutic strategies, novel radiation delivery techniques, and improved patient selection. Radiation therapy is rapidly improving, and is a highly precise modality that continues to offer great promise. Given the exceedingly high rates of local recurrence and margin positivity after surgical resection for PAC, radiation therapy must be given careful consideration as a critical modality for future consideration to improve outcomes in this devastating malignancy. Finally, as systemic therapy improves and patients are living longer, with better control of the distant metastases, local control of the primary site becomes more critical. Thus, the role of radiation therapy may continue to expand as an option for patients with unresectable disease and as neoadjuvant therapy in the borderline resectable and resectable PAC setting.
GITSG:
Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group
PAC:
RTOG:
Radiation Therapy Oncology Group
SBRT:
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy
No funding.
Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated ort analysed during the current study.
WH and KG participated in the data review and collection for the study. WH and KG conceived of the study, and participated in its design and coordination and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Wauwatosa, USA
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA
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Dose intensified radiation therapy for the treatment of pancreatic cance...
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Comfort Food Catering In Raleigh-Durham
Make your event a memorable experience with delicious comfort food catering from local caterers, food trucks, carts, pop-ups, and restaurants.
BBQ Proper
North Carolina's got some legendary BBQ history, but Georgia's got its own twist on the stuff that's just as formidable, and now it's making in-roads to the heart of its northern kindred, converting one die-hard after another. If it's name didn't give it away, it's here to re-educate Durham on the basics of the stuff, before showing them brand new heights to take it to. Ribs, chicken and pulled pork are all standard, and taste anything but, along with rotating specials and sides that'll have you licking your lips before you've even tasted. Once you're done, you'll have a whole new lease on BBQ. And it's one that'll be on your mind, like an old sweet song that you remember on a midnight train to....well you get it. Class is in session, time for your re-education.
Preferred Caterer BBQ Comfort Food
Jessica's Food Truck
Jessica's Food Truck is importing big time Philly tradition from 400 miles away. This family owned and operated affair is bringing the best of Philly to the streets of Raleigh-Durham in style, and if it weren't for them, you wouldn't have access to those unforgettable cheesesteaks on the go. At Jessica's Food Truck, the cook's been perfecting those culinary methods for over 18 years in the food service industry, climbing the ranks from pantry prep to Kitchen Management. But soon, he decided to make a go of it on his own and, armed with the support of his family and an entrepreneurial spirit, made Jessica's Food Truck a reality. To much success, we might add. Here, you're getting a variety of cheesesteaks that are as authentic as they are delicious, piling in a whole lot of goodness on those imported Amoroso rolls. From a beef and chicken Philly to hamburgers, hot dogs and fries, rest assured you'll get your fill here. So why wait? Find Jessica's Food Trcuk in Raleigh Durham, or invite 'em out to cater your next event. Trust us. You won't be disappointed. MUST TRY Cheesesteak - chicken or beef, get it all piled high on that tender roll with grilled peppers and onions and oh so much cheese
Preferred Caterer Cheesesteaks Comfort Food Hot Dogs
Custom Menus Corporate Catering Huge Events
STUFT
City: Raleigh, NC STUFT is a Raleigh based food truck that serves Gourmet STUFT Baked Potatoes!
Truckin Chickin
Brought to you by the brilliant Chef Yolanda, Truckin Chickin is serving up something delicious in the heart of North Carolina. With their delicious fried and barbecued chicken and gourmet, handmade desserts, Truckin Chickin will soon be your new favorite!
Comfort Food Dessert
Mama's Hot Chicken
Come on out to this cluckin’ red hot truck to nosh on the tastiest Nashville-style Chicken you’ll find in all of North Carolina! Along with their signature blazin’ bird, they’re serving the streets of Durham all sorts of superb Southern faves, like Hush Puppies, Coleslaw, and Banana pudding, all of which you’re bound to crave. For some good ole' food and fun, run right to Mama's Hot Chicken.
Fried Chicken Comfort Food
R&B Grill and Concession, LLC
This Robinson family-run truck is taking good ole southern comfort cuisine (along with some good ole southern hospitality) straight to the streets of Durham, and everyone is just lovin’ it. Their menu features favorites like BBQ Pork Ribs, Jumbo Smoked Turkey Legs, and fish, chicken, and shrimp- all fried to crisp deliciousness. You’ll also find gator bites and delightfully refreshing homemade lemonade. For all this and more, get yourself to R&B Grill & Concession for a fun and tasty experience you’re sure to adore.
BBQ Comfort Food Seafood
The Tot Spot
The Tot Spot is The Triangle’s ultimate stop for delicious tater tots with all sorts of gourmet toppings; tender pulled pork, buffalo chicken, and more! This spectacular truck is brought to you by a talented mother & son team who use the freshest ingredients and most imaginative ideas to craft their mouthwatering menu. You just gotta eat at The Tot Spot and treat yourself to these top-notch potato treats!
Dickey's Barbecue Pit Food Truck
You can now get your Dickey’s Barbeque Pit fix at a curb near you or at your very own party, all thanks to this full-service truck. Dickey’s has served award-winning and highly acclaimed Southern-style cuisine since 1941. Today, with over 500 locations nationwide, those same family recipes that have been handed down for generations are still enjoyed by the masses on a daily basis. A few of their famous offerings include beef brisket, pulled pork, St. Louis Ribs, and sausages, all slow-smoked on-site. Their menu also features a tasty array of homestyle sides, including jalapeño beans, macaroni and cheese, just to name a couple. For all this and more, be sure to invite Dickey’s Barbeque Pit Food Truck to your next special event and treat your guests to a delicious taste of this all-American tradition!
BBQ Sausages Comfort Food
Fully Loaded Fritters
Raleigh's Fully Loaded Fritters is giving street food a whole new texture, and packing more flavor into every bite than should be humanly possible, and keeping it all easy to eat on the go. A wide range of flavors populates the deceptively simple menu, and gives you a whole lotta choices to cull from. Savory, sweet, or hot - pick your taste and Fully Loaded will have something delicious to slap on your buds. No fuss, no muss. Check 'em out today and get a whole new way to eat your favorites that'll taste every bit as great as you remember. MUST TRY * Blue Crab Fritters - fresh blue claw crab, white sweet corn, a gouda/white sharp cheddar blend, served with a homemade mango remoulade sauce * Prime Beef Philly Fritters - fresh prime beef, tri-color bell peppers, and a two-cheese blend, served with sriracha aioli sauce
Comfort Food Seafood Southern
Let's Eat HomeStyle
Let's Eat HomeStyle is bringing homestyle eats to Raleigh-Durham, but you could probably guess that. What you couldn't guess, however, is that they're doing it all out of a food truck. Or maybe you could guess, because you're on the Roaming Hunger site, after all. Point is, this mobile kitchen is committed to serving up meals from the kitchen table to the curb, bringing comfort food to the streets one hearty dish at a time. At Let's Eat Homestyle, they've got a whole lot in the way of comfort food, aiming to satisfy your hunger and your cravings in one fell swoop. True, the definition of comfort food can change depending on who you ask. But to us, and most foodies, it's all about those fried delicacies. And Let's Eat HomeStyle has 'em in score. Get Fried chicken, fried fish, and even fried pork chops with their homemade sides including baked mac & cheese, collard greens and potato salads. But that's not all. The menu rotates to include daily specials like chicken and dumplings. Meaning you never know what you're gonna get, which bears repeat visits. Nice marketing strategy, if you ask us. So why wait? Find a menu full of flavor when you eat at Let's Eat HomeStyle, cruising in Boulder Creek and beyond. Trust us. It's a surefire way to satisfaction.
Comfort Food Fried Chicken Seafood
FatBoys Kitchen
FatBoys Kitchen boasts the best grilled cooking in Raleigh. Really, we're apt to believe 'em. This food truck takes those all American classics and the staples of comfort food, combining 'em into a menu full of eats that tackle your hunger and satisfy your cravings in one fell swoop. At FatBoys Kitchen, everything is made to order using the freshest high quality ingredients around. Which means you might have to wait, but trust us, it'll be well worth it. Jonesing for wings? FatBoys Kitchen has crispy chicken and turkey wings, rubbed in a myriad of mouthwatering flavors including mango habanero, curry, lemon pepper, and sweet teriyaki sauce. But that's not all. They're also cooking up hot dogs, big ol' steak and cheese sandwiches, and fried favorites from savory mozzarella sticks to sweet funnel cakes for your enjoyment. The star of the menu, however, is in their burgers, available in the quarter pounder sized and their aptly named fatty patty, so big it could probably solve world hunger, or at least take a bite out of it. If that's not enough to get your mouth watering, we don't know what will. So don't delay. Head on out to the streets of Raleigh Durham, or hire FatBoys Kitchen to deliver all the goodness at your next event. Trust us. It really is that good. MUST TRY FatBurger - a hearty 3/4 pound angus beef patty is stuffed with mac & cheese, topped with even more cheese of the provolone variety, bacon, lettuce, and onion rings finished with their signature fat sauce for a big taste you won't soon forget
Burgers Wings Comfort Food
The Potato Wagon
The Potato Wagon is just as it sounds: a wagon that is fully dedicated to potatoes. But not just any kind of potatoes, mind you. Baked potatoes that they're baking and loading up with a hearty selection of ingredients, in all original recipes to tantalize your tastebuds. And it's all coming to you from founder Omar Amrikani, who after testing his concept at a brick and mortar restaurant, decided to take these spuds to the streets in his homestate of North Carolina. To much success, by the looks of it. Elevating the side dish to the main attraction, you're getting baked potatoes on a whole new level of delicious from the baked potato connoisseur himself. Get a heaping of southern comfort in his southerner potato outfitted with crispy chicken tenders and mac & cheese, or get a hearty breakfast potato topped with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and cheese drizzled with maple syrup. Honestly, if that's not enough to get you to visit, we don't know what else to say. Other than you'd be missing out, and no foodie wants to pass on good food. So don't. Instead, find The Potato Wagon on the streets of Raleigh Durham, or invite 'em to spud up your next event. It's sure to be spudding delicious for all. MUST TRY Chicken BBQ - Omar's special recipe baked chicken is smothered in homemade BBQ sauce, with mozzarella and cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream garnished with fresh chives
Food Truck Full Service Caterer
2ChefsOnTheGo
When you're on the go, it's easy to let lunch go by the wayside. But now, you don't have to. Introducing 2ChefsOnTheGo, a food truck that's bringing chef inspired fare out to tantalize your tastebuds and satisfy your hunger in one fell swoop. So don't let that hunger strike go on for one more moment. Instead, find a hearty helping of eats on the streets, so good you won't be able to resist. Specializing in southern comfort, you're getting food that's chock full of soul and hearty flavor. Get some N'Awlins delight in their shrimp and grits outfitted with creole sauce and oh so much cheese, or tackle your inner carnivorous cravings with Nathan's 100% all beef hot dogs and turkey dogs. But the star of the menu is their Maryland style crab cakes, using quality lump crab meat with no fillers and seared to perfection. That and so much more is available to you at 2ChefsOnTheGo, so why wait? Instead, take these chefs at their word, they've got more than 20 years of experience which translates into quality food and great customer service on hand. Find 'em cruising the streets of Raleigh-Durham, or hire 'em to cater your next event. It doesn't get much better than this. MUST TRY Chicken & Waffles - your choice of crispy chicken wings or tenders atop a Belgian waffle smothered in butter and syrup
Seafood Comfort Food East Coast
Dissidence
Dissidence is a unique food truck to say the least. But we'll have to say more, because this food truck has revolutionized the scene in Raleigh Durham, serving up a bevy of uncommon eats on the streets that fuse together flavors that, despite the namesake, are definitely not in dissidence. Here, you're getting a wide variety of specialty cuisine that you won't find anywhere else, that's for sure. That's because the food truck menu is constantly rotating to feature other signature items. Meaning you never know what you're gonna get, which is anything but a bad thing. Lookin' for a small bite to whet your appetite? Dissidence has got a unique take on "pies", loading in such ingredients as chopped pork, baked beans and shredded cheese in a bag of Lay's or Cheeto's for your enjoyment. Or fully curb your hunger on the curb with gourmet entrees including a sandwich stuffed with confit'd chicken thigh on a hoagie roll, as well as blackened shrimp topped with crystal fried onions and a house made remoulade sauce. Finish off your savory meal with a sweet treat, including their signature strawberry arancini and smoked twinkie, and you've got a meal worth bragging about. So do just that and tell your friends to join you on a quest to find Dissidence, or invite 'em to cater your next event. It's something we all can agree on, you won't find a truck that's got better eats in Raleigh Durham. MUST TRY Loaded Sweet Potato Chips - homemade sweet potato chips are tossed in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon topped with braised apples and bacon in a marshmallow cream drizzle. Can you say yum?
Sandwiches Gastropub Comfort Food
Jolly's Catering and Events
Who doesn’t crave some good old-fashioned soul food after a long day? Jolly’s Catering and Events is an aptly named food trailer as the eats here are bound to make you happy. For some of the best mood-boosting foods in the Raleigh-Durham, NC area, you can’t go wrong with Jolly’s. What’s on the menu? All your favorite deep-fried, greasy goodies that are so worth indulging when the mood strikes. The menu sports an impressive array of meats, serving sausages, burgers, pork chops, and steak. You’ll find some Southern-style classics, of course, like fried okra and collards. These are the kind of soul-restoring eats bound to trigger happy memories, a Pavlovian response to fill you with warm and fuzzy feelings. Looking for a vendor that will put a smile on everyone’s face? Book with Jolly’s Catering and Events. No one can pass up the decadence of soul food. MUST TRY Philly Cheesesteak Wrap - Not only is this wrap stuffed full of tender cuts of steak and gooey melted cheese. The whole thing is deep fried until it’s a rich golden brown shell that’s crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
American Classics Comfort Food Burgers
Fork in the Roof
Fork In The Roof is Raleigh Durham's family friendly food truck, serving locals and visitors alike with some forkin' good eats on the streets. Located just outside the esteemed The Hot Tin Roof restaurant, this food truck provides the food while its counterpart offers drinks and fun times with local bands, karaoke, trivia and much more. Sounds like a pretty good symbiotic relationship, if you ask us. Both are owned and operated by Vince and Kim Tesoro, two foodies that embarked on this culinary mission with a goal to give back to the community deliciously. By the looks of it, they've succeeded and then some. Fork In The Roof has a carefully curated menu of all American food, incorporating flavors from all around the world to tantalize your tastebuds. But that's not all. They've also got a dedicated all vegetarian frier with a bevy of veggie options. If all this sounds like a forkin' good time, what are you still reading this for? Find Fork In The Roof cruising in Raleigh-Durham, Hillsborough, NC and beyond, or have 'em out to cater your next event. Trust us. They won't disappoint. MUST TRY Jalapeno Poppers - spice up your day with these bite sized goodies, using local peppers stuffed with seasoned cream cheese fried to golden brown perfection
Gastropub Sliders Comfort Food
Alaina's Bangin BBQ
Alaina's Bangin BBQ is a local staple in Raleigh-Durham, NC, and for good reason. This pitmaster started out slingin' 'q at friends and family events, which quickly grew into more requests (and begging) for even more BBQ. Beckoned by persistence, Alaina's Bangin BBQ was born, a food trailer that's outfitted with two full bodied smokers to feed the masses. At Alaina's Bangin BBQ, you're being treated to 'q that's on a whole new level of delicious. Here, they're smokin' all meats low and slow to tender, juicy perfection. Take, for example, their Texas style prime brisket, smoked over mesquite wood for a smoky aroma and taste. And their pulled pork and ribs over applewood make for a sweet and savory meaty treat. Of course, no bonafide BBQ joint would be anything without homemade sides. Thankfully, Alaina's Bangin BBQ's got 'em from scratch, including tangy, vinegary coleslaw, smoked baked beans, hearty hushpuppies and hand cut double battered onion rings. Mouth watering yet? Good. All the more reason to check out Alaina's Banging BBQ in Raleigh Durham, or have 'em out to cater your next event. Trust us. It's bangin' delicious. MUST TRY 3 Second Sauce - we couldn't go without mentioning their handcrafted BBQ sauce, going from sweet to spicy in 3 seconds flat
BBQ Comfort Food
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© Scott Dudelson. All rights reserved.
Them Crooked Vultures (Dave Grohl) @ Club Nokia, Los Angeles 2013
Rare opportunity to catch Dave Grohl on drums. Performing with Them Crooked Vultures (Josh Homme/John Paul Jones of Zeppelin). One tour, small handful of shows and they were done.
TAGS: California, Club Nokia, Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, Josh Homme, Scott Dudelson, Them Crooked Vultures, United States
Scott Dudelson
Los Angeles, California, United States of America
© Scott Dudelson.
Date Uploaded: Dec. 8, 2015, 10:06 p.m.
ISO: ISO1600
PHOTO LOCATION Los Angeles, California, United States of America
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SUFI RUHANIAT UK
The Sufi Ruhaniat
RUHANIAT INTERNATIONAL
Samuel Lewis
Pir Moineddin Jablonski
RUHANIAT EUROPE
Dances of Universal Peace
Year(s) of the Walks and Dances of Universal Peace
(This timeline with notes was produced with the help of Ruhaniat Archivist Tansen O’Donohoe and with the author’s access to the Ruhaniat archives at www.murshidsam.org. References and dating evidence from the writings and recordings of Samuel Lewis follow the timeline.—Neil Douglas-Klotz, May 2018.)
1. Early 1930s: Samuel Lewis meets Ruth St Denis and Ted Shawn in Hollywood, Los Angeles and participates in their Denishawn school, where he dances while St Denis talks about how to pick dances from the akashic sphere. Samuel Lewis begins to call Ruth St Denis his “fairy godmother.”
2. Late 1930s: Samuel Lewis writes “Spiritual Dancing,” as an informal commentary on Hazrat Inayat Khan’s “Art: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” The book also references his time at the Denishawn School and includes ideas of Ruth St Denis.
3. March 1962: Samuel Lewis visits the tomb of Selim Chishti in Fathepur Sikri, India and receives a vision of the “Dance of Universal Peace.” See excerpt of letter below. He reports this two years later to Ruth St Denis, who says that she and Ted Shawn received the same vision while they were there.
4. September 1963: First Walks shown to Paul Reps. Murshid S.A.M. begins to instruct his god-daughter and first Khalifa Saadi Khawar Khan in them via correspondence, in preparation for S.A.M’s return to Pakistan and his teaching them to children there.
5. May 1964: Murshid S.A.M. meets with Ruth St Denis for an hour and presents his vision of “the Dance of Universal Peace.”
6. Spring 1967: Walks classes begin on Saturday for the few early mureeds, including Mansur Johnson, Moineddin Jablonski and Fatima Jablonski.
7. March 16, 1968: First small Sufi dance class for mureeds. (See transcribed recording from March 13, 1968 and subsequent letter and diary entries from May 1968 about classes in “Dance of Universal Peace.”)
8. June 24, 1968: First public Dervish Dances presented.
9. July 1970: Saturday night advanced Dance class continues, along with public Dance classes Sunday afternoon and Monday night (combined with Sufi teachings).
1. Early 1930s: Samuel Lewis meets Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. St Denis and Shawn founded the Denishawn school in Los Angeles in 1915 following on from their long career touring worldwide and St Denis’ massive popularity. She was around 50 at the time of her meeting with Samuel Lewis, he was around 44. Samuel Lewis references her in his book “Spiritual Dancing” in chapter 12, “Technique,”p. 57 (pdf version):
“In and around Hollywood there is at least one teacher whose methods are based upon cardiac mechanics and heart-concentration. Its pupils learn, more or less consciously, to invoke psychic forces. They imbibe philosophy from the dance itself. Their spiritual faculties unfold without anything being said of them. At the same time, they emphasize interpretative rather than program dancing. To them, the right interpretive dance offers full scope to the will of the performer and gives her every opportunity for self- expression.” (
St Denis was the only teacher in Los Angeles teaching spiritual dancing, or in fact, modern dance, as she and Shawn virtually invented the field. Their students at Denishawn included the (later) famous modern dance choreographers Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman.
In “Spiritual Dancing,” Samuel Lewis also mentions Ted Shawn’s male dance troupe, also an innovation. From “Spiritual Dancing, chapter ten, “Sex and the Dance,” p. 49:
“Ted Shawn has propagated the philosophy of the male dancer, though there is not necessarily a male dancer any more than a male eater or a male breather. Something in us which is more than the body dances; the body is but the instrument. But we can say there are male dancers and female dancers, and there are definite Yang movements and Yin movements.”
Shawn founded his male dance troupe in 1933 after the ending of his marriage with St. Denis and the end of the Denishawn School (1932). Shawn was gay, but in those times, it would have been dangerous to have this known. Ruth St Denis did not move to Long Island to teach at Adelphi College until 1938, so she was still in Hollywood through the time that S.A.M. references in “Spiritual Dancing.”
2. Late 1930s: Spiritual Dancing written book by Samuel Lewis. Various other internal references allow us to reasonably date this manuscript to the late 1930s. The German dancer Mary Wigman and her troupe (referenced in chapter four, p. 21) toured the USA in 1930. From SAM’s comments, he must have seen her dance. Chapter 13 (p.22) references William Butler Yeats’ book A Vision published in 1937. The famous reference to the ‘goose-step’ in chapter four, see below) may or may not be definitive, as the term was used before Hitler (who came to power in 1933). However, the whole tenor of the introduction, plus the ironic reference to “Pure Aryan Science” in chapter 12, p. 56 point to the period following the Great Depression and before the USA entered WWII in 1941.
“The goose-step involves a maximum of Yang to practically the complete exclusion of Yin; metaphysically the goose-step and war are one. The goose-step is a war march, as much or more than the savage dance is a war dance. It makes use of force without stint or qualification. It involves destructive psychic as well as physical forces. To abolish war we must abolish war-like movements.” (Spiritual Dancing, chapter four, “The Metaphysics of the Dance,”p. 20.
In the archives of Samuel Lewis, we also found Ruth St. Denis’ previously unpublished book The Divine Dance, first drafted in 1934, and finally published in its entirely in Wisdom Comes Dancing, 1997, edited by Kamae A Miller. Two comparative passages from RSD’s writing and that of Samuel Lewis in “Spiritual Dancing” follow below.
From “The Divine Dance”:
“We are now the ‘children of God,’ and in the exact measure of our understanding of this spiritual fact will our interpretation of the human body and all its movements assume a different picture to our minds and deeper assurance to our hearts. We shall see that we are looking at the total person! We are looking at a child of God; a ray of the Divine Light; an idea of the One Mind! (p. 30, Wisdom Comes Dancing).
“The dance of the future will no longer be concerned with meaningless dexterities of the body but will move in harmony with the compassionate and joyous rhythms of love, and will obey in strength and balance the vital laws of truth. Here upon the eternal lotus pattern of love and truth the Divine Dance treads the measures of eternity in praise!” (p. 55, Wisdom Comes Dancing).
From lectures of Ruth St. Denis, March 21, 1936:
“The use of the dance with its infinite capacities for form, rhythm and beauty would be a test of a new viewpoint of civilization because it would withdraw the mind and energies to a considerable degree from the creation of a mechanical, artificial world. This artificial world now acts as substitute for the development and realization of our powers, as the automobile has deprived us of the joys of walking.” (Wisdom Comes Dancing,p. 88).
From “Spiritual Dancing,” p. 63 (pdf version)
“Indeed, we look for a universal spiritual-aesthetic revival. The cultivation of ecstasy and attainment of superconsciousness are steps on the way. We are here to complete our humanity, not to avoid it. Therefore, we must hold before ourselves the idea of the holiness of man and the sacredness of the body. Institutions, themes, forms and ideas are inferior to man, for man was created by God, and these things made by man. As man grows in understanding, in consideration and in compassion, spiritual art will unfold itself accordingly. Man’s heart-awakening must come first.
“A warning note should be expressed here; if the dance or any art be cultivated for psychic or magical purposes, the world will not evolve, it will retrogress. On the other hand, if there is the hoped-for spiritual awakening, then all the arts will reach a higher status. Perhaps then the magic, the psychic powers, the unknown forces and faculties will appear as if quite natural. With the coming of the Kingdom of God in the human heart many marvels will be added.” (p. 63).
*Samuel Lewis mentions Ruth St. Denis more than 120 times in his letters and diaries as his main inspiration for his work in spiritual dancing and the Dance(s) of Universal Peace.
3. March 1962: The Vision of the first ‘Dance of Universal Peace.’
“Ah Yaint, A Saint” went to Fathepur Sikri. Rushed to the tomb of Saint Selim Chisti and did the usual bowing and everything including baksheesh [Hindi term denoting a cross between a “tip” and an “alm’ ed.J. Then I had the guide take me to the local saint. No Americans call on local saints, but Ah Yaint, A Saint did. We greeted and embraced and I gained in holiness–boy! When we returned to the shrine, my friends the Sufi qawwalis came and sang, and I danced and danced- real dervish stuff. A crowd gathered, and when I got tired, I sang and the qawwalis answered. Then the leader got up and asked the crowd for baksheesh to watch the American saint!” (March 21, 1962 to Leonora Ponti)
“When I told Ruth St. Denis that I danced ‘The Dance of Universal Peace’ at Fathepur Sikri she said that Ted Shaun had done the same thirty years previously. The ‘Dance of Universal Peace’ is being withheld until the signal comes from Sri Surendra Ghose, and it is a dance based on the actual rituals of living religions, not about them, but of them.” (July 29, 1966 to Haridas Chauduri).
“Three copies of Miss Ruth have been purchased, one each for my two respective homes, and one for the American Society for Eastern Arts with its headquarters in this city. I was born in this city years ago a little after Isadora Duncan and Harold Lamb, each of whom has made a mark while I am unknown. In my last conversation with Miss Ruth I said, ‘I have started the Dance of Universal Peace at Fathepur Sikri in 1962.’ She said, ‘Ted Shawn and I did the same thing in the same place 30 years previously.’ I think we understood each other perfectly. No physical resemblance of any kind; I am short and solid, and yet she treated me, especially in her later years, as if I were her flesh and blood son.
“In a conversation some years back I said, ‘Holy mother, I am going to revolutionise the world.’ ‘Now are you going to do this,’ she inquired. ‘By teaching little children how to walk.’ She rose majestically to her full height, pounding on the table with her fist, ‘You have it; you have it; you have it.’
“I am now teaching young adults how to walk. I am now having rather small classes, it is true, on spiritual, esoteric, and mystical dances, all of which can be explained, no nonsense. All my life was determined, perhaps predetermined, by the joint tour of Miss Ruth St. Denis and the Sufi Pir-o- Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan in 1911 (I believe). I have learned from each and both how to draw inspirations from the universe, though the only thing of mine published, and that by friends, has been ‘The Rejected Avatar.’ (January 6, 1970 to Walter Terry, author of the book Miss Ruth: The More Living Life, published in 1969 by Dodd Mead, New York).
4. September 1963: The Walks begin, S.A.M. offering them individually.
“My brother Saladin was here and the first steps were taken to show somebody the spirituality of how to walk, how to breathe and how to use the names (or attributes) of Allah. This is really the gist of tasawwuf, with or without books, and lectures and sermons.”(September 6, 1963 to Saadia Khawar Khan).
“Now your Murshid has a whole compendium of tasawwuf inside, as well as the writings, to show even little children how to walk with the Zikr and Kalama from earliest childhood. Only this must be illustrated. And when it is taught and done, there will be no boundary to either Islam or tasawwuf , or anything and even a child will have direct wisdom from his own capacity.” (November 3, 1963 to Shemsuddin Ahmed).
“Now I have learned the Walks, and there are the Walks under karma, and there are the walks under salvation. These two stand distinct. The Walks under karma can be analyzed and learned and mastered, or they can master us. The Walks under salvation can be learned and mastered but not analyzed. When you were in love, could you analyze the walks you took to your beloved, or the walks your child took to you?
“But there are these Walks, and they will be taught in the Orient and to a few here. And for these Walks either there must be an understanding of the breath or the Breath will bring the understanding of the Walks.” (January 14, 1964 letter to “Dear Heart”).
“Such is the nature of the spiritual life and love that I am either doing or accomplishing everything Ruth St. Denis wanted, even with my own body. The training of the last year has been such that I can get down on my knees and weed or transplant without the slightest ache or pain or gross and do this for some hours—as Paul and Sharab may attest. But this is not even the first step. And while the people in this country ignore the wisdom-of-the-body, it will be possible, upon my return to Asia, to teach all kinds of people simple postures, walks and exercises which have both a spiritual and physiological basis. [Emphasis added.] And I have to visit Ruth S. D. when I reach Hollywood again, whether on my return or otherwise.
“An apothecary is not necessarily a physician or sage and this one make no such claims. Put there must be some wisdom in applying the esoteric knowledge of the great religions or otherwise, and it is not necessary to have any faculty of extreme diagnostic ability to propose types of walks which can clear up many ailments. (June 16, 1964 letter).
“Now as for your Aunt, also the last two for morning prayer. And for her concentration on the Holy Prophet, and this walk after feels some success or assurance: 101 steps in your side courtyard with concentration on ‘Allahuma salle ala Muhammad wa ‘ala ali Muhammad kama sallaita ala Ibrahima.’
For you 101 steps in the morning only ‘Audhu billahi minash shatianir-rajim.’ Your Aunt’s walk is with concentration on the Holy Prophet and yours is for protection and purifications. Also repeat this when you visit the Dargah Mian Mir.
“Now as for walking. Till this time I have walked as devotee, to feel the presence or the Sifat of Murshids and Saints and Allah Himself (Akhlak Allah) and now your Murshid must walk as a Murshid to attune to and help the mureeds in so far as Allah permits and blesses. This has never been tried but now His Blessed Majesty of Mecca Shereef [Prophet Muhammad] gives this as instruction, and it shall be tried either after this letter is completed, or if it be long, then during the writing.’ (June 24, 1966 to Saadia Khawar Khan).
5. April/May 1964 Meeting with Ruth St. Denis
“About the beginning of May, I was permitted to see my Fairy Godmother, Miss Ruth St. Denis. It was she who originally brought Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan to this country, and she remembers him very well. I can always go into her home or studio in Hollywood whether she is dressed or not—in other words more like she was a real mother; but heretofore when she travelled her press agents and secretaries kept me away. It was always ironic, but her present secretary was willing for me to see her. It did not mean any demand—and it did not. (June 16, 1964 letter).
“Then Saturday I had one hour with my ‘fairy god-mother’ Ruth St. Denis. It was she who hosted Pir-O-Murshid on his first trip to the United states and she still looks to him with grand admiration. Without contacting her I have done exactly what she wants—words and communications are not necessary between spiritual persons. Indeed I have worked out a complete system of education beginning with early childhood based on ‘Alif’, a story which is found in some of Pir-O-Murshid’s early records.” (April 21, 1964 letter to Sharab).
6. Spring 1967. Walks classes for early mureeds begin.
“This gadfly jogs and listens to God-Allah, and the young believe and they ask how they can learn. The first thing was to teach them how to walk. Sam said to Ruth St. Denis: ‘Mother, I am going to revolutionize the world.’ ‘How are you going to do it?’ ‘I am going to teach children how to walk.’ And while the old ladies snicker, one taught them how to walk and to breathe and pretty soon miracles began to happen.” (May 25, 1967 to Shamcher Beorse).
“Actually I only have room from twenty here, and if the groups get large will break them up. Saturday morning is based on walking. We have the ‘walking Yoga’ and it has been effective not only in awakening the inner consciousness but in helping the devotees to walk a long time without fatigue and also to climb hills. The subject of tassawur was not introduced until the sixth year, I believe. But I am unable to follow the complete Gatha-Githa method, because I do not have all the papers and will not ask anymore. People cannot walk the Sufi path and ignore God, and that is exactly what is going on.” (September 1, 1967 to Shamcher Beorse).
Related to these early classes, see also the references toward the beginning of Mansur Johnson’s book Murshid: A Personal Memoir of Life with American Sufi Samuel L. Lewis (2006).
“The great innovation that this person has introduced are the Dervish Dances. They are compilations of the Mevlevi, Rifa’i and Bedawi practices. Having been a guest of these various dervishes at times, before Allah, there is no reason not to use these methods. However, one practiced Walking for over three years before starting in this direction. [Emphasis added.] The walks were derived partly from Naqshibandi practices and partly from the instructions of Hazrat Inayat Khan on tassawuri. To this should be added some traditional practices one a word which can easily be misunderstood. It was originally spelt hagg in Hebrew and hajj in Arabic, and included walking, both in a straight line and circumambulation. This is always done along with the repetition of some sacred practice.” (March 31, 1969 to Pir Barkat Ali).
7. March 16, 1968: First small Dance class begins for mureeds.
“Saturday afternoon [March 16, 1968], my work is going to be slightly more complicated, because I am adding to the work on the Walk, for a select few only, the others can sit and watch perhaps, the elements of spiritual dancing. I don’t want to teach this to more than four people…. It is necessary to get this beginning in. The Sufi dance will not be on different principles from the walk so far as the inner practice is concerned, but instead of space taking us in, we will take space in. And that is the difference between the dance and the pilgrimage.”–recording of 13 March 1968, posted at murshidsam.org as “Meeting Time with Murshid.”
“Only Sam Lewis was initiated into real Occultism by a Master many years ago. He dropped it but finding so much nonsense being paraded as ‘Occultism’ on is now using it to build up his ‘Dance of Universal Peace.’ This ‘Dance of Universal Peace’ came out of the ethers. It was done once at Fathepur Sikri in India, and one learned later it was placed there in the ethers by Ruth S. Denis and Ted Shawn. Of course, Sam has no access to the Akasha records, every damn fool masquerading as an ‘occultist’ knows that.
“Friday one is preparing for ‘Dance of Universal Peace,’ first by giving instructions in Occult Dancing. This class is small and select, but will increase on the return of several students who are away at the moment. After the Occult Dancing we shall go into Mystical Dancing and then into Ceremonial Dancing, and then Dance of Universal Peace. It is demonstrable. (May 25, 1968 to Gavin Arthur).
“Several years ago I said to Miss Ruth St. Denis ‘Mother I am going to revolutionize the world.’ ‘How are you going to do it?’ ‘By teaching children how to walk.’ Ruth taught me how to draw dances from the Akasha and later I told her of having performed ‘Dance of Universal Peace’ at Fathepur Sikri. It was the same dance that she and Ted Shawn had performed in the same place 30 years before. It is based on the rituals of the four Major Religions. And I am now training a few young people on it, showing them what our ‘superior more equal people’ a priori reject, God bless them.” (May 8, 1968 to Julie Medlock).
“One is now writing in more detail on the Sunday meeting [June 23, 1968] and sending copies to Paul Reps and the local Dr. Chaudhuri. There are things entirely out of my hands, and I’ll begin rather backwards.
“A home and money have been offered to Vilayat and when some thought that Sam might be jealous, he laughed out loud. Vilayat, God bless him, has gone through the great tests foreshadowed by his father and rejected, of course, by the ‘love, harmony and beauty’ people who expect trust but do not give it. In one sense it is ‘often your enemies are those near and dear to you.’ There are the marks, very definite and picked up by the sensitive New Age people. He is the one who needs the Love, this person dispenses it.
“I can only accept him as a Murshid, or even a Pir-O-Murshid, and am setting about doing just what is in his mind. We had already taken the first steps to restore the ancient mysteries of the Dance. We are in agreement in accepting Miss Ruth St. Denis, and it was a joy to hear somebody show the relation between Pythagoreanism and the Mevlevis and explain what is behind the astrological mysteries. Gavin Arthur was present but hadn’t the slightest idea of what it was all about. And absorbing from him we are starting to do the very things be proposed.
“If there was any theme with Vilayat it was that Knowledge is born of Love, and the fact that this impressed all these young people is most important. He has a good knowledge of cosmic philosophy growing out of his assimilation of all faiths on a much higher plane that the local ‘universal religion’ people, who have not worshipped in churches, temples, pagodas, mosques all over the world. The Universal Man was so evident.
“One of our next jobs will be to remove some of his pain. This seems to be innately and intuitively a common project. People who receive enthusiasm and applause do reach depths. These are not the Old Age emotionalists who seize vocabularies. These are the New Age people, generally with Indian ‘souls,’ back to earth to continue their aeonic mission and growth.” (June 25, 1968 to Shamcher Beorse).
For another account of Murshid S.A.M.’s meeting with Pir Vilayat on June 23, 1968, see Mansur Johnson’s Murshid, pp. 73-75.
9. July 1970: Dances and Walks classes continue to develop
“Esoteric Sciences are very difficult to impart. The behavior of electricity through rubber, steel, nylon, silk, copper, etc is very different The blockades in the breath-functions of people may be in any part of the anatomy from the pituitary to the feet. We gave six sessions in dervish dancing, three in yoga dancing, and two on walks last night. Instead of a 15 minute reading—and the reading did not occupy more than 15 minutes—the whole sessions took 2.5 hours, at least. The Murshid-guru has to act as a CONDENSER-TRANSFORMER. This is very important and functional.” (December 5, 1968 to Paul Reps).
“I have been to Fathepur Sikri and there presented the first stage of what may be called Dances of Universal Peace. Most of our work at the present time has been centered on modernized versions of Dervish Dances, but we are also gradually adding mantric dances. In fact, I wish you could come sometime as a guest. At the moment my advanced dancing class meets on Saturday nights and a much larger group on Sunday afternoons. This group will be divided I hope, for it is very large. We also present Dervish dances on Monday night which is devoted to Sufi teachings.” (July 15, 1970 to Badruddin Daud)
Some Brief Conclusions
1. Focus on inner space and inner feeling happens first. Vision comes by grace, not in response to an audience. For 30 years after Murshid S.A.M. first met Ruth St Denis, he gestated these new creations of Walk and Dance.
2. For both the Walks and Dances, Murshid S.A.M began small, with only a few students. The Walks were a preparation for the Dances and begun three to five years before. S.A.M. originally sees the Walks as a development for childhood education, linked to his connection with his first Khalifa in Pakistan, Saadi Khawar Khan.
3. He did not envision the Dances as something large or imposing, but a development of an already existing class in the Walks, for just a few mureeds. By this own words, the first class occurred on March 16, 1968. He mentions this small, ongoing class several times in his correspondence in the spring of 1968. A large public event happened a few months later on June 24 when he led the first Dervish dances, but he never mentions this event in relation to the Dances in his letters or diaries.
4. As S.A.M. says in the recording from March 1968: “It is necessary to get this beginning in. The Sufi dance will not be on different principles from the walk so far as the inner practice is concerned, but instead of space taking us in, we will take space in. And that is the difference between the dance and the pilgrimage.” The Dances work from inside out, not outside in.
–Neil Douglas-Klotz, May 2018
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No Breakthrough Expected in EU-China Summit
Top EU leaders meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang this week at a summit in Brussels, but their hopes of winning solid commitments on trade look set for disappointment.
Brussels is trying to beef up its approach to the Asian giant as it shows little willingness to listen to longstanding complaints about industrial subsidies and access to its markets, and as fears grow about growing Chinese involvement in European infrastructure.
But the half-day summit on Tuesday is on course to fizzle out with little to show in terms of agreements, with European sources saying it looks highly unlikely a final joint statement will be agreed.
EU officials say China is unwilling to give binding commitments on their key demands, including the inclusion of industrial subsidies as part of World Trade Organization reform, and they are reluctant to agree the kind of anodyne declaration of good intentions pushed out after last year’s summit in Beijing.
The European Commission last month issued a 10-point plan proposing a more assertive relationship with Beijing, labelling China a “systemic rival” — a move welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron as a belated awakening.
But while the EU’s 15 trillion euro market gives it significant economic clout, it struggles to maintain unity among its 28 members on issues of foreign policy, allowing China to pursue one-on-one deals with individual countries.
“When economic policy intersects with foreign policy and security, the EU lacks the will and capacity to act strategically,” Philippe Legrain, visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics’ European Institute, wrote in an analysis for Project Syndicate magazine.
“Apart from France and the UK, which is leaving the EU, member governments lack a geopolitical mindset.”
This most striking recent example came last month when Italy became the first G7 nation to sign up to China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), a massive network of transport and trade links stretching from Asia to Europe.
Concerns have been raised about the way the BRI saddles countries with Chinese debt and leaves key infrastructure nodes owned by a potential strategic rival, though Beijing insists the initiative is a “win-win” arrangement.
Former Greek finance minister and scourge of the EU, Yanis Varoufakis, said Europe only had itself to blame if Mediterranean countries turned to China.
“We created a vacuum and the Chinese are filling it. The Chinese are coming in because there is a dearth of investment in this continent… We are failing to generate investment that would give our business the opportunity to compete with them,” he said in Brussels last week.
‘The summit has already taken place’
Macron’s own China initiative last week — hosting President Xi Jinping for a summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker — may also have been a double-edged sword for the EU.
The meeting in Paris gave the EU — through its two most powerful members — the chance to press its concerns directly with the paramount Chinese leader.
But analysts say it also seriously undercut this week’s summit in Brussels, where Li will hold talks not with heads of government but with Juncker and EU Council President Donald Tusk.
“The China summit has already taken place. It is not Europe for China without France and Germany in the same room,” Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the ECIPE Brussels think tank, told AFP.
“Xi has already spoken. Xi has already shaken hands with his counterparts so by default the summit has already taken place. In a sense, they only bring out Li for Europe or when something bad is going to happen and somebody needs to take the blame.”
At the same time, Lee-Makiyama warned, Europe risks being left playing catch-up if ongoing U.S.-China trade talks result in a deal between the world’s two biggest economies.
“China is going to probably offer us some watered down version of what they gave to the Americans, but that also means that we have to give something,” he said.
But while Tuesday’s meeting may not yield a breakthrough in the EU’s complex relationship with China, European officials insist it still has value in keeping up the pressure.
“There is broad agreement within the EU that it is important to communicate to China that we are at a point where we want to see… concrete steps forward on their willingness to work with us at the WTO,” an EU diplomat told AFP.
“What is important is that we give a signal to China that the EU is partner but also a competitor and requires Beijing to make some steps.”
For Interracial Couples, an Emoji With Choices
Swiss Scientists Create First Computer Generated Genome
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History of the Congregation
Sisters in the Process of Canonization
Fidelity to the Holy Father & The Church
Marian Devotion
The Divine Patient
In the Patient's Home
Aspirancy
Postulancy
Novitiate
Juniorate
Perpetually Professed
What is a Religious Vocation?
Requirements to be a Servant of Mary
Lay Fraternity
How We Live the Charism
Newbury Park, CA
MARY HEALTH OF THE SICK QUEEN AND MOTHER OF THE CONGREGATION
Virgin statue Mary, Mother and Servant of the Lord is, in Christ and with Christ, the great and faithful Model of the social-apostolic endeavor of our religious family.
Our love of God, union with Him and a pure intention of pleasing Him alone will help us acquire the complete and total readiness of Mary: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me” (Lk 1, 38).
The Servant of Mary is also distinguished by a deep, filial love of the Virgin Mary, Exemplar of a humble and hidden life with Christ in God.
A characteristic sign of the spirituality of the Servants of Mary, as it was of Saint Maria Soledad, is a solid and fervent devotion to Mary which we will express in filial praise and faithful imitation of her virtues.
Mary, under the title of “Health of the Sick” is the principal Patroness of our religious family.
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, unique cooperatrix in the restoration of the supernatural life, is our Mother in the order of grace (LG 61). After Christ and subordinate to Him, Mary should occupy a special place of preference in our spiritual life as Mother and Teacher. Mary is, in fact, model of virtue for the entire community of the elect (LG 65) and also a sign of hope and consolation.
“I have placed all my confidence in Mary: with this maxim, precious heritage handed down to our Institute, our Holy Mother Foundress reveals to us the outstanding features of her Marian spirituality, expressed in the prayer: “Mary, Health of the Sick”, invoked to obtain her maternal comfort and fortitude for those who suffer, and also in the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, co-redeemer with Christ in the work of salvation. We shall foster personal and collective love for the Virgin Mary, manifesting it with special act of devotion on the occasion of her principal feasts.
We shall intensify our love of the Blessed Virgin in a specialway during the month of May.
The month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and lived with an intense Marian spirit. To conclude the month we celebrate with a traditional May Crowning of Mary, our Queen and Mother.
For the solemnities of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15 and of Mary, Health of the Sick on May 8 we shall prepare with a solemn Novena.
We honor Our Sorrowful Mother in September 15. This devotion was deeply rooted in Mother Soledad. It is an image of our mission: a silent presence at the bedside of the sick like Mary at the foot of the Cross.
Praying the holy rosary daily in community.
We sing the Salve Regina every Saturday in her honor as a filial act of love.
Phone of the Community (913) 371-3423 | Phone of the Provincial Curia (913) 621-1147
Contact Provincial Curia| Contact the Vocation Director
Links SMMS
Phone of the Community (913) 371-3423
Phone of the Provincial Curia (913) 621-1147
Contact Provincial Curia
Contact the Vocation Director
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Blog Tour- Naked by Alexandra Christian
Title: Naked
Author: Alexandra Christian
Series: The Phoenix Rising Series
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian and Paranormal
Librarian at one of Earth’s last paper libraries, Phoebe Addison is about to have a romantic and interplanetary adventure wilder than anything she’s ever read.
OUT OF THE STACKS
Librarian Phoebe Addison has lived her entire life within a seventy-five mile radius of her small Louisiana town, but when she receives a strange medallion from her adventurous, off-world sister, reality tilts toward the bizarre. Everything Phoe thought she knew is…well, wrong. Dead wrong. But bone-numbing fear has no place in this brave new world—nor by the side of the dangerous, exquisite man who saves her life.
…AND INTO THE FIRE
Following the tragic slaughter of his family, operative Macijah “Cage” St. John understands evil in a way no man ever should. He traded happiness for a magnificent and terrible power, and fate isn’t done with him yet. He wasn’t looking for comfort. He didn’t need tenderness. But today he’ll play hero to a damsel in distress, and his quest will deliver him to the uncanny Martian colony of New London—and his heart to the demure Phoebe Addison. The bookish beauty’s hidden talents and deep abiding love just might save Cage from himself.
Boroughs|Amazon|iBooks|B&N|Kobo|Createspace|Smashwords
Phoebe could tell he wanted to say more but wouldn’t. She held his gaze, but he looked away, as if he were hiding a weakness he couldn’t stand for her to see.
“What are you talking about?” she said. “Help me understand.”
“I can’t,” he said, pulling back and shaking his head as if to clear it. “I won’t.”
He rolled back on his heels and stood quickly, and in an uncharacteristically clumsy movement, his shoulder brushed against the bedside table and nearly toppled the glass of tea.
“Just leave it alone, Phoe. My demons are my own.” The weakness was gone, and now that hard-edged, barely contained anger had returned.
She knew if she pressed him he would lash out. She was starting to understand, to be able to read his moods that had seemed so random and mysterious when they’d first met. There was a scab, healed over, but beneath the surface it still burned in his soul.
“Rest up,” he said, turning to walk away. “We’ll leave at sunset. Sadie has a car.”
Swallowing her nausea, Phoe threw back the blanket and stumbled out of the bed toward him. “Wait. Cage.”
He stopped but didn’t turn. “Look, I don’t know what’s happened in your past, but we all have demons. Some of us more than most. I get it.” She laid a hand on his shoulder, feeling the quiver of muscles pulled tight. The sensation of gentle touch had evidently become foreign. His head turned, staring down at where her fingertips rested against him. Such a profile, his eyes gazing downward and the faint glisten of a single tear resting just under his eyelashes. “You can trust me.”
“I do trust you, Phoe.”
She slid her arm along his shoulder, and he turned, enveloping her in a gentle embrace. He brushed a hand over her brow, smoothing back the stray locks that fell around her face. Being so close to him, she felt small and skittish. If he loosened his grasp even a little, she feared she would retreat.
He took her hand, bringing it to his lips then pressing her palm against his cheek. Instantly his body relaxed, as if her touch were some sort of calming drug. Phoebe could actually feel the tension melting from his muscles.
His eyes were full of fire and his breathing labored. Phoe couldn’t believe that it was her doing this to him. That all of this was for her.
“I don’t trust me,” he muttered in a low growl.
She was mesmerized by the curves of his lips as he spoke, and without even realizing, she’d moved closer. Only a breath between them, and then their lips touched.
At first he kissed her lightly, but when her tongue slid across the seam of his lips, he became insistent. His sumptuous mouth caressed her lower lip and it made her bold. Instinct kicked in and she kissed him back with equal intensity. Cage stole her breath and then offered his own. His arms tightened around her waist as he pulled her in against him, his hands rested on her hips as their kiss deepened.
Alexandra Christian is an author of mostly romance with a speculative slant. Her love of Stephen King and sweet tea has flavored her fiction with a Southern Gothic sensibility that reeks of Spanish moss and deep fried eccentricity. As one-half of the writing team at Little Red Hen Romance, she’s committed to bringing exciting stories and sapiosexual love monkeys to intelligent readers everywhere. Lexx also likes to keep her fingers in lots of different pies having written everything from sci-fi and horror to Sherlock Holmes adventures. Her alter-ego, A.C. Thompson, is also the editor of the highly successful Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series of anthologies.
A self-proclaimed “Southern Belle from Hell,” Lexx is a native South Carolinian who lives with an epileptic wiener dog, and her husband, author Tally Johnson. Her long-term aspirations are to one day be a best-selling authoress and part-time pinup girl. Questions, comments and complaints are most welcome at her website: http://lexxxchristian.wixsite.com/alexandrachristian.
Follow Alexandra at: facebook.com/TheSouthernBellefromHell &twitter.com/lexxxchristian
Alexandra Christian blog tour Naked new release paranormal Phoenix Rising series
June 23rd, 2017 Leave a comment Uncategorized chevonbink
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Paramount Pictures presents Lauren Lapid
By Natasha Boddie/August 2017
You don’t have to work in the entertainment industry to know the name – Paramount Pictures. Since 1912, Paramount has earned a reputation in the “Big Six” alongside Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Sony and Walt Disney Studios. Making it the oldest studio and the only of the Big Six remaining in Hollywood.
What you may not know is Paramount offers an internship program. According to their website, internships offer students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working in the entertainment industry. As a Southern California native, who loves movies and storytelling, surrounded by the Big Six. Rising junior Lauren Lapid has always been interested in the entertainment industry.
Currently, as an Art & Visual Technology (AVT) student with a concentration in graphic design and a minor in business. Lapid couldn’t imagine where she would be without the School of Art (SOA). Being a student has allowed her to grow as a designer and an artist. The culture within SOA, from faculty to students, is welcoming.
“I am able to see the effects of art in the greater landscape of society, and I’ve found that having that artistic insight, even within non-creative jobs, is immensely valuable,” says Lapid.
Paramount’s impressive portfolio led Lapid to a rewarding internship. In-Theater Marketing (ITM) is responsible for all promotional collateral or materials in movie theaters nationwide. As an ITM intern, Lapid had the opportunity to assist with brainstorming and logistics of upcoming movie promotions. She was also responsible for checking every movie theater circuit’s website and social media pages and documenting all posts pertaining to Paramount movies on a daily basis.
“It’s creative in that I get to help brainstorm in the initial phases of marketing promotions for movies months in advance, which is awesome, and I get to design various deliverables for theaters in addition to developing professional logistics and office skills,” Lapid said.
Interning with ITM has been a unique experience. This summer, Lapid spent most of her time on Transformers: The Last Knight, designing social media posts for prize pack giveaways for different theater circuits.
“Literally thousands of people saw and interacted with posts I designed, so it was incredible to see what impact I was able to make,” explains Lapid.
In her design experience with various agencies including Adobe Systems in Silicon Valley. The entertainment industry has been by far the most rewarding experience. From learning the ins/outs of the entertainment industry to simple office etiquette to complicated telephone systems used by larger corporations are all countless lessons learned.
“I can truly say I am surrounded by passionate people … like with the fine arts, you must truly love it in order to successfully navigate a career or life path in entertainment,” says Lapid.
MASON EXHIBITIONS
OPEN LINES: NEW SCULPTURE BY HAROLD LINTON
Lasting gift of up to $1Million awarded to Mason’s School of Art
It takes only a brief tour of their art-filled home in Alexandria, Virginia to appreciate the way that art shapes the lives of George Mason supporters Gardner and Stevie Gillespie. For the past decade, the couple has found an ideal way to pursue their passion through the School of Art at Mason. As chair of the advisory council, Gardner Gillespie drafted the School of Art’s vision statement. Along with other volunteers, the Gillespies support Off […]
Through the lens: A Santorum Wedding By Natasha Boddie/November 2017 It’s not every day you receive a phone call in the middle of the night asking if you want to be a travelling photographer to document pre-wedding activities for none other than Elizabeth Santorum. That call came one night in March when alumnus Kelly Shepherd was asked if he wanted to travel to Ireland. The answer of course was yes. Shepherd had been solicited to […]
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Eric Walters
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"Howdy back. Seems to be a lot of Eric Walters in the USMC. I knew one in my Game Club at Camp Pendleton who moved to the East Coast."
"Howdy, Scott! Welcome to the CONSIMWORLD Social Website! Am also a retired Marine, but these days I teach the U.S. Army officers! Check out the various groups--I'm sure you'll find something you like. If not,…"
William Rodney Parker joined Eric Walters's group
Here's a group to talk about Revolution Games--the company, its wargames, reviews of their games, replays, and more.See More
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Mark DAgosta commented on Eric Walters's group Revolution Games
"For any other "Washington's Crossing" enthusiasts out there, about 5 years ago I created a player aid in the form of an Excel workbook that eliminates the need for Leader Charts and dramatically speeds combat calculation times. The…"
Rick Barber commented on Eric Walters's group Revolution Games
"Eric, the game I'm working on, at regimental scale and with 150/hex, only focuses on the actions at Matthew's and Henry's hills, and so doesn't cover the overall battle and its possibilities. The usual problem with the…"
Eric Walters commented on Nathan's video
"I love these videos, though I do confess a weakness for those "blow-by-blow" treatments done for the La Bataille series games. But I think your concept will be easier to digest for those of us short on time who can't watch--eyes…"
Eric Walters commented on Eric Walters's group Revolution Games
"Just got the new map with Poland Defiant for Stonewall's Sword. Worth the $15 for it! Am definitely going to look forward to 1st Bull Run using the Blind Swords system, particularly since it will come with yet another Rick Barber…"
Your introduction to consim gaming:
When I was 14 back in 1974 I saw the old Avalon Hill MIDWAY game in a hobby shop where I always bought plastic model ships that I liked to build. Got that game instead of a TAMIYA light Japanese aircraft carrier model kit and it's not been the same since. Joined the Strategic Games Club in high school and started playing DIPLOMACY, NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION, PANZER BLITZ, PANZER LEADER, RICHTHOFEN'S WAR, FRANCE 1940, MOSCOW CAMPAIGN, FAST CARRIERS, SNIPER!, WOODEN SHIPS & IRON MEN, and THIRD REICH fairly frequently.
Your favorite game(s):
ADVANCED SQUAD LEADER/ADVANCED SQUAD LEADER STARTER KIT systems (AH/MMP) -- been a quarter of a century and it's still so fresh. Love the historical modules, even if I can't play the full campaigns! Yes, I do play both and enjoy both--better at Starter Kit than the full game, though.
PANZER/MBT Series (the re-issued versions from GMT). Yes, these feel so 1970s/1980s era games, but I can't get enough of them nevertheless! The GMT versions are just the way these game systems were meant to be!
PANZERGRENADIER Series. These games aren't for everyone, but I like the variety and historicity, particularly in the slow degradation of combat capability compared to other games. It's my favorite platoon-size WWII title!
EAST FRONT SERIES (GMT) -- Good balance between size and complexity. The first game in that series, TYPHOON, is my favorite, even though the rules have evolved a good bit since then. Well scratches my monster gaming itches.
CIVIL WAR BRIGADE SERIES (The Gamers/MMP) -- explains the crazy stuff that happened in Civil War battles more than any other sytem. Would love to see more battles covered--like Bentonville!
GRAND TACTICAL SERIES (MMP); Have played THE DEVIL'S CAULDRON and WHERE EAGLES DARE--one of my all time favorite systems and these two games are NOT to be missed! Am glad to see this system is being applied to D-Day and Crete...need to play more NO QUESTION OF SURRENDER, though!
ROMMEL IN THE DESERT, NAPOLEON, EAST FRONT II (Columbia Games) -- these are some of the best in the block games.
KORSUN POCKET (PWG) -- my favorite monster game of all time. I pray for its re-release!
OPERATIONAL COMBAT SERIES (The Gamers/MMP) -- best system to model this level of war. I haven't played some of the newer titles but hope to some day.
TACTICAL COMBAT SERIES (The Gamers/MMP) -- best tactical system ever; I love how the OODA loop is modeled here.
CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON SERIES--of various scales (Kevin Zucker/OSG) -- Another game system highlighting different command and control capabilities at the operational level
ASSAULT series (GDW) -- my favorite modern hypothetical tactical combat system and there's some really heavy competition. Still holds up well after nearly 30 years; just takes a long time to play. Best limited intelligence and command/control system for a modern tactical game.
AIRPOWER/FIGHTING WINGS series (Clash of Arms games) -- the ultimate tactical air boardgames. I still like the old GDW titles AIR STRIKE and AIR SUPERIORITY that got this started.
BIRDS OF PREY--admittedly this is the best of the jet air combat board games, at least for air combat maneuvering.
DOWNTOWN/ELUSIVE VICTORY series -- one of the few "grand tactical" air games and it feels just so "right" for the scale.
ADMIRALTY TRILOGY miniatures series -- best replication of tactical naval combat out there; I need to marry this to the Avalanche Press GWAS and SWWAS operational systems for the Russo-Japanese War, WWI and WWII eras.
BATTLES OF THE AGE OF REASON (Clash of Arms Games)--just seems to replicate so well the age of Frederick the Great battles.
LACE WARS (Red Sash Games)--the penultimate monster gaming experience to replicate wars of the 18th Century!
DIEN BIEN PHU: THE FINAL GAMBLE (Legion Games)--best game of this signature battle ever made. Period. Can't get enough of it!
What game(s) are you currently playing (solitaire, FTF, PBEM, etc.) or wish to play next?
I want to play nearly anything in the historical board game genre.
What game(s) have you played recently?
MBT (GMT), PANZER (GMT), ASLSK series, TURNING POINT: STALINGRAD (AH), Grant Tactical Series (GTS) games on Operation Market-Garden, LIBERTY OR DEATH (GMT COIN series), CATACLYSM (GMT), CHRUCHILL (GMT). There's so many more I need to play!
In general, how much time do you spend gaming?
I write about games about an hour a day (on BGG and elsewhere); I play maybe 8-16 hours a month!
How big is your game collection?
Over 2,500 games and 500+game expansions, according to BGG. It counts scenario books as games/expansions, however. Sigh. Half of these are magazine games (XTR's COMMAND, SPI's STRATEGY AND TACTICS and WORLD AT WAR, 3W's WARGAMER, and the newer BATTLES and AGAINST THE ODDS magazines)
Your local game club(s) and/or where you reside (let's network!)
Richmond Area Game Enthusiasts (RAGE) and Gerry Germond's Tuesday Night Regulars. There's far more gatherings/clubs here as well.
Married for the past 24 years to a lovely woman, Sue, who not only puts up with my weird hobbies, she actually supports me doing them! No children (we married relatively late in life). Love all sorts of historical periods and scales in my gaming, from ancients through contemporary hypothetical conflicts, even science fiction (and occasionally fantasy). Probably have wargaming ADD; I keep moving from game to game, system to system, and find enjoyment in most everything I play.
Personal Interests (favorite activities, movies, shows, books, music, etc.)
Writing military history, reading military history, fine pure malt scotch, bourbon, and cigars, modern classical music as well as "shoegazing" stuff, fine arts, and far too many other interests because I'm a naturally curious guy.Am a professor of strategy and operational art the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Fort Lee satellite campus. Get to take the class on staff rides to the various civil war battlefields in the area--what's not to like?
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/authors/eric-walters/
Eric Walters's Photos
Eric Walters's Videos
Hold it against me 266 Rein Marines Official Version
Added by Eric Walters
Merry Christmas From Afghanistan
Sabaton - "Attero Dominatus"
Eric Walters's Blog
GMT Games NEXT WAR series at the Marine Corps University War College
https://warontherocks.com/2019/04/how-does-the-next-great-power-conflict-play-out-lessons-from-a-wargame/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ebb%2004.22.19&utm_term=Editorial
Connections 2013: 22-25 July in Dayton Ohio
Connections 2013 will be held 22 through 25 July 2013 at the Tec^Edge, Dayton, Ohio – and virtually worldwide.
Connections is the only national conference dedicated specifically to wargaming. Since 1993 Connections has worked to advance and preserve the art, science and application of wargaming by bringing together all elements of the field (military, commercial and academic) so that practitioners can exchange information on achievements, best practices and needs.
Posted on June 26, 2013 at 7:24pm
PrezCon 2013--the 20th Annual Convention of the Winter Nationals
Pictures are worth a thousand words, so it's better to check out the full album here.
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 8:00pm
Initial Impressions of GMT's revisions of Jim Day's PANZER board wargame--plus expansions.
You can check out my review of the "Basic" PANZER game here.
Here are the reviews for Expansion #1 and…
Posted on September 11, 2012 at 1:15pm — 2 Comments
WHERE EAGLES DARE at WINTER OFFENSIVE 2012
You can read my "First Impressions" multi-part review of the game at Board Game Geek here.
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 9:30am — 3 Comments
Comment Wall (108 comments)
At 5:42pm on July 15, 2019, Scott Martin said…
Howdy back. Seems to be a lot of Eric Walters in the USMC. I knew one in my Game Club at Camp Pendleton who moved to the East Coast.
At 7:47pm on May 5, 2019, jo kussey said…
Unfortunately, I sold my big collection of 100+ wargames back in 2000. Stopped wargaming altogether until the last 5 years or so. Some of them were definitely not solitaire. Waterloo was a joke, compared to the games out there now on the subject. Midway and Bismark, I remember that those games probably would still be fun to play... But two player games! Squad Leader was fun, but so many rules!
The Hexasim Austerlitz game is outstanding. I really enjoyed the system, the components and had lots of replayability. And the BCS series is great, I've spent many hours on that system, still playing Patton's counterattack. Haven't gotten my copy of Brazen Chariots. Funny, I'm more an East Front guy, so I'm learning a lot about the Western Front. If you are into modern games, the GMT series Next War is really good, although I think they need to work on the EW part of modern warfare. It is amazing how much this facet of combat has changed even in the last 10 years with GPS spoofing, jamming of artillery and drones!
I don't know of anyone playing out here, but I haven't really looked. To be honest, the vast majority of my gaming was solitaire. I suppose I could start looking. I'll try my first wargaming convention in PHX in June and maybe I'll get the bug to play man-to-man! Yea, I would think that there are many opponents out in VA, with Washington DC right there and the bases.
Eric, nice talking to you, take care,
At 9:59pm on April 28, 2019, jo kussey said…
Seems like we've been on similar paths in life.
1. My uncle introduced me to wargaming when I was about 10. Midway, Blitzkrieg, Bismark, Waterloo, Guadalcanal. All of those lovely AH wargames he gave to me and we played a number of them. That was about 1974!
2. I see some USMC affiliation in the pictures. I served the USMC 1982-1986. I still work for them as an ATC maintenance supervisor at MCAS Yuma. So my entire adult life has been with the USMC in some manner.
3. Wargaming has been a passion with me lately. I stopped playing in my 20's and 30's as I played hockey and then raised kids. But now, I have a room and tables and I have returned to my childhood love. I'm playing Last Blitzkrieg, the BCS system that I am very much enjoying. I appreciate the welcome.
At 3:23pm on January 31, 2019, John Reich said…
Thanks for the welcome, been on Consimworld for a number of years, primarily trolling the forum for GTS, TCS, and CSS. I have done an admirable job of pissing on rules that could easily be amended such as the GTS spotting under a barrage rule.... you can only shoot out one hex, but can see to infinity, spot that lonely mortar unit in travel mode and call arty on it. Now you cant shoot at it even if your Tiger tank is nonsurpressed by the 81mm "barrage".... kills me, just modify the damn rule
At 2:57pm on January 7, 2019, John G Galloway said…
Simonitch has done outstanding - and consistently high-quality - work for years. Huge fan.
At 7:02pm on November 12, 2018, Steven Scott said…
Appreciate the welcome Eric. It was looking for a consolidated set of rules for Central Front (and I understand a revised counter-mix too) that lead me here. Cheers
At 3:03pm on August 21, 2018, William George Sterner said…
The favorites are cause the hold the most memories when I started playing these back in the day. I like both Metz 1870 and Offensive a Outrance. The latter of course is a "monster" '; however, that period has always intrigued me. Metz has the chit pulling system which I think adds to the "fog of war" what if's. You wouldn't happen to know where I could acquire a copy (or at least pages 19-20) from GMT's Typhoon 1941 playbook. I got a copy (in the shrink wrap) on Ebay but those pages were missing. I contacted GMT direct but no joy there. Cheers!
At 5:32pm on July 18, 2018, Stephen Weiss said…
Thanks Eric! Yeah, can't wait for Stalingrad '42 and the next game in the Next War series....
At 1:04pm on May 28, 2018, David Lubin said…
Anytime you want to play any of them let me know!
At 7:12am on April 19, 2018, john pysz said…
well i have all the BERGS ,TSS GAMES along The Gamers, TCS,OCS.Don't play as much as i use to work.
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SATCHARITRA
ELEVEN ASSURANCES
SIGNIFICANCE OF UDI
STATEMENTS OF BABA
DEVOTEE’S EXPERIENCES
Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi was a Yogi and a Guru who gave the world the keys of happniess – Shraddha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience). He never asked his followers to abandon their religion. His life exemplified Love & Forgiveness, Charity & Contentment, and Devotion to Guru & God. His teachings combined elements of Hinduism & Islam and tried to achieve communal harmony between the two religions.
He drew devotees from all over the country though he never traveled and never cared for fame. Over and over his devotees found he knew their innermost thoughts and details of their lives. He effected cures, conferred health, happiness, and prosperity, and made childless couples conceive. His real purpose though was to awaken in them a longing for the spiritual life. Thousands thought of him as a wonderful saint with miraculous powers but his innermost circle knew him to be in incarnation of God himself. Some said of Datta, others of Shiva, still others saw ecstatic visions of their own beloved Guru or chosen Ishta (personalized icon of God) while gazing at Him. He himself said only that he was the humble servant of God and pleased and furthered all who came in contact with him. Many books have been written about Shirdi Sai Baba but the Shri Sai Satcharita, the story of Sai Baba’s life and actions (quoted from below) was written in his own lifetime and is best known among Sai devotees. Just before leaving his body he told a disciple he would be reborn in a certain village 8 years hence and so it came to pass. (See section on Sathya Sai Baba.)
Sai Baba was first seen as a youth of sixteen sitting under a neem tree in Shirdi. None knew his origin or past. Even then he seemed to be full of the knowledge of Brahman. He had no desire for worldly objects even in dream. He kicked out Maya (illusion) and Mukti (illumination) was serving at his feet. This young lad, fair, smart, and very handsome, was first seen under a Neem tree seated in an Asan (meditative posture). The people of the village were wonderstruck to see such a young lad practicing hard penance, not minding heat and cold. By day he associated with none and at night he was afraid of nobody. People were wondering whence that young chap turned up. His form and features were so handsome that a mere look endeared him to all. He went to nobody’s door, always sat near the Neem tree. Outwardly he looked very young; but by his action He was really a great soul. He was the embodiment of dispassion and an enigma to all.
A saint name Gangagir who frequented Shirdi said of him on first setting eyes on him “Blessed is Shirdi, that it got this precious jewel”. Another saint by name Anandanath said “This is a precious diamond in reality, though he looks like an ordinary man. You will realize this in the near future.”
Peace or calm was his ornament and he was the repository of wisdom. He had no love for perishable things and was always engrossed in self-realization. He did not know or care for honor or dishonor. The name of Allah was always on his lips. His inside was as calm as the deep sea. Though he sat in one place, he knew all the transactions of the world. Though a Siddha (realized being), he acted like a sadhaka (disciple on the spiritual path). He was meek, humble, and pleased all..
Shortly after coming to Shirdi, Baba displayed his mastery over matter. He was fond of lights and used to borrow oil from the shop keepers to keep earthen dishes with wicks burning the whole night in the masjid (temple). After a while the shop keepers got together and decided not to give oil. Then they watched to see what Baba would do. Unperturbed, Baba poured water into his oil pot, took a drink from it, then filled all his earthen dishes with it and lighted them. To the surprise and dismay of the shopkeepers, the wicks began to burn and kept burning the whole night. Afterwards the shopkeepers repented and apologized.
Baba Fed Sumtuously, How?
Once, Mrs. Tarkhad was staying in a certain house in Shirdi. At noon, meals were ready and dishes were being served, when a hungry dog turned up there and began to cry. Mrs. Tarkhad got up at once and threw a piece of bread, which the dog gulped with great relish. In the afternoon, when she went to the Masjid and sat at some distance, Sai Baba said to her, “Mother, you have fed Me sumptuously up to my throat, My afflicted pranas (life-forces) have been satisfied. Always act like this, and this will stand you in good stead. Sitting in this Masjid I shall never, never speak untruth. Take pity on Me like this. First give bread to the hungry, and then eat yourself. Note this well.” She could not at first understand the meaning of what Baba said. So she replied, “Baba, how could I feed You? I am myself dependent on others and take my food from them on payment.” Then Baba replied — “Eating that lovely bread I am heartily contended and I am still belching. The dog which you saw before meals and to which you gave the piece of bread is one with me, so also other creatures (cats, pigs, flies, cows etc.) are one with me. I am roaming in their forms. He, who sees Me in all these creatures is my beloved. So abandon the sense of duality and distinction and serve Me, as you did today.” Drinking these nectar-like words, she was moved, her eyes were filled with tears, her throat was choked and her joy knew no bounds.
Maid Servant demonstrates meaning of Upanishad.
Das Ganu once started to write a commentary on the Ishavasya Upanishad. He translated it verse by verse into the Marathi language, but did not comprehend the gist of it and so was not satisfied with his performance. He therefore consulted some learned men regarding his doubts and difficulties and discussed with them at great length. They did not solve them nor did they give him any rational and satisfactory explanation. So Das Ganu was a little restless over this matter.
This Upanishad is the quintessence of the Vedas. It is the science of self-realization, it is the scythe or weapon which can rend asunder the bondage of life and death, and make us free. Therefore, he thought, that he who has himself attained self-realization, can only give him the true or correct interpretation of the Upanishad. When nobody could satisfy Das Ganu, he resolved to consult Sai Baba about this. When he got an opportunity to go to Shirdi, he saw Sai Baba, prostrated himself before Him, and mentioned his difficulties about the Ishavasya Upanishad and requested Him to give the correct solution. Sai Baba, blessed him and said- “You need not be anxious, there is no difficulty about the matter, the maid-servant of Kaka (Kakasaheb Dixit) will solve your doubts at Vile Parle, on your way home”. The people who were present then and heard this, thought that Baba was joking and said, “How could an illiterate maid-servant solve the difficulties of this nature”, but Das Ganu thought otherwise. He was sure, that whatever Baba spoke, must come true, Baba’s word was the decree of the Brahma (Almighty).
Fully believing in Baba’s words, he left Shirdi and stayed with Kakasaheb Dixit. There the next day, when Das Ganu was performing his morning worship, he heard a poor girl singing a beautiful song in clear and melodious tones. The subject matter of the song was a crimson coloured Sari (Indian dress), how nice it was, how fine was its embroidery, how beautiful were its ends and borders etc. He liked the song so much that he came out, and saw that it was being sung by a young girl, the sister of Namya, who was a servant of Kakasaheb. The girl was cleaning vessels, and had only a torn rag on her person. On seeing her impoverished condition, and her jovial temperament, Das Ganu felt pity for her and when Rao Bahadur M.V.Pradhan next day gave him a pair of dhotars, he requested him to give a sari to the poor little girl also. Rao Bahadur bought a good Chirdi (small Sari) and presented it to her. Like a starving person getting luckily good dishes to eat, her joy knew no bounds. The next day she wore the new Sari, and out of great joy and merriment, whirled, danced round and played `Fugadi’ with other girls and excelled them all. The day following, she kept the new Sari in her box at home and came with the old and torn rags, but she looked as merry as she did the previous day. Seeing this, Das Ganu’s pity was transferred into admiration. He thought that the girl being poor had to wear a torn rag, but now she had a new Sari which she kept in reserve and putting on the old rag, strutted herself, showing no trace of sorrow or dejection. Thus he realized that all our feelings of pain and pleasure depend upon the attitude of our mind. Thinking deeply over this incident, he realized that a man ought to enjoy whatever God has bestowed on him in the firm conviction that He besets every thing, from behind and before, and on all sides and that whatever is bestowed on him by God must be for his good. In this particular case, the impoverished condition of the poor girl, her torn rag and the new Sari, the donor, the donee and the acceptance were all parts of the Lord and pervaded by Him. Here Das Ganu got a practical demonstration of the lesson of the Upanishad – the lesson of contentment with one’s own lot in the belief that whatever happens is ordained by God and is ultimately good for us.
Role of Pain and Suffering.
One Dr. Pillay was an intimate Bhakta of Baba. He was much liked by Baba, who always called him Bhau (brother). Baba talked with him off and on and consulted him in all matters and wanted him always at His side. This Pillay suffered once very badly from guinea-worms. He said to Kakasaheb Dixit, “The pain is most excruciating and unbearable. I prefer death to it. This pain, I know, is for repaying past Karma, but go to Baba and tell Him to stop the pain and transfer the working of my past Karma to ten future births of mine.” Mr. Dixit went to Baba and told Him his request. Then Baba, being moved by his request, said to Dixit, “Tell him to be fearless. Why should he suffer for ten births? In ten days he can work out the sufferings and consequences of his past Karma. While I am here to give him temporal and spiritual welfare, why should he pray for death? Bring him here on somebody’s back and let us work and finish his sufferings once for all”.
The doctor was brought in that condition and was seated on Baba’s right. Baba gave him His bolster and said, “Lie calmly here and be at ease. The true remedy is, that the result of past actions has to be suffered and got over. Our Karma is the cause of our happiness and sorrow; therefore put up with whatever comes to you. Allah (God) is the sole Dispenser and Protector, always think of Him. He will take care of you. Surrender to His feet with body, mind, wealth and speech, i.e. completely and then see what He does.” Dr. Pillay said in return that Nanasaheb had put a bandage over the leg, but he found no relief. “Nana is a fool” replied Baba. “Take off that bandage or else you will die. Now a crow will come and peck you, and then you will recover.”
While this conversation was going on, one Abdul who always cleaned the Masjid and trimmed the lamps, turned up. While he was attending to his work of trimming, his foot accidentally fell upon the stretched leg of Dr. Pillay. The leg was already badly swollen and when Abdul’s foot fell upon it and pressed it, all the seven guinea-worms were squeezed out at once. The pain was unbearable and Dr. Pillay bawled out loudly. After some time, he calmed down and began to sing and cry alternately. Then Baba remarked, “See, our Bhau is all right now and singing.” Then Pillay enquired when the crow was coming and pecking at him. Baba said, “Did you not see the crow? He won’t come again. Abdul was the crow. Now go and rest yourself in the Wada and you will be soon all right.”
By application of the Udi and by taking it in the stomach with water, and without taking any other treatment or medicine, the disease was completely cured in ten days as predicted by Baba.
Summoned by Dream.
It is said that a dream, which we get in the small hours of the morning, generally comes out true in the walking state. This may be so, but regarding Baba’s dreams there is no restriction of time. To quote an instance:- Baba told Kakasaheb Dixit one afternoon to go to Rahata and fetch Khushalchand to Shirdi, as He had not seen him since long. Kakasaheb accordingly took a tanga (cart) and went to Rahata. He saw Khushalchand and gave him Baba’s message. Hearing it, Khushalchand was surprised and said that he was taking a noon nap after meals when Baba appeared in his dream and asked him to come to Shirdi immediately and that he was anxious to go. As he had no horse of his nearby, he had sent his son to inform Baba; when his son was just out of the village-border, Dixit’s tanga turned up. Dixit then said that he was sent specially to bring him. Then they both went in the tanga back to Shirdi. Khushalchand saw Baba and all were pleased. Seeing this Leela of Baba, Khushalchand was much moved.
Saints Working in Unison.
In 1917 Haribhau Karnik of Dahanu came to Shirdi on the Guru-pournima day and worshipped Baba with all formality. He offered clothes and Dakshina (money offering), and after taking Baba’s leave through Shama, got down the steps of the Masjid. Then he thought that he should offer one more rupee to Baba and was just turning to get up when Shama informed him by signs that as he had got Baba’s leave, he should go and not return. So he started home. On his way, when he went into the temple of Kala Rama at Nasik for darshan, the resident Saint Narsing Maharaj who used to sit just inside the big door of the temple, left his Bhaktas there, came to Haribhau, caught his wrist and said, “Give me my one rupee”. Karnik was surprised. He paid the rupee most willingly and thought that Sai Baba recovered the rupee, which he intended in his mind to give, through saint Narsing Maharaj. This shows how the saints work in unison.
Whosoever puts their feet on Shi rdi soil, their sufferings will come to an end.
The wretched and miserable will rise to joy and happiness as soon as they climb the steps of the mosque.
I shall be ever active and vigorous even after leaving this earthly body.
My tomb shall bless and speak to the needs of my devotees.
I shall be active and vigorous even from my tomb.
My mortal remains will speak from my tomb.
I am ever living to help and guide all who come to me, who surrender to me and who seek refuge in me.
If you look to me, I look to you.
If you cast your burden on me, I shall surely bear it.
If you seek my advice and help, it shall be given to you at once.
There shall be no want in the house of my devotee.
Sacred Ash (Udi) of Sai Baba.
One of Baba’s special features was that he always kept a sacred fire (Dhuni) burning. The ash from this fire was called Udi and it was freely distributed to the devotees at the time of their departure from Shirdi. What did Baba teach or hint by this Udi? Baba taught by His Udi that all the visible phenomena in the universe are as transient as the ash. Our bodies composed of wood or matter of the five elements, will fall down, after all their enjoyments are over, and be reduced to ashes. In order to remind the devotees of the fact that their bodies will be reduced to ashes, Baba distributed Udi to them. Baba also taught by the Udi that the Brahman is the only Reality and the universe is ephemeral and that no one in this world, be he a son, father or wife, is really ours. We come here (in this world) alone and we have to go out alone. It was found out and is even now found out, that the Udi cured many physical and mental maladies, but Baba wanted to din into the devotee’s ears the principles of discrimination between the Unreal and the Real.
Scorpion Sting.
Narayan Motiram Jani of Nasik was a devotee of Baba. He was serving under another devotee of Baba, by name Ramachandra Vaman Modak. Once he went to Shirdi with his mother and saw Baba. Then Baba Himself told her that he (her son) should serve no more, but start independent business. Some days after, this prophecy turned true. Narayan Jani left service and started a boarding house, ‘Anandashram’ which thrived well. Once a friend of this Narayanrao was stung by a scorpion and the pain caused by it, was severe and unbearable. Baba’s Udi (sacred ash) is most efficacious in such cases; it is to be applied on the seat of pain, and so Narayanrao searched for it, but found none. Then he stood before Baba’s picture and invoked Baba’s aid, chanted Baba’s name and taking out a pinch of the ashes of the joss-stick burning in front of Baba’s picture and thinking it to be Baba’s Udi, applied it on the seat of pain and the sting. As soon as he took out his fingers, the pain vanished and both the person were moved and felt delighted.
Udi used to facilitate childbirth.
About 1904-05 Nanasaheb Chandorkar was Mamlatdar (revenue collector) at Jamner, in the Khandesh District, which is more that 100 miles distant from Shirdi. His daughter Mainatai was pregnant and was about to deliver. The case was very serious and she was suffering from labour-pains for the two or three days. Nanasaheb tried all remedies but they proved in vain; he then remembered Baba and invoked His aid. There in Shirdi, one Ramgirbuva, whom Baba called Bapugirbuva, wanted at this time to go to his native place in Khandesh. Baba called him and told him to take a little rest and stop at Jamner on his way home and give the Udi and Arati (spiritual ceremony) to Nanasaheb. Ramgirbuva said that he had only two rupees with him and that amount was barely sufficient for the railway fare up to Jalgaon and it was not possible for him to go from jalgaon to Jamner, a distance of about 30 miles. Baba assured him that he need not worry, as everything would be provided for him. Then Baba asked Shama to write the well-known Arati composed by Madhav Adkar and give a copy of it with Udi to Ramgirbuva to be delivered to Nanasaheb. Then relying on Baba’s words, Ramgirbuva left Shirdi and reached Jalgaon at about 2:45 a.m. He had only two annas left with him and was in a hard plight. To his great relief he heard somebody calling out “Who is Bapugirbuva of Shirdi?” He went to him and told him that he was the person Bapugirbuva. Then the peon, professing to be sent by Nanasaheb, took him out to an excellent tanga with a good pair of horses. They both drove in it. The tanga ran fast and early in the morning they came to a brooklet. The driver took the horses for watering them and the peon asked Ramgirbuva to partake of some eatables. Then both of them took the refreshments and started again. They reached Jamner at dawn. Ramgirbuva alighted to attend a call of nature and returned within a few minutes, but found that there was no tanga, no driver and no peon. He was dumbfounded. Then he went to the neighbouring Katcheri and making enquiries, learnt that the Mamlatdar was at home. He went to Nanasaheb’s house and announced himself and gave Nanasaheb Baba’s Udi and Arati. At this time, Mainatai’s case was most serious and all were in deep anxiety about her. Nanasaheb called out his wife and asked her to give the Udi, mixed with water, to their daughter to drink, and sing Baba’s Arati. He thought that Baba’s help was most opportune. In a few minutes came the news that the delivery was safe and that the crisis had passed away. When Ramgirbuva thanked Nanasaheb for the peon, tanga and the refreshments etc. the latter was greatly surprised as he had sent none to the station, and was not aware of any person coming from Shirdi.
Saved from Humiliation by Baba’s Grace and Udi.
Balaji Neweskar was a great devotee of Baba as was his son after him. Once it happened that at Balaji’s anniversary day, a certain number of guests were invited and dinner was prepared for them. But at the dinner-time it was found that thrice the number of people invited turned up. Mrs. Newaskar was in a fix. She thought that the food would not suffice for the people assembled and that if it fell short, the honour of the family would be at stake. Her mother-in-law comforted her by saying, “Don’t be afraid, it is not ours, but Sai’s food; cover every vessel with cloth, putting some Udi in it, and serve from the same without opening it : Sai will save us from ignominy.” She did as she was advised and it was found to their surprise and joy that not only did the food suffice for all, but plenty of it remained after serving. “As one feels intently, so he realizes accordingly” was proved in this case.
There will never be any dearth or scarcity, regarding food and clothes, in any devotees’ homes. It is my special characteristic, that I always look to, and provide, for the welfare of those devotees, who worship Me whole-heartedly with their minds ever fixed on Me. Lord Krishna has also said the same in the Gita.
Be wherever you like, do whatever you choose, remember this well that all that you do is known to me. I am the Inner Ruler of all and seated in their hearts. I envelope all creatures. I am the Controller – the wire-puller of the show of this Universe. I am the mother – origin of all beings – the harmony of the three gunas (attributes), the propeller of all senses, the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer. Nothing will harm who turns his attention towards me, but Maya will lash or whip him who forgets Me. All the insects, ants, the visible, movable and immovable world is my Body or form.
You need not go far, or anywhere in search of Me. Barring your name and form, there exists in you, as well as in all beings, a sense of Being or Consciousness of Existence. That is Myself. Knowing this, you see Me inside yourself as well as in all beings. If you practise this, you will realize all pervasiveness and thus attain oneness with Me.
Unless there is some relationship or connection, nobody goes anywhere. If any men or creatures come to you, do not discourteously drive them away, but receive them well and treat them with due respect. Shri Hari (God) will be certainly pleased if you give water to the thirsty, bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked and your verandah to strangers for sitting and resting. If anybody wants any money from you and you are not inclined to give, do not give, but do not bark at him like a dog.
If my Leelas (sportive Divine actions) are written, the Avidya (ignorance) will vanish and if they are attentively and devoutly listened to, the consciousness of worldly existence will abate and strong waves of devotion and love will rise up and if one dives deep into my Leelas, he would get precious jewels of knowledge.
Let the world go topsy-turvy, you remain where you are. Look on calmly at the show of all things passing before you. Demolish the wall of difference that separates you from Me; and then the road for our meeting will be clear and open. The sense of differentiation, as I and Thou, is the barrier that keeps away the disciple from his Master, and unless that is destroyed the state of Union or At-One-ment is not possible.
Really this Jiva (human soul) transcends the three qualities, viz. Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, but being deluded by Maya, he forgets his nature which is ‘Existence-knowledge-bliss’, and thinks that he is the doer and enjoyer and thus entangles himself in endless miseries and does not know the way of deliverance. The only way of deliverance is Loving Devotion towards the Guru’s feet. The great Player or Actor Lord Sai has delighted His Bhaktas and transformed them into Himself (His nature).
We regard Sai Baba as an incarnation of God but He always said that He was an obedient servant of God. Though an incarnation He showed the people the way, how to behave satisfactorily and carry out the duties of their respective stations in this life. He never emulated others in any way, nor asked others to have something done for Him. For Him, Who saw the Lord in all movable and immovable things of this world, humility was the most proper thing. None He disregarded or disrespected; for He saw Narayan (Lord) in all beings. He never said, “I am God,” but that He was a humble servant and He always remembered Him and always uttered – “Allah Malik” (God is the sole proprietor or Owner).
We do not know the various kinds of Saints, how they behave, what they do and eat etc. We only know that by God’s grace they manifest themselves in this world to liberate the ignorant and bound souls. If there be any store of merits on our account, we get a desire in listening to the stories and Leelas of the Saints, otherwise not.
Sugar Tea
Das Ganu was once performing his Kirtan (religious discourse) and singing the glory of Sai Baba, in the Koupineshwar temple in Thana. One Mr. Cholkar, a poor man serving as a candidate in the Civil Courts in Thana, was amongst the audience. He heard Dasganu’s Kirtan most attentively and was much moved. He there and then mentally bowed and vowed to Baba saying – “Baba, I am a poor man, unable to support my family. If by your grace, I pass the departmental examination, and get a permanent post, I shall go to Shirdi, fall at Your Feet and distribute sugar-candy in Your name.” As good luck would have it, Mr.Cholkar did pass the examination and did get the permanent post and now it remained for him to fulfill his vow, the sooner the better. Mr. Cholkar was a poor man with a large family to support; and he could not afford to pay for the expenses of a Shirdi trip. As Mr. Cholkar was anxious to fulfill his vow as early as possible, he resolved to economize, cut down his expenses and save money. He determined not to use sugar in his diet and began to take his tea without it. After he was able to save some money in this way, he came to Shirdi, took Baba’s darshan (sight of a holy person), fell at His Feet, offered a coconut, distributed it with a clean conscience along with sugar-candy as per his vow and said to Baba that he was much pleased with His darshan and that his desires were fulfilled that day. Mr. Cholkar was in the Masjid with his host Bapusaheb Jog. When the host and the guest both got up and were about to leave the Masjid, Baba spoke to Jog as follows:- “Give him (your guest) cups of tea, fully saturated with sugar.” Hearing these significant words, Mr. Cholkar was much moved, he was wonderstruck, his eyes were bedewed with tears, and he fell at Baba’s Feet again. Mr. Jog was also curious about this direction, regarding the tea-cups to be given to his guest. Baba wanted by His words to create faith and devotion in Cholkar’s mind. He hinted as it were, that He got the sugar-candy as per his vow and that He knew full well his secret determination not to use sugar in his diet. Baba meant to say, “If you spread your palms with devotion before Me, I am immediately with you, day and night. Though, I am here bodily, still I know what you do; beyond the seven seas. Go wherever you will, over the wide world, I am with you. My abode is in your heart and I am within you. Always worship Me, Who is seated in your heart, as well as in the hearts of all beings. Blessed and fortunate indeed, is he who knows Me thus.”
Bread and Onion Story
Once it so happened, that a sadhak (disciple) of Yoga came to Shirdi with Nanasaheb Chandorkar. He had studied all the works on Yoga, including the Yoga-sutras of Patanjali, but had no practical experience. He could not concentrate his mind and attain samadhi (the highest meditative state) even for a short time. He thought that if Sai Baba be pleased with him, He will show him the way to attain samadhi for a long time. With this object in view he came to Shirdi and when he went to the Masjid he saw Sai Baba eating bread with onion. On seeing this, a thought arose in his mind, “How can this man, who is eating stale bread with raw onion, solve my difficulties and help me?” Sai Baba read his mind and said to Nanasaheb – “Oh Nana, he who has the power to digest onion, should eat it and none else”. Hearing this remark, the yogi was wonder-struck and then he fell at Baba’s Feet with complete surrender. With pure and open mind, he asked his difficulties and got their solution from Baba. Thus being satisfied and happy, he left Shirdi with Baba’s Udi (sacred ash) and blessings.
Picture equivalent to Darshan
It was often the experience of Sai Baba’s devotees that seeing Baba’s picture earnestly is equivalent to seeing Him in person. The following story illustrates this statement.
A Saint of Bombay named Balabuva Sutar, who on account of his piety, devotion and bhajan (sacred singing), was called “Modern Tukaram”, came to Shirdi for the first time in 1917. When be bowed before Baba, the latter said “I know this man since four years.” Balabuva wondered and thought, how could that be, as that was his first trip to Shirdi. But thinking about it seriously he recollected that he had prostrated himself four years ago before Baba’s portrait at Bombay and was convinced about the significance of Baba’s words. He said to himself, “How omniscient and all-pervading are the Saints and how kind are they to their Bhaktas (devotional devotees)! I merely bowed to His photo, this fact was noticed by Baba and in due time He made me realize that seeing His photo is equivalent to seeing Him in person!”
Faith Secures Passing Grade
There lived in Bandra, a suburb of Bombay, one Tendulkar family, all the members of which were devoted to Shirdi Sai Baba. The son of the family was studying hard day and night and wanted to appear for the medical examination. He consulted some astrologers. Examining his horoscope they told him that the stars were not favourable that year and that he should appear for the examination next year, when he would be certainly successful. This cast a gloom over him and made him restless. A few days afterwards his mother went to Shirdi and saw Baba. Amongst other things she mentioned the gloomy and morose condition of her son, who was to appear for the examination in a few days. Hearing this Baba said to her,”Tell your son to believe in Me, to throw aside horoscopes and predictions of astrologers and palmists and go on with his studies. Let him appear for the examination with a calm mind, he is sure to pass this year. Ask him to trust in Me and not to get disappointed”. The mother returned home and communicated Baba’s message to her son. Then he studied hard and in due course appeared for the examination. In the written papers he did well, but being overwhelmed by doubts he thought that he would not secure sufficient marks for passing. So he did not care to appear for the oral examination. But the examiner was after him. He sent word through a fellow- student, stating that he had passed in the written examination and that he should appear for the oral. The son being thus encouraged appeared for the oral examination and was successful in both. Thus he got through the examination that year successfully by Baba’s grace, though the stars were against him. It is to be noted here that doubts and difficulties surround us just to move us and confirm our faith. We are tested as it were. If we only hold on steadily to Baba with full faith and continue our endeavours, our efforts will be ultimately crowned with success
Suicide Thwarted
Mr. Gopal Narayan Ambadekar of Poona was a devotee of Baba. He served for ten years in the Abkari department, from where he had to retire. He tried to get some other job, but he did not succeed. He was overtaken by other calamities and his condition grew from bad to worse. He passed 7 years in this condition, visiting Shirdi every year and placing his grievance before Baba. In 1916 his plight became worst and be decided to commit suicide in Shirdi. So he came there with his wife and stayed for two months. One night while sitting in a bullock cart he resolved to end his life by throwing himself into a well close by. He proposed to do one way but Baba wished to do something else. A few paces from this place, there was a hotel and its proprietor Mr. Sagun, a devotee of Baba, came out and accosted him thus, “Did you ever read this Akkalkotkar Maharaja’s life?” Ambadekar took that book from Sagun and began to read it. Casually, or we may say providentially he came across a story which was to this effect. – During the life time of Akkalkotkar Maharaj a certain devotee suffered very much from an incurable disease and when he could endure the agony and pain no longer, be became desperate and to end his miseries threw himself one night into a well. Immediately the Maharaj came there and took him out with his own hands and advised him thus, “You must enjoy the fruit – good or bad – of your past actions; if the enjoyment be incomplete, suicide won’t help you. You have to take another birth and suffer again; so instead of killing yourself, why not suffer for some time and finish up your store of the fruit of your past deeds and be done with it once and for all?”
Reading this appropriate and timely story, Ambadekar was much surprised, and moved. Had he not got Baba’s hint through the story, he would have been no more. Seeing Baba’s all-pervasiveness and benevolence, his faith in Him was confirmed, and he became a staunch devotee. His father was a devotee of Akkalkotkar Maharaj and Sai Baba wanted him to walk into his father’s footsteps and continue his devotion to Him. He then got Sai Baba’s blessings and his prospects began to improve. He studied astrology and gained proficiency in it and thereby improved his lot. He was able to earn sufficient money and passed his after-life in ease and comfort.
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Amidst a dismal Maharashtra drought, Seeds of change in Solapur
April 6, 2016 April 7, 2016 SANDRP
Solapur, a chronically drought-hit district in Maharashtra was serviced with more than 200 tankers in 2013-14, even when the monsoon was good. In this drought, there are only 16 tankers plying in Solapur. Drinking water sources have been secured. The district leads the way in Jal Yukta Shivar Program in the state, new avenues of Agricultural credit are opening, options to sugarcane are being developed, errant sugar factories are being fined for polluting drinking water sources…
All this sounds too good to be true in a state where it seems lessons are not being learnt from 3 droughts in past 4 years. But it is happening. These positive stories deserve to be told at a time when overall situation appears dismal..
When I reached Solapur, I was a bit skeptical about Jalyukta Shivar Program, a flagship small scale soil and water conservation program of the Government of Maharashtra. I still have several concerns about the way in which and the scale at which the project is being implemented, but its potential in addressing critical issues, especially when steered by a visionary leadership, is doubtless. In the entire state, Solapur is far ahead in implementation of Jal Yukta Shivar (JYS) works and the major credit of this remarkable feat goes to Collector Tukaram Mundhe and his dedicated team from Water Conservation and Agricultural Department.
Solapur is a land of contradictions. Situated in a chronically drought affected part of the Bhima River Basin (a sub basin of Krishna River Basin), bordering Marathwada, the district has the highest concentration of water guzzling sugarcane and sugar factories in the state. In 2012-13 drought, Solapur had 28 sugar factories and the irony of this concentration in a water stressed area was amply highlighted. However, two droughts later, number of sugar factories only grew to 32 from previous 28.
In this scenario, Collector Tukaram Mundhe staunchly opposed and stopped water release from the Ujani Dam in Solapur (largest dam in the Bhima River Basin) for irrigating sugarcane in Rabi, stating that the project is meant for 8 monthly irrigation and no release can be made for a perennial crop like sugarcane in the face of a severe water crisis looming over Solapur. This was a strong decision which, predictably, led to protests from the politically powerful sugar lobby. Such strong steps have come from few people in the administration so far. In fact from none.
As I was scheduling a meeting with Mr. Mundhe, it was disturbing to hear that his car has been hit by the sand mafia which he has taken on but that did not affect the visit.
JYS is an ambitious program of the Government of Maharashtra, initiated in the times of the past NCP Congress government where erstwhile CM Prthiviraj Chavan played a key role. That said, it was present CM Devendra Fadnavis who grasped the potential of small scale water harvesting and made a veritable movement of this program. JSY consist of a host of on-farm and small scale measures like area treatment and contour bunding, soil and water conservation through continuous contour trenches, gully plugging, nalla bunding, cement nallahs bunds, recharging shallow wells, bore wells and hand pumps, desilting and maintenance of old Minor irrigation tanks, percolation tanks and community tanks and also (and this one is problematic) straightening, deepening and widening of rivers and streams in the state. There are some very valid issues and objections raised about the way JSY is being implemented, that deserves separate discussion.
The government aims to aggressively push JYS in the worst hit places, serviced by tankers, but there is more elaborate eligibility criteria. The stated objective of JYS is to make Maharashtra Drought free by 2019. All of the works done are mapped on an interactive platform by Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre[i], specifically for the Soil and Water Conservation Department. At this point, the MRSC shows that 1,54,177 works under JYS have been completed across the state and Solapur is leading the way in almost all of these works.
Works done under Jal Yukt Shivar in Maharashtra till date
I visited some of the works in late January this year.
I was standing on the banks of the small tank called as Seetabai Talav where Deputy Director of Agriculture Mr. Mane and his team were enthusiastically showing me desiltation work done to increase the capacity of the tank. That much could be seen. But what was done with the excavated silt? In Maharashtra, several large dams like Gangapur and Hathnur are full of silt and the Water Resources Department (WRD) wants to build more dams rather than desilt existing projects as they have no clue what to do with the silt.
Deputy Dir. Agriculture Mr. Mane at the desilted Seetabai Talav Photo: Author
Here, I was taken to a field about 3 kms away, where the silt from Seetabai Tank was used to make a predominantly rocky strata cultivable. Papaya and Drumstick plants were swaying in the wind. Mr. Kedar Jodmote who owns this land says that something like this was unthinkable a year back. More than 2000 hectares of land in Solapur has been made cultivable, using such silt.
We further saw a well recharge project where overflow of an adjacent stream was diverted through a dug channel to a small desilting and recharge chamber, from where overflow was diverted into a well. In keeping with the surrounding, the well was dry, but the farmer hurried by and told us that he could take a corn crop only because of this well.
We also visited a farm where impeccable area treatment was carried out. The farm was outlined by a deep trench and mound which ensured that all the water received by the farm remained within the farm and recharged the area surrounding the farm.
Next to the farm was a small stream which was desilted, widened and deepened and which had a cement nallah bund built across it. The farmer Avdhoot Pujari and Vitthal Khatte told me proudly that their Jowar and fodder crops were saved due to the bund and soil moisture due to area treatment.
Solapur’s Jalyukta Shivar has ambitious target of completing Area Treatment for 100% villages, well recharge in 100% villages, rejuvenating rivers and nallahs targeting most villages, constructing cement Nallah Bunds on streams, desilting and strengthening existing tanks and ponds through people’s participation, covering most of the irrigated area by micro irrigation and taking crucial steps towards a more climate friendly cropping pattern, which is also profitable for the farmers.
In the first stage, 280 villages have been selected which belong to 64 mega watersheds and 1298 micro watersheds. While the rate of implementation and completion of works under this scheme in most other districts of the state remains dismally low[ii], in Solapur more than 26,000 works of the 28,000+ planned works have been completed already! Works costing around Rs 68 Crores haven achieved through peoples’ participation in cash or kind.
Till February 2016, a whopping 1900 works on Compartment Bunding (making trench and mound around farms) and area treatment have been completed, covering an area of about 80,832 hectares, 494 earthen bunds have been erected, 434 farm ponds have been set up, 334 cement nallahs bunds are up, 264 percolation tanks have been repaired. (Note: Data realted to JYS works has been made available by the Collector Office)
Remarkably, 29,926 wells have been recharged so far, 15,503 through JYS and 14,423 from villages which are not in the scheme, 445 Vanrai bunds (bunds made up of filled sand bags) have been set up. Unfortunately, no work has happened about Water User Associations.
The Collectorate claims that 42.66 lakh cubic meters of silt has been removed from various tanks and 2,326 hectares of land has been made cultivable through this.
Silt from tanks being used to reclaim land
About 4531 farmers took part in this work, which holds value of Rs 31.99 Crores. PPP Model for desilting has also been used. Cut off trenches in earthen dams and tanks need repair to avoid seepage and maintain structural safety. About 323 COTs have been repaired and reinstated in the past years. (A trench which is below the foundation base line of a dam or other structure and is filled with an impervious material, such as clay or concrete, to form a watertight barrier.)
The Collector has honored officials who have worked innovatively on well recharge. Mr. Joshi, Agricultural Assistant was felicitated for recharging 112 wells on South Solapur.
Well recharging works Source: Collectorate
Same is the case with Borewell Recharge programs and recharging drinking water sources and hand pumps
Borewell recharge
Compartment bunding or Area Treatment forms the focus area of JYS in Solapur. Of the 100,000 odd hectares of area treatment targeted for 2015-16, work over 80,832 hectares has been completed so far. Like in other efforts, here too officials who undertake innovative and efficient work are openly felicitated.
Continuous contour trench work, which has been completed for over 331 hectares.
CCT Work
Of the 28,266 works undertaken in 2015-16, by February 26,379 works have been completed. Amount spent on this so far is Rs 194.02 Crores.
It is claimed that this creation of new capacity and recharge has resulted in net creation of 46246.33 TCM (46 MCM) of water while and reinstating old capacity through measures like desilting, broadening and deepening of rivers and streams, repairing bunds and tanks, etc., has resulted into a net increase in water availability by 14010 TCM (14 MCM).
Considering the nuances of groundwater recharge, evaporation losses, percolation and final water availability, this figure needs to be checked. However, this does not take away from the fact that impressive soil and water conservation work has happened in Solapur which also includes a strong component of micro irrigation through drip and sprinklers.
The work is very closely monitored by the Collector who has himself measured the depth and height of the compartment bunds set up in villages like Mandrup and Ghodyacha Tandaa. The Collector also conducts regular monitoring and guiding meetings with all officials from the Agriculture Department, in almost all villages! Training Workshops are being conducted in the village as well as block level and felicitation of efficient and innovative officials has become a trend.
While looking at a well recharge Mr. Mane suddenly tells me, “Madam, we feel proud of our work. It is a lot of hard work, but I feel proud at the end of the day.” This is indeed commendable.
In his office Tukaram Mundhe tells us more about his vision for Solapur. He is clear that agriculture will have to be looked at as an agro industry if small holding farmers are to make profit. One of the key component in this context is agricultural credit, which he is pursuing to achieve with great zeal. He talks about how even government institutions are wary of giving credit to farmers, when it is their right. He has been instrumental in ensuring about Rs 5000 Crores Agri. Credit reaches the farmers in 2014-15 and is nearing (when last heard) the Rs 10,000 Crore credit plan for 2015-16, out of which about Rs 2000 Crores is only for micro irrigation. No credit will be forwarded to sugarcane without drip and for Crop Credit of about Rs 5000 Crores, no mortgage will be required from farmers.
He says, “Rather than providing subsidy, making agricultural credit more accessible and transparent for farmers will be important.”
He also talks about the need to demonstrate the profitability of horticulture and vegetable farming, even on a small land holding, if we are to counter the gigantic growth of sugarcane. “Administration, through agricultural credit and forward and backward linkages has a huge role to play here, which is slowly evident in Solapur. In Mangalvedha theer are farms where 0.5 acre land has the facility of Shade Net & grows vegetables like capsicum and is much more profitable than sugarcane, using a fraction of water. In case of forward linkages of fruits and vegetables Solapur is uniquely placed from metros like Hyderabad, Bijapur and Pune. About 250 shade-nets have been installed in various places, I hope this picks up.”
He is very optimistic about well recharge program, having seen excellent results in places like Khadki in Karmala where a recharged borewell came to life after a shower and has been providing drinking water to the village. “Recharging wells only costs about 10,000 Rs. But rural population depends on groundwater, we should not ignore it, in fact it is our biggest ally.”
Same is the case with Malegaon where recharging wells and borewells has assured drinking water supply.
He is possibly the only Collector who has evoked the Groundwater (Management and Development) Act of 2009, fining a sugar industry (Shri Siddheshwar Co Operative Sugar Factory) for polluting and exploiting a groundwater source which is used for drinking. The factory was imposed exemplary fine of Rs 1.5 Crores.
Urban Water Supply
“Urban water supply is more about management than water availability. As a Collector of the perennially dry Jalna, our team could revive an old water supply tank from the time of Nizam with the help of local groups. When I took over in 2011-12, water was supplied to Jalna once in 15 days. That is unacceptable! From there, we worked on water supply efficiency, rotations, etc., to come to ½ hour every three days from 2 hours once in fifteen days and was also able to bring it to ½ hour every day. Urban water supply is more of an internal efficiency and management issue, than a source issue. If we would have waited for water to come from Jayakwadi, we would wait for 10 more years!” Remarkable wisdom indeed, and wish urban water planners all over India were to listen to this and follow it rather than hankering for long distance water mirages.
One of his most remarkable achievements has been the in Solapur where in 2013-14, 212 tankers had to be in service to supply water… this year, even with a dismally low rain (in Monsoon, Solapur has received just 193.9 mm rainfall, less than half that of Rajasthan), the number of tankers is down to just 16 in March 2016!
He attributes this to creating a systematic inventory of water sources, which were many times not on record and repairing and recharging maximum possible structures, which has now made nearly 60 villages and 69 settlements tanker free! “In addition we saw that number of drinking water supply schemes are defunct. There are many reasons behind it, including non-payment of dues. We paid the dues and made sure that maintenance funds flow from National Rural Drinking Water Program. 47 villages have been made tanker free through this. In addition, we have completed languishing schemes on priority and have expanded pipeline network. If we look at the whole picture, the solutions are simple”.
“We have given assurance to the people that administration will provide water, not tankers, and we are trying to do that.”
This sounded too good to be true. I must confess that I was a bit skeptical and talked with some villagers and networks in Solapur. All were unanimous in saying that tanker lobby has been beaten down in Solapur and drinking water is indeed assured. While people still have to spend time in collecting water, this was true when the tankers were plying too.
Mr. Mundhe has been made a Temporary Commissioner of Solapur just for a period of ten days (in which he made sure that a whopping Rs 1 Crore Property Tax was recovered from political heavy weights on his very first day) During this time, he is aggressively looking at fixing leakages and wastages in the pipeline system from Ujani to Solapur. A major repair work has already started.
It is not often that you write about the work of one official. I was unsure. However, I realized that such dynamic and innovative efforts from Mr. Tukaram Mundhe and his team from the administration deserve acknowledgement and huge respect. They hold great potential and seeds of change for a better future.
Mr. Mundhe is being targeted by several groups, ruling and opposition parties and the status quo lobby is clearly unhappy with him. He has been attacked by the sand mafia. Amidst all this, we wish Mr. Mundhe all the very best for the spectacular work being achieved in Solapur and hope this exemplary work continues and spreads in other districts of Maharashtra and beyond. In this time of unprecedented drought across the country, there is a lot that we can learn from the ongoing work in Solapur.
While many of the actions in Solapur are most welcome, this seems to be largely happening due to a few individual officers there and in spite of the state and the central government. Even in Solapur, the district administration could not take effective action to curb sugarcane cultivation and sugar mills operations in these drought times. With these (and some others mentioned above) qualifications and limitations, the steps in Solapur as described above are certainly welcome and worthy of replication.
Parineeta Dandekar
[i] http://mrsac.maharashtra.gov.in/jalyukt/
[ii] http://www.loksatta.com/aurangabad-news/jalyukt-shivar-abhiyan-1220544/
Bhima River Basin Jal Yukta Shivar Maharashtra Maharashtra Drought Solapur Sugar Sugar Industry Sugarcane Tukaram Mundhe Ujani Ujani Dam
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21 thoughts on “Amidst a dismal Maharashtra drought, Seeds of change in Solapur”
Vinay Deodhar says:
The Example of Mr. Mundhe should be widely publicised. State Government should use his experience in all other districts..
Sahishnu says:
May a 1000 Tukaram Mundhe’s have similar dedication for serving their people
Surekha Divate says:
Honb.Munde sir’s work achieved in Solapur District is role model for other districts.we are proud of him.
Very excellent coverage of Solapur district JYS.
Shankar Manik Birajdar says:
In every Taluka there are tankers. Every village in Akkalkot Taluka is facing drinking water crisis. Mr Mundhe is an adamant Collector. He is mis leading ànd fooling the State Government. Government spending has been very very negligible. People are forced to buy water from tanker owners. There are no other sources available. This is high time please do not praise him without verifying ground reality. We don’t need misleading Collector. We want Collector works more and talks less. Anyone who believe me can visit Akkalkot and villages in this taluka.
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bhushan says:
This is really awesome work. Solapur drought situation is well known to people in Maharashtra but efforts like these will surely change the situation.
The Sugar factories that are being talked about are mostly around the Baramati region and surrogately owned by the Pawar family. I think only because of the BJP govt. support it has been possible to punish these Sugar factories.
Kudos to Mr. Mundhe
patil ganesh tao barshi says:
harish Loungani says:
Mr. Mundhe you are the true Bharat Ratan….. God bless you…
Amol says:
Solapur district is most popular for drought but I wish to Honb. Mundhe Sir this situation will be changed.
Amit Panji says:
Highly appreciated the way he make it possible from his great efforts.
Simply hats off to Mr. Mundhe.
Ranjana Borse says:
Like you every district collector should take interest in water conservation .
nkbhandariwor says:
A very good example and great step towards humanity. i will definately plan to visit and have first hand experince. congrats.
n k bhandari
Sachin Barbade says:
Being from solapur , aware @ work done under leadership of Mr. Munde . Very good officer.Positive Publicity requires so that more will follow his work.Good article. Still lot of villages where commendable job done by locals.Best wishes to Entire team of Mr. Munde. Spread it .👍
Vilas says:
The full credit goes to team who really worked for the farmer’s and they are Mr.Munde Saheb and those who worked with him that’s the agriculture team to make the farmer’s look happy. I salute you all.
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yamunajiye says:
Well done Parineeta ji. More such positive stories are welcome in an otherwise very dismal scenario.
Ashok Deshmane says:
Nice work. We are building our farmers next generation.
Giving it back to where it belongs.
Scorching heat, lack of rain, drought is eating up the land and the result, giver of food, health and nutrition are giving up their lives. Hope against hope has given way to dire desperation. These are our farmers and their families, who have been plunged into a darkness and lack the basic needs of life. Nobody extends any respite for the poor families who are fighting a losing battle against the whim of nature.
Visit Snehwan at https://milaap.org/campaigns/snehwan to know more
Pingback: Drought management: Successes in Solapur, India
Chaitanya says:
Excellent and well researched article. Look forward to more from you Ms Dandekar. We need more people like you going to the villages and reporting on the ground realities there. We in the cities cannot afford to be disconnected anymore from what’s happening in our rural areas. Kudos!
akshara says:
laex says:
I simply wanted to write down a quick word to say thanks to you for that wonderful information you are showing on this site.
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Rela raids: futile exercises of power
Sabahan member of parliament Abdul Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan) said today_
Asserting that crime and safety were issues that come under the responsibilities of the federal government, Abdul Ghapur called for a federal-level committee to tackle the issue of undocumented migrants. the issue of illegal immigrants, as they would want to be with the Philippines. What will happen to Sabah?! What will happen to Sabah?!”
Despite having raised these issues many times before, there seemed a lack of seriousness on the part of the administration in Putrajaya to solve the problems raised, he added.
“What goes into the (federal government’s) right ear comes out the left,” he said.
He also said “there are many double-standards in Barisan Nasional” Yes! read this below. For Myanmar citizens, even for the Muslims, we are unfairly discriminated.
There is also widespread discontent in Sabah over the steady influx of illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia who have somehow managed to obtain identity cards as well as voting rights.
Meanwhile, another component party United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko)
Party vice-president Dr Marcus Mojigoh warned that this could lead to the downfall of the Barisan government.
According to local newspaper Daily Express, Mojigoh said there were claims of “over a million newly-created Malays” from the Philippines and Indonesia in Sabah.
“Imagine (if) you have to address these illegals as ‘tuan’,” he lamented.
Mojigoh stressed the authorities must address the problem of illegal immigrants gaining citizenship and acquiring the Malay status through the back door.
Malaysiakini letter by Alice Nah
May is terrified. A Rela raid is happening around her. They are storming down corridors, shouting at residents to demand entry, threatening to cut the locks. She just got back from the border after months in a detention centre. When she was deported to the Thai border, she had to pay RM1,900 to traffickers to be released and sent back to Malaysia. Otherwise, she might have been sold to a brothel.
May fled from Burma after soldiers raped her. If she is arrested, the nightmare begins again. Only this time, she may not be able to raise the money required to buy her freedom. She is already in deep debt. Kyaw was arrested in 2007. He was kept in different detention centers for two months, and then brought to court. There was no interpreter. He was sentenced to five months imprisonment and two strokes of the cane.
He was extremely afraid of the whipping. He was stretched out on a rack with his buttocks exposed. The pain from the first stroke was so intense that he blacked out. He stayed in jail for another two months, and then got deported. He too, had to pay traffickers to come back to Malaysia. He couldn’t go back to Burma, where he is afraid of the junta military. He will carry these scars on his buttocks for the rest of his life – Malaysia has branded him for his time here.
The Rela raids happen all the time; as I write this, a raid is going on in Ampang, Lembah Jaya, with refugees trapped in their homes, afraid that Rela personnel patrolling outside will bang on their doors. They SMS their fear. In 2007, the (previous) Home Affairs Minister said that Rela conducted between 30 to 40 raids a night. Detention centers have become overcrowded, packed beyond what their facilities are able to provide.
Women, children, and babies, are detained as well. Ex-detainees say that the food is meager; that they get sick often. There are no special provisions for babies and children. The say it is unbearably hot, that it is dirty, and the toilets stink. They sometimes don’t have place to lie down at night, because of the overcrowding. Tensions are high; they are desperate, not knowing how long they will be forced to stay. They fight lice and mosquitoes. I have seen fungus growing on the skin of ex-detainees. They are sometimes beaten badly.
What is the point of arresting refugees and stateless persons? They can’t go back to their homeland, even though most of them desperately want to. Malaysia is obligated under international customary law not to deport them to Burma – doing so would be an act of ‘refoulement’, returning them to where their life and/or liberty are threatened.
Instead, we populate them in our detention centres and prisons (which are already hopelessly overcrowded) and then deport them to the Thai border, where they are handed over to traffickers.
This is futile exercise of power, a waste of taxpayers’ resources. Migrant Care, an Indonesian NGO states that each Rela raid costs us about RM25,000. Add to that the costs of maintaining prisons and detention centers for people who do not belong there, as well as the time and resources of the police and immigration, which are better spent catching real criminals rather than vulnerable people fleeing persecution.
What is the point of arresting refugees and stateless persons, deporting them, and feeding the trafficking industry? Malaysia, like other civilised countries, need to play our part in ensuring that vulnerable populations are protected rather than further traumatised and harassed. We have obligations to protect under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to which we are signatories.
Both the committees who oversee the implementation of these conventions in all member countries have strongly urged Malaysia to put into place refugee status determination procedures so that refugees are legally recognised and given protection. However, Malaysia has not been responding to these calls by the international community.
Granted, enacting domestic laws takes time. However, there are immediate actions that can be done to protect refugees and to stop the waste of government expenditure. Firstly, Rela and Immigration officials can recognise identity documents produced by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which identify which individuals are asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons.
The Police recognise these documents, but Rela and immigration don’t. Secondly, they can give the UNHCR access to all asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons in detention centers and prisons, so that they can verify if their claims for asylum and protection are genuine.
Thirdly, the Malaysian Government can formally exempt asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless persons under Section 55 of the Immigration Act, which has been recommended by the
Committee on the Rights of the Child. These are simple steps, in line with international obligations, that have tremendous power to reduce suffering amongst the persecuted.
In a raid last Wednesday in Klang, two days ago, we hear than fifteen children were arrested. They are from the Rohingya community, ethnic minorities from Burma, who are stateless. By accident of birth, and by acts of political power outside their control, they are ‘illegal’ everywhere they go. What will happen to these children?
Will they too, stay detained in detention centers for months, and then get deported to the Thai border? Who will pay traffickers for their release? Will they be sold to brothels or to individuals who will keep them, use them – for sex or as forced laborers – and re-sell them to other ‘private owners’, as has happened to others in the past? It is within our power to help these populations in distress. We are able to, we are obligated to, and we should.
The writer is executive committee member, Persatuan Kebangsaan Hak Asasi Manusia (Hakam) and a co-coordinator of the Migration Working Group.
Filed under: Blogging, Burma, English Article, Human Rights, Myanmar, Myanmar Military, Politics, SPDC | Tagged: Burma, Illegal immigrants, Malaysia, Myanmar, Refugees, Rela | 1 Comment »
Compassionate letter number two, for my beloved Nan Sai
Compassionate letter number two,
for my beloved Nan Sai
Compassionate letter No 2
Dear Nan,
I am praying every day for you and your family. Although I am still anxiously waiting for your reply to my valentine letter, I am elated because many of your elder relatives sent letters to my friend Dr Tayza. This shows that they all care for the future of our marriage and most of them are sympathetic with our cause.
We all accepted that it is their right to ask for any thing they wish for their State’s future.
But we have to be pragmatic. Even if they wish or demand the Future Federal Union of Burma, to deliver them with the sun and moon as a dowry, if within our capacity or if possible, we are willing to fulfill their wish and even would try to add on some extra stars as gift for them! But as you know my dear; there must be give and take policy: a negotiated fair settlement for all the parties, which could be accepted by not only us but even by the present Military Government.
We are not just No Action Talk Only, NATO, but like the real NATO in action. Our action is our proof. Just look at this week’s Burma Digest; on the auspicious National day, the heading is “Hailing Shan Nationalist Spirit”. My friends devoted almost the whole publication with your brothers’ and uncles’ letters. This is the proof that all of us, my brothers, and of course I also included, love your Shan Pye.
This is the way to go dear, and they have walked the talk! Please control your anger before finishing this letter or even finishing this paragraph, because you all would misunderstand my following sentence. I am just trying to make all of you to see the whole perspective by looking from the opponent’s eye. (Actually we are even not enemies or opponents.) Sometimes although it may hurt us, we must be willing to listen to the alternative views and opinions to know the truth. We must avoid punishing the whistle blowers with anger, and then only we could know what went wrong with us. Very easy, if we are wrong, just apologize and try to improve our selves. Even if we think we are right, we could have a chance to explain others. If that is in a grey area, we could negotiate for the best outcome acceptable by both sides. If we just wish to be surrounded by yes men, one day we could face the fate of “The King with the new clothes”
So my dear, don’t angry with my following comment or question; Can you just expect your uncles’ Shan newspaper would publish Bama or other any ethnic minority’s cause, letters from one group only devoting almost the whole publication? I don’t think so. I already told you dear, please don’t show your anger.
Once we start detaching from our narrow self interest and started to think or see from the side of others, we could get enlightenment and could understand each other.
Yes, even Burma Digest Patron is Prof. Kanbawza Win, one of your ethnic uncles.
On the Union Day of Burma/Myanmar, most important subject for all of us is that you had asked for a divorce! And we hereby also like to request or apologize our other ethnic brothers not to misunderstand that we are favouring Shans only.
This is the example test case, we all have to discuss the pros and cons of divorce or separation or liberation or independence.
We are indirectly handling or discussing this issue because the future of our country’s fate: whether to be separated into many small states or stay united with better terms and conditions depended on this test case. Some of us, including me, are even suggesting to MERGER, using the EU template, with our neighbours, of course without loosing our country’s sovereignty, dignity, identity and denting our citizens’ interests and rights.
My dear darling Nam: may you kindly allow me to share with you a very precious lesson that my father had given to me. Later only I knew that the original idea was not his own, but adapted from a famous fable. You know, we were staying in Lashio, your Northern Shan State, at that time. My father brought back some apples from the Rangoon trip. During Ne Win’s time, even apples are a rare luxury for us. He purposely chose two different sizes of apples and told me, “My son you are older than your brother and big and wise enough to take some responsibility. Choose one of the apples you like and give to your brother.” I was young and greedy at that time, took the bigger one and give the smaller apple to my brother. Then only my father taught a lesson I never forget.
“If you are given a chance as a leader or an elder, you have to look after the interest of others under your care and command.
You have to give them what you your self would want! You have to take what they had left.”
I was angry because I have to take a smaller apple, but I dare not disobey my father. But the clever witty younger brother of mine shamed me, by saying, “Father, why don’t you give me the chance to choose?” Our father was surprised and just nodded the head and look curiously at my younger brother, what he was going to do. He took hold of the bigger apple, kissed the apple and passed over to me. He told the unbelievably wise words which always stayed in my heart forever, “I want this big one, so I have to give to my Ah Ko, elder brother.” He even continued, “Anyway my mouth is small and my stomach is full for this big apple, as I had just taken some biscuits.”
So actually my younger brother had taught me a big lesson for my life. From that time onwards, if I am in a position to decide, I always consider what the second party would like and the third party, witness or other unrelated person would think about my decision. I know I must be fair and square and must be seen by all as not selfish, greedy, and not bias towards myself. Then only, I am sure, I would be free from the accusations of unfair practices of selfishness, greediness, cronyism, nepotism and favouritism.
The other lesson was given by my uncle, adopted father, U Nu. He forced me to read the book he translated from Dale Carnegie’s “How to win friends and influence people.” I got a lot of lessons which were useful for my whole life.
If you want the fish, you have to consider what the fish like or want, not what you like. You cannot catch (attract or lure) the fish with the bread and butter you like but have to use the worms that the fish like.
And the story of the coal salesman’s
many years of rejection by the steel boss ended once he found out and used a soft spot of that man. At the latest appointment, although he wanted to sell coal, he never mentioned about that but discussed about the stamp collections, the hobby of the rich man’s beloved daughter. At last he got the order to give his coal samples and won a faithful regular customer and became rich.
Dear Nam, please allow me to repeat the warnings of the author and the translator, my uncle/adopted father, that they were not asking to pretend, but to be really interested in what the other party wanted and to fulfil whole heartedly free from selfish ulterior motives. It must be sincere and genuine interest but not just pretend to be interested just to reap the rewards, or curry the favours.
(Although I am quoting from U Nu’s book, the original idea came from Dale Carnegie. I hope Dale Carnage Institute would kindly forgive us for using this. This webpage is the non-profit web site for the reshaping of our downtrodden country, Burma. I am also writing without any monetary gain.)
Now I want to quote the political analyst, Raja Petra Kamarudin from his
“Keep your enemies close” article, “In politics there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies. So keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer. This would mean ‘today friends, tomorrow enemies; today enemies, tomorrow friends. And that best describes politics. Politics is the art of the impossible (anything is possible in politics).”
For most of the oppositions, SPDC Generals are our enemy. And the SPDC Junta also regarded all the oppositions as sworn enemies. If we could successfully transform our enemy, Myanmar Military, to be your close-friend, or even just a friend close to us, we could win over their heart! They would be most dangerous if they are away from us, stayed as enemies and always trying a plot to harm us.
If we could successfully persuade them to become our friends, nothing is impossible for our country.
The best thing for NLD, Ethnic Minorities and all the opposition is to always try to remain as best friends, close to each other and try to transform our ‘enemies’, SPDC Junta and Myanmar Army to become our even closer friend.
Dear Nam, we must make sure that we are sincere and trustworthy friends.
Even if we departed our ways after a stipulated times for example 10 years, we must act like gentlemen. Could not stab each other from the back. We must never act like the original Bo Aung Din from the famous movie, who made friends with the authorities and continue to commit crimes secretly. But I trusted that our friend Bo Aung Din, who is typing my letter now, which I am dictating to him, would not commit a treason on all of us.
Dear Nam, I know you wish to raise a question; “whether NLD and all the oppositions should sleep with the ‘enemy’ in order to secure the right to form the Government.”
I still remember your argument, rejecting my above suggestion on previous occasions, “NLD will be sounding its death knell if it throws away its principles and forms a coalition with Military influenced parties, a party whose fundamental aim is diametrically opposed to that of the NLD. One aims to write the Federalism based on Democratic constitution where Burma declared a secular democratic Federal state, and the other wants to do away with the Panglong Treaty based old constitution and set up a Military dominated dictator ruled autocratic state, where the Military leaders’ interest is supreme forever.”
But SPDC Junta had something all us wanted; positions of power and authority to govern, whole mighty government authority, manpower, experience to govern the country, control, protect and the capability to change the country’s policy. They could offer all those to us only if they are sure that we could be trusted for; safety of their life, of their property, continued power and influence. We must convince that we are not interested in taking revenge but could be a trusted partner for a long time. We must convinced them that we would never stab their back or commit a treason.
Now they are even avoiding a dialogue with us. So instead of just asking for a dialogue, if we could convinced them with our solid plan with the benefits for them, guaranties for them, plans for our country and the well planned roles for all of us including the Myanmar Military, the pace for the reform and collation would be much faster.
And we in turn had something that they wanted
; support of the whole population and the world’s support, from ASEAN, EU, USA, Japan, Korea up to UN etc. whose political, financial and all the supports the Myanmar Military needed.
So if we can start by becoming temporary friends for, lets say 10 years, we could build a real trust and firm confidence on each other.
Don’t worry my dear Nam, if we sacrifice and compromised at first for about 10 years, although you think we are compromising too much, it may be better than the prolonged status quo. A lot of our people, your uncles, NLD people including our Daw Su are not only suffering now but their talents are wasted. The whole country’s development and progress in all aspects are also frozen like our country’s time machine is jammed.
When we were young “Shwe Ba” was a favourite actor, hero of the rural people. According to the story, hero must suffer first but usually like all the popular stories, the villain must be defeated by the hero. But some naive villagers could not tolerate the scene of their hero tortured and start to throw things at the ‘silver screen’. So the producers of Shwe Ba movies have to show the slide that “Shwe Ba will suffer a little bit at first but at last he will win”.
So “Swe Ba will suffer a little bit at first”,
is the catch word used by many people in Burma. I do not mean that we only are heroes they are villain and we will win over them later! What I mean is we are all in the position of “Shwe Ba” or heroes. We mean NLD, all the Ethnic Minorities, all the oppositions and the present Military government. Yes, if we could start to stop calling or thinking the present government as villain, we are on the right path of reconciliation. We all are heroes in our own way, we all love our country, and we all have to work together as the faithful partners for the development and progress of our country for a limited period e.g. 10 years of interim period.
Of course, after that, we would not became enemies again but may be in the opposite side of politics, when there was no longer anything we needed from each other. But there is a possibility that our 10 year contract marriage would work as many of the arranged marriages.
After that 10 years of Interim Coalition Government, even if we are on the opposite side of the political divide, we have to fight democratically in the fair and square elections, with the Democratic Laws, rules, regulations and most important of all, the Federal Constitution, which we will draw together after a real negotiations and compromised to get a fair and equal treatment for all.
NLD, Ethnic Minorities and all the oppositions inside and abroad must be willing to negotiate and assure the safety and the future of the Myanmar Military, the key mover & shaper of the political landscape in Myanmar/Burma!
Politics should be about principles. It is only when a party has steadfast principles, that it can be in a position to work for the benefit of its country in the long term. But we must accept the reality. We could not just keep on demanding what we want. We have to see from the other’s view.
We must accept that we have to get the negotiated settlement or agreement after comporomise from both sides. This is the only kind of politics possible, also sometimes called pragmatic or real-politics.
Would this be the ends justifying the means? Dear Nan, instead of fighting among our selves and neighbours to get a bigger piece of the cake, we are proposing to try to bake a bigger cake together, so that we all could enjoy with a bigger shares! If we just continue to fight, not only two sides would suffer but our beloved country and its people would continue to suffer.
If any one have the strong feelings about my above advice just look at the present condition;
Myanmar/Burma is in dire straits. The problems are multifarious, many of them deliberately created by SPDC to further entrench its oligarchy. SPDC practices Machiavellian politics to the hilt, turning it into an art-form. But this status quo cannot go on forever, as the consequences of immoral, corrupt and abusive governance will begin to unravel, as we are witnessing on a daily basis. Now NLD and all the oppositions are willing to compromise and ready to negotiate. But the present Military government is dragging its feet for change and avoiding any discussion or dialogue.
So now please refer back the article, “Burma Must Have A Good Plan” by Min Khin Kyaw.
Yes, we need a sound and fail-safe political game plan to tell the present government.
In order to get all the necessary facts, ideas, data and strategy:
We must have a Centre for Strategic Studies, a THINK TANK, for Burmese Democracy.
We have to brain storm to get all the facts; what to do and what to avoid.
What we could offer for them for how long.
What we want e.g. Democracy, Federal system with up to which power for each state.
We should concentrate what we all could offer for the:
(a) present Military Government,
(b) for the Ethnic Minorities and
(c) the future Union of Burma/Myanmar.
(Note: we mean NLD, all oppositions, Ethnic Minorities, rebels etc.) We should make sure, up to how much we could offer for others, especially the present Military leaders and all the Military, but not up to how much we want for ourselves. But at least we must have the details of what we want immediately, e.g. release of all political prisoners including our Ah Ma Gyi Ma Ma Su.)
In reality, we all could not meet together for a conference.
So those in the developed countries and safe from repercussions from the host governments and Myanmar Military should start with what they could. Others could contribute with all other means.
Dear my darling Nam, my letter looks more like political articles, rather than a love letters. I think it is nothing wrong if you remember the late Indian First Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s letters for her daughter, Indra Gandhi. (She also followed her father’s foot steps and later became the PM of India.) The epic saga of humankind right from 6000 BC to 1935 has been written as a series of letters and later those letters have been compiled into a book called the Glimpses of World History.
All these letters were written by Nehru during the periods he spent at various jails. So all the reference he had were his own notes he made while reading the great books in the jails.
The book contains about 196 letters written from 1930 to1933. All these letters, though not a first hand reference on history, contain Nehru’s personal remarks on all the “great” moments of history. (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/glimpses_of_world_history )
Dear Nam please does not think that I am megalomanias or is suffering from senile dementia because I dare to compare my love letters with that of the great man’s classic literature in history. I am not equating my self with him or his letters but just searching some excuses to justify my action of discussing geo-politics in my love letter to my wife. I know although you love me, you use to hate that kind of excuses from me.
Do you still remember that you used to tease me like that when you were angry because you could not defeat me during our arguments? Like Kam Leik/Hti Sai’s song, please don’t forget that you had sought my assistance numerous times for your Ph.D. thesis. Sorry for my teasing you back with the remarks, “the cat now got the wings”. You could not forgive nor forget that teasing because you wrongly thought that I was jealous of your success. Now you flew away from me like a winged bird. Although I wish you to come back to me, I never even imagined putting you in a cage. Instead, I wished to have a pair of wings and free from the cage to be together with you flying around the world. (By the way, be careful and avoid the bird flue areas. Don’t be angry my dear, I cannot stop teasing you, you have to try to accept my habit of over-dosed sense of humour.)
So you see during the period of EMPIRE, political prisoners were treated very well in India and Burma. They had accesses to all the media and the library. They could write letters and books.
Ludu U Hla
, husband of Ludu Daw Ah Mar, wrote “The Caged Ones,” while he was under detention as a Political Prisoner in the 1950s. Ludu U Hla – penned these sensitive portraits of his fellows behind bars. His sympathetic probe of ‘criminals’ underlying social conditions described so masterfully in this book. This collection of stories won Ludu U Hla the UNESCO prize for literature in 1958.
(http://www.dcothai.com/product_info.php?cPath=33&products_id=380)
Note: above is the name of English translated version. The original is in Burmese and the title “The caged birds.” Just coincidence only, but do you remember my first letter about the “Fighting Peacock” in the golden cage was blamed by the dried fallen leaf, Hti Saing’s song.
Dear darling just compare the above two persons and my uncle, U Win Tin, who is a prominent journalist and writer, behind bars since 1989. He is also a member of the CEC of the NLD. All the political prisoners in Myanmar nowadays are not allowed to write, no access to any media and treated very badly. During the days before and just after independence political prisoners were put in “B” class, separated from criminals and some even said it was a luxury. Now they are treated very badly, worse than criminals’ status. And the criminals were encouraged or instigated by the prison authorities to bully or torture the Political Prisoners.
So we wish to appeal to the SPDC Generals that even if they have not yet decided to release the political prisoners immediately; please kindly consider to put the elderly and ill prisoners under house arrest only with strict restriction, and to protect and treat the remaining political prisoners more humanely, if possible in the special “B” class as before.
Please show some mercy and good will to all of the political prisoners. All of us and the whole world will appreciate and thank all of you for that kind humane act of benevolence. This is the time to build mutual trust, understanding and confidence.
Dear my darling Nam, see, I never forget our uncle Khun, but care about all the political prisoners. Please try to understand and accept all the problems of our country with more patience. After all Lord Buddha taught us that ANGER and REVENGE would burn our heart first. Although we all are not ready or mature enough to turn another cheek to the SPDC Generals, as Jesus preached, we should forgive all the wrongs done on us and concentrate on the plan for the future of all of us.
Dear Nam, in every deal, discussions, discourse, deliberations, negotiations, dialogue, talks, bargaining in either business, political or personal; every person or party would like to get the best deal or best score for them. This is nature only. But for our country’s future, all of us already knew what each and every side want. And the present Military leaders also already knew what the people, opposition, Ethnic Minorities want.
If each and every party just insists on pushing others to compromise for them to get the best deal, there is no ending and the process would be prolonged.
And I am sure, the present Military Government, who is in power, would naturally try to drag on the process and if possible even will try to avoid any dialogue or discussion as they are doing at the present.
Dear Nan, do you remember the Economist John Nash’s ‘Game Theory’ you used in your PhD Thesis? If we all just push for the best deal for our own group’s ‘selfish’ interests and try to cut the throat of others, we must understand that all the players are not stupid, but clever, and would definitely have the same best strategy, for selfish gain, no matter what the other chooses.
This is the ‘dominant strategy’. When all the players have this same dominant strategy, all of us would be in the ‘Nash Equilibrium’. The result for all of us is check mate. If we stay longer in status quo we all would suffer. All the oppositions, SPDC Generals, our country and all the people will suffer the great loss.
Common sense dictates that the best strategy for all of the opposition and the SPDC Generals is for all of us to cooperate and form a coalition government. This is the ‘cooperative solution’ in ‘game theory’ as it maximizes all the players’ joint welfare. And if all of us are sincere and try to save others’ neck, we all are safe and sound.
All of us must be pragmatic and accept the above truth and ‘Think out of the box’ dear Nam. All of us, NLD, the Ethnic Minorities, oppositions and all the interested parties must accept that we have to get the negotiated settlement or agreement after compromise from our sides first and offer the present Military Generals with the deal they could accept or difficult to ignore when the whole world, UN, USA, EU, ASEAN and all our big neighbours are watching closely.
I think, this is the only kind of politics possible at present, also sometimes called pragmatic or real-politics for us.
Once we start detaching from our narrow self interest and started to think or see from the side of others, our opponents, enemies e.t.c., we could get the trust for each other, work together and easier to get an agreement or at least we could PERSUADE THE military to the negotiating table to start a dialogue.
With Eternal love
Ko Tin Nwe.
BO AUNG DIN
Filed under: Blogging, Burma, English Article, Human Rights, Myanmar, Myanmar Military, Politics, SPDC | Tagged: Bo Aung Din, Burma, Burma Digest, Compassionate letters, Dear Nan letters, Myanmar, Political satire, Satire, Shan, Shan State | Leave a comment »
Compassionate letter No 1: A Valentine Music DVD with Love for Dear Nan
A Valentine Music DVD with Love for Dear Nan Sai
As Bo Aung Din in Burma Digest
I know you were angry with my step mother, Daw Than Shwe for bribing the local authorities to put your uncles including U Khun Tun Oo behind bars. When you decided to go and stay with your father, I was not worried much. I believed that you already knew how much I love your uncle Khun, may be even more than you. Although he was your uncle he always treated me like his own younger brother and as you know, he was the one who introduced me to you. I tried my best but could not get him released immediately yet.
Sorry dear, I even stupidly teased you at that time to defuse your tension, with the song, “If you want to stay, stay put but if you wish to leave (me) and if you have no more desire to stay, go. I would not stop you. All human has pride. I could not provide every thing you like.”
But when I got a letter from my friend, Maung Chan regarding the meeting of my closed friend, Ko Tayza’s discussions with your father, Hso Kham Hpa, I was shocked that you really meant what you say. You want a divorce from me! I know that as the son of your grand father, who was the chief of your tribe but became the head of our village, your father is always serious, straight forward and was upset with my family.
Before that, although we have some differences, you sometimes left me alone went to stay with your father; I always believe that our old (love) flames would never die. On previous occasions, although all the others pity us thinking that we were separated, we were never far apart. When I closed my eyes, if we just think about each other, we were never far apart, always in each of our hearts. We felt that we were physically far apart but psychologically present every where near each other.
I recently got a DVD collection of your favorite songs composed by Sai Kham Leik and Sai Hti Saing’s voice. I hereby sent this latest version of their songs, as a Valentine gift to you. I listen to these songs with the very heavy he art. The song I like best is asking his girl friend to think back before saying good bye and reminding her to think about the good times together before. If she has to cry once, requesting her, just to remember the more number of times (he made her) smiles…..
In good times we were flying in the wind, happily together. Now the wind stopped and you think yourself as a dried leaf without wings, lying helplessly on the ground. You blamed me that although I have wings, I am not with you anymore, failed to fly to you and ignored you.
Do you know that although I am a “Fighting Peacock” I am now confined in my cage by my step mother? You should know that according to nature (flying) birds are not happy even if kept in the golden cage! It is natural that birds love flying and flowers blossom. But my step mother is also trying to stop our love bud of democracy from blossoming. She is trying to stop the process of nature. The power of nature is tremendous and no one could stop, or even if the whole world tried, they will definitely fail. THE BIRDS INCLUDING THE FIGHTING PEACOCK WOULD FLY AGAIN AND DEMOCRACY WOULD BLOSOOM IN OUR HOMELAND!
All the wrongs are not because of my fault alone my dear. Even if the roof is leaking I should not be blamed for the Rain. The darkness prevails in our country; there is no electricity and the moon is waning but the waning moon is the nature dear, not my fault! But from now onwards I try my best to repair the roof, try to buy a generator or repair our Kerosene lamp in time.
You must understand that all our problems are because of the in-laws only. You must accept that your mother-in-l aw i.e. my step mother, Daw Than Shwe is the root cause of all our problems. We are lucky; her sister Daw Khin Nyunt could not disturb us any more. She was beautiful, always smiles, sweet talk with any one but stab the back of the every one with her dirty tactics. As you know, as my rich, generous, kindhearted father U Aung San, who was loved by all of the people, passed away before I was born.
I was adopted by my uncle U Nu and all our estate were controlled by him. Although he looked after our family well, he was so soft, ineffective, and just wastes all the time praying, so his wife Daw Ne Win effectively take over our house and estate. Once she passed away we thought we all would be free but her cousin Daw Than Shwe trap my adopted father into marriage and is occupying all our estate my father U Aung San left behind.
What can I do immediately; I cannot fight back or pulled her out of our house because of respect for my late adopted father and her strong relatives of village goons and thugs. But we engage a lawyer and I hope the case is going to the UN Court soon. By the way our previous lawyer, Ko Yazali, who we never trusted, is still helping us now. Actually he also has our Burmese blood, quite diplomatic and is upset with Daw Than Shwe. Our neighbours U Asean’s family is also now with us, persuading and pressuring softly Daw Than Shwe, to settle out of court and give back our rightful belongings. Actually our village’s influential strong men, U Sa, U Kay and U Eu are the real power giving pressure for us. We have to thank them. They are also requesting Ko Fi Annan from UN to help us. We hope and pray that the younger brother of Daw Than Shwe, U Maung Aye would persuade his sister and her rowdy relatives to abide by the law.
Do you remember my eldest sister Daw Su, who was married to a British academician? During one of the trips back home she saw all of us sufferings she stayed with us for a long time to help us. Because she took a strong stand supporting for you and me, Daw Than Shwe bribed the authorities and put her in a lock up with the trumpeted charges.
But she is well experience, full of wisdom, religious and fair minded. She promised that she would never revenge Daw Than Shwe and others and even proposed to work together as partners. She is right! The estate our father left is the biggest, largest, full of recourses in this region. There is place for all of us.
Only thing we need is to be fair to each other and every one of us must have a say in all the important decisions. My brothers and sisters living together in one roof and all of those staying outstation are all trying to help back all of our villagers including you and me and our children.
Now you are asking for a divorce! Hti Sai’s same song came in to my heavy heart, “(I would not force you) if you want to stay, stay according to your decision, or if you decided to leave for good, no more desire to stay with me any more, just go, I would not stop you by force. No need to ask permission from me. If you think any one could take care of you better that me, if any one loves you more that me, or any one could make you happier, go ahead. No need to seek permission from me.
But I am surprised and sad that even before we are legally separated, you are planning to marry again. I hope it is just the rumours or may be you want to make me jealous so that I would kneel in front of you.
If you stay alone, I hope you still remember the Wai Sansara Jattaka which we enjoy reading together. Madi Devi’s words to persuade to allow her to follow her husband King Wai Sansara are very real and pragmatic. No one will respect the divorced lady, single mother. Many men would try their luck just to have a short term pleasure.
If you are going to marry your distant cousin U Thak Sin @ U Thai or U Laos, I am worried about our daughter, who wishes to follow you. There is a saying that the devil you know is better than angle you don’t know. I am afraid of the possible exploitation of our daughter by the step fathers.
And U Laos house is a land locked place, no way to the water way, and he is poor and less developed and a Communist. Actually you are trying to take the time machine, to go back to 70’s of Daw Ne Win’s time. I hope you have already tasted enough bitterness of Socialism/Communism.
U Thak Sin is Yunan Chinese. (Please forgive me for this racial remark. Sorry, I am blinded with love.) Do you know that he is not fair to even with his own son because he married Ma Lay? Now they are living in the servant quarters in southern part of his compound. And do you know how he treated his own Ethnic Minority brothers? I had read that many of their daughters ended up in the brothels of the town. And his family is richest in the whole of his village. Villagers are now accusing that he misused his position to acquire wealth. And he is famous for the cruel rulings. He even has shoot to kill squads who killed few thousand of people in the north and south of his village.
If you marry U Ta Yoke, you will just become a minor mistress. He had to support many children from his numerous wives. Do you forget how this man chased out U Dalai Lama and took his wife Daw Tibet? And he recently got his favorite beautiful, rich, young wife Eurasian Ma Hong Kong. And he is threatening Ma Tai Wan to marry with him. Ma Ma Cao (Macao) is also one of his prized wives. So where is your place dear? I think he would just keep you as a concubine.
And if you really had decided to divorce me, think twice before you marry with any one again. If you have problems later it is very difficult for you to divorce and marry again. I hope you know the meaning of two types of socially outcast persons:
(1) The young monk who changes three monasteries and
(2) The lady who changed three husbands.
And you said you are also considering staying at the condominium together with the group of young men (1) forming a United Family of Southeast Asia – UFSA with the Arakan, Chin, Kachin, Karenni, Mon & Karen OR (2) Form an EU like grouping with the above partners, SEAU. OR OR OR….
Please stop hurting me my dear, Nan Sai Kham. If you can stay and work together with my other (ethnic) brothers, why want to exclude me out? If I am not around but you just go and stay with my brothers, the gossips will start to spread.
Even if you do not wish to continue staying as husband and wife, we all can still work together; stay together with all of us, including all of my brothers, for the good of our children. I hope dear Nan is just inciting me to do something quick to solve all our problems.
And I wish to inform you that at our latest ASEAN village meeting, we decided to draw a Charter for all of us to cooperate more, to start joint ventures and start cooperation. We could all work to mechanize our farms, orchards, animal husbandry, fish ponds, even to built factories, cooperation in trade etc. Actually we even agreed to look after our socio-political needs.
We even wish to copy the EU village group’s rules and regulations. No need to worry about local family heads, ten-house ward leaders, village chiefs. There will be Law and Order. Rule of Law but not Rule by Law. All must respect basic Human Rights. Even parents have to acknowledge the rights of their children. Our village would impose the Laws to prevent Domestic Violence. Even the husband could not do any violence on the wife or children. (Of course the effect of law must be vice versa, to be fair to all.)
Dear Nan Sai just look around at our neighbours. Naturally the problems are not only confined to us; almost all of the family members of our whole village are suffering from family domestic problems. We all have to work together to over come all those problems.
You know, U Mar Lay kicked out his wife Ma Singer Pu many years ago. We all thought that young, rich and beautiful Ma Singer Pu wished to separate. Actually her father Mr. Lee was so wise, intelligent, clever and efficient; U Mar Lay was afraid of Mr. Lee taking over the control of his house and decided to divorce. I heard Mr. Lee was in tears at that time. Now they are neighbours as conjoint twins. Always quarrelling but they know that they have to work synchronously together to prosper. You see, now U Mar Lay wanted to build a new bridge so that the trading boats could row under it. It would increase his trade. Ma Singer Pu is demanding some sand for the land fill. Because of the wind condition, her children’s kites sometimes fly over the former husband’s compound. Because the children are noisy, U Mar Lay prohibited that. Now Ma Singer Pu is asking to let the children have some fun. (My favorite words spoken by Khin Than Nu to Ne Aung from Thin Gyan Moe movie, facing the similar situation.) Other children of U Mar Lay are also dissatisfied with their father’s favoritism practices. You see, how funny it is; after divorce these minor things were magnified by both sides and became big problems for them.
Love is blind but hate has a microscope to magnify all the minor problems.
You know, when Daw Indon’s son, Ko Ti Moe (Timao) wish to separate from his step-mother, Ko Au (Ausie) used force to help built a border fence. Now Ko Au is exploiting his weak neighbour. He even dug well in Ko Ti Moe’s compound without his consent. You see once you are divided and became weak, others could easily exploit or bully you.
You already knew about Ko Thai and Ma Lays’ marriage problem. Now Ma Lay wishes to divorce from Ko Thai and marry the neighbour, her distant cousin. Ko Thai refused to divorce and start to accuse his neighbour of all the things.
Ma Nilar’s family is also facing some problem with her husband Ko Mar Lay. Ko Mar Lay asked for a divorce and wish to stay with Daw In Don or Ma Mar Mar Lay.
So we are not alone. All the families in the whole village group have problems. You already know about problems of Daw Tibet.
And Ko Kalar’s children, Ma Ni Pur, Ko Nagar, Ko Ah Than are also not happy with their families. Actually they are half brothers of our Kachin, Chin, Naga e.t.c.
Amagyi Daw Su and all of us even agree to share a nd cooperate with all the above parties. Not only with your Ethnic Minorities of all the races and religions, Myanmar Military, ASEAN and may even include all the above mentioned children of our neighbours.
U Ta Yoke would not object if his eldest son Ko Yunan could join us together with Daw Ti Bet to form a loose union like EU. We all will be free to work, trade and live peacefully with human dignity. All our rights would be in the laws, rules and regulations. And all of us will be treated fairly, lawfully and equally under the same law.
The last thing I wish to remind you is don’t forget that although you are a Shan, you were born in Mandalay and I, a Burma was born in Taunggyi.
So could we cut our umbilical cords with our birth places? I am sure I love Taunggyi and I strongly believe you would not be able to forget Mandalay.
How about our five children? They were born in different states of Burma while we were in the Government Service. Now they all are in different states, three of them are with Government Services and the other two with their own business.
As they are married to different ethnic groups and are already settled in their spouse’s states, if Union of Burma divided into many small states, what will be their positions?
Mixed blooded, Shan and Bama, born in other state and staying in another state, will they need passports, visas, work permits? I dare not continue to think about their children, i.e. our grandchildren, I wish I get amnesia or Alzheimer’s disease. If not,I would get a heart attack.
Do you know that the last President of Singapore was born in Malaysia? Israel PM Sharon was born in Iraq? Present Indian PM was born in Pakistan? Do you know that ex-President of India, who passed away recently had a Burmese born Indian wife, who was graduated in Rangoon? Do you know Arafat was not allowed to bury in Jerusalem, which was his last wish? Do you that the ex-Malaysian Agricultural Minister’s wife was a Burmese descendent, last time blacklisted from entering Myanmar because she acted in a Hollywood movie about 8888 uprising, Beyond Rangoon? But after marrying the rich Agri Minister the Myanmar Junta welcome her with the Red Carpet.
Do you know that when the following countries were divided, the closed relatives were separated for dozens of years? To name few of them: Korea, Taiwan, Germany, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kashmir. Do you know that when Soviet Russia breaks apart into many states they still needs to form a coa lition with Russia? Russia is still a big brother. (Dear Nam Sai, I am not giving excuse for some of the Bama leaders, who are acting like a big brother on all of you, Ethnic Minorities.) When some of them tried to stay away from that old big brother, and associated with EU, there are some problems created. See just the Ukraine gas price problem.
Now you see after break up of Indian Sub Continent in to many countries; India fight with Pakistan for three times. When East Pakistan tried to break away, there was a bloody war with Pakistan and India helped to form a new country, Bangladesh. Now India and Bangladesh are not in good terms. When Myanmar/Burma wants to build roads and gas pipe line to India, Bangladesh is demanding a lot. You see India had also refused to give a land bridge between, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Pakistan is indirectly or secretly helping the Indian part of Kashmir for the liberation but it wants that part to be theirs. If they really wish to help all the people of Kashmir, they should offer their part independence so that divided Kashmir could stand strong. Now the people are divided and fighting, no hope of peace at all.
And you have to notice the difference of the leaders; General Than Shwe is not President Mikhail Gorbachev. Myanmar Military will use its might to prevent the breakup of Myanmar. Most of the citizens and even many opposition groups would not agree that breakup. If I am not wrong, even a leader of Shan rebel opposed openly about your divorce plan.
Dear my love, this is not the time to go backwards but FORWARDS. Not the time for BREAKUPS but to cooperate and for mergers. Many big companies and some countries are doing this. This is the time of GLOBLIZATION. The world is shrinking into a GLOBAL VILLAGE.
If you are interested I will later write to you about ASEAN CHARTER. We could model our ASEAN +++ with the EU/USA or other groups. We could even push for the fast track and overtake them.
You should listen to the advice of The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan:
“Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda… Our mission therefore is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will and must be defeated.
He continued that “There is no country in the world exempt of discrimination. …. there is still a long road to cross”.
For decades, thousands of people have been victims of discrimination, preferences and exclusions in view of their race, skin color, sex, religion, language, national or ethnic origin and form of expression, causing extreme suffering and even loss of life.
Racial discrimination is the ability or power to make distinctions among people based on race, color, decent, national or ethnic origin rather than individual merit.
I agree with your father’s wise words, “We MUST establish real Federal Union in which all nationalities enjoy equal rights, human rights, peace and democracy. We MUST unite and strive hard to catch up ASEAN’s level and speed. It is more necessary to work hard, after we have got democracy, for a more progressive and prosperous future in our country.
So if we all form a loose Federation/Union, not separated from our parents, work together with Laws that respect Democracy, Human Rights all our problems could be wiped out with one stroke of Common Law/ Rules/Regulation.
Who ever is the head of family, village elder or PM or President or King is not important. All are equal and could decide where to live and work. Any way, remind your father that your grand father was even appointed the village head during my adopted father’s time. And one of his Ethnic Minority brothers, U Man Win Maung was also our head once.
You see, dear Nan, when there is democracy and LAW is more powerful than all the politicians, of course in Myanmar scenario, including Military, Police, Judges and Prison Authorities, all the citizens are equal, safe, content and happy. You can notice that in U Sa, U Kay and U Eu’s village tracts all the villagers are protected equally with the established laws. Politicians are actually behaving like the servants of the people. Peoples are masters and politicians need the favour of the people to be elected to serve the peop le and country. You may not believe this because you were always in Myanmar, where ordinary citizens are the untouchables, at the lowest strata of class.
Dear Nan, you see when Ko Ger and Ma Ni’s village was last time divided and many people were killed by the border security thugs just for crossing the fence without permission. Now the big brother Ko Ger who is very rich, successfully persuaded poor Ma Ni to take down the fence and to merge the two villages and changed their name to Germany. They are much advanced than our politics dear, now with real democracy, the POOR MANI is the head of the village Germany.
If you wish to marry with Ko Ta Yoke, ask him first whether your children could be one day like that? I don’t think so. Even his favourite wife, Ma Hong Kong’s children are far away from that position. If U Ta Yoke really love Ma Tai Wan, he should give his villagers more democracy and offer one of the Ma Tai Wan’s villagers to be head of his village. No need to make a lot of show of force or twisting of hands is needed to continuously threaten Ma Tai Wan. I am not gossiping others, just want to present my dear that all that glitters are not gold and persuading you, not to marry U Ta Yoke.
If there is a real democracy there are chances and opportunities for each and every minor ethnic minority races and religions. Just look at the Ko Kala’s village: Ko Mus Lim is the chairman of the village council. Ko Pan Char is the village head. And you see, Ma Italy is o ne of the most influential person in that country. She was from other village, but she married into Ko Kala’s father and became a new “Ywar Thu” or citizen. Once she is accept as a villager, she got all the rights to be even the head of the village.
But she is clever enough to dodge the extreme nationalists by offering her closed friend a minority, Ko Pan Char to be the village head.
See, Daw Than Swe and her goons’ mentality is much lower than the Ko Kalar’s people! Our sister Daw Su was denounced many times because she had married the man from other village. This kind of discrimination is never accepted in true democracy.
One thing you should understand is “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Any one could be changed to a monster once he got the absolute power. So we must practice and defend for the democracy, transparency, good governance and the rule of law. If any one breaks the law, there should be no exemption, no immunity even for the heads and leaders. Then only each and every villager/citizen would be safe from the dangers of Dictators. And we must protect the minorities’ right from the tyranny of Majority. This is the essence of democracy.
Enough about others for now: let’s consider some effects or repercussions if you go ahead with the divorce plan.
How about my favorite “Shan Pae Poke” and Aung Ban Potatoes? We may need trade agreements; import/export permits/taxes etc. Your favorite “Ayi Tawn La Phet” would face more problems. Have to import from Shan Country and export back the finished products; so even if you are lucky to have a chance to get your favorite food, you have to pay more for the same thing.
Dear Nan, please reconsider your decision to leave me. I hope you would still remember the first Valentine Day we met at ‘our’ beloved uncle Khun Tun Oo’s house. Valentine day is just around the corner. Like Hti Sai’s song, Now, I realized that I have to look back like “The lion looking back over its shoulders and understand that I have to tune back my songs.”
Now I know that our marriage deed or contract at Panglong town was a problem. Not that it was wrong; I failed to treat you as an equal partner and my step-mother’s misinterpretation and trying to rough out all of us, including minorities, in stead of persuasions and cooperation.
If I have a chance to start my life, I would still love you, I would still marry you. (Even if others say I was wrong to marry you) I would repeat that wrong decision and walk the wrong path hundreds of time again and again. After all we all know that Love is blind.
Now I don’t know how to continue with my life. I became crazy, half fool because of you. Anything I do I think about you, any thing I look I saw your face.
If any one is extreme or radical another partner will suffer. Because I am one sided you had suffered unfortunately. I know I have to change myself. In the future I will try to find out what you wish, what you want and will definitely try to fulfill all. I will be kind on you and will take care of you always.
We were now very near but felt far apart. .” Please don’t go, please don’t leave me my dear. From now on wards I would always consider what you want. Your wish would be my command.
Even if you decided not to come back to me, and Shan State says farewell to Burma, what can I do. I could blame the “Director of Nature” or fate, but now I understand that the main cause is misunderstandings, misinterpreting of others’ feelings and sufferings. Yes it is our fault, we Bamas including me must change.
I hope my dear love; Nan Sai would allow me to inform my feelings about Shans and kindly request one favour from your father.
Please just accept and believe the truth that not only I, but all Bamas and Burmese/Myanmars love Shan and ShanState. He will be surprised if you inform him that even my Burmese Chinese and Burmese Muslim friends love Shan States and some of them had married Shans. And just because I am a Bama man, please do not make a sweeping accusation that Bama men love to marry the Shan girls only. Some of my above mentioned friends are ladies married to Shan men! And just look at Sai Kham Leik, he is a Shan man, married to a Burmese lady Nwe Nwe Tin. I strongly believe at the bottom of my heart that you or your father would not attempt to separate the hearts of those lovers.
Although I am requesting a favour from you, I strongly believe that Human Rights must be mutually practiced by both sides. Although I am a Bama, I was born in Taunggyi, Southern Shan State. And I had a Shan spouse and had several half Shan children. Even if you decided to turn your back upon me and Shan Country successfully became a reality, I have the RIGHT TO CLAIM A SHAN CITIZENSHIP.
Forgive me my dear; I may be a little bit uncouth and very emotional , because I am intoxicated by the real fact that you are going to leave me behind alone and I also missed my birth place, Shan Land.
Anyway, please my dear, kindly request your father a last favour for me. Even if he refused to accept me as a Shan Citizen, please grant me a Shan Green Card (Permanent Residency status) so that I could spend my last days of sunset in Taunggyi, my birth place. Let me die and buried in my beloved SHAN LAND.
And I hereby make a sworn statement that if you decided to come back and stay together, I would re arrange the decision making process in our home. As the figure head of the house, even if the others thought that I am the GENERAL and you are just the MAJOR of the house, I would not be like SPDC Generals but I will decide only the general things that are not important. I will let you decide on all the MAJOR events.
So please show this letter of passionate plea to your father and discuss with him about our future. I am sure, after reading this letter; he will understand how much I love you and your Shan Pyi.
The choice is yours, but please consider all the situations, pros and cons above and made the informed wise decision, not an emotional knee jerk response.
Please, please dear Nan, think or consider back the two songs we love most before you decide. “The nature’s children” about the place free of wars and the one the one you changed the name of Sai Kham Leik’s song, “A song for Ko Tin Ngwe.”
My letter is too long already. You and I and we hope the readers also knew the songs. So I wish to end my letter with one suggestion for the future leaders of the Federation of Burma, “please reward all the SHAN ARTISTS who contribute a lot to our country with some awards and titles. There is the tradition in Burma and in U Kay’s village a lots of artists were awarded with “Sir� � titles.
With eternal love,
(Ko Ti Ngwe)
Bo Aung Din: I hereby sincerely wish to apologize, Hso Kham Hpa for using his name as Ko Tin Ngwe’s father-in-law. It is actually not totally wrong as Ko Ti Ngwe represents Burma/Myanmar and Nan Sai Kham represents Shan State and as Hso Kham Hpa is the virtual head of Shan State. And I also want to apologize Dr Sai Kham Leik and Dr Ngwe Ngwe Tin also for using their names, of course as in reverse gender. I also could not ask permission to use his songs. And I had never attempted to translate his songs word by word, sentence by sentence. I just write down my feelings of the songs while I try to write this article. And some of the songs were written by other composers. I hope all of you could understand and forgive me for all the above, because I am blinded with the love for our country and Shan State.
Filed under: Blogging, Burma, Burmese, Myanmar, Myanmar Military, Politics, SPDC | Tagged: Bo Aung Din, Burma, Burma Digest, Compassionate letters, Dear Nan letters, Myanmar, Political satire, Satire, Shan, Shan State, Valentine | Leave a comment »
RELA, the organization, the refugees fear
Foreigners nabbed for violating work permit
[NATION 9-May-2008]
Ninety-eight foreigners working in two factories in Port Klang have been arrested for violating their work permits.
Pakistan embassy man held by Rela personnel
[NATION 10-May-2008]
A Pakistan embassy staff was allegedly detained by Rela personnel as they did not recognise his
Wisma Putra-issued identity card.
Odd-job worker punched to death
A 39-year-old odd-job worker was pummelled to death after he got into a fight with an acquaintance. A
Tour guide cries foul over Rela raid
[NATION 8-Apr-2008]
A 42-year-old tour guide has lodged a police report after a group of Rela members allegedly tried to break into her apartment in KL while apparently tracking a suspected illegal immigrant.
Crying foul over raid on foreigners
[NORTH 6-Feb-2008]
SHOP owners at a shopping mall in Bukit Mertajam are seeing red over the decline in their business after a raid on foreign workers was conducted in the building.
Immigration summons bosses over Bangladeshi workers
[NATION 1-Feb-2008]
The employers of 686 Bangladeshi workers now camping along Sungai Gombak have been asked by the Immigration Department to explain the situation.
Handover of depots for illegal
[NATION 16-Jan-2008]
Immigration depots holding illegal immigrants will be better managed since its administration has been taken over by the Immigration Department.
Pekan Nenas detention centre to increase capacity
The capacity at the Pekan Nenas detention centre for illegal immigrants would be increased to accommodate 2,000 detainees.
24 foreigners held at factory
[NATION 27-Dec-2007]
More than 20 Indonesians and Bangladeshis working at a furniture factory without work permits and proper travel documents have been detained.
Memo on curbing Rela’s powers
[PARLIAMENT 7-Dec-2007]
GIVING more power to Rela members will pave the way for more abuse, several non-government organisations claimed in a memorandum which they submitted to the Home Ministry.
Rela to take over immigration depots
[NATION 22-Nov-2007]
Rela members will be trained to take over the full-time running of the country’s 14 immigration depots by the end of the year.
19 foreigners held in raids
[NORTH 17-Nov-2007]
BUKIT MERTAJAM: Police detained 19 foreigners for various offences in raids on 15 premises here.
Illegals caught sneaking out
BUKIT MERTAJAM: A Rela team caught 27 illegal immigrants, including two pregnant women, trying to leave the country.
Home Ministry now in charge of detention centres
[NATION 7-Nov-2007]
The Home Affairs Ministry has been given control of all detention centres in the country to ensure smooth handling of illegal immigrants detained by Rela.
Rela chief instructs officer to lodge police report
[NATION 12-Oct-2007]
Rela director-general Datuk Zaidon Asmuni has instructed his officer to lodge a report in response to an Indonesian student’s claim that Rela officers damaged the door to his apartment during a raid.
Are Rela members really necessary?
[FOCUS 12-Oct-2007]
A letter from BAHAROM CHE ISA, Shah Alam, Selangor.
Rela backs its claim with visit to apartment
The door of an apartment rented by Indonesian student Muhammad Yunus Lubis was not damaged in a raid conducted by Rela officers as claimed by the Indonesian embassy.
Syed Hamid: Ties with Indonesia still strong
Malaysia has described the current controversies over the use of the Rasa Sayang folk song and the brief detention of an Indonesian diplomat’s wife during a Rela operation as “hiccups” in the bilateral ties with Indonesia.
We’ve lost that loving feeling
The extent of Malaysia-bashing in the Indonesian media is mind-boggling, especially when we have always regarded Indonesians as close friends and neighbours.
Oops, Rela does it again
From DR SHIREEN NAH, Kuala Lumpur
Najib: Wife of Indonesian envoy was not detained
The Indonesian Embassy’s assertion that Rela officers had detained a wife of a diplomat during an operation was wrong, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Embassy blasts Rela officers
[NATION 9-Oct-2007]
Rela officers have come under fire from the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur following the harsh treatment of an Indonesian diplomat’s wife and a university student during the agency’s anti-illegal immigrant operations in Chow Kit and Kajang.
Rela officer on wanted list held
[NATION 22-Jul-2007]
He went to a police station with three men to resolve a personal dispute. But the tables turned on the Rela officer, when it was found that he had been on the police “wanted list” since 2002 for a criminal intimidation case in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.
Rela members just a bunch of ‘little Napoleans’
[FOCUS 13-Jun-2007]
From SH, Kuala Lumpur
Wrong to give Rela power to detain illegals
From AZRUL MOHD KHALIB of Kuala Lumpur
Ever Rela to help
With powers to crack down on illegal foreign workers, Rela, the People’s Voluntary Corp, is enjoying a new lease of life. But it has found itself in the news for the wrong reasons with its members being accused of beating up illegal workers, stealing from them and detaining legitimate foreign tourists. Rela directo
Food court operator sues Rela
A food court operator has filed a suit against Rela for alleged abuse of power and corruption.
Filed under: Blogging, Burma, Burmese, English Article, Human Rights, Myanmar, Myanmar Military, Politics, SPDC | Tagged: Malaysia, Refugees, Rela | 1 Comment »
Archives from Star Online about Myanmar Refugees
Rohingyas: Help our countrymen
They may be hard-pressed for money, but Myanmar refugees want to come forward to help their compatriots back home after the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis.
39,000 asylum seekers registered in Malaysia
A total of 39,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 33 countries registered themselves in Malaysia in the first three months of the year, reported Sin Chew Daily.
Only one Malaysian for Harvard
[EDUCATION 20-Apr-2008]
Despite failing to secure scholarships from local organisations for six months, Kajang lad Lee Jia Hui, 19, managed to obtain an offer from Harvard University to pursue his undergraduate studies.
Rock band emerges champ and wins RM8,000
[CENTRAL 25-Dec-2007]
CHRISTIAN rock outfit Bus Company from Good Samaritan Home impressed judges to win the annual Battle of The Bands held at Sunway Lagoon Surf Pool recently.
Eight bands to do final battle
Music and charity is the main agenda at the upcoming Battle of the Bands 2007: Operation Just Cause which saw 306 bands battling it out during the preliminary rounds with eight bands making it to the finals.
Finding refuge
[YOUTH2 20-Jun-2007]
Forced to flee to Malaysia where everything is unknown and the language is foreign, young Myanmar refugees have to quickly learn to fend for themselves. StarYouth tells their stories in conjunction with World Refugee Day today.
Lunchtime treat for child refugees
[CENTRAL 19-Sep-2007]
Myanmar child refugees, victims of the political situation in Myanmar who had walked more than 1,000km from the land of their birth to seek shelter in Malaysia, forgot those painful steps as they played gleefully at the St Francis Church of Assisi in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
Myanmar refugees celebrate will to survive
[NATION 24-Jun-2007]
Myanmar refugee groups celebrated World Refugee Day with vibrant music and graceful dances at the Selangor Chinese Association Hall here yesterday.
Filed under: Blogging, Burma, Human Rights, Myanmar, Myanmar Military, Politics, SPDC | Tagged: Malaysia, Myanmar Burma, Refugees, The Star Online | 1 Comment »
Archives from Star Online about Myanmar Cyclone Nargis
Documents 1 to 10 of 63 matching the query “nargis”
1.Myanmar: SMART team on standby
The Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) is on standby for deployment to Myanmar to provide assistance to Cyclone Nargis victims.
2.Myanmar: Mercy M’sia recruiting local medical personnel
[NATION 12-May-2008] Mercy Malaysia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with international non-governmental organisation Save the Children of UK (SCUK) and is now recruiting Myanmar doctors and nurses to provide basic medical services to Cyclone Nargis survivors.
3.Offering of alms to 300 monks at PISA on June 22
[NORTH 12-May-2008]
SOME 300 monks and thousands of Buddhist devotees are expected to throng the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA) to celebrate the 2008 National Maha Sanghika Dana on June 22.
4.Call to give visas for volunteers to help cyclone victims in Myanmar
The Myanmar Government should issue special visas for volunteers to help the victims affected by Cyclone Nargis.
5.Death toll from Cyclone Nargis’ aftermath may be alarmingly high
Once old and battered, Yangon, Myanmar, is now strewn with debris. Cyclone Nargis not only devastated Yangon, but it now looks like a war-zone.
6.Fund raising for Myanmar
[CENTRAL 12-May-2008]
Joining in the effort to aid victims of the Cyclone Nargis, Buddhist chief high priest of Malaysia Ven K. Sri Dhammaratana Maha Nayaka Thera is organising a fund raising campaign until May 20.
7.Boat carrying aid for Myanmar cyclone victims sinks as death toll jumps to 28,000
[APWORLD 12-May-2008]
YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Myanmar’s monumental task of feeding and sheltering 1.5 million cyclone survivors suffered yet another blow when a boat laden with relief supplies – one of the first international shipments – sank on its way to the disaster zone.
8.Myanmar’s junta holds election to cement hold on power despite cyclone crisis
YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Myanmar’s military rulers held elections aimed at solidifying their hold on power, while brazenly turning cyclone relief efforts into a propaganda campaign. In some cases, generals’ names were scribbled onto boxes of foreign aid before being distributed.
9.Myanmar should issue special visa
The Myanmar government should be more lenient in issuing special visa passes for volunteers to help out the victims affected by Cyclone Nargis, which has killed about 60,000 people in the military-ruled nation.
10.Groups sending relief teams and aid for cyclone victims
Peace Malaysia will send a medical team carrying vaccines and water treatment tablets to Myanmar, to help victims in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
11.Myanmar protesters rally in KL
Protesters gathered in force near the Myanmar embassy here yesterday, in a show of defiance against the Myanmar junta’s go-ahead with yesterday’s constitutional referendum in spite of the country’s current turmoil.
12.Fujifilm proves that ‘saving lives’ is not merely a tagline
Fujifilm (M) Sdn Bhd became the latest corporate company to contribute to The Star Myanmar Relief Fund, as donations continue to pour in for the victims of Cyclone Nargis.
13.Rohingyas: Help our countrymen
14.UN seeks $187 million to aid cyclone survivors in Myanmar
UNITED NATIONS (AP): The United Nations was seeking $187 million (euro120.97 million) from donor nations to help cyclone survivors in Myanmar.
15.Myanmar cyclone crisis casts a pall over already criticized constitution vote
YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Myanmar’s military government pushed ahead Saturday with a referendum on a controversial proposed constitution despite a devastating cyclone that killed tens of thousands.
16.PAS sends relief team
PAS is sending a three-member relief team to Myanmar today to provide assistance to the victims of Cyclone Nargis.
17.Rapid Penang does its part
For a week starting today, 10 sen from every Rapid Penang bus fare paid will go to the company’s Cyclone Nargis Myanmar Victims Humanitarian Fund.
18.Forward donations to ministry
Malaysians who wish to donate to help victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar can forward their donations to the Foreign Ministry.
19.Relief effort to concentrate on health and sanitation in disaster zone
The first two Mercy Malaysia’s relief officers who flew over to Myanmar on Wednesday night have started to establish contacts there.
20.[NATION 8-May-2008]
Mercy Malaysia has received approval from the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur to allow them to enter Myanmar and deliver aid to the cyclone-hit country.
Myanmar protesters rally in KL
21.It’s work as usual for Myanmars despite deaths of kin
Two Myanmar brothers tell of how they lost their father in the killer cyclone Nargis.
22.Dijaya the first to contribute to relief fund
One of the first things Dijaya Corporation Berhad group chief executive officer Tan Sri Danny Tan Chee Sing did after reading about the plight of Cyclone Nargis victims in Myanmar was direct his staff to make arrangements to help them.
23.How you can help Myanmar cyclone victims
24.Asean must get aid to Myanmar fast
[FOCUS 9-May-2008]
A letter from DR TAN ENG BEE, Kajang.
25.Local firms strive to sustain ops in Myanmar
[BUSINESS 7-May-2008]
It is business as usual for Malaysian companies which have operations in Myanmar despite the havoc wrought by tropical cyclone Nargis on the country.
26.US envoy says toll from Myanmar cyclone might reach 100,000
[APWORLD 8-May-2008]
YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Hungry people swarmed the few open shops and fistfights broke out over food and water in Myanmar’s swamped Irrawaddy delta Wednesday as a top U.S. diplomat warned that the death toll from a devastating cyclone could top 100,000.
27.Yangon bars foreign journalists from reporting
[ASIA 8-May-2008]
Myanmar’s junta, which has appealed for international aid to cope with the disastrous impact of Cyclone Nargis, is barring foreign journalists from entering the country and has expelled one BBC reporter.
28.Buddhist monks lend a hand in Yangon
Hundreds of Buddhist monks were on the streets here yesterday helping residents clear roads of fallen trees and other debris caused by killer tropical cyclone Nargis.
29.Stench of death lingers
The stench of death hung yesterday over this Irrawaddy delta town, where the blackened bodies of people and animals, rotting in the tropical heat, were washed aground as Myanmar’s cyclone floodwaters receded.
30.Myanmar under pressure, death toll may rise sharply
[WORLDUPDATES 8-May-2008]
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military government came under pressure on Wednesday to open its borders to more international help after a devastating cyclone that a U.S. diplomat said may have killed more than 100,000 people.
32.Myanmar urged to allow more aid in after cyclone
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military government came under pressure on Wednesday to open its borders to international help after a devastating cyclone that a U.S. diplomat said may have killed more than 100,000 people.
33.Aid trickles in for 1 mln Myanmar cyclone victims
YANGON (Reuters) – Aid trickled into Myanmar on Wednesday for an estimated one million victims of Cyclone Nargis in military-ruled Myanmar, with the death toll rising to nearly 23,000 and expected to go higher.
34.Aid arrives for Myanmar; one million homeless
YANGON (Reuters) – Aid was trickling in on Wednesday for an estimated one million victims of Cyclone Nargis in military-ruled Myanmar, with the death toll of more than 22,500 expected to mount.
35.Indian weather department says it warned Myanmar about cyclone threat
NEW DELHI (AP): India warned Myanmar that Cyclone Nargis was headed for the country two days before it made landfall there, an official said Wednesday.
37.Food dropped to Myanmar towns; 22,500 killed in storm
YANGON (Reuters) – Military helicopters dropped food and water on Wednesday to the cyclone-stricken people of Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta, where entire villages have been washed away and one million people left homeless, officials said.
38.One million homeless in Myanmar cyclone – U.N.
BANGKOK (Reuters) – About 1 million people were left homeless by the devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar and about 5,000 sq km remain underwater in the Irrawaddy delta, a U.N. aid official said on Wednesday.
39.Myanmar cyclone death toll soars
Myanmar’s military government raised its death toll from Cyclone Nargis yesterday to nearly 22,500 with a further 41,000 missing, nearly all of them from a massive storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta.
YANGON (Reuters) – Military helicopters dropped food and drinking water to the cyclone-stricken people of Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta, where entire villages have been virtually washed away, officials said on Wednesday.
41.Myanmar cyclone aid starts, hunger fears
YANGON (Reuters) – Disease, hunger and thirst pose a major threat to hundreds of thousands of survivors of Cyclone Nargis, aid agencies said on Wednesday, urging Myanmar’s military rulers to open the doors to international humanitarian relief.
43.Disease stalks survivors of huge Myanmar cyclone
44.Rice fields now littered with corpses and homeless survivors
Rice fields littered with corpses, desperate survivors homeless and with nothing to eat or drink – witnesses paint a horrifying picture of Myanmar’s remote typhoon-devastated south.
45.India gave 48-hour storm warning to neighbour
Indian meteorologists tracking the cyclone that killed more than 22,000 people in Myanmar said yesterday they had given their neighbour 48 hours warning of an impending storm.
46.Myanmars worry about their loved ones
The thoughts and prayers of Myanmars living here are with their countrymen as the death toll of Cyclone Nargis soars.
47.Myanmar Relief Fund: How you can help
Join The Star in extending a helping hand to the people of Myanmar.
48.Mercy team off to Yangon to evaluate cyclone crisis
A four-member relief team will be sent by Mercy Malaysia to Yangon to evaluate the situation in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
49.Embassy staffers busy with clean-up
It has been a “wet affair” for the Malaysian embassy in Yangon the last two days.
50.Myanmar cyclone toll climbs to nearly 22,500
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military government raised its death toll from Cyclone Nargis on Tuesday to nearly 22,500 with another 41,000 missing, almost all from a massive storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta.
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military government raised its death toll from Cyclone Nargis on Tuesday to nearly 22,500 with another 41,000 missing, nearly all of them from a massive storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta.
52.Myanmar delta, where 22,000 died, isolated after cyclone
YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta, where nearly 22,000 people perished, remained largely cut off from the rest of the world Tuesday, four days after a cyclone unleashed winds, floods and high tidal waves on the densely populated region.
53.Myanmar tells diplomats cyclone death toll could top 10,000
YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Myanmar’s ruling junta, which has spurned the international community for decades, urgently appealed for foreign aid as a Cabinet minister said that more than 10,000 people may have died from a cyclone that swept through the country.
54.Cyclone kills 10,000 in one Myanmar town, aid promised
YANGON (Reuters) – Countries worldwide promised help to Myanmar after a cyclone killed 10,000 people in just one town, suggesting the overall death toll in the impoverished military-run Southeast Asian nation will be much higher.
55.Myanmar believes 13,000 dead, missing from cyclone
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military junta believes at least 10,000 people died in a cyclone that ripped through the Irrawaddy delta, triggering a massive international aid response for the pariah state in southeast Asia.
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military junta believes at least 10,000 people died in a cyclone that ripped through the Irrawaddy delta, triggering a massive international aid response for the pariah southeast Asian nation.
57.Powerful cyclone kills at least 351 in Myanmar, concerns emerge about international aid
YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Residents of Myanmar’s biggest city lit candles Monday, lined up to buy water and hacked their way through trees felled in a cyclone that killed more than 350 people, destroyed thousands of homes and caused widespread power cuts.
58.Hundreds of thousands without shelter in Myanmar – U.N.
YANGON (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of people have been left without shelter and drinking water in military-ruled Myanmar after a devastating cyclone tore through the Irrawaddy delta, a United Nations official said on Monday.
59.Hundreds of thousands without shelter in Myanmar – UN
60.Aid agencies struggle with Myanmar cyclone damage
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military authorities and foreign aid workers struggled on Monday to assess the damage from a devastating cyclone that killed more than 350 people and left tens of thousands homeless.
61.Powerful cyclone kills at least 351 in Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Residents of Myanmar’s biggest city lit candles Monday, lined up to buy water and hacked their way through trees felled in a cyclone that killed more than 350 people, destroyed thousands of homes and caused widespread power cuts.
62.Personalised fiction, anyone?
[FOCUS 8-Oct-2007]
Former Bollywood leading lady Vyjayanthimala broke the unwritten convention in the Indian society when she chose to touch upon delicate relationships with her leading men.
63.Paying for a mistake
[FOCUS 6-Aug-2007]
Emotion does not, and should not, interfere in the administration of justice, said the judge who jailed Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt for an arms offence
Filed under: Blogging, Burma, Burmese, Human Rights, Myanmar, Myanmar Military, Politics, SPDC | Tagged: Burma, cyclone Nargis, Malaysia, Myanmar, Star online | Leave a comment »
Luxury cruiser for Mercy M’sia and is recruiting Myanmar doctors
PETALING JAYA: Mercy Malaysia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with international non-governmental organisation Save the Children of UK (SCUK) and is now recruiting Myanmar doctors and nurses to provide basic medical services to Cyclone Nargis survivors.
The doctors and nurses would set up basic medical facilities among internally displaced persons (IDPs) who are in areas with poor or no health facilities, according to a statement released by Mercy on Monday.
Mercy will also turn a luxury cruiser, donated by a tour operator in Britain to SCUK, into a floating hospital that will reach vulnerable communities in Ngapudaw, Haing Gyi, southern Labutta and the surrounding areas to provide medical access to those affected by the cyclone.
SCUK will also provide food and accommodation for the teams in Yangon.
The MoU was signed at the SCUK headquarters in Yangon after discussions had concluded on Sunday.
Meanwhile the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a new assessment on Sunday that between 1.2 million and 1.9 million were struggling to survive in the aftermath of the storm.
“Given the gravity of the situation including the lack of food and water, some partners have reported fears for security, and violent behaviour in the most severely afflicted areas,” it said, according to a Reuters report.
It said “the number of deaths could range from 63,290 to 101,682, and 220,000 people are reported to be missing”. It said “acute environmental issues” posed a threat to life and health.
“Unless there is a massive and fast infusion of aid, experts and supplies into the hardest-hit areas, there’s going to be a tragedy on an unimaginable scale,” said Greg Beck of the International Rescue Committee, Reuters said.
Related story: SMART team on standby
Filed under: Blogging, Burma, Human Rights, Myanmar, Politics, SPDC | Tagged: Burma, Cyclone Nagris, Myanmar | 1 Comment »
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0114 241 2728 info@sayit.org.uk
Call It Out
Sheffield Rainbow Laces – anti-LGBT+phobia football event a huge success
by SAYiT | Feb 19, 2019 | News | 1 comment
Over 300 people attended a football tournament last Saturday (February 16th) at Goals sports complex in Norfolk Park. Thirty two teams representing organisations from across the city all donned Rainbow Laces in a 5-aside tournament lasting all afternoon. The event was organised to call an end to LGBT+ phobia in football. The awareness raising football matches were organised by Sheffield Hallam University and the young peoples’ charity SAYiT which supports young LGBT+ people in the City. Money was also raised to support the work of the charity including a fund set up after the death of a young man called Noah Lomax whose family established a fund in his name. The tournament came in the same week that Sheffield Cricketer and England captain, Joe Root, was widely applauded for challenging an alleged homophobic incident in the third Test in St. Lucia.
Photo by Jason Ruffell
James Laley, one of the organisers from Sheffield Hallam University, and himself someone who has experienced homophobia in sport, said:
‘We were overwhelmed by the support we received from across the city. We had originally hoped to attract 12 teams but in the end had almost three times as many – making the event, we believe, one of the biggest Rainbow Laces 5-aside tournaments in the country. As someone who is a keen football fan and who has witnessed homophobia at first hand, it was heartening to see so many LGBT+ people and their allies supporting the initiative. It was a great day and an inclusive atmosphere made better by the fact that the sun shone on a bright, spring like, February day. We are already thinking about plans for 2020 and arranging an even bigger event – so watch this space!’
Steve Slack, CEO of SAYiT, said:
‘It was great to work in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University in raising awareness of this important issue and it demonstrates, yet again, what an amazingly inclusive city Sheffield is. We know that it is only a small and dwindling minority of football fans who continue to express homophobic attitudes – but they make life harder for those LGBT+ people who are on the receiving end. We had hoped to get some support from the main football clubs in the city and hopefully this will happen next time. We would like to thank everyone involved in the event and in particular Sheffield Hallam University for their amazing hard work and their consistent support for the work of our charity. I feel so proud that Sheffield is a city where people can come together, whatever their sexuality or identity and show their commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity.’
Steve Slack, CEO, SAYiT
www.sayit.org.uk
info@sayit.org.uk
Muriel Jenkinson on February 24, 2019 at 1:39 am
I think a great big WELL DONE to everyone who organised, played and attended. I wasn’t able to attend but when I saw what a lovely day it was I was so happy.
Sayit is such an amazing organisation. I would like to know where I can get some of those fantastic socks and laces that stand Up for the young people who are in crisis.
For all those young people, I’d like to say “ you have a place and people waiting and wanting to listen without judgement ,. Just one more thing, I would like to send a hug to each and everyone.”
Come and celebrate our 20th birthday with us!
SAYiT, Sheffield's leading leading lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer and …Read More >>
Call It Out: South Yorkshire LGBT+ Awareness Training for Domestic Abuse and Women’s Service Providers
We had a great session today running the first of …Read More >>
Call It Out: BBC Radio Sheffield interview
Last Friday, SAYiT’s LGBT+ Domestic Abuse development workers Heather and …Read More >>
BAMER PRIDE Performers
We are looking for performers for BAMER Pride event on …Read More >>
Faith, Sexualities and Gender Think Tank
Sheffield Town Hall Monday May 13th This event was organised …Read More >>
Archives Select Month July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 September 2017 June 2017 May 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 July 2016 June 2016 March 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 September 2015 May 2015 December 2014 July 2014 November 2013 May 2013 November 2012
Derek Williams on SAYiT Promotional Video
Muriel Jenkinson on Sheffield Rainbow Laces – anti-LGBT+phobia football event a huge success
Sally Jayne Williams on Sheffield Pride 2018
Ali Bishop on Sheffield Pride 2018
Neill Calvert on SAYiT Events In May Get Involved!
Scotia Works
Leadmill Road
S1 4SE
SAYIT ADMIN LOGIN
exit site
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Flynn Files
Something San Francisco This Way Comes
by Daniel J. Flynn | Jul 5, 2019
The San Francisco School Board last week authorized $600,000 in spending to destroy a mural depicting George Washington at a high school named for him. “It’s rude and disrespectful to people’s cultures,” a junior at the school told the San…
New Socialists
The Race to the Far Left
by George Neumayr | Jan 22, 2019
Hillary Clinton ran far to Donald Trump’s left and lost much of the country. It appears from the early crop of Democratic presidential contenders that the party’s 2020 strategy is to offer an even starker ideological choice. They sound ready…
On the Inhuman Condition
by Larry Thornberry | Nov 13, 2018
Cult City: Jim Jones, Harvey Milk, and 10 Days That Shook San Francisco
(ISI Books, 258 pages, $27.95)
Dan Flynn’s Cult City is not a happy read, but an instructive one.
‘Culpability Is a Tricky Thing’
by Daniel J. Flynn | Oct 29, 2018
“Culpability is a tricky thing,” Julia Ioffe writes at the Washington Post. She nevertheless finds Donald Trump culpable in inspiring a murderer, wholly unconnected to him, of 11 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. “His role is just…
California Watch
Jerry Brown’s Rail Fantasy Keeps Getting Pricier
by Steven Greenhut | Mar 22, 2018
Sacramento “That’s bulls**t,” Gov. Jerry Brown told a group of union leaders in Sacramento this week as he addressed the latest bad news about his pet project to build a bullet train connecting San Francisco with Los Angeles. The union…
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Argyle Liberty Christian, the defending back-to-back TAPPS champion, promotes from within for new baseball coach
Argyle Liberty Christian Headlines
New Argyle Liberty Christian Athletic Director Johnny Isom didn't have to look far to find his replacement.
The school announced Tuesday that assistant baseball coach Billy Jordan will be promoted to head coach and take over for Isom, a four-time TAPPS state champion coach who led Liberty Christian to a second-consecutive championship just over a month ago.
Liberty Athletics is proud to announce the @LCSBaseball new Head Baseball Coach @Billy_Jordan22 #WarriorStrong #ForHim #DYJ pic.twitter.com/Ch6HzU9Bv0
— Liberty Athletics (@NavyOut) June 18, 2019
Jordan has been an assistant baseball coach and strength and conditioning coordinator at Liberty Christian since 2011. He also works as the youth athletic director at Liberty Christian.
Jordan will be the second head baseball coach for the Warriors in the last 14 years. Isom took over as head coach in 2005, four years after he joined the school's baseball program. Isom led Liberty Christian to state titles in 2009 and 2013 before winning the last two state titles.
"Going out with two state championships, I don't think I could've drew it up better," Isom said after winning the state title in May.
Isom sent a lengthy going away message via his personal Twitter after the season was over.
pic.twitter.com/WzCGDhKAAn
— Johnny (@IsomJohnny) May 16, 2019
Isom was promoted to athletic director on March 20, a decision he called "crazy tough" because he knew he would have to leave his position as head baseball coach. Now, he'll hand the program to someone who knows it well.
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Four hanged for Peshawar school attack
AHMAD NABI/AGENCIES
Kohat/KHYBER AGENCY - The authorities Wednesday hanged four men linked to the Taliban's massacre of more than 130 schoolchildren, with parents of victims saying they deserved ‘no forgiveness’ as the attack anniversary approached.
The executions, which officials said were carried out Wednesday morning at a prison in Kohat, were the first in connection with the December 16 attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. The army has put the final toll at 151 killed, 134 of them children.
Survivors of the assault said they were happy to hear of the executions. But fathers of the victims who gathered in Peshawar Wednesday said the hangings should have been carried out in public squares.
"The whole nation wanted to see these animals hanged publicly so others would not dare follow their example," said Abid Raza Bangash, an engineer whose 15-year-old son Rafique Raza Bangash was killed.
A Kohat police official named the militants as Maulvi Abdus Salam, Hazrat Ali, Mujeebur Rehman and Sabeel, alias Yahya. The army on Monday issued a black warrant confirming their executions were imminent.
Their role in the massacre has not been made public. The gunmen were all reported killed by security forces.
The attack was Pakistan's deadliest, and shocked and outraged a country already scarred by nearly a decade of extremism.
"The rest should be caught too, no one should be spared," said a survivor Waheed Anjum, 18.
Waheed, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was struck by three bullets, one in each arm and one in his chest.
"They shouldn't have been hanged from prisons, they should have been hanged from squares," his father Momin Khan Khattak added.
"There is no forgiveness in our hearts after what they did to our children."
Some 20 fathers gathered for an emotional meeting in Peshawar Wednesday, with several in tears and many angrily echoing the call for the gunmen to have been hanged in public.
Parents of the Peshawar victims meet regularly, and Wednesday's gathering had been scheduled before news of the hangings broke.
The fathers were seeking to present demands to the government that their children be awarded Pakistan's highest civilian honour, the Nishan-e-Pakistan.
Other parents said the executions would deter future attacks.
"The parents of the schoolchildren have long been demanding that the terrorists be severely punished, and today we are satisfied our demands have been met," said Ajoon Khan, who lost his only son.
"The hangings won't bring back my son, but now other people's sons will be kept safer," said Tufail Ahmed Khan, who lost one son while another was wounded.
The attack prompted a nationwide crackdown on extremism, with the establishment of military courts and the resumption of capital punishment after a six-year moratorium.
In August, after a military trial that took place behind closed doors, the army announced that six militants linked to the Peshawar assault would be executed, while a seventh was given a life sentence.
The four executed Wednesday were the first to be hanged after those convictions. The International Commission of Jurists has condemned the military courts as "secret, opaque" and in violation of fair trial obligations.
Rights groups have also criticised the resumption of executions, accusing Pakistan of hanging an estimated 300 people in less than a year -- the majority of whom had not been convicted of extremism. No official figures are available.
Last month Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the president to reject the convicts' appeals against their sentences, saying they deserved "no mercy".
An official at the prison said the men had a final meeting with their families on Tuesday night. The bodies have been handed over to relatives, security officials said.
Meanwhile, two militants who were executed in Kohat jail on Wednesday in connection with Army Public School attack were buried at their ancestral graveyard in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency.
READ MORE: SB announces new monetary policy, raises benchmark interest rate to 13.25pc
The two men, identified as Sabeel alias Yahya and Mujeebur Rehman alias Ali, residents of Ghundi, were arrested by the security agencies along with other two colleagues for being involved in the Army Public School, Peshawar massacre.
The local political administration of Jamrud on the condition of anonymity said that notices had been sent to families of the two militants for a farewell meeting in Kohat jail. After their execution in the Kohat jail, bodies of the militants were brought to Jamrud and buried in their ancestral graveyard.
Suspected paedo found ‘hanged’ at police lockup
Girl found hanged at home
Teenage housemaid found hanged in Ichhra
Woman found hanged at home in Saadi Park
NEW TAXES WILL NOT AFFECT COMMON MAN OPPOSITION DO NOT DISTURB BY COMMON MAN HE MEANS RULING PARTY, ppp, BUREAUCRATS, CHAMCHAAS.....
Irtiza Shafaat Bokharee
The dissonant waltz of proportional representation
FATA reforms
Atle Hetland
Local government elections: time to rejoice
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
Mob rules
Success Finally?
The Executions Begin
Afghan Aggression
Shaheen Air accident
Mass protest
Punjab Pharmacy Council endangering health
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Can Kennesaw make its busy Cherokee Street more livable and appealing?
By Janie Walker , December 01, 2012 11:05 PM
Thirty-two Kennesaw residents and area experts recently spent a day studying Cherokee Street in Kennesaw as part of an AARP-funded effort to help improve that important traffic corridor.
The day-long Livable Communities Workshop, which was led by Dan Burden, executive director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, will result in an initial plan for the corridor and follow-up work that is expected to begin in mid-February.
Among improvements that will be considered:
• Safer sidewalks.
• Safer street crossings for pedestrians.
• Bike paths for cyclists.
• Steps to enhance the appearance of the corridor and make it more attractive to retail businesses and visitors.
“With our rapidly aging population, AARP wants to spur communities in Georgia and across the nation to make it easier for people of all ages to shop, run errands and enjoy all that our communities have to offer. Making busy shopping districts and public places more attractive and easier to visit is a big part of that,” said Janie Walker, associate state director for community outreach in AARP’s Georgia State Office. “Kennesaw has done much to improve its public places and wants to do more. That’s why it made sense for us to bring in Dan Burden, an expert in ‘livability,’ and get his ideas for one of Kennesaw’s major thoroughfares.”
Experts and elected officials who joined Burden for the November workshop at the Ben Robertson Community Center in Kennesaw included:
• Mark Matthews, Mayor of Kennesaw.
• Barry Reid, AARP Georgia State President.
• Darryl Simmons, planning and zoning administrator for the City of Kennesaw.
• AARP’s Janie Walker.
• Laura Keyes, senior principal program specialist, Aging Division, Community Development, Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC); and Cheryl Mayerik, Lifelong Community manager, Area Agency on Aging, also part of the ARC.
For the workshop, Cobb County Transit provided a bus to transport the attendees to Cherokee Street, a 1.7-mile heavily trafficked street that the city wants to make safer by providing sidewalks and bike paths. It also wants to enhance the corridor’s appearance and draw new retail businesses.
Workshop attendees conducted a walking audit of Cherokee Street, noting conditions of sidewalks, traffic flow, existing structures (retail and residential), safety issues, historic sites and renovations. The afternoon was spent in small work groups identifying short, mid- and long-term action items for Cherokee Street that could be tackled in a 100-day plan.
Plans were discussed for educating and marketing development plans for the existing businesses and residents in the area. Follow-up work will begin in February of 2013.
cherokeecommunitiesworkshopCobb County Transtlivablewa;cKennesawwalkabledanburdensidewalkslifelongllcplanning
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A Hockey Post
This is the time of year when every disenfranchised Canadian hockey fan whose team isn’t in the Stanley Cup finals must decide which is the lesser of the two remaining evils in the championship series. There are plenty of reasons, however, to wish both teams would lose. For the third year in a row we have a Stanley Cup series that pits the old against the new, a Canadian team
Wicked Baked Pasta Recipe
food & drink, what i did today
I found this recipe behind the fridge today (click image to enlarge). It’s a baked pasta I made up on the spot a few months ago. I’ve since made several variations of it, and it’s always delicious. The secret ingredients are cheese and ham — a.k.a. salt. Just don’t over-cook the pasta. Here’s what the little piece of paper says: ● 2-3 springs of fresh rosemary (chopped) ● roughly ground
Icebergs In Newfoundland
It’s iceberg season in Newfoundland. One of my relatives sent me these photos, taken near Cottrells Cove, a small community on the Northern coast of the island. Towering icebergs have floated near St. John’s as well. They’re quite a sight. (click an image for larger view) Update (Aug. 7, 2011): More photos of huge icebergs from off the coast of St. Anthony!
Will I See You in Hell?
I inadvertently made fun of a mentally challenged person today. I’m going to burn in Hell. Or — assuming my ticket to The Big H was waiting for me already, which is a fairly safe assumption — one of those deeper, more painful inner circles of Hell. (I would imagine The Eagles Greatest Hits CD plays there non-stop.) How about you? Are you going to hell? Tell me why. I’m
Borrowing From A Thief
internet & computers, steel white table
The DeBroff DeBrief gave Steel White Table credit for an image they copied from one of my posts. I have no idea where I pilfered the image. Almost all my images are taken from a search at Google Image Search; I never state their source. I think I will start doing it now.
3 Movies
Song #10: “Basin Street Blues”
Talking About Finger Painting!
How To Park A Car
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QRC EXPLORER
ERC EXPLORER
SPACE NODE
SpaceChain Weekly Report (June 10 to 16)
Exciting news abound this week. Global virtual currency exchange Biteeu partners with SpaceChain to back up its data on our space node. Co-founders Jeff Garzik and Zee Zheng answer some of the community’s questions. Additionally, our tech team is working on migrating the space node transport layer to Ethernet.
The announcement of Biteeu signing a partnership with SpaceChain marks a new era in data security and protection. The ever-increasing threat of hacking breach pushes virtual currency exchange Biteeu to back up its data through SpaceChain’s blockchain-based space nodes. This partnership is seen as a huge step for both the cryptocurrency and space industries and sets new standards for other players in the market.
While at the Token Summit in New York in May, co-founders Jeff Garzik and Zee Zheng did a video to answer a few of the questions from the community.
In this Ask-Me-Anything video, Jeff and Zee covered everything from Bitcoin and Ethereum integration, updates on GitHub, SpaceChain CubeSats, the future of space economy, tokenomics and more!
TECHNICAL PROGRESS
Blockchain node in space
The team is moving the transport layer of the software code on the space node to Ethereum
The transmission layer of the on-satellite software is replaced by the Ethernet transmission mode, including data transmission and modification of the instruction triggering mode. Thus, making it suitable for other high data bandwidth transmission applications.
The team is also reconfiguring the other logical layers of the on-satellite code to improve modularization, thus providing great convenience for the future modification of a single logical layer correspondence protocol.
The reconfiguration of the current code is in progress.
Check out our weekly report every Monday for SpaceChain’s latest news and progress.
Send me updates on SpaceChain
Privacy / Legal / Terms & Conditions
Copyright © 2018 • SpaceChain Foundation
Eric Anderson is a well-known aerospace engineer and entrepreneur who pioneered the development of the space tourism industry. Since 2001, he has successfully arranged eight missions to the International Space Station (ISS) for privately-funded individuals. Eric co-founded several organizations including Space Angels Network, Planetary Resources and Space Adventures, the only company to have provided commercial human spaceflight missions to the ISS..
Nick Trudgen
Chief Commercial Officer, SpaceChain UK Director
A native of UK, Nick Trudgen speaks fluent mandarin and specializes in UK-China bilateral trade and investment, with a focus on space, satellite and telecommunications. He is also a research fellow at the CNSA China Institute of Space Law in Beijing and the founder of the Space Group at Beijing DHH Law Firm (Deheng). He is also a fellow at the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham and the Chief Investment Officer of the leading UK-China investment fund, China New Finance, based in Hong Kong.
Eric Desatnik
Named to the list of “The best public-relations people in the tech industry” by Business Insider, Eric Desatnik currently runs Synaptic Public Relations, advising clients on communications and public relations strategies, focused on science, technology and media. He recently led Global Communications at XPRIZE, the leading non-profit organization that manages high-profile competitions to encourage technological breakthroughs to benefit humanity. He holds degrees from Yale University and Ohio University, and is on the advisory boards for WildAid and SXSW Eco.
Don Tapscott
Don Tapscott is ranked the 2nd most influential management thinker in the world by Thinkers50. He has been advancing groundbreaking concepts for over three decades. His most recent book was co-authored with his son, Alex Tapscott. Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Underlying Bitcoin is Changing Business, Money and the World was published in May 2016 and is, according to Harvard Business School’s Clay Christensen, “the book, literally, on how to survive and thrive in this next wave of technology-driven disruption.” In 2017, Don and Alex co-founded the Blockchain Research Institute, whose 70+ projects are the definitive investigation into blockchain strategy, use-cases, implementation challenges and organizational transformations.
Jeffrey Manber
Core space advisor
As the CEO of NanoRacks, Jeffrey Manber has steered the growth of the first company to own and market its own hardware and services on board the International Space Station. One of the pioneering commercial space entrepreneurs, he was also involved in several key breakthrough commercial space projects, principally those around the commercialization of space assets and the integration of the Russian space industry into major space programs.
Jeff Garzik is the key Bitcoin core developer who worked under Satoshi Nakamoto for 2 years. His work can be found in every bitcoin and miner. Previously, he worked in the Linux industry for over 15 years under Linus Torvalds. He was the key Linux kernel engineer and is on the Linux Foundation Board of Directors. Jeff’s code can be found in every Android phone and data center. The co-founder of Bloq, Jeff is also the leader of the Ethereum protocol networking subsystem.
Zee Zheng
An early adopter in Bitcoin and blockchain, Zee Zheng believes that the combination of space and blockchain technologies will broaden the frontier of our future economy, making seamless global collaboration possible. Prior to SpaceChain, he founded an education startup and ran it 4½ years until it was acquired. Zee Zheng has worked at Hilton, Cathay Pacific, Swire group, YongAn Brokers and a hedge fund, and is the founding partner at HQ Capital, a VC that focuses on investing disruptive technology. He is a Columbia University graduate and Draper University alumnus.
Welcome to SpaceChain
SpaceChain has adopted a dual token model – ERC-20 and QRC-20 — to support its development network. The QRC-20 SPC token and ERC-20 SPC token have a 1:1 swap exchange rate. Please deposit your tokens before September 14th (11:59 AM, UTC+8) into the exchanges listed below if you wish to have your SPC tokens switched over from QRC-20 to the new ERC-20 SPC Token. The official switch over process will begin on September 14th (11:59 AM, UTC+8) and will end on September 17th (11:59 AM, UTC+8), on the exchanges listed below. Please DO NOT make any transactions with your SPC tokens from September 14th to the 17th.You also have the option to perform the swap yourself via the QBao Wallet from September 14th and onwards.
CoinEgg
Coinnest
Download Qbao
Please click here to get more official swap information.
关于如何转换的公告和说明，请点击这里。
이번 발표와 한국어로 스왑하는 방법은 여기를 클릭하십시오.
Please read through the swap information carefully – double check and make sure that you are entering the new SPC address when depositing or withdrawing. All SpaceChain information and updates will be published through our official channels.
Telegram (EN)
Telegram (CN)
Telegram (KR)
A renowned venture capitalist from Silicon Valley, Tim Draper is the co-founder of DFJ venture capital and founder of Draper University, an institution that cultivates entrepreneurship talents. He has invested in numerous companies including SpaceX, Tesla, and Thumbtack. Prior to these, he also invested in Baidu, Hotmail and Skype.
Matthew Roszak
Core strategy advisor
A blockchain investor, entrepreneur and advocate, Matthew Roszak is a sought-after thought leader on blockchain technology and has testified before US Congress and spoken at The Brooking Institution. He is the co-founder and chairman of Bloq, as well as the founding partner of Tally Capital, a private investment firm focused on blockchain-enabled technology with a portfolio of over 20 investments.
We are not affiliated, associated, authorised, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with SpaceChain Organization and/or Bitnation Space Agency, or any of their respective subsidiaries or its affiliates. The official website for SpaceChain Organization / Bitnation Space Agency can be found at http://spacechain.org/ or www.bitnation.co.Ok
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Effective Branding Moments Through a Neuroscience Lens
You don’t need us to remind you how expensive Super Bowl ads are – once per year, Americans gather to play judge in the high stakes game of “please remember our brand in 60 seconds or less.” Advertisers know the pressure is on: what’s the point of laying out all that cash if your advertisement is as forgettable as a disembodied voice unenthusiastically educating you on car features or listing product benefits?
Trying to leverage an economy car or the speed of your network to deliver a memorable brand experience is a universal struggle for advertisers. It doesn’t help that too often these advertisers are guilty of following a pattern of using what we call a branding moment – showing your product or the brand’s logo at the end of the advertisement with no other distracting visuals.
Sadly, by the time an ad reaches its last seconds, our brains often have a natural way of glazing over these crucial final branding moments. Some advertisers try to push back on this neurological tendency by building anticipation and ending on a branding-moment climax (which can work! But not always.). Others try to interweave the entertaining segments with brand or product images, hoping to build a more memorable experience for viewers. But even this approach has mixed success.
Let’s dive into this some more by putting two ads from this year’s Super Bowl head-to-head. Using a combination of neuroanalytics and biometrics to measure emotion and attention, SPARK Neuro quantifies audience engagement in real time. This moment-by-moment analysis shows advertisers where and how an ad can capture audiences with a memorable branding moment.
Caveat! There are many ways to measure an ad’s success. Here we are looking at one specific, but absolutely critical, measure—branding. It’s one thing to create an ad that people like, but do people pay attention and experience heightened emotions when the brandis presented?
Let’s see some competition!
In the Red Corner, we have Hyundai’s “The Elevator” featuring Jason Bateman. USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter ranked this ad 4thbest – a great result for any advertiser! And in the Blue Corner, Expensify’s “Expensify This” music video ad featuring 2Chainz and Adam Scott – ranked 42nd by the same measure. That’s almost last.
Let’s see where it went wrong for Expensify:
https://sparkneuro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Expensify_2Chainz_Adam_Scott.mp4
Expensify comes out of its corner strong! The distinctive music video feel is a refreshing contrast to more standard ads, and generates emotional intensity among our viewers. Sadly for 2Chainz, this effectiveness is short lived.
Participant engagement flatlines as the music cuts out and “record label finance” Adam Scott is introduced. With the flow of the ad broken, and the “advertising” part of the commercial now underway, participant engagement sinks as the conversation drags on without any music.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Expensify: attention and emotion have a small resurgence as the music picks up and the lyrics “snap it with Expensify” are sang alongside shots of the app in action. However, without a strong visual tie-in to the brand (where’s the Expensify logo in the app shot!), Expensify isn’t capitalizing on this moment.
The ad ends on a low note: engagement drops off as the song continues and the brand logo is introduced. By the time we get to the branding moment, participants have entirely lost interest.
Overall, while Expensify had a few decent frames where it integrated the product and brand into this ad’s story, the company missed its opportunity to further engage its audience when it truly mattered.
Hyundai was ranked much higher – what went right for them?
https://sparkneuro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Hyundai_Elevator-2.mp4
The Hyundai ad starts out with engagement relatively low and flat for the first 20 seconds. Even the introduction of Jason Bateman doesn’t do much to capture viewers’ attention. So far, it’s lagging behind Expensify’s comparative strong start.
The first joke to really land is one we can likely all relate to, as the doors open to the flight scene and “six hour flight middle seat” is announced. Both attention and emotion metrics jump, causing engagement to spill over to the next scene.
Hyundai takes a turn for the worse with its vegan dinner party joke, dragging on for a bit too long and not getting the laughs it was hoping for. By SPARK Neuro’s metrics, this 10 second scene could have been shortened or even axed.
But as the ad reaches its punchline and we hear the words “Hyundai? Going up!” participant engagement skyrockets. Audience engagement continues to rise as the elevator doors open on the Hyundai. The visuals – so far rather dark and bland – brighten, as angelic music comes in, the brand logo is shown, and our disembodied economy car educator does his stuff.
When the shot moves back to the elevator for an extended time, the audience starts to disengage, but all is not lost as there is rise in both attention and emotion when the product is reintroduced. Jumping quickly between the elevator and the heaven-like showroom guarded against disengagement, while also creating contrast and strengthening the final moment where the Hyundai is shown.
What Hyundai created here is the perfect combination of buildup and release not only on the storytelling front, but also from an audio and visual perspective. Not only does the brand double as the ad’s punchline – because buying a Hyundai is actually not a bad experience – the branding moment is presented in such contrast to the rest of the ad that it’s all culminating in the perfect branding moment.
THE FINAL SCORE
Ultimately, Expensify made a valiant effort, going beyond a plain branding moment by integrating its product into the ad’s story, but in the end missed the mark to really connect with audiences. Hyundai on the other hand, managed quite a feat – especially for the auto industry – by making its branding moment the ad’s highest engagement peak.
Whether an ad airs during the Super Bowl, or any other day of the year, making the most of your branding moment can go a long way!
SPARK Neuro Inc. 80 8th Ave.
New York, NY - 10011
SPARK Neuro Japan 1-11-3 Jinnan,
Shibuya-ku,
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Speaking of Family...
Speaking of Family Blog
Ancestry of David Kipp Melat
Ancestry of Cherie Lee Phillips
Relationship between David Kipp Melat and President George W. Bush
Relationship between David Kipp Melat and President Barack Obama
Frances Thomas1
Father Robert R. Thomas1
Mother Ruth M. (?)1
Charts Descendants of Samuel Thomas
Frances Thomas is the daughter of Robert R. Thomas and Ruth M. (?)1 She married George Oakley Deeter.1
George Oakley Deeter
Kristi Deeter1
[S232] Kathryn Newson, compiler, Thomas Family (n.p.: unpublished draft). Hereinafter cited as Thomas Family.
Zelma Margaret Thomas1
Zelma Margaret Thomas is the daughter of Robert R. Thomas and Ruth M. (?)1 She married John Thomas McMahon.1
John Thomas McMahon
John Thomas McMahon1
John Thomas McMahon married Zelma Margaret Thomas, daughter of Robert R. Thomas and Ruth M. (?).1
Zelma Margaret Thomas
Norman A. Thomas1
Norman A. Thomas is the son of Robert R. Thomas and Ruth M. (?)1
(?) Thomas1
(?) Thomas is the daughter of Robert R. Thomas and Ruth M. (?)1 She married Jeffrey L. Bennett.1
Jeffrey L. Bennett
Jeffrey L. Bennett1
Jeffrey L. Bennett married (?) Thomas, daughter of Robert R. Thomas and Ruth M. (?).1
(?) Thomas
Robert F. Thomas1
Robert F. Thomas is the son of Robert R. Thomas and Ruth M. (?)1
Clarence Alton Thomas1
Father Ira Eddy Thomas1 b. 1 Mar 1899, d. 18 Jan 1981
Mother Zelma Irene Abrams1 d. 1943
Clarence Alton Thomas is the son of Ira Eddy Thomas and Zelma Irene Abrams.1 He married Jeanne E. Rossner.1
Jeanne E. Rossner
Raye Marie Thomas1
Darren J. Thomas1
Jeanne E. Rossner1
Jeanne E. Rossner married Clarence Alton Thomas, son of Ira Eddy Thomas and Zelma Irene Abrams.1
Clarence Alton Thomas
Father Clarence Alton Thomas1
Mother Jeanne E. Rossner1
Raye Marie Thomas is the daughter of Clarence Alton Thomas and Jeanne E. Rossner.1
Darren J. Thomas is the son of Clarence Alton Thomas and Jeanne E. Rossner.1
Nola Jean Kightlinger1
b. 29 July 1925, d. 28 January 2000
Father Virgil S. Kightlinger1 b. 11 Sep 1905, d. 1 Feb 1980
Mother Ruth V. Burchfield1 b. 30 Dec 1902, d. 24 Jun 1982
Nola Jean Kightlinger was born on 29 July 1925 in Galloway, Oakland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania.2 She was the daughter of Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Burchfield.1 She married Lewis A. McGill on 26 June 1953 in Rocky Grove, Sugarcreek Borough, Venango County, Pennsylvania.2 She died on 28 January 2000 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania, at age 74.2 She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Titusville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania.2
Nola Jean Kightlinger was living in Hydetown, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in 1996 when her brother Jack died.3
Lewis A. McGill
Thomas McGill2
John McGill2
David McGill2
Karen McGill2
[S962] "Obituary of Nola Jean McGill," The Derrick (online), Oil City, PA, (www.thederrick.com), 31 Jan 2000. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
[S8] Obituary of Jack Kightlinger, The Oil City Derrick, Oil City, PA, Feb. 1996, Oil City Library, Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
Lewis A. McGill1
Lewis A. McGill married Nola Jean Kightlinger, daughter of Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Burchfield, on 26 June 1953 in Rocky Grove, Sugarcreek Borough, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1
Nola Jean Kightlinger b. 29 Jul 1925, d. 28 Jan 2000
Kenneth S. Kightlinger1
b. 15 April 1928, d. 25 February 1937
Kenneth S. Kightlinger was born on 15 April 1928.1 He was the son of Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Burchfield.1 He died on 25 February 1937 at age 8.1 He was buried in Bethel Cemetery, Oakland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1
Gerald E. Kightlinger1
Gerald E. Kightlinger is the son of Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Burchfield.1
Marilyn Joan Kightlinger1
b. 18 November 1936, d. 11 August 1937
Marilyn Joan Kightlinger was born on 18 November 1936.1 She was the daughter of Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Burchfield.1 She died on 11 August 1937.1 She was buried in Bethel Cemetery, Oakland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1
Gary L. Kightlinger1
b. 20 April 1941, d. 1 November 2012
Gary L. Kightlinger was born on 20 April 1941 in Franklin, Venango County, Pennsylvania.2 He was the son of Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Burchfield.1 He married Tonya June Malys on 28 January 1961 in Franklin, Venango County, Pennsylvania.3 He died on 1 November 2012 in Marion, Ohio, at age 71.2 He was buried in Marion Cemetery, Marion.2
Gary L. Kightlinger and Tonya June Malys lived in Marion, Ohio.1,2
Tonya June Malys b. 12 Aug 1942, d. 10 May 2009
Kerry Kightlinger+2
Chris Kightlinger+2
Jason Kightlinger+2
[S962] "Obituary of Gary L. Kightlinger," The Derrick (online), Oil City, PA, (www.thederrick.com), 6 Nov 2012. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
[S962] "Obit. of Tonya June Kightlinger," The Derrick (online), Oil City, PA, (www.thederrick.com), 12 May 2009. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
Sandra Kightlinger1
Sandra Kightlinger is the daughter of Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Burchfield.1 She married Lynn Reyburn.2
Lynn Reyburn
Lynn Reyburn1
Lynn Reyburn married Sandra Kightlinger, daughter of Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Burchfield.1
Sandra Kightlinger
Ruth V. Burchfield1
b. 30 December 1902, d. 24 June 1982
Father Alonzo A. Burchfield1 b. c 1878, d. 4 May 1944
Mother Myra Bell Thomas1 b. 25 Jun 1884, d. 21 Oct 1956
Ruth V. Burchfield was born on 30 December 1902 in Galloway, Oakland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1 She was the daughter of Alonzo A. Burchfield and Myra Bell Thomas.1 She married Virgil S. Kightlinger, son of Reuben S. Kightlinger.2 She died on 24 June 1982 in Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania, at age 79.1 She was buried in Bethel Cemetery, Oakland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1
Ruth V. Kightlinger and Virgil S. Kightlinger lived in Rocky Grove, Sugarcreek Borough, Venango County, Pennsylvania.2
Virgil S. Kightlinger b. 11 Sep 1905, d. 1 Feb 1980
Nola Jean Kightlinger+3 b. 29 Jul 1925, d. 28 Jan 2000
Kenneth S. Kightlinger3 b. 15 Apr 1928, d. 25 Feb 1937
Beverly Kightlinger+3
Donald Lee Kightlinger+3
Marilyn Joan Kightlinger3 b. 18 Nov 1936, d. 11 Aug 1937
Richard Sidney Kightlinger+3
Gary L. Kightlinger+4 b. 20 Apr 1941, d. 1 Nov 2012
[S8] Obituary of Ruth Kightlinger, The Oil City Derrick, Oil City, PA, June 1982, Oil City Library, Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
[S8] Obituary of Virgil Kightlinger, The Oil City Derrick, Oil City, PA, Feb. 1980, Oil City Library, Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
Virgil S. Kightlinger1
b. 11 September 1905, d. 1 February 1980
Father Reuben S. Kightlinger2
Virgil S. Kightlinger was born on 11 September 1905.1 He was the son of Reuben S. Kightlinger.2 He married Ruth V. Burchfield, daughter of Alonzo A. Burchfield and Myra Bell Thomas.1 He died on 1 February 1980 at age 74.1 He was buried in Bethel Cemetery, Oakland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1
Virgil S. Kightlinger and Ruth V. Kightlinger lived in Rocky Grove, Sugarcreek Borough, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1
Ruth V. Burchfield b. 30 Dec 1902, d. 24 Jun 1982
[S231] "Mrs. Mary Seekins Loses Two Week's Battle For Life", The News Herald, Franklin, PA, 21 Sep 1934, Pennsylvania Room, Franklin Library, Franklin, Venango County, Pennsylvania.
Samuel Glen Burchfield1
b. 6 October 1909, d. 13 January 1976
Descendants of John Winger
Samuel Glen Burchfield was born on 6 October 1909.2 He was the son of Alonzo A. Burchfield and Myra Bell Thomas.1 He married Minnie Viola Poulson, daughter of Howard Poulson and Zula Maude Freeman, in September 1931.3 He died on 13 January 1976 at age 66.4
Minnie Viola Poulson b. 16 Feb 1914, d. 19 Jun 1969
William G. Burchfield1
Richard Alonzo Burchfield+1
[S232] Kathryn Newson, compiler, Thomas Family (n.p.: unpublished draft), Obit of Myra Burchfield and Samuel G. Burchfield. Hereinafter cited as Thomas Family.
[S232] Kathryn Newson, compiler, Thomas Family (n.p.: unpublished draft), Obit. of Minnie (Poulson) Burchfield. Hereinafter cited as Thomas Family.
[S232] Kathryn Newson, compiler, Thomas Family (n.p.: unpublished draft), Obit. of Samuel G. Burchfield. Hereinafter cited as Thomas Family.
Father Samuel Glen Burchfield1 b. 6 Oct 1909, d. 13 Jan 1976
Mother Minnie Viola Poulson1 b. 16 Feb 1914, d. 19 Jun 1969
William G. Burchfield is the son of Samuel Glen Burchfield and Minnie Viola Poulson.1
Velma Katherine Burchfield1
b. 20 April 1914, d. 15 April 1981
Velma Katherine Burchfield was born on 20 April 1914 in Franklin, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1 She was the daughter of Alonzo A. Burchfield and Myra Bell Thomas.1 She married Ralph M. Cheers, son of James H. Cheers and Bessie Lesh, on 7 December 1929.2 She died on 15 April 1981 in Franklin, Venango County, Pennsylvania, at age 66.1 She was buried in Franklin Cemetery, Sugarcreek Borough, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1
Velma Katherine Burchfield also went by the name of Katherine Burchfield.
Ralph M. Cheers b. 9 Oct 1910, d. 13 Feb 1992
Margaret Joan Cheers+3
Raymond Eugene Cheers+3
Ronald Murray Cheers+3
[S8] Obituary of Katherine (Burchfield) Cheers, The Oil City Derrick, Oil City, PA, 16 Apr. 1981, Oil City Library, Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
[S8] Obituary of Ralph M. Cheers, The Oil City Derrick, Oil City, PA, 14 Feb. 1992, Oil City Library, Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
Ralph M. Cheers1
b. 9 October 1910, d. 13 February 1992
Father James H. Cheers1
Mother Bessie Lesh1
Ralph M. Cheers was born on 9 October 1910 in Franklin, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1 He was the son of James H. Cheers and Bessie Lesh.1 He married Velma Katherine Burchfield, daughter of Alonzo A. Burchfield and Myra Bell Thomas, on 7 December 1929.1 He died on 13 February 1992 at age 81.1 He was buried in Franklin Cemetery, Sugarcreek Borough, Venango County, Pennsylvania.1
Velma Katherine Burchfield b. 20 Apr 1914, d. 15 Apr 1981
James H. Cheers1
James H. Cheers married Bessie Lesh.1
Bessie Lesh
Ralph M. Cheers+1 b. 9 Oct 1910, d. 13 Feb 1992
Bessie Lesh1
Bessie Lesh married James H. Cheers.1
James H. Cheers
Clare J. Kimes1
b. 2 August 1915, d. 4 December 1980
Father James C. Kimes1
Mother Lulu May Kightlinger1
Clare J. Kimes was born on 2 August 1915 in Reidsburg, Clarion County, Pennsylvania.1 He was the son of James C. Kimes and Lulu May Kightlinger.1 He married Bernice Leona Sherman.1 He died on 4 December 1980 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania, at age 65.1 He was buried in Day, Clarion Township, Clarion County, Pennsylvania.1
Clare J. Kimes served in World War II.1 He was employed by the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Erie, Pennsylvania as a nurse.1
Bernice Leona Sherman d. 1957
Brenda Kimes+1
[S8] Obituary of Clare J. Kimes, The Oil City Derrick, Oil City, PA, 6 Dec. 1980, Oil City Library, Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania. Hereinafter cited as The Derrick.
Bernice Leona Sherman1
Bernice Leona Sherman married Clare J. Kimes, son of James C. Kimes and Lulu May Kightlinger.1 She died in 1957.1
Clare J. Kimes b. 2 Aug 1915, d. 4 Dec 1980
Copyright © 2012-2019 D. Kipp Melat.
Please email any comments/questions/corrections to: Kipp Melat
Site updated on 13 May 2019
Page created by John Cardinal's Second Site v6.2.11. | Based on a design by Contented Designs
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Dungeons n Dragons. A Games Master’s Review
This weekend just gone I went to Birmingham and the UK Games Expo.
Been to this event a few times now but this time decided to run Five Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition games. In doing this as a Game Master it granted me free entry to the whole weekend at the expo plus a room for two nights and expenses for food.
Of course I’m going to go for these options. All I had to do now was submit five 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game ideas and hope all were excepted.
Within a day I had written five short synopsis for each of my game ideas. Within days they were excepted.All I had to do now was write them…
Adventure, Characters, dragon, Dungeons & Dragons, History, Pathfinder, Roleplaying Games, Roleplaying Thoughts
#DnDnext, 4e, 4e. Fan., adventure, Characters, games, Japan, Oriental, roleplaying, RPG
Taking my Medication
Tablets mean the world to a digital artist. That Is the Digital Artist Tablet not the kind from the pharmacy. No confusion there then.
I am just dipping my toes into that world of digital art. I love the worlds of Super Heroes, Dungeons and Dragons and Any form of Role-playing games. That is where I have taken my influence for these following pictures. I like to have a Character drawing for every Character I play.
Adventure, Call of Cthulhu, Characters, Countersketches, DC, Dungeons & Dragons, History, human form, Marvel, naked body, Pathfinder, Roleplaying Games, Roleplaying Thoughts, Superheros, Xenophobic.
adventure, art colour, Art Tablet, Call of Cthulhu, Characters, CoC, Cthulhu, d&d 4e, digital art. not ironman, drawing, dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons and dragons., games, Monsters, musings, roleplaying, RPG, rpg ideas, Superheros, Supers, tablet
The A to Z of Dungeon Mastering
So Dungeon Master, be It for Dungeons and Dragons, 13th Age, Pathfinder or for that matter any Role Playing game (RPG). You want to take charge, be the creator of your own game and possibly your own world.
You have your Players (PCs). You have your Dice. You have your Ideas. This Is just a small part of what goes on behind and In front of the GM’s screen.
Take a look through my Short A to Z of Dungeon Mastering…
Adventure, Characters, dragon, Dungeons & Dragons, History, Pathfinder, Roleplaying Games, Roleplaying Thoughts, Xenophobic.
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A Gathering of Super Heroes
This Is just a Quick Post. So quick that there isn’t much to It at all. Just that I have not placed anything here In a long time.
Been doing some drawing and here Is a few of them. At some point I will paint these and post them again.
Characters, Countersketches, Roleplaying Games, Roleplaying Thoughts, Superheros
adventure, art colour, Characters, drawing, hero, musings, roleplaying, RPG, rpg ideas, settings, Super, Superheros, Supers
A Ruined City
Dungeons & Dragons Location.
Napoli.
Naples could be a fantasy location for your next Dungeons & Dragons game.
I recently came back from a few days in the Italian City of Naples. A thriving Port and hectic city with a mix of every culture.
The idea that a modern city could be transcribed directly into a game #RPG setting isn’t new of course but having now witnessed the city first hand It could make for an interesting location.
From a visual point of view the first thing that strikes you is the graffiti.
Do you remember the scene in the Monty Python film. The Life of Brian. The graffiti was forty feet tall. Well its worse here.
It is adorning every clear surface, building wall, window, sculptures and signs. But no attempt has been made to remove or control its spread also Litter is everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. Then the traffic. In this modern world it is cars but it is so easy to visualise horses and camels drawing wagons of fruits and vegetables. People pushing carts. Shouting, hawking their wares.
Begging has its place wherever you go. Here its on every street. The characters that you see could be straight out of a game #rpg from far-flung locations who have made it here via land or sea and now found themselves without anything. Visually they fit every stereotype.
That NPC that steps so close that you see every cracked tooth. The wayward hair that as a Game Master (GM) you do your best to describe.
Dogs wonder the streets freely. Polite sign-age ask you not to touch or feed these strays and in some cases wild roaming animals. At any moment a pack of dogs could be your next adversary. The one that tests that new steal you bought from that blind beggar.
Animal waste is something you need to be aware of unless you think it lucky. Then in that case you would be classed as very lucky in this city.
Smell can be a very useful tool in your next game. No not the real thing unless you have been unwell or eaten something that didn’t agree with you. The described smell like sounds can be a very useful addition to the mood and feel of your location in your game.
The city is in total disrepair. Decaying buildings are nearly all that greet you. Plaster falling from walls. frescoes and features left to fend for themselves. Pollution and neglect eat away at these once proud and elegant façades.
You would imagine that these buildings were anything but inhabitable yet they still have occupation and life within. Its like the fortitude of the buildings will alone keep the occupants safe. How could this building ever harm anyone.
People live on top of each other. Floor added to floor to the point you think it could not hold anymore but yet another floor is added.
Cracks now give the buildings a new face. An old and tired look. They seem sad. Unloved.
Washing hang from balconies trying to dry from the warm air that drifts through the narrow claustrophobic streets. Yet the buildings seem to try their best to keep warm but it’s just dripping tears of despair.
Yet hidden as if turning its face away from the outside world are hidden gems to delight the eye and fill you with awe.
The populous are forever oblivious to what is around them be it litter about their feet or the concerns of others going on about them.
It seems they put all their effort into their appearance. With quality of cloth and personal standards high on their agendas. Shops sell every kind of over the top quality of clothing. Anything that could in the end take away interest in the state of their city and place your interest squarely on them.
It’s like they say. “yes my city is shit but at least I look good so look at me”.
Everything about them just reinforces this self-image.
With all this activity going on there still seems a relaxed and sedated feel about the whole city. Shop owners relax outside their shops. Smoke, drink and laugh.
Markets are at the end of every ally way. Stalls of every kind will lay for all to see. Shouts and calls to buy from every direction.
Fresh fish, freshly caught that day and landed at the harbour.
Butchered right in front of you. Whatever your order they can fill it. Some squid and octopi and even shell-fish kept alive in water buckets so you can witness how fresh they are.
Raw and cooked meats and even offal is on display.
Be aware this is one of the many locations the city has to offer an opportunity to the pickpocket. He will be that nobody who just brushed past or a gang of thieves. Well oiled in the art of deception.
Bring this place to life with a thought for what seems minor can add even more colour to your vibrant game night..
Vegetables from far and near some you have never seen before and with some happy to never see again.
Then there is the prepared foods. Pizzas and pies. The smells are at times overwhelming yet totally enticing.
Don’t forget the drink. Coffees and teas. Beers and spirits. Yet if you take the invitation to sit will cost you just to sit. You will not find that out until you are presented with the bill.
This now brings me to the largest openly demonstrated gang. They act and seem like a gang. They run the city. This is only a perceived image but its a strong feeling.
The Police. They walk or drive the city. Hang out in groups. Talk and smoke together. Occasionally you will see them set off in a particular direction and all the peddlers and scally wags run and hide but nothing changes.
The city militia are the ever ready force to be there whenever they are not needed or called for. A bribe may see them fight on your side for once. Then again it may see you spend the night or two in a dank cell.
This city works. How it works seems a mystery. All the chaos fixes together like an ever-changing jigsaw puzzle.
Adventure, Characters, Dungeons & Dragons, History, human form, Pathfinder, Roleplaying Games, Roleplaying Thoughts
#DnDnext, 4e. Fan., adventure, Characters, d&d 4e, DnD, games, musings, roleplaying, RPG, rpg ideas, settings
If It wasn’t for those Pesky Kids
The Other day we played an Awesome game of #DnDNext with the Number one GM that Is @Greywulf over on the G+ hangout. The usual Dungeons & Dragons characters came out to play. We had elements of at least three other systems thrown In. Some Call of Cthulhu monsters. Some, well I can not really remember what went In to It but what came out was Awesome and well, that Is what has inspired me on my day off to draw these. I played Wel-Mah who was Velma’s twin only because two players wanted to play the same character In this Role-playing extravaganza
When Given the freedom as we have with our Online GM to take a game In the way that an #RPG should go and be played then FUN Is the name of that game. So here for you to consider is The Doo Gang.
Will do anything for a Scooby Snack
Call of Cthulhu, Characters, Countersketches, dragon, Dungeons & Dragons, human form, Pathfinder, Roleplaying Games, Roleplaying Thoughts
4e. Fan., adventure, Call of Cthulhu, Characters, Dungeons and dragons., pathfinder, roleplaying, RPG, rpg ideas, scooby doo
Best Served Chilled
One Shot Art
If you have been here before you know that what I like to post is my Drawings that I do for people from around the World. Character drawings are what I enjoy doing. The #RPG that I love is my inspiration. So here are a few that I have drawn. For Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons next. Also one for Shadowrun
I sence a tremer in the Force
HumaHulk
A mage of the Future
Adventure, Characters, Countersketches, Dungeons & Dragons, human form, Pathfinder, Roleplaying Games, Roleplaying Thoughts
4e, ADND, adventure, Characters, d&d 4e, DnD, dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons and dragons., roleplaying, RPG, rpg ideas
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Cthulhu Calling:Moons over Cairo- Cast
Professor Harold Trimble
Justin Le Dunst
Professor William ” Bill ” Sather
Miss Kate Buckingham
Call of Cthulhu, Roleplaying Games
Call of Cthulhu, CoC, Cthulhu
MOONS OVER CAIRO Act one
It’s 1926. A sponsored expedition to Cairo found something very interesting in the sands, Things were recovered , taged then moved. Moved to where? Could you be the ones to find out, Join me as we create a story together.MOONS OVER CAIRO Its history in the making and so it begins Professor Harold trimbleDeep in his studies at the university of Massachusettes, Boston. A letter Dated 02/08/26 arrives in the early post but it’s late afternoon when he gets around to reading it.
Prof H Trimble School of Greek History University of Massachusetts Boston
4 August 1926 Karl Sappington Columbian University New York
Dear Mr Sappington,
Thank you for your letter dated 2 August.
I have long been an admirer of the work of John Coles. The finds he has unearthed and written about in the past have contributed enormously to the field of History. I am extremely intrigued about the find you allude to in your letter and am flattered to be invited to carry out some research with Mr Coles.
I barely had time to begin discussions with the Dean here, before he interrupted and insisted that I take a sabbatical and take the opportunity to work with John Coles. I humbly accept your invitation.
My fellow university colleague and friend, Justin Le Dunst ,will accompany me in the role of amanuensis and assistant. Le Dunst is a very able and practical chap who will be of great assistance.
We look forward to meeting with you on the 10th in New York.
Harold Trimble
P.S. If you have any details of the find, I may be able to carry out some initial research in the University Library’s extensive collection before joining the train on the 10th.
…written by symatt , February 20, 2009
Brrring, Brrring.
Hello, oh Hello Professor Trimble, this is Alice, Mr Sappinton’s assistant. Mr Sappington asked me to call you with regards your visit. Apparently its all a little hush hush at the moment and Mr Coles wants a big unvailing in front of press and the mayor of New York, so at this point he is unable to furnish you with infomation…. but, as soon as the cameras are gone, then youself and the other learned guests can ask all the questions that you wish and Mr Coles hopes that you will become invaluable to his further research into his find.
we all look forward to meeting you professor Trimble, you take care and Mr Sappington will see you on the 10th. bye Click .
..written by Aja , February 21
Professor Trimble popped his head around the door of the Sports Hall Office at the University of Massachusetts.
“Good morning Justin. I’ve just had a call about this find that John Coles has asked us to look into. It’s all very mysterious – apparently he wants to unveil it in front of the Mayor and a load of hobnobs. He doesn’t want to tell us anything about it yet.”
Justin was in the process of oiling a fine willow cricket bat he’d just had imported from England. He was keen to introduce new sports to the University and since a postgraduate student from Cambridge had raved about the game when he was here during the last semester, Justin had decided to try it out. The student had moved on and had unselfishly left a copy of the rules for Justin to study.
Justin put the bat and oil to one side.
“That’s interesting Professor, I must say I’m not surprised, from what you tell me about this chap Coles. He likes to make an entrance.”
The Professor drummed his fingers on the door frame.
“Yes, I’ve been thinking about that. I think it would be pertinent to have a look in the newspapers to see if there’s been any mention of where he’s been recently – I know he travels a lot and the papers like to report on his activities. Would you mind checking the recent papers from New York to see if there’s any mention of his exploits?” he asked.
Justin’s face lit up. “Yes Professor, it would be a pleasure. I’ll just finish up here and I’ll let you know what I find.”
The Professor thanked his colleague and returned to his rooms. He had some packing to do.
written by symatt , February 21
Justin trundles of to the Uni library Getting sidetracked by a few of the young ladies in the hallway (library use roll for justin For more details)
The library is a vast metropolis of books, bookshelves, desks,tables and chairs. Students mill in and around narrow corridors of shelves like slow moving trafic occasionally stopping to browse the contents of the vast knowledge stored here. Justin sits himself down at the Newspaper archives and begins to trawl through months of back issues The hours spent in the library passed faster than expected for Justin and lunch had long gone before he had found what he hoped the Professor was looking for.
On his return to Professor Trimble.
I Had no problems finding articles on John Coles, he seens a bit of the adventuring sort to me Professor, any way its like finding where he hasn’t been was the problem Ha Ha. It seems that most of the finds in the University museum are down to him. Anyway Mr Coles latest expedition was to Egypt to a dig just outside the bounds of the Vally of the Kings, less than 3 miles from the tomb of Tutankhamun (which was discovered in November 1922). No one is sure what made him dig in this location but for the last 3 months has been sending many small artifacts back to America, which are now located in the Museum labs for study.
written by symatt , February
Justin pondered for a moment, there was an odd thing that i noticed in the New York papers about CATS, yeh i know Cats, well apparently the city is having a problem with them coming into the city from all around, they even closed the subway because of them on one occation.
Anyway maybe we can get to see the vaults when we get there? Im not to intrested in the press and the shouting that they do , i had enough of that for the Olimpics.
written by Aja , February 22
Professor Trimble agreed with Justin. When they arrived in New York, it would be good to get down to the research straight away. Like Justin, the Professor wasn’t interested in the publicity.
The Professor was very happy with the information that Justin had dug up in the newspapers, and he sat at his desk mulling over the information, fiddling with his pipe (unlit – he never smoked it, it gave him something to do with his hands when he needed to think).
So old John Coles had been near the Valley of the Kings had he? Given Carnarvon’s and Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, no doubt Coles was hoping to find something similar. Perhaps he had, and this is what this grand ceremony would be all about. The Professor was more hopeful that perhaps some more interesting objects had been found that needed researching and explaining. As for the cats, the Professor dismissed them from his mind – Justin seemed intrigued by it, but the young always found these strange stories intriguing.
Justin popped his head around the door.
“Good afternoon Professor. I’ve packed my bags. The train leaves at 6:30 tomorrow morning. It takes about 10 hours to get to New York. The time should pass pretty quickly – the first class service is supposed to be top notch with three good meals on the way.”
“You’re quite right Justin. I’ve traveled to New York a few times over the years and the train really is very comfortable. I’m sure we’ll not want for anything.” replied the Professor.
“There’s a cab picking us up at six. Do you need any help packing?” asked Justin.
“I’m ready to go. I’ll pack a few books and papers this evening and instruct Jones to wake me at five. I’ll see you in the morning.” said the Professor.
“Right you are – see you in the morning.” Justin said over his shoulder as he headed out of the room.
Jones , the Professors University help, duly woke him at five and the Professor and Justin arrived at the station in plenty of time to board the train at Boston’s South Central Station. Within minutes of the train pulling out of the station, the Professor and Justin settled down to an extremely good breakfast. Now they were on their way, New York couldn’t come quickly enough.
...written by symatt , February 24
The train rattled on it’s journey but the waiters barely notice as they continued to serve breakfast. There was around seven other people in the dinning car and as the world flashed by the windows the professor took note of each one. A young portly man, dressed in a dark blue suit sat with his elbows on the table and his fingers intertwined stareing out of the window seemingly lost in his own thoughts as his scrmbled egg was going cold on the plate in front of him, the professor also noted that there was some pale skin where a wedding band should have been. The tables were layed in all manner of finery from fine linen napkins to the gold plated sugar tongues resting in the bowl and the soft terracota carpet that softend everyones footfall..
The next table down was a young couple holding hands and giggling across the table at each other, the young woman was pale skined with short dark hair as was the fasion these days, and her dress,well, no wonder that the waiters lingered at that table just that bit longer than usual. The gentleman was unimpresive in a grey jacket ans a smile that just wasn’t convincing. Seated across from them was a quiet group , two gentlemen and a woman. The two gents were dark of skin but not african and the woman had olive skin just like the europeans, she was wearing a pale blue trouser suit and a bright head scarf, tight over her hair as to offer no clues to the colour and length. The two men were in dark suits and white shirts with no ties. No one was eating at this table, just drinking small coffies and by the looks they were playing a board game of some kind. The professor considered for a moment and decided that they all must have been in there forty’s or ther abouts anyway and from time to time they seemed to look over this way.
Finaly an elderly gentleman sat alone eating his breakfast but in such a manner to have thought that he had not eaten for sometime. His hair was messy and matted as also his beared and mustache, he had on a white linen jacket over a white shirt wich had already gathered food stains of soft egg running down it. He slurped at orange juice and coffee almost together whilst his mouth was still full of food. The professor enqired of Justin.
” Do you recognise that man Justin?”
justin twisted his head so that he could see over his shoulder.
“No prof” he said between bites of toast ” I don’t think that I have seen him before”.
“Justin, I have a notion that i know that man,but from where Justin, from where?”
Justin shrugged and took another noisey bite of toast.
Adventure, Call of Cthulhu, Roleplaying Games, Roleplaying Thoughts
adventure, Call of Cthulhu, Characters, CoC, Cthulhu, RPG, settings
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Tag Archives: Julian Barnes
Grimspound & Inhabiting Art by Rod Mengham (Carcanet Press)
Posted on July 13, 2019 by tearsinthefence
Referring to the photography of Marc Atkins whose contributions are central to the whole narrative of disappearances in two of Iain Sinclair’s books Rod Mengham writes:
“Photography is often thought of as a medium that fixes the moment, cryogenising it for future generations, but it can also become the means of showing how nothing is ever fixed, how the moment will always elude us, how all that can be recorded is irrevocable loss.”
Grimspound and Inhabiting Art is divided into two separate sections but as one reads more of the second half one realises how connected they really are. The first section looks closely at Conan Doyle’s novella from 1901, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and the second larger section is comprised of twenty-nine short essays on different cultural habitats. Both sections focus on the elusiveness of reality and I am put in mind of Lewis Carroll’s 1872 publication, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There:
“The shop seemed to be full of all manner of curious things – but the oddest part of it all was, that whenever she looked hard at any shelf, to make out exactly what it had on it, that particular shelf was always quite empty: though the others round it were crowded as full as they could hold. ‘Things flow about so here!’ she said at last in a plaintive tone, after she had spent a minute or so in vainly pursuing a large bright thing, that looked sometimes like a doll and sometimes like a workbox, and was always in the shelf next above the one she was looking at.”
In writing about the Sherlock Holmes story, much of which takes place on Dartmoor, Mengham writes convincingly about the satisfactory nature of the detective tale by suggesting that its allure is the “harmony” it gives “to seemingly discordant elements; the underlying pattern that Watson gives voice to”. In a way this “harmony” is a piecing together of language in which its reconstruction “is what loosens the story’s tongue”. Language becomes a souvenir of a specific history. With a close examination of Conan Doyle’s story Mengham identifies some of the roots of this form of communication by alerting us to the fact that the murderer’s wife, Mrs Stapleton, is discovered bound round the throat and the hound itself attacks the throats of its prey:
“The legend reaches its climax with the spectacle of the giant hound standing over Sir Hugo Baskerville and ‘plucking at his throat; the Sherlock Holmes story leads to the same point: ‘I was in time to see the beast spring upon its victim, hurl him to the ground and worry at his throat’. Up until now, the hound has been heard but not seen, with its ‘muttered rumble’ seemingly dislocated from its source in the animal’s throat. Both in the legend and in Watson’s case history, the immediate object of the hound’s attack is the victim’s throat and the root of the tongue; which is where the voice originates; where language is housed.”
Given this context it is highly appropriate that in the old stone hut which is used by Holmes as a hidden lair there are a few items on the flat stone which serves as a table and they include a loaf of bread, two tins of preserved peaches and, notably, “a tinned tongue”. For the detective as things take shape they become coherent and the historian pieces together a version of the truth. However, as Julian Barnes pointed out “History isn’t what happened, history is just what historians tell us” and in his novel Flaubert’s Parrot Barnes’s narrator recalls the difficulties of seizing the past when he tells us of his experience as a medical student when “some pranksters at an end-of-term dance” released into the hall a piglet which had been smeared with grease:
It squirmed between legs, evaded capture, squealed a lot. People fell over trying to grasp it, and were made to look ridiculous in the process. The past often seems to behave like that piglet.”
When he writes a short essay about the photography of Marc Atkins in 2003 Rod Mengham brings to our attention the artist’s focus upon urban iconography. The photographs of Warsaw record a “city of disappearances” which also brings to mind the terrifying dystopia revealed in Paul Auster’s novel In the Country of Last Things. For Mengham the city brought to light by Atkins reveals a history “leaching out through the stone and brick of a fabric that could not be more distressed, whose patched and stained facades offer maximum resistance to the wipe-clean surfaces of modernity”. This is a city “whose foundations lie in sands and gravels” where the archaeology is all “above ground” and the record of past conflicts appear “only skin-deep beneath a thin layer of badly mixed plaster, apparently designed to fall away in time for each generation to have to rehearse its own strategies for oblivion”.
Grimspound and Inhabiting Art is a fascinating read that invites one to return to it time and time again as the roots of language feel out towards the conversation which had been “begun in the primeval forests and extended and made more articulate in the course of centuries” (Michael Oakeshott, ‘The Voice of Poetry in the Conversation of Mankind’).
Ian Brinton, 13th July 2019
Posted in Books, Essays and tagged Arthur Conan Doyle, Julian Barnes, Lewis Carroll, Marc Atkins, Paul Auster. Bookmark the permalink.
Bloodlines by Andy Brown (Worple Press)
The title of these poems suggests two different things to my mind. The bloodlines that flow through our bodies are those veins and arteries that pump our sense of immediacy: they keep the ‘here’ and ‘now’ moving. The bloodlines that connect us to our past remind us of the more established patterns that might be traceable over centuries. One of the more extreme versions of the possible connections between past and present is a belief in cryonic preservation and Andy Brown’s quietly humane poem ‘Committal’ opens by contemplating this:
“Today a teenage girl secured her right
to have herself cryonically preserved
so maybe in five hundred years, or more,
once mutation’s mystery has been solved,
her body may be warmed to stir again
and she can live the life she’s barely led.”
There is a moving tone to this picture as we are confronted with youth’s clutch at a straw and it is given a greater emotional emphasis by being juxtaposed with a mature awareness of what one might be able to pass on to future generations if one did not have life taken away so young. The poet’s own wish for commitment to the ground involves being interred “deep in loamy woodland soil” and having a sapling oak planted above his head:
“so hair and skin and bone may be reborn
in twig and leaf, in xylem, riddled bark;
so the seep of muscle and marrow may
replenish soil, feed worm and ant and moth…”
There is perhaps enormous comfort in thinking that what we do feeds the life that goes on after our death although, as Hamlet recognized, the idea is threaded with ironies because after all “A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm”. When Claudius asks the meaning of this he is told that it reveals “how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar”. In ‘Committal’ the word “feed” occurs three times and the important emphasis is on how the present feeds the future and, of course, how the past feeds the present. The last couplet of the poem has a fine echo to it and we are made aware of the tentative connections between ‘now’ and ‘then’:
“just let the faintest hints of musk remain:
that trace and pulse of what we must become.”
The trace and pulse, both aspects of a bloodline, present us with the hints of a past that bodies forth into a present as with Hardy’s ‘The Voice’ where he can almost see again his young girlfriend standing outside the town where they used to meet some forty years ago “where you would wait for me”. The memory is held in the air, like a scent, and he is almost seeing the way she was dressed “even to the original air-blue gown”. This is a history that offers those “faintest hints”, or what Hardy recalled about returning from a walk after Emma’s death, “that underlying sense / Of the look of a room on returning thence”. In Julian Barnes’s novel, Flaubert’s Parrot, the narrator wonders about how we can seize the past and recalls an anecdote from his college-days in which a piglet smeared with grease was let loose at the end of term dance:
There is of course that less immediately personal bloodline that connects us with a common past: our inheritance of central feelings such as greed and violence. Reading Brown’s two-part poem ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ one is drawn into that world of Chaucer’s bleak humour as the three thieves murder each other and the Pardoner watches the bodies disappear “like runoff down the drain”. However, a more pensive tone informs ‘Homo naledi’, the epigraph of which refers to a new species of hominid that was unearthed in South Africa in 2013 after having been given a ritual burial some two million years before:
“In Gauteng’s caves the dons are asking how
the branches of our past converge; if much
connects these buried bones with the longer
lines that lead out from the trees. They will
in time shed light.”
These are thoughtful, quiet poems and, as befits elegies, they linger in the mind.
Posted in Books, English Poetry and tagged Andy Brown, Chaucer, Julian Barnes, Thomas Hardy. Bookmark the permalink.
Melancholy Occurrence by John Seed (Shearsman Books)
“body partly on the
pavement partly on the road blood
streaming from the back of his head
Cornelius Grinnell of New York
owner of the steam yacht Hawk
lodging at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club
on Pier Street in Ryde
returning to his rooms after midnight
drew up the Venetian blinds
opened the window and stepped out
onto a balcony that wasn’t there
and disappeared”
John Seed opens his new book of poetic vignettes, his windows into another world, with the clear assertion that they are appropriated from mostly nineteenth-century English newspapers or inquest reports and rewritten. As Julian Barnes reminded us some years ago History isn’t what happened it’s what historians tell us happened and when contemplating the enormous canvas of Gericault’s ‘Le Radeau de la Méduse’ in the Louvre he enquired “How do you turn catastrophe into art?” John Seed’s “rewritten” transforms these pieces of news into what could be the frame for the nouveau roman or, more closely perhaps, le nouveau conte. The margin between historical reconstruction and the world of fiction was tested in 1979 by Milan Kundera in the opening four paragraphs of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting:
“In February 1948, Communist leader Klement Gottwald stepped out on the balcony of a Baroque palace in Prague to address the hundreds of thousands of his fellow citizens packed into Old Town Square. It was a crucial moment in Czech history—a fateful moment of the kind that occurs once or twice in a millennium.
Gottwald was flanked by his comrades, with Clementis standing next to him. There were snow flurries, it was cold, and Gottwald was bareheaded. The solicitious Clementis took off his own fur cap and set it on Gottwald’s head.
The Party propaganda section put out hundreds of thousands of copies of a photograph of that balcony with Gottwald, a fur cap on his head and comrades at his side, speaking to the nation. On that balcony the history of Communist Czechoslovakia was born. Every child knew the photograph from posters, schoolbooks, and museums.
Four years later Clementis was charged with treason and hanged. The propaganda section immediately airbrushed him out of history and, obviously, out of all the photographs as well. Ever since, Gottwald has stood on that balcony alone. Where Clementis once stood, there is only bare palace wall. All that remains of Clementis is the cap on Gottwald’s head.”
The famous photograph was taken on February 21st 1948 and when Vladimir Clementis was executed in 1952 he was indeed erased from the photograph. But it acts as the opening scene for a novel which Salman Rushdie referred to as being full of angels, terror, ostriches and love!
John Seed’s glimpses and glimmerings taken from those nineteenth-century newspapers raise the curtain upon a moment of dramatic intensity. In the poem I quoted at the beginning we are confronted with a conclusion: a body, partly on the road and partly on the pavement. The opening word offers us no description but its bald assertion makes it clear that this is a dead person and the most immediate cause of death may well be the blood that is “streaming” from the head. We are then taken back in time to discover the name of the dead person, his place of origin, his possession of a steam yacht and the place at which he was residing. The deft artistic quality of this little picture is then caught in the last stanza as we are invited into the room from which he fell. We are caught between the historical fact of him stepping out of the window and the immediate awareness of the moment of realisation that is followed by the fall to his death: historical information has taken on a moment of individual and personal vividness. This is very powerful writing indeed.
On the back cover of this remarkable collection of poems there is a quotation from Empire of Signs by Roland Barthes:
“The haiku’s task is to achieve exemption from meaning within a perfectly readerly discourse (a contradiction denied to Western art, which can contest meaning only by rendering its discourse incomprehensible”.
Haiku resists interpretation: it is intelligible and means nothing. Robert Duncan was haunted by this sense of what lurks behind meaning, what he referred to as a “ground of man’s imaginations”, and recalled sitting with his sister, “my mother between us”, looking at pictures as he was read to. The picture that stayed with him was of three young men sleeping on a mat one of whom was Bashō, the seventeenth-century Japanese writer of Haiku who had just woken up: the seventeen syllables of a frog jumping into an ancient pond reverberates down the years. It doesn’t mean anything but it is! And so, on Sunday 26th December 1820 in “French-alley Goswell-street” a watchman going his rounds and calling out the hour of one
“discovered a new-born infant
lying in a corner entirely naked
a few old rags around his head”
Ian Brinton 24th June 2018
Posted in Books, English Poetry and tagged John Seed, Julian Barnes, Milan Kundera, Robert Duncan, Roland Barthes. Bookmark the permalink.
Baby Patricia Debney Liquorice Fish Books (Cinnamon Press; www.inpressbooks.co.uk)
Posted on October 6, 2016 by tearsinthefence
In Julian Barnes’s novel Flaubert’s Parrot the narrator, Geoffrey Braithwaite, refutes the role of historiographer and explodes what could have been a singular history into infinite fragments, interminable possibilities. Even where there are well-documented sources such as the Greek journeys of Flaubert and Maxime Du Camp the story-teller presents the reader with contradictions as accounts differ, journals disagree and, in conclusion, Braithwaite tells us “What happened to the truth is not recorded”.
Patricia Debney’s new collection of poems and prose focuses upon the edge of vision, that which can be detected out of the side of the eye, and the often quite imperative tone confronts us with a sense of responsibility for what seems to be hiding there:
Things Which Had I Stopped to Consider –
Really Consider – Or If I’d Been Older –
Might Have Been Clues
‘That time we took Violet the cat – who had six toes on each front
paw – up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. You said she would like to
get out of the city. We opened the car door and she ran away, right
into the rhododendron up the side of the mountain. We called and
called – Violet! Violet! – but she never came back.
The time you locked yourself in the bedroom. I screamed – don’t
do it, don’t do it – but you still didn’t come out.’
On the back cover of this remarkably disturbing volume of memory’s fragments Simon Smith mentions the ‘desolation of Hopper’ and there is an eerie exactness about this reference. In the 1939 painting ‘Cape Cod Evening’ (National Gallery of Art, Washington) a man sits on the doorstep in front of a house and a woman stands with folded arms looking downwards at his hand which is offered out with something in it held there to attract a dog. There is a kind of serenity in the scene except that the dog is peering alertly away from the man and, with ears pointed and tail sticking out horizontally, is staring at something (some thing) off stage. It is a very unsettling painting as one becomes aware of the importance of whatever is there, just out of sight!
Carrie Etter’s comment raises to my mind another source for this collection of ‘fragments, prose poetry, and white space’ (Jane Monson):
‘In her compelling new collection, Patricia Debney deftly fractures narratives, lines, and syntax to evoke a daughter’s struggle with an unstable mother. Baby intelligently renders their fraught relationship in all its emotional complexity.’
I am drawn back here to Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved which opens with the uncompromising statement ‘124 WAS SPITEFUL. Full of a baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children.’ The epigraph Toni Morrison chose for her novel was from the letter Paul the Apostle wrote to the Romans and the nine sections of Debney’s poem ‘Armour of Light’ take their title from a reference to Romans 13:12. Whereas Morrison’s reference presents us with a contradiction concerning who is beloved Debney’s has a positive assertion of the day being at hand as the night is far spent. In these fragmentary shards of writing the poet sifts through ashes, picks ‘through remnants / of fires / in which not everything / burned’:
‘fragments
of bone
mostly yours
of kindling
not caught
and horded
secret hopes’
Just as History isn’t what happened but is instead what Historians tell us happened, the story of our selves is an accumulation of fragments upon which we place narrative sequence. Patricia Debney’s eerie and moving collection presents us with characters whose story is made up of what happens between the lines and just off the stage.
Ian Brinton 6th October 2016
Posted in Books, English Poetry and tagged Carrie Etter, Jane Monson, Julian Barnes, Patricia Debney, Simon Smith, Toni Morrison. Bookmark the permalink.
Country Life by Ken Edwards (Unthank Books)
Posted on February 16, 2016 by tearsinthefence
This is a strange journey into a twilight world of sea and land and ‘We may observe two figures moving in this landscape of cold, dark matter’. The friendship between two young men, based upon mutual dependence and then betrayal, placed against a socio-political background of unrest, dominates Flaubert’s great novel L’Éducation Sentimental. Having found its first contemporary counterpart in Julian Barnes’s Metroland it now finds its second in Ken Edwards’ humorous and moving account of youthful idealism in Country Life. The geographical landscape shifts between a coastal country which has echoes of Dungeness and city life, as Flaubert’s contrasted the world of the upper Seine and the Paris of the 1848 revolution.
In Ken Edwards’ narrative one dominant image is that of the nuclear power station:
‘South of the glory that is the illuminated nuclear power station, lies the Peninsula, a tiny settlement beginning to glow in the shadow of a Sunday evening, under the cold, dark mass of the sea.’
That little word ‘glow’ is mischievously uncomfortable as the world of nuclear power is juxtaposed with the homing sense of lighted rooms with their illusive hint of safety. As the two figures, Dennis and Tarquin, move towards the aptly-named pub ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ they discuss relative positions:
‘The question is, says the big lad with the spiky hair and glittering glasses, where are you in the human food chain? It’s that savage.
He has been talking non-stop since they came out to walk on the strand, here at the end of the world. The talk has been of human handwidth, negative space, power structures.’
Tarquin, the non-stop talker, gives the younger Dennis (a budding musician who is working on World Music Parts 1-25, ‘based on rhythmic patterns’ given off by the surroundings) a lesson in political hierarchies. After all, Tarquin has just finished a 550-page book on Neo-Marxist Aesthetics and the Marketing of the Moment:
‘Like, in the human food chain you might say, the fucking bosses, captains of industry as they used to call them—these days, CEOs of mega-corporations, or chairmen or persons or big-shot shareholders or hedge fund investors, you know what I mean, the Great White Sharks…’.
At the bottom of the food chain, according to the political wisdom of Tarquin, are the tiny ones which are eaten by everything else: krill.
‘Yeah, that’s right, krill. Food for everything else. you understand what I’m saying? that’s the kind of capitalist society we have. At the bottom of the food chain.
Right, says Dennis.
At the bottom. Then you’re fucking krill, man!’
This is an eerie world where the style of Paul Auster meets that of Douglas Woolf: the landscape, brutality and barely submerged violence conjures up the world of Auster’s The Country of Last Things while the quiet but determined humour of domestic engagement brings to mind Doug Woolf’s Ya! in which a father finds his daughter and they both roll out into the darkness. As his daughter, Joan, says “This is wild”, Al replies with a clear sense of what is important, “Yes, it is”. In Country Life an elderly woman clutching a plastic supermarket bag carrying the hopeful logo SAVERS PARADISE weeps quietly because she doesn’t know where she is. When asked by Tarquin and Dennis if she is from round here she nods “Yes, I…don’t know where. I am.” That full-stop after ‘where’ is something to hang on to. She thinks that she lives on the mainland, on an estate, and she thinks that she went to a hospital last week to see her dying husband who has ‘been resting in his grave all these years, the poor dear’. With that glimmer of recognition known only perhaps to the lost she says of her ‘home’ “I’ll know it when I see it…I came out too far.”
This is a world turned upside down with an amphibious life drifting along, a world in which the nuclear reactor ‘will produce enough controlled energy to satisfy the electricity needs of the entire region’:
‘Large magnetised rotors turn inside thick copper coils to generate the electricity that is fed to the grid. Turning each rotor is a large turbine. High pressure steam drives its blades and the rotor revolves inside the copper coils to produce the electricity. Each morning, central heating system boilers will be triggered by time-switches, kettles will be plugged in, radios and TVs will be switched on. The people will wake from their individual dreams, and re-enter a collective dream.’
Country Life has echoes of J.H. Prynne’s Kitchen Poems in which ‘we all share the same head, our shoulders / are denied by the nuptial joys of television, so that what I am is a special case of / what we want, the twist point missed exactly / at the nation’s scrawny neck’. And it draws to a close with a poetry reading given by Tom Raworth in a venue that one could be forgiven for thinking resembles the Lamb in Lamb’s Conduit.
This novel is wonderfully funny in places and it allows the reader to produce his or her own key to characters that play out their roles on a stage of such poignant shifting moments.
Ian Brinton 16th February 2016
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged Country Life, Douglas Woolf, Gustave Flaubert, Julian Barnes, Ken Edwards, Paul Auster. Bookmark the permalink.
CLASP: late modernist poetry in London in the 1970s Edited by Robert Hampson & Ken Edwards, Shearsman Books 2016
In Tears in the Fence 57 (summer 2013) the Australian poet Laurie Duggan reviewed Cusp, Geraldine Monk’s terrific piece of history and recollections which looked back at ‘British poetry in that age located generally between the bomb and the world-wide web’. The review concluded with the statement that ‘This history is of its nature a ragged one though the work produced has by now equalled, perhaps exceeded, the hopes of its authors’. Geraldine Monk’s book was published by Shearsman in 2012 and now, four years on, this new history of late modernist poetry in London in the 1970s seems like a sequel. It has an intriguing name which almost suggests that one can hold the past close to one. That said, I am reminded of an early paragraph in Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot:
How do we seize the past? Can we ever do so? When I was a medical student some pranksters at an end-of-term dance released into the hall a piglet which had been smeared with grease. It squirmed between legs, evaded capture, squealed a lot. People fell over trying to grasp it, and were made to look ridiculous in the process. The past often seems to behave like that piglet.
As Robert Hampson puts it in his introduction to this eminently readable burst of flame which sheds light onto an otherwise darkened area (darkened that is by the Poetry Police who seem to tell us that nothing has really changed since the world of New Lines more than half a century ago!):
CLASP is an exercise in collective remembering—with, as Lawrence Upton’s essay suggests, a consciousness of memory work as also a process of selecting, forgetting and inventing.
Hampson refers to a counter-culture in the 1960s which revolved around institutions such as the Institute for Contemporary Arts in Dover Street, the Arts Lab in Drury Lane, and the independent bookshops such as Indica Books on Kingsway, Better Books in Charing Cross Road, Bernard Stone’s Turret Books in Kensington and Compendium in Camden Town. These venues ‘not only provided access to books and magazines, but also acted as centres for information-exchange and making contacts.’ This was after all the world and time of Andrew Crozier’s The English Intelligencer so intelligently written about in Alex Latter’s recent account from Bloomsbury, Late Modernism and The English Intelligencer.
One comes away from reading this new collection of reminiscences reeling with the excitement and energy of a world brought back into focus; this is all heady stuff! It reminds me of a series of History books put out by Blackwells in the 1970s, They Saw It Happen. A flavour might be given here by mentioning Iain Sinclair’s account of his journey from London to Wales to search of the émigré member of the Carshalton Chapter, Chris Torrance. After reading J.H. Prynne’s short review of Green Orange Purple Red, published by Crozier’s Ferry Press (taking its name from the Woolwich mode of river-crossing), Sinclair ‘was out of the door, on the road, back home to Wales’:
‘I walked over the hills, through decommissioned mines, conifer plantations, midge clouds, sunburn, blisters, rusty streams, bubbling tarmac, to Torrance’s Neath Valley farmhouse. It was an excitement to make contact with what was already a very active network, the magazines and contributors with whom Chris had been involved, his transmigrations from Carshalton to Bristol to Wales.’
A brief list of some of the short accounts given in CLASP will tease you into getting a copy without delay: Robert Sheppard ‘Took chances in London traffic’, Elaine Randell was ‘Tangled up in politics’, Paula Claire was ‘Working with Bob Cobbing through the 1970s’ while Tony Lopez was moving from Brixton to Wivenhoe to Gonville & Caius. John Muckle’s ‘Inklings’ contrast with Peter Barry ‘Climbing the twisty staircase’ and David Miller reckoned it was ‘A good decade for getting lost’.
Posted in Books, Essays and tagged Alex Latter, Geraldine Monk, Julian Barnes, Ken Edwards, Laurie Duggan, Robert Hampson. Bookmark the permalink.
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"Assembling Animal Communication" Art Exhibition Opening Reception
Opening Reception: "Assembling Animal Communication"
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
Art Building Foyer
Texas Tech University School of Art will be hosting the reception for "Assembling Animal Communication," an exhibition curated by Dr. Kevin Chua and featuring works by artists Catherine Chalmers, Catherine Clover, Darcie DeAngelo, Lee Deigaard, and Maria Lux.
"For much of the 20th century, scholars considered language to be what defined the human. In screech and roar, animals couldn’t match the complexity – the sheer sophistication – of human language. This exhibition proposes to think of animal language in a different way: what if it didn't aspire to human grammar and syntax? What if it didn't simply occur within, but co-evolved with, an environment? When Deleuze and Guattari used the word “ritournelle” (refrain) to describe bird songs, they weren’t simply referring to the mundanely repetitious nature of bird language. Animal communication, they envisioned, took place in an emergent environmental field that moved in deep, molecular rhythm. Another term they used, “assemblage” – think of a bee swarm, moving with the wind, or a flock of birds, flying in loose unison – captures this more dynamic understanding of the way animals communicate with one another. Speech as environmental resonance; utterance cradled by context. Look closer. Listen. Enter the assemblage of animal communication."
Curated by Kevin Chua, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art History at Texas Tech University, the exhibition is presented in collaboration with "Animal/Language: An Interdisciplinary Conference" held at Texas Tech University March 21 – 23, 2019. Exhibition runs Friday, March 22, 2019 - Sunday, April 28, 2019.
Support to present public lectures by artists Catherine Chalmers and Maria Lux in conjunction with the exhibition and conference is provided in part from a grant from the City of Lubbock, as recommended by Civic Lubbock, Inc. Additional support comes from the Ryla T. & John F. Lott Endowment for Excellence in the Visual Arts in the School of Art.
Exhibitions and speaker programs at Landmark Arts and the Texas Tech University School of Art are also made possible in part with a generous grant from the Helen Jones Foundation. Additional support comes from cultural activities fees administered through the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts.
Landmark Arts
Exhibition & Speaker Programs
Texas Tech University School of Art
www.landmarkarts.org
TTUSoA on Facebook
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TTUSoA on Snapchat
TTU_SoA on Twitter
Scotty Hensler
scotty.hensler@ttu.edu
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Is a “robot tax” really an “innovation penalty”?
Steve Cousins 2 years
Steve Cousins Contributor
Steve Cousins is founder and CEO of Savioke, which develops and deploys autonomous robots that work in human environments to improve people’s lives. Steve was previously president and CEO of robotics incubator Willow Garage.
More posts by this contributor
Can robots help the U.S. get its economic mojo back?
Robots, jobs and the human fear of change
When Bill Gates recently suggested robots should pay income tax like any other employee, I didn’t immediately disagree. I applaud Gates’ bold thinking to help solve one of society’s biggest upcoming challenges: embracing automation in a way that “lifts all boats” instead of leaving large swaths of society behind.
A robot tax would help offset the reduced revenues flowing into public coffers as machines take some jobs previously held by humans.
However, before we start taxing companies that deploy robotics, let’s first agree on what a robot actually is.
When we think of robots, we typically conjure up images of giant arms building cars on an assembly line, or autonomous delivery vehicles ferrying goods around warehouses. But the classic definition of a robot is fairly simple: a combination of technologies that together sense, evaluate, and act to carry out a defined task.
The problem with this definition is that it’s so broad, it would categorize almost all technology – including most modern household appliances, computers, and smartphones – as robots. So where do we draw the line? Indeed, why single out robots to be taxed and not other technology that increases automation, productivity, or quality?
Is the technology that translates a surgeon’s hand movements into more precise movements of tiny instruments considered a robot? How about an ATM, an automated grocery checkout station, or a refrigerator that tells you when you need milk?
We could narrow the definition of a robot to include only those machines that do tasks once done by a human, but then we’d have to include Microsoft’s vast hardware and software offerings, since computers do things like word processing, transcribing, calculating mathematical formulas, and analyzing data – all of which used to be human tasks.
When you think of all the once-human tasks now done by machines, it quickly becomes clear how difficult it would be to separate certain automation technologies into the “robot” category. And if a robot tax was imposed, why wouldn’t a company simply classifying their new automation technology as “computers”, “appliances” or “equipment”?
Of course, implementing a robot tax wouldn’t just be difficult due to the challenge of defining what is and isn’t a robot. It would also be nearly impossible to prove a direct correlation between the implementation of automation technology and the net loss of jobs. In some rare instances, a company might deploy an automation device and then simultaneously lay off a person. But most companies don’t operate like this.
They continually deploy new technologies to improve productivity, laying off some workers while hiring others. In fact, if a robot causes one person to lose a job, perhaps three new people will be hired – one to run the robot and two others because the robot improves overall productivity, allowing for expansion hiring.
In reality, robots, like most automation, help people be more efficient and productive, rather than replace them. That’s been the case for centuries. A study of census data in England and Wales since 1871 found technology created far more jobs than it destroyed during that 140-year period. “Machines will take on more repetitive and laborious tasks, but seem no closer to eliminating the need for human labor than at any time in the last 150 years,” says the Deloitte report.
When Gates talks about a robot tax, in essence, he’s talking about financially penalizing companies that deploy the latest automation technology — a sort of “innovation tax” — which, to me, is a backward tax.
Shouldn’t our government support companies that embrace innovation in an effort to improve productivity and boost revenues? That’s what will make the US economy strong and competitive on a global scale.
Perhaps a better way to ensure that automation improves the lives of all citizens — instead of becoming a wedge that creates a bigger and bigger divide between the haves and have-nots — is to ensure corporations pay tax on their profits.
The more profitable a company becomes due to automation and increased productivity, the more income taxes it should pay into the collective system. Of course, closing loopholes that allow US corporations to dodge taxes will be difficult, but it’s critical to the long-term health of the global economy.
Getting companies to pay their fair share of taxes won’t solve the larger societal challenge that automation will eventually displace low-skilled workers, nor would a robot tax. Instead, governments should focus on using corporate tax revenues to create free or low-cost education programs to prepare people to work alongside automation.
For those unable to find work in tomorrow’s tech-driven society, governments could provide universal basic income or other safety nets for the least-advantaged.
There are no easy answers to the growing divide between rich and poor, which will only accelerate in an automated age that leaves unskilled workers at a distinct disadvantage. But a robot tax is not the answer to this problem.
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September 1996 - Volume 51 - 9
Interactions between opportunistic micro-organisms and HIV in the lung. (1 September, 1996) Free
J. R. Clarke, D. Israel-Biet
Carcinoma of the lung: warts and all. (1 September, 1996) Free
A. F. Markham
Steroids, surfactant and lung disease. (1 September, 1996) Free
A. D. Postle, J. O. Warner
Respiratory dreams and nightmares. (1 September, 1996) Free
N. Douglas
Presence of human papillomavirus DNA and abnormal p53 protein accumulation in lung carcinoma. (1 September, 1996) Free
Y. Soini, K. Nuorva, D. Kamel, R. Pöllänen, K. Vähäkangas, V. P. Lehto, P. Pääkkö
Prognosis in lung cancer: physicians' opinions compared with outcome and a predictive model. (1 September, 1996) Free
M. F. Muers, P. Shevlin, J. Brown
Delays in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of lung cancer. (1 September, 1996) Free
J. S. Billing, F. C. Wells
Measurement of pulmonary status and surfactant protein levels during dexamethasone treatment of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. (1 September, 1996) Free
J. Y. Wang, T. F. Yeh, Y. C. Lin, K. Miyamura, U. Holmskov, K. B. Reid
Chronic sputum production: correlations between clinical features and findings on high resolution computed tomographic scanning of the chest. (1 September, 1996) Free
I. E. Smith, E. Jurriaans, S. Diederich, N. Ali, J. M. Shneerson, C. D. Flower
Effect of prostaglandin E2 on eicosanoid release by human bronchial biopsy specimens from normal and inflamed mucosa. (1 September, 1996) Free
D. Schäfer, U. Lindenthal, M. Wagner, P. L. Bölcskei, H. W. Baenkler
Accuracy of recording of deaths from asthma in the UK: the false negative rate. (1 September, 1996) Free
H. F. Guite, P. G. Burney
Comparison of bronchoscopic diagnostic techniques with histological findings in brain dead organ donors without suspected pneumonia. (1 September, 1996) Free
J. Solé-Violán, F. Rodríguez de Castro, A. Rey, J. Freixinet, A. Aranda, J. Caminero, J. Bolaños
Lack of skin test reactivity to common mycobacterial antigens in human immunodeficiency virus infected individuals with high CD4 counts. (1 September, 1996) Free
S. H. Khoo, E. G. Wilkins, I. S. Fraser, A. A. Hamour, J. L. Stanford
Quality of life in adults with cystic fibrosis. (1 September, 1996) Free
J. Congleton, M. E. Hodson, F. Duncan-Skingle
Adrenal suppression with inhaled budesonide and fluticasone propionate given by large volume spacer to asthmatic children. (1 September, 1996) Free
D. J. Clark, R. A. Clark, B. J. Lipworth
Seasonality of tuberculosis: the reverse of other respiratory diseases in the UK. (1 September, 1996) Free
A. S. Douglas, D. P. Strachan, J. D. Maxwell
Occupational and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (1 September, 1996) Free
D. J. Hendrick
Function at the junction: dynamic interactions between lung cells and extracellular matrix. (1 September, 1996) Free
J. R. Spurzem
"Crack lung" caused by an impure preparation. (1 September, 1996) Free
O. M. Kon, J. B. Redhead, D. Gillen, J. Fothergill, J. A. Henry, D. M. Mitchell
Ecstasy induced pneumomediastinum. (1 September, 1996) Free
K. Rezvani, A. S. Kurbaan, D. Brenton
Commentary. Ecstasy and crack cocaine. (1 September, 1996) Free
M. Wickremasinghe
Expandable metal stents for non-malignant bronchial obstruction. (1 September, 1996) Free
R. A. Fox, R. De L Stanbridge, J. Brown, J. F. Riordan, R. M. Rudd
Functional upper airways obstruction: two patients with persistent symptoms. (1 September, 1996) Free
C. J. Warburton, R. McL Niven, B. G. Higgins, C. A. Pickering
Who should look after asthma? (1 September, 1996) Free
M. G. Pearson, B. D. Harrison
Community-acquired Chlamydia pneumoniae pneumonia. (1 September, 1996) Free
M. Falguera, A. Nogues, A. Ruiz-Gonzalez
Fibreoptic bronchoscopy for diagnosis of isolated tuberculous mediastinal lymphadenopathy. (1 September, 1996) Free
O. Raffy, C. Sleiman, C. Roue
Measuring systemic effects of inhaled beclomethasone. (1 September, 1996) Free
O. Jolobe
High Resolution CT of the Chest - Comprehensive Atlas (1 September, 1996) Free
Non Invasive Respiratory Support (1 September, 1996) Free
Admin (PDF)
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Tibetan Uprising Day Commemorated in London, 10th March 2016
BY admin IN Events & Announcements, News & Press Release Comments Off on Tibetan Uprising Day Commemorated in London, 10th March 2016
Tibetan Uprising Day Commemorated in London
Prominent British MP Signs the Paris Declaration in Support of Tibet
London, 10th March 2016
(Released by Tibetan Community in Britain)
Hundreds of Tibetans, supporters and special guests commemorated the 57th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day yesterday in London with a rally, protest march and cultural event.
(Photos by Paul Golding, Tibet Society)
Gathering in front of the Chinese Embassy on a busy working day, Tibetans and supporters made voices for justice heard through slogans, chants, speeches and songs. Following a welcoming introduction speech from the Tibetan Community in Britain, representatives from Free Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet UK spoke of the importance of outside support for the Tibetan people and the Tibetan cause. Special guest Lobsang Tsering, nephew of the late Tenzin Delek Rinpoche who died in Chinese custody last year, also spoke about the continuity of the Tibetan struggle in unison force. Tsering said that the Chinese authorities killed Tenzin Delek Rinpoche because of his work and commitment for Tibetan culture and the Tibetan people.
A letter from the Tibetan Community in Britain was later posted to the Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming calling for a resolution to the Tibetan issue after the embassy officials refused to open the doors.
At the end of a colourful and loud march through central London, the British Tibetan Community submitted a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron urging the British government to put pressure on the Chinese leadership to improve the human rights situation in Tibet.
The evening cultural event took place in a packed Westminster Cathedral Hall with welcome introduction and speeches by guest speakers and songs performed by members of the Tibetan Community. TCB Chairman Tsering Passang spoke of the critical situation inside Tibet as well as the special historical relationship that Britain has with Tibet. He said that China’s “ongoing restriction on all walk of lives of the people inside Tibet is unacceptable”.
Chonpel Tsering, London-based Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at The Office of Tibet, read out key excerpts of Sikyong’s Statement of Tenth March and addressed the audience whilst calling for continued campaign for peaceful resolution in Tibet.
Former Minister and current President of the Tibet Society, Norman Baker, vowed to carry on working hard for Tibet until Tibet was “bathed in warm sunshine”, ending his speech with “We Will Win!”. Chinese writer and dissident Ma Jian spoke of being in exile and said to Tibetans, “we feel the same pain”. Ma Jian’s remarks also ended optimistically with a call to never give up hope.
Kate Saunders of the International Campaign for Tibet addressed the crowd speaking of the new generation of Tibetans who are expressing themselves through writings, music and poetry. Her speech ended with a poem by Tsering Woeser called A Vow which had been written on 10 March.
The highlight of the evening was the address by Tim Loughton, MP, Former Government Minister and current Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet during which he announced that he had signed the Paris Declaration, ‘Europe stands with Tibet’ – a European initiative launched in March 2015 in support of Tibet. The Paris Declaration is an important document demanding a coordinated effort to support the Tibetan people’s fight for freedom from European governments as well as from EU-institutions.
This important political and solidarity event for Tibet was organised by Tibetan Community in Britain.
www.tibetancommunityuk.net
www.europe-stands-with-tibet.org
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My Review of The Winter Fortress by Neal Bascomb
September 6, 2016 Written by Timothy Boyce
“The news is excellent. . . . There has been sabotage in Vemork. The heavy-water works are destroyed. Four Norwegian-speaking men in English uniforms got away.”
So writes Odd Nansen in his diary entry of March 6, 1943, describing an event that occurred a week earlier: the daring raid on the Vemork hydroelectric plant and its heavy-water production facility. It is doubtful whether Nansen realized at the time the full significance of the raid, or indeed, why heavy water was considered a target worthy of a special sabotage operation. After all, the nascent race to build the atom bomb [in which heavy water can play an important part] was still very much a tightly guarded secret in the U.S. and Germany.
After the war of course the full story could be told, and the Vemork raid, considered the most successful act of sabotage in all of the war, has since spawned numerous books and films. Neal Bascomb, author of Hunting Eichmann, has produced the latest engaging account in The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atom Bomb.
I have written a review of The Winter Fortress for the Norwegian American, billed as America’s only Norwegian newspaper.
You can read the full review here
Norwegian Blogs About Odd Nansen Presentation
On Miep Gies, Anne Frank, and the Fragility of Diaries
"You were a big hit last night--not only was your subject compelling and informative, but your presentation was engaging and accessible. I learned a lot from you."
- Rabbi Niles Goldstein Congregation Beth Shalom Napa, CA
German invasion of Norway
Odd Nansen’s daughter Siri Nansen was born
Sachsenhausen (including Buergenthal) liberated
Josef Terboven appointed Reichskommissar of Norway
Odd Nansen evacuated from Neuengamme on White Buses to Denmark, then Sweden.
Last gassing of the Holocaust occurs at Mauthausen
Hitler commits suicide
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Caitlin MacNeal is a News Writer based in Washington, D.C. Before joining TPM, Caitlin interned and wrote for the Huffington Post, the Sunlight Foundation and Slate. She is a graduate of Georgetown University.
Articles by Caitlin
McAuliffe Pollster: Cuccinelli's Obamacare Stance A Liability
November 6, 2013, 12:45 PM EST
Geoff Garin, pollster for Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe, said Wednesday that GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli's position on Obamacare may have cost him the election.
"We tested Cuccinelli’s brag that he was the first attorney general to sue to stop Obamacare," Garin said. "That actually made more voters less likely to support him than more."
Kerry Pledges $75M In Aid For Palestinian Infrastructure Projects
November 6, 2013, 11:43 AM EST
Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday committed to $75 million in U.S. aid for Palestinian infrastructure projects.
Kerry said the aid to micro-infrastructure initiatives in the West Bank, which now totals $100 million, is part of a U.S. plan to help bring peace and stability to Israel and Palestine.
Report: Runyan Won't Seek Re-Election in 2014
Rep. Jon Runyan (R-NJ) will not seek re-election for a third term in 2014, according to the Burlington County Times.
The GOP congressman, a former a football player for the Philadelphia Eagles and San Diego Chargers, would like to spend more time with his family and see his son play football at University of Michigan, sources told the Burlington County Times.
Illinois Senate Passes Same-Sex Marriage Bill
November 5, 2013, 6:15 PM EST
The Illinois state senate passed a same-sex marriage bill Tuesday evening by a margin of 32-21, sending the legislation to the governor's desk mere hours after lawmakers in the House approved the measure.
Holder: TSA Officers Should Not Be Armed
Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that Transportation Security Administration officers in airports should not be armed.
Illinois State House Passes Gay Marriage Bill
The Illinois State House passed a gay marriage bill Tuesday evening by a 61-54 margin.
Report: California Insurer To Delay Health Insurance Cancellations Until End Of March
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced Tuesday that Blue Cross Blue Shield California will delay its individual policy cancellations until March 31, 2014, granting policy holders a 90-day extension.
Blue Shield moved its policies from the marketplace regulated by the state's Department of Insurance to the California Department of Managed Health Care marketplace because the insurance department didn't approve Blue Shield's 2014 plans, according to Politico. Since Blue Shield left the market, it needed to give consumers 180 days notice.
Hagel: Military May Need 'Tiered Readiness System' Due To Sequester
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday that the military may need to move toward a tiered readiness system.
"We may have to accept the reality that not every unit will be at maximum readiness, and some kind of a tiered readiness system is perhaps inevitable," Hagel said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Security Forum. "This carries the risk that the president would have fewer options to fulfill our national security objectives."
Coburn To Undergo Treatment For Prostate Cancer
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) will undergo evaluation and treatment for a recurrence of prostate cancer this week, according to The Oklahoman.
Rand Paul Aide Admits To Bad Sourcing After Plagiarism Allegations
Sen. Rand Paul's office on Tuesday admitted in a statement that some of the Kentucky senator's speeches were poorly sourced and not properly vetted, after several news reports accused him of plagiarism.
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GOP Homeland Security Chair 'Concerned' With 'Growing Leadership Void' At DHS April 8, 2019, 4:36 PM EDT
Following the ousters of the Homeland Security secretary and Secret Service director, and the…
Schumer Wants Ousted Secret Service Chief To Testify On Mar-A-Lago 'Vulnerabilities' April 8, 2019, 3:47 PM EDT
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Monday called for ousted Secret Service Director…
Nielsen: ‘I Just Want To Thank The President, Again’ April 8, 2019, 12:21 PM EDT
Nielsen: "I just want to thank the President, again." pic.twitter.com/5m8WSU9Xej — TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire)…
Trump Thanks 'Two Great People': Diamond And Silk April 6, 2019, 10:10 AM EDT
Thank you to two great people! https://t.co/9VoIV44L9c — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6,…
Cornyn Hits Castro With A Prime Middle School Comeback April 5, 2019, 9:43 AM EDT
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) came back at Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) with the Twitter…
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Car Insurance Young Drivers Under 1000
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Car Insurance Bmw X5 Xdrive
person Tylerfolder_openplymouth rock car insurance in njaccess_time September 11, 2018
Car Insurance Rates Going Up Soon London-based start-up Funding Circle. the London listing market, coming so soon after last week’s announcement that upmark. Find out if your car insurance rate increases after an accident and by how much. as soon as you become a customer, so you may not see an increase at all for. Like many of the public institutions
That means the X3 M and X4 M models will become the first M SUVs to use the new M xDrive system which allows you to basically.
Now BMW tells us its successor for the 6-series will revive the 8-series nomenclature, despite virtually identical market pos.
A new badging regime was introduced in 2008, focusing on the name of BMW’s xDrive four-wheel drive system. Diesel models were henceforth known as xDrive30D and.
BMW-X5-xDrive45e-iPerformance-0_highRes_the-new-bmw-x5-xdriv. The engine and electric motor are mated to an 8-speed automa.
i3: The compact battery-electric car was freshened in. It features a new M xDrive awd system that can be turned off to all.
The BMW X3 family has undergone a bit of a coming of age in transition to its third full-model generation, something about which you’ll be reading in detail in this.
JOHANNESBURG – To celebrate BMW South Africa’s switch from producing the 3 Series. We have already driven the X3 xDrive 30.
BMW Group currently offers seven electrified models in the US: the BMW i3, BMW i8, BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e, BMW X5 xDrive 40e and MINI Countryman plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle. Overall sales of.
BMW X5 The popular Volkswagen Golf was the cheapest car out of the top 10 most stolen, starting at just under £19,000. While.
The X5 sticks to BMW’s well-proven SUV formula, delivering a competent and refined off-roader – but one that’s lacking the extra flourishes found in a Range Rover.
Search California Beemers for a used BMW in Costa Mesa and Orange County. Our BMW used car dealership has a variety of used BMW cars to.
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BMW Group currently offers seven electrified models in the U.S., including the BMW i3, BMW i8, BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e, BMW X5 xDrive 40e and MINI Countryman. U.S. through networks of 346 BMW.
Apart from BMW’s Euro-spec 750d and X5 M50d (which have the same engine as the M550d), the only other current production car.
BMW has released a handful of images showing its new X3 M and X4 M prototypes in action, as it finally officially confirms th.
Research BMW X5 pricing and get news, reviews, specs, photos, videos and more – everything for BMW X5 owners, buyers and enthusiasts.
Does Car Insurance Address Have To Match Registration Address Anderson shares with Schechtman several case histories about states that have adopted voter suppression. all said that the. Car Insurance Through Bjs Bingo Fife Download-Theses Mercredi 10 juin 2015 A bingo. A rental car company. A cigarette store owned by a small businessman. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. A bingo. A rental car company. A
BMW Financial Services. BMW Financial Services offers you a choice of car finance options, whether you want the option to own the car at the end of the agreement or.
I like a BMW and this one will tick a lot of boxes for a lot of people. It is obviously smaller than the X5 but is still quit.
Powerful in all conditions. The BMW X5 M combines the design and capacity of a Sports Activity Vehicle® with the high performance power of M.
Power is sent to all four wheels through BMW’s Steptronic 8-speed automatic transmission and xDrive all-wheel drive. With a big battery under the car, cargo capacity has decreased by 150 liters com.
"The BMW X5 is an SUV that offers real driver involvement – but a host of rivals now match it in this respect"
When the BMW X3 was first launched. All versions now come with xDrive four-wheel drive and eight-speed automatic transmiss.
The proven all-wheel-drive system xDrive also provides Ryan with optimum traction in extreme conditions, as illustrated by a.
M division cars used to be memorable and distinctive, but now BMW seems more focused on quantity over quality. Like rival Mer.
Now that the new BMW X5 is out and about, work on the next-generation X6 is already underway on both sides of the pond. We’ve.
Ferrari prestige, Ferrari sound, Ferrari performance, Ferrari experience!
A modern sports activity vehicle with the genes of an off-road vehicle. The BMW X5 is equipped with the BMW xDrive all-wheel drive system as well as powerful petrol.
There is no M5 for Jack Ryan here, instead he has to make do with a slightly more humble 540i xDrive. This means a total.
For those looking for a BMW X5 but with the consumption of a small car, the BMW X5 iPerformance is the perfect choice. And thanks to the xDrive four-wheel drive.
Based on the new third-generation X5, BMW says theX5 xDrive45e iPerformance will have up to 50 miles of electric range from an expanded battery pack that sits mostly under the floor of the car. That’s.
Efficiency meets supremacy: the drive portfolio of the new BMW X5 is to be extended in the course of 2019 with. latest generation and the intelligent all-wheel drive system BMW xDrive. In this way,
In August, BMW sold more plug-ins in U.S. than in July. BMW Group‘s electrified vehicle sales, which includes the BMW i3, BMW.
The BMW X5 is a bit of an also-ran in the SUV class, because the current model didn’t really move the game on much from the last model. But one interesting addition.
High-performance luxury with an edge. The BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo Gran Coupe, and ALPINA B6 capture the imagination. Book a test drive today.
Developed with favorite by Ghuwad.com
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Miranda Lambert Is Changing Her Name to Miranda Shelton
Amanda Hensel
From here on out, Miranda Lambert, who married fellow country superstar Blake Shelton on Saturday, May 14, will legally be known as Miranda Shelton.
Thankfully, country music fans will still be able to find the 'White Liar' hitmaker's albums on the shelves under her well-known name, Miranda Lambert -- but the Texas native will be taking on her husband's last name in her private life. A rep for Lambert/Shelton confirms that, yes, Miranda will change her legal name and be "Miranda Shelton" on her driver's license.
"Mrs. Shelton here! Winning!!!!!" the bride tweeted yesterday, flaunting her new name. The couple said "I do" in a romantic country setting over the weekend.
Not only did Shelton and Lambert marry out in the country, some of country music's biggest names were in attendance. Martina McBride and Lady Antebellum frontman Charles Kelley showed their smiling faces, as did Dierks Bentley, and guests enjoyed performances by Neal McCoy and Reba McEntire.
The bride and groom's wedding pictures will be revealed on Thursday via Us Weekly, according to their wedding photographer's blog. Congrats to Miranda and Blake Shelton on their marriage!
Look at Pictures of Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton Together
Filed Under: Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert
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Vinegar Ingredients
Sheetal Mandora Jan 1, 2019
Tap to Read ➤
As there are various types of vinegar available in market, some of the core ingredients to prepare it will vary. Here is a list of different vinegar, and what each variety is basically made of.
Any food which contains natural sugars can be turned into vinegar. Yeast helps in fermenting the sugars into alcohol and a typical kind of bacteria converts the alcohol into vinegar. What remains after the second fermentation is the weak acetic acid in vinegar. This acid has the original flavors of the food used before fermentation, like apples and grapes.
The tart taste which vinegar possesses comes from the presence of acetic acid. As mentioned earlier, vinegar can be prepared from various foods that help add their original tastes to the end product. In addition, vinegar ingredients also has herbs, spices, and fruits to enhance the flavors.
Different Types of Vinegar
For a healthy and light cooking style, vinegar is a great option. It's tangy flavor helps you reduce your salt intake. By adding vinegar to your diet, you cut down the extra fat in any recipe as you won't need to add cream, butter or oil. It comes in distinct flavours, ranging from mild to bold, try them to see which tastes better with your style of cooking.
Malt vinegar looks dark-brown in color, popular in Britain and is made by malting barley. The starch in the grain turns into maltose. Further on, the ale is brewed from the maltose and helps it alter into malt vinegar. This pre-mature vinegar is allowed to age which is light brown in color.
Ingredients in vinegar, particularly wine, is always made from red or white wine.
Most popular in Mediterranean countries and Central Europe, wine vinegar comes in different range of quality. For more refined sort of wine vinegar needs to be matured in wood for about 2 years. This process also gives it a mellow flavor. It has low acidity levels than white or cider vinegar.
There are more expensive wine vinegar found in the supermarkets.
Pinto Grigio
Apple cider vinegar, also known as just cider vinegar, contents consists of cider or apple must. It has brown-yellowish color and is sometimes sold unfiltered/unpasteurized.
Apple cider vinegar has a special substance called "mother of vinegar" in it which acts as a natural product. This "mother of vinegar" is a substance made of a kind of cellulose and acetic acid bacteria. They develop after fermenting alcoholic liquids that aids in turning alcohol (with oxygen found in the air) into acetic acid.
Fruit Vinegar
The varieties of fruit vinegar are mainly produced in Europe due to its huge demand in the market. Only specific fruits are used as ingredients. Once it has undergone all the processes, the original fruits' flavors linger on.
Types of fruit vinegar:
Black currant
Originated in Japan and clear or pale yellow in color, rice vinegar is very popular in Asian cuisines. Often incorporated in salads and stir-fry dishes, rice vinegar is made from the sugars that are already present in rice.
It is aged and filtered till the final product is clean, delicate and mild in taste. Other two varieties of rice vinegar is also available in red and black in color.
Balsamic vinegar was first crafted in the Modena and Reggio Emilia provinces of Italy. It is an aromatic and aged variety of vinegar made by concentrating juice of white grapes. It has a dark-brown color, with rich and sweet taste after years of aging in successive number of casks made from oak, chestnut, cherry, juniper, and other kinds of wood.
The original balsamic vinegar is actually aged for 12―25 years. There are more expensive balsamic vinegar also available which are aged for about 100 years. The vinegar available in market for commercial purposes is made from concentrated white grape juice which is laced with caramel and sugar.
Coconut Vinegar
Palm Vinegar
Cane Vinegar
Raisin Vinegar
Date Vinegar
Honey Vinegar
Kombucha Vinegar
East Asian Black Vinegar
Now that you have an idea about the wide variety of vinegar available around the world, you too can use certain kinds of vinegar in your cooking. The different flavors found in vinegar will help make your dishes livelier, healthier, and more delicious.
Tastessence
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ABCs of Reading Workshop notes
Gail Bailey - one year ago
A workshop handout for a presentation consisting …
A workshop handout for a presentation consisting of a collection of teacher-tested strategies and suggestions for helping student build strong reading foundations.
Comprehend and Connect (reading, listening, viewing)
Files: ABCs of Reading Workshop notes
abcs-for-reading-ppt-x4-per-page.pdf application/pdf
American Educator
BCTF - 3 years ago
The official publication of the American Federati…
The official publication of the American Federation of Teachers features selected full text articles from current and past issues.
http://www.aft.org/our-news/periodicals/american-educator
The Application of Selected Quality School Attributes to Improve Student Achievement and Interest
P. Aquino - 4 years ago
Research project completed in partial fulfillment…
Research project completed in partial fulfillment of Master's in Education. Explores the application of some of Glasser's Quality School Attributes and the effect on student achievement and interest.
William Glasser
Quality Schools
Files: The Application of Selected Quality School Attributes to Improve Student Achievement and Interest
abstract.pdf application/pdf
glasser-quality-school-attributes-research-project.pdf application/pdf
ASCD Express
ASCD Express is a free email delivered every two …
ASCD Express is a free email delivered every two weeks that is filled with articles, tips, and an online video focusing on topics such as classroom management, differentiated instruction, formative assessment, and instructional leadership that are essential to successful education practice.
http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/home.aspx
ASCD SmartBrief
ASCD SmartBrief is a free daily email news servic…
ASCD SmartBrief is a free daily email news service that provides summaries and links to major education stories and issues. Registration required.
http://www.ascd.org/ProfileRegistration.aspx?signup=smartbrief
BCATML Ministry of Education - Workshop Presentation
This document is a PDF version of the Ministry of…
This document is a PDF version of the Ministry of Education's PowerPoint Presentation shown on October 24, 2014 as part of the BCATML Celebrating Languages Conference. It reviews the direction the province is currently taking with the re-writing of the Core French curriculum. This document is graciously shared by Laura Hawkes, Brent Munro and Claire Guy.
French Curriculum
This document provides an overview of the structure of the new Core French curriculum.
Files: BCATML Ministry of Education - Workshop Presentation
finalministrypresentationbcatml24oct2014.pdf application/pdf
Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice
Brock Education is a peer-reviewed open-access Ca…
Brock Education is a peer-reviewed open-access Canadian journal that publishes two issues a year. The main purpose of the journal is to foster inquiry (in schools, post-secondary institutions and beyond) and promote a deeper understanding of the experiences of educators and learners.
https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked/index.php/home/issue/archive
Canadian Journal For Teacher Research
The Canadian Journal for Teacher Research is an o…
The Canadian Journal for Teacher Research is an online, peer-reviewed journal featuring research undertaken by teachers. The journal is supported by the ATA and the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. Teachers are encouraged to submit articles for possible publication.
https://www.teacherresearch.ca/
The Canadian Journal of Action Research (CJAR)
The Canadian Journal of Action Research is a free…
The Canadian Journal of Action Research is a freely accessible, full-text, peer-reviewed electronic journal intended for elementary, secondary, and university teachers who are concerned with exploring the unity between educational research and practice.
http://journals.nipissingu.ca/index.php/cjar/index
Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (CJEAP)
CJEAP is a scholarly, peer-reviewed electronic jo…
CJEAP is a scholarly, peer-reviewed electronic journal with a Canadian focus from the University of Manitoba, Faculty of Education. It raises important questions and promotes debate on problems of educational practice and policy.
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/
Canadian Journal of Education (CJE)
This leading, bilingual Canadian educational jour…
This leading, bilingual Canadian educational journal offers full text access to current and past issues. It publishes scholarly articles, review essays, discussions, book reviews, and research notes broadly but not exclusively related to Canadian education and written to be of interest to a wide, well-read general readership.
http://cje-rce.ca/
Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie
The Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology i…
The Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology is a peer-reviewed journal covering all aspects of educational technology and learning. Topics include: learning theory and technology, cognition and technology, instructional design theory and application, online learning, computer applications in education, simulations and gaming, and other aspects of the use of technology in the learning process.
http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/issue/current
Constructive Deliberations Tool Kit
Report/Study
Bruce Beairsto - 9 months ago
This resource is a tool kit of short PDF files th…
This resource is a tool kit of short PDF files that can be used in a variety of ways to improve a group’s ability to understand each other, resolve differences and make good decisions. It was developed to support a seminar series conducted by the Centre for the Study of Educational Leadership and Policy (CSELP) at SFU. The tool kit could be useful for staff meetings, school-based team meetings or union executive meetings for example. It can also help individuals to deepen their understanding of the complexities of communication and improve their ability to be constructive participants in any type of discussion - whether as part of a group or more generally in their interpersonal relations.
collaborative problem-solving
teacher pro-d
Files: Constructive Deliberations Tool Kit
introduction-to-tool-kit-for-constructive-deliberations.pdf application/pdf
Core Competency Posters
The core competencies along with literacy and num…
The core competencies along with literacy and numeracy foundations and essential content and concepts are at the centre of the redesign of curriculum and assessment. Core competencies are sets of intellectual, personal, and social and emotional proficiencies that all students need to develop in order to engage in deep learning and life-long learning. Through provincial consultation, three core competencies were identified. Posters created by the BC Ministry of Education.
Personal & Social Responsibility
Positive Personal & Cultural Identity
Personal Awareness & Responsibility
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies
Core Competencies are embedded in all revised K-12 curricular areas.
Files: Core Competency Posters
corecomp2017.pdf application/pdf
corecomp2017communication-1.pdf application/pdf
corecomp2017creativethinking.pdf application/pdf
corecomp2017criticalthinking.pdf application/pdf
corecomp2017persawareness.pdf application/pdf
corecomp2017pospersonalident.pdf application/pdf
corecomp2017socialresponsibility.pdf application/pdf
Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE)
Based at Teachers College, Columbia University, t…
Based at Teachers College, Columbia University, this international online journal provides an interactive medium for debate and discussion of educational policies and comparative studies, and "extraordinary transformations in world politics, economic markets and the social milieu as they affect education." Students, practitioners and academic scholars contribute to the debate formally through articles and informally through the CICE Running Debate.
https://www.tc.columbia.edu/cice/
Education Canada
Education Canada, Canadian Education Association'…
Education Canada, Canadian Education Association's (CEA) flagship magazine, is published five times a year. Its editorial stance stimulates thought and provides a forum for ideas and perspectives on current educational issues.
https://www.edcan.ca/magazine/summer-2018/
Education International
Education International represents organizations …
Education International represents organizations of teachers and other education employees across the globe. Through research it works to provide teachers and education unions with the knowledge and policy tools they need to meet everyday challenges to public education systems. The topics and issues covered include: quality in education; commercialization and privatization of public education; teacher education and training; global trends, such as migration and its impact on education; the status of teachers worldwide; and teachers’ working conditions in different settings.
https://www.ei-ie.org/en
Education Policy Analysis Archives
EPAA/AAPE is a peer-reviewed, open-access, intern…
EPAA/AAPE is a peer-reviewed, open-access, international, multilingual, and multidisciplinary journal designed for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and development analysts concerned with education policies. EPAA/AAPE is a peer-reviewed, open-access, international, multilingual, and multidisciplinary journal designed for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and development analysts concerned with education policies
http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/
For more than 30 years, Education Week has been t…
For more than 30 years, Education Week has been the most respected voice in education journalism. Edweek.org delivers comprehensive and up-to-the-minute coverage of the most important K-12 news, information, and policy updates and the latest advances in instruction, technology, curriculum, and school finance. Free registration allows up to 3 free articles, blog posts, or commentaries on edweek.org each month. This includes coverage from Education Week, Teacher, Digital Directions, and Industry & Innovation and more than three decades of articles from the Education Week archives.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html
Engaging Students in Sustainable Action Projects, Facilitator's Guide
Kim Fulton - 4 years ago
This resource explains how to ethically involve c…
This resource explains how to ethically involve classes in sustainable action projects.
action projects
place based learning
Files: Engaging Students in Sustainable Action Projects, Facilitator's Guide
essapguide-august222013.pdf application/pdf
The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ-inclusive Education in Canada's K-12 Schools: Final Report
Chris Campbell, UW - 2 years ago
The Every Teacher Project is a national study of …
The Every Teacher Project is a national study of Canadian educators’ perceptions and experiences of LGBTQ-inclusive education, designed to identify and make widely available the collective expertise of teachers and educational workers on inclusive education practices for sexual and gender minority students. The Every Teacher Project attracted tremendous support from project partner The Manitoba Teachers’ Society and from every national, provincial and territorial teacher organization in the publicly funded school systems of Canada. With their help in recruiting, researchers completed the project with 3,400 survey participants and an additional 24 focus groups, far exceeding our initial goals and making this the largest study of its kind in the world to date. Other research reports available at: http://uwinnipeg.ca/rise/index.html
teaching practices
http://uwinnipeg.ca/rise/index.html
Files: The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ-inclusive Education in Canada's K-12 Schools: Final Report
00543-mtseveryteacherfinalreport.pdf application/pdf
Explain the Image
Maria Vamvalis - one year ago
In this 'Tools for Thought' lesson developed by T…
In this 'Tools for Thought' lesson developed by The Critical Thinking Consortium (www.tc2.ca) students use visual clues to explain images. They develop an understanding of the importance of making plausible inferences about an image in order to gather information about a historical or contemporary situation or place. It includes instructional suggestions for teachers (learn about the strategy, practicing the strategy, independent student activities) and resources for students (data chart, rating scale, student guide, samples and self-assessment rubric). An additional 80 Tools for Thought lessons are available to either individual members of Partner schools, boards and/or districts.
https://tc2.ca/en/creative-collaborative-critical-thinking/resources/t4t-tools-for-thought/
- visual literacy - plausible inferencing - visual analysis - differentiating between observations and inferences - inquiry-based learning
Adaptable - 30-75 minutes
Files: Explain the Image
explain-the-image.pdf application/pdf
Forced to leave - Learning about refugees
The material offers an introduction to refugee an…
The material offers an introduction to refugee and displacement issues for students in grade 6 and up. The educational resources are the result of a collaborative effort between the graduate school class (summer 2008) of Dr. Jan Stewart, Director of the Institute for War-Affected Children at Global College, University of Winnipeg and Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The materials were developed based upon an earlier MSF educational publication: “A Refugee Camp in the City, On Assignment” Teachers Guide, MSF Canada (2003). We hope these five lesson plans will encourage students to continue to learn and understand the challenges more than 50 million refugees and internally displaced people face worldwide
humanitarianism
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/educational-resources-about-refugees
1 - 5 hours
The Gender Spectrum: What Educators Need to Know (revised, 2nd edition)
Glen Hansman - 4 years ago
This book will help educators explore how the com…
This book will help educators explore how the common beliefs about gender previously mentioned create a hostile school climate for gender non-conforming and transgender students. Provides lesson ideas for K-12 classrooms.
gender idenity
sexual health education
Files: The Gender Spectrum: What Educators Need to Know (revised, 2nd edition)
the-gender-spectrum.pdf application/pdf
Going Outside: A Pedagogical Narration
Natasha Burgess - 2 years ago
For this narration, we focused on a Grade One stu…
For this narration, we focused on a Grade One student who was observed during their play outdoors in the rich winter landscape near West Boundary Elementary School. Reflecting on other ‘ordinary moments’ outdoors with children, we have also included snapshots that capture what children do when they are outside. Donna Boucher teaches Grade 3 at Sardis Elementary in Chilliwack, BC and is an active member of EEPSA (secretary). Growing up as a farm kid and early career work as a wildlife biologist developed her appreciation and connection to nature. This guides her practice as she provides lots of opportunities for her students to explore and engage with their natural world. Janine Fraser teaches Kindergarten and Grade One at Midway Elementary School in Midway, BC. She grew up exploring the forests and creeks around her school in North Vancouver and values opportunities to get kids outside. Natasha Burgess teaches Kindergarten and Grade One at Marysville Elementary School in Marysville, BC. While working on her Masters of Education through UVic, she became very interested in ecoliteracy and learning outdoors with young children.
Files: Going Outside: A Pedagogical Narration
p1100936.JPG image/jpeg
may-24-2016-001-2.jpg image/jpeg
bctf-article-going-outside.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Inclusion in British Columbia's public schools: Always a journey, never a destination?
BCTF Research - Paper presented by Charlie Naylor…
BCTF Research - Paper presented by Charlie Naylor at the Canadian Teachers’ Federation conference, Building Inclusive Schools: A Search for Solutions. November 17–19, 2005. Ottawa, ON.
Inclusive Schools
http://www.bctf.ca/diversity/reports/inclusionjourney/report.pdf
Files: Inclusion in British Columbia's public schools: Always a journey, never a destination?
inclusion-in-british-columbias-public-schools.pdf application/pdf
International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education
The International Journal of E-Learning & Distanc…
The International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education (formerly the Journal of Distance Education) is an international publication of the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE). Its aims are to promote and encourage scholarly work in e-learning and distance education and provide a forum for the dissemination of international scholarship.
http://www.ijede.ca/index.php/jde/issue/archive
Kids can't wait for solutions to child poverty poster
CASJ - 3 years ago
Use this poster to spark conversations with your …
Use this poster to spark conversations with your colleagues around students' poverty based needs in your school. The back of the poster provides strategies to better support students living in poverty as well as recommended actions to reduce poverty levels in British Columbia. Links to additional resources, lesson plans and workshops are also provided.
http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/SocialJustice/Issues/Poverty/ChildPovertyPoster.pdf
Living and Learning in a SmartBoard World
Charlie Naylor - 4 years ago
A 192-page book book with 13 Chapters written by …
A 192-page book book with 13 Chapters written by the Livingstone Teacher Inquiry Group which included teachers, a Principal, university and BCTF researchers. Ten chapters are written by teachers and describe teaching strategies and approaches using Smartboards with diverse learners in an East Vancouver (BC) elementary school. The chapters focus on how to meet diverse student needs rather than the details of the technology. Three Chapters explore the nature of the learning community and are written by UBC faculty, a graduate student and a teacher union researcher.
diverse learners
Teacher Inquiry
Files: Living and Learning in a SmartBoard World
livingandlearningina-smartboardworld.pdf application/pdf
Math/Science Resource
Eric Lou - one year ago
Report on two math/science apps on iOS/Android pl…
Report on two math/science apps on iOS/Android platforms.
Files: Math/Science Resource
annotated-multimodal-resources-1.pdf application/pdf
The McGill Journal of Education (MJE) is a peer-r…
The McGill Journal of Education (MJE) is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, open access, bilingual scholarly journal published three times a year. Embracing a broad conception of education, the MJE is dedicated to connecting educational research, theory, policy and practice by inviting thoughtful and critical submissions from scholars and practitioners working in diverse areas of education and learning in Quebec, Canada and internationally.
http://mje.mcgill.ca/issue/archive
Multi-media resources about humanitarian topics
This page on Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Wit…
This page on Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) school resources page contains a number of videos and links to multi-media sites about a variety of humanitarian issues such as conflict, refugees, HIV/AIDS and Ebola, and the work of MSF.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/multimedia-resources
The National Inventory of School District Interventions in Support of LGBTQ Student Wellbeing
The National Inventory of School District Interve…
The National Inventory of School District Interventions in Support of LGBTQ Student Wellbeing was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of school-system interventions in reducing stigma and improving resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and Two-Spirit, and queer and questioning (LGBTQ) students. It was conducted as part of the larger research program led by Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc at SARAVYC, UBC. The goal of this study was to identify which interventions have been implemented across Canada through an online survey of school district Superintendents/Directors, and what benefits were associated with the various interventions. The survey covered a range of possible interventions in support of LGBTQ students: LGBTQ-inclusive policy, generic and LGBTQ-specific harassment procedures, course content, GSAs, generic and LGBTQ-themed events, professional development, and teaching resources. Research program available at: http://uwinnipeg.ca/rise
http://uwinnipeg.ca/rise
Files: The National Inventory of School District Interventions in Support of LGBTQ Student Wellbeing
national-inventory-final-report-en-web.pdf application/pdf
The Origins of Names
This lesson, created for the children's story, 'T…
This lesson, created for the children's story, 'The Name Jar,' by Yangsook Choi deals with issues of cultural identity, racism and immigration. Having just arrived from Korea with her family, Unhei is anxious about making friends and worried that no one will be able to pronounce her name. Instead of introducing herself on the first day of school, she decides to pick a new name.
Files: The Origins of Names
theoriginofnames.pdf application/pdf
The perception of British Columbia’s classroom teachers and educational assistants on consultation and collaboration - a mixed methods study
Kamelia Dousti - 3 years ago
Inclusive education has seen many changes in the …
Inclusive education has seen many changes in the past decade and Educational Assistant (EA) numbers have dramatically increased in order to serve special education students within the classroom. EAs play a vital role in assisting these diverse students in achieving academic success. The relationship between the EAs and Classroom Teachers (CTs) is key. The principal purpose for this study is to examine how CTs and EAs perceive and describe their experiences with consultation and collaboration in British Columbia.
educational assistants
https://viuspace.viu.ca/handle/10613/2702
Perspectives web magazine is published by the Can…
Perspectives web magazine is published by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF), a national alliance of provincial and territorial teacher organizations that represent nearly 200,000 elementary and secondary school teachers across Canada.
https://perspectives.ctf-fce.ca/en/27/
Project of Heart – Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC
Chris - 3 years ago
This resource is a visual journey to support clas…
This resource is a visual journey to support classroom teachers, post secondary and adult educators to understand and learn about the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools. This document can be used towards developing self awareness in every discipline. Developing self awareness is a key element on the journey towards reconciliation. This resource can be used from K to post secondary in a diverse manner. E.g group discussion and exploration towards self awareness, whole class investigations and supports project base learning etc.
Indian Residential School
http://www.bctf.ca/HiddenHistory/
Learning more about Aboriginal history, specifically colonization and the impacts of Indian Residential Schools.
This resource is a life long journey.
Promoting integration of migrants and refugees in and through education
Committee for Action on Social Justice - 7 months ago
The past years have seen large numbers of refugee…
The past years have seen large numbers of refugees moving to Europe. This, and the rise of populist movements in Europe and North America, has led unions to develop activities engaging schools, local communities, authorities, etc. to promote the rights of migrants and build inclusive schools and communities. With the support of Education International (EI), exchange visits, information sharing and peer-learning activities allowed education unions to inspire each other and explore synergies across borders. This toolkit aims to build on these experiences and facilitate education unions to develop their work in this area. It also assists unions by exploring the issues around integrating migrants and refugees in education and sharing what others have been doing in this domain.
https://www.ei-ie.org/
Files: Promoting integration of migrants and refugees in and through education
toolkit-en-interactif.pdf application/pdf
Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher and a…
Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism. The online edition of the magazine features selected full text articles from current and past issues. Features include special publications and special article collections.
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/index.shtml
smoothrunnin' classrooms
smoothrunnin - 3 years ago
This is a blog which focuses primarily on classro…
This is a blog which focuses primarily on classroom management techniques and strategies.
https://smoothrunnin.wordpress.com/
TEACH Magazine
Launched in 1993, TEACH Magazine is the largest n…
Launched in 1993, TEACH Magazine is the largest national education publication in Canada. It covers issues and topics of interest to any K-12 educator, from fundraising to curriculum development, to the integration of technology. Content is pragmatic and hands-on. Each issue contains a practical teaching component called CURRICULA. The site features complete back issues.
http://www.teachmag.com/latest-issue
West Vancouver Elementary Learning Commmons website
Doni Gratton - 3 years ago
Website for teachers, students, teacher librarian…
Website for teachers, students, teacher librarians (e-resources, curriculum links, digital literacy and inquiry)
http://www.sd45elc.ca
Various new curriculum links to Science, Socials, Aboriginal Education,digital literacy, and inquiry.
5 recommendations 11721 downloads
Writing Power: Effective Writing Instruction and Assessment
Adrienne Gear - one year ago
Handout connected to Super Conference workshop ou…
Handout connected to Super Conference workshop outlining an effective Writing Program, mini lessons, recommended anchor books, mini lessons, assessment practice and reproducible templates.
Writing Power
Adrienne Gear
Files: Writing Power: Effective Writing Instruction and Assessment
adrienne-gear-psa-2017-effective-writing-and-assessment.pdf application/pdf
Report/Study/Thesis 6
Unit Plan 3
Deniers of climate change 1
French Curriculum 1
Inclusive Schools 1
Inclusive education 1
Indian Residential School 1
Kyoto to Paris 1
Medecins Sans Frontieres 1
Ministry of Education 1
Oil pipelines 1
Personal & Social Responsibility 1
Personal Awareness & Responsibility 1
Positive Personal & Cultural Identity 1
Principles of Learning 1
Quality Schools 1
Social Responsibility 1
Student achievement 1
Teacher Inquiry 1
William Glasser 1
Writing Power 1
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Te Ara – a history
Story: Te Ara – a history
Origins of Te Ara
Planning the encyclopedia: content
Planning the encyclopedia: process, look and feel
Production and technical aspects
Māori content, biculturalism and translation
Thematic structure
Image and media research
Audience interaction and social media
Users, responses and influence
Te Ara's whiteboard
Nancy Swarbrick, Te Ara's managing editor, and Janine Faulknor, Reference Group manager, discuss progress on Te Ara, prompted by several aids – Swarbrick's whiteboard, on which she followed every entry from writing, checking, captioning and editing through to final reviewing; her workbook; and her weekly report, which was circulated to every member of the team and tracked progress against the schedule.
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Cartoon celebrating Te Ara
Writemark New Zealand Plain English Award, 2008
the Te Ara team, 'Te Ara – a history - Writing and editing', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/45559/te-aras-whiteboard (accessed 17 July 2019)
Story by the Te Ara team
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Michel Gondry on flipping Jim Carrey inside out for Kidding
Erik Adams
Filed to: InterviewFiled to: Interview
Gondry (left) and Carrey at the September 5 premiere of Kidding
Photo: Michael Buckner (Showtime)
The first time Michel Gondry and Jim Carrey worked together, they wound up making one of the best films of the 21st century. (Some may go as far as saying that no other movie from the ’00s could touch it.) They stayed in contact in the years following Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, ultimately re-teaming to find a new project that could follow up that tear-jerking head trip. Fitting for Carrey’s sad clown side and Gondry’s craft-table surrealism, they landed on Kidding, a dramedy from Weeds alum Dave Holstein about Jeff Pickles (Carrey), the kindly host of a long-running children’s television show whose grasp on reality is shaken by a personal tragedy. Kidding premiered last night on Showtime; at this summer’s Television Critics Association press tour, The A.V. Club spoke with Gondry about his creative connection with Carrey, the connections Kidding draws between the families we build and the families we’re born into, and favorite TV memories from his own childhood.
The A.V. Club: In terms of your working relationship, what do you feel like you bring out of Jim as an actor, and what does he bring out of you as a director?
Michel Gondry: Jim has a crazy surface—kind of like volcano of craziness—and inside it seems much calmer. When I work with him I pull the inside out: Much more quieter outside, and much more intense inside.
AVC: Carrey’s character in Kidding is a very emotionally repressed kind of guy. How do you represent that repression in the visuals or the mood of the show?
MG: There is where he lives—he lives in a sad, miserable apartment. Right there, you already have the true element that composes the tension of the story—knowing that he should be a millionaire, and why does he live in this very miserable condition? This contrast where you see Jim as an entertainer and when you see him outside of this world in real life, that’s how we treat it.
AVC: At the end of the pilot, we find out that these characters we’ve been following—Jeff and Seb and Deirdre—they’re a family. What kind of effect do you think that has on the show? Do you feel like it twists it a little bit?
MG: When you watched it, did you see it coming?
AVC: I did not, no. I was surprised by it.
MG: So what did you think, then?
AVC: I felt like maybe if I went back, I could maybe pick up some things. The way that Seb talks to Jeff is very paternal, the way that he and Deirdre interact is very brother and sister. They’ve got that real warmth there when they’re just kind of shooting the breeze on set.
MG: I really like this idea because, when you work with a small group, there is connection created and you project, like, sometimes my producer I imagine is my dad—I lost my dad 10 years ago, and sometimes I see him as my dad. Or this woman I work with, I see her as my mother, and I think we sort of generally—or maybe that’s me—recreate familial connection in people who are strangers. So you see that in the beginning of the episode and you just attribute that as a little business where people are attached to each other. And so it feels that we represent this relationship you have in your work environment with family relationship, so when you see that, it is exactly what it is. I tell you it’s nice, and it feels, “Oh yes of course that’s his dad!” And then you see the company in a new angle. Because they have been together—its like a little circus in a way, it’s the son, the daughter, the mom. I think that’s what Dave was after.
AVC: How involved are you with some of the puppetry in the show and some of the special effects? I’m thinking, like, when Jeff gets into the barrel, how much involvement did you have with that aspect of the show?
MG: It’s tough now, because I can’t remember exactly what was on paper. We knew that [Mr. Pickles] had this place where he lives in this little apartment, then he goes to the barrel and you follow this little animation, then you arrive into the world of the puppets. I think this was established—now, I sort of designed how to make it work, I didn’t really think too hard.
AVC: Did you watch much TV when you were a kid? Do you have any fond memories of children’s TV from France?
MG: Yeah, we had a lot of TV for kids. There was one with a real cat, a real dog—real animals. There were a lot from East Europe like Poland, Czech Republic. [Colargol], a little bear who couldn’t sing, but was animated. But we had very few hand puppets. It was not in our culture.
AVC: How do you think that compares to how kids’ TV in the U.S.? Kidding is very much grounded in the Mr. Rogers/Sesame Street tradition.
MG: I don’t know. To me, to see the animation as a thing working on its own [in stop-motion], it was a bit more magical. You didn’t see the person. But no, I like the American style as well.
Kidding reunites Jim Carrey and Michel Gondry, gets promptly lost in its protagonist’s head
Michel Gondry on Mood Indigo, special effects, Jim Carrey, and Charlie Kaufman
“Car washes” and Lego models: 10 insanely complicated one-shot music videos
A.V. Club TV editor
Recent from Erik Adams
All our unanswered Stranger Things 3 questions
The many Easter eggs, references, and parallels of Stranger Things 3
Other things: 10 movies to watch before Stranger Things 3
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Episodes, A to Z, Season 5 episodes, Better images needed
Leon Me
Ian Malone
Jay Prychidny
"Dance, Lies and Hoverboards" "It's All Fun and Games..."
"Leon Me" is the 4th episode in Season 5 of The Next Step and the 138th episode overall. It aired on June 16, 2017.
"Emily has hired a guest choreographer, Leon Blackwood, to teach a hip-hop class for TNS East, but when TNS West shows up too, Michelle and Emily go head-to-head."[1]
Amy sits on a bench as she oversees Henry and Ozzy's dancing in Studio A. As they dance, Richelle and Lola enter the studio and take the cubes. They then return, tell Amy to get off the bench, and take that too. Amy, Ozzy, and Henry are left confused and without an explanation — other than a vague "A-Troupe business" from Richelle, as she and Lola leave with the bench. Henry vows to get to the bottom of the situation.
Henry and Noah finish their handshake.
Henry and Noah are hanging out in Neutral Grounds and perfecting a new handshake. Noah confesses that he and Henry are best friends and that, being on separate troupes, he hopes it stays that way. Henry confesses that he is buttering up Noah to get information from him about what is happening in Studio 1. Without much persuasion, Noah easily admits that Leon Blackwood is coming in to teach a master class for he and the other members of TNS East, including Jacquie. Speaking of Jacquie, Noah tries to ask Henry if it's okay to go to the movies with her, but Henry refuses. Noah tells Henry to bring his friends to Leon's class. Noah admits that he isn't sure if he is allowed to invite Henry, but that he just wanted to get off of the topic of Jacquie.
Josh is tying his shoes in the locker room as Piper talks about how excited she is for the masterclass, with Zara in the background. Josh tells Piper a story about Leon being so impressed by a girl in one of his classes that he put her in a music video. Zara confesses that she is worried about the class, as she is not the strongest hip-hop dancer.
In Studio A, Michelle asks to see Amy and Ozzy's attitudes. As this happens, Henry runs in and announces that Leon Blackwood is teaching a masterclass. Michelle confesses that Leon Blackwood actually started The Underground Dance Centre in Toronto. Michelle allows the dancers to attend the class, not thinking it will be a problem despite not being invited. Henry, Ozzy, Amy, and Michelle excitedly exit the studio, chanting Leon's name. Meanwhile, Emily asserts to the dancers that they will be polite, prepared, and professional. As Emily orders the dancers not to embarrass her, Michelle, Ozzy, Amy, and Henry enter the studio, still chanting Leon's name. Emily quickly pulls Michelle aside and asks Michelle why she is there. Michelle tells her that her dancers are there for the masterclass, which Emily reminds her they weren't invited to. Michelle is confused as to why this is a problem, while Emily deems Michelle's behaviour to be classic. Henry and Noah greet each other happily, with Noah hoping that Emily doesn't find out he spilled the beans about the class. As Michelle and Emily continue to argue, Amy tells Piper that she must be excited, but Piper tells Amy that she is speaking to Josh at the moment, hurting Amy. Michelle and Emily are still arguing, until Leon walks into the room. Emily realizes that there is nothing she can do.
Emily tells Michelle that she and her dancers can stay so long as they merely audit, which Michelle begrudgingly agrees to. Leon begins the class and chooses to work with Jacquie (who previously took a class with him and gave Emily the idea to bring him in), Noah, Josh, Lola... and Amy. Amy explains that she is merely there to audit, but Leon rejects the notion. Piper is immediately angry that Amy was picked over her. Leon teaches the dancers a few steps of choreography and is impressed by Amy after she gets comfortable. Leon admits that the dance is supposed to feature a little romance and pulls out Jacquie and Noah, bothering Henry. Leon calls a break, during which Piper storms out. Jacquie meets Noah in the locker room, during which they agree that they have chemistry. Noah lies to Jacquie that she danced so hard she danced one of her eyelashes off and pretends to brush it off, really just caressing Jacquie's face. Henry enters the room just then, and Jacquie and Noah quickly separate. Jacquie exits the room and Henry only asks Noah where the washroom is; Noah hopes Henry didn't see anything, but knows he has to back off Jacquie because he doesn't want to ruin his friendship with Henry.
Lola, Josh, Jacquie, Noah, and Amy begin their routine with Noah and Jacquie at the center. Henry realizes that there is definitely more happening between Jacquie and Noah than just dance. Watching how fun the dance is, Zara regrets shying away from Leon. Piper also wishes she was up dancing. When the dance ends, Leon thanks Michelle and Emily for having him, calling them co-studio heads in the process, obviously upsetting Emily. Ozzy commends Amy on the choreography, while Josh apologizes to Piper for Amy taking her spot. As Amy tries to approach her, Piper exits with Josh.
Emily tells the members of TNS East that they are forbidden from talking about studio matters with anyone who is not part of the team.
Amy storms into Studio A in tears. Amy confesses that her friendship with Piper is important to her because, with Sloane and Cassie gone, she is the only one left who is there for her. As Amy cries beside her cubby, Michelle enters her office, complimenting Amy and not even noticing that she is upset... that is, until Michelle prepares to leave. Michelle asks Amy what's wrong and Amy admits that she was embarrassed because Piper is mad at her due to Michelle's doing. Amy asks why they had to crash the class anyway and Michelle explains that TNS West just doesn't have the same amount of support and funding as TNS East. Amy retorts that they can never be the best team without the resources and storms out of the studio.
Meanwhile, Emily tells her dancers that TNS West is starting to take advantage of them and announces that it is thereby forbidden to discuss A-Troupe business with anybody who is not currently dancing in Studio 1.
Noah is worried about his relationship with Henry with the new rule in place. While sitting in Neutral Grounds, he is joined by Henry. Henry pries about Noah's relationship with Jacquie and is hurt upon his subsequent lies. Henry tells Noah that friends do not lie to each other so, from that point on, they are no longer friends.
This episode was released on the Family Channel app before airing on television.
This is the first episode where Toronto is referred to by name.
Henry and Noah are no longer friends.
Zara is wary about dancing with Leon Blackwood because she deems herself not the strongest hip-hop dancer, although, one of her two specializations is hip-hop according to her Talking Heads caption. Although, it is possible that Zara means that she is not the best hip-hop dancer in the troupe.
In one of the white walls segments, you can see both troupes walking past each other — including Elliot, who was not introduced to us in this point of the season. In this very same segment, Heather also appears, but her dance storyline hasn't begun yet.
The title of the episode is a play on words on the song "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers.
Dawson Handy as Josh
Jessica Lord as Lola
Milaina Robinson as Zara
Danielle Ching as Danielle
Tyler Hutchings as Tyler
Jordan Letlow as Jordan
Leon Blackwood as Himself
Brennan Clost as Daniel
Lamar Johnson as West
"Hit My Heart"
"Look Alive"
"Top of the World (Male Vocals)"
"Two Hearts (Acoustic)"
(Josh, Jacquie, Lola, Noah, Amy)
Main article: Leon Me/Quotes
Main article: Leon Me/Aftershow
To view the Leon Me gallery, click here.
↑ TV Listings Grid, TV Guide and TV Schedule, Where to Watch TV Shows - Screener. Zap2It (May 3, 2017). Retrieved on May 3, 2017.
Retrieved from "https://the-next-step.fandom.com/wiki/Leon_Me?oldid=187321"
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Home > The Ancient Times > Karnataka government: 2 Independent MLAs withdraw support
Karnataka government: 2 Independent MLAs withdraw support
by The Ancient Times - January 15, 2019 0
Two Independent MLAs, H Nagesh and R Shankar, have withdrawn their support from Kumaraswamy government.
In the 224-member assembly, BJP has 104 members, Congress-79, JDS 37, BSP, KPJP and Independent one each, besides Speaker.
There are speculations that six to eight Congress MLAs are ready to jump ship to the BJP side.
BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: In a setback for the Congress-JD(S) coalition, two Independent MLAs, H Nagesh and R Shankar, on Tuesday withdrew their support to the Karnataka government headed by H D Kumaraswamy.
In separate identical letters, the lawmakers said they were withdrawing support extended to the coalition government of the Congress and the JDS with immediate effect.
A fresh political war erupted in Karnataka on Monday as the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition and opposition BJP accused each other of making a renewed bid to poach each other’s MLAs, with chief minister H D Kumaraswamy saying he has “sufficient numbers” to run a stable government.
Amid speculation that six to eight Congress MLAs are ready to jump ship to the BJP side and some lawmakers of the ruling coalition going incommunicado, Kumaraswamy said there was no question of “instability” in his government.
In the 224-member assembly, BJP has 104 members, Congress-79, JD(S) 37, BSP, KPJP and Independents one each, besides Speaker. BSP, KPJP and an Independent are supporting the coalition.
As the Congress-JD(S) combine accused the BJP of luring away its MLAs offering bribes and other allurements, BJP state chief B S Yeddyurappa rubbished reports that his party was attempting ‘Operation Lotus’ to topple the government.
He said there was no truth in the charge and alleged that the Congress-JD(S) combine was trying to woo his party MLAs.
Media reports about Congress MLAs willing to cross over to the BJP and some remaining incommunicado fuelled speculation about a possible threat to the government.
Adding to the speculation was BJP holding up all its 104 MLAs, who had gone to the national capital for the party national council meeting, in Delhi itself and having meetings.
Operation Lotus’ is a reference to the BJP allegedly luring several opposition MLAs to defect to ensure stability of its then-government headed by B S Yeddyurappa in 2008.
“I have sufficient numbers for giving a stable government here, it is not necessary for Congress or JD(S) to poach the MLAs from BJP, we have sufficient numbers,” Kumaraswamy said.
Kumaraswamy said he enjoyed the support of 120 MLAs and Yeddyurappa was making “futile attempts” to destabilise his government.
“In which BJP MLAs name rooms were reserved in which resort, how many rooms were reserved.How many Congress-JD(S) they were making attempts to lure and take them away..don’t I have the information,” he said.
“The coalition government enjoys support of 120 MLAs,” he said.
Transport, banking to be hit as trade unions start 2-day nationwide strike | 10 points
Cops take Rs 35L bribe, suspended
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Home > theatre > Live from the National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage, BBC Two
Live from the National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage, BBC Two | reviews, news & interviews
Live from the National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage, BBC Two
Stellar birthday party goes easy on the cheese
by Jasper ReesSunday, 03 November 2013
Jack Holden as Albert n 'War Horse', with Toby Oliè, Thomas Wilton And Michael Brett as JoeyAll images © Catherine Ashmore
These celebrations of our yesterdays can easily end up all camembert and wind. But while film people and television people will generally cock such things up, we do still have the odd cultural institution which can be relied upon to throw the right sort of party. For the National Theatre's golden jubilee, therefore, the stops were jolly well pulled out and the invitations damn well accepted from the actors who, striplings at the Old Vic in the Sixties, are now our own Oliviers and Ashcrofts and Scofields. And it was almost all impeccable.
Of course the greatest frissons were reserved for those moments when the veterans came back and did their piece once more with feeling – Judi Dench firing up as Cleopatra, Helen Mirren washing her thighs and despatching her husband in Mourning Becomes Electra, Maggie Smith spirited back into The Beaux’ Stratagem. Above all, Joan Plowright, long widowed and no longer sighted, returned to the stage of the Old Vic to repeat with heavy poignancy the words of St Joan she first spoke 50 years ago: “To shut me from the light of the sky… to make me breathe foul damp darkness”.
You’d get an intriguing idea of the history of musical theatre from the shows on show
And yet even if the actors were available, this wasn’t simply an exercise in carbon-copying the past. Penelope Wilton and Michael Gambon might easily have revisited Betrayal, but instead he paired up with Derek Jacobi to reincarnate Gielgud and Richardson in No Man’s Land (pictured below), and she with Nicholas Le Prévost for a slice of Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce. If the actors weren’t available, rather than do something else the parts were just recast from the company. Thus Arcadia was (rather uncertainly) peopled by new faces led by Rory Kinnear. Ralph Fiennes ferociously deputised for Anthony Hopkins as Lambert Le Roux. Rosalie Craig not Martine McCutcheon sang of the rain in Spain.
You’d get an intriguing idea of the history of musical theatre from the shows on show here: not just Lerner and Loewe and the inexhaustible Guys and Dolls (Nicely Nicely Johnson was shorn by time constraints of his traditional umpteen encores), but also the fleck and spume of Jerry Springer the Opera and the Ipswich sex worker serial killer musical London Road. And Dame Judi, trotting out “Send in the Clowns” one last time, still can’t hold a tune (no please don’t write in).
This was a compilation album with well-choreographed tonal shifts. Different buttons were pushed as James Corden beat himself up as Francis Henshall, Simon Russell Beale revisited his fiercely intelligent Prince of Denmark, and Joey the foal ballooned into a mighty stallion. And as the story of the National’s 50 years unfolded, a subtle hand was at work making connections between apparently random clips. We segued from one African queen to another as Cleopatra made way for a young gay man in Angels in America dying of Aids and missing his cat Sheba. Alan Bennett’s history boys, caught napping by the headmaster when playing at prostitution in a French class, pretended instead to enact a scene from a military hospital at Ypres. Straight after that the trenches were presaged for real in War Horse.
And for all the in-jokes about critics and actors, rarely did it feel like a self-indulgent orgy of nostalgia. We don’t know what Rufus Norris’s reign will bring, but this highlights package suggested that it’s high time for a revival of Peter Nichols’ The National Health as the NHS endures its latest growing pains, and possibly also for Pravda as the fourth estate endures moral and financial meltdown. It’s also time for Jacobi, a very early member of the National company at the Old Vic, finally to make his full Southbank debut, possibly in some Pinter.
Quibbles and caveats? As a television event it may have all looked quizzical to non-theatregoers. Filmed theatre has come on a treat since the arrival of swooping high-definition cameras, but stage and screen will never be entirely reconciled so long as actors quite properly see it as their first duty to hit the back wall of the upper circle. Two plays about politicians from David Hare felt like too many. Only one female playwright (Alecky Blythe) was simply not enough. And aside from Clive Rowe rocking the boat, it was quite a white night for lead performers until Adrian Lester came on at the death. His Othello neatly completed the circle, the Moor having been Laurence Olivier’s first role for the National, while making the point that the National and indeed the nation has moved on in half a century.
That’s why the line of the night belonged to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s debut play. “One is having one all the time,” he explained to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Rosencrantz, before clarifying: “A future.” See you at the theatre.
Overleaf: a gallery of images from 50 Years on Stage
A subtle hand was at work making connections between apparently random clips
Listed: Nights to remember at the National Theatre
Arena: The National Theatre, Part One - The Dream, BBC Four
Rufus Norris to run the National Theatre
Dramatic Exchanges review - a brilliant slice of theatre history
Sunday Book: Nicholas Hytner - Balancing Acts
It was fine up to a point,
Permalink Submitted by David N (not verified) on Sun, 03/11/2013 - 09:29
It was fine up to a point, but where were the European classics, the women playwrights, the cutting-edge productions, not to mention the multicultiness? I get little but a sense of mediocrity, in the sense of well done, middle-of-the-road shows, from the Hytner era. Let's pray Rufus Norris will bring more off-kilter, truly disorienting and wild theatre of the likes of the recent Edward II.
Too much David Hare. Too
Permalink Submitted by Lisa (not verified) on Tue, 05/11/2013 - 13:59
Too much David Hare. Too many men. Not enough black people. Not enough women. but hey, worth it just for Andrew Scott, Andrew Scott, Andrew Scott and did I mention Andrew Scott!
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Category: City of Miami Beach
OLA, the South Florida mainstay that served creative latin cuisine at the Sanctuary Hotel for fourteen years, until it was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017, has just reopened at South Beach’s Gates Hotel after moving around for a few years. Always a happening place at the Sanctuary, the restaurant hopes to continue its success with a new executive chef, Chris Castro.
Famed Interior Designer Jean-Louis Deniot Sells Fab Midcentury Pad on Flamingo Drive for $7.5M
Jean-Louis Deniot, an internationally known interior designer who has been listed on Architectural Digest’s list of the world’s one hundred best interior designers and architects, just sold his renovated mid-century rancher on Miami Beach’s Flamingo Drive for $7.5M. Mr. Deniot has worked on a few local projects in Miami, including the interiors of the Elysee condo tower, which is currently under construction in Edgewater.
Hole-In-The-Wall La Sandwicherie is a South Beach Institution
So many South Beach joints can seem, well, insanely touristy. From the sidewalk cafes with their gigantic cocktails on Ocean Drive, to the overpriced, underwhelming restaurants of Lincoln Road, it’s easy to write off the whole neighborhood as one giant gastronomic Times Square. There are some real winners that have been around forever, however, and they still haven’t sold out like many South Beach hot spots.
Miami Beach House Restored by Ximena Caminos, One of the Creatives Behind the Faena District, Lists for $6.25M
Ximena Caminos, who blew into town alongside her now ex-husband, Alan Faena, to buy up much of Mid Beach and turn it all into the Faena District, a theatrical, over-the-top, and fantastical mini-neighborhood, is selling her unique home on Pine Tree Drive in Miami Beach for $6.25 million.
Starchitect-Designed Courtyard Townhouse Just Off Lincoln Road Asks $3M
Off a narrow pedestrian alley off busy Lincoln Road, hidden behind 1111, the high-design parking garage famous for showing how beautiful parking garages could be, nestles a little hidden colony of courtyard townhouses sitting atop a few shops, cafes, and a fancy Japanese Peruvian restaurant. One of houses, designed by starchitect firm Herzog & de Meuron, who also did the rest of the 1111 complex, is on the market for $2.999 million.
A 60-Foot-Tall Pink Flamingo Floatie Cruised Down the Miami River
A 60-foot-tall pink flamingo floatie made its way down the Miami River today and past the port, heading for Miami Beach. Apparently, it’s some kind of promo campaign that Pepsi is doing, and according to the tea on Facebook it’s heading for the Fontainebleau Hotel.
ArquitectonicaGEO is redoing the Continuum’s Entry Drive in South Beach
The Continuum, that gigantic duo of residential towers at the southern point of South of Fifth, with its hundreds of units, acres of grounds, and oodles of amenities, is embarking on a multimillion-dollar renovation of its long entrance drive, which ascends two levels from the street to the main entrance, and will include the two roundabouts, the gatehouse, new pavers, a new fountain, and extensive landscaping. ArquitectonicaGEO, the landscape architecture arm of Miami megafirm Arquitectectonica, is handling the reno.
Extremly High End Pyramid-Shaped “Arte” Launches Sales in Surfside
For a long time, Surfside was a small, approachable little town by the sea. Yes, it was home to one of Miami’s few old bastions of faded aristocracy known as the Surf Club, and the entrance to Indian Creek Village, the island-sized escape where literally all of the approximately fifty homes are in the $10 million+ range. Oh, and it also always butted right up against the uber-deluxe Bal Harbour Village. Yet, Surfside has always been modest; much more like Miami Beach’s North Beach neighborhood, directly to the south, than anything else adjacent to it. That is until now. When the Surf Club was bought out by the Four Seasons and redone in grand style, that gigantic and extremely high-end project led a torrent of new ultra-luxury development in the area.
The Miami Beach Convention Center Unveils its New Public Art Collection and Canalside Park
The new public art adorning the Miami Beach Convention Center was recently unveiled, including a series of murals and a public park lining Collins Canal adorned with large aluminum sculptures. The art, as curated by the City of Miami Beach’s Art in Public Places initiative, includes site-specific permanent works by Joseph Kosuth, Joep van Lieshout, Ellen Harvey, and Franz Ackerman, with a tile installation by artist Sarah Morris set to debut by the end of the month. The Joep van Lieshout pieces, specifically, enhance the gorgeous new park along Collins Canal.
Inside Starchitect Jean Nouvel’s Monad Terrace, Which Just Topped Off in South Beach
Monad Terrace, famed French architect Jean Nouvel’s first project in Miami, has just topped off, and the Big Bubble got a hard hat tour of the boutique luxury condo project’s construction site with architect Kobi Karp, who collaborated with Nouvel on the project. Check it out, below.
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Blantyre men accept awards
Three High Blantyre men were today awarded South Lanarkshire’s Community Service award for 2016.
On the recommendation of local Councillors, Blantyre’s Gordon Cook, Jim Brown and Paul Veverka and their families were invited to a ceremony in the County Buildings this afternoon, Friday 18th March 2016. Amongst the good company of other nominees from throughout South Lanarkshire, they were called up by the Provost to receive a certificate, a beautiful glass inscribed award and celebratory lunch.
Gordon Cook is secretary and vice -chairman of Blantyre Heritage Group and has previously written many booklets on the history of Blantyre, including taking an informative position in the much celebrated Pits, Ponies, People & Stories project, sepcialising in mining. We can’t think of anybody with more knowledge about Blantyre’s history than this man. Gordon commented afterwards saying, “I was surprised and honoured to be nominated.”
Jim Brown is a local machinist who for more than a decade, has walked around Blantyre almost every weekend, capturing contemporary life by photos for future generations to look back upon. He has amassed nearly 40,000 photos in his collection. Jim is an active member in Friends of the Calder and a tireless champion of Blantyre’s environment. Jim told us today, “Brilliant to be sitting here amongst all these people. The awards look amazing”
Finally, Paul Veverka. I cant add much here, for this person is me!!!…. aka Blantyre Telegraph. I was only there due to Blantyre history efforts in my Blantyre Project and recording our present news here on Blantyre Telegraph.(Proudly accepted anyway, despite there being many, far more deserving people out there in Blantyre!) If you want a quote, I’ll add, “I was honoured and privileged to be amongst the winners, not just at my table but in the hall. I hope to also see community organisations and businesses included in next years nominations.”
Well done to Gordon and Jim!
P.s Please take some time out to view Jims amazing Blantyre photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/8899981@N05/
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Does Fresno need to make an energy choice?
Photo by David Castellon A small crowd attended the Fresno Community Choice Energy Business Forum June 5 at the Central Valley Community Foundation’s headquarters in Fresno.
published on June 25, 2019 - 2:14 PM
Written by David Castellon
In the Fresno area, more than 750 manufacturing businesses use the bulk of electricity directed here by Pacific Gas & Electric, but the cost of that energy is among the most expensive in California, said Mike Betts, president and CEO of the Betts Co., a south Fresno manufacturer of industrial springs and truck accessories.
In fact, he noted that manufacturers here pay up to 40% percent more than manufacturers in coastal California.
“We’re also paying three to five times more for energy than other states, like Texas and Oklahoma. Manufacturing pays the bulk of the cost for the energy,” Betts said to the small audience attending the Fresno Community Choice Energy Business Forum June 5 at the Central Valley Community Foundation headquarters in Fresno.
Energy choice
Community Choice Energy — more commonly referred to as “Community Choice Aggregation” (CCA) — is a program California lawmakers approved in 2002 allowing cities and counties to individually or jointly purchase electricity on their own, allowing them to control prices and choose the source.
Currently, there are 19 CCAs, most in coastal and southern areas of the state, and Hanford is in the process of forming the Valley’s first CCA, while a proposal to fund a $60,000 research project to determine the pros and cons of forming a Fresno CCA has been included in the city’s budget proposal the city council has been hashing out this week.
Right choice for Fresno?
“The two big things I think will be very beneficial to Fresno in looking at securing the possibility of this in the future is, one, it will allow us to shape and really route the energy the way we want it to,” said Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez, who put forth the CCA study proposal and spoke at the June 5 event.
Though the study hasn’t been funded yet, Chavez said he believes forming a local CCA could provide savings for the low-income residents of his district, as well as savings that could serve as incentives for manufacturers to stay or locate here.
PG&E maintains a role
If a CCA is formed, it wouldn’t mean Fresno is getting into the energy business — at least not fully. While CCAs decide from where to purchase electricity and the rates charged to customers, distribution is still provided by the electrical utilities — PG&E among them — along with maintaining electrical poles and wires and other tasks to maintain the electrical grid.
As such, the utilities charge their own separate rates for their services, as well as handing the billing for themselves and the CCAs.
Besides being a speaker at last week’s event, Betts, who also is president of the San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance, said he also was there to learn about CCAs and share that information with other Valley manufacturers to decided if they favor forming a Fresno CCA.
Rate hikes in the future
He said manufacturers are worried their energy costs are going to go up soon — perhaps considerably — as PG&E seems likely to have to pay billions of dollars in damages for its equipment reportedly causing a series of California wildfires in recent years, among them the devastating Camp Fire that destroyed more than 21,000 homes in parts of six counties in Northern California.
In April, the utility asked the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) permission for a rate hike estimated to cost residential customers about $22 more a month.
For manufacturers and other heavy energy users, cold storage businesses among them, the extra costs could be in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
Rate flexibility
While CCAs can’t prevent the utility’s hikes for distributing power, they could set their own rates low enough to somewhat offset the PG&E hikes.
In addition, Betts said, the CCAs that have formed have programs to help customers, which have included funding electric vehicle charging stations and others to offset some of the costs to buy electric vehicles.
“We want to know more about those programs — all of them — to understand the positive impacts not only [for] a business but on homeowners.”
Distribution practicalities
Officials with Santa Rosa-based Center for Climate Protection, which organized last week’s Fresno event, have noted that an important part of what CCAs do is choose from where they buy energy and how much of it comes from renewable sources — wind generators, solar, etc. —though in actuality even if contracts are signed with wind generator plants in the California desert and solar farms up north, that electricity wouldn’t go to customers in the client cities or counties. Instead, the electricity is directed into the electrical grid, from which all customers pull their electricity, and they’re charged for it at their set rates.
Right to opt out
Individual customers in any CCA have the right to opt out and get their services entirely from the utilities at their rates.
For his part, Chavez said even without a local CCA study, he believes one here could save residential and business customers money, because it would foster competition among energy suppliers, and the electrical utilities no longer would be alone shopping among power providers.
“And everybody knows, when you have competition, that causes prices to go down,” he said in an interview.
Summer stress
He said a major reason for the Valley’s higher rates compared to other parts of the state is that it gets so hot here in the summer months that electrical systems work harder due to the added demand from cooling homes and businesses, adding to the costs of running and maintaining electrical systems here.
Those added energy costs could determine whether some businesses stay or locate here, so it’s particularly important to find ways to reduce local electricity costs, he said.
Betts agreed, noting that part of the reason Hanford is forming a CCA is to offer Faraday Future, the electric car plant under development in the city, a break on its energy costs and to create an incentive to draw other businesses into the city.
“Industry, all of us, are very concerned about the environment, but I think we need to be realistic about what’s most important — good-paying jobs. And we don’t want to be scaring industry away from here. We want industry to want to come and invest here … and exorbitant energy costs will drive people from here,” Betts said.
Fresno’s ERI earns data destruction certification Posted: October 11, 2016 at 9:34 am
[caption id="attachment_5383" align="aligncenter" width="623"] Fresno-based ERI, the country’s leading recycler
Air District: Wildfires in Fresno, Monterey counties impacting Valley air quality Posted: August 12, 2016 at 7:57 am
Smoke from the Soberanes Fire burning in Monterey County is
Kings River swelling from snowmelt forces evacuation of 90 homes Posted: June 26, 2017 at 12:03 pm
(AP) — Authorities say 90 homes remain under mandatory evacuation
Feds announce 20 percent water allocation for westside growers Posted: February 20, 2018 at 4:14 pm
The U.S Bureau of Reclamation has announced an initial water
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Anti Corruption Fight : Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy To Refund $1.6bn To NNPC
Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Nigeria Limited, an oil firm owned by Olajide Omokore, that swindled billions of dollars from the flagship subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation – Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, is to refund $1.6bn to the oil firm following recent judgments obtained by the NNPC.
NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, said this was one of the recent achievements of the anti-corruption fight of the oil firm while speaking at the headquarters of the corporation in Abuja on Tuesday, after he was named patron of the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria.
Baru said, “We’ve made a lot of inroads in terms of fraud detection, prevention and control. The most important thing for the economy and any business is to ensure that fraud does not occur. It is not to allow the fraud to take place and then you start fighting it. So, the prevention aspect of fraud is very key.
“Under the anti-corruption committee, we were able to ensure that all staff members of NNPC and those doing business with the corporation know the correct processes. They also know what constitutes corruption and, of course, they know the punishments that follow.
READ MORE: NNPC Tells Court Ifeanyi Ubah Committed Economic Sabotage. Read Why...
He added, “I will not like to itemise the areas or each aspect that we’ve done but I must tell you that there is a lot of sanity in what has happened. However, I can just mention one. Recently, we were able to get the Atlantic companies that were fleecing the NNPC subsidiary called NPDC ,and we got an award for them to refund $1.6bn to NPDC through the arbitration process.”
Baru said the NNPC had been able to address some high-profile court cases that were targeted at defrauding the national oil firm.
He cited an instance where the oil firm saved over $350m after it was able to settle a case which it had with another oil company out of court.
Baru said, “We’ve also been able to stem some of the high-profile court cases that we believe had been set up to defraud NNPC. And some of these activities are related to fighting corruption. If you see the amount of money involved and if you don’t have people who are determined to fight corruption, the chances are that you will be compromised.
READ MORE: Africa troops in Gambia to secure Barrow’s arrival.
“We’ve had some other cases, for example, NNPC versus IPCO, where they were demanding over $400m because of their activities. But we were able to settle out of court with them for $37.5m, which is a saving of several percentages and certainly less than 10 per cent of the initial demand.
“So, these are activities which the fraud investigation and, of course, forensic investigation are about, in order to ensure that fraud is not there because you will detect it, investigate it and prosecute it so that you get value for money.”
Olajide Omokore
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Acupuncture for Pregnancy Nausea
December 6, 2016 by Dr Julie Vecera
Nausea during early pregnancy? Try Acupuncture
Are you pregnant ? You suffering from nausea ?
Smith et al. published two articles from their research on acupuncture for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy which is the largest study to date. The first looked at its effectiveness of and the second at the safety of its treatment in early pregnancy.
The objective was to compare: traditional treatment, at one point only, a sham treatment and none at all for nausea and vomiting. This study involved 593 women who were less than 14 weeks pregnant and were suffering pregnancy related nausea and vomiting. They were randomized into four groups and received treatment weekly. The acupuncture group, in which points were chosen according to a traditional diagnosis, received two 20 minute treatments in the first week followed by one weekly treatment for the next four weeks. The sham acupuncture group was needled at points close to but not on standard points and both the sham and one acupuncture point groups were treated with the same frequency as the traditional acupuncture group.
While all three groups reported improvement with nausea and dry retching, it was the traditional group that had the fastest response. Patients receiving traditional treatments also reported improvement in five aspects of general health status (vitality, social function, physical function, mental health and emotional role function) compared to improvement in two aspects with both the one acupuncture point group and sham acupuncture groups. In the no treatment group there was improvement in only one aspect.
Although there were no differences in vomiting found in any of the treatment groups the authors speculated that more frequent treatments might have produced greater benefits. In assessing the safety of acupuncture in early pregnancy data was collected on perinatal outcome, congenital abnormalities, pregnancy complications and problems of the newborn.
No differences were found between study groups in the incidence of these outcomes suggesting that there are no serious adverse effects from the use of acupuncture treatment in early pregnancy. The authors concluded that acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for women who experience nausea and dry retching in early pregnancy.
Visit us at The Fertility Pod for more information.
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: acupuncture, nausea, pregnant
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Lincoln street parties celebrate Royal Wedding
Alex Colman
Residents of Nettleham Close, Lincoln, raise a glass for Will and Kate on their Big Day.
Sending RAF Coningsby pilots for a flypast Buckingham palace wasn’t the only way Lincoln got involved in the Royal Wedding, as The Lincolnite visited eight street parties across the city.
Celebrations stretched from Bracebridge Heath to beyond the Cathedral, with local communities gathering together outside their houses revelling in the sunshine.
Nicola Bacon (39) from North Hykeham said that Newark Road was the first to be officially closed in Lincoln, and made the most of the occasion by putting up a bouncy castle in her front garden.
Bacon said: “We decided to get a bouncy castle to entertain the kids as the great thing about today is that all the local people, despite their age, have come together to celebrate.”
Michael Frere (90), a retired local Vicar, along with Barbara Ferguson (62), who has lived on the street for 35 years, decided to organise the party and were delighted to see so many people get involved.
Ferguson said: “It is lovely to see everyone involved as I can remember the Queen’s Coronation party and it wasn’t anything like this.”
Celebrations on Dellfield Close were also helped by the Holy Cross Church in Boultham, providing the tables and bunting for the event. The idea for the party came from Graham and Valerie Wakelen, both 67, who recently went on holiday and wanted to carry on their cheer.
Garry Goddard (49), with the help of his partner Tracey Langmaid (42), turned the festivities on their street, Dorrigan Close, into a fund-raising opportunity.
Goddard is the founder of Lincs 2 Nepal, a local charity that helps orphans in Nepal. After successfully funding an orphanage for 53 children, he is now working with the government in Nepal to close down illegal orphanages in the country.
— Photography by Kelly Moore for The Lincolnite
County diabetics put their sight at risk
Royal Wedding: watch, party or avoid?
Deep Lane, Hagworthingham
Bond Hayes Lane, Hagworthingham
6 Tinkermere Close, Welton
Main Road, Toynton All Saints
School Farm House, Witham Bank
Landsdown, 28 Horncastle Road, Woodhall Spa
TO LET – Honeysuckle Cottage, Chapel Lane, Dunston
TO LET – 5 Wold View, Willingham Road, East Barkwith
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Touching Moment When Bride Gets Surprised By Late Father’s Best Friend Days Before The Wedding
Posted by The ViralCola Team | Jul 14, 2017 | Life, Videos |
Allyson Eischens was absolutely ready for her wedding but there was just one thing missing – her dad to walk her down the aisle.
Eischens’ father passed away, after which his best friend, Chris Roose became kind of a father figure for her. Roose has always been very close to the family, even after the passing of his best friend but due to his wife’s accident, originally he wasn’t able to make it to the wedding. But thanks to Eischens’ partner, who did everything in his power to ensure that his would-be-wife had someone to walk her down the aisle.
Just days before the wedding, Eischens was surprised by Roose and she broke down in tears.
“The kids closed my eyes… all of a sudden, I heard Chris say, ‘I heard somebody needs to be given away,” Eischens told InsideEdition.com. “I hadn’t even seen him yet but I knew it was his voice.”
“Our families were always hanging out together and after my dad passed away, I guess he kind of filled that spot as that person you can go to for anything and was always there,” Eischens said.
Everything worked out great for Eischens and the family. She could not have asked for more.
“I thought I was going to be a total wreck walking down the aisle, but we made it,” Eischens said. “He grabbed my hand and squeezed my hand and said, ‘We got this.'”
(Source: Inside Edition)
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Busy veteran Ken Schrader eyes ARCA win at LOR
Home/ARCA, News/Busy veteran Ken Schrader eyes ARCA win at LOR
Discount tickets on sale at Menards for ARCA Racing Series, ARCA/CRA Super Series double header
(TOLEDO, Ohio – July 14, 2015) – Discount tickets for the July 24 Sioux Chief PowerPEX® ARCA 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway (LOR) are selling at a brisk pace, and for good reason.
Not only will race fans enjoy a stock car double-header featuring the nationally touring ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards and the ARCA/CRA Super Series, they’ll also see some big stars in the line-up.
For starters, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran Ken Schrader has filed an entry for the Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 grand finale Friday night.
“Really like the track,” Schrader said. “It’s pretty flat so you really have to get your car working. You can move around a little bit so at least you have options.”
Good news considering how much the Fenton, Missouri veteran likes to move around. By the time LOR gets here, he’ll already have close to 50 races in the books this year alone. In a mix of dirt modified, ARCA, late models and more, the 60-year-old driver has already been to Victory Lane in his modified at Macon (IL) Speedway, Plymouth (IN) Speedway and Kankakee (IL) Speedway. He also won the ARCA race at Salem Speedway back in April, becoming the oldest ARCA winner in history.
“LOR should be our 47th race of the season if we get ’em all in. We’ve had 24 rainouts this year too.”
In addition to more than 700 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Schrader has 77 ARCA starts overall with 18 wins and 19 poles. He’s also aUSAC Sprint & Silver Crown Series champion.
Other ARCA entrants include current ARCA point leader Grant Enfinger, third-generation racers Matt Wallace and Will Kimmel, brothers Kyle and Clayton Weatherman, Austin, Texas’ Austin Wayne Self, Cherry Hill, N.J.’s Tom Hessert, Silver Crown winner A.J. Fike and many more. Defending race winner Brandon Jones is also expected to enter.
On the ARCA/CRA Super Series side, entrants include John Hunter Nemechek, Delaware, Ohio’s Cody Coughlin, DeWitt, Michigan’s Chad Finley and Bremen, Kentucky’s Hunter Baize.
The 100-lap ARCA/CRA Super Series race will kick off the big night of stock car racing, culminating with the Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 under the lights.
Discount tickets for the double-header are on sale now at 20 Menards stores in Indiana. The tickets are being offered for $10 off the gate price. Indiana stores selling discount tickets include locations in Anderson, Avon, Bloomington, Camby, Carmel, Columbus, Greenwood, Kokomo, Lafayette, Lebanon, Muncie, Richmond, Terre Haute, West Lafayette, three in Indianapolis and three in Fort Wayne.
The Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 is scheduled to get the green flag shortly after 9 p.m. Friday night. Gates will open at 12:45 p.m. on July 24 with Menards Pole Qualifying at 5:30, driver introductions at8:30 with the Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 following.
Allison, Stott, Schacht, Dillon, Kimmel, Jones former ARCA winners at LOR Two-time ARCA Racing Series champion Ramo Stott won the inaugural ARCA race at Lucas Oil Raceway in 1971. Ralph Latham followed as victor in 1972, and Bruce Gould was the winner in 1974. Nearly 10 years would go by before ARCA would return in 1983 when two-time series champ Marvin Smith was the race winner. Bob Schacht won in 1984. In 1985, two ARCA races were on the schedule with Schacht and Davey Allison claiming victories. It would be 26 years before the ARCA tour would return to Lucas Oil Raceway in 2011 when Ty Dillon, driving for Richard Childress Racing, won the 200-lap event. Frank Kimmel won in 2012. Brandon Jones is the most recent winner at Lucas Oil Raceway, taking the victory last year.
By Adam Mackey|2017-01-09T09:33:45-05:00July 16th, 2015|ARCA, News|Comments Off on Busy veteran Ken Schrader eyes ARCA win at LOR
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Swindell, Venturini team up for SuperChevyStores.com 100 victory
Home/Uncategorized/Swindell, Venturini team up for SuperChevyStores.com 100 victory
Kevin Swindell is surrounded by folks from Friendly Chevrolet of Springfield after winning the SuperChevyStores.com 100 Sunday.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Kevin Swindell wasn’t sure what he was doing this weekend, but he didn’t plan on racing.
That changed when Venturini Motorsports’ Billy Venturini called and offered him a chance to drive the No. 15 Zaxby’s Toyota on the one-mile dirt track in Springfield, Illinois. Swindell accepted the offer early Wednesday morning and took the team to victory lane Sunday afternoon.
“This is awesome,” Swindell said. “They gave me a great car and did a lot of work on it. I’m so thankful for the chance to take this car to victory lane.”
It wasn’t easy – and Swindell’s beat-up race car after the race was proof. He hit a wall during practice, and had a few hits on the track during the race. But, the Venturini team fixed it at every chance.
“They kept beating and banging on the car during the pit stops and the car was good,” Swindell said. “Luckily, the hits weren’t too hard and didn’t do a lot of damage. It didn’t really affect the car.”
Swindell led 21 laps, taking the lead for good on lap 89 of the 100-mile, 100-lap Central Illinois SuperChevyStores.com 100. He held off ARCA Racing Series point leader Mason Mitchell, who got stronger at the end of the race, zipping from seventh to second over the final dozen laps. In doing so, he maintained his series point lead over Grant Enfinger, who led the most laps and finished third.
“I knew we were going to be there at the end,” Mitchell said. “I was digging real hard, trying to get everything I could get. We had a little something there at the end, but not enough for the 15.”
Enfinger was running his first dirt track race since 2011 and was pleased with his finish. He led 33 laps, compared to 31 for Mitchell.
“I knew Pickle (crew chief Ryan London) would give me a good car,” Enfinger said. “In practice I didn’t offer him much feedback, I just was content to let him set up the car. I’ll take third place for sure. This GMS Racing Team just keeps working hard every race. I’m excited now, going to DuQuoin in a couple weeks.”
The race took 1 hour and 17 minutes to complete and was delayed by nearly an hour as crews from the fairgrounds and Track Enterprises – the race promoter – worked on prepping the track after heavy rains hit the Springfield area Saturday.
When qualifying was rained out, it forced the fastest car in practice – the No. 16 of Kelly Kovski – to start 27th. Within four laps the Springfield, Ill. native was in the top 10 and he took the lead momentarily in fact.
“I’m comfortable driving like that, driving on a dirt track,” Kovski said. “I knew I had to go early to make up all of the track position that was lost from not qualifying. I got caught up in one of those restarts and lost several spots. I didn’t come here to finish second or sixth, though, I came to win, so that’s a little disappointing.”
Shane Cockrum was another of the fast cars that started near the back. He came from 29th to ninth.
“That was a lot of fun out there,” said Cockrum, who lives in nearby Benton, Ill. “I got banged up a little bit. I think I was a sandwich for several cars out there. But, I’ll get my body guy working on the car and we’ll be ready for DuQuoin.”
The No. 44 Ansell-Menards Toyota of Frank Kimmel finished fourth with his nephew Will Kimmel fifth in the No. 69 Messina’s Ford. Kovski was sixth in the Billingsley Towing-Fire & Ale-Schluckbier Chevrolet, Justin Boston seventh in the ZLOOP Toyota, Kenny Schrader eighth in the Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet and SCOTT Rookie Austin Wayne Self in the AM Technical Solutions Dodge was 10th and the highest finishing rookie of the race.
James Swanson finished a career best-14th in the No. 0 Wayne Peterson Racing Dodge, despite pitting only once for fuel only. He led four laps, the first four laps he’s led of his career.
“Pit strategy worked out for us for once,” Swanson said. “Plus, Hoosier gave us a great racing tire – good enough that we could go all 100 laps on it. It was a good race.”
The race had six cautions for 32 laps.
The ARCA Racing Series goes next to Madison (Wisc.) International Speedway for the Herr’s Live Life With Flavor 200. The race will be live on CBS Sports Network at 2 p.m. CT, Sunday, August 24.
Central Illinois SuperChevyStores.com 100
1. Kevin Swindell (Germantown, TN) Toyota, 2. Mason Mitchell (West Des Moines, Iowa) Ford, 3. Grant Enfinger (Fairhope, AL) Chevrolet, 4. Frank Kimmel (Clarksville, IN) Toyota, 5. Will Kimmel (Sellersburg, IN) Ford, 6. Kelly Kovski (Springfield) Chevrolet, 7. Justin Boston (Baltimore) Toyota, 8. Ken Schrader (Fenton, MO) Chevrolet, 9. Shane Cockrum (Benton) Ford, 10. Austin Wayne Self (Austin, TX) Dodge, 11. Tom Hessert (Cherry Hill, NJ) Dodge, 12. Ryan Unzicker (El Paso) Chevrolet, 13. AJ Fike (Galesburg) Ford, 14. James Swanson (Clarksboro, NJ) Dodge, 15. Thomas Praytor (Mobile AL) Ford, 16. Roger Carter (Sunfield MI) Dodge, 17. Mark Littleton (Arenzville) Chevrolet, 18. Dale Shearer (Alhambra) Ford, 19. Ron Cox (Soddy Daisy TN) Chevrolet, 20. Brad Smith (Shelby Twn. MI) 21. Brian Finney (Merritt Island FL) Chevrolet, 22. Ray Ciccarelli (Elliott City MD) Dodge), 23. Brennan Poole (The Woodlands TX) Toyota, 24. Brad Dubil (Bettendorf IA) Dodge, 25. Wayne Paterson (Pulaski TN) Ford, 26. Chris Bailey (South Park PA) Ford, 27. Brent Cross (Cortland NY) Chevrolet, 28. Bob Strait (Manteno) Chevrolet, 29. Karl Weber (Ambia IN) Chevrolet, 30. Dale Matchett (Cherry Hill NJ) Chevrolet.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
By John Supinie|2017-01-09T09:33:47-05:00August 17th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Swindell, Venturini team up for SuperChevyStores.com 100 victory
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Lessons in journalism and The Myth courtesy of the Daily Mail
Actual Daily Mail headline
Bullied schoolboy, 16, ‘plotted British Columbine-style massacre targeting schools, mosques, cinemas and 19 teachers and pupils’:
There’s a trial going on over in England right now where a teenager is accused of not only plotting to attack his school but also theaters and mosques.
While reporting on this the Daily Mail calls the suspect a bullied school boy in the above headline then goes on to describe him not only as a self-avowed neo-nazi but also as a racist, a fan of the English Defence League, and a mutant. Well they didn’t use the M word per se but did add that he was a fan of Columbine.
Yeah, if you’re going to be a neo-nazi racist you’re probably going to draw some negative attention to yourself so if this kid was bullied he more than likely brought it upon himself.
When large publications use the word bullied in a headline like this it’s not only a pathetic grab for attention but it perpetuates the myth about school shooters being bullied when the majority of them were not.
UPDATE 11/3/2013: While I expect this kind of thing from the Daily Mail it seems the much vaunted BBC has gotten into the act as well. Here’s the headline they went with recently.
That headline is supposed to catch your eye and I would assume most people would take the headline at face value without further reading the article where they would find this quote.
The defendant told the Old Bailey he had been called a Nazi, a fascist and a racist, at school.
That’s because he is all of those things. If you publicly embrace these kind of ideas you’re inviting abuse on yourself and you don’t deserve any sympathy.
UPDATE 12/8/2013: Back in November the jury deadlocked and a retrial has been ordered.
UPDATE 5/31/2014: The little racist bastard was acquitted after the jury deadlocked again. Sleep well Great Britain as he walks among you.
UPDATE 7/5/2014: It seems there has been a modicum of justice as the suspect has been ‘detained indefinitely’ for mental health issues.
Categories: Crime, Trench Report•Tags: bullying myth, Columbine, columbiner, england, school shooting plot•
8 thoughts on “Lessons in journalism and The Myth courtesy of the Daily Mail”
Muggle says:
I’m sorry, if you’re a neo-Nazi, you deserve any “bullying” you get.
Okay, I’m not sorry. He probably wasn’t even bullied anyway, just an asshole who picked fights with the Muslim immigrants.
Trench Reynolds says:
Thank you. Not to mention that bullying is not an excuse for mass murder or a get out of jail free card.
I guess it makes a nice story. The bullied kid suddenly finds a way to get some epic revenge, takes the chance and nobody ever laughs at him again…
Except it never works that way. Bullied kids just do their best to stay hidden and lose any confidence they had, while the bullies are the ones committing and plotting violent crimes. Takes a horrifying sense of entitlement and delusions of grandeur to try to commit a mass murder.
Exactly, in most cases I find information that shows the shooter as the bully rather than the bullied.
RadioChuck says:
Columbine being a prime example, despite the mutants desperately clinging to the myth that Harris and Klebold “only killed the kids who bullied them”. In fact, victim Isiah Shoels complained of having been subjected to racial harassment by them in the weeks before the tragedy, but his complaints were largely ignored by school officials, who insisted Columbine had no such problem.
You should see one of the mutants on tumblr that’s having fits over me.
Nice to know you’re really sticking in their craws…must be doing something right! LOL
Going on 12 years now. lol
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← Gun crime bad. Sex trafficking of children? Not so much.
Let this craigslist creeper act as an example →
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Archive for category Maori History
Ka mate Ka mate
Posted by tonypcollins in 5. Kiwiana, Maori History on May 26, 2016
A fierce and rousing haka, the good old ka mate ka mate. It creates fear and terror in the hearts of those who face it. Ka mate is only one version of a Maori haka, but it is the one that has been adopted as the iconic national haka of New Zealand. I heard someone recently complain about the length of time a school prize giving took because whenever a pupil of the tangata whenua received a prize, they received a rousing haka from a section of the audience, stretching the ceremony by a couple of hours longer than it could have been. It became most poignant when an Asian girl took a major prize of a multi-thousand dollar university grant to polite applause, followed by a local boy winning a reading skills prize for which his supporters leapt to their feet with hearty slapping of thighs, quivering outstretched arms, bulging eyes and protruding tongues. It is a rousing chant, no question but is this just taking it a bit far? It is a war challenge isn’t it? There should be a time and a place for a war challenge and I am not sure a school prize giving is the time or place.
The subject came back to my mind because I am reading a very well-written book on colonial New Zealand in the deep south. The author of the ka mate chant, Te Rauparaha, features in some of the chapters. He was a chieftain who had fought his way down the North Island, Maui’s land, until he established his stronghold for the Ngati Toa tribe, on Kapiti Island.
But he was a chieftain who had ambitions to plunder the south island, Pounamu (greenstone) land. This land was the homeland of the Kai Tahu tribe which was a merger of the original inhabitants, the Waitaha who later merged with the Kati Mamoe when they arrived from the North Island in the fifteenth century who then, in the late seventeenth century, intermarried with the Ngai Tahu from the North Island’s east coast. By the time the pakeha arrived, most of the south island was under the united tribe of Kai Tahu.
But I preamble to explain how I rediscovered an interest in Te Rauparaha’s ka mate haka. He did lead a war party from Kapiti Island down to the south island when his war party slaughtered the people of Kaikoura before moving on to Kaiapoi where Te Maiharanui’s pa was located. Te Maiharanui was the spiritual leader of Kai Tahu. Te Rauparaha sent his chiefs in ahead to have a chat, but Te Waiharanui was taking no chances and so when he invited them to dinner they discovered that they were actually the menu. They ate Te Rauparaha’s chiefs for dinner. Literally. True story.
Te Rauparaha was well displeased and sometime later conspired with a pakeha ship’s captain to hide his warriors on the ship when it came into Akaroa harbour and lure Te Maiharanui and his family aboard to trade for muskets. They were captured and then Te Rauparaha’s war-party attacked the local villagers, butchering, eating or enslaving them before returning to Kapiti. He took Te Maiharanui back to Kapiti where he was killed. A year later the tribes down in Otakau and Waitaha heard that Te Rauparaha was back in the south island, causing mischief in Kaiapoi so Te Whakataupuka from Ruapuke (an island off the Southland coast), with Taiaroa and Karetai from Otakau, put a team together and set off to have a word with him.
Long story short the southerners gave the invaders a bit of a spanking up at a salt lake in Marlborough and then dined out well at the after-match. But they were disappointed that they did not actually capture Te Rauparaha who had run off during the battle and then swam to an escaping waka, threw one of his warriors into the water and took his seat in the waka and paddled for all he was worth.
I was dismayed. I had an image of Te Rauparaha as being one of those stand and fight to the end guys. Death or glory. Aotearoa’s very own Geronimo or Musashi. Fearless in battle; inspirational in leadership; not a man who would throw one of his boys to the enemy ovens while he ran for his life. How could this man Te Rauparaha be the author of the our national warlike challenge, ka mate, ka mate?
So I looked further into the history of the ka mate ka mate haka. As it turns out, Te Rauparaha was on the run from his foe (he’s starting to make a habit of this running away from a fight thing). Anyway, he made his way to the village of a friendly chief, explained his predicament and was promptly put down a deep hole and the chief’s wife obligingly sat on the opening to hide him. When the enemy came storming through they couldn’t find him so they raced on. Some tales diplomatically refer to it as a kumara pit, other historians conclude that if the deception was created by the wife sitting on the opening, then it was far more likely to be a long-drop public toilet. So anyway when it’s all clear, the wife gets off the hole and Te Rauparaha is helped up whereupon he creates his ka mate ka mate haka in recognition of his close brush with death. This haka celebrates successfully hiding from his foes down a public lavatory.
Translated it goes:
I may die, I may die, I may live, I may live (repeat)
The hairy one (a gentleman would have averted his eyes) allowed the sunlight to reach me
One step up, then another and another, and lo! the sun shines,
When we sing the New Zealand anthem at these games we sing it both in Maori and English. I am relieved that we do not translate the ka mate haka into English. It sounds a fearsome, warlike, fight-to-the-death challenge in Maori, but loses a lot of its message in the translation. It would be a tad embarrassing if a few burly Saffas or Frenchmen understood the true meaning as they faced the haka in a world cup final; and as for the Aussies, that just would not bear thinking about. I just hope this blog is never translated into French or Afrikaans. Fortunately the Aussies’ literacy skills are quite limited so they are unlikely to be reading past the headline. But apart from that, do you think that chants extolling the glory hiding down a toilet when the bullies are after you is the sort of response we should be encouraging among our vulnerable young at school prize giving ceremonies??
Compare Ka mate with the Ko Niu Tireni (New Zealand) haka written by Wiremu Rangi for the All Black Invincibles’ tour of the British Isles.
The final chorus is:
Ka Tu te ihiihi (we shall stand fearless)
Ka tu te wanawana (we shall stand exalted in spirit)
Ki runga ki te rangi (we shall climb to the heavens)
E tu iho nei, tu iho nei, hi (we shall attain the zenith, the utmost heights)
The great George Nepia led this haka. The British were a bit stunned and bemused by this war chant following their “God Save the Queen”. But when Nepia led it on their 22nd game in Llanelli they performed it to a crowd that had just finished a rousing rendition of “Land of my fathers”; and if anyone can mob-sing it is the Welsh. But a newspaper report said that when Nepia led the haka the crowd was so silent you could hear a pin drop. At the end of the haka the crowd took up the challenge as one with another impromptu rendition of “Land of my fathers.” Respect!
We then beat them 8-3.
Ko Niu Tireni works for me on the rugby pitch or in the school hall. If I need someone to watch my back, give me Wiremu Rangi of the 28th Maori Battallion over Te Rauparaha any day. I would vote for this Ko Niu Tireni haka to become our national anthem as well as our national haka.
You are currently browsing the archives for the Maori History category.
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Tag Archives: light sculpture
Animated light sculpture debuts in Madison Square Park
“Whiteout,” now on view at Madison Square Park (Photo courtesy of the Madison Square Park Conservancy)
By Maria Rocha-Buschel
The Madison Square Park Conservancy debuted the newest installation earlier this month, featuring a light project from artist Erwin Redl. The conservancy commissioned Redl to create “Whiteout,” which is displayed on the park’s central lawn and is a large-scale kinetic light sculpture made of white spheres suspended from a grid with steel poles and cabling. The orbs, hanging about a foot from the ground, sway in the wind and the LEDs are animated in large-scale patterns.
Redl is known for creating other large-scale light projects on the facades of buildings and he was first inspired by yarn drawings from minimalist conceptual artist Fred Sandback in 1997.
Redl said that he was fascinated by the option to have such a large installation in the park that is also within an urban environment.
“The physicality of the swaying orbs in conjunction with the abstract animations of their embedded white lights allows the public to explore a new, hybrid reality in this urban setting,” he said.
Madison Square Park Conservancy executive director Keats Meyer said that the installation is especially enjoyable during the dark winter months because it can show how light impacts space.
“Park goers will be able to view the industrial elegance of Whiteout from our pathways as they traverse the site,” she said. “Redl’s project, based on how light can impact a space, will be a beauteous interpretation of the Oval Lawn during the shortest days of the calendar year.”
Art consultancy firm UAP worked with Redl and the conservancy to fabricate the installation. The company, which has offices in Brisbane and Shanghai as well as New York, has also worked with artist Ai Wei Wei on the recent project in Washington Square Park, “Arch: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors.”
The Madison Square Park Conservancy launched public art programming through Mad. Sq. Art in 2004 and Redl’s installation is the 35th outdoor exhibition that the conservancy has organized. “Whiteout” will be on display through March 25, 2018.
Posted in Exhibits, Parks
Tagged erwin redl, light sculpture, Mad. Sq. Art, Madison Square Park Conservancy, Oval lawn, public art, UAP, whiteout
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What You Need to Know Before You Go
Granada is best known as the home of the awe-inspiring Alhambra, an imposing, red-hued palace and fortress complex, and one of the finest surviving examples of Moorish architecture on the planet. But there's much more to this sun-kissed Spanish city than legendary landmarks.
Lose yourself in its maze-like cobbled streets and you'll stumble across chic boutiques selling local fashion and artisan homewares, and bustling bars where you can sink ice-cold beers and graze on tasty tapas. If you're hankering for a more substantial meal, there's an abundance of warmly welcoming restaurants serving succulent seafood paella and other irresistible local specialties.
Trending now in Granada
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10 Things to Do in Granada in a Day
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Granada Travel Kit
Start planning your trip
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June 25, 2019 / 7:58 AM / 22 days ago
Banks ready to fill Folau void in Wallabies backline
Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Tom Banks has long been known for his blistering pace and the ACT Brumbies fullback is also showing a knack for timing as his strong run of form leaves him well placed to grab Israel Folau’s vacant Wallabies jersey ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
With the Brumbies the only Australian team to make the Super Rugby playoffs, the 25-year-old Queenslander has had the perfect stage to impress Wallabies coach Michael Cheika with his rivals for the number 15 shirt left on the sidelines.
A couple of Banks line-breaks helped set up two of the Brumbies’ tries in their 38-13 quarter-final win over the Sharks in Canberra over the weekend and he will look to sustain his strong form against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires on Friday.
A win over the Argentine side would secure the Dan McKellar-coached Brumbies their first final since 2013 and a shot at their first championship since the last of their two titles in 2004.
Banks has every reason to believe he can play a meaningful part in Buenos Aires, having proved himself something of a road warrior this season.
He has scored a try in seven of the Brumbies’ last eight matches outside of Australia, including one in the 20-15 defeat by the Jaguares in April, the last time the teams met.
Banks has plenty of fans among past Wallabies players and media pundits, including former Australia and Brumbies outside back Joe Roff, who rates him the “complete” package.
But Banks, who made his test debut last year, is reluctant to look too far ahead.
“You’ve probably got to put (the World Cup) aside,” he said.
“It’s in a lot of people’s minds at the moment but my sole focus at the moment is definitely the Brumbies and inadvertently if we can do really well as a team and get deep into the finals that will really help our World Cup chances.”
Folau was Cheika’s go-to fullback for most of his 73 tests but the dual international was sacked last month for a controversial social media post and has launched legal proceedings against Rugby Australia.
Melbourne Rebels captain Dane Haylett-Petty and New South Wales Waratahs utility back Kurtley Beale are also in the running for the Wallabies number 15 jersey and both have experience wearing it.
But with their teams eliminated from Super Rugby, neither have another chance to stake their claim before Cheika picks his squad for the abridged Rugby Championship.
The Wallabies won only four of their 13 tests last year, their worst season in decades, and their prospects of winning a third World Cup in Japan seem gloomy.
However, Banks says Cheika need only look to the Australian capital to find players ready to bring a winning mindset into Wallabies camp.
“It’s been a really good journey for me, my time down here in Canberra has been really enjoyable,” said Banks, who joined the Brumbies in 2017 after managing only two appearance in two seasons for the Queensland Reds.
“I think the culture down here is the best team culture I’ve been a part of.
“They probably bring the best out of players.”
Editing by Peter Rutherford
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Miss Madisonian
The student news site for Madison Consolidated High School
MCHS Female Wrestler Finishes Third in State after 30 Win Season
Cub Wrestler Kelsey Bilz
Eric Leach, Staff Reporter
Filed under Campus, Featured, Sports
Madison Consolidated High School grappler Kelsey Bilz, a two-year varsity wrestler at 106 pounds, competed in the Indiana state girls wrestling regional with an impressive run to the finals where she was bested in the third period by decision to Warren Central’s Jennifer Caldwell, the eventual state runner up.
She then bounced back to wrestle the very next weekend at the Indiana Girls High School wrestling state finals at Hamilton Heights High School. Bilz again had another impressive run with a pinfall in the first round, then suffering a second-round loss to eventual state champion: West Vigo freshman Torie Buchanan. Bilz again came back to a dominating major decision in her final match of the day to win third place.
MCHS wrestler, Kelsey Bilz (far left), stands on a podium in a tournament where the female grappler also had to contend with male wrestlers.
Impressively, Bilz achieved a 30 win season in just her third year of wrestling, has had several offers to wrestle collegiately, and she received a personal invitational from the Indiana national team president to compete in the girls’ national competition in Oklahoma for Indiana Ignite.
Bilz has also joined a rather elite list of girls in the state of Indiana by competing in the Jeffersonville regional after a fifth-place finish in the Jennings County sectional, and perhaps Bilz’s most promising feature is her grit and tenacity after she bounced back from a less than .500 season last year to be one of the more promising athletes on a young team.
Although Bilz had an impressive girls state tournament run, she wrestled mostly boys throughout the regular season with a few other female competitors scattered throughout the season. For a female wrestler in a sport closely associated with boys, the treatment from other wrestlers from other schools can be a challenge.
Bilz stated, “I have been treated differently, but I always just brushed off and wrestled through it.”
However, she fit in perfectly as a Cub wrestler. “On the team, I’m just one of the guys; no one takes it easy on me,” said Bilz.
According to Bilz, she is just getting started, though. “Next year, I plan to place at regionals and qualify for semi-state.”
MCHS assistant wrestling coach, Sam Johnson, provides support to Cub wrestler Kelsey Bilz
It is the policy of Madison Consolidated Schools not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age, in its programs or employment policies as required by the Indiana Civil Rights Act (I.C. 1971, 22-9-1); Public Law 218 (I.C. 1971, Title 20); Titles VI and VII (Civil Rights Act 1964); the Equal Pay Act of 1973; Title IX (1972 Education Amendments): Public Law 94-142; and Public Law 93-112, Section 504. This application will be given every consideration, but its receipt does not imply that the individual will be hired.
Mr. Rusk in one of his first yearbook photos as a faculty member.
Mr. Rusk with sisters Kennedy (left) and Abigail (right) Stidham
Mr. Rusk with his grandson
Mr. Rusk with one of his sectional champion golf teams and then-Principal Kevin Yancey
Mr. Rusk joins the student sections at a basketball game
Academic Super Bowl state finals results
Super Bowl team members Wilson, Kring, and Hanson celebrate victory
Members of the state champion academic Super Bowl team from left: Jalen Wilson, Haniah Kring, Ezra Young, Lydia Goebel, and Coach Emeka Koren
A Cub Culinary student displays a gourmet sandwich.
Rusk Set to Retire after 34 Years at MCHS
MCHS Academic Team Wins State Title
MCHS’ Culinary Program is Thriving
Brautigam Takes 108th Custer Competition
MCHS Elects Three to New Alumni Hall of Fame
State Government Shuts Down Free Food Program at MCHS
Sign up for Youth Nerf War Designed to Raise Money for Drive In
MCHS Senior Superlatives Announced
MCHS Senior Alexis Johnson Scores Perfect Decathlon Speech
Teens to March on the Statehouse for Climate Change
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Karen Gwyer
Rembo Bob Cluness , August 3rd, 2017 16:47
On her new album, Karen Gwyer produces her best material yet
When Karen Gwyer emerged from the primordial synth bleed back in 2013 with her first albums Needs Continuum and Kiki The Wormhole, alongside the EP ‘New Roof’, here was an artist whose chimeric sound and style triggered off various synaptic triggers and neural and physical affects. Like a newborn AI whose input was set to fully open, her music would crackle, spark and mutate at will, sometimes in a single track. What would begin as a long drawn, kosmiche-style workout, complete with single tone organ drones, wisps of female vocals and gurgling synths, would blossom into a guileless array of beats and pulsing rhythms. The layers upon layers of composite sound would ebb and flow in cycles and textures that were neither quite dance music, nor ambient or chill out; there was always an inbuilt tension to both move and listen intently.
Over the past few years, what was a hermetic, almost secretive sound would undergo tempered exposure to live performance and on-the-spot improvisation, resulting in music that became more dynamic and assured. On EPs such as her split with Beatrice Dillon on Alien Jams, ‘Bouloman’ on Nous, and ‘Prophase Metaphase Anaphase Telophase’ on Don’t Be Afraid, Gwyer’s head music becomes more entwined with the body; there would still be a heavenly mix of cloistered drones and ambient rave synths with flecks and cosmic stardust, but now they were combined with vicious stabs of acid, off-kilter beats and a sub bass that urged you to move and sway.
Gwyer is now ready to take this to the next stage of transformation, and with her latest album, Rembo, she has produced some of the best material yet. On first listening, Rembo seems like business as usual with many of the tracks displaying the mix of sustained drones, deep synth sounds and shifting rhythm loops that Gwyer has become recognised for. But with Rembo there is less noodling and meandering. Recorded in a week, there is a more concise and urgent approach to how the tracks are laid out. She seems to have found that sweet spot where dance music functionality and flourishes of experimentalism and live improvisation can coexist, even thrive.
The opening track ‘Why Is There A Long Line In Front Of The Factory’, with its slow thud and bass drone alongside constantly shifting shards of electronic sounds, acts as a brain cleanser before you're thrown the live wire shock of ‘Because The Workers Are On Strike’, with its garish arcade synths and kick-clap ghetto house beats. Despite stating that her approach to Rembo was more serious than earlier efforts, these tracks feel energetic, bright and lithe, lacking the stultifying demands of overproduction, emphasising instead the spur-of-the-moment, time-pressured environment of their production.
Unlike her previous releases, which hinted at being dancefloor fillers, Rembo casts aside any ambiguity and vagueness as to what kind of album it wants to be. The majority of the tracks on the album are put together in such a way as to make you want to dance as well as take you on a journey, and by the third listen in you really begin to find yourself immersed. ‘Why Does Your Father Look So Nervous’ has a gentle but steady build-up, a filigree of ticking drum effects and skittering synths that elides effortlessly into pulsing techno sound with a plunging bass. The affect of such change of pace is subtle but very noticeable and shows Gwyer’s increasing capabilities in inducing powerful changes in mood and energy on the dancefloor. Tracks like ‘He’s Been Teaching Me To Drive’ and ‘Did You Hear The Owls Last Night’ are more insistent in their techno sound, with an opening intensity already set to 'booming'. But even with the rough, heaving beat, there is still a flighty sense of air and space created by Gwyer as whooshing effects and glassy melodies and tones sail overhead.
In interviews she has given in the run-up to this release, Gwyer has expressed her frustration at the way promoters for events struggle with her live set-up and with live electronic music in general, often placing her in earlier time slots where she cannot play as intensely as her music demands. With the release of Rembo this situation surely has to change. Many of the tracks on this album simply demand to be heard being played live, late at night in a sweaty basement club, for while they have all the impulsiveness and directness that you desire on the dancefloor, Gwyer has still kept a sense of the mysterious hiding under the surface.
Technology At The Bleeding Edge: Reflections On F.C. Judd »
St John Sessions' Final Line-Up Announced »
Nik Colk Void, Holly Herndon for Wysing »
Supersonic Ltd Edt 2014: A Quietus Preview »
TONIGHT: Julia Holter & More At St John »
MORE FROM BOB CLUNESS
Plaid - Polymer »
Angel-Ho - Death Becomes Her »
In The Nonspace Of The Mind: Lee Gamble’s In A Paraventral Scale »
Puce Mary - The Drought »
Obtuse Angles: Gazelle Twin’s Pastoral »
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The Red Pyramid: The Graphic Novel
Contributor(s): Riordan, Rick, Collar, Orpheus (Adapted By)
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Retail: $21.99 OUR PRICE: $16.05
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Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions
Annotation: A graphic novel adaptation of the first book in the best-selling series finds separated siblings Carter and Sadie reunited by their father, a famed Egyptologist, who inadvertently unleashes the dark god Set, compelling a dangerous journey across the globe in search of their connection to a secret ancient order. Simultaneous.
Click for more in this series: Kane Chronicles
- Voyages and travels; Fiction.
- Mythology, Egyptian; Fiction.
- Magic; Fiction.
- Juvenile Fiction | Comics & Graphic Novels
- Juvenile Fiction | Legends, Myths, Fables
- Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
Dewey: 741.5/973
Academic/Grade Level: Grade 4-6, Age 9-11
Series: Kane Chronicles
Physical Information: 9.50" H x 6.50" W x 1.00" (1.25 lbs)
Accelerated Reader Info
Quiz #: 154428
Reading Level: 3.6 Interest Level: Middle Grades Point Value: 3.0
Scholastic Reading Counts Info
Quiz #: Q49686
Reading Level: 3.7 Interest Level: Grades 6-8 Point Value: 28.0
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Contributor Bio(s): Rick Riordan (www.rickriordan.com) is the author of the New York Times #1 best-selling The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid and Book Two: The Throne of Fire. His other novels for children include the New York Times #1 best-selling The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero and Book Two: The Son of Neptune, as well as the five books in the New York Times #1 best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife and two sons.
Orpheus Collar (www.orpheusartist.com) is a storyboard artist and illustrator who received his BFA from the Maryland Institute of Art. He has contributed his coloring skills to numerous titles, including The Amazing Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men. Orpheus also provided the storyboards for The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel. Orpheus lives in Los Angeles, California.
Reviewed by Horn Book Guide Reviews (Horn Book Guide Reviews 2013 Fall)
Siblings Sadie and Carter are pulled into a globe-hopping chase seeking the truth of their family's tangled history with ancient Egyptian deities. The visuals are this graphic novel's biggest draw: Collar's suspenseful action sequences and vibrant colors leap off the page. The adaptation offers no further insight into plot and characterization, but Riordan's fans won t need it.
Reviewed by Publishers Weekly Reviews (PW Reviews 2012 December #1)
The first book in Riordan's Kane Chronicles gets the graphic novel treatment. The story follows that of Riordan's 2010 middle-grade novel of the same name, which stars Sadie and Carter Kane, the children of famed Egyptologist Julius Kane. When their father accidentally unleashes a dangerous Egyptian god at the British Museum and vanishes, the siblings embark on a perilous journey around the globe, which reveals hidden truths about their family. The plot lends itself fluidly to the graphic novel format, and Collar's cinematic artwork is well equipped to handle the story's larger-than-life mythological action. Gone is the digital recording narrative gimmick of the original book; instead, the twists and turns of Riordan's intricate story line are delivered through dialogue and through Sadie and Carter's dual narration, which appears in small color-coded panels. Collar, who also worked on Riordan's graphic novel adaptation of The Lightning Thief, packs his spreads with rousing technology and magic, as well as tongue-in-cheek details. New readers and existing fans alike will dive right in. Ages 10â??up. Agent: Nancy Gallt, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency. (Oct.)
[Page ]. Copyright 2012 PWxyz LLC
Reviewed by PW Annex Reviews (Publishers Weekly Annex Reviews)
Reviewed by School Library Journal Reviews (SLJ Reviews 2013 January)
Gr 4–8—In this graphic adaptation of the first book in the "Kane Chronicles" series (Hyperion), Sadie and Carter Kane search for their missing father, an archaeologist specializing in Egyptian antiquities. Their quest takes them to major world cities, where they learn of their family heritage as Egyptian magicians who seek to destroy evil forces throughout civilization. The book has a cinematic feel, with excellent aerial shots, images revealed from unique points of view, and action delineated by slanted panels. The full-color art has a slick, luminous quality, enhancing the magical elements. Color is used to excellent advantage. For example, historical images in monochromatic shades of silver, copper, and blue visually distinguish the old kingdoms. Judicious use of red text reinforces the evil voice of Sekhmet. The powerful superhero quality is evident throughout the tale, where gods and goddesses resemble superheroes. Women move like superheroes, especially Bast, who claims "Combat magic is my specialty." Contests between warring powers, the scorpion sequence, the appearance of Sekhmet, and the boat traversing the cataract all crackle with action. Occasionally, some of the changes in layout, such as a full-page horizontal spread of selected panels, abruptly interrupt the narrative flow and make following the story confusing. Still, readers will eagerly identify with Carter when he declares, "It was a fight to the death and I felt great." This action adventure is jam-packed with ancient Egyptian culture and mythology, and will captivate young readers.—Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
[Page 138]. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
The Kane Chronicles 2: Throne of Fire
The Lost Hero
The Throne of Fire
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
The Battle of the Labyrinth
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The SPOTY’s 2018
How To Get There 16/12/18
Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:49 am, December 16th, 2018 - 86 comments
Why you should have a moment of sympathy for Jabba the Drumpf. A very brief and mild one that should already have come and gone, but nevertheless …
https://www.salon.com/2018/12/15/all-donald-trump-wanted-was-to-be-president-and-just-look-how-it-turned-out/
Makes me wonder if Trump will enable more firebrands on the left as well.
Like Louisiana firebrand New Dealer Huey Long, sometimes it’s better to burn out
than to fade away.
Andre 1.1.1
I have no doubt the Chumpanzee’s antics have helped elect the likes of Ocasio-Cortez, That’s one of the very few bright spots of the current political moment.
But in terms of making lasting changes for the better, are the firebrands more successful or does it work better to be a bit quieter and more thoughtful and willing to round off the edges to account for the other side’s biggest concerns? Seems to me there’s plenty of examples to bolster and refute both sides of that question.
I’m just starting to think about President Trump’s legacy.
Not in any of his policies, but in his communicative capacity, his strength in resonating messages, his willingness to break rules both social and legal, his smashing of institutions. He’s pushed what is possible.
The inflated shape of Trump in the American mind has expanded big and will pop, but its space will be there for a long, long time.
Andre 1.1.1.1.1
For sure he’s going to have an outsized effect on the shape of politics to come. But it’s still an open question whether it will be a long term spreading the boundaries to allow what was previously unacceptable, or a backlash because he’s proven the rules and norms have value and it causes real problems when they get trashed.
Probably a mix of both, depending on which area we’re looking at. For instance, it would be a good thing if Americans got over their prurient hangups about their pollies’ sex lives, while also becoming less accepting of the powerful abusing their power for their sexual gratification. I’d be astonished if he doesn’t provoke a backlash round of rulemaking towards increased financial transparency and avoidance of financial conflicts of interest, and I can’t see any downside to that happening.
Ad 1.1.1.1.1.1
I’m hoping for more, but there’s a few areas that will come up post-Trump family trials.
I think there will be a vetting requirement to release tax affairs.
Also in vetting, if we can remember that Democrat VP Eagleton who failed to disclose mental health issues, I suspect full banking records will need releasing in vetting.
I’m looking to see whether the 1974 Supreme Court’s Nixon ruling on the tapes still overrides “executive privilege”. A general hard testing of executive privilege is coming up soon. General tests on privilege will get looked at.
The citizen-inreach of the intelligence community is going to get a smacking. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 was an outgrowth of the committee’s investigations, and it created the special FISA court to authorize surveillance operations when driven by national security concerns.
Also a protocol that the intelligence community should STFU about Presidential Candidates three months out unless they have ball-clenching evidential proof of treachery.
Maybe something on further limiting paid lobbyists who also claim legal privilege. After Watergate, most law schools in the United States required courses about professional responsibility, and the American Bar Association rewrote its responsibility code.
There will be a legacy of language. Words and sayings from Watergate are part of the common language of America, from President Nixon’s famous “I am not a crook” statement to President Ford’s declaration that “our national nightmare is over.” But nothing has been more prevalent that the use of suffix “gate” to indicate a scandal.
If I were feeling adventurous, if he goes down in sufficient flames, we should see regulation of the Google and Facebook and Baidu networks, in just the same way that public US broadcasting was regulated in the early 1950s. Unregulated communications networks are killing democracy by degrading it, and none moreso than there in the US. Would need a united Senate and President to overcome First Amendment issues, but it has to be done, and arguably it’s the Trump Presidency that’s caused the need.
Goodnight, and Good Luck.
Excellent article by Alison Mau.
Looks at how we value lives differently.
“No-one is talking. Nothing can be reported. When, at the Auckland vigil for Grace Millane on Wednesday night, I stood on stage and read out the names of all the 2018 victims, I could only refer to her as “the unnamed woman killed in Flat Bush”
In contrast to the crowd, the waiata and the public sorrow for Grace, there were no candles, and no floral tributes laid in that South Auckland cul-de-sac.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/109365685/ali-mau-why-we-grieve-for-grace-millane-and-not-others
That has got to be the stupidest article I’ve seen in a long time.
Why on earth would Alison Mau expect every other case to get identical public profile as every other? Such a stupid case of ‘butwhatabout….’
No young woman in the last decade has forced as much national self-reflection as Grace. The Prime Minister had to defend us to the entire world media. It’s very likely judges will reflect hard about the average tariffs for this kind of case, because they must reflect society.
It is precisely because of this self-reflection that so many other cases will get stronger scrutiny, and the public debate will be raised higher. A great thing Alison surely?
Mau is a ghoulish ambulance-chaser going after yet another grisly death.
She should hold her breath for the trials.
Ed 2.1.1
Little writes pretty much the same…..
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12176421
Little is just as stupid as Mau – and one of them copy-pasted from the other.
Not all deaths will be treated BY THE MEDIA the same. They might want to hold up a hand mirror to themselves.
We’ve had multiple social media platforms that have got better over years and years of such stories:
– smoking
– domestic violence
– mental health
– child poverty
– drink driving
They work.
Just takes lots of sustained community effort that makes the likes of Mau and Little remember what they constantly forget.
marty mars 2.1.1.1.1
16 December 2018 at 10:02 am
Yeah blame mau and little – that will make change and things safer won’t it?
You seem very out of touch on this issue.
greywarshark 2.1.2
Poor Grace, it is her death that has woken Rip van Winkle (an old European fable) in NZ that has spent so much time asleep when it comes to deaths of women, and children also, and violence also against the vulnerable whoever they are.
marty mars 2.1.2.1
Yes even the normal ignorers can’t ignore anymore because of that young woman’s death.
The putrid dressing has been noticed and needs changed before being ignored again.
I hope a catalyst for change is found and that change occurs.
marty mars 2.1.3
Try reducing the hate buddy. You don’t get it – we hear you already.
marty mars 2.2
Good article ed thanks.
Some are too far into their priviledge to see the truth from Mau – they never would anyway cos it disturbs their leafy suburb thinking.
Some are too far into their privilege to see the truth from Mau …
There’s truth in that statement. A double standard has been operating here and I’m as guilty of it as anyone. To be fair, part of the angst is because Grace Millane was a visitor to this country, but nevertheless we don’t mourn the loss of all the other women who have died as a result of sexual violence to anything like the same degree.
But if this particular death results in a change of direction in NZ, then something truly worthwhile will have been achieved. However the jury will be out on that one for some time to come.
BM 2.2.1.1
How is her death going to change the direction of NZ?
The whole thing was a ghoulish media driven affair done purely for clicks, eyeballs and egos.
She’ll be forgotten within a couple of months once the media move onto their next cause célèbre.
I’d rate the NZ media as some of the worst in the world, no better than paparazzi.
greywarshark 2.2.1.1.1
And some of the commenters on news and views are pretty bad, but not good enough to be the worst in the world, though they will no doubt keep trying, and may yet succeed!
Tricledrown 2.2.1.1.2
Boring Media fake news
Yes Anne.
We know that it’s not a competition – it is a tally of shame. Our violence is appalling towards women. We have to stop it. The terrible death of grace may help some see what is right in front of their face – in their living room or mirror – I bloody hope so.
Ankerrawshark 2.2.1.2.1
Well I actually agree with Ad. Aside from which for whatever reason there was huge suppression around the south Auckland homicide, I have to ask myself why wasn’t Alison mau respecting that? It’s unusual, but I am sure the police/courts have their reasons.
Some stories just do resonate more with people. Look at the Thai boys trapped in the cave. Or the young woman on the Gold Coast who fell off the balcony (?maori). I am sure maus research on how some ethnicities receive less public sympathy is true. But for god sake bringing it up in the context of graces recent murder I find in poor taste.
Can’t we stick to the point, which is to use good research to figure out what might work in reducing homicide and violence towards all people
Herodotus 2.3
There are many terrible acts out there
We have to reluctantly accept that some acts will attract varying media attention depending what others captures the news and public sentiment.
It is what results follow these, better one captures the public than none. And all these deaths are a shock and we need to do better.
We can only hope that changes do arise from this.
And hopefully something similar from this 😢
Driving the Mercedes was 19-year-old Rouxle Le Roux, who had drunk wine and smoked cannabis earlier in the day.
When Kraatskow crossed the intersection, riding a small bike and wearing headphones but no helmet, the Mercedes ploughed through the crossing, sending him across the bonnet and into the air. He landed some distance away and died at the scene.
bwaghorn 3
Fun fact .
Obama built more Mexico wall than trump has to date .
greywarshark 3.1
Where is the source of that fact bwaghorn. I thought that no wall was built till Trump started it, and there had been no agreement to make the money available before him.
There have been bits and pieces of wall getting built for decades. I can even remember bits of wall at the border in the early 70s at Tijuana. So I wouldn’t find it in the slightest bit surprising if the rate of wall-building is higher under Obama than Adolf Twitler.
The difference is up till now the building has generally been in response to specific problem areas, whereas the Grab’em’fuhrer made a mindless throwaway comment at an early rally, liked the reaction so he kept repeating to get the same reaction, and now he feels like he needs to be seen to be doing something about it.
greywarshark 3.1.1.1
Thanks Andre
Like your inspired nicknames.
bwaghorn 3.1.2
On sky news this am . Bush had the biggest amount of kms.
Tricledrown 3.2
B Waghorm States building walls is not Obama building walls fake news their is 700km of wall on the border non of it built by Obama. Facts please.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/12/australia-says-west-jerusalem-is-israel-s-capital-following-the-us.html
Our Aussie friends say Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. “A step in the right direction “
bwaghorn 4.1
In the right direction to what . ?
Did they say where the Palestinian capital is?
East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu just needs to be in jail.
James you don’t know why Morriston has done this!
Bennelong has the highest number of Jewish voters of any electorate in Australia the Liberal Party lost the by election now are pandering to get it back and play into the anti Muslim White supremacist vote at the same time.
greywarshark 5
On RadioNZ this morning
7.11 Meg De Ronde: the problem with ‘tough guy’ world leaders
Meg De Ronde, Campaigns Director for Amnesty International New Zealand
Amnesty International warns the actions of “tough guy” world leaders pushing misogynistic, xenophobic and homophobic policies has placed freedoms and rights that were won long ago in fresh jeopardy. Meg De Ronde, campaigns director for Amnesty International NZ, talks about the issue, raised in Amnesty’s Human Rights report for 2018.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018675805/meg-de-ronde-the-problem-with-tough-guy-world-leaders
We’ve forgotten what we had – so we have to lose some of it.
You’re right Ad so we need to be reminded of what we did have, and get highly motivated to save what we can from the remainder and work out methods to prevent it continuing or to limit its progress. Also we need to get powered up to organise systems to comfort and support those affected who have lost greatly at the hands of these apparently unstoppable forces.
OnceWasTim 6
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve found myself agreeing with Mark Richardson and Bill Ralston.
(RNZ Media Watch on the media, name suppression and Grace Millane )
And I guess Martin Devlin and the other ZB talkback hacks must be really disappointed
Sacha 6.1
Link: https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018675612/heart-breaking-news-and-suppression-frustration
A stopped clock is right once a day!
Chris 6.3
It’s okay, just know that they’re still prats.
Why is knowing this name so important – what possible reason do people want to know his name for – I just don’t get it.
OnceWasTim 6.4.1
In order to gloat, label and reaffirm their prejudices @ mm
Or as @ Wayne would have it, in the interests of “open and public” justice.
Being the exceptional ‘entrepreneur’ I am, I’m thinking of starting a business manufacturing stocks – they’re the shape of the future
The name tells 99.99% of the people who hear it absolutely nothing.
OnceWasTim 6.4.1.1.1
Well I’m not sure if you read this from OM the other day ( and the discussion that followed) :
but I’m now even more convinced that name suppression should be automatic until after a verdict is delivered. And if you listen to that Mediawatch thing, Martin Devlin had already jumped/hoped to a conclusion (as I say – In order to re-affirm, and even justify his prejudices).
And while we’re feigning outrage at Google for emailing the defendant’s name as it ‘trended’, Google algorithms would never have received the necessary ‘inputs’ had not Brit journalists on the ground published (in the NZ legal definition) the name.
Net result: Someone who is possibly guilty has a good argument as to the fairness or not of his trial.
So much for that ‘open and public’ justice @ Wayne speaks of.
But you know – yea/nah, next
greywarshark 6.4.1.1.1.1
I like ‘village’ detective stories. In these any crime is always attributed to an outsider, a visitor or a tramp; not one of us!
Oh, btw….. for a good many of them, it tells them what it’s not – specially if you’re a Devlin.
It’s not a Hiriwini, or Khan or a Singh or a Wong or a Kwese. PANIC – what is it? Can’t quite remember, it’s a Smith-Jones? no… it’s a Ferguson-Llewellyn (with a single ‘s’ doncha know)?, no…. ummmm I think it begins with a ‘K’ (and one of those English sounding names)
Thank Christ ‘D’ is nowhere near a ‘K’ in the alphabet eh?
Whoar that could have been a near miss
Are you planning a new sort of stock exchange? For petty crooks, con artists, fraudsters I have been thinking recently that a day in the stocks followed by a week in prison, rest of sentence suspended while a re-education class is attended would be a cheap and effective way of dealing with these minor predators.
17 December 2018 at 12:28 pm
Hadn’t thought of that @ grey but as a true entrpreneur, I’m always looking for ways to monetise an idea (it doesn’t necessarily have to be my own idea either).
I did have another idea though that I thought lprent could assist with (because he’s renown for his efficient programming skills – almost to the point of obsession) .
We develop an ‘app’/application. The Police (or other prosecutors) simply provide the various inputs, and it’s sent to some sort of social media platform.
We give it a week or so and count the number of ‘thumbs up’ and ‘thumbs down’ records received.
We then determine guilt or otherwise, and depending on a set criteria, we deliver judgment.
What’s not to like? We can do away with all that expense of a judiciary and the legal profession, and we get “open and public” justice. Very efficient and effective.
Of course, anyone charged is automatically placed on remand in the stocks in an open warehouse where the public can walk by and decide on a kind of pre-guilt or pre-innocence and choose what kind of food to throw
Rotten tomatoes to you OWT. But peddle the idea to the Insensitive Sentencing Untrustworthies, they’ll be onto you like a starving dog.
Having experienced my friend’s frustration dealing with a serial fraudster who plays the the law like a kid playing hopskotch, andI think it would add to our enjoyment of life in all its glory if we could see some of these non-violent scumbags face to face, at a distance of course, for their safety.
The group for this type of punishment would include roaming non-tradesmen skimming vulnerable people, and ones who sell themselves as worthy and are not (a relation has had an 8 week renovation job extend to 18 weeks and encountered rudeness and being patronised when she phones Mr High and Mighty lead tradesman, and has had to endure two rainstorms while the roof was being repaired and the tarpaulin blew away, soaking the rooms below). And I am sure others can top these.
This brings to mind a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song about who would not be missed. I’ll brighten my day and that of anyone who has a list and needs a lift. I’d love to go to the proms in London one day!
Gabby 6.4.2
So that we know who it ISN’T marty.
It just seems like weird behaviour to me. I’ve seen it in a few things, this excessive compulsion to know – arrogant western thinking imo.
Shorten goes big on housing.
Take a bow Mr Twyford; they’re learning.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/labor-promises-a-6-6-billion-housing-boom-to-bring-down-rents-20181215-p50mi9.html
BM 7.1
Like Tywford, Shorten wants to use taxpayer payer money to keep the property bubble inflated instead of letting the market correct itself.
No doubt the stupid will think it’s a great idea.
Haa ha market correct itself!!do you believe that shit .
Have a look at the Christchurch property market.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/107971093/is-christchurch-the-only-new-zealand-city-with-too-many-houses
millsy 7.1.1.1.1
Rents are still pretty high in CHC.
bwaghorn 7.1.1.1.2
So the many many huge variables in the ch ch market due to the earthquakes had nothing to do with that ?
BM that’s because many people left moved out because of the earthquakes especially retired or those about to retire. Many moved to Wanaka now theirs a bubble their.
You do understand that the market is a means to restrict use of scarce resources right?
That when combined with the profit motive the first thing that the profiteers do is ensure low availability so as to drive the price up?
Leaving it to ‘the market’ will just make things worse.
mauī 8
It is the beginning of the end…
Another sparking NZr. Radionz 10am ish.
Award-winning Kiwi documentary maker Bryn Evans has been kidnapped twice, been caught in firefights, told the story of the Taliban’s cricket team, and introduced some hip-hop dancing pensioners to the world. Most recently he was the man behind the documentary about Scott Dixon, called Born Racer. He talks about the transition from photos to film and why he’s chosen Berlin as the place to hang out.
greywarshark 10
Fun and frolic from Paris early 1900s, you feel that you are there. It looks a good place to be – perhaps we should have stayed in the horse-drawn days.
mary_a 10.1
Thanks Grey (10) … being an old francophile from way back, I thoroughly enjoyed it 🙂 Loved the mobile platform/people mover. No doubt that would have been state of the art technology way back then.
Certainly a lot has been done to improve the quality of the film. And the sound was pretty good too.
greywarshark 10.1.1
glad you liked it i thought it was a marvel – the sound is so good. did you notice that they used paired grey horses for the fire units? they were very showy and dramatic.
ianmac 10.1.2
How about that mobile platform mover for Central Auckland to the Airport?
ianmac 10.2
A great film grey! And how clever to adjust the frames per second to get such smooth action.
Observer Tokoroa 11
Why is Grace a Standout ?
Because she traveled safely through South America on her OE.
Grace got to Auckland, and within 2 days was Killed by some alleged cowardly Kiwi bastard. Just two days.
That Bastard will no doubt pull out every sore finger and every bit of family scrapping and every bit “of poor me” to kid the Judge and jury that he is a down trodden lovely, lonely victim and not a Murderer.
Whereas, the ONLY victim was Grace Millane (and her Family). They had no smarty Lawyer or dodgy Barrister. Or softy judge. Or tearful Jury – picked by the Barrister. None whatever. Grace had no one to save Her. No Lawyer. No Barrister.
The murderer, with nifty Lawyer and greasy Barrister who’s fees will be paid by the NZ Worker, will be searching under every leaf to declare “The alleged Murderer a poor very low intelligence person who enjoyed having a good time day and night. Especially when it came to that fullfilling game called Sex and Murder. A person who must not be named.”
Oh yes. And very likely not to be held to account. For such is the strange ease of getting free of any serious charge within New Zealand Law.
I am not sure about the “wonderful” other 18 +2 Femme Murders this year, but certainly a number of those who were murdered were known to the Victim.
The message is: Women should not trust any NZ male who knows them. Get well away from them. Go to any lengths to remove those men from your life.
NZ males adore violence and sex. Unlike other civilised places. The games they play are full of violence. They are also cowardly. To make matters worse, they are often drug and gang centered too. But they know how to Kill. Oh Yes. !
greywarshark 11.1
Hey Observer
Restrain yourself. You are sounding so law and order then you can come up with this:
The murderer, with nifty Lawyer and greasy Barrister who’s fees will be paid by the NZ Worker,
The lawyers, the courts, the police are all paid for by us as part of a law-based society. That’s something to be cherished. Otherwise we get people like yourself all riled up and looking for someone to hang, at worst any likely person you can pin the crime on will do.
Our system at present has not been sufficient to bring up men with good standards of behaviour at all times, or discourage men who are through and through shits, but that is not the lawyers fault, it is the way that all of us allow society to proceed. And we get an example from the screen, films and television are laced with sex, crims and cunning and most find that enticing to watch. For instance, Godfather has been a great success as good cinema – all about the Mafia.
We enable drunkenness which is at the base of much of our criminality and enables men and women to become untrustworthy liars. So don’t vent your spleen on the justice system when bad results result from all this twisted-mind behaviour going from theory to practice. Even police have been affected by the dominant sexual ideas that swirl in many people’s heads. It is a virus in society that breaks out openly regularly, and always treated as a rare occurrence instead of a hidden chronic weakness.
Australia’s LNG export surge fuels domestic supply concerns
Australia overtook Qatar to become the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas last month following a $200bn decade-long investment to ship the fuel to Asia. But the export boom has come at a cost.
The country is now facing a looming domestic gas shortage in its most populous states, leading prices to skyrocket and concerns over security of supply to increase.
When local resources are exported then locals find that they can no longer afford to live.
We’ve seen this happen here as well.
marty mars 13
Vlad getting on one – wonder why?
Putin says “if it is impossible to stop, then we must lead it and direct it”…
… Putin noted that “rap is based on three pillars: sex, drugs and protest”. But he is particularly concerned with drug themes prevalent in rap, saying “this is a path to the degradation of the nation.” He said “drug propaganda” is worse than cursing.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/109388425/president-vladimir-putin-says-rap-should-be-controlled-in-russia-not-banned
Bruce 13.1
Maybe because it’s effective against fascist dictators
millsy 13.2
It’s got nothing to do with the cheap heroin that Putin’s oligarch mates are bringing into the country from central Asia, combine with 30 years of ‘reforms’ that have led to the highest rates of of intravenous drug abuse in the world.
McFlock 13.3
fo’ shizzle, my pizzle. Pu-tan clan ain’t nuttin to fuck wi’
alwyn 14
At the time of the election earlier this year I pointed out that it was a total fiasco and that the Minister responsible should take responsibility for the only real job he has.
He should have.
Arranged for a repeat of the Census.
Sacked the head of the Statistics Dept.
Sacked the person responsible for the Census.
Announced that “The buck stops here” and resigned as Minister.
Instead he, like a number of his apologists on this blog said that everything was sweet and that they could still produce accurate results.
Now, when it is too late to run it again we are seeing that my comments were accurate and that the integrity of all our statistics is at doubt and that even the election organisation will be suspect.
It isn’t really to late for you Shaw.
Resign. NOW.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/109363944/election-2020-at-risk-of-being-compromised-due-to-census-delays
The Fairy Godmother 14.1
The public sacked the people responsible for this shambles in the 2017 general election.
I value your words Greywarshark
However, I am not enchanted with the way Murdered Victims are flung from the Court House.
Victims of Murder go without Lawyers, without Barristers and without Support of any kind. While the Murderer gets the blubber of scheming Lawyers and Precedents.
Personally, I would put Lawyers and Barristers on traffic offences and keep them out of the way of serious crime.
For is it not true that the Police and Forensics know what crime has taken place in matters of Murder. They have been on site. Not stuck in chambers.
All I can see is the Barrister playing cynically with a Corpse. And favouring yet another “nice boy” with a cozy detention of some limited kind.
Greywarshark, why are NZ men allowed so much support and leeway in their crimes ? Name suppression; Previous crimes suppressed; nil real Punishment. But Comfortable incarceration – if any at all .
You simplify things too much Observer. You no doubt are a very good guy? but even so, you are busy scheming how to get round a case being properly examined in a Court of law under the controlled conditions of it, the conventions of it, and the precedents of the past, all set down to avoid highs and lows in the treatment of crime so all are treated in the same way. The law can be an ass but it is better than the alternative. Also it has been said “Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law” Oliver Goldsmith, which seems to be fairly true to the poor, anyway most of the time. However not having law produces conditions that the song Strange Fruit laments.
We reap what we sow when it comes to murder. You are angry about the murders you hear about, and every one is sad to some extent usually, whether woman or man. But the punishment after being dealt with by the law is usually meted out properly. Your emotion against the law process does not make any woman or man safer after their death.
If you turned your concern into getting values and respect and self-respect taught in schools, and to parents, and how to be compassionate as well as righteous taught to everybody, crime would be reduced. And the better and more honestly respect is carried out and role-modelled by all adults, then the more good results would follow.
Billie Holliday sang about something that really happened; a rule by emotion-fired, immoral men posturing as moralistic. I despise that sort of attitude and I hope that you don’t encourage others to think in the way you have expressed; that is the start of a posse, a lynch mob.
Billie Holiday Lyrics
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Writer(s): LEWIS ALLAN
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/billieholiday/strangefruit.html
Hot contender for the stupidest climate denial argument of all time.
DeFazio on climate: "This is the existential threat to the future of the planet."Insanity.For comparison, the atmosphere Venus is 96.5% CO2 — and the planet is still there.In contrast, Earth's atmosphere is only ~0.04% CO2. https://t.co/SvScU32iZG via @politico— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) December 15, 2018
DeFazio on climate: "This is the existential threat to the future of the planet."
Insanity.
For comparison, the atmosphere Venus is 96.5% CO2 — and the planet is still there.
In contrast, Earth's atmosphere is only ~0.04% CO2. https://t.co/SvScU32iZG via @politico
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) December 15, 2018
Peter De Fazio? Old white man. Should be very wise at his age. Has been a career politician 1987-2018, over 30 years.
I’m against having politicians making a career of it. Three terms tops. They can work hard while they are there, and then make room for a new trier. If they don’t work hard they will only get two terms, maybe only one. It should be something to be proud of, serving and being honoured by your fellow citizens – not a gravy train.
Peter Anthony DeFazio is the U.S. Representative for Oregon’s 4th congressional district, serving since 1987. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes Eugene, Springfield, Roseburg, Coos Bay, Florence, and part of Corvallis. Wikipedia
Born: 27 May 1947 (age 71 years), Needham, Massachusetts, United States
joe90 16.2
It’s fun to laugh at Milloy’s idiocy, and then you realise that he was a science advisor to Trump’s EPA transition team.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-epa-air-pollution-cpac-dd95c2fbcd7b/
https://www.desmogblog.com/steve-milloy
More evidence our capitalist system is overshooting the planet’s environmental limits.
Now crayfish populations are collapsing.
We choose capitalism or a liveable planet.
Sadly the greedy rich want the former.
“A conservation group is calling for a total fishing ban for crayfish in the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty as the population “collapses towards extinction”.
Forest & Bird is calling for the wider Hauraki Gulf to Bay of Plenty crayfishing area (known as CRA2) to be closed for three years to allow the species to start recovering.
“The wider Hauraki Gulf to Bay of Plenty crayfish population has undergone a significant decline,” Forest & Bird marine conservation advocate Katrina Goddard said.
“Without an urgent end to fishing pressure, crayfish could become functionally extinct throughout the entire area within a few years.”
John Glaser makes a pertinent observation.
“US troops now control a third of Syria. They are there on an indefinite basis. I hate to be so annoyingly quaint, but Congress hasn’t authorized this. Permanent war has become normalized. Boring even.”
https://t.co/pKmYP7Wxbb?amp=1
So they should withdraw and leave the Kurds and their allies to Assad and Erdogan to do what they will?
Ed 18.1.1
The President should ask Congress for authority.
Otherwise, another illegal war, joe.
alwyn 18.1.1.1
The Government, through the Presidencies of Bush, Obama and Trump have all taken action based on a 2001 resolution that allowed them to do almost anything.
It is argued whether the Syrian situation is covered but it was passed way back in the time just after 9/11 and it was as broad as hell.
Whether you think it is still valid and covers the present situation depends on your political views.
I’m sure you remember the old song
“You say potayto and I say potahto,
You say tomayto and I say tomahto”
Well that is about the way the debate on this goes.
What have we become?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/109391875/nzs-longest-serving-inmate-will-do-some-more-time
Hi Greywarshark
Thanks for your advice. You are a good man.
I did actually know in advance that NZ Men do not like being told they should not Murder Women.
That is why very few men took any notice of the Murder of Grace Millane. She was after all, just a female. Women gathered together in huge numbers. Not men.
NZ men know that the Lawyers and Barristers will give the male muderer every possible consideration. There is no doubt about that.
But just for the record, I wish guys like you could say a good word for Women – now and then. Nothing dramatic Greywarshark.
I mean, there is every possibility that you may have had a woman as a mother.
Herodotus to vto on
Dukeofurl to Robert Guyton on
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Shopping in Bergen County, NJ
Want to have a shopping outing or looking to find holiday or birthday gifts? Whether it’s a shopping spree or you have specific items or a certain someone in mind, Bergen County has numerous shopping areas and malls to choose from for all of your shopping needs. If you’re looking for places to shop in Wyckoff and Bergen County, New Jersey we’ve got you covered.
Bergen County Shopping
Shopping Malls in Bergen County, New Jersey
Boulder Run Mall Shopping Center
325 Franklin Ave, Wyckoff, NJ 07481
Hours depend on the store
Right in Downtown Wyckoff off of Franklin Avenue sits the Boulder Run Shopping Center for your everyday needs. The Boulder Run Shopping Center includes stores such as PetValu, Portrait Hair Design, StrideRite, Stop & Shop, and Marshalls.
Fashion Center Paramus
Intersection of Route 17
North and Ridgewood Ave.
Hours: depend on store, generally Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-10 p.m., closed Sunday
Fashion Center Paramus in Paramus, New Jersey includes big name department stores with items ranging from clothing and home accessories to electronics. Stores at Fashion Center include Best Buy, T.J. Maxx, Lord and Taylor, Bed Bath and Beyond, World Market and more.
The Outlets at Bergen Town Center
Route 4 East and Forest Avenue,
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., closed Sunday
The Outlets at Bergen Town Center offers the best of both worlds; an indoor mall section and exterior stores with your favorite brands at a discount. Stores at the outlets include Old Navy, Banana Republic Factory, Bloomingdale’s Outlet Store, Century21, Express Factory, J. Crew Factory, Gymboree, Adidas, H&M, Nordstrom Rack, Saks Fifth off Fifth, Target and many more. Find a gift for anyone on your list with the brands they love or treat yourself at the outlets!
Paramus Park Mall
700 Paramus Park, Paramus, NJ 07652
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., closed Sunday
Paramus Park is an indoor shopping mall in Paramus, New Jersey of Bergen County where you can find many of the familiar stores you love and something for each family member to enjoy. Stores include Aldo, Bath & Body Works, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Champs Sports, Charming Charlie, Charlotte Russe, Chico’s, The Children’s Place, Clarks, Express, Francesca’s, Gap, Gap Kids, Baby Gap, H&M, L.L.Bean, Loft, Sephora, Swarovski, Victoria’s Secret, Journey’s, Uniqlo and many more.
The Shops at Riverside
Hackensack, NJ 07601-6310
Hours: Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-9 p.m., closed Sunday
The Shops at Riverside is an indoor mall in Hackensack, Bergen County, NJ. The Shops at Riverside feature a variety of high-end and name brand retailers offering everything from house furnishings to designer bags and jewelry. Stores include Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Ann Taylor, Arhaus, Coach, Cole Haan, Hermés, Lilly Pulitzer, Talbots, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and more.
Tice’s Corner Marketplace in Woodcliff Lake
441 Chestnut Ridge Road, Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m., closed Sunday
Woodcliff Lake, NJ is home of Tice’s Corner, an outdoor shopping strip that includes some of your favorite brands. Enjoy the weather while you stroll in and out of stores including Chico’s, J. Crew, Anthropologie, Bluemercury, Southmoonunder, Victoria’s Secret, Madewell, Francesca’s, Athleta, White House Black Market, Free People, and several others.
Westfield Garden State Plaza
1 Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ 07652
Westfield Garden State Plaza is a two-story shopping mall in Paramus of Bergen County, New Jersey. Garden State Plaza features stores for all ages such as Adidas, Aldo, American Eagle, Apple, Aveda, Banana Republic, Tory Burch, Nordstrom, PacSun, Vans, Zara and many others.
Shopping areas and shopping streets in Bergen County, New Jersey
Cedar Lane in Teaneck
Cedar Lane, Teaneck, New Jersey, 07666
You’ll find several local shops throughout Cedar Lane in Teaneck, NJ including a few spots to treat yourself to a handmade pastry, slice of cake, or scoop of ice cream while you’re there. Shops include Brier Rose Books, Yarndezvous, Rainbow Jewelry Shop, Cedar Lane Flower Shoppe, Butterflake Bakeshop, Aquarius Health Foods, and Bischoff’s Confectionery.
Downtown Wyckoff
Franklin Avenue, Everett Avenue, and Wyckoff Avenue
Explore your backyard of Wyckoff, NJ by taking a stroll downtown. Downtown Wyckoff is the area along Franklin, Everett, and Wyckoff Avenues. This area of Wyckoff, New Jersey is home to several local restaurants and shops. Shops include All is Well, Eurica, Colony Florist and Gifts, The Write Occasion, Maluka, Chantilly Lace, Ped Agree Shoes, WOB Lingerie, Something Special Bridals, Wyckoff Cycle, My Mommy Made It, European Petals, The Health Stop, Sweet Lullaby, Michael Felice Interiors, Tons of Treasures, Devon Fine Jewelry and more.
East Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood
East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
The East Ridgewood Avenue and North Broad Street area of Ridgewood, NJ have several boutiques great for looking around and finding something unique. Shops include Gattinolli, Gigi’s Boutique, Pink Bungalow, Oasis Clothing, alba boutique, Suite 201, Femmebot Clothing, Anik Boutique, Erica’s Closet, Shelly Glam, Sweet & Sassy, Alex and Ani among other boutiques and specialty stores.
Englewood’s Palisade Avenue and Dean Street
Palisade Avenue and Dean Street, Englewood, New Jersey 07631
Englewood, New Jersey in Bergen County is home to several local stores and a couple consignments shops along it’s Dean Street and Palisade Avenue. Shops include ANAC Designs, Erica Sabag Luxury Consignment, Miri, Engle Shop, Footnotes, Englewood Athletics, Dor L’ Dor, Christina’s Collection, Portage & The Jewelry Box, Marcia’s Attic for Kids, Bendini Menswear, and Jewel Spiegel Gallery.
Main Street in Ramsey
East Main Street – Between New Street and South Island Avenue, Ramsey, NJ 07446
Right on Main Street in Ramsey, New Jersey there are some cute boutiques and specialty stores worth checking out with items ranging from gear for your next adventure on the slopes to treats for your pet or unique jewelry and more. Stores include Lily & Kate Gifts & Accessories, CIAMPI Bridals, Ramsey Bike & Ski, Wholistic Paws, Morano’s Gourmet Market, Gotham Underground, and L’Arte della Pasticceria, Hazel Boutique, Ultimate Ski Shop among others.
Are you or someone you know looking to retire or change their retirement housing sometime in the next few years? When thinking about retirement consider The Vista, a Continuing Care Retirement Community. The Vista will offer a range of programs and amenities to engage, entertain, and inspire you. Secure your future with The Vista before prices increase on April 1. For more information, please call (201) 848-4200 or click Contact Us below for more information about The Vista.
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Spencer Saunders Scored Impressive Second Place Finish in Carteret County Speedway Short Track Shoot Out; Builds Strong Notebook for Fall Nationals
Posted on May 13, 2019 by Justin Kern Leave a comment
Saunders sails into turn one at Carteret County Speedway during a practice session ahead of the INEX Legends $2,500 to-win Short Track Shoot Out. (📸 Justin Kern/TheWeeklyRacer.com)
Carrollton, VA– For the second time in a row Spencer Saunders is leaving Carteret County Speedway with a second-place finish. Two weeks ago the team called it sheer luck and being in the right place at the right time citing they had a top-five car but certainly not one to compete for the win. Fast forward two weeks and Saunders Motorsports would once again leave the Emerald Coast with a second place finish. However, this podium finish was more than just luck, it was in front of a much better field of cars, and created a pretty stout notebook for fall nationals.
Saunders was one of twenty-four INEX Legend cars to make the trip down to the 4/10-mile flat track searching for speed. Luckily for the No. 7 machine, they were able to unload out of the box with a pretty fast piece. This allowed him and his father, the crew chief on the Smoke BBQ, Taylor Waste Services, Crush Con Aggregates machine, to make only minor adjustments throughout the weekend to find the speed they needed to stay up front.
“I didn’t have to put it [the car] back in the box in pieces so that was like a win for us,” Saunders went on to say. “Our goal was to unload Friday and run somewhere in the threes. When we ended up hitting a one on the stopwatch during practice I knew we had something.”
Not only did they make the trip with the hopes of bringing $2,500 big ones back to the Hampton Roads Area, but it was also a way for the team to get a feel for the asphalt nationals at the end of the year. Saunders, who currently sits ninth in the national points for the Pro division, is expected to go into that event come October sitting pretty well in the points standings with more than thirty races on this schedule. After this weekends events, they feel like they might have an even better shot at a win when it really counts.
“This one feels pretty good,” Saunders said following his second-place finish Saturday night. “We had a good night tonight. Second place is a good run for us. This means a lot more than a couple weeks ago the first time we ran here. I felt like we had a car to win, we just got to beating and banging there on those restarts. That’s just how it goes. When you are stuck on the outside you are pretty much done.”
Crew Chief, Car Owner, and Father David Saunders follows his driver out of turn four looking to see where he can find just a little more speed as practice was finishing up Friday night. (Justin Kern/TheWeeklyRacer.com)
Saturday Saunders backed that up again by posting the third and second fastest times during final practice. That speed ultimately transferred over to qualifying when he clocked the fifth fastest time of the afternoon. When it was time to go racing Saunders didn’t really have plans to stay that far back and shot up to the second position almost as quick as the green flag was displayed. The 29-year old driver from Carrolton, Virginia was able to keep that track position for most of the night, falling only as far back as the seventh position on a mid-race restart.
“This weekend was really good for us,” Saunders commented. “We did come away as the highest finishing pro driver so that essentially is a win for us and 100 points towards our national total. It really a testament to the work just my dad and I do on the car coming down here with all these big teams. Plus we are leaving here with a really solid notebook for October.”
Saunders, who entered the weekend ninth in Pro national points standings, finished ahead of Caleb Heady so he will make ground up there. The runner-up spot was also the highest finish for all Virginia drivers who made the trip – a region that we cover quite the most based on our location.
Saunders will return to his home track of Langley Speedway – the same speedway he has multiple wins and a track championship – to compete for the win next week, Saturday, May 18th. The Weekly Racer will have LIVE updates on Twitter of that 25-lap feature. To keep up with everything that is Spencer Saunders make sure to follow his racing page ‘Spencer Saunders’ on Facebook as well as on Instagram.
tagged with Asphalt Nationals, Carteret County Speedway, featured, INEX, Spencer Saunders
INEX Legends/Bando
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Chinese boom drove Swiss watchmakers into ‘crazy’ pricing that hurt other world markets says Zenith CEO
EDITOR'S CHOICEINTERVIEWSLEAD STORYNEWS by Rob Corder on May 22, 2018
Julien Tornare joined Zenith as chief executive one year ago in May 2017. He arrived with the CV of a global expert in luxury watches having spent over 20 years with Vacheron Constantin based in Europe, North America and Asia.
It is the six years he spent running the Asia Pacific region from the Vacheron office in Hong Kong that gives him the clearest insight into the way that the boom in Chinese luxury watch buying affected the entire global market.
He moved there in 2011 at the height of what now looks like collective madness; a time when Swiss watchmakers thought they could charge almost any price for their watches.
“Over the past 10 years, most of the Swiss watch business was driven by China and by Chinese customers. Many brands ran very fast into that market, with consequences of increasing prices so that they lost connection with local clientele — British, French, American, wherever — because we could not see that the price was getting too crazy,” Mr Tornare tells WatchPro in an interview to mark his first anniversary as CEO for Zenith.
The more traditional watchmakers that hiked prices the most are now scrambling to bring entry level prices down, he suggests. “We are seeing many brands that raised their prices very high and kept their classic designs, are declining in China right now. Some of the more contemporary brands, such as Hublot, Richard Mille, AP, they are going up in China right now,” he adds.
LVMH, and particularly Zenith, were less caught up in the wave of collective insanity, which might have cost the watchmaker market share at the time, but is now seen as an opportunity to build a sustainable business from a lower base. “Zenith was never huge in China. That is the bad news. But the good news is, because of that, we have kept very good prices and value for money,” he suggests.
The anniversary interview also touches on Mr Tornare’s time as president of Vacheron Constantin in North America, a market that he believes is ripe for expansion for Swiss watchmakers like Zenith.
“Brand awareness is too weak in America. It is not an easy market for watch brands. I lived there for five years working for Vacheron Constantin, and I had to work very hard to teach them that Vacheron was not a cheese and Constantin is not a TV show. We have to be more visible with Zenith in the United States. There are so many clients there and so much wealth,” Mr Tornare suggests.
Tags : Julien Tornarelvmhzenith
Chopard crosses finish line to mark historic milestone with Mille Miglia
Bonhams expects two Daytonas in its June Fine Watches auction to sell for $750,000
The author Rob Corder
Only Watch Geneva, the world’s biggest charity watch auction, unveils 52 lots for November sale
LVMH supremo Bernard Arnault joins $100 billion club of the world’s richest individuals
IN PICTURES: Zenith in New York to launch 50th anniversary Al Primero A384
BREAKING NEWS: LVMH watch brands choose Dubai for global exhibition in 2020
Zenith recreates the iconic El Primero A384 50 years after it first appeared
Prices for hottest Rolex models are falling fast says secondary market specialist
Hyde Park Jewelers works with University of Denver on digital development and advanced data skills
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Associate Provost, Human Resources home
About Associate Provost, Human Resources
Associate Provost, Human Resources' biography
Reporting Structure
Excellence Canada
Strategic Plan Implementation
SEE Canada grant
Associate Provost, Human Resources
The University of Waterloo's new strategic plan has a single goal: to be recognized as one of the top innovation universities in the world.
Our Strategic Plan identifies eight themes (areas of strength) for Waterloo — five that form our foundation and three that set us apart from other institutions.
Outstanding Academic Programming
A global outlook (Internationalization)
Vibrant Student Experience
Robust Employer-Employee Relationship
A Sound Value System
How the Office of the Associate Provost, Human Resources is supporting the strategic plan
To become recognized as one of the most innovative universities in the world, the Office of the Associate Provost, Human Resources and the Departments of Organizational & Human Development and Human Resources are working diligently with campus partners to support and develop key areas of strength, including the Robust Employer-Employee Relationship, and A Sound Value System.
A distinguished past — a distinctive future: University of Waterloo Strategic Plan 2013 [PDF]
A distinguished past — a distinctive future: Executive Summary [PDF]
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Read Next: Disney Left With a Slate of Film Flops After Fox Deal
November 26, 2012 4:36PM PT
Village Roadshow closes $1.1 billion credit facility
Warner Bros. distribution pact extended through 2017
By Rachel Abrams
Rachel Abrams
Financial News Editor @RachelAbramsDV FOLLOW
Rachel's Most Recent Stories
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Village Roadshow has closed the $1.125 billion debt facility that Variety first reported last month, the largest deal of its kind in years and a financial revitalization of one of Warner Bros.’ two most important partners.
Transaction (Daily Variety, Oct. 15) closed just days before Village announced Monday that it had renewed its distribution deal with Warner Bros. through 2017.
JP Morgan and Rabobank closed the structure, which refinanced an existing billion-dollar debt facility. The goal was to reach $1.1 billion that would give Village more flexibility to make movies than it’s had in years.
Refinancing removes any uncertainty about Village’s access to cash — an issue which has plagued the company in years past. The L.A.-based arm of Oz’s Village Roadshow Entertainment Group faced severe liquidity issues after the financial crisis hit in 2008, hurt both by macro-economic conditions and the ratings downgrade of its insurance backer, Ambac. WB even had to cover the production costs for four Village titles including “Get Smart” and “Gran Torino” until Village could pay the money back.
All in all, the company has fed as few as two movies per year to WB since 2009, after helping WB co-finance “The Matrix” franchise and “I Am Legend.”
Village’s deal doesn’t give it access to all $1.125 billion at once, but it puts the company on more sturdy financial footing at a fortuitous time for Warner Bros.
Legendary, with whom WB has a distribution deal through 2013, has increasingly focused inward: The two companies, which have partnered on 24 released films, have no projects lined up to co-finance past next year after “Jack the Giant Slayer,” Superman reboot “Man of Steel,” “300: Rise of an Empire” and “The Hangover Part III” are released.
As credit markets slowly unthaw for Hollywood, the new five-year deal shows just how much support Village has from the institutional and bank markets. It’s the largest transaction of its kind since Viacom’s $2 billion facility in 2010; and eclipses Lionsgate’s $800 million deal in September.
A production facility means that some banks are willing to take on a small amount of production risk — an almost unheard-of feat in the current climate.
But lenders also like Village’s healthy library of more than 60 titles, which include the “Sherlock Holmes” franchise, “The Lucky One,” “Gran Torino” and “Ocean’s Thirteen” — hits that balance out family misfires like “Happy Feet Two,” “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” and “Cats & Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” (The “Sherlock Holmes” pics alone have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide).
New structure banks on previous titles and performance across Village’s upcoming slate, which includes “Gangster Squad” and “The Great Gatsby.”
With the exception of Disney, all of the studios are on an aggressive hunt for outside capital. Most have major slate financing deals which have either expired or will do so soon.
That’s led to an increase in the number of films which studios distribute for others, rather than finance themselves. Former Disney topper Michael Eisner recently inked a multi-year worldwide distribution agreement with Universal, for example, for films which Eisner fully finances through his Tornante investment company.
And of the 16 films on Warner Bros.’ 2012 slate, only five were fully financed by the studio.
BN Films
Cats And Dogs 2
Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls
Legends Of The Guardians
Roadshow Films
The Owls
Tornante
Viacom Finance
Village Roadshow
Warner Bros Finance
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The Panopticon
Fagan, Jenni
An Amazon Best of the Year pick and named one of NPR, Library Journal, and Flavorwire's Best of 2013 novels, THE PANOPTICON is a dazzling debut by one of Granta 's Best Young British Novelists
Anais Hendricks, fifteen, is in the back of a police car. She is headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember what's happened, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and Anais's school uniform is covered in blood.
Raised in foster care from birth and moved through twenty-three placements before she even turned seven, Anais has been let down by just about every adult she has ever met. Now a counter-culture outlaw, she knows that she can only rely on herself. And yet despite the parade of horrors visited upon her early life, she greets the world with the witty, fierce insight of a survivor.
Anais finds a sense of belonging among the residents of the Panopticon - they form intense bonds, and she soon becomes part of an ad hoc family. Together, they struggle against the adults that keep them confined. When she looks up at the watchtower that looms over the residents though, Anais knows her fate: she is an anonymous part of an experiment, and she always was. Now it seems that the experiment is closing in.
Named one of the best books of the year by the Times Literary Supplement and the Scotsman , The Panopticon is an astonishingly haunting, remarkable debut novel. In language dazzling, energetic and pure, it introduces us to a heartbreaking young heroine and an incredibly assured and outstanding new voice in fiction.
Publisher: New York : Hogarth, 2013, ©2012.
Edition: First American edition.
Characteristics: 282 pages ;,25 cm
Read more reviews of The Panopticon at iDreamBooks.com
annaburger Dec 19, 2018
people - "contempotrary mystery" "teens in trouble" Its Dark. Everyone is in a bad situation. But you can't help falling in love with the characters
rjamesevans Sep 09, 2016
I am amazed that I liked this book so much. At first I was put off by the Scottish brogue, by the foul language and by the very nature of the main character. However, all my objections went away as I became absorbed in and affected by story.
It is a wonderfully written book
uncommonreader Jun 14, 2015
The story of a child, let down by everyone for all of her 15 years, but a survivor. The voice of Anais is authentic. A righteous book.
Peregrine Jul 25, 2014
An exquisitely written, authentically voiced tale of a young woman struggling to find a sense of self when she has never known either parent and has spent much of her life in foster care or juvenile detention. Harrowing and heartbreaking and surprisingly hopeful as this tough, smart and ultimately ethical character navigates a society more focused on locking her up than giving her a leg up.
lukasevansherman May 13, 2014
The panopticon was a type of prison created by English writer/thinker Jeremy Bentham, who described it as “a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example." Later, controversial philosopher Michel Foucault used it as a metaphor for control. This book is not as interesting as these guys and squanders a good premise. Oh, hope you're comfortable with the c-word.
miranda57 Jan 29, 2014
Picked this book up randomly off the New Book Shelf. Wow! Like striking gold! Yes, this is a dark tale of a fierce teenage girl who is struggling to find her way out of a dark world of drugs, violence, and the foster home/juvenile court system. Beautifully written!
SLS71 Jan 16, 2014
I love this book. Finished it last night and it's stuck in my head to the point that I don't want to start my new book! Anais is a fantastic heroine. A reviewer on here said she's fierce; she truly is. There are some very harrowing moments/incidents that are difficult to read (which is not a negative), but there is also a lot of grace and humor. I laughed out loud more than once. This girl is a bit twisted, and I wish I knew her in real life.
quagga Sep 28, 2013
A compelling first novel told in the voice of a fierce young Scottish lesbian.
JCLRachelSH Sep 26, 2013
Anais Hendricks is a 15 year old drug fiend who pulls other girls' hair and beats them to within an inch of their lives. She juggles girlfriends and boyfriends and wears a treasured Indian headdress while prancing around in her undies on acid. She's Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Panopticon, kids! When Anais lands herself in a group home for problem teens with a spooky watchtower a strict open-door policy, the novel's dystopic vibe kicks into high gear and we watch as her layers are peeled back and reality dissolves around her. It's Scottish poet Jenni Fagan's first novel, and she makes dirty-mouthed teenagers sound more profound than Homeric bards. With Anais she's created my favorite kind of heroine — a bad girl in a worse place who claws her way out by her own off-kilter code of honor.
Iowakid Jun 25, 2013
I was at first a little reluctant to read this due to inapproprate language. After about 15 pages I realized this was completely necessary to understand the character...then I was hooked and could not put the book down til I could find out what happened!
Foster Children — Fiction.
Teenage Girls — Fiction.
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← Even in the Future, Nothing Works
Stone Age Stumpers →
Ix in the Mix
Two of the closest neighbors to the Land of Oz, located just across the desert to the north, are the kingdoms of Ix and Noland. The former has a name modeled on that of Oz itself, as do Ev and Mo. It’s also the Roman numeral for nine, but that never comes up. Noland is a play on “no land,” and hence one of many fictional lands to be essentially named “this place doesn’t exist.” The two kingdoms are first introduced in L. Frank Baum’s Queen Zixi of Ix, a story with a more old-world kind of flavor than most of his fantasies. Like many other fictional countries introduced in Baum’s other books, these two were eventually tied into Oz. Noland is known for an odd law that, when the ruler dies without an heir, his or her successor will be the forty-seventh person through the gate of the capital city of Nole in the morning. In Queen Zixi, this ended up being a boy named Timothy, or Bud for short. He ruled with the help of his younger but in some ways wiser sister Margaret, or Fluff. The latter had been given a magic cloak that granted one wish per person, and ended up causing some strange events.
Separated from Noland by mountains, a river, and a forest is Ix, ruled by Queen Zixi herself. This monarch is a witch, and has been able to stay alive for centuries due to her magic.
While the Wizard of Oz once said she was thousands of years old, she was actually a mere 683 at the time of her book, and probably not too much older in The Road to Oz. While she remains youthful in appearance, if she looks at her own reflection in a mirror, she sees an old hag instead of what everyone else sees. When she heard of the magic cloak in Noland, she first sought to invade the country in order to get it, then resorted to stealing it. The cloak wouldn’t work if it were stolen, however, so this ended up being to no avail. When Noland was invaded by the Roly-Rogues, giant football-like creatures from the northern mountains of the country, Bud and Fluff sought help from Zixi. She admitted what she had done, and used her witchcraft to help drive out the Roly-Rogues. After that, Ix and Noland became close allies, and Road suggests that they’re both friendly with Oz as well.
Ix and Noland are presented as relatively mundane when compared to places like Oz and Mo, and even Ix’s other neighbor Ev. The latter, after all, has lunchbox and dinner pail trees, a princess who can change her head, and some talking animals. The only talking animal in Queen Zixi is Ruffles, the Lord High Steward’s dog, and Queen Lulea removed his power to speak when she counteracted the results of wishes she considered foolish.
She did, however, keep the treasurer’s purse always full, so let’s hope that didn’t lead to massive inflation. Zixi can talk to animals, but this is only because of her witchcraft.
The Roly-Rogues, however, indicate that some weird creatures do indeed inhabit these lands. In Silver Princess, the Box Wood, where boxes grow on trees, is located in Ix. Harry Mongold’s Sawhorse goes even further, giving Ix an underground garden and the incredibly odd Improbable Forest.
One interesting question regarding the royalty of Noland is how seriously we should take the look into the future at the end of Queen Zixi. We’re told, “The cheerfulness and sweet disposition of Princess Fluff became renowned throughout the world, and when she grew to womanhood, many brave and handsome princes from other countries came to Nole to sue for her heart and hand. One of these she married, and reigned as queen of a great nation in after years, winning quite as much love and respect from her people as his loyal subjects bestowed upon her famous brother, King Bud of Noland.” When Bud and Fluff reappear in Road, however, they’re still children. So is Chick the Cherub, whose adulthood is discussed at the end of John Dough and the Cherub. We don’t actually know when Queen Zixi took place, but Road and John Dough both presumably take place around when they were written, due to the scenes taking place in the United States. So how would Baum have known about Chick growing up when it hadn’t happened yet? Some apocryphal stories have Bud, Fluff, and Chick still being children years later.
This entry was posted in Characters, L. Frank Baum, Oz, Oz Authors, Ruth Plumly Thompson and tagged chick the cherub, ev, harry mongold, ix, john dough and the cherub, king timothy of noland, magic cloak, noland, princess margaret of noland, queen zixi of ix, roly-rogues, ruffles, the sawhorse of oz, the silver princess in oz, wizard of oz. Bookmark the permalink.
12 Responses to Ix in the Mix
John W Kennedy says:
According to the usual chronology (and there are firm anchors for it), the body of the Harry Potter saga takes place 1991–1998, which means that the Epilogue won’t take place until 2017. There is also a much more complex question about the two epilogues to “Babylon 5” that I can’t describe without massive spoilers for both.
According to the usual chronology (and there are firm anchors for it), the body of the Harry Potter saga takes place 1991–1998
Which means that Dudley had a PlayStation several months prior to its actual release. It could be argued that Baum, with his pretense of being a historian relating events he actually heard about from Oz, would have no way of knowing the future. Rowling, as far as I know, never made any such attempt to insert herself into the fantasy. On the other hand, Baum was inconsistent on this point anyway, and as far as I know only used it with Oz, not Queen Zixi or John Dough.
saintfighteraqua says:
Ix was always one of my favorite non-Oz countries and as a boy I made up all kinds of stories about it with Zixi on another quest to regain her “true youth” involving Golden Apples, a ghostly specter, banshees and more. One day I hope to write those stories down in a better form and publish them.
Something like the Apples of Idun from Norse mythology? One of Chris Dulabone’s books (A Million Miles from Here Is Oz, I think) had Zixi getting a little older but the mirror curse being broken, but I’m not sure what I think of that idea.
Yes, except I had switched in Hebe from Greek Mythology as the keeper of the apple tree. In my story the apples were linked to Oz’s eternal youth…but then I read Eric Shanower’s graphic novels as a young teen and was surprised at how similar Valyn’s character was to both Hebe’s and another character in my story, even more so because of the Enchanted Apples being nearly identical to the Golden Apples in my story…so I never finished the story for fear of being called a copycat (or even worse, a plagiarist.)
Maybe one day I’ll ask Mr. Shanower if I can rework the story with Valyn instead of Hebe, I’m not sure how he feels about other authors using his characters though.
Well, between the Apples of Idun, the Apples of the Hesperides, and the forbidden fruit in Eden (not identified as an apple, but popularly regarded as one), apple trees are commonly associated with mythology and magic. As for Shanower’s characters in works not by him, there’s a VERY brief mention of Valynn (not by name) in Paradox, although Eric illustrated that and probably had some other input into it as well.
Joe Bongiorno says:
Nathan, do you recall offhand, which later stories utilize these characters as children?
You know, the only one I can think of offhand is Jared Davis’ story that was later incorporated into The Royal Explorers of Oz. There might well be others, but I can’t recall them just now.
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Category Archives: Latest Tips
Dynamo Kiev vs Napoli
By tvmocacom | September 13, 2016 - 1:34 pm | September 13, 2016 Latest Tips
Dynamo Kiev have been off to a great start this season as they have won 5, drawn 1 and lost 1 of their last 7 games on the Ukranian Premier League which takes them to 2nd in their domestic division behind Shakhtar Donetsk. Dynamo have got their scoring form off to a cracker netting in every game bar a 2-0 loss against Vorskla just before the international break. Junior Moraes, Dennis Harmash and Andriy Yarmolenko have been leading the offensive line, that has seen them progress well so far this campaign. Defensively Kiev have been struggling conceding in 6 out of the 8 games played so far this campaign including twice against a quality side like Donetsk, that will not hold in good stead for them against a strong Napoli outfit.
PSG vs Arsenal
After very good results in the period of preparation and start right from Ligue 1 PSG lost efficiency and inspiration in the last two games , losing the derby against AS Monaco (1-3 ) and having drawn at home ( 1- 1) in dispute with Saint- Etienne .
Despite missteps in recent weeks, PSG boast an average of over 2.5 goals scored per game in 10 previous encounters . Also , Cavani & co. have a series of 17 consecutive games in which they failed to score , the figure which is added 8 games in a row without defeat at home in an official competition .
Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool
By tvmocacom | August 27, 2016 - 7:05 am | August 27, 2016 Latest Tips
Spurs eventually secured their first win of the season after they beat Crystal Palace 1-0 last Saturday. Tottenham summer signing Victor Wanyama scored the only goal for the north Londoners in the 82nd minute as both clubs had a hard time throughout the match. It was a much needed victory for Mauricio Pochettino’s side after coming back from their disappointing 1-1 draw with Everton in their opener game away at the Goodison Park. Meanwhile, Liverpool blow their first loss 0-2 of the season against the newly-promoted side Burnley FC at the Turf Moor. The Reds were not able to make an impact to the Clarets two-goal haul, despite having 81 percent ball possession, as Burnley attackers Sam Vokes and Andre Gray notched each at the second and 37th minutes respectively.
Hajduk Split vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv
By tvmocacom | August 25, 2016 - 12:37 pm | August 25, 2016 Latest Tips
Hajduk Split just does not pass through the best period of her. In the domestic league, Hajduk has not won anything for three stages. During this time, they lost two games at home 2-4 to 0-4 with Dinamo Zagreb and Rijeka, managing only a draw, 1-1, on Osijekfield. However, Hajduk was ranked number 4 in HNL (Croatian first division) with a total of 10 points, with 6 points behind Rijeka. Also it must be noted that Hajduk scored 10 goals in the 6 stages of the championship and recive 9 goals
Borussia Monchengladbach vs Young Boys
With certiudine Monchengladbach is 99.99% qualified, but this does not exclude to see a good game.
Borussia Monchengladbach has not yet played any match in Bundesliga first division will begin on August 26. The only official game that they played it in this start to the season – out of the tour with Young Boys, is the German Cup in front of fans of Brochtersen/Assel.
Though they rested some players, it was favorite to win Monchengladbach but succeeded to only 1-0. Also, the little squad from Regionalliga North could even big shots in the match with two shots on the gate space at Gladbach. However, weshould not take this dispute as standard, starting from the premise that his players Gladbach came more than relax in this dispute.
Rostov – Ajax
The confrontation at Amsterdam Arena was still tied, 1-1, and Ajax want to repeat the evolution of the earlier phase of the UCL. In round three, after 1-1 home, but with PAOK, Ajax managed to turn the result in Greece, winning 2-1.
Mission announce at least as difficult. First participation in UCL and after a series of excellent results in previous matches, Rostov, Russia’s vice championship 2015/2016, does not conceive to prevent the very last moment. Russian band, whose value is givenprimarily to the extraordinary homogeneity, has the advantage that equal goals of the tour. It will not be easy to defend, especially as Ajax intense search effort in return, but at this time, chances are better in qualifying his side.
The aspect that is not a favor Rostov experience. Russia tries to compensate by giving, but also a more aggressive style of play. So Kurban Berdyev’s students came to collect no less than 12 yellow cards in the 3 matches played in UCL.Doar tour of Amsterdam, Rostov received 6 yellow.
AS Monaco – Villarreal
The game starts at 2-1 in favor of the French, Leonardo Jardim’s students winning in Villarreal’s ground tour.
After a hesitant start in Ligue 1 (only 2-2 at home in the first round against those from Guingamp), Monaco has raised the game, imposing on foreign land both in the Champions League duel against the Spaniards, and against Nantes (1-0).
Things did not look so well, changes within the club who have made this summer taking its toll on the quality of the game. Not only lost the home first leg against Monaco, but neither managed to get more than a point against Granada in the inaugural round of the new season of LaLiga. Moreover, Villarreal failed to win the last six friendly games that he played.
Monaco is certainly that starts with the first chance to qualify, especially after the good form he showed in a previous parties of the Champions League when performed at home. In addition, Villarreal only won two of the last eight games away from the European Cups.
Hapoel Beer Sheva – Celtic
The team from Israel has just started the season in Israel. After the first round of Ligat ha’Al – first division of Israel, Hapoel Beer Sheva is 3rd with 3 points obtained. In the first match of the season in the national championship, Beer Sheva won 2-1 in front of Hapoel Raanana through goals scored by Sahar (11 minutes) and Radi (42 minutes).
We can also mention that in August 11 Hapoel managed to triumph Supercup in Israel after he beat rivals Maccabi Haifa score of 4-2, although they were led at the break 2-0 , the opening of the Beer Sheva marked by Buzaglo (minutes 54 and 69), Nwakaeme (84 minutes) and Sahar (90 minutes + 3).
Valencia CF vs Las Palmas
By tvmocacom | August 22, 2016 - 4:37 pm | August 22, 2016 Latest Tips
Valencia aim to conclude the championship this season would ensure a place in the Champions League this. Certainly, this goal will be very difficult to accomplish, but in exhibition match that he played, Valencia did was honorable, this giving fans trust. In party verification, Valencia managed to get 4 wins, as follows: Munster 4-2, 4-1 Ilves, NPFL All-Star 2-1 and 2-1 with Fiorentina. Valencia drew 1-1 with Bournemouth and were defeated by Feyenoord (1-2) and Crystal Palace (score 1-3).
Tips of the day – 13.03.2016
By tvmocacom | March 13, 2016 - 8:11 am | March 13, 2016 Latest Tips
14.30 Arsenal – Watford : Over 1.5 Goals – 1.25
15.00 Fiorentina – Verona : Over 1.5 Goals – 1.20
15.30 Bayer Leverkusen – Hamburger SV : Over 1.5 Goals – 1.20
Total Odd : 1.80
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/TokyoGhoul
Fridge / Tokyo Ghoul
More Less - More - FanDisservice FandomSpecific… FoeYay
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A reminder of the rules of Fridge Brilliance:
This is a personal moment for the viewer, so every example is signed by the contributor. If you start off with "This Troper", really, you have no excuse. We're going to hit you on the head.
This revelation can come from anywhere, even from this very page.
Also, this page is of a generally positive nature, and Fridge Brilliance does not have to be Word Of God. In fact, it usually isn't, and the viewer might be putting more thought into it than the creator ever did. This is not a place for personal commentary on another's remark or arguing without adding a Fridge Brilliance comment of your own.
Here Be Spoilers: This page is full of them. You have been warned.
Fridge Brilliance (Original series):
Takatsuki Sen's newly released novel after the six-month Time Skip is The Hanged Man's MacGuffin: a collection of Short Stories about prisoners on Death Row. At the end of the Aogiri Arc, she had taken part in the prison break freeing an untold number of Ghouls from CCG's internment facility in the 23rd Ward. As such, she had plenty of sources for new material from the prisoners she'd helped free. One of the characters mentioned is even a sadistic warden that tortures prisoners, likely inspired by Yamori's time there.
Arata always looked a little under the weather, something commented on by the neighbors. The reason he always looked ill is because he—like Touka years later—insisted on eating the food given to him by their neighbors. He was so kind-hearted and grateful for their generosity that he was essentially poisoning himself.
In chapter 136, we learn that Hide already knew Kaneki had become a Ghoul. When did this happen? All the way back in chapter 9, when Yoshimura and Kaneki discussed his condition in the same room Hide was sleeping in. Except in the final panel, we see Hide open his eyes. He was awake for at least part of the conversation.
The first opening song, Unravel was definitely about Kaneki, what with the references to corrupting and remembering what they used to be in the lyrics. But yet, the second ending song has a completely different feel to it. The message and the lyrics in the song point to saying goodbye, to move on. And then it dawned. The song wasn't about Kaneki, but HAISE. Kaneki doesn't have much of a past to cast off and rather forget, but Haise does. It's not a call back to what happens in Root A, with Kaneki casting off his ties to Anteiku and joining Aogiri, it's a call forward to :re, where Haise struggles to maintain his sense of self. Still in disbelief? Just listen to the lyrics:
Salutations; this is a break-up verse that I bid to you, the loathsome past
In the anime, the fight with Kaneki in his half-kakuja state is done inside the ghoul prison Cochlea instead of Kanou's lab. The cochlea is an inner part of the ear and Kaneki's kakuja resembles a centipede. Remind you of a particular torture session involving Yamori, Kaneki and a centipede?
Fridge Horror (Original Series):
A large controversy is caused by Dr. Kanou transplanting Rize's organs into Kaneki without asking permission from her family. But what about Kaneki's family? Well, his parents are dead and his extended family barely acknowledges him, with his aunt being outright abusive. This could be why Kanou targeted him for his experiment to create artificial ghouls—Kaneki didn't have any loved ones to really monitor him and pay attention to what his doctor was doing.
The actions of his aunt really shine. She demanded money from her sister which made her sister work herself to death in her effort to support Kaneki, her aunt, and herself. It was later revealed the aunt was well off enough on her own without Kaneki's mothers help. After all that, she also resented him for getting better grades than her son and did things like threaten to take Kaneki's books away and increasingly reducing his food before forbidding him from eating with the family and giving him a meager amount of money for himself.
In his first fight with Amon, Kaneki resolves not to lose his sense of self. Sure enough, his sanity and personality steadily crack over the course of the series until finally, after suffering a severe loss to Arima, Kaneki has a hallucination in which he forgives his own ruthless side and lets go of his identity, becoming amnesiac.
Ghouls are stated to only need one body every month or two. That means the average Ghoul is responsible for between six and twelve murders a year.
Aogiri Tree had more than 200 Ghouls living in their base in the 11th Ward. We see Kaneki and Banjou working to dismantle corpses in a large room with several other workers, so dozens of people were probably being killed by Aogiri Tree a month to keep their members supplied with food.
In the novels focusing on Tsukiyama there's a scene where Chie discovers a nurse secretly abuses an elderly patient of hers (smacking him around, eating the food his visitors have given him, and later kicking him again when he is begging for help after being skinned by Tsukiyama and when he calls her out on her actions she approaches him with a knife before the scene ends). This brings to mind the questions: How long has she been doing this to the elderly patient and has she done something similar to her other patients as well?
The rape implications when Big Madam grabs Juuzou's lower parts and puts her finger in his mouth before castrating him with a hammer.
This often glossed over part of chapter 30 is translated by the tumblr member eyepatch centipede whereas in the original it was just japanese text. Tsukiyama's wanted poster has the following text: On November 11 close to 8 pm, city council Kuninari was stabbed with a knife. Additionally, his genitals were severed and removed. Considering Tsukiyama is a ghoul who eats parts that he finds appealing...
Floppyamon details into the other implications of Kaneki's capture and torture by Yamori.
He did have that hallucination of Rize AND Yamori climbing up his naked body surrounded by blood while he screamed "My body is mine. Get out of my body!" I initially interpreted as both Rize and Yamori affected him on an extremely deep level which is why they were present and figured that him being naked on top of that was just a way of making him feel vulnerable. Perhaps there was more to it after all?
On the other hand Yamori could be appearing with Rize there not because of some sexual connection they have to Kaneki but because in a twisted way they are like his parents, they made Kaneki who he is. Kaneki has Rize's kakuhou and her strength after "eating" her and he takes after Yamori's mentality of "the strong are the ones who survive" and his sadism. The imagery of them climbing up his body recalls ghosts(their faces are very distorted and the like), they are his ghosts who he fears are trying retake possession of his body (since he took from them so they're after him for revenge as ghosts). Or perhaps the hallucination was used to represent his fear at being overtaken by memories of them or by the threat of even becoming like them. He even said it wasn't him who was eating ghouls but ghouls that were eating him. So while he meant to gain strength, show dominance by devouring Yamori and symbolically devouring Rize he is terrified of everything and not as strong as he'd like to appear. His fear induced insanity is threatening to overcome him.
When we learn in re: that Kaneki's mother physically abused him we know that Kaneki idolized her despite that and tried to deny it. Even before the horrors of the ghoul world got to him and his torture at Jason's hands he was broken. He uses smiles and books to hide this from others.
Tsukiyama comments on the beauty of a woman's eyes, and takes and eats them leaving her to wander the street with empty eye sockets utterly helpless. In a city that is crawling with ghouls eager to devour humans, especially helpless humans this would leave her unable to protect herself or even spot a ghoul who might want to eat her.
Fridge Brilliance (Re):
In the sequel we see that Hinami has joined Aogiri Tree.. What was the last thing we saw her doing in the final chapter of Tokyo Ghoul? Calling Takatsuki AKA Eto using the card she got in chapter 114.
Sasaki wears glasses, but Kaneki never needed them before. Arima stabbed Kaneki through the eyes.
19-year old Mutsuki binding his chest. Medical standards require a person to be the Age of Majority before they can begin hormone treatments or have surgery — in Japan, that means the person must be at least 20.
Consider how Sasaki does his best to be a surrogate father to his team, but ends up being more like a Team Mom due to his kindness and highly emphatic nature. Consider how Saiko affectionately calls him "Maman". Now consider how Saiko's mother essentially sold her to the CCG for human experimenation, and suddenly all her interactions with Sasaki take on a whole new meaning.
The Reveal that Kaneki's mother was an abusive parent was foreshadowed by his being a fan of Eto's book The Black Goat's Egg which is about a horrible mother and her son.
As a teenager, Arima sported electric blue hair, and by the time he was in his early thirties it already had become white. Maybe he had undergone a life-changing trauma, like Kaneki. It's actually because he's dying of old age due to being an imperfect half-breed, leading to a shorter life span.
In chapter 83, Eto proclaims herself to be dying from Furuta's attack. This seems like the Worf Effect is in play, but it does make sense. Furuta got his Kagune - one of the most powerful kagune around - from Rize, whom he knew from the Garden. This all but outright tells us that Furuta is a half-human like Arima, with advanced aging, but also extreme abilities such as strength and reflexes. Combine those two, and it makes sense that Eto could be defeated by him if caught off-guard.
Eto also asks Furuta in chapter 82 about "what in the world was [he] after" since he clearly doesn't care about V or the Washuu. Furuta's answer? Super Peace.
Eto: "What in the world..."
How did Juuzou figure out that the clown army weren't ghouls? Simple, he´s a former scrapper, he knows the difference between cutting a ghoul and a human from plenty of personal experience in cutting both types up like turkeys.
Ken Kanekis transformation into an Eldritch Abomination was actually foreshadowed from chapter 1 of the original series. It all goes back to the Black Goats Egg. Anyone familiar with Lovecraftian lore will know that the Black Goat is one of the titles of Shub Niggurath the mother of a thousand young. Kaneki is often referred to as the Black Goats Egg so naturally hed one day hatch into an Eldritch Abomination.
Rize being the Final Boss for the series is a case of Book-Ends. Kaneki's journey as a Ghoul began on that night Rize attacked him. Everything he's gone through, everything he's faced, it all started with Rize. Therefore, it's only fitting that Rize is the last opponent Kaneki faces.
Fridge Horror (:re):
Seidou being turned into one of Aogiri Tree's experiments is already bad enough, but the fact that he was wielding a Quinque made from one of Tatara's former gang members when he was captured means Tatara probably tortured him even more than necessary for revenge.
His significantly altered appearance is major Fridge Horror in and of itself, since they suggest extensive torture. Just imaging what he's gone through in the last two years is Nightmare Fuel at its finest.
Remember how Yamori broke Kaneki with a Sadistic Choice? Seidou had a loving family, it could be very much possible that Tatara pulled a similar Sadistic Choice with him by kidnapping his family and killing them all right infront of him anyway to break him and mold him into a weapon for Aogiri Tree.
In Chapter 25, he comments that being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice doesn't hurt at all and won't slow him down because he's used to that kind of thing. This suggests he was tortured to the extent he's completely desensitized to pain.
Chapter 28 includes his exchange with Sasaki, where he tells him that his lines will be "I don't want to die" and "I want to die after all". The first is what Takizawa wrote in his Will, while the second line implies that he's essentially re-enacting the torture he himself endured at the hands of Aogiri. What they did to him was so horrible, he wanted to die but was forced to continue living until they'd made him into a monster.
His torture at the hands of Kanou after the ghoul surgery in revealed in chapter 90. This is implied to include a forced ejaculation to collect a semen sample. Did he do this to other prospective ghoul candidates as well?
In Chapter 31 he goes half-kakuja to fight Haise/Kaneki. His mental state during that fight is not pretty at all. Takiwaza starts near crying at one point that he essentially could't help eating mom and dad and later on it was decoded from a mishmash of insane ramblings that I ate mom's intestine's!. The implications of this are a mix of Nightmare Fuel and Tear Jerker. The half-kakuja pretty much shows that Takiwaza at this point is at the precipice of loosing his sanity on top of already loosing his humanity...
It's revealed in Chapter 31 that Big Madam was, at least, designated male at birth. Now think about how this connects to her crushing Juuzou's testicles.
Noro's decaying skull beneath his mask implies that he was Dead All Along—a walking corpse animated only by Eto's half-sentient kagune. If that is true...then what does that mean for Kanae, who was implanted at least part of her kagune? Could it be that Kanae is actually dead, and has only a short window of time before he realizes it, or his brain just shuts down, making him another kagune zombie?
Suppressed memories of childhood abuse is an extremely rare condition in the real world. However, it is related to dissociative identity disorders.
After the Time Skip, Kaneki's started wearing gloves. There's a pretty good reason for that: his arm apparently grew back with scales.
Torso keeps the body parts of women he cuts off and calls their torsos his "lovers". Think about that.
There's also the fate of the people who's limbs he cut off. The possibilities are endless: he can use them to masturbate to (he states he does so in his diary while thinking of Mutsuki), keeps them around as lifeless "lovers" or trophies, eats them when hungry because he's a ghoul, or allows them to decompose.
When Torso strips Mutsuki, beats, and pins him down, it seriously looks like he was about to rape him if Mutsuki's team hadn't arrived to help him.
When Torso finally manages to kidnap his crush Mutsuki in chapter 64 and declares they are getting married right before showing him how he cut his legs and arms off with a ring on his finger and he dressed Mutsuki in a white dress too.
In order for a marriage to be fully legal it has to be consummated (they would have a wedding night)...Considering his earlier scenes with him and his sexual obsession and longing of Mutsuki who's to say he didn't sexually violate Mutsuki in any way to consummate the "marriage" with his "bride"?
Why would Torso force Mutsuki to marry him? Because he believes he's Entitled to Have You and thinks it'd be harder for him to get away if they were married. And Mitsuki reminds him of his past love that tragically died. So he's keeping Mitsuki as her substitute.
Many fans have felt that chapter 65 gave the implication that Torso standing in front of Mutsuki while shirtless, breathing heavy, and whispering "My Tooru" looked like he was preparing to rape Mutsuki. That's horrifying enough on it's own but consider the fact that he had cut Mutsuki's arms and legs off as well. Also who's to say he didn't repeatedly cut off Mutsuki's arms and legs because he can heal like when Yamori repeatedly cut off Kaneki's toes and fingers?
In his diary Torso depicts his Lack of Empathy towards people and refusal to see them as anything but dolls stuffed with meat. Also, his "lovers" rejection of him drives him to extreme violence to punish them including destroying their faces. Think about what this meant for Mutsuki if he hadn't mutilated Torso to death. Made even worse when he tries to take Mutsuki somewhere in one chapter and Mutsuki rightly panics upon seeing scissors in Torso's pocket.
Torso's backstory is revealed in chapter 78 as him having grown up in complete isolation while being abused by his father, and witnessing his father dismember and eat his Only Friend. He then is implied to have killed his father for this. Also, when they were without food his father ate his mother. This leaves the implications that his father could've planned to eat Torso if Torso's friend hadn't come along considering what he did to his wife and how abusive he was towards Torso. Also, Torso's friend is reduced to a torso that smells of bleach after his father dismembers and eats her. It's implied to be the same torso Urie finds in his cave before he found Torso's own. Therefore, Torso inadvertently became attached to torso's because of his abusive fathers actions towards his Only Friend, and he kept her torso to be reminded of her. He was also implied to be turned on when she was sleeping next to him wearing next to nothing in his tent when he was a kid (he had his hand to his crotch) and was further interested in the story behind the bruises on her body. Does that mean that Torso, despite suspecting about the physical and maybe sexual abuse his friend endured is still turned on by her situation? And even after his father eats her, Torso preserves and keeps her torso with him. Knowing about his sexual interest in torso's due to his father's actions and his growing sexuality as a young boy did he also masturbate to the torso of her despite her tragic life and end? Did he masturbate while thinking of his Freudian Excuse which shaped him and his sexual obsession for torso's and body parts in the first place? There is also the implication that he's Not Good with Rejection, adamant on keeping his "lovers" with him to disturbing extremes and with winning Mutsuki's affection, because he was deprived of affection as a kid while being kept in isolation and because he lost the only one who was kind to him.
Torso's Why Did You Make Me Hit You? moment towards Mutsuki and anger/distrust towards people who have limbs and heads due to his past. In Sasaki's view, Torso cuts off their limbs to keep them from leaving him. He also doesn't seem to think what he's doing is wrong or rather can't understand that its wrong. He freaks out if people don't love him and express hatred towards him. He also calls Mutsuki "fucked up in the head" when he refuses his compliments and beats him in response. In his view, Mutsuki is the one in the wrong, not him. He immediately follows that up by acting kind and loving saying he only does those things because of "love". That's whats so hard about abusive relationships the abuser is violent but then is a Mood-Swinger and acts nice making the victim confused about how they should feel about the one who captured them and making it that much harder to leave.
If Torso abuses Mutsuki out of love and later Mutsuki is afraid of being killed by him, Torso might've witnessed his father abuse his mother and kill her and believed that's how people showed their love. That abusive nature didn't come from nothing.
Torso's dad left behind torso's and these actions led to Torso leaving behind torso's, and this led to Torso being left behind as a torso by Mutsuki. Vicious cycle indeed.
Considering the reveal about Mutsuki's split personality the "screwed up in the head" bit from Torso to Mutsuki might be foreshadowing. Also, when Mutsuki sympathizes with Torso for his sad past and thinks that there really must be something wrong with him for him to sympathize with someone who took his arms and legs.
Torso's dad was abusive towards him. He also ate his wife to survive. Besides the cannibalism did he do anything else to her while she was still alive and living with him, like leave her torso and keep it around? Considering Torso masturbates while thinking of dismembered bodies did his father do the same?
Torso's dad seems to target woman specifically to eat them, which he did to Minomi and his own wife. Torso mentions how his dad might have been buying a women or looking for food. So he basically looks at woman as ways to get off sexually and sources of food. How many other woman did he do this to?
Torso mentions how Minomi was the first living girl he met and was amazed to feel that her hand wasn't cold. The only other female he had in his life was his mother before his father had to kill her for food so, except for the brief time his mother and Minomi are alive, he mainly knows females as being cold and dead and used for food and pleasure, aside of the implied humanity he still has, albeit twisted. Hence his Lack of Empathy towards his female "lovers" and inability to see them as nothing but automated dolls stuffed with meat.
The implication of sexual assault as well as physical abuse comes up again in regards to Minomi. Urie comes across what looks to be Minomi's torso and the caption describes it as "the naked flesh of the torso stood out to Urie as if begging to be clothed". In Torso's narration, Minomi had moved to his village from Kanto due to family issues and didnt have any friends. Minomi asks him "Kara-chan, you didnt go to school did you?" to which Torso agrees and says his family is strict. Despite that, Minomi thinks it must be better being in Torso's family. Young Torso answers "What? Your family has food and a nice place to sleep, what are you dissatisfied with?" to which Minomi responds that she doesn't like their "strange way of comforting". Minomi then asks if Torso wants to leave with her to go to the ocean or somewhere far away from it all. Then...
She rolls over, and Karao sees a fresh scar on her shoulder.
Torsos narration: Red and blue and purple
her Family issues were in those bruises and cuts.
Young Torso:
.
Torsos narration: I could feel her life force, and it was, it was beautiful.
In Chapter 70, it is heavily implied that Arima's Quinque, Narukami, was made from Hikari Kirishima. Arima is quite literally trying to kill Yomo, Touka, and Ayato with the desecrated remains of their loved one.
Nutcracker's flashback to her childhood, including a shot of three shadowy male figures with terrible smiles looking down on her while she thinks "I need money". She's a Ghoul that focuses on crushing and eating the testicles of men, and the word she uses for "pretty" can also be translated as "pure". The implications are disturbing, to say the least.
Mutsuki is implied to have been raped in the past with the scars revealed on his chest when Torso strips him of his shirt and when he's Disguised in Drag he thinks about how predatory Male Gaze is disturbing, imagining the gazes to be included with repeating words like "a girl" and "rape". There's also the parallel between Big Madam and Juuzou in the scene where Mutsuki is soaking wet from his father trying to drown him and his father orders him to praise him. He does so to avoid further abuse and his father leers at him with a predatory gaze while saying "here's your reward". The parental rape and the massacre of his own family seems to have been what spurred on his requesting to live as a man, possibly to hide his vulnerability behind a male personality and avoid the same fate he endured at the hands of his father.
Mutsuki's ultra-short bangs become this, thanks to Ch. 73. As a child, Mutsuki wore Blinding Bangs that he hid behind. His father used them to drag him through the house, and tried to drown him in the bathtub.
Mutsuki is believed to have been the one to mutilate Torso to death in chapter 79. There's also the flashback where Mutsuki is revealed to have massacred his family with an axe. Also, the thing he's holding aren't organs in jar, they are tongues. And Torso's tongue is missing from the mutiliation... There's also how Torso had something jammed up his anus all the way out his mouth, and had his penis cut off and shoved in the place where his nose once was. There was some heavy emphasis on Torso's death and the state of his body. If Mutsuki did that which seems likely since they were the only two around and if Torso did actually assault Mutsuki in addition to the other stuff he did the implication would be that Mutsuki specifically mutilated and castrated Torso as revenge. Why else would there be emphasis on Mutsuki shoving something up Torso's anus and castrating him (The movie I Spit On Your Grave had a rape victim do a similar thing in revenge to one of the people responsible for her rape too)
It was something so big, it went up his body and pierced his diaphragm. Chances are, it's his bikaku kagune or a long inanimate object. Now that's messed up.
It seems that Tooru has an inner side of himself that that destroys anything that would threaten the "lie" they try to maintain for appearances. This side of himself has also killed and mutilated cats during their time in the academy, as well as cannibalizing other corpses during the Auction arc. And guess what? That's just the stuff he remembers. Who knows what else he did... In his narration he says the worst kind of lie is one you tell yourself, and ended it by admitting he was a murderer. With DID sufferers don't have control over which personality they want to present at what time/situation because it's not a conscious switch. In Mutsuki's case he manufactured his innocent personality to protect himself from being judged for his heinous actions, because he knows it's not acceptable. Over time he believed in his own lie so much it was as if he forgets what he does but he was really just suppressing those memories. Much like in the story Torso told in the chapter before about not remembering exactly how he ended up killing his father.
Remember back in the original manga when the Academy Instructor, Uchino, is trying to unravel the mystery of someone who's been constantly attacking stray animals? Uchino figures that it was most likely Suzuya's doing due to Suzuya's questionable background, but the sisters inform him that they haven't seen him. As the two get ready to leave, Uchino reveals that he suspected Suzuya, because there were rumors that the boy was once raised by a ghoul, which makes him a bit of a threat. We now know that it's actually Mutsuki's doing which he is heavily in denial over, crying while clutching a jar full of animal tongues.
The revelation of the CCG's extermination method for ghouls captured alive, a giant quinque-based grinder. Sasaki tries to be merciful, frequently capturing instead of killing, but he's actually sending those ghouls to a much worse fate.
When Urie ate dinner at the Washuus, he noted that the meal tasted a bit odd. With The Reveal that the Washu clan are Ghouls, we now have a pretty good guess as to why.
Furuta appears to win his fight against Eto and leaves her in her horrifically maimed state for death while stating he's got a lot more people to fuck up. One person that comes to mind is Kaneki...given their last encounter and how Furuta describes Kaneki as "my dear Kaneki" to Eto in a sarcastic cruel manner. One should fear for all the people he's interacted with or acted close to considering how he treats Kijima at his death.
Kanou reveals to Seidou in chapter 90 after he wakes up in a cell, disoriented and confused, that there were 63 Investigators taken from the Anteiku Raid, but Kanou tells him that he was the only successful product of the experiments (OWL #15).
Souta secretly works with the clowns and Uta unbeknownst to CCG and in :re chapter 106 he orders Suzuya to protect the main headquarters and says with a delightedly sadistic expression to Suzuya about the clowns "Kill them all" with a heart in his speech bubble. Coupled with his LOL from earlier when the clowns started attacking civilians and CCG members it certainly carries the implication that he hopes the clowns will his fellow squad members as part of his plan or that he is at least knowingly sending Suzuya to his death. Suzuya meanwhile gave hints that he suspects Furuta isn't who he says he is so when he says "I should kill them all" about the clowns he also means Furuta too as he suspects Furuta is a clown.
The grand mystery of the clown army is revealed in chapter 109 to be normal human beings dressed up as clowns with mouths sewn shut. leaves another fridge horror open. How much fear runs through their heads upon seeing their supposed "protectors" come at them, ready to slaughter them like lambs without being able to do anything about it?
Amon's intense Survivor's Guilt seems to have been because he was the only child to survive the orphanage. But it isn't simply because of that.....after learning the truth, young Amon participated in his father's crimes. A flashback reveals Amon in a bloody apron and surgical mask, wielding a meat tenderizer.
In Chapter 111, Saiko recalls a conversation the original Quinx once had about the reason they must surpass Arima. Urie explains that their duty is to act as a stopgap for their mentor, killing Sasaki if he were to ever go rogue. That's right.....all along, Sasaki was knowingly raising and training a team created to kill him.
Chapter 114 reveals Mutsuki has sexual/romantic feelings for Sasaki to the point of brutally stabbing Uta who had taken on Sasaki's face in the face and neck while declaring his love and then undressing from the top to do something to the body. Apparently these feelings were realized out of jealousy towards Sasaki's attention to Touka and exacerbated when Sasaki abandoned the Quinx. One worries for not only Sasaki but Touka too as Mutsuki imagined her and Sasaki with the Japanese word for "die" scrawled on her face.
When Aura attacks Kaneki at :re and threatens to do the same thing to Kaneki that he supposedly did to his aunt which left her hospitalized. We see the extent of the injury in chapter 126 where it's revealed Kiyoko had her legs cut off. Kaneki is suspected to have done this by Aura. So in addition to making Kaneki into a quinque, he also wants to cut Kaneki's legs off. Try rereading scenes with Kaneki following him supposedly attacking Kiyoko and when we see Kiyoko resting in the hospital as she hears of Takeomi's engagement to Yoriko with the above knowledge in mind.
Many have wondered why Kaneki still possesses scaly arms even months after his fight with Arima. It's revealed in chapter 131 that it's a sign that Kaneki's regenerative powers are failing due to his body slowing down in rapid cell division, and will eventually pass away from old age similar to Arima.
Chapter 150 has the CCG and Goat come to a ceasefire while they evacuate civilians and attempt to recover Kaneki from Dragon. However, nothing's stopping the CCG from wiping out Goat once this is all over with.
While the epilogue in Chapter 179 is mostly bright and cheerful, the peace between Humans and Ghouls was only possible due both possessing a mutual enemy in the Dragon Orphans. It's mentioned that the Dragon Orphans are beginning to show signs of evolving into sentient beings. We may soon be dealing with a case of History Repeats.
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Oil's Rebound Above $60 Increases Focus on Technicals
Date : 11/07/2019 @ 21:12
Source : Dow Jones News
By Amrith Ramkumar
A recent rebound in U.S. crude-oil prices back above the closely watched psychological level of $60 is increasing focus on gauges of market momentum, the latest swing in a topsy-turvy 2019 for energy markets.
West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. price gauge, closed above $60 for the first time in seven weeks Wednesday and edged down 0.4% to $60.20 on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. Despite Thursday's decline, oil has staged a powerful rebound after prices tumbled into a bear market of more than 20% below their April peaks in early June. Crude is still 9.2% off its April highs even with its recent surge.
Oil is still nearly 9% off its April highs even with its recent surge.
But some analysts think prices staying above $60 and other closely monitored levels could add fuel to the rally. With their recent rally, they have climbed back above their 50- and 200-day moving averages, trend lines observers of market momentum use to trace an asset's recent performance. Eclipsing such lines is typically viewed as a bullish development.
Additionally, oil has stayed between $50 and $60 for much of the last three years, so moves out of that range tend to generate more interest in crude. After the ratio of bullish bets to bearish bets on oil futures by hedge funds and other speculative investors slid through mid-June, it has climbed in three consecutive weeks through July 2 with prices rebounding, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Figures for the week ended Tuesday will be released Friday.
Despite fears of softening demand amid trade tensions and excess supply, U.S. crude stockpiles have started to come down and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies continue to curb output.
A storm brewing near the Gulf of Mexico, a key production region, has resulted in some supply disruptions this week, and many analysts remain wary that an escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran could further disrupt the flow of oil around the globe.
"The rally will likely remain nervous and prone to short-term setbacks, but we think it has further to go," Standard Chartered analysts said in a note to clients.
Brent crude, the global oil-price gauge, fell 0.7% to $66.52 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange Thursday.
In one encouraging sign for oil bulls, OPEC cut its 2019 oil-production growth forecast for its non-cartel peers in its monthly market report Thursday. The cartel also left its demand-growth target unchanged in June, following downgrades to demand estimates in recent months that sent prices tumbling.
Elsewhere in commodities Thursday, natural-gas futures slipped 1.1% to $2.416 a million British thermal units, declining after weekly stockpile figures showed inventories rose more than expected during the week ended July 5.
Most-active Comex gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,406.70 a troy ounce, hurt by a pickup in bond yields that made the metal less attractive to yield-seeking investors.
Copper inched down 0.2% to $2.6875 a pound.
Write to Amrith Ramkumar at amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 11, 2019 15:57 ET (19:57 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
P: V:gb D:20190716 22:52:24
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Bango Strengthens Team for High Growth with Ex Nokia Exec
Business Wire 20 February 2019
CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESSWIRE)--
Bango (AIM:BGO), the mobile commerce company, announces that Paul Larbey has joined Bango as Chief Operating Officer as Bango expands its payments business to a broader mobile commerce platform offering, enabling its partners to more effectively monetize the $100 billion plus app ecosystem.
Paul joins in a newly created leadership role to drive the execution of ambitious growth plans at Bango. Paul will be directly responsible for the Operations, Customer Delivery and Customer Success teams, to scale the newly launched Bango Marketplace product.
Bango Marketplace provides the unique ability to increase marketing effectiveness through payment insights. This new initiative sees Bango evolve from a mobile payment to mobile commerce platform. Through Bango Marketplace, the Bango Platform is, for the first time, directly open to thousands of developers globally, and in doing so builds on Bango success with mobile operators and global merchants.
Paul joins Bango following his role as CEO at Velocix, a global leader in streaming technology where he remains a Non-Executive Director. Paul grew Velocix from a small start-up to the world’s leading IP video streaming specialist. As CEO, Paul led the Velocix team though its integration into Alcatel-Lucent and then Nokia. In 2018 Paul orchestrated the spin out of the division from Nokia to create a pure-play streaming technology company.
With over 20 years of experience in the Telecoms market, having held leadership positions in Cray Communications, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia, Paul has a strong track record of successfully bringing new technologies to market.
Paul Larbey, COO at Bango commented. "I have seen Bango gain increasing momentum with its unique data driven approach to delivering payments at scale. The recent application of Bango technology to improve the effectiveness of app developers’ digital marketing through enabling payment providers to safely monetize their data, opens huge opportunities for growth. With a strong technology base and an experienced team, Bango is in a unique position to capture this new opportunity. I am looking forward to bringing my experience of scaling up businesses to Bango as it both rapidly grows its established business and brings on a new wave of customers."
"Paul comes to the Bango team with years of experience providing vital technology to industry leaders." said Ray Anderson, CEO of Bango. "His passion and track record in driving growth and transformational change aligns to the creation of an ecosystem where merchants and payment providers converge, grow and thrive."
About Bango
App developers, stores and payment providers cross the threshold into the Bango ecosystem to converge, grow and thrive. By bringing businesses together and powering e-commerce with unique data-driven insights, Bango delivers new business opportunities and new dimensions of growth for customers around the world. Being inside the Bango circle means global merchants including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) can work together with payment partners from Africa to the Americas, accelerating the performance of everyone on the inside.
Bango. Think inside the circle. For more information, visit www.bango.com.
Anil Malhotra, CMO
anil@bango.com
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Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource
Stanford University | SLAC | SSRL | PEP-II
PEP-X Wants to Hear from You
With input from users, SSRL is developing the scientific case to define how PEP-X will enable the U.S. and international research community to address the grand scientific challenges of the future. You can become a part of this exciting process by sharing your ideas with us. Just contact the following individuals who are leading the brainstorming sessions to help envision future experiments that could be done at PEP-X that now cannot be done elsewhere:
Hard X-rays
Uwe Bergmann (bergmann@slac.stanford.edu)
Soft X-rays
Donghui Lu (dhlu@slac.stanford.edu)
Hiro Tsuruta (tsuruta@slac.stanford.edu)
PEP-X News
NSLS-II *
APS-upgrade *
CORNELL *
PETRA-III *
ESRF-upgrade *
* Examples of recent upgrade projects and proposed new facilities
What is PEP-X?
PEP-X is based on the development of an existing PEP-II storage ring (2.2 km circumference) on the SLAC site into an x-ray source which produces x-rays with an average brightness that exceeds any other storage ring light source, existing or planned, by more than a factor of 10, and SPEAR3 by more than a factor of 1000. PEP-X would create the ultimate synchrotron, capitalizing on existing hardware and infrastructure (high-power radio frequency accelerating system and utilities such as electrical and cooling networks) from the recently decommissioned PEP-II.
A New Era of Synchrotron Science at SLAC: PEP-X
Science at SLAC stands at the edge of an evolutionary leap. After a half-century of high-energy physics, SLAC's scientific focus is shifting, with the decommissioning of the BaBar detector and PEP accelerator and the approaching completion of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS).
Read July 2, 2008 Article in SLAC Today
Ideas for a Future PEP-X Light Source
SLAC is developing a long-range plan to transfer the evolving scientific programs at SSRL from the SPEAR3 light source to a much higher performing synchrotron source - PEP-X - a new storage ring that would occupy the existing PEP-II tunnel and support two experimental halls, each containing 16 x-ray beam lines.
Read Article from European Particle Accelerator Conference
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
2575 Sand Hill Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 SLAC is located on 426 acres of Stanford University property, just three miles west of the main campus. The main entrance to the facility is on Sand Hill Road, just east of Interstate 280.
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Sep NOV May
18 Jul 2011 - 02 May 2019
Collection: Media Cloud
PlayStationClassic
BestProductsof2018
GooglePixelSlate
BestVPN
Twitter's Evan Williams Confirms Departure
Twitter's Evan Williams on Tuesday confirmed that he will scale back his role at the micro-blogging company and pursue other, unnamed ventures.
By Chloe Albanesius
"I'm still involved, but it's no longer my full-time job," Williams wrote on his personal blog.
He will remain on the Twitter board of directors and pledged to meet frequently with the company's staff "to help in any way I can."
As for what's next, Williams said he was "not ready" to talk about where he's going, but he did say it was "time to pick up a whiteboard marker and think fresh."
"There are other problems/opportunities in the world that need attention, and there are other individuals I'd love to get the opportunity to work with and learn from," he wrote. "Details to come."
The announcement is not a huge surprise. Williams stepped down as Twitter's CEO in October and said at the time that he would focus on product strategy, but reports soon emerged that Williams was no longer involved in the day-to-day goings on at the company.
There's been a bit of executive musical chairs going on at the micro-blogging company in the past few months. Dick Costolo took over for Evans as CEO last year, and just this week, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey announced plans to return to Twitter as executive chairman. The company's other co-founder Biz Stone is also working with AOL as an advisor on volunteer efforts and philanthropy, though he is still with Twitter.
Most of Williams's blog post was spent paying tribute to the team at Twitter, as well as his former company, Blogger.
"It will be bigger and better," Williams said of Twitter. "I have the utmost confidence that, like Blogger, Twitter will grow an order of magnitude more (even though that's a much taller order, given its size already). The momentum is just incredibly strong, critical mass has been reached, and the dark days of imminent technical meltdown are over."
Verizon Taking Orders for Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot
Android In-App Billing Goes Live
Chloe Albanesius Executive Editor, News & Features
Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe covered financial IT for Incisive Media in NYC and technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's deg... See Full Bio
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PC, PC Magazine and PC PCMag.com are among the federally registered trademarks of
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Woodard Schools
The Preparatory School
The Senior School
The Alkins School of Dance
AB Equine
Scholarship Information for 2019 can be found here.
Fees for UK Full Boarding Students
Preparatory School Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 £21,531 per annum £7,177 per term
Senior School Years 7 and 8 £21,531 per annum £7,177 per term
Senior School Years 9, 10 and 11 £26,496 per annum £8,832 per term
Sixth Form Years 12 and 13 £26,496 per annum £8,832 per term
Fees for International Full Boarding Students
Preparatory School Years 4, 5 and 6 £24,144 per annum £8,048 per term
Full boarding consists of seven nights. Full boarding fees for students also includes boarders' weekend trips and visits.
Exeat weekends are identified in the school calendar. Students return home or to their guardian, however, students in Year 9 and above may remain in school, in consultation with the Head of Boarding. Exeat weekends are charged at £200 each.
Fees for UK Weekly Boarding Students
Weekly boarding consists of four nights, usually Monday to Thursday, in consultation with the Head of Boarding.
Flexible boarding or extra nights are payable at £55 per night or £100 for two consecutive nights
Fees for UK Day Students
Pre-Prep School Reception and Kindergarten * £4,653 per annum £1,551 per term
Pre-Prep School Years 1 and 2 £9,318 per annum £3,106 per term
* There are no charges in Kindergarten for the first 15/30 hours per week (Early Years Funding)
Our fees include all the following items (where applicable). Many of these items are charged as extras at other competitor schools:
All tuition
Weekly & full boarding (as appropriate)
House subs
All CDT materials
Before and after School care for Pre-prep and Preparatory school pupils, including refreshments
Two nights boarding per term during weekdays for all Day Pupils from Years 3 to 13
One sketch book and art materials
First entry GCSE, A-Level and BTEC exams fees
In addition to the above, full boarding fees for international students also include:
CAS fees as required
English Language Tuition (EAL)
Families interested in admission should contact the school's registrar, Mrs Amanda Harris, by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 01283 841 860.
Your most exciting journey begins here
© 2019 Abbots Bromley School. All Rights Reserved
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Abbotsford Pilots
UFV Cascades
Experience Abbotsford
Hometown Business
Abbotsford Parks, Recreation & Culture
Abbotsford Go-To Guide
Abbotsford in Action
15th annual Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity Awards recognize inclusivity leaders
Awards go to people, businesses and organizations that champion diversity
Kelvin Gawley
Mar. 3, 2018 10:21 a.m.
The 15th annual Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity Awards were held Friday in Abbotsford. Since 2003, community members have nominated businesses, programs, initiatives, schools and leaders that build inclusive communities in Abbotsford, Mission, Langley and Chilliwack.
“Every year it gets harder and harder to pick one winner in each category,” said Manpreet Grewal, director of Multicultural & Immigrant Integration Services at Abbotsford Community Services. “It’s great to see how many local organizations are dedicated to consciously working to promote diversity and inclusion.”
Abbotsford organizations or individuals won three of the seven awards. Robert Bateman School was honored for their art activism class which empowers students to affect change in their community through their artwork. Their 2017 class interviewed refugees and represented their stories through artwork.
The Shoppers Drug Mart store on South Fraser Way (store #2290) was recognized for their inclusive hiring practices and giving career opportunities to immigrants, students and those on disability.
Local resident, Michael Adkins received the Champion of Diversity award for his four decades of service in promoting inclusion through various initiatives including: hiring newcomers with limited English; promoting gender inclusion in Rotary, and welcoming new Canadian citizens in our community.
A local Mission non-profit, Sara for Women, won one of the seven awards. SARA is a feminist organization working with diverse women for the advancement of women. They recognize the systemic nature of oppression and power imbalances in all their forms including class, white-privilege, language, culture, sexual orientation, age, ability, geography, position and others. Their policy-governance structure incorporates opportunities to share power through democratic practices of shared leadership, decision-making, authority and responsibility.
On a practical level, SARA provides housing for vulnerable women who are in crisis, escaping violence, or who are at great risk of being homeless. Their Warm Zone drop-in centre in Abbotsford provides food, shower facilities, support workers and other services to women on the street. They also provide counselling and support groups for women and children.
A local Langley non-profit, Ten Thousand Villages, won one of the seven awards. They were recognized in the Marketing category for their outreach to culturally diverse communities.
Ten Thousand Villages creates opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income through long-term, fair trading relationships. Ten Thousand Villages buys products from close to 100 artisan groups in more than 30 countries and is a non-profit program of Mennonite Central Committee.
Ten Thousand Villages markets themselves in the community by creating an open welcoming space for people of all groups. They give opportunity for people in the community to make a difference on a global scale by helping to support the livelihoods of those who would otherwise have very little options in their life.
Chilliwack organizations or individuals won two of the seven awards. The Domestic Violence team at the Chilliwack Crown Counsel Office was recognized for their work in implementing inclusive policies and actively reaching out to victims of crime. In particular, their office reaches out to Indigenous women; a group which has disproportionately high representation as victims within the criminal justice system. Their office meets with Indigenous women in their community if they are unable to come to the Chilliwack office.
The Little Heroes Hockey Academy also received an award for their innovative initiative in creating an opportunity for children with developmental delays to participate in ice hockey. Since opening in 2017, children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other developmental delays have been able to participate in a sport they would normally be excluded from. “We only see abilities” is the mantra they live by, and the children have proven that to be undoubtedly true. The friendships that have been created through the program are as unique and special, as they are rare for most of these kids.
2018 RECIPIENTS:
• Inclusive Environment (small-medium organizations) – Chilliwack Crown Counsel Office, Domestic Violence Team (Chilliwack)
• Inclusive Environment (large organizations) – SARA for Women (Mission)
• Marketing – Ten Thousand Villages (Langley)
• Innovative Initiative – Little Heroes Hockey Academy (Chilliwack) & Robert Bateman Secondary – Art Activism Class (Abbotsford)
• Effective Human Resources Strategies – Shoppers Drug Mart #2290, Abbotsford
• Champion of Diversity – Michael Adkins (Abbotsford)
VIDEO: The classic art of bell ringing
VIDEO: BC Sportsmen’s Show in Abbotsford
Stacked townhouse project gets approval despite traffic concerns
Neighbours say project will increase traffic and problems turning out of seniors’ complex
Fraser Valley pride celebration includes dance and festival
Events held in Abbotsford on July 19 and 20
Free summer concert series celebrates Fraser Valley indie music
Two more performances left in Jam in Jubilee in Abbotsford
Explore Abbotsford News
Abbotsford Weather
Abbotsford Classifieds
Abbotsford Car Dealerships
© 2019, Abbotsford News and Black Press Group Ltd.
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Home Music Kenny Chesney: Songs for the Saints
New Price: $10.49
Old Price: $10.49
(as of 07/16/2019 05:28 UTC - Details)
Users Opinions:
Truly the Don McLean poet of the Virgin Islands. Genius. Best album since Songs from an Old Blue Chair. All proceeds go to rebuilding the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands ravaged by hurricane Irma. Escapism is personified in Kenny Chesney. My respect for him as an artist grows more and more.
This is the perfect summer relaxation album. Such a refreshing and different genre of songwriting. I implore all fans in the No Shoes Nation to get this. Every song is intriguing and satisfying.
Do yourself a favor and get this and enjoy relaxation art and escapism at its best. Kudos to Kenny in his latest landmark endeavor!! Robinson Crusoe tunes on a beautiful summer day.
I love every song on this new album by Kenny Chesney. The title track is the best. It is a song that makes me feel empowered I am not a religious person but is great to know there are people out there looking out for me.
I love the duet “Love For Love City” with Ziggy Marley. It is always enjoyable when two singers for different genres of music collaborate. “Love For Love City” is” truly a song about peace.
“Get Along” is another song that promotes peace. I never get tired of songs that make me feel better. “Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season” is an interesting song title. This song is about the need to get away from it all after a stressful hurricane season. It has been years since I have heard Jimmy Buffett sing anything new, and he sounds great.
I really relate to the lyrics of the song “Better Boat” because I understand the loneliness and frustration of being single. The song “Island Rain” is beautifully poetic. Kenny Chesney makes me believe that rain can wash away my pain and worry even though it is just temporary.
Kenny creates a sense of adventure and romance with the tunes “Gulf Moon” and “Ends of The Earth”. “Every Heart” is another gem of a song. Kenny reminds me that everyone is trying to survive in this world with the song “Every Heart”. This is Kenny Chesney’s best album to date because the songs are lyrically and melodically beautiful.
In every artist’s career, certain albums stand out as a significant piece of their soul. For Kenny Chesney, Songs for the Saints is that album. Co-produced with Buddy Cannon, the 12 tracks mark a deep dive into “the places that save you.”
So much has happened since I went off the road in 2016,” Chesney explains. “And all of it, in one way or another, has ended up on this record. It’s special to me because of what it says – to me, and for me – about life, the world around us, how fragile it all can be and about somehow still finding the best parts of you, and moving towards them.”
Due July 27, Songs for the Saints marks the 8-time Entertainer of the Year’s first album on Blue Chair/Warner Bros. Nashville. In many ways, this new home for his work mirrors the things that inspired this album.“Leaving a place where I’d spent my whole career was both scary and exciting,” Chesney concedes.
“There’s that rush of not knowing anything about how this company works and digging in. But there’s also a special thrill of being around people who truly understand what you’re doing and who are excited to be part of this music. It’s inspiring in all new ways when you have people match your own passion for the music.”
Recorded over the last several months, Chesney had a notion about what his record was going to be long before it galvanized into songs for the Saints.
“I was at a turning point in my life on so many levels, and then Hurricane Irma hit the Virgin Islands.”
But this album isn’t about St. John, so much as it’s about what happened to. John and all those islands you didn’t see on the news,” continues the man called “The People’s Superstar” by The Los Angeles Times.“To just see the devastation and what that does to people is one thing, but then there’s this courage and resilience people find…”
This is not a literal record,” he cautions, “but it is an album about the refuges we all have, how temporary life is and the way we navigate to better places, dig in and face the destruction.
Kenny ChesneyKenny Chesney AlbumsKenny Chesney ChordsKenny Chesney ConcertKenny Chesney Concert TicketsKenny Chesney Early SongsKenny Chesney ImagesKenny Chesney InterviewKenny Chesney LyricsKenny Chesney SongsKenny Chesney TicketsKenny Chesney Top SongsKenny Chesney Wiki
Halestorm New Album: Vicious – Just Released
Drake: Scorpion – Album Review
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Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice
Effects of the topical hemostatic agent Ankaferd Blood Stopper on the incidence of alveolar osteitis after surgical removal of an impacted mandibular third molar
M Tek, I Akkas, O Toptas, F Ozan, I Sener, C Bereket
Background: Alveolar osteitis (AO) is a commonly seen post‑operative complication during the wound‑healing period after permanent tooth extraction or surgical removal of impacted third molar teeth.
Objectives: The aim of this clinical study was to evaluate the effects of administration of the topical hemostatic agent Ankaferd Blood Stopper (ABS) into the socket on AO formation after impacted mandibular third molar extraction.
Patients and Methods: Bilaterally, 100 half‑impacted mandibular third molars were extracted in 50 patients. Then, 1.0 mL ABS was administered to achieve hemostasis in one half of the sockets and as a control, the other half was irrigated with 1.0 mL physiological serum after surgery.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference in terms of AO formation (P > 0.05) between the extraction sites. However, the postoperative pain in ABS administration sites was higher than in the other sites for the first 2 days after surgery (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: The results showed that ABS administration did not increase the incidence of AO formation. Thus, ABS can be used safely for hemostasis after impacted mandibular third molar surgery.
Key words: Alveolar osteitis, Ankaferd Blood Stopper, hemostasis, third molar
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1119-3077.122847
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World of Tanks/
Uljanov:eu
image:Tiger-1.jpg{{!}}Tiger, map Airfield image:Tiger-1.jpg{{!}}Tiger, map Airfield
image:Tiger-2.jpg{{!}}Tiger, map Ensk image:Tiger-2.jpg{{!}}Tiger, map Ensk
+ image:Tiger-1a.jpg{{!}}Tiger, map Karelia
|History= |History=
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nation | class | tier
Battle Tier
Mouse over "
Well, the ones further down, of course.
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[Client Values; Actual values in
Specifically, the mismatch in crew values caused by commander's 10% crew skill bonus. Outside of a crew of 1 commander only, 100% crew is a fiction. The client values, given for 100% crew, will normally be taken into battle with 110% crew skill members aside from specific functions, causing their actual performance to deviate from the expected client value. These differences are taken into account in tooltip boxes.
0 Cost
health Hit Points
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engine Engine Power
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Shell Cost
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Magazine-fed Gun
Burst Length: Unable to match configuration for query: gun:pzvi::stock|burstcount rounds
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Cycle Time: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. s
Magazine Reload Times
Nominal: Unable to match configuration for query: gun:pzvi::stock|reloadtime s
50% Crew: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. s
100% Crew: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. s
With Vents: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. s
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Rate of Fire
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Theoretical Damage Per Minute
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100% Crew: Expression error: Unrecognized word "unable".
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Advantageous Damage Per Minute
Loaded-mag DPM: Expression error: Unrecognized word "unable".
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Damage Per Minute
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For more details, see Crew
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With both and GLD: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. s
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For more details, see Crew or Equipment
Aim time
Unable to match configuration for query: turret:pzvi::stock|turrettraverseUnable to match configuration for query: turret:pzvi::top|turrettraverse deg/s Turret Traverse
gunTraverseArc Gun Arc
-°/+°-Unable to match configuration for query: gun:pzvi::top|depression°/+Unable to match configuration for query: gun:pzvi::top|elevation° Elevation Arc
Unable to match configuration for query: gun:pzvi::stock|maxammoUnable to match configuration for query: gun:pzvi::top|maxammo rounds Ammo Capacity
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Unable to match configuration for query: turret:pzvi::stock|viewrange m
With Recon and Situational Awareness: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. m
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With Binocular Telescope: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. m
For more details, see Skills or Equipment
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With 100% Signal Boost: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. m
When affected by 100% Relaying: Expression error: Unexpected < operator. m
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Signal Range
Values are Stock - click for TopValues are Top - click for Stock
The <value_unset_error> is a [[|]] tier .
This was the first German heavy tank in WWII and proved itself to be extremely formidable against the Allied forces, composed primarily of M4 Shermans and T-34s. In the game you'll face much higher tier opponents. This tank was designed as a sniper. Keep that in mind and make use of its great rate of fire and renowned German-engineered accuracy. Spot your enemy, avoid close combat, hit your target, relocate, and hit them again. Snipe the enemy and support your team.
The <value_unset_error> marks the end of its line.
Modules / Available Equipment and Consumables
(rounds/minute)
(m/100m)
Aiming time
<value_unset_error> 0 0 0 0
Chance of Fire on Impact
<value_unset_error> 0 0
Load Limit
(т)
Traverse Speed
(gr/sec)
Rmin
<value_unset_error> 0
Compatible Equipment
Compatible Consumables
Player Opinion
Accurate 8.8cm gun
Fast reload
Ability to pivot in place
Great tank to sidescrape with
Excellent power/weight ratio due to the powerful engine and low weight, but this is nullified somewhat by the low top speed
Armor is thin and unsloped
Ammo rack gets hit a lot
The crew gets hit often
Engine is vulnerable to frontal hits
Penetrable even through the gun mantlet
Many German tanks are great snipers, and the Tiger is no exception. Its best gun, the 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71, is extremely accurate(0.34), inflicts good damage, and has excellent penetration (although still not enough to penetrate the T29's turret). Even if Panthers take up good positions on the other side of the map, Tigers can shoot back at them with equal ease. Let your allies spot the enemies for you to snipe. That way you can stay at a distance, using bushes if possible, and with your superior accuracy and armor penetration you'll soon whittle them down. This gun is formidable even in the tier 8 arena, and will have no problem penetrating even tier 8 heavies from the front.
The Tiger has great acceleration when equipped with the top tracks and engine, a fantastic radio range, and a reasonable turret traverse. When not moving, the Tiger can turn on a dime, and can do it very quickly. The long 8,8 has phenomenal accuracy and a good rate of fire and although it doesn't have the largest damage, its high penetration means most of the damage rolls are quite consistently above the 200 mark, making this gun very dangerous.
Compared to its other tier 7 counterparts, the Tiger has the weakest armor of its tier, only comparable to the AMX M4(1945). Be sure to use angles to help deflect incoming shells to keep your Tiger in the fight longer. This tank has excellent flat sides, and can sidescrape very well. Find a corner or a piece of cover that can protect your weak frontal armor and reverse out of cover until you can shoot. After firing, pop back in again. Brawling is strictly ill-advised as the Tiger's frontal armor can be penetrated by almost every other tier 7 heavy tank. Moreover, the lower glacis of a Tiger is extraordinarily vulnerable and one can easily be set on fire when hit there. Even if it is at the top of the tier, caution is still advised. However, don't be afraid to take a few shots; your Hit Point levels are very high for the tier and allow you to play your DPM against the enemy's when able.
In short - this tank is a complete gem to players who like a cautious, supportive play style and should be played as such. However, many players run through this tank to get to the Tiger II without proper knowledge and experience, and these players tend to give this tank a bad reputation. Make no mistake, the Tiger (H) is a formidable tank once the player works out the unique style of the tank.
Early Research
If you unlock the Tiger via the VK 3601 (H), then you'll already have the Maybach HL 230 P 45, FuG 12, and 8,8 cm KwK 36 L/56 researched and you can install them immediately.
From there the turret is a great next step, and you can take your pick from there.
Suggested Equipment
Tiger front left view
Tiger front right view
Tiger back left view
Tiger back right view
Tiger, map Airfield
Tiger, map Ensk
Tiger, map Karelia
The Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.E (Tiger I)
German Doctrine - defining the basis for the heavy tank concept.
German doctrine before World War II didn't clearly specify the parameters used to define a light, medium, or heavy tank. This lack of an exact definition of the role of each tank-type was a result of the inherent qualities of the tank as a weapons system operating in a combined arms force, and as such, its potential were not fully understood at the time. The same conceptual lack of a clear definition of the three generic tank-types also existed in the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union. What existed was a somewhat loose classification based on the weight of the tank and the doctrinal missions of each type.
In face of that, what was generally accepted was that the light tank was to be employed in reconnaissance missions, which demanded great mobility but didn't require much armor protection or great lethality. The medium tank was to be used in exploitation or pursuit missions, requiring a different mix of mobility, armor protection, and firepower. To fulfill these requirements, medium tanks had to be fast and have a greater level of mechanical reliability, since those tanks needed to be able of conducting fast maneuvers necessary to exploitation or pursuit missions.
Under this classification, heavy tanks were to act as support for the infantry and artillery, but the main purpose of the heavy tank was to penetrate the enemy's defenses, thus allowing the medium tanks to exploit the breakthrough. However, that classification also implied the assumption that the light and medium tanks could, to an extent, perform each other's missions. This was not possible for heavy tanks, as they wouldn't have the same degree of speed and the operational range of the other two types because of the greater weight, consequence(s) of the heavier weapons, and high degree of armor protection required for these tanks.
In 1937, Guderian described the operational principles and tactics that would shape German thinking on how to employ armored formations in a future war. The mission of the heavy tank within this concept was to effect a breakthrough, and its first objective was to engage and destroy the enemy's anti-tank guns in the defensive line. The next objective of the heavy tanks was to destroy the enemy artillery, but Guderian correctly anticipated that the penetration of the defensive lines would force the enemy to throw his armor reserves in a counter-attack. About the importance of defeating this counter-attack, Guderian emphasized that the greatest enemy of the tank is another tank, and that because of that, the armored forces had to be capable of defeating this counterattack, or the breakthrough would fail.
The German doctrine of that time focused mainly on the offensive. Naturally, when the tide turned against Germany, the doctrinal recommendation was that the armor formations would be kept back, and ready to counter-attack any breakthrough of the German defense lines. Consequently, the doctrinal mission of the Tiger was first and foremost, whether in the offense or in the defense, to kill the enemy's tanks. Understanding this way of thinking is fundamental to comprehend why the Tiger was developed and employed the way it was.
Development of the Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.E
Despite the decision to mass produce the Pz.Kpfw.III and IV, and the far certainty (at the time) that these two models would be adequate for the expected battles of the future, the German general staff also called for an even heavier tank in 1937. This was to be of 29.53 tons (30,000 kg) or more and was to be a heavy "breakthrough" tank to lead the armored assaults. The design lapsed until 1941, by when it was realized that the Pz.Kpfw.III and IV had been less successful than had been expected against the heavily-armored French and British tanks in 1940. This view was fully endorsed when the Soviet T-34s and KV-1s were met later in 1941, and resulted in a specification for a heavy tank capable of mounting the highly successful 88 mm high-velocity gun in a turret with full traverse and carrying sufficient armor to defeat all present and future anti-tank weapons. Two firms submitted prototypes, using some of the developments from the 1937 ideas. These were Porsche and Henschel. The turret was common to both and came from Krupp.
It is interesting to add, at this point, that Hitler had demonstrated great interest in the Rheinmetall 88mm Flak 41 as the main gun of the Tiger I. This was an indigestable proposition for Krupp, which designed and built the Tiger I turret, to have to mount, in their turret, a gun developed by their arch-rival. In the end, events unfolded in such a way that the main gun of the Tiger I would be the 88mm KwK 36 L/56, as Porsche never asked Krupp for a turret with 200 cm of diameter (necessary to mount the 88mm Flak 41 on it), but ordered the production of 6 turrets with a 190 cm diameter, to mount the 88mm KwK 36 L/56. After the turrets production started, it was impossible to mount the 88mm Flak 41 on the Tiger I turrets.
The official WaPrüf 6 designation to the Porsche prototype from 5 March 1942 was PzKpfw VI (VK 45.01 P) (Ausfürung P). The Inspekteur der Panzertruppen (In6) designation, specified for use in training, maintenance manuals, and in organization tables, was Panzerkampfwagen VI P (88 mm) (SdKfz 181) Ausfürung P. Suggested names were 'Tiger (P)', 'Tiger P1' or 'Porsche Tiger'. The Henschel prototype received the designation VK 45.01 (H). This Henschel model came into being as a rush job, quickly assembled from a mixture of components available from previous heavy panzer designs. Henschel was not originally involved in the 45 metric ton heavy-tanks project, as they had been tasked with the development of a 36 metric ton medium tank with 80 mm front armor, the designation of which was Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausfürung B (VK 36.01). To meet the demand that the production program was to start in 1942, the VK 45.01(H) was quickly created by redesigning the VK 36.01. A new feature was the Vorpanzer (frontal shield), which could be lowered to protect the track and drive sprockets. However, this feature was quickly dropped, having only been fitted on this Versuchsserie Tiger Nr. 'V1'.
After tests conducted on 20 April 1942, the Henschel prototype was chosen for series production. The decision was based on a maneuverability test, and on the fact that the Henschel prototype was more conventional: cheaper and easier to produce than the extravagant Porsche design. At the time of its introduction, and for some time afterwards, the Tiger was the most powerful tank in the world. The 88 mm gun, which had 92 rounds of ammunition, was enormously formidable, and the armor ensured that any frontal shot could not penetrate. So effective was it that the Allies had to develop special tactics to deal with it. Production began slowly in August 1942.
Official Designation
Thomas L. Jentz, in "Germany's Tiger Tanks: Vol.1 - D.W. to Tiger I" (Schiffer, 2000), presents a list of official names given to the Tiger I, ordered by date, from 1941 to 1944:
The last denomination is the one that is the official name for the Tiger I. So, it is either Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.E (Sd.Kfz.181), - Sd.Kfz. is the abbreviation for Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Special Purpose Vehicle, or Special Ordnance Vehicle, a classification used, beside other vehicles, for the Panzers), or Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.E, and thats the official designation until the end of the war.
Walter J. Spielberger, in "Tigers I and II and their Variants" (Schiffer, 2007), cites a Führer's order, dated February 27, 1944, which abolished the designation "Panzerkampfwagen VI" and ratified the name Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.E as the official designation.
Armor Protection
The hull of the Tiger was a comparatively simple welded unit with a one-piece superstructure welded on top. At the front it was 100 mm, around the sides 80 mm, and 26 mm on the top. To assist production, all shapes were kept simple. The turret was also simple, and the sides were almost upright. It remains a curious fact why Henschel's engineers came up with what was essentially a square box for the Tiger's hull. The only steeply-sloping element on the Tiger was the short glacis plate, forward of the hull upper front plate with its ball-mounted machine gun and driver's vision slots, which was set at 81 degrees to the vertical. However, the vertical plating was massive enough to withstand virtually everything. The mantlet was very heavy, with 120 mm of armor, and carried the long and heavy gun. Below, the armor tables for the Tiger I:
According to Jentz (JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics; op. cit.), "The Tiger's armor was invulnerable to attack from most tank guns firing normal armor-piercing shells or shot at ranges over 800 meters, including the American 75 mm and the Russian 76 mm. It is obvious that the 17-pdr., firing normal APCBC rounds, could defeat the frontal armor of the Tiger I at most combat ranges in tank vs. tank actions in Europe. However, by 23 June 1944, only 109 Shermans with 17-pdrs. had landed in France, along with six replacements. By the end of the war, on 5 May 1945, the British 21st Army Group possessed 1,235 Sherman tanks with 17-pdrs., while the remaining 1,915 Sherman tanks were all equipped with the 75 mm M3 gun". Below, three more tables from the same source (JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics; op. cit.), that show clearly the tactical superiority the Tiger I had over its contemporary adversaries:
With the exception of British guns, the data on the penetration tables above were extracted from a "Wa Prüf 1" report dated 5th October 1944, which relate the relative ability of the major opponents to penetrate the Tiger and vice versa. Data on British gun capabilities were extracted from British penetration test reports. The penetration ranges in the tables were determined for conditions in which the tanks stood at a side angle of 30 degrees of the incoming round. These tables should be used only for comparison of the relative vulnerability of the opponent's tanks. The data are not to be misconstructed as the absolute ranges at which the armor could be penetrated. There was a fairly large variance in both the protection offered by the same thickness of different armor plates and thickness penetrated by the same type of armor-piercing projectiles. Also, the ranges shown in tables above "are all approximations based on calculations using estimates of the capabilities of American and Russian guns and penetration numbers derived from German guns firing against German armor plate."
The armor of the Tiger I was not well sloped, but it was thick. Here is where many fail to understand that, in terms of World War II tank warfare, thickness was a quality in itself, since armor resistance is mainly determined by the ratio between armor thickness and projectile diameter (T/d). The T/d relationship regarding armor penetration demonstrates that the more the thickness of the armor plate overmatches the diameter of any incoming armor piercing round, the harder it is for the projectile to achieve a penetration. On the other side, the greater the diameter of the incoming projectile relative to the thickness of the armor plate which it strikes, the greater the probability of penetration. This explains why the side armor of the Tiger I, being 80 mm thick, was so difficult to be penetrated at combat ranges by most Allied anti-tank and tank guns, whose calibers were overmatched by the thickness of the Tiger I armor.
The rolled homogeneous nickel-steel plate and electro-welded interlocking-plate construction armor had a Brinell hardness index of around 255-280 (the best homogeneous-armor hardness level for the corresponding thickness level of the Tiger's armor, by WW II standards), and rigorous quality control procedures ensured that it stayed that way. About this issue, and according to Thomas L. Jentz, "there is no proof that substandard german armor plate was used during the last years of the war. All original documents confirm compliance with standard specifications throughout the war" (JENTZ, Thomas L. Germany's TIGER Tanks, VK45.02 to Tiger II: Design, Production & Modifications).
Moreover, in the same reference book, Jentz presents the data from a British testing of the Tiger's armor protection by firing different guns against it. The tests were realized in a place beside the the main road from Beja to Sidi N'sir in Tunisia, on May 19, 1943. The reports from these tests stated that the resistance of the Tiger's armor was "considerably higher than that of the British machineable quality armor. The side armor, with a thickness of 82 mm (nominal thickness was 80 mm) had a resistance equivalent of 92 mm of British armor" (Jentz, op cit, page 15). However, a little further, when addressing directly the issue of the Tiger's armor quality, the report states that "The armor plates (with exception of the hull roof plates) did not show any marked tendency to brittleness, and their behavior generally was not unlike British mechineable plates. The following table gives a list of Poldi hardness, corrected to Brinell figures, taken at the surface of the armor".
The Tiger, as a result of its intrinsic doctrinal mission, that is, to effect a breakthrough and to support medium tanks during the breakthrough by destroying enemy tanks, was (production-wise) a very expensive and resource-consuming tank. The nominal cost of a Tiger was 250,800 Reichsmarks. In contrast, a PzKpfw III Ausf. M cost RM 103,163, a PzKpfw IV Ausf. G RM 115,962, and a PzKpfw V Panther RM 117,100: all these figures are exclusive of weapons and radios. However, the final cost of the Tiger's production was even higher: around 300,000 Reichsmarks.
Christopher W. Wilbeck, in "Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Heavy Tank Battalions in World War II", citing the Tigerfibel (the Tiger's manual), states that the final cost of the Tiger's production was much higher - 800,000 Reichsmarks, and 300,000 man-hours were required to produce one single Tiger. The Tigerfibel, in view of making those numbers more personal to the Tiger crewmen, stated that it was required one week of hard work from 6,000 people to produce one Tiger. It also stated that the 800,000 Reichsmarks figure was equivalent to the weekly wages for 30,000 people.
As an added benefit, due to its resilience, when a Tiger was damaged and was subsequently destroyed by its crew, the crew frequently managed to escape capture and return to their unit, and this helped to create experienced crews. This benefit oviously came at a cost in other aspects, however.
Another fact that helped the Tigers a lot was the "shatter gap" effect which affected allied ammunition, a most unusual situation where rounds with too-high an impact velocity would sometimes fail, even though their penetration capability was (theoretically) more than adequate. This phenomenon plagued the British 2 pounder in the desert, and would have decreased the effectiveness of U.S. 76mm and 3" guns against Tigers, Panthers, and other vehicles with armor thickness above 70 mm. It should be noted that the problems with the 76 mm and 3" guns did not necessarily involve the weapons themselves: the noses of US armor-piercing ammunition of the time turned out to be excessively soft. When these projectiles impacted armor which matched or exceeded the projectile diameter at a certain spread of velocities, the projectile would shatter and fail.
Penetrations would occur below this velocity range, since the shell would not shatter, and strikes above this range would propel the shell through the armor whether it shattered or not. When striking a Tiger I driver's plate, for example, this "shatter gap" for a 76mm APCBC M62 shell would cause failures between 50 meters and 900 meters. These ammunition deficiencies proved that Ordnance tests claiming the 76 mm gun could penetrate a Tiger I's upper front hull to 2,000 yards (1,800 meters) were sadly incorrect.
As a general rule, BHN (Brinell Hardness Index) effects shot shatter, and obliquity effects are related to the ratio between shot diameter and plate thickness. The relationship is complex, but a larger projectile hitting relatively thinner plate will usually have the advantage. There is an optimum BHN level for every shot vs plate confrontation, usually in the 260-300 BHN range for World War Two situations. Below that, the armor is too soft and resists poorly, above that, the armor is too hard and therefore too brittle.
The 13.(Tiger) Kompanie, of Panzer Regiment Großdeutschland, reported on the armor protection of the Tiger: "During a scouting patrol, two Tigers encountered about 20 Russian tanks on their front, while additional Russian tanks attacked from behind. A battle developed in which the armor and weapons of the Tiger were extraordinarily successful. Both Tigers were hit (mainly by 76.2 mm armor-piercing shells) 10 or more times at ranges from 500 to 1,000 meters. The armor held up all around. Not a single round penetrated through the armor. Also, hits in the running gear, in which the suspension arms were torn away, did not immobilize the Tiger. While 76.2 mm anti-tank shells continuously struck outside the armor, on the inside undisturbed, the commander, gunner, and loader selected targets, aimed, and fired. The end result was 10 enemy tanks knocked out by two Tigers within 15 minutes"
All this considered, and analyzing the tables above, it stands clear that "based on opposing ranges, without considering other factors, the Tiger I had only been outclassed by the Russian Josef Stalin heavy tank with the 122 mm gun" (Again, JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics; op. cit.).
It was said that it took at least five American M4 Sherman medium tanks to knock out a cornered Tiger. Whether it is fact or hearsay was not confirmed. However, its interesting to note that according to the kill/losses achived by the Tiger battalions, the overall ratio was 5.74 to 1 (WILBECK, Christopher W., op cit).
When speaking about opposing ranges, it becomes necessary to take a look at another essential Tiger I feature: the KwK 36 L/56 8.8 cm gun.
The 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56 was an adaptation of the famous 8.8 cm Flak 36, which was a development of the Flugzeugabwehrkanone Model 18 (Flak 18). In informal German use, this gun was universally known as the Acht-acht, a contraction of Acht-komma-acht Zentimeter (8.8 cm = 88 mm), and was first used in combat by the Condor Legion, in Spain, where it earned the reputation of being an excellent anti-aircraft gun as well as a tank killer. This capacity would be confirmed during the French campaign in 1940, and most spectacularly in the hands of Rommel's Afrika Korps in North Africa. The Flak 36 was essentially a Flak 18 mounted in three sections, making it possible to change the part of the barrel that suffered the most attrition from the high-velocity rounds. By the time the Wehrmacht was heavily committed in Russia, it proved to be the only gun in the German inventory able to destroy the new T-34 and KV-2 Russian tanks at longer ranges.
In 1938, the 8.8 cm Flak 18 was considered for firing against ground targets, specifically armored/concrete pillboxes and enclosures, and the armor piercing ammunition that would be in service from this time onwards consisted of the 8.8 cm Panzergranate weighing around 9.5 kg with armor piercing cap and ballistic cap with a high explosive filler of 160 grams. Muzzle velocity is listed as 810 m/s from the L/56 barrel of the Flak 18 and Flak 36/37. During early 1942, the penetration ability was improved with the introduction of the Pzgr.39 of 10.2 kg weight with a reduced HE filler of 59 grams. Muzzle velocity was 800 m/s. The early Blitzkrieg up to early 1942 saw the use of the large capacity Pzgr. with penetration at less than 100 mm at 30 degrees. The 88 mm Flak APCBC round, which fought the KV and T34 tanks during 1941 and early 1942, was less effective than the round fired by the Tiger's 88 mm KwK 36 L/56. Even the later 88 mm Flak round, with a large capacity high explosive filler (and 9.54 kg weight), penetrated from 8% to 23% less than the 88 mm KwK 36 L/56 APCBC round.
In May 1941, the German general staff demanded a new Kampfwagen Kanone (Tank Gun) specification for the Tiger; it had to be capable of penetrating 140 mm thick armor at a range of 1,000 meters, without specifying that the caliber had to be 88mm. This specification was a direct consequence of Hitler's directive dated 26 May 1941, which stated that if the same penetration capability could be achieved by a gun of smaller caliber than 88mm, then preference should be given to the smaller caliber gun, based on the increased ammunition load and the lower turret weight. However, the same directive stated that the chosen caliber must be adequate to engaging tanks, ground targets, and bunkers. This resulted in Rheinmetall receiving a contract in mid-July 1941, to design a turret with a gun that fulfilled those requirements. The first gun designed by Rheinmetall, the 75mm KwK L/60, barely met the requirements: being able to achieve a penetration of 100mm of armor inclined at 30 degrees at a range of 1400 meters.
In face of that, Rheinmetall, in order to to ensure that the penetration specificaton was met, developed a longer gun, the 75mm KwK 42 L/70, to be fitted in a new turret designed around this new gun. By July 1 1942, long range plans under Hitler Panzerprogramm II established that the first 100 production series tanks would mount the 88mm KwK 36 L/56 in the Krupp turret. From the 101st tank on in February 1943, production should be shifted to the Rheinmetall turret with the 75mm KwK 42 L/70. This was to be the famous gun that would be mounted on the PzKpfw. V Panther.
However, at a Panzerkomission meeting on 14 July 1942, the subject of Tiger armament was discussed again, and it was verified that the ability to penetrate 100mm of armor, under the required conditions, was also achieved by the 88mm KwK 36 L/56, therefore conversion to the 75mm KwK 42 L/70 was no longer necessary, and conversion to the 88mm KwK L/71 would ocurr at the end of the same year. This decision resulted in the entire production run of Tigers being outfitted with turrets mounting the 88mm KwK 36 L/56. As a matter of fact, this increase in the penetration abilities of the 88mm KwK 36 L/56 resulted exclusively from changes to the design of the armor piercing (APCBC) ammunition. Greater armor penetration was achieved by decreasing the size of the explosive filler cavity inside the shell, which also increased the weight to 10.2 kilograms (JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics; op. cit.).
Behind the decision to retain the the 88 mm KwK 36 L/56 as the main gun of the Tiger I instead of the Rheinmetall 75 mm KwK 42 L/70, was the fact that at that time, armor penetration was mainly a function of thickness to diameter (T/d) ratio. During World War II, the Armor Piercing (AP) round relied on its own weight (and a 88 mm KwK 36 L/56 gun APCBC shell weighed 10.2 kilograms, as opposed by an 75 mm KwK 42 L/70 gun APCBC shell, which weighed 6.8 kilograms) to penetrate the enemy's armor. Theoretically, the higher the muzzle velocity, the more penetration any kind of AP round would have, all other variables remaining constant. In real World War Two tank combat, however, other important variables intervened, such as the thickness to diameter (T/d) coefficient, which means that the bigger the diameter of any given round relative to the thickness of the armor it is going to strike, the better the probability of achieving a penetration. Furthermore, if the diameter of the armor piercing round overmatches the thickness of the armor plate, the protection given by the inclination of the armor plate diminishes proportionally to the increase in the overmatch of the armor piercing round diameter or, in other words, to the increase in this T/d overmatch. So, when a Tiger hit a T-34, the 88 mm diameter of the Tiger's round overmatched the 45 mm glacis plate of the T-34 by so much that it made no difference that the Russian tank's glacis was inclined at an angle of 60 degrees from vertical.
For those facts, the 88mm KwK 36 L/56 was a better choice for a breakthrough tank such as the Tiger, according to German doctrine, as stated in the Manual for Combat and Combat Employment of Smaller Units: "The heavy tank forms the core of the spearhead and their main objective is the enemy tanks and antitank guns that can be eliminated only by using the greater range and larger caliber gun of those tanks. The mission of the first wave is to penetrate into the enemy lines as deeply as possible while the second wave enlarges the penetration, never losing sight of the first wave in order to provide fire protection to that wave" (Source: WILBECK, Christopher W., Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Heavy Tank Battalions in World War II).
And more: "Armor obliquity-effects decrease as the shot diameter overmatches plate thickness, in part because there is a smaller cylindrical surface area of the displaced slug of armor which can cling to the surrounding plate. If the volume which the shot displaces has lots of area to cling to on the parent plate, it resists penetration better than if that same volume is spread out into a disc with a relatively small area where it joins the undisturbed armor. A plate greatly-overmatching shot involves the projectile digging its own tunnel, as it were, through the thick interior of the plate. It was found experimentally that the regions in the center of the plate produced the bulk of the resistance to penetration, while the outer regions, near front and rear surfaces, presented minimal resistance because they are unsupported. Thus, an overmatched plate will be forced to rely on tensile stresses within the displaced disc, and will tend to break out in front of the attacking projectile, regardless of whether the edges cling to the parent material or not. Plate-obliquity works in defeating projectiles partly because it turns and deflects the projectile before it begins digging in. If there is insufficient material where the side of the nose contacts the plate, stresses will travel all the way through the plate and break out the unsupported back surface. The plate will fail instantaneously, rather than gradually".
"You can angle the armor any way you want, and beyond a certain point of a shot overmatching the plate, the obliquity will cease to be relevant. In fact, at certain conditions of shots overmatching the plate, the cosine rule is broken and the plate resists less-well than the simple cosine relationship would predict (LOS thickness is greater than effective thickness). The above only applies to WWII era AP and APC/APCBC, and WWII sub-caliber ammunition. The long-rod penetrators of today are greatly overmatched, but they bring so much energy to the plate that they penetrate by "ablation": in which both projectile and armor behave like fluids. Hollow charge also enters the field of fluid dynamics, with a very thin jet penetrating overmatching armor with ease, regardless of obliquity" (Robert Livingston; excerpts of a response to a question posted on the old "Tanker's Forum (Heavy Metal Website)", back in 1998).
The 13.(Tiger) Kompanie, of Panzer Regiment Großdeutschland, reported on the performance of the 88 mm KwK 36 L/56, when their Tigers engaged the T-34: "First round hits were usually achieved at ranges between 800 to 1,000 meters. At these ranges, the Panzer Granate (they are referring to the PzGr. 39 APCBC ammunition) absolutely penetrated through the frontal armor, and usually still destroyed the engine at the rear of the T-34 tank. In 80 percent of the cases, shots from the same range hitting the side of the hull toward the rear of the tank resulted in the fuel tanks exploding. Even at ranges of 1,500 meters and longer, during favorable weather, it is possible to succeed in penetrating the T-34 with minimal expenditure of ammunition" (JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics; op. cit.). Many more reports like this one attest to the precedent arguments on the superior performance of the 88 mm KwK 36 L/56 gun. Tiger I, firing at long range.
The Tiger I, with its 88 KwK 36 L/56 gun, coupled with superior optics, could accurately hit targets at ranges the enemy could not even aim at.
Accuracy and Penetration Tables for the 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56.
The 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56 was a very accurate gun capable of first-round hits at over 1,000 meters: the Tiger I actually started first-round killing at 1,200 meters, under combat conditions. Considering that the Tiger I was nearly impervious to penetration by most tank and anti-tank guns at normal combat ranges (+/- 800 meters), these were the two main assets (Firepower + Armor Protection) that made it possible for the Tiger I to virtually dominate the battlefield. The long and powerful 88 mm KwK 36 L/56 could out-range and out-shoot nearly all Allied tanks, and this allowed the Tiger I to stand off and engage targets as it chose.
On 21 July 1943, General der Panzertruppe Breith, commander of the III.Panzer - Korps, issued the following directive: "Based on experience in recent battles, I issue the following instructions for the cooperation of Tigers with other weapons: As a result of its high performance weapon and strong armor, the Tiger should be used primarily against enemy tanks and anti-tank weapons and secondarily, and then only as a complete exception, against infantry units. As experience has shown, its weapons allow the Tiger to fight enemy tanks at ranges of 2,000 meters and longer, which has especially worked on the morale of the opponent. As a result of the strong armor, it is possible to close to short range with the enemy tanks without being seriously damaged by the hits. Still, the Tiger should attempt to start engaging enemy tanks at ranges over 1,000 meters".
According to Jentz (JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics; op. cit.): "These accuracy tables are based on the assumptions that the actual range to the target has been correctly determined and that the distribution of hits is centered on the aiming point. The first column shows the accuracy obtained during controlled test firing to determine the pattern of dispersion. The figures in the second column include the variation expected during practice firing due to differences between guns, ammunition, and gunners. These accuracy tables do not reflect the actual probability of hitting a target under battlefield conditions. Due to errors in estimating the range and many other factors, the probability of a first hit was much lower than shown in these tables. However, the average, calm gunner, after sensing the tracer from the first round, could achieve the accuracy shown in the second column".
Please note that 88 mm KwK 36 L/56 means: The diameter of the bore (caliber) of this gun is 88 mm, this is a Tank Gun (Kampfwagenkanone), that the year the development of this gun was finalized was 1936, and that the length of the gun equals 56 times the diameter of the bore (caliber) of the same gun. This measurement was done from the rear face of the breech to the end of the muzzle, not counting the muzzle brake. This was the main gun installed on the Tiger I.
As far as the Tiger I is concerned, the two main types of armor piercing ammunition were the APCBC and the APCR. The Armor Piercing Capped, Ballistic Capped (APCBC) round relied not only on its own weight to penetrate the enemy's armor, but was also filled with high explosive that caused great internal damage. The APCBC round has two caps covering the main body of the round. The first one is a cap designed for ballistic performance, and is a blunt cap, because a projectile with a blunt nose has less chance to ricochet off inclined armor. This is covered by the second cap, a sharp one, a "windshield" made of light metal, designed to give the round a better aerodynamic shape. The Armor Piercing Composite Rigid (APCR) round was made with a tungsten core. For flight performance effects and to aid the shot from shattering against armor plating, the APCR round was surrounded by a ballistic cap. The APCR rounds had a higher penetration capacity, but were less lethal than the APCBC after penetration, and also had a shorter effective range.
The Tiger I carried 92 rounds of ammunition, although it is known that experienced crews frequently broke the regulations by storing more than that. The recommended and most usual mix was 50 percent APCBC (Pzgr.39) and 50 percent HE (Sprenggranaten - high explosive shells). A few rounds of the rare (due to the shortage of tungsten carbide) APCR (Pzgr.40) ammunition might be carried for use against the heaviest armored Russian tanks and tank destroyers. The Gr.39 HL (Hohlgranate) based on the hollow charge principle (HEAT), was less accurate and much less destructive than the APCBC rounds, but could be carried in place of the HE rounds and used either to combat armor or as effective high-explosive ammunition against soft targets.
The sights that equipped the Tiger I up to 1944 were the binocular Turmzielfernrohr 9b mounted parallel and on the same axis as the main gun. The Turmzielfernrohr 9b was an articulated binocular sight, with 2.5x magnification. The range scale was graduated at 100 meter intervals up to a maximum range of 4,000 meters.
The commander ordered the target selection, type of ammunition, and range. The gunner observed the tracer and the strike of the round and reported his observations to the commander, who then ordered corrections. To quickly traverse onto a target, the Tiger I was outfitted with a hydraulic motor for the turret drive. The hydraulic drive traversed the turret at a maximum rate of 360 degrees in 60 seconds, dependent on engine speed. Placing the target on the point of a triangle allowed the gunner to aim without obstructing the view of the target. The triangle height and separation distances, in mils, were used as an aid in estimating the range to the target by comparing them with the size of the target. Tiger gunners knew the size of their targets from target tables and later, by practice, instinctively knowing distances. The pattern in the right reticle also contained the 7 triangles plus adjustable range scales that allowed the gunner to register the exact range to the target. The gunner adjusted the range through this sight by lowering or raising the gun to set the aiming sight again on target. The range scale was graduated at 100 meter intervals out to a range of 3,000 meters for the APCR rounds, 4,000 meters for the APCBC rounds, and up to 6,000 meters for the HE rounds.
The 88 mm KwK 36L/56 gun had a very-high muzzle velocity and the shell traveled in a stretched arc, which gave the Tiger I more advantages than just penetration power. Besides providing a higher penetration power, it also allowed a higher margin of error in range guessing. The gunner could guess wrong up to 200 meters and still hit the target, since aiming too high simply raised the striking point by less than a meter: too little an error to miss a 3 meter high tank when aimed at its center.
From April 1944 on, the monocular Turmzielfernrohr 9c (sighting telescope) replaced the binocular Turmzielfernrohr 9b. This sight allowed the gunner to select two magnifications, 2.5x and 5x. The lower magnification was intended for target acquisition, as it showed a wider field of view. The higher magnification allowed precise aiming at longer ranges. The range scale was graduated in the same way as the Turmzielfernrohr 9b sight; at 100 meters it jumps up to 3,000 meters for APCR rounds, up to 4,000 meters for APCBC rounds, and up to 6,000 meters for HE rounds. Tiger platoons could open fire (concentrated platoon fire) for effect against stationary targets at up to 3,000 meters. When firing against moving targets, the rule was to open fire starting at 1,200 meters and up to 2,000 meters.
High maneuverability, low operational mobility.
Much have been said about the Tiger's maneuverability, that the Tiger was a "lumbering monster", or that "it could barely move", but that is not exactly the truth. The Tiger I was very maneuverable for its weight and size, and superior to the Sherman in muddy terrain, despite its size and weight, as it had less ground pressure. This capability was provided by the the combat tracks of 755 mm width, which resulted in a ground pressure of 15.0 psi, or 1.05 kg/cm².
The Tiger I engine was developed by Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH. Maybach produced the engines for all medium and heavy German tanks. The Tiger's engine, the Maybach HL 210 P45, was a V-12 water-cooled gasoline engine with a capacity of 21.33 liters and a power output of 650 bhp at 3,000 rpm. This engine was mounted in a sealed compartment at the rear of the Tiger.
However, it could not be reliably operated at its maximum power output of 3,000 rpm because the transmission, the Maybach OG 40 12 16 A, with 8 speeds forward and 4 reverse, although a surprisingly light set of controls for the driver, had a tendency to breakdown if adequate preventive maintenance was not done. The weight of the Tiger (the combat weight was 57 tons) was too much for the German transmissions available at the time. Since it was not always possible to do this preventive maintenance as required, many Tigers broke down and had to be destroyed and abandoned. The recommendation was that the driver should not exceed 2,600 rpm when operating the Tiger. Only the first 250 Tigers received the Maybach HL 210 P45 engine.
In May, 1943, the Maybach HK 230 P45 engine with two air filters was installed, and the transmission was improved. The new engine, also a V-12 water-cooled gasoline engine with a capacity of 23.88 liters, had a power output of 700 bhp at 3,000 rpm. With this upgrade, the Tiger's performance improved in normal use, but the transmission was still weak for/from the stress of the power generated by the engine moving the weight of the tank at maximum output, and preventive maintenance continued to be an imperative.
Tigers, like all German tanks, used regenerative steering, hydraulically operated; the separate tracks could be turned in opposite directions at the same time, so the Tiger I could neutral steer (pivoting in place) and completely turn around in a distance of 3.44 meters (11.28ft). This was used to surprise many unlucky enemy crews. As a result of all these facts, the reality is that the Tiger I was not slow at all. The Panzer IVs road speed was 40 km/h and cross-country speed was 20 km/h. The Panzer IIIs (Ausf E to N) road speed was 40 km/h, and cross-country speed was 18 km/h. The Tiger Is road speed was 38 km/h, and cross-country speed was 20 km/h.
This fact is evidenced by the following excerpt from the Experience Report of the Tiger Abteilung 506, dated 15 January 1944: "During long term operations, which stretched over 12 days, time for care and maintenance of the Tigers was too short and losses were correspondingly high. On 2 January 1944, the Abteilung went into action with 13 Panzers. Not a single Tiger was still operational on the evening of 14 January. The last two Tigers had driven a distance of about 340 kilometers. Without being given any time for care and servicing, most of them managed to cover 250 kilometers"
But there were still other complications. Given the characteristics of the Tigers as a battlefield superiority weapon, they were constantly being transferred from one point to the other on the battlefield, and even front to front, as "fire brigades". Long road marchs resulted in mechanical problems, and Tigers consumed high quantities of precious gasoline (the Tiger had a maximum combat radius of 195 kilometers, using 540 liters of fuel in the process) thus, the preferred method of movement across great distances was by rail. As the war went on, the German rail net was progressively more and more disrupted by Allied strategic and tactical air attack. This eventually limited transportation of Tigers by rail to the night. Rail movement of Tigers, however, involved more complications, because special cars were required to transport Tigers, and the tracks were too wide for rail transport: narrower ones were fitted for normal road and railway transport, where the outer set of road wheels was also removed. This limited the transfer of Tigers from one sector to another without a great deal of lead time and careful coordination. Beyond the great additional effort by the crewmen that was required, such a complicated transport process took even more time from the Tiger's combat availability. This process led in a heavy logistical burden on the Tiger units, as they had to necessarily maintain two sets of tracks for each tank (WILBECK, Christopher W., op cit).
The bottom line is that the Tiger had high maneuverability, but low operational mobility. Tigers were prone to transmission problems if they did not receive adequate periodic maintenance. This high degree of maintenance required to keep Tigers operational was one of their biggest deficiencies, and usually resulted in a low operational rate of combat-available tanks within the schwere Panzer Abteilungen, especially after long marches or extended periods of combat. The tendency of the Tigers to break down, coupled with the weight of the tanks, made recovery of broken down Tigers difficult. The outcome was low operational mobility as a result of those problems, which meant that Tiger units frequently had a very limited radius of action. The Allies exploited this fact during the numerous and frequent operational and strategic withdrawals of the Tiger battalions.
That, and the overwhelming Allied air power, were the main reasons for the destruction of Tigers, more than any tank versus tank combat, specially on the Western Front. On the East Front, the main causes of destruction of Tigers were the transmission problems (with consequent abandon and/or destruction by the crews), the Russian air attacks, and being terribly outnumbered and fighting to the very end.
Henschel und Sohn, of Kassel, Germany, was a well-known manufacturer of heavy industrial and railroad equipment, especially railroad locomotives and large dock cranes. Because of the size and weight of the Tiger, Henschel was considered to be the ideal manufacturer, having all the facilities needed to produce such a heavy vehicle. Henschel also had a fine engineering staff, and a complete vehicle test facility.
The final assembly hall at Henschel's plant dwarfed the tanks being produced there and the final assembly line was capable of producing several tanks a day. Although much of the installed equipment on the Tiger was subcontracted, Henschel manufactured most of the major components in their plant. Hulls, turrets, and other contract items and assemblies were brought into the assembly building where final machining operations and detail assembling were done. Henschel's facilities allowed the firm to machine the turret rings and other critical areas of the hull within the plant without outside assistance.Like all German Panzers, the Tiger I was subject to continuous changes and additions, as it became obvious that improvements could be made in the performance and effectiveness of the Tiger. Gradually, the various problems reported were worked out, although some were never solved completely.
The problems with ice and snow freezing on the interleaved road wheels were not solved until the introduction of the Tiger II with overlapping, not interleaved, road wheels In May, 1943, the Maybach HK 230 P45 engine with two air filters was installed in place of the Maybach HL 210 P45, and the transmission was improved. With this upgrade, the Tiger's performance improved in normal use. In July 1943, the turret was extensively redesigned. A new commander's cupola with periscopes and a swivel hatch was installed, and along with other modifications, an improved spring counter-balance connected with a chain was installed for the 88 mm main gun.
Starting in September, 1943, Zimmerit anti-magnetic coating was applied at the factory to all upright surfaces that could be reached by a man standing on the ground. The surface was rippled to increase the distance to the steel surface without increasing the weight of the coating.
From January 1944 on, the Nahverteidigungswaffe (close defense weapon) was mounted on the turret roof. This weapon could fire smoke cartridges, signal cartridges, and grenades, but due to shortages, was not mounted on the Tiger I until March 1944. In February 1944, steel road wheels with internal rubber cushioning, adopted from the Tiger II, were mounted in the Tiger I. These were chosen because of their ability to bear the weight of heavy armored vehicles.
From March 1944 on, the 25 mm roof plate was increased to 40 mm, to prevent penetration by large caliber artillery shells (over 150 mm), and the loader's hatch, originally designed for the Tiger II turret, was installed in the thicker turret roof. Finally, in April 1944, The monocular Turmzielfernrohr 9c sighting telescope replaced the previously used binocular Turmzielfernrohr 9b. While the Germans stayed close to their original production schedule for the Tiger, it is interesting to note that, for example, during Operation Zitadelle (the Kursk Offensive - July 1943), there were a total of only 133 Tigers available at the start of the offensive; 45 serving with sPzAbt.503, 13 with 13.Kp.SSPzRgt1 (LSSAH), 14 with 8.Kp.SSPzRgt2 (Das Reich), 15 with s.Kp.SSPzRgt3 (Totenkopf), 15 with 13.Kp.PzRgtGD (Großdeutschland), and 31 with sPzAbt.505.
A total of 19 Tigers arrived as replacements during Operation Zitadelle; 5 for 13.Kp.SSPzRgt1 (LSSAH), and 14 for sPzAbt. 505. From 5 July to 20 July 1943, 13 Tigers were lost (total writeoffs): 4 by sPzAbt.503, 1 by 13.Kp.SSPzRgt1 (LSSAH), 1 by 8.Kp.SSPzRgt2 (Das Reich), 1 by s.Kp.SSPzRgt3 (Totenkopf), and 6 by sPzAbt.505.
Conclusion: The Successes and Failures of the Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.E
The Tiger dominated the battlefield, and this occurred basically because it managed to maintain a stand-off ability made possible by; a combination of thick armor and a high-velocity, very accurate gun coupled with superior optics, thus being capable of first hits at ranges well beyond 1.000 meters. As it was, the Tiger could choose its targets at will, and destroy them at ranges they either couldn't hit, or if they could hit, couldn't defeat the Tiger's thick armor. The Tiger I maintained this stand off capability until nearly the end of the war, as it was only outclassed by the Russian Josef Stalin (IS) heavy tank.
On the other hand, Tigers were maintenance-intensive tanks and prone to mechanic failures if periodic maintenance procedures were not done. Because of that, plus the weight of the tank, they had low operational mobility: a problem that was magnified during retreats, when damaged or broken Tigers couldn't be recovered and had to be destroyed by their crews.
By February 1944, sPzAbt.502 had 71 Tiger I tanks. At the same time, sPzAbt.503, 507, and 509 had respectively 69, 56, and 58 Tigers. This was due to transfers from other units training with the Tiger II, or due to the delivery of the last production Tiger I models. Tiger I production reached its peak between January and May 1944. Regardless, the maximum degree of success attained by Tiger units was in limited and/or localized tactical superiority.
The truth was that the German industry simply couldn't produce Tigers in sufficient numbers to make any difference in the big picture: it was a task well beyond wartime German industrial capabilities. Just as a comparison on production capabilities, the Russians produced 23,937 T-34/76s from 1942 to 1945. The American Pershing tank was built at a rate of 1,350 tanks over a six month period.
When production ceased in June 1945, 49,234 Sherman tanks had been built: more than all the German tank production during the entire war. In the end, it was this difference in production philosophy and faster Allied production that made the difference between defeat and victory. The real failure of the German heavy tank was that they exceeded the capability of German industry to produce them in sufficient numbers.
All this said and done, the Tiger was very sucessful in fullfilling its doctrinal mission, to destroy other tanks, and its reputation grew on the battlefield as the war raged on. The basis for this is the kill/loss ratio attained by the Tiger battalions. The overall ratio for all Tiger battalions is a respectable 5.74 to 1 kill ratio.
The Tiger I was phased out in 1944. By August of that year, 1,300+ had been made: not many, in view of their reputation and effect on Allied morale. Perhaps this is the best epitaph the Tigers could have.
click to read more...
Historical Gallery
PzKpfw VI Tiger I (H) Armor Scheme
PzKpfw VI Tiger I (H) Armor Specifications
PzKpfw VI Tiger I (H) Optics
PzKpfw VI Tiger I (H) 1
Sources and External Links
- Germany's Tiger Tanks: Vol. 1 - D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production and Modifications; Thomas L. Jentz & Hilary L. Doyle.
- Tiger I Heavy Tank 1942-1945; Thomas L Jentz, Hilary Doyle and Peter Sarson; Osprey Publishing Ltd.
- JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics.
- The Tiger Tank; Roger Ford; Motorbooks International Publishers and Wholesalers.
Light Tanks
Tank Destroyers
Self-Propelled Artillery
de:Tank:PzVIja:Tank:PzVI
Retrieved from "http://wiki.wargaming.net/en/index.php?title=Tank:PzVI&oldid=80755"
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A moral giant in Palestine remains behind bars
Samuel Nichols November 24, 2010
Creative Commons Created with Sketch.
Adeeb Abu Rahmah, the moral giant in the above video, has now been in prison for 500 days. Abu Rahmah was arrested on 10 July 2009 during a nonviolent demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil’in. An Israeli military court later charged Abu Rahmah with incitement, defined as “the attempt, verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order.”
Incitement is a vague and politically-motivated charge that has been used in this case — and also the case of Adeeb’s cousin, Abdullah Abu Rahmah — because the Israeli military court had nothing legitimate with which to charge Adeeb Abu Rahmah. Even more important is the understanding that the Israeli military prosecution manufactured a charge because popular nonviolent resistance, of which Abu Rahmah and Bil’in are a prominent part, is a threat to the viability of Israel’s theft and occupation of Palestinian land.
On 30 June 2010, after nearly a year of languishing in prison while a sham trial proceeded, an Israeli military court sentenced Adeeb Abu Rahmah to one year in prison. Having already served the year to which he was sentenced, Abu Rahmah should have been immediately released, but was instead ordered to be held because the military prosecution had filed an appeal. Months later on 21 October 2010, the military prosecution’s appeal, which asked for a harsher sentence, was accepted by Judge Lieutenant Colonel Benisho of the Military Court of Appeals. The lengthened sentence totaled 18 months and included a 5,000 NIS (New Israeli Shekel) fine. Adeeb Abu Rahmah is due to be released in December 2010.
Amnesty International, among other human rights organizations, has called for Abu Rahmah’s release and has called into question the charges handed down by the Israeli Military court, saying “the broad scope of Israeli military orders mean that Adeeb Abu Rahma could be imprisoned solely for legitimately exercising his right to freedom of expression in opposing Israeli policies in the West Bank.”
Indeed, Abu Rahma remains in prison because of his moral courage and his determined and persistent nonviolent resistance to the takeover of his land resulting from Israeli policies. Israel considers Abu Rahma a dangerous man because he stood face-to-face with occupying soldiers and demanded that they use their brains, pick up books instead of guns, and provide a justification for their actions. Abu Rahmah is considered a dangerous man because he refuses to give an inch of his land, nor an inch of his moral conviction.
Samuel Nichols
Samuel Nichols is a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams. He lives primarily in at-Tuwani, a small village in the Hebron region of the West Bank, supporting Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to settler violence and land confiscation. He writes on his blog, Do Unto Others, at samuelnichols.blogspot.com.
Tags: Land rights, Marches, Palestine, Self-determination
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The camera is their enemy. they tried to get him away from the cameras, maybe to arrest or hit him. but before the cameras they can’t exercise their brutality.
I admire his courage.
Sorry, comments are now closed.
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<p><object width="570" height="348" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-St2hn_qPwE?version=3" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed width="570" height="348" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-St2hn_qPwE?version=3" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" /></object></p> <p>Adeeb Abu Rahmah, the moral giant in the above video, has now been in prison for 500 days. Abu Rahmah was arrested on 10 July 2009 during a nonviolent demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil’in. An Israeli military court later charged Abu Rahmah with incitement, defined as “the attempt, verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order.”</p> <p>Incitement is a vague and politically-motivated charge that has been used in this case — and also the case of Adeeb’s cousin, Abdullah Abu Rahmah — because the Israeli military court had nothing legitimate with which to charge Adeeb Abu Rahmah. Even more important is the understanding that the Israeli military prosecution manufactured a charge because popular nonviolent resistance, of which Abu Rahmah and Bil’in are a prominent part, is a threat to the viability of Israel’s theft and occupation of Palestinian land.</p> <p><a href="https://wagingnonviolence.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/300896e.pageview.jpg"></a>On 30 June 2010, after nearly a year of languishing in prison while a sham trial proceeded, an Israeli military court sentenced Adeeb Abu Rahmah to one year in prison. Having already served the year to which he was sentenced, Abu Rahmah should have been immediately released, but was instead ordered to be held because the military prosecution had filed an appeal. Months later on 21 October 2010, the military prosecution’s appeal, which asked for a harsher sentence, was accepted by Judge Lieutenant Colonel Benisho of the Military Court of Appeals. The lengthened sentence totaled 18 months and included a 5,000 NIS (New Israeli Shekel) fine. Adeeb Abu Rahmah is due to be released in December 2010.</p> <p>Amnesty International, among other human rights organizations, has called for Abu Rahmah’s release and has <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/palestinian-activist-faces-prison-sentence-2010-06-11" target="_blank">called into question</a> the charges handed down by the Israeli Military court, saying “the broad scope of Israeli military orders mean that Adeeb Abu Rahma could be imprisoned solely for legitimately exercising his right to freedom of expression in opposing Israeli policies in the West Bank.”</p> <p>Indeed, Abu Rahma remains in prison because of his moral courage and his determined and persistent nonviolent resistance to the takeover of his land resulting from Israeli policies. Israel considers Abu Rahma a dangerous man because he stood face-to-face with occupying soldiers and demanded that they use their brains, pick up books instead of guns, and provide a justification for their actions. Abu Rahmah is considered a dangerous man because he refuses to give an inch of his land, nor an inch of his moral conviction.</p>
Recent criticisms calling the founder of nonviolent theory a Cold Warrior are way off the mark. To rightly evaluate him, we need to understand the role he chose for himself.
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Introducing The A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Boutique Edition In White Gold (With Specs And Price)
A new addition to the Richard Lange line from A. Lange & Söhne comes in the form of a boutique-only white gold variant, with blued steel hands and a subtle detail on the solid silver dial.
Previously only available in yellow or rose gold, or platinum, the Richard Lange is now available in white gold for the first time in an edition sold only at Lange boutiques. Unlike the regular editions of the Richard Lange which have the hour and minute hands in gold to match the case metal, this boutique edition has all three hands in blued steel. Most Lange watches have gold hands for the hours and minutes; blued steel hands are relatively uncommon in the collection. In addition, the dial has an additional detail to distinguish it from the regular Richard Lange models: the minute markings at 15, 30, 45 and 60 are in blue.
The case remains the same at 40.5 mm wide with the same movement inside featuring the indirect centre seconds. This will only be available at the eleven Lange boutiques worldwide, joining the hand-engraved Zeitwerk Handwerkskunst as a boutique exclusive. The retail price is EUR26,400 and USD31,500. – SJX
Introducing The A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Tourbillon Pour le Mérite In White Gold With Blued Steel Hands (With Specs And Price)
For the first time Lange has made the Richard Lange Tourbillon Pour le Mérite with chain and fusée available in white gold, combined with blued steel hands, as a boutique-only edition.
Introducing The Lange 1 20th Anniversary His-And-Hers Set (With Specs And Price)
Lange 1 and Little Lange 1 with guilloche dials.
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Methane – damned if you do, dammed if you don't
Anthony Watts / September 12, 2014
Drowned tropical forests release too much methane
Researchers at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research calculated that the world’s largest dams emitted 104 million tons of methane annually and were responsible for 4 percent of the human contribution to climate change.
Credit: Leandro Neumann Ciuffo via flickr
Eric Worrall writes: A new study performed in Laos suggests that building Dams in tropical locations exacerbates climate change.
According to Scientific American;
“In Asia, Africa and South America, … , masses of methane are produced from dams by the drowning of tropical forests in them. As long ago as 2007, researchers at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research calculated that the world’s largest dams emitted 104 million tons of methane annually and were responsible for 4 percent of the human contribution to climate change.”
“Methane is produced by bacteria feeding on the plant material drowned when the dam is filled. This is added to by more organic matter that is washed into it by rivers and rains.”
Since hydro power is the only renewable which is anywhere near reliable and predictable, this shock discovery pretty much eliminates renewables as a low carbon electricity option.
Note from Anthony:
Mostly this study is just pushback for the second dam being built on the Mekong River, there’s a whole green activist hornet’s nest trying to keep it from happening, spurred on by the usual suspects. For example, this from the Yale360 people:
Life on Mekong Faces Threats As Major Dams Begin to Rise
With a massive dam under construction in Laos and other dams on the way, the Mekong River is facing a wave of hydroelectric projects that could profoundly alter the river’s ecology and disrupt the food supplies of millions of people in Southeast Asia.
A Dam Too Far in Laos
By: Melinda Boh Friday, April 12, 2013 This article originally appeared in Asia Times Online.
VIENTIANE – It was once referred to by US magazine Newsweek as a “kinder, gentler” type of dam. Since the Nam Theun 2 hydropower dam commenced commercial operations in 2010, the World Bank and other proponents of the multi-billion dollar power project have trumpeted it as an economic and social development success story for host country Laos.
But with the negative publicity and diplomatic tussles now focused on the proposed US$3.5 billion Xayaboury dam, which if built promises to hurt downstream communities and the environment in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, Nam Theun 2’s emerging failures have largely escaped critical scrutiny.
In particular, there are rising indications that Nam Theun 2 and its massive 450 square kilometer reservoir are responsible for massive amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, amounting to as much as one million tons of methane and carbon dioxide per year, according to recent independent academic studies, including a statistical assessment produced by the US’s Duke University.
If accurate, that figure is substantially higher than the level of emissions initially estimated in the project’s environmental impact assessment. Researchers from Toulouse University in France have concluded that Nam Theun 2 produces in excess of 40% of the GHG that would be emitted from a coal fired power plant of equivalent energy output, and far more than a natural gas-fired plant.
Oh Noes! Those people might have electricity for the first time. We can’t have that. What about all the dirty cooking fires, air pollution, and deforestation for firewood that dam will prevent?
Meanwhile, methane continues to be pretty much a non-problem, and reality isn’t meeting the expectations of IPCC models.
Imagine if environmentalism had the reach it has now in 1776, we’d all be living in sustainable tenements in Boston. Even the Boston Tea Party wouldn’t have happened, for fear the the Colonial EPA might fine them for polluting Boston harbor.
September 12, 2014 in Alarmism, Methane.
David Attenborough warns of ‘social unrest’ due to climate change
University of Minnesota: Zimbabwe Food Production Declining Because Climate Change
← Friday Funny – 52 excuses to blow your carbon diet
Is the atmospheric ozone recovery real, or just for scoring political points? →
69 thoughts on “Methane – damned if you do, dammed if you don't”
beng says:
The way greenie-tech seems to backfire, I’m soon expecting a discovery that pinwheels increase methane emissions by scaring the sh*t out of nearby birds.
Tom G(ologist) says:
You couldn’t make this s*#t up if you sat around all night trying to think of the most bizarre nonsense you could imagine.
LeeHarvey says:
What if I sat up all night huffing methane?
SparrowShadow says:
ARRGh!, now I have to spend hours scrubbing the visualization from my brain!
Eric Worrall says:
My wife complains when I do that… 🙂
The estimated beaver population of Canada last I heard is around 3 million animals. Each one of them “HAS” to fell trees and timber or their teeth will grow right through their jaws. They build dams and flood acres of land, killing millions of trees a year.
It does not matter if a pond is a few hundred feet deep, or only one or two, it still kill all the trees it floods, and they still decay and release methane. Boy, do they ever.
You will never hear an environmentalist decrying their impact however, or calling for a cull of the population. Because they are natural. And their ponds form valuable wet lands and fire breaks, as well as storing valuable water against dry weather.
What I don’t understand is why all these benefits don’t apply to hydro reservoirs.
DaveH says:
Simple, beavers are cute only mann is evil.
Stan Vinson says:
I like what you did there.
DirkH says:
Dam! Their power of fail is stronger than I imagined. I thought they concentrate on failing temperature forecasts.
Pamela Gray says:
The have’s telling the have-not’s all the things they can’t have because the have’s are so benevolent and messiah-like in their saving actions. So I say, You go Laos! Rock your world!
Used to have”upward mobility”programs when I worked for USGS. Our take was, “I upped my mobility, up yours!”
This just in…. In other news, scientists discover that swamps make swamp gas. “Unprecidented!” they say. Please send money…
James the Elder says:
Yup. I’ll see your Mekong and raise you one Louisiana. I’ll keep my Dismal Swamp up my sleeve.
leftturnandre says:
The scaremongering using the super satanic gas methane originates from the Greenland ice cores, where pCH4 corrolates strongly with the d18O spikes, most notably during the last glacial transition. There is, however, no corrolation of both records with pCO2.
On the other hand the d18O record of the Antarctic ice cores corrolate strongly with the lagging pCO2 but neither with the methane records nor with the Greenland d18O records in the ice cores.
So if both methane and carbon dioxide are global proxies for greenhouse effect, why do we only see one hemisphere corrolating and why is there such a difference in changing temperature between the both?
Logic dictates only one answer: d18O from ice cores is not a global temperature proxy and CO2 and CH4 are not globally forcing temperatures.
Moreover the IR absorbance of CH4 is on the edge of the Earth IR radiation profile and it saturates quickly. However due to the very low concentration, changes are relatively large. However a bit larger change of just about nothing is still just about nothing. Nothing to see here.
I see what they did there…
And then there’s ONE MILLION TONS of CO2 and CH4… with absolutely no context or comparison to alternative emission scenarios such as leaving an old-growth tropical forest in place.
WillR says:
There are mighty strange things going on all over the world regarding water and water tables and protection areas…
This is just taking off in Mexico:. A You Tube video showing reactions of people caught up in the mess…
It’s in Spanish — so it’s not for everyone.
There are other protests and videos out there regarding the latest project — which ostensibly is to “preserve and protect groundwater resources.
Look for :
Comuneros de Rosario y Concordia no quieren el proyecto Monte Mojino
On You tube.
This is about ANP or Area National de Proteccion (National Protection Areas)
I can’t say a lot more because I have a dog in the hunt.
bonanzapilot says:
Engañar – Basically to take unfair advantage of someone. The ANP doesn’t seem to be turning out as advertised for the people affected by it. I’ve heard a similar story somewhere else recently. “If you like your land you can keep your land.” Then later “Oh, we forgot to tell you all of the things you do with it are now prohibited.”
The guy talking about how they can no longer cut down trees for firewood may be working against himself. I’ve seen lots of forests in Central America severely damaged by the need for firewood. It could be that some regulation was needed, but this seems to be turning into a land grab.
Unless your dog is the biggest, I’d get out. Whoever organized this “Protection Zone” organized it to protect it from the locals. Once they are out, it will be clear cut, stripped bare, and the protectors will move on to the next land grab. It’s a cultural thing…
How about we just emit GHGs until we match up with the models
Pfft… good luck. I doubt we’d ever get there.
Anarchist Hate Machine says:
Agreed. Earth’s CO2 levels were 4500 ppm once and still didn’t match up to the kind of runaway greenhouse effect the climate delusionists spew.
Although I will say it was warmer at the time. I suppose with 16 times pre industrial levels would have some effect on temperature
If this is true, then where is the study showing us all the cooling from all those swamps humans have drained over the millennia? Wheres the paper showing this interglacial was supposed to be as warm as the last except we drained all the swamps.
Proud Skeptic says:
Dams in Laos…coal in China…it looks like 80 percent of the world is just going to be happy living in poverty. Hey…it has nothing to do with what I want. Mother Nature demands it. Nothing we can do…
I trust everyone knows that the Methane in the atmos is being measured in ppb, so that 1700ppb is in fact 1.7ppm. Ya know, when you puff up an issue high enough, even British MPs and EU bureaucrats start to ignore the gang green. I think there needs to be a consortium of independent technical aid funds that will help build your coal fired electricity plants and dams in developing countries. There should also be a newspaper circulated in these countries laying bare the green neocolonial masters’ plan for them that says their aspirations and even their lives have to be sacrificed. India and Mexico have been the first to kick these NGOs out and make illegal any foreign donations to their local activist chapters is illegal.
Awesome…hope that catches on in more countries.
In particular, there are rising indications that Nam Theun 2 and its massive 450 square kilometer reservoir are responsible for massive amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,….
How many million tons of ‘massive greenhouse gas emissions’ (MGHGE) would the original, unmodified forest have emitted across this same 450 square kilometer area?
Compare, contrast, and discuss……
Russ in Houston says:
450 Square kilometer? Did they drop a 0 or something that’s only 13 miles by 13 miles (172 sq miles) Toledo Bend Reservoir on the border of Texas and Louisiana is twice that size.
Once the termites go to work, the methane jumps almost exponentially.
tgmccoy says:
Another attempt on prosperity for Dark skinned people…
Mike H. says:
Actually the author Melinda Boh is a pseudonym of an individual living in Jakarta who has a hate on for Laos. I think that the article is more of a world opinion weapon against Laos than an actual statement of concern.
Martin 457 says:
How is methane an issue? The way I understand it, methane absorbs the same energies that water vapor absorbs and our gravity bound heavy gasses keep us at a temperate level, water vapor has already saturated the atmosphere to a point that methane has no bearing. How is it they say methane is a problem to begin with?
Bryan A says:
If the main problem is the vegitation that is left in place during the initial flooding of the dam and the bacteria that flourish on it, the solution would be to clear cut the area beneath the water line prior to dam completion. You would gain a valuable resource in the trees, force the wildlife into upper habitats and remove most of the source of the main threat of initial CH4.
Gary Hladik says:
That was my first thought. My second thought was, “Hey, wouldn’t they have done this already–to the extent it’s commercially worthwhile–before filling the first dam?” In fact, the reference in the article
http://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/nam-theun-2-dam
claims that the first dam has led to logging in its supposedly protected watershed, which tells me that the drowned area would have been maximally exploited before the reservoir was filled. Yet much vegetation apparently remains. *sigh*
MJPenny says:
The trees that are flooded are only going to decay once so that has a limit and can be calculated. The organic material that is washed in by rivers and rain would have gone to the ocean or be deposited in deep pools and decayed so that is a zero sum. They can count the drowned trees once and nothing else. After the original trees are decayed they have a power source that produces no methane.
Kohl says:
Exactly MJ
The stuff washing down after the dam is built would have washed down (and produced methane) whether or not the dam is built.
The stuff ‘drowned’ by the flooding of the dam should be a once only affair. And, offset against that, is the saving of emissions by the populace being able to use electricity for the first time.
These people are on a one track evangelical trip.
Per MJPenny & Kohl, above ( I trust – still getting used to the thread set-up, and apologies if below), this looks a pretty sound investment.
Plainly something the solar/wind/tree-huggers cannot abide/accept.
An inconvenient truth, possibly?
Jeeze, just seed the frickin lakes with Methanotrophs for Einstein’s sake, where are the biologists? Don’t enviromentalists use science anymore?
Mark and two Cats says:
“…the world’s largest dams emitted 104 million tons of methane annually and were responsible for 4 percent of the human contribution to climate change.”
So what is 4% of immeasurably small then?
DD More says:
The total mass of Earth’s atmosphere is about 5.5 quadrillion tons.
Percent 104 *10^6 / 5.5 * 10^15 = very small number
Human contribution to climate change = diddly squat
4 percent of diddly squat = very very very small number
Tumbling Turbines, my good correspondent!
That’s one part in twenty-five of what’s sending this planet . . . . to . . . . um . . . . tomorrow.
I guess.
Well, -ish, I suppose, approximately.
So, probably a fairly likely maybe, perhaps?
Apologies if I lack the conviction of some of the serious water-melons.
I guess my heart isn’t in it.
Nor my head.
Let’s not visit the gross pathology.
john robertson says:
Let us go whole hog, eco-nasty on these evil works of man.
Hydro electric water reservoirs apparently damn the “free spirit” of the river, stop salmon runs and the weight of all this water has caused measurable wobbles to the earths spin.
We are all doomed..
Something to do with life being a sexually transmitted terminal disease.Probably the reason these bedwetters have nothing better to do with their time than whine about the eco-castrastophe of breathing.
Just like the solution to banging your head against the wall, the solution to their imaginary pain is obvious to me.
Perhaps it is too much to ask, but these clowns would be a lot more convincing if they practiced what they preach.
Melinda Boh Friday.. is this a real person or another persona created for effect?
Environmentalism is all about mentalism now and clueless with respect to our environs.
I am starting to think there is no recovery for the activists of this cause.
Old England says:
Log them first – so no methane emissions and saving other forest from logging.
Interesting, I’m listening. Commerce and eco-friendly advice…
None of it is rocket science – or at least that’s how it seems to me – but common sense is alien to Eco-warriors, no that’s wrong they avoid it as it doesn’t suit their purpose.
Wind and solar are pointless unless the energy can be stored and released on demand and battery technology is too inefficient, too expensive and too polluting; so position them where the electricity generated can be used to pump water up to reservoirs and used to generate electricity when required. Alternatively use it for electrolysis and generate hydrogen to be stored and burnt as fuel to generate electricity on demand.
Better still work on safe nuclear that is scaleable down to town / community level (thorium as one example) avoiding expensive distribution and control systems.
Go down those routes not because of the global warming scam but because if done correctly it is a better alternative and far better for society than the Eco-activist approach of destroying economies and condemning the third world to financial hardship, starvation and low quality lives.
Like any scientist I didn’t check my common sense first, I assumed there was some reason they didn’t log it off first. Thank you!
The biosphere has been measurably greening due directly to the rise in beneficial CO2. That increase in vegetation has been at least 11% so far.
With that increased plant mass, when it dies and decays, additional methane must be emitted. Therefore, we see methane increasing. But that is entirely natural, and nature quickly eliminates it. The added methane causes no global warming.
Methane is converted to H2O and CO2 in a matter of days to weeks. It is simply not a problem. It obviously causes no global warming, because global warming stopped many years ago.
This is just another false alarm, along with the Polar bear scare, and the “acidification” scare, and the accelerating sea levels scare, and the Arctic ice scare, and all the rest of the invented climate crises.
None of these false alarms ever happen. They are self-serving alarms, fabricated by rent-seeking alarmists. Those who have disregarded them have been on the right track all along.
So they’re going to drown the rainforest over and over again? Don’t they just build a dam once, fill it once and keep it full? (Not literally true, I know, the lake levels rise and fall.)
Methane doesn’t remain in the atmosphere very long, either. So let’s do this now while global warming is on hiatus.
Michael D says:
1) I agree, Anthony – someone on the “Stop the Dam” team was given the assignment “find some way that this dam will cause global warming” and they did the best they could, given no evidence.
2) This highlights the fundamental problem with using “carbon pollution” as the buzz phrase for environmentalism. There is some real rationale for preserving deep-earth carbon sources, and if the policy nitwits were saying “leave some deep earth carbon for our grandchildren” then I would agree. And it would encourage people to develop renewable energy. And no one would wonder whether dead trees were part of the problem – because deep earth carbon is not involved in the flooding of a dam.
Years ago there was a newspaper story on “Earth Day” about people all over town eating dinner by candlelight to reduce carbon pollution. The irony was that most of those candles were paraffin, and the electricity they were preserving was 95% hydro.
JustinWonder says:
I consider myself a conservative, a CAWG skeptic, and a supporter of development for the third world but, at the risk of being clobbered, I have to say that dams do a lot of damage, no pun intended. They provide power and water storage, but destroy fisheries, forests, and many communities, especially poor and politically weak communities. There are some difficult trade offs. I would rather help fund a big nuke plant for them, but that is usually a non-starter.
I do like beavers …
I like the iconic beaver too Justin, as long as they are kept on your land or crown land and not flooding my hay fields and pasture. Lots of rodent control needed out my way and they breed like rats … Sometimes they provide flood control … and sometimes they cause massive flooding.
Lauren R. says:
Absolute rubbish. Different kinds of dams produce different environmental impacts. “Run of the river” dams have small holding ponds, if any, so no land is being flooded and no trees being destroyed. The largest hydroelectric dam, the proposed Grand Inga Dam project on the Congo River which would have more than twice the output of China’s Three Gorges Dam, is a “run of the river” dam with no storage. P.S. the Congo Rivers is in a “tropical location”.
Editor of the Fabius Maximus website says:
Anthony,
That is a great graph of methane over time. What is the source?
Anthony Watts says:
As listed in caption: Source: NASA Ozone Watch
Google it, lower left
Note: the graph caption doesn’t show up on either my PC screen or Ipad screen (even when using FIND).
I was referring to the graph in this, the methane post. I suspect you refer to the graph in a later post — about ozone. I’ve made that mistake. It’s easy to do when using the WP Dashboard’s comment page to handle multiple comment threads.
That’s the methane-vs-models graph from the leaked IPCC AR5 draft
Thank you for the citation. That’s a powerful graph; in a sense more so than the global temperature vs models. If it didn’t make the final version of AR5, what could have been the justification? It seems consistent with the somewhat skeptical tone of WG1 – 2.2.1.1.2 Methane.
Suggestion: rather than the draft, use the graph from the final AR5, Figure 16 from Chapter One of WG1.
[caption id="attachment_71849" align="aligncenter" width="600"] AR5 WG1: Figure 1.6 of methane[/caption]
catweazle666 says:
Speaking of methane emissions in South East Asia, has anyone calculated the emissions from millions of hectares of rice paddies fertilised by millions of tons of recycled human waste?
It strikes me that a few tens of hectares of drowned forest pales into insignificance compared to that.
Frank Kotler says:
Colonial EPA? They’re in the harbor. Under the tea.
Bill Parsons says:
…emissions, amounting to as much as one million tons of methane and carbon dioxide per year, according to recent independent academic studies, including a statistical assessment produced by the US’s Duke University.
Every time I see a new eco-report out of Duke University, especially one damning progress that they haven’t directly profited from, I kind of have to wonder. There’s likely a thick firewall now between the present-day university and the family business empire, but it was Duke founding grants that got the university started. James was the first donor. Sons Buck and Benjamin Duke were the businessmen who set up the first hydroelectric dam on the Catawba River to energize their tobacco mill (a fact omitted below). The rest is history. Duke Energy is the largest electric company on the East Coast.
All the criticisms of the Mekong power project are addressed, most eloquently, by this Duke promotional about their hydroelectric commitments to their customers:
http://www.duke-energy.com/environment/hydroelectric-power.asp
Duke Energy’s hydroelectric power plants in the U.S. provide approximately 3,525 megawatts of renewable energy to help meet our customers’ demand for clean, reliable and affordable electricity.
Duke Energy began its operations in the Carolinas as a hydroelectric company. Harnessing the water power of the Catawba River, the company’s first power plant provided electricity to the area’s emerging textile industry, and later, the region’s growing appetite for the convenience that electricity could provide. Today, Duke Energy is the second largest investor-owned hydroelectric operator in the U.S.
In addition to ensuring a reliable supply of electricity for our customers, the lakes created by our hydroelectric facilities provide communities with recreational opportunities, such as boating, fishing and swimming. The lakes also sustain wildlife habitats and offer water sources for everyday use to local communities, including drinking water.
Quick start-up times make hydroelectric plants ideally suited to provide peaking power. They can provide electricity in a matter of seconds when customer demand is high.
Hydroelectric assets also constitute more than 70 percent of Duke Energy International’s generating capacity in Latin America. Our hydroelectric facilities in Argentina, Brazil and Peru can produce more than 2,900 megawatts of electricity.
“building Dams in tropical locations exacerbates climate change.”
Doesn’t everything?
johnmarshall says:
Dams on the Mekong ”might” damage the ecology, but WILL improve the lives of millions by the supply of reliable electricity and reliable water supply.
Tom Harley says:
I used to live on the banks of Lake Kariba, a 240 mile long lake built from damming the mighty Zambezi River. The drowned forest produced an amazing variety of the best eating fish in the world, Bream, which bred at fantastic rates due to the dying forest when the water rose 400 feet from the original river’s course. It’s now one of the wonders of Central Africa. More dams please …
tumpy says:
Rediculous, like the metnane wasnt going to be released later over time anyways!
Lexus Canada says:
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The East is Red
Rather appropriately, with all the murk swirling around Trump’s ties to the Commies, Judith Curry and John Christy are looking for new sources of income suggesting that Congress fund “red teams” to investigate “natural” causes of global warming and challenge the findings of the United Nations’ climate science panel according to the WaPo. In case you’re in the slightest doubt about where La Curry was aiming her testimony, she concludes Let’s make scientific debate about climate change great again. FFS. This, in case you’ve been asleep, is all in the context of the House Committee on un-American Climatology aka Full Committee Hearing- Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy Implications, and the Scientific Method.
I couldn’t bring myself to do much more than skim Curry’s words, because it is the same old stuff all over again. To pick out some bits:
* I realized that the premature consensus on human-caused climate change was harming scientific progress because of the questions that don’t get asked and the investigations that aren’t madeand yet she is rather short of ideas about things to investigate. Like the denialists, she knows that she doesn’t like the IPCC conclusions, but that’s about it.
* As a result of my analyses that challenge the IPCC consensus, I have been publicly called a serial climate disinformer, anti-science, and a denier – this is dishonest, and from the std.septic playbook. The truth is that she has many any number of inaccurate or unsupported statements, and wild allegations about people who should be her colleagues. That is what people have attacked. See Judith Curry WTF? and links therein, which helpfully provides my title image, too.
* A scientist’s job is to continually challenge their own biases and ask “How could I be wrong?” – but obviously this only applies to other scientists; not to Curry or Christy. At least, I can’t find any reflection of that sort in her testimony.
* As usual, her only real contribution is “things are more uncertain than we think”. And this might be true (how certain are we of our uncertainty, after all). But the clear implication of her testimony is “and this means we don’t have to worry”. Her implication is that if we’re uncertain, we don’t need to worry about the impacts of GW; completely forgetting that (a) it could be worse, as easily as it could be better; and (b) if it is worse – in terms of temperature deviation from the expected mean – then the impacts increase non-linearly, so the overall effect of uncertainty is to increase, not decrease, the expected damages.
Enough of Curry. What of Christy? I don’t think I have his testimony available. The WaPo reports him saying credible ‘red teams’ that look at issues such as… the huge benefits to society from affordable energy, carbon-based and otherwise,” said witness John Christy… “I would expect such a team would offer to Congress some very different conclusions regarding the human impacts on climate. Which is stupid. Your views on the benefits of fossil-based energy should not affect your conclusions on the impacts in the slightest1.
I suppose I should discuss the “red teams” idea a bit. The idea isn’t to bring in the Commies, this is a different sort of red, though actually it is really the same sort of red. Try reading wiki if you’re confused. Anywaaay, where was I? Oh yes: why this is a stupid idea. Well to start with it isn’t necessarily totally stupid, unless it is being run by a group of ideologues with a fore-ordained conclusion for which they’re desperately searching for evidence. How likely is that? Secondly, this is language from a different area (the military; business) being imported into science. If it was being done by the pols, you could simply put it down to ignorance. That it is being done by scientists in an effort to sell their ideas to pols I think you put down to something rather different. But the military and business are areas with rigid hierarchies and enforced obedience and suppression of dissent2. C+C are trying to tell the pols that science is like that; and it isn’t. Science already provides all the internal red teams that it needs.
Could the idea actually be of any use? In the present context, I think that’s doubtful. Suppose they did it anyway, what happens? Probably, C+C and their ilk get thrown some taxpayers money to attack their should-be-colleagues, which would be galling but minor in the great scheme of things. They would fail to do anything of scientific use, and that failure might ultimately be revealing, and therefore good. But in the meantime they get a platform to spout nonsense. Ah well, these are difficult times, you cannot expect to choose amongst different good outcomes.
Finally, notice that the WaPo calls La Curry “professor emeritus” which AFAIK is wrong; she is simply ex. Anyone know for sure?
Anyone got links to the testimony of Mann or Pielke?
[EFS wins the race: Curry, Christy, Mann, Pielke. Thanks.]
1. That’s Bellamy logic.
2. At least, that’s my picture of the mils. I have had no experience of it since CCF3 whilst at school. I can assure you that dissent, and it’s expression, was not encouraged then.
3. Try http://www.berkhamstedschool.org/ccf-sixth. Though I did it in the not-really-voluntary phase, during middle school. And we didn’t get to carry guns much.
* House Science Committee Comes to Agreement on Climate Science – Just kidding! – QS
* BISHOP & POPE BLANCH AS QUEENSLAND LAWYER CANNONIZES HIS OWN BLURB WRITER WHILE IMPEACHING 97% OF HER COLLAGUES – RS
* Curry can’t quite bring herself to say it, but she pretty well admits that Mann got the better of her. Astonishingly, she wants Steyn for backup.
* AtTP has some comments which I’ve linked to, even though he has rudely ignored my post. It is interesting that he mostly liked Pielke’s testimony.
* Lamar Smith and denier scientists were outwitted and outperformed by Michael Mann – Sou
* Toys, pram, out! – ATTP.
* Team B, Red Teaming and Steve Koonin – Eli.
* WHITE HOUSE CHIEF AXES RED TEAM EXERCISE – RS, 2018 / 03.
Stilz from the vidz.
Curry. A bit untidy.
Christy. Very buttoned-down and engineer like.
Mann, our Hero.
Pielke. Looking a little round.
Author wmconnolleyPosted on March 29, 2017 April 13, 2019 Categories climate science
47 thoughts on “The East is Red”
Eric Lund says:
I have heard of the idea of “red teams” critiquing proposals for satellite missions before they are submitted. The idea here is to look for potential weaknesses in the proposal and give the proposal team a chance to address those issues But the purpose of such red teams is not ideological; it is to maximize the chances that the proposal in question will be selected, and the effects on policy are at worst second order.
That’s not what Curry and Christie are up to here. As you say, this “red team” is being formed by ideologues who are pushing an ideological agenda. Even in the military/political world, such red teams often produce bad outcomes; e.g., vastly overstating the capabilities of the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s–the “blue team” assessments that the USSR’s military spending was bankrupting the country proved correct, and the result for the US was hundreds of billions of unnecessary military spending which could have been spent on things such as reducing US dependence on foreign oil (which would have had tremendous national security benefits as well as mitigating global warming).
dave s says:
ugly scenes on the youtube, linked from
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/141716/house-republicans-held-insane-hearing-just-attack-climate-science
some of what Mann said at
https://shadowproof.com/2017/03/29/gops-new-front-culture-war-climate-science/
no doubt full reports and transcripts will emerge, as well as alt-news in the usual outlets….
wot, you went to Berko? Circa 1971 I worked briefly at t’mill across the road. But I digress.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/03/lamar-smith-claims-climate-scientists-not-following-scientific-method/
covers the show trial to the expected standard.
[Did I not mention it before? How remiss. Here’s “proof”. Look closely and you can see a loving parent has pencilled “WMC” at the top and an arrow pointing at the boy in one in, in the third row back, wearing glasses and looking down:
1971 is a touch early for me; I’d have been at Westfield then -W]
Well, that certainly adds to the rogues gallery.
Didn’t personally have anything to do with the school, though probably walked past it. Should have said t’mill was just across the canal, next to the bridge. Don’t know how much longer the architects’ office continued there, it was an outpost of a big London practice and by the end of the decade they were trying to replace us minions with those new-fangled computers.
[Was t’mill the lumber yard with the totem pole? Now, alas, flats -W]
Nick Stokes says:
I’ve been curious as to how a government organisation could recruit a red team. How could they make a selection procedure to be sure that only the 3% get in? And then keep them on the straight and narrow? Remember BEST.
Russell Seitz says:
The Chair was visibly glum at Mann’s grolloching of Christy’s graphic ITC trumpery, and Curry was reduced to seconding sensible Climate Science As We Know It.
Note that you have to fast-froeward or skip the first quarter hour to get to the talking heads
https://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2017/03/virulent-outbreak-of-sanity-strikes.html
The idologically unbaggaged Mann is a lot more statesmanlike than he used to, or Sagan ever got to be.
Eric Steig says:
Sagan was pretty darn good. I think your past debates with Sagan on nuclear winter is clouding your judgement.
Hey, but for the worries about EMP and nuclear autumn, Europe now would probably be even more radioactive than it is. Remember those tactical tank-busters, the “Davy Crockett” deployed?
https://warisboring.com/this-nuke-proved-size-doesnt-matter-4c8bd71ee595
“”towns and villages are only 1-2 kilotons apart” is from W. Arkin, F. Von Hippel, and B. G. Levi, “The Consequences of a Limited Nuclear War in East and West Germany”, Ambio 11 (1982) : 172
https://www.mail-archive.com/cypherpunks@minder.net/msg35365.html
Everett F Sargent says:
Comparing Tropospheric Warming in Climate Models and Satellite Data
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0333.1
Updated and improved satellite retrievals of the temperature of the mid-to-upper troposphere (TMT) are used to address key questions about the size and significance of TMT trends, agreement with model-derived TMT values, and whether models and satellite data show similar vertical profiles of warming. A recent study claimed that TMT trends over 1979 and 2015 are 3 times larger in climate models than in satellite data but did not correct for the contribution TMT trends receive from stratospheric cooling. Here, it is shown that the average ratio of modeled and observed TMT trends is sensitive to both satellite data uncertainties and model–data differences in stratospheric cooling. When the impact of lower-stratospheric cooling on TMT is accounted for, and when the most recent versions of satellite datasets are used, the previously claimed ratio of three between simulated and observed near-global TMT trends is reduced to approximately 1.7. Next, the validity of the statement that satellite data show no significant tropospheric warming over the last 18 years is assessed. This claim is not supported by the current analysis: in five out of six corrected satellite TMT records, significant global-scale tropospheric warming has occurred within the last 18 years. Finally, long-standing concerns are examined regarding discrepancies in modeled and observed vertical profiles of warming in the tropical atmosphere. It is shown that amplification of tropical warming between the lower and mid-to-upper troposphere is now in close agreement in the average of 37 climate models and in one updated satellite record.
UAH (v5.6 and/or v6.0b5) is so not in agreement with all other TMT datasets. Which sort of makes their new TLT = 1.538*TMT – 0.548*TTP +0.01*TLS (Figure 2 and Equation 1 of their most recent train-wreck, hmm, err, paper) totally effin’ bogus (and what is with the 0.01 TLS coefficient anyways, coefficients sum to one, but so what, that’s their “so called” lower stratosphere correction on TLT but not even a word on TMT correction due to TLS in said train-wreck).
When that “red team” is assembled, there’s a good change yet another color wants to play along, too. I doubt that Christy et al would want Tim Ball-like people to play along, who will then, and objectively speaking rightfully, complain that they *too* should be funded…
https://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/HHRG-115-SY-WState-JCurry-20170329.pdf
https://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/HHRG-115-SY-WState-JChristy-20170329.pdf
https://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/HHRG-115-SY-WState-MMann-20170329.pdf
https://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/HHRG-115-SY-WState-RPielke-20170329.pdf
https://thsresearch.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/ef-cpp-sc-2016-data-ths-paper-ex-sum-090516v2.pdf
(close quote is part of URL remove that and it still don’t work)
[You had got the URL slightly wrong; I’ve corrected it. I’m afraid the contents are garbage, though -W]
That “so called” research, err, hmm, “kitty litter” can be found via searching Google …
On the Existence of a & The Validity of EPA CO2 Endangerment Finding “Tropical Hot Spot” filetype:pdf
14 hits one of them to SCOTUS even!
Effective January 1, I have resigned my tenured faculty position at Georgia Tech.
I have requested [“so called” Gone] Emeritus status. (I added a few words […])
[Mmmmm. So much for being sick of the corruption of academic. She wants to walk away in a huff but still keep the status -W]
Thanks to #6 Russell Seitz for the video of the whole occasion, which turned out a lot less ghastly than expected. A nice happy ending wth all witnesses agreeing their opposition to the Trump administration’s efforts to cut science budgets.
Mann pretty good on the whole, had difficulty with those snowflakes Smith and Curry being ever so hurt that he’d called them science deniers. Such persecution of the poor things!
He seemed a bit flustered by Higgins demanding that he admit any association with the Union of Concerned Scientists,
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/03/29/clay-higgins-mccarthyism/
turned out to be a weak attempt to accuse Mann of hypocrisy with denialosphere allegations about UCS and use of RICO – the real E&E reports on the involvement of the fake E&E Legal and Curry:
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060037292
Mann missed a trick when hammering Curry’s uncertainty if as much as 50% of GW is AGW – there had been questions about the famous claim that “in the late 1970s scientists said we were going into an ice age”, he could have pointed out that we would be going into an ice age were it not for greenhouse gas pollution, and the IPCC best estimate is that AGW slightly exceeds the actual warming, due to natural forcings being slightly negative.
...and Then There's Physics says:
I thought the SO2 comments maybe missed a point too. my understanding was that part of the ice age issue was a sense that the negative forcing due to aerosol pollution could be greater than the positive GHG forcing (which, I think, was before it was realised that the aerosols would precipate, while GHGs do not). There was then things like the clean air act that meant that the anthropogenic aerosols did not grow as much as they could have done and hence their effect was diminished. My knowledge of this period is not great, but it does seem like concern about something lead to some kind of action that then meant what we were concerned about did not happen.
re ATTP #15, my recollection is that the SO2 comments related to the aerosols causing cooling, but they were in reply to a question about why legislation reduced SO2 pollution.
Your comments look right, the legislation addressed concerns about acid rain, not about the climate impact.
Jim Hunt says:
“Anyone got links to the testimony of Mann?” Here’s one:
The House Science Climate Model Show Trial
My initial report into yesterday’s “show trial” of climate models with Lamar Smith impersonating Cardinal Biggles.
Included is a video of the entire performance, a slideshow of over a 200 mostly live tweets and a picture of Dana Rohrabacher getting exceedingly hot under his collar and potentially breaking his pencil. If this works:
#17 Jim Hunt – good info, useful link to Mann’s written testimony and his reference to “climate science denier Judith Curry (I use the term carefully…)” which is accurate but probably tactically unwise as it gave an excuse for diversionary pearl-clutching by the deniers. Of course, if she’s got “sound science” behind her claim that human influence has caused less than half of observed warming – all she has to do is publish it in a reputable journal. Perhaps emeritus is supposed to excuse her from backing up her claims?
Seth Borenstein focussed his AP coverage on the name-calling, rather disappointing article: https://federalnewsradio.com/government-news/2017/03/house-hearing-on-climate-science-focuses-on-name-calling/
Snopes is better: http://www.snopes.com/2017/03/29/smith-journal-science-not-objective/
Re t’mill, it was a large brick industrial structure, used as a drawing office in the early ’70s but now, alas, google streetview shows flats there. My memory is of it being like the second photo at http://www.dacorumheritage.org.uk/article/rich-history-of-site-that-gave-daily-bread/ showing Castle Mill or Knowles Mill, by the bridge at Lower Kings Road. Don’t recall any totem pole. That page suggests it was still offices in 2010.
[Ah, yes. I mistook which bridge you mean. That’s the road bridge not far from the station and near the turn to the football club, I think. I lived in South Park Gardens, so that was on my way home from school if I went by the towpath. The totem pole was at the next bridge Londonwards, on the other side. Timber merchant J. Alsford. Wiki has stuff on it but I can’t find any pix -W]
Speaking of “Red”, the person credited with leading a commission that coined the term “sustainable development” is Gro Harlem Brundtland. She is a VP in socialistinternational.org.
This group was brought back to life after WWII by communists. A few years later around the height of the McCarthy hearings, they ‘disavowed’ communism.
Socialist International states on their web site that they want nothing less than world government.
Also love how the dems are shrieking about Trump’s ties to Russians (I didn’t vote for him) when it’s been the dems trying to get us more like the communist Russians since the days of FDR.
(Be interesting to see if this post doesn’t get rejected…)
Russsell says:
Eric, don’t blame me- Al Gore Pere et Fils judged the Virginia Cold War debate on TTAPS memorably entitled ”
“Is Nuclear Winter Real and Relevant?” .
Carl declined to debate anyone , leving Steve Schneider and yours truly to take on the A in TTAPS Ackerrman and Robock.
After two days of viewgraphs , and a half dozen speakers on the parameterization and diplomacy , Al Jr. concluded the answer was No-
finding TTAPS too uncertain to justify a change in existing strategic doctrine or negotiations policy.
Thanks for the pointer to Snopes:
—-excerpt follows—-
The quote Mann referenced came from a 24 March 2017 news article published in Science which stated:
Representative Lamar Smith (R–TX) rarely expresses his true feelings in public. But speaking yesterday to a like-minded crowd of climate change doubters and skeptics, the chairman of the science committee in the U.S. House of Representatives acknowledged that the committee is now a tool to advance his political agenda rather than a forum to examine important issues facing the U.S. research community.
Mark, Gro Harlem Brundtland did indeed lead a UN committee on sustainable development, but it most certainly did not coin the term. At best it provided a definition of sustainable development that is still widely used today.
Gro Harlem Brundtland was the first VP of Socialist International, but that’s many decades ago, so it is rather contentious to take what is written now, and reflect that back to her (and through the commission to the concept of sustainable development).
For this statement of yours:
I’ll need a direct quote + link.
Skimming their statements, Christy doesn’t seem to have peer reviewed publication of his amazing thesis that the models are wrong, or of the basis for what looks to be a slightly revamped version of that graph he’s been hawking around since 2015:
https://climatecrocks.com/2015/12/15/john-christys-orphan-graph/
Curry’s latest uncertainty publication seems to be 2011 in Climate Change, but she has a newer paper!!
Curry, J. 2017: Climate Models for the Layman, thegwpf.org – is that to be the publishing house of the Red Team?
[Did you read Pielke? ATTP seemed to quite like it -W]
Dave s:
When Academician Yuri Izrael , author of Nuclear Night Scientists’ Warning ran the honest-to-gosh Red Team for Chief Party Ideologist Boris Ponomare'ev , he would defend even the crudest 1-D GCM of catastrophic aerosoll cooling till he was blue in the face.
Then rhw Ciold War ended, and at Lukhoil's expense , he took to singing the praises of CO2 induced global warming at Heartland Conferences.
Now that’s a hard-working Dialectician !
Is feeling like some Stakharovite italics correction, Comrade Connolley?
Fraternal thanks !
[The past has been erased; it never was -W]
Pingback: Hearing about climate science and the scientific method | …and Then There's Physics
It is interesting that he mostly liked Pielke’s testimony.
There were things he said that I thought were reasonable. I also do think the issues that he often discusses are interesting, and worth discussing, and am interested in the possibility of being able to do so in a less contentious way. On the other hand, I do think that he could be a little more careful in how he presents some of what he says.
[I was aware I was slightly over-egging your approval. But nonetheless, in the context of the way people who comment here generally view Pielke, it was nice to see. For me at least. I agree with the “little more careful”, BTW. -W]
angech says:
Oh yes: why this is a stupid idea. Well to start with it isn’t necessarily totally stupid, unless it is being run by a group of ideologues with a fore-ordained conclusion for which they’re desperately searching for evidence.
I have an idea, why don’t we start an organization to investigate if climate change exists. We can call it the IPCC. Heh Heh Heh Heh.
Sorry, William. Too funny.
Dave #18 – Thanks for your kind words.
As you’ve probably gathered I’m entirely in agreement with Mike Mann’s analysis of the Curry/Rose connection. I’m also entirely in agreement with you that waving the “denier” card in the faces of Curry and Smith in such a fashion was “tactically unwise”.
As Steve Mosher put it at ATTP’s?
“Please look for better spokesmodels.
And Mike should take a breather.”
Amusingly, angech doesn’t seem to realise that the IPCC format was set up by the Reagan administration with government representatives getting the final say on summary wording to keep those pesky scientists in check. Mostly didn’t work the way they intended, though the 1995 SAR incident with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait battling over the wording until Bolin watered it down to “discernible human influence” showed governments getting their way.
Even that resulted in vicious attacks on Santer by the fossil fuel industry CCC and Seitz in the WSJ. Don’t forget that “red team” in the US could mean Republican.
Layzej says:
#RedTeam? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia-climate-change-not-caused-by-humans-echoes-us-trump-a7660941.html
Not sure that’s the best branding given the current circumstances.
Meanwhile, in Siberia…
http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/secret-stash-of-tsars-gold-worth-billions-found-in-old-rail-tunnel-near-lake-baikal/
Steve Bloom says:
Stakha*n*ovite, Russell, although WMC doesn’t post often enough to qualify.
Mosher’s concern trolling is boring. Deniers need to be called out for what they are.
[I rather liked Mosher’s commonet on red teams at Climate Etc -W]
Re RP Jr., he has always engaged in this sort of distorted reasoning. For some reason WMC always wanted to give him a pass on that, and went so far as to wonder on this blog if anyone was “hard enough” to successfully refute him. Krugman was, it turned out,
[What has Krugman got to do with this? -W]
although the substance of what was wrong with RP Jr.’s arguments had been pointed out by many others prior to that (Joe Romm, most prominently).
[I have little time for Romm -W]
re; [Did you read Pielke? ATTP seemed to quite like it -W]
A tough assignment. My interest was in what Pielke said at the hearing. ATTP summarises the way Pielke minimises trends, doesn’t distinguish between detection and attribution, and “focuses on damage/cost without making it all that clear that a lack of a trend in these does not necessarily imply anything about physical climatology”. ATTP then gently suggests this is “a feature, rather than a bug”, but listening to the hearing what came over loud and clear was “no trend in disasters, so climate science is wrong and no need to worry”. The Republicans were quick to seize on that.
Pielke doesn’t seem to have a recent peer-reviewed basis for this claim. His CU-Boulder homepage has a link to his publications, a search showing the most recent as Mohleji, S and R Pielke (published November 2014), Reconciliation of Trends in Global and Regional Economic Losses from Weather Events: 1980-2008. That seems to have followed his article on FiveThirtyEight which attracted much criticism, and got a response from Kerry Emmanuel. https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/fivethirtyeight-to-commission-response-to-disputed-climate-article/
The homepage includes links to “Publications”, mostly in the Grauniad, plus “Pielke, Jr., R. (2016). My Unhappy Life as a Climate Heretic, Wall Street Journal” which features in full in Pielke’s written testimony of his persecution, so can be read there. It also has “Weinkle, J. & R. Pielke, Jr. (2016). The Truthiness about Hurricane Catastrophe Models. Science, Technology & Human Values” which might be relevant but is paywalled. Odd that it doesn’t show up in his publications search.
So, the written testimony has lots about how Poor Pielke was persecuted by Obama’s science advisor John Holdren putting an essay on the White House website in response to Pielke’s 2013 testimony to Lamar Smith’s committee, the trawl by Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) investigating whether Pielde, like Soon, had undeclared fossil fuel funding [apparently not, I seem to recall a Weasel criticising that trawl] and see also his WSJ “Unhappy Life”, about how the “climate thought police” took away his staff position on FiveThirtyEight. It also has the praiseworthy stuff, a brief reiteration of his earlier “call for a low but rising carbon tax to fund energy innovation”, so not really a surprise. He ends stirringly, with “the lesson is that a lone academic is no match for billionaires, well-funded advocacy groups, the media, Congress and the White House”, including the Trump administration. Which would please Chairman Lamar Smith.
Appendix B, “An Update on Trends in Extreme Events in the US and Globally” is a powerpoint style presentation of “An update to my 2013 House & Senate Testimony”, mostly AR5 so not much of an update. Summary: Have disasters in the US or globally become more costly because of human-caused climate change? No.
See the presentation for small print. So disasters are ok, as long as they’re cheap.
Hmm, does that Mosher comment qualify as concern trolling in a Climate Etc. context? Probably not. I too liked it, though.
Glancing through a few of the other comments there, I see RPp Sr. has stooped at last to defending phlogiston:
“I am 100% in support of you and John Christy encouraging much needed “red teams”. That you were exposed to the vitriol by Mann and the media illustrates yet again how dysfunctional our profession has become. Unfortunately, Mann is just one of a number in the climate science leadership who act the same way that he does.
“We need independent, objective assessments that are inclusive of all scientifically supported views. That gas not existed for a while.”
OK, a typo, but given his stance toward settled scientific questions, why not? And why should mere non-existence be a bar to that?
I’d point you to the Krugman/Romm deets, but I’m pretty sure I’ve done that before and you’ve now forgotten. It is sort of bad for your RP Jr. narrative. TBF, the change in his career focus probably had at least as much to do with KE’s rebuttal.
Dave, after crashing and burning at 538, RP Jr. apparently took up the study of sports (which he had dabbled in previously). Having tenure, he was able to maintain his university appointment through the transition.
Steve, interesting point, Since 2011 Poor Persecuted Pielke Jr. has become the director of the Sports Governance Center within the Department of Athletics at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado Boulder. Quite a title!
Wh`t is it about sports researchers? Benny Peiser is apparently a social anthropologist specialising in the environmental and socio-economic impact of physical activity on health.
One difference; Peiser acknowledges that he is “not a climate scientist” and has “never claimed to be one.” Seem to recall PPP Jr. being presented at the hearing as a climate scientist, but haven’t checked.
Speaking of postmodern academic antropology, If a quorum of non-Emeriti could be asssembled, and enough emeriti recused themeselves, it could be ( witness how BEST turned out) interesting to see what a 21st century JASON CliSci report might look like .
PBS Frontline
Climate Change Skeptic Group Seeks to Influence 200,000 Teachers
by Katie Worth Tow Journalism Fellow, FRONTLINE/Columbia Journalism School Fellowships
Twenty-five thousand science teachers opened their mailboxes this month and found a package from the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank that rejects the scientific consensus on climate change.
It contained the organization’s book “Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming,” as well as a DVD rejecting the human role in climate change and arguing instead that rising temperatures have been caused primarily by natural phenomena. The material will be sent to an additional 25,000 teachers every two weeks until every public-school science teacher in the nation has a copy, Heartland president and CEO Joseph Bast said in an interview last week. If so, the campaign would reach more than 200,000 K-12 science teachers.
Accompanying the materials is a cover letter from Lennie Jarratt, project manager of Heartland’s Center for Transforming Education. He asks teachers to “consider the possibility” that the science is not settled….
Why aren’t K through 12 students better versed in the geocentic theory of how the deflection galactic cosmic rays by the iron sun modulates CO2 emisssion by underwater volcanos ?
Heartland needs to catch up with Notre Dame and Southern U Missou if it expects to follow the state of the art camment’s at Judy’s
Ken Fabian says:
A thorough, accessible, professional review of climate science is something I’ve raised as potentially beneficial, but rather than “Red Teams” I would be most pleased to see it done in the most public way possible by our peak science advisory bodies, like Royal Society and US National Academy of Sciences.
By “most public” I am thinking Attenborough quality video presentation, with it’s enormous potential to provide graphic visualisations of climate processes, but done in concert with thorough, written, peer reviewed publications.
I had in mind some introductions to these vital organisations, their practices and achievements as well as showing us much of the internal process of putting the review all together, ie from hows and why’s of selection of the experts doing the nuts and bolts reviewing, showing us the kind of people as well as the kinds of scientists they are.
It’s not that I don’t think these institutions are letting us down; on the contrary. Yet better informing of both policy makers and public is clearly needed. Unlike this “Red Team” idea, that I strongly suspect would be a show trial by rejectors of climate science, with prejudicial intent to discredit I think RS and NAS and the like have the standing and public standing such a review truly requires.
Is it time for some bad bee keeping?
[The fields are yellow 🙂 -W]
crandles says:
So does election stay on party political lines?
Or does it become remainers voting against torys versus brexit favouring voters switching to torys?
Could torys lose power? Could this fail to be reality check for Labour re Corbyn?
Pingback: The politics edition – Stoat
42.:
Still time for good wood pigeon shooting then.
Dennis N Horne says:
A balanced enquiry into climate science might look a bit like homeopathy. Put a hundred publishing climate scientists in a room and you mightn’t find one contrarian.
Michael Mann was taken by surprise.
Don’t Be Throwing Rocks – Congressmen Clay Higgins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Higgins
During the runoff campaign, a lawsuit was filed against Higgins seeking unpaid child support arrearages in the amount of over $140,000.00. Higgins was in a runoff for the 3rd District seat while facing a lawsuit for unpaid child support. In released tape recordings to his ex-wife, Higgins claimed that winning the election would help him to pay the child support arrears. Higgins has been married four times and has failed to abide by a Texas Court Ordered Child Support, thus the lawsuit filed for non-payment. To date, Higgins has not paid his child support debt to his ex-wife. His attorney is claiming that he is ‘busy’ now. [16] He lives in Port Barre[17] with his fourth wife, Becca Higgins.[2]
Maybe science needs to be represented by scientists who have retrained as lawyers.
Atomsks Sanakan says:
I was very disappointed with Christy’s testimony. For example, he relies on a non-peer-reviewed report he co-wrote:
“Indeed, I am a co-author of a report in which we used a statistical model to reproduce, to a large degree, the atmospheric temperature trends without the need for extra greenhouse gases.”
http://climatefeedback.org/scientists-reactions-us-house-science-committee-hearing-climate-science/
This report is extremely poor for at least 6 reasons. Here are three of those reasons:
1) The report claims that there is no tropical hot spot, even though the report did not address much of the scientific research showing a hot spot.
2) The report discounts CO2 as a cause of recent global warming, even though the report avoids discussing data showing radiative forcing from CO2.
3) The report uses a cumulative ENSO index and cumulative TSI that makes little sense in terms of atmospheric physics. A more plausible ENSO index and TSI undermines the report’s contention that ENSO and the sun caused most of the recent global warming. Furthermore, significant global warming remains even after volcanic activity, ENSO, and TSI are factored out, undermining the report’s claim that most of the recent warming is attributable to volcanic activity, ENSO, and solar activity.
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Published by PinkWrite - October 29, 2017 -
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Author PinkWritePosted on October 29, 2017 July 25, 2018 Categories Classics, Memorize
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Writings of Branko's Blog
All around Central Europe
by AllAboutCentralEurope Leave a comment
There is a hole in a mountain in Switzerland that speaks about our past [blog]
In Switzerland, Canton of Zurich, roughly 18 km east of Pfaffikon (where ERF Medien has its office), there is a Täuferhöhle, or Baptists’ cave. It is a famous place as it used to be a gathering place for the Anabaptists since the very early days, and later become a place of solitude and silent prayer.
The Zürcher Täufer was a certain group of reformed Christians, which separated from the church in 1524 in Zürich and followed their own beliefs. The main principles were adult baptism, religious freedom, and social rights. Mainly, Anabaptists considered the baptism of infants to be unbiblical and had themselves re-baptized, they were also asking for a free choice of a local pastor and abolition of church taxes.
Look from outside
Because of their social ideas, they were very popular among farmers and craftsmen. But because the same ideas were feared by the government and the church, they were persecuted. So they had to hide and worship in secluded places like this cave. Some of their followers in the region of Zollikon and Baretswill were so powerful that the government feared of a civil war, and decided to forbid re-baptisms. The police was searching for the leader of the group Felix Manz, who was hiding in this cave, for more than three weeks, but later he was betrayed and arrested and drowned to death in Zurich, as an apostate. It is registered that he died singing!
Around 1830 niches were found deep inside the cave containing knives, forks, spoons, thimbles and painted tiles. Another report, from 1750, speaks of a local pastor talking disparagingly about the Anabaptist hole. Others write that this location was a hiding but also a burial place.
Local legends tell about secret passages at the far end of the cave, now covered by collapsed rocks, which once led to Schloss Girenbad, another to the castle ruin Greifenberg. Another story tells about the haunted, who shoed their horses in the wrong direction in order to confuse their chasers. Another popular legend speaks of hundreds of caves. Rather unique is the legend about a huge crack in the ceiling of the cave. The story goes, that it formed in the same second Jesus died.
The cave is situated at an altitude of 910 meters in the forest in a steep hillside above the hamlet Bäretswiler Wappenswil. There is also a small waterfall. The large cave extends over a width of perhaps 20 meters and is about 10 feet deep and a maximum of about 1.5 meters tall. Because the cave floor is dry organized groups come here and can make a small picnic.
People are still persecuted for their faith even today. Please remember them in your prayers.
Photo Credit: Felix Widmer
Categories: Travels around and beyond CE | Tags: Anabaptists, ERF Medien, human-rights, Pfaffikon, religious persecution, Täuferhöhle | Permalink.
by AllAboutCentralEurope 1 Comment
A Brief Photostory from Denmark [blog]
Yesterday I was at the Evensong at the Lutheran Cathedral in Haderslev, southern Denmark. This Cathedral is the oldest building in the city dated middle 12th century. In 1525 became the center for the first Evangelical-Lutheran order in Denmark.
It was first a collegiate church for the Cathedral in Schleswig, but since the reunification of Denmark, this church became an obvious choice for a Cathedral church in the now independent Haderslev diocese in 1922.
The Danish queen created/designed garments for priests, for four different occasions. Here are they presented:
Quite an interesting history of this building, nowadays a part of The European Route of Brick Gothic.
Categories: The Rest of the World | Tags: denmark, evensong, haderslev cathedral, lutheran church | Permalink.
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Miss Adeline Paulina Irby, of Bosnia [blog]
Did We Throw Out Our Identity With The Bath Water? [blog]
Jan Hus and Us (600 years later)
THE JESUS MODEL REVISITED – Discussion at the Lausanne Leadership Development Working Group for the Lausanne III, Cape Town 2010. Compiled by Branko Bjelajac.
The Lausanne Covenant and us [blog]
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Sanders Attacks GOP And Says Boston Marathon Bomber Should Be Able To Vote
posted by The Howie Carr Show - Apr 23, 2019
(Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
At Crazy Bernie's latest town hall, a college student named Anne Carlstein asked the Vermont Senator to clarify his position on felons' right to vote:
"Senator Sanders, you have said that you believe that people with felony records should be allowed to vote while in prison. Does this mean that you would support enfranchising people like the Boston Marathon bomber, a convicted terrorist and murderer? Do you think that those convicted of sexual assault should have the opportunity to vote for politicians who could have a direct impact on women's rights?"
After avoiding the question for a few minutes by talking about his efforts to get young people to vote and the importance of millennials, Sanders then accused the GOP of suppressing votes:
“We live in a moment where cowardly Republican governors are trying to suppress the vote,”
Apparently, wanting to make sure that the people who vote in your state actually live there is now voter suppression. After the applause died down for the Bernie Bros that packed the room, Sanders finally addressed the question that was asked of him:
"Now here is my view: If somebody commits a serious crime — sexual assault, murder — they're going to be punished. They may be in jail for 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, their whole lives. That's what happens when you commit a serious crime," Sanders stated. "But I think the right to vote is inherent to our democracy — yes, even for terrible people. I do believe that even if they are in jail, they're paying their price to society, but that should not take away their inherent American right to participate in our democracy,"
Bernie Sanders' response was so off the reservation that moderator, and well known moonbat, Chris Cuomo offered the elderly Vermont Senator a chance to walk it back:
"You're writing an opposition ad against you by saying you think the Boston Marathon bomber should vote not after he pays his debt to society, but while he's in jail, are you sure about that?"
Ignoring the warning from the CNN host, Crazy Bernie doubled down on his loony response:
"I think I have written many 30-second opposition ads throughout my life. This will be just another one."
Senator Sanders 2019 tax returns will indicate that he donated a great deal more than in years past, because he just gave away most of the votes he had in New England.
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